MobileRead August 2017 Book Club Nominations

[sun surfer]

Sooo tempted to post review blurbs for Stillhouse Lake and Playing with Fire; must - control - myself.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

Sooo tempted to post review blurbs for Stillhouse Lake and Playing with Fire; must - control - myself.

Go for it because it's not me posting such as a description.

[issybird]

I nominate The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim. Here's a blurb from Goodreads, where it has 3.92 stars from 518 ratings:

The Great Impersonation is probably the most famous spy novel of all time. Allen Dulles put it at the top of all spy novels for its virtuosity. It is marvelous reading with its fast-moving plot, its descriptions of the rich life of English aristocrats before the Great War, and its bold characters. Besides the Kaiser and a whole host of Dukes, Duchesses, Ambassadors, German agents and silly young Englishmen, there's the Princess Eiderstrom, "one of the most passionate women in Europe," desperately in love with Leopold; Sir Everard's insane wife who has vowed to kill him if he should ever return home; and a rollicking finale.

Best of all, since it was published in 1920 by an author who died in 1946, it's public domain in both the US and Life+70 (and less) countries. It's free in lots of places; I'll link to the ePub here at MR and the Kindle edition at Amazon.

[sufue]

How about The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth? I remember reading this under the covers with a flashlight when I was a kid, and couldn't put it down then just for the action, didn't really understand the politics/world affairs. I reread it not long ago when I got the ebook, and enjoyed it even more, since I now understand the background, as well as the action.

The blurb (without reviews ) on Amazon is underwhelming and not really representative of the book...

The Jackal. A tall, blond Englishman with opaque, gray eyes. A killer at the top of his profession. A man unknown to any secret service in the world. An assassin with a contract to kill the world's most heavily guarded man.

One man with a rifle who can change the course of history. One man whose mission is so secretive not even his employers know his name. And as the minutes count down to the final act of execution, it seems that there is no power on earth that can stop the Jackal.

...so here's a link to Wikipedia too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Jackal

Per SYKM, it won the 1972 Edgar Award for Best Mystery.

One downside - it's pricey, $14.99 at Amazon US right now, but for those who travel, it's only £3.99 at Amazon UK. And it's also available at two of the three libraries I belong to.

So there's my nomination - hopefully it hasn't been done before!

Oh yeah, 4.25 on Goodreads, if you follow that sort of thing...

[sufue]

Oh, and I second issybird's The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim. I'm a fan of Great Game-era books, and this sounds a bit like that sort of thing, so might be fun...

[issybird]

Originally Posted by sufue

How about The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth?

It was the nomination last August.

[bfisher]

I third The Great Impersonation

[bfisher]

I third The Neon Rain

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by sufue

How about The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth?...

Originally Posted by issybird

It was the nomination last August.

But well beyond the reach of the six-month rule.

[bfisher]

But it was the selection last August. Shouldn't that rule it out?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by bfisher

But it was the selection last August. Shouldn't that rule it out?

Yes, that does disqualify it. So it needs to be removed from the 2nd post.

[JSWolf]

We need more nods for Stillhouse Lake and Playing with Fire.

[John F]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

We need more nods for Stillhouse Lake and Playing with Fire.

I refuse to give nods to books nominated by people who are intolerant of review blurbs.

However, I may vote for them.

[JSWolf]

Review blurbs just say to me that the description is not able to stand on it's own.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by John F

I refuse to give nods to books nominated by people who are intolerant of review blurbs.

However, I may vote for them.

If you don't give a nod to at least Playing with Fire, you are passing up the best author suggested this month. It's going to be hard to find someone better than Tess Gerritsen. So far, none of the other authors are as good.