Devotion by Hannah Kent

 Growing up in an Old Lutheran community in 19th century Prussia, Hanne finds herself out of step with the other teenage girls. While they seem happy with the domestic world awaiting them as wives and mothers, she regrets the passing of her childhood when she was allowed to run free in the fields and forests surrounding her home. Then a new family move to the area, and Hanne meets Thea; an unbreakable bond forming between the two.

Their community though is under threat; their particular form of worship no longer tolerated. So, when it becomes possible to emigrate to Australia, the village elders vote in favour of the idea. It's not a simple move. Long months of travel by barge to the coast, then ship lie ahead of them, and it isn't without its losses. 

It's difficult to describe this latest book by Hannah Kent without giving away much of the plot. I suppose put briefly it's a sapphic historical romance with supernatural elements, but that doesn't go anywhere towards acknowledging Kent's beautiful, lyrical prose, and vivid, intimate descriptions of nature, from German forests to Australian outback.

Hanne is truly at one with her surroundings, appearing to have a form of synaesthesia which allows her to experience the world differently; to hear actual music in the dripping of the rain, the swirling of storm clouds or the movement of stars, and even become part of living creatures. 

The story is, by turns, warm and raw, heartbreaking and filled with love, as Hanne and Thea's relationship is torn apart by death but still surviving in their hearts. My first five star book of the year, and one I'd heartily recommend.  

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

review by Maryom 

Agnieszka's village lies in a quiet peaceful valley, but overshadowed by The Wood, a corrupted place full of evil. Unwary people are snatched by it, and either never seen again or return horribly changed. Fortunately the valley is protected by a wizard known as The Dragon - he keeps The Wood and the evil within at bay, but in the way of all dragons demands a young maiden in return. Every ten years, a seventeen year old girl is chosen to live with him in his tower and this time everyone believes he will pick Kasia, the prettiest, cleverest girl in the village; no one would expect him to chose scruffy tom-boy Agnieszka - but then, who can predict what a wizard might do? 
Whatever Agnieszka expectations were of life in the Dragon's tower, the reality proves to be rather dull ....until she discovers her own kind of magic, not as showy or predictable as the wizard's but just as powerful.

 I haven't read anything previously by Naomi Novik so Uprooted burst on me as a wonderful surprise. Set somewhere vaguely in Eastern Europe, in places that sound very like Poland and Russia, it's a coming of age tale, a fight of good against evil, a love story, and one that encourages us to accept people no matter how different they are to ourselves.
 It reads like a fairytale, with many of the traditional components - the village on the edge of deep, dark, dangerous forest peopled by malevolent beings; a young woman 'sacrificed' to the Dragon; an ugly duckling turning into a swan (if tomboy turning into powerful witch can be described that way) - bound together into a compelling, surprisingly modern, tale.
It isn't a simple straight forward case of good versus evil - because first 'evil' has to be identified, and may not lie where it was expected, and good deeds can sometimes turn out to have been really bad ideas. It was this complexity of plot and character that kept me hooked; my ideas about who the 'bad guys' were changed frequently. Folk and fairy tales often have within them a moral to be made - that it isn't always the loudest and brashest people that succeed, that kindness is often as powerful - and there's an echo of that here, though developing this point too much will give the plot away!
I like fantasy novels to have more to them than the mere casting of spells or appearance of magical creatures, and Uprooted certainly has that extra bit of grit; I loved it!



 Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Pan Macmillan
Genre - Adult, fantasy

No Place To Die by Clare Donoghue

review by Maryom

DI Mike Lockyer is struggling to cope after his last case, so his sergeant Jane Bennett finds herself with two disturbing cases on her hands. Friend and retired cop Mark Leech has gone missing, leaving a trail of blood splatters behind him which suggests he hasn't gone willingly, and then a dead body is discovered in a specially constructed underground chamber. It's not, as at first feared, Mark's body but that of missing student, Maggie Hungerford,and her death is stranger and more sinister than anything Jane's previously seen.The tiny space had been equipped with a pipe to allow a certain amount of air in, and a camera so that the killer could presumably watch his victim die. Who could be so twisted to want to kill someone in such a terrifying way?

Jane finds herself under pressure from all sides - at work, with little or no support from her boss, she has no one to share the burden of the investigation; the personal relationship between her and Lockyer has deteriorated; and at home, she has her autistic son to care for and feels torn between wanting to do her job as best she can and spending more time with him.

The second in the Lockyer/Bennett series plays on the terror that most of us would feel if trapped underground - I could only get through some of the scenes by constantly reminding myself that it wasn't at all real! For the most part, the story concentrates on the police investigation and Jane's private life, but occasionally it's interrupted by passages from the victims' point of view, describing the horror of being buried alive, struggling for air with numbness creeping up on them - all very, very scary stuff!

The investigation gets off to a slow start - with plenty of potential suspects, but no one who stands out as the killer - and there's almost a feeling of bewilderment on Jane's part as more victims are found, one dating back several years.  
Most crime thrillers have their twists and turns, but this plot is positively convoluted! I think if anyone spots the killer before the last chapter, it's due to a lucky guess rather than super-deduction.
It's a difficult thing to say whether or not I enjoyed this book - I found the 'buried' sections too disturbing to enjoy, and, now knowing the nature of the crime and who was behind it, I wouldn't re-read it; it's a very personal thing though and other, less claustrophobic, readers will have less qualms.

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Pan Macmillan
Genre - Adult, crime

The Mourner by Susan Wilkins

Review by The Mole

Helen Warner is found dead on the banks of the Thames. It seems like a straightforward suicide - that's what the police want to think. Kaz Phelps, now living as Clare O'Keefe under the witness protection program in Glasgow, doesn't want to think that her ex-lover could have committed suicide and is out to prove she didn't - so is Julia Hadley, Helen Warner's partner.

Julia enlists the help of SBA, a security and private investigations company, to establish the truth behind Helen's death. Nicci Armstrong, the police officer responsible for Kaz having to enter the witness protection program, was forced into early retirement and is now employed by Simon Blake, the owner of SBA and also the victim of political machinations within the Met.

And so the hunt is on for the truth behind Helen's death - a death the police are anxious to sweep under the carpet. Then Joey, Kaz's psychopathic brother, kills a policeman and escapes jail to become another factor in the investigation. Can Julie and Kaz get justice or will they settle for revenge?

Let the mayhem begin.

This book picks up the story two years on from The Informant and it does it rather seamlessly. Within the first book blood letting was rife and when the last page came, although I enjoyed it immensely I was glad to take a break into something less violent. I picked The Mourner up with a little trepidation but while the pace is just as fast the violence is less prolific. Sequels are frequently not quite as good as the début but here I can honestly say that I found it even better.

We continue to pick up the back story of several of the characters and meet again characters that had a lesser role in The Informant and learn a little of their back story. Each of the characters really came to life for me, and both Kaz and Nicci, neither of whom I really liked in the first book, became almost friends to me. Their back stories continued to be filled in and other characters - some from The Informant and others new to us - start to get their stories built.

The trail of evidence followed felt logical and the investigation developed in a sensible way - but with the police against them could they ever make a real difference? When the full extent of involvement in Helen's death becomes apparent the reader starts to realise that this probably won't end in a court case but will there be any form of justice?

As I turned the last page there were so many questions left unanswered that I knew there would have to be a third book - but will there also be spinoffs as characters disappear across the world or will they come back together (well at least those that lived through) to book 3.

A fantastic story but be sure to start with The Informant as this very much builds on it. But maybe one day it would be nice to read the prequel?

Publisher - Pan Macmillan
Genre - Adult fiction, crime thriller

All This Will Be Lost by Brian Payton

review by Maryom

April 1943 - grieving for his brother lost over the English Channel, unable to enlist himself, journalist John Easley takes it upon himself to uncover the true facts about a war taking place much nearer to his own doorstep - the invasion of the Alaskan Aleutian islands by the Japanese, an event which the US military want to keep quiet. To this end, he hitches a lift out on a bombing run to the Japanese occupied island of Attu - When the plane is shot down he and one of the crew of six are the only survivors. They've heard the rumours about how the Japanese treat their prisoners and neither want to surrender to them, but the chances of surviving in the inhospitable landscape are slim, almost to the point of non-existence.

Meanwhile back home in Seattle, his wife Helen begins to worry over John's prolonged absence. While 'regular' forces wives are informed of their husbands' fate, there's no one to send news of a missing unofficial reporter. Desperate for news of him she determines to follow him north, the only way she can - by signing up for a forces entertainment troop. She knows she's unlikely to find John or even anyone who's heard of him but she needs to do something, anything, rather than sit and wait.

All This Will Be Lost is a war story with a difference - set in an almost unheard-of war zone, the remote Aleutian islands, which stretch across the Arctic from Alaska to Russia like stepping stones, it's a grim tale of survival against the odds, of grit and determination, of very personal battles and hoping against all the odds.
John is battling for his very survival - although it's 'spring', the weather only moves between snow and fog, there are neither trees nor bushes for shelter or fuel, and the Japanese are encamped just over the next ridge. The two men end up in a cave, surviving on shellfish and an occasional seabird, raiding the Japanese camp despite the obvious risk but growing bolder as their situation becomes more perilous. As he comes close to starvation, John finds himself making difficult choices about what might be considered 'food', choices the reader may not agree with.    
Helen's story is less extreme but her life so far has been cosy and sheltered. Empowered by circumstances, she's forced to step out of her comfort zone, and take on a role for which she feels totally unsuited. I got the impression that even asking questions of strangers was something so completely out of character for her that undertaking this journey required tremendous amounts of courage on her part.

The islands themselves form a third party to this story - windswept and bleak, but with a fragile beauty that is being trampled upon by the opposing armies. Their inhabitants have been forcibly removed, their villages abandoned and make-shift airfields and army bases taken their place. In the way of much fiction, it had me spiralling away and wanting to know more about the background - about this sector of WW2, about the islands themselves and their inhabitants, so summarily evacuated from their homes.

In case this all sounds familiar, this story has previously been published under the title The Wind Is Not  A River.

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Pan Macmillan
Genre - Adult, war stories, WW2,

The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge

review by Maryom

 
When Faith Sunderly's father moves his family to the island of Vane, he gives out that the reason is to help in some ongoing excavations - he is after all a renowned natural scientist and an expert on fossils - but he's actually running from a scandal about to break over his faking of finds. The island feels dark and sinister to begin with and Faith's father's strange behaviour adds to the air of secrecy and menace.
Among his collection of prized specimens, all carefully transported to their new home, is a very curious plant which he's taking extra care of - it feeds on lies and having grown bears a fruit that imparts special knowledge and understanding on its eater. Within a few days of the family's arrival, the whole island is aware of the allegations against Faith's father, so when his dead body is found in strange circumstances the obvious assumption is that he committed suicide to avoid disgrace - Faith though believes he was murdered and sets out to prove it and track down the murderer. To this end she begins to feed the Lie Tree with untruths, but to get more information out of it she must invent bigger, more preposterous lies and spread them far and wide throughout the island community....

How to start to describe The Lie Tree? It's a murder mystery, with gothic horror overtones, a morality tale, historical fiction..  it's very difficult to pin down! The important thing is that it's an excellent read. It's darkly atmospheric, filled with quietly brooding menace, with the lie tree itself oozing evil and corrupting those who engage with it; it captures the feel of Victorian times when Darwin's new theories about evolution were altering how people saw the world and man's place in it, scientific concepts were being proved false, and religious beliefs challenged; and the murder mystery has red herrings and plot twists galore. In addition, it has a 14 year old heroine not happy to take the quiet role assigned to her by Victorian standards. Faith has inherited all her father's curiosity about the natural world but finding her interest in science blocked, has turned her inquisitiveness to more personal matters - eaves-dropping on others' conversations, riffling through private papers. Not the behaviour of a nice Victorian young lady! This willingness to snoop on others proves useful though, as she tries to discover motive and culprit for her father's death.

All in all, a book that should appeal across a wide range of ages and tastes, and one that I'd personally be tempted to re-read.

 Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Pan Macmillan (Macmillan Children's Books)
Genre -teen/YA, historical, gothic horror, murder mystery

Crossing the Line by Kerry Wilkinson

review by Maryom

Manchester is suffering from a spate of seemingly unprovoked, unrelated attacks - some serious, others less so. Newly promoted DI Jessica Daniel and her team have seemingly no clues to go on, so how can they ever find the perpetrator?
Meanwhile the anniversary of a police success is coming up - it's 25 years since The Stretford Slasher's reign of terror came to an end with his arrest and imprisonment. The police who helped put him behind bars should all be mighty pleased - shouldn't they?

Although I read the first of the author's teen dystopian series
Reckoning earlier this year, I've jumped into this series at book number 8, which is why this book languished for so long on the 'to review' pile. It didn't prove to be a problem though; if anything piecing together Jessica's backstory was another 'detection' in itself.
The story starts slowly with Jessica and her team rather floundering around with no leads to follow and no connection between the various attacks, but this gave me time to become acquainted with the characters before the action really kicked off. Jessica herself was a character I quickly warmed to - strongly-focussed, using dark humour to get her through bad days, able to hold her own in a male-dominated world.

An enjoyable read with several unexpected twists. The strong female lead, the Manchester setting plus the overall mix of dogged police work and unsettled private life make it rather reminiscent of one of my favourite TV cop shows, Scott and Bailey - so if you're a fan of that, it's time to discover Jessica Daniel.

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Pan Macmillan
Genre - Adult, crime

The Informant by Susan Wilkins

Review by The Mole

Alex Marlow has got "inside" Joey Phelps' criminal empire having befriended Joey, and as a police officer he wants only 1 thing - to put Joey away. Even as the story opens, Marlow has been discovered and very quickly is murdered by Joey in a gruesome and sickening killing.

Kaz, Joey's sister, is released from prison after doing six years for a murder Joey committed because she would not give him up. Kaz has spent the last six years dreaming of a life outside of crime and wants, more than anything, for Joey to join her and give up murder.

Meanwhile the police want DC Mal Bradley to befriend Kaz and turn her against her brother. But is that what they really want that?

And all the time DS Nicci Armstrong is trying to befriend Kaz's sister, Joey keeps the body count rising and Kaz's relationships with Mal and her lawyer keeps getting more and more complicated.

With twists and turns on almost every page this book keeps the readers attention by having very little "down time" as the author keeps moving the goalposts.

The death of Marlow was just a little bit gruesome - and I'm just a little bit squeamish - and happening in the prologue I very nearly put the book down and chose again. I am SO glad I stuck with it. Joey is a psychopath, as I'm sure you've guessed already, and Wilkins portrays this brilliantly which is a little bit disturbing in a way.

The twist at the end came as no surprise as there had been clues given, deliberately, the further we got in although it didn't detract from the telling one bit, although it did explain so much of what had happened. And a happy ending... only for those few it ends happily for.

A great crime thriller that is hard to put down - but you're glad it's over when you turn the last page.

Publisher - Pan Macmillan
Genre - Adult fiction, crime thriller

The Gentle Assassin by Ryan David Jahn

Review by The Mole

Andrew Combs grew up with his grandparents because when he was just 18 months his father, Harry Combs, had pulled him from their burning home and started to run from both the police and Rathbone, a shirt manufacturer who fronted for a network of hit men - professional assassins. Andrew's mother and her lover had both been shot before the fire and the fire deliberately set to 'clean' the area. Now at the age of 27, Andrew has used letters from his father, letters he was not supposed to find, to trace him through a private detective - and he wants revenge for the death of his mother.

Does Andrew really have what it takes to exact revenge or can he find it in his heart to forgive and build bridges to a happy and safe future? Unfortunately his efforts to locate his father have woken up other sleeping dogs who want his father dead - but does he still have what it takes to stay alive?

Scattered throughout are extracts from a believed genuine CIA manual on assassination containing things that are at times funny and often worrying that it can discuss the subject so coldly!

I found this an unusual story because while it is one of a broken family trying to address their history it is also packed with action and emotion. The back story is exposed quite early on but is added to at frequent intervals throughout the book so that the reader understands the drivers behind Andrew but how accurate is any history - or the guilt and hate that can be fed by it.

The story flits between Harry and Andrew and frequently to Andrew's fantasies of revenge - something that is achieved very successfully and further helps the reader to understand this troubled young man.

The final scene can be read as a "get out" - how can Jahn extricate the characters from this mess he has built and embroiled the reader in, and at the same time give an ending that the reader wants or at leasts accepts - but there is a natural justice to the outcome despite not being the ending I would have liked.

The first Jahn I have read and hopefully it won't be the last. An excellent, if rather violent read.

Publisher - Pan Macmillan
Genre - Adult fiction, crime thriller

Mock The Week - Next Year's Book

Review by The Mole

This was a Christmas present. A much appreciated Christmas present. Yes, I am a fan of the show - even the old Dave reruns - and I wonder sometimes how those actually appear to a studio audience. But I think I would rather believe in the televised spontaneity of it all. I was a little surprised to find that this was a 2010 version - although not in any way disappointed. Apart from the news aspects (not a particular feature of the book) then the rest of the comedy doesn't really age.

This is my second MTW book and once again it is hugely funny allowing you to dip in and out while running the risk of never seeing some pages!

Very funny, very entertaining and "motorway signs" will be laughed at over many car journeys in the future.

Watch out for these books if you know a fan of the program - they will be much appreciated.

Bad Things To Hear On A Hospital Ward - "See? I told you it was the left one."

Publisher - Boxtree
Genre - TV, humour

Buy Mock the Week: Next Year's Book: All-New Scenes We'd Like to See from Amazon

Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin

Chocolate - NOT Vampires
Review by The Mole

The cover of this book heralds itself as from the bestselling author of Elsewhere and not as book 2 of her Birthright Trilogy which is a shame because book one is certainly the place to start. It's like coming in to the second half of a really good film - you enjoy it immensely but now the first half is spoiled for you.

I want to limit the amount I say about this book so as not to spoil anything for possible readers.

My immediate conclusion upon seeing the book is "vampires". And it wasn't just me- "Sooner you than me" was Maryom's reaction, again believing it to be vampires. But if you want vampires you will be disappointed (although there is blood!) If you don't want vampires and you don't pick it up you will also be disappointed because it's a very enjoyable read. Although it's aimed at the 11+ market this is easily of appeal to most of the YA market too (and we know how old that market stops at! Don't we?)

The plot for the trilogy has parallels in the American prohibition era. Anya is the daughter of the ex-head of a large chocolate company at a time when chocolate is an illegal substance (as is coffee and other products of that type). Following the death of her father (her mother is also dead) she is nominally the head of the company but still at high school. With internecine fighting, dealers, law enforcement agencies, murders, mutilations, poisonings and much more this story has a lot for everyone and is written in a style where the reader is pulled along, determined to read even though at times the plot is only scene setting - a very well written story!

But PLEASE start at book one (All These Things I've Done) - I didn't and now know too much of what's happened to go back and enjoy it!

Publisher - Macmillan Children's Books
Genre - 11+, crime, action adventure

Buy Because it is My Blood (Gabrielle Zevin Birthright Trilogy) from Amazon

The Soldier's Song by Alan Monaghan

A true anti war book
Review by The Mole

The story is about Stephen Ryan, a maths student from Dublin and follows his life from the start of the first world war when he volunteers and becomes an officer in a Dublin regiment.

I was warned it would be about family conflict around the Easter Uprising because so many are. It wasn't.

It's a love story that so rings true it is beyond belief. It is about family in conflict during war. It is about stress and trauma on the battlefield. It is about 'bravery' whatever that actually is. It is about social class.

This book was a brilliant book. It was compelling to read as well as easy to read.

The story takes Stephen from conflict to conflict while at the same time building a bond between himself and his younger brother and finds this shy, if not aspergic, individual falling for Lillian, a student at the same university before the war. It exposes Stephen to about every form of shock and trauma that the war could throw at him in an effort to try to get the reader to understand the full horror that a war can create.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough and if it doesn't make the best seller lists for 2010 then there is no justice. Please, Please try this book.

Publisher - Macmillan
Genre - adult, war, fiction