Hanna Jameson ★★★★ The Last is a curious genre-spanning novel which works surprisingly well. Guests and staff at a remote Swiss hotel are blindsided by the news of nuclear strikes on Washington and London, and those who don’t immediately flee decide that they’re safer staying where they are, away from population centres that may also…… Continue reading The Last
Category: Thillers & Mystery
The Search Party
Simon Lelic ★★★★ Sixteen-year-old Sadie Saunders is missing, last seen six days ago, and no stone is being left unturned in the attempt to find her. The local community thinks that she’s dead, and they’ve decided just who’s to blame – her troubled boyfriend, Mason. Sadie’s clique of friends, including Mason, think that the search…… Continue reading The Search Party
Eden
Tim Lebbon ★★★ Decades ago, in a desperate international effort to reverse some of the damage we had inflicted on our planet, thirteen Virgin Zones were purged of humanity and left alone for the natural world to reclaim. Of these, Eden is the oldest, and the most dangerous. The Zones were fiercely protected by the…… Continue reading Eden
Speak
Mary O. Paddock ★★★★ Instead of following her brother into the family business, Ellen made the stupid (according to her father) decision to become a journalist. Now she’s writing obituaries at a local paper, and living in her parent’s basement, avoiding contact with as many people as possible (especially if those people might be blind…… Continue reading Speak
The Neighbour’s Cat
J.S. Ellis ★★★ In the short story The Neighbour’s Cat, Ellis introduces us to Theodore, a little black-and-white cat who just so happens to be owned by a serial killer. Theodore’s owner develops a worrying fixation with the married woman living in the opposite house leaving the cat, fearing for her life, no option but…… Continue reading The Neighbour’s Cat
Dear Child
Romy Hausmann ★★★ Thirteen years ago, 23-year-old Lena Beck went missing on the way home from a party. Her father, Matthias, spent the next decade hounding the police and the press, trying to get somebody, anybody, to find her – even if it means that all they find is remains. Two weeks ago, a woman…… Continue reading Dear Child
The Guest List
Lucy Foley ★★★★ The event? The ‘wedding of the year’ The location? A remote island off the western Irish coast The result? Murder When the blurb on a book claims that the novel in question is “in the style of”, it can often be translated as meaning that the author has taken somebody else’s story…… Continue reading The Guest List
The Book Dragon 