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  • Zoe Barnes – Be My Baby - Lorna has everything she’s ever wanted. Then one day, her husband dies – leaving her widowed and pregnant at 29. 18 months later, Lorna still misses him but knows she must make a new life for herself and her kids. When her parents find themselves desperate for somewhere to live, what could be more natural than to move in with Lorna?
  • Dale Brown – Act of War – a ruthless group of petroleum company owners known as “The Consortium” are financing an international terrorist organisation. Their mission is to stage a series of attacks around the world in an effort to destabilise the global economy and profit from sky rocketing oil prices. Full of explosive power and action.
  • Hal Duncan – Vellum: The Book of Hours 1 - An exciting new fantasy novel from up and coming writer Hal Duncan. Set in 2017, the End Days are coming and beings which were once human are gathering to fight in one last great war for control of the Vellum – the vast realm of eternity on which our world is just a scratch. Mystifying and highly original.
  • John Grisham - The Last Juror - This book was a real page-turner! It was a thrilling story about a brutal rape and murder by a notorious local in a small Mississippi town and the subsequent court case. Based around a young local newspaper editor the story unfolds when shortly after purchasing the paper the murder happens, and Willie Traynor being straight out of college uses sensationalist tactics to wow his readers and up subscription. This leads to threats and bomb attempts.The story is underpinned by segregation in the 1900s of America and how a small town coped with the opening of a multiracial school. I believe that anybody who has ever enjoyed a murder/crime/courtroom drama or novel will thoroughly enjoy this book
  • James Robertson - Joseph Knight - This is a totally, compelling fictional (though based on actual evens) narrative about Scotland in the 18th century, the Jacobite Rising and involvement in the Slave Trade. It tells the story principally of one such slave, Joseph Knight and his association with the Wedderburn family. John (later Sir John) Wedderburn fought at Culloden as a young lad of 16, alongside his father, who was eventually executed in London for his part in the rebellion.The scenes in Jamaica are graphically described and the full horror of the slave trade is depicted.There are various sub-themes concerning members of the Wedderburn family, both in Jamaica and in Scotland. Switching back and forward through the years is never made confusing. A particularly engaging aspect of the book is the appearance of famous contemporary figures such as David Hume, James Boswell, Dr. Samuel Johnson and others.They are all totally convincing in their portrayal and add much period detail to the story.This is a wonderful book which gives vivid insights into 18th century Scotland and also the workings of the reprehensible (and highly lucrative ) slave trade.A thoroughly absorbing book which I would highly recommend .
  • Sue Walker – The Reckoning – In June 1973 the bodies of three missing teenagers were found on the tiny Scottish island of Fidra.When his father was arrested for the murders, 11 year old Miller McAllister’s life fell apart. 32 years later, Douglas McAllister has died in prison and Miller returns home after decades of self-imposed exile. However when Miller is given the legal archive and a letter his father wrote to him just days before his death everything is less clear. Could his father have been innocent after all?

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  • Michael Crichton – State of Fear – a gripping and wide-ranging thriller. State of Fear takes the reader from the glaciers of Iceland to the volcanoes of Antarctica, from the Arizona desert to the deadly jungles of the Solomon Islands and the streets of Paris to the beaches of Los Angeles.
  • Margaret Drabble – The Red Queen – two centuries ago after being plucked from obscurity to marry the Crown Prince of Korea, the Red Queen’s ghost decides to set the record straight about her extraordinary existence. But why does she choose Dr. Babs Halliwell with her uncomplicated past to be her envoy?
  • Lisa Jewell – Vince and Joy – The love story of a lifetime. From teenage love in an eighties holiday camp, relationships, career crises and children. This is the story of two lives separated but forever entwined, prompting the question ”How do you know if something is meant to be?”
  • David Nobbs – Sex and Other Changes – The Divots appear to be a happily married couple in their cosy suburban home. Then one day Nick drops his bombshell. He wants to become Nicola. Alison is extremely upset but she has a secret too. She wants to become Alana. A funny, touching and compassionate story of what being a man and a woman really means.
  • Zoe Strachan – Spin Cycle – a quirky take on life in Glasgow through the eyes of three very different and very unusual women working in a launderette. Each woman has her shady secret and the reader is very cleverly drawn in.

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  • J M Coetzee – Slow Man – On the threshold of a comfortable old age, Paul Rayment turns away from his friends when an accident results in the amputation of a leg. But with the arrival of his personal nurse, as well as that of a celebrated novelist, Paul’s life once more takes on an unpredictable course.
  • Martina Cole – The Take – Jackie Jackson is preparing a party to welcome home her husband who has been in prison for the last 6 years. But after his time in jail, Freddie now thinks he is Essex’s answer to the Godfather and he is going to make sure everyone knows it.
  • Jane Green – Life Swap – “Life Swap” is what happens when two women decide to walk in one another’s shoes for one month. It’s the story of the grass not being as green as you might think and discovering that happiness is not always where you expect it to be.
  • P D James – The Lighthouse - Combe Island off the Cornish coast has a bloodstained history of piracy and cruelty but now, privately owned, it offers respite to over-stressed men and women in position of high authority who require privacy and guaranteed security. But the peace of Combe is violated when one of the distinguished guests is bizarrely murdered.
  • William Napier – Attila; The Scourge of God - 406 AD and the Roman Empire totters on the edge of the abyss. A new power is rising in the East and a strange nation of primitive horse warriors have a new leader. Now begins a saga of warfare, lust and power. A stunning historical epic in the tradition of Conn Iggulden and Steven Pressfield
  • Salman Rushdie – Shalimar the Clown – Los Angeles, 1991. Ambassador Maximillian Ophuls, one of the makers of the modern world, is murdered in broad daylight on his illegitimate daughter’s doorstep, slaughtered by a knife wielded by his Kashmiri Muslim driver, a mysterious figure who calls himself Shalimar the Clown.
  • Chris Ryan – Blackout - Josh Harding is a tough SAS soldier on secondment to the MI6’s anti-terrorism unit. In the wake of the mysterious “Three Cities” attacks, he finds himself on the way to the USA, on the trail of a pair of intrepid young hackers who could be killed for the secrets they have uncovered.