Changes

<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|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->reviews of books about to be published]].<!—Megan E O'Keefe -->{{Frontpage|-author=Max Boucherat| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|The Last Life of Lori Mills[[image:0356512223.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co4.uk/dp/0356512223/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Confident Readers|summary===[[Velocity Weapon by Megan E OWe meet Lori on the first evening she'Keefe]]=== [[image:4s got the house to herself – no neighbour to pop in, babysitter poorly, mother at work, just an avidly rule-breaking eleven year old, on her lonesome.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction]] The last thing Sanda remembers is her gunship exploding. She expected to be recovered by salvage-medics and to awaken What could possibly go wrong? Snuggled in friendly handsa blanket fort, she has one main intention, patched-up and ready that is to rejoin the fight. Instead she wakes up 230 years later, log on a deserted enemy starship called The Light of Berossus - or, as he prefers to call himselfVoxminer, 'Bero'. Bero tells Sanda the war world-building, critter-collecting game that is lost. That the entire star system is deada hit in Lori's world. But is first Lori has a tiny inkling that the full story? After allthis stormy night doesn't find herself entirely on her own, in the vastness and then she finds something even more spooky. For the server she and her bestie and nobody else should be able to enter shows signs of space, anything is possible . . tampering. [[Velocity Weapon by Megan E O'Keefe|Full Review]]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}}<!-- Parker -->{{Frontpage|-author=Jenny Lecoat| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Beyond Summerland|rating=4[[image:bookreviewercentre.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/bookreviewercentre/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] General Fiction| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The ChessmasterJean lives on Jersey with her mother where they are celebrating the end of the occupation. During the war, Jean's Secret by Mary Parker]]=== [[image:4starfather was arrested for listening to a banned radio and soldiers took him away one night, leaving Jean and her mother waiting for years for news of him.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]  Belle As the British finally free the Channel islands from the Nazis, and Joe travel to London in 1944, towards the end of World War II. Orphaned evacueeswar is finally over, their hopes rise that they haven't had a good time will finally learn what became of it - especially Joe, who is him. But will the truth come as a sensitive child and was badly bullied. Meeting them is Uncle Griffrelief, a kindly man, but one without much money. He is more than happy to have the children stay or will it raise further questions around what else happened during the school holidays. Uncle Griff owns war? Who was the ''Shop of Mechanical Marvels'' and informer who told the Nazis about the children love all radio? And what other secrets have been kept throughout the old things it contains. Uncle Griff hopes to restore it to profitability and bring some wonder back into London's bombed out streets. [[The Chessmaster's Secret by Mary Parker|Full Review]]occupation?|isbn=1846976537}}<!-- Rob Walker -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1529428289| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Grave in the Woods (A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel)|author=Martin Walker|rating=4[[image:1529104432X.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529104432X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|==summary=[[The Art Because of Noticing: Rediscover What Really Matters to You by Rob Walker]]=== [[image:4starvarious 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:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] The curse put on reviewers is that we get They dated back to read through a book which is really better dipped intoWorld 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 read gradually and thoughts allowed to be provokednot a crime had been committed. And so it was with ''The Art of Noticing'As if this isn't enough to worry about, the Dordogne River - normally tranquil - is flowing at record levels. It's a simple premise: not just the pace of modern life and rapidity of technological advances means local autumn rains that we are constantly overwhelmed have caused the problem: various dams upstream on another river have had to release water and distracted. Rob Walker wants us to be able to steal our attention back. He gives us his thoughts on various areas St Denis faces the possibility of our lives and then provides 131 exercises to help us recover our attentiona devastating flood. [[The Art of Noticing: Rediscover What Really Matters to You by Rob Walker}}{{Frontpage|Full Review]]isbn=152919640X <!-- Lesley Thomson -->|title=The Suspect|-author=Rob Rinder| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|4.5[[image:1786697246.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786697246/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Playground Murders by Lesley Thomson]]=== [[image:4The nation's favourite daytime TV presenter, Jessica Holby, was murdered live on television and it seems that there's only one suspect. He's celebrity chef Sebastian Brooks and his contract stated that he must not serve anything containing miso to Jessica Holby.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Rachel Cater was having an affair with her boss, Chris Philips, an auctioneer She's seriously allergic and carries an EpiPen in case of emergencies. Everything seemed as normal - as normal as they can be in a busy, live television studio - and Brooks served a ragout to Holby. It Her EpiPen was, nowhere to be found and she told her mother, love at first sightwas dead within minutes. Her mother It was more sceptical and wondered why, if it had been love at first sight, it had taken him so long to do anything about itsoon clear that this was no accident. Still, more than anything, she wanted her daughter to be happy}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008385068|title=The Midnight Feast|author=Lucy Foley|rating=4. That was what Rachel wanted too and it was why she went to the Philips5|genre=Thrillers|summary=It' family home, determined to have it all out in s midsummer on the openDorset coast and guests gather at The Manor. Instead she was stabbed fifteen timesIt's their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promised. Her lover It's all headed up by Francesca Meadows. The Manor was convicted of her murderancestral home and she's converted it into an impressive retreat for the wealthy and famous. [[The Playground Murders by Lesley Thomson|Full Review]] <!-- Dare -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:191303674X Her husband, Owen, was the architect and work is still ongoing on parts of the site. The heat is oppressive and amongst the guests are enemies as well as friends.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co Old scores are going to be settled and it won't be long before a body is found.uk/dp/I191303674X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage| styleauthor="verticalAshley Hickson-align: top; text-align: left;"Lovence|title=Wild East|rating=4.5|genre=Teens|summary==[[Written in verse, this is Ronny's story, a young black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who suddenly has to move to Norwich and start at a mostly white school. The Billion Pound Lie move is initiated by Bill Dare]]=== [[image:4starRonny's mum who is worried for Ronny's safety after a tragic event, and so Ronny finds himself trying to settle in a new town, a new school, and keep himself out of trouble.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Can you imagine what it would be like He listens to win a billion pounds? The UK's biggest ever lottery winners were a couple from Ayrshiremusic constantly, who won a £161 million EuroMillions jackpot a few years ago. That's so much money that it landed them on the Sunday Times Rich List and has always dreamed of the UK's thousand most wealthy people. So being a billion poundsrapper. That's a lot But now, in this new school, right? Can you imagine it? What would you do? Would you try his teacher encourages him to remain anonymous? Andbe part of a poetry writing workshop group and, if you didslowly, how would this affect your relationships with your nearest Ronny begins to see the connections between rap and dearest? What it would be like? How could you keep your friends poetry, and family from knowing that you were now one the power of the richest people in the country? [[The Billion Pound Lie by Bill Darecreativity and crafting your words.|Full Review]]isbn=0241645441}}<!-- Vaughn -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1635866847| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|The Lavender Companion[[image:0751568228.jpg|linkauthor=http://www.amazon.coJessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci|rating=4.uk/dp/0751568228/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Lifestyle|summary===[[Across It's strange, the things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the Void by S K Vaughn]]=== [[image:4starbook for you.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [ Before I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', I visited the author's [https:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction//www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website]] Sea epics? So 20th century. Try and there's a picture of a space epicslice of chocolate cake on the homepage. [[Across the Void by S K Vaughn|Full Review]] < I don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally. (There's a recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!-- McLean -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786076071) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it.jpg|link=http://www Notes in the margins are sanctioned.amazon You get to fold down the corners of pages.co You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem.uk/dp/1786076071/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] I ''loved'' this book already.}}{{Frontpage|author=Rob Keeley| styletitle="vertical-alignChildish Spirits: top; text-align: left;"10th anniversary special edition|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary==[[The Van Apfel Girls are Gone by Felicity McLean]]=== [[image:4starAround here, we're big fans of children's author Rob Keeley.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]]He's a ball of happy positivity, he understands children, [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] When Tikka Molloy was eleven and one-sixth years oldhe writes for their pleasure and enjoyment, the Van Apfel sisters disappeared. In the long hot summer of 1992, in an isolated suburb of Australia surrounded by Bushland, the girls vanished during the school's Showstopper concert at the riverside amphitheatre. Did they run away? Were they taken? While the search for the sisters united the small community, they were never found. Returning home years later, Tikka must make sense of that strange moment in time – of the summer that shaped her, and the girls she never forgot. [[The Van Apfel Girls are Gone by Felicity McLean|Full Review]] <!-- Stowell -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1788000269.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788000269/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Dragon in the Library by Louie Stowell and Davide Ortu (Illustrator)]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]], [[:Category:Emerging Readers|Emerging Readers]] It is the start of the summer holidays and Kit has plans. These plans involve climbing trees, getting muddy and being outside. Her friends, Josh and Alita, on the other hand want to go to the library. Kit hates reading and can't see the point of books at all but is very reluctantly persuaded to go with the others to the local library. Once there the children meet the librarian and Kit makes an incredible discovery; the librarian is a wizard! Even more incredibly, Kit is a wizard too and she and her friends have an important task. They must save the library…and save the world! [[The Dragon in the Library by Louie Stowell and Davide Ortu (Illustrator)|Full Review]] <!-- Stuart MacBride -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0008208263.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008208263/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[All That's Dead (Logan McRae 12) by Stuart MacBride]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It seemed like a good idea. Logan 'Lazarus' McRae was back at work after a year off sick. He'd been stabbed in the line of duty and recovery had been slow: he still had some pain. His first case was to be a simple one - just to ease him back into work - but it turned out to be anything but. Professor Wilson, a high-profile anti-independence campaigner has gone missing, apparently abducted from his home, but nothing was left behind except some bloodstains. In much the same way that Brexit is dividing people south of the border, there's going to be a war between the pro- and anti-independence factions in Scotland - and the police are not above being involved. [[All That's Dead (Logan McRae 12) by Stuart MacBride|Full Review]] <!-- Louise Voss -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:B07MWXBTV8.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07MWXBTV8/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Last Stage by Louise Voss]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] If you were looking back to when it began you'd have to say that it was before 1995. Meredith Vincent (that wasn't her name then) had gone to Greenham Common on her seventeenth birthday, dressed as a teddy bear, to protest about nuclear weapons. It was whilst she was there that she met Samantha, fell head over heels in love with her and went to live in a squat in London, leaving behind her A levels, her recently-widowed mother - and her twin brother, Pete, to look after her. Samantha was there occasionally but Meredith was drawn into forming a band with the boys from the squat and against all the odds Cohen went on to become a sensation and it wasn't long before Meredith was living in a mansion rather than the squat. [[The Last Stage by Louise Voss|Full Review]] <!-- Ian Mathie -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1906852472.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1906852472/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Wild Child: Growing Up a Nomad by Ian Mathie]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]] For Ian Mathie fans there is good and bad news. Ian has come up with the missing link in his narrative, the story of a very unusual childhood (yes, the very years that made him the amazing man he became). The bad – well it's hardly news two years later – is that the book is published posthumously. As always, it's beautifully written, with many exciting moments. What I most enjoyed was the feeling that many of the questions in Ian Mathie's later books are answered in ''Wild Child'' with a satisfying clunk. Seemingly all that's now left in the drawer is unpublishable. [[Wild Child: Growing Up a Nomad by Ian Mathie|Full Review]] <!-- Martin Walker -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786485753.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786485753/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Body in the Castle Well (A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel) by Martin Walker]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Claudia Muller was an American, studying art history and being mentored by an eminent French art historian and Resistance war hero in Limeuil in Perigord. She was beautiful, wore designer clothes and was well-liked by everyone. She didn't parade her wealth, or her father's White House connections. In fact, her closest friend was a man recently released from prison. So when she left a lecture saying that she felt ill, and her body was later found at the bottom of the castle well it seemed that the likeliest explanation was that this had been a dreadful accident with the only people to blame being the builders who had left the well unsealed. [[The Body in the Castle Well (A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel) by Martin Walker|Full Review]] <!-- Nayeri -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786893452.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786893452/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]], [[:Category:Biography|Biography]] Here in the West, we see news reports about immigrants on a regular basis – some media welcoming them, some scaremongering about them. But all of those stories are written by journalists – almost always western, and almost always, no matter how deep the investigative journalism they carry out, outsiders to the world and the situations that refugees find themselves in. It's rare that we find out the journeys from the refugees themselves – and this is a rare opportunity to do that, in this intelligent, powerful and moving work by Dina Nayeri -someone who was born in the middle of a revolution in Iran, fleeing to America as a ten-year-old.[[The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri|Full Review]] <!-- Douglas Lindsay -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473696945.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473696945/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Boy in the Well (DI Westphall 2) by Douglas Lindsay]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] The body of a nine-year-old boy was found at the bottom of a well which had been sealed for two hundred years - but the boy had only been dead for less than two days and there was no sign of how the body had got into the well. The owners of the property are adamant that the well was sealed when they went to open it, but DI Ben Westphall would be entitled to have his doubts. Belle McIntosh holds some strange views, particularly about the way that the government is controlling everyone through drugs which are added to the water supply which led to her wanting to reinstate the well. Her wife, Catriona Napier, is more moderate, but doesn't seem to have a lot of knowledge about what's going on on the fa [[Boy in the Well (DI Westphall 2) by Douglas Lindsay|Full Review]] <!-- Nick Louth -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:B07P9G9T5B.jpg|link=‪http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07P9G9T5B/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21‬]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Body in the Mist by Nick Louth]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Muriel Hinkley was walking her dog when she found the body on a quiet country lane, just south of Exmoor. She didn’t recognise him - no one would for a long time as it was obvious that he’d been the victim of a hit-and-run. He had no face - most of it was smeared on the road and when D I Jan Talantire came to look at the body she realised that there was absolutely nothing on him which would allow for identification. All the labels had been cut out of his clothes and there was no wallet and no phone. Hi was Mister Nobody. [[The Body in the Mist by Nick Louth|Full Review]] <!-- Denise Mina -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1911215256.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1911215256/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Conviction by Denise Mina]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] It's strange how the worst of days can start in such an ordinary, mundane way. And so it was for Anna McDonald as she sorted out gym kit and packed lunches for her two daughters. It didn't begin to go wrong until she opened the door to her best friend, Estelle and realised that her husband was at the top of the stairs, dressed as though for a holiday rather than the work clothes she'd been expecting - and he was carrying a suitcase. He and Estelle were leaving together - and they were taking Anna's two daughters with them. There was another problem which neither Hamish nor Estelle knew about. Anna wasn't actually Anna McDonald. She was Sophie Bukaran, the woman who had been involved in the rape case against four footballers. [[Conviction by Denise Mina|Full Review]] <!-- Donnelly -->|-| style=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|[[image:1471407977.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471407977/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]] ''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.'' ''Stepsister'' tells the gripping story of Cinderella's 'ugly' stepsister, Isabelle. We've been told this fairy-tale over and over again throughout our lives and know the characters well. But have you ever wondered what happened to the sisters after Cinderella married the Prince? Or why the sisters disliked her so much? [[Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly|Full Review]] <!-- Gilly Macmillan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1780899831.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1780899831/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Nanny by Gilly Macmillan]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] We know that something wrong is happening: a body is being dumped in deep water. The rower pulls away and rows back to the boat house and then she walks back to Lake Hall. As you begin reading you suspect that you know who has been killed and who dumped the body, but be patient: all will be revealed before too long. [[The Nanny by Gilly Macmillan|Full Review]] <!-- Weaver -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0241370116.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241370116/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[No One Home by Tim Weaver]]=== [[image:3star.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 called to a particularly disturbing case where a small village of nine people all vanished overnight two years ago. Raker and his associate must delve in to the lives of these people to work out how and why nine people have gone missing. They are being threatened to stop but something about the mystery keeps drawing Raker further in, putting him in personal peril. [[No One Home by Tim Weaver|Full Review]] <!-- Marrs -->|-| style=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|[[image:1785038885.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785038885/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[The Passengers by John Marrs]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] In the near future, self-drive cars are the norm - a convenient and easy way of transport. However, when someone hacks into the systems of eight self-drive cars, their passengers are set on a fatal collision course. As everyday commutes turn into terror-filled journeys, the public have to judge who should survive. 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 -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:147117946X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.conot to lecture or hector.uk/dp/147117946X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[If You Could Go Anywhere by Paige Toon]]===

[[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]] [[{{Frontpage|author=Kieran Larwood and Joe Todd-Stanton|title=Dungeon Runners:Category:WomenHero Trial|rating=4|genre=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 Fictionseen 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?|Womenisbn=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 Fiction]]good enough. And that wasn't a problem here. Vengeance swiftly brings you up to speed, and I never felt lost.|isbn=0861541561}}

Angie {{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 reservoir. The police seem happy to assign it as an accidental death, but something about the whole thing bothers Lowe, and he enlists the help of 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, seemingly, a link to death during the Second World War. But is someone there really a link between the deaths? And will they manage to uncover who always wanted is responsible before more people lose their lives?|isbn=1803368209}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B0CYV674G2|title=Swanton Morley (John Tanner)|author=David Blake|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=It seemed like an open-and-shut case. A man, 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 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 travelHurt}}, a glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, humour and autobiography. ''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 itwas acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understanding. }}{{Frontpage|author=Onyi Nwabineli|title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Anuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-mother Ophelia's taken increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step of Anuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, monetary gain. Now Anuri is in her twenties and she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and to get her life back, suing her step-mother to take down the content about her 27 years . Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to leave start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and receiving money from them for doing so. Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the small mining new focus of Ophelia's online empire. Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?|isbn=0861546873}}{{Frontpage|author=David Chadwick|title=Headload of Napalm|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary= It's September 1973 in Hicks, California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of LA and Las Vegas both a 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 doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident. Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in south Australia every direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. He is good at art, and clings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the 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 been settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the future of his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and 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 hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the only home 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 sheis pregnant with his child as a result of the one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's ever knownprepared to tell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. She This person, he promises, 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 things by half 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's something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as thoughit was going to be 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 once she does feel Stanza. Robert's a 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 case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. Will they be able to go (following 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 family death) trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the group and she leaves not only becomes a GP. When we first meet them they'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 townthree 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 state pin-stripe suit and his background is the countryEast 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 Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the continentEnglish 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 finds herself following 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 motherlife, who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=All Tomorrow's footsteps Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and heading Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to Italycome. [[If You Could Go Anywhere by Paige Toon|Full Review]]''

<!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}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529153298|title=The List of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=5|genre=General Fiction|summary=It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, though. Women have been disappearing. Well, they've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants to move the family 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a frightening, foreign place, best avoided. For Miv, the move would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, and she'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the dangers or that her Mum's stopped talking -->to anyone.|}}