Quick Book Reviews with Philippa Hall

The wonderful Louise Candlish is back on the podcast to talk about her new book, A Knock at the Door. A three-year-old girl goes missing on a family weekend away. Eighteen years later, a young woman turns up at her parents’ door claiming to be their lost daughter. Is she really her, or is she an imposter?Louise tells me:why this book feels different in tone from her last fewits original working titlehow a young intern helped her make the Telegram messages sound authenticwhy she has called this one “imposter noir”We also talk about:her dream writing location, a silent penthouse suite overlooking a royal parkher nightmare one, a noisy train, and what happened when her husband challenged a fellow passenger on the Stansted Expresstwists and blurbs, and why publishers shouldn’t promise a twistthe book Louise thinks has the best twist everwhy e-readers turned her into a speed readermy 15 holiday books and their run-in with Athens customsthe brownie that powered the wordsBefore that, I review three books:What We Ask Google by Simon Rogers. I finished it in a day and it made me feel hopeful about the human race. My non-fiction Christmas present pick.The Castle by Jon Ronson. I really enjoyed it, with a couple of stodgy bits.The Players Club by Rachel Mills. Lots of people are raving about this one, but it didn’t quite work for me.You’ll also hear about a retired couple and some spontaneous synchronised swimming.Books mentionedA Knock at the Door by Louise CandlishWhat We Ask Google by Simon RogersThe Castle by Jon RonsonThe Players Club by Rachel MillsEyes on You by Adele ParksFallen Women by Tammy Cohen (out February 2027)The Other Passenger by Louise CandlishShutter Island by Dennis LehaneFingersmith by Sarah WatersWatch the episodeQuick Book Reviews on Apple Podcasts (video)Get in touch - links:Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | quickbookreviews@outlook.comQuick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.

I’ve found out something very scary about the Waterstones points system and I have to tell you straight away. Booksellers have reported customers with £300, £900, even over £1,000 worth of points on their cards. Before you start saving yours, there’s a catch in the terms and conditions you need to know about. If you have that many points and can’t think what to buy, I’m putting my hand up to help.Then it’s the final round-up of our first Book Club read, The One You Least Suspect by Brian McGilloway. I found the first half hard going, not because of the writing but because of what the main character goes through. Then something clicked. I’ll tell you my score and whether I’d read more of Brian’s books. No spoilers.And the Book Club is carrying on. I share my rules for choosing each month’s book and announce the pick for November, The Only One Left by Riley Sager, a gothic crime thriller BookTube has been raving about. If you want something cosy and uplifting, this probably isn’t for you. If you’re twisted and troubled like me, it’s perfect.November Book Club reading schedule: The Only One Left by Riley SagerI’ve given chapters as well as page numbers, so it works for paperback, ebook and audiobook.Week 1: up to page 99, just before Chapter 11 startsWeek 2: up to page 193, just before Chapter 24 startsWeek 3: up to page 285, just before Chapter 34 startsWeek 4: finish the bookBooks mentionedThe One You Least Suspect by Brian McGillowayThe Only One Left by Riley SagerWatch the episodeQuick Book Reviews on Apple Podcasts (video)Get in touch - links:Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | quickbookreviews@outlook.comQuick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.

Hello my fellow bookworms! This week I’m delighted to welcome back the wonderful Louise Penny to talk about her latest Three Pines mystery, Miss Wolcott’s Ghost. Plus I review The Strangers by Naomi Alderman, share another swimming pool story (earplugs, I’m sorry), and reveal the book club picks for the next four months.In conversation with Louise PennyMiss Wolcott’s Ghost is book 21 in the Chief Inspector Gamache series, but you can absolutely start here. Louise tells me where the name Three Pines really came from, how her friends found Lost Nation and its forgotten cemetery deep in the Quebec woods, and why this is very much not cosy crime. We talk about courage and cowardice, book covers, dreams, her co-written thriller The Last Mandarin, what she’s reading now, and of course, the biscuit (or butter tart) that powered the writing. No spoilers, as always.Miss Wolcott’s Ghost by Louise PennyBook reviewThe Strangers by Naomi Alderman. Mysterious creatures called mimmoths appear across the world, while the author navigates grief after losing her mother. I loved the dystopian element, but I’m honestly not sure how I felt about the whole. Have you read it? I’d love to know what you think.Book club: November to FebruaryNovember: The Only One Left by Riley SagerDecember: Unsolved by Heather CritchlowJanuary: Split Second by R.C. Bridgestock, published by Orenda BooksFebruary: A Bad, Bad Place by Frances Crawford, out in paperback in time for FebruaryAs before, we’ll read a quarter of the book each week.Also mentionedThe Last Mandarin by Louise Penny and Melissa FungThe Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse DoucetA Fish Caught in Time by Samantha WeinbergWatch the videoWatch on Apple PodcastsGet in touch - links:Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | quickbookreviews@outlook.comQuick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.

Is it ever acceptable to give up on a book on page one? Should the classics be dropped from GCSE English? And which bookish trend deserves to go on the bonfire?This Friday is an AUTUMN SPECIAL: the Autumn Book Tag, bookish opinions edition. Ten questions, no preparation, and answers coming straight out of my mouth, so we should all be very worried. Then it is part three of our book club read, The One You Least Suspect by Brian McGilloway, with no spoilers as always.The Autumn Book TagFalling leaves: Is it ever acceptable to give up on a book, and how many pages does it get before you do?Clocks go back: With an extra hour to read, would you reread an old favourite or start something new?Back to school: Should we be made to read the classics at school, or does it put people off reading for life?Dark evenings: Does a book have to match the season, or is the "autumn read" just marketing?Halloween: What scares you more in a book, the supernatural or what ordinary people do to each other?Bonfire night: Which bookish habit or trend would you happily throw on the bonfire?Harvest: Is a huge to-be-read pile a comfort or a source of guilt? Is buying books a separate hobby from reading them?Conkers: Reading challenges and yearly targets, motivating or joyless?Cosy jumper: Is "cosy" a compliment or an insult when applied to a book?Prize season: Do prize winners actually make better reading, or do judges and readers want different things?In this episodeWhy I think you can DNF a book at any point, and why it is always a me problem and never the bookThe honest reason I almost never rereadWhy I would take the classics out of GCSE English and bring in graphic novels and scripts instead (I am expecting flack for this one)My confession that I read out of season: Christmas books in summer, summer books at ChristmasWhat goes on my bonfire, and it will not surprise regular listenersWhy buying books has to be a separate hobby, or we are at situation critical in this houseCosy fantasy versus cosy crime, and why I like my crime a bit meanerThe year a prize shortlist left me so incensed I have not done it since, and why I think the longlist is often better than the winnerBook club, part threeThe One You Least Suspect by Brian McGilloway, with no spoilers as always.is still very dark and troubling, even more so in this section, and I worry about some of these characters so much. And yet I am fully locked in and cannot wait to read the final quarter. Thank you to Tony for the brilliant suggestion of splitting book club sections by chapter instead of page number, so it works whether you are reading the hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook. If we do this again, that is how we will do it.Coming upEpisodes on bookish judging and on celebrity novels, because I have views. And I will be back on Monday with another author interview.I would love to know your answers to the tag, and what you are thinking about the book club read.Watch on Apple PodcastsGet in touch - links:Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | quickbookreviews@outlook.comQuick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.

Five days, twenty strangers, eighty-four miles of whitewater and no way out. Today I am talking to bestselling thriller author Noelle W. Ihli about The Last to Drown, the book that has put me off whitewater rafting for life. Before that, three book reviews, and a swimming pool mystery I need your help with.Three book reviewsA Knock at the Door by Louise Candlish (out 5 November). A three-year-old goes missing on a weekend break. Eighteen years later, a young woman arrives at the door claiming to be her. I thought I knew where this was going and I was wrong. This could be Louise's best book yet, and she will be joining me to talk about it in a few weeks.The Angel of Death by Trevor Wood. The third DCI Jack Parker book. An anonymous killer in Newcastle is offering the terminally ill a dignified escape, while Jack tries to hide his own early onset dementia diagnosis. Superbly written crime with a fascinating lead, and now published by our friends at Orenda Books.Wreck by Catherine Newman. I listened to this on audio while swimming and laughed out loud in the changing room. Funny in places, much more moving than I expected, and a family you want to sit with at the dining table. The narration is spot on.Author interview: Noelle W. Ihli on The Last to DrownThe Last to Drown follows Kaia, recently widowed, on the rafting trip her husband always wanted to take. Seven years earlier a guide murdered a group of rafters on the same stretch of river, and the true crime community has never stopped asking questions. We talk about:The family rafting trip in Idaho that gave her the idea, and why her guides were "slightly concerned" by her questionsWriting 500 to 1,000 words a day, and making herself sit there like a naughty child in time outWhy she cannot write on a plane or in an airportGrief at the heart of the book, and the conversation with her husband that inspired itWriting with real survivors in mind, and the line she will not crossBeing a true pantser who does not know how her characters will get outSurvival as a group effort and not something you do aloneWhere to start with her books: The Last to Drown or Gray After DarkThe candy drawer that powers the words: peanut butter M&Ms and TwizzlersNoelle is readingYesteryear by Caro Claire BurkeThe Witch by Freida McFaddenThe forthcoming book by John MarrsAnd finallyIf you wear a swimming cap but leave all your hair out underneath it, please tell me why. I am intrigued.Watch on Apple PodcastsGet in touch - links:Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | quickbookreviews@outlook.comQuick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.

It's past my bedtime, my microphone has given up the ghost, and I've got something to get off my chest: the National Year of Reading. I've been having a dig into where the money is going, and by my calculations the £150,000 set aside for libraries works out at around £41 per library. That's a fair few biscuits, but not many books.So I'm putting forward some ideas of my own for getting adults reading again:Book monitors: volunteers in tabards helping nervous shoppers find the right book, the way a good cheese shop lets you try before you buyMaking reading cool again, with more famous faces seen with a book in handAudiobooks and graphic novels as an easy way inFive minutes a day, with reading streaks to keep you goingLibraries on trains for long commutes and delaysWorld Book Day for adults: a book voucher for everyone, no dressing up required (and maybe a free biscuit)Are my ideas ridiculous? Have you seen the National Year of Reading making a difference in schools? I'd love to know what you think.Then it's our October book club roundup of The One You Least Suspect by Brian McGilloway. I've read the second quarter, up to around page 188, and share how it's making me feel, with no spoilers. If you're not reading along, you can stop listening at that point.I'll be back on Monday with an author interview.Watch this episode on Apple Podcasts: Quick Book Reviews with Philippa Hall on Apple PodcastsGet in touch - links:Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | quickbookreviews@outlook.comQuick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.

This episode is a special one — a full interview with Ian Rankin on The Heights, his first standalone thriller in nearly two decades. But first, a confession: I've just been away for the weekend and had a small crisis about how some people can remember every name — actors, characters, everyone — while I can't hold onto a single one. Is it just me? Answers on a postcard (or better yet, in your own colour-coding system, which is apparently what I need).Then it's on to the books. I'm reviewing three with no spoilers, before sitting down with Ian to talk about how a short story character, Detective Gillian Gish, refused to let him go; why Tottenham and a gleaming Hyde Park high-rise became the perfect collision of two Londons; and why he thinks readers have fallen out of love with police procedurals in an age of institutional corruption. Ian also tells me how the book was written almost entirely at sea, and what would happen if I sent him to write in a tiny, sweltering Tokyo apartment instead. Plus: his verdict on the correct way to eat a chocolate hobnob.This week's reviews:Someone Just Followed You, Liane Child — a propulsive, unsettling look at the world of kidfluencers, told mostly from a teenager's perspectiveHum, Helen Phillips — winner of the Climate Fiction Prize 2026; gripping, reflective, slightly dystopian, and hard to put downThe Eyewitness, Naomi Williams — a quick, twisty read about a woman whose eyes shut tight for 48 hours at a time, and the fear that someone is watching when she can't seeFeatured book:The Heights, Ian RankinThat's this episode — spoiler-free reviews of Someone Just Followed You, Hum, and The Eyewitness, plus Ian Rankin on The Heights.Get in touchQuick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | quickbookreviews@outlook.comQuick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.

My Book Haul Confession + Book Club BeginsI have a confession: despite trying to go all-in on ebooks, I found myself with an hour to kill, a closed independent bookshop, and a chain store that was open — and I came out with a stack of books I need to tell you all about. This episode I'm running through my haul, including Naomi Alderman's The Strangers, Elizabeth Macneal's The Burial Plot, Benjamin Stevenson's Everyone in This Bank Is a Thief, William Boyd's The Predicament, Ross Montgomery's Murder at World's End, and Jon Ronson's The Castle — plus a slightly spicy admission about book four of Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses series and some very poorly timed public listening moments.Then it's the first week of our October Book Club, discussing the opening quarter of The One You Least Suspect by Brian McGilloway. I share my honest, no-spoiler thoughts on the first 93 pages — what surprised me, how it compares to what I expected, and why I ended up reading it in the early hours after a very different night than planned. I'd love to hear your thoughts too — get in touch using the details below.Book club pick:The One You Least Suspect, Brian McGillowayThis episode is available as video on Apple Podcasts — watch it here.Get in touch linksQuick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | quickbookreviews@outlook.comQuick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.