My Review (5 stars out of 5) Writer and critic Geoff Dyer serves up a scene-by-scene analysis of the classic war movie, ‘Where Eagles Dare’ highlighting his favourite scenes as well as commenting on some of the actors’ proclivities – such as Richard Burton’s drinking, and Clint Eastwood’s stock-in-trade expressions. ‘Where Eagles Dare’ is one…
Author: colingarrow
‘The Spy Across the Water’ by James Naughtie
My Review (4 stars out of 5) The Spy Across the Water is book three in a series of spy stories, and the first I’ve read by this author. The book opens with a funeral, and we soon learn that the dead man is Ambassador Will Flemyng’s brother. Flemyng’s usual working life in the Washington…
‘The Skeleton Road’ by Val McDermid
My Review (5 stars out of 5) The discovery of a skeleton on the roof of a gothic building in Edinburgh gives Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie a difficult starting point. The task of identifying the bones, which have lain there for several years, means the lack of evidence leaves the team little to go…
‘Friends in Need’ by Joy Mutter
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Taxi driver Andrew Southgate has no problems bedding women. Short of cash, he’s not short of happiness. Until, that is, he starts lusting after Viviana – wife of his best pal, Mike. While Mike often helps Andrew financially, he begins to suspect there may be something going on…
‘The Red Riding Hood’ by G Lawrence
My Review (4 stars out of 5) The classic story of the girl in the red hood gets a makeover in this tale of woodcutters, wolves, witches, fae folk and magic. Following the great shaking of the Earth, a multitude of characters gather in a quest to find the Chosen One and stop the red…
‘The Good Wife’ by Gemma Rogers
My Review (4 stars out of 5) Young wife Chloe is caught in an unhappy marriage with a husband who controls her every move. Forced to wear the clothes he chooses, limit her food intake to only ten mouthfuls at a time, and have all her movements tracked, she begins to feel she might never…
‘Mr Mercedes’ by Stephen King
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Recently retired detective Bill Hodges is tormented by ‘the Mercedes massacre’, a case he couldn’t solve. Now, a letter from the killer gets him thinking. Maybe there’s away he can hunt this guy down himself and bring the perp to justice. But his retired stance means he could…
‘A Woman of No Importance’ by Sonia Purnell
My Review (5 stars out of 5) In September 1941, a young American woman posing as a journalist arrived in Vichy, France. Her task was to work with the French resistance to sabotage, upset, and divert the Nazi invaders. By 1942 the Gestapo were hot on her heels, but Virginia Hall continued to slip through…
‘The War of the Worlds’ by HG Wells
My Review (5 stars out of 5) When an army of invading Martians lands in England, the population are thrown into panic. As huge three-legged machines trample across the countryside destroying everything in their path with a deadly heat ray, the people of Earth must come to terms with the possibility that humanity is to…
‘London Tales’ by Tim Walker
My Review (4 stars out of 5) This is another collection of stories from Tim Walker, with eleven tales taken from various points along London’s timeline. Subjects range from legendary Iceni queen, Boudica (seen from the point of view of the Romans), to more modern stories set in the twentieth century, such as a tale…
Colin Garrow 