From The Bookshelf – Page 30

City of Drowned Souls – Chris Lloyd

When a child disappears, the clock starts ticking

Detective Elisenda Domènech has had a tough few years. The loss of her daughter and a team member; the constant battles against colleagues and judges; the harrowing murder investigations… But it’s about to get much worse.

When the son of a controversial local politician goes missing at election time, Elisenda is put on the case. They simply must solve it. Only the team also have to deal with a spate of horrifically violent break-ins. People are being brutalised in their own homes and the public demands answers.

Could there be a connection? Why is nobody giving a straight answer? And where is Elisenda’s key informant, apparently vanished off the face of the earth? With the body count threatening to increase and her place in the force on the line, the waters are rising…

Be careful not to drown.

My thanks to Faye Rogers for my review copy and the opportunity to join the blog tour

My first introduction to the Elisenda Domènech books by Chris Lloyd and I am in a pretty happy place. I have a new series of books I can look forward to reading and (very importantly) beginning the series with this, the 3rd book, has not been a confusing or spoiler-filled affair.

There was loads going on in City of Drowned Souls so it was a richly rewarding read. Elisenda is investigating a series of violent burglaries when a tip-off which could have broken the case falls through. Tempers flare and to keep her position Elisenda has to attend therapist sessions – her colleagues fearing she is not contending well with the death of her daughter some years earlier.

Elsewhere the child of a local politician disappears. The family reaction is not typical but with an election just days away and the child’s mother in the depths of a fiercely fought campaign it is difficult for the police to get a meaningful take on what may have led to the young boy’s disappearance.

City of Drowned Souls is full of marvellous detail about Catalan politics, the locations are expertly described giving a real sense of location. Food habits, recipe ideas and dozens of subtle observations made it so very obvious that Chris Lloyd knows this part of the world very well – the detail makes the story so much more vivid and real.

Nicely paced, full of puzzles (with plenty of red herrings) and a few sinister elements which were great fun to see uncovered. City of Drowned Souls comes highly recommended and I look forward to catching up with the other novels in the series.

City of Drowned Souls is published by Canelo and is available now. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01N7Y2NDN

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February 8

All The Missing Girls – Megan Miranda

It’s been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared without trace. Then a letter from her father arrives – ‘I need to talk to you. That girl. I saw that girl.’ Has her father’s dementia worsened, or has he really seen Corinne? Returning home, Nicolette must finally face what happened on that terrible night all those years ago.

Then, another young woman goes missing, almost to the day of the anniversary of when Corinne vanished. And like ten years ago, the whole town is a suspect.

Told backwards – Day 15 to Day 1 – Nicolette works to unravel the truth, revealing shocking secrets about her friends, her family, and what really happened to Corinne.

Like nothing you’ve ever read before, All the Missing Girls is a brilliantly plotted debut thriller that will leave you breathless.

My thanks to Katherine at Atlantic Books for my review copy and the chance to join the tour.

I do love a small town thriller. In a city nobody cares what may be going on right under their noses, however, in small towns the mindset of the residents is totally different – EVERYONE cares what you do. If you have a secret in a small town you can guarantee everyone else has a theory as to what that may be!

Ten years ago Nicolette’s best friend, Corinne, vanished. Nic left town shortly afterwards but now she has had to return and face the demons of her past. Nic’s father is suffering badly with advanced dementia but could he be remembering something important about Corinne’s disappearance or is a cryptic statement simply a false memory brought on by his disease.

Almost 10 years to the day that Corinne vanished another girl has gone missing and tensions are running high. All the Missing Girls tracks a 15 day period and covers the events surrounding the investigations. However, everything is told backwards (day 15 back to day 1) so you had better be ready to pay attention as this time it is effect then cause rather than cause and effect.

A devilishly clever idea and it had me really focussed on the story as I realised that the conversation in one chapter was the direct result of a conversation which we see take place 30 pages later. Keeping up? Good – it will keep you on your toes.

I like when an author puts a twist on a story and All the Missing Girls has twists aplenty! The style may not be for everyone but if you fancy something new in your crime fiction this is one for you.

All the Missing Girls is published by Altantic Books/Corvus and you can get your copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/All-Missing-Girls-Megan-Miranda/1786490811/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486495241&sr=8-1&keywords=all+the+missing+girls

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February 6

Sealskin – Su Bristow

What happens when magic collides with reality?

Donald is a young fisherman, eking out a lonely living on the west coast of Scotland. One night he witnesses something miraculous …and makes a terrible mistake. His action changes lives – not only his own, but those of his family and the entire tightly knit community in which they live. Can he ever atone for the wrong he has done, and can love grow when its foundation is violence?

Based on the legend of the selkies – seals who can transform into people – Sealskin is a magical story, evoking the harsh beauty of the landscape, the resilience of its people, both human and animal, and the triumph of hope over fear and prejudice.

With exquisite grace, Exeter Novel Prize-winner Su Bristow transports us to a different world, subtly and beautifully exploring what it means to be an outsider, and our innate capacity for forgiveness and acceptance. Rich with myth and magic, Sealskin is, nonetheless, a very human story, as relevant to our world as to the timeless place in which it is set. And it is, quite simply, unforgettable.

My thanks to Karen at Orenda for my review copy and the chance to be involved in the tour.

Before I read Sealskin I had seen huge amounts of praise being lavished upon it. Much of the focus is on the beautiful writing, the haunting story and the beautiful gentle tale.

I was a bit surprised with how the story began as immediately we encounter a shocking act of violence. It caught me unawares and I wondered where the “gentle” story I had been expecting was going to come from. Well stick with it as things do settle down and the relationship story I had been expecting starts to unfold.

Sealskin is a story based around the myth of the Selkie, a seal can shed its skin to take on human form. In Sealskin we meet Donald, a fisherman living in a remote community – he is somewhat alienated by the others in his village but when he brings home a mysterious woman she will transform a community in a way they could never have foreseen.

It is a powerful and emotive story which will impact upon all its readers. Very much out of my comfort zone of reading and quite unlike what I normally pick up so I have a limited benchmark to compare and contrast Sealskin with.

I very much enjoyed the depiction of the remote community and the environment which the fishermen all worked. Capturing the location is essential to engage a reader and Su Bristow does a marvellous job in setting the ideal scene to let her selkie play.

A fantastical tale which is fantastically told.

Sealskin is published by Orenda and is available in digital format and paperback. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sealskin-Su-Bristow/dp/1910633607/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1486344510&sr=1-1&keywords=seal+skin+su+bristow

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January 31

Ragdoll – Daniel Cole

A body is discovered with the dismembered parts of six victims stitched together, nicknamed by the press as the ‘Ragdoll’. Assigned to the shocking case are Detective William ‘Wolf’ Fawkes, recently reinstated to the London Met, and his former partner Detective Emily Baxter.

The ‘Ragdoll Killer’ taunts the police by releasing a list of names to the media, and the dates on which he intends to murder them. With six people to save, can Fawkes and Baxter catch a killer when the world is watching their every move?

My thanks to team at Trapeze who provided a review copy through Netgalley.

It is time I added my voice to the cheerleading for Ragdoll. This thriller has been receiving rave reviews from the early readers and it is easy to see why it has gained so many fans.

Detective William Fawkes (aka Wolf) had put his heart and soul into capturing a killer. But when the jury returns its verdict, Wolf’s emotions boil over and he attacks his chief suspect beating him to within an inch of his life.

Spin forward a few years and Wolf is back in active service. His life has been turned upside down by the events in that courtroom, however, fate has conspired to give Wolf a fresh chance at salvaging his career. But Wolf cannot just shake off the baggage that he carries and someone is clearly not keen to let Wolf move on, a killer has decided to pit their skills up against that of the notorious “Wolf” Fawkes and if Wolf cannot identify a murderer then he may well become a victim too.

The cover blurb (0utlined above) gives an early indication that Daniel Cole is out to shock his readers with a dark tale of cop vs killer. I’d say he does a pretty good job too – Ragdoll should appeal to readers of Paul Finch and Katerina Diamond…you are never fully confident that anyone in the story is “untouchable” and everyone is in peril.

I have no doubt that Ragdoll will do well when it releases later this month. For readers who also enjoy tv police procedurals this is a story which you will feel is made for dramatization. And that is my only (minor) quibble with Ragdoll – as much as I enjoyed the story it felt like reading a screenplay at times. It seemed to have a very structured ebb and flow of big events: a build up to a cliff-hanger incident, resolve it, start a build up to the next one, resolve it. This is normal in all action/thriller books but in the case of Ragdoll they were very noticeable.

Style issues aside Ragdoll is a great read, I liked Fawkes who was a very engaging lead character. Daniel Cole delivers some really nasty twists and a couple of cracking “WTF” moments which had me re-reading paragraphs as I tried to get my head around what had just unexpectedly unfolded.

Be prepared to hear a lot more about Ragdoll through 2017, it’s going to be a biggie.

Ragdoll will publish on 23 February 2017 and is available to pre-order here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ragdoll-Daniel-Cole/dp/1409168743/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1483653818&sr=1-2

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January 29

Her Every Fear – Peter Swanson

Following a brutal attack by her ex-boyfriend, Kate Priddy makes an uncharacteristically bold decision after her cousin, Corbin Dell, suggests a temporary apartment swap – and she moves from London to Boston.

But soon after her arrival Kate makes a shocking discovery: Corbin’s next-door neighbour, a young woman named Audrey Marshall, has been murdered. When the police begin asking questions about Corbin’s relationship with Audrey, and his neighbours come forward with their own suspicions, a shaken Kate has few answers, and many questions of her own.

Jetlagged and emotionally unstable, her imagination playing out her every fear, Kate can barely trust herself. so how can she trust any of the strangers she’s just met?

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

Kate Priddy is not having the best of times. Recovering from a traumatic incident involving her ex-boyfriend she has agreed to swap homes with an American cousin. On arriving at his apartment (much nicer than her flat) Kate is disturbed to find that one of her new neighbours may be missing.

Kate’s initial concerns escalate when we learn that her neighbour, Audrey, has actually been murdered in the apartment next to her new residence. The police come to question Kate and ask about her cousin (Corbin) but Kate and Corbin never met – is it possible her cousin could be a killer?

Narrative switches and we learn that Audrey had actually been under observation for many months. In the opposite wing of the apartment block we learn that one of the other residents could see straight into the victims house and had developed an unhealthy fascination with her. With Audrey dead it now seems that the voyeuristic neighbour may now be turning his attentions towards Kate.

Her Every Fear will focus on several different characters. At various stages of the story we may revisit some scenes more than once. Our initial impression of a conversation will be challenged when the second narrative outlines a totally different explanation for what originally seemed to be a straightforward situation. It is very cleverly worked and once you realise that all the characters have a very specific reason for acting in a certain way it leads to question who may have the most to lose if their secrets were to come out into the open.

This book was everything that I had hoped it would be. The twists were twisty, the shocks shocking and the nastiness was ramped up to the max. Peter Swanson can spin a damn good yarn and Her Every Fear was an absolute treat to read. Highly recommended if you enjoy a suspenseful thriller.

Her Every Fear is published in Hardback and digital format by Faber and you can order a copy through this link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/cka/Her-Every-Fear-Peter-Swanson/0571327109/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485726879&sr=1-1&keywords=her+every+fear

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January 25

Rattle – Fiona Cummins

A serial killer to chill your bones

A psychopath more frightening than Hannibal Lecter.

He has planned well. He leads two lives. In one he’s just like anyone else. But in the other he is the caretaker of his family’s macabre museum.

Now the time has come to add to his collection. He is ready to feed his obsession, and he is on the hunt.

Jakey Frith and Clara Foyle have something in common. They have what he needs.

What begins is a terrifying cat-and-mouse game between the sinister collector, Jakey’s father and Etta Fitzroy, a troubled detective investigating a spate of abductions.

My thanks to Pan Macmillan for my review copy which I received through Netgalley.

Rattle is a bit of a chiller. Fiona Cummins seems to have drawn up a list of all the things which she feels will make readers uncomfortable and then built a gripping thriller around some of the nastiest ideas – nice!

We have a serial killer who is stalking a very particular victim group. A young child with a debilitating and life threatening illness, a family on the edge of breakup and a kidnapped girl who just wants home to her mum.

With so many vulnerable characters in Rattle it is no surprise that this is frequently a harrowing read. I was struck with how the adults in the story are all pushed to a breaking point. The children are placed in greatest peril but seem more able to accept what is happening and their resilience was a striking contrast to that of their parents.

I am reluctant to give away too much of the story in my review. Suffice to say that I ripped through Rattle in double quick time – one of those books you don’t want to put down.

Cracking debut from Fiona Cummins and a treat for thriller fans.

Rattle is published by Pan Macmillan and is available now. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rattle-Fiona-Cummins/dp/1509812261/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485386379&sr=1-1&keywords=rattle+fiona+cummins

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January 24

Burned and Broken – Mark Hardie

A vulnerable young woman, fresh out of the care system, is trying to discover the truth behind the sudden death of her best friend.

The charred body of a policeman – currently the subject of an internal investigation – is found in the burnt-out-shell of his car on the Southend seafront.

To DS Frank Pearson and DC Catherine Russell of the Essex Police Major Investigation Team, the two events seem unconnected. But as they dig deeper into their colleague’s murder, dark secrets begin to emerge.

Can Pearson and Russell solve both cases, before more lives are destroyed?

My thanks to Clara at LittleBrown for my review copy and the chance to join the blog tour

It is always exciting to get the chance to discover a new crime series from the earliest days of publication. A quick look at Amazon and I spot that Mark Hardie’s new book Burned and Broken also features the names Pearson and Russell in the title space – a good indicator that the characters are destined to return.

Their return would not be unwelcome as I rather enjoyed Burned and Broken when I got into it. A grim opening sequence sees the last few seconds of a man’s life as the car he is sitting in goes up in flames. From there the police arrive and we find that the man in the car may have been one of their colleagues.

Narrative skips back a few days and we begin to follow Cat Russell as she faces an interrogation from a member of the Police Standards team. They are investigating the behaviour of Cat’s sometime partner Sean Carragher who appears to have abused a police issue credit card and may also be facing charges of using excessive force. Readers know that in a few days Carragher it looks most likely that Carragher will be burned to death in his car, as Cat sits in a small interview room she is giving nothing away about her friend’s behaviour.

Elsewhere we meet a teenage girl, Donna, recently out of the care system and struggling to make ends meet. Donna is torn up over the recent death of her friend and is determined to seek justice. But Donna’s friend (despite being dead) seems to be with her in spirit and Donna is chatting with her friend trying to assure her that she will put things right for her.

I had a shift in focus through Burned and Broken, initially I was more interested in Donna and her quest for justice than I was with the police investigation. However, as the story unfolded I became more caught up in Cat’s story and less keen on Donna’s role (as she seemed to be drifting in random directions).

Happily all the loose ends start to entwine as the end of the story approached and Donna’s whimsical idea for revenge started to take on much more significance.

A promising debut from Mark Hardie – one for the fans of police procedurals.

Burned and Broken is published by Sphere in digital format (with a paperback release in May) and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Burned-Broken-Pearson-Russell-Hardie-ebook/dp/B010QDG63A/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1485299298&sr=1-1&keywords=burned+and+broken

It’s a busy old day on the Burned and Broken blog tour but if you look around for these great bloggers then you will get a great overview of Mr Hardie’s debut thriller. Follow the Tour!

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January 21

Behind Her Eyes – Sarah Pinborough

Don’t Trust This Book

Don’t Trust These People

Don’t Trust Yourself

And whatever you do, DON’T give away that ending…

Louise

Since her husband walked out, Louise has made her son her world, supporting them both with her part-time job. But all that changes when she meets…

David

Young, successful and charming – Louise cannot believe a man like him would look at her twice let alone be attracted to her. But that all comes to a grinding halt when she meets his wife…

Adele

Beautiful, elegant and sweet – Louise’s new friend seems perfect in every way. As she becomes obsessed by this flawless couple, entangled in the intricate web of their marriage, they each, in turn, reach out to her.

But only when she gets to know them both does she begin to see the cracks… Is David really is the man she thought she knew and is Adele as vulnerable as she appears?
Just what terrible secrets are they both hiding and how far will they go to keep them?

My thanks to Jaime at Harper Collins for my review copy and the chance to join the blog tour.

Today I am thrilled to host the first leg of the Behind Her Eyes blog tour and I immediately have a problem. I need to be VERY careful about what I say!

You see Behind Her Eyes is the “Fight Club” of the 2017 new releases – you can’t talk about Behind Her Eyes, because you must keep the secret. The secret? Well this book is responsible for the social media hashtag #WTFthatending so as you read you know that something big/unexpected/unusual/gobsmacking is going to happen. You just don’t know what (and it will be on your mind the whole time you are reading).

But there is much more to Behind Her Eyes than the ending. The story follows Louise, a single mum who is low on confidence as her ex-husband and his new partner are expecting their first child. They want to take Louise’s young son Adam to France for a month’s vacation and Louise is uncomfortable with the thought of Adam being away so long.

But Louise has another distraction, she met a charming and good looking guy in a bar and they hit it off. But the evening ended unexpectedly when the guy got uncomfortable and fled only to turn up the next morning at Louise’s work and to their mutual horror they learn that he is her new boss.

The mutual attraction does not fade though and Louise and her boss, David, are going to find it difficult to keep their relationship platonic.

Enter David’s beautiful wife Adele. She provides the second narrative to the story and Behind Her Eyes unfolds as Louise and Adele drive the story forward. They meet by chance and become friends. Louise realises that Adele is David’s wife but chooses to keep their friendship a secret from David as she is not sure how he may react to his wife and his lover being friends.

Readers soon become to realise that Adele is fully aware of Louise and David’s relationship but she seems to be playing a game of her own. Adele has a plan and bringing Louise and David together just seems a small part of it. But to what end? Adele has a history of mental illness and there is a third narrative thread recounting time she has spent in a care home receiving psychological treatment. Does Adele become an unreliable narrator or is Louise’s narrative misleading us over how fragile David and Adele’s marriage may actually be?

Behind Her Eyes is an engaging and tense read and the promise of the #WTFthatending will keep you hooked. I love Sarah Pinborough’s stories, she is not afraid to put her characters through an emotional wringer so I know that no-one is safe and that anything could happen. That unpredictability is a treat for a reader and Behind Her Eyes does not disappoint.

Read it (and avoid spoilers).

Behind Her Eyes is published by Harper Collins and releases on 26 January. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Behind-Her-Eyes-Sarah-Pinborough/dp/0008131961/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484992145&sr=8-1&keywords=behind+her+eyes

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January 17

Lies – TM Logan

WHAT IF YOUR WHOLE LIFE WAS BASED ON LIES?

When Joe Lynch stumbles across his wife driving into a hotel car park while she’s supposed to be at work, he’s intrigued enough to follow her in.

And when he witnesses her in an angry altercation with family friend Ben, he knows he ought to intervene.

But just as the confrontation between the two men turns violent, and Ben is knocked unconscious, Joe’s young son has an asthma attack – and Joe must flee in order to help him.

When he returns, desperate to make sure Ben is OK, Joe is horrified to find that Ben has disappeared.

And that’s when Joe receives the first message . . .

My thanks to Twenty7/Bonnier Zaffre for my review copy which I received through Netgalley

It begins as a chance encounter, Joe Lynch spotting his wife driving through town as he is driving their son home. It then leads to an unexpected confrontation and a scuffle between friends. That scuffle leaves one man unconscious and the other rushing his son to hospital.

There is unfinished business but before Joe can start to sort out the damage he has done he will find he has bigger problems to contend with. But how is Joe going to sort out the mess that his life has become if he is surrounded by people that he no longer feels he can trust? Can he see through the LIES?

TM Logan’s debut thriller, LIES, is a humdinger of a read. It made me uncomfortable. It made me angry (for Joe, at Joe and about what was happening TO Joe). It made me feel bad for a character in one chapter then made me vexed with that same character in the very next chapter. It is nicely paced, well balanced and a damned good thriller with some clever wee twists that caught me out.

Lies comes highly recommended for fans of domestic thrillers. You will never quite be sure if you can trust anyone and there are characters you will warm to only for them to do something which you will find upsetting. Ready for an emotional whirlpool? Then you are ready for Lies.

Lies is available in Digital format now and you can order it here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lies-gripping-psychological-thriller-breath/dp/1785770551/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484690916&sr=8-1&keywords=lies+tm+logan

A paperback shall follow in May for those that want to pre-order a physical copy

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January 15

Lying in Wait – Liz Nugent

‘My husband did not mean to kill Annie Doyle, but the lying tramp deserved it.’

Lydia Fitzsimons lives in the perfect house with her adoring husband and beloved son. There is just one thing Lydia yearns for to make her perfect life complete, though the last thing she expects is that pursuing it will lead to murder. However, needs must – because nothing can stop this mother from getting what she wants …

My thanks to Sara at Penguin RandomHouse for my review and the chance to join the blog tour.

Lying in Wait constantly caught me off guard – but in a good way!

It opens with the murder of Annie Doyle and the killer almost immediately starts to lose control of how to manage the predicament that he finds himself in. Step forward Lydia Fitzsimons, the killer’s wife. She will supervise the disposal of the body, arrange an alibi, cover for her husband and keep him “on message”.

But the secret of this terrible deed will take its toll on Lydia, or more specifically on her family. Her husband will not find peace (even when Annie is buried in a safe location). Lydia’s son Laurence has a suspicion that something has happened on the night of the murder. As time goes by his suspicions grow stronger that his father may have some knowledge of the disappearance of local girl Annie Doyle. Laurence becomes obsessed with the “missing girl” collecting newspaper clippings and following the story for updates.

Meanwhile Annie’s family find their own way to cope with the unexpected disappearance of Annie. Most troubled by idea that Annie has vanished is her sister Karen – she turns to the police for help but encounters problems in getting information from them. Karen’s husband is no help as he is more concerned about the public perception of Annie and the rumour she was working as a prostitute.

Lying in Wait is told by several narrators and the story progresses by following Laurence, Lydia and Karen as we learn how they contend with life “after Annie”. We get an insight into how each copes with the challenges which arise as they try to uncover (or cover-up) information. It is wonderfully twisty and several times I caught myself asking “where can it go from here?” The unpredictable turns made for great reading and I can guarantee shocks along the way.

One for the fans of psychological thrillers that love a bit of human drama and torment to spice up a dark tale.

Lying in Wait is published by Penguin and is available now in digital and paperback. You can order a copy through this link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/cka/Lying-Wait-Liz-Nugent/0241974062/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484434927&sr=8-1&keywords=lying+in+wait

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