David P Elliot – 'CLAN' Blog

A new You Tube video featuring the author narrating the Author’s Foreword of ‘Clan’ by David P Elliot is now available to listen to free on You Tube.

You can view and listen to the video here – the book is available in paperback, audio (CD and download) and in all e-book formats including Kindle and iPad.

You can find out more and order or download the book here.

You can go online at www.clanmagazine.com to read the November issue of Clan Magazine. Subscribe for free and comments are welcome – even ones that disagree with me!

The Ghost by Robert Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am a huge fan of Robert Harris having read several of his books with ‘Fatherland’ being a particular favourite. This is a well written tale and as is usual with his books deals with real-life scenarios where the reader already has some knowledge of the subject (Enigma & Pompeii for example)- but this is different. Perhaps the others are far enough in the past from my personal experience being set, as they are, in WWII or during the destruction of that well known and often visited Italian city. But read The Ghost and it is absolutely unavoidable to conclude that this is about a character who is quite clearly based on Tony Blair and as a consequence it is Tony Blair you see in your mind’s eye with every line, incident and comment. Unfortunately, you also cannot dismiss from your mind the vision of Cherie Blair. Neither of these characters are people I want to spend my time thinking about, although my attention was held when it appears that evidence has been found of the fictional ex-PM from the book being directly involved in ordering the capture and rendition from Pakistan of suspects for torture. His ex- Foreign Secretary (presumably Robin Cook?) is seeking his trial in the International Criminal Court for War Crimes. Probably the possibility of this character ever having to face a criminal court, pleasant though that thought might be, is a suspension of belief too far even for Mr Harris. However, the actual denouement, which I wont reveal to avoid spoiling the story, is unsatisfactory and missed I believe the opportunity to explore what actually would happen had this character been put before a court to account for what is clearly, in my view, highly questionable behaviour that still has not been satisfactorily investigated. Perhaps my personal views are just to fixed to accept what seems to me to be a bit of a cop-out in terms of a conclusion. Please note however, that I have still given the book 4 stars and would still recommend it.

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The October issue of Clan Magazine is out now.

Clan by David P Elliot

“A birthday present from my sister which I read in two sittings and can’t get out of my head!!.An amazing blend of History,fiction and
supernatural, well written, well researched in an area of the country I was brought up in and know like the back of my hand so when he mentions a place I’m there seeing it in my mind!!So well written fiction and fact blend leaving you wondering which is which. I loved this book and can’t wait to read more by David. I’ve been looking through some reviews and some guy who didn’t enjoy it was saying the people who had, had only reviewed one or two books as if this were a fault and they would have no idea what they are talking about!!! Another way of looking at that is these people enjoyed the book so much they actually took the time to review it when they haven’t bothered with other authors. Well I review very little as I can’t normally be bothered and have got better things to do than sit reviewing books, I could be reading them instead, but I have made an exception in this case because this one really got to me and next time I’m in the borders I’ll be visiting Hermitage, in daylight of course with my husband and German Shepherd for company, not that I’m scared at all!!! Thankyou David for a brilliant read. I’m now going to buy your next book “PIECES OF FATE”‘

Making the Wiseguys Weep by David Evanier
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There is a small district of New York called Hoboken which is only famous for being the birth place of probably the most famous singer from the era of the great American Songbook – Frank Sinatra. A poor area it was a major centre for the Italian immigrant who were really at the bottom of the social ladder, perhaps just one step up from black people in the ‘pecking order’. Sinatra was renowned for his alleged involvement with ‘The Wiseguys’ The Italian Mafia. But- born in exactly the same street, a few doors away from Sinatra, in 1925, 10 years after Sinatra was born was another singer, Jimmy Roselli. The two knew each other and it is said that as soon as Sinatra heard Roselli sing, he was jealous of Roselli’s 2 octave range and had nothing to do with him thereafter. Roselli, unlike Sinatra, never covered up the fact that he was born amongst and grew up with ‘The Wiseguys’ and such was his singing talent that, amongst the Italian community particularly, he was the one – sometimes, at venues where Sinatra was commanding $50,000 appearance fees, Roselli earned double that and he made dozens of best selling albums – so why is it virtually nobody has heard of him? The answer lies partly in his own self-destructive character, partly his life long emnity with Sinatra, but mostly by falling foul of the wise guys who hated him and loved him in equal measure. It is probable that the older Italians, the wives and mothers of the ‘Wiseguys’ prevented him from being murdered many times, but they could damage him – his records were removed from shops and juke boxes and his incredible impact on the music industry has almost been deleted – yet he was considered in a lot of circles the greatest of all the Italian Balladeers including Sinatra, Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, Vic Damone. This is perfect material for a film by Martin Scorsese in the mould of ‘Raging Bull’ or ‘Mean Streets’. Jimmy Roselli died in June 2011 – now would be a perfect time for a film of this man’s life – the ‘Man who made the Wise Guys Weep’. Brilliant!

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