The Baltimore Boys, by Joël Dicker

The follow-up to The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair is a prequel of sorts, a tale of the same narrator's childhood. The style of the previous book is apparent here, and borrows from the structure too. The story takes place across many years, and the book switches timelines frequently throughout.

The premise is a oft referenced "tragedy" which looms over the book like the sword of damocles. Every character is presented as a before and after version of this tragedy. And some of these characters are just awful. Awful people, completely self absorbed and unable or unwilling to see beyond their own privileged lives.
While the story was somewhat engaging, and the book easy enough to read, there were a few issues, perhaps in the translation. Dialogue was just simply ridiculous, sentences uttered that wouldn't pass the lips of a real person. The narrator, as unreliable as you could imagine, presenting events as a matter of fact, when he couldn't possibly know what was happening in certain moments, was honest to a fault. From his horrid jealousy, to his shame directed at his "poor" parents, to his almost stalkery behaviour towards the Mary-Sue who illogically represented pretty much everyone's love interest. Peripheral characters weren't much better, seemingly only there to fill pages, and could easily have been purged by a less forgiving editor, who could have chopped the page count by half and not lost any of the essence.
A decent enough book, but unfortunately these quibbles mean it is considerably less than its predecessor which suffered from many of the same problems. It seems Dicker didn't improve in the intervening years, and perhaps the translation of his books will not survive to another effort.

Klopp, Bring the Noise, by Raphael Honigstein

A really great read, a little insight into the man who has turned Liverpool's fortunes around. Seamlessly meandering back and forth, ebbing and flowing across Klopp's career, highlights and bitter lows, this presents a picture of a determined, and sometimes difficult man. But a man whose main overriding goal is improvement. To improve himself, and those around him. To win is important, but the journey to the win equally so.

Beautifully written, much better than a lot of sports biographies, which can be dry and formulaic. Some exquisite turns of phrase such as: "over a lunch of pasta and bittersweet memories.", "This was football defootballised, not concerned with the how, only with the wow.", and "There's nothing beautiful about Liverpool's game on a bitingly cold, pitch-black night that descends on the visitors like a mist made of pure dread."

Fans of Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund, and FSV Mainz 05 will undoubtedly be more predisposed to enjoy this book, but the chapters which focus on Wolfgang Frank, Klopp's mentor at Mainz, and how both he and his protégé worked on systems and styles and tactics are informative for any fans of the beautiful game.

Well worth a read.

Dead If You Don't, by Peter James

Book 14 in the Detective Roy Grace series. The first one I've read. Maybe this impacted my enjoyment, I don't know, but I felt it was very by the numbers.

Det. Grace didn't feel like a real person to me, but an amalgam of what the author feels a good copper should be. I failed to discern even a semblence of personality, which may have been explained and elaborated upon in previous volumes.

The story itself was decent, with all the elements you would want in a thriller. A kidnapping gone wrong, ruthless Albanian gangsters, and a race agaisnt the clock at the end. But somehow, it felt, lacking.

I enjoyed it enough to not be put off reading more, but perhaps I would be better starting at the beginning and getting to know Detective Superintendent Roy Grace as he evolves. Presuming he does.