David Baldacci on Hope Rises, AI, Books as Body Armour & the 9-Hour Court Deposition

Five days, twenty strangers, eighty-four miles of whitewater and no way out. Today I am talking to bestselling thriller author Noelle W. Ihli about The Last to Drown, the book that has put me off whitewater rafting for life. Before that, three book reviews, and a swimming pool mystery I need your help with. Three book reviews A Knock at the Door by Louise Candlish (out 5 November). A three-year-old goes missing on a weekend break. Eighteen years later, a young woman arrives at the door claiming to be her. I thought I knew where this was going and I was wrong. This could be Louise's best book yet, and she will be joining me to talk about it in a few weeks. The Angel of Death by Trevor Wood. The third DCI Jack Parker book. An anonymous killer in Newcastle is offering the terminally ill a dignified escape, while Jack tries to hide his own early onset dementia diagnosis. Superbly written crime with a fascinating lead, and now published by our friends at Orenda Books. Wreck by Catherine Newman. I listened to this on audio while swimming and laughed out loud in the changing room. Funny in places, much more moving than I expected, and a family you want to sit with at the dining table. The narration is spot on. Author interview: Noelle W. Ihli on The Last to Drown The Last to Drown follows Kaia, recently widowed, on the rafting trip her husband always wanted to take. Seven years earlier a guide murdered a group of rafters on the same stretch of river, and the true crime community has never stopped asking questions. We talk about: The family rafting trip in Idaho that gave her the idea, and why her guides were "slightly concerned" by her questions Writing 500 to 1,000 words a day, and making herself sit there like a naughty child in time out Why she cannot write on a plane or in an airport Grief at the heart of the book, and the conversation with her husband that inspired it Writing with real survivors in mind, and the line she will not cross Being a true pantser who does not know how her characters will get out Survival as a group effort and not something you do alone Where to start with her books: The Last to Drown or Gray After Dark The candy drawer that powers the words: peanut butter M&Ms and Twizzlers Noelle is reading Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke The Witch by Freida McFadden The forthcoming book by John Marrs And finally If you wear a swimming cap but leave all your hair out underneath it, please tell me why. I am intrigued. Watch on Apple Podcasts Get in touch - links: Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | [email protected] Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's past my bedtime, my microphone has given up the ghost, and I've got something to get off my chest: the National Year of Reading. I've been having a dig into where the money is going, and by my calculations the £150,000 set aside for libraries works out at around £41 per library. That's a fair few biscuits, but not many books. So I'm putting forward some ideas of my own for getting adults reading again: Book monitors: volunteers in tabards helping nervous shoppers find the right book, the way a good cheese shop lets you try before you buy Making reading cool again, with more famous faces seen with a book in hand Audiobooks and graphic novels as an easy way in Five minutes a day, with reading streaks to keep you going Libraries on trains for long commutes and delays World Book Day for adults: a book voucher for everyone, no dressing up required (and maybe a free biscuit) Are my ideas ridiculous? Have you seen the National Year of Reading making a difference in schools? I'd love to know what you think. Then it's our October book club roundup of The One You Least Suspect by Brian McGilloway. I've read the second quarter, up to around page 188, and share how it's making me feel, with no spoilers. If you're not reading along, you can stop listening at that point. I'll be back on Monday with an author interview. Watch this episode on Apple Podcasts: Quick Book Reviews with Philippa Hall on Apple Podcasts Get in touch - links: Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | [email protected] Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is a special one — a full interview with Ian Rankin on The Heights, his first standalone thriller in nearly two decades. But first, a confession: I've just been away for the weekend and had a small crisis about how some people can remember every name — actors, characters, everyone — while I can't hold onto a single one. Is it just me? Answers on a postcard (or better yet, in your own colour-coding system, which is apparently what I need). Then it's on to the books. I'm reviewing three with no spoilers, before sitting down with Ian to talk about how a short story character, Detective Gillian Gish, refused to let him go; why Tottenham and a gleaming Hyde Park high-rise became the perfect collision of two Londons; and why he thinks readers have fallen out of love with police procedurals in an age of institutional corruption. Ian also tells me how the book was written almost entirely at sea, and what would happen if I sent him to write in a tiny, sweltering Tokyo apartment instead. Plus: his verdict on the correct way to eat a chocolate hobnob. This week's reviews: Someone Just Followed You, Liane Child — a propulsive, unsettling look at the world of kidfluencers, told mostly from a teenager's perspective Hum, Helen Phillips — winner of the Climate Fiction Prize 2026; gripping, reflective, slightly dystopian, and hard to put down The Eyewitness, Naomi Williams — a quick, twisty read about a woman whose eyes shut tight for 48 hours at a time, and the fear that someone is watching when she can't see Featured book: The Heights, Ian Rankin That's this episode — spoiler-free reviews of Someone Just Followed You, Hum, and The Eyewitness, plus Ian Rankin on The Heights. Get in touch Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | [email protected] Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My Book Haul Confession + Book Club Begins I have a confession: despite trying to go all-in on ebooks, I found myself with an hour to kill, a closed independent bookshop, and a chain store that was open — and I came out with a stack of books I need to tell you all about. This episode I'm running through my haul, including Naomi Alderman's The Strangers, Elizabeth Macneal's The Burial Plot, Benjamin Stevenson's Everyone in This Bank Is a Thief, William Boyd's The Predicament, Ross Montgomery's Murder at World's End, and Jon Ronson's The Castle — plus a slightly spicy admission about book four of Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses series and some very poorly timed public listening moments. Then it's the first week of our October Book Club, discussing the opening quarter of The One You Least Suspect by Brian McGilloway. I share my honest, no-spoiler thoughts on the first 93 pages — what surprised me, how it compares to what I expected, and why I ended up reading it in the early hours after a very different night than planned. I'd love to hear your thoughts too — get in touch using the details below. Book club pick: The One You Least Suspect, Brian McGilloway This episode is available as video on Apple Podcasts — watch it here. Get in touch links Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | [email protected] Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Conversation with Ann Cleeves: The Dying Light This is a special Wednesday episode — Ann Cleeves joins me to talk about The Dying Light, the fourth Matthew Venn novel, out this Thursday. We talk about the white Art Deco bungalow that started the whole book, why she never knows who did it when she begins writing, and how a hint of resentment over second homes in Devon became the beating heart of the story. Ann also opens up about Matthew's evangelical upbringing and why she thinks it drew him to policing, what forty books' worth of experience has taught her about pushing through a block, and why long train journeys are the best plotting tool she's found. Plus: Irish dancing at Harrogate, imposter syndrome at the big literary festivals, and a very disciplined approach to dunking a digestive. Featured book: The Dying Light, Ann Cleeves That's this episode — Ann Cleeves on The Dying Light, out Thursday 8th October. This episode is available as video on Apple Podcasts — watch it here. Get in touch Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | [email protected] Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.