By way of some sort of explanation - In an effort to expand the my reading horizons I've decided that it was high time read something that was not a novel. Quirk Books very kindly provided what I think is some sort of self help/how to guide? The results, I think, speak for themselves.... Pirates, by nature, aren't terribly literate. As a consequence, no book can hope to fully prepare the pampered, modern-day layabout for the lusty life ...
People are predictable. That’s what makes them easy to kill. Detective Chief Inspector Prosper Snow is in charge of an investigation into a serial killer called The Oracle who turns his victims into macabre works of art. But Prosper harbours a dark secret of his own. He and his old school friends were members of a group called The Kult, who made a pact to dish out their own form of vengeance on bullies. Now a member of the group puts ...
Peter has been married to Patricia for nearly thirty years. He’s a practical man, the owner of a thriving factory and the father of two fine lads. He also has a secret mistress. One day, his wife takes him along to an outdoor arts exhibition involving some of her paintings, staged in a dark, deep wood. But his are not the only secrets in this marriage, and as Peter strays off the only path through the woods, he soon realises that Patr...
It was the last thing he wanted, but Joe Ledger is back... Saturday 09:11 Hours: a blast rocks a London Hospital. Thousands are dead or injured... 10:09 Hours: Joe Ledger arrives on the scene to investigate. I knew going into this review that I was in for a compelling read. The last Joe Ledger novel, The Dragon Factory, ended with an event that was guaranteed to have repercussions in the series going forward and I was curious where the ...
Today's post is from guest reviewer @SamaelTB. Just like to take the opportunity to thank him for letting me publish his review. Okay, let's get one thing clear right now. Pattern Recognition is damned good book. The prose is stunning and the protagonist is at once hardcore and sympathetic. Prior to this I've only read one Gibson and while Neuromancer is a bit dated now it's still an astonishing read. I'm pleased to say Pattern Recognit...
Please note this review contains minor spoilers if you haven’t read book one in the trilogy, The Sword of Albion. Also you are missing a real treat. Alone and on the run, Elizabethan England's greatest spy must defeat a dark and bloody plot. Or die... The Scar Crow Men by Mark Chadbourn is the second novel in the Swords of Albion series. It sees the return of Will Swyfte, gentleman spy, and his ongoing battle with the dark forces th...
They came from the North, and the land fell. Kell's resistance is driving the fiends from the land. But now a far greater power has come into play. Please note this review contains some minor spoilers if you have not read the first two parts of The Clockwork Vampire Chronicles. I have thought about this long and hard and I have come to a shocking conclusion - I hate Andy Remic. Why? Because he is just such a supremely talented sod. He...
It's Saturday. Going shopping? For a meal? To the movies? Everything nice and normal, right? By Sunday, civilization is in ruins. Adults have become murderously insane - literally. They're infected with a crazed uncontrollable urge to kill the young. Including their own children. THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS... Time again to raid my bookshelves and dig out another classic novel that I haven't touched for many years. Blood Crazy by Sim...
A dead hero opens his eyes. To his horror, he finds he has been raised to serve as the undead minion of a desperate necromancer called Mordius. Our hero’s body has been stolen from a battlefield contested by two kingdoms that have been at war for generations. No one knows why warfare is now the way of life, but what is apparent is that the dark forces vie for dominion over the entire realm. When it comes to fantasy my needs are simple...
Kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars, lords and honest men. All will play the Game of Thrones. Summers span decades. Winters can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun. It will stretch from the south, where the heat breeds plot, lusts and intrigues; to the vast frozen north where a 700-foot wall of ice protects the kingdom from the dark forces that lie beyond. The Game of Thrones. You win, or you die. ...
Meet Callaghan, a hard-drinking, drug-fuelled, womanising no-good son-of-a-bitch. He's the amoral hardcore photographer for Black & White, the tabloid rag that tells it as it is. Or at least, how it should be. Callaghan's in way too deep with Mia, his Mexican stripper girlfriend... and even deeper with Sophie, estranged wife to Vladimir "Vodka" Katchevsy, infamous Romanian gun-runner and self-eulogising expert at human problem solvi...
From the undead vampire in the Romanian mausoleum, Boris Dragosani tries to draw an evil force so powerful he will gain supremacy in the ultra-secret paranormal agency he works for in Russia. His official job is as a necroscope - his speciality is tearing secrets from the souls of newly-dead traitors. And England too has her necroscope - her communicator with the dead. When Harry Keogh is recruited by the British Secret Service to take ...
Please note that this review contains some minor spoilers if you haven’t read Arrowhead and Broken Arrow, the first two novels in this sequence. Robert, The Hooded Man, leads the Rangers, who keep the peace in the ravaged wastelands of Britain, foiling the ambitions of warlords and petty tyrants who would take the country for themselves. Even the spirits of his beloved Sherwood Forest aid him, sending him dreams to guide his path. Arr...