5 new books to read this week
This week’s bookcase includes reviews of A Line To Kill by Anthony Horowitz and The Upper World by Femi Fadugba.
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Your support makes all the difference.A beloved author is back with his latest mystery, and an exciting new YA book makes its debut…
Fiction
1. A Line To Kill by Anthony Horowitz is published in hardback by Century, priced £20 (ebook £9.99). Available now
You’d expect Anthony Horowitz, who wrote for Midsomer Murders before reviving the Sherlock Holmes saga with two fresh 21st century novels, to know how to craft a good mystery. A Line To Kill sees Horowitz play the Dr Watson role alongside his Sherlockesque creation Daniel Hawthorne, a recalcitrant private investigator. They attend a literary festival on the tiny island of Alderney, and a gruesome murder rocks what had perhaps falsely appeared to be a tightknit community. With a colourful cast of characters, clever red herrings, a locked-room puzzle and chalk-and-cheese banter between the sleuths, Horowitz keeps the reader entertained and guessing throughout, in a wonderful modern take on the classic crime thriller.9/10(Review by James Cann)
2. Unholy Murder by Lynda La Plante is published in hardback by Zaffre, priced £20 (ebook £9.99). Available now
Detective Jane Tennison has been taking a no-nonsense approach to solving cases for more than 30 years, and her exploits in Lynda La Plante’s latest page-turner are no exception. Unholy Murder is part of the Tennison series, chronicling the early career of the police officer made famous by Helen Mirren in 1990s TV series Prime Suspect. The novel, set in the 1980s, begins when a coffin containing the body of a murdered nun is unearthed at a building site. Our intrepid investigator sets to work, her razor-sharp judgment only faltering with the distractions of an attractive property developer and a handsome priest. The book provides everything fans of detective dramas would want – intrigue, plot twists and a shifty bishop. It’s the perfect easy read for a rainy day, but readers looking for something to challenge them or step outside the boundaries of the genre should probably look elsewhere.8/10(Review by Eleanor Barlow)
3. Orphans Of The Storm by Celia Imrie is published in hardback by Bloomsbury Publishing, priced £14.99 (ebook £10.49). Available now
In Nice, France in 1911, Marcela Caretto finally files for divorce from her cruel and controlling husband. But as she awaits the judge’s final decision Michael flees the country with their two children, bound for a new life in America onboard the RMS Titanic. On the doomed steamer the family’s path crosses with that of New York socialite Margaret Hays. Based on the true story of the orphans of the Titanic, the book is a gripping read. After a somewhat slower first half, the pace eventually picks up and the novel races towards a beautiful and poignant conclusion. The section onboard the ship has some of the strongest writing in the book and could have been longer, but overall the emotional draw to the character of Marcela keeps the reader invested throughout.7/10(Review by Megan Baynes)
Non-fiction
4. Something Out Of Place: Women & Disgust by Eimear McBride is published in hardback by Wellcome Collection, priced £9.99 (ebook £8.12). Available now
In her non-fiction debut Eimear McBride – author of the powerful and confronting A Girl Is A Half-formed Thing – tackles feminism. She focuses on the double standards many women face, particularly how they are both reviled and objectified in modern society. While she does touch upon a series of relevant and informative subjects – from ageism to revenge porn – they’re masked in overly complicated or academic language, and the structure feels so confused they’re often hard to dig out. McBride does capture the dire state of living in a patriarchal society, but none of the concepts feel particularly new or groundbreaking. What McBride has going for her is a lot of heart – she’s passionate about unveiling the subjugation of women and that really shines through. You just can’t help but wish it was edited into a shorter essay, as it might have had more of an impact.6/10(Review by Prudence Wade)
Children’s book of the week
5. The Upper World by Femi Fadugba is published in paperback by Penguin, priced £7.99 (ebook £4.99). Available now
Esso and 15-year-old orphan Rhia are two teenagers a generation apart, but a fatal bullet ties their paths together. If Rhia can believe in the concept of time travel, it could be key to changing events of the past. This compelling thriller is set on the streets of South East London, a place author Femi Fadugba knows very well. It is a bit of a slow burner and at times it can feel like you need to grasp the physics behind the idea of time travel to fully understand the plot, but once Esso and Rhia’s stories start to unfold, this book is impossible to put down. One to read before it’s adapted into a Netflix film starring Daniel Kaluuya.7/10(Review by Sharron Logan)
BOOK CHARTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING AUGUST 21
HARDBACK (FICTION)1. How To Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie2. A Line To Kill by Anthony Horowitz3. Billy Summers by Stephen King4. 1979 by Val McDermid5. The Island Of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak6. Orphans Of The Storm by Celia Imrie7. Klara And The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro8. A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris9. The Invisible Life Of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab10. A Corruption Of Blood by Ambrose Parry(Compiled by Waterstones)
HARDBACK (NON-FICTION)1. Too Many Reasons To Live by Rob Burrow2. Oh Yes, Oh Yes! by Carl Cox3. The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse by Charlie Mackesy4. Put A Wet Paper Towel On It by Lee Parkinson & Adam Parkinson5. The Comfort Book by Matt Haig6. The Power Of Geography by Tim Marshall7. Women Don’t Owe You Pretty by Florence Given8. Vaxxers by Sarah Gilbert & Catherine Green9. The Right To Sex by Amia Srinivasan10. Jane’s Patisserie by Jane Dunn(Compiled by Waterstones)
AUDIOBOOKS (FICTION AND NON-FICTION)1. The Planets by Professor Brian Cox & Andrew Cohen2. Billy Summers by Stephen King3. History by Miles Jupp4. The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell5. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman6. Atomic Habits by James Clear7. Dark Tides by Philippa Gregory8. Quite by Claudia Winkleman9. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig10. Mythos by Stephen Fry(Compiled by Audible)