Books
by Lawrence Osborne
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Beautiful Animals |
Wealthy expatriates, and their family tensions, in Hydra - the Greek island is superbly but unhurriedly evoked. Two daughters become friends, discover a refugee and want to help, triggering an increasingly dramatic series of events. If the plot sometimes flirts with being far-fetched, it still adds up to a real page turner, not least because you are interested in the people. Some contemporary social and political resonances add spice to the story.
(Tony Pratt - bwl 90 Autumn 2018) |
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Burning Angel |
These stories cover a wide variety of situations, mostly in exotic locations, convincingly portrayed as if he's lived in each himself. Usually there's a sense of menace, a twist, a moral dilemma, often an encounter with a stranger. Deliciously (or maybe disturbingly) menacing. I found it compulsive reading and more enjoyable than some of his novels.
(Victoria Grey-Edwards - bwl 114 Autumn 2024) |
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On Java Road |
Hong Kong in the troubled time between the handover and the clampdown triggered by student demonstrations. An English reporter's old friendship with a member of the wealthy Chinese elite is challenged by the latter's affair with a student protestor. In an increasingly violent society, the affair goes wrong but how? Brilliantly atmospheric, this story evokes the island itself and the menace and mutual suspicion that go with a historic turning point. A farewell to a friendship mirrors the goodbye to a way of life.
(Tony Pratt - bwl 114 Autumn 2024) |
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Only to Sleep |
Written very convincingly in the Raymond Chandler/Philip Marlowe style, the story finds Marlowe in his seventies with physical decline and the approaching end of life, adding new dimensions to his world weary melancholy. The wise cracks and cynicism remain intact but the vulnerability lends a tougher quality to the writing. The story, involving drugs, corruption, ruthless murder and a femme fatale in the classic Chandler mode, keeps you interested. A good holiday read.
(Tony Pratt - bwl 113 Summer 2024) |
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