Book reviews

This is a slow-burn creepy horror/thriller set in the UK's Lake District. The setting plays a big part of the story here - it's beautiful, ominous, old, mysterious.But let's start at the beginning. Ashley Whitelam is a psychic, and yes she cheats money out of the...

Mania is an interesting and challenging read from Shriver.It's a satire set in an alternate world in which the Mental Parity movement takes off in 2011. This movement essentially states that everyone is equally intelligent (some people simply process things in an...

I'm unsure whether I've read any Myron Bolitor before (I think I might have done but before I kept records; I've definitely read a Win book or two), but that didn't stop me from launching headfirst into this twisty turny crime thriller.It begins when the FBI turn up...

Alien Clay is a book about politics as much as it is about aliens.It begins as Professor Arton Daghdev plummets at speed to the ground of the planet Kiln, thrown from the latest ship bearing new workers. He's been exiled due to political activism, now condemned to...

How to Solve Your Own Murder is an intriguing and cosy-ish mystery that spans two viewpoints and several decades. In 1965, 17-yr-old Frances has her fortune told, but is dismayed to hear a prophecy that includes her own murder. Eventually, she will become obsessed...

I enjoyed the final entry in this series - it was so nice to get to Spring and a bit of (no spoilers) hope!Please note - don't read this book as a standalone, go back to the beginning and start with book 1, okay? But as a recap, there's been a pandemic of sorts, all...

The Collapsing Wave is a sequel to The Space Between Us, and I really would recommend reading them in order if at all possible.This is a compelling page-turner playing with an often used, but somehow here still fresh, science fiction idea - what would we do if aliens...

Lights flash in the skies above Scotland. Many who see it have a stroke and never recover. But three victims recover almost suspiciously quickly, and when there are reports of an octopus-like creature washing up on a shore, they feel an instant and odd connection to...

Five Bad Deeds is an interesting take on a psychological thriller. Filled with a host of mostly unlikeable characters, and based on information that's hidden from the reader, it's going to annoy some people but entertain others. I fell into the side of entertainment -...

This was a hard and challenging read for many plot-related reasons, so I'd only recommend reading Toxxic if you've read and enjoyed Moths (the first in the series) first. That aside, I also found it compelling and thought-provoking, so it was a worthwhile read for me....

The Descent is both a sequel AND prequel to The Forcing, as it plays with two timelines. One that explores what led up to the climate crisis that changed the world forever, and one that takes the story further into the future and the new post-apocalyptic world. I'd...

Some of John Marrs' best books are clever thought experiments - science fiction-ish 'what-ifs' - and this book falls firmly into that category.Here, a new reality show offers would-be parents a chance to look after their virtual child from birth in the metaverse, with...

A fascinating dive into the murky world of online romance fraud.I liked how the author was always sympathetic to the victims. It would be easy to say 'they should've known' but as Holmes shows, many of the victims are at incredibly low points in their lives when the...

A nail-biter so tense I often had to look away and catch my breath.We're now three books into (I'm assuming) four of this apocalyptic adventure where all the adults are dead (bar one or two) and the children are still trying to figure out how to survive and build a...

From the cover, I initially thought this would be a cosy crime, perhaps populated by older ladies, but no. Instead, it's a coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire Ripper killings.Miv is our main character, who lives in a small Yorkshire town....