The Night That Changed Everything by Laura Tait and Jimmy Rice

Review by Libby Mayfield

When it comes to romance novels, I know a thing or two. I've read probably more than my fair share - something I'm not too ashamed to admit - and I know that almost unanimously they follow a similar structure, with an irrefutable happy ending. It's reassuring, and with some authors you can guess the plot's twists and turns and still feel satisfied with it, but every so often it's nice to see a twist on the usual style.
Laura and Jimmy chose to write the novel with the first person alternating between both halves of the relationship, and although on paper this might seem like a neat trick to use, even after a second thought you'll realise that it has its flaws. Granted, there are moments when both sides of the story are conveyed better for this technique, but I spent the majority of the book flicking to the start of the chapter to see which character was supposed to be talking - the voices were too similar to be easily identified.

When the couple's problem came around - I'm giving no spoilers away; it's a romance book so there's bound to be a problem - I couldn't help thinking that the whole situation was an unnecessary overreaction. Even when the characters themselves seemed to realise this, it didn't resolve matters, and despite having a promising start and a strong close, the bulk of the novel seemed to lose its way somewhat among a string of loosely held up problems. In fact, it was the end of the book that saved this entirely - there were even moments part way through when I was confident the ending would have to be a good one, else I'd no idea how it had ended up being published. Ultimately, it is worth holding out for.
In general, the book ticks all the guilty-pleasure boxes that need ticking, and although at times the pace is a little slow, it has just about has enough willpower to keep you going on till the end, and there are times when it's easy to become lost in the plot. More detail to some of the scenes would also go a long way. There are some unavoidable holes regards the voices and weaker moments of plot, but the ending is one that'll leave you satisfied - and, if you're like me, possibly move you to tears.

Libby's review - 3 stars
Publisher - Corgi/Transworld
Genre - adult chicklit/romcom

Silent Saturday by Helen Grant

review by Maryom

Veerle's mother is over-protective and clinging; instead of giving her daughter greater freedom and responsibility with age, Claudine is tightening her hold, rarely allowing Veerle out on her own. At seventeen, Veerle is tired of this, and, instead of her mother's attitude keeping her safe, it's actually pushing her into taking risks. So when, one night returning home on the bus, she spots a light flickering in a deserted castle, she chooses to investigate it rather than head back to the stifling atmosphere at home. Inside she finds Kris, a childhood friend, who turns out to be a member of secret group, the koekoreken, or cuckoos, from their habit of breaking into and making use of unoccupied buildings in the Brussels area. Getting in to anything from the abandoned castle to luxurious homes whose owners are away holidaying, the idea isn't to move in permanently, or cause any damage, but merely to spend an evening there - in fact ideally the 'breaker-in' should do something to improve the property, from, say, fixing a broken window catch to alphabetising the owners' CD collection. It offers Veerle just the sort of excitement she's been looking for, but there's more danger lurking in wait for the Koekoeken than merely being spotted by neighbours - someone is stalking the members, armed with a crossbow and knives, picking them off one by one .....
This is the kind of YA book that I love; one that doesn't dumb down in any way, one that offers as exciting and compelling a read as many adult books - the major differences being the age of the characters, and less blood and gore (which I can well do without!)  Set in Brussels, among romantic castles and the more modern, but almost as magnificent, houses of diplomats and TV stars, this is a brilliantly constructed thriller that will have the reader gripped early on and unable to put the book down till the final page! It opens slowly but the tension gradually, inexorably, mounts along with the body count, building to a dramatic finale as Veerle confronts the Hunter who's been preying on the Koekoeken. Two other threads run alongside this - Veerle's deteriorating relationship with her mother, who resorts to some mean tricks to force her daughter to stay at home, and a growing romance with Kris - and both help flesh out the characters, particularly Veerle and make them real people rather than the 2D stereo-types of horror movies. Also, in more chilling vein, the reader gets to see some events from the point of view of the Hunter - to share his cold, calculating thought-processes as he sets about stalking his victims.

Brilliant stuff! I loved every page - and now want to move on to the next in the series the Demons of Ghent.

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Corgi/Transworld
Genre - teen, YA, thriller,

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

review by Maryom

Madeline Whittier is allergic to everything, so much so that she's lived all of her seventeen years in virtual isolation seeing only her mother, her nurse and a few carefully screened and decontaminated tutors. Not having known any other sort of life, she doesn't really feel cut off - but that's about to change when a new family moves in next door. Maddie finds her eye caught by the teenage son Olly, and he is insistent about wanting to get to know her. At first they chat through internet messages but soon this isn't enough, and Maddie realises she's ready to risk everything for just a few days freedom.
Everything, Everything is a convincing and compelling story about a teenage girl, locked up like some fairy-tale princess, not by a wicked witch but by her over-protective mother. To grow up never leaving the house, never having the chance to make friends, to go to school, the movies, the beach - all the things we take for granted - may seem weird to us, but not to Maddie; it's just how her life is. She's never really queried it till now when Olly's arrival next door makes her realise how much she is missing out on.
The tale is told in a variety of ways - mainly first person narrative from Maddie's point of view, but also 'transcripts' of conversations held through messenger, med charts and pictures - that help the story move along quickly, and let the reader in on how Maddie feels,sharing her hopes, dreams and frustrations.
It's a story about love; about how it can give us the ability to take on the impossible, but also how it can cripple and stifle everything.

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Corgi/Transworld
Genre - teen

Ruthless by Cath Staincliffe

 review by Maryom

At first an abandoned chapel going up in flames looks like just another case of arson but then a body is found amongst the ashes. Local thugs Neil and Noel Perry, both with previous convictions for arson, were seen in the vicinity but what motive would they have for shooting a harmless homeless guy? And where could they have got the weapon? While DCI Murray's team set to work on door to door enquiries trying to pick up leads, another building in the same area goes up in flames.....

Ruthless fits nicely in-between series 2 and 3 of the Scott and Bailey TV series, as Rachel is settling down to married life, or not, Janet and Ade are back living together but their marriage is definitely on the rocks, and Gill's husband is putting in a most unwelcome appearance. If you're a fan you'll know the set-up, if not the book gives enough back-story to fill you in, without giving too much away. I love the series for its strong female leads - there's not just the odd woman outnumbered in a male dominated department, but a more-or-less evenly split team, including Janet Scott and Rachel Bailey and led by the confident, commanding  DCI Gill Murray - this though is the first of the novels I've read. As I'd expected it very much picks up where the televised story leaves off, following the troubled private lives of the three women while they try to clear up a spate of arson attacks and murder. The plot is twisting, turning and unpredictable, but I think for once the drama in the lives of Janet and her elder daughter Elise might almost overshadow the police investigation.
Helped no doubt by having seen them brought to life on TV, the characters feel like real people that I can relate to, understand the conflict they find between home-life and work, and their desire to do the job to their best ability while still having some semblance of a normal life outside it.

It's definitely a book for fans of the TV series, but even if you've never watched it (why?) give this a read, you won't be disappointed. I really enjoyed it and will be reading more of the Scott and Bailey novels in future.

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Corgi/Transworld
Genre - adult crime fiction

Postcards from the Past by Marcia Willett

review by Maryom

Brother and sister Ed and Billa have 'retired' back to Mellinpons, their childhood home in Cornwall - with their half-brother Dom, living just down the road, they form a tight-knit family unit. But their peaceful, settled life is about to be disturbed by the return of another family member, stepbrother Tris. No one has heard from him for the past 50 years - in fact since he and his father did what might be best described as a 'runner' -  but now he's sending postcards announcing his intention to pay a visit. This isn't likely to be for a happy family reconciliation and his choice of cards seems deliberately chosen to stir up bad memories and open old wounds - so why on earth is he coming back?

This is one of those books that turn up for review out of the blue and don't immediately grab me. Despite 20 novels to her name I'd never heard of the author (oops)  and the cover didn't seem too inviting, promising something in the romantic fiction line, I thought, which isn't really my kind of thing - but anyway I picked it up just to check it out and two/three pages in I was hooked. It opens with the arrival of a postcard to Billa from her step-brother Tris from whom she hasn't heard in many many years - Billa is immediately on her guard - there's obviously bad blood between them and I wanted to know what, why and mostly what his current (evil) plan was.

This is admittedly a gentler sort of read to my normal choices but it teased me on with hints and gradual reveals of past events - and the forewarning that Tris would not be coming back for a good reason, and that his arrival will cause upset and unpleasantness for people it's easy to come to like. Tris isn't a gun-toting villain back for a spree of violence, but he's still a thoroughly unpleasant, manipulative type, out to benefit from Billa and Ed's good nature and willingness to believe the best of others.
With the large country house, interestingly converted from an old butter factory, situated not far from the Cornish coast, filled with a caring family and lovable dogs, the author conjures up the sort of home we probably all would like - therefore it's shocking that someone would wish to disturb such an idyll. Maybe though, at times, everyone just seemed a little too nice to be real.
The ending was perhaps a little predictable, but I still found it all really enjoyable. 

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Corgi/Transworld
Genre - fiction

Borderline by Liza Marklund

review by Maryom

When a mother is found dead in a Stockholm suburb, Annika Bengtzon, with her journalist's instinct, immediately associates it with other similar murders from the past few months - and is off on the track of a serial killer. She hasn't got far with the story before a much bigger one breaks - her husband Thomas, along with other EU representatives on a fact-finding mission in Kenya, has been kidnapped.

Borderline is a tense two, or even three, storyline thriller following Thomas' suffering with his abductors, Annika's desperate attempts to raise the ransom money to free him, and the background thread as Annika's fellow journalists pursue the serial killer story.
Having read several of this series, I've come to know Annika and Thomas like friends, following their marital ups and downs, their falling-outs and making-ups, over several years. During that time, Annika's had more than her fair share of being kidnapped or held captive. Now it's Thomas' turn, and it's all together more frightening than anything Annika has faced - mainly, I think, because the reader expects the lead character of a series to survive, and Thomas doesn't share that guarantee. Following Annika and Thomas alternately, the author captures Thomas' despair and terror in the hands of his kidnappers, the humiliations and brutality the hostages have to cope with, and Annika's disbelief and helplessness.
A book that truly kept me on the edge of my seat, reading through the night and desperately hoping for a happy ending. Does all end well? For that,you'll need to read it!


translated by Neil Smith


Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Corgi/Transworld
Genre - adult crime thriller

Like This, For Ever by Sharon Bolton

 review by Maryom

Five boys have been abducted and murdered in London and the police don't seem to be getting very far with their investigations but eleven year old Barney Roberts has been keeping track of events with a police-style wall chart and feels he can begin to see a pattern emerging. He doesn't really want to acknowledge it though because it points a little too close to home....
Like This, For Ever is part tense psychological thriller and part police procedural, and I found it unfolded a little unevenly. The story is told from three different points of view - Barney's, his on-leave policewoman neighbour's and that of the investigating police team. Add to this interspersed extracts from an interview between a psychiatrist and the murderer (after his capture) and there's a lot of different angles to get your head round, especially as the police characters seem to have been picked up mid-story-line following on presumably from a previous book. I don't normally mind picking up a series part way through but this time it proved a drawback. So many of the characters had history with each other but not having met them before, I found it really hard to care about them and their personal problems  - and wished a lot of the time that they'd just get back to doing some police work and crime solving!

Barney's storyline, on the other hand, was compelling reading. Although some of the incidents surrounding him and his friends seemed a little far-fetched, and sometimes I had difficulty believing how young they were, his story gradually built in tension as he was forced to face the facts that bothered him.


Maryom's review - 3.5 stars
Publisher - Corgi/Transworld
Genre - adult crime, psychological thriller,


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The Long Shadow by Liza Marklund

review by Maryom

Journalist Annika Bengtzon is uncovering crime and setting wrongs right in an unusual location this time - the Costa del Sol. When Sebastian Soderstrom, a Swedish ex-hockey star, and his family are killed during a robbery in their luxurious villa just outside Marbella, Annika is sent to cover the story for the Evening Post and to do some follow up articles for a series the paper was running about drug smuggling rings operating through Spain and north to Sweden. With the help of a local interpreter, she gets access to the murder scene and discovers something that no one, not even the police, seems aware of - that the family's teenage daughter is missing. In her own inimitable way, Annika decides to investigate, leading her into the murkier side of the Swedish ex-pat community with links to the drug-smuggling world.

I'm sure Annika Bengtzon won't be everybody's favourite crime-busting journalist - after all, she's opinionated, difficult to work with, intolerant of others and their opinions, and as stroppy as a teenager! But despite that, I really warm to her. She does have her good points - she's always ready to follow her leads and instincts fearlessly at considerable personal risk even, or especially, when no one else agrees with her, and she always gets the story in on time. She isn't merely after an exclusive though - it comes across while she's visiting the Soderstrom's home, that she really does care, particularly for the children involved.
With her personal life going through a desperate phase, Annika's investigation is about all she has in life to depend on. The story unfolds over several months, from New Year to Mid-summer, and takes her to Spain and on to Morocco, teasing out links between the idyllic world of luxury villas and golf courses, and the seedier, violent criminal underworld. The Long Shadow isn't as action-packed or dangerous as some thrillers - in fact at one point I even began to wonder if Annika would end up in her normal life-threatening situation at all - but nonetheless is an entertaining read especially if you like trying to put the pieces together and solve a case as you read.

The only slight downside is that The Long Shadow feels very much like the sequel, even the second half, of a story line that started in Lifetime. It definitely gives spoilers for the previous book and although I don't find that too off-putting (I've read other Annika Bengtzon stories out of sequence) I know it will upset some readers.

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Corgi/Transworld
Genre - crime

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Armageddon: The Musical by Robert Rankin

Review by The Mole

The Earth is a live TV program on the planet Phnaarg but Earth is post apocalyptic and is, itself, focussed just on TV programs. But the problem is that the ratings on Phnaarg are dropping and while there is a 'non intervention' policy it appears there has been intervention in the past and and the station directors are persuaded to do it again. Enter Rex Mundi, Elvis Presley and the Time Sprout! The outcome might have been very different if Christeen hadn't invited herself along to the party - but of course her brother had to come along too!

This is not a new book - sorry but sometimes you have to take the opportunity when it arises. I became a Rankin fan in 2005 after Waterstones said 'if you like Tom Holt then you will like Robert Rankin' and I did and do. This book was originally published in 1991 so I have come to the stories late and there is a lot of catching up to do.

The story dashes from time zone to time zone, planet to planet and character to character with a dizzying speed that seems to never pause. The whole story is one big humorous event so if you want a serious Sci-Fi that has true integrity then look away now.

Brilliant and well worth taking time out for a change of style.

Publisher - Corgi Books
Genre - Adult, Sci-Fi, Comedy

 Buy Armageddon: The Musical from Amazon