Book Review: When the Sax Man Plays: Part 1 - Making It by Yvonne Marrs

When the Sax Man Plays, by Yvonne Marrs, is a story about a young music tutor, Jason Bottelli, who finds himself obliged to put together a band in order to compete in a talent contest. A group of very unlikely characters put themselves forward as candidates and as the band is assembled they surprise themselves to find out that they can perform surprisingly well together.

The strength of this book is its readability, written in a flowing style with always enough hinting as to what is to come ensuring that the reader quickly progresses through the book. There are episodic levels of suspense associated with the band going through the rounds which leads to a constant temptation to take a quick peek at the last page to see what will happen to the group.

Books to be Reviewed: The Seven Gifts That Came To Earth by John Mellor

Thanks to John Mellor for sending me a copy of his book, The Seven Gifts That Came To Earth, for reviewing. This is a story of a boy, charged by an Angel, to deliver seven gifts to earth, but first he must discover what they are.

"Seven precious gifts are bestowed on the Earth but not revealed. A young boy is charged with finding them."

"The singer emerged and his music raged across the land, a wild, swirling cloud of chords, laying waste like locusts to all that was soulless before it."

"I come not to bring peace, he said."

A review will soon follow here, until then readers can order a copy on John's website; The Seven Gifts.

Book Review: The Castle in the Forest by Norman Mailer

The Castle in the Forest is the final fictional work by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Norman Mailer. It is a semi-fictional history of Adolf Hitler's family and upbringing, narrated by a mysterious being who had the responsibility of influencing events to bring out the worst in the young Adolf to mold him into an instrument of evil.

The premise of the story is intriguing and the early chapters draw the reader into a fascinating, but sordid history of the Hitler family with a literary, but readable style which, together with the innate fascination of the subject, turn this into something of a page-turner in its early stages. However, at some hard-to-pinpoint stage the tale seems to lose its way, as if the author lost his train of thought, and it becomes a very different sort of book indeed, becoming more mysterious and allegorical but losing something of its readability for that; in fact it becomes less enjoyable.

Book Review: The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston & Mario Spezi

The Monster of Florence is the true story of Italy's most infamous serial killer; a killer who murdered fourteen young lovers and has never been caught due to a combination of lack of evidence and a great deal of police incompetence.

Both Douglas Preston & Mario Spezi, two reporters who covered the case through the years and became involved in the investigation, tell this story and it has all the characters that could be invented by a best-selling author; corrupt policemen, a mysterious killer, false suspects, interfering politicians and the mafia, however, in this case they are all real and readers must keep reminding themselves that this is a true story. The book also contains conflicting information to the official version as to the identity of  "The Monster" so from that perspective it is a controversial piece of work and is likely to stimulate further reading for those who will inevitably enjoy this account.

Book Review: The Book With No Name by Anonymous

The Book With No Name, by Anonymous, is a dark story about a town where mysterious murders occur regularly but are infrequently solved by the police. This is a tale of dastardly characters, black humour, extreme violence and a compelling mystery which will excite some readers and appall others.

This tale is full of cliched characters, hackneyed themes and obviously steals from many other books and movies but the author somehow manages to combine all of those into an extremely enthralling and amusing book. The Book With No Name starts as it means to continue, beginning with a massacre in a bar and then providing a litany of similar violence throughout but at the same time building an intriguing mystery from the start which makes the reader turn the pages at a ferocious pace which matches that of the rate at which characters are introduced and then killed off.

Books to be Reviewed: When the Sax Man Plays: Part 1 Making It by Yvonne Marrs

Thanks to Yvonne Marrs for sending me a copy of her book, When the Sax Man Plays, for reviewing. This is her debut novel and it follows the life of a young musician trying to make a name for himself.

"Jason Bottelli is a young and extraordinarily gifted saxophonist who takes up a post as Head of Music at London's Impervious College. By night he plays at a jazz club; by day he teaches and wows the students with his talent. It seems he can do nothing wrong.

But Jason comes up against a difficult challenge when he is commanded to mentor a band to win the Annual talent Contest, for his very capable protegees have been dissuaded from entering. Jason finds that he has his work cut out for him in more ways than one: with only four weeks to the qualifying rounds he has to put a band together, choose material and rehearse."

A review will soon appear here, but until then copies can be ordered here: When the Sax Man Plays: Part 1 - Making It.

Book Review: Mercury Falls by Robert Kroese

Mercury Falls, by Rob Kroese, is a comic novel about the approach of the Apocalypse and how preparations for it by the managements of heaven and hell become compromised by over-complicated bureaucracy and underhand deals.

This amusing story tells how a reporter, an indolent angel and a nerd end up having pivotal roles in the approaching Apocalypse, a world-ending deal that has been forged by heaven and hell after many thousands of years of legal wrangling. The writing here is extremely imaginative, with angels and demons resembling employees of large corporations and heaven and hell appearing like competing companies. Whilst the author creates humour from turning the divine into the banal and poking fun alternately at creationism and modern science, at times the humour is rather esoteric and this may prevent this novel from appealing to a wide range of readers.