From The Bookshelf – Page 5

The Junction – Norm Konyu

When a missing child, Lucas Jones, reappears on his Uncle’s doorstep in his hometown of Medford after an absence of 12 years, the brief moment of joy is clouded by mystery. Where has he been? Where is his father who disappeared at the same time? And how is it possible that Lucas is still 11 years old?

As Lucas is uncommunicative, it is left to Detective Sergeant David King and child psychologist Jean Symonds to attempt to find some answers from the few belongings Lucas returned with; little more than four Polaroids and a personal journal which speaks of his time in a place called ‘The Junction’.

The story unravels through interviews, medical and police reports, and ultimately, through visits to The Junction via the pages of Lucas’ diary, jumping back and forth in time, revealing pieces of the puzzle in a mystery that keeps the reader guessing right up until the end.

My thanks to Ricky Claydon at Titan Comics for my review copy of The Junction

This book is beautiful – in every sense. The physical copy had sensory overload for me: clean smooth pages which only a top quality graphic novel presents. The “swish” of a turning page was delightful and I was running my fingers over some of the pages as I read (practically caressing the book at times). Then there was that unmistakable new book smell which I wish we could bottle.

But the most pleasing aspect of The Junction was the visual stimulus. The colours chosen by Norm Konyu to tell Lucas’s story, blues, purples and autumnal oranges and reds make this utterly gorgeous on the eyes. Honestly I want to show you more of the internal artwork so you can appreciate it too. A bit of Google time and a timely tweet chat with the author himself and I have found the promotional trailer from Titan Comics and some (non-spoiler) pictures which have previously been shared online.

Oh, for the record – I did not taste my copy of The Junction which means only four of the five senses were deployed during the writing of this review.

In The Junction we meet Lucas, he is 11 years old and as we join the story he is being interviewed by the police. It’s late in the day and Lucas has his aunt and uncle with him he needs family supervision to chat with Detective Sergeant King. Det. Sgt. King is very keen to chat with Lucas because Lucas has been missing and people have been looking for him. Lucas has been missing for a long time – Det. Sgt. King has two photographs of Lucas, taken 12 years apart but in both pictures Lucas looks identical – he looks like the 11 year old child he is.

How can a child be missing for 12 years and return home still a child? There are mysteries to be solved in the town of Kirby Junction and the journey it took me on was enchanting, perplexing and packed a real emotional gut punch too. It’s no understatement to say this is one of the most beautiful stories I have reviewed in over eight years of Grab This Book.

Lucas has kept a journal which is a key resource in the telling of his story. He has recorded some of the events which led up to his disappearance but some of what he has recorded appears rather nonsensical to the police. A prime example being October 10th when he returned home from school to hear a garden gnome talking to him. Or did it? Because the gnome is swiftly removed as was the well he stood beside.

As we go through the story we see Lucas has many constants in his life – the comfort of childhood. The small town he lives in doesn’t change often but he always sees Mr Singh waiting for his train, he knows he must avoid the West woods and his new friends are fun but they have cartoons on their tv which Lucas doesn’t have on his yet. He is reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and has a recurring dream of falling through water, sometimes with a squid, sometimes a car is there and other times Lucas drifts downwards alone. He will always wake before he reaches the bottom.

When we aren’t with Lucas the reader will see the police discussing who this mystery child may be. Their investigations don’t seem to be making any progress on how an 11 year old can vanish for 12 years but not have aged a day when he returns. A therapist is brought in to meet with Lucas and this gives him an opportunity to explain to her in more detail what the events he has recorded in his journal actually relate to. I am not sure it answered many of those questions though!

Finally we do start to see some changes in Kirby Junction . While out on his bike, Lucan meets a stranger. The stranger asks about a town called Medway. It’s a a place which Lucas feels he knows but when he asks his parents about Medway they are not able to offer any clarification. So why does Lucas know the name? Then there are the new houses in town. Sudden new houses – with lovely new families within. Some of Lucas’s friends live in the new houses but finding out any information about Lucas’s friends is a real challenge for Detective Sergeant King.

Normally my graphic novel reads are packed with superheroes facing off against the worst villains. This gentle telling of a young child looking for answers to his unusual predicament could not be further from those high octane thrillers. Yet The Junction has the story which will undoubtably linger with me for a long time to come. The sympathetic narrative and the emotional landmines which are waiting to catch the reader unawares are exceptionally handled. Damn this is fine writing.

The pure talent of Norm Konyu’s art and his storytelling makes me want to shout about this book from the rooftops. I want everyone to read it – Lucas’s story should be heard. The Junction is a certainty to be included in my Top Ten Reads of 2022 – I want to read stories like this every single day.

The Junction is published by Titan Comics and is available in Hardback or can be read digitally through Kindle or Comixology. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-junction/nom-konyu/9781787738300

Category: 5* Reviews, From The Bookshelf, Graphic Novels | Comments Off

April 25

Dark Objects – Simon Toyne

‘Count to three,’ her mother told her, the last words she would ever speak.

An Impossible Crime Scene
A wealthy woman is found brutally murdered in the locked fortress of her London mansion. Surrounding her are four mysterious objects, including a book on forensics by Dr Laughton Rees.

An Inescapable Past
As a teenager, Laughton’s life was destroyed after witnessing her mother’s brutal murder. Now a mother herself and forensic analyst, she is an expert on how to read crime scenes – but never works live cases.

An Uncatchable Killer
Pressured by the lead detective to help with the investigation, Laughton begins to realise that the objects left by the body are not just about the victim, they’re also about her. Her childhood was destroyed by one killer. Now she must catch another before her daughter’s is destroyed too.

I recieved a review copy from the publishers through Netgalley

If a book is really good, a nailed-on five star score and a title I know I am going to be recommending for months to come then I tend to change my normal review style and open with an announcement along the lines of “This is a book you do not want to miss”.

Well folks – Dark Objects by Simon Toyne is all of the above. From the opening chapter to the wholly unexpected conclusion I was gripped, engrossed, entertained and all the other positive adjectives a reader experiences when a thriller is ticking all the right boxes. I bloody loved it and I did not want it to end.

Now I have to try to explain why Dark Objects was so damn gripping. I’m not sure I can do it justice.

Events begin in a large, secluded home in London. The cleaner, Celia Barnes, is arriving at work and as she opens the door to the house of Mr and Mrs Miller she has no idea it will be for the last time. Watching her is a killer who knows Celia will never again deactivate the security system to the Miller house and knows what will happen to her once she gets inside.

It’s a grim opening but it perfectly sets the pace and tone for the rest of the book. A murder has to be investigated, the principle suspect is nowhere to be found and police will be confounded in their attempts to investigate the crime scene. Why will they be confounded? It is thanks to one key piece of evidence which was left at the scene for them to find – a book written by Dr Laughton Rees. And more than that I cannot say here.

Laughton is approached by the police to assist with the investigation. But due to events in her past (which are covered in the blurb) she is reluctant to become involved. Laughton does not work live cases and restricts her forensic analysis to old investigations. But whether she likes it or not, Laughton is going to become a key figure in this particular murder.

The reader is guided through the story by following events where Laughton is involved but we get more than just her POV. We see the investigation with Tannahill Khan, the reporting of the story from less than pleasant journalist Brian Slade (who gets regular scoops on the murder investigation which will keep the police on their toes) and we even drop in on a neighbourhood WhatsApp group who will have their own take on events. There’s plenty to take on and the switching between the key characters keeps everything bubbling along very nicely.

Laughton is juggling the involvement in the murder investigation with a pressing need to find a new school for her daughter. As a single mother Laughton is determined to give her daughter Grace the best opportunities. However, Grace appears to be isolated in class and the school do not seem to be addressing Laughton’s concerns about bullying. This worry is further compounded by the rising knife crime in the capital – a theme which is revisited more than once through the story. Laughton wants Grace in a private school where she feels she will be safer and, hopefully, less isolated. Having Laughton, Tannahill and Brian Slade’s personal lifes opened up and explored as part of the story helped make all the characters more relatable, realistic and it gives readers that insight as to why the key players act as they do.

I am skirting around lots of the bits of Dark Objects which I would really like to discuss in a review; but to dwell on the bits of this book which sang to me would mean disclosing too many spoilers and we don’t do spoilers here. Suffice to say Simon Toyne has woven the clues into his story and I missed them all. I gaped at certain reveals and could not turn those pages fast enough as I reached the end of the story when all the clever story layers started to come together.

In short, Dark Objects is a fantastic murder thriller. We get the police investigation, the analyitical investigation of the crime scenes and the media spinning the story to meet their own agenda. I was hooked from the first pages and all other books were set aside until I reached the last pages – it commanded my full attention. Do not miss Dark Objects!

Dark Objects is published by Harper Collins on 7 July and you can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/dark-objects/simon-toyne/9780007551675

Category: 5* Reviews, From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

April 10

Hide – Kiersten White

The challenge: spend a week hiding in an abandoned amusement park and don’t get caught.

The prize: enough money to change everything.

Even though everyone is desperate to win – to seize their dream futures or escape their haunting pasts – Mack feels sure that she can beat her competitors. All she has to do is hide, and she’s an expert at that.

It’s the reason she’s alive, and her family isn’t.

But as the people around her begin disappearing one by one, Mack realizes this competition is more sinister than even she imagined, and that together might be the only way to survive.

Fourteen competitors. Seven days. Everywhere to hide, but nowhere to run.

Come out, come out, wherever you are.

I recieved a review copy through Netgalley

Hide was a great wee read which appealed to the horror fan within me. It centres on Mack, survivor of an extremely traumatic incident has a young child and now firmly of no fixed abode. She survives day to day in a shelter where she has a bed, gets fed and then will be turned out into the streets to fend for herself each day until the shelter opens again and she returns for another night’s sleep. By day Mack hides away in a secret spot where she will be off the streets and out of danger.

At the shelter on the day we join the story Mack is presented with an opportunity to turn her ability to vanish into a money making opportunity. A reality game show – spend a week hiding in a 7 day game of hide and seek against 13 other competitors with a $50k prize to the winner. She really can’t refuse and finds herself pulled along by events and on a long journey heading towards the park where the competition will take place.

The action takes place within an abandoned amusement park. It’s a wild and long-forgotten site where the paths inside twist and turn. The foliage within has taken over and the rides are sprinkled within the mazelike paths which no planner was able to carefully map out for the guests who once attended to enjoy the attractions. The quirk of the amusement park back in the day was that guests would stumble upon the rides, there was no direct lines of sight from one area to the next and only one day per year were the gates flung open for all the local to enjoy the thrills within. Now it will host a competitive game of hide and seek.

Kiersten White introduces the contestants and any viewer of reality TV shows will recognise the quirky characters, the wise heads, the glamour ones and we will pick our favourites. Amusingly the contestants know how these games work too and we see them judging and assessing the competition and even picking out possible romantic partners.

Into the tournament and things start to take a dark turn. Who are the seekers? Are they using animals to assist their hunt? Why is this park so difficult to navigate? Is that blood?

As their numbers start to dwindle (two players eliminated each day) it becomes clear to Mack and her fellow contestants that something is very wrong with the game they are playing but will it be too late for them to raise alarm? You cannot help but be drawn into the thrill and tension of this story and there is much more going on with this game of hide and seek than you will anticpate.

I had a lot of fun with Hide. Some small frustrations, not least the author’s decision to get a bit poetic with language when something unpleasant is happening on the page. I had to re-read one or two passages to try to work out exactly what had happened. But the niggles were far outweighed by the enjoyment at an unexpected series of twists and turns. After a run of so-so reads this shook things up nicely.

Hide is published on 24 May and will be available in Hardback, Digital and Audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09FDYPNK9/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

Category: From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

March 29

Vine Street – Dominic Nolan

Soho, 1935. Sergeant Leon Geats’ patch.

A snarling, skull-cracking misanthrope, Geats marshals the grimy rabble according to his own elastic moral code.

The narrow alleys are brimming with jazz bars, bookies, blackshirts, ponces and tarts so when a body is found above the Windmill Club, detectives are content to dismiss the case as just another young woman who topped herself early. But Geats – a good man prepared to be a bad one if it keeps the worst of them at bay – knows the dark seams of the city.

Working with his former partner, mercenary Flying Squad sergeant Mark Cassar, Geats obsessively dedicates himself to finding a warped killer – a decision that will reverberate for a lifetime and transform both men in ways they could never expect.

I recieved a review copy through Netgalley from the publisher but bought the audiobook and listened to Vine Street so my review reflects the audiobook I purchased rather than the written copy I initially recieved.

Had I listened to Vine Street before Christmas then it would have, without a shadow of doubt, been my favourite audiobook of 2021. As it stands it is currently my top audiobook listen of 2022 and the title which other audiobooks need to beat. So shall we proceed on the assumption you know I loved this book?

London in the 1930s is where most of the action in Vine Street takes place, except the story isn’t confided to that period. In fact, the opening scenes are actually set decades later when characters we will come to know well have their quiet retirement disturbed when ghosts from the past will be brought to their door.

But Soho is where much of the action will take place and we meet Leon Geats he is a police officer but he immediately struck me as the cop who doesn’t conform or play by the rules. This first impression was pretty much spot on as Geats is a loose cannon in his team and very much takes life in his own style. Geats is called to a house where a woman has died. She is found with a stocking around her neck but the investigating officer doesn’t want to rule it as murder. She appears to have been a working girl and a foreign national – almost not worth the bother of investigating! But Geats isn’t having it and he will dig and ask questions despite the apathy of his colleagues.

What Geats had not anticpated was the presence of a child at the murder scene. The daughter of the victim and all alone in the world, she takes a shine to Geats but he knows his lifestyle is too chaotic to be able to care for her so he finds one of her relatives to care for her. It’s a sensible and, Geats thinks, the correct thing to do but, as we will see, some decisions have reprecussions.

Vine Street is a huge book and it is impossible for me to do it justice in a brief review, I could wax lyrical for many, many pages. It’s the story of 1930’s Soho, the dancing, the girls, the hardship of the time, the police and some corruption within their ranks. But at heart it is a story about murders and an obsession to catch a killer. You will be drawn back in time and become fully immersed in these London streets. You will know the bar owners, who likes the music and where the dancing happens. But the lighter side of Soho has an opposing dark side. Prejudices are rife, racism, sexism, homophobia are commonplace and it will make for uncomfortable reading at times. Dominic Nolan takes it all and delivers the reader with an experience which will not quickly be forgotten.

I mentioned that I had listened to the audiobook of Vine Street. The narrator is Owen Findlay and he made this story shine. It’s without doubt one of the best narrator/story combinations I have heard for quite some time. The book is cracking and Findlay gave it such energy that I was hanging onto his every word. It’s over fourteen hours of listening and I am not going to lie when I say I wanted more.

There are real emotional highs and lows in Vine Street, some characters left too soon and I missed them badly. Some more than outstayed their welcome and I was glad when their contributions were at an end. The emotional impact all these players had on me is testament to the outstanding work of the author. There are some books I will always be glad I read, Vine Street is on that list.

Vine Street is currently available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. Paperback will be incoming this summer. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/vine-street/dominic-nolan/9781472288851

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March 15

Dead Rich – G.W. Shaw

Super yachts are secretive, like their owners. The bigger the richer. Like castles, they are created to inspire awe. Like castles too, they are defended. They are an entire world, separate from the rest of us.

Kai, a carefree once-successful musician is invited by his new Russian girlfriend Zina to join her family’s Caribbean holiday. Impulsively accepting he learns that Zina is the daughter of a Russian oligarch, Stepan Pirumov and that the trip is aboard his yacht, the Zinaida, moored in St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. The crew consists of Captain Marius Falk, the first mate Erin Wade and a hastily assembled staff, including a chief stewardess Marissa from Miami, a chief engineer from Lagos and a personal trainer from Los Angeles. All know how to behave around the very rich.

On arrival Kai discovers that the head of security has been arrested, armed guards are below deck, there’s an onboard panic room and a strong sense of all not being quite right beneath the gleaming surfaces of the Pirumov’s lives. An unnerving presence punctures the atmosphere: a murderous imposter is on board the Zinaida, but who is it?

Kai will find that the only person he can trust will be Erin and that the world of the super-rich will become a prison from which they must escape. Part locked-room suspense, part adventure story, Dead Rich is an unforgettable, edge of the seat thriller set in the blazing heat of the Caribbean

My thanks to the publishers for the review copy I recieved of Dead Rich through Netgalley.

What a time to be reading a book about a Russian oligarch, his super yacht, his rebellious daughter Zina (who is keeping away from her parents by studying in London) and a threat to their lives which will take the reader on a thrill packed journey across the seas. By the time we see Dead Rich hitting the shelves in May we will all be much more familiar with Russian oligarch’s and my appreciation for the size of their super yachts will be cemented in.

The size of a super yacht was one thing I realised I had initially mis-calculated when I started reading Dead Rich. When considering the Zinaida (the vessel where much of the action takes place) I was constantly upscaling the mental image I had of the yacht. The author does a great job of describing the luxury yacht but I had read the book before super yacht’s were on the evening news so I could not envisage a “boat” on such an extravagant scale.

Zinaida presented something of a locked room murder mystery, only the whole yacht was the locked room as it cruised across a vast ocean – the murderer is locked in with their victims. On the boat is lead character, Kai. He has previously enjoyed some musical success and lives a comfortable lifestyle but he is drifting without purpose and his brother is keen he attends a job interview with a view to seeing Kai settle down. Kai isn’t keen to give up his laidback freedom and when his gorgeous girlfriend Zina offers him the opportunity to take a trip with her on her father’s yacht Kai goes along.

He finds himself aboard the Zinaida as her owner Stepan Pirumov is preparing to take to sea to escape a threat to his life. Pirumov arrives last to the docks and the Zinaida sets sail with some urgency, there is clearly a need to flee an unknown enemy and Kai is very much caught up in the thick of the action. Unfortunately he speaks no Russian and does not know who he can trust to bring him up to speed. One of the crew, the first mate Erin, is the only person who shows him friendship – even Zina is behaving oddly in the presence of her parents.

The readers know there has been an incident back in London which Pirumov seems to be fleeing from. It suggests an enemy or enemies unknown are more than willing to take a life and that they have no qualms about removing innocents that may get in their way. Kai is afloat in what has become a luxury prison, someone out in the water may be coming to get Pirumov but they don’t know who and they don’t know when. Pirumov travels with a bodyguard and the crew on the boat had their own security in place but the level of distruct between these groups only serves to increase the tension between the characters. Something bad is about to happen – you can feel it.

Dead Rich was a exactly what I wanted it to be. Tense, unpredictable, packed with thrilling moments and engaging characters. The narrative flows like a dream and I was swept along by the events unfolding on the pages in front of me. Think summer Holywood blockbuster, summer reading by the pool – this book delivers all the escapism entertainment you could wish for. It’s out in May but get your copy reserved nice and early – not to be missed.

Dead Rich will be published by Riverrun on 26 May 2022. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/dead-rich/g-w-shaw/9781529420029

Category: 5* Reviews, From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

March 11

The Blood Tide – Neil Lancaster

You get away with murder.
In a remote sea loch on the west coast of Scotland, a fisherman vanishes without trace. His remains are never found.

You make people disappear.
A young man jumps from a bridge in Glasgow and falls to his death in the water below. DS Max Craigie uncovers evidence that links both victims. But if he can’t find out what cost them their lives, it won’t be long before more bodies turn up at the morgue…

You come back for revenge.
Soon cracks start to appear in the investigation, and Max’s past hurtles back to haunt him. When his loved ones are threatened, he faces a terrifying choice: let the only man he ever feared walk free, or watch his closest friend die…

Max, Janie and Ross return in the second gripping novel in this explosive Scottish crime series.

I received a review copy from the publishers through Netgalley.

If you missed out on Dead Man’s Grave last year then the good news is that it recently released in paperback and is available in all your favourite book-buying places. The other good news is that Dead Man’s Grave is the first book in what I am calling “an unmissable new series” so you should grab a copy as soon as possible and catch up on the exploits of DS Max Cragie.

The Blood Tide, which is why we are here today, is the second Cragie book. It picks up after the events of Dead Man’s Grave and Craigie is about to get drawn into another tension packed adventure. While The Blood Tide can be read as a stand-alone title there are recurring characters across the two stories where knowing their background will help you understand why they undertake certain actions in the second book.

On the shores of western Scotland a small boat is coming ashore with a significant supply of class A drugs on board. There is a sole occupant in the boat but he knows he is meeting a friend when he reaches land and he will be well paid for the risks he is taking. What he had not anticipated was encountering two strangers on the shore and he was even more unprepared for what happens next. Perhaps the payment wasn’t quite enough or he underestimated the level of risk he was taking?

Next we head south to the Erskine Bridge. A cop on his way home at the end of a long shift spots a man on the edge of the bridge ready to jump. He stops and tries to talk down this desperate stranger but the man is terrified and after telling the cop there is nothing he nor anyone else can say or do to protect his family from the powerful, dangerous people he steps off the bridge.

The event leaves the cop badly shaken but he writes up the incident and realises the terrified man had implied there were police involved in the threat against his family. He calls his friend Max Craigie to tell him about the incident and Max agrees to meet him to discuss this further. But before the meeting can take place there is another death and Craigie believes there is a dangerous connection.

I really don’t want to get too much deeper into the events of The Blood Tide as I want to avoid too many spoiler possibilites. Suffice to say Lancaster’s recognisable patterns of tension, explosive drama and putting his lead characters through peril and trauma are very much present. It is exactly what you want from a crime thriller, think “one more chapter” and you’re there.

Drugs and corruption are powerful motivators and people will do anthing to protect their interests when both are involved. Craigie and his colleagues, Janie and Ross, will have their work cut out to identify where the risks lie and their lives will be in danger – even if they don’t know it. When you investigate the colleagues around you it is impossible to know who you can trust.

There are more than a few shocks and twists waiting within the pages of The Blood Tide. I had been in a bit of a reading slump before I picked this book up and it blew away those cobwebs. High stakes, fast paced and wonderfully realised characters, do not miss out on this series.

The Blood Tide is available in Hardback, Audio and Digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-blood-tide/neil-lancaster/9780008518462

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March 1

The Second Cut – Louise Welsh

Auctioneer Rilke has been trying to stay out of trouble, keeping his life more or less respectable. Business has been slow at Bowery Auctions, so when an old friend, Jojo, gives Rilke a tip-off for a house clearance, life seems to be looking up. The next day Jojo washes up dead.

Jojo liked Grindr hook-ups and recreational drugs – is that the reason the police won’t investigate? And if Rilke doesn’t find out what happened to Jojo, who will?

Thrilling and atmospheric, The Second Cut delves into the dark side of twenty-first century Glasgow. Twenty years on from his appearance in The Cutting Room, Rilke is still walking a moral tightrope between good and bad, saint and sinner.

I received a review copy from Canongate

Twenty years ago Louise Welsh unleashed The Cutting Room into the world. It featured Glasgow auctioneer Rilke and his boss Rose and it took readers into a dangerous tale of death and secrets with the awkward and unforgettable Rilke leading the story. He was a strong gay character living his life at a time where gay characters were not accepted in many circles. Liaisons snatched in parks and public toilets were dangerous but integral parts of Rilke’s social life.

Now two decades later Louise Welsh returns to Rilke’s Glasgow and we quickly see how much has changed but also how much has stayed the same. Those illicit liaisons are now co-ordinated and accepted dates which can be arranged with a swipe on an app. The book opens with a wedding of two of Rilke’s friends and all the guests are celebrating a same-sex marriage with an extravagent party. The tone of The Second Cut is immediately lighter than The Cutting Room where Rilke was exploring an old home and rooting around in the attic where he makes the shocking discovery in that novel.

But for Rilke life isn’t all light and fun. The auctionhouse where he works is experiencing cash flow problems and the staff are not as reliable and efficient as Rose would like from her employees. An opportunity lands at Rilke’s feet when one of his oldest friends (maybe acquaintance would be more to his agreement) makes Rilke aware of a large estate house outside the city which needs cleared. It’s a potential payday bonanza for Bowery Auctions but nothing is ever straightforward and taking on the job is going to bring many problems to Rilke’s door.

The tip-off on the house clearance came from Jojo, a fast living party loving character who is about to dance off this world. His death shocks Rilke and brings him into contact with a student who shared a house with Jojo and who used Jojo as a focus for his artworks. Jojo needs a funeral and his death indirectly brings some very unsavoury characters out of the shadows and into Rilke’s face.

Louise Welsh has brought beloved characters into the modern day and she has done it with some style. The Second Cut was a terrific read as the characters felt all too real and the danger Rose and Rilke find confronting them was extremely believable and also shocking.

I really enjoyed the time I spent with The Second Cut, Welsh is a natural storyteller and the pages flew by as I became lost in the world of auctions, parties, artwork and Glasgow gangsters.

The Second Cut is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-second-cut/louise-welsh/9781838850869

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February 10

A Loyal Traitor – Tim Glister

Duty or honour. Which would you betray?

It’s 1966. London is swinging, and the Cold War is spiralling.

Clear cut lines have faded to grey areas. Whispers of conspiracies are everywhere. Spies on both sides of the iron curtain are running in circles, chasing constant plots and counterplots. And MI5 agent Richard Knox is tired of all of it.

But when Abey Bennett, his CIA comrade in arms, appears in London with a ghost from Knox’s past and a terrifying warning that could change the balance of power in the Cold War for good, he has to fight to save the future.

He must also face an agonising choice: who will he believe, and who will he betray – his duty to his country or his loyalty to his friends?

I received a review copy from the publishers through Netgalley. My thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join this tour.

I don’t read many spy thrillers these days as I found too many of them were becoming tales of dry, political manoeuvres with clever writing but not much by way of thrills. But A Loyal Traitor may well bring me back to books about the Cold War as this is an exciting, engaging and exceedingly well told story which I absolutely loved.

Tim Glister takes us inside MI5 where lead character Richard Knox works. Knox will cross paths with CIA agent Abey Bennett who appears in London in the company of someone Knox never expected to see again who will thrust Knox and Bennett into a high stakes adventure.

On the opposing side there are deadly threats being dispatched with an unknown mission to keep the readers guessing. A prototype Russian submarine is lurking off the English coastline. The Brits are aware there is something out there but they don’t appear able to get a good trace on it – the Ghost Submarine is causing real concern to MI5. Also a deadly assissin is making their way around Europe, taking out people identified as threats to Russia and the KGB agents. Both sides in this covert conflict are brilliantly represented and the readers get to see how West and East are moving their players around the story. You never quite know what’s going to unfold but Tim Glister makes it clear everything is building up to an explosive conclusion – it really didn’t disappoint.

The characters feel very much like they could just step off the page from the 1960s and the authenticity they bring to the blog story got me very invested in their success (and hope they survive the experience).

A Loyal Traitor is wonderfully paced, never felt unlikely or had me suspending disbelief which really helped my immersion in the story. More of these would be very welcome.

A Loyal Traitor is published by Point Blank/Oneworld Publications and is available from today in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-loyal-traitor/tim-glister/9780861541669

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February 8

Hingston: Smoke and Mispers – Decima Blake

As the first door on the Advent calendar is opened, DS Hingston attempts to save the life of a teenager in a crowded London café, but ultimately fails. Seventeen-year-old Leanna Snow chokes to death.

Days later, a girl from Leanna Snow’s school is missing and another misper is found dead: his body hanging within the iconic Egyptian Avenue at Highgate Cemetery.

Working under the bombastic DCI Smythe and alongside Remi, his ex-girlfriend whom he still holds a torch for, Hingston discovers the magic of London this December is dark, deceptive and murderous.

Hingston and the Murder Squad are put to the test with this complex investigation that proves to be as mystifying as being asked by a magician to pick a card, any card, not knowing where you will be taken.

My thanks to the author for providing a copy of Smoke and Mispers for review

This was fun. After a wee run of books which didn’t really grab my attention I was glad to let Smoke and Mispers sink its hooks into me and pull me along with a tight, exciting story.

DS Hingston is on the scene when a teenage girl starts to choke on her drink. Despite his very best attempts to save her life he is unsuccessful and the girl dies. Just days later a classmate of the dead girl goes missing and Hingston is called to the school to investigate, there may be a connection between the missing girl and her dead classmate but finding out what that connection may be is going to be challenging. Perhaps not as challenging as dealing with the missing girl’s mother – even the Headteacher seems to cower in her presence. But Hingston feels her behaviour is totally wrong for a mother concerned about her missing daughter.

Hingston’s attention will be divided as in a London cemetery a body has been found hanging. Highgate Cemetry has an Egyptian Avenue and Egyptian history and the mythology of the nation will play a significant role in this book as the police find themselves investigating a number of associated incidents which all connect to this period of history. The Egyptian storyline rather caught me unaware (as I hadn’t read the blurb before I began reading) so I was totally caught up in events before I actually understood how significant some of the early clues were going to be to the story.

Perhaps if I had been better prepared I may have stood a chance in puzzling out where Smoke and Mispers may be heading? Happily for me I didn’t anticpate what Hingston and his colleagues were about to experience and I delighted in discovering the surprises at the same time as they did.

Hingston is an extremely likeable lead character and the supporting characters in the Murder Squad are nicely defined and relatable too. Two of them squabble, one is dating the boss, Hingston used to date the one now dating the boss – it all makes them more engaging and I looked forward to the briefing scenes where the sniping and niggles would play out. Quick housekeeping too – this is Hingston’s second outing but I didn’t find I was disadvantaged by not having read the first story. One or two sub-plots do seem to have a foundation in the first book but all clearly explained by the author so there is no confusion.

Trying not to share too much of the story for fear of leaking spoilers but suffice to say there is a highly entertaining investigation for Hingston which has roots in the past and a legacy of evil which is being kept alive by people who should know better. Story is tightly written with some well worked twists and surprises and, as I said at the start, I had lots of fun reading Smoke and Mispers. It’s nice to find something which felt a bit different and left me ready for more.

Hingston: Smoke and Mispers is published by Pegasus and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09N7NSV1B/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

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February 5

The Last House on Needless Street (audiobook) – Catriona Ward

This is the story of a murderer. A stolen child. Revenge. This is the story of Ted, who lives with his young daughter Lauren and his cat Olivia in an ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street.

All these things are true. And yet some of them are lies. An unspeakable secret binds the family together, and when a new neighbour moves in next door, the truth may destroy them all. Because there’s something buried in the dark forest at the end of Needless Street. But it’s not what you think…

From the multiple award-winning author of Little Eve and Rawblood, this extraordinary tale will thrill and move readers. A work of incredible imagination and heartbreaking beauty.

I received a review copy from the publisher through Netgalley but bought myself the audiobook to listen to and have reviewed that experience.

I have seen so many people loving this book, praising the writing and the story which caught them all unawares. I was really excited to read it and even decided to pick up the audiobook so I could get the best reading experience, by having a narrator tell me the story and ensuring I didn’t miss anything (which as a skim reader does happen quite frequently).

Sadly this just wasn’t one I enjoyed. It’s fascinating, often shocking, undoubtably cleverly written and must have been a nightmare to keep track of for the author as the timeline shifts around but you’re never clear when. Unfortunately it just didn’t click for me. Maybe it was the bible reading cat? I really don’t like cats (phobia) so to have cats play such a prominent role in the story didn’t help me get engaged with the characters.

I am delighted to have seen this title do so well for Catriona Ward and for Viper and I read enough to know that we are not going to all love the same books (life would be so dull). So I take from this the learning of something I never really understood (spoiler free review) and more than a few elements of the story which were chilling and tension packed as they helped keep me listening right ot the end.

Ultimately it wasn’t a book which worked for me but I am very much in the minority so I would still not hesitate to recommend it to readers seeking a dark, emotional story – particularly if you get a kick from an unreliable narrator.

I do want to make special mention to the brilliant narrator on the audiobook, Christopher Ragland, who brought many complex characters to life and in doing so made my understanding of events much clearer and kept me correct on which character was dominating events at any one time.

Clever, disturbing, highly recommended as an audiobook experience but sadly not a favourite with me.

The Last House on Needless Street is published by Viper in Paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08DD2RFPD/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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