The Secrets We Kept

"The Secrets We Kept" by Lara Prescott is a fantastic read: engaging, thought-provoking, moving. I used to think I didn't care for spy thrillers - now I know I didn't care for male-centric spy thrillers. Women spies - bring them on!

The book follows women who work for the CIA during the Cold War. Over in Russia, the plot revolves around the woman who was the inspiration for "Doctor Zhivago", a book that the CIA is hoping to turn into an anti-Soviet weapon.

As you fall in love with the characters, you get a glimpse of what life was like in the 1950s on both sides of the Iron Curtain.

Cry Baby

This one's different! I've been following Mark Billingham since his first official visit to New Zealand (the Auckland Writers' Festival), where he shared the podium with two other authors and joked that with that many people in the audience, we could all go up and hold the presentation in his hotel room. I fell in love with his humour right then and promptly bought "Sleepyhead" and all those that came after. I don't regret it.

***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS***

The plot of "Cry Baby", written two decades after "Sleepyhead", actually predates it. Don't let it be the first Tom Thorne book you read, because you'll deprive yourself of the little "aha" moments when Tom meets Phil Hendricks for the first time, or walks away from his future flat in Kentish Town, or visits his parents. "Cry Baby" is a throwback to the times when people didn't carry cell phones and there was no CCTV footage to do the police legwork - and it's also a throwback to a younger, less cynical, Tom.

Of course, if you don't want to commit to reading 16 Tom Thorne books before "Cry Baby", go right ahead. It can be enjoyed as a stand-alone.