New Arrivals / Recommended Reading - late Jan '07

Filed by: Darren Turpin on February 15, 2007 at 13:40
Filed under: Books

No fewer than four must-read new titles came in at the back end of last month, which threatened to throw my to-be-read list into fresh disarray. As it happens though, I've already finished one of 'em(The Intruders - highly recommended!) and started another. Hmmm. So, perhaps not so much 'disarray' as 'temporary abeyance'...

'The Intruders' by Michael MarshallThe Intruders by Michael Marshall

Michael Marshall (Smith) fans are going to love this one. It's a classic MM(S) tale: the protagonist, Jack Whalen, is basically an ordinary guy with a background in taking care of himself - in this case he's an ex L.A. cop - who finds himself flung into having to deal with an extraordinary situation, and with little idea of how big a situation he's landed in, or how deep the trouble goes.

In this case events are triggered by the disappearance of his wife, Amy, with whom he's very much in love, and the re-appearance of an old high school acquaintance, Gary Fisher; the golden jock who went off the rails following a suicide by a secret admirer and has since wound up practising law, and who is now dealing with a rather odd-feeling last will and testament.

But of course, nothing is ever quite as it seems in an MM(S) novel, and The Intruders is no exception. I'll say no more, to avoid spoilerage - although speaking of which, if you're planning on reading The Intruders, then do not read the blurb on the back of the book as it contains a moderate spoiler that could damage the narrative tension of a particular segment - but suffice to say it's full of all the MM(S) hallmarks: rich prose, great characterisation and an absolutely wonderful observational eye. No other writer I've encountered to-date is quite as good at summing up the intricacies of human relationships in so few words. And dammit, he writes a damn good shoot-out as well...

'Black Man' by Richard MorganBlack Man by Richard Morgan

And, having finished a contemporary conspiracy-plot thriller, I've launched myself straight into a high-tech, futuristic techno-thriller by another of my very favourite authors: Richard Morgan. Black Man is, as far as I can ascertain so far, set in the same milieu as Morgan's earlier Takeshi Kovacs novels, although I think it might be set in a much earlier time-frame; I'd have to check back with the earlier books to find out for sure.

I'm only a few chapters in so far, but already the book has the classic Morgan hallmarks; special agents running more or less amok, hard-pressed police detectives having to deal with far out-of-the-ordinary cases (in this case a downed spacecraft that crashes in the Pacific Ocean en-route from Mars) and a dark, gritty atmosphere that you can taste in the back of your mouth.

I'm looking forward to losing myself in this one over the next couple of weeks and I'll let you know how I get on, of course...

'Ysabel' by Guy Gavriel KayYsabel by Guy Gavriel Kay

For years now, I haven't met a Guy Gavriel Kay novel that I haven't instantly liked; well, not since his debut trilogy outing, The Fionavar Trilogy, which frankly I wasn't too keen on at all (the author and I have exchanged emails on the subject at some point, and apparently I'm not alone in the hate/love thing... although he did explain that there's a fair bit more to the series than I first read into it... but I was only 17 or so at the time, so we can blame the callowness of youth...)

Anyhow, Ysabel is a rare outing for Kay, in that it's set in a contemporary environment, albeit one in which the mythical past seems to be magically impinging. In his last few novels he's established an alternative version of our own world's Iron Age and Medieval histories and has written about various time periods within this new timeline. I'm intrigued to find out whether this new novel represents a blurring of the boundaries between our own world and this alternate universe, or whether the 'contemporary' setting of Ysabel actually turns out to be the modern-day equivalent in that world all along... if you follow me.

I'll be reading this one before too long, I expect, so again, I'll report back as and when.

'The Terror' by Dan Simmons title=The Terror by Dan Simmons

Now, this one looked highly intriguing when it turned up, but I have to confess to being somewhat worried by the daunting 784 page-count. Plus, whilst I enjoyed the artistry of Ilium - Simmons' re-mix of The Iliad - I probably didn't get as much out of it as I should have, given the rave reviews it received elsewhere. So, my initial reaction to The Terror was coloured by the worry that I might suffer the same fate here - and at a considerable investment in precious time as well.

Then I had a coffee with the esteemed John Berlyne, proprietor of The Works of Tim Powers and UK reviews editor for SFRevu, and he said that it was an absolutely wonderful book. In fact, he went as far as to say that it's one of the best three books he's ever read... and this from the guy who's one of the world's leading authorities on Tim Powers (you can read his review on SFRevu).

So now I'm really going to have to read it. Although I might wait until the end of October and take it away on my hols to read by the pool. A chilling tale of terror set in the Arctic ice fields might be just the antidote to all that Maltese sunshine I'm planning on soaking up...

Filed on: February 15, 2007
Filed under: Books
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Comments

3 Responses to 'New Arrivals / Recommended Reading - late Jan '07'

  1. Ed on February 15th, 2007 9:48 pm

    The body count in Black Man hit double figures yet?

    You know, that Richard Morgan's website could do with a bit of tweaking, just in case you're looking for more work:)

    I read the synopsis of The Terror and thought...Shackleton.

  2. Ariel on February 16th, 2007 8:42 am

    Body count through the roof already, but then a crashed spaceship will do that for you... :)

    As for Mr Morgan's website... let's just say that I spotted that myself recently, and leave it at that for now, eh?

    Close, but the basis for The Terror was actually the Franklin expedition to find the North West Passage. And there's a link to a review by a Canadian historian of the expedition who raves about the book... and those historian guys are usually really hard to please...

  3. Joe on February 20th, 2007 10:45 pm

    Was that the actual geographical North West Passage, or was that nautical slang for something naughty lonely sailors do?

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