Unusual thriller (Cold Country, Hot Sun - Christopher Nicole)

Member Name: CPTDANIELS

Product:	Cold Country, Hot Sun - Christopher Nicole
Date:	06/07/09 (134 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quite funny with some engaging characters

Disadvantages: Weak story

Background:

I found this book when I was visiting the Library the other day. Initially I was again looking for a crime novel from a novelist I had not read before. Having read the brief resume of this book on the back cover, it sounded like the sort of book I would enjoy.


About the author:

Christopher Nicole was born in the West Indies in 1930. However he spent much of his early years in England where in 1961 he had his first novel published. Since then he has become a prolific writer with a total of 68 novels. In addition he has created varies series of books featuring Jessica Jones, Anna Fehrbach, Berkeley Townsend as his lead characters as well as writing under various pseudonyms. Cold Climate, Hot Sun was written in 2005.


Synopsis of the book:

David and Melissa Lytton have decided to give up 'the rat race' when he sells of his successful London restaurant. They buy a place and move to Spain, in search of a more sedate way of life. On their drive over they stop for a swim in a secluded spot while doing so their car and all their personal effects are stolen, leaving them stranded.

They are picked up by a kind man called Salvador who drives them to the Police station in Barcelona. Where he helps the couple explain to the Police what has happened to them. They manage to call Melissa's brother who sends them emergency money and starts to organise replacement documentation for them.

Once back at their home they start to meet their new neighbours. The car is returned by the Police as it was found but with a very valuable addition that the English couple are unaware of. A card with bank account numbers that two crime barons living in that region of Spain are very keen to get their hands on. As a result strange things start to happen to Melissa and David that they can't work out why it is all happening to them.


My thoughts on the book:

I must admit I was initially shocked that before reading this book that I had never heard of Christopher Nicole before as an author. After all his acclaimed novels he had already produced, I think it says a lot about my blinkered reading in the past. Always sticking to authors I knew, liked and felt comfortable with.

My overall opinion of this book was it was a good read. For me it was very mixed, initially I really liked it but found some parts in the middle dull and boring. I found it hard to motivate myself to continue reading at this point. However I was glad I did as the concluding chapters of the book improved dramatically and the ending of the book was full of suspense and quite exciting.

Let me start therefore at the beginning of the book. I found the story very interesting, the idea of this English couple stranded in Spain without any money or friends intriguing. Then to have it all returned plus this card that they knew nothing but with huge value attached to it very interesting.

At this point the author brought in several neighbours and these proved immediately to be very diverse in their characters and added to plot. By not only creating odd situations but by bringing a fair degree of humour into what was being said and also what was going on. As the couple knew nothing about these characters past only the reader was told little snippets about them.

However soon after this my interest in the book started to drop and it became more of a struggle to continue. I felt the novel was going no where as the seemingly great criminals seemed unable to penetrate the couple's home to retrieve this valuable card. I found this unbelievable and frustrating and even when the couple were out that these people could not even poison their dog to gain entry their home.

As a result it stopped being an enjoyable read as I found this scenario difficult to swallow. Luckily for me there was always enough quality in the author's writing to keep me going. But I did wonder why he incorporated some what I felt were unnecessary scenes that really didn't add to the plot at all and just made we wonder where the book was going.

I stuck with it and was glad I did as the ending of the novel was full of excitement and suspense as well as a little insanity as well. Not to mention some very funny situations and great lines that made me laugh as the unwitting couple brought together seemingly most of the criminals in the region for a meal. The consequences of which were always going to be at best interesting but more likely disastrous.

I suppose if I look at the book as a serious thriller I am disappointed. But if I look at it as a light hearted yarn then it is a better book. I always look for adventure thrillers that have great plots and lots of surprises. This one's plot was very limited but it did at least have some surprises to keep the reader amused.

On the character of the book I found the two stars Melissa and David to be quite dull. It continually frustrated me the way Melissa took the dog Frank everywhere. The only saving grace was it was quite interesting to see how he reacted to the situations they found themselves in, this was sometimes most amusing.

The other characters where for me far more interesting and made the book much better. There were so dangerously diverse from the eccentric Countess who was completely crazy to the Naturist Carrie who at every opportunity stripped off regardless of who was around. What they all shared was the excellent way they were described by the author and the fun they brought to the book.

My only criticism would be with the bad guys in the book. Was their level of intelligence, they seem to lack any plan or any ability to complete even the simplest crime. My perception of these people would be they are clever and cunning to have achieved success already but in this book they were more humorous than scary.

The books length was about right. Although it would have been interesting to know what happened not only to the English couple as they settled in Spain, but also the other main characters.

The chapters were all long, at about 20 pages each. I usually like short chapters but in this case it was not a problem as these were broken up into distinctive paragraphs which were short and well written.

My last thoughts were a couple of observations. The first was that I was very surprised that for a man who had written so many novels that he did not have a specialist web site. Secondly, when I have come to look at various web sites I am shocked that this book is only being sold as a Hardback, surely it would make more sense and sell more to produce a cheaper price paperback.


Conclusion:

I was glad I tried this book, but probably gladder when I had finished it. As a serious suspense thriller it was weak but as a light heated yarn it can be fun and enjoyable. For me the humour and the diversity of his characters were the best part of the novel.
I certainly am interested in trying another book by this author as I am very curious if this is typical of his style and eager to learn more about his work.


Pages: 218
Price: £17.09 (Hardback only)
Publisher: Severn House
ISBN: 0-7278-6302-9
About the author: www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/n/christopher-nicole


Thanks for reading this review.

This review was also published under my user name on Ciao


@CPTDANIELS July 2009

Summary: Average thriller