Reviews 

I have never read this, and enjoyed it, perhaps, more than I expected. Eliot is a heavy themed writer, swinging between good quality...

Started no.318 in Spain, but poor eyesight and less than gripping plot enforced a substitution. I have read this before; the only book of...

I suppose a pre-cursor of Middlemarch, this centres on the 1832 general election, which seems to have post-dated some electoral reform....

Another birthday present; this one from Patrick Stephenson. This is a geographical/historical picture, city by major city, of the world...

Another birthday present and a huge book at 700 pages. Quite a strange concept – blending real characters, as he often does, with...

Haven’t read this, or any other James Ellroy for years, but heard him on the radio. 'The Black Dahlia' is, I think, the first of a...

Have read this before but it is really good. It is about a huge CIA conspiracy which two CIA members try to uncover by creating an...

I picked this up to escape from a dreadful library book by Sophie Hannah called... can’t remember. I have read this before. He is a...

This was an A-level set text, and I read my old copy from the time, which is almost ruined by asinine adolescent observations. I will get...

Bought this in 1976 and don’t think I have ever read it. It is bloody good. Quite simple, short, and beautifully compressed tale of...

My Kindle miraculously revived, but I am afraid that this book suffered in comparison with no.122. Rookie cop caught between his job and...

My kindle miraculously revived, but I’m afraid this book suffered in comparison with Burgess. Rookie cop caught between his job and his...

Great, big book - post Vietnam meets Raymond Chandler (the end is very Chandler-esque - serious wealth and serious corruption). Small...

Not one of his best, in fact disappointing. A guy who thought his father was dead finds out that he is a New York hoodlum. Lots of people...

An early book, I think, very much coming of age/ 'Catcher in the Rye' (have I ever read this?) type of book. The coming of age is...

Another brilliant read, another vendetta, this time of the heart. Another great twist in the end; I didn't see this one coming. Female...

Wonderful, could be his masterpiece to date. The old Cuban employed as a mafia hitman is wonderfully portrayed and there is a great...

Ellory is close to being one of my favourite writers. Relatively, this is a bit of a pot boiler; the eponymous anniversary man baffles...

Hard work, but very, very good. Heard on Radio 4 news that 'if you are running a book club, don't choose this'. It is very long and has...