Review: ‘Burial Rites’ – Hannah Kent 2014
My rating: 5 of 5 stars Intimate, atmospheric and vividly told, Burial Rites is more than worthy of all the praise it has received. A powerful and emotional nar...
Review: ‘The Marvels’ – Brian Selznick 2015
My rating: 5 of 5 stars A moving and magical tale that seamlessly blends illustration and text. A story about family, identity, history and myth-making. The Mar...
Review: ‘Everything I Never Told You’ – Celeste Ng 2014
3.5 stars. A layered novel about all the secret lives families lead when they can’t or won’t communicate. The story focuses on a Chinese-American fa...
Review: ‘Snow Blind’ – Ragnar Jónasson 2010
My rating: 4 of 5 stars A claustrophobic ‘closed room’ murder mystery set in the far North of Iceland permeated with feelings of loneliness and isolation. First...
Review: ‘The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding’ – Agatha Christie 1960
3.5 stars. A fun collection of crime mysteries solved by Hercule Poirot, with a bonus one solved by Miss Marple. Sadly only one story in the collection of 6 is ...
Review: ‘Dark Places’ – Gillian Flynn 2009
3.5 stars. A twisted thriller that highlights the complicated nature of family, loyalty, greed, and regret. The novel is filled with irredeemably flawed charact...
Review: ‘The Mysterious Mr Quin’ – Agatha Christie 1930
My rating: 3 of 5 stars Mildly entertaining collection of short mysteries. I don’t believe this is Agatha Christie’s best work but there are enough enjoyable st...
‘Book of Lies’ – Teri Terry 2016
My rating: 3 of 5 stars Twin sisters meet for the first time at their mother’s funeral. That’s the unusual premise for this interesting YA tale about family tie...
‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’ – Ransom Riggs 2011
My rating: 4 of 5 stars Enjoyable Halloween weekend read, not as creepy as I expected but perfectly suited to a younger YA audience. The book uses real photogra...
‘The House of Silk: The New Sherlock Holmes Novel’ – Anthony Horowitz 2011.
The House of Silk is a novel with three parts; a fast-paced beginning, which gives way to a section of inaction, followed by an ending which feels almost ‘...