Rhyming Rings

David Gemmell is typically a High Fantasy/Sci-Fi author, and he's dang good at that. He's also really really good at Crime and Fiction. He's one of my all time favorite authors and I was delighted to find a new book of his published after his death. I started and read it all in one day and I had difficulty putting it down to do any of my tasks throughout the day. While this has more mature moments and themes than most of his other books, I still felt that it had his unique style and felt true to the genre. I would definitely recommend.

Usually when a writer picks his/her niche, they don't ahine much outside it. That wasn't the case with Gemmell. He was the King of heroic fantasy, and yet his crime fiction is every bit as good as his novels about Drenai warriors and Rigante kings. There's everything I love in his books inside Rhyming Rings. And a little more, since there's a lot of his own life and times in the book.

What an outstanding novel! It was fast paced with a well thought out story and characters that had depth. I couldn’t put it down.

Great characterisation and a great story. An interesting back story as well, given how much is apparently autobiographical. Highly recommended for Gemmell fans.

Excellent prose, time piece novel from area of post punk rebellion. Somewhere between Agatha Christie atmospheric and Michael Connolly fact based crime .

A good read, and nice to find a new/old Gemmel book.

I wish we could have known what was in the memento box that Sutcliffe gave Ethel.This was excellent. Obviously it would be because it was written by David Gemmell. I am a David Gemmell fan. I was sad to learn about his passing in 2006 and intrigued to find that some of his work was being published posthumously. My intrigue became curiosity when I realised that this story is actually a thriller/murder mystery.My curiosity is now satisfied. This story is brilliant! The story is set in the eighties amid the racial tensions of London and non-existent community relationships with police. It is a time of 'political incorrectness', community divisions and dividing lines. Into this tension appears the seemingly random murders of a number of women who were married in 1975.Jeremy Miller a young arrogant journalist is drawn into the murders when he interviews a psychic who says she can help solve the crimes. Ethel can see things by touching objects and the police though initially sceptical, realise that she may indeed be able to help them. What Ethel doesn't realise is that this will eventually put her into the path of the murderer.Jeremy realises that this is exactly the kind of story he wants to report and as he gets to know Ethel (and her friend the mysterious Mr Sutcliffe) he gets to learn a bit more about himself and the work colleagues who usually shun him, but he doesn't know that this new friendship with Ethel may end up costing him dearly.This book is 264 pages of reading bliss. I loved the way the story whisked me back to London of the eighties and the back drop of community tension provides a dark and gritty backdrop for a puzzling thriller.The characters are brilliant and so well developed they could step off the pages into real life. The mystery was both so simple and yet very complex reaching deep into the darkness that can exist with the human mind. Together with the frisson of mysticism this book is superb and a good reminder that I still have a few David Gemmell books to catch up on.Copy provided via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

I'm a huge fan of Gemmell's work. I'm going to keep this short and sweet. This was a great throwback to a time I know well and actually lived through. No internet no computers - ah blisss. As for the novel, I didn't care for the mix of 1st and 3rd points of view (it just didn't work well)...I could also tell this was an early piece of his by the writing style.The book could have been fleshed out more with the skills he attained over his career, but of course with his death 11 years ago, this just wasn't possible. In the end, it's a decent story, written by one of the greats. It's not perfect, but reading this was like hearing from an old friend again. It's worth it just to read David's words once more.

Back in the summer of 2006 I had one of those extremely stressful days. As a recourse upon returning home, I grabbed a David Gemmell book from my bookshelf and took it out to the garden. Fifty or so wonderful pages later I felt ready to face the world again. Returning indoors, I noticed the light flashing on the phone indicting I had been left a message whilst outside. It was from my father and I can’t now recall what is was about. But he signed off by saying ‘by the way did you know that author you like died today’. I replaced the handset and looked at my other hand where I still held the hardback with the emblazoned gold lettering saying ‘David Gemmell’.At that moment it was difficult to imagine that no more novels would be published with that name upon them. Inevitably, though, after the release of the final novel he was working on, ‘Fall of Kings’, this became the case. Thus, the publication of a lost David Gemmell novel almost eleven years after his death seems like a small miracle.Of course, this is a novel for whatever reason Gemmell opted not to publish. As such it is no lost fantasy masterpiece, a revisit to the world of the Drenai or any other such thing that fans of Gemmell might have wished for.Instead, what it is, is in some ways more interesting. This is the author turning his hand to something quite different. ‘Rhyming Rings’ is a murder mystery; a police crime investigation set in the latter days of the eighties.There is, of course, elements characteristic of the author’s usual work. A gritty realism permeates the violence and the characters are all shades of grey. It is a story of heroism rather than heroes with that thing of people who are not particularly perceived as good doing good things because they have risen to the occasion when necessary.The story predominantly flows from the point of view of Jeremy, a callous, career driven journalist who generally lives his life oblivious to the feelings of others before he becomes embroiled in a murder investigation that arouses his humanity. He is initially quite an unlikeable figure as a lead protagonist but the character development is superb and as he responds to events he slowly endears himself to the reader. He might never actually become that likeable but he becomes understandable, rendering him a sympathetic figure.It’s a fairly short novel but it benefits from this by making it quite a gripping read with a reasonably tight and satisfying murder mystery conclusion. There seems to be some slight experimentation involving a mixture of third and first person perspectives, but this generally seems to work.A novel of this genre isn’t completely new from Gemmell, however. He had previously released a crime novel, ‘Whit Knight / Black Swan’, but under the pseudonym Ross Harding. This didn’t receive a great deal of attention at the time but is set to be republished later this year in the wake of ‘Rhyming Rings’.

I've loved David Gemmells novels for most of my life and when I have time to sit and simply read for enjoyment, it's often one of these that I pick up.Rhyming Rings is a distinct departure from his typical fantasy works, but shares many traits nonetheless.The giant Mr Sutcliffe and his quiet and unassuming strength. The Rek-like Jeremy, who starts his journey filled with self loathing, but discovers inner strength, courage and even redemption by the end of the story.The story is tense and a gritty depiction of London in 1987. The parallels between the story and the authors early life are obvious, but easily missed, such is the ability of the author to draw you into the story.As with all of his novels, not a word is wasted and he manages to convey so much with so little. The subject matter is grisly though and certainly much darker than his other work. That said, it is an excellent book.Although I never met David Gemmell, missing out on a signing event due to helping a friend, I felt a real sense of loss at his passing. I'm eternally grateful to whoever found this story, not only for the quality read it provides, but also because for just a moment, it made me feel connected to the author again.

I had the pleasure of meeting David Gemmell on a number of occasions at his book signings, he was always meant to read a chapter of his new book, but instead would tell stories of his life, or answers questions we had about his books, he mentions the letter he wrote to Tolkein and the trip he made to Oxford to meet he,he said "meeting your heroes could be a disappointment "He also said he always wanted to write in a different genre, but knew what his fans liked,Rhyming rings is a different Genre, akin to white knight black swan, my copy of that is well read, This book has all the spirt of Gemmell

Held off for a long time before reading this, I was scared of being disappointed. However this wasn't the case. Gemmell is a master at creating multifaceted characters, giving them a dimension many authors can only dream about.Gripped from the start and devoured in one sitting.So go on be brave you wont be disappointed.

First rate story! David Gemmell was the top man in his field and a true genius in modern and historical fiction! I advise anyone who likes a gripping, interesting and satisfying tale to read all of David (and Stella Gemmell's) books!