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

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

==Reviews of the The Best New Books==

'''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].{{Frontpage|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingauthor="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--><!-- Mary Adkins -->Tom Percival|-title=The Wrong Shoes| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|5[[image:1473673313.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473673313/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Confident Readers| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[When You Read This by Mary Adkins]]=== [[image:4Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Smith Simonyi He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and Iris Massey worked together doesn't have enough money for four yearseven the most basic of things like food, during which time Iris left her husband at the altar on their wedding day. Smith, meanwhile, relied on Iris, but and his attention was on making enough money to cover dad can't work because he lost his mother's nursing home fees in Wisconsinjob at the college, running the branding agency was working a cash-in New York and losing money gambling when the pressures got too much for him. He was devastated when Iris developed -hand job on a terminal cancer building site and died at the age of thirty threehad an accident. He was surprised too when he discovered Throw into that Iris had been writing a blog in mix the last six months of her fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life and her final request of Smith is that seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he gets the blog published as still has a booktiny amount of hope. [[When You Read This by Mary Adkins 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]]isbn=1398527122}}<!-- Cooper -->{{Frontpage|-author=Sylvie Cathrall| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=5[[image:1529102464.jpg|linkgenre=http://wwwScience Fiction|summary= There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise.amazonAnd this is one of them.co.uk/dp/1529102464/ref=nosim?tag|isbn=thebookbag-21]]0356522776}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"0008517061|title=Death in a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell|rating=4|genre=[[The Day We Met by Roxie Cooper]]===Crime [[image:3.5star.jpg|linksummary=CategoryFormer 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:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] This 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 an epic love story spanning ten years of 'will they, won't they'. Stephanie the future she wants for herself and Jamie are 'meant to be'. her daughter? When they meet For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the future on an art course they have an instant strong connection but both are with other peoplethe back burner. However, what I loved was that it's not a 'typical boy meets girl, falls in love and lives happily ever after' story. In fact far from it, without wanting to give too much away, the ending was both refreshingly unexpected and achingly poignant. [[The Day We Met by Roxie Cooper}}{{Frontpage|Full Review]]isbn=1786482126|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)<!-- Charlotte Watts and Natalie Savona -->|author=Elly Griffiths|-rating=4.5| stylegenre="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Crime[[image:1848993609.jpg|linksummary=http://wwwBuilders 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.amazon.co There was no skull.uk/dp/1848993609/ref=nosim Was this a ritual killing or murder?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Good Mood Food: Unlock 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 Power of Diet to Think and Feel Well by Charlotte Watts and Natalie Savona]]===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.}}[[image:{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4.5star.jpg5|genre=Crime|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]], [[:Category:Cookery|Cookery]] I thought I was getting a cookbook: I liked It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the idea of a series of recipes which would make me feel happypolice. For once this isn't a case of 'if it sounds too good to be true, it probably Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is' - itstruggling in prison and he's a case of getting something which could change your life for prepared to tell the better - for good - rather than a quick fix. [[Good Mood Food: Unlock police where the Power body of Diet to Think a missing person is buried and Feel Well by Charlotte Watts and Natalie Savona|Full Review]] <!-- Jameson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0241349176who 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.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241349176/ref=nosim Not much to ask, is it?tag=thebookbag The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded -21]]  | stylemake certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.}}{{Frontpage|isbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"0008405026|title=A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating=5|genre=[[The Last by Hanna Jameson]]===Crime[[image:5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]] Jon Keller is in a hotel in Switzerland in the remote countryside when It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the world endsinvestigation ground to a halt. He has no idea if his family is alive Now, he has no idea what's going on in the nearest cityher mother, or if the nearest city has been obliterated. ShockedHelena, amid the mass hysteria and exodus, Jon decides to stay at her father are dead in their bed. Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the hotel rather than attempt to get to positioning of the airport bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and homeher boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. He's not alone, twenty other people also stay What looked as though it was going to be an open-and gradually form -shut case is now a small communitycomplex double murder. One day, when helping Kerrigan is convinced that the hotel manager, Jon finds the body of a girl deemed to have been killed before the world ended. The community descends into a deep mistrust explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Jon becomes fixated on finding this girlDerwent's killer and finding the truth about what is possibly the last community on earthboss, Una Burt) are less convinced. [[The Last by Hanna Jameson|Full Review]]}}{{Frontpage<!-- d'Eramo -->|isbn=0571379877|-title=The Kellerby Code| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Jonny Sweet[[image:1782273883.jpg|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/1782273883/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="verticalEdward Jevons is a working-align: top; textclass young man, obsessed with his upper-align: left;"|===[[Deviation by Luce dclass friends, Robert and Stanza. Robert's a theatre director. He'Eramo s also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and Anne Milano Appel (translator)]]=== [[image:3entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him.5star Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and he's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating 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.}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction{{Frontpage|Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:Autobiographyauthor=Jo Callaghan|Autobiography]], [[:Category:Historical Fictiontitle=Leave No Trace|Historical Fiction]]rating=4|genre=CrimeFor those |summary=When a man is found crucified on the top of you who have read books of life a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the Nazi camps – and of coursecase alongside her sidekick, for those of you who have not – this can be considered a next stepthe AI detective Lock. It begins, after all's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with someone escaping Dachau and fleeing her work assignment during a bombing raid, and you'd not blame her one minuteseveral cold cases. But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, as her career was deemed to be cess-tank cleaner Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and sewage unblocker by the Germans. In Munich, she stumbles on help to get her to what seems a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. Will they be a camp for non-native civilians able to look for worksolve the case in time, or companywill Kat find herself taken off the case and, or transport elsewherepotentially, either official or otherwise. But then the next chapter sees her going back into the camp next to Dachau once more, and by then eyebrows are being raised. [[Deviation by Luce d'Eramo and Anne Milano Appel (translator)out of a career?|Full Review]]isbn=139851120X}}<!-- Alok Tripathy -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1399613073| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson[[image:1729621953.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1729621953/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  Thrillers| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Fast-track Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the I.T Journey - How to move from Supplier 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 Partner by Alok Ranjan Tripathy]]=== [[image:3be a cardiothoracic surgeon.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business Laura is a perfectionist and Finance|Business and Finance]] So, what brought me to this book? a trauma doctor. As Anjali is the owner free spirit of a small business the group and she becomes a buyer of IT services I should be the senior partner in the relationship with my suppliers, but IGP. When we first meet them they've frequently found myself the junior partner re at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and Iit've regularly been let down by thems going to end in tragedy. I needed to We don't know where I could improve that relationship and, by looking at who suffered the situation from tragedy or the supplier's point of view, what steps I needed to takeconsequences. Alok Tripathy's book looked as though it might provide help and possibly some of Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the answers as to how my suppliers could better help methree friends. [[Fast-track the IThis time, it's their teenage children who are involved.T Journey - How to move from Supplier to Partner by Alok Ranjan Tripathy|Full Review]]}}<!-- Kemmerer -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=0241636604| styletitle="widthThe Trading Game: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson[[image:1408884615|rating=4.jpg5|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408884615/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  Autobiography| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[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 Curse So Dark hoodie and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer]]=== [[image:4starjeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] Harper's life There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is pretty disastrous at the moment, through no fault bright - extremely bright - and he has a facility with numbers which most of her ownus can only envy. Her mother has cancer and not long He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to livebe stupid. Her father has scarpered but not taken It was his debts ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with himCitibank. And her brother is forever getting Eventually, this turned into troublepermanent employment as a trader. But Harper soldiers on nonetheless, despite coping with her own cerebral palsy}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035021803|title=The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller|rating=3. One day, she sees an attempted abduction of young girl and intercedes, only 5|genre=Crime|summary=It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to find herself kidnapped in the girlEnglish country village where she grew up. She's placeback now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole. But even an imaginative girl like Harper couldn Freya't have guessed where she was being taken... [[A Curse So Dark s former mentor and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer|Full Review]]   <!-- Teresa Heapy Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and Katie Cleminson -->|-| style="widththe circumstances seem suspicious, to say the least. Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1910989339Arthur, she feels, let her down badly.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910989339/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Loved Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to Bits by Teresa Heapy and Katie Cleminson]]=== [[image:5starbe near the man or pursue the profession she loved.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] ''Loved to Bits'' is After the split, she worked in a cafe, met and married James (on the rebound from the heartwarming story love of a boy's love for his bearher life, who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced. Bear}}{{Frontpage|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=All Tomorrow's adventures with boy take him to all kinds of places Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and together they fight and defeat every obstacle put in their way, from Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=''Opening up new ways of thinking about the jungle shape of things to the seacome. Inevitably mishaps occur on the way . The loss of an arm, a leg, an ear or an eye are nothing to Stripy Ted who shrugs off all injuries with a cheery ''don't worry, I've got one more''. But boy loves him just as he is and won't hear of him being mended. His place, after all, is in Boy's bed. [[Loved to Bits by Teresa Heapy and Katie Cleminson|Full Review]] <!-- Cohen -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1409179826.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1409179826/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Louis and Louise by Julie Cohen]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] What would you be like, right now, if you'd been born a different gender? Would it simply be a matter of genetics, and your life would still have unfolded in the same way? Or would the way you had been raised affect who you became in life? This latest novel by Julie Cohen looks at all of the above, covering the stories of Louis and Louise, born on the same day, to the same parents, but in one storyline Lou is a boy, and in the other a girl. Does it really make a difference, the gender box that is ticked when we arrive in this world? We all know that men and women are treated differently, but this story really highlights how things have been in the past, how they still are, and prompts you to think about how they could be... [[Louis and Louise by Julie Cohen|Full Review]] <!-- Lewis -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:019274948X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/019274948X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Closest Thing to Flying by Gill Lewis]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Semira is an Eritraen refugee, living in the UK with her mum and Robel, a man who controls their money, their food, and their every move in the UK. He threatens them that if they don't do what he says, they'll be sent home. One day, Semira finds herself buying an old hat on a market stall, strangely drawn to the bird that decorates the hat. When she takes it home she discovers there is an old diary hidden inside the hat box, written by a young girl called Hen over 100 years ago. Semira finds herself caught up in Hen's story, finding in it an escape from her own life that is full of hunger and loss. She finds that she is challenged by the girl in the diary, to speak up in her own life and fight for her place in the world. [[The Closest Thing to Flying by Gill Lewis|Full Review]] <!-- Elly Griffiths -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786487292.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786487292/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Stone Circle (Dr Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] DCI Harry Nelson's life is complicated. His two oldest daughters are either living away from home or really should be. His youngest daughter was conceived in a (very) brief affair (let's not call it a one-night stand: there's more emotion in their relationship) with archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway. Michelle, Nelson's wife, knows about Kate and has been very understanding, but then there's the matter of her affair with a black policeman which she'd rather not have to discuss with her daughters. Nelson knows about it and knows that the baby which Michelle is about to deliver, could be Tim's. That's a lot to cope with - and that's before he gets to work. [[The Stone Circle (Dr Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths|Full Review]] <!-- Jonathan Kellerman -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1780899017.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1780899017/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Wedding Guest by Jonathan Kellerman]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It was a bridesmaid who found the victim's body in a rather disreputable toilet at the wedding venue. She didn't know who she was and neither did the bride or groom. The bride wasn't particularly worried about the dead girl, but she was furious that someone had set out to disrupt her wedding. Baby (yes, that was what people called Brearley) didn't come across as being particularly likeable, despite the fact that she said that everyone liked her, and her groom, Garrett didn't inspire confidence either. Lt Milo Sturgis was the senior investigating officer and he called on the help of his friend, psychologist Dr Alex Delaware. [[The Wedding Guest by Jonathan Kellerman|Full Review]] <!-- Kennedy -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786331691.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786331691/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Great Wide Open by Douglas Kennedy]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] Douglas Kennedy's ''The Great Wide Open'' has been described as epic by just about everyone, and it often feels as though that was the intention. Though the novel often feels like a pastiche of the great American novel – epic in scope, preoccupied with matters of money and literature, fixated with New York – it often feels more like Kennedy is trying to reverse-engineer the concept altogether. Initially, the novel presents itself as an intimate study of family drama, in the latter half of the novel it smoothly turns to examining the turn of American society since the 70s, and the rapid rise of the hyper-capitalist neoliberal values that have dominated the west since the election of Ronald Reagan. Though it takes place over a twenty-year period between the 70s and the 90s, it notably always keeps one an eye on the present day (Trump, of course, makes an inevitable and slightly incongruous cameo) such that what happens links subtly into current affairs without ever explicitly referencing them. [[The Great Wide Open by Douglas Kennedy|Full Review]] <!-- Susan Wilkins -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1509804544.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1509804544/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[It Should Have Been Me by Susan Wilkins]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It's seventeen years since DC Jo Boden's sister, Sarah, was murdered and her life since has been lived in the shadow of what happened. Jo was only eleven at the time and her parents' marriage broke up in the aftermath: her brother Carl opted to go and live with his father but Jo stayed with her mother who was mentally frail and not coping with everyday life. She wasn't pleased when Jo decided to join the police, but the job satisfies Jo. She's passed her sergeant's exams but in the Met these days it's a case of dead men's shoes and no one seems inclined to make way for the younger generation. Still, being a detective is better than being a PC and when the opportunity to go undercover comes up, Jo grabs it. [[It Should Have Been Me by Susan Wilkins|Full Review]] <!-- Yancey Williams -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0986031690.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0986031690/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Resurrection of Jesus by Yancey Williams]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] In March 1990 two police officers entered Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. They left with thirteen famous paintings by Rembrandt, Degas and Vermeer. The frames remain empty to this day: whilst there might have been rumours about the whereabouts of the paintings, even promises that the case was about to be solved, the paintings are still missing. Yancey Williams has a theory, which he delaborates on in his novel ''The Resurrection of Jesus'', and whilst his suspects might seem unlikely, who's to say that he's wrong? Forget the assertions that it was down to the Mafia and meet Jésus Ángel Escobar and Hiram Johnny Walker Quicksilver. [[The Resurrection of Jesus by Yancey Williams|Full Review]] <!-- David Mark -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473643198.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473643198/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Cold Bones (DS McAvoy 8) by David Mark]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It all began almost innocently: DS Aector McAvoy was told by a concerned stranger that she and her son had regularly seen an old woman who lived in a nearby cottage but she hadn't been for a few days. Perhaps McAvoy could check that she was alright? No - she wouldn't go with him, but she'd tell him where the house was. And so McAvoy went, only to find the windows open on a freezing cold day - and inside an old lady was in her bath encased in ice. It ''might'' have been a tragic accident, but McAvoy suspected murder - and he thought that someone had watched the woman die. [[Cold Bones (DS McAvoy 8) by David Mark|Full Review]] <!-- Emma Kavanagh -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1409174980.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1409174980/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[To Catch a Killer by Emma Kavanagh]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] If you're a detective on a murder squad one of the first things you learn is detachment. You develop a distance from the victim: it allows you do do your job with the minimum amount of emotion. That's relatively easy when you encounter your victim when they're already dead but DS Alice Parr met the woman they would need to call Jane Doe when she was alive, albeit only just. She was being tended by an off-duty paramedic who was struggling to cope with the fact that the woman's throat had been cut and she'd been stabbed several times. The attack had been called in by a dog walker and Alice had been walking to work when the call came over her Airwave radio. [[To Catch a Killer by Emma Kavanagh|Full Review]] <!-- Barnard -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1509852883.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1509852883/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Fierce Fragile Hearts by Sara Barnard]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]  It's two years since Suzanne hit rock bottom. She's had extensive therapy and a stint with a lovely foster family. And now she's eighteen and must leave the Looked After system. Suzanne is apprehensive but excited. She's found herself a job, a bedsit has been rented, and she's about to return to Brighton, the only place she's ever felt truly at home, and to Caddy and Rosie, her two best friends. [[Fierce Fragile Hearts by Sara Barnard|Full Review]]<!-- Clear -->|-| style=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|[[image:1847941834.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1847941834/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[Atomic Habits by James Clear]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Popular Science|Popular Science]], [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] I've said this before but there are some books that you seek out, some books that you stumble across and some books that drop into your life because you really MUST read them, like, right now! ''Atomic Habits'' is in the last category. [[Atomic Habits by James Clear|Full Review]] <!-- Tony Kent -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1783963921.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1783963921/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]'

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

[[image:4starRosevear, 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.jpgDesperate 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.|linkisbn=Category:0008664730}}{{Frontpage|author=James Sherwood Metts|title=Planet Storyland|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary= Things have been a bit sticky for the Earthlings. AI and automation have been proceeding apace, often replacing jobs they're paid to do and other tasks that took time to accomplish. Just as they were beginning to get used to all this technological change and starting to think of other, new ways to spend time, along came an awful pandemic. Life was pretty much shut down and, along with it, all the many daily social interactions on which they depend so heavily.|isbn=1736128426}}{{Frontpage|author=Matthew Tree|title=We'll Never Know|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Timothy Wyndham wants nothing more than to be different from his father, a drunk and chronic underachiever whose dreams of being exceptional at any of his artistic passions all failed miserably and who had endless crises of self confidence. So Tim applied himself to his studies, cultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and set himself high but achievable ambitions.|isbn= B0CVFXPGP8}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime{{Frontpage|author=A G Slatter|title=The Briar Book of the Dead|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|Crime]]summary='' There's a part of me that wants to keep this just to myself for however long I can. This secret magic of my own, [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]]all mine, at last. I just want to enjoy it for a while.''

The death Within a remote mountain pass, far away from the world, lies Silverton; a town under the protection of the Briar's, a retired Lord Chief Justice would have made 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 news: his crucifixion dominated it 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 Detective Chief Inspector Joelle Levy of potions. When her grandmother suddenly dies, Ellie's cousin Audra becomes the Briar Witch, the Mettown's Major Incident Team was 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 person whose job Briar witches' legacy, everything they have sacrificed to survive, is under threat.|isbn=1803364548}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529900360|title=The Ghost Orchid|author=Jonathan Kellerman|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=It hadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's fault that Alex Delaware had been badly injured but he felt responsible and even after Alex recovered, Sturgis was reluctant to find ask for his killerhelp 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 never thought 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 would be easy's not the Italian. But which of them was the primary target?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529395224|title=Letting the Cat Out of the Bag: The Secret Life of a Vet|author=Sion Rowlands|rating=3.5|genre=Animals and Wildlife|summary=Siôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentally. His father was a GP and Rowlands didn't want to follow in his footsteps, particularly when he considered the Lord Chief Justice had been making enemies in strain that being on-call put on his father's life. When he was seventeen he took the course opportunity of his doing work experience with a family friend who was a vet and was convinced this was the job for over half him. Before long, he was at Liverpool University. It hadn't - as with so many students - been his dream since he was a centurychild. It seems unreasonable If anything, he'd wanted to be a professional footballer.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0861541774|title=A Nye of Pheasants|author=Steve Burrows|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=DCI Domenic Jejeune's close friend and former colleague, Danny Maik, has taken a short holiday in Singapore to suggest meet up with an old ally, Guy Trueman. Maik was involved in a street brawl - he would later maintain that the crucifixion he was facing a man armed with a knife - and he killed a Ghurka. Initially, he faced a charge of retired solicitor Adam Blunt manslaughter but evidence came to light that suggested that he might have given planned to murder the man. Now he could be facing the death penalty. Domenic Jejeune can do nothing to help as any interference from another police force could provoke a diplomatic incident and wouldn't help Danny at all.}}{{Frontpage|author=Alexander McCall Smith|title=The Perfect Passion Company|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=The Perfect Passion Company is 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 ray trip to Canada to get away for a while. Katie is coming out of hopea 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 surely two such grisly killings cannot Ness has full confidence in her abilities, and there's always her very helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand…|isbn=1846976596}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0811771741|title=InstaKnits for Baby|author=Melissa Leapman|rating=4|genre=Crafts|summary=Melissa Leapman's ''InstaKnits for Baby'' gives us a collection of knits from toys to blankets. Some will be random? 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 needed me being picky.}}{{Frontpage|author=Dean Koontz|title=The Bad Weather Friend|rating=4.5|genre=Paranormal|summary=Benny is having a terrifically bad day. He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and 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 find 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 what connects who exactly they are.|isbn=1662500491}}{{Frontpage|author=Adam Stower|title=Murray and Bun|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers |summary=Murray is supposed to be a humble, tidy and friendly cat, one who is able to sleep and eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of the two cases. [[Marked 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…|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 Death by Tony Kent|Full Review]]both could well be.... no.

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