April 29

Panic Room – Robert Goddard

Another evening of fun looms with the First Monday Crime team.  For May 2018’s gathering they are meeting on Monday 30th April – so not in May at all.  This follows on from the April Meeting which actually took place on the SECOND Monday in April.  Despite their dubious decision to call the evening First Monday I am reliably assured that these gatherings in London are great fun and give readers the chance to hear some top authors discuss their work and I am sure book signing opportunities exist too.

For details on First Monday Crime visit their website HERE

One of the guests at May’s meeting is the legend that is Robert Goddard – his latest thriller Panic Room is a terrific read so lets take a closer look….

 

Sometimes the danger is on the inside . . .

High on a Cornish cliff sits a vast uninhabited mansion. Uninhabited except for Blake, a young woman of dubious background, secretive and alone, currently acting as housesitter.

The house has a panic room. Cunningly concealed, steel lined, impregnable – and apparently closed from within. Even Blake doesn’t know it’s there. She’s too busy being on the run from life, from a story she thinks she’s escaped.

But her remote existence is going to be invaded when people come looking for the house’s owner, missing rogue pharma entrepreneur, Jack Harkness. Suddenly the whole world wants to know where his money has gone. Soon people are going to come knocking on the door, people with motives and secrets of their own, who will be asking Blake the sort of questions she can’t – or won’t – want to answer.

And will the panic room ever give up its secrets?

 

My thanks to Patsy at Transworld for my review copy.

 

Panic Room is a book riddled with mysteries, the biggest being why would someone need a panic room in their house?

Jack Harkness is in a whole lot of trouble, his business and reputation are in tatters and the vultures are circling for his cash and assets.  His luxury Cornish home is held in the name of his wife (who is no longer on the scene) and she has decided to sell it.  The book opens with estate agent Don Challenor being asked to travel from London to Cornwall to appraise the house for sale – time is of the essence and Don is offered a healthy sum to do the job quickly and efficiently.

On arrival in Cornwall he finds the house and an unexpected resident – a young woman called Blake who was working as housekeeper.  Don is instructed to make sure that Blake leaves the property immediately. Blake has other ideas.

While Don is checking the house he discovers an anomaly in the Master Bedrooom – the dimensions of the room seem to be off.  Further investigation reveals the titular Panic Room, a puzzle which Don has to solve as the room is closed over. Is it malfunctioning or could there be someone inside?

As the story unfolds the puzzles and mysteries build up – Blake and Don will attempt to locate a missing girl, fall afoul of a witch and will have to keep one step ahead of a couple of “heavies” who are very interested to learn of the existence of the Panic Room.

You read Panic Room, you get instantly caught up in the problem facing Don and before you know it 100 pages have flown by and you have more questions than answers.

I really enjoyed this book – it draws you in and you want to keep reading. Exactly what a good story should do!

 

Panic Room is published by Bantam Press and is available in Hardback and digital format.  You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Panic-Room-Robert-Goddard-ebook/dp/B01I0RU1O4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525015964&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+goddard

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June 13

Streets of Darkness – A. A. Dhand

Streets of DarknessThe sky over Bradford is heavy with foreboding. It always is. But this morning it has reason to be – this morning a body has been found. And it’s not just any body.

Detective Harry Virdee should be at home with his wife. Impending fatherhood should be all he can think about but he’s been suspended from work just as the biggest case of the year lands on what would have been his desk. He can’t keep himself away.

Determined to restore his reputation, Harry is obliged to take to the shadows in search of notorious ex-convict and prime suspect, Lucas Dwight. But as the motivations of the murder threaten to tip an already unstable city into riotous anarchy, Harry finds his preconceptions turned on their head as he discovers what it’s like to be on the other side of the law…

 

My thanks to Ben at Transworld for my review copy.

Detective Harry Virdee is an angry man.  His temper has landed him a suspension from the police and his timing is terrible as one of the most important cases that he could ever have handled is being taken away from him.

A prominent politician has been murdered, all the evidence points towards it being a racially motivated attack by the BNP and Bradford, a city with a history of racial tensions, becomes a powder-keg of tension.  The police are keen to keep events under wraps but someone has other ideas – there are factions scrabbling for supremacy of the criminal underworld and they will use any means possible to exploit weakness and cause chaos.

Harry Virdee is given free run by his boss to do whatever it takes to track down and capture the prime suspect in the murder (Lucas Dwight).  But Lucas and Harry have a history and bringing in his former nemesis is not going to be easy.

Streets of Darkness is a stunning debut. A A Dhand lights the blue touch-paper from the first chapter and the action seems relentless. There are so many strong and memorable characters in this story, all vying for attention, all destined to clash at some point and the city of Bradford is their arena. This is the story you will start and not want to put down.

As the star of the show Harry Virdee is a strong lead character, seemingly haunted and driven by an incident in his past (see the anger issues).  His wife, Saima, is heavily pregnant and Harry is determined not to cause her undue worry…this is going to be tricky.  Saima is equally determined as her husband and she was a brilliant contrast to Harry, their interchanges over baby names were wonderful…great moments of fun to lighten the mounting tension.

The bad guys are BAD. No spoilers but who would have thought a brown paper bag could contain something so familiar yet so terrifying to a captive prisoner!

We should be hearing a lot about Streets of Darkness in the coming months as it is a debut of some note.  An absolute cert for a 5/5 review score, I tore through it and felt drained at the end. There is so much more I want to know about Harry and his family, it cannot come soon enough.

 

 

Streets of Darkness is published by Bantam Press on 16 June and is available to order here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Streets-Darkness-Detective-Harry-Virdee/dp/0593076648/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465852614&sr=1-1&keywords=streets+of+darkness

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