Rex wants to be a good dog. He lives for the moments when his master tells him he is a good dog. Rex’s master gives Rex things to do. Rex, because he is a good dog, does the tasks he is given. In Adrian Tchaikovsky's novel, we view a rapidly changing world from the viewpoint of the cause of that change, a seven foot dog with guns on his back.
Read MoreThe race to go faster, further and higher has intoxicated man since before Icarus took to his wings. In the 20th Century, man didn’t just take to the air, but slipped it’s confines for space. A very select few (a total of 24 men) were able to gaze back and see our home in all it’s glory. With The Earth Gazers, Christopher Potter looks how those men got up there and how what they felt was as important as what they saw.
Read MoreIn motor Racing, Adrain Newey's name ranks among the greats. He is not one for the cameras of a race weekend, but his autobiography is wonderfully engaging, funny and honest. From building Lotus kit cars with his dad through to 10 World Championships with three teams, Newey's tale is fascinating. He takes us through the highs and terrible lows of his life and career, framing it all against the cars we have watched going round in circles for all these years. How to Build a Car is essential reading for any racing fan.
Read MoreNick Harkaway's latest novel crosses thousands of years and yet never leaves the mind of the victim at the centre of his tale. With Gnomon, Harkaway looks at our world and the issues we face from oblique angles, in turn making us look at our own path from eyes we may not have considered or have even wanted too. Gnomon is a masterful tale.
Read MoreAmerica City, Chris Beckett's first novel since leaving Eden, is a fantastic look at how the information we receive affects our decisions. We believe we are smart enough to know what is going on, but are we? In a wonderfully complex work of speculative fiction, Beckett's ambitious America City crafts a world as deep as Eden and yet as relatable as now.
Read MoreWith A Legacy of Spies, John le Carre returns to the scene of the novel that put him on the map. While the much publicised return of George Smiley is making the headlines, the story is set upon the shoulders, in my opinion, of one of his most interesting characters, Smiley’s right hand, Peter Guillam.
Read MoreAn interwoven tale set 550 years apart, Jane Johnson's novel tells the tales of Kate, a woman hiding from torment at home, and Blessing living in the final days of the Emirate of Granada who creates a torment of his own. Johnson has crafted a superior tale that grabs you from the off.
Read MoreClare Mulley's new biography looks at two incredible, yet very different women who were pinoneering Test Pilots for the Third Reich. In The Women Who Flew For Hitler, Mulley looks at what drove these women in a male dominated flying world and the very different directions they chose under a Nazi flag.
Read MoreThe men and women who resisted Hitler have been cast as heroes and villains of both the left and right. The conspirators and their actions have been remembered in black and white, with the viewer choosing the colours with which to paint them. In Danny Orbach’s new history of the resistance, The Plots Against Hitler, he very convincingly shows us that rather than pure saints or sinners, the complexity and contradictions of the conspirators makes them that most difficult of things to digest, human.
Read MoreThe Blackbird series of aircraft, by the legendary Lockheed designer Kelly Johnson, is the subject of James Hamilton-Paterson's latest non-fiction venture into aviation. Hamilton-Paterson tells a tale of Cold War paranoia and desperation that lead to an incredible aircraft that lived out beyond Mach 3 on the meter. Blackbird is a worthy tribute to her designer, those brave Habu and the incredible craft they rode.
Read MoreThe Dark Ages in Britain are a fertile period to mine. The sources, few as they are, talk of kings and warlords, battles and death, and then arrive the men from the North. It is the period of Beowulf and Arthur, of a Britain living in the decay of the Roman withdrawal and the arrival of a new God to fight the old. Into this mix, Matthew Harffy has thrown a young warrior, Beobrand, into the turmoil of Northumbria to find his fame.
Read MoreSpeculative fiction is one that treads a fine line. Too far one way and it is dismissed as preachy or too far the other and it falls into the science fiction netherworld. When realising a world where global warming has changed the map of our world and America has again fractured North and South. With American War, Omar El Akkad has trod that line deftly with an extraordinary look at the cultivation of hate.
Read MoreUnprecedented is Tiger Woods looking back at at his first Master win, 20 years ago now. Tiger is a towering figure in modern golf. He literally changed the game. Looking back at the 1997 Masters at Augusta National though, Tiger provides a wonderful insight into what made those incredible four round unprecedented in the illustrious history of The Masters. And a fascinating look it is too.
Read MoreA stunning biography of the Koh-i-noor diamond that has been coveted for millennia. Dalrymple and Anand cover the myths and history of the most famous rock in the work with a deft yet firm touch. Beautifully written, Kohinoor is a superb biography of one of the most divisive items in the world.
Read MoreLife Moves Pretty Fast is a race through why 80's films were better, deeper and better (did I mention better?). Hadley Freeman's look back at some of the standout films of the decade is a fabulous conversation on that era and why we've lost that heart in our films today.
Read MoreA thriller is a funny thing. It really serves one purpose, to capture the reader and make sure they keep turning the pages. For something so simple, it is a very hard thing to get right. With Find Me, J.S. Monroe has crafted a dark, twisty, twisted thriller that keeps the pages turning.
Read MoreI have loved Robert Radcliffe's previous five novels, to the point I even read one of them as an eBook. Radcliffe’s new tale is his most ambitious yet. Airborne is the first of trilogy of novels telling the tale of a boy caught between countries, in search of a father and who finds two; John Frost, godfather of the Parachute Regiment and Erwin Rommel, The Desert Fox.
Read MoreA year on from Adam Sisman's exhaustive biography, John Le Carre takes up his own pen to tell the stories he wants too from his life. Entertainingly written and yet somewhat light on it's feet, The Pigeon Tunnel manages to captivate as a good Le Carre does and tell you nothing that you don't already know. Some would call the the perfect autobiography.
Read MoreThe final chapter in Chris Beckett's Eden trilogy is a fitting finale for our time on Eden. This is as spoiler free a review I can make it with out spoiling the whole thing. Suffice to say, it is a strong finish.
Read More1666: Plague, War and Hellfire is a wonderful narrative history of the fall and rise of London. Bringing a city that was riven with death to vivid life, Rebecca Rideal has crafted a fascinating tale of London in its darkest night before it's glorious dawn.
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