Welcome to Litsy!

I enjoyed this one but didn't LOVE it. The first 200pgs were pretty so-so, but this one reeled me in so slowly that I didn't realize I was hooked until I was blasting through the final 150pgs instead of going to bed 😂 There were some spots where the motivations/reactions didn't work for me, and this is a spy thriller, so expect the MC to be able to do things mere mortals cannot, but overall an enjoyable read - I'll probably try another of ⬇

This was actually the best reading week I've had in a while. I finished five books for a total of over 1800 pages - #JoysofJune really inspired me @Andrew65 !!! Stayed up late last night finishing the tagged book, which started SO slow, but then suddenly I couldn't put it down 😂 Started The Soulmate Equation this morning - need to get some of these shiny new books checked off and back to the library!!

@Cinfhen

As someone who can't DNF a book (with the exception of Swallows & Amazons), I often find myself getting Stockholm Syndrome by the end...

As the end drew near, I found myself looking back with fondness at this farfetched crapfest in which a super-intelligent polyglot gets summoned to Siberia for not-entirely-clear reasons. The occasional glimpse of action is bracketed by paaaages of admin & unimportant detail.

⭐⭐ (Unless you LOVE transport)

Why oh why oh why do I have the kind of personality that won't let me bail 😭😭😭

This book has so far been 90% ADMIN! Nothing has happened yet to make me care about what's going on. What even IS going on?!

I suspect Philip Pullman was held at gun point when he said this was the best thriller he'd ever read.

It's that perfect blend of late summer clear skies and cool, fragrant autumn air. Time to start a new thriller that I've had on my shelf for years 🍂

I love this time of year. I can still enjoy an iced latte, while at the same time wrapping myself up in snuggly knitwear.

Chores can wait 😌😉

It was a pick for the majority, then just slightly lost my interest towards the end. The detail is incredible - most books, where the protagonist has to break in somewhere, it takes a few chapters. 90% of this book is about the intricate process of getting someone in and out of a top secret base. Great locations, on merchant ships and into the Arctic, great ingenuity, and interesting characters.

Next read. That's some recommendation in the introduction!

It's all @Mitch 's fault 😊 Thanks for the tip! Cute bookshop, and I can't not support an indie. One for me, one for Mr Oryx.

Bought on the basis of the cover sticker announcing Philip Pullman counted it as the best thriller he'd ever read. So no way it couldn't be amazing, right? Well, I can tell why PP made the claim but it wasn't as superlative for me - imho the thrills were low level. The writing itself is very good indeed, the plot well structured and executed (if totally ludicrous), the characters well drawn, believable & likable. The scene setting is superb ... 👇

So. Randomly picked my next read from Mount ToBeRead and discover the author was born in Hull! My last read featured a quote from a Philip Larkin poem, librarian at the University of Hull, my alma mater.

I always pick my books randomly. Yet so often there is a weird/freaky/creepy/serendipitous connection between them. A name, a place, a reference, a plot point .... Strange but bizarrely satisfying.

Lionel Davidson's spy thriller is a peculiar read - essentially a Cold War story published after the collapse of the USSR it's hopelessly overwritten (every piece of research appears on the page), has a real old school taciturn hero (irresistible to women, of course) and an utterly preposterous revelation but which also builds an effective sense of tension that kept my attention until the end.

#FunFridayPhoto How about a thrilla in Siberia? This has THE very best getaway sequence I have ever read. Fantastic.