Book reviews

The first properly good thriller I've read in ages! Famous Last Words starts on a relatively ordinary day: Camilla's going back to work after maternity leave. But when she wakes up, her husband has already headed out without saying goodbye. It's a little odd, but she...

Instructions for Heartbreak is a well-written book about friendship, very specifically focused on how you deal with difficult breakups. That specific focus gives it power but also a slightly repetitive feel on occasion. It's pinpointed at that stage of life where...

Silver is a sweet and thought-provoking science fiction YA book. Silver is also the name of our main character, a young alien come to Earth to spy on humans and see if their world is ripe for takeover. Her job is to 'inhabit' the first human she meets and learn what...

I'm fully invested in this Whity-based crime series now, featuring DCI Frank Black and DI Gerry Carver. Each one (so far) explores a case featuring an old body - the forgotten bodies of the series name. Frank fights hard to do what's right by each one. In this case,...

There are so many interesting ideas in Interstellar MegaChef. Glance at the cover and read the blurb, and you may think this will be a cosy SF story about a woman in an intergalactic version of the Great British Bake Off. There's certainly a (small) element of that,...

Forgotten Lives is the second of the Whitby's Forgotten Victims series, and I've seen enough now to think I'll probably be on board for any additions - it's a good read.In this volume, a body is found in the walls of a pub that's about to be torn down, and DCI Frank...

I always enjoy a crime book that makes you feel like you're reading something fresh and interesting, rather than a retread of everything that's gone before, even when there are familiar elements. That was certainly the case for me in One of Us Is Dead.It begins with...

This was a fun read, albeit one that took a little while to get into.It opens with the birthday party - and death - of the wealthy Anthony Wistern. Impaled on a spike in a pool, his death draws interest and suspicion from far and wide. If he was murdered, who did it?...

The Salt Flats is a taut and well-told tale about a couple heading to a mysterious retreat on the Bolivian salt flats.It's difficult to pin down as a specific genre. Is it a book about climate change fear (guilt about climate change eats away at main character...

I really enjoyed this start to a new crime/detective series from Wes Markin.When old remains are discovered in a suitcase in Whitby, Detective Chief Inspector Frank Black is put on the case. He sees beyond the bones to the person they once were, with hopes and dreams...

Slow Dance is an enjoyable romance that dances through time (sorry, you just have to run with the title cheese sometimes) as it builds up to romance in the past and present.Shiloh and Cary are our hero and heroine, with Shiloh the main viewpoint character. This...

At the beginning of Irresponsible Adult, our main character Robyn is verging on smug (which almost put me off - you have to keep reading).She's making sales left, right and centre in her estate agent job and she's about to make a huge investment that could set her up...

A lovely and literary exploration of a family that's still grieving, 12 years after the death of daughter Alice.Now her younger brother is getting married to her old frenemy, after hiding their relationship from both sets of parents. Gathering everyone in the same...

An engaging read with a fresh summer feel.Nevertheless, it's a serious book too (but not so much to weigh you down).It begins when main character Ali Morris is grieving - her mother died two years ago, and her husband left her on the one-year anniversary. She...

Between Friends & Lovers is really quite delightful.Yes, it's a romance with a love triangle, but it's not forced or cliched, and there aren't (refreshingly) too many misunderstandings.Anyway, back to the beginning: Josephine Boateng is a doctor and influencer,...