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Perfect Days – Raphael Montes

The path to true love rarely runs smoothly…

Teo, a medical student, meets Clarice at a party. Teo doesn’t really like people, they’re too messy, but he immediately realises that he and Clarice are meant to be together. And if Clarice doesn’t accept that? Well, they just need to spend some time together, and she’ll come to realise that too.

And yes, he has bought handcuffs and yes, he has taken her prisoner and yes, he is lying to her mother and to his mother and to the people at the hotel he’s keeping her at, but it’s all for her own good.

She’ll understand. She’ll fall in love. She’ll settle down and be his loving wife.

Won’t she?

My thanks to Vintage for my review copy which I received through Netgalley

Perfect Days is one of those books that I cannot actually talk about in any great detail. It needs to be read. And once you find out what Teo has planned you will probably want to read it in a single sitting!

This one comes with a warning though – not for the squeamish or the faint of heart. The story will take some very nasty turns along the way, there will be bad language and there were even some scenes which had me wincing as I read them. I couldn’t put it down!

Perfect Days is a dark tale of obsession and neurosis. Teo is socially awkward but believes that he may have found his soul mate in Clarice. He is prepared to go to any lengths to ensure Clarice gets to see him in the best light. Unfortunately for Teo, Clarice is just about to take an extended vacation to work on her screenplay and has no plans to be around Teo long enough for him to show her his limited charms.

Taking matters into his own hands Teo plots to abduct Clarice so that they can spend some quality time together. What follows is a sequence of events that will spiral out of Teo’s control in ways which he could never have anticipated. Oh and it gets messy. Very messy.

Perhaps the most chilling aspect of Perfect Days is the finale. I was NOT prepared for the ending that Raphael Montes delivered. My gob was smacked. I utterly loved the journey but the finale was…well I cannot tell you THAT. But trust me when I say it will get to you.

Perfect Days is published on 18^th February by Vintage and you can pre-order your copy here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Perfect-Days-Raphael-Montes/dp/1846559529/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1455142355&sr=8-2

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February 6

Behind Closed Doors – B. A. Paris

The perfect marriage? Or the perfect lie?

Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace. He has looks and wealth, she has charm and elegance. You might not want to like them, but you do.
You’d like to get to know Grace better.
But it’s difficult, because you realise Jack and Grace are never apart.
Some might call this true love. Others might ask why Grace never answers the phone. Or how she can never meet for coffee, even though she doesn’t work. How she can cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim. And why there are bars on one of the bedroom windows.

My thanks to MIRA for my review copy

As I read books I often try to work out which of my friends or family would also enjoy the story I am reading. In the case of Behind Closed Doors it was an easy match – ALL OF THEM!

Jack is a successful lawyer, his wife Grace was a buyer for Harrods, travelling the world sourcing the best produce for her illustrious employer. However, after a short courtship, and the unexpected wedding that Jack’s many admirers never thought they would see, Grace leaves her job to assume the role of the perfect housewife.

Though they frequently attend social functions hosted by friends and neighbours, Grace is never seen without Jack by her side. She wriggles out of coffee dates with friends and does not carry a mobile so cannot be contacted to re-schedule missed appointments. Guests at their dinner parties enthuse over Jack and Grace’s beautiful home and admire the paintings Grace has created, however, could there more to the couple’s relationship than meets the eye?

Behind Closed Doors is such a clever thriller. Domestic Noir seems an apt description…family life can be very dark and this is a prime example of how little we know about how others live their lives and what may go on Behind Closed Doors.

At first you start to read and you think it couldn’t work, how could a charming and sophisticated woman be so stifled by her husband that she is never seen without him? However, as the story develops and you become drawn into Grace’s life, you realise what a dark picture BA Paris is painting and what a powerful presence Jack is. There are some genuinely creepy moments in Behind Closed Doors and often I was perturbed by what I was reading.

I will not bring spoilers into this review – suffice to say that Grace is facing a forthcoming event which is drawing ever closer. She needs to resolve her domestic situation as a matter of urgency or the consequences of her failure will have broader repercussions than she is prepared to accept.

No more – just go and read this one…and prepare to be unsettled.

Behind Closed Doors is published by MIRA on 11th February 2016 in paperback and digital format. You can secure a copy here.

Follow the Behind Closed Doors blog tour and keep your eyes out for the #staysingle hashtag

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February 5

The Cassandra Sanction – Scott Mariani

A TRAGIC DEATH.

A GRIEVING BROTHER.

A PLOT TO DECEIVE THE ENTIRE WORLD.

Ex-SAS major and kidnap recovery specialist Ben Hope is looking for peace in a quiet Spanish town. What he gets instead is the kind of trouble that only a man like him can handle.

Raul Fuentes can’t accept that his sister, Catalina, took her own life. Ben isn’t convinced, but ghosts from his own past compel him to help Raul discover the truth.

What connects Catalina’s apparent suicide to the suspicious fate of three of her fellow scientists? And why do a gang of professional killers follow Ben and Raul wherever they go?

Ben will soon discover the terrible truth: a fraudulent conspiracy to dupe all of humankind. And those responsible will soon find out they’ve met their match.

My thanks to Helena at Avon for my review copy and for the chance to join the blog tour

The Cassandra Sanction is the 12th Ben Hope thriller by Scott Mariani and (not having read any of the previous titles) it has caused me a bit of a problem. I now have 11 new books I need to add to my TBR pile and some serious catching up to do. Yup it’s a good ‘un and I most definitely want to read more of Mr Hope’s adventures.

Customary considerations: 12 books into a series and you would expect to need to know something of the back story. I didn’t and I still really enjoyed the book – at no point did I feel I was missing something or that I lacked understanding about previous events. There are likely to have been nods and elements which returning readers will enjoy that will have flown right over my head but I missed them and I am comfortable with that!

Turning to the actual story…it was fun to have a proper action adventure to read for a change. A grieving brother refusing to believe his successful sister has taken her own life suddenly finds a kidnap recovery specialist (Hope) will listen to his story and believe him when he asserts that his sister is still alive. Throw a few seemingly unconnected deaths into the mix, a crew of well resourced hitmen following Hope and an international conspiracy designed to keep us in the dark about ***SPOILERS*** and you have a page-turner that will keep you reading long into the night.

Ben Hope was an interesting lead character. Dynamic, highly skilled, frequently irritable, yet focussed and fun to read about. A great balance of flawed yet effective. I can see why so many readers are delighted to see him return for another outing in The Cassandra Sanction.

The balance of the book is also quite important to me when I read an action thriller. If there is a life-threatening event in every chapter (and the escapes become too wild to believe) I just don’t get the same buy-in to the book. With The Cassandra Sanction the action sequences are very much there but they are not constant, ridiculous or beyond belief – it is a great read and the author hit the credible mark for me.

So just to be clear:

1 – Ben Hope and Scott Mariani have a new fan.

2 – I definitely need to read more adventure stories.

3 – The sun is much more interesting than I had thought so now I have a bit of non-fiction reading to do too.

If, like me, you are new to Ben Hope then you may enjoy the chance to discover what you have been missing. As luck would have it, the lovely people at Avon have provided me with a link to share which will let you hear an audio clip from the very beginning of The Cassandra Sanction:

The link to the audio is here: https://soundcloud.com/harperaudio/the-cassandra-sanction-by

The Cassandra Sanction is published by Avon and is available in paperback and Digital formats here

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December 1

The Bad Things – Mary-Jane Riley

Alex Devlin’s life changed forever fifteen years ago when her sister Sasha’s two small children were snatched in broad daylight. Little Harry’s body was found a few days later, but Millie’s remains were never discovered.

Now Jackie Wood, jailed as an accessory to the twins’ murder, has been released, her conviction quashed by the Appeal Court. Convinced Jackie can reveal where Millie is buried, Alex goes to meet her.

But the unexpected information Wood reveals shocks Alex to the core and threatens to uncover the dark secret she has managed to keep under wraps for the past fifteen years. Because in the end, can we ever really know what is in the hearts of those closest to us?

My thanks to the Killer Reads team, I received a review copy through Netgalley

Alex Devlin is a journalist – as we join her at the start of the story it seems she is struggling to bring up her teenage son on her own with a very limited budget. Her son is unhappy as he wants to join his friends on a school trip, for Alex it just seems a cost too far. An argument seems likely but Alex’s world is suddenly turned upside down when she hears a news bulletin announcing Jackie Wood has been released from prison after 15 years…the woman who was an accessory to the murder of Alex’s niece and nephew – twins who were not even of school age.

A harrowing event in the life of Alex and her family and one that will now have to be confronted again. Alex wants to meet Jackie Wood – interview her – and (hopefully) find what happened that fateful day when her nephew Harry died and his sister Millie disappeared. But before any meeting can take place Alex has to face her own sister, the grief that Alex is feeling is 100 times worse for the twins mother.

As The Bad Things unfold we are given a greater insight into the terrible feeling of loss that the family suffered. But the story does not just focus on the family – another key player in the events in The Bad Things is Detective Inspector Kate Todd. She was a young police officer when Jackie Wood was arrested and has made her way up the ranks, however, the memory of finding young Harry’s body has left a lasting impression on Kate and which still impacting upon her personal life.

A domestic thriller which is handled with splendid sensitivity by Mary-Jane Riley. The events at the core of The Bad Things, a murdered child and his missing sibling, make for hard reading for any parent but at no stage do you feel there is an attempt to reach for a shock factor. It is the emotion amongst the survivors which carries the story so well.

I found The Bad Things to be a gripping story, there are layers of deception to be peeled back and one or two mysterious characters floating about where you are not quite sure how they may feature in the plot. The author teases out clues and reveals which made it harder for me to be confident I knew where the story was heading. Too hard it seems as my best attempts at solving the 15 year old mystery were miles away from accurate.

Well written, nicely paced and downright disturbing at times – The Bad Things is one to watch out for.

The Bad Things is available in paperback and digital format: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00Y7ME6F2?keywords=the%20bad%20things&qid=1448840246&ref_=sr_1_1_twi_kin_1&sr=8-1

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November 23

The Kind Worth Killing – Peter Swanson

‘Hello there.’
I looked at the pale, freckled hand on the back of the empty bar seat next to me in the business class lounge of Heathrow airport, then up into the stranger’s face.
‘Do I know you?’

Delayed in London, Ted Severson meets a woman at the airport bar. Over cocktails they tell each other rather more than they should, and a dark plan is hatched – but are either of them being serious, could they actually go through with it and, if they did, what would be their chances of getting away with it?

Back in Boston, Ted’s wife Miranda is busy site managing the construction of their dream home, a beautiful house out on the Maine coastline. But what secrets is she carrying and to what lengths might she go to protect the vision she has of her deserved future?

A sublimely plotted novel of trust and betrayal, The Kind Worth Killing will keep you gripped and guessing late into the night.

My thanks to Sophie at Faber & Faber for my review copy

Can I just write ‘WOW’ and leave it at that? The Kind Worth Killing is a WOW book, it just keeps giving – shocks, twists and that wonderful ‘one more chapter’ element that only the very best of reads can deliver.

Ted Severson meets a woman just before he boards a plane, they get chatting and (under the influence of too much booze) Ted shares too much of his personal worries with this stranger. However rather than this being the end of their acquaintance the couple find themselves sat next to each other on the flight and a plan is hatched that could solve all of Ted’s problems.

Meanwhile Ted’s wife, Miranda, is living the dream, she has snagged a rich husband, is overseeing the redevelopment of a gorgeous house and may just fight tooth and claw to protect her idyllic lifestyle.

If Ted’s problem is Miranda can he make his problem ‘go away’? For Miranda – can she find a way to hang on to all that she holds dear (even if this does not necessarily include Ted)?

A brilliant clash of strong personalities lies ahead. Evil minds will plot and only the most devious will prevail. The police will become involved but such is the duplicity on show that they are clueless and scrabbling around in the dark – they know something is amiss but have no leads to pursue!

In 2014 Sarah Hilary delivered my ‘jaw drop’ moment in Someone Else’s Skin. For 2015 my ‘jaw drop’ accolade goes to Peter Swanson – one scene in The Kind Worth Killing was just so unexpected that I was totally unprepared for what I was reading (and I honestly had no idea where the story was going to head from that point onwards). Once I had recovered from that shock I was so psyched at what I had just read that I was compelled to keep reading, long into the night. I just HAD to know what was going to happen next.

The Kind Worth Killing has more twists than Chubby Checker on a helter-skelter! It is a dream to read and is without any doubt one of the best books I have read for a long, long time.

I am not going to recommend you read The Kind Worth Killing – I am going to tell you that you HAVE to read it! A 5/5 review score goes without saying. Except I did say it (for clarity).

The Kind Worth Killing is published by Faber & Faber and is available in paperback and digital formats: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kind-Worth-Killing-Peter-Swanson/dp/057130222X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

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November 10

The Lobster Boy and the Fat Lady’s Daughter – Charles Kriel

Rogue military cop Melanie Barry is a detective like no other and when her step-father is arrested and framed for murder, Mel is his only hope.

Mel pursues a heartless killer through the darkest heart of the gothic South, only to discover the mysteries of her own shadowy past revealed in blood.

Set on the carnival lot of a South Georgia tobacco town, The Lobster Boy And The Fat Lady’s Daughter is a wild Lynch-ian ride through a world that few people have ever experienced.

Before I cover the book I need to comment on how Fahrenheit Press brought it to my attention – by telling me absolutely nothing about it! I was lured in by the promise of mystery and the chance to support something new and different. Fahrenheit managed to persuade Amazon to put their book up for sale with no title announce, no author named and no description of what the book was about – other than it was a crime novel. The pitch was ‘trust us and we will give you a great book’. The ultimate mystery story! Gotta love someone trying something different so I signed up as an early adopter (as a result I got a nice name check in the book too – along with a fair few of my fellow bloggers).

So what the Hell did I buy?

Well it turned out to be a ripper of a read. A murder story with more than a few exciting action scenes, plot twists and intrigue plus some of the most memorable characters I have read in any book for a long time.

Melanie (Mel) Barry grew up amongst the carnival people – raised by the Lobster Boy and the Fat Lady and surrounded by performers, acrobats, ‘freaks’ and mermaids. The Carnival folk wanted a life away from authorities and the anonymity that the carnival could provide them – Mel bucked that trend by becoming a military cop. She is smart, skilled and tough as nails but she is also on the run, AWOL from the army and keeping a very low profile.

A murder of a prominent townsperson at the Carnival leads to the arrest of Mel’s father – Lobster Boy (Charlie). Mel returns to the carnival to investigate and quickly establishes that it would have been physically impossible for Charlie to have committed the murder. But in this town there is a very close network of prominent businessmen running the show and although Charlie’s carnival has provided them with some very pleasant distractions in the past – this time around Charlie is not receiving any preferential treatment.

Mel’s investigation soon leads her into direct confrontation with the cabal running the town but also throws up some figures from her past, not every familiar face brings a happy memory. As the investigation progresses Mel finds herself in increasing danger – siding with a local lawyer and one of the acrobats from the carnival the trio face down threats and attacks in a series of exhilarating action sequences.

The Lobster Boy and the Fat Lady’s Daughter was a refreshing and highly entertaining read and Kreil captures the essence of carnival life better than any story I have read in the past. Mel is a kickass action hero and I hope this is a character I can read about in future. May be too quirky for the more conventional reader but this is a book you would be foolish to overlook.

The Lobster Boy and the Fat Lady’s Daughter is published by Fahrenheit Press and is available now in digital format

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November 5

Lost Girls – Angela Marsons

Two girls go missing. Only one will return.

The couple that offers the highest amount will see their daughter again. The losing couple will not. Make no mistake. One child will die.

When nine-year-old best friends Charlie and Amy disappear, two families are plunged into a living nightmare. A text message confirms the unthinkable; that the girls are the victims of a terrifying kidnapping.

And when a second text message pits the two families against each other for the life of their children, the clock starts ticking for D.I. Kim Stone and the squad.

Seemingly outwitted at every turn, as they uncover a trail of bodies, Stone realises that these ruthless killers might be the most deadly she has ever faced. And that their chances of bringing the girls home alive, are getting smaller by the hour…

Untangling a dark web of secrets from the families’ past might hold the key to solving this case. But can Kim stay alive long enough to do so? Or will someone’s child pay the ultimate price?

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

Back in March I reviewed the debut appearance of DI Kim Stone in Angela Marson’s Silent Scream, I really enjoyed it. Then in late June I reviewed Evil Games (the second in the series) and it blew me away – a really gripping thriller. Now it is early November and I get to review the 3rd Kim Stone novel: Lost Girls. I may need to break out my thesaurus to find some new superlatives I can use in my review.

Lost Girls is stunning. A majestic race against time for DI Kim Stone to recover two kidnapped girls. But the twist is that the kidnappers are only interested in returning one of the girls and are playing the parents off against each other to see who will pay the most to recover their child. Nasty and brutally effective – the emotion Angela Marsons generates between the families makes for compelling reading and Stone is caught in the middle.

The reader gets to see the investigation into recovering the girls but also we follow the kidnappers and experience the trauma of the girls too. The shifting viewpoint really emphasises the enormity of the task facing the police. We share the fear of the victims, the hopeless and angry tension of the families and we see the stone cold evil from the kidnappers – one of whom is delighting in the possibility of harming the children. A comprehensive overview of the whole story and it works splendidly, you cannot help yourself from being hooked by this thriller.

A double kidnapping is more than Stone can be expected to co-ordinate on her own and good use is made of Stone’s squad. I enjoy seeing the return of these characters and I always feel that the supporting cast in any series needs to be believable and enjoyable to keep me returning book after book. Added to the existing team members are external specialists in hostage/kidnap scenarios and these new faces cause Stone some additional issues to contend with – she is not a woman who enjoys being out of her comfort zone and this case is really stretching her to her limits. Factor in the additional pressure from the police chiefs and the need to maintain a press black-out (while a local journalist is snooping around determined to score points off Stone) and you have all the key ingredients for a tense thriller.

Lost Girls was an amazing read, I read the final chapters with a racing heart as the endgame played out. There were twists and shocks right up to the very end and it is hard to think of any other books this year which have held my attention as much as this one did. Lost Girls easily scoops a five star score from me – loved it, didn’t want it to end.

Angela Marson’s DI Kim Stone books are essential reading for any crime fiction fan. For Angela Marsons to have produced three top quality novels in a single year is a phenomenal achievement, a quality writer on stunning form. I am already looking forward to seeing what the future may bring when the next Kim Stone novel is due, hopefully there will not be too long to wait.

Lost Girls is published by Bookouture and is available from 6th November.

Follow Angela Marsons on Twitter at : @WriteAngie

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November 4

Secrets of the Last Nazi – Iain King

A mind-blowing conspiracy thriller

THE GREATEST DISCOVERY OF THE 20TH CENTURY.

KEPT SECRET.

UNTIL NOW.

Berlin, 2015 – a well-connected SS Commander is found dead, having protected the last secret of the Nazi empire for seventy years. A discovery by Nazi Scientists so potent it could change the balance of world power – forever.

Led by misfit military historian Myles Munro, an international team begin to piece together the complex puzzle left by SS Captain Werner Stolz. As their hunt across Europe gathers pace, the brutal killing of one of the group signals that they are not the only ones chasing the answer.

Plunged into a world of international espionage, Myles only has his intellect and instincts to keep him alive. As the team edge closer to an explosive truth, it becomes clear to him that there is a traitor amongst them.

Who can Myles trust? And can he unravel the clues of the past in time to save the future?

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

Myles Munro is a clumsy military historian, he has a cloud of scandal hanging over his head but is called into government duty to investigate the secrets left by former Nazi Werner Stolz. It seems that Stolz may have been keeper of a vast collection of Nazi information – documents and records far too important to be overlooked and potentially of huge value to modern governments.

A delegation of representatives from UK, America, Russia and France are brought together to investigate what Stolz has left behind, however, their investigations are not as secret as they may believe and it is not long before they find themselves in mortal danger.

Secrets of the Last Nazi plays out over a few European countries and feels suitably grand in scale for an international thriller. The action comes thick and fast and there really is a mesmerizing concept underpinning the whole story – one which initially seems unbelievable but as the story unfolded I found myself accepting as viable and plausible. Sharing the secret at the heart of the story is a massive spoiler, suffice to say that both the Church and scientific community combine to try to suppress the nature of Stolz’s legacy such is the risk that it poses to their credibility.

As the investigative team narrow down the clues that Stolz left for those that would follow him the reader learns that there is a traitor in their midst. As the story builds to the dramatic finale the stakes are raised and it becomes clear that our team will not all escape unscathed. Iain King created a small cast of characters that you will want to get to the bottom of the mystery they are facing. As the team members start to waiver and fall (and with suspicion of their motives always in question) you cannot help but keep reading.

While I do not normally seek out thrillers which are founded in the legacy of WW2 I was drawn into Secrets of the Last Nazi and will highly recommend it. It was refreshing to read a book which was much grander in scale than my normal choice of story and Iain King weaves the threads of a fantastic narrative into a slick adventure.

Secrets of the Last Nazi is published by Bookouture and is available in paperback and digital format.

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October 27

A Line of Blood – Ben McPherson

You find your neighbour dead in his bath.
Your son is with you. He sees everything.

You discover your wife has been in the man’s house.
It seems she knew him.

Now the police need to speak to you.

One night turns Alex Mercer’s life upside down. He loves his family and he wants to protect them, but there is too much he doesn’t know.

He doesn’t know how the cracks in his and Millicent’s marriage have affected their son, Max. Or how Millicent’s bracelet came to be under the neighbour’s bed. He doesn’t know how to be a father to Max when his own world is shattering into pieces.

Then the murder investigation begins…

My thanks to the team at Harper for my review copy

This is an intense psychological thriller which will have you doubting and second guessing the motives of almost all of the characters you encounter throughout A Line Of Blood. Alex Mercer and his son Max find their neighbour dead in his bath. A traumatic experience which is significantly magnified when it comes to light that Alex’s wife Millicent had been in his neighbour’s house and may have known the dead man – perhaps intimately.

Following the discovery of the body we follow the Mercer family as their lives spiral into chaos. Alex struggles to understand why Millicent has been lying (and is she still lying to him). Millicent seems to be keeping secrets and her behaviour is incredibly unpredictable. Max has questions – many, many questions and does not seem to be overly troubled by what he has seen. However, a visit to a psychologist reveals that there may be much more going on inside Max’s head than he is revealing and his parent’s increasingly unusual behaviour is not helping.

As a reader I was compelled to keep the pages turning – A Line of Blood wants to drag you in and keep you guessing as to which characters are believable and which are twisting the facts for their own gain. Keep reading to the end and the journey is a treat for those of us that enjoy a clever, well written thriller.

I did have a slight concern as I read though – the characters all seemed flawed and they acted in ways which seemed just too extreme at times for me to wholly get behind them. I could not empathise with Alex, Millicent or Max and this made it hard for me to care what happened to them. Having checked many other reviews and after discussing the book with friends and fellow bloggers I find that I am in a minority (of one) on this front but not being able to engage with the principle characters was a concern.

In summary – a clever story with some great twists along the way.

A Line of Blood is published by Harper and is available in paperback and digital format now.

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October 10

Last Days of the Condor – James Grady

Set in the savage streets and Kafkaesque corridors of Washington, DC, shot through with sex and suspense, with secret agent tradecraft and full-speed action, with hunters and the hunted, Last Days of the Condor is the bullet-paced, ticking clock saga of America on the edge of the most startling spy world revolution since 9/11.

My thanks to the team at No Exit Press for my review copy.

The press release for Last Days of the Condor suggests that this is a story for fans of Harlan Coben, David Baldacci and Homeland. Of the three the Homeland comparison was the best fit for Last Days – this felt like a spy story or counter espionage drama with plenty of action and drama to keep me reading.

The story follows Vin (Condor) he is a former agent/operative who has been retired from action. He survives daily routine by ingesting a cocktail of drugs but his skills and training are hard wired into his very being and he is ever alert to the possibility of threat. As we join Vin at the opening of Last Days of the Condor he is travelling home, we share his view of the street and understand how he assesses potential threats. He sees danger everywhere and is waiting to be killed – it is a very effective opening and sets the tone for the rest of the book. Vin believes he is being followed. On returning home he is checking his house for intruders when there is a loud thumping at the door – the reader cannot help buy into Vin’s conviction that he is about to die.

James Grady has penned a thrilling adventure – action sequences come thick and fast and we find that Vin is a dangerous person to be seen with. Despite his paranoia and lack of resources Vin is a worthy opponent and when he finds himself cornered his old survival skills kick in.

Caught up in Vin’s bad day is Faye. She is an active agent who had been sent to monitor Vin and ensure a once lethal force was adapting to civilian life. Faye can call upon her employers to assist when Vin comes under attack, however, can she be sure that she can trust those sent to help?

A slick thriller and a real page turner – after a run of more fantastical reads this was nicely grounded and all too realistic.

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