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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2538 KP) rated Who is The Mystery Reader? in Books

Nov 4, 2019

Reading is a Superpower!

This book is broken up into many parts. The main story involves Zoom Squirrel who gets some help in reading for The Mystery Reader, a costumed superhero. But who is the masked man, er squirrel? And can Zoom enter the world of masked superheroes? After the main story, we get a couple of terrible (and by that, I mean delightful) puns and jokes related to reading. There’s also a section where we see the work that goes into creating a book.

As an adult, I don’t find these picture books as delightful as some of Mo’s other works. They are missing the humor and charm. However, I can see the appeal to young readers, and if the addition of superheroes to reading encourages kids to read, I’m all in favor of it. The multiple sections can make the book disjointed, especially if you are reading the book to a group of kids, but it would be great for kids ready to expand their reading beyond the traditional easy readers.

Kudos

Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Pictures of Perfection (Dalziel & Pascoe #14) in Books

Nov 25, 2019 (Updated Nov 25, 2019)

This is one of those books that perfectly demonstrates the skill of Reginald Hill as a crime writer. In the sleepy village of Enscombe the local policeman disappears. Sensing foul play, Dalziel, Pascoe and Wield begin to investigate, turning up a number of suspicious characters and long buried secrets.

We have the usual Dalziel blunt language and Pascoe's schooled intuition but it is here that Wield finally gets a chance to step forward and form the 'holy trinity' of Mid Yorkshire CID. Hill has cultured his characters very carefully and writes them with great affection and this story shows how much chemistry they have.

The plot in this novel is outstanding and perfectly shows off Hill's willingness to play with the police procedural genre and the reader's expectations. There are some terrific rug pulls here and Hill could almost be said to get away with murder when everything falls into place at the end.

A brilliant tour de force for one of the greatest crime fiction writers. I can't fault it. It is in itself a picture of perfection