Book Reviews

First published 2024.  Profile Books paperback, 2024, pp 368, c.90,000 words. This is a very accessible analysis of how likely the world is to get to net zero (increase in CO2 in the atmosphere from human related sources) by 2050.  On the...

First published 1860.  Wordsworth paperback, 1995, pp 459, c.215,000 words. Very much a Victorian novel, this is full of authorial moralising and has a ridiculously melodramatic ending.  The authorial voice slows the narrative pace, something...

A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr First published 1980.  Penguin paperback, 2016, pp104, c.36,000 words. Although short, this is a superb novel.  The protagonist, Tom Birkin, looks back at a brief episode of his life when he was a young...

First published 2020.  Atlantic Books paperback, 2021, pp313, c.70,000 words. This is a Scott of the Antarctic or a Titanic of a book: a magnificent try in so many ways, but ultimately a failure.  I had high hope for it as the predecessor...

First published 1989 (USA title Buying Time).  New English Library paperback, 1990, pp300, c.90,000 words. This is an exploration of one of science fiction’s common themes – life extension.  What changes would such an invention bring about? ...

First published 1956.  Vintage paperback, 2013, pp272, c.85,000 words. This is a cracking thriller, and right in the mainstream of Innes’ work.  As the title suggests, it’s a thriller focused on the sea, and few are as good as Innes in describing...

First published 1990.  Translated by Edith Grossman.  Penguin paperback, 1991, pp285, c.75,000 words. This is a fictional account of the last days of Simón Bolívar, the man who did much to drive the Spanish out of South America.  For...

First published 1969.  Hamlyn paperback, 1978, pp176, c.62,000 words. At first glance this is a straightforward science fiction ripping yarn, but underneath there is an exploration of the impact of a planet very like Earth but with very little...

First published 2020.  Amazon paperback, 2020, pp 282, c.84,000 words. There is a cracking modern thriller here, but it is let down by the lack of editing.  Did Ennew not bother to read it over, or get anyone else to, before uploading it to...

First published 2023.  Atlantic paperback, 2024, pp 496, c.100,000 words. This is one of the very best modern books that I have read.  The beauty and subtlety of the language shines out from first to last, and so much contains what Hilary...