Haynes, Natalie (2023) Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth. Picador.
Haynes returns with her female-centred exploration of the role of goddesses in Greek myth. She has found that goddesses, often maligned or reduced to supporting roles in literature and records, are just as complex and destructive as their male counterparts. We meet Athene, goddess of war and Athens, who was born fully formed from her father Zeus’ head, Hera the queen of the Olympic gods, sister and long-suffering wife of Zeus, and his other sisters the household goddess Hestia, and the vengeful Demeter in her search for her kidnapped daughter Persephone. Jealousies, revenge and wrath colour the pages of this book. Fascinating companion to Pandora’s Jar, with a contemporary twist.
Rating: 4/5
Ware, Ruth (2024) One Perfect Couple. Scout Press.
Five attractive couples cast in a new reality TV show, One Perfect Couple, become trapped on a desert island after a major storm. Cut off from mainland Indonesia the group must band together for survival. But the radio is out of action, fresh water and food are running low and the mosquitos are biting. Tensions are high, then members of the group start turning up dead. Can scientist Lyla save the day? Is there a killer in their midst? Takes the reality genre to a whole new level. Good pace and suspense.
Rating: 3/5
Finlay, Alex (2024) If Something Happens to Me. Minotaur.
After Ryan’s school girlfriend Ali is ripped from his arms following a romantic tryst one lonely rainy night, she was never heard from again. Her disappearance has haunted him for years with accusations aimed in his direction. Now, Ryan has changed his name and is studying law when the past comes back to greet him on summer trip to Tuscany. Ryan is in a race to find the truth about what happened to Ali taking him from Paris, to a village in the UK and back to his Kansas hometown where a young sheriff’s deputy, in her first case, finds mob connections. Intense fast-paced twisty thriller.
Rating: 3/5
Foley, Lucy (2024) The Midnight Feast. HarperCollins.
The Manor, built on the site of an ancient wood on the Dorset coast, has been turned into a luxury retreat by its owner Francesca. But Francesca and the Manor have a dark fifteen year secret that Bella intends to expose at the midnight feast on the solstice opening night. As the guests circulate a body is discovered, and old enemies are roused. And then there are the Birds. It will all end in murder! No-one is innocent. Confused and disappointing plot. Not Foley’s best.
Rating: 2/5
Walker, Martin (2024) A Grave in the Woods. Quercus.
In Bruno’s latest case he is set to deal with a possible war crime when a World War II grave is discovered in the woods outside St Denis. At the same time someone is trying to hack his phone and the Dordogne rivers are threatening to flood. In this seventeenth book in the series an injured Benoît Courrèges, aka Bruno Chief of Police, once again saves the day, with a taste of local cuisine. Always a satisfactory comfort read.
Rating: 3/5
Merriman, Eileen (2024) The Night She Fell. Penguin.
Ashleigh and Xander have been together since high school. Now they are both studying at Otago University and Xander is becoming increasing disillusioned with Ashleigh’s demands and possessive behaviour. Another girl has caught his eye. Then one night Ashleigh falls to her death from her third-storey apartment, a suspected suicide. But why? How? Plenty of people have reason to hate ‘perfect’ Ashleigh. She has fallen out with her boyfriend and flatmates. There are some weird messages. Something is not right! A clever contemporary psychological thriller, with a before and after narrative.
Rating: 4/5
Gentill, Sulari (2024) The Mystery Writer. Poisoned Pen Press.
It all started out plausibly enough, with a side of conspiracy chat. Frustratingly naive Theo arrives on her brother’s US doorstep after exiting her Australian law degree, claiming she wants to be a writer. As she begins her writing career she forms a mentor relationship with Dan, a bestselling author, at her local cafe. The relationship turns romantic, then Dan is murdered, with Theo the prime suspect. It all kicks off from here with a missing manuscript and subsequent murders. It becomes a wild ride till the end with rabid fans, conspiracy theorists, survivalists, inept police, corrupt publishers, violent acolytes and a kidnapping. I persevered but not my jam! For fans of weird.
Rating: 2/5
Streisand, Barbra (2023) My Name is Barbra. Century.
Barbra Streisand’s 10-year, 1000 page, opus is a memoir of ambition, trials and amazing success. From her difficult early years to her rise to megastardom her talent and accomplishments have made her a respected global celebrity. She rose in a misogynist (pre MeToo) entertainment industry in spite of her eccentric and passionate nature, constant demands for excellence, and her untraditional beauty. No one can argue with her output – she has sold 145 million records and won Emmys, Oscars, Grammys and Tonys. Fascinating look at a determined, yet often insecure, global icon who wanted to make it on her own terms. Fabulous.
Rating: 5/5
Swanson, Peter (2024) A Talent for Murder. W. Morrow.
Martha suspects her new husband Alan may be a serial killer. When she finds a blood speck on his shirt she become suspicious. As a salesman Alan is a regular attendee at conferences and as Martha tracks the cities he has visited over the past year she finds five unsolved murders. Is it a coincidence? Martha approaches old friend, and a Swanson regular Lily Kintner, to help her solve the mystery. But what Lily finds is very perplexing. Good ol’ tale of revenge and murder.
Rating: 3/5
McDermott, Alice (2023) Absolution. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Patricia is the docile bride, and “helpmeet”, of an attorney on loan to navy intelligence in Saigon in 1963. She forms an alliance with charismatic Charlene, an established corporate wife and mother of three, who wants to do-good for the people of Vietnam. Tricia joins Charlene’s charitable fundraising project to sell Barbie doll-sized áo dài, the Vietnamese national garment, created by local seamstress Ly. Sixty years on Charlene’s daughter reaches out to Tricia and they look back on Charlene’s altruism and the lives of expat wives, forever on the periphery, during the Vietnam war. Compelling story of good intentions and consequences.
Rating: 4/5
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel (2023) Until August. Viking.
A posthumous “found” story that the author did not feel was ready for publication before his death in 2014, but his son’s did. Ana Magdalena Bach visits her mother’s grave, on an unnamed island, every 16 August to place gladioli. She is happily married, but on her annual tip to the island she takes a new lover. She loves the freedom but is constantly fearful. This last story written as Garcia Marquez’s dementia progressed was to become part of a new book comprising five autonomous tales with Ana Magdalena Bach as the intended protagonist. Intriguingly sensual.
Rating: 5/5
7:30 Bookclub 