SUB-BRIDGET JONES AMY JENKINS Honeymoon (Sceptre £6.99) 0
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Amy Jenkins is money. The creator of classic twentysomething telly drama This Life could have written a health and safety pamphlet and still got the whopping advance that this book garnered. And she might as well have. because Honeymoon is a truly godawful novel, like a schoolgirl's attempt to mix Bridget Jones with Mills and Boon; only much. much worse.
burnt to the ground and Darren‘s mate Ben gets his face slashed. things get a bit hectic. Rosie. however, is too busy gouging holes in Alex's back with her kinky boots to get too bothered. and when tragedy strikes. none of
the trio is prepared.
Freeborn's mix of relationship drama and gangland chronicle often breaks free of cliche. but
rarely amazes. And by
the time it has become
truly affecting. it's a case of too little. too late.
(James Smart)
: SOUTHERN NOIR CHRISTOPHER ~coox
i Robbers (No Exit Press ' E10)...
0. .- ' .3 i ' s
CRIME MYSTERY
IAN RANKIN The Falls (Orion £16.99) 0...
Growing older and grizzlier but not losmg those razor-sharp detective skills. DI John Rebus makes his twelfth appearance in Ian Rankin's latest novel. To know him is to love him. and despite his faults (healthy respect for
whisky, none for his
superiors) Rebus has firmly lodged himself into the nation‘s conscious-
ROSS.
In this instalment. a
I wealthy student goes
missing and Rebus is
; iOined by y0ung protege DC Siobhan Clarke to find the abductor. While Rebus
concentrates on a trail of mysterious miniature
coffins. DC Clarke ? becomes deeply involved ; in an internet role-playing
game the student was indulging in. Deflecting the attention off Rebus and
Books
WATERSTONE'S
AUTHOR EVENTS HIGHLIGHTS GLASGOW
Wednesday 4th March at 7pm
POLLY TOYNBEE ET AL
'Did Things Get Better?’
A debate featuring, amongst others. Tommy Sheridan MSP and Tim Luckhurst MP. Venue: The Royal Concert Hall. Tickets: £3.
EDINBURGH
DEBITHINGS GET BETTER?
H z:
Friday 6th April at 7pm
Onto Clarke might be
5 Rankin's way of preparing us for his retirement. but for the moment his grey, damaged Edinburgh keeps us turning the pages. (Louisa Pearson)
RURAL DRAMA JOANNE HARRIS
IAN RANKIN
'The Falls'
Ian Rankin will be discussing his lat— est novel.
Venue: Edinburgh International Conference Centre. Tickets: E5/EA,
The narrator. Honeymoon Holt (arrrrgghhh) is. quelle surprise. in a love triangle with dependable fiance Ed and wild, dreamy hunk Alex. So ‘ what? There are cringes ' ‘Damn.’ said Eddie. 'that
i I Christa (ooli
On every page. CliChéS 81 ‘ feels 9000- 00W thing Five Quarters Of The available from Waterstone's. Doors every turn. and woefully better'n a good fuck's a ; Orange (Doubleday n t m puerile writing . good piss.‘ This is pretty ’ $312.99) on ope a 6-009 .
Born of a French mother and an English father. 1 Joanne Harris spent her childhood immersed in French village life, folklore and tradition. Because of this. her novels — of which the best-selling Choco/at is the most famous — competently evoke the sights and sounds of rural France. Her latest novel again
goddam typical of the
language Christopher's Cook's characters spout in Robbers. It's a
‘southern noir' which
pits the above-quoted redneck and his pal Ray Bob against a Texas ranger. the superbly-
named Rule Hooks. a
L Dirty Harry-type lawman who works only by his own code and breaks
throughout. Avoid at all costs. (Doug Johnstone)
Details of all events at Waterstone's can be found in the listings section
BOOK OF THE MONTH £4 OFF in APRIL
EAST END DRAMA CARON FREEBORN Three Blind Mice (Abacus £9.99) 00
i even that. And during 1 the good ‘ol boys
thievin'. rapin', murderin'
sees a mysterious woman arriving in an isolated
: village to charm the locals : with her innate talents in
'THE FALLS'
Ian Rankin
RRP: £16.99 Waterstone's price: £12.99
Spree across Texas. they pick up Della Street (white trash single mother).
Cook's debut may not be particularly auspicious. working as it does with cliched characters and plot (not to mention a forgettable title). but this boy can sure write a page-turner. Robbers motors along at a great pace. but most striking is the book's tacit requirement of the reader to sympathise with its unattractive characters. all of whom are on the road bound for perdition.
(Miles Fielder)
cuisine. Unlike Choco/at — where this is done to 1 arouse passion in the staid community — the heroine here. Framboise Dartigen. employs her culinary expertise to veil seCrets of a tragic past. Harris weaves a fluid and evocative narrative that flits between the events of her heroine's childhood spent in the village during the German Occupation and her present-day predicament of keeping her identity ; secret. The combination of culinary delights and darker passions will no ; doubt keep ladies of a certain age enthralled. (Catherine Bromley)
Rosie is a sexy working- class girl made good. Darren's her dodgy brother. a man of few words. most of which are ‘cunt’. Alex is the S 8. M-loving social worker who becomes her boyfriend. Together they make not the cast of C4‘s latest 'controversial' soap. but the three blind mice of Eng Lit lecturer Caron Freeborn‘s debut novel. When a rival pub is
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29 Mar—12 Apr 2’)’,‘1 THE LIST 95