In my book blog, I review my favourite fiction genres: comedy, community, crime. I enjoy all three equally, but I’m always delighted when I find new books where they overlap.
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For six intelligent eighteen-year-olds just out of school, the world is a sensory paradise: sunshine, days on the river, festivals, lager, drugs. Most teenagers share some or all of these experiences, but Talitha, Daniel, Xavier, Amber and Felix are set apart from other young people by the immense social privilege they enjoy. As one of them points out, they are ‘not Plan B people.’..
Read MoreIn Chastity Riley’s latest adventure, our favourite Hamburg detective is not her usual unbending self. At a colleague’s birthday party in plush Hotel Cartagena, her sarcastic streak is sparked off when her former lover orders a piña colada. ‘I jam my left hand into the pineapple, sharp as a dragon’s teeth,’ she says. The pineapple bites back and sepsis sets in, just as men in suits show up with sawn-off shotguns. Injured and vulnerable, Chastity finds herself one of numerous victims of a hostage situation. Gradually, she sinks into agonising delirium, unable to protect herself or others.
Read MoreFormer teenage football prodigy Danny Garvey returns to Barshaw Bridge FC as manager, after an injury ends his playing career. In spite of unreliable players and rutted turf, to its dedicated supporters BBFC is a field of dreams, where the spirit of Roy of the Rovers, incarnate as local boy Billy Gilmour, may score a magical goal to save the day.
Read MoreRespect the newly dead, and they will share their stories. That’s the philosophy of twenty-five year old Cassie Raven, whose secret super-power is ‘hearing’ messages from those who have recently passed away. Her job as a mortuary technician gives full rein to her natural affinity with death, which is also expressed through her fascination with dead animals and her enrolment in an online course in taxidermy. As the plot of Body Language unfolds, Cassie is revealed as an empathic listener, equally open to the living and to those transitioning to the next world.
Read MoreFor loveable loser Tom, Lockdown is like being in a situation comedy with no script, and his attempts to ad-lib his way through it are hilarious. Trapped in a torture chamber of home-schooling, overwhelmed by his girlfriend’s knack for home-made soft porn, he rants about, amongst other things, online quizzes, schools, exercise gurus, Zoom and, notably, senior citizens. Elderly relatives, his own or other people’s, can really wind Tom up. However, when his cage is not being rattled, he is philosophical. At one point, he reflects on the nature of parenthood down the generations. ‘No parents, no children – just caretakers for….love….’
Read MoreRoxanne Bouchard writes like a poet who has known back-breaking manual labour. Reeling in lobster nets was how she researched her critically acclaimed first novel, We Were The Salt of the Sea, which is currently top of my to-be-read list. David Warriner’s superb translation enhances the lyrical language of The Coral Bride. Sentences like ‘The sea is a liar and all men are traitors!’ can make a susceptible reader’s heart beat faster.
Read MoreWinner of the Blackbird Award for new Icelandic fiction, Aegisdottir’s multi-layered tale of small-town life, with its threatening undertones of abuse and murder, shows all the signs of being the first in an addictive series. Faced with what appears to be a random, motiveless act of violence, a young female detective feels compelled to seek justice for the victim.
Read MoreWhat I liked most about Malik’s entertaining third novel is the way she asks questions about significant issues, without demonising any of her engaging cast of characters. What is home? Does economic progress change who we are? When we speak or write about religion and culture, are we driven by underlying attitudes? How can we identify our unconscious biases?
Read More‘With the benefit of hindsight, it was clear that Úrsula’s promise, made on her very first day in office, was her downfall.’ In the opening lines of her new thriller, shortlisted for the Glass Key Award for best Nordic crime novel, Sigurdardottir sets out the path her protagonist must follow.
Read MoreMurder and despair link Boyle’s characters, but with Brooklyn rhythms embedded in their speech, their interactions are vivid and uplifting. Donnie is a disgraced ex-cop with blood on his hands. Lonely widow Ava, ruined by the debt her husband built up to a vicious crime boss, is trapped in a job she despises.
Read MoreStreet cats, crying from hunger, instantly claim our attention, but to understand what a fellow human being has suffered, we have to walk a mile in their shoes. Before we can do this, we must get to know them. In the first few chapters of Nour’s bewitching book, we learn about Sami’s early life, when Syria was at peace: growing up in a close-knit family, keeping a pet turtle on the roof, winning calligraphy competitions, helping his mother feed stray cats, falling in love, setting up a small business. Then, a merciless civil war and enforced military service shattered his world.
Read MoreIn her beautifully written debut novel, Sue Clark tells a story that will make you laugh a lot and cry a little. She has created two convincing, realistic characters, each of whom is on the point of succumbing to an impossible situation. By introducing Eloise and Bradley, and making them bounce hilariously off each other, she not only saves them both, but also gives them hope for the future. I recommend Note to Boy to book clubs, not only because of its high entertainment value, but also because it bridges the generation gap and presents decades of social history, in a style as light and digestible as a macaroon; or, as Eloise would call it, a ‘Cameroon’.
Read More‘When’s Daddy Coming Home’ is a heartbreaking real life story that demands to be told. Anyone who is thinking of starting a business, in a country where they do not understand the legal system, must read this book. Also, in our current situation of emerging from a pandemic, it is timely to remember the ripple effect of the international financial crisis of 2008. Margetts’ experiences are narrated in first person, expressing the genuine feelings and emotions of an ordinary parent in an unbearable situation. This is not an easy read, and some of the phrases he uses may offend.
Read MoreIn his fourth novel, Rod Reynolds has perfectly captured the invigorating mix of aspiration and survival that makes up London’s atmosphere. He plunges the reader deep into the experience of metropolitan life, during a recent past that seems, while I write in Covid lockdown, like a half-remembered dream
Read MoreWhen his friend Daniel Cartwright dies and names Rowland Sinclair as his executor, Rowland must divert his plans to return home to Australia from Singapore and travel to America. Daniel was vastly wealthy but appears to have disinherited his family in favour of a man called Otis Norcross, whom no one can find.
Read MoreOslo detective Frølich searches for the mysterious sister of a young female asylum seeker, but when people start to die, everything points to an old case and a series of events that someone will do anything to hide.
Read MoreI enjoyed Separation Anxiety throughout, but it was only when I arrived at the book’s finale that I came to appreciate its true quality. While reading the first few chapters, I found Judy, the main character, a trifle annoying. An author suffering from writer’s block, she is warm, funny and open-hearted, but if, like me, you suffer from stiff-upper-lip syndrome, also a tad irritating until you allow yourself to get on her wavelength.
Read MoreWritten in his own words, and guided by a man who collects glasses in a local pub, this is the story of Herod ‘Rod’ Pinkney’s search for Daisy Lamprich, a young woman he first sees on a decade-old episode of the Judge Judy Show, and who he now intends to marry.
Read MoreThis novel comes with a considerable pedigree, being number nineteen in Reichs’ popular crime series featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. The author was also a producer of the hit TV series ‘Bones’. Reichs herself is a forensic anthropologist, holding high status in her profession in America and Canada.
Read MoreI read both of these novellas within twenty-four hours. Although I enjoy reading fast for recreation, when I set out to review a book, I always take it slowly and make copious notes as I go along. This time, that’s how I began, until I realised that my method didn’t match the stories. Going with the flow is the best way to appreciate Michaud’s brilliant use of first-person narration, including a repetition of key phrases, which create humour in what would otherwise be a dark tale.
Read MoreThe reader can learn a lot from Bonnie Garmus’ brilliant debut novel - and not only about chemistry. The story of Elizabeth Zott, scientist, tells us how ambitious women in America struggled to make their voices heard in the 1950s and 60s.
