Laidlaw … a Review.

Enters Jack Laidlaw .. the depressive boozy detective. the Scotish answer to any hard boiled American detective. Gloomy, dark and authentic.

it is a raw book. Laidlaw the man who when asked a question the size of a snow ball answers back with an avalanche. The philosophical and knower of human nature. The one who gets crime and criminals.

A body of a girl is found in a park. Laidlaw and his side kick Harkness venture to solve the crime with an untraditional linear solution. They take the reader to the front room of the deceased house. the nightclubs of Glasgow. the bars… the whiskey.. the wooden panels.. the dark lighting and the underbelly of the city to find who killed the lassie.

Enjoying and amazing.

Mislaid by Nell Zink .. A Review

This is a 3.5 rating for this novel.

I feel the author is ambitious and I would give her credits for trying and she’s got some effort into this novel.

The main characters Lee Fleming the flamboyant poet in residence at an all girl college at Stillwater and Peggy ‘ Megan’ villiancourt a lesbian student who became his wife and then a mother and then a runaway.

Ten chapters from the 1960s till 1980s. Their children are separated and two narratives appear. The male and the female.  yet both are confused in their own ways and each one is built on lie , love , deception and devotion.

It starts as a campus novel which I wished it stayed a campus novel with booze, affair, drugs etc but it breaks into a separate narrative that didn’t allow the female to.grow she was still stuck in her sexuality. . she couldn’t express herself for fear of being exposed.

The last two chapters felt sort of boiled and not done properly. Maybe sugar coated .. too many coincidence

Though the language is beautiful and brilliant, I feel the author would a winner as a poet if she decides to go that way.

Go Set A Watchman – Review #HarperLee

One of the most anticipated novels of 2015. More like an early draft of To Kill a Mockingbird. The book is not coherent enough, it’s more like snippets and vignettes that would have lead to something concrete and understandable. 

I didn’t enjoy it as much as I enjoyed To Kill a Mockingbird. It lacked that climax event that was in the Mockingbird.

Though it was nice to visit Maycomb and see what happened in two decades.

The Strange Library – A Review

A very short fable by Haruki Murakami. I think this fable is addressed to Young Adults. The main character steps into the public library to look for answers. To read. To research a topic ( taxation in Ottoman Turkey) a random topic which is so Murakami.

He is then sent away into the depth of the library to face an interesting destiny.

The cast of secondary characters include a sheep man. A mysterious girl with no vocal cords. and the old man.

I think this could be a warning tale to children not to approach public libraries before closing time and get locked in it. or just a fantasy when you read a book and just get lost in it and escape into another world. another dimension. 

The narrative is crisp and fresh. yet it’s lacking the complexity of a regular Murakami.

The killing of the Tinkers – Review

Jack Taylor is back. Back from London with a leather jacket. A new man on coke. one line after another. The burden of the past in The Guards the 1st book gives the background to this sequel.

A new case. tinkers are being killed. Tinkers or gypsies. Clans that move between grounds. Someone is targeting them.

The narrative mixes flashbacks from London with the present of Galway. Bruen uses the same techniques as he did in the Guards. A lot of references to books and authors. I do enjoy a fictional character that reads.

Jack Taylor is far from a perfect detective. He lives in Dante’s Hell. The past chases him. His only refuge are in books , booze and boobs. intellectual alcoholic. An Irish noir. one does sympathize with him no matter what. his humanity does shine in some instants.

Off to book 3 of the series.