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<metadesc>Book review siteExpert, with books full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, biographynon-fiction, crime, cookery and children's books & self-published books plus author interviews and & top tens.</metadesc><h1 id="mf-title">The Bookbag</h1>Hello from The Bookbag, a site featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - [[:Category:Fiction|fiction]], [[:Category:Biography|biography]], [[:Category:Crime|crime]], [[:Category:Cookery|cookery]] and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. It's the bag we take to the library and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of [[:Category:Interviews|author interviews]], and all sorts of [[:Category:Lists|top tens]] - all of which you can find on our [[features]] page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the [[Book Recommendations|recommendations]] page.

Reviews by readers from all the many walks of literary life. With author interviews, features and top tens. You'll be sure to find something you'll want to read here. Dig in! Find us on [[File:facebook.gif|link=https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk|alt=Facebook]] [https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk '''Facebook'''], [[File:twitter.gif|link=http://twitter.com/TheBookbag|alt=Follow us on Twitter]] [http://twitter.com/TheBookbag '''Twitter'''], [[File:instagram_classic_logo.png|link=https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/|alt=Follow us on Instagram]] [https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/ '''Instagram'''] and [[File:LinkedIn.png|link=https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-bookbag-1b12a264/|alt=LinkedIn]] There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' [[:Category:Reviews|reviews ]] at TheBookbag.

==Reviews of the The Best New Books==

'''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].{{Frontpage|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingisbn="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--><!-- de Bois -->1009473085|title=The Conservative Effect 2010 -2024| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Anthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)|rating=5[[image:1785903357.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785903357/refPolitics and Society|summary=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Confessions of Sometimes it's simpler to explain a Recovering MP book by Nick de Bois]]=== [[imagedescribing what it ''isn't'' and that applies to ''The Conservative Effect:4star2010-2024 - 14 Wasted Years?''.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] I should warn you in advance: this may not be the best time If you're looking for me to review an easy read which will deliver the inside story about what ''really'' happened on certain occasions, then this isn't the memoir of a Tory MPbook for you. Not only am I a left-of-centre - to put it mildly - voter and so probably have next to no points of political agreement with Nick de Bois If that's what you're looking for, but Idon't think Anthony Seldon's book, along with everyone else, am currently subject to the debacle of parliament, government and Brexit{{amazonurl|isbn=B0BH7SKG2S|title=Johnson at 10}}, can be bettered for those tumultuous years. It's a dog compelling read and pony show currently revealing in hideous technicolour the absolute dearth of competent leadership among our political classesshould be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to politics. And yes, opposition parties: I ''The Conservative Effect''m looking at you as wellis an entirely different beast. You It're just s the seventh book in a series which looks at the impact a government has made and co-editor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as uselessthe most important. Sigh. Desperate cry into This book follows the void over. Sorry about thatwell-established format: a series of experts from various fields review the state of the nation when the coalition took over in 2010, the changes that occurred and the situation in 2024.}}{{FrontpageAt least Nick de Bois made me laugh! [[ Confessions of a Recovering MP by Nick de Bois |Full Review]]  <!-- Paige -->author=Max Boucherat|-title=The Last Life of Lori Mills| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|4.5[[image:140128339X.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/140128339X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Confident Readers| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Mera: Tidebreaker by Danielle Paige and Stephen Byrne]]=== [[image:4We meet Lori on the first evening she's 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:Graphic Novels|Graphic Novels]] What could possibly go wrong? Snuggled in a blanket fort, she has one main intention, [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]and that is to log on to Voxminer, [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Meet Merathe world-building, critter-collecting game that is a hit in Lori's world. SheBut first Lori has a tiny inkling that this stormy night doesn's the latest in a line of young women intent t find herself entirely on fighting against their intended destiny for one only they can see for themselvesher own, and then she finds something even more spooky. Her father, For the king of Xebel, sees some cotton wool server she and her bestie and a hunky man in an arranged marriage as nobody else should be able to enter shows signs of tampering. When malevolent eyes spark up on her future – after all, Mera's motherphone screen, and her safe place in the territory's warrior queengame has been doctored – well, where is long dead. Mera doesn't fancy the cosseting or the fella involved at all, and is in fact trying a girl to get Xebel out from under the cosh of Atlantean power, for Xebel's royalty turn?|isbn=0008666482}}{{Frontpage|author=Jenny Lecoat|title=Beyond Summerland|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=Jean lives on Jersey with her mother where they are merely puppets celebrating the end of Atlantean mastersthe occupation. So when she overhears her During the war, Jean's father request that her intended goes was arrested for listening to the world of us air-breathing humans, a banned radio and kill the Atlantis heirsoldiers took him away one night, she rushes off to get the quest (leaving Jean and the promised throne) all her mother waiting for years for herselfnews of him. But of courseAs the British finally free the Channel islands from the Nazis, she has no idea what kind of person she will meetand the war is finally over, and how hard it their hopes rise that they will finally learn what became of him. But will be to get the job done… [[Mera: Tidebreaker by Danielle Paige and Stephen Byrne|Full Review]] <!-- Crosskey -->truth come as a relief, or will it raise further questions around what else happened during the war? Who was the informer who told the Nazis about the radio? And what other secrets have been kept throughout the occupation?|-isbn=1846976537| style}}{{Frontpage|isbn="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"1529428289|title=A Grave in the Woods (A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel)[[image:1789550149.jpg|linkauthor=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789550149/refMartin Walker|rating=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 4| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Crime|summary===[[Poster Boy by N J Crosskey]]=== [[image:5starBecause of various property transactions, people were searching for the grave but when they found it, it came with three sets of bones.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]] They dated back to World War II and it fell to Bruno, the Chief of Police for St Denis, [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] I first read 1984 in school, in to discover the identities of the late seventies when 1984 still seemed like bodies and establish whether or not a long time in the futurecrime had been committed. It came and went quickly As if this isn't enoughto worry about, the Dordogne River - normally tranquil - is flowing at record levels. Some of us may have breathed a sigh of relief that OrwellIt's nightmare not just the local autumn rains that have caused the problem: various dams upstream on another river have had not (quite) come to pass. Others, I think, were out there already working on making sure that all he got wrong was release water and St Denis faces the date. Crosskey hasn't put possibility of a date on the nightmaredevastating flood. If she had}}{{Frontpage|isbn=152919640X|title=The Suspect|author=Rob Rinder|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=The nation's favourite daytime TV presenter, Jessica Holby, I was murdered live on television and it seems that there's only one suspect it would . He's celebrity chef Sebastian Brooks and his contract stated that he must not be as far serve anything containing miso to Jessica Holby. She's seriously allergic and carries an EpiPen in the future are 1984 was when I first read Orwellcase of emergencies. If she had, I suspect it might hardly Everything seemed as normal - as normal as they can be in the future at all. a busy, live television studio - and Brooks served a ragout to Holby. A lot of what happens in ''Poster Boy'' is already happeningHer EpiPen was nowhere to be found and she was dead within minutes. SadlyIt was soon clear that this was no accident. Frighteningly. In the blurb, Christina Racher says "…but keep it far from anyone who might be tempted to turn its fiction into reality". My only response to that is: too late! [[Poster Boy by N J Crosskey}}{{Frontpage|Full Review]]isbn=0008385068<!-- Lucie Whitehouse -->|title=The Midnight Feast|-author=Lucy Foley| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"4.5|genre=Thrillers[[image:0008268991.jpg|linksummary=http://wwwIt's midsummer on the Dorset coast and guests gather at The Manor.amazon It's their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promised.co It's all headed up by Francesca Meadows.uk/dp/0008268991/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Critical Incidents by Lucie Whitehouse]]=== [[image:4 The Manor was her ancestral home and she's converted it into an impressive retreat for the wealthy and famous. Her husband, Owen, was the architect and work is still ongoing on parts of the site.5star.jpg|link=Category:{ The heat is oppressive and amongst the guests are enemies as well as friends. Old scores are going to be settled and it won't be long before a body is found.}}{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:CrimeFrontpage|author=Ashley Hickson-Lovence|Crime]]title=Wild East|rating=4.5When you reach a certain stage in life the phrase 'going home|genre=Teens|summary=Written in verse, this is Ronny' when it refers to your childhood home is best if it means s story, a short and hopefully harmonious visit. The woman young black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who used suddenly has to be DCI Robin Lyons, but was now just Robin Lyons, went home with her thirteen-year-old daughter after she was dismissed from the Metmove to Norwich and start at a mostly white school. She was going home to the room which sheThe move is initiated by Ronny's mum who is worried for Ronny'd had as s safety after a child: she would have the bottom bunk tragic event, and Elena - Lennie so Ronny finds himself trying to those who knew her well - would have the top bunksettle in a new town, a new school, and keep himself out of trouble. The room was redolent He listens to music constantly, and has always dreamed of the time she'd shared the room with her brother Luke - and they weren't good memoriesbeing a rapper. [[Critical Incidents by Lucie Whitehouse|Full Review]] <!-- Martine -->|- But now, in this new school, his teacher encourages him to be part of a poetry writing workshop group and, slowly, Ronny begins to see the connections between rap and poetry, and the power of creativity and crafting your words.| styleisbn="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"0241645441}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1635866847|title=The Lavender Companion|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci[[image:1529001579.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co4.uk/dp/1529001579/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine]]===Lifestyle[[image:4.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]] The problem with MartineIt's strange, the things that make you ''immediately''s fiction debut is feel that she makes this is the two commonest errors in SF writing: she tries to be too clever and she wants her fictional languages to be complex and rich and errs on the side of making them unpronounceable by most readersbook for you. Before I can see why she does both, but itstarted reading ''The Lavender Companion'', I visited the author's [https://www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website] and there's a disappointment because they're the blocks against which the brilliance picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the book stumbleshomepage. [[A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine|Full Review]] <! I don't eat cakes and desserts -- Lee -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0874869722.jpg|link=http://wwwbut I wanted that cake viscerally. (There's a recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it.amazon Notes in the margins are sanctioned.co You get to fold down the corners of pages.uk/dp/0874869722/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem. I ''loved'' this book already.}}{{Frontpage| styleauthor="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Rob Keeley|title=Childish Spirits: 10th anniversary special edition|rating=4|genre=[[When Spring Comes to the DMZ by Uk-Bae Lee]]===Confident Readers[[image:5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]]Around here, we're big fans of children's author Rob Keeley. He's a ball of happy positivity, [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] There is a place on this earth thathe understands children, at the time of writingand he writes for their pleasure and enjoyment, is resplendent with lifenot to lecture or hector. In the spring seals gambol in the river – not venturing too far, for fear of being slashed open on the razor wire the humans have put in place. In the autumn, salmon come upstream, looking doleful as well they might, for they will spawn and die, if they reach their birthing grounds. Mountain goats gambol prettily among the hills – if the landmines men left behind do not prevent them from doing so. This is a snapshot of life in the DMZ, the demilitarized zone between the two countries with Korea in their name, and it's the world's least welcome wildlife sanctuary. [[When Spring Comes to the DMZ by Uk-Bae Lee|Full Review]] <!-- O'Reilly -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:147367235X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/147367235X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[M for Mammy by Eleanor O'Reilly]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] The Augustts are, like all families, a bit complicated. A loving irish family, their love binds them together – but all express that in very different ways. However, when misfortune strikes the family they are forced to work together in order to understand each other again, as with a family as complicated as the Augustts it's not always what is spoken that makes the most sense. Things are shaken up further when Granny Mae-Anne moves in and takes charge. Full of stern words and common sense, she's a force of nature who must try her hardest to hold the family together. [[M for Mammy by Eleanor O'Reilly|Full Review]] <!-- James Wallman -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0753552655.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0753552655/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Time and How to Spend It: The 7 Rules for Richer, Happier Days by James Wallman]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] Most things you can replace, but one of the things which you simply can't replace is time. Even though we know this, we fail to use what we have wisely. We have more leisure time, but that's not how it feels: a high value is put on how we spend our working hours, but there's a low value on leisure. Unfortunately we now know how to work and not how to ''live'': we need to ''learn'' how to spend our leisure time wisely and James Wallman has taken on the onerous task of teaching us how to do this. [[Time and How to Spend It: The 7 Rules for Richer, Happier Days by James Wallman|Full Review]] <!-- Jonnes -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1609809173.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1609809173/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Eiffel's Tower for Young People by Jill Jonnes]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Non-Fiction|Children's Non-Fiction]] Brash and elegant, sophisticated, controversial and vibrant, the 1889 World's Fair in Paris encompassed the best, the worst and the beautiful from many countries and cultures. The French Republic laid out model villages from all their colonies, put on art shows, dance performances, food festivals and concerts to stun the senses. And towering above it all, the most popular and the most hated monument to French accomplishment and daring – the Eiffel Tower. [[Eiffel's Tower for Young People by Jill Jonnes|Full Review]] <!-- Johnson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1471178471.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471178471/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Magnificent Mrs Mayhew by Milly Johnson]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] I liked this book. Whilst not necessarily a page-turner, this was a thoroughly enjoyable heart-warming read from the Queen of chick lit, Milly Johnson. [[The Magnificent Mrs Mayhew by Milly Johnson|Full Review]] <!-- Kate Tough -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:034914365X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/034914365X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Keep Walking Rhona Beech by Kate Tough]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] Life has just hidden behind a corner and stuck a foot out as Rhona Beech came past. She and Mark had been together for nine years and it was beginning to feel ''settled''. Then Mark announced that he'd got a job in Canada and he was going whether Rhona wanted to come with him or not. The ''not'' bit of the sentence was the way it worked out and Rhona was left on her own. Well, she wasn't completely on her own: she had friends and family, but it's not the same as having that special someone in your life, that someone who makes you part of a couple. So Rhona had to start again, rejoining a world that bore little resemblance to the one she'd left nine years ago - and there's a lot of difference between being in the middle of your twenties and the middle of your thirties. [[Keep Walking Rhona Beech by Kate Tough|Full Review]] <!-- Kerry Watts -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786817926.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786817926/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Heartlands (D I Jessie Blake) by Kerry Watts]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] The story had begun some twenty years earlier when two boys raped and killed Sophie Nicholl. Jack Mackay was - on the face of it - from a decent family, but he was the ringleader. Daniel Simpson was a follower, but he still raped Sophie and he could have stopped what happened but didn't. Sophie's body was found in a shallow grave by an enthusiastic cocker spaniel a few days later and the boys were arrested, tried and sentenced to five years in a young offenders institution. There were those who thought that the sentence was too lenient, even for fifteen-year-old boys and Sophie's elder brother, Tom, was one of these. He wasn't going to let the matter rest. [[Heartlands (D I Jessie Blake) by Kerry Watts|Full Review]] <!-- Hitchcock -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1788004388.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788004388/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Boy Who Flew by Fleur Hitchcock]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]   Athan Wilde earns some money to supplement his family's meagre income by working for Mr Chen who is both mentor and friend. Mr Chen's wonderful imagination and sense of the future has led him to create some fantastic inventions for making life easier and work less back breaking. His latest endeavour is something on an entirely different level, however - it's a.... ''flying machine''! Imagine that! [[The Boy Who Flew by Fleur Hitchcock|Full Review]] <!-- David Hewson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:178029106X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178029106X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Savage Shore by David Hewson]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Reggio, in Calabria. It's a strange place, closer to Africa than Rome as Emmanuel kept reminding himself. He was an illegal immigrant and like most of his kind he was simply looking for a way to earn a decent living with a little dignity. Back in Nigeria he was an independent man and now he is no better than the monkey who sits in a cage on the bar he tends. The area is ruled by the Mafia. Further afield there are the Camorra and the Cosa Nostra, but here it's the 'Ndrangheta and the local boss is known as Lo Spettro - the ghost - as he's rarely seen, but he's one of the Bergamotti clan, but even that's not their real name. [[The Savage Shore by David Hewson|Full Review]] <!-- Cara Hunter -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0241283493.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241283493/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[No Way Out by Cara Hunter]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It was the end of the Christmas holidays and Felix House in an elite area of Oxford was on fire. Two children were dragged from the inferno: one, a toddler, was pronounced dead at the scene and the other, a boy on the cusp of his teens, died in hospital some days later. But where were the parents? Were their bodies in what remained of the house and which was being steadily cleared, or had they left the children at home alone? For DI Adam Fawley it's one of his most disturbing cases. He's still not got over the death of ''his'' son and there's every sign that his marriage is on the rocks. For his team it's just a heartbreaking, exhausting case. [[No Way Out by Cara Hunter|Full Review]] <!-- Reeves -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1788312201.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788312201/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Women of Westminster: The MPs Who Changed Politics by Rachel Reeves]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] ''Women in Westminster have changed the culture of politics and the perception of what women can do'' ''Women of Westminster: The MPs Who Changed Politics'' chronicles the battles the 491 women who have been elected over the course of the past century have fought and highlights their victories. It is remarkable that the history of female Members of Parliament began in 1918, the same year in which women were first given the right to vote but a decade before all women were given suffrage on equal terms with men. Although Constance de Markievicz was the first female elected to Parliament, it was only in 1919 that Nancy Astor became the first women to take her seat in the House of Commons and pave the way for women of the future. It was not long after in 1924 that the first female MP, Margaret Bondfield, was appointed into a cabinet position and since then women MPs have endeavoured to fight gender inequality and campaign for female rights. Within 100 years there has been a gradual revolution of change in politics and to date Britain has been led by two female Prime Ministers. However, such great landmarks have overshadowed the other female MPs whose early achievements, which have paved the way for subsequent women politicians, are consistently overlooked. In ''Women of Westminster: The MPs Who Changed Politics'' Rachel Reeves brings the forgotten stories into the spotlight to document the history of British female political history from 1919 to 2019. [[Women of Westminster: The MPs Who Changed Politics by Rachel Reeves|Full Review]] <!-- Erskine -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786074923.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786074923/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Chemical Detectiveby Fiona Erskine]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Dr Jaq Silver is a brilliant scientist with a healthy social life who loves her work and life. Whilst she is haunted by her past she won't let it define her. When she becomes entangled in a mystery, a mystery that could tie to some of the most horrific weapons on Earth, she doesn't hesitate and jumps straight in. We follow Jaq as she travels the world digging deeper and deeper into a rabbit-hole of intrigue and betrayal, never compromising and always seeking the truth. From the ski slopes of Eastern Europe, to the sunny climes of Portugal and even making a visit to that most glamourous of locations… rainy Teeside… this is a true thriller. [[The Chemical Detectiveby Fiona Erskine|Full Review]] <!-- Varenne -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0857058738.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0857058738/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Equator by Antonin Varenne and Sam Taylor (translator)]]===

[[image:3The ''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:Historical FictionHero Trial|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|Historical Fiction]]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, [[:Category:Literary Fictionthe only thing he's seen of the latest race on the inn TV equivalent is that one team has been retired, eaten, and a new trio of questors is needed. Possibly very unfortunately indeed for Kit, he has taken to the goading from the token bully of his world and stumbled into declaring he'll enter as a team. What chance does this friendless, muscle-free-zone have in actually managing that, and how could he possibly hope to succeed?|isbn=1839945184}}{{Frontpage|author=Saima Mir|title=Vengeance|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers|Literary Fiction]]summary= I was instantly intrigued by the premise of this novel – an organised crime syndicate in the north of England run by a Muslim woman. The fact that it was the second in a series I hadn't read didn't stop me – I've jumped midway into a few series before (on page and screen) and it needn't be a hindrance if it's good enough. And that wasn't a problem here. Vengeance swiftly brings you up to speed, [[:Category:General Fictionand I never felt lost.|General Fiction]]isbn=0861541561}}

{{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 there really a link between the deaths? And will they manage to uncover who is responsible before more people lose their lives?|isbn=1803368209}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B0CYV674G2|title=Swanton Morley (John Tanner)|author=David Blake|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=It strikes me 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 nobody 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 speak well 't get any sleep at home.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1787333175|title=You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here|author=Benji Waterhouse|rating=5|genre=Popular Science|summary=I was tempted to read ''You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here'' after enjoying Adam Kay's first book {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is Going to Hurt}}, a glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the Wild West outside 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 walls work of a theme parkpsychiatrist. Our agent I did wonder whether it was acceptable to see how bad be looking for humour in this setting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it was here is Pete Fergusonalways delivered with empathy and understanding. }}{{Frontpage|author=Onyi Nwabineli|title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Anuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-mother Ophelia's increasingly popular presence on social media, where she 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. Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to 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 bristles is the new focus of Ophelia's online empire. Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the indignity same time?|isbn=0861546873}}{{Frontpage|author=David Chadwick|title=Headload of white man against Native Napalm|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary= It'Indians 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, who spends days being physically sick while indulging in a buffalo huntmultitude 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 who hates had an accident. Throw into that mix the way man – fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. He is good at art, and womanclings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the end of course – can turn against fellow man a long, dark tunnel.|isbn=1398527122}}{{Frontpage|author=Sylvie Cathrall|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary= There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.|isbn= 0356522776}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008517061|title=Death in a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary= Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the bat 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 eyelidold house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway. There was no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the 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 this book Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. 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 about it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so much more than and she's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008405026|title=A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the 1870s USAinvestigation 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 attendant problems bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it 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 gold rusheshis upper-class friends, pioneer spirits Robert and racial genocideStanza. Robert's a theatre director. He finds himself trying '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 find this bookRobert. Most men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he's version 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 Utopiaa hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, namely the EquatorAI detective Lock. It's their first live case together, where everything having previously been very successful with several cold cases. But when there is upside downa second body found crucified a few days later, people walk on Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their heads with rocks AI Future Policing project. Will they be able to solve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career?|isbn=139851120X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1399613073|title=Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary=Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their pockets to friendship would keep them on inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the ground group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to counter end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the anticonsequences. Twenty-gravityfive years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0241636604|title=The Trading Game: A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson|rating=4.5|genre=Autobiography|summary=If you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the East End, wherehe 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, who knowsa card game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, things might actually be betterthis 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 English country village where she grew up. But that equator is She's back now because of a long way away – request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole. Freya's former mentor and thereCarole'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 whole adventure full cafe, met and married James (on the rebound from the love of Mexico her life, who was murdered) and Latin America between him Freya and it… [[Equator by Antonin Varenne James have now divorced.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Sam Taylor Stephen Oram (translatorEditors)|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|Full Review]]summary=''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.''

<!I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is -frankly - DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.}}{{Frontpage|author=Sunny Singh|title=Hotel Arcadia|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers |summary=The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel manager. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|isbn=086154742X}}