Category: Entertainment

Quick book reviews

Cover of "Mayday"
Mayday

More so I have a record of having read them, a few words on the last couple of books I finished.

First up, Praying for Sleep by Jeffrey Deaver. This is a definite improvement on the other standalone Deaver novel I read recently, The Lesson of Her Death. It’s still a little ploddy and seems to spend an age telling you too much about character background, but the story’s better and the ending is a great twist.

Secondly is a book I’ve had kicking about on my shelves for years, but never read. I picked up a copy in Australia and finally got around to reading it. Mayday by Nelson DeMille and Thomas Block was re-released, slightly updated, in the 1990’s and this is the version I read. It’s a story of an air disaster but focuses more on the actions of those on the surface than those in the air.

It’s typical DeMille – fast-paced and interesting – with a good dollop of realistic tech courtesy of co-author (and old schoolmate) Block. Yeah, it’s silly when it comes down to it – but it’s a disaster movie in paper form so it’s bound to be. Entertaining enough to be worth picking up, but far from the intellectual enjoyment of The General’s Daughter or Word of Honor (sic, which was fantastic).

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17 Again

17 Again (film)
17 Again

Harking back to older films such as Big and Vice Versa, and more recently Freaky Friday, 17 Again is another “body swap” movie where one person magically becomes someone they’re not for bizarre magical reasons.

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Friends’ Matthew Perry plays a middle-aged guy (Mike O’Donnell) going through a divorce with his school sweetheart. After a bizarre meeting with a mystical janitor, he falls off a bridge and awakes as his 17 year-old self – played by Zac Efron who’s apparently popular with the teen brigade. I saw the film with my little cousin (who’s 7½) and he’s the reason she wanted to see it.

It’s rated 12A in the UK, and there’s a fair bit of sexual talk – thankfully all this went right over the little cuz’s head. The plot’s nothing special, you just know what’s going to happen but there are still a few laughs along the way. Some moments are well played, such as the young Mike O’Donnell trying his best not to snog his own daughter despite her launching herself at him.

Overall, I enjoyed it way more than I expected but still not a huge amount. Although I do want Mike’s friend’s bed. Anyone who sleeps in a floating full-size Star Wars vehicle is a true geek.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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