Book review: The Devil’s Star, by Jo Nesbo
Jo Nesbo is a prolific Scandinavian author who has sold millions of books world-wide and for many a traveler via train and plane the hue of his books will be familiar on the eye, being as they are generally on display in WH Smith and the like. The Devil’s Star is the first book from Nesbo I’ve read, a gift from Mrs. Stewart for my birthday last month.
A murderer is on the loose in stifling Oslo, a city in the grip of a summer heat wave and under the dark shadow of a serial killer who takes a finger and leaves a red diamond on the victim. The shape of the diamond? You guessed it, a pentagram.
The killer’s victims are seemingly chosen at random and his (for it is always a he, eh?) modus operandi seems to be dominated by the number five: sides in a pentagram, intended victims, days between murders, time of day when killed and so on. In short, he’s a psycho – but can at least count.
Chasing after him we have the reluctant cop Harry Hole – who could well be Michael Connolly’s own Harry [Bosch] – and his colleague Tom. Harry and Tom don’t get on. Harry thinks Tom killed a fellow officer. Harry is an alcoholic with relationship issues. Usual cop-in-books stuff. You know the drill by now.
Most importantly the plot and the narrative are strong and I do enjoy a Scandinavian translation for some reason. Nesbo describes the summer siege on Oslo wonderfully well. The description of the city and its denizens, alongside the intrigue and plotting is well laid out. The dialogue is fierce and typically without any flab – every word matters even though c. 500 pages of them is needed to get the story done.
If I had one complaint, it would be that I found the identification of killer easy to work out early on. Nesbo’s misinformation didn’t fool me, and even appeared forced at times, as if he was trying to convince himself as much as me. Of course, I doubt it was me personally he was trying to sway.
The Devil’s Star is a good read, fast-paced and gripping. Worth a look through if you are stuck at an airport with no book and need to make a choice.
7/10
Book review: The Devil’s Star, by Jo Nesbo
Jo Nesbo is a prolific Scandinavian author who has sold millions of books world-wide and for many a traveler via train and plane the hue of his books will be familiar on the eye, being as they are generally on display in WH Smith and the like. The Devil’s Star is the first book from Nesbo I’ve read, a gift from Mrs. Stewart for my birthday last month.
A murderer is on the loose in stifling Oslo, a city in the grip of a summer heatwave and under the dark shadow of a serial killer who takes a finger and leaves a red diamond on the victim. The shape of the diamond? You guessed it, a pentagram.
The killer’s victims are seemingly at random and his (for it is always a he, eh?) modus operandi seems to be dominated by the number five: sides in a pentagram, intended victims, days between murders, time of day when killed and so on. In short, he’s a psycho – but can at least count.
Chasing after him we have the reluctant cop Harry Hole – who could well be Michael Connolly’s own Harry [Bosch] – and his colleague Tom. Harry and Tom don’t get on. Harry thinks Tom killed a fellow officier. Harry is an alcoholic with relationship issues. Usual cop-in-books stuff. You know the drill by now.
Most importantly the plot and the narrative are strong and I do enjoy a Scandinavian translation for some reason. Nesbo describes the summer siege on Oslo wonderfully well. The description of the city and its denizens, alongside the intrigue and plotting is well laid out. The dialogue is fierce and typically without any flab – every word matters even though c. 500 pages of them is needed to get the story done.
If I had one complaint, it would be that I found the identification of killer easy to work out early on. Nesbo’s misinformation didn’t fool me, and even appeared forced at times, as if he was trying to convince himself as much as me. Of course, I doubt it was me personally he was trying to sway.
The Devil’s Star is a good read, fast-paced and gripping. Worth a look through if you are stuck at an airport with no book and need to make a choice.
7/10
Book review: Blood on the Borders, by Judith Cook
Simon Forman, physician, astrologer, philanderer and all round greetin’ faced plum, finds himself at the centre of a series of events that have him traversing the length and breadth of Scotland in search of the truth – and with much blood being shed in the desire for the one thing man craves more than everything else – even money – and that is power.
Blood on the Borders is set in the late 16th century and is based on bona fide historical characters and events, fused with a sprinkling of fiction to give us a story of English thrones and Scottish courts colliding.
It’s May and Forman’s door is happened upon by a young Scot who has been cut down in London as he tried to deliver a message to Lord Chamberlain. The Scots’ brother, Alun Armstrong, is shielded by Forman and this sets in to motion the events which would see Forman go to Edinburgh to find a way out of his predicament, but instead he finds murder at every corner and with every stitch of evidence pointing at him. Only he can prove his innocence but with unseen hands determined that Forman be seen to be a killer, and all for political intrigue, he is left not knowing who to trust and where to turn in the, to him anyway, unfamiliar city of Edinburgh.
Cook has obviously researched the book in some detail and shares her thoughts at the end, and in Forman she has chosen a most interesting character. Her description of 16th century Edinburgh, the area around the Royal Mile and Holyrood especially, is very good and really helps the reader place themselves back some 420 years and into the world in which Forman is trying to survive.
Blood on the Borders presents a frenetic and bloody period in the Scots/English history in an interesting light and with the help of some fact and fiction cross-over, Cook allows us to see what life was like back then without having to get bored listening to some old history teacher drone on. Good stuff.
7/10
Book Review: Dissolution, by C. J. Samson
C. J. Samson’s hunchbacked lawyer-cum-investigator Matthew Shardlake stars in a book series that has received rave reviews from readers and critics alike. He is a monk and a disciple of Cromwell during the tumultuous years of the reformation. However, he has his own internal battles with the path he has chosen to fight as he serves Lord Cromwell [spit…] and his mission.In Dissolution Shardlake is dispatched to investigate the murder of a servant of Cromwell at a monastery in Hampshire – and wouldn’t you know it but Cromwell’s man was already looking in to a different death. Shardlake finds a monastery on edge at the thought of dissolution, the inhabitants a gaggle of brothers who may or may not be corrupt. He faces a race against time to work out what has really transpired and his own mortal life may be under threat if he doesn’t find the answer and quickly.
Samson’s description of Tudor England, with Cromwell’s evil hand at full force, is outstanding and the author really evokes the political situation effortlessly. In Cromwell we are presented with a tyrant who has indefatigable belief in his mission – to him God’s mission. But Shardlake wavers, pontificating on whether it is the very specter of reformation that drives the murderer in the monastery. What price the reformation?
I didn’t find Shardlake a likeable character however and I found that my lack of empathy with him and his moaning ways a bit of a downer when it came to my enjoyment of the book. In many ways, I’d have been quite happy to see him fall. This is from the perspective of a single book in the series and it would seem Samson is setting the scene for Shardlake to develop some guts to face Cromwell, which clearly wouldn’t have been an easy task back in an England hungry for change and in the fearful grip of an ever more zealous reformer.
6.5/10
May DVD reviews
A bit late this month in get these loaded, but a couple of DVD reviews over at VideoVista from yours truly.
- Fink: Aussie gangster flick which actually had a lot of merit to it – despite some of the worst acting you could hope to see.
- The Last Lovecraft: The Relic of Cthulu: Fans of H. P. Lovecraft will mainly hate this but I found it quirky and fun, and yes I am a fan of the great man.
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