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= Dawn Kurtagich
+
==The Best New Books==
|title=The Dead House
+
 
|rating= 3.5
+
'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by category]]. '''<br>
|genre=Teens
+
 
|summary=Carly Johnson and Kaitlin Johnson are best friends; they go everywhere together. One might call them two halves of a whole, quite aptly, as they share a body. Carly gets the day, Kaitlin gets the night. That's how it has always been, until now; when Kaitlin awakens to find herself in sunlight. She must work with her rival, Naida, to delve deep into Scottish magic, discover where her sister is, and to defeat the sinister forces working against them…
+
'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Fyodor Dostoyevsky
 +
|title=White Nights
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Short Stories
 +
|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.
 +
|isbn=0241619785
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Alan MacDonald and David Roberts
+
|isbn=0008385068
|title=Aliens! (Dirty Bertie)
+
|title=The Midnight Feast
|rating=4
+
|author=Lucy Foley
|genre=Emerging Readers
+
|rating=4.5
|summary=For my sins I have never met Bertie before now – something that from the merits of this book I now think should have been corrected a long time agoHe's a friendly young chap, and we meet him in friendly, short episodesHere are three of them, which I have to assume is the normOne shows him quite gullible if well-meaning, the next has him stuck in a situation he dislikes where he still gets the upper hand, and the third is a sustained look at what happens when he starts a hole for himself with a simple, poor decisionHe's a lad such as you probably have close by you, he's amiable, he's not too smart, and he's really quite likeable – even if he does apparently have a very snotty nose…
+
|genre=Thrillers
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184715512X</amazonuk>
+
|summary=It's midsummer on the Dorset coast and guests gather at The ManorIt's their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promised.  It's all headed up by Francesca MeadowsThe Manor was her ancestral home and she's converted it into an impressive retreat for the wealthy and famousHer 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.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Kevin Flude
+
|author=James Baldwin
|title=Divorced, Beheaded, Died...: The History of Britain's Kings and Queens in Bite-Sized Chunks
+
|title=Giovanni's Room
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=History
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=History lives.  Proof of that sweeping statement can be had in this book, and in the fact that while it only reached the grand old age of six, it has had the dust brushed off it and has been reprinted – and while the present royal incumbent it ends its main narrative with has not changed, other things have.  This has quietly been updated to include the reburial of Richard III in Leicester, and seems to have been rereleased at a perfectly apposite time, as only the week before I write these words the Queen has surpassed all those who came before her as our longest serving ruler.  Such details may be trivia to some – especially those of us of a more royalist bent – and important facts to others. The perfect balance of that coupling – trivia and detail – is what makes this book so worthwhile.
+
|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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782434631</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0141186356
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Sarah Mussi
 
|title= Breakdown
 
|rating= 5
 
|genre= Teens
 
|summary= From the start of "Breakdown" Mussi painfully grips the reader by the hand and doesn’t let go. She uses short, sharp, savage sentences to urge them to follow her protagonist Melissa on a terrifying odyssey into a relentlessly brutal world where only the meanest, smartest and toughest survive. It is a horrific vision of a post-apocalyptic, lawless society devastated by nuclear radiation, set 100 years after Orwell’s bleak "1984", driven feral by food shortages, frenzied fear, poverty, corrupt militarisation and anarchy. Ravenous dogs roam the streets and the stench of violence and sexual slavery is never far away. Melissa is blessed with beauty which some might consider a curse. Will she emerge into the light or be trapped in Hades forever?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147140191X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Kate Kerrigan
 
|title=The Dress
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=In 1935 a young man left his cruel father, stealing from his kindly schoolteacher to fund his trip to Dublin.  Years later he left for New York.  He'd never dreamed of being rich, but hard work brought wealth his way.  He'd never thought about a wife either, but it seemed the right thing to do and Frank Fitzpatrick married Joy.  She may well have been the most beautiful woman in New York, but she adored Frank.  He was, well, ambivalent about her.  For her thirtieth birthday Joy decided that she was going to throw a party at the Waldorf and for this she required the most stunning dress ever made.  The Dress. She hoped that it would bring Frank back to her.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784082384</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=David Barrow
+
|author=Ashley Hickson-Lovence
|title=Have You Seen Elephant?
+
|title=Wild East
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
+
|genre=Teens
|summary=Elephant wants to play hide and seek and Boy agrees that he Elephant should hide firstElephant is completely fair and warns Boy that he's ''VERY'' good.  Boy's fair too - he says that he'll try his best - and off Elephant goes to hide.  Dog is looking slightly bored - actually he's having a good scratch - as Boy counts to ten and shouts ''Coming! Ready or Not!'' in the tradition of all hide and seek games and Boy and Dog go in search of ElephantNow Elephant wasn't joking when he said that he was good, because he doesn't so much ''hide'' as ''disguise'' himself within the roomsBoy doesn't spot him, but watch Dog!  He spots Elephant every time, whether he's an armchair, a duvet, television stand, standard lamp or a shed.
+
|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 schoolThe 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1776570081</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0241645441
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Jonathan Litton and Fhiona Galloway
+
|isbn=1635866847
|title=BOO!
+
|title=The Lavender Companion
 +
|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
+
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=Creating a fun book for a young toddler or older baby appears easy, but is actually tricky to pull off wellJust shoving a few animals or shapes into a cardboard BOO!k is not going to capture the imagination; there needs to be colour, fun and a certain je ne sais quoi to stand out from the many other baby booksks on the marketSetting a book around Halloween and all things spooky may not seem to fill these criteria, but a little fear can sometimes make a small child surprisingly happy.
+
|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 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 pagesYou suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem.  I ''loved'' this book already.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848691254</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Anna Caltabiano
+
|author=Jenny Valentine
|title=The Time Of The Clockmaker
+
|title=Us in the Before and After
|rating=4
+
|rating=5
|genre=Fantasy
+
|genre=Teens
|summary=''The Time Of The Clockmaker'' is not so much a sequel to '[[The Seventh Miss Hatfield by Anna Caltabiano|The Seventh Miss Hatfield]], rather it's more like ''The Seventh Miss Hatfield : Part Deux''Cynthia (who is now the aforementioned Seventh Miss Rebecca Hatfield and from this point we shall refer to her as such) has just seen her predecessor and mentor, the somewhat intimidating Sixth Miss Hatfield, murdered in the only way it is possible for an immortal to die – she has been slain by another immortal.  Forced to flee for her life (with the clock that governs Rebecca's ability to travel through time), Rebecca is stunned to find herself back in the Court of King Henry VIII.  It seems that the hands of her mysterious clock have somehow inadvertently been moved, during the course of a break-in, and Tudor England is the backdrop for Miss Hatfield's fight for survival.
+
|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 timeBut 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>1473200431</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1471196585
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Ben Coates
+
|isbn=1787333175
|title= Why the Dutch are Different: A Journey into the Hidden Heart of the Netherlands
+
|title=You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here
|rating= 4
+
|author=Benji Waterhouse
|genre= Travel
+
|rating=5
|summary= I know Holland in the way everyone does. Pancakes and windmills and Pot, oh my. But it's one of the few European countries I've never lived in for any period of time, and so I was intrigued to know more.
+
|genre=Popular Science
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>185788633X</amazonuk>
+
|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 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.  
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Emma Marriott
+
|author=Mariana Enriquez
|title= I Used to Know That: History
+
|title=A Sunny Place for Shady People
|rating= 4
+
|rating=5
|genre= Politics and Society
+
|genre=Short Stories
|summary= I've picked up a few things over the years, most notably from English language text books while TEFLing abroad (there's nothing like an exciting lesson on Guy Fawkes to have a classroom of Mexicans wondering why we so love to celebrate a terrorist attack that didn't happen). But I have gaps, of this I am sure, and I thought to get a basic understanding of, well, the basics that we all should know, a quick read of this book wouldn't hurt.
+
|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>1782434488</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1803511230
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Mark Lingane
+
|author=Onyi Nwabineli
|title=Fusion: Volume 4 (Tesla Evolution)
+
|title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
+
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=(By the way there are spoilers ahead – this is definitely a series to be read in order, starting from [[Tesla 1 by Mark Lingane|Tesla 1]] )Alone again now that Melanie has been killed, Sebastian makes it to North AmericaFar from it being the land of promise it used to be, the country is now an apocalyptic ruin, full of people scavenging for their survival and the Infected forging a path of worse-than-death and destructionSebastian needs to focus on his ultimate challenge as foreseen in a rather scary way but there's a small matter distracting him: who's firing rockets at him?
+
|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 herAnuri 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 empire.  Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1515000796</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0861546873
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Alexander Cordell
+
|author=David Chadwick
|title=The Hosts of Rebecca
+
|title=Headload of Napalm
|rating=5
+
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
+
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=At the end of [[Rape of the Fair Country by Alexander Cordell|Rape of the Fair Country]] Iestyn Mortymer had been sentenced to deportation for seven years because of the part he played in the Chartist rebellion and the Newport Rising of 1839. His mother, wife, Marie, younger brother, Jethro, sister, Morfydd and the two children of the family returned to the land, living on a farm owned by Marie's grandfather.  The life was hard and not just for the Mortymers, with poverty breathing over their shoulders and it was made worse by the tollgates installed by landowners, effectively adding a levy to any produce which the farmers attempted to move.
+
|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>B0100NC1GM</amazonuk>
+
|isbn= B0D321VJ76
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Jeffrey Brown
+
|author=Tom Percival
|title=The Phantom Bully (Star Wars Jedi Academy 3)
+
|title=The Wrong Shoes
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Doesn't time fly? It only seems a short time ago that Roan Novachez was starting his first term at Jedi Academy Middle School, yet here he is, all grown up and ready to start his final year. As always, there are plenty of twists and turns, teen troubles and relationship issues mixed in with the force-wielding, piloting and lightsaber battles. Bullying is still a real issue for Roan this term, as it seems that someone has made a personal mission of setting him up to fail. Everything is riding on his performance this year, as flunking out will mean being held back a year and his friends moving on without him.
+
|summary=Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways.  He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident.  Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0545621267</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1398527122
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Kate Scelsa
+
|author=Sylvie Cathrall
|title=Fans of the Impossible Life
+
|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary= Jeremy, Mira and Sebby are very different people, each with their own complex and difficult issues, who find themselves inexplicably drawn together. Jeremy is an artist, painfully shy and still struggling to get over the horrible incident that ruined his last year of school. Mira is cool and fashionable, but suffers from depression, constantly fighting against a sleep that threatens to overpower her for days on end. Then there's Sebby, flamboyant, irreverent and charming, but with hurt and troubles simmering behind his façade, and no family or support network to lean on. The powerful friendship and love that forms between them could save them from their broken selves, but it could just as easily drag them all down together.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1509805141</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Alexander McCall Smith
 
|title=The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=General Fiction
+
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Back to Botswana I go, having saved this newest outing in the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series for a delightful weekend read.  I never tire of these characters, and I always look forward to seeing what is happening in their lives.  This time around the story is about holidays, amongst other things, and the tricky plans to persuade Mma Ramostwe to take a holiday. But what is Mma Makutsi up to?  Does she have plans to take over the agency entirely whilst Mma Ramotswe is away?
+
|summary= There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408706660</amazonuk>
+
|isbn= 0356522776
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Aldous Huxley
+
|isbn=1786482126
|title= After Many A Summer
+
|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)
|rating= 4
+
|author=Elly Griffiths
|genre= Dystopian Fiction
+
|rating=4.5
|summary= Like many of us, I suspect, I knew nothing of Huxley other than the "required reading" of ''Brave New World''Naturally, on that basis alone, he was pigeon-holed in my head under the heading ''Sci-fi - must check out further''.
+
|genre=Crime
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784870358</amazonuk>
+
|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 agoHer condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul
+
|author=Joan Didion
|title=Winnie's Haunted House
+
|title=The Year of Magical Thinking
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
+
|genre=Autobiography
|summary= Strange things are happening in Winnie the Witch's house – a broken vase, torn curtains, and a chandelier that suddenly crashes to the ground. There is no obvious explanation so Winnie decides her house must be haunted and reaches her spell book to solve the problem. As usual the spell only makes matters worse, at first anyway.  
+
|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>0192744062</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0007216858
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Emma Marriott
+
|isbn=0008551324
|title= I Should Know That - Great Britain
+
|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)
|rating= 4.5
+
|author=Neil Lancaster
|genre= Politics and Society
+
|rating=4.5
|summary= I am a dreadful Brit. I'm better at the geography of Colombia than the UK (true story, I had to google where Essex was the other day). Despite 17 years of full time education in the UK, I probably wouldn't pass a simple citizenship test. Which is a little embarrassing, really. So when this book came up for review I thought I'd have it, both for interest and as a subtle way to brush up on my Britain.  
+
|genre=Crime
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782434313</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= Patricia McKillip
+
|isbn=1739526910
|title= The Riddle-Master's Game
+
|title=Where I've Not Been Lost
|rating= 4
+
|author=Glen Sibley
|genre= Fantasy
+
|rating=4.5
|summary=IIn a realm where the wizards have long since died, but where magic and riddlry reign, no one takes much notice of the small, peaceful kingdom of Hed. That is until the young Land Ruler Morgon, wins a riddle game that sends a series events into motion that will shake the realm. Together he and the High One's harpist embark on a journey across the realm, to discover his destiny and finally marry the second most beautiful woman in the land. But Morgon has a long way to go and his journey is just the begginning of the impossible riddles before him.
+
|genre=General Fiction
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473212022</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.''
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Courtney Sheinmel
+
|isbn=0008405026
|title= Edgewater
+
|title=A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)
|rating= 5
+
|author=Jane Casey
|genre= Teens
+
|rating=5
|summary= Lorrie may run with the big dogs, but right now she's more of a mutt. Her mother is AWOL and her aunt is becoming more eccentric by the day. She's politely asked to leave her sleepaway riding camp when payment fails to arrive, and so she sets off home to sort it all out. Again. It's becoming something of a habit this need to act the grown up while the real grown ups fail to make the grade.
+
|genre=Crime
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1419716417</amazonuk>
+
|summary=It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night.  She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt. Now, her mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bed. Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious.  What looked as 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.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Alice Peterson
+
|isbn=1529077745
|title= The Things We Do For Love
+
|title=The Dark Wives (D I Vera Stanhope)
|rating= 4.5
+
|author=Ann Cleeves
|genre= Women's Fiction
+
|rating=4.5
|summary= January is an unusual name for a reasonably normal girl, a single mum to a daughter (and a dog). She has a few unusual characteristics, though. Her dog comes to work with her (at a property company where, before you ask, she's not the boss or even close to it). She was raised by her grandparents following the sudden death of her parents. And her daughter, though adorable, has a few issues which can make everyday life a bit tricky. None of this really matters, though. Because, as the title suggests, this is a straight up love story (or search for love story) and it's a pretty brilliant one.  
+
|genre=Crime
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848669011</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= Neil Hegarty
+
|isbn=1399613073
|title= Frost: That Was The Life That Was: The Authorised Biography
+
|title=Moral Injuries
|rating= 5
+
|author=Christie Watson
|genre= Biography
+
|rating=4.5
|summary= Just a glance at this book is enough to make us realise, or remind us, that Sir David Frost was a towering presence in the world of television for around half a century.  From the days when he stormed the barricades of cosy light entertainment at the start of the swinging sixties, to his major political interviews and his position as one of the founding fathers of TV-am, he was a cornerstone of the industryWithout him, the history of broadcasting during that period would surely have been very different.
+
|genre=Thrillers
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0753556707</amazonuk>
+
|summary=Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century.  Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon.  Laura is a perfectionist and a 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 friendsThis time, it's their teenage children who are involved.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Antony Wootten
+
|isbn=0241636604
|title=The Grubby Feather Gang (Bigshorts)
+
|title=The Trading Game: A Confession
|rating=4
+
|author=Gary Stevenson
|genre=Confident Readers
+
|rating=4.5
|summary=Life is confusing for George Sanders: his father, the local vet, has refused to 'do his bit' and volunteer to fight in France.  There's bad feeling in the village - with the women giving Dad white feathers - and even George's mum believes that he should go and fightTo top it all George is currently being suspended, upside down, from the rafters in the hayloft by the local bully who is determined that George is going to do his maths homeworkYou'd think that it couldn't get much worse, but the next day he's caned at school when he doesn't feel that he was in the wrongThere's no wonder George is confused, is there?
+
|genre=Autobiography
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0953712389</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 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 envyHe also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupidIt was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with CitibankEventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Jill Ciment
+
|author=Leanne Egan
|title=Heroic Measures
+
|title=Lover Birds
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
+
|genre=Teens
|summary=Ruth and Alex Cohen have to move from their beloved New York apartmentThey love it, but it's five floors up and there's no elevatorReluctantly they're having an open day for prospective purchasers - and hoping that they'll be able to buy something not ''too'' far out which has that elusive elevatorIt's not just them, eitherThere's DorothyDorothy ('Dottie' to those who know her well) is their DaschundShe's getting on in years, but then so are Ruth and Alex.  Then - the day before the open house - two things happen.  An unmarked petrol truck  is blocking the city's main tunnel and there's no sign of the driver.  You don't even need to have ''long'' memories to worry about terrorists in Manhattan.  Then Dottie yelps in pain and she can't stand up.
+
|summary=When new girl, Isabel, moves to Lou's hometown of Liverpool from London Lou immediately feels Isabel's disdain for everything around herA 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>1782271945</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=000862657X
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1009473085
 +
|title=The Conservative Effect 2010 - 2024
 +
|author=Anthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Politics and Society
 +
|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 youIf 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=Holly Webb
+
|author=Max Boucherat
|title=The Truffle Mouse
+
|title=The Last Life of Lori Mills
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Alice is going through a tough time right now. Even though her mum and dad split up two years ago, she'd always hoped that they would eventually get back together. But when dad introduced his new girlfriend and her daughter and announced that they would be moving in, everything changed. School isn't any better, either. She's always getting told off in class and is jealous of her best friend Lucy, who seems to have the perfect family, but doesn't appreciate it. When mum sees how withdrawn Alice has become, she takes her to the pet shop to buy a hamster to take her mind off things. However, it's not a hamster that catches Alice's eye, but a sweet little mouse, with fur like cocoa powder. The trouble is, mum is terrified of mice!
+
|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 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?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407144863</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0008666482
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=B0DGDJRHYD
 +
|title=Nowhere Man
 +
|author=Deborah Stone
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=General Fiction
 +
|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=Fraser McAlpine
+
|author=Virginie Despentes
|title=Stuff Brits Like
+
|title=King Kong Theory
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Humour
+
|genre=Autobiography
|summary= With over 100 chapters on different aspects of Britain and Britishness, this book is both fascinating and hilarious.  Just looking at the list of subjects is enough to produce a sardonic twist of that stiff upper lip: the chapters cover topics that range from offal to curry, from pedantry to banter, from conkers to rugby. There may be many chapters but this is no academic tome - each chapter is just two to three pages long, each is written with endearing affection, each is easy and satisfying - and quirkily funny - to read.
+
|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>1857886348</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=191309734X
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Sebastian Faulks
+
|author=Alba de Cespedes
|title= Where my Heart Used to Beat
+
|title=Forbidden Notebook
|rating= 5
+
|rating=4
|genre= General Fiction  
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary= In the early 1980’s, on a small island off the South of France, a Doctor named Robert Hendricks confronts his life – memories of wars, work, loves, and losses. As his history is explored and questioned by his host, Hendricks recalls days in Scottish universities, Italian trenches, mental asylums and windswept beaches. Links to the past are uncovered, and the raw wounds they expose take Hendricks on a search for sanity and raises the question – is life comprised of events themselves, or the way in which an individual chooses to remember them?
+
|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>0091936837</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1782278222
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Ottessa Moshfegh
 +
|title=My Year of Rest and Relaxation
 +
|rating=3
 +
|genre=Literary Fiction
 +
|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.
 +
|isbn=1784707422
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Jo Callaghan
 +
|title=Leave No Trace
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Crime
 +
|summary=When a man is found crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock.  It's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases.  But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project.  Will they be able to solve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career?
 +
|isbn=139851120X
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=B0DB64PYV5
 +
|title=The White Rose
 +
|author=Dave Baines
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Dystopian Fiction
 +
|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.
 
}}
 
}}

Latest revision as of 08:50, 31 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.

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

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

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