Tina Clough
Auteur van The Chinese Proverb
Werken van Tina Clough
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ONE SINGLE THING is the second in the Hunter Grant series from NZ author Tina Clough. You don't have to have read the earlier book (THE CHINESE PROVERB, 2017) to get this outing to work, but this series is developing into something a bit special, and it's always best to get in at the start when that's going on.
Somehow I managed completely and utterly to miss posting a review of THE CHINESE PROVERB when I read it, so this is now a combined thing. The first book in the series was released in 2017, after an earlier standalone novel by the same author.
THE CHINESE PROVERB introduces Hunter Grant and his now partner Dao in an explosive start to what becomes a caring and supportive relationship. Grant discovered Dao unconscious in the NZ bush, a victim of horrendous abuse. Rescuing her, and extracting some revenge took all of the cunning and smarts this Army veteran could muster. A little prone to big portents and the overuse of metaphor, it was, nonetheless an interesting pairing of two characters with potential. Dao in particular is not your standard victim, damaged sure, but not bowed, so THE CHINESE PROVERB provided a decent bit of escapism and some solid dare doing.
Forward to this second novel ONE SINGLE THING, released in 2019 and Hunter and Dao are now living in suburbia, still hyper-alert as one of Dao's abusers still roams free, definitely posing an ongoing threat as some unfinished business awaits. Protected by some serious surveillance systems, but managing to live a reasonably peaceful life, they are approached by the Noah, the brother of journalist Hope Barber, because Hope has vanished. Her front door was wide open, her bag and phone still inside, and there are strange things about her disappearance - not the least of which is the discovery that she's escaped an earlier, recent, kidnap attempt. Is this something to do with her time in Pakistan or is there something else going on? Hunter Grant's army front line experience doesn't help him in the same way that it did when rescuing Dao, but her smarts and understanding of human nature helps fill in some gaps, and Noah's tech literacy works to their advantage as well.
As mentioned earlier it's not absolutely necessary to read the earlier book to get the backstory of Grant and Dao sorted out - there's more than enough fill in here to give new readers a good idea, without bogging down what's overall a really tense, and well paced thriller. The ongoing character development is good, and the chance to get to know how the fallout from Dao's past is going is cleverly done. The balance of personal and action, and the tightness of the dialogue and the plot development is getting better and better, and there's much in ONE SINGLE THING to make the possibility of an ongoing series quite tantalising.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/chinese-proverb-and-one-single-thing-tin...… (meer)
Somehow I managed completely and utterly to miss posting a review of THE CHINESE PROVERB when I read it, so this is now a combined thing. The first book in the series was released in 2017, after an earlier standalone novel by the same author.
THE CHINESE PROVERB introduces Hunter Grant and his now partner Dao in an explosive start to what becomes a caring and supportive relationship. Grant discovered Dao unconscious in the NZ bush, a victim of horrendous abuse. Rescuing her, and extracting some revenge took all of the cunning and smarts this Army veteran could muster. A little prone to big portents and the overuse of metaphor, it was, nonetheless an interesting pairing of two characters with potential. Dao in particular is not your standard victim, damaged sure, but not bowed, so THE CHINESE PROVERB provided a decent bit of escapism and some solid dare doing.
Forward to this second novel ONE SINGLE THING, released in 2019 and Hunter and Dao are now living in suburbia, still hyper-alert as one of Dao's abusers still roams free, definitely posing an ongoing threat as some unfinished business awaits. Protected by some serious surveillance systems, but managing to live a reasonably peaceful life, they are approached by the Noah, the brother of journalist Hope Barber, because Hope has vanished. Her front door was wide open, her bag and phone still inside, and there are strange things about her disappearance - not the least of which is the discovery that she's escaped an earlier, recent, kidnap attempt. Is this something to do with her time in Pakistan or is there something else going on? Hunter Grant's army front line experience doesn't help him in the same way that it did when rescuing Dao, but her smarts and understanding of human nature helps fill in some gaps, and Noah's tech literacy works to their advantage as well.
As mentioned earlier it's not absolutely necessary to read the earlier book to get the backstory of Grant and Dao sorted out - there's more than enough fill in here to give new readers a good idea, without bogging down what's overall a really tense, and well paced thriller. The ongoing character development is good, and the chance to get to know how the fallout from Dao's past is going is cleverly done. The balance of personal and action, and the tightness of the dialogue and the plot development is getting better and better, and there's much in ONE SINGLE THING to make the possibility of an ongoing series quite tantalising.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/chinese-proverb-and-one-single-thing-tin...… (meer)
ONE SINGLE THING is the second in the Hunter Grant series from NZ author Tina Clough. You don't have to have read the earlier book (THE CHINESE PROVERB, 2017) to get this outing to work, but this series is developing into something a bit special, and it's always best to get in at the start when that's going on.
Somehow I managed completely and utterly to miss posting a review of THE CHINESE PROVERB when I read it, so this is now a combined thing. The first book in the series was released in 2017, after an earlier standalone novel by the same author.
THE CHINESE PROVERB introduces Hunter Grant and his now partner Dao in an explosive start to what becomes a caring and supportive relationship. Grant discovered Dao unconscious in the NZ bush, a victim of horrendous abuse. Rescuing her, and extracting some revenge took all of the cunning and smarts this Army veteran could muster. A little prone to big portents and the overuse of metaphor, it was, nonetheless an interesting pairing of two characters with potential. Dao in particular is not your standard victim, damaged sure, but not bowed, so THE CHINESE PROVERB provided a decent bit of escapism and some solid dare doing.
Forward to this second novel ONE SINGLE THING, released in 2019 and Hunter and Dao are now living in suburbia, still hyper-alert as one of Dao's abusers still roams free, definitely posing an ongoing threat as some unfinished business awaits. Protected by some serious surveillance systems, but managing to live a reasonably peaceful life, they are approached by the Noah, the brother of journalist Hope Barber, because Hope has vanished. Her front door was wide open, her bag and phone still inside, and there are strange things about her disappearance - not the least of which is the discovery that she's escaped an earlier, recent, kidnap attempt. Is this something to do with her time in Pakistan or is there something else going on? Hunter Grant's army front line experience doesn't help him in the same way that it did when rescuing Dao, but her smarts and understanding of human nature helps fill in some gaps, and Noah's tech literacy works to their advantage as well.
As mentioned earlier it's not absolutely necessary to read the earlier book to get the backstory of Grant and Dao sorted out - there's more than enough fill in here to give new readers a good idea, without bogging down what's overall a really tense, and well paced thriller. The ongoing character development is good, and the chance to get to know how the fallout from Dao's past is going is cleverly done. The balance of personal and action, and the tightness of the dialogue and the plot development is getting better and better, and there's much in ONE SINGLE THING to make the possibility of an ongoing series quite tantalising.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/chinese-proverb-and-one-single-thing-tin...… (meer)
Somehow I managed completely and utterly to miss posting a review of THE CHINESE PROVERB when I read it, so this is now a combined thing. The first book in the series was released in 2017, after an earlier standalone novel by the same author.
THE CHINESE PROVERB introduces Hunter Grant and his now partner Dao in an explosive start to what becomes a caring and supportive relationship. Grant discovered Dao unconscious in the NZ bush, a victim of horrendous abuse. Rescuing her, and extracting some revenge took all of the cunning and smarts this Army veteran could muster. A little prone to big portents and the overuse of metaphor, it was, nonetheless an interesting pairing of two characters with potential. Dao in particular is not your standard victim, damaged sure, but not bowed, so THE CHINESE PROVERB provided a decent bit of escapism and some solid dare doing.
Forward to this second novel ONE SINGLE THING, released in 2019 and Hunter and Dao are now living in suburbia, still hyper-alert as one of Dao's abusers still roams free, definitely posing an ongoing threat as some unfinished business awaits. Protected by some serious surveillance systems, but managing to live a reasonably peaceful life, they are approached by the Noah, the brother of journalist Hope Barber, because Hope has vanished. Her front door was wide open, her bag and phone still inside, and there are strange things about her disappearance - not the least of which is the discovery that she's escaped an earlier, recent, kidnap attempt. Is this something to do with her time in Pakistan or is there something else going on? Hunter Grant's army front line experience doesn't help him in the same way that it did when rescuing Dao, but her smarts and understanding of human nature helps fill in some gaps, and Noah's tech literacy works to their advantage as well.
As mentioned earlier it's not absolutely necessary to read the earlier book to get the backstory of Grant and Dao sorted out - there's more than enough fill in here to give new readers a good idea, without bogging down what's overall a really tense, and well paced thriller. The ongoing character development is good, and the chance to get to know how the fallout from Dao's past is going is cleverly done. The balance of personal and action, and the tightness of the dialogue and the plot development is getting better and better, and there's much in ONE SINGLE THING to make the possibility of an ongoing series quite tantalising.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/chinese-proverb-and-one-single-thing-tin...… (meer)
The central premise of RUNNING TOWARDS DANGER is a fascinating idea. What would you do if the flatmate that you knew very little about, and saw even less of, is suddenly gunned down in front of you, and the investigation into his death starts to reveal some very worrying facts about his life? Which again, you knew nothing about, but everybody, including the police, don’t believe you.
Would it be to suddenly go into hiding, head off into a small community and try to settle into that world using a different name (Cara), in the hopes that dropping off the radar will ease the threat? You can definitely imagine that somebody might panic and run to friends / family / somewhere you feel safe, but into the unknown?
Whether or not you can accept that Karen / Cara does exactly that, and with, it has to be said a considerable level of expertise and prescience of mind, will be a large part of the key to whether or not RUNNING TOWARDS DANGER will work for you. That and whether you think the idea that the mysterious appearance of a man that she instantly becomes attracted to whilst simultaneously worrying he might be one of the bad guys fits with everything else you’ve found out about Karen/Cara up until that point.
As you can probably tell this reader wasn’t 100% convinced by some elements, and thoroughly hooked by others. Definitely feeling the urge to cheer for Cara (let’s settle for that name), there was something odd about much of the setup of this novel at the same time. Not the idea that she would be so clever as to effect the getaway - to change her identity, to find somewhere safe, and somewhere she can fit in. But that somehow this same woman, with the brains and guts to actually do all of that, then dithers around over the sudden appearance of a bloke who may or may not be one of the bad guys. Especially as readers will probably be forming some pretty good theories about what’s going on by then.
To be fair though, the plot elements as they are were tightly delivered and there’s a good sense of pace, and menace, if you’re prepared to forgive some of the wilful ignoring going on. There’s a twist in the tail which fits perfectly into the build up, playing fair with readers who like to play the guessing game. All in all, an interesting character study and premise, that would work well if you’re happy to head any disbelief off at the pass and bury it in a deep hole.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-running-towards-danger-tina-clough… (meer)
Would it be to suddenly go into hiding, head off into a small community and try to settle into that world using a different name (Cara), in the hopes that dropping off the radar will ease the threat? You can definitely imagine that somebody might panic and run to friends / family / somewhere you feel safe, but into the unknown?
Whether or not you can accept that Karen / Cara does exactly that, and with, it has to be said a considerable level of expertise and prescience of mind, will be a large part of the key to whether or not RUNNING TOWARDS DANGER will work for you. That and whether you think the idea that the mysterious appearance of a man that she instantly becomes attracted to whilst simultaneously worrying he might be one of the bad guys fits with everything else you’ve found out about Karen/Cara up until that point.
As you can probably tell this reader wasn’t 100% convinced by some elements, and thoroughly hooked by others. Definitely feeling the urge to cheer for Cara (let’s settle for that name), there was something odd about much of the setup of this novel at the same time. Not the idea that she would be so clever as to effect the getaway - to change her identity, to find somewhere safe, and somewhere she can fit in. But that somehow this same woman, with the brains and guts to actually do all of that, then dithers around over the sudden appearance of a bloke who may or may not be one of the bad guys. Especially as readers will probably be forming some pretty good theories about what’s going on by then.
To be fair though, the plot elements as they are were tightly delivered and there’s a good sense of pace, and menace, if you’re prepared to forgive some of the wilful ignoring going on. There’s a twist in the tail which fits perfectly into the build up, playing fair with readers who like to play the guessing game. All in all, an interesting character study and premise, that would work well if you’re happy to head any disbelief off at the pass and bury it in a deep hole.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-running-towards-danger-tina-clough… (meer)
Statistieken
- Werken
- 5
- Leden
- 9
- Populariteit
- #968,587
- Waardering
- 3.2
- Besprekingen
- 4
- ISBNs
- 8
After office-worker Grace finds a series of calls for help, folded in tiny origami shapes, dropped outside a high-rise city apartment building on her way to and from work, followed by a physics textbook with tiny writing between the lines, she turns to a work friend for help instead of the police, and then disappears herself. Which leads to the work friend, Linda, asking Hunter and Dao for their help. Initially reluctant, Hunter and Dao are quickly pulled into the story when some high-powered pressuring is expended on trying to stop them. Meanwhile the police, who Grace was reluctant to trust in the first place, prove to be more of a hindrance, providing even more motivation for Hunter and Dao to persist. Dao, in particular, is determined to find the author of the original notes, and there are obvious parallels between both these women's awful stories.
Needless to say, knowledge of the backstory of this series is going to help immensely when reading this novel. Dao's past is particularly key to her reactions in this investigation, as are her unique abilities and interests. There's so much in this story that's revolves around Dao's instincts, and Hunter and Dao's relationship, most of which makes them the compelling pairing that they have been since the first novel.
The strength of this series has always been the relationship and the skill sets that Hunter and Dao bring to their investigations. Their joint determination, their relationship quirks, the protective attitude that Hunter has to his much younger wife, when viewed from an understanding of their backgrounds is both endearing, and, in some cases, quite funny. Their absolute commitment to solving puzzles is always at the forefront of the storylines though, and whilst it could be said this very much a character based series, plots don't take a backseat because of it. The mysteries are always nicely twisty, and there's a believable but quite palpable sense of peril woven in.
Definitely a series that's worth getting on board with, and while ONE SINGLE THING (the second) gave enough hints about backstory from THE CHINESE PROVERB (the first), FOLDED definitely would benefit from having read one or both of the earlier novels.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/folded-tina-clough… (meer)