Hell Island by Matthew Reilly

HELL ISLAND is a novella in Matthew Reilly’s Scarecrow series. If reading the series in order, it is number 3.5. If you’re not reading the whole series, then this is a short action packed read.

Schofield is still recovering from the losses he experienced in the previous novel SCARECROW when he is assigned to another mission.

Grant Island was renamed Hell Island after bitter battles there during WWII between the American and the Japanese fighters. Now the US Air Craft Carrier Nimitz has been marooned near Hell Island with all communication from the 600 strong crew lost. Four teams are being airlifted onto the Nimitz and Hell Island, one of those teams is a Delta team led by Captain Shane Schofield known as the Scarecrow. But what they find on the Nimitz and on Hell Island is not at all what they were expecting. Continue reading

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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN is the third book in the Harry Potter series so has Harry in his third year at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

But before Harry can start his third year, he must once again spend the summer holidays with the Dursley family, his muggle relatives. They treat him so badly that eventually he loses control and blows up his aunt. He escapes into the night and is picked up by the magical night bus, but not before he sees the giant black dog for the first time.

The main news in the wizarding world is the escape of Sirius Black from the wizard prison – Azkaban. Harry soon finds out that Sirius was blamed for his parents’ death and is probably hunting Harry to kill him. The Azkaban prison guards, the dementors, are hunting for Sirius and have been stationed around Hogwarts. They are horrible creatures who have the ability to suck all the happiness out of anyone around them. They affect Harry more than others as they cause him to flash back to the death of his parents. Continue reading

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The Midnight Line by Lee Child

THE MIDNIGHT LINE is the 22nd Reacher novel by Lee Child and one of the best of the series. I’ve read them all and could go on reading them forever.

Another romance has just ended for Reacher, so he is doing what he always does – move on to somewhere else. The bus that Reacher is travelling on makes a stop in a small town in Wisconsin where Reacher sees a West Point class ring, small for female, in the window of a pawn shop. He knows exactly what went in to earning the ring and knows that the owner must have been desperate to part with it. He buys the ring and starts to track the owner. Continue reading

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Scarecrow by Matthew Reilly

SCARECROW is the 3rd novel in Matthew Reilly’s Scarecrow series and probably the most action packed (and unlikely) so far.

Shane Schofield (the Scarecrow) is sent on a mission but when he arrives there is no problem other than the people trying to kill hm. His name has been added to a list and bounty hunters must remove the heads of those on the list by midday on 26th October. The rewards offered to the bounty hunters are huge.

So along with avoiding the various very skilled bounty hunters, Scarecrow must found out who wants him dead and why. When he first sees the list he can’t imagine what the people on the list have in common. Continue reading

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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS is the 2nd novel in the Harry Potter series and now that Harry has spent a year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry he can’t wait to get away from his summer with the Dursleys and get back to school.

But someone is trying to keep Harry from going back. He receives a reprimand and a threat of dismissal, then he has trouble getting to the Hogwarts express. When he and Ron finally get to Hogwarts it is by unconventional means and they are in trouble from the start of the school year. Continue reading

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The Sinners by Ace Atkins

THE SINNERS is the 8th novel in the Quinn Colson series by Ace Atkins, set in the fictional Tibbehah county in Northern Mississippi where Quinn Colson is the sheriff.

Heath Pritchard has finally returned home after 23 years in prison (put there by Quinn’s uncle Hamp). In his absence, his nephews Tyler and Cody have perfected the art of growing pot and not getting caught. Their drug business funds their lifestyle – racing cars and being drunk or stoned the rest of the time. They don’t need Uncle Heath to tell them how to run their business and live their lives. But Heath wants to be back in charge and take over the established drug hierarchy in the area – the one set up by the ‘Dixie Mafia’. Continue reading

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Sorcerer’s Stone) by J.K. Rowling

HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE is also known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and is the first book in the amazing Harry Potter series. Every now and then a book series is written that is so loved that people read and reread the books and watch and rewatch the movies for years. The books are intended for children to young adults, but I first discovered them when my children were about 10. I am proud to have become a Harry Potter fan in my 40s.

In this first novel, we find out about Harry’s background. His parents were killed by the evil Voldemort when Harry was a baby. When Voldemort tried to kill Harry, the curse backfired and Voldemort hasn’t been seen since. The orphan Harry was placed with his only relatives, the Dursleys who are muggles (not magical). They fear magic, resent Harry and worry that Harry has magical powers. Harry sleeps in the cupboard under the stairs and is terrorised by his fat, dumb, spoiled greedy cousin. But despite the Dursleys ignoring Harry’s past, the magical world eventually decides it wants Harry back. At the age of 11 Harry is to start at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry run by Albus Dumbledore. Continue reading

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Night School by Lee Child

NIGHT SCHOOL is Lee Child’s 21st Reacher novel and is a flashback novel to 1996 when Reacher was still in the army. But don’t worry too much, even in the army he mostly made his own rules!

After a successful mission, Reacher receives a medal, then is sent back to school. But this is a fiction designed to get him off the grid. He has become part of a top secret mission, along with a CIA Agent, and FBI agent and some high level government officials.

A CIA agent working undercover within a jihadi sleeper cell in Hamburg has overheard part of a conversation – ‘The American wants ten million dollars’. Continue reading

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The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan

THE TITAN’S CURSE is the 3rd novel in the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan.

Luke is continuing to build his army and many of the half bloods have gone over to the side of evil. So camp half-blood is looking a bit empty and just when the Gods of Olympus need the half-bloods the most. So Grover the satyr is once again hunting for half-bloods at schools and he has just found a brother and sister. Percy, Annabeth and Thalia come to help him get the new half-bloods to camp but one of their teachers is a monster and things don’t go to plan. Annabeth is taken prisoner. When Artemis, goddess of the hunt, and her hunters arrive to help, Artemis is also taken prisoner. Continue reading

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Emma Flint Profile and Books

Emma Flint grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne. She graduated with an MA in English Language and Literature from the University of St Andrews and later completed a novel writing course at the Faber Academy. She has worked as a technical writer in Edinburgh and in London where she now lives.

Flint has been a writer from a young age. She has also been fascinated with true crime as well as historical figures and unconventional women. So her first novel – LITTLE DEATHS was a perfect fit. It is set in the 1960s in Queens, New York and based on the real story of Alice Crimmons who was convicted of murdering her two young children. Her next book will be based in Soho, London in the 1970s.

Flint anticipates that all her novels will be based on true crime. Continue reading

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