Showing 31 - 40 of 50
Journalists are fair game
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 03/08/2015
» With Yank James Patterson, alone and with co-authors, penning a crime thriller a fortnight, this reviewer is falling behind writing critiques. But, on the whole, they are compelling page-turners and worthy of your attention. To their further credit, they aren't copies of one another.
A new crime series
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 01/06/2015
» Time was when James Patterson penned a crime novel annually. Then semi-annually. Then seasonally. At the rate this reviewer is now receiving them, they seem to be coming out weekly. No sooner do I critique one than the next crosses my desk. Alone and with his team of co-authors, he's clearly on a roll.
For horse lovers
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 16/03/2015
» Do you believe in coincidence? I do, because it has happened to me on occasion and there's no other likely explanation. Yet there are those who don't, and statistics have been made to show that there's a mathematical probability of such events occurring. But can't statistics prove just about anything?
One-off
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 16/02/2015
» Authors and publishers are still experimenting with their craft. Centuries and modern print-face, bigger and smaller print, over and under 100 chapters, chapters numbered and not, spaces instead of chapters, single and double quote marks, beginning the story on page one or three or higher. Not to mention the variety in covers.
Right vs Justice
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 09/02/2015
» It would be only a slight exaggeration to say that Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks of the North Yorkshire Police is as well known in the UK in this day and age as London private detective Sherlock Holmes was a century ago. Less so in the US with its plethora of shamuses. But crime thriller fans the world over rate him as one of the best.
Sleuths & demons
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 25/08/2014
» A cinema buff since puberty, I would often visit neighbourhood theatres in the Big Apple that showed double features. One had A-level stars, the other B-level. Often as not, the B-level offerings were more entertaining, British as well as Hollywood. US Republic and UK Hammer studios were on about the same level.
Clancy’s swan song
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 12/05/2014
» While death and taxes remain the same, all else changes. People are fickle. Fashion lasts for, at the most, long as opposed to short periods of time. Men wore beards and powdered wigs. Women’s hair was 30cm high and fitted into bustles. Court dancing became ragtime. Film studios used to turn out Westerns and musicals by the hundreds. Today, neither are popular.
A high flyer
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 21/04/2014
» A US naval air combat veteran, Stephen Coonts turned his training and experience into successful literary thrillers. Unlike Tom Clancy, who never went to war, his detailed descriptions of weapons and armaments are based on first-hand use. His knowledge of planes, from the earliest flying machine, is unsurpassed.
An honest lawyer
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 17/02/2014
» Truth be told — I’m a sucker for courtroom dramas. Inherit The Wind, Witness For The Prosecution and Judgement At Nuremberg are my all-time favourites. Some courtroom novels or plays are adapted to the screen, others made into movies or television shows. Many remain in book form.
A gay first lady
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 20/01/2014
» People in every social, economic and political sphere share a fondness for rumours. True or not, they spread like wildfire. Men, women, children are fair game. Family, friends, colleagues, neighbours, acquaintances are embarrassed, reputations tarnished, careers ruined. The more they are denied, the more they are believed.