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The Christmas Murder Game – A.K. Benedict

Twelve clues. Twelve keys. Twelve days of Christmas. But who will survive until Twelfth Night?

Lily Armitage never intended to return to Endgame House – the grand family home where her mother died twenty-one Christmases ago. Until she receives a letter from her aunt, asking her to return to take part in an annual tradition: the Christmas Game.

The challenge? Solve twelve clues, to find twelve keys. The prize? The deeds to the manor house. Lily has no desire to win the house. But her aunt makes one more promise: The clues will also reveal who really killed Lily’s mother all those years ago.

So, for the twelve days of Christmas, Lily must stay at Endgame House with her estranged cousins and unravel the riddles that hold the key not just to the family home, but to its darkest secrets. However, it soon becomes clear that her cousins all have their own reasons for wanting to win the house – and not all of them are playing fair.

As a snowstorm cuts them off from the village, the game turns deadly. Soon Lily realises that she is no longer fighting for an inheritance, but for her life. This Christmas is to die for… let the game begin.

My thanks to Eleanor Stammeijer at Bonnier Books for my review copy.

If you are thinking of gifting a book to someone this festive period and you know they are a fan of classic crime, locked room mysteries or love a story with some puzzles to work on as the story unfolds then AK Benedict’s The Christmas Murder Game is the book you should be wrapping for that person. If you are also a fan of those things then I would recommend getting a second copy for yourself. This one is FUN.

Okay maybe it isn’t fun for the victims in the story, all members of the same family who have been called to the family home, Endgame House, after the death of the family matriach. In years gone by all the children in the family would take part in the Christmas Game where clues were provided and had to be solved with presents at stake. Lily loved the games and knew Endgame House so well that she could easily solve the clues, however, she didn’t enjoy the tempers from some of the family members who fared less well so she shrunk into the background and let others claim the prizes.

Years earlier Lily vowed never to return to Endgame House after her mother died, leaving Lily to fend for herself at far too young an age. But it was her aunt’s dying wish that all the family (Lily included) return to Endgame House to pay the Christmas Game one last time as her death meant someone had to win the Game to win Endgame House. With a huge ancestral home going to the winner the former hotel is filled with squabbling kin who all want to best the other.

There will be daily clues and the chance to win keys. The correct key will open the door to a secret room hidden within Endgame House and for the winner the whole house. Lawyers have been consulted and the competition will be legally binding but only the family and a housekeeper will be resident during the twelve days of Christmas while the game plays out. The fact the guests all arrive as a heavy blizzard descends means they will all be trapped within Endgame House irrespective of how the rules were devised. Nobody can get in, nobody can get out so when one of their number is found dead there is only one possible truth – there is a killer in their midst who will stop at nothing to win the Christmas Game and take ownership of Endgame House.

AK Benedict has worked wonders with this story. It’s a Christie-esk murder tale. It’s Doctor Who’s Robots of Death (without the robots) and it’s a puzzle fan’s dream as there are anagram challenges and christmas books to identify which the author has peppered through each “day of Christmas”. I will confess to doing badly at those challenges but I had lots of fun trying (stress trying) to do well!

Lily shines through this story and she drives the narration. There are unexplained and unusual incidents, creepy noises from empty parts of the house and a murderer in their midst but Lily also has to contend with a return to the place of her mother’s death and that is hitting much harder than she had expected. Lily is beautifully written and I got much more invested into her plight than I ever did with the procession of characters Dame Agatha tripped out in her English Country Manor tales.

The Christmas Murder Game has the feel of a classic crime thriller but is very much a modern tale – when a Playstation was mentioned at one point it made me realise this wasn’t a book written in the Golden Age of crime fiction though I had that sepia tinted impression a number of times.

This is the perfect time of year to be picking up this book but don’t take too long and risk spoilers, the fun really is in not knowing where this story will take you. Charming with some nasty murders – great fun!

The Christmas Murder Game is published by Bonnier Zaffre and is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-christmas-murder-game/alexandra-benedict/9781838775384

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July 27

Girls Who Lie (Forbidden Iceland 2) – Eva Björg Ægisdóttir

When single mother Maríanna disappears from her home, leaving an apologetic note on the kitchen table, everyone assumes that she’s taken her own life … until her body is found on the Grábrók lava fields seven months later, clearly the victim of murder. Her neglected fifteen-year-old daughter Hekla has been placed in foster care, but is her perfect new life hiding something sinister?

Fifteen years earlier, a desperate new mother lies in a maternity ward, unable to look at her own child, the start of an odd and broken relationship that leads to a shocking tragedy.

Police officer Elma and her colleagues take on the case, which becomes increasingly complex, as the number of suspects grows and new light is shed on Maríanna’s past – and the childhood of a girl who never was like the others…

My thanks to Karen at Orenda Books for my review copy and to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to host this leg of the Girls Who Lie Blog Tour.

After last year’s introduction to the Forbidden Iceland series (The Creak on the Stairs) it is a welcome return for Elma the Icelandic police officer who is the lead character and the investigator tasked with these challenging investigations.

Seven months before our story begins a single mother (Maríanna) left her house and walked out on her teenage daughter. At least this is how things appeared, Maríanna had left a note for her daughter which seemed to apologise for her decicion to leave. She never returned and given that it was common knowledge Maríanna had struggled with parenting and had trouble bonding with her daughter nobody really questionned the initial decicion that she had taken her own life.

Back to the present and Elma is in an Icelandic cave and looking at Maríanna’s body. The seven months have not left Maríanna in an easily recognisable state but the cave protected her body from many of the elements and the police pathologist is certain that Maríanna did not take her own life. The police are now looking at a murder investigation but seven months on many memories are clouded and the questions which should have been asked when Maríanna first disappeared are less easily answered.

Interspersed between the chapters which track Elma’s investigation are some flashback/memory sections where a young mother recounts the problems she is experiencing. She did not wish to be a mother and she does not think she can do it. As her child grows older the subsequent sequences show the pair have no relationship and the mother cannot control (or even communicate with) her daugher. These are awkward and uncomfortable reads and while it sounds like you are reading Maríanna’s story you just cannot be sure this is the case.

As for Maríanna’s daughter. When she was young she would do short foster stays with a family. This would be at times when Maríanna was unable to cope, when she went off the rails for a period and just week on week. The foster family hoped Maríanna would put her daughter to them permanently but Maríanna never made that step and kept bringing her daughter home week on week. Once Maríanna walked out on her apparent suicide the foster arrangement became permanent. Now there is a new family structure in place, a happy family, and the police coming round to ask questions will not be condusive to a quiet and relaxing situation. Expect people to lie to protect their positions and the life they have established for themselves – afterall, the book is call Girls Who Lie.

When you’re reading translated fiction and you totally forget you are reading translated fiction then you know you have been well cared for by a top notch translator. All the plaudits to Victoria Cribb for taking Girls Who Lie and bringing it to the English speakers (readers) who would otherwise have missed out on Elma’s second outing.

It feels a slow burn at times and Elma even notes but the journey through Girls Who Lie is absolutely worth it and I hope you find you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Girls Who Lie is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08T5VZ6MK/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

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June 26

Fragile – Sarah Hilary

Everything she touches breaks . . .

Nell Ballard is a runaway. A former foster child with a dark secret she is desperately trying to keep, all Nell wants is to find a place she can belong.

So when a job comes up at Starling Villas, home to the enigmatic Robin Wilder, she seizes the opportunity with both hands.

But her new lodgings may not be the safe haven that she was hoping for. Her employer lives by a set of rigid rules and she soon sees he is hiding secrets of his own.

But is Nell’s arrival at the Villas really the coincidence it seems? After all, she knows more than most how fragile people can be – and how easily they can be to break . . .

My thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Blog Tours for the opporunity to host this leg of the Fragile Blog Tour. I was very grateful to recieve a review copy through Netgalley.

I always enjoy reading Sarah Hilary, her Marnie Rome books are among the best police thrillers currently being published and she never shields her characters from the worst experiences. Readers can normally expect a comforting security when reading about recurring characters – the danger happens elsewhere, to other people, leaving our favourite cops free to sweep in and catch the killer or lock up the bad guys. Not so with Sarah Hilary’s books, she is one of the few authors where you do feel the gloves are off and every single person she creates can just as easily be destroyed. The gut-punch twists she works so well into her stories are what bring me back every single time.

Knowing that Fragile was a stand alone novel I started reading with one thought uppermost in my mind – anything could happen here!

Nell was a runaway, living on the streets of London with Joe and the pair of them doing what it took to survive. Then one night Joe vanishes leaving Nell alone. She knows where she saw him last and returns to the street to watch for him. She eventually spots Starling Villas – a tiny doorway in a busy street which leads to the house behind. This is where Joe was last seen, going into this house and Nell is going to find out what happened to him in there. Starling Villas is the main hub of activity for the events unfolding but the history Nell and Joe share are equally relevant to the current events so readers will revisit Nell’s past to understand how she comes to find herself knocking on the door of Starling Villas applying for a job she finds out about by chance.

Nell had been brought up in care. From a very young age she cleaned, cooked, scrubbed, mended and did whatever else was required to appease the woman who was acting as her guardian. On learning the mysterious and enigmatic Robin Wilder needed an assistant in Starling Villas Nell makes herself available as a housekeeper. Her responsibilities are meticulously laid out, her every waking moment appears to be planned and her new employer gives away very little, even to the point of virtually ignorning Nell’s existence. She want’s to investigate the house to look for signs of Joe but so carefully plotted are her responsibilites it is hard to see how this could happen.

The pair have a very strange, controlled existence in Starling Villas but that precision is about to be shattered as Wilder’s wife adds an infusion of chaos to the dynamic. Nell hates her from the outset but also knows that this woman is involved with Joe’s disappearance. Things are about to get intense and with Sarah Hilary pulling the strings there is just no telling where we will end up.

Fragile was a fabulous read. For large parts the story felt out of its time. Starling Villas and the seclusion it brought from the outside world, the role of cook and housekeeper for the young girl who also washes, mends and does the shopping for her master. It had an old-world feel but then a mobile telephone is mentioned and you are brought back to the reality of a modern world but with a strange relationship and cirsumstance within this unusual house and its quirky residents.

I fully understand why Fragile is described as modern gothic The writing is beautiful, the depiction of Starling Villas and Nell’s challenging world were vivid and detailed in my imagination. For large parts of the book I had no idea where events may lead but I was fully caught up in the story and I was there for every step of that journey. Highly recommended.

Fragile is published by Macmillan and is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08KQGC527/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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May 17

Come Closer – Sara Gran

There was no reason to assume anything out of the ordinary was going on.

Strange noises in the apartment.

Impulsive behaviour.

Intense dreams.

It wasn’t like everything went wrong all at once.

Shoplifting.

Fighting.

Blackouts.

There must be a reasonable explanation for all this.

I received a review copy through Netgalley from the publisher

This came highly recommended by fellow blogger Liz, at Liz Loves Books, who tweeted that this was genuinely creepy and unsettling. If Liz was unsettled by a book then I wanted to read it. Having zipped through Come Closer in a day (it’s a horror novella) I fully understand why Liz flagged up the unsettling nature of this one, it’s a disturbing tale of demonic possession.

It is Amanda’s story. We first see her handing a piece of work to her boss except the submission contains some personal insults about her boss which most definitely were not in the draft which Amanda prepared. Amanda is horrified that someone would try to prank her in such a mean way and quickly defuses the situation by printing a fresh copy of her report which is insult free. Her boss accepts someone had been mucking about and order is restored but Amanda cannot help but concede to herself that the insults were a good reflection on how she felt about her boss.

First signs of trouble and disharmony are in place and mysterious incidents are going to quickly follow. In their appartment Amanda and her husband Ed hear a tapping noise. It’s irritating, untracable and goes on for weeks. Amanda hears it when she is home alone. Ed didn’t hear it when he was home alone. The noise comes and goes, no pattern and no routine just an irritating tapping.

Amanda begins to have strange dreams. The dreams are intense and vivid and the reader begins to see a lack of focus in Amanda’s daily life. The readers see how Amanda’s grip is starting to slip away from her. Through some fun wee plot devices the author introduces the possibility to Amanda that she may be possessed, but she rejects the notion – initially.

Come Closer is a close-up look at the main character of a story losing everything. As I mentioned, this is a novella, so I flew through the book in a single day – aided by the fact I had more time that usual that day to get some reading done. But once Amanda’s life starts to go off the rails I just wanted to keep reading. Everything happening to her (and the things she was happening to) were compulsive reading and I wanted to know how she was going to get herself out of the mess she was in. Then I began to wonder IF she would get out of the mess she was in. It is slick writing from Sara Gran which keeps you hooked and although it’s not a long book it packs a very effective punch.

Come Closer is published on 1 June 2021 by Faber and Faber. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/come-closer/sara-gran/9780571355556

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April 28

Geiger – Gustaf Skördeman

The landline rings as Agneta is waving off her grandchildren. Just one word comes out of the receiver: ‘Geiger’.

For decades, Agneta has always known that this moment would come, but she is shaken. She knows what it means.

Retrieving her weapon from its hiding place, she attaches the silencer and creeps up behind her husband before pressing the barrel to his temple.

Then she squeezes the trigger and disappears – leaving behind her wallet and keys.

The extraordinary murder is not Sara Nowak’s case. But she was once close to those affected and, defying regulations, she joins the investigation. What Sara doesn’t know is that the mysterious codeword is just the first piece in the puzzle of an intricate and devastating plot fifty years in the making . . .

My thanks to Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers for the opportunity to join the Geiger Blog Tour and to the publishers for my review copy.

My introduction to Geiger was a powerful promotional tease. A woman waves goodbye to her visiting family, takes a phonecall on which a single word is spoken”Geiger”. She then retrives a hidden pistol and executes her husband. How could you not want to know what followed that?

When you pick up Geiger that tease happens right at the start of the book. The story opens with the end of a family holiday where the grandchildren had been staying with Grandma Agneta and Grandpa Stellan. The grandchildren’s parents have been on holiday but now return to see their parents and recover their children. A happy family gathering where Grandpa Stellan shows off his garden and all his plants and Grandma Agneta tries to keep a degree of calm amongst the brood of grandchildren before they are packed into cars and the holiday ends. As the families depart and goodbye’s are waved that phone call takes place. Grandma Agneta answers and shortly after she steps up behind Grandpa Stellan and shoots him in the back of the head.

Agneta goes on the run. Many years earlier she had a handler, a contact who ensured she had access to an untraceable car, money and another weapon. What prompted this shocking turn of events? The police will initially be stumped. Grandpa Stellan is famously known across Sweden as Uncle Stellan. He was one of Swedish televisions most beloved faces, for years he had been a reliable and safe pair of hands and everyone in Sweden knew and loved Stellan. His murder will cause shockwaves through the country. The disappearance of his wife, Agneta, is the most worrying element for the police – was she kidnapped, is she running for her life or has she been killed and her body hidden? It certainly does not occur to them that Agneta may have been responsible.

Sara Nowak is a Swedish police officer. She works to prevent prostitution, attacks on working women and to stop the men who are exploiting vulnerable women and working as their pimps. Sara struggles to supress her anger when she sees men abusing the women she is trying to protect. Men being arrested are fair game to a kick or a punch from Sara and it is causing problems with her colleague. Sara has just arrested a man for beating a prostitute when the call comes through about Uncle Stellan. As a child Sara had grown up with Stellan and Agneta and she had played with their daughters – Sara’s mother had been the cleaner for the family. Sara rushes to the crime scene intent on being part of the investigation.

From this point on Sara relentlessly pursues the truth behind the family she grew up with. She uncovers a hidden life for Uncle Stellan who appears to have been deeply sympathetic to the East German political approach and there are strong links to the Stasi. His political leanings are just the tip of the iceberg though and Sara will unearth more and more shocking information about the family she clearly did not know as well as she thought.

Dividing her time between official investigations into attacks on the working girls in Sweden and the digging she is doing into Stellan’s disappearance we see Sara stretched and worn down by events. She enlists help from journalists, other police and even the security services will try to tap her for information – Sara will need some quid-pro-quo on that front.

There’s a lot to take in with Geiger. It’s a police drama with a lot of espionage and terrorism elements in there too. I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys a spy thriller, a police drama and everyone that likes a great story – be warned, however, there are some potentially upsetting elements too best described in a non-spoilery way as “exploitation”.

Well worth hunting this one down – powerful drama.

Geiger is published by Zaffre on 29 April 2021 and is available in Hardback, Digital and Audiobook format. You can order a copy here:

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November 2

The Last Resort – Susi Holliday

Seven strangers. Seven secrets. One perfect crime.

When Amelia is invited to an all-expenses-paid retreat on a private island, the mysterious offer is too good to refuse. Along with six other strangers, she’s told they’re here to test a brand-new product for Timeo Technologies. But the guests’ excitement soon turns to terror when the real reason for their summons becomes clear.

Each guest has a guilty secret. And when they’re all forced to wear a memory-tracking device that reveals their dark and shameful deeds to their fellow guests, there’s no hiding from the past. This is no luxury retreat—it’s a trap they can’t get out of.

As the clock counts down to the lavish end-of-day party they’ve been promised, injuries and in-fighting split the group. But with no escape from the island—or the other guests’ most shocking secrets—Amelia begins to suspect that her only hope for survival is to be the last one standing. Can she confront her own dark past to uncover the truth—before it’s too late to get out?

My thanks to Susi Holliday for arranging an early review copy of The Last Resort

Tech thriller or survival horror tale? Murder story or fantasy nightmare? Well thanks to the twisted genius that is Susi Holliday you can enjoy all those concepts within The Last Resort. I originally pegged this story as Agatha Christie meets Westworld with some Enid Blyton and Michael Slade. Now I just want to class it as a Susi Holliday thriller – dark, deadly and uttery gripping.

Our focus in The Last Resort is Amelia – she has been invited to attend an all-inclusive trip to a private island. We pick up her story as she boards the plane to set off on her adventure and through Amelia’s eyes we see the other six passengers who are joining her on the trip. An unusual mix of characters who are not too keen on sharing information about themselves but everyone appears to have been selected for a skill or opportunity which they can offer to their mysterious hosts.

Their actual destination is to be kept a secret and a mid-flight incident means that the seven guests will not be able to keep track of their flight path or see where they actually land. On deplaning the seven are met by one of the staff members on the island who presents them all with a piece of tech which they will be required to wear for the duration of their stay. This tech has been developed by Timeo Technologies, who appear to be the firm behind their host’s invitation, and promises to push the boundaries of technological advances to make their stay remarkable. However Amelia’s device doesn’t work correctly and she has to take an older model – it alienates her slightly from the rest of the group and when the tech starts to reveal the full extent of its capabilities it causes futher divides as suspicion and fear amongst the guests escalates.

The reason behind this suspicion and fear is that the luxury retreat the guests were expecting is not quite the island they find themselves on. Their hosts can speak directly into their ears, their every move appears to be under surveillance and worse still; the device can apparently read the mind of the wearer and project images of their darkest secrets into the open. This group of strangers are being subjected to a breakdown of their defences and information, which could ruin them, is being publically shared. This mental attack is hard for Amelia and her fellow guests to contend with yet there are also phyiscal perils to be overcome too. The Last Resort is not a story about a luxury retreat, it is a story about seven strangers in a battle of wits to try to survive the experience and confront their mysterious host to understand the reason behind the vindictive and potentially deadly assults.

I am very fond of tense thrillers such as this. The chapters are timestamped to let the reader know there is a deadline to be met and that for some of the guests the minutes which tick by may not be sufficient to secure their safety. The confines of the island, and the way the author depicts the narrow pathways and passages the guests have to navigate adds a feeling of claustrophobia which accentuates the trap which they feel they have entered. The location almost feels like one of the characters as it is so integral to their plight.

The Last Resort is another gem from Susi Holliday. I loved the unpredictable nature of the peril the characters face. The tech is clever, deadly and alarmingly plausible. If you are seeking a new page-turner then you should look no further than The Last Resort – five star thrills all the way.

The Last Resort is available now for Amazon Prime members through the Amazon First Reads scheme. Publication date for non Prime members is 1 December 2020. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B085HCCP4W/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2

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February 10

Never Look Back – A.L. Gaylin (Audiobook)

Some people deserve to die. Others never should have been born at all.

In 1975, 15-year-old April Cooper and her 18-year-old boyfriend embark on a weeklong killing spree that results in the deaths of a dozen innocent people in Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley. Was April a willing accomplice or a victim herself, abducted by an obsessed psychopath and forced into committing horrible acts?

No one will ever know for sure, as April and Eric were apparently killed in a bloody shoot-out at the Death Valley compound of their final victims – a family of off-the-grid survivalists known as The Gideons.

In 2015, Robin Brennan’s parents have been involved in a shooting. Her father is dead, and her mother in a critical state, with Robin desperate for her to wake.

But when Jameson Malloy, the host of Closure – a true crime podcast investigating the San Gabriel Valley murder – shows up, Robin soon learns that her parents are maybe not who they say they are….

My thanks to Alex at Orion for providing the review copy of Never Look Back and to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers for the opportunity to join the audio blog tour.

Never Look Back is a clever, slow-burn tale where the author teases a tale of secrets and half-truths from her cast to keep readers guessing to the end of the book.

Quentin Garrison is producing a podcast called Closure. He appears a troubled young man and the Closure in the title is to be his personal closure. He wants to cover the story of the murder of his aunt – killed as a toddler during a shooting when now-notorious schoolgirl, April Cooper, and her boyfriend went on a prolonged crime spree in 1976.

His aunt’s death at a young age broke his mother’s spirit and that of her father, Quentin’s grandfather. Seeking to understand how April Cooper could have so comprehensively ruined his own life Quentin is shocked to learn that Cooper may still be alive despite the world believing she died in a fire in 76.

One of the key people who may be able to help Quentin get to the truth is Robin’s father – he studied behavioural psychology. Quentin seeks him out but before he is able to get the answers he seeks both Robin’s parents are attacked in their home. Her father dead, her mother critically I’ll in hospital, Robin begins to dig a bit deeper into who Quentin is and why he may feel her mother can help him trace a murderer who has been presumed dead for over 30 years.

Cooper herself does get a voice in the story as in 1976 she is writing a letter to her future child. It’s an idea one of her teachers had and one which Cooper really embraced. All the events which went down in history after her murderous spree had ended are narrated by Cooper to her future child in letter form. It allows the murderer to tell her side of the story and allows the reader to judge her actions independently.

As I mentioned – Never Look Back is a clever story and the author plants enough seeds of doubt through the narrative that I was never entirely sure which voices could be trusted at any time. That doubt and uncertainty kept me engaged though the book and the resolution was pleasing.

As with every audiobook the enjoyment (no matter how good the book) also relies upon the narrator – if you are investing 10 hours into a story then you need to be sure you are comfortable with the voice telling that story. Never Look Back has two narrators, James Fouhey and Jorjeana Marie. Marie takes the chapters dominated by female roles, Fouhey the male dominated chapters.

It felt Jorjeana Marie had more to cover over the course of the book as both April’s story and Robin’s are the majority of the focus. Quentin has a larger say when the podcast (and his investigation) is foremost. More of Jorjeana Marie’s voice was a decided bonus as I much preferred the chapters where she took the lead.

One peculiarity of the audiobook was the unexpected inclusion of additional sound effects in the opening chapters. One key element of the story gets additional background noises and incidental supporting sound behind the narrators voice. This is a bit of a rarity in the books I listen to (where normally all we get is the spoken word). The additional sound effects were initially startling but I was ready for their continued inclusion throughout the book. It wasn’t until the story ended that I realised the additional effects had stopped after the first ten minutes which made their brief inclusion all the more puzzling.

A slow burn audiobook needs its place in the day – nighttime listening was where I enjoyed Never Look Back the most. The easy drawl of the narrators was best suited to a quieter place and slower pace, it gave the story it’s best chance to shine.

Never Look Back – great story, well told. Audio best enjoyed in relaxed conditions.

Never Look Back is published by Orion and is available in audiobook, paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Never-Look-Back-brutal-mother-ebook/dp/B07KRLG18D/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1581285553&refinements=p_27%3AA.L.+Gaylin&s=books&sr=1-1&text=A.L.+Gaylin

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August 18

Control – Hugh Montgomery

Not all doctors are heroes . . .

Renowned surgeon Michael Trenchard locks his office door and prepares for a relaxing evening. But what follows is a living nightmare when later he is discovered in a locked-in coma, the victim of an auto-erotic asphyxiation.

It is left to Doctor Kash Devan, Trenchard’s young protégé, to uncover the truth. And what he discovers is chilling . . .

In his ruthless pursuit of wealth and success, Trenchard has left a trail of wrecked lives, and angry people, behind him. Which of Trenchard’s victims hated him so much that they wanted to ruin not only his reputation, but his life as well?

I received a review copy from the publisher. My thanks to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers for the chance to join the blog tour.

There are far too few hospital based thrillers these days. I love a medical thriller and, like many others, I grew up reading Robin Cook novels so I knew I could rely upon a new hospital drama arriving once a year. Then the hospitals seemed to fade from the pages of crime novels (other than the morgues) and the courtrooms took over. So when I read the blurb for Control and realised the lead character was a junior doctor and the victim was his boss I had high hopes. I was not disappointed.

Control was exactly what I have been missing. A tense thriller set in a hospital where doctors and nurses are the key players and the patients could be suspects, witnesses or even a killer. Nobody is above suspicion and there are some very nasty twists in the tale to make readers aware as to how much you can be at the mercy of your medical staff.

Control had me hooked. The narrative is driven by Kash, a young doctor who finds himself working under the powerful and influential surgeon Michael Trenchard. Trenchard is very much the man in control of his staff but there are signs that his authority is not welcomed by everyone.

The early part of the story settles the reader into life at the hospital. Kash is run ragged coping with all his responsibilities and there seems little time for himself. Yet he finds a way to balance life with the unrelenting work demands and we see how young doctors are expected to cope in the modern NHS.

But before we get too comfortable with hospital life a dramatic incident. Trenchard is found in his office, barely alive, and it appears he has accidentally lost control during an auto-erotic asphyxiation. Kash is one of the first on scene and tries to save his mentor’s reputation but his efforts will be largely futile.

Kash refuses to believe Trenchard could have indulged in auto-erotic asphyxiation and he is sure the surgeon would not have indulged in his office at the hospital. As such Kash starts to ask questions and challenge the findings of the police. Unfortunately for Kash someone doesn’t want him to look too closely into what actually occurred.

Clever writing and some very nasty medical twists and turns made Control one of my favourite reads of the summer – highly recommended.

Control is published by Zaffre and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07M7KQKP9/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

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May 21

Playing The Martyr – Ian G Moore

A retired Englishman is crucified on the banks of the Loire Valley and the peace and quiet of rural France is shattered. Blackmailed into leading the investigation, the recently widowed Juge d’instruction Matthieu Lombard feels shattered too.

An apparently innocuous victim, held in high regard by the French locals, who would target the Englishman? And why like this? Is someone using the 500-year-old legend of Joan of Arc to stir up tension between the French locals and the British expat community? And for what purpose?

Lombard must use all his experience to break down the wall of silence in small-town France and avoid the failure his bosses are hoping for. Will his half-English, half-French background help? Will it give him the freedom to move inside both communities or does it mean he’ll be trusted by neither?

While fighting his own grief and his own team, the case turns up a gut-churning connection with his late wife and lays bare something that he’s known all along; that the River Loire, like the valley itself, has a calm surface hiding a murderous undercurrent.

I received a copy of Playing the Martyr from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I read a lot of crime novels. The majority of these stories are set in the UK or the US. I have a good understanding of their hierarchy of police squads and the respective judicial systems. Playing The Martyr is set in France – the lead character is Matthieu Lombard, he is Juge d’instruction. I had no idea what that meant but I loved that Playing The Martyr had a “new” feel to it even before the story got going.

What an absolute treat it was to learn more about the position Juge Lombard holds, particularly as Lombard has not enjoyed the best of times of late and is facing a few political challenges to his authority. Overcoming personal tragedy, facing down rivals who would challenge his authority and dwelling too long on past events he cannot possibly change – the reader meets Lombard at an interesting time.

But personal issues aside – Lombard has a murder to solve. An Englishman has been found crucified in the beautiful Loire Valley. His murder (and other incidents which take place as the story unfolds) appear to have a connection to Joan of Arc. This does pose something of an issue for Lombard as the town where the murder occurred is desperately trying to establish a connection to the Saint so they can cash in on the tourist opportunities. Is the murder a grotesque effort to put the town on the map or are the Joan of Arc references an elaborate red herring to put the police off the scent?

From being a bit of a Twitter stalker I know that Ian Moore lives in France and he does a terrific job of depicting this idyllic part of the world in Playing The Martyr. It is great when authors capture the spirit of their chosen locations – too many books can be cut and paste stories into any random town or city. Not so here – the sense of place was striking at times and I felt genuine pangs of wanderlust to make a visit to the Loire Valley and soak up some of the atmosphere.

I loved the time I spent with Playing The Martyr. Lombard was a great lead character and I hope he returns in the not too distant future. Supporting cast were well defined and there were some fun and lighthearted moments to break up the darker twists. Pleasingly I was nowhere near guessing the secrets to the story and that’s how I like it!

Playing the Martyr is a Pause Publications book and can be purchased in paperback and digital format here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Playing-Martyr-Ian-G-Moore-ebook/dp/B07LG71TGL/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=playing+the+martyr&qid=1555351140&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Category: From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

April 5

Twisted – Steve Cavanagh

BEFORE YOU READ THIS BOOK
I WANT YOU TO KNOW THREE THINGS:

1. The police are looking to charge me with murder.
2. No one knows who I am. Or how I did it.
3. If you think you’ve found me. I’m coming for you next.

After you’ve read this book, you’ll know: the truth is far more twisted…

I received a review copy from the publisher and was invited to join the blog tour – my thanks to Tracy Fenton.

It is hard to know where to start with Twisted. This blog is very much a spoiler free zone so discussing the plot of Twisted without giving away too much information is going to be a challenge. So I shall start with the easy bit…Twisted is lots of fun to read. It’s a contender to be the poster child for the 2019 “page turner” campaign.

Once the story begins you get drawn in. Right from the off. Those first few pages will have you wondering what the Hell is going on? So you read a bit more. And more. And more. Then the story picks you up, shakes your understanding around a little and pops you back down. You venture into the next chapter and the next but now you aren’t sure what may happen next so you keep reading. Until the story picks you up, shakes you around a little and you are set back down to face another set of possibilities, with a whole new direction to travel. Repeat, repeat. It is perfect reading escapism.

But what is Twisted about? I would venture this brief outline. It is about a secret, an enigma, a hugely successful writer who has managed to keep his real identity a secret from the world. But someone is going to discover that secret and the carefully constructed life the writer has crafted for himself is going to start to unravel. But then maybe it isn’t that at all. It’s complicated. Actually it is Twisted.

What I can confirm is that the identity of the mysterious writer is a closely guarded secret. So much so that people have died in order for the writer (J.T. Le Beau) to keep his secret safe. Their deaths will be written into one of his books – and if THAT isn’t Twisted then I don’t know what is!

When you are packing for your summer holidays make sure Twisted is in your suitcase. But as it has already released I’d recommend buying your copy now. Links are below 😉

Twisted is published by Orion and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Twisted-bestselling-THIRTEEN-Steve-Cavanagh-ebook/dp/B07G19CB1N/ref=sr_1_1?crid=6X24F3AFO1I&keywords=twisted+steve+cavanagh&qid=1554399503&s=gateway&sprefix=twisted+%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-1

Category: 5* Reviews, Blog Tours | Comments Off