|summary=In 1942 German U-boats were wreaking havoc with Allied shipping in the Caribbean. Tom Hamilton, a young American working undercover and posing as a rich playboy, was sent to the Bahamas to investigate Nils Ericsson, a Swedish industrialist. Sweden might have been neutral in the war but Ericsson was known to have ties to the Nazis. It wasn't long before Hamilton was certain that Ericsson was building a base for U-boats at Hurricane Hole on Hog Island. The problem was what to do about it. The Governor of the Bahamas was the Duke of Windsor, friend of Ericsson and himself a suspected Nazi sympathiser. As an added complication Hamilton was attracted to Evelyn Shawcross but as she was a friend of both the Governor and Ericsson, could he trust her?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709099053</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ferdinand von Schirach and Carol Brown Janeway (translator)
|title=Crime and Guilt
|rating=5
|genre=Crime
|summary=A fictitious, unnamed German criminal defence lawyer opens his files and takes us through some of the cases with which he's been involved over the years. Each of the eleven chapters is a fully formed recollection introducing us to such people as tragic Theresa and Leonhard, a sister and brother bound by deep affection despite the 'tough love' tactics of their millionaire father, the tale of the two muggers who picked the wrong (and very mysterious) victim and the story of Dr Fahner's fatal promise made to his wife.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099549271</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=A R Yoba
|title=They Call Me... Montey Greene
|rating=3
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=''He didn't believe in coincidences but he did believe in conspiracies.''
Little does Montey Greene know how well this motto will serve him. Aside from a brief hold-up at customs, Montey is thoroughly enjoying his holiday in Milan. Recently separated from his wife, he's enjoying eyeing up all the lovely Italian women, meeting up with friends, and just generally pleasing himself.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0985440813</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Phil Rickman
|title=The Heresy of Dr Dee
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=The year is 1560, and there is talk of the end of time. The rumours which are even more rife, though, are those concerning the death of Amy Dudley. Did Lord Robert Dudley have his wife killed to allow him to marry Queen Elizabeth I? Even Dudley's friend Doctor John Dee doesn't seem convinced of his innocence. Dee has other problems, though - he's told the queen that he has a shewstone, a crystal with mystical properties, and he desperately needs to find one. With Dudley accompanying him, he sets of to the Welsh borders in pursuit of one such stone, but the land of Dee's father is a dangerous place. With politics and religion causing tension, and the possible reappearance of a Welsh brigand from nearly two centuries previous, can Dee and Dudley survive?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848872763</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=James Herbert
|title=Ash
|rating=4
|genre=Horror
|summary=
There are strange goings on at Comraich Castle, with the normal poltergeist type activities of cold spots in rooms and the lights inexplicably dimming having escalated into a resident being found pinned to the wall of his room by his own blood and innards. David Ash is sent in to investigate, but he is warned that he must work alone and in secrecy, as whilst some of the residents of Comraich Castle are not ghosts, they are considered long dead by the outside world and that world must never know of their continued existence.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230706959</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Cherie Priest
|title=Eden Moore – Not Flesh Nor Feathers
|rating=5
|genre=Horror
|summary=A year has passed since medium Eden Moore's brush with the [[Eden Moore - Wings to the Kingdom by Cherie Priest|ghostly battlefields]] and she's certainly come a long way since the [[Eden Moore – Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest|first time]] we encountered her. She's learnt a lot from media celebrity Dana Marshall, is nearly 25 and has decided it's time to move out of Aunt Lu and Uncle David's place. She even has her eye on an apartment in a downtown block by the river. However, some things don't change. The Read House is being renovated to combine a hotel and Starbucks but one room remains untouched due to paranormal activity. Eden's TV journalist friend Nick calls her in to communicate with the ghost, a young girl who isn't satisfied with scary noises and shifting ornaments. Within moments of entering Eden is trapped as the phantom attempts to tear her limb from limb mumbling about how 'they' are coming for her. Who are 'they'? Why are people disappearing near the river? Chattanooga will soon find out as it's about to flood and in the mud something stirs.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857687743</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Will Buckingham
|title=The Descent of the Lyre
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Seventeen year old Ivan Gelski, the much loved son of Bulgarian peasant parents, has his bride to be and future snatched from him brutally just before his wedding. Full of rage and vengeance, he leaves his close knit village to join the haiduti, a savage band of outlaws who kill mercilessly in order to acquire food and survival. Years later, on one of these killing sprees, Ivan encounters Solomon Kuretic, a Viennese Jew and guitar virtuoso on his way to play for the Sultan in Constantinople. Solomon must play for his life but, by doing so, he sends Ivan on a journey of his own spreading across Europe and into saintly veneration.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>9380905076</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Karen Dolby
|title=Oranges and Lemons: Rhymes From Past Times
|rating=4.5
|genre=History
|summary=Karen Dolby's book is a loving look at nursery rhymes from many different times and places, handily organised into groups like 'Monday's Child: The Rhythm of Days' and 'Oranges and Lemons: Songs and Games'. In addition to the rhymes themselves, Dolby sets them into context and tells us of the stories behind them.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843179598</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Adrian Reynolds and Thomas Taylor
|title=The Pets You Get!
|rating=3.5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=A young boy doesn't like the boring guinea pig his sister has. He'd much rather have a dog... no, a grizzly bear... no, a DRAGON! He runs through a number of options for whizz-bang pets that are much more exciting. However, his sister keeps selling the option of the guinea pig. Maybe, just maybe, he'll come to appreciate the little scurrying creature.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184270642X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Mike Henley
|title=One Dog and His Man
|rating=4
|genre=Pets
|summary=Oberon is a Labrador with a pedigree as long as your arm and ''One Dog and His Man'' is his story about what it's like living with the man he generously refers to as ''The Boss'', about life in general and the ways of the world. Think of him as the canine equivalent of the parliamentary sketch writer, there to highlight the idiosyncrasies of human life and bring a gentle humour to situations which might otherwise be taken far too seriously. Before you wonder how this is possible - how a dog can write a book - let me remind you that dogs are very intelligent animals. After all, dogs and their humans might go to what are laughingly called 'dog training classes', but it's the humans who are trained, not the dogs.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471660354</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=James Meek
|title=The Heart Broke In
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=In ''The Heart Broke In'', James Meek manages to combine some big and serious issues into a compellingly readable and entertaining moral thriller. At the centre of the book are two siblings who are very different. Ritchie is a former rock star, now working in the world of reality television producing a game show about teenage pop bands while his younger sister, Bec, is a devoted scientist working on a cure for malaria. On the one hand it's a story of family dynamics, but it's also a thoughtful and well constructed tale of morality and judgement. Setting science against religion it asks very modern day questions about who is the guardian of morality in today's world and who, if anyone, has the right to judge others' behaviour.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857862901</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Kate Chisholm
|title=Wits and Wives: Dr Johnson in the Company of Women
|rating=5
|genre=Biography
|summary=What's your mental image of a Great Writer? Most people would probably say the same thing: someone sitting in splendid isolation, probably in a garret, writing Great Words and hating them. The idea of Great Writers having friends, or even a family, is a bizarre one. Partly this is because most Great Writers were incredibly weird people. But there's another issue at play. We're simply not used to imagining them in context, just one small part of a large and busy world. Our notion of biography is an incredibly fragmented one: despite the fact that one of the best indications of someone's character is how they interact with other human beings, we expect biographers to essentially confine themselves to the person and their literary output.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845951867</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Carlo Collodi, Geoffrey Brock, Umberto Eco and Fulvio Testa
|title=Pinocchio
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Of all the benefits of being at the hands of the book reviewing gods, the fact that now and again you get to visit a true classic, one of those books you think you know but have never read, stands out as being a major advantage. Consider Pinocchio – I've reviewed a [[Pinocchio by Winshluss|very adult graphic novel version]] that's definitely not for the faint-hearted, I've even performed in a stage version – but never read the original. I might never even have seen the Disney film but I have an inkling of what it's about, how it pans out, and what the thrust of the story is. And of course, a lot of my impressions are wrong. This volume is one of the best ways to get a crisp, accurate and clear insight into the reality.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849392625</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Andrew Lane
|title=Young Sherlock Holmes: Snake Bite
|rating=5
|genre=Teens
|summary=It can't be easy, imagining Sherlock Holmes as a boy. So many of his most notable characteristics — for example, his capricious behaviour, his detailed knowledge of so many subjects, and his analytical, sometimes even cold approach to problems — are clearly the result of many years of experiences and studies. Any author brave enough to tackle this challenge must of necessity create a person who is as yet untested in many of the fields for which he will later become famous.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>023075886X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Rod Stewart
|title=Rod: The autobiography
|rating=4.5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=There is only one Rod. One of the first things I noticed about this book was that his surname did not appear on the spine or the front cover of the dust jacket – only on the inside flaps. However, as someone whose career has kept him a household name for over four decades, it is probably superfluous anyway.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780890524</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Robin Bennett
|title=Angel of Mons
|rating=3.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Ben Bartops is surprised and horrified about what he sees in the trenches of Belgium in August 1914. So is Sam Lyle, but at least he has the experience of being a career soldier – Ben is a schoolkid from the 21st Century, and shouldn't by rights be in the warzone at all. But ''something'' is putting, or taking, or sending, him to the front, and somehow the two lives will intertwine, in very dramatic ways…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0956868444</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Charles Gilman
|title=Professor Gargoyle: Tales from Lovecraft Middle School
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Let's be honest – starting a new series with a boy alone in a new school, apart from his bullying nemesis, does not particularly strike one as original, or even interesting. But behind all the fabulous LCD message boards and technology, the brand new Lovecraft Middle actually holds some very interesting and ancient secrets. A host of children find a white rat waiting for them in their lockers when they're opened for the first time. The library seems to have a very unusual labyrinth of secret passages in, appropriately enough, the paranormal fiction section. And no-one, from the pupils to the staff, seem to be acting quite as they should…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594745919</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Marcus Sedgwick
|title=Monster Mountains: Raven Boy and Elf Girl 2
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Meet, if you didn't [[Raven Boy and Elf Girl by Marcus Sedgwick|last time]], Raven Boy and Elf Girl. He's got a rat in his pocket, and can communicate with animals and birds, while she has a magical bow, but doesn't know how to use it properly. They don't have a home forest any more, as the Goblin King sent an ogre to demolish it. This is the first sequel amongst the series of six volumes, as they encounter different landscapes in turn on their way to confront him and put him to rights – somehow. Here they face the freezing cold, a giant yeti, the three evil trolls chasing them since book one for their supper – and Jeremy.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444004867</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Jeremy de Quidt
|title=The Feathered Man
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=Klaus is a street kid who has been taken in by Kusselman, the tooth-puller. Kusselman is a hard taskmaster, fond of using a belt to discipline and control his young apprentice, and he isn't fussy where he finds teeth to sell to the rich of the town. So there's nothing unusual in a trip to Frau Drecht's miserable boarding house, home to those with no money and no other place to go. When her residents die off, as they tend to do with depressing regularity, Frau Drecht sells their teeth to Kusselman and their poor, wasted bodies to the School of Anatomy for dissection. Frau Drecht has also taken a street child for a servant. But to keep Liesel in line, Frau Drecht uses a hot iron, not a belt.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0385613598</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Jeremy Dyson
|title=The Haunted Book
|rating=3
|genre=Paranormal
|summary=Typically atypical noises faced by someone alone in an empty house… a rock group reuniting at their old studios and finding there are more haunting traces of their passage than just their unremembered recordings… a nightmare for a round-the-world solo yachtsman when he gains a passenger… These could possibly count as entrants in any compendium of ghost stories. But what of their author, tasked to transfer reportage into readable non-fiction? Should he not know better about dabbling with the occult, in any shape or form? How long will it be before he finds himself staring at a ghost himself – one that has not confined itself to just the pages of the book he is currently writing, but has made itself known in volumes past?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857862421</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Nicholas Lezard
|title=The Nolympics: One Man's Struggle Against Sporting Hysteria
|rating=4.5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=Confession: I was always going to be attracted to this book. I was planning for the Olympics since London won them – planning my escape, that is. And to add insult to athletics-hysteria induced injury, I then fell ill, missed my holiday, couldn’t get the money back on insurance, and found the predicted horrifically heaving horror of a city to be a complete myth. So after losing money on a holiday that I planned for years and didn’t need to be on anyway, I thought reading this would be a form of therapy for my anger!
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718197615</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Jeff Norton
|title=The Dead are Rising (MetaWars)
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Jonah's father died in the battle for control of the Metasphere. He was a Guardian - a terrorist or freedom fighter, depending how you see things - and he had infiltrated himself into a position of trust with the Millenials, the group supporting the billionaire inventor who created and controlled an online world in which people living in a post peak-oil and devasted Earth spend most of their time. But before he died, Jason Delacroix's memories had been uploaded to the Metasphere as an avatar.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408314606</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Rachel van Kooj and Siobhan Parkinson (translator)
|title=Bartolome: the Infanta's Pet
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=In 17th century Spain, life is run by a strict code of conduct and appearances dictated by the Royal House. It is not a place of kindness or understanding, especially for a dwarf like Bartolome Carrasco. When his father, coachman to the Infanta Margarita, moves his family to Madrid for a better life; Bartolome is kept hidden from the world in a back room. But Bartolome is clever. He hears that a dwarf, just like him, has a position in the Royal household, he begins to educate himself in order to follow his dream and make his family proud. A sudden coach accident brings Bartolome to the attention of the young Infanta, and she demands that he be brought into the court as her pet. Forced to dress and behave as a dog, it seems life is destined to be one humiliation after another. Then, Bartolome meets the artist, Diego Velazquez, court painter who is working on Las Meninas, a portrait of the Royal family centring on the Infanta. A plan is hatched that may free Bartolome from his life of servitude and fear forever.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908195266</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Richard Gilpin
|title=Mindfulness for Black Dogs and Blue Days: Finding a Path Through Depression
|rating=3
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=Richard Gilpin is a counsellor, cognitive behavioural psychotherapist and mindfulness instructor. He's also suffered from depression since his teens and is well aware of just how debilitating it can be. In 'Mindfulness and Black Dogs' ( a nod to Churchill who referred to his depression as his black dog) he shares his own experiences with the illness and offers insights as to how a sufferer can find a way through the weight which descends upon them. He looks particularly at how ''mindfulness'' can help.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907332928</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Joel Levy
|title=Why?
|rating=5
|genre=Trivia
|summary=Why does the Titanic float but a brick sink? And that water they’re sinking or floating in, why is it wet? And what colour is it, ‘cos it ain’t clear? These questions and many more are answered in this book which may not be a new concept but which is executed extremely well.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843179512</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=David Astle
|title=Puzzled
|rating=4
|genre=Trivia
|summary=Words are wonderful enough when they’re just telling you things straight up, but who can resist them when they’re really being playful? Not David Astle, the author of this new title that blows the lid on it all with what he calls 'secrets and clues from a life in words'.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846685427</amazonuk>
}}
