#148. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Title:	Catching Fire
Author:	Suzanne Collins
Genre:	Future/Dystopian/Thriller/Young Adult
Synopsis:	After the impossible victory in The Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta must survive the political fall-out that follows as a society already prepared to boil over begins to heat up.
Verdict:	The progression of the rebellion, the machinations of The Capitol and the Quarter Quell are all well drawn and help further flesh out the picture of what the world has become. Still very compelling.
Pages:	472
Read:	July 2012

#147. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Title:	The Hunger Games
Author:	Suzanne Collins
Genre:	Future/Dystopian/Thriller/Young Adult
Synopsis:	In the remains of North America, in a harsh future, every year two young people from each District are sent to take part in brutal gladiatorial games in which there can be only one survivor. When Katniss Everdeen steps forward to save her sister, she and her male counterpart must face their own mortality and the stark reality of the totalitarian society they live in and what else might be taken from them.
Verdict:	Books written in the first person are fairly rare because they’re hard to pull off but it worked really well here. It allowed me to see things through the character’s eyes without the world-building seeming intrusive or taking up too much of the text. The reserved nature of the main character also helped building tension and keeping things moving.
Pages:	454
Read:	July 2012

#146. Dangerous Deception by Sandy Curtis

Title:	Dangerous Deception
Author:	Sandy Curtis
Genre:	Thriller/Crime
Synopsis:	A woman is attacked by assailants demanding something not in her power to give. When her assailant is killed, she goes on the run, desperately trying to work out what is going on and how to survive it. Meanwhile a man searching for his missing brother finds his search tied up in the fate of the missing woman and her fractured family.
Verdict:	This book was overly descriptive, told where it should have shown, the characters weren’t very deep and the motivations weren’t strong. If you were expecting something dramatic and a bit airport paperback romance, you’re set. If you wanted anything more than that, you were out of luck.
Pages:	348
Read:	July 2012

#145. Killing The Shadows by Val McDermid

Title:	Killing The Shadows
Author:	Val McDermid
Genre:	Crime/Police Procedural/Forensic/Thriller
Synopsis:	Someone is killing the writers of serial killer novels in the very way their fictional characters were killed. Profiler Fiona Cameron, afraid for the life of her author partner, is drawn into the investigation against her will.
Verdict:	As with a lot of these technical detail rich novels (usually in the forensic or psychology fields), there were some points where the details or procedure made things feel a bit dry but it was more than balanced out by the quality of the writing and the plot.
Pages:	561
Read:	June – July 2012

#144. Jane Vows Vengeance by Michael Thomas Ford

Title:	Jane Vows Vengeance
Author:	Michael Thomas Ford
Genre:	Fiction/Humour/Supernatural
Synopsis:	Jane Austen, vampire and bookstore owner, is busy trying to prepare her wedding, avoid being murdered by vampire hunters or old enemies and try to work out how to tell her fiancee what she is.
Verdict:	There’s just something about the main character of a romance being a vampire Jane Austen alive in modern day that really peps it up. Jane is engaged and if she can just survive her vampire hunter mother-in-law and ancient enemies long enough to get to the wedding she’ll be doing well. Throw in some travel, some intrigue and a good dose of drama and you have a fun if goofy read.
Pages:	275
Read:	June 2012

#143. Skin And Bone by Kathryn Fox

Title:	Skin and Bone
Author:	Kathryn Fox
Genre:	Crime/Police Procedural/Detective
Synopsis:	A body is found in a torched house and the investigation moves from sexual predators to missing persons to allegations of child abuse and back to fire again with more in between.
Verdict:	An interesting enough plot but it felt a bit without soul, there was no suspense for me. Detective Kate Farrer, her back story, and her interactions with her colleagues and suspects should be interesting but it just didn’t grab me.
Pages:	362
Read:	May 2012

#142. The Well Of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde

Title:	The Well of Lost Plots
Author:	Jasper Fforde
Genre:	Alternate Reality/Crime
Synopsis:	Hiding from the Goliath Corporation within the reality hidden within books, Thursday Next fights to foil conspiracies and to keep her memories which are being threatened from within.
Verdict:	Still great fun. The further into the book world this series delves, the odder the series gets but it works. Thursday is a strong and matter-of-fact female hero who isn’t presented at a man with a woman’s name or as an overly feminised version of such. Lots of layers and plenty of drama which leaves me looking forward to the next one.
Pages:	360
Read:	May 2012