'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
__NOTOC__
{{newreview
|author=L C Tyler
|title=The Herring In The Library
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=Tall, elegant Ethelred is a gentleman, and a third-rate author. Elsie, his literary agent, is short and dumpy, and not afraid to speak her mind. It is Elsie, in fact, who constantly assures her client he only occasionally aspires to the giddy heights of being second-rate. This could be the business partnership from hell, but not only do these two seem to get along, they even manage to solve crimes together. In this, the third outing for L C Tyler's eccentric sleuths, we are provided with a locked room mystery, a cast of possible villains of the most stereotypical type, and a fresh, funny tale which will make you laugh so much you'll get a stitch.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230714684</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|summary=Things on board the Ketty Jay have never been as low. Darian Frey and his crew are even having trouble thieving from defenceless orphanages. So when the next token job-they-can't-refuse comes along, they fall under it's spell. An explorer has returned with tales of untold riches, courtesy of the most mysterious artefacts and treasures of an unknown civilization. The fact that the remains are those of an aircraft crashed in the most Arctic of rainforests, inhabited by the most evil beast-men monsters, is neither here nor there. The problems start with what they find there, which is worse than anyone could have expected - or indeed years ago, with a mysterious connection between the remains and the more unusual crewmember...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0575085177</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Patrick Marrinan
|title=Degrees of Guilt
|rating=3.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=The Police broke into the apartment in Sandymount Village in Dublin and woke Yuri Komarova rather roughly. He'd been drinking heavily, smoking dope and was difficult to arouse, but on the floor near his bed was the knife which he had apparently used to stab his mother to death. He seemed to have no memory of this but he spoke little English and had the mental age of a twelve-year old. An interpreter helped with the questioning and when the case came to trial his defence relied on proving that he had been sleep-walking at the time of the murder and had no intention of killing his mother. This is the most difficult defence to uphold and there was the added problem that Yuri seemed to have lied to the police when he told them that his mother had very little money as some Russian icons were found in a strongbox and they were worth several million Euros.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709090749</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Peter Firstbrook
|title=The Obamas: The Untold Story of an African Family
|rating=4
|genre=Biography
|summary=The book jacket states that this is 'the untold story of an African family' and with a presidential photograph of Barack Obama, the book is certainly eye-catching. Along with, I'm sure, millions of others, I've read 'The Audacity Of Hope' and was charmed and blown away in almost equal measure, so I was keen to get started on this book.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848092725</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Michael Hutchinson
|title=Missing the Boat: Chasing a Childhood Sailing Dream
|rating=4
|genre=Sport
|summary=As a youngster in the nineteen eighties, Michael Hutchinson was passionate about sailing. He acquired a dinghy and crew, and spent his early years messing around on Belfast Lough. He learned to sail, race Mirrors and fling jellyfish accurately at passing competitors. In time, his salty daydreams became ambitious, encompassing the Olympic Games, America's Cup and Round the World yacht races. Trouble was, Hutchinson proved to be a deeply mediocre dinghy sailor, clocking up only one win in several seasons round the buoys. Although he was good enough at race tactics and seamanship, he lacked the sprinkling of gold dust that differentiates the very good performer from the brilliant. And so eventually, as is the way of sensible young men, he became disenchanted and stopped trying. Ironically, he then found he had a talent for cycling which took him as far as the Commonwealth Games.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099552345</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Paul Addison
|title=No Turning Back: The Peacetime Revolutions of Post-War Britain
|rating=4.5
|genre=History
|summary=In the opening chapter Addison, a child of the 1940s, starts by comparing the leaders of the peacetime administrations that did most to change the face of Britain after 1945. The first, Clement Attlee, was a modest, unassuming, even uncharismatic personality, yet he still led a genuinely radical and reforming government. As the second, his admirer Margaret Thatcher, would point out in her memoirs, not only did he achieve a great deal, but he did so because of, or perhaps despite, being all substance and no show.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192192671</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Katie Kitamura
|title=The Longshot
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Cal and his long-time trainer Riley travel down to the town of Tijuana in Mexico for a crucial rematch with the undefeated champion Rivera. Three years earlier Cal's promising career had been derailed following a close yet devastating defeat at the hands of Rivera. After that defeat Cal carried on fighting but never reached the same heights as before. Now he finally gets the chance to face his nemesis once more. The story takes place in the two days before the rematch as he and Riley prepare for the biggest fight of his life, a fight that could once again end in tragedy.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847374999</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Chris Beckett
|title=The Holy Machine
|rating=4
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=In the near future, only Illyria city stands for science, technology and progress in a world dominated by religious fundamentalism of every faith (and then some). The city was founded as a haven for those intellectuals not possessing any such religious convictions, who advocated reason and logic instead, and were persecuted for their 'blasphemies' in the early stages of the upheaval. George Simling, the introvert protagonist and second generation Illyrian, falls in love with a beautiful woman called Lucy. Unfortunately however, Lucy is actually a syntec, a robot ASPU: Advanced Sensory Pleasure Unit, a prostitute. As George obsessively visits her, he realises that she is starting to develop a level of consciousness and self-awareness outside of her programming. Lucy is due for a routine mind-wipe so George decides to flee with her to the technophobic outlands in order to save this newly discovered consciousness.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848874626</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Laurie Graham
|title=At Sea
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=I've already read Graham's 'The Future Homemakers of America.' It was good, but not particularly memorable so I was keen to read this novel. The reader is introduced to two vastly differing opposites in the shape of Mr and Mrs Finch. Well, Lady Enid (English) and Professor Bernard (American) Finch, to be precise. And we're transported straight away onto the decks of the liner 'Golden Memories' and Graham starts to have her fun: with the language, the characters and the whole set-up.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849162182</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=J T Ellison
|title=All the Pretty Girls
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=We're in Nashville and a local girl has gone missing. She's a pretty twentysomething with the rest of her life to lead. Until now, that is. A gruesome find and a gruesome 'trophy' left by the killer. Who and why - are the important questions for both Taylor Jackson of Homicide and Dr John Baldwin, FBI profiler. Straight away this novel is shaping up nicely, I thought. And it gets better. The police have their work cut out in more ways than one. 'A decomposing body in ninety-degree heat could fell even the strongest professional.' And Ellison then goes on to describe in detail how all that unrelenting heat and all that cruel humidity affects a dead body.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>077830390X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Adele Parks
|title=Men I've Loved Before
|rating=4.5
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Natalie and Neil are an average thirty-something aspirational couple, living a comfortable life in West London. Having agreed before they married five years ago that they never want children, a chance remark from one of Neil's friends quickly changes his mind. Suddenly being a dad is all Neil can think about and meeting severe resistance from Natalie he tries many methods to persuade her. Feeling under huge pressure, Natalie seeks refuge at her parents' house where she discovers her old address book, or little black book as it became known when she was single. Inside are the old addresses of Natalie's ex-boyfriends and as she reminisces Natalie starts to wonder if Neil is indeed the one, or whether it was just good timing that resulted in them getting together. As Natalie decides meeting up with her exes is the best way to see if indeed ''the'' one slipped through her fingers, Neil embarks on a seedy new hobby and the two practically stop speaking to each other. Will they be able to save their marriage?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755371259</amazonuk>
}}