From The Bookshelf – Page 46

Written in the Blood – Stephen Lloyd Jones

High in the mountains of the Swiss Alps Leah Wilde is about to gamble her life to bring a powerful man an offer. A promise.

Leah has heard the dark stories about him and knows she is walking into the lion’s den. But her options are running out. Her rare lineage, kept secret for years, is under terrible threat. That is, unless Leah and her mother Hannah are prepared to join up with their once deadly enemies.

Should the prey ever trust the predator?

Is hope for future generations ever enough to wash away the sins of the past?

With a new and chilling danger stalking them all, and the survival of their society at stake, they may have little choice…

Thanks to Headline and Bookbrigr for my review copy.

The sequel to The String Diaries and Stephen Lloyd Jones picks up with his narrative so we learn what happens to Hannah Wilde and her daughter Leah after the life-changing events outlined in his debut novel. We join the action 15 years after the events of The String Diaries and find that Hannah has been busy but her activities require her to keep a continued low profile.

Leah has grown into a strong, independent woman, however, her mother’s ongoing project is not yielding success as quickly as Leah would like – driven by her own personal demons – she decides to take a more proactive approach to assist Hannah’s project.

The avoidance of spoilers is key here so I am not going to give too much detail into the underlying story threads of Written in the Blood. Suffice to say that the story that began in The String Diaries is developed with much more depth in Written in the Blood. The society of hosszú életek is explored and the turmoil of survival for its members is displayed in all its savagery. Stephen Lloyd Jones has no apparent qualms over putting his characters to the sword and many characters suffer at his hands.

For the new reader I would urge caution – read The String Diaries first. Written in the Blood is a great read but without fully understanding the back history you may lose some of the fun that goes with joining a tale half-way through. There are twists in Written in the Blood that reward The String Diary readers and the concepts of hosszú életek are much easier to take on board when you have seen the evolution of the characters from the first book.

With the deepening of the mythos of the hosszú életek there is a greater emphasis on the factions within the society and the politics of power always bring a nice edge to stories. On a personal note, the broader cast of characters had me slightly disadvantaged (as I must confess to a terrible memory for names) so there were one or two occasions where a recap was required.

At the end of the book I find I am a happy reader. A strong follow-up to a debut novel and I am keen to read more from Stephen Lloyd Jones. I give Written in the Blood 4 stars out of possible 5 and urge you to treat yourself to The String Diaries and Written in the Blood – dark and different thrillers.

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October 27

Race to Death – Leigh Russell

‘Moments before, he had been enjoying a day out at the races. Now he could be dying…. As he fell a loud wind roared past his ears, indistinguishable from the roar of the crowd. The race was over’.

A man plummets to his death during the York Races. Suicide or murder? Newly-promoted DI Ian Peterson is plunged into a complex and high-profile case, and as the body count increases, the pressure mounts for his team to solve the crimes quickly.

But the killer is following the investigation far more keenly than Ian realises and time is running out as the case suddenly gets a lot closer to home…

Leigh Russell is the author of the successful DI Geraldine Steel books. Having firmly established Steel as a strong lead character Leigh then plucked Steel’s colleague, Ian Peterson, from an underling role to the principle character in his own series of books. Peterson takes the lead for the first time in Cold Sacrifice – Race to Death is the second Peterson book.

This was actually the first time I had read one of Leigh Russell’s books – it will not be the last as I really enjoyed Race to Death. At no stage did I feel that I was disadvantaged from not knowing Peterson’s back story. His character was outlined well in the opening stages of the book and the fact he had just moved house and job made Race to Death feel like a good jumping on point.

The action kicks off during the buzz of race day at York races, however, tragedy soon strikes for one family. The opening chapters are very nicely written and you actually get to experience a murder from the viewpoint of the victim – nice twist which was very well written (even if it was a little disconcerting).

Enter Peterson, newly in role, who tasked with solving the murder. We get to share his anxiety at the challenge of proving himself and we see his obsession in puzzling the half clues and unreliable witnesses. The story also follows Peterson’s wife, she is struggling to come to terms with the move to York and we see her largely ignored by her husband while his work takes over every waking minute.

One minor irk while I was reading was that I felt Peterson should have been paying more attention to his home life and I felt annoyed with him for ignoring his wife. Why can’t he see that he is not paying her enough attention? When I get annoyed with characters it is always a good sign that I am engaging with a book!

As with any murder story I like to try and puzzle out who the killer is before the author reveals all. Race to Death was no different, my brain was wracked and I formulated my suspicions – even to the point I was beginning to think this was a random attacker story and that there was no connection between the characters in the book to the killer. But all became clear in the end with a nice twist which I certainly did not see coming.

For the uninitiated this is a great introduction to Leigh Russell’s books. It works as a stand alone novel but clearly there is also a back story to enjoy too so the returning fan will not be disappointed. As I write I should also highlight that Leigh’s books are reduced in the Kindle Store and most are available for under £1 each. On the evidence of Race to Death these should be great reads.

Race to Death gets 4 out of 5 and makes me want to read more Leigh Russell books.

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October 25

The Girl on the Train – Paula Hawkins

Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough.

Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar.

Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…

Thanks to Transworld and Netgalley for my review copy.

I could just leave this review as:

“Wow, this book is incredible – everyone should read it!” because that is exactly what I was thinking as I read The Girl on The Train.

You need a little more though.

Rachel is the lead voice, she is The Girl on the Train. She is a sad character. Her husband has left her, he is living with his new wife and their new baby in Rachel’s old house – a house that Rachel sees every day from her seat on the train as she travels to work. Unfortunately, Rachel is not prepared to accept that her marriage is over, she drinks heavily and is very much down on her luck.

On her journey to work Rachel sees another house every day – she watches the couple that live there and she imagines how their perfect life together must be. They are her ‘Jess and Jason’.

The narration switches from Rachel to Jess (real name Megan) and the reader gets to learn more about Rachel’s ‘perfect’ girl – unsurprisingly all is not perfect in her life after all.

The final narrator of the story is Anna. Anna is married to Rachel’s ex-husband. She does not like Rachel and is increasingly frustrated by Rachel’s constant interference in her life – she just wants Rachel to leave her family alone. But when Rachel gets drunk she calls and emails her ex-husband and Rachel gets drunk a lot.

As the book unfolds the story is moved on by changes to the narrator. We move from Rachel to Megan to Rachel then to Anna before joining with Rachel again. Slightly confusing if you have to put the book down mid chapter but easily recoverable (and you will not WANT to put the book down mid-chapter).

Paula Hawkins creates vivid, believable characters. The switching of narration between Rachel (The Drunk), Megan (The Perfect Girl) and Anna (The Other Woman) is expertly handled. I was completely drawn into the story, driven by the necessity to find out what happened next. The true mark of my enjoyment was that I was disappointed when the book ended – I could have read more.

I am very much against spoilers so I cannot reveal too much more about the various twists in the plot but I can assure you that there are twists a-plenty. The Girl on the Train is a gripping read – you must avoid spoilers, you must read it as soon as you can and you must hope that someone makes it into film so that you can tell them you read the book first and that it was incredible.

A full five out of five for The Girl on the Train.

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October 23

Confessions – Kanae Minato

The Japanese phenomenon – the story of a grief-stricken schoolteacher who comes face to face with absolute evil.

I reviewed this book for fellow blogger Shaun and my review will feature on his blog at http://www.bookaddictshaun.co.uk

My thanks, therefore, to Shaun for trusting my opinion and for sharing my review with his readers – also for sending me a copy of Confessions to read!

So to the book…the description gives you very little but Confessions is a short novel and it is hard to reveal too much of the story without spoiling the twists.

Yuko Moriguchi is a teacher, during the course of the year Moriguchi suffered a personal tragedy when her daughter died in an accident. It is now the end of the school year and Moriguchi has one final message for her class – she knows that her daughter’s death was no accident and furthermore she knows that two of her students killed her daughter. Before her class is released for their holiday (and Moriguchi leaves the teaching profession forever) she discloses the identity of the killers to the whole class and reveals how she has exacted her revenge.

The opening section of the book is delivered entirely from Moriguchi’s viewpoint, a narration as we hear her address to the class. A clever device as once the class are dismissed Moriguchi slips from the story and the narrative is picked up by another.

The pattern of Confessions is thus established. The narrative switches to one of the killers and we hear his side of the story, Moriguchi it seems did not have all the facts at her disposal. Throughout the course of the book the narration switches between five different participants who were either involved in the murder or were caught up in Moriguchi’s subsequent revenge. As each narrator picks up the tale they provide depth to the back story and we see how the consequences of Moriguchi’s actions unfold.

As a story telling device I thought this element of Confessions worked really well. However, I had problems accepting what I was reading. The pupils in Moriguchi’s class are around 11 or 12 years old yet the featured characters all seem to be at extreme low points in their collective lives. Their actions and deeds just too implausible for me to buy into the story.

Let me be clear, I have read books where the world travels through space on the back of a giant turtle, others where vampires live alongside humans and my favourite fictional character is a 1200 year old Time Lord that travels in a blue box – I can suspend my belief in reality for the sake of a good story without any problem. However, Confessions just did not sit well – it started with real promise yet became more and more unbelievable while still trying to retain a degree of normality.

It is impossible to explain the issues without revealing spoilers and I am sure that where I found irritations there will be many who enjoy the evil deeds that are depicted. There are twists a plenty and a very unexpected ending which should enthral – it just wasn’t for me.

Overall there are a lot of clever elements to Confessions yet too many niggles for me to have embraced it. To rate it out of 5: I would not give it any more than a 3.

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October 23

Scarlett Point (short story) – Chris Ewan

SCARLETT POINT is a 6000 word short story from the bestselling author of SAFE HOUSE.

Cutler is a man with a dark secret, hiding out by the coast on the Isle of Man. Luke is a young boy hunting for an elusive treasure from an incomplete map. Their lives collide at SCARLETT POINT in a story about trust, redemption and how sometimes you find what you most need when you’re searching for something else.

SCARLETT POINT was originally commissioned by the Isle of Man Arts Council as part of the Island of Culture initiative and is now available exclusively as a Kindle Single.

Thanks to Chris Ewan who emailed me a copy of the story to read.

At around 6,000 words, it will not take you too long to enjoy Scarlett Point. Yet you can be assured that you will enjoy this tale.

Luke is a treasure hunter on a mission. He has an incomplete treasure map and it is imperative that he finds the loot – unfortunately he doesn’t know what he is looking for.

Cutler is camping on Scarlett Point, he just wants some peace and quiet away from everyone else so a young treasure hunter outside his tent is not a great start to his day.

What comes next is a clever story with a twist I didn’t see coming.

Chris also has a new novel out which I reviewed here: https://grabthisbook.net/?p=259

A cracking story of Hop-tu-Naa with a serial killer picking off a victim on 31^st October each year. A group of friends share a terrible secret – a prank that went badly wrong. Now it seems that someone is out to make them pay for their mistakes…

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October 23

Doctor Who: The Crawling Terror by Mike Tucker

Gabby Nichols is putting her son to bed when she hears her daughter cry out. ‘Mummy there’s a daddy longlegs in my room!’ Then the screaming starts… Kevin Alperton is on his way to school when he is attacked by a mosquito. A big one. Then things get dangerous.

But it isn’t the dead man cocooned inside a huge mass of web that worries the Doctor. It isn’t the swarming, mutated insects that make him nervous.

With the village cut off from the outside world, and the insects becoming more and more dangerous, the Doctor knows that unless he can decode the strange symbols engraved on an ancient stone circle, and unravel a mystery dating back to the Second World War, no one is safe.

Many thanks to Ebury Publishing and Netgalley for providing a review copy.

Proper creepy monsters have arrived…or creepy-crawly monsters to be more accurate. The Crawling Terror brings a full quota of giant insects, beetles and a very well utilised Giant Spider.

There are touches of horror brilliance in Mike Tuckers latest Doctor Who offering. Villagers are falling victim to attacks from over-sized mosquito, a tunnel is filled with a giant web with a local farmer cocooned within (very dead) and there is a giant beetle stomping around the fields nearby. The opening third of the book builds a very tense atmosphere with many scenes played out during a dark and foggy night to crank the tension up several notches.

Now add in a local research laboratory where the locals believe that mad-scientists are conducting experiments on animals, a stone circle in the village (missing a stone) which rests on one of the Earth’s ley lines and cross link it to a Nazi experiment from WW2 which went badly wrong.

Finally we have the Doctor (Capaldi) and Clara arriving in a TARDIS that re-directed herself to drop them right in the middle of the action. Perfect Doctor Who manna for a fan.

Tucker does a great job of keeping the tension running high while balancing the development of a story which, as can be seen, has quite a few narrative threads to keep track of. The scene with the Doctor taking refuge from the Spider within an old farmhouse made the story for me.

Having now read all three 12^th Doctor books from Ebury Press I can take a small step back and compare all 3 volumes as a collection. I understand that the books were written before the broadcast of Peter Capaldi’s first episode and I can see that the authors may have been slightly disadvantaged by this. I have read Mike Tucker’s previous Who novels (and many of Justin Richards books too) they can capture the essence of a Doctor so that you know you are reading about Tom Baker or Peter Davison…they nail the traits of each regeneration.

However, writing for a Doctor you have not seen is much harder and I felt that Silhouette (Richards) and The Crawling Terror were ‘Doctor Who’ stories rather than ‘Peter Capaldi Doctor Who’ stories. Not to say that I did not enjoy them…they benefited from having a companion to ensure it was clear WHICH Doctor was in action.

A special mention, therefore, goes to The Blood Cell by James Goss as I felt that the argumentative Doctor in that story could only have been Season 8’s Peter Capaldi.

Having read my way through the launch of the Virgin Publishing’s range of New Adventures, the Past Doctor Adventures and then the whole of the BBC books range that came after the 1996 TV Movie I have seen the high and the low points of Doctor Who written adventures. The trio of The Crawling Terror, Silhouette and The Blood Cell are a strong start to what I hope will be a long run of books. When can I get the next ones?

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October 12

Our Zoo – June Mottershead

When George Mottershead moved to the village of Upton-by-Chester in 1930 to realise his dream of opening a zoo without bars, his four-year-old daughter June had no idea how extraordinary her life would become. Soon her best friend was a chimpanzee called Mary, lion cubs and parrots were vying for her attention in the kitchen, and finding a bear tucked up in bed was no more unusual than talking to a tapir about granny’s lemon curd. Pelican, penguin or polar bear – for June, they were simply family.

The early years were not without their obstacles for the Mottersheads. They were shunned by the local community, bankruptcy threatened and then World War Two began. Nightly bombing raids turned the dream into a nightmare and finding food for the animals became a constant challenge. Yet George’s resilience, resourcefulness and tenacity eventually paid off. Now over 80 years since June first set foot in the echoing house, Chester Zoo has achieved worldwide renown.

Here, in her enthralling memoir, June Mottershead chronicles the heartbreak, the humour, the trials and triumphs, above all the characters, both human and animal, who shaped her childhood.

Thank you to Bookbridgr and Headline for providing a copy for review

Start with the confession: I don’t watch much television so I have not seen the BBC dramatization of this story. But this is a positive for review purposes as it means the book stands on its own and I am not influenced why what may or may not have appeared in the television show. I believe this is relevant as in her book June Mottershead notes that chimps are no longer allowed to be used in television shows yet her chimp Mary was a prominent part of her childhood. Already I feel the book is providing a more accurate depiction of June’s life and that I am getting the FULL story.

Our Zoo is written in a delightfully chatty style. You could almost believe that you are sitting with the author as she reminisces over her childhood memories. The love and affection for dozens of the animals that came into the zoo seeps off the page and you laugh and cry with the events that unfold as you too become part of their world.

As Chester Zoo was built to be educational I found reading Our Zoo to be equally informative. The author has a wealth of knowledge which seeps through into her writing. Facts on animal care, trivia on the numerous animals that feature and some social history of 20^th Century Britain all find their way into the book and make the reading experience much richer and engaging.

There are amusing anecdotes (monkey on the bus) which had me laughing aloud as I read them. Yet there are stories which horrified and had me questioning the sanity of some people’s actions and trotting out the clichéd ‘you wouldn’t get away with that these days’.

Quick word of warning: try not to get too emotionally invested into this book – so many accidents and deaths which befall beloved animals (and on occasion people) it is an emotional wringer! Such is the love that June bestows upon some of the charges at the Zoo that the sense of loss when they leave her care is tangible for the reader.

A heart-warming story of a small zoo struggling to find its feet and battling to survive – a beautiful story which I would recommend to anyone.

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October 6

Dark Tides – Chris Ewan

When Claire Cooper was eight years old her mother mysteriously vanished during Hop-tu-naa, the

Manx Halloween. At fourteen, Claire is still struggling to come to terms with her disappearance when she’s befriended by a group of five teenagers who mark every Hop-tu-naa by performing dares. But Claire’s arrival begins to alter the group’s dynamic until one year a prank goes terribly wrong, changing all their futures and tearing the friends apart.

Six years later, one of the friends is killed on Hop-tu-naa in an apparent accident. But Claire, now a police officer, has her doubts. Is a single footprint found near the body a deliberate taunt?

As another Hop-tu-naa dawns, bringing with it another death and another footprint, Claire becomes convinced that somebody is seeking vengeance. But who? And which of the friends might be next? If she’s to stop a killer and unlock the dark secrets of her past, Claire must confront her deepest fears, before it’s too late.

The author of the bestselling SAFE HOUSE returns to the Isle of Man with a thriller that will keep you up all night.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a copy for review.

I have sourced Wikipedia for the following explanation:

Hop-tu-Naa is a Celtic festival celebrated in the Isle of Man on 31 October. Predating Halloween, it is the celebration of the original New Year’s Eve.

Dark Tides features Hop-tu-Naa extensively so it is very important to understand that Hop-tu-Naa is NOT Halloween. It is celebrated on 31^st October and there appears to be a tradition of kids dressing up and visiting houses for treats (and there appears to be an expectation that you have to perform a song or ‘turn’ to be rewarded with your treat). BUT IT IS NOT HALLOWEEN.

What Hop-tu-Naa does provide is an annual creepy evening where dark deeds are done – perfect for a murder story where victims are being picked off once per year in what MAY be retribution for a prank that went badly wrong.

Dark Tides is the perfect novel for a winter night’s reading: it was atmospheric and exciting and I don’t think that I would have engaged in quite the same way had I been on a sunny beach.

The story plays out over a number of years but Chris Ewan keeps the pace going and handles the jumps in time very nicely. Moving through the years, bringing the reader up to date on the key events that impact upon our heroine (Claire) so we can pick up the tale as Hop-tu-Naa approaches again.

One feature of the book that I did enjoy was that (on occasion) we get an insight into the killer’s thoughts as they speculated on the likely outcome of their forthcoming murderous attempts.

The killer’s identity remains shrouded in mystery throughout and the reader will enjoy trying to second guess who the killer may be (I had several guesses as the story unfolded). It is also fun speculating who the next victim may be.

I find that Chris Ewan writes with a very readable style. He builds strong characters that I care about – it is not uncommon for me to finish a story and not be able to remember the name of the lead character. Not so with Dark Tides, I was hooked and I got very caught up in the events.

I don’t normally rate books but I will on this occasion – 5 stars for Dark Tides, I loved it.

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September 29

Cut Out – Fergus McNeill

Cut Out - DI Harland Book 3 — Cut Out – DI Harland Book 3

Nigel never meant for it to happen. At first, he just wanted to be Matt’s friend. But when he discovers he can hear what is going on in the flat below him, his fascination with his new neighbour drifts into obsession.

Rearranging his furniture to recreate the layout of the rooms downstairs. Buying the same clothes, going through his post, his things. Becoming Matt without him ever knowing.

And it would have been all right, if Matt hadn’t brought the girl home.

When things spiral out of control, Detective Inspector Harland has to unravel the disturbing truth. But there’s far more to the case than meets the eye . . .

Thanks to Hodder and Bookbridgr for my review copy.

This is the third book in the series featuring DI Harland. I am afraid I have not read the first two books, however, on the strength of Cut Out I can confidently confirm that I will be picking up the earlier books. I did not feel that having missed books 1 & 2 that it impacted upon my enjoyment of Cut Out, however, Harland’s back story is already established and I suspect I gained something of an insight into what may have occurred in the books I skipped.

So to Cut Out and my first introduction to Fergus McNeill’s work. The story description from the dust jacket was a good start – I liked what I read in the teaser so Cut Out jumped to the top of my TBR pile. Fifty pages in and I turned back to the dust jacket just to make sure that I had picked up the book I had intended to read – the story seemed to hold no similarity to the cover description.

Reassured that I had the correct book I stuck with it and (just 5 minutes later) I was rewarded when the story narrative jumped back in time and started to set up the plotline I had been expecting. As I progressed through the story I felt that the author made good use of jumping around timelines to unfold different elements of the story.

As outlined in the description above, Nigel has an unhealthy obsession with his neighbour (Matt) and starts to become a bit too consumed with how Matt chooses to live his life. Nigel seems to have a lonely existence and when he gets a glimpse of a life he could have things begin to spiral out of control taking him in a direction he may never have imagined.

Initially I felt a degree of empathy with Nigel but as he began to mimic Matt (with shades of SWF) I became more uncomfortable with his fixation. McNeill did a good job of drawing the character further down a path of obsession and you knew that things were not going to end well for someone.

A solid police procedural story, plenty of unpleasant characters, a murder, a missing person, a predator and a stalker – plenty of intrigue to keep me reading.

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September 29

Festive In Death – JD Robb

Christmas came early when I found Festive In Death in the bookshop mid September. Having grudged the influx of Christmas books that seem to be appearing (far too early for my liking) I grabbed this particular title with not a qualm about the date.

Festive in Death is the 39^th book in an ongoing series featuring New York cop Eve Dallas and her many time multi-millionaire husband, Roarke. Just dwell on that number one more time….book 39! The closest comparison I can find to an ongoing series that keeps on giving me such reading pleasure are the Amazing Spider-man comics.

Quick summary: JD Robb is the pseudonym of Nora Roberts. Robb/Roberts released the first book in the In Death series in 1995 (Naked in Death). This book introduced New York cop Lt Eve Dallas – stories are set around the year 2050 but the timeline progresses through the novels.

I would urge all new/potential readers not to be put off by the futuristic setting. These are fantastic crime novels, great police procedurals and for the long term reader provide a rich supporting cast that enhance the depth of the world that Robb has created. There are references to futuristic tech, fashion and transport but it never feels forced and you can accept the majority of the concepts without suspending too much belief.

Festive in Death is a proper ‘whodunnit’ with a killer revealed at the end of the book. Robb does like to vary the story style and will frequently reveal the murderer at the outset of a novel and let us watch Dallas close the net on the killer.

In this book, however, Dallas is asked to ‘stand’ for someone she does not like. A predator that took advantage of vulnerable women and abused their trust. But despite how he lived his life, solving the riddle of his death is with Dallas and she will get to the truth.

As the title suggests this tale plays out over the Holiday season, much of the focus is on Dallas, Roarke and their friends. The trade off for the cosy festive read is that Eve does not get exposed to the peril that arises in other stories and her investigation is methodical rather than dynamic. Not to say that this is not a good story, it just seems more aimed at the long term fan rather than attempting to draw in a new reader.

I suppose, however, that by book 39 Robb does not need to put her characters through the wringer every single outing and we can enjoy a character driven story. As a long term fan, who has read each book in the series more than once, I enjoyed Festive in Death for what it was: another great read from a master storyteller.

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