IT’S baffling: why marketing people spend so much on campaigns doomed to miss the target. So much time, brainpower, effort and materials wasted. To say nothing of the waste incurred in printing and distribution. Plus the waste of so much money. Wasted not only by the marketers themselves but also by the poor sods who pay for these useless campaigns. Mountains of junk mail, so much of which ends up as litter. Discarded as unwanted and unread. Maybe the mere act of designing and printing this multi-coloured mass of pleas to buy (or sell) is considered sufficient. It’s akin to… Continue reading
Uncategorized
IT’S obviously far too late now but at least one of Britain’s top crime solvers needs a name change. Having two of crime fiction’s best with the same surname gives readers one puzzle too many. Is it Helen or Roy who is expected to respond when someone yells “Grace”? Nor… Continue reading
The past few weeks have been something of a Nordic escape – a binge into a series of crime novels written by Jorn Lier Horst. By my reckoning he’s the new Henning Mankell. He makes a worthy successor to that supreme leader of the Nordic Noir brigade who started really… Continue reading
Like all the best villians they creep up without warning. Seconds later, their deadly effect has been suffered. As sudden and unexpected as we see in the movies, or in the endless succession of gory TV dramas. Or read in the plethora of crime fiction. It’s all over before the… Continue reading
Twin terror Twins have long provided fertile ground for authors. Especially those who use such relationships to weave tales of murder and mystery. So much intrigue can flow around those whose lives are inextricably linked from the moment of birth. There is no escape. Emotions are heightened, mental ties are… Continue reading
Receive my ‘Read. Write. Run. Repeat.’ newsletter
Regular updates of my reviews and commentary direct to your inbox.
SUDDENLY I am delving into my memory bank, reliving how it was to take that nerve-racking walk from West to East across Berlin’s no-man’s-land of Checkpoint Charlie. An instant recall sparked after inexplicably waiting two decades to open a book fully intended to be read when it made its spectacular debut in 2003. That’s how it was with me and Anna Funder’s Stasiland. Launched to an avalanche of plaudits at the start of the century, it stayed on the best-seller list for close to two years. But only recently has it made its way to my bedside pile, the result… Continue reading