Review
Books in Brief
The Museum of Dr Moses by Joyce Carol Oates (Quercus)
Joyce Carol Oates is one of America’s greatest writers and her latest collection of short stories, subtitled Tales of Mystery and Suspense, is as good as writing gets. These stories grab you from the outset and are very hard to pull away from. Generally, it’s not a good idea to read a collection of stories in one go as if they were a novel: you need time in between or the different worlds start to merge and the details get mixed up. There’s no danger of that here. Each story is distinct and unique, absorbing and horrifying in equal measures. If you’ve never read Joyce Carol Oates this is an excellent starting point; if you’re a fan, you’re in for a treat.
MC
5/5
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A Secret Place by Patricia Rainsford (Penguin)
Gina Brennan is on the run. She and two cellmates have escaped and it looks like they're nearly home free. That's until wealthy solicitor Billy Hendrick has his brains blown out in his Lexus and the girls are seen running from the car. Rob O'Connell is in charge of the Hendrick investigation and the puzzle of what three young petty criminals could possibly have to do with the assassination. They should be enemies, but they have more in common than they realise...A cracking good read with a sympathetic central character who manages to lift this above the usual crime fare. Recommended for thriller fans.
SL
4/5
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Derry Memories by Philip Cunningham (Guildhall Press)
Philip Cunningham’s fourth book about his city deserves to be as popular as its forerunners. The absorption of Derry people in their hometown has been a source of teasing to the lesser breeds without the walls but what can the uninitiated know about the northwest Eden. The stories, the rhymes, the ‘oul’ yarns that are part of the oral history are recreated here and a stunning selection of mainly private photographs gives a visual concreteness to the author’s seanchas. Cunningham’s fans will snap it up and hope that the threats of finality are exaggerated.
SM
4/5
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