Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
BOOK OF THE WEEK with Charlie Richards. The Girl On the Train, Paula Hawkins, ISBN 978-0552779777 (Black Swan) BD4.500 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members
Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens.
She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy.
And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough.
Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar. Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train.
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Rogue Lawyer, John Grisham, ISBN 978-1473622883 (Hodder) BD4.500 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members
Sometimes you have to fight dirty to get clean. Sebastian Rudd takes the cases no one else wants to take: the drug-addled punk accused of murdering two little girls; a crime lord on death row; a homeowner accused of shooting at a SWAT team.
Rudd believes that every person accused of a crime is entitled to a fair trial – even if he has to cheat to get one. He antagonises people from both sides of the law: his last office was firebombed, either by drug dealers or cops. He doesn’t know or care which.
But things are about to get even more complicated for Sebastian. Arch Swanger is the prime suspect in the abduction and presumed murder of 21-year-old Jiliana Kemp, the daughter of the assistant chief of police. When Swanger asks Sebastian to represent him, he lets Sebastian in on a terrible secret . . . one that will threaten everything Sebastian holds dear.
Gritty, witty, and impossible to put down, Rogue Lawyer is the master of the legal thriller at his very best.
My favourite read of the week
According to Yes, Dawn French, ISBN 978-1405921558 (Penguin) BD4.500 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members
The Foreign Land of the Very Wealthy – otherwise known as Manhattan’s Upper East Side – has its own rigid code of behaviour. It’s a code strictly adhered to by the Wilder-Bingham family.
Emotional displays – unacceptable.
Unruly behaviour – definitely not welcome.
Fun – no thanks.
This is Glenn Wilder-Bingham’s kingdom – a beautifully-displayed, impeccably-edited fortress of restraint.
So when Rosie Kitto, an eccentric 38-year-old primary school teacher from England, bounces into their lives with a secret sorrow and a heart as big as the city, nobody realises that she hasn’t read the rulebook.
For the Wilder-Bingham family, whose lives begin to unravel thread by thread, the consequences are explosive. Because after a lifetime of saying no, what happens when everyone decides to start saying . . . yes?
