Craig Lancaster

I knew it wouldn't be long before I read the latest Edward story. A must for fans of this quirky character.

Edward Unspooled

Amazon.com

My review -

People embarking on Book Three in the Edward series are sure to be Edward fans already. We have seen him, through the previous two books, turn from a solitary, rather mistrustful man, to someone who learns to socialise and become a friend. He and Sheila, now married, learn they are to be parents, and this book takes the form of letters to his unborn child, to which Sheila adds her own notes.

Through the writer's skill, Edward's voice comes through loud and clear. He learns to stand up for himself and to be considerate of others, not easy for him, bearing in mind his background. He is very literal and this often results in humour. He is convinced that he’s really funny but much of the humour comes from his failure to understand or to empathise with others, try though he might. The story is often surprising and at times exciting. I found it a really enjoyable read.

Craig Lancaster

Edward is a lovely character - there's a third in the series, too.

Edward Adrift

Amazon.com

My review -

Edward Stanton, first encountered in 600Hours of Edward, has Asperger's Syndrome and copes with his life by strict adherence to a routine. Then, three years after the death of his father, with whom he had a difficult relationship, his world becomes fractured. He's adrift. He's made redundant from his job and his best friends have moved 600 miles away. After a frantic phone call from his friend Donna, he decides to go away to stay with her family for a few days. At this point, his world goes even further awry.

I loved the character of Edward in the first book of this series. He is intelligent, serious, literal and yet simple and vulnerable. He has to come to terms here with changes in his mother's life, and to allow himself to make changes in his own. This story, and the previous one, make you think about the way we label people. The writing is faultless throughout and a huge amount of wisdom shines through the words. I'm determined to find the time to read the third in this series. Highly recommended.

Katherine Roberts

I've read one of Katherine's books previously and only time has prevented me from reading more. When I saw this collection of short science-fiction stories I jumped on it.

Weird and Wonderful

Amazon.com

My review - 

This selection of science fiction and speculative short stories is really engrossing. The stories aren’t the usual Sci-fi stuff about space, battles or alien invasions (not that I object to those). They are about people, many of them female, and they are very thoughtful. Enough of them take the idea of young people being trained or manipulated by a ruling class or group that it could be considered a theme. An anthology is only as strong as its weakest story and I didn’t find a single one here that I didn’t enjoy on some level. Very thought-provoking.

Luca Veste

A new author for me - I love discovering new writers - and this, though the third in a series, really stands well alone. 

Bloodstream

Amazon.com

My review -

Someone is killing couples. The case is high profile because a celebrity couple have been involved. They are tied to chairs, face to face and made to admit their lies to one another. The killer is obsessed with love, and truth. David Murphy and his sidekick Laura Rossi can’t seem to get a handle on the case until, for each of them, it comes closer to home.

This, I now see, is the third in a series but it stands really well as a novel in its own right and doesn’t need to be propped up by information in the earlier books. The tension in the story is ramped up gradually and when readers come to discover, along with the detectives, who is responsible, it becomes a race to read to the end and see what happens. A thoroughly enjoyable story.

David Wailing

This is rather different from the author's recent publications. It'll give you the creeps!

Signal Failure

Signal Failure

My review -

Emily is taking the night tube home when, after repeated halts, passengers are told there’s a signal failure to blame. The train becomes stuck in a tunnel and then disturbing things start happening.

This short story really packs a punch. It’s creepy – very creepy. It speaks to the primitive fears we all still harbour - claustrophobia, nyctophobia, fear of the beast in the dark cave. I think because the Tube is brightly lit and full of people we can dismiss the fact that we are so far under the earth. We don’t think about it because, really, we don’t want to remember. Prepare to be disturbed. Next time, you’ll catch the bus!

Claire Douglas

Claire Douglas is a new author to me and I found her through Netgalley. I'll look out for more from her in the future.

Local Girl Missing

At the time of writing this blog post, the book is not available on Amazon.com

My review -

School best friends Sophie and Francesca (Frankie) managed to catch up again for the summer after they graduated, almost twenty years ago. Over that intense summer they each went through emotional turmoil. Just before they both left for jobs in London, Sophie fell to her death from the remains of their seedy hometown's derelict pier. Now Frankie, a successful businesswoman, is called back to Oldcliffe-on-Sea by Sophie's brother. Human remains have been washed up nearby and he wants Frankie to help him identify them. He has never believed his sister's death was an accident.

I enjoyed this book immensely. It's told in the present by Frankie and in the past through Sophie's diary. The two are well distinguished in style, Frankie being dramatic, filled with simile, tending towards paranoia while Sophie's diary is more youthfully breathless though often dark in content. What I particularly loved was the clever way the author gradually altered my perception of the world they'd both inhabited twenty years ago. An excellent and unusual story.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance review copy of this book.