Review of The Cutting Edge of Barney Thomson by Douglas Lindsay

Douglas Lindsay is another Scottish writer supposedly in the same vain as Irvine Welsh or Christopher Brookmyre.

After reading about him on the Internet I put one of the books on my wishlist for Christmas and duly received not the first in the sequence but the second. My fault entirely but at the end of the day this book served as good an introduction as any to Douglas Lindsay.

Barney Lindsay is a barber on the run. According to the tabloid press he is a psycho serial killer who is responsible for about half a dozen killings and just about every bad goal that the Scotland team have lost in the last 30 years! Fortunately, he isn’t really a bad guy and only two deaths were down to him (accidental, of course). The others were down to his crazy mother.

However, Barney is a bit of a feckless idiot who doiesn’t think anyone will believe him, so he goes on the run and ends up in a monastery near Durness in Sutherland. Of course, as soon as he gets there a mad monk goes on a killing spree while trying to revenge his wronged father from 30 years before. The reason for this is fairly silly as we found out at the end of the book. Again, Barney gets blamed and he has to go into hiding.

Meanwhile, DS Mulholland and DC Proudfoot are duly despatched from Strathclyde’s finest to investigate and apprehend the said demon barber. Their pursuit is quite amusing and incompetent and it is actually quite incredible how they accidentally manage to track Barney down. At the same time, they are trapped by the worst snowstorm of the century in the monastery while trying to find Barney.

I could go on. The plot of the book is quite silly and unbelievable at times but its only there to build on the previous book and to contribute to the asinine characterisation of Barney and also to gives us the laughs. The book is very funny in parts and if that wasn’t there I wouldn’t have much to recommend for the discerning crime fan. However, it is and it may make me end up reading more of the Barney Thomson tales. I just hope he starts to glean a wee bit of intelligence on the way!

Meet Cocoa ... she's been with us a month and is 7 months old and mischevious as kittens always are!

Review of We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver

The first thing I have to clear up here is that Lionel Shriver is a woman, not a man as I originally though! Apparently, she picked Lionel as her pen name because she liked it. So there.

Secondly, I finished this before the New Year so my memory is a wee bit hazy of it but all the stronger because it was such a gripping, harrowing read.

It tells the story of Kevin Khatchadourian, a 15-year old teenage who has apparently carried out a Columbine style massacre at his local High School.

The book is written in the first person as a series of letters from Kevin’s mother, Eva to her estranged husband, Franklin. To be honest the story is more about Eva’s relationship with Kevin and her husband rather than the massacre that Kevin uses to make his mark.

Through the story we are told of Eva’s background as a successful manager of a travel guide writer similar to Lonely Planet and her carefree life travelling the world researching new editions. She is happily married to Franklin who is a location scout for adverts.

Their’s is a happy marriage until the thorny subject of children comes up. Franklin is certain he wants a son to mould in his own image, Eva doesn’t want to lose independence and freedom to travel. In the end, they fudge it and Eva gets pregnant and gives birth to Kevin. From the off, Kevin is a very difficult child who goes through many nannies and is very noisy and wilful. He is 6 years old before he stops using nappies. Through all these formative years Eva tries very hard to hide the fact that she feels no connection with her son and thinks that his behaviour is just to spite her for bringing him into the world unloved and unwanted.

As time passes Kevin grows up being more difficult and Eva determines to have another child. This is very much against her husband’s wishes. She gives birth to Celia who seems to be the complete opposite to Kevin and is the apple in Eva’s eyes. Unfortunately, she is very afraid of everyday things like the toilet or small insects and she is also very trusting of the people around her including her older brother, Kevin. This is to be her own downfall later in the book.

Of course, the book is all building up to its expected climax, the shoot-out in the school. This is very well plotted and presented by Eva who has gathered her evidence from several sources including her son who she visits regularly in the detention centre where he passes his sentence until transfer to an adult facility when he hits 18,

In all the book is superbly written and is very moving at times. In particular , the ending is quite harrowing and is somewhat unexpected. Deservedly, it won the Orange Prize a couple of years ago. This is a must read.

Review of the Treasure of Khan by Clive Cussler

This is the first of my Christmas books and I managed to rush through it between Christmas and New Year despite its 600 plus pages.

I’ve never read Mr Cussler and to be honest he didn’t come across as the writer of quality fiction. His books were the kind you might buy on a whim before you got on a long haul flight to your holiday destination.

Unfortunately, my experience of reading the Treasure of Khan won’t make me rush out to read many more. It come across as a tired, formulaic, predictable kind of yarn which though readable and exciting at times was totally unbelievable in the James Bond kind of way.

The story is set in eastern Asia in Mongolia and Siberia with side trips to Hawaii and the Persian Gulf on the way. It is about a Mongolian warlord’s attempts to corner the world oil market by creating earthquakes and destroying oil pipelines and refineries in the Gulf and China. On the way he finds the tomb of Genghis Khan and sells off all his goodies to makes his fortune. Of course, our heroes Dirk Pitt and Al GIordino become involved in a long and circuitous way and foil his dastardly plot while finding the tomb of Kublia Khan on the way in Hawaii.

By all accounts, this isn’t Cussler’s best work with these two characters so maybe I should go further back in the series to find a better adventure. I don’t know. Anyway, it’ll be a while before I read him.