Beautifully written a joy to read - 5 star

During and after the 2nd ww, children were evacuated from England to countries of the commonwealth namely Australia, Canada and New Zealand. This was done in order to safeguard the children and find a safe refuge for them in a loving family. Alone on a wide wide sea is a fictional story of the young life of one Arthur Hobhouse despatched on a boat to Australia and hopefully safety. Unfortunately it was not uncommon for these young people to be mistreated, beaten and used as a form of slave labour.

Arthurs story is aimed at a reading audience of 10+ and told with elegance and a certain aplong. In short it is beautifully written with many stand out moments. From the horror that was everyday life with " The Piggys"......" you're a slave they don't just take away your freedom, they take away everything else as well because they own you" The young man's journey has many unexpected moments and a beautifully orchestrated conclusion showcasing the author's love of the ocean and his utlimate belief in human nature....."Death, I discovered that day, is not frightening, because it is utterly still. And it is still because death, when it comes, is always over"....." Someties, though, the fog does clear, and you see the icebergs all around. You can hear them groaning, and grinding and you just want to sail through the field of iceberg and out the other side, or just long for the fog again".....
Highly recommended for young and old alike :)

A work of some brilliance - 5 star

I find reading a Stuart Neville book both exciting, exhilarating, exasperating and frightening. His characters don’t appear to have an easy life, and this agony is laid bare on the printed page and I felt every word. I must also mention, at this stage, the dazzling DCI Serena Flanagan books, and Neville’s portrayal of life on the edge with Serena balancing home and work and not always successfully. However I hear you say, and quite rightly so, we are here to discuss and review the author’s  latest work of angst: Blood like Mine. My goodness this is a 400 page work of some brilliance, as Stuart aptly and expertly balances a police thriller with horror undertones that becomes evident after a number of chapters.

Rebecca Carter and her daughter Monica, known as Moonflower, are on the run throughout the United States from what or whom gradually becomes clear. We learn that Rebecca will do anything to keep Moonflower safe including killing or sacrificing herself. Meanwhile special agent Marc Donner has spent the last 2 years trying to identify and apprehend a serial killer who strikes with regularity and leaves no trace or clues at the scene of the crime. Donner is a troubled soul, he has become obsessed with the apprehension of this individual to the detriment of the love of his wife and children. 

This novel was never going to have a happy ending, as the two sets of players attempt to achieve their individual goals, the tension and the pain is written across every page. I truly found it hard to put this book down, Stuart Neville had me hooked from page one. I hoped that mother and daughter would be safe but as the chapters flew by I began to doubt. Donner, a cop with a mission, was on a self-destruct course and only he had the power to turn this around for surely the love of his wife and young children would prove more important…or would it?

If you are going to read one thriller spiced with horror this year I heartily recommend Blood Like Mine, It is a brilliant, addictive read from one of Northern Ireland’s finest authors.

A highly addictive satisfying read - 5 star

A most unusual but equally really enjoyable read. The writing is fast and furious and it is impossible at times to put the book down :) Lila Gulliver is the Madam of a brothel on the tropical island of Verona. She is a bright business woman not only managing her staff but also looking after their welfare, and this in return creates a sense of loyalty. A young attractive lady impresses Lila, and even though Carita is blind she is employed, and very quickly proves  her worth to the business. However life soon gets very complex when Carita falls in love with Ian Brohan son of judge Michael Brolan…….” a dashing, fine figure of a man, confident in the power of his physical presence”......

It would be wrong to believe that clients visiting Madam Gullivers are dictating, and demanding, being wealthy does not mean that they have a right to humiliate, use, and discard the young ladies on offer. What makes this such a brilliant book is the way the author shows the reader that in reality it is the women working for, and with, and including, Lila Gulliver who dictate the shape and direction of their lives….”Men are expected to succeed, women to fail. Every woman knows the deck is stacked. In practical terms this makes it more difficult for women to succeed, but it’s more damning for men to fail. Win or lose, defying expectations is heavy going”........

This is storytelling at its best, set in the early 1950’s it brings to life the sights and sounds of a tropical island. Lila Gulliver holds the reader in awe with her beauty, and smart business acumen looking after and guiding those girls who she feels have entrusted their lives to her. Highly recommended.

Delights and horrifies in equal measure - 5 star

If you think of the bad in Stephen King you think of Randall Flagg and if you think of the good only one name can truly inspire loyalty in the reader and that is Holly Gibney. Holly came to the notice of Bill Hodges, who gave her belief in herself, and she soon became an intricate part of the Finders Keepers detective agency......."Holly has come a long way from the shy introvert Bill Hodges met lurking outside a funeral home all those years ago, but that woman still lives inside her and always will".......

Now as sole proprieter of the agency she is investigating a number of seemingly unconnected disappearances, years apart.......what devilish little piece of storytelling has Mr King got in store to delight and horrify us. It becomes apparent very quickly who the perpetrators are and the reasoning behind their murderous acts is what makes "Holly" a brilliant novel. It seems that as the author ages his writing just gets better and better and this is a brilliant tale to delight and horrify in equal measure.

Not the full story - 3 star

This book did not really get to the story behind Reg Harris. We certainly heard about his success and his many championship wins but this information shed little light on the man behind the myth. The author was not allowed to interview or speak with many who knew Harris, and thus in my opinion the story is only half told. At times it read a little like a cycling manual, linear in the telling and often boring in the reading.

A worthy booker winner 2023 - 4 star

With fond memories of 1984 I was eager the read Prophet song. This is a dark sombre tale of what it could be like to live in a state which no longer allows freee thinking. The family and the life that was and is Eilish Stack begins to disintegrate first with the arrest of her husband, a trade union member and much loved teacher, and the ever increasing feeling of strangulation as the new police state strengthens its grip. This was a vey claustopohic read, and yet a difficult book to leave once started. A worthy winner of the 2023 booker prize.

An original and highly entertaining read - 5 star

What a debut novel of pure imagination, a dash of decadence, a little sauciness mixed with some electrifying horror creates the truly unforgettable Botanical Daughter. Simon and Gregory, more than just friends, live in the surreal botanical environment that is Grimfern, a vast greenhouse of living plants. Simon occupies the basement with his taxidermy workstation, and Gregory the upper level of this glass sanctuary. Gregory dreams of success at the Royal Horticultural Society and his experiments have led him to believe that there could be intelligent life within plants. Within his haven a lone  orchid appears to have a fungal guardian shielding the fragrant petals from direct sunlight…..” A shallow glass bowl about a foot in diameter contained an inch of soil and a seething mass of sinews. These tendrils caressed and cocooned a gorgeous orchid”.....As part of his vision and to ensure a successful outcome of this most outlandish of experiments, Gregory needs a human corpse to act as a “substrate” thus incubating the orchid and fungus and combining their intelligence……Gregory will then be recognised as a true genius by the RHS merging plant life and human brilliance.

There is certainly a nod to Frankenstein in the revealing of this tale, but I thought the storytelling and the use of language was exceptional and highly entertaining. The cast of characters from the unfortunate Julian Mallory the current President of RHS ( whose position Gregory aspires to) and the delightfully named Rosalinda Smeralda-Bland…”a sumptuous woman of continental extraction” all add to the readability and the delightful sequence of events as they unfold. Those readers who crave a little spilling of blood will not be disappointed and the final scenes create a perfect conclusion to an amazing story. An exceptional debut novel and one that I enjoyed very much.