Author: Mosh

The Operative by Duncan Falconer

Cover of "The Operative"
The Operative

Another novel I picked up at random, The Operative is the first book I’ve read by Duncan Falconer and I doubt it’ll be the last. As an ex-SBS operative, he’s going to get the inevitable comparisons to Andy McNab but in my opinion he’s better.

It’s a fairly standard army-based thriller with a loner combatant ending up using his skills (explosives, in this case) outside of the war zone to help resolve a personal conflict. The level of technical detail is just about right – not too much to sound like the author’s showing off, not too little to make it sound like he read it somewhere and is shoe-horning it in.

I’d put it at around the level of Jerry Bruckheimer for believability – and also enjoyability. There’s plenty of destruction, the bad guys (of course) get their’s and the FBI and CIA end up at each other’s throats.

Granted, it’s all silly – but the important thing is that it’s entertainingly silly and easy to read. I know Falconer has a couple of other books out and I’ll be checking for them in the second hand places once I’ve ditched a few from the pile I’m already carrying.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

The Firm by John Grisham

Film poster for The Firm (1993 film) - Copyrig...
The Firm

Possibly the most famous of Grisham’s books and about the last one I have to read, The Firm was also a big film in the 90’s. I went to the cinema to see it, but don’t remember that much as I was too busy sucking face with my first girlfriend at the time.

The novel is typically Grisham. All legal then turning into a fast-paced thriller. A young lawyer gets a deal he can’t resist to join a small legal firm which turns out to have a few skeletons in the closet. Going through the novel I couldn’t help picturing Tom Cruise as the central character – I think he was a good choice for the film.

It’s hard to say any more without giving up the plot. It’s well-written, well-structured and well-paced. The dialogue is good and if you’ve read any other Grisham novels then you’ll know what to expect. I just wish he’d stick to the legal thrillers and dispense with books like A Painted House.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

A Scanner Darkly

A Scanner Darkly (film)
A Scanner Darkly

Woah, what a weird film. I’ve not read the original novel of A Scanner Darkly (by Philip K Dick, if I recall correctly) but I have a feeling it would be one of those so-called “unfilmable” ones. It shows.

The main reason I decided to watch it was the very unusual way it’s been presented. Like Sin City and 300, digital messing about has made the original film look very cartoony. Itndoes suit the movie as it’s based around drugs and the whole image is somewhat trippy.

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Your guess is as good as mine. Something to do with an undercover agent being asked to monitor himself. Or something. It’s all really bloody stranges.

It’s hard to tell if any of the actors in it are any good as the graphic effects take a lot away from the facial looks. In places it’s comical, in others very dark indeed. Overall it’s just plain… bizarre.

Even when it finished I wasn’t sure what had just happened in the last ninety minutes. But it looks good.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

This Shearer thing

Newcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United F.C.

Thanks to Damo and Weenie for pointing this story out. Yes, I missed it. Because when the news broke I was on a 2850km campervan trip through the Australian Outback where I couldn’t even get an AM radio signal let alone an internet connection. Even if I had, their definition of “football” here is one of three games where you use your ******* hands instead of your feet so I doubt it would have made the news.

So. Alan Shearer. Newcastle United manager. Good news or no?

Well, it’s good to know we’ve got someone who gives a **** in the position and who’s not in a hospital bed. My best wishes still go out to Joe Kinnear, but who knows if he’ll be back in the hotseat next season? My issue is that Shearer has maintained for ages that he’s not ready for the position. What changed his mind?

Is it desperation on the part of the club and even Shearer himself? How can he suddenly be ready to do the job now when he wasn’t only a few months ago? So many questions.

Of course, he’s a figurehead and if anyone could rally the fans it’s the big man himself. I also believe that he’s got that pipsqueak Ashley over a barrel as the only individual who could really set his own terms as manager.

One bit of news that’s been buried ever so slightly by the headline above is that Dennis Wise has gone. Thank ****. Good bloody riddance to the evil little ****. And I fully believe this was a condition of Shearer taking the job.

What’s important to note, though, is we only have 8 games left. We’re third bottom. Even the mackems are above us. Shearer’s work is cut out (as fourth manager this season) to stop us going down with the Boro.

Here’s hoping this isn’t just a huge publicity stunt on the part of Ashley. I doubt it, purely as Shearer’s involved and there’s no denying his main focus will be on maintaining Premiership status for the sake of the team and the fans – not some arsehole Cockney’s bank balance.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

The Lesson of her Death by Jeffrey Deaver

In a month that brought us the staggering news of a Ben Stiller film that I actually found funny, we’ve also struck another anomoly: a Jeffrey Deaver novel that’s really just not very good at all.

The Lesson of Her Death is, frankly, a bit of a mess. Deaver doesn’t know whether to make it a procedural crime novel, a murder mystery, a teen angst book or a soap opera. As a result it doesn’t do any of the jobs particularly well.

It’s a simple enough plot and potentially more enjoyable if one strand (perhaps two) could have been picked and stuck to. As it is, far too much detail is given to what should have been background detail and the whole thing is just too wordy. The pacing is all over the shop with momentum coming in spurts rather than driving the reader on to “just one more chapter” as the other Deaver novels I’ve read.

If you’ve got an urge to read a very simple whodunnit (with a pretty awful, Star Trek:TNG-esque “let’s just throw something in we didn’t bother to mention earlier” ending) wrapped up in a story about a little girl’s learning disabilities (which, although interesting in a way, lend nothing at all to the story in the long run) then go ahead. Otherwise, he’s written countless other books which are far more deserving of your time.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]