#WWWWednesday – 1st March 2023

whatcathyreadnext3 Comments

WWWWednesdays

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!

Currently reading

Old God's TimeOld God’s Time by Sebastian Barry (eARC, Viking via NetGalley)

Recently retired policeman Tom Kettle is settling into the quiet of his new home, a lean-to annexed to a Victorian castle overlooking the Irish Sea. For months he has barely seen a soul, catching only glimpses of his eccentric landlord and a nervous young mother who has moved in next door. Occasionally, fond memories return, of his family, his beloved wife June and their two children, Winnie and Joe.

But when two former colleagues turn up at his door with questions about a decades-old case, one which Tom never quite came to terms with, he finds himself pulled into the darkest currents of his past.

I saw the name of the author, read the blurb and this was a no-brainer to request from NetGalley. I’m not a long way through it but I can already see why the publishers describe it as ‘a beautiful, haunting novel’.

The Spy Across the WaterThe Spy Across the Water by James Naughtie (ARC, Head of Zeus)

Will Flemyng, originally trained as a spy, is now British ambassador to Washington. Meanwhile, his older brother Mungo is recuperating from a heart attack in their beloved Scottish highland family home, and Abel, the youngest of the three, has died mysteriously in America. Abel’s unexplained death sets in motion an unstoppable chain of events, beginning with an unexpected glimpse of a face at his funeral.

Soon Will finds himself on a dangerous journey into his clandestine past, from conflict in Ireland to the long shadows of the Cold War. Will possesses a silky veneer, but he often doesn’t know who to trust, nor who trusts him. Now he finds himself alone once again as duty forces him to risk everything…

Why has the past come back to haunt him now?

I know the author as a radio and TV broadcaster but he’s new to me as an author. This is the third book in his series of spy thrillers but I’m hoping it can be enjoyed without having read the previous two.  Described by one reviewer as having ‘echoes of le Carré’ was enough to tempt me.

Recently finished

Cut Adrift (Jen Shaw #2) by Jane Jesmond (Verve Books)

Nothing Special by Nicole Flatterly (Bloomsbury)

The Last Party at Silverton Hall by Rachel Burton (Aria)

What Cathy (will) Read Next

The RomanticThe Romantic by William Boyd (Viking) Longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2023

Born in 1799, Cashel Greville Ross experiences myriad lives: joyous and devastating, years of luck and unexpected loss.

Moving from County Cork to London, from Waterloo to Zanzibar, Cashel seeks his fortune across continents in war and in peace. He faces a terrible moral choice in a village in Sri Lanka as part of the East Indian Army. He enters the world of the Romantic Poets in Pisa. In Ravenna he meets a woman who will live in his heart for the rest of his days. As he travels the world as a soldier, a farmer, a felon, a writer, a father, a lover, he experiences all the vicissitudes of life and, through the accelerating turbulence of the nineteenth century, he discovers who he truly is.

This is the romance of life itself, and the beating heart of The Romantic.

#BlogTour #BookReview #Ad Cut Adrift by Jane Jesmond @VERVE_Books

whatcathyreadnext1 Comment

Cut Adrift - blog tour posterWelcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Cut Adrift by Jane Jesmond. My thanks to Hollie at Verve Books for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my digital review copy. Cut Adrift is available now in paperback, ebook and audiobook format.

Cut AdriftAbout the Book

Risk everything, trust no one.

Jen Shaw is climbing in the mountains near Alajar, Spain. And it’s nothing to do with the fact that an old acquaintance suggested that she meet him there…

But when things don’t go as planned and her brother calls to voice concerns over the whereabouts of their mother, Morwenna, Jen finds herself travelling to a refugee camp on the south coast of Malta.

Free-spirited and unpredictable as ever, Morwenna is working with a small NGO, helping her Libyan friend, Nahla, seek asylum for her family. Jen is instantly out of her depth, surrounded by stories of unimaginable suffering and increasing tensions within the camp.

Within hours of Jen’s arrival, Nahla is killed in suspicious circumstances, and Jen and Morwenna find themselves responsible for the safety of her daughters. But what if the safest option is to leave on a smuggler’s boat?

Format: Paperback (320 pages)             Publisher: Verve Books
Publication date: 28th February 2023 Genre: Thriller

Find Cut Adrift (Jen Shaw #2) on Goodreads

Purchase links
Bookshop.org
Disclosure: If you buy a book via the above link, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops

Hive | Amazon UK
Links provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

Cut Adrift is the second book in the series featuring self-confessed adrenaline junkie Jen Shaw, the sequel to On the Edge which  was a Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month. I don’t think it’s essential to have read On the Edge to enjoy Cut Adrift but it would probably help to understand the cause of the fractures in the Shaw family, the impact of which forms a secondary, albeit minor, plot line.  The latter – a wrangle over the sale of the family home in Cornwall – felt like a distraction to me but might have more significance for those who’ve read the first book.

The plot of Cut Adrift is inspired by the very contemporary issue of the smuggling and exploitation of refugees. The author takes her time to build up a picture of the desperate situation faced by people – often women and children –  forced to flee war-torn countries such as Libya and Syria. The dramatic prologue brilliantly brings this to life. Such people are easy prey for smugglers and people traffickers but can also be used as cover by those with more sinister motives.  Having made it across the Mediterrean to the island of Malta, they face long waits to have their asylum claims processed, in the meantime being placed in crowded camps with limited access to medical care. And the influx of refugees is causing problems for Malta as well with rising anti-migrant sentiment. I think we can all call to mind parallels with the situation closer to home.

Cut Adrift focuses on a small group of refugees, including Nahla, a friend of Jen’s mother Morwenna. A journalist and activist, Nahla has been forced to flee Libya with her two daughters, Aya and Rania. (The author does a terrific job of conveying the trauma of such an experience through the character of Aya.)  Unfortunately, whilst Nahla thinks she may have reached safety, that’s not the case.  She’s witnessed something that’s placed her in danger, but what exactly is it?

The death of Nahla trailed in the blurb doesn’t take place until around a third of the way through the book but from that moment on the thriller element really comes to the fore in a series of dramatic scenes that sees the very particular skills of Jen and her mother put to the ultimate test.

Jen finds herself once again in the company of Nick Crawford whom she met in the first book. Although attracted to each other, Jen is frustrated by Nick’s reluctance to talk about his work. As she says at one point, ‘I was sick of lies and secrets and uncertainty. Sick, sick, sick of them.’ She starts to find out more when there occurs what I like to term a ‘Casablanca moment’ – as in “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world,she walks into mine” – but what she discovers doesn’t necessarily put her mind at rest. Who is this man who can seemingly adopt multiple identities? Is he ever really himself?

Jen is a brilliant character. She’s fearless, independent-minded, tough, determined but quite solitary and introspective. When we meet her at the start of the book she’s attempting to rein in her wilder instincts for fear of hurting others and trying to leave behind what she describes as ‘the madness of last summer’ when she’d lurched from one crazy night to another. (Those who’ve read the first book have the advantage over me as far as the cause of this is concerned.) Jen’s the sort of woman who when told to do something, including for her own safety, is likely to do the exact opposite. It’s this that makes her such a great protagonist of a thriller such as Cut Adrift.

A third book in the Jen Shaw series is promised in 2024 which is just as well because, appropriately given Jen’s love of climbing, Cut Adrift ends on a tantalising cliffhanger.

In three words: Compelling, action-packed, contemporary

Try something similar: The Bone Road by N. E. Solomons

Jane JesmondAbout the Author

Jane Jesmond writes crime, thriller and mystery fiction. Her debut novel, On The Edge – the first in a series featuring dynamic, daredevil protagonist Jen Shaw – was a Sunday Times Best Crime Fiction of the Month pick. Cut Adrift has been named as a Times Thriller Book of the Month.  A Quiet Contagion, which Jane describes as ‘an unsettling historical mystery for modern times’, will be published by VERVE Books in November 2023.

Although Jane loves writing (and reading) thrillers and mysteries, her real life is very quiet and unexciting. Dead bodies and dangerous exploits are not a feature! She lives by the sea in the northwest tip of France with a husband and a cat and enjoys coastal walks and village life. Unlike Jen Shaw, she is terrified of heights! (Photo: Author website)

Connect with Jane
Website | Twitter | Facebook