Row (2025)

Premiering at the 2025 Raindance Film Festival, 

Row is written and directed by Matt Losasso.

It tells the story of a woman washed ashore in a blood stained boat as part of a doomed trans-atlantic World record attempt. While she has survived, her three shipmates are missing and presumed dead. She attempts to piece together her fractured memories.

The premise of this film is a good one and it does create an effective claustrophobic atmosphere of the cabin fever that takes hold of the shipmates in treacherous waters. However, these confinements are also restrictions and with a young cast trying their best, they are unfortunately let down by a quite a damp script which falls too swiftly into cliché and signposted direction of narrative flow.

This is a pity as the potential is clearly apparent with little nods to the work of John Carpenter and his evocative scores and economical storytelling, and yet that is all this film is, wanting to be something more than it is.

Female lead, Bella Dayne, is lacking in her conviction of performance sadly when the film desperately needs a strong one for the stakes required and with the whole narrative upon her shoulders. Sophie Skelton (Outlander) shows some brief spark in her time onscreen. 

For something so tense the pace is incredibly plodding and pedestrian. No rhythm or tension is apparent, perhaps the writer-director could have done with a polish of his rudderless script. 

It is frustrating when funding goes to films such as this, when the message is not clear and nothing new is being spoken of and with an overlong run time, this film really needed to have a good pay-off which unfortunately when it arrives it is with as little fanfare as the two hours that preceded it and lacks any sort of resolution for the tested audience.

Shot without any invention or colour, this is a film that is unwittingly all at sea.

Row receives its World Premiere on 21st June at 33rd Raindance Film Festival

Row has been nominated for four awards at the festival: Best Performance in a UK Feature (Dayne), Best UK Feature, Best Director of a UK Feature (Losssso) and Best UK Cinematography.

My thanks to Strike Media for the screener link 

Brian Wilson (1942-2025)

Brian Wilson, who passed away Wednesday at the age of 82, leaves behind a musical legacy that is untouchable in the pantheon of pop and rock and roll music.

Wilson, the songwriter and composer, of the five piece California band that brought surf culture to the wider popular attention and was a competitive contemporary of Lennon-McCartney during the British invasion of the mid-1960s.

Wilson, was a writer of huge acclaim and mainstream appeal, jaunty numbers that were talking about surfing, driving and having girlfriends. It was music for the teenager and young adult hot off the heels of Chuck Berry's hooks, the Beach Boys spoke for people from 'Little Deuce Coupe' and 'Fun Fun Fun'

He made California a destination for the globe, a place to aspire to visit. I remember seeing an interview with Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins) and he said, 'Brian Wilson should be paid royalties by the state of California, for the work he has done for the state'

Listening back to his catalogue over there is just a wave of joy and exuberance from the beginning - 'Surfin USA', 'Barbara Ann' and the jam nature of 'I Get Around', the jaunty nature of the works coupled with the nature of being young.

While Wilson would write at a clip unmatched, his attention to composition and complex arrangements were gaining traction. By the time Pet Sounds arrived in May 1966 a reaction to the Beatles' Rubber Soul; he had incorporated a wall-of-sound reminiscent of Phil Spector but the key was partnering with advertising writer Tony Asher as the lyricist. The lyrics while sentimental when married with Wilson's sound were a match made in heaven - the key change in 'God Only Knows' remains something from another dimension.

It is of course a shame that Wilson's dependency on psychedelic drugs curtailed his creative juices, yet the works still come and remain totems that soundtrack the summer as well as that inevitable question of growing old from 'Sail on Sailor' and 'Do It Again'

For me personally, Brian Wilson has been with me always. I worked overseas in a Catalan resort and many a time at the end of the shift I would listen to the Best of the Beach Boys and eventually Pet Sounds in its entirety; it became one of the touchstones works of my impressionable coming of age. I came out of my shell during those summers and the positive mindset that Wilson's music gives you is a jolt of lightning through your veins.

As with anything, it is a shame when someone you admire passes but his work remains and to enjoy. While people dream of better times and time of peace, just think of 'Good Vibrations' and 'Smile'.

The Bones of Chester - MJ Lee

 

Third book in DI Emma Christie series by prolific MJ Lee

Returning for the third book in the series, MJ Lee again writes a pulsating book set in and around the historic city of Chester. 

DI Emma Chrisite, is again tasked with a troubling case after human remains are found near a landmark in the Cheshire city. After an autopsy and inspection by pathologists, it is determined that the remains are from three different female skeletons.

Christie, must contend with office politics and the police hierarchy who want her to fail and have the men pick up the pieces. With her diligent and devoted team, they set about trying to find out firstly who the women are who have been buried and who did the heinous acts of maceration - the removal of flesh from human bones. 

Based around the mythic folk tale of Santa Muerte, who speaks to our villain; the plot revolves around the disappearance of young girls on two specific dates every calendar year. This nugget of truth amidst a fictitious tale helps somewhat ground it in reality - this is helped by Lee writing the discombobulating effect of the politicking in her job. Not to mention, her ongoing care for her ailing father and ex-super cop who is battling Alzheimer's at home.

That facet of the narrative is dealt with delicately, as the father's back story is slowing growing along with the history of the original crime gang family - the Gilligan's from Liverpool - who are always sniffing about. Another thing sniffing, is that familiar rat Gavin Newton, the journalist with no morals and even less ethics. 

A familiar trait of Lee's books is that the first half of the book seems to tread water in narrative construction and obstacles for our protagonists as if it is going uphill to reach a summit. Then when it reaches that summit, the downhill portion is all-go, thrill seeking page turning of the highest order.

Highly recommended for fans old and new, a book to get your teeth into. The fourth book cannot come soon enough.

The Bones of Chester is a self-published book by Author MJ Lee and available on all formats now.

The Famous - Rachel Lynch

New novel by prolific Rachel Lynch set in the world of celebrity and television

Lynch returns with another standalone thriller set amidst the world of the rich and famous following her successful departure from Cheshire set crime series, with The Rich.

Lynch creatively exposes the darkness underneath the sheen of superficiality we see amongst Instagram reels and stories.

In this book, we meet Gloria White, the aging mid-morning television host who is being subjected to a series of vicious anonymous letters culminating in the kidnapping of her daughter; while dealing with the loss of her media mogul father-in-law Roger Wade and the stress this leads.

Hot on the heels of the highly acclaimed film 'The Substance', where the varnish vanishes from an ageing starlet as she seeks the elixir of youth; this shows a highly esteemed television personality's life slowly unravel when her integrity is questioned.

Unlike The Rich which was one of those Crash-like scenarios, when lives are entwinned unknowingly, this story focuses solely on a main matriarch and her behaviour impacts everyone, while her arc revolves around this eventual realisation of her actions before it is too late.

Truth is buried and lives are ruined by the acts of the rich and famous. Lynch who touched upon such things in her previous work, invents more fictional tales that focus upon cancel culture, celebrity and money buying power.

Thrilling and tantalising in equal measure, fans of Lynch's Kelly Porter books will know what to expect with the intricately plotted narrative, but the realisation of a character such as Gloria White, at her advanced age is a successful one.

The Famous is out from Canelo on 6th March in all formats

FACS - Wish Defense

 

Chicago trio FACS return with sixth studio album from Trouble In Mind on February 7th

FACS are unlike any band you would have heard of before. They remain an enigmatic threesome who have garnered a cult following since the release of Void Moments in March 2020, when the world took a turn.

That album was an insular one, and one whose lyrical content coupled with that throbbing basslines and persistent drums along with a vocal of insolence. Yet it is still able to connect due to the musicianship on display by Brian Case (vocals), Jonathan Van Herik (original returning member on bass) and Noah Leger on drums.

Case, the main writer, states that this album revolves around the idea of doppelgangers or doubles, in a sense FACS are holding a mirror up to themselves to make tackle yourself and what motivations lie ahead.

Second track 'Ordinary Voices' is one that is familiar in the FACS form; pulsating and unrelenting in its message, which is quickly followed by title track 'Wish Defense' which has this ear worm of a bass line at the outset, culminating in the shout 'I'm not here' on repeat as a chorus. It is not so much disillusionment they are trying to sell, they can see the listener and can relate.

 

Track four, 'A Room' is an archetypal wall of sound number, with Case's vocals merely being held up by the roaring sound being created.

While it may not reach the heights or lightning in the bottle of Void or the follow up Present Tense (2021), this nevertheless remains a supreme statement of art by a band who are firing on all cylinders. This sort of album gives you hope that when given a chance a band can still be heard.

At seven songs in length and thirty minutes in runtime, this is still a curated piece of production helmed by the late Steve Albini, in his last professional work.

Wish Defense is released from Trouble in Mind on February 7th

My thanks to them and OneBeat PR for the review opportunity.

Dead Man's Shoes - Marion Todd

 

Marion Todd returns with another instalment in the DI Clare Slater world

Having followed Todd's career - a second career as her life as a novelist started in later years - it has been a joy to see this writer grow as an author creating a world she is happily swimming in as the crime washes up on the nearby shores in St Andrews.

This most recent adventure follows the death of a young man found dead near a nightclub. The marks on his neck are indicative and a symbol of a serial killer in the North of England, labelled 'The Choker', a killer who targets gay men.

From that death, another death follows and on and on and with further attacks on men happening, Slater must again balance the extremes of work pressure with the crucial home-life balance with a fellow member of the Police force. 

It is always difficult to find new problems or obstacles for a character in a continuing series without it becoming old hat or sound like you are repeating yourself. In this edition, Todd gives Slater the difficulty of a back injury sustained in the line of duty meaning she becomes a passenger driven to crime scenes and has to slow down while trying to get the same results.

Written as ever with such enthusiasm and with a great ear for dialogue in the workplace, Todd again has written a winner of a crime read. 

Dead Man's Shoes is released on 9th January 2025 from Canelo Crime

My thanks to them for the pre-approval on NetGalley

The Last Ride - Nick Louth

The fun of reading new thrillers from established and new writers, is that they welcome you into their world so to speak.

Having followed writers from up and down this land ranging from St. Andrews, Scotland to Manchester to the abundance of London set novels, this reader has now had the luxury of reading a new novel set in the vast countryside of Cornwall in the a new thriller by Nick Louth

The second in the Jan Talantire novel - this is a new sort of twist on the thriller. Having read female protagonists by female writers and male protagonists by male writers, here is a female protagonist by a male writer.

The story revolves around a joyriding incident that goes horribly wrong culminating in a chase and a crash that leads to a fatality and critical injuries to other youngsters in the car. Talantire comes in on the night shift and starts the investigation that much like the winding road on which the accident occurred, there are many twists you cannot see coming

As with other Canelo Crime strand releases, there is a plethora of obstacles for Talantire to overcome and most are the office politics at play culminating in decisions and repercussions for all. Another great addition is that you become quickly aware of the difficulty and vastness of the Cornwall landscape and how hard it is to police in that region

This was a thrilling read and one that has piqued my interest to this writer, with this reader looking forward to further releases

The Last Ride is out from Canelo now on all formats.