This week in books – 21-03-2018

This Week in Books is a feature hosted by Lipsy at Lipsyy Lost and Found that allows bloggers to share:

What they’ve recently finished reading
What they are currently reading
What they are planning to read next

(though I spotted it on Jo’s Book Blog – go say hi!)

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Last book(s) read:

Everything About You, by Heather Child (Orbit, April 2018)
Freya has a new virtual assistant. It knows what she likes, knows what she wants and knows whose voice she most needs to hear: her missing sister’s.
It adopts her sister’s personality, recreating her through a life lived online. But this virtual version of her knows things it shouldn’t be possible to know.
It’s almost as if the missing girl is still out there somewhere, feeding fresh updates into the cloud. But that’s impossible. Isn’t it?

Really enjoyed this – it’s dark and disturbing in places. If you like Black Mirror, then you’ll love it.

One Way, by SJ Morden (Gollancz, Feb 2018)
ONE WAY opens at the dawn of a new era – one in which we’re ready to colonise Mars. But the contract to build the first ever Martian base has been won by the lowest bidder, so they need to cut a lot of corners. The first thing to go is the automatic construction… the next thing they’ll have to deal with is the eight astronauts they’ll sent up to build it, when there aren’t supposed to be any at all. 

Frank – father, architect, murderer – is recruited for the mission with the promise of a better life, along with seven of his most notorious fellow inmates. As his crew sets to work, the accidents mount up, and Frank begins to suspect they might not be accidents at all. As the list of suspects grows shorter, it’s up to Frank to uncover the terrible truth before it’s too late.

A murder mystery on Mars. Frank is a fantastic, complex character and Mars is a brilliant setting. Recommended.

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Currently reading:

Cross Her Heart, by Sarah Pinborough (HarperCollins, May 2018)
Promises only last if you trust each other, but what if one of you is hiding something?
A secret no one could ever guess.
Someone is living a lie.
Is it Lisa?
Maybe it’s her daughter, Ava.
Or could it be her best friend, Marilyn?

I adore Sarah Pinborough’s writing. She has a fantastic ability to draw you into the lives of her characters before pulling the rug out from under your feet, leaving you questioning whether the rug was ever there or if you’ve just imagined it. I’m about 20% of the way through and have my suspicions, but I’ve been here before with her other books and been hugely surprised by the twists and turns of her storytelling.

The Pull of the River, by Matt Gaw (Elliott & Thompson, April 2018)
In The Pull of the River two foolhardy explorers do what we would all love to do: they turn their world upside down and seek adventure on their very own doorstep.
In a handsome, homemade canoe, painted a joyous nautical red the colour of Mae West’s lips, Matt and his friend James delve into a watery landscape that invites us to see the world through new eyes.

Just started this and already have a hankering for a canoe and a long weekend on the river…

I bought Illuminae, by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff on my birthday *last* January, so figured it was about time I got to it. Plus Rob Boffard and Kate from For Winter’s Nights recommended it to me. It’s startlingly good and splendidly… different. It’s “told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more.”  Weird, but brilliant.

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again

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Next up:

I’m on the blog tour in April for The Ice Swimmer, by Kjell Ola Dahl from Orenda Books. Sounds great!
When a dead man is lifted from the freezing waters of Oslo Harbour just before Christmas, Detective Lena Stigersand’s stressful life suddenly becomes even more complicated. Not only is she dealing with a cancer scare, a stalker and an untrustworthy boyfriend, but it seems both a politician and Norway’s security services might be involved in the murder.
With her trusted colleagues, Gunnarstranda and Frølich, at her side, Lena digs deep into the case and finds that it not only goes to the heart of the Norwegian establishment, but it might be rather to close to her personal life for comfort.

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New books:

This is  a bit of a departure from the template, but I thought it’d be interesting to see which books have turned up/been bought this week. As it’s the first one, I’m going to include the books which have arrived in March so far!

• Rowan & Eris, by Campbell Jeffrys
• Come and Find Me, by Sarah Hilary
• How to Survive in the Wild, by Sam Martin & Cristian Casucci
• The Long Drop, by Denise Mina
• The Punishment She Deserves, by Elizabeth George
• The Bishop’s Pawn, by Steve Berry
• The Pull of the River, by Matt Gaw
• How It Happened, by Michael Koryta
• Pandora’s Boy, by Lindsey Davis

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That’s me for this week.

What are you reading this week? Picked up any new books?