Another Space in Time

Cornelius sets the reader right into the tough trough of a city’s squalid underbelly. We can imagine ourselves looking into the concrete underpasses of whatever modern urban environment we may know, as a similar story could be written there a thousand times. The ending may be less kind, less relieved by love, but the story will be much the same. True life, sadly, often reads like this. We are made to see how easy it is to fall so low that an unexpectedly dry corner in the most derelict of landscapes can come to feel like a treasure, a blessing even. Life can be so much worse than living in the shelter of a sturdy cardboard box with just enough mouldy bread or a nearby soup kitchen. This is a story of continuing hope despite the worst of what life can throw at us, of dealing with whatever damage we are responsible for drawing onto ourselves, of dealing with the consequences of physical and mental abuse; a love story despite the engulfing scum. We are made to see how long a...

Reading this very competently put together, adult, adventure thriller very much reminded me of the Wilber Smith books I once devoured. The continents that provided location may be different, but the landscapes are not so dissimilar. Snyder has a similarly smooth ability to write believable gritty plot. This story is full of rich vistas, both large and small, which are filled with dramas from characters clinging onto both sides of the good and evil divide. For those that appreciate reading raw brutality, there is no shortage. There is enough perverted cruelty, lust, greed, pain, and death to fill any action packed thriller. There is also just about enough hope, even when all those that have any good in them are being bashed senseless by the one main character that it is impossible to have any sympathy for. This isn’t a comfy read. If it was a film it would be adult rated with warnings. However, it is great entertainment that actually manages to avoid getting over voyeuristic even in...

This book is a stunning indictment of a corrupt and vindictive legal system, which is not set in a failed State, or in a corrupt totalitarian regime, or in some particularly troublesome period of history, it is set in the `legal' system of the State of California and its judicially semi-autonomous counties. I am not Californian, or even American, so feel free to read my supporting criticism with that in mind. Graham Cook isn't a `native' of that area either, which undoubtedly coloured some of the judgements against him. The facts in this book are just that, facts. Critics may assume that some things are left out in order to so weigh the book's balance in the author's favour. This thought naturally crossed my mind, but the book covers such blatant miscarriages of justice that any sane person would struggle to do anything but side fully with Graham Cook. This autobiographical account is stunning. That he persisted in fighting through the courts for so long, despi...