(Medlar Press, 2014)
The Idle Angler is a real gem. It started slowly, but then gathered pace, and I was sad when I had finished it, as I could have read on and on. It appeared to me that the author gained confidence in his own ability as he wrote it, and so the book got better and better. Kevin uses the structure of a day’s fishing—for example, the road to the river, first cast, afternoon snooze, the witching hour—and encrusts it with lyrical waxing on life and fishing. As a keen idler himself, he understands the value of taking one’s time, of staying in the moment, of doing not much at all, and this provides him with a keen insight into some of the subtleties and idiosyncrasies of the sport. He has a thoughtful but easy-going style, and you feel that he writes from the heart. The best way to judge a book is by deciding whether you would want to buy the author’s next one, and the answer is undoubtedly yes. I am genuinely excited at what this writer has in store for us.