A Question of Trust by Jonathan Pinnock

Life always seems unnecessarily complicated round Tom Winscombe. Just when he thought things were settled, his bizarre luck strikes again and everything comes unraveled. His girlfriend Dorothy has gone missing, and her company's offices have been cleared out; all the PCs stolen, all the money gone.

Now Tom is having to share a bed-sit with Dorothy's business partner, Ali (not Tom's biggest fan). While she desperately tries to keep their company going, Tom's priority is to find out what's happened to Dorothy. Is it feasible she's run off with the money and equipment? Could someone else have stolen it and be holding Dorothy hostage? 

Meanwhile, Tom's father has got tangled up in some cryptocurrency scam, an old presumed-dead acquaintance has re-surfaced, and another definitely-dead acquaintance is sending him LinkdIn messages. Life's certainly not dull around Tom!

So off he goes on another escapade; an innocent caught up in a world of criminal activities and dodgy dealings, with little but his luck to help him. This time he gets mixed up with questionable city types, an off shore independent country in the Bristol Channel, crashing a stag weekend, an escaped python and an unusual use of the Fibonacci sequence - with plenty of dangerous James Bond style stunts (though Bond would probably have pulled them off with a bit more grace and panache). It's hectic, frequently dangerous, sometimes darkly humorous, sometimes laugh out loud slapstick.

As with Tom's previous mis-adventure The Truth about Archie and Pye, it's not a serious, grim Nordic Noir thriller, more 'James Bond meets Simon Pegg/Edgar Wright', or Adam West's Batman without the cape. It could all turn deadly, but it's undeniably fun.




Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Farrago
Genre - adult thriller 

Rarity From The Hollow by Robert Eggleton

Review by The Mole

Twelve year old Lacy Dawn lives in the Hollow, a place that the world seems to have forgotten. Her father suffers from PTSD after the Gulf War and family abuse follows as a result. Lacy Dawn's friend's family suffer similarly but her friend was killed through it. But Lacy Dawn has another friend who has his own spaceship - and when Lacy Dawn isn't talking to trees or her dead friend she is taking lessons in the spaceship and falling in love with a robot.

...and Lacy Dawn has to save the universe?

Lacy Dawn is a difficult character to get to grips with as she is intelligent beyond her years yet always the child that she is, as well. Her parents (she is an only child) came across to me as genuine and well written and plausible and her other friends and relatives similarly.

Drugs, used recreationally, feature highly in the books - although not for Lacy Dawn - but they are used to highlight some of the erratic behaviour of characters. Sex also features regularly but behind closed doors only and NOT with Lacy Dawn involved - she is saving herself for when Dotcom marries her. Dotcom is her robot boyfriend from outer space.

Tension and edge of the seat reading did not feature in this book for me but none the less it was a compelling read - one that didn't get me uptight, which was nice for once. It was also laced with humour, not laugh out loud or share with someone in the room humour, but enough to lighten the mood just a little.

It has been described as "an adult literary novel with a social science fiction" but I very much found it science fiction with a little fantasy but very much focussed on social issues - including abuse within the family.

And family abuse (in which the children always suffer in some way shape or form) is something the author has spent his career working against so the author proceeds of the current edition of this book are going to a children's home charity.

A great book that doesn't in any way preach yet brings home 2 things:
(1) important social messages
(2) a truly entertaining story

Genre - Adult Science Fiction
Publisher - Dog Horn Publishing

Space Team by Barry Hutchison

Review by The Mole

Cal Carter is an habitual criminal and has landed himself in jail. The wrong jail and the wrong cell. He is put in a cell with a cannibalistic murderer. And things go badly. For everyone but Cal who is kidnapped and recruited as part of an intergalactic conspiracy. But it's not Cal they wanted...

The title and cover might infer this is a children's book - but not for any child I know. YA or adult is the target audience and fans of Adams, Holt, Pratchett and Rankin (Robert NOT Ian) will enjoy this one. Some describe it as laugh out loud and that's not a label I would put on it. It's funny, in a Marvel film sort of way, also in keeping with Holt and Rankin but the sort of humour that blends into the plot and doesn't distract from it.

It's fast paced making it difficult to put down but do you get to really deeply understand the characters? I didn't and frankly I didn't want to - I just wanted to follow the story and it felt like this page's hero could be the next pages bad guy anyway.

Extremely well written and balanced with the emphasis on telling the story. Although there will be more Space Team books this was not a scene setter but a proper stand alone book.

In summary - I loved it! well done Mr H.

Publisher - Zertex Books 
Genre - Adult/YA Sci-Fi Humour

Help! I'm an Alien by Jo Franklin

Review by The Mole

Daniel Kendal is different—different to the other Kendals anyway. After all, he’s the only one with brown hair and brown eyes and what’s more, he’s taller than his family, his friends and probably everyone else in the entire world.

Big sister Jessie has made it clear just how different Daniel is, by explaining that he is in fact, an alien, kindly adopted by her parents. Confused, Daniel turns to his best friends, Eddie and Gordon the Geek, for help. Together perhaps they can work out where he really belongs.

When well meaning friends come to the rescue nothing is guaranteed to go well. Moving rapidly from disaster to disaster, his friends try to help him sort out his dilemma and end up getting his parents taken hostage!

An easy but funny read which is bound to appeal to young readers. Listed as age 7-9, advanced readers will enjoy it sooner and older kids may enjoy it in secret - it's not a 'cool' type of book for the older child but they will enjoy it. Frequent black and white illustrations add substance to the well written characters and help to bring the story to life.

Fun and full of silliness but also touching on some slightly deeper issues of phobias and friendships.

Publisher - Troika Books
Genre - Children's 7-9 humorous fiction

Diary of a Teenage Rock God by Jonathan Meres

review by Maryom

Darren used to want to be a footballer when he grew up - but not any more! Now he wants to be a rock god. First though he needs a guitar, but it's his eleventh birthday next week, and maybe, just maybe, his dad will buy him one. Things aren't quite that simple with Darren's dad though - first he sets a series of clues,and it's only if Darren can solve  them that he stands any chance of getting that longed-for guitar ...


Join Darren on his discovery of all things rock - including the shocking discovery that not only was his dad young once, he was also kind of cool! On the way he shares his lists of things he's learned - from his Top Ten favourite guitar brands, facts about Radiohead and the Smiths, and songs with names in their titles. He can't think of one with Darren in it. Could you? or maybe one with your name?

It's a fun read, aimed at anyone from 8 upwards (even as far as grown-ups who can remember the music from their youth!) and presented in Barrington Stoke's accessible font and layout, with lots of music-themed line illustrations to liven up the pages.

Publisher - Barrington Stoke
Genre - children's 8-12, humour, music

It's Just The Chronosphere Unfolding As It Should by Ira Nayman

a Radames Trafshanian Time Agency novel (Transdimensional Authority Book 4)

Review by The Mole

In Random Dingoes we met Radames Trafshanian - a Time Agency agent - after Noomi and Crash's case was shown to involve time travel. In this book we follow a case of Radames' as she tries to unravel the occurrences of déjà vu that seem to be causing time anomalies and threaten the stability of the multiverse.

These stories are extremely funny - I am careful with the word "hilarious" as it invokes memories of watching Morecambe and Wise as a child and laughing until my ribs, quite literally, hurt. But who really wants that in a book? You'd never get the book finished as you kept having to find your place on the page! But Nayman's books are just short of that but...

Time travel is one of those things that it's so easy to get totally obsessed with as an author and as a reader, and the concept of the multiverse further complicates that. Nayman somehow sidesteps those problems and leaves you with a novel that almost feels plausibly real - until you think about it.

My own view is that Nayman is actually getting better at these stories and the books (I've only read 1 and 3) were never anything but good but do improve. I know that when I turned the last page to find the appendices came next I was disappointed - disappointed that there was no more and I would have to wait for book 5!

A read for YA/adult readers that love humour and scifi and don't take their reading too seriously.

Genre - YA/Adult Humour, Sci-Fi
Publisher - Elsewhen Press

Random Dingoes by Ira Nayman

Review by The Mole

A new drug is in town, Joy Joy, that causes the user to see their lives in other multiverses - at the same time! Noomi and Crash (see "Welcome To The Multiverse") are sent to track the dealer down but along the way another, more important, case comes up so they team up with Radames Trafshanian, a Time Agency agent, to find the user of an unlicensed time machine that threatens the fabric of the multiverse.

Nayman's work is always funny and quirky but here, more so than in the other books I have read by him, the plotting is deeper, more consistent and the story is stronger. It's almost a more serious novel except that it's not - it's still hugely entertaining making you smile on most every page - if not laugh out loud.

The study questions, at the end of each chapter are something not to be taken seriously (obviously, when you read them) but add to the humour - in case you are taking things too seriously.

Sci-Fi fans may not take Nayman seriously but here, in this novel, he approaches that hot potato of time travel that no-one gets 100% right and does a remarkably good job of trying. Come on Sci-Fi fans,stop taking it so seriously and take a trip aboard the Transdimensional Delorean - you may just enjoy yourselves.

Genre - Adult Humour, Sci-Fi
Publisher - Elsewhen Press

A Brush with Danger (Fox Investigates) by Adam Frost

Illustrated by Emily Fox

Review by The Mole

Suzie La Pooch engages Wily Fox (private investigator) to find out why the people she bought a painting from are so desperate to buy it back again. Before Wily can start the investigation it is stolen and Wily knows who by.

With the aid of some rather clever gadgets Wily chases across Europe pursuing clues.

A glance at the cover leads you to expect a degree of silliness, a degree of impossibility, and a very large measure of fun and that is very much what you get with Wily Fox. Wily has help and support from Albert (a mole) who provides the inventions and Sybil Squirrel, who works for Julius Hound, a member of PSSST (a police force of sorts). With black and white illustrations on most every page the humour of the book is added to making this an excellent early reader for any child who loves mysteries or enjoys a laugh. And that surely encompasses most children.

Publisher - Stripes Publishing
Genre - Children's early reader, adventure, humour.

Frank Derrick's Holiday of a Lifetime by J B Morrison

review by Maryom

Frank Derrick is about to be whisked away from cold damp Fullwind on Sea and his life of charity shop trawling and free bus-rides to the 'big Sainsburys', heading off to sunny California. He may be 82 but he's never been one to act his age so when his daughter Beth phones to tell him two pieces of bad news, he decides he must go and see her - after all what are fathers for if not to help out in a sticky patch? The main problem is Beth lives at least a 12 hour flight away. Then there's the minor issue of how to fund the trip; Frank doesn't exactly have money to spare - more like unpaid debts - but where there's a will there's a way to find the cash. So Frank buys a 'new' set of suitcases from the charity shop, gets out his best Hawaiian shirts and heads west. Arriving in California, he discovers granddaughter Laura has laid on an itinerary not only to show him all the sights, but for a family reunion to bring happiness back to her mum's life.

  Frank's holiday is like a dream come true - he visits all the famous locations he knows from movies and TV, sees the homes of Hollywood stars, walks in their footsteps, and is as over-joyed as a child - but the greatest happiness comes from being with his family again. At the same time, the book is tinged with sadness for even the best of holidays has to come to an end, and what will Frank do then?

 I loved  The Extra Ordinary Life of Frank Derrick, age 81 , and this second instalment of Frank's adventures is easily as funny as the first. Filled with wry humour, heart-warming without being schmaltzy, JB Morrison's tales of eighty-something Frank are a delight.

Like Extra Ordinary Life, this is a story about seizing opportunities, embracing new things, and not letting age be a reason to slow down and opt out. I hope there are many more adventures still to come for Frank.

Maryom's Review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Pan Books
Genre - adult fiction, humour

All Together Now by Gill Hornby

review by Maryom

 The Bridgeford Community Choir is in crisis; their organiser Constance is in hospital following a car accident and the county championships are looming. They need a new leader - and a lot of new members.
Tracey doesn't see herself as a person to join in with community events, especially not a group singing hits from the musicals or Abba selections - she's far too cool for such things - but when her neighbour hears her singing, he decides she's just the sort of new blood that the choir are looking for, and it turns out to be a lot more fun than she'd expected.
Annie is the heart and soul of Bridgeford. She knows everyone, from small children to their elderly grandparents, always has a cheery word to say to those she meets, and is the kind of stalwart figure who helps out everywhere - with the choir, at the library, visiting at the hospital - but, while so busy helping out in the community, has she forgot to pay attention to those closer to home?

All Together Now is more than the story of a choir and a singing contest - it's the story of a whole small-town community, trying to put some pride back into the high street, fighting off the big corporation trying to build a supermarket, and getting people to re-connect with their neighbours.
It's fun, it's feel good, a light-hearted, amusing read with a predictably happy ending. If you're a fan of Britain's Got Talent, X Factor or The Choir, you'll love it!
At times credibility seems stretched just a little too far - would the local youths, the heavy rockers and hoodies be that willing to get involved?  I don't think so - but after all it's a light piece of escapism, so does it matter too much?

Maryom's review - 3.5 stars
Publisher - Little, Brown
Genre -adult, humour,

The D'Evil Diaries by Tatum Flynn

Review by The Mole

Jinx D'Evil is Lucifer's son but he's not very good at being evil. In fact that's his problem he keeps being good and not evil. When he is given an instruction - by his dad or anyone else - he does it to the best of his abilities! His dad decides he will join the army but he cannot stand this idea so he runs away and discovers a plot to overthrow Lucifer and invade heaven. Inept and incapable as he is he has to stop this from happening but he has help in the form of a dead (although human) girl who shouldn't be in hell anyway because children aren't permitted.

Very funny but also very clever, this book had me thinking and I'm sure young readers will be laughing but also contemplating about the nature of evil at the same time.

Demons and monsters of every shade of colour and horror abound as Jinx blunders across hell, each new one encountered is a new opportunity for mayhem and laughs.

Easily read with a hero who is good at nothing and an unlikely heroine who saves his bacon time and time again this book has something for any child who enjoys a laugh.

Publisher - Orchard Books
Genre - Children's humour, fantasy adventure

Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher

review by Maryom

In his position as professor of English and Creative Writing at Payne University, Jason Fitger finds himself, almost constantly, being asked to write letters of recommendation for his students, his fellow professors and authors, as they desperately try to get funding/promotion/work placement/a publishing deal. Through this long series of letters we get to know as much about Fitger himself as the applicants he's supporting. He's disgruntled and opinionated, and not reticent about his opinions of the shortcomings of the university funding system. He's hopeless at computerised forms, instead of ticking the appropriate box he prefers to ramble round about the subject, digressing into rants against his pet hates or his ex-wife, and then send his letters in the good old-fashioned snail-mail way.

Fitger is like an academic version of Reggie Perrin or Victor Meldrew - his career as an author never lived up to its early promise, his marriage failed through his own fault, his English department is underfunded and constantly threatened by further cut-backs (while the Economics and Science faculties seem to have money to spare), and the building seems about to fall down about his ears! He's depressed and demoralised, yet he made me laugh. I've absolutely no idea about the inner workings of an English department, but does that matter? I don't think so (I just hope it isn't TOO true to life!)

Dear Committee Members is a short book - 180 pages - but full of wry humour, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Maryom's review -  4.5 stars
Publisher - The Friday Project
Genre - Adult fiction,

Love, Sex and other Foreign Policy Goals by Jesse Armstrong

review by Maryom

1994 - and what used to be Yugoslavia is splitting into innumerable factions, all at war with each other. Into this turmoil venture a group of well-meaning young activists from Manchester, convinced that if they can reach Sarajevo in their van, and perform their peace-promoting play, all will be right with the world.

Andrew has definite views about the situation in Yugoslavia, believing utterly that war is a bad thing, but more importantly, from a personal perspective, beautiful, desirable Penny is writing the play and going along on the trip - volunteering will surely help him win her love, won't it? Certainly it will mean he can keep an eye on his rival Simon, and any moves he might attempt on Penny's affections. So Andrew joins the group, and they head off through Europe in a Transit van, carrying supplies for those displaced by war and bringing hope to all, or so they believe.

This is the first novel from Peep Show and The Thick of It writer Jesse Armstrong, a tale of naive do-gooders off to bring peace and happiness to a worn-torn country when all UN intervention has failed. As you'd expect it's fairly light, a lot nearer to Summer Holiday than The Killing Fields; even by the group's leader, passionate, fiery American Shannon, the whole thing's seen as more of a road trip with a little philanthropy on the side than a serious peace mission. The group potter about, making friends with a small-town war lord, hiring mercenaries, dodging bombs and bullets, seemingly unaware of the danger they could be in, and with Andrew's eye always fixed on his real reason for being there - getting to sleep with Penny.
 It's not big on characterisation or deep insights into the plight of man, although the group do come to realise the horror of war and the futility of their plan. Overall the feeling is of wry humour, rather than laugh out loud comedy but it's an enjoyable enough read, though it felt at times like it might have been originally intended for screen rather than page.

It seems odd to label this as 'historical fiction' but set in the 1990s, what else could it be!

Maryom's review -  3.5 stars

Publisher - Jonathan Cape

Genre - adult fiction, historical fiction, humour, road trip

Last Bus to Coffeeville by J Paul Henderson

Review by The Mole

Nancy, Gene and Bob met at university as young activists trying to bring about the end of segregation. Gene was studying to become a doctor and Nancy took a shine to him. Nancy comes from the deep south where desegregation is the most stalled. When she takes him home to meet her family she confides the awful truth that Alzheimer's Disease is hereditary in her family - amongst the women - and she manages to get him to promise that when (not if) her time comes he must help her to die rather than suffer the degradation that the disease brings.

On returning  to college later Doc (Gene in the early part of the book) finds a note that Nancy is splitting up with him.

A lifetime later and a call out of the blue from Nancy about meeting up. Their friendship is re-kindled and Nancy explains that the early signs of Alzheimer's are showing.

While this book is ostensibly about their trip back to the deep south where Nancy wants to spend her final days that would be like saying that "War and Peace" is about Russia - there is so much more story along the way that the reason for this group of friends coming together is very much secondary.

The most part of the first half of the book is more like a group of linked short stories. With each character we meet we are treated (a carefully chosen word) to hearing their back story - and every one is an interesting delight. Then when the friends come together and the journey starts the book changes to a proper story telling.

This group of friends is a very diverse group in age, outlook and history and the journey bumps along with incident after incident but frequently returning to that horrific subject of Alzheimer's.

Did I mention the humour? I need to mention the humour... while trivialising nothing and not making fun of the disease or its victims in any way, this story is laced with humour throughout from this eclectic list of characters.

Doc - who's been dealt a bad hand by life but when he does get a good hand then life goes and trumps it. He tends to be a bit miserable.

Bob - an ex FBI hit man - a job he couldn't resign from so now he's hiding from them but despite this he is the most optimistic and realistic of the bunch.

Eric - a 13 year old boy whose parents have died and his guardians have enrolled him in a deaf school. He's not in the slightest bit deaf.

Susan - Eric's exotic dancing cousin and only family.

Jack - an ex weatherman most noted for his on-air resignation and terrified he's losing his hair.

And finally, Nancy - the most normal of the bunch but perhaps normal is overrated.

A brilliant début by this author and I look forward to what he pens next. Funny and sad in equal measure this book will appeal to most adult readers but as for a genre? I have no real idea.

Publisher - No Exit Press
Genre - Adult, road trip, humour

Losing It by Helen Lederer

review by Maryom

50-something Millie has problems - she's divorced, in debt and over weight. When she's asked to front an ad campaign for a new diet pill she thinks she may have found the answer to two of those, if not all three - surely if she were thinner she could find at man to take her to the cinema at least? Life isn't that simple of course and when the weight doesn't instantly drop away poor Millie finds herself harassed and harangued into all manner of 'helpful' activities from jogging to tantric sex ....


Losing It is the debut novel from comedian and actor Helen Lederer, and, as you'd expect from someone who's served their time in TV comedy and stand up, it's an incredibly funny book, packed full of ludicrous situations just waiting to trip heroine Millie up. However you describe it - chick lit for grown-ups/almost-oldies or Helen's preferred mid-lit - it's a delight to read. Although the emphasis is definitely on the comedy, the author shows enough perception and insight for the characters to ring true. Heroine Millie is someone the reader can easily empathise with; she's a mid-fifties singleton, with worries about her finances, her weight, and her daughter's career and love life, but still naively optimistic - even if we've not quite been there, these are all feelings we can relate to. Millie's attempts to get her life, and weight, back in order lead to the most cringe-making moments imaginable.
Anyone who regularly reads my reviews knows that in between the deep literary works and the nail-biting crime thrillers, I like some 'down-time', something lighter but not mind-deadening, and I think Helen Lederer is going to be a great addition to my favourite chick-lit authors - Sophie Kinsella, Hester Browne and, err, Matt Dunn. I loved Losing It and I hope there'll be further follow-up adventures for Millie soon.




If you want to hear more from Helen Lederer about Millie and Losing It check out our Q+A with her, part of a blog tour celebrating the book's launch.

Maryom's Review - 5 stars
Publisher - Pan Books
Genre -chick lit, humour,

As Good As It Gets? by Fiona Gibson

review by Maryom
16 years ago, pregnant Charlotte was abandoned by her boyfriend Fraser and left to bring up their daughter Rosie alone. Since then she hasn't seen Fraser once, but found love and happiness in a new relationship with Will to whom she's now been married nearly 15 years. Recently though things have hit a dull patch, companionship has replaced romance, and recently redundant Will seems to be having a mid-life crisis. All fun seems to be reserved for the younger generation, particularly Rosie who's just landed a modelling contract with a top agency. Charlotte feels that somewhere, somehow, she's missing out and life is passing her by. Is this as good as it gets? When Fraser suddenly turns back up on the scene, Charlotte begins to wonder if life with him would have worked out better ....

I first discovered Fiona Gibson last year with Take Mum Out a laugh out loud look at dating for the slightly more mature, and although I didn't find as many laughs in As Good As It Gets? this is still a light-hearted chick lit style tale for the mid-life crisis age group. After all the romance and happy-ever-afters of romantic fiction come the long years of juggling housework, jobs, childcare, with no time any more for romantic dinners for two - and this is where Charlotte and Will find themselves. With a husband who is alternately moody and secretive or trying to live it up by partying all hours with the new neighbours, it's not surprising that Charlotte might start to wonder about the choices she's made in life! Poor Will certainly comes in for some prat-fall moments - 'dirty dancing' at the neighbours' party, dusting down his leather trousers to appear young and hip - and then having them eaten, in strategic places, by an escaped rabbit. How can he hope to compete with Fraser who, by his absence has remained forever young in Charlotte's imagination?


Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Harper Collins (Avon)
Genre - adult, romcom/chick lit, humour

The Very Embarrassing Book of Dad Jokes by Ian Allen

Review by The Mole

My daughter generally buys me a book each Christmas that is either based on a comedy TV series or one that is packed with jokes and I have to admit it becomes a bit of a highlight for me.

This year it was this gem. Many of this collection can be retitled "Christmas cracker jokes" - and if that sounds bad may I assure it's not. One cracker joke on its own may grate but when they come thick and fast then they become all the funnier for it - even when you are sober.

But as you read the 223 pages you will need to share them with whoever can stand your company while you tell them - the ones you really need to share.

Once again she has made a great choice for a great present and while many aren't "new" it was surprising how many were.

"How do you turn a duck into a soul singer? - put it in a microwave until its bill withers"
"What was Beethoven's fifth favourite fruit? - ba-na-na-na"

223 glorious pages of them.

Publisher - Portico
Genre - humour

Advantages of the Older Man by Gwyneth Lewis

review by Maryom

Growing up in Swansea, Jennie has had her fill of both Dylan Thomas and poetry, but when she meets aspiring poet Peter, she soon puts her prejudice aside and finds even an open mic poetry evening can be ok so long as she can be with Peter. Sadly, the course of true love doesn't run smooth and after a fiasco at the Swansea carnival parade, Peter turns sullen and ignores her. Help is at hand for Jennie though, in the unlikely guise of Dylan Thomas - or at least his ghost - who claims he can help her win Peter's heart, but first Jennie has to help Thomas with his plans....


Advantages of the Older Man is a novella-length ghost story; not a scary one that leaves you afraid of the dark or wary of the noises in the attic, but a light-hearted, entertaining one - more Beetlejuice than The Woman in Black.
Dylan Thomas isn't as you would expect him to be either. His drunken lifestyle and moody Celtic image were apparently just an act for the punters - his real self is quieter, homelier and into long-distance running! While pursuing his own ends, he leads Jennie off on a whirlwind trip to the US where nothing goes remotely to plan but we discover the real reason behind Thomas's return from beyond the grave.

Although the author, Gwyneth Lewis, is a former Welsh National Poet, with several poetry collections and non-fiction books to her name, the only work of hers I've read is The Meat Tree , a sci-fi re-working of the Blodeuwedd myth for Seren's Mabinogion series, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Advantages of the Older Man. It probably isn't something I'd have picked up for myself but, when offered it for review, it sounded quirky and funny so I said yes - and I'm so glad I did.

It's darkly funny, filled throughout with wry humour and cleverly written with an unexpected twist at the end; an unusual find, but one I really enjoyed.



Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Seren Books
Genre - adult ghost stories, humour

WTF Knits by Gabrielle Grillo and Lucy Sweet

review by Maryom

Think you know knitting? Well, think again. These days it's not just about lacy baby clothes or heavy Sara Lund style Nordic sweaters, it all more arty and...well, frankly....weird.

Since 2010 Gabrielle Grillo had been collecting photos of strange, mind-boggling knitting on Tumblr and here it is collected together in book form.
There's the fairly common knitted food - hamburgers, fruit, veg, a whole butcher's display - and cigarettes if you really need them, odd but kinda-cute headgear for your favourite pet - dress your dog as a unicorn or reindeer, or disguise your tortoise's shell as a bat or tor(toise)illa. There are murder scenes and knitted celebrities, internal organs and rather a lot of knitted poo (fortunately there's a knitted toilet roll to accompany it)

Some of it might be considered art, some of it's just macabre but, however you feel, it certainly stretches the imagination about what can be achieved with yarn and some needles.
This isn't a knitting 'pattern' book, just a collection show-casing what others have made. I was a little disappointed that some didn't have patterns - I'd love a Princess Leia hair-style hat, and some seemed ideal for unusual Halloween costumes - but for the most part they're perhaps best just left on the page.

It ISN'T a book for granny or an elderly aunt, unless you're confident of their open-mindedness - but for any knitter who delights in the bizarre and wacky it could prove an ideal Christmas present.

Publisher - Bantam Press
Genre - knitting, art, craft

Spies in Disguise: Boy in a Tutu by Kate Scott

Review by The Mole

We first met Jo(si)e and Sam in Boy in Tights when, due to his parents having been rumbled as government spies they needed to relocate and change identities. Now Josie and Sam are given a real mission to protect some valuable World Cup memorabilia as the local leisure centre - the only thing is they must join ballet classes as part of their cover. And it becomes obvious that someone is taking too much interest in Josie.

The best thing about "Spies in Disguise" is that they are not meant as  serious spy novels - even for it's target readership. they are meant as funny escapism - even 6+ readers want that - and Kate Scott achieves it in spades! Without resorting to belches and farts she brings laughs with wit that entertains adults as well as children, which would make these excellent bed time stories. And they are stories - ones where the plot hangs together properly no matter how ridiculous the plot or action may seem to an adult. And it's not all light and roses for our duo either - there are spats and fallings out along the way, but teamwork is needed to succeed.

And there's no preaching to the reader either. Another great book for the very early reader - but why stop with just them?

Publisher - Piccadilly Press
Genre - Children's (6+) Spy Story, humour