Two weeks ago, I wrote for Sunday Salon about starting The Pool of Unease by Catherine Sampson. I finished that book a few days afterwards, finding it a compelling and well-told story. It is the third book in a series, but distinct from the previous two in that a large part of the action takes place in China, where the author herself now lives. And although I’ve read as many news and analysis articles about China as anyone else, so could be said to be broadly aware of the "issues" in that country as the rest of the world sees them, I was struck by how much more involved one feels by reading a good novel compared with a dry, factual account. There are three main Chinese characters in the book: they are vividly portrayed, more so than the series regulars, in fact, and I now feel much more emotional connection with — maybe I should write "emotional inkling about" what it must be like being a citizen of that country, leading a life there.
Next was the long-awaited (by me) The Woods by Harlan Coben, just out in paperback in the UK. As I predicted, I thoroughly enjoyed this racy, tense thriller, which is a standalone, though featuring several characters who appear in other books by this author. I was anticipating that the solution to the conundrum would be convoluted and far-fetched, as this is an area where Coben (in common with many other detective/thriller fiction authors) tends to fall down. But although I guessed some aspects of the outcome, and some of the others don’t bear too much scrutiny, the denouement worked pretty well, I’d say. Harlen Coben is a bestselling author who is improving rather than coasting: good for him.
Gallows Lane by Brian McGilloway (in proof) was next – as short as its predecessor (Borderlands) – it is lean and very readable, although lacking that additional touch of magic that made Borderlands exceptional. But compared with Meltdown, by Martin Baker, my next title, it is genius. Meltdown is such a load of badly written hokum that I really regretted wasting my time reading it.
I’ve completed one more book since then, The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo, much admired by Euro Crime aficionados. This book is a solid (i.e. long) book, and after 100 pages I almost gave up. But I was glad I didn’t, because I soon became so absorbed in it that I couldn’t put it down. This author "gets" emotion, so I enjoyed very much the character study of Harry Hole and his colleagues, and was dreadfully saddened by the death that affects him so much in this and even more in the next book, The Devil’s Star — which I have already read because Nesbo’s books are being published in translation out of order, for reasons unknown to me, but crazy, whatever they are. I half want to read The Devil’s Star again, knowing what I do now about events preceding it. But I probably shan’t, because both books are long, and the crime plots too complicated and unconvincing (although Nesbo’s light on Norway and Norwegians’ behaviour during the Second World War is fascinating, and probably uncomfortable for many of his countrymen to read). I’m very much looking forward to Nemesis, soon to be published in the UK.
Finally, I started The Cipher Garden by Martin Edwards the other day. I’m enjoying it so far, a few chapters in. I smiled at Miranda’s comments when her train was (allegedly) delayed at Crewe, making her late to return home to her partner Daniel. She says "The guard says we may be stuck for a couple of hours, God knows why…..Wrong kind of sunshine I expect". The other day I read in the Times that exactly this excuse was given in Wales to account for train problems – something about unseasonal sunshine causing unanticipated passenger demand. A few pages later, another character opines that he doesn’t trust league tables because he is a supporter of Carlisle United. I think I’m going to like this book (as I happen to live with someone with just this affliction).
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Susan continues: "I’ve just read Ruth Rendell’s "The Crocodile Bird," on a rec from Becky — quite a good psych. thriller. Do you like Rendell and can you make any other recs? I don’t like detective stories, but I do like thrillers!" "
Well, yes, as it happens, I can recommend a few thrillers 😉 I love being asked to recommend books!
For a sustained series of thrillers (as opposed to detective/crime novels) I don’t think that Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series can be bettered. Start with the first: if you like that, you’ll revel in the rest. Jack Reacher (like his televisual counterpart Jack Bauer) is a perfect storm of a hero, and I’m reliably informed that he is immensely popular with women readers.
If you are more interested in a stand-alone, I can suggest five intensely exciting novels that I’ll bet money will have you turning the pages without being able to stop (click on titles for more details):
Triptych by Karin Slaughter
The Serbian Dane by Lief Davidsen
The two-minute rule by Robert Crais
No time for goodbye by Linwood Barclay
The Woods by Harlan Coben
Turning to Ruth Rendell, Susan’s currently identified thriller writer, I like almost everything she writes: she produces a longstanding crime fiction "English village" [East Anglian market town, actually] police-procedural series featuring Chief Inspector Wexford and Inspector Burden- characters with whom I have literally grown up, and seen change as they have married, had children and (in the most recent books) the children have had children. These started in the 1960s and have held up incredibly well, still going strong today , as Becky notes (I have the latest installment on my shelf to be read). Ruth Rendell also writes stand-alone thrillers (and many short stories) under that name, including The Crocodile Bird as recommended by Becky; and as if that isn’t enough, she writes other books under the name of Barbara Vine, which tend to be slightly more dense and deep concerning motivation and character. A good one to try is The Chimney Sweeper’s Boy — successful author dies of heart attack, but was he all that he seemed? Another good one is The Blood Doctor, not so much for its plot (maybe it is because I’m scientific, but I found that pretty obvious), but because it is set in 2002, the year the House of Lords dissolved itself (apart from a rump), and is told from the point of view of one of the hereditary peers who are (mostly) metaphorically falling on their swords. The atmosphere is so convincing, due to the happy duality of Barbara Vine’s insightful writing and Ruth Rendell’s real-life role as a Labour life peer. Enjoy!