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Nov 30, 2011

Business as usual

November is not usually very post-heavy but this year due to the re-write (now finished) reviews have been sadly lacking. That is all about to change, I've got the new Alan Bradley Flavia book I am Half Sick of Shadows - which came out in November - and Think of a Number by John Verdon, which somehow passed me by in hardcover. Also the new Dana Haynes (Crashers) novel Breaking Point.




Betrayal of Trust by Susan Hill

Hill's sixth in the Serrailler series finds the cathedral town of Lafferton underwater and as the floods recede they reveal the body of a local  teenage girl who went missing years before. DCI Simon Serrailler has to reopen a cold case with hardly any manpower due to budget cuts and staff shortages but he relishes the challenge. So much so that he may be neglecting the only family he has left.

NB Hill doesn't shy away from hot button issues - in this case - assisted suicide, but she explores the subject both sensitively and thoroughly.

Nov 18, 2011

Time to crack open a good arc

Ahh, it's good to be reading again.  The second rewrite of 'Rollover' is done and dusted. So to celebrate I cracked open the arc of The Trail of the Spellman's, yes Lisa Lutz's wonderfully dysfunctional PI family are back, and even though two years have gone by Izzy and co had me laughing in minutes.

On a completely different note, if you love sci fi writers - or even if you don't check out Prophets of Science Fiction on the Science channel. So far they've covered Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the work of Phillip K Dick and next week is HG Wells. Each program goes into aspects of the author's work and shows how ideas and concepts they wrote about (genetic mutation, smart water, constant surveillance, robotics ect) now exist.or are being investigated to check their viability. Fascinating.


Nov 4, 2011

The Limit, Michael Cannell



Since its inception Formula One racing has been the epitome of money, spectacle, glamour and danger; and back in the swinging sixties that danger could be deadly.  F1 racing drivers didn’t have fireproof suits and wore flying helmets and goggles. Their attrition rate was high and just watching a race could get you killed.  Into this high-octane world drove Phil Hill, a lone American driver in a sea of Europeans.  Hill’s goal? To race for the legendary Enzo Ferrari.  In this true story Hill battles racing greats like Fangio, Stirling Moss, Jim Clark and ultimately his Ferrari team mate Wolfgang Von Trips.  Ferrari pits his two drivers against each other as they battle for the 1961 world championship.

The Limit is a snapshot of a sport that is still a European obsession.

New For November

This marks a first, I've actually blurbed a sports book.  I have a bunch of rewrites to get through and I've got the new Lisa Lutz arc staring at me from the shelf. Plus more positive feedback for the book. It's all good.