Kind of Cruel by Sophie Hannah
With her past few novels, Sophie Hannah has been moving in on the psychological thriller territory explored so well by the likes of Val McDermid and Nicci Gerard. “Kind of Cruel” sees the return of police detectives Simon Waterhouse, Sam Kombothekra, Colin Sellers and their wildly temperamental Detective Inspector Proust. Amber Hewerdine has not been sleeping well since the fire attack that killed her best friend and left her as guardian toSharon’s two young daughters. She is also still deeply puzzled about an incident that occurred a few years earlier when four members of her extended family disappeared on Christmas Day, only to turn up the following day unwilling to discuss where they’d been. When a mysterious list of words provides a link to the murder of a second woman in the area, and it begins to seem as though Amber might unwittingly hold the key to the mystery, she agrees to hypnotherapy as a means of unlocking her subconscious. Riveting.
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Saved by Cake by Marian Keyes
There is something deliciously retro about the pinker-than-pink cover of Marian Keyes’ new book, and something equally delicious (if calorific) about the idea of baking yourself out of the blues. “Medically speaking, there is no such thing as a nervous breakdown,” writes Keyes in her introduction. “Which is very annoying to discover when you’re right in the middle of one.” The best-selling novelist has spoken before about her past experiences with depression, and is as compellingly honest as ever in these heartfelt few pages. Having tried antidepressants, psychiatric treatment, therapy, meditation and a host of other treatments – Keyes found solace one day in the act of making a birthday cake for a friend, and she continues to bake as her way of “living through today.” The rest of the book is chockfull of delightful recipes and engaging photographs of buns, cakes and tarts.
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This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman
It is one of the curses of the modern, connected generation – the ease with which a throwaway comment can be made under cover of online anonymity, the rapidity with which forwarded emails and tweets go viral, the way party photos on Facebook have a way of coming back to haunt future job interviews. When 15-year-old Jake Bergamot receives a sexually explicit email from a younger girl at his ritzy New York City private school, he barely hesitates before forwarding it to a couple of friends. Who send it on … and on, and on. Within hours, the clip is all over the school and rapidly extending into the city. His unthinking actions have the potential to derail Jake’s future for good, unless his parents come up with a way to fight back. But doing so may have its own serious consequences. “This Beautiful Life” brilliantly captures the privileged Manhattan world where 6-year-old girls host birthday sleepovers in five star hotels, and where mothers do the school run armed with an array of healthy snacks in case their little darlings feel hungry on the way home.
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What They Do in The Dark by Amanda Coe
There is an impending sense of doom throughout Amanda Coe’s new novel and it never quite goes away. There is plenty of reason for this uneasy feeling, as it turns out, with no shortage of older men preying on young girls, bullying and a bad case of stage mother-itis. The story opens with an obituary for a one-time child star who had an uncanny gift for mimicry, and in flashback we are told the story of what happened the year she tried to make a foray into serious acting. Growing up at the same time are two very different girls – mollycoddled Gemma who seems to have everything, and the very neglected Pauline who has to fight for every last scrap of attention … and food. The parallel stories of ordinary life – penny sweets and favourite telly on a Saturday evening – and greasepaint and stardom intersect at a critical junction in all of their lives. The result is a shocking and unforgettable read
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Contact Information
Darina Molloy, Castlebar Central Library, John Moore Rd, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.Email: dmolloy@mayococo.ie Phone: +353 (0)94 9047953
