Scarier than ...a really scary thing.

 Not being a massive fan of really frightening thrillers I discovered you don`t need to read them in order to scare the pants off yourself: try The Revenge of Power by Moises Naim and see how well you sleep for a day or two after you`ve finished it. 

A relatively hefty looking tome, it is not a difficult read despite being a detailed analysis of, as the subtitle says, "How Autocrats Are Reinventing Politics for the 21st Century".  In fact it is an extraordinary description of the way in which "populism, polarization and `post-truth` politics" (Naim`s 3Ps) have resulted in a marked increase in authoritarian and autocratic regimes around the world. 

For such dry sounding subject matter it is in fact a dramatic story of corruption, collusion, manipulation, criminality, dark social networks and carefully calculated disinformation which weaken, even destroys, the individual`s ability to distinguish between fact and fiction or perhaps more significantly their desire to do so.

And if anyone`s inclined to shrug and say they don`t "do" politics it might be worth reading just to understand how politics is "doing" them.

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?kn=The%20Murderer%60s%20Ape&sts=t&cm_sp=SearchF-_-topnav-_-Results&ds=20 or at your local library e.g. https://www.livelifeaberdeenshire.org.uk/libraries

Books and their covers.

 They say you shouldn`t judge one by the other but it was the cover of The Murderer`s Ape, displayed provocatively on the library shelf, that prompted me to borrow the book, despite the fact it is a weighty volume and I knew nothing about its author, Jakob Wegelius.

And what a treat it has turned out to be.  A genuine cracking yarn, with a start, a middle and a very satisfactory happy ending (which is not a plot-spoiler as you know almost from the beginning that it can only end well). This is not to say there aren`t ups and downs in this tale of Captain Henry Koskela and his chief engineer, Sally Jones, a gorilla of many talents and much wisdom. 

Wrongly accused of murder, Koskela, aka The Chief, is thrown into prison and thus Sally Jones embarks on a mission to right the wrong and free him. There are goodies and baddies, and baddies who turn out not to be so very bad, just misled. There are setbacks and triumphs and more setbacks. There are chases halfway around the world, betrayals and the kindness of strangers, not to mention cliffhangers which would make it a wonderful story to read out loud, closing the book at a crucial moment, leaving the audience wanting more.

And yes, the library has classified it as  "Young Adult"  but it should appeal to anyone who can still suspend disbelief and embrace the spirit of an excellent, heartwarming story.

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?kn=The%20Murderer%60s%20Ape&sts=t&cm_sp=SearchF-_-topnav-_-Results&ds=20 or at your local library e.g. https://www.livelifeaberdeenshire.org.uk/libraries