It’s difficult to know what to say about this book without saying too much. Ian was especially eager that I read it; he said it usually throws people for a loop, and he was curious to see what I thought of it. He also said that it was something of an experiment that hadn’t quite come off, but that he still liked it.

Now that I’ve read it, I have to go along with all of that. I liked it; it doesn’t quite work; the climax is rather a surprise; and it was worth my time anyway.

The main action takes place prior to World War II, and concerns a former RAF pilot who is hired, on the strength of his post-service flying experience in Canada, to fly an Oxford archaeologist and his daughter to Greenland. There the pilot will conduct an aerial photographic survey of the site, while the archaeologist will work on the ground. We follow the pilot as he prepares for the expedition (a quite dangerous one in those days) and then the expedition itself. There’s lots of the usual Shute storytelling detail, and a number of good characters; and as I say it all works out rather surprisingly.

I don’t want to say any more just now, because I like to keep the main page a spoiler-free zone; but if you’ve read the book we can discuss the details in the comments.

The June Issue of Ex Libris Reviews is now on-line. As usual, all of my reviews appeared here first; but the inimitable Craig Clarke managed to scrape up a little bit of time in the midst of new-fatherhood and sent us a review as well.

This has got to be the single most interesting article on Dan Brown and The Da Vinci Code that I’ve yet seen. There’s no there there, folks.

This is the third book in John Ringo’s “Council Wars” series; and though it has some good moments I’m afraid it was a disappointment overall. Plot-wise it carries on from the previous book in a rather obvious way, with few surprises or new ideas. Worse, Ringo has a taste for sex games and fantasies of a sort I really dislike, and after showing a certain amount of restraint in the previous book he lets himself go again here. I really don’t need to hear major characters lecturing on how to properly conduct dominant/submissive sex games, thank you very much. I suppose he’s entitled to his kinks, but I’d really prefer it if he refrained from sharing.

The fourth book is out in hardcover; I’ll take a look at it when it comes out in paperback, and we’ll see if it’s worth continuing with.

This is yet another of Lovesey’s Peter Diamond mysteries, and frankly it’s not up to par. The writing’s nice, and I enjoyed it well enough, but the Maguffin fails to convince.

The book begins with that hoary chestnut, a person waking up in the hospital with no memory of their past life. I can cope with that; if it’s hoary it’s also remarkably effective if properly used. In fact, I was with Lovesey right up to the moment where we find out why the individual has amnesia. I won’t go into details–it’s a good series, and if you like the others you might as well read this one as well–but the mechanism failed to satisfy. Diamond doesn’t seem entirely himself, either; I think he’s a bit restrained. But there are some good characters, and if the story isn’t up to snuff Lovesey’s story-telling almost makes up for it.

Ah, well, no one bats a thousand.

By rights, the next Nevil Shute I opened should have been An Old Captivity, as Ian‘s been practically with child to find out what I think of it. But I found Pastoral at the used bookstore last night, it’s been highly recommended, and anyway I started reading it in the bookstore while Jane was still browsing.

What we have here is nothing more nor less than a nice little wartime romance. Peter Marshall is a British bomber pilot, and a veteran of over 50 missions to Germany. Gervase Robertson is a WAAF officer. Both are stationed at Hartley air field. It is, of course, completely against regulations for the two of them to fall in love, but when did that stop anyone?

I’m told that many people find this to be their favorite of Shute’s novels; I can’t see that myself. It’s a plain, simple story, and moreover a story that’s undoubtedly been told hundreds of times over with respect to WWII alone. I’d have to say that I liked A Town Like Alice rather better. On the other hand, I did enjoy Pastoral rather thoroughly. If there are few surprises, Shute nevertheless spins his tale deftly; the characters are believable, the incidental details are charming, the climax is suitably climactic, boy gets girl and all is well (with the two of them, at least). The flying scenes are particularly well done, and there was one moment–one of the few real surprises in the book–that stole the breath from my lungs and brought tears to my eyes.

All in all, a good outing for Mr. Shute, and I wish there was rather more of it.