My Book Reviews for August 2026
My Book Reviews for August 2026
My Book Reviews for August 2026 comprise a psychological thriller, a satirical whodunnit, a gothic thriller, a horror thriller and a bookclub read.
The Second Home
Lottie and Tim have scrimped and saved to take their young son, Josh, on his first proper holiday. A week in a beautiful, modern apartment by the sea is going to be bliss.
But when they arrive, they discover the adjoining property under reconstruction – scaffolding, drilling, hammering, dust, more dust and indifferent builders.
Lottie marches round to give them a piece of her mind just as the wealthy owners turn up to inspect progress on their second home. They are arrogant and volatile Tobias and aloof Olivia, and their young adult children, defiant Bella and nerdy Drew. Needless to say they and Lottie clash over the renovation and Tobias orders Lottie out without agreeing to restrict the work to reasonable hours. It’s not the last time the families will meet as Tobias and Olivia are staying at a nearby 5-star hotel for the week. Let’s just say things spiral from there…
The story is cleverly revealed through the viewpoints of various members of both families and from the perspective of Marcus, the young architect appointed by Tobias to oversee the project. But Marcus may just have an agenda of his own.
Well written and suspenseful. I enjoyed it and will look out for other books by this author.
Killer Twist
A wickedly sharp murder mystery set at a crime writing festival and award ceremony.
Yellowface meets Magpie Murders but funnier. In fact, the funniest book I’ve read in quite a while, full of sardonic one-liners, deadpan similes and on-the-nail character descriptions. I haven’t been to a crime fiction award ceremony, but I can picture every character Jo Furniss depicts.
She captures each writer, editor, publicist, blogger and fan superbly.
Aggie Catchlove writes grimy crime and even grimier sex. She’s become a self-publishing sensation after her killer twist trended on social media. The book was set to be a TV series until celebrity politician, Kit Stirling, stole the twist for his debut and Aggie’s deal was cancelled.
Jakob Hök is a Nordic writing legend. He tries to cool Aggie’s fury towards Kit Stirling, until he finds out Kit’s second novel will feature a hypnotist sleuth very like his own. He and Aggie plot fictional ways to kill off their upstart rival and are joined in their murderous musings by:
Nathan West – an established author of doorstep-sized political thrillers;
Grant Nash – a hairy biker American who writes cosy crime from his adopted home in the Cotswolds;
Jaxxon Gunner – known for his violent action thrillers – whose real name is Brian and is accompanied by his quiet wife, Sue;
Kumari Moss – sweary primary school teacher who writes psychological thrillers;
Mia Foxton – crime writer and recently retired detective chief inspector.
Also at the festival are:
Joyce Shaughnessy - the editor of reclusive, controversial Patti Stark and of Kit Stirling. It was she who came to Kit with the idea for a killer twist and a second idea about a hypnotist.
Bronte Cuppleditch – Kit’s young publicist;
Jessica – a book blogger and Aggie’s biggest fan, who is showing way too much adoration for Kit Stirling for Aggie’s liking.
When Kit is murdered, various fans are quick to upload videos they took of the murderous conversation between Aggie and Jakob. As crime readers, they know a thing or two about solving murders and they’ve caught the culprits on camera.
Aggie and Jakob realise the only way to clear their names is to solve the crime themselves.
Twisty, crime-writerly fun.
This is an independent review of an early copy. I thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity.
This book with be published on 27 August and can be preordered now.
The Residency
This is a masterclass in how to plot a slowburn Gothic thriller. After a cryptic prologue from the viewpoint of a benefactor, who might have less than noble motives for issuing an invitation, the author uses the first few charters to establish Ginny as an engaging protagonist. She is likeable and a little vulnerable. A former artist, she is very short of money and dreads her violent ex-partner’s release from prison. Her young daughter, Isla, who has had several operations on her hand and is prone to seizures, is being bullied at her school in London.
In desperation, Ginny applies for a three-month artist’s residency on a small Scottish island, owned by a famous, elderly artist. When she’s offered the post, it seems too good to be true and she hesitates. But as her current circumstances are dire, she doesn’t think for too long before she accepts.
The writing is fluent and wonderfully descriptive. The reader joins Ginny and Isla on the small boat from the mainland to the island. We hear the warning in the voice of the boat driver; we creep over the creaking floorboards of the vast mansion where the young mother will live with her daughter and also paint; and we sense the villagers on the island are not telling the new arrivals something they really ought to know. Suspense oozes from every paragraph and we fear for Ginny and Isla, urging them to leave before they meet their doom.
And at the climax of the novel they (and we) encounter an art-based shocker to rival any horror scene that’s gone before. But for me, the most collywobbles-inducing part was the author’s historical note at the end. Yikes.
I’m delighted to have found another author writing in this spooky genre, alongside Wendy Webb and Simone St. James. In particular, this book is reminiscent of Wendy Webb’s ghostly, art-related novels, The Stroke of Winter and The End of Temperance Dare. Great stuff.
This is an independent review of an early copy. I thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity.
From the blurb: 1926 – Five dresses hang from the branches of an old oak tree.
Five women from across the island disappear into the darkness.
Five pages are torn from a diary, lost for 100 years...
2026 – A film crew arrive on the island to capture its legendary history. But not long into their stay, strange noises are heard. Mysterious symbols are found, left by the island's previous occupants. And then the disappearances begin again.
This is a story within a story within a story within a story.
Story 1: Aspiring actress Marin manages to get an audition to appear in a film to be made by a leading producer and screenwriter. She passes the audition and will spend a rehearsal week on a remote island with the producer, director and four well-known actresses.
Story 2: Marin passed the audition by telling a ghost story that is only revealed to the reader late in the book.
Story 3. The film is about five women who disappeared from the remote island a hundred years ago. Their ordeal is slowly revealed through extracts of the diary kept by one of them, Daisy. Marin is set to play Daisy in the film.
Story 4. Dark things happened before the women went to the island in 1926. These are revealed with shocking consequences.
Despite the intricate plot, I’m feeling quite smug as I guessed the twists early on.
Fluently written with interesting detail about film production, this is ideal for readers who fancy a spooky take on And Then There Were None with layers of story and jump scares.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
The Missing Mother of Rose Cottage by Cathy Hayward
After a stressful and heartbreaking IVF journey, Joanne is finally expecting a baby. But mid pregnancy she discovers her mother, who she was told died in childbirth, lived on for a while after the birth.
The story, told from Joanne's viewpoint, follows her pregnancy anxieties as she gradually discovers the horrifying truth about her birth mother. Will she face the same problems as a new mother?
A second timeline is from her birth mother Grace's viewpoint in the weeks before and after Joanne's birth. There is much authentic-sounding description of mental illness as well as 1970s period detail.
A good novel to provoke bookclub discussion.
This is an independent review of an early copy. I thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity.
My News
My dark, horrifying thriller, An Ordinary House, will be published on 1 September in the US and 3 September in the UK.
An Ordinary House
We lived in a house on Beech Avenue.
Outside-People say we're safe now.
But one of us wants to go back.
Back to that house and the darkness it held.
Police raid an ordinary house in a quiet suburban street and find a traumatised teenager held captive with his family. They call him a survivor, but he doesn't know what to believe. His memories don't match what his siblings and the press tell him about his home.
As he struggles to make sense of his new world, he must find and face the truth.
With one of his siblings set on revenge, should he forget his family, or turn from victim to killer?
If you think you might like it, please consider preordering a copy. I don’t understand the hocus pocus of the algorithm but apparently preorders increase a book’s visibility, so that would be a big help.
It would also be great if you marked it as Want To Read on GoodReads or requested a copy from your library or on the Libby app.
After it’s published, it will also be available from bookshops.