Ohhhh – I have enjoyed quite a few Hornby books, but this one was fairly torturous. It’s based on a premise that, from the outset, seems like it will be impossible to sustain for the length of a novel. And it is. It drags and drags, there are few highs and lows and I found it completely infuriating. I perservered to the end, and then barely restrained myself from throwing it in the river.

I have never read a Joanna Trollope novel in my life. I picked this up to read in my lunch break, and somehow have to keep going. Am not sure why.

It’s the secret Bruce Willis side of me that loves these action books. Very similar to Matthew Reilly, the Australian author. Lots of techie descriptions of guns and other weaponry. They totally suck me in.

I want to make hot cross buns. Loobylu put up a post about making them from a particular recipe. I think I’m going to give them a go. I’ve never cooked with yeast before – yike!

I always think I’ve already read all the Warshawski books, only to start one to fill in some time and realise that I haven’t read it before. This is one of the best out of all of them. It’s snappy, tough and it seems like Paretsky did a lot of research into insurance and stock market scams. Love it. Can’t put it down.

I thought it was going to be good. I thought because I’d seen her knocking about in motorcycle leathers at lots of writers fests that she could, oh, I don’t know, write? Lots of product placement (Visine, Bettina Liano jeans anyone?) and a clunky style. Not to mention a very hackneyed ‘twist’ in the identity of the serial killer. Sigh. Don’t bother. Go and read that Jo Nesbo book – now that’s good!

This is a weird and excellent book. I read it in under a week. It has a kind of ‘CSI’ thing about it, in that the intricate descriptions of the paths of bullets or the gastric system are used to create a bigger picture. I like Harry Hole, although I despaired of him a lot of the time.

I needed to recover from reading Huckstepp: – A Dangerous Life and I know that Tami Hoag writes good, fluffy thriller stuff, kind of like Lisa Scottoline. Sure enough, it was just what I needed. I didn’t even realise it was going to be crime – so that was a bonus. The only other Hoag I’ve read was a bayou bodice ripper.

I did think that this was just going to a bit hard going, simply because I couldn’t see how there could be a whole book devoted to Sallie Ann Huckstepp. But that’s just because I was stupid. As soon as I was about four or five pages in, I was hooked. I read it in two days. It was a great how the hard data had been interwoven into the narrative. The pacing and the detail were great. Highly recommended. Now I’m off to rent out the DVD of Blue Murder.

Loved it. I thought this was better than Me Talk Pretty One Day. It seemed to be a bit snappier and the humour a bit dryer. A favourite!