What if you could help bring about the end of the world trade in cocaine simply by doing nothing and allowing those with the know-how to get on with a job they have already started? What if you are under orders to track those people down and stop them; orders that go against what you have devoted your working life to? DEA Agent Jake MacQuilkin is in exactly that position. Someone has found a way of targeting and killing off the coca plant. While he wants to applaud them he is being told he must hunt down and stop the perpetrators. The total collapse of the economies of a number of South American countries is a distinct possibility and there are international ramifications that can't be ignored.
The premise of this book is a cracking one, and it was a bit of a surprise to read less about the horrors of addiction and more about the reliance of certain economies and groups of people on the cocaine trade. It made for a refreshing approach, while not seeking to legitimise cocaine. The plot had its fair share of twists as Jake sought to uncover the people behind the plot and the action moved around from country to country as the death of coca crops spread and caused unrest.
Unfortunately the action moved around too much for my liking. With a shifting point of view too keeping up with where events were happening was a bit of an effort and I felt that with so many characters introduced I didn't really get to know any of them in any depth. I can keep track of a fair number of characters usually, but in this case I just wasn't invested enough to make the effort. Jake should have been a sympathetic character after the loss of his fiancee, and did come over as a good guy battling a real dilemma, but ultimately I wasn't really bothered what happened. Journalist Angela was a character with a lot of potential but again was under-developed. With a bit more background and detail I might have felt differently and been rooting for them more.
This story had a lot going for it but incorporated too much in too little depth. Combined with some passages that didn't read well and the odd typo I'm afraid it didn't live up to expectations.
Format: Kindle, review copy
Publisher: Telemachus Press
My Rating: 2*
Yippee, it's Friday and as my little darling is amusing herself (reading Mr Men books) I've actually got some time to join in with TGIF! Over at Greads this week's meme question asks, as we're now scarily half way through the year, which have been your top 3 books of the year so far. This wasn't too difficult as I haven't given many books 5* this year, in fact 3 to date so it's pretty easy really. They were:
You Came Back by Christopher Coake
A Voyage for Madmen by Peter Nichols
The Demi-Monde- Winter by Rod Rees
What I find interesting is that they are all very different books. You Came Book is a contemporary novel with hints of a ghost tale, the Nichols book is non-fiction set in the sailing world of the late 1960s and The Demi-Monde is, erm, steam-punky sci-fi, fantasy-ish. It's pleasing to find enjoyment out of such a diverse range. There are too many notable 4* books that I don't think I have the time to mention them all.
As I spoke (or typed) too soon and madam is now on the move this will have to be short but sweet.
Have a great weekend everyone,
TC x
When Roland wakes up in a motel with two identities (according to the contents of his wallet) and a dead woman in the bathroom, he wracks his brain to remember what has happened. The vial of pills labelled "Take one every 4 hours or else" clouds the picture further. Porn actress Anita has the same tablets and an encounter of her own that gets the heart racing. When they are reunited with the other survivors of an unauthorised drug trial the battle is on. They all want to take control of the pills that are helping keep them sane and stop them remembering what happened ten years earlier.
I have read other books by the author in the past and enjoyed them so was looking forward to getting into this. The premise sounded interesting, a botched drug trial that had left a group of people on the edge and despite this the interest of certain parties in developing the drug for military application. It sounded feasible enough to be scary, particularly in the hands of Mr Nicholson.
However I finished it feeling a bit apathetic about the whole thing. The point of view kept switching between a number of characters and I didn't feel like I knew much about any of them. The female characters felt slightly more fleshed out but only because there were chunks devoted to their sexual pasts.
I also had a lot of questions that could have easily been answered in the course of the book. For example the group are all described as sociopaths but it's never made clear whether that is a result of the drugs or if they were chosen for the trial for a personality trait common to sociopaths in the first place. As it is mentioned a few times it would have been nice to know.
With a lack of interest in the fate of the characters the tension that was being built fell flat, and I felt some threads were under-developed with scope for much more about the political forces supporting the mad scientist's research and its potential applications.
I was a bit disappointed in this book after having read Scott's other work, so it's just an "okay" from me.
Format: Kindle, review copy
Publisher: Thomas and Mercer
My Rating: 2*
Wes has holed up in a cabin in the holiday town he used to summer in with his family. He's sold up his business and fallen madly in love with a local hairdresser. He's completely besotted but his pleasure is interrupted by the death of the local sheriff. He is appointed to the role temporarily despite having no experience of any sort in law enforcement. What seems to be a one-off crime of passion turns out to be the start of a series of inexplicable attacks and Wes has to try and tear himself away from his new darling to try and prevent any more deaths in a town more used to love than hate.
I started this book with high hopes, having given The End of Marking Time 4* when I reviewed that book by West. And to begin with I was enjoying this book. However as things progressed, although the reason his behaviour became clear later, I just found Wes a bit too ridiculous. Also the whole premise of the town council appointing a man with no credentials but a respected family as sheriff for a murder investigation was unbelievable. The reason for the murders and attacks could have been chilling and thought provoking if it wasn't all quite so daft.
I was also put off by the fact there seemed to be something missing when a major revelation was made about what was going on in the town. When an aspect of it was mentioned later in the book I thought maybe I had inadvertently skimmed the important sentence or paragraph but going back and re-reading the relevant part I still couldn't see it.
On the positive side there was one character I could warm to, and the author's style makes for an easy flowing read. There are some very interesting and potentially quite worrying ideas in this book but the way the story plays out almost cheapened those ideas. The end made my skin crawl a little. It was okay and might be to some people's taste but it's not a book I could really recommend.
Format: Kindle, freebie
Publisher: 22 West Books
My rating: 2*
Mark is in his 30s and finally finding happiness again, having endured the loss of his 7 year old son and the subsequent break up of his marriage. Having hit a low while grieving for Brendan he has now moved on and is in love with Allison. He is on the verge of proposing when an unwelcome woman comes barging into his life.
She lives in the house where his son's accident occurred and claims he is haunting the house. Mark's father is very logical and has raised him to be the same, so he tries to ignore her. However ex-wife Chloe is more willing to believe and, trying to support her Mark finds himself in a downward spiral. Reliving the events of seven years prior changes him and his life is quickly unravelling once again as he faces sacrificing the present and the future for the past.
I have had this book on my kindle for a while and read it without revisiting the blurb. When I pulled it up on screen before writing this I was stunned to see that this is the author's first novel. I loved this book and am impressed by this debut. This isn't a ghost story per se, instead it is about relationships, love and how much people will change if they want something badly enough. I found myself cast in the role of cynic, doubting that the house was haunted, and read on to see whether I was going to be right or wrong. Mark's best friend Lew at one point provides a very helpful list of all the possible explanations of the chain of events which is similar to the thoughts I'd been having as I read and served as a good summary. There isn't a lot of action, but there is a lot of conflict as Mark tries (and mostly fails) to make the right decisions for himself and those he loves.
Mark has already been through the wringer and as we read about how he struggled to move on and see him rebuilding a good life for himself it makes the descent back into despair that much more stark. While at points I doubted her motives I felt for ex-wife Chloe as well as wife-to-be Allison. And despite his best efforts to mess up virtually every relationship he has I still felt for Mark. My favourite character though was his straight-talking and sage father, Sam. He is the voice of reason, but has plenty of charm and some hard stories of his own to tell.
I enjoyed the writing which flowed nicely, written in a way that allowed me to become engrossed by the story rather than noticing the style too much. The ending leaves some room for imagination, which in this case was a good thing.
This is the best book I have read in a while. I felt so much for Mark that at one point I almost got up to go and cuddle my sleeping daughter, imagining how awful experiences like his must be. It's not often that I am moved like that by a book.
Format: Kindle, ARC from Netgalley, due for release 28th June 2012
Publisher: Penguin
My Rating: 5*
I reviewed the 100 Puzzle Quizzes book a little while back and was pleased to take a look at the next book in the series.
The basics of this book are exactly the same. Each puzzle has a number of solutions which you select in the relevant way, depending on the format you are reading it in. Only the correct answer will take you to the solution page, which in turn has a link to the next puzzle. While my Kindle is a plain grey and white screen the problems are in colour for other apps and Kindles.
The book again contains a mix of different types of problem to give the old grey matter a workout. The puzzles start at 1* difficulty, working up to 5* as you work you progress through, but as with the previous book I found some of the 2* problems completely beyond me while some of the more difficult problems of a different type were still relatively simple. I did find some of the solutions completely incomprehensible and couldn't see how you could solve them without being a maths whizz, and others didn't have a full explanation of why the answer was correct where I would have appreciated it.
Although I think there is a bit of room for improvement by and large I am enjoying this series as something a bit different for the moments when I want a distraction but don't have the time or inclination to pick up a novel. If you like a mental workout you could do far worse than picking up one (or several) of these.
Format: Kindle, review copy
Publisher: Grabarchuk Puzzles
My Rating: 3*
This book comprises a collection of short stories based on the lives of people affected in different ways by the global economic crisis. Some are tales of ordinary people who are faced with losing their jobs and homes, others are about wealthy individuals who have lost millions and are having to drastically rewrite their plans. There is a degree of overlap between some of the stories which adds an additional dimension to the tales as the reader begins to see both sides. It is a very contemporary theme with recession and the possible failure of the Euro still dominating national (and international) headlines.
Although they are short stories the characterisation was well done and the way the relationships between different characters were portrayed made for some touching writing in places. While the author clearly knows his onions when it comes to the financial world and the background to the current turmoil, the content is accessible even to someone like me who is no financial wizard. I found the story about the vulnerability of large organisations thanks to the power of modern technology particularly interesting and enjoyed this as a thoughtful collection that made me stop and think.
Despite the subject matter there were plenty of rays of hope in the book and rather than being slightly depressing the stories of survival and friendship were quite positive. I found it well formatted and don't recall noticing any typos. Overall I really enjoyed this read.
Format: Kindle, review copy
My Rating: 4*
What if you could help bring about the end of the world trade in cocaine simply by doing nothing and allowing those with the know-how to get on with a job they have already started? What if you are under orders to track those people down and stop them; orders that go against what you have devoted your working life to? DEA Agent Jake MacQuilkin is in exactly that position. Someone has found a way of targeting and killing off the coca plant. While he wants to applaud them he is being told he must hunt down and stop the perpetrators. The total collapse of the economies of a number of South American countries is a distinct possibility and there are international ramifications that can't be ignored. 
