Graham Lironi makes a noteworthy contribution to the large quantities of crime fiction continuously being published with his short and entertaining mystery-thriller Oh Marina Girl. Lironi, once a student in Dundee, delivers a book which is rich in narrative skills, a strong sense of character and unpredictable plot twists- whilst taking a closer look at Read More
Volwys & Other Stories is a collection of science fiction stories, culminating in a novella entitled Volwys. Douglas Thompson has published eight books to a mostly divided critical reception, with reviewers undecided on whether or not his books are exemplary of the genre. Volwys & Other Stories definitely belongs to the science fiction genre, imaginatively Read More
Even for leading Edinburgh crime reporter, Doug McGregor – a man who lives off the brutality of others – the sight of his editor’s organs spilling onto the desk before him is not easily forgotten. Nor should it be, the killer’s shots announcing the start of a deadly race against time. No matter how random Read More
Scorper by Rob Manguson Smith is a novel centred around scorping – the act of scooping out excess wood when creating a carving or engraving – under the advisement that “the artist is not a special kind of man, but every man is a special kind of artist”. In the Sussex town of Ditchling our Read More
The Persian-Dutch writer Kader Abdolah was an opponent of the regimes of both the Shah and Ayatollah Khomeini, ultimately fleeing to the Netherlands as a political refugee in 1988. He has a degree in Physics, was Writer in Residence at Leiden University in 2006, and has written a large number of novels. The King (“De Read More
It is summer 2011 and Adolf Hitler has returned! In Timur Vermes’ latest novel, Look Who’s Back, the notorious dictator finds himself waking up in mysteriously good health in 21st Century Berlin. As he comes to terms with the modern world, Hitler gains a great deal of popularity among the German people, who believe him Read More
Breaking Light is Karin Altenberg’s second novel, following her Orange Prize (2012) nominated debut, Island of Wings. In Breaking Light, we follow Gabriel Askew in two narratives separated by around forty years – that of his life as a child and young adult in Mortford and then as a retired professor returning to his childhood Read More
Sceptics of literary prizes might claim that winning the Booker Prize once is a fluke. However, this point of view is hard to justify if an author wins said prize twice, and Australian author Peter Carey is one of only three people to have done so to date. Born in 1943 in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, Read More
In a time before forensics and fingerprints, a night train snakes its way through a far Eastern land. As it makes an unscheduled stop, murder occurs in a first class carriage. Conveniently, a detective also happens to be travelling in the same carriage. Readers may be forgiven for imagining themselves in an Agatha Christie novel Read More
This collection of short stories has been greatly anticipated for some time. And what better place to review The Book of Gaza than from Dundee, the twin city of Nablus since 1980? The collection is edited by Atef Abu Saif who is shortlisted for this year’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction,an annual literary prize run Read More