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The fiction page is dominated this month by four fantastic crime fiction thrillers from four different authors at the top of their game. All four have been published previously, two of them I'm familiar with, the other two I wish I'd discovered earlier! Spoilt for choice for a book of the month, each one could easily have been top, so in the end I had to put them in the order in which they arrived... I'll rotate them in the February issue! Book
of the Month - Sophie Hannah: Haven't They Grown Published
by Hodder & Stoughton 23rd January 2020
Just because she knows that her former best friend lives near the football ground, that doesn't mean she has to drive past her house and try to catch a glimpse of her. Why would Beth do that, and risk dredging up painful memories? She hasn't seen Flora Braid for twelve years. But she can't resist. She parks outside Flora's house and watches from across the road as Flora and her children, Thomas and Emily, step out of the car. Except... There's something terribly wrong. Flora looks the same, only older - just as Beth would have expected. It's the children that are the problem. Twelve years ago, Thomas and Emily Braid were five and three years old. Today, they look precisely as they did then. They are still five and three. They are Thomas and Emily without a doubt - Beth hears Flora call them by their names - but they haven't changed at all. They are no taller, no older. Sophie Hannah has been wowing readers for a long time now. This is the first Sophie Hannah book I've read for quite some time, and I had quite forgotten just how good she is! It's tempting to be able to tell you there's a simple, rational explanation for why Thomas and Emily Braid are exactly as remembers them from twelve years ago, but the simple truth is that there isn't. Sophie has a brilliant way of drawing you in with something that seems quite impossible, and then weaving the plot in an unnerving, sometimes terrifying way that makes you start to think about things in a slightly different way. Sophie has been dubbed the "Queen of psychological suspense", and it's true, there are plenty of imitators but only one Sophie Hannah. There's a point in this book where there's a phrase "Something Very Strange" occurs, and that sums up this fantastic tale very well. Try as I might, I could not think of a rational explanation for what was going on, what Beth describes as "something very strange", and as Sophie doesn't do supernatural explanations, there had to be some other explanation. You have to hand it to her, she has the ability to describe something more or less impossible and eventually come up with a plausible reason why it's possible for the events Beth has been witnessing to be right after all. It's a gift with Sophie, and that's why I love her books so much. There are secrets and lies by the bucketload in Haven't They Grown, and it's not till the very end of the book that the truth comes tumbling out, when Beth's life is in mortal danger. SHe's uncovered something quite extraordinary... Psychological crime is one of the sub-genres of crime fiction that has come into its own this century, and Sophie is, quite simply, the best story teller in this sub-genre. Haven't They Grown promises to be something out of the ordinary, something quite special, and it doesn't disappoint. Quite brilliant, a riveting, unputdownable read!Chris Hammer: Silver Published
by Wildfire 9th January 2020
A TERRIBLE CRIME A PAST HE CAN'T ESCAPE James Oswald: Bury Them Deep Published
by Wildfire 20th February 2020
When a member of the Police Scotland team fails to clock-in for work, concern for her whereabouts is immediate... and the discovery of her burnt-out car in remote woodland to the south of Edinburgh sets off a desperate search for the missing woman. Meanwhile, DCI Tony McLean and the team are preparing for a major anti-corruption operation - one which may raise the ire of more than a few powerful people in the city. Is Anya Renfrew's disappearance a co-incidence or related to the case? McLean's investigations suggest that perhaps that Anya isn't the first woman to have mysteriously vanished in these ancient hills. Once again, McLean can't shake the feeling that there is a far greater evil at work here... It is hard for me to get my head round the fact that this is the tenth Inspector McLean novel...I'm almost ashamed to say that I had never even heard of James Oswald until I stumbled across this title on the Amazon next 90 days books list. It stood out, I asked for it, and Wildfire, a publisher I had also never heard of, were kind enough to send it along. You'll have to wait until nearly the end of February to read it, but it will be worth the wait, believe me, and I don't say that lightly. Until now, I thought that Logan MacRae and Hamish MacBeth were the only fictional Scottish detectives (only joking!) - OK, Logan MacRae is a uniformed police officer, but he does always seem to do most of the detecting, watching the actual detectives fall by the wayside for one reason or another. Here we have Inspector Tony McLean investigating the disappearance of a colleague prior to a major anti-corruption exercise. It's good solid police work with Police Scotland at the forefront of the story, and it's another fantastic read. Now I have to find a way of getting all of the previous nine Inspector McLean novels, so that's another author I have to check out in the charity shops and car boot sales (why are there no carc boot sales in the autumn and winter months? I know the reason, it's just that I really, really miss them). In the meantime, I am so glad to have discovered James Oswald, and I surely won't miss another of his books in the future. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!Cara Hunter: All The Rage Published
by Penguin Paperback Original 23rd January 2020
A distressed teenage girl is found on the outskirts of Oxford. The story she tells is terrifying: grabbed off the street, a plastic bag forced over her head, then driven somewhere remote and subjected to an assault. DI Adam Fawley is doing the best he can to investigate, but the teenager refuses to press charges. All he can do is try to ignore the sickening feeling he's seen something like this before... But when another girl goes missing, Fawley knows his time is running out. Because if he ignores the past any longer, this girl may not be coming back. It is high time we had a modern generation, brilliant detective patrolling the streets of Oxford, given the reputations of Young Morse, Older Morse and Lewis, and no sign of Hathaway getting his own series of adventures. Detective Inspector Adam Fawley, in his fourth outing in the series penned by the brilliant Cara Hunter, becomes involved in a case where a young woman is found wandering the streets and has clearly been assaulted, yet refuses to press charges. Great characters and a plot to die for - literally! I don't believe I have read the previous three Fawley novels, so this is another great new author I need to look out for in the charity shops and the boot sales! Pure enjoyment. Watch out next month for a great new Turner and Callanach story by the equally great Helen Fields - PERFECT KILL, coming 6th February 2020 (see below) and it's absolutely superb. British Crime Fiction is at its perfect best... read the three new titles above and you'll get a flavour of what I'm talking about. How long before these four have their detectives starring in TV shows?Helen Fields: Perfect Kill Published
by Avon 6th February 2020
Drugged and kidnapped, the realisation soon dawns that he’s been locked inside a shipping container far from his Edinburgh home. But what Bart doesn’t yet know is that he’s now heading for France where his unspeakable fate is already sealed… DCI Ava Turner and DI Luc Callanach are working on separate cases that soon collide as it becomes clear that the men and women being shipped to France are being traded for women trafficked into Scotland. With so many lives at stake, they face an impossible task – but there’s no option of failure when Bart and so many others will soon be dead… Get ready for a rollercoaster ride like no other, with the next gripping thriller from the number one bestselling crime author, Helen Fields. The perfect read for fans of M. J. Arlidge and Karin Slaughter. DCI Ava Turner and DI Luc Callanach are back! And this time they're thrown head first into a case involving people trafficking... Helen pulls out all the stops in this rip-roaring crime thriller with her top detectives up against the clock and against villains who will stop at nothing. With the freezer container deaths in Essex still fresh in our minds, this is a non-stop frenetic race against time involving some of the nastiest and evil criminals around, and only Turner and Callanach can solve the case by pooling their collective minds and resources. This is high octane crime fiction at its absolute best! This title may well graduate to my book of the month in the February issue of Books Monthly - it's that good, and the only reason it isn't my book of the month right now is because it's not available to read just yet... that, and the fact that the great Sophie Hannah's new book arrived on my doormat first! You might still like to check out these great fiction titles... Pamela Bell: Christmas at Emmerdale Published
by Trapeze 1st November 2018
August 1914, and a terrible war begins, one that will affect the lives of everyone in the village of Beckindale. For Maggie Sugden, left to run Emmerdale Farm on her own while her husband, Joe, is at the front, it will brining grief and loss but also independence and the chance to find a place to belong - and perhaps even to love again. Christmas At Emmerdale is the first in a sweeping new saga series, exploring the lives of Emmerdale's much-loved families during the run up to the Great War. The first of these magnificent Emmerdale stories was published this time last year, but for some reason I didn't know about it and consequently missed it. I remember the first episode of Emmerdale Farm, with Annie, Jack and Joe Sugden laying Annie's husband Jacob to rest. You won't find any of those characters in this novel, which is set in 1914, but you will find the Sugdens, you will find the Skilbecks, and a trio of Dingles over from their home, their origin, in Ireland, and hell bent on causing trouble in the Dales. Pamela Bell has laid the foundations for the characters that will come, characters that we know and love in our current seven visits per week to Emmerdale. There are many things wrong with Emmerdale on TV at the moment - the writers have lost their way and are making all sorts of textbook and childish errors. Only Diane and Victoria remain of the Sugdens, but there are plenty of Dingles, of course. No such problems with this first of three volumes (soon to be four!), which are in extremely capable hands, and lay the foundations for a brilliant new family saga in the tradition of the Whiteoaks by Mazo de la Roche, and the Poldark series by Winston Graham. All other family sagas in print fade into insignificance with this trio. I'm proud to have been given the opportunity to review Christmas at Emmerdale and the two subsequent titles on this page (see below). The dustjacket designs are brilliant and evocative. These magnificent books have filled a huge need in me, to know about the origins of the inhabitants of Emmerdale, and they are quite superb. I can't wait to get my hands on Hope Comes To Emmerdale in February 2020! Pamela
Bell: Spring Comes to Emmerdale Published by Trapeze 21st March 2019
Featuring firm fan favourites like the Dingles, The Woolpack Pub and Emmerdale Farm itself, this will be a delight for any Emmerdale fan. 'Totally brilliant and gripping - didn't want it to end' - Amazon reviewer on Christmas at Emmerdale Like the first in the series, Christmas At Emmerdale, the second novel explores the lives of Emmerdale's much-loved families during the Great War and beyond, and how the nation's favourite village copes with the loves and lives lost. In Spring Comes to Emmerdale, the fighting on the Western Front is at last coming to an end. This second volume in the series is dominated by the Dingles, with Mick back from the war, his poisonous brother Levi is at the heart of everything that's bad, and then there's cousin Jonah investing his "lump of gold" fortune in re-opening the Woolpack with Dot, and helping Mick to start his garage and car sales business. Rose is still in love with Mick but her father won't have anything to do with him until he reveals a terrible secret from his time on the Western Front that somehow serves to break the ice and bring the families closer together. The illicit romances and affairs, the burgeoning love between Mick and Rose, Dot and Jonah and the tensions that still exist as the men return to the village after their terrifying experiences in the trenches remind me more and more of the brilliant Whiteoaks saga, and we're still only on book two! There are babies being born, businesses rising from the ashes of war and murder (as Levi comes to make his mark on the village), gossips and family feuds, and the foundations are being laid for the coalescence of families that we will come to recognise in subsequent volumes. The terrifying scenes towards the end of this second volume are absolutely thrilling and brilliantly written. Pamela
Bell: Emmerdale at War
Britain is at war once again and the families of Emmerdale are trying their best to cope with a new way of life. Rationing has been introduced across the country, two million more men have been called up for service, and blackouts, evacuees and military training camps have become the norm. In Beckindale, three young women are about to find their lives changed forever... Annie Pearson is working on Emmerdale Farm, while her love, Edward Sugden is at the front line. Lily Dingle has found purpose in joining the ATS, though she may get more than she bargained for. And Meg Warcup, now teaching at the local school, has taken in two children evacuated from Hull. They've adjusted to their new way of life until one day a German plane comes crashing down in the village... and changes everything in the village of Beckindale. The third novel in the Emmerdale series transports us to the Yorkshire Dales in the midst of World War II, exploring the lives of Emmerdale's much-loved families. Will the nation's favourite village overcome adversity to deal with the loves and lives lost? In Emmerdale at War we've moved from the Great War to the Second World War, and the lady who will become Annie Sugden is at Emmerdale Farm and falling in love with Edward Sugden who, after drawing the shorter straw, goes off to war while his brother Jacob stays behind to work on the farm. Annie is convinced that Edward will come back and marry her, but Fate doesn't always pan out the way we think it will or want it to. Once again the Dingles are at the centre of just about everything - Mick's lovely young wife Rose has died suddenly from an aneurism, her daughter Lily is in the ATS and driving decidedly dodgy senior officers around from the local training camp, whilst making very poor choices when it comes to her love life. There's a new village bobby, invalided out to the country, who takes a secret shine to Lily, who doesn't reciprocate at all. There are the familiar village gossips, there are tensions, abuse, and evacuated children. The rebuilt Woolpack is still very much the centre of village life, although Jonah and Dot have taken their children to Australasia to give them a view of the world, and they don't return in this book. Mick has taken up with a rather colourful, bohemian female artist who is the talk of the village and not very well liked, although that could all change! No spoilers, but it's a well known fact that Annie is burying Jacob, her husband, in the very first episode of Emmerdale Farm, so... This third Emmerdale novel by Pamela Bell is equally as enthralling as the first two, and paves the way for familiar names from the TV series to enter the saga. This is family saga literature at its very finest - I await and anticipate in the same way I was waiting for and anticipating back in the 1950s, when Mazo de la Roche was still writing her brilliant Whiteoaks series. With the Whiteoaks, it was always Renny Whiteoak who dominated the series. With this brand new Emmerdale series, it's Annie Sugden, just as it was all those years ago with ITV's Emmerdale Farm. Emmerdale remains the best soap for me, and this series of books confirms it. The best romantic fiction I've read so far this century! As I mentioned briefly above, Hope Comes To Emmerdale will be published by Trapeze in February 2020. It's written by Kerry Bell, who some of you will know from the now defunct Soapbox magazine, and the soapbox website. Kerry has been working hard on Hope Comes to Emmerdale, and when it's finished, will be back at work on the website. Looking forward to "Hope Comes" very much indeed, Kerry!
Rachel Sargeant: The Room Mates Published by Harper Collins 28th November 2019
YOU SHARE EVERYTHING BUT DO YOU TRUST THEM? ‘Gripping, original and unpredictable’ Alex Lake “Twisty and unnerving, Rachel is back with a thriller that will keep you up all night. Her best novel yet!’ Phoebe Morgan ‘From the very first page, the intrigue of this page-turning mystery builds until the gripping climax’ Caroline England
It's
a fact that relationships sometimes go horribly wrong when people share
with others they don't know or know very little about. Rachel Sargeant
plays on the tensions and the anxieties to great effect in this
absorbing and emotive thriller, which will keep you awake at night if
you're in a similar situation. Brilliant!
Val McDermid:
Insidious Intent Published
by Sphere 22nd February 2018
As other victims are found to have met the same terrible fate, and with more women at risk, Tony and Carol are drawn into a dark and twisted web of fear and revenge that will force them to question their own ideas of justice . . . Discover the pulse-pounding new novel from the inimitable queen of crime and number one bestseller, Val McDermid, featuring two of the most iconic and unforgettable characters in crime fiction: Tony Hill and Carol Jordan
It's
a real pleasure to have Tony Hill and Carol Jordan back, and Carol, in
particular, has some ghosts to lay while she takes control od Re-Mit,
the new unit designed to get results on high profile cases where local
CID investigations have drawn a blank. Except that they hit the ground
running with the first case, where a young woman has died a horrible
death before being set on fire in her car by the man who picked her up
at a wedding. The TV series was brilliant because it was based on Val's
books. This new tale by Val is some of her best work, and I absolutely
loved it. (There's a new Hill and Jordan on the way in 2020)
Peter Sissons: The
Rosario Published
November 2019
Shades of Dan Brown but as always, it's far better than Dan Brown. and the premise is extremely intriguing. Peter Sissons (not the late newsreader) draws you into a web of mystery with consummate ease, like a spider drawing its prey into the centre of its web. Expertly written and absolutely mesmerising stuff. You probably won't find it in high street bookshoips, but it's readily available on the internet, so order it!
Charles
Dickens: David Copperfield
The small print: Books Monthly, now well into its 22nd year on the web, is published on or slightly before the first day of each month by Paul Norman. You can contact me here. If you wish to submit something for publication in the magazine, let me remind you there is no payment as I don't make any money from this publication. If you want to send me something to review, contact me via email at paulenorman1@gmail.com and I'll let you know where to send it.
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The tenth book in the
