A star is born! Robert Ford’s stunning dystopic novel seems to me to sit right up there with Orwell’s 1984, Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Huxley’s Brave New World. It’s packed with ingenious wit, derisive logic and beautiful turns of phrase on every page. The King Of Spain is nothing short of a tour de force.
By turns funny (mostly) touching (often) and whimsical (quite enough, thank you), like all the best stories of this genre, The King of Spain succeeds because it strikes a persuasive chord of there-but-for-the-grace-of-God-go-we with the reader – it could just happen like this.
Considering this is a debut novel, the author seemed in complete control and was able to captivate my interest with aplomb. It's got the lot, strong character definition with a rollercoaster story line – I can’t wait for the next instalment from this talented writer.
Written by an insider, the book’s popularity is threatening to turn Martyn Forrester into the media’s newest advertising pundit.
Highly entertaining.
A strange but oddly captivating collection of stories. In these 11 tales nature is randomly cruel, bloodshed and death are omnipresent. Freddi’s remarkable achievement is to convey the personalities of the various creatures in an unsentimental, straightforward manner ... an author to watch.
A very good book. Pork is not fantasy. It is deadly realistic … Half the skill and most of the entertainment of this book is that its characters are sharply drawn personalities. That this book is not oppressively morbid is its triumph…such humor, such tiny, sharply etched gestures of caring, of hope, of sweet premeditation, assure the reader that, though death may rule at its parameters, life after all is an opportunity, and each being has some say in how might be lived.
Washington Post
Cris Freddi, a talented and faintly menacing young writer, terrorized me with this story and even brought a drop of glycerine to the eye. Something oddball but something wondrously strange.
Fascinating as someone else’s nightmare… Freddi’s literary debut is wondrous in its own way, and affectingly terrifying, and above all, strange. Do not read it while eating dinner.
These stories are cleverly imagined and beautifully realized…it is impossible not to admire the writer’s talent. Even readers immune to the allure of Watership Down and Jonathan Livingstone Seagull will be impressed by the skill reflected in these brilliant, unsentimental tales.
Those who are tired of those namby-pamby fairy tale animal stories with consistently unrealistic happy endings should sneak Cris Freddi’s new book into their home libraries… Perhaps if you had a big pot wherein you could melt together some Beatrix Potter and some Roald Dahl, with a little Alfred Hitchcock, you might brew up something similar to a Freddi story. Life and death.
What a strange, interesting book this is. We see that these animals aren’t bedtime companions, but beings who kill – and not always for food…Pork plays with ways of narration, from simple adventure stories to a mystery tale. In “Redge,” an ageing bat meets an old friend Kayak the otter, and the two exchange banter in one of the funniest sections of the book. But even here, the writer tricks us, with the humor suddenly showing its deadly side. There’s plenty to wonder at here.
Arek now shares his testimony and does everything he can to counter assertions that the Holocaust was just a ‘detail of history’.
I loved this book ... I would recommend this book to anyone for its inspiration as well as its personal chronicle of this important event that must not be forgotten.
Don’t wait to be a victim of crime. Do yourself a favour – read this book.
Highly practical, logical and useful suggestions and recommendations on how to avoid being a victim. I have no second thoughts whatsoever to recommend it to you.
The definitive biography
Kelly was a living legend, but Lacey makes her real without really diminishing her effect and effectiveness … Lacey does more than recite known facts. He digs deeper, and his picture is one far more realistic than the impossibly wholesome depiction than Hollywood wanted us to accept
A definitive biography with a shrewd final verdict.
Highly readable
Seductive
A serious work that…is rich in anecdote yet captures the broad story
Lacey sets forth a believable analysis of Kelly’s libertine side and of her onscreen persona.
Revealing…backed up by extensive research
Convincing
Daring and well written … it would be criminal not to read it.
My appreciation for John Lavan's poetry began on Twitter. He has a talent for allowing himself to be vulnerable in his writing which touches others deeply. I haven't read his book yet, but I've read enough of his work to be eager to dig into this work when I need a lift, a thought, or a smile.
The message from a poet’s heart open to the reader. This is a fine example of poetry with a distinctive but subtle messages of being aware of life as he knows it to be. His words come at you like a conversation among family and friends..
Moving, affecting, exciting
£2 million bank robbery. Technical decoding passages lead up to a fast finish. Told with plenty of imagination and neo-Graham Greene-ish atmosphere.
The Observer
What makes Bellman and True unusual are its accoutrements: the scientist’s strange son; the sophisticated dialogue; the touch of poetry in the scientist’s mind; and Lowden’s assured writing. This bank caper is as cliff-hanging an episode as anybody is going to read this year.
One of the most gratifying reading experiences I’ve had lately. The book is briskly paced, deftly executed, with brilliant dialog and a well-researched and richly detailed high-tech bank heist at its core. But what makes it truly unforgettable is the writing, which accomplishes its effects not with surface pyrotechnics but “writing from the inside”.
A quite remarkable story … Often sad, sometimes funny, and always moving, Bob portrays an inspirational story with genuine interest and wit, showing how a teacher can learn from his pupils, whilst provoking general thoughts of human potential both fulfilled and unfulfilled.
Superstitious atheists will find this book toxic. Jonathan Margolis clearly spooked himself writing it and I got an attack of the creeps one night just reading it.
Uri’s ability to perform amazing feats of mental wizardry is known the world over…Uri is not a magician. He is using capabilities that we all have and can develop with exercise and practice.
Apollo 14 Astronaut and sixth man to walk on the moon
I think Uri is a magician, but I don’t particularly believe that he is using trickery. I believe there are psychic abilities. They don’t accord with any science we have at the moment, but maybe some future science will back them up with theories.
Professor of Physics, University of Cambridge, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics, 1973
Uri bent a spoon for me. The first time he did, I thought there must be a trick. The second time I was stunned – completely, completely stunned and amazed. It just bent in my hand. I’ve never seen anything like it. It takes a lot to impress me. Uri Geller is for real and anyone who doesn’t recognise that is either deluding himself, or he is a very sad person.
Geller has bent my ring in the palm of my hand without ever touching it. Personally, I have no scientific explanation for the phenomenon.
I came to this book a rationalist and a skeptic. Yet, open-mindedness requires me to report that Jonathan Margolis’ carefully researched, scrupulously detailed and even-handed exploration of Uri Geller’s paranormal capacities suggests some of our current scientific understandings will need radical revision in the next century.
A brilliant book – nine out of ten.
A fascinating, unjaded, open-minded account of a great modern puzzle.
An even-handed and assiduously researched work. . . something close to a definitive assessment.
A saucy romp.
I almost had to read this book with my eyes shut, it’s so naughty … but so nice.
Woman’s Hour, Radio 4
Lots of uninhibited sex, some joyous slapstick and a pleasing tally of one-liners.
Light, frothy and fun … Touching and amusing . . . Hits all the right buttons.
Hilarious… great fun… A riotous romp… Terrific characters … It will make you laugh out loud – a lot.
Its humour is irresistible.
A tremendously funny, colourful and gripping read.
A kind of Bridget Jones’s Diary for the matrimonial set.
Taking up where Bridget Jones’s Diary took off, this saucy, sexy British adventure redefines the lusty woman’s search for erotic satisfaction (…) Anna’s story is not simply a portrait of a marriage or fluffy erotic high jinks, but rather a taut and rambunctious tale exploring the perils and raptures of the pursuit of passion.
One of the most delicious acts of cultural sabotage since Mark Twain
A put down that’s unputdownable. Don’t go out without it
A deadly satire
A superbly original book
A comic classic
The funniest book ever written
A classic of great originality with enduring appeal
Like the best action films in book form
Stone is a deceptively complex action hero
Like his creator, the ex-SAS soldier turned über agent is unstoppable
McNab's first-hand army experience shines through this pulsating adventure
It’s a corker
A heart-thumping read
A terrific, first rate thriller by the man who was once the British Army's most highly decorated soldier
An enjoyably gritty thriller
A rollercoaster ride
Proceeds with a testosterone surge
When it comes to thrills, he's Forsyth class
McNab is the best suspense thriller writer to put pen to paper since Alistair MacLean
Action-packed and authentic in every detail, it gives us a hero who's at least as scary as the villains. Andy McNab is the real deal and a rare commodity - a hard guy who knows how to write
Nick Stone is one of the great all-action characters of recent times' Daily Mirror ‘McNab's great asset is that the heart of his fiction is non-fiction: other thriller writers do their research, but he has actually been there
For anyone who loves a good action-packed yarn, try Roger Mortimer’s Eagles’ Revenge, an exciting tale of Rufus, the bold mouse-slave escaped from servitude in the kingdom of the vile rat-warriors, who alone can stop the Rat Kind from obliterating the Mouse Kingdom of Carminel.
I can think of very few people better qualified to write about war than Michael Nicholson.
A fine cocktail of contemporary analysis, anecdote and humour. Fascinating.
One of the most professional journalists you could ever hope to work with any time, any place.
I always admired his ability to get there before anyone else and get the story back.
Written in a style that keeps the reader wondering what happens next. The story starts with James dying and ends with James dying, but what comes in between is a madcap adventure of two young men who have what a lot of people want…genuine friendship. I enjoyed reading this book!!
Compelling, entertaining and amusing — filled with unexpected plot twists and characters more colorful than the clearest rainbow ... the best satirical look behind-the-scenes of “reality television” ever written. You will forever watch your favorite reality shows with new “insider” knowledge and awareness.
Academy Award & 16-time Emmy Award-winner
Melissa Jo Peltier has spent over 20 years in the trenches of documentary, non-fiction and reality TV and there’s practically nothing she hasn’t seen or done. She lived it so you can laugh about it in this novel.
Actor/ Producer
Reality TV has cannibalized the airwaves, and during her 20 plus years in the business, Melissa Jo Peltier had a front row seat, watching it all unfold. In this novel, she puts her dry wit and storytelling ability to good use, pulling back the curtain to reveal what really goes on.
Executive Producer, Grimm, Hot in Cleveland
I’ve worked with Melissa for almost 20 years on many programs on several networks. She’s the real deal. As a network executive, I can safely say that Melissa knows the territory, and most important of all, has captivating insights that are worth sharing with a wide audience.
SVP, National Geographic Channel
Emmy award winner, New York Times bestselling author, and executive producer of the long-running phenomenon Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan, Melissa Jo Peltier started out in television at the tender age of 20 and has had an unprecedented insider’s view of reality TV’s strange evolution. If there’s anyone out there qualified to fictionalize what really goes on behind the scenes, it’s Melissa.
Partner, William Morris Endeavor
A book of outstanding integrity. These are the heroes no one told you about.
These were not anti-war polemics, but written with the happy cooperation of many pilots, and they described superbly the airmen’s courage, joys and disappointments – and sometimes their deaths.
Chris Robbins has given us an irresistible phenomenon: obstinate, brilliant, morally incorruptible and one of the bravest men you will ever read about.
Cook takes his readers on a high-suspense journey into a world of shadows where nothing is what it seems. Leaving no loose ends dangling, he reveals the real ‘aggressor’ only in the final pages of a work that succeeds both as an adventure story and as a psychological thriller.