Eileen –  Ottessa Moshfegh – Audible Book Review by Pat V. Early on in this book the narrator, Eileen, reminiscing about a couple of weeks during the 1960s, she tells us that […]

Ghost Stories by E. F. Benson – Audio Book Review by Pat V. Read by Mark Gatiss There’s nothing sinister about a London bus. Nothing supernatural could occur on a busy train […]

Holding – Graham Norton – Audio Book Review by Pat V. Set in a small town in West Cork like the one its author grew up in, Graham Norton’s début novel is […]

Deception – A Collection of Stories by Roald Dahl – Review by Pat V. A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men. – Roald Dahl To celebrate the […]

Conclave – Robert Harris – Audible Book Review by Pat V. The Catholic Church portrays the election of a new pope as a spiritual, almost mystical, experience where cardinals from all over […]

Nutshell – Ian McEwan – Audible Book Review by Pat V. “I am not yet born; O hear me. Let not the bloodsucking bat or the rat or the stoat or the […]

In Their Own Words – The National Archives – Review by Pat V. Written communication has changed completely in the last thirty years. With Facebook, emails, texts, and tweets, how many of […]

The Ministry of Strange, Unusual and Impossible Things By Paul Gamble – Book Review by Emily Elphinstone It is one thing to suspect that some of the conspiracy theories you hear might […]

Blackout – Ragnar Jonasson – Audible Book Review by Pat V. Iceland seems to be flavour of the month with the extraordinary success of its football team in the Euros, the hugely […]

The Empathy Problem – Gavin Extence – Audible Book Review In an impressive article for The Guardian newspaper of 4th March 2015 (available here), Gavin Extence spoke of the diagnosis a few […]

Death and the Seaside – Alison Moore – Audible Book Review by Pat V. From its title, Death and the Seaside, you would be forgiven for thinking that Alison Moore’s latest novel […]

I See You – Clare Mackintosh – Audible Book Review by Pat V. In recent years there has been a renaissance of intriguing psychological crime novels by women authors, the most notable, […]

So Say The Fallen – Stuart Neville – Audible Book Review by Pat V. Post-Troubles Northern Ireland has given birth to a number of hugely talented crime writers, the most notable being […]

It Can’t Happen Here – Sinclair Lewis – Audible Book Review by Pat V. A brash demagogue, promising economic and social reform while promoting a return to patriotism and a curb on […]

Black Water Lilies – Michel Bussi – Audible Book Review by Pat V. Michel Bussi may not be a household name in the English-speaking world yet but ever since the publication of […]

The Best Medicine by Christine Hamill – Book Review by Emily Elphinstone It’s often said that ‘laughter is the best medicine’, but few feel so much pressure to prove this theory as […]

Paradise Lodge – Nina Stibbe – Audible Book Review by Pat V. Unlike many audiobooks, once you have listened to ten minutes of “Paradise Lodge”, Nina Stibbe’s latest novel, it is hard […]

The Gustav Sonata – Rose Tremain – Audible Book Review by Pat V. Rose Tremain’s latest novel, starting in the 1940s in Switzerland and covering almost 60 years, follows the life of […]

The Pier Falls – Mark Haddon – Audible Book Review The opening lines of The Pier Falls, the title piece in this début collection of short stories by Mark Haddon, describing a […]

A Country Road, A Tree – Jo Baker – Audible Book Review by Pat V. The title of Jo Baker’s novel recalls the opening stage directions of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot […]

Reader, I Married Him – Audible Book Review by Pat V. Edited by Tracy Chevalier “Reader, I married him” at the conclusion of Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre, must rank among the […]

Hitman Anders and the Meaning of it All – Jonas Jonasson – Book Review by Pat V. If you have read either of Jonasson’s other two novels, The Girl who saved the […]

The Little Red Chairs – Edna O’Brien – Review by Pat V. A book that begins with a middle-aged man from the Balkans arriving in a small, rural Irish town and setting […]

No Heroes by Anna Seidl, translated by Siobhan Parkinson. Book Review by Emily Elphinstone It’s not often that openly weeping by chapter three can be classed as an entirely good thing; but […]

Quicksand – Henning Mankell – Audible Book Review by Pat V. In 2011 Henning Mankell’s last novel featuring Inspector Kurt Wallander  “The Troubled Man” was published in English. It is much darker […]

Despite the Falling Snow – Shamim Sarif – Book Review by Patrick V. John Blake Publishing has issued a new edition of Shamim Sarif’s 2004 novel, Despite the Falling Snow, prior to […]

Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty – Audible Book Review by Pat V. Rain Dogs is McKinty’s 5th novel featuring Sean Duffy, a Catholic D.I. working with the RUC in Carrickfergus in the […]