The best reads for Father's Day

It's Father's Day in just under a fortnight (I'm sure you haven't forgotten!) - so here are some of my favourite books that I think will make the perfect read!

GHOSTMAN: Roger Hobbs

I make things disappear. It’s what I do. This time I’m tidying up the loose ends after a casino heist gone bad. The loose ends being a million cash.But I only have 48 hours, and there’s a guy out there who wants my head in a bag.
He’ll have to find me first.

They don’t call me the Ghostman for nothing...

A fast and furious debut novel that centres on an anti-hero whose name we never learn. With two plot lines intertwined, Ghostman is full of action and suspense, and is being adapted for the silver screen. 

Get this for your dad if he likes full on thrillers, bank jobs and underworld crime. 

HOSTAGE: Robert Crais

Jeff Talley, the police chief in a small Southern California town, still has nightmares about the young hostage who died when he made the wrong call in his previous job as a negotiator for an LAPD SWAT team. Now, three smalltime punks go on the run after a grocery store robbery and killing in Talley's town. 

Soon his deputies have surrounded the house where the inept robbers have taken Walter Smith and his two children hostage, and Talley's back in his worst dream again: until the county sheriff's full-fledged SWAT team arrives and takes over, he has to negotiate for their lives.

Another full on thriller with anti-heroes at the core. Three petty criminals accidentally hold two children hostage, and it is up to Jeff Talley to negotiate with them despite it being the very thing he wanted to escape from in his previous position.

Robert Crais creates brilliant characters and sets them on a downwards spiral - the reader can't help but suffer a little Stockholm Syndrome while reading. With hidden secrets and plenty of twists; Hostage is a fabulous read and I think you should all go out and get it!!!

THE PSYCHOPATH TEST: Jon Ronson

They say one out of every hundred people is a psychopath. You probably passed one on the street today. These are people who have no empathy, who are manipulative, deceitful, charming, seductive, and delusional. The Psychopath Test is the New York Times bestselling exploration of their world and the madness industry.

If your dad prefers his books "factual" and a little bit unusual, you can't go far wrong with Jon Ronson. An all time favourite of mine and the other booksellers is 'The Psychopath Test'. 

Often witty, very colourful and always shocking - Jon Ronson goes on a hunt to find out what a 'psychopath' is and why they have been labelled as such. This book is a real eye opener and plenty of fun to read. 

My favourite anecdote is about a patient that lied about being criminally insane and it was determined that because he lied about being criminally insane, he must be criminally insane... No, I can't do this book justice. Just read it!

FIRE IN THE EAST: Harry Sidebottom

AD 255—the Roman imperium is stretched to the breaking point, its authority and might challenged throughout the territories and along every border. One man is sent to marshal the defenses of a lonely city and to shore up the crumbling walls of a once indomitable symbol of Roman power, a man whose very name means war: a man called Ballista. So unfolds an epic drama — a story of empire, heroes, treachery, courage, and most of all, of brutal, bloody warfare. 

Ballista is a barbarian, adopted by the Romans as commander of an under resourced group of soldiers - and sent to defend the city of Arete from Persian attack. Sidebottom's novel is well researched and develops really well; the characters really grow as the novel moves on.

'Fire in the East' is full of blood, battle and betrayal and will be perfect for any fans of Roman fiction.

FAHRENHEIT 451: Ray Bradbury

The classic dystopian novel of a post-literate future, Fahrenheit 451 stands alongside Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World as a prophetic account of Western civilization’s enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity.

Imagine a world in which firefighters don't put fires out - they start them. Fahrenheit 451 is a classic dystopia which centres around the idea of society being controlled via destroying books, 451f being the temperature at which paper burns. A scary premise.

Bradbury also explores the idea of television taking over our social lives and reading becoming a dying pass time in the most literal of senses. This book is for a dad that loves to read; who likes books that evoke many deep questions. It's quick and bleak but beautifully written, and is one of those books that should be read by all.


So there you have it - my favourite books for Father's Day! I hope that there is at least one here that might suit, but if not, why not suggest some more brilliant reads in the comments section. I'd love to know your recommendations...

The Narrow Road to the Deep North - Richard Flanagan

I rated this book 10/10...

Taking its title from 17th-century haiku poet Basho's travel journal, The Narrow Road To The Deep North is about the impossibility of love. At its heart is one day in a Japanese slave labour camp in August 1943. As the day builds to its horrific climax, Dorrigo Evans battles and fails in his quest to save the lives of his fellow POWs, a man is killed for no reason, and a love story unfolds. 

Richard Flanagan, weaving together the personal and professional life of Australian surgeon Dorrigo Evans, brings us a dark and touching insight into the horrors of the Burma Death Railway.

Written in the style of a war hero reminiscing about his past, Dorrigo finds himself in the midst of the second world war, caught up in a forbidden affair with his uncle’s headstrong wife. He visits her rather than his own fiancee whenever he has leave, and begins to become absorbed in his love for Amy above most other things. The novel takes a dramatic turn when two years later Dorrigo is captured by the Japanese as a Prisoner of War working on the Burma Death Railway. He is expected to lead a large group of fellow prisoners as they work on building the railway to impossible deadlines and in impossible conditions. Dorrigo is forced to get ever more work out of his fellow captives, even as they are dying around him of exhaustion, starvation and cholera; and he finds himself setting up and running a makeshift hospital for the camp alongside his other duties to his men.

Flanagan writes with a beauty that brings the horrors of the POW camp and the characters that suffer there to life. There are many symbolic gestures laced throughout the narrative - handwritten letters, red camellias and pencil sketches that resonate long after the book has finished, and the link to poetry from the start brings endless depth to the prose. The grit and gore of the Prisoner of War camp is followed by severe emptiness as Flanagan explores the emotions of both the prisoners and the Japanese soldiers after the war is over. Here he expertly sets out the contrast between the two lives - when the men begin to realise that nothing they ever experience will be as intense or meaningful again.

Flanagan’s novel becomes all the more poignant when we find out that it was written in tribute to his father, an Australian prisoner of war who survived his experiences on the Burma Death Railway. His father sadly passed away on the day that Flanagan finished writing his book.

'The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ was well deserving of the Man Booker Prize last year and is now out in paperback, although there is something quite pleasing about the hardback edition.

The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins

I rated this book 4/10

A compulsively readable, emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller that draws comparisons to Gone Girl, The Silent Wife, or Before I Go to Sleep, this is an electrifying debut embraced by readers across markets and categories. 

I picked ’The Girl on the Train’ up because it is being raved about. The bestselling thriller at the moment, tagged as the next ‘Gone Girl’, and because it’s cheap for a hardback at £12.99. 

Written in first person, it is quick and interesting and very easy to become absorbed by from the first page. I empathised with Rachel at first – she’s an alcoholic who has gone a bit off the rails and she sees something happen whilst on her travels that worries her. She wants to help, she wants something to focus her attention on and to become a bit obsessed with.

Quickly I began to realise that I couldn’t get on with Rachel as a narrator. She’s unreliable (and this to me is a bit of a cop out, you can get away with anything in your plot if your protagonist is literally blind drunk), she gets herself into a mess and crawls back to bed apologising to her flatmate. Over and over and over again. Backwards and forwards, and bumping into the ex and his new wife again and again. It does get a little bit tedious at times, but the suspense is still there as Hawkins drops some unexpected twists into the plot that make up for the repetition.

Hawkins flicks easily between each woman’s viewpoint. Usually it’s a little jarring to have to get to know a new character, but she introduces them seamlessly and it doesn’t feel intrusive or disjointed. The three women connected by this thriller have been fired from their job or made redundant or have given up their career for the family; alcoholics and cheaters and other things that I cannot mention for fear of spoilers. A lot of people have these experiences, but Hawkins doesn’t give her protagonists any real personality or depth which makes them seem a bit flat. Not exactly a cast of strong ladies here, which I find disappointing for such a runaway bestseller. Usually there is at least one character that you can get along with in some way, but in ‘The Girl on the Train’ I didn’t find any.

I’ve heard different things from different readers about the big reveal. Some people (like myself) guessed whodunnit before they were told; and others were quite surprised and loved the ending. I found the ending a little bit of an anti-climax but not the biggest let down. It’s definitely worth sticking with until the very end.

I did mostly enjoy this novel and would recommend it to anybody that likes a psychological thriller. It might not have great characters, but the little twists in the plot are enough to keep you guessing throughout. Also, with it being quick and easy to get into it is the perfect book for your commute – I read this on the train to work. ‘The Girl on the Train’ will also make a good holiday read when it is released in paperback, though you’ll have to wait until next year for that!

Blaze - Richard Bachman

I rated this 8/10

He's got a plan.
But he hasn't a clue...

Clayton Blaisdell's capers are strictly small time until he meets George Rackley. With Blaze's brawn and George's brains, they pull off a hundred successful cons. Then George plans the one big score every small timer dreams of: kidnapping the infant heir to a family fortune.

A fabulously tense account of a big 'dummy' who finds himself in the wrong situations with the wrong people.

I love the way that Stephen King weaves Blaze's past with his present to give an all round view of his life and his quite soft natured personality. There wasn't a character in the book that fell flat, they were all so well written and three dimensional.

I really found myself connecting with Blaze despite his wrongdoings, and rooting for him to be happy though I knew this could never happen. I wasn't quite sure about the voice of George in Blaze's head however, I feel that Blaze seemed to be magically aware of things that he wouldn't have otherwise known.

King is the master of building tension and character, and Blaze is no exception. Definitely worth a read, and I will be reading more and more by him.

Ghostman - Roger Hobbs

"Hector Moreno and Jerome Ribbons
sat in the car on the ground level of
the Atlantic Regency Hotel Casino
parking garage, sucking up crystal
meth with a rolled-up five spot, a
lighter and a crinkled length of tin foil."

Rated 8/10

I make things disappear. It’s what I do. This time I’m tidying up the loose ends after a casino heist gone bad. The loose ends being a million cash.But I only have 48 hours, and there’s a guy out there who wants my head in a bag.
He’ll have to find me first.
They don’t call me the Ghostman for nothing...

My Thoughts: I couldn't put this book down! I liked the detailed explanations of the choices he made, the procedures he took, the weapons he used. For those not quite so clued up on these things it was very helpful, and above all, interesting. I liked the attention to sensory descriptions. I liked the fact that I almost forgot the Ghostman is a criminal.

It's a proper action packed read with an anti-hero at the centre of the whole thing. Two tales twisted into one. Enough cliff hangers to keep me glued. Cue guns, cars and dirty money. 

The short sentences and chapters and repetition of 'I' were a little distracting, but Ghostman is a fantastic debut - well written, well researched and one that makes you feel as if you were reading through the latest action movie. Fans of Lee Child, Robert Crais and other similar authors, should add this book to their 'to read' list.

Perfume: Patrick Suskind

"In eighteenth-century France
there lived a man who was one
of the most gifted and abominable
personages in an era that knew
no lack of gifted and abominable
personages."

Rated 8.4/10  (brilliant)

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the protagonist of Patrick Suskind’s début novel is arguably one of the most extraordinary characters in contemporary fiction. This extraordinariness, which lies in his unprecedented and enviable power of smell, is an evident manifestation of the author’s creative genius and is responsible for the immense readability of this novel. 

My Thoughts: Wow! Well, I'd heard that this was a brilliant read by quite a few people and it sounded gruesome and horrific; something that would interest me, so I picked it up. 

In short, this is one of the strangest books I've ever read.

It's actually written really well, and I love that it kept me hooked right to the end simply because the concept was inspiring - the settings were vivid, and the characters were horrible! I loved that Suskind opens us up to the idea of scent and how important and under-rated it is to us. There wasn't as much action in it as I expected to come across, but it was interesting all the same. It captured settings through scent in a way that I've never found myself thinking about before. 

I love the power that Grenouille possesses and I love the way that Suskind writes him. I sympathised with Grenouille despite everything, and yet I couldn't like him in any way. He's a cold character but we know the reasoning behind it and we accept it. He has no endearing qualities for the reader to grasp, and he has no endearing qualities for other characters to grasp either. Brilliant!

We are also on a journey with a murderer, and there are very few authors that can write successfully on that basis. The fact that it is set in the 1700's is a huge bonus, as I love stepping back in time and surrounding myself with a way of life that differs so much to my own. I felt the urge to visit Baldini's store in particular. 

The ending of this book is completely bizarre and was probably the element that threw me off a little bit, and also the fact that it offered less action than I expected. I wanted this to be full on gore and horror - but it wasn't and it did drag in places. However, it was dark and gritty and beautifully written.

Theme: 5/5
I loved the concept of this novel and the originality of it.

Plot: 3/5
I needed more action and felt that the ending wasn't quite fitting.

Characters: 4/5
The characters were brilliantly written - especially Grenouille.

Setting: 5/5
A perfect setting.

Style: 4/5
I loved Suskind's style.

Overall: 8.4/10

Hard Time - Shaun Attwood

Date Read: March 2011

My Thoughts: Shaun Attwood is a legend. When he comes into our store, customers ignore me when I'm serving them at the till because they can hear Attwood talking. He has the most amazing stories to tell and it's well worth a listen.

The book itself is really good. I managed to read it in a couple of days; the characters are so bizarre and the situations that Shaun finds himself in are often very disturbing. Despite the troubled times, the message that comes across from the book is one of pure positivity, mental strength and highlighting the importance of love and support. It's a real winner!

As Shaun says to everyone that walks through the shop door: "It's like Shawshank Redemption except it's all true..."

I RATED THIS 10/10

Hostage - Robert Crais

Date Read: Unknown

Jeff Talley, the police chief in a small Southern California town, still has nightmares about the young hostage who died when he made the wrong call in his previous job as a negotiator for an LAPD SWAT team. Now, three smalltime punks go on the run after a grocery store robbery and killing in Talley's town.

Soon his deputies have surrounded the house where the inept robbers have taken Walter Smith and his two children hostage, and Talley's back in his worst dream again: until the county sheriff's full-fledged SWAT team arrives and takes over, he has to negotiate for their lives.

My Thoughts: This book must have been a particularly good one, because even though I read through it years ago it really has resonated with me and I will always put it up there amongst my favourite thrillers. I can remember it being really tightly written, with some fantastic characters and plot twists.

Mars is a brilliant character, very colourful and stands out vividly to me; Jeff is a pretty good anti-hero with a troubled past. I couldn't stop reading it, it became impulsive - and the ending is a good one as well.

One tip - the film of this book is atrocious and doesn't even begin to mirror the tightness of the plot. Don't bother watching it (unless you've read the book already and want to see the perfect example of how badly books can be interpreted onto film).

I RATED IT 9/10