Scott Phillips - The Walkaway Reviewed by Steve Rudd

It is imperative that you keep your wits about when reading this novel more than with almost any other mighty slab of fiction ever published. If you've never read Phillips' awesome debut novel The Ice Harvest, then there's actually little point whatsoever you even making a beeline for The Walkaway, for this mesmerisingly cool epic crime-drama is the incredible sequel to it. Even if you are familiar with The Ice Harvest, The Walkaway really does take some following, as the story shifts back and forth from a present-day setting back to 1952 throughout. Incorporating a whole bunch of characters that have their respective parts to play in a story that primarily follows a man called Gunther, who escapes from a 'nursing home' with the vague notion of searching for a whole load of money that he stashed in a quarry years before...

The author Scott Phillips has a highly stylised tone of writing (that has been compared to the work of both Quentin Tarantino and James M. Cain), and which is further evidenced through his latest novel, Cottonwood (which is something of a crime-Western). While The Walkaway isn't half as thrilling as The Ice Harvest, it is still a magnificently realised novel that is in a league of its own for being so bold and daring. I just wonder if Phillips will have it in his heart to write a sequel to Cottonwood. Now that would be interesting... ISBN 0-330-48144-4 (First published in 2002 by Picador).

Reviews, Books - Robert Adams - Antman (Bitterne Books) Reviewed By Nick Quantrill
	Antman is the latest crime novel from prolific Hull-based author Robert Adams. It is his interest in ant behaviour that forms the heart of this book, and one that allows him to craft a dark narrative that absorbs and terrifies in equal measure. The novel starts with the discovery of a dead pig at a remote location in the Hull area. Forensic investigation reveals that the animal was reduced Read more...

Reviews, Books - The Two-Bear Mambo By Joe R. Lansdale Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	Lansdale certainly is one hell of a prolific author, and this is something like the tenth novel of his that I have had the pleasure of reading. The vast majority of his novels follow two buddies, Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, as they manage - without fail - to get into all kinds of violent predicaments through being often overly stubborn and too-proud-by-half men. Read more...

Reviews, Books - Wobegon Boy by Garrison Keillor Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	I have a responsible job and pay my taxes and keep my lawn mowed, but because I dare to be an individual, people whisper about me behind my back. Why is life like this? This epic novel is an absolute masterpiece that is drama-driven and hugely poignant, as it follows a man called John Tollefson as he bumbles through his life over a pronounced period of time, with the Read more...

Reviews, Books - Down By The River Where The Dead Men Go by George P. Pelecanos Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	As the novel title must suggest, this is a crime thriller... and one of the highest order. I first heard of the author in Pelecanos through him heaping praise on the 'action-thriller' writing of Steve Hamilton. Like with Hamilton's work, Pelecanos weaves an engrossing story around a series of hugely believable and genuinely exciting set-pieces. Interestingly, many authors Read more...

Reviews, Books - Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller Reviewed By Steve Rudd
	You can get something out of a book, even a bad book. First published in France in 1934, this extraordinary piece of writing never saw the light of day in the United States and the wider world at large until after 1961, following a mighty legal battle that resulted in the book finally being published elsewhere. Human beings make a strange fauna and flora...More than anything Read more...

Reviews, Books - Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis Reviewed By Steve Rudd
	Bret's work, it seems, is either loved or truly loathed. Almost all of his past novels have been as controversial and as feared by some people as hell itself, especially as Bret focuses on taboo subjects with intense abandon. His best known book is the huge-selling American Psycho masterpiece, yet his other work is most definitely worth reading too - if you like that kind of thing. Alright, Less Than Zero isn't half Read more...

Reviews, Books - The Hunting Wind by Steve Hamilton Reviewed By Steve Rudd
	This is the fourth thriller of Steve's that I've devoured with a heady, stance-steady vengeance. He really does reside in the top drawer of American-based thriller writers, living in New York but writing about the state in which he was raised… the often cold and bleak Northern state of Michigan, near to the border with Canada. The previous three novels that I've read of his Read more...

Reviews, Books - Fury by Salman Rushdie Reviewed By Steve Rudd
	I must live until I die. Perhaps best known for his hugely controversial book The Satanic Verses, Indian writer Salman Rushdie is one of the most famous writers in the world, which is understandable when his writing is so utterly extraordinary in timbre. Mysteries drive us all. We only glimpse their veiled faces, but their power pushes us onward, Read more...

Reviews, Books - The Nineties by John Robb Reviewed By Steve Rudd
	If you remember the Nineties... you were there! This incredible book, written by the singer for punk rock 'n' roll band Goldblade in John Robb, truly is a breathtaking overview of an exhilarating decade. And it isn't just music that is covered, as the always-opinionated Robb proffers his honest opinions about anything and everything that had a Read more...

Reviews, Books - Lost Souls by Michael Collins Reviewed By Steve Rudd
	We only live once. I don't think we ever really confront that until it's too late. Understandably shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Lost Souls is not your average mystery-thriller novel, with this engrossing 'whodunnit' focusing on a small-town cop trying to get to the bottom of the mysterious death of a three-year-old girl. The prime suspect is the local football star, Read more...

Reviews, Theatre - Sep 20 - 25th - The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Northern Broadsides Company at Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough by Patrick Henry
	The scandal school of the title locates itself in tea-parties gathering mostly at the home of Lady Sneerwell, who has a voracious addiction to gossip amid the Darjeeling and cream cakes passed around her close acquaintances equally hooked on rumour-peddling. Suspectedly, no-one has any friends in this circle or in upper-class society at Read more...

Reviews, Books - Harry Potter Series by Mark Petherbridge
	In my opinion, the Harry Potter books are fantastic, whether it's read to escape into the intriguing, yet marvellously complex world or to read in third person about a boy whose life is a series of amazing adventures, in a secret yet in-your-face wizarding world. According to recent studies (the source being Newsround) these books have Read more...

Reviews, Books - Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck Reviewed By Steve Rudd
	People don't take trips - trips take people. It's almost impossible, in this day and age, to not have heard of John Steinbeck. First and foremost, his Of Mice And Men short story is the staple part of almost every school curriculum, while his Grapes of Wrath novel is equally as well-known. Steinbeck was born and raised in the Salinas area of California, Read more...

Reviews, Books - Fiesta by Ernest Hemingway Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	No, I wasn't naïve enough to be fooled into thinking that this exquisite novel from the legendary Hemingway was an in-depth car manual designed to accompany the latest Ford creation. Far from it, in fact, for this story follows a bunch of friends who travel from Paris to Spain, and to the town of Pamplona in particular to witness the bull-running and -fighting events of the infamous Read more...

Reviews, Theatre - June 6-11th - The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare and Sweet William by Alan Plater. Northern Broadsides Company at Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough by Patrick Henry
	These two works played in a week of repertory constitute essentially company productions, without star actors nor prominent leading characters, giving all-round strength to the enterprise, but also some weaknesses. It is absorbing to watch how the actors from the classic comedy are deployed in the cast of the new Plater piece. Read more...

Reviews, Books - Swan Song by Robert Edric Reviewed By Nick Quantrill
	Swan Song is the third and final part of Robert Edric's cycle trilogy. Although Edric does not describe himself as crime-fiction writer per-se, he skilfully demonstrates the strength of the genre. Although crime-fiction is generally criticised for not being literary enough, Edric uses it as a vehicle with which to explore contemporary society. Read more...

Reviews, Books - The Phantom of Manhattan by Frederick Forsyth Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	So, The Phantom of The Opera is perhaps one of the best-known stories in the world, but how many of you good people realised that a sequel to the story has actually been written - and has been kicking around for some years now - by the one and only Frederick Forsyth? The original, horrifying Phantom of The Opera story was penned by Frenchman Gaston Leroux, but the world at large Read more...

Reviews, Books - The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	He doesn't need any money... all he needs is his rucksack. There really was no end to Jack's writing talents after all! This is the fifth book of his that I've had the pleasure of reading, and it is by far and away my favourite. When you get to the top of a mountain, keep climbing. Packed with all the excitement of his classic masterpiece On The Road Read more...

Reviews, Books - I'm a Teacher Get Me Out of Here by Francis Gilbert (Short Books) Reviewed By Cathy Walker
	As I am about to change career to become a primary school teacher, I picked up I'm A Teacher Get Me Out Of Here with a little trepidation. I'd heard that it presents the reality of working in a 'tough school', of what a hard and challenging job being a teacher truly is. I can't wait to become a teacher and I didn't want Read more...

Reviews, Events - Nights Out - Tuesday 24th May 05 - Benny Hill Preservation Society By Adam Atkinson
	My utter fascination with all things Benny started as early as the age of three, when I by chance happened upon some irrelevant sketch involving the Benster dressed as a cardiac surgeon examining some saucy minx. 12 years later I would see my own Uncle Frank arrested for the very same thing. Read more...