Category Archives: Fiction

“Born with the Dead” – Robert Silverberg, 1974

I’ve just finished re-reading Robert Silverberg’s 1974 novella ‘Born with the Dead’ and loved it all over again… I first read this story in the early ’80s and it really stuck with me. I’ve probably given away around a thousand books over the past 30 years, including this one. However, Silverberg was my favourite sci-fiContinue reading ““Born with the Dead” – Robert Silverberg, 1974″

James Phelan – “The Hunted”…

Here’s my review of James Phelan’s “The Hunted” that I finished this afternoon… This was the first ‘Jed Walker’, and indeed the first James Phelan book, that I’ve read. The book had a reasonable plot that took some time to unravel and the closing sequences in St Louis, Missouri, clipped past quickly enough to keepContinue reading “James Phelan – “The Hunted”…”

… but not every “le Carré” is a good “le Carré”…

As much as I enjoyed le Carré stories I shared in my first post, I have to say that I have very mixed feelings about “The Night Manager”. It started well and I had high hopes that I was about to be entertained with a masterpiece of observational writing. I have stayed at many hotelsContinue reading “… but not every “le Carré” is a good “le Carré”…”

The best place to begin? John le Carré…

There was a singular character that sucked me back into Thrillers when I started reading them in earnest last year… George Smiley, created by John le Carré.  Smiley is an odd character; to me he didn’t feel directly prominent but there was something about him that stuck in the back of mind, like he wasContinue reading “The best place to begin? John le Carré…”

A review of the books I read in 2017, mostly as preparation for my new post-BREXIT espionage-thriller novel…

I haven’t blogged for a while because I’ve been both deeply engaged with my day-job and also starting to write my next book, a currently un-titled post-BREXIT espionage thriller. Progress with the writing has been slower than I had wanted but I’m now about 30% of the way through and hope to make good progressContinue reading “A review of the books I read in 2017, mostly as preparation for my new post-BREXIT espionage-thriller novel…”