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This was a powerful quick read that I couldn’t put down.
It was interesting that a book has been written about a video going viral on the internet that the person who’s in it is mortified and ashamed about and didn’t post it herself. It follows the fall out with her family and her own struggles to come to terms with what has happened whilst waiting it out abroad before returning home to Scotland.
Su-Jin was adopted from Korea by a family in Scotland, who then found out that they were pregnant after years of trying not long after. We find out that Su-Jin struggled to find her place a lot of the time and wished that she wasn’t different to her family, and tried to make her parents proud by following all of the rules set out for her.
It is definitely thought provoking, the topics dealt with are racism, revenge porn and the most relevant at the moment is spiking drinks. It points out exactly how easy it is to accept a drink from a stranger in a bar, even when you know you shouldn’t, and the implications it can have.
It was sometimes quite predictable and sometimes a bit confusing with the timelines jumping in some chapters without it being explained or obvious.
A very interesting read about something that could happen to any of us at any point.
It was interesting that a book has been written about a video going viral on the internet that the person who’s in it is mortified and ashamed about and didn’t post it herself. It follows the fall out with her family and her own struggles to come to terms with what has happened whilst waiting it out abroad before returning home to Scotland.
Su-Jin was adopted from Korea by a family in Scotland, who then found out that they were pregnant after years of trying not long after. We find out that Su-Jin struggled to find her place a lot of the time and wished that she wasn’t different to her family, and tried to make her parents proud by following all of the rules set out for her.
It is definitely thought provoking, the topics dealt with are racism, revenge porn and the most relevant at the moment is spiking drinks. It points out exactly how easy it is to accept a drink from a stranger in a bar, even when you know you shouldn’t, and the implications it can have.
It was sometimes quite predictable and sometimes a bit confusing with the timelines jumping in some chapters without it being explained or obvious.
A very interesting read about something that could happen to any of us at any point.
Fractured Energy (Energy Series #3)
10.0
Rate It
Book
When Cassondra took Wilma’s energy, Lena’s mission changed. Only revenge matters now. For the...
Urban Fantasy Young Adult Romance
The Devil Inside (The Lachlan Maclean Thriller Series # 2)
7.0
Rate It
Book
There’s bodies raining from the sky and the city is tearing itself in two...’ A decade after...
Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post
Aug 4, 2022
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Wrath of Man (2021) in Movies
Jan 6, 2022
Let's be frank, Wrath of Man is absolutely nothing new. Jason Statham as a borderline invincible killing machine, on a mission of revenge, whether it's Statham or not, it's been done a million and one times. The fact that it's a Guy Ritchie film sets it apart on paper, but in execution, it all feels very familiar. In spite of this however, I did find myself shoving potato chips in my mouth and mindlessly enjoying proceedings, and that's half the battle at the end of the day.
It takes a while to find it's footing. The first 30 minutes are clunky and riddled with truly awful dialogue. A vast majority of the characters are unlikable, so this extended introduction sequence is a drag. When things step into gear a bit, it becomes a bit more entertaining. Some decent action set pieces, some interesting camera choices from Ritchie, and Statham going around doing general Statham stuff ensure that it trundles over the finish line. It also stars Jeffrey Donovan, which is always going to be a plus for me after Villains.
The non chronological timeline thing it has going on is a nice touch, but ultimately feels unnecessary.
Wrath of Man is a competent enough crime-thriller. It's far from Ritchie's best work, and does get bogged down by it's script and supporting characters, but it's a fun switch-off-your-brain vehicle.
It takes a while to find it's footing. The first 30 minutes are clunky and riddled with truly awful dialogue. A vast majority of the characters are unlikable, so this extended introduction sequence is a drag. When things step into gear a bit, it becomes a bit more entertaining. Some decent action set pieces, some interesting camera choices from Ritchie, and Statham going around doing general Statham stuff ensure that it trundles over the finish line. It also stars Jeffrey Donovan, which is always going to be a plus for me after Villains.
The non chronological timeline thing it has going on is a nice touch, but ultimately feels unnecessary.
Wrath of Man is a competent enough crime-thriller. It's far from Ritchie's best work, and does get bogged down by it's script and supporting characters, but it's a fun switch-off-your-brain vehicle.
ClareR (5859 KP) rated Small Mercies in Books
May 22, 2023
I’ve never read Dennis Lehane before - and what a place to start! This novel is phenomenal, and I ended it thoroughly heartbroken.
1970s Boston, America, and the school districts want to merge the separate schools for black and white children. Except your average white Southie doesn’t want that to happen, and they’ll do anything to ensure that.
There are violent demonstrations, tensions boil over, and amongst all this a young black man is murdered. At the same time, Mary Pat Fennessy’s daughter goes missing. At first, these two events seem unconnected, but as Mary Pat searches for her daughter it starts to look otherwise. And somehow, the Irish mob are involved.
Mary Pat is the ultimate tiger mother. Her daughter Jules, is her only surviving child, and she’ll stop at nothing to find her - dead or alive.
This is brutal, and proves that ultimately revenge profits no one. The heat simmered off the page, as did the threatened and real violence. The writing is gorgeous despite the violence, and is a masterclass in how a writer can make the most ugly things so astonishing.
I’m expecting to see a film adaptation of this at some point - it reads like a screenplay.
This may well be my first novel by Lehane, but I doubt very much that it will be my last. Thanks for introducing me to another new-to-me author, Pigeonhole!
1970s Boston, America, and the school districts want to merge the separate schools for black and white children. Except your average white Southie doesn’t want that to happen, and they’ll do anything to ensure that.
There are violent demonstrations, tensions boil over, and amongst all this a young black man is murdered. At the same time, Mary Pat Fennessy’s daughter goes missing. At first, these two events seem unconnected, but as Mary Pat searches for her daughter it starts to look otherwise. And somehow, the Irish mob are involved.
Mary Pat is the ultimate tiger mother. Her daughter Jules, is her only surviving child, and she’ll stop at nothing to find her - dead or alive.
This is brutal, and proves that ultimately revenge profits no one. The heat simmered off the page, as did the threatened and real violence. The writing is gorgeous despite the violence, and is a masterclass in how a writer can make the most ugly things so astonishing.
I’m expecting to see a film adaptation of this at some point - it reads like a screenplay.
This may well be my first novel by Lehane, but I doubt very much that it will be my last. Thanks for introducing me to another new-to-me author, Pigeonhole!
Malicious Intent
Book
World-renowned Attorney Alexandra Phillips has a knack for turning open and shut cases for the...
medical thriller thriller
Taming of a Wolf (Viking Wolves #2)
Book
Jamie Could a grumpy Viking werewolf be the missing piece my broken family needs? Between...
Vikings Historical Contemporary Time Travel MM Romance
Perfect Vengeance (FBI Strike Force #1)
Book
Trusting him could save her...or destroy her. Robin Hood meets the Sopranos…an insanely...
Romantic Suspense
Darren (1599 KP) rated Triple Threat (2019) in Movies
Jul 2, 2019
Story: Triple Threat starts when a group of professional assassins led by Devereaux (White) breaks Collins (Adkins) out of a remote holding location in the jungle, Jaka (Uwais) is the only survive of the assault which sees the love of his life killed. Xian (Jade) the daughter of a billionaire is planning to use her fortune to take down a crime syndicate, which makes her a big target for the syndicate.
Jaka searching for the people responsible locates two members of the team Paya (Jaa) and Long Fei (Chen) who were also left for dead by the assassins, soon Payu and Long Fei will find themselves needing to defend Xian, while Jaka using other means to get revenge.
Thoughts on Triple Threat
Characters – Payu is one of the guides that helps the assassins through the jungle, he is betrayed and left for dead with his partner, returning to the underground fighting scene for money, he soon finds himself going up against the assassins once again, using his connections from his mysterious past to do the right thing. Long Fei is the partner of Payu, he is much more straight down the line with everything, equally as good in combat, the two make for a deadly team. Jaka is one of the guards of the camp, he is left for dead and left to bury his wife, he wants revenge and knows how to get it, he is hunting down everybody involved, playing them against each other to get what he wants. Collins is the leader of the assassins, broken out of prison to take on the latest job, he must complete the last job, which sees him hunting down Payu and Long Fei, while leading his team in the assassination mission of Xian. He is cocky and believes he can always win in a fight against any level of opponent. Xian is the daughter of a billionaire, she has made it clear she will be giving up for fortune to make the streets clean for the next generation of children, this sees her being the target for the crime syndicates of the country, forcing her to figure out who to trust for her own safety. Devereaux is the second in command, he doesn’t trust Jaka in any of the missions and is quite happy to watch anywhere they have worked burn to the ground.
Performances – This has a cast that will be an action fans dream, Tony Jaa, Tiger Hu Chen and Iko Uwais fighting is something we can watch all day long, seeing the human side of the story has help show how the three are improving outside of the action scenes in film too. Scott Adkins in the villainous role works very well too showing his fighting skills, while being a villain that is easy to see how they are performing through the film. Celina Jade and Michael Jai White complete the main cast not putting a foot wrong through the film.
Story – The story here follows an elite group of assassins that have been hired to eliminate a billionaire woman that wants to end the crime world going on in her home land, only for her to need to turn to new mercenaries who will be the ones that will keep her safe from the danger. This is a story that focuses on the action over any really difficult subjects going on, we do get people coming from different sides searching for a moment which will see them getting their own objective, be it a paid job, revenge or change. The story is mostly, lets get to this location or lets get away from this location usually involving a fight along the way, it is nothing completed hitting everything it needs to by the end of the film.
Action – The action brings some of the best martial artists together in dream fight matches, we have each unique style given to the actors involved, they don’t go to the full levels of their hits or give away all their best moves.
Settings – The film does use the settings to create different locations for the fights, be it the jungle, the police station or the final showdown location.
Scene of the Movie – Seeing Jaa, Uwais and Adkins fight.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The fact they don’t let Xian show any fighting skills.
Final Thoughts – This is a fun action film that brings together some of the brightest fighting stars in the business today in a story which will see them get a chance to fight.
Overall: Pure action fun.
Jaka searching for the people responsible locates two members of the team Paya (Jaa) and Long Fei (Chen) who were also left for dead by the assassins, soon Payu and Long Fei will find themselves needing to defend Xian, while Jaka using other means to get revenge.
Thoughts on Triple Threat
Characters – Payu is one of the guides that helps the assassins through the jungle, he is betrayed and left for dead with his partner, returning to the underground fighting scene for money, he soon finds himself going up against the assassins once again, using his connections from his mysterious past to do the right thing. Long Fei is the partner of Payu, he is much more straight down the line with everything, equally as good in combat, the two make for a deadly team. Jaka is one of the guards of the camp, he is left for dead and left to bury his wife, he wants revenge and knows how to get it, he is hunting down everybody involved, playing them against each other to get what he wants. Collins is the leader of the assassins, broken out of prison to take on the latest job, he must complete the last job, which sees him hunting down Payu and Long Fei, while leading his team in the assassination mission of Xian. He is cocky and believes he can always win in a fight against any level of opponent. Xian is the daughter of a billionaire, she has made it clear she will be giving up for fortune to make the streets clean for the next generation of children, this sees her being the target for the crime syndicates of the country, forcing her to figure out who to trust for her own safety. Devereaux is the second in command, he doesn’t trust Jaka in any of the missions and is quite happy to watch anywhere they have worked burn to the ground.
Performances – This has a cast that will be an action fans dream, Tony Jaa, Tiger Hu Chen and Iko Uwais fighting is something we can watch all day long, seeing the human side of the story has help show how the three are improving outside of the action scenes in film too. Scott Adkins in the villainous role works very well too showing his fighting skills, while being a villain that is easy to see how they are performing through the film. Celina Jade and Michael Jai White complete the main cast not putting a foot wrong through the film.
Story – The story here follows an elite group of assassins that have been hired to eliminate a billionaire woman that wants to end the crime world going on in her home land, only for her to need to turn to new mercenaries who will be the ones that will keep her safe from the danger. This is a story that focuses on the action over any really difficult subjects going on, we do get people coming from different sides searching for a moment which will see them getting their own objective, be it a paid job, revenge or change. The story is mostly, lets get to this location or lets get away from this location usually involving a fight along the way, it is nothing completed hitting everything it needs to by the end of the film.
Action – The action brings some of the best martial artists together in dream fight matches, we have each unique style given to the actors involved, they don’t go to the full levels of their hits or give away all their best moves.
Settings – The film does use the settings to create different locations for the fights, be it the jungle, the police station or the final showdown location.
Scene of the Movie – Seeing Jaa, Uwais and Adkins fight.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The fact they don’t let Xian show any fighting skills.
Final Thoughts – This is a fun action film that brings together some of the brightest fighting stars in the business today in a story which will see them get a chance to fight.
Overall: Pure action fun.