JOHN'S BOOK REVIEWS

Author: Publisher: Description: global warming Price:   Wicked Prey Author: John Sandford Publisher: Simon&Schuster Description: The new Lucas Davenport thriller - and as satisfying for fans as all the previous ones. The Republican convention is coming to Minnesota, and a very bad gang of cold-blooded robbers is planning to capitalise. Davenport must stop them without freaking out the politicos. There's also the threat of a deranged sniper taking out McCain or Palin; and a sub-plot involving a psychopath who blames Davenport for his crippled state and who plans to take revenge by targetting the 14-year old girl Davenport and his wife are adopting .Gritty, violent, stuff told with great skill. Price:   The Angel's Game Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon Publisher: Weidenfeld and Nicholson Description: This is apparently the fastest selling book in Spanish publishing history. It's a worthy follow up to Zafon's very successful The Shadow of the Wind. It's a riotous send-up of pulp fiction conventions set in the Barcelona of the 1920's. It's a complicated plot revolving around the narrator, David Martin - a novelist who makes a pact with a real publisher and then the Devil masquerading as a publisher. It's an intelligent book which is also a fun read. Price:   Hops and Glory Author: Pete Brown Publisher: Pan Macmillan Description: The author lugs a cask of India Pale Ale from Burton-on-Trent to India - a journey fraught with mishap and incident, which Brown recounts with wit and style. He also makes some telling points about how British brewing has declined under the assault of corporatism, and the significant role that beer has played in Britains's empire-building. It's learned without being stuffy and personal without being self-indulgent. Price: R263.00   Ja, No Man. Author: Richard Poplak Publisher: Penguin Description: A very funny memoir of the author's first sixteen years - spent in Johannesburg during the death throes of apartheid. Price: R160