ALLEN ESKENS - THE LIFE WE BURY

Synopsis/blurb…….

College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe's life is ever the same.

Iverson is a dying Vietnam veteran--and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to a nursing home, after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder.

As Joe writes about Carl's life, especially Carl's valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism of the soldier with the despicable acts of the convict. Joe, along with his skeptical female neighbor, throws himself into uncovering the truth, but he is hamstrung in his efforts by having to deal with his dangerously dysfunctional mother, the guilt of leaving his autistic brother vulnerable, and a haunting childhood memory.

Thread by thread, Joe unravels the tapestry of Carl’s conviction. But as he and Lila dig deeper into the circumstances of the crime, the stakes grow higher. Will Joe discover the truth before it’s too late to escape the fallout?

It’s not particularly often that my wife reads and enjoys any of the books that cross my path. Whilst I endeavour to read what she reads (eventually) she doesn’t feel the same need to reciprocate, nor should she. Our last shared and loved book in common was Jess Walter’s Beautiful Ruins last year, until Eskens debut The Life We Bury fell into her hands after mine.

Fair to say we both loved it and it was fun checking in on her progress as she devoured it knowing what was in store.

A college assignment morphs into an investigation into a 30 year old murder mystery, that touches on a lot of things…..family, relationships, affection, abuse, parenting, autism, communication, guilt, loyalty, friendships, Vietnam, war, death, alcohol abuse, cancer……….and a whole lot of other things besides.

Great story line, superb characters that you care about, especially Joe and his neighbour Lila. I think the family dynamics and the evolving relationship between Joe and Lila and the part Jeremy unwittingly played was one of the most satisfying parts of the book. A close second to that would be the developing friendship between our murdering, cancer-stricken, veteran Carl and Joe.

I do like the odd book where the investigation into the mystery is conducted by a non-professional sleuth. It makes for a refreshing change from the police or more usually PI books, I read. Eskens arranged an interesting puzzle, which I was keen to see resolved, which it was.    

Allen Eskens

Intriguing, entertaining, gripping and totally satisfying.

Definitely recommended if you like your mysteries, on the whole fairly straightforward, but with a lot of character and heart.

Debut author Eskens has two new fans in the UK!

5 from 5

Allen Eskens hails from the US. His website is here.

The Life We Bury is on sale from October 14^th, 2014. Many thanks to Seventh Street Books for my copy. Their website is here.

               

ITALIAN HOLIDAY - TUSCANY

Back end of August, we de-camped to Tuscany for a week. A bit of a last hurrah family holiday as a unit of 5, as at the end of this week our eldest de-camps to University and has intimated that he is unlikely to want to come with us again, which is fair enough. Good news is he still wants to tag along for our annual weekend pilgrimage to Lowestoft every July when we celebrate our wedding anniversary. A dual cause for celebration was my wife’s xxth birthday – it’s rude to advertise a lady’s age so don’t even ask!

When's the re-make of Baywatch? Call my agent!

Our itinery was fairly loose and free, as we were newbies to Italy; apart from me back in 1975 as an 11 year old on a church trip in Holy Year (I think I can safely lay claim to having been inside every Catholic church in Rome and the surrounding district, or maybe false memory just makes it seem like that!) and my son having a trip to Venice last year.

We flew Luton to Pisa on a Friday. Picked up a hire car and drove northwards for an hour or so to the village Piano di Coreglia where we had rented a villa. Late arrival in the evening meant we just dumped luggage and crashed.

Our week went thus:

Saturday  - Barga and Lucca

Sunday – lazy

Monday – Viareggio by the sea

Tuesday – lazy

Wednesday – Florence

Thursday - lazy

Friday - Pisa and home

Thoughts……..

Accommodation - great, hosts – fantastic, pool – a bit cold but great fun, weather - fabulous – hot, but not too hot, food – fantastic. (The day before we travelled, I hit my target weight of 12 stone – 4 stone off in 25 weeks! That meant I could release the hunger monster inside me!) Plenty of pizza, not too much pasta for me – not a big fan, a few beers, a few glasses of wine – happy days.

Driving – hmm, no hiccups, but it takes a while getting used to travelling on the “wrong” side of the road, a few impatient drivers encountered – but no road rage, no cat’s eyes in Italy, so it was a bit hairy at times travelling back in the evenings when it got dark. Our village was in the sticks and whilst not isolated it was a bit of a trip traversing through the mountains and hills, either through tunnels cut through, or winding roads criss-crossing back and forth. Top prize to my son for his navigational skills as I would have taken a lot more wrong turns without him.

Barga – ok for lunch and a drink. Perhaps we were in the wrong part of town, but there wasn’t a lot going on.

Lucca – loved it. Great shops and cafes. Visited the Museum of Torture – I’ve obviously led a sheltered life and I couldn’t imagine some of the punishments thought up and on display.  Nice evening meal in the square.

Viareggio – about an hour or so drive for us. Beach was ok, but the sea and waves were fantastic. A bit too hot for me, mostly reading in the shade when not in the water. Fantastic meal in the evening.

Florence – we had a drive of about an hour and a half to get here. Took on board a bit of culture. Climbed the tower to the top of the cathedral and saw the view over Florence – not too spectacular in my opinion, there’s a uniformity about the rooftops unlike London’s skyline which I viewed from St. Paul’s. Went and saw “David” by Michaelangelo – really impressive, plus a host of other religious pictures and sculptures by a lot of people I’ve never ever heard of.  Had a stroll around the city, saw all the gold merchants on the bridge over the river – strictly window-shopping.  Fantastic day and definitely a place I’d like to re-visit as we barely scratched the surface.

Pisa – amazing seeing the Leaning Tower up close. Didn’t climb it, none of us really felt the need to. Lunched here and had a stroll around doing some shopping before heading to the airport and home.

Other bits and bobs viewed – some underground caves at Grotto del Vento and the Devil’s Bridge – Ponte della Maddalena.

One of the most memorable holidays ever with the family!

A few pictures below

Team Keane

Lucca - I think!

Missed my pizzas!

Head football with competitive daughter!

On the bridge!

Devils' Bridge

Too hot  - time to wear a cap!

Florence

Florence

Leaning tower

"David" - I'm the one wearing clothes just to avoid confusion! 

With the birthday girl!

BRIAN FREEMANTLE - CHARLIE M

Synopsis/blurb………

A cagey British spy fights enemies from without and within

Charlie Muffin is an anachronism. He came into the intelligence service in the early 1950s, when the government, desperate for foot soldiers in the impending Cold War, dipped into the middle class for the first time.

Despite a lack of upper-class bearing, Charlie survived twenty-five years on the espionage battle's front line: Berlin. But times have changed: The boys from Oxford and Cambridge are running the shop again, and they want to get rid of the middle-class spy who's a thorn in their side. They have decided that it's time for Charlie to be sacrificed.

But Charlie Muffin didn't survive two decades in Berlin by being a pushover. He intends to go on protecting the realm, and won't let anyone from his own organization get in his way.

Originally published in 1977, Charlie M (aka Charlie Muffin) is Freemantle’s first in his long running 16 book series featuring the British agent. Book 16, Red Star Falling was published in 2013.

Brian Freemantle

After a recent reminder about the book by blog friend Vicki, I decided to take it on my recent holiday and immerse myself in the intriguing world of duplicity, deceit and chicanery between the British, the Americans and those pesky Russians during the height of the Cold War.

184 pages long, a quick read, action and humour in abundance, fascinating portrayal of the murky dealings of the various intelligence services and the blatant disregard those in authority have for the underlings in their operations.

Our main man, Muffin has a lot of endearing and positive characteristics……..he’s loyal, capable, shrewd and intelligent to mention a few; all traits which serve him well in his chosen profession. I never found him truly likeable though. He cheats regularly on his wife and he seems to have hang-ups about money. His current boss and his cronies treat him fairly appallingly and want rid. All of these issues, keep the story bubbling along and make for a fast compelling read.

Imperfect characters often make for more interesting reading and Charlie is never less than interesting and entertaining. Freemantle moves the action around Europe as our story unfolds….Berlin, London, Czechoslavakia (pre-split obviously) and Austria. We cross the Atlantic as well, when the US in the guise of the CIA take an interest in developments.

With some reluctant inter-agency cooperation, we reach a climax between the interested parties.

Initially I felt kind of let down and disappointed about the resolution. A day later, I felt conflicted. A day after that, I think I shifted again and accepted it as perfect and loved it. Two days after that, I think I moved back to conflicted.

A fantastic read overall; any book that has you thinking about it a couple of weeks past finishing time has plenty of plus points. Perhaps reading book 2 in the series, will finally decide me on this one.

Highly recommended if you are a lover of espionage, the Cold War and well-written spy shenanigans.

5 from 5

I bought my copy second hand a year or two ago.           

JOHN STONEHOUSE - AN AMERICAN OUTLAW

Synopsis/blurb……

The scion of one of the West's great outlaws comes home from the war in Iraq--Gilman James, the last of three childhood friends to return.

His brothers-in-arms are mere shadows of their former selves--Gil, unmarked--determines to take care of them. But how far should a man go for the people he loves?

Stepping across the line between right and wrong, Gil finds himself stranded in the Texan desert--as a bank heist he's planned goes horribly wrong. Pursued into the badlands by US Marshal John Whicher, Gil crosses paths with Tennille Labrea; an outlander, with her own demons to fight. Shielding a secret too precious to share with anyone, she's ready to cross her own line in the sand.

What makes an outlaw? Marshal John Whicher, veteran of the First Gulf War thinks he knows. But can natural justice ever outrank the law? For three very different people a moment of reckoning is set in train: violent, defining; inescapable.

An American Outlaw is a debut novel from author John Stonehouse. We have a fast-paced tale of robbery and pursuit set in wildest Texas. Fairly straight-forward you would think, but there’s a depth to the prose which extends far beyond that of some of the books I read.  

We have a fantastic setting, vividly depicted, so much so I’m sure I coughed and spat desert dust as I turned the pages.

We have an interesting mix of characters, mainly focusing around a trio of strong, determined and likeable individuals; Gil – a disaffected veteran, loyal to friends and family but now willing to put himself on the wrong side of the law, like his famous ancestor; Tennille – a single Hispanic mother, getting by but unwilling to sacrifice her daughter to her abusive ex-husband and looking for an opportunity to forge a new life for them both away from his clutches; and Whicher, another veteran and now a Marshal. Whicher has a decency about him, as well as tenacity and acumen – a quality which serves him well in his pursuit of Gilman James after poor fortune and impetuosity from his partners in crime derail the meticulous planning laid in place.   

Stonehouse weaves together our three main characters into a fast moving plot-line, producing a tale that ultimately resolves satisfactorily, leaving our characters’ integrity intact. In doing so he touches on issues which effect a lot of people today on either side of the Atlantic ……. economic downturn, banks, foreclosure, poor prospects, rejection and isolation, provoking feelings of powerlessness and disenfranchisement. Should we be surprised when people decide to fight back?

I’m looking forward to more from this powerful author in the years to come.

4 from 5 initially, on reflection re-scored to 5 from 5 - can't think of a valid reason why not! 

John Stonehouse can be found on Facebook here and on Twitter here.

He was kind enough to send me a copy of this bad boy in return for an honest review.

An American Outlaw has been read and enjoyed and reviewed by Raven from Raven Crime Reads here.

AUGUST 2014 READING LIST AND PICK OF THE MONTH

August book of the month!

August proved to be a great month quality-wise, even though I again fell short of my 10 book reading target for the month. All 8 books read were by new-to-me authors and I'd be happy to read more from all of them.

4 books were fantastic in my opinion, so I'm spoiled for choice for a book of the month, 3 were better than good and the only 3 star-rating was good in its own way, but kind of slow. Having finished the last 3 whilst on holiday and the 4th from last the day before we went, I'll be catching up on reviews for them all in the next week.

Book of the month and not just because two of the 5-stars haven't been reviewed was Dietrich Kalteis - Ride the Lightning.

Judged on the basis of, if I had to read 1 of these again, that's what I would reach for, followed by Freemantle, then Fusco.


John Fusco - Dog Beach (5)

Robert Silverberg - Pickup (4)

Alan Jones - The Cabinetmaker (4)

Dietrich Kalteis - Ride the Lightning (5)

John Stonehouse - An American Outlaw (4) - on reflection re-scored to (5)

Brian Freemantle - Charlie M (5)

Allen Eskins - The Life We Bury (5)

Martin Clark - The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living (3)

AUGUST FILMS AND TV

I was having an average month's viewing during August, until my daughter woke me up about midnight one evening in tears, telling me Robin Williams was dead. For the past 10 years or so, she has held Mrs Doubtfire close to her heart, as it was a film she always watched with her granddad, now sadly no longer with us. Only the previous week, she had watched it again in her bedroom after we had declined an invitation to view it in the lounge.

I would have to say, I would never have ranked Williams in my top ten film actors and probably wouldn't have any of his movies in my list of top ten films, but I have enjoyed watching him over the years in a variety of roles. Most of the following couple of days, I couldn't stop thinking of him on and off and felt immeasurably sad for both him and his family. The weekend after the news we watched four of his films, a couple new-to-me and a couple of oldies including Mrs Doubtfire!  

There's a couple more I want to track down and re-watch - Good Morning Vietnam and Dead Poet's Society, both of which I enjoyed when watched many years ago. Maybe in September then.

We were away for the 3rd week in the month so didn't devote a lot of time to watching Italian television.

Eventually watched the first episode of Fargo, loved it. All I need to do is find about 10 hours to watch the rest of it!

Not a big Leo fan, but I enjoyed this tale of greed and excess.

Part viewed - was enjoying it and fell asleep, will watch fully at some time in the future.

Horror film, initially seen a couple of years ago with my son at the cinema. Ok, good not great.

Part watched, had to go out before it finished. Ok, because I've seen it before, I prefer Steve Martin to Goldie. Loved him in a few family films - particularly Cheaper by the Dozen.

Always watchable, bless him.

First time viewed, really enjoyed it. Love Pacino, love Hilary, Williams wasn't shabby either.

Second time around for this, though I probably paid more attention this time. A great film, Bridges and Williams are both superb. Cheesy ending, but I loved it. 

Wonder how many more times I will be seeing this one! Who cares, always raises a chuckle in our house.

First time for me - amazing, I  loved everything about it and everyone in it. Matt Damon looks so young. I can see why Williams got his oscar for this - why have I never watched it before?

AUGUST ADDITION TO THE LIBRARY......SOME OF AT LEAST

No effective embargo operating, so throws hands in air, shouts "B***ocks!" and shrugs shoulders.

Not crime but looks interesting

Wished I had discovered him earlier than last year.

Canadian author.

Irish screwball crime.

Reminds me of Dukes of Hazard

Another drug related crime book.

Short stories

50p purchase 

Follow on from last year's White Ginger

More shorts

More shorts

3rd Texas mystery from Terry Shames