Long Tails: The Book Is Great To Read Just In The Same Way You Watch A Movie Because It Has Them All
Regardless if you read the first part, “Tall Stories”, or not, “Long Tails” is another great novel about the chase for fortune and how easy one can fail. The book contains characters from the first part, of course, but it can be read as an independent story. The reader does not need information on the first part to understand what is happening in the second book. It is helpful though, in a better understanding of the central character, Fred Evans. But the character’s decisions and the way the author presents him is enough to realize he’s just a person greedy of money, but made with the back pain and effort of others.
In this book the author, Harry Swiers, presents the fight to restore and develop two deserted coal-fired power stations. Fred Evans tenacious instinct knows that with the proper investment,
these two plants can bring a healthy income. But how can Evans do all this if he has a shattered and unreliable budget. Caught in the struggle to find a viable solution in order to make this business profitable, he decides to lend the harness of the project to Quentin Wright. Quentin is one of his fellow gold club members, a common scrap dealer like his mother-in-law describes him, reaching towards the age of 50 and with a pregnant wife. The fact that in the book, Quentin is presented as rather failing in building his family, it is easy to understand that he has scarce chances of building a business starting from ground zero.
Of course, as it was expected, Quentin fails in the plan of making those power station to work and produce money. He loses all the borrowed money and now his marriage now lies in danger. It is due to his ability of dealing with family matters and also with the help of his mother-in-law, who doesn’t consider him worthy of her only daughter. The intrigue is more than interesting, seeing so many characters eager to hit the jackpot. Everybody sees Fred Evans as being the most unworthy, although, if we think about it better, he is the smartest. He manages to convince others to get involved, using their own time and finances, to deal with the dirty jobs. He is more like a spectator, waiting to see if his plans will work or fail, but in the disadvantage of someone else.
The book is very well written, and it will certainly keep any afternoon busy. The author manages to keep the reader connected to the story with the help of the relationship between the characters. It is very interesting to see which characters are the ally or enemy of who. How they think about each other and the decisions they make during the story. The style of the author is easy to read, maybe pompous in some cases, like wanting to depict the background if a higher society. The book is great to read just in the same way you watch a movie because it has them all. Surprising situations, intrigues caused by fame and fortune, friendship, family life or the lack of it, all of these entwine in everybody’s struggle to live a better life.
Long Tails is available at Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1770764410
