Malcolm Hollingdrake

Sixth in a series but I believe you can dip in and out with these books. Each stands well on its own.

Crossed Out

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My review -

When a book starts with missing persons, acid attacks, drugs and bodies, you know you’re in for a tangled tale. Cyril, his team augmented this time by a new girl, April, have their work cut out. April, as Cyril advises, occasionally goes with her gut. He is happy to follow it. His own past is further explored, and his relationship with Dr Pritchett deepens. Altogether, there’s a huge lot going on in here.

I really enjoyed this story. When you think you know what’s going on you’re thrown a curve-ball. The whole thing was tied together with biblical quotes as there’s a character who has taken on the task of correcting sinners. This was a complex piece of story-telling with a lot of characters but it all worked for me. A very enjoyable read.

Oliver Tidy

The author is a recent discovery for me. I'm finding his work extremely good!

Bad Sons

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My review -

David Booker returns from working abroad to help his uncle pack a big order from his bookshop. His uncle and aunt aren't at home when he gets there. The story starts with a great sense of wrongness and unease and gets worse. Booker meets Detective Jo Cash and the two follow clues. This looks like being a great partnership.

Oliver Tidy has created some memorable characters here, and an immense feeling of mounting tension. Because of one young man’s rashness there were potentially several deaths. It was brilliantly done. I enjoyed this very much and there's a promise here of a great series.

David Wailing

This is one of those once in a  lifetime ideas and I totally bought into it!

Under

Amazon.com link

My review -

I’ve been looking forward to this book since I read its short (free) prequel Signal Failure. There’s a mystery surrounding some of the abandoned stations on the London Underground and a dedicated few are trying to find out their secrets. Four young place hackers, led by Jake, are trying to find a way into one of these stations but he has an agenda of his own. Mike Thames, journalist, is on a mission fuelled by his father’s old letters. They concern abandoned stations and sections of line and he wonders if there’s a connection between all this and his father’s disappearance when Mike was a boy.

I was just along for the ride, you might say, for the first few percent of this book then bam – a mystery, and that excited me. Once the hook bit, the line pulled taut and I was dragged along in the wake of the unfolding story. I admit that what developed is not at all what I’d expected from Signal Failure – and yet, looking back at it, the two stories remain faithful to one another. It’s all in the reader’s perception. This book is a conspiracy theorist’s Christmas and birthday rolled into one. It became exciting and horrifying in equal measure. If you want something completely different, this is your next read.

Malcolm Hollingdrake

Crossed out is the sixth in the DCI Bennet series. It's a tangled web and very engrossing.

Crossed Out

Amazon.com link

My review -

When a book starts with missing persons, acid attacks, drugs and bodies, you know you’re in for a tangled tale. Cyril, his team augmented this time by a new girl, April, have their work cut out. April, as Cyril advises, occasionally goes with her gut. He is happy to follow it. His own past is further explored, and his relationship with Dr Pritchett deepens. Altogether, there’s a huge lot going on in here.

I really enjoyed this story. When you think you know what’s going on you’re thrown a curve-ball. The whole thing was tied together with biblical quotes as there’s a character who has taken on the task of correcting sinners. This was a complex piece of story-telling with a lot of characters but it all worked for me. A very enjoyable read.

Susan Handley

An excellent debut novel and first in a series.

A Confusion of Crows

Amazon.com link

My review -

Cat McKenzie is a recently appointed detective. Her boss is her late brother’s best friend. Cat feels she has his memory to live up to. They begin to investigate the murder, by garrotte, of a young woman. They think they have the killer, only to find another woman murdered by the same method, while their suspect is in custody. Then a third body turns up. Are they connected?

This is an excellent debut novel and augurs very well for a potential series. Cat is sometimes hesitant, sometimes reckless, as a new detective would be when feeling her feet in the job. She has to contend with a chauvinist boyfriend and a sergeant who is a bit of a dinosaur. I found it all very realistic and exciting. It was great to see the way Cat grew both in her personal and professional life throughout the book. A highly recommended read.

Muhammad Khan

A Young Adult book with a great deal for any age. I really enjoyed this one.

I am Thunder

Amazon.com link

My review - 

Muzna is a plain looking girl who lacks self-confidence. Her Muslim parents move her to a new school when her father loses his job and her best friend is deemed to be a bad influence. At her new school she falls for Arif, the school heart-throb who, unbelievably, falls for her too. His brother persuades Muzna to wear the hijab. Her own parents disapprove. Gradually, she finds she’s become enmeshed in more than she’s comfortable with. Can she be true to herself?

This story is immediate and compelling. It’s upfront and up-to-date and I read it over 24 hours in two long sessions. It considers, without preaching, what life is like for a young, British-born Muslim girl who feels herself pulled in different directions. I highly recommend this for young and old readers.

Thanks to Netgalley for an early copy of this book.

Joanna Cannon

I was offered the chanced to read this by Netgalley. I'd heard so much about The Trouble with Sheep and Goats so I jumped at the chance. Still not read that - but I now have a copy.

Three Things About Elsie

Amazon.com link

My review -

Elsie is Florence’s lifelong best friend. Florence has just fallen in her sheltered accommodation and while waiting for someone to call and help her up, she dwells on her life, both recent and in the past. A new man has come to live in one of the flats and Florence recognises him as a man she knew had died in the 1950s. It’s Elsie who helps Florence to remember the past and the secret she’s successfully hidden from herself.

This is beautifully observed and in places very funny. Her friend Jack helps her to find out what the man is up to. They engineer a trip to Whitby for the whole community in order to follow a trail. She wants to know where the name he’s using now came from and why he’s trying to drive her mad and make her appear demented. The gradual unfolding of Florence’s past is brilliantly done, with the help of Elsie, and I enjoyed the book enormously.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy.

L M Krier

A prequel. I've only read Book 1 (so far) but it fills in some gaps. If you want to start this series (and I've enjoyed it so far) this is the place.

The First Time Ever

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My review -

I think many readers of this prequel will be fierce fans of the Ted Darling series already. I’ve only read the first but enjoyed it so much that I pre-ordered this. We see here several firsts in Ted’s life, such as his first kill as a firearms officer, his first meeting with Trev, his partner, the first time they adopt a cat (rapidly followed by another six!) and his first cases in CID.

I enjoy the characters in these books. Story and character are both important to me and here we are given both. This was a book I struggled to put down at bedtime and found it a gripping read. If Ted has a fault, he’s too good to be true but I sincerely hope there are at least as many decent, kind, generous and hard-working DIs in the force as popular fiction would have us believe there are drunken, maverick misfits. This is one police officer I want to believe in!

Beverley Carter

The third of the Eden Reid mysteries - a real page-turner.

Sleeping Dogs

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My review -

A man is found horribly mutilated outside an old lady’s house. Eden goes to see her – she can’t keep herself to herself. She then visits the widow of the murdered man. She’s genuinely concerned – not a nosy person! The widow knows who’s behind it but daren’t speak up. There’s all manner of things going on in this sleepy village, including dog fighting and wife beating and they’re all tied up with the political ambitions of a rich man.

It was lovely to meet some old friends from earlier stories here, though the book doesn’t depend on them. I think it can be read as a one-off. I love the Eden Reid mysteries because it’s not DS or DCI Eden Reid. It’s Miss Reid, the woman in the street. You can put yourself in her position. Her concern for the victims and her loathing of corruption come through and will be shared by readers. Another cracking good story in this series.

Jodi Picoult

My first review of 2018 is a five star stunner!

Small Great Things

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My review -

What a story this is! Ruth is a dedicated nurse in a baby delivery unit. As occasionally happens, a child sadly dies, but in this case, after Ruth has been forbidden to care for him. His parents are white supremacists and Ruth is the only African American nurse on the unit. The parents want to sue but the hospital throws Ruth to the dogs. She’s going to be left to take the blame and face the law suit.

This is an absolutely gripping story. It drips with unfairness. The prosecuting lawyer is black, Ruth’s lawyer is white, yet the issue of race mustn’t be mentioned in court, even though it’s blindingly obvious that it’s at the bottom of the whole situation. I have enjoyed every Jodi Picoult novel I’ve ever read but this one is up there with the best. I was totally swept away by it.