Skios by Michael Frayn (Faber and Faber)

by Patrick O'Connor

ONE of the dictionary definitions of farce is 'a light dramatic work in which highly improbable plot situations, exaggerated characters, and often slapstick elements are used for humorous effect.'

The playwright and novelist Michael Frayn is perhaps best known for his 1982 stage comedy Noises Off but he also a very accomplished writer and this offering, set on the fictitious Greek island of Skios, contains all the ingredients for an enjoyable farce.

Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd (Bloomsbury)

by Patrick O'Connor

ONE of the few decent things on British television over the Christmas period was a 1940s spy thriller called Restless, adapted from a book written by the acclaimed novelist and screenwriter William Boyd.

It was such a cracking yarn that I sought out another Boyd offering, Ordinary Thunderstorms.

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday) by Patrick O'Connor   THE BBC's adaptation of Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie series of novels, featuring Jason Isaacs as the former police inspector turned private investigator and set in Edinburgh, is one of my favourite TV crime dramas. But Atkinson is superbly adept at other genres, as demonstrated […]

Dark Winter by David Mark (Quercus)

by Patrick O'Connor

POLICE procedural novels are ten-a-penny these days and it's getting harder and harder to come up with something different.

Characterisation and location are key elements and writers have to shuffle this pack constantly to try and re-energise the genre.

The Pretender by David Belbin (Five Leaves Publications)

by Patrick O'Connor

IF you fancy your hand at creative writing, this book could be just for you.

A blurb on the jacket describes it as a 'literary thriller' and the author runs an MA course in Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University so should have plenty of first hand knowledge of the world of books.

Besotted by Joe Treasure (Picador)

by Patrick O'Connor

TWIN brothers Michael and Kieran, live in Cheltenham, but at the beginning of this book they are visiting their grandparents in County Cork in Ireland in 1982.

Like so many people (myself included) of Irish descent, they sometimes struggled to know whether to call themselves English or Irish.