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Book reviews, June 3

Friday, June 06, 2008, 09:37

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:: Scream For Me by Karen Rose is published in hardback by Headline, priced £12.99. Available now.

The follow up to Die For Me is also perfectly readable as a stand-alone novel.

Alex Tremaine is a doctor who has a particular affinity with troubled teenagers. Thirteen years ago her twin sister Alicia was raped and killed, her mother shot herself and Alex herself tried to commit suicide.

Now Alex’s step-sister Bailey, a former drug addict who still lives in their home town of Dutton, has gone missing, leaving her daughter Hope traumatised and refusing to draw in any other colour than red.

Alex returns to Dutton, to find an unidentified body and Dutton-born special agent Daniel Vartanian on the scene, brother of notorious serial killer Simon Vartanian.

Characters start dropping like flies while Alex, Daniel and the reader try to figure out what’s going on.

There are some very cliched moments but it makes for a fun, if convoluted read, with layers of lies, evil and murder.

6/10

(Review by Delia Barnard)

:: Guilty Pleasures by Tasmina Perry is published in hardback by Harper Collins, priced £12.99. Available now.

This rip-roaring novel, set in the glamorous world of fashion magazines, takes the reader on a fast and furious journey.

While it takes Perry a while to get into her stride, it’s obvious she has first-hand knowledge of her subject – although hopefully the high levels of bitching, backstabbing and betrayal are all exaggerated in the interests of the plot.

The main characters, cousins Emma and Cassandra, are as different as chalk and cheese and destined to clash in a very big way.

Tasmina Perry is already a best-selling novelist and I’m sure Guilty Pleasures will take her back to the top of the charts.

It’s a thoroughly enjoyable read that will appeal to all fans of the steamy bonkbuster – perfect for summer holiday reading.

8/10

(Review by Sandra Mangan)

:: How The Soldier Repairs The Gramophone by Sasa Stanisic is published in hardback by Weidenfeld & Nicholson, priced £12.99. Available June 12.

When Aleksandar’s grandfather dies of "the fastest heart attack in the world" while watching Carl Lewis perform his record-breaking sprint, the young Bosnian boy promises to carry on his master story-telling tradition.

It is the spring of 1992 and the schoolboy’s home town Visegrad is invaded by the Serbian army, forcing his and many other families to flee the violence.

The approaching shadow of war is told through a series of sometimes comic, often tragic episodes filled with quirky characters and the poignant musings of the loveable Aleksandar.

Debut author Sasa Stanisic, who escaped to Germany from Visegrad aged 14, has crafted a highly original book that has been critically acclaimed in his adopted country.

The unconventional structure leaves a strong impression but may not sit well with every reader.

8/10

(Review by Lucy Christie)

NEW NON-FICTION

:: First Blitz by Neil Hanson is published in hardback by Doubleday, priced £17.99. Available now.

The Luftwaffe’s bombing raids on London during the Second World War are part of British folk memory.

What is not so widely known is the extent to which, in a primitive and much more limited way, the Germans applied the same tactics in the First World War.

This fascinating book tells the story of the raids, first by Zeppelins and then huge aircraft. There was also a plan in 1918 – called off at the last minute - to destroy London and Paris with incendiary bombs.

In terms of lives lost and damage caused, the First World War raids were negligible compared to 1940-45, but the negative effect on civilian morale was great.

Hanson’s view is far-fetched however, that if the German "Fire Plan" of 1918 had been carried out, it could have destroyed most of London and possibly altered the course of the war.

7/10

(Review by Anthony Looch)

:: Joan Crawford – Not The Girl Next Door: A Personal Biography by Charlotte Chandler is published in hardback by Simon and Schuster, priced £18.99. Available now.

This book about Hollywood star Joan Crawford (1905-77) relies heavily on interviews with the great lady herself, her colleagues and friends, and most revealingly, with her first husband, Douglas Fairbanks junior, who died in 2000.

Charlotte Chandler has been writing biographies of Hollywood luminaries since the 1970s and is obviously a fan of her latest subject.

As a result we get the star’s version of the problems that led to the notorious best-seller Mommie Dearest by her eldest child, which portrayed her as a bullying monster.

This book makes much of Joan’s good points but does not mention her compulsive-obsessive cleanliness, notorious promiscuity, and eventual fondness for the bottle.

Still, enough seeps through from these interviews to confirm the view of other biographers that she was an obsessive control freak and in love with discipline - qualities that must have played a big part in getting her to the top in Hollywood.

8/10

(Review by Anthony Looch)

CHILDRENS CHOICE

:: Blue Flame by K.M. Grant is published in hardback by Quercus, priced £9.99. Available now

This fanciful tale is set in the 12th century, taking the reader into a world of extreme religion, magical protectors and adventure.

The Blue Flame is the protector of Occitania and under the guardianship of Parsifal, the nomad son of a knight. He wants to find the rightful home for the Flame but has a hard task ahead, with Catholics and Cathars both claiming themselves to be its rightful owners.

Things come to a head when Parsifal encounters Yolanda, daughter of a Catholic count, and Raimon who is in love with her – but is the son of a Cathar weaver. Neither cares overly for religion and are soon under threat from the Catholic Inquisitors and Cathar Perfectos respectively.

Will they and their love survive? This is the first book in a trilogy – and there’s plenty to keep readers aged 8-12 guessing.

7/10

(Review By Delia Barnard)

OUT NOW IN PAPERBACK

:: Clean Cut by Lynda La Plante is published by Pocket Books, priced £6.99.

The queen of crime novels turns her hand to the murky milieu of illegal prostitution in this gripping read. As the world of an apparently studious young woman becomes intertwined with a murdering pimp ring, DCI Anna Travis finds herself becoming a target. As always, it’s a race against time to bring the killers to justice.

:: The Truth About These Strange Times by Adam Foulds is published by Orion, priced £7.99.

Aged 10, Saul Dawson-Smith can recite Pi to a thousand decimal places. At 28, Howard McNamee is lonely, overweight and poorly educated. Somehow, these two people become friends. Faced with losing his buddy to a life of soul-destroying memory competitions Howard abducts, or rather saves, Saul and the two begin an incredible journey. Foulds won the Sunday Times’ Young Writer Of The Year Award for this touching novel.

BOOK CLUB CHOICE

:: The Jeeves Collection is published in paperback by Arrow, priced £7.99. Available now.

Discover the world of the idle rich with this re-release of P.G. Wodehouse’s collection of Jeeves and Wooster stories. The author’s droll, satirical and inimitable descriptions of upper class life are a cautionary yet jolly reminder of bygone days when servants, terrible nicknames and unquestioned privilege were the rule.

BEST SELLERS for the week ending May 24

PAPERBACKS

1 (1) Sepulchre, Kate Mosse

2 (-) Chasing Harry Winston, Lauren Weisberger

3 (4) Engleby, Sebastian Faulks

4 (6) A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini

5 (5) Lollipop Shoes, Joanne Harris

6 (6) Shakespeare: The World As A Stage, Bill Bryson

7 (2) An Utterly Impartial History Of Britain, John O’Farrell

8 (3) Kathy Reichs, Bones to Bones

9 (-) A History Of A Modern Britain, Andrew Marr

10 (8) The World According To Bertie, Alexander McCall Smith