June 13

The Doctor – Annie Payne

Care giver, life saver… or cold-blooded killer?

Running away from a past she’d rather forget, Doctor Alison Wilson has moved to a new town to take up the role of Medical Officer at failing hospital St Margaret’s.

Tasked with shaking things up, she quickly learns that things are worse than they initially seem: patient records are in disarray, staff morale is low, and there’s something afoot that she can’t quite put her finger on…

As Alison starts to dig into the hospital’s past, she gradually discovers a trail of lies that runs deeper and darker than she could have ever imagined.

There’s a cold-blooded killer in the hospital. And they’re hiding in plain sight…

 

I received a review copy from Avon via Netgalley.

 

Long time ago while I was still a teenager I was making the jump from reading Agatha Christie novels into “proper grown-up books” which is to say I was ready to leave behind Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys and Tintin and start buying crime stories which you didn’t find in the children’s section of our local bookshop. That said, as I draw ever closer to my 50th birthday I still love a Tintin book!

One of the first authors I discovered –  one of the early few that replaced Agatha on my TBR – was Robin Cook. He wrote medical thrillers, most notably Coma, and all his murder mystery stories were set in and around hospitals and featured a wealth of sinister phsyicians or medical staff who could (quite literally) get away with murder on their wards. There are far too few medical and hospital crime stories out there these days so when I saw The Doctor and read the blurb (as above) I was hit with a wave of nostalgia and knew I had to read this book. Boy was I glad I did!

Alison is taking over as a senior administrator in a failing hospital, she is leaving a busy London hospital and moving to a smaller place as she is leaving her broken marriage (after her husband had an affair) and seeking new challenges and a fresh start. Her introduction to the hospital isn’t the best as nobody seems to have known she is arriving, then when she starts trying to suggest changes there is resistance. While a certain amount of pushback is not entirely unexpected for a “new broom” looking to shake up a chaotic/shambolic operation there seems to be something not quite right at St Margaret’s hospital.

We follow Alison as she tries to integrate the new controls and measures which are badly needed to make St Margaret’s a more efficient operation but it is clear something isn’t right. Her meetings are inexplicably cancelled, reports she requests don’t arrive, colleagues are waiting for guidance on issues they brought to her yet Alison isn’t aware of their requests. She is blaming tiredness, mixups and she knows she is turning to a calming glass of wine far too often. These slips are undermining her self-confidence but they are also making her colleagues question her competence.

More alarmingly is the reader knows there is a killer in the hospital. We shadow them as they usher some patients to their deaths. It’s chilling and unsettling. The medical staff at our hospitals aren’t meant to bring death to their charges. Equally chilling is that the killer has their eye on Alison – she’s a threat and is going to be turned into a scapegoat or possibly even a victim.

Annie Payne is serving up a mystery, a thriller and a tense pageturner which I really enjoyed. As I alluded to at the start of my review, there are too few medical or hospital thrillers and I will always lap them up. More like this would be very welcome thank you.

 

The Doctor was published by Avon Books on 25 May 2023 and can be ordered here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-doctor/annie-payne/9780008562007

 

 

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August 15

The Woman in the Library – Sulari Gentill

Hannah Tigone, bestselling Australian crime author, is crafting a new novel that begins in the Boston Public Library: four strangers; Winifred, Cain, Marigold and Whit are sitting at the same table when a bloodcurdling scream breaks the silence. A woman has been murdered. They are all suspects, and, as it turns out, each character has their own secrets and motivations – and one of them is a murderer.

While crafting this new thriller, Hannah shares each chapter with her biggest fan and aspirational novelist, Leo. But Leo seems to know a lot about violence, motive, and how exactly to kill someone. Perhaps he is not all that he seems…

The Woman in the Library is an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship – and shows that words can be the most treacherous weapons of all.

 

I received a review copy from the publishers through Netgalley

 

A book from the “what I read on my summer holiday” collection. I was fascinated by the blurb of this story, four strangers in a Library when a murder takes place – one of the four is a murderer but if the four were sitting at a table then how can one of their number be a killer?

Well it isn’t Sulari Gentill who will tell this story it is Hannah Tigone (Okay it IS Sulari but let’s give Hannah her place too). Hannah is writing about Winifred, Marigold, Cain and Whit – four strangers who are in a Boston Library. They are sitting at a table togegther when a scream is heard – the four are forged in a new friendship and Hannah will write her novel about these new friends and the steps they will take to discover more about each other and, more importantly, about who may have killed a woman in the library.

As Hannah writes she gives her readers a background into each of these four players in her story. They all have secrets, they all have a reason to keep them secret and Hannah is going to spin out the tale and deliver a whip-smart whodunnit. But between the chapters about the friendly four and their strengthening bonds Sulari Gentill is also telling her readers about Hannah’s life away from the story she is crafting. Hannah is getting feedback from Leo – he is reading her early chapter drafts as each chapter is completed and providing his own observations and feedback. Leo is a bit of an enigma and does seem to enjoy a bit of mansplaining but he also has thoughts and opinions of friendships, secrets and he seems remarkably well informed about murder too.

All very mysterious and very nicely put together. At approximately 270 pages in length I found The Woman in the Library a sharp and well exectuted murder tale (no puns intended here). Hannah’s story gives a satisfying murder tale with a seemingly impossible pool of suspects and Sulari’s story about Hannah is darker and more perplexing – reading to see how that plot unfolded was very much the reason I zipped through The Woman in the Library in just two enjoyable sittings.

I enjoyed the very different approach to the story telling here and this is a book I’d recommend readers look out for when it hits the shelves next month.

 

The Woman in the Library is published in hardback in the UK on 15 September 2022 and you can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-woman-in-the-library/sulari-gentill/9781761151545

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October 4

The Quiet People – Paul Cleave

Cameron and Lisa Murdoch are successful New Zealand crime writers, happily married and topping bestseller lists worldwide. They have been on the promotional circuit for years, joking that no one knows how to get away with crime like they do. After all, they write about it for a living.

So when their challenging seven-year-old son Zach disappears, the police and the public naturally wonder if they have finally decided to prove what they have been saying all this time…

Are they trying to show how they can commit the perfect crime?

Electrifying, taut and immaculately plotted, The Quiet People is a chilling, tantalisingly twisty thriller that will keep you gripped and guessing to the last explosive page.

 

My thanks to Karen at Orenda Books for my review copy

 

This book comes at you with unrelenting pace and by the end every emotion had been wrung from my body. Suffice to say I bloody loved The Quiet People but it’s going to be a nightmare to review without letting any spoilers slip.

Cameron Murdoch is having a day. He has taken his young son, Zach, to a local fair but in a moment when he is distracted his son manages to leave the bouncy castle without Cameron noticing. Cameron panics and jumps onto the castle to see if Zach is perhaps just out of his line of vison, kids get upset, Cameron gets frustrated nobody will help him and the matter escalates. There are threats against Cameron, his own fierce temper soars too as he gets angry at people’s reaction. A punch is thrown, pictures are taken, kids are upset and meanwhile. Zach is spotted queuing for another ride.

Zach is a “challenging” child and is prone to doing his own thing in his own way. He knows he has annoyed Cameron and tries to work out what he has done wrong but he becomes upset as he thinks he acted properly. Cameron tries to calm him but Zach becomes enraged, screaming and screaming in frustration. Cameron bundles him home but that night as Cameron puts Zach to bed, Zach threatens to run away.

In the morning Zach’s room is empty – it looks like he has made good on his threat to run away.

The police are called. Cameron and his wife Lisa are calling everyone they can think of, they are driving to locations where Zach may be. All to no avail – Zach cannot be found.

Lisa and Cameron are famous crime writers. The police are aware the couple have repeatedly joked during interviews about crime authors being able to get away with murder – some of the investigative team harbour a suspicion that Lisa and Cameron may have decided to remove a problematic child from their lives. This seed of doubt spreads and after a disasterous press conference which was intended to appeal for Zach’s safe return it appears the public also have their doubts about Lisa and Cameron’s innocence.

Things get even worse when one journalist discovers the events which had ocurred at the park the day before – images of an upset Zach, an angry Cameron and the boy being bundled into his dad’s car do not present a good look for a couple pleading for their son to be returned home.

I honestly cannot begin to tell you the problems Cameron and Lisa will face – far, far too many spoilers. At one stage I thought the story had reached a conclusion only for a whole new predicament to raise its head and the story to take an extremely unexpected new direction. Emotional journey doesn’t even come close to describing how Cameron fares in this story.

It’s two frightened and desperate parents, it’s a missing child, it’s a police force facing a difficult time sensitve investigation which the celebrity factor has thrust into a media spotlight. It’s #YeahNoir – New Zealand crime writing at its very best. Honestly I could not put this one down.

 

 

The Quiet People is published by Orenda Books on 25 November in paperback and is available now in digital format.  You can get your copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B097PRKM64/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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September 4

A Slow Fire Burning – Paula Hawkins

‘What is wrong with you?’

Laura has spent most of her life being judged. She’s seen as hot-tempered, troubled, a loner. Some even call her dangerous.

Miriam knows that just because Laura is witnessed leaving the scene of a horrific murder with blood on her clothes, that doesn’t mean she’s a killer. Bitter experience has taught her how easy it is to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Carla is reeling from the brutal murder of her nephew. She trusts no one: good people are capable of terrible deeds. But how far will she go to find peace?

Innocent or guilty, everyone is damaged. Some are damaged enough to kill.

Look what you started.

 

I received a review copy from the publishers. My thanks also go to Anne Cater at Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the tour for A Slow Fire Burning.

 

A Slow Fire Burning: a book which took a little while to draw me in – the classic slow burn thriller. And that’s exactly what this story was; even though the prologue tells of a young girl fleeing from a man who seems to have harmed her friend and the first chapter introduces us to Laura as she tries to wash blood from her t-shirt. Indeed the first five pages tell of danger, violence and two vulnerable women so you can’t say Paula Hawkins isn’t grabbing your attention from the get-go.

And once the reader gets past those first five pages there is soon a brutal murder to read about local busybody, Miriam, finds a dead man sprawled on the floor of his houseboat. Miriam tries to keep track of all the activity on the houseboats beside her own so she knows the man in question had entertained young Laura a few days earlier and even finds something belonging to Laura by his body but she isn’t going to leave that for the police to find…why not? I wondered.

Once the murder has been discovered, and Miriam has the chance to chat with the police about what she may have seen, Paula Hawkins takes us through the players in this clever drama. This is when the perception of a slow burn may kick in as we learn about the lives and background of those involved.

The murdered man’s aunt is Carla who recently lost her sister too. Carla experienced the ultimate tragedy many years earlier when her son, as a toddler, died while under the care of Carla’s sister. Her son’s death placed too much strain on Carla’s marriage to Theo and the marriage ended but the couple stay just a few streets apart and Carla still spends time with Theo. Theo is a successful novelist with a smash hit in his past, however, there is a suggestion he took inspiration from events in Miriam’s life and there is a history of bad feeling between the pair. Switch back to Laura, a troubled girl who was injured as a child by a hit and run driver leaving her with a damaged leg, a trigger temper and the inability to always think clearly and rationally. Laura earns a few extra quid by collecting shopping for Irene who is now in her 80s and not as mobile as she was. Irene was Angela’s next-door neighbour.  Who is Angela?  Well that would be Carla’s sister, Theo’s sister-in-law and the woman responsible for looking after Carla’s son the night he died. Angela died just a couple of weeks before events in the story commenced.

Phew, there are a fair few connections in that ensemble and Paula Hawkins establishes each character and covers their background with great care. She is seeding plot threads and throwing out red herrings and it is skillfully done. Okay it does mean the murder is slightly pushed to the background and this may give the impression we are not getting anywhere but we are, everything is leading somewhere and your reward as a reader is to getting to know these people and understanding their lives because nothing is quite what it seems.

You finish reading A Slow Fire Burning and you know you have finished reading a great story. That’s what we want, a book to set up a cast, push them and stretch their emotions to limits they didn’t know they had and stepping back to see how they react. Unpredictably!

 

 

A Slow Fire Burning is published by Doubleday and is available in Hardback, digital and audiobook format.  You can order your copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-slow-fire-burning/paula-hawkins/2928377051112

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March 25

Thunder Bay – Douglas Skelton

When reporter Rebecca Connolly is told of Roddie Drummond’s return to the island of Stoirm she senses a story. Fifteen years before he was charged with the murder of his lover, Mhairi. When he was found Not Proven, Roddie left the island and no one, apart from his sister, knew where he was or what he was doing. Now he has returned for his mother’s funeral – and it will spark an explosion of hatred, bitterness and violence.

Defying her editor’s wishes, Rebecca joins forces with local photographer Chazz Wymark to dig into the secrets surrounding Mhairi’s death, and her mysterious last words of Thunder Bay, the secluded spot on the west coast of the island where, according to local lore, the souls of the dead set off into the after life. When another murder takes place, and the severe weather that gives the island its name hits, she is ideally placed to uncover the truth about what happened that night fifteen years before.

 

My thanks to the publishers for my review copy.

I seldom mention covers when I review a book, however, I found the cover for Thunder Bay to be particularly appealing.  Now that I have read the book my appreciation for the cover has increased as it is dark, stormy, atmospheric and represents the story rather well.

Not for the first time I make the observation that stories set in small towns make for the best reads. Only the best secrets remain secret for any time in a small town where everyone knows everyone else’s business.  Thunder Bay takes place on the island of Stoirm and there are plenty of well kept secrets which are just about to come to light.  Good timing for reporter Rebecca Connolly who is visiting Stoirm to try and interview Roddy Drummond – the isle’s infamous son.

Drummond was accused of killing his partner, Mhairi.  At the trial he was found Not Proven (Scotland’s third verdict) and his innocence remains hotly disputed on the island.  Returning to Stoirm for his mother’s funeral Drummond just wants to pay his respects and leave.  It was never going to be that simple – trouble is not far away.

I mentioned secrets and Stoirm has more than its fair share.  There are some shocking and unpleasant stories to be told and Rebecca Connolly had best be prepared to uncover more than the single truth she hoped to find when she visited the island.

I am a big fan of Douglas Skelton’s writing and I put this down to his wonderful depiction of the characters in his books. Everyone feels real, believable and the key players are well fleshed out. Conversations feel natural – from the awkward kids, the focused journalist, the lord of the manor and the country police officer – they all have a voice and they are all distinctive and appropriate for their station or maturity. It breathes life into all the characters and the book resonates with their vitality.

Thunder Bay is a terrific read, I know that my review cannot and will not do it justice.  Douglas Skelton has written some cracking books but I think this may just be my favourite.

 

Thunder Bay is published by Polygon and is available in paperback and digital format.  Order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thunder-Bay-exciting-atmospheric-thriller-ebook/dp/B07LGDW7VY/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=thunder+bay&qid=1553273910&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

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December 1

Gilding the Lily – Justine John

A gripping mystery of jealousy, murder and lies.

An invitation to her estranged, wealthy father’s surprise 75th birthday party in New York sees Amelia and her husband, Jack, set off across the pond to meet a whole new world of family politics.

Amelia, now a successful businesswoman, feels guilty about never liking her father’s women, so does her upmost to give his new socialite partner, Evelyn, the benefit of the doubt. Wouldn’t it be nice if they could just all get along? But there’s something very dark, determined and dangerous about her…

When Amelia’s father, Roger, becomes ill, Jack grows suspicious that there is more to it. Amelia understands why, but no one else will believe them. They travel back to America to piece together the puzzle, but when Roger goes missing, the couple are driven to their wits’ end. It takes a DEA officer and a secret assassin to bring them answers, but the ruthless truth is something no one expected…

 

My thanks to Justine for the invitation to join the blog tour and for allowing me the opportunity to provide a free and fair review of her novel.

 

I came to Gilding the Lily blind. I like to do this from time to time, start a book with out knowing what the story is about or even who the lead character is. I get to enjoy the story “cold” without waiting for an event (be it murder, marriage or mistake) which has been revealed in the book’s description.

Because I came to Gilding the Lily without any forewarning of what to expect I was horrified at the extent of the evil behaviour of one of the characters.  It built up slowly so by the time I came to realise what was going on I was fully caught up in the drama.

The clues had been there…

Evelyn has made a success throughout her life of captivating a partner who will look after her and give her opportunities and wealth. With more than one husband dead and gone she seeks out a new mate and further comforts her nest. She is now with Roger, he is older than Evelyn and has a grown daughter (Amelia) who he does not see very frequently.

Evelyn and Amelia do not get along. Mainly down to Evelyn’s unusual behaviour when Amelia is around. However, as Roger’s health starts to fail Evelyn becomes more and more unpredictable. She soon makes it clear to Amelia that Amelia’s attempts to see (or even speak with) her father is becoming too tiring for Roger and Evelyn and she asks that Amelia gives them peace.

Amelia is horrified by Evelyn’s behaviour. She will not accept that her father does not want to see her and she starts to worry how much input her father has had into the decision she must stay away. Is Evelyn deliberately turning Roger against his daughter? How ill can her father really be that he would turn away his own child?  Then Amelia’s husband Jack makes an alarming observation which leads Amelia to believe that something very sinister is going on.

It is tricky to give too much information on the relationship of the characters in Gilding the Lily, much of the enjoyment in this dark and duplicitous tale comes from not knowing what you can trust. Evelyn is clearly a gold digger and Roger does seem rather distant from Amelia. But is Amelia simply paranoid?  Does she object to her father taking a new partner after the death of his wife (Amelia’s mother)?

Justine John teases out shocks and twists right to the last page. I read Gilding the Lily in a single sitting…I HAD to know what was happening!  Really entertaining but with a healthy dose of anxiety for the characters. Look out for this one it is great storytelling.

 

Gilding the Lily is available in paperback and digital format.  You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gilding-Lily-Justine-John-ebook/dp/B01N535MZY/ref=la_B01MYYADH3_1_1_twi_kin_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1512084367&sr=1-1

 

 

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