Book Review: The Company of Fellows by Dan Holloway

I previously read another book by this author, which I liked, but when I saw this book the synopsis sounded much closer to my usual taste. This line particularly caught my attention: "Imagine the Hannibal Lecter novels set in Oxford University. The Company of Fellows is a dark psychological mystery for anyone who loves Thomas Harris, Val McDermid, Minette Walters, P D James, or anything to do with Oxford." The only author on that list who doesn't feature several times on my bookshelves is P D James (think I'll have to rectify that soon) so it sounded right up my street.

Tommy West had a bright future as an academic until a breakdown halted his career in its tracks. He has since forged a successful career in interior design but his old life is brought back to the forefront when a former employer drops dead on his doorstep and his mentor, Professor Charles Shaw, kills himself. Armed with the research the Professor had done for his last project and urged on by his 18 yr old daughter, who is convinced her father was murdered, Tommy finds himself drawn back into the claustrophobic world of academia. As well as revisiting his academic past old flame Emily is now a police officer, investigating Shaw's death.

This is a dark and quite disturbing thriller. Some characters appear on par with Harris' Hannibal Lecter in terms of potentially sociopathic tendencies, their acts justified in the name of academic study. Some readers may find the themes make for uncomfortable reading, it made my stomach turn at one point in particular, but this isn't a blood and gore thriller. It is beautifully descriptive and brooding, and I found the Oxford setting and the author's style made a very pleasant change from the bulk of mainstream thrillers.

As well as the complicated story surrounding Shaw's demise the reader gets drawn into worrying about the impact going back to these surroundings is having on Tommy, and wondering whether he will find romance. There are plenty of suspects if Shaw has indeed been killed and the plot twists and turns - I certainly didn't see the end coming. Tommy is a very cultured man, surrounded by erudite people, and his consideration of Shaw's research to try and unlock the key to the mystery brings up some really interesting theological questions. I liked Tommy and was concerned for him as he got deeper into the mystery, wishing he hadn't.

I'm afraid there was a bit of a negative for me though. Unlike the other book I have read by this author there were more than a couple of typos. Compared to some books I've read it wasn't too bad but in places the typos made me chuckle where I shouldn't have, which is a bit off-putting. The formatting was fine and the typos are nothing a good proofread and update won't fix.

In the main this was a really good thriller, not quite as literary in style as the author's other book but still enough to set it apart positively from many other offerings, and well worth the bargain 70p price tag.

EDIT: Dan has been in touch to let me know that the book has now been amended on Amazon having been passed to a professional proofreader, so the errors I noted should now be gone. It also has a new cover, shown above, that suits the book much better.

Format: Kindle, bought by me
Star Rating: 4*

Booked Review: Songs from the Other Side of the Wall by Dan Holloway

The fall of the Berlin Wall is probably one of the earliest events I remember seeing on the news and really being aware of, I hadn't quite made it into my teens when it happened. Having always had an interest in eastern Europe and having visited some of the places mentioned I found the synopsis of this book appealing and decided to download it.

The story is about 17 year old Szandi. Her mum left her, at just a week old,  to return to England the day the wall came down. So Szandi is brought up by her father on a Hungarian vineyard. She has grown up part of the internet generation, debating how to right the world's wrongs in chatrooms, planning on becoming a singer. She later decides to move into visual art and adopts a bohemian lifestyle with her sculptress lover Yang. When her father becomes ill she starts to reconsider her life, herself and her relationships ,and whether she should stay in the East or move to the West.

Szandi is an intense character, given to falling in love in an instant and believing her community of forum friends have the answers to all of life's problems. Frankly reading the book I was glad I didn't have any friends like her when I was younger as I think all of her questioning conversations about life and who she is would have made my brain explode. However there were parts of the book that I thought were wonderful, where I really felt I connected with her and could see the personal development and an increasing self-awareness. I got a sense of isolation and dependence on her online friends and so loved it when she opened her eyes to the wider world and realised that life offline was probably more important.

Unsurprisingly, for this sort of character, in places the language and references she uses can be complicated. Combining this with jumps around in time that I, particularly at the start, had problems keeping track of meant that it wasn't the easiest of reads. However this could be addressed by changing the formatting, making a clearer break in the text , and as a positive I spotted few typos .

A lot of people, while their story may not be so dramatic, will be able to identify with that stage in your life where you really start to discover who you are and where you want to be, and there were definitely parts that resonated with me and made me take pause. It is a good book, although the style of the narrative wasn't entirely my taste.

Format: Kindle, purchased
My rating: 3*