"Red Team Blues" (Martin Hench #1) by Cory Doctorow

Red Team Blues is a plot-driven detective story told in Cory Doctorow’s distinctive style of high tech internet sub-culture.

The main character of Marty Hench is engaging, and the plot clips along at a good pace, with a good supporting cast of characters. I genuinely wanted to know how everything turned out, and cared about the fate of Hench and his friends.

Doctorow manages to keep the writing accessible and engaging, while also talking about some quite complex technology (in this case cryptocurrency and blockchain). This is done in a way that effectively illustrates how immersed the characters are in this high tech world, without spoon feeding the reader with explanations and exposition that might get in the way of that momentum of the plot - there is just enough explanation to support the narrative and the important aspects of the plot.

While the plot does carry you along, I couldn’t help feeling there was a lack of depth in both the main arc of the plot, and some of the characters. For me, many of the supporting characters were a little too similar, and their personalities not explored or differentiated enough. This didn’t spoil what was a fun and engaging read, but did prevent me from giving a higher rating.

Thank you #NetGalley and Head of Zeus for the free review copy of #RedTeamBlues in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

My rating: ★★★☆☆

NetGalley Review

"A Man Called Ove" by Fredrik Backman

A Man Called Ove is about loss and powerlessness. It is told through the eyes of a man who has the characteristics of an outsider, but is also at the heart of a small closely knit community revolving around the street where he lives.

Ove is superficially not a likeable man - and this makes it difficult to initially engage with him as a character. Some of the early chapters came across as a caricature of a grumpy old man - although this was probably the point (I was reminded of the children’s book character Mr Gum).

But soon the experiences and situations that have shaped his life, and how those mesh with his uniquely precise and determined personality, start to add colour and sympathy, and I slowly came to care more deeply about Ove throughout the story.

One of the messages of the book seems to be that we may all know someone who appears grumpy and intransigent, but that looking beneath the surface might reveal someone with love and integrity. And this was well achieved.

I’m not sure that I fully understood the love that Ove’s wife undoubtedly had for him. Nor did I find the cat especially believable. But these are minor points, and didn’t undermine my enjoyment of what was a very warm and engaging read.

My rating: ★★★★☆

"Bibliomaniac: An Obsessive's Tour Of The Bookshops Of Britain" by Robin Ince

An amiable book about an amiable book tour. It carried me along for the ride nicely, and made me want to see Robin Ince again next time he’s touring.

My rating: ★★★☆☆

"Quite" by Claudia Winkleman

I like Claudia Winkleman, and was hoping for some depth… for I’m sure she has some. And while the chapter on art was passionate, and the chapter on Strictly was heartfelt, the rest (what I managed to read) felt shallow and lazy, and with disappointingly little insight.

I really must break my habit of hoping for the best with celebrity autobiographies and the like.

My rating: ★☆☆☆☆

"Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus

I loved this book, but I had a little trouble tuning into it for the first 80 pages or so. The writing style is generally light hearted, even whimsical in places, but there are many dark moments, and some quite serious themes.

The author does a marvellous job of bringing us along for the ride, as Elizabeth navigates her love and expertise in science around a male dominated world. Elizabeth herself is difficult to relate to, and her emotional life isn’t very well explored (or portrayed) in the book, but she is surrounded by characters that reflect her character in their own emotional reactions - from Harriet Sloane to the wonderfully drawn Six-Thirty.

I genuinely found myself fist-pumping for her successes and crying for her failures.

The reveal/wrap-up at the end feels hurried, but I can forgive that in what was otherwise an enjoyable page-turner.

My rating: ★★★★★

"This Much is True" by Miriam Margolyes

I always start celebrity autobiographies with such hope. And Miriam Margolyes appears to be such an interesting and quirky character when you see her in TV and film that I was looking forward to finding out about her life. And while the course she has taken through life does have its interesting turns and diversions, this is ultimately a list of achievements and anecdotes from someone who is relatively privileged. And while there is nothing wrong with that, it doesn’t make for an especially engaging read.

My rating: ★★★☆☆

"The Cat Who Saved Books" by Sōsuke Natsukawa

I have several issues with this book that prevented me from fully enjoying it, and I don’t know whether to put them down to the translation. I found the style slightly jarring in places - occasionally skipping between somewhat formal language and then something incongruously idiomatic. I also found the anti-book-lover in each episode to be quite clumsily drawn, and the conversations that convinced them of their wrongdoing to be shallow. As I say, it’s not clear whether this is a problem with the original or with the translation, but for me it missed the mark.

My rating: ★★★☆☆