9th September 2026

ABK's second Montgomery Bonbon mystery sees the mysterious detective on holiday with her grandfather, visiting the unusual Odde Island where it turns out, in classic mystery fashion, there's been a murder.

The mystery is solid, with a range of suspects, and lots of the classic elements that a younger reader would be seeing for the first time. The characters are great, with real personality, turned up to eleven, and lots of fun to be had.

There's jokes aplenty and some very funny choices of simile and phrasing to entertain child and adult readers alike.

It just lacked some of the magic of the first novel though - it wasn't quite as compelling to read, and I can't quite put my finger on why.

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9th September 2026

An aging Rebus, and less-aging Clarke and Fox return to investigate another murder - this time when a body from 12 years earlier is found in a car boot.

I really struggled mentally with the 12 years earlier aspect, which places the previous part of the timeline at 2006 compared to the main story in 2018. Somehow I can't get my head around that and was imagining a much earlier part of the original timeline. It's not helped I think by the world being presented in a way that to me felt like it was from a much earlier era, particularly with regards to treatment of LGBT people.

There's a lot that goes on in the investigation and in the ongoing storylines of the main characters. I do feel that at this stage it might be quite hard for a new reader to pick up the book, as there's all the established relationships to catch up with.

Ultimately though I felt a bit let down by the final chapters. The ending felt a bit too easy to wrap up, and almost like it didn't justify the convoluted path to get there.

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9th September 2026

The final Cherub story, after three chunky series, wraps things up by bringing together the stories of James and Ryan, but perhaps to the expense of featuring some of the other newer characters as much as they could be.

It's a big adventure and fitting to end the series. There's a lot of change in the air, and that does feel a good place to be.

The specific plot is detailed, complex, dangerous, and bigger than ever before. Muchamore doesn't shy away from realism, and there's more violence than in most novels aimed at this age group.

A fitting end to an excellent series.

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9th September 2026

I've been listening to John Green podcast for some time now, and read one of his non-fiction books, so thought that I'd give his fiction a go, and chose this as one that sounded less focussed on sickness.

It's a light comic coming-of-age novel about a young man escaping his comfort zone after his 19th breakup with someone named Katherine.

The character is interesting, sometimes a little annoying, but generally quite relatable. I mostly enjoyed being along for a ride in his life and seeing where things went. The setting is also quite different from anything I've particularly experienced, but is presented well and easy to imagine.

I can easily hear Green's voice narrating the story, and it's a very relaxing way to read. Pleasant and calm, and a good story.

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29th August 2026

Well this book did not get me through anything.

It's the story of a tech billionaire creep who has kidnapped a group of girls and young women and keeps them locked up for his own unsavoury devices. It's the story of one of those girls' father and his depression. It's the story of some professional but independent rescuers who feel they only exist on the pages of thrillers. It's the story of drug gangs and... well I gave up.

I got about halfway, and realised that my level of interest in the characters was really limited, and the horrible nature of some of their actions wasn't something I cared to read about.

It's interesting given that I've just read The Godfather, which is also full of reprehensible characters and terrible deeds, that a modern thriller wasn't able to stay readable in the same way. But this felt like the basic sort of modern thriller which focusses just on action after action, and too much on the baddies, without spending the effort to build interesting characters.

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29th August 2026

The Secret Seven gather again for a new school holidays, with the usual mystery in the offing, trouble with Susie and Binky, and a big dollop of coincidence to help things out.

I still can't help thinking as an adult reader that Susie is really the hero of these stories, and it will be interesting when I get onto the non-Blyton continuation novels whether that continues.

As a modern reader, I'm not sure this book always teaches the best lessons to children on how to behave around strangers, and there's a good amount of sneaking out at night. Unlike previous novels, the girls are allowed to take part more, but still there's a sense of sexism in how they react in some situations.

It's also got some quite serious peril for the characters that I didn't remember from the series. In fact I have very little memory of this one of the stories at all, and am wondering if perhaps I didn't read it as a child... though I thought I had read or listened to them all.

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29th August 2026

We join El Higgins in her third year of four at an oddly American-style school in Britain, which has no staff but still punishes students for not learning properly. It was a great choice to not start us off in the first year - it gives a totally different vibe to learn not as the character is learning, but from them, and I think sets us up for a more interesting adventure.

The first half of the novel presents El as moderately unlikeable, and this section was a bit of a challenge to push through before the second half flows more easily.

There's a lot to imagine here - strange dimensionality, creepy creatures, and a magic system - and I'm not sure that fitted perfectly with the way my brain fails to fully picture things when reading.

And yet, with retrospect, it was an enjoyable story - with a decent sprinkling of humour throughout. I wanted to find out more about the characters and the world, and how the plot would evolve. But I still feel a bit like more world-building would have kept me entertained more.

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