September reading and reviews

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The number of books I read during September plummeted compared with August, though some of the reviews I posted in September are of books I read in August. As usual, it is impossible to pick out a ‘book of the month’ because so many of them are so good. There is also a huge variety – I can list some favourites from this month’s reviews (no special order) based on genre: domestic, psychological suspense (Elizabeth Haynes, Diane Janes); police procedural (Jorn Lier Horst); thriller (Deon Meyer); journalism-based (Thomas Enger); noir (Sergios Gakas); psychologist-based (Stephen White); police-political (Arne Dahl); political-historical (Sofi Oksanen); domestic (Camilla Lackberg); outdoorsy (C J Box); social comment (Shuichi Yoshida). All these books share in common the essential elements of crime fiction, of course – a solid plot, direction, pace, characterisation, drama and atmosphere.

Two of my reviews came out at Euro Crime during September:

The Hidden Child by Camilla Lackberg, translated from Swedish by Tiina Nunnally. “Camilla Lackberg knows how to tell a good story, and THE HIDDEN CHILD is to my mind the best book in this series since the first, THE ICE PRINCESS.” The full review is here.****

Proof of Life by Karen Campbell (Scotland). “Each book the author has written is very different from the previous one, so I am intrigued about where Karen Campbell will be going next.” The full review is here.***

At Petrona I posted reviews of a wide international range of books:

Cold Wind by C J Box (Wyoming, USA)****

Misterioso by Arne Dahl (Sweden)****

Burned by Thomas Enger (Norway)*****

Ashes by Sergios Gakas (Greece)****

Rain by Stephen Gallagher (England)*

Dregs by Jorn Lier Horst (Norway)*****

Why Don’t You Come For Me? by Diane Janes (England)****

Trackers by Deon Meyer (South Africa)*****

Purge by Sofi Oksanen (Estonia)*****

Against the Wall by Jarkko Sipila (Finland)**

Death in August by Marco Vichi (Italy)**

Up Jumped the Devil by Blair S. Walker (Maryland, USA)**

The Last Lie by Stephen White (Colorado, USA)****

Villain by Shuichi Yoshida (Japan)*****

Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes (England, inadvertently missed from August post)****

My reviews are now caught up with my reading here at Petrona. Over at Euro Crime, I’ve reviews pending of books by Asa Larsson, Maj Sjowall/Per Wahloo, Ruth Dugdall, Mons Kallentoft, Hakan Nesser and Val McDermid.

9 thoughts on “September reading and reviews”

  1. As usual, I am ‘somewhat impressed’. 😉 It looks like it was an excellent readerly month judging from the number of 4/5 star reviews!

    • thanks, Clare 😉 I think you might like Purge, which is a historical drama and not related to eating disorders.

  3. A great month for you indeed…it’s a shame when work interferes with one’s reading schedule though eh? I didn’t like Burned quite as much as you but otherwise agree on the books of your list that I have read…especially Villain. I got three of your other 5 star reads high on my wishlist…none of them out here yet but 2 are available on Kindle without the dreaded geo-restrictions.

    • I know what you mean about Burned as it does have some obvious weaknesses, but I was so taken with the main character I could forgive it anything 😉

  5. What a great list yet again! Time to copy down the four- and five-star reviewed book titles. I will check on what is available at the library, and I have some books still on my TBR pile. I’ll hold off on Dregs for awhile, as I’m not yet ready for more severed feet. However, many others look tempting.
    Will keep an eye out for the reviews of books by A. Larsson, Nesser and McDermid, and, of course Sjowall/Wahloo, although I almost hate to read the Swedish couple’s books, as it means fewer to anticipate.
    And, yes, too many things lately are disrupting my reading plans, with people expecting me to actually do things during my scheduled reading time (!)
    P.S. Did you see The Official Story?

  6. Maxine – I am so impressed with the reading you’ve accomplished! I’m also very happy for you that there were so many fine reads on your list. Of course, what that’s meant for the the rest of our TBR lists I simply won’t discuss ;-). Seriously, though, this is a nice lot of books and your reviews have, as ever, been excellent.

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