Delete This At your Peril - Neil Forsyth

Bob Servant, something of a ne’er-do-well in Dundee, is an unlikely hero – in his sixties, with a somewhat shady past, a self-proclaimed lover of skirt and jazz mags, he is nonetheless a champion of the people.
Or at least a champion of those of us (which is almost everyone) who have received unsolicited emails promising us a percentage of a fortune, exotic friendship, or offers of highly-paid work. Forsyth presents Bob’s emails with only a brief introduction (giving a little of Bob’s background as a window cleaner with a decreasing clientele, preceded by his position as head cheeseburger creator in the period leading up to Broughton Ferry’s renown Cheeseburger Wars) and the occasional annotating footnote (“This is entirely untrue. Dundee’s Evening Telegraph newspaper carries a precise reflection of the day’s exchange rates.”).
Bob’s work is otherwise allowed to stand on its’ own, in a series of exchanges between Bob and eleven spammers. For those unfamiliar with the world of spam-baiting, it’s the practice of wasting the time, effort and occasionally money of spammers. Though the phrase isn’t used in Delete This At Your Peril, that is unquestionably what the series of emails do.
If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if you clicked ‘reply’ to requests for the transitory use of your bank account to launder hidden riches, check out ‘Lions, Gold and Confusion,’ ‘Uncle Bob’s African Adventure,’ ‘Bobby and Benjamin are New Friends’ and my favourite, ‘The Hunt for Jerren Jimjams,’ in which Bob has the spammer tracking down and apprehending a fictitious rip-off merchant. What about offers of friendship by beautiful women from far off lands? See ‘Alexandra, Bob and Champion,’ ‘Olga, Sasha and the Jamaican Lakers’ and ‘Natalia and her grandmother’ – my favourite part of this last exchange is when ‘Natalia’ begins working her grandmother into her emails and Bob responds:

I’m sorry to hear about your grandmother. I hope she doesn’t get ill in such a way that would mean you’d have to ask me for a few quid. Though I’m sure that won’t happen...

which is immediately followed by a tale of woe, imminent surgery and medical expense, and poor Natalia is alone in the world apart from Bob and her grandmother.

This is terrible, terrible news. Who could have seen this coming? It’s a bolt from the blue Natalia, no doubt about it. Your Grandmother is a fantastic little chap. Tell her to be strong and, for all out sakes, hang on. Because...........I’M COMING TO SAVE YOU That’s right Natalia, I’m coming to Russia!

Natalia protests that Russia is entirely too dangerous, and that sending the $450US would be far less expensive. Bob is undaunted by danger, until h bangs into Cruncher McKenzie (“yes, that Cruncher McKenzie”) who is also concerned about the risks of peril in Russia. Sadly Bob is compelled to rescind his offer of aid but, in consolation, includes the lyrics of Billy Oceans’ hit “When the going gets tough.” Natalia now believes Bob is not serious, and the exchange ends:

From: Bob Servant
To: Natalia
Subject: re: Can we save Natalia’s grandmother? No we can’t
I share your suspicions

The fun of the book is watching the increasing lengths to which the spammers will go, the outrageousness of Bob’s emails, and the increasing frustration of the spammers before they decide to call it a day. In ‘The hunt for Jerren Jimjams’ the initial enquiry from Dr Mammadou Kouassi offers Bob 30% of $US25 million, but Bob doesn’t trust anyone from Senegal. Though he initially claims this is because it sounds so similar to ‘seagull’ he agrees, when the insightful Dr Mammadou suggests it, that this is because a Senegalese man previously did him wrong. Keep to redress this harm, Dr Mammadou offers to track down the offender, armed only with his name (Jerren Jimjams) and the vital information that he lives by the sea and has long hair. Mammadou also gives Bob the contact information of Youssou Ba, a gendarmerie, who is keen to apprehend the assailant. Not only do they manage to find him, they also identify another victim, Randy Whytyng, an American from Westbrook who lost $72,000 and has offered Youssou $12,500 for the apprehension of Jimjams. Bob is so impressed by the herculean efforts of the gendarmerie that he decides to fly out to Dakar with money, but his attached itinerary shows his end destination as Dhaka (Bangladesh instead of Senegal), which causes to end of hysterical, capitalised emails, to which Bob responds:

I have just landed in Dhaka and, quite frankly, I’m absolutely furious with you. Why the hell did you tell me you lived in Dhaka if you wanted me to come to Senegal? I’ve wound up in Bangladesh.

There’s a happy ending after all, though – Bob doesn’t respond to Mammadou’s requests for “just £500” but does find love, with a bouncer named Kazi in Dhaka. They send a wedding announcement to Mammadou, Youssou and Randy, hoping

that you can get time off from the hospital and the police station and Randy can extend his trip. It won’t be the same without the three of you, because you are such distinctive, completely separate characters.

I did enjoy Delete This at Your Peril, a book I’ve had on my to read list for a while (and that I bought at the airport instead of reading any of the three books I brought with me from my very high to be read pile). However, though the character of Bob is engaging, there isn’t anything here that you couldn’t read for free online, at any of the dozens (or more) of 419 spam baiting websites. My very favourite of these is here. – Alex

Adams + Clamp:Touch of Evil

When a local Vampire Queen knows she is dying she decides to take the ultimate revenge on a mortal enemy by turning her into the next Vampire Queen. Needless to say, our heroine isn't up for it and soon finds herself fighting off a whole hoard of vampires all attempting to bring her in at the orders of their dying, and totally insane, Queen.
These vampires will stop at nothing, and their most effective weapon is to threaten the family and friends of their victim. This they do until they force a showdown between the dying Queen and her chosen successor that results in the woman being infected with the vampire parasite.
Fortunately, with the help of her family and friends, she fights off the parasite and avoids a fate worse than death.
But the death of the Vampire Queen leaves a vacancy that is filled by another woman with a personal vendetta against our heroine. One can only assume that things are going from bad to worse from here on in.
This is the first book in a trilogy and despite the semi-cliff hanger ending could be read as a stand alone novel.
The story sets itself up with a summary of previous events. This is a peculiar choice for the first book of a trilogy. I immediately felt on the back foot. So much so that I went and double checked that this is indeed the first book of the series (it is). Perhaps these characters had a short story somewhere, it certainly felt like I'd missed some crucial action somewhere along the way.
Other than that I really liked the world building. Here vampires are the result of a parasite that somehow nests in the hosts brain and makes use of the person until they eventually die (usually about four years later). This is a unique idea as far as I am aware and very well presented. The world building is worth the admission price.
Sadly the story is let down by extremely poor characterisation. The heroine is, of course, beloved by everyone. In fact, most of unrelated male characters have been her lovers at some point in the past, and still care for her deeply. Though I am pushed to see any particularly likable behaviour, let alone lovable. Putting aside the fact that she treats her brother very badly, I lost all sympathy for her very early in the piece. When she goes to hospital after a minor accident and puts herself before a head injured child with active bleeding (justifing the action with the thought that she was unhurt and so would only take a moment) there was nothing she could do for the rest of the story that redeemed her in my eyes.
A great world populated by unlikable, and unbelievable, characters, I will not be following up the rest of this trilogy-Lynn

Gone Tomorrow – Lee Child

Drifting righter of wrongs Jack Reacher is in New York City for, as usual, no particular reason. At two AM there are half a dozen people in his subway carriage – and passenger number four, a black-clad white woman in her forties, is making Reacher’s intelligence-trained alarm bells ring. Though it seems bizarre, because of the timing if nothing else, she meets enough points on the Israeli eleven-point checklist (twelve for men) to mark her as a possible suicide bomber.
Reacher’s attempt to stop her desperate action has far-reaching consequences – though his read was a false positive, a woman dies and that starts Reacher off on another mission, to uncover why an ordinary suburban woman would attempt something drastic and markedly out of character.
Like the author who introduced me to the genre, the estimable Bagley, Childs combines a seemingly EveryMan (who is far from average) with a tense, topical plot, a little sex and good writing to create a coherent, absorbing, readable whole. And, like Bagley, he includes tidbits of fascinating information, some of which is relevant to the plot ahead and some of which appears to be there just for the joy of knowledge. In Gone Tomorrow these nuggets include subway surfing, rats, and a disturbing insight into the startling sadism of Afghan women against their enemies, with a quote from Kipling:

When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Just roll to your rifle and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier.

As is so often the case in Childs’ work, there are occasional scenes and passage that shine, like this:

“And I read a book that figured the part about the virgins is a mistranslation. The word is ambiguous. It comes in a passage full of food imagery. Milk and honey. It probably means raisins. Plump, and possibly candied or sugared.”
“They kill themselves for raisins?”
”I’d love to see their faces.”
…”And why would a woman want virgins anyway? A lot of sacred texts are mistranslated. Especially where virgins are concerned. Even in the New Testament, probably. Some people say Mary was a first time mother, that’s all. From the Hebrew word. Not a virgin. The original writers would laugh, seeing what we made of it all."

In Gone Tomorrow those are the things I remember more than the plot - though I was left with a strong sense of New York City, sufficient that I could navigate parts of Manhattan quite well, the plot itself is considerably fainter. The arc of some of Childs' novels has stayed with me for quite some time after I closed the page; this is not one of those, but I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. - Alex

The Jack Reacher novels
Killing Floor; Die Trying; Tripwire; The Visitor; Echo Burning; Without Fail; Persuader;The Enemy; One Shot;The Hard Way; Bad Luck and Trouble; Nothing to Lose; Gone Tomorrow; 61 Hours; Worth Dying For

Nothing to Lose - Lee Child

Jack Reacher only bothers those who bother him, or others. Directed where the winds, chance and his inner compass take him, Reacher is Colorado, in the small town of Hope. Twelve miles away lies Despair – motivated by nothing more than curiosity, and unable to get a lift, Reacher sets out to walk the empty road that joins them. All he wants is a cup of coffee and a bed, and he’ll be on his aimless way come morning, an uneventful moment in a criss-crossing meander across the continent.
When Reacher is refused service, accosted by deputies, charged with vagrancy and escorted out of the township back to Hope, he’s pissed. Despair, it tuns out, is a company town – dirt poor but for an enormous metal recycling plant, everyone is directly or indirectly dependent on its owner, Jerry Thurman. Reacher senses that there’s more than that, though. He thinks Thurman’s hiding something, and it’s something big – which explains the military post nearby.
Less layered than some of Childs’ other works, Nothing to Lose includes the elements fundamentally part of the series – a protagonist with a strong moral compass, a sharp sense of curiosity and a dogged determination not to be told what to do, sniffs out a situation that seems slightly questionable on the surface but hides a significant issue. He investigates, connects disparate clues through a combination of arcane knowledge and intellect, and uncovers the wrongdoing. He incapacitates the peons, disables the architect, and empowers the disenfranchised, enjoying a little no-strings interlude on the side, before returning to his endless journey. The later novels tend to have wider-implication mysteries (dirty bombs, large scale conspiracies) in contrast with the first dozen or so, and occasionally Child drifts from the far-fetched to the implausible.
This sounds as though the series is formulaic, and that would be an injustice. Nothing to Lose is a little further fetched than some of its predecessors, and I missed some of the subtler elements of the very best of his works, but what sets his work a notch above is the utter immersiveness of the series, the austere attraction of the clear-sighted Reacher, and the crystalline beauty of his writing. Those aspects remain, and make this series one well worth continuing with. - Alex

The Jack Reacher novels
Killing Floor; Die Trying; Tripwire; The Visitor; Echo Burning; Without Fail; Persuader;The Enemy; One Shot;The Hard Way; Bad Luck and Trouble; Nothing to Lose; Gone Tomorrow; 61 Hours; Worth Dying For

Makita Brottman: The Solitary Vice-Against Reading

From the back of the book

Mikita Brottman wonders, Just why is reading so great? It's a solitary practice, one that takes away from time that could be spent developing important social networking skills. Reading is not required for health, happiness, or a loving family. And, if reading is so important, why are catch and juvenile slogans like "Reading Changes Lives" and "Champions Read" needed to hammer the point home?
Fearlessly tackling the notion that non-readers are doomed to lives of despair and mental decay, Brottman makes the case that the value of reading lies not in its ability to ward of Alzheimer's or that it's a pleasant hobby. Rather, she argues that like that other well-known solitary vice, masturbation, reading is ultimately not an act of pleasure but a tool for self-exploration, one that allows people to see the world through the eyes of others and lets them travel deep into the darkness of the human condition.

This book captured my attention right from the introduction with the combination of fascinating material and an easy going style. Sadly it was unable to hold my interest past chapter three.
The first third of the book contains a spookily familiar childhood reminiscence (and coincidentally reading list). Here the author also manages to articulate feelings about reading, specifically Literature, that I would never be able to express so succinctly. But sadly after this the book runs off at a tangent that I was unwilling to follow.
Chapter 4 sings the merits of celebrity tell-alls, and while I am uninterested in the subject (a situation the author believes impossible) I persevered in the hope of a return to the delight of the earlier pages. It wasn't to be. The beginning of chapter 5 offered little of interest. Skimming the rest of the book I simply found more of the same. Chapter after chapter devoted to various incarnations of 'gossip' pages. I would allow that the subject has a place in a book of this nature but I put it that it is unworthy of a book in its own right (which is what this book, to all intents and purposes, becomes). At the end of each chapter an attempt is made to relate the contents back to the original theme of the book. I believe these attempts to be singularly unsuccessful.
This is not a book I would recommend but if the opportunity arose to read the first three chapters I would say go ahead and have a look but be willing to do as the author suggests and put it aside as soon as you find yourself no longer engaged. I think you can guess where that point was for me.- Lynn

Bad Luck and Trouble – Lee Child

Though he hasn’t a home, Jack Reacher isn’t homeless, he’s a drifter – since leaving the army he moves as the spirit takes him, carrying nothing but the clothes in his back. And, since tightening regulations in the aftermath of 9/11, a passport and an ATM card. Always interested in playing with numbers, Reacher keeps track of his account balance, down to interest paid and fees charged. So when his balance unexpectedly swells by $1,030 he not only notices, he analyses its’ meaning, and his present intersects with his past.
All of Reacher’s time in the army had been as an MP; for a decade he headed an elite team, the Special Investigators – a handpicked four-man, two-woman squad he knew better than his family. Bad Luck and Trouble takes Reacher, and the reader, back to those days – someone’s picking off members of the Special Investigators, and though the squad has been long disassembled their motto endures: you do not mess with the Special Investigators.
The eleventh Reacher novel has all the series trademarks – a protagonist who is both everyman and superman, short sentences packed with action, military insight in a civilian world, a short-lived relationship where both parties leave happy, justice done, the bad punished and the good at least no worse off than they were, and our hero strolling toward the horizon.
It this makes it sound like I think the novel is formulaic then I’ve done Child a disservice – one of the things I enjoy about the Reacher series is the author’s ability to make each installment fresh while maintaining consistency, to balance a developed character with a minimum of back story for new readers.
I’ve been glutting a little on Child this week, as I procrastinate about more serious reading, and for the first time realised that the novels alternate between first and third person perspectives; this is the latter, which allows scenes like the arresting prologue, where Reacher doesn’t feature.
Child is usually very good at conveying specialised information without being obvious – I did find myself jerked out of the narrative just a little at the explanation about a cryptic note reading “650 at $100 per”:

The k abbreviation meant thousand and was fairly standard among U.S. Army personnel of Sanchez’s generation, coming either from math or engineering school or from having served overseas where distances were measured in kilometres instead of miles. A kilometre was nicknamed a klick and measured a thousand metres, about 60 per cent of a mile. Therefore $100K meant one hundred thousand dollars. The per was a standard Latin preposition meaning for each, as in miles per gallon or miles per hours.

Perhaps if I came from a background where the concept of a kilometre wasn’t second nature this section wouldn’t be so dry. That’s only a quibble, though. For the most part Bad Luck and Trouble is not only a great escapist novel but also gives the interested reader a new level of insight into Reacher’s character and past. I find myself no closer to understanding why being rootless is so important to him, but that’s not essential to enjoying the narrative. For the fastidious it is, however, essential not to think too deeply about the ramifications of a travelling man who carries neither spare socks or jocks, nor deodorant. Provided you can, and if you’re looking for a novel that will involve you without requiring great intellectual investment, this is for you. I thoroughly relished my vicarious visit with characters almost as different from me as it would be possible for a contemporary westerner to be. - Alex

The Jack Reacher novels
Killing Floor; Die Trying; Tripwire; The Visitor; Echo Burning; Without Fail; Persuader;The Enemy; One Shot;The Hard Way; Bad Luck and Trouble; Nothing to Lose; Gone Tomorrow; 61 Hours; Worth Dying For

The Coroner's Lunch - Colin Cotterill

Tran, Tran, and Hok broke through the heavy end-of-wet-season clouds. The warm night air rushed against their reluctant smiles and yanked their hair vertical. They fell in neat formation, like sleet. There was no time for elegant floating or fancy acrobatics; they just followed the rusty bombshells that were tied to their feet with pink nylon string.
Tran the elder led the charge. He was he heaviest of the three. By the time he broke the surface of the Nam Ngum reservoir he was already ahead by two seconds. If this had been the Olympics, he would have scored a 9.98 or thereabouts. There was barely a splash. Tran the younger and Hok-the-twice-dead pierced the water without so much as a pulse-beat between them.
A quarter of a ton of unarmed ordnance dragged all three men quickly to the smooth muddy bottom of the lake and anchored them there. For two weeks, Tran, Tran, and Hok swayed gently back and forth in the current and entertained the fish and algae that fed on them like diners at a slow-moving noodle stall.

From its arresting opening The Coroner's Lunch is a fascinating and very different mystery. Set in Laos in 1976, just after the triumph of Communism, it introduces a unique detective - the drafted, septuginarian coroner of Lao, Dr Siri Paiboun.
At 72, and after almost a lifetime of service to the Party, Dr Siri Paiboun was looking forward to retirement. There is, however, no such thing as a pension in Communist Lao – from each according to his ability, to each according to his need, after all, and Siri can still work. In fact, he has been drafted in to the role of national coroner – and his lack of either educaton or equipment to adequately fulfil that role is irrelevant.
Though a member of the Party since his student days in Paris, Siri's embrace of Communist was initiated not by political fervour but lust - the object of his desires, his eventual wife, nursing student Boua made it clear that only through the red flag could her heart be won.
He is ably aided, at least, by two assistants – nurse Dtui is stolid and dedicated, primary carer for her unwell mother, and possessed of hidden depths; the meticulous Mr Geung is revivled by the rank and file, who fear and shun the diabled, but despite his Down syndrome Siri's morgue attendent is through, dedicated, and often provides unique uinsight into cases.
Another thing that adds to Siri's uniqueness is his intermittent visits from the spirits of the dead, soemthing this rational scinetist at first rejects, but which helps him to unravel the causes of death in patients where he'd otherwise be lost.
There's a lovely scene where Siri is speaking to the young daughters of a woman who has recently died.

"Manoly, do you know where your mother is now?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"In the temple."
"That's not your mommy."
"Yes, it is."
"No. In the temple is just the package your mommy was kept in." The smallest sister giggled at this. Manoly seemed angry.
"It's Mommy."
Siri reached out for her hand and put it against his face.
"This skin, this hair, all this outside stuff. It isn't me. It's just my package. It's like the wrapper around the sweet; it isn't the sweet itself. What we really are is all inside the package. All our feelings. All our good moods and bad moods. All our ideas, our cleverness, our love, that's what a person really is.
"It's called a spirit. Your mommy's spirit has left her package already. I met your mommy's spirit when I was in your room that night."
"Is that like a ghost?"
"No. A ghost is just something in make-believe stories. A spirit is really her. Some people can see it, but most people can't."

A lot of Laotian culture and tradition is woven through the novel. I particularly liked the way of determining if a child is old enough for school - when your arm can reach over your head to touch the opposite ear. The combination of history, mystery, spirituality and location make the Coroner's Lunch a novel unlike any i've read before, and I've already started on the second in the series. - Alex

The Enemy – Lee Child

In 1989 Jack Reacher was an MP – as the New Year, and the last decade of the century, dawns the political landscape is set for a power shift, for the Berlin Wall is coming down, and with it the end of the Cold War. Recently relocated to North Carolina, Reacher has every expectation of an uneventful segue to 1990, until gets a call from the local police – a soldier’s been found dead in a nearby hourly rate motel.
When the body turns out to be that of a two-star general – one who should have been in Europe, no less – Reacher’s antenna pings. This becomes an alarm bell when his death knock to the general’s widow instead turns up another body. Ad thus begins a covert investigation into the armed forces itself – an investigation that starts the career-oriented Reacher on his path to roaming righter of wrongs.
The Enemy is something of a departure from the seven preceding Reacher novels – the first to entirely flashback, it gives us a far more fully fleshed picture of the often enigmatic lone wolf regular readers have come to almost know. We meet Joe, his older brother (previously encountered in the first Reacher novel, Killing Floor, under very different circumstances):

I hadn’t seen him for more than three years. The last time we’d been together was for our father’s funeral. Since then we had gone our separate ways.
…He was two years older than me, and he always had been, and he always would be. As a kid I used to study him and think, that’s how I’ll look when I grow up. Now I found myself doing it again. From a distance we could have been mistaken for each another. Standing side by side it was obvious that he was an inch taller and a little slighter than me, But mostly it was obvious he was a little older than me. It looked like we had started out together, but he had seen the future first, and it had aged him, and worn him down. … I didn’t know what he did for a living. He had probably told me, it wasn’t a national secret of anything. It was something to do with the Treasury Department. He had probably told me all the details and I probably hadn’t listened. Now it seemed too late to ask.
“You were in Panama,” he said. “Operation Just Cause, right?”
“Operation Just Because,” I said. “That’s what we called it.”
“Just because what?”
"Just because we could. Just because we all had to have something to do. Just because we’ve got a new Commander in Chief who wants to look tough.”…
“You got Noriega yet?”
"Not yet.”
"So why did they post you back here?”
“We took twenty-seven thousand guys,” I said. “It wasn’t down to me personally.”

I know this doesn’t look like much, but there’s so much foreshadowing here, for The Enemy (even the title) and for Reacher, that I found it a really clear example of how intelligent Childs’ writing is – though the books look like fairly standard action novels there’s really subtle layering there.
Joe and Reacher are flying to France, in response to an uncharacteristic summons from her doctor. The scenes here, and the occasional passing reference to her in chronologically later books, are the only glimpses we have of Josephine Reacher née Moutier and her effect on our hero; they serve to contextualise Reacher’s unwavering commitment to doing the morally right thing as a family tradition, while embedding the presence in the present of the past.
Josephine is dying, of cancer she chose a year ago not to treat. The scenes where Joe and Reacher talk about intervention and, a page later, where she talks about ho and why she made her decision, are beautiful. They articulate no only generational and cultural differences in attitudes to life and death but also grief, loss, and mourning.

“Won’t you miss us, Mom,” [Joe] asked.
“Wrong question,” she said. “I’ll be dead. I won’t be missing anything. It’s you that will be missing me…You’re really asking another question… You’re asking, how can I abandon you? You’re asking, aren’t I concerned with your affairs any more? Don’t I want to see what happens with your lives? Have I lost interest in you?”
We said nothing.
“I understand,” she said. “Truly I do. It’s like walking out of a movie. Being made to walk out of a movie you’re really enjoying. That’s what worried me about it. I would never know how it turned out. I would ever know what happened to you boys in the end, with your lives. I hate that part. But then I realized, obviously I’ll walk out of the movie sooner or later. I mean, nobody lives for ever. I’ll never know how it turns out for you, I’ll never know what happens with your lives. Not in the end, Not even under the best of circumstances. I realized that. Then it didn’t seem to matter so much. It will always be an arbitrary date. It will always leaving me wanting more.”

Although for me these elements of family, character development and context, including the way and the why of Reacher’s departure from the institution he’d previously been part of from birth, are the centre pieces of The Enemy, they're surrounded by an engrossing, somewhat far-reaching and far-fetched but sadly believable conspiracy-based plot. - Alex

The Jack Reacher novels
Killing Floor; Die Trying; Tripwire; The Visitor; Echo Burning; Without Fail; Persuader;The Enemy; One Shot;The Hard Way; Bad Luck and Trouble; Nothing to Lose; Gone Tomorrow; 61 Hours; Worth Dying For

All Clear – Connie Willis

Post-graduate Oxford historians Michael, Merope and Polly have travelled to 1940 to complete their research. They were prepared for contingencies, and were given a lot of background prior to their journeys, but being stuck wasn’t a possibility and of them had contemplated. As window after window fails to open the likelihood of them getting home becomes ever more remote, particularly as the dates of previous trips to the past approach – nobody can be in the same time twice. And Polly has a greater concern – even though it should be impossible, their presence seems to be altering events, potentially changing the outcome of the War and history itself.
Far less a sequel than the second part of an enormous story (the novels combines total almost 1,200 pages), All Clear picks up directly where Blackout left off. This is an ambitious and complex return to the universe first encountered in The Doomsday Book, and is characterised by many of the same trademarks, most notably a breathless, pervasive sense of urgency. In The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, the previous novels set in this universe, I found myself swept up in the emotion – Willis has an amazing ability to recreate that feeling so often encountered in dreams of being in a tearing hurry but beset on all sides by people and events seemingly intent on delay and derailment.
This time, however, perhaps because of the length of time over which it has to be sustained, I found myself becoming impatient with it. And instead had a far stronger feeling of irritation. That said, Willis does this time include a reason for it, though this itself opens the door to some interesting questions about inevitability, free will, self-correction, randomness and sentience.
There are several interwoven narratives, and the setting jumps from year to year, so the opening chapter set in “London – 26 October 1940” is followed by “London – 7 May 1945” and is then interspersed between “Bethnal Green – June 1944”, “Kent – April 1944” and “Golders Green – June 1944” among others. Combining this darting timeline with a host of character, including the historians adopting different personas, meant that I eventually gave up on trying to keep track and decided to be swept along by the story. I don’t think that this is necessarily a bad thing, but it did mean I ended up missing some of the nuances and detail.
While I enjoyed Willis’ homage to Jerome K Jerome’s classic Three Men in a Boat in To Say Nothing of the Dog, I found the unexplained references to Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest in the 1944 scenes set in Kent irritating – as well as Earnest there’s an Algernon, a Chasuble, Gwendolyn, Moncrieff, Cess, Prism, Merriman and Lady Bracknell; though I originally enjoyed the allusion, after several encounters it was just irritating.
It may well be that this was explained in Blackout, but I read that perhaps the better part of a year ago, and though I was able to pick up enough of it for All Clear to make sense, there’s a lot of information to carry over. It would, perhaps, have been better for me to read the two parts back to back, or at least in close chronological proximity, but that didn’t happen. I appreciate that Willis wanted to include a myriad of detail about this clearly well researched era, as well as the several individual stories, and for the most part this paid off. But there were certainly times where I wanted some heavier editing.
There are several touches I very much enjoyed, primarily to do with the evacuated children – from Alf and Binnie Hodbin tearaways to a quote from a letter in 1940:

There are six evacuated children in our house. My wife and I hate them so much that we’ve decided to take away something for Christmas.

I also liked the ending, which was a little messier and organic than most fiction completions, and I look forward to the release of another novel set in this universe, which I very much enjoy. I just hope that, should Willis continue the series, she returns to the slightly more straightforward plots of the first novels. - Alex

Hell to Heaven – Kylie Chan

Australian Emma Donahoe, nanny turned wife of Xuan Wu, absent god of the Northern Heavens, would have her hands full with any of her many tasks – managing the training academy, running John’s empire while waiting his return, raising his teenage daughter Simone, and fending off the advances (personal and political) of the Demon King and his competitive progeny. She has to juggle not only all these demands but also her own demon nature – as if discovering she was part snake were not enough, contamination with demon essence presents the very really danger that Emma may become wholly demon.
Her quests to uncover the reasons for this, undo it, and discover who (or what) she really is, form the driving narrative of the second in Chan’s Journey to Wudang trilogy, Hell to Heaven. It continues the story started in the Dark Heavens novels, and like the previous four novels blends a combination of contemporary sensibilities with ancient lore – in both cases primarily Eastern but with a little Western flavour (primarily Australian) added to the mix.
Though engaging and intelligent, this is not a light or easily accessible series, and if the books are read out of order or elements forgotten the plot could easily become unintelligible. This is certainly not to say that Chan’s writing is oblique, just that the subject matter and the plot are layered and complex.
As I read I noted several passages I wanted to include in my review – the role of ‘calling’ in preventing consanguinity; the lure of Emma’s other nature; Emma’s Archivist experiences looking at indigenous Australian records; the concept of Celestial High school; the unexpected results when the uninformed but well-intentioned (and determined) act – but they all turned out to be too difficult to include without having to explain half the book, because it is so much of a piece. Instead I give you this snippet:

It sounded too much like a Druidic sacrifice ritual, which was very disturbing. Druids had been nature-loving tree-huggers, yes; but they’d also disemboweled people and used their own intestines to tie them still alive, as sacrifices to the trees they worshipped.

I look forward to the final part of the Journey to Wudang trilogy but hope it will conclude the story, rather than being a springboard for a third trilogy. Thus far Chan has managed to keep the central plot, of Xuan Wu’s return and Emma’s growth, at the heart of the narrative. I would hate to see that diluted. – Alex

The Dark Heavens Trilogy:
1. White Tiger
2. Red Phoenix
3. Blue Dragon
The Journey to Wudang trilogy:
1. Earth to Hell
2. Hell to Heaven
3. Heaven to Earth

Dead Reckoning – Charlaine Harris

We last left mind-reading waitress/vampire sheriff’s wife Sookie Stackhouse recovering from the fae war that saw most of her fairy relatives either dead or separated from the mortal realm, with trouble brewing on two fronts - an internal vampire power struggle, and the consequences of the two-natured 'coming out' to humanity.
This may have been problematic enough, but Sookie has other issues to juggle – two of her fairy kin are staying with her, and though she delights in their presence she can also feel herself becoming more fae, which concerns her. Former housemate and witch Amelia may have a way to dissolve the bond between Sookie and Eric, which would allow her to decide how she real feels about her husband, but it’s not a decision without cost. She’s also concerned about whatever t is Eric’s hiding from her – something she can tell his 2IC Pam knows about. Her first lover, Bill, has relationship issues, and Sookie’s not at all sure that her shifter boss (and dearest friend) Sam’s girlriend Jannalynn’s good for him. But first up is a Molotov cocktail attack on Merlott’s, the bar Sam owns and at which Sookie works – is it aimed at Sam and the two-natured, or is it something closer to home?
As I've mentioned several times before, each instalment in this series is more convoluted than the last, and though Harris does a good job of keeping the various strands coherent and intelligible I find myself increasingly weary of the plot devices, massive cast and ever-tenser drama.
I did very much enjoy the reappearance of Hunter, the mind-reading son of Sookie’s deceased cousin, and though he had only a brief guest spot I was also glad to see werewolf Alcide again, and Bubba’s one of Harris’s most tender characters, who was used with care. In fact, for the most part I do enjoy spending time in Harris’s world, but I find myself paying less attention with each book to tracking the character arcs and the numerous persons who threaten Sookie and her entourage. Otherwise spending time here diminishes in escapist quality and becomes more like work. This is definitely a series to read in order, and with a little time between adventures. - Alex

61 Hours – Lee Child

A random accident on a snowy bridge in the middle of South Dakota sees traveller Jack Reacher stranded with an elderly tour group and a shocked driver. In the midst of two approaching snow storms all the tow trucks sixty miles in either direction are caught up, and the only nearby shelter is the small town of Bolton. Most of the town is reliant on the recently opened jail; the contract was contested, and came with a number of non-negotiable conditions, chief among which was the requirement that, in the event of a jailbreak, all officers in town must attend until stood down.
When Reacher learns that there’s a witness under protection in the town, and that a lawyer’s been shot in the head in his car, he suspects an attempt to kill the witness before she can testify. Though he doesn’t know it, there’s a clock running – he’s got less than three days to stop a murder.
And we’re reminded of that clock at every opportunity. Done more subtly I think this would have added to the suspense, but I became increasingly irritated by the ending or opening of almost every chapter reiterating the countdown - the first lines of the book are

“Five minutes to three in the afternoon.
Exactly sixty-one hours before it happened.

And that was fine, setting the scene. But then we have page twelve:

Five minutes to four in the afternoon. Sixty hours to go.

The end of chapter two:

Five minutes to five in the afternoon. Fifty-nine hours to go.

The end of chapter three:

Five to eight in the evening. Fifty-six hours to go.

Page forty-seven:

Five minutes to ten in the evening. Fifty-four hours to go.

The end of chapter six:

Five minutes to eleven in the evening. Fifty-three hours to go.

Page 71 (and a small variation):

The clock on the refrigerator ticked on and hot five to midnight. Fifty-two hours to go.

And so on – four more times in the next twenty pages, and another thirty-two times (unless I missed one) before we get to “Twenty-seven minutes past three in the morning. Twenty-eight minutes to go.”
And then we have another two updates before:

Five minutes to four in the morning. Sixty-one hours gone.

61 Hours is supposed to be a novel of significance on the Reacher series, with a cliff-hanger ending and a twist, because the countdown isn’t to what we expect. There’s even a twist in the hook-up aspect that’s de rigueur in the series, because Reacher’s potential bed mate isn’t even in the same state.
As is often the case in the Reacher novels, the initial issue is only the introduction to a far bigger situation, and in the case of 61 Hours it’s a pretty big scenario, with roots going back to WW2, and an almost believable premise.
However, the impact of the twist, the force of the shock ending, was almost wholly diminished for me by the monotonous countdown. Not only did it occur with tedious regularity but, like a series of 24, every update occurred at five minutes to the hour. Except for the three updates within the final hour, page forty gave the only break in the monotony: “Twenty-five past nine in the evening. Fifty-four and a half hours to go.”
Okay, fine, ratchet up the tension with a ticking clock, but a little variety and a little less tick-tick-tick would have been more effective and less distracting. Though that wasn’t my only issue with 61 Hours, it was my biggest.
Others included the fact that I also got ahead of Reacher a couple of times, when it came to the location of a key, and the identity of a mole; in the first case I got there over fifty pages ahead of him, and I wasn’t looking for an answer.
But back to the count down. Frankly, by the time of the big boom finale I didn’t really care any more. Worse, when I closed the book my sense was relief rather than suspense about where to from here for Reacher.
And that’s a shame. Though I’ve found a number of the Reacher plots to be a little far-fetched, I think they’re generally great escapist action novels that repay a willing suspension of disbelief with strong story telling and satisfying conclusions – the wrong are punished, the righteous rewarded, the right upheld, there’s a little non-graphic sheet action, and our archetype strolls off into the sunset as footloose as he began.
When 61 Hours was released there was the promise of a sequel, as Jack Reacher’s story was to be continued. I certainly found the least-sequelly-sequel-ever next instalment a return to the Reacher I enjoy, and it’s reviewed here. - Alex

The Jack Reacher novels
Killing Floor; Die Trying; Tripwire; The Visitor; Echo Burning; Without Fail; Persuader;The Enemy; One Shot;The Hard Way; Bad Luck and Trouble; Nothing to Lose; Gone Tomorrow; 61 Hours; Worth Dying For

PC and Kristin Cast: Betrayed

From the back of the book-

Fledgling vampyre Zoey Redbird has managed to settle in at the House of Night finishing school. She finally feels like she belongs, even gets chosen as the Leader of the Dark Daughters. Best of all, she actually has a boyfriend...or two. Then the unthinkable happens: Human teenagers are being killed, and all the evidence points to the House of Night. While danger stalks the humans from Zoey's old life, she begins to realilze that the very powers that make her so unique might also threaten those she loves. Then, when she needs her new friends the most, death strikes the House of Night, and Zoey must find the courage to face a betrayal that could break her heart, her soul, and jeopardize the very fabric of her world.

I had high hopes for this series. The first book, Marked, was great. A fresh, new twist on the young adult dark fantasy genre, it had great promise. Sadly with this second instalment it fails to deliver.
The first 50 or so pages are basically a recap of events from the first novel, which was nice for those of us with poor memories-putting my hand up to that on-but that's about the best thing I can say for this story
The little things that irritated me in the first book have not been ironed out in the second. In fact, they have been magnified and placed centre stage. It would be easy to sit and list every tiny thing that didn't work but I'll limit myself to what I found to be tied for worst.

1. The "twins" that aren't related. I get it. It's like they're the same person only not, oh yeah, and one's black and the other's white. These two don't need names because they refer to each other as "twin" constantly. The most attached of real twins don't even do that
2. The "vampyre" rituals that are basically lifted from witchcraft. Fom the casting of circles to the use of "merry meet" and "blessed be" there's a very strong homage to wicca. It just feels lazy. If you want this lot to be witches then make them witches, otherwise make up some original rites.
3. Add to this the lack of character development, the three
(unbelievable and innappropriate) love interests and quite possibly the worst dialogue ever written and you've lost a keen reader.

What a waste of potential! At least the book was well named. Betrayed is exactly how I felt.-Lynn

Jesse Petersen: Married with Zombies

From the back of the book-

Meet Sarah and David
Once upon a time they met and fell in love. But now
they're on the verge of divorce and going to couples' counselling. On a routine trip to their counselor, they notice a few odd things-the lack of cars on the highway, the missing security guard, and the fact that their counselor, Dr. Kelly, is ripping out her previous client's throat.
Meet the Zombies
Now Sarah and David are fighting for survival in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. But just because there are zombies doesn't mean your other problems go away. If the zombies don't eat their brains, they might just kill each other.

This book was exactly what I expected it to be-light-hearted fun, with very little substance, the perfect beach read. I did find that the zombie killing got a little repetitive and the main characters were a trifle naive . I'm not saying most people are prepared for the zombie apocalypse but this pair do some truly stupid things, though they do, at least, learn from their mistakes.
The story is told as a kind of retrospective narrative, which allows for a few amusing asides to slip in but it means the main character's voice is hard right from the start. It would have been nice to get more of a sense of character growth from ordinary housewife to zombie killer
These though are minor quibbles. After all this is pulp fiction.
This is very obviously the first in a series, and though I enjoyed it I have no particular interest in following on. If you've read about one zombie killing, you've read them all.
Keep literary expectations low and enjoy a romantic comedy with a unique twist.-Lynn

Bruce Hood: Supersense

From the back of the book-

Do you cross your fingers, touch wood or avoid walking under ladders? If someone offered to replace your old teddy bear with an exact replica, would you accept?
Where do such feelings come from? It seems that human brains have to make sense of the world somehow, and that need to find an explanation can lead our minds beyond reason and into the supernatural. Education tells us such thinking is irrational, but at an intuitive level it can stubbornly persist in otherwise sensible adults. Barack Obama played basketball the morning of his victory in the Iowa primary-and on the morning of every following primary. This is not all bad-these beliefs can be a useful glue that binds us together as a society. And creative types rely upon the ability to see patterns in the world.

Combining brilliant insight with witty example, Bruce Hood weaves a page-turning account of our 'supersense', navigating a path through brain science, child development, popular culture, mental illness and the paranormal.
This is an outright fascinating read. Tracing links between biology, psychology and childhood development, the author presents an interesting argument as to how it can be perfectly reasonable to develop irrational beliefs.
As the subtitle, From Superstition to Religion-the Brain Science of Belief, suggests, this book runs the gamut of supernatural beliefs from the fringe to the institutionalized. All are examined with the same level of logic and though the writing veers into philosophy never does the text become inaccessible to the average reader
Whether you've an interest in why people persist in believing in aliens or ghosts or if you're just interested in the origins of lucky charms, this book may have the answers you seek.-Lynn

Amanda McIntyre: The Diary of Cozette

From the back of the book-

True, I am but a mere maidservant from a great house, snatched from a wretched existence of poverty and desperation to serve noblemen of wealth and privilege.
And yet...
While I am indeed of lowly rank, I am also a young woman who allowed herself to sample life's greatest pleasures in the hands of these titled men. My tales overflow in this journal, penning my journey to becoming a woman of power of the most base, yet stimulating, breed.
Unmarried and twenty, yet betrothed to no man, I would be considered a spinster by most, yet this is of my own ardent intention. With my unabashed lushness and wisdom regarding a man's most vehement cravings, I am not lacking for suitors or proposals given in the heat of passion. No, I have yet to meet the man who will challenge me, satisfy me in all ways, not only of the flesh.
For where passsion and desire are fleeting, my heart continues to
beat...

In order to read this one has to come to accept the ideas that a low ranking ninteenth century woman is literate, articulate and willing to consciously break all of society's sexual conventions. If you can clear those hurdles then you have to face the story line which seems unrealistic and relies heavily on coincidence to achieve its happy ending. I refuse to suspend my disbelief just because this is an erotic novel.
The very thing that attracted me to this book (the presentation style of short diary entries) also made it very hard to connect with the characters in any meaningful way. We get only the briefest of glimpses into their world and very little insight into character motivation, the focus being instead on the sexual exploits of the main character. Of course, that's only to be expected in an erotic novel.
You'd be forgiven for thinking that I didn't like this novel but in fact I didn't mind it. The author writes well enough but the story is let down by no real sense of time and place, essential in an historical novel of any kind, and its superficial characters, really inexcusable in a diary.
I did like that the heroine got a happy ending even if it did feel contrived. So often the sexually independent woman comes to a bad end, it was good that wasn't the case here.-Lynn

Peter Ackroyd: The Death of King Arthur

A retelling of Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. From the author's note on the text-

I have tried my best to convert Malory's sonorous and exhilarating prose into a more contemporary idiom...I have also chosen to abbreviate the narrative in pursuit of clarity and simplicity. I hope that by these means the essential story of Arthur and his knights emerges more clearly...I have also quietly amended Malory's inconsistencies. Despite these alterations, I hope that I have been able to convey the majesty and pathos of the great original.

Yes, Mr Ackroyd, you have succeeded admirably. Though the language is modern, the style is true to the medieval original. The writing voice is very much that of the early historian detailing events, with just a touch of the bard telling his tales. I have been a long time lover of Arthurian Romance, and while I enjoy the modern tales that make use of the traditional characters there is nothing quite like the original story. This translation might not be for everyone but it is essential reading for all Arthurian fans.-Lynn

Unwind - Neal Shusterman

Although he knew it was possible, Connor never believed his parents would make him an Unwind, until he found the paperwork. He plans to run - if he can survive until his eighteenth birthday he'll be safe.
Pianist Risa knew she'd blown her latest assessment; as a ward of the state she's only required to be supported as long as she's exceptional - now she's not, she's an Unwind.
Lev grew up knowing he was a Tithe, the tenth child of religious family who've chosen to give back to the community. All his life he's been prepared for the day after his thirteenth birthday when, after a tithing party to celebrate his joyous sacrifice, his body parts would be reallocated to worthy recipients, allowing him - in a way - to live forever.
A bloody Civil War between the Life Army and the Choice Brigade was resolved when a compromise was suggested - life is sacred from conception to age thirteen, but for the five years until children reaches adulthood their parents may retrospectively abort them, provided the child doesn't technically die. Known as Unwinding, the unwanted teen's organs are redistributed according to need and merit. Three youths of different backgrounds are thrown together by chance, and have the potential to make a difference.
Unwind has a fascinating premise (though the idea that either side would see this compromise as acceptable, this is acknowledged in the text), and a new twist on this months' inadvertent theme of teens in dystopia. There are some lovely moments, chief among which was the letter writing scene in the Unwind underground railway sequence.
There's also some imagining of the consequences of this policy: without termination an option for unwanted pregnancies, society has created 'storking' - leaving a baby on the doorstep of a stranger, who is then obliged to take it in, a practice that has its own consequences. There's a mythology around Humphrey Dunfee, whose distraught and repentant parents tried to reconstitute him post-Unwinding. And there's social commentary, including an observation that, were it not for Unwinds, science would be working on improving health instead of relying on quick patch-ups (with the assumption that immunosuppressent medications have been improved between now and then). Finally, opening each chapter is a news extract or factual nugget supporting the direction the narrative takes from that point. This last reminded me a little of Tepper's Gibbon's Decline and Fall.
It's a little distressing, then, that I found the whole delivered less than the promise of its parts. I think this may be because more attention was paid to the world-building than the characters - I just didn't warm to the central trio, and found reading the novel more an exercise of intellectual interest than engagement. - Alex

Matched - Ally Condle

Cassia has looked forward to being Matched for as long as she can remember - and that it's scheduled for her seventeenth birthday makes it even more special! She's picked the perfect dress for her Match's first vision of her, and though it will be returned after the Match Banquet she'll get to keep a sliver of the fabric.
Cassia's Match is even more special than she anticipated - in an amazingly rare happenstance, Cassia is Matched with someone she already knows, rather than a boy anywhere in the country. Xander's not only someone she knows, he's her best friend, and Cassia knows she truly fortunate. That is until she puts her microcard into the home port the next day, to look at Xander's picture in private. Instead of his face she sees another, and it's also a boy she knows - Ky, who lives down the street. And just like that, everything in Cassia's life begins to change.
Condle has created a well-crafted world that is reminiscent of a number of dystopian novels set in a totalitarian future (like This Perfect Day, Collin's Mockingjay trilogy and Westerfeld's Uglies triology, with elements of Logan's Run) while still being unique, engaging and entertaining. We learn about a way of life wholly unlike ours, as Cassia passes through what is utterly familiar to her, in a seamless example of show don't tell.
The flicker of Ky on her port viewer is a mistake, an Official tells Cassia, but Society does not make mistakes. She's not to talk of this error to anyone, and that alone triggers a shift in Cassia's outlook. And her increased awareness of Ky goes hand in hand with an increased awareness of problems in a Society that she's been trained to believe is perfect. As Cassie sees her world with new eyes, the reader uncovers layers of reduction, repression, manipulation, secrecy, injustice and cover-up.
Matched is a brilliant example of how perception and society shape reality, how restricting art (to the One Hundred Poems, for example) limits thought, how language frames ideology and the capacity for innovation, and how removing the ability to write has multiple repercussions. This is the kind of book I was hoping The Maze Runner would be - rich, textured, layered, grounded, unique, with a completed narrative arc that holds promise of a sequel. Just perfect. - Alex

Barbara Erskine: Daughters of Fire

From the back of the book
The Romans are landing in Britannia... Cartimandua, the young woman destined to rule the great tribe of the Brigantes, watches the invaders come ever closer. From the start her world is a maelstrom of love and conflict, revenge and retribution. Cartimandua's life becomes more turbulent and complicated as her power grows, and her political skills are threatened by her personal choices. She has formidable enemies on all sides as she faces a decision which will change the future of all around her.
In the present day, historian Viv Lloyd Rees has immersed herself in the legends surrounding the Celtic queen. Viv struggle to hide her visions of Cartimandua and her conviction that they are real. But her obsession becomes ever more persistent as she takes possession of an ancient brooch that carries a curse. Bitter rivalries and overwhelming passions are reawakened as past envelops present and Viv finds herself in the greatest danger of her life.
I have long been a fan of Barbara Erskine. I particularly like her intertwined past/present story lines. But to be honest, this isn't one of her best.
The historical aspect is brilliant: well researched and rich with detail, she brings Celtic Britain to life. The past characters are vibrant, complex and wonderfully drawn. The past story line is gripping and intense.
Sadly, the present day portions of the story are not a shadow of their past counterparts and let the whole down. The present day characters are flat and so inconsistent in behaviour as to be completely unbelievable (even for people possessed). I simply didn't care what became of any of them. The modern story line felt forced and contrived. The pacing was painfully slow and the delightfully eerie mood that Erskine usually does so well was completely missing.
This is a great historical novel ruined by an overlay of deathly dull present day patina. A hard slog even for a long time fan.-Lynn

Call Me Irresistible - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Meg Koranda has a lot in common with her best friend, Lucy Jorick - both the daughters of famous parents, they have reacted quite differently to being brought up in the spotlight. For while Lucy is sensible, mature and always considers the needs of others, Meg is almost thirty, dependent on her parents, and drifting. She is, however, not only loyal but able to see what nobody else has - though her groom-to-be seems perfect in every way, Lucy doesn't love him, and from what Meg can see, Ted doesn't love her, either. Which is why, even though she only arrived in Wynette, Texas, the day before the wedding, Meg feels comfortable telling Lucy that it's time to live her own life. And, in an upset reported by media worldwide, the daughter of America's first female President leaves the son of golf's finest star at the altar.
Call me Irresistible weaves together multiple characters from previous Phillips novels - we met Lucy in First Lady, jilted fiance Teddy's parents' story was told in Fancy Pants and we met them again in Lady Be Good, while Meg guest starred in What I Did For Love (a small part that didn't appear in my review) and is the product of the couple whose story's told in Glitter Baby.
This is something I've quite enjoyed in other series, particularly Brockmann's SEAL Team series. For some reason, though, I found the constant allusions to previous plot lines really irritating, perhaps in part because I haven't read Glitter Baby. I suspect, though, that it's more likely because in Brockmann's series the characters are all present in one another's stories, with different protagonists in the spotlight from book to book; Phillips' characters, however, have inhabited separate universes until now, so keeping their stories straight and present is harder work.
For me this overshadowed what was otherwise a very good romance - though the pie-eyed esteem of the locals toward Ted was a little hard to swallow, I found the central premises of Call Me Irresistible believable within the confines of the genre, the plot hurdles were plausible, I really liked the central characters, and I particularly enjoyed the way Meg pushed Ted past his own people pleasing, as she did Lucy. Phillips also adroitly handled the potential squick factor of a heroine moving in on her best friend's ex.
It's been a while since I read a good romance, and I'm a little disappointed that I found the references to previous narrative threads getting in the way of my enjoyment. Readers less distractable than I, or with a better grasp on Phillips' oeuvre, may not find this to be an issue. - Alex