Phosphate Rocks – Fiona Erskine

As the old chemical works in Leith are demolished a long deceased body encrusted in phosphate rock is discovered. Seated at a card table he has ten objects laid out in front of him. Whose body is it? How did he die and what is the significance of the objects?

I received a review copy from the publisher through Netgalley.

It doesn’t matter what you may think this book is about. If you read the brief, teasing blurb above that’s only going to scratch the surface of the story in Phosphate Rocks.

As I read the book I tweeted a few times that I had no idea how I was going to review it. That hasn’t changed, I am not sure how to succinctly articulate the utter pleasure I experienced reading Phosphate Rocks. Or the anguish, the horror, the fascination or the fun. This book had it all and, when it was done, I wasn’t. I wanted more. I wanted to keep reading about these remarkable overlooked heroes of their craft.

So what’s it about?

Well there’s a dead body in an old chemical plant in Leith (Edinburgh). The site is no longer active but before everything closed down it seems, somehow, a huge shroud of phosphate rock encased a work hut. Inside that hut was a dead body sat at a table. Laid out on the table in front of the corpse were ten objects which the police hope John Gibson, former shift manager at the site, can use to identify the deceased.

Sitting in a police station, years after his plant had closed down, John identifies each of the ten objects and tells Detective Inspector Rose Irvine the story behind each item. With each passing object the reader gets to know more about the men that worked the site, the work they undertook and how chemicals and materials from around the world would pass under the nose of these Edinburgh workers.

Also filling in the reader with background information is author, Fiona Erskine, who gives each object a quirky and fascinating science lesson. You learn about chemicals, reactions, inventions and discoveries. Reading this book taught me how chemicals move around the world, how they need carefully stored and cared for and how it’s the plant workers that know best how to keep a busy chemical site ticking over – not the managers, chemists or owners. It may not sound like slipping chemistry learning into a crime story could be fun or engaging but it is utterly absorbing (though Fiona will likely correct me on what absorption actually is).

The stories behind each of the objects are wonderful. Although this book is a work of fiction I am 100% convinced that many (if not all) of the stories are entirely anecdotal and based on actual events from the site. Why tie a long string around the neck of a whisky bottle? Who had the best dressed Barbie Doll in Scotland? Why should you not hit a pipe with a hammer and…is that an author cameo we see before us? If many events in the book are indeed based on actual events it may go a long way towards explaining why the book is so engaging. Nothing feels forced, overdone or over-exaggerated. The guys (and in the main it is guys) working on the site all feel utterly real and entirely plausible. I defy you not to warm to them.

The true hero of the piece is John Gibson. He is taken on a journey back through his working life and the stories he tells DI Irvine bring back memories of old colleagues – some more fondly remembered than others. John and DI Irvine are a charming pairing through the story too their conversations, some of which take place away from the police station when Irvine tracks him down to his favourite restaurant, are a cautious but intricate dance. Neither party is willing to overshare but both appear to crave more knowledge about the other.

Phosphate Rocks is a crime story. There is a dead body, there are clues to help the investigators determine his identity and there is a man helping police with their enquries at the police station. But Phosphate Rocks is so much more. It is a story of a life (John Gibson), of many lives, of a plant that no longer dominates its corner of Leith and of the men who for years kept that plant ticking over. Clever men, inventive men, hard men and men with secrets. But I felt Phosphate Rocks is also a love story. I read of a time now gone which is much missed, a love of science and method and process and of low paid staff performing dangerous and skilled work. An affection of the cameraderie, the respect for John Gibson and the responsibility he held for the staff on his shift. It’s funny then it’s tragic and I want you all to read this story too.

Phosphate Rocks, currently my book of the year. It will take something incredible to top this one.

Phosphate Rocks is published by Sandstone Press and is available from today in paperback and digital format. You can get your copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08TR21QGZ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

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June 10

The Maidens – Alex Michaelides

St Christopher’s College, Cambridge, is a closed world to most.

For Mariana Andros – a group therapist struggling through her private grief – it’s where she met her late husband. For her niece, Zoe, it’s the tragic scene of her best friend’s murder.

As memory and mystery entangle Mariana, she finds a society full of secrets, which has been shocked to its core by the murder of one of its own.

Because behind its idyllic beauty is a web of jealousy and rage which emanates from an exclusive set of students known only as The Maidens. A group under the sinister influence of the enigmatic professor Edward Fosca.

A man who seems to know more than anyone about the murders – and the victims. And the man who will become the prime suspect in Mariana’s investigation – an obsession which will unravel everything…

The Maidens is a story of love, and of grief – of what makes us who we are, and what makes us kill.

My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to host this leg of The Maidens tour. I recieved a review copy from the publishers.

The Maidens: a group of young women who meet their professor in his quarters at Cambridge’s St Christopher’s College. One of their number has been murdered but the group are closing ranks and are not accepting the possibility they are in danger.

Nor are The Maidens willing to consider any suggestions their handsome, charismatic professor is behaving inappropriately. It is no surprise that Mariana (a group therapist) is frustrated by their lack of engagement when she believes she is trying to help and protect them.

Mariana is a tragic character. She fell madly in love with Sebastian and even aftet the couple married they were besotted with each other. Tragedy struck when a much needed holiday to Greece ended with Sebastian’s death, drowned at sea. Mariana remains bereft at the loss and his death overshadows her life.

Mariana is contacted by her niece, Zoe, after one of her friends at college is found dead. Zoe tells Mariana that the dead girl had problems with substance abuse but during a drug Hugh she had confided in Zoe that she was scared for her life. Zoe too is terrified and Mariana steps in to help Zoe and to try to uncover the truth. She is alarmed by the influence Professor Edward Fosca holds over his young students.

The story is mainly set in the college at Cambridge and it is a world I don’t recognise. Porters, bedders, Chambers and lectures where anyone can roll up to listen. The Professor studies classics and Greek Tragedies are very much part of this story. My lack of knowledge in this area didn’t stop me enjoying the story but I did need the author’s helpful explanations to know the characters he was discussing.

Mariana’s investigations are very unofficial but she is allowed some leeway to speak with people close to the murder and it quickly becomes apparent she is putting herself at risk with the questions she is asking. Tension ramps up as the story progresses and as Mariana gets closer to exposing the danger that is Professor Fosca the more you fear for her safety.

The Maidens is a psychological thriller with a murder mystery to be solved. It’s a fun read and the reader can quite easily get caught up in this mysterious, secretive world of academia.

The Maidens is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08R18D45M/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

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May 21

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Danny Marshall

I never fail to be surprised by the selections made by my Decades guests. Until I recieve the email with their choices they give nothing away about the books which they may choose. However, when I first asked Danny Marshall if he would like to take on my Decades Challenge I had no idea that he would introduce three of fiction’s most famous characters to the Library.

For new readers a quick Decades recap. I am inviting guests to nominate books which they believe should be included in the Ultimate Library. Or to put it another way: if I had to fill a new library with the best books out there, but I was starting with zero books on the shelves, which books should be added? I cannot make these tough choices so my guests are invited to add their favourite books.

There are just two rules governing their choices:

1 – Pick ANY Five Books
2 – You Can Only Choose One Book Per Decade Over Five Consecutive Decades

Now I hand you over to Danny to introduce himself and share his choices

DECADES

I’m D.L. Marshall – better known as Danny (but unfortunately that’s not a very authorly name) – and my debut novel Anthrax Island was published recently. Described by some as Alistair MacLean meets Agatha Christie, it’s a claustrophobic locked-room mystery (in the literal sense) meets adventure thriller.

Anthrax Island is a real place off remote north-western Scotland, having received its sinister moniker in the tabloids when top-secret files were declassified. Its real name is Gruinard, and it was used by the Ministry Of Defence during the second world war to test biological weapons, leaving it a lethally contaminated no-go zone for decades. The government finally (and begrudgingly) cleaned it up in the Eighties, declaring it anthrax-free in the Nineties, though given the extreme hardiness of anthrax spores some people remain unconvinced!

The premise of the novel is that a team of scientists have returned to the island due to a resurgence of bacteria. Their only technician is dead, a victim of anthrax poisoning, and their base has suffered a malfunction. Enter our hero Tyler, a replacement technician flown out to fix the base. He quickly discovers sabotage, and works out his predecessor was murdered. Soon after, another team member is murdered inside a sealed room in the base with Tyler right outside the door – but when he enters seconds later the killer has vanished. Now with a storm closing in, the radios destroyed, and the bodies piling up, it seems they’re trapped on the island with a far more dangerous killer than anthrax…

I’m honoured to take part in decades, having read previous entries with great interest! There have already been some absolute belters already added to the library, so I hope I can do it justice. Though there were some difficult choices – I could talk for hours about the ones I left out – I had great fun picking my entries. I could have chosen any number of crime and espionage thrillers from the mid-to-late Twentieth century, but I decided to take my fifty years a little earlier to encompass some of my very favourite and most re-read novels of all time. They’re also all novels that have influenced my writing a great deal, and all feature in Anthrax island in some way.

1890s

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897)

Does any other single word in the world of fiction evoke such an emotional response? How many other book titles are so well known? I think you could make a case for it being the most influential book of all time; fiction, films, pop culture, it’s a staggering legacy. Stoker didn’t invent vampires, horror, or gothic fiction, but he did weave them all into a fantastically modern narrative that popularised all the right elements. It’s a story of an ancient evil assaulting the modern world that we’ve loved ever since, from Lovecraft to Carpenter. I only found out fairly recently that it wasn’t a huge success in Stoker’s lifetime – it did okay and was well received (Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a glowing letter to Stoker), but he died poor. It wasn’t until the landmark copycat film Nosferatu in the Twenties – and the subsequent legal dispute – that the book took off, and since the first Hollywood Dracula film a few years later the book has never been out of print.

I’ve just looked at my shelves and I currently own seven copies of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the latest being a graphic novel my partner bought for me to read with my son. The particular reason I love it may be down to my final year of primary school, when we had a week’s residential in Whitby. The teachers wouldn’t take a bunch of ten year olds in ‘The Dracula Experience’ but we spent our money in the gift shop, then sat up at night in our shared room, telling ghost stories while looking out of the window at the ruins of the abbey across the harbour. As a Yorkshireman I love that Whitby section, and the newspaper reports of the wild dog roaming the North Yorkshire moors, but actually my favourite is the opening – Harker’s dangerous voyage through the Carpathian Mountains to meet his mysterious host. The wolves, the warnings from locals, the superstitious coachman, all now absolute staples of horror films. The opening of Anthrax Island was written as a homage. Bonus points if you can spot which character from Anthrax Island is named for something in Dracula…

1900s

Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901-1902)

Another of the most famous books ever written! Spoilers (although it’s a century old, where have you been?) When first serialised it brought Holmes back from the dead, since he was killed at the Reichenbach Falls in 1893’s ‘The Final Problem’. Conan Doyle was adamant Holmes wouldn’t return, so when public opinion forced him to write another story he stubbornly set it before his death. However, the success of Baskervilles was such that he finally relented and truly resurrected Holmes.

I have seven copies of Dracula but I have ten copies of The Hound of the Baskervilles! I’ve read it at least once a year since I was a kid. Apart from being my favourite book of all time, it is – in the opinion of Sherlock scholars – the best Holmes novel. I love stories that tread the line between crime and horror, and for me this is the epitome. Ghostly lights on the moor, an ancient creaking hall, and a bloodthirsty spectral hound. Dartmoor is itself also a character, beautifully described in vivid autumnal shades, leaf-strewn deeply rutted lanes, and tumbling streams. But at night the moors take on another character, creeping shadowy figures and drifting lights, bogs that can swallow unwary ponies whole, the howling wind and howling… other things… echoing down through the yews at the back of the hall. I live in the Yorkshire Pennines, minutes from the moors, and can well imagine Sir Charles Baskerville standing at his gate, smoking his cigar and straining his eyes into that blackness. And something looking back.

My favourite scenes are those which show Watson’s journey to the hall and the various soldiers on horseback at crossroads and the railway station, rifles at the ready, on the lookout for the convict escaped from Dartmoor prison. It’s wonderfully echoed in the best Harry Potter film – The Prisoner of Azkaban – a film about a Barghest, a giant dog of legend, featuring Dementors scouring the moors for an escaped convict.

It’s no coincidence I’ve just finished writing a novel set on Dartmoor (which may feature a cameo from Baskerville Hall)!

1910s

John Buchan’s The 39 Steps (1915)

This might be the last one where I share the number of copies I own, as I’ve only got four of this! The 39 Steps set the blueprint for all adventure thrillers, and specifically the device of the everyday innocent man on the run from baddies and the authorities alike, which is now used so regularly we forget that in 1915 it would have blown peoples’ minds. This was a time when the police and authorities were to be trusted implicitly, good and bad was usually fairly black and white, so while the patriotism and sense of derring-do can seem a bit dated, to have a hero on the run from the law must have been pretty exciting at the time. Hitchcock filmed it in 1935 and went on to use the trope several more times, including in one of my favourite films, North By Northwest. However, my favourite film adaptation of The 39 Steps is the ‘70s version that leaves Robert Powell hanging from the hands of Big Ben (Yes I know Big Ben is the bell, don’t @ me).

The MacGuffin is some kind of secret plans for Britain’s entry into the first world war, stolen by German agents operating in England – which is interesting when you remember this was published in 1915, at the start of the first world war. It wasn’t a historical novel, it was really happening at the time! The scene escaping from the train across the moors sticks in mind the most (is there a moors theme developing?).

I was lucky enough to see the four-actor play in London a few years ago. It closed in 2015 but I’d highly recommend seeing it if you ever get the chance somewhere.

1920s

Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair At Styles (1921)

Okay, I’ll admit it – this is not my favourite Agatha Christie novel – but it’s my choice for the Twenties as it warrants its place in the library by virtue of its significance. This is Agatha Christie’s first published novel, and thus it is also the first appearance of one of the most famous detectives of all time, Hercule Poirot. I don’t think I need to explain any more!

It features all the very best elements of a whodunnit – a sprawling, isolated country house filled with an untrustworthy cast, twists and reveals, red herrings, and of course, a dead body with a contested will. Christie set her own template for her future books here, being very fair with readers, providing all the clues you need to solve the crime (though you rarely do).

It’s beautifully fitting that Agatha Christie had Poirot return to Styles in her final novel (before her death, anyway) – Curtain.

Sidenote, if you’re ever in Devon and on Dartmoor, after visiting the infamous prison (hopefully no escaped convicts) and the Princetown visitors’ centre (with its huge Hound of the Baskervilles sculpture) take a trip to Agatha Christie’s house at Greenway, upriver from Dartmouth. And if you’re ever in London, go see The Mousetrap. Great fun.

1930s

John Dickson Carr’s The Hollow Man (1935)

Calling all Jonathan Creek fans, this is nothing whatsoever to do with Kevin Bacon’s updated take on The Invisible Man, it’s another whodunnit that treads the line between horror and crime. But this is also an ingenious howdunnit, a true locked-room murder mystery – the best, in fact, and one of my very favourite books ever.

A mysterious and macabre-looking stranger barges into a room in a house, in full view of witnesses, to kill a man – yet when the door is opened the killer and weapon has vanished, leaving only his dying victim, who claims his brother (long thought dead) was responsible. Minutes later the brother is found dead in the middle of a nearby street, with the gun in question – himself killed impossibly, surrounded by unbroken snow.

The book is considered the finest example of locked-room mystery, and contains a fantastic section in the middle where the narrator breaks the fourth wall and sets off on a monologue to explain every single scenario by which an ‘impossible crime’ can be carried out – and thoroughly debunks each in turn relative to what happened here. It’s a wonderfully bold move. And just like Agatha Christie, Carr plays fair – the reader has all the clues, but I challenge you to work it out.

This book has been a huge influence on me, it’s not a surprise that my own debut – and the sequel out later this year – are at their cores impossible crime locked-room murder mysteries.

I am absolutely delighted Sherlock Holmes has finally landed in my Library. My thanks to Danny for making these wonderful choices. I have Anthrax Island on my Kindle and am going to be scouring every page for the Dracula reference.

If you want to get your hands on Anthrax Island then here is a handy link: https://www.waterstones.com/book/anthrax-island/d-l-marshall/9781800322752

You can see all the previous curators and their selections here: https://grabthisbook.net/?p=5113

DECADES WILL RETURN

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May 19

Two From The Archives – MacBride and Herron

The update of reviews to the blog always depends upon time. It’s the same for everyone and all bloggers need to juggle the reading/reviewing balance. I find that I will often hit a reading sweet spot and fly through a number of books in a very short space of time. I don’t hit reviewing sweet spots though and this means the books read outnumber the reviews written.

From time to time I will try a catch-up blitz and do a few shorter reviews in a single blog post. Rather than do my personal summary of the books read I have just moved directly to my thoughts on each book. I never review books on the blog which I didn’t enjoy so I am not bringing together books I didn’t like – I am just trying to catch up and flag up some more great books which are readily available to pick up.

All That’s Dead – Stuart MacBride

One down…
A dark night in the isolated Scottish countryside. Nicholas Wilson, a prominent professor known for his divisive social media rants, leaves the house with his dog, as he does every night. But this time he doesn’t come back…

Two down…
The last thing Inspector Logan McRae wants is to take on such a high-profile case. But when a second man vanishes in similar circumstances, the media turns its merciless gaze on him, and he has no choice.

Who’s next?
Then body parts start arriving in the post. Someone out there is trying to make a point, and they’re making it in blood.

Book twelve in the Logan McRae series and Stuart Macbride is still not pulling any punches when it comes to putting his characters through the wringer. In 2014 Scotland went to the polls to decide if we should become an independent country to say there were strong feelings on both sides is an understatement. After the results were announced the matter was not allowed to rest and strong voices on both sides continue to dominate media platforms.

MacBride taps into this divisive anger and highlights the political tensions which would accompany anger which would surely surface if one of those strong voices were to be murdered (presumably by someone that disagreed with their opinion). It’s a murder story with lots of background politics and you know this will not sit well with McRae and Roberta Steel – a treat for readers awaits.

Another strong entry to the series, I enjoyed this one but did find it uncomforable seeing our political disagreements escalated into a dark tale of murder. The interactions between the characters are always a joy in the McRae books and the humour shines through.

Reading a Stuart MacBride book is never a bad decision, All That’s Dead brought the fun and the thrills and I will be back for more.

Real Tigers – Mick Herron

Catherine Standish knows that chance encounters never happen to spooks.

She’s worked in the Intelligence Service long enough to understand treachery, double-dealing and stabbing in the back.

What she doesn’t know is why anyone would target her: a recovering drunk pushing paper with the other lost causes in Jackson Lamb’s kingdom of exiles at Slough House.

Whoever it is holding her hostage, it can’t be personal. It must be about Slough House. Most likely, it is about Jackson Lamb.

And say what you like about Lamb, he’ll never leave a joe in the lurch.

He might even be someone you could trust with your life . . .

If you aren’t reading the Mick Herron Slough House books yet then you are missing out on one of the very best reading experiences. Jackson Lamb heads up the “Slow Horses” a team of misfits who have worked for the secret security services but have, in some way, failed in their duties and are put out to pasture in Slough House and given mundane and tedious tasks. They are trained agents who all feel their talents are not being used to the best of their abilities. Lamb appears a slovenly dinosaur of a character but returning readers (this is book 3) will know that he is still sharper and more devious than many of the active agents – he is too dangerous to be cut loose but a loose cannon who would not play well with others.

Real Tigers opens with a kidnap of one of Lamb’s team and the dis-united bunch are sparked into action to look out for one of their own. As is typical of a Mick Herron book there are lots of clever sub plots brought into play and sharp eyed reader will still miss lots of the subtle clues and red herrings. The writing almost feels a masterclass of language efficiency (except when Lamb speaks and considerably lowers the tone, but raises the enjoyment).

I read a lot of spy thrillers many years ago then fell out of love with them. The Mick Herron books have brought me back into the fold, these are page-turners of the highest order and each story is a treasure. Real Tigers allows the reader a deeper dig into the characters inhabiting Slough House, they are complicated, angry people but you will root for them and you want them to gain the upper hand over the M16 agents who will cross their paths.

Real Tigers, read the series from the start to get the most enjoyment from Real Tigers but don’t put off discovering the joys of Slough House and its dysfunctional occupants.

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May 17

Come Closer – Sara Gran

There was no reason to assume anything out of the ordinary was going on.

Strange noises in the apartment.

Impulsive behaviour.

Intense dreams.

It wasn’t like everything went wrong all at once.

Shoplifting.

Fighting.

Blackouts.

There must be a reasonable explanation for all this.

I received a review copy through Netgalley from the publisher

This came highly recommended by fellow blogger Liz, at Liz Loves Books, who tweeted that this was genuinely creepy and unsettling. If Liz was unsettled by a book then I wanted to read it. Having zipped through Come Closer in a day (it’s a horror novella) I fully understand why Liz flagged up the unsettling nature of this one, it’s a disturbing tale of demonic possession.

It is Amanda’s story. We first see her handing a piece of work to her boss except the submission contains some personal insults about her boss which most definitely were not in the draft which Amanda prepared. Amanda is horrified that someone would try to prank her in such a mean way and quickly defuses the situation by printing a fresh copy of her report which is insult free. Her boss accepts someone had been mucking about and order is restored but Amanda cannot help but concede to herself that the insults were a good reflection on how she felt about her boss.

First signs of trouble and disharmony are in place and mysterious incidents are going to quickly follow. In their appartment Amanda and her husband Ed hear a tapping noise. It’s irritating, untracable and goes on for weeks. Amanda hears it when she is home alone. Ed didn’t hear it when he was home alone. The noise comes and goes, no pattern and no routine just an irritating tapping.

Amanda begins to have strange dreams. The dreams are intense and vivid and the reader begins to see a lack of focus in Amanda’s daily life. The readers see how Amanda’s grip is starting to slip away from her. Through some fun wee plot devices the author introduces the possibility to Amanda that she may be possessed, but she rejects the notion – initially.

Come Closer is a close-up look at the main character of a story losing everything. As I mentioned, this is a novella, so I flew through the book in a single day – aided by the fact I had more time that usual that day to get some reading done. But once Amanda’s life starts to go off the rails I just wanted to keep reading. Everything happening to her (and the things she was happening to) were compulsive reading and I wanted to know how she was going to get herself out of the mess she was in. Then I began to wonder IF she would get out of the mess she was in. It is slick writing from Sara Gran which keeps you hooked and although it’s not a long book it packs a very effective punch.

Come Closer is published on 1 June 2021 by Faber and Faber. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/come-closer/sara-gran/9780571355556

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May 14

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Helen Fields

The Library is growing and week on week fabulous books are being added to the shelves. If tentative plans pan out there may even soon be a twist which nobody saw coming. I am loving inviting guests to join me and share their reading recommendations. I had hoped this feature would allow some fabulous books to be showcased but the enthusiasm I see each week for the new books my guests discuss has far exceeded my expectations. Thank you all for making each new Decades post the best part of my blogging week.

So what is Decades?

I am curating the Ultimate Library. I started with no books and have been inviting guests to select five books they would like to see added to the Library shelves so we can compile a collection of the best books. There are just two rules my guests must follow:

1 – You can select ANY five books
2 – You can only select one book per decade and you must select from five consecutive decades.

Today I am joined by Helen Fields. Helen is the fourteenth Decades guest and has added five outstanding titles to the Library. To be honest I cannot believe it took fourteen guests before two of her selections made their way into the Library – Iconic. You can try guess which two I had in mind.

I’ll hand over to Helen and allow her to introduce herself (I never like to do the introductions incase I miss something important) and then she will share her five recommended reads.

DECADES

An international best-selling author, Helen is a former criminal and family law barrister. The last book in her detective series, ‘Perfect Kill’ was longlisted for the Crime Writers Association Ian Fleming Steel Dagger in 2020, and others have been longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize, Scottish crime novel of the year. Helen also writes as HS Chandler, and has released legal thriller ‘Degrees of Guilt’. In 2020 Perfect Remains was shortlisted for the Bronze Bat, Dutch debut crime novel of the year. The series has been translated into 18 languages, and also sells in the USA, Canada & Australasia. Her historical thriller ‘These Lost & Broken Things’ came out in May 2020. Her first standalone thriller – The Shadow Man – from HarperColllins was published in 2021. Her next book comes out in February 2022 but she’s not allowed to tell you the title yet!

Helen can be usually be found on Twitter @Helen_Fields. For up to date news and information her website is at www.helenfields.co.uk. For Facebook check out Helen Fields Author.

A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute (1950)

Honestly, if this book doesn’t make you cry at least once when you’re reading it, then you have no soul. I will die on this hill. It is one of the most affecting books I’ve ever read. I couldn’t read anything else for months after I finished this book.

Papillon by Henri Charrière (1969)

I fell in love with the Steve McQueen (original) movie first which prompted me to read the book, and I’m so grateful that I did. A (mostly) autobiographic story of a man incarcerated on various French colony islands who faces cruelty and hardships beyond belief before his death defying escape. I promise, you will join him in that cell as you read.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson (1971)

More journalism than fiction. An explosively colourful tale of the highs and lows of Vegas. Drugs, sex and rock n roll. It’s seedy, it’s insightful, as well as funny and (in its time) very shocking. Just razor-sharp writing and an unfiltered look at America’s depths.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)

Atwood said she didn’t write anything in this book that hadn’t actually happened somewhere in the world, to the extent that calling it dystopian fiction is almost misleading. One of those books that came around again, and maybe we listened more carefully the second time. Atwood’s writing never gets too clever for itself. She does two things brilliantly in their simplicity: character and plot. This is one of the books that will define humanity in the future.

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres (1994)

Just because I loved it. Stunning escapist fiction with a superlative sense of time and place. For a brief moment in time absolutely everyone was reading this book. Didn’t we all fall just a little bit in love?

Did you spot the iconic book of its era? Yep, could easlily be any of the five. Thanks to Helen for finding time to share her selections. It never stops being a thrill when my most-read authors join me here at Grab This Book.

If you would like to visit my Library and see all the selections which have been made thus far then you just need to click this link: https://grabthisbook.net/?p=5113

DECADES WILL RETURN

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April 10

Last Prophecy of Rome – Iain King

NEW YORK: A delivery van hurtling through Wall Street blows up, showering the sky with a chilling message: America is about to be brought down like the Roman Empire. And there’s only one man who can stop it.

ROME: Maverick military historian Myles Munro is on holiday with girlfriend and journalist Helen Bridle. He’s convinced a bomb is about to be detonated at the American Embassy.

When a US Senator is taken hostage, Myles is caught in a race against time to stop a terrorist from destroying America in the same way ancient Rome was thousands of years ago.

As Myles hurtles from New York to Iraq, Istanbul and Rome, he’s desperate to save the world’s superpower. But can he stop a terrifying threat from becoming reality before it’s too late?

I received a review copy from Bookouture through Netgalley

Last Prophecy of Rome is an action adventure which takes lead character, Myles Munro, across the globe. It’s a grand scale story and sees Munro thrust into the heart of another adventure but it’s not a situation he wants to be in.

America is under threat. A terrorist called Juma plans to bring America to its knees and see it crumble to dust in the way the mighty Roman empire once fell. Munro is an historian and can see parallels between past events and the current threat which America faces. The action commences with an explosion – a delivery van in Wall Street (the heart of New York’s financial might) blows up and causes instant chaos and fear.

Myles Munro is introduced and the quirky protagonist from Secrets of the Last Nazi is soon in the thick of the action once again. In a pacy action thriller it is difficult to review without straying too far into Spoiler Territory. What I can share is that Munro is on top form and that is entirely down to the detailed and informed research Iain King brings to the party. The whole backstory has the feel of “this could happen” the assertions of the terrorists are based upon past events. There are real incidents driving their actions and there are people who have put their faith in a rebalancing of the natural order who want to see America diminished. Munro knows these historical events and he patiently explains to the authorities why they are being targeted. It brings authenticity and tension to the unfolding action.

From high drama “Hollywood Blockbuster” set piece dramas to moments of contemplative reflection and consideration, Iain King keeps Munro front and centre throughout the story. If you enjoy action packed page turners with the endangered but bulletproof hero then this is the book you should be seeking out.

Last Prophecy of Rome is published by Bookouture and is available in digital, audio and paperback format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Prophecy-Rome-action-packed-conspiracy-ebook/dp/B018UWX8V2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1534001439&sr=8-1&keywords=last+prophecy+of+Rome

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April 10

The Plague Letters – V.L. Valentine

WHO WOULD MURDER THE DYING…

London, 1665. Hidden within the growing pile of corpses in his churchyard, Rector Symon Patrick discovers a victim of the pestilence unlike any he has seen before: a young woman with a shorn head, covered in burns, and with pieces of twine delicately tied around each wrist and ankle.

Desperate to discover the culprit, Symon joins a society of eccentric medical men who have gathered to find a cure for the plague. Someone is performing terrible experiments upon the dying, hiding their bodies amongst the hundreds that fill the death carts.

Only Penelope – a new and mysterious addition to Symon’s household – may have the skill to find the killer. Far more than what she appears, she is already on the hunt. But the dark presence that enters the houses of the sick will not stop, and has no mercy…

My thanks to Fiona Willis at Viper Books for the chance to join the blog tour for The Plague Letters. I reviewed a Netgalley copy of the book which was provided by the publishers.

London is a city in lockdown, it is 1665 and the advice is to restrict movement and stay home. A deadly disease is spreading through the city and there are countless deaths which the medial profession are unable to cure but are frantically trying to find ways to ease suffering. A Plague Society has gained a few notable members but the extent of their success is not apparent and Rector Symon even questions (to himself) what methods they are using to conduct their research.

I mention Symon as he is one of the key players in our tale. A man of faith and someone that is coming into frequent contact with the dead as the bodies are brought for blessing and burial. In the midst of the bodies arriving at his church there is one girl who has died with her hair cropped off, burns on her body and her hands and ankles bound with twine.

Symon is a man with distractions. He is being pestered to release some of the corpses which have come to him for burial to the self-proclaimed scientists. He is also obsessed with a married woman – the Lady Elizabeth. Her name crops into his sermons and the two have a steady correspondence by letter Symon travels to visit Elizabeth at her home but finds others also in her company and their relationship seems rather cool in person.

Trying to focus Symon’s attention to the very real problem of missing girls in London is a strange soul – Penelope. She appears something of an urchin, unkempt, displaced in the city and often subject of sharp comments regarding her appearance. Yet she manages to make a place for herself in Symon’s household and is doing what she can to make him forget his obsession with Elizabeth and concentrate on the increasing number of bodies which arrive at the church with hair missing and twine binding the hands and ankles. Penelope is trying to make Symon see that a killer is active in the city but will she have any success in getting him to listen to her warnings?

Through the book the story is punctuated by a wonderful use of city maps which show the spread and devastation of the plague. This was slighly impacted on my digital copy as the Kindle didn’t reflect the red colouring which grows from map to map showing the increased coverage of the disease. In a hardback, physical, copy I have no doubt these maps will look glorious. I seldom advocate a perference of physical/digial or audiobook but in this case I make a rare exception and only for aesthetic reasons.

The Plague Letters is a cracking period thriller. If historical crime is your thing then you absolutely must seek this one out. As someone who only dabbles with historic stories it took me a little longer than I would have liked to adjust to the narrative style and the (excellent) depiction of 1660’s London life. Once I was into the rhythm of the language my initial hesitance faded away and I grew into the story as the world built up around me. I clearly need to read outwith my comfort zone more than I do at present – The Plague Letters was extremely good fun to read with pleasing surprises and more than a few villianous players to raise my suspicions.

The Plague Letters is published by Viper Books and is available in Hardback and Digital verisions. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08FNPM7ZC/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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April 4

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Paul Cuddihy

In January I began a quest to determine which books would be represented in the Ulitmate Library. Imagine, if you will, a vast room lined with dozens of empty bookshelves all crying out to be filled with the best books available. Alternatively, you are handed a brand new digital reader and asked to fill it with nothing but the best titles you can think of. Where would you start? How do you choose?

I confess I had no idea where to begin and I knew if I tried then it would only result in a selection of crime thrillers, all the Terry Pratchett books and a fan-boy collection of Doctor Who novels. Hardly the best representation of centuries of writing.

Rather than tackle this challenge alone I decided to invite book lovers to join me in my quest. Each guest curator is asked to nominate any five books which should be included in my Ultimate Library. However, they are only permitted to select one book per decade and they must choose from any five consecutive decades.

That’s it. Two Rules. Five Books, Five Consecutive Decades.

While you contemplate your personal selections I will hand over to today’s guest: Paul Cuddihy.

You know the format by now…I ask Paul to introduce himself and then I pass him the Decades baton as he nominates his five books.

DECADES

I’m Paul Cuddihy, and I’m a journalist, writer and podcaster. I run a books podcast – Read All About It – where people talk about their favourite and not so favourite books. Each guest chooses a book from these five categories:

Favourite book from childhood.

Favourite book from teenage/formative years.

A book you’d recommend to anyone

A book you couldn’t be paid to read again

The last book you read/are currently reading.

The podcast has been running since January 2020, and it has been an absolute blast – what could be better than sitting talking books with people? You can find the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music and most other places where you get your podcasts.

I also self-published a non-fiction book called Read All About It back in 2015, which charted my year of trying to read more books and fall in love with literature again.

I have had three novels published – a historical trilogy set between Scotland, Ireland and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century.

I also published a book of short stories inspired by Duran Duran – every story is a song title from the band. I am, I confess, a big Duranie! (And, no, that’s not Cockney rhyming slang!) I am also in the process of launching a new podcast with a friend called the Duran Duran Albums Podcast, with each episode looking at one of the band’s 14 studio albums. I am convinced the world is waiting for such a podcast!

And I have also written around 10 books on Celtic Football Club through my work as a multi-media journalist with the club.

As any good writer will admit, I am currently working on a novel, but I can’t tell you what it’s about! I don’t want to jinx it.

You can find me on:

Twitter: @paulthehunted or @readallabout20 Email: author@paulcuddihy.com

Website: www.paulcuddihy.com

In choosing these books, my starting point was including The Cone-gatherers, which was published in the 1950s, and then I just had to work out which direction to go after that – I decided to go backwards and forward!

This is a great idea – anything to get you thinking, writing or talking about books is – and I’m delighted to be taking part in it

1920s

All Quiet on the Western Front: Erich Maria Remarque (1929)

This is a novel of the First World War but told from the perspective of a German soldier. Remarque was a veteran of the conflict, and All Quiet on the Western Front tells the reality of the terrible conflict, which was in sharp contrast to the patriotic appeals which led his main character, Paul Baumer, to enlist in the Kaiser’s army. The fact that the book was banned and burned by the Nazis only adds to its reputation. The novel strips away the mythical glamour and heroism of war, and instead gives an honest portrayal of the mundanity of live in the trenches, which is accompanied by its horrors, and how the soldiers subsequently find civilian life difficult to adjust to, given their wartime experiences.

1930s

The Grapes of Wrath: John Steinbeck (1939)

I think this was the first novel which made me cry as an adult. The ending of this novel is breathtaking, and comes at the end of the arduous journey you’ve been on with the characters as they travel from the 1930s Oklahoma dustbowl to the apparent promised land of California. I have read this book three times already, and I’m sure I’ll read it at least three more times in the years ahead – and I say that as someone who does not re-read many books. This is a stunning novel, following the Joad family on their journey across America. The writing is perfect – the description of the food being cooked and eaten on the way is such that there are times when I’m sure I can smell the aromas, or taste the food. Certainly, my mouth waters on occasion. A couple of years ago, my wife and I drove the Pacific Highway on America’s west coast, from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and one of my highlights was visiting the National Steinbeck Centre in Salinas. Of course, I purchased a copy of The Grapes of Wrath there!

1940s

Hiroshima: John Hersey (1946)

This is a stunning piece of reportage, and I can’t think of anything that better explains the horrors of weapons of mass destruction. It was originally published in the New Yorker magazine in August 1946, with the whole magazine given over to Hersey’s story. Hersey was one of the first Western journalists to visit Hiroshima after the devastation of the Japanese city by an American atomic bomb on August 6, 1945. He tells the story of what happened that day and afterwards through the stories of six survivors, and I can only imagine it profoundly affects every reader. What makes the book so successful, I think, is that Hersey tells this story which has a global impact though the personal. That makes what happens – which is almost beyond comprehension – all the more shocking because the reader invests their emotions in the stories of these six people.

1950s

The Cone-gatherers: Robin Jenkins (1955)

This is the book I recommend to everyone, and I subsequently judge them, depending on their reaction to it! It’s long been a bugbear of mine that when I was growing up, we were taught very little Scottish literature at school – I was at high school between 1978 and ’83 – and so I was in the twenties before I read The Cone-gatherers. It was love at first read, and Robin Jenkins remains my favourite Scottish author. The novel is set on a country estate during the Second World War, where conscientious objectors are set to work gathering cones to be replanted to replenish forestry stock. The two main characters are Neil and his brother, Callum, and there’s a nod to Of Mice and Men in the characters of the two brothers, with Neil almost a carer for Callum. The clash between good and evil in this garden of Eden is built with increasing tension by Jenkins, as the brothers’ relationship with the estate’s gamekeeper, Duror, slowly deteriorates, and the ending is incredibly dramatic. The Cone-gatherers is a masterpiece.

1960s

Catch 22: Joseph Heller (1961)

Peter McGhee was my English teacher when I was studying Higher English at Turnbull High School in Bishopbriggs between 1982-83. If I met him now, I would buy him a pint and thank him for giving us Catch 22 to read that year. What he actually did was give the boys Catch 22, while the girls had to study DH Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers. I’m not sure if the girls in the class were as grateful for the book choice, but all of us loved Catch 22. It’s funny, irreverent, with some topics and language that

we weren’t used to reading about in a Catholic high school, and that made it all the more appealing. I remember being in other classes where, if the teacher was off, we were told to take out a book and read it for the hour. Normally, that would be a signal for anarchy in the classroom, but we would take our copies of Catch 22 out, becoming instantly engrossed and laughing out loud at various parts of the book. There is a poignancy to the novel, of course, and a serious message about the futility and madness of war, but it’s also a very funny book. Thanks, Mr McGhee, I still owe you a pint!

A brilliant mix of books I instantly recognised with a couple which were new to me. I really enjoy when I learn of new books I should be seeking out. My thanks to Paul for putting himself through the wringer to narrow down his choices to this final five.

You can find Paul’s Amazon page and pick up any of his books here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paul-Cuddihy/e/B003E3LJIW?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1617564066&sr=8-1

If you are keen to see the choices already submitted to the Library by my previous guests, you can visit the Ulitmate Libary here: https://grabthisbook.net/?p=5113

DECADES WILL RETURN

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April 3

Into The Fire – Rachael Blok

Eleven guests. Three nights. One murderer… This is the haunting and atmospheric new thriller from rising star of crime fiction, Rachael Blok.

In a gorgeous mansion in the Hertfordshire countryside, sisters Lois and Ebba prepare to launch their new venture. Archipelago is an exploitation-free tech company whose virtual reality game promises to unite the worlds of technology, politics and the environment.

Invited to the launch party are their investors: current and ex-politicians, international business moguls and activists, one of whom – Marieke – has been receiving online abuse and death threats for her views on eco-politics.

DCI Maarten Jansen has been summoned to join the house party. He is sure the threats are from online trolls with nothing better to do – he’s only offering police protection because his boss wants to put the VIP guests at ease. But when eight of the guests are involved in a suspicious helicopter crash, Maarten starts to uncover long-buried secrets – and a murderer in their midst…

My thanks to Sophie at Midas PR for my review copy and the chance to join the Blog Tour

It is a big weekend for sisters Lois and Ebba. They have gathered together a group of investors, film representatives, politician and activists to showcase their innovative and potentially game-changing Virtual Reality videogame. The sister believe the VR is better than anything else out there and the interaction it offers will have benefits beyond the gaming world for those that want to develop it further. There is a lot at stake for Lois and Ebba and they are understandably apprehensive as they start to welcome guests to their home, a large mansion where no expense has been spared to make their VIP guests feel welcome.

But also in attendance is DCI Maarten Jansen. One of the guests has been receiving death threats and the police are on the scene to keep her safe and ensure the weekend goes off without incident. On that front the police are not successful. The book begins with a helicopter crash which did not happen by accident. The helicopter had been taking some of the guests to the studios in London where a demonstration of the VR game was to take place, it doesn’t even clear the grounds before it is spinning back to earth with several of the VIP guests on board.

Into The Fire is told with a non-linear narrative so after the early sight of the helicoper crashing down the reader is taken back to the start of the weekend and we get to know the key players in the story. The introductions are done by watching guests arrive at the house as from the viewpoint of some of the guests themselves (the multiple narrative runs through the book). Not only does this allow us to assess what the guests each have been witness to but we also get their thoughts and background story which allows the reader to know the big issues which dominate the lives. The positive pregnancy test, the man who adores his wife but feels so inferior to her that he is terrified to even make eye contact, even the policeman who will see his wife meet his ex.

Getting to know the characters can feel a bit of a slow burn but the characters do have quite fascinating and complex backstories so readers will engage with the various dilemmas. Rachael Blok is ensuring we have all the information we need so when DCI Jansen starts to uncover some of the secrets which surround the death which occurs during the weekend the reader also knows something of what is there to be discovered for him.

Into The Fire is a clever character driven mystery. Rachael Blok moves her figures around the board and only allows readers the opportunity to glimpse what her overall strategy may be. The characters need to be strong to make this approach work and I felt this was accomplished well. I had sympathy for some, anxiety for others and the charaters who were the clear villains of the story were not made too toxic that you did not care what may happen to them.

Nicely plotted, engaging characters and a good payoff. I hadn’t realised DCI Jansen had featured in previous books but I feel returning readers will enjoy his participation in this book.

Into The Fire is published by Head of Zeus and is available in Hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B082NZST2T/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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