September 2023 – Grab This Book

You’d Look Better as a Ghost – Joanna Wallace

I have a gift. I see people as ghosts before they die.
Of course, it helps that I’m the one killing them.

The night after her father’s funeral, Claire meets Lucas in a bar. Lucas doesn’t know it, but it’s not a chance meeting. One thoughtless mistyped email has put him in the crosshairs of an extremely put-out serial killer. But even before they make eye contact, before Claire lets him buy her a drink, before she takes him home and carves him up into little pieces, something about that night is very wrong. Because someone is watching Claire. Someone who is about to discover her murderous little hobby.

The thing is, it’s not sensible to tangle with a part-time serial killer, even one who is distracted by attending a weekly bereavement support group and trying to get her art career off the ground. Claire will do anything to keep her secret hidden – not to mention the bodies buried in her garden. Let the games begin…

I received a review copy from the publishers via Netgalley. My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the blog tour for You’d Look Better as a Ghost.

It doesn’t seem quite right to have a serial killer novel which also makes you laugh out loud. Yet here we are. You’d Look Better as a Ghost definitely had me laughing but there are also scenes which give you pause for thought, how we treat other people and how they treat us runs through the heart of this story and Joanna Wallace uses this to extremely efficient effect.

We meet Claire. She’s recently lost her father and is attending grief counselling but her group brings together a rather odd assortment of people. There’s an extremely angry Welshman, a furious note-taker, a “nice” lady who will be deeply offended by bad language (which is unfortunate given the presence of the Welshman) and there is Claire too – she’s a serial killer and the star of this book.

Claire sees the world as a slightly better place when some people who have done bad things are no longer in the world. So Claire may take mattes into her own hands an murder those bad people. Her garden is a busy old spot and inside her house there are some very unusual decorations.

Feeling slightly out of sorts while she grieves Claire decides she is going to murder someone who emailed her by mistake, apologised, but Claire didn’t think he looked sorry enough when she tracked him down.

Unfortunately for Claire she’s not as careful as normal and inadvertently kills a man who had his own criminal endeavours on the go and his partner in crime is going to find out what Claire knows about his disappearance.

In her grief therapy group Claire realises one of their number may not be quite what they appear but can she work out who’s keeping secrets before her own secrets are revealed?

I know we shouldn’t really be rooting for the killer in a crime novel but Joanna Wallace puts the reader on Claire’s side. We see young Claire, a young child, and how she thinks and behaves differently from the other kids around her. Then we get an insight into her home life and some insight into some of what may have shaped Claire’s formative years.

What I found most compelling was Joanna Wallace’s portrayal of vulnerability and how she plays on our perceptions of those vulnerabilities. I couldn’t possibly elaborate on that (spoilers) but when some plot threads were unraveled I was applauding the slick way I had been played.

I really enjoyed You’d Look Better as a Ghost, it’s clever, funny and unpredictable. I’d certainly welcome more stories like this and I’m crossing my fingers I’ll get my wish.

You’d Look Better as a Ghost is published by Viper Books and is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BPN1KP22/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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September 23

Girls of Little Hope – Sam Beckbessinger & Dale Halvorsen

Three girls went into the woods. Only two came back, covered in blood and with no memory of what happened. Or did they?

Being fifteen is tough, tougher when you live in a boring-ass small town like Little Hope, California (population 8,302) in 1996. Donna, Rae and Kat keep each other sane with the fervour of teen girl friendships, zine-making and some amateur sleuthing into the town’s most enduring mysteries: a lost gold mine, and why little Ronnie Gaskins burned his parents alive a decade ago.

Their hunt will lead them to a hidden cave from which only two of them return alive. Donna the troublemaker can’t remember anything. Rae seems to be trying to escape her memories of what happened, while her close-minded religious family presses her for answers. And Kat? Sweet, wannabe writer Kat who rebelled against her mom’s beauty pageant dreams by getting fat? She’s missing. Dead. Or terribly traumatised, out there in the woods, alone.

As the police circle and Kat’s frantic mother Marybeth starts doing some investigating of her own, Rae and Donna will have to return to the cave where they discover a secret so shattering that no-one who encounters it will ever be the same.

A chilling and eerie tale of monsters, teen angst and small-town America for fans of Stranger Things, The Thing, and the 1990s

I recieved a review copy from the publishers through Netgalley

Three girls went walking in the woods near Little Hope. Three friends, young teenagers, who face all the usual problems of teenage life and aren’t part of the school “cool” crowd. There’s not much of note happens in Little Hope but when the three girls don’t all return safely from their walk suddenly a small town has a lot going on.

Two of the girls return, covered in blood and with no memory of what happened on their walk – or so they say. Their third friend, Kat, remains somewhere in the woods and search parties are organised. People come out in big numbers to search for the missing girl but the searches are not successful and Kat’s mother, Marybeth, becomes increasingly frustrated at the perceived lack of endeavour and commitment from the police to continue the searches.

The great writing in this story comes from the dilemma which the two other girls face. Donna and Rae are not talking about what happened in the woods. They both know they are going through a personal trauma and internal turmoil but until they can get together and discuss what happened to them they are not saying anything. And who would believe them anyway? The other great part about this book is the way the authors capture the angst and frustrations of teenage drama. The blurb describes it as a story for Stranger Things fans and I can think of no better comparison. Spooky instances, most people oblivious to an unseen danger and distinctly odd twists to the story.

What I initially didn’t take in was that the blurb does not just compare Girls of Little Hope to Stranger Things but also to The Thing. Yup – big clue there that this book was actually a horror tale. I’d been enjoying a well written mystery novel – the characters were entertaining, their problems had me hooked and the investigation into the “walk in the woods” story was starting to reveal some discrepancies in what Donna and Rae were telling the police. Why did the girls lie about where they were walking? Were they lurking near the home of a dangerous local criminal? Who else may know where Kat could be found?

Girls of Little Hope wasn’t the teen crime mystery I had been anticipating. It’s actually a mystery story which suddenly moves to creepy horror then raises the stakes further to move from creepy to outright carnage. Once things really kick off in Little Hope the town is never going to be the same again. As for Rae and Donna, they know what happened to Kat but it there anything which can be done to undo what’s gone before?

Despite being surprised by the slide from mystery to horror I was not disappointed – I love me a good horror story and Girls of Little Hope IS ad good horror story. The reader will care what happens to the three lead characters and will be more than a little shocked when they learn what really did happen in the woods.

Girls of Little Hope is published by Titan Books and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BFZXJYB7/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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September 22

The Mysterious Double Death of Honey Black – Lisa Hall

You know she has been murdered. Can you stop it happening twice?

Two very different lives…

It is 2019 and Lily Jones is living her dream in LA. Sort of. It hasn’t quite turned out as she planned and instead of working as a movie producer, she is cleaning at the prestigious Beverly Hills Hotel. At least she gets to work in the renowned Paul Williams suite, site of the brutal murder of Honey Black 70 years ago, shrouded in rumour and dark glamour.

It is 1949 and Honey Black is about to hit the big time. She may have started out a country girl from Hicksville but now she is a star. And Hollywood had better watch out – nothing can stop her now!

One Hollywood murder…

After an accidental bump to the head, Lily finds herself in Hollywood, 1949. Like a dream come true, she is rubbing shoulders with the great and good of Tinseltown. Including Honey Black… Horrified, Lily realises that the actress has only two weeks left to live before she will be murdered.

Could this be why she has found herself in 1949?

To find the killer and stop them in their tracks?

I received a review copy from the publishers via Netgalley

A time-travel adventure which will catapault Lily from Hollywood in 2019 back to to the golden era of filmmaking in 1949. It gives The Mysterious Double Death of Honey Black an utterly fabulous setting, Lily is one of the most likeable lead characters I’ve encountered this year and I constantly had the feeling I was reading a book which the author loved to write.

Where to start?

Lily is a girl displaced. English born and a lifelong fan of classic movies, she has travelled to Hollywood with the hope of finding a successful career in the industry she loves. She is working in one of the hotels in Holywood, a staff member who’s keen to help her colleagues and is a good friend to them too. She dreams of getting a break and being offered the opportunity to work on a movie but as the story begins she’s offering to help clean one of the suites in the hotel – the room where upcoming starlet Honey Black was found murdered 70 years earlier.

Lily takes a knock to the head while cleaning what had been the room occupied by Honey Black. When she recovers her senses Lily finds she has been transported back in time. It’s 1949. Lily has no money, nowhere to stay, no idea what’s happened and she’s a very modern girl in a very old fashioned world. None of these things are going to make life easy.

But it’s not all bad news for Lily. She is given an amazing opportunity to work as an assistant to an upcoming new starlet…Honey Black. Yes, Lily has arrived in 1949 in the days before Honey is due to be murdered. Has she been sent to the past to avert a murder? Should she try to intervene and change history? Or is it just coincidence and, if so, how on earth is Lily going to get home?

Watching Lily navigate her way around movie sets, Hollywood stars and handle the attitudes and behaviours from 70 years ago is a huge amount of fun. She’s a no-nonsense sort by nature so there’s no hope of Lily accepting the misogynistic culture on film sets or of adopting a demure and deferential persona so she fits in. We are going to enjoy a feisty and independent woman shaking up the world around her.

I loved reading about life in the late 1940s, there are several cameos to enjoy from huge Hollywood stars (no spoilers) and Lisa Hall makes the whole period come alive around the reader. Lily gets to contrast clubs and hotels with the LA she knows so well. She makes friends along the way but ruffles more than a few feathers as she leaps to the defence of her new employer, Honey Black.

As for Honey herself, she’s a small town girl who’s been given a huge opporunity to become the “next big thing”. But if Honey is to succeed she will need to be better than her rivals, behave impeccably, defer to the big bosses and be squeaky clean. Unfortunately it seems soneone wants Honey to fail and temptations, challenges and physical attacks will all need to be dealt with (often by Lily) if she is to finish filming the movie which should propel her to the brightest of spotlights.

There’s so much to love about The Mysterious Double Death of Honey Black and it’s all to easy to forget Honey is due to be murdered and Lily is trying to prevent that from happening. I got far too caught up in the world of films, producers and directors, bickering actresses and the social lives of a long-forgotten generation. The writing and scene setting is joyous, the characters are glamourous, whimsical and deeply posessive of their own celebrity. I don’t know if it would be possible to revisit that world given how events pan out (again no spoilers) but I am sure Lisa Hall would find a way to make it happen if we were all to cross our fingers, wish really, really hard and all buy a copy of The Mysterious Double Death of Honey Black…there’s a handy wee link just below this paragraph to help you get your copy.

The Mysterious Double Death of Honey Black is published by Hera Books and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-mysterious-double-death-of-honey-black/lisa-hall/9781804365946

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September 19

Sleep When You’re Dead – Jude O’Reilly

In thirty-six hours, thousands of innocent people will die. There’s not a second to waste. And no time for sleep…

MICHAEL NORTH: THE PERFECT MI5 ASSET. Ruthless, brave, loyal and, best of all, disposable. The bullet lodged in his brain means he could die at any second.

Now, undercover in a doomsday cult on a remote Scottish island, he has thirty-six hours to stop the mass murder of thousands of people.

But in the world of the indoctrinated, Michael soon realises that everyone is a potential enemy. He’s used to his own life hanging by a thread – never before has it come so close to snapping.

I received a review copy from the publishers through Netgalley.

This book opens with a breathtaking, explosive chase through the streets of London. A terror attack by a lone protagonist intent on leaving a trail of carnage in his wake is fleeing from Michael North. Jude O’Reilly grabs readers right from the off and you can be in no doubt over how high the stakes are. This opening pursuit culminates in a deadly standoff and North finds he has to make a split second decision around his own survival or capturing a killer.

That high impact introduction to Sleep When You’re Dead sets the pace of the whole novel. In this third outing for Michael North there’s a race against time for our hero, the clock is literally ticking down towards a unkown event which threatens the lives of thousands of people. A cult who have been hidden away for years on a remote Scottish island appear to be on the verge of initiating an attack. But the nature of that attack is unknown and M15 want to send North to the Island to infiltrate the cult and stop their plan.

It’s a desperate mission, particularly as the islanders don’t welcome visitors and will naturally be suspicious of anyone suddenly arriving in their midst. But North is well used to being brought in to desperate situations and his interest is further piqued by the discovery an old childhood friend has been on the island making a documentary about its inhabitants. Many years have passed since North last saw Mia, a fellow survivor from their time in children’s homes, and someone he never expected to see again. While the lure of seeing his old friend helps North accept the mission, in reality he has little choice, such is the control Edmond Hone (his “boss”) has over him.

If you’ve read any of the previous Michael North stories then you’ll know there’s a second character who North relies upon. Teenage computer whiz and M15 asset, Fangfang Yu. Fang brings the tech knowhow, the sass and the humour to these stories and she’s lethal with a computer. Plus her Grandmother scares the hell out of North and his pugilistist pal Padrig “Plug” Donne. The trio of North, Plug and Fang have proven to be a formidable trio and each will need to bring their skills if a disaster is to be averted.

But while North is off to Scotland where he will have limited contact with Fang she finds she has her own problems to deal with. While snooping too deeply into a US Government computer system Fang trips an alert and brings the full attention of the American secuirty forces onto herself. It’s a distraction from her work with North and although she is Hone (and the UK’s) asset she is also expendible if the Americans have a vested interest in what happens to Fang. How will the teenage geek keep the elite of American intelligence off her back?

North is a terrific protagonist and you can’t help be drawn into this action packed adventure. O’Reilly hits the perfect balance of action and intrigue and there are moments of pure tension when nothing is going to draw your eyes away from the page. I am a fan of this series and Sleep When You’re Dead just keeps the good stuff coming – get onboard the Michael North Express Train, it is a journey you really should not miss.

Sleep When You’re Dead is published by Head of Zeus and is available in physical, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sleep-Youre-Dead-Michael-Thriller-ebook/dp/B09B2VX85H/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1690322511&refinements=p_27%3AJude+O%27Reilly&s=digital-text&sr=1-1&text=Jude+O%27Reilly

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September 5

The Trap – Catherine Ryan Howard

Stranded on a dark road in the middle of the night, a young woman accepts a lift from a passing stranger. It’s the nightmare scenario that every girl is warned about, and she knows the dangers all too well – but what other choice does she have?

As they drive, she alternates between fear and relief – one moment thinking he is just a good man doing a good thing, the next convinced he’s a monster. But when he delivers her safely to her destination, she realizes her fears were unfounded.

And her heart sinks. Because a monster is what she’s looking for.

She’ll try again tomorrow night. But will the man who took her sister take the bait?

–

Inspired by a series of still-unsolved disappearances, The Trap is the startlingly original new thriller from internationally bestselling author Catherine Ryan Howard.

My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the tour for The Trap. I recieved a review copy from the publishers ahead of the blog tour.

Late at night on a dark country road, a woman is walking alone – she is heading home from a night out and her phone is dead. A stranger drives past and stops to offer her a lift. Every instinct screams at her not to get into the car – but she accepts the lift and risks putting herself in danger. It’s a tense situation and a terrific opening to The Trap – you can’t help but fear for the safety of this character who we’ve only just met and you’re braced for something awful to happen.

But what if the woman was actually looking to be picked up by a monster? What if events prior to that fateful meeting had led her to the point that placing herself in danger felt like the only option she had? This is where The Trap takes readers, into a story where Lucy feels lost, frustrated, forgotten, ignored and desperate. She’s furious that her sister is missing. There are other missing women in Ireland who, like Lucy’s sister, simply vanished leaving no trace other than a broken mobile phone – yet the Guard are not treating Lucy’s worry seriously and don’t want to commit to a full investigation or link the cases of the other missing women incase it sparks fear there is a predator abducting lone women.

Lucy goes out late at night to try to lure out the man she beleives took her sister from her. Her sister’s boyfriend, the Family Liaison Officer appointed to deal with Lucy and the families of other missing women are all trying to be supportive but Lucy can’t accept nothing is happening to bring her sister back to her.

It is an emotional and disturbing premise for a story and Catherine Ryan Howard has wonderfully captured the upset, anxiety and frustrations of her lead character. But she also shifts the narrative to show the readers what the officers in the Missing Person’s Team are doing to try and trace the women who have been reported missing. They have a suspect – a narcassistic man who was the partner of one of the missing women…he is far too slippery to let the police get too close though. Then there’s a breakthrough and a shock twist which may reveal the fate of the missing but how will the Guard change their approach and what impact may this have upon the families?

Most disturbingly is the fact we also get to see inside the mind of a predator. The man who explains how he came to be responsible for snatching women off the roads and why he does what he does. We learn of his background, the trigger steps in his “journey” and his acknowledgement that he is using true crime documenataries to learn what mistakes to avoid. Really chilling.

Weaving the narratives between victims, predator, investigators and the other supporting characters is extremely deftly done and the story zips along at good pace and with constant intrigue to keep the reader turning the pages. When unexpected events crop up they very much were unexpected – this book really didn’t go where I had anticipated and I enjoyed it all the more for the unpredictability of the plot.

I’ve enjoyed all the previous books Catherine Ryan Howard has written and it gave me particular delight when I reaslied there are nods (easter eggs) to earlier books in The Trap. The Jurrasic Park reference I was looking for was easy to spot, as it appeard about 8 pages after I remembered to look out for it, and there’s even a (sort-of) author cameo to enjoy too which cranked up my enjoyment levels even more. All these wee touches were very much appreciated by this reader and at no time did they take me out of the story – such was the focus I was giving Lucy’s plight.

This book was started and finished in a single day. I totally inhaled it, got completely caught up in the story of the missing women, the official response from the Missing Person’s team and the steps which Lucy was prepared to take to find her missing sister. I can honestly say we didn’t end up in a place I’d expected – once again Catherine Ryan Howard befuddled me and delivered a clever, clever mystey for me to enjoy.

This is going to be an easy book to recommend – I loved it and I can’t think of any reason why you wouldn’t love it too.

The Trap is available in Hardback, Digital and Audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-trap/catherine-ryan-howard/9781787636606

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September 2

The Silent Man – David Fennell

A father is murdered in the dead of night in his London home, his head wrapped tightly in tape, a crude sad face penned over his facial features. But the victim’s only child is left alive and unharmed at the scene.

Met Police detectives Grace Archer and Harry Quinn have more immediate concerns. Notorious gangster Frankie White has placed a target on Archer’s back, and there’s no one he won’t harm to get to her.

Then a second family is murdered, leaving young Uma Whitmore as the only survivor.

With a serial killer at large, DI Archer and DS Quinn must stay alive long enough to find the connection between these seemingly random victims. Can they do it before another child is orphaned?

My thanks to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers for the opportunity to join the Blog Tour and to the publishers (Zaffre) for my review copy.

I read a lot of good books but The Silent Man is a great book and I had a blast following the action.

DI Grace Archer is a woman with a whole world of problems. She’s had a long-standing enemy in London gangster Frankie “Snow” White and things appear to be coming to boiling point. Having not read the previous books* I am presuming past events have seen Frankie White blaming Archer for an incident which caused him a great deal of pain and cannot be undone (no spoilers). Frankie White is gunning for Grace Archer and nothing is going to get in his way.

From the early pages of The Silent Man the readers see the ruthless nature of White, the extent of his reach and the sinister methods he is prepared to adopt to get to Grace and her family. David Fennell creates tension right from the very start of this book and I found myself considering every new character as a possible threat to Archer. It’s a highly effective way to ensure I kept reading – I want to pick up a book and feel I am living the story and that I care about what happens to the characters, Fennell nailed that in The Silent Man.

Archer is a likeable character, a good cop and has a loyal partner at her side. You’ll root for her to escape the attentions and machinations of Frankie White and you’ll will her to track down the dangerous killer who has been targeting people in their homes. Wait, what killer? There’s not been talk of a killer so far…

Yes indeed – not content with pitching Archer against her nemesis the author also has a really nasty serial killer on the prowl and he’s the titular Silent Man. The killer operates under the cover of darkness, entering the home of his victim, incapacating them and leaving their body with masking tape wrapped around their head and a distinctive image penned onto the tape. The police don’t have much to work on but their first victim wasn’t living an angelic life so their initial focus is on people who may have been holding a grudge.

Conducting a murder investigation while avoiding the increasingly direct and dangerous attacks from Frankie White will keep Archer stretched and stressed. There’s so much going on that readers will be kept breathlessly entertained. It’s books like The Silent Man that I love to read: no pacing issues, no plots which feel like padding, no messing about – this is a full throttle thriller and I’m very much here for it.

If you’re a crime fiction fan and you want a stone cold page-turner to keep you entertained then you should look no further than The Silent Man.

* I said I hadn’t read the earlier books by David Fennell – I am righting that wrong immediately. I have a copy of The Art of Death sitting by my bed which I will be starting just as soon as I finish this review.

The Silent Man is published by Zaffre and you can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-silent-man/david-fennell/9781804181737

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