The Secret Place by Tana French

"The Secret Place" is a murder mystery. It sees the murder of a 16-year-old boy, Chris Harper, who is found in the grounds of "St Kilda's, girl's school, secondary, private, leafy, suburb. Nuns." 

The murder has gone unsolved for a year. Enter Detective Stephen Moran. He works in Cold Cases, "a dingy dead end". He wants his chance at bigger things and gets it when a St Kilda's girl brings him something new to the case. Holly brings him a card similar to that on the book cover, one that says "I know who killed him" together with a new picture of Chris Harper on it. The card was found in the secret place, the name of a pin-board in the school where girls can privately share their secrets in a safe way to get them off of their chest, although the secret place could also be referring to an enclosed place where four of the girls, who are amongst the main suspects, hang out together in the school grounds, the very same site where the murder took place.

The card sparks Detective Moran into action. He teams up with the lead on the original case, Detective Antoinette Conway, a no-nonsense, tough-nosed murder detective without a partner and without a successful solve to her name. She needs this as much as him.

Thus the case is brought back to life again with the book telling the story through alternate chapters following the real-time events at St Kilda's as they happened in the lead up to the murder and beyond, and the current day investigation interspersed between.

The book is gripping and the case gets solved, albeit with a slight supernatural element being conveniently introduced to help it along. Thoroughly enjoyable read.

(I got this book through a Goodreads First Read competition. This review is my honest opinion of the book.)

Publication date: 28th August 2014

Amazon UK link: The Secret Place

American Savage by Matt Whyman

"American Savage" is about cannibalism, which is quite a macabre subject, hence it may not be to everyone's tastes (literacy tastes, not food). However the author does point out that he wasn't trying to write "a novel driven by horror and gore," rather one about about our relationship with food, e.g. "as a culinary concept, cannibalism was not something Titus expected to break into the mainstream any time soon."

The book follows the Savage family in America. It is the follow-up to "The Savages" which you don't need to have read to get into this one. Also if you have read the original I don't know if by this book the joke is wearing a bit thin.

The book starts slowly. The family are introduced: Titus the father, Angelica the mother, Ivan the 15-year-old son, Katya the 5-year-old daughter, a little nipper in more ways than one, and the vegan lodger Amanda, who makes an exception to her vegan-ism for human meat. 103-year-old granddad Oleg lives just down the road too in a OAP home. They have a family "feast" at the beginning before their separate lives are told episodically throughout until there is a coming together of story-lines at the end. The main strand sees Titus, as head of the family, trying to source the main ingredient for the next feast, and the pressure everyone else is putting on him to do just that. However Titus has scruples and will only take someone who doesn't deserve to live, e.g. a problem tenant.

Other side-orders, for example, follow the family setting up a vegan restaurant whilst getting on the wrong side of a Russian gangster.

Overall then I felt that this book was OK, although it took a while to get going. Given the praise on the back cover "The Savages" is probably the better book.

(I got this book through a Goodreads First Read competition. This review is my honest opinion of the book.)

Publication date: 5 June 2014

Amazon UK link: American Savage

Green Shoes Mean I Love You by Amie Ryan

"Green Shoes Mean I Love You" is a collection of memoirs, essays, short fiction and poetry, as stated on the cover. Therefore it is ideal if you like your reading in bite-size chunks.

The opening memoirs are strong. The opening lines of each separate piece draw you in to want to read the rest straight away, e.g. "In 1979 my father waged war on the Mormons." The memoirs include amusing anecdotes and some moving pieces too.

Then there are the thinking pieces, or essays, covering things such as aspects of Seattle, the author being a Seattleite, and things people of the Generation X (which the author is) would have went through. This includes "The Seattle NO", the author's blog piece that can be found on the web, and which is mentioned in the blurb for this book. The essays on Seattle would be best appreciated by those familiar with America.

The short fiction pieces are next with each having the potential to be expanded into more full stories, so you might feel short-changed by them as you want more, and the collection finishes with some non-rhyming poetry, a couple of poems cleverly being related to each other.

The poem that finishes the book is called "Green Shoes Mean I Love You," and also lends it's name to the book, bringing the big reveal as to why exactly green shoes mean I love you right at the end, just as if the book were a novel.

So all in all a variety of things within the covers, some ok, some good and some excellent.

(I got this book through a Goodreads First Read competition. This review is my honest opinion of the book.)

Publication Date: 31 May 2014 

Amazon UK link: Green Shoes Mean I Love You

David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell's "David and Goliath" is about perceived advantages and disadvantages, and how they may not be all that they seem. The points are brought to life using stories of real-life people.

For example the introduction discusses Goliath the giant and how he was felled by the tiny shepherd boy David. We assume Goliath, because he is big and dressed as a warrior, will win the battle but really the weapons used, plus other things, put him at a disadvantage, as evident from the outcome of the bout.

Then we get into the book proper with a chapter looking at a youth basketball coach doing things unconventionally to great effect despite the fact the team has not the best players.

Other chapters of the book look at:

• whether smaller class sizes are better
• whether being a small fish in a big pond, e.g. a great institution like a top university, is better than being a big fish in a smaller pond
• whether dyslexia is a disadvantage or a desirable difficulty
• how losing a parent at a young age, a traumatic experience, can lead to a different, possibly advantageous outlook in life later
• how when you have nothing to lose you can have unexpected power
• and so on.

All the while this is told through people's real stories, some of which are really touching like the way leukemia used to mean certain death for the kids who had it, but thanks to pioneers is now a treatable cancer.

Overall then this is a readable book that gets you thinking about things differently, although the focus is on the positive attributes rather than the negative, e.g. dyslexia and how one third of entrepreneurs are dyslexic with only a brief mention how kids with dyslexia are more likely to end up in the juvenile system. Also at the end the same idea seems to be presented multiple times. But a good read nonetheless.

Amazon UK link: David and Goliath

Publication date: 8 May 2014

Life Stinks! (Knightmare) by Peter Bently

My 7-year-old daughter read this and rates it 4 out of 5.

She told me the basic story which sees Sir Percy going into a fight with Sir Roland the Rotten. She showed me the drawings of the main characters at the beginning of the book, both those on the good side and those on the bad side. She told me about the journey through the woods to Sir Roland's and how a final fight takes place in front of the king and queen despite the good guy not being able to see through the armour.

Her favourite bit involved painting a mouse black, although the rain washed it off later.

Overall this was an appropriate read for her with a few black and white drawings along the way too, and a story she enjoyed.

Amazon UK link: Life Stinks!

Publication date: 7 April 2014

Always Managing: My Autobiography by Harry Redknapp

I read the John Crace biography of Harry Redknapp "Harry's Games: Inside the Mind of Harry Redknapp" so thought I'd read this, the autobiography too. Needless to say this is better as it comes straight from the horse's mouth and isn't just someone else's interpretation of the man.

The opening chapter is great. It focuses on Harry's very public 2012 tax evasion trial and shows real vulnerability. A moving chapter indeed.

Other bits of the book allow Redknapp to address other things that have been said about him in the past, e.g. as in the aforementioned John Crace book, like accusations he took bungs, how he likes to hire "yes men" as assistant managers, how he financially crippled Portsmouth and how he is "tactically naive." Harry says, "I know I wouldn't have lasted as long as this in the game if I didn't know how to set up and organise a team, and improve players." You have to agree with Harry.

The book obviously takes you through his career too, right from youth teams Burdett Boys, East London Boys, training with Spurs twice a week around 1960-61, signing for West Ham, "a place where I felt I would get a chance," then Bournemouth, Seattle Sounders, Phoenix Fire before management first with Bobby Moore at Oxford City, then assistant and manager at Bournemouth winning the Associate Members Cup and promotion, "the highest up the league that Bournemouth had ever been," then West Ham winning the Intertoto Cup, Portsmouth winning the Championship, then Southampton and the abuse, back to Portsmouth and winning the FA Cup before Spurs and the Champion's League and his first season at QPR.

There are plenty of anecdotes along the way too on the characters Harry has met. There is Bobby Moore who Harry thinks should have been treated better. "Seeing him struggle confirmed to me that nobody in this game really gives a monkey's about you once you'be served your purpose." And then there are the stories about the players he's managed like Paolo di Canio for example, as well as various relationships with chairmen and other managers.

So overall an enjoyable read about one of the game's most colourful and likeable characters.

Amazon UK link: Always Managing: My Autobiography by Harry Redknapp

Publication date: 22 May 2014

Zebra Crossing by Meg Vandermerwe

Zebra Crossing" is about a Zimbabwean albino girl, 17, called Chipo, making her way across the border to a new life in South Africa with her older brother George (hence the title with it's black and white zebra crossing reference).

"In South Africa there are plenty of jobs. We won't have to crawl on our hands and knees to earn a pittance," says George.

But South Africa is not quite the promised land they were hoping for, even with the World Cup seven months away. "Certain nationalities, certain jobs." You need to start from the bottom.

Then the trouble starts. "Just you wait. When the World Cup is finished we will drive all you foreigners out! If you stay, you will burn!"

So there is a deadline, July 11, to make as much money as possible before fleeing.

This is when Doctor Ongani - an enterprising witchdoctor/conman - gets involved. With his "real live albino" he can give you "special extra powerful muti to improve your luck," even when it comes to gambling on the World Cup.

Money is good but the consequences are disastrous leading to the unexpected ending.

Overall a well-written story that really puts you into the lives of immigrants starting from the bottom in South Africa. If you like this book also try "Now is the Time for Running" which is about two Zimbabwean brothers, one disabled, making a similar journey to South Africa with the theme of football also running through it.

Amazon UK link: Zebra Crossing

Publication date: 6 Mar 2014