This books begins with a fairly gruesome killing, but the storyline follows in a pacey style which is very readable. Set in Moscow in 1937, Stalin is in power and all is not so good in the state of Soviet Russia, corruption and social inequality are prevalent in the egalitarian society. Our polite detective seems to have an impossible crime to solve, as well as risking his own life in the investigation. William Ryan weaves the threads of his own story very skillfully, he portrays the bleak atmosphere of 1930s Moscow and the depressing deprivations that the populace endure, as well as creating sympathetic adn very human characters.
Stephanie
Showing posts with label adult fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adult fiction. Show all posts
Friday, May 13, 2011
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth
I don't usually enjoy vampire stories and I think that the idea of the Presidents of the USA having their own vampire is scary... but if you believe there are others out there who may be capable of inflicting worse terrorism on our world than already exists, a 600yr old vampire could come in handy. Team him up with a young staffer in trouble for taking liberties with the President's daughter, an untrustworthy Vice President, lots of action and violence and you have a story that is part "Men in Black" but also witty and immensely readable. I could get to like this vampire, but maybe only because he's the quintessential "unavailable" male?
Helen
Helen
Dog Boy by Eva Hornung
Dog Boy, by Eva Hornung, is set amidst the chaos and poverty that is late 20th century Moscow. This often confronting novel explores the timeless story of a human child raised by animals, but this telling is one of vivid and sometimes violent realism.
Abandoned by his mother, uncle and the system he is left to perish alone in a derelict apartment building in the slums of Moscow. Four year old Romochka, driven by cold and hunger wanders lost and starving until he follows a feral dog, Mamochka, to her lair in the cellar of an abandoned church. Mamochka is the leader of a clan of dogs and there she raises Ramochka as one of her own puppies. Ramochka learns the complex language and behaviour of dogs and comes to identify himself as more canine than human until fascination with the human world draws him to venture there.
Dog Boy has been shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. I highly recommend this gritty novel that is both an engaging and thought provoking read.
Roxanne
Abandoned by his mother, uncle and the system he is left to perish alone in a derelict apartment building in the slums of Moscow. Four year old Romochka, driven by cold and hunger wanders lost and starving until he follows a feral dog, Mamochka, to her lair in the cellar of an abandoned church. Mamochka is the leader of a clan of dogs and there she raises Ramochka as one of her own puppies. Ramochka learns the complex language and behaviour of dogs and comes to identify himself as more canine than human until fascination with the human world draws him to venture there.
Dog Boy has been shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. I highly recommend this gritty novel that is both an engaging and thought provoking read.
Roxanne
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Firefight by Chris Ryan
Just suppose you’re out shopping one day with your wife and daughter looking for Christmas presents. You tell you them to go on ahead so you can sneak back and buy your daughter the present she desperately wants for Christmas. In the space of 2 minutes your life is changed forever. Your wife and daughter have been killed by a bomb that has ripped through the department store. Fast forward 2 years, and Will Jackson is no longer in the SAS. He is living in a grungy Council Flat near the cemetery where his family is buried. The pain of losing his family has turned him into a hard drinking recluse.
One day he is out walking when he is “kidnapped” and taken to London, where he is made an offer he can’t refuse. The powers that be want him back on the job. There has been intelligence that in the next 3 weeks a terrorist bomb will rip through the heart of London. MI5 believe that Will might be the only person who can help them track down the terrorist and also help them find out who the mole is in the intelligence world who is feeding information to the enemy. Wanting to turn his back on this world forever, he refuses to have any part of the operation. MI5 then plays their trump card – the terrorist they are after is the one responsible for killing Will’s wife and child. From that moment on Will becomes a man on a very dangerous mission that he is hell bent on seeing through to the end, damn the consequences.
This novel gives the reader a no-hold barred behind the scenes look at terrorism, the intelligence community and the ways wars are fought and not always won. Throughout the story you also get a background history lesson into how the war on terror got started, which not only helps you understand the story better, but also helps you understand the current world political situation.
Frighteningly real in parts and very explicit in the description of how information is obtained and whether or not the end justifies the means. I think this is Chris Ryan’s best book to date. He is writing about the world he used to inhabit and he does so with such graphic detail that you wonder if this is just fiction or something he really experienced when he was in the SAS. I read this book in one afternoon because it pulled me in so hard I just couldn’t put it down.
Chris
One day he is out walking when he is “kidnapped” and taken to London, where he is made an offer he can’t refuse. The powers that be want him back on the job. There has been intelligence that in the next 3 weeks a terrorist bomb will rip through the heart of London. MI5 believe that Will might be the only person who can help them track down the terrorist and also help them find out who the mole is in the intelligence world who is feeding information to the enemy. Wanting to turn his back on this world forever, he refuses to have any part of the operation. MI5 then plays their trump card – the terrorist they are after is the one responsible for killing Will’s wife and child. From that moment on Will becomes a man on a very dangerous mission that he is hell bent on seeing through to the end, damn the consequences.
This novel gives the reader a no-hold barred behind the scenes look at terrorism, the intelligence community and the ways wars are fought and not always won. Throughout the story you also get a background history lesson into how the war on terror got started, which not only helps you understand the story better, but also helps you understand the current world political situation.
Frighteningly real in parts and very explicit in the description of how information is obtained and whether or not the end justifies the means. I think this is Chris Ryan’s best book to date. He is writing about the world he used to inhabit and he does so with such graphic detail that you wonder if this is just fiction or something he really experienced when he was in the SAS. I read this book in one afternoon because it pulled me in so hard I just couldn’t put it down.
Chris
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