Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"

From TheBookbag
Jump to navigationJump to search
 
Line 1: Line 1:
<metadesc>Book review site, with books from most walks of literary life; fiction, biography, crime, cookery and children's books plus author interviews and top tens.</metadesc>
+
<metadesc>Expert, full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, non-fiction, children's books & self-published books plus author interviews & top tens.</metadesc>
<h1 id="mf-title">The Bookbag</h1>
 
Hello from The Bookbag, a book review 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.
 
  
There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' reviews at TheBookbag.
+
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!
  
Want to find out more [[About Us|about us]]?
+
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'''],
__NOTOC__
+
[[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]]
==Reviews of the Best New Books==
 
  
'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by genre]]. '''<br>
+
There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY: Reviews}}''' [[:Category:Reviews|reviews]] at TheBookbag.
  
'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''<!-- Remove -->
+
Want to find out more [[About Us|about us]]? __NOTOC__
{{newreview
+
 
|author=Adam Baron
+
==The Best New Books==
|title=Blackheath
+
 
 +
'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by category]]. '''<br>
 +
 
 +
'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=0008385068
 +
|title=The Midnight Feast
 +
|author=Lucy Foley
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
+
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Househusband James is happy in BlackheathHe's started doing stand-up again so that he too has an achievement in his life to balance wife Alice's award winning poetryChildren Ida and Dominic are doing well so all is greatElsewhere in the area Amelia is equally happy with her actor husband Richard, her own career and children Niamh and teenage MichaelSometimes happiness isn't enough though and, as the worlds of the two families start to mingle, things start changing for each of them.
+
|summary=It's midsummer on the Dorset coast and guests gather at The Manor.  It's their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promised.  It's all headed up by Francesca Meadows.  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.  The heat is oppressive and amongst the guests are enemies as well as friendsOld scores are going to be settled and it won't be long before a body is found.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908434902</amazonuk>
+
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=James Baldwin
 +
|title=Giovanni's Room
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Literary Fiction
 +
|summary=''Giovanni's Room'' follows the narrator David, an American man living in Paris, as he navigates his torturous affair with Giovanni, an Italian bartender he meets in a gay bar. While David is engaged to Hella, who is travelling in Spain, the real tension in the novel arises not from his infidelity but from the deeper conflict within himself. It is David's crippling shame and denial of his sexuality that ultimately dooms his relationship with Giovanni.
 +
|isbn=0141186356
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Ashley Hickson-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 move is initiated by Ronny'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 troubleHe listens to music constantly, and has always dreamed of being a rapperBut 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.
 +
|isbn=0241645441
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1635866847
 +
|title=The Lavender Companion
 +
|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Lifestyle
 +
|summary=It's strange, the things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the book for you.  Before I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', I visited the author's [https://www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website] and there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the homepageI 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!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it.  Notes in the margins are sanctioned.  You get to fold down the corners of pages.  You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem.  I ''loved'' this book already.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=David Gilman
+
|author=Jenny Valentine
|title=Gate of the Dead (Master of War)
+
|title=Us in the Before and After
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=Teens
|summary= Tuscany 1358: A dying man brings an enigmatic message to Thomas Blackstone, the exiled English archer and current mercenary leaderIt appears to be a royal command to return home but is it an invitation to his own death?  Thomas can't take the risk of ignoring it, especially since his life is in just as much danger where he is.  It seems that he's more valuable dead than alive in many countries; it's just a case of deducing the paymaster – or paymasters - behind the assassination attempts before he runs out of time.
+
|summary=Elk and Mab are best friends, or more than that even, their friendship is a once in a lifetime connectionThey 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781852901</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1471196585
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Ian Beck
+
|isbn=1787333175
|title=Grey Island Red Boat
+
|title=You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here
 +
|author=Benji Waterhouse
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Emerging Readers
+
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=Princess Opal lived with her father, the king, on the Island of Ashes.  It was a grey island, set in a grey sea and Opal lived in a grey castle surrounded by a cold grey moatThe gardens were grey and so were the trees and flowersPrincess Opal even sat on a grey granite throne in a grey granite room - and she wished that her life could be different. She couldn't help but think that something was missing.
+
|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 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 psychiatristI did wonder whether it was 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.  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178112521X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Caz Buckingham and Andrea Pinnington
+
|author=Mariana Enriquez
|title=The Nature Explorer's Scrapbook
+
|title=A Sunny Place for Shady People
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Animals and Wildlife
+
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=''An activity book, but not as you know it'' is what it says on the back cover - and I have to agree.  Here at Bookbag we tend to avoid 'activity books' as they usually have soft covers, lots of stickers and they're the sort of thing you pick up at the supermarket checkout in the hope that it will buy you an hour or two's peace in the school holidays.  ''The Nature Explorer's Handbook'' is a different beast altogether. It's part album in which you're going to collect and store your own finds, part explanation of the best practices of how you should go about this and part nature guide.  It's a substantial hardback book with an elastic band to keep it shut - as it's really going to get quite bulky when your collection grows. Production values for the book are high - this really is something which will be treasured for years.
+
|summary=Mariana Enriquez writes horror that is disturbingly real, achieving this uncanny familiarity by basing her paranormal plots on gritty realities: her settings include an abandoned field full of disused refrigerators due to an urban planning mishap, an overcrowded homeless shelter and a crime-ridden neighbourhood where safety meetings are routine - all within Argentina. The circumstances of her characters are so plausible that the supernatural or otherworldly horror which seeps into these spaces adopts a similarly tangible texture.  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>190848926X</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1803511230
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Jenny Oldfield
+
|author=Onyi Nwabineli
|title=Blue Moon
+
|title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself
|rating=4
+
|rating=4.5
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
+
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Anna thought that life was just about perfect.  She was home-schooled for much of the time, but spent quite a lot of time riding her horse, Blue Moon, with her friend Lee and his horse, StormyThere was even a secret meadow which the two twelve-year olds used to visit.  Then one evening, Anna dashed in late for supper at the ranch and realised that something was wrong - badly wrong.  Anna's mother had a tumour in her stomach which would require surgeryAs if that wasn't bad enough, her father was going to have to sell some of the horses to pay for the surgeryWorried as she was about her mother there was one thought uppermost in Anna's mind: the best-trained horse on the ranch - and the one that was worth the most money - was Blue MoonAnna could not bear the thought of losing the animal who had known her since she was two years old.  She and Lee came up with a plan.
+
|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 gainNow 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 soMost importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the new focus of Ophelia's online empireCan she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781125082</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0861546873
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Roger Hargreaves
+
|author=David Chadwick
|title= My First Mr Men 123
+
|title=Headload of Napalm
|rating= 5
+
|rating=4.5
|genre= For Sharing
+
|genre=Thrillers
|summary= As first books go, board books are good because they withstand a bit of biting, a bit of dribbling, a bit of roughness induced by not quite there yet hand-eye coordination. And as topics go, counting is great when you're trying to teach the skill and just need repetition. Plus it doesn't require the focus of attention that a proper story might. So a board book for counting? Perfect.
+
|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....
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405281731</amazonuk>
+
|isbn= B0D321VJ76
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Peggy Caravantes
+
|author=Tom Percival
|title=Marooned in the Arctic
+
|title=The Wrong Shoes
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Biography
+
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Misogynists are manmade.  And if anyone was in a position to hate men and the lot they put on their shoulders, it was Ava BlackjackHer surname spoke of an abusive man she had a son by, but it was her time with four other men that made for one of the last century's more remarkable stories.  An Inuit native, but one brought up in a city and with English lessons, she was invited on an excursion alongside many other 'Eskimo' and four intrepid Westerners, to the uninhabited Wrangel Island, perched off the northern Siberian coast.  They were there just to stick a flag in it and call it British, even if they were pretty much fully American and Canadian, and the chap whose ideas these all were bore an Icelandic name; she was along to provide native expertise, especially waterproof fur clothingAnd that was it – none of her kin joined her, leaving her in one tent and four men in another, in one of the world's most remote and inhospitable placesAnd that was just the start of her worries…
+
|summary=Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of waysHe 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 accidentThrow into that mix the 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 hopeHe 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1613730985</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1398527122
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Augusto De Angelis and Jill Foulston (translator)
+
|author=Sylvie Cathrall
|title=The Murdered Banker
+
|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep
|rating= 3.5
+
|rating=5
|genre= Crime
+
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Inspector De Vincenzi is working against the clock. A body was found in his old school-friend Giannetto Aurigi's apartment in the early hours of this morning and the investigating magistrate wants to take over as quickly as possible. The trouble is, Aurigi owed the dead man money, has been acting strangely, and isn't trying to defend himself. Unless De Vincenzi finds strong evidence to the contrary today, the investigating magistrate will see it as an open and shut case, and that will be the end of Aurigi. But none of the evidence seems to add up.
+
|summary= There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782271708</amazonuk>
+
|isbn= 0356522776
 +
}}
 +
{{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 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.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Judith Hermann
+
|author=Joan Didion
|title= Where Love Begins
+
|title=The Year of Magical Thinking
|rating= 3.5
+
|rating=4.5
|genre= Thrillers
+
|genre=Autobiography
|summary= Stella lives an ordinary life in a small town in Germany. While her young daughter is at kindergarten, she works as a domiciliary nurse. After school and at the weekend she is for all intents and purposes a single mother, for her husband Jason works away a lot. We don't know if she is happy, per se, but she doesn't seem unhappy.
+
|summary=This book is Joan Didion's heartbreaking autobiographical account of the grief she endured following her husband's sudden death. Books that shed light on taboo topics like death are such a beautiful and necessary resource to help people feel less alone. Didion unpicks unpleasant feelings surrounding death like self-pity, denial and delusion and makes them utterly normal, lends them a human face to wear.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781254702</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0007216858
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Robert Douglas-Fairhurst
+
|isbn=0008551324
|title=The Story of Alice: Lewis Carroll and the Secret History of Wonderland
+
|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)
|rating= 4.5
+
|author=Neil Lancaster
|genre= Biography
+
|rating=4.5
|summary= Think of iconic novels, and "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" will be near the top of your list. From the rabbit hole to the Mad Hatter's tea party and the Queen's cricket ground, Lewis Carroll's imagination has established itself firmly in Western cultural heritage: with a parade of characters ranging from the weird to the wonderful and a constant play with logic and language, Carroll's masterpiece has earned its place among classics.
+
|genre=Crime
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009959403X</amazonuk>
+
|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 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 it?  The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so 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.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Robert Merle and T Jefferson Kline (translator)
+
|isbn=1739526910
|title=Fortunes of France 3: Heretic Dawn
+
|title=Where I've Not Been Lost
|rating=5
+
|author=Glen Sibley
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|rating=4.5
|summary=France 1568: Having persuaded his father Jean that it's safe for him to return to his studies, Pierre de Siorac goes back to Montpellier.  He doesn’t stay there long though as Jean has a mission for him that will take him into the royal court in Paris. The fighting between the Medici-led Catholics and the Huguenots has quietened down but, despite sending his son into the vipers' nest, he's reluctant to consider the Peace of St Germain as being the end of the conflict. History will prove his suspicions correct as we approach the St Bartholomew Massacre of the Huguenots which occurs… in Paris.
+
|genre=General Fiction
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782271937</amazonuk>
+
|summary=''One year after a suicide attempt blows apart musician Brian O’Malley's life, he arrives in an unfamiliar Devon town to recover. Living with an unexpected housemate at his former manager’s holiday home, he dreams of reconnecting with everything he has lost. But as those tentative plans falter, he becomes swept up in a local world of unlikely friendships, mobile discos and surprising romantic possibilities.''
|amazonus=<amazonus>1782271937</amazonus>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=0008405026
|author=Jean Ure
+
|title=A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)
|title=Strawberry Crush
+
|author=Jane Casey
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=Mattie has sometimes felt that she has her work cut out with her cousin MayaMaya's mum and Mattie's mum are twins and they live around the corner from each other, but Maya's mum is, well, just a bit fragile and Uncle Kevin, her dad, is absent at the moment and no one knows where he isAll that would be enough to cope with, but Maya has ''crushes''.  Well, ''crushes'' doesn't do what happens justice: it really amounts to obsession and a new one starts when Maya falls off her bike (not unusual) and is 'rescued' by Jake Harper, the school heart throb.  What deeply worries Mattie is that Maya is twelve and Jake is eighteen and there are occasions, as Mattie listens to Maya, when she wonders if something really ''is'' going onOr is it all in Maya's over-active imagination?  What should Mattie do?
+
|summary=It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer nightShe was never found and the investigation ground to a halt.  Now, her mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bedInitially, 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 though it was going to be an open-and-shut case is now a complex double murderKerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>000755396X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Teri Terry
+
|isbn=1529077745
|title=Book of Lies
+
|title=The Dark Wives (D I Vera Stanhope)
|rating=3.5
+
|author=Ann Cleeves
|genre=Paranormal
+
|rating=4.5
|summary= As teenage fiction ''Book of Lies'' has all the usual themes -- confused sense of identity, relationship troubles, difficult family backgrounds... But it also has another element: the supernatural. The story starts when identical twin girls (the charmingly named Piper and Quinn) are reunited as teenagers, having been separated at birth. We follow their journey as they discover each other and reveal the complexities of their shared family, their terrifying dreams and sinister non-human abilities. As with all good supernatural stories, there are hints of witchcraft, hounds of death and family curses.  
+
|genre=Crime
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408334283</amazonuk>
+
|summary=A man walking his dog in the early morning discovered the body of a man in the park near Rosebank, a care home for troubled teens.  The dead man was Josh - one of the care workers who was due to work a shift the night before but who had never turned up. D I Vera Stanhope is called in to investigate the murder - but her only clue is the disappearance of one of the residents, fourteen-year-old Chloe Spencer. Some people believe that Chloe was responsible for the death but Vera thinks this is unlikely as the girl's diary makes it clear that she adored Josh. She knows that she has to find Chloe to discover what happened to Josh.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Den Patrick
+
|isbn=1399613073
|title=The Girl on the Liar's Throne
+
|title=Moral Injuries
 +
|author=Christie Watson
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Fantasy
+
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Lucien doesn’t want to declare war on Landfall and its Silent Queen, Anea, whom he grew up with as an OrfanoShe runs a dictatorship of militant suppression and suffering which is rather unlike herUnbeknown to Lucien, the throne of Landfall is occupied by Eris, an imposter and puppet used by those with far fewer scruplesAnea herself is imprisoned in the palace oubliette surrounded by Myrmidon, a half-human army created by ErebusThere's little chance of her escaping or getting very far if she didHowever, for Anea 'little chance' is a challenge, not a preventative.
+
|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 surgeonLaura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctorAnjali is the free spirit of the group and she becomes a GPWhen we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedyWe 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 three friendsThis time, it's their teenage children who are involved.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473200040</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Kes Gray and Jim Field
+
|isbn=0241636604
|title=Quick Quack Quentin
+
|title=The Trading Game: A Confession
|rating= 5
+
|author=Gary Stevenson
|genre= For Sharing
+
|rating=4.5
|summary= Quentin is a very downhearted duck because his quack is too quick. In fact all he can manage is a ''Quck.'' This will never do, so Quentin visits his local doctor to see if there is anything he can give him to make things betterSadly, although the Doctor is swiftly able to diagnose Quentin's problem, he cannot provide what he needs. Quentin really needs an ''A'' so waddles off on search of oneOn his journey he visits a succession of animals who, whilst being sympathetic to his plight and helpful in their own way, only manage to subtly change his problem rather than solve it. Therefore, poor Quentin's quest for the missing vowel continues.  
+
|genre=Autobiography
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444919563</amazonuk>
+
|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 StevensonA hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the East 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 EconomicsStevenson 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.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Tommy Wallach
+
|author=Leanne Egan
|title=Thanks for the Trouble
+
|title=Lover Birds
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Teens
 
|genre=Teens
|summary=Parker hasn't spoken a single, solitary word for the last five years. He hasn't started applying for college yet, either. Not that he'd likely get in: his grades are rubbish and he spends as much time skipping school as he does attending class. He has also developed a petty theft habit, which he indulges in well-heeled hotels. Oh dear, I hear you saying. It's not as though there aren't reasons for Parker's behaviour, there are, but reasons don't help much.
+
|summary=When new girl, Isabel, moves to Lou's hometown of Liverpool from London Lou immediately feels Isabel's disdain for everything around her. A misunderstanding between them leaves them hating each other, but Lou feels her pulse racing every time she looks at Isabel or speaks with her, and that's definitely because Isabel makes her feel so cross, isn't it?  Because Lou is straight, isn't she?  Even though none of her relationships with boys have gone very well so far, and she's never had a good kiss with any of them?  So she just finds herself watching Isabel, and wanting to hang out with her because fighting with her is fun, and she definitely just hates Isabel, doesn't she?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147114612X</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=000862657X
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Ben Miller
+
|isbn=1009473085
|title=The Aliens are Coming
+
|title=The Conservative Effect 2010 - 2024
|rating=4
+
|author=Anthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)
|genre=Popular Science
+
|rating=5
|summary=Next time that you are away from the towns and cities, wait until it gets dark and then look into the night sky.  If you are lucky enough for it not to be raining, you will likely see hundreds of stars in the skyEach one of these could be a Sun just like our own and each of these Suns could have planets orbiting itNow times this number a million fold and you can start to fathom the number of stars and planets out there – surely the human race is not a complete fluke and there are aliens out there?
+
|genre=Politics and Society
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B018W4J9VG</amazonuk>
+
|summary=Sometimes it's simpler to explain a book by describing what it ''isn't'' and that applies to ''The Conservative Effect: 2010-2024 - 14 Wasted Years?''.  If you're looking for an easy read which will deliver the inside story about what ''really'' happened on certain occasions, then this isn't the book for you.  If that's what you're looking for, I don't think Anthony Seldon's book, {{amazonurl|isbn=B0BH7SKG2S|title=Johnson at 10}}, can be bettered for those tumultuous yearsIt's a compelling read and should be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to politics.  ''The Conservative Effect'' is an entirely different beastIt'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 the most important. This book follows the well-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.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Sarah Pinborough
+
|author=Max Boucherat
|title=13 Minutes
+
|title=The Last Life of Lori Mills
|rating=4
+
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
+
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=If you think about it, you can count several things in 13s.  It probably took me 13 months to find a book more emotionally satisfying than this author's previous release, [[The Death House by Sarah Pinborough|The Death House]]It probably took me 13 seconds to accept by email the chance to read this title. You can almost hear Andy Warhol changing his adage to '13 minutes of fame', considering that the Internet he would never have known about just makes fame even faster to achieve than ever, and one of those social media starlets – as far as ''the hive'' of Brackston Community School is concerned – Natasha Howland, was clinically dead for 13 minutes, before she was fished out of a frozen river one pre-dawn January morning.  This utterly dramatic teen read is concerned with the fight for her to work out why she was in that river, although it's mostly taken from the point of view of a girl on the edge of her circle, Becca.
+
|summary=We 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 lonesomeWhat could possibly go wrong? Snuggled in a blanket fort, she has one main intention, and that is to log on to Voxminer, the world-building, critter-collecting game that is a hit in Lori's world.  But first Lori has a tiny inkling that this stormy night doesn't find herself entirely on her own, and then she finds something even more spookyFor the server she and her bestie and nobody else should be able to enter shows signs of tamperingWhen 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?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473214033</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0008666482
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Michael Morpurgo and Sam Usher
 
|title=We Are Not FROGS!
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|summary=After the storm the frogs and the toads all came out onto the lawn to play long jumpThis was the frogs' choice as they could jump further and the toads just wanted an easy lifeBut - through a series of unfortunate incidents involving lorries, dogs, children, a cart and an ice cream container, first the toads ended up in the ice cream container and after they sold the frogs down the river in exchange for being put into a muddy ditch, the frogs - all twenty two of them - were in the same prison and it was only thanks to Mutt the dog that they escaped.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781125120</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Jonny Steinberg
+
|author=Fyodor Dostoyevsky
|title=Man of Good Hope
+
|title=White Nights
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Biography
+
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=''A Man of Good Hope'' is the remarkable biography of Asad Abdullahi. It tells the story of a Somalian boy abandoned at eight years of age and his journey to adulthood. It is also a testament to the human spirit and its capacity to survive. Epic in its scope it covers a journey that stretches the length of the continent of Africa. In a time when the mass migration of people has never been, more in focus it tells the story of what it really means to be a refugee by someone who has experienced it all his life.  
+
|summary=As always in Dostoyevsky, the character work is sublime. One is never left wondering what a character is thinking or feeling because Dostoyevsky lays bare their innermost dispositions and temperaments with remarkable clarity.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099563770</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0241619785
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Johnny Rogan
+
|isbn=B0DGDJRHYD
|title= Ray Davies: A Complicated Life
+
|title=Nowhere Man
|rating= 5
+
|author=Deborah Stone
|genre= Entertainment
+
|rating=4
|summary= Most of Britain's most popular and successful songwriters of the last 150 years, from Gilbert and Sullivan and Lennon and McCartney, to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb, have been partnerships. The only solo writer in the same league is Ray Davies, front man of The Kinks from their formation in 1963 to their final performance in 1994. While this mighty tome is partly an account of the group's tortuous thirty-year history, it is also first and foremost, as the title says, a biography of Davies himself.  Through interviews with the Davies brothers, Ray and his younger brother Dave, the group's guitarist and only other constant member of the line-up, other group members, managers, friends and associates, Rogan has given us as complete a book of the man as we are ever likely to get.
+
|genre=General Fiction
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099554089</amazonuk>
+
|summary=In a quiet suburban house, Patrick is making his final plans. A meticulous man, he makes sure of every preparation, down to the last detail. Some last reflections, and then he says goodbye to his wife, the world, and his life. It's horribly sad. At work in her shop, his wife Diana is fending off yet another phone call about her ageing and ailing mother, who needs extricating from yet another accident. It will be a while before Diana realises what Patrick has done.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= E S Thomson
+
|author=Virginie Despentes
|title= Beloved Poison
+
|title=King Kong Theory
|rating= 4.5
+
|rating=4
|genre= Crime (Historical)
+
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=St Savior's is a crumbling infirmary – its walls stuffed with ambition, jealousy and hatred. Six tiny coffins, each containing dried flowers and mouldering rags, are uncovered inside the decaying chapel. A silent outsider, with secrets of her own to hide, is determined to discover the truth. And in a trail that leads from the bloody worlds of dissecting table and operating theatre, through to the squalor of Newgate Prison and its gallows, Jem Flockhart faces a ruthless adversary. As the destruction of St Savior's looms, the dead are unearthed, the living are forced into impossible decisions – and murder is the price for secrets to be kept…
+
|summary=''King Kong Theory'' is a hard-hitting memoir and feminist manifesto, which can be seen as a call to arms for women in a phallocentric society broken at its core. Originally written in French, the book is a collection of essays in which Virginie Despentes explores her experiences as a woman through the complex prism of her varied life: from rape to sex work and pornography. Though these discussions are intertwined, their placement within the book can feel somewhat disjointed, a reflection of their original form as independent essays.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472122275</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=191309734X
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Kathleen Winter
+
|author=Alba de Cespedes
|title=Boundless: Adventures in the Northwest Passage
+
|title=Forbidden Notebook
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Travel
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Luck has a lot to do with this world.  It was probably luck that let Kathleen Winter fill the post of unofficial writer-in-residence on a ship coursing through the Northwest Passage.  It was doubtless luck that someone had told her to be ready and packed to accept any invite life might give you, only days beforehand.  Some fortune meant she had grown up in Newfoundland, and so knew the weather, conditions and liminal locations and wildlife she might encounter.  It's bad luck that between when she travelled, in 2010, and filled her pages with talk of Sir John Franklin's lost boats and lost bones, and 2016, when I read this paperback version of the results, his prime ship has been found (if not what people allege will be revealed).  It's vitally fortuitous, however, that someone with her writing nous was able to travel the waters before something else, much more permanent, changed – the heinous climate change problems that are certainly upsetting the world up there.
+
|summary=This Italian work of feminist fiction holds an air of suspense and tension from the moment our protagonist, Valeria Cossati, purchases her forbidden notebook, and learns about herself in the most intimate and revealing ways.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009958719X</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1782278222
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview<!-- Upload 16/2 -->
+
{{Frontpage
|author=C E Robinson
+
|author=Ottessa Moshfegh
|title=Lilith: Eden's Planetary Princess (The Michael Archives Book 1)
+
|title=My Year of Rest and Relaxation
|rating=3.5
+
|rating=3
|genre=Fantasy
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=35,000 years ago a war in heaven bleeds onto the planet Eden.  King Joshua's angels are being harvested, their essence drained off and their remaining bodies no good for anything apart from a euthanasia; a fate from which they can't be reincarnated.  From this good essence is created evil Nephilim, creatures at the bidding of Satan's Overlords. Out of this battle between good and evil a planetary princess arises and this first book in the Michael Archives records her journey: the journey of Lilith from ordinary to extraordinary.
+
|summary=At best, this novel is a scathing critique of modern society and reveals the fragility of human relationships; at worst, it is the cynical, predictable and slightly trite tale of an unlikeable protagonist. This unlikely heroine, a slim, attractive and newly orphaned girl in her twenties is disillusioned with the world, but resolves not to lose sleep over it: in fact, her solution lies in her hibernation.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B018N7F2B8</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1784707422
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Rebecca Lim
+
|author=Jo Callaghan
|title=Afterlight
+
|title=Leave No Trace
|rating=5
+
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
+
|genre=Crime
|summary= A freak motorbike accident that claims the life of your parents is really all it takes to make your world fall apart.  You might hope that a new beginning in a different high school is going to jumpstart your life; that a chance to reinvent yourself as just Sophie Teague, rather than Sophie-The-One-Whose-Parents-Died might just be all you need to get by.  But before Sophie gets the chance to find out, she is visited by EveEve isn’t like other girlsShe is beautiful and mesmerizing and Eve needs Sophie to be her go-to girl.  Because Eve can’t do much for herself since she died.  Eve is a ghost and dealing with the dead who have ''unfinished business'' could be the biggest challenge of Sophie’s life.
+
|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 LockIt's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold casesBut 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 projectWill they be able to solve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1925240495</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=139851120X
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Claire Freedman and Richard Smythe
 
|title=Beep Beep Beep Time for Sleep
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=For Sharing
 
|summary=Bedtime books are a great way of winding a toddler down before they go to sleep, but haven't they all been done before?  Coming up with something a little different that encourages a child to nod off is not always easy and new ideas can be a little bizarre when you think about itDo bulldozers really need to doze off at the end of the night?  At least we will have fun listening to all the machinery as it goes off to bed.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471121143</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Cas Lester
 
|title= Wilfred the (Un)Wise
 
|rating= 5
 
|genre= Confident Readers
 
|summary= Back in Ye Olden Days young Wilfred lands himself a dream apprenticeship training – learning how to be a wizard under the instruction of Wincewart the Withering, Castle Mage and Soothsayer of Wallop in the Wold. But learning ''magik'' isn't easy and things can go drastically and hilariously wrong – like accidentally transporting himself one thousand years into the future, where he meets a girl called Bel who loves doing magic tricks herself.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848124643</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Kate Grenville
+
|isbn=B0DB64PYV5
|title= One Life: My Mother's Story
+
|title=The White Rose
|rating= 5
+
|author=Dave Baines
|genre= Biography
 
|summary= This memoir could so easily have become a sentimental tribute to Grenville's mother.  But somehow, the author has managed to make it so much more than that.  |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782116877</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview <!-- Upload 2/15 -->
 
|author=Anthony Gardner
 
|title=Fox
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Thrillers
+
|genre=Dystopian Fiction
|summary=Ok. When reviewing a thriller, you have a dilemma. Because the plot is the point, you see. You don't want to give too much away because it's not just the denouement that's a spoiler; it's the whole thing. But you do have to give potential readers a decent idea of what they'll be getting. So here is my stab at interesting you while still keeping you guessing about ''Fox''.
+
|summary=In 2033, a superstorm known as the White Rose devastates the Northern Hemisphere. And it's not a storm that gathers, wreaks havoc, then dissipates. Instead, it hovers across half the Earth with its octopus-like tentacles, not giving up and never going away.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0993368042</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}

Latest revision as of 09:14, 30 October 2024

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 Facebook Facebook, Follow us on Twitter Twitter, Follow us on Instagram Instagram and LinkedIn

There are currently 16,119 reviews at TheBookbag.

Want to find out more about us?

The Best New Books

Read new reviews by category.

Read the latest features.

0008385068.jpg

Review of

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley

4.5star.jpg Thrillers

It's midsummer on the Dorset coast and guests gather at The Manor. It's their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promised. It's all headed up by Francesca Meadows. 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. 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. Full Review

0141186356.jpg

Review of

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

4.5star.jpg Literary Fiction

Giovanni's Room follows the narrator David, an American man living in Paris, as he navigates his torturous affair with Giovanni, an Italian bartender he meets in a gay bar. While David is engaged to Hella, who is travelling in Spain, the real tension in the novel arises not from his infidelity but from the deeper conflict within himself. It is David's crippling shame and denial of his sexuality that ultimately dooms his relationship with Giovanni. Full Review

0241645441.jpg

Review of

Wild East by Ashley Hickson-Lovence

4.5star.jpg Teens

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 move is initiated by Ronny'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. He listens to music constantly, and has always dreamed of being a rapper. 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. Full Review

1635866847.jpg

Review of

The Lavender Companion by Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci

4.5star.jpg Lifestyle

It's strange, the things that make you immediately feel that this is the book for you. Before I started reading The Lavender Companion, I visited the author's website and there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the homepage. 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!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it. Notes in the margins are sanctioned. You get to fold down the corners of pages. You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem. I loved this book already. Full Review

1471196585.jpg

Review of

Us in the Before and After by Jenny Valentine

5star.jpg Teens

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. Full Review

1787333175.jpg

Review of

You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here by Benji Waterhouse

5star.jpg Popular Science

I was tempted to read You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here after enjoying Adam Kay's first book This is Going to Hurt, 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 it was 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. Full Review

1803511230.jpg

Review of

A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez

5star.jpg Short Stories

Mariana Enriquez writes horror that is disturbingly real, achieving this uncanny familiarity by basing her paranormal plots on gritty realities: her settings include an abandoned field full of disused refrigerators due to an urban planning mishap, an overcrowded homeless shelter and a crime-ridden neighbourhood where safety meetings are routine - all within Argentina. The circumstances of her characters are so plausible that the supernatural or otherworldly horror which seeps into these spaces adopts a similarly tangible texture. Full Review

0861546873.jpg

Review of

Allow Me to Introduce Myself by Onyi Nwabineli

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

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 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 same time? Full Review

B0D321VJ76.jpg

Review of

Headload of Napalm by David Chadwick

4.5star.jpg Thrillers

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.... Full Review

1398527122.jpg

Review of

The Wrong Shoes by Tom Percival

5star.jpg Confident Readers

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 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. Full Review

0356522776.jpg

Review of

A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall

5star.jpg Science Fiction

There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them. Full Review

1786482126.jpg

Review of

The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths

4.5star.jpg Crime

Builders were demolishing an old 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. Full Review

0007216858.jpg

Review of

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

4.5star.jpg Autobiography

This book is Joan Didion's heartbreaking autobiographical account of the grief she endured following her husband's sudden death. Books that shed light on taboo topics like death are such a beautiful and necessary resource to help people feel less alone. Didion unpicks unpleasant feelings surrounding death like self-pity, denial and delusion and makes them utterly normal, lends them a human face to wear. Full Review

0008551324.jpg

Review of

The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie) by Neil Lancaster

4.5star.jpg Crime

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 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 it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so 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. Full Review

1739526910.jpg

Review of

Where I've Not Been Lost by Glen Sibley

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

One year after a suicide attempt blows apart musician Brian O’Malley's life, he arrives in an unfamiliar Devon town to recover. Living with an unexpected housemate at his former manager’s holiday home, he dreams of reconnecting with everything he has lost. But as those tentative plans falter, he becomes swept up in a local world of unlikely friendships, mobile discos and surprising romantic possibilities. Full Review

0008405026.jpg

Review of

A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11) by Jane Casey

5star.jpg Crime

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 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. Full Review

1529077745.jpg

Review of

The Dark Wives (D I Vera Stanhope) by Ann Cleeves

4.5star.jpg Crime

A man walking his dog in the early morning discovered the body of a man in the park near Rosebank, a care home for troubled teens. The dead man was Josh - one of the care workers who was due to work a shift the night before but who had never turned up. D I Vera Stanhope is called in to investigate the murder - but her only clue is the disappearance of one of the residents, fourteen-year-old Chloe Spencer. Some people believe that Chloe was responsible for the death but Vera thinks this is unlikely as the girl's diary makes it clear that she adored Josh. She knows that she has to find Chloe to discover what happened to Josh. Full Review

1399613073.jpg

Review of

Moral Injuries by Christie Watson

4.5star.jpg Thrillers

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 trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the 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 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 three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved. Full Review

0241636604.jpg

Review of

The Trading Game: A Confession by Gary Stevenson

4.5star.jpg Autobiography

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, 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. Full Review

000862657X.jpg

Review of

Lover Birds by Leanne Egan

4.5star.jpg Teens

When new girl, Isabel, moves to Lou's hometown of Liverpool from London Lou immediately feels Isabel's disdain for everything around her. A misunderstanding between them leaves them hating each other, but Lou feels her pulse racing every time she looks at Isabel or speaks with her, and that's definitely because Isabel makes her feel so cross, isn't it? Because Lou is straight, isn't she? Even though none of her relationships with boys have gone very well so far, and she's never had a good kiss with any of them? So she just finds herself watching Isabel, and wanting to hang out with her because fighting with her is fun, and she definitely just hates Isabel, doesn't she? Full Review

1009473085.jpg

Review of

The Conservative Effect 2010 - 2024 by Anthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)

5star.jpg Politics and Society

Sometimes it's simpler to explain a book by describing what it isn't and that applies to The Conservative Effect: 2010-2024 - 14 Wasted Years?. If you're looking for an easy read which will deliver the inside story about what really happened on certain occasions, then this isn't the book for you. If that's what you're looking for, I don't think Anthony Seldon's book, Johnson at 10, can be bettered for those tumultuous years. It's a compelling read and should be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to politics. The Conservative Effect is an entirely different beast. It'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 the most important. This book follows the well-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. Full Review

0008666482.jpg

Review of

The Last Life of Lori Mills by Max Boucherat

4.5star.jpg Confident Readers

We 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. What could possibly go wrong? Snuggled in a blanket fort, she has one main intention, and that is to log on to Voxminer, the world-building, critter-collecting game that is a hit in Lori's world. But first Lori has a tiny inkling that this stormy night doesn't find herself entirely on her own, 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 tampering. 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? Full Review

0241619785.jpg

Review of

White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

5star.jpg Short Stories

As always in Dostoyevsky, the character work is sublime. One is never left wondering what a character is thinking or feeling because Dostoyevsky lays bare their innermost dispositions and temperaments with remarkable clarity. Full Review

B0DGDJRHYD.jpg

Review of

Nowhere Man by Deborah Stone

4star.jpg General Fiction

In a quiet suburban house, Patrick is making his final plans. A meticulous man, he makes sure of every preparation, down to the last detail. Some last reflections, and then he says goodbye to his wife, the world, and his life. It's horribly sad. At work in her shop, his wife Diana is fending off yet another phone call about her ageing and ailing mother, who needs extricating from yet another accident. It will be a while before Diana realises what Patrick has done. Full Review

191309734X.jpg

Review of

King Kong Theory by Virginie Despentes

4star.jpg Autobiography

King Kong Theory is a hard-hitting memoir and feminist manifesto, which can be seen as a call to arms for women in a phallocentric society broken at its core. Originally written in French, the book is a collection of essays in which Virginie Despentes explores her experiences as a woman through the complex prism of her varied life: from rape to sex work and pornography. Though these discussions are intertwined, their placement within the book can feel somewhat disjointed, a reflection of their original form as independent essays. Full Review

1782278222.jpg

Review of

Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Cespedes

4star.jpg Literary Fiction

This Italian work of feminist fiction holds an air of suspense and tension from the moment our protagonist, Valeria Cossati, purchases her forbidden notebook, and learns about herself in the most intimate and revealing ways. Full Review

1784707422.jpg

Review of

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

3star.jpg Literary Fiction

At best, this novel is a scathing critique of modern society and reveals the fragility of human relationships; at worst, it is the cynical, predictable and slightly trite tale of an unlikeable protagonist. This unlikely heroine, a slim, attractive and newly orphaned girl in her twenties is disillusioned with the world, but resolves not to lose sleep over it: in fact, her solution lies in her hibernation. Full Review

139851120X.jpg

Review of

Leave No Trace by Jo Callaghan

4star.jpg Crime

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 solve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career? Full Review

B0DB64PYV5.jpg

Review of

The White Rose by Dave Baines

4star.jpg Dystopian Fiction

In 2033, a superstorm known as the White Rose devastates the Northern Hemisphere. And it's not a storm that gathers, wreaks havoc, then dissipates. Instead, it hovers across half the Earth with its octopus-like tentacles, not giving up and never going away. Full Review