Hi everyone, thanks for all the great recommendations, I have a few reviews of my latest reads, hope they're not too waffling:
The Bombmaker by Stephen Leather, a really gripping story about a woman's past involvement with the IRA and how it caught up with her in her new life years later - fast paced and tense throughout, it made my hands sweat; excellent ending too.
Blood Count by Robert Goddard, i've been a fan of this author in the past but forgot about him with all the Scandinavian Police thrillers that came out, but gave this a try. He's definitely a good storyteller but I felt this one dragged a bit and a good dollop could have been left out without affecting the storyline. Still, glad I read it and would read more of his (maybe).
The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson and The Crying Tree by Nazeem Rakha. I honestly chose both of these books purely because the authors weren't white western women; until it was pointed out to me i'd had no idea that almost all my reads were by white people and I actively wanted to change this. The Pirate's Daughter was told firstly with the mother as narrator followed by her daughter. Such a lovely story of hopes and dreams across three generations, the Grandma seems to be only sporadically in and out of these women's lives but has such a strong influence on each of them, and it's easy to see history repeating in this tale. Errol Flynn didn't come off well as a human being in my mind in this whole story - such damage caused by one person's thoughtless thoughtlessness and carefree abandon. Although the story is set in the 1940's on, a lot of the family values, love, loss, hope and strength of the female characters seem very current.
The Crying Tree - I loved this book, such an absorbing story (reminded me of Judy Picoult's writing), it's quite a shocker of a tale revolving around family and societal rules and ties and how one family (and extended members, friends and neighbours) deal separately with what each feels to be acceptable/unacceptable behaviours. Look forward to reading more by this writer.
13th Tale by Diane Sutterfield - it's all been said already but I enjoyed this so much I rationed myself to only 2 chapters at a time between other reads to make it last! Such an unusual story, loved it.
Last Night In Twisted River by John Irving. I finished this in April but still the characters pop into my head now and then. It's a good, good, long, long read covering a period of 35-40 years of the turbulent lives of a young father and his only son, beginning with two tragic accidents in a north American logging business leading to a cat and mouse chase nightmare of nearly 4 decades. **Spoiler alert **, as a mostly law-abiding citizen I still think they should have shot the cop in the beginning! Some really beautiful, hard as nails and soft as feathers characters populate the whole book.
Woman In The Window by A J Flynn, new writer to me and I nearly always guess the end of psychological thrillers early on; I didn't see this end coming, I felt it was quite scary and could only read big chunks during the daytime. Really enjoyed it and the characters were very well written. My better half almost guessed the ending three quarters through, but, nah, Flynn kept us both to the end. Will definitely read his next book.
Currently reading Origin by Dan Brown and not enjoying it at all - I think its very far-fetched, silly and over-complex at the same time, will finish it in bed tonight and sorry I can't recommend it. I had Inferno in my waiting to be read pile but gave it to a neighbour this morning (he's big Dan Brown fan).
Hope that wasn't too much writing (like an over-excited Labrador puppy with a new shoe to chew!). I so enjoy reading everyone's recommendations and because of this my pile of books is getting quite out of hand????
Best wishes to all, Helen xx
