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Jun 18, 20211 min read
870. Ian Rankin - Westwind
This is rather overblown by the publishers ‘the iconic number one bestseller’, ‘the classic lost thriller’. In point of fact, as Rankin...
Mar 10, 20211 min read
852. Paul Ferguson - Killing The Dead
This must have been a present from one of the kids, as it has sat in my bookcase for years and I have no memory of having read it before....
Feb 10, 20211 min read
847. Mick Herron - Real Tigers
Haven’t been reading as much (or as quickly) due to a lockdown related recent obsession with jigsaws. Have just nearly completed one 1000...
Feb 4, 20211 min read
846. Susanna Moore - In The Cut
I have read this before, I think many years ago and it is very good. Full of quite graphic sex, but a lot better than Shades of Grey. The...
Jan 2, 20211 min read
840. Ian Rankin - A Song For The Dark Times
Xmas present from Dan, signed by the author. Parallel plot lines; Clarke in Edinburgh doing conventional police work; Rebus now...
Dec 20, 20201 min read
836. John Le Carré - Agent Running In The Field
Probably his last published book, as he died last week. Le Carré is a writer (like Graham Greene) whose prose an English middle class...
Dec 8, 20201 min read
832. R. J. Ellory - Three Bullets
I think he is quite patchy and this is not one of his best (which are very good). A fictionalisation of the Kennedy assassination in (I...
Sep 26, 20201 min read
817. John Fowles - The Collector
Another John Fowles. Quite a strange book about a man who kidnaps a girl with whom he is obsessed and imprisons her in his cellar. But...
Jul 31, 20201 min read
803. William Boyd - Ordinary Thunderstorms
Took the day off on Friday to enjoy the sun and wanted a chunky book. I had no clear memory of reading this before but it was quite a...
Jun 21, 20201 min read
793. Robert Harris - The Fear Index
A gift from our next door neighbour, for whom we were cooking. Never read any Robert Harris before. I thought this started well, but...
Jun 13, 20201 min read
791. Graham Greene - The Tenth Man
I am not reading very well at the moment and have trouble following the plots of lots of books, this is really a novella written for a...
May 29, 20201 min read
784. Ruth Rendell - Going Wrong
Another thriller for the Tesco queue; I have got quite good at finishing a serious book on a Friday night. But this is the last Ruth...
Apr 27, 20201 min read
770. Holly Watt - To The Lions
Paddy recommended this, having heard the author on Women’s Hour. Although it has been widely praised, I thought it was rubbish, well that...
Feb 10, 20201 min read
750. Mick Herron - The Catch
Am writing this on 20 February and can’t honestly remember anything about this book. These are a bit of a cheat. It is part of a series...
Jan 12, 20201 min read
742. John Le Carré - Smiley's People
This I think is the 3rd book in a trilogy which ends with Smiley trapping Karla’s daughter who has been smuggled into Europe...
Dec 19, 20191 min read
736. Denise Mina - Garnethill
Have read this before, and it is a lot more fun than no 735. The family drama is very good, and both Maureen and Leslie are good, strong...
Dec 6, 20191 min read
734. Ken Follett - The Man From St. Petersburg
An Xmas present from Cristina next door, who is I think a fan and may even have met the guy. Very good, not the sort of book or writer I...
Dec 2, 20191 min read
733. Denise Mina - Conviction
Haven’t read any of her more recent books; this is quite unlike the (as I remember it) rather gritty working class realism of her early...
Nov 21, 20191 min read
731. Patrick Modiano - The Black Notebook
Heard about this guy on Radio 4’s ‘A Good Read’. Apparently quite a well known writer, has written loads, Nobel Prize listed, but I, like...
Aug 30, 20191 min read
706. Mick Herron - Joe Country
I may not have been in the right mood, but thought this was one of his weaker books. Weak and slowly developed plot line and just not a...