2016 books. #31-35

To rise again at a decent hour, by Joshua Ferris. London: Penguin, 2014.

A book group book. Again, one I'd not have read otherwise; unusually, one I wouldn't have minded not reading.  A New York dentist is told by a patient that he's a member of a persecuted religious group.  He has a history of girlfriends (Catholic, Jewish) who are part of religious groups, and has mainly been in love with their entire families... But all of a sudden, someone's stealing his identity.... I really didn't enjoy reading this - but did enjoy the discussion.

You are dead, by Peter James [audiobook]. Read by Daniel Weyman. [Rearsby, Leics.]: WF Howes [n.d.]

A Roy Grace book.  A woman is abducted from an underground car park while on the phone with her fiancé; another woman's body is discovered near Hove Lagoon.  Meanwhile, Grace, Cleo and baby Noah are attempting to move house... It has a plot, and a good cast of characters; and a very gripping ending; but it really did lose me in the middle. This may have been because of a somewhat lacklustre reading; or a not-very-good middling plot; not sure..

Reacher said nothing: Lee Child and the making of  Make me, by Andy Martin. London: Transworld, 2015.

I loved this.  Andy Martin thought that writing a book about watching Lee Child (Jim Grant) write his 20th Reacher novel would be a good thing to do. He then found that if he didn't get onto the project within a week, he'd have missed the boat. If you're a Child/Reacher fan, this is a fascinating look at how the books get made.  I love the writing of the first chapter.  You bury a body, and have no idea who the bloke was, or how he'd pissed off the bad guys; you have no more idea than the reader, at time of writing, what's going to happen. And you don't go back...

Already dead, by Stephen Booth [audiobook]. Read by Mike Rogers. Oxford: ISIS, 2013.

Ben Cooper's still out recovering from the horrible death of his fiancée.  Diane Fry has been seconded in as a temporary sergeant. And a man's body has been found in a shallow runnel.  I'm really not sure about how the plot works out for this one, but I was also much more interested in the relationships; and in all cases, I was disappointed.  This book really didn't hang together for me. And it seems that Fry is much more akin to The Bridge's Saga Noren here than to anything we've seen in the past from her.  I'll read the next one, because the series has been pretty terrific so far; but this one really didn't work as far as I'm concerned...

The Burry Man's day, by Catriona McPherson. London: Constable and Robinson, 2006.

Dandy and her friend Daisy go to visit a schoolfriend, Frederica, (school nickname Buttercup) and her rather lovely American husband at his strange ancestral castle in Perthshire.  They're around for the Burry Man's fair - a weekend of fun, with a somewhat sinister figure at the middle of it; the Burry Man himself wears a suit made of plant burrs, and tours the local pubs drinking whisky.  This year, though, the Burry Man is behaving strangely, and then, once out of the suit, the man who has taken the part collapses and dies.  Dandy and friend Alec investigate, and discover all manner of local secrets.  Very entertaining.