Bait, Grist and Security by Mike Hodges – Blog Tour Review.

About The Book

In ‘Bait’, a slippery PR man, Mark Miles, is unaware he’s being manipulated and dangled as bait by an investigative reporter until he’s swallowed by a sadistic mind-expanding cult from America. In ‘Grist’, the bestselling writer, Maxwell Grist, ruthlessly uses real people as fodder for his crime novels before finding himself living up to his name and becoming grist for his own murder. In ‘Security’, an American movie star, unhappy with the film he’s working on, refuses to leave his hotel for the studios, while in the corridor outside his luxury suite mayhem and murder take over.

My Review

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. Bait, Grist and Security is a series of novellas written by Mike Hodges who produced many movies, the most familiar to me being Get Carter. Each one of these I could visualise clearly on TV or in the cinema.
Whilst the main theme of each is different, they do have their similarities. Each feature unlikable people who have more power than they should, each show how easily people are misled by the ones who have the power and the money, each feature some of the more bizarre storylines that I have read and each feature some moments when I couldn’t read for laughing. Especially with the first one, Bait, which was probably my favourite. Not just because it was the longest, but because the storyline was so clever. Even though it did make me cringe.
The way all of the characters are described is brilliant, the author manages to show what they are really like compared to the image they show to society.
It’s all different, very refreshing, at times crude and like a breath of fresh air.