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• Category:Reviewer Centre
  10 members (1 subcategory, 0 files) - 11:51, 9 June 2019

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• Category:Reviewers
  See also [[Reviewer Vacancies]] if you'd like to join our team. [[Category:Reviewer Centre]]
  207 members (205 subcategories, 0 files) - 16:37, 18 August 2019
• A French Affair by Katie Fforde
  |reviewer=Jo Heffer ...their aunt to open. It transpires that they have been left a stall in the centre and their aunt has requested that Matthew helps them get to grips with the
  3 KB (535 words) - 11:16, 25 February 2018
• Instructions for Redeeming an Audible Code
  [[Category:Reviewer Centre]]
  623 bytes (103 words) - 10:02, 11 February 2015
• The Coroner by M R Hall
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...o forget the deaths of two teenagers who have recently been in a detention centre? Newly appointed coroner Jenny Cooper is determined to find out. Recommen
  3 KB (521 words) - 08:41, 4 October 2020
• Going Home by Cliff McNish
  |reviewer=Louise Jones ...ver putting a healthy dog down. However, when a new manager takes over the centre, the rules change and it becomes a desperate race against time to find the
  2 KB (418 words) - 13:04, 23 April 2018
• Dancing to an Irish Reel by Claire Fullerton
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...the holiday of a lifetime to Ireland when she walked into the Galway Music Centre and found a job which she simply couldn't turn down. She also found a home
  3 KB (597 words) - 08:35, 15 August 2020
• The Dog with No Name by Neil Griffiths and Janette Louden
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...'' and lots of red tape they had their very own dog. He'd not been in the centre long and had no name but the whole family fell for him and brought him home
  4 KB (636 words) - 11:53, 7 October 2020
• When The Curtain Falls by Carrie Hope Fletcher
  |reviewer= Mary Waterfall ...ip, jealousy, possessiveness, selfishness, cold ambition, all laid bare on centre stage.
  3 KB (471 words) - 08:48, 7 May 2018
• A Cat Called Scratch by Jonathan Long and Korky Paul
  |reviewer=Keith Dudhnath ...urbulent flea. Korky Paul's quirky and vibrant illustrations are front and centre in this fun tale of a cat at the end of his tether.
  2 KB (366 words) - 14:31, 16 August 2020
• Animal Rescue: The Unwanted Puppy by Tina Nolan
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...Karl and Eva, who live at the rescue centre along with their parents. The centre has two rules - they never put any animal to sleep who has a chance of rega
  3 KB (540 words) - 12:37, 17 April 2018
• Where the Innocent Die (D I Ridpath) by M J Lee
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...4 of the series sees Ridpath investigating a death at an Immigrant Removal Centre. A good read.
  3 KB (568 words) - 12:48, 16 March 2020
• A Home for Shimmer by Cathy Hopkins
  |reviewer=Louise Jones ...etter. Can the Westall family turn their dream of opening an animal rescue centre into a reality?
  3 KB (568 words) - 12:01, 3 September 2020
• Children's Picture Books for Review
  [[Category:Reviewer Centre]]
  1 KB (208 words) - 14:53, 24 November 2017
• Lamb to the Slaughter by Aline Templeton
  |reviewer= Sue Magee ...l for them. No one knew whether Andrew Carmichael had decided to sell the Centre or not, but did someone feel strongly enough about the proposed sale to tak
  3 KB (575 words) - 08:22, 10 March 2018
• Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
  |reviewer= Luke Marlowe ...most epic of ways, but one with a strong, proud and beautiful heart at the centre of it.
  3 KB (452 words) - 13:13, 5 June 2018
• Outrage by Arnaldur Indridason
  |reviewer=Sue Magee |summary=Detective Elinborg takes centre stage in place of Erlendur, but to good effect in this intriguing story fro
  3 KB (454 words) - 08:49, 18 September 2020
• Crossed Wires by Rosy Thornton
  |reviewer= Sue Magee |summary= Can a Cambridge don and a worker in a Sheffield call centre develop any sort of relationship? It's a fairy story for the twenty first
  4 KB (711 words) - 13:14, 14 September 2020
• Watching the Dark by Peter Robinson
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...d about a month ago, but compromising photographs found in his room at the centre suggested that he had been in an adulterous relationship with a very young
  3 KB (493 words) - 16:33, 11 August 2020
• The Recent Past by James Ravilious
  |reviewer= John Van der Kiste ...ri Cartier-Bresson. Now, in their new home, he was employed by the Beaford Centre to start a photographic archive recording the landscape and people of the a
  4 KB (732 words) - 22:12, 15 February 2018
• Kind of Kin by Rilla Askew
  |reviewer=Stacey Barkley ...oma, 2008. The big issue of the day is immigration and this town is at the centre of a political storm. Bill 1830 has just been passed creating havoc as the
  3 KB (496 words) - 15:12, 5 September 2020
• The Stoning by Peter Papathanasiou
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...ops, are quite confident the culprit has come from the immigrant detention centre the place is reluctantly home to. An arson attack on that shows the feeling
  5 KB (873 words) - 15:18, 30 March 2024
• The Marble Collector by Cecelia Ahern
  |reviewer= Stacey Barkley ...this case, marbles, shining, delicate and intricately crafted, lie at the centre of a personal journey.
  3 KB (566 words) - 14:34, 31 August 2020
• Summer at Hope Meadows by Lucy Daniels
  |reviewer= Louise Jones ...ice in Leeds, but falls in love with the idea of creating an animal rescue centre near her parents in Welford. How can she choose between her heart and her h
  3 KB (540 words) - 12:25, 19 March 2018
• The Here and Now by Ann Brashares
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...el flavour, you'll love it. If you become impatient when the romance takes centre stage and the various paradoxes in time-travel aren't very carefully treate
  3 KB (584 words) - 08:55, 9 October 2020
• Inside The Centre: The Life of J Robert Oppenheimer by Ray Monk
  |title=Inside The Centre: The Life of J Robert Oppenheimer |reviewer=George Care
  6 KB (954 words) - 12:29, 26 February 2018
• Tale of a Tooth by Allie Rogers
  |reviewer= Luke Marlowe ..., but they manage - until they're threatened by a benefits sanction. A Job Centre employee looks to be their salvation - but her impact on the family goes fa
  3 KB (587 words) - 13:02, 15 April 2018
• The Pursuit of Mary Bennet: A Pride and Prejudice Novel by Pamela Mingle
  |reviewer=Louise Jones ...slate with which to expand and build on her character, placing her firmly centre stage in this P&P sequel. Mary, unlike her beautiful and accomplished older
  4 KB (582 words) - 09:28, 22 March 2018
• Ancient Gonzo Wisdom: Interviews with Hunter S Thompson by Anita Thompson (Editor)
  |reviewer= Chris Bradshaw ...Vegas'' first graced the shelves. His gonzo style, putting himself at the centre of the story, should tell readers as much about the person doing the writin
  4 KB (595 words) - 08:18, 7 August 2020
• Miss Austen by Gill Hornby
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...family was extensive and there was no guarantee that Jane would be taking centre stage.
  4 KB (619 words) - 13:06, 21 February 2022
• Clear Water by Will Ashton
  |reviewer=John Lloyd |summary=An ultra-modern shopping centre, controlled by a perniciously vast corporation, affects many varied lives i
  4 KB (618 words) - 14:00, 15 March 2018
• Westminster: A biography, from earliest times to the present by Robert Shepherd
  |reviewer=John Van der Kiste ...yal capital that became the birthplace of parliamentary government and the centre of a world power, and the monarchs, politicians and others who shaped its h
  6 KB (1,009 words) - 13:41, 27 February 2018
• Pure by Andrew Miller
  |reviewer=Louise Laurie ...ct which involves distasteful but necessary work in a cemetery in the city centre - but is he up to the job?
  4 KB (623 words) - 16:51, 29 August 2020
• The Various Haunts Of Men: Simon Serrailler Book 1 by Susan Hill
  |reviewer=Sue Magee There's an area just outside the centre of Lafferton known as 'the Hill', renowned for its peace, quiet and tranqui
  4 KB (637 words) - 07:56, 12 August 2020
• The Professionals by Owen Laukkanen
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...mate. Like any sensible person with a degree they decide to avoid the job centre and set out creating a kidnapping ring instead. And they are good. Two ye
  4 KB (700 words) - 14:50, 10 March 2018
• What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn
  |reviewer=Sue Magee Kurt, a security guard at the Green Oaks shopping centre, sees the shadowy figure of a young girl on the CCTV cameras and it puts hi
  3 KB (569 words) - 15:24, 23 August 2020
• Painting Snails by Stephen John Hartley
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...o medical school and now works part-time as a consultant in a Major Trauma Centre. Highly recommended.
  4 KB (634 words) - 15:13, 3 January 2020
• Casper the Commuting Cat: The True Story of the Cat Who Rode the Bus and Stole Our Hearts by Susan Finden and Linda Watson-Brown
  |reviewer=Katie Pullen ...cats, Casper had come to live with her and her husband Chris via a rescue centre. But unlike her other cats he had a certain fondness for disappearing for
  3 KB (620 words) - 10:50, 14 April 2018
• Under Earth, Under Water by Aleksandra Mizielinski, Daniel Mizielinski and Antonia Lloyd-Jones (translator)
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...e centre of our planet, where just a nudge about the place closest to said centre (a place which may not be where you think) means you turn the whole book ar
  4 KB (629 words) - 08:54, 24 August 2020
• Edward VI: The Lost King of England by Chris Skidmore
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...person writing about them. There's no danger of the characters not taking centre stage here. Skidmore has written a lively, interesting book - for the non-a
  4 KB (637 words) - 08:39, 12 April 2018
• According to Arnold: A Novel of Love and Mushrooms by Giles Milton
  |reviewer=Katie Pullen ...ushrooms leads him to become king of a remote South Pacific island and the centre of a major conspiracy. An imaginative and unique read, perfect if you want
  4 KB (685 words) - 13:00, 22 September 2020
• The Cage by Gordon Weiss
  |reviewer=Andy Lancaster The history of Ceylon, and latterly Sri Lanka has at its centre an undeniable contradiction. A nation which espoused and proclaimed peacefu
  4 KB (633 words) - 08:08, 12 April 2018
• So Nude, So Dead by Ed McBain
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...sters of the genre, Ed McBain, because he puts Stone's addiction front and centre in this book and uses it as a driving force for the story. You would think
  4 KB (688 words) - 11:54, 11 March 2018
• Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann
  |reviewer= Ruth Ng ...ppe Petit walked on a high wire between the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York, and we begin with his high wire walk. Petit is never directly
  4 KB (648 words) - 13:50, 30 March 2018
• The Mapmaker's Monsters: Beware the Buffalogre! by Rob Stevens
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...ds and worlds being discovered left, right and centre is the fact that the centre has been pretty much all explored. England is host to a brattish and naïv
  4 KB (613 words) - 09:37, 29 September 2020
• Inside by Alix Ohlin
  |reviewer=Andy Lancaster Therapy is at the centre of this novel, as both Mitch and Grace are professionals as Annie and Tug a
  4 KB (687 words) - 11:51, 23 February 2018
• Best Friends’ Bakery: Birthdays and Biscuits by Linda Chapman and Kate Hindley
  |reviewer=Ruth Ng ...p her busy. There’s a new beauty shop opening to bake for, a doggy rescue centre in trouble, and a new girl who seems intent on stopping anyone from befrien
  4 KB (761 words) - 09:52, 19 April 2018
• The Dervish House by Ian McDonald
  |reviewer=Louise Laurie The reader is plunged straight away into the busy, bustling centre of Istanbul. And climate change appears to have arrived. In 2022 thousand
  4 KB (616 words) - 12:15, 1 April 2018
• An Otter on the Aga by Rex Harper
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...he story of how his sanctuary grew to become the RSPCA's designated rescue centre in Cornwall. On the way we meet some of the fifty thousand and more animals
  4 KB (689 words) - 13:39, 4 March 2018
• The Other Hand by Chris Cleave
  |reviewer=Lesley Mason |summary=Little Bee lives the Asylum Detention Centre full of hope for her new life in England. She is going to meet up with the
  5 KB (935 words) - 10:32, 10 July 2022
• Mudpuddle Farm: Pigs Might Fly! by Michael Morpurgo and Shoo Rayner
  |reviewer= James Donald ...provides a stern intellectual foundation to the tale but she doesn't take centre-stage as she does in the other tales I've read.
  2 KB (294 words) - 10:09, 18 April 2018
• The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy Subhi is ten years old. He has lived his whole life in a detention centre for refugees in Australia. He is Rohingya and his mother and sister fled pe
  4 KB (706 words) - 09:40, 26 August 2020
• At Sea by Laurie Graham
  |reviewer=Louise Laurie Although there is a credible plot here, it isn't centre stage. The rich, comic language is the star. It's excellent. There's so
  4 KB (647 words) - 09:39, 15 March 2018
• Goodhouse by Peyton Marshall
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler This intriguing concept it is at the very centre of ‘Goodhouse’ and is by far the strongest element of the book. The in
  4 KB (753 words) - 19:49, 29 August 2020
• The Second Plane by Martin Amis
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...mary=Reportage, short stories and essays on the attacks on the World Trade Centre and what has happened since. The stance is less centrist than is currently
  4 KB (718 words) - 10:21, 2 April 2018
• Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell
  |reviewer=Iain Wear ...e strange, but the range of ideas is incredible and, as a slightly left of centre person myself, I loved every moment of this collection.
  4 KB (734 words) - 18:03, 24 February 2018
• The Birds, the Bees, and Other Secrets by Frances Garrood
  |reviewer=Katherine Stanton ...fe of Cassandra Fitzpatrick. Ironically as the main character Cassandra is centre of attention but rarely in her life does the spotlight fall solely on her.
  2 KB (320 words) - 08:51, 4 April 2018
• Books for Review
  [[Category: Reviewer Centre]]
  2 KB (339 words) - 13:18, 11 May 2024
• Bang Goes a Troll! (An Awfully Beastly Business) by The Beastly Boys
  |reviewer= Sue Mongredien ...he RSPCB's headquarters, with a one-word message: 'Help!' Dr Fielding, the centre's vet, discovers that the bat has come all the way from Honeycomb Mountain
  4 KB (675 words) - 09:43, 19 April 2018
• The Roots of Evil (Bob Skinner) by Quintin Jardine
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...cannot: it's Mario McGuire asking for his presence at a crime scene in the centre of Edinburgh. Skinner's not technically with the police now - he's chairma
  4 KB (677 words) - 10:33, 29 March 2024
• Ready, Steady, Jump by Jeanne Willis and Adrian Reynolds
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...y bouncing around, poor elephant just can’t jump at all. However, his low centre of gravity just may come in helpful in this colourful, if slightly daft, ch
  4 KB (778 words) - 14:39, 24 September 2020
• Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram
  |reviewer=Rachael Spencer Another book with a similarly wonderful relationship at its centre is [[Can't You Sleep, Little Bear? by Martin Waddell and Barbara Firth]].
  2 KB (367 words) - 09:38, 2 March 2018
• Blue Slipper Bay by Wendy K Harris
  |reviewer=Sue Fairhead ...ry=Jill is concerned about her husband Ash, and the future of their health centre. Sophie is not sure what to do when her husband leaves her. Nick is trying
  5 KB (780 words) - 08:54, 14 May 2018
• Let's Look on the Farm by Andrea Pinnington and Caz Buckingham
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...for you to spot and tick off and then a some harder items to find. In the centre of the book is a sheet of thirty stickers which will detach without causing
  2 KB (363 words) - 15:08, 22 March 2018
• The Secret History of Costaguana by Juan Gabriel Vasquez
  |reviewer=Robin Leggett ...n Miguel's work, but also ultimately in Conrad's treatment of José. At the centre of Conrad's book was a dispute over a silver mine, although Vasquez suggest
  4 KB (708 words) - 10:00, 31 March 2018
• The Long Call (Two Rivers) by Ann Cleeves
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...o the Woodyard, a centre for the arts, a community hub and the home of the centre for people with learning difficulties. Jonathan runs the Woodyard and DS J
  4 KB (706 words) - 13:09, 1 September 2023
• Animal Lives: Lions by Sally Morgan
  |reviewer=Louise Jones ...animal from the African savannah. This time, the king of the beasts takes centre stage, in a book that mixes stunning photography with plenty of fascinating
  2 KB (336 words) - 12:52, 6 April 2018
• How Much have Global Problems Cost the World?: A Scorecard from 1900 to 2050 by Bjorn Lomborg (Editor)
  |reviewer=Trish Simpson-Davis |summary=This important reference book from the Copenhagen Consensus Centre attempts to evaluate the relative economic impact of ten key issues in worl
  5 KB (738 words) - 12:01, 14 April 2018
• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
  |reviewer=Ani Johnson Rather than continuing to look evenly at all four, Jude takes centre stage and the others' literary value is in how they react to him rather tha
  5 KB (772 words) - 09:34, 4 March 2018
• The Fifth Heart by Dan Simmons
  |reviewer=Ani Johnson ...nd becomes a very reluctant US Dr Watson but it's his antagonist who takes centre stage throughout.
  4 KB (747 words) - 09:36, 12 March 2018
• Benny Allen Was A Star: A New York Music Story by Alan Lorber
  |reviewer=Maurizio Valeri ...crisis and the Beatles playing the Ed Sullivan show. Benny Allen is at the centre of the cultural and musical revolution and in the process he comes across a
  4 KB (757 words) - 10:35, 15 March 2018
• The Children's Book by A S Byatt
  |reviewer=Robin Leggett At the centre of this (or perhaps more accurately close to the centre) is the writer of children's fairy stories, Olive Wellwood and her family,
  5 KB (885 words) - 10:04, 2 March 2018
• Day After Night by Anita Diamant
  |reviewer=Trish Simpson-Davis |summary=A fine and very readable novel set in a Palestinian detention centre at the end of the Second World War. Holocaust survivors wait for papers, f
  5 KB (755 words) - 12:44, 22 February 2018
• The Isle of Man: Portrait of a Nation by John Grimson
  |reviewer= John Van der Kiste ...d governance, reputation and status as an international offshore financial centre for banking and commerce, and as an internally self-governing dependency of
  5 KB (759 words) - 12:59, 27 February 2018
• Ink and Bone by Lisa Unger
  |reviewer=Kerry King ...e a right turn that you missed the first time and even though you find the centre of the maze, the sculpture that you were told would be there has either bee
  5 KB (846 words) - 12:24, 18 February 2018
• One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rainforest by Wade Davis
  |reviewer=Rachel Holmes ...Sadly ignorance flourish, or maybe is just pure gringos thinking US as the centre of the world, as it happens very often we are talking about COLOMBIA, not C
  5 KB (870 words) - 08:45, 17 March 2020
• Animal Lives: Giraffes by Sally Morgan
  |reviewer=Louise Jones ...African savannah and this time it is the turn of the noble giraffe to take centre stage.
  2 KB (365 words) - 17:26, 19 March 2018
• Burning by Danielle Rollins
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ''Burning'' starts out really well as a realist drama set in a teen detention centre. I liked Angela and her friends Issy and Cara. I liked how they interacted
  2 KB (401 words) - 17:15, 31 March 2018
• Mungo Monkey has a Birthday Party by Lydia Monks
  |reviewer=Zoe Morris However there are a couple where the design isn’t great, they’re too near the centre fold and if you don’t hold the flap firmly back down, it gets bent as you
  2 KB (412 words) - 09:24, 24 October 2023
• The Further Adventures of the Queen Mum by Harry Hill
  |reviewer=Keith Dudhnath |summary=A gloriously surreal picture book with the Queen Mum taking centre stage as a (literally) down to earth superhero.
  2 KB (371 words) - 14:00, 1 September 2020
• The Tunnel Through Time: A New Route for an Old London Journey by Gillian Tindall
  |reviewer=John Van der Kiste ...their history from various other sources. She starts with a route from the centre to the East End and beyond, and then goes in a westerly direction. In the p
  5 KB (860 words) - 17:31, 26 April 2018
• Bad Penny Blues by Cathi Unsworth
  |reviewer= Fiona Thompson ...media types, and even peers. Carnaby Street was just becoming the fashion centre of London and a new decade promised exciting possibilities.
  5 KB (895 words) - 13:56, 6 March 2018
• Street of Tall People by Alan Gibbons
  |reviewer=John Lloyd Putting two lads in the centre of such a historical conflict should certainly allow for drama, and that's
  2 KB (396 words) - 12:32, 22 March 2018
• Reviewer Vacancies
  ...at it's like to be a reviewer [[A Bookbagger's View:What it's like to be a reviewer|here]]. ...ve just read. People who understand that the reader wants to know what the reviewer thinks about the book and not just what's written on the back cover. People
  4 KB (725 words) - 16:24, 18 August 2019
• Christmas Designs by Elaine Hill
  |reviewer=Sarah Cooper Page 1- a large Star surrounded by smaller stars and in the centre there is a bough of holly tied in a bow. Smaller sprigs of holly also surro
  5 KB (915 words) - 10:08, 2 March 2018
• The Crime Wave at Blandings by P G Wodehouse
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...crime wave at Blandings Castle and bumbling Lord Emsworth is right at its centre. This is somewhat surprising as Emsworth (or 'Clarence!' to his sister Con
  2 KB (373 words) - 15:15, 23 March 2018
• Fiddlesticks! by Sean Taylor and Sally Anne Garland
  |reviewer=Rachael Spencer ...it, with friendship amongst the various different woodland animals at the centre of it. I really liked the idea of this story, and the book design is nice t
  3 KB (457 words) - 15:17, 29 March 2018
• Fluffy Chick by Rod Campbell
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...life. Campbell's trademark bold and colourful illustrations are front and centre, so the book is very appealing to a toddler. They will soon reach forwards
  3 KB (463 words) - 16:08, 29 March 2018
• The Pencil Book by Miri Flower
  |reviewer=Louise Jones ...te fun games and artwork. ''The Pencil Book'' sees the humble pencil takes centre stage, with seventy projects to keep kids engaged and amused.
  3 KB (424 words) - 19:56, 25 February 2018
• Broken Biscuits by Liz Kettle
  |reviewer=Lesley Mason .... She has been in and out of hospital. She has social workers and "the day centre" volunteers. She has her fears and her rituals for coping with them. She ha
  6 KB (929 words) - 09:00, 14 May 2018
• All Yours by Claudia Pineiro
  |reviewer=Susmita Chatto ...art of the story. It takes a little while for the other characters to move centre stage, but when they do, having seen them only through the eyes of Inés, i
  3 KB (508 words) - 12:36, 6 March 2018
• Little Lost Hedgehog (RSPCA Fiction) by Jill Hucklesby
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...meone from the RSPCA came round to collect the hoglet and take it to their centre for care.
  3 KB (518 words) - 13:06, 6 April 2018
• The Ash House by Angharad Walker
  |reviewer=Megan Kenny ...him Sol and sets out to teach him the rules of The Ash House. These rules centre on a variety of Nicenesses set out by the absent Headmaster. All children m
  3 KB (460 words) - 15:19, 30 March 2024
• The Bishop's Wife by Mette Ivie Harrison
  |reviewer=Luke Marlowe ...devoted Mormon, and kindhearted wife of a Mormon Bishop, she lives at the centre of her community and has little to be unhappy about.
  3 KB (491 words) - 14:16, 6 March 2018
• We Come Apart by Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...t shy from the inevitable denouement but somehow, hope is always front and centre. I loved it.
  3 KB (430 words) - 22:39, 11 March 2018
• Alison Jay's ABC by Alison Jay
  |reviewer= Linda Lawlor ...e letter per page with a nice big picture of an apple or a panda front and centre - after all, the ABC format is pretty restrictive, isn't it? And truth be t
  3 KB (434 words) - 14:05, 28 March 2018
• Organ Music by Margaret Mahy
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...e unexpected. Things aren't quite what they seem at the Willesden Research Centre, and while the boys start out feeling remorseful about joyriding and trespa
  2 KB (411 words) - 16:22, 1 September 2020
• Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor
  |reviewer=Robert James ...r, and has the relationship between another fantastic pair of girls at its centre. we can also recommend [[Life in a Fishbowl by Len Vlahos]].
  3 KB (481 words) - 10:28, 6 September 2020
• Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life by John Campbell
  |reviewer=John Van der Kiste ...s), Edward Heath, and Denis Healey. Being a compulsive reader, writer and reviewer, it is apparent that had he not gone into politics, he would be remembered
  6 KB (1,035 words) - 12:48, 26 February 2018
• Bittersweet: Lessons from my Mother's Kitchen by Matt MacAllester
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...ories were of an idyllic childhood, where wonderful food was always at the centre of family life and with the help of Elizabeth David, his mother’s favouri
  3 KB (468 words) - 19:09, 6 April 2018
• Blamehounds (Little Gems) by Ross Collins
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...lous extremes and a great deal of fun had on the way. I giggled (the call centre in the disused public toilets had me in stitches) and the book was finished
  3 KB (472 words) - 16:00, 8 March 2018
• London: A Social and Cultural History, 1550-1750 by Robert O Bucholz and Joseph P Ward
  |reviewer=John Van der Kiste ...d civic London. The point is made that the royal court was in a sense the centre of the world, with the King's household the seat of England’s government,
  6 KB (971 words) - 12:29, 11 October 2020
• Looking for Bear by Holly Webb
  |reviewer=Louise Jones ...easy to relate to. ''Looking for Bear'' is a heartwarming tale with a soft centre, another triumph for Webb.
  3 KB (484 words) - 16:12, 31 August 2020
• Cut Short (DI Geraldine Steel) by Leigh Russell
  |reviewer= Sue Magee ...ond boy and with the wilfulness of a child who finds herself less than the centre of attention ran off into the bushes, where she knew that she must not go.
  3 KB (475 words) - 13:12, 7 March 2018
• How to Write a Standout Book Review in a Saturated Market
  ...means that it’s getting increasingly difficult to make your mark as a book reviewer. As a reviewer, you can set your discussion prompt(s) apart by asking questions about spec
  4 KB (736 words) - 12:38, 3 November 2021
• Flutter by Jennie Wood and Jeff McComsey
  |reviewer=Robert James ...plosions and guns, is handled skilfully, but it's the gender issues at the centre of everything which make this one really stand out as one of the most uniqu
  3 KB (454 words) - 18:39, 21 February 2018
• Repeat After Me by Rachel DeWoskin
  |reviewer=Luci Davin Although the relationship between Aysha and Da Ge is at the centre of the novel, I really liked the mother daughter part of the story.
  3 KB (469 words) - 10:28, 12 October 2020
• Mudpuddle Farm: Cock-A-Doodle-Doo by Michael Morpurgo and Shoo Rayner
  |reviewer= James Donald ...cter for the other books in this series so it was great to see him jump to centre stage. Albertine the genius goose saves the day with a plan making this the
  3 KB (470 words) - 10:07, 18 April 2018
• The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding from You by Eli Pariser
  |reviewer=Robert James ...ly personalised, and your Facebook profile seems to pop up left, right and centre on sites you're visiting for the first time, there's a rapidly shrinking am
  3 KB (473 words) - 08:50, 10 April 2018
• Dead Man Talking (Spy Girl) by Carol Hedges
  |reviewer= John Lloyd ...a micro and not a mobile, and doesn't go to school, it's called a learning centre.
  6 KB (1,023 words) - 11:43, 2 April 2018
• Castlecliff by Elizabeth Pulford
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ''Castlecliff'' is all about Jamie's journey from centre of the world to part of it. All teenagers make this journey and it's perfec
  3 KB (448 words) - 19:02, 31 March 2018
• Perception by Kim Harrington
  |reviewer=Loralei Haylock ...r solving a murder over the summer, Clarity 'Clare' Fern finds herself the centre of attention at school. Mostly it's annoying, but harmless - popular girls
  3 KB (456 words) - 10:11, 25 August 2020
• Zelah Green: One More Little Problem by Vanessa Curtis
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...nessa Curtis|Zelah]] when her OCD got so bad she was sent off to a live-in centre for treatment. She's at home now, with the OCD still around but not totally
  3 KB (467 words) - 09:20, 21 April 2018
• Lottie Biggs is (Not) Desperate by Hayley Long
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...oose. There are not many people with whom you can wander round a shopping centre pretending to be Janice and Jonice from Kentucky who are interested in buyi
  3 KB (469 words) - 17:18, 14 April 2018
• Dangerous to Know by Katy Moran
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...the middle of the night. And then Jack's brother disappears from the Peace Centre, his wealthy but distant father flies in from the States, and Bethany's fat
  3 KB (457 words) - 12:36, 25 September 2020
• The Elimination by Rithy Panh
  |reviewer=Lesley Mason ...Office 870'' (the communist HQ) ''the centre nobody got out of alive, the centre where even very high-ranking leaders of the regime could be 'processed'.''
  8 KB (1,397 words) - 11:40, 14 April 2018
• Bad Tuesdays 4: The Nonsuch King by Benjamin J Myers
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy |summary=Splinter takes centre stage in this fourth Bad Tuesdays book. We want to see this angry and bitte
  3 KB (453 words) - 12:57, 12 March 2018
• Tom and Millie's Great Big Treasure Hunt by Guy Parker-Rees
  |reviewer=Jo Heffer ...a whole series of clues, we visit the playground, the party shop, the play centre and the farmers' market. Eventually all clues lead to the Sunnytown Summer
  3 KB (550 words) - 09:45, 19 September 2020
• More People to Love Me by Mo O'Hara and Ada Grey
  |reviewer=Z J Cookson While the young audience will be able to identify with the little girl at the centre of the story, they may struggle to understand the complicated relationships
  3 KB (512 words) - 15:04, 4 April 2018
• Skylarking by Kate Mildenhall
  |reviewer= Luke Marlowe ...eople around them. Quiet and considered, the growth of the two girls takes centre stage in the story, with the joys of childhood slowly changing into the pan
  3 KB (480 words) - 11:36, 19 March 2018
• To Catch a Rabbit by Helen Cadbury
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...rkshire. In York Karen Friedman works for the Refugee and Migrants Advice Centre but her brother, Phil, lives near the Humber. He's just on the edge of bei
  3 KB (461 words) - 12:43, 15 March 2021
• The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
  |reviewer=Robert James ...y is needed at home, and Adam has made some mysterious new friends. At the centre of it all, Blue has to try to cope with her curse and her feelings for the
  3 KB (508 words) - 10:50, 16 August 2020
• Mortimer Keene: Ghosts on the Loose by Tim Healey and Chris Mould
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...y the book's format and design. Full page spreads are swallowed up in the centre fold, the layout of most of the pages is hampered by losing detail, and I d
  3 KB (482 words) - 10:03, 18 April 2018
• Scarlet by A C Gaughen
  |reviewer=Robert James ...Hood a truly original one. I had some issues with the love triangle at the centre but the excellent action scenes more than make up for that.
  3 KB (497 words) - 19:05, 21 April 2018
• Iced by Felix Francis
  |reviewer=Peter Magee ...ally been rather more immediately capable. It was another brave choice to centre so much of the book on Miles' struggles with his mental health.
  3 KB (517 words) - 15:41, 30 March 2024
• Intrusion by Ken MacLeod
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...rpenter working with New Wood and Hope labours from home in a virtual call centre. The Warm War is ongoing, but - beyond a general paranoia about foreign ins
  3 KB (472 words) - 15:07, 20 February 2018
• Between The Lines by Tammara Webber
  |reviewer=Robert James ...[Easy by Tammara Webber|Easy]], despite there being a love triangle at the centre of it. (For those who know my feelings on love triangles, that's a real sig
  3 KB (479 words) - 11:59, 18 August 2020
• A Song of Isolation by Michael J Malone
  |reviewer=Lesley Mason ...'people' being Amelie and Dave, but also his parents, and the child at the centre of the story and her family. There are a number of serious social issues
  3 KB (525 words) - 10:16, 29 March 2024
• ZOM-B Mission by Darren Shan
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...book and it's been talked about since but it hasn't really been front and centre as it is here. I don't think I'm giving too much away if I say that the nas
  3 KB (477 words) - 16:15, 6 August 2020
• Litterbug Doug (A Michael Recycle Adventure) by Ellie Bethel and Alexandra Colombo
  |reviewer=Keith Dudhnath ...hy, but ''Litterbug Doug'' has the silliness of Doug's grossness front and centre.
  3 KB (456 words) - 14:30, 30 March 2018
• Dead Memories (D I Kim Stone) by Angela Marsons
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...procedural series where the past of the senior investigating officer takes centre stage. Most of them are well done, but it's difficult to feel that they ri
  3 KB (539 words) - 10:51, 17 August 2021
• Ginger by Charlotte Voake
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...re Ginger perfectly. He's a big marmalade-coloured cat, used to being the centre of attention, the 'only cat' in the house. He's likes the little girl givi
  3 KB (545 words) - 16:48, 29 March 2018
• Dream a Little Dream by Sue Moorcroft
  |reviewer=Sue Magee Liza Reece works as reflexologist at The Stables, a therapy centre attached to a hotel. It ''should'' be doing quite well. It ''could'' be d
  3 KB (497 words) - 11:23, 4 April 2018
• Paper Play by Lydia Crook
  |reviewer=Louise Jones ...t the page design. Some of the printed cutout lines were very close to the centre of the book, making cutting difficult and fiddly. Because of the way the bo
  3 KB (493 words) - 15:07, 26 August 2020
• Mrs Noah's Pockets by Jackie Morris and James Mayhew
  |reviewer= Anne Thompson ...ut not like this. This time there is twist and someone else quietly takes centre stage. When Mr Noah builds the ark, he makes two lists - one for all the an
  3 KB (515 words) - 16:01, 16 March 2018
• To Be A Cat by Matt Haig
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...parent, and [[Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech]], in which animals also take centre stage.
  3 KB (506 words) - 10:50, 22 April 2018
• A Very British Killing: The Death of Baha Mousa by A T Williams
  |reviewer=George Care ...the blue-carpet and fresh polished pine walls of the Bulford Court Martial Centre with the collection of be-gowned criminal barristers looking as ominous as
  6 KB (928 words) - 11:53, 27 February 2018
• The Interview: Bookbag Talks To John Kemp
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...t some spells in hospital, and she was occasionally cared for in a respite centre while I took a break, but she never settled there and was always desperate
  7 KB (1,277 words) - 15:57, 4 April 2015
• Wonders Beyond Numbers: A Brief History of All Things Mathematical by Johnny Ball
  |reviewer= Louise Jones ...certainly true when it comes to the ancient concept that the Earth was the centre of the universe; an idea so entrenched in the minds of people that it was d
  3 KB (536 words) - 08:12, 28 April 2018
• Dinosaur Detective's Search-and-Find Rescue Mission by Sophie Guerrive
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...this worth recommending – none of the things to be found disappear in the centre fold, leaving you helpless in your quest.
  3 KB (526 words) - 15:55, 21 March 2018
• The Resistance by Gemma Malley
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...dea into a second book and even beyond. Cleverly, she chooses this time to centre on Peter. Peter is very different to Anna. He was brought up by a "normal"
  3 KB (499 words) - 14:45, 12 March 2018
• Moon Chase by Cathy Farr
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...udes from the pages of this enjoyable fantasy fable with wolfhounds at its centre. Pacy with a lovely setting. We'd certainly read the next in the series.
  4 KB (612 words) - 14:22, 14 September 2020
• Mapp and Lucia Omnibus by E F Benson
  |reviewer=Luke Marlowe Miss Elizabeth Mapp rules the town of Tilling - she is the centre of the social life, and spends her days enjoying bridge, polite conversatio
  3 KB (522 words) - 11:37, 23 March 2018
• The History Room by Eliza Graham
  |reviewer=Susmita Chatto ...has woven a terrific mystery with the darkness of the human psyche at its centre. Using every possible tool to dissect the mysteries of the mind, the novel
  3 KB (546 words) - 12:36, 21 February 2018
• Shadow of Evil (Baker Street Mysteries) by Tim Pigott-Smith
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...characters, themes and settings and we introduce child characters to take centre stage in the action. Pigott-Smith does it amazingly well: his Holmes is as
  3 KB (463 words) - 13:45, 19 April 2018
• Supertato: Evil Pea Rules by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler |summary=The Evil Pea takes centre stage in this latest Supertato outing and once more you are in for a fun re
  3 KB (574 words) - 16:42, 16 February 2018
• Past Reason Hated by Peter Robinson
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...t have been as thorough as usual when DC Gay apparently drives through the centre of Harrogate – going the wrong way through the one-way system. That's ni
  3 KB (500 words) - 14:23, 10 March 2018
• The Young Chieftain by Ken Howard
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...'s no internet or mobile phone access, and the only TV is in the community centre. Jamie's grandmother isn't welcoming either - in fact, she barely bothers t
  3 KB (469 words) - 10:02, 21 April 2018
• Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door by Ross Montgomery
  |reviewer=Linda Lawlor ...more? Why does he keep shouting ''squiggles''? And what really lies at the centre of the mysterious forest on the edge of town?
  3 KB (499 words) - 12:01, 17 April 2018
• Lily and the Christmas Wish by Keris Stainton
  |reviewer= Anne Thompson ...are portrayed with humour, love and understanding. The story itself takes centre stage and this ensures that the book does not become one dealing with socia
  3 KB (522 words) - 09:45, 18 April 2018
• Grumpy Cat: No-it-All: Everything You Need to No by Grumpy Cat
  |reviewer=Z J Cookson ...he photo and the word 'No'. For example, a photograph of Grumpy-Cat in the centre of an array of flowers with the words: 'Flowers' and 'No'. Occasionally the
  3 KB (539 words) - 10:30, 23 March 2018
• Penitence by Bruce Crowther
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...ed Phil Davis. He moved out to the sticks to get away from the high-crime centre of Dallas in the hope of a better life for his wife and child - only for hi
  3 KB (517 words) - 14:27, 10 March 2018
• Bamboo and I Wish (Early Reader) by Alice Hemming and Julia Seal
  |reviewer=Ruth Ng ...ond story is about a wishing well which is granting wishes left, right and centre! Evaluated as a red level book, it sets itself as being about the right l
  3 KB (548 words) - 12:55, 1 March 2018
• The Orchard Book of Heroes and Villains by Tony Bradman and Tony Ross
  |reviewer=Jason Mark Curley ...rket: ''Odysseus and the Cyclops, Robinson Crusoe, Beowulf, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, King Alfred and the Burning of the Loaves, Gulliver in Lillip
  3 KB (551 words) - 11:12, 18 February 2018
• Hugless Douglas Finds A Hug by David Melling
  |reviewer=Zoe Morris ...y. In the form of a Douglas puppet who arrives poking his head through the centre of the book. He pops up on every page of the story, sporting his red scarf
  3 KB (573 words) - 10:43, 2 March 2018
• The Forbidden City by Geremie R Barme
  |reviewer=Lesley Mason ...Geremie Barmé explores its architecture and history of the palaces at the centre of Imperial China, and their role in the mindset of modern China. Not the e
  8 KB (1,249 words) - 15:40, 30 March 2018
• The Seven Secrets of Happiness by Sharon Owens
  |reviewer= Sue Magee ...d the tree had just been delivered by a lovely man on behalf of the garden centre when her world fell apart.
  3 KB (503 words) - 10:13, 6 April 2018
• Withering Tights by Louise Rennison
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...erdeveloped cleavage, and off to stay at a posh drama performance workshop centre in the wilds of Yorkshire.
  3 KB (540 words) - 13:15, 14 September 2020
• The Dog Nobody Loved by Jon Katz
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...ral but devoted to her rescuer, Maria Wulf and it was Maria who was at the centre of this conundrum. Katz was spectacularly disconnected from the world - an
  3 KB (564 words) - 10:13, 27 April 2018
• A Brief Life by Juan Carlos Onetti and Hortense Carpentier
  |reviewer=Paul McNulty ...terrupted staccato utterances as part of a grand narrative with him at the centre. At the same time, his mind wandering further, he constructs an imaginary t
  3 KB (511 words) - 17:28, 18 February 2018
• Ten Spooky Skeletons by Garry Parsons, Patricia Hegarty and Annette Rusling
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ''Ten Spooky Skeletons'' is a counting book that has scary skeletons at its centre. Over 22 pages you count from one to ten, each number being represented by
  3 KB (545 words) - 14:02, 10 April 2018
• Off the Rails by Beryl Kingston
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...as York moved from being a rather outdated late Middle Ages town into the centre of a rail network in the early modern era. It's skillfully done and Hudson
  3 KB (515 words) - 14:29, 31 August 2020
• The Devil's Cave: A Bruno Courreges Investigation by Martin Walker
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...ully clothed. Women are more two-dimensional figures – even those who are centre stage in the story – but it's a book to be read as a good story rather th
  3 KB (534 words) - 10:27, 8 March 2018
• A Shortcut to Paradise by Teresa Solana and Peter Bush
  |reviewer=Louise Laurie ...he is a best-seller, her books are not universally loved. There's the odd reviewer out there using an acid pen, shall we say. And the similarity with what I'
  4 KB (597 words) - 09:50, 11 March 2018
• The Last Fix by K O Dahl
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...to the party, but it was given by the people from her drug rehabilitation centre and she felt under an obligation as the social workers had done so much to
  3 KB (539 words) - 08:24, 10 March 2018
• Paddington's Guide to London by Michael Bond
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...s – and a small bear working his way into each one and occasionally taking centre stage!
  3 KB (525 words) - 07:52, 9 October 2020
• The Children of the Lost by David Whitley
  |reviewer=Madeline Wheatley ...sease'' made me smile. The changing relationship between Mark and Lily is centre stage in the story, even when they spend time apart.
  3 KB (572 words) - 10:02, 21 April 2018
• Peony in Love by Lisa See
  |reviewer=Lesley Mason ...turies... up to and including Chinese attempts to intervene in the Lincoln Centre production.
  7 KB (1,168 words) - 11:22, 24 February 2018
• The Chicken Nugget Ambush by Mark Lowery
  |reviewer=Tony Taylor ...e embarking on their school residential trip to Farm View Outdoor Survival Centre. Events leading up to departure day mean than Roman is not all that excited
  3 KB (527 words) - 09:59, 2 March 2018
• Eon: Rise of the Dragoneye by Alison Goodman
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...has plans of his own. When a staggering event catapults Eon right into the centre of the court and its intrigues, how can his secret ever be safe?
  3 KB (465 words) - 10:05, 19 February 2018
• Sanctuary Line by Jane Urquhart
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...f-effacing, used to being solitary and never needing to put herself at the centre of events. It's a story of love - and love affairs which might or might no
  3 KB (529 words) - 09:52, 31 March 2018
• The Years of Fading Magic by Kenelm Averill
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...il and self-examination and the magic, while always there, isn't front and centre. Rather, the focus is on the human condition. We all reach out to others an
  3 KB (494 words) - 09:34, 8 August 2020
• The Legend of Frog by Guy Bass
  |reviewer=Robert James ...his destiny as royalty only for events to overtake him, leaving him at the centre of an alien invasion. In addition, there were several twists which I didn't
  3 KB (525 words) - 13:58, 7 October 2020
• Running Amok (DCI Spearing and DI Devlin Series Book 2) by Paul Hughes
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...plot lines together. Corruption, both in the Met and MI5 obviously takes centre stage but there's a sensitive look at the changing laws on homosexual relat
  3 KB (536 words) - 16:36, 20 May 2018
• Attack of the Giant Sea Spiders (Adventures of the Steampunk Pirates) by Gareth P Jones
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...ations to speed things along – and too many are painfully invisible in the centre fold of the book – but on whole proceedings are very child-friendly. I d
  3 KB (544 words) - 10:00, 22 September 2020
• The Dead are Rising (MetaWars) by Jeff Norton
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...nner by B R Collins]], in which games and the online world have also taken centre stage in an environmentally-ravaged Earth. [[Uglies by Scott Westerfeld]] a
  3 KB (507 words) - 16:16, 7 September 2020
• Star Wars Art of Colouring The Force Awakens by Lucasfilm
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...to get anywhere, especially with the mandala sets going right into to the centre of the spread, but the scenes and characters are generally in a large field
  3 KB (545 words) - 09:29, 18 September 2020
• Jack Flint and the Redthorn Sword by Joe Donnelly
  |reviewer=Keith Dudhnath ...the first book of a series. The title has its protagonist's name front and centre, the blurb mentions that a sequel is underway, and the final few chapters,
  3 KB (512 words) - 13:27, 14 May 2018
• Marilyn and Me by Shanta Everington
  |reviewer=Sue Magee Marilyn named herself after Marilyn Monroe and in her locker at the day centre she has the iconic picture of her in the white dress being blown high. Mari
  3 KB (592 words) - 10:06, 18 March 2018
• The Art of Killing Well by Marco Malvaldi and Howard Curtis (translator)
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...der has been committed. But it's not a light-hearted crime novel - at the centre of this book is a well-plotted mystery which kept me guessing right to the
  3 KB (540 words) - 09:25, 21 September 2020
• Girl on Fire by Tony Parsons
  |reviewer= James Donald A drone collides with an air ambulance, the mess falls on a busy shopping centre and we are barely out of the first chapter. DC Max Wolfe's latest adventure
  3 KB (526 words) - 09:41, 24 February 2018
• Wallace and Gromit - The Complete Newspaper Strips - Volume 1 by Nick Park
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...never would be space here for silent, dramatic chases or for Gromit to get centre-stage and take over. The only silent bits are some large bonus photos of o
  3 KB (534 words) - 12:29, 23 March 2018
• The Turkey That Voted For Christmas by Madeleine Cook and Samara Hardy
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ''The Turkey That Voted For Christmas'' has a strong idea at its centre, but confusingly executed. The premise requires the reader to know from th
  3 KB (597 words) - 09:56, 6 September 2020
• Escape from Silk Cotton Forest (Island Fiction) by Francis C Escayg
  |reviewer= John Lloyd ...nterior body parts, beheadings. People vomit and/or faint left, right and centre.
  3 KB (563 words) - 15:28, 4 April 2018
• Weekend Pass by Paul Cavanagh
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...dictates that she can only see Jake during a supervised visit at a family centre. Will she cope outside in the world again? Can she ever repair her relation
  3 KB (523 words) - 10:28, 31 December 2020
• Nicholas Dane by Melvin Burgess
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...t smack head, dies in an accidental overdose. Meadow Hill is an assessment centre, but the truth is that not much genuine assessment is going on. It's a sava
  3 KB (530 words) - 08:35, 17 September 2020
• 13 (Women of the Otherworld) by Kelley Armstrong
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...romancers and the sorcerer cabals, are trying to stop them. Savannah takes centre stage and the majority of the narration. Her spells are still on the fritz
  3 KB (562 words) - 11:53, 29 August 2020
• The Explorer Gene by Tom Cheshire
  |reviewer=Louise Jones ...s. This kind of book would really benefit from a full-colour spread in the centre, but instead contains a mere handful of black and white images. One chapter
  3 KB (556 words) - 10:53, 12 April 2018
• Triskellion 2: The Burning by Will Peterson
  |reviewer= Jason Mark Curley ...ite. But when Laura gets Rachael, Adam and their mother back to a research centre in the city, the three of them are separated and drugged.
  3 KB (581 words) - 22:56, 17 March 2018
• School for Stars: First Term at L'Etoile by Holly Willoughby and Kelly Willoughby
  |reviewer=Robert James ...'t such dreadful characters to begin with, perhaps. The two sisters at the centre of the book are alright, I suppose, but Hollywood brat Lucinda Marciano and
  3 KB (530 words) - 09:09, 21 August 2020
• Gathering Prey by John Sandford
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...sticks to the tried and trusted methodology of having Davenport front and centre there are some brilliantly thrilling moments. Sandford is fantastic at cre
  3 KB (574 words) - 13:02, 9 March 2018
• Salinger's Letters by Nils Schou
  |reviewer= Anna Hollingsworth ...across two continents. Different chapters zoom into the lives of Puk, the centre of all literary life in Copenhagen, Nora, the Marilyn Monroe of literature,
  4 KB (545 words) - 15:03, 18 March 2018
• Let's Celebrate Being Different by Lainey Dee
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...e had promised to take him to the Friday Night Club at the local community centre and Todd was pleased about this as he wanted to make new friends. At home,
  3 KB (569 words) - 11:54, 9 February 2023
• Pigeon Pie, Oh My! by Debbie Singleton and Kristyna Litten
  |reviewer=Madeline Wheatley ...o mention in the text at all. In fact if anyone can spot the snail on the centre spread, please let me know where it is. One of the children who looked at
  3 KB (528 words) - 08:11, 28 September 2020
• Persuade Me by Juliet Archer
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...lease on Kellynch, but only on the glasshouses as they're opening a garden centre. The vain Sir Walter is easily swayed by his personal masseuse, who refers
  3 KB (506 words) - 08:39, 6 April 2018
• The Liszts by Kyo Maclear and Julia Sarda
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...once in a while and enjoy the world outside their pad. Therefore, at the centre of events, this book has something worthwhile to tell, but why Maclear went
  4 KB (628 words) - 09:48, 18 April 2018
• My Brother Simple by Marie-Aude Murail
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...and the boys' father, just remarried, had packed him off to a residential centre. Simple hated it there and Kleber suspected the staff of neglect. Despite b
  3 KB (524 words) - 18:51, 16 March 2018
• The Potter's Field by Andrea Camilleri
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...ee what he'll do now that Berlusconi is - at least for now - away from the centre of power.
  3 KB (575 words) - 14:45, 10 March 2018
• Double Cross (Noughts & Crosses) by Malorie Blackman
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...s on gangs, rather than the freedom-fighter-or-terrorist debate which took centre stage in previous volumes in this wonderful sequence.
  3 KB (494 words) - 13:25, 25 February 2018
• The Triumph of the Spider Monkey by Joyce Carol Oates
  |reviewer= Luke Marlowe ...us station locker, and then being thrown from one foster home or detention centre to another, never far from violence or abuse. Eager to succeed as a musicia
  3 KB (534 words) - 16:05, 1 August 2019
• The Unspoken Truth by Angelica Garnett
  |reviewer= Luci Davin The blurb suggests that Garnett is at the centre of the short story The Birthday Party as the character Emily, but actually
  3 KB (569 words) - 12:43, 31 March 2018
• The Visitors by Catherine Burns
  |reviewer= Luke Marlowe ...pularity, thrillers in a similar vein have been popping up left, right and centre - with the general quality declining as a result. That's not an issue here
  3 KB (540 words) - 16:18, 21 February 2018
• Oscar & Lucy by Alan Kennedy
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...mitation Game'' getting rave reviews and award nominations right, left and centre, the sterling work done by the Bletchley Park cryptographers during WWII is
  3 KB (554 words) - 16:09, 7 April 2018
• The Sand Dog by Sarah Lean
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...amily dynamics and woven them into an evocative story with kindness at its centre. And, of course, found a place for the obligatory dog. Recommended for all
  3 KB (571 words) - 09:47, 9 May 2018
• CDC: The happy years with a spectacular IT 'Phenomena' by Hans Bodmer
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...is and more culture shocks; some very funny. And there he was, at the very centre of American computer development, working with luminaries such as Seymour C
  3 KB (564 words) - 11:32, 25 November 2022
• Dog Friendly Pubs, Beaches and Days Out: Your Comprehensive Guide to Dog Friendly Pubs, Beaches and Days Out by www.dogfriendly.co.uk
  |reviewer= Sue Magee ...you already know the area. That's a pity, but there is another pub in the centre of Otley – The Junction – only it's in the section which covers Yorkshi
  4 KB (615 words) - 10:55, 14 April 2018
• The Anarchist's Angel by Gareth Thompson
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...lso finds an understanding that everyone has crises and that he is not the centre of the universe. It's a hard lesson, but one we must all learn.
  3 KB (506 words) - 09:38, 17 April 2018
• Pirate Treasure Map: A Fairytale Adventure by Colin Hawkins and Jacqui Hawkins
  |reviewer=Dave Martin ...er on only for him to become detached again as the Billy Goat's Gruff take centre stage. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of all of these children's tales
  3 KB (582 words) - 11:58, 6 April 2018
• Tokyo Hearts - A Japanese Love Story by Renae Lucas-Hall
  |reviewer=Sue Magee |summary=You'll really feel as though you're in the centre of Japan with this story of how the yong fashionistas live and love. Renae
  3 KB (542 words) - 11:26, 11 October 2020
• The House of Birds by Morgan McCarthy
  |reviewer= Luke Marlowe ...ul and transporting, ''The House of Birds'' is, much like the house at the centre of the story, a place full of secrets and hidden treasures, with enchanting
  3 KB (576 words) - 08:14, 25 September 2020
• The Resurrection of Jesus by Yancey Williams
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...nd their next pleasure. Characterisation is superb. Jésus and Quick take centre stage, but there's an excellent supporting cast, and they all come off the
  3 KB (568 words) - 15:12, 3 January 2020
• Red by Libby Gleeson
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...ith the dead, injured and displaced. Through the noticeboard at the rescue centre, Red and Peri discover that she has a name. And a father. And a frightening
  3 KB (594 words) - 17:34, 21 April 2018
• Bristol Murders by Nicola Sly
  |reviewer= John Van der Kiste Murder is such a horribly commonplace crime that the annals of any major centre of population must be teeming with cases of violent, often premeditated dea
  3 KB (519 words) - 13:30, 10 April 2018
• The Northmen’s Fury: A History of the Viking World by Philip Parker
  |reviewer= Luke Marlowe ...t of that I would put down to frequent school trips to the ''Jorvik Viking Centre'' in York putting me off somewhat, but also the fact that we have little kn
  4 KB (583 words) - 08:26, 13 April 2018
• 101 Things to do instead of worrying about the world by Felicity Brightside
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...omising and I settled down with a pencil. You're given 'happy' across the centre of the page and I went hunting: ''snappy'', ''snarl'', ''snarls'', ''slop''
  3 KB (603 words) - 17:59, 17 February 2018
• The Duke Can Go to the Devil by Erin Knightley
  |reviewer= Louise Jones ...d book in the trilogy about three Regency ladies, it is May's turn to take centre stage and find romance. Oh, if only things were that simple!
  3 KB (538 words) - 14:29, 22 February 2018
• Hell's Unveiling by Laura Solomon
  |reviewer=Sue Magee Despite being the centre of a large family, Marsha's been lonely since Don died and when Loki (who's
  3 KB (560 words) - 10:49, 19 July 2018
• Jasper and the Green Marvel by Deirdre Madden
  |reviewer=Ruth Ng ...d this book to find that it was the villain from that story who was taking centre stage and not my preferred character, Barney. However, the story still wor
  3 KB (587 words) - 07:47, 9 October 2020
• The Drake Chronicles: Bleeding Hearts by Alyxandra Harvey
  |reviewer=Loralei Haylock ...characters, and some development in other characters that previously took centre stage, but have since been somewhat ignored, made the book feel fuller. Sol
  3 KB (521 words) - 09:01, 16 August 2020
• Dr Seuss: A Classic Treasury by Dr Seuss
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...orth reading here too as it has a strong ''A Christmas Carol'' style moral centre.
  3 KB (593 words) - 08:25, 18 April 2018
• Punching Judy by David James
  |reviewer= John Lloyd ...on the streets is not brilliant. Judy, fresh out of a Borstal-type remand centre for juveniles, has all the grit, determination and muscle to become a femal
  3 KB (596 words) - 13:46, 18 March 2018
• Hamish and the Worldstoppers by Danny Wallace
  |reviewer=Ruth Ng ...es) are pretty disgusting and they're kidnapping grown-ups left, right and centre. But the plotting and planning that the children in the story come up with
  3 KB (591 words) - 12:50, 1 September 2020
• One Night in Beartown by Nick Jones and Si Clark
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...ullying is dealt with gently and forms a quiet reminder rather than taking centre stage. That is filled by a cheerful, happy tale of a magical adventure and
  4 KB (609 words) - 11:15, 18 November 2020
• Stuff I've Been Reading by Nick Hornby
  |reviewer=Chris Bradshaw ...e second city certainly haven't skimped in trying to create a 21st century centre of learning. Amongst all the interactive learning zones, digital galleries
  3 KB (585 words) - 13:44, 6 March 2018
• Snatch by Gregory Mcdonald
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...th two books by ''Fletch'' author Gregory Mcdonald. Surely two books that centre on kidnapping by the same author would be similar enough to be placed toget
  4 KB (624 words) - 11:50, 11 March 2018
• Parallel Lines by Steven Savile
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...ble edged sword that both mask the entertaining locked room problem at the centre of the book, but also gives it a unique feel. Without the rare structure t
  4 KB (648 words) - 14:22, 10 March 2018
• Orange Prize for Fiction 2009
  |reviewer=Dawn Powell ...on 2009, but she did manage to get to the shortlist event at the Southbank Centre the day before (2nd June). She reports on the highlights of the event.
  8 KB (1,464 words) - 13:55, 3 March 2018
• Dead in the Water by Veronyca Bates
  |reviewer=Louise Laurie ...s case? And all sorts of puzzling questions are thrown up left, right and centre.
  3 KB (596 words) - 13:35, 23 August 2020
• The Good Girl by Fiona Neill
  |reviewer=Zoe Morris ...ep the school out of the headlines and protect her child who is now at the centre of the controversy. And it’s clearly all the neighbours’ fault.
  3 KB (597 words) - 15:24, 16 March 2018
• Unforgettable Walks by Julia Bradbury
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...rthcoming on such matters. There are thirteen full colour pictures in the centre of the book, but eight of them are essentially Julia Bradbury with the view
  4 KB (614 words) - 08:28, 29 April 2018
• Rip Tide (Dark Life) by Kat Falls
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...ed. But before they can begin to unravel the mystery, another crisis takes centre stage.
  3 KB (564 words) - 14:47, 12 March 2018
• In the Shadows of Castles by G K Holloway
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy The knowledge of the period is impeccable and it's front and centre without ever being didactic, woven into every page. The battle in 1066 was
  3 KB (564 words) - 12:04, 29 December 2023
• Foreign Body by Robin Cook
  |reviewer= Sue Magee ...merie and Jack Stapleton are brought into the story although the book does centre on Jennifer Hernandez rather than the medical examiners. Cook brings India
  3 KB (552 words) - 16:29, 24 September 2020
• Greeks Bearing Gifts: Bernie Gunther Thriller 13 by Philip Kerr
  |reviewer=Ruth Ng ...times of the war. With layered plots and double-crossing left, right and centre, there's lots to keep you guessing throughout this story.
  4 KB (655 words) - 13:45, 19 September 2020
• All the Good Things by Clare Fisher
  |reviewer= Stacey Barkley ...count; not that of professionals, or reports, but of the individual at the centre. Moved by Beth's story, I hope this is one that prompts thought about how w
  3 KB (589 words) - 08:45, 15 March 2018
• It's Not Fair! Parenting the Bright and Challenging Child by Gill Hines and Alison Baverstock
  |reviewer= Sue Fairhead ...such as heavy drinking, drugs, or promiscuity. They usually like being the centre of attention, whether for positive or negative reasons, and are much more i
  4 KB (648 words) - 13:46, 27 February 2018
• The A-Men Return by John Trevillian
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...plit. Dead City is a shadow of its former self: an urban wasteland and the centre of the sort of gang warfare that finds and exploits drugs and hopelessness
  3 KB (565 words) - 12:14, 7 October 2020
• A Nye of Pheasants by Steve Burrows
  |reviewer=Sue Magee For a series where the Norfolk countryside is front and centre, try [[Elly Griffiths' Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries in Chronological Order|El
  3 KB (550 words) - 09:04, 3 April 2024
• Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider) by Anthony Horowitz
  |reviewer= Sue Magee ...x might be willing to find some simple information from a GM crop research centre, in which case they might be able to have a quiet word with the gentleman.
  3 KB (602 words) - 21:27, 1 April 2018
• The Cat Kin by Nick Green
  |reviewer=Ruth Ng A group of misfit children find themselves at the local sports centre having arrived to take various different classes but find they're all part
  4 KB (617 words) - 09:50, 21 April 2018
• Leviathan Wakes by James S A Corey
  |reviewer=Becky Hazlett ...is more concerned with relatively ordinary people who get caught up in the centre of something of great importance and how they respond to it. They find them
  4 KB (589 words) - 14:00, 1 April 2018
• Tyme's End by B R Collins
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...A ghost story-come-psychological thriller with an old country house at its centre. It's genuinely chilling with an interestingly back-to-front structure and
  3 KB (574 words) - 14:23, 6 October 2020
• Ape House by Sara Gruen
  |reviewer=Ruth Ng ...tionship with them. Soon after he leaves, however, there is a bomb at the centre by a group of extremists who want to liberate the apes. Isabel begins a de
  4 KB (633 words) - 14:02, 11 August 2020
• Tracer by Rob Boffard
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...ty of their central jock. ''Tracer'' is a book that has Riley Hale at its centre and author Rob Boffard certainly takes her to heart. This is a character w
  3 KB (625 words) - 15:50, 29 August 2020
• Kitchen Disco by Clare Foges and Al Murphy
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...s going to sleep and all the pictures are contained in little boxes in the centre of the page. However, once the succulent squashes start to dance the pages
  3 KB (603 words) - 12:12, 13 August 2020
• Flying Tips for Flightless Birds by Kelly McCaughrain
  |reviewer= Mary Waterfall ...are supportive and which ones will create problems, allowing them to take centre stage when necessary, without them taking over the story.
  4 KB (600 words) - 15:41, 27 August 2020
• Hector Finds Time (Hector's Journeys) by Francois Lelord
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...scintillating, interesting little points, scattering them left, right and centre, and creating a pretty, if random, pattern on the book page. This time it
  3 KB (587 words) - 10:04, 17 March 2018
• Midnight Alley (Morganville Vampires) by Rachel Caine
  |reviewer= John Lloyd ...orld. There are returning characters galore, dying people left, right and centre, and we're learning a lot more that is new, as well as seeing the benefits
  3 KB (570 words) - 10:04, 18 August 2020
• Odd Job Frog by Colleen Jacey and Zed Jacey
  |reviewer=Sue Magee Now getting a job isn't easy for anyone and even the man at the Job Centre had to admit that they don't normally find jobs for frogs, but he suggested
  3 KB (594 words) - 17:51, 4 April 2018
• Daily Mail Tax Guide 2008/2009 by Jane Vass
  |reviewer= Sue Magee ...tirely reliable. You can go along to your H M Revenue and Customs Enquiry Centre, but their function is to answer your queries rather than give advice about
  4 KB (600 words) - 12:39, 21 August 2020
• Aside Arthur Conan Doyle: Twenty Original Tales By Bertram Fletcher Robinson by Paul R Spiring (Editor)
  |reviewer= John Van der Kiste ...y modelled on the Duchy Hotel at Princetown, now the High Moorland Visitor Centre, where he and Conan Doyle had stayed while researching local background for
  3 KB (523 words) - 15:24, 1 April 2018
• Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson
  |reviewer=Loralei Haylock ...risking exposure for all the werewolves. When Claire finds herself at the centre of the plot she's forced to make the choice between her pack and her heart.
  3 KB (567 words) - 13:44, 8 September 2020
• Teacher's Pest: Tales from Lovecraft Middle School by Charles Gilman
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...all over, people are getting bad haircuts due to head lice left, right and centre, and Robert's best friend Glenn might have suffered a most peculiar wasp st
  3 KB (594 words) - 08:26, 10 October 2020
• Read Me Like A Book by Liz Kessler
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...ling out with your best friend and all the other issues that are front and centre in teen life.
  3 KB (627 words) - 22:36, 16 March 2018
• My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
  |reviewer= Luke Marlowe Supernatural dramas often tend to centre around teenagers - something about the maelstrom of rage, angst and hormone
  3 KB (553 words) - 11:38, 16 April 2018
• My Life in Houses by Margaret Forster
  |reviewer= Louise Jones ...a stage further when writing her autobiography. Instead of putting herself centre-stage, she allows the houses that she has lived in to tell her story instea
  4 KB (582 words) - 14:40, 7 April 2018
• Dog Friendly Hotels by www.dogfriendly.co.uk
  |reviewer= Sue Magee ...followed by a hotel in Beverley in East Yorkshire and then a hotel in the centre of Leeds and another in Knaresborough (in North Yorkshire). After this th
  4 KB (674 words) - 10:54, 14 April 2018
• The Jade Boy by Cate Cain
  |reviewer=Robert James It works best when Count Cazalon is centre stage – he’s a truly evil villain, dripping with menace, and is the mos
  3 KB (607 words) - 14:57, 23 April 2018
• Vindolanda by Adrian Goldsworthy
  |reviewer= Amy Etherington ...ck this one up. There's plenty of action, atmosphere, and brutality at the centre of the story and leading you through it is troubled Centurion Flavius Ferox
  4 KB (607 words) - 10:28, 18 August 2020
• Beep Beep Beep Time for Sleep by Claire Freedman and Richard Smythe
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...and Brian Lovelock]], whilst there are loads of books with machines at the centre, including [[Jack's Mega Machines: The Dinosaur Digger by Alison Ritchie an
  4 KB (639 words) - 16:45, 28 March 2018
• The Doll's House by Tania Carver
  |reviewer=Lu Greer ...ntertwining stories to create twists, turns and nail biting tensions which centre on a killer, and who is controlling him. Tania Carver has really stepped it
  4 KB (640 words) - 10:48, 8 March 2018
• Black Arts by Andrew Prentice and Jonathan Weil
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...abethan Fagin figure to savour; Beth, a hard-nosed girl with a hidden soft centre; Kit, the spy whose true loyalties are always in question; Imp, a witch's f
  3 KB (527 words) - 12:27, 22 April 2018
• The Witch of Turlingham Academy by Ellie Boswell
  |reviewer=Linda Lawlor ...following her around. A new girl, Katy, has arrived, and soon becomes the centre of Sophie's group of friends. Sophie begins to feel left out, because all t
  4 KB (607 words) - 13:15, 13 March 2018
• And Then There Was No One (Evadne Mount Mystery 3) by Gilbert Adair
  |reviewer= Paul McNulty ...of a secret society of American patriots for his views on the World Trade Centre attack - but is the solution as simple as that?
  3 KB (560 words) - 11:33, 18 February 2018
• Play Dead (D I Kim Stone) by Angela Marsons
  |reviewer=Sue Magee Westerley Research Centre isn't somewhere you'd go for fun: it's a 'body farm' investigating human de
  4 KB (627 words) - 07:37, 12 August 2020
• Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions by Mario Giordano
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...I read I could taste it on my tongue. But it's Sicily itself which takes centre stage. There's a play on the joke that when God created the world he had s
  3 KB (585 words) - 10:13, 11 August 2020
• This Is Not A Game by Walter Jon Williams
  |reviewer= Magda Healey ...ey also met Austin, the venture capitalist and BJ, now relegated to a call centre and supplementing his income with gold farming in MMORPGs.
  4 KB (570 words) - 11:41, 2 October 2020
• Over My Dead Body by Hazel McHaffie
  |reviewer=Gloria Nneoma Onwuneme At the centre of the book is Elvira, who dies in a car accident along with one of her two
  4 KB (603 words) - 15:12, 30 March 2018
• The Secret Starling by Judith Eagle
  |reviewer= Anne Thompson ...tory. The adults are despatched early on so that the children quickly take centre stage in the ensuing adventure and the setting is wonderfully and realistic
  3 KB (565 words) - 12:28, 5 March 2019
• The Throwaway Children by Diney Costeloe
  |reviewer=Louise Jones ...om the sidelines, encouraging the good guys and booing the baddies. At the centre of it all, are our young innocents: the feisty and outspoken Rita and her s
  3 KB (586 words) - 07:39, 12 August 2020
• Disgrace by J M Coetzee
  |reviewer= Sue Magee ...David Lurie through physical labour through his work at an animal welfare centre where he's struck by the irony of the care and consideration he gives to th
  3 KB (593 words) - 11:26, 23 February 2018
• The Button Box by Lynn Knight
  |reviewer= Anna Hollingsworth ...struggles early on in her working career. Impressively, buttons occupy the centre stage throughout the whole narrative, in many more ways than I could have e
  4 KB (576 words) - 09:49, 10 October 2020
• May 2016 Newsletter
  ...idents were objecting to its closure and transformation into a ''wellbeing centre'' - whatever one of those is. It was a sad story of local authority cuts bu ...ollow-up to 2013's ''The Other Typist''. The 1950s publishing milieu takes centre stage and as three young people collide over a debated manuscript, Rindell
  8 KB (1,255 words) - 16:36, 10 August 2020
• Rather be the Devil by Ian Rankin
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...l point though and only required the occasional rewind to find out who was centre stage.
  3 KB (598 words) - 07:40, 12 August 2020
• Honeydew by Edith Pearlman
  |reviewer=Ani Johnson ...re always like a box of chocolates: sometimes we'll pick one with a divine centre and at other times it's the surrounding chocolate that wows. In the case o
  4 KB (570 words) - 13:19, 24 March 2018
• Sentinel by Joshua Winning
  |reviewer=Linda Lawlor ...of a secret society fighting dark creatures – and he is soon right at the centre of an epic struggle between good and evil.
  4 KB (596 words) - 15:22, 22 March 2018
• Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...and she's permanently tired. Her full-time job at the local animal rescue centre frequently spills over into her home life and she's constantly chasing arou
  4 KB (666 words) - 07:43, 12 August 2020
• Silver-Tongued by David Barrie
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...found bludgeoned to death in a passageway by the Theatre de l'Odeon in the centre of Paris.
  3 KB (572 words) - 14:47, 11 October 2020
• You're the One that I Want by Giovanna Fletcher
  |reviewer=Zoe Morris ...can’t think of another book where two boys and a girl are the trio at the centre of a friendship. As the book starts, Maddy and Rob are about to marry, and
  4 KB (657 words) - 12:48, 6 April 2018
• Potter's Boy by Tony Mitton
  |reviewer= Sean Barrs ...Guin's and Sutcliff's stories, the journey of the central character takes centre stage. It is the peace and understanding Ryo seeks to attain that becomes t
  3 KB (595 words) - 09:43, 16 February 2018
• Relish: My Life on a Plate by Prue Leith
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...and, seasoned eater of conference buffet food, went to an event at the QE2 Centre confidently expecting the usual rubber chicken or cardboard sandwich and ca
  4 KB (614 words) - 14:28, 16 June 2020
• The Sarkozy Phenomenon by Nick Hewlett
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...has gone before from a man who is to a great extent an outsider who takes centre stage for a limited period of time to bring about the changes which are nec
  4 KB (606 words) - 12:51, 14 April 2018
• Note to Self: An Education by Mark Lingane
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...s no different. Right from Kry's awakening in the bright, clincial medical centre, you know this journey is going to perturb but you're irresistibly drawn to
  3 KB (586 words) - 12:38, 27 November 2020
• Fallen Gods (Bob Skinner Mysteries) by Quintin Jardine
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...al front for Edinburgh CID, there's a very public piece of arson in a city-centre gallery - but what's behind it?
  3 KB (594 words) - 07:48, 12 August 2020
• An Eagle in the Airing Cupboard by Rex Harper
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...at the work of the charity and the lives of the people and animals at the centre. Thankfully his publishers realised that he had (at least) two good books
  4 KB (655 words) - 16:21, 9 October 2020
• The Tourist by Robert Dickinson
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...rly 20th Century Britain to show future tourists around a typical shopping centre. When one of his charges goes missing he finds himself no longer giving a
  4 KB (680 words) - 13:13, 22 September 2020
• Trail of Blood by S J Rozan
  |reviewer=Luci Davin ...inal US title, The Shanghai Moon, which refers to the missing jewel at the centre of the case, and is far more evocative and unusual – there must be lots o
  3 KB (590 words) - 14:04, 11 March 2018
• The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal by David E Hoffman
  |reviewer= Chris Bradshaw ...as this offer of a meeting the genuine article or a trap dangled by Moscow Centre? After lengthily establishing Tolkachev's bona fides, the expert in radar t
  3 KB (551 words) - 22:28, 15 February 2018
• Lady Mary by Lucy Worsley
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...manages to pack all this in without losing sight of the young girl at the centre of it.
  4 KB (600 words) - 14:06, 21 March 2018
• Gunner Girls and Fighter Boys by Mary Gibson
  |reviewer= Louise Jones ...book in Mary Gibson's Bermondsey series. This time, the Lloyd family take centre stage: Mum, Dad, son Jack and daughters May and Peggy. War is raging in Eur
  3 KB (587 words) - 11:36, 21 March 2018
• Bobby March Will Live Forever (Harry McCoy) by Alan Parks
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...t isn't. Harry McCoy's the lead character, but it's the story which takes centre stage rather than McCoy, who has a great mixture of fallibilities. He does
  3 KB (561 words) - 10:56, 14 May 2023
• Close Enough to Touch by Colleen Oakley
  |reviewer= Louise Jones ...the sudden and unexpected promotion of a minor character who catapulted to centre-stage for the final chapter. It felt unnatural and unnecessary and the char
  3 KB (589 words) - 11:16, 20 August 2020
• The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli
  |reviewer= Olivia Tierney |summary= Dangerous dragon hunting and beautiful stories are at the centre of Kristen Ciccarelli's stunning debut. With a complex plot and refreshing
  4 KB (658 words) - 14:11, 11 April 2018
• The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...rough will or necessity and there will be those who stumble and fail. The centre of the group was Ash Wolf, beautiful, indomitable and kind, who was at camp
  4 KB (596 words) - 13:33, 13 August 2020
• Future King by Larry Pontius
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...hasn't quite got that right. He gets the names of places (''SoHo'' in the centre of London) and Institutions (''MI-5'' rather than MI5) just wrong enough to
  4 KB (592 words) - 14:24, 16 March 2018
• Dangerous Remedy by Kat Dunn
  |reviewer=Nigethan Sathiyalingam ...lion carry the heart of the story. There's a gorgeous queer romance at the centre of it, but that's just one of a variety of brilliantly rendered relationshi
  4 KB (582 words) - 16:50, 12 April 2020
• Unbreak Your Heart by Katie Marsh
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...s. Jake had to come first. Right now he's just been sacked from the call centre selling garden furniture and he's had to turn to his father for a job on th
  4 KB (622 words) - 10:39, 30 March 2024
• Thin Blue Smoke by Doug Worgul
  |reviewer= Loralei Haylock ...character's story meet and intertwine under the roof of Smoke Meat. At the centre of it all are LaVerne Williams and his right hand man A.B. Clayton, LaVerne
  4 KB (589 words) - 13:55, 19 March 2018
• Dear Life by Alice Munro
  |reviewer=Stacey Barkley ...ly and society, each from the perspective of an ordinary young girl at the centre of an ordinary life. And that precisely is where the power of these stories
  4 KB (627 words) - 09:21, 2 April 2018
• Threads: The Delicate Life of John Craske by Julia Blackburn
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...nly that she found it difficult to get to grips with the man, to grasp the centre of his life. But the very elusiveness of Craske and Blackburn's search for
  4 KB (640 words) - 13:22, 11 August 2020
• Private Investigations (Bob Skinner) by Quintin Jardine
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...any difficulty in distinguishing one from the other or working out who was centre stage. Given that the cast is heavy on middle-aged white Scots this is no
  3 KB (603 words) - 07:55, 12 August 2020
• Mr Peanut by Adam Ross
  |reviewer=Louise Laurie The main couple who tend to take centre stage here are called David and Alice Pepin. They live a kind of comfortab
  4 KB (607 words) - 08:25, 6 September 2020
• Podkin One-Ear by Kieran Larwood
  |reviewer= Judy Davies ...illing shivers throughout the tale. The reader is propelled right into the centre of the action and I was certainly willing the heroes to find a place of saf
  4 KB (653 words) - 14:32, 1 October 2020
• Bitter Blue by Cath Staincliffe
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...of the city of Manchester is obvious. She catches the edginess of the city centre and how some areas are becoming gentrified whilst other areas (and the hous
  3 KB (572 words) - 14:18, 6 March 2018
• The Trouble with Henry and Zoe by Andy Jones
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler Stop for a moment and look down at your belly, in the centre you should have something that looks a little bit like a button. It may be
  4 KB (679 words) - 10:38, 29 August 2020
• Family Album by Penelope Lively
  |reviewer= Paul Curd ...rspectives and with different views of the 'truth'. The dark secret at the centre of the novel is not quite as shocking as one is led to believe, and the end
  4 KB (641 words) - 13:30, 16 March 2018
• The Interview: Bookbag Talks To Saqib Noor
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...for us and a wedding photographer. We were "given away" by the CEO of the centre. The sincerity and joy the staff displayed on our Cambodian wedding day was
  12 KB (2,132 words) - 08:09, 10 July 2017
• Everfound by Neal Shusterman
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...ning - would ''you'' like to spend billions of years slowly sinking to the centre of the Earth? - and sometimes it has real pathos, but it's always, always,
  4 KB (608 words) - 16:46, 25 August 2020
• The Artist of Disappearance by Anita Desai
  |reviewer=Robin Leggett ...constrained by the short format as the artist and the film crew battle for centre stage in the story, but that's a minor quibble.
  4 KB (635 words) - 13:19, 23 March 2018
• Bedlam by Ally Kennen
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...dogs and a spate of burglaries. There's an old abandoned refugee detention centre up in the woods and it was once used as a lunatic asylum. There's a mysteri
  3 KB (541 words) - 14:42, 25 February 2018
• The Complete Short Stories: Volume Two by Roald Dahl
  |reviewer=Steve Shayler ...I can’t really say much more without giving away the gem of an idea at the centre of this tale but it is a highly amusing story with a great little sting in
  4 KB (672 words) - 17:52, 24 February 2018
• The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
  |reviewer= Amy Etherington ...fierce and amongst all the mythology their relationship lies truly at the centre of the plot. The story is ultimately a tale of friendship and sacrifice and
  4 KB (617 words) - 10:14, 28 September 2020
• The Dragon in the Library by Louie Stowell and Davide Ortu (Illustrator)
  |reviewer= Anne Thompson ...ng to buy the library so that he can destroy it and build a giant shopping centre instead. The property developer is portrayed as the sort of villain that ch
  4 KB (646 words) - 12:09, 8 February 2023
• Scavenger 2: Chaos Zone by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...robots. Trying to get to the core of things – both the situation and the centre of the giant biosphere carrying the last humans to a future planet to resid
  4 KB (598 words) - 10:40, 24 April 2018
• Requiem by Lauren Oliver
  |reviewer=Robert James ...t of view! - is much of the love triangle which I'd been expecting to take centre stage. While both Alex and Julian play a part, and Lena still has feelings
  4 KB (633 words) - 13:32, 25 February 2018
• Father's Day by Simon Van Booy
  |reviewer= Luke Marlowe ...cleverly layered plot that nevertheless has a straightforward heart at the centre.
  4 KB (591 words) - 10:52, 9 October 2020
• The Ultimate Book of Space by Anne-Sophie Baumann, Olivier Latyk and Robb Booker (translator)
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...f it, it's a full and very fiddly thing to experience. The National Space Centre, in the hotbed of cosmology and space science that is Leicester, is chock f
  3 KB (618 words) - 16:22, 25 March 2018
• God Help the Child by Toni Morrison
  |reviewer=Stacey Barkley ...f permanent discontent at the world and of himself. His childhood memories centre on a warm and loving family. A wholesome experience interrupted by the deat
  4 KB (617 words) - 12:20, 24 March 2018
• The Axe Factor by Colin Cotterill
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...was approached by Nurse Da about the fact that the Doctor from the health centre had gone missing. There doesn't actually seem to be a crime, but Jimm agre
  4 KB (645 words) - 12:56, 6 March 2018
• The Hanging Shed by Gordon Ferris
  |reviewer=Louise Laurie ...g here and there but the combo works very well. Hard-man (but with a soft centre) Brodie and inexperienced but starting to make a name for herself, Samantha
  4 KB (638 words) - 14:10, 9 March 2018
• Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: The Spooky School by Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton
  |reviewer= Tony Taylor ...n Lenton have created a wonderful book with two familiar characters at the centre. Their previous tales of Shifty McGifty were shorter books around 35 pages
  4 KB (643 words) - 10:44, 12 October 2020
• The Last Resort by Susi Holliday
  |reviewer= Megan Kenny ...on the genre. It is not difficult to guess who the shady villain is at the centre of the piece, but their behaviour and motivation make little sense. Without
  4 KB (639 words) - 12:26, 3 March 2022
• Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica
  |reviewer= Zoe Morris ...d Nick's voice then, the story starts from two ends and rushes towards the centre where past and present collide and we find out exactly what happened that d
  3 KB (586 words) - 14:35, 24 August 2020
• Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...out. Dale also does a great job in putting Huntington's disease front and centre, with a searingly honest look at the way it takes away lives and choices an
  4 KB (619 words) - 10:51, 22 April 2018
• Love and Other Dangerous Chemicals by Anthony Capella
  |reviewer=Zoe Morris ...ry=Sex, drugs and .... Oxford scientists? The chemistry of Chemistry takes centre stage in this funny and beautifully different look at what makes ladies (an
  4 KB (630 words) - 16:14, 17 March 2018
• The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy Amber is an inmate at Aurora Hills, a juvenile detention centre reserved for the most serious young criminals. She was convicted of murderi
  4 KB (605 words) - 17:13, 23 April 2018
• Scarper Jack and the Bloodstained Room by Christopher Russell
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...also have hung himself by trying to construct the locked-box puzzle at the centre of this thriller, but does not. He might be slightly hampered by a smallis
  4 KB (600 words) - 12:05, 3 April 2018
• The Map Of All Things (Terra Incognita) by Kevin J Anderson
  |reviewer=Loralei Haylock ...aliation, an upscale of the damage until the war becomes a crusade. In the centre of all this is Ishalem, a city that bridges the divide. Captured by the Ure
  4 KB (671 words) - 11:43, 14 March 2018
• Atticus Claw Breaks the Law by Jennifer Gray
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...help him rest up between missions Atticus has decided to live right at the centre of the action – the parents of the children who adopt him are in turns th
  4 KB (625 words) - 10:17, 11 August 2020
• The Storms of War by Kate Williams
  |reviewer=Luke Marlowe ...larly Celia, a character who grows and matures hugely, and looks to be the centre character for this trilogy.
  4 KB (682 words) - 13:33, 14 September 2020
• Beat The Band by Don Calame
  |reviewer=Robert James ...fference, as Cooper - something of a zany sidekick in the original - takes centre stage here. Moving on from wanting to see a naked girl last year, this time
  4 KB (620 words) - 12:39, 12 March 2018
• Blood Ninja by Nick Lake
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...th all due injury and wounding, and enemies are despatched left, right and centre - much like the resulting messenger pigeons.
  4 KB (605 words) - 09:53, 6 November 2022
• The Body Under the Bridge by Nick Louth
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...feeling that he was running the case, but then realised that he was at the centre of it and possibly even the target.
  3 KB (633 words) - 13:01, 15 April 2020
• Hunting the Eagles by Ben Kane
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler To bind the book we have Tullus at the centre; he interacts with the real life people of the time and Kane balances ficti
  4 KB (695 words) - 14:32, 2 September 2020
• Amazing Women: Inspirational Stories by Charles Margerison
  |reviewer=Louise Laurie ...ves a nice, personal angle and it serves to draw the reader right into the centre of that person's life. I also liked the style and the presentation on the
  4 KB (649 words) - 13:43, 8 April 2018
• My Pet Book by Bob Staake
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...ot happen as Staake always remembers to keep the main characters front and centre, allowing readers to explore the background if they want to.
  4 KB (717 words) - 16:24, 4 April 2018
• The Wrong Quarry by Max Allan Collins
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...nty of crime fiction that reports to have an unlikable son of a gun at the centre of the story, but rarely are they actually that bad. You might get a detec
  4 KB (674 words) - 13:52, 7 March 2018
• Paul Hollywood's Bread: How to make great breads into even greater meals by Paul Hollywood
  |reviewer=Sue Magee |summary=Bread brought off the side plate and into the centre of the table with recipes for a wide variety of breads and ways to use them
  4 KB (653 words) - 10:59, 27 February 2018
• Started Early, Took My Dog (Jackson Brodie) by Kate Atkinson
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...e odd impulse purchase but Tracy Waterhouse, security chief at the Merrion Centre in Leeds, blew most people's ideas of an impulse purchase out of the water
  4 KB (667 words) - 15:56, 29 August 2020
• Unrest by Jesper Stein
  |reviewer= Luke Marlowe Stein keeps the thriller at the centre of his story, but his angle allows the reader to explore a dark and turbule
  4 KB (621 words) - 13:10, 14 August 2018
• Arthur Quinn and the Fenris Wolf (The Father of Lies Chronicles) by Alan Early
  |reviewer=Mary Esther Judy ...ing. This is one of those rare fantasy novels that place the reader in the centre of the tale and carries them through flawlessly with expert timing and plot
  4 KB (648 words) - 10:28, 11 August 2020
• Book of Clouds by Chloe Aridjis
  |reviewer=Louise Laurie ...t matter is - dog, city pigeon or piece of modern architecture in the city centre, she gives them all her distinct treatment. The seediness of Berlin is d
  4 KB (646 words) - 14:19, 23 January 2021
• Lightborn by Tricia Sullivan
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...the bad shine, and when it runs out he has no choice but to brave the city centre in search of more.
  4 KB (594 words) - 14:01, 1 April 2018
• Our Dark Duet by V E Schwab
  |reviewer= Olivia Tierney ...rritory in the North and humans battling for survival in the South. At the centre of the action is August Flynn, a monster of incredible power who once longe
  4 KB (610 words) - 13:28, 19 February 2018
• Diary Of Dorkius Maximus In Pompeii by Tim Collins
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...iots even less welcome. But still – surely foolish people left, right and centre are not a problem, when you consider the angry mountain demon up yonder on
  4 KB (634 words) - 12:00, 23 April 2018
• Never Any End to Paris by Enrique Vila-Matas
  |reviewer=Patricia Duffaud ...he lively tale of a literary apprenticeship in what was, in the 1970s, the centre of the literary world.
  4 KB (674 words) - 14:39, 30 March 2018
• The Burning Page (The Invisible Library Series) by Genevieve Cogman
  |reviewer= Linda Lawlor But wait a sec. At the centre of all these worlds and connected to them by any room with a generous suppl
  4 KB (626 words) - 09:32, 13 March 2018
• A Crack in the Wall by Claudia Pineiro
  |reviewer=Robin Leggett The crime at the centre of the story and the perpetrators of that crime are revealed fairly early o
  4 KB (631 words) - 10:11, 1 February 2021
• Red Shadow by Paul Dowswell
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...bsequently spent a long time as a putative enemy. And so many WWII stories centre on the heroism at home: few think about the sacrifice made by the Russians
  4 KB (622 words) - 16:45, 24 August 2020
• Made For You by Melissa Marr
  |reviewer=Mollie Randtoul ...rror, comedy and suspense - it is a web of mystery we are left to find the centre of. Furthermore, I felt as though all these aspects belonged, although the
  4 KB (659 words) - 17:04, 14 April 2018
• Shopped by Joanna Blythman
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...poorly nourished, yet obese children? Do you enjoy the fact that your town centre looks more like an industrial wasteland every day? Do you want to be part o
  8 KB (1,366 words) - 11:59, 5 March 2018
• The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy It's written in the first person, often away from the centre of the action, so ''The White Queen'' is a very intimate read, and a very f
  4 KB (605 words) - 12:28, 1 March 2018
• The Valentine House by Emma Henderson
  |reviewer= Luke Marlowe ...e interested in the cheese, wine, and stunning scenery. That scenery takes centre stage in ''The Valentine House'', and, once the reader is past the first, b
  4 KB (612 words) - 14:02, 22 March 2018
• S.T.A.G.S by M A Bennett
  |reviewer= Amy Etherington ...to the story, I enjoyed the fact that there was a strong friendship at the centre. I like to root for the characters I'm reading about and spur them on, and
  4 KB (669 words) - 10:14, 28 September 2020
• The Undesired by Yrsa Sigurdardottir and Victoria Cribb (translator)
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...em, nibbling away at it in their own individual ways until they get to the centre. The drive of the switching narrative is great, and the book is compelling
  4 KB (653 words) - 15:30, 22 March 2018
• The Street Beneath My Feet by Charlotte Guillain and Yuval Zommer
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ..., through all the different kinds of rock, until we reach the unattainable centre of the planet. And there's only one way to go from there – back out the
  4 KB (645 words) - 20:00, 25 February 2018
• Bicycling to the Moon by Timo Parvela
  |reviewer= Tony Taylor ''Bicycling to the Moon'' is a series of short stories which all centre around two main characters: Purdy the cat and Dexter the dog who live toget
  4 KB (661 words) - 08:15, 12 October 2020
• Eden Summer by Liz Flanagan
  |reviewer=Nigethan Sathiyalingam ...Things by Sara Barnard]] both feature strong female friendships front and centre. Finally, I would also highly recommend Sarah Skilton's excellent teen cont
  4 KB (604 words) - 09:24, 4 April 2018
• Sins of the Angel by Wayne J Harris
  |reviewer= Ruth Ng ...feelings and desires he experiences in this body, sinning left, right and centre and causing scandal at his every move. He is also wondering for what purpo
  4 KB (656 words) - 10:49, 21 September 2020
• The Ruin of the Roman Empire by James J O'Donnell
  |reviewer=Chris Bradshaw ...he influence of barbarians from the western empire and uniting it with his centre of operations in Constantinople. Through a combination of ignorance and arr
  4 KB (630 words) - 09:59, 13 April 2018
• King Death by Toby Litt
  |reviewer=Louise Laurie ...of living north and south of the River Thames. And there's plenty of city centre meeting places to suit the urbanites amongst us. Another memorable descrip
  4 KB (622 words) - 15:54, 9 March 2018
• Savage Moon by Chris Simms
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...he panther has claimed his second victim. The cat is getting closer to the centre of Manchester and the city starts to panic. DI Spicer finds it difficult to
  4 KB (613 words) - 09:18, 11 March 2018
• Ghettoside by Jill Leovy
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...whole. This is a very well-meaning book, but also meanders a lot. At the centre is the case of a murdered man, who also happens to be a detective's son; th
  4 KB (687 words) - 11:54, 14 April 2018
• A Colouring Classic: William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet by Renia Metallinou
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...y did NOT like was the fact that too much of the book disappeared into the centre fold, and a lot of the contents are double-page spreads you can't completel
  4 KB (606 words) - 08:09, 11 April 2018
• The Martian War by Kevin J Anderson
  |reviewer=Ed Prior ...ar''. Real historical figures such as Percival Lowell and T H Huxley share centre stage with famous Wellsian characters like Dr Moreau and Mr Cavor in a stor
  4 KB (642 words) - 14:06, 1 April 2018
• Deathwatch by Nicola Morgan
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...McPherson is a talented athlete. She's winning competitions left right and centre, and she's a hot tip for a future Olympic medal. She's also just fourteen,
  3 KB (587 words) - 08:02, 7 October 2020
• The Soul of Discretion (Simon Serrailler) by Susan Hill
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...divulge any information about his contacts. He was currently in a therapy centre and is was here that DCS Serrailer went as Johno Miles, also a convicted pa
  4 KB (676 words) - 09:34, 12 August 2020
• The Briar Book of the Dead by A G Slatter
  |reviewer=Olivia Tierney ...lie 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
  4 KB (678 words) - 09:01, 3 April 2024
• City Atlas: Discover the world with 30 city maps by Martin Haake and Georgia Cherry
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...e an old stamp catalogue. The title image is indeed a stamp, stuck on the centre of the cover. And just as all stamps the world over are practically the sa
  4 KB (630 words) - 15:26, 20 March 2018
• Night Road by Kristin Hannah
  |reviewer=Zoe Morris ...as a teen book (set in high school and with three 18 years olds front and centre in the plot) it would have been easy to overlook the role of the mother, an
  4 KB (676 words) - 11:51, 25 February 2018
• Snapped by Pamela Klaffke
  |reviewer=Louise Laurie The story has, at its centre, a fictional magazine running a very popular ''DO and DON'T'' section on a
  4 KB (678 words) - 11:39, 19 March 2018
• Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase
  |reviewer= Louise Jones ...aine]], another immersive book with a dual narrative where the house takes centre stage. For more from Chase, try [[The Birdcage by Eve Chase|The Birdcage]]
  4 KB (614 words) - 09:37, 28 May 2023
• Remember to Breathe by Simon Pont
  |reviewer=Sue Magee The male characters take centre stage, as you would expect. I wanted to dislike Jamie the obnoxious banker
  4 KB (683 words) - 14:16, 18 March 2018
• Love Falls by Esther Freud
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...he nearest town is Sienna, famous for the Palio, the horse race run in the centre of the town and the excitement and spectacle of the event runs through the
  4 KB (641 words) - 12:59, 7 October 2020
• The Survival Game by Nicky Singer
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...han can be said for Muma and Papa. She's even made it out of the detention centre at the airport. And during this journey, Mhairi has learned that you can't
  4 KB (661 words) - 12:36, 29 May 2018
• Achaladair: There Is More Than Gold, in Them Thar Hills by William S Young
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...and, while serious, never takes itself ''too'' seriously. The action takes centre stage but this book also makes room for a wry joke or two to relieve the te
  4 KB (657 words) - 10:47, 2 April 2018
• The Particular Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes by Ruth Hogan
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...eappears in ''The Particular Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes'', but doesn't take centre stage. The starring role goes to the grief which parents endure when they
  4 KB (651 words) - 14:53, 22 September 2020
• Z-Rex (Z Rex Trilogy) by Steve Cole
  |reviewer= Sue Mongredien Adam's dad goes off to work at the research centre but then seems to vanish, leaving Adam alone in their apartment. The next t
  4 KB (608 words) - 13:28, 19 April 2018
• The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...e wishy-washy writing of the first half and an unlikeable character at the centre, ''Jack Sparks'' is hard going to begin with. This is a shame as the book
  4 KB (723 words) - 19:41, 29 August 2020
• Raven Boy and Elf Girl by Marcus Sedgwick
  |reviewer=Linda Lawlor ...find Elf Girl's family. But to reach her they have to go right to the very centre of Fright Forest, and it's definitely well named: everywhere they turn the
  4 KB (661 words) - 07:59, 21 September 2020
• The Cornish Guest House (Tremarnock) by Emma Burstall
  |reviewer= Louise Jones ...e of the room...were Sylvia, Audrey, Esme, Jean and Jenny and right in the centre...was Luke.''
  4 KB (678 words) - 14:27, 15 March 2018
• The Interview: Bookbag Talks To Karen McCombie
  |reviewer=Robert James ...a solitary life being a writer; in fact I'm typing this in my local garden centre cafe, just because it's nice to have people drifting around me when I work!
  8 KB (1,399 words) - 14:42, 18 May 2012
• The One We Fell In Love With by Paige Toon
  |reviewer= Zoe Morris ...triangle (love star in this case, with multiple spokes leading to the same centre?) and the loss the triplets go through has the intriguing effect of both pu
  4 KB (654 words) - 14:48, 27 September 2020
• The Spy Who Inspired Me by Stephen Clarke
  |reviewer=Ruth Ng The resistance takes centre stage in the story, and it highlights the enormous risks they took to try t
  4 KB (705 words) - 10:50, 29 March 2024
• Falling Freely, As If In A Dream by Leif G W Persson
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...s in the dress department in Nordiska Kompaniet, a department store in the centre of Stockholm. I commented on how much I liked the city, how safe I felt an
  4 KB (673 words) - 15:19, 25 March 2023
• Prize Murder by Nicholas Rhea
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...ppear, presumably having met their deaths. Brent Fowler works at a leisure centre but he was moved from the swimming pool to the cafeteria after complaints a
  4 KB (683 words) - 14:50, 10 March 2018
• Robert James Talks To Bookbag About The Penguin Bloggers' Night
  [[Category:Reviewer Centre]]
  4 KB (676 words) - 14:01, 3 March 2018
• The Man of Passage by Ian Mathie
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...ge and grew up with the local children. It was his home and was to be the centre of his life for decades to come.
  4 KB (672 words) - 14:15, 7 April 2018
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar Pop-Up Book by Eric Carle
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...are quite stunning. All seven are a delight but the ten food items on the centre-page spread are an excellent example of paper engineering at its best, with
  4 KB (659 words) - 13:44, 24 August 2020
• Caligula by Douglas Jackson
  |reviewer= Karen Inskip-Hayward ...hero. Rufus is not quite as physically strong, but seems to have a softer centre, although both are likeable.
  4 KB (673 words) - 08:22, 21 March 2018
• The Weight of Loss by Sally Oliver
  |reviewer=Stephen Leach ...er grief, recommends she go to stay at Nede, an experimental new treatment centre in Wales. Yet something strange is happening to Marianne and the other pati
  4 KB (642 words) - 08:16, 31 March 2024
• Soldier Boy by Danny Rhodes
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...e's been a lot of hanging about and killing time, a good few visits to Job Centre Plus, and a few forays into soul-destroying, dead-end jobs. Scottie knows h
  4 KB (647 words) - 11:43, 19 March 2018
• Willow Trees Don't Weep by Fadia Faqir
  |reviewer=Ani Johnson ...ess in Amman. And so the journey begins, taking Najwa to Pakistan and the centre of Taliban training, to Afghanistan and eventually to a Europe which deigns
  4 KB (601 words) - 11:43, 20 March 2018
• Anti-Judaism: A History of a Way of Thinking by David Nirenberg
  |reviewer=Stacey Barkley ...to the higher spiritual elements that Christianity sought to place at its centre.
  4 KB (674 words) - 13:30, 11 April 2018
• Deadly Cry (D I Kim Stone) by Angela Marsons
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...as she knew that she was equally rude to everyone. It was in the shopping centre that Stone caught sight of a little girl clutching a teddy bear in the abse
  4 KB (652 words) - 10:34, 29 March 2024
• Menage by Ewan Morrison
  |reviewer= Zoe Morris |summary= Sex, drugs and....art? That's the life for the threesome at the centre of this messy but endearing novel set in the past and the present.
  4 KB (681 words) - 10:16, 18 March 2018
• Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft
  |reviewer= JY Saville ...lling on a sleeper train across Ur to that engineering marvel, that fabled centre of culture, the Tower of Babel. It's a place he's read books about, taught
  4 KB (671 words) - 19:44, 29 August 2020
• Divorce Turkish Style (Kati Hirschel Istanbul Murder Mystery) by Esmahan Aykol
  |reviewer=Ani Johnson ...n fact at times the murder becomes a sub-plot as more routine matters take centre stage; an observation rather than a complaint as it all adds to the layers
  4 KB (605 words) - 13:08, 1 October 2020
• Quarry's Choice by Max Allan Collins
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...bling. What makes it better is that there is a strong relationship at the centre that gives Quarry actual motivation for his actions. Unlike with some pulp
  4 KB (722 words) - 17:08, 23 April 2018
• You Had Me At Hello by Mhairi McFarlane
  |reviewer=Zoe Morris ...of town, and an odd trip to Platt Fields for lunch (really? From the city centre? Who would do that?) this was a book that rang true. Pubs like the Castle a
  4 KB (697 words) - 09:48, 20 August 2020
• The Dark Winter by David Mark
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...e Christmas Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy was with his young son in the centre of Hull when he was alerted by screaming. The noise was coming from the chu
  4 KB (694 words) - 10:38, 19 August 2020
• What Lot's Wife Saw by Ioanna Bourazopoulou and Yannis Panas (Translator)
  |reviewer=Ani Johnson ...as similar to a warm, cloudy summer's day: I liked it but when Phileas was centre stage the sun came out and I could feel the difference.
  4 KB (604 words) - 11:51, 8 March 2018
• The Indomitable Chiesa di Santa Maria by Daniel Peltz
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...ruins of the Chiesa - a chapel - have now become. Crowds flock to see its centre piece, a renaissance fresco with a history which grabs the attention of you
  4 KB (693 words) - 10:33, 2 January 2019
• Apocalypse Now Now by Charlie Human
  |reviewer=Steve Shayler ...is called the Spider and Baxter believes himself to be the arachnid at the centre of an impressive web with the ability to manipulate and scheme his way to p
  4 KB (700 words) - 15:00, 5 September 2020
• Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai
  |reviewer=Milli Pithie ...equence (or is it a memory?) that sets up the murder which is to be at the centre of this book. Durga, a young girl living in Julundur, is instructed by a m
  6 KB (939 words) - 10:02, 20 March 2018
• Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru
  |reviewer=Robin Leggett ...c narrative takes in various points in time from 1775 to 2009 all of which centre around this rock structure which has had different meanings for different g
  4 KB (676 words) - 12:21, 24 March 2018
• Kill Fee by Owen Laukkanen
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...ergy flies off the page and may be too much for some readers, but for this reviewer it is refreshingly quick. In the hands of a lesser author the back and for
  5 KB (837 words) - 14:37, 3 March 2018
• The Magic and Mystery of Birds by Noah Strycker
  |reviewer=Louise Jones ...ot-ridden cadaver into the back of his car, drive home and place it in the centre of the garden, much to the bemusement of his poor parents. His persistence
  4 KB (637 words) - 09:51, 26 February 2018
• Highest Mountain, Deepest Ocean by Kate Baker, Zanna Davidson and Page Tsou
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...and size you up against the biggest raptors and other dinosaurs, or to the centre of the very earth itself. There the pressure is akin to having the entire
  4 KB (692 words) - 08:32, 22 March 2018
• The Monstrumologist: The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey
  |reviewer=Robert James ...- this is beautifully paced, with adrenaline rushes coming left right and centre and the author building tension expertly both in the wilderness as the lead
  4 KB (669 words) - 10:38, 21 April 2018
• Nod by Adrian Barnes
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...course the concept. All the best science fiction has a great idea at its centre and Adrian Barnes' ''Nod'' certainly has this. The idea of getting no slee
  4 KB (745 words) - 14:33, 12 March 2018
• A Painted Smile by Frances Fyfield
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...tween the male characters for me to be always aware of which character was centre stage. I'd happily listen to more of his narrations.
  4 KB (656 words) - 10:18, 19 August 2020
• When I Was A Nipper by Alan Titchmarsh
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...bered with nostalgia are still there – the village hall and the pub as the centre of people's social life – but it points up that we're lucky to live the l
  4 KB (667 words) - 11:03, 8 April 2018
• Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell
  |reviewer= Robert James ...t-read, both for the excellent plot and the superb group of friends at the centre of it.
  4 KB (698 words) - 12:13, 11 October 2020
• Psy-Q: You know your IQ - now test your psychological intelligence by Ben Ambridge
  |reviewer=Louise Jones ...them. The book would have benefitted greatly from a colour section in the centre.
  4 KB (701 words) - 13:17, 15 April 2018
• Phil Daniels: Class Actor by Phil Daniels
  |reviewer=John Van der Kiste On the political side, he comments in a matter-of-fact way about his left of centre views during the Thatcher years and the inevitable arguments with his paren
  4 KB (656 words) - 16:21, 7 April 2018
• Thieves Fall Out by Gore Vidal
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...the genre, but the dubious 1950s political incorrectness is more front and centre.
  4 KB (704 words) - 19:46, 29 August 2020
• Dark Visions: The Strange Power, The Possessed, The Passion by L J Smith
  |reviewer= Robert James ...recommendation for fans of a supernatural book with a love triangle at the centre is [[Twilight by Stephenie Meyer]], I think fans of Dark Visions would also
  4 KB (690 words) - 10:02, 13 March 2018
• The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy It soon transpires that each of the girls have been at the centre of some sort of sex scandal - a gang rape by sports stars, an affair with a
  4 KB (684 words) - 13:49, 24 February 2018
• Confessions of a Recovering MP by Nick de Bois
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...est time for me to review the memoir of a Tory MP. Not only am I a left-of-centre - to put it mildly - voter and so probably have next to no points of politi
  4 KB (672 words) - 15:14, 3 September 2020
• Nine Ways to Empower Tweens by Kathleen Boucher and Sara Chadwick
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...emphasises resilience throughout and it also places thoughtfulness at its centre. Children reading will come away with a good understanding that human being
  4 KB (669 words) - 08:59, 1 June 2023
• My Favourite Manson Girl by Alison Umminger
  |reviewer= Luke Marlowe ...ith very real characters, interesting plot twists, and a good heart at the centre of darkness – I'd say it's worth a read – and I think suitable for teen
  4 KB (651 words) - 11:43, 18 March 2018
• Harrison Squared by Daryl Gregory
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...ls a little naïve in terms of style. It has the troubled young man at the centre that was a staple for young adult books throughout the 90s; I found them ha
  4 KB (708 words) - 13:43, 1 April 2018
• Mwah Mwah by Chloe Rayban
  |reviewer=Zoe Morris ...teresting heroine because she is a self-conscious teen unused to being the centre of attention as she is in France because of the novelty factor, but she is
  4 KB (667 words) - 17:36, 15 April 2018
• The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
  |reviewer=Robin Leggett ...y=US college campus-based story of friendship and ambition with a baseball centre. You certainly don't have to be a baseball fan to enjoy this, but a little
  4 KB (672 words) - 09:29, 15 March 2018
• Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together by Bryan Lee O'Malley
  |reviewer=Dan Hooper At the centre of the complicated story is the titular protagonist Scott, a twenty-three y
  4 KB (656 words) - 14:19, 20 March 2018
• Survival in Space: The Apollo 13 Mission by David Long and Stefano Tambellini (illustrator)
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...ifty years since the Apollo 13 mission was launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, but the story of that journey remains one of the greatest survi
  4 KB (666 words) - 15:05, 9 October 2020
• Find Me by Romily Bernard
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...n. And she is often a real pain! I also appreciated that the mystery takes centre stage in this story - I'm fed up with being told that I'm about to read a m
  4 KB (666 words) - 10:03, 22 September 2020
• The Difficult Job of Keeping Time by Dyan Sheldon
  |reviewer=Zoe Morris ...t of the book has the interesting effect of putting you right there in the centre of the action as it happens, rather than observing what has gone on from th
  4 KB (769 words) - 13:51, 7 September 2020
• The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
  |reviewer=Robert James ..., couldn't have held my interest if there weren't strong characters at the centre of the story, but thankfully Sanderson scores here as well. Joel is a great
  4 KB (648 words) - 10:23, 11 August 2020
• Ratburger by David Walliams
  |reviewer=Linda Lawlor ...or too weak to do anything about it. What is left is the lone child at the centre of the chaos, and so the reader becomes utterly invested in her, willing he
  4 KB (653 words) - 08:51, 23 April 2018
• Bleed For Me by Michael Robotham
  |reviewer=Louise Laurie ...health issues he's very good at his job. By degrees, the teenager at the centre of this story tells her side of things and pieces start to fall slowly into
  4 KB (635 words) - 08:28, 8 July 2023
• Invader by Simon Scarrow and T J Andrews
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...thrills at both ends, but also some narrative and characterisation at the centre. ''Invader'' is made up of five previously published e-books that make up
  4 KB (730 words) - 14:46, 25 August 2020
• Tea at the Grand Tazi by Alexandra Singer
  |reviewer=Andy Lancaster ...job assisting the Historian, a shadowy academic, in return for life in the centre of Marrakesh. And with her duties light, she sets off to explore her surrou
  4 KB (666 words) - 11:47, 31 March 2018
• Anna Amalia, Grand Duchess: Patron of Goethe and Schiller by Frances A Gerard
  |reviewer=John Van der Kiste ...of Goethe and other men of letters who helped to make Weimar the cultural centre of 18th-century Germany
  4 KB (677 words) - 13:50, 8 April 2018
• Labyrinth by Theo Guignard
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...aze of weird roadways, and – as the creator is French – something like the Centre Pompidou.
  4 KB (646 words) - 15:32, 16 February 2018
• The Tornado Chasers by Ross Montgomery
  |reviewer=Linda Lawlor ...for children who don't follow orders, there's always the County Detention Centre, a grim prison-like structure presided over by the mysterious – and terri
  4 KB (659 words) - 17:08, 11 March 2018
• King Dork by Frank Portman
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...t pays proper attention to the obsessions of teenage boys, even if they do centre on blow-jobs, it's inventive and well-written. It's definitely recommended.
  4 KB (598 words) - 14:41, 3 March 2018
• How to Love by Katie Cotugno
  |reviewer=Kenzie Millar ...ut novel ''How to Love'' is, unsurprisingly, all about love. It has at its centre Reena and Sawyer, a gritty portrayal of first love. But it also has family
  4 KB (776 words) - 16:44, 10 April 2018
• The Golden Anklet by Beverley Hansford
  |reviewer=Ani Johnson ...interesting device that allows the main genealogy story to move front and centre along with some subtle questions about what – or who - gives us our sense
  4 KB (673 words) - 14:05, 11 August 2020
• Ask Alice by D J Taylor
  |reviewer=Louise Laurie ...printed page.' I gobbled it all up willingly. I was drawn right into the centre of Alice's life from the start. I was hooked. I was keen to find out what
  4 KB (646 words) - 13:04, 1 September 2020
• Bodies of Water by V H Leslie
  |reviewer= Erin Hull ...roken heart, and Evelyn, a nineteenth century 'guest' of a water treatment centre for ailing women. Kirsten moves into the old Wakewater House, attempting to
  4 KB (681 words) - 11:22, 16 April 2018
• The Sun King Conspiracy by Yves Jego, Denis Lepee, and Sue Dyson (translator)
  |reviewer= Amy Etherington ...ed and unable to completely immerse myself in the story. Gabriel is at the centre of the novel and you follow him as his accidental possession of these myste
  4 KB (657 words) - 13:21, 20 August 2020
• The Hanging Tree (Rivers of London 6) by Ben Aaronovitch
  |reviewer=Ani Johnson ...s at any stage and feel thoroughly at home in The Folly: his residence and centre of supernatural crime study for centuries. He lives there with is apprenti
  4 KB (626 words) - 11:24, 7 July 2022
• No Passengers Beyond This Point by Gennifer Choldenko
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...l Gaiman]]. For a story that also depicts growing up as a journey from the centre of the world to just a part of it, I think they'd enjoy [[Castlecliff by El
  4 KB (680 words) - 16:44, 16 April 2018
• Dork Diaries: Drama Queen (Dork Diaries 9) by Rachel Renee Russell
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...now those ''Doctor Who'' episodes that are so unusual and freakily left-of-centre because the title character is mostly absent while the actor has a break?
  4 KB (642 words) - 12:09, 23 April 2018
• The Unique Creation by Heath A Hague
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...crash killed his wife and children, when a nuclear bomb is set off in the centre of London. It all appears to our eyes to be a mysterious techno-cult, but
  4 KB (643 words) - 15:07, 1 April 2018
• Brain Twisters: The Science of Thinking and Feeling by Clive Gifford and Professor Anil Seth
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...ye Benders]]). It's just it seems a long time before these take front and centre in the book, and with a title such as Brain Twisters and with the stated mi
  4 KB (700 words) - 22:41, 19 March 2018
• Nothing but the Truth: Selected Dispatches by Anna Politkovskaya
  |reviewer=Luci Davin There are a few pages of photographs in the centre of the book – they are not their to illustrate her horror stories about C
  5 KB (755 words) - 12:40, 14 April 2018
• Glister by John Burnside
  |reviewer= John Lloyd ...rent's age. Penfriends have to be mass murderers. People left, right and centre have an almost Asperger's type of failure to reason, communicate, or enjoy
  4 KB (718 words) - 15:08, 16 March 2018
• The Kept by James Scott
  |reviewer=Ani Johnson ...'s easy to see why, out of all the characters, these two remain deservedly centre stage.
  4 KB (647 words) - 17:01, 18 February 2018
• Homefall (Last Legion) by Chris Bunch
  |reviewer=Iain Wear ...the Cumbre system has been isolated from the Confederation, supposedly the centre of the galaxy and the people who run everything. With no obvious immediate
  5 KB (810 words) - 13:48, 1 April 2018
• No Sorrow to Die: An Alice Rice Mystery by Gillian Galbraith
  |reviewer=Louise Laurie ...most of this renowned city and mentions many places in and around the city centre. For example, '' ... her attention caught briefly by a man on Arthur's Sea
  4 KB (618 words) - 12:56, 10 March 2018
• You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlmann and Ross Benjamin (translator)
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...that where the sun don't shine – but keep this tiny, tidy volume front and centre. Yes, we don't get a completely straightforward narrative style here. We
  4 KB (687 words) - 10:53, 16 April 2018
• I'll Meet You In Heaven by Jill Thrussell
  |reviewer=Ani Johnson ...eir unfulfilled desire for children, all is perfect, love remaining at the centre of their relationship. Well, all was perfect until their 10th anniversary
  4 KB (685 words) - 11:44, 5 April 2018
• The Mousehunter by Alex Milway
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...tical shenanigans and curses engage all, with a young girl thrust into the centre of the action in a nice, tomboyish way.
  4 KB (693 words) - 14:39, 15 September 2020
• Iron House by John Hart
  |reviewer=Louise Laurie We see the young Michael at the centre of the story and it stays that way for a good chunk of the book. What Hart
  4 KB (681 words) - 13:03, 17 March 2018
• The Graveyard Position by Robert Barnard
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...s and landmarks. I struggled with Merlyn through the traffic of Leeds city centre and I know the hotel where he was staying. This increased my enjoyment of t
  4 KB (723 words) - 09:43, 14 May 2018
• Here Be Monsters! by Alan Snow
  |reviewer=Linda Lawlor ...is an oddball of a town. Once a bustling and highly successful industrial centre, known far and wide for its cheese, it is now dilapidated and dreary, poiso
  4 KB (644 words) - 07:35, 21 September 2020
• Venice: Pure City by Peter Ackroyd
  |reviewer=John Van der Kiste ...istory but enlivened with his elegant, literary style, and what a previous reviewer has called his love of 'psychogeographical investigation'.
  5 KB (809 words) - 13:43, 6 April 2018
• Stuff Brits Like by Fraser McAlpine
  |reviewer=Liz Green There are some surprising omissions in Stuff Brits Like. The Call Centre, for example, is an inescapable - and much loathed - fact of Modern Britain
  4 KB (690 words) - 12:12, 23 March 2018
• The Tournament by Matthew Reilly
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...She is removed from England to avoid the plague, but plunging her into the centre of the Sultan’s hostile capital is like taking her from the melting pot a
  4 KB (747 words) - 12:29, 12 March 2018
• Artemis by Andy Weir
  |reviewer= Sophie Diamond ...n comes complete with an explanatory map. I particularly loved the tourist centre by the moon landing site, it all feels so real, you're practically booking
  4 KB (709 words) - 15:17, 17 February 2018
• Following the Tractor by Susan Steggall
  |reviewer=Lorraine McDonald ...he wings, barely visible peeking out from the shed, leaving farmer to take centre stage feeding his cows. It's art work that you'd be happy to have on the w
  4 KB (714 words) - 16:14, 29 March 2018
• Robert Crumb's Book of Genesis: All 50 Chapters by Robert Crumb
  |reviewer= John Lloyd ...f sequential art) is good, and the artistic decisions made left, right and centre, seem spot on. Crumb suggests he has tried to put as little interpretation
  4 KB (689 words) - 14:13, 20 March 2018
• Return to Fourwinds by Elisabeth Gifford
  |reviewer=Ani Johnson Ralph and Peter are the compelling centre pieces for me. Indeed, that seems to be the key to it. Although it's oste
  4 KB (683 words) - 14:25, 18 March 2018
• Bookbag Review Submission Document
  <nowiki>|reviewer=THE NAME YOU USE AS A REVIEWER</nowiki><br> [[Category:Reviewer Centre]]
  6 KB (1,005 words) - 12:35, 9 November 2020
• Vengeance by Megan Miranda
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...narrator. Part romance and part psychological thriller, the romance takes centre stage. ''Vengeance'' is beautifully written, if a tad predictable.
  4 KB (695 words) - 12:30, 11 October 2020
• A Dead Hand: A Crime in Calcutta by Paul Theroux
  |reviewer= Robin Leggett ...'s Book]], is another recent example of a novelist putting a writer at the centre of their books.
  4 KB (761 words) - 08:24, 15 March 2018
• Home by Marilynne Robinson
  |reviewer= Ruth Ng ...It's a very claustrophobic work, with just these three characters taking centre stage for almost all of the book. Their stories, their secrets, leak out d
  4 KB (679 words) - 11:46, 3 March 2018
• Half Bad by Sally Green
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...bversions and a barnstorming intro. And a romance that ''isn't'' front and centre. Thank goodness. I really enjoyed it.
  4 KB (679 words) - 14:19, 31 March 2018
• The Vanishing Act by Mette Jakobsen
  |reviewer=Ani Johnson ...st important aid to living. Minou is a product of both paths, walking the centre line as she sides with her father, but writing stories when he’s not arou
  4 KB (709 words) - 12:46, 31 March 2018
• Passing Strange (Generation Dead) by Daniel Waters
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...e amongst the many differently biotic teenagers in Oakvale, gets a turn at centre stage in the latest in Daniel Waters's ''Generation Dead'' series.
  4 KB (649 words) - 14:35, 31 March 2018
• Creating Value Through Technology: Discover the Tech that Can Transform Your Business by Andrew Hampshire
  |reviewer=Sue Magee ...siness. It's possible to avoid technical jargon and vague aspirations and centre the discussions on the financial improvements which can be expected and how
  5 KB (813 words) - 10:41, 29 March 2024
• The Heart Broke In by James Meek
  |reviewer=Robin Leggett ...ssues into a compellingly readable and entertaining moral thriller. At the centre of the book are two siblings who are very different. Ritchie is a former ro
  4 KB (713 words) - 10:00, 17 March 2018
• Yossarian Slept Here by Erica Heller
  |reviewer=Andy Lancaster ...d parents. Her struggle to reconcile her love for both of them is the real centre of this autobiography. And it is a much better book that might have been ex
  4 KB (726 words) - 11:54, 26 February 2018
• Finn Fancy Necromancy by Randy Henderson
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler The centre of this book is Finn and his relationships. The book is at its best when F
  4 KB (727 words) - 19:48, 29 August 2020
• The Perfect Stranger by P J Kavanagh
  |reviewer= Lisa Munson Kavanagh was perfectly happy at home, the centre of his Mother's universe, until he was sent away to boarding school where h
  4 KB (719 words) - 11:29, 26 February 2018
• The Circle by Dave Eggers
  |reviewer=Chris Bradshaw ...cy is theft'' in the world of The Circle, the all-consuming company at the centre of Dave Eggers' entertaining, if unsettling new satire on technology and th
  4 KB (698 words) - 15:56, 4 September 2020
• Hav by Jan Morris
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...ation, in the Mediterranean, suggests how it has for many ages been at the centre of things, able to take from all corners, both near and far. Hav is as a re
  4 KB (777 words) - 09:57, 17 March 2018
• Half Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...y challenged, but it becomes more interesting when the hair that is at the centre of the problem is a missing lock of pop star's tresses, bought from eBay. I
  4 KB (717 words) - 10:40, 29 August 2020
• The Adventures of an Urban Fox: Maggie Arrives by Yara Evans and Luciana Betti
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...oken about and has an important task to perform, it's the animals who take centre stage in this story.
  4 KB (724 words) - 14:18, 7 September 2020
• Into The Frame: The Four Loves of Ford Madox Brown by Angela Thirlwell
  |reviewer=John Van der Kiste ...e artist himself. She and their daughter, a babe in arms, are also at the centre of the rather sugary ‘Pretty Baa-Lambs’.
  4 KB (719 words) - 13:27, 6 April 2018
• Lucerin: Identity by Dan Corns
  |reviewer= Louise Jones ...cularly appealing to me. It was refreshing to see the West Midlands as the centre of the action for once, rather than the usual settings like London or New Y
  4 KB (676 words) - 17:06, 14 April 2018
• Refuge by Dina Nayeri
  |reviewer= Anna Hollingsworth ...l either. But in Dina Nayeri's ''Refuge'', it is the life after that takes centre stage.
  4 KB (681 words) - 15:59, 20 February 2018
• The Last of the Bowmans by J Paul Henderson
  |reviewer= JY Saville ...me town that Greg sees after seven years in America, the decay of the city centre and the change in character of the suburb his family live in. Anyone who's
  4 KB (664 words) - 14:35, 17 March 2018
• Cell 7 by Kerry Drewery
  |reviewer= Louise Jones ...accused is led to Cell 7, dominated by the imposing electric chair in the centre. As the public votes pour in, viewers wait with eager anticipation to see i
  4 KB (676 words) - 18:56, 31 March 2018
• Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...the zombie plight, and shooter Pete starts community service at the Hunter Centre for Undead Studies. He's sorry that he shot Adam, but his hatred for the li
  4 KB (694 words) - 12:30, 14 April 2018
• Danger is Still Everywhere: Beware of the Dog! by David O'Doherty and Chris Judge
  |reviewer=John Lloyd ...o read, what with large fonts, pages broken up with design left, right and centre and its completely appealing silliness; and one so patently child-friendly
  4 KB (705 words) - 11:34, 23 April 2018
• Talking to Ghosts by Herve Le Corre and Frank Wynne (Translator)
  |reviewer=Ani Johnson ...cal Garnier and [[:Category:Fred Vargas|Fred Vargas]] it's moved front and centre. Now that Le Corre's work is being translated, its place is definitely ass
  4 KB (649 words) - 10:41, 2 October 2020
• Ghost Train to New Orleans: Book 2 of the Shambling Guides by Mur Lafferty
  |reviewer=Ani Johnson Centre stage this trip belongs to Opal and Kevin as they tussle with their own vam
  4 KB (694 words) - 13:41, 13 March 2018
• Thin Air by Michelle Paver
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...ghost story-come-psychological thriller with an old country house at its centre. You might also enjoy [[The Sound of Gravity by Joe Simpson]].
  4 KB (691 words) - 11:39, 20 September 2020
• The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst
  |reviewer=Ani Johnson ...of Hitler's ascendancy, the espionage and accompanying complications take centre stage. In fact, in that respect it's reminiscent (in style and era) of [[:
  4 KB (626 words) - 12:23, 3 April 2018
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...ur imagination. In the second half of the book, the threat from Jack takes centre stage and we can only hope Bod has learned enough to defeat it.
  4 KB (691 words) - 14:20, 19 February 2018
• Shopaholic to the Rescue by Sophie Kinsella
  |reviewer= Sophie Diamond ...d, Suze is convinced her husband is being brainwashed by the evil wellness centre instructor, Becky's jealous that Suze is suddenly best friends with Alicia,
  4 KB (722 words) - 11:16, 12 August 2020
• Burn by Patrick Ness
  |reviewer=Jill Murphy ...ourites among the rest of the huge supporting cast. Sarah, the girl at the centre of the prophecy, is all you could want from a reluctant heroine: dogged, pe
  4 KB (693 words) - 09:06, 21 September 2020
• Lala by Jacek Dehnel and Antonia Lloyd-Jones (translator)
  |reviewer= Ruth Wilson ...ain re-telling of the final months and days of a woman who has been at the centre of his world.
  5 KB (791 words) - 15:27, 8 March 2018
• Collusion by Stuart Neville
  |reviewer=Louise Laurie ...tion fairly early on in the book which has a high level of violence at its centre. As ''The Traveller'' goes about his business, there's an unexpected disco
  4 KB (690 words) - 13:13, 11 October 2020
• Psalm 119 by Heather McRobie
  |reviewer= Ruth Price With the opening page of this novel, I felt distinctly underpowered as a reviewer to do it justice. The first words are not written by the author, but by the
  5 KB (897 words) - 15:34, 30 March 2018
• Depth by Lev Rosen
  |reviewer=Sam Tyler ...story and environment holds up. There is a strong crime noir that is the centre of events, no one can be trusted and anyone could be the killer. Pierce he
  4 KB (747 words) - 12:14, 1 April 2018
• The Cuckoo Boy by Grant Gillespie
  |reviewer=Louise Laurie ...vel, deep in suburbia, could easily be put on the stage. As a farce. And centre-stage would be ... James. As he grows up and participates in normal childh
  4 KB (691 words) - 14:45, 15 March 2018

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