Chuckles Mini Reviews Catchup

I review everything I read, on my blog and on Goodreads. Most reviews are of a decent length but sometimes you don't have much to say about the book because of its length or you DNFed it or various other reasons. In cases like that it makes sense to write a few mini reviews in one post and clear them out your way! So lets catch up with some reviews from July and August!

1) Charles Pero-Waxing Deadly 
As the 10th Annual Million Dollar Malibu Tequila Surf Off nears, Malibu is in a state of panic and it’s up to Dr. Jennifer Ferguson, head of the privately-funded Shark Understanding and Awareness Center (SUAC) to put their minds at ease. With a NAVY Seal’s background, a Ph.D. and a life spent studying the feeding behavior of sharks, Jennifer struggles to prove the attacks are isolated – and unrelated. Surf shop owner and local legend Slade Kane isn’t so sure. He’s been surfing for four decades and knows a pattern when he sees one, even without all of Jennifer’s fancy credentials. When he’s approached by the paparazzo who took the shark-attack picture, the two agree. Something’s fishy in Malibu. And it’s twice as big, twice as aggressive, and twice as deadly as anything they’ve ever seen before.

This book might well have been a decent read. I liked the descriptions of the shark attack scenes which showed tension and it was easy to hope that the people involved were not going to become victims. It was well enough written and flowed easily. In fact, in that opening chapter I actually had high hopes that I was going to like it. I was also interested in two of the main characters Slade, the surf shop owner and Tim, the coastguard man. I thought that it would be interesting to read more about both of them. However it was all ruined by SUAC and the dreadful employees involved in it especially Jennifer. 

Jennifer failed her SEAL training so she is forever spouting bitterness about that, though of course it was not her fault. She has a B list actor boyfriend who she picked out because, in her words, he didn't have much of a brain. She is vain, arrogant, rude, spiteful, bitchy, self obsessed, and disrespectful. She blames shark victims for their own attacks, she undermines local law enforcement, she refuses to cooperate with the Coastguard. She has no people skills and the way she talks to a victim's girlfriend was disgusting. As she talks about the boy's death, she asks if anything similar happened before. No Jennifer it's unlikely that he had his limbs bitten off and bled to death in a previous incident, something the girlfriend sarkily mentions. Idiot. As an investigator she is dreadful, asking the dumbest questions, missing vital evidence and deciding before the investigation begins that she has all the answers. Jennifer hates Tim because at a press conference he politely corrected her once and now she has a vendetta against him. Frankly, she is one of the worst female characters I've ever seen, caring more about self publicity and looking good on camera than actually doing a good job. I DNFed this book because I couldn't stomach any more of her.

Read August 2019
DNF 1 star.

2) Norman Tebbit-Upwardly Mobile
As well as providing a fascinating insight into his early life in a working-class suburb of North London and his former career as an airline pilot, Tebbit also gives a definitive account of the vital role he played in Mrs Thatcher's government with his tough trade union reforms and his masterminding of the Conservatives' 1987 General Election campaign. His reputation as 'the best body-puncher in British Politics' is confirmed.

One of the things about political memoirs which can be a bit dull is the early childhood and family history of the MP in question. In this case, I actually found it interesting to find out about his difficult upbringing, his Air Force training and career as a commercial pilot with BOAC. He also gives details about his wife's battles with post natal depression which led to other mental health breakdowns, a subject I can relate to. One thing that shines through in this book is the utter love and adoration that Norman has for Margaret. You can feel his utter despair as he tries to get her the medical help she needs. I also found it interesting to read about their financial struggle when Norman has to give up his pilot career for his political career and now much MPs struggled to make ends meet in the 70's and 80's, unlike the gravy train that appears to be in operation now.

I always enjoy reading about how the political career developed, from hopeful candidate to first electoral victory, becoming a backbencher as opposition and then government, being picked to be a Minister and which departments they worked in. I like seeing who they liked, who they fought with, and seeing the political events of the day from their perspective which can often be different from your own. In this case I got a good insight into the Thatcher government and giving council tenants the right to buy their home. There was the trade union battles with Labour and Conservative governments, the fall of Heath and the rise of Thatcher, the miners strikes, the Falklands War, the Cecil Parkinson affair, the devolution campaigns, the General elections of 1979, 1983 amd 1987. Tebbit is brutal in his opinions of fellow MPs and union officials. I was also interested in the departments he worked in and the legislation he brought in ie YTS, the 1982 Employment Act, stopping the unions from keeping people out of jobs unless they joined the union etc. 

However, it was the section dealing with the Brighton Bombing that was most shocking. For those unaware, in 1984 IRA terrorists tried to blow up the hotel that was hosting the Conservative Party Conference, killing five people and injuring dozens, in a failed attempt to kill Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. I remember vividly watching as Tebbit and his wife were dug out of the rubble. Tebbit had injuries that included skin ripped off shoulder to ankle on his left side, gaping wound over left hip and abdomon exposing pelvic bone which had been partially sliced off, severed nerve, countless broken bones. His wife was paralysed permanantly, the poor woman. His description of the bomb, the aftermath and the hospital treatment was shocking. Basically it did bring his career to a premature end. Overall I really enjoyed reading this memoir.

Read July 2019
4 stars.

3) Diana E Anderson-War (Premonitions #2)
Denise Armstrong and her family and friends were prepared to survive the economic collapse of the United States. Their preparations got them through a brutal winter and an attack by renegade thugs. Will their preparations help them survive the inevitable war that has come to the United States?  

This is the second and final book in this short apocalypse series and I enjoyed it. After having nightmares about an EMP wiping out their systems, Denise and the people at the farm decide to take precautions and protect what they can. They are also trying to add extra protection to the farm and their people, while trying to scavenge supplies they might need if they are taking in more people. The farm kids want to be trained as a home guard militia so they can contribute something constructive. An EMP does hit, targeting the military base at Fort Bragg. The General had already evacuated most of his people and equipment and they set off to the area around the farm where they can set up a new base at the airport and school, and start repairing nearby houses with help from the farm people to get civilians back into a new community. But with a sleeper cell working in the area and a possible traitor at the base, things could go south in a hurry.

This two book series focuses on building a community of friends in a disaster. The first book focused a lot on preparation as the economic collapse picked up speed. We saw the disaster unfold and saw the farm becoming a safe community, while facing the challenges of raiders and supplies. In this book we see the farm expanding as military allies come to the area. I enjoyed seeing the changes to the area and the emotional drama of the characters as good and bad things happened around them. These apocalypse authors are also not afraid to kill off a popular character, which I did curse the author for doing in this book! My only complaint is that we never got to see the war outside of the town. We hear snippets about the mad soldier in charge of the rebel forces and what he is doing to the innocent from afar but we don't see him and we are only told of his downfall in a second hand conversation so the book did fizzle out a bit. This series needed to be a trilogy to get a showdown between the good and bad guys! Although I didn't get that, I did like the books.

Read July 2019
4 stars.