It’s rare these days for me to be so completely absorbed by a book that I only stop reading when I can’t keep my eyes open any longer.
This is 1970s Britain, an era I grew up in, the descriptions and atmosphere absolutely authentic. But the real grip was the subject matter. The storyline, expertly handled, was original and mesmerising, with twins Abi and Tim – spookily worldly-wise teens with a paranormal obsession – conjuring a fake ghost photograph to play a trick on gullible schoolmate, Janice Tupps.
The prank, however, rebounds shockingly, horrifically... This is both insightful and unnerving work. The author knows his stuff. Another rarity – Maclean writes for the reader, draws you right in. Loved it.
'A delight for both the expert and the uninitiated, this creepy tale is a carapace of cosy nostalgia wrapped round a solid thread of dread ... A page turner that keeps you in dreaded suspense of what you are about to be shown ... A claustrophobic and entertaining read that left me breathless ... Horror for the connoisseur.' ALICE LOWE
'Hallucinatory brilliance ... The Apparition Phase may be the perfect novel for our phantom present.' GUARDIAN ___________________________________ Tim and Abi have always been different from their peers. Precociously bright, they spend their evenings in…
I was in between two consecutive house moves and with all my cases packed around me, really needed something absorbing to distract from the stress. A tough call. Grisham did the job, though.
He’s a master storyteller, and this had a blinder of a hook right at the start. Ray Atlee is a law teacher in Virginia when he gets a call from his father, a judge, to return home. But he doesn’t get there in time – the judge has died already, and in suspicious circumstances. Ray subsequently picks up a trail of dangerous secrets, his father was not the man he thought he was.
I loved this because it’s fast paced, intriguing, and Grisham’s style is both intelligent and immersing. Also learned about Cesna planes and the deep American South!
_______________________________________ An edge-of-your-seat legal thriller from the undisputed master of the courtroom drama.
Ray Atlee teaches law at the University of Virginia. His ailing father, Judge Atlee, was once a loved - and feared - titan, towering over local law and politics in the ancestral Atlee home of Clanton, Mississippi. And now, entering his last days, he calls Ray home to discuss the family estate.
Newly single and far from happy, Ray reluctantly heads south to meet his father. He never does. The Judge dies too soon, but leaves behind a shocking secret which Ray believes only he knows; a…
Another British author! I was researching scold’s bridles for my last book, and came across this gem by Minette Walters. I’d read it years and years ago but re-read this year, once again completely captivated.
An old woman’s body is found two days after overdosing and slashing her wrists. But here’s weird – on her head is a grotesque scold’s bridle adorned with nettles and michaelmas daisies. It’s a tragic story of the human mindset, wrapped in a gripping, intelligently and skillfully woven mystery, written compassionately whilst also maintaining a degree of horrific fascination. Absolutely up my street.
The author has a keen eye for the dark and light aspects of human nature.
Winner of the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel of the Year, The Scold's Bridle is the mystery thriller from crime queen Minette Walters.
I wonder if I should keep these diaries under lock and key. Jenny Spede has disturbed them again . . . What does she make, I wonder, of an old woman, deformed by arthritis, stripping naked for a young man? The pills worry me more. Ten is such a round number to be missing . . .
Mathilda Gillespie's body was found nearly two days after she had taken an overdose and slashed her…
1970, and Baba Lenka begins in an icy Bavarian village with a highly unorthodox funeral. The deceased is Baba Lenka, great-grandmother to Eva Hart. But a terrible thing happens at the funeral, and from that moment on everything changes for seven-year-old Eva. The family fly back to Yorkshire but it seems the cold Alpine winds have followed them home...and the ghost of Baba Lenka has followed Eva. This is a story of demonic sorcery and occult practices during the World Wars, the horrors of which are drip-fed into young Eva's mind to devastating effect. Once again, this is absolutely not for the faint of heart.
