France's reading 2024

[France]

1. The Black Friar S J Maclean ++++1/2

2. The Running Grave - Robert Galbraith +++++

3. Absolutely and Forever - Rose Tremain ++++1/2

4. Yarned and dangerous - Sadie Hartwell +++1/2

5. The Last Devil to Die - Richard Osman ++++

6. The Bookseller of Inverness - S J Maclean +++++

7. Midnight at Malabar House - Vasheem Khan ++

8. My Sister the Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite ++++1/2

9. The Broken Afternoon - Simon Mason +++1/2

10. Grave Expectations - Alice Bell  - lost interest at 50%

11. The Secret Hours - Mick Herron +++++

12. Cover the Bones - Chris Hammer +++++

13. The Red Notebook - Antoine Laurian +++++

14. The Wedding Dress Repair Shop - Trisha Ashley ++

15. Fairy Tale - Stephen King °°°°1/2

16. Iron Lake - William Kent Kreuger ++++

17. The Frequency of Us - Keith Stuart ++++1/2

18. The House of Special Purpose - John Boyne ++

19. Everyone Here is Lying - Shari Lapena ++++

20. Destroying Angel - S J Maclean +++++

21. Recipe for a Perfect Wife - Karma Brown ++++

22. Fatal Legacy - Lindsay Davies +++1/2

23. Ink Black Heart - Robert Galbraith +++++

24. A Stranger in the family - Jane Casey +++++

25. Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros +++++

26. The Fake Wife - Sharon Bolton ++++1/2

27. Hell Bent - Leigh Bardugo ++++

28. Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter - Nicci French ++++

29. The House of Lamentations - S J Maclean ++++1/2

30. Iron Flame - Rebecca Yarros ++++1/2

31. Knife Skills for Beginners - Orlando Murrin ++++1/2

 

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 06:54 AM by France

[France]

After a pretty epic (in my opinion) fail with her last book Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling has bounced right back with The Running Grave, which, in my opinion, is the best of her Cormoran Strike books to date. This time Strike and Robin are asked to investigate a cult by the father of someone who vanished into it and so Robin joins the 'church', the UHC, and becomes an apparently dedicated cult member. The book has its faults, number one being that it really is far too long, JK is in love with words and it shows at times as does the sheer amount of research shes done but the sum of the parts really outweigh the lesser bits, making it a truly exciting read. I know a small amount about cults, when I was in my 20s there was a spate of 'self-improvement' seminars which were not unlike the UHC in the book though more openly about making money and nothing like so sinister. Rake in those who are feeling there's something missing from their life, make them feel they are being carefully selected and lucky to be allowed to join (they took anyone with a chequebook), exercise control by restricting access to the loo, to food, sleep and so on.  There would even be a very pared version of the Revelation new recruits to the UHC have to go through which was not a pleasant experience. JK got the cult mentality absolutely on and it was spine chilling. There were a few places in the book that got so tense that I could feel my heart racing.

All in all an excellent read.

[France]

Rose Tremaine is one of those writers I'll read automatically without bothering to know what it's about, she doesn't always succeed but when she does it's sublime (The Gustave Sonata for instance). Absolutely and Forever is about first love, Marianne is 15 and the 60's are about to happen when she falls in love with Simon - she tells her mother who replies

'Nobody falls in love at your age, Marianne. What they get are "crushes" on people. You've just manufactured a little crush on Simon.'

 

It's a very short novel, almost a novella about Marianne's passion for Simon, disillusionment and finally growing up. As ever Tremaine's writing is fabulous, it might be about love but it's not in the least sentimental and it's very readable. There is one major drawback though, horses have a major role in the story, riding was one if the few times Marianne was content as a teenager but Rose Tremain doesn't appear to know much about them. There are a couple of 'this just wouldn't happen' incidents - for instance Marianne's friend Pet rides a stallion at the local riding school where they go for lessons from school. Apart from that it was excellent.

[France]

I really like detective fiction set in India particularly Abhir Mukherjee, which takes place in the 1920's, and have repeatedly come across comments about Vaseem Khan's Malabar House  series being as good, if not better. No, it isn't if Midnight at Malabar House is anything to go by.

 

It starts in Bombay at New Year 1950, three years after the horror of Partition and Persis Walida, India's first female detective and a member of the team at Malabar House where the city's unwanted and most useless officers get dumped gets a call to investigate the murder of an important Englishman. The idea is quite good, the plot isn't bad but the writing is pedestrian to say the least, things keep being repeated as if the reader can't be trusted to assimilate simple facts (could be true with this one who was constantly wondering if she could be bothered to go on) but worst was Persis who was both unlikely and unlikable. Vaseem Khan is not one of those men who can write women it seems, his idea of a driven woman is to have her chippy and rude, she graduated at the top of her class in the police academy yet seems to be a bit vague about some of the basics of detecting. In general I felt it lacked a sense of period or what it would actually have been like for them if there had been women detectives in India in the 1950's - no sense of the gossip there would have been each time she went out on a case with a male officer for instance.

 

Three's much better out there, try Abir Mukherjee or Sujata Massey for a more believable female pioneer.

 

[France]

Thankfully two really good reads for my next book group meetings (the last two were pretty dire).

 

My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite is more of a novella than a novel. Set in Lagos and narrated by Korode, a plain elder sister who is constantly being called on to help her younger, beautiful sister Ayoosha out of the messes she has got herself into, Ayoosha seems to be particularly prone to sticking knives into men she goes out with in "self-defence".  With a subject like that it's going to be quite black, it's been described as blackly comic but apart from the odd line there isn't really anything very funny about it imo but it's certainly very readable.

 

The Bookseller of Inverness by S J Maclean is set 6 years after the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 and is a splendid romp through a historical period I really didn't know much about. S J Maclean is excellent at making the reader feel immersed in the period without slipping into info dump and this is an excellent fast paced read.

[France]

I've had a run of really good reads which makes a nice change!

 

The Secret Hours by Mick Herron. This was listed by a couple of book bloggers whom I generally trust as one of their books of 2023 so despite thinking I didn't like Mick Herron I gave it a try.  It's a spy caper going between 1990's Berlin and a modern day committee set up to examine just how much the secret service oversteps the mark. I loved it, it's not faultless, but it's funny, zips along, keeps you guessing though any fans of Boris had better not read it or they'll get an apoplexy - I should think Mick Herron''s publishers libel lawyers went over the manuscript with a fine comb. I'll definitely be reading more of his books.

[France]

Cover the Bones by Chris Hammer  is top notch Australian noir. In a small town oasis in the outback a body is found in an irrigation channel. The dead man is a junior member of one of the seven families that have dominated the town since its inception and gradually is becomes apparent that there are secrets that go back a long time. There's an excellent twist that I really didn't see coming. Don't read Chris Hammer's notes to the background to the story until after you've finished because it points to at least one of the murders.

 

Highly recommended and it's 99p on both Kindle and Kobo this month so snatch it up!

 

 

[Madeleine]

There was a recent TV adaptation of another of his books, Scrublands, which was pretty good.

[France]

Yes, it wasn't bad but the book was much better, imo!

[Madeleine]

I've got the next book to read, Silver, have you read that?

[France]

Yes, I've all of his (my youngest daughter and I hustle each other as to who gets ton read them first!)  It's good but not up to Scrublands.

[France]

The Red Notebook by Antione Laurian is very short - as French novels often are, and absolutely enchanting. A woman gets mugged and her bag stolen, next day a bookseller finds a beautiful handbag sitting on a bin with nothing to say whom it might belong to apart from a set a keys and red notebook with daily thoughts scribbled in it. This could have become sickly sweet but doesn't, partly because it is so brief and also because neither Laurent the bookseller or Laure the muggee are needy souls looking for love, they are both content in their own lives. There is one part where Laurent begins to verge on being stalkerish which is creepy but he seems to feel uneasy about that too. All in all, this is a great read if you just want something to lift your spirits.

[France]

Fairy Tale by Stephen King is a terrific retelling of the old fairy story trope about the young man/prince from far away who saves the kingdom and saves the princess except that in this case our hero is doing it for his dog. Add some distinctly dark elements (this is Stephen King) and you've got a great story. My main caveat is that it's too long in places which made some scenes drag. Stephen King wrote one of the very best books on the craft of writing, one of the things he emphasises is to cut out all extraneous material, advice that he frequently doesn't follow himself. There's far too much back story, some of it repeated - the reader doesn't need to be told once that the school friend who introduced Charlie, the hero, to the books of H P Lovecraft was called Jenny or that she moved to Des Moines at the end of the school year, let alone twice.

 

That said the whole book is so good that the occasional lacunae can easily be overlooked.

[muggle not]

On 2/29/2024 at 12:03 PM, France said:

Fairy Tale by Stephen King is a terrific retelling of the old fairy story trope about the young man/prince from far away who saves the kingdom and saves the princess except that in this case our hero is doing it for his dog. Add some distinctly dark elements (this is Stephen King) and you've got a great story. My main caveat is that it's too long in places which made some scenes drag. Stephen King wrote one of the very best books on the craft of writing, one of the things he emphasises is to cut out all extraneous material, advice that he frequently doesn't follow himself. There's far too much back story, some of it repeated - the reader doesn't need to be told once that the school friend who introduced Charlie, the hero, to the books of H P Lovecraft was called Jenny or that she moved to Des Moines at the end of the school year, let alone twice.

 

That said the whole book is so good that the occasional lacunae can easily be overlooked.

Glas that you liked Fairy Tale. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and thought that Stphen King probably enjoyed writing the book.

[France]

13 hours ago, muggle not said:

Glas that you liked Fairy Tale. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and thought that Stphen King probably enjoyed writing the book.

Yes, I think he did and he obviously really likes dogs!

[Hayley]

On 3/2/2024 at 10:53 AM, France said:

Yes, I think he did and he obviously really likes dogs!

This makes me even more excited to read it 😄

[muggle not]

France - I see that you have read Iron Lake. I have read all of the books by William Kent Krueger and continually keep on the lookout for his next release. Some books though are better than others. I hope you enjoyed Iron Lake. I recommend though that his books be read in sequence.

[France]

19 hours ago, muggle not said:

France - I see that you have read Iron Lake. I have read all of the books by William Kent Krueger and continually keep on the lookout for his next release. Some books though are better than others. I hope you enjoyed Iron Lake. I recommend though that his books be read in sequence.

Thanks, we've got the first 4 in the series which my husband read many years ago and I thought I had, but I have absolutely no memory of them which is strange because if I have read a book before I almost always find that the plot starts becoming familiar. So I got to read Iron Lake fresh which was a pleasure!

[France]

A very quick catch up:

Just like the curate's egg part of  The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne are very good, others bits not so much. 80 year old Georgy, a Russian exile, looks back to when he was pitchforked out of his peasant upbringing into the middle of the Tsar's family in the years just before the Revolution. The early bits were wonderful then the plot line gradually got sillier and sillier. The last scene in Russia was just ridiculous. John Boyne has written some grat books but this isn't one of them, imo.

 

Everyone Here is Lying - Shari Lapena A decent thriller with one or two seriously unbelievable plot twists but that isn't unusual with this sort of book!

 

Destroying Angel - S J Maclean Excellent historical fiction set in Cromwellian times, the 3rd in her series about Damien Seeker.

 

Recipe for a Perfect Wife - Karma Brown A Kobo cheapie which turned out to be much better than I thought it would be, not profound but easy reading and enjoyable.

 

 Fatal Legacy - Lindsay Davies  I think I've come to the end of reading about Flavia Albia, I love the Falco books, both in print and on audio but this series about his adopted daughter, also a private investigator in Ancient Rome, lacks the humour and lightness of touch that Falco has.

[muggle not]

When are you going to read "Fourth Wing"?

[France]

13 hours ago, muggle not said:

When are you going to read "Fourth Wing"?

I'm trying to be restrained about buying books! It comes out in paperback here next week.

 

[Madeleine]

20 hours ago, France said:

A very quick catch up:

Just like the curate's egg part of  The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne are very good, others bits not so much. 80 year old Georgy, a Russian exile, looks back to when he was pitchforked out of his peasant upbringing into the middle of the Tsar's family in the years just before the Revolution. The early bits were wonderful then the plot line gradually got sillier and sillier. The last scene in Russia was just ridiculous. John Boyne has written some grat books but this isn't one of them, imo.

 

Everyone Here is Lying - Shari Lapena A decent thriller with one or two seriously unbelievable plot twists but that isn't unusual with this sort of book!

 

Destroying Angel - S J Maclean Excellent historical fiction set in Cromwellian times, the 3rd in her series about Damien Seeker.

 

Recipe for a Perfect Wife - Karma Brown A Kobo cheapie which turned out to be much better than I thought it would be, not profound but easy reading and enjoyable.

 

 Fatal Legacy - Lindsay Davies  I think I've come to the end of reading about Flavia Albia, I love the Falco books, both in print and on audio but this series about his adopted daughter, also a private investigator in Ancient Rome, lacks the humour and lightness of touch that Falco has.

I must get round to reading "Destroying Angel", I also have "The Bookseller of Inverness" ready to read.

 

I read the first of the Flavia Alba series and enjoyed it, but haven't got round to reading any of the others yet. I have read some of the Falco books and agree they are more involving, still have lots to read!

[France]

15 hours ago, muggle not said:

When are you going to read "Fourth Wing"?

Just given in and pre-ordered it!

[France]

Oh goodness, how often do you read three books you can't put down in succession?

 

The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith is a prime example that certain books are definitely better suited to paper.  I had it on my Kobo and gave up  on it twice, long before I got to the infamous pages of tweets. Then on urging from another online book group I got a real book and was hooked, the tweets are easy to read on a proper page and do add a lot. Yes, it's too long and should have been edited but it's still very good indeed.

 

A Stranger in the Family by Jane Casey is the 11th in her Maeve Kerrigan series and the standard is keeping up. You need to start at the beginning for these books as the characters develop and change.

 

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros For once the sort of facile comparisons to other books on the jacket are pretty close to the bone - this is The Hunger Games with dragons (and I loved the Hunger Games). It really is unputtdownable, I got up at 6 which is very unlike me just so I could fit in some intensive reading. The pace doesn't let up and there is a totally unexpected ending.

[France]

Another good run;

The Fake Wife by Sharon Bolton , this is a real page turner, not quite her best but still very good.

 

 Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo is the follow up to Ninth House and suffers a bit by comparison, that was so good and so different that it was always going to be a hard act to follow. This one wanders a bit in the first half but the last quarter is epic stuff. Definitely worth reading.

 

I tried Nicci French a couple of times and always found her a bit lacking,her plot lines had 'that really couldn't happen' elements - a girl disappearing, presumed murdered, last seen at a party of her parents. Turned out her best friend who was at the party had the same coloured hair so everyone presumed she was the daughter... Anyway Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter had such rave reviews that I bought it as an ebook special. It's certainly very readable, I finished it in 24 hours - being stuck in a car that had slid into a ditch for over two hours got me off to a good start, but afterwards I got that unsatisfied feeling you get from too many sweets. A really good mystery leaves you savouring things, this didn't.