Category: Book Reviews

KokkieH Reviews The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

The Shining Girls by South African author Lauren Beukes revolves around Harper Curtis, a drifter in Chicago’s Hooverville in 1931. Harper is on the run after killing a man when he finds the key to The House. He discovers that the house allows him to step into other times and in the bedroom upstairs there are names written on the wall; names of girls that he stalks through time, his shining girls.

In 1989 one of his victims, Kirby Mazrachi, survives and with the help of Dan Velasquez, a burned-out homicide reported who had covered her case, starts to investigate a number of brutal murders scattered through the decades, convinced that they are somehow connected to the attempt on her life. Continue reading “KokkieH Reviews The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes” →

KokkieH Reviews Spud – Exit, Pursued by a Bear by John van de Ruit

Spud - Exit, Pursued by a Bear cover — Publisher: penguinbooks.co.za

Spud – Exit, Pursued by a Bear is the fourth and final installment in John van de Ruit’s highly successful (at least in South Africa) Spud-series chronicling the adventures of one self-conscious teenager as he navigates the perils of boarding school.

For those of you unfamiliar with the series, John “Spud” Milton is a South African boy from a middle class family in the suburbs of Pietermaritzburg. He wins a scholarship to attend Michaelhouse, a prestige boarding school left over from the days of British colonialism. Spud differs from the other boys in the school as his parents aren’t wealthy (or classy) and when the first novel starts he also hasn’t yet hit puberty. And he keeps a journal. In fact, that’s what we get to read, as the novels are written in the style of Spud’s personal journal, one novel for each year in the school. Continue reading “KokkieH Reviews Spud – Exit, Pursued by a Bear by John van de Ruit” →

KokkieH Reviews Side Jobs – Stories From The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

I’ve been wanting to read Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files for a while now but have been unable to get hold of Storm Front, the first book in the series. I’m not willing to start a series anywhere else as at the first book, but I decided to compromise when I spotted Side Jobs, a collection of short stories from the Dresden universe.

Side Jobs by Jim Butcher — Cover illustration by Chris McGrath
Publisher: http://www.orbitbooks.net

For those of you who have never heard of Harry Dresden (philistines!), he is a wizard. He is also a private investigator. And he lives in modern-day Chicago. So, we have a wizard/PI in Chicago (who is also a bit of a chauvinist), chasing down vampires, ghouls, faeries, and the like. He also catches regular bad guys, so he supplements his magic spells with a revolver. He has a talking skull called Bob. He has a giant dog called Mouse. He has a half-brother who’s a…no, that might be a spoiler. Continue reading “KokkieH Reviews Side Jobs – Stories From The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher” →

KokkieH Reviews The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King

Third time’s the charm, it seems, at least as far as Stephen King is concerned. The first book of his I read was The Talisman, back in college. It didn’t really do it for me and I mainly finished it because, as previously mentioned, I’m a bit obsessive-compulsive when it gets to books. Earlier this year I read Firestarter. It was okay, but way too easy to put down. I was ready to give up on Mr King, when I came across the brand new reprint of his 1988 (when I was in the first grade) novel, The Eyes of the Dragon.

Feel free to read on without fear of spoilers

KokkieH Reviews Secrets of Inferno – In the Footsteps of Dante and Dan Brown by Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer

Review based on free ebook received from the publisher (and in fact my first-ever read-to-review).

Secret of Inferno cover — Jacket design by Barbara Aronica-Buck
Copyright © 2013 by Squibnocket Partners LLC
Used with permission

Secrets of Inferno is a reader’s guide to the journey Dan Brown took us all on in Inferno. The book gives readers the “back story” on particular plot points, Dante references, symbols, historical events, philosophy, art, music, and architectural works that Brown wrapped into his story. It is also an intellectually enriching, intriguing, fresh and fun look at Dante, the Divine Comedy, the world of ideas circulating in Florence on the cusp of the Renaissance, and the relevance of those ideas to our lives and our world today. In addition, the book turns to some of the leading experts in their field to address some of Inferno’s more provocative notions, including transhumanism and population control. – Book description from publisher’s website.

Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer have been unearthing the facts behind Dan Brown’s fiction since 2004 when their first book in the Secrets-series, Secrets of the Code, spent six months on the New York Times bestseller list. I have not read any of their previous offerings, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading Secrets of Inferno in which they analyse Dan Brown’s Inferno (read my review of that novel here) which came out in May of this year. Click here to read more. As it’s non-fiction you don’t have to worry about spoilers