Category: Books

  • The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett

    The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett

    I’m not quite sure why I’ve not read one Janice Hallett’s books yet. Her 2021 book, The Appeal won lots of awards, and then her follow-up The Twyford Code won more. She’s also since published The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels. And now comes, The Christmas Appeal hot on its heels. This short book…

  • Number Go Up by Zeke Faux

    Number Go Up by Zeke Faux

    Earlier in the autumn, there were two major new books (well at least two) examining to a greater of lesser extent, the story of Sam Bankman-Fried, who was to end up being found guilty on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. One was Going Infinite by Michael Lewis. I tend to love Lewis’ books, as…

  • To The Dogs by Louise Welsh

    To The Dogs by Louise Welsh

    Louise Welsh has a way of presenting a slightly seedier side of life, and To The Dogs is no different. Taking place in a world of higher education, our protagonist Jim Brennan is doing well. A high achiever in terms of bringing in money to the university, his career looks to be heading from strength…

  • Kennedy 35 by Charles Cumming

    Kennedy 35 by Charles Cumming

    Kennedy 35 is the third of Cumming’s BOX 88 series of novels featuring the secret Anglo-American spy organisation that exists in the fringes of the intelligence services. In the present day, Lachlan ‘Lockie’ Kite is the head of the UK division. We find him hoping for some rapprochement in his marriage to Isobel who has…

  • Box 88 and Judas 62 by Charles Cumming

    Box 88 and Judas 62 by Charles Cumming

    I have read a few Charles Cumming novels over the years, but hadn’t caught up with his latest spy series. Box 88 introduces us to Lachlan Kite and the secret Anglo-American intelligence organisation that he is part of – BOX 88. The story is told in two timelines – a contemporary one where Kite is…

  • The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey

    The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey

    Penguin has recently re-published some of their classic crime and espionage novels in new “bottle-green” covers, remembering the classic green covers of their crime novels of old. For no reason at all, I picked up a novel I’d vaguely heard of but never read from a Waterstones display. The Franchise Affair was first published in…

  • Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein

    Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein

    Naomi Klein is the author of such bestselling titles as No Logo, The Shock Doctrine and This Changes Everything. She’s a social activist, who has worked on Bernie Sanders campaigns and writes about globalisation. Naomi Wolf is the author of books such as The Beauty Myth, Fire With Fire and The End of America. She…

  • Douglas Adams and Nigel Kneale

    Douglas Adams and Nigel Kneale

    Over the weekend I managed to get along to two separate, and largely unconnected events – except that both were based around writers who found prominence in science fiction. And one is much funnier than the other. 42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams Unbound has just published this new book beautifully edited by…

  • Yellowface/All The Lovers In The Night

    Yellowface/All The Lovers In The Night

    Yellowface by R F Kuang I first came across R F Kuang with last year’s very enjoyable Babel, an alternate history of the British Empire told in a world where magic exists and is controlled by an elite group of individuals. Yellowface is very different, but no less enjoyable. It’s a book about books, and…

  • Prom Mom by Laura Lippman

    Prom Mom by Laura Lippman

    Laura Lippman writes some deliciously noir-ish tales, and her books always have something about them. Prom Mom is the name that the tabloid press gave to Amber when she unexpectedly gave birth on the night of her school prom back in 1997. The book opens with Amber being confused as she returns to a hotel…

  • The Guest/Sweet Little Lies

    The Guest/Sweet Little Lies

    The Guest by Emma Cline Emma Cline’s previous novel, The Girls, was a massive hit although I never read it. But I was interested enough based on reviews to pick up The Guest which is an archetypal summer read (assuming we ever get a summer here in the UK). Alex is in a spot of…

  • The Devil Stone/Case Sensitive

    The Devil Stone/Case Sensitive

    A pair of recent crime books featuring female detectives. The Devil Stone by Caro Ramsey When an entire family are found dead in a seemingly ritualistic fashion in a small town in the Scottish Highlands, DCI Christine Caplan is asked to help out with the investigation. It’s not helping matters that the policeman in charge…