Category: books

The Painter by Peter Heller

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Excellent. Art. Philosophy. Violence.

And fly fishing.

“Peter Heller is the poet laureate of the literary thriller.” —Michael Koryta

Painter is my second Heller book, I liked this one better than The Guide.

I’ll read more from this author. Original and surprising. Opposite of the formulaic and predictable books of Baldacci, for example.

Jim Stegner is a troubled, brilliant artist.

He flees the art scene of Santa Fe to start fresh in the valleys of rural Colorado.

Here he spends his days painting and fly fishing, trying to find a way to live with the dark impulses that sometimes overtake him.

But one afternoon, on a dirt road, Jim comes across a man beating a small horse, and a brutal encounter rips his quiet life wide open. …

PeterHeller.net

The Blackhouse by Peter May

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I recommend this book published 2011.

Though Peter May is award winning and very prolific, this is the first of his many books that I’ve read.

The Blackhouse is a suspense thriller, first novel of The Lewis Trilogy, written by the Scottish writer Peter May.

The action takes place mostly on the remote and weather-beaten Isle of Lewis off the coast of northern Scotland.

Detective Inspector Finlay Macleod (known as Fin), a native of the island, is sent from his Edinburgh police station to investigate the murder …

One unique thread is the annual guga hunt. Men from Fin’s village of Ness sail end of summer to the tiny rock island of Sula Sgeir. They harvest a maximum of 2,000 gannet chicks (known as gouge) from their nests. That’s been a tradition since well before 1549.

The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell

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Very skillfully constructed.

Sophie is a mystery writer (like Jewell) who reluctantly moves to the country because her husband took a new job.

She finds a sign nailed to a nearby fence with an arrow and the words “Dig Here”.

She does. And it begins to unravel the mystery of a young couple that disappeared a year earlier.

Flashbacks take us back.

I would say the book could have been shorter. Jewell would be better with a more ruthless editor.

Still. Recommended.

The Way Home by Mark Boyle

On By Rick McIn books, philosophy1 Comment

GREAT book. Excellent and entertaining writing.

The audio book is even better, by my favourite reader Gerald Doyle.

Mark did not touch cash for over 3 years, writing about his experience in The Moneyless Man.

Later, he tried living with as little modern technology as possible.

It was 11pm when I checked my email for the last time and turned off my phone for what I hoped would be forever.

No running water, no car, no electricity or any of the things it powers: the internet, phone, washing machine, radio or light bulb. Just a wooden cabin, on a smallholding, by the edge of a stand of spruce.

In this honest and lyrical account of a remarkable life without modern technology, Mark Boyle explores the hard won joys of building a home with his bare hands, learning to make fire, collecting water from the spring, foraging and fishing.

What he finds is an elemental life, one governed by the rhythms of the sun and seasons, where life and death dance in a primal landscape of blood, wood, muck, water, and fire – much the same life we have lived for most of our time on earth. Revisiting it brings a deep insight into what it means to be human at a time when the boundaries between man and machine are blurring.

oneworld-publications

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The Hit by David Baldacci

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Book 2 in the Will Robie series.

Baldacci is not nearly my favourite author. BUT this book really kept me interested from start to finish.

A highly skilled assassin, Robie is the man the U.S. government calls on to eliminate the worst of the worst–enemies of the state …

No one else can match Robie’s talents as a hitman…no one, except Jessica Reel. A fellow assassin, equally professional and dangerous, Reel is every bit as lethal as Robie. And now, she’s gone rogue, turning her gun sights on other members of their agency.

To stop one of their own, the government looks again to Will Robie. His mission: bring in Reel, dead or alive. Only a killer can catch another killer, they tell him. …

Amazon

Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

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I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book.

It’s not historical fiction, however. The olde English dialogue is anachronistic.

But for some reason, the story works.

Anticipate an adaptation for the screen.

Two time frames:

Late 1700s London. An apothecary who sells poisons only to kill misbehaving men. And her curious 12-year-old assistant.

Modern day London. An American woman who’s whose marriage is disintegrating — by chance — decides to investigate the apothecary.

Amazon

Lookout: Love, Solitude, and Searching for Wildfire by Trina Moyles  

On By Rick McIn books, climate change, hikingLeave a comment

Trina Moyles is a northern Alberta woman who decided to write a book about climate change and the resulting increase in forest fires.

Forest fires are one of the few outdoor “dangers” that truly worries me when hiking and cycling.

Over several 5-month summers alone in fire towers, it evolved into more of a life memoir.

And Trina has had a very interesting life.

While searching for smoke, Trina unravels under the pressure of a long-distance relationship–and a dawning awareness of the environmental crisis that climate change is producing in the boreal. Through megafires, lightning storms, and stunning encounters with wildlife, she learns to survive at the fire tower by forging deep connections with nature and with an extraordinary community of people dedicated to wildfire detection and combat. In isolation, she discovers a kind of self-awareness–and freedom–that only solitude can deliver.  …

Amazon

I learned a lot. And found the book very entertaining.

Canadian Geographic REVIEW.

The Guide by Peter Heller

On By Rick McIn books1 Comment

“Peter Heller is the poet laureate of the literary thriller.” —Michael Koryta

An endorsement by Koryta was good enough for me.

“The Guide is a literary work and a paean to fishing, as inspiring as A River Runs Through It… Poetic… Engaging….”
—Sandra Dallas, Denver Post

He gives us fast-paced action and intrigue, interspersed with closely observed, reflective nature writing. Speed up for the crime-solving, slow down for the Zen.”
—Julia Rubin, Associated Press

The hype sounded good. AND Heller can write. I did enjoy his description of trout fishing. The Zen.

The plot itself is dumb. WAY too over the top.

Amazon

Traveller and Other Stories by Stuart Neville

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Since his debut novel, the modern classic The Ghosts of Belfast, was published …, Stuart Neville has … achieved international recognition as one of crime fiction’s great living writers.

… Neville offers readers a collection of his short fiction—twelve chilling stories that traverse and blend the genres of noir, horror, and speculative fiction, and which bring the history and lore of Neville’s native Northern Ireland to glittering life. …

Goodreads

Amazon

Face of Deception by Iris Johansen

On By Rick McIn books1 Comment

Quite good. The first in a series of 28 Eve Duncan novels, so far.

After losing her beloved child to a serial killer, forensic sculptor Eve Duncan survives by focusing on her career.

The best in her field at rebuilding faces from bare skull bones, Eve specializes in identifying missing children.

When billionaire John Logan requests her help in identifying an adult skull, Eve–already swamped with work–tells Logan that she isn’t interested. But when he volunteers to donate a large sum of money to a charity for missing children in exchange for her time, Eve reluctantly agrees.

Logan neglects to tell her that there are powerful, desperate people who are determined to keep the skull’s true identity a secret at any cost.

irisjohansen.com