Sun, sea and text

The sand is sizzling like a revved-up barbecue, the thermometer is cranked up a few notches above comfortable while half-days, for those lucky enough to have them, are within reach. Actually, it's not a question of reach but grab. Which means more time to spend on the beach with your two best friends: a Factor 40 and a good book. And what better reads than a gripping crime thriller for him and a heart-warming comfort read for her. Nothing too taxing; just two good yarns for an overheated mind bent on relaxation.

One for the boys

Power play
by Joseph Finder
Headline pp430, ISBN: 978-0755342075

Joseph Finder, the critically acclaimed "CEO of suspense", delivers an adrenalin kick with Power Play. The storyline is a bit of a stretch and not an original one at that. The entire team of top executives of Hammond Aerospace Corporation is taken hostage in a remote Canadian hunting lodge. The kidnappers demand half a billion dollars in ransom. The bloodshed starts almost immediately and the debacle soon turns into a no-punches-spared battle for survival.

One of the hostages, Jake Landry, decides to take the proverbial bull by the horns. As I value your intelligence I am certain I wouldn't be spoiling any fun by telling you that the Hollywood ending is rather predictable. The mass-kidnapping scenario is reminiscent of the wonderfully lyrical Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, but that's where comparisons end. After all, Power Play is a good beach read not a Pulitzer winner. Finder insists that the kidnapping of the top echelons of a major corporation is "one of those scary possibilities that give corporate security directors insomnia." But for the reader, it's just entertaining fiction.

The kidnapping drama runs alongside flashbacks from Jake Landry's difficult childhood at the hands of his domineering and brutal father and later under the "care" of sadistic prison officers while he served time in a juvenile penitentiary. Life has come full circle for Jake Landry and now he must exorcise his inner "bad wolf". A quote from Carl Jung at the start of the book promises some depth to the characters but, not to worry, a degree in psychology is not required here.

For the boys there is enough technical jargon to keep them happy. Finder peppers his copy with the minutiae of aeronautic engineering, detailing the finer points of an impressive arsenal of firearms (of course we all know what a .44 Magnum Ruger Super Blackhawk six shooter looks like, don't we?), listing the entire wardrobe of military clothing gear. Then again, Mr Finder also happens to be an espionage and international affairs journalist.

The detail does not stop with the hardware. I confess I went all girly and squeamish as the action picked up pace and the bullets started flying. Violent scenes are portrayed in full technicolour as blood "spews" like "geysers" and bones crunch upon impact.

Central to this Die Hard-style shoot-'em-up is an internal secret investigation into allegations of corruption. The enquiry is launched by Hammond's new CEO, Cheryl Tobin, who could not have imagined the bloody consequences of her honourable quest to clean up the organisation. Interestingly, Finder kicked off his book promotion with a prequel fictional case study in the esteemed Harvard Business Review. The case study highlighted the dilemma managers face when attempting to investigate hints of corruption without attracting federal and media scrutiny. In the US this is a sore issue as several giant corporations have fallen foul of this dilemma. Enron gets a mention in the book as does Boeing who famously refused to cooperate with Finder when he was researching his novel.

Power Play is fast-paced, light entertainment for lazy summer afternoons, ideally accompanied by a chilled beer.

/media/serve/20080628-lifestyle--book2.jpgOne for the girls

This charming man
by Marian Keyes
Michael Joseph Ltd pp688, ISBN: 978-0-71814912-3

The queen of chick lit is back with, possibly, her finest book to date. But first, a health warning: you risk first degree burns reading this on the beach for I guarantee you will forget to put the book down to reapply your sun cream at appropriate intervals and you'll find yourself sucked into the vertiginous depths of the multi-layered story.

At first glance the outline of the plot seems your typical chick lit fare: four women unwittingly linked to the same man. One of these women, Alicia, has just found out through a newspaper report that she is about to marry the devastatingly handsome and ambitious politician Paddy de Courcy. Paddy's girlfriend, Lola, a stylist with purple, sorry, "molichino" hair, has found out, also through the media, that she's not the chosen one. She takes it badly and flees the city for some R&R in the countryside where she finds salvation with a group of transvestites. Grace, hard-nosed journalist, is riled by the news for her own reasons while her twin sister Marnie is still trying to get over her break-up with Paddy 15 years on. It seems 21st century romance has learnt nothing from Romeo and Juliet.

Yet Marian Keyes's brand of women's fiction is anything but flippant. Her comic genius is brilliantly showcased in Lola, but it is Ms Keyes's darker side that provides the real clincher. With her unique blend of compassion, warmth, and touching realism, She highlights two of the saddest problems facing women today: domestic violence and alcoholism.

Ms Keyes herself is a recovered alcoholic so this part of the book was especially heartfelt. By the time she had turned 30, Ms Keyes was in rehab recovering from a suicide attempt. She's been sober since. In the novel, sensitive and complex Marnie fights a losing battle with the booze. She loses her husband, her daughters, her house, her job, and suffers countless injuries as her body succumbs to the mind-numbing force of a stream of alcohol. Marnie's story is the most poignant part of the book, delivered with all the heart and soul of one who truly knows what it means to be a prisoner of the bottle. As Ms Keyes put it in a recent interview: "Alcoholism is a disease of terminal uniqueness. Nobody had ever suffered like I was suffering."

As the book travels on a rollercoaster ride of emotions, from the peaks of Lola's hilarious escapades swooshing down to Marnie's alcohol-driven depression, short, anonymous episodes of brutal abuse punctuate the narrative. Initially it is unclear who the victim and perpetrator are. But the shocking truth behind Paddy de Courcy's destructive charm is soon revealed and we are left wondering how and why do women continue to suffer abuse from their partners in silence.

Ms Keyes has succeeded in the impossibly tricky task of balancing a fun, comfort read with a darker theme exquisitely packaged in a perfect confection of gutsy humour, humanity and hope. She has apologised for the "embarrassingly long time" it has taken for her to write this book. She's forgiven. It's well worth the wait.

• Ms Bishop lives in Switzerland with her husband, baby son, too many books and not enough bookshelves.

• The review copy of This Charming Man is the author's own. A review copy of Power Play was supplied by Allied Publications.