Book bites
The Cuckoo’s Calling
★★★★ ★ Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling (Little Brown, R230)
thrill
BOOK
“You ought to give up detecting and try fantasy writing, Strike,” complains one of the characters to the leading man in JK Rowling’s first murder mystery since, well,
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Rowling herself will hopefully ignore any such advice. She has the knack for crime, it turns out, and has here whipped up a frothy mix of supermodels, fashion designers, hard-luck stories — and cold-blooded killing. Strike, a one-legged private dick, pairs up with Robin, a fetching temp, to bend an entertainingly convoluted case straight. With The Casual
Vacancy a tepid read, it was hard to say that Rowling was back. Now, at last, she is. — Ben Williams @benrwms
The Universe Versus Alex Woods ★★★★ ★ Gavin Extence (Hodder & Stoughton, R240)
monster
BOOK
How did 17-year-old Alex end up trying to cross the border with a cubbyhole full of marijuana and an urn full of ashes in the passenger seat? Ever since being struck on his head by a meteorite and developing epilepsy, the already unconventional Alex has struggled to integrate into normal life. This isn’t helped by the fact that his single mother runs an esoteric shop and his school life is plagued by bullies. Written from the perspective of the insightful yet endearing youngster, this book traverses subjects from science to euthanasia with irreverent wit. At its quirky heart lies the unlikely friendship between Alex and the ill-tempered widower Mr Peterson. Poignant but never sentimental, funny but never silly, Extence, in his debut novel, has managed to produce an original, perfectly crafted and delightful tale that takes on some meaningful and controversial human dilemmas. — Nikki Temkin @NikkiTemkin
Bloody Satisfied - Short Sharp Stories ★★★★ ★ Edited by Joanne Hichens (Mercury, R170)
thrill
BOOK
“South Africa is a very sexy place for crime fiction,” Deon Meyer declares in his introduction to Bloody Satisfied. But as the 24 authors collected here demonstrate, it is also brutal, sneaky, venal, banal, complex, murderous, proud, paranoid, colourful, guilty, greedy, arrogant, and rather twisted. From Dawn Garisch’s “What To Do About Ricky”, a looping tale of self-deception, to TO Molefe’s dystopian “The King”, and through all the alarming plot twists and gory who-dunnits in between, this collection is guaranteed to leave readers entirely in tune with its title. — Jacqui L'Ange @jaxangel