4 comments about The Children of Dynmouth: 2.

1. This darkly funny expose of a British seaside town in the mid 70's is Trevor at his absolute best. Tim Gedge, the maladjusted anti-hero at the centre of the action, is a 12 year old boy with time on his hands and a determination to uncover the secret heartaches and hypocricies at the core of this trim English town. The details are razor sharp, the characters painfully portrayed, and the humour is very, very black - but there is a soul to this story - as there always is with Trevor. It tells you more about us sorry Brits than Notes from a Small Island ever could.



2. Well, maybe I'm not qualified to review this because I didn't finish it, but I tried twice, 6 months apart and both times I only made it about 40 pages and just couldn't continue. Maybe some people like this type of writing style, to me it lacked connection to real emotion or interest, and seemed like merely a ponderous exercise in the author's use of various writing techniques. Because it is a Penguin edition, and because I thought all Irish writers were great, I passed it on to my wife without any comment, thinking maybe she could appreciate something in it that I missed, but she had the same reaction.



3. Clever but strange and sour tale of a deprived boy living in a crummy old seaside town, whose daydreams focus on his glorious appearances as a comedian on 'Opportunity Knocks'. He divides his time between watching the box in his absent mum's council flat, and badgering the townspeople, telling them about the darkly comic act which he hopes will win him the annual fete's talent competition, and finally blackmailing them into supplying him with the necessary sets and costumes! Don't be misled by the quaint little painting on the cover of the old British edition - this is an awful story, all about neglect, failure and delusion, though the curiously flat and unsubtle prose make it not quite as devastating as it really should have been.



4. William Trevor continues to lead the pack as my favourite living author throughout the world. His frugal use of the most precise language leaves a reader gasping at times, and he is an unparallelled master tragedian. Here, he has actually crafted a fairly humourous, if naughty, tale of a teenage "tearaway," as he himself might call the lad. Trevor imbues this lonesome council lad with some rather astonishing powers of perception that, once put to work with the singlemindedness reserved solely for what one really really wants, results in a domino effect of despair and destruction that washes over a small, raw, seaside Southern UK town. It remains funny throughout, however, a testament not only to Trevor's many gifts as a story-teller of genius and power but to his love for his flawed characters and thier powers of endurance.

2 comments about Baby Crimes.

1. Lawyers don't have to like their clients. It's a good thing, because Toby Dillon isn't delighted with Catherine and Nevin Handley. Nevin made buckets of money as a dot.comer and has recently been elected to one of those quiet but very powerful political offices in local government. They have been ignoring the extortion letters but the letters are getting nastier, and seem to be focusing more on Nevin. The bone of contention? Their adoption of Lynn, their sixteen-year-old tennis wunderkind. Back when they had no money, they pulled a fast one on a small hospital, with the help of an unwed mother, so the paperwork looks right but really isn't. So can Toby make it all better before the extortionist goes public and/or Lynn finds out?
   
   Reluctantly, Toby takes the case. Nevin is killed. Toby tracks down the man who is the person most likely to be the birth father; he is not anyone's dream father, although he has his own code and he abides by it. But is he the father? The birth mother is also eventually found, and doesn't want to make any more problems for her daughter. There are complications; aren't there always?
   
   Toby's personal life is a little shaky, too. He is very carefully building a relationship with Rita, but this case puts her and her children in harm's way. Rita's been there, done that, and doesn't ever want to do it again; can what she and Toby have survive this?
   
   BABY CRIMES is a marvelous second novel. Hicks builds characters we can care about, in situations that could really happen, then takes us on a wonderfully plotted ride.



2. Toby Dillon is back. Those of you who enjoyed "The Baby Game" will not want to miss this one. In some indefinable way I thought "Baby Crimes" was better than the first book. It has a unique plot with several twists at the end. And Toby has a bit of romance in his life this time around. Ever want a place to go and get away from it all? Try a boat plopped down in the middle of an avocado grove - Toby's place. Great character development and superb descriptions of the sleepy town of Fallbrook. Highly recommended.
   Wolf Wootan, author of "Crown's law"

No comments about Welcome to Hell: Arbitrary Detention, Torture, and Extortion in Chechnya.

No comments about The Tower, the Mask, and the Grave.

No comments about The Octopus: A History of the Construction, Conspiracies, Extortions, Robberies, and Villainous Acts of Subsidized Railroads (Railroads.).

No comments about Extortion from the Pulpit: The Real Truth About Tithing.

No comments about World events spur kidnap ins. sales. (California & The Western States): An article from: National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management.

No comments about Pro-Life News in Brief.(Brief Article): An article from: National Right to Life News.

No comments about Intimate victims.

1 comments about BOOK OF DREAMS CL.

1. Nova's wit dark wit is well suited to this tale of Hollywood's underbelly.
   
   Warren Hodges, head of International Pictures, is one of the film industry's mythic figures - too wealthy and powerful to be human. Into his line of sight walks Marta Brooks, who fulfills her promise of mystery with a nosebleed in his sportscar which she cleanses away with an ocean swim.
   
   The scene should be absurd, particularly coming, as it does, after the overweening description of Hodges' party, where, wending his star-struck way towards Marta, Hodges shares a stock tip with a hard-edged actress and averts a drunken suicide with a promise. But his meeting with Marta imparts a hint of redemption, a possibility of tragedy, a touch of the sinister. And it draws the reader on.
   
   Nova leaves Hodges behind as he delves into Marta's world. Like the movie magnate, she is a Hollywood native. But she takes ads for the Romance Advertiser and, needing the job, she has agreed to pick up a package for her shady boss. Instead, she finds an empty house, bloodstained walls and clouds of flies.
   
   Nova delves deeper, introducing Marta's sad-sack mother, the fantasy Dad she created for Marta, Marta's deep sadness and escape. Escape into the present where, against her better judgment, she pursues the package to a new destination.
   
   Where she is followed by another Hollywood native, a recent release from Soledad State Prison, who's hit blackmail paydirt in his cleaning job at a psychiatrist's office. But he needs someone to pick up the money for him, a patsy, and Marta falls into his lap like a ripe plum.
   
   Nova weaves his way through the lives of these people, their convoluted route to the moments they share, what they took from a common background to become the creatures they are. Their intersection is outlandish but somehow inevitable. Comic, dark and suspenseful, his story owes its strength to the gritty feel of the place as much as the nuances of character.