Bomber Boys by Patrick Bishop

This book is subtitled "Fighting Back 1940-1945" and that really gives the game away.

This is a non fiction historical presentation. The author takes a look at all aspects of the Allied Bomber forces during World War II.

He takes us from the Dunkirk campaign where the bombers were desperately out gunned , in pitiful machines and sufffered terribly, right through to the end of the war.

I found this book a real pleasure to read from end to end. It's not some dry series of facts but the details are presented in a very readable humane way. The experiences of the lads flying the bombers are always at the fore in the text, so if the author is explaining some abstract political motivation it's done through the effects it had on the crews with anecdate and memoir.

I found myself enlightened about a number of things relating to the Bomber forces. For instance how the design of the aircraft might cost crew their lives when bailing out, or how ineffective the machine guns in the turrets were. I was astounded to learn that the crew were being encouraged to use amphetamines when flying.

The book does not shy away from the horror that the Bombers wrought on the ground, especially in the area-bombing of cities. It also highlights how the Bomber crews were forgotten after the war, or rather, sweapt under the carpet by an embarrased officialdom.

An excellent and well written book.

10/10

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Ultimate Weapon by Chris Ryan

I've become very suspicious of any book with Chris' name on the cover these days. The publishers are ghost writing so many books these days and Mr Ryan is apparently writing one book a week that you never know if he really did write it.

Fortunately in this case is does not matter. The book is excellent. It's a high action adventure, where a retired SAS man gets roped back into service for one last mission. This old man is such a joy to read. He's cantankerous, unpleasant and self reliant and just such a perfect model of what your hero shouldn't be that he really brings to the book to life.

All in all this book was really fun to read, high adventure in the SAS novel tradition, it even gives an alternate reason for the Gulf 2 conflict!

If you like military adventure then I highly recommend this one.

8/10

Infinity Concerto - Greg Bear

I hate Greg Bear. I never used to hate him, but now I do. the first book by him that I ever read was called simply "Eon" which was a fantastic Sci Fi book. Absolutely great. then I read the sequel to "Eon" which was not so good but a passable sequel.

Then I read a couple of his other books, none of which reached the heights of the Eon sequel...

Then I read this book, "Infinity Concerto". In short I was totally disapointed.

The story revolves around a young man who gets encouraged to enter another world thats hidden from our world. There he encounters other races, and finds humans subjugated to their power. He goes through the standard hero's journey until you get to the last quarter of the book.

At this point Bear seems to have lost the will and started making up nonsence and writing tripe!

The books ending seemed to pay no heed whatsoever to the main characters journey. Why go through all of this "training" this experience, and it have no relevance to the end game. Was it only there to fill pages?

I'm very disapointed and I don't think I will be reading another "Bear" book. That said, I would recommend "Eon".

2/10

Night of the Fox by Jack Higgins

This is a world war two story and is a jolly good yarn. An American Colonel with all of the details about D-Day in his head gets torpedoed and ends up drifting to the German occupied island of Jersey. The Allies have to get him out... or kill him.

They turn to a man with a history. A professor that can act, think and behave like a true Nazi. He is smuggeled into Jersey and his mission is to get the Colonel out, or kill him.

The story is gripping from the beginning. I found that I was drawn to the main character almost immediately. As his history is revealed this apparently cold heartless man is proved to be anything but. Every page is full of the tension that Higgins is very good at creating. The bluff and counter bluff add interest and confusion to the story and the sense of impending doom keep even the most mundane of occurances a high tension moment.

I got through the book in just a few days and found myself staying up too late and suffering the next day because I kept reading.

7/10

Flash Flood by Chris Ryan

I picked up this book because of the authors name. I've read a number of "Ryan" books and love the modern military/spy stuff he rights.

However this book is different. It follows a young mans adventure across London during a tremendous natural disaster.

Although the book is not the military adventure as I was expecting, it is an adventure and the action is almost continuous. I sped through this book in just a few days. It's not a long book and appears to have a YA slant. The text is larger print than normal and when I thought I still had another chapter to go, I discovered that the story was over and the remainder of the book was actually a preview of another Chris Ryan book.

I hate it when they do that!

The story was good, and I really enjoyed it.

7/10

Sniper One by SGT Dan Mills

I was loaned this book by a pal at work on Friday. I took it back to him on Monday having finished reading it over the weekend.

It was terrific. It's another of the modern military memoirs that are coming out these days and tells what was to me anyway an untold story of the "peace keeping" in Iraq in the early 2000's.

It tells the story of the a sniper company garrisoned on the outskirts of a run down town in the Iraq interior. The whole area is riddeled with anti UK anti American groups who show thier displeasure with combat.

On their first trip out of the base the newly arrived sniper company gets into a serious fire fight and it does not stop after that.

The story goes on to tell how the British battle group is beseiged and culminates towards a full scale assault by the Iraqis to overrun the base.

This story is terrifying and exillerating at the same time and shows both the horror and the humour of modern urban combat. Literally, a must read!

10/10

Gods Smuggler to China

This book tells the true story of a man going by the name of "Brother David" who hears God telling him to go to China to distribute Bibles.

It reads like an autobiography, we get get to learn about his childhood and youthful problems. We even get told about how and why he turned from the church for many years and would have nothing to do with it.

That changes though, and the interesting incidents of his life that bring him around and send him back to the church and even into missionary work.

The majority of the book is taken up with his involvement in the smuggeling of Bibles into mainland China. This book was published in 1981 back when China was a lot more "closed" than it is now so some of the trouble he has to go through will seem odd or even strange to people who havn't lived through it. ( Try telling a 16yo about the Berlin wall, they wont believe it!).

The story is very focused on the spirtiual side of the Davids work and as such is what many might call a "bible bashing book". I found it very interesting, and that side of things did not put me off of the story at all, in fact it is the story, as Davids motivation and that of the people who help him is entirely driven by thier faith.

I dont suppose this book is still in print, but if you find it, pick it up, it's a good read.