Hmmmm

If you've stumbled into Scarrow after reading everything that O'brien, Forrester and Cornwell have to offer then this novel maybe the one where your reservations are finally justified. Trite and unconvincing, I'm heartily sick of Cato's 21st century attitude to the injustices of Rome, at one point he even goes on about Rome's Moral responsibilities to the world!!! Pah! I want to read about big battles with barbarians in distant lands.<br /><br />I wouldn't mind but it's badly written too.

Relentlessly boring

Very disapointing. I was really looking forward to reading after seeing the exciting extract but it was terrible. In the hands of a more accomplished writer the plot could have been turned into a reasonable story but the writing was very amaturish, I could have done a better job myself. I couldn't warm to any of the characters, the story was disjointed and haphazard. The only reason I struggled to finish it was because I thought it must have a good ending, but I was sadly disapointed by this also. After reading the likes of Rankin and Rendall, this book is very insignificant, if I were the writer I would find another job.

The original complete short stories by Ian Fleming... Modern Classic is a big understatement.

<br />The title is a bit misguided... it has NOTHING to do with the next Bond FILM (which script probably is only slightly inspired by a classic old short story if anything at all...).<br />BUT... this is a great recompilation of ALL the short Bond stories.<br />Of course it is better read IN CONTEXT... meaning they were written in the sixties... no cell phones etc.<br />A magnificent recompilation of the original works.<br />I must admit (having seen the films) I did not bother with the books for a long time... I was wrong... Fleming knew what he was writing about.<br />I enjoyed the films of course... but they have distorted somewhat the original novels so to premium the bang/crash/wallop of the film industry (which after all is supossed to know what we like!).<br /><br />The book is Highly recommended.<br /><br />ADB<br /><br />PS: Car nuts will be glad to know that Bond"personal car" is a Bentley Continental transformed by Mulliner in a two seater with plenty of luggage room..."a bit selfish" (Bond admits!)...

BLAM - POW - FULL VOLUME!

About time some real action came along!<br /><br />This book moves fast - races you from scene to scene but doesn't skimp and flit needlessly. Just what you need to get you up and going.<br /><br />Bring on the next adventure! Go Eddie Go!<br /><br />

Very disappointing

I've been a Cussler fan for over 30 years and have hugely enjoyed most of his books but this was a real stinker. The science regarding the hurricane generator was nonsense and it felt like it had been sponsored by ESSO or George Bush. Perhaps I'm just getting too old for this stuff...

Better than Blood Brothers

This book is the second in the sign of seven Trilogy. In the first part of the trilogy, we met the three boys, Fox, Gabe and Cal who inadvertently awoke an ancient evil that terrorises the town once every seven years. In this instalment, we meet Fox and Layla. Fox's fight with the evil that skims the edges of the Hollow is more personal - and heartbreaking as a result.The tension in this book is cranked up a notch, as the stakes being played for are threateningly real. The malevolent forces seem stronger this time around, and you get the feeling that in book three, the characters might have a front row seat to the apocalypse. <br /><br />You won't be disappointed with this book, but am looking towards book 3, since Gage has some serious issues that he needs to deal with.

Even better than Heart Sick

This is the next novel in the Series with Gretchen and Archie Sheridan. It clears up some of the unfinished business in the first book. I read it in a day and can't wait for the next!!! It is not as gruesome as the first but in lots of ways its better. It is much more disturbing and the relationship between the two main characters is rather unbelievable but thats what makes it so good. It's very rare to read about a female serial killer and I'm gripped. Its great to find a new crime thriller author with a bit of originality. Her writing style is quite simplistic but that too just lends itself to making this book a blast of fresh air in the increasinly stale air of crime thrillers. Basically to sum up, its well worth a read, I'd read Heart Sick first though before moving on to SweetHeart.

Bought this on the basis of Relentless - Don't bother!

I'll start by saying what I thought of this overall. Rubbish.<br />I don't read books often, however my last holiday I read and thoroughly enjoyed Relentless (apart from where I believe got a bit stupid) so when I picked this up for £2 at the local supermarket I was very pleased. The read itself was good, I was captivated and I endured the fact that there wasn't a plot that hung well. It seemed as though he made it up as he went along, there wasn't a good structure to it like other books I've read. The main character isn't particularly likeable. I enjoyed the first 30 pages and loved the last 30 - I should've ripped up the middle pages...

Pot Noodles

I almost didn't read this because there were so many negative reviews. However, if you accept the book as fast action, violent, definitely gripping, and the book equivalent of 'junk food' then I don't see the problem. Quickly consumed and enjoyed (with guilt?!), then quickly forgotten. This isn't meant to be literary; it's a pot noodle of a thriller and doesn't try and be anything else. I enjoyed the quick 'junk food' fix (though if you don't like violence then give it a miss - but it's unlikely you'd read a book called 'Severed' if you were squeamish!).<br />I also enjoyed another of Simon Kernick's pot noodle books: 'Relentless'.

Another Adventure for Young Cato and Macro

<br />Simon Scarrow is a teacher at a Sixth Form College. He has run a Roman History programme that takes parties of students to a number of sites and museums across Britain and I assume that while doing this he gleans lots of useful information for his books on the Roman Centurion, Macro and his Optio, Cato.<br /><br />First published in 2002, this is the third book in the series. The book opens in Britain in the year 43 AD. The Emperor has returned to sunnier climes leaving the Roman army to continue its rape of Britain. After a protracted effort the Second Legion have been instrumental in quashing resistance in Camulodunum, leaving time for Macro and Cato to rest with the rest of the Legion.<br /><br />Their General, Plautius has had the distressing news that the ship carrying his wife and family to Britain has been shipwrecked in storms off the south coast. The survivors have fallen into the hands of the Druids, who now wish to use them as a bargaining tool for the release of members of their sect who have been captured by the Romans.<br /><br />Unless their demands are met in full within one month, Plautius's family will be burned to death. The general decides to give Catp and Macro the opportunity to seek out the hiding place of the druids with a view to rescuing his wife and children before the month runs out. The general sees this as his only hope, as bowing to the demands of the Druids is not the Roman way . . .

Buy it Now!

The Roman Legions are now well entrenched in Britain, but are still finding dogged resistance from the fearsome natives. Macro and Cato find themselves standing between victory and bloody defeat.

Cato is newly appointed to the rank of Centurion and it falls to him and Macro to provide an army of untrained recruits for the aged ruler Verica.

With an army of raw recruits can they halt the progress of a cunning opponent and plotters who are eager not only to destroy Macro and Cato but the whole of the Roman army.

Simon Scarrow has a wonderful feel for the period he writes about and his characters endear themselves to you the reader. These books are well researched and for anyone interested in this period of Britain's history are a great read. Fact mixed with fiction in the best possible way.

Second in What Should be a Great Series

<br />The author, Simon Scarrow teaches at a leading Sixth Form College. He has run a Roman History programme taking parties of students to a number of ruins and museums across Britain. This is the first in a series of books about Quintus Licinius Cato, Optio (second in command) to Macro a centurion and veteran of more than one campaign in the Roman legions.<br /><br />Centurion Macro and his Optio (second in command) Quintus Licinius Cato have arrived in Britain as part of the Emperor Claudius's invasion force in AD43. The Roman army are easily outnumbered by the local natives, so it is essential that the Roman's engage the enemy before they have a chance to grow strong enough to overwhelm the legions.<br /><br />However the Britons are not the only danger facing Macro and Cato. An organisation opposed to the Emperor is secretly betraying the Legions and when rumours of an assassination plot coincide with Claudius arriving on British soil, the soldiers know that they are up against a force much more dangerous the British.

Police Procedural at its Best

Mark Billingham is a first class writer of police procedurals and this latest does not disappoint. With DI Tom Thorne receiving text messages showing pictures of dead bodies or videos of those about to be killed, the race is on to catch the protagonist. We know who dunnit fairly early on, and the story revolves around how he is caught. There are enough twists and turns to make the plot interesting, and the private lives of the key players keep the book even more interesting. I found this to be an excellent read and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys UK crime books. This demonstrates it at its best.

The wolf is through the front door

The plot of THE SECRET SERVANT is simple enough. The daughter of the American ambassador to the Court of St. James, Elizabeth Halton, is kidnapped by Islamic jihadists during a morning jog in Hyde Park. Not only is Elizabeth the daughter of Robert Halton, friend to the U.S. President, but the latter is her godfather. Gabriel Allon, the veteran and insubordinate Israeli super spy, works with (or not) the U.S., British, and Danish secret services to get her back before she's executed.<br /><br />THE SECRET SERVANT is a solid, absorbing read. But since it demonstrates no special cleverness or plot twists and the hero is, in my opinion, relatively uncharismatic compared to others perched on the bookshelves in hosts of other thrillers, e.g. Jack Reacher and Dan"Spider" Shepherd, I would give only 3 stars. (This is, after all, written to be entertainment.) However, I'm awarding four since author Daniel Silva effectively makes the point, both in the fictional narrative and in an Author's Note, as to the degree which radical Islam has embedded itself in British and other European societies. In the name of political and religious tolerance, the governments concerned have let the wolf in through the front door and the coming decades aren't going to be pretty. <br /><br />In a recent issue of a national weekly news magazine, the hand-wringing reviewer of THE SECRET SERVANT took Allon to task for the violent methods his character employed to extract information from a wounded and helpless terrorist. And you know what? It didn't bother me one bit because I'm not keen on the choice Osama bin Laden would give us, i.e. convert to Islam or be beheaded.

Refreshingly gentle

This is a charming, book which will make the reader feel like travelling to Botswana themselves. Mma Ramotswe is quite simply a sweetie, and the book is quietly amusing with an underlying good-natured feel which is a real panacea in our cynical times.

too long by half

I was not gripped by this story. It is too long, the writing style is clumsy ("he looked like a stick insect with a fungus invading its face")and the plot relies too much on handy coincidences: finding a box of evidence in a loft; finding a key piece of information from a character who"just happened" to overhear the detective's conversation etc. etc. Also there are more flushes:"he flushed deeply""a flush spread over her face" than a rain interval at Wimbolden. As with many British crime stories, it lacks pace and conciseness and rambles unconvincingly into quaint village life, while the policemen miss obvious clues and make unrealistic assumptions. The psychology is poor and it just fails to convince on any level really. If it had been half the length and heavily trimmed there might have been something there, but I'm sorry to say - having read the other reviews - that i was very disappointed.<br />

What's the Latin for"rubbish"?

I bought this book on the strength of the rave reviews it has received on this site.<br /><br />Two criminally annoying main characters (a wimpish scholar conscripted into the Roman army at the beginnings of the invasion of Britain, and his illiterate and brutish sergeant) plod through a transparent plot, dispatching enemies left, right, and centre with a few unrealistic swishes of their big, Roman swords.<br /><br />There is much better historical fiction than this out there, fellas. Much better.

Another Reacher classic

Great plot with new characters and plenty of action. Read Soft Target by Conrad Jones if you like Lee Child its Fantastic. I can recomend both books as absolute fire crackers !!!