BLOG TOUR: Alien Clay - Adrian Tchaikovsky

They travelled into the unknown and left themselves behind . . .

Professor Arton Daghdev has always wanted to study alien life in person. But when his political activism sees him exiled to the planet Kiln, condemned to work under an unfamiliar sky until he dies, his idealistic wish becomes a terrible reality.

Kiln boasts a ravenous, chaotic ecosystem. Its monstrous alien life means Arton will risk death on a daily basis – if the camp’s oppressive regime doesn’t kill him first. But, if he survives, Kiln’s lost civilization holds a wondrous, terrible secret. It will redefine life and intelligence as he knows it – and might just set him free.

 

What did I think?

Science fiction is not one of my preferred genres but I do like to push myself out of my comfort zone now and again so I was very intrigued by Alien Clay.  That stunning cover is enough to draw you into the world that has been created within the pages of the book.

Arton Daghdev has been exiled to Kiln, an extrasolar planet that is 30 years away from Earth.  I mean just the fact that it takes 30 years to get to the planet made me stop and consider how very insignificant we are in the universe.  Kiln could very well be Earth many years in the future when we have damaged the planet to the point of extinction of our species.

I was surprised how easy I found it to read and I quickly built up a mental image of the camp and planet in my mind.  The story is very imaginative but there are also little snippets of facts about weird and wonderful creatures that I had never heard of but found fascinating when I later researched them.

The vibrant and dangerous ecosystem of Kiln adds an almost horror element to the story that made my skin crawl at times as it is so vividly described.  I loved that there is a constant scent of revolution in the air, leading to questions about who can be trusted.

Mind-blowing, eye-opening and provocative, Alien Clay is an incredibly thought-provoking and entertaining novel that may be a frightening glimpse into the future for our own planet.  I'm not quite a sci-fi convert yet but this book has certainly made me more open to reading other books by Adrian Tchaikovsky and other authors in the sci-fi genre.

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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Here One Moment - Liane Moriarty

We’re all so busy, caught up in life's moments, big and small . . .

The flight attendant working on her birthday.

The mother struggling with two young children.

The newlyweds off to their tropical honeymoon .

The overworked father missing his kid’s big show.

The young man returning from his best friend’s funeral.

The ER nurse wondering what retirement will bring.

All strangers. All unsuspecting. All on their own journey – or so they imagine.

Because they are each about to encounter an elderly woman. In just a few words, she will make a prediction, tying herself to them all. And, in being bound to her, these disparate strangers will be drawn together . . .

Who is this woman? Is she a clairvoyant? A charlatan? The answer to prayers, or a harbinger of nightmares?

They are about to find out – here one moment . . .

 

What did I think?

Do you believe in psychics?  What if a fellow passenger on your plane told you your age of death and cause of death?  Would you take it seriously or just continue living your life?  That's what the passengers on an internal Australian flight must decide when 'The Death Lady' moves from passenger to passenger predicting their deaths.  They might think it's all nonsense until the predictions start coming true...

Eeeeeek Liane Moriarty has written an absolute belter in Here One Moment.  It's a book that not only keeps you on the edge of your seat but also makes you question your own life choices.  Always wanted to swim with dolphins?  Go do it!  Always wanted to travel the world? Pack your bag and get on that plane!  Nobody knows how much time we all have left...although maybe 'The Death Lady' does!

It seems almost trivial to say that a fiction book could change your life, but I really think that this book might just do that.  It's an absolutely cracking story but it is so much more than that as it really makes you think about how fragile life is.  A huge reminder to seize the day!

Incredibly thought-provoking and completely gripping from start to finish, Here One Moment is one of Liane Moriarty's best books yet.  Unmissable and unforgettable.  HIghly recommended.

I received a gifted paperback for the Tandem Collective readalong and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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BLOG TOUR: Anticipation - Neil Taylor

You are being played.

Your every move is being watched by businesses hoping to manipulate your behaviour. Every picture, every post, every like, every follow, every purchase, every search.

When 17-year-old Riya Sudame inherits her father’s secret AI algorithm, she and a handful of carefully selected Keyholders hold the power to predict people’s futures using their online data. But with great power comes great responsibility, and they must safeguard it from falling into the wrong hands.

Enter Jim Booker, a powerful social media tycoon, who will stop at nothing to steal the technology for himself. Soon Riya faces a critical choice. Fighting ruthless tech giants seems like an impossible task—wouldn’t it be easier to relinquish her father’s creation in exchange for a normal teenage life?

But if she does, she will have to live with the knowledge that she is the reason that, like everyone, you are being played.

Neil Taylor marks his debut in this dark, twisty AI thriller.

 

What did I think?

WOW!  What a cracking debut novel.  Anticipation by Neil Taylor is easily one of the best debut novels I have read this year.  It hooked me from the start and I read way past my bedtime which, as every reader knows, is a sign of a good book.  "Good" doesn't really cover it in Anticipation's case; it's outstanding, exceptional and magnificent all rolled into one.

With a teenage protagonist, Anticipation fits in the YA genre but it is a hugely enjoyable novel for adults too.  It has quite a shocking start which sees the reader introduced to 17-year-old Riya who has become a target for the people who are desperate to get their hands on an algorithm that can predict the future.

The future prediction is a fascinating element of the plot and you can just imagine how valuable (and dangerous) something like this would be.  It also poses a huge moral dilemma as it could be completely devastating if it fell into the wrong hands.  

Social media advertising is also put under the microscope and it really made me think about how we are manipulated by adverts that just happen to be about something we have looked at or even discussed lately.  If people are vulnerable, they could quite easily be gently pushed in a particular direction that may not be beneficial to their health but would certainly be lucrative to the advertisers.

With a razor-sharp plot and blisteringly fast pacing, Anticipation is an edge-of-your-seat rollercoaster of a book that I simply couldn't put down.  I am delighted to see that it is the first book in the Anticipation series and I can't wait to read more.

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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About the author:

Neil Taylor is a software industry professional whose career has spanned Europe, Japan, and the USA. Now based in Durham, England, Neil works remotely for a leading cloud-based software and services company. With more than two decades of software experience, Neil possesses a deep understanding of how company motivations influence customers and users. Fascinated by the convergence of big data and behavioural science in the tech industry, Neil's debut YA book, "Anticipation," delves into the perilous implications of unchecked social media and AI development.

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BLOG TOUR: The Coming Storm (The Coming Darkness Book 2) - Greg Mosse

SOMETIMES THE CALM IS DEADLIER THAN THE STORM.

The hotly-anticipated sequel to Sunday Times Thriller of the Year The Coming Darkness sees the return of special agent Alexandre Lamarque.

He may have saved the world from darkness, but he knows his work is not done yet.

There’s still a terrorist threat out there, pulling together the strands of a new and even more destructive conspiracy to bring the world to its knees.

Battling with personal tragedy on one hand, and the intrusion of new-found celebrity on the other, Alex and his allies must re-emerge from self-imposed exile to face the fight of their lives.

From the streets of Paris, the lithium mines of Southern Mali, and the mighty Aswan Dam, they come up against forces whose intentions are as devious as they are malign. Time is against them, and there’s more at stake than ever. Can they survive the coming storm?

 

What did I think?

I thought Greg Mosse's debut, The Coming Darkness, was fantastic but the sequel, The Coming Storm is breathtaking.  Although you could read The Coming Storm as a standalone, I think you would appreciate it more if you had already read The Coming Darkness.

Everyone wants to meet The Man Who Saved the World, Alexandre Lamarque, but his fame also makes him a very visible target.  The pacing is blisteringly fast as the threats come from all angles and I felt like Robocop as my eyes scanned the pages as fast as I could.

There is so much going on with Alex, Mariam and Amaury after the events of the first book and I absolutely devoured each storyline.  I really enjoyed reading more about Mariam's personal life, although it did break my heart.  I was on the edge of my seat throughout and I certainly had my virtual running shoes on as I raced through the book.

Intelligent, captivating and heart-poundingly thrilling, The Coming Storm is a superb novel in its own right but when read as part of the series it is spectacular.  Although I don't want the series to end when it's barely begun, I will definitely be rereading these books when the series is complete.  Very highly recommended.

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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BLOG TOUR: A Winter Grave - Peter May

From the twelve-million copy bestselling author of the Lewis trilogy comes a chilling new mystery set in the isolated Scottish Highlands.

A TOMB OF ICE

A young meteorologist checking a mountain top weather station in Kinlochleven discovers the body of a missing man entombed in ice.

A DYING DETECTIVE

Cameron Brodie, a Glasgow detective, sets out on a hazardous journey to the isolated and ice-bound village. He has his own reasons for wanting to investigate a murder case so far from his beat.

AN AGONIZING RECKONING

Brodie must face up to the ghosts of his past and to a killer determined to bury forever the chilling secret that his investigation threatens to expose.

Set against a backdrop of a frighteningly plausible near-future, A WINTER GRAVE is Peter May at his page-turning, passionate and provocative best.

 

What did I think?

Peter May has done it again!  This is an author who is consistently at the top of his game and his new crime thriller, A Winter Grave, is outstanding (and a little mind-blowing).

One of the things that I've remarked on in the past is Peter May's attention to detail and the depth of his research, but this book is set in 2051.  How do you research the future?  If anyone can, the Master of Meticulous Research can.  This is no Back to the Future style fun with hoverboards and flying cars, this is a highly imaginative and scarily realistic future based on fact and environmental warnings that should not be ignored.

With a strong emphasis on climate awareness throughout, this is a gripping crime thriller.  The discovery of the body in the prologue is unforgettable - it's so vivid and unusual that I think it has been seared into my brain.  The story has several facets that intrigue and entertain from start to finish, particularly the fractured relationship between two characters: the daughter who discovers the body and the father who is sent to investigate the murder.

I just loved everything about this book: the stunning, multi-layered plot, the character relationships, the remote and chilling location, the flawless writing and the powerful and incredibly sobering message.  We must act now before it's too late; this is a future that we should all hope doesn't become a reality.

A Winter Grave is a futuristic thriller that chilled me to the bone, so wear your thermals to read this one.  It's an absolute must-read and I can't recommend it highly enough.  It's jaw-dropping, it's mind-blowing, it's exceptional, it's Peter May!  An easy five stars.

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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Don't miss the chance to see Peter May in real life!  He has a number of upcoming events in Scotland.  Click on the location to order tickets:

Monday 23rd January – Glasgow

Tuesday 24th January – Inverness

Wednesday 25th January – Perth

Thursday 26th January – Waterstones Dundee – formal signing at 12 midday – 1pm

                                         Toppings, St Andrews at 7.30pm - event

Friday 27th January – Waterstones Edinburgh – formal signing at 3pm – 4pm

                                    Toppings, Edinburgh at 7pm

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BLOG TOUR: The Coming Darkness - Greg Mosse

 

A thrilling debut that has been likened to John Le Carré and Raymond Chandler . . .

Paris, 2037. Alexandre Lamarque of the French external security service is hunting for eco-terrorists. Experience has taught him there is no one he can trust – not his secretive lover Mariam, not even his old mentor, Professor Fayard, the man at the centre of the web. He is ready to give up. But he can’t.

In search of the truth, Alex must follow the trail through an ominous spiral of events, from a string of brutal child murders to a chaotic coup in North Africa. He rapidly finds himself in a heart-thumping race against chaos and destruction. He could be the world’s only hope of preventing THE COMING DARKNESS . . .

What did I think?

With a dystopian setting and a hint of sci-fi, The Coming Darkness is a little out of my comfort zone but I rather enjoyed it.  It's a book of two halves for me; it took me quite a long time to get into the story and to work out who the characters were but once I got over that hump I absolutely flew through it.

Set in Paris in the near future of 2037, I loved the main character of Alexandre Lamarque and I hope this is the first of many thrillers starring Alex.  Greg Mosse has created a scarily realistic fictional future world and the book is filled with tension as you don't know who can be trusted or what they are willing to do for their cause.

The writing is outstanding and I think because of the almost sci-fi element to the novel, there's a lot of world building at the start which I'm not used to.  So I found the pacing at the start of the book to be slower than I expected but boy does it ramp up.  Once I became immersed in this new world, the thriller element completely gripped me and I couldn't read it fast enough.

An intelligent, thought-provoking and scarily realistic thriller, The Coming Darkness is a fantastic debut from Greg Mosse and one I would definitely recommend reading.  I think it deserves a reread and I wouldn't be surprised if it will be even better the second time round.

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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BLOG TOUR: Love & Other Human Errors - Bethany Clift

An unforgettable story about love in all its chaotic glory from the author of Last One At The Party

A book synopsis is fundamentally ridiculous. How can I possibly convey, in only 100 words, the events of the past year and their impact on my perfectly ordered existence?

It is insufficient space to accurately detail how I was blackmailed into demonstrating my flawless algorithm to find a soulmate, despite having no desire for one.

In my former life I avoided trivial human connections. I was alone, accomplished and brilliant.

Unfortunately, that solitary and driven woman no longer exists.

My name is Indiana Dylan and this is the extraordinary account of how I fell in love.

There: 100 words exactly.

 

What did I think?

Having absolutely loved Bethany Clift's debut, Last One at the Party, I was very excited to read what she would write next, although I had no idea how she would manage to follow such an outstanding book.  She didn't just follow it, she SMASHED it as Love & Other Human Errors completely blew me away.  I apologise in advance for my long review but to say 'I loved this book' is an understatement.

Set in the near future, Indiana Dylan has created an algorithm that cuts out the chaos and confusion of searching for your soulmate.  Unfortunately for Indiana, if she wants to sell her algorithm she has to demonstrate it but Indiana is not looking for love...or any kind of human interaction at all.  

For fans of The Big Bang Theory, think of Sheldon Cooper with fewer interpersonal skills and you might be close to imagining Indiana Dylan.  Indiana is a truly unique character; I love how literal, awkward and naive she is.  I loved all of the characters though, even those I loved to hate (like Cameron and Emily), but I have to give a particular mention to a few of the other characters.  Indiana's assistant Peggy (we all need a Peggy in our lives), workaholic Lina (who's work/life balance is totally skewed), everyone's favourite colleague Jack (who brightens everyone's day but nobody ever asks how he is) and not forgetting Frank (with his sharp observations and wise words) and his stinky dog Alan.

As for love and the search for a soulmate, it would be wonderful if our perfect match could be found for us as it gets tedious kissing so many frogs and it took me such a long time to find my prince.  I've actually had a conversation about this recently, as it's surely not in the best interests of a dating company to present you with your perfect match immediately as you'll cancel your subscription and ride off into the sunset.  They certainly wouldn't make much money if your perfect match was revealed during a free trial.

I could talk about this book for hours as it's not only an amazing story, there is so much to take away from it.  I've been like Lina in the past and I hope that anyone who reads this book and recognises themselves in Lina will take steps to address their work/life balance.  Life is too short and it's so important to make the most of what little time we have on this earth.  It's also a reminder to look behind the smiles of our friends, relatives and colleagues; they may be smiling to make us feel better but look into their eyes to see how they really feel.  

This is a book (and an author) that I shall continue to recommend for a long time to come; Bethany Clift isn't just one to watch, she's one to read so make sure that you do!  So very highly recommended, Love & Other Human Errors is a very strong contender for my book of the year.  Just buy it, you won't regret it!

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour; this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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Femlandia - Christina Dalcher

Miranda Reynolds has lost her home, her job and her husband – all thanks to an economic collapse that has brought America to its knees.

The shops are empty; the streets no longer safe. Miranda and her daughter Emma have nowhere left to turn.

There is one final hope, a self-sufficient haven for women who want to live a life free from men. Femlandia.

For Miranda, the secluded Femlandia is a last resort. Life outside the gates is fraught with danger, but there’s something just as sinister going on within.

Welcome to Femlandia… It’s no place like home. 

What did I think?

I've loved Christina Dalcher's previous novels (Vox and Q) so I was eager to read her third novel, Femlandia.   It is exactly what it sounds like: feminist dystopian fiction and although I enjoyed it and it raises many topics for discussion, I didn't love it as much as Dalcher's previous novels.

Femlandia is the brainchild of renowned feminist Win Somers: a sanctuary for women with several location across America.  When the country's economy collapses, the only safe place is self-sufficient Femlandia so Miranda Reynolds and her daughter make their way there.  It may sound like a theme park but scratch the surface and it's more cult than community.

The story is reasonably fast-paced and intriguing as Miranda discovers more about Femlandia and her own secrets are revealed.  I don't want to reveal too much as it would spoil it for others, but there are a few surprises that kept me interested and entertained.

Chilling and incredibly thought-provoking, Femlandia is a shocking and terrifying read that I have continued to think about and discuss long after turning the final page.

I chose to read a digital ARC via NetGalley and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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BLOG TOUR: Half-Past Tomorrow - Chris McGeorge

 

Shirley Steadman, a 70-year-old living in a small town in the North East of England, loves her volunteer work at the local hospital radio. She likes giving back to the community, and even more so, she likes getting out of the house. Haunted by the presence of her son, a reluctant Royal Navy officer who was lost at sea, and still in the shadow of her long dead abusive husband, she doesn't like being alone much.

One day, at the radio station, she is playing around with the equipment and finds a frequency that was never there before. It is a pirate radio station, and as she listens, the presenter starts reading the news. But there is one problem - the news being reported is tomorrows. Shirley first thinks it is a mere misunderstanding - a wrong date. But she watches as everything reported comes true. At first, Shirley is in awe of the station, and happily tunes in to hear the news.

But then the presenter starts reporting murders - murders that happen just the way they were reported.

And Shirley is the only one who can stop them.

What did I think?

As he's a local author, I've been meaning to read a Chris McGeorge book for a while so Half-Past Tomorrow may be his fourth novel but it's the first one of his that I've read.  I always get a kick out of reading books set in the North East and I know the book's setting of Chester-le-Street reasonably well so I felt like I was walking in Shirley's footsteps.

With a storyline that sees into the future, you really do have to suspend belief when reading Half-Past Tomorrow and I'm sure I'll see loads of reviews saying that it's not very realistic.  But that's why it's called fiction, surely?  I like something a little bit weird and unexplainable now and again and this thriller with a difference certainly fits in that category.

Shirley moved to Chester-le-Street after the death of her husband and she volunteers at the local hospital radio station and has joined an embroidery group which stops her from being lonely.  Shirley is literally haunted by the death of her son Gabe as he continually appears in her kitchen and she makes him a cup of tea in his favourite mug.  So even when Shirley is alone, she still has someone to talk to.

When Shirley stumbles across a pirate radio station at work one day, she thinks the presenter has made a mistake with the date.  Surely the news isn't for tomorrow?  But when the news starts to come true and the news reports increase in severity it isn't long before the premonitions of little accidents turn into murder.  Armed with the pertinent details, can Shirley stop the crimes or will everything happen the way it has been reported?

Well I really rather enjoyed my first Chris McGeorge book.  There's so much going on to keep the reader entertained from the mystery of Gabe's death to the future murders.  There's a real sense of community in the book and you get the impression that everybody knows everybody in a small town, which they often do!  I loved the sense that anything could happen in the original and intriguing plot and I found the whole book hugely entertaining from start to finish.

So imaginative and filled with surprises, Half-Past Tomorrow is impossible to guess so just sit back and enjoy the ride.

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour.  All opinions are my own

My rating:

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About the author:

Chris McGeorge studied MA Creative Writing (Crime/Thriller) at City University London where he wrote his first novel as his thesis. His interests are broad - spanning film, books, theatre and video games. He is a member of the Northern Crime Syndicate, a supergroup of writers from Northern England. He lives in County Durham with his partner and many, many animals.

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BLOG TOUR: No Signal (iMe #2) - Jem Tugwell

Can a game change the world? 

The Ten are chosen - they are reckless, driven and strong. They are tested. Ten become Four. In a country where everyone is tracked, how can the Four hide from the police? 

DI Clive Lussac hates the system that controls everything, but he's ill and it's helping him. He must decide: conform or fight. 

As Clive's world unravels, he and his partners DC Ava Miller and DS Zoe Jordan can't believe the entry price to the game. They strive to answer the real questions. Why does the ultimate Augmented Reality game have four different finishes? And how is a simple game wrapped up in politics, religion and the environment?

What did I think?

If I had to describe No Signal in two words they'd be: FLIPPING AWESOME!  I've always said that I don't read science fiction but if this is an example of the genre then consider me converted.  I haven't read Proximity, the first book in the iMe series, and I didn't feel at a disadvantage at all so you can definitely read No Signal as a standalone but I do really want to read Proximity now too.

In a future UK, everyone is fitted with an iMe - a device that not only tracks a person's location but, among many other things, monitors their health and wellbeing.  You have no secrets from the powers that be therefore crime is virtually non-existent.  You can't even eat a bar of chocolate without it being deducted from your allocated 'Freedom Units' and this is a big issue for the main character, Detective Inspector and chocaholic Clive Lussac.  I thought I liked chocolate but I think Clive would actually die for a bar of chocolate, especially one that he can eat off the radar.  It always amazes me that no matter how complex and secure you think a system is, there's always someone who finds a way to get around it.

Gamers from all over the world have been invited to compete for a place in the ultimate augmented reality game on the 'Forbidden Island', also known as UK.  Ten have been chosen but only four can compete.  I've never been into games but I really enjoyed reading about the very inventive and imaginative tasks that the players had to undertake.  The final four comprises players from France, South Africa, America and Italy, who fly to the UK and are fitted with a compulsory iTourist that tracks their every movement.  The first task in the game is to disable the tracking device and then for each of them to make their way unaided to a particular location.  The first person to reach their location wins the game but disabling the iTourist sends out an alert that sees Clive and his team reverting to good old-fashioned police work to track them down.

The intelligent plot of No Signal is absolutely fantastic; it had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish.  It's set in a dystopian future but it's so scarily realistic when you think about the current trend for fitness trackers that monitor our health; it's almost like fitness trackers are phase one and phase two will see a fitness tracker getting implanted in our necks.  I don't think people would even have a problem with that but it would certainly take Big Brother up to the next level.  Speaking of which, I couldn't help but compare No Signal to Orwell's 1984: both books depict a scarily realistic future and 70 years later we are seeing some of Orwell's predictions come true.  As with 1984, I can see No Signal becoming a classic and when the first tracker gets implanted, I'll say I read that in Jem Tugwell's book!

No Signal is an instant classic; it's an absolutely outstanding dystopian crime thriller with an inventive and intelligent plot.  It's fast-paced, gripping and scarily realistic; I really can't recommend it highly enough.  They'll be talking about this book in years to come, so make sure you grab a copy now!

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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About the author:

Jem Tugwell is a crime fiction author with a Crime Writing MA from City University.

NO SIGNAL is the second book in the iMe series and follows his thrilling debut novel PROXIMITY.

Jem is inspired by the fascinating possibilities of technology, AI and the law of unintended consequences. In a past life, Jem had a successful career in investment management, and he now lives in Surrey with his wife. He has two great children and a dog. Outside of his family and writing, Jem's loves are snowboarding, old cars and bikes.

Please visit his website (www.jemtugwell.com) to read more.

Follow Jem on Twitter @JemTugwell

or Facebook JemTugwellAuthor

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Q - Christina Dalcher

IN THIS WORLD, PERFECTION IS EVERYTHING.

Elena Fairchild is a teacher at one of the state’s new elite schools. Her daughters are exactly like her: beautiful, ambitious, and perfect. A good thing, since the recent mandate that’s swept the country is all about perfection.

Now everyone must undergo routine tests for their quotient, Q, and any children who don’t measure up are placed into new government schools. Instead, teachers can focus on the gifted.

Elena tells herself it’s not about eugenics, not really, but when one of her daughters scores lower than expected and is taken away, she intentionally fails her own test to go with her.

But what Elena discovers is far more terrifying than she ever imagined…

What did I think?

I enjoyed Christina Dalcher's debut, Vox, but WOW she has completely outdone herself with her second dystopian thriller, Q.  Q is so addictive that I found it impossible to put down and only ended up reading it in two sittings because I had to sleep in between.  If I'd timed it right, I definitely would have read it in one sitting.

I started reading Q and thought it was going to be a story about motherhood and Elena's fight to keep her daughters safe, which it is to a degree but oh my word it is so much more than that.  Everyone in this dystopian future is continually tested and given a Q rating; the pressure to perform has never been more intense, especially when under-performance has such drastic consequences.  

Elena has two daughters: Anne who seems to glide through school effortlessly and wears her Q number with pride and Freddie who struggles with the pressure of tests and sees her Q number dropping like a stone.  Elena loves both her daughters but her husband Malcolm doesn't have any time for Freddie and is only interested in his perfect daughter Anne.  Malcolm is an absolutely vile character; it's like he's a robot with no feelings for his family unless they are performing to the perfect standards that he was instrumental in implementing.  Elena deserves extra points just for putting up with him!

Q completely floored me; it's shocking, horrifying, disturbing and completely believable, especially as the novel is inspired by real historical events.  Events that we don't learn in history class as they are far too horrific and disturbing.  Although I'd never heard of the American Eugenics Movement, I was aware of the Nazi eugenics program where Hitler planned to produce a pure Aryan race.  Never has a book been more thought-provoking and actively demanding of further research; you simply can't read Q and be unaffected by the subject matter.  I just hope I haven't set off an alarm in MI5 with all of my googling of eugenics.

Q is absolutely brilliant; it's a novel that has remained in my thoughts long after I finished reading.  It's a shocking, stunning and compelling book that I want to read again and I can't recommend it highly enough.  

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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