***COMING VERY SOON*** Stuart McBride "A Song For The Dying"

I'm a fan of MacBride's DI Logan McRae crime series, and am eagerly anticipating the chance to read this new stand alone novel.

l.

Love Reading Review: "A Man Called Ove" by Fredrik Backman

Prepare to meet Ove; a 59 Swedish man and possibly the grumpiest, most short tempered Swede you’ll ever meet. He’s a stickler for enforcing, and making, the rules that the residents of his street must obey.

Prepare to meet Ove’s neighbours; people that Ove has absolutely no time for. In his eyes they are all idiots, incapable of doing even the simplest things for themselves and, seemingly, intent on causing as much annoyance to Ove as possible. Neighbours that do not drive Saab’s, much to the annoyance of Ove.

Prepare to meet a cat; Ove dislikes the cat.

Prepare to meet Ove; the most remarkable man, Swedish or otherwise, that you will have the pleasure to spend time with.

This is a wonderful story. Absolutely wonderful. I was hooked right from the beginning and by page 16 I was tweeting about how great it is.

Fredrik Backman, an author who I enjoyed a pleasant Twitter conversation with, has created a magical cast of characters led by the curmudgeonly Ove. This story had me laughing and crying throughout. I was even reading bits to my wife and daughter.

Sometimes foreign novels, as good as they are, can suffer from awkward translations. Not this story, it flows beautifully and is a total joy.

My only criticism? It came to an end.

The-Mustachioed-Reader

My Rating: 5.0* out of 5.0*

*****HIGHLY RECOMMENDED*****
PUBLICATION DATE: July 2014 (anticipated)

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***COMING VERY SOON*** Fredrik Backman "A Man Called Ove"

Only part way through this, but I can give you a little sneak preview....THIS IS SUPERB!

Farewell Lord Flashheart.

The Mustachioed Reader is terribly sad today at the news of the death of Rik Mayall.

Terribly sad.

As a teenager in the early 1980's, finding my own identity and forming my thoughts and views, Rik Mayall was a comic revelation to me.

Another great comic talent is lost to us. And another moustache bites the dust.

I'm too saddened to write any more.

Woof Woof!

Love Reading review: "The Spring of Kasper Meier" by Ben Fergusson

Kasper Meier, a middle aged German war veteran living off his wits and black market connections in 1946 post war Berlin, is blackmailed by the young, vibrant and attractive Eva Hirsch into searching for a British airman. Kasper, afraid of the consequences if he refuses, has to accept her demands and his efforts place him and all he holds dear in danger. Meanwhile, allied servicemen are turning up dead all over the city.

This is an accomplished, well paced and exciting story by a debut novelist that I look forward to reading more from. The setting is an interesting and absorbing one, and I hugely enjoyed the way the author brought the unrelenting hardship, horror and misery of life for the individual characters and the city itself vividly to life.

Kasper and Eva are a wonderful couple of characters; their relationship as the story unfolds keeps you eager to turn the pages. And you are rooting for them both throughout the story. The author has created one of the most menacing and frightening pairs of villains I have read of in quite some time – look out for the twins!

When my review copy arrived, I searched for Ben Fergusson online and paid a visit to his website to learn more about him. I was rewarded with a free ebook featuring Kasper and set before the events in this novel; that is also well worth a read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It has an interesting and pacy plot and is thought provoking, the dialogue felt genuine and the characters were ones that you really rooted for or were appalled by. It was also fascinating to read a story set in this period of recent history from a German characters point of view.

The-Mustachioed-Reader

My Rating: 4.5* out of 5.0*

PUBLICATION DATE: July 2014 (anticipated)

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Love Reading review: "We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves" by Karen Joy Fowler

I don’t quite know what to make of this book.

I was intrigued by the plot outline and the questions posed – why did Rosemary, an over talkative child, suddenly stop talking? What happened to her sister Fern? Where did she go? Why didn’t she return to the family home? And what happened to their older brother, Lowell?

The tale is mostly told in an easy, familiar style that initially pulled me in. Rosemary’s voice is interesting and the conversational tone of the narrative is engaging. I quite enjoyed the way in which the story was told in a non-linear way, switching between different timeframes so that we uncover the whole story in a manner that keeps us guessing as to how things will pan out.

The main characters were reasonably well drawn without being exceptionally memorable. My favourite ones being Ezra, the building supervisor, and Madame Defarge. The dialogue was quite well written and suited the characters and the cultural references were well observed. Additionally, I found some moments to be very witty.

However, you guessed there was a “however” coming didn’t you?, after the initial revelation about Fern, I found there was insufficient to keep me really hooked. I felt that some parts of the story where akin to being lectured to and some of the themes were not especially interesting to me. I wanted this book to entertain and engage me but, sadly, I found it a little bit of a chore to get through.

The ending was a little disappointing given the mystique in the build up and left me feeling a little “short changed” after I had put in the effort to complete the journey.

The-Mustachioed-Reader

My Rating: 2.0* out of 5.0*

PUBLICATION DATE: July 2014 (anticipated)

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Love Reading review: "Insurrection" by Robyn Young

I love a good solid, weighty book, with a story that is sweeping and has depth and the scope for you to get lost in. And, if it is part of a longer tale, especially a trilogy, then what could be better?

This is a weighty novel, coming in at over 600 pages and is the first in a trilogy telling the story of Robert The Bruce as he grows from a young boy into a young man.  I enjoy historical novels of this nature and have read a few by Bernard Cornwell, Philippa Gregory and the likes and was very excited to dive into the pages.

It is very well written with exquisite attention to detail and a host of interesting characters; I am not familiar enough with this period of British history to know which were the authors’ creations to add flavour and plot to the real people. The battle scenes were vivid showing the brutality of combat in stark detail and the descriptions of weapons and armour were detailed.

I liked the authors’ portrayal of Robert and wanted to enjoy the story. However, I am still unsure how, but I got very lost in this story. The sheer size of the cast was daunting and the story appeared, to me, to leap backwards and forwards, suddenly jumping years at a time. I simply got lost. I couldn’t follow which Lord was which or what clan was aligned to which family. Having to go back over the previous pages became a nuisance.

Despite putting in the time and effort, I only managed to get as far as page 234 before I had to, regrettably, call time on this book and consign it to my own personal book history.

The-Mustachioed-Reader

My Rating: 2.5* out of 5.0*

PUBLICATION DATE: "Kingdom" the third in the "Insurrectio Trilogy" will be published in June 2014 (anticipated)

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Love Reading Review: M.J. Arlidge "Eeny Meeny"

Victims are being abducted in pairs. Each victim must make a terrible choice; will you kill in order to stay alive? DI Helen Grace and her team must find the links between each pair before a sadistic killer can strike again.

This is a terrific read. The plot moves along at a cracking pace and the characters are interesting, well structured and develop as the story unfolds. The crimes are shocking and the anguish that the tortured victims experience helps to build the sense of menace and suspense as the story builds to a gripping climax.

DI Grace, is an interesting and likeable lead character who I instantly liked and wanted to learn more about. Likewise, the supporting cast of Mark and Charlie are well defined and are not merely "fillers" as can sometimes be found. As for the killer? A wonderfully complex and grotesque villain!

The short, punchy chapters, evidence of the author's background in television drama, help to drive the action along and further crank up the tension of this thrilling read.

There was nothing about this story that I disliked; everything worked superbly together to create a thoroughly enjoyable read. I eagerly await further instalments.

The-Mustachioed-Reader

My Rating: 4.0* out of 5.0*

PUBLICATION DATE: May 2014 (anticipated)

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**COMING SOON** My next Love Reading review: M.R. Arlidge "Eeny Meeny"

Love Reading Review: Jake Woodhouse "After The Silence"

A man is found hanging under an Amsterdam bridge. The bodies of a couple are found in a burnt-down house in a coastal town and a child is missing. The crimes lead Inspector Jaap Rykel and a young female detective from out of town on a dangerous race through the darkest side of Amsterdam in their attempt to prevent further deaths.

I found this to be a fast paced and lively novel that pulls you into the life of Rykel and his colleagues. It’s a bit “twisty and bendy”, leaving you wanting to turn the pages and discover more. We have become quite used to, and desperate for, the recent Scandinavian crime genre and this book offers a little detour nearer home. The setting of Amsterdam is interesting and allows plenty of scope for villainy and various shenanigans.

This is the first instalment in a promised quartet of “Amsterdam” novels and is an engaging introduction to the series. All in all, I found it to be a good read. However, I have a few reservations; the cast of characters is quite long, with a good number popping up early in the story. This isn’t a bad thing as it helps to develop the sense of depth and confusion in the investigation; but it does make for some difficulty in keeping track of who is who. The relationships between some of the leading characters is also quite complicated and, perhaps, unlikely.

In some respects this is yet another police procedural story and has the, by now, standard departmental politics, frictions and resentments. Also, most characters have a “back story”, explained in varying degrees of detail, that show them as haunted/troubled/broken by their pasts. Can cops in fiction ever be simply “normal”?

These few gripes aside, this is an enjoyable and, ultimately, satisfying read.

The-Mustachioed-Reader

My Rating: 3.0* out of 5.0*

PUBLICATION DATE: April 2014 (anticipated)

Find out what my fellow book reviewers thought: www.lovereading.co.uk/book/10917/After-the-Silence-Inspector-Rykel-by-Jake-Woodhouse.html

For more reviews of great books, wander over to www.lovereading.co.uk


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