Matt McAvoy Book Review

Incredibly for a book of less than 10,000 words, I can’t really work out if User Story Confus...

Unlike some other dystopian future sci-fi books, this has a very simple premise – and that is by far its biggest strength.  With the premise that, for the benefits to a privileged few thousand, correctly conditioned, the entire planet’s human population is instantaneously wiped out – the objective for this obviously explained by the title “The Utopia Project” – it is the ultimate worst-case dream/nightmare scenario.  Of course, as always with the genre, the forecast “Utopia” i...

There’s something of a feel of pulp about this well-crafted and well-written crime/wartime thriller.  With its cast of an abused teenage runaway rock star, a vicious Vietnamese gangster, corrupt cops, a sleazy senator and a warzone murder cover-up and conspiracy, the ingredients are definitely there for the tangled narrative you would expect from noir fiction – of course, they must be connected, but there are generally two separate storylines going on across the anthology.  And connected ...

I really like the premise of this hybrid supernatural paranormal/crime thriller, in which the spirit of a man who is the victim of an apparently random street attack remains earthbound to investigate the murky criminal activities surrounding either his murder or his attempted murder – if it sounds a little like Ghost with Patrick Swayze, here is where the similarities end; it has larger scale ambitions than this.  I particularly like the element of dark, malignant spirits lingering in the b...

A good instalment to Gary’s Magdalene Chronicles, which takes a little while to gain traction, but when it does, The Magdalene Veil establishes itself well within the series.  If he were to choose to leave it as a trilogy, this episode would present a very worthy and satisfying conclusion, but I suspect there is much more to come from this intriguing group of characters, as well as the genuinely alluring arch villains.  I’ve been fortunate enough to review the whole series so far, and I w...

Hugely accomplished work, by an author I’m coming to know as eloquent, intellectual and highly knowledgeable.  Caught Between Worlds is an insightful and informative coming-of-age drama, which is bittersweet, understated and melancholy, to the point of feeling a touch bleak at times.  Yet even though there is a feeling of mental (and perhaps even tangibly physical) coldness when reading it, ultimately there is also warmth – the kind which only comes from thoughts of “home”.

A real cu...

A qualified clinical counsellor and practicing hypnotherapist, Deborah McKenna is more than qualified to present the resources in this book, which she does with cheer and personality.  However, I do feel that perhaps readers should be advised before going in that it is very faith-heavy – both faith in yourself and positive thinking overall, and of course faith in God.  The “clutter” she refers to primarily bases this book on two premises: first, identifying and discarding repressed nega...

This book is a lot of fun, as it certainly should be, but perhaps surprisingly the focus isn’t actually as much on the fun as one might think.  Don’t get me wrong, Christine DeLozier brings a lot of humour into her writing but, for the most part, this profoundly academic reference book is all business.  In fact, for the first half at least, Diet for Great Sex comes across as more of biological reference book, and the diet it refers to focuses very heavily on the scientific nutritional val...

In some ways, this is your pretty standard, run-of-the-mill travel memoir.  I get sent many books of this nature, particularly regarding far eastern countries, travellers to this region apparently keen to share their experience with the world.  However, there is a welcome difference about this one, and that, in a nutshell, is its author Kyle McCormick.  Unlike the usual vanity memoir, Kyle’s approach is a little more down to earth, and even, dare I say it, refreshingly cynical at times.  He...

I’ll be totally honest and say that this was a much better book than I was expecting.  In fact, if you’re thinking of becoming an online entrepreneur, or starting an ecommerce business, it is actually as good a book as you are likely to read on the subject – it is certainly the best, clearest and most holistically comprehensive resource I have come across, and I say that not only as someone who reads a lot of books, but also as one with a great deal of experience in creating, selling an...

A slightly difficult book to review, mainly because it is a particularly difficult one to describe.  Not that Stephen isn’t a good author – he is intelligent, laugh out loud funny and incredibly eloquent – but if I’m being perfectly frank, I think he left me behind quite notably; truthfully, I was a little lost for most of the book.

The story, as far as I could tell, revolved around an investigation into a catastrophic incident involving a fleet battleship far in the future, and the ...

Don’t expect a book by experts in the subject of living with the condition of dyslexia – at least, that is, professional or academic experts; this authority comes from a place of experience.  Karl is himself a sufferer, although I am sure he would not approve of being called a “sufferer”, as it is more accurate to say that this book is in fact a celebration of the “gift” of dyslexia.  It does, after all, outline all the ways in which the condition is of real benefit to the life of...

The moment I picked up this book and started reading, one thing struck me immediately: this is a work of serious quality, by an author of real professional pedigree.  As well as being a lawyer, George Critchlow is an outstanding writer, with a tremendous poetry to his work. 

Be aware, his work might be considered subjective, in favour of a man who is clearly his dear friend, as well as skewed by George’s uncommon profession, as a liberally oriented defence and human rights lawyer.  This i...

An imaginative and highly creative take on motivation and life coaching by a non-fiction author who is entertaining and engaging.  Lew infuses large swathes of personality and humour into his writing, and is very easy to relate to.  He clearly has huge interest and knowledge of his field of expertise: the military history of ancient China.  Using popular fables and anecdotes from this long, eventful period, he goes on to apply the lessons of the time to how we approach life generally in the m...

This was a fun book.  I would say it is clearly Young Adult, but I did find the language at times a little bit coarse for a younger audience – or perhaps not.  It does have all the standard ingredients: the high school girl with a crush on the quiet loner; inter-species attraction; sinister agency men in dark suits – this strikes me as Y.A. sci-fi fantasy through and through.  As such, perhaps not necessarily my cup of tea – I always struggle to keep engaged, and always find the inevita...

A detailed fictionalized memoir, which presents the second person viewpoint (i.e. you, the reader) as the main protagonist.  It is not clear why Stanton chose this tyle of narrative, though I would like to think (probably incorrectly) that the “you” to which he refers is a real person, to whom this book is tribute.  Telling the account of a divorced American man of Spanish heritage, who travels south to Mexico, then across the Atlantic to the old country, to explore his roots, in fact the...

A collection of ominous and entertaining short stories – real crackers, too – with large part metaphor and a tangible portion of underlying menace.  Mac is a fine writer, with a tremendously twisted sense of justice, injustice and just desserts.  A variety of different writing styles are employed, from a curation of fictional letters to a play manuscript, then standard format narrative, told in both the first and third person.  Mac seems to write what he pleases, and does so with a marvel...

An important and extremely useful guide, I feel – if, of course, much more to some readers than others. 

Jeannie Gainsburg herself doesn’t feel the need to provide any specific reason for her own choice to become an LGBTQ+ ally, though you can tell it has since become a much more important part of her life than simple vocation.  You don’t need to have the same passion as Jeannie, for the cause of identity-equity, to find this book useful and informative; “The Savvy Ally” might be ...

There are numerous reasons why people write books, though generally this infinite number falls within three general categories: pure creative expression; to inform the reader; or, for the author’s own therapy.  This appears to have been written predominantly for the latter reason – with perhaps a hint of the second.  Just how much of this memoir is true is not clear to me; at the risk of causing offence, I got the impression there was a lot of fantasy on the part of Felix, and I suspect a...

It seems daily now that we see images of asylum seekers turning up on boats in Europe and Britain, but for many of us they are little more than faceless migrants; little mind is paid to their background, or their tortuous journey to reach here.  This outstanding fictionalized chronicle by Bunye Ngene tells this particular part of their story in its full, shocking detail, from a writer who undoubtedly knows the reality, rather than simply rehashing the emotive triggers of competing news media ...

I really enjoy short stories – the darker the better – and whilst they don’t particularly fall into the horror category, these atmospheric tales are pretty dark, and also pretty good.  Harrison is a very clever writer, and the imaginative compendium ranges from outright sci-fi, through simple slice-of-life drama, to the supernatural.  It is hard to pick a favourite; I like them all, to be honest, though I will admit that slick mystery “Joanne” is right up my street.  With “Karma E...

An awful lot of work, time and research have gone into this passionate and detailed case for the benefits of the development and mass production of autonomous vehicles.  In the context of the technological race between the two tech superpowers of the U.S. and China, it is in fact a far more comprehensive look at the sector in those two countries generally, profoundly comparing the economic, social, political and ethical aspects of the technology around the project.  Wilcox has covered every p...

Perhaps not the informal educational self-help guide you might be expecting, this is a rather more academic affair, with two approaches.  The first focuses on the biology of fat dynamics and calorie storage in the body.  Loaded with technical language, footnotes and appendices, this aspect of the book is pure reference, rather than easy reading, by an author who undoubtedly knows the most intricate details of his subject matter.  In truth, on this point, I would have liked to see a note on Ia...

I was really looking forward to this fun horror adventure, particularly just as things are starting to get seasonal in our household, and I wasn’t disappointed at all.  The whole Krampus myth has enjoyed something of a popularity spurt in recent years, in books and films, and this version is no bandwagon passenger; it is as good an atmospheric, contemporary telling of the tale as you are likely to see, bringing to mind a couple of recent movies on the monster, which were actually a great de...

This vivid and graphic crime thriller is perhaps in fact more an exposé of the shocking sex trade in Thailand, and other illicit activities of the Bangkok criminals; all on all, though, it seems to particularly emphasize the cultural exploitation of these desperate, destitute people by sex tourists from al over the world, and the lengths they will go to just to survive.  The Second Poison is detailed and holds nothing back in its candid portrayal of child prostitutes, ladyboys and their repu...

It is very unusual for me to read a book more than once, yet that is precisely what I intend to do with The Art of Accepting Yourself.  Marlow will probably seethe when I say that I read the entire book from cover to cover, in a single sitting – and thoroughly enjoyed every page of it, because that isn’t the point of this book at all.  It is not a passive read, but rather more a self-help course; it is much more than simple affirmation and positive reinforcement – though there is plenty...

I know very well just how much hard work Luis and Aurora have put into this heartfelt motivational book (indeed, I have been fortunate enough to assist in some aspects) and I think the final outcome has really paid off.  The premise is a considered and profound one: theorizing how we can literally live a better life by – to simplify and summarize – taking personal responsibility for our own decisions, by tackling our own fundamental psychological obstacles to doing so.  Of course, there i...

I’ve already read (and reviewed here) Reborn, the first in this superb spy series, and I do recommend that you do the same before reading this fine sequel.  Whilst it is not particularly necessary to make sense of the standalone Moscow Honey, reading the predecessor does give the characters and their respective backstories greater context, particularly that of Fairchild, whose childhood features quite prominently in the underlying narrative throughout the series, and is as pivotal to events...

This contemporary parable might in fact better be described as a fictionalized self-help book, which is even complete with exercises woven cleverly into the story itself.  Its objective is clear: not just to inform, but to subtly coach the reader, drawing you into the role and thought process of David, the pupil of the tale.  You can certainly imagine that Ari Gunzburg has compiled into a creative narrative the resources and materials of the motivational presentations and workshops he gives i...