Sunday 6 September 2015

LIONEL SHRIVER - THE NEW REPUBLIC

 
I hadn't read any of Ms Shriver's stories since the alarming tale of Kevin, whom she needed to talk about. This hugely enjoyable story revolves around a mythical part of Portugal with very little going for it other than a secretive insurrectionist movement which has attracted a group of reporters from various newspapers and news services. The group forms the basis for the story as they congregate nightly in a bar to swap tales of unsubstantiated rumours of the rebels. The disappearance of everyone's favourite reporter, Barrington Saddler, is their main talking point.
I note that not all reviewers found the story riveting and that's their privilege. I loved it.    
HAKAN NESSER - THE G FILE

 
Hakan Nesser is currently my favourite Swedish crime writer. The Chief Inspector Van Veeteren stories are classics of the genre and combine original thinking and forensics with stories of the domestic situations of himself and his team so we have a personal interest in them all. The G File was engrossing to the point of obsessive reading. I thought it was going to turn out there was an unknown twin, a device we've all had enough of, but that wasn't the case and I apologise to Mr Nesser for making unwarranted assumptions. The lesson is, as it often is, that not all is as it seems. Highly recommended like all his books.