Hello lovely reader!
March has marched on, the clocks have sprung forward an hour, I’m full of easter eggs, and without further ado, let’s have a look and see what happened with books.
Books read: 9
- The Red Hollow, by Natalie Marlow (pbk ARC, Baskerville, March 2024)
- West of Wheeling, by Jeffrey Tanenhaus (Houndstooth Press, kindle)
- The War Widow, by Tara Moss (pbk ARC, Verve, March 2024)
- Voyage of the Damned, by Frances White (NetGalley ARC, Michael Joseph, January 2024)
- The Darkest Sin, by DV Bishop (pbk, own copy, Pan Macmillan)
- The Chamber, by Will Dean (NetGalley ARC, Hodder & Stoughton, June 2024)
- Hunted, by Abir Mukherjee (NetGalley ARC, Vintage, May 2024)
- The Hungry Dark, by Jen Williams (NetGalley ARC, HarperCollins, 11th April 2024)
- The Cracked Mirror, by Chris Brookmyre (NetGalley ARC, Abacus, July 2024)
Nine books! That’s pretty good going. Probably helped by coming down with lurgy and spending a couple of days on the sofa feeling very sorry for myself.
Full reviews to come (eventually), but it’s been a great month for books too. The Red Hollow is a fantastic follow-up to the brilliant Needless Alley – it’s very different, and spooky and I enjoyed it enormously.
West of Wheeling is about a guy who takes a Citibike from New York and (illegally) rides it across the US to California. I love a good bike travel book and this one is fascinating. Highly recommended if you like that sort of thing.
The War Widow is a cracking Australian Noir set just post WWII. Lots of detective action going on, compelling stuff.
I’ve had Voyage of the Damned on my kindle to read for a while. I started it ages ago then got promptly distracted by shiny things. Jumped back in and romped through it. A friend described it as ‘disaster queers murder on a boat’ which is a pretty good summary. Fantasy epic powers and a locked room boat mystery. Superb.
Also superb is The Darkest Sin, which I picked up in Northumberland on holiday last year thinking it was the first of DV Bishop’s Cesare Aldo books. It’s not, but very much can be read as such, and Mr Bishop himself said that he’d designed it so that if you read book 2 then book 1, you get a very different take on what happens. I shall be reading book 1 soon!
The Chamber. Well now. I’m a huge fan of Will Dean’s books, especially his Tuva Moodyson series. He’s also doing rather well with the standalones. This one is another locked room mystery with six deep sea divers locked in a hyperbaric chamber. Then one of them dies. An actual locked room. Incredibly claustrophobic, incredibly tense. Not for the faint-hearted!
Abir Mukherjee is better known for his Sam Wyndham crime novels set in Raj-era India, but he’s turned his hand to a high-tension thriller with Hunted. And jolly good it is too.
Jen Williams is no stranger to spooky and creepy, and The Hungry Dark is that and more. Gruesome at times and hugely atmospheric, this is one to read with ALL the lights on.
Finally I read Chris Brookmyre’s The Cracked Mirror, which takes an Agatha Christie-esque little old Scottish lady detective and a Michael Connell hard-boiled thrown off the force, balls to the rules detective and mashes them together into something entirely unique and very clever.
Books reviewed: 4
- In The Shadow Of Their Dying – Michael R. Fletcher & Anna Smith Spark (Grimdark Magazine, ARC, pbk)
- The Guests – Agnes Ravatn (Orenda Books, ARC, pbk)
- City on Fire – Graham Bartlett (Allison & Busby, pbk)
- The Last Murder At The End Of The World, by Stuart Turton (Raven Books, ARC)
I reviewed some books! Look!
Books purchased: 5
- The Last Murder At The End Of The World, by Stuart Turton (Raven Books, Waterstones special edition)
- Smart Running, by Jen and Sim Benson (Vertebrate Publishing, April 2024)
- All The Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Headline, kindle ebook)
- West of Wheeling: How I Quit My Job, Broke the Law & Biked to a Better Life by Jeffrey Tanenhaus (Houndstooth Press, kindle)
- Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper (Faber & Faber, kindle)
The Last Murder At The End Of The World has been on pre-order since last August, so does it really count? That said, the money came out of my account this month, so yes. It’s the signed special edition from Waterstones and looks GORGEOUS. I regret nothing. It’s got sprayed edges and a map!
Smart Running is a pre-order from the lovely folks at Vertebrate Books.
All The Sinners Bleed I bought at Harrogate last year in hardback, but this was on kindle so it’s easier to carry around. And Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper has been recommended to me by various people so when I saw it on sale for kindle, snapped it up.
Books received:5
- Long Live Evil – Sarah Rees Brennan (Orbit Books, ARC, August 2024)
Virtual bookpost (Netgalley/email):
- Profile K – Helen Fields (Avon Books, April 2024)
- The Chamber – Will Dean (Hodder & Stoughton, June 2024)
- The Cracked Mirror – Chris Brookmyre (Abacus, July 2024)
- How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying – Django Wexler (Orbit Books, May 2024)
Currently reading:
I’m between books at the moment – let me know if you’ve read anything fabulous lately!
As ever, any books in there which take your fancy? Any you’ve read and loved? Any that you’ve read and not loved?
See you next month!
Dx
espresso coco