May 2022 Reads

 

May took me back to my usual diet of crime and thrillers, with one exception. I also continued listening to audiobooks.

The month started well with a book from my TBR pile, A Three Dog Problem from S. J. Bennett. I read the first book in this series in April so was keen to read this book while everything was still fresh in my memory and it didn't disappoint. The author lovingly writes about the Queen, instilling her with warmth and wit, along with razor sharp intelligence. 

I then moved on to my favourite two books of the month. I discovered author Helen Fields back in late 2021 when I reviewed the explosive One For Sorrow so jumped at the chance to get my hands on a review copy of The Last Girl To Die. Set on a remote Scottish island this atmospheric story has everything you want in a thriller, including an ending that will make you gasp.

Following was a another book from my TBR pile. I've no idea why The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell kept getting passed over but when I realised that there was a sequel due out fairly soon I moved it to the top of the pile (although that is never a guarantee it's going to be read). The story was fascinating, the different timelines worked well together but there was always that sense of unease as if something wasn't quite right. Hopefully the unanswered questions will be addressed in the sequel.

My next book was light relief from the diet of thrillers, The Saturday Night Sauvignon Sisterhood by Gill Sims. I was laughing out loud from the first chapter, and also thanking my lucky stars that I don't have children as I doubt I'd be able to keep my hands off them if they were anything like the ones in the book. 

By the middle of May I was dancing a happy jig as I received review copies of two books that had been on my watch list for a while. Picture You Dead by Peter James is the eighteenth book in the Roy Grace series. Meticulous research and a writing style that grips from the start means that you immediately feel part of the story. By the time I'd finished I almost felt as if I was an art expert myself.

The other book I was overjoyed to receive was Murder Before Evensong by Richard Coles. My reasoning for wanting to read this probably seems silly but ........ being a student in the 1980's one of my favourite groups was The Communards. As a result of this I've always been interested when Richard Coles has shown up in the media. Murder Before Evensong is the first in the Canon Clement Mystery series, however I'm not sure I'll attempt a sequel. The novel is ideally placed to capture the growing cosy crime market that abounds at the moment but I just couldn't get away with the writing style.

The month finished off with two books themed around houses, The House Across The Lake by Riley Sager and The Party House by Lin Anderson. In The House Across The Lake there was an atmospheric opening and lots of twists early on, I was already thinking ahead and expecting something along the lines of Gone Girl when the story took a twist I didn't see coming and didn't enjoy. As for The Party House I didn't feel invested in the main characters and the story took too long to develop. The party house itself had little to do with the main plot.

As for the audiobooks, The Girl From The Sea by Shalini Boland was relatively short and kept my interest throughout. The other two audiobooks were fairly lengthy at over 12 hours each and I'm not sure I'd have persisted reading them if they were actual books. Guilty Women by Melanie Blake reminded me of a cross between the "bonkbuster" novels of the early 80's and the glamorous American soaps such as Dallas and Dynasty. The Ex-Husband by Karen Hamilton was another of those where you couldn't feel invested in the main character because they simply weren't likeable.