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Review of Nordic Knits by Sue Flanders Crafts I was so delighted by Sue Flanders' Cozy Knits that I didn't need any persuading at all to pick up her Nordic Knits. This delivers forty-four patterns inspired by textiles and local traditions from Norway, Sweden and Iceland. There are a few sweaters or jackets but the majority of patterns are for smaller items such as mittens, gloves, hats and bags. All are bright and cheerful and very cosy. Full Review

Review of The House in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga) by Allie Cresswell Historical Fiction We meet part of the Talbot family in Yorkshire in November 1811. Twenty-seven-year-old Jocelyn Talbot and her mother have travelled in some discomfort from their home at Ecklington, to the house in the hollow. The two women are angry with each other and Jocelyn is well aware of her mother's strengths and weaknesses: She is practiced at subterfuge, at concealing, beneath a facade of respectability, the deplorable truth. Hester is furious about Jocelyn's refusal to do as she was asked, which has precipitated this violent and unexpected removal. Then we are told of the birth of a child and, soon after, Hester Talbot departs, leaving Jocelyn in shame and isolation in Yorkshire. Full Review

Review of The Naked Don't Fear the Water by Matthieu Aikins Politics and Society It's easy to forget at times that The Naked Don't Fear the Water isn't actually fiction, because it reads very much like a well-paced thriller at times. This is not by any means a criticism, but rather a testament to how well Matthieu Aikins – a Canadian citizen who decided to accompany his friend as a refugee from Afghanistan through Europe – recounts a vast and at times painful journey. There are tense moments and gripping accounts of border crossings which had me on edge the whole way through. But it's written with a haunting and almost lyrical quality that allows the reader to perfectly envisage the environments and people described. Full Review

Review of Unhinged (Volume 3) (Blix and Ramm) by Jorn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger Crime This is the third book in a series of stories featuring Alexander Blix, a police officer, and Emma Ramm, a crime journalist. In this book we find that when one of Blix's colleagues, Kovic, uncovers a connection between several Oslo cases, she tries to contact her superior, Blix. Before she can reach him, however, she is murdered, and Blix's daughter Iselin who shares the same apartment, narrowly escapes being murdered too. We then find ourselves a few days later with Blix and Ramm, who are being interviewed by the National Criminal Investigation Service because Blix has shot and killed someone, and Ramm saw it all happen. What had Kovic discovered? And what did Blix and Ramm uncover that led to Blix killing someone? Full Review

Review of Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham Fantasy We meet Alys under the most northerly of Oldgate's four bridges, she has a knife in her hand and a meeting that she dreads. Meanwhile, the City of Kithamar is at a point in the turning of years when the worlds are at their thinnest and all things are possible. It is the night between the funeral of a Prince and the coronation of his successor. For a night the Kithamar is un-ruled. Full Review

Review of The Interview by C M Ewan Thrillers Kate Harding is going for an interview for her dream job at Edge Communications. It's the last interview of the day at one of London's newest office buildings and Edge have fitted out their part of the building to be something special. Maggie, Kate's recruitment agent, is keen to see that Kate approaches the interview in a good state of mind: Kate assumes that this is because Maggie will get a decent bonus if Kate gets the job - and she has to admit that life has not been easy for her recently. Full Review

Review of The Blood Tide (DS Max Craigie) by Neil Lancaster Crime Loch Torridon is the back of beyond: there's not even any light pollution which is why it was the perfect place to land illegal deliveries of drugs. Jimmy McLeish thought that he was onto a nice little earner, only to find that Macca, the man he thought he was working with, is dead. His remains would never be found. The delivery is hijacked by Davie and Callum. As the story progresses we'll get to know them quite well. Full Review

Review of Me and My Shadow by Deborah Stone General Fiction What happens when someone is pushed too far and they begin to lose their grip on reality? How would you cope if you felt that no one loved you? And how far would you go to be happy? Accompany Rachel as she tries to shake off the shadows of her past and attempts to repair decades worth of pain. Rachel is in a current conversation with her psychiatrist, who pushes her to recall her life from very young childhood onwards. But Rachel is combative with Doctor Blake, sometimes even contemptuous of her. You can see that it's not an easy therapeutic relationship. Rachel's recall of her life is in remarkable detail. She remembers each minor slight and each major betrayal in perfect detail with absolute and unforgiving clarity. Full Review

Review of The Locked Room (Dr Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths Crime It was some time since her father had remarried but his wife was now keen to do some decorating and Dr Ruth Galloway volunteered to clear out her mother's belongings. She was intrigued by the discovery of a picture of her own house: it was an old photograph, taken in misty conditions and on the back it said 'dawn 1963', some years before Ruth was born. It was before her parents were married. When she returned to Norfolk she was determined to find out what was behind the photograph but Covid intervened and the country was in lockdown. Ruth and Kate are restricted to the cottage with Ruth attempting to home school Kate and continue with her university teaching duties. The good thing was meeting Zoe, the new tenant from next door whom they got to know whilst clapping for carers. Full Review

Review of Atomic Habits by James Clear Lifestyle I've said this before but there are some books that you seek out, some books that you stumble across and some books that drop into your life because you really MUST read them, like, right now! Atomic Habits is in the last category. Full Review

Review of The Woke Iliad by George Boreas General Fiction Helen is a popular activist. Or should we call her a popular influencer? Or perhaps a popular franchise owner? Anyway, Helen is so popular that the United States government has made her its Ambassador of Woke. Helen runs all sorts of initiatives on behalf of the government, including the Shaming Conference and the Permissible Entertainment Committee - for indoctrinating and legislating against summer fun for any who still knew how to have it. Ouch! Full Review

Review of The Wedding Murders by Sarah Linley Thrillers Libby Steele was hoping to get a permanent job with the newspaper and the case she was covering was her big chance. It was even more important to her than the celebrity wedding she was to attend the following day with her ex-rock star boyfriend, Matthew. She was leaving her seven-year-old son, Patrick with her sister, Emma, and heading off to a grand manor house hotel in the North Yorkshire countryside. Daniel Acroyd, television presenter and former member of the rock band was marrying Vicky and Libby suspected that the wedding wasn't quite as high-profile as had been suggested as there was no ban on photos or phones. Full Review

Review of Carried Away With the Carnival by Ed Boxall For Sharing It was one of those memories we treasure from our childhoods: an outing with our grandparents. They're there to undo all the good that parents do, so the trips out were always so much fun. A young boy was going to the carnival with his Grandad, who told him: It'll be brilliant, just remember, don't let go of my hand. Full Review

Review of The Long Weekend by Gilly Macmillan Thrillers It was a long drive to the weekend retreat in Northumbria, right up near the Scottish borders and to make it worse the three husbands had all - for one reason or another - had to delay making the trip until the Saturday morning. Jane and Ruth had known each other for a long time but Emily was a bit of an outsider. She and Paul had married only relatively recently and she was ten years younger than the other two women. The friendship of the group went back to school days. Paul had coached rugby at the school where Mark, Toby and Rob were pupils. Mark had married Jane, and Toby is Ruth's husband. And Rob? Well, Rob's dead. Full Review

Review of Never Work With Animals by Gareth Steel Animals and Wildlife I don't often begin my reviews with a warning but with Never Work With Animals it seems to be appropriate. Stories of a vet's life have proved popular since All Creatures Great and Small but Never Work With Animals is definitely not the companion volume you've been looking for. As a TV show the author would argue that All Creatures lacked realism, as do other similar programmes. Gareth Steel says that the book is not suitable for younger readers and - after reading - I agree with him. He says that he's written it to inform and provoke thought, particularly amongst aspiring vets. It deals with some uncomfortable and distressing issues but it doesn't lack sensitivity, although there are occasions when you would be best choosing between reading and eating. Full Review

Review of The Herd by Emily Edwards General Fiction Our story opens in December 2019, before most of us had even heard of Covid or realised that whether or not we should be vaccinated would come to be a major issue. We're in Farley County Court, where Elizabeth and Jack Chamberlain are facing Bryony and Ash Kohli. As they were best friends until just a few months ago we know that whatever has happened is major and that, regardless of the outcome, this is not going to work out well for anyone. Full Review

Review of The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs Historical Fiction Eliza Acton is a poet who has never had the slightest inclination to boil an egg. When tasked with writing a cookery book, she recruits Ann Kirby, a local woman with a troubled home life. Together, they test, craft, refine and reshape the world of domestic cookery, reinventing the recipe book and changing the face of cookery writing forever. Full Review

Review of Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Being Good by Louie Stowell Confident Readers Meet Loki. The trickster god has got into trouble again, so the other gods have decided there's only one thing for it – he must be banished. And transformed – for Loki is spending a month both in exile and in the physical form of a middle-school kid here on Earth. He's guarded by a giant and a god in disguise as his parents, and Thor has come along as well, to be the more suave, more popular and more successful brother of the two. Loki has a month to redeem his reputation, and get his moral compass pointing the right way again, or else, and to prove it he has to write the text we read in a sentient notebook, that is able to cry foul of his lies, and judge his progress. But Loki is the kind of god who insists he can do anything, so surviving a bit more virtuously for a month is going to be a walk in the park...right? Full Review

Review of A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham Thrillers It's May 2019 and Dr Chloe Davis, a medical psychologist, is completing a session with a new patient. Lacey is suffering mentally but Chloe has hopes of getting her through the trauma. You see, Chloe knows what it's like to have a traumatic childhood. Her father is Richard Davis, the man who murdered six girls some twenty years ago. Their bodies have never been found but Chloe found some jewellery belonging to the girls - trophies taken from their bodies - tucked away in a cupboard at home and she and her mother handed it to the police. Dick Davis is in the Louisiana State Penitentiary and Chloie has had nothing to do with him for the last twenty years. Her mother is in a care home. Full Review

Review of Escape Room by Christopher Edge Confident Readers I've seen junior variants of the 'Choose Your Own Adventure' format cover escape rooms – the process by which a character or characters start by being trapped in a specific location, and have to solve problems in order to get their way out. What I've not done (alongside experience one for myself – for that would require actual friends) is seen a prose book describing people in such an adventure, with the regular second person narrative replaced by the first. Here, Ami and four other tweenagers, all new to each other and booked into the game without any of their friends, are a team – starting out at the game's main offices, where they're told they and their quest for The Answer are a world-changer. But could watching people engage with such a pastime, despite the ramped-up threat levels, change much in the world of literature? Full Review

Review of The Boy Who Loved Boxes: A Children's Book for Adults by Michael Albanese Lifestyle There was a Boy who loved boxes. He had a box for everything and he was meticulous about storage: his parents probably couldn't believe their luck! It began with art supplies, stuffed toys and the like: all the things which most children have in abundance. The Boy's delight was in the sense of order in his room: it made him feel happy. As he grew up and became a Man, his life became more complicated and he dealt with this by getting bigger and better boxes. Look carefully at the pictures and you'll see that one of them has a padlock... Full Review

Review of Blood Games (DS Nikki Parekh 4) by Liz Mistry Crime It's the third murder in the space of a few weeks and they've all been because of machetes used on teenagers. DS Nikki Parekh and DC Sajid Malik are amongst the first to arrive on the scene at Chellow Dene Reservoir on the outskirts of Bradford. Only, this time, it's going to be different. The body appears to Nikki to be that of her beloved nephew, Haqib, and she has a very public meltdown. It isn't Haqib: there are similarities but the body is clad in designer clothes and comes from an obviously monied background. What it does mean though is that Nikki is going to be on sick leave for some time with anxiety and depression. Full Review

Review of All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes Horror In post-WWI England, Jonathan Morgan stows away on an Arctic expedition led by the famous Australis Randall. For Jonathan, this adventure represents a chance for a fresh start, and the opportunity to live life as his authentic self and true gender, without the disapproval and constraints of his parents. However, Jonathan isn't the only one fleeing the confines of his past and the shadow of the war hangs like a funeral shroud over the expedition. Guilt, mistrust and grief stalk the party and, when disaster strikes and they are forced to overwinter on land, a menacing presence waits to prey on their darkness. If Jonathan is to make it out of the Arctic winter alive, he will have to face his demons once and for all, or risk making the barren, icy landscape his tomb. Full Review

Review of Quicksilver by Dean Koontz Thrillers Meet Quinn Quicksilver. He's not had the chance to get to be a mercurial character yet, for he's lived in a nun-run orphanage since he was a three-day old foundling, and now is starting a career on a needless magazine's staff. But when this book starts he IS now subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind, for something – call it unearthly intuition, call it mind-control, call it a supernatural urge – has demanded of him that he go to a derelict diner, find a gold coin worth a fortune, cash the value of it out of his bank and prepare for going on the lam. And all this is just in time for two of those typical Men in Black types to turn up and suggest he's of interest to them. Helped to escape, he finds his flight is interrupted by other instances of him acting without being in control, the discovery that he is not unique in having some kind of burgeoning power – and a whole lot more besides. Full Review

Review of Other Parents by Sarah Stovell Women's Fiction Jo Fairburn knew that she was under intense pressure as the new head of West Burntridge First School: if she didn't live up to her retired predecessor there could well be a house price slump in that part of the town. The school had an active Parent Teacher Association and the funds which they raised were a considerable benefit to the school. There was one difficulty, though - they were devastatingly shockable, with two members, in particular, causing problems for the head. Laura Spence and Kate Monroe objected to Jo's restrictions on the toys children could bring in on Toy Day but that was just a warm-up act for their real gripe: LGBTQ education. Full Review

Review of The Hunt for the Nightingale by Sarah Ann Juckes Confident Readers Jasper is a little boy who has some struggles, and whilst we're never told why exactly, we can see that he has anxiety and panic attacks, and has difficulty dealing with change and big emotions. His big sister, Rosie, has been a huge support to him, talking him down when things were difficult, encouraging him, and writing a book with him, all about birds, that he can read when he gets scared to help him calm down. His parents seem completely caught up in their business, and so it is Rosie he always turns to. Even though she has gone away to University now, she has promised him that she will still be there when he needs her. But now he can't find Rosie. She hasn't come home when she said she would, and she isn't answering her phone. His parents won't speak to him or when they do, he doesn't understand or take in what they're saying. Nothing seems to be right, and the only way he feels he can find any peace is if he can find Rosie, and if they can find the nightingale and listen to its song, as they do together every Spring. Full Review

Review of Red is My Heart by Antoine Laurain, Le Sonneur and Jane Aitken (translator) Literary Fiction Antoine Laurain books have always been black and white and read in my house. And so was this one, although I could have spelled that more accurately – this one was, and is, black and white and red. Yes, he has an artistic collaborator on this piece, and I think it's possible to say not one page lacks the influence of some striking visual ideas. Full Review

Review of One Step Too Far by Lisa Gardner Crime It's five years since the stag weekend. Five of them had set out: Tim (the groom) and his four groomsmen, Scot, Miguel (who was usually called Miggy), Neil and Josh. The first night they had plenty of alcohol - too much really - and in the night Scot managed to wander off. The remaining four searched for him in vain and it was decided that Tim, who was experienced in survival techniques, would go for help. When help didn't come the remaining three finally made their way back to town. Scott followed soon after but there was no sign of Tim. Every year, Tim's father, Martin, and the four friends have been back to continue the search although they do now acknowledge that they're looking for 'remains' rather than for Tim. Full Review

Review of Bitter Flowers by Gunnar Staalesen Crime Varg Veum is a Norwegian Private Investigator who has just finished a stint in rehab and is now returning to work. However, the quiet job he's supposedly taken on caretaking someone's house quickly turns into a murder investigation, and a mystery around a missing woman. Varg finds himself not only investigating these, but also looking into an old, cold case of an eight year old girl who disappeared one night and was never found. Somehow, these disparate cases appear to be linked, but what is the link, and how can Varg possibly unravel the truth? Full Review

Review of The Gold Lion and the Tournament of Sentinels by Kia Ahankoob Graphic Novels When Myriad created Duniva he endowed his children with different powers, each with its own strength and weakeness, in the hope they would complement each other and collaborate, creating a dynamic and prosperous society. Each power is contained within a magical ring belonging to one of eight countries led by Myriad's children and their descendants. But it didn't quite work out like that. Rivalries developed. Enmities grew out of them and the eight countries went to war. Having fought themselves into an endless and ruinous stalemate and finding the cost of war too high, a solution is proposed. Each of the eight countries will send their greatest warriors, known as sentinels, to a single combat tournament. The winner will take possession of all the rings and become the supreme ruler of Duniva. Full Review