Tuesday, 29 May 2012

Luther The Calling by Neil Cross


 Mystery Fiction
DCI John Luther investigates a murder involving a man who brutally kills a young couple and steals a newborn baby from the mother’s womb. In a race against time Luther must track the killer and the newborn before it’s too late.
The book is a gritty read and it’s not for the faint hearted.  Once you pick the book up you will not be able to put it down. It will have you on the edge of your seat.    Rating: 5/5    Reviewed by Clive Neal

Thursday, 17 May 2012

Book review: Follow Me


Author:         Sheila O'Flanagan
Publisher:     Headline Publishing Group, 2011 (Quick Reads)


This book is a romantic story about a career girl and a handsome stranger, who has turned her life upside down.

Pippa was twenty-nine years old with curly red hair and single.  Her job was a sales rep and her company sold computer security systems.  She was a very competitive person and last year she had the highest sales figures in her company as a result, so she won an expensive trip to Paris for the weekend. She planned to be the best sales person this year too because the company offered a week in New York to anyone who beat Pippa's record sales of the year before. That is why she really wanted to beat them herself, to go to New York.

 However, when she went to sell her company's computer security systems to the clients, she always saw a handsome man following her around everywhere. She could not believe what she saw because he was in the bar, in a hotel, at dinner, even at her client meeting place at the same time. She thought it could not be a coincidence. Nevertheless, she started to date him, whoever he was, and fell in love to him because she was single, felt lonely and he was a good looking man with a nice smile.

I think once you start reading this book you will wonder about what will happen next and you will ask questions to yourself, such as, who is he, what is he really, and why is he always following her?  I would like to recommend this book to students who love to read books because this book is a very interesting love story and a page-turner.

Reviewed by: Ho-Kyoung Song

Wednesday, 2 May 2012

Black Eyed Devils

Author: Catrin Collier
Publisher: Accent Press Ltd. 2009

This book is about a secret love story between Tom Kelly and Amy Watkins.

Tom is 23 years old, comes from Ireland and looks tall and handsome. His eyes are dark and gleam. That is why the title of this book is Black-Eyed Devils. He has only been in Tonypandy in Wales for a couple of weeks and he is on his way to America to make a fortune but the town's people think he came there to steal their jobs.

Amy is 19 years old and her family are Welsh. She is tall, slender with silver blonde hair and looks attractive. She falls in love with Tom very quickly, in a week, and dreams of a future with the stranger.

Amy's family warn her that she should not be close to him because Tonypandy in 1911 is a dangerous place for the Irish. However, unfortunately Tom has become a blackleg as a victim of deception, because when he lived in Ireland he signed a legal document agreeing to work in the colliery. Finally he is treated as a blackleg man and his ribs are splintered and his lung is pierced. His right arm is broken in three places, his left in two, worst of all his skull is fractured by Amy's third brother Mark and some of his friends.

It is because Mark hated Tom, he saw Tom and Amy were kissing each other outside of the front door of Amy's house. However, eventually Tom and Amy have been offered to go to America together by a secret person.

I would like to ask the readers; do you think they indeed have to believe the secret helper? If you read this book very carefully, you will find the truth and it makes you realise that the story was turned around. While I was reading this book, I felt it was an interesting story about their secret love in spite of their risky situation. They fell in love with each other in a week even though there were lots of risks. They did not fear their situation and worry about people's gossip in a small town. I think on the one hand, they are so romantic and a lovely couple. On the other hand, they had to feel pain at the cost of their love.

I would like to recommend this book to teenagers or foreign students. It will be interesting and they will learn a little of early 20C's history.

Reviewed by: Ho-Kyoung Song