I have really enjoyed my reading this week. It does feel rather strange to write that I “only” read one book, because who is counting? Only me! I shouldn’t be policing myself like this.

The Long Call by Ann Cleeves

Anyway, I was lucky that the latest book by Ann Cleeves came up on our library’s ebook system. I reserved it some months ago and it became available to me last week: The Long Call. This is the first book in an entirely new series – Two Rivers – set in North Devon. I thoroughly enjoyed Cleeves’ Vera series and also her wonderful books set in Shetland. Such great TV has been made from her ideas. I wonder if we will see a new TV series set in North Devon in the future?

Here is the blurb:

In North Devon, where two rivers converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his father’s funeral takes place. Once loved and cherished, the day Matthew left the strict evangelical community he grew up in, he lost his family too.

Now, as he turns and walks away again, he receives a call from one of his team. A body has been found on the beach nearby: a man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death.

The case calls Matthew back into the community he thought he had left behind, as deadly secrets hidden at its heart are revealed, and his past and present collide.

This is my review on Goodreads:

The Long Call by Ann Cleeves
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really love Ann Cleeves’ writing. Her scene-setting is so clear that I have full-colour images in my mind as I read. Her characters are fully-rounded with all of their human quirks. Her stories are complex and satisfying. It’s no wonder that TV has picked up two of her series.

I have really enjoyed both the Vera and the Shetland books so I was very excited to begin this first book of a new series. As you would expect, there was quite a lot of time spent on the main characters, setting them up for several books. We need to understand their background and motivations. There are also some excellent descriptions of the landscape, the beaches, the sea and the small towns and villages of the area. Perhaps the future books will not have quite so much of that.

The actual plot was intriguing and I particularly liked the inclusion and description of women with Downs as an important part, rather than an add-on.

I am already looking forward to the next book in the series!

View all my reviews

If you are interested in this book, there are well-written reviews on Goodreads which go into far more detail than mine!

Dark Age by Pierce Brown

Now for some other news. Those of you who may follow me on Goodreads may have noticed that I have had a book sitting in my “Currently Reading” section for months. Since before my stroke, in fact. This is the book that I was reading at the time that the stroke hit in September 2019. I had been waiting until I could read print books again so that I could re-borrow it from the Library. Well, it has now been six months and I still cannot manage print books, so very sensibly I have actually bought it as an ebook! Whoo – yes, I have spent money on a book!

So, next week’s Reading Roundup post should include Pierce Brown’s Dark Age (Red Rising Saga #5). I think I will have to go back to the beginning as I can’t remember much of the plot, so I may need more than a week to finish it as it is a very long book!

Until next week: Happy Reading to you all!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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