The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons, by Karin Smirnoff.

    Swedish Author Stieg Larsson died nearly twenty years ago, but Lisbeth Salander, his most famous character, is still alive and well, having been resurrected by several writers over time – with varying degrees of success. Now it is Karin Smirnoff’s turn to breathe life, truth and logic into Lisbeth – and Mikael Blomkvist, outspoken, prominent Millenium Magazine journalist, her ally when needed, and partner in crime when necessary. 

     Lisbeth’s latest (mis)adventure is set in Northern Sweden, lands and forests teeming with untapped minerals and natural resources: the local councils are rubbing their hands and salivating at the vast profits to be made if they can sell to the highest bidders, huge international companies who will strip everything bare before they leave and go on to the next place to wreak havoc and devastation.                     Coincidentally Mikael is in the area because he has been invited to the wedding of his daughter to the head of the town council – and instigator of all the dodgy deals. Dodgy because it is not his land he is offering for sale but land owned by Reindeer farmers and many other smallholders who have no intention of selling their land. 

     Lisbeth is in the same town – not because she wants to be, but she has been summoned by the authorities because she is the only living relative of Kvala, a precociously intelligent 13 year-old girl whose mother has gone missing: Lisbeth is her aunt, for Kvala is the daughter of Lisbeth’s late, loathed half-brother Ronald Niederman. How the authorities tracked Lisbeth down is anyone’s guess; suffice to say the two relatives do not hit it off immediately: deep suspicion abides, especially when Kvala wants to know about her father, of which she has no memory. What was he like? Fair question. Except that he was a monster and a murderer, impervious to pain – and he tried to kill Lisbeth on their father’s orders. Fortunately for her, she ‘removed’ him from the equation, but how do you tell that to your niece?

     And where is Kvala’s mother? Kvala knows that she was involved with some very shady people, but fully expected to beat them at their own game – nothing like a spot of blackmail to increase the family fortunes! Except that the tables may have been turned: there are some very big players now among the shady people, intent on wrecking and raping the land for its treasure – small fry like Kvala’s mother are flies to be squashed. 

     Ms Smirnoff has created a fitting and masterful tribute to Stig Larsson’s beloved characters. This is the first book of a planned trilogy, and it encompasses all the environmental problems that worry us most, while still more than living up to its thriller status. Roll on Book Two! SIX STARS.

Top 20 Reads for 2023 - Whoopee!!!

 

Nothing like a few exclamation marks to get the party started!  I have read some mighty books this year and praise our wonderful library and Community Centre - Te Takeretanga-o-Kurahaupo for the great reading choices they make for us all. 

There’s something for everyone here and, because my cat is trying to walk all over the keyboard, I’ll get right on it – the list, I mean, not the cat!

The Axeman’s Carnival,  Catherine Chidgey

Less is Lost, Andrew Sean Greer

Our Missing Hearts, Celeste Ng

Playing Under the Piano, Hugh Bonneville  (Memoir)

The Light in Hidden Places, Sharon Cameron (Young Adults)

Day’s End, Gary Disher

Scythe, Neal Shusterman (Young Adults)

Mrs Jewel and the wreck of the General Grant, Cristina Sanders

Like a Sister,  Kellye Garrett

My Darkest Prayer, S. A. Cosby

Duffy and Son, Damien Owens

Small Mercies, Dennis Lehane

The Sparrow,  Tessa Duder

Kala, Colin Walsh

The Great Swindle, Pierre LeMaitre

All Human Wisdom, Pierre LeMaitre

Night will Find You, Julia Heaberlin

Did I Ever Tell You This?, Sam Neill (Memoir)                     

A Better Place, Stephen Daisley

The Last Devil to Die, Richard Osman

The Bone Tree, Airana Ngarewa

What am I doing?? That’s 21, not 20!! Never mind, they are all fabulous reads and this list is a loving tribute to storytellers everywhere who work so hard to entertain and inspire us. 

Have the happiest and safest New Year that you can, and let us still believe in the old adage of Peace and Goodwill to All of us, Everywhere. 

Love and best wishes for 2024 from the staff, Friends of the Library and Volunteers of Te Takeretanga-o-Kurahaupo.

 

The Last Devil to Die, by Richard Osman.

           

      
      Who by now surely needs no introduction:  his familiar and much-loved characters from his first three books about the elderly sleuths of a British retirement village have been smash hits, not least because he ably demonstrates that old people, particularly his main characters, can still run rings (metaphorically) around those much younger.  (Chronically!)

            The members of the Thursday Murder Club are grappling with the news that one of their friends, antiques dealer Kuldesh Sharma, has been murdered after receiving a terracotta box containing heroin worth a hundred thousand pounds – then attempting to sell it on himself.  Hard for the friends to believe, but that’s where all the evidence points. 

            Naturally, the Club members are not privy to gathered police evidence – except for the efforts of Constable Donna and her boss Chris, who are miffed because the National Crime Agency have been mysteriously alerted and are now running the investigation, including taking over Chris’s office, AND the Senior Officer has made herself as unpleasant as possible, seconding them to horse thefts.  No wonder there is mutiny in the ranks!  Which means that the friends know as much (or more) than the official investigators.

            Needless to say, the dealers who were waiting for the heroin also do their best to find the missing powder, and people start to die – Bad Buggers mainly, but the body count is rising and the mystery remains as to who will survive – and do they deserve to?

            Richard Osman’s wonderful characters remain the same, reliable and true to each other and themselves, but behind the humour and still-enviable zest for life lies the spectre of aged vulnerability – that which every old person fears:  the terrifying loss of self, dementia.  Ex-spy Elizabeth has to face daily the gradual and obvious mental deterioration of her beloved husband Stephen and, whilst he is still capable of making giant decisions, they must decide between them what, when, and where to finish their long and beloved union.  I defy even the most stoutly unemotional reader not to be moved by Elizabeth’s predicament; it happens to so many thousands of couples and Richard Osman writes with great empathy and poignancy on behalf of them all:  thank you, Mr Osman, for writing of old age with such humour and grace - my only worry being that he says he’s going to give the Thursday Murder Club a rest for a little while as he concentrates on a new series:  well, all I can say is that Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron or Ibrahim better not have popped their clogs in the meantime!  FIVE STARS.