Fiona Barton

Fiona Barton takes us on a quick trip away to have fun before we get our A Levels and start Uni, a chance to kick back, see and do and experience a little culture, maybe see a temple and enjoy a Tuk Tuk ride or two...

What happens is a breath taking and mind numbing exploration of all the emotions you'd ever get in a life thrown together in a frenetic period of just 3 weeks.

A lot of us will have been on these trips, some for the reasons we think, culture, others for the escapism of another sort, hedonism and trying other exotic intoxicants. The 2 young girls we meet are soon sucked up into a maelstrom of madness, one trying to get out and about, the other seemingly happy to stay in and play with whatever comes her way.

We soon meet the press and it's actually really refreshing to have a crime novel written from a different perspective, we still have the police, seeing them working alongside the press even behind them is a totally clever device, I loved it.

We get the family stories told alongside the action, in fact the complexity of narration is superb, you are sucked into so many heads and feelings it's quite exhilarating and at times disturbing, as we the reader know things the characters don't, that's cleverly done.

I try and not do spoilers, so I try and just add a feel for the books I have read, partly as many won't have read them yet and also we do events with the authors, we want you to come and meet them and buy a copy!

Fiona and Lesley Kara are in Bolton on Tuesday 22nd Jan 1 pm at the wonderful Central Library, just Eventbrite  search Bolton and Library
and come.
 I'm reading Lesley's book now and will review over the weekend.

Fiona really does make this all too easy to believe as real, an art form of description and detail we can see or not as the case may be, a sort of updated Christie with more grime and time travel thrown in basically. The ability to make us tired as we cross International Time Zones is always a good thing in modern books, something the classics really couldn't do.

The fluidity of the narration taking us forwards and backwards between so many interested and interesting parties is wonderful, the art of not swearing a lot or using too frank a description and yet piling on the atmosphere is excellent.

You DO know what is happening, but you don't have to take it all in to get the feel of things, this I like, I've read and enjoyed plenty of grisly, gruesome books, this works as well, but in a way better it's got a style and substance and you really get it.

The ability to be reading and then perceiving what you'd do or think is always the key ingredient in a good book. Fiona does it with aplomb, a real treat of a read even with the heavy moral and morals involved.

If you want a clever fast paced update on the likes of Christie, with everything there, but just whether you see it, then this book is a must read, I will certainly look forward to meeting Fi and reading her others.

We can take orders for merely £10 on this one and her backlist at £6 with free delivery, just ask and say any names as required. Same for Lesley Kara's new one....