From Ancient Rome to modern Malmo, 4 more brilliant reads for Xmas | Books | Entertainment
Unlucky for Some by Tom Wood, Hardback, £25
The world’s deadliest assassin Victor is shot and wounded when a hit on the heir of an organised crime gang in Malmo goes horribly wrong. Forced to hide in the Swedish city while he recuperates, Victor will have to take on multiple enemies to escape alive with bounty hunters, elite mercenaries and the most dangerous assassin he’s faced circling to bring him down. Victor, an antihero who operates solely on logic without any moral compass, is a great character and the latest instalment of this series is a hugely enjoyable bone-crunching thrill ride that this reader didn’t want to end. 8/10
Forged In Rome by Conn Iggulden, Hardback, £22
Fresh from tackling the story of the tyrannical emperor Nero, Iggulden returns to Ancient Rome with the first in a new two-book series featuring slave turned scribe Cormac. Stolen from Britannia as a child, enslaved, tortured and then finally freed after the death of his master, the ambitious young man – who has a gift many don’t that of reading and writing – must use his skills to navigate the challenges of a city where life is short, brutal and corrupt. Forged In Rome is a rollercoaster ride of a book as the wheel of furuten rises – and falls – for Cormac. Iggulden’s great gift of bringing the past to life has rarely found a better setting and Forged In Rome is another tour de force from the master of the historical epic. You can smell the stench of blood, sweat and fear; Gladiator-era Rome on steroids, a super-intelligent page-turner with plenty of heart. 9/10
Pornocracy by Jo Bartosch and Robert Jessel, £20
Every lawmaker and educator in the land – and anyone naive enough to think that pornography is essentially a harmless pastime – should be forced to read this gripping indictment of the billion-dollar global industry and its insidious stranglehold on human desire. Bartosch and Jessel reveal how, like drugs, gambling and social media, porn has become an online addiction machine that manipulates our brains, diminishes our capacity for loving relationships and warps debates on consent and women’s rights. Most alarmingly, it is sexualising young children and altering their concept of healthy relationships. This is undoubtedly one of the most important books of the year. Terrifying and timely, we simply cannot ignore the damage pornography is doing. 10/10
Battle of the Arctic by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, Hardback, £30
Hugh Sebag-Montefiore’s previous books on Dunkirk and Enigma were revelations, seizing on and explaining key turning points of the Second World War. Now the master historian has fixed his gimlet eye on another vital yet hitherto lesser-known episode, that of the Arctic Convoys that helped keep Russia supplied and on-side. Following Operation Barbarossa, Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, scores of Allied convoys made the perilous voyage – otherwise known as the ‘worst journey in the world’ – loaded with supplies in some of the most unforgiving waters. The lifespan of a man overboard could be measured in minutes and the weather could be as brutal as the Luftwaffe and U-boats. As thrillingly told as any movie. 8/10
