Recently, my Kindle broke. Having lasted a good five years, its life was brought to an abrupt end when a passing two year old threw it from the sofa to the floor. This wasn’t a throw from a great height (two year olds aren’t tall). There was no force or venom involved (though two year olds […]
Talented author and all-round-lovely-bloke G. J. Minett has his second novel, ‘Lie in Wait’ released in paperback today. To celebrate, I am reposting my original review . Enjoy! Then go book shopping. Go on. It’s a Wednesday. Three whole days to go ’til the weekend. Treat yourself – and your shelf. Last year I read and LOVED G. […]
I can’t resist the lure of a good secret. A plot that promises to reveal one will always intrigue me; a narrative that develops this promise effectively will always keep me hooked, reading on into the small hours, keenly anticipating the resolution. Having read ‘The Silent Fountain’, I feel certain Lucy Whittaker is a girl […]
”It is a war,’ Emilio said quietly, as he always did. As though, somehow, that made everything right. As though, in war, people were allowed to become someone else entirely.’ In Sarah Day’s debut novel, ‘Mussolini’s Island’, it is 1939/1940 and war with other nations looms, but there are more immediate concerns for Emilio and […]
Today I’m welcoming Lee Cockburn to the blog to discuss ‘Porcelain’. This is Lee’s second crime story featuring Detective Sergeant Taylor Nicks and this post is part of the blog tour. Want to know more? Here’s the blurb: High-powered businessmen are turning up tortured around the city of Edinburgh with one specific thing in common — […]
Love, obsession, faith, desire and redemption: ‘Jerusalem Ablaze’ is a collection of stories which burn with hunger. Today I’m welcoming Orlando Ortega-Medina to Buried Under Books as part of his blog tour to celebrate the recent publication of ‘Jerusalem Ablaze’, his debut collection of darkly humorous and strangely sensual short stories. Want to know more? Here’s the […]
You know a story’s good when you start again at the beginning as soon as you’ve read the ending. I discovered Diane Setterfield’s ‘The Thirteenth Tale’ at my local Lounge bar book swap one afternoon and was immediately hooked. Why? Look: ‘All children mythologise their birth. It is a universal trait. You want to know […]
‘Stasi Wolf’ is published today. This is the follow-up to David Young’s hugely successful and thoroughly chilling Cold War novel, ‘Stasi Child’ (which I LOVED; you can read my review here). Both books are set in Communist East Germany and follow the investigations of Karin Muller, murder squad detective and good East German citizen. Muller […]
I love curling up with a good book, whatever the season. You might find me on a sun lounger in summer or on a park bench in Autumn, but you’ll never find me without a book in my hand and another in my bag. (You never know when you’ll get Bonus Reading Time.) In Winter […]
1 husband, 8 children, 1,000 sheep… It’s testament to Amanda Owen’s busy lifestyle that the strap line for her second book – released in hardback at the end of last year and in paperback today – is already out of date; she now has nine children. (How? I mean, seriously. I find three small people […]