books – Page 2 – Maddie Grigg

September books (and more films)

So I’ve finished Natalie Hayne’s No Friend To This House and my review is winging its way to The Historical Novel Society.

You can see my other book reviews for the HNS here. But, spoiler alert, I liked it.

It will be my last review for the HNS because I have other irons in the fire, which I must pull out at some time to check if they’ve reached the correct temperature.

I’m still a reviewer for NetGalley, and I’ve just finished this:

The Naked Light by Bridget Collins ***

(Due to be published by Harper Collins 25 September 2025)

Set just after the First World War, The Naked Light tells a a dark story of life in a small rural village where the inhabitants feel protected by the Face, a simple and ancient chalk image on a hillside, which acts as a kind of amulet against evil.

We follow the fortunes of beautiful spinster, Florence, her precocious and unsettling niece, Phoebe, and a female artist called Kit, who is haunted by the disfigured soldiers from her war work and moves into an old cottage which used to be the home of the Bone family, who were custodians of the Face.

The Naked Light is a slow burner, but a fascinating story of womanly love, darkly Gothic in places and peppered with a heavy dash of country folklore, which serves as allegorical device bringing home the horror of war and its effects on a small community.

Bridget Collins is imaginative and writes beautifully. This is a novel that will stay with me for some time but I struggled to like or understand some of the main characters, hence my giving it three stars.

Films worth watching (or not)

I’ve watched three films recently, only one of which I actually enjoyed (in the main).

Happy Gilmore 2 (2025)

As you’d expect, Happy Gilmore 2 is the sequel to Happy Gilmore, a sports comedy film from 1996 which Mr Grigg particularly enjoyed because it involved lots of whacking. And I quite liked the original because of the underdog-conquering-stuffy-establishment-vibe (think Eddie the Eagle and Dream Horse, two excellent examples of the genre).

Happy Gilmore 2 sees Adam Sandler reprise his role but now as a winner down on his luck. He’s a widower, an alcoholic and hasn’t played golf for years but is forced into it because his talented daughter needs to go to dance school.

I’m not keen on anything with Sandler in it and this film relies heavily on in-jokes and characters from the first movie. If, like me, you’ve forgotten those, then you’ll probably sit in front of the screen po-faced and reaching for the fast-forward button.

I can’t recommend the film but I was fascinated that Sandler recruited his wife and two daughters for peripheral roles. Keeping it in the family led me down a long internet rabbit hole which was far more enjoyable than the film.

The Naked Gun (2025)

The fourth film in the slapstick crime franchise, in which the late Leslie Nielsen made the role of cop Frank Drebin his own back in the 1980s (I just loved Police Squad!, the American comedy crime series on which the films were based), sees Liam Neeson playing Frank’s son, Frank Drebin Jnr.

If you like corny jokes, seeing Neeson stumbling around in a ridiculous setting and a plot as far-fetched as the way in which politics is going all over the world, you’ll love this. The only similarity between the two actors is their names.

I’ve never been able to take Neeson seriously since I saw him as Zeus in the dreadful 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans, where he utters the immortal line: ‘Release the Kraken’ to unleash the monster onto poor, chained-up Andromeda.

This line has been used many times during lock-ins at the Lush Places pub, although I hasten to add that lock-ins there, now it’s a community pub, are a thing of the past.

Mind you, these days, Neeson, who was in the Oscar-winning Schindler’s List (1993), doesn’t seem to take himself too seriously either, playing recent roles with as much depth as a half-inch ruler.

But I did like him in the action thriller In The Land of Saints and Sinners (2023), set in a very beautiful and stark Donegal. He plays a quiet contract killer in this surprisingly moving film.

However, I digress. The Naked Gun is terrible, apart from having ex-Baywatch beauty Pamela Anderson in the same sort of role that Priscilla Presley (who makes a cameo appearance in the latest film) played in the original.

Pam is now 58 and still a stunner, embracing the ageing process both boldly and beautifully, a shining, make-up free beacon for older women rejecting the relentless barrage of turning back time.

So I’ll let them both off for having a laugh, even if the audience is not splitting its collective sides.

The Friend (2024)

This takes a while to get going but it’s a lovely film, starring Naomi Watts as Iris, a writer coming to terms with the death of her friend and mentor, Walter, a louche author played by Bill Murray.

Set in New York, Iris finds it hard to grieve for Walter and is bottling-up her emotions. All around her, the women that were close to him have their own agendas when it comes to mourning, and seem to be expressing themselves much better than she can.

Iris has been tasked, along with Walter’s daughter, with putting together a book of his letters, but she’s struggling.

It’s not just writer’s block, but something that goes deeper.

Things begin to change when she finds herself having to look after Walter’s dog, Apollo, a Great Dane ‘the size of a pony’, which dominates her small apartment and her life.

The performances, sentiments and storyline, are lovely, particularly Bing as the massive, mournful dog.

I’ve never had a hankering for a Great Dane but I do now.

A long film (120 minutes), but definitely worth a watch. Gentle, heartwarming and touching on universal themes in a understated and layered way.

August book reviews

Two Kinds of Stranger by Steve Cavanagh ****

(Expected publication March 2026)

Another solid novel by Steve Cavanagh in the Eddie Flynn series.

Even if you’ve not delved into Eddie’s world before, you’re in for a treat with this thriller.

Lawyer Eddie Flynn is hired to defend Ellie, a social media celebrity whose perfect world is turned upside down when she is accused of the murder of her husband and her best friend. The two victims were having an affair, which Ellie had revealed inadvertently in real time when she was doing a live stream at her perfect aparment in New York.

Eddie is pitted against the cunning of charismatic sociopath, Logan, a chilling killer, while, at the same, time protecting his own daughter, ex-wife and her husband when they are pulled into Logan’s complicated web.

This is a bingeworthy novel, which could easily be read in one sitting.

As soon as it hooks you in (which is very quickly), Two Kinds of Stranger will have you turning the pages to reach the climactic conclusion.

Recommended for lovers of taut, high-speed thrillers and seat-of-the-pants courtroom dramas.

Thank you NetGalley and to the publishers for an advance review copy of this novel.

The Predicament by William Boyd ***

(Expected publication September 2025)

I have loved William Boyd’s previous novels but this was my first foray into Gabriel Dax territory.

Boyd turns the spy novel on its head – a bit of a pastiche, written with verve and wit and a surprising lead character who seems to bumble through things and situations – including romance – and comes up smelling of roses.

It’s the early 1960s and travel writer Dax is called upon by MI6 to carry out several top secret assignments, the last of which involves President John F Kennedy. It’s comic but Boyd’s gift for writing makes this a very readable novel and not at all clunky. I did feel a bit overwhelmed by plot and some of the villains and for that reason I’m giving it three stars.

The Killing Stones (Shetland #9) by Ann Cleeves

(Expected publication October 2025)

Jimmy Perez, the detective protaganist of the ‘Shetland’ series of novels, returns for another quiet thriller. But this time, he’s in Orkney, where he is happily settled down with Willow and their young son, James.

When his best friend from childhood, is brutally murdered on an ancient archaeological site, Jimmy and Willow are drawn into a tangled web of murder and mystery in a small, island community, where everyone knows everyone else’s business, newcomers never quite fit in and where legend and folklore run deep.

Archie’s death is followed by two more gruesome killings, both at other significant sites on the islands. Can Jimmy and Willow solve the crimes and keep the community safe?

This is a solid, reliable and thoughtful thriller where, of course, everything is not quite so straightforward as it seems initially. A list of suspects reveals itself to Jimmy and Willow, together with some plausible motives. I had my suspicions about the killer’s true identity quite early on but not the reasons for their actions.

This was my first Ann Cleeves’ novel, having only seen the Shetland television series previously. Perez was nothing at all like Douglas Henshall who plays him on screen, but I still had the image of the actor in my head when I visualised the detective.

For me, there was too much telling as opposed to showing and that annoying thing when you as the reader know that the protagonist has been told something important because the author tells you that but the ‘what’ is not revealed to you until the end.

A map of the Orkney islands at the beginning of the novel would be useful, especially in a print version.

NetGalley

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for advance review copies of these novels.

NetGalley is an online platform for booksellers, librarians, educators, and media professionals to discover and recommend books. Publishers and authors offer free digital books and audiobooks to the NetGalley community of book advocates and industry professionals.

I have been a NetGalley member since 2021.

July book reviews

I’ve read a bumper crop of novels this past month, thanks to NetGalley and the publishers who’ve given me advance copies in exchange for honest reviews.

There have been some really brilliant ones, which I’ve very much enjoyed. Also a couple of stinkers (in my opinion) but I’ve decided that anything I’ve awarded fewer than three stars won’t appear here. All my book reviews – for the stellar and the stinkers – are on Goodreads.

One of Us by Elizabeth Day *****

Publication expected September 2025

Razor sharp, well written, intriguing and right on trend – that’s One of Us by Elizabeth Day.

Martin, a former art critic and now working as a university professor at Cambridge – but not that university – has a secret about his old school friend, Ben, who is now an eminent Tory politician on a star-studded trajectory to becoming prime minister.

Everyone around Martin has secrets. In a ruthless world of political scandal, privilege, passion, insecurity, betrayal and lies, his desire for revenge has repercussions far greater than he could ever have imagined

Told from the viewpoints of all the major players, this was a cracking read, a kind of House of Cards for 2025 but told on a much more personal level, with humour, insight and keen observations, and characters with more than a passing resemblance to some famous politicans.

Highly recommended.

Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox *****

Published July 2025

From the outset of this novel, the reader has an ominous feeling about the house on the hill where the ‘party of liars’ is about to convene.

Set high above the Texas countryside, the gothic-style property is haunted by ‘The Mother’, according to local legend and stories. After years of dereliction, the house has been restored into a designer mansion, with one side stripped back and glazed, almost like a dolls’ house.

This is the venue for a 16th birthday party where secrets, lies, murder and mystery come to the surface. Whose is the body hinted at that has fallen from a balcony? And who did the deed?

Party of Liars is that perfect crime novel to binge – short chapters from multiple viewpoints, shifting perspectives and timelines but not (hurrah!) confusing to follow.

Very well written, with pace and panache, the narrative featured tricky subjects but keeps the reader hooked throughout.

Highly recommended.

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan ***

Publication expected September 2025

This was a novel that revealed its storyline quietly and slowly in a family saga that spans two generations in small town America, spanning World War II and the end of the Vietnam War. It’s a novel with vividly drawn characters, all with their own motivations, wants and desires. And it’s the desires that come to haunt them – is it better to keep a secret or, faced with living proof that desire has happened, come clean and face the repercussions? And if you do come clean, is there ever a right time to do it?

It was beautifully written in parts, and reminded me of the novel, Stoner. It had me thinking for several days afterwards about the consequences of reckless acts and repressed feelings, which has to be a good thing in a novel.

I enjoyed the first and third parts but struggled with the middle, hence I’m giving it three stars.

Love, Mom by Iliana Xander ***

First published October 2024.

When Kenzie receives letters from her (dead) mother, who was a bestselling novelist, she unravels a network of lies, secrets and tragedy.

She never got on with her late mother but finds herself sucked in and intrigued by the mystery, which she sets out to resolve with her friend.

Set in small town USA, this was an interesting, undemanding yet gripping novel, full of twists and turns and good and bad characters and an unexpected direction and a climactic ending.

It was a clever story and great plot, which would work well as a film or TV series. However, as a reader I wanted to know more – there were characters and parts of the story I felt were underdeveloped. It felt like a YA novel (maybe it was) and lacked a bit of depth.

For this reason I’m giving it three stars.

The Lucky Winners by K L Slater ***

Publication expected August 2025

Down on their luck and struggling to pay the rent, Dev buys his wife, Merri, a ticket for a prize draw to win a luxury house in the Lake District. Merri is a glass half-empty sort of person because of something terrible that happened years ago. She’s cross with Dev, a glass half-full kind of person, for spending £20 on the ticket. They end up winning first prize and move to this grand show home overlooking Lake Windemere. But Merri can’t shake off the ghosts of her past and locals seem to be lining up against them.

This is a light thriller, with a dual timeline to help make sense of Merri’s seeming paranoia. It’s tautly written, would work well as TV drama but wasn’t as suspenseful or thrilling as I’d hoped, although the ‘winning a luxury house’ aspect was very topical.

June book reviews

With thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for advance review copies of these novels in exchange for an honest review.

We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter *****

Published 19 June 2025.

Well, this was one of those crime thrillers I could not put down. I sat for hours to finish it, while other things went on around me, because it was so compelling.

In small town America on the night of the fourth of July, policewoman Emmy is so wrapped up in her own domestic issues that she brushes off an approach by her best friend’s moody teenage daughter, Madison. This split second decision comes to haunt her when Madison is abducted. Thus begins a race against time to find the missing teenager and her friend.

Throw into the mix Emmy’s beloved father as the sheriff, some shady men hiding in plain sight and a visit to the town by a woman who had long since abandoned the community, only to become a top profiler for the FBI, then you have a recipe for success.

I won’t go into the plot for fear of spoilers but, believe me, if you like a fast-paced crime thriller, with plenty of layers, then this is it.

A brilliant read but not for the faint hearted.

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronika Dapunt ***

Published 10 April 2025.

When Death decides to take a break, she becomes a human on earth, and becomes involved in trying to solve the mystery around a number of Unplanned Deaths and, ultimately, locked in a battle to save her sister, Life.

A very clever premise and concept and written with warmth and humour. An unusual novel – adventure, fantasy, comedy and a splash of romance – in the vein of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens. It is most enjoyable and would make an incredible serial. It reminded me of Time Bandits, the film by Terry Gilliam, and I kept visualising the Boss as Ralph Richardson playing the Supreme Being.

It was well written, and pacy, but I became rather confused and/or ‘so what?’ around halfway in. Still, a poignant finish and the novel raised some fundamental, existential questions.

The Rest of our Lives by Ben Markovits ***

Published 27 March 2025.

This was beautifully written, a road trip of sorts by a middle-aged man at a crossroads in his life after his daughter goes to university. Does he go back home, to the wife who betrayed him years ago and with whom he’s stayed married, or does he just keep driving? It’s no spoiler alert to say he keeps on driving – but does he make the best of things with his wife?

The writing style was like someone speaking to a friend, telling them a story, and was very readable and relateable.

Things happen on the trip, as he meets family and friends along the way.
The ending was inconclusive for me, and I felt a bit frustrated and cheated by it, so am giving it three stars.

May book reviews

I’m a reviewer for NetGalley, which means I get to read books before they are published, in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve had some great ones (and not so great ones) lately. My happy genres are crime thrillers, literary fiction, coming-of-age novels (particularly those set in small communities) and heartwarming fiction.

My reviews are posted to Goodreads.

Here’s three stonkingly good books I read earlier.

By Your Side by Ruth Jones *****

Published 22 May 2025.

Linda Standish has worked for her local council in Inverness for years and is in the little-known lost heirs department. Her job is to find out what she can about the deceased and track down their relatives, tying up loose ends and bringing things together in a tidy fashion.

Linda is now in her mid-fifties and the department is facing a shake-up. In her last ‘case’ before taking redundancy, Linda finds herself on a tiny island, investigating the life of Levi Norman, a hermit of a man no-one knows very much about.

This was my first Ruth Jones novel – I love her screenwriting and also her television roles (especially Nessa in Gavin & Stacey), so was pleased to be sent this book from NetGalley and the publishers.

I was not disappointed.

By Your Side is a lovely, easy read, with lots of humour, heart and warmth, and holds its head higher above its women’s commercial fiction competitors by really getting to the kernel of characters and taking the reader with them, laughing with them, crying with them, and wanting to find out what happens.

The dual narrative between Linda in the present and Levi and his family in the past works very well, with the reader quite comfortable in both time zones. It’s pacy, funny and would make a great Sunday everning television series, with Ruth (obviously) taking the role of Linda.

Highly recommended.

***A Beautiful Family* by Jennifer Trevelyan *******

Expected publication 24 June 2025.

In New Zealand in 1985, 10-year-old Alix and her 15=year-old sister, Vanessa, go on a sun-baked holiday with their mother and father, staying in a bungalow not far from the beach and a brackish lagoon.

When Alix meets a boy, Kahu, about her own age, they set out to solve the mystery of a young girl who disappeared two years earlier. At the same time. Vanessa meets a dubious friend, Crystal, who she knows from school.

Set over a few weeks of Antipodean summer, this debut novel is a coming-of-age story meets suspenseful thriller, the first part more the former and the second part more the latter.

This beautiful family on the surface is one that is full of secrets and domestic dissatisfaction, as the reader soon establishes through Alix’s narration. Jennifer Trevelyan captures beautifully the child’s confusion and sense of bewilderment at not just what is happening but at life in general. There are so many things that Alix does not understand or appreciate their significance.

A Beautiful Family is an extraordinary novel, written in the first person, past tense from Alix’s viewpoint, and with a linear narrative. This makes a refreshing change from so many modern novels featuring multiple narrators, flashbacks and the present tense.

Alix is an unlikely heroine but smart, funny and endearing. I found the novel completely absoring and could not put it down.

The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North *****

Published 13 May 2025.

Daniel Garvie was just a child when he saw a little boy at a service station with a terrifying stranger who turns out to be a serial killer known as The Pied Piper. The encounter has always haunted Dan, who is now a criminal psychiatrist working with imprisoned murderers.

When he receives the news that his father has apparently committed suicide, he goes back to the island where he was brought up. He finds himself caught in a race against time in pursuit of the truth.

The Man Made of Smoke is an incredible, horrible thriller. I had me on the edge of my seat with filmic moments that made me shudder.

Weaving the story through multiple viewpoints, Alex North pulls off a masterpiece in the crime/horror/thriller genre.

Pacy, insightful, frightening, atmospheric, very well written and a great denouement I did not anticipate.

I have no hesitation in giving five stars to The Man Made of Smoke. A terrific read if you like this sort of thing – which I do.