Why my reviews don't give much away

This is a genuine question I got on email.

As regular visitors will know I love to read, a lot! and you're not always going to love what I love and that's great.

What I want to do is give you a taster, turn you on to a new author or series, but there's no mystery or thrill to it if I tell you exactly what happens, where is the fun in that?

At the store when we're talking about an upcoming release we use a kind of shorthand, so as not to reveal any spoilers. Unlike the lady in a chain bookstore at Heathrow last year. Her friend picked up Gone Girl and the lady said

"Oh I've heard she dies at the end."

her friend complained,

"Well what's the point of reading it now I know the ending!"

I really wanted to go up her and say "she doesn't know what she's talking about," but I didn't want to look like a crazy person, so I bit my tongue and Gillian Flynn lost a sale.

Thoughts on Lexicon

I finished Max Barry's new one a couple of nights ago and I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it. I enjoyed it, it's a fascinating concept but the best way I can describe it is I still feel like I've been kicked in the head and pieces of grey matter are still rearranging themselves.

I also cast Morgan Freeman as "Yeats" in the could they ever make a movie out of this version.

See, still having dislocated thoughts. Lexicon drops in June.

Thoughts on 'Loyalty'

Up until 'Loyalty' arrived in my box I was pretty much done with the whole female PI genre. I'm happy to say I've changed my mind.

Loyalty has a whiff of authenticity about it and that would be because the author, Ingrid Thoft was in the certificate program at U of Washington. In Fina Ludlow she has created a great character. I look forward to Fina's next outing. Loyalty comes out in June.

The Tooth Tattoo, Peter Lovesey

A Peter Diamond mystery with a musical flavour. Diamond and his companion Paloma, on a citibreak in Vienna come across a body in the river. Diamond’s measured reaction to the girl’s death puts a dent in their relationship.

Back in Bath the body of a young woman is pulled from the canal. Diamond, his personal life in free fall, attempts to establish is this is a case of suicide or murder. His investigations lead him to a string quartet who recently got a new member…

When's the next blog post??

Oh boy have I been hearing that question a lot. And my Google Analytics looks like a map of the Atlas mountains So to answer that question - right here!

Another rewrite, completed yesterday is the reason for my non-blogging. We came in short on the word count for T'ball and some character development was required. The editing was like playing ping pong (ie fun and fast), and having an editor who is on your wavelength is a rare gift.

I am reading; reviews to come in the next few months include Black Country by Alex Grecian (the follow-up to The Yard), Loyalty, a first novel by Ingrid Thoft. Lexicon by Max Barry. Graveland, the last in the trilogy by Alan Glynn and the new Jussi Adler Olsen, A Conspiracy of Faith-which is very very relevant to this part of the world.

There's only one review for this month and that's not because there are no good books out there (I mean have you read The Dinner, Life after Life, Murder Below Montparnasse, Snow White Must Die, Syndrome E?) and Alex, I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on that arc.