**** On a train journey to meet up with his flirtatious wife in the hope of her agreeing to a divorce, Guy Haines falls into conversation with another passenger, Charles Bruno. Bruno is an odd man whose interest in Guy unearths deep-seated uneasiness about the task Guy hopes to accomplish. Bruno, however, has an idea…
Category: Classic
‘Ghost Story’ by Peter Straub
***** The elderly members of The Chowder Society meet regularly to tell each other stories, but after one of their number dies, the stories become more ghoulish in nature. More disturbingly, each of the remaining members begins to experience similar, nightmarish, dreams. Contacting the nephew of their dead friend, they find he also has something…
‘Pietr the Latvian’ by Georges Simenon
**** Georges Simenon’s first outing with his Parisian detective follows the pipe-smoking investigator round the seamier side of the city, as he attempts to track down master criminal, Pietr the Latvian. My first impressions of this book were that either Simeonon was a really crap writer, or that the translation is at fault, my reasoning…
‘Lucky Jim’ by Kingsley Amis
**** Lecturer Jim Dixon’s future in the History Department looks set to blossom, so long as he can forestall the amorous advances of Margaret, while trying to stay on the right side of Professor Welch and his annoying family. But getting lumbered with delivering a lecture on Merrie England isn’t Jim’s only problem… This edition…
‘Fog of Doubt’ by Christianna Brand
***** When Belgian paramour Raoul Vernet is found with his head bashed in on the night of a particularly dense fog, suspicion naturally falls on members of the house he was visiting at the time. While no-one appears to have been in the immediate vicinity when Vernet was killed, Inspector Charlesworth is certain someone in…
‘Blade Runner’ by Philip K Dick
***** (Audiobook) Classic sci-fi novel originally published as ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ Set in 2021, after World War Terminus has killed millions, living creatures are coveted by everyone. While most individuals can only afford fake animals, the few remaining real ones go for very high prices. As well as animals, a range of…
‘The Exorcist’ by William Peter Blatty
The Exorcist It begins with noises in the attic, strange odours, a sickly child. Then the bed starts jumping around, furniture moves by itself and a man is found dead with his head turned completely around. Movie actor Chris MacNeil is concerned for her daughter…
‘The Boys from Brazil’ by Ira Levin
The Boys from Brazil Classic thriller focussing on an imaginary conspiracy, where Dr Josef Mengele plots to create a new version of the Third Reich. Emerging from his hideout in South America, Mengele initiates a series of murders, assembling a band of former soldiers to set his scheme in motion. Meanwhile, Nazi hunter Yakov Lieberman…
‘Doctor Zhivago’ by Boris Pasternak
Doctor Zhivago Boris Pasternak’s epic novel of love and war throws physician and poet Yuri Zhivago into the lives of two women. Epic is certainly the word, here, and knowing I’d never attempt this in book form, the audio version seemed like a good option. Although it’s basically a decent story, if somewhat improbable (all…
Amateur Sleuth, Animals, Audiobook, Book Reviews, Children's Books, Classic, Crime, detective, Indie Authors, murder, mystery, Psychological
Best Reads of 2019
Over the course of the last twelve months, I’ve read 97 books. This includes paperbacks, eBooks, hardbacks and a few audiobooks, but doesn’t include those where I gave up after the first couple of chapters. What follows is a list of some of the more memorable reads, though isn’t intended to be definitive or in…
