If you’re a regular reader of my book reviews you’ll know that whenever I’m struggling to settle into a read I tend to turn to a thriller.

Released during lockdown, Exciting Times was a book whose cover I kept seeing but it wasn’t really on my radar and I knew nothing whatsoever about it. I finally read it when a friend listed it as one of their top reads and I spent the first few chapters trying to work out if I loved it or was deeply irritated. In the end the love won out.

One thing I stockpiled long before we ever thought we’d end up in this situation were books. Still though I’m not immune to the lure of the shiny new title and spend an embarrassingly vast number of hours scrolling through bookstagram gazing at all the new releases.

I’ve long loved Jodi Picoult’s novels. She generally takes a thorny ethical issue, researches it thoroughly and brings it to life with a well defined group of characters.