Two Norths in Quick Succession
All the Wicked Games by Lauren North is a very modern, but confusing book, because I don't know which year it was based, but webcam-based plots, could have been anything from 2000 up to the present....
View ArticleWelcome to Tariq
Welcome to Cooper, the debut novel by Tariq Ashkanani, is the first of this year's McIlvanney debut prize nominees that I've read, despite the fact that this one was written in 2021. To have the...
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The Shadowing by Rhiannon Ward is a departure from the usual police procedural style that I've read from her before, but this is understandable given that those books were written under her different...
View ArticleThe two sides of Ward
The Shrouded Path is the latest in Sarah Ward's DI Child series, which is very different from The Shadowing, a gothic mystery. Now that I've sampled the two different styles of Sarah, I feel fully...
View ArticleMy week with Ward
Now that I've finished The Quickening, I've read everything that Sarah Ward has written. After reading this as a gothic standalone, I can see why she is comfortable with writing both genres, as she...
View ArticleReviewing at Bloody Scotland
Hear no Evil, the second book in this year's McIlvanney Prize debut list that I've managed to read, is one that I'll remember for a long time. Books with disabled characters in them are rare, although...
View ArticleThe festival party.
Bloody Scotland brings together geniuses in a panel named 'The Partys Over' Having just finished Clare Mackintosh's The Last Party at 11.45 last night, I realised that a good way to tackle the style of...
View ArticleReturning to Cooper
Follow me to the Edge, the second book by Tariq Ashkanani is also based in his fictional town of Cooper, with similar plotlines, as corruption is still permeating the town. This time, though, it's a...
View ArticleConfidence and Conviction
Now that I've been reviewing for close on 7 years, there have been many trends that have arrived in crime fiction since I started, but one of the most popular of these is to fictionalise podcasts. At...
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