To The Last Page

The strength of Anna Richards' writing in this her amazing debut novel, is in how she is able to transform the ugliness of a brutal childhood, an abusive upbringing and war-time trauma into something sparkling, magical, lively and wondrous that draws the reader right in. Remarkably, such an approach doesn't belittle the seriousness of the experiences, but rather enhances them, showing that there is a wondrous human strength and vitality that is able to survive and thrive even in the direst of times. Little Gods relates the story of Jean, a lumpen monstrosity of a child who finds a way to survive in the world, despite an upbringing of abuse and deprivation from a bitter mother who had fought every step of the way to prevent her even coming into the world. Failing that, her treatment of Jean ensures that she never mistakes herself as being of any worth, or gets any ideas that she is in any way human and worthy of the romantic interest of a man. At school, in between the bouts of...

Erick Setiawan’s debut novel is a fabulous creation - an intense family melodrama set within a dark gothic fantasy world. Within this magical world Meridia’s life experience has been shaped by the deep rift that has always lain between her father and mother, a rift expressed in the coldness emanating from the house around them, dark mists that lap at the door to whisk her father off to his mistress, the vengeful ghost of his mother’s bitterness and anger battering at the door and appearing in the mirrors of the house. Then, at a fairground of wonderful sideshows and spiritualists offering their services, Meridia meets Daniel and the dark world she has known is transformed into something lighter and more magical. However, as she and Daniel overcome the obstacles to start their life together, Meridia finds the ominous mists of her youth replaced by an even more menacing threat; the bees spewed out by her mother-in-law, Eva. At heart, Of Bees and Mist is a big family melodrama of dark fa...

I haven’t read a Val McDermid book before but was most impressed by Fever of the Bone, the 6th Tony Hill and Carol Jordan. While there is clearly a strong cast of character here that have been built up through a series of other adventures, but this doesn’t prevent the reader from soon picking up the personalities and the relationships lying between them. At first sight, there’s nothing unusual about the cold cases being investigated by DCI Carol Jordan and her elite investigation unit - only difficulties and impediments put in her way be a new Chief Constable who wants to shake things up a bit in the Bradfield police force. Soon however their talents are called upon in the case of a serial killer case who after much preparation and grooming of young teenagers on an Internet Social Networking site, has just started to draw his victims in and execute them, his motives a complete mystery. With profiler Tony Hill out-of-bounds under the new regime and having some personal issues of his own...

Dr Ragab’s Universal Language plays an entertaining little game with the reader, on one hand presenting the intriguing notion that through proper meditation, learning and discipline that the secrets of life and the universe can be revealed and mastered by the keen disciple, but that it can also be a dangerous force if misused by less luminous souls without the right mindset and without guidance. On the other hand it could also be a load of old hooey. One’s reaction to the Robert Twigger’s book is likely to similarly be intrigued with the notion and how it is presented or dismissive of the whole enterprise. The perspective that the unusual story of Dr Ragrab’s wisdom is at least presented in a manner that creates an interesting dialectic. Driven by his own interest in bunkers a writer commissioned to write up the history of a German aluminium company uncovers some fascinating old documents belonging to the founder of the company. In an effort to survive his captivity by a number of mil...

Peter Lyons is a bright star in the world of Scottish politics, Justice Minister and an up-and-coming pretender to the title of First Minister, even if he does say so himself when tipping off journalist Gerry Conway ostentatiously over lunch with an exclusive that the current Minister may be stepping down at the next election. Conway however has been investigating another story about Lyons, one that associates him with an Ulster Irish loyalist paramilitary organisation. With the Tribune newspaper badly in need of a big scoop, Conway is sent to Belfast to investigate this potentially explosive and well-timed lead. All The Colours of the Town deals in the sordid business of sectarian hatred, a murky affair where enmity has become a tradition, kept stoked up more through football rivalry and citizenship of one of the closed ghettos of Belfast or Glasgow than through any personal experience in the new peace-process, city-of-culture, tourist-friendly faces offered by the twin cities of tod...