Friday, October 21, 2016

The Girl With All The Gifts, The Girl On The Train, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl, Gun Street Girl

...Morrigan the crow...
The Girl With All The Gifts is the only plausible zombie book I've ever read: scientific, charming (no really), witty and scary this is a great little novel. The movie version is out in the UK right now and has been getting generally good reviews. The Girl On The Train has inspired either love or loathing since it was published and became a runaway best seller - on the whole I liked it: the story of a drunk girl who fakes being a commuter to Euston every morning so she can fit in with society. Yes the story turns on the hacky devices of coincidence and amnesia but the layers of the onion peel back in a most entertaining way. I havent seen the movie but Emily Blunt looks way too well preserved to be the drunk of the book. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is an that Swedish book everyone has read. The Swedish and American movie versions were ok. Gone Girl is a well written thriller with your classic dishonest narrator: deservedly popular for its unlikeable leads (I love that), twisty first half and downbeat ending Gone Girl deserved its success, unlike Dragon Tattoo. I thought the movie version did a pretty good job with the book. Tyler Perry was great and the Nancy Grace character was excellent. Gun Street Girl is the fourth novel in my own Sean Duffy Series. Sold a fraction of the other books but was shortlisted for the 2016 Edgar Award (best pbk original), the 2015 Ned Kelly Award, the 2016 Anthony Award (best pbk original), the 2016 Audie Award,was a Boston Globe "Best Book of 2015" and an Irish Times "Best Crime Novel of 2015." So there. No movie version in the offing.