This I regard as a real find. I was attracted to it as it seems to have a science fiction theme, but the sci-fi element here is rubbish. Stay with me on this, it does not matter.
A group of quirky characters, an unlikely alliance, are brought together as aliens are discovered in the sea and the group are ruthlessly chased by the authorities who regard them as assisting with an alien threat. The chase and the individual problems of the members of the group make it a real page turner. The detail about the aliens is really not important, the book hooks you through its characters and its writing. Unusual, unexpected and just a great read. (There is a follow up in The Collapsing Wave, which is equally good).
When three people suffer strokes after seeing dazzling lights over Edinburgh, then awake completely recovered, they're convinced their ordeal is connected to the alien creature discovered on a nearby beach ... an adrenaline-soaked, deeply humane, life-affirming first-contact novel from one of Scotland's most revered authors...
**Selected for BBC 2 Between the Covers 2023**
'All the drive, curiosity and wonder of his crime and mystery novels ... science fiction gains a new author' Derek B Miller
'If you read one life-affirming book this year, make sure it's this one' Nina Pottell, Prima
'The main characters, their lives and their struggles, are…
Best known as a humorist (and linked to the television programme Qi in the U.K.) the author published a very good science fiction book in 2020, The Last Day in which the world stops spinning. So, this was a surprise. It is best described as a caper. A young man seeks out an existence breaking into and living in houses he knows are empty, at least for a while. All goes well until… he crosses paths with others doing the same thing, a dead body is soon involved and the mounting complications make this a page-turner. Yet it also has a wonderful thread of humor running through it and this makes for an unusual – and irresistible – combination. I loved it.
Property might be theft. But the housing market is murder . . . A Beginner's Guide to Breaking and Entering is a gripping thriller about what it's like to be young, skilled, unemployed - and on the run.
'Fantastic' Zoe Ball 'Madly fun and exciting' Lisa Jewell 'Who knew murder could be so funny. A joyous read from start to finish. I loved it!' Clare Mackintosh 'Witty, dazzling and incredibly addictive' Jenny Colgan 'A bloody brilliant, fantastic book ... I'm bereft now I've finished it' Philippa Perry 'It's laugh-out-loud funny, proceeding at a pace that makes it almost impossible to…
I reckon half the books I read are non-fiction and I love none more than those that explain more about the universe. Astronomy and cosmology are fast moving areas, discoveries come in train. This book has the sub-title: Exoplanets, habitability and the future of humanity. With the main theme of the discovery of more and more planets in solar systems other than our own it ranges wide and explains well.
The thought of planets perhaps like ours, maybe harbouring life of some sort (if not civilisations), fascinates many people, this book might just get you interested in an area that I find has continued to fascinate me over a lifetime.
The science of finding habitable planets beyond our solar system and the prospects for establishing human civilization away from our ever-less-habitable planetary home.
Planet Earth, it turns out, may not be the best of all possible worlds-and lately humanity has been carelessly depleting resources, decimating species, and degrading everything needed for life. Meanwhile, human ingenuity has opened up a vista of habitable worlds well beyond our wildest dreams of outposts on Mars. Worlds without End is an expertly guided tour of this thrilling frontier in astronomy: the search for planets with the potential to host life.
A young woman stuck in a miserable job in a supermarket and struggling to better herself gets herself an informal apprenticeship at a locksmith’s shop. The owner mentors her well and she begins to see purpose in life. But there is more to her boss than meets the eye and before long she finds herself involved in criminal goings-on and ultimately with her life in danger. She needs unlikely allies to help see her through and some of those surprise her too.
A screenplay of the book has been written and was submitted to various film festivals during the year. It won first prize in its category at the Berlin International Screenplay Festival and has won other awards across the globe, including at festivals in Amsterdam, Cambridge (U.K.), New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo. I am not setting my television to record just yet but am keeping my fingers crossed; you never know, a film may follow!
