A Sting in the Tale - Dave Goulson

I rated this book 10/10

One of the United Kingdom’s most respected conservationists and the founder of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Goulson combines lighthearted tales of a child’s growing passion for nature with a deep insight into the crucial importance of the bumblebee. He details the minutiae of life in the nest, sharing fascinating research into the effects intensive farming has had on our bee population and the potential dangers if we are to continue down this path.

A charming insight into the world of the bee

A charming insight into the world of bees. This book is easy to follow, and filled with plenty of personal stories and interesting information. I enjoyed learning all about the ins and outs of the beehive, and how the demise of the bumblebee is really quite a worrying thought. Some myths were busted too - and the index in the back is also really handy if you need to revisit ideas at the end.

Anybody with even the slightest interest in bees or wildlife should pick up this book - it's a wonderful piece of work.

Available at Waterstones

Only Ever Yours - Louise O'Neill

I rated this book 6/10

frieda and isabel have been best friends their whole lives.

Now, aged sixteen and in their final year at the School, they expect to be selected as companions - wives to wealthy and powerful men. The alternative - life as a concubine - is too horrible to contemplate.

But as the intensity of the final year takes hold, the pressure to remain perfect becomes almost unbearable. isabel starts to self-destruct, putting her beauty - her only asset - in peril.

A re-worked YA Handmaid's Tale.

Surprisingly relevant. The comparisons that I could make between O'Neill's creation and our own world are shockingly close.

'Only Ever Yours' turns a magnifying glass onto a world in which celebrity magazines draw rings around a woman who has a touch of cellulite. It satirises the waxing regimes, the plastic surgery, hair dye, laser treatments, weight loss pills, marriage traditions, fashion trends and reality shows that women find themselves sucked into. It turns a mirror on a world in which women are constantly asked "So when are you having children?" as soon as they reach their twenties.

The book also touches briefly on the idea that young men are not supposed to discuss emotions, thoughts or feelings with other people.

Dramatic, bleak and quick to read - "Only Ever Yours" is YA dystopia; a re-worked 'Handmaid's Tale' that throws up feminist issues with no holds barred.

Available at Waterstones.com

The Story of the Lost Child - Elena Ferrante

I rated this book 8/10

Against the backdrop of a Naples that is as seductive as it is perilous and a world undergoing epochal change, the story of a lifelong friendship is told with unmatched honesty and brilliance. The four volumes in this series constitute a long remarkable story that readers will return to again and again, and every return will bring with it new revelations.

A beautifully bleak conclusion to the Neapolitan Novels.

The Neapolitan novels absorbed me from the very first book, and rarely have I been so enchanted by a cast of characters. Ferrante's writing is brutal, honest and full of depth, allowing the reader to really fall in to the difficulties of growing up and starting a family in Naples from the 50s to the present day.

Lila and Elena are friends and rivals - constantly clashing with each other or sharing emotional moments together. In this, the fourth book, they are arguing more often than they are civil to each other. 

'The Story of the Lost Child' took me a good long time to read in comparison to the first three, it was much more difficult to digest, and towards the end the real heartbreak is apparent. I rarely find myself with a "book hangover", but I did feel a sense of loss when I realised that I had finished the last sentence.

This touching and deeply crafted story makes for bleak and beautiful reading. Start at book one 'My Brilliant Friend'.

Thank you to Turnaround Books for the Advanced Proof Copy.

Available at Waterstones

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay - Elena Ferrante

I rated this book 10/10

Elena and Lila, the two girls whom readers first met in My Brilliant Friend, have become women. Both women are pushing against the walls of a prison that would have seem them living a life of mystery, ignorance and submission. They are afloat on the great sea of opportunities that opened up during the nineteen-seventies. Yet they are still very much bound to see each other by a strong, unbreakable bond.

"Each of us narrates our life as it suits us." - Lila Cerullo

I am completely entranced by The Neapolitan Novels. This, the third book in the series is as absorbing as the two before it. Elena and Lila are in their mid twenties to early thirties and are struggling with their individual families and dilemmas. Elena still holds Lila on a pedestal and she still finds herself drawn to her best friend despite their many bitter disagreements.

The books are meant to be read in order. Elena and Lila often refer back to events that occurred in books one and two - reminding the reader that they have been along for the journey right from the very beginning.

It is difficult to describe the brutal honesty with which Ferrante pens Elena's thoughts and feelings - the fact that a lot of people don't like the characters to me feels like Ferrante has done her job well. They're not meant to be liked; they're meant to be human. I would love to read these novels through the eyes of Lila to compare how they view their experiences.

This is the only series I have ever read that I will really miss once I finish the fourth and final book. 

Tampa - Alissa Nutting

I rated this book 8/10
First published September 2013

Celeste Price is an eighth-grade English teacher in suburban Tampa. She is attractive. She drives a red Corvette. Her husband, Ford, is rich, square-jawed and devoted to her. But Celeste has a secret. She has a singular sexual obsession - fourteen-year-old boys. It is a craving she pursues with sociopathic meticulousness and forethought.

Within weeks of her first term at a new school, Celeste has lured the charmingly modest Jack Patrick into her web - car rides after dark, rendezvous at Jack's house while his single father works the late shift, and body-slamming encounters in Celeste's empty classroom between periods. It is bliss.

With crackling, stampeding, rampantly sexualized prose, Tampa is a grand, satirical, serio-comic examination of desire and a scorching literary debut.

Horrific, vulgar and completely fascinating...

An absolute horror of a read that is all the more effective because it is written in first person perspective through the eyes of the most cold and calculated woman I've ever stumbled across in a novel. Celeste is a complete sociopath and has no understanding of the effects that her behaviour has on other people - it doesn't even enter her thoughts at any point in the book. Celeste exists only to satisfy her own desires - and the book spares no graphic detail in how she goes about this.

A lot more shocking than expected, Tampa is often compared to Lolita. Except for the subject matter being about an adult attracted to minors, there are no other sticking points. Tampa wrecks your head entirely, leaves you no room to sympathise with Celeste at all, and leads you into a car crash of a tale. There's no subtlety and this won't be a timeless classic on everybody's 'must read' list.

Absorbing and repulsive at once, Alissa Nutting's style is big and bold and doesn't hold back.

Available in Waterstones

The Martian - David Weir

I rated this book 9/10
First published February 2014

I’m stranded on Mars.

I have no way to communicate with Earth.

I’m in a Habitat designed to last 31 days.

If the Oxygenator breaks down, I’ll suffocate. If the Water Reclaimer breaks down, I’ll die of thirst. If the Hab breaches, I’ll just kind of explode. If none of those things happen, I’ll eventually run out of food and starve to death.

So yeah. I’m screwed.

A bold, tense tale of survival on Mars.

What a brilliant read! Mark Watney finds himself stranded on Mars as the rest of his team presume him dead and make their get away from the Red Planet without him. Reporting via journal/blogging entries, we follow Watney's desperate (and often witty) struggle to survive everything that the planet throws at him. Weir uses such realistic terms to describe Watney's daily trials, that it's hard not to believe that this could be a real issue in the not so distant future. 

Strong characters, laced with humour and full of suspense; this is a fast and addictive page turner to put on your reading list.

I absolutely can't wait until the film starring Matt Damon is released in October. 
The advert for it looks pretty spot on so far...

Available at Waterstones

Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard

I rated this book 6/10
First published in February 2015

The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers. To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change. Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.
But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?

An interesting power struggle set in a well-built dystopia...

I found myself really enjoying this book at first. The world-building is wonderful - red blooded slum dwellers are held down by the silver blooded nobility; who have different powers, and those with the stronger powers hold the higher chairs in society. It reads much like political and social satire, and the imbalance of power between the two classes could be a lesson for young adults and teens that decide to pick it up.

But, it was all knocked down a peg or two by the insta-love that everyone seems to feel for the protagonist; by the 'betrayal' of a character that every reader will have spotted as deceptive from act 1; and by the strange whirlwind of an ending that didn't make much sense because one or two characters make really odd decisions. It also looks as if the title of the book has given the game away before you even read the first page.

I'm glad that this is book one of a trilogy however, because I think that there is a lot of potential in some of the ideas Aveyard puts to us, and in some of the relationships that are formed between the main characters. Aveyard's writing style is good - descriptive and full of action. A book for teens that I could safely recommend.

Thank you to Orion Books for the reading copy in exchange for R&R

Available at Waterstones 

Burnt Tongues - Chuck Palahniuk

I rated this book 8/10
First published in July 2014

Burnt Tongues is a collection of transgressive stories selected by a rigorous nomination and vetting process and hand-selected by Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, as the best of The Cult workshop, his official fan website.

These stories run the gamut from horrific and fantastic to humorous and touching, but each leaves a lasting impression.

Some may say even a scar.

Quick, sick and addictive tales...

A collection of twisted short stories, collated and edited by Chuck Palahniuk. As expected, anything that Palahniuk puts his name to is going to be dark, disturbing and should be approached with caution!

This book is nowhere near as disgusting as 'Haunted' by the man himself, but the stories all have the ability to make you recoil in horror. At one point (somewhere near the middle) I had to put the book down for a few hours and collect myself (I think it involved a chicken satay stick...). There were one or two more tame additions that allowed time to breathe - and one story near the end I skipped altogether because it just wasn't interesting. The last tale is as good as the first, and will definitely leave a lasting impression!

Chuck Palahniuk's introduction was very interesting, in particular the quote "Young people want mirrors. Older people want art." The more I think about his comments on reading and re-reading, and growing to love the impression of a book that you didn't enjoy when you actually read it; the more I believe his comments to be true.

If you like the bizarre fiction that Palahniuk throws at us, then you're going to like the short works that he's pulled together for us here too.

Available at Waterstones

Stone Rider - David Hofmeyr

I rated this book 7/10
First published in July 2015

Adam Stone wants freedom and peace. He wants a chance to escape Blackwater, the dust-bowl desert town he grew up in. Most of all, he wants the beautiful Sadie Blood. Alongside Sadie and the dangerous outsider Kane, Adam will ride the Blackwater Trail in a brutal race that will test them all, body and soul. Only the strongest will survive.

The prize? A one-way ticket to Sky-Base and unimaginable luxury.

And for a chance at this new life, Adam will risk everything.

Stone Rider is a little like a mix between Death Race, Mad Max and with a dash of Elysium thrown in for good measure. 

It features bikes (though the spelling "bykes" was probably unnecessary) and plenty of bloodshed, and is the kind of YA novel that I wish I had thought up. Right up my street!

Hofmeyr's writing style is simple - the sentences are short and the descriptions are fairly minimal. It took me a little while to get used to this, but eventually the short sentences lend themselves to quick and brutal action scenes that keep the pages turning.

I wasn't keen on Adam as a main protagonist - he is a modest and shy orphan, with exceptional riding skills that don't really come across as well as they probably could in the book. He blacks out whenever there is a hint of danger and avoids violence at all costs. The only female in the book is drawn to him despite him being characterless - I like Sadie though, she's very well represented. Kane has to be my favourite character however, and Hofmeyr has really put some thought and understanding into the background of this strange teenager; given him plenty of grit.

Overall a great read that I would recommend without any reservations. Full of friendship, action and full on racing!

(Thank you to Penguin Random House for the proof copy)

Available at Waterstones

The Confectioner's Tale - Laura Madeleine

I rated this 6/10...

At the famous Patisserie Clermont in Paris, 1909, a chance encounter with the owner's daughter has given one young man a glimpse into a life he never knew existed: of sweet cream and melted chocolate, golden caramel and powdered sugar, of pastry light as air.

But it is not just the art of confectionery that holds him captive, and soon a forbidden love affair begins.

Almost eighty years later, an academic discovers a hidden photograph of her grandfather as a young man with two people she has never seen before. Scrawled on the back of the picture are the words 'Forgive me'. Unable to resist the mystery behind it, she begins to unravel the story of two star-crossed lovers and one irrevocable betrayal.

Laura transports us back and forth between Paris in 1910 and Cambridge in 1988.

It's a book of two halves interlinked, the Parisian story and description is beautiful; well written, dramatic and full of the sensory marvels of a French Patisserie. These parts of the book would get 8 out of 10 from me. The three central characters are well written and charming: Jeanne is the daughter of the wealthy businessman who owns Patisserie Clermont, Gui is an ambitious young railroad worker looking for something more. Throw a new friend Jim into the mix with a backdrop of choux pastry and macarons, and there is the perfect set up for an easy holiday read that will be perfect for trips to Paris.

The other half of the story, set in England, is not quite as magnificent and could have been cut out altogether. Towards the end you will find yourself skipping through these parts to get to Paris, and it feels a bit like filler to pad out the scandal that happens in France. You can happily read the story without hearing from Petra as she tries to work out what big secret her grandfather was ashamed of all those years ago.

All in all, 'The Confectioner's Tale' is a wonderful debut for anybody that wants to be whipped up into a historic, Parisian tale of powdered sugar and forbidden romance.

Available at Waterstones

The Story of a New Name - Elena Ferrante

I rated this 10/10...

The second book, following 2012’s acclaimed My Brilliant Friend, featuring the two friends Lila and Elena. The two protagonists are now in their twenties. Marriage appears to have imprisoned Lila. Meanwhile, Elena continues her journey of self-discovery. The two young women share a complex and evolving bond that brings them close at times, and drives them apart at others. 

The Neapolitan Series is absorbing, dramatic, perfect...

I loved the first book in this series and was lucky to be sent the second from the publisher in exchange for honest feedback.

The Neapolitan series makes for compulsive reading - once you learn a little about Elena and Lila as children, you're in it for the long haul. The second book 'The Story of a New Name' follows the girls as they are grown up and take different paths in life - finding themselves seeking each other out on occasion despite their mixed feelings towards each other. They are both adults now and still they are destined to compete emotionally, leading to very turbulent scenes.

A market place in Naples, 1950s

Elena and Lila's lives continue through marriage, affairs, university and motherhood - with their on and off friendship being the backdrop of it all. Throw in a beach holiday with star crossed romance and you have a rich saga that is so difficult to tear away from.

I am particularly drawn to the narrator, Elena - she is still struggling to 'find' herself and to accept herself for who she is; she compares herself to other women and other students often - easily influenced by those who are more successful than she is or may seem to have more going for them in their lives than she has. Ferrante expertly mirrors the turmoil that a lot of young people have in accepting themselves and moving on.

The book is full of whirlwind drama and unstable characters, and Ferrante writes with a power and intimacy that brings the grit of every day 50s and 60s Naples to life. The realism and depth of the situations that the characters find themselves in suggest to me that Ferrante uses a lot of personal experience to write her novels. Well worth a read and it's perfect for summer - start at book 1 'My Brilliant Friend'.

(Thank you to Turnaround UK for the reading copy.)

@turnarounduk

Available at Waterstones

The Cake Shop in the Garden - Carole Matthews

I rated this 3/10...

Can Fay find the strength to make a life-changing decision - even if it means giving up the thing she loves the most? Life, love and family are about to collide in The Cake Shop in the Garden.

Slow, old fashioned summer read with good sub-characters.

Very much outside of my comfort zone, but I really wanted to try and read something light and summery as my brain was overloaded with other bits and pieces. I loved the idea and decided that this would be a nice one to read in the sunshine.

I didn't mind that Matthews had created a really twee concept - Fay runs a cafe in her home by the canal and sells cakes from the narrowboat that she inherited from her late father. I thought that maybe there would have been more emphasis on the baking, sights and smells of the cafe. It would have been nice for recipes to be inserted into the novel as you read through it, particularly as Mary Berry has left her endorsement on the front cover. However, despite the lack of description, we still get a feel for the idyllic surroundings that Fay is tied down to.

The issue that I had with this book was that the main protagonists were really weak and fairly one dimensional. Fay is a very naive 44 year old who is going on 70 and thinks that her life is over - and the man that's caught her eye - Danny - is much younger than her, has left his busy business lifestyle and friends for the quiet life of the canal (for a reason not really explained properly) and it just isn't believable.

The sub-characters were more interesting and were much more well rounded, which was nice. I enjoyed reading about Stan, and even Anthony (who is supposed to be a dull character) had more to him than Fay which I'm sure wasn't intentional. 

In all it was a slow, easy summer read without much to it which was what I expected. 

 Available at Waterstones

Boy in the Tower - Polly Ho-Yen

I rated this book 10/10...

Ade loves living at the top of a tower block. From his window, he feels like he can see the whole world stretching out beneath him. His mum doesn’t really like looking outside – but it’s going outside that she hates. She’s happier sleeping all day inside their tower, where it’s safe.

But one day, other tower blocks on the estate start falling down around them and strange, menacing plants begin to appear. Now their tower isn’t safe anymore. Ade and his mum are trapped and there’s no way out . . .

A strange, scary thriller for kids that grown ups will love too.

I've been raving about this book since I finished it a couple of weeks back. It's a thrilling, scary kids book with a sci-fi edge to it; but is more about the personal experiences of Ade. Ade finds his life is shaken up by the strange occurrences that are happening in his town. Buildings are falling down and killing the people inside them, and nobody really knows why. 

But things get much worse for Ade, when he realises that his mum is going through some tough personal issues of her own and can't bring herself to even look out of their tower block window, let alone leave and escape the city through the front door. And still the buildings around them fall, and it will be their turn soon!

It's this exploration of his mum's difficulties that make 'Boy in the Tower' work on multiple levels. I know that many adults have read and enjoyed this book alongside their children, because they draw a completely different message from the text than the kids do.

'Boy in the Tower' is a fast and gripping read about a brave young boy facing some massive challenges. I'd recommend it both for (brave) 9-12 year olds and parents alike. And that ending! My heart was in my throat!

Available at Waterstones

The best reads for Father's Day

It's Father's Day in just under a fortnight (I'm sure you haven't forgotten!) - so here are some of my favourite books that I think will make the perfect read!

GHOSTMAN: Roger Hobbs

I make things disappear. It’s what I do. This time I’m tidying up the loose ends after a casino heist gone bad. The loose ends being a million cash.But I only have 48 hours, and there’s a guy out there who wants my head in a bag.
He’ll have to find me first.

They don’t call me the Ghostman for nothing...

A fast and furious debut novel that centres on an anti-hero whose name we never learn. With two plot lines intertwined, Ghostman is full of action and suspense, and is being adapted for the silver screen. 

Get this for your dad if he likes full on thrillers, bank jobs and underworld crime. 

HOSTAGE: Robert Crais

Jeff Talley, the police chief in a small Southern California town, still has nightmares about the young hostage who died when he made the wrong call in his previous job as a negotiator for an LAPD SWAT team. Now, three smalltime punks go on the run after a grocery store robbery and killing in Talley's town. 

Soon his deputies have surrounded the house where the inept robbers have taken Walter Smith and his two children hostage, and Talley's back in his worst dream again: until the county sheriff's full-fledged SWAT team arrives and takes over, he has to negotiate for their lives.

Another full on thriller with anti-heroes at the core. Three petty criminals accidentally hold two children hostage, and it is up to Jeff Talley to negotiate with them despite it being the very thing he wanted to escape from in his previous position.

Robert Crais creates brilliant characters and sets them on a downwards spiral - the reader can't help but suffer a little Stockholm Syndrome while reading. With hidden secrets and plenty of twists; Hostage is a fabulous read and I think you should all go out and get it!!!

THE PSYCHOPATH TEST: Jon Ronson

They say one out of every hundred people is a psychopath. You probably passed one on the street today. These are people who have no empathy, who are manipulative, deceitful, charming, seductive, and delusional. The Psychopath Test is the New York Times bestselling exploration of their world and the madness industry.

If your dad prefers his books "factual" and a little bit unusual, you can't go far wrong with Jon Ronson. An all time favourite of mine and the other booksellers is 'The Psychopath Test'. 

Often witty, very colourful and always shocking - Jon Ronson goes on a hunt to find out what a 'psychopath' is and why they have been labelled as such. This book is a real eye opener and plenty of fun to read. 

My favourite anecdote is about a patient that lied about being criminally insane and it was determined that because he lied about being criminally insane, he must be criminally insane... No, I can't do this book justice. Just read it!

FIRE IN THE EAST: Harry Sidebottom

AD 255—the Roman imperium is stretched to the breaking point, its authority and might challenged throughout the territories and along every border. One man is sent to marshal the defenses of a lonely city and to shore up the crumbling walls of a once indomitable symbol of Roman power, a man whose very name means war: a man called Ballista. So unfolds an epic drama — a story of empire, heroes, treachery, courage, and most of all, of brutal, bloody warfare. 

Ballista is a barbarian, adopted by the Romans as commander of an under resourced group of soldiers - and sent to defend the city of Arete from Persian attack. Sidebottom's novel is well researched and develops really well; the characters really grow as the novel moves on.

'Fire in the East' is full of blood, battle and betrayal and will be perfect for any fans of Roman fiction.

FAHRENHEIT 451: Ray Bradbury

The classic dystopian novel of a post-literate future, Fahrenheit 451 stands alongside Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World as a prophetic account of Western civilization’s enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity.

Imagine a world in which firefighters don't put fires out - they start them. Fahrenheit 451 is a classic dystopia which centres around the idea of society being controlled via destroying books, 451f being the temperature at which paper burns. A scary premise.

Bradbury also explores the idea of television taking over our social lives and reading becoming a dying pass time in the most literal of senses. This book is for a dad that loves to read; who likes books that evoke many deep questions. It's quick and bleak but beautifully written, and is one of those books that should be read by all.


So there you have it - my favourite books for Father's Day! I hope that there is at least one here that might suit, but if not, why not suggest some more brilliant reads in the comments section. I'd love to know your recommendations...

My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante

I rated this book 10/10...

A modern masterpiece from one of Italy’s most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense, and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante’s inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship.

A stark, honest exploration of friendship in 50's Naples

Elena Greco is endlessly fascinated by her friend Lila, the daughter of a shoemaker and a flame that everybody else in their rundown area of Naples also seems drawn to. 'My Brilliant Friend' explores the lives of these two girls growing up in the midst of violence, where women are valued mostly for their housework and child-bearing capabilities above all else; where families and gangs have a 'get them before they get us' mentality. The violence and squabbling is relentless throughout, and is practised by pretty much everybody living in the neighbourhood. Men beat their wives, girls throw rocks at boys, brothers punch sisters - life is a constant battle to settle scores or show who is boss.

As Elena and Lila grow up, their paths take different routes. Elena manages to secure her place in school and continues to study, whereas Lila (who excels the other students in every way) has to leave school in order to help her family at home. Still Elena's life is entwined with Lila's and they remain inseparable. The twist at the very end was brilliant and I will definitely be picking up book 2 to read on holiday in Italy.

Ferrante's style is very honest. There are no frivolities and she doesn't waste time on lengthy prose or description. Despite 'My Brilliant Friend' being almost exclusively character-driven rather than plot-driven, there never seems to be a lull in the flow of the book. Ferrante throws numerous characters together but it never seems to be too much. It's a real pleasure to read and the perfect work of summertime escapism.

'My Brilliant Friend' is the first of the Neapolitan series by the elusive Elena Ferrante, who can only be speculated over as she remains a mystery to the media and readers alike. She doesn't partake in face to face interviews, instead writing to few journalists via letters. Some have suggested that Ferrante could be a male writer, but her letters have once or twice eluded to her being a mother. Whatever the mystery, the first book in this saga is a wonderful read and I would recommend it as one to add to your TBR list this summer.

The fourth and final book in the Neapolitan series will be out in September 2015.

(Reading copy kindly given to me in exchange for honest feedback by Turnaround Publishing)

Sacred Country - Rose Tremain

I rated this book 8/10...

"I have a secret to tell you, dear, and this is it: I am not Mary. That is a mistake. I am not a girl. I'm a boy." Mary's fight to become Martin, her claustrophobic small town, and her troubled family make up the core of this remarkable and intimate, emotional yet unsentimental novel. 

'Sacred Country' is a wonderful read about gender identification in the 50s-70s, and sexuality. It doesn't go as deeply into the emotions that Martin feels as I would like, but there is definitely a real sense of anguish and despair throughout the novel, as his family (particularly his father) reject his transition from Mary to Martin.

The characters are all very well written, mostly hopeless and self absorbed in their small country farm village. Despite this, you do feel for them and want life to improve for them. There is the odd unexpected event here and there - one of which I didn't feel was believable for the character, but I won't spoil the story.

I was absorbed by this book and ploughed my way through it. Not ordinarily an author I would pick up but I was hooked by the blurb and I'm glad I did. Well worth reading, and would be perfect for those that like a bit more depth to their summer paperbacks.

Under Ground - S. L. Grey

I rated this book 5/10...

The Sanctum is a luxurious, self-sustaining survival condominium situated underground in rural Maine. It's a plush bolt-hole for the rich and paranoid - a place where they can wait out the apocalypse in style. When a devastating super-flu virus hits the States, several families race to reach it. All have their own motivations for entering The Sanctum. All are hiding secrets.

But when the door locks and someone dies, they realize the greatest threat to their survival may not be above ground - it may already be inside . . . 

The idea of this thriller sounded perfect for me - millionaire families buying into an underground complex to escape a deadly virus on the surface. They end up getting trapped inside, and then the chaos begins when the bodycount starts to rise...

I was initially disappointed with the authors’ writing style (a collaboration between Sarah Lotz and Louis Greenberg). The characters aren't great and I didn't feel much depth to them, despite knowing their backgrounds and why they were there. The setting isn't well described and the tension is on the whole, a bit of a wash out. There were only two characters I thought felt genuine - James and Reuben. It doesn't feel much like there is a killer on the loose, but Brett, a brutal 18 year old who bullies his way around the complex, gets away with a LOT and that also didn't seem genuine given the circumstances. The book isn't scary or thrilling and reads a lot like teen fiction rather than (as mentioned in the blurb) a Stephen King/Michael Crichton mash-up.

I stuck with 'Under Ground' however because the pages were turning quickly enough and I'm glad that I did. After 250 pages of stumbling along, the style and the substance ramps right up. The tension is full on throughout the last 40 pages and the build up is actually worth the effort. James really comes into his own as a character and the ending is satisfying enough to not feel like a cop out. THIS is where the 'thrill' comes into play. I couldn't take my eyes off it and ended up sat in a car park, racing through to finish before I felt I could drive home from work.

I think that if the whole book had been written with the same tension and skill as the final section, I would have been able to give it 8 stars, but as it stands I will give it 5.

'Under Ground' will be published in July.

(Proof copy kindly given to me by Pan Macmillan in exchange for honest feedback)

Review also posted on Urbanista UK

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

I rated this book 9/10...

A murder mystery, family saga, love story, and a tale of financial intrigue wrapped into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.Harriet Vanger, scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families, disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

I waited so long to read this book and find out what the fuss is about and I was pleasantly surprised. Stieg Larsson has thrown together some fabulous characters at no cost to the winding plot. Let's face it, Salander is one of the most kick-ass female characters you'll find in a crime novel, she even rides a 125 Kawasaki. She refuses to be a victim, even when she is a victim.

I enjoyed the twists, and although it took a while to set the scene and the characters, it was worth sticking with through to the end. There were some very disturbing scenes to get through, so not one for the faint hearted, but they didn't seem to be put in place solely for the shock value. Unfortunately, Larsson didn't completely detach his writing from the popular 'woman as victim' theme - but that was my only gripe.

If you haven't already read this book (and I'm sure you have), it's worth putting on the TBR pile and getting stuck in.

A new book featuring Larsson's characters is due out in August 2015. That Which Does Not Kill has been written by David Lagercrantz as Larsson sadly died of a heart attack in 2004 aged 50.

Shop Girl - Mary Portas

I rated this book 8/10...

Young Mary Newton, born into a large Irish family in a small Watford semi, was always getting into trouble. When she wasn’t choking back fits of giggles at Holy Communion or eating Chappie dog food for a bet, she was accidentally setting fire to the local school. Mary was a trouble magnet. And, unlike her brothers, somehow she always got caught…

'Shop Girl' begins during Mary's early years; describing a life glued together by family and happy memories. As might be expected from the Queen of Shops, her memoir revolves around retail - the tastes, scents, sights and sounds of her father's warehouse as he sells tea door to door to other shop keepers.

Mary goes on to describe her brothers and sisters. They are very close and highly supportive of each other throughout childhood and during some really distressing events. Even when the family as she knows it unravels whilst she is struggling with her teen years, her brothers and sister remain a pillar of strength for Mary over the years.

Perhaps the most important person in Mary's life is her mother. She is the centre of the family's universe and is always there when the children need a helping hand or a positive word.

'Shop Girl' was particularly touching for me as it resembles my own childhood. If we brush aside the Catholic upbringing - I have 3 sisters and 1 brother, and my siblings remain supportive and close even now whilst in different parts of the country.

This is a wonderful memoir about an inspirational lady, with short chapters that are quick and easy to read. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for the next chapter and hope that she decides to write one.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North - Richard Flanagan

I rated this book 10/10...

Taking its title from 17th-century haiku poet Basho's travel journal, The Narrow Road To The Deep North is about the impossibility of love. At its heart is one day in a Japanese slave labour camp in August 1943. As the day builds to its horrific climax, Dorrigo Evans battles and fails in his quest to save the lives of his fellow POWs, a man is killed for no reason, and a love story unfolds. 

Richard Flanagan, weaving together the personal and professional life of Australian surgeon Dorrigo Evans, brings us a dark and touching insight into the horrors of the Burma Death Railway.

Written in the style of a war hero reminiscing about his past, Dorrigo finds himself in the midst of the second world war, caught up in a forbidden affair with his uncle’s headstrong wife. He visits her rather than his own fiancee whenever he has leave, and begins to become absorbed in his love for Amy above most other things. The novel takes a dramatic turn when two years later Dorrigo is captured by the Japanese as a Prisoner of War working on the Burma Death Railway. He is expected to lead a large group of fellow prisoners as they work on building the railway to impossible deadlines and in impossible conditions. Dorrigo is forced to get ever more work out of his fellow captives, even as they are dying around him of exhaustion, starvation and cholera; and he finds himself setting up and running a makeshift hospital for the camp alongside his other duties to his men.

Flanagan writes with a beauty that brings the horrors of the POW camp and the characters that suffer there to life. There are many symbolic gestures laced throughout the narrative - handwritten letters, red camellias and pencil sketches that resonate long after the book has finished, and the link to poetry from the start brings endless depth to the prose. The grit and gore of the Prisoner of War camp is followed by severe emptiness as Flanagan explores the emotions of both the prisoners and the Japanese soldiers after the war is over. Here he expertly sets out the contrast between the two lives - when the men begin to realise that nothing they ever experience will be as intense or meaningful again.

Flanagan’s novel becomes all the more poignant when we find out that it was written in tribute to his father, an Australian prisoner of war who survived his experiences on the Burma Death Railway. His father sadly passed away on the day that Flanagan finished writing his book.

'The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ was well deserving of the Man Booker Prize last year and is now out in paperback, although there is something quite pleasing about the hardback edition.