Week 49: Double cross in times of war (Book 50)

Eddie Chapman, career criminal, ladies man and no friend to the British establishment, finds himself in prison on the island of Jersey. When World War II breaks out and Jersey is invaded - nothing much changes for Eddie until he decides that he really has to get out of jail. So, he offers to spy for the Germans. At first his offer seems to be spurned, but months later, things start to change and he finds himself in France at a training camp for the Abwher. In Agent ZigZag, by Ben Macintyre (which I read in print), we then follow Eddie as he learns Morse code, sabotage techniques, parachuting, and, of course, German! He becomes close to his spymaster (Von Groening) - a relationship that lasts into their old age. However, on his first mission behind "enemy" lines, where he is tasked with blowing up De Havilands factory, he immediately hands himself into the British authorities and begins his career as a double agent. Chapman seems to be able to charm most people he meets, and he eventually persuades his new British spymaster that he is on the level and that he will make a useful contribution to the war by going back and spying on his old employees. We follow Chapman on his adventures during the remainder of the war and after as he slowly drifts back into his old ways. This is an interesting, but not totally gripping tale of a most unusual hero. It's just a shame that it takes a war to bring out the best in people!

My star rating: 3 STARS.

The stats bit:
Length: 384 print pages
Price: free (given to me by a friend)
Other formats available: Audio CD (abridged); Audio download (abridged); Ebook (Kindle).

Week 48: Laugh out loud with Michael McIntyre (Book 49)

I've been a lucky girl ... following on from last weeks triumph of The Help - I settled into an autobiography as my next book to read in an audio format. And what a great choice I made - Michael McIntyre's Life and Laughing is an intimate and, of course, incredibly funny take on what has been a long and difficult road to success in his chosen career as a stand-up comedian. His childhood started well - a well-to-do family background and a wealthy, if eccentric Hungarian grandmother (hello darlinks!) with whom he would play scrabble for money to fund his schooldays. But then his parents divorced, there was a change of schools, absolutely NO luck with girls despite many efforts and his father dying at a young age. There are exceptionally touching moments in the book, made more poignant by Michael reading it all to you himself. He does not shy away from the most intimate of details during puberty - I'm sure you can imagine! Many opportunities come and go, usually because Michael has an uncanny knack of messing them up. Eventually, he finds the love of a good woman (the description of his wife Kitty going into labour with their first child and the car trip to the hospital is hilarious) and, after 7 years on the comedy circuit, finds fame and fortune - becoming the household name he is today. This is a great journey to take with the man himself, and you will laugh out loud, and start to talk a bit like him when telling a story ... or maybe that's just me! I was sorry when the book came to an end which is always a good sign. Highly, highly recommended.

My star rating: FIVE.

The stats bit:
Length: 384 print pages.
Price I paid: £7.99 (with Audible subscription)
Other formats available in: print, Ebook, unabridged audio CD.

Week 47: The Help ... book 48

What a fantastic book! The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, which I read in audio format is a great slice of life in 1960's Jackson, Mississippi. This is a world where segregation between the races is very much a reality - and no well-to-do home would be complete without a black maid. We follow Aibileen, who is raising her seventeenth white child following the tragic death of her own son; her best friend, Minny, who has a tongue so sharp she is in danger of never getting another job; and Miss Skeeter, a white girl, just home from College, who needs to know why her beloved maid has disappeared. Skeeter wants to be a writer and this leads her to forming a friendship with Aibileen, a gentle spirit who loves all the children she has raised for white employees. As she finds out more about life as a maid, both good and bad, she grows increasingly alienated from her family and white friends. This story is sad, funny and uplifting in equal measures. The three main characters each have a different narrator in the audio edition, which works really well. You are drawn into each woman's story which slowly but surely cross boundaries of age, race and law. I heartily recommend this book - especially in audio. I know it's just out as a film but I can't imagine the tale being better told than it is in the edition I've just read.

My star rating: FIVE.

The stats bit:
Length: 464 print pages.
Price I paid: £7.99 (through Audible monthly subscription)
Other formats available in: print; unabridged audio CD; Ebook.

Week 46: A Hard Landing (book 47)

After a quiet couple of weeks, I've just finished A Hard Landing, by Stephen Leather, which I read as an Ebook. It's a fast-paced thriller and the first in a series of books featuring Dan "Spider" Shepherd - an ex-SAS trooper and now, undercover policeman. The action gets going from the very first page and the tension builds up leading to a big finish! We follow Shepherd on an operation that he thinks has come to an end, but finds himself in prison as a result and is asked to maintain his undercover character while starting a whole new investigation to try and find a mole who is helping a particularly unsavoury drug baron who is on remand inside the same prison. All Spider wants to do is get home to his wife and son, but cannot resist this new case. As more witnesses seem to be disappearing, so making the case against the drug baron become weaker and weaker, the pressure mounts. Can Spider maintain his cover and his sanity and find out what's really going on before the baddie goes free? If it's a thriller you are after that carries you along on the crest of an action wave, then Stephen Leather is for you. A good read, although sometimes a little confusing with huge gaps between the time some of the characters are mentioned again and you find yourself thinking ... who was that, and where do they fit into the story again? But despite this, I enjoyed it - but it's not for the faint-hearted (as you would expect with these types of characters), with a smattering of brutality thrown into the mix. It's such a shame that the rest of the books in the series are not priced as nicely as the first ... but it's a great marketing ploy, price the first one cheaply and get you hooked into the character so that you buy the next!

My star rating: FOUR.

The stats bit:
Length: 384 print pages.
Price I paid: £0.49 (Kindle).
Other formats available in: print; audio (cassette).