Ninepins Synopsis Deep in the Cambridgeshire fens, Laura is living alone with her 12-year-old daughter Beth, in the old tollhouse known as Ninepins. She’s in the habit of renting out the pumphouse, once a fen drainage station, to students, but…
Graven Images Synopsis 2005 – the year of the London terrorist bombings. A young Cambridge biologist, Owen, penetrates a sinister pagan group while seeking to avenge the death of his archaeologist girlfriend, whom he believes was killed to halt her research…
Cedardale Court Synopsis Cedardale Court is a neo-gothic murder mystery with enough fools and old flames to keep you happily mixed up for most of a long weekend. When Canner Connelly and his daughter, Chloe, move in with their Uncle Henry,…
Upside Down Inside Out Synopsis Eva Kennedy is in a rut. After seven years of working at her uncle’s Dublin delicatessen, her artistic aspirations have slipped by the wayside and her latest relationship has fizzled. Whatever happened to the Eva who…
Louis de Bernieres’ Red Dog novel is a charming tale, the audiobook perfect for a long family car trip. Fiction based on a life-affirming Australian legend. Read my full review. Note: Not to be confused with Norman Bridwell’s iconic Clifford the…
SNAP The World Unfolds Synopsis SNAP, a multinational celebrity TV show and magazine, is the holy grail for Maxie Gwenoch. When she snags the job as managing editor, she’s looking for fame, fortune and Jimmy Choos. What she finds is a…
House of Sticks Synopsis Bonnie has given up her life as a musician to become a stay-at-home mum. She tells herself she has no regrets, but sometimes the isolation and the relentless demands of three small children threaten to swamp the…
The Five Greatest Warriors Synopsis IT BEGAN WITH SIX STONES Jack West Jr and his loyal team are in desperate disarray: they’ve been separated, their mission is in tatters, and Jack was last seen plummeting down a fathomless abyss. IT…
This was my first outing with Cara Black and her feisty protagonist Aimee Leduc. Based on the obvious success of this series, Murder in Passy being the 11th instalment, and the Parisian setting, I had high hopes.
Karin Slaughter’s The Unremarkable Heart is a short story with stark and dark subject matter, with surprising compassion
Aronson’s simple story telling provides the reader a quick and easy read with just the right mix of technical explanation, humourous observation and personal philosophy.
I really enjoyed Australian author Toni Jordan’s debut novel Addition because of its quirkiness and refreshing approach to chick lit (read my review), and so I eagerly awaited the publication of her second novel.
In Fall Girl Toni Jordan has created an interesting premise and quirky characters for the reader to be engaged and surprised by.
Paul Murray had attempted to explore so many deep concepts in Skippy Dies and I’m just not sure he quite pulls it off. Although undeniably impressive, the goal may perhaps have been a tad lofty?
This novel operates on many levels, many of them in very dark places of the human psyche. Everything is put under the microscope — the themes of ‘coming of age’, differences between men and women, right and wrong (ethics), perception versus reality, love versus dependence….. with an undercurrent of existentialism.
If you are after a literary masterpiece, this is not the book for you. Bestselling author Richard North Patterson is a crafter of plots rather than prose. If you are in the mood for an edge of your seat courtroom drama with gritty wartime reflections, familial deception and a little romance thrown in, In the Name of Honour ticks all these boxes!
Annabelle is tired of being the lone failure in a family of overachievers. She’s endured dead-end jobs and a broken engagement. But that’s going to change now that she’s taken over her late grandmother’s matchmaking business. All Annabelle has to do is land the Windy City’s hottest bachelor as her client, and she’ll be the most sought-after matchmaker in town.
I was pleasantly surprised at how many plot lines Vicki Delany has managed to weave into Negative Image, a novel of less than 300 pages. Murder, extortion, a string of burglaries, a stalker and a personal tragedy are all on the bill.
Vicki Delany’s prose is unpretentious and easy to read – her focus is telling a compelling story.
