Conclave by Robert Harris - Book Review

I have read all of Robert Harris’s books, though I confess I did think twice about buying this one. After all, what could be exciting about a lot of old men locked in a room to choose a new Pope?

But I am glad that I did, and in the event 118, or was it 119, there was one latecomer, were indeed locked in a room to come to an agreement on who would be their new boss.

And so the machinations and downright canvassing and psychological warfare and long dead scandals were dug up, anything to damage a potential rival, as the Cardinals split into various groups, the Italians, there hasn’t been an Italian Pope for 40 years, the English speakers, the French speakers, the Africans, the Asians, the conservatives and the reformers, and so it went on.

This was all brought about by the death of the incumbent, which wasn’t any great surprise as he was an old man, just like all the rest of them, and the book is set in the near future, sufficiently away from current times to distance the events, but sufficiently close to make them relevant.

I am not a particularly quick reader but I did rattle through this, and that is entirely down to the page-turning skills that Mister Harris exhibits in almost all of his work. And after a slightly slow first 150 pages that set the scene amid a great deal of earnest praying and prayers, quelle surprise!

That all brought us rattling on to he denouement, and don’t worry there will be no spoilers here, I will say no more about that except to say that I was not alone in feeling slightly disappointed by it, and I saw it coming from way out.

In the pantheon of mister Harris’s works, I would place this pretty low down, above the baffling Fear Index for sure, but that would be about it, but still, it was a surprisingly interesting read that I had to finish once I got into it, and I am glad that I did.

The next Robert Harris book is believed to be entitled “Munich”, a prequel to his hugely successful and breakthrough novel “Fatherland”, and there I think he will be back on more familiar ground, and certainly I suspect his army of diehard readers will be happier with that, but don’t rule out “Conclave” without giving it a chance. I enjoyed it, and that is all that really matters.

When You Get a Minute Why Not Check Out Rave Reviews Book Club?

If you enjoy reading indie books, (or maybe you haven't yet started reading indie books and would like to,) or perhaps you write and publish indie books - well, if any of these apply to you, do check out the Rave Reviews Book Club which is full of interesting things for the indie book enthusiast.

And when you see what they have to offer you may well feel like joining the club too, and if you do that, please mention that you came to RRBC through David Carter - aka @TheBookBloke - my twitter handle.

You can see their website and take a look at some of the great things they have to offer to the indie book world by clicking right here.

Thanks for taking a look,

Have a great day,

David Carter.

#RRBC

#RaveReviewsBookClub 

Make Me by Lee Child – Book Review

Jack Reacher takes a train to a one horse town called Mother’s Rest out in the prairies, why wouldn’t you? That’s what Jack Reacher does, travels America and abroad, looking for adventure. It’s late in the evening and growing dark. In the shadows a tall Chinese American woman steps out to greet him, only to realise that Jack Reacher is not the man she was waiting and searching for.

   They become friends and the woman tells Jack why she is there and what she is looking for, and the adventure that is “Make Me” gets under way.

   I have read all the Jack Reacher books and for me one or two of the most recent ones have not had as strong a plot as some of the earlier ones. That doesn’t apply here, for the plot of “Make Me” is strong and interesting and will keep you hooked right up to the very end.

   There were one or two passages that had me suspending belief. For example, Jack Reacher kills three house raiders and promptly asks the owner to take responsibility for that. What’s the problem, he says, you’ll be hailed a hero for killing murderers and rapists and thieves in your own home, and they’ll be no comeback on you. Would someone really do that, take on all that blame and responsibility, and especially a respected doctor? I had my doubts.

   Lee Child constantly compares Jack Reacher to a modern day Robin Hood, and there may be some similarities there, but Jack Reacher always oversteps the mark, where a real Robin Hood would never have trod. Just my opinion.

   One thing that all the Jack Reacher books still have is the ability to inspire and educate other writers to improve and streamline their own writing. Indeed there are countless people out there who have written similar characters to Jack Reacher, borrowing huge amounts in the process, indeed there are highly successful writers around who unashamedly say that they model their books on Lee Child’s hugely successful fictional creation.

   So if you are thinking of writing thrillers then you need to read these before you do, for if nothing else you will learn how to create real page turners with twists aplenty, a skill that Lee Child has honed to the ultimate.

   There are many detectives and Jack Reacher type characters around, but none of them come close to JR in terms of output, or creativity or sheer excitement, and Lee Child shows no sign of slowing down, writing as he does, one full length book every year. In saying that though, our hero Jack took a heavy blow in this book and may just be feeling his age, so you never know.

   All the books now have film options too, though wouldn’t it be nice to have a lead actor who at least resembled in some way the main character? Sadly that isn’t the case and there would appear to be no sign that that will ever come to pass.

   If you like thrillers and murder mysteries, albeit graphic ones with considerable violence, then where have you been these past twenty years? If you haven’t yet read any of the Jack Reacher cases you have a lot of catching up to do, and a lot of enjoyment to come. Just don’t expect Jack Reacher to always behave in the way Robin Hood might have done because you might be disappointed. Just saying.

Tags: Thrillers, thriller book review, book reviews, murder mysteries, Jack Reacher, Lee Child, 

"Kissing a Killer" Featured on Nicola Noble's Fab website!!

Yes, "Kissing a Killer" has just been featured on Nicola Noble's fab website.

If you are interested in indie published novels you will find a mine of information and good reads to tempt you on her very nice site.

You can check that out by clicking here

Thanks, Nicola, and all the best with your site and stuff.

DC

Easter Special Offer: Gringo Greene Ebook for Just £1.99

Yes, here's an Easter special offer that you shouldn't mss for it expires on April 19th.

You can get a full copy of "The Life and Loves of Gringo Greene" for just £1.99 and that's almost half price,

Don't miss it - click on the following ad:

"The Twelfth Apostle" Featured on the I'm Loving Books Website

You can check that out here if you'd like to see and read more

They did a good job!!

DC.

Kissing a Killer OUT Now on Ebook and In Paperback

As so often happens with new book releases there was a slight delay in finally releasing the new Inspector Walter Darriteau murder/mystery “Kissing a Killer” - but it is OUT NOW.

Here are the first BUY links.

My all new Inspector Walter Darriteau murder mystery is OUT soon. This one is very much a traditional whodunnit and it should keep you guessing till the very end.

Here's a brief extract to whet the appetite. 

Kissing a Killer by David Carter – Extract

Corla Revelation resembled Oliver Cromwell, high forehead, large flat nose, and hefty warts aplenty, yet for all that, she was a vivacious woman, and rarely short of admirers.

   She made a decent living through her full-time counselling work, and part-time fortune telling business, though where one finished and the other began was becoming increasingly blurred. She liked to say she was a spiritualist, and a medium, and had gone to the trouble in the past of inventing highfaluting sounding associations that she christened: “The British Spiritualist Congress” and the “European Mediums Association” and proceeded to have printed expensive and impressive looking Articles and Certificates, that she framed and set on her walls. They sure as hell impressed Corla, and in due course wowed her clients too. That was the plan, and most times, it worked.  

   In a good light and on a bright day she could pass for thirty-nine, as her friends would eagerly confirm, especially after Corla had bought the drinks. But on a bad day after a heavy night out, and maybe not standing her corner, those same friends would swear she was fifty-nine, looking sixty-nine. Fact was, no one really knew how old Corla Revelation and her close-knit family of warts were, and that was exactly as she liked it.

   She’d always had an eye for the main chance, and that had served her well in the past, and it would continue to do so in the future, and she always paid a great deal of attention to the criminal cases covered in the press, and especially ones from Chester and surrounding areas, and most particularly the ones where financial rewards were offered, and of special interest to her were the worst crimes imaginable, and that invariably meant rape, murder, and death.

   The Chester baseball bat murder had certainly piqued her interest, as she devoured all the media coverage she could find. It was causing quite a stir, for it wasn’t everyday that a well-liked and well-known local woman was murdered in her own home in the genteel city of Chester.

    In her quiet moments Corla believed she possessed ESP powers, and she would test that ability to the max by sitting back in her favourite wing-backed armchair, a bottle of whisky on the small table close by, with her favourite crystal cut glass, as she attempted to reconstruct the face of the killer in her mind. If you don’t believe in yourself, she mused, how could you expect others to believe in you? He will come to me, she would say aloud. He will come.

   He’s a tall man, and dark too, that was eminently clear, though whether that intelligence had been garnered through her imaginary powers, or subconsciously, via the increasing media coverage, it was difficult to tell.

   Corla sipped twenty-year-old malt whisky, and closed her eyes and blanked her mind, and let the force swirl over her, and through her, and then she said aloud in a real strange voice: It will appear, as it always does, everything about him will materialise, and sooner than we think, and then, I shall be famous.

   She reached out and topped up the glass. Always nice to whet the whistle before one went out on the town. She glanced at her expensive wristwatch, a present from a long ago wealthy lover. She’d quite forgotten his name. The watch ticked on, as it always did, never missed a beat. 8.22pm. Give it another ten minutes, she thought, and she would slip on her favourite faux leather coat, and head down to the city centre, and meet some friends, and drink the night away.

*****

It's going to be fun! - Stay tuned for full details of release date and where the book can be bought - it will be out in paperback and ebook.

As ever, thanks for reading,

David Carter

*****

Promoting Your Indie Published Book For Free

If you are a self published writer, or are thinking of becoming one, you will be needing additional places to promote and publicise your work, so you might be interested in checking out Dave Mayall’s site where he offers promotional services for indie writers, and the really great thing is that at the time of writing he may well promote your book for free.

Dave lives and works in Birmingham, England and you can check out his stuff here and it makes interesting reading.

And while you are there make sure you take a look Dave’s poetry too. 

Subnormal by Stuart Kenyon – Book review.

The start of this book reminds me of a shoot-em-up computer game, so if you are interested in that kind of thing, this could attract you too, but it soon develops into so much more.

Stuart Kenyon’s Subnormal is set in Britain and across many cities, Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham and London to name but four, and though you might think it is set in the near future, or an alternative past, it’s actually set in an alternative here-and-now where a new political party beginning with U fronted by a charismatic leader has seized power quite legitimately through the ballot box, so frustrated are the electorate with traditional parties who have overstayed their welcome. Sounds somewhat familiar in these strange times in which we live? And not a ’kipper in sight. Alternative facts, anyone?

One of the main characters, indeed the most interesting character, and there are a lot of them in here too, is a young guy with autism, and maybe that character comes across as forcefully and true to life because the writer himself has a son who suffers from that condition, and thus the descriptions of his behaviour and reactions and conversation are particularly believable.

As you can possibly guess all does not go well, and the book harbours Orwellian and Kafka-esque overtones, or undertones if you prefer. I could say a lot more, and all of it good, though I won’t for fear of giving anything away. For me it was a political thriller, and a pretty good one at that.

It’s been well proofread and when I bought the ebook it was just 99p and that is great value in anyone’s language, so do yourself a favour and buy it. Subnormal is the first in a series of three books, though this one has a clear ending, and stands well by itself.

If you enjoy political thrillers with a distinctly darker edge then this could be right up you street. Recommended.