I had a bit more time to read during the first half of this month as I had a week of holiday at home followed by a week of sleeping alone in my van each night. Then it all got busy again and my reading went to pot. Here’s my recap of what I read in April.
The Hard Way by Lee Child
Lee Child writes real page turners. Easy to read and get lost in. The only reason they take me so long to read is because they’re so bloomin’ long. That’s no bad thing though.
In this book, one of many featuring big guy loner Jack Reacher as everyone’s hero, Reacher is sat enjoying a coffee at his new favourite cafe and finds himself embroiled in a kidnapping case. As you do. Well, as Jack Reacher does anyway.
As is usual with Child’s books, all is not as it first seems. Has a kidnapping even taken place? And is it just coincidence that the victim’s husband’s first wife was also kidnapped?
I particularly liked this book because Reacher ends up across the Atlantic in Norfolk which is where I’ll be walking the Peddars Way at half term. And I always like to read a book set in a location I’m visiting.
Inspector Singh Investigates: A Frightfully English Execution by Shamini Flint
This is Shamini Flint’s seventh book staring Singapore’s finest homicide detective, Inspector Singh. Singh’s superiors don’t approve of homicide, they much prefer ‘cleaner’, more fiscally highbrow crimes like fraud, and so are always trying to palm Singh off on other countries.
In this book, Singh finds himself sent to London to attend a conference. He’s never able to avoid murder for long though and soon finds himself trying to track down a serial killer and a terrorist who has decided to start kidnapping and beheading Londoners.
Things get more personal when Singh’s wife, who has accompanied him to London so she can go shopping and visit long-lost relatives, disappears. For the first time in her life she has shown interest in her husband’s work and had begun her own investigation. Has she fallen into the hands of the serial killer? Or the terrorist ring?
This is a book set in a city I know well and visit several times a year. A lot of the story is set around Southall, a suburb well outside the city centre and one which doesn’t often find itself featured in novels. Southall is known for its Sikh population and has a vibrant town centre. It’s years since I was last there and reading this has made me realise it’s time I paid it another visit.
What did you read in April? Share in the comments below.
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