Water Witches - Chris Bohjalian

Why is this prolific US author not better known in the UK?

Another unusual book. Dowsers meet corporation meet lawyers.

The main character is a male lawyer working for a ski corporation and married to a dowser.

With a drought in the area and the corporation wishing to divert water from the local river to produce snow he is in the unenviable position of defending himself at home and at work.

The book revolves around the tug of love between earning the money and believing in his family.

But where does his heart lie?

Great elements of eco arguments and social arguments make up another good read from Bohjalian.

Publisher - Touchstone

Out of the Easy - Ruta Sepetys

Born to a prostitute mother and named after a famous madam Josie doesn't have a great start in life.

What she does have, however, is the love of all the people around her in this beautifully described deep south book. We're plonked in the time of speakeasy attitudes and local enforcement people who are definitely not the police.

Living her life between a bookshop and a brothel Josie has a fair number of incidents to deal with and a determination to better her life.

Excellent, atmospheric read.

Sepetys' other book is based in World War 2 and if it's as realistic as this one I can't read it, it would be too upsetting. I will have to wait for book three.

Great choice of author, Penguin

Publisher - Penguin

Weirdo - Cathi Unsworth

Based on the east coast of England this one appealed because it's relatively local to me.

A cold case is re-opened and an inspector assigned to research the case after advances in DNA forensics shows different possibilities for guilty persons.

It's a closed community where most people know eachother and a lot have never left the town. Still a secret has been kept for many years.

Mixing in school years and current time with visits to a secure unit this is a convoluted book that doesn't seem to hit the mark a lot of the time. It's a shame because the premise is good but it's not for me.

Publisher - Serpent's Tail

The Low Road - Chris Womersely

When a petty thief is hiding out in a nasty motel and an on the run disgraced doctor checks in a few doors

down things can only get interesting.

After they are introduced by the motel manageress neither are keen on staying in touch.

Telling the back story of both characters as well as current day interaction the book leads us steadily through their lives.

This author has a knack of taking a simple sentence and packing a hefty punch. There's sadness and brutality in the story and you're torn between sympathy and disgust.

Well worth a read, only two books from Womersley so far but another promised this year. On my wishlist.

Publisher - Silver Oak

The Flight - M R Hall

This one came as part of a book club from Goldsboro books. It's not one I would usually choose because I

find M R Hall incredibly hard going for not a lot of story. And this one was no exception. In addition to the usual struggle the book also places a fair amount of dependence on knowledge of flying - the mechanics of it, not the getting on a plane bit. I know nothing about flying. Even after reading the book I know nothing about flying.
There's a plane accident, a body and a mystery with a bit of political subterfuge. All of these should add up to thriller.
For me it missed the mark.

Publisher - Mantle

Human Remains - Elizabeth Haynes

Following a launch party at which the masses descended I brought home the latest from Elizabeth Haynes.

This is one author where the question "Did you base the character on yourself?" should really not be asked. She has a knack for the strange minds of people.
The novel starts with a crime analyst wondering why so many people are being found dead in their houses.
We get to know the person 'responsible' for the deaths and follow him around as he befriends individuals. Alongside that story are the death reports of various people found in their homes.
The challenge is to relate the death reports to the peope you've been reading about and that the main player has been cultivating.
As it progresses the crime analyst herself becomes the sort of depressed person he may be interested in - but is he?
Oddly since reading this I've also read Lost at Sea by Jon Ronson and there's a short chapter there of a criminal who is very similar. And a quite famous crime author has brought out a similar book.
Elizabeth however is still true to her roots and has yet to get to churning out pop culture crime books so hers are more raw.
Well worth a read.

Publisher - Myriad

Master Georgie - Beryl Bainbridge

My first Beryl Bainbridge. I'd always thought she was more Catherine Cookson but this cover appealed with

it's painting of the Crimea.
Although Master Georgie is the central character this is more from the perpective of people around him. Movng from home to the Crimea and cross country on arrival it does describe the situation well alongside the reactions of people landed there. From upstanding English gentlewomen to accepting of alternate lifestyles when under pressure to conform to survive we get to see how a romantic notion of war is quickly dispelled.
Whilst some of the writing seems to jump around even within one person's narrative this is still a good introduction to Bainbridge.

Publisher - Abacus