My Book Reviews for April 2025
My Book Reviews for April 2025
My Book Reviews for April 2025 comprise two purchases (a zingy romcom and a book about wartime fashion) plus several NetGalley goodies, including two stateside mystery/thrillers and one set in Norfolk.
Midnight at Soap Lake by Matthew Sullivan
After a whirlwind romance, Abigail has started married life in a house by a lake in the middle of nowhere, where her researcher husband studies samples of the waters. But when he takes a six-month research project in Poland, Abigail is left alone. Apart from the lake, she has an orchard, thick scrubland and the desert beyond for company. There’s a neighbour she doesn’t know and a small town a few miles away. (The lake is a fictionalised version of Soap Lake, Washington, where the author used to live.)
One day, a young child staggers out of the scrubland and into her arms. He leads her back to a car containing the body of his mother, Esme.
Police seem happy to put the death down to a drug deal gone wrong, but Abigail is determined to help Esme’s older brother care for the child and to delve into Esme’s life in search of a conclusive explanation for her death.
As we discover in chapters told from Esme’s viewpoint, death and danger always dogged her. Locals celebrate the legend of TreeTop, a giant monster who steals around town and country in a white hazmat suit. Esme believed she saw him once, with deadly results.
Known for its healing properties, the lake has always attracted visitors, whose spending power keeps the town solvent. Over the years, whenever a scientist has attempted to study the water, dangerous things have happened. (And there’s plenty of scientific description thrown into the narrative for good measure.)
Now Abigail, wife of the latest scientist, has caught sight of a figure in white peeping through her window…
Fluently written and absorbing, this is a complex (multi layered and 416 pages long), intriguing (ideal for a Netflix series) and, at times, very sad mystery and suspense story (poor Esme).
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
Alex, a bestselling true-crime writer, is going through a dry patch after her previous novel caused controversy and following the death of her husband. She takes the job as a ghostwriter for a lawyer, agreeing to spend six months in Vermont to write up his notes and transcripts. The lawyer’s project is about the settlement he secured for several people who suffered abuse at Coram House, a Roman Catholic orphanage in the sixties and seventies.
Alex goes through transcripts of interviews the lawyer conducted with the victims. As soon as Alex starts reading the huge stacks of files, she sees more than the documented cruelty the lawyer wants in the book. Some statements from former residents of Coram House refer to “accidents” and disappearances. The lawyer says there’s no proof, and witness statements are conflicting. He wants Alex to stick to his brief, but Alex’s gut tells her that’s not where the real story lies. Despite a hostile reception from police and locals, she intends to investigate possible crimes committed at Coram House 50 years earlier.
Most chapters were from Alex’s viewpoint. Her narration was rich in description of the snowy surroundings, and of how she planned her research, and provided an engaging insight into her personality and backstory. She came across as a likeable, rounded protagonist – both tenacious and shambolic. When I spotted the whopping clue the author dropped for the reader, I was willing Alex to pick up on it, but she ignored it. I had a shrewd idea what the story outcome would be although it came as a shock to beleaguered Alex.
The author did a good job of building suspense and making those Vermont pathways twisting as well as icy. The occasional transcripts of witness statements were natural-sounding, intriguing and moved the story forward.
This was a pacy, enjoyable novel and a likely contender for my top-ten reads of the year.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
Trouble in Paradise by Portia MacIntosh
Maybe it was the gorgeous April sunshine that caused my cold, dark heart to melt and choose a romantic comedy novel to accompany my coffee breaks in the garden. Whatever the reason, I’m glad it happened. Trouble in Paradise was a terrific novel that I raced through in a few sittings. As a crime and thriller reader, I’m not familiar with the big names in romantic fiction, but I discovered Portia MacIntosh is a multi-million-copy bestselling author of dozens of romcoms. (I lost count at 35.)
In Trouble in Paradise, two feuding journalists, Lara and Sonny, are ordered by their editors to pose as a couple and head to an exclusive celebrity retreat that offers couples’ therapy in an exotic location. Playing squabbling partners is easy enough – they don’t have to fake the mutual loathing – but can they get close enough to a famous husband and wife, also on the retreat, to write the exposé their bosses need? And can Lara trust ambitious Sonny to share the byline?
Lara made a rounded and engaging narrator. I was interested to see how the author created suspense in a similar way to psychological thriller writers. Sonny, the antagonist / potential lover, was suitably ambiguous throughout, and the luxury setting had a sinister edge. Deprived of their laptops, phones and watches and with the resort location withheld from them, Lara, Sonny and the other couples were frequently unnerved by the enigmatic retreat psychologist and her bizarre workshops. I loved the weirdness!
The writing was excellent – invisibly good – and flowed swiftly from one short chapter to the next. I’ve already bought another Portia MacIntosh title and look forward to more romcom fun.
Fashion on the Ration by Julie Summers
Written in partnership with the Imperial War Museums, this detailed but easy-to-read non-fiction book explores how Britons clothed themselves during the years of austerity and rationing in and after the Second World War.
With reference to primary sources, it covers everyday clothing, high fashion, uniforms, underwear, beauty products and Make-Do and Mend from the perspectives of government policy, fashion designers, retailers, workers, housewives, and ingenious home-sewing practitioners.
The Norfolk Theatre Murders by Judi Daykin
What do you call a group of monks? If you live in this fictional version of Norwich you'd probably borrow from their feathered lookalikes (crows) and go for a murder of monks.
A ghostly figure shrouded in a monk’s habit appears in the Rosegarden Theatre late one evening and terrifies actress Carole who is locking up.
The alarm is raised next morning when the carer of Carole's husband finds the sick man home alone in a ransacked room. The confused husband, agitated by Carole's unexplained absence, claims to have been visited by a monk.
Finding CCTV footage of a monk on city cameras should be easy enough, but it's Halloween so police contend with costumed figures round every corner. The nightly ghost walks for tourists are led by an actor dressed as a monk. It's also the garb of choice for a local drug dealer, and, to add to the mix, a homeless man has taken to wearing a monk outfit he found in a bin.
The author creates a good sense of place with detailed descriptions of the theatre and of Norwich city centre.
Although mostly on the lighter end of the police procedural genre in tone and writing style, there is some on-page violence in the second half.
As well as seeing the investigation from lead character DS Sara Hurst's perspective, we read chapters from the theatre’s stage manager Ben and from social worker Nafisa, who is helping a nearby homeless community. The use of the three viewpoints builds suspense nicely.
With thanks to the author, publisher www.joffebooks.com and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
The Other People by C.B. Everett
From the blurb: Ten strangers wake up inside an old, locked house. They have no recollection of how they got there. In order to escape, they have to solve the disappearance of a young woman. But a killer also stalks the halls of the house, and soon the body count starts to rise. Who are these strangers? Why were they chosen? Why would someone want to kill them? And who – or what – is the Beast in the Cellar? Forget what you think you know.
The book reminded me immediately of a certain Matt Ruff novel, which I won’t name so as not to give spoilers.
Told in a bouncy, tricksy and dark style, this is ideal for readers who like to be played with a little.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
Our Last Wild Days by Anna Bailey
From the blurb: Cutter Labasque is found face down in the muddy swamp, no one seems to care, not even her two rough-cut brothers. The only person who questions the official verdict of suicide is Cutter’s childhood friend, Loyal May, who has just returned home to care for her ageing mother. Loyal left town at the age of 18, having betrayed everything she valued most. Now, there may be no way for her to find forgiveness, but there may be restitution…
Ideal for readers who enjoy novels that spend time on evoking a distinctive, atmospheric setting, in this case the Louisianna swamps, and on developing unusual, quasi-outcast characters.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
Burn After Reading by Catherine Ryan Howard
Ideal for fans of slow-burn, mainstream psychological suspense stories.
Here’s the publisher’s blurb:
The night Jack Smyth ran into flames in a desperate attempt to save his wife from their burning home, he was, tragically, too late - but hailed a hero. Until it emerged that Kate was dead long before the fire began.
Suspicion has stalked him ever since. After all, there's no smoke without fire.
A year on, he's signed a book deal. He wants to tell his side of the story, to prove his own innocence in print. He just needs someone to help him write it.
Emily has never ghostwritten anything before, but she knows what it’s like to live with a guilty secret. And she's about to learn that there are some stories that should never be told . . .
Top tip: Don’t read the Author’s Note explaining the book’s inspirations until you’ve read the book as it anticipates the twists.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
Here’s the link to my review of 56 Days by this author: My Book Reviews for July 2021 — Rachel Sargeant .
The Florence Sisters by Tessa Harris
From the Blurb:
Italy, 1940. With Florence on the cusp of war, Il Scorpione, the no-nonsense Englishwomen of the city, find their genteel livelihoods under grave threat by the approach of the Nazis. Tea rooms and bookshops are closed by the Fascists, and the women are forced to join the war effort. To guarantee her beloved Aunt Agatha, the only family she has, safe passage across the city, art historian Lina must authenticate art ruthlessly stolen from Jewish families. But when she comes across a priceless portrait – one that she cannot bear to see seized by the Germans – Lina declares the masterpiece a fake. But in doing so, she sets off a chain of events with consequences more deadly than she could ever imagine …
This is ideal for historical fiction readers, who enjoy straightforward, gentle storytelling with romance and action. Fans of the author will not be disappointed.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.