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<metadesc>Book review siteExpert, with books full book reviews from the many most 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>Hello from The Bookbag, a book review site, featuring books from all the many walks of literary life non- [[: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. Itchildren'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, & self-published 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|plus 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.</metadesc>
'''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Roddy DoyleTom Percival|title=The Dead RepublicWrong Shoes
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Boobela Will's life is difficult, in a girl who multitude of ways. He is just like any other little girlbullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', except he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the fact that she isnmost basic of things like food, and his dad can't little work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash- shein-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 gianttiny amount of hope. Worm He is her best friend (good at art, and clings to the moments of joy when he actually is drawing, that feel like a worm) and he rides around in light at the end of a box she straps to her shoulder. This outing sees them visiting some underground caves and learning to surflong, amongst other adventuresdark tunnel.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1842556819</amazonuk>1398527122
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Heather GudenkaufSylvie Cathrall|title=The Weight of SilenceA Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=4.5|genre=General Science Fiction|summary=On There are few greater joys than a hot August morning in the small town of Willow Creek, Iowa, Calli Clark and Petra Gregory are reported missing. They are both seven years old, live in the same street, and are the very best of friends. Calli has suffered from selective mutism from the age of four when she witnessed book which lives up to a traumatic event in her homecompelling premise. As a result Petra has become Calli’s voice, speaking for her and And this is even able to tell others what Calli is thinkingone of them.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0778303691</amazonuk>0356522776
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=William Nicholson0008517061|title=Rich and MadDeath in a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell
|rating=4
|genre=TeensCrime|summary=When Maddy Fisher goes for somethingFormer Metropolitan Police detective, she goes all out. She has decided to fall in loveJake Johnson, but not just any kind of love – it has to be settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the can't-eat-can't-sleepfuture of his life with his vet girlfriend, crazy kind. But then once you get to know MaddyLivia and her daughter Diana, you'd expect nothing less, for this is as moving in together would mean a girl who lives lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to move in with a camel and thinks nothing of choosing Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her parents' shop over her own well equipped room when reservations about whether or not this is the future she wants to find a bed to curl up for herself and her daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in for a thinkthe present and putting the future on the back burner.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405247398</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Angela Thirlwell1786482126|title=Into The Frame: The Four Loves of Ford Madox Brown Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths
|rating=4.5
|genre=BiographyCrime|summary=Ford Madox Brown, born Builders were demolishing an old house in 1821 in Calais Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a Scottish family, raised in France and Belgium before settling in England, child beneath a doorway. There was one of the foremost Victorian artistsno skull. Throughout his career he was closely associated Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with the Pre-RaphaelitesDCI Harry Nelson. It's difficult as Ruth knows, and shared many of their same idealsbut Nelson doesn't, style and subject matter, though he never officially became that she is pregnant with his child as a member result of the groupone 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701179023</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Chris Skidmore0008551324|title=Death and the Virgin: Elizabeth, Dudley and the Mysterious Fate of Amy Robsart The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster
|rating=4.5
|genre=BiographyCrime|summary=When Elizabeth I ascended It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the throne other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in November 1558, everyoneprison and he's dominant concern was prepared to tell the police where the matter body of a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her taking an appropriate husband death. This person, he promises, is someone big and securing it will be worth the successionpolice doing what he wants. The man most likely And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to become her husband was Robert Dudley, whom she made her Master serve the remainder of the Horse his sentence and entrusted with considerable responsibility for her coronation festivitiesto get an early parole date. The fact that he was already married Not much to Amy Robsart did little to quell the speculationask, especially since is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she was believed 's even prepared to be dying of breast cancerdo 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>0297846507</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ann Kelley0008405026|title=Koh TabuA Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey
|rating=5
|genre=TeensCrime|summary=Bonnie MacDonald is thrilled to be going 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 beautiful tropical island with the rest of the Amelia Earhart Cadetshalt. Now, her mother, especially as the only adult present will be the incredibly glamorous Layla CampbellHelena, nicknamed the Duchessand her father are dead in their bed. Initially, who treats them all it looks like adults. But the dream holiday becomes a nightmare - after landing on the wrong island despite dire warnings from the boatman who took them straightforward murder/suicide but there, a storm kills him and one of Bonnie's friends something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and wrecks the boat, leaving them trapped with no-one knowing where they areher boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. With the Duchess shining rather less brightly What looked as she’s revealed though it was going to be practically useless an open-and-shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in the face of danger, itRosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's left to Bonnie and her friend Jas to try and keep the remaining girls alive and find a way to be rescuedboss, Una Burt) are less convinced.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192756044</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sally Gardner0571379877|title=The Red NecklaceKellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating=43.5|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=Paris's streets are already humming with talk of revolution, when the young gypsy Yann Margoza Edward Jevons is summoned to perform his magic at the chateau of a selfishworking-class young man, debtobsessed with his upper-ridden marquiseclass friends, Robert and Stanza. Robert's a theatre director. He is 's also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to tell the assembled aristocracy run errands for him. Edward has been in love with Stanza since their futureuniversity days - and he's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. But what he hoped Most men in Robert's position would be the ticket to a better life turns into stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a nightmare when relationship had begun between them but he has a vision 's not like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the two of the richly-dressed crowd drowning them kissing in a sea of blooddark passageway.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1842556347</amazonuk>
}}
|rating=4
|genre=General FictionCrime|summary=The central character with When a man is found crucified on the unforgettable name top of Pix is one of those 'apple pie' moms. The family is her life. Every summera hill in Nuneaton, most members de-camp DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the coastcase alongside her sidekick, to get away from it all, recharge the batteriesAI detective Lock. But this particular yearIt's their first live case together, Pix notes, is going to be a ''summer of womenhaving previously been very successful with several cold cases.'' Pix But when there is a middle-agedsecond body found crucified a few days later, middle-Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of-the-road, ordinary person ... until she makes some gruesome discoveries.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709090390</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Kaye Umansky|title=Clover Twig and the Perilous Path|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=There's non-stop fun and action in this storyunwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. Granny Dismal comes Will they be able to warn Mrs Eckles that solve the Perilous Path has been spotted case in the foresttime, and this kicks or will Kat find herself taken off a funny story involving witches (both good the case and bad), trolls, missing little boys, clowns, imps and magic sweeties. It's the sequel to Clover Twig and the Incredible Flying Cottagepotentially, but I don't think I lost out too much for not having read that first. Everyone is generally so well described, and previous story arcs are quickly filled in if required. This is the sort of book I would have stayed up late reading under the covers with a torch when I was a little girl myself, and is now the sort of book I would steal from my daughter's room late at night so I can keep reading it without waiting for a chapter a night!career?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1408801876</amazonuk>139851120X
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=R A Scotti1399613073|title=The Lost Mona LisaMoral Injuries|author=Christie Watson
|rating=4.5
|genre=HistoryThrillers|summary=One Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of the few things I remember from those writers' courses and advice books – medical school and I can hear from here you wished I remembered more of their friendship would keep them – was the merit in being aware inseparable for a quarter of anniversariesa century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, especially in your area of expertise, and having the ability which is a bonus when you aim to sell articles concerning historical events linked into centenaries, modern comparisons, be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and so ona trauma doctor. Well, here Anjali is the book equivalent, 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 although it's early – 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 looking back on the summer of 1911 – this stands as quality enough to deny any latecomers shelf roomtheir teenage children who are involved.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0553818309</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Greg Grandin0241636604|title=FordlandiaThe Trading Game: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle CityA Confession|author=Gary Stevenson
|rating=4.5
|genre=HistoryAutobiography|summary=In 1927, the Ford Motor company bought If you were to bring up an image of a huge tract of land city banker in Brazilyour mind, for the purpose you're unlikely to think of the company growing its own rubber for use in making its carssomeone like Gary Stevenson. They planted rubber trees A hoodie and built a factory jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and houseshis 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 number facility with numbers which most of top managers from the company were posted to Fordlandia us can only envy. He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to run the operationbe stupid. Huge amounts of money were pumped into Fordlandia It was his ability at what was, essentially, and Ford made great claims for their plansa card game which got him an internship with Citibank. However Eventually, the project was this turned into permanent employment as a spectacular failure, and it lasted less than twenty yearstrader.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848311478</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Aifric Campbell1035021803|title=The Loss Adjustor|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Caro's job is to 'adjust' people's losses. Working for a large insurance company, she deals day to day with people grieving for their lost or stolen belongings. Digital cameras with priceless honeymoon photos, laptops with work files and engagement rings. It's Caro's responsibility to assess the case and decide on whether to financially reimburse or not. But Caro knows well that sometimes itAntique Hunter's not about the money. Her job requires emotional sensitivity and the sort of manner that invites people to open up Guide to you. Her years of experience have made her an expert in dealing with everyone else's loss. But not her own.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846687306</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewMurder|author=Kresley Cole|title=Pleasure of a Dark PrinceC L Miller
|rating=3.5
|genre=FantasyCrime|summary=Sexy half dressed hunk on cover? CheckIt's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up. Enticing title? CheckShe's back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole. Sometimes thereFreya's former mentor and Carole's nothing nicer than curling up with a glass of wine (or two!)close friend, Arthur Crockleford, some cheese is dead and crackers and lovely hunky 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 – even if he is or pursue the profession she loved. After the main character split, she worked in a book! I've never read Kresley Cole before but I cafe, met and married James (on the rebound from the love fantasyof her life, especially with a romantic element who was murdered) and Freya and so I was looking forward to trying a new authorJames have now divorced.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849830363</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.''
}}
|rating=3.5
|genre=For SharingThrillers |summary=A little girl The Hotel Arcadia is going for a walk with her mummy and her dogluxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. They hear Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a horse saying clippity-clop wartime photographer and a frog saying frippity-fropAbhi, the hotel manager. They enjoy all As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the sights hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and sounds keeps on venturing out of the beautiful summerher room to try to capture what's dayhappened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, until it starts their friendship grows as Abhi tries to rain, drippity-drop, drippity-drop..help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1896580610</amazonuk>086154742X
}}
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Son Cardonsky It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is the type of guy 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 would make even the biggest of cowards want her father wants to take on move the playground bully on their behalffamily 'Down South'. WhichWhen you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a frightening, foreign place, funnily enoughbest avoided. For Miv, is how Bernie Gould acquires Son Cardonsky as his 'the move would mean leaving her best-friend-forever'; at least, that isSharon, Son considers Bernie and she'll do anything to be his best friend in prevent that. She's not worried about the world, even if Bernie candangers or that her Mum't quite see it the same ways stopped talking - to anyone.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709089945</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=David Lucas1398524085|title=Something To DoHas Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Nicci French|rating=45|genre=For SharingCrime|summary=The little bear is boooored. HeCharlotte Salter was expected at her husband's desperate for something to dofiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Her children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but he lives in a monochrome line world- strangely - her husband, Alec, with nothing around except the horizonis not. Shortly afterwards, Etty and a couple Greg, find the body of simple seagullsGreg's father, Duncan Ackerley, in the river. He and It was an easy assumption for the big bear go on an adventure police to amuse and entertain themselves, make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and then create new surroundings by drawing them 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 a sticktheir lives and wonder about what really happened.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1862337268</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=David Abbott1035906708|title=The Upright Piano PlayerDiva|author=Daisy Goodwin|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=The central characterWe tend to think of Maria Callas as Greek, one Mr Henry Cage (he'd approve of the courteous form of address) is whitebut she was born to Greek parents in Manhattan, New York, middle-aged in December 1923 and middle-classonly moved to Athens when she was thirteen. He appears Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas' to have a perfect, enviable lifemake it more manageable in the States. Reaping the substantial rewards of a successful business, he's acquired along When she was back in Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the way a lovely London home, Nazi occupation by a wife mother who mercilessly exploited her and a family. All boxes tickedmade no secret of her preference for her elder sister, you'd thinkJackie.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906694842</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Amy HusbandChristopher Edge|title=Dear MissBlack Hole Cinema Club
|rating=4
|genre=For SharingConfident Readers|summary=ItLucas and his friends are all booked in for a movie marathon at their local cinema, a place that has the nickname of 's MichaelThe Black Hole'. All big movie fans, they's first day back at school 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 he really doesnthey are swept up into an adventure they couldn't fancy sitting through maths and double geographyeven imagine. He writes a letter But as they lurch from one film genre to his teacherthe next, explaining that can they figure out what on earth is going on? Will they ever get back to the secret service have recruited him cinema, and to rescue a missing explorer. Letter after letter of his adventures follow, until Miss counters with a letter of her own...their real lives?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1845393732</amazonuk>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.''
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Trisha AshleyJames Sherwood Metts|title=Chocolate WishesPlanet Storyland
|rating=4.5
|genre=Women's FictionConfident Readers|summary=I know one should never judge Things have been a book by its coverbit sticky for the Earthlings. AI and automation have been proceeding apace, but somehow I always often replacing jobs they're paid to doand other tasks that took time to accomplish. So I was expecting some light-hearted chick-lit when I began Just as they were beginning to get used to all this book. I was a little startled technological change and starting to find several mentions think of tarot cardsother, Mayan charmsnew ways to spend time, along came an awful pandemic. Life was pretty much shut down and guardian angels - a somewhat bizarre spiritual mixture - within , along with it, all the first pagesmany daily social interactions on which they depend so heavily. What, I wondered, had I got myself into?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847561144</amazonuk>1736128426
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=R J AndersonMatthew Tree|title=Rebel (Knife)We'll Never Know
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident ReadersLiterary Fiction|summary=Fifteen years after the events of KnifeTimothy Wyndham wants nothing more than to be different from his father, the Queen a drunk and chronic underachiever whose dreams of the Oakenwyld is dying being exceptional at any of old age. She charges Knife's daughter, Linden, with the task his artistic passions all failed miserably and who had endless crises of finding other faeries out in the worldself confidence. Knife is now living in the human world with her husband PaulSo Tim applied himself to his studies, cultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and her mission to protect the Oak is put in jeopardy by the arrival of Paul's teenage cousin, Timothyset himself high but achievable ambitions.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1408307375</amazonuk>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.''
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.|isbn=1803364548}}{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Justin Richards1529900360|title=The Chamber of ShadowsGhost Orchid|author=Jonathan Kellerman
|rating=4
|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=Ithadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's Londonfault that Alex Delaware had been badly injured but he felt responsible and even after Alex recovered, 1886Sturgis was reluctant to ask for his help on difficult cases. A company building those new underground train tunnels finds a hidden vault at impossible depth His assertions that there were only open- and seems to release into -shut cases which didn't need the world The Lord help of Fliesa psychologist only worked for a while. A mysterious masked stage magician does the obviously impossibleFinally, it was Robin, Delaware's partner, who nudged Milo into asking for help again. A robotic killer stalks She knew that the streets, and a street gang of ruffians-on-involvement was something that the-up decides to solve the mysteryman she loved needed. A man in charge of Fortean artefacts at the British Museum has a new employerThe next case did look simple, asking something much more evil from himthough. Surely all Two lovers were murdered in the swimming pool of that cannot be connected a remote property in some way? Bel Air. Surely one book can not have all those dark He was the heir to an Italian shoe empire and mysterious elements we can probably all recognise, she is married to an extremely rich man and put it's not the Italian. But which of them into one period thriller without coming over as a horrendous porridge of parodywas the primary target?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571237991</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Margaret Leroy1529395224|title=Letting the Cat Out of the Bag: The Perfect MotherSecret Life of a Vet|author=Sion Rowlands
|rating=3.5
|genre=Women's FictionAnimals and Wildlife|summary=Perfection pervades every corner of CatrionaSiôn 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 She has . When he was seventeen he took the opportunity of doing work experience with a beautiful home, family friend who was a charming husband, a well-behaved stepdaughter, vet and a cherished daughter of her own, 8-year-old Daisywas convinced this was the job for him. When Daisy is taken illBefore long, Catriona does all a good mother would do to help her get betterhe was at Liverpool University. But It hadn't - as Daisy's condition deteriorates with no sign of improvement, Catriona seeks more and more medical interventionso many students - been his dream since he was a child. If anything, until eventually she is accused of being responsible for her daughterhe's illnessd wanted to be a professional footballer.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0778303527</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Andrew Porter0861541774|title=The Theory A Nye of Light and MatterPheasants|author=Steve Burrows
|rating=4
|genre=Short StoriesCrime|summary=Both the book cover DCI Domenic Jejeune's close friend and its title are enticingformer colleague, quirkyDanny Maik, eye-catching. Personally, I'm has taken a fan of most things American including American fictionshort holiday in Singapore to meet up with an old ally, so I couldn't wait to start readingGuy Trueman. I Maik was not disappointed. Porter introduces us to characters, many of whom involved in a street brawl - he would probably be described as deeply flawedlater maintain that he was facing a man armed with a knife - and he killed a Ghurka. He shares the darker side Initially, he faced a charge of modern-day American life with the reader - which is far from manslaughter but evidence came to light that suggested that he might have planned to murder the bright lights of glitzy New York or the sun-drenched beaches of Californiaman. You Now he could say that this is all about real lifebe facing the death penalty. To underline his point, Porter's characters are mostly local folks (Domenic Jejeune can do nothing to use help as any interference from another police force could provoke a favourite American word) shuffling through life as best they candiplomatic incident and wouldn't help Danny at all.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>022408982X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Robin WassermanAlexander McCall Smith|title=CrashedThe Perfect Passion Company
|rating=4.5
|genre=TeensGeneral Fiction|summary=Lia lives 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 future where minds can be saved even if bodies can'tmore personal, tailored service. After a fatal car crash, Ness has asked her brain has been scannedyounger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the business, mapped, saved, and transferred into as Ness is planning to take a machine designed trip to Canada to look and feel humanget away for a while. She'll live forever. We last saw her Katie is coming out of a break up with her new mech "life" in tatters after Auden's terrible accident a bad boyfriend, and her family's rejectionso jumps at the chance to come home to Edinburgh. She can't see a future for herself amongst the orgs any more and And so she rejoins Jude begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and his group of adrenaline junkie mechs at Quinn's mansionthe Isabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters who quickly begin to charm. It's Katie has no experience in running a life of extreme thrillbusiness, or in match-seekingmaking, backed up by Quinnbut Ness has full confidence in her abilities, and there's unlimited credit always her very helpful (and Jude's shady contact at Bio Maxrather handsome) neighbour, who supplies them with dangerous and untestedWilliam, but exciting and cutting edge mods and updates. to lend a hand…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847387659</amazonuk>1846976596
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=David Yelland0811771741|title=The Truth About LeoInstaKnits for Baby|author=Melissa Leapman
|rating=4
|genre=TeensCrafts|summary=Leo lives inside his own head Melissa Leapman's ''InstaKnits for much of the time. You canBaby't really blame him. He's always tired for gives us a startcollection of knits from toys to blankets. That Some will be quick knits - others are of the 's because he's often up earlylong, tidying up cosy afternoons in front of the house after one of his fatherfire's rampagesvariety. His father drinks too much The projects are divided by the time they'll take to complete - less than five hours, you seefive to ten hours, ten to twenty hours and sometimes he smashes up the housemore than twenty hours. Leo can't risk this being discovered because his father's All the only person he's got since his mother died of cancer. He misses her like crazyprojects are attractive, modern and heuseable. I perhaps show my age when I wonder about 's afraid hesocial-media-worthy projects'll be taken into care if anyone finds out about his dadbut that's drinkingme being picky. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141330031</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Dominique LapierreDean Koontz|title=A Rainbow in the Night The Bad Weather Friend
|rating=4.5
|genre=Politics and SocietyParanormal|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 book integrating otherwise piecemeal news stories picked up over really nice person. So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the past forty years into delivery to his house is a new friend, a coherent explanation bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to help him since Benny is always welcomeclearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person. This book explores South AfricaSpike is going to take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's history enemies, if he, Benny, and development, from the earliest Dutch arrivals in 1652 to the first racially integrated elections in 1994Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0306818477</amazonuk>1662500491
}}
|rating=4.5
|genre=CrimeConfident Readers |summary=There's Murray is supposed to be a classic Agatha Christie style hook at the start of this story. TV producer Fliss Benson receives a card with no message other than sixteen numbers arranged in four rows of four. On the same day Fliss takes over work on a documentary about cot death mothers humble, tidy and miscarriages of justice. Simultaneouslyfriendly cat, one of the mothers who is found dead at her house with an identical numbered card in her pocket. Work out what the numbers mean able to sleep and eat and eat and sleep and you will find , well, whatever takes his fancy next of the killertwo. But as this is he's a bad magician's cat, so his favourite bun has been turned into a typically densely plotted Sophie Hannah story you will have to note every detail in every part of hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, and the book to reach catflap they both use can chuck them out, not into the right conclusionregular back garden, but into a world of frightening adventure and whiffs. The plot has more twists than This time round it drops them into a spiral staircaseViking land, though there are clues that could help youwhere a troll hunter is expected – well, including one rather cheeky feature - if you can spot it. Sadlymuch bigger than Murray was, to be honest, I didnbut he't until I was writing this review…s turned up and he'll have to do…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0340980621</amazonuk>0008561249
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{{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.
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Philip Augar1529431735|title=Reckless: The Rise and Fall of the CityWinter Visitor|author=James Henry
|rating=4
|genre=Business and FinanceCrime|summary=The CityIt's February 1991 and Essex is bitingly cold, 1997. Many major institutions are struggling in the City, with high profile scandals taking down Barings and severely damaging which made Bruce Hopkins' return all the reputation of Morgan Grenfellmore surprising. The City, 2007. Less than a fortnight before becoming Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, at the Mansion House Dinner, describes He'd been exiled on the current time Costa del Sol as 'an era that history will record as the beginning of a new golden agewanted drug smuggler for a decade.' The City, 8th October, 2008. Author Philip Augar states return has come about because he'even the most conservative observer would have to concede that 8 October 2008 amounted to s had a catastrophic failure of privateletter from his ex-sector banking in the UK.wife, saying that she'|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009952404X</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Richard Denning|title=Tomorrows ill and hasn's Guardian|rating=4t long to live.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Eleven year old Tom Oakley thinks he It's going mad hard to feel any sympathy when he seems Hopkins is abducted, stripped to relive short periods of his life, underwear and dreams about other people from different times. The reality is far stranger – he's a Walker, with the power to rescue those he dreamed about. Travelling sent to the battle of Isandlwana, the Great Fire of London, and a German U-Boat, guided by the mysterious Professor, Tom saves watery grave in the lives boot of soldier Edward, servant Mary, and Able Seaman Charlie, who also have powers. There are others, however, with similar powers, who aren't as pleasant as Tom's new friends – and the four of them, allied with the Professor and his roguish helper Septimus, are pitched into a battle to save the worldsstolen Ford Sierra. That's intentionally plural – there are two parallel universes at stake here.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445251388</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Kate Griffin|title=The Midnight Mayor: A Matthew Swift Novel |rating=5|genre=Fantasy|summary='A telephone rang. I answered. After that… …it's complicated.' Sorcerer Matthew Swift does not especially like danger. In fact, after the events that led to him destroying the Tower and his former teacher, Robert Bakker, he'd prefer Is it greatly if danger would leave him a warning from a Spanish gang or a problem closer to mind his own business, thank you very much.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841497347</amazonuk>}}home?