All Reviews by Gilmartin
Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganymede
by Bradley Denton
Absolutely marvellous. An ingeniously silly plot involving aliens and Buddy Holly leads the reader deftly through a moving and touching coming-of-age tale about a boy dealing with his mother's insanity. Add to that a sly critique of post-1950s America, and you have a brilliant read.
The Cinema Murder
by E. Phillips Oppenheim
Apart from the most tenuous link, this has little to do with the cinema! What it does have is intrigue aplenty, great characters, glamorous settings and an unexpected twist.
Quite why E. Phillips Oppenheim is largely overlooked today is unclear. This is the third of his books I have read and they have all been superb.
Purcell
by John F. Runciman
Short and to the point, the author writes what he knows and avoids a lot of the idle speculation others read into the life of Purcell. Wittily written and very easy to read, this is let down a little by the fact that the musical examples are not reproduced in the e-text version.
Juggernaut
by Alice Campbell
Set in glamorous 1930s Cannes, this is a bit of a curiosity. A very nicely paced and plotted murder mystery, packed with intrigue and romance but which was plainly written by someone who thought she ought to be writing "for women"; the author writes extremely well, then occasionally seems to remember to put in a bit of fluffy detail about "marron crepe de chine" or "black chiffon with wide, flowing sleeves"!
Don't let these odd lapses put you off, however: the heroine has pluck (in addition to crepe de chine), the plot is fresh and interesting and the characters are well-developed, especially the psychopathic doctor...
by
I didn't enjoy this one nearly as much as the author's two other books on this site, largely because of the very straightforward narrative. It has his same easy-to-read style and excellent characterisation, but, for me, was just not quite as good as the plot, once revealed, affords no intrigue or diversion.
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I read this on the strength of having enjoyed Morrison's "The Ark".
Like that book, this is a well-written page-turner with charismatic characters you can care about and a believable (almost) science-fiction plot. The only problem with this book is that since it was written, the process described within it has become reality, a fact acknowledged by the author in his afterword. It doesn't detract too much from the enjoyment of the novel, though it does make the revelation a little bit of an anti-climax!
Hushed Up!
by William le Queux
I'm not clear why le Queux has been forgotten. This is the second of his novels I have read and have really enjoyed both.
This is a crime/mystery story which leaves loose ends everywhere, only tying them together at the last moment. All through the book, the reader is left wondering what is going on and why people are behaving so oddly. Add to this a romance, some international gem-thieves, disguises and murder and you have a gripping page-turner for those who like classic mysteries.
Blindsight
by Peter Watts
Not one for me. Might appeal more if you are a hardened Sci-Fi fan. I found this tough going.
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I enjoyed this a lot; travelling a lot over the bank-holiday weekend, this is light enough to be read in the airport but interesting enough to be engaging and to make me want to finish it when I returned home.
Intelligently written, well characterised and plotted, and with a plausible narrative, this is a book for those who enjoyed "The DaVinci Code" and its ilk.
Mademoiselle of Monte Carlo
by William le Queux
An exciting tale set in the glamorous demi-monde of Europe in the 1920s. Exceptionally well-plotted and characterised, the narrative is gripping to the end. Only the rather stilted dialogue writing lets it down.
The Gem Collector
by Pelham Grenville Wodehouse
Not by any means "Classic" Wodehouse but enjoyable and easy to read.
Beautiful Red
by M. Darusha Wehm
Not being a huge fan of modern science-fiction, I downloaded this out of curiosity and proceeded to read it in two sessions.
This is good. Very good.
Elegant and literate, with well-developed characters and ideas and some exceptionally interesting devices to make the reader see what the author sees, the (very) occasional lapse into sci-fi cliché - "anti-gravity chip", for example - are easily overlooked and make for a compelling read.
If, like me, you are an occasional sci-fi reader, this is essential. Hard-boiled fans will love it.
The Club of Queer Trades
by G.K. Chesterton
Fun, frivolous short-stories. Not great literature by any means, but exceptionally literate and easy to read with quirky plot-lines, good characters and threads linking the stories together. Most enjoyable and ideal for travelling with.
Brain Twister
by Gordon Randall Garrett
Science-fiction which also manages to be very funny is a rarity indeed. Exceptionally well-written and paced with the most brilliantly - and deliberately - stereotypical characters juxtaposed against charming eccentrics, this is a most enjoyable lightweight read.
The Beautiful and the Damned
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A marvellous book about some truly vile people!
I read somewhere that this book is based on the lives of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald: one must hope this was incorrect.
Anthony and Gloria are two of the most unpleasant characters in literature. This novel charts their demise in a surprisingly human way, taking no pleasure - as lesser authors might - at their downfall, painting a vivid picture of the last great boom period before the last great depression.
The Abandoned Room
by Wadsworth Camp
Lying somewhere between a mystery and a ghost-story, this is worth a look, though not in any way a great novel. I enjoyed it well enough, despite the author's rather ham-fisted handling of the supernatural elements of the narrative and his inconsistent approach to characters.
The Evil Shepherd
by E. Phillips Oppenheim
A tale of debauchery and crime-for-thrills amongst the English aristocracy, cocktails in hand! A quite brilliant novel which is rather better than the usual pulp mystery/detective fiction from this period, pre-empting some of the themes beloved of Brett Ellis Easton and J.G. Ballard.
Anna of the Five Towns
by Arnold Bennett
This book starts very slowly and takes a bit of time to get into. The character of Anna develops and grows and the reader grows to like her and feel for her in a very natural and unforced way.
The setting is a time, now gone forever, of the growth of the middle classes in industrial mid-England, the potteries of a mythical (though realistic) Derbyshire, a God-fearing people.
A romance, of sorts. Touching, sad and evocative.
Tokyo Zero
by Marc Horne
A curate's egg.
Bits of this book are really superb. The idea is excellent and the characters are potentially interesting. The writing, where it is good, is very good indeed. Unfortunately, it lacks cohesion and consistency which, ultimately, makes this a patchy read.
Number Seventeen
by Louis Tracy
Another brilliant mystery from Louis Tracy, featuring his Winter and Furneaux characters. As ever, Tracy's writing defines character precisely and builds a narrative full of energy and romance which keeps you guessing to the end.
The Strange Case of Mortimer Fenley
by Louis Tracy
Quite brilliant. Sharp and concisely-drawn characters drive a thrilling narrative set in a small English town in the early part of the last century. The interplay between the two eccentric and affable detectives who are the main force of the story is delightful.
The intelligent modern reader will overlook the occasional and dated ideas about race - which play such a small part in the narrative as to be insignificant - as being very much of their time.
Null-ABC
by H. Beam Piper
Interesting idea but confused plot and weak characters make this a dull read.
Dope
by Sax Rohmer
A most enjoyable "ripping yarn" of drug addiction amongst the upper-classes in London, marred somewhat by the most ludicrous racial stereotypes.
2 B R O 2 B
by Kurt Vonnegut
Wonderful.
Funny, though-provoking, prescient, concise.
Vonnegut manages in a few pages what most lesser authors never achieve in a lifetime of novels.
Hideaway Hospital Murders
by Robert Burton Robinson
I read the first in this series, "The Bicycle Shop Murder" and thought it was an OK read; not great, but not bad either and so downloaded this to see where the author took the characters.
What a mistake.
The bland main character of the first novel remains bland; his potentially interesting girlfriend becomes bland; and the plot is utterly ludicrous, owing not a little to the Aileen Wuornos story.
Dreadful. I didn't even finish this and will not be reading the rest in the series.
Bicycle Shop Murder
by Robert Burton Robinson
An entertaining enough read but the main character, Greg Tenorly, with whom one is supposed to empathise, struck me as somewhat bland which lessened my enjoyment of the well-plotted narrative.
Agent to the Stars
by John Scalzi
I really enjoyed this. It's fast, fun, very well-written and turns all the known sci-fi cliches about aliens on their heads.
The Machine Stops
by E.M. Forster
I downloaded this out of curiosity - having read a lot of Foster in the past - and was not disappointed, surprising though the piece is.
Completely avoiding the themes of class-difference and English societal hypocrisy which feature in his later works, this is a startlingly prescient short story written in Foster's characteristically tidy manner. The basic themes of the novel are exactly as would be expected - humanity, faith, morality - but the the narrative unlike anything else he wrote.
Set in some undated future, man has created a "machine for living" which gradually allows humans to withdraw from all but the most moderated society. Then the machine goes wrong...
An excellent read, whether you like Foster or Science-Fiction, neither or both!
The Doomsman
by Van Tassel Sutphen
As one of the first examples of the post-apocalyptic strand of science-fiction, this is an interesting read. The narrative is flawed and most of the characters under-developed but the prose is elegant and readable.
It is probably best read from the point of view of a reader contemporary to the work.
Republic
by Charles Sheehan-Miles
An excellent premise for a novel and one about which the author clearly is concerned.
Unfortunately, bad editing, clumsy prose and rather two-dimensional, clichéd characters make this a somewhat dull read.
The Penal Colony
by Richard Herley
A dystopian future in the best British traditions of Nigel Kneale, a kind of "Lord of the Flies" with adults, Mr Herley has a firm grasp of all that is wrong with Britain, the "litter-strewn mediocrity" that it has become and the increasing desperation of successive governments as they plunge into ever more drastic "solutions" to these problems.
Incredibly good writing. I will be reading the rest of his output immediately!
The Two Destinies
by Wilkie Collins
I am a huge fan of Wilkie Collins writing. This is one of his later works and while it is a very fine example of his literary style, it is not one of his best narratives.
For my taste, rather too much supernatural nonsense propels the plot of this one.
My Man Jeeves
by Pelham Grenville Wodehouse
Completely daft and disposible short stories which somehow manage to become literature. The effortless prose and outlandish characters make these perfect reading for times when you want something light.
The Underground City
by Jules Verne
Most enjoyable, even if the climax is somewhat unbelievable. Set in a disused mine in Fife, Scotland, a group of people set up a city underground.
Well worth reading.
Michael
by E.F. Benson
An excellent book, well-written. All about three friends in the build-up to and first months of World War I. Apart from the unlikely and rather unbelievable coincidence at the end, this is well worth reading, especially for people who might only be familiar with Benson's "Lucia" novels.
The Grand Babylon Hotel
by Arnold Bennett
I downloaded this to read simply on the grounds that the dish "Omelette Arnold Bennett" was created after Bennett wrote the character "Rocco" in the book, based on the actual chef at the Savoy, Jean Baptist Virlogeux. Though it has to be said that Rocco is none to complimentary a character, Virlogeux created the famous dish in honour of the writer.
Anyway, from omelettes to literature, this is a great little period "caper" about wealthy socialites, murder, kidnapped princes and the like. Well worth reading.