Recommended Reads Blog
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Deadly Protocol
Deadly Protocol
Roger Corke
One of the pleasures of being a writer is being offered a first look at a new book. It’s even more exciting when the author is new to the genre. Roger Corke is a documentary maker and journalist, and that attention to detail and the research skills necessary have been put to great effect in his debut thriller Deadly Protocol.
I thoroughly enjoyed this ripping yarn, set in the world of cutting edge science. It was pacy, twisty, well-researched and scarily believable. The science was also realistic, with enough detail to make it believable, no howlers (the author is a journalist and has done his research) and deceptively simple.
The novel opens with our hero Ronnie, a cancer biologist, waking up in her boss’s house, to find him very dead and with no idea what happened.
From then on, things get really bad!
Who murdered him and why? The man was a hero in the cancer community, due to be honoured for his ground-breaking research. Who could possibly want to kill him? Ronnie finds herself thrown into a conspiracy that spans continents and which grows deeper and darker with every chapter. The final revelation is both unexpected, scary and worryingly plausible.
Journalists are trained to be concise, whilst novelists tend towards the verbose. Corke has trod that fine line carefully, resulting in a story that balances pace and description, with a well-rounded cast of characters. Something I especially enjoyed was the mid-point twist. It seemed as though the culprit had been largely identified. That’s fine for a thriller, and it gives the author a choice. We know who did it, now buckle up as our heroes travel the globe trying to bring them justice. Or, maybe we have it wrong? Maybe the story isn’t as straightforward as it seems? As much as I love the former approach, Corke decides to mess with us and his characters and go deeper and throw in a few more twists and turns.
The result is a deeply satisfying conclusion. Even better, a brief excerpt from the next book in the series, shows that we haven’t seen the last of Ronnie. I’m looking forward to seeing where Corke takes us next.
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The Mercy Chair
The Mercy Chair
(Washington Poe 6)
M.W. Craven
Wow.
Those of you who have read my previous reviews for M.W. Craven’s incredible Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw series (The Curator, Dead Ground and The Botanist), know how much I love these novels. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that if there was a current series that I wish I could have written, this is probably it. I isuspect I’m not alone. Not just for the sales and acclaim, but also the sheer satisfaction of a job very well done.This instalment is dark. Really dark. Yet as always, Craven balances the grim subject matter with humour. For those that love these characters, Poe is as taciturn as ever and Tilly still has no filter, resulting in the usual spit-out-your-tea moments as she innocently asks the questions that most of us avoid.
I’m not going to spoil the plot, suffice to say that it starts with a badger digging up a dead body and gets worse from then on. Of course, as much fun as it is to spend time with Tilly and Poe, it’s Craven’s clever, twisty and sophisticated plots that make this series so well regarded, both amongst readers and fellow writers. As with the previous in the series, The Botanist, Craven keeps the pace fast and nimble, averaging roughly three pages per chapter. This not only encourages you to read faster and for longer at night (‘just one more chapter before I turn the light out‘ is a far easier decision to make when a chapter is only three pages), but also heightens the sense of being on a rollercoaster. There are slower chapters, where Poe is introspective, but these are then followed by chapters where the revelations come thick and fast, and as always the balance is perfect.
Stylistically, this is a slight departure. As alluded to in the jacket blurb, Poe is actually telling this story to someone else. Don’t worry, the story is still told in the familiar and reliable third person as always, but by periodically having a chapter where Poe is recounting this story to another person, we gain a slightly different perspective. The use of foreshadowing increases the anticipation of what is to come in the next few chapters.
This was probably always going to be a recommended read, based on the others in the series, but really it is superb. You can read the book on its own if you are new to the characters, but this is a series that deserves to be read from the beginning. Tilly and Poe are wonderful odd couple, and it’s worth meeting them as they meet one another for the first time in The Puppet Show.
I heartily recommend.
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One Perfect Couple
One Perfect Couple
Ruth Ware
I have a confession to make. I really don’t like “reality” TV shows, and I would rather dance a jig on a floor covered in LEGO bricks and upturned three-pin plugs than sit through an episode of “Love Island”. A bunch of narcissists pretending their every move hasn’t been previously discussed with the production crew is my idea of hell.
But …
If these shows were anything like Ruth Ware’s One Perfect Couple, I’d have the show on series record.
The premise for the book is a straightforward as the premise for the TV show. A group of couples are taken to a luxurious tropical island. As is common with these types of programmes, the contestants are to be given a series of tasks. Each episode, one person will fail and be sent home. This of course will start to break up the original couples, and so the remaining contestants will be given an opportunity to hook up. Needless to say, friendships and relationships will be made and broken. Your basic, tabloid-baiting, car-crash TV.
But of course, everything starts to go horribly wrong …
That’s all I am going to say about the plot, as I don’t want to spoil it.
The skill is in the execution. First the cast of characters. There are several couples, plus some production crew, and Ware has taken great care in crafting memorable and layered individuals. These people would make compelling viewing for the type of TV the production crew are trying to make, but Ware delves deeper and slowly peels back additional layers as the book progresses. Hidden desires and motivations are revealed, making some of the characters’ later choices more fathomable.
The next decision is the choice of central character. Apart from a few brief switches, our perspective is essentially that of Lyla, a research scientist, who agrees to go with her wannabee actor boyfriend, Nico, to support his career. Choosing to showcase everything through the eyes of someone who is reluctant to be there and manages to be both cynical and naïve is a very clever decision, because it not only makes the whole thing more relatable, it also allows the author to explain the inner workings of the TV production to the reader without excessive exposition, whilst hiding information more plausibly.
On a personal note, Lyla is a virologist, working in a lab, but facing a career crossroads. Whenever I see a ‘scientist’ character, my heart sinks and I brace myself for clumsily-used language, dubious stereotypes and a lack of understanding of both the science and the world of academia. But from the moment Lydia mentions her fingers being stained purple from a protein gel, I knew that Ware had done her research. No matter how careful you are when putting on or removing gloves, that stuff gets everywhere … Furthermore, Lyla’s career woes are all-too painfully familiar to scientists at that stage of her career.
All in all, I heartily recommend this. A perfect summer read for both fans of reality TV and cynics like me.
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Kill For Me Kill For You
Kill For Me Kill For You
Steve Cavanagh
Today’s #RecommendedRead is the brilliant standalone thriller Kill For Me Kill For You, by Steve Cavanagh.
Cavanagh is best known for his Eddie Flynn legal thrillers, which I have reviewed previously. However, he has also written some standalone thrillers, including the superb Twisted.
Unlike the Eddie Flynn series, this is not a courtroom drama. Rather it is a clever play on the premise of the classic Hitchcock film/Patricia Highsmith novel Strangers on a Train, where two apparently unconnected strangers agree to ‘swap murders’.
Cavanagh’s characters acknowledge the influence of the film early on; he isn’t trying to pass the idea off as his own.
However, that ingenious premise is only the starting point for the story and it soon diverges and becomes a highly original story with some very clever twists that skilfully hoodwink the reader. As always, the characters are well-rounded and developed, and is told through the eyes of more than one protagonist. The motives for the crimes elicit sympathy from the reader, even if one might not agree with their actions.
I recommend this book for fans of thrillers that take a clever existing premise and use it as a jumping off point for something new and original.
I very much looked forward to this when it was published back in the summer and it took a lot of self-control to avoid buying it immediately, instead asking for it for Christmas, and it was really worth the wait.
The question is, will I exercise the same restraint when the latest Eddie Flynn is released?
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Thursday Murder Club 3&4
The Thursday Murder Club Series.
Book 3 The Bullet That Missed
Book 4 The Last Devil To Die
Richard Osman
Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series is fast becoming an annual treat, featuring on my Christmas wish list each year. I did a double review of the first two books in the series a couple of years ago, and with news that this series will be taking a brief hiatus as he launches a new series, now seemed a good time to review books 3 & 4.Again, I won’t give away too much of the plot – you can read the jacket blurbs for that – suffice to say that the in book 3, The Bullet That Missed, we see our intrepid heroes investigate a cold case, and Elizabeth’s past come back to bite her.
In the fourth instalment, The Last Devil To Die, we see the gang spring into action when a friend (featured in previous novels) is murdered.
The series is really coming into its own now, and Osman’s writing becomes increasingly confident. The trademark humour is there and the characters, now well-established, all have their chance to shine. But it isn’t just jokes and jolly capers, The Last Devil To Die genuinely had me crying for several chapters. If you’ve read the book, you will know exactly what I am referring to. It’s been a long time since a book has actually moved me to that extent. If there was any doubt that Osman can’t write, and is just another celebrity author, then this dispels that slur. Absolutely brilliant.
I recommend these books because they are fantastic reads. They are funny, poignant and cleverly plotted. Forget the fact that he is a celebrity, Osman deserves every accolade. I can’t wait until he brings them back.
