Slow Horses by Mick Herron

 

 I recently found a new book, Slough House, by Mick Herron but discovered that is it the seventh in the Jackson Lamb series; so I thought I should start at the beginning to find out what they are about and that is when I found Slow Horses. Well, let me tell you if you like spies, nail-biting twists and turns and brilliantly witty repartee this is the book for you.

Slough House is a branch of MI 5 to which once would-be spies who have blotted their copybooks in some way or another find themselves exiled never to be promoted and, it is hoped, eventually resigning from the service and fading into obscurity. Young River Cartwright has landed there due to some dirty work on the part of his so-called friend, Spider Webb. Jackson Lamb, ex-joe (field operative) reigns supreme over all the other losers at Slough House.

I don’t ever give away the plot to a book but I will say that this absolutely ripping yarn contains white supremacists, underhanded bigwigs and politicians, an endearing victim and Joanna Lumley (almost). The writing is spellbinding with some of the best one-liners you’ll ever read and the book is an absolute joy from start to finish.

And there are another six of these waiting to be read! Life is good. 5 out of 5, of course!

Published by John Murray

an Hachette UK company

Old Seems to be Other People by Lily Brett

 

I love Lily Brett more every time I read the latest book she has written. This is another collection of essays about her life in New York and how she is coping with something I would rather wasn’t happening to me, which is growing old. 

Lily makes perfect sense to me when she says she doesn’t want to be run over by a bus in Lexington Avenue because she doesn’t want the newspapers to say elderly woman hit by bus.  She says anyone from the age of 65 is given the description ‘elderly’, a fate which 64 year olds can escape. Lily says that as she is now 72 she is very careful to watch out for buses, and I understand her reasoning completely. 

Something I share with Lily Brett is the inability to read maps and, in general, to have no sense of direction. I love her for that as well. Oh, and another inability: to play sport of any kind. I spent my last year of high school in a beautiful State school which made me wish I had always gone to public schools; however, like Lily Brett I was aghast and afraid when I realised I was expected to participate in, and enjoy, gymnastics and such things as jumping over a vaulting horse. 

Lily Brett’s life in New York still fascinates me. She loves the people, the city and all it has to offer. I first discovered her writing when I read Too Many Men a long time ago and I have read all of her works since then. She is simply a magical writer and her honesty and self-awareness make reading her stories of her life, as well as her novels, a totally pleasurable experience.

If you haven’t read Lily Brett before you should start now. 5 out of 5 with a bullet.

Penguin

Random House Australia 

Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane

 

This is the story of Eve, Susie, Ed and Justin who have been close friends since their school days and are now thirty-somethings navigating their various ways through life in the 21st century. The story is narrated by Eve who is often hilariously funny and sometimes rather outrageous but always honest in her assessments of events unfolding around her.

Tragedy strikes early in the book and Eve and her friends have to learn how to cope with the new pattern into which their lives have fallen. A new character is introduced causing Eve to examine her prejudice and her preconceived ideas. There is a lot of wit and wisdom in Mhairi McFarlane’s writing and some wonderfully snappy one-liners, my favourite being, when Eve is feeling particularly defensive and wanting to hit back: “I feel like Bette Davis gene spliced with a cobra”.

In a way this book can be seen as a cautionary tale for parents. There are real-life memoirs written by people who have suffered because their parents treated them differently to the other children in their families; probably all children feel this way to a certain extent, and it is only natural that it should happen, but in some cases it can be taken to the extreme and cause often irreparable damage. 

Mhairi McFarlan has written a funny, sad, thoughtful and very easily readable book. I will look for her others now.

I don’t necessarily love all the books I read but I only review books I have loved, hence my pretty constant 5 out of 5 score.

Published by Harper Collins

What Could be Saved by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz

 

This is one of the best books I have read this year. It is an intriguing, fascinating story beautifully told by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz, of the Preston family: parents Genevieve and Robert and children, Beatrice, Laura and Philip. The story moves back and forth between 1972 in Bangkok and 2019 in New York. 

Genevieve is bored with the expat experience and terribly disappointed that the promised one year in Bangkok keeps being extended; Robert cannot tell her of the true nature of his work and her life consists of an endless round of beauty salon appointments, bridge games and parties with other expatriate Americans. The children are looked after by servants and their days are regimented into school, swimming,  ballet lessons for the girls and judo lessons for Philip.

That is the top layer of this brilliant book. The sights, sounds and smells of Bangkok leap from the pages; Genevieve finds her life suddenly filled with drama and excitement and then, suddenly, tragedy strikes the family. The story is gripping, compelling and suspenseful and I found it hard to put the book down once I became involved with the Prestons, their servants and everyone else in their lives. When the action shifts to America in 2019 the story holds its fascination but I won’t reveal any details and spoil the absolute enjoyment anyone who reads the book will surely get from it.

To read this book is to love it! 5 out of 5 at the very least.

Published by Allen & Unwin

Win by Harlan Coben

 

Win is Harlan Coben at his brilliant best. Windsor Horne Lockwood III is ‘old money’, heir apparent to the massive fortune and traditions of the Lockwood family (and best friend of Myron Bolitar, former NBA  basketball star, sports agent and some time detective who only appears in this story in Win’s thoughts).

Win is happy with his status in life and the many advantages he enjoys. He lives by his own code of righting wrongs by covertly seeking out bad guys and beating them up by means of his specialised, highly developed skills. When a recluse is found murdered in an upper West Side New York apartment and among the countless objects he has hoarded are a Vermeer painting owned by Win’s family and stolen years before, and a monogrammed suitcase which had belonged to Win, the FBI appear and Win becomes involved in trying to help solve a very old mystery which had once caused much heartache for the Lockwoods.

I would have loved the book for this gem alone: ‘I stand and coolly lean against the fireplace mantle like Sinatra against a lamppost. The word you are looking for is “debonair”.’ The writing is cool, witty and suspenseful in turns and everything a good crime story should be.

Now I am going to re-read some of my Myron Bolitars. I’ve got the Harlan Coben bug good and proper.

5 out of 5 absolutely!

Published by Century

Penguin  Random House UK