"Afterwards" by Rosamund Lupton

Recommended by acquaintance and it let me wondering at first, as it is definitely a novel I would have chosen myself - 'does he really think I would enjoy this kind of book?" - not knowing a better description, I would call this a "domestic thriller" as its written by woman about a women and obviously targeted for a female audience. This means it shows author's perspective as really focused on home, children, furniture, school and circle of friends - in short, a bit limited perspective. It doesn't really go into description of a washing machine but I felt it behind my neck. After initial doubt, however, I kept on reading because there was a interesting story somewhere deep inside - Lupton might have been deep into mundane everyday reality of raising a family but she did knot those characters into quite a gripping thriller that kept me guessing and reading deep in the night. 

A plot's main twist is that it is followed by two characters who are not here - after disastrous fire,both mother and a teenage daughter are burned and badly hurt in a hospital from where their spirits follow "afterwards" of the story and how the family,friends,relatives and suspects try to unravel what actually happened. They can only hoover above "real" people but this also gives us opportunity to follow the story with almost movie-camera presence everywhere since "spirits" can float anywhere without limits. It might sound original but alas it is not - years ago I read "Lovely bones" by Alice Sebold and she was the first writer to use this kind of plot twist. 

Lupton had knotted enough of main and supporting characters into the story to make it into fairly interesting thriller (I could not guess the main baddie until the very end) but the most surprising part was occasional unexpected tenderness she expresses towards main character's family - unexpected as this is crime story after all - there are some really strong and emotional pages that even got me choked a little bit,specially parts about a little boy (who turns out to be a main suspect) and few others. Quite a surprise I would probably not noticed by myself.

"Entangled" by Graham Hancock

Graham Hancock is british journalist who writes non-fiction books about ancient mysteries, new age and forgotten history - not only I love the subjects he covers but his writing is very engaged & passionate, therefore I actually buy his books without reservations. In the past, I have read "Fingerprints of the Gods: The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization", " The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant" and "Supernatural: Meeting with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind" (the last one was my absolute favorite and could read it again) - now recently I stumbled upon his first fiction novel "Entangled". Actually I should have been more careful when I'm buying books, because, you see, I was not even aware it was fiction - had I knew it, maybe I wouldn't bother.

Hancock's name was the best possible recommendation so I bought the book without realizing (until much,much later) it is not his usual non-fiction work about ancient civilizations/aliens/mysteries. It is actually a fiction work, a novel. My disappointment was so big that I left the books aside for months until I finally decided to check it out. Several things are recognizable Hancock, namely the way he connects ancient civilizations, mysterious Amazon potions and human unconscious mind - he wrote about this in his previous work but here he uses it as a part of his fictional plot. It is a adventure story that connects two characters who live in completely different eras, namely 21 century girl and her stone age counterpart - the only way they can be connected and fight together against mutual enemy is trough drugs or magic potions that alter mind (during these sessions they are both guided by angelic presence but its clear this is just one of the many faces of spiritual being). Since he tries to follow two parallel stories sets in different time zones, Hancock juggles between two different centuries which is a bit annoying as reader is never allowed to relax in one time and simply enjoy the story - just when you start really getting into it, another chapter brings you back to present time and so on. Stone age story (reminiscent of "Clan of Cave Bear") was actually gripping enough to make me skip the other story completely and just read the chapters about Neanderthals. Another thing I disliked was - the language. In his non-fiction work Hancock is very passionate, convincing, energetic and enthusiastic, very well informed and obviously stands behind his words. Here, creating a complete fictional world, he writes very much like script for an action movie - for example, his characters would say "What the fuck?" - a lot of swearing - where non fiction work had a sense of wisdom and adventure, his fiction novel feels a bit adolescent, with swearing, sex and graphic violence. I shouldn't really complain as I read the novel in a few days and couldn't put it down (he leaves the end open for possibility of sequel) but still it wasn't what I expected from Hancock and I wish he continues writing non fiction instead.

"Fall of Giants" by Ken Follett

After reading "The World Without End" and "Pillars Of The Earth" I thought Ken Follett was a genius, however as I finally finished "Fall of Giants" I might re-think this.

It is a overtly ambitious WW1 saga that feels too much like soap opera - on few occasions I had actually felt bored and left the novel on the side to start reading it another time. When I'm reading the book just because I want to finish it, its not a good sign. Follett obviously thought it would be a good idea to picture WW1 by juggling characters from different social backgrounds, countries and continents, however the fact that these characters are roaming the world and meeting again and again seems a stretched a bit - too often it was simply artificial and unbelievable. English lords are mingling with russian peasants, american politicians with german officers and so on. I mean, the world might be small but not so small. The novel might be successful as TV serial (it begs for small screen, with thousands extras and war scenes) however it bored me - I learned about WW1 already in the school so the book did not unearth anything new - I will not bother with sequels simply because I don't care for the story or main characters. 

If you think this is good, check out the novels by James Michener who is master of the saga-genre and who would have completely different job out of this same story.