Month: September 2020

Blog Tour: ‘The Watcher’ by Kate Medina

Today, I’m excited to be welcoming you to my stop on the blog tour for ‘The Watcher’ by Kate Medina. This book was released on 3rd September by Harper Collins. The blog tour is organised by Random Things Tours.

From the Publisher

If you see him it’s already too late…


‘A brilliant and believable female lead’ Good Housekeeping

Some secrets can’t be hidden.


The Fullers are the picture-perfect family, a wealthy couple with a grand home in the middle of remote woodland. But even they have something to hide – and it will prove fatal.


Some crimes can’t be forgotten.

Psychologist Dr Jessie Flynn and DI Marilyn Simmons arrive at the Fuller’s home to find a suburban nightmare. A crime scene more disturbing than anything they have ever encountered.


Some killers can’t be stopped.

Jessie knows that this is no random act of violence. And if she can’t unlock the motivation behind the crime and shine a light into this killer’s mind, the Fullers won’t be the only family to die…


Praise for Kate Medina:


‘A tense and pacy thriller’ – Sun


‘If psychological thrillers are your bag, then look no further’ – Closer


‘A haunting thriller’ – Grazia


‘Medina demonstrates that she’s a considerable find’ – Independent

My Review

I hadn’t read any other books by Kate Medina before this, but that’s something I now need to rectify! Although I read this as a stand alone novel, it is actually the fourth in the series featuring psychologist Dr Jessie Flynn who works with the Surrey and Sussex Serious Crimes Unit alongside DI Bobby Simmons (known to everyone as ‘Marilyn’).

This novel opens with the gruesome and horrific murder of a married couple in their large and remote house. Dr Jessie Flynn is brought in to advise on what looks to be an interesting case in psychological terms as the dead man has unusual – and perhaps significant – injures. The Surrey and Sussex Serious Crimes unit seem to have a problem on their hands – they have few leads and the dead man was known to be deeply unpleasant, so there is also no shortage of suspects. It soon becomes clear that the murders are part of a much larger situation, but poor Dr Jessie Flynn is also struggling with issues in her private life and past that risk overshadowing her work.

I think the thing that stood out for me with this book is how absolutely terrifying it is in places! It’s called ‘The Watcher’ so I should have had a clue, but there are so many heart-in-mouth scenes where characters are being observed in their own homes. The creepy sense that someone malevolent is watching is conveyed so well that I really felt so tense reading!

Another strength of the book is the plotting. Without giving any spoilers, I do need to just mention that there were several points in the story where I was totally going down the wrong path with my thinking and was genuinely surprised.

Dr Jessie Flynn is also an engaging and intriguing central character. Obviously I’ve missed a lot of the backstory in the first three books, but the fact that she is coping with the trauma of her own past brings an extra dimension to this story. Her history (as much as her psychological training) allow her to empathise with the troubled boy, Robbie, who is linked to the story via another police officer in the team.

The rest of the police team are also distinct characters which I really appreciated – often the supporting cast in this type of book can be a little flat in terms of characterisation, but I found myself really liking several of them and appreciating how their differences actually made a solid team.

Overall, I would say this this is a strong police procedural with plenty of menace. I would recommend this to anyone who is after a truly surprising crime novel – not in the sense of an amazing plot twist (I hate those reviews that put you on edge for an amazing revelation!) but in the sense of a skilfully crafted plot with plenty of unusual elements.

About the Author

Kate Medina has always been fascinated by the ‘whys’ of human behaviour, an interest that drove her to study Psychology at university and later to start a crime series featuring clinical psychologist Dr Jessie Flynn. She has an MA in Creative Writingfrom Bath Spa University and her debut novel White Crocodile received widespread critical acclaim, as did Fire Damage, Scared to
Death AND Two Little Girls, the first three books in the Jessie Flynn series.


Before turning to writing full time, Kate spent five years in the Territorial Army and has lectured at the London Business School and the London School of Economics. She lives in London with her husband and three children.

Blog Tour: ‘Longhand’ by Andy Hamilton

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Andy Hamilton’s book ‘Longhand’. This was published on 3rd September by Unbound. The tour is organised by Random Things Tours.

From the publisher


‘From beginning to end, a joy to read. A tale of mingled tragedy and comedy,
disaster and triumph … A handwritten love letter to a woman we never meet,
that’s also a love letter to humanity’ NEIL GAIMAN

The new novel from comedy legend Andy Hamilton, whose writing credits include
Outnumbered and Drop the Dead Donkey, Longhand reimagines the life of immortal Greek hero Heracles, who is currently residing in contemporary Scotland with his girlfriend Bess.

Written entirely in Andy’s own longhand, complete with crossings out and edits
Malcolm George Galbraith is a large, somewhat clumsy, Scotsman. He’s being forced to leave the woman he loves behind and needs to explain why.


So he leaves her a handwritten note on the kitchen table (well, more a 300-page letter than a note).


In it, Malcolm decides to start from the beginning and tell the whole story of his long life, something he’s never dared do before.


Because Malcolm isn’t what he seems: he’s had other names and lived in other places. A lot of other places. As it gathers pace, Malcolm’s story combines tragedy, comedy, mystery, a touch of leprosy, several murders, a massacre, a ritual sacrifice, an insane tyrant, two great romances, a landslide, a fire, and a talking fish.

‘A glorious comic novel, a brilliant satire, an artwork and a historical document. Never has the word “readable” meant more. Never has the word “manuscript” been more literal. Hand-written, rib-tickling, spine-tingling and heart-wringing. Uniquely brilliant’ STEPHEN FRY

My Review

I honestly did not know what to expect from this novel and started it with only three pieces of information:

  1. Andy Hamilton is funny – he co-created ‘Drop the Dead Donkey’ and ‘Outnumbered’ and has appeared on numerous other funny TV panel shows so his comedy pedigree isn’t in question.
  2. ‘Longhand’ is written in…well, longhand. The whole book is handwritten, mercifully by someone (Hamilton himself) who has beautiful and easy-to-read writing.
  3. It’s published by Unbound, the crowdfunded publisher known for some quirky and brilliant books.

So far, so good! What I wasn’t prepared for was the sheer scale and range of this book – geographically, narratively, emotionally… wow, it’s unexpected!

The book purports to be a letter written by a man called Malcolm Galbraith to his partner of twenty years, Bess. He is being forced to leave her and this is his farewell note in which he explains why.

And this is where the story gets really strange. Malcolm isn’t the mild-mannered Scotsman that Bess has known and loved. He actually has a past in which he lived in other places and other times, had other names and identities, and the 350-odd pages of this novel can barely contain it all!

In his chequered past, there are murders, a sacrificial cow, two romances, tyrannical rulers, a massacre, a landslide, a court battle… the reader can start to see that this is no ordinary life. Malcolm has faced great tragedies in his time and only now is he prepared to lay his life story out before (one of) the love(s) of his life, Bess.

I’ll admit that this book has much more emotional depth than I was expecting. Malcolm is being forced to leave and the poignancy of this situation is evident throughout – it is only at the point of leaving that he can share his hidden secrets. And it’s a huge risk – his story is bizarre and incredible, but will it also be unbelievable for Bess?

It’s so hard to review this without giving away the key ideas behind the story which I really don’t want to do because it totally knocked me for six and I think all readers should feel that same incredulity and uncertainty!

However, what can be said is that Malcolm’s story, set in the distant past as it is, reveals a lot about modern society. Through elements which seem disparate from 21st century Britain, we get glimpses of some really big and important ideas. Brexit Britain. The cult of selfishness. Abuse of power. Love’s small intimacies. Death and grief. Family relationships. Not learning from history’s mistakes. The strength of the NHS. Malcolm has experienced it all and has moments of profound wisdom.

Malcolm’s story also has moments of immense tragedy, which I also didn’t really see coming. For something that is ostensibly a funny book, it is very moving. I actually read this book in one sitting because I really needed to see how it ended!

And yes, it is also very funny.

The real joys in the novel are the everyday observations, the juxtaposition of the epic story with Malcolm’s asides about fixing the boiler, the presentation of some lovely comic characters. Without giving anything away, watch out for the football match and Billy’s Dad, the dodgy lawyer, the talking fish and – even more surreally – Elvis.

I’ve admitted that I picked this book up armed with only the three pieces of information at the start of this review. However, I finished reading it (at way after midnight!) with the sense that I’d read something really quite special. It’s way beyond a funny, entertaining read – yes, it ticks those boxes but it is also wise and thought-provoking.

This book really is one that will stay with me for a long time. You should read it!

And if you still aren’t convinced, you only need to look in the back of this book for the sponsors who put their own hard-earned cash into making this book a reality. The people who had faith in this story and in Andy Hamilton include Brenda Blethyn, Rory Bremner, Richard Osman and Neil Gaiman – an impressive roll-call of supporters in anyone’s books.

About the Author

Andy Hamilton is a comedy writer, performer and director. He regularly appears on the BBC TV panel shows Have I Got News for You and on Radio 4’s News
Quiz and I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue. His television writing credits include Outnumbered, Drop the Dead Donkey, Not the Nine O’Clock News, Trevor’s World of Sport, Ballot Monkeys, Power Monkeys and many others. He also co-created the movie What We Did On Our Holiday. For twenty years he has played Satan in the Radio 4 comedy Old Harry’s Game, which he also writes.

‘Shakespearean’ by Robert McCrum

Another 3rd September publication. Don’t forget to follow my blog to see all the reviews of new books this week.

I’m an English teacher and Shakespeare obsessive so I was very pleased to receive a free copy of this book pre-publication from NetGalley in return for an honest review. I was particularly intrigued about this book as I had read about Robert McCrum’s stroke and the part that he had credited Shakespeare with in his recovery (being the fragments of language that made sense to him in the aftermath of his medical crisis).

McCrum is a very knowledgeable and interesting guide to Shakespeare and – possibly more engagingly – what ‘Shakespearean’ has come to mean in the centuries following the death of the bard. This book is part memoir of McCrum’s own experiences with Shakespeare as part of his own Shakespeare Club who attend various performances. However, it also contains so much more than this – snippets of Shakespeare’s biography, historical context, information about the reception of the plays in different places and times, bits of critical analysis and commentary – the book is packed with information and supported with extensive endnotes and a bibliography.

Personally, I particularly enjoyed the bits about the plays I know best – which tended to be the tragedies and comedies. I appreciated the fact that the book was comprehensive, but found the history play sections a bit more of a challenge. I also found the structure of the book a little difficult in places – when it worked, it was like a fascinating chat with someone really interesting as it went off on interesting tangents and picked up related thoughts well. However, when it was less successful it came across as a little unstructured and random.

Having just read Emma Smith’s excellent ‘This is Shakespeare’, I found it really thought-provoking to compare and contrast the different takes on the same material. In particular, the ideas around the end of Shakespeare’s career were striking and the extent to which he reflected this in Prospero in ‘The Tempest’. I also really enjoyed the way that McCrum wrote about the way that Shakespeare’s plays transferred to – and became highly significant in – America, mainly because this was an area I hadn’t really read about before.

Despite the little niggles, I did enjoy this and did learn some interesting new things. I would recommend this to people who are already fairly familiar with Shakespeare’s plays as McCrum does anticipate that you share his passion and have a working knowledge of the texts. This is an engaging stroll through Shakespeare’s works with an entertaining and lively guide.

You can buy your own copy of ‘Shakespearean’ using the link below – I may earn commission on purchases at no extra cost to you.

Header photo with thanks to Matt Riches for sharing their work on Unsplash.

‘The Thursday Murder Club’ by Richard Osman

One of the most hyped new releases of 3rd September – happy publication day to Richard Osman’s debut crime novel!

I’ve long admired Richard Osman on ‘Pointless’ and have read some of the non-fiction quiz/humour books that he has written with Alexander Armstrong. I was, therefore, very keen to see this wit and verve applied to fiction and am very grateful to NetGalley for my ARC.

The story follows four older people living in a retirement village who have, for various reasons, come together to discuss cold crimes in their Thursday Murder Club. When a murder happens connected to the developers working on the retirement home , they are keen to launch their own investigations. Due to their connections and wiliness, they start to run rings around the nice but two-steps-behind police officers assigned to the case.

I really liked that these characters were not diminished by their age and infirmity. Some of them had ailments and frailty, but they were also mentally tough and funny and clever and – to be honest – trying to live their best life in retirement. They drew on their years of experience and the professional skills from their former careers and achieved a lot. The mystery surrounding Elizabeth’s past career was an interesting conceit and allowed the amateur detectives access to important information, while the willingness of them all to play on the stereotypes of infirm old people was humorous – they absolutely knew when to use their age to their advantage!

The setting was also inventive and drew on the conventions of classic crime novels by providing a closed community for the sleuths to work within.

I wasn’t really prepared for some of the poignancy of the novel. It has some very funny lines and situations, but it is also sad in parts about ageing and grief. This really adds depth to the novel and -I will admit – really surprised me.

Overall, this is an enjoyable and fairly light read. I was going to say it was a cosy crime novel, but I think the depth of the emotional hit removes it from this – these are a bunch of real people with real problems, but who are finding comfort in community and crime-solving!

If you would like to buy your own copy of the novel, please use the link below – I may earn commission on this at no extra cost to you.

Header photo with thanks to Sincerely Media for sharing their work on Unsplash.

‘A Girl Made of Air’ by Nydia Hetherington

This is one of the many books released on 3rd September that I can recommend.

As a huge fan of Angela Carter’s ‘Nights at the Circus’, I’m always up for a book about the glamour and grit of life in a circus and this one promised much. The story of The Greatest Funambulist Who Ever Lived proved too much of a temptation for me so I had to read this ahead of publication on 3rd September.

The story follows a girl born into a circus family – her father tends the animals while her mother is a star attraction due to her act of swimming with crocodiles. Neglected by her parents, the girl (who is not given a name in the book) is taken under the wing of a flame-haired tightrope walker called Serendipity Wilson; from her, she learns the circus skills that will be central to her future and sets in motion events that will see her seeking a missing child and uncovering truths about her own past.

This book is told mainly by an older narrator who is reflecting on the events of her life while revisiting documents – letters, photos, a book page – that prompt her telling of the story. She is ostensibly telling her story to a journalist (the first chapter is a transcribed conversation) but – as the novel progresses – it becomes a written account interspersed with folk tales from the Isle of Man as told to the narrator by Serendipity Wilson.

There was lots to like in the novel, from the brushes with magic realism (as in the glow of Serendipity’s hair) to the cast of characters who – while not all nice – are certainly distinctive. I particularly liked Big Gen and Cubby, although they were all vivid and interesting, from tragic Marina to larger-than-life Serendipity. I loved the settings – the duality of the circus is especially well evoked, with its grim and earthy seediness set alongside its veneer of glamour. I also really enjoyed the snippets of the folk tales which made engaging diversions from the main narrative. The inclusion of tiny bits of history from the world outside the circus also worked really well – lots of the novel felt quite timeless, but the references to the Berlin Olympic Games and the Holocaust gave the story compelling historical roots.

Personally, I found the beginning of the book a little slow compared to the second half where the story really picked up its purpose and moved on to another interesting location (no spoilers!) However, the opening sections did explain the emotional ties (or lack of) between characters which are important to the rest of the novel.

Overall, I would recommend this as an engaging story with some excellent characterisation and setting choices. It doesn’t quite have the glorious grotesqueness of Angela Carter, but it does have an emotional pull that kept me reading.

I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

If you’d like to buy a copy of this book (and it is a gorgeous hardback!), the link is below. I may earn commission on this at no extra cost to you.

Header photo with thanks to Miikka Luotio for sharing their work on Unsplash.

‘Grave Secrets’ by Alice James

Regular visitors to the blog will know that I’m pretty obsessed with historical and crime fiction.

This is neither.

However, I found myself absolutely caught up in this funny, charming and surprisingly gory book! This was one of my surprise five star reads of the year so far and has the misfortune to be published on the busiest day of the year for publishing when it will be up against some big names.

So I’m here to champion this one.

This book was an absolute breath of fresh air! I’ve seen it compared to ‘True Blood’ which I can understand in terms of the subject matter and the feisty heroine, but I think this is something different again.

The fact that the main character, Lavington Windsor, has powers of her own as a necromancer and the (rather British) humour in the book make this an engaging and unusual read even compared to the Sookie Stackhouse series.

The novel follows necromancer Lavington as she leads a dual life: estate agent by day, raising the occupants of the local cemeteries by night. Even before she gets involved with vampires, or more specifically the gorgeous Oscar, her life is pretty odd. Once she gets caught up in finding vampire real estate and a romance with Oscar, her life takes a dangerous turn.

What makes this book unusual is that it looks like a cosy read but is actually far from; the sex and violence is actually quite explicit and surprising, although it fits perfectly in the book. The humour is also a nice surprise and I found myself being pleasantly pulled along by Lavington’s narrative voice.

In addition, the plot is pacey and there is a lot going on – a second book is definitely needed to iron out some of the plot strands! However, if it is anything like this book, a second book will be eagerly awaited.

I should reiterate that this really is not my usual genre of choice so it has really won me over! Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

If you want your own copy of Lavington’s adventures, the link is below. The Quick and The Read may earn commission on purchases at no extra cost to you.

Header photo with thanks to Ganapathy Kumar for sharing their work on Unsplash.