IAN M BANKS

The Player of Games

I had read Ian Banks, but not Ian M Banks, don't know why but I had it in my head that the M was added because of the snobby attitude to Science Fiction by the "Literati". I may be missrembering but I always thought Penguin added an initial to John Wyndham to point out his SF was not proper literature.

But to get back to "The Player of Games". Many of the concepts in this book would have seemed ridiculous, but with Quantum "science" traveling at many times the speed of light does not seem totally impossible. That aside, I did struggle with the first few pages with the ridiculously long and difficult names, I had no problems with AI or the ten mile long cargo ships.

Once into the story one can forget the wallpaper and emerge yourself into story. As an aside there is a one page description of the society in which the game is set that though dystopian, is very close to the USA the MAGA Mob wish to initiate. I must admit that very early on I thought Jernau Morat Gurgeh (the Player of Games) was likely a pawn rather than player. The cruelty displayed in "The Empire" in its invention and extremism equals the extremes invented by modern serial killer writers.

I did enjoy it and will now read his other SF offerings.  
 

 DOROTHY SIMPSON - Thanet Omnibus

Imagine a world without mobile phones, internet or DNA when the detective has to detect.

A book where there are no "flash backs" where the time line follows the detectives through the case to a conclusion. Not the sort of stuff I have been reading recently so a nice change, I read the three books straight through, realising after a few pages I had read the third one before, though that did not stop me reading to the end and enjoying it.

John Harvey

now’s the time

still water

Two books I read “now’s the time” first, I wouldn’t have read it if I noticed it was a collection of short stories. But once I got into it I enjoyed it and most of the stories were connected, more like chapters in a book, I suppose that was because the all revolved round DI Charlie Resnick.

The second book “still water” had many connections to the short stories in the first book so I suggest you should read them both, in order, to get the most from them. They delivered what I suspect we all want from our detectives, a main character that we can emphasise with, or more importantly like, one that has their own idiosyncrasies in Charlie’s case, his love of Jazz. The connection to the Polish community I suppose to some degree plays on our stereotyping but it adds to rather than detracts from the book. There are also collections of villains that give us some to like and some to hate and the “squad” with the usual nowadays, the black gay detective.

In all I will look out for more Resnick novels, I have added John Harvey to my “to read list”.  

Peter May - SNAKE HEAD - #petermay

Peter May

SNAKE HEAD

A China Thriller

I only recently discovered Peter May and have read most of his books, so I feel I am letting him down by not enjoying this one as much as his other books.

I know it is described as a “Thriller” but it does include a detective so I would have liked a bit more “detection”. Unfortunately for me this is veering towards, fortunately not quite getting there, Dan Brown. Lots of the characters are clichés bordering on being racist stereotypes, a real surprise given his previous novels that demonstrated his distaste for racist views. As I am used to reading fiction from the 40’s and 50’s I can usually discount that as of its time, but don’t expect it from new works, especially from such a good author.

What I really found difficulty with though were the coincidences. I won’t catalogue them as despite what I have said, I would recommend the book and don’t want to create a spoiler, so I will just evidence one improbability; what are the chances (given the population of China) that a Chinese detective would come across his sister in the USA as an illegal immigrant, when he doesn’t know she is not still in China? That wasn’t the only improbability, and yes I know that lots of fiction relies on improbable coincidences, but some of these did jar a bit.

I did enjoy the “China” thriller set in China, that was really something new and different, but a Chinese Detective in the USA is not that different. Still worth a read, and I did want to get to the end to see what happened, though there were many loose ends not explained.       

Elly Griffiths - The Outcast Dead - #ellygriffiths

ELLY GRIFFITHS

THE OUTCAST DEAD

The first time I have read one of her books, though there is a detective, a murder and missing children I would not class this as a detective novel. Not that fans of detective novels wouldn’t enjoy it. It seems to be a bit of a catalogue of relationships that seem modern. The archaeologist has a daughter to the Policeman who still lives with his wife and children but seems obsessive  about his daughter and interferes constantly, the archaeologist still has a crush (to me an irrational crush) on the detective. Another detective has a child fathered by a hippy friend of the archaeologist who has an older daughter who wants to get involved with the hunt for the kidnappers.

All this going on as well as a televised dig examining a convicted, but probably innocent, child murderer, involving a good looking American historian. It is a long time since I lived in Norfolk but I doubt if the roads have improved to make the distances between the scenes of action as short as they appear.

All said I will put Elly on my list of authors to read even though I took a dislike to DCI Harry Nelson who I thought had no redeeming traits whatsoever.   

Kate Atkinson Started Early, Took My Dog

KATE ATKINSON
Started Early, Took My Dog

After page four I realised I had read this before, but that didn’t in the least distract from the enjoyment. Enjoyment on many different levels; the plot has many twists and turns though I didn’t spot them all, when they were unexpected they made sense, they were not like Agatha’s “here’s one I made earlier” moments (what puts me off reading Agatha, despite enjoying film and TV renditions). There was also the enjoyment you get from recognising the places she is talking about, obviously not a pleasure available to those not acquainted with God’s Own County. Though I suppose the greatest pleasure for me was in recognising the associations and chain of thought of the characters. I knew, before looking it up, that she must have been somewhere near my age (not quite as old). I oft muse, is pedantry a gift of age, or are we born with it.

It would be a disservice to describe this book as a detective novel; it is much more than that. Not in a putting off way, but there is a hint of social comment a modern Dickensian touch.

I am not particularly fond of “flashbacks” in either literature or film, but in this case it does not distract and as the main protagonists are participants of the “flashbacks”, it does fit in and serves the purpose. I reluctantly admit I am not put off by the fact the story leaves some questions unanswered, unless I missed them that is, doing that always leaves you the option to imagine the fate you think characters deserve.

All in all a very enjoyable read.

Val McDermid – NORTHANGER ABBEY

I have read many Val McDermid books and think it would be hard to surpass her inventiveness in creating perverted cruel inventive ways of killing people. I have never and probably will never read or have read any novels by Jane Austen. It is not that I have an aversion to her writing such as I have for the Bronte sisters; I suppose I have been put off by the costume dramas on TV.

I didn’t read the blurb to the book, I didn’t read that this was a re-working of Jane Austen’s book if I had and it had put me off I would have missed a pleasant romp. I don’t know why I enjoyed it or what kept me turning the pages, not a book I would ever have imagined reading. Not a single murder, not even a single death, but not having read the original (I have now read a synopsis and can see how close this rendition is) but I did want to know what happened, though it was pretty well signposted. I thought the Four years later chapter a bit rushed; I don’t know how that compared with the original. The original was written early in her career but not published till after her death, apparently Jane kept changing it.

The plot replaces Bath with Edenborough and introduces Social Media, someone (I think it may have been Val herself) speculates how Jane Austen would have coped if the rolls had been reversed and she rewrote Tony Hill and Carol Jordan. I suspect that given the respect Jane Austen still commands 200 years after putting pen to paper she would have made a decent fist of it.