It’s been a while since I read a Jessica Daniel book and it took me a minute to get back into the world again. If I’m honest, I could only remember the huge elements of the series so far, not all of the details, but as always with a book like this, anything important was given a timely reminder where it impacted on the current story. It felt a little bit like this book was missing a huge central crime, there were a few ongoing cases of course, but that’s because it was more about what was going on behind the scenes.

Loved this! So good it totally sucked you in. I was a bit annoyed when we first switched from Edwina’s point of view (memories from a sprawling house whilst showing round an estate agent) to Fern’s - who is this person and why does it matter? But gradually you get those hints and links and it all starts to add up. And then one more major switch to fill in all the gaps before heading towards a satisfying, if not quite happy, ending. So well written, engaging, and sad but with a hopeful lilt towards the end. Great stuff.

This was a good little book, solving the mystery of a body found under the flagstones having previously been assumed missing in a storm. Ultimately there were only a couple of suspects so it took a little while to get to where it was going, but even so, I quite enjoyed spending time with these people. The underlying mystery didn’t grab me but the wider world did and that’s plenty enough.

This is a great resource book for kids and adults alike, delving into all aspects of space. There are breakdowns of each planet in our solar system as well as a view of what’s further afield. There are details about space travel, what has been discovered so far and what future missions might find. And there’s talk of the big bang, of the various types of stars, and quite a big section on constellations and looking up into the night sky. Great book to refer back to in the future.

I think I’ve hit the hat trick of ways to consume this story now - I saw it first on stage, then watched the movie and have now topped it off with the book that started it all. I do like to do things backwards! Again, reading this, I do think I would have found it confusing if I hadn’t already known the story, it dips back and forth in time and character, and actually the three main women are quite indistinguishable for a long period of time - damaged and dealing with difficult men. It’s a good thriller though, and worth sticking with.

What a wonderful book this is. I listened to the audiobook read by the man himself and it’s just a warm, joyous affair, filled with knowledge and love and honesty and fun. Dick dispenses his advice in a way that is completely relaxed and without judgement, whilst still telling us what he thinks is right and wrong. I particularly enjoyed the timeline of events that have happened during his lifetime so far, and his rating them with a school style A-F.

Dived straight into this one off the back of the previous book and in this outing we get a lot more information about our protagonist, Inspector Dixon. He’s got a past and it involves missing persons and boarding schools and lots of secrets. I felt like the case at the heart of the story was a bit odd, it didn’t quite feel true to life to me, but I was happy to go along with it as it was interesting to watch Dixon undercover and how he managed to deal with communicating some things and keeping other things secret. A pretty scary ending as well, a proper thrilling conclusion!

I read this because we watched the film, and it was exactly what I expected - a really good children’s book with some excellent illustrations. It reminded me very much of Roald Dahl in the best possible ways. The film stuck very closely to the book to start with, just a few tweaks here and there, but the ending was quite different. In the book, Nikolas well and truly becomes Father Christmas with the big beard and belly and laugh and older. In the film, he’s still a kid when he has his big idea. The book makes more sense on that front, but I say it’s worth enjoying both!

I’m really getting into David Baldacci books, the more of them that I read, but I have to admit that Will Robie has a bit of a special place in my heart because he’s the first of DB’s many series’ that I got into. This book, then, is a treat, because it gives us so much more information about Robie’s backstory, stuff that has never been revealed before. Our hero has to return to his hometown when his estranged father is arrested for murder, and of course nothing is quite what it seems and there’s a much bigger plot at work. The twist at the end was good too, I should have seen it coming but didn’t, and that made it so much more irritating/brilliant.

It’s taken me a long time to read this as it’s a gorgeous hardback coffee table style book, so I would just dip in and out every now and again. At the heart of it, it’s a week-by-week analysis of how the three Back to the Future films came together, from concept to shooting schedules, to release. There’s lots of great insight, behind the scenes knowledge, and it’s stacked full of great photographs I’ve never seen before.