January Reading…

 

Starting the month with the book which was the header photo for last months post - Lee Child - The Hard Way, another in the Reacher series - we’ve been reading and enjoying these for years, and now we have added space in the house we are working on getting the full set, previously lack of bookshelf space demanded that they were returned to the charity shop after reading! This one is set partly in England, and a bit of the country I knew well, so an additional layer of interest there, but they are always a rollicking good read. Reacher emerges victorious of course - he always does, that’s no plot spoiler, but in spite of his extreme levels of violence he also manages to be likeable, a measure of Child’s writing talent I think. This will be joining the others on the shelf!

Next up was Liane Moriarty - Big Little Lies. Big subject matter too with its twin themes of bullying and domestic violence and played out in a small community in Australia. Moriarty writes brilliantly - this book is punctuated throughout with little quotes from the various characters, written as though they were given in interviews with a journalist, and all alluding to the "the event" that the book pivots on but without ever giving away the "whodunnit" aspect. The gossipy cliqueiness of the primary school parents giving the quotes shines through and I suspect many people can recognise that sort of behaviour from groups they have been part of! When "the event" occurs towards the very end of the book it actually comes as a shock in the way it plays out and it is all the more impactful because of that. I probably won't be keeping this one so it will either get passed to Mum, or returned to a charity shop. 

Linwood Barclay's Never Look Away kept me absolutely gripped. Started with the apparent abduction of a small child, the twists in the tale came from the very beginning, with things taking a deeply dark turn as the story unravels. Main character David Harwood is well written and likeable, making it easy to feel sympathy towards him, and the author has cleverly wound several mysteries into the  storyline without making it feel cluttered, they all intertwine perfectly and conclude neatly in the final chapters. I didn't want to put this one down and read it in a matter of days - I'll be keeping my eye out for more from Barclay, and will probably pass this one to my Mum for her to read. 

An old favourite author next in the shape of Val McDermid - a truly excellent crime-writer in my view and well deserving of the bestseller status she enjoys. A Darker Domain is part of the Karen Pirie series - and I realised within a few pages that not only had I read it before but in fact I already own a copy - clearly I need to add McDermid's books into my note of authors who I am collecting to avoid duplication in the future! That said, I was quite happy to read this one again - and long enough since I read it first time that I had largely forgotten the storyline, so all good! This copy will head back to the charity shop, and I’ll retain the original one. 

Time for some non-fiction then - and a history of British Rail, by  Christian Wolmar - this one we spotted on the bookshelves at Blackhorse Road Station early last year I think - we always stop and have a look there if heading back from the taprooms on the Blackhorse Beer mile, and have often found some interesting stuff for the taking. I don't read huge amounts of non-fiction, but every now and again fancy something a bit different, and this ticked the box, particularly with the part re-nationalisation of the entity happening currently. It was a fascinating - if slightly heavy read - and corrects many of the misconceptions about the perceived poor reputation of pre-privatisation BR. This has gone aside for MrEH to read, and I suspect it will get kept.

Robyn.