Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
BOOK OF THE WEEK with Linda Jennings. Cop Town (Karin Slaughter), ISBN 9781780890012 (Random House) BD6.800 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members
I reviewed a Karin Slaughter novel a while ago – no apologies for proposing another to you now as she is, quite simply, my favourite crime author!
This is a stand-alone title, not from the Will Trent series, so you can pick it up and get straight into a fantastic tale of murder and suspense. If you like reading Michael Connolly or Lee Child you really should give this one a try.
The setting is Atlanta, 1974; a period when men don’t like women playing the part of fellow cop and the force remains largely racially divided despite the supposed end of segregation.
Life is anything but easy in the male-dominated world of the Atlanta Police Department, where even the other female cops have little mercy for new girl Kate Murphy as a brutal killing and a furious manhunt rock the city.
Kate isn’t the only person on the force who is finding things tough. The new Chief of Police is black and the other main female character, Maggie Lawson, only followed her uncle and brother into the ranks to prove her worth in their cynical eyes.
In a way this book is as much about racial and socio-economic tensions and gender discrimination of the time, as it is about chasing a serial killer but that’s what makes it such a brilliant read and much more than a thriller.
As always, Slaughter is a master at building characters and tension and the relationship between Maggie, who is from an impoverished family of alcoholics with an abusive uncle, and the white collar-bred Kate is a brilliant backdrop to the main plot of a police killer on the loose.
* Read it now in paperback
The Girl With All The Gifts (M.R. Carey) Isbn 9780356500157 (Little Brown)BD4.500 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members
Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointed at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She and her fellow pupils are treated like dangerous animals, shackled to their seats and hosed down with disinfectant every Sunday. To Melanie, this is normal, but the reader realises within the first few pages that something is wrong.
She jokes that she won’t bite. But they don’t laugh. Melanie is a very special girl held in a secure facility in a devastated England at sometime in the future.
Emotionally charged and gripping from beginning to end, The Girl with the Gifts is one of the most powerful and affecting sci-fi thrillers you will read this year. A real page-turner as the plot slowly unwinds and the true horrors reveal themselves, Carey fans will be delighted with this novel and if you haven’t tried his books before, this one has received brilliant reviews. Please note that this book is written for adults so don’t be misled by the title or storyline – it is not suitable for children.
* My favourite read-of-the-week
Salad Love (David Bez) Isbn 9781849494960 (Quadrille Press) BD9.500 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members
David Bez is not a chef but has made such a name for himself that his cookery book Salad Love is currently being serialised in the Daily Mail.
He is a food lover with a limited lunch break; an Italian who cares about what’s on his plate; a designer who knows that you eat with your eyes first.
So for the past three years, he has made himself a salad for lunch every day at work.
Day-after-day, his colleagues have peered over his shoulder to watch him craft yet another beautiful salad by layering a base (vegetables or fruit) with fresh herbs, protein toppings and dressings, to create a perfect salad every time.
