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James Kidd

The Heist 
by Janet Evanovich, Lee Goldberg
Headline
(e-book)
The Heist may have a far-from-original title (what next, "The Crime"?), but it does have its novel points, pardon the pun. For one thing, it marks a successful literary collaboration, between bestselling crime writer Janet Evanovich (best known for her excellent numbered Stephanie Plum series) and screenwriter Lee Goldberg, who writes for the entertaining Monk  television show. Our hero is Nicolas Fox, whose nature and name are in perfect harmony. He is the sort of thief that only seems to work in crime fiction: smart, handsome and possessed of a fatal compulsion for goading the police. The police in question is FBI agent Kate O'Hara, who has been Fox-hunting for many years now. The thrill of the chase is touched by a little romance. Given that this is a light-hearted caper, it is of course only a matter of time before Fox and O'Hara collaborate to catch an even more dangerous criminal. The back and forth is pure screwball, and an utter delight. More please.
Extras: chapter one of Evanovich's next novel, Takedown Twenty.

Revenge Wears Prada 
by Lauren Weisberger
(read by Laurel Lefkow)
HarperCollins
(audiobook)
Lauren Weisberger hit the big time with The Devil Wears Prada, a tart, fluffy novel about high fashion and bitchy journalists. She was helped by a story that mixed fact and fiction and then transferred successfully to the big screen. Whether we ever needed a sequel to that enjoyable, if tissue-thin tale is another question. But, ready or not, here it comes. Subtitled The Devil Returns in case we missed the point, the story catches up with our heroine Andrea Sachs about a decade after she was first spiked by Miranda Priestly's high heels while working on Runway magazine. "Andy" is now running a magazine of her own (about weddings) and she is about to marry her hunky beau, Max Harrison. So far so boring. Thankfully, Miranda enters the fray, only to disappear all too quickly. Sadly, Andy steals the show, which only makes for a pretty dull show. Laurel Lefkow seems infected by the disappointment, reading too ponderously for comedy, as if she is searching desperately for the zesty dialogue that made the original such fun.

Dawn of the Dead 
by George Romero, Susanna Sparrow
(read by Christopher Ragland)
Hachette Audio
(audiobook)
The current craze for zombies ( World War Z, The Walking Dead etc) is not unlike a zombie: try as you might, the damned thing just will not lie down and die. So it's an auspicious time to download this new audiobook of the zombie story that, some might say, began it all: Dawn of the Dead. Filmed in 1978, it inspired this novelisation a year later - not to mention more Romero films with the word "dead" in the title than you can shake a bleeding limb at. Arguably the best thing about this re-release is the short but charming introduction by Simon Pegg, whose ingeniously amusing movie Shaun of the Dead was an homage to Romero's satirical horror show. The novelisation itself is not a patch on the unavoidably visual movie: gore should be seen and not heard it turns out. Christopher Ragland does his best, giving breathy drama to some clanky lines. Committed as Ragland sounds, I would buy a copy of the original movie at once.
Extras: an introduction read by Simon Pegg.


E-books/audiobooks review: fiction

Lifestyle

Culture

Books

The Heist may have a far-from-original title (what next, "The Crime"?), but it does have its novel points, pardon the pun.
