The Runaway Horses
Joyce Kotzè (Jonathan Ball Publishers)
***
Book buff
An ambitious tale of two branches of a family, one Boer, one Brit, during the turn of the last century. The novel is generous at 570 pages, and the cast large, with various subplots of love and loss, ecstasy and heartbreak woven into the canvas of the Anglo-Boer War. While action sequences are initially well handled, key events towards the end occur off-page, merely surfacing in the dialogue, while others rush by at unconvincing speed. Not a book for the literati, but certainly recommended for people who love a good escapist read.
- Ken Barris @kenbarris
Motive
Jonathan Kellerman (Headline)
****
Book thrill
A cold case/MasterChef mash-up, if you can imagine such a thing. Like your mother’s cooking, the comfortably predictable relationship between psychologist Alex Delaware and his BFF, gay detective Milo Sturgis, feels like home. When a businesswoman is executed, the bizarre tableau of a perfectly-laid table at her home links back to an unsolved murder that’s been annoying Sturgis. When more crime scenes with dinner-for-two set-ups start appearing, Delaware and Sturgis must track down a manipulative and cunning murderer. Think Gordon Ramsey, coming at you with a very sharp knife.
- Russell Clarke @russrussy
Touch
Claire North (Little Brown)
****
Book thrill
A very modern ghost story – as if Lauren Beukes created a mash-up of Freaky Friday and The Exorcist. The premise is that ghosts can pass to new bodies by simply touching them, and once they’ve taken up residence, can manipulate their host no end. The possibilities are infinite, and North deserves praise for not over-egging the pudding. Her story, an often terrifying cat-and-mouth chase that takes centuries to play out, but at breathless pace, is lean, forceful and free of flab.
- Bruce Dennill @BroosDennill
I’m Your Man: The life of Leonard Cohen
Sylvie Simmons (Vintage)
*****
Book buff
This will in all probability become the definitive Cohen biography. Meticulously researched, the book presents engaging pictures of Cohen as poet, novelist, song-writer, musician, philosopher and Jew. It explores deeply the oddities, insecurities, failures and betrayals from which the genius of its subject springs. In 2014, to celebrate his 80th birthday, Cohen released the album Popular Problems. “You Got Me Singing” – laced with typical Cohenesque spiritual/sexual paradoxical innuendo – is my favourite track. This book will have you singing, too.
- Tinyiko Maluleka @ProfTinyiko
Book details
- The Runaway Horses by Joyce Kotze
EAN: 9781868426393
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- Motive by Jonathan Kellerman
EAN: 9781472206435
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- Touch by Claire North
EAN: 9780356504582
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- I’m Your Man: The life of Leonard Cohen by Sylvie Simmons
EAN: 9780099549321
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