Today our Shellharbour team highlights great books you can spend time getting lost in!
Make sure you check out these great reads in store:
Sleeping with the lights on…
Growing up I was a huge Stephen King fan. But back in the stone age that was all we had, that and Dean Koontz!
I have since discovered some brilliant authors who give these two kings of scream a run for their money.
Want to be scared? Try these three books.. If you daaarrreeee
1. CJ Tudor – The Chalk Man
You can feel it in the woods, in the school and in the playground; you can feel it in the houses and at the fairground. You can feel it in most places in the small town of Anderbury . . . the fear that something or someone is watching you.
It began back in 1986, at the fair, on the day of the accident. That was when twelve-year-old Eddie met Mr Halloran – the Chalk Man.
He gave Eddie the idea for the drawings: a way to leave secret messages for his friends and it was fun, until the chalk men led them to a body.
Thirty years later, Ed believes the past is far behind him, until an envelope slips through the letterbox. It contains a stick of chalk, and a drawing of a figure.
Is history going to repeat itself?
2. Sarah Sparrow – A Guide For Murdered Children
We all say there is no justice in this world. But what if there really was? What if the souls of murdered children were able to return briefly to this world, inhabit adult bodies and wreak ultimate revenge on the monsters who had killed them, stolen their lives?
Such is the unfathomable mystery confronting ex-NYPD detective Willow Wylde, fresh out of rehab and finally able to find a job running a Cold Case squad in suburban Detroit. When the two rookie cops assigned to him take an obsessive interest in a decades old disappearance of a brother and sister, Willow begins to suspect something out of the ordinary is afoot. And when he uncovers a series of church basement AA-type meetings made up of the slain innocents, a new way of looking at life, death, murder and missed opportunities is revealed to him.
Mystical, harrowing and ultimately tremendously moving, A Guide for Murdered Children is a genre-busting, mind-bending twist on the fine line between the ordinary and the extraordinary
3. Sarah Pinborough – Behind Her Eyes
Louise is a single mom, a secretary, stuck in a modern-day rut. On a rare night out, she meets a man in a bar and sparks fly. Though he leaves after they kiss, she’s thrilled she finally connected with someone.
When Louise arrives at work on Monday, she meets her new boss, David. The man from the bar. The very married man from the bar…who says the kiss was a terrible mistake but who still can’t keep his eyes off Louise.
And then Louise bumps into Adele, who’s new to town and in need of a friend, but she also just happens to be married to David. David and Adele look like the picture-perfect husband and wife, but then why is David so controlling, and why is Adele so scared of him?
– Joanne
The more the merrier!
I love reading series, and getting immersed with the characters. I am currently reading the fantasy series Throne of Glass, by Sarah J Maas.
My all time favourite series is Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Outlander is a historical fiction, adventure, time travel and a love story all rolled into one. There are currently eight books in the series, and everyone is waiting on book nine coming out, Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone. Claire and Jamie are the lead characters. I think Claire is so easily relatable because she is a modern woman from the 20th Century, thrown back through the standing stones back to 1743. The series has gained a new audience, with the books being made into a TV series. This has been being in the customers wanting to know what happens next with Jamie and Claire.
Diana Gabaldon also writes novellas and side stories to the Outlander series. Her most recent was Seven Stones to Stand Or Fall. With these stories, she expands on characters or storylines that don’t quite fit in the with novel but still add to the series. These books keep us going while we wait for book nine! – Ann
As a huge fan of the crime/thriller genre I have only recently discovered Chris Carter. I’m absolutely loving his stories. A good amount of gore, but they keep you guessing right up till the end. I have also recently read Karin Slaughters Pieces of Her and LOVED it; it’s not a quick and easy read, but it keeps you wanting to turn the pages trying to figure out how it all comes together.
My all time favourite book is Marching Powder by Rusty Young. It’s all about his experience of living in a Bolivian jail while he is travelling. He went to visit it one day and discovered that there was an amazing story to be told, so he decided to pay to live there while he wrote the story. There are some very graphic parts, but it gives you an almost unbelievable insight into how corrupt and crazy their jail systems are. We had Colombiano, Rusty’s second book, as our August Book of the Month last year. This was also a great read. Although it was fiction based on true events that he has been told about first hand by child soldiers that he is now helping to rehabilitate. – Kellie
Keeping it real!
Jordan Peterson’s Twelve Rules For Life is an interesting and motivating deconstruction of what it is that makes us human. Jordan, being a massive influence to a now rising political issue, never falters to be an entertaining, educated and just lovable conversationalist. The book, in which he tackles difficult sociopolitical issues head on, as well as his educated history in the field of clinical psychology is just a portion of what makes this read so enjoyable.
With his head first style towards deconstruction of belief, faith, morality and the condition of temporary human suffrage as a necessity, Twelve Rules For Life is one of my all time favorite titles and only indulges my love for Jordan Peterson and his wacky, crazy cowboy personality. This is a must read, for those who love to delve into the human condition, or just seek a little reassurance within. Jordan Peterson won’t disappoint! – Ethan
