This is a stupendous novel, one I never wanted to end. Set in contemporary Bangkok – there are references to the new king – there is, nevertheless, a feeling that the book is set in a slightly timeless, slowed down city. The almost dreamlike remoteness and otherworldliness of The Kingdom …
There’s nothing quite like reading a book set in a city when you’re in that city. (Ouch, that’s clumsily phrased, but I trust you get the gist.) For context, I’m currently in Bangkok, and have thoroughly enjoyed reading the 2nd instalment in the Sonchai Jitpleecheep series, a detective series set …
Possibly book-review-purists would claim that personal context shouldn’t shape your thoughts about a book – where you are, how you feel etc etc shouldn’t influence a review. I beg to differ. Where I am, how I’m feeling, do have an impact, so since I’m currently recovering from a strenuous mountaineering …
I first read this book in 2004 when I solo-trekked to Everest Base Camp. I remember loving the book at the time, swept up as I was in the immensity of making it alone to EBC, never mind the mountain itself. I read everything I could lay my hands on …
It’s been a long time since I raced through a book as quickly as “You are Here”, loving every single word, laughing out loud, sometimes feeling a tad weepy, all while dreading the end of such a super story. This is a gorgeous, funny, touching love story of two lonely …
This is such a clever, gripping spy novel, but it was only when I reluctantly closed the book & instantly checked to see what else Mr. McCloskey had written that I realised that “The Seventh Floor” is actually the 3rd in a series. So back tracking is now on the …
Confession time. I’d completely forgotten that I’d read (& reviewed!!) this book 6 years ago, and it wasn’t until I was several chapters in, that I realised. Checked my review. Ah, hadn’t really enjoyed it. Wondered should I stop right there, or should I give it another go and see …
What an amazing book to kick off my 2026 reading. ”None of this is true” is gripping, more than a bit scary at times, “twisty, twisty, twisty” as one reviewer accurately put it – and truly unputdownable. There are so many twists and turns as the story progresses, forcing the …
What an absolutely fascinating book this is, and paradoxically it is about two absolutely awful people. Mr. Lownie has spent years researching the life and lifestyle of a man who, at the time of the book’s publication in August 2025, was styled Prince Andrew. Just a few weeks later, at …
