The Jump by Doug Johnstone
Reviewed by Harriet Doug Johnstone is an amazing writer. This is the third of his novels I’ve read, each of which is brilliant and each entirely different. I loved The Dead…
The Prank: The Best of Young Chekhov, by Anton Chekhov
Translated by Maria Bloshteyn Reviewed by Karen Langley The art of the short story is a difficult one, and many authors never attain the dizzy heights of a tale told…
Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell
Reviewed by David Harris I’d been eagerly waiting for this book. Cornell has recently published two volumes in an urban fantasy series, The Shadow Police, set among the supernatural threats of…
The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
Reviewed by Shoshi Ish-Horowicz To put this review into context, I’m a huge Margaret Atwood fan. I haven’t read everything she’s written (fifteen novels, eight collections of short stories, not…
The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard
Reviewed by Annabel Gaskell This may have been the first novel I’ve read by Franco-Vietnamese SF&F author Aliette de Bodard, but it certainly won’t be the last. She has already…
The Killing Kind by Chris Holm
Reviewed by David Harris At first sight, this book was surprisingly different from the previous books of Holm’s that I had read: his Collector series was a noir-tinged fantasy trilogy featuring an operative who…
Friday on my Mind by Nicci French
Reviewed by Harriet The crime-writing couple known as Nicci French have had an amazingly productive and successful career. Having published no less than 11 brilliantly successful standalone psychological thrillers between…
The Autobiography of James T. Kirk edited by David A. Goodman
Reviewed by Annabel I still have a huge affection for Star Trek in all its incarnations and, as time goes on, although Jean-Luc Picard is the man for me, I prefer the…
The Trick is to Keep Breathing by Janet Galloway
Reviewed by Julie Barham If a picture of mind numbing grief was to be fictionalised, this is the novel to read. This is a reprint in the Scottish Classic Vintage…
Sweet Caress by William Boyd
Reviewed by Harriet I’ve read all William Boyd’s novels, and have liked most of them enormously. Over the years he’s played with a number of different genres, including spy stories,…
The Book of Memory by Petina Gappah
Reviewed by Terence Jagger This was an interesting read, and there have been times when it would have been an act of bravery to read it in Zimbabwe, where it…
A Want of Kindness by Joanne Limburg
Reviewed by Victoria Finally! A historical novelist whose wit and insight and glorious prose might threaten to topple Hilary Mantel from her throne. If you are a reader who, like…
Thirteen Guests by J Jefferson Farjeon
Reviewed by Harriet Every station has its special voice. Some are of grit. Some are of sand. Some are of milk cans. Some are of rock muffled by tunnel smoke….
The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Stories, by Joan Aiken
Reviewed by Lory Widmer Hess For over sixty years – starting about age sixteen and continuing right up until her death in 2004 – storyteller extraordinaire Joan Aiken wrote tales…
Moving by Jenny Eclair
Reviewed by Laura Marriott Moving is the latest literary offering from Jenny Eclair. It is the fourth novel from the comedian, who has published three other successful novels; Camberwell Beauty, Having a Lovely…
Let Me Tell You by Shirley Jackson
Reviewed by Simon This is the third Shiny New Books issue in which I’ve had the privilege of writing about Shirley Jackson’s works – and, indeed, I’ve bolstered out those…
Not on Fire, But Burning by Greg Hrbek
Reviewed by Annabel The prologue of this novel set in the near future begins in some style. College student Skyler Wakefield opted to stay and work as a babysitter for…
Murder on Sea by Julie Wassmer
Reviewed by Victoria Earlier this year I read the first in the Whitstable Pearl series by Julie Wassmer and enjoyed it. It featured an intriguing new sleuth, Pearl Nolan. A…
The Miner by Natsume Soseki
In a new translation by Jay Rubin Reviewed by David Hebblethwaite Shiny new publisher: Aardvark Bureau, the new Gallic Books imprint headed up by Scott Pack, formerly publisher at The…
Belonging by Umi Sinha
Reviewed by Victoria Not only was this novel one of the most gripping, engrossing, heart-in-mouth novels I’ve read in 2015, it wins hands-down the most beautiful cover of the year,…
The Living and the Dead in Winsford by Håkan Nesser
Translated by Laurie Thompson Reviewed by Gill Davies Håkan Nesser is a successful, award-winning Swedish crime writer best known for the Van Veeteren series of police novels, a few of which…
A Game for all the Family by Sophie Hannah
Reviewed by Harriet My name is Justine Merrison and I do Nothing. With a capital N. Not a single thing. When I tell people I enjoy crime novels, they often…
Kauthar by Meike Ziervogel
Reviewed by Annabel Many of you will recognise Meike Ziervogel as the founder of Peirene Press; we’ve reviewed several of their novella length books in Shiny New Books (here and here for example)….
The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud
Translated by John Cullen Reviewed by Victoria In a bar in Oran, Algeria, a lone man sits drinking. He draws his companion – the reader – into his strange and…