This week’s books are a good example of how diverse the range of books that we read for Halloween Bingo is. I have a space opera, a spy novel and a horror novel and I’m looking forward to all of them.
For Lost In Space, I’m reading the first book in a new space opera series by one of my favourite British Science Fiction writers.
For Spies and Assassins I’m reefing the latest spy novel by the British writer who I think is the natural successor to John Le Carré.
For Plague and Disease, I’m reading a horror story set in a small town, written by an Australian writer known for her dark thrillers featuring strong women doing difficult things.
‘Stars And Bones’ by Gareth L. Powell (2022)
I loved Gareth Powell’s last Space Opera trilogy ‘Embers Of War‘. It was perfectly executed and had the kind of scale I expect from Iain M Banks or Alister Reynolds. It was gritty and fast and had a colourful cast of characters: the AI of a Carnivore class warship who has developed a conscience and gone into the rescue business, two spies on opposite sides of a crappy war who end up working together, a war criminal turned poet, an aging captain who is not sure she can live up to her grandmother’s reputation as a pioneer in saving lives. Each of them, by a variety of indirect means, end up snared by a puzzle at the centre of a planet that has been carved into the shape of a brain and that may change everything.
I’m hoping that the Continuance series will be equally good. The second book, ‘Descendant Machine’ was published in April so, if I like ‘Stars And Bones’, I won’t have to wait to carrying on with the series.
Gareth L. Powell is a British writer who writes science fiction about extraordinary characters wrestling with the question of what it means to be human.
He has won and been shortlisted for several major awards, and his Embers of War novels are currently being adapted for television.
‘The Secret Hours by Mick Herron (2023)
I read the first Slough House novel, ‘Slow Horses‘ back in 2017 and rapidly consumed the next four books before having to wait, like everyone else, for the next book to be published. I love the way Herron combines gritty, realistic, very British stories with occasional bursts of lyrical, almost whimsical prose. He creates memorable characters, who he often treats very badly, including killing off a surprisingly large number of characters that seemed like stalwart cast members. His knowledge of British politics, including the behind-the-scenes known-but-not-yet-in-the-press stories of corruption and graft is almost as impressive as his ability to weave them into compelling, page-turning plots.
I enjoyed one of his earlier standalone novels, set in the Slough House universe, ‘Nobody Walks‘ which I summarised as a: ‘Grim story of grief, betrayal and brutality wrapped in lyrical prose that sits like Chrismas Tree Lights on a barbed-wire fence.”
I’m hoping the ‘The Secret Hours’ will also light up my imagination.
Mick Herron is a British novelist, originally from Newcastle, now based in Oxford. He published his first novel, featuring Oxford Detective Zoe Boehm, in 2003.
He is best known for his Slough House contemporary British spy novels. featuring MI5 agents who have been exiled from the mainstream for various offences. ‘Slow Horses’ (2010) was the first book in the series. was published in 2010. ‘Bad Actors’ (2022) is the eighth Slough House novel. The series has won CWA Steel and Gold daggers and Denmark’s Palle Rosenkrantz prize
‘Pest’ by Anna Gillett (2020)
Anna Willett is a new writer for me but she comes highly recommended. The premise of ‘Pest’ intrigues me. It promises to be a nice mix of supernatural and physical affliction, intensified by a fear-in-a-small-town vibe and with a strong female lead to sort things out. I’m hoping it will be a perfect Halloween Bingo read.
Anna Willett is the author of fifteen novels, including the thrillers Unwelcome Guests, Small Town Nightmare and Savage Bay Nightmare and the horror novels, Pest, The Family Man and Dear Neighbour.
Anna received a Bachelor of Education from Notre Dame University. While she grew up in Western Australia, she has also lived in Wales and England.
When she’s not writing, Anna enjoys reading, travelling, watching films that include all things dark and twisted and spending time with her husband, two children and their dogs.
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