Rewind, Recap: Weekly Update W/E 06/02/22

Another week gone, fast approaching the middle of February. Good news is that means we’re finally creeping closer to Pancake Day (1st March this year – boo hiss). Also means I’m closer to having some time off work. Happy times. Somehow, and I don’t know how, I am keeping up my reading pace, more or less. Diet not so successful but hey – can’t win them all. I found Marshmallow flavour Maltesers and Sour Haribo Goldbears this week. What’s a girl to do? Went for a quick walk around town at the weekend but otherwise largely hibernated, read and watched Reacher on Prime (very highly recommended) as I don’t want the plague derailing my plans for the month.

So, just the one piece of book post this week but very nice it was too. The Fields by Erin Young courtesy of Hodder & Stoughton. Looking forward to reading that ahead of its release on 28th April.

Five new Netgalley titles this week. Vanished by Lynda La Plante which is the new Jack Warr novel; Bad For Good by Graham Bartlett (so excited to read this); The Death of Me by Michelle Davies; See No Evil by David Fennell and A Spoonful of Murder by Jm Hall. (audiobook).

A few new books ordered this week too: Death in the Sunshine by Steph Broadribb; Family Money by Chad Zunker; The Killing Kind by Jane Casey; The Furies by John Connolly. Also decided to treat myself to a preorder of the hardback All That Lives by James Oswald.

Books I have read

Crossing the Line: Lessons from a Life on Duty by. John Sutherland

There is much more to policing than tackling crime. Every one of us will need the help of an officer at some point in our lives, often when we’re at our most vulnerable. Yet how much do we really know about the realities of policing? Using real life stories from his twenty-five years of service with the Metropolitan Police, John Sutherland invites us beyond the cordon tape to bear witness to all he has seen. In doing so, he offers a hopeful vision for how we can tackle some of the biggest challenges facing society today.

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The Unwilling by John Hart

NOT EVERYONE DESERVES A SECOND CHANCE . . .

After a tour of Vietnam and a three-year stint in prison, Jason is back in town and wants to rebuild his relationship with Gibby, the younger brother he hasn’t seen for years. Determined to make that connection, he coaxes Gibby into a day at the lake: long hours of sunshine and whisky and older women.

But when the four of them encounter a prison transfer bus on a stretch of empty road, one of the women taunts the prisoners, causing a riot on the bus.

Soon after, Tyra is savagely murdered.

Given his violent history, suspicion turns first to Jason. Determined to prove his older brother’s innocence, Gibby must avoid the police and dive deep into his brother’s hidden life, a journey that takes him into the darkest corners of the community.

What he discovers is a truth more disturbing than he could have imagined: not just the identity of the killer and the reasons for Tyra’s murder, but the forces that shaped his brother in Vietnam, the reason he was framed – and why the most dangerous man alive wants him back in prison.

Set in the American South, The Unwilling combines crime, suspense and searing glimpses into the human mind and soul in New York Times bestselling author John Hart’s singular style.

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The Death of Me by Michelle Davies

When Isaac Naylor committed suicide after a teenage fan was found dead in his hotel room, the world thought it had lost one of the greatest rock stars of a generation. Naylor, lead singer of The Ospreys, had been arrested for causing the girl’s death and was on police bail when he drowned himself in the sea off the Devon coast, leaving two notes addressed to his bandmates and his younger brother, Toby, discarded on the beach.

Now, eight years on, music journalist Natalie Glass stumbles across a blind item on a US gossip website that suggests Naylor’s death wasn’t quite what it seemed – and he might in fact still be alive. The item claims he is the mystery songwriter who has for the past year been submitting lyrics to producers in London via his lawyer for other artists to record. He insists on anonymity and the only person who knows his identity is the lawyer.

But as she delves deeper into what happened, the plot to stop her intensifies and Natalie finds she has a stark choice: give up trying to find out what happened to Naylor or risk her own obituary ending up in print.

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The Killing Kind by Jane Casey

Ingrid will never forget what John did.
The people he hurt. The way he lied about it so easily. The way she defended him.

Now he’s back.
He says a murderer is after her. He says only he can protect her.

Would you trust him?
The clock is ticking for Ingrid to decide. Because the killer is ready to strike…

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So that’s four more books completed. Not too shabby really. Brings my tally for the year to 20 as I managed a fantastic 17 books in January.

Death In Disguise by Emma Davies
The Long Weekend by Gilly Macmillan
You Never Said Goodbye by Luca Veste
A Lethal Deception by Rachel Amphlett
The First Day of Spring by Nancy Tucker
Nasty Little Cuts by Tina Baker
One For Sorrow by Helen Fields
The Smell of Copper by Mark L Fowler
The Clockwork Girl by Anna Mazzola
Twelve Secrets by Robert Gold
River Clyde by Simone Buchholz
Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton & James Patterson
The Final Round by Bernard O’Keeffe
Never Seen Again by Paul Finch
The Shot by Sarah Sultoon
Crossing the Line by John Sutherland

A full week on the blog again (well – Monday to Friday anyway). Recap below:

#Review – The Winter Guest – W.C. Ryan
#Review – The Hunting Ground – Will Shindler
#Review – The Smell Of Copper – Mark L Fowler
#Review – One Bad Thing – M.K. Hill
#Review – The Long Weekend – Gilly Macmillan

The week ahead is full including three blog tours: Mandie shares her thoughts on The House of Ashes by Stuart Neville, on Tuesday, then I’ll be reviewing Off Target by Eve Smith on Wednesday and Death In Disguise by Emma Davies on Friday.

That’s my week in a nutshell. I’m off to catch up on some long overdue exercise and some much anticipated reading. I am loving 2022 so far. So full of wonderful tomes, I’m excited to see what comes next.

Have a lovely bookish week all.

Jen