Book Club

BOOK OF THE WEEK with Linda Jennings. Gray Mountain, John Grisham, ISBN 9781444765618 (Hodder) BD11.200 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members
Long before his name became synonymous with the modern legal thriller, he was working 60-70 hours a week at a small Southaven, Mississippi, law practice, squeezing in time before going to the office and during courtroom recesses to work on his hobby, i.e. writing his first novel.

Since first publishing A Time to Kill in 1988, Grisham has written one novel a year, Gray Mountain being his latest crime thriller.

One week ago, Samantha Kofer was a third-year associate at New York City’s largest law firm. Now she is an unpaid intern in a legal aid clinic deep in small-town Appalachia. When Lehman Brothers collapsed, she lost her job, her security, her future.

As she confronts real clients with real problems, she finds herself a world away from her past life of corporate fat cats and fatter bonuses. This is coal country. Meth country.

The law is different here. And standing up for the truth means putting your life on the line. America’s greatest storyteller brings us a new masterpiece of legal courage and gripping suspense – and his finest heroine since The Pelican Brief.

* Read it now in paperback
The Good Life, Martina Cole, ISBN 9781472200969 (Hodder) BD8.400 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members

This is another hard hitting powerful family drama from top crime author Martina Cole.

Cain Moran wanted Jenny Riley more than he had ever wanted anyone or anything before in his life. But loving Jenny Riley was the easy part; it was telling his wife he wanted a divorce that was going to be the killer!

Jenny is not just any girl. She cares nothing for Cain’s hard man reputation – she just wants to be with him. But Cain is not a free man. And he’s about to find out that when his wife Caroline said ‘til death us do part, she meant it.

When Cain is sentenced to life in prison it seems that Caroline might have got her wish. All Cain and Jenny know is that if their love can survive such separation, then one day they will have a chance at the Good Life together again.
But there are greater trials ahead than either can foresee.

The characters are about to learn the hardest lesson of all: live the good life, pay the price. The reader is about to start another long stretch of reading with this compelling novel which spans many years (and will take up many hours of doing nothing except page-turning)!

* My favourite read-of-the-week
A Family Christmas, Katie Flynn, ISBN 9780099590996 (Arrow) BD3.900 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members

Katie Flynn has a huge following of fans and her books always enter straight into the charts in the top 10. Here we have a new Christmas title for this year which will not disappoint.

Set around the Second World War this tale follows two children on a desperate journey to find their family.

Jimmy Trewin and his little sister are devastated by their mother’s death and horrified to find themselves entrusted to the far-from-tender care of a hated neighbour, Mrs Huxtable. They hope their father will rescue them when his ship comes into port but this does not happen.

Things get even worse when they see the husband, Cyril Huxtable, hiding away a wad of notes – a wad which subsequently disappears.

Cyril accuses the children of theft and threatens a terrible revenge, so they decide to leave Liverpool and try to find their mother’s family in Wales. During their journey they meet up with Miss Trent, a school teacher, and the three of them agree to join forces since Miss Trent also hopes to find relatives in Wales.

However, Cyril is out to pursue them until they hand back his money which he believes they have stolen.