Fastbacks: relax with summer reading

Fastbacks are our top picks of the books everyone’s talking about right now. Engaging, quick and popular, they have a special loan period of 14 days. A perfect read for unwinding on a beach holiday or staycation.

Our latest collection is prominently displayed in most of our libraries. Whether it’s a chilling crime novel, thrilling fantasy or heart-warming romance, we have something for everyone.

These are a few of the titles we have in our Fastback range at the moment. New recommendations are added regularly so pop into your local library to find out more and get inspired.

Fantasy thriller

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high schooler, but he carries a heavy burden after the death of his mother which drives his dad to drink. One day, he meets Howard Bowditch, a recluse with a big dog in a big house at the top of a big hill. In the backyard is a locked shed from which strange sounds emerge, as if something is trying to escape. A bewitching story of a boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world.

Chilling crime

Triple Cross by James Patterson

Detective Alex Cross is on his toughest mission yet, on the hunt for a serial killer who’s targeting families spanning several generations. Striking under the cover of darkness leaving no trace behind, the killer will soon be targeting Cross.

Time is running out but he’s not the only one on the case. A charismatic true-crime author claims to have spotted patterns in ‘The Family Man’ killer’s actions others have missed. Can Detective Alex Cross determine the fact from fiction before another family falls victim?

Gritty drama

Deception by Lesley Pearse

Follow a daughter uncover her deceased mother’s life of deception in this suspenseful story of deceit. After her beloved mother’s funeral, Alice Kent is taken aside by a man claiming to be her father, telling her he served time in prison for the marriage.

Taken aback, Alice wonders what he hopes to gain from telling her this revelation, waiting for 30 years. Needing to unravel the web of lies left behind, Alice goes on a journey to her mother’s past, discovering a woman shaped by a dark and traumatic childhood.

Secrets of an ex-junior doctor

Undoctored by Adam Kay

In his follow up memoir after the success of ‘This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor,’ Adam Kay returns to reflect on what has happened since hanging up his scrubs and the world of medicine. Recovering from his time on the NHS frontline, Kay opens some old wounds from his medical school days in this heartbreaking yet hilarious personal account.

Hilarious sports

How to be an Ex-Footballer by Peter Crouch

If you think footballers are overpaid, you’re about to be proven right by the funny England football legend in this self-deprecating light read. With 42 England caps and over 100 Premier League goals to his name, Peter Crouch delivers an insider’s guide to the bizarre world of the modern football player.

Often recruited before they’ve learnt to read with everything done for them, spending their lives only knowing how to do one thing – kick a football. Crouch speaks from experience on how footballers cope when an injury strikes, or life catches up with them.

Coming-of-age tale

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

The story of a boy nobody seems to want, Damon is the only child of a teenage alcoholic who doesn’t know how to look after him. Set in the southwest of Virginia, Damon is quickly taught how cruel the world can be, called ‘trailer trash,’ ‘hick,’ and eventually nicknamed ‘Demon.’

Inspired by the classic novel, David Copperfield, follow our hero Demon Copperhead on his journey through the hardships of foster care and neglect in school, with the highs of true love and athletic success along the way.

Modern Britain

Windrush by Mike Phillips & Trevor Phillips

This insightful non-fiction read offers a historical look at the rise of multi-racial Britain starting with the first wave of West Indian immigrants arriving on our shores in 1948. Fifty years later, the migrants tell an epic tale of their new life in the twentieth century through their eyes and the people around them. You’ll read testimonies of politicians who made key decisions, alongside those who were opposed to their integration with the book covering events like the riots of the fifties.

Historical fiction

Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris

Follow the reimagined tale of the greatest manhunt in history for two Englishmen with a bounty on their heads. It’s 1660 in England, General Edward Whalley and his son-in law Colonel William Goffe board a ship bound for the New World - they are on the run for the plot and murder of King Charles I.

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