Blog Tours – Page 22 – Grab This Book

Closer Than You Know – Brad Parks

Disaster, Melanie Barrick was once told, is always closer than you know.

It was a lesson she learned the hard way growing up in the constant upheaval of foster care. But now that she’s survived into adulthood – with a loving husband, a steady job, and a beautiful baby boy – she thought that turmoil was behind her.

Until the evening she goes to pick up her son from childcare, only to discover he’s been removed by Social Services. And no one will say why.

A terrifying scenario for any parent, it’s doubly so for Melanie, all too aware of the unintended horrors of ‘the system’. When she arrives home, her nightmare gets worse – it has been raided by Sheriff’s deputies, who have found enough cocaine to send her to prison for years. If Melanie can’t prove her innocence, she’ll lose her son forever. Her case is assigned to Amy Kaye, a no-nonsense assistant Commonwealth’s attorney. Amy’s boss wants to make an example out of Melanie, who the local media quickly christens ‘Coke Mom’.

But Amy’s attention continues to be diverted by a cold case no one wants her to pursue: a serial rapist who has avoided detection by wearing a mask and whispering his commands. Over the years, he has victimized dozens of women in the area – including Melanie. Now it’s this mystery man who could be the key to her salvation. or her ultimate undoing.

My thanks to Lauren at Faber for my review copy and the chance to join the tour

Melanie Barrick is having a bad day but she does not know how bad things are going to get! She is running late to collect her son from his childminder. Knowing the pursed lips of her so-strict childminder and the associated financial penalties for a late pick-up are waiting for her she arrives to collect her baby to find the door bolted shut. She hammers on the door, convinced she is being “punished” for her tardiness only to be told that her son has already been collected by Child Services.

As the nightmare unfolds Melanie returns home to discover the house has been sealed off as a crime scene. The police have raided her home following “Intelligence Received” and found a significant drug stash, things are not looking good for Melanie – the media quickly dub her Coke Mom and the local prosecutor is keen to boost his political ambitions and secure a fast conviction for Coke Mom.

Melanie has no idea where to turn. She does not have much money behind her, her husband is still pursuing his studies so cash is tight. She has lost her son, her freedom and she has no idea why – Melanie is totally innocent of all charges which have been raised against her.

Away from Melanie’s troubles the readers are also following a second story. Amy Kay is the assistant Commonwealth’s attorney and she has been chasing leads on an unwelcome investigation into a serial rapist. Amy recognizes “Coke Mom” Melanie as she was one of the victims of the rapist. It is clear the two stories are destined to cross but Brad Parks will expertly spin out the story to ensure you keep reading long into the night to see how that happens.

Closer Than You Know was a brilliantly entertaining read. Last year I read Say Nothing by Brad Parks and at the end of the year I included it in my best of the year list of recommendations. Having read Closer Than You Know I think it is safe to say that Mr Parks writes books which I love to read.

A five star page-turner…which is exactly what I want a book to be.

Closer than you know is published by Faber & Faber and can be ordered here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Closer-Than-Know-Brad-Parks-ebook/dp/B078HM3NMK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521020706&sr=8-1&keywords=closer+than+you+know

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March 13

The Darkness (Hidden Iceland) – Ragnar Jonasson

A young woman is found dead on a remote Icelandic beach.

She came looking for safety, but instead she found a watery grave.

A hasty police investigation determines her death as suicide . . .

When Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the Reykjavik police is forced into early retirement, she is told she can investigate one last cold case of her choice – and she knows which one.

What she discovers is far darker than suicide . . . And no one is telling Hulda the whole story.

When her own colleagues try to put the brakes on her investigation, Hulda has just days to discover the truth. A truth she will risk her own life to find.

My thanks to Laura at Michael Joseph for my review copy and the chance to join the blog tour

Hulda Hermannsdóttir is an experienced and respected investigator working for Reykjavik police. When we first meet Hulda she has identified a hit and run driver and coaxed a confession from the woman. The victim of the hit and run was a known pedophile and during the confession the driver admits that she knew the man she hit had targeted her son. Hulda returns to the her boss, ready to confirm the case can be closed only to find that her boss has recruited a replacement investigator who will be taking over Hulda’s job…her retirement has been brought forward and she is expected to leave within the next couple of weeks.

Hulda had known retirement was looming but it had always been on her own terms and she was looking at completing a few more months of work before accepting the inevitable fate and the lonely prospect of retirement. Hulda’s husband had died some years previous to events in the story (a massive heart attack) and with no other family and few friends Hulda almost seemed afraid of the prospect of retirement. So when she is given just a few days to wrap up her work she wrangles an assurance from her boss that she can work a cold case (of her choosing) to keep herself occupied during the last days of her employment.

Hulda begins to look into the drowning of a Russian immigrant who had been seeking approval to come to live in Iceland. It soon becomes apparent to Hulda that the original investigation has been very poorly handled and she starts to dig a little deeper into the last known activities of the dead girl. There is speculation that the girl may have been working as a prostitute and that the stress of waiting for approval (or not) to come and live in Iceland, may have been too much for her to cope with.

Hulda’s investigations soon ruffle the wrong feathers and unwittingly, while following up on a lead, she accidentally alerts a suspect in a different investigation to the fact the police may have him on their radar. Needless to say Hulda is not flavour of the month with her employers. They want to put a stop to Hulda’s interfering and time will be called on her career – retirement looms large. So begins a race against time for Hulda – can she find out what happened to the Russian girl before her boss calls time on her career?

As with previous Ragnar Jonasson novels which I have enjoyed, the investigation undertaken by the police is thorough and well plotted out. What differs in this outing is the time pressure placed upon Hulda and the lack of support she seems to receive from her colleagues. I should also point out the importance of the title: The Darkness. This is a dark novel and there is a bleakness for the characters too. Hulda is facing the prospect of a lonely retirement. In flashback scenes which pepper the story we read of a mother struggling to provide a level of care for her daughter. Hulda meets asylum seekers who are anxious to escape drama in their home countries and find a better life in Iceland – their plight and hope for a free life is both compelling and tragic. There are other equally dark moments which I cannot touch upon in a review but they really had an impact upon me as I read – some twists which were truly shocking and unexpected.

Seriously good storytelling from Ragnar Jonasson. Bring The Darkness into your day…much more enjoyable than it sounds!

The Darkness releases on 15 March and you can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Darkness-Hidden-Iceland-Book-One/dp/0718187245/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1520900061&sr=1-1

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March 12

Clean Sweep – Michael J Clark

A reformed smuggler finds himself embroiled in a mind-bending criminal conspiracy in this page-turning debut

Pastor Tommy Bosco runs a Winnipeg skid row mission that caters to ex-criminals and ex-addicts trying to make a better life. Sometimes that better life means leaving the city — and the good and bad guys — completely behind. A former smuggler, Bosco can make anyone disappear, faking deaths and extracting people across the Canada-U.S. border. But then his ex shows up, fresh from the murder of a biker-gang boss. She’s got plenty of baggage, including the biker’s cryptic ledger that everyone in Winnipeg’s underworld wants to get their hands on. Bosco finds himself a fugitive at the center of a conspiracy that has him staying far away from the cops, the hired hitmen, and even his dear old dad. Navigating through a harsh Prairie winter, Bosco must help his ex escape without having to make an escape himself.

Ahead of the publication of Clean Sweep this week I am delighted to be able to share this extract from the novel:

Noonan’s Buick was way past warranty. The woodgrain panelling concealed most of the rust. The Buick had been hiding Noonan for the last six nights, thanks to a toasty in-car warmer, a $300 sleeping bag, and plenty of empty plug-in parking spots at local retirement homes, where half the cars were Buicks. His compact frame of five feet six inches was easy to curl beneath the station wagon’s retractable cargo cover. The Buick had been in storage, under a dead friend’s name, for the express purpose of bugging out. He had left his ivory Escalade in front of his duplex on Rothesay Street. The house and the Cadillac had surely been searched by now by representatives of the Heaven’s Rejects Motorcycle Club, a name that was usually shortened to the HRs in casual conversation, or newspaper headlines. Noonan had freelanced for most of the biker gangs in Winnipeg over the last thirty years, watching their power ebb and flow from one group to the next. Whether it was the Los Bravos, the Spartans, or the current HRs, they all had one thing in common: crossing them meant death. The HRs had a slogan in the local underworld: First, we kill you. Then we go to work on you.

The latest assignment for Noonan had gone more sideways than an Electra Glide on black ice. It had all started ten days earlier, when he took a basic gig from the HRs to guard a stash house on Mountain Avenue near the Safeway, with four kilos of cocaine, two kilos of hashish, and six Ziploc freezer bags full of ecstasy. Noonan had been dozing on and off, a rumbling space heater next to the duct-taped Barcalounger he occupied, in front of a vintage black-and-white portable TV. Either appliance could have been responsible for the fire, the one that Noonan woke up to in full force. He knew it would have been wiser to succumb to the smoke, instead of escaping with just his life. The stash went up in flames, with not even enough evidence left in the debris to present a press conference for the Winnipeg Police Service. The HRs weren’t happy. Even if he had received third-degree burns all over his face, Noonan knew he would still get some breaks, as in fingers, maybe a tibia or two. Without a scratch on him, it didn’t take long for the HRs to ask the question; did the stash actually burn?

Noonan’s phone started vibrating in his coat pocket. He reached in to check the message, already knowing the request. “Please come home, Paulie. I miss you.” It wasn’t a lover, and it certainly wasn’t his ex-wife. Home was the Heaven’s Rejects clubhouse, located in a former bakery on St. John’s Avenue. I miss you — translation: or we’ll find you, and make it really, really painful. Not that anyone would ever find him. Winnipeg was full of missing bikers; you just had to know where to dig.

Noonan pulled down his visor for a peek at his current state. One of the vanity-mirror bulbs was burnt out, though there was just enough illumination to reveal a most frightened man of forty-seven years. His stubble was bordering on unkempt beard. His cheeks were sunken, a combination of only 145 pounds on his frame and the slim thought of eating in his current predicament. In the back seat there was a case of oversized green apple Gatorade bottles that could double as road-going urinals. The entire car stank of nervous sweat.

Noonan was waiting for the bus, a magic bus, especially if it could be the ticket out of Winnipeg, out of Manitoba, out of The Life. He continued to scan his side and rear-view mirrors for its arrival. The tap on the passenger side glass prompted him to hit the horn long enough to annoy. Noonan waited for a fat second until he turned his head to see Tommy Bosco looking through the glass. He breathed for what seemed like the first time in days as he hit the power lock.

Clean Sweep is published on 13 March 2018 and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clean-Sweep-Michael-J-Clark-ebook/dp/B077K7X97J/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1520846657&sr=1-1

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March 10

Anaconda Vice – James Stansfield

When Lucas Winter, a retired professional wrestler, runs out of gas on a dark and desolate road, his only thoughts are on getting to the lights of the small town up ahead, getting some gas, and getting out of there…only things aren’t quite what they seem in the tiny town of Anaconda.

Before he has a chance to solve his transport problem, Lucas finds himself in trouble with the law after a local man picks a fight with him…and then ends up dead. Innocent, Lucas fights to clear his name, tangling with the local law enforcement and the family of the dead man, who seem set on taking their revenge. Can Lucas get out alive? And just what is it that the residents of Anaconda are hiding….

My thanks to Liz at Manatee Books for my review copy

I’m going to start with my wrap-up then roll backwards into the story overview.

I loved Anaconda Vice. It was extremely readable, great fun, had a lead character that I got totally behind (probably the safest place when he is around) and the story was suitably twisty so it kept me guessing. Just what a bookworm wants.

Anaconda is small-town USA and it is not ready for retired wrestler Lucas Winter. Winter’s car grinds to a halt just outside Anaconda, he manages to get to the town and starts looking for assistance but it is nighttime and there are not many folk looking to help a weary traveler. After a long night Lucas manages to get the local mechanic to agree to recover his car – it takes a couple of attempts as the mechanic is not the sharpest tool in the box and Lucas seems to suffer from “smart-mouth” and doesn’t always know when it may be best not to speak. This smart mouth causes a number of problems throughout Anaconda Vice (but it makes for fun reading).

While the car is being rescued Lucas is guided to a local diner for breakfast. His peace is shattered by a local trying to score cheap points at Lucas’s expense. Not one to back down from a challenge Lucas soon finds himself pitted against the local and fists soon fly. The diner suffers damage and Lucas is invited to leave…pronto. Seeking refuge in the local hotel Lucas plans to catch up on some shut-eye. But his peace is not to last as 4 cops burst into his room, guns out, and Lucas allows himself to be arrested.

Accused of a crime he did not commit Lucas has to convince the local police of his innocence. The only problem he will face is that the sheriff appears to defer to the local big businessman. The guy who runs the successful large factory in Anaconda and who holds the most sway over the residents. The businessman is extremely unhappy with Lucas as it transpires Lucas was arrested for murdering the businessman’s son – he wants Lucas dead and expects the police to hand him over so that “justice” can be served.

While the “stranger vs small town bullies” is not a new phenomenon there is a reason why these tales are told – we root for the outsider/the underdog and we want to see the bullies get put in their place. Anaconda Vice ticked all the right boxes for me – James Stansfield tells a great story and the pacing and excitement are pitched to perfection. Oh and one scene really upset me. Generally I like when a book shocks me but this one was brutal *shakes an angry fist*

And we are back at the point in the review where we first came in…Anaconda Vice. Damned good story. Buy it.

Anaconda Vice is published by Manatee Books and is available to order here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anaconda-Vice-smart-paced-thriller-ebook/dp/B079P4TDX3/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520546598&sr=8-1&keywords=anaconda+vice

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March 9

A Known Evil – Aidan Conway

A serial killer stalks the streets of Rome…

A gripping debut crime novel and the first in a groundbreaking series, from a new star in British crime fiction. Perfect for fans of Ian Rankin.

A city on lockdown.
In the depths of a freakish winter, Rome is being torn apart by a serial killer dubbed The Carpenter intent on spreading fear and violence. Soon another woman is murdered – hammered to death and left with a cryptic message nailed to her chest.

A detective in danger.
Maverick Detective Inspectors Rossi and Carrara are assigned to the investigation. But when Rossi’s girlfriend is attacked – left in a coma in hospital – he becomes the killer’s new obsession and his own past hurtles back to haunt him.

A killer out of control.
As the body count rises, with one perfect murder on the heels of another, the case begins to spiral out of control. In a city wracked by corruption and paranoia, the question is: how much is Rossi willing to sacrifice to get to the truth?

My thanks to Sahina and the Killer Reads team for my review copy and the chance to close out the blog tour.

A Known Evil takes readers to Rome and drops us straight into the action. A killer is at loose in the Eternal City and detectives Rossi and Cararra are leading the investigation, we shall follow their progress as they hunt for The Carpenter.

With an early murder in the story to catch my attention it was not long before the stakes were raised higher – the killer strikes again and leaves another damaged body for the police to find. A cryptic note left on the bodies (written in English) gives the Italian police something to ponder and it seems the murderer may even be taunting them.

But everything is going to become much more personal for Rossi when his girlfriend is attacked and left in a coma. The couple’s relationship had seemed rocky in the lead-up to the incident and the long hours Rossi was working had been creating issues. However, when his involvement with a victim means Rossi will be sidelined from the investigation the story starts to evolve and move on from “just” a serial killer tale to a much bigger and more commanding drama.

Another murder victim is identified as the daughter of a prominent member of the justice system. The father of the victim mourns her death but Rossi suspects there may be more to the murder than initially meets the eye and he is not convinced the grieving father is sharing all his suspicions with the police. Twists and turns will follow and the investigation will become extremely political and some sinister players will emerge onto the scene.

A Known Evil is very cleverly crafted – starting out on relatively familiar territory and letting the reader enjoy a murder investigation but scaling up the scope of the story as the book unfolds. There are some tension filled moments, car chases through the tight city streets and the story rocks along very nicely (aided by short and snappy chapters which make ‘one more chapter’ so much easier to accept).

Crime fans who enjoy a political wrangle in their stories, conspiracy lovers and anyone that enjoys an engaging and clever drama – here is your next read.

A Known Evil is published by Killer Reads. The digital version is available now and the paperback shall be available in April. You can order copies here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Known-Evil-gripping-thriller-Detective/dp/0008281173/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1520552269&sr=1-1

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March 3

Silent Victim – Caroline Mitchell

Emma’s darkest secrets are buried in the past. But the truth can’t stay hidden for long.

Emma is a loving wife, a devoted mother…and an involuntary killer. For years she’s been hiding the dead body of the teacher who seduced her as a teen.

It’s a secret that might have stayed buried if only her life had been less perfect. A promotion for Emma’s husband, Alex, means they can finally move to a bigger home with their young son. But with a buyer lined up for their old house, Emma can’t leave without destroying every last trace of her final revenge…

Returning to the shallow grave in the garden, she finds it empty. The body is gone.

Panicked, Emma confesses to her husband. But this is only the beginning. Soon, Alex will discover things about her he’ll wish he’d learned sooner. And others he’ll long to forget.

My thanks to Charlotte at Midas PR for the chance to join this blog tour.

Caroline Mitchell’s books are always delightfully chilling and oozing with hidden menace so I was delighted to have the chance to read Silent Victim,

On these dark wintry evenings I had a hankering to read something that may chill me. Silent Victim did just that – unsettling through its subject matter and it twisted my perceptions as I could not be sure which characters were presenting the truth of past events.

The past events are crucial to understanding where guilt may lie. We first meet our lead character (Emma) burying a body in her garden – that’s how you grab my attention from the first page! Then we bounce forward a few years to rejoin Emma…it seems she has managed to keep her dark secret hidden from everyone. However, things are about to get complicated for Emma, her husband has a new job and proposes moving Emma and their baby North to Leeds – if she moves house then how can Emma be sure that nobody shall one day uncover the grizzly evidence of her crime?

Silent Victim is a story of consequences. What could have led Emma to strike out and take someone’s life? The reader gets to see Emma as a schoolgirl when her problems first began to manifest themselves. We also see her as a young wife and mother having to deal with the possiblity of her greatest secret becoming public knowledge. How she chooses to cope with the uncertainty will define her fate and future.

We also get to see Emma’s story from the point of view of the murder victim – her teacher. That was unsettling as we see how he targeted Emma for his attentions and courted her affections…given that she was a vulnerable schoolgirl it was not easy reading at times. Huge plaudits here to Caroline Mitchell for getting the tone of this spot on.

Having read Silent Victim and followed Emma’s story it was easy to see how she had been the victim of a predatory teacher. His death at her hands an unfortunate accident. Or was it? As I said, we get to see the story from the victim’s viewpoint too. While I cannot give too much away about the sequence of events which will bring Emma’s life into turmoil I can share that Emma may not be the most trustworthy of narrators and that makes things *very* interesting.

I soaked up Silent Victim in just two sittings. I lost track of time while I was reading and was twisted every which way as I tried to unpick what I could take as fact from the story Emma was living out. Cracking reading.

Silent Victim is published by Thomas and Mercer and is available in hardback, audiobook and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silent-Victim-Caroline-Mitchell-ebook/dp/B071G5W8HC/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

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February 22

Best Friends – Carys Jones

Four friends, a terrible secret, and one week to stay alive. . . Grace doesn’t have a family. That was taken away one dreadful day when she was just six, and her twin brother Peter was killed. Instead she has her best friends and flatmates – Jasper, Franklin and Aaron – and nothing can tear them apart. Living in London, and trying desperately to make a living, the four friends are rapidly running out of money and hope. So, when they find a discarded suitcase in a skip, they can’t believe their eyes when its contents seem to answer all their prayers. But then a there is a knock on their door, and a very disgruntled thug with revenge on his mind, gives them one week to return his belongings, or they will pay with their lives. Soon the fractures in their friendships begin to show, and when one of them ends up fighting for his life, the stakes are raised even higher. Will any of them get to the end of the week alive, or will the best of friends become the deadliest of enemies. . .

My thanks to Melanie at Head of Zeus for the chance to join the blog tour

Four young friends sharing a flat in London and struggling to meet their living costs. The rent is due but even pooling funds they find they are going to struggle. Grace is a ballet dancer who is auditioning for that one role which will give her the break she needs, get some money, get to perform and hopefully spring-board her to greater heights.

Her friends and flatmates are in similar positions of just needing that change in fortune which will make all their struggles and sacrifice worthwhile. However, Grace has had the biggest struggle and as we read through Best Friends the horrors of childhood traumas are slowly revealed and we realise that Grace is a girl who really needs a stroke of good fortune.

But could the luck of the friends be about to take a significant turn for the better? On a drunken night out (blowing the precious little money they have) the four stumble upon a case full of money. It has been left in a skip and with no-one around to claim it the four friends take the case (and its contents) home. They have scrimped and scraped for so long that it does not take too long before all four head into London on an indulgent shopping spree.

Of course their good fortune is all too good to be true. A menacing figure appears at their door demanding “his” money back and the consequences of not meeting his demands are too terrifying to contemplate.

Best Friends was an enjoyable read. I loved the character of Grace, her troubled background was nicely dripped into the narrative. Despite not loving all her flatmates (there’s always one!) I really wanted them all to pull through and get all the money they needed. Obviously I could not possibly reveal how they fare, you will need to read it for yourself to find out!

Best Friends is published by Aria and is available in paperback and digital format

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2mKlVg0

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2DMGC34

Google Play: http://bit.ly/2mMlsKp

iBooks: https://apple.co/2rk5pZN

Follow Carys Jones

Twitter: http://bit.ly/2rmTGti

Facebook: http://bit.ly/2Dpix5D

Website: http://bit.ly/2mS51gj

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February 11

Gallery of the Dead – Chris Carter

‘Thirty-seven years in the force, and if I was allowed to choose just one thing to erase from my mind, what’s inside that room would be it.’

That’s what a LAPD Lieutenant tells Detectives Hunter and Garcia of the Ultra Violent Crimes Unit as they arrive at one of the most shocking crime scenes they have ever attended.

In a completely unexpected turn of events, the detectives find themselves joining forces with the FBI to track down a serial killer whose hunting ground sees no borders; a psychopath who loves what he does because to him murder is much more than just killing – it’s an art form.

Welcome to The Gallery of the Dead.

My thanks to Rhiannon at Simon & Schuster for my review copy and the chance to join the blog tour.

I can only say good things about Gallery of the Dead as I absolutely loved it. It’s a dark but totally gripping read in which Robert Hunter finds himself attending a murder scene and believing that the killer has been too efficient for this to have been his first kill.

From the opening chapter I was hooked – a woman arrives home, she potters through the rooms whilst chatting to her cat. It seemed all too normal, too domesticated and so I expected something nasty was about to happen. Reading on my mind was whirring with possibilities over what Chris Carter could have in store…would she find something horrible? Is there someone in her house? Will she receive a terrifying phone call? From the very first paragraphs you are drawn in and you want to keep reading as you are sure something bad (really bad) is about to happen.

And it does.

Boom – he got me. And for the next few hundred pages Chris Carter was not letting me go – Gallery of the Dead is one of those rare gems where you don’t want to stop reading and the action and twists and shocks just keep coming. “One more chapter?” Hell no…I can give it another hour – at least.

Hunter is back in top form too (this is book 9 in the series). Gallery of the Dead can be read entirely on its own, wholly self contained and easy to enjoy without knowing the back story. His analytical mind and sharp eye quickly identifies “marks” left on the body of the victim (no spoilers here) and using the police database to search for similar occurrences he alerts the FBI to the murder he is investigating.

The FBI have already been aware of the killer (this is not his first murder) and they propose a liaison with the police. The agent heading up the FBI taskforce is aware of Hunter’s skills and is keen to have him on board – but if you get Hunter you get his partner too and with that comes a wisecracking cop who will rub up the FBI agents in the wrong way. I loved the friction and rivalry between police and FBI and it was only made better by Hunter’s reaction to the sniping around him!

If you like a serial killer story, one which will not hold back on the grim detail and the sadistic nature of a murderous mind then you need to seek out Chris Carter’s books. Gallery of the Dead is a brilliant read – entertainment to the max.

Gallery of the Dead is published by Simon & Schuster and is available now in hardback, audiobook and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gallery-Dead-Robert-Hunter-9/dp/1471156346/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1518307286&sr=8-1

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February 11

The Extremist – Nadia Dalbuono

On a hot summer’s morning in Rome, three public places — a McDonald’s, a preschool, and a café — come under siege from a group of terrorists who appear to be Islamic extremists. When word comes through that the terrorists will only negotiate with Detective Leone Scamarcio, no one is more surprised than Scamarcio himself.

The young man with frightened eyes who speaks to Scamarcio seems anything but in control. He says that Scamarcio is the only person he can trust to care about the truth. Then he gives Scamarcio an unusual list of demands, including that everything must be done without police or intelligence involvement, and within twenty-four hours — or the hostages die.

With his face on every TV screen, and with all of Italy on alert, Scamarcio must race against the clock and elude the grasp of the increasingly unhinged chief of intelligence, Colonel Scalisi, to meet the terrorists’ demands, and to uncover the truth behind the attacks. But, as Scamarcio follows the young man’s clues, he finds that every question seems to turn up five more, and, as usual for this son-of-a-Mafioso policeman, nothing is as it seems.

My thanks to Adam Howard at Scribe for my review copy and the chance to join the blog tour.

The Extremist stars with an explosion of horror as the reader is witness to a terror siege in Rome. One of the terrorists makes a demand – he wants to speak with Detective Leone Scamarcio and nobody else will do. This is something of a shock to Scamarcio who is required to walk into the heart of the action with no protection, no back up and no idea why he has been summoned.

Even after speaking with a nervous terrorist Scamarcio is unclear exactly what is expected of him – he does know that his own unique background (a cop with mafia connections) is the reason he was sought out.

Scamarcio is set a challenge, recover a box from a garden far from where the action is taking place then come back and speak with the terrorist again. Not easy – as soon as he leaves the scene of the siege Scamarcio is expected to update his colleagues but he is not to speak of the task he has been set and to share the detail means he will not have the chance to get to that garden…he needs to escape from the police and go it alone.

The situation in Rome is critical and Scamarcio is racing against time to meet the deadline he has been set – if he fails then innocent lives will be lost. The challenges he faces will put him in peril more than once, he cannot trust anyone and it seems the terrorists may also be pawns in a more deadly game. You need to keep your wits about you whilst reading The Extremist, it gets twisty.

The Extremist is the fourth Leone Scamarcio thriller. Do you need to have read the earlier novels? Nope….but there is a lot going on in The Extremist and I suspect that returning readers will get great enjoyment from seeing how the characters move on while new readers get a high tempo adventure.

I usually have three or more books on the go at one time, while reading The Extremist I only wanted to focus on this one story. It is fast and furious and with many of the characters not being open with Scamarcio and playing their own game it needed my full attention to ensure I was keeping up with events.

I do enjoy when I can get my teeth into a gripping tale, when characters will have me questioning their motives and especially when I cannot predict where a story is heading. The Extremist was an intense read but I was hooked so I am happy.

The Extremist is published by Scribe and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extremist-Leone-Scamarcio-Nadia-Dalbuono-ebook/dp/B077Y7DSP5/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1518302325&sr=1-3

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February 1

Forget Her Name – Jane Holland

Rachel’s dead and she’s never coming back. Or is she?

As she prepares for her wedding to Dominic, Catherine has never been happier or more excited about her future. But when she receives an anonymous package—a familiar snow globe with a very grisly addition—that happiness is abruptly threatened by secrets from her past.

Her older sister, Rachel, died on a skiing holiday as a child. But Rachel was no angel: she was vicious and highly disturbed, and she made Catherine’s life a misery. Catherine has spent years trying to forget her dead sister’s cruel tricks. Now someone has sent her Rachel’s snow globe—the first in a series of ominous messages…

While Catherine struggles to focus on her new life with Dominic, someone out there seems intent on tormenting her. But who? And why now? She doesn’t have the answers – and in one final question lies her greatest fear.

Is Rachel still alive?

My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the chance to join the blog tour.

One of the tricky reviews this one…how to discuss Forget Her Name without letting slip any spoilers? It should be easy (in theory) but I really wanted to talk about the bits of the story I particularly enjoyed. Or the “shock” bits which I didn’t see coming and which at times were a wee bit icky. You see it was those bits of the story which made it such fun to read – that reader dilemma of needing to stop but just wanting one more page. Or maybe two more pages.

Forget Her Name is about Catherine, she hails from a nice family seems to have had a comfortable upbringing and is now engaged to the hard-working, love of her life, Dominic. But in her past there is a memory which she is keeping secret from Dominic but which may now be threatening her idyllic life.

When she was a child Catherine had a sister, Rachel, who was a thoroughly unpleasant child and made Catherine’s life Hell. However, Rachel died Catherine was suddenly free of her tormentor. Spin forward to present day and Catherine finds that unusual incidents are happening and someone has sent her one of Rachel’s most treasured possessions but with an additional nasty twist.

Nasty twists are very much in keeping with Forget Her Name. It is a tense read, well paced out and I enjoyed it a lot. If you like a thriller which will keep you turning those pages then look no further.

Forget her name is published by Thomas & Mercer and is available in paperback, Digital and audio format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forget-Her-Name-gripping-thriller/dp/1542046645/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1517522607&sr=8-1&keywords=forget+her+name

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