First up was a book I’d brought down with me though- Linwood Barclay’s Trust Your Eyes. Regular readers here may remember that I’m a bit of a fan of Barclay’s style of writing, he does suspense and the twist in the tail exceptionally well. This one is the story of two brothers in the aftermath of the death of their father in what we rapidly realise may be slightly unusual circumstances- but strangely enough that is not the main story here. The younger brother Thomas is described in a way that makes clear he is fairly severely autistic- his main hobby involves viewing the world via mapping program clearly designed to resemble google street view- and this is a hobby that takes his time to the exclusion of almost everything else. It’s while viewing a particular street in Manhattan that he spots something suspicious in a window, and it is this story that then rolls out through the rest of the book. Cleverly written - the final chapters see several twists and turns as well as at least a partial explanation for why Thomas is as he is. Older Brother Ray is the glue that holds the whole thing together with the story mainly being told from his perspective. This one will be heading back with us for MrEH to read.
Next up, the one in the header picture - J D Kirk - An Isolated Incident - a Truro find which immediately sounded excellent. Set in the Highlands of Scotland (so ticking the always popular “somewhere I know” box) and told from the perspective of a Police Officer - DCI Jack Logan. Kirk (not his real name) write with humour and pace while still managing to pen a good and suspenseful story - Logan feels like a strong character and the supporting cast are also well crafted, indeed this book is one of a fairly prolific series so I’ll be keeping an eye out for more. This one will also be heading back with us as MrEH has now started reading it!
Onto the second Truro find - a “double header” of two Ian Rankin Rebus books, with the first being The Hanging Garden. Rankin (and Rebus!) are sufficiently legend that little needs saying really - and this is much as one might expect, with Rebus tangling with the Edinburgh gang scene while juggling multiple cases including one relating to WWII war crimes. The usual Rankin musical references weave their way through the story, and of course Rebus does his usual trick of breaking all the rules while still ending up smelling of roses! I debated whether to read directly onto the second book - “Dead Souls” and eventually decided to do so as I already had the book to hand. It works well as it refers to various events from The Hanging Garden although I did realise within a few pages that I already had it, and had read it not long before! Still an enjoyable read though. Unusually in this case I will hang on to both copies as the "double header" has some damage, so if I find a better condition copy of the Hanging Garden I'll let it go at that stage instead.
Time for what seems to have become a monthly Lee Child Reacher read then - In Too Deep. This one unusually starts out with a battered and broken Reacher -and a bad situation which rapidly seems to be getting worse, too. Of course we know the pattern here by now don't we - I was discussing the Reacher books with a pal and we agreed that they aren’t quite formulaic as such, but there is definitely a degree of a pattern with them. Sometimes it’s good to know what you’re going to get with a book though - these are the Wetherspoons pub of the reading world!
A second trip to Cornwall at the end of the month inadvertently lead to me stocking up on a few more books - the supermarkets all have excellent charity book shelves and I found a couple there, then three more at a market we visited - one of which was a Val McDermid that I may actually have at home, time will tell (I am writing this section of the post in Cornwall) so Still Life was the next choice. A Karen Pirie tale, always a good read. I have actually read this one before but long enough ago that I had forgotten the storyline as I discovered when I went on to read it, so all good! As with most of her books it was mainly set in Edinburgh although this one does seem to get about a bit too - as I have said before though I do like a book where I know the locations - it definitely makes for a better read when you don’t have to try and picture the settings.
Robyn.
