After a failed suicide attempt, Adam Walsh is confronted by a ghostly companion. This ghostly figure narrates Adam’s world with wit and humour. His ghostly friend observes Adam as he attempts to fit into an all-boys school in County Cork. Adam’s life begins to get better when he runs into a band of teenage misfits and meets his first love.

Leahy sensitively deals with the topic of teenage suicide and mental health. Leahy perfectly depicts life as a teenage boy coping with depression. This book can make you want to laugh and cry at the same time. There are some wonderful, memorable moments in

Published this year, this book is packed full of healthy ideas for including not just 5 fruit and veg a day into your diet but 10 a day, which he says is much better for us all. The recipes are all very easy to follow, there's nothing complicated - I would highly recommend this cookbook to one and all!

This is the second of Kate Ellis’ crime novels to come my way and it has confirmed my initial verdict that she has written a hugely enjoyable series. Her main character is DI Wesley Peterson, a black London Met detective relocated to scenic (and largely white) Devon.  Peterson is an Exeter archaeology graduate, so he still takes an interest in local excavations run by his old undergraduate friend Dr Neil Watson.

A common thread in the plots of the books is that curious links between Peterson’s cases and Watson’s investigations add an unusual element.  In this book, Neil is supervising an

In the hot summer of 1549- two years after the death of the tyrant Henry VIII, the teenage Edward VI sits on the throne with his uncle Lord Protector of England, Edward Seymour ruling on his behalf. The hunchbacked London lawyer Matthew Shardlake is summoned by the Lady Elizabeth to attend the trial in Norwich of a relative who has been accused of a brutal murder. Shardlake accompanied by his hot headed understudy Nicholas is reunited with his loyal friend Jack Barak in a perilous quest to uncover the true perpetrator of the shocking crime. Meanwhile crop failure, corruption, injustice

The espionage thriller of the decade. This debut novel by Terry Hayes races along at breakneck speed. Pilgrim, a former spy hunter, while investigating a seemingly 'text-book' murder in a New York hotel gets pulled back into his old life to chase down an intelligent and capable terrorist threatening to release a genetically synthesized small-pox virus. 

Suspenseful; this novel will keep you turning the pages until the final showdown.

It might be a bit 'busman's holiday' but The Library Book by Susan Orlean is endlessly fascinating. Primarily about the LA Public Library fire of 1986, it delves into the history of the public library system in the US, and of California in particular. I haven't stopped quoting facts and stories from it to anyone who'll listen. An entertaining read for anyone interested in libraries, architecture, public spaces, public servants or true crime.

When I finished this book my immediate thought was; “Wow, what a brilliant writer this McGregor is”, followed quickly by “How can I track him down to strangle him?” I can’t elaborate too much on the latter for fear of spoilers, so I’ll concentrate on the former.

This novel is so cleverly written and genre-defying that it takes a while to figure out what it is you’re actually reading. It starts with the residents of a village in the Peak District gathering on New Year’s Day to search for a missing 13-year old girl. Right up my alley, I thought, as I love a good mystery. It felt like I was

Kitty is somewhat stuck in her life. With her best friend and business partner Frieda, she owns a small bookshop in Denver city. Life is quiet and business is slow. Kitty tries a dating agency and corresponds with a man she finds promising. She speaks with him on the phone and they plan a date but she is devastated when he doesn’t show up. She resigns herself to her predicable settled life. Then she finds out that the man Lars, didn’t actually stand her up at all, he had a heart attack just after the phone call. Then Kitty starts to have dreams in which she seems to be living an alternative

This debut novel from S.R. Masters is very nearly very good, but for me the author made a rookie mistake – he dragged it out just a little too long (423 pages in total) and I’d figured out the twist long before the end. It’s one thing building suspense gradually to keep the reader guessing, another to give the game away prematurely (even if the main protagonist is still bafflingly clueless) and then waffle on for chapters more before finally telling us what we’ve known for quite a while.

Until I came across a recommendation by the author Madeline Miller in The Guardian, who said this book is “Hilarious, keen-edged, wonderful”, I had never heard of Lindy West. That may be because of my avoidance of the broiling mass of ignorance and ill-will that largely informs the world of online social commentary. I fear my head will blow off with rage if I go anywhere near it, frankly. And having read this I have no idea how Lindy West has to date kept hers intact.