1 00:00:07,133 --> 00:00:10,453 Speaker 1: You're listening to this Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast 2 00:00:10,573 --> 00:00:13,493 Speaker 1: from News Talks atb Well. 3 00:00:13,773 --> 00:00:16,773 Speaker 2: Alice Feeney, New York Times best selling author However Many 4 00:00:16,773 --> 00:00:19,693 Speaker 2: Times Over, is back with a brand new book. It's 5 00:00:19,693 --> 00:00:22,853 Speaker 2: called Beautiful Ugly, and our book reviewer Katherine Rains has 6 00:00:22,853 --> 00:00:24,253 Speaker 2: been reading it and there is with us this morning 7 00:00:24,293 --> 00:00:27,173 Speaker 2: counter Catherine, Good morning Jack, So tell her us about 8 00:00:27,173 --> 00:00:27,853 Speaker 2: Beautiful Ugly. 9 00:00:28,413 --> 00:00:31,653 Speaker 3: So this is you open with this struggling author, a 10 00:00:31,653 --> 00:00:36,373 Speaker 3: guy called Grady Green, and he's talking about his wife's disappearance, 11 00:00:36,373 --> 00:00:38,973 Speaker 3: which happened over a year ago. And a year ago 12 00:00:39,093 --> 00:00:41,453 Speaker 3: while she was on the phone to him, she saw 13 00:00:41,453 --> 00:00:43,373 Speaker 3: a woman lying on the side of the road and 14 00:00:43,413 --> 00:00:45,933 Speaker 3: she got out to help her and she hasn't been 15 00:00:45,973 --> 00:00:49,373 Speaker 3: seen since, and her car was found abandoned at the roadside. 16 00:00:49,493 --> 00:00:51,653 Speaker 3: And he's really tortured by what happened to her. He 17 00:00:51,653 --> 00:00:54,933 Speaker 3: can't sleep, he can't write. And then out of the blue, 18 00:00:54,973 --> 00:00:57,613 Speaker 3: his agent offers him an opportunity to live in this 19 00:00:57,813 --> 00:01:01,933 Speaker 3: remote writing cabin and on this very strange little Scottish island, 20 00:01:03,093 --> 00:01:07,173 Speaker 3: and this cabin was who an old deceased author had 21 00:01:07,213 --> 00:01:09,413 Speaker 3: lived there, and he kind of seems thinks it's kind 22 00:01:09,453 --> 00:01:11,653 Speaker 3: of worth it if you can rescue his career and 23 00:01:11,653 --> 00:01:15,133 Speaker 3: give himself some headspace and think about it, and without 24 00:01:15,253 --> 00:01:18,493 Speaker 3: giving any of the story away. There's lots of twists. 25 00:01:18,573 --> 00:01:22,613 Speaker 3: There's some very eccentric characters, there's dual timelines and point 26 00:01:22,653 --> 00:01:26,813 Speaker 3: of views and some very odd behavior. But this whole 27 00:01:26,933 --> 00:01:29,733 Speaker 3: underlying feel of the novel and on the Islands just 28 00:01:29,773 --> 00:01:32,133 Speaker 3: sort of adds to the sinister level of foreboding and 29 00:01:32,173 --> 00:01:35,053 Speaker 3: you get twisted after twist, and this tension and suspense 30 00:01:35,213 --> 00:01:38,013 Speaker 3: is excellent and you honestly keep flipping the pages because 31 00:01:38,053 --> 00:01:39,533 Speaker 3: you just need to know what happens next. 32 00:01:39,733 --> 00:01:44,053 Speaker 2: Okay, it sounds sounds gripping, Yes, it sounds. Yeah, sounds fantastic, 33 00:01:44,133 --> 00:01:46,853 Speaker 2: it is. It is, okay cool. So that's beautiful Ugly 34 00:01:46,933 --> 00:01:49,893 Speaker 2: by Alice Feenie. You've also read A Dangerous Game by 35 00:01:49,973 --> 00:01:50,893 Speaker 2: Mandy Robotam. 36 00:01:51,533 --> 00:01:54,933 Speaker 3: So this is set in nineteen fifty two and in London, 37 00:01:54,973 --> 00:01:58,493 Speaker 3: and it's during the Great Smock where it's estimated that 38 00:01:58,493 --> 00:02:01,133 Speaker 3: about four thousand people died. So this adds the sort 39 00:02:01,133 --> 00:02:06,013 Speaker 3: of level of I don't know, undercover suspense to everything 40 00:02:06,373 --> 00:02:08,533 Speaker 3: you know. London is still struggling after the end of 41 00:02:08,573 --> 00:02:10,533 Speaker 3: the war, and you meet this young war widow. Her 42 00:02:10,613 --> 00:02:13,973 Speaker 3: name's Helen Dexter and she's called Dexi most of the time. 43 00:02:14,413 --> 00:02:15,933 Speaker 3: And she was in the midst of the action during 44 00:02:15,973 --> 00:02:18,373 Speaker 3: the war, even putting herself in danger. And now that 45 00:02:18,413 --> 00:02:21,133 Speaker 3: the war's over and she's joined the police force, but 46 00:02:21,213 --> 00:02:23,933 Speaker 3: she finds herself being given very manual work that pre 47 00:02:24,053 --> 00:02:27,693 Speaker 3: Warschauvinism is back in force, and she's almost just the 48 00:02:27,693 --> 00:02:30,653 Speaker 3: tea lady, and she rarely wants to fulfill her dreams 49 00:02:30,693 --> 00:02:33,613 Speaker 3: of becoming a detective. And there's this guy, Harry Schroeder, 50 00:02:33,653 --> 00:02:37,773 Speaker 3: and he's a police detective in Hamburg, and despite being 51 00:02:39,093 --> 00:02:42,253 Speaker 3: pretty anti Nazi in Germany, he survived World War II, 52 00:02:42,373 --> 00:02:44,653 Speaker 3: although his wife and daughter didn't, and he's haunted by 53 00:02:44,693 --> 00:02:47,853 Speaker 3: this and he's sent to London on assignment. And Dexi's 54 00:02:47,853 --> 00:02:50,413 Speaker 3: life really changes when she meets him, because they both 55 00:02:50,493 --> 00:02:53,093 Speaker 3: end up being tasked with hunting down a Nazi war 56 00:02:53,133 --> 00:02:57,013 Speaker 3: criminal that Harry had studied with. But this war criminal 57 00:02:57,053 --> 00:02:59,253 Speaker 3: has had a total face reconstruction, and so they now 58 00:02:59,293 --> 00:03:01,253 Speaker 3: have to prove who he is and who he was, 59 00:03:01,333 --> 00:03:05,253 Speaker 3: and so there's secret negotiations and the injustice of this 60 00:03:05,293 --> 00:03:09,013 Speaker 3: person whose manipulation the system, and there's just really good 61 00:03:09,053 --> 00:03:11,493 Speaker 3: sequence of events that keeps you really engaged. It's kind 62 00:03:11,493 --> 00:03:14,093 Speaker 3: of that almost old school Cat and Mouse thriller. Fel 63 00:03:14,173 --> 00:03:14,533 Speaker 3: into it. 64 00:03:14,733 --> 00:03:17,933 Speaker 2: Yeah, brilliant. Okay, that's a Dangerous Game by Mandy Robotham. 65 00:03:17,973 --> 00:03:19,493 Speaker 2: That sounds like a better me. I reckon that one. 66 00:03:19,533 --> 00:03:22,373 Speaker 2: Thanks Catherine. Thanks both of those books. A Dangerous Game 67 00:03:22,533 --> 00:03:25,813 Speaker 2: and Beautiful Ugly will be up on the Newstalk's He'd 68 00:03:25,813 --> 00:03:31,053 Speaker 2: Be website. Everything from our show, our recipes, our screen time, recommendations, 69 00:03:31,133 --> 00:03:34,613 Speaker 2: film reviews, all the good stuff goes up at Newstalks, dB, 70 00:03:34,693 --> 00:03:37,813 Speaker 2: dot co dot nz Ford slash Jack. That's the easiest, 71 00:03:37,853 --> 00:03:39,973 Speaker 2: fastest way to get to everything from our show. 72 00:03:40,893 --> 00:03:44,013 Speaker 1: For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live 73 00:03:44,093 --> 00:03:47,253 Speaker 1: to news Talks 'DB from nine am Saturday, or follow 74 00:03:47,293 --> 00:03:48,893 Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio