2022
Recently reviewed
Attack of the Video Villains
Reviewed on 31st December 2022
The Hardys and Chet spend book 106 in New York, where Joe is playing in an early esports championship - until someone starts stealing all the game cartridges.
The Smoke Screen Mystery
Reviewed on 31st December 2022
For story 105 the Hardy brothers sign up to be volunteer fire-fighters, which despite this being a book from 1990 still feels like an archaic way to run your fire service.
Tricks of the Trade
Reviewed on 31st December 2022
The Hardys and their friend Chet visit New York in book 104 to see a famous magician, but more than just glamorous assistants start to disappear.
The Million-Dollar Nightmare
Reviewed on 31st December 2022
The Hardy brothers are once again on their summer holidays (the last few books have leapt around the seasons, almost as if they’re targeting release in different school holidays) and find themselves in San Francisco, where a horse has been stolen.
Terminal Shock
Reviewed on 31st December 2022
A very computer-focussed adventure 102 for the Hardy brothers, when Frank’s first online friend is poisoned.
The Money Hunt
Reviewed on 31st December 2022
In book 101 the Hardy brothers go on holiday again to visit an old friend of their dad’s whose cabin in the woods is being haunted.
The Secret of the Island Treasure
Reviewed on 31st December 2022
For book 100, the first story of the 1990s, the Hardys return to the setting of their first adventure, some 70 years before, despite having not aged a day.
Dungeon of Doom
Reviewed on 31st December 2022
The Hardy Boys accidentally find themselves drawn into a real-life game of Wizards and Warriors (I’m sure that for legal reasons this is entirely distinct from Dungeons & Dragons) in this 1989 book 99 in the series.
Spark of Suspicion
Reviewed on 24th December 2022
In book 98 the Hardy brothers return to their job at the local TV station as they prepare for Bayport’s 300th anniversary firework display. But someone else is preparing something for it too.
Cast of Criminals
Reviewed on 24th December 2022
The Harry Boys do Phantom of the Opera, when mysterious accidents happen at the theatre they are doing an amateur dramatics play in.
Ordeal by Innocence
Reviewed on 24th December 2022
I wanted something short to read in the few days left before Christmas so grabbed a random not-yet-read Agatha Christie novel from the shelf, and this was it.
The Cartographers
Reviewed on 24th December 2022
I picked this up after seeing it both in a shop and marketed online. It’s not quite what I was expecting.
The Poisoning in the Pub
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Reviewed on 24th December 2022
Book 10 in Fethering sees us revisit a growing cast of familiar characters, who are out for lunch at the pub when disaster strikes.
A Spy By Nature
Reviewed on 24th December 2022
Charles Cumming’s first spy novel is an interesting take on the genre. It opens classically, then very quickly pivots into a new direction and feels like it skips over a key chapter, leaving the reader to wonder what’s going on.
The Lost Metal
Reviewed on 24th December 2022
The latest Mistborn novel (seriously you need a chart of work out what number this is) sees the wrapping up of the second era, following Wax and Wayne as they and their friends try to really understand what’s happening.
A Closed and Common Orbit
Reviewed on 27th November 2022
The second Wayfarers novel loosely continues from the end of the first. While I don’t think it’s necessary to read the first novel to read this one, this probably does carry spoilers from some events from the first novel, so it likely makes sense to read them in order.
Lamb
Reviewed on 27th November 2022
This has been on my wish list for so long that I can’t remember who recommended it or why, but I eventually picked it up in a sale, and have not been at all disappointed.
A Trail Through Time
Reviewed on 27th November 2022
The fourth book following Max as she travels around time is the first to feel like it’s a full single novel-length story - it doesn’t have the same episodic nature of the previous books, and instead flows from end to end.
Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone
Reviewed on 27th November 2022
A book I bought based entirely on the title, this is an Australian novel about a man who’s family have all killed somebody, and we follow the events of their family skiing holiday as he introduces them all to us.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Reviewed on 27th November 2022
This was a great genre-defying novel which I picked up purely after seeing it on a table in the bookshop. I’m not sure what I was expecting - possibly something aimed at a younger audience based on the cover - but it’s not that.
The Bullet That Missed
Reviewed on 28th October 2022
Richard Osman’s gang of retirees return for their third adventure - which because the characters are well established can come as two distinct plot threads.
The Hedge Witch
Reviewed on 28th October 2022
This spin-off (and I think maybe prequel) to Threadneedle follows one of the original’s secondary characters as she heads to Wales for the summer.
Second Self
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Reviewed on 28th October 2022
Back in the world of Star Trek: Picard, Una McCormack tells a story of what Raffi got up to between seasons one and two, when she’s sent on a mission to hunt for a missing war criminal.
Babel
Reviewed on 28th October 2022
I feel under qualified to review this book in every possible way.
Double or Nothing
Reviewed on 1st October 2022
Kim Sherwood brings us the latest modern day take on the world of James Bond, with a bunch of interesting twists on the formula.
Her Majesty's Royal Coven
Reviewed on 1st October 2022
This is the first Juno Dawson novel I’ve read, attracted as I was by the omnipresent online marketing, the bold cover, and the amusing title.
The Cliff House
Reviewed on 3rd September 2022
Chris Brookmyre’s latest novel is a bit overwhelming at first - introducing a lot of characters very quickly, who make up the party going for a hen weekend on a remote Scottish island.
Skyward Flight
The Final Strife
Reviewed on 3rd September 2022
This first book in a new trilogy, heavily marketed to me by the publisher, opens in the classic fantasy fashion of throwing a bunch of terminology at me without fully explaining it. While this can be a bad sign, in this case it was not, and I was soon absolutely hooked.
The Apollo Murders
Reviewed on 3rd September 2022
I’ve had this book on my shelf for a while and been nervous to start it. I’m not usually a huge thriller reader any more, but the appeal of an actual astronaut author overruled that in this case.
Wipeout
Reviewed on 12th August 2022
The Hardy brothers head to the south of France (where it seems everybody speaks English in 1989) to help an old friend who is entering a windsurfing competition.
Danger on the Air
Reviewed on 12th August 2022
The Hardy brothers take part in an explosive TV show in their 95th adventure.
Breakdown in Axeblade
Reviewed on 12th August 2022
The Hardy brothers head off to Wyoming in their van, which promptly breaks down, abandoning them in the weird town of Axeblade.
The Serpent's Tooth Mystery
Reviewed on 12th August 2022
The Hardy Boys are drawn into another case when their friend Phil is accused of snake theft.
The Shadow Killers
Reviewed on 12th August 2022
When Frank’s karate instructor is attacked, he and Joe start an investigation which puts themselves against one of the world’s biggest criminal operations.
Shield of Fear
Reviewed on 12th August 2022
The Hardy brothers become police cadets in this investigation into why another cadet is being bullied.
Danger on the Diamond
Reviewed on 12th August 2022
The Hardy Boys face their 90th mystery when spending their summer at a baseball camp where things are going wrong. I vaguely remember reading this one, I think from the local library, as a child.
The Sky Blue Frame
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Reviewed on 1st August 2022
In what I remember as one of my favourite Hardy Boys adventures, the brothers are hired to run a mystery weekend at a nearby hotel, only to find themselves investigating a real crime too.
The Burning Man
Reviewed on 1st August 2022
I never know quite what I’m going to get from a Christopher Fowler novel. There’s a sense in my mind that he can write really good horror and really good comedy - and that the Bryant & May series moves around both those spaces.
Threadneedle
Reviewed on 1st August 2022
Cari Thomas debut novel about a young witch growing up in London under the slightly too careful watch of her aunt provides everything necessary in a modern fantasy novel - world building, character, mystery, and adventure.
Sense and Sensibility
Reviewed on 3rd July 2022
Over 200 years late to the party and I’m finally inspired to try out Jane Austen. I chose Sense & Sensibility primarily because there was already a copy of my bookcase which had appeared for some random relative at some time or another.
Murder Before Evensong
Reviewed on 3rd July 2022
Rev Richard Coles adds mystery novelist to his annoyingly long list of talents with this tale of a crime solving rector in a village church in the late 1980s.
The Sanctuary
Reviewed on 3rd July 2022
Andrew Hunter Murray’s second novel explores a very different post-apocalyptic future to the first, but still one inspired by the damage caused to society and the planet by climate change and billionaires.
Victory Disc
Reviewed on 3rd July 2022
The Vinyl Detective’s third adventure is triggered by the discovery of an ancient record from WW2, and the appearance of the daughter of a band member, who hires him to find more.
With A Mind to Kill
Reviewed on 26th June 2022
Anthony Horowitz returns to the world of James Bond for a third and final time, on this outing giving us a view of Bond late career, following the last of Fleming’s original novels.
Tricky Business
Reviewed on 26th June 2022
Another story in the mid-80s revamp of the Hardy Boys sees the brothers investigating a pyramid scheme exploiting teenagers in Bayport.
Programme for Destruction
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The Mystery of the Silver Star
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Reviewed on 4th June 2022
The third book of this mid-eighties new era of Hardy Boys feels like it’s toned things back down a bit. The techno aspects are still there, but supplement the plot rather than steal focus.
The Skyfire Puzzle
Reviewed on 4th June 2022
This 1985 Hardy Boys novel continues in the new style established in the previous novel. It has become something more akin to a techno thriller, properly introducing the boys’ “Super Van”, kitted out with more gadgets than a James Bond car. Not the only thing that this novel seems to use in homage to Bond.
Revenge of the Desert Phantom
Reviewed on 4th June 2022
This is a remarkably different Hardy Boys book. Dropping from 20 to 15 chapters, and with a real shift in tone, it feels like the 80s have really hit.
The Swamp Monster
Reviewed on 4th June 2022
The Hardys and co head to Texas for this mystery with a giant crocodile.
The Blackwing Puzzle
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Reviewed on 2nd June 2022
Finally a Bayport-based mystery again, and that allows us to see the whole of the Hardy Boys gang, including the random decision in this novel to relabel their aunt as “Gertie”.
The Demon's Den
Reviewed on 2nd June 2022
In this slightly weirdly anti-GM, religious persecutionist Hardy Boys novel, the brothers are once again on their summer holidays, this time in Vermont, when they join in a hunt for a missing child.
The Roaring River Mystery
Reviewed on 1st June 2022
In this first 1984 Hardy Boys story, the brothers go white water rafting in Maine, with a flimsy excuse of a mystery to back up their adventure.
Sky Sabotage
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Reviewed on 1st June 2022
It’s 1983 and the Hardy brothers are off on their travels again, this time to Florida to do the Space Centre and Theme Parks. Oh and solve crimes.
A Second Chance
Reviewed on 1st June 2022
The third Chronicle of St Mary’s sees our favourite time travelling historian planning for her final mission, to see the great wooden horse at Troy.
Standing in Another Man's Grave
Reviewed on 1st June 2022
I really like how easy it is to slip back into the Rebus novels. Rankin has definitely got the right balance of realistic crime novel down for me - we are always aligned with the investigator, so there’s no sense of glorifying the crime, and there’s no sensationalist over emphasis on gore or graphic description.
Body Work
Reviewed on 1st June 2022
I’m not typically one for graphic novels - but after reading the latest Rivers of London novel I finally decided that I was missing out on story by not consuming this format too, and so started here at the beginning.
Plain Bad Heroines
Reviewed on 1st June 2022
I don’t really remember how this ended up on my wish list - possibly just as a result of aggressive advertising on social media. But when I found a copy in a small independent bookshop it leapt out at me, quite possibly aided by the bright yellow and pink colour scheme and the chunky size.
Cave-in
Reviewed on 1st June 2022
The Hardy Brothers head away from home again to help investigate something fairly forgettable at a ski resort film set. Meanwhile they get involved in a class war between the locals and the rich landowners, without acknowledging it as such.
The Devil's Bargain
Reviewed on 7th May 2022
In Stella Rimington’s latest novel she’s departed from her previous character and introduced an entirely new set for us to follow on their investigations and suspicions.
Amongst Our Weapons
Reviewed on 7th May 2022
Rivers of London 9 sees Peter and his surprisingly large group of friends now investigating some suspicious deaths and rings.
The Crimson Flame
Reviewed on 7th May 2022
A pretty standard early 1980s adventure for the Hardy Boys, as they are hired to protect a valuable ruby from potential thieves.
Dawnshard
Reviewed on 1st May 2022
This novella side story from the Stormlight Archives has finally been published in print in the UK, which means I’ve been able to read it.
The Kaiju Preservation Society
Reviewed on 1st May 2022
John Scalzi has produced a great, light-hearted yet incredibly serious novel, set during but not about the pandemic, which kept me well entertained.
The Judge's List
Reviewed on 1st May 2022
Grisham returns to the land of sequels as we return to the investigators of dodgy judges, and a horrifying accusation is made.
A Corruption of Blood
Reviewed on 1st May 2022
The third Ambrose Parry novel continues in the same style as the first two. We follow our characters though their mildly soap opera nineteenth century doctor lives, while they also investigate a murder or two.
Oblivion's Gate
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Reviewed on 5th April 2022
The finale of the 20+ year so-called Star Trek lit-verse sees an end to a novel series that has kept me a companion since the end of the DS9 TV series. So this is a bitter-sweet moment of reflection as it’s finally wrapped up and put away so that the continuing novel line can sit back into line with the TV canon.
A Three Dog Problem
Reviewed on 5th April 2022
The Queen and her staff return for a second investigation. This time we find them at Buckingham Palace, where not only has a body been found in the pool, but one of the Queen’s favourite paintings has been lost.
The Return of the Archons
Reviewed on 5th April 2022
I’d heard of Obverse and their various Archive series before via Twitter, but it was only when I heard they were going to release a Star Trek series that I took the plunge and pre-ordered the first three entries.
Game Plan For Disaster
Reviewed on 5th April 2022
Taking a week off school because of a teachers’ convention, the Hardy brothers go to college to act as private security for a famous local American football player in the lead up to a big match.
Cytonic
Reviewed on 5th April 2022
The third book in what’s now called the Cytosphere, this continues Spensa’s adventures in a sci-fi action adventure that almost begins to feel like it has a computer game vibe.
The Twyford Code
Reviewed on 5th April 2022
Hallett’s second novel is a similar but different take on the style of her first - this time presenting the entire narrative in the form of transcripts of audio recordings, as a recently released convict records his life story, and what he gets up to, into his estranged son’s old phone.
Better Off Dead
Reviewed on 23rd February 2022
Andrew Child’s second Reacher novel shows a lot of the same traits as the first. The writing style feels different - this time we’re in first person, which we’ve seen before in the series, but the tone feels almost smoother than in the novels written by his older brother Lee.
Revenant
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Reviewed on 23rd February 2022
This novel is a refreshing return to the midpoint of the DS9 TV series as we reunite with Jadzia Dax when she’s asked to try to help an old friend who has gone off the rails.
The Burning God
Reviewed on 23rd February 2022
The third book of the Poppy War trilogy got off to a slower start for me. I found it hard to get back into the storyline, I think because it’s taken a darker turn and my ability to sympathise with the characters has reduced as a result.
Fan Fiction
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Reviewed on 6th February 2022
Brent Spiner, the actor who played/plays the Android Data and his family in Star Trek, pens the tale of a man named Brent Spiner, an actor who plays the Android Data in Star Trek, in the early 1990s, as he receives threatening letters and lives a confusing life.
Silverview
Reviewed on 6th February 2022
John le Carré’s final novel feels like he remained very much on form. It’s short by modern standards, but feels like the perfect length for the story it is telling. To some extent, it feels like Carré’s stature allowed him to escape concepts like word counts imposed by publishers, and just to write the words that are necessary.
Terra's War
Reviewed on 6th February 2022
I absolutely adored Mitch Benn’s first Terra novel, and enjoyed the sequel, so was disappointed in his publisher’s decision to leave the story incomplete. Clearly so was Benn, as he’s now taken matters into his own hands and published the third novel himself - which explains why I had couldn’t find the novel for sale in my local bookshop.
Jingo
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Reviewed on 6th February 2022
My loosely focussed Discworld re-read has reached Jingo, a novel which I don’t think I was sure about the first time, but did enjoy on second reading.
Eight Detectives
Reviewed on 6th February 2022
I picked up this new mystery novel entirely on a whim after seeing it displayed in a bookshop and needing an extra book to make up a multi buy deal. I’m glad I did.