Gabriel's Moon

 by William Boyd

A really enjoyable spy caper set in the early 1960's. The characters are brilliantly drawn, although with an annoying habit of always telling us what they are wearing. Le Carre it is not but a page turner it most definitely is 7/10

Seascraper

 by Benjamin Wood

The story of Thomas, set in the late fifties in a Northern coastal town, where he plies a thankless trade scraping shellfish with a horse and cart and nets at low tide. His life is interrupted by a film director wanting to employ him. The story plays out over a few days but has implications for longer. It is a short novel but beautifully told. Should have made the shortlist but did not 9/10

Flashlight

 by Susan Choi

A story told from the perspectives of four main characters over a period of several decades from the end of the twentieth century to the present. Louisa is found nearly drowned on a beach near her house. Her father, who left the house with her is missing presumed drowned although his body is never found. Her mother is suffering from MS although at this point it has not been fully diagnosed. The story of their lives unfolds over time and through Japan and Korea and America. It is beautifully told and after a slow start it's pace picks up toward a poignant ending 9/10

The Mistress of Paris

 by Catherine Hewitt

The rags to riches story of a nineteenth century courtesan. The story was really interesting, Comtesse Valtesse de la Bigne as she ended up calling herself moved in the highest circles of society and became one of the richest people in Paris. She was clearly single minded and ruthless in the operation of her profession. I did at times feel the author was a frustrated fiction writer but that aside had clearly done a lot of research. 7/10

Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses

 by Georges Simenon

Maigret is thinking about impending retirement and getting grumpy. He has to deal with a young new prosecutor who he does not take to and in the middle of this he has to deal with a murder in a house where nobody wants to talk about what happened. Enjoyable for the grumpy Maigret on show. 8/10

Endling

 by Maria Reva

A wacky read that I enjoyed immensely. It is set in Ukraine just at the time the Russian invasion is starting in 2022. It involves an endangered snail called Lefty and some young women involved in the mail order bride industry together with some of the would be Western husbands. It does get a little complicated. It made me laugh, it made me sad, it made me question and wonder. It has the most ambivalent of endings. What more do you want from a novel. I hope it makes the Booker shortlist but it may be a bit too off piste for this. 9/10

Universality

 by Natasha Brown

A disappointing read. It started with a great  plot: a man attacked with a gold bar while squatting in an old farmhouse. He turns out to be the leader of an anti-capitalist group and the assailant is not only a member of the group but also the son of a journalist who is/was sleeping with the owner of the gold bar.

A great start but it all rather fizzled out by the end and seemed more of a surrender to the sorry state we are in than anything else. Perhaps even our writers are getting worn down by our current plight 6/10

One Boat

 by Jonathan Buckley

Set almost entirely at a Greek seaside village/town a British women returns to the same place nine years after her last visit when she came to deal with loss of a parent (death) and a husband(divorce). This time she is dealing with loss again.

The story jumps between the two times and the people she met and interacted with on the first visit. They have moved on, she may not have but she has to deal with the changes. It was a very enjoyable read with the story lapping around you like the ocean. My only regret was the ending and her return to the UK where she discusses with her new partner the plan to turn her notes into a book. It didn't see needed to me but a minor quibble. 8/10

Misinterpretation

 by Ledia Xhoga

An Albanian translator/interpreter living in New York runs into problems when working for a Kosovar who has traumas he is trying to work through. She is forced to face some things in her own life as her lack of appropriate boundaries gets her mixed up in some threatening situations. This was a slow moving book at the start but gathered pace and engaged me more and more as it progressed. I liked it 8/10

The Rest of Our Lives

 by Ben Markovits

A road trip of sorts set in America. Tom's daughter is heading off to college and he and his wife have been not getting along since she had an affair of sorts six years previously. This could be the time for a break so after dropping off his daughter he keeps driving West and reflecting on his life, 

I found a lot of the basketball and education references difficult, but they probably are fine if you understand American culture. It didn't quite work for me although I did recognise and enjoy some of the references to getting older and the life unfulfilled. 6/10

Flesh

 by David Szalay

The story of a man who starts life with little in a flat in Hungary and ends life with little in a flat in Hungary. A lot happens in between as we move from Hungary to Iraq and to London, and up and down society. As a consequence the story pulls you along as we get close to the central character but never really know him. His mother features at various times through the story but I found her a bit unbelievable.  An interesting read 7/10

Maigret's Doubts

 by Georges Simenon

Very enjoyable, bordering on Simenon's psychological side this story starts with a man coming to tell Maigret that he is going to be killed by his wife. Not long after the wife arrives and Maigret spends the rest of the book trying to unravel what and who he is dealing with. 9/10

Maigret Travels

By Georges Simenon 

A great case where Maigret moves in the world of the super rich following clues around France and Europe after a wealthy English man is found dead in his hotel bath. 8/10

The Silence and the Rage

By Pierre Lemaitre

The second in the glorious years trilogy following the fortunes of the Pelletier family. We are in the 1950's and all surviving children are in Paris and surviving but definitely not thriving! Various stories unwind but for Lemaitre the story ends in a quite upbeat fashion. I fear for these characters in vol three lol.

The author lists a number of influences in his acknowledgements but does not include Zola or Dickens. I think maybe he should. 8/10

Love Marriage

 by Monica Ali

I was not sure I would like this book but from the start I was hooked. Mina who starts the book as a typical newly qualified doctor, engaged to another doctor and full of confidence learns that everything is not always what it seems as she learns some truths about herself, her parents and her boyfriend. The characters are brilliantly drawn including her old friend/patient on the ward and the very funny handyman/janitor. It's a long book but it was a joy to read. 9/10

Long Island

 by Colm Toibin

The follow on to Brooklyn and we have moved on 20 years to the 70's and Eilis is living in Long Island with her Italian husband and two teenage children.

Tony has had an affair that has resulted in a child that the woman's husband has made clear will be dumped on Tony once born. Eilis is not happy and decides to go back to Ireland for the first time in 20 years to see her mother and try and sort out her future. We meet many of the old characters and catch up with what has happened in the town over the past two decades-not much as it turns out.

I enjoyed this story, probably more than Brooklyn but it leaves so many questions hanging at the end. I am not sure this is to facilitate a sequel-but it could be- as much as to leave the future in the readers minds to disentangle-or not! 8/10

Enter a Murderer

 by Ngaio Marsh

The second of the Inspector Alleyn novels and not as good as the first one imo.
A nasty actor is shot dead during a play that Alleyn is watching with Nigel Bathgate when somebody swaps dud bullets for the real thing. A number of people have good motives to want the victim dead and Alleyn sets about unpicking the case. I will probably give him another try but for the moment it is back to Maigret for my crime. 

Supporting Act

 by Agnes Lidbeck

A novel about parenthood, relationship strain, a difficult affair and death all in a short novel and all a bit much for me. 

It maybe that I am getting too old for the angst of younger writers but I did find this book piling on the agany a bit too much. The writing style and translation I enjoyed. The subject matter, not so much 5/10

Growth, A Reckoning

 by Daniel Susskind

The author sets out to explore a number of questions such as what is economic growth, what is good about it and what is bad about it and finally, how should we approach growth going forward.

The first parts of the book are uncontroversial and interesting. However, he makes it clear that in his opinion we have to continue to pursue growth. He is rather quick to dump the arguments of those who struggle to see how growth can continue and I found his arguments for how it might a little fanciful.

He tackles the problem of the trade-offs necessary between growth and desirable outcomes  really well and this I found the most thought provoking part of the book. The answers he offers didn't work for me but I don't have anything more plausible to offer so you have to applaud this attempt and if it gets more of us thinking about this issue then bravo DS. 8/10

A Man Lay Dead

 by Ngaio Marsh

Enter Inspector Alleyn who has to solve the murder of a man at a house party where they are playing a murder game. Of course many people have a motive but our man finds his way to the truth. Vintage english crime from the 1930's. Good fun. 7/10