I began this book with great anticipation as I adore all the other Wilkie Collins’ novels that I have read. However, I didn’t rate this one as highly as I have done the others – I still enjoyed it, but it didn’t have the suspense factor and excitement of his other books. To be honest, it reminded me of a Dickens’ book where you discover that all the main characters are somehow related to one another – this unrealism I can accept in Dickens’ books as they are so beautifully woven together and all the characters are so deep and well written, but I didn’t feel the same acceptance with Collins’ Hide and Seek book.
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Loading ...Review supplied by Alix Wright
The picture of Dorian Grey is by far the most intelligent book I have ever read. Wilde’s victorian London is vivid and entrancing, seedy and sickening all at once. The characters have some of the most honest, achingly funny dialogue I have ever come across in any novel. Cant be beaten. A shame he only wrote one novel. I want more!
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...Review by Jack Henry Collings
Blood Fever has immense over your brain and I couldn’t put the book down until I had finished it. I am now looking out for the next book called Double Or Die by the same person, Charlie Higson. However back to the point these books have increased my knowledge by around half and it has certainly improved my English and definitely my spelling.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Review supplied by Mel Lovegrove.
Superb book about this elderly lady who has three grown up children who she does not really get on with. She knows she is at the end of her life and is choosing to please herself at last instead of pleasing her family. It is a lovely book full of little touches and brilliant description of characters. It left me thinking about life and families that we do not choose and about friends that you do choose! Sometimes friendships can be formed in most unexpected ways.
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5) Loading ...Review supplied by Marian Corbett.
An impending short visit to Belfast sparked my interest in re-reading the novels of local author Brian Moore. I first stumbled across his book The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne some years ago and was profoundly moved by it. That a man could so far enter into the mind of a lonely spinster and describe with such compassion her thoughts, feelings and experiences was amazing to me. Reading it a second time was only slightly marred by the fact I’d meantime seen the film version with Maggie Smith and Bob Hoskins whose characterisations - though skillful - tended to intrude on my own imaginings. Brian Moore has a special interest in the religious, so the main theme of this novel is the heroine’s crisis of faith as she realises her hopes of marriage and fulfillment are gone, and her life of Catholic duty and self-sacrifice may go unrewarded.
Not a cheery read, but wonderfully sympathetic and thought-provoking.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Review supplied by Dan
This is a very good read, and very gripping. This is the first book of Patterson’s that I’d read (although not the first of the Alex Cross series) and I have already begun on another Patterson book.
Pop Goes the Weasel is the story of a serial killer, but is much more complex than that makes it sound. The reader is told at the beginning of the book who the serial killer is, so this makes it an interesting read. It is written in a very intriguing format as the chapters roughly alternate between Alex Cross and his investigations, (written in the first person), and other events that do not involve Alex and are written in the third person.
Highly recommended.
Tags: Book Reviews, James Patterson, Pop Goes the Weasel (1 votes, average: 4 out of 5) Loading ...This is the first book I’d read of Mary Stewart’s and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is an interesting story telling the attempts of the main character, Mary Grey, to impersonate Annabel Winslow (missing, presumed dead) in order to influence the Will of Grandfather Winslow and to alter who he leaves Winslow Farm to, (namely to Con Winslow - the man who comes up with the whole impersonation idea).
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(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5) Loading ...This looked a really interesting book. It is set in New York in 1909, around the time of Sigmund Freud, and also the time of the creation of several famous New York structures. The main character/investigator is one of Freud’s colleagues, called Stratham Younger. After one murder is committed and another attempted, which results in the victim losing her memory, Younger is called in to use his psychological training to bring back the victim’s memory so she can reveal details about her attacker.
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(1 votes, average: 3 out of 5) Loading ...This is quite an unusual book, and I really enjoyed it for that reason. It is a murder mystery set in Tudor times, so there is a gripping story yet also a fascinating history lesson. The murder mystery aspect was very good with lots of twists and turns, and plenty to keep the reader guessing. I found the historical aspect of the story really interesting though and vividly portrayed, due to the fact the characters felt very real and were living very believable lives, I found this brought this period in history more alive for me than any history book, and I was fascinated by Matthew Shardlake’s world.
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(1 votes, average: 3 out of 5) Loading ...This is my favourite book of all time, I have read it over and over and over again. It is the perfect mix of romance and humour, mistakes and misjudgements, witty characters, lovely old-fashioned gentility, secrets, families, friendships, and the life-choices people make. It is warm-hearted and funny and charming, and never fails to lift my spirits and take me to a better place. It is almost impossible to review this book as I love it so much – and therefore obviously impossible to review in a short and concise manner!
The book centres on the Bennet family, which consists of five daughters whose main consideration (the only real option open to women of that time) is marriage. Lizzy and Jane are the two eldest daughters, and the book focuses mainly on their losses and achievements in this field; namely Mr Bingley for Jane, and either Mr Wickham or Mr Darcy for Lizzy.
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(4 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...Classic Book Club
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Recent Entries
- Hide and Seek by Wilkie Collins
- The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
- Blood Fever by Charlie Higson
- The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
- The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore
- Pop Goes the Weasel by James Patterson
- The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart
- The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld
- Dissolution by C J Sansom
- Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
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