The Psychopath Test - Jon Ronson

This is a story about madness.

Rated 9/10

This is a story about madness. It all starts when journalist Jon Ronson is contacted by a leading neurologist. She and several colleagues have recently received a cryptically puzzling book in the mail, and Jon is challenged to solve the mystery behind it. As he searches for the answer, Jon soon finds himself, unexpectedly, on an utterly compelling and often unbelievable adventure into the world of madness.

My Thoughts: Jon Ronson has quickly become one of my favourite writers. His style is witty, interesting and tongue in cheek. I love the observations that he makes and the quirks from people that he picks up on. I love that his reporting style is a little gung-ho - not a huge amount of planning seems to be in place (at least that's how it comes across). And he's not afraid to rub people up the wrong way sometimes. 

Another brilliant read that I would highly recommend. I'm looking for yet more from Ronson, and can see myself with the full set of his books on my shelves fairly soon.

That Near Death Thing - Rick Broadbent

The broken man pushes a leftover
calzone around a plate in Paparazzi
and falls off the Verandah.

Rated 10/10

The Isle of Man TT is a throwback to a maverick era that existed before PR platitudes and PC attitudes. William Hill shortlisted author Rick Broadbent gets inside the helmets of four leading motorcycle racers as they battle fear, fire and family tragedy for a gritty sort of glory.

My Thoughts: I was already a fan of Rick Broadbent when I picked up his in depth account of the TT, as I had read his work on the Moto GP a while ago and adored it.

I was not disappointed this time round either. That Near Death Thing scoops you up from your seat, carries you over to The Isle of Man, and gives you a glimpse behind the visors of some of the most fearless men (and Jenny) in the world. But these guys would never see it that way - they just love racing, finding the pencil line that marks out their limit and stepping over it. Sometimes they make mistakes. Sometimes they pay big time for these mistakes. Sometimes they get lucky and bring it home in one piece.

I could never say that I have a favourite rider as I respect every single one of them for their sheer gut and determination, and I believe Broadbent shares the same view. I love the way that he sheds light on the individual characters that he writes about - really opening my eyes to the differences between the riders, their passions, emotions, family feuds, what makes them tick. McGuinness and M.Dunlop are a mile apart when it comes to emotion and race ethic, and yet they scrape leathers on track and have the utmost respect for one another. Same goes for all of them.

I loved the way that Broadbent described the difference between road racers and circuit racers too. They are very much in different classes, but the passion for both is very much at the forefront of every single word.

I could read his observational descriptions all day - and I really hope that he is planning to write more on racing, though I get the feeling I would be happy enough to pick up any of his works, no matter the topic.

The 5th Wave - Rick Yancey

There will be no awakening.

Rated 10/10

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

My Thoughts: This book was powerful from the very first sentence. It's a dark and gritty teen read (though it has a maturity in style that adults will enjoy too). Relentless and full of action throughout, I actually couldn't put it down. 

The characters are strong, very strong; and as they are children from the age of 5 upwards, they are battling with self-discovery alongside the inconvenience of a full on alien invasion. But not the cheesy, big-eyed, hairless, green life forms you might see in an old film or tv programme - we're talking something a lot more sinister than that. Something that could really make your skin crawl...

What struck me the hardest about this novel was Yancey's style. It's no holds barred, grown up writing; short, sharp, shocking. 

Packed full of violence, death and the urge for survival; this is a book for those not too faint at heart. If you love grit and grime then this could be for you - might be best not to read in the dark...

Lost At Sea - Jon Ronson

A young man called Bill
stands in the shadows behind
a curtain at a converted
paintworks factory in Bristol,
now a TV studio.

Rated 10/10

"The New York Times"-bestselling author of "The Psychopath Test," Jon Ronson writes about the dark, uncanny sides of humanity with clarity and humor. "Lost at Sea "reveals how deep our collective craziness lies, even in the most mundane circumstances. 

Reviewed on my iPhone. 

My thoughts: I had barely reached page 30 and had already been taken behind the scenes of Deal or No Deal and met the worlds most advanced humanoid robots!

This is a book of articles packed with so many interesting people, and Ronson's dry wit and sarcasm that had me thoroughly entertained. I love Ronson's writing style, and I am currently seeking out more of his books for my upcoming holiday.

There have been other less favourable reviews about Ronson not doing research and just showing up to interview people on a whim. I actually quite admire this approach - it makes each article a lot more personal and we can see his own viewpoints based on his observations. Whether we agree with them or not is a different matter; we could always do our own extensive research if the cold hard facts meant that much to us.

Readers should remember that a lot of Ronson's own feelings and emotions come through - it is of course going to be biased. I think that this gives the writing a touch of personal honesty and a bit of an insight into Ronson himself too. I find this connection important in anything I read, whether non fiction or otherwise.

This has actually inspired me to perhaps explore my own passion for writing and perhaps taking this love down a route that I haven't yet explored. Real people provide the most interesting of stories at times, and it takes the right kind of writer to get the best (or worst) out of them. 


An enjoyable and thought provoking collection!

Republic - Steven L. Kent

'"Name?" The sergeant barked
the question without bothering
to look up from his desk.'

Rated 4/10

Private First-class Wayson Harris was raised in a Unified Authority orphanage among thousands of clones, bred to be the ultimate soldiers. But unlike the other Marines, programmed to obey first and think later, Harris has a mind of his own. When he fends off an attack from a rogue general, Harris is thrust into the middle of a galactic conflict that forces him to question his existence as a weapon of the U.A., and the cost of rebellion.

My Thoughts: This is going to be a really tough review to write, mainly because this book wound me up for quite some time before I reached the end, and not really in a good way. Please remember that this is just my own opinion, and you will need to read the book yourself to form your own views. I am going to break this review down somewhat, to help me to articulate everything that I feel I need to. There is quite a lot for me to get through!

First Impressions... The idea of this novel struck me. Give me anything to do with conformity, cloning, remnants of a dystopian society and I will be all over it, whether the book is set on planet Earth or otherwise. I had never picked up anything from military sci-fi before, and so this has opened up a whole new genre for me. I love to read military history, action and adventure stories, fantasy and science fiction; and so as long as a book has a lot of ass-kicking in it, then it will be good for me! 'Republic's' book jacket looks pretty awesome, with the identical silhouettes at the top to represent cloning and the brutal looking landscape at the bottom - I couldn't wait to get started on it!

In The Beginning... We are introduced (in first person) to Wayson Harris and instantly he is thrust amongst a group of untrained, lazy marine clones without a care in the world ... I enjoyed the first part of the book; the action, the introduction to Freeman and the way that Harris (despite not doing much at all) is given his second assignment before I had even reached page 100. And this is where things started to go downhill...

The Middle... Once I had been introduced to the main characters, I began to notice the awkward writing style. Short sentence after short sentence, the same word repeated two or three times in quick succession. The lack of metaphoric language and the occasional odd choice of words (personal annoyance, but 'specking' this and for 'speck's' sake really irritated me!).... 
The water was cold, but my body adjusted quickly. I loped forward through the shallows until the water was up to my waist, then I dived in. Lee followed me as far as the water's edge, but his willingness to continue vanished the moment he felt the water.
Just one of many examples in which I took out my biro and started to edit the book!!! Four uses of one word in three sentences?

The whole book was written in this style, where the narrator tries to hammer the story into us by reeling out the facts in short bursts and never giving us any emotion, any atmosphere or much creative use of language at all. It sounds harsh, but this is how I personally interpreted it. Half of the sentences could have been cut out and I would have gained back hours of reading time.

The characters were also lacking. With the narrative being written in first person, the reader never witnesses the 'behind the scenes' look at the other character's background, actions or thoughts. We don't see the broader picture, and for a setting as vast as the whole galaxy, this could have been a big mistake.
Some of the dialogue was pretty poor also - the characters don't 'sound' genuine; at one point, Wayson says "Ha!"... which to me is pointless!

Wayson Harris (taking into consideration that he isn't human) is not relateable at all. He doesn't seem to have much emotion. No hobbies to speak of, no family or friends, no history. I couldn't connect or find him likeable.

The only female characters mentioned at all in this book are two pieces of 'damn fine scrub' that Wayson and his comrade meet whilst on leave. I understand that this book is not targeted towards a female reader and that blokes do talk about girls in this way, however, the plot might have had more depth if the odd woman was introduced at other times too, or one or two were laced into the background cast. Preferably strong, modern ladies (as would be expected 500 years down the line) and not hysteric tanned blondes who hook up with a guy the instant their eyes meet. It is clear at this point exactly who the reader should be; these girls seem to be a ditzy blip in the plotline to highlight the fact that clones actually do have testosterone in there somewhere and that females do still exist in this future.

I believe that all of this could have been pushed aside if there had been some action throughout the plot - but in fact there was hardly any. Harris doesn't really show off his skills (yet) and any action that actually does take off is initiated by other people. We never really get close to it. This had to be the biggest disappointment, as I was expecting fire fights and fist fights throughout. Maybe this is because I have never read from this genre before and I had misguided preconceptions.

The End... The best part of this book was the end! Not simply because it took me so long to get there. Harris' action FINALLY started from page 430, and he led a pretty intense mission that actually had me quickly turning pages for a little while. This is the part of the book that I will gladly remember, and actually, I was pretty pleased that I had stuck with it at this point, as I had been close to putting it down on a few occasions! This is the kind of narrative that should have really been present from the beginning - even with the odd writing style I would have enjoyed it that much more. What a finish!

In Conclusion... A pretty good first and last 100 pages, but the middle felt like filler for the reasons outlined above. I was glad that I finished it, but unhappy that it was so time-consuming to do so. And that I felt the need to edit it when it all got a bit too much for me!

I read the first few pages of Jack Campbell's first Lost Fleet novel (as Steven Kent has been compared to) and already found it more captivating, his style is engaging (I have since added Campbell to my book(et) list).

I do have book 2 of Kent's Clone Rebellion Series on my bookshelf, and I think that I might wait a while and then give it a go. Now that the scene has been set and I know Wayson Harris a little better, the second book might be easier to read.

Watch this space!!!