July Wrap Up

I’ve had a bit of a Fiona Cummins fest this month! Or perhaps I should say another Fiona Cummins fest for I read three of her books last month and now three this month. And she is returning to my local bookshop this Friday to talk about All of Us are Broken which I’m looking forward to and I can tell her that I’ve read all of her books now, if I get the chance. They are chilling, twisty stories that you just can’t put down. Rattle and the Collector go together and we meet Saul Anguish for the first time before he progresses into Into The Dark and All of Us are Broken. 

 One of the publicists at Quercus books offered me a finished copy of Trevor Woods’  latest book, The Silent Killer, which I wrote about on my blog.

https://bookphace.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-silent-killer-trevor-wood.html

 

 Bridget Collins The Silence Factory was a library book. I read The Binding but not The Betrayals. However, that might have just edged its way further up my TBR list after this one which was mesmerising almost in its gothic tale of family, fortune and… silk!

  

 

Next up was a volume of poetry from Ricky Ray. I wrote about this on my blog.

 

https://bookphace.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-soul-we-share-ricky-ray.html

 

 Rose Tremain’s Absolutely and Forever was a novella, a moving tale of love and friendship with a twist right at the end that will grab your heart.

Next  is Three Sisters, Three Queens by Phillipa Gregory. I love her Tudor books although I would say this one dragged a little at times because it seemed repetitive in one sense as Maragret went from castle to castle fleeing someone other. But it does give you a flavour of the courts of Scotland and England at that time and how basic communication was!! Days for letters to reach the recipient, hard to think of in our time of instant messaging!!

 

 

Finally this month Thinking Girl by Norma Meacock. Published in the sixties it reminded me a little of Henry Miller. I found it on a second hand book site because it is out of print. I read it because it was written by my brother’s neighbour! I had the pleasure of meeting her earlier this year, she is 90 now, bless her and one of those bohemian, original people you only come across every so often. She’s written two book and I hope to read the second one soon.

 

 

 

 

 

The Soul We Share - Ricky Ray

 

WINNER OF THE 2023 ARYAMATI POETRY PRIZE

When a collection of poems are ordered into a prelude, five movements, a coda and an interlude I immediately thought I was in for some kind of musically themed poetry. And in a way, to me anyway, there is something musical about poetry – the rhyme, the rhythm, the meter. But having read these pieces, I felt more that the poet was expressing the symphony or a concerto of his life. 

The prologue contains a single poem, entitled The What of Us in four sections, and it gives us, I guess, a hint,  a summary maybe, of what is to come within the collection thematically – the poet’s disability, his dog, his life choices and dilemmas and his life’s philosophies.

It’s very accessible work. There are no attempts at clever trickery in terms of metaphor and imagery. It’s straightforward verse that you feel just comes straight from the poet’s very soul that he is sharing with his readers. I wasn’t sure if that was the intent behind the title or whether he was referring to the soul he shares with his beloved dog. Or, maybe both!

I wasn’t too sure about the inclusion of some prose pieces in the collection. It wasn’t that I didn’t find them interesting it’s that I was in poetry mode and that’s what I wanted. I suspect that’s why it’s the Interlude of the collection.

For any animal lovers, particularly dog lovers, the poems about Addie will burn their way onto your heart, especially if you’ve experienced the heartbreak of losing a beloved pet companion.

If you've suffered with spinal problems then Preparing My Spine for the Afterlife is a must!

For ecologist, there’s much to delight. Mother Earth is referenced on more than one occasion, and then one poem in particular contains an affirmation that could become a mantra for environmentalists.

‘ I offer Mother Earth, my voice, my life,

To help her creatures, creativity,

To do with as she pleases.’

It's poetry to ponder; full of thoughts to take away with you and contemplate. It's a man opening his own soul up to himself, questioning his life and courageous enough to share it all with his readers. 

As always one has favourites, I especially enjoyed Aches, Quartet #3 with its subheadings of Resilience, Hope, Reverence and Faith, perhaps because I understand so well the difficulty of getting comfortable -

'I shift and shift,

shift and shift in search

of comfort,

knowing there's no such thing.'

Movement III contains the poem And Then, Very Gently which comprises of fourteen sections which I would love to quote here in full but I will refrain! It's moving, thought provoking and well observed -

On writer's block;

'The next day 

language arrived 

like a puppy in my pen.'

On friendship;

'Is this what friendship amounts to,

the right to curse and complain,

to grumble, without offense,

or with offense, but just a little?'

On language;

'I like well-worn language

but live in an era

that wants the newest new.'

I think it's a collection I will return to again and again. And, as ever, it's much better if you read the poems out loud! 

My thanks to Isabelle Kenyon at Fly on the Wall Press for a gifted copy.

Buy your copy here  https://www.flyonthewallpress.co.uk/product-page/the-soul-we-share-by-ricky-ray

Arrives with a limited-edition postcard artwork of Addie. 
17% of each sale will be donated to the Irish Setter rescue organization (Irishrescue.org)

The Silent Killer - Trevor Wood

I was lucky enough to snaffle a proof of Trevor Wood's first book, The Man on the Street, which I reviewed in 2020 just before lockdown -

 https://bookphace.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-man-on-street-trevor-wood.html - 

I can remember thinking I must keep an eye on this guy and check out when he writes another book. But I'm ashamed to say I've only just got around to reading another of his stories. And that is because the good folks at Quercus Books sent me a beautiful finished copy of his current work.  

I find it fascinating to read the debut work of an author and then see how they develop and progress as a writer. The Silent Killer is as an accomplished a piece of work as you're likely to find within its genre. I simply couldn't wait to read on and on. In fact I finished it at about 2:00 am one morning, I simply had to find out whodunnit and how!

But the problem with reviewing crime and thriller novels is the danger of giving something crucial away. So I'll head to the blurb......

'The first in a Newcastle-set police procedural series with a twist. DCI Jack Parker has a secret. He has Early Onset Dementia and he will do anything and everything to keep it hidden from his peers and the criminals he’s investigating.

THE CLOCK IS TICKING. THERE’S NO ESCAPE.

DCI Jack Parker has faced down hardened villains and raving, drug-addled lunatics. He’s disarmed a machete-wielding psychopath and broken devastating news of a loved one’s death more times than he can remember.

With a serial killer stalking the Newcastle streets and one of his closest colleagues lying in the mortuary following a hit and run he thinks things are about as tough as they’ve ever been. But he should know that trouble always comes in threes.

Jack is about to face the biggest challenge of his life, one that will end his career and destroy his family: Early Onset Dementia.

As he does everything he can to hide his deteriorating condition from his family and colleagues, Jack believes that the serial killer is haunted by his childhood while his own memories are built on increasingly shifting sands.

The race against time to save lives, including his own, has begun. 

Whilst staying within the realms of the police procedural genre, this cracking thriller will explore character in depth and with sensitivity, as well as with the author’s trademark dark humour.'

As with Wood's first book, the title has a double entendre which I always find pleasing. And in a sense Jack Parker lives a dual life - the cop and the guy facing a dementia diagnosis - and he tries to keep the two separate.

He's a great character and the story is told from his perspective. He's flawed, screws up from time to time but there's a loyalty and commitment that puts him firmly on the side of good. 

It's a robust book with a substance that you don't always get in a crime novel. Wood seems to have the ability with his characters to show them as people as well as police men and women.  So they become very real and you can identify with them and relate to them. There's the suggestion of an implicit link between us all no matter who we are or what we do which renders the narrative very real. 

Many books in this genre offer you a good story that can have you on the edge of your seat, looking for the clues and seeking to second guess the outcome and very enjoyable they are. But you seldom come away from the story still thinking about the characters and their challenges. Dementia is a very pertinent topic in our times and Wood's treatment is real and compassionate. 

Yet take all that away and it doesn't detract from the novel being an excellent police procedural and a gripping crime story that will keep you turning the pages. Plenty of clues, plenty of red herrings and a pace that carries the reader willingly along. No shying away from the seamier side of life and the brutality that one human can wreak on another. But that's balanced out by a subtle humour and some banter between the characters.

And if you feel a sense of loss as you turn the final page and close the book, fear not, for the door is open for a sequel. This is intended as the first in a series which will be exciting and fascinating to see how life develops for Jack Parker.

My thanks to Ella Patel at Quercus books for my gifted copy.