Leila McKinnon REVIEWS
LEILA MCKINNON IS THE HOST OF THE NINE NETWORK’S INSIDE STORY AND A REPORTER FOR NINE NEWS
Stileto by Daniel O’Maley, Harper Colins.
Goodness, Stiletto is so wildly bonkers it’s hard to know where to begin. The world is much the same as now, except for a secret army of genetically modified Belgians who’ve been evolving for centuries. Their mortal enemy is a branch of the British Secret Service comprised of people with supernatural powers. It’s one of the oddest novels I’ve encountered. Take the flesh-eating ghoul who has an account at Fortnum & Mason, or the lady-in-waiting to the Queen who can dissolve people’s bones with a wave. This is no medieval epic. It’s a complex political thriller with fantastical features and a wonderful soupçon of wit. When peace talks begin, negotiations are hampered by centuries of hate, factions and rifts. Stiletto is endlessly imaginative and stupendously diverting.
The Other Side of Silence by Philip Ker, Querc us. Bernie Gunther has managed to survive the bad luck of being a clever, morally upright detective in World War II Berlin. It’s 1956 and he’s a concierge in a flash hotel in the south of France. Living under a false name, he’s lying low until an old foe and a new bridge partner, writer Somerset Maugham, drag him into the Cold War. It’s another finely plotted novel from Philip Kerr, the eleventh starring Bernie Gunther, who continues to be as cautious and agile as a cat as he crosses the cruellest adversaries the 21st century has to offer. Once again, a beautiful woman is Bernie’s kryptonite and he’ll have to summon all his cunning if he’s to survive her machinations. Gunther and Maugham are delightfully bitter but decent company in the glamorous minefield of post-war France. The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradle y, Penguin. The War That Saved My Life lays it on pretty thick, pulling at heartstrings with a lack of restraint that makes the grim parts appalling and the happy moments as sweet as treacle. Cynics need not apply, but if you’re in the market for emotional tears, or looking for a gift for a younger reader, it’s a sweet book. It’s the summer of 1939 and 11-year-old Ada Smith is locked in her single mother’s dirty flat day and night. She has a clubfoot and her abusive mother is ashamed of her, but World War II and evacuation to the country with brother Jamie will change her life for the better. Ada’s transformation from an angry young woman into a confident lady is imaginatively drawn. What this book lacks in originality, it makes up for with its toasty, warm embrace.
When I’m Gone by Emily Bleker, Lake Union. When I’m Gone is the story of widower Luke Richardson, who’s raising three children and mysteriously receiving handwritten letters from his dead wife, Natalie. Written in the year between her diagnosis and her death, they’re tragic, but often funny and authentic. For her husband of 16 years, they’re something to cling to, but gradually Luke starts to realise his childhood sweetheart had secrets. Although she has passed away, Natalie is still shaping his life and wrapping up a lot of unfinished business. I’m not going to lie, When I’m Gone is sentimental, perhaps melodramatic, but the plot is unpredictable and there’s a couple of cracking surprises. Someone call Rachel McAdams’ agent and lock her in – like the hills above LA, this book has “Hollywood” written all over it.