Published in the Sunday Times
Mister Memory
Marcus Sedwick (Mulholland Books)
Book fiend
***
If you had perfect memory would everything you see be true? This is the question Sedwick explores in his ponderous novel. Marcel Deprés is arrested in Paris in 1899 and tossed into an asylum for shooting his wife. The man cannot forget anything, is unable to lie nor does he deny the horrible deed. Yet his doctor and a policeman are not convinced that Marcel is guilty and begin to search for answers. This is not a fast-paced thriller, but a dark and mysterious fairytale full of details and intrigue. Sedwick’s prose is rich and immersive, transporting readers to a time of cabaret and magic. – Tiah Beautement @ms_tiahmarie
Underground Airlines
Ben H Winters (Century)
Book buff
****
Set today, this convincing story proposes a US where slavery still exists, and where the world ignores the barbarous practices of some of the Southern states in favour of the cheap goods and thriving economy that slave labour allows. Victor is an escaped slave forced by the government to become a slave catcher: he infiltrates the “Underground Airlines”, and returns escapees to their Southern hell, but eventually discovers a secret so heinous he cannot ignore it. It may be alternate history, but Underground Airlines is all too real. – Aubrey Paton
Lie with Me
Sabine Durrant (Hodder & Stoughton)
Book thrill
****
Paul is a failed writer, egomaniac and womaniser. Amid the threat of losing his apartment, and still with no bestseller to his name, he meets Alice. She is older than his usual conquests and far more ambitious; he falls for her. Inserting himself in her family life proves easy, yet on a holiday to Greece, progress falters. Nefarious and drink-riddled, he finds himself embroiled in a decade-old murder plot. Lie With Me is riveting – intrigue, suspense and whodunit mingle beautifully in this novel. – Samantha Gibb @samantha_gibb
The Mobile Library
David Whitehouse (Pan Macmillan)
****
A lonely little boy catalogues artefacts of his absent mother while trying to hide from his abusive father. Bobby Nusku is a loner with only one friend in the world, Sunny. The two boys spend their days plotting Bobby’s escape from suffering at the hands of his father and bullies. When Sunny is ripped away from his life, Bobby is left alone with no protection until he meets two of the town’s newest outcasts: Val, a single mother who cleans the town’s mobile library for a living, and her daughter Rosa, whose disability becomes a target for Bobby’s bullies. The three are drawn to each other: outcasts and loners who run off in the 16-wheeler mobile library, and form an unusual family bond. – Monica Laganparsad @Monikan
Book details
- Mister Memory by Marcus Sedwick
EAN: 9781444751987
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- Underground Airlines by Ben H Winters
EAN: 9781780894317
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- Lie With Me by Sabine Durrant
EAN: 9781473608344
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- The Mobile Library by David Whitehouse
EAN: 9781447274711
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