I have read most of the other books Parsons has written and consider myself a fan, so I was looking forward to this, and was not disappointed. The crime story is pacey and intriguing, centering on a group of former public schoolboys who are being murdered in a gruesome but very efficient way. It ...
I have issues with this book. The plot, characters etc are all fine. It's an engaging story. However, I take issue with the voice of the narrator. As the story unfolds, the protagonist is described in some detail. You get a feel for him, and what kind of person he might be. In contrast, the voice...
I really enjoyed this, yes the main character Alfie is not all that likable at times but hey who is? Are we not all a bit like Alfie essentially good but a little confused at times.This is a touching story of love, connection and what happens when we get a bit stuck for a while along the way. Alf...
Man and BoyThe book takes place in the late 90’s in London, England. A few months before his 30th birthday, Harry was living the American dream. He had a beautiful wife named Gina, a luxurious red MGF sports car that average men dreamt of having, he was a successful TV producer and had his own Li...
Apa sesungguhnya arti pernikahan bagi masyarakat modern abad ini? Apakah nilai-nilai yang dianut sekarang tentang pernikahan masih sama dengan dua puluh atau tiga puluh tahun lalu tatkala lembaga agung ini benar-benar dihormati dan dipelihara keutuhannya hingga maut memisahkan? Benarkah pola hidu...
Written to the standard Tony Parsons formula - disappointing.I’m not sure why I keep reading Tony Parsons’ books. The two I’ve read in the past, Man and Boy and One For My Baby, haven’t impressed me at all. Part of the problem is that he only seems to do one set of characters: a younger generatio...
The forest at the top of London. We were in a meadow high on the Heath and my daughter and my dog seemed giddy with all the sunlight, fresh air and freedom. All around us were trees that still clung to the last of the red and gold leaves of autumn. Beyond them you could see the city from Canary W...
She was a blonde, pretty girl with a good figure. Not so long ago she’d been much prettier, but the heroin had taken the edge off her looks. Her skin beneath the makeup now lacked bloom, and there were shadows under her eyes. Still, she attracted her share of the blokes who flocked to the Cross f...
Her two front teeth were both gone now. The wonky one had come out in her sandwich and the one next to it had quickly come out in sympathy. It must have been looser than she knew when she was focusing all her attention on the wonky one. So now when she smiled the milk teeth that remained at the s...
I stared at the open door until Scout appeared. She hovered there uncertainly for a moment, wearing her school uniform but matched with her favourite trainers, the ones with the lights in the heels that flashed when she moved. They sparkled green and blue in the hospital gloom. She walked to the ...
Where the light blue of the sky met the darker blue of the sea, our eyes strained for sight of a ship. Every man did it. You might be fishing for your dinner. You might be picking fruit. You might be laying with your wife under the shade of a palm tree, or blind drunk with your mates on William M...
It was early in the evening but the heat was sticking to the city and I was soaked in sweat by the time I climbed the stairs to the top floor of West End Central. Major Incident Room One was already crowded. DCI Whitestone was deep in conversation with our boss, DCS Swire, the Chief Super, as the...
The old man lay flat on his back wearing a T-shirt and swimming trunks, lifting his head as the acupuncturist prepared the needles. The table he was lying on took up most of the little room, and Bill pressed himself flat against the wall, smiling at the worried look on his father’s face. ‘I’m not...
It was as unfeasibly smooth and green as a billiard table, my dream field, and as I jogged across it I was aware of the crowd watching me. Getting excited, they were, as if they knew what was coming before I did. I smiled to myself, because suddenly I knew too, and then I was in the air and upsid...
Five dots, arranged like the face of a dice on the skin between his thumbs and index fingers. I have heard a dozen different interpretations of what the quincunx means but the one I always believed was that it represents one lonely human soul, surrounded by four walls. The tattoos meant that the ...
We were having a late breakfast in Smiths of Smithfield, sitting in one of the window seats, Scout focusing on her drawing while I let my porridge get cold as I watched the action across the street. Smithfield meat market was the scene of a murder investigation. The mortuary van had come and gone...