Simone thinks she knows everything about the beautiful couple downstairs. She can see right through their skylight from her bathroom window, and there's no harm in watching is there?
But Simone was wrong - she doesn't know them at all. One day, there's someone under the skylight who shouldn't be and she's mad. Very mad. But after all this time watching, she knows exactly how to get even.
Thick with tension and static, the mystery is always hanging just over our heads until it crashes down spectacularly. Simone was captivating in a curiously chilling way from the first pages. Full of brilliantly clever little twists and just enough backstory which is so hard to achieve in short stories - this manages to be engrossing for each of it's 89 pages.
Allie isn't very happy - her job at the supermarket sucks and honestly so does her boyfriend, Ryan. She needs a change but doesn't know where to start. Then one day she walks past the cafe she passes every day on her boring walk home and see's a small notice on the door advertising a cooking job. And she wants it. There's a happy energy in there and for some reason she's drawn to it. But when she learns the cafe is in danger of being closed, she knows she has to save the day or her dream is in danger of ending before it even starts.
I did not like Ryan. I actually hated him. And he definitely gave a somewhat sour twist on an otherwise lovely story. But, I definitely recognised the type of boy he was and felt for Allie all the way.
Cute, fluffy and sweet just like the treats Allie is learning to cook - this was a brilliant story about making changes and finding your happiness.
It's the middle of the Pandemic, during a blackout - an Bambi has just arrived at his uncles house after his girlfriend kicked him out in the middle of the night. But the quiet streets and strict lockdown aren't the strangest things he finds when he arrives in Lagos - but a baby boy asleep in a crib with his aunt and another woman watching over him - both claiming to be his real mother. As increasingly strange and unusual things start to happen, Bambi realises how dangerous a Mothers love can be - and he has to find out the truth before it's too late.
I did not like Bambi - his deeply mysoginistic attitude made me uncomfortable and even mad, although it's hinted how internalized beliefs and societal influence may have made him this way. However, this was darkly compelling, intruiging and chilling - with easily the most iconic last line of any short story I've ever read.
Detective Superintendent Roy Grace has left the stress of his job behind to spend a week with his family relaxing in France. They've booked a beautiful grand Chateu to stay in but from the moment they arrive it's clearly not what they'd expected. But their subpar accomodation and perculiar hosts aren't the only problems. While they're trying to salvage their trip, an old enemy is getting closer with only one thing on his mind - revenge.
Featuring Roy Grace from James' other novels, you don't need to have read any previous works to understand this quick thriller. Full of tense, brilliant worldbuilding and the characters were very memorable. For me, the story was a little slow and then it was total chaos at the end but still a brilliant short story in just over 100 pages.
Other titles in this years Quick Reads are: The Motive by Khurrum Rahman and How To Be a Woman (abridged) by Caitlin Moran.
1 in 6 adults struggle with reading and 1 in 3 adults do not feel able to read recreationally. The Quick Reads programme is organised by the Reading Agency and works with over 30 publishers to put out new titles every year - they've published 135 since 2006 and are still going. Every book is in accessible font, in a range of genres to suit everyone and affordable - and every time you buy one they give another one away for free. They offer free reading material to libraries, prisons, hospitals, colleges and anywhere they feel reading has been made difficult to access. The Quick Reads programme is backed by best-selling author Jojo Moyes.
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