It is not a bad tale and the ending is quite clever. It might be worth trying another in this series sometime in the future.

Friday February 02, 2007

John Grisham - The Partner

One of the better books by this author I have read. It starts with the lawyer Patrick Lanigan dying in a car crash. The lawyer firm he worked for then finds $90 million has gone missing. Doubts then circle about wether Patrick is really dead.. He is then found and tortured so the wherabouts of the loot can be discovered. He finally lets out his girlfriend - who has now absconded herself from Brazil is the key to the loot. The FBI get involved and he is brought back to the US. He invites an old friend Sandy to hep defend him from what are multiple charges including the murder of someone else in his car crash. It looks a hopeless case. But Patrick has been planning this and he has lots of evidence to show the $90 million was all part of a defense pay off that his firm was involved with - salting away public money. His girlfriend is then found and soon his first step to freedom is taken as the charges regarding the $90 Million are settled. The divorce and subsequent suing of Patrick by his wife is also settled to his advantage. All that is left know is what could put him on death row. It is soon shown that the person who was in the car when it was torched is still alive and the charges are mitigated to body mutilation and after more settlements Patrick is free at last still with lots of money in his bank account to enjoy the rest of his life. He arranges to meet his girlfriend to resume their life together ...but... It is also an interesting spin on the story how he became to be found in the first place...

Friday January 19, 2007

The Last road race - Richard Williams

I got this book as one of my Christmas presents from Santa this year. It is a brilliant book on the 1957 Pescara Grand Prix race. The track is a triangle shaped course on the Adriatic coast and just under sixteen miles long. Williams starts the book with the drivers arriving at the track , not in jets/helicopters as they do now but in all sorts of transportation. The race would be another challenge between the Red cars of Italy and the Green of Britain - now challenging the domination of those cars with the likes of Vanwall, Cooper . It was also a conflict between Sterling Moss and Fangio with the former now being able to match the Argentian's pace on the track.

Williams then spends time discussing the place itself and then the two English drivers still alive who both drove at the race Moss and Brooks. In Moss's house are two steering wheels both damaged during dramatic crashes; first in 1960 at Spa the second which ended his career at Goodwood in 1962. He was now driving for Vanwall who although having a fast car had one that was slightly fragile at certain tracks. Brook's house was adorned with racing pictures one taken at Spa where he won for Vanwall in 1958. The book then covers two the sets of cars the Reds and the Greens. For this race only one Ferrari was entered and this was a privateer as Enzo Ferrari was refusing to take part due to the pressure of the attacks on him and his team due to the number of his drivers who had been killed that year. He was even considering withdrawing from the sport for ever. Fangio was in a Masarati there were works and private entries with those cars. The Green cars were reaching their ascendancy, they were challenging the dominance of Italy at last. Vanwall led the charge funded by a rich industrialist Tony Vandervell who eventually withdrew from racing when the body count got to high for him. Alongside them but behind them on the grid where the Cooper cars built in a two story garage in Surbiton - the cars were light but lacked the power of the other cars but were still getting points paying places at Grand Prix races.

So the scene is set and the practice starts. The Ferrari claims pole with Moss, Fangio behind it. Musso in the Ferrari initially leads the race but the partisan crowd is soon disapointed when Moss takes the lead and wins the race. By lunchtime the straw bales are being moved out of the way to re-open the roads to normal traffic and the asphalt that carried Moss and his peers at breathtaking speeds of 190Mph plus are now the home of more sedate traffic. Tony Brooks says that unlike modern races where everyone leaves as soon as the race was over then drivers and others met for dinner and talked - he blames the lack of meeting and communication between drivers that causes the problems we see in modern day Formula One.

At the end Williams takes us through the drivers of that race and many lost their lives in cars. Moss was never to win a championship loosing out this year by one point. A final quote from Williams on the drivers of that era They were no angels, most of them , but they lived by a set of values that included honour, patriotism and an acceptance of mortal risk. Even the most famous of them was not overwhelmed by their celebrity. They kept a sense of proportion that allowed them to maintain normal relationships with the rest of humanity . Great book.

Wednesday January 10, 2007

The Brethren

My latest read from the John Grisham collection. It features three judges who are in prison who run a private court in the prison to sort out issues between prisoners. But this threesome have a sinister business venture which they keep to themselves and their lawyer Trevor who acts as a courier shipping letters in and out of the prison. The scam is placing adverts in magazines and using two names Ricky and Percy get gay folks to write to these two non existent people compromising themselves for blackmail later on. Trevor gets a cut of the takings but is dangerously unreliable due to being an alchoholic. The team snare Lake who ends up being a paid Presidential candidate his bankroll coming from the CIA. When they find out what is going on they act to disband our threesomes little scam. It is quite an entertaining book and a good read. It sort of reads like a Tom Clancy book in its style but with a legal storyline not military of course.

Thursday January 04, 2007

John Grisham - The Client

The second book of John Grishams I have now read and it reminded me of the film with Harrison Ford in it called Witness. This book has also been filmed with Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon. The book starts with a suicide of a lawyer witnessed by two young boys. Jerome Clifford acted for Barry the Blade a Mafia member who has murdered a US Senator Boyd Boyette who was campaigning against one of the Mafia's projects. The FBI can't find the body of Boyd so are missing the final bit of evidence against Barry the blade. The lawyer Jerome knows where the body is and this conspires to have him decide to kill himself. Two boys the eldest Mark and his young sibling are in the woods for Ricky's first cigarette and this leads them to witness and be part of the action leading to the suicide of Jerome.

The police eventually find out Mark and his brother were there and then suspect him of now knowing the vital piece of information. Enter Reggie played by Susan Sarandon picked by Mark at random to help him out of this deadly tug of war. Meanwhile his brother is suffering post traumatic stress in hospital with his mother. Grisham weaves an intricate story and the description of an assault on Mark in an elevator is excellent. However the best comes when Mark is in a juvenile court where the FBI are trying to get him to spill the beans. The judge Harry is really a brilliant masterpiece character. The idea of him putting the FBI upstarts into place with a line your position, Mr Fink is in that chair right there. Please sit and listen to me very carefully, because I will say this only once. And if I have to say it again, I will do so as they are putting handcuffs on you and taking you away for a night in our splendid jail. The description Mark gives of one evening of terrible abuse by his estranged father is also gripping.

Earlier in the book while being left a telephone in the youth detention prison Mark orders four hundred dollars worth of pizzas for one person in the police but this is never commented on and we do not hear of it again. The story reaches an excellent climax but the tough eleven year old child shows that he is still a child despite his grown up behaviour in this story right at the end. Worth a read. BTW who did Tommy Lee Jones play in the film?

Tuesday December 19, 2006

Raise the Red Lantern

Lewis lent me this book. It is written by a Su Tong and in fact has three stories in the book. The title story is about a woman Lotus who becomes the fourth Concubine for a Chinese chap called Chen Zuoqian. As you would expect there is a certain amount of friction created as she enters the house. Near the end where the story reaches a dramatic conclusion there is an excellent sentence where Lotus reflects that women are strange; a woman can understand other people perfectly, but can never completely understand herself. The Third mistress Coral dies in the book and another great line in the story is The fox mourns the death of the hare. Creatures of the same kind grieve for one another, thats all .

The second story is called Nineteen Thirty four escapes. The narrator is discussing their families history in 1934. It seems to me to be a mixture of fact and fantasy and there are several prominent relations who feature in this story. The location is a place called Maple Village and the Grandfather is one of the main people in the story. His name is Chen Baonian - he owns a shop that sells things made out of bamboo I think. The narrator's father is currently inside the womb of their grandmother that is someone called Grandmother Jiang. A uncle called Dingo is also introduced to ourselves who collects dog manure in order to save money for a pair of rubber overshoes for the winter. The money is collected in a wooden box. The box is lost and Dingo suspects his relations of stealing it but after a flood the box reappears having been moved by a family of mice. Very strange. At the end of this strange story Chen Baonian dies after being soaked with water on a freezing night. One of the people who alledgedly did the deed ends up inheriting the shop.

The final story is called Opium family which I did not read. I found the first two heavy going and although I enjoyed them I decided to give the last one a miss.

There is an interesting note at the beginning of the book by the translator Michael S. Duke. He says a salient characteristic of Su Tong's writing is the use of very long multiple sentences marked with commas. This is to be expected of Modern Chinese writing. The first book was originally called Wives and Concubines, but was later changed. There was also a film made in 1992.

Wednesday December 06, 2006

Poirot Investigates...

Another book of short stories featuring the egg shaped head and dapper Poirot. The stories are told by his friend Hastings. Most have been televised into one hour shows and extended to make the story fit the time alloted. My favourites from the book...

The Million Dollar Bond Robbery, where a bank send a load of Bonds off to America with a guardian from that bank only to find they are stolen from the vault they were placed in. Poirot suspects a setup as it appears the guardian must be the person who stole them but this is not so. In the TV show his guilt is enhanced as he was a gambler with a big dept..

The kidnapped Prime Minster. Before World War Two breaks out it is essential the the British PM speaks at a conference. On his travels he has a pot shot aimed at him then on his way abroad he appears to be kidnapped. The TV show is brilliant here. The Government officials re clamouring for Poirot to do something but he stolidly sits down and thinks his way to the solution on where the PM has got too.

The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim. another great story improved by its adaption on TV. Mr Davenheim goes missing and his safe in his house has been ransacked. Poirot keeps focus on the case and soon shows that Mr Davenheim is not all he seems...

The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman. In he TV show the interview with the chef in the serviced apartments where the victim lies dead is taken straight out of the book. Also in the TV show Hastings is buying a new car which ends up in a car chase and is pretty much written off afterwards much to his disgust. Miss Lemon Poirot's assistant also happens to have fallen in love with the person who commited the murder - adding to the complications..

So all in all some great short stories to read before bed.

Friday December 01, 2006

A Painted House - my first read of a John Grisham book

So delving into my wife's collection of literature the next author she suggested was John Grisham . This book is unlike his others which feature stories relating to lawyers/legal folks I have been told. The story is dated in 1952 in Arkansas on a cotton farm. The narrator is a young boy Luke Chandler who is seven years old. He lives in the farmhouse with his parents and grandparents Pappy and Gran. His uncle Ricky is in Korea fighting the war over there. At this time of the year September Pappy is on the lookout for Hill People/Mexicans to help bring the harvest of cotton in but the family include Luke are also expected to do their bit too. Luke himself is crazy about Baseball and has every intention of playing for his favourite team the Cardinals whos games they listen to on the radio in the evening. Too much more detail about the story would ruin it for potential readers but Pappy gets his helpers both Hill People/Mexicans and there is some unfortunate problems with individuals from both camps that means Luke grows up a lot faster than he would have done by exposure to murder, violence and a baby born illegitimately at another farm not far from his own. The story is enchanting the details and humor in it are excellent and I had trouble putting it down.

Tuesday November 28, 2006

A new/old Henning Mankell book

The man who smiled has just been published but in fact is an older book in terms of Inspectors Wallender's history compared to others that have been available for ages. The deaths of two lawyers one an accident, the second clearly murder are puzzling the police these two are father and son. Wallender is currently on extended sick leave as a result of depression having shot a criminal in a previous book. Before the second person is murdered the victim visits Wallender and pleads with him to investigate his fathers death. Guilt felt by Wallender for not having followed that up which results in the son's death is what sends him back to work again. It is soon clear to Wallender who is guilty of the crimes and also of two attempted murders that take place soon after. He has to work hard to get permision from his chief and the Swedish equivalent of the Crown Prosecution service to allow him to investigate this high flying businessman. The book is good up to this point but there is a slightly farcical ending where Wallender tries and succeeds in stopping this businessman leaving Sweden for good and out of reach of the Swedish law. A good holiday book to read though.

Wednesday November 22, 2006

Safely to the Grave - Margaret Yorke

In my efforts to find new authors to read I am trying some of my wife's books. This time it is Margaret Yorke. The book has a rather nasty person called Mick Harvey who likes to frighten people. As he gets older the acts he does become more extreme and after a tustle with another car where he inflicts a bit of road rage things get very nasty indeed. A complaint is made against him and he decides to get his own back on the occupants of the other car. The book is quite good in that it has lots of other details about all charecters in the book , their backgrounds and so on. I think it needs this because the raw hate this guy reveals in the book would be too much to bear on its own.

Mick has a wife and two kids and her life is made a misery thanks to him but he is fond of his kids especially Cliffie his son. The book is convincing - the sad bit about it is out there in the world are many folks who act like Mick which is very depressing. The only thing I would say is it would be really interesting to know more about how he turned into someone like this that is perhaps the difference between Margaret Yorke and Barbara Vine the latter would expose more of the physiological background to why this person became a bad lot. Not a bad read though.

Friday November 03, 2006

A Dark Adapted Eye - Barbara Vine

This book is one of many written by Ruth Rendell but writing as Barbara Vine. I think books written by her under this name are often much darker and sinister. This one is the most famous of hers I think. It was televised and featured Helena Bonham Carter as Faith the person who narrates this book. Celia Imrie plays Vera and Sophie Ward Eden. The latter two characters are sisters who at the start of the book share a house together. Vera is married and has a son her husband is away on duty - in the Second World war. Faith is sent to visit her aunts to protect her from the bombs falling in the blitz and she soon discovers her aunts are two perfect snobs. The story does go back and forth bringing you up to date offering you the fact that Vera was hanged for murder - initially we do not know who she killed. It would be a pity to say much more as you might read this book and I would recommend you do so as it is a gripping tale. There is no doubt that Vera did the evil deed but her motivation for doing so and the truth behind that are left for you to decide at the end of the book.

Tuesday October 31, 2006

Wild Swans - Three daughters of China

This is an excellent book written by a Chinese woman about herself, mother and grandmothers life in China. For me the early part of ther story is the most interesting her Grandmother being one of the last in her generation to have the bound feet to make them small or like "three inch golden lilies". This was a very painful business and left her with walking difficulties for the rest of her life. Initially her father sent her off to be a concubine to a warlord a General Xue Zhi-heng. Her only daughter fathered by him was the authors daughter. Her grandmother was freed after his death and married and odd looking doctor a Dr Xia. The civil war is discusssed and how the Kuomintang were gradually routed with the communists taking over China bit by bit. The communists after the war soon restored order, food water and other essential things which clearly impressed the population. The communists were careful who they let into their party the authors mother who had had connections with the Kuomintang which tainted her initially - and later caused her problems in the Cultural revolution.

The book then traces Chinese history and how her parents gradually worked their way up the grade system - her father eventually having a very important position. The "Great leap forward" etc is the first of Chairman Mao's mad ideas "make steel". This meant people were prevented from producing food and famine soon resulted. Mao made sure he was not to blame for the suffering ; thirty million are said to have died. Children were killed and sold as meat. Mao dropped out of the limelight only to inflict worse suffering on China with the Cultural revolution later on.

This dark period in the countries history started with the Red Guards who were children and students who took to the streets and terrorised the population. Teachers were tortured and Mao's Little Red book was published. Many old guard officials were thrown out but kept under surveliance to inflict further shaming on them when convenient. Grass and flowers are removed, "Destroy the world so a new one could be born". Books, artifacts and treasures were all destroyed. This time the authors family are affected with both her parents under survilance and locked up at certain times. Hoards of students are encouraged to go to Peking to meet Mao. There was a feeble attrempt to stand up to Mao by his fellow Poliburo members - called the February adverse current.

People were categorized into reds blacks and greys. Many old scores were settled; in the author's parents case their old enemies the Ting family rose to power under the revolution. Her father was typical of many officials not wanting to blame the party for the events. Once her fathers head was attacked and one side of his head shaved in typical fashion. The family cut the other half off an he said I won't have to worry about my hair being pulled next time I am at a denunciation meeting.

Later on city dwellers were expelled to the countryside to be reformed or put into hard labour if they were class enemies. Fifteen million moved out. The author then found out what is was like in the countryside when the famine had occured. Her family had been well insulated from it being party officials and living in the city. At this point many families were separated and not allowed to see each other. Eventually though Mao then had to rehabilitate his old officials to keep his power base alive. Deng Xiaoping for instance. Meanwhile while things are getting back to normal Mme Mao and her chums are still trying to put a spanner in the works with slogans like To stop production is revolution itself and we would rather have socialist weeds than capitalist crops.

At this point the author then goes to university and learns English. She sees a copy of Newsweek and finally like many other Chinese challenge her feelings for Mao.

Her father dies and her mother then fights hard for an official pardon for him and finally gets him rehabilitated. Mao dies and the gang of four which included his wife are arrested and gradually the country recovers. The Author has opportunity to visit the UK. She was the first Chinese person to recieve a doctorate from a UK university.

I read most of this while working in Milan. I finished the book while waiting for my plane to take off. Opposite us was a China Airways plane. What sort of China are they going back to I wondered? One of the authors final comment was her unbelief at the events of Tiananmen square. Ordered by the man - Deng they all looked up as a liberator. A very good book. Since writing this she has written another book on Mao himself. She now lives in the UK most of her siblings also reside in the West.