37) Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions by Valeria Luiselli This is a short but extremely powerful book, which details Valeria Luiselli's work as an interpreter for child migrants crossing the Mexico-US border. The 40 questions which provide the structure are those which form the questionnaire that Luiselli is meant to… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 37: Tell Me How It Ends
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Year 3 / Book 10: Spook Street
10) Spook Street by Mick Herron A bit of frothy light relief from the author widely heralded as a sort of more sarcastic, humorous up-to-speed Le CarrĂ©, this is the fourth in the Slough House series, featuring the curmudgeonly wonderful Jackson Lamb. It's pretty undemanding but also undeniably entertaining fare, and this one starts with… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 10: Spook Street
Year 2 / Book 31: Black Water Lilies
31) Black Water Lilies by Michel Bussi This book came weighted with a lot of chat on the front cover: "Ends with one of the most reverberating shocks in modern fiction" says the Sunday Times. "A dazzling, unexpected and haunting masterpiece" says the Daily Mail. It's a bit unfair, really, on both the book and… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 31: Black Water Lilies
Year 2 / Book 27: Late Fragments
27) Late Fragments by Kate Gross The subtitle to this book is 'Everything I Want To Tell You (About This Magnificent Life)', which gives you an indication of what it is about. It's a memoir written by a high-flying woman who gets diagnosed with terminal colon cancer when she is 34 and who dies two… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 27: Late Fragments
Year 2 / Book 25: Hostage
25) Hostage by Kristina Ohlsson I've read the first three novels by Kristina Ohlsson, and they've all been pretty gripping - with a nice central double act of Alex & Fredrika as the grizzled / talented detectives solving a variety of grisly crimes. In this novel, Ohlsson moves beyond the bleak Scandinavian tundra into a… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 25: Hostage
Year 2 / Book 23: The Wrong Side of Goodbye
23) The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly Another week, another long-running series of crime novels. I've lost count of how many Michael Connelly novels I've read, featuring either Harry Bosch or Mickey Haller...but Wikipedia says it would be around 23. Connelly's a hugely reliable writer, with a great ear for dialogue, believable plots… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 23: The Wrong Side of Goodbye
Year 2 / Book 20: The Last Act of Hattie Hoffman
20) The Last Act of Hattie Hoffman by Mindy Mejia There are few things that I hate more than the descriptions on Amazon that say 'the most psychologically twisty and suspenseful thriller you'll read this year' as part of the book title. Though they clearly work, as they are becoming more and more commonplace. So… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 20: The Last Act of Hattie Hoffman
Year 2 / Book 18: The Last Mile
18) The Last Mile by David Baldacci It's fair to say this won't be winning any literary prizes anytime soon. For some reason, I was in the mood for some trashy page-turning nonsense that woudn't tax my brain, and this popped up in the Kindle. Baldacci is one of those machine-like James Patterson creatures who… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 18: The Last Mile
Year 2 / Book 17: Black Night Falling
17) Black Night Falling by Rod Reynolds I like a bit of hard-boiled crime writing as much as the next reader, so I was looking forward to this: I'd read lots of glowing feedback about this and its predecessor by Reynolds. But I left it a bit underwhelmed and wondering quite what the fuss is… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 17: Black Night Falling
Year 2 / Book 8: The Ghost Riders of Ordebec
8) The Ghost Riders of Ordebec by Fred Vargas I haven't read a Fred Vargas novel for quite some time, but was fortunate to see this at our local station's free community bookshelf, and grabbed it. Vargas is an excellent writer of quirky, original and often slightly mystical French crime thrillers - featuring the wonderful… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 8: The Ghost Riders of Ordebec