Book Reviews

The Girl On The 88 Bus – Freya Sampson

★★★★★

The Maid

★★★★★

Winchelsea

★★★★★

Saha

★★★★★

When I was Ten by Fiona Cummins

★★★★★

Coming soon to a nightmare near you…When I Was Ten by Fiona Cummins

Dramatically opens in 1997, a 12 year old girl runs for her life, away from the carnage she has just had to witness when she is struck by lightening….nearby her two friends Shannon aged 12 and Sara aged 10 are covered in blood, their parents lie dead brutality slaughtered….but which one of these children is a murderer…

The book moves back and to between life now for these 3 girls, and life then, the build up that night. The dark way it’s written builds the atmosphere. Deliciously horrific, disturbing, distressing enough that sometimes it’s hard to read what happened to these little girls….

This book makes your spine turn to ice, suddenly it twists and nothing makes sense anymore.

It’s full of beautiful phrases “she did not need to hear her father speak to know that Dr Carter was home. The house trembled with it..his presence altered the fabric of the atmosphere, curdled it…”

A thrilling read

The Sanatorium

★★★★★

Gripping thriller.  The sanatorium was an old TB hospital situated in the Swiss Alps, Daniel was the architect tasked with transforming this old and ruined place into a luxury hotel. As he wonders around, taking stock, remnants of its past life litter its corridors. It feels strange, eerie, almost dying. He has a vision of how his beautiful hotel will rise up from the buildings current state of decay. He leaves, heading for his car. He thinks of his family, his partner Lucus, the future. He spots a bracelet on the floor he picks it up then he see s it, a phantom figure, its between him and his car. The spectre is wearing a mask, he can’t escape it. He is not heard from again. Years later, the old hospital is now a beautiful modern hotel but is the past laid to rest, or is there still at large, the creeping horror.

The Women of Troy

★★★★★

This is the sequel to the excellent The Silence of the Girls. The second book continues the story of Queen Briseis who had been held a captive slave by the Greeks since the sacking of her own city and the murder of her husband.

Briseis status has changed since the death of Achilles, to whom she had been given as a prize. Before his death Achilles had secured the promise of his friend and comrade  Alcimus that he would wed Briseis.

Now in a more privileged position though still a mere woman and of little consequence, she sets out to help the women of the camp who, like herself had become slaves to the Greek army camped outside the besieged city of Troy. This story is about the women, it is savage and brutal in parts, but is also about friendship, bravery and sisterhood as the women try to overcome what has happened to them, their families and their cities and try to carve out a new existence for themselves. Book 3 coming soon.

Highly recommend you read The Silence of The Girls

Falling

★★★★★

Gripping, addictive, stunningly exciting book. Airline pilot Bill Hoffman, while flying his plane load of passengers from Los Angeles has his world suddenly turned upside-down by a call he could never have imagined, filling him with such unbelievable horror and dread. The chilling caller, calm, in control “’if you tell anyone’ he continued, ‘your family dies. If you send anyone to the house, your family dies.’ Switching the detonator to his other hand, he reiterated ‘it’s simple. Crash your plane or I will kill your family. The choice is yours.’” Who can he trust, who can he turn to, must he face this alone…what would you do? A book so thrilling it will turn your blood to ice.

 

Empire of the vampire

★★★★★

This beautifully written and illustrated fantasy epic tale tells the story of Gabriel de Leon. De Leon, captured and imprisoned by the vampires he has been hunting all his life as a priest of the Silver Order is forced to tell of his own history and that of the order he had given his life to. Its a sweeping tale of battles between good and evil, comradeship and the hunt for The Holy Grail, the last hope in the fight against the monsters of the night. This book has a wide girth but worth every one of its 719 pages, no words are wasted, its witty, exciting, thrilling and the texture of silk and velvet.

Saving Missy by Beth Morrey

★★★★★

Meet prickly widow Missy, who doesn’t realise quite how lonely she is.  But new friendships can be forged through the most unusual circumstances – and in Missy’s case, it all starts with a dog. It is never too late to start afresh.

I loved this book and would recommend it to any age group. An ideal book club read.