Boris: The Rise of Boris Johnson - Andrew Gimson

Advantages: Something different, quite addictive reading
Disadvantages: Poor marketing on behalf of the publishers

...Introduction Having read a glowing review of Boris Akunin's work in a Sunday paper, I have been looking out for his books for a while and was delighted to find one in my local library. Akunin's three books to be released in English in the UK: 'The Winter Queen', 'Murder on the Leviathan' and 'Turkish Gambit', have sold more than 50,000 copies in the UK and 10 million in Russia, where the books have been transformed into films and TV series. Akunin's books are set in 19th century Russia and star a new recruit to the Criminal Investigation Department, one Erast Fandorin. The author Boris Akunin, real name Grigory Chkartashvili, lives in Moscow. His first novel, written in 1998, was finished in six weeks. He has since produced an amazing 17 books, although few of these are as yet available in English. 11 of these star Erast Fandorin. Paul... Read review

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Advantages: Action, horror, great story
Disadvantages: None

...The Necroscope series is a right mixture, combining the best of a spy novel, science fiction and horror. The majority of the book is run as a 'Ghost' telling the events of the very near future and the past to a member of a secret Psychic branch of the British Government known as E-Branch. The ghost introduces two main characters - Harry Keogh, whose abilities include the ability to talk to the dead, an ability called Necroscopy,and an amazing grasp of mathmatics; and Boris Dragosani - a member of the Russian version of the British E-Branch, who is a Necromancer who drags the knowledge from the dead by tearing their bodies apart. The ghost tells how Dragosani becomes infected by the egg of a buried vampire and becomes one himself. This vampire is nothing like Christopher Lee dressed in a suit, it is a Wamphyr, a creature which has... Read review

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