I loved Our Friends in Beijing – from the snappy beginning with its colourful and clever turns of phrase, to the intriguing plot, the exciting chase and the surprisingly emotional ending… best read of 2021.

Jon Swift (the protagonist of Simpson’s earlier novel) is nearing the end of his journalism career, elbowed out by his younger, corporate managers. Immediately after being given his notice, Jon coincidentally meets an old friend, Lin Lifang, in Oxford who asks him to pass on a coded message. Jon first met Lin Lifang during the Tiananmen Square incident although now he is a well-connected and well-remunerated senior party member with a daughter studying in Oxford.

Jon maneuvres a last assignment out of his bosses, an investigation in China, accompanied by his producer Alyssa. What follows is a complex web of surveillance, rough-ups and shake-downs by the State Security staff, the police in China, Lin Lifang’s heavies, and Lin Lifang’s wife’s staff. (I said it was complex.) Needless to say, British ‘Intelligence’ is also involved – watching Jon and Alyssa and advising, without actually helping. Jon and Alyssa’s primary story is the rise and rise of Lin Lifang within the Party and the possibility of a leadership coup. As smoke screens (perhaps) they also chase stories relating to the Uighyrs and live-animal trafficking ex-Africa. As the coup approaches, it becomes clearer that Lin Lifang is using Jon to disseminate misinformation to the international community as well as to the State Security officials.

The coup attempt fails, the State Security close in on Jon and Alyssa, they escape, we’re treated to a wonderful vignette from the Gorbachov era, an exciting chase scene plays out and ends in tragedy for Jon. British spooks extract Jon from the clutches of the State Security and he makes a hero’s return to the newsroom where his nemesis (nemses) are clearing their desks following another corporate shake up – giving me hope for another episode of adventure and exquisite story-telling.

I really enjoyed reading this; it had everything I want in book – likable characters I can cheer for, evil enemies, intrigue, a twisty plot, an evocative ending that I didn’t see coming, and all extremely well-written.

I Swear I’m Not Insane is a really good read: well-paced, a lot happening, many twists and surprises, and, in the end, quite an emotional read.

Two friends on a road trip, sort of – at least, that’s how this story begins.

What begins as 2 undercover police on a road trip soon becomes an alternative reality for two escaped patients from a psychiatric detention facility. As their medication wears off, their real selves are allowed to surface, complete with anxieties and memories of their earlier lives… The reader is gradually invited into their stories through a series of conversations and incidents. These two intriguing friends come to be in possession of a six-year-old deaf girl who doesn’t seem to mind the adventure, which eventually concludes at the Mexico border. I’ll not complete the plot description because this is a suspense, but I will say the ending is satisfying for the reader (for this reader).

The character development was excellent as was the writing/story-telling. The two friends’ back-stories were sufficiently complex and real to make the whole book feel disturbingly and uniquely authentic.

I enjoyed reading this well-paced story and found myself sympathising with the two main characters and I certainly I hope to read more like this from his author.

What an excellent read – I loved The Father’s Son from start to finish.

The plot is relatively simple: boy’s father (a policeman) is kidnapped and never seen again. As his mother had already died, the boy goes into the government care system and has a rough start to life outside the care system. With some luck and hard work, the boys grows up to become an FBI agent. He’s called to help root out ‘inside’ corruption in the police and so is working undercover in Philadelphia. The crime he’s working on is linked to his father’s disappearance and ultimately it becomes clear that he is tracking down his father’s killer. As he gets closer to the killer, his own son is kidnapped. And as it’s a suspense, I’ll leave my plot description there.

The plot is well-constructed and credible. The characters are kept to a minimum and are each well-created with enough back-story to make them credible and developed. The good characters are likeable, the bad ones aren’t.

The story flows at an appropriate pace and picks up in the last few chapters as the story becomes exciting and an ending is near.

Very well-written. I really enjoyed reading this book.

I LOVED The Girl Who Painted Death as a window into real people’s lives and pasts. I think the Balkan region, and Zagreb in particular, is steeped in intrigue and charm and makes for a wonderful setting for any novel, but especially one with threads of evil and hope running through it in equal and competing proportions. Indeed, I only wish I could’ve read this book while sitting in a smoky bar or cafe in Zagreb. And It was good to read a ‘Balkan novel’ that has gone beyond the Yugoslavia war.

Julie moves from her childhood home in Macedonia to live with a friend in Croatia after her sister and father are killed in a mysterious accident/incident. She works in a bar by night and studies art/painting by day. While attending an exhibition she meets Adam, a successful, young, architect and a romance begins. Julie finds he has cheated on her and as she struggles to make sense of this, threatening letters begin appearing in her apartment which she attributes to Adam. Adam disappears from her life, but the letters don’t. She is led back to her Macedonian home town where her father and sister were killed and the facts of that incident are uncovered to her.

The characters in this book were carefully crafted and released to the reader in manageable bites as the book and story unfolded. I really enjoyed how the complex relationships were slowly untangled as I worked through the plot.

And a most satisfying ending!

I found The Lord of the Nutcracker Men a very easy and enjoyable read.

After ten-year-old Johnny’s father volunteers for the British Army in WW1 and his mother starts a job in a munitions factory, he has to move away from the city and live with his aunty in a small, rural village. 

Johnny’s father was a toy-maker who whittled toy soldiers for Johnny. He continued to send new toy soldiers to Johnny from the frontline trenches. The plot is very clever and is rooted in Johnny’s games with his toy soldiers who parallel his father’s real-life experiences. 

Like everyone else, Johnny initially expects his father to be home for Christmas, but realises that that won’t be the case. As his father’s letters become more vivid and honest, Johnny comes to believe that he is controlling the war and his father’s fate in the war through his games with the toy soldiers his father makes and sends to him.

The characters are well-developed and the settings feel historically authentic. The threads to the plot are wonderfully wound together and it ticks along at a satisfying pace. The writing is honest and charming. The writing style is genuinely pleasant and works to create a richly-told story. I really enjoyed reading Lord of the Nutcracker Men and can recommend it to adults as well as the young-teen readers for whom it was primarily written.