September reading round up....

The Bones of You by Debbie Howells
About an eighteen year old girl who goes missing in a small village and a family friend who tries to find out what happened. Overall I found this an enjoyable read, the best way I can describe it is a cosy murder mystery. Although it had its faults and was by far not the best thriller I've read the writing style made up for it and made for a book that was easy to get into and offered some interesting characters and perspectives. 3.5/5

Nod by Adrian Barnes
"Take your greatest pleasure or your greatest fantasy and let it come continuously true- for a day, a week, a year, a decade. And that's hell."
Set in Vancouver, one morning the world realises that almost no one slept at all. after five days of no sleep psychosis sets in, after four weeks the body dies. This is Paul's story (a sleeper) in the 24 days that follow. The best way I can describe this is like The Girl With All The Gifts/ The Three meets Orwell. This could have easily been another dystopian albeit with an intriguing set up but the philosophical writing style elevated it to so much more than that. In short I enjoyed this a lot, the writer used the concept to say so many interesting things on love, relationships, religion and society in general. 4/5

Catwoman: When In Rome by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale
"The Riddler got into my head and plucked out the very thing I feared the most. A world in which everywhere I turned, Batman was there to save me."
A noir/ mystery set up that sees Catwoman travel to Rome to investigate Gotham Mobster Falcone's family. This is a slow burn that reveals a little about Selina's past and where she came from. We get to see her more vulnerable side alongside her usual badassery. This is set after Batman Hush (a big favourite of mine) and has the same writer so we get a lot of references to that story as Selina is still coming to terms with the fallout of that. Overall I loved the story although I'm not the biggest fan of Sale's artwork and the way he draws Selina. 

Batman Gotham Nights: Human Nature
This is a 5 issue run featuring Poison Ivy, where she is made to believe she is the cause of her orphans committing suicide and starts to question her powers. The story is decent, and we get to see a different side to Ivy, although the art work in this is not at all to my taste. Definitely not an essential story unless you are a fan of Ivy (or Hush who also features). 3/5

Favourite single issues...