by Alan Glynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
British author Alan Glynn’s third thriller “Bloodland” (Picador 2011) is about a rising star who’s death captures the imagination of the nation (if not the world). The fun begins when struggling journalist Jimmy Gilroy is asked by a publisher to write her story. He is warned off by people he respects which makes him dig into her death to find out why powerful people would want her story stopped.
What he finds is a vast conspiracy that almost destroys him.
The most appealing part of what might otherwise be a mundane story (beautiful starlet dies in a car crash, nation feeds on the story–think Princess Diana) is the author’s voice. It is a mix between a somewhat dark stream of consciousness and a non-formulaic approach to the wild ride of a thriller. It kept me reading despite the wealth of characters I had to sort through and the complexity of the plot Glynn wove. It made me wish I had the ebook so I could search. If not for the back summary, I don’t think I could have followed it.
But that’s part of the fun, isn’t it?
Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-sixth grade and creator of two technology training books for middle school. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she’s editing a thriller for her agent that should be be out to publishers this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-fifth grade and creator of two technology training books for middle school. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, an IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything and Technology in Education. Currently, she’s working on a techno-thriller that should be ready this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher. You can read an excerpt for the prequel on Scribd. 
Thanks for the book review! I’ll have to add that to my long reading list!
By: Ollin on January 27, 2012
at 7:22 pm