Interact: Simon Humphrey's Reviews

Possibly the greatest book ever written! Well, the greatest I've ever read at any rate. You really can believe the author spent 5 years writing this - it's so big in scale & depth, so rich in character & detail - it's staggering how well composed this is. If you're a Dennis Lehane fan be prepared...

One of the strongest of the Bond books & it pains me to say it but it's far better than the movie. It's exciting, intruiging, the prose is superb & it includes so many great sequences that weren't included in the film version but later appeared in other Bond movies (the shark scenes in For Your...

Okay, so the movie wasn't the best. It wasn't as bad as what it was made out to be, but it wasn't the best. The book however is fantastic & every bit as good as it's predecessor Get Shorty. Leonard's books must be about 90% dialogue & the dialogue is sharper than any other writer out there. The...

Already this book is looking to me to be a classic. Informative, funny & kick-ass. Much like Mr Seagal himself! If you have any passing interest in the man, his films, or just action cinema in general this is a must read.

This series gets better with each addition & Dead Man's Footsteps is without doubt Peter James's most ambitious yet, weaving at least half a dozen separate storylines together & winding them all up in a thrilling finale. If you're a fan of the series you don't really need a recommendation to read...

Not quite as good as Gross's very solid debut book The Blue Zone but definitely better than anything James Patterson has written/put his name to of late. I think maybe being a twenty-something(ish) guy it was easier getting behind a central character who was in her 20's, but with this one I found...

The follow-up to my fave book of all time & absolutely no diminish in the quality, despite 27-years between the two books. Like the original Forever War, this may have the guise of a sciene fiction novel (& a good one at that) but it's really a human drama about love, loss & the nature of...

Learn what a clown's pie, a Millenium Falcon, a BOBFOC, a set of leasure facilities & the vinegar strokes are from this admitedly quite immature but very smart & clever (& incredibly hilarious) cult book. Even if you're not a Viz fan, if you like clever humour & wordplay this is a great read - &...

This is the most moving & oddly uplifting book I've ever read. Not the kind of book I would normaly read but the recommendation on the cover from Richard Dreyfuss sold it to me. The shocking true story of a young man sent to Texas's Death Row for a murder the police knew he had nothing to do with...

Throwing up on the director of Top Gun, being out-drunk by Bob Hoskins, fist fights with Kurt Russell & Patrick Swayze (whilst wearing a dress), urinating in a famous director's personal coffee machine - these are just a few highlights from the amazingly candid life story of an underrated actor &...

Although this is certainly a fun, well ploted, wise-cracking detective story like all of Chandler's books, it must be said it's age does show because of the not-so-subtle & derogatory racial depictions that would never be allowed in a modern book. Wether that's deliberate & Chandler wants to show...

A very racy & very creepy ghost story from the author of the fantastic I Am Legend. With all of Matheson's books the stories, whilst always high concept, are not the centre of the books - they're all about how the situations afect the characters. This is possibly his riskiest/raciest book & very...

The new film version? Pah! Even the cheesy old Charlton Heston version in the 70's was better! You'd never think it from watching the film but this story is one of the most intelligent books written (or at least that I've read). More the story of one man's isolation & his inevitable realisation...

This is a totally eye-opening account of African cival war & genocide, told by a journalist in Angola in the 70's as Portugese rule ended & the newly independant country decended into chaos. If you're interested in politics, journalism or humanity this is a must-read book.

I honestly thought Sakey would never be able to top his excellent debut 'The Blade Itself' but he's managed to do so straight away. This 2nd novel (a stand alone story from the 1st) is so rich in atmosphere & character & so gripping that it makes you realise how pedestrian a lot of established...

Without doubt the best debut crime novel of the past decade. This a gritty, hard-edged thriller every bit as intelligent & character rich as the best Dennis Lehane novels & as gripping as the best John Grisham page-turners. It's an amazing first-time effort by an author who's fast becoming the...

A fantastic murder mystery/police thriller set in dreary old Brighton! If you know the city you'll find these books a cool read because you know all the locations, & if you don't know the city you'll still find these highly enjoyable. The follow up's (Looking Good Dead, Not Dead Enough & Dead...

An absolutely brilliant book that is still thrilling even if you've already seen the movie. The film may have been amazing but there were so many great action scenes it cut out & it totally changed the tone of the story & the characters & lost a lot of the intelligence. If you've ever meant to...

This is one of the many 'intelligent' works of literature I've bought in an attempt to broaden my horizons & is one of the few that I've actually bothered finishing. It's an absorbing & highly compelling indictment of Stalinist Russia that led to the author being exiled from his home country for...

If you read the opening line of this book & aren't immediately disgusted & shocked then I wouldn't read it any further (it gets even more disgusting - hey, the main character is the Devil) - but if you're not easily shocked & like your books intelligent, daring & original then this is a must....

A totally gripping, constrantly twisting page-turner that keeps you changing your opinion from one chapter to the next. One chapter you'll think the woman is a damsel in distress, the next you'll be convinced she's a devious femme-fatale - & you'll keep changing your mind from one chapter to the...

A very funny satirical book from comedian & politcal activist Mark Thomas that looks at the illegal arms trade & shows how unbelievably two-faced our government is when it comes to selling arms abroad. There's facts in here that will anger any tax paying citizen, as well as laughs on every page....

The book that 'inspired' George Orwell's classic novel 1984 (I think he did begrudgingly acknowledge at some point that he ripped this book off) & is the diffinitive work of fiction about a Utopian society & the nature of what it means to be human. If you're studying English Lit this would be a...

"She wore a long pair of Jade earrings. They were nice earrings that had probably cost a couple of hundred dollars. She wasn't wearing anything else." One of many great lines from an absolutely classic crime thriller from the 1930's that still hasn't aged. Very atmospheric & great fun, if you're...

Ever read a crime book set in Mongolia? Nope, neither had I until this came along but now I can't wait for more. Once you get used to the unusual names this is a great mystery/crime thriller with plenty of grisly murders & plot twists - & the follow-up 'The Adversary' is even better.

Simply my favourite book ever. Even though this is science fiction & I don't like science fiction this is an amazing book, telling the story of a future Earth at struggling to cope with an expensive war. It centre's around students conscripted to be soldiers travelling millions of light years...

A very touching book from someone who was a childhood hero of mine, charting his rise to fame, his alcoholism & the discovery of his Parkinson's disease. Despite having an affliction that controls his life & would make most people incredibly bitter, he says in this he is far better off for it...

The first in a series of eight books I read at first school many years ago. They're about a young orphan who gets taught magic & fights dark forces, & they're written by a female Scottish author. Hmm, sounds strangely familiar... These were here a long time before that other series of familiar...

How could anyone give less than full marks to possibly the funniest book ever written. Well, complied - it all comes from the webiste chucknorrisfacts.com, which has provided the world with great insight into the world's hardest man, such as 'Chuck Norris counted to inifinity. Twice.' and 'Chuck...

THE BEST CRIME BOOK EVER! Dennis Lehane is seriously the best author in the genre & this is his finest moment. I'd never been interested in reading any of his stuff but I saw the trailer for the new movie version of this & thought that looked excellent so I figured I'd give this a try before the...

This is the most moving & oddly uplifting book I've ever read. Not the kind of book I would normaly read but the recommendation on the cover from Richard Dreyfuss sold it to me. The shocking true story of a young man sent to Texas's Death Row for a murder the police knew he had nothing to do with...