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Most reviewed: Cold Steel

21.04.08 Anna Richardson

Two larger-than-life characters became last weekend’s most reviewed (18th to 20th April), as Patrick French’s biography of enigmatic author V S Naipaul, The World is What It Is (Picador), and Tim Bouquet and Byron Ousey’s account of Indian magnate Lakshmi Mittal’s hostile takeover of steel company Arcelor, Cold Steel (Little, Brown), both secured numerous lead review spots.

Christopher Silvester in the Daily Express wrote that Cold Steel's authors were “admirably qualified to guide us through the myriad twists and turns of this compelling business saga” and had produced an “enormously entertaining read”.

In the Sunday Telegraph, Geoffrey Owen wrote that Cold Steel had all the necessary ingredients to make a business book that "appeals to the general reader". He added that the authors recounted events in form of a thriller: “The result is a tumultuous narrative in which the dramatis personae seem constantly engaged in agitated conversations on theor mobiles,” he wrote. “All reported as direct quotations, non of which are sourced.” He concluded: “the style is breathless and the sartorial detail overdone, but the flavour of the contest comes across well.”

John Thornhill, reviewing in the Financial Times, also believed that the book was “a welcome addition” to a genre of books “written on the high drama and low cunning of business and finance”.

Patrick French’s The World Is What It Is was also welcomed, with Peter Lewis talking of an “awesome achievement” in the Daily Mail and Craig Brown in the Mail on Sunday praising French as a “succinct biographer, as clear-eyed as a recording angel”.

John Sutherland in the Financial Times, meanwhile, believed that French found himself “struggling, baffled, in the shadow of this majestic, but impenetrably enigmatic man”, but he also wrote that “French’s engrossing biography never forgets Naipaul is a great writer”.

MOST REVIEWED (18th to 20th April)

Cold Steel by Tim Bouquet and Byron Ousey
(Little, Brown 9780316027991 £20)
“Exciting” Daily Express
“A compelling tale” Financial Times
“The style is breathless” Sunday Telegraph

Girls Like Us by Sheila Weller
(Ebury 9780091899240 £18.99)
“You have to admire Ms Weller’s tenacity” Daily Express
“This book left me feeling sad rather than rejoicing” Daily Mail
“Weller puts it all in great context” Daily Telegraph

Cold Cream by Ferdinand Mount
(Bloomsbury 9780747595076 £20)
“The best read of the year yet” Sunday Telegraph
“Brilliant” Daily Mail
“Coruscating” Independent

The World Is What It Is by Patrick French
(Picador 9780330433501 £20)
“Engrossing”  Financial Times
“An awsome achievement” Daily Mail
“Will change the way we read Naipaul’s books” Mail on Sunday

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
(Atlantic 9781843547204 £12.99)
“Keeps you guessing to the final page and beyond” Financial Times
“An interesting talent” Guardian

Media Anna Richardson Most Reviewed

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