FULLY booked

DAWN ANNANDALE ’ S LATEST ROUND UP OF GOOD READS WILL DELIGHT, INTRIGUE AND SCARE YOU SILLY – DEPENDING ON WHICH YOU CHOOSE. WHAT WE ’ D LIKE TO KNOW IS HOW MANY OF YOU GO THE HARD COPY ROUTE AND HOW MANY OPT FOR A CARRY-AROUND KINDLE VERSION. EMAIL SUSI@ROGOL-GOODKIND.COM

SO WE HAVE A RUNNING TOTAL TO TALK ABOUT

Ragged Edge

By Stuart Barker

Publisher: John Blake

Genre: Sport

One week in June. One small island. 40,000 annual visitors. Raw speed. Numerous annual deaths. The Isle of Man TT motorcycle road race. Five minutes to go. The claxon sounds, harsh as an air raid siren. Television crews attempt last-minute interviews with riders.

Four minutes to go. The grandstand is packed. Some racers tell their mechanics: “I’ll see you later for a pint” – just to make themselves believe they will. Three minutes to go. For the first man on the road, hidden dangers exist. He will have no-one to follow. And he is the hare that the greyhounds will be chasing.

Two minutes to go. By the end of the first lap, riders will be howling past faster than a bullet from the barrel of a gun. A full 160pmh. And that’s not even the fastest part of the course. One minute to go. The atmosphere is palpably tense. It’s like no other sporting event on earth. Formula 1 drivers can crash spectacularly and just walk away. Everyone knows that’s not the case here.

Five seconds. The starter raises the chequered flag. No more time for nerves, for doubts. The TT has begun.

Stuart Barker has written the definitive story of this event. The history, the heroes, tragedies and legends. This is the unvarnished, raw truth behind the world’s most dangerous sporting event – in the words of those who ride it.

Bad Cree

By Jessica Johns

Publisher: Doubleday Books

Genre: Horror

This is a real spooky one! If you are a horror fan, this ticks all the boxes. Unusual subject matter, fascinating descriptions of Native American culture and some nasty twists.

A young Cree woman’s dreams lead her on a perilous journey of self-discovery that ultimately forces her to confront the toll of a legacy of violence in her family, her community and the land they call home.

When Mackenzie wakes up with a severed crow’s head in her hands, she panics. Only moments earlier she had been fending off masses of birds in a snow-covered forest. In bed, when she blinks, the head disappears. Night after night, Mackenzie’s dreams return her to a memory from before her sister Sabrina’s untimely death: a weekend at the family’s lakefront campsite, long obscured by a fog of guilt. But, when the waking world starts closing in, a murder of crows stalks her every move around the city, she wakes up from a dream of drowning, and gets threatening text messages from someone claiming to be Sabrina.

What really happened that night at the lake, and what did it have to do with Sabrina’s death? Only a bad Cree would put their family at risk, but what if whatever has been calling Mackenzie home was already inside?

Absolutely loved this book and I’m not generally a fan of this genre but a brilliantly executed tale.

The Leviathan

By Rosie Andrews

Publisher: Raven Books

Genre: Historical fiction

Set during the English Civil War, The Leviathan is a mysterious story of superstition and politics. Cromwellian England was a harsh place to live, and the slightest inference of wrongdoing was dangerous and the punishment potentially horrendous.

Whispers of witchcraft and sinister revelations of an old shipwreck fill the life of Thomas Treadwater. Thomas is a soldier, albeit reluctantly serving but, more importantly, Thomas is a man of reason.

Set in Norfolk in 1643, with civil war tearing England apart, Thomas is summoned home by his sister, who accuses a new servant of improper conduct with their widowed father.

By the time Thomas returns to his family, his father is insensible, felled by a stroke, and their new servant is in prison, facing charges of witchcraft.

Thomas prides himself on being a rational, modern man, but as he unravels the mystery of what has happened, he uncovers not only a tale of superstition but something dark and ancient, linked to a shipwreck years before.

To Have And To Heist

By Sara Desai

Publisher: Berkley

Genre: Chicklit

Simi Chopra is on a bad-luck streak. She’s lost yet another job, her student loan debt won’t stop growing, her basement apartment is a certifiable flood zone and now her best friend has been accused of stealing a multimilliondollar diamond necklace.

To put it lightly, she’s desperate for a break and at that moment Jack waltzes out of the bushes and into her life.

Jack is just as charming as he is mysterious. When he offers to help her find the missing necklace and steal it back, Simi jumps at the chance to clear her friend’s name and collect the substantial reward.

But, every good heist needs a crew. All she needs to do is transform a ragtag group of strangers into an elite heist crew, infiltrate a high-society wedding and steal the necklace from a dangerous criminal before the happy couple say “I do.”

Meanwhile, the bride is keeping secrets, a detective keeps showing up at her door and the ultimate robbery might not be the wedding con, but the way Jack is stealing her heart was not part of the plan.

Official Secrets

By Andrew Raymond

Publisher: Independently published

Genre: Contemporary fiction

An absolutely brilliant modern day conspiracy thriller. Totally believable and politically astute, Raymond has captured all the ingredients to captivate and enthral the reader from the first page to the last.

After a devastating political assassination, two journalists stand between the truth and a conspiracy that will shock the world.

Tom Novak and Stella Mitchell are covering the aftermath of a chilling terror attack on the British Prime Minister and the US Secretary of Defence. But, the further the American and English duo investigate, the more holes they find in the official version of events. When they link the attack to a series of suspicious deaths the night before, Novak and Mitchell find themselves the next targets in an extraordinary conspiracy involving the White House, the British government and a shadowy deep-state organisation.

LEON: BIG SALADS

By Rebecca Seal

Publisher: Conran

Genre: Cookery

LEON was founded on the twin principles that food can both taste good and do you good. In this first book in their brand-new series, author and food journalist Rebecca Seal proves this with more than 100 mouthwatering ideas for hearty, healthy salads, ideal for any occasion.

From portable salads to bring to work, to salad platters for leisurely weekend lunches, this brand-new recipe collection from the brand behind the hugely successful LEON Happy Salads proves that there is much more to a salad than a few damp leaves.

Recipes include: LEON Aioli Chicken Salad; Thai Crispy Duck and Pineapple Salad; Honey and Harissa Roots and Grains; Halloumi Fries with Pomegranate and Fennel; Crab Cake Salad, Chipotle

HAVE YOUR FAVOURITE BOOKS REVIEWED! annandale.dawn@gmail.com – would be delighted to hear from any readers who would like their own favourites reviewed.

Seared Steak Salad; LEON Rainbow Salad and Griddled Hispi and Crispy Tofu.

Makes you hungry just reading this list – and there’s another 93 to go, all putting lettuce and tomato salad in the shade!

MONCHIQUE IS KNOWN FOR ITS THERMAL WATER, THE CORK TREE FOREST, SPLENDID NATURE, AND AMAZING VIEWS OVER THE MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE TOWARDS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. IT IS A GREAT PLACE TO GO HIKING OR BIKING, OR STROLLING THE LITTLE STREETS, AND ENJOYING SOME GREAT LOCAL TAKES ON TRADITIONAL CUISINE

Words: HENK BLINDENBACH OF VILA FOIA