LOGGING THE LIBRARY - PART TWENTY-SIX

Week 26....another 50

Pre-logging look!

Harry Crews, Michael Harvey, Andrew Holmes, Jasper Fforde and UK Crime magazine

Crime Time from 1999

Camilleri, Bill James, Edward Wilson, Robert Kee and Mark Timlin

I think he writes espionage these days

Domenic Martell, Neville Thompson, James Sallis, Loren D. Estelman, Richard Blandford

Anyone seen Elvis?

Lew Griffin PI book.

R. D . Wingfield, Ian Fleming, Stephen Greenleaf, David Morrell, Andrew Donkin,

Quintin Jardine, Ira Levin, Brian M. Wiprud, Kenneth Abel, J. A. Kerley

A scorcher....apparently

William Boyd, Lawrence Block, Ira Levin, Nelson Demille, John Le Carre,

Bernie the burglar book

Smiley, I think

Paul Burke, John Le Carre, Sjowall/Wahloo, Derek Raymond, Neville Thompson

Early 60's UK Crime

Martin Beck book

Gerald Seymour, John Sandford, Ian Fleming, Jeffery Deaver, Jonathan Kellerman

Not yet read a Bond book,

John Fusco, Cormac McCarthy, Martin Cruz Smith,

Loved his second book last year!

Val McDermid, Lee Child, David Morrell, John Le Carre

Early-ish Smiley book

Another Crime Time Magazine, posthumous, possibly unfinished Larry Brown novel

Maybe I ought to read to see what I'm doing wrong!

Mel Gibson circa 1999

A post-logged look!

Lowlights.....nothing uber-scary here, just need to find more time to read

Highlights........looking forward to the Elvis look-alike book, a bit of LeCarre - either Smiley or non, plus a bit of Lawrence Block and some Larry Brown.

Another tub, another 50 next week!

THE FULL LIST IS.........

AUTHOR		TITLE	YEAR	SERIES	FICTION/NON	GENDER
ABEL	KENNETH	BAIT	1994		F	M
BLANDFORD	RICHARD	HOUND DOG	2006		F	M
BLOCK	LAWRENCE	THE BURGLAR IN THE LIBRARY	1997	BR8	F	M
BOYD	WILLIAM	A GOOD MAN IN AFRICA	1981		F	M
BROWN	LARRY	A MIRACLE OF CATFISH	2007		F	M
BURKE	PAUL	FATHER FRANK	2001		F	M
CAMILLERI	ANDREA	EXCURSION TO TIMBUKTU	2005	IM5	F	M
CHILD	LEE	THE VISITOR	2000	JR4	F	M
CREWS	HARRY	THE GOSPEL SINGER	1968		F	M
CRUZ SMITH	MARTIN	RED SQUARE	1992	AR3	F	M
DEAVER	JEFFERY	THE TWELFTH CARD	2005	LR6	F	M
DEMILLE	NELSON	SPENCERVILLE	1994		F	M
DONKIN	ANDREW	LOCK STOCK & TWO SMOKING BARRELS	1999		F	M
ESTLEMAN	LOREN D.	LADY YESTERDAY	1987	AW7	F	M
FFORDE	JASPER	THE EYRE AFFAIR	2001	TN1	F	M
FLEMING	IAN	DOCTOR NO	1958	JB6	F	M
FLEMING	IAN	DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER	1956	JB4	F	M
FORSHAW	BARRY	CRIME TIME 2.6 (ed.) AUGUST1999	1999		N	M
FORSHAW	BARRY	CRIME TIME 2.5 (ed.) DECEMBER1999	1999		N	M
FUSCO	JOHN	PARADISE SALVAGE	2001		F	M
GREENLEAF	STEPHEN	STATES EVIDENCE	1982	JMT3	F	M
HARVEY	MICHAEL	THE FIFTH FLOOR	2008	MK2	F	M
HOLMES	ANDREW	64 CLARKE	2005		F	M
JAMES	BILL	SPLIT	2001	SA1	F	M
JARDINE	QUINTIN	SKINNER'S FESTIVAL	1994	BS2	F	M
KEE	ROBERT T.	A CROWD IS NOT COMPANY	1947		N	M
KELLERMAN	JONATHAN	TIME BOMB	1990	AD5	F	M
KERLEY	J. A.	BLOOD BROTHER	2008	CR4	F	M
KIYOSAKI	ROBERT T.	RICH DAD, POOR DAD	2000		N	M
LE CARRE	JOHN	THE HONOURABLE SCHOOLBOY	1977	S7	F	M
LE CARRE	JOHN	THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD	1963	S4	F	M
LE CARRE	JOHN	ABSOLUTE FRIENDS	2003		F	M
LEVIN	IRA	SLIVER	1991		F	M
LEVIN	IRA	THIS PERFECT DAY	1970		F	M
MARTELL	DOMINIC	LYING CRYING DYING	1998	PR1	F	M
McCARTHY	CORMAC	THE CROSSING	1994	BT2	F	M
McDERMID	VAL	THE MERMAID'S SINGING	1995	TH/CJ1	F	F
MORRELL	DAVID	TESTAMENT	1975		F	M
MORRELL	DAVID	THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE ROSE	1984	M1	F	M
RAYMOND	DEREK	THE CRUST ON ITS UPPERS	1962		F	M
SALLIS	JAMES	GHOST OF A FLEA	2001	LG6	F	M
SANDFORD	JOHN	SUDDEN PREY	1996	LD8	F	M
SEYMOUR	GERALD	ARCHANGEL	1982		F	M
SJOWALL/WAHLOO	PER/MAJ	THE MAN WHO WENT UP IN SMOKE	1966	MB2	F	M/F
THOMPSON	NEVILLE	JACKIE LOVES JOHNSER OK?	1997		F	M
THOMPSON	NEVILLE	TWO BIRDS/ONE STONED	1998		F	M
TIMLIN	MARK	ALL THE EMPTY PLACES	2000	NS16	F	M
WILSON	EDWARD	A RIVER IN MAY	2002		F	M
WINGFIELD	R. D.	A KILLING FROST	2008	JF6	F	M
WIPRUD	BRIAN M.	STUFFED	2005	GS2	F	M

MARCH 2015 - READING LIST AND PICK OF THE MONTH

Boom.... another month over and another decent month's reading.....10 books all told were enjoyed in the month.

I'm keeping pace with my year-end target though I had hoped to be a couple of books ahead of schedule by now, for when the inevitable blues or reading slump hits.

I've reviewed 9 of my titles read and the links and scores are below......

ALL 10 COVERED NOW!

Olen Steinhauer - All the Old Knives (2015) - 5

Torquil MacLeod - Meet Me in Malmo (2010/2015) - 4

Thatcher Robinson - Black Karma (2014) - 5

Jim Thompson - Ironside (1967) - 4

Stark Holborn - Nunslinger 1 (2013) - 4

Jamie Mason - Monday's Lie (2015) - 4

Stark Holborn - Nunslinger 2: The Good, The Bad and the Penitent (2013) - 4

Don Pendleton - The Executioner: War Against the Mafia (1969) - 4

Neil Cross - Captured (2010) - 4

5 of the 9 were authors I have previously enjoyed reading - the second Stark Holborn offering being preceded by the first by a day or so!

2 of the 9 here were 5 star reads and the other 7 were all 4's - nothing sucked which was good.

6 of the 8 authors above were male. Jamie Mason proving the exception. The enigmatic, pseudonymous Stark Holborn has undetermined genitalia so is classed as a ..... an unclassified, enigmatic, pseudonymous mystery.

One Scot in the gang - Mr Macleod - who writes about Sweden and lives in England, one Englishman - Mr Cross who apparently lives in New Zealand. All the rest are American.

2 from the 60's - all the rest from this decade.

2 sadly are deceased, the rest are thankfully/hopefully in rude health.

4 were Net Galley books and I'm still woefully behind, but catching up slowly. Nunslinger was another from there, but expired and I have the library book on long loan. I should get more episodes read in April and a corresponding number of ticks in the April reads column.

5 were paperbacks, 5 were Kindle reads.

3 of the authors above consented to interview via e-mail which was a surprise and a pleasure.
Thank you....... Mr Steinhauer, Mr Robinson and Mr MacLeod.

Mr Putnam was on the blog in March, after being read in February.





My pick of the month hasn't been reviewed yet and will appear on the blog in mid-April with an interesting author profile and Q+A the day after. Can you remember the author and the book?

IT HAS NOW!

Evangeline Jennings - Riding in Cars with Girls (2015) - 5 STARS  

Liverpool lass, now living in Texas - Evangeline Jennings!

MARCH 2015 - FILMS AND TV

Nothing too spectacular in March viewing-wise.

My wife and I went to the cinema to see this,

which was the sequel to this,

which we had seen previously; but which rather fortuitously was also aired in March on TV, so we got to enjoy it again, prior to enjoying the second one. Sad to say, our cinema experience was somewhat marred by a couple of.....how to say it without offending.....individuals with difficulties (and their carers) who frequently sang and shouted during the film, disrupting everyone's enjoyment.

What's the solution? Isolate them totally from the rest of society - obviously not; but when their behaviour impacts upon other people you have to draw a line somewhere, not that I know where the line is. Could their carers have relocated their party to an emptier part of the arena so that their outbursts would have been less of a distraction to everyone else.....probably. Would it have helped.......definitely. Would the rest of the viewers have appreciated the gesture......undoubtedly.

Back to the films - enjoyed them both. Favourite character...Bill Nighy - the man's an absolute saint for tolerating his wife as long as he did. Judi Dench and Maggie Smith - both marvellous - national treasures the pair of them!

Probably our zillionth viewing, but when it reappears on the small screen as a family we invariably re-watch it. Jamie Lee Curtis is funny, Lindsay Lohan is great and on the whole its an enjoyable hour and a half's viewing. Mark Harmon (Gibbs - NCIS) also features.

Stupid and infantile - which in the context of a Saturday afternoon's viewing is a compliment. Right film, right time - a few laughs with the family on the sofa. Channing Tatum and some other dude. Not sure I would have laughed so loudly if I had paid to see it on the big screen, but it entertained.

My kids do this to me at least once a month - let's choose a horror film that will scare the whatsit out of dad - this month was Mama.....I watched maybe half an hour before retreating to another room. Did I know what was going on - no. Did I want to know - no. Did I care - no. Will I catch up on what I missed - no. Do I love my kids for torturing me - err, ..... yes, just about

Amusing take on family and growing older..... plenty of laughs and some food for thought. Like 21 Jump Street - I enjoyed it, but was glad I hadn't paid out for it.

Not too sure what season this one was, but we've finished it. Jessica Lange is amazing.......the whole shebang is blood, guts, horror, absurdity and totally over the top...which is probably why we are glued to it as a family.

I'm a late-comer to this and having only seen snippets of the previous 3 seasons (because my family watched it without me when I was working and they weren't, but I'm not bitter and I have totally gotten over it and I'm not a sulker) I am struggling to know who is who and what they are up to.

It is pretty amazing insofar as they are all extremely manipulative, power hungry, sex-mad, scheming psychos......what's not to like?

A Channel 4 programme where you watch a cross-section of the British public reacting to TV shows they are watching in their homes. It's probably a lot more entertaining watching the watchers, than watching the actual TV shows themselves.

MARCH 2015 - ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY.....SOME OF AT LEAST

At some point this post will be a completely blank canvas, but guess what......it isn't this month!

I "bought" as in paid money for only one book in the month, but still the library grows.

Free on Amazon!

Ditto above!

New-to-me author - Net Galley.

Debut novel.

Enjoyed one of his earlier books a year or two ago - RUIN VALUE

Latest Hugo Marston

Short stories - I enjoyed his previous collection - Black Pills & Red Bullets.

Vegas crime

Great cover!

This one I paid money for. I have always had a fascination with numbers and it might amuse when the crime fiction jades me.

Cover of the month and title of the month, I reckon!

NEIL CROSS - CAPTURED (2010)

Synopsis/blurb….

Even though he is still young, Kenny has just weeks to live. Before he dies, he wants to find his childhood best friend Callie Barton and thank her for the kindness she showed him when they were at school together. But when Kenny begins his search, he discovers that Callie Barton has gone missing. Although cleared of any involvement, her husband Jonathan seems to be hiding something. Kenny has no choice but to take matters into his own hands. And knowing that time is running out on him, he's prepared to do whatever it takes ...

Not my first time around the block with this author as I have previously enjoyed Luther: The Calling  (I can’t recall if this came before the TV show with Idris Elba or was an after-thought); and in the days long before the blog was in action Mr In-Between and Burial. Needless to say, there are a few others on the pile waiting for a read.

Unusual set-up with a dying man, attempting to reach out to people he feels he has let down in the past. Most notable of these and soon to become the major focus of Kenny’s actions is school friend, Callie. Kenny pays his ex-copper friend Pat Maxwellto track her down. Pat subs the job out to a corrupt and debt-ridden ex-cop turned PI, Paul Sugar - a decision which will come back to haunt all concerned in the future.

We discover Callie has been missing for a few years and whilst the focus of the investigation centred on her husband and plenty of finger-pointing ensued, he is continuing with his life as before with a new partner in tow. Kenny burgles his house in an effort to discover more about Callie and her husband.

In the mean-time Mary, his ex-wife and closest friend suspects something is up with Kenny but doesn't know what – suffice to say she’s worried. Her husband, Stever is similarly concerned. And with good reason.

Kenny has kidnapped Jonathan, Callie’s husband and proceeds to systematically torture him to discover what happened to his wife. Grim, graphic and brutal. Uncomfortable but gripping and compelling reading.

We get answers at the end. We (the reader) discover who did what to whom and although it seems unlikely at one point, Jonathan and Kenny almost part as friends, with a shared experience binding them. Albeit for a very short space of time as Kenny is about to pass on.

The very last bit of the book, kind of seemed ill-thought out in my opinion. I won’t elaborate as I wouldn’t want to spoil it for anyone……if you’ve read it yourself – feel free to contact me to discuss as I would like to know if it jarred for you. Probably a minor detail, but I’m feeling picky today.

An interesting read and some food for thought. If you were on borrowed time, would you try and re-dress some of your past mistakes?

Mostly very good, but could have been better in my opinion.

4 from 5

Neil Cross has his website here.

Another Net Galley read. Open Road Media are in the process of or have recently re-released the author’s back catalogue.

DON PENDLETON - THE EXECUTIONER: WAR AGAINST THE MAFIA (1969)

Synopsis/blurb…….

To avenge his family, a soldier brings home the Vietnam War

In the jungles of Southeast Asia, no sniper was more ruthless than Mack Bolan. After twelve years in-country, with ninety-five confirmed kills, he comes home to the United States only to find that his father has gone berserk, slaughtering his family before taking his own life. But Mack knows his father was no killer. He was under pressure from a gang of Mafia thugs who were after his money and were willing to destroy his life to get it. For the sake of his old man, Bolan declares war on the men who drove him mad.

Five loan sharks are getting into their car when a bullet slams one of them to the ground. Before the others can draw their guns, four more shots ring out, leaving them as the first casualties in the Executioner’s war. From his hometown to every city in America, Mack Bolan will deliver justice from the barrel of a gun.

My first time with this author and while I enjoyed this book and am happy to have read it, I’m going to exercise remarkable restraint and not rush out and buy the following 40 or so in the Mack Bolan series.

Bolan is an elite sniper in Vietnam, when he gets called back to the States. His father has gone mad with a shot-gun, killing his mother and sister and injuring his brother before turning the gun on himself. After a few enquiries and a discussion with his brother, Bolan discovers that money problems caused the tragedy. His father borrowed money from a Mafia controlled loan sharking operation, couldn’t pay it back, so unknown to him, Bolan’s sister enlisted as a prostitute to get the family off the hook. When the father found out, he cracked and BOOM…….

Bolan stays stateside and starts taking revenge, first taking out the five men who front the loan operation. Despite being the main suspect of the police there is only a strong suspicion that Mack is the killer and no evidence. In short order, he infiltrates the mob by signing on as a protector for part of the prostitution operation, then starts attacking it from within having learned a few secrets of the movement.

The Mafia retaliate and put a bounty on his head. After having been shot himself, Bolan barely escapes the clutches of the police, we have Bolan temporarily recuperating from his injury in the arms of a lady – Valentine Querente. Val was conveniently searching for her cat when Bolan barged into her house and out of the clutches of the police. She has never experienced love until Mack darkens her door step. Mack once recovered is only too happy to show her his weapon.

After a bit of R+R and TLC, Mack having professed his love for the lady, takes the war back onto the streets, careful not to antagonise or target the police, elements of which are sympathetic to his mission. Mayhem ensues as Bolan shows ruthless efficiency in disrupting the Mafia operation with an ever increasing body count.

Despite the lack of any convincing emotional depth to the characters, I really enjoyed this story…..plenty of shoot ‘em, stab ‘em, punch ‘em action that made it quite a quick read. I was unconvinced by the love aspect of the novel and similarly by the lack of grief or anguish Mack seemed to feel at the news his family had more or less been wiped out. He seemed fairly indifferent to the future of his surviving brother, other than some cursory arrangements he made. A bit of a robot is Mr Bolan, but an entertaining one nevertheless.  

Memorable? No, I don’t think so, but it was a decent enough read and the pages turned fairly quickly.

4 from 5

Don Pendleton served in the US Armed Forces during the Second World War and subsequently in Korea, before working for NASA. With his Executioner series he became regarded as “the father of action/adventure.” He died in 1995.

His author website is here.

Open Road have re-published some (maybe all?) of the Bolan series recently for kindle. I accessed this one via Net Galley.

Blog friend Prashant has a couple of recent posts on Mack Bolan.

Mack Bolan needs a new home. Plus his own thoughts on War Against the Mafia.