Thank heavens for Bank Holidays and short working weeks, huh? I’ve managed to fit a lot into the four days I was actually in work, including a pre-work walk on the one day I worked from home, so that was nice.
The drawback of being really busy is that I find myself to be very tired and distracted in an evening and longing for my bed by around 8pm. Isn’t old(ish) age grand? The knock on impact of that is that I’m either dozing off on the sofa or dozing off on the bed so reading takes a very distant second place Monday to Friday. If it wasn’t for weekends, I think the blog would soon go off the rails as I know Mandie is finding the same issues too. And, despite the fact that I have always been a bit of an e-book junkie, I’m actually finding it easier to read book books these days, doing in a matter of hours what it takes me days to do with an e-book i.e. finish it. Does anyone else have that issue? I think it’s because is so data and detail heavy at the moment that continuing to stay focused on a screen after hours is very hard going. Paper seems somehow different and less workish, I suppose as our office really did use the pandemic to tighten our processes and now probably 99% of what we do is done in soft copy only. One of the few good things to come from the pandemic I guess?
Book wise I was having a very quiet week until right at the end. 2 bits of bookpost – 1 expected, 1 sort of expected but also not, and a lovely package of my Bert’s Books Orenda Subscription. I also treated myself to a few extra paperbacks as well. Book post first. Very excited to receive an advance copy of the 10th DCI Daley novel by Denzil Meyrick from the lovely folk at Polygon, The Death of Remembrance, which is being released on 2nd June to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the series and, after the shocking ending to the preceding book, For Any OTher Truth , I cannot wait to get stuck in. My second bit of book [post was a super shiny, absolutely gorgeous proof of Gillian McAllister’s Wrong Place Wrong Time from Michael Joseph. It’s almost as special as what is inside it. If you love the author’s work you really need to read the book as it’s my favourite of her novels to date.
Book buy wise, my Orenda Box contained The Shot by Sarah Sultoon and Quicksand of Memory by Michael J Malone. I am thrilled and honoured to be quoted on the cover of both books. I also bought the paperback copy of The Rabbit Factor by Antti Tuomainen so I have a complete set of all versions available (Waterstones Exclusive, Indie Bookshop and paperback) in readiness to be added to with The Moose Paradox later this year
Two additional books bought over the weekend – How To Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie and The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex. I’m hoping the first one is a non-fiction instruction manual … 🤔🤨😉 Just kidding (sort of). I’ve seen great reviews for both books and I’ve kept looking at them for a while so thought what the heck. And they were nice and shiny foiled or spredged and I’m a sucker for a pretty cover. Yes. I confess. I’m a cover tart.
No new Netgalley and no other books received or purchased (that I can remember – it’s been a long week). But I’m happy with my lot this week. Hard not to be.
Books I have read
ONCE, SHE SAVED HIS LIFE…
NOW, HE’LL TAKE HERS.
When a baby is snatched from its pram and cast into the river Thames, off-duty police officer Lacey Flint is there to prevent disaster. But who would want to hurt a child?
DCI Mark Joesbury has been expecting this. Monitoring a complex network of dark web sites, Joesbury and his team have spotted a new terrorist threat from the extremist, women-hating, group known as ‘incels’ or ‘involuntary celibates.’ Joesbury’s team are trying to infiltrate the ring of power at its core, but the dark web is built for anonymity, and the incel army is vast.
Pressure builds when the team learn the snatched child was just the first in a series of violent attacks designed to terrorise women. Worse, the leaders of the movement seem to have singled out Lacey as the embodiment of everything they hate, placing her in terrible danger…
The Wedding Night by Harriet Walker
What do you do when the wedding of your dreams turns into a nightmare?
When Lizzie calls off her wedding in the south of France only a week before the big day, not even her closest friends know why. But since the chateau is already paid for, they figure it’s the perfect place to take Lizzie’s her mind off her suddenly single state.
But when the group arrives, the wedding is waiting for them – food, flowers, and all.
The next day, Lizzie wakes to find her friends have drunkenly revelled in the wedding-that-wasn’t – but not all their antics were benign. Someone is set on tormenting Lizzie, and she can’t think who.
The more the friends try to piece together exactly what happened that night, the more secrets start to come out . . .
The Fallout by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
A murdered woman. A missing child. And a father intent on revenge.
On a cold day in Reykjavik, a baby goes missing from her pram. When the child’s blanket washes up on the beach, and the mother is found dead, everyone’s worst fears seem to have been realised.
Eleven years later, and detective Huldar and child psychologist Freyja are now working in the same police building, on the same team. Freyja believes that personal and professional relationships must remain separate, however hard that may be. But when a woman’s dismembered body is found in a deserted car, her head missing, and Freyja and Huldar find themselves working on the same case, the secrecy around their affair threatens to crack. And when Freyja is accused of a serious breach of police protocol, will Huldar be able to help her? Meanwhile, their search to identify the body takes the case back into secrets of the past, and the unspoken crimes that bind three separate families.
The Silence is the gripping and terrifying new novel from the acclaimed author of international bestsellers The Doll and Gallows Rock.
Three books but I’m okay with that. It keeps me on schedule and as most of my reading has been completed over the weekend, it’s not too shabby a result to be honest. A full Monday to Friday of reviews on the blog – recap below:
#Review – Six Days – Dani Atkins
#Review – The Fall – Rachael Blok
#Review – The Shot – Sarah Sultoon
#Review – The Shot – Sarah Sultoon
#Review – First Born – Will Dean
#Review – The Bone Keeper – Luca Veste
No blog tours in the week ahead, just a mixture of reviews of new and upcoming titles and some slightly older books being given a bit of post book festival book love. And that’s really my week in a nutshell. Bookish, workish and very satisfying.
Hope you all have a lovely week. See you next time.
Jen x
Jen Med's Book Reviews 