en-US Sun, 20 Apr 2025 12:45:36 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review5266589292 Sun, 20 Apr 2025 12:45:36 -0700 /review/show/5266589292 Mark gave 4 stars to Persuader (Jack Reacher, #7) by Lee Child
A good Reacher; not the best I’ve read though.
Strangely, the highlight of the book was a dialogue sequence where Reacher was answering questions in a distracted way whilst his mind was miles away elsewhere; a very realistic and humorous exchange !
]]> Review7466204500 Sat, 05 Apr 2025 23:48:10 -0700 /review/show/7466204500 Mark gave 4 stars to A Calamity of Souls (Hardcover) by David Baldacci
Baldacci Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

I really enjoyed this read and found myself really engrossed in it. For that reason alone I would recommend it to others.
It’s a long time since I read a Baldacci but although I don’t really remember the predecessors I realise that this book is very different from all of them. This felt like a crusade from our writer - for a deeply felt cause at that - black vs white in sixties America .
Sadly therein lies the reason why I am unable to give it top billing. The book starts at a cracking pace and after a couple of chapters I was totally sold and thinking ‘five star�. But thereafter it became something of a polemic and had too many ‘sermons� in it not fully justifiable for the needs of the plot.
And just to add in one other slight beef, too many instances where a character or a sub-plot were hastily introduced into the script out of the blue just to stop it going off-piste. Not a terrible crime, just jarred a bit.
I still rate the read as an excellent Baldacci (a writer I’ve a lot of time for) and hope that you will too. ]]> ReadStatus9241343281 Fri, 28 Mar 2025 00:28:58 -0700 /review/show/7441642315 Mark is currently reading The Year of the Farmer by Rosalie Ham
]]> Review7430084385 Fri, 28 Mar 2025 00:16:47 -0700 /review/show/7430084385 Mark gave 4 stars to Standing in Another Man's Grave (Inspector Rebus, #18) by Ian Rankin
I thought this a damn good read. I’ve not really read any of the early Rebus but he’s definitely growing on me.
I don’t think this a spoiler but (for me) the only thing that stopped this from being five star was a slightly weak ending. The first 99% was excellent however. ]]> Review7430083056 Mon, 24 Mar 2025 02:18:49 -0700 /review/show/7430083056 Mark gave 3 stars to The Way It Is Now (Paperback) by Garry Disher
]]> Review7409704732 Sun, 16 Mar 2025 19:39:56 -0700 /review/show/7409704732 Mark gave 2 stars to No Plan B (Jack Reacher, #27) by Lee Child
I’d direct you to Sonja’s review. I’m pretty well in agreement with everything she says albeit I think one star is a little harsh.
Andrew Child (and let’s assume he’s done all of the heavy lifting in the creation process) hasn’t quite caught the essence of Reacher - or is deliberately taking him in a different direction; either way it doesn’t work! ]]> ReadStatus9171634426 Mon, 10 Mar 2025 16:25:24 -0700 /review/show/7392902445 Mark wants to read Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton
]]> Review7376866817 Fri, 07 Mar 2025 18:55:06 -0800 /review/show/7376866817 Mark has read To the Wild Horizon (The Wild Horizon #1) by Imogen Martin
Never read. Don’t know how it got on my reading list.
Come on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ - give us a function to remove a book from reading list! ]]> Review7367644986 Sat, 01 Mar 2025 23:14:33 -0800 /review/show/7367644986 Mark gave 1 star to The Year of the Locust (ebook) by Terry Hayes
I’ve just read Mark’s review of this book. Couldn’t agree more. I too don’t really want to be overly critical but I’ve put this book down because the book turned into complete rubbish.

But that doesn’t really tell you the full story. This book is an absolute first for me; never before have I read up to page 497 of a small print book then thrown the book away in disgust!

The first 300 pages were a genuinely readable fast moving spy tale set in the Middle East. Started getting a bit weird at that point and - to cut a long (sic) story short it then proceeds to get bloody weird! Morphs into some incredible combination of ludicrously unbelievable sci-fi fantasy combined with full on zombie novel.

I’m utterly flabbergasted ; never before has a book made me so angry to have wasted my time reading 400+ pages.

The only premise I can put forward is that the publisher accidentally stitched together two book parts from different authors and the proofreaders didn’t notice.

Spoilers? I don’t need to; the book does it for you. ]]> ReadStatus9093300311 Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:06 -0800 /review/show/7338108585 Mark wants to read Illegal Action by Stella Rimington
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