Ice Islands by Humphrey Hawksely is a very well-written, tightly-plotted thriller that follows Major Rake Ozenna as he takes shady instructions from an even shadier part of the White House to track down and neutralize a threat from the Japanese Mafia’s Kato family and its quest to make Japan a nuclear power.

Major Rake Ozenna mission is to meet and befriend Sara Kato and perhaps turn her against her father and brother and so provide the necessary information about the Kato mafia family. Ozenna’s contact with Saraa is planned to occur at a Peace Conference on the Finnish Aland Islands where he has been arranged as a last-minute speaker. Things go somewhat badly – the Russian President’s secret son who is a delegate at the conference is murdered and Sara is framed. Ozenna is hastily instructed to snatch and secure her, but driving from the conference venue his orders change, Sara is handed to the Finnish authorities who immediately hand her to her brother. Ozenna is extracted and returns to the US. By the time the Russian President is informed of his son’s murder, it is also known who killed him and so a high-octane political crisis escalates.

Meanwhile, in Japan, Sara Kato witnesses her eldest brother assist her other brother to kill himself in front of the family due to the shame he brought on them all while in the US. Horrified an terrified, Sara makes contact with Ozenna who, with his commander, is able to extract her briefly and acquire from her the necessary information about the Kato family’s nuclear-weapons aspiration. Then thye return her to the family as a spy/informant.

The climax involves a state of the art fishing/research ship that leaves harbour with a last-minute change of crew and the eldest Kato brother and Sara aboard, and a nuclear-armed missile also on board, on the eve of a significant day in Japanese history. Ozenna manages to get aboard too just before the ship leaves port and so the pace picks up, the climax approaches…

The plot races along so that there are no ‘quiet’ sections of the book. The main characters and most of the secondary ones are developed just enough so that the reader can develop some compassion for them and their relationships and frailties and look forward to these relationships developing more. I believe this is one of a series and This was an easy, fast read and I certainly would recommend reading more.   

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak is a fast-paced thriller; the story of Mallory, a recovering opioid addict, who is hired as a babysitter for a pre-kindergarten boy, Teddy, the son of Caroline, a psychiatrist and Ted, an IT entrepreneur in Philadelphia.

Mallory’s new job is perfect, just what she needs to cement her recovery. Her new situation gives her a safe and comfortable place to live well away from the risks of her old life. It also gives her a purpose. And soon her new job introduces her to Adrian, the handsome son of a landscape gardening company owner.

Mallory finds Caroline and Ted’s parenting ideas a little over the top, but then they are professionals, wealthy and successful and so it seems right that they also have high expectations for their son and for his nanny.  Mallory adores young Teddy and they quickly develop a close relationship. Teddy proves to be a creative and imaginative player and a gifted artist, but soon his pictures take on a sinister and disturbing tone. Mallory is concerned when she overhears Teddy talking to Anya, his imaginary friend, but Caroline says it’s normal, and Carline is a psychiatrist so she should know about such things, right? Initially Mallory hides the disturbing pictures from Caroline and Ted but when the secret is revealed, Mallory shares her suspicions – that a demon of some sort is controlling Teddy, trying to communicate through him. Caroline and Ted are angry that Mallory would think such foolishness, but Adrian believes her.

As Mallory’s concerns become more intense, Caroline becomes concerned that Mallory may have relapsed and be using drugs again. One afternoon Mallory falls asleep and wakes to find she has scrawled drawings all over the kitchen walls. Caroline is furious that little Teddy was left unsupervised and she dismisses Mallory.

The pace of Mallory’s investigations increases as her time with Teddy runs out. And because this is a suspense, and because the ending is high-pitched and thrilling, with a delightful twist included, I’ll stop describing the plot.  

The writing style is crisp making the book easy to read at the pace a thriller should be read at. The characters are superbly crafted, so that all are viable suspects. This is not a murder-mystery per se, but one always has the feeling that the reader is expected to solve the situation and so predict the ending. The characters’ interactions feel genuine. This plot is so well constructed it could surely be real, which adds a delightful layer of intrigue. The tension rises steeply as the plot unravels. I appreciated the last few pages that wrapped the story up without it feeling contrived or ‘Hallmarky’.  

Scott Turow’s Suspect is a fast-flowing suspense/thriller/crime story of Pinky Granum, her lawyer boss Rik Dudek and their client, Lucy Gomez, Chief of Highland Isle’s Police Department who is on trial for soliciting sex in exchange for supporting three male staff members’ promotions. The charges against her, the Chief maintains, are an attempt to tarnish her reputation and get her sacked.

Pinky is Rik Dudek’s unconventional private investigator with a drug-fueled history and anail through her nose. Rik’s isn’t quite in the same league as Pinky’s lawyer grandfather until the Chief Lucia Gomez’s high profile case comes along.

Just as the case attracts Rik’s and then Pinky’s attention, an intriguing neighbor, Koob, moves into Pinky’s building. Being a work in progress private investigator, Pinky sees the unusually secretive Koob as a worthy subject for investigation and eventually she makes a link between him and ‘The Ritz’, the town’s top-level property tycoon, crook, drug-dealer, ex-cop, and ex-partner of Lucy Gomez.

Lucy Gomez’ trial proceeds and two of the three litigants are exposed as liars. The third though, Blanco, proves more resilient to cross-examination and the evidence linking him to Lucy, a lurid photo, is compelling. The case suddenly collapses when Blanco’s dead body is found in a near-empty apartment. Pinky is allowed in on the case because she has gathered damning information from Koob against The Ritz. As the FBI move in on The Ritz, Lucy Gomez goes missing. And because this is a suspense as well as a thriller, I should stop there.

I’ve enjoyed all of Turow’s books so far and this one did not disappoint although at times I thought there was too much ‘Pinky introspection’ and perhaps luck/intuition played too great a part in the investigation meaning the reader was less capable of beating the writer to the end. Nonetheless the story was well constructed and well written, the main characters were reasonably well developed and their relationships were suitably inter-twined to generate some intrigue. The high-tempo ending was certainly satisfying.

The RAW Coffee Company is an absolute treat that I’ve added to my list of top 5 attractions in Dubai.

The RAW Coffee Company imports and roasts coffee, but they also have a spacious (and delicious) café. Throughout the lockdown, unable to travel to U.A.E., I drooled over their website and its descriptions of different beans, their origins and their flavour descriptions. And yes, I drooled over the colour pic of their burger with fat chips and their cinnamon rolls and pastries and caramel slice and…, you know what I mean.

Not being in one of the giant malls means their café is spacious and relaxed. There is a relaxed outdoor space. The staff are eager to explain coffee. The whole place is a temple to fine coffee. All the beans they sell are organic and imported in small batches, roasted and blended on a boutique scale. What caught my attention was that they had a small supply of beans from Yemen. From my own reading I’ve come to understand that the best beans are from Yemen. Sadly, Yemen has a war on. Iran and Saudi Arabia seem to be scrapping it out in Yemen. Given the extent of suffering by innocent Yemenis, it seems, no it is, superficial to then say that growing and exporting and therefore buying Yemeni beans has become difficult.

Why are beans from Yemen the best? With coffee, it’s always and only about the flavour and the higher the altitude the coffee grows at, the better the flavour. Yemeni coffee beans are grown close to 10,000 feet above sea level in fertile soil, where the air is cool and moist. At this altitude, air and soil temperatures are cool and so chemical reactions and biological processes occur more slowly. This means the flavours tend to be more mature and more complex.

The cooler temperature also means the cherries ripen more slowly and so the farmers have time to pick only the ripe ones. In the cooler mountainous temperatures there are fewer insects and so coffee has a lower caffeine level. (Caffeine is an insecticide which is why coffee grown in the lower altitude where insects are more abundant, have higher caffeine levels.) This also means that beans at altitude tend to have less, and often no, insecticides used on them.

The soil in Yemen’s mountains gives coffee beans a less acidic taste. It is sweeter and has a richly floral and chocolaty flavour. If you like the near-burnt taste of coffee from that jolly green giant’s cafes (you know the one), stay away from Yemen’s beans. If you enjoy the complex floral bouquet of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and the rich depth of Samoan dark chocolate then you’ll surely be smitten with coffee that originates in Yemen.

The RAW Coffee Company is about 5 minutes’ walk from the Mashreq stop on the Red Metro line. If you’re a coffee lover and you’re in Dubai, you must visit the RAW Coffee Company and quietly ask for a French Press with grounds from Yemen, find a table in the corner and savour the experience.  

(Did I mention the cinnamon buns?)

The Lost Children by Michael Wood is a well-written, crime/detective novel with plenty of credible characters with rich back stories.

Back at work after being shot, DCI Matilda Darke and her team investigate the murder of a wealthy property developer. The crime scene suggests sexual motivations. After the initial report hits the newspapers, Matilda receives a call from Peter Ogilvy, the ex-owner of a children’s home for boys. Ogilvy explains that he has made many attempts to alert police to his suspicions of sexual abuse of boys by the murder victim and his associates. Ogilvy claims his concerns have always been shelved by senior police and hopes Matilda may be the one to finally expose the abuse and explain the cover up. Matilda raises the matter with her seniors and is told to cease that line of inquiry.

And then another murder victim is found with sufficient similarities at the crime scene to connect this victim to the first. One of Matilda’s team leaks information to a journalist, a detailed article appears and Matilda’s angry seniors close down her team, its investigation and make her position redundant. Her and her team’s response is to continue, hopefully uncover enough details of the abuse, find victims and gather their statements to force an official inquiry.

This is a cleverly-written and accurately-detailed crime story with richly-created characters. It is one of a series of books ‘starring’ DCI Darke and her team. The plot is paced well and there are plenty of plot twists and back stories to keep the reader both interested and intrigued, and eager to reach the conclusion. Crime, sex, detective work, all sprinkled with some contemporary British humour. I hope to read more in the series.