Curve Library Assistant and Part Time Business Lecturer Linda is an avid reader.
She has found time to switch off during this challenging year by reading for pleasure and escapism. Here, Linda reviews two of the books she has recently read.
Cry Baby By Mark Billingham
I’m a big fan of Mark Billingham’s novels and his main character, Tom Thorne, is a fascinating mix of vulnerability and in your face masculinity.
Cry Baby takes us back to 1996 when Thorne is still a Detective Sergeant in the Metropolitan Police. It’s a prequel to Sleepyhead which is the book that got me hooked. He’s hurting from the breakup of his marriage and being made fun of at work because of his “feelings” which have given him powerful insights into criminal minds but left him feeling haunted when he didn’t act on them.
The book centres around a child abduction case but the narrative also covers Thorne’s first meeting with Phil Hendricks, the spiky tattooed pathologist who becomes his best friend, and the underlying tensions between Thorne and his senior officers – a recurring theme in later books!
The book is quite dark in places, but not gory. Billingham brings his characters to life with careful descriptions and well observed dialogue.
If you like Stephen Booth’s Coper and Fry novels, give Cry Baby a go.
It Started With a Secret By Jill Mansell
Pure escapism in Mansell’s new book. It’s a lighthearted, engaging tale of two people who tell a little white lie to secure jobs they really want – and need - after their last employer had to let them go.
Set mainly in Cornwall, it follows Lainey and Kit as they take up their positions as housekeeper/cook/general assistant and gardener/handyman/jack of all trades with the Myles family at Menhenick House in the Cornish village of St Carys. Whilst it’s basically a love story, with a number of twists and turns, it covers a series of contemporary issues in a sensitive, thought provoking way. Three generations of the family live together, with the added complication of fame and stepchildren thrown into the mix. The book explores how someone might deal with the anxiety of whether or not to undergo DNA testing, how a gay character finds the strength to come out to his family, what it’s like living with children with autism and much more.
It started with a secret is more than just a romance and it’s well worth a read.