“His first novel and excellent.
Full of grit and Scottish humour. I met him a few times and he is an excellent speaker.
This is the first of many of his Jack Parlabane novels. Treat yourself and read it.
Score 7/10
Date read June 2015
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“A satisfactory murder mystery with well drawn characters.
Edinburgh, 1888. A talented violinist is brutally murdered in his home. Lovers of Sherlock Holmes might have a Marmite moment with this one. Black magic symbols cover the walls and two opposite detectives have to work together to solve the case.
Book club scored at 5.5/10 me 6/10
Score 6/10
Date read April 2015
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“Possibly what separates this novella from other literary works is its style is smoothly written. The Japanese author is a poet first and now a published novelist.
A young couple rent a house in the grounds of a sprawling estate which harps back to grander and gentler times in Tokyo. Their lives drift along somewhat direction-less. One day a stray cat visits, he comes again the following day. The small joys this provides seems to pull their lives together.
Our book club liked this more than me and gave it 6/10, I’m a little less convinced with 5/10
Score 5/10
Date read March 2015
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“And another good book for a book group.
This is a debut novel and how nice and refreshing it is to find something new and different.
An old lady lives alone by the sea, spending her time looking at the water and beach. A stranger knocks on the door and the story begins… excellent.
I liked it more than the group who scored it an average of 6.2/10 but it’s easily worth 8.5/10
Score 8.5/10
Date read January 2015
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