Little Brown Book Group Archives

Book review: It’s Not Her by Mary Kubica

August 23, 20262 min read

I had a strange sense of deja-vu as I read It’s Not Her by Mary Kubica. The electronic version I received for review is published in late August, but I noted other versions were published earlier this year so I wondered if perhaps I’d read it then. Of course Goodreads is my go-to source of info, as my own mind is akin to a sieve, and it’s not listed in my ‘read’ books. Perhaps I read a similar book, featuring brutally murdered parents of three children (aged 17, 14 and 10), with the oldest girl (17yr old Reese) missing. Feared abducted… though also unfortunately with motivation to be the killer herself.

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Book review: Twice by Mitch Albom

October 1, 20252 min read

Twice by Mitch Albom is a story within a story. It opens with a man (Alfie) being questioned by casino security having done the unthinkable and won at the roulette table three times in a row. His interviewer (Vincent) assumes Alfie’s colluded with a casino employee or used magnets or similar, but Alfie continues to maintain his innocence… only requesting that Vincent read a journal he’s brought along with him. And thus begins the story of Alfie’s life, starting with the tragic death of his mother when he was just eight years old.

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Book review: Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts

June 2, 20252 min read

Several things struck me when I read Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts… firstly, how much I enjoy romantic suspense. I claim I hate romance novels but it was the romance element here I loved the most. Perhaps I enjoy romance but don’t want it shoved down my throat… I’m not sure. But [romantic suspense] is something Nora Roberts does very well.

She also is brilliant at creating and reflecting family relationships. In her novels they’re often extremely close, which Sloan’s family is here – supporting her after she’s shot on duty. Or, like Noah—big city finance guy-turned small town handyman—whose parents are toxic.

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Book review: Bonded in Death by JD Robb

December 11, 20242 min read

Bonded in Death by JD Robb opens with a prologue set in 2026 as the Urban Wars neared their conclusion… which started a few years earlier (ie about now in JD Robb / Nora Roberts’s world so let’s hope she’s not psychic). We don’t spend much time in the past however before moving to the present (40 years later) in Robb’s futuristic series. And for those who’ve been following the series for a long time, it’s pretty easy to guess that this book will hit close-to-home for NYPD cop Eve Dallas and her mega-wealthy husband Roarke… given their majordomo-cum-father-figure-to-Roarke (Summerset) often talks about his work with the Resistance during the Urban Wars.

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Book review: Legacy by Nora Roberts

May 28, 20212 min read

I was a tad worried Legacy by Nora Roberts would be a bit saga-ish. I love her romantic suspense novels and ADORE her JD Robb series, but the blurb here sounded a bit more Barbara Taylor Bradford circa 1990ish.

Thankfully it wasn’t. We do meet our lead Adrian at various stages of her childhood then on a few occasions during her adult life but it’s less about generations of women or families and their legacies and more about Adrian herself.

It takes a little while to get to the ‘suspense’ part of this book but I liked Adrian and the fact her ambition is balanced with a sense of humanity, so was happy to be along for the ride.

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Book review: Cry Baby by Mark Billingham

August 13, 20202 min read

I’m a fan of Mark Billingham and Detective Tom Thorne. I read the sixteenth in the series (Their Little Secret) last year and assumed this would pick up where it left off. In fact, I didn’t read the backcover blurb at all before I started the book and found it a little strange that the series was set in the past and I didn’t remember that being the case.

I knew I disliked his partner or girlfriend and was relieved she seemed to be moving on; and here Tom’s separated from his wife. So it made sense but it didn’t. And, as it happens, there’s nothing in the book until the very end that references that this is a flashback of sorts*. It meant that I read the book amidst some puzzlement worrying that my memory was even worse than it is and that I’d just not remembered the books were set in the 1990s.

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Book review: The Mitford Scandal by Jessica Fellowes

September 25, 20193 min read

This is the third in the Mitford Murder mysteries and I’m probably enjoying each new release more than its predecessor/s. In my review of The Mitford Murders I mentioned that author, Jessica Fellowes wrote companion books for Downton Abbey so is obviously passionate about this era and knows her stuff. And in that book, as well as the second in the series, Bright Young Dead, the research she undertakes and the way she weaves facts and true events into fiction makes more interesting – and surprisingly educational – reading.

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Book review: How The Dead Speak by Val McDermid

September 4, 20194 min read

I try hard not to write reviews with spoilers. Or ones that give away too much of the plot. Of course it also means I sometimes re-read a review of a book before starting the next book of the series and – unless it’s ingrained into my mind for some reason – I rarely remember the detail.

So, given two years has passed since Val McDermid’s last Tony Hill / Carol Jordan novel Insidious Intent was published (and I can’t believe it’s that long!), I’d completely forgotten Tony had gone to jail. I can’t remember any of the specifics, but that’s kind-of a good thing as newcomers to the series won’t be lost, suddenly introduced to characters – many of whom have been around now for 11 novels (and 24 years).

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