My reading tastes are fairly eclectic. They lean toward the mystery/crime/literary/dark comedy side of things. I like to sleep after reading, so steer clear of horror. I get easily bored with the formulaic and lose patience with romance. I’m totally clueless when it comes to fantasy and can say the same for sci-fi. All that being said, if someone recommends a good read, I’m always willing to give it the first chapter test.
January
My first foray between the pages for 2025 was All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker. What a great way to kick off the year that was. A haunting tale of abduction and murder; an almost missing girl, saved by a missing boy, the unrelenting search for him by his best friend, and his endless search for the phantom friend who got him through the ordeal. Multi-layered and gripping, it kept me on edge right to the end. Be prepared, though; it’s a tome of a book.
Next up was The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre. I found this one fascinating. A cross between a hard-boiled North American police procedural and a cosy British mystery, both eventually stirred into the same mixing bowl. I admit it took me a little while to get to grips with the format but I enjoyed it from start to finish. Brilliant, twisty, funny tales filled with warped family dynamics, sleight of hand mysteries, and a pair of quirky protagonists that, even when braided together, kept me guessing to the very end.
I had a brief chat with Graham Bartlett while we were waiting to de-plane at Gatwick airport after we both attended Murder One in Dublin last October. He was in the row in front on the plane, so I was cheeky and spoke up. He was very gracious, said how much he enjoyed the festival, and told me he’d clocked up 3K words of the next novel during our travels. Bonus for his readers!
I had already read his non-fiction work Babes in the Woods and decided I should tackle his first novel. I’m sometimes a little leery of debuts but I was pretty confident diving into this one. Graham is a former detective and a police advisor. He is an author who really knows his stuff but is capable of revealing that stuff with a delicate touch, not an info dump in sight.
In Bad for Good, he plunges us into a dark world of police corruption complicated by a vigilante gang hellbent on profiting through their own efforts at policing the seamy side of Brighton. It takes the courage and determination of his protagonist Detective Superintendent Jo Howe to untangle all the twists, stepping on the corns of some high ranking officers in the process. I’m always delighted to come across a new series that I enjoy. Force of Hate, the next one in line, is in the TBR pile beside my bed.
That’s the round-up for my January reading. Each one was a winner for me. And yes, I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’ve only mentioned three instead of the resolution four, but All the Colours of the Dark is 608 pages long, so I reckon it counts as two. Looking for February? Stay tuned!
Clo Carey March/25
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Teetering on the Edge 