Blog Tours – Page 15 – Grab This Book

Rocco and the Price of Lies – Adrian Magson

Murder by suicide? Three senior government officials – a judge, a politician, and an ex-police chief – are all dead by their own hands.

Inspector Lucas Rocco finds himself once more working for the Interior Ministry: undertaking an investigation meant to avoid a government scandal and ignoring unpalatable truths. He’s soon convinced that a common denominator must be at play…

Rocco uncovers top-level fraud, theft and deception. And when he narrowly survives an attempt on his life, he realises that he has nothing to lose by bringing the truth out in to the open – whatever the risks.

My thanks to The Dome Press for my review copy and to Emily Glenister for the opportunity to join the blog tour.

Rocco and the Price of Lies has presented me with a bit of a problem. A good problem. But my TBR pile is going to hate me.

I shall explain…

I love a series with recurring characters. Once I find a series I enjoy I become compelled to read all the books in that series. Rocco and the Price of Lies is the latest in a series of books which feature Inspector Lucas Rocco and I really, really enjoyed it. I now want to read more of Roccos adventures and a quick glance at the inside of the book suggests there are six titles awaiting me. Pray for my TBR.

In this latest outing Rocco is investigating the deaths of three prominent men (a judge, a senior government official and a politician). Each of the men has taken his own life but the circumstances which led to their decisions have given the police cause to look more closely.

Each man received a letter which made them aware someone knew they had obtained expensive artwork under less than legitimate circumstances. The reader knows the three men were purposely targeted but it is not immediately clear why.

Roccos investigations will see him working with the Interior Ministry. He will become somewhat acquainted with the art world through the need to discuss forgeries and the problems art lovers experience when they own copies of valuable paintings. This is an area I know nothing about so it made for fascinating reading – Adrian Magson spinning a great story around art fraud.

I found the story incredibly accessible. There are six Rocco stories before Price of Lies but I never felt I was failing to keep up with narrative or established characters. The author keeps events zipping along and I never felt there was a lull in events or scenes were padded out. I loved the direct and often humorous approach Rocco adopts in his interactions and I warmed to him immediately.

I was adding more Rocco novels to my reading wishlist before I reached the last chapters of this book. Delighted to have discovered a new series I can enjoy and I am very much looking forward to catching up on the earlier stories. Highly recommended.

Rocco and the Price of Lies is published by The Dome Press and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07NGTMZQR/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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April 23

Have You Seen Her – Lisa Hall (Audiobook)

Bonfire Night. A missing girl.

Anna only takes her eyes off Laurel for a second. She thought Laurel was following her mum through the crowds. But in a heartbeat, Laurel is gone.

Laurel’s parents are frantic. As is Anna, their nanny. But as the hours pass, and Laurel isn’t found, suspicion grows.

Someone knows what happened to Laurel. And they’re not telling.

My thanks to Joe Thomas at Harper Collins for the chance to join an audiobook blog tour.

I love to juggle my reading material, paperbacks, hardback books, Kindle reads, books on my phone through the Kindle or Kobo apps – even the odd Word document for very early review copies. However, over the last year or two I have become hooked on audiobooks and is a thrill to share today’s review as this is my first chance to participate in an Audiobook Blog Tour.

The most important question which any audiobook review needs to address is “Does the audio experience work for this story?”

Yes! It really, really does.

But what do I mean by “the audio experience”? Simply put – some books are not enjoyable when they transfer to audio. The narrator(s) may not be to the listener’s liking, particularly if there is a need to cover a number of regional accents. Footnotes and annotations are lost. Overly wordy and complex explanations need to be endured and cannot be skipped (although maybe that is only something I do).

Have You Seen Her plays out wonderfully in audio. This is entirely down to the slick storytelling of Lisa Hall and the excellent work of narrator Kristen Atherton. This was the first time I have heard Kristen read and I would very much like to listen to more of her work as she brought this book to life.

The book opens with a sickening premise. At a community bonfire evening young Laurel disappears into the crowd to catch up with her mother. Laurel’s nanny (Anna) watches her go but this is the last time anyone sees Laurel. She never caught up with her mother and when Anna becomes aware Laurel is unsupervised in the park it is too late – the little girl is nowhere to be found.

Thus begins a tense and unpredictable domestic drama. Events are told from Anna’s viewpoint. It is clear she and Laurel’s parents are not close…Anna is made very aware she is not Laurel’s mother and she is kept firmly in her place as an employee – not a friend.

Laurel’s parents are not likeable characters. Despite the distress they are enduring, the strain of their daughter disappearing, they come across as two unpleasant people. It was hard to empathise with their situation, particularly as Anna seems to care more about what has happened to Laurel than her parents do.

In this cracking domestic thriller you can be assured that secrets are being kept. The fun in Have You Seen Her is trying to figure out who to trust and identify which characters are lying. On this front I failed miserably and thoroughly enjoyed my failure. I don’t think I could describe an audiobook as a page-turner but what I did get was a story I didn’t want to stop listening to.

Have You Seen Her is published by Harper Collins and you can order a copy here: https://www.harpercollins.co.uk/9780008215019/have-you-seen-her/

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April 14

Death at the Plague Museum – Lesley Kelly

The pandemic is spreading.

On Friday, three civil servants leading Virus policy hold a secret meeting at the Museum of Plagues and Pandemics. By Monday, two are dead and one is missing.

It’s up to Mona and Bernard of the Health Enforcement Team to find the missing official before panic hits the streets.

I received a review copy of Death at the Plague Museum from the publishers who also invited me to join the blog tour.

I got permission from the publishers to use enthusiastic sweary words to describe how much I enjoyed Death at the Plague Museum. I could use them, mainly as adjectives, but I will keep it clean. Just know that I am a huge fan of these books (The Health of Strangers series) and I would like lots more people to spread the booklove and chat with me about them.

Plague Museum is the third novel in the series. Reading the earlier books is not essential but will give a better understanding of the characters. In brief, our focus is on the staff of the HET. The books are set in Edinburgh but after a virus has swept through the city and very careful steps are now being taken to monitor the populous to restrict further infection. We follow the HET employees who enforce the health checks and ensure the city residents try to restrict infections spreading.

A prominent advocate of the health screenings has vanished just as her routine check up is due. The negative publicity of her missing the health check she so stringently advocates has to be kept in check and the missing woman found as a matter of urgency. It falls to Mona, Bernard and their colleagues to track her down.

Matters are complicated by the unexpected death of another prominent figure in the anti-virus reforms – a known associate of the missing woman.

With a death to be explained and a missing woman to be found there is a great mystery story at the heart of Death at the Plague Museum. Where these stories really shine is the focus on the lives of the cast – they are so much more than their respective jobs and Lesley Kelly gives them a chance to shine. I want to read about them because they are so much fun to watch.

Written with wonderfully dark humour and the wry observational opinions I always expect from Scottish characters I get so much enjoyment from this series.

It is time you became acquainted with the Health of Strangers. Bloody marvellous.

Death at the Plague Museum is published by Sandstone Books and is available to order here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Plague-Museum-Health-Strangers-Thriller/dp/1912240521/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_3?crid=2USWGM0E3BKZ&keywords=death+at+the+plague+museum&qid=1555238088&s=gateway&sprefix=death+at+the+pla%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-3-fkmrnull

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April 12

Second Lives – P.D. Cacek

When four patients unexpectedly wake after being declared dead, their families are ecstatic and the word “miracle” begins to be whispered throughout the hospital. But the jubilation is short lived when the patients don’t respond to their names and insist they are different people. It is suggested all four are suffering from fugue states until one of the doctors recognizes a name and verifies that he not only knew the girl but was there when she died in 1992. It soon becomes obvious that the bodies of the four patients are now inhabited by the souls of people long dead.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher so I could join the blog tour. My thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for the opportunity to host a leg of the Second Lives blog tour.

For the first fifty (or so) pages of Second Lives we are introduced to the key characters. Half of them died shortly after we were introduced. Their deaths are not glorified or gruesomely depicted, as I may have expected from a horror novel, but are shown with compassion and the characters are given a dignity as the curtain draws on their lives.

I had originally believed Second Lives to be a horror tale but despite edging towards a supernatural slant it is not a gore-fest, monster mash, chilling tale of death and resurrection. It is a cleverly crafted, character driven story which raised some thought provoking moments.

Much of the enjoyment in Second Lives comes from reading about how the characters cope with the situation which they find themselves in. To have died and be ‘reborn’ into the body of a stranger. Not as a baby to grow and live anew but to drop into someone else’s life. Sometimes the new life lives in a time period long after the deceased character originally lived so the body-shock issue is compounded by a radical lifestyle shift too. It can be overwhelming.

Second Lives was an opportunity to read a story vastly different from the “normal” thrillers I read. The premise is very clever and the execution equally so.

Second Lives is published by Flame Tree Press and is available to order here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Second-Lives-Fiction-Without-Frontiers-ebook/dp/B07QCVBDRS/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1555013420&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

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April 11

I Want You Gone – Miranda Rijks

The only obituary you never want to read – is your own.

Laura Swallow is dead.
A life cut tragically short, says the newspaper obituary.
But that’s a lie.
Estate agent Laura did not die in a car accident. She is alive and well.
At first, Laura thinks it’s a sick joke.
But multiple announcements of her death are followed by increasingly sinister real-life events. Already fragile, struggling to recover from a recent divorce, Laura is plunged into a living nightmare.
Who can she trust? Her new lover? Her clients and work colleagues? What about her ex-husband and his smug fiancée? Can Laura even rely on her best friends? And why is it that Laura’s present troubles are so tied up with her sister’s sudden death all those years ago?
But one thing Laura is sure of – someone out there wants her to suffer. Wants her gone.
Forever.

My thanks to Emma at Damppebbles Blog Tours for the chance to join this tour. I received a review copy in order to participate in this blog tour.

This was a twisty and unsettling story which saw lead character, Laura Swallow, put through an emotional wringer. If you enjoy your protagonists to experience all the trauma (rather than swan through a story observing misfortune for others while they remain untouched) then add I Want You Gone to your reading list immediately.

Laura is a divorcee, her ex-husband is living with a younger woman and Laura is making a tentative to begin dating again. She has a good job at a local estate agency and seems to be building some self-confidence but her world is about to be rocked in a way she could never have anticipated.

It begins with an obituary in the local paper. Laura’s obituary. But there must have been a terrible mistake – Laura is alive and well and most certainly did not die in a car accident as the paper suggests. Things get worse for Laura when a client, an old school friend, raises a complaint about her behaviour while she is showing him around a property. This is just the start of a sequence of unexplained attacks (or pranks?) where Laura is the target. Each incident becomes more venomous and her personal safety no longer seems assured.

With only a few friends or colleagues she feels able to trust, who can help keep Laura safe as she struggles to understand why someone seems intent on destroying her.

Some fun twists and a few dark touches kept me reading. I was keen to find out why Laura had been singled out and enjoyed my journey to enlightenment.

I Want You Gone is published on 13 April 2019 by Inkubator Books and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07PZ8Q3LT/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

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April 5

Twisted – Steve Cavanagh

BEFORE YOU READ THIS BOOK
I WANT YOU TO KNOW THREE THINGS:

1. The police are looking to charge me with murder.
2. No one knows who I am. Or how I did it.
3. If you think you’ve found me. I’m coming for you next.

After you’ve read this book, you’ll know: the truth is far more twisted…

I received a review copy from the publisher and was invited to join the blog tour – my thanks to Tracy Fenton.

It is hard to know where to start with Twisted. This blog is very much a spoiler free zone so discussing the plot of Twisted without giving away too much information is going to be a challenge. So I shall start with the easy bit…Twisted is lots of fun to read. It’s a contender to be the poster child for the 2019 “page turner” campaign.

Once the story begins you get drawn in. Right from the off. Those first few pages will have you wondering what the Hell is going on? So you read a bit more. And more. And more. Then the story picks you up, shakes your understanding around a little and pops you back down. You venture into the next chapter and the next but now you aren’t sure what may happen next so you keep reading. Until the story picks you up, shakes you around a little and you are set back down to face another set of possibilities, with a whole new direction to travel. Repeat, repeat. It is perfect reading escapism.

But what is Twisted about? I would venture this brief outline. It is about a secret, an enigma, a hugely successful writer who has managed to keep his real identity a secret from the world. But someone is going to discover that secret and the carefully constructed life the writer has crafted for himself is going to start to unravel. But then maybe it isn’t that at all. It’s complicated. Actually it is Twisted.

What I can confirm is that the identity of the mysterious writer is a closely guarded secret. So much so that people have died in order for the writer (J.T. Le Beau) to keep his secret safe. Their deaths will be written into one of his books – and if THAT isn’t Twisted then I don’t know what is!

When you are packing for your summer holidays make sure Twisted is in your suitcase. But as it has already released I’d recommend buying your copy now. Links are below 😉

Twisted is published by Orion and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Twisted-bestselling-THIRTEEN-Steve-Cavanagh-ebook/dp/B07G19CB1N/ref=sr_1_1?crid=6X24F3AFO1I&keywords=twisted+steve+cavanagh&qid=1554399503&s=gateway&sprefix=twisted+%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-1

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April 3

The Ringmaster – Vanda Symon

Marginalised by previous antics, Sam Shephard, is on the bottom rung of detective training in Dunedin, and her boss makes sure she knows it. She gets involved in her first homicide investigation, when a university student is murdered in the Botanic Gardens, and Sam soon discovers this is not an isolated incident. There is a chilling prospect of a predator loose in Dunedin, and a very strong possibility that the deaths are linked to a visiting circus…

Determined to find out who’s running the show, and to prove herself, Sam throws herself into an investigation that can have only one ending…

Rich with atmosphere, humour and a dark, shocking plot, The Ringmaster marks the return of passionate, headstrong police officer, Sam Shephard, in the next instalment of Vanda Symon’s bestselling series.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher in order to provide this review.

I have been looking forward to The Ringmaster from the moment I discovered Orenda Books were publishing a second Vanda Symon, Sam Shephard thriller. Anticipation was entirely justified as The Ringmaster was a joy to read…except for one scene which traumatised me!

Joking aside, this is very much shaping up to be a cracking series. Sam Shephard is an extremely likeable lead character, however, in The Ringmaster she finds herself in a frustrating situation. We are several months on from events in Overkill and Sam has been promoted to a bigger squad and finds herself bottom of the pecking order. The feeling among some of her colleagues is that she has been given too much of a jump up too quickly, but someone in authority likes Sam’s attitude and clever brain so she needs to find her feet quickly. Sam seems wracked with insecurities and frustration and I loved how the author makes me empathize with her character.

The Ringmaster starts with a chilling murder. We see the victim meet her attacker, the two are clearly acquainted, and the casual brutality of the murderer in ending his victim’s life is a compelling opening to the story. This contrasts with the first few scenes to feature Sam Shepard – although she will be at the murder scene, she spends much of the early part of the story around the circus and the issues she has to deal with are much lighter in tone. This dark/light mood setting worked really well for me, particularly as the circus makes a gradual shift from a place of light-hearted fun to being a more sinister setting.

The Ringmaster is a really engaging police procedural. The murder investigation initially seemed to be making little progress but the story zipped along and I suddenly became aware that I had missed loads of clues about where the plot was heading. No better feeling for a reader than getting caught up in a story and just letting events unfold.

I have been struggling to find reading time lately but I got completely caught up in The Ringmaster. It was inhaled in two sittings and I immediately began to look forward to the next!

The Ringmaster is published by Orenda Books and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ringmaster-Sam-Shephard-Vanda-Symon-ebook/dp/B07KGNQJGJ/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?crid=GYT9HJ500HYA&keywords=the+ringmaster+vanda+symon&qid=1554246431&s=gateway&sprefix=the+ringmaster+vanda%2Caps%2C161&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

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March 15

Last Ones Left Alive – Sarah Davis-Goff

Watch your six. Beware tall buildings. Always have your knives.

Raised by her mother and Maeve on Slanbeg, an island off the west coast of Ireland, Orpen has a childhood of love and stories by the fireside. But the stories grow darker, and the training begins. Ireland has been devoured by a ravening menace known as the skrake, and though Slanbeg is safe for now, the women must always be ready to run, or to fight.

When Maeve is bitten, Orpen is faced with a dilemma: kill Maeve before her transformation is complete, or try to get help. So Orpen sets off, with Maeve in a wheelbarrow and her dog at her side, in the hope of finding other survivors, and a cure. It is a journey that will test Orpen to her limits, on which she will learn who she really is, who she really loves, and how to imagine a future in a world that ended before she was born.

I received a review copy from the publishers and was invited to join the blog tour by Anne Cater at Random Things. My thanks to both.

Last Ones Left Alive opens with Orpen, alone, isolated and vulnerable. She is carefully making her way towards Phoenix City but it is not immediately clear why. Orpen is traveling with her dog (Danger) and in a barrow she is pushing her sister Maeve. If you read the blurb of the book, as above, then you will know that Maeve has been bitten – infected with a disease which will lead to her “turning”. However, when you read the book this is not made clear from the outset and you need to follow Orpen’s journey before you can begin to piece together how she has reached this point.

Orpen is in Ireland. She has grown up on an island off the mainland where she has been sheltered from the events which seem to have changed our world forever. People have died; many have been bitten by the infected denizens and when they get bitten they change into one of the infected too. It is dangerous to be out in the open and Orpen has trained since her 7th birthday to know how to fight and defend herself.

Watch your six. Beware tall buildings. Always have your knives.

Orpen’s story is told in two time periods – the present day and her constant plight and then the story flips to her childhood and we see Orpen living with her mother and sister (who in present day is in a barrow being pushed along by Orpen as she resists the “change”). It builds a comprehensive overview of the characters and gives real depth to the situation they find themselves in.

Encounters on her journey will define Orpen’s story and although I found this book to be a slow burn which rewarded readers with a gradual build-up of the overall picture, it is a fascinating read.

Dystopian dramas bring a terrifying landscape to life – Sarah Davis-Goff gives us a tense tale in which survival is everything, self preservation crucial and forming attachments ill-advised.

Last Ones Left Alive is published by Tinder Press and is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Ones-Alive-Sarah-Davis-Goff/dp/1472255208/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=last+ones+left+alive&qid=1552598760&s=gateway&sr=8-1

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March 13

The Courier – Kjell Ola Dahl

The international bestselling godfather of Nordic Noir takes on one of the most horrific periods of modern history, in a stunning standalone thriller

In 1942, Jewish courier Ester is betrayed, narrowly avoiding arrest by the Gestapo. In a great haste, she escapes to Sweden, saving herself. Her family in Oslo, however, is deported to Auschwitz. In Stockholm, Ester meets the resistance hero, Gerhard Falkum, who has left his little daughter and fled both the Germans and allegations that he murdered his wife, Åse, who helped Ester get to Sweden. Their burgeoning relationship ends abruptly when Falkum dies in a fire.

And yet, twenty-five years later, Falkum shows up in Oslo. He wants to reconnect with his daughter. But where has he been, and what is the real reason for his return? Ester stumbles across information that forces her to look closely at her past, and to revisit her war-time training to stay alive…

Written with Dahl’s trademark characterization and elegant plotting, The Courier sees the hugely respected godfather of Nordic Noir at his best, as he takes on one of the most horrific periods of modern history, in an exceptional, shocking thriller.

My thanks to Karen at Orenda Books for my review copy and to Anne Cater for the chance to join the blog tour.

I don’t read enough historical fiction – The Courier makes me believe I should be reading a lot more of it! In the past I have found many historical novels too slow and (for me) excessively detailed on the setting – to the detriment of the story. However, if I could guarantee future historical reads were even half as good as The Courier then I would certainly be reading more of them.

A spy thriller and a murder tale which is set partially during World War 2 but also in the 1960’s and in more modern times too. This is a grand tale which tells the story of Ester and Gerhard. Their paths cross in Oslo during the war. Ester is a young Jewish woman hiding from Nazi soldiers and working with the resistance. When the Gestapo get too close she is forced to go into hiding. She stays at the home of Gerhard and his wife but this will not be a long stay and something occurs which will define the path their lives will take (no spoilers).

We catch up with their story in the 1960’s where we find many of the characters in the novel are keeping secrets (perhaps not unexpectedly given events during the war). There is an investigation to be enjoyed and there are slow reveals which keep the reader guessing as to where the story may lead.

While the tale may not be a fast paced espionage thriller it is most certainly a well crafted character drama. Kjell Ola Dahl makes you care about his characters and you want to keep reading The Courier to find what happens to Ester et all.

Orenda Books consistently treat us to terrific, emotive and engaging stories The Courier is another triumph.

The Courier is published by Orenda Books and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Courier-Kjell-Ola-Dahl-ebook/dp/B07KGLHC5X/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?crid=3FCX5SYMRSXXO&keywords=the+courier+kjell&qid=1552412473&s=gateway&sprefix=the+courier+k%2Caps%2C147&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

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February 28

Blood Orange – Harriet Tyce

Alison has it all. A doting husband, adorable daughter, and a career on the rise – she’s just been given her first murder case to defend. But all is never as it seems…

Just one more night. Then I’ll end it.

Alison drinks too much. She’s neglecting her family. And she’s having an affair with a colleague whose taste for pushing boundaries may be more than she can handle.

I did it. I killed him. I should be locked up.

Alison’s client doesn’t deny that she stabbed her husband – she wants to plead guilty. And yet something about her story is deeply amiss. Saving this woman may be the first step to Alison saving herself.

I’m watching you. I know what you’re doing.

But someone knows Alison’s secrets. Someone who wants to make her pay for what she’s done, and who won’t stop until she’s lost everything….

I received a review copy from the publishers.

Alison is a defence lawyer with a successful career, a loving husband and daughter, a drink problem and she is having an affair. Her life is complicated and to be frank she is not a very likeable character.

Allison’s husband is rapidly reaching the end of his teather with her late nights, drunkeness and a constant unreliability when it comes to caring for their daughter Matilda. Allison’s husband is massively put upon throughout the story but I didn’t warm to him. Matilda was terrific and I felt sorry for her being trapped in a tale with these two parents.

We follow Alison as she is asked to assist in the defence of a woman who has killed her husband. She is assisting a second lawyer who also happens to be the man she is having an affair with. He isn’t a very nice character either.

Blood Orange is a very well written character drama. The players in the story are suitably flawed that their lives became compelling reading. I didn’t like them much but I still wanted to know what was going to happen to them. The payoff at the end when the threads and clues all pulled together was (to me) very unexpected but nastily entertaining.

So taking great care to avoid spoilers…Blood Orange is a domestic thriller and a legal drama. Against all the turmoil in Alison’s life she balances the home life challenges and gets on with the day job. It takes a strain on her and the vices and excesses will show through the cracks. Harriet Tyce does a great job keeping her characters on the right side of sanity. Until even she cannot stop them tipping over…

Powerful storytelling and worthy of the praise being sung by authors and reviewers.

Blood Orange is published by Wildfire and is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Orange-Harriet-Tyce/dp/1472252756/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1551311728&sr=8-1

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