Book Reviews

All of the titles reviewed and recommended further down this page can be found or reserved at Low Fell Library by dropping in or calling (0191) 433 6408.

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Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime by Val McDermid

June enjoyed this book, which can be found on the shelves, or reserved at, Low Fell Library.

The dead talk. To the right listener, they tell us all about themselves. They tell us where they came from, how they lived, how they died and who killed them. Forensic scientists can unlock the mysteries of the past and help justice to be done using the messages left by a corpse, a crime scene or the faintest of human traces. Forensics draws on interviews with top-level professionals, ground-breaking research and Val's own experience to lay bare the secrets of this fascinating science.

Along the way, Val wonders at how maggots collected from a corpse can help determine time of death, how a DNA trace a millionth the size of a grain of salt can be used to convict a killer and how a team of young Argentine scientists led by a maverick American anthropologist uncovered the victims of a genocide.

In her novels, Val has been solving complex crimes and confronting unimaginable evil for years. Now, she's looking at the people who do it for real. It's a journey that will take her to war zones, fire scenes and autopsy suites, and bring her into contact with extraordinary bravery and wickedness, as she traces the history of forensics from its earliest beginnings to the cutting-edge science of the modern day.

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A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Terry reviewed this book, which can be found on the shelves, or reserved at, Low Fell Library.

This book is extremely funny, poignant and sad. There is the progressive unveiling of a complex character that is partly inherited and partly driven by circumstances. Victor Meldrew is positively saintly compared to Ove. The story is engaging and well-constructed as you move through Ove’s life.

The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson

June enjoyed this book, which can be found on the shelves, or reserved at, Low Fell Library.

Twenty years ago, Bill Bryson went on a trip around Britain to celebrate the island that had become his adopted country. The book which resulted from the trip, Notes from a Small Island, became the bestselling travel book ever.

Two decades later, Bill Bryson makes a new journey round Britain to see what has changed.

Following a route from Bognor Regis to Cape Wrath, which he calls the Bryson Line, Bryson sets out to rediscover the eccentric and unique country he thought he knew, but doesn’t entirely recognize anymore.

Despite Britain’s occasional failings and bewilderments, Bryson is still pleased to call our rainy island home. In this book, he gives the reader an acute and perceptive insight into all that is best and worst about Britain today.

‘If you are from another country, you may need to be told that the New Forest isn’t in fact new and is not altogether a forest.’ ‘The Road to Little Dribbling’ by Bill Bryson.