Book reviews: Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Getting Away with Murder and Whole Life Sentence by Lynda La Plante, The Surf House by Lucy Clarke, Moving On by Roisin Meaney, How to Slay at Work and How to Slay on Holiday by Sarah Bonner
Janet Gordon, who lives in Takeley, reviews best-sellers and debut fiction for the Indie
I’m exhausted. My husband went in for an urgent appointment at the GP surgery, but got blue-lighted into Princess Alexandra Hospital on March 26 with a potential heart attack. Full marks to A&E at PAH for whisking him into a cubicle and starting treatment right away. After all the horror stories we read about, it was quite reassuring that he wasn’t parked in a corridor and left unattended.
We spent all day in the cubicle - full marks again for the smiley volunteers who man the tea trolley, dispensing hot drinks and sandwiches – until he was admitted to a ward that evening. Our poor dog Rollo was really depressed – he’d watched his daddy walk into the GP surgery but he hadn’t seen him come out again and he just didn’t know where he was.
Luckily, my husband was discharged nine days later, following an angiogram, and both he and Rollo are, as I write this, happily sitting on the sofa watching the television.
My relaxing crochet evenings went by the board, as did both housework and cooking, but I did manage to carry on reading, of course, since I didn’t manage very much sleep! And my husband cannot now be known as the slowest reader in the world since he did nothing but read whilst he was an inpatient.
Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor £22)
My husband galloped through this one and awarded it five stars!
Humans are looking to colonise distant planets to mine them for anything usable. Having found a very distant planet with some form of life, the expeditioners assume that the “life forms” are non-sentient and unintelligent.
How wrong can you be? Following a catastrophic accident, they are forced to land on the planet and fight for survival.
My husband says that it is typical of us Earthlings to assume we are the superior race, but in actuality Shroud’s alien species begin to understand us. What a fantastic read.
Getting Away with Murder and Whole Life Sentence by Lynda La Plante (Zaffra £10.99 and £9.99)
Getting Away with Murder is Lynda La Plante’s story of how she came to be the superb television scriptwriter she now is and is absolutely fascinating.
I had no idea that she studied at RADA with such well-known faces as John Hurt and Ian McShane, and appeared to great chaos on the boards, then on to writing her first novel and the first Prime Suspect scripts. She’s just a powerhouse.
Also out now is Whole Life Sentence, the latest in Jane Tennison’s career.
Tennison’s colleagues really don’t want her to succeed. Remember it’s the seventies, with all the sexism, snide remarks and downplaying any female achievements that were the trademark of that decade.
I can so relate to this having edited a trade magazine for London cab drivers – 99.9% of whom were male – and faced almost exactly the same problems. Long live people like Lynda who are happy to stand up for what they believe in.
The Surf House by Lucy Clarke (HarperCollins £9.99)
I love Lucy Clarke’s novels – she always chooses such wonderful locations for them to be set in and this time it’s Morocco and a little-known bay high up on the cliffs.
Deep in an alleyway in the heart of a Moroccan town, Bea inadvertently kills her potential mugger. Being attacked by his companion, Bea is saved by Marnie, who, since she has lost her passport and all her money, scoops her up and takes her back to The Surf House.
It’s a boho guest house that Marnie runs along with her partner, Aiden. Marnie and Bea bond and Bea decides to stay and work her keep to help Marnie out.
Everybody staying at The Surf House is surf obsessed and are out on their boards morning, noon and night.
This is a totally involved and complicated plot with twists and turns you won’t see coming. Whilst I’ve never surfed in my life – confession time, I can’t even swim! – The Surf House is a wonderful summer read.
Moving On by Roisin Meaney (Sphere £9.99)
Roisin Meaney is one of my favourite Irish authors and Moving On is another heartwarming story.
Ellen loves working in my favourite type of shop – yes of course it’s a book shop - having plucked up enough courage to leave home and work in Galway. It’s here she meets new manager Ben.
As in all good love stories, Ben is off travelling and Ellen goes to London where she meets beautifully groomed and caring banker Leo, who is everything Ellen thought she ever wanted.
She sets up home with Leo, but somehow Ben remains in her heart. Do they get together? Is there a happy ending? You’ll have to read on to see.
How to Slay at Work and How to Slay on Holiday by Sarah Bonner (currently free with Kindle Unlimited)
Millie is executive assistant to Freya in How to Slay at Work. Even if Freya is the most sadistic and cruel boss she’s come across, it’s sort of worth it because she gets to go to exotic places for conferences.
But Freya is weird. When she should be leading presentations to gain new business, she’s leaving it all to Millie.
In this hilarious romp of a mystery, Freya disappears at a conference and then a businessman dies. Millie finally works it out – or does she?
I loved this so much that I immediately read How to Slay on Holiday in which Chloe, the ever-loving wife to Scott, goes on holiday and plays the devoted spouse to absolute perfection – all the while secretly planning to murder him.
Once again this is a scintillatingly dark and funny read. I can’t wait for another Sarah Bonner Slay read.
