The Universe versus Alex Woods – Gavin Extence

Alex Woods is ten years old when he has his first brush with the universe, in the form of a meteorite that crashes through the roof. There are immediate and longer term consequences that lead indirectly to his involvement in the vandalisation of Mr Peterson’s back garden.

The reclusive Isaac Peterson is not impressed, and neither is Alex’s mother who insists her son makes reparations. Thus begins an unlikely friendship between the two loners across several generations.

As things are settling down for Alex the universe (or fate) strikes back with some devastating health news for his friend. How he (now a teenager) comes to terms with the potential effects provides the meat of the novel.

It is a bitter sweet tale, heart-warming and shot through with enough black humour to steer clear of mawkishness. Instead it is genuinely moving with a lump in the throat and a tear on the cheek climax.

Gavin Extence writes it well, combining some coming-of-age anxiety and humour with Kurt Vonnegut philosophy while addressing a sensitive subject with intelligence and respect.

Out of the Ashes – Tim Albone

Read as part of the sport reading journey

Taj Malik Alam and his family left Afghanistan in 1995 to live, with tens of thousands of their country folk, in a refugee camp near Peshawar in neighbouring Pakistan. Two years later, as an impressionable twelve year-old boy he was infected with a love of cricket as the 1997 Cricket World Cup came to India & Pakistan, with England playing Sri Lanka at Peshawar itself.

Refugee camp cricket was a bit different, played on dirt tracks amid the detritus of the camp, using tennis balls wrapped in gaffer tape and bats that were often just bits of spare wood.

When in 2001, in the aftermath of 9/11, the Americans drove the Taliban into the hinterland, Taj returned to Kabul with an ambitious mission – to bring cricket into his homeland, use it a force for cohesion within the divided land, and create a national team that could help integration with the wider world, projecting a positive image of the war-torn country. And not least, being Afghan, to win everything in sight!

It’s a tall order; few in Afghanistan have even heard of the sport and those that have mistrust it as a foreign, or even worse Pakistani, aberration. Nevertheless through sheer persistence, cheek and daring Taj begs, borrows or cons land, equipment and cash out of government and the wider cricket world, and recruits sufficient players with natural ability, increasing skill but minimal experience, to embark on a remarkable journey.

The target is the Cricket World Cup, the fifty over competition in which the test match playing nations are joined by a few minnows who have to fight their way through qualifying rounds. For the Afghans, new boys initially ranked 90^th in the world, this would mean winning through four tournaments against well established, better resourced countries from all around the world.

As big a challenge as the cricket is the culture shock awaiting the internationally isolated Afghans in the varied and sometimes glamorous locations – Jersey, Tanzania, Argentina, South Africa and Dubai – where the lifestyle is often at odds with their background of poverty and strict Muslim law.

Tim Albone chronicles the adventure through the matches, management disputes and political intrigue with a calm and assured style - this story needs no hyperbole, and the Afghan players are excitable enough. His open access to the squad provides the inside track on extraordinary events.

I’ve followed cricket off and on since boyhood but this book opened up previously unknown strata of the international game with tiny nations or tiny minorities of huge nations competing to claw their way up the hierarchy to have a day in the world spotlight and a shot at the big boys. It’s refreshing and inspiring.

The Postman Always Rings Twice – James M Cain

Frank Chambers is a drifter, but when he bums a meal at Nick Papadakis’ diner and filling station in the Californian sticks he accepts the offer to stay around and work his keep.

Instrumental in his decision is a glimpse of the Greek’s attractive young wife, Cora, and it’s not long before the two of them are thick as thieves. But it’s not robbery they have in mind.

To say more would be a spoiler as passionate, violent and duplicitous events unfold towards an uncertain end; all narrated by Frank in no-nonsense fashion as suits his character and the 1930’s period.

It’s a short and punchy novella from a writer of pedigree, every bit as good as the classic film it inspired.

Racing Through the Dark – David Millar

Read as part of the sport reading journey

David Millar was near the very top of the professional cycling pantheon when he was exposed as a user of performance enhancing drugs in 2004. Nothing unique there, but this Millar’s tale contains no lame apologies, excuses, or shifting of the blame. Instead it is a searing indictment of the sport at the time and no-holds-barred confession of his place within it, wrapped in the personal story of his rise, fall and redemption.

We learn of his early years and the emergence of his prodigious talent leading to an ambition to turn pro. Given a chance he proves his worth and is soon witnessing the secret rituals of ‘recovery’, ‘preparation’, and other dark arts, which he abhors and refuses to countenance.

But his resistance is worn down through the pressures of performance and the responsibilities of team leadership, and when he succumbs, briefly, the performances improve marginally but his enjoyment and self-respect plummet. His resolve to quit the doping and race clean again comes too late and he’s busted, sacked, and suspended from the sport, missing out on the Athens Olympics and spiralling into self-loathing, depression, debt and dependency on a few long-suffering friends.

His rehabilitation is centred on re-entering the sport as an evangelist for clean racing, making him less than popular with some but earning the respect of others. For him it now becomes more about taking part than winning, but the old talent and determination are still there, and will out.

The book has many strengths apart from the doping exposé; giving an insight into the mentality of the sporting success, the physicality and excitement of road racing, the glory of winning, and when you can’t win, the importance even when losing of gaining the respect of your opponents and more crucially of yourself.

As an avid Tour de France follower (normally on TV but this year roadside on the Cote de Grinton Moor) I found nothing here to undermine my admiration of the riders and enjoyment of the spectacle. It was only a shame David Millar was omitted from the 2014 line up in this, his retirement year.

The Cobra – Frederick Forsyth

The drug-related death of one of the White House staff prompts the President to ask the question – can the cocaine industry be destroyed?

The report that comes back says maybe; but only if a certain Paul Devereaux is given free reign (and a budget of $2 billion) to plan and implement a strategy. It’s agreed and “The Cobra” builds his team of experts and armoury of ships, planes and weaponry.

When he is ready the Cobra strikes, and shipments of Columbian pure are intercepted with stealth, secrecy and scant regard for former niceties of international law – neatly sidestepped by re-defining cocaine trafficking as terrorism enabling the rules of warfare to apply instead.

The final stage of the plan, as supplies get scarce, injects the venom of misinformation into the paranoid underworld of the drugs barons, fomenting civil war and bloodletting.

The violation and violence gets increasingly difficult for the political masters in Washington and London to stomach; can they see it through or will they pull the plug on Devereaux? Can they trust the Cobra to deliver to their agenda, and are they powerless to prevent him achieving his own?

It is typical Forsyth; all high tech gadgets and high powered facts and figures that convince (rightly or wrongly) that he’s found stuff out and he’s letting you into the know. The narrative moves quickly and smoothly to a tense finale, but I find it difficult to identify with the protagonists, whose every plan runs smooth and whose tricks and cons play out to perfection.

My reality is somewhat different with cock-up and confusion reigning supreme, but some may be comforted by the fiction of masterful organisation portrayed here.

Unbroken – Laura Hillenbrand

Unbroken relates the extraordinary life story of Louis Zamperini, born early in the twentieth century in the USA of Italian stock. Any of several incidents in Zamperini’s life would be considered remarkable; that he went from on to another through a chain of, mainly, misfortune makes for a story barely believable.

His wild youth was diverted from delinquency by the discovery of a talent and love for running, which he pursued, becoming a top college athlete and a young pretender at the Berlin Olympic of 1936. Great things were expected at the Helsinki Games scheduled for 1940…

Helsinki of course never happened, with Europe plunged into war, and by 1942 Louis was in the US Air Force, risking life and limb as bombsight operator on a B24 in the Pacific. And then he was literally in the Pacific as the B24 ditched with only Louis and two crewmates alive to scramble aboard the inflatable life raft.

An incredible number of weeks later, after surviving storms, hunger, thirst, punctures, sharks and a strafing Japanese Zero fighter plane, they spot land in the form of a small island and start to row ashore.

Frying pans and fire have nothing on this – it is a Japanese base and what follows are two years of “life” as an unofficial prisoner of war (eventually declared dead by the US authorities). Moved from camp to camp, each more brutal than the last, he ends up in mainland Japan, and US air strikes soon make it clear the way the war is going. But is that good news or bad for the PoWs – will it result in liberation, execution or (an option unknown to them) nuclear incineration.

Hillenbrand tells the story brilliantly, her meticulous research producing a balanced mix of personal detail and historical context; eschewing sensation for clear reportage, which allows events to speak for themselves and so have even more impact. It is a good approach; Zamperini’s powers of survival need no exaggeration.

Following on from her earlier “Seabiscuit”, the excellence of the book is no surprise; the only surprise is that I had never heard of the remarkable Louis Zamperini before now.

The Redbreast – Jo Nesbo

Shooting an American secret service agent during a joint operation, however understandably, would not normally be a good career move for DS Harry Hole of the Oslo police; but as part of the smoothing over of the incident he finds himself now a DI seconded to the Norwegian intelligence service.

There he is assigned to monitoring neo-Nazi activity and filtering information referred from the regional police. Neither excites him until he reads of the discovery of unusual spent ammunition cartridges which, to him, point to the importation of a deadly rifle and a potential assassination threat.

While Hole follows his enquiries, the reader gets to follow an old man, unwell but on a mission, and with bitter memories of his time in World War II, when his country rapidly capitulated to Nazi Germany and when his countrymen split three ways: those who stood by in silence, those who resisted, and those who collaborated and joined the German army to fight the Russians.

Harry sees a link between the rifle, through the neo-Nazis, to the old wounds of Norway under Quisling, but it’s tenuous and obstacles appear within the forces of law and order – is this legitimate prioritisation or something more sinister?

The old soldier’s back story and Harry’s investigation unfold in tandem, pleasingly complex with blind alleys and red herrings, building tension as the truth dawns and time becomes of the essence.

This is my first Jo Nesbo / Harry Hole thriller and I was impressed with every aspect. Well written (and translated), well plotted with slowly developing reveals, unobtrusive glimpses of Hole’s personal life, and an interesting historical context. It is long (600+ pages) but reads less than that and is never dull.

I will be back for more.