Vine Street – Dominic Nolan

Soho, 1935. Sergeant Leon Geats’ patch.

A snarling, skull-cracking misanthrope, Geats marshals the grimy rabble according to his own elastic moral code.

The narrow alleys are brimming with jazz bars, bookies, blackshirts, ponces and tarts so when a body is found above the Windmill Club, detectives are content to dismiss the case as just another young woman who topped herself early. But Geats – a good man prepared to be a bad one if it keeps the worst of them at bay – knows the dark seams of the city.

Working with his former partner, mercenary Flying Squad sergeant Mark Cassar, Geats obsessively dedicates himself to finding a warped killer – a decision that will reverberate for a lifetime and transform both men in ways they could never expect.

I recieved a review copy through Netgalley from the publisher but bought the audiobook and listened to Vine Street so my review reflects the audiobook I purchased rather than the written copy I initially recieved.

Had I listened to Vine Street before Christmas then it would have, without a shadow of doubt, been my favourite audiobook of 2021. As it stands it is currently my top audiobook listen of 2022 and the title which other audiobooks need to beat. So shall we proceed on the assumption you know I loved this book?

London in the 1930s is where most of the action in Vine Street takes place, except the story isn’t confided to that period. In fact, the opening scenes are actually set decades later when characters we will come to know well have their quiet retirement disturbed when ghosts from the past will be brought to their door.

But Soho is where much of the action will take place and we meet Leon Geats he is a police officer but he immediately struck me as the cop who doesn’t conform or play by the rules. This first impression was pretty much spot on as Geats is a loose cannon in his team and very much takes life in his own style. Geats is called to a house where a woman has died. She is found with a stocking around her neck but the investigating officer doesn’t want to rule it as murder. She appears to have been a working girl and a foreign national – almost not worth the bother of investigating! But Geats isn’t having it and he will dig and ask questions despite the apathy of his colleagues.

What Geats had not anticpated was the presence of a child at the murder scene. The daughter of the victim and all alone in the world, she takes a shine to Geats but he knows his lifestyle is too chaotic to be able to care for her so he finds one of her relatives to care for her. It’s a sensible and, Geats thinks, the correct thing to do but, as we will see, some decisions have reprecussions.

Vine Street is a huge book and it is impossible for me to do it justice in a brief review, I could wax lyrical for many, many pages. It’s the story of 1930’s Soho, the dancing, the girls, the hardship of the time, the police and some corruption within their ranks. But at heart it is a story about murders and an obsession to catch a killer. You will be drawn back in time and become fully immersed in these London streets. You will know the bar owners, who likes the music and where the dancing happens. But the lighter side of Soho has an opposing dark side. Prejudices are rife, racism, sexism, homophobia are commonplace and it will make for uncomfortable reading at times. Dominic Nolan takes it all and delivers the reader with an experience which will not quickly be forgotten.

I mentioned that I had listened to the audiobook of Vine Street. The narrator is Owen Findlay and he made this story shine. It’s without doubt one of the best narrator/story combinations I have heard for quite some time. The book is cracking and Findlay gave it such energy that I was hanging onto his every word. It’s over fourteen hours of listening and I am not going to lie when I say I wanted more.

There are real emotional highs and lows in Vine Street, some characters left too soon and I missed them badly. Some more than outstayed their welcome and I was glad when their contributions were at an end. The emotional impact all these players had on me is testament to the outstanding work of the author. There are some books I will always be glad I read, Vine Street is on that list.

Vine Street is currently available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. Paperback will be incoming this summer. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/vine-street/dominic-nolan/9781472288851

Category: Audiobook, From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

March 25

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Steph Broadribb

You can’t tell just by looking, however, this week’s Decades selection is the first blog post written in my 9th year of blogging. For eight full years I have tried to find ways to champion books, give hidden gems a chance to shine and to let others share their thoughts about books they loved too. When I started this blog in 2014 I did not envisage still updating it in 2022.

When I started this Decades feature in January 2021 I certainly did not expect it to have become become a weekly feature and have welcomed over 60 guests (and counting) to the Decades Library.

For anyone joining for the first time. Each week I invite a booklover to join me and add five new books to my Decades Library. I started the Library with empty shelves and the challenge is to only have the very best books represented. My guests are asked to nominate five books they believe should be included in an Ultimate Library but they have two rules to follow which govern their selections:

1 – Pick Any Five Books
2 – You May Only Select One Book Per Decade From Five Consecuive Decades

This week I am delighted to be joined by blogger turned bestselling author, Steph Broadribb. As I write this I am just a few chapters away from finishing Steph’s new novel Death in the Sunshine. Full review to follow soon but (spoilers) I am loving it. Steph was a major influence on how Grab This Book developed in the early years (I take all the blame for the bits you don’t like) and her blog was one of my go-to places when I was looking for reading recommendations. I was really looking forward to seeing which five books Steph selected.

Steph Broadribb has an MA in Creative Writing and trained as a Bounty Hunter in California. Her latest novel, Death in the Sunshine, is the first book in her new Retired Detectives Club series set in a luxury Florida retirement resort and is available at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Sunshine-Retired-Detectives-Club-ebook/dp/B094JMFJNK . Her thriller series featuring single mom bounty hunter Lori Anderson has been shortlisted for the eDunnit eBook of the year award, the ITW Best First Novel, and the Dead Good Reader Awards for Fearless Female Character and Most Exceptional Debut. She also writes psychological police procedurals under the pen name Stephanie Marland. Find out more at www.stephbroadribb.com or follow her on Twitter (@CrimeThrillGirl) or Facebook (@CrimeThrillerGirl).

DECADES

Riders by Jilly Cooper (1985)

OMG this book! This was the taboo book that, as teenagers, my friends and I would sneak off our mums’ bookshelves and read secretly. As a horse rider I loved the horse bits, and as a teenage girl I loved the naughty bits. It is very much of its time, but was definitely a much-loved book of teenage me.

The Runaway Jury by John Grisham (1996)

This was the first Grisham book and the first legal thriller I read, and it remains my favourite. It has it all – a compelling story, great characters, and lots of pace. I didn’t like the film as much as they changed some of the elements of the story, but the book remains one of my top five.

State of Fear by Michael Crichton (2004)

I remember reading this climate change thriller and thinking wow! It’s a pulse pounding, adrenaline hit of a novel and I read all through the night to finish it. I’m a huge Crichton fan, and am always amazed by how clever and creative his plots and storylines are. This is my favourite of all his novels.

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica (2014)

This book made me cry! An abduction story with a hell of a twist, I loved the characters and plot, and marvelled at the genius of the structure and storytelling. Now, almost ten years on, I can still remember that first read vividly.

The Belladonna Maze by Sinead Crowley (2022)

This dual timeline novel set in a historic house in the west of Ireland is simply stunning. With a mesmerising cast of characters, it hooks you in as it reveals the decades of deadly secrets surrounding the house and maze, and packs one hell of an emotional punch at the end.

I always love seeing new authors appear in the Decades Library and Steph has brought one of my favourites this week. I read all of Michael Crichton’s novels when I was in my 20’s and I remember really enjoying State of Fear. Can I find some way to make more time to revisit it? My thanks to Steph for taking time to make her selections. Death in the Sunshine is available in all your favourite book buying places, grab it!

DECADES WILL RETURN

Category: Decades | Comments Off

March 18

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Ian Moore

January 2021: when I set the path of my Thursday evenings for the next 14 months (and counting). You see, every Thursday evening I make myself a mug of hot coffee and I prepare to introduce my next guest to the Decades Library.

What is the Decades Library? I always hope you ask as it means you are a new visitor and new visitors are always welcome. All those months ago I was pondering the question “If I had to fill a brand new library with nothing but the very best books, which books would I put on the shelves?”

I realised this was not a question I could not answer alone so each week I am joined by a new guest and I ask them which books they would add to my Decades Library. My guests are all invited to choose five books but I ask that they follow two rules when making their nominations:

Rule 1 – Choose Any Five Books
Rule 2 – You May Only Choose One Book Per Decade From Five Consecutive Decades.

Easy!

This week I am delighted to welcome Ian Moore to Grab This Book. Ian’s book C’est Modnifique! was the first book I added to my Audible Library waaay back in 2014 when I branched out into new ways to enjoy reading. I have long been a fan of his contributions to Radio Five’s Fighting Talk and his latest novel Death and Croissants was the book I bought myself for Christmas!

Ian Moore has been one of the UK’s leading stand-up comedians for the last 20 years. In 2021, Death and Croissants was published by Farrago Books, the first in the Follet Valley series of French-set cosy mysteries involving an Anglo-French amateur detective duo. Described as ‘Bloody Funny’ by Alan Carr, Death and Croissants has become a best-seller (number one in Bird Care (!) for 7 months) and has been optioned for television. The paperback is out in April and the second in the series, Death and Fromage, is out in July 2022.

DECADES

1950s – Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit – PG Wodehouse

It always comes back to Wodehouse. The writing, the characters, the humour… whenever I feel down, I return to Pelham Grenville. It’s not a world I should necessarily be interested in, I have no connection with pre-war Bright Young Things or the aristocracy or country houses or omniscient gentlemens’ gentlemen but Wodehouse more than humanises his ‘targets’, if you will, he makes you care for them. I actually feel Bertie Wooster has been hard done by through the ages; he’s become the very epitome of upper class twittery, whereas I see him more as a gentle, giving soul always there for a friend and the victim of other’s whims and machinations. This collection has all the great characters Roderick Spode, Aunt Dahlia, Florence Craye and it all begins over a slight disagreement about facial furniture.

1960s – A Murder of Quality – John Le Carré

This was Le Carré’s second George Smiley book and the only one that wasn’t directly about espionage. This is a more straightforward murder investigation which Smiley takes an interest in on behalf of an old friend, when the wife of a schoolmaster is beaten to death at the fictional public school of Carne. Though in many ways it’s a straightforward whodunnit, it has all the claustrophobia and downbeat atmosphere of Smiley’s more famous outings. So beautifully written, it’s another book I return to often, an absolute masterpiece of plotting and characterisation with melancholic ‘toad’ Smiley always humane and at the heart of it all.

PS I would highly recommend the Radio 4 George Smiley dramatisations with Simon Russell Beale. Peerless radio.

1970s – Bring On the Empty Horses – David Niven

This is probably the one book I have read more often than any other. David Niven’s tales and anecdotes of the Golden Age of Hollywood, all the famous stars of the time seen through Niven’s raconteur eyes. It’s such a joy to be transported to that era, and yes, I know it’s glossy and one only hears the positives (mostly) of an era and society that was actually rather vicious, but I don’t care. It inspired me as a child, and I still think I was born in the wrong era. If only I’d tipped up in Hollywood in the early 1930s as a young man, with a pencil moustache…

1980s – The Beiderbecke Affair – Alan Plater

Alan Plater’s first book in The Beiderbecke Trilogy is another chosen for its calming influences. Plater said he wrote about characters whose normal lives are interrupted when the outside world barges in, and on the face of it, Trevor Chaplin and Jill Swinburne seem completely unsuited for the convoluted jazz-themed mystery that they’re drawn into. But the dialogue and, in opposite to Wodehouse, the sheer mundanity of their world, is just so perfectly pitched. It’s been a big inspiration to me in my Follet Valley Series, and the TV series is as charming as television gets.

1990s – What a Carve Up! – Jonathan Coe

I read What a Carve Up! when it first came out in 1994, drawn to it because it had Shirley Eaton on the cover and that appealed to my film obsession, but it became the first book that left me terribly angry and helpless about the state of the world. It also left me bereft because I thought that no matter what I read from now on, and for the next (hopefully) 60 years of my life, nothing would come close to the sheer majesty of the work. It’s fragmented in style, structure and voice which contributes to the story of the dizzying grip on power that just a few people can have and so it’s as much horror as it is satire. If you don’t know, it’s about how Britain has been carved up so that the same names run government, agriculture, industry, health, arms, and the media. It’s a work of fiction obviously, it could never really happen…

HOW DID I ARRIVE AT THESE CHOICES? Well I started with What a Carve Up! and worked around that. My second favourite book, Birdsong, was published in the same decade and it seems a pity to have left that out, but I’ll be surprised if someone else doesn’t choose it. I had to have Wodehouse in their somewhere, and David Niven has influenced more as a person and a writer than anyone else I can think of. A couple of notable omissions are Catch-22, The Last Exit of Sherlock Holmes by Michael Dibdin and Halliwell’s Filmgoers Companion. Also, now I look at the list see how they have all, in their way, had an influence on my writing style or general demeanour!

Huge thanks to Ian for these brilliant selections. There have not been many non-fiction titles recommended thus far and David Niven is definately bringing some glitz to proceedings. This is also the first selection for many months where I haven’t read a single one of the books recommended. I really must put that right – and soon.

DECADES WILL RETURN

Category: Decades | Comments Off

March 15

Dead Rich – G.W. Shaw

Super yachts are secretive, like their owners. The bigger the richer. Like castles, they are created to inspire awe. Like castles too, they are defended. They are an entire world, separate from the rest of us.

Kai, a carefree once-successful musician is invited by his new Russian girlfriend Zina to join her family’s Caribbean holiday. Impulsively accepting he learns that Zina is the daughter of a Russian oligarch, Stepan Pirumov and that the trip is aboard his yacht, the Zinaida, moored in St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. The crew consists of Captain Marius Falk, the first mate Erin Wade and a hastily assembled staff, including a chief stewardess Marissa from Miami, a chief engineer from Lagos and a personal trainer from Los Angeles. All know how to behave around the very rich.

On arrival Kai discovers that the head of security has been arrested, armed guards are below deck, there’s an onboard panic room and a strong sense of all not being quite right beneath the gleaming surfaces of the Pirumov’s lives. An unnerving presence punctures the atmosphere: a murderous imposter is on board the Zinaida, but who is it?

Kai will find that the only person he can trust will be Erin and that the world of the super-rich will become a prison from which they must escape. Part locked-room suspense, part adventure story, Dead Rich is an unforgettable, edge of the seat thriller set in the blazing heat of the Caribbean

My thanks to the publishers for the review copy I recieved of Dead Rich through Netgalley.

What a time to be reading a book about a Russian oligarch, his super yacht, his rebellious daughter Zina (who is keeping away from her parents by studying in London) and a threat to their lives which will take the reader on a thrill packed journey across the seas. By the time we see Dead Rich hitting the shelves in May we will all be much more familiar with Russian oligarch’s and my appreciation for the size of their super yachts will be cemented in.

The size of a super yacht was one thing I realised I had initially mis-calculated when I started reading Dead Rich. When considering the Zinaida (the vessel where much of the action takes place) I was constantly upscaling the mental image I had of the yacht. The author does a great job of describing the luxury yacht but I had read the book before super yacht’s were on the evening news so I could not envisage a “boat” on such an extravagant scale.

Zinaida presented something of a locked room murder mystery, only the whole yacht was the locked room as it cruised across a vast ocean – the murderer is locked in with their victims. On the boat is lead character, Kai. He has previously enjoyed some musical success and lives a comfortable lifestyle but he is drifting without purpose and his brother is keen he attends a job interview with a view to seeing Kai settle down. Kai isn’t keen to give up his laidback freedom and when his gorgeous girlfriend Zina offers him the opportunity to take a trip with her on her father’s yacht Kai goes along.

He finds himself aboard the Zinaida as her owner Stepan Pirumov is preparing to take to sea to escape a threat to his life. Pirumov arrives last to the docks and the Zinaida sets sail with some urgency, there is clearly a need to flee an unknown enemy and Kai is very much caught up in the thick of the action. Unfortunately he speaks no Russian and does not know who he can trust to bring him up to speed. One of the crew, the first mate Erin, is the only person who shows him friendship – even Zina is behaving oddly in the presence of her parents.

The readers know there has been an incident back in London which Pirumov seems to be fleeing from. It suggests an enemy or enemies unknown are more than willing to take a life and that they have no qualms about removing innocents that may get in their way. Kai is afloat in what has become a luxury prison, someone out in the water may be coming to get Pirumov but they don’t know who and they don’t know when. Pirumov travels with a bodyguard and the crew on the boat had their own security in place but the level of distruct between these groups only serves to increase the tension between the characters. Something bad is about to happen – you can feel it.

Dead Rich was a exactly what I wanted it to be. Tense, unpredictable, packed with thrilling moments and engaging characters. The narrative flows like a dream and I was swept along by the events unfolding on the pages in front of me. Think summer Holywood blockbuster, summer reading by the pool – this book delivers all the escapism entertainment you could wish for. It’s out in May but get your copy reserved nice and early – not to be missed.

Dead Rich will be published by Riverrun on 26 May 2022. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/dead-rich/g-w-shaw/9781529420029

Category: 5* Reviews, From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

March 11

The Blood Tide – Neil Lancaster

You get away with murder.
In a remote sea loch on the west coast of Scotland, a fisherman vanishes without trace. His remains are never found.

You make people disappear.
A young man jumps from a bridge in Glasgow and falls to his death in the water below. DS Max Craigie uncovers evidence that links both victims. But if he can’t find out what cost them their lives, it won’t be long before more bodies turn up at the morgue…

You come back for revenge.
Soon cracks start to appear in the investigation, and Max’s past hurtles back to haunt him. When his loved ones are threatened, he faces a terrifying choice: let the only man he ever feared walk free, or watch his closest friend die…

Max, Janie and Ross return in the second gripping novel in this explosive Scottish crime series.

I received a review copy from the publishers through Netgalley.

If you missed out on Dead Man’s Grave last year then the good news is that it recently released in paperback and is available in all your favourite book-buying places. The other good news is that Dead Man’s Grave is the first book in what I am calling “an unmissable new series” so you should grab a copy as soon as possible and catch up on the exploits of DS Max Cragie.

The Blood Tide, which is why we are here today, is the second Cragie book. It picks up after the events of Dead Man’s Grave and Craigie is about to get drawn into another tension packed adventure. While The Blood Tide can be read as a stand-alone title there are recurring characters across the two stories where knowing their background will help you understand why they undertake certain actions in the second book.

On the shores of western Scotland a small boat is coming ashore with a significant supply of class A drugs on board. There is a sole occupant in the boat but he knows he is meeting a friend when he reaches land and he will be well paid for the risks he is taking. What he had not anticipated was encountering two strangers on the shore and he was even more unprepared for what happens next. Perhaps the payment wasn’t quite enough or he underestimated the level of risk he was taking?

Next we head south to the Erskine Bridge. A cop on his way home at the end of a long shift spots a man on the edge of the bridge ready to jump. He stops and tries to talk down this desperate stranger but the man is terrified and after telling the cop there is nothing he nor anyone else can say or do to protect his family from the powerful, dangerous people he steps off the bridge.

The event leaves the cop badly shaken but he writes up the incident and realises the terrified man had implied there were police involved in the threat against his family. He calls his friend Max Craigie to tell him about the incident and Max agrees to meet him to discuss this further. But before the meeting can take place there is another death and Craigie believes there is a dangerous connection.

I really don’t want to get too much deeper into the events of The Blood Tide as I want to avoid too many spoiler possibilites. Suffice to say Lancaster’s recognisable patterns of tension, explosive drama and putting his lead characters through peril and trauma are very much present. It is exactly what you want from a crime thriller, think “one more chapter” and you’re there.

Drugs and corruption are powerful motivators and people will do anthing to protect their interests when both are involved. Craigie and his colleagues, Janie and Ross, will have their work cut out to identify where the risks lie and their lives will be in danger – even if they don’t know it. When you investigate the colleagues around you it is impossible to know who you can trust.

There are more than a few shocks and twists waiting within the pages of The Blood Tide. I had been in a bit of a reading slump before I picked this book up and it blew away those cobwebs. High stakes, fast paced and wonderfully realised characters, do not miss out on this series.

The Blood Tide is available in Hardback, Audio and Digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-blood-tide/neil-lancaster/9780008518462

Category: 5* Reviews, From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

March 11

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Margaret Kirk

Seven days seem to fly past so quickly at the moment and already I find I am rolling out the red carpet to welcome a new guest curator to the Decades Library.

Have you visited the Decades Library before? Let me quickly explain what’s happening.

Back in January 2021 I asked myself the question: If I were to build a new library from the ground up which books would I put on the shelves to make sure only the best books were represented? I quickly realised this was not a question I could answer alone so I have been inviting guests to join me here at Grab This Book and asking them to nominate five of their favourite books which they feel deserve a place in my Decades Library.

Why is it a Decades Library? Well there are two rules governing the choices my guests can make.

1 – Pick ANY five books
2 – You may only select one book per decade from five consecutive decades.

Easy. In theory. But when it comes to making those selections and narrowing down which decades to represent I am told it can get a bit more challenging than you may believe.

Today I am delighted to pass the Curator’s Hat to Margaret Kirk who (before you scroll down) has selected five brilliant books which I will add to the shelves of the Decades Library.

Margaret Kirk writes ‘Highland Noir’ Scottish crime fiction with a gothic twist, set in and around her home town of Inverness.

Her debut novel, Shadow Man, won the Good Housekeeping First Novel Competition in 2016. Described as ‘a harrowing and horrific game of consequences’ by Val McDermid, it was published in 2017 by Orion. Book 2 in the DI Lukas Mahler series, What Lies Buried, was published in June 2019. Book 3, In The Blood, is set in Inverness and Orkney and is available from all good book stores.

Margaret is also the writer of several award-winning short stories, including The Seal Singers, which has been published in translation in Germany and Switzerland.

You can find Margaret here:

Website: https://margaretmortonkirk.wordpress.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MargaretKirkAuthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HighlandWriter

And Margaret’s books are here:

Amazon: Shadow Man https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadow-Man-Margaret-Kirk-ebook/dp/B06VVS5P1H/ref

What Lies Buried https://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Lies-Buried-Margaret-Kirk-ebook/dp/B07N6DRL4K/ref

In The Blood https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Margaret-Kirk-ebook/dp/B07ZK9CMXN/ref

Hive https://www.hive.co.uk/

(supports local independent bookshops)

DECADES

Thank you for inviting me to contribute to Decades ! I changed my mind several times about which decade would be my starting point – I very nearly picked the 1890s, because I wanted to include a certain iconic horror novel. But how would it be fair to include Dracula and leave out Frankenstein, Mary Shelley’s more nuanced and arguably much more disturbing creation of 1818? And then I couldn’t have had one of my great heroes of the classic mystery genre, Dorothy L Sayers.

In the end, I’ve gone all modern, which allows me to genre-hop as I please, something I was also keen to do. My picks are all fairly well-known, but hopefully there’s something for everyone here – and I thoroughly recommend each and every one of them!

1970s – ‘Salem’s Lot (Stephen King)

Very early Stephen King, and no, it’s not his best. It shows its age in places, and his protagonist, Ben Mears, is not a particularly compelling character. But King’s portrayal of small-town American life and attitudes always fascinates me, and this novel was the first I’d read which grabbed vampires by their mouldering, cobwebby capes and chucked them out into the contemporary world. Where, it seems to me, they have the potential to be infinitely more terrifying than confined to their Transylvanian homeland …

https://www.waterstones.com/book/salems-lot/stephen-king/9781444708141

1980s – Silence of the Lambs (Thomas Harris)

What can I say about this one that hasn’t been said? It’s a masterful study in suspense, in drama, in character creation and development – there’s a reason so many books and courses on crime-writing pick this one apart to analyse the brilliance of its construction. (And let’s not forget, spawner of a million internet memes … 😉

https://www.waterstones.com/book/silence-of-the-lambs/thomas-harris/9780099532927

1990s – Good Omens (Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman)

The book which my husband and I bonded over, pretty much at our first meeting. I love fantasy, and I love clever, witty writing with a bit of bite. Is there any wonder this is one of my favourite books? (No, not another vampire reference). Pratchett is a huge loss to the writing world, and we’re all the poorer for not having him around to skewer the cruel and the vainglorious and the stupid in his own inimitable way.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/good-omens/neil-gaiman/terry-pratchett/9780552171892

2000s – On Writing (Stephen King)

Seriously, another Stephen King? Hey, my list, my rules. And this is his brutally honest and hugely influential non-fiction memoir and look back over his writing life. I read it initially just as a huge King fan, but now I think it was what gave me that initial nudge to think maybe I could try my hand at this writing thing (so if you were looking for someone to blame …)

Seriously, it’s one of the best books on writing I’ve read, mainly because it’s so honest and down-to-earth. And the final section on editing, where he actually shows how he does it? So, so good.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/on-writing/stephen-king/9781444723250

2010s – Just One Damned Thing After Another (Jodi Taylor)

‘St Mary’s – a group of tea-soaked disaster magnets who hurtle their way around History.’ Yep, that pretty much describes the protagonists of Jodi Taylor’s brilliantly irreverent take on the whole time travel concept (sorry, Dr Bairstow). But beneath the historical mayhem, there’s a subtle but growing darkness that hooked me from the outset. Another firm favourite!

https://www.waterstones.com/book/just-one-damned-thing-after-another/jodi-taylor/9781472264268

Boom – that’s how you do a Decades selection. King (twice) and Pratchett/Gaimen. Although I have never tried to nail down my personal five selections (I will save that for the very last Decades post) I would bet the farm on Good Omens making it into my five – no book has ever matched it for me. My thanks to Margaret for taking on the Decades Challenge, as ever, my apologies to your TBR.

DECADES WILL RETURN

Category: Decades | Comments Off

March 4

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Paul Gadsby

Welcome to March 2022, we are now in the fifteenth month of the Decades Library. Decades is a feature which I expected to run for five or six posts back in January and February 2021 and then believed it would slip into the background maybe to be revisited for another brief outing later in the year.

What actually happened is that Decades became a weekly feature and over 200 books have been recommended by authors, bloggers, journalists and publishers. People look foward to seeing the latest reading recommendations from my guests each week and if I don’t share a new Decades post on a Friday morning then I get letters (OK I get Twitter DMs but the principle is the same).

I also have to find new ways to introduce the Decades Library each week…how I wish I had standardised my introduction.

The Decades Library is my quest to populate a brand new library from the ground up. I started with zero books and I invite guests to nominate five of their favourite reads to be added to the shelves of the Decades Library. I only want the best books to be represented, books someone loved and would love other people to enjoy too.

Why the Decades Library? Well although my guests get to choose five favourite books they can only select one book per decade from five consecutive decades.

This week I am delighted to welcome another indy published author to the Decades Library: Paul Gadsby. I have had a sneaky look at the books Paul has selected and damn they sound good. So it’s enough from me for the moment, let me hand you over to Paul.

Paul Gadsby is the author of the crime novels ‘Back Door to Hell’ and ‘Turbulence’, both published by Fahrenheit Press, as well as ‘Chasing the Game’. His short stories have appeared in Mystery Tribune, Rock and a Hard Place magazine, Beat to a Pulp, Close to the Bone, and the ‘Noirville’ anthology. Having spent many years working in London as a sports and trade journalist, he is now a copywriter (when he’s not writing fiction) in his native Northamptonshire, where he lives with his wife and young son. His love of reading started with Michael Hardcastle’s football books for children and Sue Townsend’s Adrian Mole series, before discovering a passion for crime and noir novels through the works of Ian Rankin, Ted Lewis, Megan Abbott and James Sallis among many others. You can read more about Paul’s work and his articles on literature at his website, paulgadsbyauthor.co.uk, while he can be found on Twitter @PaulJGadsby

DECADES

Ripley Under Ground, by Patricia Highsmith (1970)

I often tend to prefer the first book in a series, but this is a fine example of a stunning follow-up. Highsmith’s collection of Tom Ripley psychological thrillers begins with the spellbinding ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’, and ‘Ripley Under Ground’ is the second instalment, set six years later. The titular anti-hero, now in his thirties, is enjoying an affluent lifestyle in rural France, supported by his heiress wife, Héloïse, and the fortune he furtively acquired from Dickie Greenleaf. Naturally drawn to the shadows and all things clandestine, Ripley is also running an art forgery scheme, playing a key sales role within a consortium that is producing and selling fake paintings lauded as works by the now deceased artist Philip Derwatt. But when Bernard Tufts, a gifted young painter who is fabricating the works and who idolised Derwatt, becomes tormented by guilt, the scheme unravels. Ripley is forced to act fast — and not to mention lethally — in order to save his skin and the elevated social status he’s worked so hard to create for himself. Slotting Ripley into a counterfeiting world where, as a natural imitator and con artist, he thrives so compellingly was a masterstroke by Highsmith as she deftly plots this riveting tale.

The Eye of the Beholder, by Marc Behm (1980)

This hardboiled and surreal PI novel, later adapted into a film starring Ewan McGregor and Ashley Judd, is an eclectic and experimental triumph. The protagonist, known only as ‘The Eye’, is a field operative for a corporate private investigation firm in Virginia. His latest assignment is to keep tabs on college graduate Paul Hugo, whose wealthy parents are concerned about a deviant young woman their son is romantically involved with. The Eye, long separated from his daughter who he only sees in sporadic illusions, is mentally unstable and finds himself fixated with the woman. When he watches her calmly kill Paul one evening, The Eye becomes infatuated. He soon discovers that the woman has plenty of aliases and wigs as she criss-crosses the nation getting her hooks into one well-heeled victim after another – sometimes playing the bride for an inheritance payout, sometimes just helping herself to a quick score. The Eye researches her true identity, Joanna Eris, and uncovers a tragic past that explains her emotional detachment to the murders she carries out with such a callous flair. Despite being a slender book, ‘The Eye of the Beholder’ spans 30 years and covers nearly 100 killings. It’s an extraordinary nihilistic descent into hell; brutal yet tender, rapid yet epic, and viciously bleak. Few books have explored themes of manic desire and sociopathic behaviour with such heartbreaking lyricism and relentless intensity.

The Hackman Blues, by Ken Bruen (1997)

I love the verve and vengeance which Irish noir novelist Bruen injects into his prose. Creator of the Jack Taylor series, Bruen’s long-nurtured edgy writing style and black humour lends itself particularly well to his standalone books, with ‘The Hackman Blues’ a personal favourite. Brady, a gay, bipolar junkie, is tasked with finding a girl in Brixton but his objective is complicated by a lethal ex-con and an Irish builder obsessed with Hollywood legend Gene Hackman. A powerful, gritty tale laced with urban blues and psychotic yet genuine characters, this is Bruen at his haunted best. Like most of his novels, the intensity rarely dips with his chapters short, his sentences rapid, and his narratives wonderfully original. Also, his habit of defining his protagonists by their cultural tastes — often declared through listing their favourite music, films, books, clothes or cuisine — wins me over every time.

The Long Suit, by Philip Davison (2003)

Following a chequered recent past, MI5 operative Harry Fielding is brought in from the cold to investigate the mysterious and complex case of a bullet-ridden corpse found on a Long Island golf course. Never one to fit in with the stiff procedures and hierarchical posturing of the British secret service, Harry struggles with the mental imbalance of returning to the cloak-and-dagger world of intelligence work that he hates so much yet performs so well. Keeping his troublemaker apprentice Johnny in check is difficult enough, let alone interpreting the instructions from head office which don’t appear to make the purpose of his job any clearer. Harry must consider if he is being set up, and to what end. Aside from the intriguing story and Davison’s delightfully polished writing style, what sets this book apart is the vivid and touching interplay that takes place in the visits Harry makes to his ailing father, Cecil, now confined to a retirement home as his amnesia worsens. The unsaid becomes mightily powerful in these passages. When I first read this book, having come across it by accident rather than design, I was captivated by its sharp and intelligent prose; the depth and vision of Davison’s writing compares with the likes of Graham Greene, John le Carré and James Sallis. The character of Harry features in some of Davison’s other books, but this for me is his finest work.

Dodgers, by Bill Beverly (2016)

This debut novel seemed to come out of nowhere and blew me — and many others — away. With its slick writing, gripping story and well-drawn characters, the convincing world created in this book overpowers you and stays with you long after the final page. We follow the journey of 15-year-old LA ghetto soldier East in what is both a crime caper road trip and a coming-of-age saga. East works for a drug peddling crew, just like pretty much everyone else he knows on the streets of the bleak African-American suburban landscape he has been raised, where the prospect of a violent death is constant. The crew’s boss, Fin, needs a Wisconsin-based witness killed before the guy can testify against his nephew in an upcoming trial. Fin tasks East, his trigger-happy 13-year-old half-brother Ty, and two other young crew members – the overweight Walter and the cocky Michael – with travelling across America to carry out the hit. Things don’t go to plan. The four of them have to improvise under pressure as things fall apart amidst a backdrop of the Midwest heartland rusting to a slow death. The van is vandalised and spray-painted with a racial slur. The mission flips. East and Michael have a vicious punch-up, and the group splits in stages. These impoverished characters don’t have many choices at their disposal, if any. The plot is taut and tense; there is no need for coincidences or twists. The observations Beverly draws are insightful and relevant, while the images he paints in your mind feel startlingly real.

And there we go, five books which sound amazing and I have only read one of them this week (Dodgers, don’t you know?). Thanks to Paul for taking the time to make his choices, it is always very much appreciated when someone takes on the Curator’s Hat for the Decades Library and I know people look forward to finding new books each week.

DECADES WILL RETURN

Category: From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

March 1

The Second Cut – Louise Welsh

Auctioneer Rilke has been trying to stay out of trouble, keeping his life more or less respectable. Business has been slow at Bowery Auctions, so when an old friend, Jojo, gives Rilke a tip-off for a house clearance, life seems to be looking up. The next day Jojo washes up dead.

Jojo liked Grindr hook-ups and recreational drugs – is that the reason the police won’t investigate? And if Rilke doesn’t find out what happened to Jojo, who will?

Thrilling and atmospheric, The Second Cut delves into the dark side of twenty-first century Glasgow. Twenty years on from his appearance in The Cutting Room, Rilke is still walking a moral tightrope between good and bad, saint and sinner.

I received a review copy from Canongate

Twenty years ago Louise Welsh unleashed The Cutting Room into the world. It featured Glasgow auctioneer Rilke and his boss Rose and it took readers into a dangerous tale of death and secrets with the awkward and unforgettable Rilke leading the story. He was a strong gay character living his life at a time where gay characters were not accepted in many circles. Liaisons snatched in parks and public toilets were dangerous but integral parts of Rilke’s social life.

Now two decades later Louise Welsh returns to Rilke’s Glasgow and we quickly see how much has changed but also how much has stayed the same. Those illicit liaisons are now co-ordinated and accepted dates which can be arranged with a swipe on an app. The book opens with a wedding of two of Rilke’s friends and all the guests are celebrating a same-sex marriage with an extravagent party. The tone of The Second Cut is immediately lighter than The Cutting Room where Rilke was exploring an old home and rooting around in the attic where he makes the shocking discovery in that novel.

But for Rilke life isn’t all light and fun. The auctionhouse where he works is experiencing cash flow problems and the staff are not as reliable and efficient as Rose would like from her employees. An opportunity lands at Rilke’s feet when one of his oldest friends (maybe acquaintance would be more to his agreement) makes Rilke aware of a large estate house outside the city which needs cleared. It’s a potential payday bonanza for Bowery Auctions but nothing is ever straightforward and taking on the job is going to bring many problems to Rilke’s door.

The tip-off on the house clearance came from Jojo, a fast living party loving character who is about to dance off this world. His death shocks Rilke and brings him into contact with a student who shared a house with Jojo and who used Jojo as a focus for his artworks. Jojo needs a funeral and his death indirectly brings some very unsavoury characters out of the shadows and into Rilke’s face.

Louise Welsh has brought beloved characters into the modern day and she has done it with some style. The Second Cut was a terrific read as the characters felt all too real and the danger Rose and Rilke find confronting them was extremely believable and also shocking.

I really enjoyed the time I spent with The Second Cut, Welsh is a natural storyteller and the pages flew by as I became lost in the world of auctions, parties, artwork and Glasgow gangsters.

The Second Cut is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-second-cut/louise-welsh/9781838850869

Category: From The Bookshelf | Comments Off