Killing House - Chris Mooney & Black Banners - Ali H.Soufan

The Killing House – Chris Mooney
Imagine your son being kidnapped, you must not tell anyone and the only way for him to survive is to kill your partner. Protagonist, Malcolm Fletcher is a former FBI profiler, drafted in to investigate missing child cases with daunting circumstances. Thrilling from the word go. Mooney creates suspense in droves. The twists and turns are breath taking. Quite chilling and may not be for the squeamish but you could guess that from the title 4/5

The Black Banners – Ali H.Soufan
There are many books about September 11th; however this real life story is fascinating. Soufan is an agent for the FBI, who takes it upon himself to walk us through the motives of the most ruthless of terrorist organisations, Al Qaeda. Soufan exposes how the US could have prevented the attack. A gripping encounter of one mans tribulations, coming face to face with men willing to destroy human life while sacrificing their own. 5/5

Review from Sorted-Magazine Nov issue available from all WHSmith, Sainsburys stores , online download and app from sorted-magazine.com

Mark Anderson

Writer and Book Reviewer

The Face-to-Face Book and the 20th Century by DK

The Face-to-Face Book - Ed Keller and Brad Fay
Bored of being constantly told that we are moving into a faceless world of communication? Here is a fascinating look into that preconception. Keller and Fay reveal that less than 5% of all communication is through online social networks and that they have far less influence on day to day living. Are we being sold another gold rush? The Face-to-Face book gives the reader a rethink about the rhetoric of social media evangelists 3/5

20th Century – Richard Overy
Packed full of the most important events of the 20th Century. Overy goes to great depths to portray the moments that have shaped our world, from the incredible feats of engineering, to countless conflicts and much more. I have never been so engrossed in a book that arguably depicts man’s most incredible century. The photographs are beautifully captivating and give a sense of awe, wonder and pride as well as shame. Great gift for dads 5/5

Review from Sorted-Magazine Nov issue available from all WHSmith, Sainsburys stores , online download and app from sorted-magazine.com

Mark Anderson

Writer and Book Reviewer

Concrete Faith – Matt Wilson and The Fear Index – Robert Harris

Concrete Faith – Matt Wilson

Starting a church plant is daunting; there are so many twists, turns, ups and downs. Take the Eden Network highlighted in this book, 15 years and going strong. Concrete Faith takes us on a journey spreading the gospel in an urban context, emphasising struggles and rewards. Less hyper-spirituality, more hands on healing communities from Manchester to London. They will say “This land that was laid waste has become like the Garden of Eden.” Ezekiel 36:35. 4/5


The Fear Index – Robert Harris

Fear drives us to desperate places. Main character Dr Alex Hoffman makes his fortune working with a successful financial algorism which follows geo-political events of the world to make predictions on the markets. Author Harris, does well to make the reader sympathise with a billionaire as the main character. “The Fear Index”, lends itself to surprise, murder and intrigue. Unquestionably a page turner but will split opinion. More topically fashionable than timeless classic. 3/5

Reviews from my book review column in Sorted Magazine available online, WHS and Sainsburys.

Mark Anderson

It’s all news to me - Jeremy Vine

It’s all news to me - Jeremy Vine

The old adage is Truth is stranger than fiction and with 25 years of experience under his belt in the BBC, JeremyVine has had a few encounters that are simply more unbelievable than what you would find in “Yes Minister” or “The Thick of It”. For example, local yobs high jacking a double decker bus, driving around Littleborough with the faces of New Labour slapped on side of it, during a by election. Journalistic gold!

Vine, a man of sophisticated charm and wit, displayed immensely throughout his memoir. Jeremy has a successful career (youngest presenter of the Today show, Sony Award winner for exposing Gordon Brown during ‘bigotgate’ and reaching the envious status of foreign correspondent in Africa); this is all down to hard work, stalking the best and a bit of luck!
Snippets of wisdom litter the book. One being, “Truth is often eclipsed but not extinguished”, how apt when Jeremy lays out his run-ins with the power triumvirate of Blair, Mandelson and Campbell. Vine provides evidence throughout, highlighting ill planned publicity stunts as well as downright lies.

While reading “It’s all news to me” I was drawn into the fact that journalism seems to be a game, albeit a serious game, where the story is champion and the correspondent comes second.
Vine delivers a warts and all narrative, centred on the BBC, however he delves into the death cry of Major’s Conservatives, New Labour with all its pomp and spin plus the wild world of reporting.

Jeremy includes everything from interviewing tyrant Robert Mugabe, an embarrassing toilet moment, bullets flying overhead in Eastern Europe and even a hilarious run in with the enigmatic Russell Brand.
An enjoyable read, full of gossip, perfectly written by a reflective and well-grounded man, even at the altitude of his fruitful career 5/5

Reviews from my book review column in Sorted Magazine available online, WHS and Sainsburys.

Tubes: Behind the Scenes at the Internet by Andrew Bloom and World War II: The Definitive Visual Guide - Richard Holmes

Tubes: Behind the Scenes at the Internet by Andrew Bloom

Flip open, turn on and straight to Google. All is well, until we get an “error” message. We try looking at settings, turning modems on and off or calling the family expert. This happened to Blum, author of Tubes. Blum discovered a problem with his internet connection and what turned out to be the culprit? A squirrel! This led Blum to answer the question, “What is the internet?” A (very) detailed odyssey of exploration. 3/5

World War II: The Definitive Visual Guide - Richard Holmes

It is years since I have opened a history textbook. Flashes of daunting “European History” lessons, chalk boards and overhead projectors come to mind. I wish I was given this book back then because it is astounding. Simply put, nearly every aspect of World War II has been noted with incredible facts, along with compelling photographs. Holmes’ book shows that “history repeating itself” can be a positive thing, if highlighted in this magnificent way 5/5.

Review taking from my column in Sorted Magazine available in all WHS, Sainsbury stores and online.

Book review: Philosophy of a Mad Man

The philosophy of a mad man.

Colbornes book is about a man who was disturbed mentally and unfortunately has not had an easy ride in life life, at a young age Colborne lost his mother and an old friend to cancer.

This seems to be the tipping point of a man who falls into a series of mental episodes that include running through London barefoot, stalking a young woman, believing that he has been accepted into the alumni of Oxford and wearing particularly dickens-esq clothing.

This book is humourous however it shows a paned man who struggles to find peace. It appears that he looks everywhere, eastern as well as western religious practices but has settled on looking into creation and how it is all connected. The book is divided into two sections; his journey and philosophy.

The first being a quick autobiography and the second section gives an interesting look into his belief system.

I hope Steven continues his journey and finds peace.

Witty, charming, dark as well as instances of humour

A Clash of Kings, Book 2 of A Song of Ice and Fire

You simply can not get away from Game of Thrones at the minute.

There are ads on tv and clips when your browsing the Internet, magazine interviews and Sky seem to keep reminding us that it starts on the 1st of April in between every spare bit of time they have.

We get it Sky. Game of Thrones has the series link set to record on my set top box!!

With the not-so-subtle propaganda dealt with, I just want to say I am turning into quite the fanboy of Game of Thrones. I have successfully stayed away from spoilers and after watching the first series then reading the first book I wished to do it the other way about this time.

Taking straight from where we left off in the first book, main characters have carried on their individualistic journeys which all seem to be connected to one another in a wider sense.

The background to the book is that the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms appears to be up for grabs. King Robert is dead and rumour has it that his son, the young King Joffery, is not the legitimate heir and so many now claim the throne.

Rob Stark is one of those kings, however, his main aim is to avenge the murder of his father Eddard Stark.

Rob's brothers and sisters are spread throughout the kingdom and more or less are trying to survive during this time of turmoil.

There does not seem to be a structure to this story, which makes it more interesting than the last. You dont know what will happen from chapter to chapter.

George R R Martin paints scenes beautifully, I can not express how important the little things are which can make you become lost in a book such as smells, architecture of buildings, describing ordinary non characters, clothing and even things like a character eating, sleeping and relieving themselves.

Yes, this may sound a bit odd but Martin gets these little things right every time and when he does that, you trust him with the important scenes like battle sequences, which are simply, immense. I found myself wincing during the hand to hand combat fighting and willing some characters on.

One of my favourite scenes was an important escape of a main character during the depths of a battle in the middle of night. Elements such as fire, water and the dirt on the ground was described perfectly. A full blown movie was going on in my head.

Martin has chosen to tell his story through lowly characters. A stroke of genus. While others may have chose kings and queens, Martin has chosen children, disabled folk and bastards to carry this tale.

The Good: I have never read large epics at such a fast pace. Be sure to delegate time to read these books as your other half may get miffed off that your spending too much time with your nose buried I this book/kindle! Clash of Kings is darker and more bloodier than the last book.

The bad: Some parts of the book could have been condensed, for example, Daenerys Targaryen, who is trying to come to grips with her husbands passing and her inheritance of 3 actual dragons takes an age of endless traveling and soul searching.

Summary: I apologised when I reviewed the first book, A Game of Thrones, as I sounded like a "gushing reviewer", however I make no apologises now. This book is a fantastic epic and wonderfully written. I give it a 5/5