Alex the Book Reviewer

  I normally enjoy books by Michael Connelly but this one is bollocks. 1/2 dimensional melodramatic characters for whom it is utterly impossible to find the slightest jot of sympathy or empathy and a ridiculous plot that feels like he heard the concept of void moon and decided to shoehorn a (really very stupid) plot round it. Main female charachet (I can't even remember her name or be bothered to look it up) is ex-trickster who is now out of prison. She worked with her boyfriend. Their love for each other was, of course, the most anyone has ever loved anyone before ever). But he died in their last heist. She then had a baby, adopted out but she's stalking her and they're moving to Paris. So, of course, the ennui of a normal life is setting in and therefore she must do one last heist so she can continue her stalking a la francaise. But of course it all goes wrong and blood and mayhem follows. I mean, normally I'd love this plot but somehow none of this added up to anythi...

The story of the Earnshaw/Holiday family.  The story follows the three generations of the Earnshaw family.  Jean, grandmother/mother. Extremely snobby, very prim. estranged from daughter ... Connie, daughter/mother. Connie dies right at the beginning of the book but the story of her growing up is told in flashbacks. Pushing against her boring mother, trying to escape until she finally runs away after finding out that she is pregnant with... Sadie, daughter/granddaughter. Adored by her mother, Connie, forced to go and live with her grandparents when she dies. Determined to find out who her father is. There's a lot of emotion in this book but, strangely, very little of it is grief. It's sort of there, underlying, but this isn't a book about dealing with death. It's about dealing with relationships and expectations and disappointment. A lot of disappointment. But then coming to terms with difficult truths and realities and regrets.  But it's funny. I mean, not laugh a ...

  This is one of those stories of self discovery and unlikely friendship. Which sounds a bit cliched, doesn't it? But it isn't. Miss Benson walks out of her teaching job which is making her miserable and decides to go and discover a mythical golden beetle in Australia. She needs a companion/helper for the trip and, due to lack of choice, ends up hiring Enid who is wholeheartedly unsuitable. Both are escaping something and being pursued. With Miss Benson, we know it's her miserable life and some accidentally stolen shoes but Enid's history is more of a mystery. And they are also being stalked by a rejected companion who has got serious post war PTSD. Neither of them are suited to each other or to any kind of travel, never mind a tough expedition. In fact, I couldn't really stand either of them for at least the first half of the book. But, as this is your classic journey of discovery, they find hidden depths within themselves and each other and grow and "find the...

  I find this sort of book, dramatisation of real life events, very distracting. I can't help but wondering the whole way through what is true and what isn't. In this case..... well.. very little is true. To be honest, I found this book a bit disappointing. I don't really see the point of it. Its only selling point is that it's about Jane Austen and keeping her legacy untarnished. But seriously, there's literally nothing in there that would have tarnished her even in those days! And it's all made up anyway! So... the Austen's were very close friends with the Fowles. Cassandra, the protaganist of the book, was due to marry one of the sons and one of the Austen brothers married one of the Fowle daughters. Cassandra's fiance died before they could marry but Jane and Cassie remain very close with Eliza, the wife of the oldest Fowle brother and stay in regular correspondence with her. When the oldest Fowle brother, who is the local vicar and head of the house...

    Fresh from Strictly eviction, Tom Fletcher is yet another celeb turned children's author. But he's generally very good at it so I don't mind. The Christmasaurus series is fab. However, I do wonder how non-celeb children's authors who had to really slog their way through to publication feel about the celebrity-take-over of children's fiction. I imagine I'd be quite cross. Anyway, the story in the Danger Gang is fun but there are plot holes so big that Thelma and Louise could evade the police in them. But, look, it's a kids book so lets pretend it's all perfectly fine. All the kids in a class get affected by a weird storm and start getting super powers (? I'm not sure "powers" is the correct word, I mean one just keeps turning into a baby which isn't massively 'super'). One turns into a shark when he comes into contact with water. And one keeps turning into a massive hamster ... or was it guinea pig... I forget. Anyway it...

  This was surprisingly enjoyable. I'm not 100% sure why I downloaded it (it was an audio book). It's possible I did it by accident. But then again it did say something about remains of a girl being found in three parts and posted to the detective, which is always enticing and going to get me intrigued. So.... a girl is killed in a way that is reminiscent of a magic trick that just so happens to be the finale of the act of The Magic Mephisto, a famous magician who is currently in town. The magician also just so happens to be an old friend of the detective to whom the body parts are sent. They are old war buddies. But this, of course, is not a coincidence. It's all connected. It's full of misdirection and intrigue and flashbacks and blood and gore and mystery. The trouble is the misdirection is so obvious it's a bit like the magician going "don't look at my hand! whatever you do don't look at me stuffing this card up my sleeve!" It's so complete...

   "No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No." Me at the end of this book.  It is completely impossible to review this book without revealing the ending so read no further if you have not read it! The story is about a woman who believes her daughter to have been the product of a virgin conception. She, Gretchen Tilbury, contacts a local newspaper who sends a reporter, Jean, to investigate.  I found one tiny premise of the story a little bit odd in that Jean is immediately the main friend of the Tilbury family, she's immediately the sort of surrogate godmother to the daughter, Margaret, and go to confidant for them all. I mean, in a way this is explained away by alluding to none of them really having any friends but it felt a bit, I don't know, not forced exactly but a bit contrived maybe. I could understand her falling in love with the husband and more of a connection forming there... but with Gretchen and Margaret. I know it says that Gretchen doesn't really ha...