Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"

From TheBookbag
Jump to navigationJump to search
Line 1: Line 1:
<metadesc>Book review site, with books from the many walks of literary life - fiction, biography, crime, cookery and anything else that takes our fancy. There are also lots of author interviews and top tens.</metadesc>
+
<metadesc>Expert, full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, non-fiction, children's books & self-published books plus author interviews & top tens.</metadesc>
Hello from The Bookbag, a book review 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.
 
  
There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' reviews at TheBookbag.
+
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!
  
Want to find out more [[About Us|about us]]?
+
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]]
  
==New Reviews==
+
There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY: Reviews}}''' [[:Category:Reviews|reviews]] at TheBookbag.
'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by genre]].'''
 
  
'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
+
Want to find out more [[About Us|about us]]? __NOTOC__
__NOTOC__
 
  
{{newreview
+
==The Best New Books==
|author=Donna Blinston
 
|title=Make New Year's Resolutions and Keep Them Using NLP
 
|rating=2
 
|genre=Home and Family
 
|summary=It's coming up to that time of year again – you know it's the one where you make resolutions about going on a diet, getting more exercise, stopping smoking or losing weight.  If they last a week into the New Year you're probably doing well – and then you're left with a feeling of failure.  Donna Blinston offers advice on how to make your resolutions and how to keep them – and I needed this advice as much as the next couch potato.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904312845</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
+
'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by category]]. '''<br>
|author=Robert Crowther
 
|title=Cars - A Pop-Up Book Of Automobiles
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=Robert Crowther tells the story of the car, from Cugnot's steam engine, Trevithick's road locomotive and Benz's Motorwagen, right through to the record-breaking Thrust SSC and to future cars, like the biodegradable Eco One. There are plenty of pop-ups and pull tabs to bring it all to life, and it's packed with detail.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406312274</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
+
'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''
|author=Marie-Louise Jensen
 
|title=Daughter of Fire and Ice
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=Welcome to Viking times. The land is ruled by a pitiless and greedy Chieftain, Bjorn Svanson, who always gets what he wants. And what he wants is Thora. She is a healer – very useful when you're going to set out on a voyage, and also very pretty. The Chieftain's destination is the land of fire and ice, also known as Iceland. Impatiently, the Chieftain kidnaps Thora, but what he doesn't know is that Thora has powers. Yes, a historical fantasy where the heroine has powers – didn't see that coming did you? She can read auras and at times, see the future. And what she sees is her new master's murder. Before you know it, he has been stabbed and Thora and a mysterious male slave are free. What is their destination still? The land of fire and ice. Impersonating Bjorn Svanson, the male slave commandeers his ships and they sail away to Iceland, where a precarious future awaits. Will Svanson's men follow them across the oceans for revenge? Can they live with what they have done? Will they ever get a chance to be together?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192728814</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
+
'''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].
|author=Lili St Crow
+
{{Frontpage
|title=Betrayals: A Strange Angels Novel
+
|author=Tom Percival
|rating=4
+
|title=The Wrong Shoes
|genre=Teens
+
|rating=5
|summary=To start, I have to cover the ground of the mythology of this series.  Humans, vampires and werewolves all live in this world, and both species of 'the other' have people halfway turned.  Vampires and werewolves aren't exactly the sort to mix with each other - one liking to spill blood, the others going into feeding frenzies every time they smell it.  In a previous book, our heroine Dru, has realised her best friend can become semi-wolf in a shape-changing way, and she's tending to the vampire side of things.  She's also discovered a very strong threat against her life.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849161283</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=James Fitzsimmons
 
|title=The Hudbrax Hoard (Sabrax Clyke Series)
 
|rating=3
 
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Meet Sabrax ClykeNot allowed to sit around in the hole in the dry-stone wall he and his family call home, and admire the pretty girl who's just moved in next door, he's persuaded by an urgent message from distant relatives to go to their aid regarding some unmentionable, awful predicamentHis journey there and the task itself will involve metal dragons, odd standing stones, earth-shattering movements, and unearthly nasties.
+
|summary=Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of waysHe is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and 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 college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident.  Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in every direction.  And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hopeHe is good at art, and clings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0955644216</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1398527122
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Sylvie Cathrall
|author=Jane Ray
+
|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep
|title=Snow White
+
|rating=5
|rating=3.5
+
|genre=Science Fiction
|genre=For Sharing
+
|summary= There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.
|summary=Jane Ray has taken the classic fairy tale of Snow White, the dwarves and the wicked queen, and created beautiful three-dimensional tableaux. It's a much-loved story that everyone is familiar with, and this is a great opportunity to rediscover a classic in an interesting new way.
+
|isbn= 0356522776
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406311839</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=0008517061
|author=Chris Van Dusen
+
|title=Death in a Lonely Place
|title=The Circus Ship
+
|author=Stig Abell
|rating=3.5
+
|rating=4
|genre=For Sharing
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=When a circus ship sinks off the coast of Maine, the animals escape and make their home in a nearby town. They soon enchant the locals, who in turn decide to protect the animals from the greedy circus-owner. Very loosely based on the sinking of the ''Royal Tar'' in 1836, ''The Circus Ship'' is a fun picture book that animal-lovers will enjoy.
+
|summary= 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 together would mean a lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to move in 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?  For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the future on the back burner.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>076363090X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1786482126
|author=Wayne J Harris
+
|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)
|title=Sins of the Angel
+
|author=Elly Griffiths
|rating=3.5
+
|rating=4.5
|genre=Fantasy
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=Dr Gideon Matthews, a shouty hellfire and damnation preacher, has just delivered a sermon all about the evils of women being allowed into the church hierarchy and, on his way home afterwards, he is murderedThe following day however he wakes up in hospital or, actually, an angel called Gabriel finds himself inside Dr Matthews' body, able to recall Dr Matthews' memories and thoughts and feelings but acting now as himself.  Gabriel goes a little bit wild, finding himself overwhelmed by the new feelings and desires he experiences in this body, sinning left, right and centre and causing scandal at his every moveHe is also wondering for what purpose he has been brought into this body and finds that he is dreaming about a demon, someone who is persuading an unknown monk to commit murders in God's name and who seems to be getting closer and closer to Dr Matthews in order to kill him too...
+
|summary=Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway.  There was no skullWas this a ritual killing or murder?  Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson.  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 agoHer condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1438994699</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=0008551324
|author=Andrew Marr
+
|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)
|title=The Making of Modern Britain: From Queen Victoria to V.E. Day
+
|author=Neil Lancaster
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=History
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=This book, and the BBC TV series which complements it, must confirm Andrew Marr's status as one of the most entertaining and compulsive historian-cum-presenters working todayHis previous project, on postwar Britain, was hard to fault, and anyone who enjoyed that will certainly relish this.
+
|summary=It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police.  Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her deathThis person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants.  And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to get an early parole date.  Not much to ask, is it?  The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230709427</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=0008405026
|author=Children's Trust
+
|title=A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)
|title=The Walrus and the Carpenter and Other Favourite Poems
+
|author=Jane Casey
|rating=3.5
+
|rating=5
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=Celebrities, including [[:Category:Richard Hammond|Richard Hammond]], Paul O'Grady, Sienna Miller, McFly and Lorraine Kelly, have chosen their favourite poems for this anthology. All proceeds from the book go to [http://www.thechildrenstrust.org.uk/ The Children's Trust]. It's a fantastic charity, who help disabled children, and I urge you all to buy a copy of ''The Walrus and the Carpenter'' to support them.
+
|summary=It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night.  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/suicide 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-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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>140632650X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=0571379877
|author=Roger Scruton
+
|title=The Kellerby Code
|title=I Drink Therefore I Am
+
|author=Jonny Sweet
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=Popular Science
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=Roger Scruton is a conservative philosopher and composer, best known for his work on philosophy and music, but who shares Plato's belief that 'nothing more excellent or valuable than wine was ever granted by the gods to man' and in this book seeks to combine his two interests of philosophy and the fruits of the vine.
+
|summary=Edward Jevons is a working-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza.  Robert's a theatre director.  He's also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him.  Edward has been in 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 relationship had begun between them but he's not like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the two of them kissing in a dark passageway.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847065082</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Jo Callaghan
|author=Stephen M Irwin
+
|title=Leave No Trace
|title=The Darkening
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=This book has the 'S' word written all over it.  No, not sex - supernaturalSo, it's got all things a bit spooky, not-quite-right, strange coincidencesThey are sprinkled throughout like rock salt. I must admit that when I read the blurb on the back cover with its supernatural theme, I gave an inward groanNot really my cup of teaBut I'm open-minded and I'll read anything onceI'm glad I didIrwin is AustralianFor some reason I haven't read too many books by Australian authors, so I was keen to get reading.
+
|summary=When 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.  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.  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?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751543969</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=139851120X
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1399613073
 +
|title=Moral Injuries
 +
|author=Christie Watson
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Thrillers
 +
|summary=Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century.  Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon.  Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor.  Anjali is the free spirit of the group and she becomes a GP.  When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedy.  We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequencesTwenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friendsThis time, it's their teenage children who are involved.
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=0241636604
 +
|title=The Trading Game: A Confession
 +
|author=Gary Stevenson
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Autobiography
 +
|summary=If you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary StevensonA hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injusticeThere was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of EconomicsStevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envyHe also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupidIt was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with CitibankEventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1035021803
|author=Tanya Landman
+
|title=The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder
|title=The Head is Dead (Poppy Fields Murder Mystery)
+
|author=C L Miller
|rating=4
+
|rating=3.5
|genre=Confident Readers
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=Meet, once again, Poppy Fields.  When tasked to create a murder mystery experience for a school fete she is only surprised to find the headmistress - a newly employed battleaxe that no-one seems to like - a real-life victim of an assassinAnd there is only a school field full of suspectsCan she and her best friend, brainbox George, solve the day and make the staff room a safer place to be? And where does the invisible sheepdog come in?!
+
|summary=It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew upShe's back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, CaroleFreya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the least.  Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly.  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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406314633</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover
 +
|title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt
 +
|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Science Fiction
 +
|summary=''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.''
  
{{newreview
+
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.
|author=Jonathan Buckley, Mark Ellingham and Tim Jepson
 
|title=The Rough Guide to Tuscany and Umbria
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Travel
 
|summary=There's a general Rough Guide to Italy, but revisiting again this regional guide in the process of writing up our trip to Tuscany two years ago, I was reminded of how good indeed this particular Rough Guide is. I bought it because I wanted to supplement the general Rough Guide to Italy I had with more detailed coverage of the region in which we were going to spend the whole trip - and I was extremely happy with the result.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843530554</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Sunny Singh
|author=Frank Furedi
+
|title=Hotel Arcadia
|title=Wasted: Why Education Isn't Educating
 
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=Politics and Society
+
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=It seems the more problems the school-aged generation pose to society, the more responsibility schools have to take, teaching not simply English and Maths, but Personal Thinking and Learning Skills, Happiness Classes, and Emotional Education. The duty to raise a child well is taken out of the apparently 'incompetent' hands of parents, and given over to the education system, where values can be regulated and controlled.
+
|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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847064167</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=086154742X
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1529153298
|author=Susan Ostler
+
|title=The List of Suspicious Things
|title=Flirt Diva - For Women Who Want to be Bold and Sassy and have a Fabulous Life!
+
|author=Jennie Godfrey
|rating=4
+
|rating=5
|genre=Lifestyle
+
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=There are lots of timetabled books on the market, that promise to transform everything from your employability to the size of your thighs in a certain number of weeks, if you commit to their programme, and this book is really just another one to add to the 'scheduled self-improvement' pile. Except we're not talking here about dropping a dress size in time for Christmas, or sailing through that oh-so-important interview to land the job of your dreams...for this book is a 6 week guide to ''Getting Loved Up'' that promises to put its participants (and as you'll learn, you're more than a mere reader with this title) on the fast track to romance. Gosh.
+
|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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904312799</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1398524085
|author=Michael Morpurgo
+
|title=Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?
|title=The Kites are Flying
+
|author=Nicci French
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=Said lives on the West Bank. He herds his family's sheep, spends a lot of time talking in his head to his absent brother Mahmoud, and he makes a great many kites, which he sends across the wall to the girl in the blue headscarf who lives in the occupiers' settlements. What Said doesn't do, is talk out loud, even to his new friend Mister Max. Max is a Western journalist who wants to make a documentary about how the Palestinian/Israeli conflict affects ordinary people on both sides of the wall. Max is entranced by Said, and his dozens of kites, all bearing the message salaam or peace. He can see that Said has a dream, but he's not sure what it is. Will the dream come true before Max has to leave?
+
|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 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406317985</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1035906708
|author=Tanya Landman
+
|title=Diva
|title=Dying to be Famous (Poppy Fields Murder Mystery)
+
|author=Daisy Goodwin
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
+
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Meet Poppy Fields - an inquisitive young lass, keen on exploring her world - in a slightly different way to her geeky, walking-encyclopaedia of a best friend, Graham.  So keen is she to explore the phenomenon that is the latest seen-everywhere, snapped-at-all-hours celebrity, she makes the pair of them go to audition for bit parts in the Christmas production of The Wizard of Oz the star is starting to rehearseUnfortunately for her, she apparently hasn't noticed she's in the third book in a series of young reader murder mysteries, and deaths more unexpected than having a house land on you might just be on the playbill...
+
|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 StatesWhen she was back in Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the Nazi occupation by a mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret of her preference for her elder sister, Jackie.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406314625</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Christopher Edge
|author=Stuart Brown
+
|title=Black Hole Cinema Club
|title=Mma Ramotswe's Cookbook
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Cookery
+
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=I expect there will be a few people who spot this book on the shelves and wonder who Mma Ramotswe is, but [[:Category:Alexander McCall Smith|Alexander McCall Smith's]] legion of fans certainly won't be amongst themThis cookbook is a nice tie-in to the books, written with a foreword from AMS himself, and full of flavoursome recipes that are spoken of in his series of books about Mma Ramotswe and her Number One Ladies Detective AgencyIllustrated with beautiful photography, lots of quotes from the books, and lots of information about Botswana's rich variety of food it's a wonderful mix of being both a cookery book, a reference book and a companion work to the Mma Ramostwe books.
+
|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 imagineBut 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?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184697139X</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1839942738
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Rachel Greenlaw
|author=Adam Williams
+
|title=Compass and Blade
|title=The Book of the Alchemist
 
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=Teens
|summary= ''The Book of the Alchemist'' is a story within a story. It opens in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War.  Pinzon, a Spanish politician who resigns for moral reasons, is taken hostage by a group of Republican soldiers, along with his young Grandson.  A group of villagers are also taken captive and locked in a cathedral as part of the soldiers' desperate plan to protect themselves from the Fascist forces that are hunting them.  A cavernous mosque built inside the mountain under the cathedral's crypt is discovered, and in it, a book.  As Pinzon reads the book, another story unfolds, set in the eleventh century. This is the story of Samuel the Jew.
+
|summary=''I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340899131</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Robert Kaplow
 
|title=Me and Orson Welles
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=Richard Samuels sees everything in terms of a performance, through the rose-tinted lens of the theatrical celebrities he listens to on the radio. So when he stumbles onto the Broadway stage through a chance encounter with Orson Welles, it seems as if all his dreams may be about to come true. He goes from being the guy that all the girls see as a friend, one of the bookish kids at school, to the glamour of mingling with stars of the stage. We follow Richard's struggle to balance this newly discovered wonderland and his school life, not to mention his disapproving mother.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099540193</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
+
Rosevear, 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. With 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.
|author=Michael Palin
+
|isbn=0008664730
|title=Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|summary=''Never meet your heroes,'' goes the old adage. ''Never read their diaries'' might be equally sage advice. That's probably why I didn't tackle Michael Palin's collected daily journals until now. Along with the rest of the Monty Python team, he was without doubt a hero of my teenage years.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>075382177X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=James Sherwood Metts
|author=Robert Crumb
+
|title=Planet Storyland
|title=Robert Crumb's Book of Genesis: All 50 Chapters
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Graphic Novels
+
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=In the beginning was the picture. Just think of all the countless religious images, both inside and outside religious establishments, designed to convey the message to those who could not read. Art and religion have always been linked, which is probably one of the main reasons I stayed an atheist - I hated art at school, and drawing a man on a donkey, something way beyond my skills, was not a task I appreciated, hence my dislike of both subjects.
+
|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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224078097</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1736128426
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Matthew Tree
|author=Keith Laidler
+
|title=We'll Never Know
|title=Animals
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Popular Science
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=''Animals'' is described as a visual guide to the animal kingdom, but please don't think of it as a picture book as it's far more than that.  Don't think of it as a coffee table book either – despite the fact that its size – midway between A2 and A3 – might tempt you to think that way.  It's a journey through the complex diversity of the animal kingdom based on sound scientific principles.
+
|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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184916004X</amazonuk>
+
|isbn= B0CVFXPGP8
 
}}
 
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=A G Slatter
 +
|title=The Briar Book of the Dead
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Fantasy
 +
|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, all mine, at last. I just want to enjoy it for a while.''
  
{{newreview
+
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 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 Ellie takes her place beside her. As challenges come her way left, right and centre, Ellie uncovers the rare ability to communicate with the dead, putting her at the heart of a maelstrom of chaos. 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.
|author=Michael Rosen
+
|isbn=1803364548
|title=A To Z - The Best Children's Poetry From Agard To Zephaniah
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
 
|summary=Michael Rosen has picked the best modern children's poetry, from John Agard through to Benjamin Zephaniah. It stemmed from Rosen performing in schools and libraries with many of the poets, and as children's poetry anthologies go, it's amongst the very best.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141324503</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1529900360
|author=John Van der Kiste
+
|title=The Ghost Orchid
|title=The Man on the Moor
+
|author=Jonathan Kellerman
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=In the summer of 1913 relations with Germany were deteriorating steadily, but there didn't seem to be any connection with the international situation when a London clerk, George Stephens, was found dead in a country lane on the edge of Dartmoor. The moor had been his passion and he'd always been keen to escape London and return to Devon.  It was an odd death but in all probability it would have been put down as an accident if George's mother had not announced that George was the son of the KaiserDespite her fondness for gin the story she told was oddly compelling and when it was linked up with the fact that two German officers had been staying at a nearby farm George's death seemed less and less like an accident.
+
|summary=It hadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's fault that Alex Delaware had been 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 man she loved needed.  The next case did look simple, though.  Two lovers were murdered in the swimming pool of 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 ItalianBut which of them was the primary target?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904744230</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1529395224
|author=Ursula K Le Guin
+
|title=Letting the Cat Out of the Bag: The Secret Life of a Vet
|title=The Left Hand of Darkness
+
|author=Sion Rowlands
|rating=5
+
|rating=3.5
|genre=Science Fiction
+
|genre=Animals and Wildlife
|summary=It's hard to believe that ''The Left Hand of Darkness'' dates back to 1969: forty years on, it reads as well, or even better, then when it was originally written, and - deservedly - enjoys a classic status in the science-fiction canon, as well as being perhaps the best known sci-fi novel by Ursula LeGuin.
+
|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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841496065</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=0861541774
|author=Michael Lewis
+
|title=A Nye of Pheasants
|title=The Blind Side
+
|author=Steve Burrows
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Sport
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=I think my husband was a little taken aback to see me curled up on the sofa engrossed in a book about American Football.  I suppose I should admit that I didn't actually know it was going to be about American FootballWell, I knew it was about a boy who ''played'' American Football, but I'd thought that was just going to be the background story, you know, like in ''Jerry Maguire''So the first chapter seemed to go on and on forever, and I thought my head might pop from reading about quarterbacks and blind sides and plays and offence and defence and running statistics...but then somehow I stumbled to the real heart of the story; the story of Michael Oher, a young African-American from the slums of Memphis whose father was never around, and whose mother was a drug addict and lost him to social services at a young age.
+
|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 GhurkaInitially, he faced a charge of manslaughter but evidence came to light that suggested that he might have planned to murder the manNow 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>039333838X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Alexander McCall Smith
|author=Philippa Pearce and Helen Craig
+
|title=The Perfect Passion Company
|title=A Finder's Magic
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
+
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Till (that's short for Tillawn) has lost his dog Bess and he has no idea how he's going to find her until a mysterious stranger appearsMr Finder interviews various witnesses, including a cat, a mole, a heron and Miss MouseyIt's not what Miss Mousey says that gives Mr Finder the vital clue as to what has happened to Bess, but the sketch she made of the riverbank at the time that Bess went missingThere's a lot of magic in the quest to find Bess, but it's all very confusing for Till and at one point he even doubts the motives of Mr Finder.
+
|summary=The Perfect Passion Company is a dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Ness and operating as an alternative to all the online apps in providing a more personal, tailored service.  Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the business, as Ness is planning to take a trip to Canada to get away for a whileKatie is coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the chance to come home to EdinburghAnd 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 charmKatie has 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 rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406319821</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1846976596
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=0811771741
|author=Rachel Isadora and Clement Clarke Moore
+
|title=InstaKnits for Baby
|title=The Night Before Christmas
+
|author=Melissa Leapman
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=For Sharing
+
|genre=Crafts
|summary=Everyone knows and loves Clement Clarke Moore's poem ''A Visit From St Nicholas''. Even if you don't go the whole hog, gathering the family round by the log fire, and reading it together, its opening line of '''Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...'' fills you with a warm glow. You can practically smell the mulled wine and hear the snores of Auntie Gertrude during the Queen's Speech. It's an absolute classic.
+
|summary=Melissa Leapman's ''InstaKnits for Baby'' gives us a collection of knits from toys to blankets. Some will be quick knits - 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 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0399254080</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Dean Koontz
|author=Jack Ludlow
+
|title=The Bad Weather Friend
|title=Warriors
+
|rating=4.5
|rating=3.5
+
|genre=Paranormal
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|summary=Benny is having a terrifically bad day.  He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and his house gets trashed.  Oh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and it's 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 personSo 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 personSpike 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.
|summary=Arduin of Fassano is paid by Michael Doukeianos, a young Byzantine general, to keep the peace in Apulia. Arduin is a Lombard, however, and secretly plans to revolt and take Apulia for himself, hiring a group of Norman mercenaries to help him do the jobThese Normans are William de Hauteville and his brothers, famed warriors with their own conflicts and a desire to gain titles and wealth for their sonsEven if Arduin and the Normans could take Apulia, there are no guarantees that they could hold it in a land full of treachery and bribes.
+
|isbn=1662500491
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749007559</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Adam Stower
|author=Jo Berry
+
|title=Murray and Bun
|title=The Ultimate DVD Easter Egg Guide: How to Access the Hidden Extras on Your DVD
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Entertainment
+
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Consider the Easter Egg - at least in the way DVD collectors mean.  Sometimes a pointless hidden add-on, that is there for no reason.  Sometimes they can be a priceless bonus, seemingly gifted by the disc producers to those in the know, costing - at least in the case of some animated instances - many thousands of poundsSome oik on set with a camcorder, they are not.  I've been guilty several times of clicking away in directions the menus don't seem to encourage on the off-chance I find something (or, on a PC, just sweeping the PC mouse over any and every title card in case it highlights something previously invisible)Forcing several titles and chapters by going straight to them in case they're something secret is not a hobby I like to admit to.
+
|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 twoBut he's a bad magician's cat, so his favourite bun has been turned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, and the catflap they both use can chuck them out, not into the regular back garden, but into a world of frightening adventure and whiffsThis 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's turned up and he'll have to do…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0752875205</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0008561249
 
}}
 
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=B0C47LV1PC
 +
|title=Fragility
 +
|author=Mosby Woods
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Literary Fiction
 +
|summary= Can you make a ''Yo birthing person'' joke? And if you could, is the question should you make it? Or is the question if you did, would it land? The catch is that the answer for both could well be.... no.
  
{{newreview
+
''Fragility'' is set as the city of Portland, Oregon, cautiously begins to emerge from the restrictions imposed during the covid pandemic
|author=Frances Day
 
|title=Dead Cat With Firelighter
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=We're in the world of modern art.  A couple who met at art college are on the verge of breaking up, as her success at fine arts is only bettered by his sudden rise to fame in the world of his conceptual, pompous bits of (almost literally) rubbish and nothing.  We're also in the world of the wannabe stars and starlets, trying to make the jump from well-thought of provincial comedy theatre to Hollywood.  And in the background in both instances, are guru-type Svengalis, pulling strings, and aiming to do as much as is morally justifiable - and a lot more - to get their charges to fame.  And a bit of contract killing and murder on the side.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0954337751</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1529431735
|author=Frances Fyfield
+
|title=The Winter Visitor
|title=Cold to the Touch
+
|author=James Henry
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Crime
 
|genre=Crime
|summary=There's something obsessive about Jessica Hurly.  When Sarah Fortune encounters her on a cold, dark London morning, she's distraught because the man who fills all her thoughts has rejected her and it seems that her mother wants nothing to do with herJess is a talented chef but she's short of work – the occasion when she emptied a tureen of soup over the host at a dinner party did not enhance her reputation even if all the other guests were secretly delightedSarah senses her vulnerability, but it's Jess who organises the let of one of her mother's cottages in the sea-side town where she grew up so that Sarah can have a long break from the flat where she still smells a recent fire.
+
|summary=It's February 1991 and Essex is bitingly cold, which made Bruce Hopkins' return all the more surprisingHe'd been exiled on the Costa del Sol as a wanted drug smuggler for a decadeThe 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?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847441092</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Shirley Williams
 
|title=Climbing the Bookshelves: The Autobiography of Shirley Williams
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|summary=Who could resist a title like that?  And is this some lesser-known Shirley Williams, recalling a life spent in libraries?  The answer to the latter is no.
 
 
 
Shirley Catlin, as she was born, tells us in the early pages of this memoir that during her childhood her father encouraged her to climb the bookshelves in their Chelsea house, right up to the ceiling.  It was a secret between the two of them, as her mother, Testament of Youth Author Vera Brittain, would have immediately anticipated cracked skulls and broken arms.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1844084760</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Vyvyen Brendon
 
|title=Prep School Children: A Class Apart Over Two Centuries
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Home and Family
 
|summary=''Prep School Children'' is Vyvyen Brendon's second collection (''Children of the Raj'' was the first). It explores the pupil experience, using primary sources like weekly letters home, memoirs and interviews, and less immediate material such as fiction, school magazines and headmasters' biographies. I came to the book with some questions: what was it like to be a boarder at a prep school? What difference did a prep school education make to life as an adult? Why parents might send their children to such schools when the horrors were well-known, many of the dads presumably having survived the experience themselves.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847062873</amazonuk>
 
}}
 

Revision as of 07:59, 8 May 2024

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 Facebook Facebook, Follow us on Twitter Twitter, Follow us on Instagram Instagram and LinkedIn

There are currently 16,119 reviews at TheBookbag.

Want to find out more about us?

The Best New Books

Read new reviews by category.

Read the latest features.

Read reviews of books about to be published.

1398527122.jpg

Review of

The Wrong Shoes by Tom Percival

5star.jpg Confident Readers

Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and 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 college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident. Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. He is good at art, and clings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. Full Review

0356522776.jpg

Review of

A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall

5star.jpg Science Fiction

There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them. Full Review

0008517061.jpg

Review of

Death in a Lonely Place by Stig Abell

4star.jpg Crime

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 together would mean a lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to move in 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? For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the future on the back burner. Full Review

1786482126.jpg

Review of

The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths

4.5star.jpg Crime

Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway. There was no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. 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. Full Review

0008551324.jpg

Review of

The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie) by Neil Lancaster

4.5star.jpg Crime

It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. This person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants. And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to get an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening. Full Review

0008405026.jpg

Review of

A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11) by Jane Casey

5star.jpg Crime

It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. 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/suicide 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-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. Full Review

0571379877.jpg

Review of

The Kellerby Code by Jonny Sweet

3.5star.jpg Crime

Edward Jevons is a working-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza. Robert's a theatre director. He's also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him. Edward has been in 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 relationship had begun between them but he's not like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the two of them kissing in a dark passageway. Full Review

139851120X.jpg

Review of

Leave No Trace by Jo Callaghan

4star.jpg Crime

When 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. 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. 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? Full Review

1399613073.jpg

Review of

Moral Injuries by Christie Watson

4.5star.jpg Thrillers

Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty-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. Full Review

0241636604.jpg

Review of

The Trading Game: A Confession by Gary Stevenson

4.5star.jpg Autobiography

If 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-stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the 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 to be stupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader. Full Review

1035021803.jpg

Review of

The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder by C L Miller

3.5star.jpg Crime

It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up. She's back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole. Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the least. Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly. 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. Full Review

AllTomorrowsFutureCover.jpg

Review of

All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt by Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)

5star.jpg Science Fiction

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. Full Review

086154742X.jpg

Review of

Hotel Arcadia by Sunny Singh

3.5star.jpg Thrillers

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. Full Review

1529153298.jpg

Review of

The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey

5star.jpg General Fiction

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. Full Review

1398524085.jpg

Review of

Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? by Nicci French

5star.jpg Crime

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 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. Full Review

1035906708.jpg

Review of

Diva by Daisy Goodwin

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

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 a mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret of her preference for her elder sister, Jackie. Full Review

1839942738.jpg

Review of

Black Hole Cinema Club by Christopher Edge

4star.jpg Confident Readers

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? Full Review

0008664730.jpg

Review of

Compass and Blade by Rachel Greenlaw

3.5star.jpg Teens

I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.

Rosevear, 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. With 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. Full Review

1736128426.jpg

Review of

Planet Storyland by James Sherwood Metts

4.5star.jpg Confident Readers

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. Full Review

B0CVFXPGP8.jpg

Review of

We'll Never Know by Matthew Tree

4.5star.jpg Literary Fiction

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. Full Review

1803364548.jpg

Review of

The Briar Book of the Dead by A G Slatter

5star.jpg Fantasy

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, all mine, at last. I just want to enjoy it for a while.

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 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 Ellie takes her place beside her. As challenges come her way left, right and centre, Ellie uncovers the rare ability to communicate with the dead, putting her at the heart of a maelstrom of chaos. 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. Full Review

1529900360.jpg

Review of

The Ghost Orchid by Jonathan Kellerman

4star.jpg Crime

It hadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's fault that Alex Delaware had been 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 man she loved needed. The next case did look simple, though. Two lovers were murdered in the swimming pool of 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? Full Review

1529395224.jpg

Review of

Letting the Cat Out of the Bag: The Secret Life of a Vet by Sion Rowlands

3.5star.jpg Animals and Wildlife

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. Full Review

0861541774.jpg

Review of

A Nye of Pheasants by Steve Burrows

4star.jpg Crime

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. Full Review

1846976596.jpg

Review of

The Perfect Passion Company by Alexander McCall Smith

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

The Perfect Passion Company is a dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Ness and operating as an alternative to all the online apps in providing a more personal, tailored service. Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and 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 a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the chance to come home to Edinburgh. 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 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 rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand… Full Review

0811771741.jpg

Review of

InstaKnits for Baby by Melissa Leapman

4star.jpg Crafts

Melissa Leapman's InstaKnits for Baby gives us a collection of knits from toys to blankets. Some will be quick knits - 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 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. Full Review

1662500491.jpg

Review of

The Bad Weather Friend by Dean Koontz

4.5star.jpg Paranormal

Benny is having a terrifically bad day. He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and his house gets trashed. Oh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and it's 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. Full Review

0008561249.jpg

Review of

Murray and Bun by Adam Stower

4.5star.jpg Confident Readers

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 two. But he's a bad magician's cat, so his favourite bun has been turned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, and the catflap they both use can chuck 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's turned up and he'll have to do… Full Review

B0C47LV1PC.jpg

Review of

Fragility by Mosby Woods

4star.jpg Literary Fiction

Can you make a Yo birthing person joke? And if you could, is the question should you make it? Or is the question if you did, would it land? The catch is that the answer for both could well be.... no.

Fragility is set as the city of Portland, Oregon, cautiously begins to emerge from the restrictions imposed during the covid pandemic Full Review

{{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?