Crikey, haven’t been here in a while I’m ashamed to say.

So, it’s time for a bit of a catch up as far as books are concerned. With less than 3 months to go, I’ve written about 18 books on here so still 12 to go to reach the magical number of thirty which I hoped to have read by the end of 2009.

That’s pretty much a book a week which although it isn’t an unattainable target, it’s unlikely - especially with the things which are coming in the weeks ahead…

A bit of a mouthful that title isn’t it?!

This was the first new book to hit the shelves following Michael Jackson’s death but it certainly won’t be the last.  It looks at his life in pretty broad strokes without really dwelling on any one period - this is both good and bad in that it really does cover his entire life but at the same time offers little new information for the reader.

I’ll be honest - I bought this book because W H Smith had it on offer for £2.99 and it would have been rude not to.

I didn’t have a clue what to expectas I’ve not read anything by Andy McNab before, and when the first few pages were a little glossary of terms which were going to be used in the book I almost thought about giving up before I had started.  A book full of unusual acronyms is a bit like a film with subtitles in my mind - a bit of a pain in the neck!

Again, this has me torn between praise and criticism.

You can’t fault Kate Atkinson’s ability to reveal a story in brilliant detail, the opening chapter which deals with a pretty brutal attack highlights this and is in fairly stark contrast with the vast majority of the rest of the book.

While I actually really enjoyed the novel, and found myself thinking “just one more chapter” far too late at night on more than one occassion, I couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed when I’d finished.  The narrative tends to ramble on a bit too much with Atkinson going to great lengths to describe not very much.  In fact at the end I found myself wondering how this story could have possibly been stretched out to a book of this size, as in all fairness not a lot happens!

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!

I love these Spook books, and wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone and everyone.  This latest instalment sees young Tom back with his original tutor, but with evil things afoot in his mother’s homeland we see the story mainly set outwith the County, and indeed the country,  which adds another dimension to the series.

Without dwelling too much on what actually happens, it’s nice to see how the relationships between the various recurring characters are developing, and to also learn a bit more about the background of Tom’s family.