The Hanging Garden - It all gets very personal for Rebus

After what feels like a long time, I am back in the world of Detective Inspector John Rebus. In The Hanging Garden, the ninth outing for our troubled hero, the action opens with Rebus having a night out with his daughter Sammy. Once they part, he goes to work on a stake out to try and get evidence against local hoodlum Tommy Telford, but it all goes to pot when there is a vicious assault. In hospital with the victim, Rebus stumbles upon a hit and run case ... his daughter Sammy! We now go slightly back in time to when Rebus starts an investigation into a man who could be a WWII war criminal. Around the same time he comes across Candice, a Bosnian who has got herself caught up in prostitution via a Chechen gangster. Rebus tries to help but fails. Pockets of violence start to take place as there seems to be a power play between Telford (egged on by the Chechen) and Big Ger Cafferty (despite the latter being in prison) and as we catch up to the day his daughter is run down, Rebus is wondering whether this was no accident, but was someone warning him off. Is it the war criminal, or one of the gangland bosses? And how can he possibly keep all these balls in the air AND keep off the booze? As usual, Ian Rankin has written a compelling and gritty novel set amongst the shadows of Edinburgh. With each book, we find out a little more about DI Rebus and how he came to be the man he is today, which is great for any reader following the series in order. Things can get a little confusing from time to time as there are a heck of a lot of characters (some Japanese Yakuzu members are thrown in here for good measure in this book), but you always want to keep turning that page to find out how Rebus will foil the baddies in the end. Definitely one to recommend, but as always, not for those of a delicate disposition due to the violence.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 411 print pages.
Price I paid: £0.00 (borrowed from my husband).
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; ebook.

The Wise Man's Fear - immersive and exceptionally pleasing!

This book is the second part of The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss, and I was not sure it would live up to its predecessor (The Name of the Wind) which I absolutely loved. However, I was NOT, I repeat, NOT disappointed. This is a great follow up and we continue the format of the previous book in that we have two narratives - the first is in the present, with events taking place in a tavern run by Kvothe, who is a "legend in his own lifetime". The other narrative is where we find out how and why Kvothe became that legend as he relates his life story to The Chronicler. The Wise Man's Fear picks up where we left off, with our hero continuing his life at the university, rubbing up against his arch enemy, Ambrose, and also spending as much time with the love of his life, Denna. He has successfully got himself into The Naming class with the eccentric professor Elodin, but becomes frustrated when he feels he's not learning anything. Continually getting into some kind of trouble, usually due to his feud with Ambrose, and always battling against not having enough money, he is given the opportunity to take a gap year and try his hand at securing a patron in the form of The Mayor of Severen. Kvothe saves his life, finds him a wife and then heads up a force to tackle a deadly set of bandits. During this adventure, he crosses paths with one of the mysterious Chandrians, who killed his family. He also falls into the Fae world and learns the ways of a man, so to speak, with the dazzling Fae seductress, Felurian. She makes him a shead (a cloak that will become vital to his legend). He also trains with the Adem, an intriguing people who I'm pretty sure were inspired by the Samurai. Here he learns skills that will benefit him in a very short space of time. Finally, Kvothe gets back to the university with no more money troubles and catches up with his friends and begins his studies once more. But trouble is brewing ... There is so much going on in this book that I could go on and on, but I won't. It was as enjoyable as the first, although for me, the section in the Fae world went on a little bit too long. We are already seeing aspects of how this young teenager is fast becoming the central figure of tales of adventure and daring do. There is plenty of action, but also plenty of time to reflect and a good deal of scene setting. As before, the excellent Rupert Degas who narrated the audio version I read was fantastic and I could listen to him all day. Yes, this book is a long one, but it's worth the time. Roll on part three ... which isn't out yet, but will definitely be a book that I will hunt down when it is released!

My STAR rating: FIVE.

Length: 1000 print pages.
Price I paid: £5.84.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; MP3 CD; ebook.

Gone Girl - not sure what all the fuss was about!

It seems an absolute AGE since I posted anything and this has been down to two large books, one of which I have finally finished. Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn, has been a huge best seller and has also been made into a film, so I was looking forward to getting stuck into it. However, it does not live up to the hype. It started well enough with Nick Dunne coming home to find his house in disarray and Amy, his wife of 5 years, missing. When the crime scene is dissected and neighbours and friends interviewed, it turns out that all has not been rosy within the marriage of late. Suspicion soon falls upon Nick that he has murdered her and disposed of the body. As Nick tries to defend himself against the police, the press and the public, more damning evidence turns up. But is Amy dead, and if she is, who did it? The narrative is almost like a diary, switching between the present day for Nick and the past for Amy. I felt this was a clever device at first but it did get a bit tedious, although maybe that was because both central characters were thoroughly unlikeable. In fact, there were very few likeable characters throughout. I found it slow going and was becoming a bit demoralised by the nastyness both in the language and situations and was seriously contemplating giving up when, halfway through the book, there was a great twist and the plot lurched forward, giving me some hope. Yes, I thought, at last we have finally got going. But no, it soon descended back into the totally unbelievable, distasteful and flaccid exposition of the previous chapters. ARGH! This book could have been a slick thriller, but it just ground on and on. So much effort for such little reward ... I am actually struggling to remember exactly how this book ended, which just about sums it up!

My STAR rating: TWO.

Length: 512 print pages (felt like twice that!)
Price I paid: 99p
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; ebook.