Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

Christopher and his mum Kate never seem to stay in one place very long. He's just started yet another new school, and having trouble finding friends and fitting in.
Then he 'meets' an imaginary friend, the Nice Man, and follows him into the woods near his home; the same woods in which a young boy disappeared 50 years ago. Christopher, too, disappears, but only for six days. On his return, he isn't the same boy. He's suddenly much cleverer than before and now has an obsession with building a treehouse in the middle of the woods - a treehouse which will provide a link between worlds, letting all sorts of evil out ...



Now, I haven't read The Perks of being a Wallflower, but I've seen the film and assumed that this new novel from Stephen Chbosky would be something in a similar vein. Well, fair to say Imaginary Friend wasn't at all what I expected. What you've basically got here is a horror story. It's not a genre I'm a huge fan of - the right story can make my hair stand on end, but so many seem to overdo the build up of tension and I just get irritated with it, and start skipping huge chunks. Sadly, Imaginary Friend falls into the second category. And then God and the Devil somehow got involved, and I really lost interest.


It's far too long. Reading a e-copy I hadn't realised just HOW long - 700+ pages - I'd just felt it dragging on and on. Maybe, just maybe, if it had been shorter it would have held my attention, but it wasn't and it didn't, although I did struggle on till the end.

Maryom's review - 2 stars - though horror fans will probably love it!
Publisher - Orion 
Genre - adult horror, fantasy

We All Begin As Strangers by Harriet Cummings

review by Maryom

The quiet country town of Heathcote is being disturbed by rumours of someone sneaking into houses, sometimes even when the owners are at home. No one has seen this mysterious person, nick-named The Fox for his sneaky habits, and nothing has been stolen, but people report their possessions being moved, as if picked up and replaced in the wrong spot. In a small community where everyone knows their neighbours, it's a disquieting feeling. Then events escalate with the disappearance of Anna, a quiet young woman who lived alone, and everyone fears she's been abducted by The Fox. As the local police call in reinforcements, people hide indoors behind locked windows and chained doors, all fearing they might be the next victim ...

Set in the 1980s and inspired by real events of the time, We All Begin As Strangers is a really impressive debut. Although revolving around a crime, it isn't quite a crime novel, and although it's a psychological study of what goes on behind the net curtains of a small, fairly prosperous English town, is definitely isn't a psychological thriller. It's closer to Joanna Cannon's The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, or Jon McGregor's Reservoir 13, both of which use the whodunnit format to explore the relationships and secrets of a small community.
The story is told in the third person, with each of the four parts of the novel being told from a different character's point of view - that of  Deloris, who's been married for only a year, but is finding the reality of married life doesn't live up to her hopes and expectations; Jim, the lay preacher who knew Anna through her help at the church, and is running from something shameful in his past; Brian, the local policeman, whose life revolves around caring for his older brother disabled in a freak accident; and Stan the supermarket manager, another person hiding a guilty secret. Anna herself, around whom everything revolves, remains an enigma - pleasant, kind, always busy with charity work, or helping at the church, well thought of by her neighbours, but not really close to any of them.
The author shows a real understanding of her characters' emotions and thoughts, their strengths or flaws, and brings them to life with care and sympathy - any or all feel like they could be your neighbours.




Maryom's review - 5 stars 
Publisher - Orion Books
Genre - adult fiction

Thin Air by Michelle Paver

review by Maryom

In 1935, a five-man British expedition sets off to the Himalayas to climb Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world and considered by many mountaineers to be more treacherous than even Everest. Previous attempts to reach the summit have been plagued by disaster and death, particularly a British expedition of nearly thirty years before during which five men died but the leader, Lyell returned home to glory for his efforts. 

Stephen Pearce has only been asked along at the last minute by his elder brother, Kits, to fill the place of team doctor, and he isn't as experienced a mountaineer as the other climbers. He's eager and willing though, especially in the hope of proving himself capable in Kits' eyes, and wanting to escape various personal complications back in London. A chance meeting with Charles Tennant, last surviving member of the ill-fated Lyell Expedition,, leads Stephen to believe that strange things occurred which were never revealed in the 'official' publications about the trip ...and the scene is set for a harrowing climb. He is almost immediately on edge, believing their party is being watched, and as they begin the real ascent, and altitude sickness starts to kick in, his fears grow ...

Thin Air is a combination of adventure and ghost story, full of period detail - from the attitude of the British team towards their 'inferior' sherpas to the unappetising pemmican suppers eaten on the mountain -  and after a slow start, setting up the background with dark hints of what occurred on previous expeditions, and the long-held rivalry between the two brothers, turns into something terrifying in so many ways;

 - the sheer height and mountaineering dangers for starters. The precipitous drops, crevasses in the glacier ice, the narrow camping places where I felt they could roll over in their sleep and fall hundreds if not thousands of feet, cornices where the snow builds up a 'shelf' ready to collapse under too much weight; the physical dangers are very real and well captured.

 -  Cedric the dog - why let a dog go along? Ok it turned out the dog was based on a real life canine companion who followed an expedition up to 24, 000 ft (!) but authors are so often happy to kill off an animal while saving humans that a lot of the time I was petrified for him.

 - Oh, and then there's a ghostly, malevolent presence on the mountain. Paver builds up to its appearance gradually, as first Stephen tries to dismiss it as his imagination running wild or altitude sickness disturbing his senses but gradually comes to believe that someone or something is stalking their group, and, even if the other men can't see it, Cedric the dog knows there's something out there - and he's terrified when it approaches.

If you've read Michelle Paver's previous ghost story Dark Matter, you'll know how well she can build a creepy, unsettling atmosphere - and she's done it again here, in a very different environment. I for one couldn't put the story down but needed to read on to the final resolution before trying to sleep!


Maryom's review - 4 stars 
Publisher - Orion Books
Genre - adult fiction ghosts mountaineering 

Saint Death by Marcus Sedgwick

review by Maryom

In the shanty town of Anapra, Arturo scrapes together a living from work at the local garage and making a few extra pesos at cards. It's a hard, hand-to-mouth life but, for that place, on the Mexican side of the border with the USA, it's not that bad. Then Faustino, an old school friend, comes visiting, asking for a favour. He's not only got himself involved with one of the powerful drug gangs in the area but has 'borrowed' from the money he was supposed to be keeping safe for them. His intentions were good - to buy his girlfriend and baby a safe passage to America, then repay the money somehow - but now the money's wanted, and he hasn't got it to hand. Faustino is hoping that through Arturo's skill at cards the missing dollars can quickly and easily be made up before the narcos notice anything amiss; the alternative, A neither quick nor easy death, doesn't bear thinking about. First though Faustino insists they visit the shrine of Saint Death, to leave an offering and ask for her aid, but she isn't a kindly saint, rather a neutral, aloof one, who welcomes both good folk and evil equally.

Somehow, to my mind at least, Marcus Sedgwick's stories are associated with Eastern Europe, cold climates and, frequently, vampires, but this one is set on the Mexican/US border, a dry, dusty place even as the temperature cools down for winter, and the only 'blood-suckers' around are the Mexican drug-dealing narcos and the US corporations, squeezing the life out of the people one way or another. 

The novel follows Arturo as he attempts to turn a few dollars into the huge amount that Faustino needs to repay - and it isn't as simple as the two old friends had hoped, and it has twists and turns that even I wasn't expecting! - but there's more to this book than just a gripping story-line; it's an eye-opener regarding the conditions in which thousands of people live alongside the border. Looking for a new start in the USA, people travel north from Mexico itself or from further away in South America, hoping to escape the drug gangs, government injustice and poverty they've known all their lives. And, for many, the journey ends here, at the border. Unlikely to get through by legitimate means, they turn to people smugglers who are as likely to take their money and run, as to help them to safety on the other side, or end up living in the makeshift shanties, working for a pittance at factories owned by US corporations, but situated in Mexico, and not really bound by the laws of either. The only way to live a comfortably well-off life - able to afford food, a proper house, maybe a car - is to join one of the gangs of drug-dealers that operate almost freely in the area. It's an eye-opener about the conditions and deprivations suffered in this area of the world! 

Saint Death is maybe intended to be a teen/YA read but, like such a lot of books aimed at that readership, I'd recommend it anyone looking for a tense thriller-style read, with less of the graphic blood and gore of an adults' book.  

Maryom's review - 5 stars 
Publisher - Orion Books
Genre - teen/YA thriller

The Creeper Man by Dawn Kurtagich

review by Maryom

Silla and Nori have run away from their London home, seeking refuge from their abusive father, and heading for the only place Silla can think of - their Aunt Cath's country manor house. At first it seems like a haven, but Aunt Cath is afraid of the surrounding woods and the Creeper Man who lives in them, and gradually her fears overcome her. She retreats to the attic, leaving the girls to fend for themselves, as the trees appear to move closer to the house and the shadows take on the form of a man creeping along...

Admittedly, I'd expected something scary from the cover but I was surprised just HOW tense and horrific this turned out to be. 
The atmosphere is spooky from the start - an isolated old house in the middle of a wood is just the ideal location for anything mysterious, and this one is painted the colour of blood outside, and dark and cobwebby inside, with strange noises in the night; the perfect setting for a horror movie!
After a brief lull, Kurtagich starts to raise the tension bit by bit, with Aunt Cath's descent into madness, and the arrival of a boy, Gowan, who claims to offer help, but whom Silla feels she daren't trust. Meanwhile, the trees creep ever nearer, claustrophobia builds, and the terrors outside work their way into the house. 
I don't normally consider myself a reader of horror stories but this really grabbed me. It's told mainly in the first person from Silla's point of view, with occasional flashbacks to when her mum and Aunt Cath were young and first summoned the Creeper Man, diary entries written in the 'Broken Book' and snippets of Nori's thoughts; they all add to the atmosphere, and keep the reader guessing whether events really are unfolding as SIlla imagines, or if the horrors are only in her head.
It's obviously not a book for the easily frightened or squeamish, but for lovers of the dark, twisted and creepy it's a must-read ... just maybe not alone, in the dark ...




Maryom's review - 5 stars 
Publisher - Orion Books
Genre - teen, horror thriller

Shtum by Jem Lester

review by Maryom

Ben and Emma Jewell have reached breaking point. Their son, Jonah, was once a cute toddler trying out his first words, but, unlike other children, he hasn't grown up. Those few words were just a false hope as Jonah has turned out to be severely autistic - he doesn't speak, isn't toilet-trained, in short is like an overgrown toddler, with a toddler's rages but an older child's destructive capabilities.
Now it's time for Jonah to be changing schools. Ben and Emma don't feel the standard borough provision is suitable for Jonah; another, far more expensive, boarding school would give him a better quality of life all-round but the borough have to be persuaded to fund it. Apparently, Jonah would be more likely to get a place there if Ben were having to cope as a single father - so Emma throws them both out and sends them to live with Ben's elderly father, Georg.
Georg seems happy enough with the situation - willing to indulge Jonah's moods, to sing to him, to tell stories, even personal ones of his escape from Hungary which Ben has never heard - but it isn't a situation that can continue for long....

Shtum is the story of a couple battling local health authorities, and sometimes each other in an attempt to get the best care possible for their rapidly growing autistic son. He doesn't fit the popular idea of autistic - the socially-inept genius frequently seen on TV and in films - whether Dustin Hoffman's Rainman, The Bridge's Sara Noren or Mercury Rising's code-breaking nine year old Simon. Instead he's just, well, a child who will never grow up; it sounds sort of cute, but think about it, and it isn't - imagine the future of the parent faced with a lifetime of nappy-changing and toddler tantrums! The author writes from personal experience and it's certainly an eye-opener - both in how extreme a condition autism can be, and in how little health/education authorities are willing/able to help.

I don't think I'm giving much away by saying everything ends up happily for Jonah, at least, but I couldn't help wondering what would happen to him as he grew into an adult.

Maryom's review - 3.5 stars 
Publisher - Orion Books
Genre - adult

Silence is Goldfish by Annabel Pitcher

review by Maryom 

 Tess has tried so hard to be the daughter her father wanted, laughed at his lame jokes, pretended to have close friends among the popular girls at school, gone along with flute lessons and taking part in the local amateur dramatic pantomime just to please him.  But all along, it wasn't only Tess who was pretending to be someone they weren't ... on her dad's pc she reads something she was never intended to see - something that brings her world crashing down.
Discovering that the man she's always known as 'dad' not only isn't her biological father but could barely stand the sight of her as a baby, sends Tess into meltdown.  A normal reaction from a teenager might be to shout, scream, slam doors and generally kick up a fuss - but Tess retreats into silence, and as she keeps it up over days and weeks, it becomes louder than any words could have been. As her increasingly desperate parents drag her round specialists to find a cure, Tess loses her only real friend and picks up some dubious ones, and in searching for her ideal father finds that there are bigger lies out there than the one her dad has told.
Throughout all this, the only 'person' Tess will talk to is her goldfish torch, who takes on a cartoon-style persona, answering back against some of her wilder schemes with a mix of snappy one-liners and reasoned arguments.

Silence is Goldfish is a funny, but heart-wrenching tale of an understandably angry teenager trying to find her place in the world and along the way discovering what really makes a family. It's quirky, weird, and, yes, the heroine talks to an imaginary goldfish, but it's brilliant, readable and thought-provoking. It will definitely make you laugh but it also makes you wonder, what if that had been me? how would I have reacted? it isn't likely to happen to many but imagine the shock it must be to find out - and in such a way!


Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Orion Books
Genre - teen,

Intercept The Secret History of Computers and Spies by Gordon Corera

Review by The Mole

My history is in IT for 35 years and have seen it transform from the scary mainframes of the 70s to the science fiction of today, so when I saw Gordon Corera giving a talk on this book at Edinburgh International Book Festival I felt I just had to go and see what it was about. His talk whet my appetite enough to read the book. The book is not technical, nor is Corera, but he details the history of spying through the use of communications technology from 1914 to almost the present day.

The book explores the use of telegraph, telephone, wireless and then the internet to spy, examining how changes in communications have reformed spy techniques to a nine to five office job away from the glamour and gadgetry of 007.

Fascinating from the very first page you have to be prepared for surprises aplenty as Corera lets you in on things that have happened but have not made the headlines. How industrial espionage now focuses on getting in to your competitor's systems and stealing their ideas, plans and even tenders so that you can beat them to the sale yet not get caught in the act.

And while hacking is seen as teenagers locked away in their bedrooms (and these still exist) there are also factories and office blocks devoted to hacking.  But it's not just companies and spotty teenage hackers - it's governments as well. And when governments buy technology from abroad how can they be sure that their aren't little surprises in store for the new owner... and has that ever happened? And did America really succeed at interfering with Iran's nuclear enrichment program?

With insights into GCHQ and the NSA, their history, their naivety at times, and their coming of age this book will really help the sceptic to understand the reasoning behind the desire to see our emails and internet traffic and try to explain that's it's all for our own good... so long as controls are maintained. It also cites a few examples where controls where breached.


This really is one excellent book and while I was a technician and did have responsibility for site security of the server farm, this book was not technical and still surprised me time and again. How could some of these things go unnoticed for so long? How could people get in and out so easily? How could people be so cavalier with their own security.

There is so much to this book it is difficult to truly explain what it's about except that the title tries to say it all.

Truly fascinating, a little frightening and although not a coffee time read, it's well worth the time and effort.

Publisher - Orion Books Genre - Non-Fiction

Her by Harriet Lane

review by Maryom

One Friday afternoon, stepping out of her local off-licence, Nina is taken aback to see a well-remembered face from the past. The other woman, Emma, struggling with a baby buggy, doesn't notice or recognise her, and as the weeks pass, and summer moves on into autumn, Nina tries to forget the incident ...but finds she can't. Nina starts to contrive reasons for the two of them to meet, drawing Emma into her life, but her reasons are far from honest. Long ago, Emma's actions hurt Nina; Emma may not remember but Nina does - and she's not going to let Emma off the hook again.

Her is a curious book - for much of it not a lot really happens but even so the writing style pulled me in; I really wanted to discover what Emma had done in her past to so offend Nina, why Nina recognises Emma but not vice versa, what exactly Nina's intentions are - obviously not a cheery Hello, nice to meet after all this time! - and I just couldn't put the book down till I had all the answers.

The story is told in first person from the alternating perspectives of Nina and Emma; maybe there's a little too much of showing incidents from both points of view as sometimes the accounts are too similar but it gets the reader into the heads of these two women, contrasting Nina's machinations with Emma's innocence, and creating an atmosphere filled with menace.
From the lead-up, I'd expected more drama in the denouement - it actually creeps up quietly with both reader and character only gradually realising the enormity of what has happened. The ending itself is tricky and ambiguous  - but it worked for me. 
I'm not quite sure it lives up to the tag of psychological thriller but it's a great compelling read, filled with a growing sense of discomfort and dread.

 Maryom's review - 4.5 stars 
Publisher - Orion (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Genre - adult, psychological thriller,

Blood Red, Snow White by Marcus Sedgwick

review by Maryom

This is the first of my Christmas present books - the fictionalised story of Arthur Ransome, who as a young man went to Russia at the time of the Revolution, leaving his wife and small daughter behind in England, and fell in love with Russia in general and one Russian woman in particular, Evgenia. It moves from fairy tale to spy thriller and back to fairy tale, a format that feels as if it reflects Ransome's relationship with Russia; his first impressions being of a vast country locked in the 'once upon a time' of princes and palaces, woodcutters and bears, but one that's about to be dragged into the 20th century with city streets filled with people demanding change, backed by guns and tanks. After these turbulent years, the fairy tale returns with a dangerous journey through snow-covered countryside and opposing battle lines.

I was in the middle of another book at Christmas, but I opened this, just intending to skim a few pages and get a feel for it - and just got pulled in to it. Marcus Sedgwick is best known for his Gothic fantasy horror stories for children and teens but here he turns his hand to the real-life adventure of another children's writer, Arthur Ransome. Going to Russia before World War 1, Ransome fell in love with the country, collecting folk tales which he published as Old Peter's Russian Tales. Later, when, revolution broke out, being 'on the spot' and friendly with the Communists now in power, he was asked to pass information about them back to Britain; some government officials were not so certain about which side Ransome's loyalties lay, suspecting him of passing information back to the Russians as well. His movement between the two countries became restricted; a heart-breaking situation for him as his beloved daughter Tabitha was in one, and Evgenia, the Russian women he doesn't want to lose, in the other. The story doesn't really give a definitive answer to this but I suspect that the only people who ever really knew the whole truth were Ransome and Evgenia.

 Although ostensibly a teens' book, I think like many of Sedgwick's stories there's no real upper age limit to its appeal.

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Orion
Genre -  teen+ , historical spy/romantic thriller,

First published in 2007, this might not be easily available but is on Kindle Blood Red, Snow White

Red Winter by Dan Smith

review by Maryom

After years of being at war, first against Germans then against the White rebels seeking to over throw the Communist revolution, Nikolai Levitsky has had enough of fighting. All he wants to do is go home and settle back down with his wife and family. But when he reaches his home village, he's in for a shock. The place is deserted apart from one old woman who talks about the village being ravaged by Koschei, a terrifying figure from old Russian folk tales. The men are discovered in the nearby forest, horribly mutilated. The women and children are gone - taken away by Koschei and his men - and Nikolai can only follow the trail and hope to find his family still alive at the end of it. But Nikolai himself is being pursued and it soon emerges that his desire to be home with his family isn't as simple and straightforward as the reader's been led to believe.

Red Winter is a gripping historical thriller, set in a time and place familiar to readers of Dr Zhivago - the civil war period just after the first world war, when Russia was torn apart by the various factions fighting for supremacy. Armed units roam the countryside arbitrarily enforcing their version of the law and it's safest to trust no one, as even old friends may turn you in to save their own skin. Against this backdrop move Koschei and his men, leaving devastation and emptiness in their wake - and Nikolai follows.

This is definitely the sort of book that once started is difficult if not impossible to put down. There's a creepy feeling of menace from the very beginning, such that I'd almost expected something more supernatural - but to be honest, with such people around as Koschei, who would need supernatural horrors?
It isn't a book of all out and out violence, though. On his journey through the beginnings of winter, Nikolai encounters people who share his frustration at the seemingly endless war; some looking for a safe place to hole up while the violence wears itself out; others out on their own quests for revenge. Nikolai himself is a complex, flawed hero, but one for whom I felt a lot of sympathy. Once full of ideals but now finding they've let him down, he's almost as much at war with himself as his country is.

This is the first Dan Smith thriller I've read  - I actually won it in a competition hosted on The Little Reader Library blog - but I'll be on the look out for more.

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars 
Publisher - Orion 
Genre - adult, historical thriller

Under the Jewelled Sky by Alison McQueen

review by Maryom

Under The Jewelled Sky is the story of Sophie Schofield who, shortly after WW2, goes to India where her father has taken up a post as doctor in the court of a wealthy maharajah. There she finds her first love and bitter heartbreak.
Ten years later, she is heading back to India but this time as the wife of a junior, but very ambitious, diplomat, Lucien Grainger. The India she encounters this time is very different to the one she knew before but the country still has the ability to stir up the past and all the forbidden emotions from then.

Alison McQueen has cleverly constructed a tale of dark family secrets that moves between the here and now of the late 1950s to the past of a decade earlier, weaving the two time-lines together seamlessly.
The characters are all sharply drawn individuals - not merely the main 'triangle' of Sophie, Lucien and Jag but the supporting cast of gossipy bored ex-pat wives or the Maharani in her splendid isolation are all brought to life on the page.
Sophie's story plays out against the magnificent backdrop of India - or rather of four very different aspects of it  - the fairytale like setting and splendour of the Maharajah's palace, the squalor and desperation of refugee camps following the partition of India and Pakistan, the rarefied life of British embassy staff cut off from the reality of India and the peaceful setting of the Nilgiri hills. All of these are described so vividly that I felt I was there.
A very enjoyable read and a newly discovered author that I'd like to read more from.

A slight aside thought is that although this novel definitely falls under the historical fiction category I've heard such a lot about India from my father's time spent there during WW2, that it feels strange to consider a period after then as history.

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars 
Publisher - Orion 
Genre - adult, historical fiction

Buy Under the Jewelled Sky from Amazon

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

review by Maryom

Alice Tanner is volunteering at an archaeological dig in the Sabarthes mountains in southern France when she accidentally discovers an underground chamber - with an altar and two corpses. Something tells her that she has stumbled on something of far-reaching importance - something that she very quickly realises others have an interest in too - something that links the present day with events many centuries earlier.

In 13th century Carcassone, Alais along with the other inhabitants is dreading the arrival of the French crusading army intent on ridding the land of Cathar heresy. Her father has charged Alais with protecting a valuable religious artefact - a task which could put her in serious danger.
The story plays out over the two time settings, both threads drawing to a conclusion in the mysterious chamber in the mountains.

Labyrinth is a mix of historical fiction and present day action adventure. The historical scenes are played out against the backdrop of the Albigensian Crusade, when the Pope encouraged the annihilation of alleged heretics and anyone who dared to help them - and I found this the more fascinating part of the story. What makes it stand out from other religious conspiracy novels is that in both time frames the 'heroes' are women - not as heroines, supporting a plot driven by men, but as the main characters.

At nearly 700 pages Labyrinth is a long read and at times I felt sections could have been shorter without detracting from the story. An enjoyable read but not one I'm likely to re-read in a hurry.

Maryom's review - 3.5 stars
Publisher - Orion
Genre - adult, historical, adventure,

Buy Labyrinth from Amazon

A Cool Head by Ian Rankin

Short but not Sweet
review by Maryom

Gravy likes to help out his friend Benjy whenever he can by keeping things safe for him, hiding them in the cemetery grounds where he works. But then one day Benjy turns up with a gun in one bag, a huge stash of cash in another - and a bullet in his chest. Gravy finds himself caught in a web of gangland intrigue with several 'hard men' trying to recover the money, each with their own personal reasons to cover up events.
A Cool Head is one of the Quick Reads series but at just over 100 pages it manages to pack is as many twists and turns as many a longer novel. The plot is satisfyingly complex. The characters are convincing and well-developed, even if some are a little stereotypical - the gangland boss who owns a scrapyard for easy disposal of  incriminating evidence; the 'going straight' brother running a casino.

An ideal read if you're looking for something short and snappy.

This is yet another book I picked it up through Bookcrossing and it's sat on my TBR pile for a year or more - glad I've got round to reading it at last!

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Orion
Genre - adult crime thriller, may appeal to older teens/YA

Buy A Cool Head (Quick Reads) from Amazon

The Alchemist and the Angel by Joanne Owen

Bringing the dead back to life
Review by The Mole

Jan is orphaned and living with his Aunt and Uncle. His Uncle decides to take Jan on as an apprentice alchemist and his training is going well when his Uncle dies suddenly. His Aunt then decides to move to Prague so Jan goes with her believing her to be a sincere benefactor. He meets Zuzana, a young girl who helps among the plague victims of the ghettos and she carries secrets with her.

Jan is a trusting youth who fails to see the bad in those who he feels love him. Unfortunately the trust he places in others is not always well placed.

While there is a small amount of love interest it is such a small part of the story it mustn't dissuade readers as the story is sure to entrance and delight the younger readers as Jan sets out to find a cure for the plague - the killer of his own parents. His intentions are totally altruistic while innocent and naive. I have to admit to wanting to shake Jan and say "look behind you" on several occasions and I'm sure younger readers will too.  This I feel will pull them in and engage them in this story.

The story is peppered with myths and legends told incidentally by characters within the plot, but published separately on illuminations made to look like ancient parchment making it very easy for the reader to remember that they have 'stepped outside' the story for a while.

Peppered with real historical figures this is a really nice story with magic and alchemy set in sixteenth century Prague and Vienna. for readers who are around 10+.

Publisher - Orion Books
Genre - Children's Historical/Fantasy Fiction

Buy The Alchemist and the Angel from Amazon

The One Dollar Horse by Lauren St John

review by Maryom
Casey Blue lives for the time she can spend at her local riding school and has one dream in life - to win at Badminton Horse Trials. Living in a grim London tower block, there isn't really any hope of her dream coming true until the day she saves a beaten up, starving horse from the knackers' yard by buying him with a dollar bill she finds in the street. With the help of her elderly friend, Mrs Smith, a former dressage rider, she nurses Storm Warning back to health and trains him for the rigorous sport of 3-day eventing. Not everyone is helpful to a novice eventer though - there are plenty of bitchy, snobby girls and dubious characters from Casey's dad's criminal past all ready and willing to stand in the way of Casey's dream.
The One Dollar Horse is a story for every young horse-lover. To take a worn-out wreck of a horse, see that special something in him that others don't and realise your dreams is like a fairy-tale come true! Casey is still a hard-working heroine despite her lucky breaks, determined to rise above her circumstances and reach for her goal.
The author really captures the atmosphere of both stable yard and eventing and makes the reader feel that they are alongside Casey as she competes, particularly at the Badminton cross country event.
There are of course a numerous amount of lucky chances for Casey and a fairly predictable ending but this is nonetheless an excellent 'horsey' read.

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Orion
Genre - 12+ Fiction

Buy The One Dollar Horse from Amazon

My Sister Lives On The Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher

review by Maryom

5 years ago Jamie's sister Rose was blown apart by a bomb. People have said that time will make things better for her family but as far as Jamie can see, they're actually getting worse - his dad cries all the time, has all Muslims marked down as terrorists and drinks himself to sleep at night; his Mum has run off with the man from the support group; Jasmine, Rose's twin, dressed for so long in the image of her dead sister, has cut off her hair, dyed it pink and got her nose pierced in an attempt to be herself.

When someone phones Dad with an offer of work in the Lake District, he decides to go for it but a change of location doesn't magically bring things back to normal.

This is one of those books that I'd heard such a lot of hype about and wondered how it was possible for it to live up to it - but it does!! My Sister Lives On The Mantelpiece is a surprisingly funny and totally readable tale of a family trying to come to terms with the death of a child.

Told through the eyes of Jamie - who was 5 when Rose died and doesn't remember her too well - avoids too much sentimentality. He is more interested in his cat, his new school, keeping secret his friendship with Muslim girl Sunya and his desperate belief that his mother will return to them one day.

This story is both unflinchingly brutal and laugh out loud funny. Although aimed at teens, I'd recommend it for almost anyone!

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Orion Books
Genre - teen,

The Secret Shopper's Revenge by Kate Harrison

review by Maryom

Emily and Sandie have both had enough of shop-assistants. Emily because they sneer at her flabby, new-mum figure and tightened finances. Sandie because after many years of faithful service at a top department store, her deputy engineers for her to be fired. So when they're offered the chance to shop at someone else's expense - and dig out the dirt on snooty, lazy sales-staff they both jump at it. Led by glamorous widow Grazia, and answering to a mysterious anonymous boss, they form 'Charlie's Shopping Angels', going undercover to unearth the worst - or the best - in customer service.

If you've ever had to wait for an assistant to finish her oh-so-important phone call or to put the final touches to her nails, this is the book for you!

This came off my To Be Read pile (so therefore another on my 2012 challenge list) and I'd half-expected to read it and pass it on but it's so enjoyable I've decided to keep it. The characters are well fleshed-out and believable, especially the three main- and very distinct- ones but even the 'handsome hunk' love interest is more than a cardboard cut out. Emily, Sandie and Grazia have all, in some way, had their world fall apart and it's easy to empathise with them as they try to turn life around and make a new start. It's not doom, gloom and angst though - this is chick lit/rom com territory so everything is sprinkled with a large helping of laughs.

A really fun read - I think the first I've read by Kate Harrison, so I'll be on the look-out for more.

Maryom's review - 4 stars

Publisher - Orion
Genre - adult, chick lit/ rom com

Buy The Secret Shopper's Revenge from Amazon

The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz

Classic Sherlock
Review by The Mole

A while ago I blogged about this book's publicity campaign and felt it was a real taster that had me, and I'm sure a great deal more people, looking to finding a copy. Well I found a review copy in my stocking and have now had chance to read it.

"The first official new Sherlock Holmes mystery, written by global best seller Anthony Horowitz" is how Orion Books introduce this book on their website and I would agree that this book is worthy of the title.

An art dealer has a suspicious watcher who he now believes has burgled him and he wants Holmes to investigate and recover a necklace which has monetary but great sentimental value. This investigation opens up a complex and multistranded case that nearly brings the great man down.

I have to say that very early on I knew where The House Of Silk was and felt a little disappointed but the further the story went on and bent and twisted the less important this fact turned out to be. At the end there is the traditional summing up to tie up any loose ends. I had lost track of all the ends that could be loose but they were all there being tied up. At times I had started to wonder how we jumped from one line of investigation to another and I thought "How? Coincidence? Plot device?" but it turned out the answer was simple... Anthony Horowitz hadn't missed a trick and knitted everything together in a totally logical way with no contrived 'cheats'.

Excellently written, plotted and delivered and I believe Arthur Conan Doyle would have been happy to endorse this book into the annals of Sherlock Holmes.

Publisher - Orion Books
Genre - Adult, Fiction,Crime

Buy The House of Silk: The New Sherlock Holmes Novel from Amazon

The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick

Continuing our series of seasonal posts - a children's thriller set in the Dead Days between Christmas and New Year -

Underworld Adventures
review by Maryom

During the Dead Days between Christmas and New Year doors open between our everyday world and the supernatural one that goes unnoticed for the rest of the year. Something is coming from this other world in search of the great stage magician Valerian. Many years ago he made a pact to get what he wanted - and now it's time to pay up! He believes there is a book that will tell him how to avoid his debt - if only he can find it, accompanied by his assistant unnamed street orphan Boy he sets off on a hunt round the frost bound streets and alleys and graveyards of the City.

The Book of Dead Days is an exciting race-against-time adventure set in a sprawling unnamed city somewhere vaguely in Europe and somewhat vaguely located in time. It's a place where magic combines with and contrasts against science; a place of dark alleyways, magnificent domed houses and ghostly catacombs - particularly scary if, like me, you've the slightest fear of confined underground spaces.
A rather younger read than some Marcus Sedgwick novels but still an enthralling read full of atmosphere and threat.

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Orion
Genre - children's, fantasy, thriller