Category: Book reviews – fiction

Natasha Brown, Assembly, (Penguin, 2022)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit/56646330

A subtle, poetic insight into racism and class differences

This beautiful novel is hard to get into at first. You can’t tell who the protagonist is or who the narrator is.

A few chapters in, we understand that it’s about a woman, her relationship and her emotional journey. She, the narrator, is of Jamaican heritage, ‘socially ascending’. She has cancer. She is the effort her company makes towards ‘diversity’. He is from ‘old money’. He ‘loves the stories of monstrous men doing hideous things in glossy offices and Michelin restaurants’. His parents welcome her into the family’s grand manse; she is testament to their woke-ness, an ‘exotic, exposed other’.

Minor characters are mentioned—Rach, Merrick, Lou (is he the boyfriend?)—whom we don’t know much about.

The scenes give us her emotions, but not much story. This is actually quite powerful. We feel that she’s narrating the story as if watching it from afar, showing us how she feels about things without telling us what those things are. She admits that ‘to protect [her]self’ she ‘considers events as if they’re happening to someone else’. I feel as if the story is happening in slow motion, like a perplexing dream.

The writing is beautiful, enigmatic, almost like poetry. There is a deep sadness to the tone. Most remarkable is the profound insight into the nuances of the emotions embedded into racism and class differences. This is a subtle, unique masterpiece.

Michael Lockhart, The Secret of Fire, (2026)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8585695785

Caucasus black ops flops

Following a hilarious Victory Parade fiasco, the President of the republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia Victor Azarov hires Annie Jordan as a PR rep. She is secretly ‘dying inside’, mourning the death of her 4 year old son. MI6 Agent Martin Locke wants to promote this arrangement to undermine regional stability and ‘keep Russia feudal’.

There is ethnic strife in the North Caucasus republic, between Azarov’s Karachai and the Cherkess, led by Alibek Ismail-Zade and possibly a secret extremist organisation. The contention is mostly over the Russian invasion of 1849-61 and the Cherkess’ accusations that the Karachai had sold them down the river.

The ancient rivalry is played out on the modern stage of television and PR, which is quite funny. Annie knows her stuff about photo ops, but the entrenched history of the region is beyond her ken. British and Russian intervention have, of course, disastrous consequences.

The Plot is serious, but there are some humorous elements, as apparatchiks fiercely defend their little patches and rehearse their ancient prejudices. Locke and his Russian counterpart Tarasov are spooks of the old order from the ‘glory days’ of the Cold War, who look amusingly old-fashioned.

The author has a great feel and understanding of the time (1999) and place, but I wondered about the structure. It’s largely communiqués to and from Locke and others and excerpts from Annie’s journal, leaving me confused as to whose story this is.

This approach does, however, lend a certain distance between the audience and the characters, making all of them, in fact, into possibly unreliable narrators. I found that fascinating. We don’t know whether Azarov is a Hero Of Our Time  or a villain. Is Locke a drunken bumbler, or is he surreptitiously accomplishing his black ops mission?

This is a light-hearted peek inside a Russian republic without the darkness of Russian literature.

Andrew D Thompson, A High-Performing Mind, (ISBN Canada, 2026)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218075114-a-high-performing-mind

A 12-step programme for training your mind for success

The author outlines the ’12 Attributes of High Performers’, a self-improvement programme he developed through coaching athletes and by working through his own devastating health crisis. These mental tools and life-changing strategies he has found can apply to any walk of life to help achieve your goals.

He begins with the story of his own personal crisis, suddenly developing a serious phosphate deficiency, which had debilitating effects and which health professionals, transfusions, vitamins, new diet, etc. were little help in addressing.

He recommends working through the chapters one by one to give you the chance to practice the new mind skills. Each chapter begins with a pertinent personal anecdote, making it enjoyable reading, and ends with a checklist questionnaire to get you started on your way to new goal-oriented mental habits and help you to ‘make it stick’.

I decided to set myself a goal while reading this. My ambition is to write and publish my books, but I’m already fairly motivated on that front. Much harder for me is the daily life stuff – paying bills, doing my taxes, clearing out the shed. I set myself the goal of ‘Finishing my To Do List’ to accomplish by the time I finish reading the book. I’m going to get started as soon as I post this review (Stop procrastinating).

This book taught me a lot of what I already know, yet still have trouble implementing into my life practices, mainly regarding training my mind to think positively. I made a chart listing the 12 Attributes and put it on my bulletin board.

James Ferguson, Death in Sumer, (Holand Press, 2026)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8613979345

The Wildman is civilised; the king seeks immortality

Wildman Enkidu is seduced by harimtu (sacred prostitute) Shamhat. Like Adam, after coupling with the woman, he is changed—shaves, wears linen clothing, moves to the city, drinks beer. Is Enkidu ‘fallen’ for having slept with Shamhat, or ‘elevated’? Is losing part of his animal nature a defeat? He battles with Bilgames (Gilgamesh) king of Uruk, whom Enkidu curiously resembles, and the two become friends.

They embark on an expedition to the Cedar Forest to cut timber for the doors of Enlil’s temple and slay the monster Huwawa. In revenge for Bilgames’ refusing her advances, the goddess Ishtar sends the Bull of Heaven against him, which he defeats with Enkidu’s help. Cursed, Enkidu is struck with a fever and dies.

Grief-stricken Bilgames seeks immortality and goes in search of Uta-napishti, a survivor of the Flood. Meanwhile Enkidu, resurrected, defeats Kish, marries the princess and becomes king in his absence.

I’m a bit over-familiar with the story, and this is not a capturing of the ancient genius loci. It’s a ‘counter-narrative’, inventing new plot points, some of which I found unnecessary, yet with more character drama.

Contains some gems of ancient Sumerian life and ritual—e.g. how heavy barges were towed upstream, drinking beer through straws, pouring libations to the gods of circles of flour, maidens chanting in emersal (a dialect mimicking the voices of goddesses). I liked some of the directly-translated-sounding phrases, like ‘runs with the gazelles’, ‘the birthing one’, ‘sticks-which-hurt’. Loved the double-speaking of the oracle owls of Inanna.

It’s 2700 BCE, when cities were not so separate from the wildness of nature around them. Enkidu is perhaps the personification of the process. It’s an undying story and told well, a mythical tale dating from the dawn of civilisation, behind which we sense some tantalising hints of real history.

This review first appeared in Historical Novels Review.

Donald S Murray, The Loch of the Bees, (Saraband/Contraband, 2026)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8613951916

The story of a Hebridean loch, with bees

Guss struggles to his feet beside Loch nan Seillean (Lake of the Bees) after a battle, bees, messengers to the afterlife, buzzing around the bodies on top of him. He and his clansmen had come to this part of the island to raid.

Some time later, Brother Colm builds his shieling (hut) there, a haven away from St Catan’s Chapel. Supplicants come to seek his healing; Brother Dicuil has told them where he is. Before the Norsemen came.

We feel the raw beauty of the Hebridean isles, winds whistling over tree-less hills, cushioned with heathers and lichens, the Northern Lights in the night skies over the mountains, a heron waiting motionless for a trout. Gods’ country, both the old gods and the new. Here be the demons of Hebridean folklore, the murderous Mac an t-Srònaich, the lake monster Searrach Uisge.

From time to time, the dialogue sounds like it’s been translated from another language, where sometimes I fancy I hear them speaking in Gaelic.

The novel has an innovative structure. There’s no plot per se; instead, it’s a series of vignettes with the loch as setting. Interspersed are invented news articles, entries from logbooks, songs in Gaelic. It tells a long story of life around the loch (modelled on Loch Dibadale), from the eighth to the twenty-first century; each age with its own protagonist.

The eighth century Highlander, the anchorite who can’t escape the crowds, pilgrims seeking miracles from St Catan, the fishermen pressganged onto a British warship to fight Napolean, the schoolboy who refuses to speak English, the people driven from the land by Lord Langavat. Each leave clues in the bog to the mysteries in their lives, mysteries the bees continue to whisper.

The author was inspired by the archaeological treasures he’s found in various island lochs.

This review first appeared in Historical Novels Review.

Conn Iggulden, Inferno, (Michael Joseph, 2026)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8613921808

The story of an ancient narcissist

A slavegirl breaks a valuable vase belonging to her master Senator Pedanius. In defense of her daughter, her mother kills him.

Elsewhere in the great city, thirty slaves ready the emperor for the day.

By law, all 400 of Pedanius’ slaves must be killed for the crime of one. Nero enforces the ruling. He is divorcing his wife to marry mistress Poppaea. Two decisions unpopular with the plebs. They are chanting her name in the streets, with torches. Nero doubles down; Octavia is banished to Pandateria. Poppaea is a schemer, but we grieve with her when baby Claudia dies.

The king of the Iceni is dead, and the queen’s daughters are screaming. We see the battle for Britannia through Suetonius’ eyes and through Boudicca’s (whom Iggulden names Ymma). But it’s the Great Fire which is exciting. The Fire is deliberately caused by the Christians, in order to fulfil their prophecy of the End Days. Nero personally sets the scapegoats alight in the arena. We meet St Paul and St Peter, and to give us more footage of the Christians, Iggulden makes prefect Burrus a convert.

This Nero is the wanna-be musician, surrounding himself with sycophants who’ll clap for him, but with more power now, he’s become more of a tyrant. Nero’s insistence on the sycophancy goes to extremes; he doesn’t seem to require sincerity. He watches his audience eagerly, in case they register a flicker of inattention to his performances. Vespasian nods off and gets sent to Judaea.

And yet there are moments of strong leadership, before narcissism triumphs. He rises to the occasion of the Great Fire, devoting his own wealth to the relief.

Multiple point of view characters make it interesting and pacey. The writing is gorgeous, and filled with intimate details of ancient Roman life.

This review first appeared in Historical Novels Review.

Christophe Medler, Birth Right, (2026)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8613894402

1536. Robert Pakington MP is murdered outside the Chapel of St Thomas of Acon on his way to Mass, becoming a Protestant martyr. Inside the chapel is acolyte Juan Zaragoza, a Spanish orphan who had looked to Robert as a father figure. Robert’s dying words suggest some great secret. Inexplicably, he bequeaths a goodly sum of money to Juan in his will.

It seems that the secret Robert died with on his lips has something to do with Juan and, more specifically, Juan’s ‘parentage’. In a letter to Juan which Robert leaves with his will, he refers to it as ‘holy’. It also might have something to do with the shady, now banned, Knights Templar.

Juan teams up with Jamie, a man familiar with the darker elements of Cheapside, to seek out the murderer. Meanwhile, the two young men are being followed, and there are more murders.

Pursuing their inquiries from Scotland to Aragon, they uncover one of the greatest secrets in Christendom. Juan may turn out to be the Catholic Church’s last great hope.

Juan and Jamie, and the minor characters who help them on their quest, are all well developed and interesting.

The historical murder of Robert Pakington is a wonderful subject for a murder mystery, setting the investigation within the context of Protestant/Catholic conflict during Henry VIII’s Reformation. Weaving into the mystery references to a ‘hidden bloodline’ makes a super-exciting plot device.

Simon Scarrow, Tyrant of Rome, (Headline, 2026)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8500027272

The first century emperor comes to life

62 CE Centurion Macro and his wife Petronella are caught up in some trouble at the Forum. 400 slaves are being executed for the crime of one, and there’s a mob outside. Macro and Petronella are raising the love child he sired on Queen Boudica.

Cato has secretly married Nero’s former mistress Claudia Acte. He reports to the palace on his return from Britannia, fresh from defeating Boudica’s rebellion. Emperor Nero is impressed and appoints him Prefect of the Urban Cohorts, though Cato would really rather retire. He makes an early enemy of Albanius, a crony of Nero’s new sycophant, Tigellinus, and appoints Macro in his place. The two friends are on duty together again, and they proceed to whip the cohorts into shape.

Vespasian attempts to recruit Cato into Piso’s conspiracy against Nero. Seneca has dirt on him; he knows about Claudia.

A grain fleet from Sicilia wrecks in a storm off Ostia, and there’s a fire in Rome.

The characters arrive with rich personalities and backstories established in previous Scarrow books—an impressive 24 novels spanning Roman history 42-62 CE. All the characters are multi-faceted, and the fictional and historical characters intersect interestingly.

The plot is exciting. The wonderful, colourful dialogue is in modern vernacular, so, these people from 2000 years ago seem familiar. And it provides some clever quips—eg ‘Pardon my Gallic’; it’s Poppaea ‘who wears the toga’ in the family.

Scarrow is considered military fiction, and the soldiers’ lives are intimately portrayed. However, the plot is character-driven, and even a non-fan of the genre is enthralled. Decadent emperors, marching cohorts, grain ships, the Forum, the Circus, togas, brothels, gladiators, senators’ intrigues, persecutions, the plebian mob—everything that is ancient Rome comes to life.

For the next book—Cato and Macro are posted to the eastern frontier.

This review first appeared in Historical Novels Review.