Release Date: 31/07/14
Publisher: Del Rey UK
SYNOPSIS:
How do you stop an assassin that can't be killed? When several members of the diplomatic service die in seemingly innocent, yet strangely similar circumstances, it seems a unique form of murder is being used. Toby Greene is part of Section 37, known as The Clown Service, a mostly forgotten branch of British Intelligence tasked with fighting exactly this kind of threat. However, the Rain-Soaked Bride is no ordinary assassin. Relentless, inexorable and part of a larger game, merely stopping this impossible killer may not be enough to save the day...
REVIEW:
OK, I wasn’t overly enamoured with the first book in this series, The Clown Service, I wanted to give this title a go as I know that a lot of others out there have had a lot of fun with it, I thought I’d try the second in case I wasn’t fully in the right frame of mind with the original reading.
So settling back and opening the pages, I began to read. What happens within the book is a story that really didn’t strike me as original, it felt yet again like I’ve seen something like it before and whilst the characters were solid enough, I did feel that the author extended the story without giving the reader really anything new that hasn’t been seen before. All round I was a little disappointed and whilst I still like a number Guy’s series, this is one I’m going to let fall by the wayside.
Release Date: 02/01/14
Publisher: Solaris
SYNOPSIS:
Heaven? Hell? There's no difference. Angels, demons, we're all a bit of both. This could be the most wondrous place you ever experience or so terrifying it makes you pray for death. Not that death would help you, of course; there's no escape from here...Wormwood has appeared, and for twenty-four hours the gateway to the afterlife is wide open. But just because a door is open doesn't mean you should step through it...Those who have travelled to reach the town are realising that the challenges they've already faced were nothing compared to what lies ahead. The afterlife has an agenda of its own, and with scheming on both sides of reality, the revelations to come may change the world forever.
REVIEW:
I’m always a huge fan of something a little different so when this book from Guy Adams landed I was more than a little intruged at the concept within. As usual, Guy’s characters have a rounded feel that fit well into the timeline which he has created. They have a homely feel almost as if, as a reader, you’ve known them for quite a few years. Add tot his a real kickass storyline, a huge supporting cast that helps take the story forward and all round I was a more than happy reader.
Throw into the mix, a pace that really does keep the reader glued alongside dialogue that works wonderfully well and all round I was a more than happy reader.
Release Date: 19/09/13
Publisher: Gollancz
SYNOPSIS:
Toby Greene has been reassigned. The Department: Section 37 Station Office, Wood Green. The Boss: August Shining, an ex-Cambridge, Cold War-era spy. The Mission: Charged with protecting Great Britain and its interests from paranormal terrorism. The Threat: An old enemy has returned, and with him Operation Black Earth, a Soviet plan to create the ultimate insurgents by re-animating the dead.
REVIEW:
I’ve read quite a few books that fit nicely into this genre where secret agents save the world from supernatural enemies and to be honest there’s not that many left that will do something a little different to create their own niche within the market. Whilst this title from Guy is an OK book, I did feel that it was more like a whole set of stories that have gone before interwoven to give the reader something similar but with its own flavour at the end of the day. It does have some great dialogue, it does have some solid cast members within but overall I wasn’t overwhelmed as it didn’t have a strong enough presence on its own. Don’t get me wrong it is OK but if you want something that’s fresh and at the top of the genre then this isn’t perhaps for you..
Release Date: 26/03/13
Publisher: Solaris
SYNOPSIS:
Every one hundred years a town appears. From a small village in the peaks of Tibet to a gathering of mud huts in the jungles of South American, it can take many forms. It exists for twenty-four hours and then vanishes once more, but for that single day it contains the greatest miracle a man could imagine: a doorway to Heaven. It is due to appear on the 21st September 1889 as a ghost town in the American Midwest. When it does, there are many who hope to be there: traveling preacher Obeisance Hicks and his simple messiah, a brain-damaged Civil War veteran; Henry and Harmonium Jones and their freak show pack of outlaws; the Brothers of Ruth and their sponsor Lord Forset (inventor of the Forset Thunderpack and other incendiary modes of personal transport); finally, an aging gunslinger who lost his wings at the very beginning of creation and wants nothing more than to settle old scores.
REVIEW:
Guy Adams is one of those authors I either love or hate and to be honest with you, this is a book that really didn’t strike me as my usual sort of fare. The characters within felt flat, the plotline fairly predictable and to be blunt, at the end of the day was a book that having read is not only that I’d recommend as a great place to start with this author. Don’t get me wrong, it does have the usual patterns within that say it’s a Guy Adams novel such as clipped prose, some cracking turns of phrase and of course some dialogue that hangs around in your mind, but all round, it just wasn’t a book that took me on the journey into the unknown that I was wanting. All round a great shame but not every book is a hit.
Release Date: 07/02/13
SYNOPSIS:
You can do anything in Hollywood and be forgiven, anything except grow old...It's the 1930s and cinema stands at the dawn of a new age, the silent era is all but dead, talkies are here and Technicolor is on its way. The whole world loves movie icons Frank Nayland and Elizabeth Sasdy, lapping up each new picture and following their romantic life story both on and off the screen. But all is not as perfect as it appears. Not only has the advent of talkies meant torturous sessions with a vocal coach to try and remove Sasdy's Hungarian accent but she's starting to spot the first few grey hairs, and the lines on her face get deeper every day. If she loses her looks she'll lose everything, but even a woman as powerful as Elizabeth Sasdy can't fight nature. Can she? A chance accident reveals the solution. But just how far is the Queen of Hollywood prepared to go to stay beautiful forever?
REVIEW:
To be honest I’m a reader that’s old enough to remember the BBC showing seasons of Late Night Hammer Horror that coincided with me coming home from my part time job of Waiter at a restaurant with something nice to eat in tow. So to be blunt I have very fond memories of those times, so much so that I definitely recall catching Countess Dracula (featuring the attractive buxom Ingrid Pitt.)
So when Hammer brings a new book out from a film that I enjoyed way back when, I tend to like to read to see what they’ve done to bring it not only bang up to date but also to bring a touch of the nostalgia back. Within this book Guy Adams, brings it to the modern reader by setting it in an idealised 30’s Hollywood, It has a lot of the same twists but to be honest with the story following the original pretty closely I could definitely see that it was more than a little dated and didn’t really add anything new to the genre.
Its clichéd, the characters were more than a little flat and for me, the story really didn’t travel or do anything other than produce a book that wouldn’t have taken much to tame it down enough for the YA market. It disappointed, didn’t take me anywhere in my imagination and to be brutal was sadly lacking in so many ways. If you have to read this book borrow it from the library or wait for it to hit a cheap book shop near you as sadly I suspect a great many will be upset at the cost and lack of pay off.
Release Date: 24/08/12
SYNOPSIS:
Following the trail of several corpses seemingly killed by wild animals, Holmes and Watson stumble upon the experiments of Doctor Moreau. Determined to prove Darwin's evolutionary theories, through vivisection and crude genetic engineering Moreau is creating animal hybrids. In his laboratory, Moreau is building an army of 'beast men' in order to gain control of the government...
REVIEW:
I love Sherlock Holmes and when an author throws him in at the deep end with a touch of the paranormal, you know its going to be something spectacular, after all, logic whilst still applicable, its thrown into the deep end and forced to accommodate the nigh impossible.
What Guy brings to the fore in this offering is the challenge facing our intrepid hero and his sidekick Watson, as they face off against a scientific foe like no other. Its witty, it’s clever and of course brings the full flavour of the time period which when added to solid action, great pace and no nonsense combat all in makes for a very satisfactory read.
Release Date: 05/07/12
SYNOPSIS:
In a quiet field in Buckinghamshire, a huge crack has appeared in the earth's surface. And people are dying. Incinerated beyond recognition. At the same time, hospitals have noticed an increase in catastrophic deformities in foetuses, and cancer levels soaring. Dr Adam Royston, a scientist working at the nearby military base, thinks he knows what it is; a creature as old as the earth that slumbers for centuries, then wakes to feed on the energy and radiation produced by humans. But if he's right, and they can't find a way to destroy the creature roaming the countryside, then it's not just Buckinghamshire that could be in danger, but the whole world.
REVIEW:
Part of the problem when you bring a book up to date from an earlier time is that the things that scared the viewer back then is something that can be quite tame by todays standard. Such is the case with this adaptation of the Hammer 1956 film X: The Unknown where radiation is the fear of the day.
Sadly by bringing it forward to today’s setting a lot of what was assumed back then has sadly bitten the dust in not only theory but has been blasted into oblivion by fact. That alone took the book well out of the realms of believability which whilst you can suspend whilst watching the film sadly just niggles the reader.
Whilst Shaun’s writing is a highlight for the publisher, as a reader I was sadly hoping for a lot more than was actually presented as this book felt flat not only in the subject matter but also with the characters within that weren’t fleshed out enough for me to care for them as a reader. All in a great shame.
Release Date: 05/07/12
SYNOPSIS:
He is raising the poker again and Anna bites her lower lip so hard she chokes a little in the blood that runs down her throat...On a cold, wet night recently widowed psychology lecturer John Pritchard visits spiritualist Aida Golding with his son. Although wary something has driven him here. And he is drawn to a troubled young woman who is trying to contact her child. Something about her intrigues him and despite his doubts he continues to attend meetings. One night at an intimate seance in Aida's house the lights go out and one of the group is brutally murdered. John has his suspicions but he can't prove anything. He senses that Aida has some hold over the girl and he offers her a place of refuge in his home. But the past haunts Anna in the most chilling of ways. And all too soon John realises he's made a terrible mistake...
REVIEW:
I’m always a little dubious when a film is novelised, especially when the film is something of a British Classic from the Hammer studio’s whilst the book has been brought up to date to appeal to a modern audience part of the problem for the reader is the loss of the Victorian courtesies that allowed the film to feel organic, with the roles being carefully fleshed out Eric Porter and Angharad Rees.
Sadly this book fell short of what I would have expected not only on a title based on the film but of the talent to which we know he has as we’ve read quite a bit of his material. The characters were sadly 2d, the pace sadly lacking and all in the book really felt that it should have been left where it was to allow the film to stand on its own merit. Hopefully other Hammer books will do a better job of adaptation than this but with a well-known author falling flat, that does leave me wondering if it’s really going to be worth my time.
Release Date: 07/07/11
SYNOPSIS:
None who enter the World House leave it unchanged.
They sought the box for many years, because held inside that arcane magical artefact was, miraculously, a house. But now its real purpose has become clear – it was a prison, and the infinitely evil being it was built to imprison has been let loose. Now the real quest begins in earnest.
This direct sequel to the critically acclaimed The World House is an extraordinary modern fantasy, like an episode of Doctor Who imagined by the twisted mind of Clive Barker.
REVIEW:
Whilst the name may not be that well known to some of you, Guy has been the author behind a few surprise titles including the Gene Genie’s Guide to Policing. What you get with Guy Adams is a tale that is twisted, a story that is intricate and an incredibly warped outlook on the world. In short, you get a writer who does for fiction, what Garth Ennis has done for comics.
Add to this vivid characters, great dialogue alongside some wonderful sleight of hand and you really do have a story of adventure, mystery and humour all creatively blended to make something new. All in, this title was thoroughly enjoyable definitely one that I’m recommending to others.
