The Book Boy by Joanna Trollope

The Book Boy
Joanna Trollope
2006, Bloomsbury Publishing, London
0747582114
94p.

Quick read about Alice, a housewife who cannot read and the teenage rebel who guessed her secret.

This was a very simple book with simple language, and I didn't really find the characters all that believable - they were two-dimensional.

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A Child's Book of True Crime by Chloe Hooper

A Child's Book of True Crime
Chloe Hooper
2002, Random House, Milsons Point
1740512081
238p.

Kate is a teacher in a small school who is having an affair with the father of one of her students. The man's wife is the author of a true crime novel about a local murder of an adulteress and Kate begins to confuse this story with her own life.

I didn't enjoy this book. I think the main problem was that I couldn't identify with the narrator at all, her motivations were mysterious and inexplicable. She is too juevenile, too melodramatic, and she doesn't learn anything despite being given the opportunity. I'm not sure what the author was trying to achieve with her character.

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The Tinder Box by Minette Walters

The Tinder Box
Minette Walters
1999, 2006, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest
1741148324
145p.

Siobhan's Irish neighbour Patrick is accused of a terrible crime in which two elderly women were beaten to death. She doesn't believe he did it, so looks into the crime seeking the truth.

Disjointed, hard to follow and clumsy writing style. Lucky this book was short (more a novella really) or else I never would have bothered to finish it. I put it down about ten minutes ago and have just about forgotten it already. Not sure how it got to be a best-seller ... I think this is the Bridges of Madison County of mysteries.

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True Lies by Dewey Gram and Duane Dell'amico

True Lies
Dewey Gram and Duane Dell'amico
1994, Signet, London
0451182650
236p.

Book based on the movie in which Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a special agent who has kept his life as a spy secret from his wife for fifteen years. A terrorist organisation obtains nuclear weapons and threaten to detonate Miami.

This had a lot more detail in it than the movie did, but in fleshing out the story, the wit and dry humour that made the movie great has been lost. Also, I didn't like the characters in the book - Harry was just an ass, but I think that is a reflection on the authors more than anything. The book was teeming with prejudice, it got rather tired rather quickly ... I think this was written by sociopaths with little respect for human life. Plus they obviously hate dogs.

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