Keep your enemies close and your neighbours closer…

When Private Investigator Beverley Saunders is tasked with going undercover, she relishes the chance to disguise herself as a cleaner in order to get close to Manchester bad boy Anthony Anthony, aka 2Tone. Anthony’s neighbours are suspicious of his wealth and sick of his anti-social behaviour, and Bev’s just the woman they need to find out what’s going on behind closed doors.

As Bev begins to infiltrate Anthony’s world, she soon realises she’s in danger – and this time, she might be too far in to get out. Alongside her sidekick Doc, Bev must fight to discover the truth – but when people begin to die, she has to ask herself – is exposing Anthony worth risking her own life?

I received a review copy from the publishers via Netgalley.

PI Bev Saunders is back. Fresh from her exploits in Tightrope Bev now enjoys a degree of minor celebrity. The case she broke in her original outing was newsworthy and as a consequence Bev’s name and reputation is familiar to many of the residents of the North West.

Unfortunately for Bev, fame alone doesn’t pay the bills and she needs work but cannot afford to be fussy. So when a couple turn up at her door asking for evidence to help them calm the excessive disruptions of their noisy neighbour Bev cannot turn down the case.

The neighbour in question is a local businessman who is well known for the excellent work he does for charity. But his building/landscaping business brings him into daily contact with a number of more “earthy” workers and these guys are not the fine upstanding members of the community that their boss aspires to be. It becomes clear to Bev that her target (the amusingly named ‘2Tone’) is not the most pleasant of fellows – but is his behaviour over the top or are her clients prudish NIMBYs?

Early investigations don’t go well and Bev has an alarming brush with death which sees her resort to taking drastic action – undercover work in 2Tone’s house. It ain’t a glamorous job but Bev is determined to know more about 2Tone’s unusual activities.

Away from the domestic dispute is a darker tale. A Romanian man is looking for someone. His life has been horrific.  Trafficked into the UK and hooked upon the increasingly popular and dangerously damaging drug spice, he is looking to find and save a family member. He also wants to identify the man at the root of his suffering and bring that life to an unpleasant end.

His path will cross with Bev’s and she will find herself drawn into a second investigation. Can the impulsive investigator keep herself safe from harm and prevent a desperate man from killing someone?

All these challenges and Bev still has to deal with her ex who continues to make her life as awkward as he can. At least her daughter is safe from all the madness…isn’t she?

Backlash is another great read from Marnie Riches. Bev is a strong, energetic and engaging lead character. She makes terrible life choices and I just want to read more about her. The story is well paced, darker scenes and action sequences nicely interspersed with lighter/funny interactions.

Backlash is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format and can be found in all the usual places.

Hogmanay seems a good time to share my 2019 favourites list.

My blog and it’s my rules – the books I include in my list do not need to be published in 2019, but if I read them this year they get considered.   I don’t have a top 10 this year.  I reviewed far fewer titles in 2019 and if I compiled an audiobook list and a Top Ten it would almost make it harder to be excluded than included.  Mental note to get more reviews written up in 2020.

I have selected five of my favourite reads, the stories which I had most fun with or the books which made the biggest impression on me as I read them.  After the five (not in any order) I have selected the three best audiobooks I listened to this year and I wrap up my selections with the best debut – the first title in what will be an ongoing series.  I hope you enjoy my choices and, fingers crossed, you may find some new books to enjoy.

The Five Favourites

Blood Orange – Harriet Tyce

Just released in paperback and a book you should be adding to your 2020 shopping list!  A nasty and unsettling story which had me hooked.

My gob was smacked in all the right ways and despite this being one of my reads from early in 2019 the story still sticks with me. It had to be included in this selection.

Review here: https://grabthisbook.net/?p=4093

Changeling – Matt Wesolowski

I love the Six Stories series by Matt Wesolowski and this, the third installment, was a chiller.  These books are the perfect blend of thriller/horror and much of the lasting impact comes through my overactive imagination long after the book has been read.

The podcast narrative style used in these stories is a wonderfully effective device and it does mean that Matt’s books are terrific audiobook listens too.

Review: https://grabthisbook.net/?p=4045

The Ringmaster – Vanda Symon

#YeahNoir is seeping into my reading lists more and more.  I am thoroughly enjoying the new exposure to New Zealand crime fiction and Vanda’s books are helping to lead the charge.  The Ringmaster is a great thriller and is included in my selection because it had the most memorable scene from any book I read this year (sadly). Yup – THAT scene. *sobs*

Review: https://grabthisbook.net/?p=4145

Death at the Plague Museum – Lesley Kelly

Another book which features recurring characters.  The Health Enforcement Team are a mis-mash of terrifically entertaining characters tasked with monitoring the health of the residents of Edinburgh after a brutal virus devastated the population.

I seldom know which books are being published until other bloggers start talking about them but I always have my eyes peeled for the next book in the Health Of Strangers series. Great books and this, for me, was the best yet.

Review: https://grabthisbook.net/?p=4174

Your Deepest Fear – David Jackson

This was my page turner of the year.  The book I didn’t want to finish, the one I just couldn’t put down.

The full review is here: https://grabthisbook.net/?p=4217  but quite simply, I loved it.

Best Audiobooks

Violet – SJI Holliday

This was listening bliss. The wonderful Imogen Church brought Susi Holliday’s words to life in the most incredible way.  When you listen to an audiobook you want a good narrator – Imogen is astonishingly good and nailed every accent to deliver what felt like a full cast production.

Obviously a good audiobook needs a good story and Violet is terrific.  Twisted and shocking but deeply engaging and compulsive.  I don’t really have enough good words for Violet.

Review: https://grabthisbook.net/?p=4440

Bad Memory – Lisa Gray

Another brilliant terrific narrator, Amy Landon, who delivered Lisa Gray’s Bad Memory in a gorgeous accent which I could have listened to all day.

This is the second Jessica Shaw thriller and I put up my hand to confess I could not see how Lisa could possibly find a way for Jessica to get any wiggle room for her client after I had read the opening chapters.  Great story telling and a wonderful listen.

Review: https://grabthisbook.net/?p=4435

The Lost Plot – Geniveve Cogman

Audiobooks take much more of a reading investment than a paperback or kindle title.  I could have read my paperback copy of The Lost Plot in 3 or 4 hours but I wanted a fun listen and I knew that this would deliver!  So I turned to Audible for a joyous 10 and half hours of listening pleasure.

Geniveve Cogman’s Invisible Library series are my go to titles when I want a fix of dragons, faye, adventure and magic.  Irene, the Librarian, can open doors into many worlds and as a member of The Library she is tasked with recovering rare books which may only exist in a single realm or reality.  The stories are hugely fun and carry engaging political drama as different factions try to outsmart each other.

If you enjoy fantasy stories these books really need to be on your radar.

Best Debut

See Them Run by Marion Todd

Regular visitors will know I love getting into a series of books and seeing recurring characters develop.  My selection for best debut reflects the fact I loved this story, the characters were well established and I want to know them better. The location was very well represented – St Andrews is probably best known for two institutions, neither featured in See Them Run and that was perfect.  I suspect both will appear in future but keeping the University and the golf course out of the action in the first book let the rest of the town shine.

As soon as I finished See Them Run I pre-ordered the next title in the series.  To put that in context, I only pre-ordered two books in 2019 – both the authors to achieve this rate feat feature in these selections.  I strongly urge you to seek out See Them Run!

Review: https://grabthisbook.net/?p=4415

When two strangers end up sharing a cabin on the Trans-Siberian Express, an intense friendship develops, one that can only have one ending … a nerve-shattering psychological thriller from bestselling author SJI Holliday

Carrie’s best friend has an accident and can no longer make the round-the-world trip they’d planned together, so Carrie decides to go it alone.

Violet is also travelling alone, after splitting up with her boyfriend in Thailand. She is also desperate for a ticket on the Trans-Siberian Express, but there is nothing available.

When the two women meet in a Beijing Hotel, Carrie makes the impulsive decision to invite Violet to take her best friend’s place.

Thrown together in a strange country, and the cramped cabin of the train, the women soon form a bond. But as the journey continues, through Mongolia and into Russia, things start to unravel – because one of these women is not who she claims to be…

My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for the chance to join the Violet Blog Tour. I received a review copy of Violet from Orenda Books, my thanks to Karen.  I also listened to the audiobook (Isis Publishing) through Audible.

From the opening chapter the reader knows that Violet is going to find herself in an extremely unwelcome position. Her predicament is unclear but the reader knows she is in a foreign country, far from home, alone and in whole lot of trouble.  Obviously you want to know what has happened and that’s just the first of the claws Susi (SJI) Holliday will use to drag you into Violet’s story.

Rewind the clock though. Violet’s opening chapter predicament takes place several hundred miles West of where we join her story. First we have to see her splitting from her boyfriend in Thailand. Sick of his lack of attention and his desire to remain in Thailand (to party), rather than continue traveling with Violet she makes the decision to dump him and continue her journey alone.

At the travel centre Violet arrives too late to secure a booking on the train which will take her West as she had intended. As the ticket office closes for the evening Violet heads to a bar to drown her sorrows and take stock of her situation. In the bar she meets Carrie. The two had briefly met at the ticket office and as two British girls alone in a strange city they struck up conversation.  It transpires that Carrie was meant to be traveling with a friend, however, fate threw a spanner in the works and Carrie’s friend was back in Scotland with a broken leg.  With a spare ticket for the journey that Violet wanted to make Carrie suggests Violet travels with her.

We join the two girls as they form a friendship and get to know each other. Carrie is much more outgoing and vivacious than Violet and this can be challenging for Violet to accept. We know this as the story is mainly viewed from Violet’s perspective.  Carrie’s voice is also heard but through a clever use of emails she sends back home. Some emails are to her friend Laura (she of the broken leg), others to her parents and also messages to Carrie’s sister. The picture of Carrie’s background is uncovered through these emails and we know that she has left a relationship in Scotland for reasons she is not keen to discuss with those close to her.

Both Violet and Carrie are keeping secrets. Carrie notices some odd traits in Violet’s personality and does not fully accept Violet is being honest with her. Violet is clearly disturbed by Carrie’s erratic and outlandish behaviour but Violet also finds she is attracted to Carrie and is prepared to forgive the irritations. Particularly as Carrie is picking up the tab for much of their journey.

Susi Holliday makes the characters so real for her readers. We are traveling with Carrie and Violet as they head through Mongolia and Russia and we watch the relationship between the two develop. Violet becomes possessive of Carrie when other travelers try to join their adventure. Too much drink, not enough food and the pair bounce from drama to drama – it is engrossing. Then comes Russia and things take a dramatic turn. It is from this point you simply will not put the book down…try not to hit that point too close to your normal bedtime or you will be reading into the wee small hours.

Violet is Susi Holliday on top form. This is a wonderfully devious tale and I loved it.

I also need to give a huge, huge shout to Imogen Church who narrated the Violet Audiobook for Isis Publishing.  This was an incredible performance, I could have sworn I was listening to a dramatization with multiple actors performing the roles. Her Scottish accent for Carrie was perfection and she conveyed the more reckless elements of Carrie’s character with a wildness which contrasted so well with the more uptight and restrained portrayal of Violet. Holliday’s words with Church’s vocal talents was a match made in heaven for this reader.

Violet is published by Orenda Books and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format.  You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07QW4CK9Y/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

I received the best book news this week as I was asked if I could help share the cover reveal for Douglas Skelton’s new Rebecca Connolly thriller: The Blood Is Still.  “Oh Hell Yeah” – I replied.

The timing of this cover reveal is perfect. Last weekend Douglas Skelton featured in an article in The Herald newspaper which highlighted Scottish authors you really should be reading.  The article was written by DCI Daly author, Denzil Meyrick, and included Douglas, Michael J Malone, Theresa Talbot, Alex Kane and Caro Ramsay – all terrific writers and reviews of their books can be found across the five year history of Grab This Book.

So what can we hope for when The Blood Is Still releases? Well here comes the cover blurb then scroll on down for the cover in all its lushness.

 When the body of a man in eighteenth-century Highland dress is discovered on the site of the Battle of Culloden,

journalist Rebecca Connolly takes up the story for the Chronicle.

Meanwhile, a film being made about the ’45 Rebellion has enraged the right-wing group Spirit of the

Gael. They see themselves as modern-day Jacobites and have connections to a shadowy group called Black Dawn which has been linked to death threats and fake anthrax deliveries

to Downing Street and Holyrood.

When a second body – this time in the Redcoat uniform of the government army – is found in Inverness, Rebecca

finds herself drawn ever deeper into the mystery. Are the murders connected to politics, a local gang war or

something else entirely?

The Blood is still is published in March 2020 and if you want to ensure you get your copy on launch day then you can pre-order here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Still-Rebecca-Connolly-Thriller/dp/1846975301/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1573901512&refinements=p_27%3ADouglas+Skelton&s=books&sr=1-1&text=Douglas+Skelton

Ready for that cover?

BOOM

I love it. Having grown up just along the road from where the story is set I know this cover captures the spirit of the location wonderfully…cannot wait to read this.

The Blood is Still is the second Rebecca Connolly thriller and catches up with a character first introduced in Thunder Bay.  You can read my thoughts on that here.

The Blood is Still will be published by Polygon on 5 March 2020.

Nine suicides
One Cult
No leader

Nine people arrive one night on Chelsea Bridge. They’ve never met. But at the same time, they run, and leap to their deaths. Each of them received a letter in the post that morning, a pre-written suicide note, and a page containing only four words: Nothing important happened today.

That is how they knew they had been chosen to become a part of the People Of Choice: A mysterious suicide cult whose members have no knowledge of one another.

Thirty-two people on that train witness the event. Two of them will be next. By the morning, People Of Choice are appearing around the globe; it becomes a movement. A social media page that has lain dormant for four years suddenly has thousands of followers. The police are under pressure to find a link between the cult members, to locate a leader that does not seem to exist.

How do you stop a cult when nobody knows they are a member?

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

Nine suicides. Nine apparent strangers who all congregated on a bridge in London and, as one, stepped off the side.   Each of the nine hanged – they all had had a noose prepared.

It’s a grim premise and a bleak prospect for the nine. We get to know a bit about all their lives before they meet for the first time on that bridge. The reader knows that they are leaving unfinished business behind. One has a dog, two are parents, one is a doctor…it goes on. Worse still (for me) is that they are not even given names but referred to by identifiers, a number and a description such as The Doctor, The Poet, The Lovers. Their identity is stripped away and their lives become irrelevant – what they have done and who they all are is less important than what they will/must do.

Nothing Important Happened Today is one of the darker offerings hitting bookshelves this month and I’d be lying if I said it was an easy read. Will Carver offers some grim insights and viewpoints to keep the tone melancholy, sinister and thoughtful throughout.

The narrative style also needs mention. The reader is taken on a circuitous journey as they read Nothing Important Happened Today. The journey will visit each of the nine (and others), it will discuss their situations in the abstract, in a present tense and with a retrospective look back too. Be prepared to give this your full concentratation – as a skim reader who normall has 4 or 5 books on the go at once this challenged me and I had to slow everything down to ensure I was keeping up with the constant shift in focus.

It is exceedingly tricky to discuss much of the story without spoilers. More so than most other books. It is actually fiendishly clever and I had a great jawdrop moment when the penny finally dropped as to what I was reading. The payoff for your time with this book is very much at the end.

I am not sure how to summarise Nothing Important Happened Today. I struggled with it. I nearly threw in the towel twice but I stuck with it and I was glad I did. Would I recommend it? Yes. But with a caveat…don’t make the mistake I did and pre-judge it halfway through as it is very much the sum of all its parts.

Nothing Important Happened Today will be published on 14 November by Orenda Books and is available in paperback and digital format.   You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07QX36CM8/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

In a famous Scottish town, someone is bent on murder – but why?

On the night of a wedding celebration, one guest meets a grisly end when he’s killed in a hit-and-run. A card bearing the number ‘5’ has been placed on the victim’s chest. DI Clare Mackay, who recently moved from Glasgow to join the St Andrews force, leads the investigation. The following night another victim is struck down and a number ‘4’ card is at the scene. Clare and her team realise they’re against the clock to find a killer stalking the streets of the picturesque Scottish town and bent on carrying out three more murders.

To prevent further deaths, the police have to uncover the link between the victims. But those involved have a lot more at stake than first meets the eye. If Clare wants to solve the case she must face her own past and discover the deepest secrets of the victims – and the killer.

My thanks to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers for the chance to join the blog tour. I reviewed a pre-ordered purchased copy.

I make no secret of the fact I love Scottish crime thrillers and I leapt at the chance of joining the See Them Run blog tour. I am so glad I did and that I didn’t let this book sit too long in my TBR pile!  Marion Todd introduces DI Clare Mackay – a Glasgow cop who has left the big city and headed East to switch coasts to take up a new position in St Andrews.  I got totally caught up in this one and I love when I lose myself to a story.

Now I hold Glasgow very close to my heart (and after visiting their university I turned down the chance to study at St Andrews) so my first thought was “Why would Clare make that move?” But she has a very good reason to relocate as Clare is trying to get a fresh start. The reason for her move is brought out as the story unfolds and Marion Todd builds up Clare’s back story in a steady stream of nicely paced reveals. DI Mackay is one of the more memorable and likeable lead characters I have encountered of late.

I am jumping ahead – you can’t have a good crime thriller without a crime or two to investigate. See Them Run opens at the end of a Scottish wedding.  The band are pulling up the dancers to join in the Orcadian Strip The Willow (a real crowd pleaser) but Andy Robb doesn’t fancy it.  His wife is dragging up a stranger to dance with her so Andy is free to ponder who may have just sent him a flirty text message.  The messages continue and Andy is lured out into the night – as a man with an eye for the ladies this is not an opportunity he can miss.  Sadly his murderer will not miss either and Andy is plowed down by an onrushing car.

DI Mackay is called to investigate – there can be no doubt that Andy is dead but the police cannot work out why a white card with a number 5 written on it is sitting on his body. Before too long there is a second death and a card with number 4.  The connection between the deaths cannot be ignored but there is no obvious connection between the victims.  Clare and her colleagues will have their work cut out and we get to join their investigation as they race against time to try and prevent further deaths.

Marion Todd has written an engrossing and cleverly plotted thriller. I am a big fan of police procedurals and I loved that I got to follow Clare’s investigation without having too much knowledge of who the killer may be or what motivated them. By the time I had reached the endgame I was in a story I could not have anticipated after the first few opening chapters.

Strong start for DI Mackay and I hope to have the chance to pick up her next outing very soon – if it is even half as good as See Them Run then I will be in for a treat.

See Them Run is published by Canelo and is available now in digital and paperback format.  You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07X6GLQ3Q/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0