Ever read any Harlen Coban? American writer. Thrillers. Well, he writes really cool, twisty, never-guess-the-who/what/why books, like Tell No-one, which was made into a French film many years ago, and he writes the Myron Bolitar series (his world is just full of bizarrely named people) about a detective, albeit a rather unusual one.

I’ve read them all. And currently I’m reading ‘The Stranger’. Oooooohhhhh, sounds steeped in mystery and other such stuff.

Without wishing to spoil this for you (as if you can read!) the ‘stranger’ in question is a baddy. You kind’a get that right off, even though he’s nice and smiley. But its what he does that makes him both bad and strange. Because he knows ‘stuff’ about you/your family. Secret stuff. Intimate stuff.

Now I’m a big fan of Stephen King and his books are filled with people who ‘know stuff’. They just know it because; they’re some kind of supernatural; they’re in touch with the dead (who presumably get to read different newspapers than the living; more intimate content ones); they’re visionaries, they’re people who see your entire life with one touch of the hand (Dead Zone); they were drawn to the knowledge by forces outside their control.

Because in the 60s and 70s, when Mr King started his life’s works, if you knew something that you really had no right knowing; you were some kind of fucking freak. There was no other way.

So that was where my head was at when I started the book. Ah, Harlen’s gone all Stephen King and introduced a clairvoyant of some type who uses his ‘gift’ for naughty purposes.

Yet it transpires (again; this should not spoil the book in any way, should you choose to read it and if it does, then ‘sorry’) that he has no supernatural powers. He can’t even leap tall buildings or race speeding trains. He’s a nerd. A geek.

The Stranger is some kind of hacker.

So what 40 years ago required a direct connection with God/the Devil, today just needs BT Infinity and a smart-phone. How the world changes.

Pep Guardiola moving to Manchester City (what a surprise!!! amazing!!! who knew???) for a paltry 15 million a year plus all the midfielders he can eat. And the club have promised him ‘several significant signings’ so he can Pep up the team a bit. In every respect. So they’ll spend a few more hundred mil on players (they want Pogba; that’ll be cheap) and the salaries that go with them.

Two questions:

1. who said ‘you can’t buy trophies’?
2. what happened to the Financial Fair Play fiasco?? And could you explain it firstly to me, then to the owners of Manchester City.

Happy Tuesday

A xxxx