It’s been a while since I added a new list here – and there’s been a fair few books over February, so here goes…

NOTE : There’s a few that only qualify on repeat criteria, so I haven’t bothered noting those – only new criteria are detailed.

• Vendetta, by Dreda Say Mitchell
  Not bad – although ultimately unmemorable. Fairly standard ‘gangland whodunnit’ type thing with lots of ‘twists’. Most of which I saw coming. *shrug*
• Driving Force, by Dick Francis
  Like putting on a pair of slippers. I was feeling ill, and this was like comfort food for my brain. Qualified in “read in less than a day”, but mainly because I know it inside out.
• BlackHouse, Lewis Man and ChessMen by Peter May
  (23, 28, 35 (for some of it), 33 and 41)
  A trilogy based around the Isle of Lewis – I’ve had Blackhouse for ages, but finally got round to reading it, and then ripped through the other two in short order. I liked muchly, and will almost certainly read more of his stuff before long.
• Gamble, by Dick and Felix Francis
  More “slippers”, but these ones have been covered in cat-sick a couple of times. The Francis books have gone right downhill since Felix took over from Dick. (Fnarr)
• Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan
  More slippers, if in a violent and sci-fi way.
• Snakes and Ladders, and The Guilty by Sean Slater
  A new author to me this year, and now I’ve read all three that are currently Kindle-available. They’re not high-art, and there’s some thematic traits that annoy, but they’re an OK read.
• There’s also Gemini Cell by Myke Cole
  (45), but it’s bloody awful. One of the very few books where I’ve got halfway through and really wondered whether I can even be chuffed to finish it. I did, but it was a struggle. Just rotten.

As it is, I’m up to 22 books by now, so that target of 100 in the year is looking pretty achievable…