Book #69 The A.B.C. Murders

The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I first read The A.B.C. Murders back in the 70s. Last week I watched the BBC TV adaptation starring John Malkovich as Hercule Poirot - Poirot, but not as you know him! I had to read the book again just to confirm what a travesty the BBC airing was! The book for the most part is narrated by Poirot's old friend Captain Arthur Hastings, O.B.E. who has returned in June 1935 from his ranch in South America to see to various affairs at home. He looks up his old friend who is now retired but still practiced his profession on occasion. The BBC for reasons best known to themselves completely omit Hastings from the cast list! DCI Japp figures prominently in Poirot's previous investigations and he plays his usual rôle in the book - BBC have him retired and bump him off with a heart attack in the first scene... And Malkovich? Well - he is not David Suchet!

Despite all of this, reading the book again so soon after the TV show was very rewarding. It did not spoil my enjoyment in the slightest. I won't go into the details of the plot as I am sure most of you will be familiar with it. The book really is Agatha Christie at her best. And those little grey cells? Don't get a mention on the BBC!





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Book #68 The Evidence Against You

The Evidence Against You by Gillian McAllister
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My thanks to Michael Joseph Comms and NetGalley for this advance ARC of Gillian McAllister's The Evidence Against You.

I have previously read Anything You Do Say by Gillian McAllister, one of my best reads - ever. So, would The Evidence live up to expectations? That's an unequivocal YES! A lengthy slow-burner, some 450 mesmerising pages that unfurl layer upon layer and draw you in like a moth to a flame.

Izzy (Isabelle) English knows that her father is about to be released from prison on life parole. He has served seventeen years incarcerated, convicted of murdering his wife Alexandra - Izzy's mother, when Izzy was just seventeen. Izzy now runs what was her mother's restaurant - Alexandra's - on the Isle of Wight. Her husband Nick is a police analyst. "He might come looking for you" he says. The island natives know who Isabelle English is but still they patronise the restaurant where indeed her father turns up. "I did not kill your mother, Izzy". What seems important to Gabe is not so much the loss of liberty, but the loss of his wife and daughter. The evidence against him was compelling. Izzy had always thought him guilty but something shifts in her mind - the moment when she chooses to try and believe him.

Did he? Didn't he? Does Izzy's husband Nick show empathy with her or does he try and undermine her thought processes at every turn? As another layer unfurls your mind will be pulled every which way. Doubts linger...

There are several more characters here that play significant rôles in this intricate plot and that have an impact on the outcome. And the outcome? Totally unexpected that turns so much on its head...

The Evidence Against You is beautifully crafted, superbly written and one of my Top Five reads of 2018.

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Book #67 In the Galway Silence

In the Galway Silence by Ken Bruen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ken Bruen does it again - number 14 in my favourite series. Jack Taylor, ex guard, no saint, Irish noir that is at times hilarious, written in Bruen's inimitable style with paragraphs that more closely resemble verse than prose. It's original, unusual and continues to entertain as it appears that Jack might have at long last found contentment. Still loves the Jameson and still dabbles in uppers, but he has a new girlfriend, a new apartment with glorious views and little sign of trouble on the horizon...

...don't be daft. This is Jack Taylor, finds himself looking after his girlfriend's spoilt nine-year-old and trouble is heading his way. Wealthy Frenchman Pierre Renaud, a double murder, his ex-wife and an unfurling past.

In the Galway Silence - it's grim, dark, hilarious - it's unique. Love him or hate him - it's Jack Taylor.

I am definitely in the first camp...

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Book #66 Going For a Song

Going for a Song: A Chronicle of the UK Record Shop by Garth Cartwright
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Going For a Song. Phew! I started reading this in April - taken me almost eight months to complete! Large pages and small print are daunting to say the least. So, I've read it a few pages at a time. It is truly an in-depth history of the rise, fall and rebirth of the UK's independent record shops. From early 50s and Dobell's Jazz, Blues & Folk shop, Levy's of Whitechapel and Transat Imports for soul 45s. Virgin and Beggars Banquets build empires out of rock shops. Our Price, Rough Trade, Small Wonder and Good Vibrations are all here. And then they are gone...

Across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland there remain several hundred record shops and stalls. Among them is my favourite: Resident Music in the North Laine, Brighton. The loss of record shops may appear inconsequential when compared to events currently overwhelming the UK. A good local record shop tends to be proudly provincial. Deprived areas come in all shapes and sizes and when your neighbourhood no longer supports independent retailers, it enters into a decline that may, initially, appear invisible. Independent record shops can attract people to a locale, encourage communication and investigation.

Sadly, there remain far too few....

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Book #65 The Chestnut Man

The Chestnut Man: A Novel by Soren Sveistrup
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

1989. Detective Marius Larsen travels out to Orum's Farm. Animals have broken through the fence, roaming the neighbour's fields. Farmer Orum needs to sort this out. When Larsen arrives at the farm what he is faced with is horrific...

Move forward to present day Copenhagen. Detective Naia Thulin works for the Major Crimes Division. Her boss, Nylander, tasks her with partnering 'the new guy'. A liaison officer named Hess, stationed at Europol's HQ in the Hague, ordered to Copenhagen for some blunder or other. They are faced with a brutal murder. The victim, Laura Kjaer, 37 years old, has been partly dismembered. A chestnut man figure lies nearby. Forensics uncover a fingerprint on its head. The print of Kristine Hartung. The 12-year-old daughter of Rosa Hartung, Minister for Social Affairs. The girl went missing less than a year ago and a few weeks later a young tech nerd was arrested and, given weight of evidence, he confesses to strangling and dismembering the body. No body parts were ever found. When more horrific murders occur the chestnut figures take centre stage. How can they all reveal a fingerprint of Kristine Hartung?

The Chestnut Man is a complex story with well developed characters. It is dark and disturbing with many horrific scenes. Perhaps though a tad too long as I found myself easily distracted. It did not anchor me to the pages and took me considerable time to read because of this.



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Book #64 Once Upon A River

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Set in the 19th century, Once Upon A River, crosses genres: magical, folklore, fairytale with supernatural elements. A whimsical tale set amongst a community on the banks of the River Thames. Where folk sit and relate stories, often embellished as the ale flows. What then are they to make of an event that occurs on the winter solstice when a stranger staggers into the Swan Tavern carrying a child. A young girl who, to all outward appearances, is dead. The local nurse Rita takes the child in her arms and pronounces this to be so. The locals are shocked and dismayed when the child recovers from her apparent death. Who is she? Had she not drowned when the stranger discovered her? Is she the long lost child of the Vaughans or the Armstrongs? This is the meat of the story that follows several characters in their quest to establish the truth.

Enjoyable enough but at times it lost pace, became repetitive and dragged. A pity. It is well written with good character development. I wish I had enjoyed it more.

My thanks to Random House UK, Transworld and NetGalley for my ARC.

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Book #63 The Taking of Annie Thorne

The Taking of Annie Thorne by C.J. Tudor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Phew! This is Pet Cemetery on steroids! A tragic event in Arnhill leaves a vacancy at the local school. A place that used to support a mining community before the pits closed. It offers an opportunity for Joseph Thorne to flee from serious gambling debts and apply for the teaching post - in the village where he spent his formative years. Where his eight year old sister Annie disappeared for forty-eight hours - and then she came back. But was it Annie, really? Does Joe remember everything that happened twenty-five years ago? Beth Scattergood teaches art at Arnhill. She says on meeting Joe: "Only two types of teacher end up at Arnhill Academy. Those who want to make a difference and those who can't get a job anywhere else. So, which are you?" What was it Joe? That mysterious text you received? 'I know what happened to your sister. It's happening again' A shiver down the spine...

The old gang are still here, well, some of them. Joe's mates from way back. The ones who were there when it happened. The only ones who knew... Sinister events from all those years ago woven into a horror story that is epic and truly frightening. Throw Stephen King, James Herbert and a touch of Edgar Allen Poe into the blender and C.J. Tudor emerges with this delicious tale of a village, a pit, unexplained suicides and hair-raising scary events.

I cannot say more about the plot without spoilers. I can say though, do not read in bed, at night! And if you enjoyed The Chalk Man you will certainly get chills from reading The Taking of Annie Thorne.

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Book #62 Angel In The Shadows

Angel in the Shadows: The Heartland Trilogy, Book Two by Walter Lucius
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A long (464 pages), complex, complicated plot of international intrigue that took me a long time to read. Investigative journalist Farah Hafez is pursuing a story of state corruption involving Russian oligarch, Valentin Lavrov when she is kidnapped and forced at gunpoint to make a video supporting a Chechen terrorist organisation and denouncing the Russian president. Now she is on the run. Her friend and fellow journalist Paul Chapelle manages to aid her escape to Jakarta whilst Dutch detective Radjen Tomasoa is investigating another strand of this confusing tale. Locations are widespread: Amsterdam, Moscow, Kabul, Johannesburg, Jakarta.... with a multitude of villains. I just found it too much to maintain concentration. As this is the 2nd book in The Heartland Trilogy it would no doubt have helped to read Book 1 first.

I was offered this ARC by the publishers and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Book #61 She Lies In Wait

She Lies in Wait by Gytha Lodge
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Oh dear. This just did not resonate with me. I could not connect with the characters - not enough character development. Like moving through a ballroom at a masked ball. I continually got confused over who was who. And a lacklustre bunch of detectives led by DCI Jonah Sheens investigating a 30-year-old cold case that, for me, never got warm. I figured out half way through who the probable culprit was and still struggled to finish She Lies In Wait.

My thanks to NetGalley for my ARC, sorry that I did not enjoy it more.

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Book #60 The Lost Man

The Lost Man by Jane Harper
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have previously read The Dry and Force of Nature by Jane Harper so, when offered the opportunity by Little, Brown Book Group and NetGalley to read The Lost Man, I jumped in. And this book is different. A great family drama set against the backdrop of the Queensland outback, 1500 kms west of Brisbane, where cattle stations cover several thousand square kilometers. Like that of the Bright family. Territory where temperatures regularly reach 45⁰C and to be left stranded means certain death. As Cameron Bright was to find out. Found dead and sprawled out in front of the Stockman's grave. Since the father Carl Bright had died, three brothers had shared the responsibility of managing the spread: Nathan, Cameron and Bub - the youngest. They all knew the peril of being stranded in the outback, so just what happened to Cameron? Is this a sinister occurrence or a stupid mistake? He leaves behind his wife Ilse and two daughters...

The Bright family have many skeletons in the cupboard - not the least - Nathan, with a troubled background. And Bub is no saint. And as various truths begin to emerge the family are faced with events that hold dire consequences.

The Lost Man is a fabulous mystery/drama that gets under your skin. Slow paced and relentless with reveals that are breathtaking in scope. Highly recommended. Another ripper from Downunder!

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Book #59 Wild Fire

Wild Fire by Ann Cleeves
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So, there it is then. The publishers in their wisdom decided to put the Acknowledgements at the very beginning of the book. First sentence: "This is the last Shetland novel..." There were some of us who still held on to a glimmer of hope, trying to ignore the fact that Ann Cleeves had intimated that Wild Fire would be it...

Shetland. Welcoming. Wild. Remote. It is all of these. I have been there. I love the place and I have loved this series. All good things must come to an end I suppose. So, how does Cleeves handle this swan song? What will happen to DI Jimmy Perez? No spoilers from me! This is writing of the highest calibre. A slow burner that ignites the pages, when a young nanny's body is found hanging in the barn of incomers - the Flemings. An English family who have moved to the area to give their autistic son a better life. The girl was the nanny to the children of Dr and Mrs Moncrieff.

Two families, four parents, six children. Include Magnie Ridell, besotted with the nanny, Emma. His mother and his aunt. A previous suicide. Duncan Hunter is here, natural father of Cassie, DC Sandy Wilson, DCI Willow Reeves - on-off lover of Jimmy Perez. A Perez here who seems constantly preoccupied...

Not many possible suspects then but the conclusion still managed to evade me! And what of Perez? Did Cleeves...? Didn't she...? You will have to read it to find out!

Me? I have to swallow my disappointment. This is the last Shetland...

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Book #58 The Forbidden Place

The Forbidden Place by Susanne Jansson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Oh dear. I got completely bogged down with The Forbidden Place (no pun intended). So much hype about the book and yet, for me, it's a slow burner that never really gets going until near the end.

Nathalie returns to her childhood home in Mossmarken, a village on the edge of a mire in the remote Swedish wetlands. Rents a cottage on the estate of the local manor in order to carry out studies on emissions from the mire. The same mire where 'The Lingonberry Girl' had been found, a body dating back to 300 bc. The same location where her parents had died when she was just twelve years old. And then there is Maya, an artist interested in the bog as a site of mystery and especially in bog bodies as a historical phenomenon. This location where a number of persons have disappeared over the years. When a corpse is found - pockets filled with gold - just like ancient human sacrifices - detective Leif Berggren investigates...

Nothing here set my pulse racing and the conclusion, for me, was rather underwhelming.

My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton - Mulholland Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read The Forbidden Place.

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Book #57 Down to the Woods

Down to the Woods by M.J. Arlidge
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you go Down to the Woods today... you'd better go in disguise... beneath the trees where nobody sees... is a devilish killer. Ponies slaughtered and victims hunted down and dispatched with such evil and menace. But it's no picnic, certainly not for DI Helen Grace, who once again is pitched against a ruthless killer who hides at ease amongst the dense surroundings of the New Forest. No apparent motive, no apparent link between the victims.

Helen's team become involved in a frustrating investigation with little if nothing to go on and it is difficult to say more without giving away too much. But it's hats off to M.J. Arlidge for writing another thrill-ride of a police procedural with a helter-skelter, breathtaking ending as DI Grace once again puts herself in harm's way. And just for a moment there I thought - OH NO!....

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Book #56 Absolute Proof

Absolute Proof by Peter James
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Proof is the enemy of faith

For a moment I thought I had stumbled into the pages of a book by Simon Toyne or even Dan Brown. Does God exist? What of the God Particle and the Big Bang Theory? And if two particles collided at the beginning of time and created the universe - who put them there in the first place?

Ross Hunter finds himself faced with this dilemma. Hunter is a successful freelance journalist; he is contacted by Dr Harry F. Cook, a former RAF officer and a retired history of art professor at Birmingham University: ”I know this is going to sound strange but I’ve recently been given absolute proof of God’s existence - and I’ve been advised there is a writer, a respected journalist called Ross Hunter, who could help me to get taken seriously”. Could such proof really exist? Hunter is sceptical but intrigued. To be able to publish such a momentous story could be the making of him and his expectant wife, Imogen.

Who else might want to lay their hands on such ‘evidence’? The Vatican? The Anglican church? High-profile militant atheists? Big pharma organisations? Or perhaps a forty-six-year old evangelist preacher, Pastor Wesley Wencelas, who has amassed huge wealth from the gullible? Throw them all into the mix and you have a thriller of ‘divine’ proportions! Hunter will put himself in serious harms way to seek the proof, our Lord’s DNA… The Archbishop of Canterbury tells him: ”This is on a different scale to anything you’ve delved into before. You are tackling the most fundamental question for humankind. And there are a lot of people in the world who would use religious belief to legitimise violence….”.

And how on earth could Michael Henry Delaney, an ageing American close magician, be involved?

Peter James has tackled a very difficult subject. The idea for the book was first given to him in 1989. Read how he copes with the most fundamental question for humankind.

And a quite stunning ending!!

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Book #55 When The Music's Over

When the Music's Over by Peter Robinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am a fan of DCI Banks on TV - presently watching re-runs on ITV3. Strangely though, I have only read one previous book by Peter Robinson. I've jumped in at No. 23 here. Alan Banks has been promoted to Detective Superintendent but still retains his active status. Annie Cabbot is now a DI. Familiar characters. Banks has to investigate allegations of rape back in the 60s; Linda Palmer was attacked aged just 14 by celebrity entertainer Danny Caxton, now in his 80s. A case that is as old as they come and has all the hallmarks of similar events with Jimmy Saville and Rolf Harris.

Meanwhile Cabbot is brought in to investigate the vicious beating and murder of a 15-year-old girl found in a remote countryside lane.

The investigations are slow and frustrating. Two young girls, two unspeakable crimes in a labyrinthine plot. The dialogue is spot on. This is how conversation is so realistic, unspectacular language in Robinson's hands. This is top notch police procedure that spans 482 pages - perhaps a tad too long.

Nevertheless a very satisfying read.

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Book #54 The Body on the Shore

The Body On The Shore by Nick Louth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A successful architect, Peter Young, is assassinated - shot with two bullets through his office window. A body is found on a remote Lincolnshire shore. Two Albanian children, adopted by a wealthy couple, Sophie and Dag Lund, suddenly disappear. Abducted? Are these seemingly unrelated events connected in any way? DCI Craig Gillard was the on-call detective in Surrey when Young was killed. How was Young shot through his 2nd storey office window? From a high vantage point?

Strange symbols are found at the various locations. Geoff Meadows, a former detective chief superintendent at the National Crime Agency is one of the few experts on Albanian crime outside academia. He recognises the symbol as the triple-headed eagle of the Dragusha clan, a notorious Albanian mafia family.

The police investigation will find connections that take Gillard to Albania and become embroiled in the blood feud between the Dragusha and Kreshniki crime families. Assisted by Sergeant Tokaj:

'This is the empire of blood,' Tokaj said, spreading his hands. 'Built on violence, extended through marriage, cemented by corruption and bulwarked by fear.'

Why is Gillard in Albania? Why has he put himself in harm's way? No more spoilers. Read it and find out. The Body on the Shore is different - full of menace and dark moments and a totally unexpected twist that is breathtaking in its audacity.


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Book #53 My Life: It's a Long Story

My Life: It's a Long Story by Willie Nelson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Roll me up and smoke me when I die" Yes, I've got the t-shirt!

I have loved Willie Nelson's music for longer than I can remember and in his 8th decade his voice has mellowed but still resonates with me (might be something to do with all the cannabis he has smoked though!). Willie Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor and activist. He was inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993, when he was sixty years of age.

My Life: It's a Long Story is the definitive autobiography of Willie Nelson. "Songs come easy to me. I've written hundreds of them. I see them as little stories that fall out of our lives and imaginations. If I have to struggle to write a song, I stop before I start. I figure if it don't flow easy, it's not meant to be"

Nelson is no saint. Married four times with numerous children this is a story of restlessness and the purity of the moment and living right. From his childhood in Abbott, Texas to the Pacific Northwest, from Nashville to Hawaii and all the way back again. This is a story of true love, wild times, best friends and bar-rooms, with a musical soundtrack ripping right through it. His music can make me laugh and make me cry. His book leaves no stone unturned, a story told as clear as a Texas sky.

I loved it and I want to visit Abbott, Texas before someone rolls me up....



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Book #52 The Katharina Code

The Katharina Code: The Cold Case Quartet, Book 1 by Jørn Lier Horst
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Like the adagio of a symphony, The Katharina Code is beautifully written. A slow movement that spans twenty-five years as chief inspector William Wisting revisits the file on missing Katharina Haugen, every year on the anniversary of her disappearance. Wisting and Katharina's husband Martin have become well acquainted over the years, but searches of Martin's house have led them no closer to an answer. Steinar Vassvik lived immediately opposite; he was the closest the police had come to a suspect in the case - the last person to have seen Katharina.

The case becomes more involved when Adrian Stiller arrives from the National Criminal Investigation Service based in Oslo. He is working on another case: the Nadia Krogh kidnapping that occurred in the late eighties. One of the most notorious cases in Norwegian crime history. Both events occurred in close proximity.

And there we have two plots that intertwine as police and suspects circle each other. As Wisting comes to realise that the answer had been hidden in plain sight for so many years...

Comparisons with Wallander are inevitable (although he was Swedish). Jørn Lier Horst is certainly the equal of Henning Mankell, writing in perfect prose, the perfect slow-burning thriller.

My thanks to Michael Joseph and NetGalley for my ARC of The Katharina Code.

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Book #51 You Let Me In

You Let Me In by Lucy Clarke
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So I thought - 400 odd pages, read 100 pages a day and finish in four days. Yeah, right! Be prepared for You Let Me In to grip you from the get go. I could not put this down - well, had to to get some sleep - finished in two sittings - breathless! Wow! An author, Lucy Clarke, writing about an author, Elle Fielding. An internationally recognised and highly successful author based on the publication of her first book. Fame, wealth and enough income to buy a cliff-top property in Cornwall and rebuild a stunning home with beautiful sea views. Sounds good, huh? And Elle is busy writing her second book - oh dear - insomnia, writer's block and a publication deadline to meet. And if she doesn't her world will come collapsing down...

"Have a sense of how your story will end - but allow yourself to step into your character's shoes and be surprised." Author Elle Fielding.

Sounds good. But Elle needs to bolster her income to cover her mortgage and is persuaded to rent her house through Airbnb for a fortnight whilst she attends a book function in France. That sent an early shiver down my spine. Heard too many tales of woe about such rentals. Now, when Elle returns, watch out for the suspense to start. It will creep under your skin. Menace abounds in spades. Who the hell has been in Elle's house? Small events build to something sinister. Does her sister Fiona know anything about these events? After all it was her who welcomed the Airbnb renters. Didn't she?

I cannot say much more about the plot without spoiling too much. But I must say this. You Let Me In has one of the most unexpected twists I have ever read. But wait, a final and further outrageous twist that left me completely blindsided!

Lucy Clarke has written an absolute cracker, one of my best reads this year and highly recommended.

My thanks to HarperCollins publishers, NetGalley and Lucy Clarke for my ARC.

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Book #50 Sentenced to Life

Sentenced to Life by Clive James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Near to death, but thankful for life". This is how Clive James described himself in March 2015 in a BBC radio interview. An atheist suffering with terminal leukemia. Sentenced To Life is a collection of poems he wrote during the period 2011-2014, published in 2015 by Picador. Complex, lyrical poems - stark and unsentimental. Anticipating death he writes with a laconic style.

In Cabin Baggage he talks about his niece coming from Australia to stay with him:
"...But she'll be gone before the peaches come.
On days of burning sun, the air is tinged
With salt and eucalyptus. 'Why am I
Leaving all this behind? I feel a fool'.
But I can tell from how she writes things down
The distance will assist her memories
To take full form. She travels to stay still.
I wish I'd been that smart before I left.
Instead, I have to dig deep for a trace
Of how the beach was red hot underfoot,
The green gold of the Christmas beetle's wing."

James writes with insight and emotional power 'the work of a lifetime, at least so far'.


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Book #49 Dead If You Don't

Dead If You Don't by Peter James
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Number fourteen in the Roy Grace series. I know. Fourteen. Peter James is a prolific writer and manages to publish a RG every year. I have followed his career with enthusiasm (Grace). He is a copper in my city - Brighton and Hove. Each book takes me on a tour of my beloved location and further afield into the Sussex hinterland. Many of the police who feature are real people, which adds so much authenticity to the plots. Roy Grace isn't, but is inspired by former Detective Chief Superintendent David Gaylor. Some accolade, huh?

Dead If You Don't takes us in a rather different direction - into the world of the Albanian community in Brighton. Most are honest, hardworking people but the criminal element is clear and present, as Kipp Brown is about to find out. Successful business man and prolific gambler. He attends Brighton & Hove Albion's first premiership football match at The Amex Stadium (that's just up the road from me) with his son, Mungo. Briefly distracted, his boy disappears. Then he gets the terrifying message that someone has his child and, to get him back alive, Kipp will have to pay. He defies instructions not to contact the police and reluctantly does just that. Who else would run the investigation but Detective Superintendent Roy Grace... And what appears to be a straightforward case of kidnap soon leads Grace into the dark, criminal underbelly of the city. Rules are different.

The plot is taught, spanning just four days. James racks up the pressure in inimitable style, with short chapters - short, pulse racing chapters. The final quarter is a thrill ride against time, leaves one quite breathless.

Peter James has done it again but just where will he go next with the Roy Grace saga?

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Book #48 The Hunting Party

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My thanks to HarperCollins UK and NetGalley for my ARC of The Hunting Party, my first read by Lucy Foley, which put me so much in mind of Ruth Ware's In A Dark, Dark Wood. An isolated location in the Scottish Highlands; a New Year celebration; nine friends reunited as they do most years. All of them together for the first time in ages. Emma and Mark, Miranda and Julien, Nick and Bo, Samira and Giles, their six-month old baby Priya - and Katie. Four days in a winter wilderness - Loch Corrin - very exclusive. Run by Doug, the gamekeeper and Heather, the estate manager. What could go wrong?

Just about everything. Harsh weather, no internet, hardly any mobile signal and friendships that soon become strained. Skeletons in cupboards, spite, old wounds. High flyers, Oxbridge types, all with secrets they would prefer to remain so, as a booze and drug fuelled weekend starts to implode from within with disastrous consequences. A body is found - not an accident. One of the group has been murdered and the culprit is amongst them....

Full of menace and dark secrets that are revealed as the group become trapped when a thick blizzard descends, The Hunting Party is a compelling read with plenty of twists.

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Book #47 Redemption Point

Redemption Point by Candice Fox
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First off, my thanks to Random House UK, Cornerstone and NetGalley for my ARC of Redemption Point.

An absolute ripper from Downunder (well, down under in my case)! Candice Fox has written a thriller that sizzles with tension and menace. This is Crimson Lake #2 and it’s a pity that I missed #1 as that no doubt sets the scene for Redemption Point. Nevertheless, it reads perfectly as a standalone.

Detective Ted Conkaffey’s life has been ruined. Accused but not convicted of abducting a teenage girl. Remanded for nine months, tried but not convicted due to ‘insufficient evidence’. He has escaped north to the wetlands of Crimson Lake. Fox has created a nightmare world of hatred towards a man who seems helpless in trying to prove his innocence. Conkaffey is despised by everyone. He has taken up with Amanda Pharrell, a convicted murderer, who has obtained a private investigator’s licence, much to the disdain of the local police. (She puts me so much in mind of Lisbeth Salander - a feisty free spirit and so good at what she does). There is more to Amanda’s past than first meets the eye. There is a synergy between these two that - just works.

When two bar workers are ruthlessly murdered, Michael Bell - the father of one of the victims - hires their services. He has no faith in the determination of the local police to seek justice. Two distinct plots then. Can Ted find the perpetrator of the crime for which he remains the number one suspect and will Ted and Amanda get to the bottom of what happened to the two bartenders in a roadside hovel? There is so much evil here that puts both protagonists in harms way. Will Ted find the redemption he so desperately seeks?

Redemption Point is a superb, heart-stopping thriller - well paced and full of pulse-racing moments. Hats off to Candice Fox for a great read - one of my top five this year.

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Book #46 Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb by Claire Douglas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My thanks to Penguin UK-Michael Joseph and NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Kirsty, husband Adrian and their two young daughters leave London to start a new life in the Brecon Beacons area of Wales. Purchased an old property with the financial help of Kirsty's mother Carol and carry out renovations to begin a guest-house business. So far so good. And then the first 'guest' arrives - Selena and her daughter Ruby, invited by Carol as Selena allegedly needs to escape an abusive husband. Kirsty hasn't seen Selena for seventeen years and she is the last person she wants to see. Too many bad memories.

The locals are unfriendly, it is rumoured that the house is haunted, scary events begin to happen as other guests arrive for short stays. There is an underlying menace to this story that builds a level of tension as events unfold and Selena's real reason for seeking refuge becomes apparent. A complex plot in which past events will come to the fore with one hell of a twist come the end.

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Book #45 A Shot in the Dark

A Shot in the Dark by Lynne Truss
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Lumme!" A word right out of the 50s. I can hear my mum saying it, when she was rather surprised. Constable Twitten uses it too, in this romp through Brighton in the 50s. Remember Bob-a-Job week? Ha! My memories of being a cub and boy scout! Knickerbocker Glories? Vim (the cleaning variety)? cockles and mussels in vinegar, saucy postcards, reprehensible Max Miller jokes, Stick-ups (not hold-ups)? It's all here in this comical, witty crime fiction by Lynne Truss.

Brighton in 1957. Inspector Steine is senior bobby by the sea. No more crime here since the Middle Street massacre. A quiet life - no criminals, no crime, no stress. And then the ambitious new constable shows up to work and starts investigating a series of burglaries. How annoying then, when Constable Twitten is despatched to the Theatre Royal for the night and has to sit next to a nasty theatre critic who is promptly shot dead part way through the opening night of a new play.

A Shot in the Dark is great fun, it's lighthearted despite the fact that some crime investigation is recorded! If you remember the 50s you will love this. If you don't you will still enjoy this witty delight.

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Book #44 The Chosen Ones

The Chosen Ones by Howard Linskey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My thanks to Netgalley, and Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for my ARC. Although I have been somewhat delinquent in taking so much time to finish the book; reading coincided with TV coverage of the 2018 Football World Cup, Queens, Eastbourne and Wimbledon tennis... So little time to read, but finish I have and what a cracking read this has been. I had not come across Detective Ian Bradshaw before - a pity, as this appears to be number four in a series. His talents are required to investigate the disappearance of a number of women, appointed SIO following the suspension of eight detectives suspected of fraud within the drug world. He enlists the help of Tom and Helen, two investigative journalists who apparently have helped him on previous cases. This association fits like a glove and these two put me in mind so much of Tommy and Tuppence Beresford.

The investigation is fraught with danger as we follow the incarceration of a woman - kidnapped and kept in a metal container. It's a horrific experience for her and indeed others who have suffered the same fate. Where are they being held? Could their location be underground? Who is the captor? Is there a religious element here? There is such a claustrophobic atmosphere in the plot that has alarming consequences for our three key protagonists.

Howard Linksey has written a compelling thriller, which I should have completed much earlier because its that good. Highly recommended.

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Book #43 The Break Line

The Break Line by James Brabazon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A state sponsored killer, Max McLean, sent on a final mission to Sierra Leone to kill a ‘professor’ who appears to be working with the Russians. Max is a UKN, an Unknown, his very existence denied by those who use his services. Has he been sold out? Is he expected to return after his mission?

I cannot reveal the true identity of the ‘professor’ without revealing too much of the plot. But he has created an army of berserkers with the use of a precursor to the Ebola virus, made them immune, devolved into an original state, men without fear or regret or judgement, unrestrained by their own humanity - true prelapsarian. It all sounds like a preposterous theory.

I struggled to complete this book. It is so full of the most horrific violence I have ever encountered in the written word. Much of it truly sickening. The Break Line came close on several occasions to becoming a DNF but I felt obliged to finish as this is an ARC and I owed it to the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read. The ending does have redeeming features as it provided answers to what really happened ‘out there’.

It just wasn’t for me.

With thanks to Penguin UK-Michael Joseph and NetGalley.

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Book #42 The President is Missing

The President Is Missing by Bill Clinton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A rollercoaster ride over a long weekend when the very existence of everything American faces a cyber-threat of such magnitude it will return the country to the ‘dark ages’. This key word is known only to POTUS and his six closest aides: the NSA head, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Secretary of Defense, the CIA director, the secretary of homeland security and the Vice President - and yet… someone has leaked this trigger to the enemy.

President Jonathan Duncan is facing a select committee hearing. The Speaker of the house seems determined to have him impeached for allegedly having a ‘phone conversation with the world’s most wanted terrorist - Suliman Cindoruk. POTUS invokes executive privilege. Why? For reasons only known to himself the president leaves the White House, his covert departure known only to his oldest friend and White House counsel, Danny Akers. The president is missing. Speculation as to why leads to a media frenzy. No-one knows where he is or what his intention is. But what faces the USA is certain destruction of everything dependent on the internet - and in this day and age that means - everything. And this book is truly unputdownable…

I have read some ridiculous comments about this book. Why? Because Bill Clinton is a co-author? Really? What happens when two highly intelligent individuals cooperate on a political thriller (and I say that without prejudice) results in a story so riveting, so breathtaking, so pulse-racing, that took me behind the machinations of US politics into a world of subterfuge and nail-biting tension.

I recommend The President is Missing without reservation.

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Book #41 Your Closest Friend

Your Closest Friend by Karen Perry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Whoa! Hold on a minute - let me catch my breath. Your Closest Friend sizzles with tension and menace. I thought I had already read my best book of 2018. Wrong. This is it!
Starts at breakneck pace as Cara finds herself caught up in a terrifying terrorist attack on the streets of London - her certain death prevented by Amy, who drags her into a doorway and up a flight of stairs to a storeroom above Pret. In the darkness and desperate to survive Cara divulges to Amy her darkest secrets about her marriage, her husband, her affair…

Days after the attack Cara is back home, back at work as a radio producer, when her life starts to spiral out of control. She starts to receive anonymous threats. And when Amy reappears as if by coincidence Cara turns to her for support - her closest friend? Or her worst nightmare… She invites Amy into her home to help with her family.

This is a psychological thriller that will shred your nerves with its relentless pace. Your Closest Friend is a real page turner. It never lets go. It grabs you from the get go - feel your pulse racing. The effect is hypnotic as you read on knowing that dreadful events are inevitable to a final twist that really had me holding my breath.

A stunning read, better than Gone Girl with a whiff of Single White Female. I doubt that I will read anything better this year.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin UK-Michael Joseph for the opportunity to read this e-book.

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Book #40 I Never Lie

I Never Lie by Jody Sabral
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Alex South is an alcoholic. She suffers blackouts and memory loss. A key element of the story with constant reminders that I found tedious:

”I’m going to start my detox tonight, after I’ve had my last fix.”

“I’m pissed off that I wasn’t able to detox yesterday. It sucks, actually…”

“As normal as one can be when in the midst of a detox.”

*I’m desperately in need of alcohol this morning, just to get going.”

Besides being an alcoholic, Alex is a TV journalist who left her long-time boyfriend Greg in Manchester after suffering a miscarriage. In London she regains some notoriety until a drunken rant on air puts her career on hold. She is given another chance to cover a series of murders occurring in East London, close to where she lives. But the demon drink continues to ravage her every day; carrying vodka around in a water bottle, chugging wine by the bottle at home and suffering huge hangovers…

The plot is split between current day and diary entries (in italics) from the previous year. Entries that become more embittered as the story moves on. Who is writing the diary? There is a link here with Alex that keeps the suspense going as Alex not only struggles with her alcoholism but online dating, which happens to be a key element in the murder investigations.

I Never Lie is well written and the pace does pick up towards the end. But were all the references to detoxing and binge drinking really necessary? It became a major irritation for me.

My thanks to NetGalley and Canelo for the opportunity to read this ARC.

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Book #39 Call for the Dead

Call for the Dead by John le Carré
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Where it all began, fifty-seven years ago. The first John le Carré book to feature George Smiley. My third read of a modern classic. This was and remains a true reflection of the cold world of espionage. Smiley is required to interview a civil servant, Samuel Fennan. It's a routine security check, but the following day Fennan apparently commits suicide. Or did he? On the very day that Smiley is ordered off the enquiry he receives an urgent letter from the dead man. What, if anything, do the East Germans and their agents know about this man's death? Does the East German Steel Mission have a rôle to play in this gripping tale of deceit?

For those of you who have read the Smiley canon you will know that the Fennan debacle features in future plots. Le Carré was (is) brilliant at following threads through decades of suspense.

These latest editions from Penguin Modern Classics feature wonderful art-deco covers, which alone make them attractive to own.

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Book #38 The Whitstable Pearl Mystery

The Whitstable Pearl Mystery by Julie Wassmer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A delightful, cosy read, combining seafood, murder and the multitasking Pearl Nolan. Set in the small seaside town of Whitstable on the North Kent coast; resonates with me as I was born in a small village not many miles away and know the area well - Seasalter, Tankerton, Whitstable, Cliftonville, Margate. So many locations mentioned like the quirky Walpole Bay hotel where my wife and I spent a memorable holiday a few years ago.

Pearl owns the Whitstable Pearl restaurant specialising with oyster and other seafood dishes. The area is well known for its oyster industry. Pearl is assisted by her vibrant mother, Dolly and the young woman, Ruby. Pearl is a former policewoman and has a mind to start a private investigation service.

Add DCI Mike McGuire and Pearl's son Charlie to the mix and you have the makings of the perfect mystery story. Characters you cannot help but like in a very well written plot.

Oxford had Morse, Brighton has Roy Grace and it appears that Whitstable has Pearl Nolan.

I loved it.

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Book #37 The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold by John le Carré
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The jewel in the crown of the espionage canon. I first read The Spy… in the early 70s with a second reading in the 90s, I believe it was. This has been my third reading. Having recently read A Legacy of Spies, which filled in so many pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that had tormented fans for more than fifty years, I just had to revisit the Smiley era.

George Smiley was introduced in Call for the Dead in 1961. He returned in 1962 in A Murder of Quality, his only story set outside the intelligence community. Then, in 1963, comes the masterpiece: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold which remains the best spy story I have ever read (I agree with Graham Greene). It is a recognition of the quality of Le Carré’s writing that I could remember the book so well, almost quoting some passages verbatim.

The story relates a complicated act of deadly triple-bluff created by the British Secret Service against its enemies in the German Democratic Republic, the Abteilung. Alec Leamas is at the centre of the plot - believes he is on a clever undercover mission of revenge but clever British brains have other motives… Le Carré laces the plot with multifarious complexities as Leamas comes to realise that he has been used by his own side - fooled, manipulated and misinformed. Leamas has travelled deep into the heart of Communist Germany, ostensibly to betray his country. Smiley tries to help the woman, Liz Gold, that Leamas has befriended with devastating consequences…

The Spy… is a dark, brutal, totally believable tale of espionage during the Cold War. Spies, summed up by Leamas to Liz Gold: ”What do you think spies are: priests, saints and martyrs? They’re a squalid procession of vain fools, traitors too, yes; pansies, sadists and drunkards, people who play cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten lives. Do you think they sit like monks in London balancing the rights and wrongs…” This is a terminally fatigued Alec Leamas and the ending of the story still leaves me devastated.

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Book #36 After The Party

After the Party by Cressida Connolly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Drawn like a moth to a flame to this intriguing story. A family saga amongst the County Set in Sussex, between the Great Wars. And a piece of political history that I had scant knowledge of, even at my age. Seemingly sensible folk beguiled by the British Alliance, an overt group of fascists.

Phyllis and her husband Hugh return to England after living for several years in Belgium. They stay with sister Patricia in her palladian mansion for a while until sister Nina finds them a place to rent, whilst Hugh searches for a piece of land to build a new property.

It’s 1938. Nina runs summer camps, a cloak for Alliance meetings, and Phyllis with her idealism is captivated by the charismatic Master - Oswald Mosley, who preaches appeasement before war. Women of principle are attracted to the movement, little understanding how they will be ostracised when war does inevitably break out.

One event, at a party will change Phyllis’ life for ever as she recounts in a personal record following her lengthy incarceration. The reason for her time in prison becomes clear as her personal account unwinds.

Difficult to say more without revealing too much. I can say that I became totally immersed in After The Party. It’s different and beautifully written, almost hypnotic. A piece of social and political history that benefits from the revelations in this remarkable book.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books for the opportunity to read this ARC.

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Book #35 The Liar's Room

Will be published on 9th August 2018 A cracking, psychological thriller from fellow Brightonian, Simon Lelic. A very clever plot. The writer holds the reader spellbound with a riveting plot that revolves around just three main characters. That takes great skill. Susanna, Adam and Emily, Susanna's daughter. Add Jake to the mix, Susanna's long dead son and you have a complex storyline with plenty of shocks in store. Susanna is a counsellor and thinks she has escaped a dark past. Horrendous events that involved her son Jake. But has she? Does her previous life remain concealed? Adam Geraghty has made an appointment to see Susanna. Who is he? Does Susanna know him? There is something about him.... Does Adam know Susanna? Does he have a dark motive for their meeting? A meeting that takes place in Susanna's office. A meeting full of menace as disturbing facts are revealed. There are chapters where I found myself unable to turn pages quickly enough, breathless... The Liar's Room is a compelling read, with a final momentous twist. Highly recommended. My thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Books and Simon Lelic for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Book #34 A Legacy of Spies

A Legacy of Spies by John le Carré
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

John Le Carré is the undisputed master of the espionage novel. I remember reading The Spy Who Came in From the Cold back in the 60s, the book that introduced us to Alec Leamas and Liz Gold and Hans-Dieter Mundt, an assassin of the East German Secret Service, whose diplomatic cover in London is uncovered by George Smiley and Peter Guillam of British Intelligence. We have waited fifty-four years for pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to be completed.

It is present day. The ageing Peter Guillam, now living in Brittany, receives a letter summoning him to London. Cold War ghosts have come back to haunt him. Past misdemeanours are being dissected, deaths that occurred decades ago. There are those who seek retribution, revenge even. What did happen to Leamas and Gold at the Berlin Wall all those years ago?

A Legacy of Spies is a brilliant read, utterly engrossing and a virtual recasting of his earlier masterpiece. I feel like going back and reading the entire Smiley canon once again.

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Book #33 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a delight reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society has been. I did not want it to end. My wife and I saw the film a short while ago and I just had to get a copy of the book. The film is wonderful; the book more so. Seeing the film first kept the characters in the mind's eye as portrayed by well known actors. The book contains so much more than the film script, although the latter is faithful to the overall story line.

I want to join the society. I want all my friends and family to read this book so that we can continue to discuss it. I want it to go on forever. Is that too romantic a notion? I think not. I will probably read it again. This wonderful society that was a refuge for the islanders during the German occupation. Taking the reader out of our time and place and understanding. Stories of deprivation and heartbreaking memories of concentration camps. But, for all that, filled with characters who you come to love and told in correspondence with the writer, Juliet Ashton from members of the society. Juliet's visit to the island that captures her heart. Whose wouldn't be?

I must go back to Guernsey, take the book with me. Immerse myself once again in these utterly delightful pages. The book is a gem and will stay with me for a long time to come.

Highly recommended.

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Book #32 Snap

Snap by Belinda Bauer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Mesmerising, in the true sense of the word. Belinda Bauer is a master at creating the perfect crime novel. She often focuses on a child and how trauma affects them. Jack and his siblings, Joy and Merry. Left alone in a broken down car on a motorway as their mother seeks help, looking for a motorway 'phone. She never returns.... Move forward three years. Seemingly unrelated events form threads in the plot. Inexorably they develop and intertwine. The pace of the first few chapters was hypnotic. Think of the soundtrack to "Jaws" - staccato rhythm. Had me holding my breath. It is difficult to say more without spoiling the plot for future readers. I will say that SNAP goes to the top of my Best Reads of 2018. A stunning crime novel.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Book #31 The Brighton Mermaid

The Brighton Mermaid by Dorothy Koomson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for the opportunity to read this ARC.

A tangled, intriguing web spread across twenty-five years in my home city of Brighton and Hove. The setting is realistic, the locations are authentic. I know them all - not so much the beach where teenagers Nell and Jude stumble across the body of a young woman at the waterline. It is 1993. She has an intricate tattoo of a mermaid, the only distinguishing feature, and inevitably becomes know as the Brighton mermaid. Three weeks later Jude disappears. The crime is not solved and Jude is never found. Wind on 25 years and Nell is obsessed with solving the identity of the Brighton mermaid and finding her friend, Jude.

Nell has saved enough to take a year off work in order to carry on her investigation using genealogy and DNA profiling to try and find a familial link. Her sister suffers with OCD, for reasons that become apparent in the plot, and is constantly irritated with Nell's determination to seek a solution to the 25 year old mystery. It puts them in harms way. Someone doesn't want the truth to be revealed....

Other characters are drawn into a plot that spools backwards and forwards through the timeline. A slow burner that picks up pace and leads to a breathtaking climax.

Well worth a read.

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Book #30 The Murder List

The Murder List by Chris Merritt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This thriller has it all! DI Zac Boateng is attached to Lewisham MIT. Has a good team around him. Five years after the random shooting of his young daughter Zac still seeks revenge. Revenge or justice?

The team have to investigate the brutal killing of a pawnbroker; find a ruthless perpetrator. What motive was behind this killing? How threads intertwine here!

It's a slow starter but as the pace gathers and other killings occur Zac finds himself inexorably getting closer to the devastating truth about his daughter. Will he cross the line? Will his anger be all consuming? How do his wife and son cope with Zac's mood swings?

A helter-skelter, breathtaking, pulse-racing read with plenty of sub-plots with much of the narrative seen through the eyes of the killer. Great stuff!

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Book #29 Incidents in the Rue Laugier

Incidents in the Rue Laugier by Anita Brookner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another journey into the human psyche. Anita Brookner was a master at making the reader interested in her characters. I found myself totally immersed in the story of Maud, a young French woman, and Edward Harrison, a stoic Englishman and his irresponsible and capricious friend David Tyler. Tyler and Harrison are in Paris when they are invited to spend a long weekend at the home of Maud's aunt, Germaine along with Nadine, Maud's mother. What occurs will have an impact on the rest of their lives. Maud and Edward eventually marry, a marriage of convenience. But the shadow of Tyler is always evident.

The story is told through the eyes of Mary Françoise, a daughter born late in marriage to the hapless couple. She finds her mother's notebook with just one entry....

A tale of inadequacy, disappointment and loss that is beautifully structured. Brookner's observations are perfect when writing about relationships. I enjoyed Incidents in the Rue Laugier.

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Book #28 A Start in Life

A Start in Life by Anita Brookner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Anita Brookner's debut novel first published in 1981. This paperback edition reissued in 2016 by Penguin Random House as part of a series in perfect understated livery.

"Dr Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature." A captivating first line... She is studying the heroines of Balzac in order to discover where her own childhood and adult life has gone awry. She is seeking enlightenment. I have a weak-spot for any book that uses Paris as a location although Weiss' Parisian love affairs were doomed from the start.

Brookner's novels explore themes of emotional loss. (She was once labeled "the mistress of gloom"). But beyond this tag her writing is exquisite and A Start in Life is a beautiful, sophisticated work endowed with many moments of gentle comedy. And it should not be overlooked that Brookner won the Booker Prize in 1984 for her novel Hotel du Lac (which I have read). Her talent for excellent prose is evident with A Start in Life.

I suppose that Brookner is (was - she died in 2016) an acquired taste. Well, I enjoy her writing and I can anticipate reading another twenty-two novels that she wrote after a distinguished career as an art historian. I might even try some Balzac....

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Book #27 Time is a Killer

Time Is a Killer by Michel Bussi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My thanks to the Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC of Time is a Killer.

I have previously read After The Crash and Black Water Lilies by Michel Bussi (both excellent) so I had some idea of what to expect with this new book. So I thought. But Michel Bussi just gets better. He has an extraordinary ability to intrigue. Time is a Killer presents a broad tapestry of the Idrissi Corsican family. A catastrophic car crash in the summer of 1989 leaves three members of a family dead; only the daughter Clotilde survives. Wind on twenty-seven years. Clotilde (Clo) returns with her husband Frank and teenage daughter Valentine. Clo wants to exorcise the past and build bridges with her errant daughter. They visit the ravine where the crash occurred.

”It was here, Valentine. It was here that your Grandpa and Grandma died. And your Uncle Nicholas as well…". Frank and Valentine appear disinterested.

In 1989 Clotilde kept a journal of events that summer. It remained lost for twenty-seven years. Or so she thought. Someone is reading it. Could it contain clues to what really happened? And then Clotilde receives a letter, in her mother’s unmistakeable handwriting. As if she were still alive…

Bussi moves smoothly from events in 1989 to present day. Fragments of memory return to Clotilde. But how can her mother be alive? The tension and menace builds, page after page. The pace is relentless as further clues surface. The reveal is breathtaking.

The Corsican characters are totally believable, some hide behind omertà, the code of honour that places importance on silence and non-cooperation with authorities. What is there to hide?

Michel Bussi has written another compelling and stunning read with a truly shocking ending. Certainly a candidate for my Best Read of 2018.

Praise must also go to Shaun Whiteside for the brilliant translation from the original French.

Highly recommended.

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Book #26 A Swollen Red Sun

A Swollen Red Sun by Matthew McBride
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I cannot remember another occasion when I have read a book based on the recommendation of another fictional character! A Swollen Red Sun according to Jack Taylor is in his top ten. I suppose I should thank Ken Bruen...

I enjoy a good thriller but perhaps not so brutal as this. The author, Matthew McBride, lives in rural Missouri. He knows the people of Gasconade County. Well, I trust he doesn't know any of the lowlives that feature here. Meth freaks, dirty cops, the fearsome Reverend Butch Pogue. Deputy Sheriff Dale Banks discovers $52,000 hidden in the broken-down trailer that Jerry Dean Skaggs uses for cooking crystal. Shades of Breaking Bad here. Banks takes the money and sets in motion a spiral of violence and revenge killings. He thinks he took the money for all the right reasons. But there is a consequence. Jerry Dean cannot afford to lose that money - he owes it to his partners....

A desperate tale of corruption, drugs and morality that contains a great deal of gratuitous thuggery.

Not sure I quite agree with you, Jack!

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Book #25 Essential Muir: A Selection of John Muir's Best Writings

Essential Muir: A Selection of John Muir's Best Writings by John Muir
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

John Muir was born in 1838 in Scotland and spent his formative years in Wisconsin, where his family emigrated. His writings are better known in the USA. He died in 1914. This selection of essays were chosen by Fred D. White who describes Muir's legacy as complex and important. Muir led a remarkable life and spent much of his solitary life in Yosemite. Muir had a fierce love of all of nature, from squirrels to glaciers. He once described himself as a "poetico-trampo-geologist-botanist and ornithologist-naturalist". A rather whimsical description but one that does rather sum up his desire to fuse rational and investigative sensibilities with aesthetic and spiritual ideas.

Read here about his faithful companion Stikeen (his dog), his reflections on the society of Eskimos and his touching tribute to the mighty baobob trees of Africa. Writings that inspire us more than a century after his death.

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Book #24 Beware the Past

Beware the Past by Joy Ellis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! I hadn't come across Joy Ellis before. Happenstance brought me to Beware the Past. What a stunning standalone crime thriller this is and certainly a candidate for my Best Read of 2018.

A very believable DCI Matt Ballard is haunted by a case from 26 years ago. Although the perpetrator was identified Matt had serious doubts about the validity of the outcome, as the suspected murderer was killed by a hit-and-run driver. And now the killer seems to be back. Is that possible?

The hectic pace of Beware the Past is relentless. So many breathtaking moments, so many twists and turns with a conclusion that knocked me sideways! A savage twist totally unforeseen.

If you like your thrillers tense and full of menace this is definitely one for you!

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Book #23 Finding Gobi

Finding Gobi: The true story of a little dog and an incredible journey by Dion Leonard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Dion Leonard is an ultramarathon runner, introduced to this extreme sport by his wife Lucja. They live in Edinburgh, Scotland. Dion is a 42 year old Australian; as his father came from Birmingham Dion is entitled to hold a British passport. In 2016 Dion took part in a 155 mile race across the Gobi Desert in China. As he set off on the first leg a small, stray dog became rather attached to him and kept pace with Dion over almost 80 miles of this arduous race. Dion fell in love with this little dog, a little dog with a big heart. Dion wore yellow gaiters above his running shoes: ”The day Gobi stood by my side and looked up from my yellow gaiters and stared into my eyes, she had a look about her that I’d never seen. She trusted me implicitly…" (Dion had named the dog, Gobi). He knew, come the end of the race, he would do everything possible to get Gobi back to the UK.

”They say it takes a village to raise a child. I think it takes almost half a planet to rescue a dog…" Dion had no idea of the momentous task he was about to undertake. The tale of Gobi had already made the news and a Crowdfunder appeal quickly raised thousands of pounds. News media around the world picked up and broadcast the story. But, the devil is in the detail…

I won’t say more without spoiling the details. Finding Gobi is a true story of determination, anguish, bureaucracy, paranoia, sorrow, tears, joy. And the unquenchable love for a little dog. A heartwarming tale for any dog lover.

You will love Finding Gobi.

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Book #22 The Ghosts of Galway

The Ghosts of Galway by Ken Bruen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It has been a seventeen year journey. Jack Taylor first appeared in The Guards, published in 2001. Needless to say, Jack has aged. Very much alone now. No real friends. Some acquaintances and a solid fan base. The best in Irish noir. But how much longer will we shadow Taylor's stumble through life? An unsuccessful suicide attempt after a mistaken medical diagnosis. At an all-time low Jack has been hired as a night-shift security guard by a Ukrainian boss who has another agenda - he wants Jack to find the first true book of heresy, The Red Book, currently in the hands of a rogue priest hiding out in Galway after fleeing from the Vatican. Jack cannot turn down the money on offer.

Then Em reappears - she seems to be entangled with the story of The Red Book. Needless to say her presence leads Jack down lethal pathways with resulting carnage that goes beyond any other Jack Taylor book. Some of it gratuitous, much of it full of gallows humour.

Given the last two pages I wonder if we will encounter JT once more. Only Ken Bruen can answer that.

Me? I hope that The Ghosts of Galway (#13) is not the last....

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Book #21 The Bletchley Girls

The Bletchley Girls by Tessa Dunlop
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to my brother for this one. Another book covering the remarkable story of Bletchley Park, a story that remained withheld from the public for three decades following the end of the 2nd World War. Station X as it was known was home for the duration of the war to thousands of personnel working on decoding Enigma signals from the Germans. By 1944 women outnumbered men at Bletchley three to one. These are the girls who helped outsmart the enemy within the confines of a Buckinghamshire estate. Everyone working here had to sign the Official Secrets Act.

In order to make this book different from other accounts of BP, Tessa Dunlop interviewed fifteen nonagenarians, still alive when the book was published in 2015. This results in a very personal approach. Talking to these ladies gives her book an immediacy and intimacy, hearing the details of these elite veterans in their own voices. The book is full of anecdotes describing the hardships and heartaches of wartime work, much of which was humdrum and monotonous. Most of the 'romantic' cryptanalysts were men. The women were mostly involved with data entry and listening in to morse-code traffic.

This is an engaging work; my only criticism is the way the narrative jumps about from one woman to another making it difficult to keep track of who is who. Beyond that though there is much to enjoy here as the women of Bletchley Park tell their own story. Well worth a read for anyone interested in this period of history. These dedicated people no doubt helped to shorten the war, some say by as much as two years.



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Book #20 The Emerald Lie

The Emerald Lie: A Jack Taylor Novel by Ken Bruen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Jack Taylor. Somewhat akin to Marmite. You either love him or hate him. I am definitely in the former camp. The Emerald Lie is #12 in the series and there is just one more: The Ghosts of Galway (awaiting delivery). I have followed Jack's story since the very first - The Guards. Ken Bruen is the master of contemporary Irish noir with his gallows humour, weird typography (which so many reviewers dislike) and unorthodox wordplay.

Jack often appears to have hit the self-destruct button. He is not getting any younger. His battle with the booze is legendary. Jack is on a downward spiral. He receives another savage beating, not one but two. He is approached by a grieving father who wants Jack to help exact revenge on those responsible for his daughters brutal murder. Jack agrees to get a lead on the likely perpetrators and then Emily appears once again (AKA Em, Emerald) - a chameleon, passionate, clever and utterly homicidal. She coerces Jack to conspire with her against the serial killer the Garda have nicknamed The Grammarian, a Cambridge graduate who becomes murderous over split infinitives, improper punctuation and any other sign of bad grammar.

I wonder how much longer Jack will survive, particularly given the cliff-hanging ending in The Emerald Lie. Jack is at his lowest ebb. Will it all be over soon? I hope not but feel a certain inevitability.....

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Book #19 The Outcast Dead

The Outcast Dead: The Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries 6 by Elly Griffiths
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The best of six, so far. Well, that is my opinion! I love this series. I like the characters. The vulnerable Dr. Ruth Galloway and her daughter Kate, the old-fashioned copper DCI Harry Nelson, his bagman DS David Clough, a tough, dedicated officer and Cathbad (Michael Malone), raised a Catholic and now a druid and self-professed shaman. The series knits seamlessly together; elements of forensic archeology, myth, the supernatural and superstition. In The Outcast Dead child abduction is a major element in the plot, which adds to the tension and results in a breathless race against time.

Ruth has excavated a body from the grounds of Norwich Castle, thought to be that of Jemima Green, called Mother Hook for her claw-like hand. Jemima was hanged for the murders of five children. But, was she guilty? Frank, an American historian, thinks otherwise. Present as part of a US film crew, to create a documentary.

Harry Nelson is investigating the case of three infants found dead, one after the other and he is convinced that their mother is responsible. A clever interweaving of story-lines here.

And then a child goes missing.... Is there a possible link to the long-dead Mother Hook?

A rich, dark and fast-moving plot. Thank you Elly Griffiths for another cracking read!

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