I was suspicious of this book, as I am of any book “written” by a celebrity. But I found myself pleasantly surprised. Osman offers something perfectly crafted to appeal to anyone who has enjoyed a cosy Sunday afternoon detective show.

I haven't managed to get a lot of reading done this month. My mental health has put my mind in a place where concentrating hasn't been easy, which has pushed me more towards TV than books.

I enjoyed The Terror, but at times I felt this was almost despite the writing rather than because of it. The best description I can think of is this novel is “very Stephen King”. Whether this is a blessing or a curse is up to you. 

Andy is my best friend. He was the best man at my wedding. I love him like a brother. We've known each other for almost two decades. I'll always be there when he needs me, and I've always known he'd do the same for me. 

He's also a bastard who abandons his friends to flee the country! 

A fun dark read that’s just long enough to be satisfying without overstaying its welcome.

I didn't get through many books in July, mainly because of how long it took me to get through The Terror.

I went into this City of Thieves blind, not knowing what to expect. What I found was a well researched and entertaining story of a side of the Second World War that we don’t hear a lot about in the West. However, there was something about it stopping clicking with me as well as I thought it should have.  

If you are a reader who prefers beautifully detailed setting and description rather than consistent character and satisfying payoffs, this is the book for you. Where the Crawdads Sing wasn't a bad read, but Owen's experience as a non-fiction nature writer shines through. 

War Lord wraps up the story of Uhtred of Bebbanburg. But as much as I enjoyed it just as much as the previous books in the series, I would have liked something a little more climatic. 

Last month, I officially registered as self-employed.

And, suddenly, I feel comfortable calling myself “A Writer”.

Having hit all the right notes in the first two books of this trilogy, I was eager to see whether Follett had again managed to capture the same magic in the finale. And while I had more issues with Edge of Eternity than with the previous books, that in no way prevents it from being a worthy climax to the series. 

Every so often, I decide to throw a wildcard into my reading pile. And having recently rewatched the entire run of the 1990s adaptations of Jeeves and Wooster, I decided I would finally give reading P.G. Wodehouse a go. 

I picked this book up after reading another of Blessed’s biographies, A Panther In My Kitchen. While that book was a collection of anecdotes about the animals he’s had throughout his life, I was hoping this would be a more linear telling of his life. And while that’s not what I got, it was still a great read.

In the course of three days, one of my articles received over 10,000 hits, and I have no idea why this article has been so wildly successful.

I'm always going to be nervous about a sequel to a novel I loved as much as I loved Fall of Giants. But this is an instance where you don't need to worry. What we have with Winter of the World isn't so much a sequel but rather a continuation of the same story with no drop in quality. 

Carthago takes a little while to grab you, but once it does you find yourself in a rich and complex world. It’s just a shame that the ending doesn’t quite live up to expectations

Does anyone else find it hard when they come to the end of a book or TV show?

When I finish whichever series or story I’ve been invested in for so long, I find myself at a complete loss for what to do next?