Book reviews: August 2019
Take a look at the recommendations the Deals on Wheels team has for you this month
One Good Deed
David Baldacci
$34.99
MacMillan
Reviewed by Steve Atkinson
5/5
A thoroughly enjoyable read from this well-known author sees wrongly-jailed honest ex-con and recent parolee Aloysius Archer negotiate 1940’s small-town America as he unwittingly gets himself involved with the town king-pin, his moll, her daddy, and a host of other characters both good and bad in this old-school styled tale that will remind some of those private eye novels of days gone by.
The storyline is pretty solid as prime suspect Archer (as he’s known by) tracks down the real killer of two people. Of course, we know he’ll get the culprit, as they always did in the good ol’ days, but you’re kept guessing to the end.
Nailing Down the Saint
Craig Cliff
$38
Penguin Random House
Reviewed by Steve Atkinson
2/5
First off, big ups to the Kiwi author for actually getting another book over the line with a top publisher, but in my case, that’s about as good as this read got. In this tale, down-on-his-luck ex-pat Kiwi and ex-film producer Duncan now based in LA, gets his shot at something of a comeback when he secures the location scouting job for successful movie maker, who has decided to produce his long-awaited flick on a 17th-century levitating Franciscan Friar.
The theory of all this sounds like a reasonably plausible storyline, but there’s just so much waffle tucked in that goes absolutely nowhere, it quickly made the read difficult to pick up and continue on at times, but trudge through to the end I did to no avail. However, if you’re after some loose travel information of certain regions in Italy, then this might be just what you’re after.
How to Survive
John Hudson
$34.99
MacMillan
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Reviewed by Steve Atkinson
4/5
Is life getting on top of you? Well, survival expert John Hudson may be able to help you out. And as the chief survival instructor for the British Military, this guy is the real deal. He must be, as he reckons survival is more than eating bugs, slugs, and pine needles, which is something I always maintained when watching some putz down a crawling invertebrate on TV.
But best of all, this book shows us how to transition military survival training into our real life and strangely enough, I reckon it actually works, with the book containing numerous pieces of self-help information, often with solid scientific backing. Everyday life will never be the same after completing this read.
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