Reviews

Oct 26, 20231 min read

1100. Adele Parks - Just Between Us

A library book from P. I found this difficult to follow until, after finishing, I discovered in the author’s afterword, that it is part...

Sep 26, 20231 min read

1096. Peter Robinson - Careless Love

Another very good one, starting with two mysterious deaths, a young girl found dead in an abandoned car, and an elderly (obviously...

Sep 22, 20231 min read

1095. Peter Robinson - The Summer That Never Was

And another. This is much more typical, with a parallel plot involving the murder of a disturbed teenager in Eastvale (largely Annie) and...

Sep 17, 20231 min read

1094. Peter Robinson - Aftermath

The Robinson/Banks fest continues, this is the one before no.1093, so reading them in reverse order! This is different from many of the...

Sep 10, 20231 min read

1093. Peter Robinson - Friend Of The Devil

A bit of a Peter Robinson fest at the moment, but I do enjoy his books a lot more than most, so chose another when I have finished one....

Sep 8, 20231 min read

1092. Peter Robinson - Children Of The Revolution

The one in which a lonely no-hoper has been pushed off a bridge near his house and begins with Banks walking along the (disused, post...

Aug 27, 20231 min read

1089. Peter Robinson - Cold Is The Grave

Enjoyed the last one enough to read another. This is brilliant and I think probably one of the best. A family tragedy, involving...

Aug 16, 20231 min read

1086. Joseph Conrad - The Secret Agent

One of my favourite books and every time you read it, you pick up different aspects. I found the opening chapters hard work, but was...

Aug 10, 20231 min read

1085. Peter Robinson - Watching The Dark

I have read this before but was possibly binge-reading Robinson at the time and enjoyed it a lot more this time. This one begins in north...

Jun 24, 20231 min read

1075. Dorothy B Hughes - The Expendable Man

Published in the mid -1950s, this is very different. Re-published by a UK imprint called Persephone Books (to which P subscribes) it is...

May 9, 20231 min read

1064. Patrick Radden - Keefe Say Nothing

Hard work, but good. Subtitled ‘A true story of murder and memory in Northern Ireland’, this is a very selective history of the troubles...

Feb 18, 20231 min read

1047. Robert Galbraith - The Ink Black Heart

I have enjoyed most of these books, but not this one. The Strike/Robin relationship continues to be well chronicled and on a ‘Will they,...

Jan 28, 20231 min read

1045. Harkan Nesser - The Mind's Eye

There are good books to read in the run up to 31 January, fast-paced detective stories. Like no.1044, this is quite Freudian, featuring...

Nov 1, 20221 min read

1026. Graeme Macrae Burnet - His Bloody Project

Bought this as listed for the Booker prize (2016) and in the crime section at Waterstones. It is very good and I can understand the...

Oct 28, 20221 min read

1025. David Palin - Let The Game Commence

Re-read this again, but nothing much to add. Good but puzzling. Get this from Waterstones

Oct 22, 20221 min read

1023. David Palin - Let The Game Commence

I like David’s books and have read this twice, as it was a difficult first read with a lot of characters living in Merryking Close (and...

Sep 26, 20221 min read

1015. Val McDermid - 1979

Haven’t read one of her books for years, the early ones are too violent for me, but there was limited choice in the library last week....

Aug 19, 20221 min read

1004. Robert Galbraith - Troubled Blood

Bought this in error, read it before as a library book (no.980), but it is very good, long and complex with a huge cast of characters. A...

Aug 8, 20221 min read

1003. Dawnie Walton - The Final Revival Of Opal & Nev

Very different and quite strange. A fictionalised documentary history of a singing duo, Nev a brummie who escapes to the US to pursue...

Aug 3, 20221 min read

1001. Janice Hallett - The Appeal

This, her first book, was brilliant but far too long I thought. The first three quarters is largely a set of email exchanges between...