Heather Martin and The Reacher Guy

For the first time in a very long time I am delighted to be able to share an interview here at Grab This Book.

Heather Martin is author of The Reacher Guy: The Authorised Biography of Lee Child. I reviewed the audiobook of The Reacher Guy (here) and found it to be an engrossing account of an author I have read for years; but actually knew very little about. As TRG has recently released in paperback I was delighted when Heather agreed to chat with me about writing Lee’s biography and I finally got to satisfy my curiosity about how she got accurate answers out of a natural storyteller.

Before you met Lee Child and discussed writing about his life I am assuming there was an earlier moment where Jack Reacher first crossed your path. Where did your personal “Lee Child” journey begin?

They say you remember your first time, but I don’t really. I was in Cambridge. It must have been about ten years before I met Lee Child – One Shot, perhaps, which came out in 2005, so before his first New York Times no. 1 in 2008, before he became a household name, but around the time Tom Cruise signed on and things started getting huge. But one thing’s for sure: Reacher turned up just when I needed him. Doesn’t he always? What’s weird is he kept coming back, not like in book world – twenty-four times I think it was. But I was OK with that. And I do remember where it all started – in the bedroom. I pulled a book off the shelf and hopped into bed and well, let’s just say I didn’t sleep much that night. 

I should add that during this period of innocence the name ‘Lee Child’ meant nothing more to me than the guarantee of a good read.

I had somehow imagined you would have been there from the start. Reacher is one of the few series which I caught early. I was there from Killing Floor and utterly hooked. How I wish I had kept my original copies of the early books (and my Star Wars collection too). 

So, if 2005 was when you first encountered Reacher and it was ten years before you met Lee, where did you finally get to meet the man himself? 

I wish you had too! The thing about the Reacher books is they’re equally addictive no matter where you jump in. The damage is done on page one. Another confession: I wasn’t one who waited on the release date, not at least until I met Lee, and then only because I was curious about the man. But he would never have allowed me to write the biography had I been a classic superfan – it’s in his nature to prefer a degree of scepticism. 

We met over dinner at the old Union Square Café on Manhattan’s East 16th St in the summer of 2015. There were seven of us in total. Lee arrived last and folded himself into the last remaining chair, on my left. He was a little cramped. He surveyed the general scene and said: ‘you should have mentioned my name and we would have got the best table in the house’. Nevertheless we soldiered on. He’d been to the dentist that day and was feeling a little delicate; he drank champagne and had profiteroles for dessert. He lamented the loss of the Labour Party’s original clause IV. Afterwards, one of our group, a brilliant young woman who worked as a parliamentary assistant to Harriet Harman, said she wished he would run for leadership of the party. 

A lucky escape for Lee then as if he HAD run for parliament his popularity would have taken an overnight hammering. 

Was that the dinner where the prospect of writing Lee’s biography was first discussed? How do you get from “pass the breadsticks” to “can I write about your life?”

And because I am curious – did you know Lee would be there before the meal? Either way I have always thought it to be very cool.

He was wise to that risk I’m sure. Later he said that if he was made king of the world the first thing he’d do would be abdicate – too much responsibility. 

No mention of biographies, but we got on well and no doubt the seed was sown. We’d already had some correspondence about the Spanish translation of one of his later novels, which I’d critiqued at his request. So yes, I knew he would be there. Our conversation had already begun. After The Reacher Guy was published, Lee told an interviewer for BBC Radio Sheffield it was my commentary on that translation that made him take me seriously as a prospective biographer, because he felt I understood what mattered to him in his writing, what was important. And because I wasn’t afraid to say what I thought. By that point in his career that perhaps wasn’t so common. 

It seems you had established a good relationship with Lee before the biography gained traction. Obviously there came a point where you agreed you would write about his life? I am keen to know where you went from that conversation, where do you start? 

Yes, we were already friends. I first heard him speak publicly in 2016 in Cambridge, at the Literary Festival, then Oxford, at the St Hilda’s Crime Conference, in what he affectionately refers to as his ‘establishment year’, when he was also in demand as an essayist from the New Yorker and the New York Times. That was the year in which he was first picked up by the London Review of Books and the TLS. As you know, he’s an enthralling speaker, as good at spinning a historical tale as a thriller. Presumably it was the academic in me, but I found myself taking notes.

I made the effort to catch up with Lee at festivals and then committed to a couple of short stays in New York so I would have more opportunity to work through my seemingly endless questions. As I’ve said before, the biography arose organically out of a long conversation, and there came a point where we both agreed we thought we could make it work. In between times I covered the obvious bases: I visited the places where he’d lived and worked; I tracked down old friends, teachers and colleagues; I reread all the books, and trawled through the mostly very similar interviews online and on paper, sifting through the evidence and trying gently to separate the man from his persona. Eventually I got access to the archive, which Lee donated to the British Archive for Contemporary Writing at the University of East Anglia in 2018, in advance of his semi-planned retirement. I had most of the first draft done by then, but I think that turned out well for me, because it meant I knew what I was looking for, but also that when I stumbled across something I didn’t know I was looking for it tended to jump out and grab my attention. I loved those weeks, altogether months in the archive – so absorbing, so revealing, both tranquil and exciting. 

Lee is certainly an engaging speaker so I can imagine listening to him at numerous events must have been fascinating. But if he was also promoting the latest book then possibly some repetition would creep in?

That thought leads me towards something I had wondered about as I read TRG. You often reference his habit of adapting or elaborating on facts. It seemed there was Lee’s version of events and everyone else’s version. Did you see anecdotes being told and tweaked at different events and how does that impact upon a biographer who is trying to nail down facts?

And that was a highlight of reading TRG, at times you almost sounded vexed with his recounting of events which others would “amend”.

Such a good question. The repetition itself was interesting, of course. What made him return to those same themes, what made him reach for the same stories? Did it come from within or without? The reasons are many. Some of it was reactive, and over time, as an essentially shy man, he perfected his public persona. But he also refined his thinking around those topics that preoccupy him most deeply: the nature and purpose of fiction, the nature of humanity (which has no purpose), the transaction between reader and writer. I believe he enjoyed that learning process, which is what makes him such a compelling essayist. 

Where you have repetition, variation is also built in. Some of that repetition was willed, some of it unconscious. To an extent it was pragmatic, his performance tailored to suit the time slot allocated, a skill he’d acquired during his years at Granada Television. If he was talking about the distant past – his early childhood, for instance – then by definition he was dealing in stories that had been handed down by parents and grandparents; if he was talking about the present, there was the Reacher brand – and publisher expectation – to consider. Lee was relaxed about it. Nothing he said ever seemed to him contradictory; his brain could reconcile all the angles. He sees all writing as storytelling, and storytelling as among the most ancient of human habits, long preceding the advent of writing, and in tracing the evolution of fiction homes in on the way writers adapt humanity’s best-loved stories to the needs and desires of new audiences. I think this is one of the main reasons he’s a one-draft writer: that’s just how he told the archetypal story that year – he couldn’t go back and change it. 

For the biographer it’s all grist to the mill. Sometimes I would quiz him about the discrepancies between his recollections and those of others. But rather than being daunted by the vagaries of point of view and memory – which I increasingly acknowledged as a condition of the enterprise – I found them liberating. Both Lee and I were aiming for a truthful account, but we both knew it could only ever be an approximation, so then it became more about authenticity, on both sides. I never saw it as my job to pin him down in the manner of a lepidopterist. I don’t like sticking pins in things. I always expected him to elude me, just as Reacher always eludes the reader in the end, and each of us eludes the other. I hope this is something I managed to bring out in the biography, in the later chapters especially, but also in those on the mother figure, and death.

I would like to pull you back to the writing process and how you took on the challenge of capturing a lifetime. It sounds like you had several conversations with Lee and you hit the books and the archives. Did you tackle your research chronologically and try to work from his childhood or perhaps you worked back from when the books were releasing (when I imagine information became more plentiful)?

One thing which did strike me – in the early part of the book he is Jim/James but by the end he is very much Lee. You tell two stories. Is he Jim or Lee to you now?

Many conversations, over years, and a long correspondence too. My approach was less chronological than thematic, and intuitive. Lee would say things; questions would lead to more questions. He told me about his grandparents, and on the Irish side that led back to his great-grandparents. There’d be an anecdote about his father, then gradually we’d fill in the bigger picture. It took longer to get him to talk about his mother. And I only really made significant progress on the school, university and Granada years, when I was able to go back to him with the memories of others. There was a vast amount of information in circulation about his career, a lot of it misleading or erroneous. What I found hardest to work with, ironically, were Lee’s own introductions to special editions of his books: it was difficult to shake off his words. 

When it came to the writing, I tried not to contemplate the enormity of the task, or indeed the temerity. I simply started at the beginning, relying on a particular image, moment, concept or theme to steer me through. Amazingly, it seemed to work, and I grew to trust my own instincts. I liked the idea of each chapter being a self-contained story, which I thought might suit the reader too. 

Lee would always say to me, and to others, ‘a book has to have a beating heart’. So while I approached the subject with due seriousness, it was mostly, in the end, a feeling thing. 

His books were always there and so too his fame. Which I suppose is the beginning of an answer to your second question. I met Lee as Lee, and he’ll always be Lee to me. But it was Jack Reacher I got to know first, so he was there from the start. Jim Grant was the one I knew nothing about. I barely even knew he existed. But what I discovered as I got to know Jim Grant, which I did, to the point where I was comfortable referring to Lee by his given name as necessary and appropriate, was that Reacher had been there from the start for him as well. Not named, not explicitly formulated, but as the archetypal fictional hero, a source of comfort and hope in a miserable childhood, and a fantasy alter ego too. Reacher saved Jim, thanks to Lee Child. 

That’s quite a thought, that before we got to read about Margrave in Killing Floor Reacher had already saved Jim Grant. A ripple effect though, the stone had hit the loch but the ripples would take some time to reach the shore (and Jim/Lee’s future would be secured).

So we know Reacher’s story as Lee has told us that. And we know Jim and Lee’s story thanks to The Reacher Guy. What about Heather Martin? We are long overdue an introduction.

Well, there’s a reason we’re talking about Lee Child and Jack Reacher, and not Heather Martin. So it’s tempting to evade this question. But I have to admit that one of the sweetest thrills of publishing The Reacher Guy last year was when Lee interviewed me rather than the other way round – I’ll be forever grateful to The Big Thrill (the magazine of the International Thriller Writers association) for that audacious idea.

I don’t see myself writing a memoir, just as Lee doesn’t see himself writing an autobiography. Even so, many aspects of Jim Grant’s life story resonate with me, and it’s not least on that basis that I hope the same might be true for others. I too spent my childhood dreaming of escape: not just from the redback spiders, and not because I was unhappy at home (I wasn’t), but because I’d already been given the taste for adventure and travel by my bold, adventurous parents – in their day it wasn’t common to up sticks as they did and emigrate for two years from the sleepy town of Geraldton, several hundred miles north of Perth on the edge of the Indian Ocean, to Aix-en-Provence on the fringes of the Mediterranean. I’ll always admire my early-twenties mother throwing herself fearlessly into the fray of the Provençal food markets with her minimal and Australian-inflected French. And like Lee too, I’ve spent the major part of my life in a prolonged flirtation with another country, or in my case, other countries – France, Spain, England, the United Kingdom in general. So I’ve shared in the outsider experience with all its insights and highs and lows. Of course, he is of the colonisers and I the colonised … I’ve been ambitious too, like him, with enough drive to survive and get on, but in a less directed, more pluralistic way. I lack his singular vision, his ruthless eye on the prize. When I first met the man who would eventually become my guitar teacher in London, he told me I would have to choose between music and ballet. I was thirteen at the time, and I didn’t want to choose. I can hear his words even now, and though in some ways he was clearly right, I still feel in my heart he was wrong.

There’s a reason, too, that The Reacher Guy is so grounded in social detail. It’s because Lee insisted that he was no more than a product of the time and place in which he was born. He was ‘a perfectly normal guy’ whose experiences growing up would be representative of many thousands of others. In fact, he attributes his extraordinary success to the very ordinariness of his origins – he had his writing finger (or two fingers, since he is a two-fingered typist) on the ordinary pulse. Paradoxically, it was his ordinariness that enabled him to escape the ordinary, and achieve the extraordinary. He sums it up nicely in respect to his wealth, acquired only in the latter third of his life (as measured by his current age): ‘I’m a poor man with a lot of money.’

Perhaps there is a fundamental truth in there somewhere: that we all are extraordinary, in our ordinary way. Or should it be the other way round?

The Reacher Guy is published by Little, Brown Group and is now available in paperback, digital format and as an audiobook (narrated wonderfully by Juliet Stevenson. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-reacher-guy/heather-martin/9781472134233 or from any independent bookseller.

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October 29

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Oli Jacobs

This weekend is Halloween so Decades is going full on horror this week as Oli Jacobs unleashes five chillers to tempt your TBR.

But as this is Decades this isn’t just a case of a guest recommending books to read there are rules to follow too. Here’s your weekly Decades recap….

I am assembling the Decades Library, a collection of the very best books as recommended by my guests. In January I started this challenge with no books in my Library but as we reach Halloween there have been over 200 titles recommended. Each week I invite my guest to nominate any five books which they would want to include in the Ultimate Library (so we can ensure the very best books are represented). When selecting their five books my guests can only pick one book per decade from five consecutive decades – a fifty year publication span.

I wanted to make sure the Halloween weekend added some horror titles to my Library and took to Twitter to see if anyone fancied taking on the challenge. Not only did Oli Jacobs step up to help in my hour of need, he has absolutely smashed it out of the park with his selections. I have read four of his nominations and you can bet I will be picking up the fifth book.

Oli Jacobs is a bearded fellow who is mostly found patrolling the streets of Southampton in search of good beer, fine company, and fried chicken. Due to his anxiety, please approach with kindness.

His works include the Space Comedy series Kirk Sandblaster, Revenge Thriller series Mr Blank, and Horror titles The Station 17 Chronicles, The Children of Little Thwopping, and (at time of writing) BBNYA 2021 semi-finalist Wilthaven. He hopes you enjoy.

DECADES

THE LONG WALK – RICHARD BACHMAN (aka STEPHEN KING) (1979)

In truth, I could have chosen Stephen King books for each of these choices, but for the sake of variety I’ve simply chosen this title, not just because it’s one of my favourites, but because it comes via King’s infamous pseudonym Richard Bachman. The story is simple in its cruelty: 100 teenage boys are forced to take part in a gruelling walking marathon known as the titular Long Walk. There are no breaks, firm rules, and armed guards to make sure things go along smoothly. As we meet our ever-decreasing circle of characters, and the world is built around their experiences, we bear witness to all the simple agonies that this event would bring, from cramp to sleep deprivation.

SONGS OF A DEAD DREAMER – THOMAS LIGOTTI (1985)

Thomas Ligotti is one of those horror authors where you either know him and absolutely love him, or are blissfully unaware but intrigued by his work when he is mentioned. Songs of a Dead Dreamer is his first collection of short stories – a format Ligotti mostly deals in – and introduces the reader to his nihilistic carnival of dread. Starting with a seemingly basic tale of child abduction in The Frolic, the stories become more weird and dream-like. Tales such as The Greater Festival of Masks also highlight Ligotti’s unnerving use of masquerades and puppets, and you certainly feel the influence of the likes of Lovecraft through every inch of the purple prose.

AMERICAN PSYCHO – BRET EASTON ELLIS (1991)

Probably the most well known and infamous on my list, everyone knows American Psycho thanks to the brilliant performance by Christian Bale in the film adaptation. What they don’t know, unlike those who have read this story, is how brutal Patrick Bateman is in the book. Throughout Bateman’s adventures in sadism, the levels are heightened and violence more absurd as he falls deeper into his own psychosis. But, of course, the question of whether all this horror is real or not lingers over the whole tale, settling on the greasy sheen of 80s capitalism that stains the whole narration through lists of musicians, appliances, and other aesthetic ghouls.

HOUSE OF LEAVES – MARK Z DANIELEWSKI (2000)

I will confess now this is one of my all-time favourite books, not just because of the multi-layered story, but how the whole twisted tale is presented. Mark Z Danielewski doesn’t just tell us the story of a heroin addict going through the files of a film critic, who was studying a documentary about a strange house, and the notes about the strange house from the family who lived there… yep, immediately it’s one of those stories. A labyrinth tale that Danielewski presents in a fashion that is as artistic as it is engrossing. It is an exercise in reader patience, but one that rewards with a nightmarish tale and true sense of discontent at the back of the mind.

THE LAST DAYS OF JACK SPARKS – JASON ARNOPP (2016)

This was one of these books I discovered thanks to the wonderful world of author networking that social media has provided us these days. Jason Arnopp is a man well-versed in horror and all things terrifying, given his love for VHS and history of rock journalism. The Last Days of Jack Sparks takes the idea of exorcisms, curses, and hauntings, and twist reality around them along with all the modern technology the titular Jack Sparks introduces to try and save his own skin. The atmosphere is tense from the start, and certain set pieces leave you with a shiver down your shoulder. The music studio bit is a stand out for yours truly…

I love a good horror story and always feel I should read more than I do. If you are on Twitter then I recommend searching under the #PromoteHorror hashtag where there are always some gems to be find.

My thanks again to Oli – these are mighty selections and I now find myself shopping for Songs of a Dead Dreamer (I need to complete the set)

DECADES WILL RETURN

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October 27

State of Terror – Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny

Take a ringside seat in the high-stakes world of international politics . . .

After a tumultuous period in American politics, a new administration has just been sworn in. Secretary of State, Ellen Adams, is determined to do her duty for her country. But she is about to face a horrifying international threat . . .

A young foreign service officer has received a baffling text from an anonymous source. Too late, she realizes it was a hastily coded warning. Then a series of bus bombs devastate Europe, heralding the rise of a new rogue terrorist organization who will stop at nothing in their efforts to develop their own nuclear arsenal.

As Ellen unravels the damaging effects of the former presidency on international politics, she must also contemplate the unthinkable: that the last president of the United States was more than just an ineffectual leader. Was he also a traitor to his country?

State of Terror is a compelling and critically acclaimed international political thriller co-written by Hillary Rodham Clinton, the 67th secretary of state, and Louise Penny, a multiple award-winning #1 New York Times bestselling novelist.

I recieved a review copy of State of Terror from the publishers. My thanks also to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the tour.

Before I say anything else I will cut to the chase…State of Terror is easily one of the most enjoyable reads I have covered on the blog this year. I started reading and I just did not want to stop. It’s the kind of story I love – political dramas, global terror threat, panic on the streets and in the corridors of power in Washington DC the politicians and their staff are trying to keep everyone safe.

On the cover of State of Terror there is an anecdote from Louise Penny which said she asked Hillary about her time as Secretary of State and what had been her worst nightmare. “State of Terror is the answer to that question”. Before I had even opened the book I was desperate to read it.

Terrorists have detonated bombs in London, Paris and Frankfurt. US Secretary of State, Ellen Adams, is responsible for co-ordinating the American response and keeping in touch with her colleagues around the world. Knowledge needs to be shared and each country is looking out for their own interests while also ensuring no further innocent civilians are harmed but there is also a blame game taking place and America and Adams are front and centre here.

An anonymous and coded message was sent to the American state office. It was picked up by a junior communications handler who was not immediately aware of its significance. She showed it to her boss and was told to bin it as junk. But the message gave her hope as she wondered if it may have been sent by a friend so she took a copy before destroying the original. That decision turns out to be hugely significant as, after two bombs have detonated, she understands the message and gets it in front of Adams. Her actions saves lives and a survivor from the third bomb may just hold the answer to the biggest question: Who Did This?

State of Terror is a thriller which plays out on a global scale. The pace is frenetic and the risk of failure too great to contemplate. Ellen Adams is Secretary of State and she was a brilliant lead character. Her position is a surprise to many as she opposed the new President during the elections. The administration is taking over from a disastrous Presidency where America was weakened and lost face on the global stage. It’s political intrigue and backstabbing and had me completely hooked.

State of Terror was a reading State of Bliss for me. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny have penned a cracking thriller and I could read books like this all day long. Top stuff – go get it!

State of Terror is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08X7GL8TG/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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October 25

Cold as Hell by Lilja Sigurdardóttir translated by Quentin Bates

Áróra returns to Iceland when her estranged sister goes missing, and her search leads to places she could never have imagined. A chilling, tense thriller – FIRST in an addictive, nerve-shattering new series – from one of Iceland’s bestselling authors…

Icelandic sisters Áróra and Ísafold live in different countries and aren‘t on speaking terms, but when their mother loses contact with Ísafold, Áróra reluctantly returns to Iceland to find her sister. But she soon realizes that her sister isn’t avoiding her … she has disappeared, without trace.

As she confronts Ísafold’s abusive, drug-dealing boyfriend Björn, and begins to probe her sister’s reclusive neighbours – who have their own reasons for staying out of sight – Áróra is led into an ever-darker web of intrigue and manipulation.

Baffled by the conflicting details of her sister’s life, and blinded by the shiveringly bright midnight sun of the Icelandic summer, Áróra enlists the help of police officer Daníel, as she tries to track her sister’s movements, and begins to tail Björn – but she isn’t the only one watching…

Slick, tense, atmospheric and superbly plotted, Cold as Hell marks the start of a riveting, addictive new series from one of Iceland’s bestselling crime writers.

I read my purchased copy of Cold as Hell ahead of my review being shared as part of the blog tour. My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the Cold as Hell tour.

Áróra and Ísafold are sisters but they do not get on. It’s been several years since the pair spoke, Áróra lives in England, while Ísafold prefers Iceland. But Ísafold has fallen off the grid – she has not been in contact with her mother who is worried about what may have happened. Áróra is called – get to Iceland, find your sister.

The fact Ísafold is missing does not immediately concern Áróra but she takes herself to Iceland and is soon at Ísafold’s house. Her partner is not remotely interested in helping Áróra and doesn’t even care where Ísafold may be – she is not there and that seems enough for him. His dismissive behaviour perplexes Áróra and when she speaks with her mother after this encounter she doesn’t appear to have much of an idea how to track her sister. But mum’s can be full of good ideas and she recommends Áróra seek out an investigator (Daniel) who may be able to lend his support and skills. Giving up is not an option.

So an investigation is unofficially launched with Áróra and Daniel digging deeper and uncovering secrets.

There is a second distraction for Áróra though. She has met a guy in Iceland and while the two are in his hotel room she discovers his father owns the hotel. Áróra also realises she is naked in bed with a man who has just left prison and she has no idea what crime may have been committed to put him there. She flees into the night fearing for her safety but it subsequently transpires her new acquiantance had been charged with financial crime. This is of deep interest to Áróra who wants to know more about this man and the crimes he committed.

I cannot get enough of Financial Crime stories and I love that Lilja Sigurdardóttir features some wickedly clever financial scams in each of her books. The crashing of the global economies in 2008, when financial markets took a hit around the world, was particularly hard on Iceland – seeing the continued manipulation of financial issues in stories set in Iceland does make each of the crimes Lilja Sigurdardóttir writes about seem more cruel than may otherwise have been the case. But I do still love reading them.

I am reading more translated fiction these days than I have ever done at any previous time in my life. This is only possible through the work of all the translators who have a command of language far beyond anything I could ever hope to achive. Their hard work and diligence brings stories like Cold as Hell to my bookshelves and I get to enjoy books which would otherwise be strangers to me. You may note that this review has been titled to include Quentin Bates as translator; going forward I plan to always show the translator when reading a text not originally written in English.

In the case of Cold as Hell I love how Quentin Bates conveys the tone and emotion of the story. Áróra’s initial frustration at her mother’s concern over her sister’s disappearance. Her own bemusement at the reaction she recieves in Iceland from Björn when he does not seem to have any interest in the whereabouts of the woman he lived with for three years. Then the more subtle fascination Áróra has with Daniel as she outlines why she is worred about Ísafold. With those subtle indicators of emotion and intrigue I become more drawn to all the players in this game, they are not binary “good guy, bad guy” characters, there are shades of emotions, subtle deceptions and telling tics and Quentin Bates brings them all through to give the story the nuance I seek.

Cold as Hell builds the layers of mystery and dead end investigations but you are drawn along with the story. Nothing is quite what it seems and Lilja Sigurdardóttir is masterly in her weaving of layers to everyone’s story. Add in the whole financial crime element and I was more than happy to be lost in this story.

Cold as Hell is published by Orenda Books and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08WRJXYGY/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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October 23

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry

A first for Decades this week as I am going to need two Curator Hats.

Each week I invite a guest to join me in my ongoing quest to add books to my Decades Library. In January 2021 I asked myself the question: If you were to fill the shelves of a brand new library but had no books, which books should you add to make sure the very best publications were represented?

Now that was far too difficult a question to answer alone so I am enlisting the assistance of booklovers (authors, publishers, journalists and bloggers) and I ask them which five books they would put into my library. However, I added an extra rule – my guests may only select one book per decade and they must select their five books from five consecutive decades. So they have any fifty year publication span to select from. Apparently this makes it harder to choose than it may sound!

Earlier this year I read a wonderful serial killer thriller: The Family Tree – it is the first novel co-authored by Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry. The book reminded me of a discussion I had been having with my wife around DNA testing and the unforeseen outcomes which may arise from trying to trace your ancestry. In The Family Tree the protagonist (Liz) discovers she may be related to a serial killer. For clarity, I am not related to a serial killer (to my knowledge). My discussion with my wife was around charities who are helping people to cope with the trauma some people can experience when they learn their family are not their blood family.

The Family Tree was one of my favourite reads this year and as it was recently released into paperback I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to ask Nicole or Steph if they fancied taking on the Decades challenge. To my delight they were both keen to make their selections so, for the first time, I have co-authors to welcome to Grab This Book and we have ten new titles to add to the Library.

Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry met as co-workers in New York City in 2012, discovering a shared passion for writing and true crime. After Steph relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2018, they continued to collaborate creatively. Separated by five states, they spend countless hours scheming via FaceTime and editing each other’s typos in real time on live Google Docs. Steph’s dream of becoming a writer started at age six, followed by winning scholastic writing awards and crafting articles for her university literary magazine. She currently works as Creative Director for a Media, Entertainment and Digital Marketing Solutions company. Nicole works in television as Senior Manager of Post Production in the photography department. She is the author of Past This Point (2019), an award-winning apocalyptic women’s fiction novel. Past This Point was chosen as Best Book of the Year by Indies Today and won first place in the Global Thriller division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards. The Family Tree is the writing duo’s first co-authored crime novel.

DECADES

My co-author and I are 18 years apart in age, so we loved the idea of doing a list like this separately, knowing our different generations would surely affect our lists.

NICOLE MABRY

I started my list in the 60’s, the decade before I was born, because it was responsible for some of the most incredible literary works of our time.

1960s: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (1969)

I was introduced to this autobiography in my college African American History class in 1997 and could not put it down. I read it start to finish in one sitting and those hours brought a range of emotions. It impacted me on so many levels, not just because of the important racial subject matter that I wasn’t fully aware of before this class, but also as a woman and a writer. Angelou’s writing is so beautifully elegant and lyrical that it makes the tough subject matter so much more compelling. I cried multiple times and then undoubtably sighed at the exquisite words Angelou put down on the page. I remember sitting in my dingy college apartment on my unmade bed after reading the last page and just staring off into space, my head filled with Angelou’s life and words. My only regret is that I didn’t read this book sooner. It is a book that has stayed with me over the years and the first I recommend.

1970s: Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks {as Anonymous} (1971)

I was raised by a busy, full time working mom who was brilliant at finding ways to impart parental wisdom without actually having difficult conversations. For example, instead of exasperatingly telling me for the 100th time not to wander off in stores, she had me watch the made-for-tv movie Adam, the true story of Adam Walsh’s kidnapping from a shopping center. And it worked. I never left her side at stores again. When I entered my teens, even though she never needed to worry about me taking drugs as I didn’t even drink at parties, my mom gave me the book, Go Ask Alice. The book is in diary entry form and is written by an anonymous fifteen-year-old girl who falls headfirst into drug addiction. I was glued to the page, flipping them rapidly as I devoured a first-hand account of a drug fueled journey of a girl my own age–the good and the bad. To my naïve teenage self, it felt real, as though I was doing drugs alongside her, experiencing the highs and the lows that come with such a life. As I followed her through her addiction and into a more hopeful future, the epilogue delivered a gut punch that left me sitting stunned in my bedroom, anxiously looking for another chapter. Needless to say, it scared the bejeezus out of me and did the superfluous job my mother had hoped it would. But to this day, the final words of this book still haunt me.

1980’s: Misery by Stephen King (1987)

I’m a horror movie lover so King is one of my go-to authors. But Misery is without a doubt my favorite of his. I had watched the movie before I read the book and was certain the book could not be better. James Caan and Kathy Bates gave such incredible, unforgettable performances, I couldn’t fathom that King could top that. I was so wrong. King’s writing in this book is so visceral and each character’s reactions are so perfectly laid out that Caan and Bates had a very detailed map of what to do at each step. And even though I knew what happened, I was glued to every page. Now when I watch the movie, I can see King’s words in my head like a script for the movie.

1990’s: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (1999)

A friend recommended this book to me and when I first got it, I looked at the slim volume skeptically. How could such a small book fully tell the story of an awkward teen navigating life and learning who he is? But within a few pages I was hooked and fully immersed in Charlie’s world. The concept and formatting were unique and drew me in. Once I got to the poem that’s deep into the book, I cried openly. I read that poem about ten times before moving on. The book is perfect, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. I still read it once a year.

2000s: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (2006)

During the 2000’s I really dug into the thriller/suspense/mystery genre that eventually led me to choose the same genre for my own writing. But I didn’t know about this book until everyone was raving about Gone Girl years later. While I liked Gone Girl, I decided to search out more by Flynn and found Sharp Objects. This has to be my favorite debut from any thriller author. Flynn created such a devious and emotional plot, and to top that off with a deliciously flawed main character just sweetened the pot. Full of twists and turns, complex, well-developed characters and an ending that will leave you gasping, this was an easy pick for the 2000s.

STEPH MULLIN

1970s: The Shining by Stephen King (1977)

The Shining was my first Stephen King novel and really showed me what it was like to be a master of suspense. I didn’t read this book until my teen years, but it played a huge role in influencing the types of books I love to read…and what areas of writing I enjoy the most. Part of what I love so much about this book is the way King is able to turn the atmosphere and setting into a character in itself – the hotel playing such an integral role in the story and the torment of the characters. It so expertly blurs the lines between fantasy and reality, using masterful character development to bring out the horror and mystery woven through the pages. Now, as a writer, developing characters and atmosphere are the two areas I enjoy the most, and as a reader I love to seek out stories that execute them expertly like Stephen King.

1980s: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

As I was born in 1990, The Handmaid’s Tale was a story I didn’t become familiar with until a bit later in life – however, what’s so brilliant about Atwood’s masterpiece is its uncanny ability to be relatable even decades later. Every woman who reads The Handmaid’s Tale can place themselves into the shoes of these women, feeling the terror at how close society feels at times to turning into Atwood’s world. The Handmaid’s Tale really made me take note of the political policies in today’s society as it relates to women’s rights, and to also realize that this is a timeless concern that we all feel in our bones. I normally read fiction for the entertainment and escapist value in it, but this thought-provoking book is one that sticks with me for entirely different reasons.

1990s: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling (1997)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is the first book I have a distinctive memory of reading. I was only seven years old when it came out, and I remember another girl in my elementary school had a copy and leant it to me – and I was hooked. Over the years, I aged alongside the characters as each book came out and it was something that really shaped my childhood years. I remember convincing my parents to take me to midnight book releases, staying up all night at sleepovers with friends reading through the night and refusing to sleep until we finished the book. I owe a lot of my love of reading, and ability to read quickly, to when I picked up that first Harry Potter book in the late 90s. It was the first time I really felt what it was like to escape into another world through fiction.

2000-2010: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (2002)

The Lovely Bones was one of the first books I read growing up that was of “darker” subject matter. It was also the first book I read that was told through a unique format, the narrator being that of the young Susie Salmon, after she was murdered. Susie watches as her loved ones try to solve her murder and figure out how to move on in life without her. I was only a teenager when this book came out, and the haunting and heartbreaking narrative really struck a chord with me, paving the way for me to continue seeking out books that explored crimes and mysteries. That path The Lovely Bones sent me down is what now has manifested into a love for thrillers and true crime, and ultimately, becoming a thriller writer where one of my favorite things to consider – is unique format and storytelling perspectives.

2010-2020: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (2019)

As an avid thriller reader and writer that takes in a lot of true crime media, it’s very hard to surprise me in a book. I’m constantly playing detective as I read, subconsciously trying to solve the mystery before the author reveals it. The Silent Patient was one of the first books in a long time to actually surprise me in the end. Masterfully crafted so that the twist reveal was unraveled by the story’s format and unreliable characters (that you didn’t even realize at first were unreliable), I delightfully didn’t guess everything Michaelides had up his sleeve and enjoyed every page-turning moment. As both a reader and a writer, this book really made me think about the way we reveal our own inner truths and I hope to one day pull off an ending with such finesse.

My thanks to Nicole and Steph for the longest Decades span I have shared (while still keeping within the rules). But we’re not quite done as Nicole added a bonus recommendation which I will also share now. As the publication was in the 1920’s it doesn’t qualify for Library inclusion but as a booklover it is in my blood to pass on a recommended title!

BONUS 1920s: The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner

When I was 6, I was a very hyperactive child. My single mom didn’t know how to occupy my curious mind. My teacher had given us a vocabulary workbook for homework assignments for the entire year. I misunderstood the instructions because, being hyperactive also meant I rarely paid attention to adults, and I completed the whole workbook in one night. My exasperated teacher didn’t have any other homework for me so she said I should start reading a book a week instead. So, my mom took me to the library and told me I had to pick a book that was over 100 pages. I chose The Boxcar Children and my mom sat me down on the living room floor with a thick dictionary and my chosen book. I had to read at least 20 pages a night and if I didn’t know a word, I had the dictionary to look it up. The story, about four orphaned kids who make a home in an abandoned boxcar, captivated me instantly. This sparked a passion for stories very early on I never looked back. I became a voracious reader and a regular at the local library.

The Family Tree is published by Avon and is available in Digital and paperback formats now. Nicole and Steph have also just revealed the cover of their next thriller – When She Disappeared – which will release next year.

DECADES WILL RETURN

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October 22

Bad Apples – Will Dean

It only takes one…

A murder

A resident of small-town Visberg is found decapitated

A festival

A grim celebration in a cultish hilltop community after the apple harvest

A race against time

As Visberg closes ranks to keep its deadly secrets, there could not be a worse time for Tuva Moodyson to arrive as deputy editor of the local newspaper. Powerful forces are at play and no one dares speak out. But Tuva senses the story of her career, unaware that perhaps she is the story…

My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the Bad Apples tour.

Tuva Moodyson is one of the best new characters to have emerged into the crime fiction arena over the past few years. The journalist who keeps finding trouble deep in the wooded areas of Sweden as she shines a light into some of the darker aspects of life in this Northern outpost.

Bad Apples does not start well for Tuva and, skipping ahead, it only gets worse. While driving through the forest Tuva hears a scream. She stops her car to investigate and finds a woman traumatised. The woman has found a body in the woods, a very dead body. Tuva knows the man in front of her is dead as someone has removed his head.

The police are summoned and when they come to take over what has become a crime scene Tuva puts on her journalists hat and starts asking questions. She has a good relationship with the police, not least because her partner is one of the officers in attendance, but with no real leads themselves the police are not too keen to overshare with Tuva…can she keep the missing head out of the paper? Naturally the very next day everyone in town knows there was a decapitated body found, small towns do not need newspapers to print stories as word has a way of getting around.

Working the story leads Tuva to Visberg, a small town which has recently come under Tuva’s remit due to the Visberg newspaper closing down. Visberg is even more of a closed community than “Toytown” where Tuva lives. Half the population appear to be related to a single (powerful) family who live an affluent life and enjoy a Stepford Wives lifestlye at their luxury golf course. The other half of the town do the work and keep the town ticking over. Ticking being the key word in the case of the guy that runs a watch emporium which houses many rare timepieces. There is also a Gaming Cafe (a very definite plus for Tuva) which is run by twins, a pizza cafe managed by a former “Yugoslavian” who is rumoured to have been summoned to The Hague to be investigated for War Crimes, there is a dentist, a super storage facility with some dark secrets within and if you like the troll making sisters from earlier books then you will be delighted to know they (and their weird trolls) return too.

Visberg is remote, peculiar and dangerous for strangers. Each year, in the lead up to Halloween they celebrate their own annual festival: Pan Night. Except officially they don’t. The festival apparently ended some years ago and nobody engages in the unusual celebrations which were once reported upon. Which is why Tuva is walking the streets watching in bewilderment as the chaos and carnage of Pan Night unfolds around her, masks are worn, people are howling into the night, public shagging, dead animal entrails and something even more shocking which will end the “celebrations” early.

Tuva is too close to a killer. She is receiving messages at her home warning her she needs to stop digging into stories at Visberg. She is also getting closer to her partner Noora and this alarms Tuva as she really doesn’t want Noora to see her if her “busy head” returns and Tuva slides into a darkness. She fears she has too much to lose.

Will Dean does a fantastic job of turing Tuva’s wooded world a dark and atmospheric isolated setting which serves a crime thriller so well. He writes Tuva brilliantly and I felt there was a larger emphasis placed upon her deafness in this book which hadn’t been quite so evident last time around. I only mention it as I felt the first book was one of the best depictions I have encountered of handling a character with hearing difficulties – that is repeated in Bad Apples. The coaxing people to help her hear them, dealing with her hearing aid, everyday loud noises she has to contend with and using her deafness to manipulate a situation. It never feels forced or artificial and it brings an authenticity to the lead character which elevates the whole story. Tuva feels real, her concerns are ours, her frustrations cause us to be concerned for her – this reader is hooked and I keep those pages turning. Plus she is a gamer. In 2021 why do so many characters in books happily sit and watch tv or films but hardly any play videogames? Gaming is everywhere, consoles, phones, gaming cafes on our high streets but hardly in our fiction.

Bad Apples. A story which will pull you into the darkness and keep you there to that very last shocking endgame. You will instantly want more, trust me when I say you will be counting the days to the next book.

Bad Apples is published by Point Blank Crime and is available now in Hardback, Digital and Audiobook format. You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08WM3MCNP/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

Follow the blog tour:

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October 19

The Rabbit Factor – Antti Tuomainen

Just one spreadsheet away from chaos…

What makes life perfect? Insurance mathematician Henri Koskinen knows the answer because he calculates everything down to the very last decimal.

And then, for the first time, Henri is faced with the incalculable. After suddenly losing his job, Henri inherits an adventure park from his brother – its peculiar employees and troubling financial problems included. The worst of the financial issues appear to originate from big loans taken from criminal quarters … and some dangerous men are very keen to get their money back.

But what Henri really can’t compute is love. In the adventure park, Henri crosses paths with Laura, an artist with a chequered past, and a joie de vivre and erratic lifestyle that bewilders him. As the criminals go to extreme lengths to collect their debts and as Henri’s relationship with Laura deepens, he finds himself faced with situations and emotions that simply cannot be pinned down on his spreadsheets…

Warmly funny, rich with quirky characters and absurd situations, The Rabbit Factor is a triumph of a dark thriller, its tension matched only by its ability to make us rejoice in the beauty and random nature of life.

My thanks to Karen at Orenda Books for my review copy and to Anne Cater at Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to take part in the blog tour for The Rabbit Factor.

The exciting news about The Rabbit Factor (which I am sure you know already) is that Steve Carell loves the book and will play Henri in a movie adaptation for Amazon Studios. I don’t believe it is possible to know this and NOT picture Carell as Henri – I felt I knew the character from the outset.

But maybe that is because I had a bit of a head start? Henri is an actuary and works in Financial Services. Although I am not smart enough to be an actuary I have certainly worked with a fair few actuaries down the years and could easily identify with Henri and the dilemmas he faced. You see, Henri craves order, precision and mathematics. He knows where he stands with mathematical accuracy – it is CORRECT. It can be qualtified. It does not entertain frivolity or feelings.

So when his employers stop putting their focus behind the calcuations and start synergizing and working in teams to consider how best to drive their corporate missions forward he feels decidedly out of his comfort zone. Things come to a head when his boss lays it out to Henri – embrace the softer, team focused ethos or take a hike. Henri walks, confident he will be snapped up by another firm. But Henri has misjudged the modern workplace – it’s all buzzwords and corporate bullshit these days and he doesn’t find a place as easily as he had expected.

Fate is to intervene though. Henri’s brother, the last of his family has sadly passed away. Henri inherits everything. But everything is a children’s Adventure Park and a whole lot of debt – debt which Henri isn’t used to dealing with as it did not come from the bank but from some unsavoury characters who don’t accept “no” for an answer.

Soon Henri is trying to deal with frustrated artists, ticket collectors with aims to become General Manager, broken machinery, absent staff and planning how best to avoid being killed by a frustrated loanshark. It’s an absolute riot but in Antti Tuomainen’s skilled hands it is also a delight to read.

The Adventure Park (never Amusement Park) becomes Henri’s focus. He can make it work, he can make it profitable and more importantly…he thinks he can use it to keep the moneylenders off his back. However Henri had not considered the possibility someone may just decide that they want him dead – can he survive long enough to outfox the criminals?

The Rabbit Factor delivers fun by the bucketload. Henri and the other Adventure Park staff are hugely engaging and the whole story is quirky and charming – well as quirky and charming as you can get with hitmen, dead bodies and hostile lapdancers.

Don’t sleep on this one.

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October 17

Last Girl Ghosted – Lisa Unger

You trusted him with your secret…and then he vanished.

When Wren Greenwood meets a good-looking stranger from a dating app, she expects a casual fling – but they connect immediately. Adam Harper is her perfect match.

She falls for him.

She confides in him.

And then he disappears… his profiles deleted, his phone disconnected, his Manhattan apartment emptied.

First, Wren blames herself. Then she hears about the other girls – girls who fell in love with Adam, and are now missing.

Wren needs answers, but as she follows the breadcrumb trail Adam left behind, it leads back to her own dark past. Suddenly, she’s no longer sure if she’s predator or prey.

She only knows one thing: whatever it takes, she’ll be the last girl he ever ghosts…

I received a review copy from the publishers through Netgalley.

Wren Greenwood has met the perfect man through the Torch dating app. She hadn’t been looking for love but the connection she makes with Adam Harper is immediate and deep. The two begin an intense relationship and Wren starts to open up to Adam but one day he leaves. He isn’t answering his phone, he isn’t on social media and his house is empty. But he HAS sent Wren a brief message to apologise for what he has done.

Wren is in turmoil. It sounds like a problem she would take to Dear Birdie – a podcast which helps people deal with difficult life events and offering advice on how to get their life back on track. Unfortunately for Wren she doesn’t have that option available as Wren IS Dear Birdie – a secret identity she has kept under wraps and that only her closest friend (her co-host) and a small, trusted production team know about. The podcast has been very good to Wren and she is financially more than comfortable but this wasn’t something Adam knew about.

While still struggling to come to terms with the fact she was ghosted by Adam, Wren has another shock to contend with. A private investigator wants to speak with her, he knows about Adam and Adam has history of using Torch to match with single women who are both vulnerable and financially well off. Wren is very much the type Adam would target and the fact this investigator knows about Wren’s wealth and her vulnerability suggests her secrets are not as well kept as she had believed.

Wren initially resists the urge to help the investigator but Adam is still out there and despite her determination to move on there is one question she cannot ignore: Has Adam finished with Wren? She receives messages from an unknown number, the instruction is clear – get rid of the PI and we can be together.

Can Wren trust a man that ghosted her? Is the investigator correct when he says Adam is not the man she knows and that he has been responsible for three other women vanishing? Does Adam know about Dear Birdie? Who to trust?

Lisa Unger has penned a great thriller with Wren’s dilemma at the heart of the story. At times Wren’s reluctance to just ditch the idea of Adam coming back to her infuriated the hell out of me. But Wren’s feelings for Adam just can’t be brushed off easily and she is confident the investigator is mistaken in his accusations. Lisa Unger balances Wren’s indecisions really well and you can’t help but sympathise with her position at times. Then more information slips out and you begin to question everything about Wren’s history and how she came to be where she is.

Domestic drama and a love that’s meant to be? Or creepy weirdo meets girl with too much to lose? You’ll want to keep reading to find out!

Last Girl Ghosted is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B085M4F4J7/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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October 15

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Ayo Onatade

My Decades challenge began in January. I had been contemplating the joy of entering a new library for the first time and tried to imagine the overwhelming situation a librarian may face if they were asked to fill the shelves of a brand new library.

Starting with zero books, how could you possibly hope to decide which titles you needed to order to make sure the very best books would be available for readers? I knew this was a question that demanded an answer and I knew I couldn’t do it alone.

Each week I invite a booklover to join me and I ask them to nominate five new books to be added to my Ultimate Library. Although they can choose ANY five books I do add a second rule which governs their selections…only one book per decade over five consecutive decades. So my guests can choose five books from a fifty year publication span. Easy!

I don’t want to add much more as I want to hand over to Ayo. During my 8 year life as Grab This Book I have been constantly in awe of Ayo who champions crime writing, books and authors in a way I could only ever dream of matching. It is a huge honour to have Ayo taking part in my Decades challenge and, of course, she has selected five terrific books which I am delighted to add to my Library.

Ayo Onatade is a freelance crime fiction critic/commentator and blogger. She has written a number of articles on different aspects of crime fiction and has also given papers on the subject as well. She was a contributor to British Crime Writing: An Encyclopaedia (2008) edited by Barry Forshaw and The American Thriller (Critical Insights) (2014) edited by Gary Hoppenstand. She wrote the chapter on Legal Thrillers. She is co-editor with Len Tyler of the anthology Bodies in the Bookshop (2014). She is a former Chair of the CWA Short Story Dagger and former judge of the Ngaio Marsh Award. She is current Chair of HWA (Historical Writers Association) Debut Crown and a Judge for the Strand Magazine Critics Award. She is an Associate Member and a Committee Member of the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain (CWA).

She has an eclectic taste in crime fiction, which runs the gamut from historical crime ﬁction to hardboiled and short stories. Her research interests include historical fiction especially crime fiction and crime fiction literary criticism. She can be found blogging at Shotsmag Confidential and Tweets @shotsblog.

DECADES

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (1930)

Dashiell Hammett stole half my heart with Sam Spade. This is one of two books that changed my reading tastes for ever. It was originally serialised in Black Mask Magazine and was an instant bestseller on publication. For me Sam Spade (along with Philip Marlowe) encapsulated what it was to be a private eye. He (that is Dashiell Hammett) according to Raymond Chandler took murder out of the drawing room and put it back in the gutter where it belonged. As someone who before reading The Maltese Falcon had been reading Agatha Christie and other Golden Age mystery novels this was a revelation. Sam Spade was allegedly no one’s hero but to me he was and in The Maltese Falcon he clearly showed how ruthless he could be. It is a story of double and triple crosses, femme fatale’s and a statue that was worth committing murder for.

Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler (1940)

Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe stole the other half of my heart. Farewell My Lovely is the second book to feature the iconic Philip Marlowe and despite being filled with murder and corruption is essentially a love story. Farewell My Lovely is a cannibalisation of a number of previous short stories. Famous for its metaphors and allusions it also in my opinion contains some of the most grotesque characters going. I have always said that reading crime fiction is the best way of opening your mind to social history and social policy and in Farewell My Lovely, Raymond Chandler’s implied social critique can be seen.

Both Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe have often been imitated but never bettered. They are the archetypal private eyes, more iconic and more enduring than we have at the moment.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (1958)

It depicts pre-colonial life in the southeastern part of Nigeria and the arrival of Europeans during the late 19th century. The first book of a trilogy by Chinua Achebe it has gone on not only to be a bestseller but also it is a chronicle of African history and indeed a classic study of cross-cultural misunderstanding and the consequences. Things Fall Apart was described by Wole Soyinka as being “the first novel in English which spoke from the interior of the African character, rather than portraying the African as an exotic, as the white man would see him” and this certainly was the case. For me it was also the first book by an African author that I read that stuck with me and through a historical lesson as well showed how colonialism impacted on Africans and that violence and pride can bring down an individual. Also that despite Europeans’ claims of bringing “civilization” to Africa, there was already a complex and varied culture on the continent. I read it over 40 years ago and it is now considered to be a classic. Chinua Achebe writes beautifully and honestly about Nigeria warts and all. There is a reason that this book became an international bestseller and there is a reason why it considered to be one of the most foremost African novels. Once read never forgotten.

I know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (1969)

Maya Angelou’s seminal novel was published 4 years after I was born (here’s me showing my age) but despite the fact that this book is over 50 years old it is still a classic. It describes her life from when she was 3 until her becoming a young mother at 16 and is the first of seven autobiographies. All her autobiographies deal with issues that a lot of black people (especially women) are still dealing with today. From identity and rape to racism and literacy and also the way in which women and their lives are seen and dealt with in a male dominated society.

The symbolism in I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is very revealing. Think oppression in all its forms including slavery, race based segregation and the still pervasive and insidious forms of oppression that is still rife in black communities today. Maya Angelou was at the forefront of the launch of African American women writers and her importance cannot be ignored. When you think of Black writers whether male or female Maya Angelou will always be talked about. My only disapoointment is that she is no longer alive to inspire future generations.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carré (1974)

Whether you have read the 1974 John Le Carré spy novel featuring George Smiley or have only seen the brilliant Alec Guinness as Simley in the BBC box set or Gary Oldman playing him in the 2011 film one cannot ignore the importance of the series or the character. John Le Carré is one of our modern day spy writers and the nuances in relation to complex social commentary at the time in Tink Tailor Soldier Spy was relevant as it had a lot of relevance in the light of Kim Philby’s deflection.

Why Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy as opposed to any other? The vivid characters and sketches of secret agents felt so true to life. The realism mad you feel that you were seeing what was going on from the inside. Whilst I was introduced to spy thrillers via Ian Fleming and I will always be a fan of the original Bond books. It was John Le Carré and specfically his Smiley series that made me appreciate the genre a lot more and seek out other authors. The books that made up the Karla Trilogy Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy (1977) and Smiley’s People (1979) are amongst the best spy novels written. The icy atmosphere of the Cold War is brought brilliantly to life via a cast of memorable and characters who all have their own deep motivations for acts of loyalty, friendship, daring… and betrayal. It is really exceptional and the writing is superb and engrossing. If you want to read a spy novel without all the glamour then pick up Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

I made a conscious effort in my selection not to be solely crime fiction related. Despite what my family think I do read other books. Also some of the crime books that I would have wanted to include were published in the same decade. For example Casino Royale by Ian Fleming which was published in 1953. I had to make a choice. It could have easily have been the case that all five books were crime fiction but looking back on my selections I am pleased that I have included Chinua Achebe and Maya Angelou as they are both books that any self-respecting reader who wants to expand their reading to include black writers should have on their bookshelves. All the books that I have chosen hold important memories for me (aside from the fact that they should be read) and I can honestly say that if I am asked this question again it is likely that my suggestions would change especially if I am looking at a different decade.

I would be very much surprised if some of these have not already been suggested. If not hurrah! If they have then thank goodness as it clearly means that a lot of the books really do have a significance.

Thank you Ayo! Five exceptional selections and I am once again reminded I really must read Raymond Chandler one day soon.

If you want to visit the Library and see the titles which have been selected by previous guests then this handy wee link will take you there: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/GrabThisBookDecades

DECADES WILL RETURN

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October 15

Spook Street – Mick Herron

Never outlive your ability to survive a fight.

Twenty years retired, David Cartwright can still spot when the stoats are on his trail. Jackson Lamb worked with Cartwright back in the day. He knows better than most that this is no vulnerable old man.

‘Nasty old spook with blood on his hands’ would be a more accurate description.’The old bastard’ has raised his grandson with a head full of guts and glory. But far from joining the myths and legends of Spook Street, Cartwright is consigned to Lamb’s team of pen-pushing no-hopers at Slough House.

So it’s Lamb they call to identify the body when Cartwright’s panic button raises the alarm at Service HQ.

And Lamb who will do whatever he thinks necessary, to protect an agent in peril…

I received a review copy from the publishers through Netgalley.

If you’re not reading Mick Herron then you are missing out on some of the finest storytelling currently being published. These are the spy stories for modern days, the cold war is long behind us and only the dinosaurs in the service remember what it was like when the spooks knew their craft, when missions took them overseas and their lives were in constant peril.

Despite being long retired David Cartwright still keeps his secrets close to his chest but his memory isn’t what it was and he gets so easily confused. His grandson River is also in the service but he blotted his copy book and now resides at Slough House – the dumping ground for agents no longer trusted to work in the field. They are under the supervision of Jackson Lamb – a dinosaur in more ways than one – and Lamb (if you haven’t met him yet) is a dangerous enemy and a terrible human being. He is also hilarous to read about.

David Cartwright is in danger, he is a loose end and someone is tidying house. A killer is sent to end Cartwright’s life but once a spook, always a spook and the dottery old man manages to get one up on his would be assassin. Now River has to find somewhere safe for his grandfather and try to work out what the Old Bastard did in his past which may put his future in peril.

Lamb will protect his team – not through any kind of affection for them – because Lamb would hate the idea of someone other than him making life miserable for any of his Slow Horses. When Lamb is in action nobody will be safe and it isn’t long before some familiar faces find him knocking on their door.

The Slough House books (Spook Street being book 4) will make you reconsider how a spy story should be told. Everyone is playing everyone else and everyone is only looking out for their own interests – except River who is worried about his grandfather. But River is about to discover that his grandfather has been keeping secrets from him too and when old secrets are unearthed it never ends well.

Chase scenes, gun battles, killers and politics – there’s a lot going on in Spook Street and Lamb’s team are right in the thick of it. I had this book waiting on me for quite some time, I am pacing myself with this series as I just don’t want to catch up with the latest releases and find there are no more books to look forward to. The anticipation is great but the enjoyment of reading a new Slough House book is unbeatable.

Spook Street is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01KXPVEJW/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i6

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