The GOT Book Club

[Philw]

Now this is more like it ! trawling goodreads I came across this, The Devotion of Suspect X


View attachment 115293


If you like whodunnits, mysteries, police procedurals or books of that ilk then this will be right up your street, its a fantastic read and probably the best book I have read for a good number of years.

But there is a big problem, if I describe the basic story of the book it will go some way in spoiling the story, but all I can say is get hold of it, try it out and where possible really try and avoid anything that gives you the story outline before you read it.

What I will do instead is copy some extracts from goodreads/amazon reviews to whet your appetite


This book is best if read cold, without reading the cover blurbs or reviews.
One of the best books in the thriller genre I have read so far
What can I say about this book. It's a cut above the rest when it comes to crime fiction
this is an absolute "must read" top rated story which will thrill you right from the word go.
I rarely give out five stars, but this one earned it
The Devotion of Suspect X is one of the most mind boggling books that I have ever read
I literally could not put this down. One of the best novels I've read in the past few years
One of the biggest-selling Japanese thrillers ever



Every so often I read a book that sets the bar that other books need to reach, I am not talking about the 'above average' books, but ones that are defining moments in a particular genre, in the whodunit/psychological thriller stakes, this one is the new standard by which I will be judging all others.

I hope you give it a try and come to the same conclusion I did (just hope I haven't built it up so much that you will disappointed in it, but I doubt it)

Outstanding book

Is The Times' quote realistic?

 

[PITA]

Is The Times' quote realistic?

You were given one, just one instruction: This book is best if read cold, without reading the cover blurbs or reviews.

 

[the golden visionary]

Atomic habits

Everything is fked

Both fantastic reads

 

[random]

Is The Times' quote realistic?

I think its there so people who liked the Millennium series of books tried this out, personally I don't think its needed.

If anyone does get it (£6 on Amazon) and read it, you will understand why reviews on it shouldn't be read beforehand, nor put up anything about the story lest it take away the enjoyment for folks that have never read it

 

[Philw]

You were given one, just one instruction: This book is best if read cold, without reading the cover blurbs or reviews.

Haha, yeah but the line from the Times appears on the page way higher than those instructions!! Too late by the time I got down that far!

 

[PITA]

Haha, yeah but the line from the Times appears on the page way higher than those instructions!! Too late by the time I got down that far!

@random

@Philw has a good point here.

 

[random]

@PITA

Yeah, fortunately it doesn't give anything away regarding the book, and less than I gave away in my post

 

[COYBL25]

Now this is more like it ! trawling goodreads I came across this, The Devotion of Suspect X


View attachment 115293


If you like whodunnits, mysteries, police procedurals or books of that ilk then this will be right up your street, its a fantastic read and probably the best book I have read for a good number of years.

But there is a big problem, if I describe the basic story of the book it will go some way in spoiling the story, but all I can say is get hold of it, try it out and where possible really try and avoid anything that gives you the story outline before you read it.

What I will do instead is copy some extracts from goodreads/amazon reviews to whet your appetite


This book is best if read cold, without reading the cover blurbs or reviews.
One of the best books in the thriller genre I have read so far
What can I say about this book. It's a cut above the rest when it comes to crime fiction
this is an absolute "must read" top rated story which will thrill you right from the word go.
I rarely give out five stars, but this one earned it
The Devotion of Suspect X is one of the most mind boggling books that I have ever read
I literally could not put this down. One of the best novels I've read in the past few years
One of the biggest-selling Japanese thrillers ever



Every so often I read a book that sets the bar that other books need to reach, I am not talking about the 'above average' books, but ones that are defining moments in a particular genre, in the whodunit/psychological thriller stakes, this one is the new standard by which I will be judging all others.

I hope you give it a try and come to the same conclusion I did (just hope I haven't built it up so much that you will disappointed in it, but I doubt it)

Outstanding book

How are you managing to read a book a day, that`s some going.

Unless you`re posting c/o of H.M.P lol

 

[random]

How are you managing to read a book a day, that`s some going.

Unless you`re posting c/o of H.M.P lol

Always been a quick reader mate, and am on furlough at the moment so thought I would expand my horizons

As you can see, if anyone recommends something then I will give it a go if it appeals, and from my reviews of those books on here you can see I have read/absorbed the book

......Its either that or listen to the Mrs, books it is then

 

[degsy]

Thought I would go back to a bit of Sci-Fi, I went for a book that won a Hugo Award as I figured award winning books can't be half bad.

View attachment 115043

One minute, down-and-out actor Lorenzo Smythe was - as usual - in a bar, drinking away his troubles as he watched his career go down the tubes. Then a space pilot bought him a drink, and the next thing Smythe knew, he was shanghaied to Mars.
Suddenly he found himself agreeing to the most difficult role of his career: impersonating an important politician who had been kidnapped.

Not the longest book I have ever read, coming in at 260 pages, to be honest apart from a bit of space travel and Martians getting a mention there isn't that much Sci in the Sci-fi.

The setting could (and probably has) been used in lots of other books, both for historical and present day settings.

The fact that it won an award just goes to show either the competition was very poor or the fix was in.

£4 for the Kindle version, if you are a Heinlein completest then I guess you will be reading it anyway, I don't think it's all that so my read-a-crap book run seems to be continuing unfortunately

Yep, sure is. Not a very good example, but even the Hugos and SF in general are a broad church some leave me flat.
Try RingWorld or the Mote in Gods Eye by Larry Niven
Oh and of course 95% is USA centric...or some stylised view of what America , was/Is, will be.
tbh, a lot of the modern stuff leaves me cold though, I was brought up on 40, 50, 60 pulp stuff, and lots of space opera

 

[random]

Unless you`re posting c/o of H.M.P lol

Now there is an idea, it's been a while since I read a book about captivity (the last one was Marching Powder by Rusty Young) so I gave Edward 'Mr Blue' Bunker a go, He was in Reservoir Dogs and was a convicted felon, apparently he held the record for being the youngest ever inmate in San Quentin




He wrote a few books, the one I have just finished is The Animal Factory (it was made into a film directed by 'Mr Pink' from Reservoir Dogs)



It's not a bad read and you can tell that he is recounting his real life experiences with fellow convicts in the story arcs that are present in the book.

I think if he wanted to he could have made this a factual book about San Quentin, but instead chose to portray this as a work of fiction. It's not a bad read considering his day job was armed robbery rather than literature, but unless you have a specific interest in US prison life then the story offers little else imo.

Some reviews class it as a character driven work, and having finished the book I could quite easily see the character of Earl being Ed Bunker and the character of Ron being you, the reader. Basically the old experienced con showing the new fish the ropes on how to survive without getting shanked/buggered.

So to recap, interesting if you want to read about prison life from the viewpoint of a convict, not so good if you are after a story to keep you engrossed

 

[random]

Keeping up with a criminal theme, just finished this



Blurb

Under the guise of a college student, Carl Bigelow moves into a small town and into the life of Jake Winroy, a one-time crook who now plans to testify against an organised crime figure. The tricky thing is to kill Jake without making it look like a hit.


Initial story seemed interesting but about a third of the way through it was starting to get a bit iffy, I stuck with it until the end as I hate abandoning a book (and the time I have already invested in it), just in case the ending pulls it all together.

Alas, not in this case, i should have bailed.

He might have written some great books, but this isn't one of them, you are not missing out by swerving this one.

 

[random]

Having just read a book on jail I decided to try one on a jailbreak, Dirty White Boys by Stephen Hunter. Another one that gets a bucketful of 5 star reviews. Book was published 25 years ago, so will you will need to get your 1995 technology head on.



Unfortunately......

The author goes for some shock value with the violence, maybe a little too much, and the number of coincidences in the book was getting unrealistic.

There were also some big leaps of being clever on both sides of the chase, which upon reflection that were just not things, even people with above average intelligence, would think of.

Anyways, if you like 'killers on the run causing mayhem' type of books then you might give it a go, but it's not one I will be going back to for another read though, and cannot recommend it.

 

[BigMick]

Keeping up with a criminal theme, just finished this

View attachment 115492

Blurb

Under the guise of a college student, Carl Bigelow moves into a small town and into the life of Jake Winroy, a one-time crook who now plans to testify against an organised crime figure. The tricky thing is to kill Jake without making it look like a hit.


Initial story seemed interesting but about a third of the way through it was starting to get a bit iffy, I stuck with it until the end as I hate abandoning a book (and the time I have already invested in it), just in case the ending pulls it all together.

Alas, not in this case, i should have bailed.

He might have written some great books, but this isn't one of them, you are not missing out by swerving this one.

Agree with you on this. I think Thompson as a whole was a bit hit and miss, but his best books are very good.

 

[wm02]

Just re-read The Great Gatsby for the first time in about 25 years. While the plot is still a little lacking, the brevity and use of language is remarkable.
Currently reading this. Really enjoy McCann’s work (especially Transatlantic). This deals with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a pair of families personally affected and brought close by the senseless violence. A great read thus far.