Tag: Reading Challenges

Book Review – The Dark Isle by Clare Carson #20BooksofSummer2025

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About the Book

Sam grew up in the shadow of the secret state. Her father was an undercover agent, full of tall stories about tradecraft and traitors. Then he died, killed in the line of duty.

Now Sam has travelled to Hoy, in Orkney, to piece together the puzzle of her father’s past. Haunted by echoes of childhood holidays, Sam is sure the truth lies buried here, somewhere.

What she finds is a tiny island of dramatic skies, swooping birds, rugged sea stacks and just four hundred people. An island remote enough to shelter someone who doesn’t want to be found. An island small enough to keep a secret…

Format: Hardcover (380 pages) Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 1st June 2017 Genre: Thriller

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My Review

The Dark Isle is the third book in a trilogy. I haven’t read either of the first two but frankly I didn’t find myself at a disadvantage. In fact, if I hadn’t discovered it was part of a trilogy, I don’t think I’d have guessed because it comes across as a fully developed standalone story. However, because I haven’t read the previous two books my review may unwittingly contain spoilers.

The Dark Isle is a blend of spy thriller and family drama that moves back and forth between Sam’s teenage years in 1976 and 1989, some years after her father’s death. She’s now a rather penniless archaeology student working on a research proposal for her PhD and living in a grimy rundown flat with her best friend Becky in an insalubrious part of London.

Whilst spending the summer on a dig in Orkney, Sam catches sight of a figure from the past: Pierce, the father of Anna, her childhood friend who disappeared from her life fifteen years before. She and Anna spent the hot summer of 1976 together, having adventures inspired by the fables told by Sam’s father. Sam was rather starstruck by Anna, in awe of her boldness and maturity. The fact both their fathers worked in undercover roles, albeit employed by different government bodies, created a unique bond between them. Then suddenly it was all over. Anna’s father’s abandoned her and her mother and there has been no communication in the intervening years. It’s almost as if Anna wanted to disappear too.

Sam wonders why after such a period of absence, Pierce has chosen to reveal himself now, and why to her? What does he want from her? And what really happened between Pierce and her father? They’re questions to which Sam can’t resist trying to find the answers, especially because of fragments of conversation between the two men she overheard as a child during a holiday on Orkney.

In searching for answers she unwittingly places herself in danger, as a figure from both men’s past returns with some unfinished business. It leads to some tense and exciting scenes with Sam having to employ all the tradecraft of a spy in an attempt to outwit her pursuers. Not knowing who she can trust doesn’t make it any easier. All she can rely on is her own instincts, and the penknife her father Jim insisted she always carry.

I liked Sam’s transition from quirky teenage loner to slightly grungy, prickly twenty-something. And I really liked the contrast between the wild beauty of Orkney and the remote island of Hoy, and the seedy, rather grimy parts of London Sam inhabits. There’s also a great sense of each time period.

I think what the author did really well is, alongside the espionage element of the plot, give an insight into the impact on a family of someone involved in covert work: the sudden unexplained absences, the mood swings, the constant air of watchfulness, the barely suppressed aggression.

All of this makes The Dark Isle a really accomplished, well-paced thriller. The Dark Isle is book 7 of my 20 Books of Summer.

In three words: Intriguing, atmospheric, pacy
Try something similar: The Bone Road by N. E. Solomons

About the Author

Clare Carson is an anthropologist and works in international development, specialising in human rights. Her father was an undercover policeman in the 1970s. She lives in Brighton.

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Book Review – The Body in the Ice by A. J. MacKenzie #20BooksofSummer2025

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About the Book

Christmas Day, Kent, 1796. On the frozen fields of Romney Marsh stands New Hall, silent, lifeless, deserted. In its grounds lies an unexpected Christmas offering: a corpse, frozen into the ice of a horse pond.

It falls to Reverend Hardcastle, justice of the peace for St Mary in the Marsh, to investigate. But with the victim’s identity unknown, no murder weapon and no known motive, it seems an impossible task. Working alongside his trusted friend Amelia Chaytor, and new arrival Captain Edward Austen, Hardcastle soon discovers that there is more to the mystery than there first appears.

An American family torn apart by war intent on reclaiming their ancestral home, a French spy returning to the scene of his crimes, ancient loyalties and new vengeance combine to make Hardcastle and Mrs Chaytor’s attempts to discover the secret of New Hall all the more dangerous.

Format: Hardcover (368 pages) Publisher: Zaffre
Publication date: 20th April 2017 Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime, Mystery

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My Review

I’m ashamed to say The Body in the Ice has been sitting unread on my bookshelf since I received a copy via Readers First back in 2017. I included it in my list for the 20 Books of Summer 2025 reading challenge precisely so it would not be in the same state next year.

The Body in the Ice is the second book in the series featuring Reverend Hardcastle and his friend, Mrs Amelia Chaytor. Although there are references to events in the first book, The Body on the Doorstep, I didn’t feel at a disadvantage by having not read it. Having said that it would have been nice to know a little more of Hardcastle’s back story, to fill out his own description of himself. ‘I have played at being a theologian, a scholar, a playwright, a duellist, a clergyman and a rake; often all at the same time. I have lived most of my life on a whim… I have been self-indulgent, vain and foolish; even, at times, quite wicked.’

The book includes a map of the area, a floor plan of New Hall and, helpfully, a family tree of the newly returned owners of New Hall, the Rossiters. But just why have they returned now? What is it about New Hall that means someone is prepared to kill to keep it a secret? That’s the conundrum Hardcastle is tasked with solving in his capacity as justice of the peace.

I think the authors really captured the remote beauty of Romney Marsh, especially in winter. The area has been the haunt of smugglers since the 13th century and their landing places, tunnels and hiding places feature in the story, as do the efforts of the ‘preventive’ men (Customs Officers and Excise Officers, separate entities at the time) to disrupt the smuggling operations.

I loved the element of humour, chiefly provided by the person of Calpurnia, the Reverend Hardcastle’s sister. A novelist, she has come to visit in order to gain inspiration for her next book. As she explains: ‘I need a harsh and forbidding landscape… I need to feel the salt wind on my cheek, I need to hear the wild storms rage. I need to know that the people around me are enduring lives of great hardship, battling against the unfeeling elements and the cruelty of wind and wave…’ (We get to hear a chapter from it which I’m guessing the authors had great fun writing.) And Calpurnia reveals she once gave writing advice to Captain Austen’s young sister during a visit to the Austen family’s home at Godmersham. I’ll let you join the dots…

Calpurnia’s presence is not entirely welcomed by Hardcastle who has become used to living on his own, indulging in a glass of port or brandy whenever he wants. As well as plenty of unwelcome advice, Calpurnia brings with her a huge Irish wolfhound named Rodolpho who seems the most cowardly dog on God’s earth. Actually Calpurnia makes some astute observations about the investigation and proves quite formidable during some of the dramatic scenes in the book.

The Body in the Ice is a really entertaining historical mystery with a plot that involves plenty of intrigue, a family feud, some false trails as well as nods to preoccupations of the time, such as the threat of invasion by France. Hardcastle and Amelia make a great team and there’s an interesting cast of other characters. I also enjoyed the detail of life in a small village where nothing stays a secret for long and it’s probably best not to ask where the brandy and tobacco came from.

My copy contained a ‘sneak preview’ of the next book in the series, The Body in the Boat, which was published in 2018. There have been no further books in the series but the authors have written a number of other series.

The Body in the Ice is book 6 of my 20 Books of Summer 2025.

In three words: Engaging, suspenseful, atmospheric
Try something similar: Lady Helena Investigates by Jane Steen

About the Authors

A. J. MacKenzie is the pseudonym of Marilyn Livingstone and Morgen Witzel, an Anglo-Canadian husband-and-wife team of writers and historians who live in Devon and do as much of their writing as possible on the beach or on the moors. They write non-fiction history and management books under their own names and since 2022 they have also begun writing under a second name, R. L. Graham

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