Bits and Bobs

Haven't posted for a while, well that's not entirely true, couple of book reviews, No 9 in the Joe Pickett series from C.J. Box here and WRATH a John Reeves story from Kirkus MacGown here , oh, and my review of the latest Batman offering here .

SO, what else has been happening, well our eldest, Marie, was visiting last week with Peter and the kids, 6 year olds Charlie and Holly.  Now someone asked recently why I keep putting Charlie's name first when I write about them as they are twins and the same age and they thought I was just giving precedence to the dominant male.  Well, I assured the commenter, there was absolutely no dominant males in the extended Stronach, Kennedy, Ing clan,  The males are all subjugated by the dominant females - Ishbel, Marie, Jennifer, Mollie, Shannon, Holly and even almost two year old Lacey Mae, she just dominates with those big old eyes boring into you and then smiles, which normally gets her whatever she wants - and it was just that wee Charlie popped out first naturally and then Holly a while later  had to be delivered by Caesarean and ended up in a wee glass box for the next few days with all of us worrying if she was going to make it or not .... Ha, now six years later the WARRIOR Female dominates all in her field of vision and she is a little chancer, best described by this story from her mother, here .

Now as you will have noticed from Marie's post, they had a busy old week of it up in London, but not content with traipsing about the sights of the city all day, the thing you need to know about our eldest is that she has always been just a little hyperactive, even as a kid, always on the go, and so, on their return from the city did she put her feet up, have a drink, sit, chat, watch some TV even, read a book on her kindle maybe.... No, not a chance.  Door opens, kids rush to tell us what they have been up to during the day and still full of excitement, Peter rushes to put the kettle on or grab a bottle of wine Marie heads straight up stairs, I jest you not, and starts opening cupboards and pulling things out, gets down on hands and knees and is pulling things out from under beds.

I say things, more like belongings; Marie calls it rubbish, WHAT!

"Look at this, look at these, when was the last time you opened this cupboard, when was the last time you used this.....?"

Okay, I'll admit Ishbel and I have been married for 36 odd years and some of it may be that old, but that's not the point ....

Oh, yes it is she would retort, Oh! and under one bed she found one of those suck the air out of the bag thingys full of shirts and slacks and whatnots... "How long has this been under there?" she asked. " No idea" I responded. "Right, it's going then!" and I try and say......  and the hand would come up 'speak to the hand cos the rest of us aint listening'   She even found a couple of 'old' Kodak Brownie cameras in their original brown fabric cases. LP's, anyone remember them (Thank god she never got to the cupboard in the back hall I think there are a couple of hundred LP's in there), Star Trek posters from our thirty year old son Brian's love affair with that all those years ago and who flew the coup about 10 or 12 years ago.....  The list went on and on

Anyway to cut a long story short a lot of stuff went to the freegle site, some went to the local tip and some went to some folks we know who do market stalls, and while it all seemed quite painful at the time, by the end, it felt quite liberating.  Even the junk corner out by the back door was cleared up too! Oh! and she even phoned her sister, Jennifer and told her, "All the kids toys have been cleared from under the stairs, and what's left is in the rubber bins IN 'OUR' BEDROOM, when you visit make sure you PUT THEM BACK"  She does like to take charge and organise things, Holly, all over again.......

We now have almost clutter free, but not quite, bedrooms,  I am now tackling to finish off since Marie, Peter and the kids have departed. Ishbel cleared the 'airing' cupboard yesterday and sheets, blankets tablecloths and sundry other bits, again with some of them from 1976, all gone too.

Ishbel is worried that it will still be a mess when Julia R Barrett and Hubby arrive for a short visit from California next week, especially as the bathroom needs a makeover and, as we de-cluttered, some of the paper on the walls in the top hall took a hammering.... but I'm sure they wont mind....

Me I've been re-opening cupboards that have been cleared, and revisiting the back room in particular and marvelling at how clear it is but I suppose after years of 'collecting' the stuff that you do, most of it unintentionally and just by default, it's good to have a catalyst to change appear on the doorstep from time to time and to breathe in the taste of freshness instead of the musty and dusty coverings of age ..... and that 'spring cleaning' doesn't always need to take place in the spring time.


The Dominant Species:

Ishbel - The one who keeps me in check

Marie and Jennifer (Jenny was always blaming her big sis when they were kids - naughty - but I think Marie has forgiven her)

Cousins, Shannon and Holly 

The gorgeous Lacey Mae 

Mollie who guest blogs from time to time

And all of the above do make life pretty interesting for me, Peter and Steve...

Book Review: Below Zero by C.J. Box

Look inside here Amazon UK
Look inside here Amazon US

Below Zero, number 9 in the ' Joe Pickett' series and he continues with a thrilling story resurrecting past mistakes made by Joe personally and by Agent Portenson of the FBI and others.

An old man, his adult son and a teenage girl head out of Chicago, 'they' go on a killing spree and Sheridan Pickett, the oldest of the Pickett girls starts to receive strange text messages.  

As usual, Joe, since losing the Saddlestring District at the hands of Director Pope, he is away from home and in the midst of another 'manhunt' trying to catch a crossbow killer elsewhere in the state, when he receives the frantic phone call from Marybeth about the messages opening up painful memories for the whole family...

Box continues to write clear and flowing narratives, jumping seamlessly between Joe out in the field and the family.  Old friends come back into play as do old enemies.  Issues of trust and mistrust are re-evaluated as Joe and Sheridan race across the state to find out if the person sending the text messages can possibly be who they think it is.  If it is, can they save her, does she want to be saved?   As the stories of the Pickett family move along in years, so Box keeps it up to date with texting, iphones and carbon pollution of the planet giving a contemporary feel to the stories and plots.

 

The Picket family is growing, Marybeth's business is growing and Joe is away from them for longer than he or they would want.  The strain is showing and teenage rebellion and angst is heavy in the air.

Nate Romanowski is still wanted by the FBI and Joe still won't tell them where his friend is.  Tension as usual from a writer who knows how to build it and then when you think all is going to be revealed your hopes along with those of the central characters, are dashed and lost and new anxieties are brought boiling to the surface.  Finally, Box uses the emotions built up in the previous pages to make you try and hold back tears of joy and sadness in a 'will it be all right in the end' conclusion.  Well, you are going to have to read it for yourself to find out my friends 

Book 1 - Open Season √
Book 2 – Savage Run √
Book 3 – Winterkill √
Book 4 – Trophy Hunt √
Book 5 – Out of Range √
Book 6 – In Plain Sight √
Book 7 – Free Fire √
Book 8 – Blood Trail √
Book 9 – Below Zero √
Book 10 – Nowhere to Run
Book 11 – Cold Wind
Book 12 – Force of Nature


Editing for Kindle /iPad: 5 out of 5
Reading Enjoyment: 5 out of 5
Page length on kindle /iPad: 342
Plot: 5 out of 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

Film Review: Batman Dark Knight Rises

(c)  http://www.thedarkknightrises.com/gallery.php

Well, finally went and watched the movie that every one else has been raving on about.  Did I enjoy it? Yes. Was it the best thing since sliced bread, that every one seems to think, including the delectable Ishbel. Nah.

I can sit through a three hour long movie as well as the next guy I can even forgo the dreaded fag for three hours while watching a movie in the theatre for 90 minutes or even 180 minutes, and did I with Batman: The dark Knight Rises? Nope.


Got a bit bored and went for a pee followed by a a fag, there you go...

I think Batman as a film franchise has run its course.  The first movies were quirky but not quite as insane  as the 1960's TV series.  Then they got silly and not silly as in smiley silly 60's series way but silly in like WTF is happening here!

And we had a procession of well known actors, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney and I am at a loss to say which one was the worst.  I can't bring myself to ask which one was the best, just can't, and then we had Christian Bale.  I don't know what it is about the Batman movies but I can't really come to accept any of them in the way that I have readily, and without question, accepted all of the other comic heroes who have been brought to us on the big screen over the last twenty odd years, including the latest ones, Thor and Iron Man, more I want more of them.

But, back to Dark Knight Rises.  It was Ok, it was an action movie and BANE with Tom Hardy was the highlight.  I think it was the voice behind that mask it was just, well, magnetic, it drew you in and enveloped you and you could actually think that that* voice could make you believe in or do anything it wanted you to: So I suppose in one way the film was successful in this endeavour as I am sure that is what they intended.....

Christian Bale, well take him or leave him, I like his movies (Ishbel likes him better though and I think every time she sees him, doesn't matter what it is, she isn't actually watching the current movie, she is replaying American Psycho in her minds eye!!!!!! I really have to be careful with her, dear reader) but he doesn't bring anything new to the role, for me at least.

I love the gadgets and particularly that cool drive in any direction bike, but then James Bond's gadgets are just as, if not, cooler!

The prison sequence, the flashbacks all got a bit boring for me but it was OK

rating from me 3  out 5
rating from Ishbel 5 out of 5

* sorry Jules

Book Review: Wrath by Kirkus MacGowan

Check inside Amazon UK here
Check inside Amazon US here
 "Cover Design by
 www.ethinkgraphics.com, 
Copyright 2012" 

Firstly, I have to declare an interest. Kirkus MacGowan and I follow each other on Twitter and we chat from time to time, well, he chats and I moan.  This is his third book well second if you count the middle one as a very short but hilarious story about a garden gnome, which come to think about, I didn't review. And, as I am known to be a bit of a moaner and highly critical of anything produced by people who have more talent than I, just for the sheer sake of argument, he foolishly sent me an, in advance of publication, look at his new book, silly man.

Anyway,  I did review his first full novel, The Fall of Billy Hitchins and ended up giving it a good rating even although I did say about it, at the time;

What we ended up with was a book that began with a forgettable stroll around the park, jumped over the railing onto the running track and into a gentle jog and then burst into a sprint as the story progressed.

You can read that full review here

One of the central characters of the first book was an ex marine turned bodyguard by the name of John Reeves and MacGowan has, it seems, decided to maybe build around this guy for this and possibly future outings, was it a good idea to resurrect the character, well lets see shall we.

Did Wrath start with a forgettable stroll around the park as TFOBH did, no it did not! It didn't even start with John Reeves, it started with his big brother Alan, a Police Captain in their home town of Clarksbridge, Michigan, gently questioning an old and valued family friend, a friend of their dead father who had been found naked in the middle of the road after having been missing for over a week.

It really is going to be difficult to review this book without giving away spoilers, so all I can say is, that as the interview is over and the old chap is about to leave the station and head home, a mysterious phone call is received asking for him.  Alan Reeves hands him the phone, he listens, he drops the phone on the desk and he dies, horribly.......

This marks the beginning of trouble for the Clarksbridge Police Force who are short of manpower and it also marks the start of a horrifying chain of events with others dying, old men and young women, what is the connection and just how are the old men dying, well actually that's easy as the book describes their deaths in cold brutal fashion, and they aint pretty deaths either.  The only problem is that we know  something or someone is causing the deaths but how the hell is it happening.

John Reeves has returned to Clarksbridge at the behest of his best friend Eddy, a private investigator and even his brother doesn't know he is back in town.  It is only when the widow of the first 'victim' engages Eddy, and John starts digging around, Alan discovers his brother is back, they haven't spoken for five years since John didn't return for the funeral of Alan's wife, so the relationship is, well families, you know what I mean....

An old photograph of the Reeves' father starts turning up at the crime scenes, hidden from the first forensic sweeps, and this adds to the intrigue.  The mysterious Rachel turns up again, you'll remember her from TFOBH,  and again on the end of a phone, providing clues and assistance from afar, second story in and that seems to be working; one day MacGowan may let us in on her back story, or she may in fact turn out to be the equivalent of 'Charlie' from the Angels who keeps mysteriously popping up, but never explained, and in the end he (Charlie) didn't need to be, did he?

Unlike TFOBH, there was no stroll around the park in this one, it started with one gruesome death and just kept going from there.  Don't be mistaken though, this wasn't a blood soaked book for the sake of gruesomeness.  There is a story here that started long before the Reeves boys had their first bouts of teenage acne that had been simmering for years on a low peep and John Reeves had decided to come back to Clarksbridge at precisely the time the simmering pot changed to an exploding pot of boiling hatred and revenge; revenge to be visited upon the sons of the fathers and anyone who was close to them.  John finds himself being framed, his brother doesn't believe he is capable of the things that have happened, even although he dislike his brother, so defends him.  More incontrovertible evidence starts to pile up and Alan begins to have doubts, coming  c;lose to shooting his own brother: Can the brothers differences be put aside ...  A big ask, or are they going to end up dead too...

I did start of being fairly critical of MacGowan's first book and then it won me round.  This one gripped from the beginning with the psychological twists presented to good effect, can you really make a person burst into flames (no that doesn't happen in this book, but you will see why I mention it, on reading it) through the power of suggestion, can you cure criminals and paedophiles with psychology alone, who knows what we are capable of but clearly MacGowan has an inkling towards these kind of questions from his own degree in psychology and uses the 'power of the mind' in a frightening way and to good effect in this book. Some of the story drifted, just a little, in the middle, but overall I found it absorbing and hard to put down.  I started looking at it last week but got so tied up with the Olympics I put it down having read the first 6 chapters.  I picked it up on Monday and finished it on Tuesday, all 27 remaining chapters......

Was John Reeves worth resurrecting, I asked early on, yes, I think he was.  Even although a lot of the book actually features Alan, his brother and the Clarksbridge Police Dept.,  and John who was not the first intended target of the hate and revenge, becomes the tortured soul, in more ways than one, and who needs to be rescued.  MacGowan, after only one book has uncluttered his mind and got down to some serious writing, there are no really slow patches in this as there was in TFOBH. He has given us a hero who is handy with a Glock and a mean punch, but who also has vulnerabilities, and who sometimes needs other heroes to rescue the situation to save him.

Finally, The Cover; It is a bleak looking thing, Black, White and Grey with a splash of colour, but so perfect for this book, it so encapsulates the novel and describes items from it that will become apparent to the reader as the story unfolds, 10 out of 10 to ethinkgraphics who clearly paid attention to the book when coming up with the design.

You can follow Kirkus on Twitter @KirkusMacGowan or connect with him on his blog at http://www.kirkusmacgowan.info/


Editing for Kindle /iPad: This was a draft copy so can't really comment
Reading Enjoyment: 5 out of 5
Page length on kindle /iPad: Not known but was a substantial read
Plot: 5 out of 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5