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The Dark Angel
The Dark Angel
Elly Griffiths | 2018 | Mystery
9
9.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Another winning mystery from Griffiths
Ruth is dealing with a lot on the personal front, including the fact that Nelson's wife, Michelle, is pregnant. Ruth and Nelson's daughter, Kate, is six now, and while Michelle knows about Kate, Nelson's older daughters do not. Nelson was very close to leaving Michelle for Ruth, before he found out his wife was pregnant again. So when Ruth is invited to Italy to assist a former friend, Angelo Morelli, in looking at some bones, she is actually a bit excited at the thought of a holiday/work trip. It will give her and Kate a chance to get away. They embark on the trip along with Ruth's friend Shona and her son, Louis. Once there, Ruth realizes how entrenched the people of the Italian village are in the past--including what happened during World War II. Further, Angelo is convinced someone is trying to kill him. Before she knows it, Ruth is immersed in a modern-day murder mystery: something she can't seem to avoid, no matter where she travels.

It's no secret that I love Ruth and Elly Griffiths' series of novels featuring our intelligent, plucky heroine. Despite the fact that I know absolutely nothing about bones, I identify with her (e.g., stepping on a plane with Kate for the first time and feeling nervous flying with her daughter, whose safety "overrides everything else"). Ruth's wit, sarcasm, and sense of humor are always absolutely spot-on, and it's wonderful being back with her and her circle of pals, especially the grumpy yet protective Nelson. The Nelson/Ruth dynamic is its typically complicated yet oddly sweet self, and there's a surprising amount of progress or information regarding the characters' personal lives in this novel.

As mentioned, these books are always just lovely and humorous. The narration style is impeccable and works flawlessly. Each character is so perfectly "them," and I enjoyed that we heard from a lot of characters this time around, even Nelson's elder daughter. Oh, and yes, there's also a great mystery plot thrown in, involving an Italian town, some bones (of course), and a variety of deeply buried secrets. Griffiths introduced us to some new characters with the new locale, and I found the mystery to be interesting and engaging. It was front and center enough to keep us interested, but refreshing to get a little more movement on the characters' personal lives, too.

Overall, another winner from Griffiths. As always, I cannot wait for the next Ruth novel (especially because there is some serious unresolved business by the end of this one!). I think of Ruth, Harry, Kate, and the entire cast as dear friends by now. You can read this as a stand-alone, but as always, I recommend reading the whole series, because it's just so darn good.

A huge thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for a copy of this novel in return for an unbiased review.
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Early Man (2018) in Movies

Feb 8, 2018 (Updated Feb 8, 2018)  
Early Man (2018)
Early Man (2018)
2018 | Animation
One Million Years F.C.
Another movie from the people who made Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep, and if you're familiar with either of those you will know that expectations will be high: Aardman are the British answer to Pixar or Studio Ghibli. Keeping such sky-high standards must be difficult, so we must try to be understanding when they fall a little short - as they do here.

A tribe of comedy cavemen with English accents are driven from their lovely valley by a nasty Bronze Age civilisation who variously sound French, Italian, and German. Brightest of the cavemen hits upon a scheme to win the valley back by playing the invaders at their sacred game, i.e. football (or soccer). Cue lots of sports movie cliches/parodies.

Well, obviously, you can't fault the craft that goes into these films, but on this occasion you can't help noticing the slightness of the story and the fact that it's neither as funny nor, crucially, as clever as many of their previous productions. (The fact that the film has a weird Brexit-friendly political subtext may be an issue for some viewers as well.) I love silly accents, absurd jokes and bad puns as much as the next person (probably more, in truth), but the fact that this film doesn't have the same kind of heart or warmth as (for example) your typical Pixar film is very noticeable. Still, not *actually* that bad.
  
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
2017 | Drama, Mystery
CAST (0 more)
Exceptional remake
Based on the famous book written by Agatha Christie Novel Murder On The Orient Express. The story of thirteen different strangers and one famous Detective are on one of the most luxurious trains in the eastern hemisphere. One man gets murdered and it is up to famous detective Hercule Poirot to solve the case. The train passengers contain a mixture of classes from a Princess, to countess, a Doctor, a Dancer, The valet, The professor, the gold digger a antiquities dealer and a nurse, a governess, a Count, the Italian fan and the Conductor. They are the suspects in this cold blooded murder. During the murder the an avalanche knocks the train off the tracks and during this is when the body is discovered. It is this stoppage of time that allows our Hero to question the suspects and try to make sense of all the evidence what ever there maybe.
    I can't divulge more because there are so many different plot points that it would ruin the chance for you to see the movie and enjoy it.
  The Book can never be beat, The first movie was ok but, the remake was fantastic. Stars Melanie Griffith, Judi Dench, William Dafoe, Daisy Ridley, Johnny Deep, Josh Gad, Penople Cruz and Kenneth Branagh. This is an excellent cast for this movie and it is amazing. I do suggest you read the book first but, that is just a suggestion
  
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