Category Archives: Books

Robert Shearman: The Chimes Of Midnight. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The dark reveals more about our psyche than most of us are comfortable revealing, and when it comes with the pressure of Time adding its weight to the moment, that when The Chimes Of Midnight strike what we see are the ghosts that never made it through the day but somehow remain with us, their presence, their actions, their feelings, the moment they left us in tears as their last breath is subdued, then echoed as the clock reminds us that another day is about to begin…the darkness always wins because midnight is a far more disturbing time for memories than its counterpart of midday.

Robert Shearman: The Chimes Of Midnight. Book Review. full post

(486 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

Ruth Parry: Five Shadows. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Almost 140 years on from the terrifying events in heart of London’s East End, the question that still haunts the soul of anyone with a conscious, anyone who seeks to understand how such evil could exist, is why? That why, that question in the shadows that dares raise its voice against the so called supremacy of the Victorian era, that highlights the sheer gall of the upper class as they waged war on the poor, the destitute, women, children, and all who didn’t fit into their image of a perfect gentile society, never becomes fully answered because everybody wants to know who, always the perpetrator and never the reason.

Ruth Parry: Five Shadows. Book Review. full post

(453 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Rob Grant And Andrew Marshall: Red Dwarf – Titan. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

For the fan of the cult television show Red Dwarf anything that comes along which further expands the absurdist universe can only be one of good fortune; and even with the passing of one of the original creators, Rob Grant, earlier on the year, the fact that a brand new novel baring his name, alongside Andrew Marshall, has been brought into existence is enough to have, as the great Ken Dodd would exclaim, “Is one that exercises the chuckle muscle.”

Rob Grant And Andrew Marshall: Red Dwarf – Titan. Book Review. full post

(431 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

James Patterson: Return Of The Spider. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

To predict the future, you must first understand the past. This balancing act of a person’s life where the onlooking stranger and interested voyeur can dip in and out and feel informed of the whys and wherefores is often misread and misconstrued, never content to learn everything that led to the moment where their prey fell in the eyes of the public, taking glee, being joyful in the way they perceive that the master has become nothing more than a whisper in the annals of their profession.

James Patterson: Return Of The Spider. Book Review. full post

(399 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Den Browne: Padlocks: Living With Sid And Nancy. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The term ‘Heroin chic’, popularised in the early 1990s by the world of fashion, provides a shameful reminder that at times we allow a glorification of some of the worst habits that a person can descend within, and whilst it often adds gravitas to a particular tale from an outsider’s point of view, it can but be galling to find that someone has fallen for a hero for more than their talent, that they openly admire their capacity for which ever drug of choice has led them to be remembered for.

Den Browne: Padlocks: Living With Sid And Nancy. Book Review. full post

(653 words, estimated 2:37 mins reading time)

Baz Warne: No grass Grows On A Busy Street. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Few bands are afforded the kind of renaissance that The Stranglers underwent when guitarist Baz Warne had second thoughts after being asked to make his way down south from his native northeast and show exactly what he could do, what he could bring to the group that been on a downward trend in the previous few years.

Baz Warne: No grass Grows On A Busy Street. Book Review. full post

(521 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

Mark Gatiss: Doctor Who – Last Of The Gaderene. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Mark Gatiss is one of a rare breed of people who seems to instinctively understand every incarnation of the Doctor to the point where it would surely be impossible for him to create an adversary who was not worthy to tackle the ever ticking and calculating brain of the traveller in time and space, and in the Last Of The Gaderene, that deeply rooted appreciative voice transfers itself neatly to that of the Third personification of the strange wanderer in the fourth dimension as they take on, not only The Master, but an alien entity driven by misfortune and which has turned to envy and desire, as they focus their attention on destroying humanity so they can colonise the planet and restore life to their dying civilisation.

Mark Gatiss: Doctor Who – Last Of The Gaderene. Book Review. full post

(472 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Various Writers: The End Of The World As We Know It. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There are books that perhaps define a generation with a greater sense of unfathomable fear than others; the late Victorian age for example, obsessed with standards and the in-built contempt for the so-called lower orders saw disease and unregulated, unprotected sex as the reason why civilisation would eventually fail and rot, and which they arguably saw in the Gothic spine tingling and ungodly, to their mind, Dracula.

Various Writers: The End Of The World As We Know It. Book Review. full post

(545 words, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Robert Harris: Act Of Oblivion. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9.5/10

If there is one thing you can guarantee upon in life is that the writer Robert Harris will deliver a tale of such epic proportions that it becomes a true definition of the phrase, unputdownable; and in the post English Civil War/ War Of The Three Kingdoms set novel, Act Of Oblivion, that sharpness of writing, the detail of research, the sense of pacing, all lead to a conclusion that this 2022 book is as exciting, as dedicated to the reader as Fatherland 30 years beforehand, Munich, or even the factual Selling Hitler: The Story of the Hitler Diaries, and as the tale of regicides Colonel Edward Whalley and Colonel William Goffe turn from established fact to possible example of their final endings, the reader cannot but help be immediately satisfied with the explanation and the hunt that has been caused by the protagonist Richard Naylor.

Robert Harris: Act Of Oblivion. Book Review. full post

(548 words, 1 image, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

Michael Troughton: Patrick Troughton: The Biography (Anniversary Edition: 2015). Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

For many Patrick Troughton will always be remembered as the second actor to take up the role of the second incarnation of The Doctor from the long running British science fiction serial, Doctor Who, for a multitude he will be fondly thought of as Father Brennan, the man who warned Gregory Peck’s Robert Thorn that his son, Damien was the Antichrist in The Omen, and a whole host, an absolute embarrassment of riches of roles he was able to portray with a searing honesty in television, film, theatre, and radio; but to Michael Troughton, himself an actor of excellent repute, he was always first and foremost, a dad.

Michael Troughton: Patrick Troughton: The Biography (Anniversary Edition: 2015). Book Review. full post

(597 words, 1 image, estimated 2:23 mins reading time)