Theatre Review- Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story

Title: Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story

Writer: Stephen Dolginoff

Director: Guy Retallack

Performers: Ellis Dackombe, Harry Downes, and Kris Rawlinson

Seen at: C Too Edinburgh

Review: Nathan Leopold stands before a parole board for the fifth time, having been in prison for 33 years for murdering a fourteen year old boy. The parole board wants to know: why? Flashbacks detail the story of how Leopold and his lover Richard Loeb, progress from petty crime to murder, and where they went from there.

Book Review -The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher

Title: The Killing Woods

 Author: Lucy Christopher

Series:  N/A

Published:  October 2013 by Chicken House

Length: 369 pages

Warnings:  sex, alchohol, drugs, pstd

Source: publisher

Other info: Lucy Christopher has also written Stolen.

Summary : Emily’s dad is accused of murdering a teenage girl. Emily is sure he is innocent, but what happened that night in the woods behind their house where she used to play as a child? Determined to find out, she seeks out Damon Hillary, the enigmatic boyfriend of the murdered girl. He also knows these woods. Maybe they could help each other. But he’s got secrets of his own about games that are played in the dark.

Review: Emily’s dad walks in one night with a dying girl. He is then accused of manslaughter. She’s sure he’s innocent, but how can she prove it? To try, she enlists the help of Ashlee’s (the dead girl) boyfriend, Damon, who may know something about how Ashlee died. Together, they unravel the mystery.

 I read this because 1)I got sent it for review and 2) so many people had been talking about how good it is and I had to know how good it was for myself.

The characters, I liked them to start with, but at times they were a bit dreary. I would have liked to know Emily a bit more other than the fact that her father is accused of manslaughter. I liked Damon, even though he is a bit crazy at times. I liked Emily’s father. I really like the fact that Lucy handles PSTD, drugs, and choices in what I think is a good way.  

I loved the Game. I wanted to know what that involved, and all the little hints as to what it was built up well for the reveal.

I started to guess vague details from around two thirds of the way through. I ended up guessing the reasons for Ashlee’s death, but not who had done it.

The pacing was good. I didn’t get bored with the way that the mystery was unravelled at all- I really wanted to know what happened and I read this in one day.

I liked the writing. It moved the story on along really well and really built up the setting of Darkwood really well.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a fast mystery that kept me gripped from the start.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | 

Red Dragon-Thomas Harris

Title: Red Dragon

 Author: Thomas Harris

Series: Hannibal Lecter #1

Published: 1981, my edition May 1990  

Length: 454 pages 

Warnings: Everything. Gore. Sex. Not for little ones. 

Source: bought

Other info: There's lots of films and spinoffs of this series. You probably know  The Silence of the Lambs. There's also Hannibal and Hannibal Rising. 

Summary :Will Graham stands in a silent, empty house communing with a killer. An FBI instructor with a gift for hunting madmen, Graham knows what his murderer looks like, how he thinks, and what he did to his victims after they died. Now Graham must try to catch him. But to do it, he must feel the heat of a killer's brain, draw on the macabre advice of a dangerous mental patient, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, and follow a trail of microscopic clues to the place where another family has already been chosen to die--and where an innocent woman has found the Dragon first.

Review: There's a killer on the loose  and Will Graham, FBI man who's good at profiling  mad people, as well as visualizing the murder, must find him. Wouldn't be so bad if last time he'd gone on a madman hunt, he'd almost been killed by Hannibal Lecter, and wanted to retire. But seeing as this guy is killing a lot of people, and

I read this because I  watched Hannibal and quite enjoyed it, and, as always with book to screen adaptations, I try and read the source material.

I like that this book is very plot focused, as opposed to the TV show (which I know is very very different because that's a prequel and Red Dragon hasn't happened yet and is a TV show and totally different) which is very character focused. I like the plot focus, especially by the end, when the plot really gets along quickly,  which is nice, especially when the start is slower.

you feel for the characters. Well, Will Graham and the killer. Guy had an awful back story.  Will Graham, you feel bad for because of the whole empathizing wholly with killers driving him insane,  and I liked him, though  I'm not sure how much Hugh Dancy looking like a kicked puppy influenced that. Hannibal Lecter, despite being the guy the series is named after, doesn't appear much in Red Dragon, but what we see of him is intriguing.

The psychology aspect is interesting to start with, but after a little while, you do want it to just speed up a bit.  Some parts of this were creepy, in both good ways and  bad ways.

 Overall:  Strength 3 tea to a good mystery thriller horror thing, that wasn't quite I was expecting.

Links: Amazon |  Goodreads |

Book Review-Dead Harvest by Chris F Holm

Title: Dead Harvest

  Author: Chris F Holm

Series:  The Collector #1

Published:  28 February 2012  by Angry Robot

Length: 384 pages

Source: library

Other info:There's currently 2 more in the series-The Wrong Goodbye and The Big Reap 

Summary : Meet Sam Thornton. He collects souls.
Sam’s job is to collect the souls of the damned, and ensure they are dispatched to the appropriate destination. But when he’s sent to collect the soul of a young woman he believes to be innocent of the horrific crime that’s doomed her to Hell, he says something no Collector has ever said before.
“No.”

Review: Sam Thornton collects souls and sends them on to Hell, as payment for something htat happened years ago. One day, he's sent to collect the soul of Kate Macneil, a young woman who  was caught in the middle of  brutally murdering her family. But when he gets there and finds her in a coma, the brightness of her soul tells him she's innocent. He can't send her to Hell-that would start a war. Instead, he refuses the job and helps her escape, leaving them on the run from humans, angels and demons.

I've wanted to read this since before I started blogging -I had a period of needing to read EVERY Angry Robot book ever published because they seemed awesome (i'd just gotten into spec fic properly) and  although I probably won't do it with all the other books I need to read, I can try.

The introduction of Sam is of him hopping bodies-he possesses them, and leaves them when the job's done. I liked this idea, and it helps move the plot on in places too.

Throughout, we get little pieces woven in to how Sam got where he is, both in job situation and look on life, and I liked that this brought us closer to the character, who we already see quite a bit of  in that he refuses orders despite risks. Kate is a really nice character, and you want them to succeed (ie get out of this alive). The non human characters  especially had varied and unique motives, and uncertainties to those made the ride mor9e interesting.

The getting Kate out happens very quickly, within the first three chapters, and it keeps going from there. The plot moves on quickly, and isn't slowed down by the flashbacks or the writing style. Action happens frequently, and there isn't anywhere you think “meh. Bored”.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a fast paced fantasy with a main character you always want to know more about. Definitely reading on. 

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review-Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

Title: Darkly Dreaming Dexter

 Author: Jeff Lindsay

Series:   Dexter #1

Published:   July 2005 by Orion (first published July 2004)

Length: 275 pages

Warnings:  graphic gore

Source: bought

Other info: This has been adapted into a fairly successful TV show. There are 7 books in the series, with alliterative names (that makes me happy, for some reason)!

Summary : Dexter Morgan isn't exactly the kind of man you'd bring home to your mum. At heart, he's the perfect gentleman: he has a shy girlfriend, and seems to lead a quiet, normal life bordering on the mundane. Despite the fact that he can't stand the sight of blood, he works as a blood-spatter analyst for the Miami police.But Dexter also has a secret hobby: he is an accomplished serial killer. So far, he's killed 36 people and has never been caught because he knows exactly how to hide the evidence. And while that may lead some people to assume he's not such a nice guy, he tempers his insatiable hunger for brutality by only killing the bad guys. However, Dexter's well-organised life is suddenly disrupted when a second, much more visible serial killer appears in Miami. Intrigued that the other killer favours a style similar to his own, Dexter soon realises that the mysterious new arrival is not simply invading his turf but offering him a direct invitation to 'come out and play'...

Review: Dexter Morgan is a serial killer serial killer. He’s also a forensic scientist for the Miami Police Departent and has a normal life outside of that. So one day, there’s a nother serial killer going round Miami, and this one is different. Instead of being one that Dexter can just take out quietly, this one wants to play.

I watched a couple of episodes of Dexter before another show took over my life, but I enjoyed what I saw, and will go back to it, because it’s intriguing, and I like reading source material of films/books that have been adapted, so I read this.

The most complex character is Dexter, a sociopath carrying a Dark Passenger. In order to sate the Dark Passenger and also to keep to his morals, Dexter follows the advice of his adoptive father, Harry, and only kills those who deserve it. I’d like to see more of him. Serial killers really should not be this likable.

Deb was my second favourite character. I like the fact that she’s really driven, and fights against the men’s misogynistic views of her, even when being put on the group of undercover police posing as hookers.

The mystery goes in lots of different directions, which I enjoy. At the end, when the reveal happens, it’s just a big… wait? Where do you come from? However, this does give  us some good backstory, and also gives Dexter an extra side to explore later.

Overall:  Strength 3 to what I hope is the start of a bloody good series.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |

Author Interview-Max Allan Collins

Max Allan Collins writes A LOT of crime. 15 books for Nathan Heller series, 10 for the Quarry series, over 20 for CSI... His latest work is Seduction of the Innocent-crime, comic books and a 1950s setting.

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-What drew you to the 50s?
I grew up in the fifties and sixties, so that’s a natural period of interest for me. But I’ve made a specialty out of writing mysteries set in the twentieth century, in particular with my Nathan Heller series – the latest, TARGET LANCER, is about the JFK assassination. I like combining the approach of the mystery novelist with the research of an historian.

-Do you see yourself in any of your characters?
Certainly all of my first-person characters – Nate Heller, Quarry, Mallory, and now Jack Starr – are me to some degree. I think all novelists write disguised autobiography, and that’s particularly true of private eye writers. But it’s more myself as I’d have been had I shared the disparate backgrounds of these characters. Jack was in the Second World War, for example. Probably the humor in the books is the best glimpse into the real me.

-What's your favourite comic book?
Of all time? Very tough question. My favorite comic strip is LI’L ABNER, and I devour the reprint volumes. My favorite 1950s comic book is either CRIME SUSPENSTORIES or MAD. My favorite ‘60s comic book is SPIDERMAN – Ditko SPIDERMAN. My favorite ‘70s comic book would be anything by R. Crumb or Gilbert Shelton in the Underground Comix movement. In the ‘80s I was rather fond of my own MS. TREE, because checks arrived in the mail fairly regularly. In the ‘90s, it was LONE WOLF AND CUB. Today it’s probably USAGI YOJIMBO.

-What's your favourite thing about 1950s America?
Again, I’m going to have to hedge. In fiction, it was Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer books. In film, it was John Ford’s THE SEARCHERS. In music, it was Bobby Darin and "Mack the Knife." On TV, it was MAVERICK. Nothing much that wasn’t popular culture was worth a damn in the ‘50s.

-What's the cleverest thing you've learnt from a comic book?
The ice-block murder method that I used in SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT. From a minute mystery in the back of a DICK TRACY comic book.

-Any tips for writing crime?
Find a way, somehow, to write from experience and not just from the crime and mystery novels and films you’ve read and seen. In my first novel, BAIT MONEY (1973, reprinted by Hard Case crime in TWO FOR THE MONEY), I robbed the bank where my wife worked, and I had the secondary protagonist be a comic-book collector. In addition, I set the story in my native Iowa, not some big city. Even in SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT, which takes place in Manhattan, the roots are in 1950s Iowa, when a little kid got his comic books messed with by a big bad psychiatrist.

-Who influenced you in writing this?
Well, the Jack and Maggie Starr mysteries are in part a homage to Rex Stout and his Nero Wolfe novels. Other than that, nobody. On the other hand, I am generally influenced by a real superstar line-up – Hammett, Chandler, Spillane, James M. Cain, Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, Erle Stanley Gardner and Donald E. Westlake.

-What are you reading right now?
THE JAMES BOND ARCHIVES.

-What are you planning on writing in the future?
I will be doing another collaborative book with my wife Barb (we write together as "Barbara Allan"), ANTIQUES A GO GO, a humorous "cozy" mystery. Then another Mike Hammer novel, KING OF THE WEEDS, working from a manuscript Mickey Spillane began in the 1990s, and a political thriller called SUPREME JUSTICE. I hope to do a new Nate Heller novel next year, but I have the final volume of my Heller/JFK trilogy, ASK NOT, coming out this fall. There's also a thriller coming out called WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU, a rare standalone from me.

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This article was posted as part of the Seduction of the Innocent Blog Tour, celebrating the release of Max Allan Collins' new Hard Case Crime novel. For the opportunity to win a copy of the book, simply tweet “I would like a copy of Seduction of the Innocent @TitanBooks #MaxAllanCollins”.

Book Review- Seduction of the Innocent by Max Allan Collins

Title: Seduction of the Innocent
 Author:  Max Allan Collins

Illustrator: Terry Beatty

Series:  Hard Case Crime

Published:  February 22 2013 by Titan

Length: 260 pages

Source: publisher

Summary : It's 1954, and a rabble-rousing social critic has declared war on comic books - especially the scary, gory, bloody sort published by the bad boys of the industry, EF Comics. But on the way to a Senate hearing on whether these depraved publications should be banned, the would-be censor meets a violent end of his own - leaving his opponents in hot water.  

Review: It’s 1950 America, and renowned psychologist Doctor Werner Frederick is trying to get the country to realise how comic books are corrupting America’s youth. Then, somebody gets murdered. Jack Starr, thr trouble shooter for Starr Syndicate, and this murder is most definitely trouble for the comic business.

It’s really interesting that the murder doesn’t happen until halfway through the whole thing. I like this-it gives you time to meet everyone who might be a suspect, and it means that when the murder does happen, we’re in the same position as Jack and it’s more fun to guess with him.

The murder is clever in that as well as being a general clever method, it also comes from a comic book.

I liked hte characters. All their possible motives were clear, and there were always new things coming to light about them. The authors notes tell you that they are blends of real people and their attitudes (as in, actual, real, specific people)  and they fit the tone of Seduction of the Innocent well.

The author’s notes also tell you that these events are based on real life ones too. So much research must have gone into this, and it definitely paid off. The mood and tone are perfect.

Overall:  Sorry about there not being much to this review. Strength 3 tea to a mystery that wasn’t really complex, but a good read, especially for those who are into the time period.

Links: |  Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review- Crusher by Niall Leonard

Title: Crusher

 Author:  Niall Leonard

Published:  13 September 2012 by Random House

Warnings: sex and violence, 14 upwards.

Source: publisher

Other info: His wife wrote the infamous 50 Shades Trilogy. This is the first in a series.

Summary : To catch a killer,Finn Maguire may have to become one....Everything changed the day Finn found his father in a pool of blood, bludgeoned to death. His dull, dreary life is turned upside downas he become's the prime suspect. How can he clear his name and find out who hated his dad enough to kill him?
Facing danger at every turn, uncovering dark family secrets and braving the seedy London underworld,Finn is about to discover that only the people you trust can really hurt you....

Review: After another day at his dead-end job, Finn Maguire comes home to find his dad has been killed. With the lack of other DNA and other fingerprints, and because hte police have no one else ot go on, he is pinned as prime suspect. Now on his own, Finn has to try and clear his name. By doing so, he gets pulled into his family history, gang politics, rivalries, and various other sorts of danger.

I don’t normally read crimey things but I think I should, as I quite enjoy it when I do. There’s always interesting things happening and they’re often unpredictable.  Crusher is like this. I wouldn’t really call it fun, but I like it. There’s definitely a thrill.

It all gets going quite quickly, with the murder and  establishing Finn’s situation done within the first few chapters. The story then develops at the same fast pace throughout.

A thing stolen from my latin friend is the expression of interest levels on an updowny scale. The interest levels for this are high at the start, low middle at the middle,  middle a bit further, and high at the end. Thrill levels follow this pattern too. There’s some incredibly boring bits, and then there’s other bits which you just have to read on, including the scene from which (I assume) Crusher gets its name.

The women in  Crusher were the most interesting. Zoe seemed nice enough, but it didn’t work out well in the end (because it’s written by a guy? Most books written by men feature romances that don’t work out, women tend to write ambiguous or happy endings. A post for later?). Else, I  knew there was something off about her, but what happened at the end was totally unexpected and in any future novels, she should definitely have a major part in them. Finn’s mother is very secretive, and the ending finishes off Crusher well.

Finn, you do feel sorry for when you think about all he goes through. He is surprisingly clever despite his introduction as a dead end boy, and he thinks on his feet well. The whole danger from all sides is ok ish. It’s interesting, but also not in a way. It’s hard to describe. I do like the fact that the separate plots all come together after a lot of guessing.

Overall:  Strength 3 tea to a thriller with a lot of ups and downs.

Links: | Goodreads | 

Book review- Moriarty & The Hound of the D'Urbervilles by Kim Newman

Title: Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the DUrbervilles 

 Author: Kim Newman

Series:  N/A

Published:  4 October 2011 by Titan Books

Length: 476 pages

Warnings: violence, references to prostitution, 13+

Source: bought

Other info: Kim has also written the Anno Dracula books, as well as other things

Summary : Imagine the twisted evil twins of Holmes and Watson and you have the dangerous duo of Prof. James Moriarty - wily, snake- like, fiercely intelligent, unpredictable - and Colonel Sebastian 'Basher' Moran - violent,politically incorrect, debauched. Together they run London crime, owning police and criminals alike. Unravelling mysteries -- all for their own gain. 

Review: Moriarty and Moran-the criminal equivalent of Holmes and Watson. This collection of short stories charts their running around London and the rest of England, living with a woman who runs a brothel, and taking on their fair share of cases. 

Literary mashup galore in here! Obviously, the Sherlock-verse is the major recipient of Kim's treatment, but there are characters from many other Victorian stories. The titles are all plays on the more-known Sherlock Holmes stories, and all feature

In the author's note, we're told that the first to be written was A Shambles in Belgravia. In my opinion, this one was the best. The opening line is my favourite in the whole novel: "To Professor Moriarty, she is always that bitch." Compare this to the reverance that Sherlock holds for the same woman, Irene Adler, and you should understand why this book is amazing.

A Volume in Vermillion keeps introductions a rather neat parallel to A Study in Scarlet, before putting Moran in his first spot of trouble. I didn't really enjoy The Red Planet League.  It just didn't hold my attention. The Hound of the D'Urbervilles was good at bringing together various literary characters from everywhere, as was The Adventure of the Six Maledictions. The Greek Invertebrate is the best paced story, and The Problem of the Final Adventure brings back characters from the previous stories. It also leaves Sherlock and Moriarty's fates really, really ambiguous. 

The stories are written as a set of diaries from Moran. The writing style is very entertaining, with most of it about the case, but a lot of interruptions pertaining to Mrs Halifax's girls and what Moran wants to do with them.

Sebastian Moran is fully built up characterwise, and the kind of guy that you might want to be friends with if you like people loud, strong opinioned and a little mad. It's also good to see his character and his attitudes to things develop with exposure to Moriarty.

Professor James Moriarty. Painted very well, much more elaborately than Conan Doyle ever did. His attitudes are strange and roundabout, and you can't always understand him. I really like what Newman has done-given him two brothers also called James. The Moriarty family are all as eccentric as eachother, but the Professor was my favourite of the three.

He's not my favourite character in the whole thing though. That goes to Sophy, a Greek woman who joins Moriarty's family of crime and is a really good actress. Close second is Irene Adler, who has remained as an opera singer, albeit one that caused a man to kill himself after her performance. In addition to these two women,  there's a large cast of criminals and clients making up the supporting cast. Interestingly, Watson is quoted a couple of times as Moran gives his uncomplimentary view on the same event, and Sherlock is reduced to being only "The Thin Man".

Overall:  Strength 5 tea to a book taking many things I love and throwing them together.

 Links: Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review- I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

Title:I Hunt Killers
Author: Barry Lyga

Series:  Jasper Dent #1

Published:  12 April 2012 by Bantam Books

Length: 361 pages

Warnings: violence, rape (off-page) 14+

Source:  Publisher

Other info: Barry has also written things like The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl

Summary : You’re seventeen and your father is the most notorious serial killer America has ever produced. He brought you up. Taught you everything he knows. Everyone in your ordinary American town knows who you are. So even though Dear Old Dad is safely behind bars, when the killing starts all over again, you are the first person the police come to see. They don’t know whether it’s nature or nurture. And neither do you.

Review: Japer “Jazz” Dent. Seventeen. Has heamophilac best friend. Has African-American girlfriend. Has serial killer father Billy Dent has kills numbering in the hundreds. So when bodies start turning up, he’s the first person they turn to in suspicion. Determined not to end up like his father, Jazz does everything he can to help the police. And as The Impressionist claims more victims, killing them in the style of Billy Dent, Jazz is fully aware of the fact there’s only one reason why he’s so good at this-he has the mind of a serial killer himself.

I first found out about this book a little while ago, and from reading the first line of the summary, I knew I had to read it. Proper serial killers, the realistic kind, are pretty much never seen in YA today, so seeing it from a son’s perspective is original, interesting, and definitely drawing me in.

Jasper is a very fleshed out character. Even though I Hunt Killers is written in the third person, it was so easy to be pulled into his mind, his train of thought, and his conflicts. Which are huge. I like the way he keeps thinking back to his childhood, and the way he has no idea who he’s cutting in this dream.

Plotline development was great. There’s turns in all kinds of aspects to the story/ there are developments in the murder plotline, regarding Jasper’s grandmother, Jasper’s stability/ability to not go murdering everyone, even Jasper’s love life. Each got an appropriate amount of coverage, adding (mostly) unpredictability to the story, and further building Jasper’s character.

For once, the romance actually adds something, even though it’s not the kind of book you’d typically associate with romance. It isn’t your girly romance at all-more like a little bit of normality to remind us that Jazz is just a  teenage boy. We are often reminded about the fact that while he’d like to have sex with Connie, he’s scared. Just in case he snaps and kills her. Definitely not typical, but good in context.

The murder plotline is a case of rather picky copycat murders taking Billy’s victims, and replicating them carefully in some aspects but not others-the same hair colours and initials, but only loosely similar jobs. While good, it was rather predictable. My prediction made semi-near the start was right. Someone’s introduced in that random way that marks them as being either the perpetrator or somehow otherwise involved in this whole mess. Also, it’s rather coincidental (read conveniently placed by author) that all these hair colours/initials/jobs/locations match. In the course of things, this hardly matters.

The writing was great. It wasn’t complex, but it was detailed and I could imagine everything happening now, despite it being written in the past tense. Throughout I was gripped and did not want to stop reading.

The ending. Too vague to be a definite cliff-hanger, too vague to indicate a sequel of any kind. There’s a number of directions it could go from that ending point. I really hope that Barry Lyga writes a follow up, but if he doesn’t, I won’t mind-I’ve made up many alternate endings in my head.

Overall:  Strength 5 to an original, gripping novel on a topic that I’d like to see more of.

Links: Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review- All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

Title: All These Things I’ve Done

 Author: Gabrielle Zevin

Series:  Birthright #1

Published: 29 March 2012 by Pan Macmillan

Length: 252 pages

Warnings: violence, sex references 13+

Source: Publisher for review

Other info: Birthright is going to be a trilogy. Book two will be called Because It Is My Blood. Gabrielle has also written things like Elsewhere, Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac and The Whole We’re In.

Summary : Sixteen year-old Anya becomes the head of a mafia family after her parents are both murdered by rival gangs. Although Anya is embrolied in the criminal world, she is determined to keep her brother and sister out of the mafia family, but her father's relatives aren't so keen to let them go. When Anya's violent ex-boyfriend is poisoned with contaminated chocolate – chocolate that is produced illegally by Anya's mafia family – she is arrested for attempted murder and sent to the notorious jail on Manhattan Island.
 Eventually she is freed by the new D.A. in town, who believes she has been framed. But this D.A. is the father of Win, a boy at school to whom Anya feels irresistibly drawn, and her freedom comes with conditions. Win's father wants to be mayor, and he can't risk having his ambition jeopardised by rumours spreading that his son is seeing a member of a notorious crime family. Anya knows she risks the safety of her family by seeing Win again, but the feeling between them may be too strong to resist...

Review: To start with, this isn’t a dystopian like how I thought it would be. Well, it kind of is. Coffee and chocolate are banned outright, and other things that we take for granted, like water and paper, are restricted. From that, you’d expect a hugely totalitarian society-right? At least I did. It isn’t. It’s more of a  coming of age, dealing with responsibilities, falling in love story intertwined with the Mafia, set in the future and with  a little dystopian society thrown in.

Anya is the daughter of a criminal mastermind, orphaned and left with a family to take care of. Sure, her grandmother is still alive, and she has an older brother, but when she’s dependent on machines and he’s brain damaged after being in the car accident that killed their mum, it’s up to her to look after them, her younger sister Natty and herself. And then she’s suspected of attempting to kill her borderline abusive boyfriend. On her release, Charles Delacroix, the District Attorney, says that Anya can stay away from his son or have her family torn apart. Said son is Win, the boy who Anya’s started falling in love with.

Yes, this did turn out to be a bit more love orientated than I thought, but I still enjoyed it throughout. We are easily pulled into future New York,  and can easily understand the laws of the land and generally what happens.

It’s interesting having a religious main character. In most books, religion isn’t the focus, but it’s a big part of Anya. It’s interesting how this shapes her views on sex, her feelings for Win, everything she does and so on. It also adds a little bit more to her character, especially her reasoning for why she’s Catholic. 

The characterisation is excellent. Everyone from Anya to Leo to Imogen to Yujji to Dr Lau-no matter how relatively small their part is, you still get an idea of their character. Leo is really cute, and I feel kind of sorry for how anya’s being so overprotective of him, even though I understand where she’s coming from. Natty is very mature for her twelve years, maybe trying to make up for Leo? (it is fully explained later on in the book though). Win, I can’t say is particularly my kind of boy. He is an interesting character though, and I can see why Anya fell for him. Though to be honest, anything’s better than Gable. The family and other minor characters are good, but you have to be awake to keep track of the family.

I like the fact that it isn’t totally love-y, coming of age-y and all that. I did enjoy those parts, but I’m glad that it had some subplots like Natty’s future, Leo’s current and future, and their family in the criminal world. Oh, and the whole arrested for murder and chocolate is a big thing too. 

Anya is  a very strong character. She has a lot of responsibility on her shoulders, and she manages to keep up with it well. I’m not sure if I liked her feeling quite so strongly about Win. It didn’t seem to fit totally with the rest of the persona. Aside from that, I loved her. She definitely develops throughout, and by the end, she’s able to relax a bit more, delegate responsibility for her family and make her own way in the world.

Overall:  Strength 4 to an intriguing book with a really strong main character. Definitely want to read book 2.

Links: Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review- Montmorency: Thief Liar Gentleman by Elanor Updale

Title: Montmorecy: Thief, Liar, Gentleman?

 Author: Elanor Updale

Series:  Montmorency #1

Published:  10 May 2006 by Scholastic

Length:240 pages

Source:Library

Other info: There’s three more in this series.

Summary :Montmorency is a thief leading a double life – a distinguished gentleman and his servant.

Review: Montmorency begins a thief. He's in prison after a long run of not being caught, and then only got caught because he fell off a roof, or something like that. And then it's time for his release. Determined he wants a better life, he decides he's going to be a proper gentleman. But he can't do that without money. To get around this, he creates two personalities: the gentleman Montmorency and his servant Scarper. This is the story of his double life and the dangers he faces.

The plot was interesting, but not the most memorable. It progresses through various parts of Victorian London, going from prison, to the back alleyways, to the posh end of town and back.

I liked the way Montmorency thinks, his logic behind it all. The way he kept on top of everything was my favourite thing about the book.

It's a different take on the Victorian era, for me anyway. Unlike what I tend to read, this book makes no mention of anything paranormal or futuristic. This is simply a well researched tour of Victorian London, both the posh front and the underworld.

The characters were easy to distinguish, but, like the plot, not the most memorable. But they do stick with you somewhat, such as Cissie,  who is most likely the most annoying character I have ever met in a book.

Overall:  I give this strength 3 tea to a book that was good, but not amazing. Recommended for younger readers.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |