Judgement and Wrath by Matt Hilton

Judgement and Wrath
Judgement and Wrath by Matt Hilton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A great second novel from a a writer who deserves far more recognition than he’s already got. On the basis of the two I’ve read I’d put him up there with Stephen Leather and Lee Child – though Child *just* nudges it as the Reacher books are insanely good.

Joe Hunter is a great lead character. The background given to him in Dead Man’s Dust has been fleshed out a bit in this second novel, and the addition of a character biography at the back is a little like the aforementioned Reacher novels. Other than that, he’s a different individual with different skills. Unlike Reacher and Leather’s Sam Shepherd, he does work as part of a (small) team so don’t go thinking this is some kind of rip-off.

It didn’t get the full five stars only as I managed to guess one of the “twists” a good few chapters before it was revealed. Other than that, it’s a great book which ploughs through the plot without drawing breath. Even the chapters are an ideal length with that “just one more” feel to them.

I only picked this novel up (and the previous and following novels) as Asda had them on sale for a quid some months ago. Definitely worth the money and I’m really glad to hear that Hilton is currently working on the ninth episode with the eighth due for release in February. Plenty more adventure to go!

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Nothing To Lose by Lee Child

Cover of "Nothing to Lose (Jack Reacher N...
Nothing To Lose

Nothing To Lose is the twelfth Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child, soon to be joined by a thirteenth. It’s also, in my opinion, probably the weakest so far.

In this escapade, Reacher finds his way to a town called Hope where he’s welcome though just passing through – as ever. Just down the road is neighbouring Despair which is far less friendly. Of course, Reacher wants to know why they want him out of town so badly. Out come the old investigative skills and a small smattering of justified violence.

The thing is, Child seems to have used Nothing To Lose as a frame to hang some anti-religious and anti-Bush sentiments from and then shoe-horned a plot in afterwards. There are the usual number of pages, but not really enough story to fill them and when I got to the end I just felt a little cheated.

In fairness, this is partly down to having enjoyed the previous books so much. I think the main issue is that the overall premise (I won’t give it away) is just too far-fetched. Every clue Reacher comes up with is knocked on the head by the “bad guy” of the piece with a fairly acceptable rejoinder. The conclusion is more down to luck than anything else – is he really a bad guy or not? I’m just not used to this vagueness in a Reacher novel.

Otherwise, it’s as well written as ever. Plenty of detail, some good action, great descriptive work and no spoilers for earlier books in case you read them out of order.

I’d still recommend it, but don’t start the series with this one as it may disappoint.

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Angels & Demons

Angels and Demons (C)
Angels & Demons

Another (well, the second) Dan Brown adaptation and already things are wearing thin. I will confess that Angels & Demons is a better film than The Da Vinci Code, partly because of the beautiful scenery in Rome. However, the stilted dialogue still glares and a couple of the plot points from the novel are missing for no readily apparent reason.

Plot-in-a-nutshell: A new Pope is being elected, but the four main contenders have been kidnapped with a threat to kill them publicly released by the culprit. So of course, The Vatican calls in a symbologist. As you do.

The film is fairly close to the novel aside from the aforementioned slight discrepancies. Unfortunately, this means there’s a lot of scientific inaccuracy and a plot which is – to a large extent – fairly predictable. Oh, and awful dialogue. Don’t get me wrong, Dan Brown, or at least his publisher,  is owed a thank you for bringing his type of novel into the popular mainstream. However, there are many authors who’ve done a better job of it than he has. His stories are good, but his writing’s dreadful. By keeping the film so close to the book, these weaknesses also transfer over.

Obvious differences are references to the events of the first film. Obvious as the original Angels & Demons novel was actually published and took place before The Da Vinci Code. If there’s anything more forced it’s that the film studio have offered Brown a fortune to write a third novel just so they can film that as well. Please, no.

Now don’t get me wrong. It’s not a bad film, as such. It’s just – like the novels – it could have been so much better. The story’s pretty good, the history (apocryphal or otherwise) is a good basis, the set pieces are well done but it’s just hand-holding story-telling. It’s A to B to C to climax with laborious explanations at each turn. In a novel, it’s easy to make this an aside but more of a challenge in a film. As the whole story revolves around historical events, there’s no end of explanation. Interesting, but very stop/start.

The cast are OK but like the film just nothing special – all by-the-numbers. Tom Hanks can do so much better and Ewan McGregor needs to pick one accent and stick to it. His Irish/Scots/English mash-up is just painful.

So as an adaptation, it’s not one of the worst being quite faithful to the original material. As a film, though, it’s a bit of a let-down.

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