132,666
edits
Changes
From TheBookbag
Jump to navigationJump to searchno edit summary
<metadesc>Book review siteExpert, with books full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, biographynon-fiction, crime, cookery and children's books & self-published books plus author interviews and & top tens.</metadesc><h1 id="mf-title">The Bookbag</h1>Hello from The Bookbag, a site featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - [[:Category:Fiction|fiction]], [[:Category:Biography|biography]], [[:Category:Crime|crime]], [[:Category:Cookery|cookery]] and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. It's the bag we take to the library, the charity shop and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of [[:Category:Interviews|author interviews]], and all sorts of [[:Category:Lists|top tens]] - all of which you can find on our [[features]] page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the [[Book Recommendations|recommendations]] page.
Reviews by readers from all the many walks of literary life. With author interviews, features and top tens. You'll be sure to find something you'll want to read here. Dig in! Find us on [[File:facebook.gif|link=https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk|alt=Facebook]] [https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk '''Facebook'''], [[File:twitter.gif|link=http://twitter.com/TheBookbag|alt=Follow us on Twitter]] [http://twitter.com/TheBookbag '''Twitter'''], [[File:instagram_classic_logo.png|link=https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/|alt=Follow us on Instagram]] [https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/ '''Instagram'''] and [[File:LinkedIn.png|link=https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-bookbag-1b12a264/|alt=LinkedIn]] There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' [[:Category:Reviews|reviews ]] at TheBookbag.
Want to find out more [[About Us|about us]]? __NOTOC__
==Reviews of the The Best New Books==
'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by category]]. '''<br>
'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].''' <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--> '''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Mary H.K. Choi1529428289|title=Permanent RecordA Grave in the Woods (A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel)|author=Martin Walker
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=Because of various property transactions, people were searching for the grave but when they found it, it came with three sets of bones. They dated back to World War II and it fell to Bruno, the Chief of Police for St Denis, to discover the identities of the bodies and establish whether or not a crime had been committed. As if this isn't enough to worry about, the Dordogne River - normally tranquil - is flowing at record levels. It's not just the local autumn rains that have caused the problem: various dams upstream on another river have had to release water and St Denis faces the possibility of a devastating flood.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=152919640X
|title=The Suspect
|author=Rob Rinder
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=The nation's favourite daytime TV presenter, Jessica Holby, was murdered live on television and it seems that there's only one suspect. He's celebrity chef Sebastian Brooks and his contract stated that he must not serve anything containing miso to Jessica Holby. She's seriously allergic and carries an EpiPen in case of emergencies. Everything seemed as normal - as normal as they can be in a busy, live television studio - and Brooks served a ragout to Holby. Her EpiPen was nowhere to be found and she was dead within minutes. It was soon clear that this was no accident.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=0008385068
|title=The Midnight Feast
|author=Lucy Foley
|rating=4.5
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=It's midsummer on the Dorset coast and guests gather at The Manor. It's their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promised. It's all headed up by Francesca Meadows. The Manor was her ancestral home and she's converted it into an impressive retreat for the wealthy and famous. Her husband, Owen, was the architect and work is still ongoing on parts of the site. The heat is oppressive and amongst the guests are enemies as well as friends. Old scores are going to be settled and it won't be long before a body is found.
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Ashley Hickson-Lovence
|title=Wild East
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=PabloWritten in verse, this is Ronny's story, a college drop-out, is working young black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who suddenly has to move to Norwich and start at a New York bodegamostly white school. HeThe move is initiated by Ronny's massively in debt, hemum who is worried for Ronny's avoiding his mothersafety after a tragic event, and he so Ronny finds his joy himself trying to settle in creating unusual snacks with random ingredients! Whilst working one eveninga new town, he's surprised to discover that the girl he is chatting with as he serves is a super-famous pop star new school, andkeep himself out of trouble. He listens to music constantly, as unlikely as it may seem, they start and has always dreamed of being a relationshiprapper. With one character who is trying very hard not But now, in this new school, his teacher encourages him to be seen or noticed by anyonepart of a poetry writing workshop group and, slowly, and Ronny begins to see the other who is seen connections between rap and followed poetry, and hounded by everyone all over the world, it's an interesting clash as they come together. This isn't just a love story though, power of creativity and actually it's really just Pab's story, about the journey he takes in his life via his meet-up with Leanna Smartcrafting your words.|isbn=03490034590241645441
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=16098093191635866847|title=Long-Haired Cat-Boy CubThe Lavender Companion|author=Etgar Keret, Aviel Basil Jessica Dunham and Sondra Silverston (translator)Terry Barlin Vesci|rating=4.5|genre=Confident ReadersLifestyle|summary=One day a boy It's strange, the things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is in the zoo with his fatherbook for you. Before I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', when I visited the man gets called away author's [https://www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website] and there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on urgent businessthe homepage. The boy isnI don't hustled into a cab eat cakes and taken home first, though, no – hedesserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally. (There's given hot dog money, and taxi moneya recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to just stick around on his own and enjoy himselfmake a mess of it. Well, it's no surprise that Notes in the orphan-for-an-afternoon sensation margins are sanctioned. You get to fold down the lad feels doesn't make him happy, and so he thinks corners of pages. You suspect that smears of butter would not be a species name for himself, and curls himself up into an empty cage, as if he were a new exhibitproblem. And itI ''loved''s then the drama begins… this book already.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1785785516Rob Keeley|title=Fucking Good Manners|author=Simon GriffinChildish Spirits: 10th anniversary special edition
|rating=4
|genre=LifestyleConfident Readers|summary=Manners maketh manAround here, they saywe're big fans of children's author Rob Keeley. It certainly makes life easier if everybody abides by He's a set ball of conventionshappy positivity, he understands children, some of which are ages old and other which have evolved over time. Manners are he writes for their pleasure and enjoyment, not about how much to tip lecture or how you should behave if you get an invitation to Buckingham Palace, they have nothing to do with class or financial status: theyhector. The ''Childish Spirits''re about getting the basics right before we try to deal with more difficult mattersseries is one of his greatest achievements. Of course we all have more relaxed manners when weIt're s a sequence of ghost stories centring on Ellie, a stalwart young girl who can cope with family anything the spirit world throws at her, and friendsEdward, but it's best if we learn to distinguish between our public and private lives a spoiled lordling and to act appropriately. ''Fucking Good Manners'' aims to help us on the way.first spirit Ellie encounters|isbn= 1783064617
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=0008324859Jenny Valentine|title=Fowl Twins|author=Eoin ColferUs in the Before and After
|rating=5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Elk and Mab are best friends, or more than that even, their friendship is a once in a lifetime connection. They meet as children one day on a trip out but unfortunately they don't get each other's contact details at the time. But then chance brings them back together, and they are inseparable. Something has happened though, something terrible and tragic, and now they must work through their grief, and their friendship, together.
|isbn=1471196585
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Kieran Larwood and Joe Todd-Stanton
|title=Dungeon Runners: Hero Trial
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=RelaxMeet Kit. Like most of the people in his world, everyone it seems, he is an avid fan of Dungeon Running – our old friend Artemis may be off planet, but the baddies aren't getting away with skulduggery any time soon because they now have not one but two members sport where a team of the Fowl family to contend with. Those cute little twins are now eleven (warrior, mage andhealer enter specially prepared, franklycentury-old, cute no longer) and in thismagical mazes, their first independent adventure, they meet a troll and without even trying manage race to make two deadly enemies: a nobleman obsessed the exit, perhaps bothering with immortality whatever the cost (to other people), treasure or the big bad and an unusual interrogator-nunthe points they grant you along the way. The boys are chased Unfortunately for Kit, kidnappedthe only thing he's seen of the latest race on the inn TV equivalent is that one team has been retired, eaten, arrested and even killed (though not a new trio of questors is needed. Possibly very unfortunately indeed for long)Kit, all with he has taken to the goading from the help token bully of one trainee fairyhis world and stumbled into declaring he'll enter as a team. What chance does this friendless, muscle-free-zone have in actually managing that, and how could he possibly hope to succeed?|isbn=1839945184
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1472255798Saima Mir|title=Vengeance|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers|summary= I was instantly intrigued by the premise of this novel – an organised crime syndicate in the north of England run by a Muslim woman. The Bad Fire fact that it was the second in a series I hadn't read didn't stop me – I've jumped midway into a few series before (Bob Skinneron page and screen)and it needn't be a hindrance if it's good enough. And that wasn't a problem here. Vengeance swiftly brings you up to speed, and I never felt lost.|isbn=0861541561}} {{Frontpage|author=Quintin JardineStuart Douglas|title=Lowe and Le Breton Mysteries - Death at the Dress Rehearsal|rating=43.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=Nine years ago local councillor Marcia Brown took her own life after being accused of shoplifting from a local supermarket. ItDuring location filming for his 1970's always been assumed that she couldnsitcom 't live with Floggit and Leggit', leading man Edward Lowe stumbles across the shame. People were surprised that she committed suicide just before the court case when she had been adamant that she would fight to clear her name. She said that she'd been set up because she was hot dead body of a woman on the trail edge of corruption in the councila reservoir. Her ex-husband has contacted Alex Skinner The police seem happy to assign it as an accidental death, Solicitor Advocate as well as retired Police Constable Bob Skinner's daughterbut something about the whole thing bothers Lowe, and asked that she look into clearing Brown's name: it's something which he feels that he has enlists the help of a fellow actor, John Le Breton to help him investigate matters further. They travel across the country during their days off filming, uncovering more possible murders and, seemingly, a link to death during the Second World War. But is there really a link between the deaths? And will they manage to do in memory of his son uncover who was murdered recently.is responsible before more people lose their lives?|isbn=1803368209
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=B07X6GLQ3QB0CYV674G2|title=See Them RunSwanton Morley (John Tanner)|author=Marion ToddDavid Blake|rating=43.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=D I Clare Mackay is still relatively new to St Andrew's: she was previously at Maryhill Rd station It seemed like an open-and-shut case. A man, covered in Glasgow. She's left quite mud and blood - and carrying a lot behind including a relationship knife, comes into the police station shouting that wasnhe hasn't going anywhere after Tom failed to support her when killed the chips were downman. She also left A body at the bottom of a nasty situationfreshly dug grave at Swanton Morley church - he's been stabbed to death. DCI John Tanner is just back from his honeymoon, which coincided with the birth of her own making his daughter Samantha. You would think he'd be grateful for an easy answer but not her fault, the words 'perverse' and St Andrew's is a fresh startJohn Tanner' were made for each other. Not long into the job sheHe's faced with a hit and run death and theresleep-deprived to the point of falling asleep at work but he's little doubt that it wasndetermined to keep going - probably because he can't accidental - the card with the number five suggests murderget any sleep at home. Andy Robb }}{{Frontpage|isbn=1787333175|title=You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here|author=Benji Waterhouse|rating=5|genre=Popular Science|summary=I was married tempted to Sandra. read ''You could say that they had an open marriage but there seemed Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here'' after enjoying Adam Kay's first book {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is Going to Hurt}}, a lot glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, humour and autobiography. ''You Don't Have to be Mad...'open' promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and very little the work of a psychiatrist. I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the 'marriage' left - on both sides, but would she want him dead?laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understanding.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1786540991Onyi Nwabineli|title=The Impossible Boy|author=Ben BrooksAllow Me to Introduce Myself
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Anuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-mother Ophelia's increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step of Anuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, monetary gain. Now Anuri is in her twenties and she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and to get her life back, suing her step-mother to take down the content about her. Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and receiving money from them for doing so. Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the new focus of Ophelia's online empire. Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?
|isbn=0861546873
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=David Chadwick
|title=Headload of Napalm
|rating=4.5
|genre=Thrillers
|summary= It's September 1973 in Hicks, California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of LA and Las Vegas both a significant drive away. Not much happens in Hicks. A silver mine and a defence contractor are the main local employers but otherwise, there's not much of note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is quiet, until....
|isbn= B0D321VJ76
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Tom Percival
|title=The Wrong Shoes
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Will''Oleg and Emma entered their den to find a cardboard spaceship standing where they usually sat. Slowly, the front door opened. Smoke billowed out. And out stepped a boys life is difficult, dressed in a long coat with an even longer scarf, wound around his neckmultitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes' , he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn'"My namet have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can's Sebastian Cole," t work because he lost his job at the boy saidcollege, "But you already know was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident. Throw into that."'' And indeed they do. Ever since mix the summerfact that his mum and dad are separated, when their friend Sarahand Will's mother had moved her awaylife seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. He is good at art, Oleg and Emma have been unable clings to find the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the end of a new friend to take her placelong, dark tunnel.|isbn=1398527122
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1447281357Sylvie Cathrall|title=Salvation Lost|author=Peter F HamiltonA Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=45
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=In the twenty-third century, humanity is enjoying There are few greater joys than a comparative utopia. Yet life on Earth is about book which lives up to change, forever. Feriton Kane's investigative team has discovered the worst threat ever to face mankind – and we've almost no time to fight back. The supposedly benign Olyix plan to harvest humanity, in order to carry us to their god at the end of the universea compelling premise. And as their agents conclude schemes down on earth, vast warships converge above to gather this cargo. Some factions push for humanity to flee, to live in hiding amongst the stars – although only a chosen few would make it out in time. But others refuse to break before the storm. As disaster looms, animosities must be set aside to focus on just is one goal: wiping this enemy from the face of creation. Even if it means preparing for a future this generation will never seethem.|isbn= 0356522776
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=14711863930008517061|title=Photographer of the LostDeath in a Lonely Place|author=Caroline ScottStig Abell|rating=4.5|genre=Historical FictionCrime|summary=May 1921Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. Edie receives There’s perhaps a photograph through little uncertainty about the post. There is no letter or note future of his life with it. There is nothing written on the back of the photograph. It is his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a picture lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her husband, Francis. Francis has been missing reservations about whether or not this is the future she wants for four years. herself and her daughter? Technically, he has been "missing, believed killed" but that is not something that a young widow can believe. She hangs For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the future on the word 'missing', disbelieving the word killedback burner.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=17837843501786482126|title=This Golden Fleece: A Journey Through Britain's Knitted HistoryThe Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Esther RutterElly Griffiths|rating=4.5|genre=HistoryCrime|summary=It Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was December and Esther Rutter was stuck in her office job, writing going to people shehold seventy-five 'luxury'd never met and preparing spreadsheetsapartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway. The job frustrated her and even her knitting did not soothe her mindThere was no skull. January was going to be Was this a time for making changes and she decided that she would travel the length and breadth of the British Isles ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with occasional forays abroad, discovering and telling the story of wool's history and how it had made and changed the landscapeDCI Harry Nelson. She'd grown up on a sheep farm in Suffolk - It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn' t, that she is pregnant with his child as a free range child on result of the farm'' - and learned to spin, knit and weave from her mother and her mother's friendone night they spent together some three months ago. This was in her bloodHer condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=14012862080008551324|title=Black Canary: IgniteThe Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Meg Cabot and Cara McGeeNeil Lancaster|rating=34.5|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=Meet Dinah LanceIt's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. Frustrated that her policeman father will not allow her to try and follow But Davie Hardie is struggling in his footsteps, prison and seemingly lumbered with being he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a cheerleader at school, she missing person is desperate to find buried and who was responsible for her voicedeath. But it's actually more a case of her voice finding her This person, he promises, as when she gets frustrated or plain dissed at school her vocal outcry can shatter glass better than any opera singer. You could almost call is someone big and it a weapon, or a powerwill be worth the police doing what he wants. But in order for her And what he wants is to be transferred to call herself a superhero, there has an open prison to be a whole path serve the remainder of steps for her his sentence and to get an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to take – one of which will be into her past…do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=17890179770008405026|title=Ronnie and Hilda's Romance: Towards a New Life after World War IIA Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Wendy WilliamsJane Casey|rating=45|genre=HistoryCrime|summary=Ronnie Williams It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the son of Thomas Henry Williams (known as Harry) and Ethel Wallinvestigation ground to a halt. There's some doubt as to whether or not they were ever married or even Harry's birthdate: he claimed to have been born in 1863Now, her mother, Helena, but he was already many years older than Ethel and he might well have shaved a few years off his ageher father are dead in their bed. For Initially, it looks like a while straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the family was quite well-to-do but disaster struck in positioning of the 1929 Depression bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and five-year-old Ronnie had to adjust to a very different lifestyleher boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. One thing he did inherit from his father What looked as though it was his need going to be wellan open-turnedand-out and this would stay with him throughout his lifeshut case is now a complex double murder. He joined Kerrigan is convinced that the army at eighteen explanation lies in 1942Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=15420154210571379877|title=The Royal Baths MurderKellerby Code|author=J R EllisJonny Sweet
|rating=3.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=When Damian Penrose was murdered there was no shortage of suspects: he was Edward Jevons is a deeply unpleasant working-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza. In fact the only surprising thing was that there wasnRobert't more of s a queue waiting to do the dirty deedtheatre director. What was a bit of a headline maker was that Penrose was a crime writer and that he was strangled in the midst of HarrogateHe's crime writing festival. He went also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for a swim at the Royal Baths and never returned, his body being found by the receptionisthim. DCI Jim Oldroyd was the man tasked Edward has been in love with investigating the crimeStanza since their university days - and he's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. It Most men in Robert's position would not be the only death, and it was only because of the quick actions of his sergeant, Andy Carter, stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that Oldroyda relationship had begun between them but he's was not one like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the two of themkissing in a dark passageway.
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Daniel KrausJo Callaghan|title=Blood SugarLeave No Trace
|rating=4
|genre=General FictionCrime|summary=This When a man is found crucified on the top of a difficult read. And not because of hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the dark subject matter – that'll come later – but because of case alongside her sidekick, the way in which itAI detective Lock. It's toldtheir first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. This might put But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of readers off, and unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. Will they be honest it'd be hard able to blame them. Kraus tells solve the story case in a distinctive voice unlike any other I've read; an erratic dialect with heavy and frequent slang. The immediate effect is disorientating and distracting, and it takes some time to feel natural. It's a struggle to acclimatise to Jody's voice, to get acquainted with his mannerisms, but or will Kat find herself taken off the story wouldn't be the same without itcase and, and somehow it works. It shouldn'tpotentially, but it does.out of a career?|isbn=1789091934139851120X
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Don Behrend1399613073|title=Copernicus! What Have You Done?: ...and Other Interesting QuestionsMoral Injuries|author=Christie Watson
|rating=4.5
|genre=TriviaThrillers|summary= Hello! Would this review Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be okay if I simply said a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it'I LOVED THIS GLORIOUS LITTLE BOOK AND SO WILL YOUs going to end in tragedy. FIN' We don'?! Because I didt know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. And you Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that willimpact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved. |isbn=1789016770}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=19258200250241636604|title=Once, I was LovedThe Trading Game: A Confession|author=Belinda LandsberryGary Stevenson|rating=4.5|genre=For SharingAutobiography|summary=TockIf you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the toy rabbitEast End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is in bright - extremely bright - and he has a box facility with numbers which most of toys going to the charity shopus can only envy. He realises also realised that he's not wanted any more, but muses that it wasn't always this waymost rich people expect poor people to be stupid. ''Once''It was his ability at what was, he saysessentially, ''I was loved''a card game which got him an internship with Citibank. And he tells us of all the children who have loved him over the yearsEventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn= Karina Sainz Borgo and Elizabeth Bryer (translator)1035021803|title= It Would Be Night in CaracasThe Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller|rating= 43.5|genre= Literary Fiction Crime|summary= ''It Would Be Night in Caracas's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up. She' illuminates the everyday horrors s back now because of modern day Venezuelaa request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole. It begins with the death of Adelaida Falcon Freya's mother former mentor and chronicles AdelaidaCarole's coming close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the least. Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to terms with the village: Arthur, she feels, let her new solitude down badly. Even though they were in this world and her attempts business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to escape itbe near the man or pursue the profession she loved. Danger stalks After the shadows andsplit, she worked in a society where cafe, met and married James (on the rebound from the establishment is crumblinglove of her life, who can you turn to? |isbn=0062936867was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=0349423067AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=The Body on the Train (Kate Shackleton Mysteries)All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Frances BrodyBenjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=4.5|genre=Crime (Historical)Science Fiction|summary=From Christmas ''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to Easter come.'' I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a train ran from Leeds City Station few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to King’s Cross, arriving before dawn so me but I'm left with the feeling that the forced rhubarb it carried could be taken to Covent Garden's all getting away from me. In early March 1929 one Some of the porters who was unloading the boxes discovered the body of a man, stripped naked and with no means of identificationit is - frankly - quite frightening. Scotland Yard hit a dead end Of course, I could research the possibilities and called on the services of Kate Shackleton in the hope that her knowledge probabilities and connections in Yorkshire would give them end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the lead they neededlatest conspiracy theorist. Kate immediately found herself hamstrung: Commander Woodhead remembered her as a child I needed people I knew I could trust and who could not come to terms with the fact that she was now deliver information in a woman experienced in dealing with murder. He was reluctant to give her all the information which the police heldway I could understand.
}}
{{Frontpage
|author= Stephen BaxterSunny Singh|title= World Engines: DestroyerHotel Arcadia|rating= 43.5|genre= Science FictionThrillers |summary= Hundreds of years The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the futureterrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a stagnating wartime photographer and almost empty EarthAbhi, a space shuttle pilot from the early days of the 21st century is awoken from the cryogenic sleep he entered after a devastating accidenthotel manager. As he comes Abhi continues to terms with this new world, he begins to realise that their history does not match what he remembers - and that only he may be able try to stop care remotely for the coming catastrophe destined to destroy residents who are still alive in the planet. Until hotel, he meets forms a young woman bond with Sam who seems refuses to have a drive be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her ownroom to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and a plan..they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|isbn=1473223172086154742X
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=14063893311529153298|title=In the Key The List of CodeSuspicious Things|author=Aimee LucidoJennie Godfrey|rating=45|genre=Confident ReadersGeneral Fiction|summary=Emmy It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is moving with her parents halfway across AmericaPrime Minister. (A woman? I mean, to follow her fatherhonestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv's dreams of a big break in his music careerfamily, though. Women have been disappearing. She leaves behind her friends and her school in Wisconsin Well, they've been murdered, and moves but to California, knowing only what have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she has heard in songs's overheard that her father wants to move the family 'Down South'. Her struggle to settle into her new life, make friends and feel happy and confident again When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is agonisingly told in a way we can all relate tofrightening, foreign place, best avoided. There are many new opportunities and setbacks For Miv, taking the reader on a rollercoaster of emotionsmove would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, but it isnand she'll do anything to prevent that. She't until Emmy joins a coding class using computer language s not worried about the dangers or that she begins her Mum's stopped talking - to feel she might have a chance to feel like she truly belongsanyone.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=15294022551398524085|title=A Body in the Bookshop (Kitt Hartley Yorkshire Mysteries)Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Helen CoxNicci French|rating=3.5
|genre=Crime
|summary= Evie Bowes Charlotte Salter was expected at her husband's fiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Her children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but - strangely - her husband, Alec, is very conscious not. Shortly afterwards, Etty and Greg, find the body of Greg's father, Duncan Ackerley, in the scars on her faceriver. They were acquired It was an easy assumption for the police to make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when she was rescued from a car in he couldn't stand the River Ouse by Inspector Halloranguilt. She’d been suspected The Salter children are not convinced but there's little else they can do but get on with their lives and wonder about what really happened.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035906708|title=Diva|author=Daisy Goodwin|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=We tend to think of the murder of her boyfriendMaria Callas as Greek, but she was born to Greek parents in Manhattan, OwenNew York, in December 1923 and only moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas' to make it more manageable in the process of clearing States. When she was back in Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her name voice - she was raised under the Nazi occupation by a mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret of her best friend, Kitt Hartley developed a taste preference for detection. Kitt developed a taste for Inspector Halloran Tooher elder sister, but they’re taking it slowly. Well, sort of slowlyJackie.
}}
