Number 12- The Perfect Murder- Peter James

 

A really fun little cheat read, and the first time I've ever seen "now a theatrical production" on the front cover. This was apparently first published as part of the Quick Reads scheme.

Victor and Joan have been married for 20 years. To say that every day they love each other less would be an understatement.  they hate each other more and more each day.

Victor has his plans to murder Joan. What he doesn't suspect is that she has similar plans in mind.

This all turns lethal very quickly and soon it's up to the survivor to cover things up and stop the police getting suspicious.

This was a very quick and easy read with a nice fluid writing style, a sense of humour and a few twists and turns along the way. 

I must get around to one of his full length novels at some point.  Judging by the standards of this, the man can write.

Number 11- Tripwire- Lee Child

 

My first Jack Reacher book proper.  I read the novella where Jack Reacher and Will Trent met last year and enjoyed it. This is the first time I've tackled a solo outing for the man-giant.

This is the third book in the series, but I don't think that really matters. Jack has been drifting and is semi-settled in Florida, digging swimming pools by day and working security at a strip club by night. He's living an anonymous life, as close to off the grid as he can.  He likes it that way.

A private eye comes looking for him, he evades the man's questions and lies about his identity. Later, the detective is found brutally murdered and Jack heads up north to New York to trace the killers and whoever sent the detective after him.

The hirer of the detective is the daughter of his recently deceased CO from his army days. Together they start digging into the past and uncover some dastardly plots along the way, unwittingly joining against time to save the life of a family in dire trouble from a conscienceless sociopath.

To call the prose workmanlike would be to pay it a compliment. It's a very quick and easy read, but that's the best that can be said about the prose. This book is very much a victory of content over style.

I have some quite major reservations about this book, and some minor ones. One of the minor ones is the lack of imagination for home furnishing and decoration displayed.  Everyone whose home is described has white walls and minimalistic taste in decoration. Both Reacher's love interest Jodie, and the villainous Hobie live in cut and paste described white apartments.

Speaking of Jodie, this is where the biggest ick comes in. You see, we're told that Reacher knew her 15 years earlier, when she was 15, and he was 24.  we're also told that he was obsessed with her in a sexual way back then.  If it was a one off reference, it might have been ok, but it's not. every time they're in the same scene for the first half of the book, we spend at least half a page on his rumination of how she looked when she was 15, and that she's just as hot now.  But this is apparently ok, because she was obsessed with him too. It was not my favourite relationship building device that I've ever read in a book.

Another issue I have with this is the whole cliché that we know he's a villain because he has a burned face and a disability.

I know this book is the literary equivalent of the switchyourbrainoff type of summer blockbuster movie, but even by those standards, Reacher is a bit dim in places. He's apparently a great detective and investigator.  

spoiler ahead

but in one scene, he's looking at a series of skeletons in their own caskets and describing how each one dies. We know they're in individual caskets.  We know each skeleton is complete.  It takes him more than half an hour to realise that there is an extra hand in one of the caskets. The book tries to cover this by saying "there were 15 hands", but because they're in separate caskets, this just means that one of the bodies he's just accurately described the manner of death on has 3 hands.

Despite all these, it was a fun read when I wasn't icked out at his obsession with teenaged Jodie. I can understand why they're popular and will probably read another at some point as a palate cleanser if something else has been too highbrow.

Number 10- Wretch- Eric LaRocca

 

I was sent a review copy of this in exchange for a fair review.

Last year I read Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and thought it was one of the most exciting new talents I'd read in years. This is my second of LaRocca's books and I was intrigued as to whether it would be to the same standards.  particularly since this is a full length novel and Things etc is a novella and some shorts.

I'm glad to report that this book has not lowered my opinions in the slightest.

Simeon Link is recently widowed from his husband and is not coping well at all. To say that he is wallowing in self pity would be to understate the situation. This is a descent into misery starting from an already miserable beginning. I use the word miserable as a compliment here...

He is invited to join a group who call themselves the wretches who believe they can see their deceased loved ones in photographs of random objects. He also becomes entwined with the mysterious character of Porcelain Khaw.

This is not as fast or as easy a read as Things etc. This is a downbeat, slow burn of a novel.  There is a lot of self reflection from Simeon (who is our first person narrator) and a lot of contemplation of grief and the meaning of life and relationships. There are some images every bit as disturbing as the sequences in Things etc. and the ending pretty much blew me away. 

It's a very well written literary horror with a serious side order of introspection.  Simeon is a selfish prick to be honest, but that doesn't make him any less fascinating. Even he doesn't deserve the depression which has taken over his life and especially not the fate that eventually befalls him.

There is a mix of media used in the storytelling. Text message exchanges, email conversations, extracts from websites, as well as the first person narration from Simeon. The side characters are not particularly well drawn, but that is as much down to the almost narcissistic viewpoint telling the story, a distinct symptom of his self absorption.  

It's not a perfect novel. The navel gazing was sometimes a little repetitive. I could easily understand people who like fast paced novels putting this down fairly early on, but that would be their loss.

I'm excited to get on to another of his books in the near future. The ending of this really messed with my head. There are very few authors who have that effect on me.

Number 9- Number 9 Dream- David Mitchell

 

It was complete coincidence that this was the 9th book I read this year, but I do think I might finally pick up Catch 22 in 13 more books time. It seems like a fun little mini theme to run through the year.

Eiji is a 19 year old man looking for his father in Tokyo. His problem is that he has no idea who his father is. This leads him into a series of weird and wonderful encounters with a whole variety of Tokyo life, including getting involved in what may be a horrifically violent feud between rival Yakuza gangs, or possibly his overactive imagination.

Rarely has the "is it real or not" card been played quite this skillfully. 

The opening chapter is very weird indeed and put a few people in the book group I read this for to give up very early on.  However, the style does settle down rapidly and Eiji becomes a sympathetic and relatable narrator.

Each chapter is written in a different style to all the others. The linking theme in the way they're written is that they jump around a lot. They mostly start halfway through or at the end of the narrative for that chapter and intercut the end or middle with the continuing narrative. One chapter (which was also contentious in the book group) has extremely surreal extracts from a book Eiji is reading intercut with his own story with no explanation as to what's happening until late in the chapter.  

This is a book where you have to place your trust in the author to explain what the bleeding hell is happening now on a regular basis.

Mitchell's prose is beautiful throughout.  I found it by turns deeply sad and laugh out loud funny. This is a real rollercoaster of a book, almost impossible to second guess. I'm not sure if it's my favourite of his books so far, but it's definitely in the top 3.

Number 8 - Monumental- Adam Nevill

 

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2026 and it didn't disappoint.  I'm using the picture from the back cover here.  Everyone is posting the feathered creature pictured on the front, but I think this lovely looking guy needs some love too.

A group of kayakers in Devon make the mistake of tackling a trip up a private valley off the coast, they find themselves facing the worst day of their lives. The valley is home to creatures rising from the depths of time. Creatures that time wanted to forget. Creatures that should never have seen the daylight again.

Over the next twelve hours the six of them will face dangers that they could never have dreamed about.

As ever, Adam's prose is rich and atmospheric. The monsters he describes are truly the stuff of nightmare. This may well be his most brutal book to date. 

What sets this apart from so many similar stories is that none of the characters are even remotely capable of dealing with the situation they find themselves in. These are everymen.  They don't come ready equipped with the fighting prowess of a superhero. Whether any of them can or will survive the challenges about to befall them is not even certain with only two pages to go till the end. And if they do survive, to borrow an old move tagline, what will be left of them?

The characters are not the most likeable bunch, but they don't deserve what's happening. Likeability in a character is overrated imho.  I much prefer interesting people, and that's what Adam gives us here. They all have their flaws. This is a dysfunctional group of almost friends. The friction between them is well portrayed and mostly adds to the tension building around them. 

Apart from one "Why are you trying to do this now?" incident involving personal issues between two of the characters (which was dealt with fairly rapidly to be fair), this is an almost flawless horror novel. From the moment the scream rings out across the valley in the first chapter, the horrors barely let up. 

I think Adam Nevill is one of the few writers who has never written a bad book.  And this is one of his strongest. I especially like how he has managed to tie in several of his other folk horror novels with this book, creating a shared universe that I am so so glad I don't have to live in.

As ever, I recommend this to anyone who likes a densely atmospheric slice of pure horror.

Number 7- The Rise- Alan Baxter

 

This is my second Baxter review in a couple of weeks, but this one has slightly more point to it since there are more than 24 copies in the wild.  This is due for a mainstream release on Friday 13th of this month. 

There are several scary towns out there in fiction, places where the top horror writers will set their tales. King has Derry and Castle Rock. Charlie Grant had Oxrun Station, Josh Malerman has Goblin. And Alan Baxter has Gulpepper, aka the Gulp as it has a habit of swallowing people.

This is the third set of novellas set in the town and there's no noticeable dip in quality yet. The previous volumes are The Gulp and The Fall. After the Fall, we can only have the Rise.

Now that a real continuity seems to be building, this one isn't quite as self contained as the other two volumes, but not so much that a brand new reader would struggle. (Although they would have a lot of spoilers for the previous books).

Strange Leaves- the first story- this follows a pair of dope dealers who've just accidentally killed their supplier and the repercussions. The title takes on multiple meanings in the course of the story which is always good. A solid start to the collection.

Sunlight on Clear Water- this is my favourite story in the collection and introduces possibly the most nightmarish creature so far in the Gulp mythos. When a young man, new to the Gulp, goes for a bit of free swimming with his beautiful new girlfriend, he finds himself in the middle of a web of deceit. It transpires that her family have been in the Gulp a very long time and are far from the normal people he thinks.

This is easily the scariest entry of the book.

Vitulinum- This is another solid entry.  A teenage boy from an abusive family finds himself faced with an impossible choice at the hands of a longstanding villainous presence around the Gulp.

The Gulpepper Institute for Health and Wellbeing- This is my next favourite entry.  When global megastar Eevie takes a break at the new Institute in the town to relieve her stresses, she finds the brochure might have missed a few details. This is Gulpepper after all. Her stresses are about to do the complete opposite of fade. The tension that builds in this one is great. The masterful slow reveal of what's going on leads to a violent conclusion. 

The Rise- this is what all the linking factors in the last 4 have been building to. Things are about to hit cosmic proportions and Baxter handles this as well as he did the more personal pains in the other stories.

This is easily on a par with the previous two volumes and demonstrates yet again why Baxter is a name to watch on the scene.

He has a very easy style which is capable of portraying deeply intimate horrors or horror on a cosmic scale.  Poor Gulpepper- that place just can't seem to catch a break.  

Number 6- Glorious Exploits- Ferdia Lennon

 

This is the debut novel by half Libyan, half Irish writer Ferdia Lennon. It tells the story of two poor Greek unemployed potters in ancient Syracuse who decide to put on a performance of Medea and the new play by Euripedes  using the Athenian prisoners of war held in the local quarries.

The two potters Lampo and Gelon are a brilliant double act at the centre of this alternately rollicking, heartwarming, and tragic story of art versus reality.

The book is narrated by Lampo in a very modern style of speech. This did cause some consternation at the book group I read this for, but I loved it.  It simultaneously makes the point that people now are the same as people then, and solves the issue of learning ancient Greek to have to read the book.

Lampo is a common as muck potter, short on intelligence and permanently down on his luck. This is brilliantly portrayed through his narration. Even through the frequent coarseness of language, there are some great turns of phrase and he is frequently laugh out loud funny.

The side characters are maybe not all fleshed out as well as they could be, but that's the nature of  a first person narrative. We get to know the others as much as they wander into the narrator's path. We know who is important to Lampo, whether that's for material or emotional reasons.  

I loved the build up towards the big production, the progress and the pitfalls, and then the production itself is gloriously rendered.

Certain events were somewhat inevitable, in a book about Greek Tragedies, but still managed to take me by surprise. The epilogue is a lovely touch, reminding us that good did come out of the mad venture.

This is a definite contender for best book of the year. It's a glorious read.