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.

Hakan Nesser - Woman With a Birthmark

HAKAN NESSER

Woman With a Birthmark

Chief Inspector Van Veeeren is not as angst driven as Kurt Wallender  and his team seem less burdensome. The cover blurb claims “he is being favourably compared with Henning Mankell and Stig Larson” OK so I might be biased but he is nowhere near Larson, not yet anyway, and for my taste he is nearer Mankell so “favourably compared” is probably a fare description.

This is one of those novels than accompanies the Victims, the perpetrator and the Police, so in some ways you know where it is going. Is it a “crime” novel or a “thriller”? Typical of “revenge” novels it inspires more empathy with the killer rather than the victims; no doubt a few more books into the series will encourage more bonding with the detectives. It does continue my education about Swedish weather and reinforces my impression of space, meaning I get the feeling that the population is not as dense as it is in West Yorkshire.

I did enjoy it and will seek out more from this author; there are at least three more that have been translated.

Henning Mankell - The Troubled Man

The Troubled Man

Henning Mankell

I can’t have many more Walanders to read, even with this one, all the way through I felt I had read it before, not enough to spoil the enjoyment. That is the trouble when reading books that have been televised, especially as the TV versions are always abridged versions, which is the nature of TV adaptations.

Until a couple of years ago, my knowledge of Sweden as a neutral country where nothing much happened, I pictured it being cold with a lot of snow. I also knew that Olof Palme was a Social Democrat Prime Minister that had been assassinated, but that was about it. But now after reading Millenium, Mankell, Hakan Nesser and others, and watching sub-titled TV films  I feel I know much more.

I now think of it being more wet than cold, I also understand that it has a very strong far right element and that their secret service and military have a great fear of their near neighbour, Ruussia. I see that many of their attitudes are like ours with many of the same tensions on immigration.

Back to the book, not a straight “detective” novel as it is mixed with espionage, but Walander  has his usual self-doubt and conflicts, his fear of getting old and losing his memory, not that he was ever confident in the earlier books, is a constant theme. Most of the action, and thinking, takes place whilst he is on suspension waiting to hear his fate.

Well worth a read.

DENNIS SKINNER - Sailing Close to the Wind

DENNIS SKINNER

Sailing Close to the Wind

Thanks Diane for giving me this book I can fully understand what attracted Albert to it.

I don’t usually read non-fiction and defiantly not “celebrity”   biographies but Dennis is an exception and thankfully I broke my habit. There can be few people in the UK who have any interest in politics who don’t know “The Beast of Bolsover” but how many appreciate his deeply held views and his principles?

I can’t really say it changed my opinion of Dennis; it would be difficult to hold him in higher regard. It did explain his position on the EU (though written before the referendum) views that with most things with Dennis are consistent.  It would be great to encourage people to read this book, to remind them, or in some cases reveal to them, what socialism means. To remind people that “class” is still with us, that the gap between Rich and Poor is probably greater than it has ever been, and still matters.

Dennis was forged in the mining community he grew up in, in local government and Trade Union politics (trade union politics in fighting to improve the lot of the working class) an “accidental” parliamentarian, not a “career” politician and all the better for it. I was never bored by the book; it is not a name dropping or self-promoting book, it does as is to be expected promotes and encourages the continuance of the battle to improve the lot of the working class from a unique prospective from a unique man.