The assured writing in Snap is what elevates it above your average crime thriller. All the characters are believable, from the slightly hilarious lawn mowing, vampire loving five year old sister Merry to poor sad, stressed Jack, eleven years old and trying to hold his family together after their mother is murdered and their father […]
Latest Reviews
The Double Silence by Mari Jungstedt
Not quite sure how silence can be doubled, but I guess the title is a reference to two friends from a group of six who go missing. One man is pushed off a cliff and his fall witnessed by a windsurfer. Another woman goes missing on a bike ride on a small Swedish island. Then […]
The Reckoning by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
Another winnner from my favourite Icelandic crime writer. This one is a little more disturbing than her previous efforts, involving the rape and murder of an 8 year old girl and the reckoning that comes afterwards. What I admire about Sigurdardottor is that she does not depict horrific crimes; she leads us to the very […]
The Nowhere Child by Christian White
Good elements in this, though the creepiness of a religious sect with a way of worship that involves handling live snakes is what ultimately stays with you. The poor bloody snakes. Two year old Sammy Went is taken from her home in Kentucky USA. Twenty eight years later her brother tracks her down in Melbourne, though […]
How To Be Both by Ali Smith
How To Be Both could be so wanky, but somehow it’s fascinating, engaging and frequently quite hilarious. It’s also bold and difficult to describe. But well worth a read.
The Disappearance of Emily Marr by Louise Candlish
This 2013 novel is not Candlish’s best (that is Our House) but better than average, so long as you’re willing to believe Emily Marr could be so thoroughly vilified by the British media and public for a car accident she was nowhere near. She was, however, the mistress of the man whose wife and sons […]
Villa America by Liza Klaussman
MI’m a sucker for a good lavish portrait of this 1920’s, preferably with Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald in it, and this one is as comforting as wrapping yourself in a fluffy sun-warmed towel after a dip in the chilly ocean. It concerns Sara and Gerald Murphy, wealthy American builders of a stunning house in the […]
All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
This is one of those books that should move me more than it does. There’s nothing actually wrong with it, some parts of it are truly interesting, but as a whole it didn’t fill me with rapture in the way the reviews suggest it should. Still, it’s a decent read.