I love the title of this novel and the fact it's supposed to be an "Arctic Thriller". I've always enjoyed stories set in Arctic regions. Everything about this book led me to believe it would be a good story, interesting setting, a mystery of sorts, the Sami culture, reindeer...And in a way it is, but oh so many words....
I would like to read Truc's 5th novel, whenever it is written (this is his first) I think he put too much of all he knows about the Arctic and the Sami and Lapland into this first story, and it's way too much detail. Less is more. It would have had way more sense of mystery and intrigue if he hadn't told me so much about everything!
Truc is a journalist and knows the region intimately. I hope he gets a good editorial team around him, continues to write and becomes more sparse, matching the endless sparseness of the Arctic landscape he so obviously loves.
Keep writing, I'll wait!
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Crossing to Safety | Wallace Stegner
This is a some what hard review to write given I am still unsure of how I feel about this novel. It is written by one of America's most famous authors, the sort you study at University. Stegner started publishing in 1937 although this book is from 1987.
There is a slightly old fashioned air about it, but it becomes engaging in a slow-pot-boiling kind of way.
Not a lot happens really, although it spans the lives of two couples who meet as young wannabe University professors (and their wives) and ends in their latter years. Their lives are intertwined right from the start, with wives having huge aspirations for their husband's academic careers, their children and life as wives within a close circle of a University faculty.
The Langs are very rich, the Morgans not. This shapes the friendship, it enables the Morgans to achieve far more than they hoped for. With it comes the control and wilfulness of Charity Lang, who plans and dictates a lot of what happens to both families over the course of their lives. She's irritating.
The writing is first class, the characters engaging and yet it took me ages to finish the book, as there was little compulsion to find out what happened in the end. I am sure the steady pace of the narrative and the beauty of the language will suffice for may people to enjoy it and I regard Stegner's utmost skill, but found it not a wholly satisfying read.
There is a slightly old fashioned air about it, but it becomes engaging in a slow-pot-boiling kind of way.
Not a lot happens really, although it spans the lives of two couples who meet as young wannabe University professors (and their wives) and ends in their latter years. Their lives are intertwined right from the start, with wives having huge aspirations for their husband's academic careers, their children and life as wives within a close circle of a University faculty.
The Langs are very rich, the Morgans not. This shapes the friendship, it enables the Morgans to achieve far more than they hoped for. With it comes the control and wilfulness of Charity Lang, who plans and dictates a lot of what happens to both families over the course of their lives. She's irritating.
The writing is first class, the characters engaging and yet it took me ages to finish the book, as there was little compulsion to find out what happened in the end. I am sure the steady pace of the narrative and the beauty of the language will suffice for may people to enjoy it and I regard Stegner's utmost skill, but found it not a wholly satisfying read.
A Shared Confidence | William Topek
This is the second novel by Topek, and American writer. It's published as an e-book, easy to buy off Amazon.
It's a well crafted story set in the 1930's MidWest USA, among con-men, the mafia, and the main Private Investigator Devlin Caine. It's easy to envisage this novel as a movie, shot in sepia, involving well dressed men and smoky bars, opulence and the vestiges of a lifestyle about to end as America enters the war.
Caine receives an enigmatic call from his almost-estranged brother Nathan asking for his professional help. Something is amiss in the bank Nathan works in and he fears he will be blamed for money that is missing.
Caine arrives at his brother's place and over the next few weeks works tirelessly uncovering a devious ploy by a con man to fleece people of great wads of cash.
And so the story goes. The setting is well researched as is the era and time of the novel. Good solid work, this is the second of the Devlin Caine adventures. The first is Shadow of a distant Morning. I am hoping Topek will publish again soon.
It's a well crafted story set in the 1930's MidWest USA, among con-men, the mafia, and the main Private Investigator Devlin Caine. It's easy to envisage this novel as a movie, shot in sepia, involving well dressed men and smoky bars, opulence and the vestiges of a lifestyle about to end as America enters the war.
Caine receives an enigmatic call from his almost-estranged brother Nathan asking for his professional help. Something is amiss in the bank Nathan works in and he fears he will be blamed for money that is missing.
Caine arrives at his brother's place and over the next few weeks works tirelessly uncovering a devious ploy by a con man to fleece people of great wads of cash.
And so the story goes. The setting is well researched as is the era and time of the novel. Good solid work, this is the second of the Devlin Caine adventures. The first is Shadow of a distant Morning. I am hoping Topek will publish again soon.
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