December 2021 | Page 42

BookTalk

Book Talk with Smiffs book & card store , Nerja

The Horsewoman ( h ) by James Patterson with Mike Lupica . Maggie Atwood and Becky McCabe - mother and daughter , both champion riders - vowed to never , ever , compete against one another . But a dramatic turn of events ahead of the Paris Olympics changes everything . Mother and daughter share a dream : to be the best in the world . Only one rider can fulfil that dream and make history .
“ The Horsewoman is more than a thriller – it ’ s an eye-opening ride through the high-stakes world of equestrian show-jumping . Patterson and Lupica make a great team , writing at a full gallop and with faultless timing of the lives of three fearless women connected by blood , competition , and a passion for fast horses .” ― Carl Hiaasen , bestselling author of Squeeze Me
The Horsewoman leads off this month ’ s Soltalk Hotlist of titles , some entirely new , others moving into small paperback format for the first time or being reissued , sometimes after years out of print . All are due for publication on dates in December , with availability in print this month or in early January . The Hotlist helps readers to budget for and plan book ordering .
Loving Faithful Animal ( l ) by Josephine Rowe starts on New Year ’ s Eve , 1990 , small-town Australia . The mysterious death of the family dog pushes Jack , a former conscript tormented by the horrors of Vietnam , into one of his periodic drugfuelled vanishing acts . His eccentric brother Les remains next door , a gentle fixer-upper missing both trigger fingers , whose loyalties are increasingly torn between Jack and his wife Evelyn . This time , Evelyn lets Jack stay gone . She is lost in recollections of a vibrant youth as her eldest daughter Lani seems intent on misspending her own . And at the heart of it all is Lani ’ s little sister Ru , who sees everything and yet is overlooked in the chaos .
Ragdoll ( p ) by Daniel Cole . Soon to be a major TV series . A body is discovered with the dismembered parts of six
victims stitched together , nicknamed by the press as the ‘ Ragdoll ’. Assigned to the shocking case are Detective William ‘ Wolf ’ Fawkes , recently reinstated to the London Met , and his former partner Detective Emily Baxter . The ‘ Ragdoll Killer ’ taunts the police by releasing a list of names to the media , and the dates on which he intends to murder them . With six people to save , can Fawkes and Baxter catch a killer when the world is watching their every move ?
Ghosts ( l ) by G X Todd . The conclusion to the Voices series . Seven years ago , the voices came . Some people could hear and others despised them for it . As death and destruction spread , a ghostly figure was waiting in the shadows . Now the Flitting Man is ready to show his face - and no one is safe . Pilgrim was made for this broken world . He ’ s chosen his path and will stop at nothing to see it through . Lacey grew up in this changing world . She ’ s lost almost everything to the Flitting Man , but her fight isn ’ t over yet . Albus sees this world as others cannot . The friends that he ’ s kept safe are facing terrible danger . Addison belongs to a very different world . She might just be the future ...
Chessmen ( p ) by Peter May is the nail-biting final chapter in the Lewis Trilogy . Fin Macleod , now head of security on a privately owned Lewis estate , is charged with investigating a spate of illegal game-hunting taking place on the island . This mission reunites him with Whistler Macaskill - a local poacher , Fin ’ s teenage intimate , and possessor of a long-buried secret . But when this reunion takes a violent , sinister turn and Fin puts together the fractured pieces of the past , he realizes that revealing the truth could destroy the future .
Land Girls From Coronation Street ( p ) by Maggie Sullivan . A charming and nostalgic read , perfect for fans of Coronation Street and readers who love stories set in wartime . They are digging for victory on the nation ’ s favourite street . Vera Sharples longs for independence from her interfering mother , Coronation
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