Book reviews

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....

A suspense thriller reminiscent of TV hit Succession if it took an even darker turn.The plot: Emily hasn't spoken to her friend Belle in years. Now married to the head of a huge wealthy family, Belle invites Emily onto a cruise with her for moral support. And maybe...

The fourth entry in the Stranger Times series starts with someone floating above Manchester. Until they stop floating and land very messily at the feet of one of our main characters... Once again the staff of supernatural happenings magazine 'The Stranger Times'...

Another good read in this series. Book 2 picks up directly from the end of book 1 and I wouldn't advise trying to read it as a standalone if you want to make the most of the story. As before, there are a bunch of kids trying to survive in a nearly adultless,...