Helen's Bookshelf

The Distant Echo by Val McDermid

2020-06-20T13:15:00.002+01:00

On a freezing morning in Fife four drunken students stumble upon the body of a woman in the snow. Rosie has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in an ancient Pictish cemetery. The only suspects are the four young men now stained with her blood.
25 years later police mount a cold case review. when two of the four die in suspicious circumstances, it seems that someone is pursuing their own brand of justice.
I love the way VMcD writes.
was a bit disappointed with the outcome of this though.

2020-06-15T13:33:00.003+01:00

Flesh and blood by Patricia Cornwell

2020-06-15T13:33:00.001+01:00

I read this during lockdown 2020
A Dr Kay Scarpetta nvel.
I must admit skim reading this one , it involves a sniper tats all I can glean from it

The Light Between the Oceans by M L Stedman

2020-06-15T13:31:00.000+01:00

I read this during the 2020 lockdown.
It was given to me by Kay, not the usual type of book I would have picked up myself
A boat washes up on the shore of a remote lighthouse keeper's island. it holds a dead man and a baby. the two slanders who have lost several babies to miscarriage decide to keep the baby as their own.
Happy and devastatingly sad consequences happen after their decision.
A happy and sad and moving portrayal of mother child relationships

The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell

2020-06-15T13:25:00.001+01:00

I read this in lockdown 2020
A Kurt Wallender novel (the last)
Early one morning Hakan Van Enke goes off for his normal walk and doesn't come back.
A story of family intrigue.
Hakans wife goes missing , their son is the partner of Wallenders daughter and father to his grandchild.
Lots of plot lines, very interesting, moves alog at a pace .
Very enjoyable read

TheSlap

2020-06-15T13:19:00.001+01:00

I saw this on box set so have not bothered to read the book, very interesting story about a man slapping a young boy at a family bbq. He was swinging a baseball bat around, the man was scared for his own son, the child's mother is a snowflake raising an entitled snowflake. The man is not all he seems to be as he beats his wife and is a crook to boot.
Complicated family saga.

The Dust that falls from Dreams by Louis De Bernieries

2019-09-19T12:30:00.001+01:00

I read this for September 2019 book club.

Oh Dear! I have read and loved lots of other books by this author, but was very disappointed in this one. Published in 2015 I felt it got on the 100 years since WWI bandwagon. Read like something out of Downton Abbey .....I felt it was cliched, lacked the grit and realism of his other works.

The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

2019-09-19T12:26:00.000+01:00

I listened to this while travelling to Bury St Edmunds and back.

Very interesting, the Author is the narrator and gets involved in the action.
A woman goes into a funeral directors and plans her own funeral , only to be murdered the following day.

Lots of twists and turns
Very good book

Absolute Proof by Peter James

2019-09-19T12:22:00.002+01:00

Eddie Thompson lent me this book . I read it August 2019.
I have read quite a lot of books by Peter James, most detective ones. This one is about a quest to find the truth as to God's existence. Written in James' usual style, this made an interesting read. I hope there is a follow up, or maybe the questions left hanging should be left.
I liked this book.

Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich

2019-07-24T13:03:00.000+01:00

I listened to this July 2019

Silly, Sexy, Violent and funny - Perfect listen while ironing
This is what Good reads says:
tephanie Plum is thinking her career as a fugitive apprehension agent has run its course. She's been shot at, spat at, cussed at, fire-bombed, mooned, and attacked by dogs. Stephanie thinks it's time for a change. So she quits. She wants something safe and normal. But the kind of trouble she had at the bail bonds office can't compare to the kind of trouble she finds herself facing now...

Stephanie is stalked by a maniac returned from the grave for the sole purpose of putting her into a burial plot of her own. He's killed before, and he'll kill again if given the chance. Caught between staying far away from the bounty hunter business and staying alive, Stephanie reexamines her life and the possibility that being a bounty hunter is the solution rather than the problem. After disturbingly brief careers at the button factory, Kan Klean Dry Cleaners, and Cluck-in-a-Bucket, Stephanie takes an office position in security, working for Ranger, the sexiest, baddest bounty hunter and businessman on two continents. Tempers and temperatures rise as competition ratchets up between the two men in her life -- her on-again, off-again boyfriend, tough Trenton cop Joe Morelli, and her boss, Ranger. Can Stephanie Plum take the heat? Can you?

Ten Big ones by Janet Evanovitch

2019-07-24T13:00:00.003+01:00

I listened to the June 2019
An hilarious, at times violent book - thoroughly enjoyable

This is what goodreads say, Quote:
'

"I'm Stephanie Plum. My mother says that I'm famous and have to set a good example. She's right, but I'm from Jersey and truth is, I have a hard time getting a grip on the good example thing."

Swing off the Jersey Turnpike and you'll be in bounty hunter Stephanie Plum's neighborhood. You'll know it because all hell will be breaking loose. Not that she looks for trouble - it just seems to follow her. In Ten Big Ones it explodes at a deli, and when Stephanie pegs a robber as a member of a vicious Trenton gang, they peg her as dead. Vice cop Joe Morelli fears she's in way too deep - even with the help of crime-solving, cross-dressing, bus driver Sally Sweet, and Stephanie's friend Lula riding shotgun as backup. With a notorious killer on her tail, Stephanie figures the best hideout is Ranger's secret lair...'

Sanctus by Simon Toyne

2019-07-24T12:55:00.001+01:00

I listened to this 2019

This is what Book browse say . Quote:
'One man’s sacrifice shocks the world ...

One woman’s courage threatens a conspiracy as old as humankind ...

And some will do anything—anything—to keep their secrets in the dark.

Sanctus

A man climbs a cliff face in the oldest inhabited place on earth, a mountain known as the Citadel, a Vatican-like city-state that towers above the city of Ruin in modern-day Turkey. But this is no ordinary ascent. It is a dangerous, symbolic act. And thanks to the media, it is an event witnessed by the entire world.

Few people understand its consequence. But for foundation worker Kathryn Mann and a handful of others, it’s evidence that a revolution is at hand. For the Sancti, the cowled and secretive monks who live inside the Citadel, it could mean the end of everything they have built. They will stop at nothing to keep what is theirs, and they will break every law in every country and even kill to hold it fast. For American reporter Liv Adamsen, it spurs the memory of the beloved brother she lost years before, setting her on a journey across the world and into the heart of her own identity.

There, she will make a discovery so shocking that it will change everything. . .'

I listened to this at the same time as reading Origin by Dan Brown, mistake really, but I must say a similar story but I preferred this .

Beneath The Snow by Caroline Carver

2019-07-24T12:51:00.000+01:00

I listened to this 2019
This is what Fantasticfiction say. Quote:

'It's been a long, hard winter in the small Alaskan town of Lake's Edge - and things are about to get even tougher. Lisa McCall, a young and brilliant research scientist, has disappeared out in the Alaskan wilderness in the middle of a snowstorm. Lisa's sister, Abby - shaken by the news - flies out from England to join the rescue team. Abby and Lisa have been estranged for years, driven apart by a terrible row, both believing there would be time in the future for forgiveness. Now Abby must face up to the fact that her sister may be gone forever. As soon as she arrives at the freezing outpost, Abby knows there's something wrong. Lisa's cabin has been ransacked and her research material is nowhere to be found. It emerges that Lisa was on the verge of patenting an incredible discovery - facing fierce opposition from the oil-dominated energy market. Abby begins to see that Lisa's work has threatened some very powerful people - who are willing to stop at nothing to protect their interests. Abby knows her sister is out there somewhere, battling deep cold and raw terror, while her enemies circle. After so many years of brooding silences and explosive rows, Abby is forced to face up to the past, while her younger sister fights for a future. Abby embarks on the dangerous task of locating Lisa before someone else gets to her first.'

A good adventure/crime novel. Well written and well narrated.
Thoroughly enjoyable

In A True Light by John Harvey

2019-07-24T12:47:00.001+01:00

I listened to this 2019

This is what Goodreads says about it. Quote
'Sloane walks free from prison after taking the rap for a high-profile art scam. A failed painter, he is now a failed forger. Awaiting him are two policemen anxious to remind him of his sins, and a letter from a woman with whom he had a passionate affair in his youth. Now dying, she summons him to tell him that he has a daughter, Connie.

Sloane agrees to return to New York, a city of potent memories, to look for his daughter. But Connie is locked in a relationship with a man the police believe has killed once and who will not hesitate to kill again. Sloane has to decide whether to walk away or stay and fight for her. And the deeper the police dig into Vincent Delaney's business affairs, uncovering underworld associations, the more Delaney feels cornered, and the more unpredicable and dangerous he becomes.'

Enjoyable listen

Quantuam By Tom Grace

2019-07-24T12:44:00.002+01:00

I listened to this 2019
I quite enjoyed this one :
Blurb on back says:
Quote
In 1948 a German scientist discovered the blueprint for the construction of the Universe that could surpass the theories of Einstein. But his secret past caught up with him and his work was seemingly lost forever'

It was then rediscovered .
A good thriller

Where the Dead Lay by Davi Levien

2019-07-24T12:41:00.000+01:00

I listened to this 2019.
This is what Good reads say about it
Quote:
'fter the sudden disappearance of two high-priced detectives, former Indianapolis cop Frank Behr—the brooding private investigator introduced in David Levien’s nationally acclaimed novel City of the Sun—is pulled into a case that is harrowing, relentless, and, ultimately, personal.
Early in the dark, Indianapolis morning, Frank Behr’s friend and mentor is murdered—with no motive and no trace of evidence left behind. Behr, a quiet, mountainous former cop, thirsts for answers and retaliation. But before he can make headway in the dead-end investigation, an exclusive private firm approaches him with a delicate proposition: two of its detectives have gone missing, and the firm wants Behr to find out what happened to them. Prodded to take the case by his old boss—the Indianapolis chief of police who holds the strings to Frank’s possible return to the force—Behr accepts.

The search for the missing detectives takes Behr into the recesses of Indianapolis’s underworld, a place rife with brutality and vice—and a stark contrast to the city’s gentle public image. As Behr calls on old street contacts and his hard-boiled investigative skills, he is led deeper into a twisted society of organized crime and an unknown landscape of “pea-shake” houses—low-rent, transient gambling rings staged in condemned buildings around the city. Unexpectedly, Behr uncovers a shocking thread connecting the missing detectives to his friend’s brutal murder, and, in the process, Behr is forced to confront an ominous, deadly new breed of crime family.

Introduced in City of the Sun, Frank Behr instantly attracted critical attention and a devoted fan base, and Where the Dead Lay places Behr on a broader, edgier stage. This extraordinary crime novel stands with the best of Michael Connelly and Lee Child, featuring a brilliantly drawn, ruthless criminal family whom readers will not soon forget, and showcasing the immense talents of David Levien. '

This MustBe The Place by Maggie O'Farrell

2019-07-24T12:37:00.002+01:00

I read this 2019 for the Pater reading group. I must say I skim read the middle bit, I got so bored with it. Anyway this is what the Richard and Judy Book Club said about it

Quote
'Best-selling author Maggie O’Farrell’s seventh novel, This Must Be the Place, is a dazzling and intimate choice for the Richard and Judy Summer 2017 Book Club. A story of family, secrets and forgiveness, This Must Be the Place is about finding your way in the world. Daniel Sullivan, a New Yorker working as a teacher of linguistics at the University of Belfast, already had two failed relationships behind him before he married Claudette, a famous actress who’s fled the limelight and living in rural Ireland. When Daniel heads to America for his father’s 90th birthday party, he finds out something about his past and sets off on a journey which puts his marriage in jeopardy.'

The Story of a Secret State by Jan Karski

2019-07-15T16:02:00.001+01:00

I read this 2019 for the PaterBook Club.

A book about the Polish resistance movement during WWII. Follows the real life story of Jan Karski and his time in the resistance. Very telling, very moving. An interesting read written straight after WWII and revised decades later. It gives an insight into the workings of the resistance movement and what life was like under German occupation.

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

2019-07-15T13:48:00.000+01:00

I read this July 2019 for the Pater Book Club.
'In the highlands of Malaya, a woman sets out to build a memorial to her sister, killed at the hands of the Japanese during the brutal Occupation of their country. Yun ling's quest leads her to the Garden of Evening Mists, and to Aritomo, a man of extraordinary skill and reputation, once the gardener of the Emperor of Japan. When she accepts his offer to become his apprentice, she begins a journey into her past, inextricably linked with the secrets of her troubled country's history.'
Yun Ling and her sister had been held in a Japanese POW camp somewhere in the jungle of Malaya. Yun Ling was the only survivor, a great story, written beautifully and poetically. The truth of life as a POW comes out, so does many more truths.

I really enjoyed this and was glad it was chosen for the Book Club

One Shot by Lee Child

2019-07-08T12:18:00.002+01:00

I read this Spring 2019

I seem to be having a bit of a theme going on, I think I was just in a non reading mood tbh . Jack Reacher, another town, another wrong to right. relaxing reading

61 Hours by Lee Child

2019-07-08T12:16:00.004+01:00

I read this Spring 2019

As with all Lee Child, Jack Reacher novels I've read. Jack is on a bus into another new town, meets damsel in need of help. Has the best sex ever, puts the world to rights.
Excellent bedtime reading, you know where you are with a Jack Reacher! this one had the novelty of a countdown from 61 hours to Zero

Origin by Dan Brown

2019-04-11T15:00:00.000+01:00

I read this Feb/March 2019
I bought it in a charity shop for 75p and read it because Dick Babcock had recommended it...

As with all the Dan Brown books I've this could have been half the length...456 pages of mansplaining every little thing, plus it seems like every single piece of research, relevant or not has tp go into his books.

The precis of the plot.... AI to take over the world, Pure physics made the universe, religion is a load of made up stories.....nothing we haven't heard before, nothing we won't hear again..

Having Tom Hanks play the lead character, Robert Langdon, in the franchise, really doesn't resonate with the 'James Bond/ Indiana Jones' style of these books....

It was ok, but so long and drawn out......

A Death in Sweden by Kevin Wignall

2019-03-19T14:47:00.003+00:00

I read this winter 2018.
Great book Well written. Nordic noire, James Bond style , spies intrigue , gun fights love interest. This book has it all

Fat Chance by Nick Spalding

2019-03-19T14:43:00.000+00:00

I read this January 2019. I somehow managed to find it on Kindle. This is about contestants in a weight loss competition being run by a local Radio station.
It follows the diaries of an overweight couple. A simple construction with makes for an enjoyable idea. The only things I would say was that £50,000 is an extraordinary amount for a local radio to out up as a prize and that they wouldn't just leave the contestants to 'get on with it' and try to loose weight on their own. Still a good bedtime read.

Skin Privildge by Karin Slaughter

2019-03-19T14:34:00.000+00:00

I read this winter 2018.
Another 'Bones' book.