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<metadesc>Book review siteExpert, with books full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, biographynon-fiction, crime, cookery and children's books & self-published books plus author interviews and & top tens.</metadesc><h1 id="mf-title">The Bookbag</h1>Hello from The Bookbag, a site featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - [[:Category:Fiction|fiction]], [[:Category:Biography|biography]], [[:Category:Crime|crime]], [[:Category:Cookery|cookery]] and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. It's the bag we take to the library and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of [[:Category:Interviews|author interviews]], and all sorts of [[:Category:Lists|top tens]] - all of which you can find on our [[features]] page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the [[Book Recommendations|recommendations]] page.

Reviews by readers from all the many walks of literary life. With author interviews, features and top tens. You'll be sure to find something you'll want to read here. Dig in! Find us on [[File:facebook.gif|link=https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk|alt=Facebook]] [https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk '''Facebook'''], [[File:twitter.gif|link=http://twitter.com/TheBookbag|alt=Follow us on Twitter]] [http://twitter.com/TheBookbag '''Twitter'''], [[File:instagram_classic_logo.png|link=https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/|alt=Follow us on Instagram]] [https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/ '''Instagram'''] and [[File:LinkedIn.png|link=https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-bookbag-1b12a264/|alt=LinkedIn]] There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' [[:Category:Reviews|reviews ]] at TheBookbag.

==Reviews of the The Best New Books==

'''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].{{Frontpage|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingauthor="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--><!-- Watson -->Tom Percival|-title=The Wrong Shoes| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|5[[image:I0993454682.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993454682/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Confident Readers| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Rockstar Retirement Programme: How to retire like Will's life is difficult, in a rockstar by Dominic Watson]]=== [[image:4starmultitude of ways.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] Even with a birthday fast approaching, I He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes'm still a bit young to be reading about retirement. My next life change in the pipeline will be a big one, and it does involve leaving he has the 9 to 5 behind for a yacht wrong shoes because his dad can't work and the silky blue waters doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the Caribbeancollege, but only for was working a year, and then I will be back, tanned cash-in-hand job on a building site and refreshed but barely 40 had an accident. Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and with many working years still to come. Alsodad are separated, I like work. My job and Will's life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. He is interestinggood at art, I get and clings to travelthe moments of joy when he is drawing, what we do matters and it's not badly rewarded. So no, I'm not planning to retire just yet. But as that feel like a light at the premise end of this book is about planning (and if not nowa long, then when?) I was still intrigueddark tunnel. [[Rockstar Retirement Programme: How to retire like a rockstar by Dominic Watson|Full Review]]isbn=1398527122}}<!-- Lynda La Plante -->{{Frontpage|-author=Sylvie Cathrall| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Letter to the Luminous Deep|[[image:1785764667.jpgrating=5|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785764667/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Science Fiction| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.|isbn= 0356522776}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008517061|title=Death in a Lonely Place|author=[[Murder Mile (Jane Tennison 4) by Lynda La Plante]]=Stig Abell|rating=4|genre=Crime [[image:3.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It was February 1979 Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the future of his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, as moving in the striketogether would mean a lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-ridden 'Winter of Discontent' when a body was discovered grid and relaxing life to move in Peckham. with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this is the future she wants for herself and her daughter? It was to be For the first of two bodies moment they’re enjoying life in two days, but the first - that of a young woman - would remain unidentified for some time. The second - an older lady - was found in present and putting the future on the boot of her car by her sonback burner. Jane Tennison has been promoted to Sergeant and finds herself in the midst of an investigation hindered by press articles about police incompetence and pressure }}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786482126|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to get hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a quick resultdoorway. Four days later and another body to add to the countThere was no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, the police have named their suspect, but Tennison has her doubtsDr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. [[Murder Mile (Jane Tennison 4) by Lynda La Plante|Full Review]] <!-- Val McDermid --> It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.}}{{Frontpage|-isbn=0008551324| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster[[image:140870935X.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/140870935X/ref5|genre=nosim?tagCrime|summary=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Broken Ground by Val McDermid]]=== [[image:5starIt's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] As But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the Officer in Charge of police where the Historic Cases Unit, DCI Karen Pirie rarely finds herself at the scene body of the crime, but a missing person is buried and who was responsible for onceher death. This person, he promises, she's in the right place at the right time when a body is dug up in someone big and it will be worth the Highlandspolice doing what he wants. Initially it looks as though the death dates back And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to WWII, but serve the fact that the dead man is wearing a pair remainder of Nikes means that the case is Karen'shis sentence and to get an early parole date. A little while later sheNot much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn'd come to t think that so and she'd been in s even prepared to do the wrong place at the wrong time when she overheard a conversation in a cafe. Intervening, she thought other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that sheDS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what'd prevented a crime, but what she said would come back to haunt her. [[Broken Ground by Val McDermids happening.}}{{Frontpage|Full Review]]isbn=0008405026|title=A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)<!-- LaPlante -->|author=Jane Casey|-rating=5| stylegenre="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Crime[[image:1785659626.jpg|linksummary=http://wwwIt's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785659626 She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt. Now, her mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bed. Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbagsuicide but there's something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was going to be an open-and-21]]shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0571379877| styletitle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating===[[Half Moon Bay by Alice LaPlante]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg5|linkgenre=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Half Moon Bay Crime|summary=Edward Jevons is a small town on the west coast of Americaworking-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza. Robert's a little down from San Franciscotheatre director. Jane has just moved thereHe's also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to start a new life after losing everything when her teenage daughter was killed and her husband left herrun errands for him. Although she Edward has begun to find a little peace been in the quiet, seaside town, one day love with Stanza since their university days - and he's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. Most men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a child goes missing, bringing back painful memories for Jane of her grief and loss and, also, rousing relationship had begun between them but he's not like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the suspicions two of the local townsfolk that she is somehow involved them kissing in the disappearancea dark passageway. [[Half Moon Bay by Alice LaPlante|Full Review]]}}{{Frontpage<!-- Hunt -->|author=Jo Callaghan|-title=Leave No Trace| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"4|genre=Crime[[image:B079RJSJS7.jpg|linksummary=http://www.amazon.coWhen a man is found crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock.uk/dp/B079RJSJS7/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Phantom by Leo Hunt]]=== [[image:4star It's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project.jpg|link Will they be able to solve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career?|isbn=Category:139851120X}}{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:TeensFrontpage|isbn=1399613073|Teens]] title=Moral Injuries|author=Christie WatsonSixteen-year-old Nova is an undercity dweller and a leecher - a futuristic kind of pickpocket who uses tech hacks to steal byts from hapless corps workers. The higher up in the city you live|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary=Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the more sunlight you see first day of medical school and the easier your lifetheir friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. For leechers like Nova Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, four hundred storeys below the surface, life which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is tougha perfectionist and a trauma doctor. But with Anjali is the help free spirit of the hacking program Phantom, invented by legendary antigroup and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-corps hacker the Moth, Nova can sneak up fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the city, leech some byts and at least make renttragedy or the consequences. v[[Phantom by Leo Hunt|Full Review]] <! Twenty-- Claire Askew -->|-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0241636604| styletitle="widthThe Trading Game: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson[[image:147367302X.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/147367302X/ref=nosim?tag5|genre=thebookbag-21]] Autobiography| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; textIf you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-align: left;"|===[[All stripe suit and his background is the Hidden Truths (Three Rivers) by Claire Askew]]=== [[image:5starEast End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] As a news item, school shootings always terrify me: the deaths are bad enough, There was no posh public school on his CV - but even he had been to the young London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy. He also realised that most rich people expect poor people who survive are always going to be scarred by the fact stupid. that this It was his ability at what was done to them by one of their number, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank. It doesn't end on the dayEventually, eitherthis turned into permanent employment as a trader. School shootings cast a very long shadow. May the 14th had the makings of being a normal day until Ryan Summers used three modified starting pistols }}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035021803|title=The Antique Hunter's Guide to shoot thirteen fellow students - and one last bullet Murder|author=C L Miller|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to kill himselfthe English country village where she grew up. We follow the story through the lives She's back now because of three women: Moira Summersa request for help from her beloved aunt, the mother of the murdererCarole. Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Helen BirchArthur Crockleford, is dead and the newly-promoted detective inspector who will investigate the killings and Ishbel Hodgekisscircumstances seem suspicious, to say the mother of one of least. Arthur was the victims. [[All reason why Freya had not been back to the Hidden Truths (Three Rivers) by Claire Askew|Full Review]] <!-- Aaron -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1683690613village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly.jpg|link=http://www Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. After the split, she worked in a cafe, met and married James (on the rebound from the love of her life, who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690613/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"AllTomorrowsFutureCover|=title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=[[Garrison Girl Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Attack on TitanEditors) by Rachel Aaron]]|rating=5|genre==Science Fiction[[image:4.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]] ''You want me to be like everyone else and spend my life hiding inside the walls where it's safe, but that's an illusion. So long as there are titans out there… no one is safe'' In the dystopian world of Attack on Titan, humanity hides behind the safety of high impenetrable walls to keep out the enemies outside. Known as titans, these enemies are impossibly tall human like creatures, with sharp hungry teeth and regenerative powers. Difficult to kill and innumerable they roam the Earth looking for prey, and whilst the walls have always kept them out, that has begun to change… [[Garrison Girl (Attack on Titan) by Rachel Aaron|Full Review]]  <!-- Bennett -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1471407535.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471407535/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Island by M A Bennett]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] A contemporary take on the savage classic ''Lord of the Flies'': a group of mismatched, modern-day teenagers must fight to survive on a deserted island. Link is a fish out of water. Newly arrived from America, he is finding it hard to settle into the venerable and prestigious Osney School. Who knew there could be so many strange traditions to understand? And what kind of school ranks its students by how fast they can run round the school quad - however ancient that quad may be? When Link runs the slowest time in years, he immediately becomes the butt of every school joke. And some students are determined to make his life more miserable than others... [[The Island by M A Bennett|Full Review]] <!-- Ruffles -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1444937685.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444937685/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Colour Me In by Lydia Ruffles]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] Reeling from a tragedy and unable to cope, unemployed actor Arlo decides to get on a plane and go somewhere new. [[Colour Me In by Lydia Ruffles|Full Review]] <!-- Scott -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0593072286.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0593072286/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Treachery of Spies by Manda Scott]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] When Inspector Inès Picaut is called to investigate the horrific murder of a strikingly beautiful elderly lady, she's puzzled – whilst the identity of the woman has been erased, it's clear that she has been killed in the same way that traitors to the resistance were executed in World War Two. Solving the mystery will lead Inès deep into the history of this woman – and back to a time when the men and women of 1940s France were engaged in a desperate, brutal fight for survival against their Nazi oppressors. As more and more secrets come to light, Inès discovers that there are many in the present who would rather their past stay buried – and many who would kill to keep secrets safe… [[A Treachery of Spies by Manda Scott|Full Review]] <!-- Rutger -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1538761858.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1538761858/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Anomaly by Michael Rutger]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Horror|Horror]] Tomb Raider meets Indiana Jones within an X-Files episode, for the Youtube era. Join the intrepid (if rather inept) team of internet adventurers as they head out on yet another search for ''an anomaly'' only to (spoilers) actually find one. Imagine if, instead of being scared by their own acting, Derek Acorah and Yvette Fielding actually found something; that is the starting point of this book. Deep in a cave within the Grand Canyon our team of adventurers find themselves trapped in a Stephen King plot with added levels of paranoia and conspiracy thrown into the blend. [[The Anomaly by Michael Rutger|Full Review]] <!-- Hajaj -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786073943.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786073943/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Water Thief by Claire Hajaj]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] Nick is in the middle of wedding preparations when he decides to leave his fiancée behind in London and take up a post in some un-named west African country providing engineering support for the building of a children's hospital. He has no idea what he is getting himself into. [[The Water Thief by Claire Hajaj|Full Review]] <!-- Peter Lovesey -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0751570672.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0751570672/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Beau Death (Peter Diamond Mystery) by Peter Lovesey]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Children love wrecking balls, so the young lad wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to watch one hit a building through one of those very tempting holes in fencing which you find around building sites. The problem was that when the dust settled a skeleton, sitting in an armchair and clad in clothes which looked to be a few hundred years old, was visible in the loft of the half-demolished building. The lad's father ceased his explanations about kinetic energy and hurried the boy away. Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond was not so lucky. Viewing the corpse from a cherry picker, an unfortunate adjustment to the controls left him eye to, er, eye socket with the corpse and the picture was caught by a press photographer. It was too good not to go viral. [[Beau Death (Peter Diamond Mystery) by Peter Lovesey|Full Review]] <!-- Webber -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1406369055.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1406369055/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Katherine Webber]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] Though it's been 5 years since Mika died, Reiko still sees the ghost of her sister every day, forever 14. It's something that brings her comfort, but also a constant reminder that she has to make up for being one when there should have been two. She has to shine bright enough for both of them. When she befriends outsider Seth, he presents her with an escape. From her family, her friends, the grief and loss that continue to scar them all. Seth is instantly smitten with her. After all, who wouldn't fall for gorgeous, popular Reiko Smith-Mori? But while she falls in love with the escape that he represents from her grief, it's not so clear that she's falling in love with him. [[Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Katherine Webber|Full Review]] <!-- Gourlay -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1788450175.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788450175/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Bone Talk by Candy Gourlay]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Samkad is living high up in the mountainous Philippine jungle just as the nineteenth century turns to the twentieth. But Samkad has no idea about any of that. He has never met anyone from outside his own small tribe and his thoughts are focused on becoming a man. He's desperate for the Elders to permit him to join the ranks of the warriors who protect his tribe from their headhunting enemies, even though he knows it will mean leaving his childhood friend Little Luki behind. [[Bone Talk by Candy Gourlay|Full Review]] <!-- Rajaniemi -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473203287.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473203287/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Summerland by Hannu Rajaniemi]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]], [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]] Imagine a world in which death was no longer something to fear but something to aspire to. After discovery of the afterlife, the British Empire has extended its reach into Summerland, the Big Smoke for the recently deceased. In 1938 the British Empire is caught up in a race against Soviet spies and dealing with a mole buried deep in the heart of Summerland. When Rachel White, an ambitious SIS agent, becomes suspicious about the potential rogue agent, she must decide how far she is willing to go and how much she is willing to risk to uncover the truth. [[Summerland by Hannu Rajaniemi|Full Review]] <!-- K D Knight -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1986586898.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1986586898/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Going To The Last: Short Stories About Horse Racing by K D Knight]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] In the opening story a man whose wife has deserted him visits Sandown with little money, but comes away with cash in his pocket - and his wife. In ''A Grey Day'' an owner struggles with the problem of whether or not to run his horse in the Gold Cup when the ground is against him. My favourite was ''The Story of H'', the story of Foinavon. H is depicted as a kind horse who only wanted to please people. After changing hands on various occasions he came to the yard of John Kempton. H (or Foinavon) was entered in the Grand National and considered a no-hoper. In one of the most dramatic runnings of the race, a pile up occured at the 23rd fence. Foinavon, who had been many lengths adrift, cleared the fence and galloped to the line, winning the race at odds of 100/1. [[Going To The Last: Short Stories About Horse Racing by K D Knight|Full Review]] <!-- Kermani -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1785899953.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785899953/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Frog Who Was Blue by Faiz Kermani]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] ''Biriwita the blue frog longs to be accepted at Croak College, the most famous school for frogs in Malawi, but the other students all turn their backs on him. He is just too different!'' Biriwita hails from Lake Ticklewater. Many creatures find a home there, including frogs. For some reason that nobody can remember, all the Lake Ticklewater frogs are blue. They think nothing of it. So, when Biriwita wins a place at Croak College, the first Ticklewater frog to manage such a feat, he is filled with excitement and his only worry is how much he will miss his friends and family. [[The Frog Who Was Blue by Faiz Kermani|Full Review]] <!-- Singer -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1444944525.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444944525/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.''

I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.}}{{Frontpage|author=Sunny Singh|title=Hotel Arcadia|rating=[[3.5|genre=Thrillers |summary=The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel manager. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|isbn=086154742X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529153298|title=The List of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=5|genre=General Fiction|summary=It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, though. Women have been disappearing. Well, they've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants to move the family 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a frightening, foreign place, best avoided. For Miv, the move would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, and she'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the dangers or that her Mum's stopped talking - to anyone.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1398524085|title=Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Nicci French|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=Charlotte Salter was expected at her husband's fiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Her children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but - strangely - her husband, Alec, is not. Shortly afterwards, Etty and Greg, find the body of Greg's father, Duncan Ackerley, in the river. It was an easy assumption for the police to make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when he couldn't stand the guilt. The Survival Game Salter children are not convinced but there's little else they can do but get on with their lives and wonder about what really happened.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035906708|title=Diva|author=Daisy Goodwin|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=We tend to think of Maria Callas as Greek, but she was born to Greek parents in Manhattan, New York, in December 1923 and only moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas' to make it more manageable in the States. When she was back in Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the Nazi occupation by Nicky Singer]]a mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret of her preference for her elder sister, Jackie.}}{{Frontpage|author=Christopher Edge|title=Black Hole Cinema Club|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Lucas and his friends are all booked in for a movie marathon at their local cinema, a place that has the nickname of 'The Black Hole'. All big movie fans, they're looking forward to lots of exciting films, and many, many snacks! However, as the movie starts, they very quickly realise that something about this new film format is very different, and they are swept up into an adventure they couldn't even imagine. But as they lurch from one film genre to the next, can they figure out what on earth is going on? Will they ever get back to the cinema, and to their real lives?|isbn=1839942738}}{{Frontpage|author=Rachel Greenlaw|title=Compass and Blade|rating=3.5|genre=Teens|summary=''I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.''

[[image:5starRosevear, a remote and partially forgotten island, survives on luring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks. Mira, like her mother before her, is one of the seven who swim out to survey the ruins – rescuing any survivors and any treasure that lies within. But when the Council Watch lays a trap to end the wrecking, they capture the island's leader and Mira's father. Desperate to save him from death, Mira makes a bargain with a wreck survivor who is as charming as he is secretive and with only coordinates to guide her, she sets off in search of a family secret that lies buried deep in the sea.jpgWith only nine days to unearth what might save her father, as her journey takes her from the watched streets of foreign islands to the heart of the smuggler's territory, Mira must be determined to stop at nothing to save the future of her home and the ones she holds most dear.|linkisbn=Category:0008664730}}{{Frontpage|author=James Sherwood Metts|title=Planet Storyland|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary= Things have been a bit sticky for the Earthlings. AI and automation have been proceeding apace, often replacing jobs they're paid to do and other tasks that took time to accomplish. Just as they were beginning to get used to all this technological change and starting to think of other, new ways to spend time, along came an awful pandemic. Life was pretty much shut down and, along with it, all the many daily social interactions on which they depend so heavily.|isbn=1736128426}}{{Frontpage|author=Matthew Tree|title=We'll Never Know|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Timothy Wyndham wants nothing more than to be different from his father, a drunk and chronic underachiever whose dreams of being exceptional at any of his artistic passions all failed miserably and who had endless crises of self confidence. So Tim applied himself to his studies, cultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and set himself high but achievable ambitions.|isbn= B0CVFXPGP8}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens{{Frontpage|author=A G Slatter|title=The Briar Book of the Dead|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|Teens]]summary='' There's a part of me that wants to keep this just to myself for however long I can. This secret magic of my own, [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]] all mine, at last. I just want to enjoy it for a while.''

Mhairi Anne Bain Within a remote mountain pass, far away from the world, lies Silverton; a town under the protection of the Briar's, a family of witches who protect the town and the wider world from the Darklands. Though she has always wished for magic, Ellie Briar is fourteen years old the first non-witch to be born into her family for generations and as such since she was young, her training as a steward revolved around letters and administration rather than spells and potions. When her grandmother suddenly dies, Ellie's cousin Audra becomes the Briar Witch, the town's leader, and is on Ellie takes her place beside her. As challenges come her way home left, right and centre, Ellie uncovers the rare ability to communicate with the Isle dead, putting her at the heart of a maelstrom of Arranchaos. Reeling from one family secret to another, Ellie must decide who to trust and determine what to do as the Briar witches' legacy, everything they have sacrificed to survive, is under threat. But Mhairi|isbn=1803364548}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529900360|title=The Ghost Orchid|author=Jonathan Kellerman|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=It hadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's world has fault that Alex Delaware had been ravaged by climate change badly injured but he felt responsible and even after Alex recovered, Sturgis was reluctant to ask for his help on difficult cases. His assertions that there were only open-and -shut cases which didn't need the help of a psychologist only worked for a while. Finally, it was Robin, Delaware's partner, who nudged Milo into asking for help again. She knew that the involvement was something that the mass movement man she loved needed. The next case did look simple, though. Two lovers were murdered in the swimming pool of people a remote property in Bel Air. He was the heir to an Italian shoe empire and she is married to an extremely rich man and it 's not the Italian. But which of them was the primary target?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529395224|title=Letting the Cat Out of the Bag: The Secret Life of a Vet|author=Sion Rowlands|rating=3.5|genre=Animals and Wildlife|summary=Siôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentally. His father was a GP and Rowlands didn't want to follow in his footsteps, particularly when he considered the strain that being on-call put on his father's life. When he was seventeen he took the opportunity of doing work experience with a family friend who was a vet and was convinced this was the job for him. Before long, he was at Liverpool University. It hadn't - as with so many students - been his dream since he was a child. If anything, he'd wanted to be a professional footballer.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0861541774|title=A Nye of Pheasants|author=Steve Burrows|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=DCI Domenic Jejeune's close friend and former colleague, Danny Maik, has taken a short holiday in Singapore to meet up with an old ally, Guy Trueman. Maik was involved in a street brawl - he would later maintain that he was facing a man armed with a knife - and he killed a Ghurka. Initially, he faced a charge of manslaughter but evidence came to light that suggested that he might have planned to murder the man. Now he could be facing the death penalty. Domenic Jejeune can do nothing to help as any interference from another police force could provoke a diplomatic incident and wouldn't help Danny at all.}}{{Frontpage|author=Alexander McCall Smith|title=The Perfect Passion Company|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=The Perfect Passion Company is one defined a dating agency in Edinburgh, run by bordersNess and operating as an alternative to all the online apps in providing a more personal, checkpoints tailored service. Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and soldiers look after the business, as Ness is planning to take a trip to Canada to get away for a while. Katie is coming out of a break up with gunsa bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the chance to come home to Edinburgh. Mhairi And so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters who quickly begin to charm. Katie has made it across Africa no experience in running a business, or in match-making, but Ness has full confidence in her abilities, and there's always her very helpful (and onto rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a plane hand…|isbn=1846976596}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0811771741|title=InstaKnits for Baby|author=Melissa Leapman|rating=4|genre=Crafts|summary=Melissa Leapman's ''InstaKnits for Baby'' gives us a collection of knits from toys to Heathrow blankets. Some will be quick knits - which is others are of the 'long, cosy afternoons in front of the fire' variety. The projects are divided by the time they'll take to complete - less than five hours, five to ten hours, ten to twenty hours and more than can be said for Muma twenty hours. All the projects are attractive, modern and useable. I perhaps show my age when I wonder about 'social-media-worthy projects' but that's me being picky.}}{{Frontpage|author=Dean Koontz|title=The Bad Weather Friend|rating=4.5|genre=Paranormal|summary=Benny is having a terrifically bad day. He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and Papahis house gets trashed. She Oh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and it's even made possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the thing that has trashed his house! The thing is, Benny is the very last person to deserve all this bad luck. He is a nice person. A really nice person. So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the delivery to his house is a new friend, a bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person. Spike is going to take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's enemies, if he, Benny, and Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are.|isbn=1662500491}}{{Frontpage|author=Adam Stower|title=Murray and Bun|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers |summary=Murray is supposed to be a humble, tidy and friendly cat, one who is able to sleep and eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of the detention centre at the airporttwo. And during this journey But he's a bad magician's cat, Mhairi so his favourite bun has learned that you been turned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, and the catflap they both use canchuck them out, not into the regular back garden, but into a world of frightening adventure and whiffs. This time round it drops them into a Viking land, where a troll hunter is expected – well, one much bigger than Murray was, to be honest, but he't rely on anyone else s turned up and he'll have to do…|isbn=0008561249}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B0C47LV1PC|title=Fragility|author=Mosby Woods|rating=4|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Can you canmake a ''Yo birthing person''t allow anyone else to rely on joke? And if you could, is the question should you make it? Or is the question if youdid, would it land? The catch is that the answer for both could well be... [[The Survival Game by Nicky Singer|Full Review]]. no.

<!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->''Fragility'' is set as the city of Portland, Oregon, cautiously begins to emerge from the restrictions imposed during the covid pandemic}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529431735|title=The Winter Visitor|author=James Henry|rating=4|genre=Crime|}summary=It's February 1991 and Essex is bitingly cold, which made Bruce Hopkins' return all the more surprising. He'd been exiled on the Costa del Sol as a wanted drug smuggler for a decade. The return has come about because he's had a letter from his ex-wife, saying that she's ill and hasn't long to live. It's hard to feel any sympathy when Hopkins is abducted, stripped to his underwear and sent to a watery grave in the boot of a stolen Ford Sierra. Is it a warning from a Spanish gang or a problem closer to home?