By Paul Jennings
Penguin, Ringwood, 2009, 248 p.
Summary:
Robin puts up his hand to support the cause Charlie is raising money for. He offers $500. How is he going to get that. He sells one of the 2 momentoes he has of his mother. She ran away when Robin was little. His father blames him. Robin is always imagining himself doing something horrific. Robin lives with his dad in a ski resort village where his father repairs things. Charlie misinterprets something he does and isn’t speaking to him, his father is hiding something and Verushka is using him for her own reasons. Robin uses the stories he writes to helps his mind understand what is going on.
Comment:
Great use of the stories Robin writes interspersed amongst the plot. I wasn’t sure when I began the book how scarey it would become. To begin the book with an image of Robin imagining his father falling into an icy pit was pretty chilling. The story unfolds in a much more gentle fashion than I imagined. I love the ending story of the frog and the princess.
Rating : 6.5/10
Mrs B
July 21st, 2009
Date Read: 28/5/08 – 31/5/08
Author: John Heffernan
Publ.
Themes: Family,
Summary: Another book about families and life off the rails. Marty is haunted by something in the past which has left a shadow. Not just in his dreams but his every waking moment till it tears his life apart. Marty’s best friend is his little brother,…. At school he makes friends with ……. These two help Marty to hold on and make sense of the world. Marty’s waking and sleeping nightmares come together through the novel until it is almost too much for him. The only light at the end of the tunnel is the constant love from his brother.
Comment: How protected I have been. Great story, a little dark but definitely keeps you reading. I read this in one night which for me is pretty quick.
Rating7 ½ /10
Mrs B
July 17th, 2009
Date Read: 16/6/08 – 22/6/08
Author: Felicity Pulman
Publ: Random House, Sydney, 2008
Themes: Medieval Mysteries, Murder, England – Matilda and Stephen
Summary: Still in search of her father, Janna leaves Wiltune Abbey with a group of pilgrims headed for Ambresberie. Along the way Janna and the group’s leader Bernard, stumble on a body. The dead man carried a letter to the bishop of Winchester (ally to the Empress Matilda). Bernard is determined to deliver the letter and swears Janna to secrecy. Bernard’s mother Juliana is certain her son will come to a grim end somehow related to Janna being with them. A handsome stranger, Ralph, joins the group flattering Janna with his attention. Janna is wary of his motives. Later at Stonehenge Bernard leaves the group to deliver the letter only to be murdered a short distance away. Janna decides to deliver the letter herself. In the process she learns who she can and can’t trust. Ulf, a father figure amongst the group, helps her deliver the letter and in her search for her father. Ralph meets a grizzly end and Janna learns she is related to Old King Henry.
Comment: Book four in the series about Janna and it is still not the end of her quest to find her father. I felt this book in the series moved a little slower than the others. The characters were not as well developed as previous stories.
Rating: 5 ½ /10
Mrs B
July 17th, 2009
Date Read: Feb 17 – Feb 28th 2009
Author: Max Allan Collins
Publ: Berkley Prime Crime, NY, 2005 244p.
Themes: Crime, Mystery, ‘War of the Worlds’, 1938, Orson Welles.
Summary: It is New York, 1938 and Walter Gibson, creator of the pulp mystery character ‘The Shadow’, is summoned to work with Orson Welles on a film project.
Orson Welles, radio voice of ‘The Shadow’, is preparing for this weeks Mercury Theatre on the Air broadcast of ‘The War of the Worlds’. Set up as a Halloween trick to sound like a series of real new broadcasts, it creates panic amongst the radio audience.
During a break in rehearsals Orson decides a rewrite is necessary. He, Gibson and Houseman retire to a nearby studio only to find the receptionist, Miss Donovan, slumped at a table with her throat cut. On the table is a hunting knife with Orson Welles on the hilt. After an initial discussion about what to do they return to find the body gone.
While the radio broadcast foes to air Gibson unravels the crime. With the aftermath of panic caused by the radio program comes the resolution of the mystery.
Comment: Having little idea about the events surrounding the famous radio play of 1938 I found this a great insight into how events unfolded, how radio was so influential in peoples lives and into the character of Orson Welles. I always love a mystery ‘pulp’ or not. This one was a little thin on mystery and suspense as the main drama seemed to be the radio play rather than the murder mystery. It also took quite a long while to get to the murder (about halfway through the book) and I wondered as I read how the mystery worked out.
Rating: 6/10
Mrs B
July 17th, 2009
Date Read: 8/9/08-24/9/08
Author: Adrian Mathews
Publ: Macmillan, London, 2005
Themes: Art History, Mystery, Old Age, Photography
Summary: Ruth Braams, an art historian, is tracing the history of the Rijksmuseum’s artworks. She meets Lydia who comes into the museum to claim ownership of a picture painted by her 18th century ancestor. Ruth literally bumps into Lydia again in the street and is drawn into Lydia’s secret. Why did the Nazi’s want the second rate picture for Hitlers special museum? Why is someone trying to get Ruth to stop her investigation into the painting? The story builds to a climax with Ruth almost being killed when her houseboat is sabotaged and exploded.
Comment: Great handling of the modern mystery story of Ruth and Lydia as well as the history of painting and it’s link with the invention of photography.
Rating 8/10
Mrs B
July 17th, 2009
