2015
Recently reviewed
Leave it to Jennings
Reviewed on 31st December 2015
Leave it to Jennings is the last new Jennings story I will ever read - having already read all the following stories when I was a child. It's taken me some time to get hold of a copy, as it seems it's the only book in the series that hasn't been republished any time recently and all the second hand copies are surprisingly expensive, so I suppose actually it's taken me the time to convince myself to pay for a copy, which I finally did earlier this year on a visit to Hay.
Brayan's Gold
Reviewed on 31st December 2015
The first of several short stories set in the world of The Demon Cycle sees us spending some time with Arlen, one of the series' main characters, as a young man in training to be a messenger. I read the short having already read the first three novels from the series, but it's set (I'm pretty sure) between the first and second and would make most sense to be read after book one.
Set in Darkness
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Reviewed on 31st December 2015
The eleventh Inspector Rebus story from Ian Rankin took me a while to get into. Particularly early on I wasn't really sure where my focus was meant to be, and it seemed to have stepped back from where the previous novels had been with the character to being more focussed on the investigation in question and less on the characters.
The General
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Reviewed on 31st December 2015
The tenth book in the best young adult series I've read sees its characters continuing to age realistically - James Adams is now a 17-year-old secret agent and on his way to retirement, while his younger sister is at her peak. This is an interesting twist on the series as it doesn't follow the traditional spy novel formula, instead mixing together a couple of plots to produce a meta-adventure.
High Five
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Reviewed on 29th December 2015
The fifth Stephanie Plum story - and I can't believe I've only read five - sees work drying up for the only-just-professional bounty hunter, and she tries her hand at helping out with some other business.
Whispers Underground
Reviewed on 29th December 2015
The third book in the Peter Grant series follows the trainee wizard police officer as he investigates the murder of a student using some magic pottery. It's a great continuation of the ongoing storyline as well, and sees a different mix of characters making an interesting tale.
Dangerous Women part two
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Reviewed on 29th December 2015
The second paperback collection of short stories - another subset of those that appeared in the original hardback collection - features a range of tales about women. It starts with Megan Lindholm's tale of an elderly lady whose interpretation of really differs from her children.
Shelter
Reviewed on 29th December 2015
In the final Myron Bolitar novel, Harlan Coben introduced his star character's nephew Mickey, and in Shelter this new teenage character takes centre stage in his own adventure when his girlfriend disappears.
Dead Man's Grip
Reviewed on 6th December 2015
The sixth book in Peter James' series of Brighton-based crimes investigated by Roy Grace brings us back to the detective shortly after the end of his last adventure, with a lot going on in his personal life. A tragic traffic incident leads to a murder investigation that snowballs beyond what might be expected, leading to a thrilling story.
Ten Second Staircase
Reviewed on 4th December 2015
I was very tempted to give up on the Bryant and May series after reading book three and finding it dull and hard to follow. It was only because I already had more books in the series already waiting on my shelf that I decided to pick up Ten Second Staircase and give it a go. I'm very glad I did.
Strike Zone
Reviewed on 4th December 2015
Book five of the Next Generation tie-in novels sees us joining the Enterprise D crew early in the second season, dropping references all the way through to some of the new aspects of the show that have been introduced - Riker's beard, Crusher's absence, Pulaski's presence, and the arrival of Guinan and Ten Forward.
Midnight Sun
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Reviewed on 4th December 2015
Midnight Sun is the second book in the loose new series by Jo Nesbo, the Norwegian author of the Harry Hole novels. It shares only a slim connection with its predecessor, Blood on Snow, and isn't really a sequel. The story is set in the seventies at the most northern tip of Norway, where twentieth century civilization has let to reach, and where Ulf is hiding out from folk who are out to get him.
Trapped
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Reviewed on 2nd December 2015
The fifth book in the Iron Druid Chronicles surprised me by being set twelve years after the previous book - a twist that I certainly wasn't expecting and one that left me trying to puzzle out when the stories were actually set, as I'd assumed the earlier stories were contemporary and struggle to believe that Hearne would want to be trying to predict the near future.
Career of Evil
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Reviewed on 2nd December 2015
The third book in the Cormoran Strike series follows the private investigator and his sidekick Robin as their work is interrupted by the surprise delivery of a severed leg. It's another slightly gruesome tale, as you might guess from that description, but not so much as the second book in the series, The Silkworm.
Rogue Lawyer
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Reviewed on 2nd December 2015
This year's big Grisham novel is an interesting twist, telling the story of a lawyer who is reviled for taking on the cases of those who juries can't wait to sentence - who have already been tried by the press or the police and where evidence is unlikely to sway anyone. As such the chap lives a difficult life and we get to see various as pieces of it.
Shadows of Self
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Reviewed on 1st December 2015
The fifth Mistborn novel, and the second in this 'Wild West' era off the world, revisits Wax and Wayne - a pair of amateur lawmen who use their powers to help or hinder the local police force as appropriate. I suspect that the setting is actually later than wild West equivalent, but as a Brit my knowledge of US historical eras is a little limited.
The Aeronaut's Windlass
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Reviewed on 1st December 2015
This is the first book in a new series by the author of The Dresden Files, set in a post-apocalyptic future where humanity has migrated to living in monumental 'spires' above the earth, separated by great distances of mist traversable only by great airship. We meet a group of youngsters preparing to do their bit for their home spire by signing up for the local Guard, as well as a veteran airship captain who spends his life flitting between the spires. And there are cats.
Legion: Skin Deep
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Reviewed on 5th October 2015
Looking back on my notes from the original Legion novella, I quite enjoyed it and its exploration of Stephen Leeds - a man whose various personality 'aspects' manifesto themselves as imaginary people who travel through life with him. Skin Deep continues the exploration of the character in a little more depth as he faces a new adventure.
Sight Unseen
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Reviewed on 5th October 2015
The latest novel in the Titan series follows the crew of the starship and Admiral Riker as he continues to get used to his new role. Dispatched to a new frontier, the crew receives a distress call from a friendly vessel and heads off to help.
Make Me
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Reviewed on 28th September 2015
The twentieth novel in the Jack Reacher series sees the title character - a former military police officer - arrive in a small violists with an unusual name, which nobody will explain to him.
The Returned part three
Reviewed on 24th September 2015
The final part of this new New Frontier adventure follows up on everything we've seen in parts one and two. There are several vaguely interconnected threads that tie the characters together and demonstrate that Peter David still has what it takes to produce a solid, funny Trek adventure.
The Secret Adversary
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Reviewed on 24th September 2015
I picked up this first novel in Agatha Christie's Tommy and Tuppence series much earlier than I'd planned - partly inspired by the recent TV series (despite not having watched it), but mainly because we agreed for it to be the first book we read in our small new book club.
Trigger Mortis
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Reviewed on 22nd September 2015
After writing the Alex Rider series of young adult spy stories, clearly modelled on Bond, Anthony Horowitz has finally graduated to the main programme and been invited to write the novel he's been lining himself up for.
The Sinister Signpost
Reviewed on 22nd September 2015
The fifteenth book in the original Hardy Boys series, and the point where I ran out of steam in my massive re-read. My copy is the 1960s re-draft, and sees the Hardys brought I. To investigate the possible theft of a new design of engine.
The Girl in the Spider's Web
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Reviewed on 22nd September 2015
I reluctantly purchased this book, feeling slightly dirty having read that Larsson didn't want anyone meddling with his characters and thinking that this was just a cash-grabbing attempt by the new copyright holders.
The Shepherd's Crown
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Reviewed on 22nd September 2015
The final Discworld novel takes us back to the Chalk and the world of recently graduated witch Tiffany Aching. There's a big change on the disc, and Tiffany will need to deal with the repercussions.
Atonement
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Reviewed on 12th September 2015
Voyager is back for the seventh story in Kirsten Beyer's re-relaunch of the series, and she must be doing something right because the publishers keep hiring her back. Sadly, I'm not so sure I would in their place - although there are some parts which remain fantastic, much of the book did little for me.
Fool's Quest
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Reviewed on 12th September 2015
The second book in Robin Hobb's fifth(isn) trilogy in the Realm of the Elderlings world is an excellent continuation of the tale of Fitz - a royal bastard hiding in plain sight. The story follows on directly from Fool's Assassin, and the characters must deal with the repercussions of the events at the end of that novel.
Small Wars
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Reviewed on 21st August 2015
This year's short story sees Jack Reacher back in his army days investigating a shooting. It's worth emphasising that the story is very short and I expect that many will not feel it worth the cover price - probably fair given other longer stories I've recently bought for less.
The Torso in the Town
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Reviewed on 21st August 2015
Carole and Jude return to investigate a new murder, when a torso is found in the basement of a house in a nearby town. It really feels like Brett has got these two characters down to pat and we get to spend a decent amount of the plot aligned with each of them which only adds to the fun.
The Returned part two
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Reviewed on 21st August 2015
The second part of Peter David's new e-novella trilogy about Captain Calhoun and the crew of the Excalibur follows directly from the cliffhanger at the end of part one, as the ship investigates a pocket universe while attempting to recover missing friends.
The Daylight War
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Reviewed on 21st August 2015
The third book in Peter V Brett's Demon Cycle feels like the biggest of the lot - it just goes on and on, and it felt like it took much liger to read than other epic fantasy novels I've read recently.
Armada
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Reviewed on 21st August 2015
Armada - the latest computer game that obsessed the youth of the nation, particularly teenager Zack Lightman - the sixth highest ranked player in the global leaderboards. Until he sees one of the game's alien spacecraft for real from his classroom window, and a web of global conspiracies starts to unfold.
The Paying Guests
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Reviewed on 21st August 2015
I'm not sure whether I bought this book because of the aggressive marketing campaign or because I misread the blurb. I picked it up under the impression that this was a crime novel with a bit of historical setting and romance - it turned out to be the other way round.
Blind Fury
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Reviewed on 21st August 2015
I'm surprised to find myself at the end of the sixth Anna Travis book - it doesn't seem like she's had that many adventures, and I can't decide whether that's a good reflection on the series or not.
The Mystery of the Moaning Cave
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Reviewed on 21st August 2015
The Mystery of the Moaning Cave sees the Three Investigators travel out to the desert to stay with a friend of one of their fathers. They encounter an unusual cave which makes strange noises in a way that doesn't appear random, and set out to investigate.
Death Masks
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Reviewed on 26th July 2015
Death Masks is the fifth book in the Dresden Files series, which tells the story of Chicago’s only Wizard Private Investigator. This time he’s hired by a priest visiting the city from the Vatican to help recover a stolen artefact, which leads to an intriguing and rather complicated plot which I’m not sure I completely followed.
The Returned part one
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Reviewed on 26th July 2015
It's been a few years since the last outing of the USS Excalibur as part of the novel-only Star Trek: New Frontier series, and I had thought that the series had run its course. I’ve been reading the stories since they began in the late 1990s, and although I found the first couple of tranches very enjoyable, felt it had lost its way toward the later end of its life.
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding
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Reviewed on 26th July 2015
Almost certainly the most unusually titled entry in the Poirot series, The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding put me in mind of episodes of the Postman Pat and Vicar of Dibley TV series, in which each of the title characters have to eat too much at Christmas. However that’s not the case here, where in fact this is just one of a collection of short stories released under this banner.
The Concrete Blonde
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Reviewed on 10th July 2015
I have conflicted feelings about this book, and I'm not sure whether that's through any fault of its own.
The Mystery of the Strange Bundle
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Reviewed on 10th July 2015
This time out the Five Find-Outers have all been ill in the holidays and it seems they'll be back to school without a mystery to solve, when one suddenly appears just two houses away.
Warbreaker
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Reviewed on 10th July 2015
I'm surprised how nervous I get about picking up a Brandon Sanderson book that's not from a series I'm already familiar with (this is, so far, a standalone). I should have learnt by now that all his books are fantastic, and by the end of them I'm always desperate to pick up another as soon as possible.
Sacraments of Fire
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Reviewed on 10th July 2015
The Star Trek litverse returns to Deep Space Nine in a book that runs parallel to the events of the 'The Fall' mini series, as well as some of the stories that followed it. It also begins to fill in the major DS9 continuity gap that was left between the original relaunch novels and the Destiny trilogy.
The Long Utopia
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Reviewed on 27th June 2015
The fourth (and possibly final) book in Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's Long Earth series gripped me in a way that the first four failed to. In fact, I'd almost given up on reading the series after the third book, but given recent events wanted to grab the final pages of Pratchett, and was pleasantly surprised.
Dead Souls
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Reviewed on 27th June 2015
The tenth novel is the Rebus series is surprisingly dark, and features a number of intertwining plots that I'm still not quite sure I followed all the way to their conclusions.
Moon Over Soho
Reviewed on 27th June 2015
The second book in the Peter Grant series, about a trainee wizard policeman in London, is just as good as, if not better than, the first.
The Sleepwalker
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Reviewed on 27th June 2015
A surprisingly graphic and violence-filled entry in this series which is definitely not aimed at children of parents who want to wrap them in cotton wool and not let them know that there's a real world outside their windows. Muchamore doesn't do anything to get away from realism - if real life would see a fight, there's a fight, and similarly with death, disaster and sex.
Cursed
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Reviewed on 27th June 2015
The second Alex Verus novel sees the London-based mage investigate the death of a magical creature, as well as attempt to protect a beautiful women who arrives through his window one night.
Armageddon's Arrow
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Reviewed on 20th June 2015
The Enterprise E returns to regular missions after the novel continuity's recent upsets, and this does feel a lot like some of the older novels - much like an episode of the series rather than part of the ongoing story, and that's really great.
News From the Clouds
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Reviewed on 20th June 2015
The third and final book in Robert Llewelyn's trilogy exploring possible futures. Following his two trips to different future utopias, this time Gavin lands in a distopian vision where the world is barely habitable.
The Fugitive
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Reviewed on 10th June 2015
After something of a break, legendary author of legal fiction John Grisham returns to his young adult series about a thirteen year old boy who thinks he's a lawyer.
Four to Score
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Reviewed on 10th June 2015
The fourth book in the Stephanie Plum series follows the bounty hunter chasing down a woman who has skipped bail, but whose case seems to be far more muddled than it should.
Tricked
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Reviewed on 10th June 2015
The fourth book in the Iron Druid Chronicles sees a slight change in the circumstances of the characters as they relocate, and follow up on some of the debts leftover from the previous books.
Brokenclaw
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Reviewed on 25th May 2015
Bond returns in this novel from around 1990, in which continuation author John Gardner pits 007 against 'Brokenclaw' - a stereotypical Bond villain with unclear long-term plans, but quite traditional short-term plans (stolen ones he's selling to China).
Dangerous Women part one
Reviewed on 25th May 2015
This collection of shortish stories is the first part of the longer collection that was published in hardback having been separated into three paperback volumes (and apparently completely re-ordered).
Live Wire
Reviewed on 25th May 2015
The final Myron Bollitar novel sees the fictional detective turn sports agent turned non-specific agent turned troubleshooter hunting for one of his clients, who has gone missing after seeing a suspicious post on a popular social media site.
The High Lord
Reviewed on 25th May 2015
The final book in the Black Magician trilogy continues the adventures of Sonea, a commoner who's defied expectations to become a novice at the magicians' guild. Canavan manages to twist the reader's expectations in fascinatingly natural new ways to produce an amazing tale which concludes the story spectacularly.
Look Who's Back
Reviewed on 25th May 2015
I've been tempted by this book for some time since first seeing the cover in a little bookshop, and finally got a copy. I was not disappointed.
The Ghost Brigades
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Reviewed on 25th May 2015
The sequel to 'Old Man's War', and therefore the second book in the series, while not continuing directly from the story of the first, expands the world in which elderly humans from Earth are recruited into the space military to defend human colonies from other species across the galaxy.
Blood on Snow
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Reviewed on 25th May 2015
Blood on Snow is something new from Jo Nesbo, famous for the Harry Hole series of Oslo-based crime novels (and touted as 'the next Steig Larsson' though I don't see the similarity). It's a first-person tale, which I found surprisingly engaging, telling the story of a contract assassin in a modern-day city.
Uncertain Logic
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Reviewed on 25th May 2015
I didn't fall in love with this, the third of Christopher L Bennett's 'Rise of the Federation' novels - a series of sequels to the TV series 'Star Trek: Enterprise'. There are several plot threads running through that don't really seem to tie together - leaving it feeling like a middle part in a longer story. Archer and T'Pol are drawn into the mystery of a missing Vulcan artefact, Reed, Tucker and Mayweather chase some aliens who like abducting people, and some other character lose me in the intricacies of their plotting.
The Hidden Harbour Mystery
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Reviewed on 25th May 2015
The fourteenth book in the original Hardy Boys series is the first one that I've actually read the original text of, rather than the re-written edition from the 1960s.
The Desert Spear
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Reviewed on 11th April 2015
If anything, the second book in Peter V Brett's The Demon Cycle is even better than the first. It took me a little while to get back into the swing of the story, particularly as this doesn't pick up from where the first left off, instead using a good chunk to dive into another part of the world and expand the story into new characters and new points of view, before starting to pull the threads together again.
Dead Like You
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Reviewed on 5th April 2015
The sixth Roy Grace novel returns us to Brighton, where the characters personal life continues to move on in a nice bit of added realism. There's some new colleagues making his work life easier too, and the only problem is the rapist that seems to have reappeared after a fourteen year absence, who Grace is tasked with tracking down.
Seventy-Seven Clocks
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Reviewed on 5th April 2015
The third book in the Bryant & May series of slightly unusual crime investigations spins back to the 1970s and an investigation by the newly formed unit lead by the two detectives. The non-linear ordering of the stories in this series confused me slightly, and I get lost sometimes about which character is which and what I'm meant to know about them.
Survivors
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Reviewed on 5th April 2015
Survivors is novel number four in the original Star Trek: The Next Generation line, and is set somewhere in the middle of the first season, between 'The Arsenal of Freedom' (which it references) and before 'Skin of Evil' (which is also referenced and foreshadowed). The author having had the benefit of knowing what happens in 'Skin of Evil' has made this into a fantastic character exploration and backstory reveal for one of the least served main characters of TNG - Tasha Yar.
Shaman's Crossing
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Reviewed on 5th April 2015
I've enjoyed everything I've read by Robin Hobb (including some short works under her alternative name - Megan Lindholm), and so when a friend said that she'd found the Soldier Son trilogy hard going I was unconvinced. However after giving up a fair chunk of time to it I'm afraid I've had to (at least temporarily) admit defeat after only a couple of hundred pages.
Hatchet Job
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Reviewed on 5th April 2015
This is the second of Mark Kermode's books I've read (though I am a regular listener to his podcast), which is unusual for me as I usually try to read them in order (but my copy of 'The Good, The Bad and The Multiplex' is off in a box somewhere so I skipped ahead). The first book was autobiographical, and I understand the second is about the current state of cinema - this time Kermode writes about film criticism itself.
A Most Wanted Man
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Reviewed on 5th April 2015
Continuing my slightly unusual new habit of reading John Le Carré's novels in reverse publication order, I've come to this story about an immigrant arriving in Germany to claim an inheritance. It has recently been made into a film (which I haven't seen), which surprised me slightly as I didn't feel it was as compelling as some of the other le Carré books I've recently read.
Silent Scream
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Reviewed on 5th April 2015
The fifth Anna Travis book sees the character become part of a new team investigating the death of a young film star. It's nice to see the progression of the main character in both her career and personal life, though there are many elements that continue to be a part of the series following on from earlier books, and I wondered whether much of it would make as much sense without reading the earlier novels.
Takedown
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Reviewed on 5th April 2015
Seriously. This is epic. If ever there was the Star Trek novel that cried out to be a film this is it. When Will Riker commandeers Ezri Dax's ship, the Aventine, and sets out on some unusual missions, Captain Picard is obviously the man to send after him.
Cat Among the Pigeons
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Reviewed on 11th February 2015
As I reach the final stretch in my trawl through the Poirot back catalogue, I reached Cat Among the Pigeons, a fantastically different type of mystery set in a girls' boarding school yet with a fascinating series of exotic twists.
The Mystery of the Screaming Clock
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Reviewed on 11th February 2015
I had abandoned my Three Investigators re-read over a year ago when relocating, and in the interim started re-reading my original Hardy Boys series, so it was a pleasant treat to dive back into this world of hidden junkyard bases and unusual props - this time of course in the form of a screaming clock that carries an initial clue.
Scorpia Rising
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Reviewed on 11th February 2015
The 'final' book in the Alex Rider series is quite an explosive finale. It seems like everyone whose plans he's ever destroyed has come back for one big surprise revenge party
The Missing
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Reviewed on 11th February 2015
Finally! A new DS9 novel! But is it? We're well into the second DS9 relaunch by now, and there's a big continuity gap sitting in the wings waiting to be filled in between the two. This story really focuses on three known characters, all of them based in or around DS9, but really Ro, Crusher and Pulaski are all Next Generation characters.
Summer Knight
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Reviewed on 11th February 2015
Book four: Faeries. Jim Butcher's series about. Chicago-based wizard detective Harry Dresden feels by this point to be cycling through the list of available magical creatures to put the protagonist against.
Dead Girl Walking
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Reviewed on 11th February 2015
Following on from 2014's ebook short, investigative reporter Jack Parlabane is finally back on the page and in the centre of a new story. Down on his luck after the real life events that have affected the British press, he's invited to take on a unique secret investigation by an old friend.
The Black Ice
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Reviewed on 11th February 2015
The second book in the Harry Bosch series follows the detective as he investigates several crimes that he's not really meant to - including the death of one of his colleagues.
The Mark on the Door
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Reviewed on 4th February 2015
In book thirteen, The Mark on the Door, (or at least my copy of the 1967 rewrite) the Hardy Boys investigate a rather implausible submarine sighting as part of an even more ludicrous plot that sees them use the most forms of transport the author could think of. This is the first time I've read this book, as it wasn't one of those I had as a youngster.
The Mystery of the Vanished Prince
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Reviewed on 4th February 2015
Book nine of the series sees the group of young detectives take on an interesting mystery that once again is solved mostly by coincidence rather than real detective work. One of the things I've noticed re-reading this series as an adult is that it's not as rich a set of stories as I remembered, and the quality of the plots isn't really high enough.
Firefight
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Reviewed on 11th January 2015
Book two (if you ignore a novella set in between) of Brandon Sanderson's Reckoners series continues the adventures of David Charleston in his fight against the Epics - humans who have gained superpowers which turn them evil. David and his friends head for New York this time, to confront a gathering team of Epics who threaten to wipe out the city.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
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Reviewed on 11th January 2015
I suspect this was around my eighth reading of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I began re-reading the series again as J K Rowling began to release additional content on the Pottermore website - however this time I've been quite late getting there for the content for this book.
The Hanging Garden
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Reviewed on 11th January 2015
Ian Rankin's series about Inspector Rebus continues to grow better and better. In this, the ninth book, things become personal (again) for the detective as his daughter becomes part of a case (again) and he becomes embroiled in a gang war (again?).