#Blogtour Deadbeat by Adam Hamdy

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Deadbeat by Adam Hamdy.

About the Author

Adam Hamdy is a Sunday Times, Kindle, and international bestselling author and screenwriter who works with studios and production companies all over the world. The author of 15 novels including 6 books in the multi-million bestselling Private series co-written with James Patterson, Adam lives in Mauritius.

His most recent standalone novel, Deadbeat, has been described as a superlative thriller by Publishers Weekly. His previous standalone novel, The Other Side of Night, was one of the New York Times Best Thrillers of 2023 and appeared on several best books of the year lists.

Adam has a degree in Law from Oxford University and a degree in Philosophy from the University of London and was a strategy consultant prior to becoming a writer. A fan of extensive research, Adam is well versed in finance, technology and science. He is also published in numerous world-class scientific and medical journals.

A former boxer and kickboxer, seasoned skier, rock climber, sailor, and CPSA gold marksman, Adam also seeks thrills off the page. Follow @adamhamdy on X

About the book

The author of the Scott Pearce series (Black 13, Red Wolves, White Fire) is back with a taut thriller following a desperate single father as he searches for the anonymous employer who hired him as a hitman.

Peyton Collard was a good man once, but his life changed after a horrific car accident. Divorced, drunk, and severely damaged, Peyton is offered a life-changing sum of money to kill an evil man. But as he goes on a vigilante journey that leaves a trail of bodies across California, Peyton wonders about the identity of his anonymous patron. Soon, his questions become an obsession, and he embarks on a tense and potentially deadly investigation to discover the truth about the murders he’s committed.

Review

I really enjoyed the author within the book writing his own story plot - Peyton Collard becomes larger than life and at some points there appears to be some melding of people. 'Side-eyes Hamdy.' The story becomes an insightful introspective reflection of life, connections, choices and roads taken. Who better to tell it than a desperate man who is happy to take a life for the right reason, but who decides whether it was the right reason or indeed is there anything that warrants the punishment and finality of death?

Running alongside there is also the intriguing question of how much responsibility we as individuals carry for the greater scheme of things, such as pollution and climate change. Is the denial of individual culpability the easiest escape route for the majority of us? Does that stance become a way of life, a coping mechanism, and make us almost indifferent to the pain and suffering around us?

The bigger picture, at least for Peyton, is who decides whether he becomes the weapon to be wielded against others. Is it always power, money and influence that is the deciding factor? Is anyone really going to cry a tear if someone who deserves it, gets what is coming to them?

It's ironic that the subject matter of this core question is playing out in real time, as we watch the people defend an assassin, because the victim was a key player in a company at the core of suffering for many people.

Hamdy is an author to watch, and I highly recommend this read.

Buy Deadbeat at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎Pendulum Central, pub date 3 Dec. 2024. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour The Disappearance by Remigiusz Mróz

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour The Disappearance by Remigiusz Mróz. 'The no.1 bestselling crime thriller - now a hit TV series.'

About the Author

Remigiusz Mróz is the author of over 50 novels across 9 series and various standalones and is recognised as the most popular author in Poland according to the National Survey and the Nielsen Bookscan. He has sold eleven million books in Poland alone, with each book becoming a bestselling and remaining in the charts for several months post publication. Remigiusz's work has been sold in multiple territories including Germany, Italy, Japan, Czech Republic, Hungary, UK and more. Follow @remigiuszmroz on X

About the book

A three-year-old girl disappears without a trace from her wealthy parents' summer house. The alarm was on all night long and the windows and doors were locked. Investigators do not find any evidence of an abduction and fear the worst.

Experienced lawyer, Joanna Chylka, and her novice protégé, Kordian Orynski, are tasked with defending a married couple charged with murder by the prosecutor's office. The trial is circumstantial in nature, but everything seems to point to the parents' guilt - after all, when you eliminate what is impossible, whatever remains must be the truth.

Review

I think Joanna Chylka doesn't really fit into the norm when it comes to being a lawyer or a sleuth. She adheres to the rule of laugh - sometimes. She isn't frightened to stand up to and stare down those who are in her way. She excels at the game of law and enjoys the sparring in equal measures.

This new case she has been drawn into is a bit of a conundrum. A missing child, a locked room/hose scenario and two parents who appear to have secrets to hide. Suspicion soon falls on the parents, which means Joanna has to try and defend them, and as she says quite eloquently - she doesn't need to know whether they are guilty or innocent. Not sure her colleague Kordian feels the same way though.

With that in mind - the apparent misbalance in attitude and approach towards the legal and criminal aspects of the case - makes the end of the story even more interesting. In fact it is enough to make you wonder how much of the professional persona is an act, because it is thrown out of the window when a choice between life or death has to be made.

I really enjoyed the more fractured, often stoic approach and the overall voice and style of this author. I would definitely recommend and read more.

Buy The Disappearance at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏:  Zaffre, pub date 5 Dec. 2024.

#Blogtour The Half King by Melissa Landers

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour The Half King by Melissa Landers.

About the Author

Melissa Landers is a former teacher who left the classroom to pursue other worlds. A proud sci-fi geek, she isn't afraid to wear her Princess Leia costume in public — just ask her embarrassed kids.

She lives in Cincinnati Ohio, where she writes romantic fantasy and science fiction adventures for the young at heart. Follow @Melissa_Landers on X

About the book

In a world where birth order determines your fate, what if everything you believed about yourself was a lie?

Like all second-born daughters of the realm, Cerise Solon has never ventured beyond the temple grounds where she lives in service to the goddess. But unlike her peers, Cerise is a complete failure as an oracle. Her inability to foretell a single tragedy has brought shame upon her family, something she sees reflected in their eyes during their rare visits. Everything changes when the head seer offers Cerise an opportunity to serve the Half King—a young man who rules by day and turns to shadow at sunset.

As a firstborn son, the king bears his bloodline’s curse, destined to vanish completely upon his twenty-first birthday. While searching for a way to restore him, Cerise finds a kindred spirit in the mysterious young ruler, and with his help discovers a startling revelation about herself that unlocks a powerful set of gifts. But the truth comes with a price. For she is no oracle, but instead the product of a union so forbidden its discovery would sentence her to death.

Despite her tainted origins, Cerise might be the key to restoring order to the land and saving the man she’s quickly growing to love...if she can outlive those sworn to destroy her.

Review

This one had me hooked pretty fast, I am sucker for a bit of magic and extensive world-building. I can live without the obnoxious love interest and inevitable breathlessness, and must have romantasy element of a lot of the popular books in said genre at the moment, but a gritty little power and magic plot is always a pull.

It definitely has more of a pull towards the YA end, rather than adult, although how one accidentally discovers ones magic leans perhaps a little more towards the latter. The children of nobility forced to carry the punishment of past generations. The Great Betrayal has laid the paths for the destruction of some born first to families, the isolation of others, and often a great burden to the majority of them.

The second-born appear to have it a little easier, case in point is Cerise Solon. Although one could argue that the fact the ability of Seer she is supposed to possess has in fact never manifested in any way shape or form. Pretty much useless, and yet suddenly she is ordered to serve the Half-King. Once there the young man with one foot in the world of shadows and the other foot in a world spent fighting the impulse to be self-destructive, well he becomes a pivotal part of her story. A story full of secrets and unknown power.

It's an interesting and entertaining read, one that delivers a solid beginning for a series that promises to draw readers in.

Buy The Half King at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Bantam; pub date 21st November 2024 | Hardback | £16.99. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour with Jude Dobson

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour The Last Secret Agent: The Extraordinary Story of a WW2 Spy in Her Own Words by Pippa Latour with Jude Dobson

About the Author

Pippa Latour - following the war, Pippa settled in New Zealand where she raised four children. For decades, Pippa told no one - not even her family - of her incredible feats during WWII. For seventy years, Pippa's contributions to the war effort were largely unheralded, but she was finally given her due in 2014 when she was awarded France's highest order of merit, the Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. Pippa was the last surviving F (France) Section Special Operations (SOE) agent from World War II.  

In the final months of her life, Pippa finally decided to tell her remarkable story, written with the assistance of award-winning historical documentary producer and writer Jude Dobson. Pippa died in 2023, at the age of 102. 

About the book

The Last Secret Agent, by Pippa Latour is the extraordinary untold story of Latour, who parachuted into occupied France in 1944 as an undercover agent and sent secret messages back to Britain.  

In June 1940, a covert new force - the Special Operations Executive (SOE) - was set up to wage a secret war. Its agents were tasked with sabotage and subversion behind enemy lines, and over the course of the next five years, 470 special agents would be sent into France. Only 26 female SOE agents, including Pippa, would return. 

Pippa had an extraordinary life – born in 1921 she lived in Congo, Kenya and France before eventually landing in London. In 1943, aged 23, she was parachuted into France, where she travelled around the occupied countryside, concealing her codes in a hair tie and her Morse key underneath her bicycle seat, and sending crucial information back to Britain in the lead-up to D-Day. More than once, she came frighteningly close to being discovered. For decades, Pippa told no one - not even her family - of her incredible feats. Now for the first time, her story can be told in full.  

It is an incredibly rare first-person story. Although there are several biographies of female WW2 spies, there are no other first-person memoirs of this kind. And as the last female WW2 SOE agent to die, Pippa's story will be the first and last to be told in this way. It is a rare and privileged glimpse into her life, and in many ways, it is Pippa’s last public service, her last contribution to freedom. It is a remarkable testament to a remarkable and brave woman. 

Review

I've said this before, it's important that witnesses tell their stories and future generations hear or read them. As survivors pass away it is paramount that we share history and experiences in order to understand the sacrifice, the loss and the harsh reality of war.

Pippa's story is an excellent example of trauma, and to some extent training, the habit of secrecy, and perhaps knowing that only someone who went through a similar experience can comprehend the truth and the secrets. Pippa's family being completely unaware of her bravery during the war and her contribution to the path of freedom, isn't an uncommon story and I wonder how many more people sit or have sat on life experiences without ever breathing a word of them to anyone.

The bittersweet ending is made sweeter by the beautiful homage Dobson pays to Pippa and her fellow comrades, which is made even more compelling by adding the details and names of the fellow agents. Cementing their names and fates on paper, that they may never be forgotten.

It's a beautifully crafted memoir woven together through conversations with a centenarian, her memories often brought forward to the present day by photos, objects, names and places. It's an excellent read, often a nostalgic and sometimes sad one, but at the forefront the courage, selflessness and sacrifice of these women and Pippa shines through.

Buy The Last Secret Agent at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Monoray: pub date 7 November 2024 |  hardback  |  £22. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour The 12 Murders of Christmas by Sarah Dunnakey

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour The 12 Murders of Christmas by Sarah Dunnakey.

About the Author

When she's not writing fiction, Sarah writes and verifies questions and answers for a variety of TV quiz shows including Mastermind, University Challenge and Pointless. She has an honours degree in History and has previously worked as a librarian, an education officer in a Victorian cemetery and an oral history interviewer.

Sarah has won or been shortlisted in several short story competitions and her work has been published in anthologies and broadcast on Radio 4. She won a Northern Writer's Award, from New Writing North for her debut novel The Companion, and the NWA Arvon Award in 2019. She lives in West Yorkshire on the edge of the Pennine Moors. Follow @SarahDeeWrites on X

About the book

12 murderous mysteries to read. 19 perplexing puzzles to solve. 1 mystifying murder to crack…

Mastermind Puzzlemaster Sarah Dunnakey cordially invites you to crack the code of who killed Edward Luddenham. It’s the first anniversary of the mysterious death of Edward Luddenham, found dead at his home on the Yorkshire moors one frosty Christmas Eve.

Now twelve people gather at his manor house for the reading of the Will. Each has their own motivations for coming: curiosity, duty, unrequited love, desperation, greed. They have been instructed to bring a “festive mystery story” to share. But all you need is a pencil.

Safe from the biting cold and the relentless snowfall outside, settle in with your favourite tipple in hand, as the storytelling begins. Though you’ll need to keep your wits about you – for among the guests is Edward’s killer… Can you work out the puzzles and unmask the murderer before they strike again?

Review

In perhaps slight echoes of certain stories written by Christie, where people and their pasts are brought together to expose their secrets, in this case it is to solve the murder of Edward Luddenham, the story becomes a mystery hidden in a box full of puzzles. Each guest asked to present their own tale of murder, mayhem or mystery. Some of the stories certainly reveal a lot about the individual characters.

Each story becomes a crime scenario or a mystery to be solved by the narrator or the intent listeners. The question is where will the stories lead those looking for the answers about Luddenham. What is the point of them sharing at all? Unless of course the answer to the ultimate question is hidden in plain sight.

It's a wonderful mixture of old meets new. This homage to Christie invites readers to help solve puzzles in order to solve the crime. Such fun, and a great read - in fact it's the perfect festive gift for a fellow reader. I highly recommend it, there is something for everyone in it. Hopefully there will be more.

Buy The 12 Murders of Christmas at Amazon uk or go to Goodreads for other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎Avon; pub date 7 Nov. 2024. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour I Will Find The Key by Alex Ahndoril

A brilliant murder mystery from Alex Ahndoril, the new pseudonym for the No.1 international bestselling author, Lars Kepler.

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour I Will Find The Key by Alex Ahndoril.

About the Author

Alex Ahndoril is pseudonym of the best-selling Swedish crime author Lars Kepler

About the book

A man walks into a private investigator's office, holds up a photograph and says: 'I want you to find out if I killed this man.'

Private investigator Julia Stark receives an unannounced visit at the office. The man at the door is one of the owners of a successful family business. The day before, he was present at a board meeting and dinner at his estate in the northwestern part of Sweden. The following morning, he finds a photograph in his phone of a bloody man, tied up with a bag over his head.

Due to alcohol-related amnesia, the man has no idea where the picture comes from and wants to hire Stark Detective Agency to clear his name before the police get involved. Julia asks her ex-husband Sidney Mendelson to take time off from the City Police and assist her in the investigation. There is still a glimmer of hope left in Julia that this might be her chance to win him back.

Welcomed as guests at the opulent estate, Julia and Sidney begin to search for the truth while dining and socializing with each of the family members that could theoretically be involved in the murder. She's solved every mystery. But none like this . . .

Review

With pseudonyms I think it is best to put any prior knowledge of the author behind the pseudonym and their work to the far back of your mind. The whole point is being able to approach writing and/or genres without being bogged down with the expectation of previous successes or failures. Seeing and experiencing them and their work like a tabula rasa. Saying that I'd completely forgotten this is Lars Kepler.

I enjoyed the way the setting stepped away from the easy grasp and availability of modern sleuthing and instead took the reader back to old school basics, a tinge of Christie and Doyle I think. An old mansion and playing the part with cocktails and the proper etiquette for dinner.

I must admit there isn't much clarity on how Julia arrives at a lot of her insights and often appears to be taking part in her own version of Tommy and Tuppence - the post-divorce era of course. I can imagine this being highly entertaining in a screen version.

Does the author step away from preconceived notions - absolutely. In fact let's see more from Ahndoril. Is this the first of many crime encounters and mysteries for the Stark Detective Agency? Will we find out more about what makes Julia and Sid tick, especially as an ex-couple and as a newly formed work team. I'm looking forward to finding out.

Buy I Will Find The Key at Amazon Uk  or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎Zaffre; pub date 7 Nov. 2024. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer L. Armentrout

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Fall of Ruin and Wrath (Awakening #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout.

About the Author

Jennifer L. Armentrout is a No. 1 New York Times and international bestselling author and lives in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. When she’s not hard at work writing, she spends her time reading, watching bad zombie movies, pretending to write and hanging out with her husband and her small menagerie. This includes her Border Collie, Artemis, and her Border Jack, Apollo. Also six judgmental alpacas, two rude goats and five fluffy sheep.

In early 2015, Jennifer was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and death of cells in the retina, eventually resulting, among other complications, in vision loss. Since this diagnosis, educating people on the varying degrees of blindness has become another passion for her – right alongside writing, which she plans to do for as long as she can. Jennifer has been nominated for and won numerous awards for her young adult and adult fiction.

About the book

She lives by her intuition. He feeds on her pleasure.

Long ago, the world was destroyed by gods. Only nine cities were spared. Separated by vast wilderness teeming with monsters and unimaginable dangers, each city is now ruled by a guardian―royalty who feed on mortal pleasure.

Born with an intuition that never fails, Calista knows her talents are of great value to the power-hungry of the world, so she lives hidden as a courtesan of the Baron of Archwood. In exchange for his protection, she grants him information.

When her intuition leads her to save a traveling prince in dire trouble, the voice inside her blazes with warning―and promise. Today he’ll bring her joy. One day he'll be her doom.

When the Baron takes an interest in the traveling prince and the prince takes an interest in Calista, she becomes the prince’s temporary companion. But the city simmers with rebellion, and with knights and monsters at her city gates and a hungry prince in her bed, intuition may not be enough to keep her safe.

Calista must follow her intuition to safety or follow her heart to her downfall.

Review

Calista distributes her talent, her intuitions and what she can 'see' in a way that can be described as constructive to some and perhaps less hurtful to others. Sometimes it's better not to tell the person asking everything she knows is coming. In a way Calista also does this to herself. She knows what the future holds for herself, but is perhaps unwilling to fall into the trap of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

There couldn't be a better way to describe her situationship with Thorne. Is it a case of replacing one arrangement of necessity for another, and both are have a relationship core of lack of power and definitely a level of inequality.

I'm not sure whether this book declares the allegiance of Awakening very clearly. It is sometimes high-fantasy, romance and then romantacy. It is a mixture that doesn't allow for a clear definition and makes it feel a bit like a unreliable narrator who leans towards a long nip of moonshine now and again, whilst conjuring up moments of reckless and breathless abandonment. Then filtered into the story is the intricate world and character building - there are plenty of speculations where certain arcs could be heading, can't wait - which tends to speak more to high fantasy. Instead of pick a lane, I'm like buckle up and let's see where this is headed.

This author always has a nod to the early days of urban supernatural fantasy flair, and yet also manages to deliver to newer sub-genre readers that are hungry for sustenance. Not an easy task, probably falls under many a critical eye, but a great read nevertheless. Looking forward to reading where this heads next.

Buy Fall of Ruin and Wrath at Amazon uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎Tor; pub date 14 Sept. 2023. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour Gone With the Penguins by Hazel Prior

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Gone With The Penguins by Hazel Prior.

'From the No.1 bestselling author of Away with the Penguins comes the heart-warming and charming final chapter of Veronica McCreedy's story.'

About the Author

Hazel Prior lives on Exmoor with her husband and a huge ginger cat. As well as writing, she works as a freelance harpist. 

Hazel is the author of Ellie and the Harp-Maker, the #1 ebook and audiobook bestseller Away with the Penguins and its follow-up, Call of the Penguins. Gone with the Penguins is her fifth novel. Follow @HazelPriorBooks on X

About the book

"Emperor penguins defy the odds, and I shall too.” - Still fiery and feisty at eighty-seven, Veronica McCreedy, the very first Penguin Ambassador, is determined to prove that nothing is impossible when you put your mind to it.

Eileen, Veronica’s ever-patient assistant, is content taking care of other people. But when a new adventure calls, it makes her question everything...

Ten-year-old, penguin-obsessed Daisy can’t wait to be reunited with Mrs McCreedy in her huge house by the sea for the school holidays.

When they discover that the local Sea Life Centre is under threat, the unlikely trio are determined to save it and the penguins that live there.

Inspired by the penguins and fuelled by Darjeeling tea and finger sandwiches, they embark on an epic fundraising walk. But soon, their mission becomes so much more and it might just lead each of them to a new beginning...

Review

As I often do with books, I pondered the most on the ending, perhaps because it says the most about this book and the trilogy. There is a clear separation of threads, how they connect and where the disconnect is. You see the human factor, the animal's view - albeit through the eyes of the character and writer, and the environment. I think it's important to note that the environments can also be viewed as two and then again as a third entity when envisioned as a result of current and impending changes.

It's not only a story about conservation, about sustaining the planet for all living species - it's also one about human hierarchy and where society places us in the rankings. Veronica's journey is an example of ageism and being the forgotten group, and how the majority of society is only too happy to appease and quieten older generations. At some level their lack of importance is mirrored in the way the world is only too happy to ignore the Pip's and their environment.

It's a superbly poignant story that doesn't preach or try to whack the reader around the head with truths, facts and realities. It invites you to take a seat on a sweet, often funny and sometimes tongue-in-cheek ride, perhaps with the hope that you will take away the fun stuff and the important messages within.

Buy Gone With the Penguins at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Penguin; pub date 7th November 2024 | Paperback Original | £9.99. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour Someone to Blame by J.J. Green

It's my turn on the Blogtour Someone to Blame by J.J. Green.

About the Author

J. J. Green is an Irish writer who hails from Donegal and lives in Derry. She writes both fiction and non-fiction. Her non-fiction work is published as political essays focusing on economic and environmental injustice. Her first novel, The Last Good Summer, was published in February 2023. Someone To Blame is her second novel. Follow @JJGreenwriter on X

About the book

Shay Dunne is a poison pen. Not that she wants to be one. But a recent tragedy in her life has left her hell-bent on dishing out some punishment to the two people she blames. Sending them a letter containing a vague accusation will do the trick.

Only the letters set in motion a series of unintended consequences, and Shay soon discovers that in the close-knit Irish village she calls home, a community still reeling from Covid, there are sinister secrets everywhere.

Review

Buried beneath what could be perceived as tale of betrayal, deceit and mistrust that is the surface of a hidden layer of chaos, is perhaps just a little bit more when you peel back the layers. The title speaks of blame, which is often an emotion that goes hand-in-hand with grief. The need to place it at any door, except our own. Blame means the sound of guilt is less noisy.

Shay is struggling with anger and grief. A recent tragedy awakens a spontaneous need to cause pain and disruption to those she feels are responsible for said tragedy. How better than to cast accusations and cause worry, whilst remaining hidden from view.

Her small actions set a series of counteractions in motion, which lead to castles built upon lies crumbling and people getting their own ideas on how to get revenge - with the finger of blame pointed straight in Shay's direction.

It's a story of regret, loss and consequences. Perhaps most poignant is the way the plot mirrors human behaviour no matter the era, people or place. We all have something to hide, which we are most likely to think of when accused, even when said accusation is a mere guess.

Buy Someone to Blame at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎The Book Guild Ltd; pub date 28 Oct. 2024. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour Karla's Choice by Nick Harkaway

It's a absolute pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Karla's Choice by Nick Harkaway.

'A gripping new novel set in the universe of John le Carré's most iconic spy, George Smiley, written by le Carré’s son, the acclaimed novelist Nick Harkaway.'

About the Author

Nick Harkaway is the author of eight novels: The Gone-Away World, Angelmaker, Tigerman,  Gnomon, The Price You Pay (as Aidan Truhen), Seven Demons (as Aidan Truhen), Titanium Noir and Karla’s Choice. He has variously been described as "JG Ballard's geeky younger brother" and "William Makepeace Thackeray on acid" and compared to Martin Amis, Thomas Pynchon and Haruki Murakami. 

Harkaway's real name is Nicholas Cornwell and he is the fourth son of the David Cornwell (who wrote as John le Carré) and his second wife Jane Cornwell. In 2021, after the death of John le Carré, Harkaway took the writer's role in bringing the final unpublished le Carré novel, Silverview, to publication. He said then that the point of the exercise was that he be as invisible as possible. In 2022 he was called upon to do the final work on A Private Spy, the collected edition of his father's letters, after his older brother Tim Cornwell, who was editing the work, sadly died. He lives in London with Clare and their two children, and a very needy dog. Visit nickharkaway.com

John le Carré was born in 1931. For six decades, he wrote novels that came to define our age. The son of a confidence trickster, he spent his childhood between boarding school and the London underworld. At sixteen he found refuge at the University of Bern, then later at Oxford. A spell of teaching at Eton led him to a short career in British Intelligence (MI5 and MI6). 

He published his debut novel, Call for the Dead, in 1961 while still a secret servant. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, secured him a worldwide reputation, which was consolidated by the acclaim for his trilogy, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People. At the end of the Cold War, le Carré widened his scope to explore an international landscape including the arms trade and the War on Terror. His  memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel, was published in 2016 and the last George Smiley novel, A Legacy of Spies, appeared in 2017. He died on 12 December 2020. His posthumous novel, Silverview, was published in 2021.

About the book

Set in the missing decade between two iconic instalments in the Smiley saga, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Karla’s Choice marks a momentous return to the world of spy fiction’s greatest writer as the legacy passes from father to son.

It is spring in 1963 and George Smiley has left the Circus. With the wreckage of the West's spy war with the Soviets strewn across Europe, he has eyes only on a more peaceful life. And indeed, with his marriage more secure than ever, there is a rumour in Whitehall – unconfirmed and a little scandalous – that George Smiley might almost be happy.

But Control has other plans. A Russian agent has defected in the most unusual of circumstances, and the man he was sent to kill in London is nowhere to be found. Smiley reluctantly agrees to one last simple task: interview Susanna, a Hungarian émigré and employee of the missing man, and sniff out a lead. But in his absence the shadows of Moscow have lengthened. Smiley will soon find himself entangled in a perilous mystery that will define the battles to come, and strike at the heart of his greatest enemy…

Review

Nostalgia is what I felt reading this - it's quite uncanny how the author hits the nail on the head from a le Carré style perspective, and yet simultaneously manages to infuse their own voice into the story. It's a little bit like stepping back into time, old school spydom and worldbuilding. It's less about tempo and more about the plot, setting and descriptive text becoming the dialogue enveloping the actual dialogue. The dialogue itself is pithy, sharp, a weapon of destruction when wielded with intent.

Pitting, plotting and battles of the minds. The Cold War that many have forgotten, even more have no real concept of, and of course that includes the machination of the spy networks that used to have a different set of rules.

I think its a wonderful hook to draw new readers (and the original Smiley readers) back into this world. In particular with a breath of fresh air that evokes memories of old, whilst giving a variety of homages to the way the main character has been portrayed, redeveloped and experienced.

In an era where Herron is pulling readers and viewers with the kind of spydom le Carré's world was and is, I welcome and open the door to the old friend that left such a lasting imprint in the first place. It's a worthy accolade, let's have some more.

Buy Karla's Choice at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Viking Books | Hardback | pub date 24.10.2024 | £22.00. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour The Sunny Side of the House by David G. Bailey

It's my turn on the Blogtour The Sunny Side of the House: When Life Gives You Strawberries – Memories of a Fenland Boy by David G. Bailey.

About the Author

David G. Bailey's debut publication in 2021 was Seventeen, a football fantasy adventure novel aimed at and beyond young adults. Them Roper Girls (2022) returned to a world more recognisably our own, tracing in their own voices the lives of four sisters over more than sixty years from their 1950s childhood. 

A husband of a Roper sister takes centre stage in Them Feltwell Boys (2023). With the same gritty realism and sometimes dark humour found in its predecessor, this follows Ray Roden's crude attempts at teenage love in counterpoint to his cynical womanising as an adult. The Sunny Side of the House (2024) is a first venture into non-fiction in another projected series, When Life Gives You Strawberries - Memories of a Fenland Boy. The origin story of Seventeen appears within the clear-eyed narrative of a 1960s boyhood in East Anglia, where both David's contemporary novels are partly set. He currently lives in the Midlands.

To read more of and about David's work, including a quarterly newsletter and new content daily comprising extracts from diaries and other writing over more than fifty years, visit his website davidgbailey.com. Visit David Bailey on @dgbaileywriter on X,  @davidgbaileywriter on Instagram

About the book

You can’t choose your mum and dad, even when they choose you.

In my early teens I had a taste for horror comics. In one strip I read of a handsome young couple at last alone in their honeymoon suite. He is crisply suited, clean-cut. She, lovely in her wedding finery, offers him the chance to watch her disrobe.

The bride is not shy. She reveals herself, frame by frame, to be a hideous crone gloating at having tricked her new husband. He is unfazed, setting her to screaming as he removes his own head to stow it, grinning still, under his arm. Years later, when I thought of writing a memoir or fictionalised account of my parents’ marriage, the title I toyed with was ‘The Hag and the Head’.

If this gripping narration of a 1960s Fenland boyhood sometimes reads like fiction, the detailed evocation of characters and events, by turns humorous and traumatic, anchors it in remembered facts. The author does not soft-pedal the dysfunction at the core of a wide, supportive family in which the boy faces adult challenges, including jarring discoveries about his parents’ past and wartime history.

Review

I often feel in memoirs that brevity is the gatekeeper to the core emotions connected with memories. A coping mechanism that has become a life companion, and indeed one that is hard to detach yourself from. Behind the brevity - the gate - lies a certain level of disconnect or disassociation, which is the key to said gate. Everything seen through the coping mechanism and retold for self and scores more - it becomes a way of life.

That was my experience when reading, perhaps equally you recognise elements of self in the way you retell things or the way actions and words are framed for strangers ears or eyes. It's what resonated with me, and that in itself is testament, because any resonance with words, story, memoir is better than none at all.

I wonder also how often this picture of dysfunction that functions with often invisible threads of a greater socially, economic and familial expected connections, is actually the truth for the majority of us. Life, in general, isn't a picket fence adventure with a delightfully inspiring family and bountiful chapters of joy and peace. It's usually a roller coaster ride of trauma, pain and realisations with moments of laughter and snuck in for normality.

It's a story full of self- deprecation, humour and insightful observations. The magnifying glass observation from above, but in a way that doesn't sever heads or pass judgement - well perhaps a bit here and there. 

Buy The Sunny Side of the House at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏ : ‎ SilverWood Books, pub date 17 Aug. 2024. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour The Booklover's Library by Madeline Martin

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour The Booklover's Library by Madeline Martin.

About the Author

Madeline Martin is a New York Times, USA TODAY, and international bestselling author of historical fiction and historical romance with books that have been translated into over twenty different languages. Follow @MadelineMMartin on X

About the book

A heartwarming story about a mother and daughter in wartime England and the power of books that bring them together, by the NYT bestselling author of The Last Bookshop in London.  

In the tranquil rural town of Nottingham, England, widow Emma Taylor finds herself in desperate need of a job. She and her beloved daughter Olivia have always managed just fine on their own, but with shadows of war on the horizon and the legal restrictions prohibiting widows from most employment opportunities, she’s left with only one option: persuading the manageress at Boots’ Booklover’s Library to take a chance on her with a job.

Then the unthinkable happens: as England prepares to enter the war, Olivia must be evacuated to the countryside. In the wake of being separated from her daughter, Emma seeks solace in the unlikely friendships she forms with her neighbours and coworkers, and a renewed sense of purpose through the recommendations she provides to the library’s quirky regulars – including the (very handsome!) Mr. Fisk. But the job doesn’t come without its difficulties: books are mysteriously misshelved and disappearing, she desperately misses her daughter, and the library forces her to confront the memories of her late father and the bookstore they once owned together before a terrible accident.

As the Blitz intensifies in Nottingham and Emma fights to reunite with her daughter, she must learn to depend on her community and the power of literature more than ever to find hope in the darkest of times.

Review

I have to admit I'd never heard of Boots’ Booklover’s Library before - I always enjoy when historical fiction adds factual information that may not be well known. I actually told someone about this straight after reading the book. Absolutely fascinating, so it ends up being both an interesting fact and the epi-centre of the story.

Also leaning into the Booklover's Library the very patriarchal attitudes and rules towards women. The assumption or linear thinking that only single women without children would be a stable employee, because of course doing your 'duties' as wife and mother take precedent over everything else, especially work and being financially independent. Note the same people making up said rules were quite happy to use women as a workforce at home when the men were at war, then equally quite happy to return to previous arrangements when or if the men came home. 

This story was a story of loss, empowerment, sisterhood and also how the love of books can connect memories, people and relationships. It's also a story that shows a determination to survive, despite doors being closed and opportunities being taken away. In a way it also has an important message about the small moments of support, kindness and positivity towards someone who might need it more than you will ever know - how influential these moments can be. Lovely read.

Buy The Booklovers' Library at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hanover Square Press, pub date 10 Oct. 2024. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins.

About the Author

Paula Hawkins worked as a journalist for fifteen years before writing her first novel. Born and brought up in Zimbabwe, she moved to London in 1989. Her first thriller, The Girl on the Train, has sold more than 23 million copies worldwide. Published in over fifty languages, it has been a No.1 bestseller around the world and was a box-office-hit film starring Emily Blunt. Paula’s thrillers Into the Water and A Slow Fire Burning were also instant No.1 bestsellers.

About the book

When a small bone at the centre of a famous sculpture is revealed to be human, three people become intimately connected by the secrets and lies that put it there.

Set on a Scottish tidal island connected to the mainland for just a few hours each day, and home to only one inhabitant, The Blue Hour asks questions of ambition, power, art and perception.

Paula Hawkin’s singular fourth thriller cements her place among the very best of our most nuanced, powerful and stylish storytellers.

Review

Was it just me? The last page - especially the last small paragraph - reads like an epitaph. It resonates hard, perhaps more so after such an introspective and often menacing read.

If this gets made into a visual experience I hope they get the scenery right. In the story the island - let's just call it that - it becomes a  character in its own right. The place that offers isolation, solitude, safety, threat and danger - all in equal measure. A metaphor for self, for the engagement with relationships, and for life.

It's a bit of a broken web story, and at the end I'm not sure the web is restored in its entirety, but I think that might just be the point. Life doesn't always give us a resolution to the threads we encounter. We make choices, judgements, decisions that alter the paths we take.

Thrown into the mixture of this psychological thriller, is the way art is perceived and created. The relationship between integrity, ethics, morals and creativity. Becker is a prime example of integrity of artwork over possible crime, obsession melds with professional interest.

As the layers are unpacked from a variety of directions the reader is taken on a journey of fear vs inspiration, menace vs a search for peace. Hawkins always delivers a fascinating read.

Buy The Blue Hour at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher Doubleday, pub date 10th October 2024 | Hardback | £22.00. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour The Witch's Daughter by Imogen Edwards-Jones

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour The Witch's Daughter by Imogen Edwards-Jones.

About the Author

Imogen Edwards-Jones studied Russian at Bristol University. Her first book, The Taming of Eagles, was about the first 100 days of the collapse of communism. A writer and journalist, she has travelled extensively within the old Soviet Union, studying in Kyiv.

She is the author of twenty books including the best-selling Babylon series. Married with two children, Imogen lives in London. She is also a member of the London College of Psychic Studies and an honorary Cossack. Her latest novel, The Witch's Daughter, is the sequel to The Witches of St Petersburg. Visit @iedwardsjones on Instagram

About the book

A city burning. A revolution raging. A woman on the run. - Nadezhda has never wanted to be a witch. But the occult is in her blood. Her mother, Militza, conjured Rasputin and introduced him into the Romanov court, releasing the devil himself. Now he is dead, but Militza still dreams of him – stalking her sleep and haunting her waking hours.

As Petrograd burns and the Russian Empire crumbles, Nadezhda escapes through the capital, concealing a book of generational magic. But as danger grows closer, she may be forced to embrace her heritage to save what she loves most...

Based on a true story, The Witch’s Daughter is an epic tale of women rising from the ashes of an empire, perfect for fans of Elodie Harper's The Wolf Den and Madeline Miller’s Circe.

Review

Aside from the superstitious and magical realism aspect of this historical fiction, it was interesting to read a slightly different perspective on that particular era. The Russian Revolution often tends to play second best to the tragedy of the Imperial family and the vast universe of conspiracy theories connected to said tragedy.

Always with the executions as the starting point, despite the fact it was the culmination of frustration and signal for change. Also focusing on the impact Rasputin had on the Tsar, his wife and their children. The kind of influence one could call cultish, grooming and an almost desperate infatuation with hope and the promise of a miracle cure. In this light we see the influential privilege heading an avenue of historical destruction, which leads to the dismantling of Imperial Russia.

Adding the aspect of witchcraft - this is the second book in the Russian Witches series - gives the read an ominous feeling, as if there is always something lurking in the background. When you call on the dark sometimes it answers tenfold, which is something Militza realises and Nadezhda discovers.

It's a read packed full of history, and yet simultaneously it winds an element of energy and ancestral power through it. From mother to daughter - to sisterhood. 

Buy The Witch's Daughter at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Aria; Paperback pub date 10th October 2024. Buy at Amazon com.