So, it’s a new year - same old me - and so far this month I’ve only managed to read a couple of books. First up is Micheal Connolly’s The Narrows - the tenth instalment in the Harry Bosch series, and a direct sequel to two of his earlier works, Blood work and The Poet.

The serial killer, The Poet, is back - which makes things all a little more complicated for the FBI considering he was once one of their own, and has long been considered dead. Unfortunately the rumours of his demise have all been greatly exaggerated, and now he’s back to finish what he started.

Disgraced, and exiled, FBI criminal profiler, Rachel Walling, is called back to consult in the case following her involvement the last time around, but this time is being kept on a very tightly held leash.

Meanwhile, Harry Bosch - having retired from the Police and now working as a P.I - finds himself investigating the circumstances behind the mysterious death of his former friend, Terry McCabe, when he too gets drawn into the case.

As events unfold, pretty soon Rachel and Bosch find themselves working against the FBI in what soon becomes a race against time…

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT THIS BOOK…the death of profiler, Terry McCabe “off-screen” feels a little undignified, and after only appearing in a couple of books, I could t help but think the character deserved something of a better send-off. Likewise The Poet here doesn’t feel any bit as accomplished or clever as he did in the previous book, and a bit too overly concerned with petty revenge. As a conclusion to his story, all this just seems to fall a little flat?

Does this mean I didn’t enjoy the book? No.

I just felt like everything could have been handled a little better and as the Bosch books go, this is one of the less memorable ones - as evidenced by the fact that despite me having read this book before many years ago, re-reading it I could barely remember it.

4 Harry Bosch’s out of 5

Next up: Relentless - the second Rogue International book, and the umpteenth Joe Ledger novel. (I say that because I have forgotten just how many Joe Ledger books there are now!)

Following the end of Rage - where all Joe Ledger’s family were blown up in their farm house by one of his enemies - Joe goes off on a killing spree, desperate for revenge.

His targets? Former FBI agent turned terrorist, Harry Bolton - now known as Kuga - and his associate, Rafael Santoro.

Little does he know that as he succumbs to the darkness burning inside his soul that he is being manipulated - but not just by anyone, but by a Big Bad that until now everyone thought was dead, and who has links going back a long way to the mysterious man known as Mr. Church.

Much like the previous book I reviewed, the conclusion of Bolton’s story likewise feels like it falls a little flat. There is the usual big terrorist attack on the horizon that the rest of the team spend their entire time this book trying to deter, once they eventually work out what the hell is actually going on, whilst Ledger just goes around waging his own personal war, seemingly without any impunity.

There are more hints towards Mr. Church’s heretofore unrevealed background, and his ties to the Big Bad who is ultimately behind everything, but even that all feels like a lead in to the next book where we are promised we will finally learn all his secrets.

Or, at least, as many of them as Maberry is willing to reveal.

Again, did I like this book? Yes.

Was it a bit samey when compared to all the previous books in this series? Also yes.

But will I still read the next chapter in this series? Hell yeah I will.

4 Joe Ledgers out of 5

I’ve also been watching a few films this month - first up found footage film, Man Finds Tape.

In the small town of Larkin, something strange is happening.

A local man discovers a tape, down in his cellar, with his name on and deciding to watch it, finds it is a video recorded of him being watched in bed as a child by a mysterious stranger.

He goes online, vlogging about his experience, and pretty quickly goes viral. He manages to link whoever it was that filmed the footage to the local pastor, but while watching videos of the man’s sermons finds himself repeatedly falling asleep at the same point.

When CCTV of a hit and run in town provokes a similar reaction in anyone who watches it, the man reaches out to his sister who has moved away, asking her to return to help him solve the mystery of what is happening to the town.

But very quickly it soon turns out that the truth is even stranger than fiction.

This was a very clever and creepy film. What I loved about it was that it didn’t give all the answers, and instead left the viewer asking even more questions.

As Found Footage goes, this was done very well and I have to admit, I really quite enjoyed it.

4 📼📼📼📼 / 5

Next up: Locked:

Bill Skarsgard plays a guy, down on his luck, who in desperation decides to break into an expensive SUV he sees parked in his neighbourhood - but unfortunately the whole thing is a trap set up by the sinister, Anthony Hopkins.

For such a stellar cast, again this whole thing just falls a little flat. The premise is sound, but there a few holes in the plot (like, although the main character is stuck in the car several days and needs to pee, he never needs to shit?) and ultimately although it was a fun waste of 96 minutes, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it.

3 🚗🚙🚗 / 5

Finally, The Bone Temple:

Following on from the end of 28 years later, see my previous review late last year, young lad, Spike, has fallen in with The Jimmy’s; a bizarre gang of misfits who go around causing mayhem under the pretence of granting ‘charity’.

How’z that?

Inevitably their journey takes them into contact with the doctor from the previous film, who recognises Spike beneath his mask and decides to try and save him.

Every bit as odd and bizarre as the last film - which I actually enjoyed more on rewatching it ahead of this - the film makes some very strange choices, and takes the plot in numerous strange directions, before ending on yet another cliffhanger.

Namely the series’ worst kept secret - a cameo from Cillian Murphy’s character from the original 28 days later.

Rumour has it the film has underperformed at the box office, so whether or not we will get to see the end of this proposed trilogy still remains to be seen. But as a second instalment, this is an enjoyable enough watch but, as I said about the last film, it probably isn’t a cinema watch and might have fared better going straight to streaming.

3 🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️ / 5

And that’s my sum up for this month…