Notes of Life

Author: John Rector
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
ISBN: 978-1-84983-072-0

Jake Reese and his new wife Diane are busy planning their future. He’s wants to forget his violent past and get on with his life, but somebody has other plans…

Jake is brutally attacked in a car park, his attackers cut off his ring finger. At first he dismisses it as just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But as events take a turn for the worse, Jake is wondering if he’s being punished for his past.

When Diane goes missing, Jake is forced to revisit the life he thought he’d left behind. He’s not going to let this drop.

This crime thriller has suspense, action, mystery and is gritty and fast-paced. What more could you want from a book?! There’s violence too, of course, but it’s not gratuitous violence. It’s there for the plot and I didn’t find it too disturbing.

The book is told from Jake’s perspective. At times I felt sorry for him and then at points I was willing him to change his mind and not go down a certain route. The reader shares his anguish at the turn of events. The characters feel very real, if a bit brutal in some cases.

Already Gone has a good amount of twists and turns in the story, leaving the reader doubting just who to trust, even down to the last few pages. If you don’t bite your nails before reading this book, you may well do afterwards!

I enjoyed this book so much that I read it in just two sittings. In fact, I read the first three-quarters in one go! John Rector had me hooked from the very first page, right until the very last page. It’s one of those books that draws you in and won’t let you go. You have to keep reading!

This is my first John Rector novel, but it certainly won’t be my last. I’d highly recommend any crime/thriller fiction readers out there to grab a copy of this and get reading. I’m sure it won’t disappoint!

Already Gone by John Rector is released in the UK on 8th December 2011. Pre-order your copy now!

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Please note: I received this book free from Simon & Schuster UK in return for a review. However, this has in no way influenced my opinion of the book.

Author: Johan Theorin
Publisher: Doubleday
ISBN: 978-0-385-61929-5

Per Morner isn’t having a good time. As winter begins to leave the island of Öland, Per is preparing for his children’s Easter visit, but things aren’t looking good. His daughter is ill in hospital, which is bad enough, but then he receives a desperate phone call from his estranged father, Jerry.

Per arrives at Jerry’s photographic studio to find that he’s been stabbed and the place alight with fire. They escape with their lives, but two dead bodies are found in the burnt remains of the property. One of the bodies is confirmed to be Hans Bremer, Jerry’s work partner, but Jerry insists Bremer is still alive and a threat to his life.

When Jerry dies a few days later, Per makes it his mission to find out what really happened, unknowingly putting his own life in danger.

This is Johan Theorin’s third stand-alone novel based on the Baltic island of Öland. The island has a rich legacy of strange tales and folklore, some of which feature in The Quarry. I didn’t quite expect the talk of trolls and elves. I gradually realised it was just folklore, but wasn’t quite sure at first!

While Per Morner (and his family) are central to the story, we also get to meet some other colourful and, perhaps, unique characters. There’s Gerlof Davidsson who’s just moved back into his own cottage and is convinced he’s on his last legs, Max and Vendela – a couple who don’t quite go together, as well as others. Each character in the story has their own part to play and is there for a reason.

The Quarry is one of those books where there are several story strands and they gradually knit together throughout the course of the book. While some chapters do jump back in time, it is done well and the story is easy to follow.

This is by no means a fast-paced novel, but I didn’t find it slow either. It plodded along at a reasonable pace and I still found it rather gripping. In fact, I read the book within a couple of days, which is a rare occasion for me these days.

As Johan Theorin is a Swedish writer, the book has been translated into English. However, the words flow so well that, apart from the fact that it is set in Sweden, I might never have guessed that it was a translation.

I’d definitely recommend this atmospheric, Swedish crime thriller and I’ll certainly be checking out Johan Theorin’s previous two books set on Öland – Echoes from the Dead and The Darkest Room. I’ve heard he’s working on a fourth too.

Buy The Quarry by Johan Theorin.

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Please note: I received this book free from Transworld Publishers in return for a review. However, this has in no way influenced my opinion of the book.

Author: Kaori Tsutaya
Translator: Amy Hirschman
Publisher: Quirk Books
ISBN: 978-1-59474-525-6

I’m very much a cat person. I have two cats… or should I say I’m owned by two cats. At this very moment, one of them is using me for his bed. And when they aren’t using me for a bed, they’re using my bed (which is obviously more comfortable than the cat beds I bought them!).

Both my cats molt. Leo loves to have his long fur brushed at least once or twice a day. He’s not shy in asking to be brushed either and would be brushed all day if he could be! We’ve always thought there should be something we could do with all the fur we get out of him.

So when Quirk Books offered me the chance to review Crafting With Cat Hair, I jumped at the chance!

Crafting With Cat Hair was originally published in Japan as Nekoke Feruto No Hon in 2009, but has now been made available in English by Quirk Books.

Crafting With Cat Hair features a number of crafts such as finger puppets, book covers, tote bags, pin cushions and more. Each craft/project gives easy to follow step-by-step instructions, complete with pictures to guide you along. Between the pages, you’ll also find Q & A’s and tips, as well as information about grooming, allergies, craft care, resources etc. There’s even a section where we get to “meet the contributors”, in other words we get to meet the cats!

I thought that all the crafts in the book would be made using cat fur and was imagining just how much we would need to do these projects, but I was wrong. The finger puppets are made mainly from cat fur, but the rest of the crafts use the cat hair as a design to go on them (which is probably more sensible than my idea of things made entirely of cat hair!).

Crafting With Cat Hair is a quirky book (and not just because of it’s publisher’s name!), but it’s also informative and crafty too. Most of the crafts can be made without the use of cat fur (for those who are allergic), but if you’ve got a cat who’s shedding fur like there’s no tomorrow why not make the most of it?!

I’d definitely recommend this book for the craft-loving cat people out there. Christmas is on the horizon and this book would certainly make a fun present!

Right then, where’s that cat brush…….

Buy Crafting With Cat Hair by Kaori Tsutaya.

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Please note: I received this book free from Quirk Books in return for a review. However, this has in no way influenced my opinion of the book.

The lucky winner of a brand new copy of Don’t Let me Go by Catherine Ryan Hyde is…….

Yvonne from Fiction Books!

Many thanks go to Catherine for doing the “Meet The Author” post with me. I hope you all enjoyed it (Don’t forget to check back for the replies to your questions!). I’m hoping we’ll be able to do a similar post when Catherine’s next UK release – When You Were Older – comes out next year.

Don’t worry if you missed out this time as Catherine has her very own giveaway going on over at her blog. US readers get the chance to win a UK copy of Don’t Let Me Go, while UK readers get a chance to win a lovely Don’t Let Me Go bookmark.

Author: Lee Child
Publisher: Bantam Press
ISBN: 9780593065709

The Affair is the 16th Jack Reacher book by Lee Child, but only the third that I’ve read. I had read the previous two books in the series and loved the one (61 Hours), but not so much the other (Worth Dying For). So I started reading The Affair with an open mind and 50/50 odds on whether I’d like it or not.

The Affair takes us back in time to March 1997. A woman is found dead, murdered, behind a bar near Fort Kelham, Mississippi. Due to the location, the murderer could be a soldier or a local civilian, so the army send the best they’ve got to investigate, but it isn’t Jack Reacher they send. Instead, Reacher goes in undercover and finds more than he bargains for.

So, did my gamble pay off? It did! I really enjoyed reading it.

The main character Jack Reacher is a kind of action hero, as in he strives to right the wrongs of other people, but he’s not a goody-two-shoes. He borders on the insane and crosses the line by some distance at times. I find he’s a kind of “lovehim” or “hate him” kind of guy. In fact, I loved him in one book and hated him in another!

I’d found Reacher’s vigilantism in Worth Dying For rather off-putting, however it didn’t put me off The Affair. The character may have been employed by the US army back in 1997, but even then he was a vigilante, carrying out violent acts of revenge. In some cases it wasn’t even revenge, he was getting in first before he himself came to any harm. I’m not sure why it annoyed me in one book and not in the other. Maybe it’s the frame of mind I was in while reading each book or maybe the vigilantism was more subtle in this book. Either way, it served its purpose.

As with most crime thrillers, The Affair had me guessing as to who the murderer was. During the course of the story, the reader is given one or two options as to who it could be and even then there was a possibility it could be somebody else. I’d placed my bets on one person and it turned out to be another!

If you’re after a crime thriller with plenty of action (in more ways than one!), some violence and a little love, then check out The Affair. Jack Reacher fans will surely love this and, despite it being number 16 in a series, it’s a book anyone can jump into without having read any of the others.

Buy The Afair by Lee Child. Out now!

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Please note: I received this book free from Transworld Publishers in return for a review. However, this has in no way influenced my opinion of the book.