Books read in November 2010

Under the Dome. Stephen King. This is a classic King, a richly rewarding story in which SK does what few others can do with such mastery - write utterly believable characters that you get to know and love and loathe in equal measure. I won't re-hash the plot but it's what King does with the plot that makes it special. This is the best that King has produced in a long time, and that makes it excellent by anyone's reckoning. Don't be put off by the plethora of people introduced at the very beginning, stick with it and it gets better and better as the story unfolds. "Under the Dome" is vintage old-school King, and for this reader that's something very special. Highly recommended and no hesitation in giving 5 Stars.
Suite Française is the title of a planned sequence of five novels by Irene Nemirovsky, a French writer of Ukrainian Jewish origin. In July 1942, having just completed the first two of the series, Némirovsky was arrested as a Jew and detained at Auschwitz, where she was sent to the gas chambers by the Nazi regime. The notebook containing the two novels was preserved by her daughters but not examined until 1998. They were published in a single volume in 2004. The first book ‘The Storm’ follows several groups of characters who flee from Paris in advance of the German entry into the city. As transport and distribution collapse under German bombardment, all have to change their plans and nearly all lose their veneer of civilization. The second book, Dolce, the storyline concerns Lucile Angellier, whose husband is a prisoner of war. She lives, uneasily, with her mother-in-law in the best house in the village, where the German commander is billeted. Unwillingly Lucile finds herself falling in love with him. 3 Stars.
The Falls. Ian Rankin. A complex mystery Rebus novel, as you would expect from Rankin. A student has gone missing in Edinburgh and there's very little for Rebus to go on apart from his gut feeling that there's more to this case than a runaway. Two leads emerge: a carved wooden doll in a tiny coffin and an Internet role-playing game. Rebus concentrates on the coffin, reminiscent of sixteen similar relics found around Scotland in 1836, leaving his protégé DC Siobhan Clarke to deal with the cyberspace role playing game. Great stuff. 4 Stars.
Whiteout. Ken Follett. As a Christmas Eve blizzard whips out of the north, several people converge on a remote family house. Stanley Oxenford, the research company’s director, has everything riding on the drug he is developing to fight the virus. Toni Gallo, forced to resign from the police department in disgrace, is betting her career on keeping the drug safe; a local television reporter, determined to move up, has sniffed the story and a violent trio of thugs is on its way to steal it for a client already waiting – though what the client really has in mind is something that will shock them all. Desperate secrets are revealed; hidden traitors and unexpected heroes emerge. A good Yarn but not one of his best 2.5 Stars.
Beggars Banquet. Ian Rankin. Perhaps the problem I had with this collection of short stories, is that the Rebus novels are so outstanding. The novel format allows Rankin space for his excellent exploration of character (particularly the flawed but resilient Rebus himself), the teasing out of often complex plots and the superb sense of place, with the old city of Edinburgh an uncredited character. There are eight Rebus short stories amongst the 22 in this book all of which I enjoyed, however, the others were a mixed bunch. 2.5 Stars.