Quick Book Reviews with Philippa Hall

Recorded live at Capital Crime Book Festival, this episode kicks off Philippa's August Friday series — shorter interviews with brilliant authors you should know more about. First up: Brian McGilloway, talking holidays, control, and his standalone thriller The One You Least Suspect.
But first, three books perfect for anyone who hasn't read in years and wants to fall back in love with reading on holiday:
Three Books for the Reluctant Reader
Love, Mom – Iliana Xander
A bestselling thriller author dies in a so-called accident — and the letters that follow reveal a family secret worth killing for. Gripping from the first page.
Deception – Jack Jordan
A couple desperate to fund their son's life-saving surgery accepts an offer from a mysterious syndicate — but every task is a crime, and the stakes only rise. Widely considered Jack Jordan's best yet.
Strange Houses – Uketsu, translated by Jim Rion
A creepy, atmospheric Japanese horror told partly through unsettling floor plans. Short, immersive, and impossible to put down — Philippa's favourite holiday read of last year.
Brian McGilloway on The One You Least Suspect
A barmaid in Derry wakes up after an ill-advised one-night stand to find herself pressured into becoming a police informant by two detectives who've been watching her for months. Caught between the law and the men she works for, Katie has to find her own way through — and her own voice.
Brian and Philippa discuss:
Why he avoids flying wherever possible — buses, trains, and ferries are all preferable
His dream holiday: a cruise that wakes you up somewhere new every morning, or family time at Lake Garda
Why he still prefers physical books to e-readers (the percentage counter just doesn't cut it)
The real story behind Northern Ireland's history of police informants, and why he wanted an "unlikely" central character everyone underestimates
The original, much darker title that didn't survive — and why The Informant almost stuck
Which of his 13 books he'd recommend to a first-time reader
His celiac-friendly answer to the usual biscuit question: ice cream, raspberry sauce, and a sprinkle of chocolate
Get in touch
Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | quickbookreviews@outlook.com
Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.

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Bestselling psychological thriller author John Marrs joins Philippa for a Quick Book Reviews Summer Special to talk about his latest thriller, Dead in the Water.
John and Philippa chat about holiday reading, Kindle versus physical books, family trips, travel sickness, nightmare cruises, dream road trips across Canada or New Zealand, ice cream memories, and why raspberry ripple may require mint Tic Tacs.
They also discuss the writing of Dead in the Water, John’s plotting process, red herrings, psychological thrillers, speculative fiction, social media, TikTok, author promotion, publishing transparency, and why he wants readers to close his books feeling entertained.
Dead in the Water follows Damon after a near-drowning, when his life flashes before his eyes and reveals one disturbing memory he cannot place: a dead boy, a face he does not know, and a moment he cannot remember living. The official synopsis describes it as a chilling thriller about buried memories and obsession.
Perfect for fans of John Marrs, psychological thrillers, crime fiction, twisty thrillers, summer reads, author interviews, and no-spoiler book podcasts.
Books and authors mentioned:
Dead in the Water by John Marrs
The One by John Marrs
The Good Samaritan by John Marrs
The Passengers by John Marrs
The Marriage Act by John Marrs
The Family Experiment by John Marrs

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Philippa sits down with Ellery Lloyd — the husband and wife writing duo of Colette and Paul — to talk about their brilliant new novel Time to Burn, their Radio 2 Book Club selection, and what it's really like to write a book with the person you live with. Plus listener questions from the Quick Book Reviews Facebook group, and a biscuit answer that connects beautifully with a very recent episode.
🎙️ Ellery Lloyd on Time to Burn
In the very near future, time travel is possible — but only for the obscenely wealthy. Tech entrepreneur Inigo Frank has built Tempus Tours, and documentary maker Phoebe Hunt is there to film his story. Until the first day of filming, when a returning group of time travellers come back bloodied and dazed — and one of them is missing. Someone Phoebe knows.
Colette, Paul, and Philippa discuss:

The real-world inspiration: billionaire obsessions with space travel, and what happens when technology outpaces consequence
Why the book is driven by character and mystery rather than quantum physics — it's a thriller that happens to involve time travel, not the other way around
Their dream writing locations: a railing-free balcony on Dartmoor (Colette) and a house with extraordinary sea views in Devon (Paul) — neither of which involves being in the same room
The nightmare writing location: sitting next to Paul, who types loudly, laughs at his own sentences, and performs the act of writing like a 1930s movie reporter
The Radio 2 Book Club announcement — recorded with Sara Cox the morning of this episode
Reader questions from the Facebook group: cover design, who first suggested writing together, how they develop ideas (WhatsApps, balconies, and a legendary late-night text from China), whether they argue about plot points (they don't — but one of them keeps a backup Word document, just in case)
The Ellery Lloyd formula: a world you haven't been inside before, characters with real motivations, and everything tied up satisfyingly at the end
Where they'd travel if they could: Paul chooses dinosaurs and Romans; Colette wants a dress she saw when she was 18 and has never stopped thinking about
What they're reading: London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe (Colette) and The Death of Us by Abigail Dean (Paul)
Biscuit answer: Colette powers her writing with Tim Tams — bite off both ends, suck tea through the middle, eat immediately before it collapses. Paul eats his daughter's digestives resentfully and wishes he'd bought Hobnobs.
💬 Get in touch
Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | quickbookreviews@outlook.com
Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Philippa opens with a brief history lesson — the word "blurb" was invented in 1907 by a writer mocking self-congratulatory publishers, and his fictional creation Miss Belinda Blurb gave us the word we still use today. Then it's three book reviews and a wide-ranging, genuinely fascinating conversation with David Baldacci — over 200 million books sold — about his latest novel Hope Rises.
📚 Three Book Reviews
The Compound – Aisling Ruhl
Ten women wake up in a desert compound, cameras rolling, waiting for men to arrive. A dark, thought-provoking take on reality TV culture — more layered than it first appears.
They Called Us the Enemy – George Takei
A graphic novel memoir by the Star Trek actor recounting his family's imprisonment in Japanese American internment camps during World War II. Essential, heartbreaking, and — given it has now been banned in some US libraries — more important than ever.
Mad Mabel – Sally Hepworth
81-year-old Elsie Fitzpatrick has a curious history of people around her coming to a foul end. A beautifully narrated audiobook that defies easy genre labels — somewhere between a slow-burn thriller and the Thursday Murder Club, but entirely its own thing.
🎙️ David Baldacci on Hope Rises
Walter Nash did everything right — worked hard, earned well, built the American dream. Then an FBI agent turned up the night of his father's funeral and told him he had a choice: help bring down the criminal organisation he'd unknowingly worked for, or lose everything anyway.
David and Philippa discuss:
Why Walter Nash is a metaphor for everyone wondering where they fit in a world being reshaped by AI
The three-year class action lawsuit David and other authors brought against major AI companies — and the nine-hour deposition in which he was asked whether he'd copied Charles Dickens
Why he writes in a Greek deli near his Virginia office, where he has an unofficial plaque above his usual table
Being both an introvert and an extrovert — and why total isolation is actually his nightmare writing location
The reading crisis: why he stopped letting "I just don't have time to read" go unchallenged at book signings
The Wish You Well Foundation and why forcing children to read specific books is the fastest way to kill a love of reading
Growing up in segregated Richmond, Virginia, and why books were his "body armour against bigotry"
What he's reading: essays by Jesmyn Ward, a Toni Morrison biography, James by Percival Everett, Kurt Vonnegut's Jailbird, and ARCs from Ann Cleeves and Michael Koryta
The expression he hopes to see on readers' faces at the end of Hope Rises: a contented sigh, and a little more empathy
Biscuit answer: Cheez-Its — reduced fat, but consumed in quantities that would alarm a nutritionist. His son ate two boxes and then went out to buy a replacement, then ate that one too.
💬 Get in touch
Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | quickbookreviews@outlook.com
Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Philippa sits down with Robert Peston — ITV political editor, bestselling author, and reluctant biscuit convert — to talk about The Kill Switch, the third and final book in his Gil Peck thriller trilogy, and why he felt compelled to put artificial intelligence and the fragility of democracy at its heart.
🎙️ Robert Peston on The Kill Switch
When the prime minister dies in mysterious circumstances, journalist Gil Peck finds himself at the centre of a conspiracy that may or may not involve artificial intelligence. In a world of misinformation, fractured democracy, and technology that is rewriting the rules of everything, who — or what — is really pulling the strings?
Robert and Philippa discuss:
Why AI had to be at the heart of this book — and why he believes we are living through the most dangerous moment for democracy since the 1930s
The acknowledgment that stopped Philippa in her tracks: "Don't take democracy for granted. Our way of life is more at risk than at any time since the 1930s. This is the fight of our lives."
How the trilogy was always planned as three eras: New Labour 1997, the financial crisis of 2007-08, and the AI revolution now
Why writing fiction is joyful and writing nonfiction feels like work — and why he may never go back
How COVID gave him the time and space to finally finish a novel he'd been putting off for decades
The nightmare writing scenario: not a place but a moment — Trump inaugurations, government collapses, and the relentless news cycle taking over every inch of available brain space
His dream writing location: a central Lisbon Airbnb over Christmas and New Year — sunny, beautiful food, friendly strangers, and a scene in the novel as a thank-you to the city
Why he doesn't have a current auto-buy author but is devoted to Dorothy L. Sayers, John Buchan, and Isaac Bashevis Singer
The endless agony of book titles — including the battle to keep WTF on the cover of a Waterstones-stocked book
What he hopes readers feel at the end: hope, and curiosity about what comes next
What he's reading: London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe and Mariana Mazzucato's The Common Good Economy
Biscuit answer: A chocolate man first and foremost — his go-to is the Choco Leibniz. Introduced mid-conversation to the M&S chocolate-drenched custard cream, which he had already discovered and confirms is "totally addictive." Castle Chocolates in Carlisle and their chocolate-covered lemon sponge are now firmly on his radar for the next book.
💬 Get in touch
Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | quickbookreviews@outlook.com
Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.