August reviews

A good month of reading. My book of the month is The Lost Man by Jane Harper.

Silent City by Alex Segura **.5
The Lost Man by Jane Harper *****
A Philosophical Investigation by Philip Kerr ***
Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke ****
Infinite Detail by Tim Maughan *****
One For The Money by Janet Evanovich ****
Joe Country by Mick Herron ***.5

 

 

August reads

I think this must be my slowest August in terms of reading. Just five books read and reviewed. The stand out book was Hitler in Los Angeles, an engaging account of fascist and pro-German organisations in LA pre-war.

Assembly of the Dead by Saeida Rouass ****
Black Hornet by James Sallis ****
Hitler in Los Angeles by Steven J Ross ****.5
The Horseman’s Song by Ben Pastor ****
Murder at the Savoy by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo  ****

August reads

On the whole, August proved a good month of reading. My book of the month is Riptide by John Lawton.

Snow Blind by Ragnar Jónasson ***.5
Riptide by John Lawton *****
Present Darkness by Malla Nunn ****
The Dust of Death by Paul Charles **.5
The Road to Ithaca by Ben Pastor ****.5
Death in Shanghai by MJ Lee **.5
Rusty Puppy by Joe R. Lansdale ***.5
The Burning Gates by Parker Bilal ****.5
The Dry by Jane Harper ****.5

August reviews

A nice month of reading.  The two stand out books were The Narrow Road to the Deep North and The Boys in the Boat.  The first a fictionalised account of the building of the Burma railway and the second a true story told in almost a fictional style.  Hard to choose between them for book of the month, but I'll go with The Boys in the Boat.

Original Skin by David Mark ***
Even Dogs in the Wild by Ian Rankin ****
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan *****
Pleasantville by Attica Locke ****
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown *****
Rough Treatment by John Harvey ***.5
Hurt by Brian McGilloway ***
The Long Glasgow Kiss by Craig Russell ****.5
The Defenceless by Kati Hiekkapelto ***.5

August reviews

I've realised that I completely forgot to do a summary post of my August reads, so here it is.  A month of 3 and 3.5 star reads.  All solid and entertaining enough, but no real standout book.  I think this is the first month since starting the blog that I've not read a four star or higher book.  Nevertheless, it didn't feel like a poor month of reading and I've previously read books by five of the authors.

Lehrter Station by David Downing ***.5
Royal Flash by George Fraser Macdonald ***.5
Deadlock by Sara Paretsky ***
Princes Gate by Mark Ellis ***.5
In Bitter Chill by Sarah Ward ***.5
Secret Warriors: Key Scientists, Code-Breakers and Propagandists of the Great War by Taylor Downing ***
Border Angels by Anthony Quinn ***.5
Target London: Under Attack From V-Weapons During WWII by Christy Campbell ***

August reviews

August proved a very good month of reading.  Along with my usual contemporary fare I mixed in five books published more than 40 years ago, all considered noir classics in their different ways.  My read of the month, however, was a dark noir tale published last year, Dana King's Grind Joint.

The Sun is God by Adrian McKinty ***.5
I Married a Dead Man by Cornell Woodrich *****
Tatiana by Martin Cruz Smith ***
The Steam Pig by James McClure ****
The Red Right Hand by Joel Townsley Rogers ***
The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler *****
Little Caesar by W.R. Burnett ***.5
All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye by Christopher Brookmyre ****
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz ****
Hard Bounce by Todd Robinson  ****.5
Grind Joint by Dana King *****

August reviews

A mixed bag of read for August.  My read of the month was Ernest Cline's Ready Player One, which proved to be a fun and well plotted and realised book.

The Third Rail by Michael Harvey **.5
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt ****
The Signal in the Noise by Nate Silver ****
Waiting for Sunrise by William Boyd ***
The Reckoning by Jane Casey ***.5
A Nail Through the Heart by Tim Hallinan ***
Ishmael Toffee by Roger Smith *****
The Barber Surgeon's Hairshirt by Douglas Lindsay ***
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline *****
The Lost by Claire McGowan ***.5
Black Seconds by Karin Fossum ****

August reviews

A fairly varied month of reading.  The two stand out books were Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indridason and Dead I May Well Be by Adrian McKinty.  Two very different books and difficult to decide which one is book of the month, so I'm going with the pair.  Both worth a read.  Which reminds me, I need to get the next book in the McKinty series.  Flip, should have had that in the last order.


Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indridason *****
Dead I May Well Be by Adrian McKinty *****
Client by Parnell Hall**1/2
The Information Officer by Mark Mills **1/2
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy ****1/2
Point Blank by Richard Stark****
The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly ***1/2
Instruments of Darkness by Robert Wlison ***1/2
The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst ***
The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza by Lawrence Block ***

August Reviews

An interesting and varied month of reading. Here's a list of last month's reviews.

Black Delta Night by Jessica Speart ***
The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke **
Fifty Grand by Adrian McKinty *****
Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurdardottir ***
Inspector Mallon by Donal McCracken ***
Winter Frost by R.D. Wingfield ****
Stop Me by Richard Jay Parker ***
Black Out by John Lawton ****
Bombs over Dublin by Sean McMahon ***
Harold Shipman: Prescription for Murder by Brian Whittle and Jean Ritchie *****
The Last Llanelli Train by Robert Lewis ***
Death in Breslau by Marek Krajewski ***
The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri ****

My book of the month was Adrian McKinty's Fifty Grand. Taut and lyrical, snappy dialogue, and a smart story.