Book Review – Woman on Ward 13

Title and Author: Woman on Ward 13, by Delphine Woods

Background/plot:

This is the first book in a proposed series of several more, but the ending didn’t really lend itself for a sequel and it stands alone as a complete story. Well, almost.

The story is all about a nurse who is looking after a woman in an asylum, who in her day was also a nurse who looked after another woman in an asylum.

Who are the main characters?

The main characters are Iris, the nurse who is looking after Kath, who was known as Katy when she was a nurse looking after Mrs Leverton, who was also known as Percey, short for Persephone.

Where is it set?

Confusingly and irrelevantly it is set in 1900 and 1956 in two asylums/nursing homes

Writing style, technicalities

The book alternates viewpoints between Iris in 1956 and Katy/Kath in 1900. Iris’ chapters are written in the omnipotent third person, and Kath/Katy’s are written in the first person. I guess that is to help the reader recognise which narrative voice is speaking because the settings in both time eras are so very similar and were quite confusing.

My thoughts on the book:

This has to be one of the most frustrating books I’ve read for ages. I wanted it to work so much that I persevered with it long past the point that I might have given up. The premise is that Kath/Katy has been in an asylum for a long time, following an unknown episode that isn’t even hinted at until right at the end of the book. She was a nurse to another lady, Persey, who was also in a (different) asylum for reasons that were only ever hinted at and never fully explained. It ought to have been a fantastic book, with parallel stories that could have been explored in more detail and depth, but it was disappointing in that neither of the women were ever fully explained, and the whole thing was never really fully realised or completed.

I found there were too many extraneous characters, such as Iris’ friend Shirley in 1956, with a whole second plotline of how she was in an abusive relationship with a doctor and how their friendship suffered because of it. I didn’t see the point of this plotline, but if it had been drawn in order to show something of an abusive relationship in the past maybe, then I could have understood why it was there as a subplot. But it wasn’t. It just came across as clunky and pointless. It wasn’t even a metaphor for anything and so would have been better not writing it.

I don’t know why those two times were chosen to tell this story; any gap of about 50 years would have done, and it might have been a bit more exciting to have the later one closer to “real” time to make it more relevant.

There were too many anachronisms in the book, such as the telephone in Shirley’s supposedly working class house, and some of the figures of speech that the characters used which I found distracting as I read.

I didn’t feel that I connected with any of the characters at all, and by the end of the book, I found I didn’t even cheer on the supposed victims like you’re supposed to do as a reader. There were no redeeming features or characteristics from any of them, and the book ended as a damp squib really. It could have done with a good edit to tighten the plotlines and get rid of the superfluous characters before it was published.

Will I read the next in the series?

No. The next one is supposed to be about Iris again, but I don’t think I could take any more of that insipid, uninspiring character with no redeeming features at all. Sorry!

Would I recommend it to my friends?

No. It isn’t a thriller, nor a romance, nor a comedy or a crime novel. It’s barely even a historical novel and so no, I won’t be recommending it to my friends who like any of these types of stories.

My final thoughts:

I’m usually a big fan of new writers and I like to keep up to speed with what’s new in the publishing world, but this book was a big disappointment. I wanted it to be so much better than it turned out to be. The premise was pretty sound, and if it had been better executed then it would have been a cracking novel. The idea that women at the turn of the 20th Century could be incarcerated “for their own good” is a fascinating one and deserves exploring, especially given that most of the time it was because they were victims of sexual assault or emotional abuse by husbands and boyfriends. This book has echoes of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, which is a novella about a woman suffering from what we now know to be post partum psychosis. I just wish that The Woman on Ward 13 could have gone deeper into Kath/Katy’s and Percey Leverton’s story to really get to grips with some of these themes and it would have been a whole different book.

Book Review – “From Green to Blue”

Title and Author

From Green to Blue by Jonathan Cox

Background/plot:

This is the first book in a seven book series about a young Police Constable who is fresh out of training with the Metropolitan Police. This book takes us through his interview right to the end of his “puppy walking” stage of training.

Who are the main characters?

The main character is PC Christopher Pritchard, and the next “main” is WPC Dawn Matthews who supervises him. However, throughout the book we might lots and lots (and lots) of other characters – police, public, victims and criminals.

Where is it set?

It is set in 1983 in Stoke Newington, London

Writing style, technicalities

It is in the first person narrative style, from the viewpoint of PC Pritchard, and each of the chapters is an almost self-contained “episode” of action. As I read this, I was convinced that it was autobiographical, and I was really surprised that it isn’t. I don’t know why I didn’t pay attention to the author’s name and the character’s name, but had I done I would have realised sooner, but there we go. One of the reasons why I thought it was biography rather than fiction was that the writing style was a bit amateurish and read more like a journal or a diary than a work of creative fiction. There is no discernible plot to speak of, other than that Chris and Dawn gradually get to know each other and by the end are more or less friends. There is a definite trajectory of his learning of what to do and what not to do to support your colleagues,

My thoughts on the book:

I did enjoy the book, but that’s because I thought it was a biography. Once I realised that it wasn’t (after I’d finished it) the shine had gone off a little bit. Once I got into it, it was a book that I was drawn back to, and I finished it in a marathon reading session this morning and afternoon. The ending is pretty powerful and comes from nowhere. I actually shed a tear in shock at the ending and to be honest, it was these final scenes that made realisation dawn on me that I was reading a work of fiction. Call me thick!

Will I read the next in the series?

I downloaded the next one as it was being offered free with Kindle Unlimited, and I did start to read it, but after a couple of chapters I felt I didn’t want to go on with it. The tone is very different from the first book, and Chris seems to have had a personality and morality transplant since the last book and it’s a bit off-putting. I might give it another go tomorrow, but I’m not convinced.

Would I recommend it to my friends?

I would and I wouldn’t. Some parts of it were very graphic – too graphic for fiction, but understandable in a biography – and I don’t think as a story it stands up as entertainment. If you are interested in a fictionalised account of the racist, homophobic, misogynistic police of the 1980s in London then go for it, but it’s not the best version, I promise you.

Book Review – Nobody True by James Herbert

Title and Author – “Nobody True” by James Herbert

Background/plot: – Jim True has developed the skill of having out of body experiences, or “OBE’s” as he calls them. Whilst on one of his OBEs one night, Jim is brutally attacked and murdered, and his spirit cannot return back to his body. The plot is what happened in the run up to the attack and what Jim does next.

Who are the main characters? The main character is Jim True, but also heavily featured are his business partners Oliver and Sydney, his wife Andrea and his daughter Primrose. And the killer… obviously…

Where is it set? It is set in modern day London

Writing style, technicalities: The book is written in the first person narrative, from the viewpoint of Jim True. I like the fact that it is also written in the past tense, which might sound like an odd thing to say but hear me out. I have been reading a lot of new authors recently, and the trend for writing in the present tense is one that really bugs me. It feels really clunky and contrived, especially if it is not handled well by new authors, but it feels like an unnecessary device in order to try and be “cutting edge” and “gritty” I guess. But this was written in 2003 before that device was really a thing, and I rather enjoyed it.

In terms of storytelling, I liked the way that it (eventually) unfolded in linear time. There are some passages that are from past events in Jim’s life, but they are not critical to the plot and it’s different from some modern fiction where these past events form the story. In this book they fill in the details that explain certain choices the characters make but are not flashbacks as such. The result – for me – is that the story is told much more naturally.

One last thing on the technicalities of the writing is that as the narrator is the person in spirit form, he can take an omniscient view which is unusual in a book that is written in the first person. An example is when Jim visits his wife and daughter at home after his body is dead. The narrative shows the reader what is happening there because we are seeing through Jim’s spirit eyes. In books that are written in the first person, the reader would only ever see what the narrator sees and therefore scenes like this couldn’t be written. Having the narrator as a spirit, then it gives the reader an insight into those situations that we wouldn’t normally see.

My thoughts on the book: I loved this for about three quarters of the book, but I found it was very slow (and boring) to get going. I was fascinated by the OBEs that the main character describes and the promise that the story involved a new scenario for me, and so I stuck with it. I wanted to see how a story would unfold where a spirit/soul could be separated from its body and where things then go wrong. I’ve not read anything like this before and I really enjoyed that aspect of it. However, the beginning bits were not necessary and provided so much backstory that was not of interest nor pertinent to the story at all.

The concept was great, and I loved the way that the main character had faith in God, and the expressions of confusion he had because things were not going the way he thought they would do. That was an interesting aspect that we don’t usually get in fiction.

Putting aside the idea of OBEs and souls being separated from bodies for a moment, I thought the characterisation of the main characters were entirely believable and they all (more or less) behaved as you’d expect normal people would do. The expressions of grief, and reactions to certain conversations felt very realistic, and they lent an authenticity to the characters that made the idea of OBEs a little bit possible too. However, as realistic those characters are, there is one that is drawn as completely grotesque and almost in caricature. I won’t spoil it by saying who or how in case you want to read it yourself, but this one character is the one that just tips this book from the literary fiction genre into the world of horror.

The denouement was good, and the story felt finished at the end, which as a reader I found entirely satisfying.

Will I read the next in the series? This is a standalone book, but I would definitely read more of James Herbert’s work.

Would I recommend it to my friends? I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in people’s motivations and exploring why people act in the way they do, and I would recommend it for those who enjoy a good yarn. It is well into the supernatural end of reality, and so might not suit all readers. But for those who don’t mind suspending reality for a little while in order to enjoy a good story then yes, I would recommend it to you.

Book Review: The Madness of Grief

The Madness of Grief by Richard Coles

What is it all about?

This is a beautiful book written by the Reverend Richard Coles in the aftermath of his beloved husband David’s death just before Christmas 2019. It is billed as a “memoir of love and loss”, which I find is a bit of an understatement. This is not just a memoir, but a ripping open the most intimate secrets – I hesitate to use that word, but bear with me – living through the experience of losing a loved one and dealing with the world that has been forever changed.

Writing style, technicalities

The book tells the story of David’s last few days, and how Richard spent the time leading up to his death and the days between that and his funeral nearly two weeks later. It is interspersed with memories of their life together before his death, and with passages of the time at which it was being written. These three distinct time “zones” paint a picture of what life has been like for both Richard and David, growing up in different parts of the country, from different backgrounds, with different personalities and temperaments but who found each other and carved a life together for many years.

Richard has a wonderfully poetic style of writing, using many cultural references that give us an insight into his complex and multi-layered interest in life, food, art, music and theatre. He has a beautiful way of naming things that lend them a romance and depth that perhaps ought not to be there. My favourite example is how he describes hand cream as not simply lotion, but “an unguent”. Another favourite is his term for the clothes that he wears at home to be comfortable. I would refer to mine as “comfies”, but Richard’s name for them is “scamper pants”.

I feel that the book has been written as much to exorcise guilt as it is to talk about what it is like for a Church of England clergyman to lose the love of his life and how he rationalises his faith in the face of that incredible loss. Richard is quite open about saying he feels he ought to have done more to “save” David, or to support him when his illness began to take hold, or how he should have been at home more, or less complaining while he was alive… This is what I mean by exorcising guilt; it is a way for him to get a handle on their relationship and how David’s illness affected them both.

It is a sort of diary, a sort of journal, a sort of record, a sort of confessional, a sort of love letter and a sort of prayer.

My thoughts on the book:

I have been a fan and admirer of Richard Coles for many years now, and I have followed him on Twitter for as long as I have had an account. I knew about David’s death on the day that Richard announced it (he tells us about this in the book), and I was under the impression that he had liver cancer. I don’t know where I had got that from, but it must have been from what Richard had posted online that day. However, what I didn’t realise until I read a couple of previews and reviews of this book is that David suffered with alcoholism, and the GI bleed that was his final injury was as a result of heavy and sustained drinking for many years.

It is at approximately half way through the book that this is revealed, and the paragraphs that reveal this are probably the most powerful testimony I have ever heard about what it is like to live with an alcoholic partner. I have lost several family members to the associated affects of alcoholism, and I know what it is like to witness those you love in the grip of this brutal illness. However, reading Richard’s words about his own reaction to it have got to be the most intimate, raw and truthful picture about living with alcoholism that I have ever read. It moved me to tears and my heart goes out to both of them; Richard in his loss and David in the life that was taken from him by this illness.

As an ordinand who is soon to be ordained, God willing, into the Church of England myself, I was moved by Richard’s use of Scripture throughout his writing. He talks about prayers said for the dead and the dying, and his own reliance on things like the daily office to help him in his grief. He replicates verses and passages from the Psalms that have helped him, and he takes us through the funeral service and his reaction to the prayers and sentences from scripture that sustain him in his faith and in his grief. They took on a new meaning for me too, because I have used the same sentences and Psalms in funerals and home visits before funerals, but never before had I seen it from the priest’s own personal view through the lens of their own grief.

The book is relatively short – only about 250 pages – and it covers just over two weeks in time, but it packs an emotional punch that can’t possibly leave the reader unchanged by the end of it. I read it in just over a day, and if I hadn’t had to stop to sleep or to weep I would have read it in less time. It was an emotional read, and it has given me much food for thought.

Would I recommend it to my friends?

Yes, I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in helping those who are bereaved and grieving, and anyone who is interested in Richard’s story as a priest and media celebrity. It is poignant and emotional, intimate and revealing, and it would appeal to anyone who is interested in anybody else’s life story.

A final word on this

My prayers tonight are for all those who suffer from alcoholism – the people with the illness, their families and loved ones, the people who are left behind in the wake of an untimely death that it can bring. And of course, for Richard Coles and the family of the late David Coles. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.

Book Review – The Night Hawks

The Night Hawks by Elly Griffiths

The Night Hawks book cover

Background/plot:

A dead body is found on the shoreline by a group of amateur metal detectorists who call themselves the Night Hawks. It is quickly linked to the deaths of two people at a nearby farm that has a rather dark history in the local community. Once again DCI Nelson finds himself with a complicated and confusing investigation on his hands, whilst battling his personal feelings and emotions around his family and of course, Ruth. Throw in a local legend of Black Shuck, a satanic dog that is the size of a small pony who foreshadows death and the threat posed to Ruth from a new upcoming colleague at the university, this is a book that is multi-layered with tonnes of interest.

Who are the main characters?

The main characters are Nelson and Ruth, but there is a large supporting cast of returning characters with the introduction of one or two new ones that keep the book familiar and fresh at the same time.

Where is it set?

As with the other books in the series, this is set in and around Norfolk, England in the present day.

Writing style, technicalities

It took me a while to get used to the writing style in this series of books, and even now, 13 books in it can jar a little bit sometimes. The main thing is that the narrative style is in the present tense, which on the whole makes me feel as a reader that I’m in there with the action, that the story is unfolding in real time but can be a bit disconcerting until you get used to it. That the narrator is telling us as things happen helps me as a reader feel that the ending of the story has not been revealed yet and literally anything can happen. It works on the whole but now and again a sentence feels a bit forced and the urgency of the present tense feels a bit clunky and false. However, it’s a great technique for helping that sense of “what’s going to happen next?” for the reader.

My thoughts on the book:

I have waited a long time for this book to come out (I think I pre-ordered it about 4 months ago) and I was absolutely thrilled when it landed on my Kindle this morning. The previous book in the series felt a bit tired and I feared that this one might have continued in that same way, but I was delightfully relieved to find that this was back on form. I love the way that the author spins two timelines in these books – the book-by-book story of body/death/murder/investigation/solution – and the overarching storyline of the main characters. I have to admit that I started reading this at about 9am today, and by teatime I had finished it. It has been a long time since I read a full novel in such a short space of time, but this one kept me reading long past the time when I should have been doing other things. There is just enough of everything to keep my interest in the story. Just enough technical jargon, just enough blood and guts, just enough thrill and wonder, just enough folk lore, just enough history, just enough mysticism, just enough romance… The thing is with all of these I wish there were more of each one, but that’s the gift of Elly Griffiths that she knows just how much rope to play out for us to become ensnared in the plot for it to be just enough and it leaves us wanting MORE.

Will I read the next in the series?

Absolutely YES! There is a big cliff-hanger at the end of this one regarding one of the main characters and I have to find out what their decision is.

Would I recommend it to my friends?

I would recommend it as a standalone, yes, but for anyone to get the full effect of this I would recommend that you read the others in the series first. There is enough description for a new reader to understand the references, but it’s like anything that is so far deep into a series like this, it is impossible for a new reader to understand all the nuances of relationships between the characters and the subtle subtext that is going on beneath the surface etc. The stories will stand on their own, but it’s better if they are understood in the context of the whole series.

A final word on this

I would absolutely love to see this series being made into a TV series one day. I don’t know if this has been in the mind of Elly Griffiths at all, but the way she writes about the wonderful, ethereal coastline of Norfolk and the larger than life characters within this police procedural style story just lends itself so perfectly for visual representation on screen. I just hope that if it does make it to TV the integrity of the written stories stays intact. It would be a shame to see them go the way that other successful book series’ have gone, such as Vera, DCI Banks, Shetland, Bones, Rizzoli and Isles, Wire in the Blood etc have all gone.

A couple of things tend to happen –

1. the TV series quickly catches up with and then overtakes the book series and the episodes begin to grow away from the storylines in the books (I’m thinking of Vera or Morse here), or
2. the other thing is that the writer begins to change the characters within the books to reflect the way they are portrayed on screen (I fear the Harry Potter books went down this route), or
3. the TV series takes the characters and then loosely bases their series on the characters in the books and the reader ends up reading completely parallel but unconnected stories about their favourite characters (Rizzoli and Isles and Bones I’m looking at you here!).

So while I would love to see this series on screen, maybe it’s better not to push for that and to keep it perfect and intact as it is now. Hurry up Elly and write the next one!!

Day 14, Jan 14: Book Review “How To Stop Time”

Background/plot:

A 479 year old man moves – again – in order to protect himself and those in the Albatross Society, but he’s had enough. Having loved and lost over all that time, he is tired of living among the “mayflies” who live a normal lifespan. Will he ever find Marion?

Who are the main characters?

The main protagonist is Tom Hazard, although over the course of his lifetime he has had many names. I don’t want to give the plot away by describing any of the other characters, but look out for Rose, Marion, Grace, and Hendrich.

Where is it set?

This book has scenes located all around the world and in different eras, but the “now” time is in London in the present day.

My thoughts on the book

I absolutely loved this book! The premise is that Tom has unusual genes which means he ages very, very slowly. Being born just before the advent of the 16^th Century witch trials, Tom was unlucky enough to have had his gift spotted by the locals and being the loving, caring and enlightened people like we are in the 21^st Century, Tom realises that it is dangerous to stay in one place for too long.

The book itself is beautifully plotted and paced, and most importantly for me, it has a proper ending. All too often, well-told stories like this end badly, with a rushed denouement or an unbelievable twist that ruins it, but I’m so glad that this one has a good ending that kept me wondering “what next” every paragraph of the last chapter.

As with the last book I read of Matt Haig’s – The Midnight Library – there was lots in the text that made me stop and think. It raises questions about the value of love, about judgement of others, and the human desire we all have of wanting to belong.

Will I read the next in the series?

I don’t think there will be another in this series, but I will definitely be reading more by Matt Haig. This is the second of his that I’ve read now, and both of them have been intelligently written, thought-provoking and have lasted in my consciousness long after I finished reading.

Would I recommend it to my friends?

Yes, absolutely. It would appeal to anyone who likes to have their thinking stretched a little, and anyone who loves a good story that is well written.

Quote from the book:

I don’t usually share passages from books that I read, but this particular passage has stayed with me since I read it and it gives you a little flavour of the quality of writing in this story.

She stops, right then Points through the trees. There is a deer. It turns and looks at us, holding our gaze for a moment, before darting away. Abraham tugs on the lead half-heartedly.

‘I don’t know what will happen,’ Camille says, staring at the space where the creature had been. ‘I don’t know if I will make it through the afternoon without having a seizure. Who knows anything?’

‘Yes. Who knows?’

I keep staring between the trees at the air that had been inhabited by the deer and realise it is true. The deer isn’t there, but I know it had been there and so the space is different than it would otherwise have been. The memory made it different.

I urge you read this, it’s fantastic!

Book Review – The Serpent’s Mark

Background/plot:
Tilbury, England in the winter of 1591. This is the second book in the series (the first was The Angel’s Mark) and this book takes off more or less exactly where that one ended.

Nicholas Shelby, physician and reluctant spy, returns to his old haunts on London’s lawless Bankside. But, when spymaster Robert Cecil asks him to investigate the dubious practices of a mysterious doctor from Switzerland, Nicholas is soon embroiled in a conspiracy that threatens not just the life of an innocent young patient, but the overthrow of Queen Elizabeth herself.

With fellow healer and mistress of the Jackdaw tavern, Bianca Merton, again at his side, Nicholas is drawn into a sinister world of zealots, charlatans and dangerous fanatics…

Who are the main characters?

As above, the main characters are Nicholas Shelby and his friend Bianca Merton. He is a physician who has turned his back on the practice, and she is an Italian apothecary – licenced only because Nicholas put in a word for her at the guildhall – who runs a tavern. Along with a handful of small characters, these two form the backbone of both books in this series, but this book introduces a plethora of other minor characters that will probably not return in the next.

Where is it set?

It is mainly set in Bankside, which is the south bank of the River Thames in London and  known as Southwark today. It is a tough area of London and houses a lot of immigrant workers from the ships as well as the more nefarious characters who would rob you as they looked in your eye and said good morning.

My thoughts on the book:

I desperately wanted to love this book, but was disappointed that I only liked it. I am a big fan of C J Samson’s work of the same period (the Matthew Shardlake chronicles) and I was hoping that this would be as good as those, but sadly it’s not. The first in this series was a promising start – a likeable and well-rounded central character in Nicholas Shelby, a likely and believable supporting character in Bianca Merton, a decent enough plot with enough subplots and secondary plots to it that it looked like it was forming the basis of a decent series. However, this second book doesn’t live up to that same standard as the first in my opinion. The plot – Nicholas trying to stop a fellow physician from doing experiments on a young lad with epilepsy, a secret son/grandson who may or may not have been Queen Mary’s, a very improbable Kit Marlowe hanging about in the Jackdaw tavern testing out a dodgy play and so on – just feels a bit too contrived and a bit too forced to me. The subplot of the developing relationship between Nick and Bianca also felt a bit too contrived to me too. The narrative is quite repetitive in telling us that he is grieving for his wife who died giving birth to his child, and yet by the end of the book, all of a sudden there is a romance in the air. Doesn’t quite sit right for me.

I have read a lot of other reviews on this (Goodreads and Amazon) and I find that I am alone in finding it lacking somewhat. There are hyperbolic statements from other authors and critics all over the book’s Amazon page saying it is “sumptuous” and “delicious” etc, but I think I might have been looking at a different book! I have to give it credit for being a good paced narrative, with a proper story arc that had a beginning, a middle and an end, and I am (as ever) in awe of any author who can get his nose to the grindstone day in and day out to get a novel written in the first place. But I am a bit disappointed by it and found that there was a bit too much repetition, cliché and obvious plot twists for it to deserve the hype on Amazon and elsewhere.

Will I read the next in the series?

Do you know what, I probably will. I have a feeling that this is a series that will probably mature and develop as the books are written – so long as they are not rushed and are not “dumbed down” to meet publishing deadlines etc. The two main characters have grown on me during the two book series so far and I genuinely want to know what they get up to next. Just, next time, can we have a bit more of an original plot and not so many occasions where we are told about Nicholas’ love for his dead wife please?

Would I recommend it to my friends?

Yes. It is a historical novel in the sense that it is set in 16^th Century Tudor England, but the writing style makes it an easy read. It is not bogged down by a lot of “old” language and even though I’ve moaned about it being not as good as the first one, it is a decent read if you don’t want anything too challenging to tax you.

Book Review – Our House by Louise Candlish

“Our House” by Louise Candlish

Background/plot:
Fi returns home from a work trip away for a few days to find another family moving into her house. What follows then is the unravelling of how things got to that point and what happens after it. It’s hard to give any more detail than that because it will give the plot away, sorry!

How is the plot constructed?
The story is told primary from three narrative viewpoints. The first is a video transcript of an interview with Fi, one of the main characters, the second is in the form of a Word document written by Bram, Fi’s husband. Both of these tell the story in retrospect, and the third is an omniscient narrator who tells us what is happening to Fi and Bram in the present.

When and where is it set?
Most of the action is in London, but there are some parts which are briefly set in mainland Europe in the present day.

My thoughts on the book:
I can’t remember what first attracted me to this book when I saw it on Amazon. I think it was something to do with the cover picture that intrigued me, and then the blurb sort of hooked me in. However, that fascination and intrigue only took me so far and it took me a long while to settle into the style of the book and the way it swapped and changed between the three narrative viewpoints that I mentioned above. I was bored at first, and I couldn’t see the sense in the narrative switching between them, and I was ready to give up multiple times in the first bit. However, there was a particular point (around 15% of the way through) where the plot began to heat up and there was a particular encounter between Bram and “Mike” and it suddenly became a must finish book after all.

I am one of those readers who is so immersed in a book that if it’s good enough (and this one is) the characters stay with me in between reading sessions. But I’m also one of those readers who having been so immersed in a book that it literally lives in and around me all the time I’m reading it, that as it comes to the finishing line (handy percentage counter on a Kindle helps ratchet up the tension) that I begin to dread the ending at around 90%. Dread it? Yes, but not for the reason you may think. You may think that I dread it ending because the characters will no longer occupy my mind (that’s part of it, but if the writing is good enough and the characters are believable and strong enough then they will live on for days, weeks, months yet), but the biggest reason is that up to that point the book has been so good, dread starts to set in about whether the ending will match up to the rest. I needn’t have worried. As the ending starts to play out, I was literally breathless reading it and I was second guessing every decision the characters made, and found myself rooting for a particular character that for the first two thirds of the book I was prepared to loathe and be happy to see sail over a cliff.

But isn’t that the beauty and the power of a good book? That the character that you set out hating becomes one that you root for, or the one who you are sympathetic with suddenly does something that makes you fall out with them? That you are literally holding your breath because you know something a particular character doesn’t, and you want to reach into your book and shout at them to STOP!!!!

As the story unfolds, the reader is taken on a fantastic journey of human relationships and we explore the different ways that people treat each other, both for good and ill. What struck me most of all was that Bram’s situation is one that could easily happen to any of us, and how easy it is for our lives to unravel if we pull on a particular thread too much.  

Any other thoughts?
This would make a fantastic TV series.

Would I recommend it to my friends?
Yes, without doubt. It is one of those books that slips between genres, and although it has won an award as a crime thriller, it would also suit people who are interested in contemporary literature and the human condition generally.

Book Review – The Stone Circle

Background/plot:

This is a continuation of the Ruth Galloway series, and this book centres around the discovery of two sets of bones in very close proximity to each other in the Norfolk saltmarshes. Along the way a baby is kidnapped and a cold case is resolved, but not before another murder takes place.

Who are the main characters?

The two main protagonists are DI Harry Nelson and Dr Ruth Galloway from previous books, and they are supported by Harry’s family (Michelle, Laura and Rebecca), Ruth’s daughter Katie, and the police officers from previous books too, namely Judy, Cloughie and “Super Jo” , the boss. This book sees more of the supporting characters given a prominent role though, and it is less centred on Ruth and Nelson than previous ones.

Where is it set?

It is mainly set in Norfolk, although some of the (irrelevant) action takes place all the way across the country near Salisbury.

My thoughts on the book:

I have very mixed feelings about the book, so let me explain myself. First I have to say that I love this series, and would love to see them on TV, and the characters of Nelson, Ruth, Kate, Cathbad, Judy et al are all superbly drawn and utterly compelling and believable.

But – and it’s a big but – this book suggests that the series has run out of steam and the author has run out of plots and ideas of what to do with the characters. The plot of this one relies heavily on the first one of the series, and there are many similarities between this one and a couple of others that it feels like an updated version of them rather an a standalone, new novel. A buried child, a cold case, a baby’s kidnapping, a “will they won’t they” moment between Nelson and Ruth etc. It seems to have lost some of its mysticism that I love, where Cathbad (Michael) has turned into a boring house-husband now instead of the wonderfully colourful character he has been previously.

Another thing is that it is all written in the present tense, which gets a bit tiresome and difficult to read now and again. I applaud Elly Griffiths’ success in writing her novels in the present tense – I know how difficult it is to do that for any length of storytelling – but I wish that she wouldn’t stick to that particular style. For me, it doesn’t achieve the effect that she is probably aiming for, which is a sense of immediacy and urgency, and a feeling of being right there with the characters as they themselves find out the story as it goes along. Instead, I find myself irritated more times than I like to be that certain sentences or paragraphs would be better not written in the present tense because they sound so simplistic and contrived.

Finally, I am slightly disappointed in this book. Not only because it seems to revisit old plots and situations, but that it just didn’t seem to go anywhere and lacked a bit of oomph. I would have liked it to have been longer too because it felt like it had only just got going by the time it had ended.

It is a lesson to me as an aspiring writer that the characters are more important than the action and the plot. I love the characters as I have already said, but the plot in this one leaves a bit to be desired I’m afraid.

Will I read the next in the series?

Yes I will. I would hope that Elly Griffiths does a better plotting job next time, but yes please, give us more Ruth and Nelson!!!

Would I recommend it to my friends?

Yes, absolutely. If you haven’t read any of this series, then it’s best to read them from book 1 so you get the full ins and outs of the characters and their relationships, and it is great for anyone who likes crime, thrillers, archaeology etc. Nothing gory, not too heavy on procedural or forensics (hurrah!) and plenty about believable characters and believable actions and outcomes. Read them, please do.

Books in the series:

The Crossing Places – book 1
The Janus Stone – book 2
The House at Sea’s End – book 3
A Room Full of Bones – book 4
Ruth’s First Christmas Tree – short story
A Dying Fall – book 5
The Outcast Dead – book 6
The Ghost Fields – book 7
The Woman in Blue – book 8
The Chalk Pit – book 9
The Dark Angel – book 10
The Stone Circle – book 11

Book Review – Edinburgh Twilight

“Edinburgh Twilight (Ian Hamilton Mysteries book 1)” by Carole Lawrence

Background/plot:

A dead body is found with a playing card tucked into his pocket. It appears a serial killer is loose in Edinburgh and Ian Hamilton is on the case.

Who are the main characters?

This is titled as book 1 in the “Ian Hamilton” series, and Ian Hamilton is the main protagonist. He’s a Detective Inspector with the Edinburgh City Police and is assisted by Detective Sergeant Dickerson, a couple of street urchins, his Aunty Lily and a most unlikely librarian.

Where is it set?

Edinburgh at the turn of the 19^th/20^th Century.

My thoughts on the book:

First of all, as a budding novelist myself and knowing what goes into a piece of creative writing of this length, I have to say that Carole Lawrence has done a fantastic job of getting a book written and published, and I have to congratulate her on that, but that I’m afraid is the end of my favourable critique.

This book would have benefited from a decent edit. Too many “scenes” that are nothing to do with the plot, inaccuracies within paragraphs about simple things like the weather – for instance, “it was a typical grey Edinburgh day” in one sentence, and then after a few more sentences the “sun was shining brightly for a change”.

It would have benefited from some decent research too. On EVERY SINGLE PAGE there was something inaccurate, or simply wrong. I can live with American spellings in my reading material, but to use American words and phrases in the narrative is just poor. I would even say it was lazy too, and possibly copied from another series of badly written Scottish novels (Outlander) where historical detail was obtained from “The American Guide to Cute Scottish History” written by Walt Disney.

Middle class ladies would not be cooking chops on the stove for their nephews, they would have a maid or a housekeeper to do that for them. They wouldn’t go shopping for “victuals” neither. The geographical layout of Edinburgh as described in the book is just wrong, and it jarred in my mind whenever I read about the characters walking the “short distance” that in real life would have taken an hour or more. Young couples who were courting would not have been in the pub together mixed in with the brawling, game playing men from the docks. Pubs had separate rooms where women were permitted, and you would have been a “certain type of lady” to have visited them at the time in history this book is supposedly set. There would be NO Edinburgh citizen of that time called “Whitaker Titterington III”. Police cells were not cages but little rooms with solid doors. Station house? That’s where probationary policemen would have lived, not worked with plain clothes policemen. Street urchins would not have been invited to spend the night in the policeman’s “flat”, and a passing acquaintance in the shape of a nosy librarian would NOT have carved a cat flap in the detective’s door on a whim…. oh the list goes on!

The biggest thing that annoyed me was that the attempt at writing Scottish dialect was abysmal. My first question to Carole Lawrence would be, if you wanted to write so many Irish-accented characters, why didn’t you set the book in Dublin? My next question would be, have you ever even heard a Scottish accent in real life? And if you have, have you made a note of the difference between the Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen accents? The attempt to shape the characterisation of the characters by giving them different patterns of speech – whilst I applaud her efforts – ended up where they all sounded the same and indistinguishable from each other, and none of them sounded like they were remotely Scottish. (By the way, “British” isn’t an accent, and Scotland is actually part of Great Britain so is British too)

Will I read the next in the series?

Not unless it has had a MAJOR overhaul in tone, style, characterisation, plotting, research, setting, dialogue, accuracy….

Would I recommend it to my friends?

No. Not even as a light read. I would not inflict this book on anyone I know.

Final note:

I usually don’t proceed with badly written books, but there was something about this one that was just so awful that I had to finish it to see if the end justified the narrative journey. I wanted to throw in the towel every single time I picked my Kindle up and could only manage a couple of chapters at a time (fortunately very short ones) and I hated every single character in it. I’m relieved/not surprised to find that the denouement and closure of the book was every bit as bad as the rest of it and my hunch was confirmed by the employment of Aunt Lily – that genteel lady who cooks her own chops on the stove – as a police artist at the end.

Bad, poor, atrocious, weak, inaccurate, unbelievable, waste of time.