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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