About Book Marks
Recent Reviews
Richard Osman
Rave iNews (UK) Osman’s miraculous skill is to do distinctive voices, and conversations involving several people where you are laughing, and getting info, and never have to check who is speaking because it is super-clear ... A wild-ride, luxury, bloodthirsty thriller. And honestly, in this book we are all in first-class together.
Hilary Mantel
Rave iNews (UK) Some themes recur. She turns a cold eye on religion, but is always open to the uncanny, to the supernatural, to ghosts ... The range of subjects is magnificent ... It’s probably a book people will dip into rather than read straight though (though reading it all is well worth doing) but that’s fine: open at any page for treasures and gold.
Richard Osman
Rave iNews (UK) Even better than the previous installments. All have been monster bestsellers, record-breakers, and this one will join them, and it is wholly and entirely deserved ... Osman certainly has a remarkable ability to write a narrative with multiple points of view. As usual, his dialogue is pin-sharp – each person is distinct and has their own voice, and none of them, amazingly, resembles the author himself in the slightest ... Moving and beautiful and has the feeling of something real and lived.
John Le Carre
Positive iNews (UK) This selection of his letters – no replies – was compiled by one of his sons...and therein lies its strength and its weakness. Tim Cornwell’s editing is knowledgeable, but has he been too tactful? ... He is a traditional Alpha male, but with a touch of weirdness, something out of left-field, and it’s what brings these letters, and the books, to life ... It’s not a full biography, but you get to hear his voice very clearly.
Alan Rickman
Positive iNews (UK) Harry Potter fans will enjoy the entries covering filming, especially as it was not all such a big happy family as we thought, and there were some mighty important actors kept waiting around and not too happy ... Alan Rickman is the luvvie’s luvvie, so much so that at times the book reads like one of the satirist Craig Brown’s parodies of a celebrity diary. The actor is forever lunching and gossiping, wants more discussion of motivation for his roles, hates being criticized himself, but loves to criticise others. It is his most marked characteristic ... At times the diary turns into a list of famous people at lunch ... He was much-loved, is much-missed, and was an awe-inspiring actor. The diaries show someone not as funny or as self-deprecating as fans might expect, but that’s hardly his fault. And, you have to pan through a lot of words, but there is true gold in there.
Richard Osman
Rave iNews (UK) There aren’t many authors (celebrity or non) who write with such assurance and such guaranteed entertainment, combining slices of real life alongside a fantasy world where oldies solve crimes ... as intriguing, joyous and charming as the rest of the series ... Osman doesn’t only know about his own life – he has a remarkable ability to get inside the heads of all his characters, and give wholly convincing streams of consciousness. How does he know about the concerns of young women, elderly Mums, and career criminals? ... There are moments where he takes in the reality of loneliness and bereavement, and there is an underlying sweetness, and slight naivety, about the belief that what everyone needs (including career mega-criminals) is just some friends and fun and someone to listen to you. There are funny descriptions ... The plot is good, full of surprises and interest and cryptocurrency, but honestly – read it for the fun, the characters and the conversation ... We can only hope that we will all end up at Coopers Chase in our old age, and that there are a lot more books to come.
Robert Galbraith
Positive iNews (UK) Strong, page-turning ... Convincing and genuinely creepy ... It is a very long book – more than 1,000 pages – and while it is readable, it does not sustain that length ... The author gives an even-handed portrayal of how superfans can pile onto a creator, in a storyline that bears unmistakable echoes of the backlash against Rowling in real life ... There is a sneaking suspicion that (of all unexpected things) this book would not pass the Bechdel Test ... Yet the book is undoubtedly entertaining and often funny.
Anthony Horowitz
Rave iNews (UK) Horowitz does brave work capturing the style of the originals...and you suspect the author enjoyed himself hugely ... Horowitz manages a wide variety of tone ... The plot – honestly, not sure it matters – is Fleming-like in its restlessness, people forever moving from one place to another to have another adventure ... The original books are of their time: sexist, nonsensical, but still a fantastically good read. The new version is just as compulsive – exciting, atmospheric and with non-stop action. Resistance is futile. Just give in and enjoy.