Philw
Player Valuation: £50m
I'd say the same, except it's more like everything I add to my to read/watch list!!
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The GOT Book Club
- Thread starter chicoazul
- Start date
I read a ton of Vachss back in high school...always a chilling and good read. Good stuff.
[edit: now you have me going and googling Vachss again; his wikipedia page is interesting--very impressive career in protecting children and fighting against child abuse.]
BigMick
Player Valuation: £20m
The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White, written in 1936. In her day White was every bit as popular as the likes of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers but, unlike them, she is virtually unknown today. The reasons for this can only be that she wasn't as prolific, as she only began writing full-time in her 50s after giving up her 'proper job' in the mid-1920s; and she never created a serial detective like Poirot, Marple, or Wimsey.
This was her 6th crime/mystery novel and it was so popular that Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, turned it into one of his most celebrated films, The Lady Vanishes, in 1938. I have to say that the film is superior to the book, and I'd rate this the worst of the five White novels I've read so far, though 'worst' is perhaps the wrong word - 'least good' would be better because it's still an excellent read. I felt the ending was strangely rushed, and she also throws in a couple of unnecessary chapters where we meet the elderly parents of the vanished lady, dissipating the tension she'd skilfully built up in the preceding chapters. It's that ability to create tension and an atmosphere of suspense, mystery and impending doom that is her greatest strength. Inevitably, in a writer from the 1930s, there are some aspects of her work that might seem a little dated to a modern reader, but for me they only add to the authenticity of the books. I'd recommend them to any fan of Christie or Sayers, or of the Golden Age of British crime fiction.
The Wheel Spins is included in The Collected Works, available on Amazon for a ludicrous 99p, which also includes three of the others that I've read: Fear Stalks the Village, Some Must Watch (filmed as The Spiral Staircase), and Wax, set in the town of Riverpool. Her other novels, including the excellent The First Time He Died, are available for under £2 (Kindle).
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
Are the cricket fanatics Charters and Caldicott in it ?
BigMick
Player Valuation: £20m
No, they were a Hitchcock addition!
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
Well I'll be damned. lolNo, they were a Hitchcock addition!
Philw
Player Valuation: £50m
@random if you're looking for more books to read - I haven't read this, came across it thru The Fussy Librarian, but the synopsis sounds quite interesting, and very topical!
Amazon product ASIN B007FKCGOQ
Amazon product ASIN B007FKCGOQ
random
Player Valuation: £15m
Have bookmarked it (excuse the pun)
I ought to get all my books in some sort of reading order, I tend to spot one and get into it without giving thought to all the others that I have waiting to be read.
random
Player Valuation: £15m
Latest book finished is Black Maps by Peter Spiegelman, written in 2003 and #1 of a 3 book series
Blurb:
John March takes the case of Rick Pierro, a self-made man who has everything–and who's in danger of losing it all. An anonymous, poisonous threat has implicated him in a vast money-laundering scheme already under investigation by the feds.
March's own investigation uncovers a blood-stained paper trail that leads him deep into the lives of both insiders and outcasts on the street. He discovers that his client may be the latest victim of a serial extortionist diabolically adept at psychological and physical intimidation, but the more March learns the more questions he has about Pierro, his wife, and the secrets hidden beneath the glossy surfaces of their lives. And the more he begins to fear that his own blood will be added to the trail before the case is closed.
For a debut novel this isn't half bad, story moves along nicely bearing in mind its about white collar crime and not an action thriller. Some parts could have done with being removed from the tale as I don't think they bring anything to the table, but all in all its decent enough. Unfortunately as with a lot of these novels some aspects are just to co-incidental, hero needs access to some files ? sure no worries, he just happens to know a guy in the right place that will risk his job for no viable reason. If you can overlook these and also some of the hero eagle eyed observations that lead into the next investigative thread, then you will enjoy this book. But it is fiction after all, and if I wanted factual stuff then I am reading the wrong thing.
Reviews
As a 20 year veteran of Wall St. Spegielman plays to his strengths. The world of finance, in particular the mechanisms and institutions of Wall St are the canvas for this novel. The necessarily complex movement of great trances of money are simply explained and the reader is confident of relevance to the story, rather than convoluted add ons designed to pad out a story.
White collar crime is not the sexiest of forms of investigation. The number of car chases, shoot outs and fist fights are kept to a minimum in a world of spreadsheets and pinstripes. Peter Spiegelman tries to change this in `Black Maps' as it is a generic PI crime novel set around the world of dodgy financial dealings.
This is a well-researched and entirely convincing corporate thriller. And therein lies the problem. Swindling and fraud may make media headlines but they're unlikely to satisfy die-hard thriller fans - unless the story is told at breakneck speed, which this one palpably isn't
No computer specialist who can track a phone call in seconds or instantaneously match DNA evidence, rather this novel features intelligent following of available clues. This is not to say that March is every man; he is obviously a superior physical and mental specimen without extending into the range of superhero.
I sometimes felt it could move along just a little faster, but Spiegelman took his time and tied up a lot of loose ends in a way that didn't seem contrived
Those reviews are pretty much on the money
And onto my biggest gripe, yet again a book that is nearly 20 years old, a debut novel and not a best seller is hitting the wallet at £10 for the paperback, it's a lot of money for someone to take a flyer on a novel when you could pick up The Godfather for a fiver or The Pelican Brief for £7. If you haven't read either of those two then that's where the money needs to go. I am all for authors making a living, but come on, price stuff appropriately compared to other books on the market once they are past their shelf life.
So, another decent book and it's worth reading if you like a slower paced story. Worth a fiver to pass the time ? sure, because it's different to the usual PI stuff, as long as you know its a read once and be done with it, not one to go back to for another read in the future.
Worth a tenner ? hmmmm..... not in my opinion, not when you can register to be a pre-publication book reviewer and get as many brand new books as you can handle for free vs a 20 year old one that costs £££'s.
Will I be reading #2 in the series ? probably not, I wasn't that overwhelmed or interested in the hero that much.
Blurb:
John March takes the case of Rick Pierro, a self-made man who has everything–and who's in danger of losing it all. An anonymous, poisonous threat has implicated him in a vast money-laundering scheme already under investigation by the feds.
March's own investigation uncovers a blood-stained paper trail that leads him deep into the lives of both insiders and outcasts on the street. He discovers that his client may be the latest victim of a serial extortionist diabolically adept at psychological and physical intimidation, but the more March learns the more questions he has about Pierro, his wife, and the secrets hidden beneath the glossy surfaces of their lives. And the more he begins to fear that his own blood will be added to the trail before the case is closed.
For a debut novel this isn't half bad, story moves along nicely bearing in mind its about white collar crime and not an action thriller. Some parts could have done with being removed from the tale as I don't think they bring anything to the table, but all in all its decent enough. Unfortunately as with a lot of these novels some aspects are just to co-incidental, hero needs access to some files ? sure no worries, he just happens to know a guy in the right place that will risk his job for no viable reason. If you can overlook these and also some of the hero eagle eyed observations that lead into the next investigative thread, then you will enjoy this book. But it is fiction after all, and if I wanted factual stuff then I am reading the wrong thing.
Reviews
As a 20 year veteran of Wall St. Spegielman plays to his strengths. The world of finance, in particular the mechanisms and institutions of Wall St are the canvas for this novel. The necessarily complex movement of great trances of money are simply explained and the reader is confident of relevance to the story, rather than convoluted add ons designed to pad out a story.
White collar crime is not the sexiest of forms of investigation. The number of car chases, shoot outs and fist fights are kept to a minimum in a world of spreadsheets and pinstripes. Peter Spiegelman tries to change this in `Black Maps' as it is a generic PI crime novel set around the world of dodgy financial dealings.
This is a well-researched and entirely convincing corporate thriller. And therein lies the problem. Swindling and fraud may make media headlines but they're unlikely to satisfy die-hard thriller fans - unless the story is told at breakneck speed, which this one palpably isn't
No computer specialist who can track a phone call in seconds or instantaneously match DNA evidence, rather this novel features intelligent following of available clues. This is not to say that March is every man; he is obviously a superior physical and mental specimen without extending into the range of superhero.
I sometimes felt it could move along just a little faster, but Spiegelman took his time and tied up a lot of loose ends in a way that didn't seem contrived
Those reviews are pretty much on the money
And onto my biggest gripe, yet again a book that is nearly 20 years old, a debut novel and not a best seller is hitting the wallet at £10 for the paperback, it's a lot of money for someone to take a flyer on a novel when you could pick up The Godfather for a fiver or The Pelican Brief for £7. If you haven't read either of those two then that's where the money needs to go. I am all for authors making a living, but come on, price stuff appropriately compared to other books on the market once they are past their shelf life.
So, another decent book and it's worth reading if you like a slower paced story. Worth a fiver to pass the time ? sure, because it's different to the usual PI stuff, as long as you know its a read once and be done with it, not one to go back to for another read in the future.
Worth a tenner ? hmmmm..... not in my opinion, not when you can register to be a pre-publication book reviewer and get as many brand new books as you can handle for free vs a 20 year old one that costs £££'s.
Will I be reading #2 in the series ? probably not, I wasn't that overwhelmed or interested in the hero that much.
Alanbileysfeathercut
Player Valuation: £80m
A young relative of mines current read.....
random
Player Valuation: £15m
Have decided to try a bit of Sci-Fi again for a change of scenery, so have just finished The Quantum Price by Malcolm Murdock
Blurb:
When a man wakes up face-down in the middle of a garbage dump, he naturally has a few questions.
Why is he in a hand-tailored suit with a bullet hole in his back? Why are there homicidal robots trying to kill him? Why can’t he remember his own name?
But the more he learns, the less he likes—and the more he starts to think this will end very, very badly.
So, where to start..... the way to describe this book is as follows.... take the following films and throw them all together......
The Bourne Identity, The Matrix and The Terminator. Then add a touch of the tv show Orphan Black and there is the story.
Its a little slow to start with (the story not the action) but I soon got into it and once things accelerate then it turns into a very good read. The overall theme is nothing original and you can see a lot of influences where the author took parts of other books films and dropped them into this one. It is billed as Sci-Fi, but it's not a space travel type of sci-fi with aliens, it is based on earth in a sort of dystopian future, and definitely a cyberpunk theme. Some of the tech is interesting, some of the tech stretches things a little too much, but overall, yeah I can see a lot of that happening in a few 100 years. Plenty of action and interesting situations keep you wanting to see what happens next.
If ever an author was aiming to get a book made into a film it has to be this one. What worked before ? all of the above ? great lets plagiarise bits of them all and make a book out of it.
Reviews
The story piggy backed off the Bourne series too much. Take that out of it and it was a good read. Very imaginative and by the end the author made it his own with great twists and turns
Be patient for the first 30 % as he does a few limited character reveals and goes his world-building. Once the characters are set in motion it is a thrill a moment. You won't be able to put it down. Excellent AI thriller and I can't wait for the next book to see what happens next.
As far as cyberpunk goes there was nothing earth shattering in terms of plot twists or characterization even though the writing desperately wanted me to think there was.
OK, not top tier, (yet), but this is good stuff and I have no problem recommending it.
Those are spot on in terms of describing the book, as I said above, its a mash-up of a lot of other books/films but it does come together quite nicely and the writer has done a decent job of making it an engaging story. There is a book two in the series, although this one does tie up at the end so its not essential to go hunting for number two to finish up the tale.
It kept me engaged and I enjoyed it even with the constant sense of deja vu
Pricing: free on kindle unlimited makes this a no-brainer to get hold of if you liked the above films.
£12 for the paperback is a bit steep, to spend that much on it you really need to be a fan of this genre.
I will be looking out for book two though because for all it faults it was still very good.
By the way...........Did I mention he nicked parts of other books/films to write this one ?
Blurb:
When a man wakes up face-down in the middle of a garbage dump, he naturally has a few questions.
Why is he in a hand-tailored suit with a bullet hole in his back? Why are there homicidal robots trying to kill him? Why can’t he remember his own name?
But the more he learns, the less he likes—and the more he starts to think this will end very, very badly.
So, where to start..... the way to describe this book is as follows.... take the following films and throw them all together......
The Bourne Identity, The Matrix and The Terminator. Then add a touch of the tv show Orphan Black and there is the story.
Its a little slow to start with (the story not the action) but I soon got into it and once things accelerate then it turns into a very good read. The overall theme is nothing original and you can see a lot of influences where the author took parts of other books films and dropped them into this one. It is billed as Sci-Fi, but it's not a space travel type of sci-fi with aliens, it is based on earth in a sort of dystopian future, and definitely a cyberpunk theme. Some of the tech is interesting, some of the tech stretches things a little too much, but overall, yeah I can see a lot of that happening in a few 100 years. Plenty of action and interesting situations keep you wanting to see what happens next.
If ever an author was aiming to get a book made into a film it has to be this one. What worked before ? all of the above ? great lets plagiarise bits of them all and make a book out of it.
Reviews
The story piggy backed off the Bourne series too much. Take that out of it and it was a good read. Very imaginative and by the end the author made it his own with great twists and turns
Be patient for the first 30 % as he does a few limited character reveals and goes his world-building. Once the characters are set in motion it is a thrill a moment. You won't be able to put it down. Excellent AI thriller and I can't wait for the next book to see what happens next.
As far as cyberpunk goes there was nothing earth shattering in terms of plot twists or characterization even though the writing desperately wanted me to think there was.
OK, not top tier, (yet), but this is good stuff and I have no problem recommending it.
Those are spot on in terms of describing the book, as I said above, its a mash-up of a lot of other books/films but it does come together quite nicely and the writer has done a decent job of making it an engaging story. There is a book two in the series, although this one does tie up at the end so its not essential to go hunting for number two to finish up the tale.
It kept me engaged and I enjoyed it even with the constant sense of deja vu
Pricing: free on kindle unlimited makes this a no-brainer to get hold of if you liked the above films.
£12 for the paperback is a bit steep, to spend that much on it you really need to be a fan of this genre.
I will be looking out for book two though because for all it faults it was still very good.
By the way...........Did I mention he nicked parts of other books/films to write this one ?
random
Player Valuation: £15m
staying with Sci-Fi, another one done, The Ark By Patrick Tomlinson.
Blurb
Humankind has escaped a dying Earth and set out to find a new home among the stars aboard an immense generation ship -- the Ark. Bryan Benson is the Ark's greatest living sports hero, enjoying retirement working as a detective in Avalon, his home module. The hours are good, the work is easy, and the perks can't be beat.
But when a crewmember goes missing, Bryan is thrust into the centre of an ever-expanding web of deception, secrets, and violence that overturns everything he knows about living on the Ark and threatens everyone aboard.
Earth is going to be destroyed by a nibiru cataclysm, so a huge spaceship is built and 50,000 of the earths finest are sent to re-spawn humanity on a distant planet. After about 8 generations on a spaceship the original premise of the best of humanity has sort of been diluted a bit. Population is strictly controlled at 50,000 to make sure there is enough re-cycled resource (nothing is wasted). The writing quality is good and from the look of things the author has punted out quite a lot of books so knows what he is doing. Its a decent tale and moves along, not really fast paced (one reviewer below disagrees with me there) but it keeps you occupied. Some parts could be removed as they do not do anything for the story, whereas other parts could be expanded upon, I think the author / his editor did miss a trick in that regard. The tech isn't so outlandish and we are not talking jumping through space, just a big old ship aiming to reach a certain planet after 100's of years.
Reviews
Packed with the usual sci-fi cliches and, rather jarringly in this day and age a fair bit of needless sexism, but a fast paced and largely entertaining romp. If you take out your brain for a while then it is a pretty decent story with some nice ideas and a good conclusion.
Plenty of twists and turns.
It's well written by a competent story teller and he's going places.
You might be interested in The Ark either to enjoy an almost noir-like crime investigation, or to explore a Human generation ship by way of a grounded plot rather than a space opera spectacle
I unfortunately rolled my eyes many times throughout this book. The concept and plot were adequate, but the characters were incredibly fake. Just picture an old Tom Cruise film starring a “rough and tough” detective in space who is out to solve a murder mystery. He has the girls he wants but the closer he comes to answers, he finds he may be on the path to discovering a “bigger” secret.
So there you go, the reviews that I agree with that others have written.
The book comes to a conclusion in its own right, although there is a book #2 in the series if you liked this one well enough. Unfortunately there were about 4 - 5 sentences in the last few pages that jumped out at me and have put me off wanting to carry on with number 2, just in case that one goes down a path I have no interest in.
But, now that I have read this book and seen how prolific the author is, I would certainly read more of his stuff, this was well written and an interesting concept.
£7 for a kindle version, £20 for a paperback. Nah mate, the book is good but not that good. Avoid it at those prices until you see it on sale somewhere would be my recommendation.
Blurb
Humankind has escaped a dying Earth and set out to find a new home among the stars aboard an immense generation ship -- the Ark. Bryan Benson is the Ark's greatest living sports hero, enjoying retirement working as a detective in Avalon, his home module. The hours are good, the work is easy, and the perks can't be beat.
But when a crewmember goes missing, Bryan is thrust into the centre of an ever-expanding web of deception, secrets, and violence that overturns everything he knows about living on the Ark and threatens everyone aboard.
Earth is going to be destroyed by a nibiru cataclysm, so a huge spaceship is built and 50,000 of the earths finest are sent to re-spawn humanity on a distant planet. After about 8 generations on a spaceship the original premise of the best of humanity has sort of been diluted a bit. Population is strictly controlled at 50,000 to make sure there is enough re-cycled resource (nothing is wasted). The writing quality is good and from the look of things the author has punted out quite a lot of books so knows what he is doing. Its a decent tale and moves along, not really fast paced (one reviewer below disagrees with me there) but it keeps you occupied. Some parts could be removed as they do not do anything for the story, whereas other parts could be expanded upon, I think the author / his editor did miss a trick in that regard. The tech isn't so outlandish and we are not talking jumping through space, just a big old ship aiming to reach a certain planet after 100's of years.
Reviews
Packed with the usual sci-fi cliches and, rather jarringly in this day and age a fair bit of needless sexism, but a fast paced and largely entertaining romp. If you take out your brain for a while then it is a pretty decent story with some nice ideas and a good conclusion.
Plenty of twists and turns.
It's well written by a competent story teller and he's going places.
You might be interested in The Ark either to enjoy an almost noir-like crime investigation, or to explore a Human generation ship by way of a grounded plot rather than a space opera spectacle
I unfortunately rolled my eyes many times throughout this book. The concept and plot were adequate, but the characters were incredibly fake. Just picture an old Tom Cruise film starring a “rough and tough” detective in space who is out to solve a murder mystery. He has the girls he wants but the closer he comes to answers, he finds he may be on the path to discovering a “bigger” secret.
So there you go, the reviews that I agree with that others have written.
The book comes to a conclusion in its own right, although there is a book #2 in the series if you liked this one well enough. Unfortunately there were about 4 - 5 sentences in the last few pages that jumped out at me and have put me off wanting to carry on with number 2, just in case that one goes down a path I have no interest in.
But, now that I have read this book and seen how prolific the author is, I would certainly read more of his stuff, this was well written and an interesting concept.
£7 for a kindle version, £20 for a paperback. Nah mate, the book is good but not that good. Avoid it at those prices until you see it on sale somewhere would be my recommendation.
Philw
Player Valuation: £50m
Finished this last night. Really enjoyed it. Highliy recommended if you like Stephen King's books, or anything with a little supernatural element to it.
The Institute by Stephen King - Books on Google Play
The Institute - Ebook written by Stephen King. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read The Institute.play.google.com
Currently reading Stephen King's The Institute. Really enjoying it. About 1/3rd of the way through in just a few days (normally I only read for 10/15 minutes a night before bed), have been really getting into it and staying up too late reading. It can be a little hard going, not in terms of quality or pace etc, but content: it is about a child/group of children who are kidnapped and held in an unknown facility, and they are not treated particularly well to say the least! In spite of those passages I think it's really good so far, and certainly has me rooting for the protagonist more than most other books!
A bit of the blurb:
random
Player Valuation: £15m
just completed KOP by Warren Hammond book #1 in a 3 book series
Blurb:
But he's got more pressing problems, when he's confronted with a dead man, a short-list of leads, and the obligatory question: who done it? Set up for a fall, partnered with a beautiful young woman whose main job is to betray him, and caught in a squeeze between the police chief and the crooked mayor, Juno is a compelling, sympathetic hero on a world that has no heroes.
An exciting science fiction adventure and a dark, gritty noir thriller told in taut, powerful prose, this is a remarkable debut novel.
Ok, I know, an unfortunate choice of title, but lets see where we are at with this one.
The story is one of a crooked cop, asked by his crooked chief of police friend to investigate a murder. This is a story that does not necessarily need to be in a sci-fi setting, there is little future tech and what there is adds nothing to the story. It could quite as easily have been set anywhere in the present time.
This is a debut book from this author and in places it shows, but the overall storytelling was decent enough to keep me interested. I like noir/crime & sci-fi so it ticks those boxes for me. There are some violent parts and the hero isn't a very likeable chap, well he is an enforcer/collector for protection payments after all.
The ending was rushed compared to the rest of the book, almost as if the author felt he had put enough time and effort into it and couldn't wait to get it published/uploaded for sale.
Other reviews
70% hardboiled detective mystery, 30% science fiction thriller, 100% of it so grim, dark and noir that you’d need a military searchlight just to brighten it up to bleak...
Juno Mozambe is a dirty, dirty cop. I mean filthy. He’s an enforcer/bag man man for the Chief of Koba’s Office of Police (aka KOP), where he spends his days collecting payoffs from bars, brothels, drug dealers and gambling operations. Juno’s also getting old, has tremors in his hands and is about at the end of his rope with the life he’s chosen.
'Kop' by Warren Hammond is a dark detective noir masquerading as science fiction.
A pretty entertaining sci-fi crime story. The main problem is that it doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it a police procedural about cops hunting a serial killer? Is it a political thriller? Is it a character study complete with copious flashbacks? Is it about a good rookie cop in a corrupt department? It tries to be all of these things and so only partly succeeds at anything.
It will stand by itself as a one shot deal with no need to get the next book, but if you like the characters and writing style then you have a bit more to chew on.
Some writers I just don't bother with as I don't gel with their style. I won't deliberately go hunting for more of this guys stuff like I would with some other authors, but on the other hand if I do come across another book by him I wouldn't be put off reading it based on this effort.
All in all for a couple of quid it is something to pass the time, not going to win loads of awards, not going to be a best seller. However, if you like gritty tales set in a Blade Runner' type of city, and investigations that are more beating a subject rather than interrogating them at the station you might like this one.
Blurb:
But he's got more pressing problems, when he's confronted with a dead man, a short-list of leads, and the obligatory question: who done it? Set up for a fall, partnered with a beautiful young woman whose main job is to betray him, and caught in a squeeze between the police chief and the crooked mayor, Juno is a compelling, sympathetic hero on a world that has no heroes.
An exciting science fiction adventure and a dark, gritty noir thriller told in taut, powerful prose, this is a remarkable debut novel.
Ok, I know, an unfortunate choice of title, but lets see where we are at with this one.
The story is one of a crooked cop, asked by his crooked chief of police friend to investigate a murder. This is a story that does not necessarily need to be in a sci-fi setting, there is little future tech and what there is adds nothing to the story. It could quite as easily have been set anywhere in the present time.
This is a debut book from this author and in places it shows, but the overall storytelling was decent enough to keep me interested. I like noir/crime & sci-fi so it ticks those boxes for me. There are some violent parts and the hero isn't a very likeable chap, well he is an enforcer/collector for protection payments after all.
The ending was rushed compared to the rest of the book, almost as if the author felt he had put enough time and effort into it and couldn't wait to get it published/uploaded for sale.
Other reviews
70% hardboiled detective mystery, 30% science fiction thriller, 100% of it so grim, dark and noir that you’d need a military searchlight just to brighten it up to bleak...
Juno Mozambe is a dirty, dirty cop. I mean filthy. He’s an enforcer/bag man man for the Chief of Koba’s Office of Police (aka KOP), where he spends his days collecting payoffs from bars, brothels, drug dealers and gambling operations. Juno’s also getting old, has tremors in his hands and is about at the end of his rope with the life he’s chosen.
'Kop' by Warren Hammond is a dark detective noir masquerading as science fiction.
A pretty entertaining sci-fi crime story. The main problem is that it doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it a police procedural about cops hunting a serial killer? Is it a political thriller? Is it a character study complete with copious flashbacks? Is it about a good rookie cop in a corrupt department? It tries to be all of these things and so only partly succeeds at anything.
It will stand by itself as a one shot deal with no need to get the next book, but if you like the characters and writing style then you have a bit more to chew on.
Some writers I just don't bother with as I don't gel with their style. I won't deliberately go hunting for more of this guys stuff like I would with some other authors, but on the other hand if I do come across another book by him I wouldn't be put off reading it based on this effort.
All in all for a couple of quid it is something to pass the time, not going to win loads of awards, not going to be a best seller. However, if you like gritty tales set in a Blade Runner' type of city, and investigations that are more beating a subject rather than interrogating them at the station you might like this one.
Authors nick ideas, Nowt new tbh...its what you do with them that counts, NEA'd really, I'll give it a read and go from there.
I get some good pointers on here.