Pile by the Bed reviews London Station by David McCloskey, the latets in his espionage series featuring the irrepressible Artemis Proctor. London Station explores the relationship bewteen British and American spy agencies and what happens if it deteriorates. Recommended
Pile by the Bed reviews The Only Way Out is Up by Django Wexler a progression fantasy set in a hierarchical city where magic-powered robots fight each other in tournaments.
Pile by the Bed reviews The Dragon Has Some Complaints by John Wiswell, a cosy fantasy about an injured three-headed dragon who is taken in and trained to help a beleaugered city fight a war.
Pile by the Bed reviews The Henchperson’s Guide to Unionizing by Marshall J Moore a cosy fantasy novel that focusses on the offsiders of a vampire, a witch and a mad scientist.
Pile by the Bed reviews Taipei Story by Rebecca F Kuang a coming-of-age story about an American student who travels to Taiwan to participate in a Chinese language program.
Pile by the Bed reviews Transcription by Ben Lerner a small gem of a novel packed with ideas, resonance and commentary on the modern world.
Pile by the Bed reviews and recommends A Violent Masterpiece by Jordan Harper a dark and excoriating but compulsive look at modern America.
Pile by the Bed reviews The Watch by Emily Smith a twisty post-apocalyptic tale that is much more than it first appears.
Pile by the Bed reviews The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon, a heatwarming story of a plucky vacuum cleaner and fellow appliances who try to save their humans in an AI-controlled future.
Pile by the Bed reviews Sublimation by Isabel J Kim a science fiction novel that uses a mind-bending premise to consider iddes of individuality, agency, autonomy, homecoming and legacy.
Pile by the Bed reviews and recommends A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett the third book in his excellent Shadows of the Leviathan series featuring investigators Ana Dolabra and Dinios Kol.
Pile by the Bed reviews Contrapposto by Dave Eggers a sprawling American novel about art and artists that follows two characters from childhood to old age.
Pile by the Bed reviews and recommends Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead the final book in his Harlem crime trilogy bringing his main character, fence Ray Carney into the 1980s.
Pile by the Bed reviews After the Fall by Edward Ashton which imagines a post alien invasion Earth in which humans have been bred to be servile.
Pile by the Bed reviews The Unicorn Hunters by KAtherine Arden historical fantasy that reminagines the life of Anne of Brittany only with unicorns and fae beings.
Pile by the Bed reviews Heaven’s Graveyard by Grace Cutris, a follow up to her fantasy novel Idolfire but set in a future time when the events in that novel are considered to be mythology and children’s stories.
Pile by the Bed reviews Absence by Andrew Dana Hudson an exploration of loss, grief and belief set in a world in which people are mysteriously disappearing.
Pile by the Bed reviews Foundling Fathers by Meg Elison, a satirical novella that takes on America’s foundational mythology.
Pile by the Bed reviews My Name was Gerry Sass debut crime fiction by Tiffany Hanssen, very much in the style of the Coen Brothers, which follows the aftermath of the killing of a small-time criminal in small town America.
Pile by the Bed reviews Detour by Jeff Rake and Rob Hart a puzzlebox science fiction story about a mission to Saturn’s moon of Titan that feels very much like it was written to be a TV series and ends on multiple cliffhangers.
