quippe | Recent Entries

The Blurb On The Back:

Shadows. Sorrow. Death.
Something’s coming.

We need to be read.
And yes. That does mean blood.

We’re too weak. The way we are. Sitting on our piles of gold pretending nothing exists beyond our walls.

We’re too far gone for anything else.

In the richest empire the world has ever known, the capital city of Sorlost stands eternal, or so it believes …

Decadence has become the true ruler, blinding its inhabitants to their decay. The empire is weak and, haunted by dreams of its demise, Lord Orhan Emmereth has decided to act.

On his orders, a company of mercenaries will cross the desert to reach the city of Sorlost. Once inside, they have one mission: assassinate the Emperor and all who serve him.

The mission is suicide but Marith is ready to die. He is running away from a shame and grief, which only the weight of a knife in his hand can banish.

Little does Marith know that his destiny awaits in the Golden City of Sorlost. A destiny beautiful, bloody, and more terrible than anyone could have foreseen.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Anna Smith Spark’s debut epic fantasy (the first in a trilogy) is a nihilistic grimdark affair that features vivid description and world-building but which is hampered by characters who are, for the most part, self-absorbed, unpleasant and petulant, an insta-love romance that made me roll my eyes and a meandering plot that lacked drive such that I will not be reading on (although the vivid descriptions mean I would check out Spark’s other work).

The Blurb On The Back:

Claire’s father is a privileged man: handsome, brilliant, the product of an aristocratic lineage and an expensive education, surrounded by a group of devoted friends who would do anything for him.

But when he becomes the prime suspect in a horrific attack on Claire’s mother, a scandal erupts. Claire’s father disappears overnight, his car abandoned, blood on the front seat.

Thirty years after that hellish night, Claire is obsessed with uncovering the truth, and she knows that the answer lies with the same friends who all those years before had answered the call to protect one of their own.

Because they know where Claire’s father is.

They helped him escape.

And it’s time their pristine lives met her fury.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Flynn Berry’s literary psychological thriller is a shallow affair that’s inspired by the Lord Lucan affair but while I believed in Claire’s obsession with knowing the truth, she never really engages with other characters sufficiently enough to make her seem rounded and her “investigation” is driven by chance and happenstance until an abrupt ending that I found very unsatisfying.

A DOUBLE LIFE was released in the United Kingdom on 9th August 2018. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

Tech in her veins.

Anarchy in her blood.

Nova is an orphan, a thief, a no one …

Invisible to the City dwellers who live miles above the poisoned earth …

Invaluable to those who wish to destroy it.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Leo Hunt’s YA SF thriller is an exciting, pacey affair that’s packed with interesting ideas about how far technology will literally take over our lives and how inequality could be compounded and embedded in society and although I found the antagonist to be a little two dimensional after the final twist, I would still definitely check out any sequel.

PHANTOM was released in the United Kingdom on 9th August 2018. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

Inequality makes us feel poor and act poor, even when we’re not. It affects our mood, decision-making and even our immune systems.

Using groundbreaking research in psychology and neuroscience, Keith Payne explains how inequality shapes our world and influences our thinking, how we perform at work and respond to stress – and what we can do to combat its most insidious effects on our lives.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Keith Payne is a Professor of Psychology at the University of North Carolina and an expert in the psychology of inequality and discrimination and in this fascinating, eye-opening, must-read book that has completely changed the way I think about the subject, he sets out in easy-to-understand chapters just how deeply inequality permeates society, influencing decisions, opportunities and even health.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

One teenager in a skirt.
One teenager with a lighter.
One moment that changes both of their lives forever.

If it weren’t for the 57 bus, Richard and Sasha would never have met. Although they live in the same city, they are from radically different worlds. But one single reckless act changes both of their lives forever.

What happens next is a story of race and discrimination, but also of recovery, reconciliation and hope. It’s about the good and bad in all of us, and how your whole life can change in the time it takes to flick a cigarette lighter.

And remarkably, it’s all true.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Dashka Slater’s non-fiction YA is an astounding piece of writing that displays great empathy to both Sasha and Richard and their families without flinching from the seriousness of what happened and giving context to their lives up to and after the attack while explaining concepts of sexuality and gender in a helpful and easy to understand way. This is one of my favourite books of 2018 and I will definitely check out Slater’s other work.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

An elderly woman of striking beauty is found murdered in Orleans, France. Her identity has been cleverly erased but the method of her death is very specific: she has been killed in the manner of traitors to the Resistance in World War Two.

Tracing down her murderer leads police inspector Inès Picaut back to 1940s France where the bravest of men and women are engaged in a desperate fight for survival against the Nazi invaders.

To find answers in the present, Inès must discover what really happened in the past, untangling a web of treachery and intrigue that stretches back to the murder victim’s youth.

The past is about to be exposed, but there are those in the present who will kill to keep it buried ...

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Manda Scott’s “semi-sequel’ to INTO THE FIRE is a blistering crime novel that splits its narrative between Picaut’s modern-day investigation and Distivelle’s activities during and after World War II. Scott’s depiction of the War is pitch-perfect (and for me, better than the current day investigation) and she expertly weaves various plot lines within her different time periods before bringing them together in the end in a thoroughly gripping way.

A TREACHERY OF SPIES was released in the United Kingdom on 9th August 2018. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

Happyville High might seem like the perfect school, but anyone looking closely can see there’s something really strange going on.

No-one else seems to be worried that the captain of the American football team has grown a super long spaghetti arm.

Because he’s got an incredible throw now … It is weird though.

Maybe we should investigate?

When one NERDY GENIUS, a CRACK-POT INVENTOR, and a COMPUTER GEEK band together, there’s no mystery that they can’t solve. They might be took uncool for school, but they’re the only kids with the brains to get to the bottom of what’s happening at Happyville High.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Tom McLaughlin’s self-illustrated humorous novel for children aged 9+ (the first in a series) is an entertaining affair that features three 12-year-old girls who are into science and learning (which is great) although I was disappointed that the three do fall into typical misfit stereotypes and would have liked for them to have some interest in other subjects such as sports just to make it easier for readers to relate to them.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

The city of Ebora once glittered with gold. Now its streets are stalked by wolves. Tormalin the Oathless has no taste for waiting to die while the realm of his ancestors falls to pieces – talk about a guilt trip.

When eccentric explorer, Lady Vincenza ‘Vintage’ de Grazon, offers him employment, he sees a way out. Even when they are joined by a fugitive witch with a tendency to set things on fire, the prospect of facing down monsters and retrieving artefacts is preferable to the abomination left behind.

But not everyone is willing to let the empire collapse, and the adventurers are soon drawn into a tangled conspiracy of magic and war.

The Jure’lia are coming, and the Ninth Rain must fall …

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Jen Williams’s fantasy novel (the first in a trilogy) incorporates innovative twists on traditional fantasy elements (including vampires, witchcraft and religious oppression) and neatly incorporates a science fiction element to its antagonists, which I found refreshing. However there are some pacing problems (especially the info dumps), Vintage’s mannerisms were overdone for me and I had quibbles about the ending but would check out the sequel.

The Blurb On The Back:

It’s a rainy night in New York, and psychologist James Cobb is giving a talk on the art of recovering lost memories via hypnosis. Afterwards, he’s approached by a stranger; a dying man who, forty years ago, wake up in a Paris hotel room with a murdered woman and no memory at all of what happened.

Now, he needs to know the truth. Intrigued, James begins to unpick the tangled threads of this decades-old mystery. But everyone involved has a different story to tell, and every fact he uncovers has another interpretation. As his interest becomes an obsession, and secrets from his own past start to surface, he begins to suspect that someone has buried the truth deep enough to hide it forever.

BAD BLOOD tells a gripping story of memory, motives, and how little we really know about ourselves.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

E. O. Chirovici’s literary psychological thriller is a smoothly written but thin affair that meditates on the nature of memory and the power of guilt but it’s hamstrung by a pompous main character whose reasons for investigating don’t quite ring true, a central friendship between two equally unpleasant men who I never connected with and an ending that feels like an unearned cheat and which left me unsatisfied.

BAD BLOOD was released in the United Kingdom on 12th July 2018. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

It’s a game of assassin versus assassin.

Girton Club-Foot, apprentice to the land’s best assassin, still has much to learn about the art of taking lives. But his latest mission tasks Girton with a far more difficult challenge: to save a life. Someone is trying to kill the heir to the throne, and it is up to Girton and his master to uncover the traitor. In a kingdom on the brink of civil war and a castle thick with lies, Girton will find enemies he never expected, friends he never wanted and a conspiracy that could destroy an entire land.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

R J Baker’s debut fantasy novel (the first in a trilogy) is a confident affair that neatly sets up world building and character dynamics and has interesting relationships between Girton, Merela and Rufra but the mystery is too easy to guess, some of the characters (notably Aydor but also Drusl) are two-dimensional and although I liked the idea of a club-footed assassin, a plot device compensates for (and ultimately negates) it.

The Blurb On The Back:

Rhiannon Lewis should be happy.

Her cheating fiancé is in jail – framed for the depraved killing spree she committed.

Her ex lover has been chopped up and is buried in the garden.

But there’s one small problem. She’s pregnant.

And much as Rhiannon wants to continue working her way through her kill lists, a small voice inside is trying to make her stop.

Now she has to choose between motherhood or murder.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

C J Skuse’s sequel to SWEET PEA is another exuberant and fun black comedy thriller packed with vulgarity and horror and a pregnancy that’s used to add further moral ambiguity and although the pacing slows at times and Rhiannon is helped by some convenient allies, there’s an interesting subplot involving a pregnant woman in an abusive relationship and the novel ends with a great set-up for the final book, which I will definitely be reading.

IN BLOOM was released in the United Kingdom on 9th August 2018. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

Rhiannon Lewis might seem like the average girl next door, but she’s got a killer secret.

Although her childhood was haunted by a famous crime, Rhiannon’s celebrity has dwindled. By day her job at a newspaper is demeaning and unsatisfying. By evening she dutifully listens to her friend’s wedding plans whilst secretly making a list.

A kill list.

From the man at the supermarket who mishandles her apples, to the people who have got it coming, Rhiannon’s ready to get her revenge.

Because the girl everyone overlooks might be able to get away with murder …

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

C J Skuse’s black comedy thriller (the first in a trilogy) is a shockingly entertaining and sweary read with Skuse making you root for the damaged and homicidal Rhiannon while at the same time being horrified by some of her actions. I did find some of the support Rhiannon gets a little difficult to believe and there were a couple of moments where the pace was slow but it’s an entertaining read with a great cliff hanger and I’ll be reading on.

The Blurb On The Back:

A cold case.

The same night a local hero saved two people from the burning Marineland resort in Southend, a young woman was raped and murdered minutes from the scene of the fire, the culmination of a series of brutal rapes in the town. The killer was never found.

A new clue.

Twenty-five years on, new DNA techniques have blown the cold case open. DI Grace Fisher relishes the prospect of finally catching the culprit, but when the evidence doesn’t point to one clear suspect, she must reconstruct the original investigation. Any suggestion that the Essex force was less than thorough at the time could alienate her colleagues and destroy her chances of reaching the truth.

A final shot at justice.

Grace finds her investigation shadowed by a young true-crime podcaster backed by veteran crime reporter Ivo Sweatman. As pressure mounts she cannot afford to be distracted. She knows that a cold-blooded killer is slowly being backed into a corner, and a cornered predator is often the most dangerous of all …

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

The fourth in Isabelle Grey’s DI GRACE FISHER THRILLERS series is a smoothly written, intricately plotted affair that kept me engrossed from beginning to end and makes a feature of how DNA isn’t a magic bullet for cold cases although I could have done without the will-they-won’t-they romance with Blake (which has never convinced me) and Grey did try too hard to deflect attention from the most obvious suspect, which for me made it predictable.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

Shocks, from natural disasters to military catastrophes, have long been exploited by the state to impose privatisation, cuts and rampant free markets. This book argues that the left can use such moments of chaos to achieve emancipation.

Graham Jones illustrates how everyone can help to exploit these shocks and bring about a new world of compassion and care. He examines how combining mutually reinforcing strategies of ‘smashing, building, healing and taming’ can become the basis of a unified left. His vivid personal experience underpins a compelling, practical vision for activism, from the scale of the individual body to the global social movement.

This bold book is a toolkit for revolution for activists and radical millennials everywhere.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Graham Jones is a social movement activist with experience in grassroots campaigns including Radical Think Tank and Radical Housing Network and in this so-so book aimed at helping those on the hard left to mobilise and build support he offers a left-wing response to Naomi Klein’s THE SHOCK DOCTRINE, enabling the left to benefit from chaos by offering new solutions and so to take power with an emphasis on smashing, building, healing and taming.

THE SHOCK DOCTRINE OF THE LEFT was released in the United Kingdom on 27th July 2018. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

In the wake of the 2007 financial crisis, central banks injected trillions of dollars of liquidity – through quantitative easing – to prevent financial meltdown and stimulate the economy. The untold story behind these measures is that they have come at a considerable cost.

Central bankers argue we had no choice. Using examples from Europe and the US, this book shows why this claim is false. It outlines why we should worry about the role played by central banks since the crisis and what could be done about it. Not only do central bank policies drive economic inequality, they have also become worryingly dependent on financial markets. Far from applying neutral and scientific solutions, their expertise is often biased in predictable ways.

This book is a sobering and urgent wake-up call for policy makers and anyone interested in how our monetary and financial system really works.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

In this interesting but, in my opinion, flawed book Peter Dietsch, François Claveau and Clément Fontan look at whether central banks actually serve their main purpose of serving the benefit of the people by examining whether they take into account the side effects of their policies through the prism of the effects of monetary policy since the 2007 financial crisis and examining conflicts of interest within central bank policy.

DO CENTRAL BANKS SERVE THE PEOPLE? was released in the United Kingdom on 6th July 2018. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

ALL ABOARD THE TRAIN TO PARIS!

It’s 1911, and the young detectives of Taylor & Rose are turning their talents to espionage.

On a case for the mysterious Secret Service Bureau, the daring Miss Sophie Taylor and Miss Lillian Rose must leave London for the boulevards and grand hotels of Paris.

But danger lurks beneath the bright lights of the city – and intrigue and murder lie in store. As aeroplanes soar in the skies overhead, our heroines will need to put all their spy skills to the test to face the peril that awaits them …

Join Sophie and Lil on their first secret agent adventure!

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Katherine Woodfine’s latest historical adventure for children aged 9+ continues the SINCLAIR MYSTERIES SERIES, combining mystery and espionage to fast-paced effect while featuring evocative illustrations by Karl James Mountford. Because Sophie and Lil are older now, Woodfine introduces the younger characters of Anna and Alex to keep the target audience interested while making full and clever use of the intrigue and paranoia of the period.

TAYLOR & ROSE SECRET AGENTS: PERIL IN PARIS was released in the United Kingdom on 9th August 2018. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

Jake usually likes to stay out of trouble. But when he opens a strange box containing a severed finger, trouble comes knocking at his door. Literally. Jake has summoned a reaper to drag him to the Eternal Void (yep, it’s as deadly as it sounds) and his only option is to RUN FOR HIS LIFE!

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Will Mabbitt’s spooky fantasy novel for children aged 9+ (the first in a series) features some cracking illustrations by Chris Mould (I particularly liked Zorro the ghost fox) and a well-crafted plot peppered with some good jokes, interesting side characters (I especially liked Cora, a hockey stick-wielding ghost stuck inside a school cup) and a relatable main character in Jake and I would definitely check out the sequel.

EMBASSY OF THE DEAD was released in the United Kingdom on 14th June 2018. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanies by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid – a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot”. Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

But when a neighbouring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Martha Wells’s science fiction thriller novella (the first in a series and the winner of the 2018 Hugo for Best Novella) is a tightly written and entertaining affair that neatly sets up the Murderbot’s world and backstory although I thought that the ending was a little rushed, the side characters a little thin and the reveal disappointing although I would definitely read the sequel.

The Blurb On The Back:

There’s a murderer amongst them, and everyone’s a suspect …

Frank is a criminal. He and a select group of inmates have been offered the same deal: die in prison or live on Mars.

They’ve been recruited to build the first Mars base, and they’ll have to learn to trust each other if they want to survive. Not easy when your crewmates are convicts.

Then the first accident happens, and the next. Until Frank begins to suspect they might not be accidents at all …

Time is running out. But how do you stop a killer when it could be any one of you?

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

S J Morden’s SF thriller has a fantastic set-up and convinces on both the difficulties and practicalities of setting up a colony on Mars and the rationales for using convicts but the thriller element is disappointing, partly because the supporting characters are thinly drawn so their deaths lack impact but mainly because the antagonist is so obvious from the start, which means that the book lacks necessary tension but I would still read the sequel.

The Blurb On The Back:

The Real Politics Of The Horn Of Africa delves into the business of politics in the turbulent, war-torn countries of north-east Africa. It is a contemporary history of how politicians, generals and insurgents bargain over money and power, and use violence to achieve their goals.

Drawing on a thirty-year career in Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, including experience as a participant in high-level peace talks, Alex de Waal provides a unique and compelling account of how these countries’ leaders run their governments, conduct their business, fight their wars and, occasionally, make peace. De Waal shows how leaders operate on a business model, securing funds for their ‘political budgets’, which they use to rent the provisional allegiances of army officers, militia commanders, tribal chiefs and party officials at the going rate. This political marketplace is eroding the institutions of government and reversing state building – and it is fuelled by oil exports, aid funds and western military assistance for counter-terrorism and peacekeeping.

The Real Politics Of The Horn Of Africa is a sharp and disturbing book with profound implications for international relations, development and peacemaking in the Horn of Africa and beyond.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Alex de Waal is Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation and a Research Professor at Tufts University and in this thought-provoking but depressing book, he analyses the political factors at play in the countries comprising the Horn of Africa through the prism of a rentier political marketplace where loyalties are bought and sold in a high-stakes game that prevents genuine state-building and undermines democratic convention.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

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Page Summary

The Court Of Broken Knives by Anna Smith Spark
A Double Life by Flynn Berry
Phantom by Leo Hunt
The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Changes The Way We Think, Live And Die by Keith Payne
The 57 Bus: A True Story Of Two Teenagers And The Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater
A Treachery Of Spies by Manda Scott
Happyville High: Geek Tragedy by Tom McLaughlin
The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams
Bad Blood by E. O. Chirovici
Age Of Assassins by R J Barker
In Bloom by C. J. Skuse
Sweet Pea by C. J. Skuse
Wrong Way Home by Isabelle Grey
The Shock Doctrine Of The Left by Graham Jones
Do Central Banks Serve The People? By Peter Dietsch, François Claveau and Clément Fontan
Taylor & Rose Secret Agents: Peril In Paris by Katherine Woodfine
Embassy Of The Dead by Will Mabbitt
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
One Way by S. J. Morden
The Real Politics Of The Horn Of Africa by Alex de Waal

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I Read, Therefore I Blog

A Book Review Blog Belonging to Caroline Hooton

Recent Entries

The Court Of Broken Knives by Anna Smith Spark

A Double Life by Flynn Berry

Phantom by Leo Hunt

The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Changes The Way We Think, Live And Die by Keith Payne

The 57 Bus: A True Story Of Two Teenagers And The Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater

A Treachery Of Spies by Manda Scott

Happyville High: Geek Tragedy by Tom McLaughlin

The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams

Bad Blood by E. O. Chirovici

Age Of Assassins by R J Barker

In Bloom by C. J. Skuse

Sweet Pea by C. J. Skuse

Wrong Way Home by Isabelle Grey

The Shock Doctrine Of The Left by Graham Jones

Do Central Banks Serve The People? By Peter Dietsch, François Claveau and Clément Fontan

Taylor & Rose Secret Agents: Peril In Paris by Katherine Woodfine

Embassy Of The Dead by Will Mabbitt

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

One Way by S. J. Morden

The Real Politics Of The Horn Of Africa by Alex de Waal