5) Brothers in Blood by Amer Anwar This is a fast-paced thriller in which we are introduced to Zaq Khan (and later his friend Jags), who is plunged into the middle of a family feud which escalates rapidly into a tale that is darker, more violent and more complex than it first appeared. I struggled… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 5: Brothers in Blood
Author: nicktemple1
Year 4 / Book 4: Convenience Store Woman
4) Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata This was one of several books I got for Christmas, and I'd added it to the Santa list after reading quite a few positive reviews of it last year. And now I can see why: it's a wonderfully quirky, insightful, surprising short novel, quite unlike any books I've… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 4: Convenience Store Woman
Year 4 / Book 3: Family Life
3) Family Life by Akhil Sharma I picked this up at the local charity shop, I think having read about Akhil Sharma's A Life of Adventure & Delight (which is on the TBR pile) in some well-informed person's recommendations list at some point in the not-too-distant past. So I knew little or nothing opening the… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 3: Family Life
Year 4 / Book 2: Force of Nature
2) Force of Nature by Jane Harper I very much enjoyed Jane Harper's runaway bestseller The Dry (see my review of that from Year 2) with its tale of small-town murder in a parched, drought-ridden Australia. This follow-up, Force of Nature, finds the same policeman (Aaron Falk) working in the finance department, tracking down money… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 2: Force of Nature
Year 4 / Book 1: October
1) October by China Miéville First book of year 4 of this blog, and we were in St Petersburg for the New Year, so it felt appropriate to read a book about the Russian Revolution. In this case, a rewriting of the momentous events of the year of 1917 by Miéville, a writer best known… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 1: October
Year 3 / Book 52: The Defenceless
52) The Defenceless by Kati Hiekkapelto Holidaying in Helsinki, and for my final book of Year 3 of Dogeared Man, I wanted to read a Finnish novel and remembered I had downloaded this many moons ago on to the Kindle. It’s the second novel by Hiekkapelto to feature Anna Fekete, a policewoman whose origins lie… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 52: The Defenceless
Year 3 / Book 51: The Midnight Line
51) The Midnight Line by Lee Child It wouldn’t be a year of reading if I didn’t slip in a cheeky Lee Child along the way. This was the latest that I’ve read (I know there are others already released) and I would place it firmly in the upper middle of the Jack Reacher canon… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 51: The Midnight Line
Year 3 / Book 50: Fatal Remedies
50) Fatal Remedies by Donna Leon Donna Leon’s Inspector Brunetti series is one of the most enjoyable and long-running set of crime novels, as satisfying as they are well-written. Someone in sunny Acton is donating a few Donna Leon’s to the community bookshelf, and this is the latest one I picked up on the way… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 50: Fatal Remedies
Year 3 / Book 49: East of Hounslow
49) East of Hounslow by Khurrum Rahman If there’s one word I wasn’t expecting to use to describe a “drug-dealer turned spy to infiltrate terrorist cell” story, and that word is *fun*. But this book by Khurrum Rahman is enormous fun - indeed, one could even use the word rollicking. It rattles along at a… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 49: East of Hounslow
Year 3 / Book 48: Anatomy of a Scandal
48) Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan If you've read Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty or The Party by Elizabeth Day, then you may well enjoy this book, as it struck me as a combination of the two - the courtroom drama and scandal of the former, mingled with the party politics and… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 48: Anatomy of a Scandal
Dog-eared Man: a book a week 