Keeping the House by Tice Cin

Reviewer: Catriona Troth

What We Thought of It:

When Damla’s father is sent to prison, her mother, Ayla, must navigate her way around north London’s Turkish Cypriot drugs trade to make one last deal to keep a roof over her familys heads.

Ayla, far from the helpless little woman the drugs gang initially takes her for, masterminds a slow-burning plan to plant packets of heroin within the hearts of cabbages as they grow, and then smuggle them inside the full-grown vegetables.

What follows, however, is far from a typical crime thriller. The story of the drugs trade is smuggled inside a much larger narrative. Told from the points of view of three generations of Cypriots around the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham, it’s an intimate, sometimes funny, sometimes tragic portrait of an immigrant community. It moves backwards and forwards in time between 1999 and 2012, splintering between different perspectives, as if we are peeking in through different windows, catching glimpses of stories that we must stitch together to form the whole.

Damla is having her own (mis)adventures with Cemile, the younger sister of Feliz – a girl so wild she takes the heat off the two younger girls and lets them get away with more than they should. The two are what Cin describes as “under-the-kitchen-table kids” – vaguely neglected; disconnected from their communities without quite knowing why, tumbling into experiences they are not really mature enough to handle.

Tice Cin is poet and digital artist as well as an author. Her prose periodically elides into poetry. Her language is lush: the sounds of it, and the images is conjures, all carefully considered.

Like so many immigrant stories, much revolves around food. Not only the traditional Turkish dishes cooked by Damla’s grandmother (“the meals that slid oil into you, that kept you full when you wanted to eat more but couldn’t.”) but the sticky Panda pop and barbecued ribs Damla buys for her little brother – the foods of their adopted home in north London.

Shortlisted for the 2022 Jhalak Prize.

You’ll Enjoy This If You Loved: You People by Nikita Lalwani, A Cupboard Full of Coats by Yvvette Edwards

Avoid If You Dislike: Fragmented narratives. Stories centred around drug dealing.

Perfect Accompaniment: Helva (tahini-based fudge-like sweet)

Genre: Crime. Literary.

Buy This Book Here

Golden Child by Claire Adam

Reviewer: Catriona Troth

What We Thought:

“His mind goes round and round in circles, confused. He cannot understand how he got to this point. He is quite sure that back at the beginning, when the boys were born, he was determined, above all else, to be a good father. Now, somehow, he has ended up here, and there seems to be no going back.”

Peter and Paul are twins, born on the island of Trinidad. Peter, the elder, is the Golden Child – studious, bright beyond his years. Paul, the younger, suffered complications during birth, was a difficult baby, and is considered ‘slightly retarded’ by his family. A problem child.

So when thirteen year old Paul disappears from home, his father’s first reaction is anger. It’s just Paul, causing trouble, like he always does.

Yet the real trouble lies much deeper, in the secrets, lies and jealousies that twist through the fabric of their extended family. In the end, the father must decide just what he is willing to do to protect his family – and the future of his Golden Child.

This is rural Trinidad in the late twentieth century, a long way from the tourist trails. A place of gang leaders and drug lords, where break-ins and kidnappings are common and where even quite ordinary families keep guard dogs and burglar-proof their houses. But Clyde has kept himself away from all that. He has never bothered with a fancy car or a bigger house. Everything has been for his family, and for Peter.

The story of the Deyalsingh family unfolds slowly, our perspective shifting till, just as we have seen enough to form a full picture, the truth is revealed. We feel the dead weight on the father’s shoulders, the impossibility of shifting the whole direction of his life. And the knowledge that, whatever he chooses, he will have to live with it for the rest of his life.

If the golden child, Peter, remains a bit of a cypher, we slowly become privy to Paul's hopes and dreams. His frustration with the constant feeling of failure. With the way letters refuse to arrange themselves on the page when he tries to read, but instead "look like ants crawling around on the page." With Daddy always being mad. He wants to leave school and get a job, to buy Ray-Ban sunglasses and fluorescent short pants, and "hand Mummy a big wad of cash."

A disturbing, uncomfortable and absorbing first novel. Winner of the Desmond Elliot Prize 2019 and Longlisted for the 2020 Jhalak Prize

You’ll Enjoy This If You Loved: The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross, Disposable People by Ezekel Alan, What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn

Avoid If You Dislike: Stories of missing children

Perfect Accompaniment: Macaroni pie and a glass of rum

Genre: Literary Fiction, Thriller


Buy This Book Here

East of Hounslow by Khurrum Rhaman

Reviewer: Catriona Troth

What We Thought:

Somewhere in the territory between The Little Drummer Girl and Kingsman lies East of Hounslow by Khurrum Rhaman.

This is the story of hapless small-time drug dealer, Javid (‘call me Jay’) Qasim who, against all probability, is recruited by MI5 to infiltrate what they believe is a dangerous terrorist cell at his local mosque.

He is – apparently – the perfect candidate. At a turning point in his life. Credible as someone who could be sucked into extremism. But why did MI5 pick him over all other candidates? And why exactly is the leader of the cell so keen to have him along?

Rhaman’s MI5 is a bit shoddy and rundown – nothing like the hi-tech world of programmes like Spooks. And his terrorists are a long way from the extremist stereotypes and the bogeymen of the tabloid press. And yet the threat they pose is real enough. Will Jay be able to stop them? And at what cost to himself?

Rhaman’s world is an uneasy balance between the absurd and the all-too-probable – a reflection of our society and its fears that creates a kind of uncanny valley. You’ll laugh, and then wonder maybe if you should be laughing – and then laugh again because sometimes laughter is the best weapon against fear.

You’ll Enjoy This If You Loved: Dear Infidel by Tamim Sadikali, Brothers in Blood by Amer Anwar, Three Lions (film).

Avoid If You Dislike: Finding humour in terrorism and counter-terrorism

Perfect Accompaniment: A pint of San Miguel

Genre: Thriller, Humour

Available on Amazon

For the Love of Luke by David C Dawson

Reviewer: Catriona Troth

What We Thought:

David C Dawson’s latest novel, lying somewhere between a thriller and a romance, is a light treatment of a serious subject, but nonetheless relevant for that.

If you are not aware of the realities behind this story, you might be inclined to class this as a dystopia, like The Handmaid’s Tale, or even to dismiss it altogether. Unfortunately, the grim truth is that gay conversion therapy is not only practised in various places around the world, often with the encouragement of various church groups – it has been advocated by the current Vice President of the United States.

Rupert Pendley-Evans is a successful London journalist, and the son of minor aristocracy. When water from his upstairs neighbour’s bathroom comes pouring through his bedroom ceiling, he rushes upstairs only to find the young man lying naked and unconscious on the floor. Thus begins his relationship with Luke who – as he himself says – is ‘complicated’. A very talented artist, he has no memory at all of his life before about six months ago. But it is clear that he has suffered a profound trauma. Together, Rupert and Luke must unravel what happened to him and confront a threat that has stalked him from the US to London.

For the Love of Luke is more sexually explicit than Dawson’s previous novels. However, the sex scenes are imbued with a tenderness that lifts them above the merely pornographic.

The fact that this is also a mixed-race relationship is less convincingly handled, though it barely impinges on the story. On the other hand, I enjoyed the treatment of Rupert’s parents, which added some comic relief and subverted expectations. And Dawson’s knowledge of the workings of the BBC lends credence to the newsroom scenes.

As a story of American-meets-Englishman-meets-British-aristocracy, this is reminiscent of Armistead Maupin’s Babycakes. But more than 40 years after Michael Tolliver first appeared in the pages of the San Francisco Chronicle, the thought that gay conversion therapy could still cast a shadow over Anna Madrigal’s ‘logical family’ should horrify us all.

You’ll Enjoy This If You Loved: Babycakes by Armistead Maupin, The Deadly Lies by David C Dawson

Avoid If You Dislike: Explicit gay sex scenes

Perfect Accompaniment: Game pie and a glass of Syrah

Genre: LGBTQ, Thriller, Romance

Available on Amazon

The Stolen Child by Sanjida Kay

Reviewer : Gillian Hamer, author of The Charter, Closure, Complicit, Crimson Shore, False Lights & Sacred Lake (www.gillianhamer.com)

This is the first book I’ve read of this author and I must admit I was totally gripped by both the writing and the story. In the vein of some of the best of the modern-day thrillers from Gillian Flynn and Clare Mackintosh, The Stolen Child is the riveting story of one couples attempt to stop themselves, and their whole lives, falling apart when their adopted child, Evie, goes missing after school one day.

Zoe and Ollie Morley tried for years to have a child of their own and when it seemed their only route was adoption, they took on a tiny girl called Evie, and never looked back. Even after the birth of the own natural son, Ben, Evie was an integral part of their family, and other than long working hours keeping them apart, their lives were everything they had dreamed.

But after moving back to Zoe’s home county of Yorkshire and setting up a home on the edge of her beloved moors, Evie’s personality begins to change. Strange packages are left from Evie’s natural father, and when one day she disappears after school, the Morley’s life is shattered into a million unconscionable pieces.

The author cleverly gives us enough clues and red herrings to keep us guessing and on the edge of our seats right up until the exhilarating climax of the story. A personal favourite of mine was the description of the moors and the landscape, which I feel always adds another layer to the depth of the story. The characters were superbly drawn, no emotion felt awkward or contrived, I felt from start to finish that I was in the hands of a talented storyteller and let myself go to enjoy the journey.

Highly recommended!

You’ll enjoy this if you like: Kate Hamer, Jenny Blackhurst, Erin Kelly.

Avoid if you don’t like: High emotion and gripping plots.

Ideal accompaniments: Cheeseburger, fries and cola.

Genre: Contemporary


Available on Amazon

He Said / She Said by Erin Kelly

Reviewer : Gillian Hamer, author of The Charter, Closure, Complicit, Crimson Shore, False Lights & Sacred Lake. (www.gillianhamer.com)


What we thought : There’s nothing better than discovering exciting new authors whose work you soon become addicted to – and that is certainly the case with Erin Kelly.

He Said / She Said takes the reader on a complex journey starting at a lunar eclipse festival in Cornwall through to eighteen years down the line when everyone involved has lived with the shadow of that weekend for the rest of their lives. But what is the truth?

When Laura, our lead protagonist, witnesses a sexual attack and intervenes, resulting in a gruelling court case, her comfortable life seems over for good. She becomes involved in a dependency-style friendship with Beth, the victim of the assault, and when her actions turn bizarre and then dangerous, Laura and husband Kit, change their names and move home. But Laura suffers several years of anxiety and PTSD, and when the story begins in the current day, with her pregnant with twins, it’s only now her life feels normal again.

But the shadow of the past is never far away, and when Kit travels to the Pharaoh Islands in search of his latest eclipse siting, pregnant Laura is left alone feeling more anxious than ever. And when Beth turn up on her doorstep, spilling secrets Laura could never have imagined, the reader is gripped to see where this twisting tale will end.

The switches in POV and periods here make this quite a challenging read, but for me it is worth it. The characters are crystal clear, the pace works really well, and some of the court scene dialogue was brilliantly written. I’ve already downloaded another book by this author and I hope it is as gripping a read as this one.


You’ll enjoy this if you like : Clare MacKintosh, B.A. Paris, Louise Doughty.


Avoid if you don’t like : Not knowing what is round the next corner.


Ideal accompaniments : Pear cider and a Ploughman’s lunch.


Genre : Thriller.


Available on Amazon

Munich by Robert Harris

Reviewer: JJ Marsh


What we thought: 
Fascinating and un-plug-outable (I listened to the audiobook).

This novel details the tense lead-up to the Munich conference in late 1938 with exemplary research and human insight. Two men, both insiders in the opposing regimes, observe the frantic diplomacy required to avert war in Europe. Hugh Legat and Paul Hartmann met at Balliol, Oxford, becoming friends, co-travellers and political debaters. Now, they are working for their respective governments but share a single aim. To defeat Hitler.

Harris is a master on this subject and in this genre - historical fiction from the perspective of those who could have changed the key moments of modern history. Despite our hindsight, this diplomatic dance around a despot is involving, and gives us hope. There are good men prepared to do something, regardless of the risk.

This fictionalised account sent me scurrying to learn more about the events which could have precluded WWII. Period details such as the enormous undertaking of flying to another country and the brutal ugliness of gas masks transport the  reader to the 1930s with a sharpness which underlines the danger.

Anyone with a passing interest in politics must draw parallels to current events and feel a shiver of sinister familiarity when the egotistical dictator grows incensed at his depiction by the foreign press. We should be grateful such a short-fused, power-crazed man didn't have access to Twitter.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: Fatherland, Enigma, Downfall

Avoid if you don’t like: European politics, details of diplomacy

Ideal accompaniments: Cigarettes, whisky and liverwurst

Genre: Historical fiction, spy thriller

Available on Amazon

Innocent Blood by P.D James

Reviewer : Gillian Hamer, author of The Charter, Closure, Complicit, Crimson Shore, False Lights & Sacred Lake. (www.gillianhamer.com)

What we thought: A standalone crime thriller from one of my favourite crime writers that for me stood apart from her usual style, but was none the less still gripping to the final page.

Written from split perspectives, we firstly follow Philippa Palfrey, a young girl who upon reaching eighteen decides to find out the truth about her birth parents despite the objections of her adoptive family. Her fairy tale dreams that she is the long-lost daughter of a nobleman are shattered by her discoveries, and we join her as she struggles to come to terms with the reality of her past. 

In a separate thread, Norman is on the mission of his life to find justice for her wife and daughter. Gradually, inch by inch, we see the two stories merge into one and the shocking conclusion that results.

There is much more of a psychological style here than in most of the author’s detective books and I thought she handled it well. I also really enjoyed the London setting, the use of inner city areas versus the leafier suburbs added weight to the class struggle running throughout the novel.

The twist in the tale of the novel was superbly written and the book was well-paced throughout, keeping the reader guessing how the story would evolve. Characters were well formed and believable, yet still distant enough that the reader would not easily connect with any of the main players as none were designed to be ‘nice’ or pleasing to the audience.

I really enjoyed my time back in the company of P.D. James and was pleased at the more modern style in this novel.

You’ll enjoy this if you like : Ruth Rendell, Michael Crichton, Karin Slaughter.

Avoid if you don’t like : Family secrets and lies.

Ideal accompaniments: Vegetable stew and a half pint of bitter.

Genre : Thriller.

Available on Amazon

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Reviewer: JD Smith, author of Tristan and Iseult and the Overlord series

What we thought: Then She Was Gone describes the sudden disappearance of Ellie Mack; a beautiful, fifteen year old golden girl with her whole life ahead of her.

The effect upon her family is both heartbreaking and unsurprising as her parent's marriage disintegrates and the effects of Ellie's disappearance leaves a damage rippling through the years.

And then, ten years later, Ellie's mum, Laurel, meets Floyd, and the beginning of a happy future glow on a barren horizon. But when Laurel meets Floyd's youngest daughter, Poppy, the past comes racing back.

Poppy looks just like Ellie.

You think you know the end, you think you know all the answers; you think the conclusion obvious. But as you race through the pages, you realise there's more to Ellie's disappearance, and the secrets unfold to the very end.

The prose is dynamic and fluid and Jewell's characters keep you engaged. You will feel their confusion, loss, sadness and hope for a future not as bleak as the past.

You'll enjoy this if you like: Gone Girl, Girl on a Train, anything else with 'Girl' in the title.

Avoid if you dislike: Mysteries, books which rely a little heavily on coincidence, missing girl stories.

Ideal accompaniments: Rhubarb and custard tea, pistachio nuts and a footstool.

Genre: Thriller

Available on Amazon

The Expansion by Christoph Martin

Review by JJ Marsh

What we thought:

A fast-paced thriller set in the world of international politics and big business, this book stands out from its peers for two reasons. One, its complex characters and their choices. Two, its fascinating setting – the eponymous expansion refers to the Panama Canal.

Max Burns, geomatic engineer, gets the opportunity of a lifetime when an old schoolfriend asks him to head a bid for the hugely competitive project of expanding the canal. He’s got his work cut out, not just in outperforming the other countries in the running, but dealing with his employers’ unusual managerial style. With parties, prostitutes and politics, he’s out of his depth.

When he meets Karis Deen, Smithsonian researcher, his feet touch bottom. She’s different, someone he can trust. But Karis is not exactly who she seems.

A crackling global adventure which dives into the murky waters of geopolitics, the business of construction, environmental effects, human greed and weakness. Add to this a colourful supporting cast of not-all-good-or-bad guys who alternately exasperate and delight, and you are onto a winner.
This demands to be read in one heart-thumping go.


You’ll enjoy this if you liked: The Expats by Chris Pavone, Deception Point by Dan Brown or The Fear Index by Robert Harris

Avoid if you don’t like: Complex plots, international finance, surprises

Ideal accompaniments: Gasoline tea, fried plantain and a warm breeze blowing through the curtains

Genre: Thriller



Available on Amazon

To Retribution by FJ Curlew

Reviewer: JW Hicks

What we thought: This novel, a convoluted thriller with nods to Brave New World and Orwell’s 1984, gives a Nostradamus-like prediction of the rise of the Right in the Britain of the not-too-distant future.

After a coup, life in Britain has changed beyond recognition. Fear and intimidation reigns. The only law is meted out by the New Dawn security force. The only citizens that prosper are the lickspittle followers of the facist regime. Corruption is widespread, especially amongst the new political elite.

Two young journalists, Suze and Jake, bent on reporting political corruption on their pirate website find themselves attacked by New Dawn security force. Barely escaping death in a raid on their secret headquarters they set out to discover exactly why they have been so murderously targeted. Their journey of discovery is a long and winding trail along which they not only meet horrors they couldn’t imagine, but allies that share their hatred of the new regime.

Gripping from the outset, To Retribution, is a fast paced narrative which leads its youthful protagonists into the very heart of a truly evil conspiracy.

A definite page turner!

You’ll enjoy if you like: Fast paced action culminating in an all-ends-tied-up finish. 

 
Avoid if you don’t like: Political corruption and fascist atrocities.

Ideal accompaniments: A hot toddy and a wrap-around comforter.

Genre: Thriller

Available on Amazon

Stolen by Lisa C Hinsley

Reviewer: JW Hicks

What we thought: Want something shockingly original, with thrills and frights in abundance, something you can’t stop reading, something that you must keep reading until you reach that very last word? Read Lisa Hinsley’s novel, Stolen.

One of the great reads, this book. Cleverly written to sound so everyday, so natural that when the shocks happen, they freeze and frighten. The slow build up that leads to skin-creeping fear is masterly.

Thirty year old Emily travels to Scotland after a year of mourning, wanting to escape her mother’s cloying sympathy and her father’s relieved ‘perhaps it was for the best.’ Emotionally battered, she encounters an older, dependable, good looking man that she instinctively trusts. Accepting his offer to chill out, relax and heal her aching heart by spending time on his Shetland island, she does in fact find peace. All too soon that peace is shattered by the discovery that she’s been lied to and manipulated. By the time she realises how foolish she’d been, it’s way too late.

It’s the authentic details, the powerful writing that make the story so readable and so very believable. It makes you feel that it really could happen to you.

Hinsley, the author of the enthralling bestseller Plague, certainly does not disappoint with this new offering.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: The books of James Herbert

Avoid if you don’t like: Horror stories that could so easily happen... to you.

Ideal accompaniments: A roaring fire, a bottle of brandy, Stilton and crackers.

Genre: Literary Fiction, Thriller.

Available from Amazon

Crossing the Whitewash by Nick Rippington

Reviewer: JJ Marsh

What we thought: An ambitious debut, this sprawling thriller boasts a large cast of characters, a complex plot and an intense sense of place. The novel begins on an East London estate where Gary Marshall, promising young footballer, is ‘rescued’ from a gang of muggers by Arnold Dolan. It’s the beginning of a long association Gary will live to regret.

The story follows the boys’ growth and development as the Boxer Boys, a gang with a reputation. Then two shocking incidents change the paths of both lives, with a permanent effect on their personalities.

The tough world of a council estate is vividly evoked, where violence is as natural as breathing. Once Gary gets a journalist position on a Cardiff paper, the author’s sports journalism background adds colour and expertise in the character’s adjustment to the regional newspaper life, rugby and Wales.

The plot is cleverly constructed with twists and tension throughout, the characters are believable and elicit extreme emotions in the reader, the locations are rich and detailed, and although a good editor could have taken this to another level, it’s clear this is a writer to watch.


You’ll enjoy this if you liked: Feral Youth by Polly Courtney, Stag Hunt by Anthony McGowan, This is England by Shane Meadows.

Avoid if you don’t like: Violence, sport, newspapers, Wales

Ideal accompaniments: A pint of Brains SA, chips with curry sauce and Blondie’s One Way or Another.

Genre: Thriller

Available from Amazon

House of Shadows by Misha M Herwin

Reviewer: JW Hicks author of Rats

What we thought: This haunting story will stay with you long after you finish reading.

Jo hasn’t recovered from the miscarriage that happened a year back. She grieves for her lost child, and despairs of the distance that has grown between her and her husband. Feeling that her artistic creativity had died with the child she seeks sanctuary in The Granary, a studio her husband created in an outbuilding in the grounds of Kingsfield, the Georgian manor house near the council estate where she was raised; a house with a history of supernatural happenings, unsolved disappearances and murders.

Jo is convinced that the peace and quiet of her studio will spark her lost creativity and enable her to paint again. However, the Granary proves to be far from the sanctuary she craves. As soon as she arrives she sees the ghostly figure of a young girl in a blue dress and hears the haunting wail of an invisible child. At first she fears her mind is affected by the loss of her own child, but when she experiences terrifying spirit visitations and is be-shadowed by a malicious entity, she is convinced that something inhabits Kingsfield, something spectral, intent on revenge and that she is that spirit’s target. Her terror revives long-hidden memories of an unearthly childhood friendship and a blood-oath unwittingly made. Now, in the present day, Jo must confront the dire consequences of that careless action.

House of Shadows, an intriguing mystery story, set in the present and venturing into the past, is a thrilling, unsettling, scarily-tense read, telling how the past affects the future and how strong emotions spear through time to cause mayhem. The tension ramps up and up leading to a terrifying, nail-biting, edge-of-the seat-climax.

Herwin’s characters, whether evil or good, are never two dimensional, never merely black and white but constitute all the hues and shades in-between. Her skillful writing informs readers of the whys and wherefores of each character’s forming, and her narrative wends and flows perfectly as it leads the reader through tension and torment to a terrifying conclusion.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: The Appalachian Novels of Sharyn McCrumb and The Charter by Gillian Hamer.

Avoid if you don’t like: Characters being inhabited by malign spirits.

Ideal accompaniments: A glass or two of something strong enough to fortify your spirit.

Genre: Supernatural Thriller

Available from Amazon

Broken People by Ioana Visan

Reviewer: JW Hicks author of Rats.

What we thought: That the synopsis states the absolute truth:– You don’t always get what you want, but if you’re lucky, you might get what you need.

And, Anything is possible in a world of Broken People.

Broken People – Visan’s futuristic heist story, set in a war-ravaged and bitterly divided world, where the injured rely on expensive and increasingly rare prosthetics. A world where the cost of fitting and maintaining the prosthetics is rocketing, and trained technicians increasingly rare.

Dale Armstrong and his partner in crime, Cole, plan to rob the Hrad,an ancient castle reputed to hold fabulous artifacts, soon to be open to the public for one week only. When Cole is badly injured before the heist is to take place, Dale, in desperate need to fix his partner is forced to turn to the Golden Lady for help. She agrees, but the cost is far higher than he could ever imagine.

The Golden Lady, a power player in the city, has her own very particular agenda. She allows Dale entrée toThe Nightingale Circus, where Big Dino rules over his technicians and outré performers with a rod of iron.

Involved, entangled and trapped, Cole’s journey to fulfill his plan weaves a convoluted path through deceit, diversions and disasters. En route he has to deal with strongly individual and off-the-wall characters such as Aurora, the golden-armed lady, the magician Nicholas who is far more than he seems, the enigmatic Ceilo, and the monstrous Big Dino’s scary techs, Rake and Spinner.

This startlingly inventive novel is a must for sci-fi, dystopian, and cyber-fiction fans. Visan draws the reader into this broken world with consummate ease, endowing her characters with solidity and depth and drawing the reader with an unbreakable thread through the twists and turns of an unforgettable story.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: Novels which echo Gibson and Cadigan. And futuristic thrillers like Mad Max.

Avoid if you don’t like: Cybernetic humans and circus freaks.

Ideal accompaniments: A plate of fancies, numerous cups of strong coffee and an absence of interruptions, because you won’t be able to stop reading this thrill-ride.

Available from Amazon

Inceptio by Alison Morton

Reviewer: JJ Marsh

What We Thought:
A book that doesn’t easily fit a genre, this is a modern action tale set against an alternate history. It’s exciting and pacy and contains lots of unexpected twists, but what attracted me most was the premise. A place where women make the decisions, right in the heart of Europe?

Our modern New Yorker heroine, Karen Brown, upsets the wrong guy and finds her options drastically reduced. Not only that, but she's attracting all the wrong kind of attention. When she learns of a relative in Roma Nova, the female-dominated European country which arose out of the ashes of the Roman Empire, it’s time to pack her bags.

She assumes a new identity, goes undercover, learns to fight and begins to understand how the politics work. All the while keeping two men in her sights: Renschman, who is out to kill her, and Conrad Tellus, who is her mentor, bodyguard and ...?

The tempo is snappy, the key characters believable and appealing, and the setting fascinates. So much so you actually wish it existed. In fact, that would be my only regret – that we didn’t get to see more of this world and how it operates at the ordinary level. Although the Latin references, alternate curses and glimpses of the architecture tantalised, I wanted a guided tour. But there are two more books in the series, following the transformations of our heroine, so there’s a great deal more to explore.

You’ll enjoy this if you liked: The Afrika Reich, Fatherland, Rats

Avoid if you dislike: Latin, geography, history, violence

Ideal accompaniments: Half a bottle of Franciacorta, green olives stuffed with anchovies and Lux Aeterna by Kronos Quartet

Genre: Contemporary, Historical Fiction

Available from Amazon.

I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

Reviewer: Barbara Scott Emmett, author of The Land Beyond Goodbye, Don’t Look Down and Delirium: The Rimbaud Delusion. (http://barbarascottemmett.blogspot.co.uk/)

What We Thought: If you want a well-written, page-turning thriller, look no further than I am Pilgrim. This is a superior blockbuster doorstop of a novel in that it is intelligent and literate. At over 880 pages it seems at first to be a dauntingly long read but it isn’t. The pages fly by and midnight oil is liable to get burnt as you read just one more shortish chapter.

Two men are at the centre of this novel: the chaser, code name Pilgrim, and Saracen, the potential terrorist he’s chasing. Can the ultra-secret Secret Serviceman prevent the disaster about to be unleashed on America or will Saracen prove to be his nemesis? Both men seem superhuman at times, having knowledge and abilities far beyond the norm – but so do Sherlock Holmes, Jack Reacher and a hundred other crime-fighters/criminal masterminds, so that trope is a given.

However, I am Pilgrim delves into the lives of both men, following them through their earlier careers, showing us their family tragedies, their successes, their failures, and all the time building up to the moment when you just know they will meet. Though the novel is firmly on the side of the West, there is some depth to it and it’s hard not to sympathise just a little with the Saracen. Neither side is squeaky clean.

Another, possibly linked, story runs alongside the hunt for the Saracen – the murder of an unknown woman in New York. Pilgrim is involved in this one as well – in fact, he seems to be rather more involved than is good for him (another trope). A book on forensics he has written under a false name appears to be being used as a how-to manual for the perfect murder.

The two strands wind together in Bodrum, Turkey and though we know it must end well for Pilgrim (it’s a ‘Good’ vs Evil’ book after all and surely ‘Good’ must win) we are kept wondering just how this will be achieved until the final chapters.

I am Pilgrim is Terry Hayes’ first novel but he has a track record in writing film scripts. I can see this book being turned into a film very easily.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: Homeland, Lee Child, plenty of background and build-up.

Avoid if you dislike: Western Imperialism, very long books, scenes of torture (though these are minimal).

Ideal accompaniments: Turkish coffee, the trill of a Ç???rtma.

Genre: Thriller

Available from Amazon.

61 Hours by Lee Child

Reviewer: JW Hicks author of Rats.

What we thought: You want a mind-filling, worry-blocking read? Then take a gander at Lee Child’s oeuvre. His thrilling series of Jack Reacher novels is a guaranteed escape route from worry, bad thoughts and insomnia. Who cares if you can’t sleep if you have a Reacher novel close to hand?

I’ve just read book 14: 61 Hours. Wow!

61 Hours is a countdown to some unknown, scarily foreshadowed and clearly terrifying event. The opening paragraph reads, ‘Five minutes to three in the afternoon. Exactly sixty-one hours before it happened.’

As the chapters progress, so does the countdown... and the reader’s trepidation.

The protagonist, Jack Reacher, is an ex-army Military Police investigator. At six foot five and a skilled fighter with intimate knowledge of any number of martial arts, Reacher is a force to be reckoned with. Reacher – he only answers to Reacher – really does try to avoid trouble, but somehow always seems to find himself slap-dab in the middle of a whole stinking heap of it.

(In the 2012 film adaption of Child’s Reacher novel, One Shot, Tom Cruise got to play Reacher. As the Americans say, go figure.)

In 61 Hours, you will read high-powered action, experience Reacher winning mentally-planned fights with seemingly unbeatable opponents, and feel racking tension as the plot spirals into free-fall taking Reacher to the very edge.

Child writes with pictorial ease so that we see the pictures he draws oh so very clearly. In 61 Hours he describes snow with meticulous clarity, from the falling flakes to the deepening drifts, and as we read we actually feel the deathly cold that informs this teeth-chattering tale, and experience growing fear for our hero, Reacher.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: Hi-octane thrillers, and breath-holding blockbuster films.

Avoid if you don’t like: Walking a virtual tightrope of excited, quivering fear.

Ideal accompaniments: a smooth malt whisky and a giant box of Maltesers.

Available from Amazon

The Bronze Box by Amy C Fitzjohn

Reviewer : Gillian Hamer, author of The Charter (www.gillianhamer.com)

What we thought : With my love of crime writing and archaeology, this book drew my interest as it has a foot in both themes. It started with an ‘Indiana Jones’ theme, and continued at a similar high impact and pace throughout.

When an ancient artefact, The Bronze Box, is stolen and a leading archaeologist is murdered, Dr Sasha Blake, fresh out of Uni, finds herself innocently tied up in the enquiry, recruited to discover the truth by a shady organisation called The Agency. On her tail is an international criminal who is known only as The Libyan.
Sasha has a personal motivation, the victim was both her mentor and lover, and when she is thrown together with ex-spook, Tom Sheridan, her world turns into a nightmare as she is dragged through a series of lies, secrets and danger that lead to an ancient brotherhood who protect the secret contents of The Bronze Box.

I enjoyed the book, loved the details, history and customs of Bulgaria (especially as I’ve visited Varna and the Black Sea area) that were brilliantly described and very well researched – and think the author managed to combine the past and presents storylines very well. Not an easy task as I’m aware from my own writing. The pace maintained throughout and held my attention right through to final scenes and the aftermath, and I found the characters well-formed and believable.

Negatives? Characterisation in terms of motivation puzzled me at times and I think the dialogue could have been polished to sound more natural in some scenes.

Fitzjohn is a competent writer, and for a debut novel, this was a huge achievement. I’d recommend this to anyone with the same interests as mine looking for a new name in high-octane thrillers.

You’ll enjoy this if you like : Kate Mosse, Dan Brown, Barbara Erskine

Avoid if you don’t like : Ancient brotherhoods, archaeology and sinister plot twists.
Ideal accompaniments : Beef Stroganoff and a glass of claret wine.

Genre : Thriller