50 Books a Year - The 2025 Challenge

Book 48, The Gathering, by Lisa Stone. Not bad, if slightly creepy.

Sara1954

Book 18
Death at the sign of the Rook - Kate Atkinson
Another Jackson Brodie, this one taking us into the world of art theft, and climaxing at a murder mystery weekend, where fact and fiction become very blurred.

It’s a good read, some lovely characters, Lady Milton, the slightly batty dowager, Simon, the faithless vicar, gorgeous Ben, real life action man, coming to terms with losing a leg in action

Brodie and Reggie are fearlessly on the trail of the bad guys, and although at times you feel like you might be in the midst of a Brian Rix farce, it’s quite enjoyable.

I started reading this today.

Sparklefizz, hope you enjoy, be interested to hear your thoughts

Book 19
The Hotel-Daisy Johnson

This would have been better enjoyed on a dark winters evening, rather than a sunny spring afternoon, but I did enjoy it.

A very short book, in which there are fifteen very short stories

They are all set in a Hotel, and they are all ghost stories

They start before the Hotel is even built, the evil seems to come from the earth, some are more interesting than others, but as each one is little more than a couple of pages, you’re unlikely to get too bored.

I enjoyed it, read it all in an afternoon, something a bit different

Cunning Folk by Adam Neville
His best book is The Ritual but this comes close.Very English horror set in a rural South West village unlike The Ritual which is set in the wilds and woods of Norway.
Ordinary everyday small family move into a run down semidetached cottage and once they meet the neighbours wish they hadn’t.Myths and magic are accepted here.

29 The House of Special Purpose John Boyne

The title refers to Ipatiev House where The Tsar and his family were murdered in 1918. The story starts some three years prior to that when a 16 year old farmer's son, Georgy Jachmenev steps in front of an assassin's bullet that was intended for the brother of the Tsar whilst he and his men are passing through his village. He is then plucked from the obscure life of a peasant to become the personal bodyguard of the only son of Tsar Nicholas 11, the young, and last Tseravich, Alexi, well documented sufferer of haemophillia. During his time at the Russian Court he is to fall in love with the youngest daughter of Nicholas and Alexandra, Grand Duchess Anastasia.

The narrative is relayed in various time frames, Georgy having escaped Russia and married a fellow Russian Zoya, first settling in Paris, then London where we meet up with them at certain junctures every decade until the 1980s by which time they are well into old age, Zoya, Georgy's much loved wife becomes terminally ill and it's her desire to revisit their homeland that takes them back for one last time to St Petersburg. In between relating their lives in exile, Georgy working at The British Library, there are chapters that interject with his three years spent with the Russian royal family and by extension his association with the reviled Rasputin. Entering precarious times when the Romanov family were becoming deeply unpopular as the Revolution gained ascendancy, culminating in, first the Tsar's abdication and then the murders of the entire family, at which point Georgy flees the country. Just how this happens and his continued links to the Romanov family are a pivotal part of the tale. Belief needs to be suspended over some 400 pages of the book, but it's fiction and John Boyle is a good writer, I enjoyed it, although not one of his very best.

FGT2 I loved A Town Called Solace, I read it last year, Crow Lake too.

I’ve been away and have got a bit behind and seem to have lost a review.
#17 was A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry. I know I wrote this one up, but it looks like I didn’t save it…
It’s a fairly harrowing account of the life in the trenches of Irish volunteer Willie Dunn. He joins up in 1914 and is sent to Belgium where he experiences many of the major battles and horrors that went on there. When he returns home on a brief leave, Ireland has changed and the battle for independence has taken hold, putting him at odds with his family. An excellent read, though a difficult one in places. 8/10

#19 Red Bones by Ann Cleeves. This is one of the earlier Shetland ones. Human bones are found during an archaeological dig on Whalsay, on a croft owned by the grandmother of police officer Sandy. A terrible accidental death occurs and questions start being asked about family histories and conflicts on this small island. Perez and Sandy have to do their own digging to understand what has happened in Whalsay’s recent history. 8/10

#20 Death and Judgement by Donna Leon.
A truck crashes on a dangerous bend in the mountains of Northern Italy, spilling a dangerous cargo. A prominent lawyer is found dead aboard a train in Venice. Can these two events be linked? Commissario Guido Brunetti must dig deep into the secret lives of the great and good to determine what happened and why. This is the first Donna Leon I’ve read and I enjoyed it, so I will look out for others. 8/10

Book 49, Saffron Skies and New Beginnings, by Rita Bradshaw. A really good read, set between 1918 and 1953. I has a sort of love story theme running through it, but mainly deals with the lives of the main characters through WW2.

#19 Havoc Christopher Bollen.
Maggie is an 81 year old woman and likes to 'help' people with their relationships. She fled to Europe from the USA following the death of her husband and daughter some years before and had been moving from hotel to hotel taking an interest in and manipulating her fellow guests' affairs. Sometimes things go too far. When the Covid epidemic hits she manages to travel to Egypt before the Swiss borders close. She finds a home and a family in the staff and other long term residents at a fading hotel near Luxor and never wants to leave. A young woman and her eight year old son Otto arrive and appear to be candidates for Maggie's 'help'. But just as Maggie is not the stereotypical sweet old lady, Otto is not the innocent young child and the two become locked in a life or death battle. I loved it.

#34. Sunburn by Laura Lippman.

No 6. How To Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie. I rather enjoyed this novel of many murders! It was humorous and the protagonist also skewered modern life very well.

SueDonim I loved, How to Kill your Family, a really enjoyable black comedy of a book, and as you say "skewered modern day life very well"

Book 18: Into Deadly Storms by Judi Daykin
Book 19: A Brutal Season by Judi Daykin
Book 20: An Artful Murder by Judi Daykin
Book 21: The Norfolk Beach Murders by Judi Daykin
I am really enjoying this series all set in North Norfolk. Exciting story lines.As good as Elly Griffiths in my opinion.

32-Not Dead Enough-Peter James
no3 in the Grace series. Superb page-turner, with slightly different story to the TV adaption. Looking forward to no4

Book 20 Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson.

This was bonkers! As Sara1954 said Brodie and Reggie are fearlessly on the trail of the bad guys, and although at times you feel like you might be in the midst of a Brian Rix farce, it’s quite enjoyable.

I couldn't put it better than that.

However, I have recently had to have my beloved cat put to sleep and feel desolate, so a lighthearted rather silly book suited me fine.

I'd give it 7/10.

33-Suspects-Lesley Pearse
On the day Nina and Conrad move into Willow Close, a body is discovered. As police interview witnesses, they discover each resident hiding their own secrets. Ten houses, a quiet cul-de-sac, but this is not the idyllic place it appears to be.

Book 50, Total Control, by David Baldacci. Oh, I do love his books! This was only his 2nd book, from 1997, but a great read, especially if you like high finance, technology.................and, oh yes, Murder!!

30 Our Little Cruelties Liz Nugent

The book opens with 3 brothers at a funeral, one of them is in the coffin, but it's not until the end of the book the reader finds out which one. The setting is Dublin, their mother, formerly a singer who had achieved some degree of success in that and some TV appearances as a later day soap star. Most of those days are behind her, and it's apparent she doesn't really relish the role of mother and dishes out her affection unevenly between her 3 sons, establishing a rivalry that will take them through life. Her husband and the boys father is to be more of a lynch pin in their formative years. The story moves between the near present and the 1970 and is told in parts from the perspective of each brother. The eldest Will is ambitious and achieves success and money as a film producer, his marriage to Susan, a woman he has purloined from his middle brother Brian, leaving a lasting resentment. The marriage happy at first produces a much loved daughter, Daisy, but that relationship like the one with his wife is to sour in time as it becomes apparent Will is a womaniser and doesn't remain faithful, it's to Brian both mother and daughter turn to. The third brother Luke, who grows up feeling unloved by his mother and has religious zealotry as a child. His life unexpectedly steers him in a different direction when by chance persuaded to become the front man of a rock group formed in college he achieves fame and fortune in early adulthood. His life spins out of control when he goes off the rails turning to drink and drugs. It's apparent he has serious mental health problems, some stemming from childhood and he becomes incapable of any sort of stability. It's to Brian, a not particularly successful teacher he turns to, to manage both his career and his life when it's quite apparent how overwhelmed he becomes by the trappings of success Although that's not to last, his singing career eventually hits the doldrums but he is later to reinvent himself when in mid life he turns to acting having cleaned himself up. Brian is a manipulator driven by money and doesn't really care what measures he employs to get his hands on it, and thinks nothing of cheating his younger brother out of money and a substantial home acquired from the spoils earned from his career in music. Occasionally the brothers come together and support each other but more often than not they are competing against each other for status and money and eventually ultimate betrayal.

A fairly dark tale of sibling rivalry, I enjoy Liz Nugent's books, but probably fair to say not for everybody, she's a bit of an acquired taste.

#35. The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths.

Have had it on order from the library for a while. The successor to the Ruth Galloway series.

For once, I have not posted until I have read the book.

The blurb on the cover says ‘Ali Dawson will capture readers’ hearts in the way Ruth Galloway did’.

Hmm, I’m not so sure.

Ali is a police officer working on cold cases, but this involves a time travel element, which means this story sees Ali going back to Victorian times to investigate a murder.

I found it readable, but rather far fetched, and to be honest, not half as good as the Ruth Galloway books, the Brighton Mysteries or the Postscript Murders.

Will have to see how they pan out though.

#36. The Burning Girl by Mark Billingham.

I loved that one Calendargirl!

Book 21 The Silence by Susan Allott

I really loved this book and feel bereft now that I've finished it. I dropped everything to finish the last few chapters as I just had to know what was going to happen.

The story is set in Australia, which is beautifully evoked, and tells of a missing woman. Thirty years ago, in the suffocating heat of a Sydney summer, the Greens' nextdoor neighbour disappeared without trace.

In 1997, in a flat in London, Isla Green is woken by a call in the middle of the night from her father, ringing from Australia, who is suddenly under suspicion all these years later for the neighbour's murder. Isla hurries back to Australia.

How well does she know her father? Is he capable of doing this? Are there other secrets in the community, and a conspiracy of silence which stretches deep into Australia's past?

This book is well-written and slowly unwinds so that the reader discovers dark and decades-old secrets buried in people's hearts, in families and in nations.

Fans of Jane Harper's books would enjoy this, I think. I have already checked out other books by Susan Allott which I hope will be as un-put-downable as The Silence. 10/10

Book 51, I Know it`s You, by Susan Lewis. I usually like this author`s books, but found this one a bit boring.

Sparklefizz I will look out for that one, thank you.
I'm a fan of Jane Harper books.

Just finished The Body at Rookery Barn by Kate Hardy, a light murder mystery. Enjoyable if a little far fetched, with a friendly ghost.

Sparklefizz, added to my list, sounds interesting