S.A.Cosby: King of Ashes, 9781472299192, c format paperback, Headline

I was really looking forward to S.A.Cosby's latest novel " King of Ashes" but this time the violence was just too much for my taste and i could never really  connect with any of the characters as they were all badass violent. 

Roman Carruther, a financial whizz, returns to his family crematory business and his siblings Neveah and Dante when his father is left in a coma after a hit- and-run incident. Dante needs his help desperately after he got himself into debt with ruthless gangsters.  The story becomes more violent with every page and as I said, I really did not care for the story this time. His other work is impressive and ace! 

 William Boyd: The Predicament, 9780241761144, c format paperback, Penguin Random House, publishing September 2025

Great joy, another William Boyd with  chief protagonist Gabriel Dax is about to land. Boyd is one of my favorite writers because of his superb writing and diversity in genre.   His second espionage novel with travel writer Gabriel Dax turned spy working for M16 is such fun to read, one gets easily sucked into the mood of the 1960ies with lots of drinking and smoking still  going on. Dax becomes embroiled in an assassination attempt during JFK's visit to Berlin and still cannot resists the charmes of his handler Faith Green. The Predicament has such a clever plot and is laced with British humor and understatement,  my absolute thumbs up for this read ( I read a proof). 

 Virginia Evans: The Correspondent, Crow Publishing,C format

Paperback

" The Correspondent" by Virginia Evans was a complete surprise  discovery, loved this brilliant book from start to finish.

Sybil Van Antwerp, a feisty outspoken seventy- something former lawyer, is struggling to make sense of her life, retirement and her somewhat troubled communication with her children and her ex husband. 

She has always written letters to all sorts of people, be it to her widowed neighbour, her best friend Rosalie, her brother Felix , Kazuo Ishiguro, Joan Didion, the customer service department of a DNA lab, the disturbed son of a former colleague etc..  And as a reader that is what you get, a book composed of letters she writes almost daily which slowly bring the story of her past to life and uncovers her current struggles. 

I laughed, shed an occassional  tear and ultimately found the story of this prickly pear of a woman who is shedding layers of protective armour trusting her heart more and more very uplifting. Now this storyline could have been smaltzy but it is anything but, blending humor with seriousness, makings for a great reading experience