Special early Black Friday book offers
I’m off to the Brechin & Angus Book Festival next week and to honour the occasion, I’ve persuaded my publishers to give you two early Black Friday book offers. If you’re near Brechin next weekend…
Search Results for: reviews
Please do not ask for mercy… – review
… AS A REFUSAL OFTEN OFFENDS BY PAUL BASSETT DAVIES If this review is late, blame the book. I received it two years ago and read it straight through. But every time I picked it…
Putting on the squeeze. Review: Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen
What’s a poor author to do? You write a comic novel that satirises the orange blob in the White House and no sooner is it in print than he’s gone. Carl Hiaasen is one of…
Why I love writing thrillers
My twice award-nominated noir thriller The Breaking of Liam Glass officially comes out in its second edition today. And I’m delighted to announce the winner of this week’s competition for a signed hardback souvenir edition…
Win a personally signed hardback copy of The Breaking of Liam Glass
To celebrate the launch of the second edition of my 5* darkly humorous thriller The Breaking of Liam Glass, I’m delighted to give away one of the very first hardback copies, which I’ll sign to…
Fight club: Review of Lionel Shriver’s The Motion of the Body Through Space
Bestselling author Lionel Shriver is not one to run away from a fight. In her latest novel, she runs full tilt towards it, in just about every sense of the word. This week, I’m looking…
Breaking bad? Review of Graham Greene’s Travels with My Aunt
I’m very into re-reading at the moment (if you’re interested there’s a great article on the subject by novelist Richard Bradbury) but this week’s review is of a book I re-read by accident. To be…
Will you be gripped by The Singapore Grip? Review
As disaster looms, the incompetents in charge can offer only complacency, arrogance and grandiosity. Sounds familiar? But this isn’t Covid-19, it’s Singapore in the Second World War. Based on an acclaimed satirical novel, the glossy…
Room 15 out today
It’s here. Publication day for Room 15 – psychological mystery thriller. And to celebrate the day Bloodhound Books have reduced the ebook price for a very short time to 99p/99c. Already the novel is rising…
Room 15 launch events
At last, it’s preorder day and I can share the cover of my new psychological mystery thriller Room 15 with the world, along with the events planned for publication day. Room 15 launch events Publication…
Spies like us – review of Kate Atkinson’s Transcription
Fiction writers are liars by trade and spy novelists are the biggest liars of all. Their entire genre is based on deception and betrayal of trust. And I don’t just mean the characters. As with…
John le Carré’s new novel Agent Running in the Field – review
There’s something about books written by masters of their craft towards the end of their careers. It’s a kind of poise, an ease, that you can see in (say) Philip Roth’s late books. (Which isn’t…
Dark night of the soul? Review of Louise Doughty’s Platform Seven
I like dark stories. I have no problem with light stories, either, but there’s something about a novel or a film that is unafraid of the night, literal or metaphorical. Louise Doughty is one of…
Review: Joe Country by Mick Herron
Publishers, agents and readers love a running series. Like a fast food outlet a good series promises a regular supply of what you love. A McNovel. Mick Herron hit a rich vein of dark spy…
Finnish humour. Review of Palm Beach Finland by Antti Tuomainen
Last year, I sat with the Finnish novelist Antti Tuomainen on a panel for the literary festival Newcastle Noir. Tuomainen is a massive name in his home country and is enormously funny to listen to,…
The roller-coaster ride of publishing a novel
It’s not often that a writer gets to blow his own trumpet, but it’s the second anniversary of the publication of The Breaking of Liam Glass and much to celebrate and be grateful for. My…
Paris by noir – Review: Clementina by Simon Cann
Last week I wrote about honesty in writing – how it is the difference that makes the difference. No amount of clever plotting or literary fireworks will make up for a lack of truth. Today…
7 steps that make a satisfying ending
In 2000 the movie What Lies Beneath opened to mixed reviews. Despite a strong opening, cast (Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer) and director (Robert Zemeckis), reviewers talked of its “decomposing script” and said it “ran off…