"Head Cases" by John McMahon

I found myself a new favourite author! John McMahon's writing is as minimalistic as it is compelling. I love the protagonist in "Head Cases" and I'm so glad he's going to feature in another book. Hope this is the beginning of a long and successful series. Move over Jack Reacher and Win Horne Lockwood III, there's a new hero in town.

Blurb:

Gardner Camden is a walking analytical brain with an affinity for riddles, puzzles, and codes. It makes him the perfect fit for the Patterns and Recognition (PAR) unit of the FBI, a team of five brilliant but misfit agents who are too talented, too extraordinary to fire from the Bureau.

Gardner’s smart, but he’s all business – except for his seven-year-old daughter and occasional visits to his elderly mother, he prioritises his work and justice over everything else, no matter the cost.

A serial killer from one of Gardner’s solved cases, presumed to be long dead, is found murdered, and then soon after, another body with a similar story. The mastermind murderer has left clues and riddles for Gardner and his team – a mathematician, a sniper and weapons expert, a computer analytics specialist, and their leader, a career agent – as they track him across the country. With the threat of PAR dissolving, the team can’t afford to make any mistakes and Gardner must work to solve the riddles before it’s too late.

The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer

"The Impossible Thing" by Belinda Bauer - oh, what a book! Beautifully told, it's one of those gems that slowly tightens its grip on you and then refuses to let go.

From the windswept cliffs of Yorkshire in 1926 to a Welsh village a century later, this novel brings mystery and adventure. The premise (a missing, impossibly rare egg) had me hooked, googling guillemots, images of their eggs, and reasons for their unusual shape; yet it’s the characters who truly make this book. Patrick Fort, with his sharp mind and social limitations, is impossible not to love, and his friendship with Meg and Nick will warm the most cynical heart.

I like books that make you think, and "The Impossible Thing" made me deplore human greed and our lack of empathy for creatures seemingly lesser than us. It also made me reflect on the  way we attach so much value to material objects when, in the end, it’s the people and connections in our lives that truly matter.

Not without a couple of tear-jerking moments, ultimately this is a make-you-feel-good book.

The Housemaid Book Series by Freida McFadden

"The Housemaid" Series by Freida McFadden - how do I describe it? Original in concept (the protagonist is a loveable convicted killer), fast-paced, impossible to put down - and yet I'd call it a light read, in the most positive sense of the word.

You'll fall in love with Millie Calloway (the convicted killer) and you'll fall in love with the author's style of writing. I've read the three housemaid books, and a handful of others by Ms McFadden ("The Surrogate Mother", "The Perfect Son", "The Co-worker", "The Teacher"), and they all deliver a great reading experience.

BTW, I've just discovered "The Housemaid" is available on Netflix. Tonight's entertainment sorted!