Showing 1 - 10 of 16
Down Mexico way
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 17/01/2020
» Brit turned American Lee Child is perhaps the most respected author in the crime-thriller genre. His 6-5, 250-pound literary creation Jack Reacher is the most popular of heroes. No small part of the reason is that he's played on the screen by -- rather shorter -- star Tom Cruise. On his own, the behemoth is likeable.
Isis thwarted
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 26/12/2019
» Until the 20th century, jihadists had no bones to pick with the US. Their ire was directed at the UK and France who coveted their lands, and the Jews trying to carve out their own. They got good press when T.E. Lawrence led the Arabs against the enemy Ottoman Turks. The silent film The Sheik romanticised them. The Riffs were favoured in their uprising against Spain. They didn't participate in the North African campaign in World War II.
End of fossil fuel?
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 20/12/2019
» I'm not a linguist. I'm not proud of it. English is my first and only language, which is not to say that it's the only language worth knowing. I studied other languages in school, but couldn't get the hang of them. Neither am I well-versed in English. I'm not being modest. I look at Webster and Oxford with a groan.
Twists and turns
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 15/11/2019
» It is said that truth is stranger than fiction. That's debatable. Authors have lively imaginations. Many have concocted plots for their novels that are at least as strange as anything real life has offered. Readers of long standing sometimes can't be certain which is which. Which is where gut feeling is not necessarily reliable.
Déjà vu
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 24/10/2019
» It wasn't until the second chapter -- what took me so long? -- that I realised I'd reviewed The Root Of Evil before, though it has a 2018 copyright.
Boston thriller
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 11/10/2019
» Dipping my fingers into the book bag, out came yet another by James Patterson. Can this reviewer help that the Yank is one of the most prolific writers in the business? His co-author this time around is Candice Fox. Which of them came up with this plot, I wonder?
Mystical religion
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 04/10/2019
» I am saying straight away that I believe in God. How else can the cosmos be there? But I'm not religious. In my time I've been to churches, temples, mosques and holy places out of curiosity, not seeking a spiritual experience. In each I did the expected to the extent possible: sat, bowed, knelt, mumbled prayers, faked singing spirituals, et al. It was copying, not mocking.
The Future isn't now
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 29/08/2019
» A term I keep encountering is "The Future". You see it on billboards everywhere. Stadiums, department stores, condos, supermarkets, restaurants, theatres, whatever. They eschew the current autos and mobile phones and computers. Space rockets are only a generation or two away.
Flight of fancy
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 22/03/2019
» Intelligence agencies the world over see Russia's cloak-and-dagger operations as the greatest danger. But Russia's chief enemy is the US, to which it causes endless mischief, both directly and indirectly.
Isis foiled
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 15/02/2019
» Until a few years ago, no Western publisher dared say a word against Isis, the Muslim terrorist extremists infamous for taking umbridge and reacting violently. No longer. Isis is now targeted by the media and by novelists with impunity.