Review - The Couple's Secret by Joy Wood

The Couple's Secret by Joy Wood

Publisher: Simon Stream

Release date: 29 October 2026

Back cover blurb: Every couple has their secrets. How far would you go to keep them? Lorna Lloyd has the picture-perfect life: a beautiful home, a successful career, and a handsome and loyal husband, Dan. Everyone thinks she’s won the jackpot… Then a new couple moves in next door. Charming, wealthy, and fun, Perry and Ingrid Hunter are the ultimate power couple. There’s something about Perry’s sparkling smile and Ingrid’s tinkling laugh that make them irresistible. Soon, the four of them are inseparable and Lorna’s safe, predictable life is flipped upside down. Champagne-fuelled dinners turn into luxurious weekends away, and weekends away into holiday vacations – until a tragic accident changes everything. Because not everyone comes home alive. And when the shocking truth emerges, one thing becomes clear… Each couple has been keeping a terrible secret. But whose was worth killing for?

Dan and Lorna Lloyd seem to have everything. A beautiful home, sucessful careers and the icing on the cake - each other.

But Lorna isn't satisifed. 

To put it bluntly, she finds her husband boring. She wants some excitment in her life, and is detemined to find it.

Her best friend Sarah warns her off having an affair and Lorna insists that she is 'happy enough', sometimes she just needs an outlet for her frustations with her husband...

She is hoping that the new coulple who are moving in next door will be a source of distraction. 

It soon becomes apparent that they are. There is something about them that Lorna is immediately drawn too, and soon enough she ensures that Dan is too.

He will do almost anything to please Lorna, perhaps this is one of the reasons that she finds him a bit dull. She doesn't really have to fight to get her own way, and most of the time she gets exactly what she wants.

I'd go so far to say that Lorna is probably a bit spoilt, and she doesn't take kindly to those who disagree with her, or don't let her get her own way. Something that could prove to be quite dangerous ...

I don't think I can say much more without giving anything away, but I really enjoyed this novel, and I look forward to reading more from this author.

The Couple's Secret is available from 29 October you can pre-order it now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review - One Little Lie by Charlotte Leonard

One Little Lie by Charlotte Leonard

Publisher: Simon and Schuster UK

Release date: 13 October 2026

Back cover blurb: It was the small things that weighed Sarah down. The dirty dishes abandoned in the sink. The empty bottle of milk put back inside the fridge. The clothes left crumpled on the floor. A life of never-ending mental load and constant demands. Somewhere along the way, Sarah had become a caretaker for everyone around her, both at home and at work. Then came the lie. One harmless white lie, she thought. Just a little shift in the narrative. And for a while everything became better. But one lie wasn’t enough. It was soon followed by another. And another. Until the truth became something unrecognizable, a distant memory swallowed by fiction. She never intended for it to spiral this way. It was just one little white lie. But the truth would inevitably threaten everything she held dear…

I'm not sure that we are supposed to like Sarah that much, I think that is kind of the point. 

At the beginning of the novel I'll admit, I felt nothing but sympathy for her. I mean we've all lived with an ungrateful family member at some point in our lives, whether that be husband, child, or both.

Her family expect her to do literally everything for them.

So when something happens to Sarah that elicits a tiny bit of sympathy from her extremely ungrateful clan, she can't help but feel validated.

One Little Lie can't hurt, right?

But the first lie, leads to another, and then another.

And so begins a spiral of deception that Sarah finds herself unable to get out of of until it is too late.

This is where I began to question my enjoyment of the novel. I understand what the author was intending, I really do. But morally it did not sit right with me, and I almost didn't finish the novel. 

However, I did persevere, and the afterward/acknowledgments do mention other 'real life' scenarios that are similar to those in the book, but I'm still not sure there is enough justification given. That is my own personal opinion though and I understand that others may really enjoy this book.

One Little Lie is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the pubishers who approved my request via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review - the Fifteenth Man by William Cook

The Fifteenth Man by William Cook

Publisher: Viper

Release date: 1 October 2026

Back cover blurb: THE WALL MAY HAVE FALLEN. BUT THERE ARE STILL NAZIS IN BERLIN. Wannsee, 1942 Fifteen of the most powerful men in the Third Reich meet in secret. Their goal: the implementation of the Final Solution. West Berlin, 1990 Anglo-German journalist Michael Braun makes a living tracking down old Nazis. But since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Fleet Street's interest has waned, and he needs more than another concentration camp guard or petty bureaucrat to sell a story. Then Braun is offered an improbable assignment: during the storming of the East German Stasi headquarters, files were found that show a Nazi may have been hiding in Berlin for decades. And not just another low-ranking soldier but Heinrich Müller, head of the Gestapo. The only Nazi at the Wannsee Conference whose fate is unknown since he disappeared from Hitler's bunker in 1945. Desperate for money, Braun takes the job. But the man he's hunting - Müller or not - knows how to stay hidden. And how to protect his secrets...

Michael Braun is a journalist living in Berlin. He is known for his coverage of 'difficult' and 'undesirable' jobs, and is good at making people accoutable for their actions.

So it shouldn't be a surprise when he is tasked with investigating a Ninety year old man, a former Nazi officer masqeurding as a concentration camp survivor. But it is a difficult and complex case that no one else wants. 

Braun isn't even sure he wants it...

The former Nazi officer in question, thinks he has gotten away with his abhorrent past. But he has made one fundamental error, his alter ego's friend from before the war is still alive, and they have kept in touch.

The friiend is still holding on to forbidden feelings that the Nazi's would have killed him for if they had found out. And he has no idea that Ausberger is not who is he says he is.

Braun must find Ausberger before he gets to the friend. Or all of their lives will be in danger. For Ausberger is not just any old Nazi, he is one of the orcestatros of the final soolution and he was there in person at the Wanasee conference. 

Despite the years since the War he may well still be one of the most danegoues men in Berlin.

I enjoyed reading about Braun, who as an investigate journalist was acting more like a police detective and it was interesting to see the 'story' from his perspective. 

The Fifteenth Man is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request in exchange for an honest review.

Review - Bad Words by Rioghnach Robinson

Bad Words by Rioghnach Robinson

Publisher: HarperCollins

Release date: 08 October 2026

Back cover blurb: This rivalry is setting the literary world on fire – but who will survive the flames? When Selina Chan, New York’s fiercest literary critic, slams Parker Navarro’s latest novel, he is pushed to his breaking point. Once was painful enough. But this time, it’s personal. What begins as a private feud quickly erupts into a viral online spectacle, captivating a bookish audience who are eager to fan the flames. But it's what's left unsaid that could ruin them both…

Selina Chan is perhaps New York City's fiercest literary critic. She read Parker Navarro's debut novel, and absolutely slaughtered it. 

So it shouldn't be a surprise to Parker when she does the same thing to his second novel. But for some reason it is.

Parker is deeply hurt by her review. He is proud of his work and yes, he knows that critics have the right to an opinion, and even to not like a book, but when it seems to be a personal attack, then someone has crossed the line.

When Parker bumps into Selina at a literary event he almost ignores her, but then he reconsiders. 

The two of them have it out in what they think is a private spat. Not realising that they are being witnessed, and filmed...

When their fiery argument goes viral, people are quick to take sides. Soon what started as a disagreement between two indiviudals quickly escalates into something much bigger.

Theen something between the pair shifts as they call a truce over Christmas and New Year, and what follows is surprising for both of them. 

Bad Words is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review - The Last Train from Paris by Suzanne Kelman

The Last Train from Paris by Suzanne Kelman

Publisher: Bookouture

Release date: 1 October 2026

Back cover blurb: Paris, 1943: Charlotte clutches the children tightly to her as they board the train. “Don’t worry,” she whispers to them softly. “I will get you to safety, I promise…”. Charlotte Villette watches in horror as the train leaves the station in a cloud of smoke. Five innocent children stare back at her through the glass, tears running down their cheeks. She promised to keep them safe but, now they have been separated by the Nazi guards, how can she protect them? For days, Charlotte searches for the missing children. They know the plan was to travel to her aunt’s village, but could they really find it on their own? When she finally arrives, she is overjoyed to see them. But joy soon turns to fear when she discovers the Nazis are already searching the property, and they must run for safety once more. When she meets Luc, a Frenchman with his own scars from the war, he offers to help them. As the weeks pass, Charlotte begins to trust him. Sitting with him in the candlelight once the children are asleep, she realises his quiet kindness and bright blue eyes have made her feel safe for the first time in years. But just as she’s wondering whether there can be light in the darkness of war, a Nazi officer she fears from her past steps back into her life, threatening everything she has fought to protect. How far will Charlotte go to protect those she has grown to love? And will she be brave enough to make the ultimate sacrifice to save them?

The Last Train from Paris is the last in a series of books about 'the Paris Sisters', which I did not realise when I started it. However, I did not feel that I didn't understand what was going on, and it didn't detract from my enjoyment, despite not having read the others in the series.

WW2, Paris, Charlotte Villette is responsible for Five children that are not hers. She must get them to safety across ocuupied France, otherwise they may lose their lives to the Nazi regime. 

Luc is bought in to help, he is reluctant at first. He has suffered the terrible loss of his wife and his daughter, and doesn't want to be close to the children, but deep down he knows that being in the resistance, and helping these kids is the right thing to do.

One of the Five, Kurt is a German Jew whose religious text falls out of his pocket at the train station and his life and Charlotte's are endangered as they lose the rest of their party. Is their journey over before it has begun?

Years later Sophie's (one of the five) daughter, Esther brings the survivors together as she believes it will help Sophie who is in the early stages of dementia. 

Of course she knows it will be difficult for them all, but she doesn't realise just how many secrets they might have been holding on to, and how trauma can make you misinterpret how things might have happened in the past.

Add in a local documentary maker who wants to showcase the past in a beneficial way to his own family, and it becomes difficult to understand the real truth...

The Last Train from Paris is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my requst via Netgalley in excahnge for an honest review.

Review - A Game of Cat and Killer by Jiro Akagawa [Translated from the Japanese by Haydn Trowell]

A Game of Cat and Killer by Jiro Akagawa [Translated from the Japanese by Haydn Trowell]

Publisher: Quercus Books
Release date: 24 September 2026
Back cover blurb: Detective Yoshitaro Katayama is afraid of many things: heights, dark spaces, blood and . . . women. When a young female student is found murdered, he's given two choices - review the harrowing crime-scene photographs or head to Hagoromo Women's College to investigate - and reluctantly opts for the latter. But the murders don't stop, and soon Katayama has a different surprise on his hands: a calico cat named Holmes, orphaned her owner falls victim. Surely that's the last thing Katayama needs. Until Holmes begins to display some uncanny investigative instincts of her own . . . Introducing one the most iconic investigative duos in crime fiction - a hapless detective and his capable cat - A Game of Cat and Killer is a must for all readers of Japanese cat fiction and classic crime.

A Game of Cat and Killer is the first in Jiro Akagawa’s long-running Mikeneko Holmes series, originally published in Japan in 1978 and now translated into English by Haydn Trowell. 

Detective Yoshitaro Katayama, a rather unlikely Police Detective who has followed in his late Father’s footsteps is our lead protagonist.

Unlikely because it probably wouldn’t have been his own choice of career. Particularly as he is scared of heights, and rather inconveniently for a detective, blood.

He is also extremely nervous of the opposite sex. 

Unfortunate when he is about be the lead detective on a murder investigation at a women only college!

When a student at Hagoromo Women’s College is murdered, Katayama is sent to investigate. Before long the College Dean is also dead, apparently murdered in a room that has been locked from the inside. 

A locked room murder mystery if you will...

The Dean leaves behind his faithful companion, Mikeneko (calico) cat, Holmes, who attaches herself to Katayama and helpfully lends a paw to Detective proceedings. 

What follows is a complex set of murders that need urgently solving. Is there an intellectual serial killer on the loose, or is the truth closer to home?

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to hopefully reading more in the series.

A Game of Cat and Killer is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review - Seek Immediate Shelter by Vincent Yu

Seek Immediate Shelter by Vincent Yu
Publisher: Duckworth Books
Release date: 6 August 2026

Back cover blurb: BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. One ordinary morning, in an unexceptional town, every mobile phone lights up with the same emergency alert. 

In this compelling, darkly funny and moving debut novel, each of Vincent Yu’s utterly relatable, flawed characters is given a choice: in the face of mutually assured destruction, do we reach for grace and mercy or do we hold on to hate and fear? 

Seventeen minutes later the town learns via text that it was a false alarm and the question changes. Can we forgive each other for what’s been said and done when the world didn’t actually end?

Seek Immediate Shelter - this is not a drill. 

What would you do if you got this message?

It's a theme explored brilliantly in a book I read last year, 59 Minutes by Holly Seddon. This tackles the same subject, but in a very different way.

I've seen some poor reviews of this book, which I actually think are unfair.

We know what we are going into when we start this, we already know that this is a false alarm, and that we are exploring the stories of different characters, some of whom whose lifes are entwineed, some not. 

Some have said it’s difficult to follow the different stories, but I don’t think it was at all. And I liked how they were intertwined with each other, sometimes without even knowing it.

I don’t think it’s any coincidence that this book was published on 6 August. The anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. 

Something to really make us think about the horrific use of these weapons and the destruction and devastation that they cause.

The way that the threat of them terrifies people. Partly due to the unknown. And partly due to what we do know, about Hiroshima.

This is a thought provoking book that I actually really enjoyed. 

Seek Immediate Shelter is available now via Amazon online and all book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.