Andy’s Year In Books

Andy’s 2025 Year in Books

Take a look at Andy’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.

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Andy Barca

Goodreads Author

Website

http://www.andybarca.com/

Twitter

AndyBarcaWrites

Genre

Nonfiction, Thriller

Influences

Stephen King, Ernst Hemingway, Gor Vidal

Member Since

February 2026

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/andy_barca

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Born in the UK, Andy Barca grew up with a suitcase half-packed and a passport never far from reach. Early travels with his parents sparked a fascination with the wider world, along with a love of languages that now sees him speaking several to varying degrees of fluency. Andy still prefers to write on the road, chasing new perspectives in evocative, often unexpected locations. Yet it is the extraordinary people he meets along the way—their hopes, struggles and quiet acts of courage—that most deeply inspire his stories. Trained as a historian, he remains captivated by the past and the ways it echoes through the present, believing we can learn as much from old mistakes as from forgotten triumphs.

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Andy Barca’s books

Average rating: 4.0 · 1 rating · 1 review · 2 distinct works

	The Butterfly Effect: How a murder of a young Chinese woman led to a deadly war in the centre of Europe really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Butterfly Effect: How a murder of a young Chinese woman led to a deadly war in the centre of Europe 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

248 posts
Andy Barca's Blog

The Delicate Thumb

On 21 September 1898, Empress Dowager Cixi crushed the Hundred Days' Reform, imprisoning the Guangxu Emperor and executing the empire's brightest modernisers. She ruled China for half a century from behind a silk screen - only to ensure that when her grip failed, the deluge followed.

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Published on September 20, 2026 17:00

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Andy Barca wrote a new blog post The Delicate Thumb On 21 September 1898, Empress Dowager Cixi crushed the Hundred Days' Reform, imprisoning the Guangxu Emperor and executing the empire's brightest mode Read more of this blog post »
2 hours, 36 min ago · like
Andy Barca rated a book liked it Vulture Peak (Sonchai Jitpleecheep, #5) by John Burdett (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I find this latest entry an entertaining read, though it feels oddly disconnected from its predecessor. The profound suffering our protagonist endured in the course of the last book is mentioned here with striking impassivity and in passing, stripped ...more
23 hours, 6 min ago · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Vulture Peak by John Burdett. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Vulture Peak by John Burdett <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Andy Barca rated a book liked it Agrippa: A Novel of Ancient Rome's Descent into Dictatorship by Robert Harris (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Robert Harris returns to the ancient world in Agrippa, marking neither his first foray into Roman history nor his first visit to this specific era of late republic. I found it an interesting endeavour, yet the narrative voice he adopts for his prot ...more
Sep 16, 2026 07:45PM · like · see review
Andy Barca rated a book liked it The Godfather of Kathmandu (Sonchai Jitpleecheep, #4) by John Burdett (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
In this instalment, I found our protagonist in the grip of both terrible personal tragedy and a profound spiritual crisis. The narrative is gloriously chaotic. Sonchai must investigate a gruesome murder for which he will receive no credit, even if he ...more
Sep 14, 2026 08:42AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Godfather of Kathmandu by John Burdett. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Godfather of Kathmandu by John Burdett <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Andy Barca rated a book liked it Bangkok Tatoo by John Burdett (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Bangkok Tattoo is the second instalment in John Burdett’s series following Bangkok detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep. It is highly entertaining, though it leans heavily on the familiar tropes of the author’s previous work. I must confess I accidentall ...more
Sep 07, 2026 10:20AM · like · see review
Andy Barca rated a book really liked it Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Guy Gavriel Kay delivers a magnificent exercise in alternative history with Children of Earth and Sky. He anchors the tale firmly in medieval Europe, focusing on the Venetian and Ottoman empires. By disguising these powers under assumed names and a ...more
Sep 03, 2026 07:37PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Andy Barca rated a book liked it Sleeping Giants (Themis Files, #1) by Sylvain Neuvel (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sylvain Neuvel’s science fiction novel presents a delightfully improbable scenario, pitting obscure government agencies and the international military against rather mysterious extraterrestrials. It is a thoroughly entertaining read, though as I have ...more
Aug 20, 2026 05:54PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Andy Barca rated a book liked it Nightshade (Catalina, #1; Harry Bosch Universe, #41) by Michael Connelly (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Connelly already has a rather crowded stable of trusty heroes, Harry Bosch chief among them, yet here he is, wheeling out a brand-new detective. The man's imagination, it seems, refuses to run dry. The delivery is standard Connelly, which is to say: t ...more
Aug 18, 2026 06:12PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Nightshade by Michael Connelly. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Nightshade by Michael Connelly <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Andy Barca rated a book liked it Bangkok Haunts (Sonchai Jitpleecheep, #3) by John Burdett (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
As the title implies, ghosts abound. One even drives the central plot, so if you are allergic to the supernatural, you should look elsewhere. The novel remains firmly in line with the first instalment of the series, though the ghostly component is a ...more
Aug 16, 2026 06:32PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Bangkok Haunts by John Burdett. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Bangkok Haunts by John Burdett <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Andy Barca rated a book really liked it Riders (Rutshire Chronicles, #1) by Jilly Cooper	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jilly Cooper’s Riders is a novel of absolute abundance. It brims with compelling and flawed characters, copious amounts of booze, relentless, often graphic sex, and, rather inexplicably, peonies. Ms Cooper seems to harbour a profound fascination fo ...more
Aug 13, 2026 07:13AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Riders by Jilly Cooper. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Riders by Jilly Cooper <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">