The Martian - David Weir

I rated this book 9/10
First published February 2014

I’m stranded on Mars.

I have no way to communicate with Earth.

I’m in a Habitat designed to last 31 days.

If the Oxygenator breaks down, I’ll suffocate. If the Water Reclaimer breaks down, I’ll die of thirst. If the Hab breaches, I’ll just kind of explode. If none of those things happen, I’ll eventually run out of food and starve to death.

So yeah. I’m screwed.

A bold, tense tale of survival on Mars.

What a brilliant read! Mark Watney finds himself stranded on Mars as the rest of his team presume him dead and make their get away from the Red Planet without him. Reporting via journal/blogging entries, we follow Watney's desperate (and often witty) struggle to survive everything that the planet throws at him. Weir uses such realistic terms to describe Watney's daily trials, that it's hard not to believe that this could be a real issue in the not so distant future. 

Strong characters, laced with humour and full of suspense; this is a fast and addictive page turner to put on your reading list.

I absolutely can't wait until the film starring Matt Damon is released in October. 
The advert for it looks pretty spot on so far...

Available at Waterstones

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

I rated this book 9/10...

A murder mystery, family saga, love story, and a tale of financial intrigue wrapped into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.Harriet Vanger, scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families, disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

I waited so long to read this book and find out what the fuss is about and I was pleasantly surprised. Stieg Larsson has thrown together some fabulous characters at no cost to the winding plot. Let's face it, Salander is one of the most kick-ass female characters you'll find in a crime novel, she even rides a 125 Kawasaki. She refuses to be a victim, even when she is a victim.

I enjoyed the twists, and although it took a while to set the scene and the characters, it was worth sticking with through to the end. There were some very disturbing scenes to get through, so not one for the faint hearted, but they didn't seem to be put in place solely for the shock value. Unfortunately, Larsson didn't completely detach his writing from the popular 'woman as victim' theme - but that was my only gripe.

If you haven't already read this book (and I'm sure you have), it's worth putting on the TBR pile and getting stuck in.

A new book featuring Larsson's characters is due out in August 2015. That Which Does Not Kill has been written by David Lagercrantz as Larsson sadly died of a heart attack in 2004 aged 50.

Born to Run - Christopher McDougall

I rated this book 10/10

Born to Run is an epic adventure that begins with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets out to find Mexico's Tarahumara Indians, the world's greatest distance runners, who can go for hundreds of miles without rest while enjoying every minute of it.

Interesting, inspiring and page turning; I loved this book and couldn't put it down. McDougall is a real writer and has a way with words that (despite the multiple flashes back and forth in time) have you hooked. His character description is second to none and you can really feel the passion for running seep through his sentences.

I wanted to go out running every time I put the book down for the evening, and even invested in a pair of 'minimal' trainers based on some of the ideas McDougall outlines.

Filled with physiological musings and mixed up in a whirlwind of biographic storytelling, this book is perfect for anybody that's into running, or for anybody interested in travel writing.

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!

The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris

I rated this 10/10

I understand now (though I haven't seen it) why the film adaptation of this book is raved about so much. After reading The Red Dragon, I wasn't expecting too much from this second book in the series, but I loved it and I can't believe it took me so long to bump this up to the top of my reading pile. I stumbled across this battered old copy on one of my parent's many bookshelves, and have since relocated it to my own. I intend to keep it - I don't think that they will mind...

Harris has the most fascinating writing style, and this is mostly shared with us through the character of Lecter. Lecter is absolutely terrifying and captivating at once, ruthless and intelligent, and one of the greatest characters I have stumbled across. A real pleasure to read around; blurring the lines between the notorious criminal and the insightful protagonist.

At the same time, Harris presents us with a handful of really strong female characters without losing any of the hard hitting action and without resorting to stereotypes. I really admire him for this - Harris is a brilliant author and I will be picking up the rest of this series, and watching the films soon!

Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer

I rated this 6/10

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter...

A solid account of McCandless, an enigmatic young man, sometimes unbearably so, with a desire to separate himself from society by hiking to Alaska and disappearing into the wild. A lot of this story and the information we are given about the man and his travels seem to consist of educated guesses rather than solid fact, but it is intriguing nonetheless.

I read this very quickly and found it interesting, however, I actually preferred the film. The movie adaptation of this event filled in the gaps (which I understand are speculation, but it lends itself to greater entertainment) and is a lot more visual than the book - less about historic facts and subplots that go off on a bit of a tangent. Plus it stars Emile Hirsch!!!

Into The Wild is an inspiring account, but not quite as epic as I was expecting it to be.

The War of the Worlds - H. G. Wells

No one would have believed in
the last years of the nineteenth century
that this world was being watched
keenly and closely by intelligences
greater than man's and yet as mortal
as his own.

Rated 5.5/10

My Thoughts: I wasn't hugely struck on this book. It could have been the rambling style of the narrative, the fact that I am very much a fan of character driven novels, or maybe because I was reading on my iPhone; which is nowhere near as enjoyable as flicking through a hard copy.

I loved the concept, and the story has inspired so many novels and films since Wells penned his masterpiece. And for that reason I'm giving The War of the Worlds an average score. But I just couldn't get into it.

I'll probably be slated for this!!!!

Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh

"The sweat wis lashing oafay
Sick Boy; he wis trembling."

Rated 10/10

Irvine Welsh's controversial first novel, set on the heroin-addicted fringe of working-class youth in Edinburgh, is yet another exploration of the dark side of Scottishness. The main character, Mark Renton, is at the center of a clique of nihilistic slacker junkies with no hopes and no possibilities, and only "mind-numbing and spirit-crushing" alternatives in the straight world they despise. This particular slice of humanity has nothing left but the blackest of humor and a sharpness of wit.

My Thoughts:  Trainspotting is essentially a gritty collection of experiences through the eyes of various different people - laced with drugs and booze and sex and the blackest of wit throughout. I found myself alternatively repulsed and smiling right the way through to the last page.

And the characters are just brilliant, I don’t think that my descriptions could do them any kind of justice; they are violent and dirty and obsessive and I found them to be likeable and shocking at once. Each of them struggles with addiction, their own moral conflict and with each other; some manage to clean up and others don’t. I know that other readers felt differently, but they are relatable. I love that each of the characters in this book has a saving grace no matter how brutal they are.

The honesty with which Welsh writes is simply stunning (quite literally: some of it I couldn’t believe he would put on to paper) he’s obviously a talented observationalist with a lot of life experience under his belt and the power to make us stop and think about our own actions and thoughts towards society, class, gender and addiction.

This is a book that can be read on so many levels and has a lot of depth to it. No doubt I could read it again and again and get something completely different from it each time. It is definitely worthy of the endless amount of positive reviews that have been compiled by readers over the years and one to add to the reading list.

The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides

"On the morning the last Lisbon
daughter took her turn at suicide-
it was Mary this time, and sleeping
pills, like Therese- the two paramedics
arrived at the house knowing exactly
where the knife drawer was, and the
gas oven, and the beam in the
basement from which it was possible
to tie a rope."

Rated 10/10

The shocking thing about the five Lisbon sisters was how nearly normal they seemed when their mother let them out for the one and only date of their lives. Twenty years on, their enigmatic personalities are embalmed in the memories of the boys who worshipped them and who now recall their shared adolescence: the brassiere draped over a crucifix belonging to the promiscuous Lux; the sisters' breathtaking appearance on the night of the dance; and the sultry, sleepy street across which they watched a family disintegrate and fragile lives disappear.

My Thoughts: A stunning, dark novel that captured me from the first word. Although you are given the conclusion of the story from the outset, the book never fails to impress. 

Eugenides drew me in with his description of the girls, who were not perfect - but were perfectly elusive, mysterious and very real. Their lives seemed so vivid and so easy to picture as his language was exquisite. I actually found it touching that the boys were so obsessed with these girls, and it all seemed so innocent as they kept their distance, observing and wondering, wanting to connect with these girls and never managing it, reminiscing even into their later lives. Writing about teenage girls in such a convincing manner takes a lot of skill, but the pains of adolescence are clear both from the girls perspective and the boy's too.

I think that people taking the title 'Virgin' Suicides too literally need to think a little more into the deeper connotations connected to the word. The girls were young, had no life experience, and yet cut their own lives short for reasons that nobody could fathom.

A chilling and yet beautiful tale of tragedy that it is easy to lose yourself in, Eugenides style is perfect - and I want to read more from him.

Casino Royale - Ian Fleming

"The scent and smoke and
sweat of a casino are nauseating
at three in the morning."

Rated 4/10

This, the first of Fleming's tales of agent 007, finds Bond on a mission to neutralize a lethal, high-rolling Russian operative called simply 'Le Chiffre' - by ruining him at the baccarat table and forcing his Soviet spy masters to 'retire' him. It seems that lady luck is taken with James - Le Chiffre has hit a losing streak. But some people just refuse to play by the rules, and Bond's attraction to a beautiful female agent leads him to disaster and an unexpected savior.

My Thoughts: I had high expectations of my first ever Bond novel, being a huge fan of action thrillers, sleek cars and powerful characters. I was bitterly disappointed. 

The book is nothing at all like the films; James Bond comes across as a bit weak, highly chauvinistic (I was surprised at Fleming's very obvious sexism) and with no ounce of the smooth and suave character that you see in the films. He was not desirable in the slightest.

Aside from this, there was virtually no action in Casino Royale at all - ***SPOILER: he spent the first 120 pages gambling and the last few pages being tortured and then saved by someone almost entirely unrelated to his plot, falling stupidly for a woman he earlier described as a bitch and preparing to propose to her after a matter of weeks because she sleeps with him and it feels a bit like rape.(?!?)*** 

I do, however, like the fact that he gets naked randomly at any given opportunity - it's amusing, typical and highlights Bond's confidence and arrogance perfectly. 

And where was the beautiful Bentley that Bond adores? I think he drives it up the road once or twice and that is it. 

James Bond, however, has been turned into an absolute legend by the big screen, and I can see that the book does show a lot of potential for this kind of adaptation. It needed a fair amount of work: It was very clever to transform M into a female for the movies, for example, and you can forgive Bond for being a player in the films because he is just so cool.

I will not be picking up another Bond novel if I can help it, but I will continue to watch the films. And this is why Casino Royale gets 4 stars instead of none!!!

Red Dragon - Thomas Harris

Will Graham sat Crawford down
at a picnic table between the
house and the ocean and gave
him a glass of iced tea.

Rated 9.2/10 (brilliant)

A second family has been massacred by the terrifying serial killer the press has christened "The Tooth Fairy". Special Agent Jack Crawford turns to the one man who can help restart a failed investigation: Will Graham. Graham is the greatest profiler the FBI ever had, but the physical and mental scars of capturing Hannibal Lecter have caused Graham to go into early retirement. Now, Graham must turn to Lecter for help.

My Thoughts: I was drawn towards this book and was not disappointed. I liked that Will Graham is a protagonist with a dark side, and I love the character Lecter - the complete definition of intelligence, brilliance and pure, disgusting evil.

This book is twisted. It challenges us to get inside the mind of a vicious psychotic killer, and maybe, just maybe, empathise a little with him. It forces us to see where this evil stems from and to understand why he might feel the urge to do what he does. It's clever and evil and shocking all rolled up into 420 pages of brilliantly written, can't put down, crime horror.  It was just like reading my way through a film (ignoring the fact that films of this have been made as I haven't actually seen them yet). 

The only real hang up that I have was about the ending. It was awkward and didn't quite sit well with the build up of the rest of the book.

Theme: 5/5
Twisted serial killers and a race against time...

Plot: 4/5
One point knocked off for the ending, but the rest made for reading I just could not put down.

Characters: 5/5
Hannibal Lecter is one of the most prominent characters on both the big screen and on paper. With a cast of well-rounded, less than perfect characters, and another psychotic killer on the loose - not much more you can ask for!!!

Setting: 5/5

Style: 4/5
I love Harris' knack for dragging us into the minds of people that do things we would never even dream of!

Overall: 9.2/10

Marley & Me - John Grogan

Date Finished: 17th January 2012

The heartwarming and unforgettable story of a family in the making and the wondrously neurotic dog who taught them what really matters in life.

My Thoughts: Someone recommended this book to me and gave me their copy to read so I felt obliged, specially as I'd already seen the film and figured the book would probably be better. Oh how wrong I was.

John Grogan comes across as arrogant and abrupt in this book and I didn't find him particularly likeable. It seems that he was a pretty bad dog owner too. He found an amount of amusement in strangling Marley on a choker-chain as one example, never had time for the dog as both he and his wife worked all day, left him in a metal cage completely terrified when thunderstorms passed over, bundled him onto an airplane in a crate that was too small for him, went on holiday whilst the dog was in medical care on his last legs... and none of this is anything to rave about. I don't quite understand how anyone could find this kind of behaviour endearing.

By the same token, Marley actually didn't come across very well either and I didn't get a warm feeling for this dog as much as I expected to. I love dogs, but I thought that there would be something amazing about him that would make a brilliant read. Marley just seemed hungry, destructive, scared and boisterous with no particularly admirable or special qualities at all.

In short; a normal dog in a normal house being looked after by normal people. Not the kind of stuff great biographies are made of. Quite disappointing.

I'd recommend leaving the book to gather dust.

I RATED THIS 2/10

Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton

Date Finished: 6th September 2011

On a remote jungle island, genetic engineers have created a dinosaur game park.

An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now one of mankind's most thrilling fantasies has come true and the first dinosaurs that the Earth has seen in the time of man emerge.

But, as always, there is a dark side to the fantasy and after a catastrophe destroys the park's defense systems, the scientists and tourists are left fighting for survival...

My Thoughts: Where do I start?!? This is the book that one of my all time favourite movies was adapted from, and so I had high expectations from the very beginning.

The very first thing that struck me was how unlikeable most of the characters are - Hammond is the most naive and frustrating character I have stumbled across in a long time. I know that he is supposed to be the shady character in the book, but to me he just seemed to be full of forced idiocy - which doesn't seem plausible for the man behind such a massive development.

The next character that I found nauseating was Lex - and I'm not surprised that she was completely transformed in light of the movie. I don't think we are told how old she is (correct me if I'm wrong) and I can not even begin to guess at her age. She appears to be a bit of a tomboy, loving baseball and such, but all the way through the book she whines, can't walk for herself, touches things she shouldn't, gets in the way, can't keep quiet. She really grated on me.

Don't get me started on Malcolm, at least 80 percent of his dialogue could have been chopped out and I would have been happy.

I didn't find myself attached to any of the characters at all, and I will let Crichton off a little on this one, because the book is very much plot-driven. Having said this, some of the detail in the novel was just completely unbelievable (and hey, I know the whole thing is supposed to be far-fetched, but I like to have some kind of explanation as to why certain things might happen).

It seems that 'anything goes' is the key to this read and that doesn't quite sit well with me, I'm so glad that it was reigned in a little for the film.

The fact that this novel was also supposed to be set on a beautiful island - masses of stunning landscape sliced through with man-made concrete buildings and wire fences escaped me a little. Crichton could definitely have elaborated on this a touch more; could have placed me right in the middle of the scenery. His descriptions of the island (in my own opinion) fell flat.

The reason I'm not marking this off as a complete failure is because the basic ideas behind the book are stunning, and it produced such an iconic movie that I watched over and over as a kid. That in itself is one hell of an acheivement.

So, well done Crichton for conjuring this one up. I won't be reading anything else by him, but I will always have a bit of a soft spot for Jurassic Park. :)

Theme: 10/10
Plot: 5/10
Characters: 1/10
Setting: 4/10
Style: 4/10

OVERALL AVERAGE:  5/10

Battle Royale - Koushun Takami

Date Read: February 2011

Koushun Takami's notorious high-octane thriller is based on an irresistible premise: a class of junior high school students is taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided arms and forced to kill one another until only one survivor is left standing. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan - where it then proceeded to become a runaway bestseller - Battle Royale is a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century, a potent allegory of what it means to be young and (barely) alive in a dog-eat-dog world.

My Thoughts: Ack! I loved the concept of this. Absolutely adored it in fact - and it is a real inspirational classic that should be read by all if the chance arises.

The plot is brilliantly intense, bloody, brutal. There is no hesitation in bringing characters to their ultimate end; pretty damn awesome and I really wanted to rave about it...

And yet for me all of this 'she crushes on him' and 'he fancies her' let it down. I found it irritating and tiresome. It was very difficult for me to keep tabs on who each of the copious amounts of characters were, and nearly impossible to remember which of them was where.

One or two of the characters definitely stood out however, and I was routing for them to get through it.

All in all a good read that leaves much to talk about, but personally, I found some aspects of it annoying.

I RATED THIS 6/10

I am Legend - Richard Matheson

Date Read: February 2011

A terrible plague has decimated the world, and those who were unfortunate enough to survive have been transformed into blood-thirsty creatures of the night. Except, that is, for Robert Neville. He alone appears to be immune to this disease, but the grim irony is that now he is the outsider. He is the legendary monster who must be destroyed because he is different from everyone else.

My Thoughts: I can't believe I've never picked this up before! Richard Matheson manages to create a page-turning vampiresque classic using the inner thoughts of just one character for most of the book. It's a fantastic piece of work - dark, claustrophobic but constantly pushing forward until the shocking conclusion. You forget that this was written over 50 years ago.

I loved the film starring Will Smith, of course, but this book is entirely different - definitely worth reading.

I RATED THIS 10/10

Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane

Date Read: May 2010

The year is 1954. U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his new -partner, Chuck Aule, have come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, to investigate the disappearance of a patient. Multiple-murderess Rachel Solando is loose somewhere on this barren island, despite having been kept in a locked cell under constant surveillance. As a killer hurricane bears relentlessly down on them, a strange case takes on even darker, more sinister shades--with hints of radical experimentation, horrifying surgeries, and lethal countermoves made in the cause of a covert shadow war. No one is going to escape Shutter Island unscathed, because nothing at Ashecliffe Hospital is remotely what it seems.

My Thoughts: Shutter Island is a dark and pretty pacy read with plenty of mysteries to keep your thoughts ticking over. I was ever so slightly annoyed with Lehane's tendency to constantly use "and" whenever there was some major action going off - but I did get used to it after a while and I could come up with a couple of reasons as to why he might do it.

The characters were well-written, but not ones you could really connect to (even Chuck was a little bit awkward round the edges) and the ending was predictable, but didn't leave me feeling cheated in any way. I haven't seen the film yet, but I am pretty sure that it is going to be better than the book - the visual element may add a little bit extra to the action.

I RATED THIS 5/10

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

Date Read: Unknown

Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.
My Thoughts: Well, what can you say about the master of sci-fi comedy? His books are hilarious. I was grinning right from the outset at the absurdity of the situations that the characters find themselves in, the banter back and forth and the general madness that you find yourself plonked right at the centre of.

It's the characters that truly make this series so well-loved - a set of books that will always put a smile on my face.

I RATED IT 10/10

Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

Date Read: Unknown

Summoning up more than 20 years of Japan's most dramatic history, the geisha's story uncovers a hidden world of eroticism and enchantment, exploitation and degradation. It moves from a small fishing village in 1929 to the glamorous and decadent Kyoto of the 30s and on to postwar New York.

My Thoughts: I remember my stepdad handing me this book when I was around about 13, and I became engrossed in it straight away. Arthur Golden paints such a vibrant and vivid background, and then fills it with all kinds of colourful (and very real) people in a completely different world to our own.

With a bucketful of romance and a twist of jealousy laced into the plot - This book will always resonate with me on the deepest of levels: and I believe I was at the perfect age and time of my life to read it. A very wise decision to pass it on to me at that point.

I RATED IT 10/10

World War Z - Max Brooks

Date Read: Unknown

The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.

My Thoughts: I love Max Brooks' ability to slip effortlessly into the minds of different characters in different situations with different narrative styles. An addictive and easy-to-read thriller that definitely deserves it's place on the big screen. Let's just hope that this is one of those rare occasions in which the film does the book justice.

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