Wish You Were Here - Tense Right to the End

Wish You Were Here, by Graham Swift, is set in 2006 and opens with Jack Luxton, a former Devon farmer and now owner of a seaside caravan park, receiving the news that his younger brother Tom, has been killed in Iraq. Jack hasn't seen or heard from his brother for many years and his reaction to the news opens up a gateway to the past that Jack had thought he'd left behind. Jack must go to the mainland to receive his brother's remains and arrange his funeral back in the village they were brought up in. This opens up painful memories of their youth, their dairy farm (which went through the terrible times of Mad Cow Disease and Foot and Mouth), their father and their dog - all the things Jack has fought hard to repress. Jack, with the help of his wife Ellie (who Jack has known from childhood as she grew up on the neighbouring farm), have turned their backs on all the grief of their former lives - but it all comes barrelling back with the news of Tom's death and threatens to overwhelm the life they have made on the Isle of Wight. This is a story that is hard to get a grip on to begin with as it flits between the past and present. But slowly and surely, the threads start to pull together and the tension really starts to build towards the climax and it becomes something of a page-turner! Grimness and a sense of doom pervades and there aren't many bright spots to alleviate things, which can be hard to take, but I'm glad I persisted. The characters are not always sympathetic, and it's hard to like them on occasion. However, life is messy and complicated and we don't always act in our own best interests either, so maybe I shouldn't be so hard on them. It is worth the effort to keep going with this book as the tension ramps up hugely towards the end and I really didn't know what was going to happen. If you don't mind trauma and perhaps feeling little drained by the time you put this book down, then this could be for you. 

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 368 print pages.

Price I paid: Free, borrowed from my husband.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

The Best of Everything - Tender and Heartwarming

The Best of Everything, by Kit De Waal, is the story of Paulette, an auxiliary nurse who is sure she's about to get everything she wanted - getting married to the handsome and charming Denton and then starting a family. But the rug is firmly pulled from under her when his no-good friend Garfield comes to her door one day to tell her that, not only has Denton has been killed in a car crash, but she must stay away from the hospital, and the funeral, because Denton's wife and children will be there. Paulette is devastated and her life begins to drift, resulting in her falling into a relationship with Garfield and having a child, which they call Bird. Paulette is besotted with her son, but soon tires of Garfield, despite him being a great Dad. They split up, but Garfield is still very much in Bird's life. Paulette cannot shake her feelings for Denton and becomes obsessed with the man who killed him while driving drunk. She runs into him and finds that he (Frank) is struggling to look after himself and his grandson, Cornelius. Despite her hatred of Frank, Paulette is drawn to Cornelius - known as Nellie - and begins to help him. Bird and Nellie become a little double act for a while but as they get older things change. Bird begins to drift away from her and goes to live with Garfield. Nellie becomes unmanageable and Paulette turns more and more to drink. However, do not fear, redemption is around the corner! This book is full of great characters, with Paulette being someone you want to spend more time with, despite her faults. She is big hearted and cannot help but spread love - particularly through her Caribbean recipes. Funny at times, but also a hard to read at others, this is a book full of tenderness and family - in all of its many forms. Maybe not quite up to the immense heights of My Name is Leon, this is still a book that is worth your time.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 320 print pages.

Price I paid: £4.00.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

Strange Fits of Passion - A Tough Read At Times.

Strange Fits of Passion, by Anita Shreve, centres on Maureen English, a young and successful journalist who marries Harrold, a fellow reporter, after a whirlwind, drink-fuelled romance. She quickly gives birth to a daughter and life looks perfect from the outside, but from the start, her husband cannot control his drinking and tends to violent outbursts. After one beating too many, Maureen flees with her baby to a small fishing town in Maine, some 500 miles away from her husband. She changes her name to Mary Amesbury and pretends that she has been in an accident to explain her facial bruises. She settles into a quiet life in an isolated cottage, but the locals cannot help but be curious. One married man makes a play for her, which she rejects, but she then falls for another married fisherman and they begin an affair. However, when Harrold discovers where she is, he arrives hell-bent on taking her home, but Maureen/Mary is terrified that he will kill her ... the consequences of which are deadly. This story is told via a journalist to Maureen/Mary's grown up daughter some 19 years later using documents from her mother, as well as interviews and court records, which is a strange device and one that I found contributed to a disjointed ending. When we are in the thick of the story, it is gripping and the characters are interesting and tragic. I wanted to shake a few of them for not thinking things through, but hey, they say the heart goes where the heart goes! We do get to see events from the different viewpoints of each character - with the exception of Harrold - which provides added interest, but, at the same time, leaves us not quite knowing the full truth ... who do we believe? It isn't always an easy read, as the violence, threat of violence or its results are ever present. This author always deals with tough topics and as this features domestic violence, this is no exception. I have admired other books by her in the past, but I found this one hard to read at times and was irritated by the poor choices of the main character. However, there are also some lovely descriptive passages that really bring to life the atmosphere and landscape of a remote fishing town. I kind of wished I liked it more, but I didn't quite believe the characters, or situation they found themselves in enough, which impeded my enjoyment.

My STAR rating: THREE.

Length: 332 print pages.

Price I paid: Free, from my mother's book collection.

Formats available: Print, audio cassette, ebook.

All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses An Eye - Extremely Satisfying!

All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses An Eye, by Christopher Brookmyre is an action-packed thriller with a mother's love at the centre. Jane Bell was a teenage punk who dreamt of a thrilling life, but became pregnant very young, got married and before she knows it, she's 46, a grandmother and bored, bored, bored. But when someone tries to snatch her grand daughter, she rediscovers the steel, inner strength and fearlessness that has laid dormant for decades. And why should someone snatch her grand daughter? Well, it's an attempt to force her son, Ross, out of hiding. It turns out that Ross is a researcher working for an arms manufacturer in Switzerland who has disappeared fearing that the secrets of his latest research will fall into the wrong hands. One of the groups trying to find him is a team of security experts, led by the fearsome and not exactly law-abiding, Bett, who have been hired by Ross's boss. Bett "recruits" Jane, in the hope that she may be of some assistance ... but little does he know that Jane will become the key to their success - and he learns that you should never underestimate a mother trying to protect her own! This is a fun ride, with great characters who inhabit every page with vim and vigour! Jane is particularly enjoyable - her development from frustrated housewife to cold-blooded killer is a joy to witness. At first, Bett is a tricksy character to get to know, but he is disarmed by Jane and we are allowed to see a little behind the mask. Yes, there is violence, but not a ridiculous amount. There is plenty of humour, a good number of twists and a generous dollop of jeopardy, all wrapped up in a very satisfying ending.  

My STAR rating: FIVE.

Length: 416 print pages.

Price I paid: £7.99

Formats available: print, unabridged audio, ebook.

The Night Ship - Heartbreaking!

The Night Ship, by Jess Kidd, encompasses two stories about two different children set more than 350 years apart. In 1628, following the death of her mother, a young Dutch girl called Mayken boards the Batavia and embarks on a long sea journey to reach her father. She is accompanied by her beloved nursemaid and loves the adventure of life on the open water. She wants to investigate every nook and cranny, as well as find out about all the different people who inhabit the ship - both above and below deck. But this is not seemly for a young well-to-do girl, so she goes in disguise as a lowly cabin boy and makes friends with various characters - not all of whom are friendly. Tension starts to build when she discovers that the ship holds dark secrets and things start to spiral when she first loses her nursemaid, and then the Batavia is shipwrecked off the coast of Australia. Meanwhile, in 1989, a boy called Gil who is mourning the death of his mother, ends up in the care of his irritable and reclusive grandfather. He struggles to adjust to his new life in a grim shack on a tiny fishing island off the coast of Australia, where the ghostly legend of the wreck of the Batavia permeates the atmosphere. There's always an undercurrent of trouble and bad feeling and this comes to the fore fairly quickly. Two lives, centuries apart, yet somehow, a strange bond exists between them. This story has many great characters, some of whom are deeply unsavoury, and indeed the two children are not without their faults, but they are written so well that you cannot help but root for both of them, even though you kind of know what the outcome is going to be for Mayken from pretty much the outset. Although brutal at times, we get to experience humanity in all its myriad of shades. One word of warning, this may not be a book to read if you are in the mood for something funny and uplifting! Although I personally didn't feel that all the characters were totally believable and that some passages were overly long, it is definitely a book that is worth the effort and indeed, is one I struggled to put down at times. 

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 400 print pages.

Price I paid: £7.99

Formats available: print, unabridged audio, ebook.

The October Man - A Rivers of London Novella Set In Germany

The October Man, by Ben Aaronovitch, is a Rivers of London novella (officially 6.2 in the series). Set in Germany, this follows investigator Tobias Winter (the equivalent of the Peter Grant character in the London-based books) as he investigates the mysterious death of a man whose body is covered in a fungal rot ... the same fungal rot that gives the local Trier wine its distinctive character. He is helped by an enthusiastic local police officer, Vanessa Sommer, but instead of handling this as quietly as possible and with the minimum of paperwork, it soon becomes apparent that they are dealing with a series of linked deaths - all middle-aged men. While we are set in the same magical world as the main series, and there are references to their counterparts in the UK, this is a standalone work. (There's even an added bonus for fans giving further hints as to what happened during the World War II Battle of Ettenborg which weighs heavy on Peter's boss, Nightingale.) Slowly but surely, Tobias and Vanessa realise that the victims have unwittingly reignited a conflict from a previous century. Can they solve the case before the rot spreads further and lay to rest one of the unsavoury outcomes of the city's secret magical history? I enjoyed the familiarity of this world, but with totally new characters, and seeing how they deal with the world of river gods and magic. As always, there is drama, humour and fantasy mixed in with the day-to-day work of the police. This is a well written and entertaining book which I found to be an easy read, especially the audio edition, which I used while recovering from eye surgery. It's definitely made me eager to dive back into the main series, though I've only got one left!

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 192 print pages.

Price I paid: £3.99

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

Wintersmith - wintry witchy fun

Wintersmith, by Terry Pratchett is part of the Discworld series (number 35 in the series), and is the third book to feature Tiffany Aching - a witch very much in training. When Tiffany accidentally dances with Winter himself, things start to become very strange, as Winter believes Tiffany is Summer, and falls in love with her. He is determined to win her at all costs, even to try and become a human in order to do so. But in doing so, Winter is wreaking havoc on the world and is in danger of creating an everlasting winter, with deadly consequences. With the help of members of the witch community (all of whom are a little quirky to say the least), plus her friends from the Wee Free Men (Rob Anybody, Daft Wullie and the rest), Tiffany must try not to succumb to Winter's overtures (like creating snowflakes in her image) if she is to save herself and the world. This is such a fun book, full of wild characters, some of whom will be familiar to anyone who has read the books in this amazing series. I laughed out loud several times at the daftness on show, particularly from the Wee Free Men. The story takes Tiffany and her friends on an adventure into what should be scary places (hello The Ferryman and indeed Death himself!), but in the company of these amazing characters, there isn't much to be scared of. If you like irreverence for pretty much anything serious, then this could be for you! Over the course of the book, Tiffany definitely matures into a witch who knows her business - and she seems to be the most normal of all the witches featured! I am such a fan of the Discworld series and it always brightens my day. I used the audio edition which was narrated by Indira Varma, Steven Cree, Peter Serafinowicz and Bill Nighy - excellent all round!

My STAR rating: FIVE.

Length: 400 print pages.

Price I paid: £4.50.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.