The Riddle of the Sands - Erskine Childers

No blood, no deaths, no sex - what kind of thriller do you call that? Well a damn good one in truth. This book has the tension and compulsiveness very few thriller writers achieve. The tension is cumulative and relentless and all created out of the detail of time and tide, of subterfuge and excellent characterisation. This is not your average spy novel and this is unsurprising coming as it does from not the average author. A spy himself, Childers knew a thing or two about adrenaline and this is the secret of the books success. The ending would be unsuccessful were its historical context not the World Wars to come, which render it a prophetic statement. What's more at ...  Read the complete review

The golden age of the British thriller lasted from the turn of the century (the 19th) to the outbreak of the WWII. It centred around three writers, all with similar outlooks and styles - John Buchan, Sapper and Dornford Yates. First and foremost they were colonialist writers, and their books reflected imperial Britain in virtually every sentence. Only John Buchan, whose work has dated the least, is still widely read. However, the other survivor from the period is the Anglo-Irish writer Erskine Childers, a man with a very different background, who only wrote one novel - The Riddle of the Sands. Childers produce an instant classic at his first attempt, then went away ...  Read the complete review

Took me a while to get into this I must admit, I?d just finished American Psycho and The Crow Road was a bit more mellow, to say the least. Once I got about thirty pages in though I started to really enjoy it. The main character and narrator is Prentice McHoan, part of a well off, yet down to earth if a touch eccentric family. The book is largely centred around the family and their (very) different personalities. I can?t help thinking that this is semi autobiographical of Iain Banks. His grasp of family life and deep love of Scotland?s beauty are evident throughout. Whilst having very little knowledge of Scotland myself, the writers warmth to his subject win you over. ...  Read the complete review

“It was the day my Grandmother exploded.” If that doesn’t hook you as the first line to a novel I don’t know what will. The Crow Road is one of my favourite Ian Banks books as its dark, almost black, comic overtones are mixed with a brilliant description of growing up with a very unusual family in Scotland. The narrator, Prentice, is one of those people who you just feel sorry for considering the rest of the family and you just want everything he wishes for to come true. I found myself absorbed by the story and it is one of those books you can’t put down. If you don’t get to read the book, don’t worry his Grandmother was ...  Read the complete review