Adventures in Capitalism – Toby Litt

Eighteen short stories that articulate some whacky ideas including: living life on the advice of advertising slogans; the perils associated with collecting for charity dressed as a pink fluffy bunny; the embarrassment of an unfortunate sartorial faux-pas; and the difficulties of dealing with a sunflower sprouting on one’s face.

These were the ones that worked best for me, along with the one with the ghost in the (washing) machine.  Others were less memorable, more experimental or I found too ‘arty’.

But that is what you get with a collection of short fiction - a bit of a pick and mix with some to your taste and others, frankly, not.

I Let You Go – Clare Mackintosh

The story starts with a shocking incident and rapidly moves into damage limitation.

In an effort to forget the traumatic event the narrator heads for the hills, and the coast; in other words, the cliffs of South Wales.  There she ekes out a solitary and frugal existence, at least until new possibilities dawn.

Meanwhile DI Ray Stevens and his sidekick DC Kate Evans are throwing resources at the case, without much luck.  Even when the case is officially shelved they continue to work on it out of hours.  And that is not going to ease the marital tension at the Stevens home any.

The two narratives work out side by side, inexorably moving closer.  A breakthrough occurs that seems to crack the case – or does it; DI Stevens has his doubts (that the readers probably share).  A third voice joins the narrative and things get more complicated and much, much darker.

Pace gathers, pages turn, tension ratchets up; and twists twist until they can twist no more.  Then there is a resolution, and satisfaction in a well plotted, assuredly written first book from this ex-policewoman.

Ghostwritten – David Mitchell

Billed as a novel in nine parts, this reads more like nine novellas loosely linked.

The settings move east to west with the sun – Japan, Hong Kong, China, Mongolia, Petersburg, London, the Western Isles of Scotland, and the east coast of the USA.  In each location a different lead character engages the reader in their life, sometimes a single day and at the other extreme, lasting cradle to grave. There is some overlap of characters in the stories, though this is incidental and teasing rather than necessary for plot development.

If there is a common theme it may be the need to escape, physically or mentally, from a situation, or to search for a solution.  If there is an overarching resolution it is left to the reader to fathom.

Nevertheless the assemblage provides interesting reading, skilfully employing a variety of styles to address a variety of modern themes.

The Mirror World of Melody Black – Gavin Extence

Melody Black appears late in the book; the actual narrator is Abby Williams and the reader lives in her skin throughout.  She is bubbly and lively, not to mention quirky as evidenced by her reaction to finding a neighbour dead in the flat next door.  That incident is the catalyst to a rise in her article-writing fortunes, and her mood with it.

But with a bi-polar diagnosis such rises are a risk and Abby goes into a manic phase inevitably followed by a depressive slide.

Extence deals with both sides of the coin with apparent authenticity and the settings – home, therapists, institution and remote retreat are convincingly drawn.  Abby is an engaging and vulnerable character, making her easy for the reader to empathise with and root for.

Oh, and Melody Black turns up eventually with an unfortunate link to Abby’s past and with an interesting theory on why people ‘go nuts’.  Apart from that, the book manages to be both informative on bi-polar disorder and an entertaining read.

I Am Malala – Malala Yousafzai

“The girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban” is not only the sub-title of Malala’s autobiographical account but probably the sum total of what most people know about her.  This book puts that right by providing not only her own background but that of her young country and its brief troubled history.

Though the book starts with a prologue describing the dreadful shooting it quickly shifts into a conventional time line as Malala describes her family and early memories in Swat, a princely state that was absorbed into the newly formed Pakistan making up its northwest frontier with Afghanistan.  As well as her daily life in her home, she describes the political context in a clear and balanced manner (perhaps credit here to the co-writing support of foreign correspondent Christina Lamb).

It is an eye-opening account of life under threat from both the Taliban and the Pakistani military authorities who vie for control of the valley.  Civil government is a fiction in these parts.  Despite that, her father’s passion for education defies the odds by founding, developing and maintaining a school that, whatever the risks, allows girls to attend and learn.

Malala is an ace student and a vocal advocate for her and her gender’s right to education.  Her profile on the country rises, along with her father’s, and both know the dangers that entails but refuse to kowtow.

Events take their course.  The prologue has given away the strike, and the book’s existence testifies to her recovery.  Not just recovery, but triumph; of which this remarkable book, written by a sixteen year old (albeit with support), is part.

Transcription – Kate Atkinson

The book starts in 1981 with the end; Juliet Armstrong, aged 60, knocked down by a car and lying in a London street.  The part of her life that flashes back to her is the last time she was in England in 1950 working for the BBC producing schools programmes for the radio.

That has its challenges, particularly for a woman, but Julia is good at her job and usually gets her way.  But she is troubled when Godfrey Toby, a colleague from her job ten years previous, blanks her in the street.  Then other strange things happen that causes her to reflect back on those times.

That was in 1940, the early days of the war, when as a nineteen year old she volunteered and like many young educated women was recruited as a clerk in the intelligence service.  Godfrey Toby was a double agent running a ring of Nazi sympathisers in London; and when they met to talk sedition in his flat their conversations were recorded next door by Cyril the technician and transcribed by Juliet the clerk typist.  When Juliet is given the opportunity to participate in some low risk field work she jumps at the chance and does well, discovering a talent for dissimulation and lies.  But even low risk operations and transcribing have potential for cock-ups and danger.

And still in 1950, as well as the day job at the Beeb, Juliet is pressed into a favour from time to time by her old bosses.  She is no longer a teenage ingénue, but when a minor op again goes awry danger of a different sort raises its head.

The narrative is light, the plot arc deceptively simple and the time shifts, for once, are straightforward.  That leaves plenty reader attention available to be paid to the period nostalgia and the charming interplay between Juliet and the (mainly male) hierarchy in the secret service and the BBC.

But how much of all that is a front; and what is it hiding?  

The Kind Worth Killing – Peter Swanson

Ted Severson meets Lily in an airport bar, shares a drink; then more, as the flight is delayed.  He also shares his recently discovered marital problems, finding Lily sympathetic to his position and surprisingly supportive of a solution he is considering – to kill the cheating bitch.

In alternate chapters Lily’s back story and Ted’s preparations are revealed in unhurried chilling detail.  It takes nearly half the book before the first twist upends the reader; then more follow in an accelerating spiral to the end.

It is cleverly plotted with interesting main characters who narrate their own intersecting contributions to the unfolding drama.  For those who like their thrillers dark and twisting this is definitely one of the kind worth reading.