My Review (5 stars out of 5) After years of struggling with addiction, Sydney finds herself and her young son in a nice house, with a decent job and a loving partner. But when she unexpectedly encounters a burglar, the sequence of events before her escape to a neighbour’s house, become blurred. While she’s recovering…
Dialogue Tags and Other Irritations
I’m sure most writers work hard at their craft, constantly finding ways to improve their writing, to make their work better, more appealing, and more fun to read. From my very first novel – a children’s adventure titled The Devil’s Porridge Gang – I did my best to make the novel like one I would…
‘Laundry Man’ by Jake Needham
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Former high-flyer with a Washington law firm, Jack Shepherd has taken a job teaching international finance in Bangkok, where he expects life to roll along with no possibility of excitement or thrills. But when a former colleague calls him out of the blue, it’s a bit of a…
‘Did I Ever Tell You This?’ by Sam Neill
My Review (5 stars out of 5) (Audiobook) During 2022, Ireland-born Sam Neill began making a few notes which eventually became a book. This is the story of his life from doing odd jobs on farms to working with the likes of Meryl Streep, Isabel Adjani, Sean Connery, Steven Spielberg and Jane Campion. Sam Neill…
‘Dinner at the Happy Skeleton’ by Chris Chalmers
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Pushing 40, Dan is a gay man in the Noughties, single and promiscuous, and in an odd relationship with two men. When he is sacked from his job with an advertising firm, Dan finds himself with a bit of time and money and no particular desire to hunt…
What’s All This First Draft Nonsense?
Whenever I read blogs or Twitter posts by an author who’s just finished the first draft of their WIP (work in progress), I always wonder if I’m the only person in the world who thinks first drafts are just another way of saying, ‘what I’ve written is crap so I’m going to do it all…
‘A Dutiful Son’ by Kelly Miller
My Review (4 stars out of 5) Struggling to honour his father, Fitzwilliam Darcy is faced with a dilemma when the old man determines that Elizabeth Bennet is not the girl for his son. When Darcy’s sister Georgiana gets chummy with Elizabeth, Darcy hopes his father will recognise her qualities, but love and duty seem…
‘The Vesuvius Club’ by Mark Gatiss
My Review (4 stars out of 5) When several British scientists turn up dead, Edwardian painter and secret agent Lucifer Box sets off across Europe to track down those responsible. Leaving his residence at 9 Downing Street, Box delves into all things seedy and debauched as he follows the clues and the dead bodies to…
‘Killing the Invisible’ by Keith Dixon
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Detective Inspector Walter Watts tries not to let emotions get in the way of his job, but the murder of a young girl lands him with some difficult decisions. Moved to a temporary post with the Porthaven Council, Watts finds himself facing off against some obstinate characters, including…
The Upstanding Writer
I’ve written elsewhere about my habit of standing up to write, but it’s always useful to reconsider ways of working to see if they’re still effective. For the last ten years my day job has been in occupational therapy, a role which involves a bit of driving and a bit of desk work. Long-standing back…
Colin Garrow 