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Reviews by Cloggie Downunder

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The Defense
by Steve Cavanagh
a real page-turner (8/6/2017)
The Defence is the first book in the Eddie Flynn series by Irish lawyer and author, Steve Cavanagh. Eddie Flynn used to be a con man, a hustler like his father. Then he became a lawyer, almost a street lawyer, taking the kind of cases others avoided. But his last case brokemore
Beartown
by Fredrik Backman
a very good read, but not a brilliant one. (8/4/2017)
The Scandal (also titled Beartown) is the fourth full-length novel by Swedish blogger, columnist and author, Fredrik Backman. It is translated from Swedish by Neil Smith. As remote as this place in the forest is, and barely surviving economic downturns, closures andmore
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things: A Novel
by Bryn Greenwood
a brilliant debut (7/27/2017)
All The Ugly And Wonderful Things is the first novel by American author, Bryn Greenwood. Eight-year-old Wavonna Lee Quinn has seen more than her share of ugly things in her short life. Her father is a drug dealer with a meth lab just down the hill from the farmhouse wheremore
Twenties Girl: A Novel
by Sophie Kinsella
A delightful read. (7/17/2017)
4.5 stars

Twenties Girl is the fourth stand-alone novel by British author, Sophie Kinsella. Life isn’t going terribly well for Lara Lington: without saying why, her boyfriend, Josh has broken up with her (but she’s sure he still loves her, he just needs to be reminded); hermore
The Little Friend
by Donna Tartt
a brilliant read (7/9/2017)
“It was the last picture they had of him. Out of focus. Flat expanse of green cut at a slight diagonal, with a white rail and the heaving gloss of a gardenia bush sharp in the foreground at the edge of the porch. Murky, storm-damp sky, shifting liquescence of indigo andmore
Himself
by Jess Kidd
outstanding debut novel (6/27/2017)
4.5 stars

“He looked at the envelope in his hand. ‘For when the child is grown’… Inside the envelope was a photograph of a girl with a half-smile holding a blurred bundle, high and awkwardly, like found treasure. Mahony turned it over and the good solid schoolteacherly handmore
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
by Gail Honeyman
brilliant debut novel (6/21/2017)
“Even the circus freak side of my face – my damaged half – was better than the alternative, which would have meant death by fire. I didn’t burn to ashes. I emerged from the flames like a little phoenix. I ran my fingers over the scar tissue, caressing the contours…. Theremore
The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story
by Diane Ackerman
A fascinating true story. (5/20/2017)
“One of the most remarkable things about Antonina was her determination to include play, animals, wonder, curiosity, marvel, and a wide blaze of innocence in a household where all dodged the ambient dangers, horrors, and uncertainties. That takes a special stripe of braverymore
The End of the Day
by Claire North
Another brilliant read (5/11/2017)
The End of the Day is the fourth novel by British author, Claire North. After his interview for a new job as the Harbinger of Death, Charlie was pretty sure he wouldn’t get the job, but apparently, the previous Harbinger thoughts he was suited to it, so he did. Charlie ismore
Still Life with Tornado
by A.S. King
original and different: it’s clever and thought-provoking (5/6/2017)
“Maybe I pretend that my family is normal when I know it’s not normal to have a runaway brother. Maybe my whole life I’ve been living inside of an imaginary painting. I can’t figure out how I feel about this. But I know I feel uncomfortable. All the time”

Still Life withmore
The Devil and Miss Prym: A Novel of Temptation
by Paulo Coelho
tedious and a bit clumsy (4/28/2017)
The Devil and Miss Prym is the third book in the On the Seventh Day series by Brazilian author, Paulo Coelho. It is translated into English by Amanda Hopkinson and Nick Caistor. As old Berta sits on her verandah watching, a stranger arrives in the town of Viscos, a man whomore
The End: A Series of Unfortunate Events #13
by Lemony Snicket
Ends not with a bang… (4/24/2017)
The End is the thirteenth and final book in A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author, Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler). As we once again join the unlucky Baudelaire orphans, they find themselves, much to their dismay, in a boat with Count Olaf.

Having narrowlymore
Dead Lions
by Mick Herron
Another brilliant read! (4/21/2017)
Dead Lions is the second novel in the Slough House series by British author, Mick Herron. Slough House is where the spook screw-ups from MI5 who, for some reason or other, can’t be sacked, are sent. There they are set such tedious, mind-numbing tasks it’s hoped they will bemore
The Shadow Land
by Elizabeth Kostova
A superlative read (4/12/2017)
“The photos were mainly black-and-white, some brown or yellowish sepia. Several of the images looked very old; these were wedding groups in stiff clothing with something Eastern about it, young people staring transfixed into futures now long past”

The Shadow Land is themore
The Keeper of Lost Causes
by Jussi Adler-Olsen
a brilliant start to the series and an excellent example of Danish Crime Fiction. (4/3/2017)
The Keeper of Lost Causes (also titled Mercy) is the first book in the Department Q series by Danish author Jussi Adler Olsen. It’s early 2007, and Homicide Detective Carl Morck has returned to duty. Some weeks earlier, a shooting at a murder scene at Amager left one of hismore
The Satanic Mechanic: A Tannie Maria Mystery
by Sally Andrew
A brilliant sequel! (3/30/2017)
“I was deciding whether to call Henk when the phone rang and it was him. That sort of thing happens a lot, you know. I think about something, and then there it is. It makes me wonder if my life is neatly woven, instead of the tangle it looks like. If I could just follow allmore
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
by Richard Flanagan
Profoundly moving. (2/24/2017)
“There was around him an exhausted emptiness, an impenetrable void cloaked this most famously collegial man, as if he already lived in another place – forever unravelling and refurling a limitless dream or an unceasing nightmare, it was hard to know – from which he wouldmore
Heartless
by Marissa Meyer
a brilliant read (1/29/2017)
Heartless is the first stand-alone fantasy novel by American author, Marissa Meyer. Lady Catherine Pinkerton, daughter of the Marquess of Rock Turtle Cove, has one fervent desire: to open her own bakery in the Main Street of the Kingdom of Hearts. But her ambitious mothermore
A Spool of Blue Thread
by Anne Tyler
funny, moving, thought-provoking and, again, quite brilliant (1/28/2017)
“There was nothing remarkable about the Whitshanks. None of them was famous. None of them could claim exceptional intelligence. And in looks, they were no more than average…. But like most families, they imagined they were special. They took great pride, for instance, inmore
The Nanny Diaries: A Novel
by Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus
not all that good (1/14/2017)
The Nany Diaries is the first book in the Nanny series by American authors and ex-nannies, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. We start with a nanny called Nanny. Then we have parents Mr X and Mrs X, and their four-year-old son, Grayer. And a potential boyfriend who nevermore

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