The Biscuit Reviews

Two astonishing works of art have elevated themselves above their form: Adolescence, the groundbreaking TV show on Netflix, and the novel Transit by Rachel Cusk. They were both so moving, thought provoking and so skilfully produced that it has made me realise I need to spend more time being creative myself. Therefore, this will be the last episode aside from some possible one off specials with a g...

This episode I get drawn into a murky mystery that started with a fisherman’s discovery in 1996 in Devon and then snaked out across Europe and over the Atlantic. The podcast series  Sea of Lies  by CBC will have you gripped. In  Birnam Wood  by Eleanor Catton, the title gives a clue to the tragedy within as people’s ambitions set them on a path to their own downfall.  Its story set around activism...

Today’s episode takes a swing at redefining reality. First, with the novel Girls of Little Hope by Sam Beckbessinger and Dale Halvorsen. This mystery horror is set in 1996 about a trio of teenage girls who embark on a quest into their town’s past that leaves them doubting what they see, and then doubting themselves. After that, we’re back in our divided present with the Altered Realities mini seri...

It felt a little like spring might be on its way this week so in the spirit of being brighter and more optimistic, I have two feel good reviews this episode, both bringing a sense of the familiar.  First up is You Belong With Me by Mhairi McFarlane. Despite the potential for that title to preface a dark stalker based thriller, it is the sequel to her rom-com smash Who’s That Girl? And then we’re o...

Two books this episode with stories that gently gnaw at you with themes of eroded and hidden identity and whether we can truly know another person. I picked up Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng to start reading over morning coffee and maybe read a couple of chapters. By lunch time I had finished and needed a bit of time to process the incredible story of the Lee family and the disappearanc...

This episode is not for the faint hearted with a macabre double bill of the podcast Noble, and the novel Sign Here, by Claudia Lux. Noble is a true crime series that definitely warrants its content warning as it digs up the bones of a 20 year old case from the town of Noble in Georgia. Amidst the despair and disgust, the outstanding reporting reveals a fascinating portrait of a town and a communit...

This episode feels frighteningly prescient as I take a gander at two books that open a can of technological worms - worms that can probably spy on us and read our thoughts. Chuck Wendig’s Wanderers constructs an end of days horror thriller around a virus that divides society, whilst The Ferryman by Justin Cronin produces a vision of a future that actually reminded me a little of the old TV show Th...

It is just about 10 years since I first did a couple of podcasts series with my friend James Diamond, and since we both recently massively enjoyed the work of one British screenwriter we thought we would get together for a bit of a 10 year anniversary catch up.  In the spirit of those original shows which we recorded in the pub, we went to a new favourite aunt in Leicester to discuss the work of J...

In this episode, I look at two murder mysteries that couldn’t be more different in style, tone and setting, as I swap from Jane Isaac’s detailed procedural The Lies Within set in Leicestershire, to a global catastrophe for Stuart Turton’s imaginative The Last Murder at the End of the World set on a remote island. The former is a moving and superbly plotted crime thriller, and the latter a wildly i...

On the surface you might not think that the real life accounts of a cosmonaut stranded in space, and a single mum in the West Midlands navigating the school run in her mobility scooter have that much in common. However in this in this episode we'll see how sometimes it's the smallest details, and some human kindness that can cause life's greatest joys in the face of all consuming, life altering ev...

We take a trip to the less glamorous side of showbiz for the absurd and slightly caustic comedy TV show Barry, and the investigative podcast series Who Trolled Amber? SNL alumni Bill Hader is the creator and star of Barry, in which he pays the titular hitman who wants to give it up his day job to become an actor. Tortoise media are no slouches with hitting the targets in their investigative series...

Episode Notes A bumper episode as we have our second guest author on The Biscuit Reviews. This episode looks at two novels that feature criminal families and historical grievances - one that is brand new, and one that is actually from a few years ago. Both introduce us to characters that will become a part of a series, and both are crime novels that bring something a little different to the crime/...

Let's step into 2024 with two reviews that kind of sum up my 2023: nature and how we think. I've been meaning to read the novel By Ash, Oak and Thorn by Melissa Harrison for ages and although the novel starts in spring, starting it in the depths of winter proved ideal! We follow three of the ancient Hidden Folk - guardians of nature - as they set off and quest to solve a mystery that threatens the...

A sci-fi double bill that takes us to the far reaches of the universe and to the distant future and back again. Adrian Tchaikosvky concludes his astonishing Children of… trilogy with Children of Memory. Building on the combination of evolution, biology and tech in the previous instalments, this final chapter goes darker and deeper into what we even mean by “real”. It is also quite frighteningly cu...

In The Peripheral (based on William Gibson's book)is an ambitious sci-fi espionage thriller set across different times and different realities. It puts an twist on time travel and mixes genres but is it all a bit too much? Silo on Apple TV is set further into the future and after a catastrophe destroys the planet's atmosphere, a society survives in an underground silo, eking out a bare existence f...

Secrets. Deception. Affairs. Both the book and the podcast reviewed on this episode dive deep into the drama of the tangled webs we weave. Author Mhairi McFarlane's latest novel Between Us hits the ground running with high drama and high stakes. School teacher Roisin suffers a betrayal at the hands of her long term partner and is forced to wonder what else he might be capable of. The BBC Podcast s...

Episode 6 looks at the podcast series Witch, and the graphic novel Isabella and Blodwen. In the 13 part podcast series Witch, host and journalist India Rakusen and her team create a spellbinding series with each half an hour episode artfully exploring different aspects of what “Witch” can mean and how it has changed over the centuries. Artist, writer, and comic book creator Rachael Smith has built...

Caleb Azumah Nelsons debut novel Open Water is an astonishing achievement. Combining poetic prose and rhythms to match the heart wrenching tale of love and identity against the backdrop of a frenetic London and racial tensions. Lisa Jewell has cemented her reputation as an elite thriller writer and The Night She Disappeared is an other hit of the genre - which might seem a long way from her debut...

A double header this week. First up, I marvel at how in "Elizabeth is Missing", Emma Healey has crafted a tale about an old lady with dementia into a thrilling and moving mystery. Next up, I consider the themes that connect that novel to the Scandi-noir-esque Canadian detective series "Cardinal". ​ The episode starts with the review of "Elizabeth is Missing", but you can skip to 7minutes 20seconds...

The Power by Naomi Alderman is a provocative near future science fiction novel that poses a “what if?” scenario and dares you to confront the world around you and your place in it. It is quite literally shocking, as well as a world-hopping thriller with graphic action and uncomfortable moral choices. Could it also be the smash hit TV show of 2023? Blog and video version available www.thebiscuitrev...

The Coming Storm is a BBC podcast by journalist Gabriel Gatehouse and producer Lucy Proctor that on the surface is about the background to the Capitol Insurrection in Washington DC on the January 2021. Whilst the repercussions of that day still reverberate in the news and the courts in the present, this series takes a deep dive into history. What makes this a must listen series and how is it like...

Did Stephen King write a Young Adult novel? I also think I know the perfect director to make any film adaptation that might be tried of this vast imaginative novel. ​ In the first of my The Biscuit Reviews selections, I give myself a treat by starting with an author who I have re-embraced in the last decade after first leaping into IT and Needful Things when my older brothers got me into horror bo...