BookTalk
BookTalk
Book Talk
with Smiffs book & card store, Nerja
The Assistant (l), by SK
Tremayne, a pseudonym of
author and journalist Sean
Thomas, is a chilling and
timely psychological thriller
from the bestselling writer of
The Ice Twins. This is a clever
novel woven around security
and privacy issues involved in
the spread of digital
technologies in everyday lives.
For example, recent news
stories have reported that
devices have, without users
realising it, allowed other
people and malicious software
to eavesdrop on the
conversations between
machine and owner.
Dean Koontz; and, Lost (l) and
The Chef (p), both by James
Patterson.
In other genres, the picks of
the bunch include: Radicalized
(p), by Cory Doctorow; Blood
Of Empire (p), the final part of
the Gods Of Blood And
Powder fantasy trilogy from
Brian McClennan; Pirata (p),
historical fiction by Simon
Scarrow; Genuine Lies (p), by
Nora Roberts; Spy (l) and
Silent Night (p), both by
Danielle Steel; and, Coming Home To Winter Island (p), by Jo
Thomas.
In the cookbook Lose Weight & Get Fit (l), Michelin-starred
chef Tom Kerridge draws on his personal experience of dieting
to suggest that cooking good food is a first step on the road to
both weight loss and better performance. Here, he shows how
you can eat well, shed the kilos and kick-start a more active
lifestyle.
In Tremayne’s novel, newly divorced Jo is relieved to be
paying a small rent for the use of her best pal’s spare room in a
trendy area of London, UK. The apartment is state-of-the-art
when it comes to technology:
the heating and lights are
managed by a digital home
assistant called Electra. Jo finds
herself starting to talk to
Electra for company until, one
fateful night, Electra says: ‘I
know what you did’. Jo is
horrified because she once did
something unforgiveable. The
author also writes as Tom
Knox (tomknoxwriter.com).
The annual crop of vegetarian
and vegan books seems to be
hitting the book racks earlier
than ever these days. A
selection of those competing
for the gift-buying euro are:
Meat-Free One Pound Meals
(p), by Miguel Barclay;
Vegetarian Meals In 30
Minutes (p), by Anita Bean; 7-
Day Vegan Challenge (l), by
Bettina Campolucci Bordi;
Bosh! Healthy Vegan (p), by
Henry Firth; Vegan(ish) (p), by
Jack Monroe; The Self-Care
Cookbook (l), by Gemma Ogston; Meatless Monday Family
Cookbook (p), by Jenn Sebestyen; and, Rebel Recipes, vegan
delights from Niki Webster.
The Assistant will be published
in late December. It leads off
this month’s Soltalk Hotlist of
titles, some entirely new,
others moving into small
paperback format for the first
time or being reissued, sometimes after years out of print. All
are due for publication on dates in December, with availability
in print this month or in early January. The Hotlist helps
readers to plan and budget for
book ordering.
Taking a wider view of health and wellbeing, Dr Rangan
Chatterjee suggests how to Feel Better In 5 (p), a daily plan to
supercharge health. His prescription is: ‘Ditch the pills, beat the
sleepless nights and banish
the yo-yo diets’, and all
within your current routine.
Top tips include: gut-
boosting foods that lift the
brain fog; creative activities
to feel more energised; and,
strength workouts you can
do anywhere. Drawing on
physician Chatterjee’s 20
years of experience and
real-life case studies from
his general practice, this
easy-to-follow book shows
how small changes can make
a big difference.
Other thrillers worth a look
include: For The Dead (p), by
Lina Bengsdotter, Sweden’s
latest queen of crime novels; A
Nearly Normal Family (p), by
another Swede, MT
Edvardsson; Blood Oath (p), by
Linda Fairstein; The
Murderer’s Apprentice (p), by
Ann Granger; Dead Eye (p)
and Back Blast (p), both by
Mark Greaney; Never Have I
Ever (p), by Lucy Hay; The
Cabin (p), by Jørn Lier Horst;
The Night Window (p), by
44