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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|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->reviews of books about to be published]].<!-- Gregory -->{{Frontpage|-author=Tom Percival| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Wrong Shoes|rating=5[[image:1526609169.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1526609169/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Confident Readers| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[I Hold Your Heart by Karen Gregory]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]  Gemma has just started her A levels Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can't work because he lost his job at school. She's the college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a keen student building site and she has a good, close set of friendshad an accident. Gemma loves country music and in her spare time she enjoys writing Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and singing country songs. SheWill's pretty good at it toolife seems bleak in every direction. Home life is busy - Gemma's brother Michael And yet, he still has a chance tiny amount of hope. He is good at a football career art, and clings to the whole familymoments of joy when he is drawing, propelled by Gemma's rather over-invested dadthat feel like a light at the end of a long, is supporting him with everything they've gotdark tunnel. Gemma hasn't had a serious boyfriend yet, so when the handsome Aaron appears and an instant attraction fizzles between them, Gemma is keen to see where romance could lead... [[I Hold Your Heart by Karen Gregory|Full Review]]isbn=1398527122<!-- Davis -->}}{{Frontpage|-author=Sylvie Cathrall|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"5|genre=Science Fiction[[image:0192749218.jpg|linksummary=http://www.amazon.coThere are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.uk/dp/0192749218/ref|isbn=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]0356522776}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|0008517061|title===[[What's That Death in Dog Years? by Ben Davis and Julia Christians]]a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell|rating=4|genre=Crime [[image:4|summary= Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] George and Gizmo have been together ever since George was born. Gizmo has always been a fun There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the future of his life with his vet girlfriend, adventurous dog Livia and a loyal friendher daughter Diana, but just recently, George has noticed that he's starting to slow down as moving in together would mean a little. A visit to the vets leaves George worried that Gizmo might not be around for very much longer, lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and so he begins relaxing life to write Gizmo a bucket list, of all the adventures that they can still have together move in Gizmo's last days. But are they his last days? And who will help George with Livia or does Livia move to stay calm when Gizmo Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this is gonethe future she wants for herself and her daughter? [[What's That For the moment they’re enjoying life in Dog Years? by Ben Davis the present and Julia Christians|Full Review]]putting the future on the back burner.}}<!-- Hlad -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1786482126| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths[[image:1529311446|rating=4.jpg5|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529311446/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="verticalBuilders were demolishing an old house in Norwich -align: top; textthe site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments -align: left;"|===[[The Long Flight Home by A L Hlad]]=== [[image:4when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway.5star There was no skull.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] September 1940 - as WWII rages on Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, bombs rain down on BritainDr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, destroying the homes and lives that she is pregnant with his child as a result of a people on the edge. In Epping Forest, Susan Shepherd and her grandfather Bertie live one night they spent together raising homing pigeons with the birds proving a comfort for Susan following the loss of her parentssome three months ago. These pigeons are more than just birds Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to Susan though – in each one, and especially in Duchess, she sees a distinct personality and forms a close bondsudden bouts of sickness. Meanwhile, young pilot Ollie Evans leaves Maine to head to Britain and join the Royal Air Force. 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}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4. As 5|genre=Crime|summary=It's unusual for anyone from the mission Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is planned, the bond between Ollie struggling in prison and Susan grows stronger, but when Olliehe's plane prepared to tell the police where the body of a missing person is downed behind enemy lines, it may be Duchess buried and who provides an unexpected lifeline and ensures that hope of a reunion was responsible for Susan her death. This person, he promises, is someone big and Ollie remains… [[The Long Flight Home by A L Hlad|Full Review]] <!-- Peter Wohlleben -->|-| style=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|[[image:1846045576it will be worth the police doing what he wants.jpg|link=http://www 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.amazon.co.uk/dp/1846045576/ref=nosim Not much to ask, is it?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style= The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she'verticals even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded -align: top; text-align: left;'make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008405026|title===[[Walks In The Wild by Peter Wohlleben and Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp A Stranger in the Family (TranslatorMaeve Kerrigan 11)]]|author=Jane Casey|rating=5|genre=Crime [[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Animals It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and Wildlife|Animals and Wildlife]]the investigation ground to a halt. Now, her mother, Helena, [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] her father are dead in their bed. Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there''An instruction manual for s something about the forest'' is how Wohlleben's publisher described positioning of the idea for this book, and bodies that's basically what makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it is – although right at the end the author says that it is not intended was going to be a reference book, but an appetiser. [[Walks In The Wild by Peter Wohlleben open-and Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp -shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (Translatorsuch as Derwent's boss, Una Burt)|Full Review]]are less convinced.}}<!-- M T Edvardsson and Rachel Wilson-Boyles -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=0571379877| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet[[image:1529008123.jpg|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529008123/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="verticalEdward Jevons is a working-align: top; textclass young man, obsessed with his upper-align: left;"|===[[A Nearly Normal Family by M T Edvardsson class friends, Robert and Rachel Wilson-Boyles (translator)]]=== [[image:4Stanza. Robert's a theatre director.5star He's also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] We 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're going to hear this story through the viewpoints of three different people: Adam Sandell, his wife, Ulrika and his daughter Stella. Adams position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he's a pastor in not like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the Church two of Sweden and Ulrika is them kissing in a lawyerdark passageway. Stella is, well, just difficult. You sense that she'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 friend}}{{Frontpage|author=Jo Callaghan|title=Leave No Trace|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=When a man is found crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, Amina Bešic - and no one has ever said that if they don't think that the other person is betterAI detective Lock. We first meet the family on Stella It's 18th birthday and we get a sense of Adam's controlling naturetheir first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. Permission has to be given for But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a glass lot of wine for Stella at unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. Will they be able to solve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the celebration meal. [[A Nearly Normal Family by M T Edvardsson case and Rachel Wilson-Boyles (translator)|Full Review]], potentially, out of a career?|isbn=139851120X}}<!-- Green -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1399613073| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson[[image:0192771566.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/0192771566/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Thrillers|summary===[[The House Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of Light by Julia Green]]=== [[image:4a century.5star Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Bonnie Laura is growing up on a slightly strange island, living with her grandfather, scavenging for food, and rubbish that has washed up on the beach that she and her grandfather can use to make things. perfectionist and a trauma doctor. There Anjali is some sort the free spirit of ban against anyone else landing on the island, group and lots of suspicion around those who live there, including she becomes a great fear of anyone GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who gets sicksuffered the tragedy or the consequences. But when Bonnie is on the beach one day and discovers not only Twenty-five years later there will be an intact boat, but a young boy cowering beneath, rather than turn him in to eerily similar event that will impact the authorities she takes him home and hides himthree friends. This time, smuggling him boiled eggs and blankets in the shed whilst she tries to figure out what to doit's their teenage children who are involved. [[The House of Light by Julia Green|Full Review]]}}<!-- Foster -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=0241636604| styletitle="widthThe Trading Game: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson[[image:1471172236.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471172236/ref=nosim?tag5|genre=thebookbag-21]] Autobiography| stylesummary="verticalIf you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Check Mates by Stewart Foster]]=== [[image:5starstripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] In many ways Felix is There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a typical boy in Year 7, enjoying playing games on his PS4 and hanging out facility with his friend Jake at the weekend. However Felix is struggling at schoolnumbers which most of us can only envy. He is not a problem child but he does have a problem. His ADHD makes it hard for him also realised that most rich people expect poor people to concentrate, he keeps getting into trouble and his grades are slippingbe stupid. When It was his Mum suggests that he spends more time ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with his grandfather Felix is horrifiedCitibank. Ever since Grandma died his Granddad has been grumpy and more eccentric than before Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader. All he wants }}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035021803|title=The Antique Hunter's Guide to do is sit in the dark and play chessMurder|author=C L Miller|rating=3. Felix knows that this will be extremely boring. But sometimes we learn valuable lessons where we least expect to and perhaps Granddad and Felix can help each other. [[Check Mates by Stewart Foster5|Full Review]]genre=Crime <!-- Jane O|summary=It'Connor -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:B07GLCDXZLs twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up.jpg|link=http://www She's back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07GLCDXZL/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the least. Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Needlemouse by Jane O'Connor]]=== [[image:5starArthur, she feels, let her down badly.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] We first meet Sylvia Penton on her birthday and her boss Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the Prof, is taking her out to lunchprofession she loved. This is her favourite day of After the yearsplit, she worked in a cafe, not because it's her birthday but because of met and married James (on the special time she gets to spend with rebound from the man she loves. He's told love of her that he life, who was murdered) and his wife are going to divorce - Martha is apparently having an affair - Freya and Sylvia is convinced that the Prof will then declare his love and they can be togetherJames have now divorced. She hasn't fully constructed }}{{Frontpage|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary='together' in her own mind - she envisages it as romantic, but her imagination hasn't yet progressed to Opening up new ways of thinking about the sexual part shape of the relationshipthings to come. There's time though - she's only been the prof's PA for fifteen years. [[Needlemouse by Jane O'Connor|Full Review]]<!-- Various-->|-| style=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|[[image:1529006031.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529006031/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[Return to Wonderland by Various Authors]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]], [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] In following a young girl called Alice down the rabbit hole a few years ago, when the first book she was in [[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (150th Anniversary Edition) by Lewis Carroll and Anthony Browne|hit 150 years of age]], I found that I didn't really find too much favour with it. The wacky-for-the-sake-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 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]] 

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 -align: left;"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 Suffering Black Hole'. All big movie fans, they're looking forward to lots of Strangers by Caro Ramsay]]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.jpgMira, 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.|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, all mine, at last. I just want to enjoy it for a while.''

Roberta (please call 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'Bobbys 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') Chisholm legacy, everything they have sacrificed to survive, is sleep deprivedunder 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 ask for his help on difficult cases. SixHis assertions that there were only open-weekand-old Sholto doesnshut 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'evers 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'' seem t want to sleepfollow in his footsteps, so Bobbyparticularly when he considered the strain that being on-call put on his father's like life. When he was seventeen he took the opportunity of doing work experience with a robotfamily friend who was a vet and was convinced this was the job for him. ThereBefore 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.}}{{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 meet up with an old ally, Guy Trueman. Maik was involved in a little 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 on 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 horizononline apps in providing a more personal, though: tailored service. Ness has asked her husband James younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the business, as Ness is planning to take a trip to Canada to get away for a while. Katie is coming out of a break up for with a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the chance to come home to Edinburgh. And so begins this new jobstory from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie novels, which could mean quite a bit more moneybut with some new characters who quickly begin to charm. When he rings to tell Katie has no experience in running a business, or in match-making, but Ness has full confidence in her that heabilities, and there's got it healways 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 obviously over ''InstaKnits for Baby'' gives us a collection of knits from toys to blankets. Some will be quick knits - others are of the 'long, cosy afternoons in front of the fire' variety. The projects are divided by the moon and tells Bobby time they'll take to complete - less than five hours, five to go ten hours, ten to twenty hours and more than twenty hours. All the local shop projects are attractive, modern and get useable. I perhaps show my age when I wonder about 'social-media-worthy projects' but that's me being picky.}}{{Frontpage|author=Dean Koontz|title=The Bad Weather Friend|rating=4.5|genre=Paranormal|summary=Benny is having a bottle of champagne so that they can celebrateterrifically bad day. He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and his house gets trashed. For once Sholto Oh, and someone has dropped off delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to sleep his home, and when Bobby gets 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 shop shedelivery to his house is a new friend, a bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person. Spike is going to take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's enemies, if he, Benny, and Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's reluctant 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 disturb him: surely there won't be a problem if she dashes into the shop humble, tidy and friendly cat, one who is able to get sleep and eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of the bubbly? two. She 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 keep an eye on chuck them out, not into the car through the shop windowregular 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 when she comes outhe'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 car has goneanswer for both could well be....no. [[The Suffering of Strangers by Caro Ramsay|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?