Changes

<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--><!-- Ece Temelkuran -->Tom Percival|-title=The Wrong Shoes| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|5[[image:0008294011.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008294011/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Confident Readers| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[How to Lose Will's life is difficult, in a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship by Ece Temelkuran]]=== [[image:4multitude of ways.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]]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, [[:Category:History|History]] A little while ago and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a friend asked me if I thought that we were living through what cash-in years to come would be discussed by A level history students when faced with the question ''Discuss the factors which led to..-hand job on a building site and had an accident.'' I agreed Throw into that she was right mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and wasnWill't certain whether it was s life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he still has a good or bad thing that we didn't know what all 'this' was leading totiny amount of hope. I think now He is good at art, and clings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, that I do know. We are in danger of losing democracy and whilst it's feel like a flawed system I can't think light at the end of a better onelong, particularly as the 'benevolent dictator' is as rare as hen's teethdark tunnel. [[How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship by Ece Temelkuran|Full Review]]isbn=1398527122}}<!-- Schienmel -->{{Frontpage|-author=Sylvie Cathrall| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=5[[image:0349003289.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1492667242/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Science Fiction| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.|isbn= 0356522776}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008517061|title=Death in a Lonely Place|author=[[A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa Sheinmel]]=Stig Abell|rating=4|genre=Crime [[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]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, [[:Categoryas moving in together would mean a lot of compromise:General Fiction|General Fiction]] ''They needed someone does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to blame, and I was the only available scapegoat. Their 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 was my best friend. Playing ? For the moment they’re enjoying life in the scapegoat was present and putting the least I could do under future on the circumstancesback burner.'' Seventeen year old Hannah Gold was born mature – or so her parents tell her. She has dined in fancy restaurants, explored the most sophisticated corners of the globe and lived a life of luxury. [[A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa Sheinmel|Full Review]]}}<!-- Mary Adkins -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1786482126| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths[[image:1473673313.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473673313/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="verticalBuilders were demolishing an old house in Norwich -align: top; textthe site was going to hold seventy-align: left;"|===[[When You Read This by Mary Adkins]]=== [[image:4five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway.5star There was no skull.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Smith Simonyi and Iris Massey worked together for four years, during which time Iris left her husband at the altar on their wedding day Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. SmithIt's difficult as Ruth knows, meanwhile, relied on Irisbut Nelson doesn't, but that she is pregnant with his attention was on making enough money to cover his mother's nursing home fees in Wisconsin, running child as a result of the branding agency in New York and losing money gambling when the pressures got too much for himone night they spent together some three months ago. He was devastated when Iris developed a terminal cancer and died at the age Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of thirty threesickness. He was surprised too when he discovered that Iris had been writing a blog in the last six months of her life and her final request of Smith is that he gets the blog published as a book. [[When You Read This by Mary Adkins}}{{Frontpage|Full Review]]isbn=0008551324 <!-- Cooper -->|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|-author=Neil Lancaster| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"4.5|genre=Crime[[image:1529102464.jpg|linksummary=http://wwwIt's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police.amazon Neither side likes or has any respect for the other.co.uk/dp/1529102464/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Day We Met by Roxie Cooper]]=== [[image:3But 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.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] This And what he wants is to be transferred to an epic love story spanning ten years open prison to serve the remainder of 'will theyhis sentence and to get an early parole date. Not much to ask, wonis it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't they'. Stephanie think so and Jamie are she'meant s even prepared to be'. When they meet on an art course they have an instant strong connection but both are do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with other people. However, him is kept well away from 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 poignanthappening. [[The Day We Met by Roxie Cooper|Full Review]]}}<!-- Charlotte Watts and Natalie Savona -->{{Frontpage|isbn=0008405026|-title=A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Jane Casey|rating=5[[image:1848993609.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1848993609/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="verticalIt's sixteen years since nine-align: top; textyear-align: left;"|===[[Good Mood Food: Unlock old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the Power of Diet investigation ground to Think a halt. Now, her mother, Helena, and Feel Well by Charlotte Watts and Natalie Savona]]=== [[image:4her father are dead in their bed.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] Initially, [[:Category:Cookery|Cookery]] I thought I was getting a cookbook: I liked it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the idea positioning of a series of recipes which would make me feel happythe bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. For once this isn't a case of 'if What looked as though it sounds too good was going to be true, it probably an open-and-shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan isconvinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie' - its disappearance: others (such as Derwent's a case of getting something which could change your life for the better - for good - rather than a quick fixboss, Una Burt) are less convinced. [[Good Mood Food: Unlock the Power of Diet to Think and Feel Well by Charlotte Watts and Natalie Savona|Full Review]]}}<!-- Jameson -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=0571379877| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet[[image:0241349176.jpg|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241349176/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  Crime| stylesummary="verticalEdward Jevons is a working-align: top; textclass young man, obsessed with his upper-align: left;"|===[[The Last by Hanna Jameson]]=== [[image:5starclass 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.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]] Jon Keller is 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 hotel in Switzerland in the remote countryside when the world ends. He has no idea if his family is alive, relationship had begun between them but he has no idea what's going on not like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the two of them kissing in the nearest city, or if the nearest city has been obliterateda dark passageway. Shocked, amid the mass hysteria and exodus, Jon decides to stay at the hotel rather than attempt to get to }}{{Frontpage|author=Jo Callaghan|title=Leave No Trace|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=When a man is found crucified on the airport and home. He's not alone, twenty other people also stay and gradually form top of a small community. One dayhill in Nuneaton, when helping DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the hotel managercase alongside her sidekick, Jon finds the body of a girl deemed to have been killed before the world endedAI detective Lock. The community descends into a deep mistrust as Jon becomes fixated on finding this girl It's killer and finding the truth about what their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. But when there is possibly the last community on earth. [[The Last by Hanna Jameson|Full Review]] <!-- d'Eramo -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1782273883a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1782273883/ref=nosim 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?tag|isbn=thebookbag-21]]139851120X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1399613073| styletitle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4.5|genre==[[Deviation by Luce d'Eramo and Anne Milano Appel (translator)]]===Thrillers[[image:3.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]]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, [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] For those of which is a bonus when you who have read books aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of life in the Nazi camps – group and of course, for those of you who have not – this can be considered she becomes a next stepGP. It begins, after all, with someone escaping Dachau When we first meet them they're at a drug and fleeing her work assignment during a bombing raid, alcohol-fuelled party and youit'd not blame her one minute, as her career was deemed s going to be cess-tank cleaner and sewage unblocker by the Germansend in tragedy. In Munich, she stumbles on help to get her to what seems to be a camp for non-native civilians to look for work, We don't know who suffered the tragedy or company, or transport elsewhere, either official or otherwisethe consequences. But then the next chapter sees her going back into Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the camp next to Dachau once morethree friends. This time, and by then eyebrows it's their teenage children who are being raisedinvolved. [[Deviation by Luce d'Eramo and Anne Milano Appel (translator)|Full Review]]}}<!-- Alok Tripathy -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=0241636604| styletitle="widthThe Trading Game: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson[[image:1729621953.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1729621953/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Autobiography| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Fast-track the I.T Journey - How If you were to move from Supplier bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to Partner by Alok Ranjan Tripathy]]=== [[image:3think of someone like Gary Stevenson.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and Finance|Business his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and Finance]] So, what brought me to this book? injustice. As There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the owner London School of a small business Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a buyer facility with numbers which most of IT services I should us can only envy. He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be the senior partner in the relationship stupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with my suppliers, but I've frequently found myself the junior partner and I've regularly been let down by themCitibank. I needed to know where I could improve that relationship andEventually, by looking at the situation from the supplierthis turned into permanent employment as a trader.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035021803|title=The Antique Hunter's point of view, what steps I needed Guide to takeMurder|author=C L Miller|rating=3. Alok Tripathy5|genre=Crime|summary=It's book looked as though it might provide help and possibly some of twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the answers as to how my suppliers could better help meEnglish country village where she grew up. [[Fast-track 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 I.T Journey - How circumstances seem suspicious, to move from Supplier say the least. Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to Partner by Alok Ranjan Tripathy|Full Review]] <!-- Kemmerer -->|-| style="widththe village: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1408884615Arthur, 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.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408884615/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|}}{{Frontpage|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title==[[A Curse So Dark All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer]]=Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction [[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] Harper's life is pretty disastrous at ''Opening up new ways of thinking about the moment, through no fault shape of her own. Her mother has cancer and not long things to livecome. Her father has scarpered but not taken his debts with him. And her brother is forever getting into trouble. But Harper soldiers on nonetheless, despite coping with her own cerebral palsy. One day, she sees an attempted abduction of young girl and intercedes, only to find herself kidnapped in the girl's place. But even an imaginative girl like Harper couldn't have guessed where she was being taken... [[A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer|Full Review]]   <!-- Teresa Heapy and Katie Cleminson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1910989339.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910989339/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Loved to Bits by Teresa Heapy and Katie Cleminson]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] ''Loved to Bits'' is the heartwarming story of a boy's love for his bear. Bear's adventures with boy take him to all kinds of places and together they fight and defeat every obstacle put in their way, from the jungle to the sea. 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;"|''

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=[[Fierce Fragile Hearts 3.5|genre=Thrillers |summary=The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel manager. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|isbn=086154742X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529153298|title=The List of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=5|genre=General Fiction|summary=It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, though. Women have been disappearing. Well, they've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants to move the family 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a frightening, foreign place, best avoided. For Miv, the move would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, and she'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the dangers or that her Mum's stopped talking - to anyone.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1398524085|title=Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Nicci French|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=Charlotte Salter was expected at her husband's fiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Her children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but - strangely - her husband, Alec, is not. Shortly afterwards, Etty and Greg, find the body of Greg's father, Duncan Ackerley, in the river. It was an easy assumption for the police to make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when he couldn't stand the guilt. The Salter children are not convinced but there's little else they can do but get on with their lives and wonder about what really happened.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035906708|title=Diva|author=Daisy Goodwin|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=We tend to think of Maria Callas as Greek, but she was born to Greek parents in Manhattan, New York, in December 1923 and only moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas' to make it more manageable in the States. When she was back in Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the Nazi occupation by Sara Barnard]]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: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.|isbn=0008664730}}{{Frontpage|author=James Sherwood Metts|title=Planet Storyland|rating=4.5star5|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.jpgJust 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.|linkisbn=Category:{1736128426}}{{Frontpage|author=Matthew Tree|title=We'll Never Know|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Timothy Wyndham wants nothing more than to be different from his father, a drunk and chronic underachiever whose dreams of being exceptional at any of his artistic passions all failed miserably and who had endless crises of self confidence. So Tim applied himself to his studies, cultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and set himself high but achievable ambitions.|isbn= B0CVFXPGP8}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens{{Frontpage|author=A G Slatter|title=The Briar Book of the Dead|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|Teens]] summary='' There's a part of me that wants to keep this just to myself for however long I can. This secret magic of my own, 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}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529900360|title=The Ghost Orchid|author=Jonathan Kellerman|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=Ithadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's two years since Suzanne hit rock bottomfault 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. Sheknew 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 had extensive therapy 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 stint 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 lovely foster familyfriend 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. And now she}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0861541774|title=A Nye of Pheasants|author=Steve Burrows|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=DCI Domenic Jejeune's eighteen close friend and must leave former colleague, Danny Maik, has taken a short holiday in Singapore to meet up with an old ally, Guy Trueman. Maik was involved in a street brawl - he would later maintain that he was facing a man armed with a knife - and he killed a Ghurka. Initially, he faced a charge of manslaughter but evidence came to light that suggested that he might have planned to murder the man. Now he could be facing the death penalty. Domenic Jejeune can do nothing to help as any interference from another police force could provoke a diplomatic incident and wouldn't help Danny at all.}}{{Frontpage|author=Alexander McCall Smith|title=The Perfect Passion Company|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=The Perfect Passion Company is 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 Looked After systembusiness, as Ness is planning to take a trip to Canada to get away for a while. Suzanne Katie is apprehensive 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 excitedwith 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…|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. She 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 found herself 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 bedsit 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 rentedsent 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 sheHarper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's about wild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are.|isbn=1662500491}}{{Frontpage|author=Adam Stower|title=Murray and Bun|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers |summary=Murray is supposed to return be a humble, tidy and friendly cat, one who is able to Brightonsleep and eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of the only place shetwo. But he's a bad magician's ever felt truly at homecat, 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 Caddy be honest, but he's turned up and Rosiehe'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, her two best friendswould it land? The catch is that the answer for both could well be.... no. [[Fierce Fragile Hearts by Sara Barnard|Full Review]]

<!-- 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?