Selina

La Plante excels again in british crime fiction with another great read. it is great, but slightly odd, to read a crime thriller book set in the UK - we are so used to reading american fiction that it disorientates you a bit to begin with! The characters are well rounded and the team could easily be part of a tv series (that would actually be very watchable).

"I was covered in blood when the police found me", not the traditional opener for a teen novel! but Devlin throws the reader straight into the thick of things in this novel: a fantastically consuming story that's a cross between the Twilight saga and TV show Teen Wolf.

The characters are compelling and instantly relatable and you feel complete empathy with the lead character Avery, a teenage girl whose parents have just been murdered, and life thrown upside-down as she has to leave her home in the woods to live with her grandmother whom she hardly knows.

Another great Tempe Brennan novel, this time set in Reichs' hometown of Charlotte, and based around the world of NASCAR racing. Brennan is called to the landfill behind the racing track when a body is discovered in a barrel. Before she knows whats' happening, the FBI are involved and the body suddenly disappears from the morgue and is 'accidently' cremated before it can be identified.

Ibbotson is renowned for her children's books, and this is no exception. A thoroughly charming story of loyalty and friendship that develops between a lonely boy and his four-legged friend, with easily relatable characters for children, and just the right amount of simplicity without being patronising. A colourful adventure sure to capture the imagination of the readers.

Such a lovely story, and a shame that it is the last Ibbotson book.

Another gripping thriller form Gerritsen. Again we join Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles as they investigate a series of killings in Chinatown, which seem to be connected to a murder-suicide 19 years earlier, and a series of missing girls. The main problem is that the present day killer seems to be undetectable - no evidence, never caught on cameras, and with animal fast reflexes.

However, some people aren't happy about a 19 year old case being reopened, and as they get nearer to the truth, the search has devastating consequences.

Written by the creator of the TV series CSI:Crime Scene Investigation, this book had a lot to live up to.

It follows a similar theme, with the main character having to track and trace a killer before he harms those closest to him, however it follows police work more than the forensic side of things.

Zuikers' screen writing history is evident throughout, with a very graphic, visually orientated descriptions of characters and places, that change quickly from one'scene' to the next.

Although I started off a little confused as this is the end of a series, I soon caught up with what was happening. The characters and story were easy to follow, however it became a little frustrating towards then end, when it became obvious what was happening, but the characters still had no idea what was going on. But this may be because I am a little older than the target age group, and so cottoned on to the plot a little quicker.

Again we follow Chess Putnam as she tries to banish ghosts and uncover false hauntings, whist keeping her personal life out of work.

As her cases become more complex, it becomes increasingly difficult for her to keep on top of her Church work whilst acting as go between for drug dealers Bump and Slobag, without either of them finding out she's working for the other, and without the Church finding out about her drug habit.

In the third in instalment of the Downside Ghosts trilogy things go from bad to worse for Chess. The church puts her on a case she cant talk about, with a member of the elite Blacksquad - a do-good, abide by the rules woman who just happens to be the Grand Elders daughter, so Chess has to be on her best behaviour - not her favourite pastime. To make matters worse, it seems like the Lamaru are back and stronger than ever, and Chess is their next target.

After reading the first book, I couldn't wait to read the next, and I wasn't disappointed.The way the plot twists keeps you wanting to read, and the story has been developed enough to keep you interested whilst still keeping the original characters and themes.

In this book you get to know the characters more, and the way the author has written them makes them believable - mature for their age but still teenagers, with Gabriel having the right level of maturity and knowledge whilst still being connectable to the (younger) reader.