Friday, 30 December 2022

The Boys From Biloxi by John Grisham


Hardback: For most of the last hundred years, Biloxi was known for its beaches, resorts, and seafood industry. But it had a darker side. It was also notorious for corruption and vice, everything from gambling, prostitution, bootleg liquor, drugs . . . even contract killings. The vice was controlled by a small cabal of mobsters, many of them rumoured to be members of the Dixie Mafia.

Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco grew up in Biloxi in the sixties and were childhood friends. But as teenagers, their lives took them in different directions. Keith’s father became a legendary prosecutor, determined to ‘clean up the Coast.’ Hugh’s father became the ‘Boss’ of Biloxi’s criminal underground. Keith went to law school and followed in his father’s footsteps. Hugh preferred the nightlife and worked in his father’s clubs. The two families were headed for a showdown, one that would happen in a courtroom.

Rich with history and with a large cast of unforgettable characters, The Boys from Biloxi (2022) is a sweeping saga of two sons of immigrant families who grow up as friends, but ultimately find themselves in a knife-edge legal confrontation in which life itself hangs in the balance.

In this novel, Grisham takes his powerful storytelling to the next level, his trademark twists and turns will keep you tearing through the pages until the stunning conclusion.

No one writes a legal drama like the legendary John Grisham.

About the author: Beginning with The Firm in 1991, John Grisham has published at least one No 1 bestseller every year. His books have been translated into 45 languages and have sold over 350 million copies worldwide. Ten have been adapted to film, including The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and A Time To Kill. His Theodore Boone series for young readers is now in development at Netflix. 

Find out more at jgrisham.com and stay in touch via Facebook at /JohnGrishamInt.

Rating: 5/5

Lucie Yi Is Not A Romantic by Lauren Ho


Paperback: An ambitious career woman signs up for a co-parenting website only to find a match she never expected, in this unflinchingly funny and honest novel, Lucie Yi Is Not A Romantic (2022).

Management consultant Lucie Yi is done waiting for Mr Right. After a harrowing breakup foiled her plans for children - and drove her to a meltdown in a Tribeca baby store - she is ready to take matters into her own hands. She signs up for an elective co-parenting website to find a suitable partner with whom to procreate - as platonic as family planning can be.
 
Collin Read checks all of Lucie’s boxes; he shares a similar cultural background, he is honest, and most important, he is ready to become a father. When they match, it does not take long for Lucie to take a leap of faith for her future. So what if her conservative family might not approve? 

When Lucie becomes pregnant, the pair return to Singapore and, sure enough, her parents refuse to look on the bright side. Even more complicated, Lucie’s ex-fiancé reappears, sparking unresolved feelings and compounding work pressures and the baffling ways her body is changing. 

Suddenly her straightforward arrangement is falling apart before her very eyes, and Lucie will have to decide how to juggle the demands of the people she loves while pursuing the life she really wants.

About the author: Lauren Ho is a reformed legal counsel who now prefers to write for pleasure. Hailing from Malaysia, she is currently based in Singapore, where she is ostensibly working on her next novel while attempting to parent. She is also the author of Last Tang Standing (2020). Ho can be found on Instagram or Twitter @HelloLaurenHo.

Rating: 5/5

Sunday, 25 December 2022

Cold East by Gabija Grušaitė


Paperback: Twenty-something author and minor media influencer Stasys Šaltoka - or Stanley Colder to his adoring IG followers - has hit an existential wall. Abandoning his clichéd and stifling New York city life, he buys a one-way ticket to Southeast Asia in search of life-changing experiences.

A chance meeting with an enigmatic Russian leads Stasys to a documentary project - the murder of a mysterious Mongolian model that implicates a prime minister and his jewel-hoarding wife. 

Unravelling the truth takes Stasys deeper through the murky swamp of extreme corruption, death, Islamophobia and media manipulation.

Will he ever figure out the meaning of life or find a decent espresso?

Cold East (2017, 2018) has been shortlisted for the European Union Prize for Literature 2019 and Book of the Year in Lithuania 2018. It won the Jurga Ivanauskaitė Literary Prize (Lithuania) 2018 and the Penang Monthly Book Prize 2018. Cold East is translated from the Lithuanian by Kipras Šumskas.

About the author: Gabija Grušaitė is an author and curator; Cold East is her second novel. A graduate of Anthropology & Media from Goldsmiths College, UK, Gabija has defined her creative pursuit by the relentless search of new horizons through travel. In 2009, she settled in Penang, Malaysia, where she cofounded an independent, contemporary art centre – Hin Bus Depot – as its curator-in-chief. She currently lives in Vilnius, Lithuania with her two Malaysian dogs, Gorgeous and Hazelnut.

About the translator: Kipras Šumskas has translated movies, magazines, several books, and far too many legal documents. In his spare time, he teaches Creative Thinking to teenagers and kids in informal education projects.

Rating: 5/5

Friday, 23 December 2022

Singapore Fire (An Ash Carter Thriller Series) by Murray Bailey


Paperback: The Endgame.

Once again caught between the government and the criminal gangs, it's time for Carter to choose.

Escape now or stand and fight? 

Singapore Fire (2021) is the sixth instalment in the excellent Private Investigator/ex-Special Investigations Branch British MP Ash Carter Thriller series set in Singapore in the 1950s. 

About the author: By day, Murray Bailey is an international consultant and lecturer in risk and statistical models. However crime-thriller writing is his main passion. He resides in beautiful Dorset with his wife and family.

Rating: 5/5