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The Hope (The Forcing Trilogy Book Three) by Paul E. Hardisty

 

The Hope (The Forcing Trilogy Book Three) by Paul E. Hardisty.

Published 29th January 2026 by Orenda Books.

From the cover of the book:

The year is 2082. Climate collapse, famine and war have left the world in ruins. In the shadow of the Alpha-Omega regime – descendants of the super-rich architects of disaster – sixteen-year-old Boo Ashworth and her uncle risk everything to save what’s left of human knowledge, hiding the last surviving books in a secret library beneath the streets of Hobart.

But Boo has a secret of her own: an astonishing ability to memorise entire texts with perfect recall. When the library is discovered and destroyed, she’s forced to flee – armed with nothing but the stories she carries in her mind, and a growing understanding of her family’s true past. 

Hunted and alone, and with the help of some unlikely allies, she must fight to save her loved ones – and bring hope to a broken world.

Spanning three generations before, during and after the fall, The Hope is the shattering conclusion to Paul E. Hardisty’s critically acclaimed climate-emergency trilogy – a devastating, visionary thriller that dares to imagine the possibility of redemption in the face of near-total collapse. In a dying world, it asks the most urgent question of all: what if there’s still time?

***********

2082. The impact of climate collapse, war and famine has left the planet in ruins. The last vestiges of humanity are struggling to survive, while the cruel Alpha-Omega (A-O) regime (descendants of the architects of the fall) rule like new-age kings behind the high walls of their realms.

In Hobart, Tasmania, sixteen-year-old Boo Ashworth works with her Uncle Kweku to build a secret library, hidden underground. Their aim is to save what is left of human knowledge, even though discovery means death. When disaster strikes, and the library is destroyed, Boo is suddenly alone. But all is not lost, for Boo has perfect recall, and within her mind the stories she and Kweku rescued remain alive. Hunted by the son of the Eminence who established his A-O kingdom in Tasmania, Boo needs allies to help her save her loved ones...

The final book of The Forcing trilogy has arrived! You must have read the first two instalments (The Forcing, and The Descent) of this incredibly prescient trilogy before reading this book, as each one is integral to the story as a whole.

Picking up the thread of the previous epic trials and tribulations of the Ashworth family, Kweku, his wife Julie, his son Leo, and his niece Becky (Boo) have settled in Hobart - and are amassing a secret library of precious books in a propaganda-rife world that bans knowledge of the past. They risk detection at any moment - not helped by strife within the family (particularly when it comes to restless Leo); and Julie's terminal illness, which means venturing into the A-O city for medicine.

Boo takes up the narrative for the first time in this series. She has already been through many traumas, after her rescue from the A-O as a child, and she is about to come into her own as a 'fire-brand'. I loved Boo from the moment she speaks. She is strong, smart, and resilient, loves books and knowledge, and has enormous courage - which she certainly needs in this story, when disaster takes her into the heart of the dangerous A-O regime.

Weaving in-between Boo's coming-of-age narrative, the familiar voice of Kweku takes us back in time to revisit the actions of a murky character we encountered in the first book - Lachie Ashworth, Kweku's older step-brother. Lachie, once President of the USA, and instrumental in many of the misguided actions that helped the world fall, is now keen to tell his story. Bringing Kweku to his haven in the Alps to act as his biographer, he gradually tells his shocking tale - going right back to the shift in power to the younger generation that saw his political star rise. In a stunning twist, Lachie's story also holds within it the seeds of hope for a broken world - which connects beautifully with Boo's part in the novel.

Alongside a superb Dystopian plot, carried by Boo, the Lachie-Kweku storyline fills-in so many gaps about how and why events played out. I really enjoyed how this added oodles of detail to what we already know from both The Forcing and The Descent, and am impressed by Hardisty's skill as a writer in bringing everything full circle when the intricate threads collide in a breath-taking finale. Echoing themes of power, betrayal, and sacrifice run riot; strong female characters abound; and the exploration of the importance of knowledge and the written word is wonderful - especially, I think, when is comes to the clever way he refers to the 'truth' fiction can convey.

Hardisty does just what great speculative fiction should do in this series, by provoking your thoughts, and raising awareness about where humanity is heading, at the same time as immersing you in a cracking story. The unflinching way he reflects the current state of the world in Lachie's testament is especially brutal and hard to read, but he does not misrepresent the title of this book in any way by calling it The Hope - if only people will listen to what he has to say. Absolutely required reading when it comes to the very best of the cli-fi genre.

The Hope is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats. You can help to support indie publishing by buying direct from Orenda Books HERE.

Thank you to Orenda Books for sending me a ecopy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Canadian Paul E Hardisty has spent 25 years working all over the world as an engineer, hydrologist and environmental scientist. He has roughnecked on oil rigs in Texas, explored for gold in the Arctic, mapped geology in Eastern Turkey (where he was befriended by PKK rebels), and rehabilitated water wells in the wilds of Africa. He was in Ethiopia in 1991 as the Mengistu regime fell, and was bumped from one of the last flights out of Addis Ababa by bureaucrats and their families fleeing the rebels. In 1993 he survived a bomb blast in a café in Sana’a. Paul is a university professor and CEO of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS).

Paul is a sailor, a private pilot, keen outdoorsman, conservation volunteer, and lives in Western Australia.

 January 2026 Reading Round-Up

It's been a nice gentle start to the year, with ten books that get your pulse racing, and really stir the emotions!

You can find your way to my reviews by clicking on the pictures below.

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

Room 706 by Ellie Levenson

The Future Saints by Ashley Winstead

The Coming Fire by Greg Mosse

Blank Canvas by Grace Murray

The Ice Angels by Caroline Mitchell

Hidden in Shadows by Viveca Sten

The Island Between Us by Dougie McHale

Anatomy of an Alibi by Ashley Elston

Stop All The Clocks by W.H. Auden

Onwards to February!

Stop All The Clock's: Poems Of Love And Loss by W.H. Auden

 

Stop All The Clock's: Poems Of Love And Loss by W.H. Auden.

Published 20th November 2025 by Faber Books.

From the cover of the book:

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone . . .

W. H. Auden was the consummate poet of love and heartbreak. Stop All the Clocks presents a selection of his best known, most lucid poems, poems that pitch human frailty against a persisting desire for love and belonging.

Here are the anxieties that beset our waking and sleeping hours: the delirium of desire, the torture of unrequited love, the trauma of loss and displacement. And here, in these resonant, dazzling poems, is the understanding we might be looking for.

***********

There cannot be many people who have not cried their eyes out at the scene in Four Weddings and a Funeral where John Hannah puts his heart and soul into his recitation of Funeral Blues, at the funeral of his dead lover - I know I have every time I have seen it. It beautifully conveys the utter devastation of raw grief, and it remains one of my favourite poems.

But I must admit that when it came to the work of W.H. Auden, I would have been hard put to name more than two poems by him, despite the fact that he was a prolific writer of poetry throughout his life -the other poem being, Tell Me The Truth About Love. So I was delighted to have the opportunity to discover more about Auden through this wonderful collection of his poems about love and loss, entitled with the first line from his most famous poem.

I was pleased to see that both the poems I am familiar with are included here: the rest of the book is a revelation. The most surprising thing is the incredible breadth of subject matter Auden explores when it comes to different facets of love and loss. There are poems here that instantly connect with relatable feelings about attraction, yearning, desire, romance, and enduring love, as well as the sting of rejection, long distance relationships, and the unbearable pain of lost partners - but there are also reflections on belonging and identity, ideology and even the experience of refugees, which I was not expecting.  

After consuming Auden's powerful lines, I found myself wanting to know more about the man himself and his inspirations. I ended up going down a rabbit hole about his life, which was fascinating, especially his relationship with Christopher Isherwood of Goodbye to Berlin (aka Cabaret) fame. 

This is a truly intriguing collection, which I can highly recommend to anyone who also wants to delve into Auden's work beyond Funeral Blues. It is beautifully produced in hard back, with lovely endpapers too!

Stop All The Clocks is available to buy now in hardcover.

Thank you to Faber Books for send8ng me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

W. H. Auden (1907-1973) was born in York and brought up in Birmingham. His first book, Poems, was published by T.S. Eliot at Faber & Faber in 1930. In 1939 he and Christopher Isherwood left for America, where Auden spent the next fifteen years lecturing, reviewing, editing, and writing poetry and opera librettos. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1948.

Anatomy Of An Alibi by Ashley Elston

 

Anatomy Of An Alibi by Ashley Elston.

Published 13th January 2026 by Headline.

From the cover of the book:

Two women. One dead husband. And only one alibi...

Camille Bayliss suspects her husband Ben hides a dark secret. But as he tracks her every move, she cannot prove it.

Aubrey Price believes lawyer Ben Bayliss knows the truth about the night that wrecked her life a decade ago. But she needs a way in.

When Camille and Aubrey meet, they hatch a plan.

For twelve hours, Aubrey will take Camille's place. Ben will track the wrong woman, Camille can spy on Ben, and both women will get their answers.

Except the next morning, Ben is found murdered.

Two women need an airtight alibi, but only one of them has it. And one false step is all it takes for everything to come undone...

***********

Camille Bayliss wants out of her marriage to high profile lawyer, Ben. She suspects he is keeping a secret from her, and plans to use this to her advantage, but how can she discover it when he keeps tabs on her every move?

Aubrey Price was left an orphan by a car accident that killed her parents when she was sixteen. Now, the man who was convicted of the crime has contacted her to say he has evidence that can prove he is innocent. She believes Ben Bayliss is somehow involved in keeping the truth hidden, but getting close to him may prove difficult.

When Camille inserts herself in Aubrey's life, they find they have a common interest. Aubrey agrees to impersonate Camille to give her the freedom to spy on Ben, but during the hours they swap places someone kills Ben. It dawns on Aubrey that in giving Camille an alibi she now does not have one of her own. One false step might just bring everything crashing down...

In an absolute masterclass of storytelling, Ashley Elston weaves her magic through scenes that happen BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER the alibi, from the perspectives of three central characters - Camille, Aubrey, and Ben's lawyer partner Hank. Added snippets from Ben himself take the story back ten years to the accident that killed Aubrey's parents, and the consequences of a cover-up engineered by Camille's powerful (and decidedly dodgy) father.

Gradually, the secrets and lies are revealed as Elston deftly drops her reveals - especially when it comes to the deal Camille and Aubrey make with each other, and their reasons for wanting the truth from Ben, which make things extra dangerous when a murder case ensues. What you think you know changes dramatically over the course of the novel, as red herrings abound, and there are so many suspects who have skin in the 'getting rid of Ben' game. I genuinely did not know how this would end until the final delicious twist, which I thoroughly enjoyed. So clever!

First Lie Wins was a hard act to follow, but the way Elston choreographs the threads of her second grown-up novel is an absolute triumph. There are so many lovely things about what she does here - playing Camille and Aubrey off against each other works beautifully, and the threads draw together so skilfully via Hank's determined sleuthing. There are really interesting facets of birth and found family explored throughout when it comes to Camille and Aubrey too - I promise you will come to love the little band of friends that do their all to help Aubrey out of her predicament.

I absolutely consumed this book from cover to cover - it is so darned good! It also made me think a lot about the nature of alibis...

"It's not just the anatomy of an alibi - having someone vouch that you were somewhere else when the crime was committed - but it's the psychology of it; that that someone is believable."

Intriguing!

If you are a fan of Megan Miranda and you have not discovered Ashley Elston yet, then I highly recommend you get yourself a copy of First Lie Wins and Anatomy of an Alibi - they are both crackers, and Elston hits exactly the same satisfying spot. I cannot wait for book three!

Anatomy of an Alibi is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Headline for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Ashley Elston is the author of the million-copy-selling thriller First Lie Wins - a No. 1 New York Times bestseller and a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick

She is the author of several young adult novels, including The Rules for Disappearing (a finalist in the Best Young Adult Novel category of the International Thriller Awards) and 10 Blind Dates.

Her work has been translated into 23 languages.

Ashley lives in Shreveport, Louisiana with her family.

The Island Between Us (The Hellenic Collection) by Dougie McHale

 

The Island Between Us (The Hellenic Collection) by Dougie McHale.

Published 29th January 2026 by Vinci Books.

From the cover of the book:

Two lives bound by love and sacrifice, across decades, across an island, across time itself.

Carissa thought she had escaped her past when she fled Edinburgh for the sunlit island of Skiathos. But her peace is shattered when her former partner finds her, determined to drag her back into his control.

Her only strength lies in the friendships she forges with Thomas, a WWII veteran who carries the burden of betrayal and loss, and with Demitris, who offers the love she desperately needs. As Thomas recounts his wartime mission, where danger, loyalty, and love collided, Carissa finds the courage to stand against the shadows threatening her own life.

***********

Edinburgh, 2007. Leaving a relationship that had become dangerously toxic, Carissa takes a job as a hiking guide, on the beautiful Greek island of Skiathos. The change of pace, and beautiful surroundings, start to work their magic. Soon Carissa feels like her old self. 

One day, while on a tour, she discovers an elderly man who has collapsed in his garden. She stops to get him some much needed assistance. Wondering how he is recovering from his ordeal, Carissa decides to pay him a visit, and is astonished to discover that Thomas is British.

Thomas begins to tell Carissa of his World War Two experiences working alongside the Greek resistance, and the two become firm friends. As Thomas delves into the memories that haunt him, Carissa is forced to confront her own demons - especially when her past finds its way into the haven she has found.

The novel unfurls in two compelling timelines that weave beautifully together: following Carissa from the break-up of her relationship to a controlling partner called Stuart, in the present; and the story of Thomas' war-time adventures between 1942-43. As their friendship grows, Thomas introduces Carissa to fascinating, and poignant history about the events that happened after he was dropped behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied Greece, as part of Operation Harling. Meanwhile, Carissa's new start in Skiathos is called into question by the arrival of creepy Stuart, who proceeds to stalk her from the shadows.

I was completely drawn into both storylines. McHale does a cracking job investing your emotions in Carissa's story, as her new life, with its enchanting romance with colleague Demitris, is threatened by the menacing Stuart - and he paints an authentically disturbing picture of what it is like to be stalked by a former partner. In parallel, McHale explores some really intriguing history about the work of the SOE in mainland Greece, by inserting fictional Thomas into real events amongst the divided loyalties of the Greek resistance, and he even incorporates a heart-rending forbidden romance for him to give an extra tug on the heart-strings.

I could not put this book down until all the threads of Carissa and Thomas' stories flowed to their tear-jerking conclusions. And I am seriously impressed by the magical way McHale reflects his themes of love, loss, danger, betrayal, and much needed healing through both timelines.

I have not come across Dougie McHale's novels before, but this is every bit as good as any epic story by Victoria Hislop, hitting the same 'heart-wrenching fiction meets engrossing history under the Greek sun' spot. I cannot wait to lose myself in the other Hellenic Collection novels!

The Island Between Us is available to buy now in paperback and ebook.

Thank you to Ed PR for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

In a past life, Dougie has been a dockyard worker, student, and musician. Writing has always been in his blood and bone.

He draws inspiration from his love of Edinburgh and Greece. Their people and histories have all found their way into the books he writes.

Dougie is the author of several novels of both Contemporary Women's Fiction and Second World War Fiction.

His novels are rich with characters that face impossible choices, extraordinary circumstances and the power of secrets told through ordinary people reacting to the ups and downs of the human condition and the complexity of the heart.

Dougie lives with his wife, daughter and forever hungry golden retriever in an intermittent empty nest as his son comes and goes.

Discover the books that readers are describing as an emotional roller-coaster of intrigue and drama, love and hope.

Hidden In Shadows (The Åre Murders Book Two) by Viveca Sten

 

Hidden In Shadows (The Åre Murders Book Two) by Viveca Sten.

Translated by Marlaine Delargy.

Published 5th December 2023 by Amazon Crossing.

Audio book narrated by Laura Jennings.

From the cover of the book:

Secrets, vengeance, and a brutal murder unsettle an idyllic winter paradise...

In the Swedish ski resort of Åre, crime is rare. Certainly nothing so brutal as the murder of Johan Andersson, a former Olympic skier found bound and beaten to death in the forest. According to his distraught wife, he didn’t have any enemies in the world. To Detective Inspectors Hanna Ahlander and Daniel Lindskog, the crime proves otherwise. But what could have provoked such rage? And in whom?

As Hanna and Daniel search for answers, Rebecka Ekvall, a vulnerable pastor’s wife, is trapped in an abusive marriage. Isolated from her congregation, she’s afraid of her husband and even more fearful for her life. Because Rebecka carries a fateful secret. But she isn’t the only one in Åre with something to hide.

As Hanna and Daniel continue to untangle the dark histories of a growing list of suspects, they realize that Johan’s murder is just the beginning of a disturbing case about survival and revenge—at any cost.

***********

Just a few months after the community of Åre was shocked by the killing of a teenaged girl, another murder in this quiet Swedish ski resort has everyone talking. Plumber, Johan Andersson, has been found battered to death in the snow. Everyone liked the personable former Olympic skier, and it seems impossible that someone could have killed him in such a brutal fashion.

Detective Inspectors Hanna Ahlander and Daniel Lindskog have a another difficult investigation on their hands...

Following on from the first book in the series, Hidden in Snow, this opens with the discovery of Johan's body, sparking a new murder investigation in Åre. Hannah and Daniel are on the trail of a murderer once again, but why anyone would want to kill a man who was apparently so well-liked is a mystery - until they discover that his gambling-addicted business partner had threatened Johan and his wife in the weeks running up to the crime. He seems the obvious culprit, but is the case really that simple?

The story unfolds through a number of narratives, as in the previous book, largely through the voices of Hannah and Daniel, and a character called Rebecka Ekvall, the wife of a pastor from the ultra conservative Light of Life church. It takes some time to discover quite how Rebecka's account of an abusive and controlling marriage fits into the big picture around Johan's murder, and Sten builds lovely suspense going back and forth between the complexities of the investigation, and Rebecka's worsening situation, before the threads of the plot cross over.

Additional narratives from Johan's wife, Marion, and Hannah and Daniel's colleague Anton are used cleverly - Marion's to provide a persistent little niggle in the back of you mind, and Anton's to add an interesting side-plot around his struggles with opening up about his sexuality (and his attraction to a witness in the case). I was less enamoured by Sten's decision to add the voice of Daniel's one-dimensional partner, Ida, to the mix.

It was great to see Hannah finding her feet in the wake of her personal and professional troubles, but I would like to see something more from the Daniel-Ida dynamic than the guilt-trip vs jealousy vibe. Either properly explore the issues that both of them have with some couple's counselling (could be interesting), or leave Daniel's constant buffeting between a rock and a hard place to the cop-has-difficulty-maintaining-a-settled-home life trope we all know and love. Two books in and it is getting tedious in a way that interrupts the flow of the story.

I really enjoyed how the pieces of this puzzle gradually come together though, especially when the significance of Rebecka's part in the plot is revealed. The tension in the final stages of the story is first-class, and I found myself holding my breath at more than one point as all the threads collide in the midst of a raging snow storm (just my cup of tea). The continuing themes of dysfunctional relationships, violence against women, and what goes on behind closed doors are explored well too.

Laura Jennings' capable narration carried me through this one, as in the first instalment, and I am looking forward to listening to her once again in book three, Hidden in Memories.

Hidden in Shadows is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

The Åre Murders series is currently available free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

About the author:

Viveca Sten is the author of the Åre Murder series and the #1 internationally bestselling Sandhamn Murders series. Since 2008, the series has sold close to eight million copies, establishing her as one of Scandinavia’s most popular authors. Set on the island of Sandhamn, the novels have been adapted into a Swedish-language TV series shot on location and seen by almost one hundred million viewers around the world.

Viveca lives in Stockholm with her husband and three children, but she alternates between Sandhamn in the summer and Åre in the winter, where she writes and vacations with her family.

The Ice Angels (Detective Elea Baker Book One) by Caroline Mitchell

 

The Ice Angels (Detective Elea Baker Book One) by Caroline Mitchell.

Published 15th January 2026 by Penguin.

From the cover of the book:

Ten years ago, in the depths of the Finnish winter, Detective Elea Baker’s daughter was taken―and never found.

Now, in the quiet streets of Lincoln, girls are disappearing again. When one is found on the cathedral steps, clutching a chilling clue linked to the decade-old abduction, there’s only one person who can solve the case: Elea.

Dragged back into her nightmare, she’s determined to bring her daughter home this time―no matter the cost.

But is she chasing a ghost, or on the verge of uncovering a truth that will shatter everything?

***********

Ten years ago, Detective Elea Baker's twelve-year-old daughter disappeared on her way home from school, leaving her bag lying in the snow. Elea has searched tirelessly for Liisa, and the two other Finnish children taken, determined that the Ice Angels case remain open, despite no trace having been found of any of them.

Now, there is a new lead. Miles away in quiet Lincoln, England, girls are going missing. When one reappears, huddled on the steps of Lincoln Cathedral, she is found in possession of a clue that connects her to the unsolved Ice Angels disappearances. Elea's estranged husband, DCI Swann, is heading up the UK investigation, and invites Elea to join them as a consultant - even though he is aware it might mean disruption for him both personally and professionally. Can Elea conjure up the break they need?

In a delicious clash of two of my favourite things - an ice cold Nordic noir thriller, and home-grown police procedural with a team you can whole-heartedly pin your colours to - this first instalment in a brand new crime series was everything I hoped it would be, and more!

Elea, trailing havoc in her wake, blows into the incident room like the force of nature she is. Stirring up trouble almost as soon as she steps off the plane, her ball-busting, unconventional methods soon provide impetus to the investigation - and bring new hope that Liisa's fate might finally be revealed.

As the story unfurls, following the narratives of Elea and Swann in the present, and Lissa in the past, Mitchell spins her emotionally charged threads with accomplished skill, and uses the slow-burn terror of Liisa's predicament, the authentic feel of an investigation mired in politics and paperwork, and the sparks that fly between Elea and Swann, to drive the plot in equal measure. She introduces the different characters in Swann's team in a way that makes their individual personalities stand out, and ensures you know exactly what Elea's arrival means for Swann's new relationship - cue lots of drama, given the palpable unresolved feelings that still lie between Elea and Swann.

Lovely themes run through the whole novel around the weight of things unsaid, mothers and daughters, the complex dynamics between captive and abductor, and the first-class twists come like a sucker-punch to the midriff!

I absorbed this gem from cover to cover, totally invested in the characters, and cannot wait to get to know more about them as the series develops. I need more Caroline Mitchell in my life!

The Ice Angels is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Penguin for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Caroline Mitchell is a New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post and international #No. 1 bestselling author who has sold over 2 million books . She originates from Ireland and now lives in a woodland village outside the city of Lincoln. A former police detective, she has worked in CID and specialised in roles dealing with vulnerable victims, high-risk victims of domestic abuse, and serious sexual offences. She now writes full time.

Her books have won first place as ‘Best Psychological Thriller’ in the US Reader’s’ Favourite Award Contest, been shortlisted for the International Thriller Writer Awards in New York and been shortlisted for ‘Best Procedural’ in the Killer Nashville awards and the Audie awards. Her crime thriller, Truth And Lies is a No.1 New York Times bestseller and has been optioned for TV.

Blank Canvas by Grace Murray

 

Blank Canvas by Grace Murray.

Published 15th January 2026 by Fig Tree.

From the cover of the book:

Introducing an outstanding new voice in literary fiction: a sensual, sharp, and utterly compelling campus novel about grief, reinvention, and the ripple effects of telling lies

If I ever woke up with an ungodly dread ― that I could change it all now, turn around, and confess ― I ignored it. I had never been good, and there was no point in trying now.

On a small liberal arts campus in upstate New York, Charlotte begins her final year with a lie. Her father died over the summer, she says. Heart attack. Very sudden.

Charlotte had never been close with her classmates but as she repeats her tale, their expressions soften into kindness. And so she learns there are things worth lying for: attention, affection, and, as she embarks on a relationship with fellow student Katarina, even love. All she needs to do is keep control of the threads that hold her lie – and her life – together.

But six thousand miles away, alone in the grey two-up-two-down Staffordshire terrace she grew up in, her father is very much alive, watching television and drinking beer. Charlotte has always kept difficult truths at arm’s length, but his resolve to visit his distant daughter might just be the one thing she can’t control.

***********

On a small liberal arts college campus in Pittsford, New York, Charlotte begins her final year with a lie, by telling fellow student Katarina her father had a heart attack and died over the summer -when he is, in fact, alive and well back home in Lichfield, England. 

Charlotte has never connected with her fellow students, but suddenly she is an object of kindness from those around her, and she starts to enjoy being noticed. But once the lies begin, it is impossible to stop - especially when she embarks on a relationship with Katarina that is founded on falsehoods.

Murray sucks you in this literary delight through the perspective of her unreliable narrator. Charlotte's voice grips you from the first page, completely immersing you in a novel that begins wreathed in acid wit, and then has you run a gamut of heart-rending emotions. 

In an effort to distance herself from the bleakness of her life in England, Charlotte has attempted to reinvent herself, without success - until a whopping lie brings her the contact she craves. Suddenly feeling seen, for the first time in her sad life, she quickly becomes addicted to the attention. Drawn into a relationship with her unwitting confidante, a young woman she has previously found ugly, she is seduced by Katarina's kindness and affection. Charlotte becomes overwhelmed by the feelings she has long supressed, and finds herself falling in love, but disaster awaits...

I found it impossible to look away as Murray gradually peels back the layers of Charlotte's dysfunction, revealing the unresolved traumas that have shaped her, and why she feels the need to fill the void inside with lies. She makes it her business to take a good long look at complicated family history, painful childhood experiences, guilt, shame, estrangement, loneliness, and yearning, freewheeling towards the inevitable moment when the consequences of Charlotte's actions play out - and then takes you beyond to a messy kind of healing. There is nothing vaguely comfortable about the experience, but, my goodness, the writing is a joy to behold.

And if that was not enough, this is also a seriously clever dig in the ribs to the absurdity of the world of art, especially the pretentious folly of the liberal arts college campus scene.

What an absolute cracker of a debut, with a wonderfully apposite title! Quietly devastating, it is like a gut punch to the emotions, with shades of Rebecca Wait's mix of pitch black humour and raw sentiment, and it held me fast, all the way to a perfectly contrived ending. I cannot wait to see how Grace Murray's career develops, because this is an impressive opening gambit.

Blank Canvas is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Fig Tree for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Grace Murray was born in 2003 and grew up in Norwich. She has recently graduated from Edinburgh University, where she read English Literature and found time to write between her studies and two part-time jobs. Her short fiction has been published in The London Magazine.

In writing Blank Canvas, Grace set out to explore themes of Catholic guilt and queer identity, clashing moral codes and lies, and the opportunity for reinvention presented by moving between countries and settings.

Blank Canvas was written over the course of a year as part of WriteNow, Penguin Random House’s flagship mentorship scheme for emerging talent. Grace Murray won one of nine places on the scheme on the exceptional strength of her writing, selected from a pool of over 1,300 applicants.

The Coming Fire (The Coming Darkness Book Three) by Greg Mosse

The Coming Fire (The Coming Darkness Book Three) by Greg Mosse.

Published 17th July 2025 by Moonflower Books.

From the cover of the book:

First came the darkness.
Then the storm.
Now it’s time to face the fire.

Following a fighter jet crash in the Haitian hinterland, special agent Alex Lamarque is taken captive by a violent gang, the lone authority in this lawless territory.

His only allies are busy on the other side of the world, facing a crescendo of dangers: the AI viruses crippling the digital state; the breakdown of law and order; and some unexpected, terrifying news from a Paris observatory.

With no hope of rescue, Alex must take on his greatest challenge entirely alone. Survival will take every bit of strength he has.

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In the midst of global chaos, Alex Lemarque has crash landed in the Haitian jungle. The experimental jet is in pieces, his captive Davide Castile has escaped, and he has been taken hostage by a violent gang. With a mysterious AI virus wreaking havoc to all digital systems, Alex's divided allies are finding it difficult to reach him. He must find a way to free himself. Meanwhile, a new threat looms in the skies above the earth...

And so we have reached the final volume of Greg Mosse's ambitious cli-fi trilogy! The Coming Fire kicks off hot on the heels of The Coming Storm, which exploded in an orgy of cataclysmic events as the result of far-reaching conspiracies, and left readers very much in cliff-hanger territory.

This final instalment begins very much as it means to go on, flipping back and forth between multiple characters and locations to follow the scattered threads of the series to their conclusions - and Mosse has an epic task on his hands, because the previous volume took his protagonists far and wide in their slow-burn quest to save the world once again. 

Elements of tropical hell, Middle Eastern meltdown, danger on the high seas, dam-busted devastation, solar system shenanigans, AI induced cascading digital failures, civil disorder, and the monumental machinations of a madman all come crashing together in a mind-bending mash-up. There is a lot to keep track of (too much at times), and the changing pace between burst of action and Mosse's brand of slow-burn suspense is a little disorienting - especially when some of the threads venture back in time to explain pieces of the puzzle that happened off-stage.

There are nice surprises here though, that the fear of spoilers prevents me from revealing, so it is worth persevering to the pay-off, and never let it be said that Mosse does not know how to throw in highly original bumps in the road for his hard-working protagonists. His baddies are entertainingly pitched somewhere between Bond-esque meglomaniacs and Wilbur Smith-type wackos too, which makes them lots of fun.

Although I do not think either this concluding volume, or the mid-trilogy book (The Coming Fire), manage to hit the delicious page-turning noir delights of Mosse's debut, The Coming Darkness, there are some really thought-provoking concepts embedded here that show real promise when is comes to the intelligent way he tackles near-future Dystopia. I find myself left with the impression that less would probably have been more, but if you are game for a cli-fi series that goes all in then you will find lots here to please.

The Coming Fire is available to buy now in paperback, and ebook formats.

Thank you to Moonflower Books for sending me a n ecopy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Greg's first career was in theatre as actor, director & writer. He has lived and worked in Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Madrid. Having worked as an interpreter at a variety of international institutions, in 2015 Greg returned to theatre. Since then, he has written and produced 25 plays and musicals. His debut novel, The Coming Darkness, was named Best Thriller 2022 by The Times and one of the Books of the Year by the Sunday Times. It was endorsed by big names like Lee Child and Anthony Horowitz. Greg is a regular on radio, including his appearance as a guest on BBC Radio 4 Front Row. He now lives in Sussex with his wife, the novelist Kate Mosse.