The GOT Book Club

[degsy]

Having to go back to work has really eaten into my reading time, not to mention starting a new job and doing some online training of an evening so I can hit the ground running. So apologies for the gaps in my reviews.

That said, this is The Cleaner by Brett Battles

View attachment 120892

Blurb
Meet Jonathan Quinn: a freelance operative with a take-no-prisoners style and the heart of a loner. His job? Professional "cleaner." Nothing too violent, just disposing of bodies, doing a little cleanup if necessary.
But in Brett Battles's electrifying debut novel, Quinn's latest assignment will change everything, igniting a harrowing journey of violence, betrayal, and revenge.
The job seemed simple enough: investigating a suspicious case of arson. But when a dead body turns up where it doesn't belong, and Quinn's handlers at "the Office" turn strangely silent, he knows he's in over his head.
With only a handful of clues, Quinn scrambles for cover, struggling to find out why someone wants him dead . . . and if it's linked to a larger attempt to wipe out the Office.


This one looked quite interesting, got rave reviews on Goodreads and mostly 4/5 stars on Amazon. It's not the usual retired hit-man dragged back into the game story, the hero in this is still working and is more of an investigator rather than a killer.
There are some full-on cliches in this book though and some things are a bit iffy - an example being... 'from there it was just a simple crack to access the NATO personnel home records' yeah, reaching there a bit mate.
However the story does move along at a decent clip, although the investigation side turns more into a Jason Bourne type of tale, I would have preferred a more detective-orientated storyline rather than the action hero it turns into.
Now the bad news, the main character is just unlikeable, and by that I mean I couldn't care less if he got aced and someone else took over the main role.
There is zero empathy for the guy, in fact at halfway point in the book it was a coin-toss if I stuck with it at all.
If I read a book with an evil protagonist, I can still relate to them, this main character.... nothing at all. Zilch.
Just an obnoxious dude and not in a good or interesting way


Reviews

The cover endorsements make this out to be something special with links to many great authors - in reality, it is an efficient thriller that will engage you, and then you will forget about it. Fast-moving with a plot that is slightly ambitious, this is not fantastic but is quite readable for what it is.
A good thriller, a bit "superhero " at times but a good read.
Jonathan Quinn, the main character, is the cleaner. He obliterates the evidence of the crime and removes the bodies. Isn't that a fascinating profession for the main character of the thriller? For me it definitely is and I read with great interest the secrets of his business.
From the summary of this book, I thought it’d be about a guy kind of like Harvey Kietel’s character Winston “The Wolf” Wolfe from Pulp Fiction. You know, a slick guy who shows up and gets rid of all the evidence after some criminal shenanigans. But instead of getting The Wolf, this book featured a low-rent Jason Bourne wannabe named Jonathan Quinn.


I think the last review 100% nails this book


£8 for Kindle - £14 for paperback.

For what it is, I think it's very overpriced, if it is a book that you think you might enjoy then I would suggest getting a 2nd hand copy for a quid off amazon instead of spending the retail price.

This is #1 out of about fifteen so it looks like the book-buying public is enjoying the action and ignoring my review !

I might try #2 at some point, but it's not going to be high on my list of priorities, I have loads of other #2s I want to get at before this guy appears in front of me again.

Downloaded

 

[random]

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Will be interested to hear what you think about it mate.

 

[degsy]

Will be interested to hear what you think about it mate.

Im working through the first 3 Lazarus McRea atm

 

[Bilko]

Decent read, fella with aspergers deciding to rob Banks and give to the poor, true story, though I'm not convinced he was " all good ". Author is a writer from The Times

 

[bicycleheader]

Not been brave enough to start these yet so fair play to you. I’ve heard a few times that people often get fed up around book 7/8, though after a break persevere until the end. It’s great that Brandon Sanderson finished them, the man’s a writing machine. Be interested to see if you enjoy WOT all the way through.

I have heard they get really bogged down and there is plenty of filler in the middle of the series. At the moment I am hooked entirely but I can definitely see how he could stray off the main path off the overall plot if he's got 15 or so books out of it.

I will say that so far the tempo of the story in the books is fast and while the 2nd and 3rd book are around 700 pages or so they don't "feel" that long because the story moves quickly. This early on to the series it feels like things are moving fast but I imagine when the end game of the overall series gets revealed that each of those later books will feel like it doesn't move the needle enough towards that final conclusion.

I gave up on them maybe about 15yrs ago around book 6 or 7, but when I recently started using audible I decided to try the first book again and found in audiobook form I quickly got back into them and caught up to where I was before. It definitely does lose its way, but 2nd time around I stuck with them to end. Plenty across all the books to enjoy if you already like these kind of series, but he probably overdid the length alright.

for a follow up read I’d highly recommend Tad Williams, both the Otherland series and Memory, Sorrow & Thorn. A big favourite of mine regardless of genre

 

[bicycleheader]

Available on Amazon today for just 99p, the kindle version of John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. Enter the world of Ignatius J Reilly: philosopher, glutton, hypochondriac and committed onanist. You won't regret it!

madly underrated book that I’m suddenly seeing referenced and mentioned much more.

easily one of the funniest and most original books I’ve read, and the back story of the author and how it got published is sad and amazing

id possibly put this in my all time top ten

 

[BigMick]

madly underrated book that I’m suddenly seeing referenced and mentioned much more.

easily one of the funniest and most original books I’ve read, and the back story of the author and how it got published is sad and amazing

id possibly put this in my all time top ten

I agree with all you say. Certainly one of my favourites, a book I can read again and again.

 

[bicycleheader]

I agree with all you say. Certainly one of my favourites, a book I can read again and again.

Absolutely. I've not read anything else like it

 

[LocalNative]

Just finished The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones and it was fantastic.

It's a horror-novel set around the theme of revenge, guilt and Native American tradition. Really worth a read.

 

[COYBL25]

Just finished The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones and it was fantastic.

It's a horror-novel set around the theme of revenge, guilt and Native American tradition. Really worth a read.

Just read the reviews on this and it sounds right up my street.

Just gone on my reading list

 

[Efcjake]

I gave up on them maybe about 15yrs ago around book 6 or 7, but when I recently started using audible I decided to try the first book again and found in audiobook form I quickly got back into them and caught up to where I was before. It definitely does lose its way, but 2nd time around I stuck with them to end. Plenty across all the books to enjoy if you already like these kind of series, but he probably overdid the length alright.

for a follow up read I’d highly recommend Tad Williams, both the Otherland series and Memory, Sorrow & Thorn. A big favourite of mine regardless of genre

Thanks for the recommendations. I just finished book 4 today and I have downloaded the other 11. I can see signs early on of how it can drag out and become a slog waiting for the huge end of days battle they have promised since book 1.

 

[ste d' indica]

Seashaken Houses - Tom Nancollas

Highly recommended.

A fascinating account of the history, building and continued operation of some of the remote rock lighthouses around our treacherous seas and stories from the men that called them home. Not only is it full of information, its very well written for a nonfiction. The author has an engaging style and a nice turn of phrase. The image of a keeper reading a book by the light of the moon through a window 60 feet up when a wave crashed against it will stay with me forever. He spends some time at Perch Rock in New Brighton for some local interest.

 

[LEONARD]

View attachment 121777


Seashaken Houses - Tom Nancollas

Highly recommended.

A fascinating account of the history, building and continued operation of some of the remote rock lighthouses around our treacherous seas and stories from the men that called them home. Not only is it full of information, its very well written for a nonfiction. The author has an engaging style and a nice turn of phrase. The image of a keeper reading a book by the light of the moon through a window 60 feet up when a wave crashed against it will stay with me forever. He spends some time at Perch Rock in New Brighton for some local interest.

A perfect read, whilst you are safe and warm under the duvet.

It took a special breed of men who could deal with the elements and isolation.

 

[COYBL25]

View attachment 121777


Seashaken Houses - Tom Nancollas

Highly recommended.

A fascinating account of the history, building and continued operation of some of the remote rock lighthouses around our treacherous seas and stories from the men that called them home. Not only is it full of information, its very well written for a nonfiction. The author has an engaging style and a nice turn of phrase. The image of a keeper reading a book by the light of the moon through a window 60 feet up when a wave crashed against it will stay with me forever. He spends some time at Perch Rock in New Brighton for some local interest.

When I was at junior school I had a mate who`s dad was a lighthouse keeper, somewhere off the coast of Scotland.

The lighthouse crew weren`t allowed to drink when on duty at the the lighthouse and from memory he did a month on and two weeks off.

He used to spend the whole of his shore leave bladdered and he wasn`t a nice drunk either. His family were terrified of him.

He was ex Navy and I genuinely don`t think he could handle being away from the sea, so he just got drunk for 2 weeks.

 

[degsy]

Having to go back to work has really eaten into my reading time, not to mention starting a new job and doing some online training of an evening so I can hit the ground running. So apologies for the gaps in my reviews.

That said, this is The Cleaner by Brett Battles

View attachment 120892

Blurb
Meet Jonathan Quinn: a freelance operative with a take-no-prisoners style and the heart of a loner. His job? Professional "cleaner." Nothing too violent, just disposing of bodies, doing a little cleanup if necessary.
But in Brett Battles's electrifying debut novel, Quinn's latest assignment will change everything, igniting a harrowing journey of violence, betrayal, and revenge.
The job seemed simple enough: investigating a suspicious case of arson. But when a dead body turns up where it doesn't belong, and Quinn's handlers at "the Office" turn strangely silent, he knows he's in over his head.
With only a handful of clues, Quinn scrambles for cover, struggling to find out why someone wants him dead . . . and if it's linked to a larger attempt to wipe out the Office.


This one looked quite interesting, got rave reviews on Goodreads and mostly 4/5 stars on Amazon. It's not the usual retired hit-man dragged back into the game story, the hero in this is still working and is more of an investigator rather than a killer.
There are some full-on cliches in this book though and some things are a bit iffy - an example being... 'from there it was just a simple crack to access the NATO personnel home records' yeah, reaching there a bit mate.
However the story does move along at a decent clip, although the investigation side turns more into a Jason Bourne type of tale, I would have preferred a more detective-orientated storyline rather than the action hero it turns into.
Now the bad news, the main character is just unlikeable, and by that I mean I couldn't care less if he got aced and someone else took over the main role.
There is zero empathy for the guy, in fact at halfway point in the book it was a coin-toss if I stuck with it at all.
If I read a book with an evil protagonist, I can still relate to them, this main character.... nothing at all. Zilch.
Just an obnoxious dude and not in a good or interesting way


Reviews

The cover endorsements make this out to be something special with links to many great authors - in reality, it is an efficient thriller that will engage you, and then you will forget about it. Fast-moving with a plot that is slightly ambitious, this is not fantastic but is quite readable for what it is.
A good thriller, a bit "superhero " at times but a good read.
Jonathan Quinn, the main character, is the cleaner. He obliterates the evidence of the crime and removes the bodies. Isn't that a fascinating profession for the main character of the thriller? For me it definitely is and I read with great interest the secrets of his business.
From the summary of this book, I thought it’d be about a guy kind of like Harvey Kietel’s character Winston “The Wolf” Wolfe from Pulp Fiction. You know, a slick guy who shows up and gets rid of all the evidence after some criminal shenanigans. But instead of getting The Wolf, this book featured a low-rent Jason Bourne wannabe named Jonathan Quinn.


I think the last review 100% nails this book


£8 for Kindle - £14 for paperback.

For what it is, I think it's very overpriced, if it is a book that you think you might enjoy then I would suggest getting a 2nd hand copy for a quid off amazon instead of spending the retail price.

This is #1 out of about fifteen so it looks like the book-buying public is enjoying the action and ignoring my review !

I might try #2 at some point, but it's not going to be high on my list of priorities, I have loads of other #2s I want to get at before this guy appears in front of me again.

Started No.1...all a bit generic Quiller meets Jason Bourne...sacked it off halfway through.
If theres 15, then all the many ghost writers must be coining it in during lockdown.
Won't be reading No. 2...or 3...etc.