Finding Gobi by Dion Leonard.

This is a true story of an ultramarathon runner who comes across a small stray dog whilst running across the Gobi Desert in China.

I loved this story and the way it was told. I liked the format of this book, how it is a first person narrative and that it starts off letting you know whatever you read, there will be a happy ending. You are let into Dion’s private life and history very gently as his story unfolds. He has made his past and thoughts very public, you really get to know the man by the end of the book. There are no boring bits in this story and it is not about making the author look big.

You do not need to be a fan of running to enjoy this book. This is all about human nature and how we relate to dogs. This book is very well written in an adult and intelligent way. Dion fully explains the relationship that develops between a man and a dog. He has done a wonderful job at putting this into words.

I got tremendous pleasure from reading this book. I understand what Dion was going through. I loved how he put everything into perspective. He managed to put over exactly how you can feel when you are befriended by a small dog. I have a cross-breed Pug X Shih Tzu so relating to Gobi, a small stray Terrier was very, very easy for me.

Finding Gobi is a remarkable book on both dog and human levels. It was simply a joy to read and gets the top score of 5 stars from me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Thomas Nelson and Harper Collins for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.

The Lying Kind (Detective Rachel Prince Book 1) by Alison James.

Follow Detective Rachel Prince as she searches for a missing 6 year old girl in Surrey. This is a regular British crime thriller, full of police procedure and the lives of the police officers involved.

I found The Lying Kind to be a GOOD read with strong characterization of the main investigating police officers and the girl’s parents. I liked all the extra bits thrown into this story concerning the private lives of the police officers. I liked the contrast between Detective Rachel Prince’s healthy eating and Detective Sergeant Mark Brickall’s love of junk food. In every scene he would devour more tasty convenience food. They also enjoyed a lovely banter together.

I liked how this story unfolded and how the police had difficulty verifying the information they had gathered. Some leads led to dead ends, others needed following up. It was nice how many of the characters could get the wrong end of the stick. There were plenty of secrets and lies in this story keeping the reader on their toes.

The plot was not wonderful but sadly reflected true cases from the past. There was not a wonderful twist or any specialist investigative skills employed. There was nothing outstanding about this book but it was a steady story. Overall I found The Lying Kind to be a bread and butter, GOOD 4 star read that featured enough drama to keep me entertained.

For all the gritty realism of this story, having been married for over 26 years, I found one little anecdote rather silly and difficult to believe. Detective Rachel Prince is searching the home of the missing 6 year old girl and goes into the mother’s bedroom.

...This too was extremely tidy, the frilly cream duvet and pillows neatly arranged, the bedside tables bare of clutter, and dresses and tops ordered by descending length in the wardrobe, shoes arranged by heel height below them…

Yeah, right, not in my home Alison or in any of my wife’s friends homes either!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Bookouture for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.

Creep by R.M. Greenaway.

This is the third B.C. Blues crime novel featuring career cops Cal Dion and David Leith. It can be read as a standalone.

Creep is an odd mix of a novel. There is regular police procedurals and strong characterization of Cal Dion and David Leith. But we do not have a simple murder, as there are some accidents plus supernatural elements surrounding Halloween. Putting all these factors into this story, made it rather a muddle.

I did like the workplace humour and found it spot on, making me chuckle often. This humour is very similar to and of the same high quality as Collateral, a four-part British television drama serial, written and created by David Hare, and directed by S. J. Clarkson. It first broadcast on BBC Two on February 12, 2018.

I really enjoyed her two previous novels Cold Girl and Undertow, voting them both the top scores of 5 stars. However, I found Creep to be very disappointing with the plot. I thought the references to Halloween were childish. There was nothing outstanding about the bad guy, the nature of the offences or the detective skills of Cal Dion and David Leith. This novel is still an okay, 3 star read because it was brightened up by two wonderful and charismatic women, Farah Jordan and Jackie Randall.

There was a kind of surprise in the acknowledgements at the end of this book. It then made sense of why I feel like I do about this novel. I feel that Creep has weakened her brand and that she would have been better off releasing this book under another name and replacing Cal Dion and David Leith with new names.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Dundurn for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.