Dan Brown’s back; this month’s popular fiction: PAPER HEART by Cecelia Ahern, THE LONG SHOE by Bob Mortimer, THE SECRET OF SECRETS by Dan Brown
PAPER HEART By Cecelia Ahern (HarperCollins £20, 368pp)
Pip is a beautiful sandwich maker who works at a gas station in rural Ireland. She attracts an incredible number of rich, intelligent and handsome men, all of whom are keen on Pip.
These are, respectively, Sammy, the sinister son of the local quarry owner; Io, a mysterious scientist and pilot, and Jamie, father of Pip’s daughter Bella.
It was a teenage pregnancy and the couple was cruelly separated by Pip’s controlling mother, Josephine.
Josephine’s dominance over Pip reflects her dominance over the community of dangerous and destructive prey. Can everyone be free and find happiness?
While the plot and characters may seem a bit like the kitchen sink, Ahern is an extraordinarily emotional writer and pulls you along.
TALL SHOES – Bob Mortimer (Gallery Books £22, 336pp)
The surreal cityscape is Mortimer’s great theme; He sees strangeness in what seems ordinary. He writes wonderful things about buildings that become characters in their own right.
Matt is an unassuming bathroom salesman from South London who loses first his job and then his girlfriend. So is Harriet really gone or has she been kidnapped?
Matt suspects the latter after seeing him on security television in Satsuma Heights; He is unexpectedly offered a house.
Their neighbors are a fat gangster and a malicious yoga teacher; Do they both know where Harriet is? Supporting cast includes flirty housewife Carol and a brilliant talking cat. A thought-provoking, good-natured comedy.
THE SECRET OF SECRETS Dan Brown (Bantam £25, 688pp)
It is difficult to summarize these 139 chapters of approximately 700 pages, but I will do my best. Dishy Prof (and Brown regular) Robert Langdon, the brilliant, brilliant Dr. With Katherine Solomon in Prague.
He is an expert on broader consciousness, has written a book on the subject, and is giving a lecture. Meanwhile, amidst the cobbled alleyways and towering towers, a clay-covered monster called the Golem lurks.
Everything begins after the lesson is over. Katherine and Langdon find themselves uncovering a secret laboratory, setting fire to an old library, escaping the US Embassy, and dealing with the secret police of multiple continents.
Someone high up doesn’t want Katherine’s book to be published, but why? I’m still not sure, but I enjoyed the Gothic atmosphere, the luxurious settings, and the energy of it all.
