The latest book reviews this month include Singapore Sling Shot, Pairing Wine With Asian Food, A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder and The Girl on the Landing

Singapore Sling Shot
Andrew Grant

Monsoon Books

New Zealand author Andrew Grant could write a fascinating autobiography. He’s worked as a bodyguard for David Bowie and The Who, as a professional deer-hunter (from a helicopter), and as a rescue-ops man for a private security outfit in the UK.

But Grant can shelve any memoir plans for the moment. Singapore Sling Shot, his latest of twelve books (and the second in a series featuring world-weary former agent Daniel Swann), crackles with energy and will appeal to all fans of the Bond/Bourne genre. For Singapore-based readers, the pages will hold particular appeal, thanks to the dramas that unfold in the city’s real-life locales. So, there’s a full-blown triad-style gunfight on Sentosa, a stakeout on Nassim Road, and a police manhunt on Pulau Ubin.

When the gun-totin’ Mendez brothers, part of a Colombian drug syndicate, wash up on Singapore’s shores a third of the way through, there’s a concern that Sling Shot will harakiri itself on clichés. But Grant steers his protagonist through to a satisfying conclusion.

A visit to Fort Siloso will never be the same.

Shamus Sillar

Pairing Wine With Asian Food
Edwin Soon

Monsoon Books

You rarely find a sommelier dishing out wine-pairing advice before you tuck into your Peking duck or Thai green curry. It’s no wonder then that most of us prefer to stick with a nice cold bottle of beer.

Despite the Asian branch of oenology being less evolved than its Western counterpart, the concepts are similar. However, as the author points out, the premise that white wine goes with white meat and red wine goes with red meat flies out of the window with Asian cooking – it is all about matching textures, sensations and flavour.

This is a great reference book that you can dip into whenever required. Not only does Soon gives the reader pairing advice for practically every Asian food you can think of, he offers it up in form of tips, tables and easy-to-digest text. For foodies and wine-lovers of all levels.

Deborah Goldman

A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder
Shamini Flint

Piatkus

In the first of this popular Singaporean author’s new series, titled Inspector Singh Investigates, the Singapore Police Force sends its overweight, chain-smoking policeman with “only moderately clean fingernails” up to Kuala Lumpur to help ensure justice for Chelsea Liew, a beautiful Singaporean ex-model accused of murdering her tycoon husband.

Slightly out of his element in the comparatively anarchic KL, the unexpectedly lovable, turbanned Sikh inspector breaks all the rules to find the truth in minefield of domestic violence, unrequited passion and a bitter family feud.

Peppered with wry comments on the relationship and differences between tiny, pristine Singapore and its comparatively wild and woolly northern neighbour, the well-constructed story romps along. And the author’s legal background and interest in environmental activism help its forays into the ethics surrounding the plundering of rainforests in Borneo strike a genuine chord.

Available in Singapore from mid-June, it’s a fun read.

Verne Maree

The Girl on the Landing
Paul Torday

Orion Books

An obscure title for an intensely readable book.  This is Paul Torday’s third novel, and comes after The Incredible Inheritance of Wilberforce – a reverse chronology of an alcoholic.  Both novels view the world through the eyes of damaged middle-aged men who are surprisingly easy to empathise with. You find yourself asking, “If I identify with this character, how normal am I?”

In a witty, carefully spun yarn, Torday describes the world in monochrome through the eyes of the wealthy, dignified schizophrenic, Michael, and through the eyes of his wife, Elizabeth. Michael’s life develops colour and significance as he weans himself off the anti-psychotic drugs prescribed to address his illness, while his wife succumbs to emotions of ardour that she never before felt for her husband. You will be enthralled as you are drawn to the characters and plot, and defenceless when they ultimately stun and sicken you.

Claire Cooper