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The GOT Book Club
- Thread starter chicoazul
- Start date
The dynasty by Jeff benedict about the New England patriots is a brilliant read. Shows what goes into to running a top sports team and billion dollar commercial outfit from all angles
Just finishing off Kundera's Zert. Pretty interesting given his personal history.
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Player Valuation: £15m
the finished book today is Blood Standard by Laird Barron
Blurb
Isaiah Coleridge is a mob enforcer in Alaska--he's tough, seen a lot, and dished out more. But when he forcibly ends the moneymaking scheme of a made man, he gets in the kind of trouble that can lead to a bullet behind the ear. Saved by the grace of his boss and exiled to upstate New York, Isaiah begins a new life, a quiet life without gunshots or explosions. Except a teenage girl disappears, and Isaiah isn't one to let that slip by. And delving into the underworld to track this missing girl will get him exactly the kind of notice he was warned to avoid.
Slightly above average noir book with an above average price.
The story moves along at a decent clip, hero seems to get plenty of injuries, but as usual after a couple of pain killers and some home first aid he is back to battering everyone.
Classification of the book is a little difficult, there are a lot of elements thrown into the mix, if you ever get round to reading it you will see what I mean. I have a couple of gripes
But all in all, if this is your thing then pick it up if you see it on a deal anywhere, there are worse out there.
Not one I will be re-reading at any point though, there was maybe just enough in there for me to keep an eye out for #2 in the series, but that will only be if I come across it cheap, otherwise I won't bother.
Blurb
Isaiah Coleridge is a mob enforcer in Alaska--he's tough, seen a lot, and dished out more. But when he forcibly ends the moneymaking scheme of a made man, he gets in the kind of trouble that can lead to a bullet behind the ear. Saved by the grace of his boss and exiled to upstate New York, Isaiah begins a new life, a quiet life without gunshots or explosions. Except a teenage girl disappears, and Isaiah isn't one to let that slip by. And delving into the underworld to track this missing girl will get him exactly the kind of notice he was warned to avoid.
Slightly above average noir book with an above average price.
The story moves along at a decent clip, hero seems to get plenty of injuries, but as usual after a couple of pain killers and some home first aid he is back to battering everyone.
Classification of the book is a little difficult, there are a lot of elements thrown into the mix, if you ever get round to reading it you will see what I mean. I have a couple of gripes
the main plot (find the girl) ended up being more of an afterthought towards the end of the book. There were also a couple of wild coincidences that always seem to rear their ugly heads in these sort of books which is a shame
But all in all, if this is your thing then pick it up if you see it on a deal anywhere, there are worse out there.
Not one I will be re-reading at any point though, there was maybe just enough in there for me to keep an eye out for #2 in the series, but that will only be if I come across it cheap, otherwise I won't bother.
Last edited:
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Player Valuation: £15m
Another book hits the completed pile, this time it is Flood by Andrew Vachss
This book was grim, not one you want to read straight after reading a comedy book that's for sure.
Before I get into the book itself, I want to give some info on the author because I think this is important
As an attorney, Vachss represents only children and adolescents. In addition to his private practice, he serves as a law guardian in New York state. In every child abuse or neglect case, state law requires the appointment of a law guardian, a lawyer who represents the child's interests during the legal proceedings.
In his introduction to this novel, he is unabashedly honest that his purpose in writing this story (and the subsequent books in the series) was to educate people about the brutal and wide-spread reality of child abuse, and of the need to protect our young ones before, in our apathy or ignorance, we create the next generation of “monsters.”
So the point I am trying to make is that he is not just some writer after shock value to sell books, he is touching upon subject matter in the book to highlight things to people that they probably were not aware of at the time, bear in mind the book was first published in 1985 (so no internet). You will have seen and read about a lot more brutal things in the world since this book was written, but I can see at the time it was probably groundbreaking.
Onto the book itself....
A private eye, a sort of ex-everything you can think of, paranoid to the extreme by thinking he is in someones cross-hairs, is hired to find a killer by a woman hell bent on revenge. This particular PI is just the right guy for this task as there isn't much legality in what he does and killing killers is fine with him.
It's a hunt-the-killer and extract revenge, a story arc that you have read plenty of times before, except this one is probably a lot more brutal than most of the ones you are used to. We are introduced to all sorts of characters and I am sure some will re-appear in the following books in the series, they are too interesting to only be in this one. Transvestite prostitutes, the prophet, silent ninjas, the mole, you get the idea.
All in all its a good effort for a first book, I have read that the book series improves the more that Vachss writing style evolves. I would agree that the book does meander a bit and goes off-track in places throughout the story, almost as if the author wasn't sure if he would sell this book so shoved as much in as possible just in case. With more editing and cutting out some of the side tracking out it would have been a lot better
That said, I will definitely be getting the #2 book in the series, there are 18 in total, the PI in it is just too good not to read about further.
So onto some reviews...
You say you want a hard-boiled gritty crime novel? Well, you can read Andrew Vachss’s series about Burke, but you better stock up on anti-depressants and be prepared to give up any faith in humanity you might have.
Flood takes you to places that you probably don't want to go, describes in depth things you probably don't want to think about and generally makes you feel like the world has fallen about as far from the light as it is possible without becoming a fully fledged dystopia.
What did I think? This guy's the king of "Noir", is what I think. Andrew Vachss, a lawyer and author with a penchant for the welfare of kids and women - especially the kids - has created Burke to let some steam escape.
Vachss has written arguably the 'hardest' book ever put to print. His violent prose and beautiful character descriptions paint such a vivid picture, you marvel at his incredible perception of human nature.
Burke who lives in squalor, mixes with scumbags and has the ethical code of one of those Mexican drug traffickers who videos himself torturing and murdering his rivals.
Am not sure I 100% completely agree with the above, but they give you an idea as to what others think about the general tone of the book
Very good book indeed, but you really do have to be in the right mood to read it.
I can definitely recommend for fans of noir, but if that genre is not your thing then stay clear.
This book was grim, not one you want to read straight after reading a comedy book that's for sure.
Before I get into the book itself, I want to give some info on the author because I think this is important
As an attorney, Vachss represents only children and adolescents. In addition to his private practice, he serves as a law guardian in New York state. In every child abuse or neglect case, state law requires the appointment of a law guardian, a lawyer who represents the child's interests during the legal proceedings.
In his introduction to this novel, he is unabashedly honest that his purpose in writing this story (and the subsequent books in the series) was to educate people about the brutal and wide-spread reality of child abuse, and of the need to protect our young ones before, in our apathy or ignorance, we create the next generation of “monsters.”
So the point I am trying to make is that he is not just some writer after shock value to sell books, he is touching upon subject matter in the book to highlight things to people that they probably were not aware of at the time, bear in mind the book was first published in 1985 (so no internet). You will have seen and read about a lot more brutal things in the world since this book was written, but I can see at the time it was probably groundbreaking.
Onto the book itself....
A private eye, a sort of ex-everything you can think of, paranoid to the extreme by thinking he is in someones cross-hairs, is hired to find a killer by a woman hell bent on revenge. This particular PI is just the right guy for this task as there isn't much legality in what he does and killing killers is fine with him.
It's a hunt-the-killer and extract revenge, a story arc that you have read plenty of times before, except this one is probably a lot more brutal than most of the ones you are used to. We are introduced to all sorts of characters and I am sure some will re-appear in the following books in the series, they are too interesting to only be in this one. Transvestite prostitutes, the prophet, silent ninjas, the mole, you get the idea.
All in all its a good effort for a first book, I have read that the book series improves the more that Vachss writing style evolves. I would agree that the book does meander a bit and goes off-track in places throughout the story, almost as if the author wasn't sure if he would sell this book so shoved as much in as possible just in case. With more editing and cutting out some of the side tracking out it would have been a lot better
That said, I will definitely be getting the #2 book in the series, there are 18 in total, the PI in it is just too good not to read about further.
So onto some reviews...
You say you want a hard-boiled gritty crime novel? Well, you can read Andrew Vachss’s series about Burke, but you better stock up on anti-depressants and be prepared to give up any faith in humanity you might have.
Flood takes you to places that you probably don't want to go, describes in depth things you probably don't want to think about and generally makes you feel like the world has fallen about as far from the light as it is possible without becoming a fully fledged dystopia.
What did I think? This guy's the king of "Noir", is what I think. Andrew Vachss, a lawyer and author with a penchant for the welfare of kids and women - especially the kids - has created Burke to let some steam escape.
Vachss has written arguably the 'hardest' book ever put to print. His violent prose and beautiful character descriptions paint such a vivid picture, you marvel at his incredible perception of human nature.
Burke who lives in squalor, mixes with scumbags and has the ethical code of one of those Mexican drug traffickers who videos himself torturing and murdering his rivals.
Am not sure I 100% completely agree with the above, but they give you an idea as to what others think about the general tone of the book
Very good book indeed, but you really do have to be in the right mood to read it.
I can definitely recommend for fans of noir, but if that genre is not your thing then stay clear.
On my list - cheers.
random
Player Valuation: £15m
Just completed Mean Business on North Ganson Street by Craig Zahler
Blurb:
A distraught businessman kills himself after a short, impolite conversation with a detective named Jules Bettinger. Because of this incident, the unkind (but decorated) policeman is forced to relocate himself and his family from Arizona to the frigid north, where he will work for an understaffed precinct in Victory, Missouri. This collapsed rustbelt city is a dying beast that devours itself and its inhabitants...and has done so for more than four decades. Its streets are covered with dead pigeons and there are seven hundred criminals for every law enforcer.
Well if the last book I read was grim then this one is best described as brutal
Another good book to get hold of in my opinion, but there are a couple of caveats.
Expect action, its a fast paced story, however there are some very gruesome parts, if you cannot handle violence in a story then swerve this one
You are left wondering throughout the book why things are happening the way they are and the reveal doesn't happen until the last 25% of the book when it brings things together.
I think in the last 20% (ish) of the book, some parts are certainly stretching the bounds of realism (the hunt)
Some of the stuff in there I don't think there is a need for it, adds nothing to the story and just makes you a tad uncomfortable reading it (probably the intent of the author)
So to recap, probably one of the more violent books I have read in the past few years, the action is not a by product of the story (such as in other books like the Reacher or Quarry series), but an integral part of the tale. If the violence wasn't there then it turns what is a decent book into a very below average one.
And onto some reviews:
I have never read book like this before so I can't compare it to anything, but I just could not put it down. It's scary, brutal, and cold, literally. I look forward to reading this again
The dialogue bites and the characters pull no punches. I cannot recommend it enough. It's the best thriller I've read in 10 years.
Violent and graphic, the author does not shy away from making the reader feel uncomfortable, immersing them in a world of dark secrets and spontaneous brutality.
Fast paced crime-thriller. Intensely violent.
Again, some reviews are spot on, others are a bit overboard.
It might be your thing, if it is then I would suggest reading more online reviews before buying it, but it is a decent read even with the faults I had with it.
Blurb:
A distraught businessman kills himself after a short, impolite conversation with a detective named Jules Bettinger. Because of this incident, the unkind (but decorated) policeman is forced to relocate himself and his family from Arizona to the frigid north, where he will work for an understaffed precinct in Victory, Missouri. This collapsed rustbelt city is a dying beast that devours itself and its inhabitants...and has done so for more than four decades. Its streets are covered with dead pigeons and there are seven hundred criminals for every law enforcer.
Well if the last book I read was grim then this one is best described as brutal
Another good book to get hold of in my opinion, but there are a couple of caveats.
Expect action, its a fast paced story, however there are some very gruesome parts, if you cannot handle violence in a story then swerve this one
You are left wondering throughout the book why things are happening the way they are and the reveal doesn't happen until the last 25% of the book when it brings things together.
I think in the last 20% (ish) of the book, some parts are certainly stretching the bounds of realism (the hunt)
Some of the stuff in there I don't think there is a need for it, adds nothing to the story and just makes you a tad uncomfortable reading it (probably the intent of the author)
So to recap, probably one of the more violent books I have read in the past few years, the action is not a by product of the story (such as in other books like the Reacher or Quarry series), but an integral part of the tale. If the violence wasn't there then it turns what is a decent book into a very below average one.
And onto some reviews:
I have never read book like this before so I can't compare it to anything, but I just could not put it down. It's scary, brutal, and cold, literally. I look forward to reading this again
The dialogue bites and the characters pull no punches. I cannot recommend it enough. It's the best thriller I've read in 10 years.
Violent and graphic, the author does not shy away from making the reader feel uncomfortable, immersing them in a world of dark secrets and spontaneous brutality.
Fast paced crime-thriller. Intensely violent.
Again, some reviews are spot on, others are a bit overboard.
It might be your thing, if it is then I would suggest reading more online reviews before buying it, but it is a decent read even with the faults I had with it.
My reading list is growing by the day lol
Whoever recommended this cracker, thanks very much, best book I’ve read in ages :
Mercy by Jussi Adler- Olson.
First in the Department Q series.
Bone idle, grumpy, but brilliant, Danish detective, Carl Morck is banished to the HQ basement, to wade through unsolvable cold cases of the newly formed Department Q.
Together with his sedate, but deadly Middle Eastern assistant, they slowly piece together the case of a Danish MP, who’s been missing for 5 years.
The best way I can describe this book, is that it reads like a Danish Rebus.
Laced with black humour, very well written and the character of Carl Morck is superb. He’s grumpy, he can’t be arsed, he frequently has a kip at his desk, but underneath it all is a very diligent Detective, who just needs motivating.
I’m already looking at the next book in the series.
I've just finished this. Very interesting. It was written in 2014 but very relevant. In an age when America elected its first black president and the Middle East stirred with popular uprising, Britons were again content to elect the products of their elitist Public Schools. But, their grooming for power aside, does such an education produce excellence – or expertise in self-deception and duplicity? The early 21st Century gives us some clues. Tony Blair maintained his façade of inner conviction but lost the nation through blind allegiance to the Establishment. David Cameron let his boyish mask of caring sincerity slip to reveal a bully’s attitude beneath his meritocratic pretence. A bicycle in Downing Street highlighted a deep-seated problem in Britain: a divided society caught in the enduring trance of the Entitlement Illusion. This specific culture of elitism, protected by financial interests and the “It never did me any harm” syndrome, means that Britain is unlikely to foster the kind of leadership necessary in our world of increasing complexity, which needs a communal mindset and cooperative global solutions. But worse, new scientific evidence shows that this hyper-rational training leaves its devotees trapped within the confines of an inflexible mind, beset with functional defects, Fascinating My favourite quote: "How a nation treats its children determines its foreign policy. One for the lefties though...
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Player Valuation: £15m
Another one hits the finished pile, Darwin's Nightmare by Mike Knowles
Another noir/crime book, and yet another one that is #1 in a series of several books, so if you like this one there are more to be getting on with
Blurb
Wilson spent his entire life under the radar. Few people knew who he was and even less knew how to find him. Only two people even knew what he really did.
He worked jobs for one very bad man. Illegal jobs no one could ever know about. Wilson was invisible until the day he crossed the line.
It started with a simple job. Steal a bag from the airport and hand it off. No one said what was in the bag, and no one mentioned who the real owners were or what they would do to get it back. One bag sets into motion a violent chain of events from which no one will escape untouched.
Again we have a guy living 'under the radar' does anyone nowadays actually live on the grid ?
It's a decent enough tale, although there are parts of the story that just didn't gel for me, and came across as a bit far fetched. The speed in which stuff is worked out and the escaping of certain situations didn't need to be exaggerated so much. Plenty of violence to keep the more bloodthirsty of you happy, very little character development though.
That said it is a slight variation on the loner theme and if you like thrillers then there are worse out there. I should say there are also a lot better out there, so I will class it as average and something to pass the time.
Reviews
It was ok. Kept my attention right the way through. Unlikeable characters who blaze away at each other without a cop in sight.
Pace - good, story - interesting, character - a grower, setting - Hamilton, Ontario - another plus, length - a fraction under 200 pages - perfect, outcome - believable with only a slight stretch of the imagination that our main man survives intact the amount of flashing steel and hot lead flying around.
Best book ever? No, but enough to interest me in reading further in the series.
Mike Knowles’ “Darwin’s Nightmare” is almost a clinically pure action novel, which means that virtually the entire text describes action - beating people up, getting beaten up, killing other people in order not to get killed by them, and performing various evasive maneuvers. There is virtually nothing else in the book; no characterizations and no psychological or sociological observations.
As the pages flip by, and bones break, and tendons rupture, and blood spurts, and bullets pierce flesh, the crunchy dialogue and pungent narrative drives Darwin’s Nightmare to new heights of hard-bitten cynicism.
Those reviews above are pretty much spot on.
Now the bad news, the price is obscene in my opinion, ebook (£11) and paperback (£20) are way overpriced for what you are getting. The author would have done a lot better making this a cheap book to get you hooked into the character/series.
My advice would be not to bother unless you really like the genre and you find a cheap or 2nd hand copy. Save your money, I have reviewed better and cheaper books over the past few weeks.
Another noir/crime book, and yet another one that is #1 in a series of several books, so if you like this one there are more to be getting on with
Blurb
Wilson spent his entire life under the radar. Few people knew who he was and even less knew how to find him. Only two people even knew what he really did.
He worked jobs for one very bad man. Illegal jobs no one could ever know about. Wilson was invisible until the day he crossed the line.
It started with a simple job. Steal a bag from the airport and hand it off. No one said what was in the bag, and no one mentioned who the real owners were or what they would do to get it back. One bag sets into motion a violent chain of events from which no one will escape untouched.
Again we have a guy living 'under the radar' does anyone nowadays actually live on the grid ?
It's a decent enough tale, although there are parts of the story that just didn't gel for me, and came across as a bit far fetched. The speed in which stuff is worked out and the escaping of certain situations didn't need to be exaggerated so much. Plenty of violence to keep the more bloodthirsty of you happy, very little character development though.
That said it is a slight variation on the loner theme and if you like thrillers then there are worse out there. I should say there are also a lot better out there, so I will class it as average and something to pass the time.
Reviews
It was ok. Kept my attention right the way through. Unlikeable characters who blaze away at each other without a cop in sight.
Pace - good, story - interesting, character - a grower, setting - Hamilton, Ontario - another plus, length - a fraction under 200 pages - perfect, outcome - believable with only a slight stretch of the imagination that our main man survives intact the amount of flashing steel and hot lead flying around.
Best book ever? No, but enough to interest me in reading further in the series.
Mike Knowles’ “Darwin’s Nightmare” is almost a clinically pure action novel, which means that virtually the entire text describes action - beating people up, getting beaten up, killing other people in order not to get killed by them, and performing various evasive maneuvers. There is virtually nothing else in the book; no characterizations and no psychological or sociological observations.
As the pages flip by, and bones break, and tendons rupture, and blood spurts, and bullets pierce flesh, the crunchy dialogue and pungent narrative drives Darwin’s Nightmare to new heights of hard-bitten cynicism.
Those reviews above are pretty much spot on.
Now the bad news, the price is obscene in my opinion, ebook (£11) and paperback (£20) are way overpriced for what you are getting. The author would have done a lot better making this a cheap book to get you hooked into the character/series.
My advice would be not to bother unless you really like the genre and you find a cheap or 2nd hand copy. Save your money, I have reviewed better and cheaper books over the past few weeks.
random
Player Valuation: £15m
Thanks very much mate. I am trying to trawl through some lesser known authors books (with a smattering of lesser known books by well known authors) to see if there are any gems that will pique the interest of other readers
I would be interested if anyone does get hold of any of these books and what they think.
I hate getting a book and investing time in it based on reviews that quite frankly are way out of kilter with what I think the book offers. I read this piece
buying book reviews and I can't help but think I have been caught up in a book being hyped by paid for reviews.
At least on here everyone gives an honest appraisal if a book is worth getting or not and I would rather get a book from a recommendation on here than elsewhere
Virtually everything I read now is based on reviews on here.
I’ve read so many fantastic books now, that would’ve bypassed me if it wasn’t for people on here.
I tend not to read literary reviews, as most come across as either up their own arse or written with an agenda in mind.
The ones in the book section in the Saturday Telegraph are probably the best and most honest that I’ve found.