John A A Logan

Slow to start but this builds up to a real climax.

Agency Woman

Amazon.com Agency Woman

My review - 

This story is told in the first person by someone we later know as Jim. He has worked for a Scottish 'Agency' which deals with espionage and terrorism. He has dropped out, attempting to retire, but is effectively kidnapped by a group of fellow Agency members, including an attractive green-eyed woman, to take part in another mission. She awakens things in Jim he thought long lost. We get snatches of his past life and details of how he came to lose earlier memories. 

The writing is superb as anyone who has read any of John Logan's previous work will expect. However, if I find any fault in it, I found the beginning difficult to engage with and slow to grab my interest. I also found all but the two main characters a little sketchy and kept mixing them up. This is probably because they were referred to both by Jim's description and later by their names. The second half of the book became full of action and I was drawn into it at that point and eager to read on. My little niggles are not enough to fault writing of this quality, but if you feel as I felt, stick with it! There are immense depths as we learn with Jim the role of the Agency Woman.

John A A Logan

John's first novel, Thomas Ford, is a strangely ethereal thriller/mystery which had great depths.  I loved it.

The Survival of Thomas Ford

Amazon.com  The Survival of Thomas Ford

My review -

This book starts with a death in a motoring accident and the survivor of the crash becomes engrossed in trying to find the man who caused it. We are drawn into the life of the perpetrator, an amoral man, whose family and friends are evil or weak. There are some really strong characters in this book yet somehow I didn't feel I got to grips with Thomas Ford himself.

It is a very compelling story and I tried for 15 minutes to put it down after lunch today! The writing is really well crafted and there are certain parts of the story where I found myself wondering if the supernatural would play a part. I'm still not sure!

There is a lot to think about in this book; about survivor guilt, about the corrupting effects of the love of power, status and money, about how family ties can prevent us discerning the difference between good and evil. There is a little reference or two to the influence of Grandmothers. I liked that too! I recommend this book as a really good story.

His second book is a compilation of short stories.

Storm Damage

My review -

This book of short stories is elegantly told in John Logan's etheral, dancing prose. Whatever this man says, he says it beautifully. The stories are like modern day fables, and from each one we can take a lesson, a thought; sometimes a rather deep one. It's always hard to choose favourites from a book where each story has its own place in the collection but I found Late Testing very gripping, I loved the emotional ending of The Airman and The Orange Pig really was Aesopian. A couple of the stories nudged at the theme of looking back at the end of life and did it very well.

There's no doubt that John Logan is a skillful writer. You can skate on the surface of his prose and enjoy his work but if you take a breath and go below the surface there is always so much more there than you thought (like a swan!) I usually buy short stories thinking I will read one or two between longer books but sometimes you just have to be greedy. I defy anyone to put this down once started. A memorable collection, and I hope there are more!