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Reciclador – Joff Sharpe

Medical school drop-out Yessica Sanchez opens a restaurant in her home town of Medellin, the most dangerous city in the world. She falls in love with a Swiss backpacker and together they enjoy a simple, idyllic lifestyle. But the traveller, Marcus Hamm, carries a dark secret and when a man is killed outside the restaurant it triggers a series of events that threaten their lives and will test their relationship to its limits.

Soon other interested parties like the CIA, mercenaries and Colombian police are competing to secure the huge financial prize that they believe to be at stake. Only Yessica’s father, an unassuming but cunning professor of anthropology, can save his family from a terrible fate. He’ll stop at nothing to do so.

The backdrop to the story includes some of the more colorful aspects of Medellin, such as its spectacular festival of flowers and Young Women’s Talent Competition, and a host of interesting characters from every part of Colombian society.

My thanks to Emma at Busy Bee for my review copy.

One of the reasons I started to blog was that I wanted to make readers aware of books that I had read which I thought other people would also enjoy. I also set myself a personal challenge of reading new authors and also books which are suitably different from my normal go-to titles. This brings me nicely to Reciclador by Joff Sharpe – a debut novel set in Columbia’s roughest suburbs. Did I enjoy it and do I want lots of people to read it? Damn right!

The problem that I am going to have in explaining why you should read Reciclador is that if I enthuse about what I loved about the story then I need to include spoilers and spoilers are banned on these pages.

Reciclador tells the story of Marcus and Yessica. They run a restaurant in Medellin, Columbia (the most dangerous city in the world). Life seems simple for the couple and the restaurant is doing well but readers soon learn that Marcus cuts a somewhat mysterious figure. Yessica, however, is much more open and is invited, as a successful local businesswoman, to help the younger women of Medellin to show their skills and talents through a Young Women’s Talent Competition. In a city where drawing attention to your successes can be a dangerous idea Yessica soon finds her restaurant is receiving some unwanted attention.

Although Yessica and Marcus are the main characters in Reciclador we also get to spend time with a variety of characters from very different social backgrounds. Corrupt policemen, savvy politicians, street kids scrapping for status and their peers who are looking to lift themselves out of their impoverished existence. Reciclador was an eye-opening read and although it is a work of fiction the story is grounded in fact which makes some of the events so much more disconcerting. I urge you to read my chat with author Joff Sharpe where he discusses how much of the story was influenced by actual events. Full interview can be found here: https://grabthisbook.net/?p=983

If you are looking for a gripping thriller which offers something a little different from the norm then Reciclador should be right up at the top of your list. The dynamics of Columbian society essentially mean that anything goes, everyone has a price, nobody is above intimidation and violence is commonplace. Drop in two people trying to live a quiet life (who find themselves with a dead body on their property) and you know that things are going to go wrong fairly quickly.

When I consider the titles I have covered on my blog I cannot think of any book which is comparable to Reciclador. A fresh reading experience which I devoured – a book I wanted to read in one sitting yet a book I did not want to end. I hope that Joff Sharpe decides to return to Medellin as this is a city which offers so much potential for more thrilling tales. 5 star thrills – loved this!

Reciclador is the debut novel from author Joff Sharpe, who has written about financial fugitives for Newsweek, Huffington Post and Hong Kong’s largest circulation English-speaking newspaper, The South China Morning Post.

He has previously published a non-fiction book ‘Who Dares Wins in Business’ which combined wisdom from his early career as an SAS Special Forces officer and his role today as an executive in a £17 billion real estate investment company.

Other entries on Joff’s CV include: a year living amongst the Iban headhunters of Borneo, running an internet company for Rupert Murdoch and being Piers Morgan’s HR director.

Reciclador is available now through Amazon in paperback and digital format: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Reciclador-Recycler-Mr-Joff-Sharpe/dp/1512269387/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1441233935&sr=1-1&keywords=reciclador

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August 18

In A Dark, Dark Wood – Ruth Ware

Someone’s getting married.

Someone’s getting murdered.

In a dark, dark wood

Nora hasn’t seen Clare for ten years. Not since Nora walked out of school one day and never went back.

There was a dark, dark house

Until, out of the blue, an invitation to Clare’s hen do arrives. Is this a chance for Nora to finally put her past behind her?

And in the dark, dark house there was a dark, dark room

But something goes wrong. Very wrong.

And in the dark, dark room….

Some things can’t stay secret for ever.

Thanks to Harvill Secker for my review copy which I received through Netgalley

A male blogger reviewing a Hen Night book. Tricky! I asked my wife about her Hen Nights (plural). Great fun apparently (though I do recall picking broken glass from the soles of her feet) but seemingly it can be awkward bringing random strangers together who have little in common – other than the fact they all know the bride.

Between finishing In A Dark, Dark Wood and writing this review I also saw a comedian at the Edinburgh Fringe*. He had been a barman for many years and had an interesting view on group dynamics. He believed that Stag Parties have an Alpha who the group will blindly follow – Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Hen Parties he compared to Game Of Thrones, anyone can betray anyone else in the blink of an eye.

In a Dark, Dark Wood did read just like he described. A Hen Party where you do not feel any alliance is truly believable and (through clever use of jumping the reader forward in time to events after the hen weekend) we know that something has gone very, very wrong.

The lead voice in the story is that of Nora, a writer who lives a private and quiet life. Out of the blue she receives an invitation to a hen party for one of her oldest friends. However, she has not seen this friend for many years and the invitation is very unexpected. Persuaded by a mutual friend from their University days (who also has an invitation) Nora agrees to travel to a remote area of Northumberland in deep, dark Autumn to spend the weekend in the company of strangers. This may not be the best decision she makes all year!

The remote setting and the oddly assembled cast of characters was very reminiscent of an Agatha Christie novel ripped forward into a 21^st Century setting. You know that the ‘bad guy’ is likely to be one of the guests (but perhaps not) and you know that the ‘nice’ people are most at risk (unless the irritating one is). Beautifully complicated dynamics.

It was impossible for me not to make judgement on each of the characters, some I liked, others I did not and one person irritated the Hell out of me. Knowing that events were soon to spiral out of control I did find myself willing the nicer people to be spared from future horrors.

As the story unfolded (and Nora’s discomfort increased) I became increasingly engrossed in the book. The writing was top quality and I have to applaud Ruth Ware for transporting me from poolside in sunny Ibiza to a bleak Northumberland wood on a chilly and dark night.

In A Dark, Dark Wood is a cracking read and comes highly recommended. Definitely one to add to the shopping basket next time you are in the market for a slick and thrilling tale.

In A Dark, Dark Wood is published by Harvill Secker and is available in Hardback and digital format now.

Ruth Ware is on Twitter: @RuthWareWriter and at www.ruthware.com

*The comedian I have quoted is Chris Betts – he is well worth tracking down at comedy clubs/festivals. He also collects graffiti from toilet walls.

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May 10

Untouchable – Ava Marsh

If you start feeling anything for a client – and it does happen – count the money. That always brings you back down to earth.’

Stella is an escort, immersed in a world of desire, betrayal and secrets. It’s exactly where she wants to be. Stella used to be someone else: respectable, loved, safe. But one mistake changed all that.

When a fellow call girl is murdered, Stella has a choice: forget what she’s seen, or risk everything to get justice for her friend. In her line of work, she’s never far from the edge, but pursuing the truth could take her past the point of no return.

Nothing is off limits. Not for her – and not for them.

But no one is truly untouchable.

My thanks to Random House/Transworld for my Netgalley Review copy

I am trying to think of a novel I have read which I can compare to Ava Marsh’s Untouchable. Nothing is springing to mind and this may be one of the reasons that I found Untouchable such a brilliant read.

The lead character is Stella – she is an escort who seems to have been working for several years as one of London’s high class call girls. No street corners or violent pimp’s in play here as Stella works from home, liaises with her clients through discrete internet communications and can command several hundred pounds for a few hours of her time.

It needs to made clear very early on in this review that Ava Marsh is not drawing a discrete veil over Stella’s work. Untouchable is frequently graphic and quite explicit, nothing too extreme but it may not be ideal for the more prudish. That said, it is fascinating and frank without being crude or seedy for the sake of shock value. I was also amused to see SJI Holliday (author of the brilliant Black Wood) asking the same question I had – how did the author do her research?

Stella is shocked to learn that one of her friends, a fellow call girl, has been murdered. The police are assuming that she was killed by a client but Stella has her suspicions and starts to question the official story. She takes her suspicions to the police and discusses her concerns with friends but it is not long before her curiosity starts to place her life in danger.

Throughout the book we are made aware that there are demons in Stella’s past which have helped shape her life bringing her to her current situation. Over the course of the story there are reveals and snippets of Stella’s back story which I found made the character even more remarkable than I had first expected.

Untouchable comes highly recommended – a memorable lead character who is embroiled in an affair that has far reaching consequences. I can only score Untouchable a full 5/5 as it was so well written and quite unlike anything I have encountered: a must read!

Ava Marsh is on Twitter: @MsAvaMarsh

And online at: http://www.avamarsh.co.uk/

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April 26

Hidden – Emma Kavanagh

HE’S WATCHING

A gunman is stalking the wards of a local hospital. He’s unidentified and dangerous, and has to be located. Urgently.

Police Firearms Officer Aden McCarthy is tasked with tracking him down. Still troubled by the shooting of a schoolboy, Aden is determined to make amends by finding the gunman – before it’s too late.

SHE’S WAITING

To psychologist Imogen, hospital should be a place of healing and safety – both for her, and her young niece who’s been recently admitted. She’s heard about the gunman, but he has little to do with her. Or has he?

As time ticks down, no one knows who the gunman’s next target will be. But he’s there. Hiding in plain sight. Far closer than anyone thinks…

My review copy was provided through Netgalley.

Hidden opens immediately after an horrific shooting incident within a hospital. We are watching the action through the eyes of a local newspaper reporter (Charlie) as she surveys the injured, the dead and the dying. She is beside her friend, firearms officer, Aden who has been badly wounded and Charlie is willing him to live as his life ebbs away.

It is a powerful start and it creates a gripping scene which makes you want to keep reading.

The narrative then jumps back one week and Emma Kavanagh starts to outline the events which led us to the shooting in the hospital. We see Charlie and Adan, a friendship which is threatening to develop into a relationship. We meet twins Mara and Imogen – they are intrinsic to the story and their lives will overlap with Charlie, Adan and that of the shooter’s too.

The mysterious shooter – we also get to see some of the narrative through their eyes too. The hospital was not a random location at which to unleash carnage, the shooter has been prowling round the hospital. Hospital staff are concerned that they have spotted a hooded figure carrying a gun and the police have been notified.

I enjoyed the powerful opening to Hidden and the mystery identify of the shooter was a nice touch. The central figures of Charlie and Adan are engaging characters, I enjoyed Charlie’s story in particular – there are potential problems at her work, she finds herself reporting on the death of an old friend and is facing pressure from a victim’s family to print their side of a story (which may not necessarily be a true reflection of events).

The week of narrative leading up to the shooting covers the lives and relationships of the key players. I felt Emma Kavanagh delivered a strong human drama and her characterisation was great. Perhaps too great for me as I found that I really didn’t warm to a couple of the cast and as a consequence I found their story an unwelcome distraction from the characters I did like. This is purely a personal observation and I have read many reviews to know that I am in a minority in this area, however, it was a factor.

I also guessed the identity of the shooter halfway through the book. Only to find I was totally wrong at the end of the book – I like when this happens.

Hidden will appeal to thriller fans. Great characterisation and a nice mystery of the shooter’s identity running throughout. My score of 3.5/5 reflects a strong story but with a couple of characters who didn’t captivate me. The real acid test for any novel is whether I would read more books by the same author and in the case of Emma Kavanagh I certainly would.

Hidden is published by Century and is available in Hardback and digital formats

You can read an extract from Chapter One here: http://www.deadgoodbooks.co.uk/index.php/extract-hidden-emma-kavanagh/

Emma Kavanagh is on Twitter: @EmmaLK

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April 18

Black Wood – SJI Holliday

Something happened to Claire and Jo in Black Wood: something that left Claire paralysed and Jo with deep mental scars. But with Claire suffering memory loss and no evidence to be found, nobody believes Jo’s story.

Twenty-three years later, a familiar face walks into the bookshop where Jo works, dredging up painful memories and rekindling her desire for vengeance. And at the same time, Sergeant Davie Gray is investigating a balaclava-clad man who is attacking women on a disused railway, shocking the sleepy village of Banktoun. But what is the connection between Jo’s visitor and the masked man? To catch the assailant, and to give Jo her long-awaited justice, Gray must unravel a tangled web of past secrets, broken friendship and tainted love. But can he crack the case before Jo finds herself with blood on her hands?

My thanks to Black & White Publishing for my review copy

Black Wood is set in Banktoun, a small village on the outskirts of Edinburgh. If you have ever lived in a small village you will understand that there is a community spirit, that everyone knows everyone else and there CAN be a feeling of claustrophobia (especially if you aspire to escape to pastures new). A small village is also a perfect setting for a tense thriller. A predator in our midst causing fear for the residents, a snake in the garden, one rotten apple in the barrel. Except that everyone has secrets and all is never as it seems.

Cut straight to the chase: I loved Black Wood. I loved the characters, the setting, the mystery and Susi Holliday teased out the secrets brilliantly over the course of the novel.

The story follows Jo. Some 20 years before the events in the story she and her friend Claire had a life changing incident on the edge of Banktoun. The impact of events still resonate for Jo and Claire and we learn that Jo has had a somewhat troubled time in the intervening years.

Elsewhere local policeman, Sergeant Davie Gray, is hunting for a balaclava wearing man who has been seen lurking around a disused railway line that runs beside the village. Unfortunately the lurking is escalating to more threatening behaviour and it is not long before an attack occurs.

Sergeant Gray is another star in the making for me and I want to read more about him. He knows Jo of old and promised Jo’s mother that he would help watch out for her daughter – this protective side creates an interesting dynamic between the two characters and the scenes with Jo and Davie Gray were high points.

One memorable moment for me was when Jo returned to her Grandmother’s house (the titular Black Wood). An unexpected incident appeared to be taking the story in a direction I had not expected. As I am avoiding any Spoilers I cannot elaborate but the sequence suddenly heightened the tension, added a new dimension to the story and made Jo appear significantly more vulnerable than I had initially envisaged. I love when an author can catch me unawares in this way.

Black Wood is one of my favourite books so far this year. A brilliant story in which the characters shine and the mysteries kept me hooked as I poured through the book desperate to find out how events would be resolved. More from Banktoun please, I feel we need to know it better.

All that remains is to reconfirm my love for Black Wood by scoring it 5/5 and urging you to read it.

Black Wood is published by Black and White Publishing and is available in both paperback and in digital format.

You can follow Susi Holliday on Twitter: @SJIHolliday

Or visit her website at http://sjiholliday.com

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March 23

Disclaimer – Renee Knight

What if you realized the book you were reading was all about you?

It is unmistakably you.

Worse, it is about something that you have never told anyone – anyone living that is.

Many thanks to Alison Barrow of Transworld for my review copy.

Catherine Ravenscroft is reading a book. As the story unfolds she realises that she is reading her own story, the character names have been changed but there is no doubt that this is a book about her. Unfortunately for Catherine this is not a flattering tale and her darkest secrets are being revealed and even worse the ending is genuinely terrifying as it portrays Catherine’s death.

How has this book made its way into her home? Who is the author that has been able to recount events that only Catherine can know about? And who else is reading the book?

Disclaimer is one of the books that I cannot discuss too openly in a review. A psychological thriller which you need to read for yourself to appreciate the impact of the twists and revelations. Renee Knight has delivered a tight thriller depicting a woman who is trying to retain a degree of control while all around her the life she has built for her-self is crumbling apart.

My (non-spoiler) thoughts in brief:

Initially it is easy to empathise with Catherine: someone is targeting her and she is scared. Then we meet author of the book and learn that there are two sides to every story and we start to question what we know about Catherine. A nice touch as I had been too trusting that Catherine was all she appeared to be – who is telling the truth?

Renee Knight does a masterful job of depicting Catherine’s descent into a fearful paranoia. Secrets will out but there will be pain and heartbreak before all the facts are known.

An unsettling story but one that will keep you reading late into the night.

Disclaimer is published by Doubleday on 9^th April 2015.

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January 4

Angel of Death – Ben Cheetham

A disillusioned detective with nothing left to lose.

Catching criminals is all DI Jim Monahan has ever been good at. Just ask his ex-wife. Now he’s staring down the barrel of a lonely retirement. Worse still, he’s no longer sure he believes in the law he’s spent his life upholding. Then comes a call that will test what remains of his belief to its limits and beyond…

A shadowy ring of powerful people who’ll do anything to protect a depraved secret.

In Sheffield a soon-to-be bankrupt businessman has gone on a murderous rampage against his own family. The man and his wife lie dead in their burning mansion. Their son and daughter are found outside, riddled with shotgun pellets, barely alive. It seems like an open-and-shut case. But the charred ruins of the house reveal evidence of a second sickening crime – one involving a young girl who went missing fifteen years earlier…

A damaged prostitute hell bent on revenge.

In Middlesbrough a woman stares down at a violent punter she’s just shot dead. Her entire life Angel has been abused by those who claimed to love her. Now she’s finally had enough. It’s time to stop running. It’s time to start fighting back. She’s going to make them pay for what they did to her. With the murdered man’s gun in her handbag, she heads south on her deadly mission. And as the bodies begin to pile up, only one thing is certain – life will never be the same for anyone caught in the path of the ‘Angel of Death’.

This review was prepared for BookAddictShaun and appears on his site www.bookaddictshaun.co.uk

Angel of Death explores what happens when people in different walks of life reach the end of their tether. A policeman, his marriage over, facing retirement and no longer believing the law can fully extend justice where it may be required. A prostitute, sick of her dependency upon drugs, of being used and abused by clients and of her perpetual cycle of misery. A businessman who has a dark secret and is facing bankruptcy who decides to end it all.

The action kicks off right from the start of the story and Ben Cheetham does a great job of keeping the pace flowing. We follow Angel, a prostitute with a drug dependency. She is concerned that a girl, new to the streets, may have taken a potentially dangerous client to a remote part of town. Angel persuades one of her clients to try to find the girl before she comes to harm, however, she arrives too late to save the girl from receiving a beating. In an act of retribution Angel kills the girl’s client before taking the injured girl to hospital. From this point on Angel is on course to taking a degree of control back in her life.

While Angel is struggling to regain some independence the story switches to a struggling businessman who has decided that suicide is the only option he has left. Before he can end his own life he has a few loose ends to tie up first – the resultant fall out comes to Angel’s attention when it is reported on the news. For Angel, seeing the businessman on the news, one of her worst memories resurfaces and she decides to visit old haunts with a view to settling old scores.

Cheetham has created an attention grabbing thriller which kept me reading well into the wee small hours. Angel is a flawed character yet believes she is following the correct path in her attempts to punish those who have taken advantage of her. She is aided, indirectly, by DI Jim Monahan who is prepared to put his career on the line to see ‘justice’ done but he does not believe that the due process of the law will be able to punish the guilty. Can Monahan use a vengeful prostitute to bring down a few corrupt individuals? If he does then what may the consequences be? All becomes clear as the plot unfolds and, in keeping with the tone of the book, there are not always happy endings to be found.

On the strength of Angel of Death I would be more than willing to read more from Ben Cheetham. This was a well written and action-packed read. Great characterisation and more than a few unexpected twists kept me entertained to the end. I would award Angel of Death 4/5 and add Ben Cheetham to my list of authors to watch out for.

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December 16

The Abrupt Physics of Dying – Paul Hardisty

Claymore Straker is trying to forget a violent past. Working as an oil company engineer in the wilds of Yemen, he is

hijacked at gunpoint by Islamic terrorists. Clay has a choice: help uncover the cause of a mysterious sickness afflicting the village of Al Urush, close to the company’s oil-processing facility, or watch Abdulkader, his driver and close friend, die.

As the country descends into civil war and village children start dying, Clay finds himself caught up in a ruthless struggle between opposing armies, controllers of the country’s oil wealth, Yemen’s shadowy secret service, and rival terrorist factions. As Clay scrambles to keep his friend alive, he meets Rania, a troubled journalist. Together, they try to uncover the truth about Al Urush. But nothing in this ancient, unforgiving place is as it seems. Accused of a murder he did not commit, put on the CIA’s most-wanted list, Clay must come to terms with his past and confront the powerful forces that want him dead.

A stunning debut eco-thriller, The Abrupt Physics of Dying is largely based on true events – the horrific destruction of fresh water and lives by oil giants. Gritty, gripping and shocking, this book will not only open your eyes but keep them glued to the page until the final, stunning denouement is reached.

Many thanks to Karen Sullivan of Orenda Books for my review copy.

The Abrupt Physics of Dying is a phenomenal debut from Paul Hardisty, an action packed thriller which highlights the corruption that comes with corporate greed. The characters are brilliantly realised too as we see some very human flaws come to the fore.

The Abrupt Physics of Dying is primarily set in Yemen and follows ‘Clay’ Straker, he is an Environmental Contractor working for Petro-Tex who have established an extremely profitable oil plant in a remote part of the country. It is Clay’s job to monitor potential contamination around the plant, keep the local authorities amenable and ensure Petro-Tex can continue to drill while they seek corporate support to expand their enterprise.

However, Yemen is a troubled country and in the opening chapters we see Clay kidnapped by a terrorist group who hold Clay and his driver, Abdulkader, hostage. The leader of the terrorist group wants Clay to prove that the Petro-Tex plant is poisoning the area around their plant and endangering the villages nearby. Clay is released from his captivity to expose Petro-Tex and highlight the danger their operations are causing, Abdulkader is kept as a prisoner. Clay has 8 days to prove the contamination and alert the relevant authorities to the danger. If he succeeds he will save his friend.

From this point on we are taken on a frantic race against time as Clay struggles to establish if his employers are complicit in endangering hundreds of lives. Clay can trust no-one in his quest for the truth as Petro-Tex will do all they can to block his investigations. The press are sympathetic but will need evidence before they go public with any allegations against Petro-Tex. Rania is the journalist on scene (and she provides a love interest too) but it is not clear if Rania is being honest with Clay or if she is working to her own agenda. Added to the mix is a psychotic Security Agent looking to silence Clay – permanently.

We quickly learn that Clay is no desk-jockey, he has military training and is more than adept at fighting his way out of a tight corner. A very useful trait as Clay finds himself in more than one tight spot as he battles to unravel a web of corruption. It can be a tricky balance between exposing your hero to a constant threat and making him an invincible fighting machine. Clay faces many tough scrapes and does not necessarily come through each incident unscathed. However, I wonder if the level of peril that he encounters may be slightly too much for some readers to accept given the serious tone of the rest of the book. Personally I love an action packed read so I had no concerns – this one kept me gripped.

It is not a full on action ride every step of the way. As the story develops we see Clay start to consider how his actions in the past may have aided corruption to go unchallenged. Following the paycheck he has smoothed diplomatic channels, paid officials and had favourable reports returned and generally turned a blind eye to areas out with his remit. Now, as he faces the potential catastrophe of Petro-Tex creating an environmental disaster, Clay considers his own involvement in the process and realises that he may personally have failed the people he is now trying to save. This self-realisation added an extra dimension to Clay, giving depth to the character and seemingly steeling his motivation to put an end to the damage that is occurring.

Environmental crime is not a theme I have encountered often. The technical knowledge to make it convincing may be a limiting factor for some or perhaps the scale of the impact too great to take on? However, no such concerns here as Paul Hardisty has constructed a relevant and very believable thriller. Sadly it is too easy to accept that a corporation may put business interests ahead of lives if they believed they could cover it up. The message I took from this was that the love of power and money will overrule any feelings of morality and that, for some, human life becomes meaningless in the face of profit.

The Abrupt Physics of Dying is not only the debut novel from Paul Hardisty, it is also the first novel published by Orenda Books. It is pleasing to see both author and publisher getting off to such a strong start. The Abrupt Physics of Dying is compelling reading and tackles subject matter not often encountered: I urge you to grab this book, it is both dynamic and different and I enjoyed it immensely.

The Abrupt Physics of Dying was published by Orenda Books and is available now from the Kindle Store. A physical copy of the book will be in shops from March 2015.

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July 27

The String Diaries – Stephen Lloyd Jones

He has a face you love. A voice you trust. To survive you must kill him.

The rules of survival are handed from mother to daughter. Inherited, like the curse that has stalked Hannah and her family across centuries.

He changes his appearance at will, speaks with a stolen voice and hides behind the face of a beloved, waiting to strike.

Generation after generation, he has destroyed them. And all they could do was to run.

Until now.

Now, it is time for Hannah to turn and fight.

Review copy kindly provided by Bookbridgr from Headline.

Hannah lives her life in constant fear. She has a stalker and has to maintain a constant vigilance to ensure he cannot find her. To help her evade her pursuer she has a very special collection of books, diaries and journals, which were handed down from her mother and grandmother. They recount stories of their experiences and warn of the evil that stalks them. This is necessary as they were all running from is the same man Jakab– he does not age, he can change his physical appearance to exactly mirror another and he will let no one get in his way.

In his debut novel Stephen Lloyd Jones has crafted a tense thriller which will keep you turning pages well into the night. The story jumps from a modern day setting back into 18^th century Hungary where Hannah’s nemesis Jakab is introduced. We learn of his coming of age, how he develops his ‘talent’ of assuming another’s identity and the corrupting power that this gives him. Back to the present time and we find out a little more of Hannah and her family history – always with the constant threat of the ‘Bad Man’.

Pacing within the story is extremely well handled, Lloyd Jones progresses the present day pursuit throughout the story but introduces several cliff-hanger moments at which point he takes us back in time to develop the back-story and flesh out the character of his monster.

Despite the obvious corruption of Jakab and the callous nature he shows, the author also conveys the sense of loss that Jabab has experienced and you get an understanding into what motivates his murderous spree through the years.

A teaser chapter from a second novel at the end of The String Diaries confirms that there will be more to follow from Stephen Lloyd Jones – on the evidence of the first book the next story will be a welcome addition to my library.

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June 19

Stalkers – a great book crept up on me

STALKERS – PAUL FINCH

Time’s up. You’re Next.

“All he had to do was name the woman he wanted. It was that easy. They would do all the hard work.”

Detective Sergeant Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg is investigating the disappearance of 38 different women. Each one was happy and successful until they vanished without a trace.

Desperate to find her missing sister, Lauren Wraxford seeks out Heck’s help. Together they enter a seedy underworld of gangsters and organised crime.

But when they hear rumours about the so-called ‘Nice Guys Club’ they hit a brick wall. They’re the gang that no one will talk about. Because the Nice Guys can arrange anything you want. Provided you pay the price…

Having spent some time hanging round Twitter and getting a feel for what fellow readers were spending time with there was one name which cropped up more than once…Paul Finch.

Stalkers seemed the ideal jumping on point as it introduced Mark Heckenburg, a recurring central figure for Finch’s books. Promising start from my point of view – I love when an author establishes a character and builds on their story over a few books.

From the outset I was drawn into the story the Stalker element was unsettling when described from the victim’s (limited) viewpoint. The scale of the true horror that was to follow was skillfully revealed and kept me hooked. There were some very disturbing concepts brought out and the author really put his characters through the wringer.

I read a lot of Michael Slade books when I was younger. Murder stories featuring the Royal Canadian Mounted Police but with nasty ‘shlock horror’ undertones. This is the closest UK equivalent that I have read for many years but Stalkers was better – much, much better than anything Slade ever wrote.

I have no hesitation in calling Stalkers the best book that I have read this year – GRAB THIS BOOK I give it an A+.

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