NO WAY OUT by Cara Hunter

NO WAY OUT Cara Hunter Penguin Books (www.penguin.co.uk) £7.99 A house fire in an upmarket area of North Oxford leads to the gruesome discovery of two dead children. There is no sign of their mother, and their father – who was in London at a conference – isn’t answering his phone, or responding to any […]

THE FIRE STARTERS by Jan Carson

THE FIRE STARTERS Jan Carson (jancarsonwrites.wordpress.com) Doubleday Ireland £14.99 It’s a hot summer in East Belfast and, as the Twelfth of July looms, tensions begin to rise as high as the bonfires dotted around this part of the city. When Stormont imposed a thirty feet height limit on the Eleventh Night bonfires, it […]

SHE LIES IN WAIT by Gytha Lodge

SHE LIES IN WAIT Gytha Lodge Michael Joseph (www.penguin.co.uk) £12.99 Late summer 1983 and six friends, on the cusp of adulthood, go camping in the forest. Star pupils, this is their last chance for a blow-out before they enter the realms of real life. Aurora Jackson is fourteen, and feels privileged to have been invited […]

INFLUENCES: Scooby-Doo Rules by Fran Dorricott

AFTER THE ECLIPSE Fran Dorricott (www.frandorricott.com) Titan Books (titanbooks.com) £7.99 To celebrate the release of her new novel, After the Eclipse, I’m very excited to welcome Fran Dorricott to Reader Dad to talk about her influences. Thanks for having me! When I first sat down to write After the Eclipse I didn’t think I would later […]

THE CAPITAL by Robert Menasse

THE CAPITAL Robert Menasse Translated by Jamie Bulloch MacLehose Press (www.maclehosepress.com) £15 There’s a pig on the loose! And so begins one of the strangest, most enjoyable books you’ll come across this year. Part crime story, part examination of the different bodies that make up the European Union, all satire that totters, at times, […]

THE TAKING OF ANNIE THORNE by C.J. Tudor

THE TAKING OF ANNIE THORNE C.J. Tudor (CJTudorOfficial) Michael Joseph (www.penguin.co.uk) £12.99 After almost thirty years, Joseph Thorne returns to the Nottinghamshire town of Arnhill to take up a teaching position at the local academy. There’s more than the promise of employment that brings Joe back home: when he was a teenager, his eight-year-old […]

THE LOST MAN by Jane Harper

THE LOST MAN Jane Harper (janeharper.com.au) Little Brown (www.littlebrown.co.uk) £12.99 Nathan and Bub Bright meet at the local landmark known as the stockman’s grave, where the body of their middle brother, Cameron, lies roasting in the sun. Evidence suggests that Cameron spent his last few hours on earth chasing the headstone’s shadow around in […]

The 2018 Round-Up

As a new year dawns, it’s time to look back on my reading habits for the past twelve months, and pick out those books that really stood out for me this year. As I do so, it occurs to me that I didn’t do a 2017 round-up, thereby depriving my regular reader of the wisdom […]

INFLUENCES: Rave Culture by RICHARD WILLIAMS

MOSTYN THOMAS AND THE BIG RAVE Richard Williams (richardwilliamsbooks.com) Graffeg Books (www.graffeg.com) £8.99 Thanks for asking me to write a piece for your blog, Matt! The idea of Mostyn Thomas and the Big Rave grew from the realisation, many years later, of a colourful and unique time in rural Welsh history that went largely undocumented […]

THE SNOW GIRLS by Chris Mooney

THE SNOW GIRLS Chris Mooney (chrismooneybooks.com) Penguin (www.penguin.co.uk) £7.99 Mickey Flynn’s six-year-old daughter disappeared eleven years ago while sledding in the centre of the Massachusetts town of Belham, and while Mickey was supposed to be watching her. Now divorced and struggling with alcoholism, Mickey is still finding it difficult to accept the fact that Claire […]