August 30

Camp Death – Jim Ody

The place had a gruesome past that nobody wanted to talk about…

Camp Deathe is now a great place to spend the summer. Ritchie soon finds a group of outsiders like himself. Teenagers who ignore the organised activities, and bunk off in the old abandoned cabins deep in the woods. The cabins that have a history.

The campfire monster stories were meant to just scare them. Nobody expected them to come true. Then one of the teenagers disappears in the middle of the night.

Something is watching them. It hides in the woods and hunts at night.

Ritchie will have to uncover the secrets of the camp, and understand his own problems in order to survive.

 

I recieved a copy from the publishers, Question Mark Horror, in order to participate in the blog tour

 

The first Question Mark Horror title (though I did review Ouija at the start of the two books one tour campaign). Both Camp Death and Ouija are YA horror titles which fit nicely into the Point Horror space in the reading lists. I have long been a fan of horror fiction but I was just a bit too old to have enjoyed Point Horror as I was growing up; jumping straight into King, Herbert, Laymon and Hutson and catching Peter James in his pre-crime days.

If I had grown up reading the YA fiction then I know I would have inhaled the Point Horror titles and would absolutely be all over the Question Mark Horror books too, they are nicely pitched creepy titles which don’t take the scare too far but still leave readers unsettled – particularly if their imagination fills in the extra details.

Camp Death, actually Camp Deathe, is a summer resort deep in the woods where families can spend some quality time away from the hustle and the bustle and where parents can fill their children’s days with activities so they get a break from parenting. Sounds ideal. However, the camp which Ritchie and his family arrive at has a dark history and the kids in the know will try to terrify the new arrivals with tales of death and a strange beast which is said to roam the woods around the cabins.

As is the case when any group of kids are thrown together there are dominant characters and they have their hangers-on. The other children scrabble for attention and try to raise their position in the pecking order and rivalries and jealousy are such good triggers for incidents. The other inevitable when you have a group of boys and girls is that attractions will form and for young teenagers this is an awkward period of self awareness and the early discoveries of future freedoms. In short – Ritchie meets a girl he likes but there is a bigger boy also trying to catch her eye.

Realising Ritchie is a potential rival sees a concerted effort to undermine Ritchie in the eyes of the group. This begins as snide asides but soon escalates to a dangerous attempt to leave him alone, bound and at the mercy of the mysterious “beast”. Though for readers the existence of the beast isn’t rumour and campfire stories, we have been witness to the damage it can do.

This is classic horror fare and Jim Ody does a great job of keeping the tension and suspicion going through the story and I confess I did not see that ending coming! The story deals with bullying, self awareness, family stress and one other two (spoilerish) themes – all areas which I felt my younger self would have benefitted from reading more of when I was in my formative years.

Both Camp Death and Ouija herald strong starts for the Question Mark Horror series and I look forward to seeing what they may bring for us next. If you enjoy a chilling tale then this has death, monsters and rivalry where the good guy getting the girl is not guaranteed.

 

Camp Death is available in paperback and digital format and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0999JVT1F/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

 

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August 29

A Numbers Game – RJ Dark

One dead man and a missing lottery ticket.
Two family members who need that money to get away from the rundown Blades Edge estate.
Three local gangsters who want that money for themselves.

Meet Malachite Jones – the foremost (and only) psychic medium on the gritty Blades Edge estate. All he wants are two things: a name that isn’t ‘Malachite’, and a quiet life. And maybe some real psychic powers, but he’s making a living without them.

Janine Stanbeck wants to find her dead husband Larry’s winning ticket and escape Blades Edge with her son. And she thinks Mal can help her.

But Larry’s dad is the crime lord of the estate, and he wants that ticket for himself, and worse for Mal, he’s not the only criminal with his eyes on it. Add in two coppers desperate to nick Mal’s best, only, and admittedly quite dangerous, friend, Jackie Singh Kattar, and Blades Edge is getting pretty crowded.

Malachite Jones might not really be able to talk to the dead, but if he and his friend Jackie Singh Kattar can’t find that money and a solution that pleases everyone they’re likely to be in need of a psychic medium themselves.

The first Mal Jones and Jackie Singh Kattar adventure: a chaotic rollercoaster ride through a Yorkshire landscape full of double crossing friends, dogged police, psychotic gangster and voices from the other side.

 

I received a review copy from the publishers through Netgalley.

 

There is a real skill to delivering a thriller which has lashings of tension, violence and murder but also keeps fun in its soul and gives the readers laughs and empathy and two lead characters you will want to see return as soon as possible.  Kudos, therefore, to RJ Dark for the hugely enjoyable A Numbers Game; first in a new series to feature “psychic medium” Mal Jones and his extremely deadly best friend Jackie Singh Katter.

Jackie sends Mal a new client: Janine Stanbeck. Her husband recently died in a motorcycle accident and Janine wants to know if Mal can communicate with her late husband as she needs to know where he hid his winning lottery ticket. Janine is very cynical and does not believe Mal can help her but desperate times call for desperate measures and Mal may well be her last chance to get her hands on the unclaimed millions.

Unfortunately for Mal, Janine is the daughter of the local crime kingpin and the Stanbeck family is to be feared and (if possible) avoided. And Janine is not the only person looking for the missing ticket – her father would quite like to get his hands on it too…as would the Russian gangsters who would also like to see the Stanbeck family taken out of the picture so they can extend their own influence. All these interested parties would like Mal to find the missing ticket. Actually they all expect him to find the ticket and they all expect Mal to ignore any other people who may want the ticket and pass control of the money to them. Mal, caught up in the middle of the mix,would really like everyone to leave him alone but that does not seem likely.

Mal will need to rely upon Jackie to keep him safe and help him out when the going gets heavy, which it does. Jackie is the violent part of the duo and when the pair are backed into a corner the fists will fly and Jackie frequently surprises the larger and more intimidating thugs who will cross their path.

I had a blast reading A Numbers Game. Mal needs to understand the man at the heart of the problem and to know the secrets of a dead biker who seemed to be forging a path away from the criminal background the rest of his family. Jackie has to keep Mal alive. Together the pair are fantastic fun to read about and it’s one of those books you zip through as the action comes thick and fast.

Characters are brilliantly developed, nobody likes Mal and the police are determined to lock up Jackie; just how the pair keep it together is something of a minor miracle. More books in this series would be very welcome, no better feeling for a reader than getting characters you instantly like and want to read again.

 

A Numbers Game is available in paperback and digital format and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08Z85446C/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

 

Category: 5* Reviews, From The Bookshelf | Comments Off on A Numbers Game – RJ Dark
August 28

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Jay Stringer

My guest this week once offered a Star Wars book to anyone at Noir at the Bar that would wail like a Wookie. To this day I still have that book.  He is also the first guest to tell me they wanted to select five comic books for their Decades choices – I may need to invite him back just so I can see which books he would have selected.

Don’t mourn the loss of Jay’s comic book picks as he has selected five quality novels which I am delighted to add to my Decades Library.

For those not familiar with #Decades a quick recap. Each week I invite a guest to join me and select five unmissable or essential reads which they would want to see included in my Ultimate Library. When this project started back in January I had no books and a mountain to climb, week on week my guests have selected five books and my library is filling up. You can see all the previous selections (and buy any which catch your eye) here at Bookshop.org: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/GrabThisBookDecades

Choosing five books may be challenging but I add a second rule which my guests need to follow.  They can only select one book per decade over five consecutive decades – so they have any fifty year publication span to select from.

This week I am delighted to welcome Jay Stringer to Grab This Book.  As Jay is Glasgow based he is one of the few guests I have actually met and I was thrilled he was able to make time to take on the Decades challenge. Jay’s latest book Don’t Tell a Soul is my current read and it’s flipping brilliant, putting it down to prep this post was a wrench.

So I pass you over to Jay but before I do – here is how you get Don’t Tell a Soul: https://www.waterstones.com/book/dont-tell-a-soul/jay-stringer/9781916892309

 

Jay Stringer was born in 1980, and he’s not dead yet. His crime fiction has been nominated for both Anthony and Derringer awards, and shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize. His stand-up comedy has been laughed at by at least three people. He was born and raised in the Black Country, but has since adopted Glasgow as his hometown.

Jay’s newest book Don’t Tell a Soul was released on July 26th.

Also, Jay’s birthday was July 26th. You know what to do.

DECADES

One book from each decade? That’s a crazy rule. I hate rules. So the only way I’m going to get through this is imposing a few more on myself.

  1. I can’t just pick an Elmore Leonard book for each decade (because, seriously, I could.)
  2. No comic books. (Because once I open that door, I pick nothing but comic books.)

 

Okay. On with the list.

 

1970’s. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

 

This decade was hard. So many great books. So many great Elmore Leonard books. But Douglas Adams was one of my gateway drugs to reading novels, as a struggling dyslexic teen, and it still holds up today. Funny. Satirical. Basically accurate and mostly harmless. One of the funniest books ever written.

 

 

 

 

 

1980’s. The Demon Headmaster – Gillian Cross

 

I was a child during the 80’s, and I can’t remove myself from that. This pick is all about memories. Again, as a dyslexic I didn’t read much prose early on. Choose Your Own Adventure books were pretty much my speed, and the rest was comic books. (The 80’s was a great decade for comics.) But I read the hell out of The Demon Headmaster. And had it read to me just as much.

 

 

 

 

1990’s. Stone Junction – Jim Dodge

 

Now then. We. Are. Talking. I love this book. I’d get an all-over body tattoo of this book if I could. What’s it about? No idea. There’s magic, gambling, revenge, and a big diamond. It’s sort of like what Harry Potter would be if he was a cool kid who drank a lot and wanted to be in a punk band. And it’s funny, moving, and occasionally deep. Jim Dodge’s writing is all about the journey, not so much about the destination. But it’s a great journey.

 

 

 

2000’s. Pagan Babies – Elmore Leonard

 

This isn’t Elmore’s best book. But it might be the one that stayed with me the longest after I read it. The key to understanding Leonard is that he was always writing about self-awareness. About characters becoming better or worse at being who they really are. And he often also explored the huge grey area between right/wrong and legal/illegal. Pagan Babies feels like the ultimate distillation of these themes into something simple and primal. And, placed where it is in his career, it feels like the summation of his themes, before he became a little more self-indulgent in his last few books.

 

 

2010’s. Recursion – Blake Crouch

 

It’s not often a book blows me away. I don’t just mean I enjoyed it. I enjoy a lot of books. But this one simply blew me away. It might be one of the best books I’ve ever read. Though to talk too much about it is to ruin the fun. It’s a sci-fi story at heart. But it also feels like it’s about fake news, and the way we’re all living in different realities right now. It’s about the way I can remember using the King Kong statue in Birmingham as a meeting point with friends, even though it left Birmingham four years before I was born. It’s a brilliant book. Go buy it.

 

 

 

 

Thanks again to Jay for these brilliant selections.  If you want to know his comic book selections then tweet him @JayStringer and ask him to tell you what he would have picked! If you do happen to follow him over on Twitter it also helps to know Jay is a Wolverhampton Wanderers fan and this can result in some cryptic sounding tweets landing on your timeline most weekends.

 

DECADES WILL RETURN

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August 20

Decades: Compiling The Ultimate Library with Steven Kedie

My favourite part of the week is when I get to put together the new Decades post. It is my hope that someone will read the selections my guest has made and will discover a new book which they too will fall in love with.

If you have not encountered Decades before today then let me quickly bring you up to speed.  Each week I invite a guest to join me and I ask them which five books they want to see added to my Decades Library.  I started with zero books back in January and now we have had 150 recommendations – each of which can be seen here: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/GrabThisBookDecades

Choosing any five books just seemed a bit too easy so I added an extra rule which all my guests need to give a little more thought to – you can only select one book per decade over five consecutive decades.  This week we have the 1970s to 2010’s and a great mix of titles too.

My guest this week is no stranger to the fun which accompanies reaching out to new guests and assembling a weekly blog post. However, Steven Kedie is very much a fan of music and the Eight Albums website sees his guests chatting through their eight favourite albums. It is one of my favourite weekly reads and I have discovered some great music through following recommendations I found there.

Time to hand over to Steven to introduce his selections:

 

Steven Kedie is a writer and co-founder of music website www.eightalbums.co.uk, who lives in Manchester with his wife and two children. He spends far too much time running, writing, talking about albums and trying to complete television. All of which get in the way of his football watching habit.

His debut novel, Suburb, due to be re-released this year, tells the story of Tom Fray, a young man at a crossroads in his life – not a kid anymore, not quite an adult yet – who returns home from university to find no-one has changed but him. When he starts an affair with a neighbour, his simple plan to leave home and travel becomes a lot more complicated.

Steven will release a second novel this autumn. Running and Jumping tells the story of British Olympian Adam Lowe and his rivalry with American athlete Chris Madison. The novel deals with the question: What if you had your greatest ever day and still didn’t win?
Details of his writing can be found at www.stevenkedie.com

 

DECADES

I’m a man of simple pleasures. I like books, music, films and sport. So, when I started thinking about my Decades library choices, I thought I should try and incorporate those things into my selections.
I’ve come up with the below.

All The Presidents Men, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein — 1974

 

The story of Watergate, told by the men who wrote the stories of Watergate in the Washington Post. The book is more than the source material of the fantastic film that followed. Watergate defined America. And this book – inside account of what it was like to break the biggest political scandal in American history – captures that moment brilliantly.

 

 

 

 

Knots and Crosses, Ian Rankin— 1987

Ian Rankin’s Rebus series has been part of almost my entire reading life. I can remember the first time I picked up a copy of a Rebus novel, Strip Jack (fourth in the series), at a friend’s house. His mum was reading it. I read the first chapter and was hooked. I had to force myself not to read on because I’m someone who has to start a series at the beginning.

My girlfriend (now wife) was working at the Trafford Centre, so that night, I went early to pick her up so I could go to the bookshop and buy the first Rebus book. I bought the first three. I clearly remember being sat in the car reading Knots and Crosses and instantly knowing I was a fan. As I type these words, eighteen or so years later, the book I’m currently reading is A Song for the Dark Times, the latest in the series.

I run a music website called eightalbums.co.uk (along with a friend, Matt) where we ask people to write about eight albums that are important to them and why. Early on in the site’s life, I approached Ian Rankin, thinking, given his well-documented love of music (a thread that runs through the Rebus novels), he would enjoy the site as a reader. He actually offered to take part and submitted his own Eight Albums entry. The day his entry went out was absolutely fantastic for me personally, with one of my heroes taking part in something I’d created. It also opened up the site to a whole new audience of people. I’ll forever be grateful to Ian for that.

Anyway, back to the book. I’ve chosen Knots and Crosses because it’s the first in the series. And you should always start with the first one.

 

Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger — 1990

I love books by people who are embedded within a team. There are some fantastic examples over the years: John Feinstein’s A Season on the Brink and the wonderful The Miracle of St Anthony’s by Adrian Wojnarowski, about basketball coach Bob Hurley and his life-transforming high school team.

Sport can often be a vehicle to tell us about the people involved or the society in which they exist. Friday Night Lights is the best example of this concept. Bissinger, a journalist from Philadelphia, wanted to explore the idea of a high school sports team keeping a town together. When he decided to move to a town and experience life through a team, (to quote the opening page): “… all roads led to West Texas, to a town called Odessa.” The town’s high school American Football team, the Permian Panthers, played in front of 20,000 fans on a Friday night.

Through this lens, Bissinger tells the story of a town whose best years seem behind it, of race and class, of what happens when society makes heroes and celebrities of kids (most players are 17), and what the fall out of that is when they stop playing.

 

The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the Demise of English Rock, John Harris — 2003

A book from the noughties that is very much the story of the nineties.

I turned 8 thirteen days into 1990 and 18 thirteen days after the decade ended. The ‘90s defines who I am as a person. When it comes to the music I love, no era has influenced me more. Britpop has soundtracked much of my life.

Harris’ book covers a period from ‘94 to ‘98 and looks at Britpop and the rise of Tony Blair and the Labour Party as they went on to win the 1997 General Election. Although the book talks about what a great period it was, it isn’t always a love-in of the era. It doesn’t always look back on it as fondly as my hazy memory does. But it’s a book that documents the merging of music and politics, the change in the country, the excitement and feelings of hope at that time. Definitely (Maybe) one that should be in the Decades library.

 

 

The Force, Don Winslow — 2017

This decade’s choice took a lot of consideration. Eight Albums and my own writing has allowed me into a world of creative people I didn’t ever think possible at the start of the 2010. I’ve got friends who have written fantastic books and I probably should’ve done them solid and picked one and talked about how great they are. But the truth is when I think about my last ten years of reading, there’s only one name I kept coming back to: Don Winslow.

I once joked when I grow up, I want to be Don Winslow. I wasn’t really joking. The man writes powerful, thought provoking, entertaining crime books. His Cartel trilogy is an important work that tells the story of the US’s failed War on Drugs. His Boone Daniels series is one of the most entertaining private detective series I’ve read. I could go on. But don’t worry, I won’t.

I’ve chosen 2017’s The Force because it’s a standalone novel. It tells the story of Denny Malone, a star New York detective, and his crew of men who police the streets of New York with their own rules and style. Denny’s story is one of corruption: his own and that of the city he works. It’s a superb piece of crime fiction. Don Winslow is a unique and interesting voice and if someone came to the Decades library looking for a new crime writer to read, The Force would be a fantastic introduction to Winslow and what he’s all about.

 

I think this week Steven has captured exactly what I love about Decades. There is a “how was this one not mentioned before now?” an “I’ve never heard of that one (but it sounds like something I would love)” and even an “ah yes – that’s a belter, I am glad it was picked.”  Terrific choices.

Eight Albums is one of my favourite reads each week. Just looking at the recent guests I spot Tony Kent, Morgan Cry and Simon Bewick – it is my hope I can also persuade all three to take on Decades one day too!

 

DECADES WILL RETURN

 

 

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August 20

Ouija – Zoé-Lee O’Farrell

The only thing for certain is the deaths were no accident.

Rayner High School once a prestigious school stands in ruins after such a terrible event.

A year later, a group of friends return to the abandoned school and their nightmare begins.

Something wants to get out and won’t take NO for an answer…

 

 

My thanks to Zoe-Lee O’Farrell for the opportunity to join the Question Mark Horror Blog tours.

I received a review copy of Ouija and Camp Death from the publishers so I could participate in this double-header blog tour.

 

I missed out on Point Horror as a reader, I was already onto King, Herbert, Laymon and Hutson when the Point Horror titles were at a peak. However, I was a young bookseller back in the day and I sold dozens of them, usually to the same faces every couple of weeks as a wave of young horror readers came to our bookshop to get their latest fix.

Question Mark Horror seem to be tapping into the same target readership as both Ouija and Camp Death are chillers but keep on the careful side of being too detailed with the depictions of carnage. YA readers will have a ball with these though and it is always great to see horror titles being enjoyed.

This leg of the Two Books One Tour is about Ouija by Zoé-Lee O’Farrell and the name is a big clue as to where the menace lies. Six childhood friends decide they will use an ouija board to communicate with the dead.  Not only do they feel this is a sensible thing to do, they decide to do it in the old school in their town, a building no longer in use after it was the scene of an horrific massacre where staff and students died at the hands of an unknown assailant. Though perhaps this is a mystery which the ouija board could help cast some light upon?

The book opens with a flashback to the start of the massacre in the school but before we can get too much idea as to what may be about to unfold the narrative switches to the six friends who will be the stars of the show. Readers get to learn about each of the kids and understand the group dynamic. It’s clear there are some rivalries and hidden affection but they seem a tight group despite not all of them being keen to venture into Rayner High School and communicate with the spirits.

Soon the friends are slipping out their homes and making their way to the ruined building. Their final destination (as it were) is to be the Headmaster’s study but as they edge their way along the dark corridors we can see they are not the only ones moving around the old school that night. Without getting into too much more detail things do not go to plan and the friends don’t get to complete their ritual properly, have they left a path open for any of the spirits?

It isn’t long before unexplained incidents start happening around some of the group and each becomes increasingly unnerved. Their terror is complete when one of their number dies and the readers soon learn that one death is only just the beginning.

As I tend to read at night I will confess Ouija had me nervously glancing into the dark corners of my room on more than one occasion. It’s a relatively quick read and the story zips along at a very satisfying pace which meant we got to the darker events pretty quickly. Fans of horror films and chilling fiction will get their kicks from this one as there are plenty of recognisable horror devices brought into play. Good fun and always a treat to get a new horror read, I look forward to seeing what Question Mark Horror will have for us in future.

 

Ouija is available in digital format and can be ordered here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0997CPK3J/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

The Question Mark Horror tour is a two book affair and I will be back with my thoughts on Camp Death at the end of the month

Category: Blog Tours, From The Bookshelf | Comments Off on Ouija – Zoé-Lee O’Farrell
August 14

Decades: Compiling the Ulitmate Library with Rod Reynolds

This is Decades. It’s a challenge I set myself to assemble the Ultimate Library, a library which began with zero books and was to be filled with nothing but the very best reading recommendations. Which books should be included? What have been the essential reads over the years?

I knew this was not a task I could undertake myself so each week I invite a booklover to join me and I ask them to nominate books which they feel should be added to my Decades Library. There are two rules which govern the selection of their five books:

1 – You may choose any five books
2 – You may only select one book per decade over five consecutive decades

Easy?  This week’s guest began his email reply to me with “I can see now why people are getting so mad about this”.  This may well be why I am asking my guests to select the books and not taking this challenge on myself!

The Decades Library is also a bookshop as I have set up a store page over at Bookshop.Org.  If you fancy reading any of the recommendations made by my Decades curators you can purchase the books through this handy link: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/grab-this-book-the-decades-library    10% of the cover price goes towards supporting independent booksellers.  This is an affiliate link.

This week the Decades curator hat passes to Rod Reynolds. Back in the early days of Grab This Book I was offered the opportunity to read Rod’s first Charlie Yates book. The Dark Inside, which utterly blew me away. Two more books followed in the series and I loved them both. The Guardian described the books as “pitch-perfect American noir” which is a near perfect way to describe how I felt when I read them.   Last year Rod released his first novel set in the UK, London based Blood Red City was another terrific page turner and his latest, Black Reed Bay continues to set a high bar for tension and thrills.

You can see all Rod’s books here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rod-Reynolds/e/B01BHZGQ5E?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1628926594&sr=8-1

 

DECADES

 

1980s – The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke

 

Burke is arguably the finest prose sytlist in all of crime fiction, writing in a lyrical, poetic and mystical way about violent, damaged and gritty individuals. This is the first in his Robicheaux series, which I think is his best work. Although I can take or leave the titular protagonist, there’s no character I enjoy more in crime fiction than his fearsome partner, Clete Purcel.

 

 

 

 

 

1990s – 1974 by David Peace

 

The first of Peace’s Red Riding Quartet, a monumental achievement from a writer who is criminally underappreciated (at least in his home country). An intense portrayal of journalist Eddie Dunford’s harrowing journey through greed, murder and obsession to the dark heart of 1970s Yorkshire.

 

 

 

 

 

2000s – The Cold Six Thousand by James Ellroy

 

The book that changed everything for me with its raw power. I’d never read Ellroy before and, in retrospect, this is the worst place to start because it represents the high (or low, depending on your personal taste) point of his ‘telegraphic’, jive-heavy style, making it at times almost impenetrable to the uninitiated. At first, I had no idea what I was reading, and it made no sense. By the end of it, I wanted to be a writer.

 

 

 

 

2010 – November Road by Lou Berney

 

A book set in the aftermath of the JFK assassination was always going to catch my eye because it’s the same territory Ellroy’s best work treads. But this is a very different type of novel, one with that examines what happens when a lifelong mobster realises he’s run out of road with the bosses – just as he falls in love for the first time. A beautiful and beautifully written novel about life, regret and the redemptive power of love.

 

 

 

 

2020 – We Begin At The End by Chris Whitaker

 

 

All I can say about this book is that if you’ve already met Duchess Day Radley, you know why it’s here. And if you haven’t, you’re missing out on a novel that raises the bar for modern crime fiction.

 

 

 

 

 

My thanks to Rod for sharing his selections. I have never read James Ellroy so this is clearly something I need to rectify as soon as possible.  The latest consequence of Rod reading The Cold Six Thousand is called Black Reed Bay, the first book in the Detective Casey Wray series and published by Orenda Books.  You can order Rod’s new book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08T65D9XX/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

 

DECADES WILL RETURN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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August 12

Half-Past Tomorrow – Chris McGeorge

Shirley Steadman, a 70 year old living in a small town in the North East of England, loves her volunteer work at the local hospital radio. She likes giving back to the community, and even more so, she likes getting out of the house. Haunted by the presence of her son, a reluctant Royal Navy officer who was lost at sea, and still in the shadow of her long dead abusive husband, she doesn’t like being alone much.

One day, at the radio station, she is playing around with the equipment and finds a frequency that was never there before. It is a pirate radio station, and as she listens as the presenter starts reading the news. But there is one problem – the news being reported is tomorrows. Shirley first thinks it is a mere misunderstanding – a wrong date. But she watches as everything reported comes true. At first, Shirley is in awe of the station, and happily tunes in to hear the news.

But then the presenter starts reporting murders – murders that happen just the way they were reported.

And Shirley is the only one who can stop them.

 

My thanks to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers for the opportunity to join the blog tour. I recieved a review copy from the publishers ahead of the tour.

 

Half-Past Tomorrow drew me in the second I read the blurb – a radio news report which is giving tomorrow’s news stories? Knowing 24 hours in advance of events which are going to happen is unsettling but to learn a murder will take place? What would anyone do in those circumstances?

Fortunately this dilemma doesn’t fall on the readers but lands at the feet of Shirley Steadman. Shirley is a pensioner who volunteers at her local hospital radio. She has had a tough life but the death of her abusive and dominating husband, coupled with the tragic suicide of her son have given Shirley a peace and inner steel which makes her a feisty and determined principle character.

Shirley is at the hospital when she finds an old radio set as she waits to begin her show. While spinning through the frequencies she finds a pirate radio station Mallet which heads into the news as Shirley is listening. She realises this station is VERY local to her home in the North East of England and enjoys listening to an amateur broadcaster sharing enthusiasm over local events.

The last story on the news tells of a local baker falling off a ladder outside his shop. Shirley hadn’t heard about the event and doesn’t give it much thought until the next day when her son-in-law also recounts the story about the baker but makes it clear it had just happened. Shirley heard about the ladder fall before it happened – she needs to understand how.

Worried she may be mistaken, Shirley tries to talk it through with her son Gabe. Gave died at the start of the book, took his own life while at sea. Yet he sometimes appears to Shirley in her kitchen and once she got passed the initial hysterical screaming she began to speak with her when he appears.

Half-Past Tomorrow shows how Shirley becomes obsessed by the pirate radio show and its predictive news reports. Despite health issues restricting her investigations Shirley doggedly chases down the reported incidents and soon becomes entangled in a way she could not have predicted.

Safe to say I had a lot of fun reading this book, I had absolutely no idea how Chris McGeorge was going to find a way Shirley could “solve” her pirate radio mystery. That need to see how the story would play out kept me hooked.  There were more than a few surprises along the way that I really enjoyed too.

 

Half-Past Tomorrow is published by Orion and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08V95SMCB/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

 

 

 

 

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August 8

Holiday Reads: No Time To Cry and The Long Drop

The pouring rain outside and the fact it is my birthday week mean that Summer is over. I have been able to get a few relaxing days away from the day job and this quiet time has allowed me opportunity to blitz my TBR backlog.  So I now have a few reviews to write and I am keen to do some catching up – double review time again.

 

No Time To Cry – James Oswald

Undercover ops are always dangerous, but DC Constance Fairchild never expected things to go this wrong.

Returning to their base of operations, an anonymous office in a shabby neighbourhood, she finds the bloodied body of her boss, and friend, DI Pete Copperthwaite. He’s been executed – a single shot to the head.

In the aftermath, it seems someone in the Met is determined to make sure that blame for the wrecked operation falls squarely on Con’s shoulders. She is cut loose and cast out, angry and alone with her grief… right until the moment someone also tries to put a bullet through her head.

There’s no place to hide, and no time to cry.

 

 

First published back in July 2018, No Time To Cry was the first in a new series from James Oswald. Book 2 (Nothing to Hide) has been released and I understand the third book will be released before the end of this year. Which means I have a couple of months to read Nothing to Hide so I can roll straight into the third book – I absolutely loved No Time To Cry and I know know I don’t want to miss out on the Constance Fairchild novels.

Constance (Con) Fairchild finds her boss Pete Copperthawite murdered in the rooms the police had been using to run an undercover operation. As the most recent visitor to the rooms her colleagues question whether Constance was sufficiently careful to ensure she had not been followed thus blowing Pete’s cover. Pressure mounts on Con and to ensure her safety she takes herself away from work and heads back to her childhoom home.

Not that Con has missed home, she has had a complicated upbringing and her career choice is not one her family could understand. However, a childhood friend has asked Con to help find her younger sister who seems to have disappeared and hasn’t been in contact with her family. As Con digs deeper into the missing girl’s background she uncovers troubling evidence to suggest there is very good reason behind her absence. But this is not information which powerful people will allow to come to light and Con finds herself in even more danger than before.

Fans of James Oswald know he writes a great thriller and No Time To Cry is no exception. I flew through this one in a couple of days and had a huge grin on my face when a cameo appearance from a character in the Inspector McLean books suddenly popped up in Constance’s world.

Annoyed at myself for not reading this book sooner – terrific fun, I need more Constance Fairchild on my shelves.

 

The Long Drop – Denise Mina

Glasgow, 1957. It is a December night and William Watt is desperate. His family has been murdered and he needs to find out who killed them.

He arrives at a bar to meet Peter Manuel, who claims he can get hold of the gun that was used. But Watt soon realises that this infamous criminal will not give up information easily.

Inspired by true events, The Long Drop follows Watt and Manuel along back streets and into smoky pubs, and on to the courtroom where the murder trial takes place. Can Manuel really be trusted to tell the truth? And how far will Watt go to get what he wants?

 

 

 

This is utterly compelling reading. The Long Drop takes the real events which surround the Peter Manuel case and Denise Mina weaves her story around it to recount a dark period from Glasgow’s past.

In the late 1950’s Glasgow was a dark and dangerous place, Denise Mina depicts the life of the city, the atmosphere and its citizens astonishingly well – you feel yourself drawn into the book and the world around you fades away as masterly storytelling builds a new environment around you.

Peter Manuel is known as one of the most notorious serial killers. He hanged for his crimes but it seems there was always the belief he committed more murders than he faced trial for. In this book we see Manuel up close, the story addresses what he may have been like to those around him and the lengths he would go to to convince the world of his innocence. We also get focus on William Watt, his family have been murdered and he will do anything to find who was responsible.

It is a story of an obsession for the truth.  The writing is so tight, not a word seems wasted as this short but powerful story drills down into the men at the heart of a dark, dark incident. Not a crime thriller which you would read for “fun” and the subject matter dictates this is a disturbing tale too. But it is a fascinating read and one I couldn’t stop reading once I had started it.

 

 

 

 

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August 7

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Karen Sullivan

The Decades Library is growing beyond anything I could have imagined. I started this project back in January when it was dark outside and the rain was lashing against my windows. Now here we are in August, it is still dark outside and the rain is still lashing against my windows (I live in Scotland) but every week since February a new guest curator has joined me to add new books to my Library.

The five books which follow will bring the number of Decades book recommendations made by authors, bloggers, publishers and journalists to 130 – there have been fewer than five titles nominated by more than one person. As readers we are blessed for choice.

What is the Decades Library? My guests are all given the same challenge.  Nominate five books to my Decades Library which they consider to be essential reading. But they can only pick one book per decade over five consecutive decades. Easy?  Have a go and see if you can pick five of your favourite books from a fifty year publication span.

A further reminder that the Library is now also a Decades Bookshop over at Bookshop.org.  You can buy any of the nominated titles through this link (which is an affiliate site): https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/grab-this-book-the-decades-library

 

This week’s guest needs no introduction (which is lucky as I forgot to ask her to write one).  If I say Orenda Books you will surely know the force of nature that is Karen Sullivan.

Karen founded Orenda Books in 2014 and the first books were published in 2015.  In 2016, Karen was a Bookseller Rising Star, and Orenda Books was shortlisted for the IPG Nick Robinson Newcomer Award in 2015 and 2016. Orenda won the CWA Crime & Mystery Publisher of the Year Dagger in 2020 and were a regional finalist for the Small Press of the Year Award in the British Book Awards in 2021.

 

DECADES

 

Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery (1908)

The ultimate coming-of-age novel, classic children’s literature that appeals to readers of all ages. Anne Shirley is an unforgettable character – tragic, unwittingly feminist, eternally optimistic, accident-prone, proud, intelligent, funny – and the snapshot of (my native) rural Canada at the turn of the century is immensely evocative. My own personal manta is drawn from this book: ‘Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?’

 

 

 

The Rainbow, D H Lawerence (1915)

D H Lawrence won my teenaged heart while I was at university, appearing to encapsulate what I perceived to be the human condition and all its existential angst in every book. This is a book about love in many forms, about relationships, about desire, and the fact that it was banned when it was published indicates its forward thinking. It also gives us an invaluable insight into life in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton (1920)

My high-school English teacher described this book as ‘ravishing’, and the story and its themes have stayed in my mind ever since. It’s about desire and deception, about rebelling against society and the decimation of innocence – a metaphor for the growing disillusionment about the  ‘American Dream’. Its sophistication is breathtaking.

 

 

 

Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder (1932)

Another children’s book, and one that lays bare the struggles of American settlers, with bold, inspirational themes of survival, the importance of family, and the power of hope. It’s a classic for good reason, and although there are often shocking and dated attitudes towards Native Americans, it does serve a purpose in enlightening us to cultural beliefs and mores at that time, fed largely by ignorance and fear, and is upon reflection a lot more positive than it might seem. Few can fail to be inspired by this book.

 

 

 

 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith (1943)

A beautifully written coming-of-age story about a young immigrant girl in early 20th-century Brooklyn, it embodies the bright, often blind hope of the American Dream, and highlights a period of vast social change. Its inspirational messages – that anything is possible if you persevere, believe – provided comfort to and renewed determination for the American people during the war.

 

 

 

 

It’s been an absolute delight to have Karen take part in my Decades challenge. When I was struggling to get Grab This Book established Karen was hugely supportive and entrusted me with early review copies of the first Orenda books which were making their way into the world. Watching Orenda Books grow has been a joy and Karen’s support and encouragement still keeps me going.

 

 

DECADES WILL RETURN

 

 

 

 

 

 

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August 6

A Rattle of Bones – Douglas Skelton

In 1752, Seamus a’Ghlynne, James of the Glen, was executed for the murder of government man Colin Campbell. He was almost certainly innocent.

When banners are placed at his gravesite claiming that his namesake, James Stewart, is innocent of murder, reporter Rebecca Connolly smells a story. The young Stewart has been in prison for ten years for the brutal murder of his lover, lawyer and politician Murdo Maxwell, in his Appin home. Rebecca soon discovers that Maxwell believed he was being followed prior to his murder and his phones were tapped.

Why is a Glasgow crime boss so interested in the case? As Rebecca keeps digging, she finds herself in the sights of Inverness crime matriarch Mo Burke, who wants payback for the damage caused to her family in a previous case.

Set against the stunning backdrop of the Scottish Highlands, A Rattle of Bones is a tale of injustice and mystery, and the echo of the past in the present.

 

My thanks to Polygon for providing a review copy of A Rattle of Bones.

 

When you’re selecting a new book to read you always hope you pick one which you will enjoy. This is particularly important if you are selecting an audiobook. The time you expect to devote towards reading a story means you will be looking for a rewarding return for that investment. What can you do to reduce the risk of selecting a disappointing read?

Well I recommend picking up a book by Douglas Skelton, he always delivers a tight, gripping thriller. Skelton will perfectly balance tension, humour and the human engagement needed from characters to make them authentic and believable. He consistently delivers and with his Rebecca Connolly series he seems to be hitting new highs.

A Rattle of Bones is the third book in the series, you don’t need to have read either of the two previous novels to enjoy this one. Rebecca is a journalist working for a news agency in Inverness. Events in Thunder Bay and The Blood is Still have left her somewhat rattled and there has been some turmoil she has had to endure but Rebecca is made of strong stuff and plugs on. What she did not anticipate was a direct threat to her safety when a face-to-face confrontation takes an unexpected turn. Someone doesn’t like Rebecca’s reporting of certain events and makes it clear he will be watching and wating for the chance to make her pay.

It’s a chilling opening to the story and places a constant threat over Rebecca for the whole story.

Personal threats don’t stop Rebecca from working and she finds herself investigating the imprisonment of James Stewart, convicted for killing his lover, the politician Murdo Maxwell.  Maxwell’s body was found in a locked room in his home, Stewart was unconcious beside him with a bloody poker in his hand and it was clear to the police and prosecutors that Stewart killed Maxwell while under the influence of drugs – his sentencing was but a formality.

Ten years later there are now doubts over Stewart’s guilt. Banners have been erected which suggest there has been a miscarriage of justice – Stewart is innocent. Rebecca agrees to run a story which alerts readers to the possibility James Stewart did not murder Murdo Maxwell, she then finds herself in a lawyer’s office under the promise he can cast further light on the matter.

Rebecca is about to become caught up in a complicated drama which has its roots over a decade earlier. Long memories, rivalries and personal pride make people do unpredicable things and Rebecca is caught up in the mix. Oh and don’t forget…someone is out to get her.

If every book was as enjoyable as this I’d be a happy reader.

 

A Rattle of Bones is published by Polygon and is available now in paperback, digital and audiobook format.  You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08Q3M2L36/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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