Sunday 20 January 2019

THE RESURRECTION OF FREDERIC DEBREAU - ALEX MARSH



The tale of an Englishman who moves to France to search for his missing brother. He makes guitars and plays them and in the process discovers the music of Frederic Debreau, who enjoyed fame a few years back but is now largely forgotten except by the locals in Mailliot le Bois. Ted Prescott brings the music back to life and in the process gets his confidence back as he looks for acceptance by the locals, a sometimes difficult task in France. 


The locals see Ted as a good person but someone they can perhaps exploit. His intensity as he brings Debreau to life in the songs is well described. This is an excellent read - the plot's great and the detail of the countryside and village are vivid enough for you to be there.   
CHAOS - PATRICIA CORNWELL- 






This one just about finishes me off for PC. The amount of piffling, irrelevant text is actually staggering. Could have been finished in 150 pages and been a reasonable story. The kicker was a killing drone using an element found only in meteorites. How's that for obscure?
I suspect Cornwell bases the life of Scarpetta on her own, given the fine detail of what gets eaten and drunk. She needs an editor really badly and her agent should be shot for not intervening. 
See the comments on Goodreads also. A lot of negativity there.