Penguin| 2 April 2026| 524 pages| e-book| Review copy|5*
Description from Amazon
On a cold night in a remote Irish village, a girl goes missing.
Sweet, loving Rachel Holohan was about to be engaged to the son of the local big shot. Instead, she’s dead in the river.
In a place like this, her death isn’t simple. It comes wrapped in generations-old grudges and power struggles, and it splits the townland in two. Retired Chicago detective Cal Hooper has friends here now and he owes them loyalty, but his fiancée Lena wants nothing to do with Ardnakelty’s tangles. As the feud becomes more vicious, their settled peace starts to crack apart. And when they uncover a scheme that casts a new light on Rachel’s death and threatens the whole village, they find themselves in the firing line.
I’ve read the first two in Tana French’s Cal Hooper series, The Searcher and The Hunter, so I was really keen to read her third, The Keeper. They are all excellent books.
This one completes the Cal Hooper trilogy continuing the story of retired Chicago police officer Cal, his fiancée Lena, teenager Trey Reddy, who is now sixteen, and the rest of the people living in Ardnakelty, a fictional, remote village in Western Ireland. Like the first two books The Keeper begins slowly, but I like the slow build up to the mystery, and I love Tana French’s beautiful descriptions of the Irish rural landscape and her characterisation. I really felt that over the course of the trilogy I have got to know the characters – they come over as real people and I felt for all of them as this story developed.
It’s focused on the death of Rachel Holohan, was it murder or suicide, as her fiancé’s father would have us believe? I’m not going to write in any more detail about the plot other than to say that from the slow start the pace picks up, the tension rises and the twists and turns all make this an impressive and convincing murder mystery. I loved it and only hope that Tana French will write more books about Cal and the others as I’d love to know what happens next.
Tana French has won several awards including the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and Barry Awards, the Los Angeles Times Award for Best Mystery/Thriller, and the Irish Book Award for Crime Fiction.
As well as the Cal Hooper trilogy, she has written a standalone novel, The Wych Elm and six books that form The Dublin Squad series:
In the Woods (2006) The Likeness (2008) Faithful Place (2010) BrokenHarbour (2012) The SecretPlace (2014) The Trespasser (2016
Many thanks to the author and Penguin for a review copy via NetGalley.
This week Simon and Karen are hosting the 1961 Club. To join in all you have to do is read and review any book published in 1961 in whatever format, language, place.
I originally thought I’d like to read The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irvine Stone for this event but I ran out of time. But I did find time to read Call for the Dead by John Le Carré, which has been buried deep in my Kindle. I’d bought it back in 2017 and read a few pages, meaning to get back to it before long. But of course I didn’t – until now. It’s a novella of 162 pages.
It’s the first of his many books to feature the tenacious, unassuming and singular George Smiley. Previously I’ve read the third book, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) and the fifth and sixth books Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974), which I read before I had a blog, and The Honourable Schoolboy (1977), which I think is brilliant.
Description:
An apparent suicide. A deepening mystery. A letter from a dead man…
Secret agent George Smgeorge Smiley iley is in trouble. A Foreign Office civil servant, Samuel Fennan, has killed himself, and Smiley realizes that Intelligence head Maston is going to set him up to take the blame. Beginning his own investigation, Smiley is shocked to receive an urgent letter from the dead man, and slowly uncovers a network of deceit and betrayal
This is a spy thriller but George Smiley is not James Bond.
Short, fat, and of a quiet disposition, he appeared to spend a lot of money on really bad clothes, which hung about his squat frame like skin on a shrunken toad. Sawley, in fact, declared at the wedding that ‘Sercomb was mated to a bullfrog in a sou’wester’. And Smiley, unaware of this description, had waddled down the aisle in search of the kiss that would turn him into a Prince.
He married the beautiful Lady Ann Sercomb, but they divorced after two years, when she left him for a Cuban motor racing driver. He was ‘without parents, school, regiment or trade, without wealth or poverty ordinary’.
The first chapter gives a brief history of George Smiley, describing him as ‘breathtakingly ordinary’. The only part of himself that survived was his profession, that of an intelligence officer in the Secret Service. Having read some of the later books it was interesting to find out about his background, his academic life and early career and failed marriage.
He had got to that stage in his career,with the appearance of younger men, when he realised he had entered middle age without ever being young. He had carried out his job during the second world war well, but after that amongst the smart young men he felt old-fashioned and he became more ‘hunched and frog-like’ and had acquired the nickname of ‘Mole’. He was considered too old to go abroad and that was when he was transferred Cambridge Circus in London – the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (Military Intelligence, Section 6).
John Le Carré began writing the book whilst working for MI6. He initially called it A Clear Case of Suicide and there are clear elements of crime fiction at first, but then it develops into more of a spy thriller. Samuel Fennan, who had access to sensitive information had apparently committed suicide. Feenan had been found dead, leaving a letter saying that Smiley had cast doubts on his loyalty, that his career in the Foreign Office was over and that he was the victim of paid informers. He thought the interview was particularly a friendly one and that he’d told Fennan not to worry, that he could see no reason why they should bother him further.
Smiley can’t accept this was suicide, thinking Fennan had been murdered. He then resigned from the service when Maston ordered him to drop the investigation, but with the help of a CID man, Mendel, and Peter Guillam, Smiley’s assistant, Smiley unravels the truth behind Fennan’s death. At the end of the book, Smiley wrote a long report summarising the case, listing the facts and explaining his thoughts in much the same way as Hercule Poirot does in the Agatha Christie books.
I like Le Carré’s writing style, which is clear and straight forward, although Call for the Dead has quite a complicated plot. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
I’ve previously read and reviewed read these four books, that were also published in 1961:
The Girl in the Cellar by Patricia Wentworth, a Miss Silver Mystery. It begins well as the main character finds herself in the dark in a cellar, not knowing who she is or how she got there. Overall, I thought the book was odd and not very convincing. There are too many coincidences, improbabilities, and loose ends.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark, was first published in The New Yorker magazine on 14th October 1961. It is perhaps Muriel Spark’s most famous novel about the ‘Brodie set’. But which one of them causes her downfall and her loss of pride and self-absorption? What really impresses me about this book is the writing, so compact, so perceptive and so in control of the shifts in time backwards and forwards. It’s a joy to read.
The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie. Neither Hercule Poirot, nor Miss Marple feature in this novel and Mrs Ariadne Oliver has only a small part. Detective Inspector Lejeune is in charge of the investigation into the murder of Father Gorman who was killed one night on his way home. The Pale Horse is an old house which was formerly an inn in the village and is now the home of three weird women, thought by the locals to be witches. It’s also the name of a sinister organisation that arranges murders based on black magic. The book is a study of evil, a fascinating book conveying a feeling of real menace.
A Severed Headby Iris Murdoch. Reading this I felt I was looking into a different world and time. It’s not comfortable reading, but it is farcical and entertaining. It’s a tightly-structured novel, with just a few characters, narrated by Martin, who is shocked when his wife announces that she wants a divorce because she is deeply in love with Palmer, her analyst. This sets in motion a sequence of events in which Martin’s weakness and need are clearly evident.
Penguin| 12 February 2026| 336 pages| e-book| Review copy|4*
This is Tracy Sierra’s second book and the first one I’ve read of hers, but it won’t be the last. After a slow and ominous start that made me worried about what was coming next, it then picked up pace. I couldn’t stop reading, totally gripped and fearful of what might happen next.
Description:
There’s something out there in the darkness. By morning, bones lie in the snow, picked clean.
Zach knows the moods of the mountains – his mother taught him before she was gone. His father and the other men on the ski weekend think they know better though.
Drinking and boasting, they laugh in the face of the icy conditions.
But Zach understands what danger looks like. Can he survive the wilderness, and all the monsters within it?
The book begins as Zach, Bonnie and their mother, Grace are in the Colorado mountains where she is teaching them how to recognise the danger signs of an avalanche. A year later, Zach, now aged twelve, is spending a ski weekend with his father, Bram as he entertains his business investors. Bram is one of the most obnoxious characters I have met in fiction, a cruel, manipulative and narcissistic monster and his relationship with Zach is really awful. Zach, who is desperate for his father’s approval, has to tread carefully to avoid Bram’s vile and explosive temper.
The story is told from Zach’s point of view, which had made me initially wary of reading it. But, it was successful, because it is told in the third person. Despite his lack of confidence due to his father’s behaviour towards him, he is a resourceful, courageous and sensible boy. His mother had instructed him well about the dangers of the mountains and how to survive the conditions. He is a fully rounded character, whereas the other characters are not described in such detail, but sufficiently well enough as a supporting cast.
The setting is just so beautiful, but also claustrophobic as snow continues to fall and the hut where they are staying becomes snowbound. The tension and suspense gradually rise, as they try to find a way to ski down the mountain. The danger increases with the threat of an avalanche and some stupid decisions that Bram and the other men make. They are supremely confident that they can cope with anything the conditions throw at them, unaware of the dangers. And to make matters worse Zack is constantly aware that something or someone is watching them. The discovery of a dead elk on their way up to the hut adds to his fears as he imagines it was killed by a monster. This is a terrifying story filled with horror as their fears of an avalanche become a reality.
My thanks to the publishers, Penguin and NetGalley for a review copy.
Spell the Month in Books is a linkup hosted by Jana on Reviews From the Stacks on the first Saturday of each month. The goal is to spell the current month with the first letter of book titles, excluding articles such as ‘the’ and ‘a’ as needed. That’s all there is to it! Some months there are optional theme challenges, such as “books with an orange cover” or books of a particular genre, but for the most part, any book you want to use is fair game!
The theme this month is a Freebie and I’m featuring books I’ve recently acquired and books I read before I started my blog, so I haven’t reviewed any of them and have linked the titles to the descriptions on Amazon.
‘Dr Federica is a human encyclopaedia when it comes to the science of food and health. This book contains the most critical answers to nutrition that we’ve all been searching for. A must read’– Steven Bartlett
‘A cracking plot, colourful local characters and descriptions of the hot, dry countryside so strong that you can almost see the heat haze and hear the cicadas – the perfect read to curl up with’― Guardian
R is for Road Rage by Ruth Rendell, crime fiction.
‘With immaculate control, Ruth Rendell builds a menacing crescendo of tension and horror that keeps you guessing right up to the brilliantly paced finale’― Good Housekeeping
Set in the small village of Mellstock in Thomas Hardy’s fictional Wessex, this is both a love story and a nostalgic study into the disappearance of old traditions and a move towards a more modern way of life. (Amazon)
‘This book explains antisemitism and the danger it poses—not just to Jews, but to all of us. It also reveals the breathtaking history and resilience of the Jewish people and the beauty of Jewish tradition’ – Van Jones, CNN Host and New York Times bestselling author
Returning to his stately English home from the chaos of World War I, a shell-shocked officer finds that he has left much of his memory in the front’s muddy trenches. (Amazon)
Published in 1937, this was Virginia Woolf’s most popular novel during her lifetime. It’s about one large upper-class London family, spanning three generations of the Pargiter family from the 1880s to the 1930s. (Amazon)
The next link up will be on March 7, 2026 take your pick from Pi Day, March Madness, or Green Covers.
Penguin| 8 January 2026| 428 pages| e-book| Review copy| 4*
Description
On a cold, snowy winter’s night in 1999, Sander and Killian leave a house party together, in a small town in rural Sweden. The very best of friends, they imagine they will remain so forever.
The next morning, each is a key suspect in a murder. Each has something they want to conceal from the police. And from the other.
The hunt for Mikael Söderström’s killer will take over twenty years. It will see a detective leave the force forever. And it won’t end until a second body is found, and the tight-knit community’s secrets are finally brought to light . . .
My thoughts
The Living and the Dead by Christoffer Carlsson, is translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson Broyles.
This has a slow start. It has a tense atmosphere and a great sense of place, set in Skavböke, a small town in rural Sweden. .There are many characters and it took me quite some time to sort them out – who were related, who were friends and who were police, although the list of characters at the beginning of the book does help. The narrative is told from the different characters’ perspectives, which was also confusing until I had them sorted in my mind and I had to re-read several passages for a while. It’s not a book to read quickly!
By the time I got to the second half of the book and the action picked up pace it was much more satisfying to read. It kept me guessing what was going on and who the culprit was all the way through. I enjoyed all the twists and turns, which took me by surprise. It’s a dark, bleak thriller with plenty of suspense as secret relationships, rumours and rivalries abound in the small town. I particularly enjoyed Carlsson’s description of the Swedish landscape and characterisation.
I didn’t know until after I’d read this book that it is the third book in Carlsson’s Hallandssviten Series. I’ll certainly be looking out for more of his books.
Christoffer Carlsson was born in 1986 on the west coast of Sweden. He holds a PhD in criminology from the University of Stockholm and is one of Sweden’s leading crime experts. Carlsson is the youngest winner of the Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year, voted by the Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy, and has won the prestigious Glass Key award for The Living and the Dead, given to the best Scandinavian crime novel of the year. He’s also won the Best Swedish Crime Novel twice.
My thanks to the publishers, Penguin and NetGalley for a review copy.
Spell the Month in Books is a linkup hosted by Jana on Reviews From the Stacks on the first Saturday of each month. The goal is to spell the current month with the first letter of book titles, excluding articles such as ‘the’ and ‘a’ as needed. That’s all there is to it! Some months there are optional theme challenges, such as “books with an orange cover” or books of a particular genre, but for the most part, any book you want to use is fair game!
The theme this month is New, interpreted as you wish: new releases, recent acquisitions, “new” in the title, etc, new-to-you books, new additions to your TBR list, recently published books, or something else that you connect with the word ‘New’.
These books are all fairly recent acquisitions, new-to-me (just one of these is by a new-to-me author) and are books I haven’t read. The links go to the descriptions on Amazon.
With classic recipes for every part of Christmas dinner, veggie alternatives, clever ways to use up all of those leftovers, top tips for cooking meat perfectly, and even recipes for edible gifts and Christmas cocktails – he really has thought of everything!
Like A.S. Byatt’s Booker Prize-winning novel, Possession, these two mesmerising novellas are set in the nineteenth century. In Morpho Eugenia, an explorer realises that the behaviour of the people around him is alarmingly similar to that of the insects he studies. In The Conjugal Angel, curious individuals – some fictional, others drawn from history – gather to connect with the spirit world. Throughout both, Byatt examines the eccentricities of the Victorian era, weaving fact and fiction, reality and romance, science and faith into a sumptuous, magical tapestry.
In Underland, Robert Macfarlane takes us on a journey into the worlds beneath our feet. From the ice-blue depths of Greenland’s glaciers, to the underground networks by which trees communicate, from Bronze Age burial chambers to the rock art of remote Arctic sea-caves, this is a deep-time voyage into the planet’s past and future. Global in its geography, gripping in its voice and haunting in its implications, Underland is a work of huge range and power, and a remarkable new chapter in Macfarlane’s long-term exploration of landscape and the human heart.
Mental health categories are shifting and expanding all the time, radically altering what we consider to be ‘normal’.
Genetic tests can now detect pathologies decades before people experience symptoms, and sometimes before they’re even born.
And increased health screening draws more and more people into believing they are unwell.
An accurate diagnosis can bring greater understanding and of course improved treatment. But many diagnoses aren’t as definitive as we think. And in some cases they risk turning healthy people into patients.
Drawing on the stories of real people, as well as decades of clinical practice and the latest medical research, Dr Suzanne O’Sullivan overturns long held assumptions and reframes how we think about illness and health.
Micah Mortimer measures out his days running errands for work, maintaining an impeccable cleaning regime and going for runs (7:15, every morning). He is in a long-term relationship with his woman friend Cassia, but they live apart. His carefully calibrated life is regular, steady, balanced.
But then the order of things starts to tilt. Cassia is threatened with eviction, and when a teenager shows up at Micah’s door claiming to be his son, he is confronted with another surprise he seems poorly equipped to handle.
Can Micah, a man to whom those around him always seem just out of reach, find a way back to his perfectly imperfect love story?
The Years follows the lives of the Pargiters, a large middle-class London family, from an uncertain spring in 1880 to a party on a summer evening in the 1930s. We see them each endure and remember heart-break, loss, radical change and stifling conformity, marriage and regret. Written in 1937, this was the most popular of Virginia Woolf’s novels during her lifetime, and is a powerful indictment of ‘Victorianism’ and its values.
The next link up will be on February 1, 2026 when the theme will be a Freebie.
BooksPlease 