The State of Play
The GOTHIC square was called yesterday, the forty-first call of the game, giving me my first bingo this year. I’ve been waiting for the GOTHIC square to be called since I fininshed ‘Mosaic‘ on 20th September.
Even though I’ve claimed twelve Read & Called squares so far, including the Raven square, the next Bingo is at least two books away. My reading rate slowed last week. I’m going to blame that on tiredness induced by my COVID vaccination – why else would I keep falling asleep while listening to an audiobook? 🙄
I have completed books for four squares that have not been called. That leaves me with nine books to read in the next nineteen days, so a Blackout Bingo seem still to be achievable.
My Halloween Bingo reads in the last week
I completed three books last week and all of them were fun.
‘The Savage Altar‘ is the first book in the Nordic Noir thriller series about Rebecka Martinsson, a tax lawyer from a small town in the far north of Sweden. ‘Savage Altar‘ won the Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy prize for best first novel in 2003. The English translation, translated by Marlaine Delargy, was shortlisted for the CWA Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger in 2007.
This was a five-star read. It offered everything I want in a Nordic Noir: a twisty plot, complex people with dark secrets, spectacular scenary, conflict, corruption, strong female characters and unflinching violence.
I read ‘Savage Altar‘ the NOIR square.
‘.4.50 From Paddington‘ was a book where I could feel Agatha Christie having fun writing it. It’s a Jane Marple mystery involving a murder on a train, a hidden body, family secrets, and a divisive will that poisons a family. I loved that, while Jane Marple remains the architect of the investigation and provides the key insights to unmask the killer, she hands all the work over to two energetic younger people, a young woman with a sharp mind and an openminded Scotland Yard detective.
I read ‘4.50 From Paddington‘ for the AMATEUR SLEUTH square.
‘Gobbelinon London And A Scourge Of The Pleasantries‘ was a light fast read about a talking cat and his human partner who work as PIs in Leeds. The plot moves like a cat scaling a wall, fast and with complete confidence while appearing to defy the laws of physics.
There’s ongoing mayhem, a little snark, lots of cat humour and a strong dash of supernatural soul-eating threat.
I read ‘Gobbelinon London And A Scourge Of The Pleasantries for the BLACK CAT square.
I also started two books, both of which take place in a dystopian future.
I thought ‘Road To Ruin‘ was going to be a great romping fantasy adventure. I’m about halfway through now and it’s clear that this is actually a full-blown Science Fiction novel. It reminds me of the Sheri Tepper’s novels
I’m reading it for the DYSTOPIAN HELLSCAPE square.
‘Thicker Than Water‘ is a thriller set in a near-future Britain on the North Yorkshire coast where refugees from the flooding that made much of the south of England uninhabitable have made their home in a village that is half refuge and half detention centre. The story focuses on one family: the threats they face, the secrets they keep and the scars they bear from the long dangerous journey north.
I’m reading this for the WHEN MOTHER NATURE STRIKES square.
My next Halloween Bingo Reads
I’m adding two more books to the ones I’ve already started. Both are for squares that have already been called. Theyè
I’ve chosen ‘ForNevermore’ for the GENRE HORROR square. This wasn’t on my original list. I added it after reading a review from another Halloween Bingo player. I’m intrigued by the idea of a book written in episodes as if it was already a TV series. I read the opening scene and knew I had to read the rest.
KistFor the URBAN DECAY square, I’ve picked Gwendolyn Kiste’s ‘The Rust Maidens‘. It won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel (2018). It’s been on my shelves for four years now, waiting for me to be in the mood to deal with its darkness. It’s such a perfect for the URBAN DECAY square that I couldn’t let it continue to gather virtual dues in Audible library
Additions to my Halloween Bingo Wishlist.
I love short stories, especially genre short stories. ‘Twice Cursed‘ is a collection of thirteen short stories about curses. It has multiple narrators and features stories from: Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Sarah Pinborough, Angela Slatter, M.R. Carey, Laura Purcell, Helen Grant, Mark Chadbourn, L.L. McKinney, A.K. Benedict, Christina Henry, A.C. Wise, Kelley Armstrong, Katherine Arden, Joanne Harris and Adam LG Nevill.
‘The Sanitorium‘ appeals to me because it sounds like a good thriller – mayhem unleashed on hotel guests when a fierce storm cuts off an Alpine hotel thats been converted from a sanatorium and because it seems to be set in the mountains above Crans Montana which was one of my favourite resorts when I lived in Switzerland. It also kicks off a new detective seres.
I bought ‘Graveyard Shift’ because it sounds like an ideal novella to listen to on my long drive north this month. Also, it’s populated by insomniacs, so I should feel right at home.
I was drawn to this series by a review of the fourth book in this post-apocalypse survivor wilderness thriller. I went looking the for the first book, ‘Edge Of Collapse’ (which has a great premise) and found that I was being offered the first three audiobooks as a ‘Boxed’ edition for the same price as the first book. So now I have three more books on my TBR:
Books from my TBR shelves that I’ve been reminded of
I bought Jennifer McMahon’s pyschological thriller ‘My Darling Girl’ a year ago and then forgot that I had it. When I read the Halloween Bingo review, I thought ‘I’d like to add that to my wishlist’ and only then discovered I already owned it. After slapping my forehead,, (a wide hard thing that’s used to this treatment) I promised myself that I’ll read this soon.
Mike Finn's Fiction 