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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--><!-- Denise Mina -->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:1911215256.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1911215256/refPolitics and Society|summary=nosim?tag=thebookbagSometimes it's simpler to explain a book by describing what it ''isn't'' and that applies to ''The Conservative Effect: 2010-21]]  | style="vertical2024 -align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Conviction by Denise Mina]]=== [[image:4star14 Wasted Years?''.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] It's strange how If you're looking for an easy read which will deliver the worst of days can start in such an ordinaryinside story about what ''really'' happened on certain occasions, mundane way. And so it was then this isn't the book for Anna McDonald as she sorted out gym kit and packed lunches for her two daughtersyou. It didnIf that't begin to go wrong until she opened the door to her best friends what you're looking for, Estelle and realised that her husband was at the top of the stairsI don't think Anthony Seldon's book, dressed as though for a holiday rather than the work clothes she{{amazonurl|isbn=B0BH7SKG2S|title=Johnson at 10}}, can be bettered for those tumultuous years. It'd been expecting - s a compelling read and he was carrying a suitcaseshould be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to politics. He and Estelle were leaving together - and they were taking Anna's two daughters with them'The Conservative Effect'' is an entirely different beast. There was another problem which neither Hamish nor Estelle knew about. Anna wasnIt't actually Anna McDonald. She was Sophie Bukaran, s the woman who had been involved seventh book in a series which looks at the rape case against four footballersimpact a government has made and co-editor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as the most important. [[Conviction by Denise Mina|Full Review]] <!This book follows the well-- Donnelly -->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|-author=Max Boucherat| styletitle=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|The Last Life of Lori Mills[[image:1471407977.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471407977/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Confident Readers| stylesummary=We meet Lori on the first evening she''verticals got the house to herself – no neighbour to pop in, babysitter poorly, mother at work, just an avidly rule-align: top; textbreaking eleven year old, on her lonesome. What could possibly go wrong? Snuggled in a blanket fort, she has one main intention, and that is to log on to Voxminer, the world-building, critter-align: left;collecting game that is a hit in Lori's world. But first Lori has a tiny inkling that this stormy night doesn'|===[[Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly]]=== [[image:4t find herself entirely on her own, and then she finds something even more spooky.5star For the server she and her bestie and nobody else should be able to enter shows signs of tampering.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating} 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}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]]{{Frontpage''People will not forget. Or forgive. An ugly girl is too great an offense...the world is made for men. An ugly girl can never be forgiven.''|author=Jenny Lecoat|title=Beyond Summerland''Stepsister'' tells |rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=Jean lives on Jersey with her mother where they are celebrating the gripping story end of Cinderellathe occupation. During the war, Jean's 'ugly' stepsister, Isabelle. We've been told this fairy-tale over father was arrested for listening to a banned radio and over again throughout our lives soldiers took him away one night, leaving Jean and know her mother waiting for years for news of him. As the characters well. But have you ever wondered what happened to British finally free the sisters after Cinderella married Channel islands from the Prince? Or why Nazis, and the sisters disliked her so much? war is finally over, their hopes rise that they will finally learn what became of him. [[Stepsister by Jennifer DonnellyBut will the truth come as a relief, or will it raise further questions around what else happened during the war? Who was the informer who told the Nazis about the radio? And what other secrets have been kept throughout the occupation?|Full Review]]isbn=1846976537}}<!-- Gilly Macmillan -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1529428289| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|A Grave in the Woods (A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel)[[image:1780899831.jpg|linkauthor=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1780899831/refMartin Walker|rating=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 4| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Crime|summary===[[The Nanny by Gilly Macmillan]]=== [[image:4starBecause of various property transactions, people were searching for the grave but when they found it, it came with three sets of bones.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] We know that something wrong is happening: 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 body is being dumped in deep watercrime had been committed. The rower pulls away and rows back As if this isn't enough to worry about, the boat house and then she walks back to Lake HallDordogne River - normally tranquil - is flowing at record levels. As you begin reading you suspect It's not just the local autumn rains that you know who has been killed and who dumped have caused the body, but be patientproblem: all will be revealed before too longvarious dams upstream on another river have had to release water and St Denis faces the possibility of a devastating flood. [[The Nanny by Gilly Macmillan|Full Review]]}}<!-- Weaver -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=152919640X| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Suspect|author=Rob Rinder[[image:0241370116.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241370116/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  Crime| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[No One Home by Tim Weaver]]=== [[image:3starThe nation's favourite daytime TV presenter, Jessica Holby, was murdered live on television and it seems that there's only one suspect.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Long after the police have given up on cold missing persons cases, David Raker picks them up and tracks them down He's celebrity chef Sebastian Brooks and his contract stated that he must not serve anything containing miso to Jessica Holby. He She's called to a particularly disturbing seriously allergic and carries an EpiPen in case where a small village of nine people all vanished overnight two years agoemergencies. Raker Everything seemed as normal - as normal as they can be in a busy, live television studio - and his associate must delve in Brooks served a ragout to the lives of these people Holby. Her EpiPen was nowhere to work out how be found and why nine people have gone missingshe was dead within minutes. They are being threatened to stop but something about the mystery keeps drawing Raker further in, putting him in personal peril It was soon clear that this was no accident. [[No One Home by Tim Weaver}}{{Frontpage|Full Review]]isbn=0008385068|title=The Midnight Feast<!-- Marrs -->|author=Lucy Foley|-rating=4.5| stylegenre=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|Thrillers[[image:1785038885.jpg|linksummary=http://wwwIt's midsummer on the Dorset coast and guests gather at The Manor.amazon It's their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promised.co It's all headed up by Francesca Meadows.uk/dp/1785038885/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style= The Manor was her ancestral home and she''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[The Passengers by John Marrs]]=== [[image:4s converted it into an impressive retreat for the wealthy and famous.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]] Her husband, Owen, [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] In was the architect and work is still ongoing on parts of the near future, self-drive cars are the norm - a convenient site. The heat is oppressive and easy way of transport. However, when someone hacks into amongst the systems of eight self-drive cars, their passengers guests are set on a fatal collision courseenemies as well as friends. As everyday commutes turn into terror-filled journeys, the public have Old scores are going to judge who should survivebe settled and it won't be long before a body is found. But with every aspect of these passangers being examined by the public - will they turn out to be what they seem? [[The Passengers by John Marrs|Full Review]] <!-- Toon -->}}{{Frontpage|author=Ashley Hickson-Lovence| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Wild East|[[image:147117946X.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co4.uk/dp/147117946X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|Teens===[[If You Could Go Anywhere by Paige Toon]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:WomenWritten in verse, this is Ronny's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] Angie is someone story, a young black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who always wanted suddenly has to travel, but itmove to Norwich and start at a mostly white school. The move is initiated by Ronny's mum who is worried for Ronny's taken her 27 years safety after a tragic event, and so Ronny finds himself trying to leave the small mining town settle in south Australia which has been the only home she's ever known. She doesn't do things by half thougha new town, and once she does feel able to go (following a family death) she leaves not only the townnew school, the state and the countrykeep himself out of trouble. He listens to music constantly, but also the continentand has always dreamed of being a rapper. But now, and finds herself following in her mother's footsteps and heading this new school, his teacher encourages him to Italy. [[If You Could Go Anywhere by Paige Toonbe part of a poetry writing workshop group and, slowly, Ronny begins to see the connections between rap and poetry, and the power of creativity and crafting your words.|Full Review]]isbn=0241645441}}<!-- Nick Griffiths -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1635866847| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Lavender Companion|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci[[image:1789018307|rating=4.jpg5|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789018307/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  Lifestyle| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Mayhem in It's strange, the Archipelago by Nick Griffiths]]=== [[image:4starthings that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the book for you.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [ Before I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', I visited the author's [https:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers//www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website]] In Latvia the conspirators meet in a rather unpleasant location, but itand there's their plans which matter to them. In Moscow two men delight in all the uncertainty in a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the Baltichomepage. In Washington the Undersecretary is a woman, but the personal pressures on her are the same as the men in Moscow are obliged to sufferI don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally. In Stockholm three members of SÄPO, (There's a recipe in the Swedish Secret Servicebook, know that the time has come for them which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a movemess of it. Notes in the margins are sanctioned. They'd talk more, but their wives would You get difficult and thereto fold down the corners of pages. You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem. I ''loved's a rather pleasing tart which mustn't be missedthis book already. [[Mayhem in the Archipelago by Nick Griffiths|Full Review]] <!-- Neal -->}}{{Frontpage|-author=Rob Keeley| styletitle="widthChildish Spirits: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"10th anniversary special edition|rating=4[[image:1794467440.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1794467440/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Confident Readers| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Watchwords by Philip Neal]]=== [[image:4starAround here, we're big fans of children's author Rob Keeley.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] This satisfying collection of short stories has a provenance at least as beguiling as the provenance of the antique watches that inspired it. Philip Neal lost a watch. It was a watch he was fond of He's a ball of happy positivity, he understands children, and he writes for their pleasure and had been told was like a 1930s Cartier. Instead of mourning its lossenjoyment, he began not to collect vintage watches that resembled it. And that's how he became a watch collector. An eBay purchase led him to the Antique Watch Company watch repairers in Clerkenwell. The eBay purchase was a fake, but the friendship that grew between the buyer and the repairer of watches was not and the seed of an idea for a book was born. [[ Watchwords by Philip Neal |Full Review]] <!-- Stephen Booth -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0751567647.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0751567647/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Fall Down Dead (Cooper and Fry) by Stephen Booth]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] DS Dev Sharma is delighted - if delight is the right word to apply to a murder case - but he's got a result when the husband of a murder victim is found with the knife, standing over the body, and admitting to the murder. DI Ben Cooper is concerned with a suspicious death on Kinder Scout. A party of walkers - the New Trespassers Walking Group - got lost in the fog and problems arose when one of the party was injured. The group split up to find help, or at least a mobile signal, but when they're rescued they're one short and the body of Faith Matthew was found at the bottom of Kinder Downfall. It looked like a dreadful accident, but Cooper wasn't happy about the way the body had fallen. Things are not always as they seem - in either case. [[Fall Down Dead (Cooper and Fry) by Stephen Booth|Full Review]] <!-- Casey Cep -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1785150731.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785150731/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:True Crime|True Crime]] Sometimes you begin reading a book and before you've got to the bottom of the first page you know that it's going to be brilliant. You sense the author's effortless grasp of her subject matter and you already know that her use of words is almost surgical in its precision. The hands holding you are safe, which considering that this is a book about two subjects where facts are in short supply, is somewhat surprising. Our first subject is the Reverend Willie Maxwell. Over seven years, six people close to the Reverend had died, with Maxwell benefiting substantially from insurance policies which he'd taken out on their lives. [[Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep|Full Review]] <!-- Weir -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1472227727.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472227727/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Six Tudor Queens: Anna of Kleve, Queen of Secrets by Alison Weir]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] Poor, frumpy Anne of Cleaves always gets a raw deal by history, of all the wives of Henry VIII she is the one who is known for being rejected. Anne Boleyn and Katheryn Howard were the sexy ones, Jane the dutiful one who delivered a son, Katherine of Aragon clung on to her crown and Katharine Parr clung on to her life but poor frumpy Anne of Cleaves just rolled over and moved along. Not any more! Alison Weir presents us with a different view of this young woman who saw the opportunity to live an independent life and took it. [[Six Tudor Queens: Anna of Kleve, Queen of Secrets by Alison Weir|Full Review]] <!-- Mel Sherratt -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0008271070.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008271070/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Tick Tock by Mel Sherratt]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] We're in Stoke on Trent. A group of young women who study at Dunwood Academy are running the cross-country course. One of them - Lauren Ansell - stops behind to tie her shoelace and is murdered, to the shock and devastation of her friends. Twins Courtney and Caitlin Piggott, Sophie Bishop and Teagan Cole cling together for support - or do do as much as they can given that their parents are understandably reluctant to let them out of their sight. One of the parents is journalist Simon Cole, boyfriend of DS Grace Allendale, who is charged with investigating the murder under the guidance of DI Nick Carter. It's a struggle to keep their professional lives separate. [[Tick Tock by Mel Sherratt|Full Review]] <!-- Mark Billingham -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0751566977.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0751566977/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Their Little Secret by Mark Billingham]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] There are times when two people come together and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts as in the case of, say, Morecambe and Wise. Sometimes two people come together and we get ''Folie à Deux'' - a shared psychotic disorder which produces devastating consequences. One of the prime examples is Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. But - I'm getting ahead of myself as our story started with a suicide. A middle-aged woman had been gulled out of £75,000 by a man called Patrick Jenkins, but once he had the money he disappeared and ghosted his former lover. She threw herself in front of a tube train. [[Their Little Secret by Mark Billingham|Full Review]] <!-- Motayne -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:147367591X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/147367591X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Nocturna by Maya Motayne]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] A thief without a face, a prince who was never meant to be king, Finn and Alfie collide, as if thrown together by fate, to bring about a series of catastrophes and set in motion the release of a darkness that seeks to consume all the goodness and magic in the world. These two unlikely allies must try to put their own personal battles behind them and join forces to stop the evil from destroying everything they hold dear. [[Nocturna by Maya Motayne|Full Review]] <!-- Eagle -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0571346308.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0571346308/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Secret Starling by Judith Eagle]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]Clara has lived in the crumbling Braithwaite Manor owned by her guardian, Uncle Edward, since she was a baby. It has been a lonely life as her uncle is strict and forbidding and she has been home schooled. Her only friend is Cook who looks after Clara with kindness and tells her stories of her own family and their adventures. Clara has recently become aware that something is wrong as many of the prized possessions such as paintings and porcelain are disappearing and then cook is dismissed. Shortly afterwards Uncle Edward abandons Clara in the local village with a fistful of money and disappears. Clara is now totally alone. [[The Secret Starling by Judith Eagle|Full Review]] <!-- Leah Hazard -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786331608.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786331608/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Hard Pushed: A Midwife's Story by Leah Hazard]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]], [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] Over the past few years we've had a rash (sorry - no pun intended) of books by medical practitioners. Doctors have been at the forefront, but ''Hard Pushed'' is the first book I've seen by a midwife. It's an unusual profession in that it's one of the few callings within the medical system where most of the patients are healthy and the only one where one person comes into the system and (for the most part) more than one goes out. It's an amazing thing to be able to do - to escort new life into the world - and an enormous responsibility. Leah Hazard came to it after a career in television and ''Hard Pushed'' is the story of her career as a midwife - and the title tells more than one story. [[Hard Pushed: A Midwife's Story by Leah Hazard|Full Review]] <!-- Lucinda Riley -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1529014980.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529014980/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Butterfly Room by Lucinda Riley]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] Paradise. That's what it seemed like to nine-year-old Posy Anderson. Her father delighted in indulging her and playing with her. Together they caught butterflies and examined them before her father took them off to let them go free. Her mother was rather distant, but her father more than made up for that. The only blot on the horizon was that her father was a spitfire pilot, recovering from an injury, and it seemed likely that he would have to go back to the war. Everyone thought that it was drawing to a close, but men still had to go and fight - and risk their lives. Posy was staying with her grandmother in Cornwall when the news came through that her father had been killed in action. Her mother had travelled from Suffolk to tell her what was going to happen to her. [[The Butterfly Room by Lucinda Riley|Full Review]] <!-- Carroll -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1471160645.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471160645/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Words That Fly Between Us by Sarah Carroll]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Lucy is living in a beautiful, expensive house along with her joking, playful dad and her lovely mum. Everything should be perfect. Her dad is a property investor, making millions, and she and her mum don't lack for anything in their lives. But still, Lucy lives her life on edge, controlled by the words around her, whether they are spoken, or unspoken. You see, her dad is a bully, edging closer and closer towards physically abusing her mum, and Lucy is manipulated by him, unable to express her true feelings, or fully develop her artistic side which is where she feels her talents lie but her dad says won't ever lead to her having a successful life. [[The Words That Fly Between Us by Sarah Carroll|Full Review]] <!-- Kan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1911115847.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1911115847/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Nights of the Creaking Bed by Toni Kan]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category: Literary Fiction| Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] ''Nights of the Creaking Bed'' is a collection of short stories by Toni Kan. The series of stories tell of the lives and lusts of an assortment of characters living in and around Lagos, Nigeria. Nigeria, in this collection, is imbued with its very own heart of darkness. Danger stalks the shadows and people are killed for nothing more than a wrong look. Kan writes with a vitality and passion that allows these cynical stories to achieve a glimmer of hope. [[Nights of the Creaking Bed by Toni Kan|Full Review]] <!-- Macdibble -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1910646482.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.colecture or hector.uk/dp/1910646482/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Dog Runner by Bren MacDibble]]===

[[image:4The ''Childish Spirits'' series is one of his greatest achievements.5star.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]] [[:Category{{Frontpage|author=Kieran Larwood and Joe Todd-Stanton|title=Dungeon Runners:Hero Trial|rating=4|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, [[:Category:Teensand I never felt lost.|Teens]]isbn=0861541561}}

Set in {{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 dystopian Australiareservoir. The police seem happy to assign it as an accidental death, but something about the whole thing bothers Lowe, this is and he enlists the story help of Ella 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 Emery and their dogs travelling across , seemingly, a link to death during the outback togetherSecond World War. A red fungus has wiped out all But is there really a link between the crops 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 an open-and grasses-shut case. A man, covered in mud 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 been stabbed to death. DCI John Tanner is just back from his honeymoon, which coincided with the food chain grinding 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 haltglorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, society is collapsinghumour and autobiography. Ella's mum has been gone '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 long time 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 left posted every step of Anuri's childhood for work one day 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 then never came homereceiving 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. Ella Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her half brother Emery have been living relationship with her father at home 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 their 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'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 their dogsdoesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, hoping for and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the bestcollege, but one day their 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 decides to go out are separated, and try to find EllaWill's mumlife seems bleak in every direction. When And yet, he also fails still has a tiny amount of hope. He is good at art, and clings to returnthe moments of joy when he is drawing, Emery decides that their best chance feel like a light at the 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 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 survival 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 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 set out 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 Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the dogs one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to travel across 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 outback Hardie family to his grandfatherapproach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's house prepared to tell the police wherethe body of a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. This person, he believespromises, is someone big and it will 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 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 will still '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 food an open-and-shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that 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 safe place 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 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 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 until 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 father can 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 againthey'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 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 Dog Runner by Bren MacDibbleAntique 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 married 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}}