Dan Brown's Inferno ... putting us all through Hell

I'm not going to write much about this because I don't want to give him the publicity he doesn't need (as if MY critique is going to have any impact!)

Put simply, this is a terrible book. The Da Vinci Code was badly-written but at least the plot was propulsive. The Lost Symbol was in the same vein and made you want to know what happened in the end. Inferno is just ... boring. I've been reading it for a week now and I'm only half-way through. There's no compulsion to finish it at all. I will, just to find out how it ends. But the 'big reveal' that Brown specialises in is already becoming clear, so there's no expectancy there. The main assassin is dead (like the albino monk in TDVC, but not as hardy). And to be honest I JUST DON'T CARE.

That freebie time again ...

Yes, it's time for my very first book to come around again for its free Kindle download session on Amazon. Last time out Altered Life made number 1 in the Hard Boiled category, so it would be good if it could make it again! The link is on the right hand side of the page.

Also, I'm pleased to say that I was made a 'featured author' on Indie Book Bargains, as the badge below left shows. Click on it and it takes you to my 'featured' profile on Indie Book Bargains. I thank you ...

Joe R. Lansdale's East Texas adventures

[I wrote this in June 2007. I'm reposting it on this blog in honour of the publication of the new Hap and Leonard book, and on the news that a series called Hap and Leonard is in pre-production. Let's hope it gets the green light!]

Do you ever have sudden enthusiasms for writers?

Robert Littell - The Company he keeps

There seems to me to be three titans in the world of espionage thrillers - John le Carre, Charles McCarry and Robert Littell. The first two of these were involved in the world of espionage in some form (though le Carre plays down his active involvement) while Littell was a close observer of the cold war as a journalist for Newsweek for many years.

After the early books le Carre went off the boil, for me, but McCarry and Littell have improved over time. McCarry has a poetic tone together with an allusive, indirect style that is reminiscent of Martin Cruz Smith. Littell, though not so poetic, can be equally indirect - almost misleading - in the way he constructs his intricate stories of failed belief and betrayal.

Placeholder!

I've been very remiss with this blog for a while now because I've been working on other projects.
However, I'm working through Robert Littell's mega-tome, The Company, and will be coming back to it shortly. He's probably my favourite spy-novel writer and nothing in this book suggests that's going to change.

In other news, I had a successful 'free Kindle download' run of The Hard Swim, with over 2000 copies being downloaded. That's been followed with a pretty good uptake on the priced edition now the freebie offer has finished.

Also, just a quick mention of Justified yet again ... I have the final episode to watch and can't wait to see how this story-arc plays out. It will be hard to replace my weekly fix of this, though the re-start of Mad Men will go some way towards it.

And finally, I made a book trailer for The Hard Swim which is now up on YouTube ... and here:

The Hard Swim Video

The new Sam Dyke

A long time since my last post as I've been putting to bed my latest Sam Dyke novel, The Hard Swim.

The novel begins in Edinburgh Zoo and finishes in a small village in France. Sam finds himself involved in helping a young woman whose family history in the Second World War might compromise the present-day career of a government minister. And he doesn't like that, so he hires a team to stop it happening.

Two real-life events are part of the story - first, the sinking of an old steamer carrying several hundred Rumanian Jews to Palestine and safety, in 1942. The second, the capture and execution of 30 members of the new SAS in France in 1944. What links these two events is the mystery that Sam has to uncover.

It's available in both paperback and Kindle-formats from Amazon stores practically world-wide.

He just couldn't reach ...

Sorry for the umpteenth pun on Jack Reacher, but it seems all the bad pre-publicity caught up with Tom Cruise's take on One Shot. Too bad. Here's an analysis on a nice site that looks at writing and film:

Word and Film

The Next Big Thing ... at last

I've been a bad boy, twice over.

I agreed to participate in a blog post round-robin, where as a poster you answer a number of questions about your writing and then 'tag' five other writers, who would also answer the questions and tag 5 more posters each ...

Well, first up I couldn't find 5 other crime writers to tag - mainly because the ones I asked were already linked up to someone else in the same project, or were too busy promoting their own books, rightly.

Secondly, I've just come to France from the UK and spent a few days reacclimatising - for which, read 'working in the house' - and forgot to post the blog on the 5th December.

So here it is, late and tag-less:

1. What is your latest work on sale?

My latest book available is called The Private Lie, and is available from Amazon Createspace as a paperback or in Kindle format.

2. What is it about?

My private eye, Sam Dyke, tries to find a missing girl and gets caught up in the machinations of two thuggish Liverpudlian gangsters.

3. What are you working on now?

The third book in the Sam Dyke Investigations series is finished except for a couple of minor changes. It's called The Hard Swim.

4. What is it about?

Sam Dyke helps a girl who is being pursued by rogue government thugs. They're trying to get hold of a diary in her possession which the main bad guy believes holds information about the sinking of a ship transporting nearly 700 Jewish refugees to Palestine in 1942. The story begins in Edinburgh Zoo and finishes in a small French village.

5. Fans of which authors should like your books as well?

I started in the Private Eye/Hard-Boiled genre, so I would think readers of Chandler, Hammett, Robert Crais and Robert Parker might find something to like. In this book, though, I move more into the thriller/suspense genre as well, so readers of Lee Child and Harlan Coben might be amused too.

6. What's the best thing about being a writer?

Being able to make stuff up and then make it seem real. Exercising a creative muscle is about the best exercise you can get.

7. What's the worst?

It takes a long time to get to an ending - for me, it takes a lot of preparation and thinking and planning; then the writing itself is often quite long-winded, taking several months. Perhaps I'll get quicker.

8. Which authors should we be reading we might not have heard of?

My new favourite is an Australian writer called Peter Temple. I haven't even read any of his 'Jack Irish' police novels yet, but his standalone thrillers like The Broken Shore and In the Evil Day are terrific - subtle, pacy, psychologically compelling and exciting. Also, if you haven't come across him there's a writer from the 60s who was operating up until relatively recently called Lionel Davidson, who wrote great thrillers set in a variety of locations.

Lee Child - still reaching

In an alternative universe, I could have been Lee Child. We're almost exactly the same age and were brought up in Coventry. I suspect, however, that he's brighter than me. He got himself a job in TV production and when he was 'let go' he moved to America to write thrillers, which he's done to staggering success.

When you come across your first Jack Reacher book it's a hell of a ride. Reacher is logical to the nth degree and can think his way out of almost any situation. And when he can't, then he's 6'5" tall and has hands the size of plates - so he can batter his way out.

And that's it ... that's the plot of his last seventeen books. Reacher travels the country with a toothbrush and a credit card, buying clothes when he needs them, falling into dangerous situations every couple of months or so. He finds some bad guys and some good guys and makes everything OK. Crucially, these situations are usually somewhere out in the American sticks, where Child can create the world in which Reacher can move and have his being.

Live by Night - a retro delight

Dennis Lehane, author of the Kenzie and Gennaro detective series, has started to broaden his remit. First came Mystic River and Shutter Island, both made into commercially successful films, then came The Given Day, a historical novel set during the time of the Boston Police riots after the first World War. Live by Night continues the story of the Coughlin family begun in The Given Day, this time focusing on younger brother Joe Coughlin and his rise through the criminal ranks of the emerging Mafia.

Another interview

Some while ago I was interviewed for the blog site No Wasted Ink. Here's the interview. The questions were particularly interesting, I thought.

http://nowastedink.com/

Jefferson Parker - getting better and better

Jefferson Parker's Renegades is the second in a series of (so far) five books about US lawman Charlie Hood.

Operating on the border between Southern California and Mexico, Hood is currently working for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department as a patrolman. After an incident that I can't disclose, he's asked to work for Internal Affairs to investigate the incident. This involves him questioning his colleagues and also pursuing an investigation into drug-running between Mexico and the United States.