My Week in Books – 22nd March 2020

MyWeekinBooks

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Blog posts

Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was My Spring 2020 TBR. I have a feeling, given the current situation, I have a greater than usual chance of actually getting through my list.

Wednesday – WWW Wednesday is the opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next…and have a good nose around to see what other bloggers are reading.

Thursday – I published an extract from Second Sister by Chan Ho-Kei as part of the blog tour.

Friday – I shared my thoughts on the audio book of Attica Locke’s latest crime novel Heaven, My Home.

Saturday – Prompted by this week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic (see above), I took a look back at how I got on with My Winter 2019/20 TBR.

Sunday – I shared my review of crime novel Containment by Vanda Symon as part of the blog tour.

As always, thanks to everyone who has liked, commented on or shared my blog posts on social media this week.


New arrivals

Three books, all for blog tours. 

HamnetHamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (eARC, courtesy of Tinder Press and Random Things Tours)

Warwickshire in the 1580s. Agnes is a woman as feared as she is sought after for her unusual gifts. She settles with her husband in Henley Street, Stratford, and has three children: a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, Hamnet and Judith. The boy, Hamnet, dies in 1596, aged eleven. Four years or so later, the husband writes a play called Hamlet.

Award-winning author Maggie O’Farrell’s new novel breathes full-blooded life into the story of a loss usually consigned to literary footnotes, and provides an unforgettable vindication of Agnes, a woman intriguingly absent from history.

The Wheelwright's DaughterThe Wheelwright’s Daughter by Eleanor Porter (eARC, courtesy of Boldwood Books and Rachel’s Random Resources)

Can she save herself from a witch’s fate?

Martha is a feisty and articulate young woman, the daughter of a wheelwright, living in a Herefordshire villlage in Elizabethan England. Unusually for the time she is educated and so helps at the local school whilst longing to escape the confines and small-mindedness of a community riven by religious bigotry and poverty.

As she is able to read and is well-versed in herbal remedies she is suspected of being a witch. When a landslip occurs – opening up a huge chasm in the centre of the village – she is blamed for it and pursued remorselessly by the villagers.

But can her own wits and the love of local stablehand Jacob save her from a witch’s persecution and death..

A Ration Book WeddingA Ration Book Wedding by Jean Fullerton (eARC, courtesy of Corvus and Rachel’s Random Resources)

Because in the darkest days of the Blitz, love is more important than ever.

It’s February 1942 and the Americans have finally joined Britain and its allies. Meanwhile, twenty-three-year-old Francesca Fabrino, like thousands of other women, is doing her bit for the war effort in a factory in East London. But her thoughts are constantly occupied by her unrequited love for Charlie Brogan, who has recently married a woman of questionable reputation, before being shipped out to North Africa with the Eighth Army.

When Francesca starts a new job as an Italian translator for the BBC Overseas Department, she meets handsome Count Leonardo D’Angelo. Just as Francesca has begun to put her hopeless love for Charlie to one side and embrace the affections of this charming and impressive man, Charlie returns from the front, his marriage in ruins and his heart burning for Francesca at last. Could she, a good Catholic girl, countenance an illicit affair with the man she has always longed for? Or should she choose a different, less dangerous path?


On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Blog Tour/Book Review: The Canary Keeper by Clare Carson
  • Top Ten Tuesday: Genre Freebie
  • Waiting on Wednesday
  • Blog Tour/Book Review: The Walls We Build by Jules Hayes
  • Buchan of the Month/Book Review: A Lodge in the Wilderness by John Buchan

#BlogTour #BookReview Containment (Sam Shephard #3) by Vanda Symon @OrendaBooks

Containment BT Poster

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Containment by Vanda Symon, the third book in the series featuring police detective Sam Shephard.  Do be sure to check out the post by my tour buddy, Suze at Suze Reviews.

Thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Toursfor inviting me to take part and to Orenda Books for my review copy of Containment


Containment CoverAbout the Book

Chaos reigns in the sleepy village of Aramoana on the New Zealand coast, when a series of shipping containers wash up on the beach and looting begins.

Detective Constable Sam Shephard experiences the desperation of the scavengers first-hand, and ends up in an ambulance, nursing her wounds and puzzling over an assault that left her assailant for dead. What appears to be a clear-cut case of a cargo ship running aground soon takes a more sinister turn when a skull is found in the sand, and the body of a diver is pulled from the sea . . . a diver who didn’t die of drowning.

As first officer at the scene, Sam is handed the case, much to the displeasure of her superiors, and she must put together an increasingly confusing series of clues to get to the bottom of a mystery that may still have more victims.

Format: ebook (320 pages)                   Publisher: Orenda Books
Publication date: 5th January 2020                        Genre: Crime

Find Containment on Goodreads

Purchase links*
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme


My Review

It seems a quirk of fate to be writing a review of a book entitled Containment given current events around the world, especially since here in the UK we seem to have moved beyond containment of COVID-19. On the other hand, what better way to distract yourself than to immerse yourself in a skilfully plotted and absorbing story.

Containment is the third outing for New Zealand police constable and rookie detective, Sam Shephard. I haven’t read either of the previous books – Overkill and The Ringmaster – but this certainly didn’t affect my enjoyment of Containment.  I loved getting to know Sam and her colleagues, such as her mentor, Malcolm Smith (aka ‘Smithy’). Becoming acquainted with her arrogant and misogynist boss, DI Johns (aka ‘Dickhead’ or ‘Shark Face Super Grump’) was less of a pleasure although it was satisfying when his attempts to belittle her by giving her the grotty jobs don’t always work out as planned. I also liked Sam’s housemate and good friend, Maggie, always ready with a glass of wine or some wise advice (if only Sam would take it).

Sam herself is independent, diligent and has a keen sense of justice which means she’s not averse to breaking the rules where necessary. And, although she may be only five feet tall, she’s tough. As she remarks at one point, “You messed with the wrong girl“. Her struggles to be taken seriously in her professional life are not the only challenges she faces. There are ‘now or never moments’ in her personal life as well, some requiring tough decisions.

Containment has all the features you look for in a great police procedural: details of securing crime scenes, gathering evidence, establishing time of death, tracking down witnesses and interviewing suspects. There are a couple of grisly scenes, such as a post mortem, for those that enjoy that sort of thing, and  intriguing use of the science of decomposition. (Sorry if you’re eating while reading this.) The New Zealand setting comes across strongly in the descriptions of landscape and the book introduced me to some new terms such as ‘crib’ and ‘bach’. (In case you’re wondering, a bach – or crib if you’re from New Zealand’s South Island – is a small, usually very modest holiday home or beach house.)

The short chapters help the story zip along and, as Sam and the team close in on the culprit, the tension really builds, especially as it turns out the police are not the only people looking for answers – and they don’t have to follow the rules. I really enjoyed Containment and I’m looking forward to Sam’s next outing and, in particular, how she gets on with her new colleague!

I received a review copy courtesy of Orenda Books.

In three words: Pacy, assured, absorbing

Try something similar: Payback (DI Charley Mann #1) by R.C. Bridgestock

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About the Author

Vanda Symon is a crime writer, TV presenter and radio host from Dunedin, New Zealand, and the chair of the Otago Southland branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors.

The Sam Shephard series has climbed to number one on the New Zealand bestseller list, and also been shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award for best crime novel. She currently lives in Dunedin, with her husband and two sons.

Connect with Vanda
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