Read: Skippy Dies by Paul Murray ★★★★☆ 📚
Irish private boy’s school. Some laugh out loud teenage dialogue, some horrible teenage drama. Multiple voices & pov weave towards a messy ending that didn’t quite pay off for me, although that might be the point. Still kept me reading for nearly 700 pages.
Tag: ★★★★
Read: The Lost Wife by Susanna Moore ★★★★☆ 📚
Short but engaging fiction based on a real life memoir. Settlers & Sioux clash in 1855. The narrator, Sarah, has no self pity despite a troubled life. Felt like a realistic picture of the times both filthy & surprising. Characters are complex.
Read: The Secret Hours by Mick Herron ★★★★☆ 📚
I actually think I enjoyed this more than the Slow Horses books. There was some amusing civil service & government committee scenes, less over the top characters. Nice unobtrusive links to Slow Horses too.
Read: Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallen ★★★★☆ 📚
Majella is autistic but might not know it. Her mum is a hopeless alcoholic, her dad one of Northern Ireland’s disappeared. Her uncle had blown himself up & her grannie has just been murdered. Her house mostly filthy, her town pretty horrible too. This account of her likes & dislikes over a few days felt quite unpleasant to start with but grew on me. Not a lot of plot, but Majella is a fascinating & engaging character.
Read: The Drowning Pool by Ross MacDonald ★★★★☆ 📚
There the kelp-beds stopped me, a tangled barrier of brown and yellow tubes and bulbs floating low in the water. I hated the touch of underwater life.
The best Chandler substitute I’ve found.
Read: The Slain Birds by Michael Longley ★★★★ 📚
The ravens in conversation overhead might be
Discussing us or that sheep dead in a hollow
With its yellow ear-tag and delicate black feet.
Read: To the Dogs by Louise Welsh ★★★★☆ 📚
Glasgow crime, university prof, nearly brought low by his criminal son & family history. Twists, turns & some familiar locations.
Read: Bad Actors by Mick Herron ★★★★☆ 📚
Plenty of fun poked at our political leaders. Usual spy fun & shenanigans.
Read: Slough House by Mick Herron ★★★★☆ 📚
Best one in the last few I’ve read. Although the back & forth between different fields of action at a cliff hanger is predictably it works. Politically incorrect attitudes from Jackson still funny. More emotion & connection to the characters.
Read: The Vagrants by Yiyun Li ★★★★☆ delicately written, horrifying account of lives in post Mao (just) China. There are very few moments of hope but my sympathy for the characters ran deep.