Murder Most Fab

Julian Clary
2007

I admit it - I love Julian Clary. Or at least, I loved his Christmas pantos that were on when I was a kid. Although I knew I missed most of the jokes, they were still fun, and I was expecting much of the same here.

Johnny D's life just seems to happen; he stumbles onto a lucrative career as a male prostitute, and from there to being rich and famous, all seemingly without effort or intent - much like the way he kills.

Much of this book shocked me - it's been a while since I read anything so blatant - and towards the end I was starting to really dislike everyone involved, but as Johnny realised what Catherine had done I surprised myself by agreeing with him: I could see the humour in it all as well, even while thinking that it was horribly wrong.

Date Finished: 31/01/08
Year Ended: 4

The Athena Factor

Michael Gear
2005
ISBN 0-765-35023-8

DNA. Everyone who has seen a crime show knows how easy it is obtain. So why is there a group going to extraordinary - and well-publicised - lengths to gain the DNA of Hollywood's glittering elite? Oscar winner Sheela Marks is one of the targets, and it's her security team, Lymon Bridges and Christal Anaya who must find out why.

While bits of this story annoyed me - Anaya is so perfect that every man who sees her wants her - the story itself is compelling enough that I was happy to overlook the cliches. It moves along at a good pace, and has a good blend of humour and action. While there were long, detailed explanations about genetics, they were easy to absorb, and even made the story feel more movie-like.

The ending was like the rest of the book - realistic enough to be very slightly unsatisfactory, but more importantly, this book makes you think, and presents a worrying future.

Finished: 19/01/08
Year Total: 3

Trade Me: The Novel

Geoff Vause
2006
ISBN 978-0-473-11476-3

I thought this book would be a quick, fun read about something that has become part of kiwi life: buying and selling on Trade Me, with all that goes with it.

Unfortunately it started off with promise and started going downhill from there. I'm not sure if it's been written specifically for Aucklanders (of which I am not one), but I found things sliding from uncomfortable to silly to ludicrous.

Date Finished: 12/01/08
Year Total: 2

The Vampyre

Tom Holland
1995
ISBN 0-7515-1361-X

Byron, one of the romantic figures in history, plagued by rumours, supposition and his own moody temperament, has long been the main ingredient for writers of vampire fiction, and although I was expecting something equally as common and cliched here, I've read another book by Holland on vampires that was impressive, so I was more optimistic with this one.

Tracing Byron's first Tour of Europe, we discover how he comes to his death and rebirth, and his struggles with what he becomes. He becomes the Emperor of the vampires, ruling them from Venice while he wiles away lives and people, eventually giving in to his dissatisfaction with his life.

I found this book relatively tedious, and the fact that it's related as a story to another character, complete with extra quote marks, became irritating. The ending was no ending at all, and the story in general did nothing but make me wonder if Polidori was bad enough in real life to warrant the persecution from various authors.

I'm pleased I read this book, as average as it was, because it has underlined how much I like Holland's first book, but I don't think I'll read any more fictional books about Byron; it seems he's too obvious a subject.

Date Finished: 10/01/08
Year Total: 1