Written by Rian Johnson, you can see Glass Onion on Netflix. It is well worth the Watch!
It is a lavish production which has an outstanding cast including James Bond star Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Madelyn Cline, Kathryn Hahn, Janelle Monáe, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Kate Hudson and Dave Bautista.
This film was released in 2022 and is a murder mystery film with hints of Agatha Christie. Johnson had indicated that he wanted to write a whodunnit in the style of stories he liked such as Evil Under the Sun and Death on the Nile. He has done so with great style! Glass Onion as it is known is the sequel to the Knives Out film which was released in 2019. Daniel Craig plays the role of super sleuth detective Benoit Blanc. He is tasked with unravelling crimes relating to the tech billionaire Miles Bron. The character Bron is superbly played by the talented actor, Edward Norton. This beautifully crafted movie was filmed in Belgrade and the Greek Island of Spetses. It has received great acclaim from reviewers and It was listed as one of the top ten films of 2022 by the National Board of Review. It also received two nominations at the 80th Golden Globe Awards.
Netflix bought the rights to two Knives Out sequels in 2019 for a whopping 469 million US Dollars.
I do not wish to spoil your viewing by giving away the plot. However, during the pandemic the billionaire Miles Bron holds a murder mystery game at his home, the Glass Onion, which is located on his private island in Greece. He invites several friends and the renowned detective Benoit Blanc. And from there the intricate plot with beautiful cinematography unfolds!
Owen Gleiberman of Variety said of Glass Onion that it is “a bigger, showier, even more elaborately multi-faceted shell-game mystery” than the first film.
See Glass Onion on Netflix and prepare yourself for a most unusual and visually exciting murder mystery fiction experience
Will See Glass, by the writer Ido Graf, be the next blockbuster film or Netflix Original for the coming year of 2021?
The movie and television industry has reinvigorated itself over the last few years with great films and diverse series coming out of Hollywood and Netflix Originals. It has been the saving of many of us during the pandemic. The great Hollywood studios such as Universal Pictures, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures, Columbia Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures have been a life saver.
Who among us has not sat glued to the TV unable to pull ourselves away as we wait for a new Hollywood blockbuster release or the next instalment of a Netflix Original series …I have felt as if I am an addict – unable to drag myself from the screen even to pour another glass of wine. I cannot help it – some of these series are just so professionally written and engaging that I feel lost without them.
When I get though every episode of a series, I am often suffering withdrawal. Sometimes it even starts before I finish watching every episode which is available! I look down the diminishing list of episodes that I have left and feel a gut-wrenching sense of loss – what will I possibly do when the series is complete?
I begin to question myself! Could Netflix be playing a joke on their viewers – Surely, I don’t have to wait a month until the next series is released? Have I misread the list of episodes? Maybe there are more that I didn’t notice? Yes that’s it!
I knew that I should have stopped at the last bottle of wine – my vision is going! It’s all been a horrible hallucination! Yes, it’s true – there is another series and more episodes available! Have I got time to run to the kitchen to grab another bottle of wine and some crisps before it starts – Oh and a saucepan too so I can go to the toilet while I’m sat on the sofa?
I make a dash for it!
But no, it’s not true! There is not another series yet! What a nightmare! So I start watching it again to stave off depression while I wait for the next series to be released.
I know! I think to myself – I will watch the whole series again on the TV from the start with my right eye which will help me to keep a grip. Then I can hold up my phone and scan with my left eye to search for another new series to get hooked on.
Then I realise that with two hands in use I cannot use my saucepan or drink my wine. Fortunately, these problems are less insurmountable than my issues with SLL, ‘Series Love Loss’.
I lean forward without taking either eye from the screens and grasp the lip of the bottle with my teeth. I slowly tilt my head back while keeping my balance and without either eye losing contact with the screens. Then a heartfelt memory of one of the greatest Hollywood films comes to mind – Apollo 13. My lips form a manic grin as I compare myself to those astronauts – they thought they were attempting the impossible with little measure for error! If they could see me now, then they would realise that they had it easy!
I am beginning to sweat now as things are becoming critical! I just must GO PEE! This is an absolute crisis! Unperturbed and unrelenting as the right eye is seeing a clever pot twist and the left eye has found something interesting – I shift my weight on the sofa and use the toes of both feet to grip the saucepan to pull it towards me – a task made more difficult from slippery food residue on the outside from a week ago when I last ate something.
Then things enter a critical stage – I am beginning to break down – the pressure is too great. Something must give!
Then just in the nick of time when the plot twist in my right eye is at its pinnacle – my body gives up. I cannot hold back the floodgates anymore. The sofa is soaking wet, but at least it is warm – I drop the saucepan and life just keeps on giving. I am reminded of Apollo 13 again – they went in their underwear – I am sure I read that somewhere years ago!
I will tell my girlfriend that when she gets home – she will understand! Then suddenly my left eye has found a new series with great reviews – it just gets better and better!
My body relaxes and I feel an uplifting rush like none I have ever felt before! Roll on happiness!
Netflix is based in Los Gatos, California and since it started with that iconic series House of Cards, it has not looked back.
The Editor and Publisher of Southwest Florida online wrote a very full review of the conspiracy novel, See Glass and said in his final comment, ‘I would imagine a screenwriter could polish See Glass off and make a very dandy film thriller.’
Will this clever political conspiracy thriller which is available on Amazon be the next Hollywood or Netflix Original hit of this year.
Alistair Maclean died in 1987, but what a legacy he left behind.
Alistair MacLean wrote the novel, Where Eagles Dare, at the same time as he wrote the screenplay. The 1968 film was shot on location in Bavaria and Austria. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced this classic film with stars such as Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood and Mary Ure. Both the book and the film were a major success.
Out of interest, the title comes from Act I, Scene III in William Shakespeare’s play Richard III: ‘The world is grown so bad, that wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch’.
The plot has various twists and turns. During the winter of 1943 to 44 U.S. Army Brigadier General George Carnaby is captured by the Germans. He is said to be a chief planner for the Western Front. The Germans take him to Schloß Adler to be interrogated. The castle can only be accessed by cable car or by helicopter.
A British Major, John Smith and a U.S. Army Ranger Lieutenant, Morris Schaffer (Clint Eastwood) are instructed on their mission by Colonel Turner and Admiral Rolland of Britain’s MI6. They are to be parachuted into Germany disguised as German troops with a team of commandos. Their mission – to rescue Carnaby before he can be interrogated. They are dropped by a captured German Ju-52 transport plane. Smith secretly contacts agents Mary Ellison and Heidi Schmidt. The other commandoes do not know of their existence. Heidi gets Mary a job as a secretary at the castle.
Two of the commandoes are killed in suspicious circumstances, though Smith decides to continue the operation. He works closely with Shaffer and informs London of what is happening.
The commandos surrender to the Germans and Smith and Schaffer are separated from the enlisted men. Smith and Schaffer quickly kill the Germans who are guarding them and then get their escape route ready. They ride on top of the cable car and then climb up a rope, lowered by Mary, into the castle.
Carnaby is being interrogated by General Rosemeyer and Standartenführer Kramer. When the three captured enlisted men arrive, they identify themselves as German double agents.
The plot then gets quite tricky to follow. But it is worth staying with it as it is ingenious.
Where Eagles Dare by Alistair MacLean is a fantastic read and the film is a classic and one to watch over and over again. He is a great author in the style of Desmond Bagley and Hammond Innes.
Buy Where Eagles Dare from one of the worlds greatest fiction authors and you will not be sorry.
Gorky Park, the fiction novel by Martin Cruz Smith which introduced us all to the delights of the that most enigmatic of Russians, Arkady Renko.
Gorky Park takes its name from the amusement park of the same name in Moscow. Three corpses, their faces and fingertips missing, are found buried in the snows of the park. The body parts had been removed to hide their identities.
Renko, a chief investigator for the Militsiya, is tasked with solving the case.
Renko falls foul of the authorities as he relentlessly exposes the charlatans within the Russian hierarchy, regardless of the power they may have over him.
The story unfolds in a surprising manner, with many plot twists.
Martin Cruz Smith is a wonderful writer, who really catches the mood and the flavour of Mother Russia and who keeps the reader endlessly guessing. Gorky Park is a must read.
Gorky Park, il romanzo di Martin Cruz Smith che ci ha fatto conoscere le delizie del più enigmatico dei russi, Arkady Renko.
Gorky Park prende il nome dall’omonimo parco divertimenti di Mosca. Tre cadaveri, senza volto e punta delle dita, vengono ritrovati sepolti nella neve del parco. Le parti del corpo erano state rimosse per nascondere la loro identità.
Renko, un investigatore capo della Militsiya, ha il compito di risolvere il caso.
Renko cade in fallo delle autorità mentre denuncia senza sosta i ciarlatani all’interno della gerarchia russa, indipendentemente dal potere che possono avere su di lui.
La storia si svolge in modo sorprendente, con molti colpi di scena.
Martin Cruz Smith è uno scrittore meraviglioso, che cattura davvero l’atmosfera e il sapore di Madre Russia e che tiene il lettore a indovinare senza fine. Gorky Park è una lettura obbligata per chi ama il miglior scrittore di narrativa.
The novel Along Came a Spider written by James Patterson is a great introduction to this prolific and hugely successful writers work.
This book by Patterson introduced us all to Alex Cross and the series which followed. A great thriller which is well plotted and the Alex Cross books have dominated the detective novel lists for years.
Washington, D.C. Alex Cross, the renowned Washington D.C. forensic psychologist and homicide investigator, is tasked with looking in to the violent murder of two black prostitutes and a child in the projects.
Cross is furious when he is removed from the case to investigate a kidnapping of two white children at an expensive private school. He feels that there is a sense that the colour determines which case is the more important. The kidnapper is Gary Soneji, the school maths teacher.
The evil Soneji, buries Maggie Rose Dunne and Michael Goldberg alive, in a coffin made for the task, at a remote farmhouse.
Alex Cross and the FBI make a detailed search of Soneji’s apartment. They find a wealth of information about kidnappings and master criminals. In particular it appears that Soneji has a more than passing obsession with the Lindbergh baby kidnapping of 1932.
Soanji clearly has a warped desire to become infamous.
Cross hooks up with Jezzie Flanagan, the first female supervisor of the Secret Service and the head of the Secret Service investigative team, in a secret liaison which complicates matters.
During the investigation Roger Graham, an FBI agent, is killed by Soneji who disguises himself as a reporter.
A missing little girl named Maggie Rose . . . a family of three brutally murdered in the projects of Washington, D.C. . . . the thrill-killing of a beautiful elementary school teacher . . . a psychopathic serial kidnapper/murderer who is so terrifying that the FBI, the Secret Service, and the police cannot outsmart him – even after he’s been captured.
The police, FBI and the Secret Service are pitted against a true adversary in the guise of the violent psychopath, Soanji.
I don’t want to ruin the plot for you in this cleverly plotted and intricate game of cat and mouse where the stakes are the very highest.
Other thriller authors have spoken very highly of James Pattersons work:
“An incredibly suspenseful read with a one-of-a-kind killer who is as terrifying as he is intriguing. One of the best thrillers of the year.” Clive Cussler
“The best thriller I’ve come across in many a year. It deserves to be this season’s NO.1 best-seller. Nelson DeMille
Absolute Power thriller was written by David Baldacci.
The novel opens when a professional burglar named Luther Whitney, breaks into the home of a billionaire in an upmarket Virginia suburb. While trying to rob the house he sees the United States President and the wife of the billionaire having wild sex. While Whitney is watching their passionate sex becomes violent ending in the woman being killed as the Secret Service burst in on them. Whitney saw the killing through a large two way mirror door that concealed a closet room. In this hidden room the billionaire would sit watching as other men had sex with his wife. Whitney made his escape, but the Secret Service had already found out that someone had been watching. The Secret Service orchestrates a campaign to implicate Whitney in the murder of the billionaire’s wife. The agents try to track down Whitney, who goes on the run – though he wants to make sure the real culprit is exposed.
A very clever, believable plot that is a real page turner. David Baldacci is a master of his thriler craft and many of his books are available in ebook, audiobook and paperback formats.
Absolute Power was made into a film starring Clint Eastwood.
Jon Stock is an English author and journalist and former editor of the Weekend section of the UK’s Daily Telegraph. Dead Spy Running paperback is scheduled to be made into a Hollywood film. Stock has previously worked in New Delhi, India and lived in Cochin in Kerala.
A suspended MI6 agent, Daniel Marchant, while running in the London Marathon notices a reluctant suicide bomber stalking the US ambassador. Marchant cannot stop without provoking the bomber into an early detonation. Marchant had been a victim in the internal wrangling that existed between Britain’s intelligence community, MI5 and MI6. He also had the suspicion of being a traitor hanging over him.
Daniel’s heroic efforts to prevent calamity at during the London Marathon are misconstrued as he is suspected of being in league with the terrorists and they are used to further demean him. MI5 set him up and he is betrayed by a mole. He then falls into the hands of CIA torturers finding himself variously interrogated and waterboarded.
Marchant’s MI6 colleague and lover – Leila and the new chief, Sir Marcus Fielding have come to resent the CIA’s increasing influence in Whitehall.
Marchant goes on the run from the CIA. He then goes on a hunt from Wiltshire, to Poland and on to India to find the terrorist in an attempt to expose the false accusations made against his father and him. It was in India that Marchant’s father once met with a senior terrorist. Proof of treason on his part, or part of an ingenious intrigue?
Stock’s novel is well researched, plausible and utterly contemporary. A well-executed fiction, spy novel, from an espionage writer who clearly has his finger on the pulse of the modern, murky world of espionage. Dead Spy Running is part of the Legoland Trilogy.
