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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--><!-- Macdibble -->1009473085|title=The Conservative Effect 2010 -2024| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Anthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)|rating=5[[image:1910646482.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910646482/refPolitics and Society|summary=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="verticalSometimes it's simpler to explain a book by describing what it ''isn't'' and that applies to ''The Conservative Effect: 2010-align: top; text2024 -align: left;"|===[[The Dog Runner by Bren MacDibble]]=== [[image:414 Wasted Years?''.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] Set in a dystopian Australia, If you're looking for an easy read which will deliver the inside story about what ''really'' happened on certain occasions, then this is isn't the story of Ella and Emery and their dogs travelling across the outback togetherbook for you. A red fungus has wiped out all the crops and grassesIf that's what you're looking for, and with the food chain grinding to a halt, society is collapsing. EllaI don't think Anthony Seldon's mum has been gone for a long time - she left book, {{amazonurl|isbn=B0BH7SKG2S|title=Johnson at 10}}, can be bettered for work one day and then never came homethose tumultuous years. Ella It's a compelling read and her half brother Emery have been living at home with their dad and their dogs, hoping for the best, but one day their dad decides should be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to go out and try to find Ella's mumpolitics. When he also fails to return, Emery decides that their best chance of survival ''The Conservative Effect'' is to set out with the dogs to travel across the outback to his grandfatheran entirely different beast. It's house where, he believes, there will still be food and the seventh book in a safe place for them to live until their father can find them againseries which looks at the impact a government has made and co-editor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as the most important. [[The Dog Runner by Bren MacDibble|Full Review]] <!This book follows the well-- Sara Sheridan -->established format: 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| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Max Boucherat|title=The Last Life of Lori Mills[[image:1472127110.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472127110/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Confident Readers| stylesummary="verticalWe meet Lori on the first evening she's got the house to herself – no neighbour to pop in, babysitter poorly, mother at work, just an avidly rule-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Indian Summer: breaking eleven year old, on her lonesome. What could possibly go wrong? Snuggled in a Mirabelle Bevan Mystery by Sara Sheridan]]=== [[image:4blanket fort, she has one main intention, and that is to log on to Voxminer, the world-building, critter-collecting game that is a hit in Lori's world.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime (Historical)|Crime (Historical)]] Life But first Lori has changed dramatically for Mirabelle, our favourite fifties sleuth, since the wara tiny inkling that this stormy night doesn't find herself entirely on her own, and not always for then she finds something even more spooky. For the better. When server she first settled in Brighton she was alone, rudderless and secretly grieving for Jack, the lover who died before he could leave his wifeher bestie and nobody else should be able to enter shows signs of tampering. As time went by she found in herself an ability to solve crimes When malevolent eyes spark up on her phone screen, made friends including an ebullient and determined young woman called Vesta who refused to let a little thing like racial prejudice stop her doing what she wanted, and even found consolation her safe place in the arms of game has been doctored – well, where is a rather charming policeman. [[Indian Summer: a Mirabelle Bevan Mystery by Sara Sheridangirl to turn?|Full Review]]isbn=0008666482}}<!-- Gomes -->{{Frontpage|-author=Jenny Lecoat| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Beyond Summerland|rating=4[[image:0008291845.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008291845/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  General Fiction| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[We Are Not Okay by Natalia Gomes]]=== [[image:4starJean lives on Jersey with her mother where they are celebrating the end of the occupation.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] During the war, Jean's father was arrested for listening to a banned radio and soldiers took him away one night, [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Set in a typical American town, ''We Are Not Okay'' tells leaving Jean and her mother waiting for years for news of him. As the British finally free the story of four teenage girls facing Channel islands from the difficulties brought on by high school Nazis, and growing up as a girl in today's society. The novel the war is told from four different perspectivesfinally over, those their hopes rise that they will finally learn what became of Lucy, Ulana, Trina and Sophia, whose friendship statuses vary from BFFs to sworn enemies. The reader is presented with him. But will the truth come as a glimpse into each of their livesrelief, but more importantly their minds, and at times or will it raise further questions around what else happened during the thoughts of those characters could war? Who was the informer who told the Nazis about the radio? And what other secrets have been taken directly from my own. Gomes has created a heartbreakingly real and relevant novel that focuses on prominent topic areas which are becoming ingrained in our society, particularly in relation to kept throughout the ''Me Too Movement''. ''We Are Not Okay'' reminds the reader of the importance of phrases like ''I'm With Her''. [[We Are Not Okay by Natalia Gomesoccupation?|Full Review]] isbn=1846976537}}<!-- Doescher -->{{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:1683691172.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683691172/ref4|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Mean Girls by Ian Doescher]]=== [[image:2Because of various property transactions, people were searching for the grave but when they found it, it came with three sets of bones.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] A long time ago, in a galaxy far away They dated back to World War II and it fell to Bruno, all the Star Wars films were crunched up against ShakespeareChief of Police for St Denis, to discover the identities of the bodies and the marriage seemed establish whether or not a perfectly suitable onecrime had been committed. So much so – so easily did As if this isn't enough to worry about, the plots and characters converse in Shakespearean dialogue, and behave with Shakespearean stage directions – that the producers tried again, with [[William ShakespeareDordogne River - normally tranquil - is flowing at record levels. It's Get Thee Back to not just the local autumn rains that have caused the Future! by Ian Doescher|Back problem: various dams upstream on another river have had to release water and St Denis faces the Future]] no less. And that worked. But simultaneously they put possibility of a real test outdevastating flood. A film I can't even really remember seeing was transcribed into the original Elizabethan lingo}}{{Frontpage|isbn=152919640X|title=The Suspect|author=Rob Rinder|rating=4. A cult following I had never followed whatsoever was given the brand new5|genre=Crime|summary=The nation's favourite daytime TV presenter, yet oh so ancientJessica Holby, dressing. Here was the true challenge – would I manage to enjoy this, based murdered live on little foreknowledge? Oh damn those shiny gold stars for letting the game away… [[William Shakespearetelevision and it seems that there's only one suspect. He's Much Ado About Mean Girls by Ian Doescher|Full Review]] <!-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 - Jane Casey 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| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Midnight Feast|author=Lucy Foley[[image:0008149038.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008149038/ref5|genre=nosim?tagThrillers|summary=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Cruel Acts 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 Jane Casey]]=== [[image:5starFrancesca Meadows.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] They called him The Manor was her ancestral home and she's converted it into an impressive retreat for the white knight' because he picked the women up when they were in difficulties. But they called him a serial killer toowealthy and famous. Her husband, Owen, because he murdered them was the architect and everyone heaved a sigh work is still ongoing on parts of relief when he went down for lifethe site. Then one of The heat is oppressive and amongst the jurors self-published his story of the trial which explained how he guests are enemies as well as friends. Old scores are going to be settled and another juror had looked up Stoneit won's history and found t be long before a trail of violencebody is found. After that, he explained, they knew that Stone was guilty. The juror got two months for contempt of court and Stone was released on bail pending a retrial. [[Cruel Acts by Jane Casey|Full Review]]}}<!-- Doescher -->{{Frontpage|author=Ashley Hickson-Lovence| styletitle=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''Wild East|rating=4.5[[image:168369094X.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/168369094X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  Teens| stylesummary=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 Ronny'vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[William Shakespeares mum who is worried for Ronny's Get Thee Back safety after a tragic event, and so Ronny finds himself trying to the Future! by Ian Doescher]]=== [[image:4settle in a new town, a new school, and keep himself out of trouble.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]] He listens to music constantly, and has always dreamed of being a rapper. But now, [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]] A long time agoin this new school, in his teacher encourages him to be part of a publishing house far awaypoetry writing workshop group and, slowly, [[:Category:Ian Doescher|someone]] thought it wonderfully wacky Ronny begins to rewrite see the story of Star Wars in Shakespearean pentameterconnections between rap and poetry, colliding two entirely different genres and styles in such a clever way they seemed perfectly suited. It was then duly repeated for all the other films in the main Star Wars cycle, power of creativity and clearly someone's buffing their quills ready for Episode Nine, the crafting your words.|isbn=0241645441}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1635866847|title of which became public knowledge the day before I write=The Lavender Companion|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci|rating=4. In the hiatus, however5|genre=Lifestyle|summary=It's strange, the effort has been made to see if things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the same shtick works with other texts, and to riff book for you. Before I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', I visited the author's [https://www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website] and there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on other seemingly unlikely source materials in iambsthe homepage. And could we have anything more suitably unsuitableI don't eat cakes and desserts -seeming than Back to but I wanted that cake viscerally. (There's a recipe in the Futurebook, which I'm avoiding with its tales of time travel, bullying, and parent/child strife like no other? [[William Shakespeare's Get Thee Back some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it. Notes in the Future! by Ian Doescher|Full Review]]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.}}<!-- Crossan -->{{Frontpage|-author=Rob Keeley| styletitle="widthChildish Spirits: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"10th anniversary special edition|rating=4[[image:1408868121.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408868121/refConfident Readers|summary=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Toffee by Sarah Crossan]]=== [[image:5starAround here, we're big fans of children's author Rob Keeley. He's a ball of happy positivity, he understands children, and he writes for their pleasure and enjoyment, not to lecture or hector.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] ''I am not who I say I am,'' ''and Marla isn't who she thinks she is. ''  ''I am a girl trying to forget.'' ''She is a woman trying to remember.'' Allison has finally had enough and has run away from home. The burning red weal on her face provides a clue to why. She's on her way to Bude to find Kelly-Anne, who was the first to run away from home, but Kelly-Anne isn't answering her phone. Night is closing in and so Allison takes refuge in a shed in the garden of what looks to be an empty house. But the house isn't empty. Marla lives in it and Marla doesn't remember things very well. She mistakes Allison for her friend, Toffee. And because Allison doesn't much want to be Allison any more and because Marla is so happy to see Toffee - why shouldn't Allison ''become'' Toffee? [[Toffee by Sarah Crossan|Full Review]]<!-- Bowling -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1911077686.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1911077686/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[In The Shadow of Heroes by Nicholas Bowling]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Life as a slave in ancient Rome could be harsh and degrading, but Cadmus has it much easier than most. Taken into the household of the scholar Tullus when he was a baby, his keenness to learn and his excellent memory have made him invaluable to his master, who treats him more like a secretary and perhaps even a member of the family, rather than a despised, barely human creature. [[In The Shadow of Heroes by Nicholas Bowling|Full Review]] <!-- Golding -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0008293678.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008293678/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Little Darlings by Melanie Golding]]===[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]]Lauren Tranter and her husband have just welcomed the arrival of children – twin boys, who they decide to name Riley and Morgan. But something's wrong. While everyone else is celebrating, Lauren starts to worry – that someone out there is coming to take her children away, and if she looks away for even a second, they'll strike… [[Little Darlings by Melanie Golding|Full Review]] <!-- Alice Feeney -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0008236070.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008236070/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[I Know Who You Are by Alice Feeney]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Aimee Sinclair is just on the edge of making it big time as an actor. Right now she's the sort of person whom you think you know but can't quite remember where from, but that's all about to change. That's a little worrying for Aimee as life has changed for her before and she knows that she's not really Aimee Sinclair, she's Ciara: Aimee is simply the name she was forced to take when she was snatched as a child. That's not at the front of her mind though when she comes home one day and finds that her husband, Ben Bailey, has disappeared. Disappeared completely. Along with considerable funds from their current account [[I Know Who You Are by Alice Feeney|Full Review]] <!-- Rubin -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0718187091.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0718187091/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Liberation Square by Gareth Rubin]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] In an alternate 1952, Soviet Troops control British Streets. After D-Day goes horribly wrong, Britain is first occupied by Nazi Germany – only to be rescued by Russian soldiers from the East, and Americans from the west. Dividing 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 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 the highest levels of the state – and soon finds herself desperate to stay one step ahead of the murderous secret police… [[Liberation Square by Gareth Rubin|Full Review]] <!-- Howe -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1788002865.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788002865/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Not My Fault by Cath Howe]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]  ''Maya and Rose won't talk to each other. Even though they are sisters. Not since the accident. Maya is turning wild and Rose doesn't know what to do. And now Maya and Rose have to go away together on a week-long school trip. Will the trip fix their sibling bond... or break it for good?'' [[Not My Fault by Cath Howe|Full Review]]<!-- Lupo -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1408898055.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408898055/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[We Are Blood And Thunder by Kesia Lupo]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]  ''In a sealed-off city, a young woman, Lena, is running for her life. She has been sentenced to death and her only way to survive is to trust those she has been brought up to fear - those with magic.'' ''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. But now she won't hide who she is any longer.'' So, Lena is a cryptling - a low caste individual living in the city of Duke's Forest.[[We Are Blood And Thunder by Kesia Lupo|Full Review]]  <!-- Kidd -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786893762.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786893762/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Things in Jars by Jess Kidd]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime (Historical)|Crime (Historical)]] A child has gone missing. The detective asked to take on the case is still struggling with the shame and frustration left by a previous case, where the child was not found in time. Hardly original themes for a private eye thriller. And yet . . . take another look. This detective is a woman, and the setting is Victorian London, with all the rich and colourful paradoxes of that era: technical and scientific progress jostling for space beside superstition and a fascination with the bizarre and the downright hideous. And before you're more than a couple of pages in, you realise just how much more unusual our heroine is than you expected. Bridie Devine may dress in half-mourning, with a widow's cap and stout, shiny boots, but the tobacco she smokes in her pipe (my dear, what an utterly ''fast'' thing for a lady to do!) is mixed with a nugget of something, well, let's say recreational, created by her chemist friend Prudhoe. The fact that it's actually meant to cure bronchial problems is by the by. Her housemaid, being seven foot tall, is also somewhat remarkable. And then, of course, there's the ghost. Ruby Doyle, world famous tattooed boxer (deceased) accompanies Bridie all through her investigation, and it's clear he has a soft spot for the determined young woman. If he really exists, that is. [[Things in Jars by Jess Kidd|Full Review]] <!-- Beckett -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786491559.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786491559/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Beneath the World, A Sea by Chris Beckett]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]] South America, 1990. Ben Ronson, a British police officer, arrives in a mysterious forest 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: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}}} Star Reviews]] [[{{Frontpage|author=Kieran Larwood and Joe Todd-Stanton|title=Dungeon Runners:Category:Graphic NovelsHero Trial|rating=4|Graphic Novels]], [[:Category:genre=Confident Readers|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}}

It{{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 near futureedge of a reservoir. The police seem happy to assign it as an accidental death, but something about the whole thing bothers Lowe, and every coastal city – including Metropolis – is in need he enlists the help of a huge flood barrierfellow actor, built on its coast by Wayne EnterprisesJohn 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 rising sea levels have put even those constructions under threatdeaths? 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 an open-and-shut case. A man, forcing many people to relocate covered in Americamud and blood - and carrying a knife, comes into the police station shouting that he hasn't killed the man. A body at the bottom of a freshly dug grave at Swanton Morley church - he's biggest exodus for decadesbeen stabbed to death. Superman DCI John Tanner is helping outjust back from his honeymoon, which coincided with the birth of course – first 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 patching up 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 damsNHS, humour and autobiography. ''You Don't Have to be Mad...'' promised the same elements but now hemoved 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 mining 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 asteroid belt 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 rare dust thatsignificant 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's perfect 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 blocking even the solar energy from making further polar ice meltmost 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. Inland Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in Wyndermereevery direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. He is good at art, and clings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the refugees from end of a long, dark tunnel.|isbn=1398527122}}{{Frontpage|author=Sylvie Cathrall|title=A Letter to the coast Luminous Deep|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary= There are suffering bigotry few greater joys than a book which lives up to 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 intolerance 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 being newcomersherself and her daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in 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 hold 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 something else 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 much worseprone 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 to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. A major bout But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the body of food poisoning a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. This person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants. And what he wants is hitting to be transferred to an open prison to serve the cityremainder of his sentence and to get an early parole date. But Not much to ask, is it can? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't possibly have anything think so and she's 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 sabotage a straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the positioning of the flood barriers 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 now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the efforts 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 correct 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 men: Edward is left to stumble upon the two of them kissing in a dark passageway.}}{{Frontpage|author=Jo Callaghan|title=Leave No Trace|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=When a man is found crucified on the climatetop of a hill in Nuneaton, can 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. 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? Four young children begin 's going to piece together clues 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 can… [[Super Sons's their teenage children who are 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 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 East 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 bright - extremely bright - and he 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 PolarShield Project by Ridley Pearson 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 she grew up. She's back now because of a request for help from her 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 the village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly. Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. After the split, she worked in a cafe, met and Ile Gonzalezmarried James (on the rebound from the love of her life, who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover|Full Review]]title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|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}}