Matt McAvoy Book Review

I’m becoming a big fan of John Bauer’s writing, and this acerbic coming-of-age drama is another good one from him.  He is a sharp author, with a great professional style and a wry sense of humour.  The interaction between the characters is entertaining and nostalgia-inducing; you remember talking that way with your buddies at their age (boys, that is; girls I can’t really speak for).  More than that, though, Bauer has a knack of creating lead characters with multiple layers of humanity,...

An interesting book and a novel premise.  This entire novella takes place in a police interview, its whole story unfolding through the main character’s narrative.  I’m not sure how much of Brown’s bio is intended to be serious, and how much tongue-in-cheek, as he would seem to suggest that much of the unnamed first-person character is based on his own personality and indeed his own experiences – not too much, I hope, because while the protagonist is indeed interesting, I wouldn’t ca...

I initially thought that Burn Me Out was just another mafia-type novel but, as Barrows drew me skilfully into his story, I realized it promised something much more.

Al Vacarro is a hit man for Eddie Castella, the Italian crime boss who runs the local neighbourhood. Gang warfare, extortion and murder are all in a day’s work and his young family know only his pseudo-job as Vice President of Operations Castella Shipping & Transport. Al’s back story is rich with emotion, from the adolescent ...

Hmm…  I was really enjoying this atmospheric and gripping short story, increasingly eager to discover its poor protagonist’s backstory and fate – perhaps this was the reason I was left feeling so short-changed at the end.  Whilst it may not be to everyone’s tastes, I have to say that I rather liked Rodin’s present tense, reciprocal internal dialogue-style; the melancholy and morose oppressiveness are chilling yet warming at the same time.  And, although the overall premise is no rea...

To tell the truth, my review of Strange Karma is somewhat of a contrary one.  This is actually a pretty good book, yet strangely I struggled with large parts of it, finding it a little difficult at times to get into and stay with the story.  Not that it was particularly complicated, rather convoluted perhaps, as a woman traces the steps of her great-grandfather, decades earlier, into the mountains of Tibet, whilst in possession of a valuable gemstone; unbeknown to her, she is being tracked by...

Interesting and original, clever and at times almost comedic, SUDAN, Escape from Voi by Ted Walde is the story of Tawa Haridi, an independent researcher in the field of biomedical engineering who hopes to strengthen the Northern White Rhinoceros in order to protect it from poaching. Unfortunately, his cutting-edge technology has attracted the attention of the Pwani Republican Movement, a paramilitary organization that is planning to secede from Kenya. The very research that is designed to cre...

A well-written crime comic-thriller, about an unassuming estate agent who begins an affair with the wife of a wealthy criminal and finds himself up to his neck in money laundering and drug smuggling.  This is a conventional and pretty simple tale which is not excessive in any capacity, but rather a cosy read; it is probably far more suited to readers who like low-action crime caper fiction based on witty dialogue and humorous personalities.  There is a touch of cynicism in Browne’s portraya...

Sharp and clever, the more you read this witty social commentary, the deeper and more numerous its insightful layers develop; by the end, you find yourself nodding in approval at the way it went.

As a man seeks psychiatric help to unravel the profoundly interesting psychotic episodes he is experiencing, he begins to become increasingly aware of the myriad mental health issues affecting each and every person around him – some mildly reactive; some severely symptomatic.  Gradually, his own e...

Offbeat and clever, there is something soap-like about this fly-on-the-wall tragi-comic drama as, in what appears to be an effort to teach him loyalty and devotion, a womanizing English Lit professor is reincarnated as the world’s most articulate dog.  Through the dog’s perceptive eyes and sharp narration, we watch unfold the tale of the American anti-dream; an otherwise good-hearted and decent family blighted by hard drug addiction and mental illness.  A generally well-written book, with...

Questions of love and morality feature prominently in this dystopian thriller, in a city where the National Eugenics Centre receives praise for engineering a human with perfect emotional restraint, couples face Reconditioning Therapy for falling in love, and a mysterious terrorist named Zac Zevalon seems hell bent on the destruction of state property. The Liberalists have won power over the Purists, and their agent Mercy is an Enforcer, a genetically modified female working with the State Sec...

Slow burning and hugely atmospheric, Lorna’s work always simmers below the surface, with an intensity which grows and engulfs the reader; this thought-provoking composition is no different.  With a palpable feeling of menace growing gradually throughout, there is also an element of mysterious ambiguity, in this tale of a man with a history of violence struggling to raise his wayward daughter, whilst protecting her from the dark truth about her mentally ill mother.  Be warned, it is as bleak...

Jedidiah Appiah confesses to being restless by nature and he has written a very effective book about restlessness from God’s perspective, using examples of the men and women from scripture.

The Book of Genesis, where he begins, is a wonderful collection of real human dramas and, if you haven’t read it, then I can guarantee that within its pages you will find in abundance the agonies we have all suffered, the mistakes we’ve all made, and the regrets we’ve all had. In chapter 25 we mee...

Dyer is a good, professional author and this World War Two espionage thriller is a work of quality, research and attention to detail.  Based largely on factual events, The Ultra Betrayal tells the story of a Bletchley cryptologist who appears to have gone rogue, and is pursued by American and British MI6 agents before he can sell crucial intelligence to the Germans – information of such value it could change the whole outcome of the war.  It is a slow burner, with huge swathes of simmering ...

Sharp, acerbic and incredibly clever, what initially starts off as a cynical and sarcastically funny satire starts to very gradually – and with perfect timing – develop into something much more profoundly layered.  In a story which is possibly true (?) – or, perhaps in part – Grant is a well-known T.V. journalist, who is also approached to gain information about public figures by the national intelligence services.  Set at the end of the ’90s, then in the intervening years, there wa...

I’ve been fortunate enough to read some great books over the years, as well as some superb series, but it is not often one witnesses an anomaly such as this: a trilogy which produces three works of genuine quality;  Glyn Haynie concludes his Promises… Vietnam War trilogy with this more outright thriller – and it is another cracker.

Ten years on from Return to the Madness, Eddie is still haunted by nightmares of his traumatic tours of duty, and still vowing revenge against his cruel cap...

N.L. Holmes is an outstanding writer of pedigree and quality.  Her historical fiction is authentic and well-researched, as she paints landscapes and locations onto the page like an artist, putting the reader right there in the story, and able to experience her portrayal of history with all five senses.  She is also a master at crafting layered, well-developed characters, who are simultaneously endearing and human, as well as being awe-inspiring and powerful.  Her action scenes – whilst very...

A beautifully designed book with a huge chunk of style, you can see that Lauren has put enormous work and passion into this ambitious and heartfelt project.  It is fun, bright and colourful, and arguably the real star is the stunning computer-generated animation, of which it is packed full in abundance.  The storyline is creative and highly informative; I always enjoy seeing illustrated children’s books delivering important, educational information in a vivid and entertaining way, particula...

I think this novel was too subtle for me.  As I read it, I developed an idea that I should have come to it with some prior knowledge, and that this might have helped me.  Perhaps my problem is that I’m not American.

Edward Jones/Troy/Joey/Emmitt is never formerly introduced under any of these names but has a successful background in life insurance sales and is a proficient con artist.  He is hired to research the possible shortcomings (hopefully pornographic) of a respectable Mormon school...

This beautifully written memoir is part autobiography, part spiritual journey by the author.  With something of a fragmented timeline throughout, much of the book reflects Robyn’s viewpoint of her own life in general, particularly the darkest moments, and ultimately turns them into fuel for her personal motivational parable.  There is a bitterness eating away at this author, as there are in many who choose the spiritual path, and I do hope that her spiritual journey has helped her to come t...

I read Nobody Would Listen all afternoon and finished it the same evening. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything like it. A remarkable story.

‘Reflecting on my childhood is a heart-wrenching experience,’ writes Merrill.

My first thoughts were that R A Merrill might be Shakespeare in disguise, sitting in an old English pub watching fights, listening to family stories, reflecting on tragedies, dozing in its smoke and intoxication, because it is very hard to read this autobiography wit...

If you like good mild suspense, in any genre, I suggest taking a look at this gripping tale of international espionage, as an ambitious young MI6 spook tracks a former British agent across Hong Kong, China and Tibet for reasons she is not privy to.  As well as being an engaging political thriller which draws heavily from the reality of Chinese atrocities against the monks of Tibet, there is ample mystery in the tale and enough moral ambiguity in the behaviour and respective backstories of the...

Another tremendous book from Simon Gary, and in this prequel to the wonderful Gone to the Dogs he has really honed his craft in character development; Thryke is a masterclass.  Not reaching out for some of the hilarity or bawdy laughs of its predecessor, this instalment is a much more subtle, poignant comedy, with greater focus on the genuinely moving emotive elements of …Dogs: sadness, happiness, romance and a life of rural innocence.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t a great fan of Cornelius ...

A Prince Who Destroyed My Life is an academic study of the effects of child marriage on women in Pakistan, but it is also the story of a young girl trapped by the rigid cultural practices of her society. Discussion questions are posed at the end of relevant chapters and the work concludes by investigating female abortion and infanticide and, following that, sexuality and sexual orientation within contemporary Pakistani society. The reader is introduced to Paghonda, a beautiful village girl, a...

This interesting and exciting thriller is pure sci-fi, and certainly seems to be Phipps’s forte.  It is gripping, has a good storyline, infused with just the right amount of darkness and a large stroke of light-hearted character interaction.  A simple tale, about a noble-blood galactic pilot turned freedom fighter when his world surrenders to the galaxy’s ultimate power, who finds himself fighting alongside his enemies years later.  Whilst not an unfamiliar story, of course, this book is ...

For the most part, this is a fun and entertaining vampire action-comedy, which crosses Blade with What We Do in the Shadows, and I enjoyed reading it, gliding through the book with enormous ease.  Phipps has created some great characters, including villains, to get your teeth into (excuse the pun), and a pretty novel storyline, in which the elder vampires are some sort of all-powerful Illuminati – the one-percenters – who, like the rest are happy to commit genocide to further their corpor...

Killer Instincts by Anna Lee Rose is the story of Hanna the virgin sex slave and Jake the caring hitman. For the most part, it was a lot of fun. Sex and crime sell books – and I won’t deny that this is what the author is doing here - but she has not lost her essential humanity (at least, I don’t think so). Booze, drugs and a Bacchanalian lifestyle haven’t dampened Hanna’s enthusiasm for sex either, and Jake shows his compassionate side by flashbacks to a lost love and a sister he fi...

I do enjoy poetry, and for me there are three things which make it: intelligent, witty and creative prose; elegant presentation; and engaging narrative.  Whilst this book is not quite the finished article, it does tick these boxes for the most part, and it is a very enjoyable, pleasant and cosy way to spend a (very brief) bit of time.  The six rhyming, interconnected narratives are intriguing and edgy.

As a reader, making the most of poetry can only be done in the right conditions – like c...

I must confess to struggling with this book somewhat.  With an ensemble cast of characters, and different strands of a connected storyline, I admit that I spent much of the read lost and trying to play catch-up.  I saw it through, of course, because I was keen to see where this otherwise intriguing, dark, absurd and occasionally disturbing tale was leading.  It is, in fact, a very clever, if simple overall story, in which two misogynistic zealots set out to genetically create a subservient gl...

This wryly comic and academically enlightening look at the professional day-to-day in the working life of a hospital surgery intern, based on real-life stories and experiences, is a real treat, if a little hard to stomach at times – as is the nature of this type of book: i.e. medical profession fly-on-the-wall.  There are a lot of this extremely popular and growing genre coming into print these days, and although I have to say they really don’t appeal to me personally (as someone married ...

In 13^th century Egypt, a king’s envoy and loving family man is sent to investigate the assassination of a hapiru leader, discovering a deadly and treacherous plot.  So begins a fine book which combines the splendour and vivid opulence of ancient Egypt with the more conventional cosy mystery genre.  Indeed, in the afterword Holmes (an appropriate name, perhaps) reveals plans for additions to the series, and this is reinforced by the book’s tagline “A Lord Hani Mystery”.  Perhaps in som...