Thomas Mogford
Autor von Shadow of the Rock
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Wissenswertes
- Geburtstag
- 1977-10-04
- Geschlecht
- male
- Nationalität
- United Kingdom
- Geburtsort
- Oxford, England, UK
- Kurzbiographie
- Thomas studied Medieval and Modern Languages at Oxford, then went on to work for ITV, further exploring a love of languages by travelling to Japan and Korea, then Germany, to cover the FIFA World Cups. After switching career and studying Law as a postgraduate at City University, London, he embarked on a series of legal thrillers set in Gibraltar and the wider Mediterranean.
The first book in the Spike Sanguinetti series, Shadow of the Rock, was published by Bloomsbury in 2012. The latest, A Thousand Cuts, is out now.
Thomas’s journalism has featured in the Guardian, Time Out and easyJet Traveller Magazine. His short fiction has been published in Litro, The Field and Notes from the Underground, and been longlisted for the Bristol Short Story Prize.
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A Thousand Cuts (A Spike Sanguinetti Mystery) von Thomas Mogford
An unusual book which takes maximum advantage of being set exclusively in Gibraltar, somewhere with a unique history and geography. The plot is set in a post-Brexit time, but cleverly harks back to events during WW2 and the impact they have in contemporary times. Recommended.
Spike Sanguinetti arrives home to Gibraltar only to find Solomon Hassan waiting from him. Solomon is on the run, a Spanish girl was found with her throat cut on the beach in Tangiers and he is being accused of the murder. Spike travels to Morocco to try and delay the extradition, where he meets a woman investigating the disappearance of her father, which is also is leading back to Solomon being involved.
Shadow of the Rock seems to be book one of a newly planned series by Thomas Mogfold. Not only is there a real sense of mystery, but also the protagonist finds himself questioning just how much he knows his friend. Two different situations has put Solomon in a world of suspicion. Spike Sanguinetti is a tax lawyer, a job that for me seem very boring, and now he is thrown into this huge adventure, really putting him out of his comfort zone. With all the excitement, I did feel like the book lacked any real character development; sure I learned about the protagonist and support cast, but it felt like very broad strokes of development. This might be the plan, as a series the writer needs to save some development for the other books. But for me the character development was underdone and too sloppy.
For me the highlight of this book was Gibraltar and Morocco as the backdrops for the danger Spike surely finds himself in. I’ve not been to either places but I have very fond memories of Spain and imagine the atmosphere and the culture would be similar. It was so great to read a book set in an unusual location. As far as the mystery of this book, it was very generic; it ticks all the right boxes for a formulaic best seller thriller series and I truly hope Thomas Mogfold has a huge success with Spike Sanguinetti.
I just feel this series has a lot of great potential and I’m curious to see if book two turns out to be something more developed. I can see myself either loving this series or really hating it depending on which path the author takes; the formulaic thriller route in the hope to become a best selling crime writer or the well-developed character route. I will be checking out book two but if it fails to show any improvement I plan to abandon this series. Spike has so much to offer so we will wait to see what happens next.
This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2012/12/14/book-review-shadow-of-the-rock/… (mehr)
Shadow of the Rock seems to be book one of a newly planned series by Thomas Mogfold. Not only is there a real sense of mystery, but also the protagonist finds himself questioning just how much he knows his friend. Two different situations has put Solomon in a world of suspicion. Spike Sanguinetti is a tax lawyer, a job that for me seem very boring, and now he is thrown into this huge adventure, really putting him out of his comfort zone. With all the excitement, I did feel like the book lacked any real character development; sure I learned about the protagonist and support cast, but it felt like very broad strokes of development. This might be the plan, as a series the writer needs to save some development for the other books. But for me the character development was underdone and too sloppy.
For me the highlight of this book was Gibraltar and Morocco as the backdrops for the danger Spike surely finds himself in. I’ve not been to either places but I have very fond memories of Spain and imagine the atmosphere and the culture would be similar. It was so great to read a book set in an unusual location. As far as the mystery of this book, it was very generic; it ticks all the right boxes for a formulaic best seller thriller series and I truly hope Thomas Mogfold has a huge success with Spike Sanguinetti.
I just feel this series has a lot of great potential and I’m curious to see if book two turns out to be something more developed. I can see myself either loving this series or really hating it depending on which path the author takes; the formulaic thriller route in the hope to become a best selling crime writer or the well-developed character route. I will be checking out book two but if it fails to show any improvement I plan to abandon this series. Spike has so much to offer so we will wait to see what happens next.
This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2012/12/14/book-review-shadow-of-the-rock/… (mehr)
SIGN OF THE CROSS is the second Spike Sanguinetti novel, in a series that really does need to be read in order. Not that it's any trial to have to do so, as this is shaping up to be a standout.
It's not just the brutality of the murder, there's a fundamental sombreness about these books which works. The first book, THE SHADOW OF THE ROCK, was also set partly outside Gibraltar in Morocco, yet somehow that idea of a Shadow being cast carries through both stories. Sanguinetti is troubled in this book. By the brutal death of a loved aunt and uncle, the increasing frailty of his father, life itself. That's not to say he's morbid or tedious, it's a reflective man who struggles with the relationships around him - the lost and the failing.
A strong character study, with a clever and engaging plot, SIGN OF THE CROSS also has a very strong sense of place. Malta is as complex a society and history as was Morocco and Gibraltar in the first book. The books aren't travel guides, or postcards from, but they weave the place and the history into the story. The sense of culture and location informing the actions of the people now as it obviously has done for generations. Pulling the multi-generations of Sanguinetti's family into the action echoes those aspects beautifully.
Neither of these books are fast thriller styled crime fiction. They are enthralling, involving, intriguing studies of places and peoples, mistakes, history and relationships. And so far, two books down, very worth reading.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/sign-cross-thomas-mogford… (mehr)
It's not just the brutality of the murder, there's a fundamental sombreness about these books which works. The first book, THE SHADOW OF THE ROCK, was also set partly outside Gibraltar in Morocco, yet somehow that idea of a Shadow being cast carries through both stories. Sanguinetti is troubled in this book. By the brutal death of a loved aunt and uncle, the increasing frailty of his father, life itself. That's not to say he's morbid or tedious, it's a reflective man who struggles with the relationships around him - the lost and the failing.
A strong character study, with a clever and engaging plot, SIGN OF THE CROSS also has a very strong sense of place. Malta is as complex a society and history as was Morocco and Gibraltar in the first book. The books aren't travel guides, or postcards from, but they weave the place and the history into the story. The sense of culture and location informing the actions of the people now as it obviously has done for generations. Pulling the multi-generations of Sanguinetti's family into the action echoes those aspects beautifully.
Neither of these books are fast thriller styled crime fiction. They are enthralling, involving, intriguing studies of places and peoples, mistakes, history and relationships. And so far, two books down, very worth reading.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/sign-cross-thomas-mogford… (mehr)
Well, what a disappointment "Shadow of the Rock" (SOTR) was. Seemed like a winner. A lawyer based in Gibraltar agrees to help a friend accused of murder in Morocco; and the next book takes place in Malta. After seeing Bogart in "Casablanca" years ago, I'm a sucker for anything with a Moroccan tag, be it a book, restaurant, movie, so I was predisposed to writing a good review for this, but no way. While reading SOTR I often felt like I was watching a foreign language film with no subtitles. I got a sense of what was going on based on the action, but the dialogue was often unclear, and the descriptions of place were lacking. While that was the major problem for me, there were others. The plot was confusing, and I'm not sure what the miracle technology is all about that is so central to events in the book. Also, the hero lawyer (a tax lawyer!) had no problem gaining access whenever to the key executive of a company which has billion euro potential - uhhh, not likely. Ditto for a sex scene and a torture scene. I believe the second book in this series got better reviews than SOTR, but no thanks - I'm done.… (mehr)
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