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|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->reviews of books about to be published]].<!-- Davis -->{{Frontpage|-author=Tom Percival| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Wrong Shoes|rating=5[[image:0192749218.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0192749218/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Confident Readers| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[WhatWill's That life is difficult, in Dog Years? by Ben Davis and Julia Christians]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] George a multitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and Gizmo doesn't have been together ever since George was born. Gizmo has always been a funenough money for even the most basic of things like food, adventurous dog and a loyal friendhis dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, but just recently, George has noticed that he's starting to slow down was working a little. A visit to cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident. Throw into that mix the vets leaves George worried fact that Gizmo might not be around for very much longerhis mum and dad are separated, and so Will's life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he begins to write Gizmo still has a bucket list, tiny amount of all the adventures that they can still have together in Gizmo's last dayshope. But are they his last days? And who will help George to stay calm when Gizmo He is gone? [[What's That in Dog Years? by Ben Davis and Julia Christiansgood 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}}<!-- Hlad -->{{Frontpage|-author=Sylvie Cathrall| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=5[[image:1529311446.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/1529311446/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 Long Flight Home by A L Hlad]]Crime|summary=== [[image:4Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] September 1940 - There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the future of his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, as WWII rages on, bombs rain down on Britain, destroying the homes and lives moving in together would mean a lot of a people on the edge. In Epping Forest, Susan Shepherd compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her grandfather Bertie live together raising homing pigeons with reservations about whether or not this is the birds proving a comfort future she wants for Susan following the loss of herself and her parents. These pigeons are more than just birds to Susan though – daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in each one, the present and especially in Duchess, she sees a distinct personality and forms a close bond. Meanwhile, young pilot Ollie Evans leaves Maine to head to Britain and join putting the future on the Royal Air Forceback burner. Working with the National Pigeon Service, he soon meets Susan and is tasked with air-dropping hundreds of homing pigeons into German-occupied France, where many will not survive. As the mission is planned, the bond between Ollie and Susan grows stronger, but when Ollie's plane is downed behind enemy lines, it may be Duchess who provides an unexpected lifeline and ensures that hope of a reunion for Susan and Ollie remains… [[The Long Flight Home by A L Hlad}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786482126|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|Full Review]]author=Elly Griffiths <!-- Peter Wohlleben -->|rating=4.5|-genre=Crime| stylesummary=''width: 10%; verticalBuilders were demolishing an old house in Norwich -align: top; textthe site was going to hold seventy-align: center;five 'luxury'|[[image:1846045576apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway.jpg|link=http://www There was no skull.amazon.co.uk/dp/1846045576/ref=nosim Was this a ritual killing or murder?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style= Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn'vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[Walks In The Wild by Peter Wohlleben and Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp (Translator)]]===t, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.}}{{Frontpage[[image:4star.jpg|linkisbn=Category:{{{0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Animals and Wildlife=4.5|Animals and Wildlife]], [[:Category:Politics and Societygenre=Crime|Politics and Society]] summary=It''An instruction manual s unusual for anyone from the forest'' is how Wohlleben's publisher described Hardie family to approach the idea police. Neither side likes or has any respect for this book, the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and thathe's basically what it is – although right at prepared to tell the end police where the author says that it body of a missing person is not intended to be a reference bookburied and who was responsible for her death. This person, he promises, but an appetiseris someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants. [[Walks In The Wild by Peter Wohlleben and Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp (Translator)|Full Review]] <!-- M T Edvardsson And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and Rachel Wilson-Boyles -->|-| style="width: 10%; verticalto get an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded -align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1529008123make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.jpg}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008405026|linktitle=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529008123/refA Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=nosim?tagJane Casey|rating=thebookbag-21]]5|genre=Crime| stylesummary="verticalIt's sixteen years since nine-align: top; textyear-align: left;"|===[[A Nearly Normal Family by M T Edvardsson old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and Rachel Wilson-Boyles (translator)]]=== [[image:4the investigation ground to a halt. Now, her mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bed.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] We Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there're going to hear this story through s something about the viewpoints positioning of three different people: Adam Sandell, his wife, Ulrika and his daughter Stella. Adam's a pastor in the Church of Sweden bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and Ulrika is a lawyerher boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. Stella is, well, just difficult What looked as though it was going to be an open-and-shut case is now a complex double murder. You sense Kerrigan is convinced that shethe explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's always been difficult and there have even been occasions when Ulrika has let slip that she wishes that Stella was more like her best friendboss, Amina Bešic - and no one has ever said that if they don't think that the other person is betterUna Burt) are less convinced. We first meet the family on Stella's 18th birthday and we get a sense of Adam's controlling nature. Permission has to be given for a glass of wine for Stella at the celebration meal}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0571379877|title=The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating=3. [[A Nearly Normal Family by M T Edvardsson and Rachel Wilson-Boyles (translator)|Full Review]] <!-- Green -->5|-genre=Crime| stylesummary="width: 10%; verticalEdward Jevons is a working-align: top; textclass young man, obsessed with his upper-align: center;"|[[image:0192771566class friends, Robert and Stanza.jpg|link=http://www Robert's a theatre director.amazon.co He's also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him.uk/dp/0192771566/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days -21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-alignand he's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. Most men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he's not like most men: Edward is left;"to stumble upon the two of them kissing in a dark passageway.}}{{Frontpage|author=Jo Callaghan|title=Leave No Trace|rating=4|genre=[[The House of Light by Julia Green]]===Crime [[image:4.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Bonnie is growing up on When a man is found crucified on the top of a slightly strange islandhill in Nuneaton, living with DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her grandfathersidekick, scavenging for food, and rubbish that has washed up on the beach that she and her grandfather can use to make thingsthe AI detective Lock. It's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. There But when there is some sort of ban against anyone else landing on the islanda second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and lots of suspicion around those who live there, including a great fear very high profile case that draws a lot of anyone who gets sickunwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. But when Bonnie is on Will they be able to solve the beach one day and discovers not only an intact boatcase in time, but a young boy cowering beneath, rather than turn him in to or will Kat find herself taken off the authorities she takes him home case and hides him, smuggling him boiled eggs and blankets in the shed whilst she tries to figure potentially, out what to do. [[The House of Light by Julia Greena career?|Full Review]]isbn=139851120X}}<!-- Foster -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1399613073| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Moral Injuries|[[image:1471172236.jpgauthor=Christie Watson|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471172236/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Thrillers| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Check Mates by Stewart Foster]]=== [[image:5starOlivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] In many ways Felix is Anjali is the free spirit of the group and she becomes a typical boy in Year 7, enjoying playing games on his PS4 and hanging out with his friend Jake at the weekend. However Felix is struggling GP. When we first meet them they're at school. He is not a problem child but he does have a problem. His ADHD makes it hard for him drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to concentrate, he keeps getting into trouble and his grades are slippingend in tragedy. When his Mum suggests that he spends more time with his grandfather Felix is horrified. Ever since Grandma died his Granddad has been grumpy and more eccentric than before. All he wants to do is sit in We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the dark and play chessconsequences. Felix knows Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that this will be extremely boringimpact the three friends. But sometimes we learn valuable lessons where we least expect to and perhaps Granddad and Felix can help each other This time, it's their teenage children who are involved. [[Check Mates by Stewart Foster|Full Review]]}}<!-- Jane O'Connor -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=0241636604| styletitle="widthThe Trading Game: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson[[image:B07GLCDXZL|rating=4.jpg5|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07GLCDXZL/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Autobiography| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Needlemouse by Jane OIf you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you'Connor]]=== [[image:5starre unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] We first meet Sylvia Penton on her birthday poverty and her boss, the Prof, is taking her out to lunchinjustice. This is her favourite day of the year, not because it's her birthday There was no posh public school on his CV - but because of the special time she gets he had been to spend with the man she lovesLondon School of Economics. He's told her that Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he and his wife are going to divorce - Martha is apparently having an affair - and Sylvia is convinced that the Prof will then declare his love and they has a facility with numbers which most of us can be togetheronly envy. She hasn't fully constructed 'together' in her own mind - she envisages it as romantic, but her imagination hasn't yet progressed He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to the sexual part of the relationshipbe stupid. There's time though - she's only been the prof's PA for fifteen yearsIt was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank. [[Needlemouse by Jane O'Connor|Full Review]] Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.}}<!-- Various-->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1035021803| styletitle=The Antique Hunter''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''s Guide to Murder|[[image:1529006031.jpgauthor=C L Miller|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529006031/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary=It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up. She'vertical-align: top; text-align: left;'s back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole. Freya'|===[[Return s former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to Wonderland by Various Authors]]=== [[imagesay the least. Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village:4Arthur, she feels, let her down badly.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] 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, [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] In following she worked in a young girl called Alice down cafe, met and married James (on the rebound from the rabbit hole a few years agolove of her life, when the first book she who was in [[Alicemurdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=All Tomorrow's Adventures in Wonderland Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (150th Anniversary EditionEditors) by Lewis Carroll and Anthony Browne|hit 150 years rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=''Opening up new ways of age]], I found that I didn't really find too much favour with it. The wacky-for-thinking about the-sake-shape of-it did not gel, and I don't remember loving it more as a child. But I would suggest I am the perfect audience for this book. I had every chance things to enjoy these short stories that come at the core from a tangent, that show the benefits of the oblique glance. I.''ve always preferred coming to an author's output through their least obvious, allegedly throw-away pieces, and it's the same with franchises – I'd more likely go for Bree Tanner's short novella than the whole Twilight saga (although that remains just a hunch, for obvious reasons). For another thing, there was every reason to expect some kind of greatness here – with Carroll much loved by millions, surely pieces written with that love in mind could only provide for success after success? [[Return to Wonderland by Various Authors|Full Review]] <!-- Elphinstone -->|-| style=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|[[image:1471173666.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471173666/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[Rumblestar (The Unmapped Chronicles) by Abi Elphinstone]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Rumblestar follows the haphazard adventures of the anxious 11-year-old Casper Tock who timetables his every movement, makes countless to do lists and is hounded by wealthy bullies with the absurdly humorous and appropriate names of Candida Cashmere Jumps and Leopold Splattercash. He stumbles across a magic portal by accident just like Lucy of Narnia fame, meets a feisty girl troubled by her past and is plunged into a perilous quest. In a kingdom where the dark mythological forces of Midnights threaten the weather Marvels (equated here to the miracle of nature) conjured by magical creatures, only unlikely heroes can battle against evil. [[Rumblestar (The Unmapped Chronicles]) by Abi Elphinstone|Full Review]] <!-- Filby -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1999683587.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1999683587/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Evil Occupants of Easingdale Castle by Ray Filby]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] Jason likes chess. He's pretty good at it too - a level eight on his computer programme, with level ten being Grand Master level. He's also good at systems, having contributed to the relational database that has streamlined his school's administration. Jason's school, Easingdale Comprehensive, is very big on technology and its head, Mr Johnston, is keen to involve his pupils wherever they show promise. So Jason's friends have also helped out. Liz is great with hardware and helped with the school's card reader system. Becky has a flair for software and has recommended lots of curriculum-enhancing apps. And Bill is a talented programmer... [[The Evil Occupants of Easingdale Castle by Ray Filby|Full Review]]  <!-- Caz Frear -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0062849883.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0062849883/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Stone Cold Heart by Caz Frear]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] DC Cat Kinsella is back at the Met after a secondment to the London Mayor's Office: the hours were good but the job was boring. She's grateful to be back with the old team - her partner DS Luigi Parnell, boss DCI Kate Steele and DC Rénee Akwa. She's still not prepared to say anything about the identity of her boyfriend: the knowledge that she's in a relationship with Aiden Doyle, the brother of a murder victim and moreover a murder with which her father might have had some involvement could finish her career. Kinsella and Parnell are called to the discovery of the body of a young woman: Naomi Lockhart was Australian, just twenty-two years old and her body was discovered by her flat mate, Kieran Drake, an ex-offender. [[Stone Cold Heart by Caz Frear|Full Review]] <!-- Koomson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1472260376.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472260376/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Tell Me Your Secret by Dorothy Koomson]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Despite Dorothy Koomson regularly being suggested as an author I might like, ie people who like this author also like Dorothy Koomson, I have never read her before. Having done so I can totally see why she's the bestselling author of fifteen books. [[Tell Me Your Secret by Dorothy Koomson|Full Review]] <!-- Jo Spain -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1787474372.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1787474372/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Boy Who Fell (Inspector Tom Reynolds) by Jo Spain]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] There were six friends: four men and two women. They're all about eighteen and they've known each other since they started school. Both girls - Hazel Brophy and Charlotte Burke - have been in relationships with one of the boys, but Charlotte was determined that it would not be sexual. Hazel's views were so dramatically opposite that you wondered how they could be friends. They were all partying in a derelict house when Luke Connelly was pushed to his death from a third floor window and Daniel Konaté Jones was charged with rape and murder. Daniel was loosely associated with the group but never felt himself one of them. He didn't come from a wealthy background, is of mixed race and openly gay. Targets don't come much easier than that, except for one thing. [[The Boy Who Fell (Inspector Tom Reynolds) by Jo Spain|Full Review]]<!-- Webb -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1916459900.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1916459900/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Disbelieved: Skin and Bone CSIs by Beth Webb]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]  Anelise - Annie - has been living with her cousin Joe and her aunt, an eminent forensic scientist, since her mum died and her naturalist father went abroad on a research trip. So she does wonder sometimes whether the minor premonitions she has - who's on the other end of the ringing phone, or at the door when there's a knock - are in her imagination. But to foresee a serious accident and then for it to actually happen? And the dreadful headaches. Something's going on. Luckily for Annie, Joe is convinced and also willing to help. So they start to investigate the accident... [[Disbelieved: Skin and Bone CSIs by Beth Webb|Full Review]] <!-- Mick Herron -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:147365744X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/147365744X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Joe Country (Jackson Lamb 6) by Mick Herron]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] I'd like to say that all the old crew are in Slough House but the rate of natural (or unnatural) wastage is such as to have Health and Safety worried. Roderick Ho's there though, narcissistic as ever, and so's Louisa Guy. She's getting over the death of Min Harper to the extent that she's not ''too'' concerned when she gets a phone call from Clare Harper, Min's wife. River Cartwright has got death on his mind too, but in his case it's the impending demise of his beloved grandfather and former spook, the OB. Diana Taverner has taken over from Claude Whelan as First Desk at Regent Park and she's going to make changes: one of the first is a shock. An argument with Emma Flyte sees the head dog departing the service. Meanwhile at Slough House, Catherine Standish is buying booze again, Jackson Lamb is offensive as ever and Shirley Dander and J K Coe do their best to remain unnoticed, the latter by saying nothing. [[Joe Country (Jackson Lamb 6) by Mick Herron|Full Review]] <!-- Laurain -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1910477672.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910477672/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Vintage 1954 by Antoine Laurain, Jane Aitken (translator) and Emily Boyce (translator)]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Vintage 1954 starts by thrusting several completely different characters upon us, before deciding to run with them and formulate a plot. So we have an American biker, just landing in Paris but unfortunately not with the wife who shared his dream of visiting the city together. We have a goth girl who everyone recognises from an American crime show, but actually is a humble restorer of antiques. We have a cocktail barman, infatuated with the goth girl. We also have a man ruling the roost over a whole suite of individual apartments fabricated from the Haussmann-era mansion his family once owned. Finally something conspires to get them together, and drinking from the same bottle of a rare 1954 red wine. Only, one of them has a bizarre incidence in his family history that also features the same plonk – where a grandfather imbibed, and walked out the door one rainy morning, never to be seen again. But of course nobody will be doing any disappearing now, though – will they? [[Vintage 1954 by Antoine Laurain, Jane Aitken (translator) and Emily Boyce (translator)|Full Review]] <!-- Ford -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0356510441.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0356510441/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind by Jackson Ford]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] As the title suggests, this book is all about a girl, Teagan Frost, who has psychokinesis. Forced to secretly work for the government along with a few unique (and shady) individuals, Teagan has to use her power for unimaginable tasks. All of this whilst under the pretence of working for a moving-company. After her latest job goes wrong and her and the team escape by the skin of their teeth, Teagan finds herself as a murder suspect when the victim is found in such a way that only she could have committed the crime. The rest of the story unfolds in a fast-paced race against time to clear Teagan's name and find out exactly what has happened. Is it possible that someone with a gift like Teagan's has managed to fly under the radar? [[The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind by Jackson Ford|Full Review]] <!-- Caro Ramsay -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0727887602.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0727887602/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Suffering of Strangers by Caro Ramsay]]===

[[image:4starI've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen.jpg 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|linkauthor=Category:Sunny Singh|title=Hotel Arcadia|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers |summary=The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel manager. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|isbn=086154742X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529153298|title=The List of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=5|genre=General Fiction|summary=It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, though. Women have been disappearing. Well, they've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants to move the family 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a frightening, foreign place, best avoided. For Miv, the move would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, and she'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the dangers or that her Mum's stopped talking - to anyone.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1398524085|title=Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Nicci French|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=Charlotte Salter was expected at her husband's fiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Her children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but - strangely - her husband, Alec, is not. Shortly afterwards, Etty and Greg, find the body of Greg's father, Duncan Ackerley, in the river. It was an easy assumption for the police to make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when he couldn't stand the guilt. The 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 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}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime{{Frontpage|author=Rachel Greenlaw|title=Compass and Blade|rating=3.5|genre=Teens|Crime]]summary=''I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.''

Roberta (please call Rosevear, a remote and partially forgotten island, survives on luring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks. Mira, like her mother before her 'Bobby') Chisholm , is sleep deprivedone of the seven who swim out to survey the ruins – rescuing any survivors and any treasure that lies within. Six-week-old Sholto doesn't ''ever'' seem But when the Council Watch lays a trap to sleepend the wrecking, so Bobbythey capture the island's like a robot. Thereleader and Mira's father. Desperate to save him from death, Mira makes a little light on the horizon, though: bargain with a wreck survivor who is as charming as he is secretive and with only coordinates to guide her husband James is up for a new job, which could mean quite she sets off in search of a bit more moneyfamily secret that lies buried deep in the sea. When he rings With only nine days to tell unearth what might save her father, as her that hejourney takes her from the watched streets of foreign islands to the heart of the smuggler's got it he's obviously over the moon and tells Bobby territory, Mira must be determined to go stop at nothing to save the local shop future of her home and get the ones she holds most dear.|isbn=0008664730}}{{Frontpage|author=James Sherwood Metts|title=Planet Storyland|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary= Things have been a bottle of champagne so 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 can celebrate. For once Sholto has dropped off were beginning to get used to sleep all this technological change and when Bobby gets 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 shop shemany daily social interactions on which they depend so heavily.|isbn=1736128426}}{{Frontpage|author=Matthew Tree|title=We's reluctant ll Never Know|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Timothy Wyndham wants nothing more than to disturb him: surely there won't be different from his father, a problem if she dashes into 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}}{{Frontpage|author=A G Slatter|title=The Briar Book of the shop Dead|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|summary='' There's a part of me that wants to get the bubbly? She keep this just to myself for however long I can keep an eye on the car through the shop window. This secret magic of my own, but when she comes outall mine, the car has goneat last.I just want to enjoy it for a while.. [[The Suffering of Strangers by Caro Ramsay|Full Review]]''

<!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-- Christopher Edge -->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| stylesummary=It hadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis'width: 10%; verticals fault that Alex Delaware had been badly injured but he felt responsible and even after Alex recovered, Sturgis was reluctant to ask for his help on difficult cases. His assertions that there were only open-align: top; textand-align: center;shut cases which didn't need the help of a psychologist only worked for a while. Finally, it was Robin, Delaware's partner, who nudged Milo into asking for help again. She knew that the involvement was something that the man she loved needed. The next case did look simple, though. Two lovers were murdered in the swimming pool of a remote property in Bel Air. He was the heir to an Italian shoe empire and she is married to an extremely rich man and it's not the Italian. But which of them was the primary target?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529395224[[image|title=Letting the Cat Out of the Bag:1788004949The Secret Life of a Vet|author=Sion Rowlands|rating=3.jpg5|linkgenre=http://wwwAnimals and Wildlife|summary=Siôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentally. His father was a GP and Rowlands didn't want to follow in his footsteps, particularly when he considered the strain that being on-call put on his father's life. When he was seventeen he took the opportunity of doing work experience with a family friend who was a vet and was convinced this was the job for him. Before long, he was at Liverpool University.amazon It hadn't - as with so many students - been his dream since he was a child.co If anything, he'd wanted to be a professional footballer.uk/dp/1788004949/ref}}{{Frontpage|isbn=nosim?tag0861541774|title=A Nye of Pheasants|author=thebookbag-21]]Steve Burrows |rating=4 |genre=Crime| stylesummary=DCI Domenic Jejeune''verticals close friend and former colleague, Danny Maik, has taken a short holiday in Singapore to meet up with an old ally, Guy Trueman. Maik was involved in a street brawl -align: top; texthe would later maintain that he was facing a man armed with a knife -align: left;'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 Longest Night Perfect Passion Company is a dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Ness and operating as an alternative to all the online apps in providing a more personal, tailored service. Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the business, as Ness is planning to take a trip to Canada to get away for a while. Katie is coming out of Charlie Noon by Christopher Edge]]a break up with a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the chance to come home to Edinburgh. And so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters who quickly begin to charm. Katie has no experience in running a business, or in match-making, but Ness has full confidence in her abilities, and there's always her very helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand…|isbn=1846976596}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0811771741|title=InstaKnits for Baby |author=Melissa Leapman[[image:5star.jpg|linkrating=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category: Confident Readers4|Confident Readers]]genre=Crafts|summary=Melissa Leapman's ''InstaKnits for Baby'' gives us a collection of knits from toys to blankets. Some will be quick knits - others are of the 'long, cosy afternoons in front of the fire'If you go into 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 woodsprojects are attractive, Old Crony will get youmodern and useable. I perhaps show my age when I wonder about 'social-media-worthy projects'but that' Secretss 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, spies and it's possible that whoever or maybe even 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 monsternice 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. What lies in the heart Spike is going to take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of the wood? CharlieBenny's enemies, if he, Benny, Dizzy and Johnny Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are determined .|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 discover sleep and eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of the truthtwo. But he's a bad magician's cat, but when night falls without warning so his favourite bun has been turned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, and the catflap they find themselves trapped in a nightmare. Lost in both use can chuck them out, not into the woodsregular back garden, strange dangers but into a world of frightening adventure and impossible puzzles lurk in the shadowswhiffs. As This time plays tricksround it drops them into a Viking land, where a troll hunter is expected – well, one much bigger than Murray was, to be honest, can Charlie solve this mystery but he's turned up and find 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 way out of ''Yo birthing person'' joke? And if you could, is the woodsquestion should you make it? But what Or is the question if this night never endsyou did, would it land? The catch is that the answer for both could well be....no.? [[The Longest Night of Charlie Noon by Christopher Edge|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?