GREAT READS FOR DECEMBER, 2015
The
Girl in the Spider’s Web, by David Lagercrantz,
Continuing
Stieg Larsson’s Millenium series.
Swedish
author David Lagercrantz has been given the daunting task of continuing Stieg
Larsson’s blockbuster series of novels about Lisbeth Salander, ace computer
hacker, mathematical genius and all-round general recluse and misfit, and
Mikael Blomkvist, crusading investigative journalist, founder with his
some-time lover Erika Berger of the high-end Millennium Magazine, their weapon
against graft and corruption in high places.
They have many enemies; those who
don’t want their dirty secrets exposed, and colleagues from other publications
who envy their stellar reputation.
Millennium is constantly under siege from those whose causes would be
furthered if it became defunct, and when this story opens, Blomkvist and Berger
are facing a takeover that has definitely turned hostile.
Mr Lagerkrantz has done a formidable job of filling in
the backstory from Stieg Larsson’s three wonderful books; he is meticulous in the origins of Salander’s
and Blomkvist’s relationship and has fashioned a credible, clever plot that
every reader will find compelling, especially as Lisbeth’s long lost sister
Camilla – as beautiful as Lisbeth is not – makes an appearance to equal that of
her half-brother Ronald Niedermann, a monster impervious to pain. It is very clear that the siblings’ awful
father, Alexander Zalachenko has bequeathed some horrific genes to his
unfortunate progeny, but Lisbeth is the only one with a conscience and a sense
of what is right – which makes her a formidable opponent of her sister, whose
hatred of Lisbeth is as deep as it is irrational.
The reader has to concentrate; Mr Lagerkrantz’s plot is not simple. Professor Frans Balder, a technological
genius and front-runner in the race to produce superior artificial intelligence
is murdered by intruders but all they take are his computer and cell
phone. Unfortunately for the assailant,
Balder’s 8 year-old son, August, witnesses the murder. He is severely handicapped by autism – but he
draws beautifully and it is absurdly easy for him to produce with photographic
realism his impression of the death scene and the killer. Which means that he has to die, too.
Enter Lisbeth Salander:
she literally comes to the rescue of August with a flying rugby tackle
and the hijacking of an innocent motorist (who will never be the same again!) –
she knew Professor Balder and has uncovered from her various hacking exercises
(the National Security Agency has received special attention) that his worries
about keeping his studies and conclusions secret were anything but unfounded. She takes it upon herself (with the help of
Blomkvist and Berger) to go into hiding with August, whose traumatic experiences
Lisbeth identifies with completely. She is a formidable protector and once
again the reader is swept up and borne inexorably on the waves of suspense to
the end of a great story.
Mr Lagerkrantz is a highly
efficient and meticulous writer; he has
covered every base, recreated Mr Larsson’s characters superbly and generated
enough suspense for more than one novel – which I hope means that another won’t
be far off for the beautiful, evil Camilla is still at large, and the NSA is
still highly suspect despite being on the side of right. This is a very
competent sequel and I look forward to reading the next one. FIVE STARS
The
Serpentine Road, by Paul Mendleson
Sequels don’t always fulfil the promise of the debut
novel. Sometimes the author is unable to
generate the same rapport with the reader, the suspense and excitement - particularly with thriller-writing – that is
necessary to keep us all coming back for more:
happily, Paul Mendleson’s sequel to his great ‘The First Rule of
Survival’ (see review below) more than meets all requirements and once again
the reader is caught up in a plot so fast-paced that it is almost a relief to
reach the end so that blood-pressure can return to normal levels.
In
1994 Colonel Vaughn De Vries is a Captain in the South African Police
Department. The infamous Apartheid
system is over; Nelson Mandela is set to
win the first democratic election for the Presidency of South Africa, yet
dissident acts of violence have not abated, the latest being a bomb attack on a
Capetown drinking hall resulting in carnage and destruction – and pursuit of
the suspects by white police officers bent on bloody retribution.
De
Vries is ordered to bring up the rear on their search of a slum settlement, to
‘get the officers’ backs’, but witnesses such a terrible act of atrocity by his
commanding officer Kobus Nel that it still haunts him in 2015, especially as his young family was threatened
by Nel if he didn’t make the same report as everyone else. This ‘masking’ the facts has never sat well
with him, for De Vries, despite his myriad faults still believes in justice and
fair play for everyone.
The many rotten apples
in the Apartheid era P.D. are now thankfully gone – only to be replaced by the
same fruit, but of a different colour, as De Vries finds when he is designated
Lead Officer in the murder of Taryn Holt, an enormously wealthy socialite and art
patron.
His interviews with
various witnesses and ‘persons of interest’ do not at first reveal anything of
note despite her high profile and controversial lifestyle – until it is
discovered that Ms Holt was having an intimate relationship with the son of one
of the original founding fathers and leading lights of the ANC, and she was
prepared to finance the birth of a new political party with her lover at the
head: suddenly, a senseless killing
takes on a political hue, especially when orders start arriving from Pretoria
to wrap the case up, and especially
as a corpse conveniently turns up with the murder weapon in his hand and the
victim’s blood on his teeshirt. De Vries
is furious but forced to conclude (rightly) that the Opressed have now become
the Opressors.
Add to that the fact
that every officer from the atrocious murders they took part in twenty-one
years ago has started to die, all stabbed multiple times: Once he makes the connection De Vries knows
it is only a matter of time before it is his turn. What to do?
Where to turn?
The only way to find out
is to read this excellent story: in
spare, powerful prose, Mr Mendleson writes of a land where ‘the fight will
never end’ and of many peoples who do their best to survive in hugely disparate
circumstances, all told against a backdrop of great and savage beauty. FIVE STARS
The First Rule of Survival, by Paul Mendelson
Colonel of the South
African Police Service Vaughn de Vries is a typical protagonist of classic
crime fiction. Suffering Burn-out? Of course.
Marriage down the tubes?
Naturally. Finding solace in
Alcohol? Goes without saying. Appearance less than inviting? Women ‘avert their eyes when they see him
sitting at the bar’.
In short, Colonel de Vries’s life is rather less than
satisfactory – except when he is working:
his job is ‘what gets him up in the morning’, and his passion for
justice is legendary; it is what
elevates him above the norm, especially in respect of his colleagues, new
examples of the integrated police force of Mandela’s Rainbow Nation, all vying
for power and prestige in a department formerly run by white men like de Vries,
whose time must surely soon be up. They
hope. Yes, give him a bit more time and
he will be the author of his own misfortune …… until the naked bodies of two
malnourished teenaged boys are found in a skip at the back of a farm café miles
from Capetown, de Vries’s base. They
have been murdered, and Vaughn, the token white officer is sent to investigate
– and finds to his horror that they are the victims of a terrible abduction
seven years before, when three young white boys, one the son of a serving
police officer, were kidnapped on three consecutive days, never to be seen
again.
It is a case that has haunted Vaughn’s dreams, turned
them into nightmares and destroyed his peace of mind forever, especially when
the case becomes cold after months of searching fruitlessly for clues – any
clue – as to their fate. Now, two of the
three kidnap victims have been found, obviously transported to the skip after
death – from where? And where is the
third boy? de Vries and his immediate
superior Hendrik du Toit faced unprecedented contempt from the media and
eminent child psychologists alike for their inability to provide answers seven
years ago: now, their new bosses are
demanding bold actions and quick solutions to the murders; any delay will reflect badly on the new Rainbow
police hierarchy. Those dinosaur Boers
Messrs du Toit and de Vries better shape up or ship out.
British writer Paul Mendelson has constructed an
impressive debut thriller for his first foray into crime writing. He has created credible, excellent characters
– especially Vaughn’s black second-in-command Warrant Officer Don February, so
called because his real name would be impossible for most people to pronounce –
and his descriptions of the wild and splendid coastline and croplands around
Capetown make one feel that they are riding shotgun with Vaughn de Vries and
Don February, hanging over their shoulders, exhorting them to find the killers
before more children are abused and killed.
This is a page-turner par excellence, made the more
readable by its magnificent setting. FIVE STARS!!
It’s that time of year
again –the time for all the LISTS - you
know: the best ofs. Well, I have compiled a list of MY best ofs,
the very best books I have read this year, all reviewed on this blog. So:
here’s my Top Twenty-Two for 2015 – I did try to limit myself to twenty
but couldn’t do it. They’re not in any
order, for every one is a worthy addition to the list. They are all different - and all uniform in their excellence.
The Bright
Side of My Condition, by Charlotte Randall January
blog
The Mountain
School for Dogs, by Ellen Cooney February
blog
The Narrow
Road to the Deep North, by Richard Flanagan February
Amnesia, by
Peter Carey March
blog
The Same
Sky, by Amanda Eyre Ward April
blog
Swimming in
the Dark, by Paddy Richardson April
blog
The Bridge,
by Jane Higgins Young Adult May blog
Havoc, by
Jane Higgins Young Adult May blog
The Whites,
Richard Price writing as Harry Brandt June blog
The Legend
of Winstone BlackHat, by Tanya Moir
June blog
Chappy, by
Patricia Grace June
blog
The Liar’s
Key, by Mark Lawrence July
blog
After the
Crash, by Michel Bussi August
blog
Saving
Midnight, by Suzy Zail Young Adult September blog
Orhan’s
Inheritance, by Aline Ohanesian September
blog
The First
Rule of Survival, by Paul Mendelson October
blog
The
Antipodeans, by Greg McGee October
blog
Nora
Webster, by Colm Toibin October
blog
The Party
Line, by Sue Orr November
blog
Europa
Blues, by Arne Dahl November
blog
A Spool of
Blue Thread, by Anne Tyler November
blog
The Girl in
the Spider’s Web, by David Lagerkrantz December blog
It has been a great pleasure
reviewing all these wonderful books this year and on behalf of the staff and
the many volunteers of Te Takere, our beautiful library and
community centre, I wish all Great Readers a very happy Christmas and a safe
and healthy New Year. See you in 2016!
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