I didn’t do too badly with my reading in December. I managed to read six books even though I was really busy. I read a couple of thrillers by authors I’m very familiar with, but also discovered a new (to me) author too. And I read a few books that weren’t thrillers. All in all, a good month.
Read on to find out more about what I read in December.
In Shetland: Tales from the Last Bookshop by Tom Morton
Tom Morton is well-known in Shetland as a writer and broadcaster. I’ve read articles by him before and enjoyed them, but this is the first book of his that I’ve read.
He owns a second-hand bookshop (which I’ve never been to!) and this book is purportedly stories from his life as a bookshop owner. It is, but not really. Instead he talks about this, that and a little bit of everything. For the first half of the book I found it rambling and at times quite annoying. Especially as he seemed to make up places names all the time when it was obviously a well-known place he would be referring to.
I never got to like his renaming of places, but by the second half of the book I’d got used to his style and actually started enjoying it. It’s not one I’d recommend though.
A Siberian Winter’s Tale: Cycling to the Edge of Insanity and the End of the World by Helen Lloyd
I’m rather a fan of Helen Lloyd having followed her adventurous journeys as she’s blogged about them. She’s written two books and I’ve bought them both, but have never felt in a hurry to read them as I feel like I know her journeys anyway from the blog.
I finally got round to reading this, her second book. Why didn’t I read it sooner?! Even though I’d followed along on her winter journey cycling through Siberia on her blog, there was so much more in the book. I really want to get round to reading her first book about cycling through Africa now.
Terminal by Kathy Reichs and Brendan Reichs
This is the final book in a series of five written by Kathy Reichs and her son Brendan. They’re aimed at teens, but are a good read anyway. The characters in the books are high school students who live on an island just off the coast of the US mainland. They live on the island because their parents work for the science institute based there. As part of their parents’ ‘package’ the kids get to go to a posh private school. They’re real misfits, because of where they live and because they’re ‘freebie’ students rather than rich paying students. On top of this they developed superpowers in a freak accident and now they’re all part wolf.
This could so easily be a series about superheroes saving the world whilst pretending to be normal, but it’s not. The dilemma of being different is prevalent throughout and the superpowers, which they have to keep secret as they don’t want to become science experiments controlled by the CIA, are just one more thing that isolates them. To save themselves (from the CIA and others who are starting to learn of their powers and from a life of having to hide and never fitting in) they use their wits and everything else at their disposal to find a ‘cure’. Do they find one? Read it and see.
The Life I Left Behind by Colette McBeth
This book starts with a young boy finding his mother lying on the floor dead. It then jumps to the story of a woman, Melody, living as a semi-recluse after she was attacked and left for dead six years previously. The man, David, imprisoned for her attempted murder was a close friend which also leaves her doubting her ability to judge people.
As her attacker is freed from prison another woman is found dead in similar circumstances. The only difference is that this woman, Eve, was a reporter investigating the original attack as she didn’t believe David had done it and has new evidence to prove this. Everything points to David committing this second attack, except of course, why would he kill the woman who was about to prove his innocence?
Told from the points of view of both Melody and Eve (speaking from beyond the grave) this story gets better and better as it goes along. I’d never heard of Colette McBeth before, but now I can’t wait to read her other books.
Parting Shot by Linwood Barclay
This book is a return to Linwood Barclay’s Promise Falls books. Although there are many familiar characters it’s a standalone story and you don’t have to have read the others first to follow this one.
Private detective, Cal Weaver is hired as a kind of bodyguard for a spoilt young man who has been accused of killing his girlfriend by driving over her whilst he was extremely drunk.
As people think he’s going to get a light sentence because of his ‘spoilt baby, never had to take responsibility for anything in his life’ defence, pack mentality takes hold and the teen’s life is threatened. But did he really do it?
I always enjoy Barclay’s books particularly his Promise Falls books, so I’m glad he’s still writing about the town even though the trilogy (which is best read in the right order as the stories link together) has been completed.
Echo Burning by Lee Child
It seems like barely a month goes by without me reading at least one Lee Child book. I’ve almost read them all now, so unless he starts writing a lot faster this habit will change.
This is one of the earlier books in the series. Jack Reacher, ex-military police Major, current drifter gets picked up by a woman driving a Cadillac whilst he is hitch-hiking. She tells him a sob story and pleads for his help. Being Jack Reacher, he can’t help but oblige. But is she telling the truth? What’s going to happen when her husband gets out of prison? Will he really kill her?
The book as usual is a page-turner and every time you think you know what’s happening there’s another revelation that turns everything on its head.
What have you read recently? And what do you think of what I read in December? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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Like this? You might also like:
What I Read in November
What I Read in October
What I Read in September
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