The 2021 Round-up – Part 1

Happy New Year! Now that 2021 is well and truly in the can, and I’ve started reading books due to be published in 2022, I think it’s safe to present the list of books that stood out for me over the past twelve months. I read 102 books in 2021 and, after much agonising and […]

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 […]

LONG DARK DUSK by JP Smythe

LONG DARK DUSK (Book 2 of the Australia Trilogy) JP Smythe (james-smythe.com) Hodder & Stoughton (www.hodder.co.uk) £13.99 Months after the events that brought her and her companions to Earth, Chan Aitch is living in a shanty town built against the inner surface of the wall that now surrounds Washington, D.C. She has, so far, managed […]

The 2015 Round-Up

As 2015 draws to a close, it’s time to take a step back and reflect on the year that has been. As is now “traditional”, I’ll be using this post to talk about my favourite books of the year, but first a quick blast through some of the non-bookish stuff that happened in the past […]

WAY DOWN DARK by J. P. Smythe

WAY DOWN DARK (Book 1 of The Australia Trilogy) J. P. Smythe (james-smythe.com) Hodder & Stoughton (hodder.co.uk) £13.99 When Chan Aitch’s mother dies, she leaves a gaping hole in the so-called power structure aboard the Australia. Chan is left to pick up the pieces, and attempt to defend the part of the ship previously controlled […]

The 2014 Round-Up

As another year draws to a close, it’s time for my annual retrospective of what’s gone on at Reader Dad. There’s a lot to cover this year, so without further ado… THE ROUND-UP As the reading year closes, I have read 65 books this year, more than every year except last year, but I had […]

NO HARM CAN COME TO A GOOD MAN by James Smythe

NO HARM CAN COME TO A GOOD MAN James Smythe (james-smythe.com) The Borough Press (www.boroughpress.co.uk) £16.99 Laurence Walker is a good man whose dream of running for President of the United States looks set to come true. Laurence has some skeletons in his closet – the death of his son and a period of torture […]

THE ECHO by James Smythe

THE ECHO James Smythe (james-smythe.com) HarperVoyager (harpervoyagerbooks.com) £16.99 Twenty-three years after the mysterious disappearance of the Ishiguro, man once again looks to the heavens, launching a new mission to examine the anomaly into which the earlier ship disappeared. This time the mission is led by twin brothers, Tomas and Mirakel Hyvönen, and their strict approach […]

The 2013 Round-Up

And so, once more, to the end of the year and the requisite retrospective of my reading habits over the past twelve months here at Reader Dad. Regular visitors and Twitter followers will know that 2013 has been a year full of ups and downs (more downs, unfortunately, than ups) for me, what with five […]

THE EXPLORER by James Smythe

THE EXPLORER James Smythe (james-smythe.com) Harper Voyager (www.harpercollins.co.uk/…/voyager/Pages/Voyager.aspx) £12.99 Released: 17 January 2013 My name is Cormac Easton. I am a journalist, and, I suppose, an astronaut. In the middle of the twenty-first century, man strives, once again, to further his knowledge. Turning once more to space, the vessel Ishiguro is launched, its purpose simple: […]