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<metadesc>Book review siteExpert, with books full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, biographynon-fiction, crime, cookery and children's books & self-published books plus author interviews and & top tens.</metadesc><h1 id="mf-title">The Bookbag</h1>Hello from The Bookbag, a site featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - [[:Category:Fiction|fiction]], [[:Category:Biography|biography]], [[:Category:Crime|crime]], [[:Category:Cookery|cookery]] and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. It's the bag we take to the library and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of [[:Category:Interviews|author interviews]], and all sorts of [[:Category:Lists|top tens]] - all of which you can find on our [[features]] page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the [[Book Recommendations|recommendations]] page.

Reviews by readers from all the many walks of literary life. With author interviews, features and top tens. You'll be sure to find something you'll want to read here. Dig in! Find us on [[File:facebook.gif|link=https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk|alt=Facebook]] [https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk '''Facebook'''], [[File:twitter.gif|link=http://twitter.com/TheBookbag|alt=Follow us on Twitter]] [http://twitter.com/TheBookbag '''Twitter'''], [[File:instagram_classic_logo.png|link=https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/|alt=Follow us on Instagram]] [https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/ '''Instagram'''] and [[File:LinkedIn.png|link=https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-bookbag-1b12a264/|alt=LinkedIn]] There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' [[:Category:Reviews|reviews ]] at TheBookbag.

==Reviews of the The Best New Books==

'''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].{{Frontpage|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingisbn="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--><!-- Golding -->1009473085|title=The Conservative Effect 2010 -2024| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Anthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)[[image:0008293678.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008293678/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Politics and Society|summary===[[Little Darlings Sometimes it's simpler to explain a book by Melanie Golding]]===[[image:4.5stardescribing what it ''isn't'' and that applies to ''The Conservative Effect: 2010-2024 - 14 Wasted Years?''.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]]Lauren Tranter and her husband have just welcomed If you're looking for an easy read which will deliver the arrival of children – twin boys, who they decide to name Riley and Morgan. But somethinginside story about what ''really'' happened on certain occasions, then this isn's wrongt the book for you. While everyone else is celebrating, Lauren starts to worry – If that someone out there is coming to take her children away, and if she looks away 's what you're looking for even a second, theyI don't think Anthony Seldon'll strike… [[Little Darlings by Melanie Goldings book, {{amazonurl|Full Review]] <!-- Alice Feeney -->isbn=B0BH7SKG2S|-| styletitle="width: Johnson at 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0008236070}}, can be bettered for those tumultuous years.jpg|link=http://www It's a compelling read and should be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to politics.amazon ''The Conservative Effect'' is an entirely different beast.co.uk/dp/0008236070/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag It's the seventh book in a series which looks at the impact a government has made and co-21]]  | style="verticaleditor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as the most important. This book follows the well-alignestablished format: top; text-align: left;"|a series of experts from various fields review the state of the nation when the coalition took over in 2010, the changes that occurred and the situation in 2024.}}{{Frontpage|author=Max Boucherat|title=The Last Life of Lori Mills|rating=[[I Know Who You Are by Alice Feeney]]===4.5|genre=Confident Readers[[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Aimee Sinclair is just We meet Lori on the edge of making it big time as an actor. Right now first evening she's got the sort of person whom you think you know but can't quite remember where fromhouse to herself – no neighbour to pop in, babysitter poorly, mother at work, but that's all about to change. That's just an avidly rule-breaking eleven year old, on her lonesome. What could possibly go wrong? Snuggled in a little worrying for Aimee as life blanket fort, she has changed for her before one main intention, and she knows that she's not really Aimee Sinclairis to log on to Voxminer, shethe world-building, critter-collecting game that is a hit in Lori's Ciara: Aimee is simply the name she was forced to take when she was snatched as a childworld. ThatBut first Lori has a tiny inkling that this stormy night doesn's not at the front of t find herself entirely on her mind though when own, and then she comes home one day and finds that her husband, Ben Bailey, has disappearedsomething even more spooky. Disappeared completely. Along with considerable funds from their current account [[I Know Who You Are by Alice Feeney|Full Review]] <!-- Rubin -->For the server she and her bestie and nobody else should be able to enter shows signs of tampering. When malevolent eyes spark up on her phone screen, and her safe place in the game has been doctored – well, where is a girl to turn?|-isbn=0008666482}}{{Frontpage| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Jenny Lecoat[[image:0718187091.jpg|linktitle=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0718187091/refBeyond Summerland|rating=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 4| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"General Fiction|summary===[[Liberation Square by Gareth Rubin]]=== [[image:5starJean lives on Jersey with her mother where they are celebrating the end of the occupation.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] During the war, Jean's father was arrested for listening to a banned radio and soldiers took him away one night, [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]]leaving Jean and her mother waiting for years for news of him. As the British finally free the Channel islands from the Nazis, [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] In an alternate 1952and the war is finally over, Soviet Troops control British Streetstheir hopes rise that they will finally learn what became of him. After D-Day goes horribly wrong, Britain is first occupied by Nazi Germany – only to be rescued by Russian soldiers from But will the Easttruth come as a relief, and Americans from or will it raise further questions around what else happened during the west. Dividing war? Who was the nation between them, London soon finds itself split in two, a wall running through it like a scar. When Jane Cawson's husband is arrested for informer who told the murder of his former wife, Jane is determined to clear his name. In doing so, Jane follows a trail of corruption that leads her right to Nazis about the highest levels of radio? And what other secrets have been kept throughout the state – and soon finds herself desperate to stay one step ahead of the murderous secret police… [[Liberation Square by Gareth Rubin|Full Review]]occupation?|isbn=1846976537}}<!-- Howe -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1529428289| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Grave in the Woods (A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel)|author=Martin Walker[[image:1788002865.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788002865/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 4| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|Crime ===[[Not My Fault by Cath Howe]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]  ''Maya and Rose won't talk to each other. Even though Because of various property transactions, people were searching for the grave but when they are sisters. Not since the accidentfound it, it came with three sets of bones. Maya is turning wild and Rose doesn't know what They dated back to do. And now Maya World War II and Rose have it fell to go away together on a week-long school trip. Will Bruno, the trip fix their sibling bondChief of Police for St Denis, to discover the identities of the bodies and establish whether or not a crime had been committed... or break it for good? As if this isn'' [[Not My Fault by Cath Howe|Full Review]]<!t enough to worry about, the Dordogne River -normally tranquil - Lupo -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1408898055is flowing at record levels.jpg|link=http It's not just the local autumn rains that have caused the problem://wwwvarious dams upstream on another river have had to release water and St Denis faces the possibility of a devastating flood.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408898055/ref}}{{Frontpage|isbn=nosim?tag152919640X|title=thebookbag-21]]The Suspect|author=Rob Rinder|rating=4.5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Crime| summary===[[We Are Blood And Thunder by Kesia Lupo]]=== [[image:4The nation's favourite daytime TV presenter, Jessica Holby, was murdered live on television and it seems that there's only one suspect.5star He's celebrity chef Sebastian Brooks and his contract stated that he must not serve anything containing miso to Jessica Holby.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]  ''In She's seriously allergic and carries an EpiPen in case of emergencies. Everything seemed as normal - as normal as they can be in a sealedbusy, live television studio -off city, and Brooks served a young woman, Lena, is running for her liferagout to Holby. She has been sentenced Her EpiPen was nowhere to death be found and her only way to survive is to trust those she has been brought up to fear - those with magicwas dead within minutes. It was soon clear that this was no accident.'' ''On the other side of the locked gates is a masked lady, Constance, determined to find a way back in. Years ago she escaped before her own powers were discovered}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008385068|title=The Midnight Feast|author=Lucy Foley|rating=4. But now she won't hide who she is any longer.''5|genre=ThrillersSo, Lena is a cryptling - a low caste individual living in |summary=It's midsummer on the city of DukeDorset coast and guests gather at The Manor. It's Foresttheir opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promised.[[We Are Blood And Thunder It's all headed up by Kesia Lupo|Full Review]]  <!-- Kidd -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786893762Francesca Meadows.jpg|link=http://www The Manor was her ancestral home and she's converted it into an impressive retreat for the wealthy and famous.amazon Her husband, Owen, was the architect and work is still ongoing on parts of the site.co.uk/dp/1786893762/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text 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-align: left;"Lovence|title=Wild East|rating=4.5|genre=Teens|summary=[[Things in Jars Written in verse, this is Ronny's story, a young black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who suddenly has to move to Norwich and start at a mostly white school. The move is initiated by Jess Kidd]]=== [[image:4Ronny's mum who is worried for Ronny's safety after a tragic event, and so Ronny finds himself trying to settle in a new town, a new school, and keep himself out of trouble.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime (Historical)|Crime (Historical)]] A child He listens to music constantly, and has gone missing. The detective asked to take on the case is still struggling with the shame and frustration left by always dreamed of being a previous caserapper. But now, where the child was not found in time. Hardly original themes for this new school, his teacher encourages him to be part of a private eye thriller. And yet . . . take another look. This detective is a womanpoetry writing workshop group and, and the setting is Victorian Londonslowly, with all Ronny begins to see the rich connections between rap and colourful paradoxes of that era: technical and scientific progress jostling for space beside superstition poetry, and a fascination with the bizarre power of creativity and the downright hideouscrafting your words. And before you're more than a couple of pages in, you realise just how much more unusual our heroine is than you expected|isbn=0241645441}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1635866847|title=The Lavender Companion|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci|rating=4. Bridie Devine may dress in half-mourning, with a widow5|genre=Lifestyle|summary=It's cap and stout, shiny bootsstrange, but the tobacco she smokes in her pipe (my dear, what an utterly things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the book for you. Before I started reading ''fastThe Lavender Companion'' thing for a lady to do!) is mixed with a nugget of something, well, letI visited the author's say recreational, created by her chemist friend Prudhoe[https://www.pinelavenderfarm. The fact that itcom/ website] and there's actually meant to cure bronchial problems is by a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the byhomepage. Her housemaid, being seven foot tall, is also somewhat remarkable. And then, of course, there's the ghost I don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally. Ruby Doyle, world famous tattooed boxer (deceased) accompanies Bridie all through her investigation, and itThere's clear he has a soft spot for recipe in the determined young womanbook, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it. If he really exists, that is Notes in the margins are sanctioned. You get to fold down the corners of pages. You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem. I ''loved'' this book already. [[Things in Jars by Jess Kidd|Full Review]]}}<!-- Beckett -->{{Frontpage|-author=Rob Keeley| styletitle="widthChildish Spirits: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"10th anniversary special edition|rating=4[[image:1786491559.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786491559/ref=nosim?tagConfident Readers|summary=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Beneath the WorldAround here, A Sea by Chris Beckett]]=== [[image:3we're big fans of children's author Rob Keeley.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]] South AmericaHe's a ball of happy positivity, he understands children, 1990. Ben Ronsonand he writes for their pleasure and enjoyment, a British police officer, arrives in a mysterious forest not to investigate a spate of killings of Duendes. These silent, vaguely humanoid creatures - with long limbs and black button eyes - have a strange psychic effect on people, unleashing the subconscious and exposing their innermost thoughts and fears. Ben becomes fascinated by the Duendes, but the closer he gets, the more he begins to unravel, with terrifying results... [[Beneath the World, A Sea by Chris Beckett|Full Review]] <!-- M J Lee -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:B07P6P4S7H.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07P6P4S7H/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Where the Dead Fall (DI Ridpath, Book 2) by M J Lee]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It really shouldn't have happened. DI Ridpath, conscious that his relationship with his wife and child is hanging by a thread, is off to collect them at his mother-in-law's house for an evening out. Traffic was heavy on the M60 (a match at Old Trafford wasn't helping) but it was moving steadily. Then a man wearing only a pair of blue boxers dashed out into the traffic, briefly put his hands on Ridpath's car then ran into the path of an articulated lorry. The driver had no chance of stopping and the naked man was killed instantly. Glancing to the hard shoulder Ridpath glimpsed a man with a gun. This was now a crime scene and the resulting seventeen-mile tail back of traffic would be the least of Ridpath's worries, although no one would let him forget about it in a hurry. [[Where the Dead Fall (DI Ridpath, Book 2) by M J Lee|Full Review]] <!-- Anstruther -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1784631647.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1784631647/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Perfect Explanation by Eleanor Anstruther]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] Enid Campbell was a woman who, on the face of it, had everything. Leading the life of an aristocrat – full of inherited wealth and splendour, glamourous locales and high expectations. Only Enid's life has been plagued by mental illness – undiagnosed, untreated and threatening both Enid and those close to her. After losing custody of her children, Enid sells her son to her sister for £500 – but is this an act of greed, or an act of desperation? Exploring the true story of her own grandmother, Eleanor Anstruther has found the perfect subject for an explosive, moving and beautifully well written debut. [[A Perfect Explanation by Eleanor Anstruther|Full Review]] <!-- Delargy -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1471177521.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471177521/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[55 by James Delargy]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Two men enter a police station, both tell the same story; they were kidnapped and narrowly escaped the clutches of a man who intended to kill them. As they escaped they ran through a graveyard and they were not the first victim. The stories match, the evidence is compelling and each man blames the other. Now the question is, who is guilty? [[55 by James Delargy|Full Review]] <!-- Cercas -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0857058320.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0857058320/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Lord Of All the Dead by Javier Cercas and Anne McLean (translator)]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:History|History]], [[:Category:Biography|Biography]] ''Lord Of All the Dead'' is a journey to uncover the author's lost ancestor's life and death. Cercas is searching for the meaning behind his great uncle's death in the Spanish Civil War. Manuel Mena, Cercas' great uncle, is the figure who looms large over the book. He died relatively young whilst fighting for Francisco Franco's forces. Cercas ruminates on why his uncle fought for this dictator. The question at the centre of this book is whether it is possible for his great uncle to be a hero whilst having fought for the wrong side. [[Lord Of All the Dead by Javier Cercas and Anne McLean (translator)|Full Review]] <!-- Pearson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1401286399.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1401286399/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Super Sons: The PolarShield Project by Ridley Pearson and Ile Gonzalez]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Graphic Novels|Graphic Novels]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] It's the near future, and every coastal city – including Metropolis – is in need of a huge flood barrier, built on its coast by Wayne Enterprises. But the rising sea levels have put even those constructions under threat, forcing many people to relocate in America's biggest exodus for decades. Superman is helping out, of course – first he was patching up the dams, but now he's mining the asteroid belt for a rare dust that's perfect for blocking the solar energy from making further polar ice melt. Inland, in Wyndermere, the refugees from the coast are suffering bigotry and intolerance for being newcomers, but something else is much worse. A major bout of food poisoning is hitting the city. But it can't possibly have anything to do with what looks like sabotage of the flood barriers and the efforts to correct the climate, can it? Four young children begin to piece together clues that it can… [[Super Sons: The PolarShield Project by Ridley Pearson and Ile Gonzalez|Full Review]] <!-- de Bois -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1785903357.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785903357/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Confessions of a Recovering MP by Nick de Bois]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] I should warn you in advance: this may not be the best 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 political agreement with Nick de Bois, but I, along with everyone else, am currently subject to the debacle of parliament, government and Brexit, a dog and pony show currently revealing in hideous technicolour the absolute dearth of competent leadership among our political classes. And yes, opposition parties: I'm looking at you as well. You're just as useless. Sigh. Desperate cry into the void over. Sorry about that. At least Nick de Bois made me laugh! [[ Confessions of a Recovering MP by Nick de Bois |Full Review]]  <!-- Paige -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:140128339X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/140128339X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Mera: Tidebreaker by Danielle Paige and Stephen Byrne]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Graphic Novels|Graphic Novels]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Meet Mera. She's the latest in a line of young women intent on fighting against their intended destiny for one only they can see for themselves. Her father, the king of Xebel, sees some cotton wool and a hunky man in an arranged marriage as her future – after all, Mera's mother, the territory's warrior queen, is long dead. Mera doesn't fancy the cosseting or the fella involved at all, and is in fact trying to get Xebel out from under the cosh of Atlantean power, for Xebel's royalty are merely puppets of Atlantean masters. So when she overhears her father request that her intended goes to the world of us air-breathing humans, and kill the Atlantis heir, she rushes off to get the quest (and the promised throne) all for herself. But of course, she has no idea what kind of person she will meet, and how hard it will be to get the job done… [[Mera: Tidebreaker by Danielle Paige and Stephen Byrne|Full Review]] <!-- Crosskey -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1789550149.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789550149/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Poster Boy by N J Crosskey]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] I first read 1984 in school, in the late seventies when 1984 still seemed like a long time in the future. It came and went quickly enough. Some of us may have breathed a sigh of relief that Orwell's nightmare had not (quite) come to pass. Others, I think, were out there already working on making sure that all he got wrong was the date. Crosskey hasn't put a date on the nightmare. If she had, I suspect it would not be as far in the future are 1984 was when I first read Orwell. If she had, I suspect it might hardly be in the future at all. A lot of what happens in ''Poster Boy'' is already happening. Sadly. Frighteningly. In the blurb, Christina Racher says "…but keep it far from anyone who might be tempted to turn its fiction into reality". My only response to that is: too late! [[Poster Boy by N J Crosskey|Full Review]] <!-- Lucie Whitehouse -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0008268991.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008268991/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Critical Incidents by Lucie Whitehouse]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] When you reach a certain stage in life the phrase 'going home' when it refers to your childhood home is best if it means a short and hopefully harmonious visit. The woman who used to be DCI Robin Lyons, but was now just Robin Lyons, went home with her thirteen-year-old daughter after she was dismissed from the Met. She was going home to the room which she'd had as a child: she would have the bottom bunk and Elena - Lennie to those who knew her well - would have the top bunk. The room was redolent of the time she'd shared the room with her brother Luke - and they weren't good memories. [[Critical Incidents by Lucie Whitehouse|Full Review]] <!-- Martine -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1529001579.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529001579/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]] The problem with Martine's fiction debut is that she makes the two commonest errors in SF writing: she tries to be too clever and she wants her fictional languages to be complex and rich and errs on the side of making them unpronounceable by most readers. I can see why she does both, but it's a disappointment because they're the blocks against which the brilliance of the book stumbles. [[A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine|Full Review]] <!-- Lee -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0874869722.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0874869722/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[When Spring Comes to the DMZ by Uk-Bae Lee]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] There is a place on this earth that, at the time of writing, is resplendent with life. In the spring seals gambol in the river – not venturing too far, for fear of being slashed open on the razor wire the humans have put in place. In the autumn, salmon come upstream, looking doleful as well they might, for they will spawn and die, if they reach their birthing grounds. Mountain goats gambol prettily among the hills – if the landmines men left behind do not prevent them from doing so. This is a snapshot of life in the DMZ, the demilitarized zone between the two countries with Korea in their name, and it's the world's least welcome wildlife sanctuary. [[When Spring Comes to the DMZ by Uk-Bae Lee|Full Review]] <!-- O'Reilly -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:147367235X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.colecture or hector.uk/dp/147367235X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[M for Mammy by Eleanor O'Reilly]]===

[[image:4starThe ''Childish Spirits'' series is one of his greatest achievements.jpgIt's a sequence of ghost stories centring on Ellie, a stalwart young girl who can cope with anything the spirit world throws at her, and Edward, a spoiled lordling and the first spirit Ellie encounters|linkisbn=Category:1783064617}}{{Frontpage|author=Jenny Valentine|title=Us 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=Meet Kit. Like most of the people in his world, it seems, he is an avid fan of Dungeon Running – the sport where a team of warrior, mage and healer enter specially prepared, century-old, magical mazes, and race to the exit, perhaps bothering with the treasure or the big bad and the points they grant you along the way. Unfortunately for Kit, the only thing he's seen of the latest race on the inn TV equivalent is that one team has been retired, eaten, and a new trio of questors is needed. Possibly very unfortunately indeed for Kit, he has taken to the goading from the token bully of his 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|author=Saima 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 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 (on 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}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]

{{Frontpage|author=Stuart Douglas|title=Lowe and Le Breton Mysteries - Death at the Dress Rehearsal|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=During location filming for his 1970's sitcom 'Floggit and Leggit', leading man Edward Lowe stumbles across the dead body of a woman on the edge of a reservoir. The Augustts arepolice seem happy to assign it as an accidental death, but something about the whole thing bothers Lowe, and he 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 uncover who is responsible before more people lose their lives?|isbn=1803368209}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B0CYV674G2|title=Swanton Morley (John Tanner)|author=David Blake|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=It seemed like all familiesan open-and-shut case. A man, covered in mud and blood - and carrying a bit complicatedknife, comes into the police station shouting that he hasn't killed the man. A loving irish familybody at the bottom of a freshly 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 his daughter Samantha. You would think he'd be grateful for an easy answer but the words 'perverse' and 'John Tanner' were made for each other. He's sleep-deprived to the point of falling asleep at work but he's determined to keep going - probably because he can't get any sleep at home.}}{{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 tempted to read ''You 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 glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, humour and autobiography. ''You Don't Have to be Mad...'' promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the work of a psychiatrist. I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understanding. }}{{Frontpage|author=Onyi Nwabineli|title=Allow 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, their love binds undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and receiving money from them together – 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 all express 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's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident. Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in very different waysevery direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. However He is good at art, and clings to the moments of joy when misfortune strikes he is drawing, that feel like a light at the family they end of a long, dark tunnel.|isbn=1398527122}}{{Frontpage|author=Sylvie Cathrall|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary= There are forced few greater joys than a book which lives up to work a compelling premise. And this is one of them.|isbn= 0356522776}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008517061|title=Death in a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary= Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the future of his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a 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 reservations about whether or not this is the future she wants for herself and her daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in order the present and putting the future on the back burner.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786482126|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to understand each other againhold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway. There was no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family as complicated as to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the Augustts body of a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. This person, he promises, is someone big and itwill be worth the police doing what he wants. And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to get an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's not always even prepared to 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=0008405026|title=A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt. Now, her mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bed. Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was going to be an open-and-shut case is spoken now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that makes the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0571379877|title=The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=Edward Jevons is a working-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza. Robert's a theatre director. He's also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him. Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and he's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. Most men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he's not like most sensemen: Edward is left to stumble upon the two of them kissing in a dark passageway.}}{{Frontpage|author=Jo Callaghan|title=Leave No Trace|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=When a man is found crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock. It's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. 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 unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. Things Will they be able to solve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career?|isbn=139851120X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1399613073|title=Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary=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 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's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are shaken involved.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0241636604|title=The Trading Game: A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson|rating=4.5|genre=Autobiography|summary=If you were to bring up further when Granny Maean 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-Anne moves in stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and takes chargeinjustice. Full There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of stern words Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and common sensehe has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy. He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035021803|title=The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where shegrew up. She's back now because of a force of nature who must try request for help from her hardest beloved aunt, Carole. Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the least. Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to hold the family village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly. Even though they were in business togetheras antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. After the split, she worked in a cafe, met and married James (on the rebound from the love of her life, who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced. [[M for Mammy by Eleanor O}}{{Frontpage|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=All Tomorrow'Reillys Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|Full Review]]summary=''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to 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 few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is -frankly - DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.}}{{Frontpage|author=Sunny Singh|title=Hotel Arcadia|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers |summary=The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel manager. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|isbn=086154742X}}