HarperCollins Archives

Book review: We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter

July 2, 20253 min read

I very much enjoyed We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter so was even happier when I discovered it’s actually labelled North Falls #1. Slaughter does such a great job developing the characters and their lives, so it makes complete sense not to waste fabulously rounded creations on just one book. In fact, part-way through the novel it felt a bit like I was really embedded in the lives of the Clifton family and community of North Falls as if we’d been hanging out for years. It meant I was somewhat surprised when just over a third of the way through I discovered the unfolding plot (where I was happily ensconced) had been in the past and we move forward twelve years into the present.

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Book review: End of Story by AJ Finn

December 31, 20243 min read

End of Story by AJ Finn is the second by the American author (Daniel Mallory) whose first book, The Woman in the Window (published in 2018) was widely praised. However Finn / Mallory also drew attention, not all of which was positive. The question of course then is whether Finn falls into the second-book trap – the struggle to match the stellar debut. And given this novel hasn’t received the same attention as his debut, it could be said that it hasn’t lived up to the hype of his first, however this is a really good and quite addictive read so it’s probably a case of unbelievably high expectations or, potentially, some continued disquiet following the launch of his first book. Very weirdly I’ve not read his debut (I thought I had) though I’ve heard him speak at a Writers’ Festival and can see some of Finn/Mallory’s quirkiness in his prose and dialogue in particular.

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Book review: This Is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter

June 18, 20242 min read

This Is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter is the twelfth in the series featuring Will Trent, but also features his (new) wife Sara Linton – who of course has starred in a couple of Slaughter’s series. Here the pair have just gotten hitched and Will decided to take Sara to a remote glamping spot – one he yearned to visit as a child in a foster care group home nearby. Of course they stumble into some family drama and when there’s a murder on their first night the pair feel duty-bound to seek justice for the victim.

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Book review: My Father the Whale by Gina Perry

June 9, 20232 min read

I was initially reticent to start My Father the Whale by Gina Perry because I’d just read another book (Tell Me What I Am by Una Mannion) about a young girl being raised by her father amidst secrets about her mother’s fate and I was concerned the two books would become intertwined in my little head. As it happens however, they are (ultimately) quite different though similarly themed around family and relationships. Perry’s book is also set in two distinct timeframes: 1984 and then 2000.

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Book review: In a Thousand Different Ways by Cecelia Ahern

May 4, 20232 min read

In a Thousand Different Ways by Cecelia Ahern is only the second book I’ve read by the Irish author, best known for PS I Love You. I loved her 2021 novel Freckles, about a young woman trying to find her place in the world.

And in some ways Ahern’s theme here is similar. We spend quite a bit of time with a young then teenaged Alice before she moves into adulthood. Alice has synesthesia – something her older brother calls a gift but she sees (for much of her life) as a curse.

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Book review: The Hike by Lucy Clarke

April 24, 20232 min read

The Hike by Lucy Clarke opens with a stunning prologue. The first couple of paragraphs were amazing. So much so I took a photograph and posted them on Twitter. (So others could share my delight!)

There have been quite a few books about groups of friends or colleagues going camping or hiking and one doesn’t return. I thought this might be similar and focus on the aftermath or fallout of a missing hiker…. with the remaining group having to keep silent in a ‘what happens on hike stays on hike‘ kinda thing.

But it’s not like that at all. And though I’m sooooo not interested in hiking or camping or the wilderness, Clarke managed to grab my attention and keep it until I turned the last page of this book.

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Book review: Terms of Inheritance by Michelle Upton

December 14, 20222 min read

Terms of Inheritance by Michelle Upton is the kind of feel-good read that is perfect for this time of year. While it covers some deeper themes around familial relationships and the challenges that come with them, it offers engaging and mostly likeable characters and quixotic but (at the same time) relatable ‘scenarios’.

It features four sisters – all very different, but bound in the way siblings are… or at least can be. Apologies in advance to my brother, but this made me wish I had sisters. Other versions of ‘you’. The best friends you can’t rid yourself of, who drive you crazy, know your faults and idiosyncrasies but love you anyway and always, always have your back.

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Book review: One of the Girls by Lucy Clarke

August 12, 20222 min read

One of the Girls opens with a prologue and Lucy Clarke tells us then that someone dies on a hen’s* weekend before introducing us to the six – quite disparate – women who’ve journeyed to a remote luxurious villa on a Greek island.

We learn all of the women have secrets and some have hidden agendas… and though I expected this to be predictable in how it plays out, it’s actually far from that.

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