Bagley, Desmond. The Snow Tiger. House of Strauss: London. 2000. (First printed in 1975).
After the fiascoed reading of the previous book, I tried to go around a little more carefully to
select my book. Desmond Bagley...a vivid picture of a book with an airman in flapping cap came to my mind, though I had forgotten the name. I decided to go in for the book 'The Snow Tiger' and am I glad!
The simple storyline...alternating between a Commission enquiring into an avalanche and the role of a mining company there...the good at heart Ballard, the snow expert Macgill and the town's characters were an enjoyable ensemble. An avalanche is sommething that I've only seen in a National Geographic telecast and now what goes on when the avalanche is peopled is something that I've never seen or read anywhere. I enjoyed the simple lines of the story though there were plenty of opportunities to dramatise it and Bagley did not. The story was entirely credible although to most readers like me, the setting and ambience are of another country, another clime and another people.
Bagley, you charmed me. Thank you.
( Bagley, born in 1923, wrote for two decades and his novels won great acclaim as good adventure novels).
Friday, November 6, 2009
Last Man Standing
David Baladacci. Last Man Standing
David Baladacci is no doubt a good story teller...but, the slow, painstaking unravelling of a mystery by a policeman who finds himself being the only one who has escaped from an ambush by a group of druglords made unbelievable reading. All right, my understanding of the underworld is limited to my reads about their devious plans etc, but honestly, the scenario here was totally so very cinematic, like a 70s Bollywood and Tollywood movie of a gangster's den doing unbelievable acts of torture and revenge. It appeared as if there Baladacci intended his story for effect rather than for authenticity. Gwen, her farm, her husband, their trusted secretary, the kidnapping for revenge...all carried the sense of boredom that comes with an unconvincing setting. Not impressed at all.
David Baladacci is no doubt a good story teller...but, the slow, painstaking unravelling of a mystery by a policeman who finds himself being the only one who has escaped from an ambush by a group of druglords made unbelievable reading. All right, my understanding of the underworld is limited to my reads about their devious plans etc, but honestly, the scenario here was totally so very cinematic, like a 70s Bollywood and Tollywood movie of a gangster's den doing unbelievable acts of torture and revenge. It appeared as if there Baladacci intended his story for effect rather than for authenticity. Gwen, her farm, her husband, their trusted secretary, the kidnapping for revenge...all carried the sense of boredom that comes with an unconvincing setting. Not impressed at all.
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