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A Rattle of Bones – Douglas Skelton

In 1752, Seamus a’Ghlynne, James of the Glen, was executed for the murder of government man Colin Campbell. He was almost certainly innocent.

When banners are placed at his gravesite claiming that his namesake, James Stewart, is innocent of murder, reporter Rebecca Connolly smells a story. The young Stewart has been in prison for ten years for the brutal murder of his lover, lawyer and politician Murdo Maxwell, in his Appin home. Rebecca soon discovers that Maxwell believed he was being followed prior to his murder and his phones were tapped.

Why is a Glasgow crime boss so interested in the case? As Rebecca keeps digging, she finds herself in the sights of Inverness crime matriarch Mo Burke, who wants payback for the damage caused to her family in a previous case.

Set against the stunning backdrop of the Scottish Highlands, A Rattle of Bones is a tale of injustice and mystery, and the echo of the past in the present.

My thanks to Polygon for providing a review copy of A Rattle of Bones.

When you’re selecting a new book to read you always hope you pick one which you will enjoy. This is particularly important if you are selecting an audiobook. The time you expect to devote towards reading a story means you will be looking for a rewarding return for that investment. What can you do to reduce the risk of selecting a disappointing read?

Well I recommend picking up a book by Douglas Skelton, he always delivers a tight, gripping thriller. Skelton will perfectly balance tension, humour and the human engagement needed from characters to make them authentic and believable. He consistently delivers and with his Rebecca Connolly series he seems to be hitting new highs.

A Rattle of Bones is the third book in the series, you don’t need to have read either of the two previous novels to enjoy this one. Rebecca is a journalist working for a news agency in Inverness. Events in Thunder Bay and The Blood is Still have left her somewhat rattled and there has been some turmoil she has had to endure but Rebecca is made of strong stuff and plugs on. What she did not anticipate was a direct threat to her safety when a face-to-face confrontation takes an unexpected turn. Someone doesn’t like Rebecca’s reporting of certain events and makes it clear he will be watching and wating for the chance to make her pay.

It’s a chilling opening to the story and places a constant threat over Rebecca for the whole story.

Personal threats don’t stop Rebecca from working and she finds herself investigating the imprisonment of James Stewart, convicted for killing his lover, the politician Murdo Maxwell. Maxwell’s body was found in a locked room in his home, Stewart was unconcious beside him with a bloody poker in his hand and it was clear to the police and prosecutors that Stewart killed Maxwell while under the influence of drugs – his sentencing was but a formality.

Ten years later there are now doubts over Stewart’s guilt. Banners have been erected which suggest there has been a miscarriage of justice – Stewart is innocent. Rebecca agrees to run a story which alerts readers to the possibility James Stewart did not murder Murdo Maxwell, she then finds herself in a lawyer’s office under the promise he can cast further light on the matter.

Rebecca is about to become caught up in a complicated drama which has its roots over a decade earlier. Long memories, rivalries and personal pride make people do unpredicable things and Rebecca is caught up in the mix. Oh and don’t forget…someone is out to get her.

If every book was as enjoyable as this I’d be a happy reader.

A Rattle of Bones is published by Polygon and is available now in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08Q3M2L36/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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July 23

The Beresford – Will Carver

Just outside the city – any city, every city – is a grand, spacious but affordable apartment building called The Beresford.

There’s a routine at The Beresford.

For Mrs May, every day’s the same: a cup of cold, black coffee in the morning, pruning roses, checking on her tenants, wine, prayer and an afternoon nap. She never leaves the building.

Abe Schwartz also lives at The Beresford. His housemate, Sythe, no longer does. Because Abe just killed him.

In exactly sixty seconds, Blair Conroy will ring the doorbell to her new home and Abe will answer the door. They will become friends. Perhaps lovers.

And, when the time comes for one of them to die, as is always the case at The Beresford, there will be sixty seconds to move the body before the next unknowing soul arrives at the door.

Because nothing changes at The Beresford, until the doorbell rings…

My thanks to Karen at Orenda for my review copy and to Anne Cater at Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to host this leg of the blog tour for The Beresford.

I never do this; pleae indulge me for a second. That Cover. Love it. I can happily ignore 99% of book covers without needing to comment but that one’s a cracker. I wonder if Orenda realise they are saving the very best covers for their supernatural stories? Quite right too – a good horror tale needs a suitably grabbable skin wrapped around it.

So a horror story about a house called The Beresford. But not a haunted house story, this book is all about the people who come to live in The Beresford. And those who come to die.

It seems the cycle is inevitable. A new resident will arrive to stay in The Beresford exactly sixty seconds after the last breath of life leaves one of the current occupants. In that sixty seconds a body has to be hidden and Mrs May (the owner of The Beresford) will come out from her room and introduce herself to the new resident and try to help them settle in.

Mrs May is the old lady at the heart of the story. The enigma. She jokes she is 100, 150, 1200 years old but her residents just see a kindly old woman who is rather set in her ways and appears to be a bit of a matchmaker if her residents are suitability single and lonely.

Nobody arrives at The Beresford with murder in their heart but once they get inside those cheap but surprisingly spacious rooms something changes. A trigger moment will arise and a moment of madness will lead to the next corpse on the floor. The clever ones will cover up their crimes and kindly old Mrs May will just make a few subtle suggestions about “cleaning up”. In some instances Mrs May will need to take direct intervention and tell the murderer how to dispose of a body.

Mrs May knows everything that happens at The Beresford and down the years she has become very adept at body disposal.

What a clever, twisted and entertaining story this was. The constant knowledge someone in the story was going to be killed. Rooting for a favourite or waiting for the irritating ones to be erased but always compelling. There are 1,000 stories which could be told about the people that visit The Beresford and 1,000 more about the people that come looking for them when they are gone. I could have read all 2,000 of them.

This isn’t a scary horror tale in the jump-scare, something’s behind me mould. This is a disturbing story of demonic forces, murder and dismemberment and one for the reader to try to understand what is happening then try to understand how the story could possibly find closure. It’s the best I have read from Will Carver and major kudos to him for delivering such an accessible, readable and utterly enjoyable horror tale.

The Beresford is published by Orenda Books and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08WRMCLVQ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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July 3

Down by the Water – Elle Connel

Seven friends gather at a castle in the Scottish Borders. One last weekend before Georgie’s wedding. Near the castle, through a path in the woods, is a loch. After a few drinks, they head down to the water to take photos. The loch is wild, lonely, and stunningly beautiful. They set their camera to self-timer and take some group shots. Later, looking back at the pictures, they see something impossible.

Behind them, eyes wide, a small, drenched boy emerges from the water.

But none of them saw him, and nobody knows where he went. They’re miles from the nearest town. How did he get there? Where did he go?

As the weekend unravels and terrible secrets come to light, it soon becomes clear that their perfect weekend is turning into a perfect nightmare. They’re desperate to leave – but someone won’t let them.

My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the Down by the Water tour. I received a review copy from the publishers, Wildfire Books.

A group of university friends are reuniting for a weekend away before one of their number gets married. All the friends are to be be bridesmaids for Georgie, who is essentially the guest of honour, but the trip will bring back the girls bring the girls back to Scotland for a castle getaway and a drunken party. As you can tell from the blurb (above) things are not going to go smoothly.

The problems begin on the train North. Although the friends all met at St Andrews University they now all live back in England and are returning to Scotland as a nod to their time together. This entails a long train journey and the drinking begins on the train. In the night Tessa is woken from her sleep and called to help one of their number (Bea) who has taken drugs and is in a bad state. As the only medic in their midst Tessa is called to assist.

This incident sets the scope of the characters well. All the girls will be drinking through the story, drugs are accepted and enjoyed too and this makes some of their choices and reactions interesting as events unfold. We also learn from an early stage that Tessa is seen as the more practical member of their number, that Bea is more vulnerable and that the friends will close ranks and try to resolve problems internally without seeking outside support. A close group who, despite not seeing each other for a number of years, still revert back to old patterns of friendship.

Interestingly as the story plays out and the friends settle into their remote castle for their weekend retreat we see the power dynamics change. Georgie is the bride to be and the largest personality of the group, Tessa appears the more practical and the peacemaker. But these friends have not seen each other for a number of years and any easy companionship they may have previously had is now altered as their lives changed. Within the group of seven there will be sniping, bitching and outright hostility. They will try to overcome these differences for the sake of harmony over the weekend but the drink and drugs will fuel hosilities and loosen any tongues which may otherwise have been curbed.

Within their party there are secrets and old resentments. Why has Georgie suddenly brought together the university crowd and not any of her friends from work? Why does Bea keep disappearing and what is the book she is reading? Why has Tessa booked such a remote place to gather? Why does the castle’s owner act so strangely around the friends? Then, most shockingly of all, how did none of the girls spot the young boy rising out of the loch behind them as they posed for a group selfie? The chilling vision in their photograph gives all the events a decidely creepy feel.

Elle Connel has done a fantasic job making these “friends” a compelling read. The Amazon listing suggests this book is for readers that enjoyed In A Dark, Dark Wood and The Hunting Party. Having read both those books I can see why they are suggested. The tension from In A Dark, Dark Wood is very much present. The Hunting Party brought together a group of friends who were all extremely unpleasant individuals. While Down by the Water does have a few unpleasant characters their toxicity is nowhere near as bad as The Hunting Party. For me, this makes Down by the Water much more enjoyable to read as I could become more invested in the welfare of the characters and actually care if they were to survive to the end of the book.

Thrillers built around secrets are always a good read. When the reader is learning the secrets at the same time as the characters you can’t help but look for clues as to where the story may be heading. Down by the Water did the slow reveals very well and (no spoilers) by the end of the book you may find your sympathies and frustrations at some of the characters have changed over the course of the story. Very nicely pitched and the pacing and reveals were spot on – I enjoyed this one.

Down by the Water is published by Wildfire and is available in digital format now and in hardback and audio from 8 July 2021. You can get a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08P4DSRX8/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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June 23

True Crime Story – Joseph Knox

‘What happens to those girls who go missing? What happens to the Zoe Nolans of the world?’

In the early hours of Saturday 17 December 2011, Zoe Nolan, a nineteen-year-old Manchester University student, walked out of a party taking place in the shared accommodation where she had been living for three months.

She was never seen again.

Seven years after her disappearance, struggling writer Evelyn Mitchell finds herself drawn into the mystery. Through interviews with Zoe’s closest friends and family, she begins piecing together what really happened in 2011. But where some versions of events overlap, aligning perfectly with one another, others stand in stark contrast, giving rise to troubling inconsistencies.

Shaken by revelations of Zoe’s secret life, and stalked by a figure from the shadows, Evelyn turns to crime writer Joseph Knox to help make sense of a case where everyone has something to hide.

Zoe Nolan may be missing presumed dead, but her story is only just beginning

My thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to host this leg of the blog tour. I recieved a review copy from the publishers.

It’s nice to sit down to write a review of a book which you loved. I came in to True Crime Story blind so had no idea what to expect and what I found was a slick story told unconventionally through a series of interview snippets and email correspondence. Initially I wasn’t sure I would enjoy reading the short bursts of contributions from various characters, an edited conversation pieced together after the events in question. However, I quickly found my first hesitancy had been misguided and I found I was really enjoying spending time reading something which shook up the norm.

The story focuses around the disappearance of student Zoe Nolan. Last seen on Saturday December 17th 2011. She vanished from her halls of residence at Manchester University and events around this incident are recounted by a number of people who crossed paths with Zoe and the subsequent investigation into her disappearance. The key players in the story are Zoe’s twin sister Kim, her boyfriend, their flatmates and (subsequently) Zoe and Kim’s parents. Other people phase in and out of the interviews but everything his brought together by Evelyn who is writing a book on Zoe’s continued absence and is sharing her writing and a few other thoughts and problems with her friend Joseph Knox. Yes the same Joseph Knox – it’s a nice twist to the narrative.

Where to start but not do any spoilers? Tricky.

Readers get to understand the relationship Zoe and Kim had with their parents and then see how the twins were very much different people, with different interests and a very different destiny. When Zoe and Kim get to university they form friendships and get thrust into accommodation with strangers, they will all need to adapt to their new surroundings and the new faces around them. Needless to say things do not go smoothly and there are several flashpoint incidents and situations which gives the reader a glimpse into the characters of all the players in this game.

True Crime Story is an emotive story and nobody connected with Zoe Nolan is going to come out of this book unscathed. Joseph Knox captures the claustrophobia of a group living in close proximity and the fractious relationships that this can bring. He brings life to these characters and my investment in their individual stories was sealed very early into the book. The outstanding narrative style works perfectly and gives the young students an authenticity that you do believe you are indeed reading a True Crime Story.

True Crime Story is available in Hardback, Digital and Audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08HGMDNP2/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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June 14

Falling – T.J. Newman

You just boarded a flight to New York.

There are one hundred and forty-three other passengers onboard.

What you don’t know is that thirty minutes before the flight your pilot’s family was kidnapped.

For his family to live, everyone on your plane must die.

The only way the family will survive is if the pilot follows his orders and crashes the plane.

Enjoy the flight.

I received a review copy from the publisher. My thanks to Anne Cater from Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to host this leg of the tour.

Starting this review with a trip to dictionary.com –

RELENTLESS

adjective

not easing or slackening; maintaining speed, vigor, etc.:a relentless barrage of bad news.

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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April 1

The April Dead – Alan Parks

NO ONE WILL FORGET . . .

In a grimy flat in Glasgow, a homemade bomb explodes, leaving few remains to identify its maker.

Detective Harry McCoy knows in his gut that there’ll be more to follow. The hunt for a missing sailor from the local US naval base leads him to the secretive group behind the bomb, and their disturbing, dominating leader.

On top of that, McCoy thinks he’s doing an old friend a favour when he passes on a warning, but instead he’s pulled into a vicious gang feud. And in the meantime, there’s word another bigger explosion is coming Glasgow’s way – so if the city is to survive, it’ll take everything McCoy’s got . . .

My thanks to Jamie at Canongate for a review copy of The April Dead and to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the oppourtunity to host this leg of the tour.

Harry McCoy is the new name to add to the list of Scotland’s Best Fictional Coppers. His city is Glasgow and The April Dead takes us to 1974 – a full decade before Taggart became known as “Scottish For Murder.”

This book opens with a bang – literally. A homemade bomb has blown up in a rundown house in a quiet part of town. It looks like the bomb-maker made one final mistake at the wrong moment. McCoy isn’t good with blood so being asked to investiate a death where the victim is spread around a room really isn’t the best way for him to begin his day.

Before too long McCoy will be spinning more than one plate and finding himself in another unwelcome position. As ever, one of the key elements which bring these predicaments is is oldest friend Stevie Cooper – recently released from Peterhead prison and back in town to re-establish himself as the big noise with a finger in every pie. McCoy’s friendship with Cooper, one of Glasgows biggest criminals, is always problematic but never more so when Cooper is arrested for murder by McCoy’s young apprentice Wattie.

It seems the clumsy bombmaker may not have been working alone as there are further incidents around the city and McCoy finds he is relying upon the skills of a colleague who transferred from Northern Ireland. His experience of dealing with the aftermath of IRA bombs across the Irish Sea has given him unwelcome knowledge of different bombs and the destruction they can cause. In the mid-1970s the IRA were starting to make their presence felt on the mainland UK and unfortunately for McCoy he appears to be drawing attention to himself and being noticed by the wrong type of people.

With regular sidekick Wattie spending some of his time dealing with his new paternal responsibilities we see McCoy using some of his personal time trying to help out a retired American naval captain. His son (also a sailor) has gone missing in Glasgow and Capitan Stewart has travelled to Scotland to try and trace him. He is reliant upon McCoy’s support and McCoy appears happy to spend time with Stewart and help him to find the missing boy. However, it seems Stewart junior may have fallen in with a bad crowd and McCoy is certain there are elements of his life which his father knows nothing about. Diplomacy isn’t really McCoy’s strength so digging into possible criminal activities while keeping Captain Stewart in the dark is just another challenge for McCoy.

As with the earlier Harry McCoy novels I find the author’s depictions of Glasgow, as she was, to be mesmerising. It’s a familiar city in unfamiliar coat. McCoy knows his home and he knows many of the undesirable characters who live within but he moves around and spins those plates and by shaking up the right people and knowing the questions to ask he begins to make progress. The bombings are a clear and present threat and there are too many young military types cropping up in the investigation for McCoy’s liking. Alan Parks keeps the reader hooked with multiple events and threads and you know that when the book reaches the endgame lots of those threads are going to be connected – but which ones?

I make no secret of the fact I adore the Harry McCoy series. I recommend them above many other crime books and each new release brings increasing levels of anticipation. The April Dead did not disappoint – if I did “starred” reviews it would be a nailed on Five Star recommendation. I know you have a TBR which is taking over your house but you need to be reading these books. So read them. No excuses.

The April Dead is published by Canongate Books and is available in Hardback, Digital and Audiobook fomat. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08H2BQR1T/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

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March 30

The Late Train to Gypsy Hill – Alan Johnson

Something a little different from me today which I am really excited to share with you. I am usually the last person to hear about new books but I am delighted to bring you an early notification of a forthcoming release which will be hitting our bookshelves in September. The author will be familiar name to many but not (yet) as a crime writer.

Alan Johnson is the former Home Secretary and, more recently, political commentator. Alan currently hosts a brand new Podcast series called How To Change the World, guests will include Caitlin Moran, James Dean Bradfield and Stuart Lee. Alan has a monthly column in Saga Magazine acting as their first ever Agony Uncle, as well as a regular slot on ‘Steph’s Packed Lunch’, Steph McGovern’s show on Channel 4.

Due for release on 2 September 2021, The Late Train to Gypsy Hill is Alan’s first crime novel. Alan himself will be along in a moment to tell you about his new novel but first the important details…cover and blurb.

The Late Train to Gypsy Hill

Gary Nelson has a routine for the commute to his rather dull job in the city. Each day, he watches as a woman on the train applies her make up in a ritual he now knows by heart. He’s never dared to strike up a conversation . . . but maybe one day.

Then one evening, on the late train to Gipsy Hill, the woman invites him to take the empty seat beside her. Fiddling with her mascara, she holds up her mirror and Gary reads the words ‘HELP ME’ scrawled in sticky black letters on the glass.

With a little bit of internet trickery and the kind support of Vicky at Headline I can also bring you this short video of Alan introducing his first crime novel: The Late Train to Gypsy Hill

You can get your order in early with this handy pre-order link: https://smarturl.it/TheLateTrain

Keep abreast of updates through social media by searching for the hashtag or keeping an eye on the publisher social accounts:

#TheLateTrain

@headlinepg

@CrimeFilesBooks

I love how the cover has the feel of an old railway poster and the teaser blurb had me hooked – that was before the extra detail which Alan shares in the video!

Get your orders in early as I suspect we will be hearing a lot more about this one as September draws near.

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March 19

The Night Gate – Peter May

In a sleepy French village, the body of a man shot through the head is disinterred by the roots of a fallen tree. A week later a famous art critic is viciously murdered in a nearby house. The deaths occurred more than seventy years apart.
Asked by a colleague to inspect the site of the former, forensics expert Enzo Macleod quickly finds himself embroiled in the investigation of the latter. Two extraordinary narratives are set in train – one historical, unfolding in the treacherous wartime years of Occupied France; the other contemporary, set in the autumn of 2020 as France re-enters Covid lockdown.

And Enzo’s investigations reveal an unexpected link between the murders – the Mona Lisa.

Tasked by the exiled General Charles de Gaulle to keep the world’s most famous painting out of Nazi hands after the fall of France in 1940, 28-year-old Georgette Pignal finds herself swept along by the tide of history. Following in the wake of Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa as it is moved from château to château by the Louvre, she finds herself just one step ahead of two German art experts sent to steal it for rival patrons – Hitler and Göring.

What none of them know is that the Louvre itself has taken exceptional measures to keep the painting safe, unwittingly setting in train a fatal sequence of events extending over seven decades.

Events that have led to both killings.

The Night Gate spans three generations, taking us from war-torn London, the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, Berlin and Vichy France, to the deadly enemy facing the world in 2020. In his latest novel, Peter May shows why he is one of the great contemporary writers of crime fiction.

My thanks to Sophie at Midas PR for my review copy and for the opportunity to join the blog tour for The Night Gate.

The Night Gate is an Enzo Macleod story. Amazon describes it as “The Enzo Files Book 7” today I describe it as my introduction to Enzo and the books of Peter May. Actually “introduction” is a tad misleading as we own several Peter May books and Mrs Grab has been reading them before me. From her feedback I already knew I would be in for a treat with The Night Gate – as usual Mrs Grab was quite right.

This story felt epic in scale. Not only do events take place around France but the action also moves to Scotland and we get some trips to Nazi Germany too. The narrative has a timeframe of seven decades taking in Europe during the dark days of World War Two and spinning forward to modern day where Europe is contending with a global pandemic. This is one of the first books I have read which has incorporated Covid-19 into the narrative and I very much enjoyed that the author has acknowledged it but not made it a dominating factor in the story. The pandemic is referenced, the requirement to mask up and the inconvenience it causes are noted but that’s it. It’s a thing to be dealt with.

The Night Gate sees Enzo invited to assist the police investigate a brutal and bloody murder. His expertise is recognised and the local police feel his contribution would be beneficial. Readers spend a little time with the vicitm as he approaches his final minutes of life and we understand how the murder ocurred, we just don’t know who was responsible.

Not content with giving Enzo one murder to consider, Peter May has a second dead body waiting to be uncovered. This is not a recent murder, however, as the bones found appear to date back to the 1940’s – the corpse was likely an officer in the German army and he was buried in France with a bullet wound in the side of his head. As the story unfolds and the identidy of the officer becomes clear Enzo realises there may be a connection between the two dead men. What could the connection be? Well it all revolves around the most famous painting in the world…the Mona Lisa.

During the Second World War the French were terrified of the prospect of Paris falling and the Germans getting their hands on the treasures of the Louvre. The jewel of the collection was undoubtably Da Vinci’s masterpiece so the staff at the Louvre arranged for the painting to be shipped out of Paris and hidden in rural France, shipped from place to place to make it harder to find. The principle focus of the wartime scenes is Georgette (George) Pignal. She meets General De Galle in London and he tasks her with the responsibility of keeping the Mona Lisa away from the Germans.

George travels to Scotland where she receives training in the Western Isles to prepare her for life as an undercover operative in occupied France. When she finally returns to her homeland she is soon face to face with two German officers both have also been instructed to find the Mona Lisa but one is working for Hitler and the other for Göring. These three characters are pawns in a bigger game and each serves a powerful master, failure is not an option. The parts of the story which feature George really had me gripped and I loved reading about her – the uncertainty around what may happen to her made her perils seem more vivid. Due to the passage of time between George’s story and Enzo’s the reader knows George will be dead in 2020. Knowing a key character for the story isn’t going to be alive in the modern day scenes raises the tension – George could be killed at any stage and you hope the author makes good use of that freedom. No spoilers though – grab yourself a copy of The Night Gate to learn about George’s fate.

A power struggle for the ownership of the world’s most famous painting was not the story I had been expecting from the opening chapters but Peter May gripped my attention from the outset and I was hooked. As I mentioned at the start of my review, this was my introduction to Peter May’s books. A quick look at the catalogue of his earlier work shows that I have a lot of catching up to do. However, if I enjoy the other books even half as much as I enjoyed The Night Gate then I know I have hours of reading pleasure stretching out in front of me – I can’t wait to get stuck in.

Returning fans will be delighted to be reunited with Enzo Macleod. New readers can be confident of picking up The Night Gate and knowing they can jump straight into the action and still enjoy this clever and exciting thriller.

The Night Gate was published by Riverrun on 18 March 2021 and is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B089CGRL5M/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

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February 17

The Nothing Man – Catherine Ryan Howard

I was the girl who survived the Nothing Man.
Now I am the woman who is going to catch him…

You’ve just read the opening pages of The Nothing Man, the true crime memoir Eve Black has written about her obsessive search for the man who killed her family nearly two decades ago.

Supermarket security guard Jim Doyle is reading it too, and with each turn of the page his rage grows. Because Jim was – is – the Nothing Man.

The more Jim reads, the more he realises how dangerously close Eve is getting to the truth. He knows she won’t give up until she finds him. He has no choice but to stop her first…

My thanks to the publishers for my review copy which I recieved through Netgalley

Eve Black is a survivor. When she was a young girl she was in the house when a killer broke into the family home and killed her parents and younger sister. Eve only survived as she had woken in the night and wasn’t in her bed when the killer looked into her room. Twenty years later Eve writes The Nothing Man. It is her memoir and a true crime book about serial killer The Nothing Man – the man responsible for the death of her family and numerous other murders in Ireland.

Jim Doyle is the security guard at a supermarket. His world is turned upside down when he spots a customer buying a copy of The Nothing Man. Years ago Jim was The Nothing Man. Technically he still is – The Nothing Man was never caught or held to account for the crimes he committed. Why is Eve Black publishing her story now? What could she have to say?

Eve is using her book to announce she is going to identify The Nothing Man. She believes the work she put in when researching his crimes has allowed her to work out the identity of the man that took her family from her. Jim realises that this cannot be allowed to happen. His life is far from ideal but there is no way he is going to allow Eve Black to make him pay for crimes he has managed to get away with for over two decades. The Nothing Man will need to be born again – one more victim is needed.

Rest assured that nothing in this review contains spoilers. The blurb and opening chapters introduce Jim and Eve and readers are made fully aware of their respective backgrounds. What I loved about this new thriller from Catherine Ryan Howard was that we know exactly who the killer is, we see the devastating legacy the killer’s crimes caused and you need to know how the killer reacts when he starts to feel a net closing in on him.

The Nothing Man (Eve’s book) covers the murder of her family. As the reader we don’t just get to read Eve’s written account of events but Catherine Ryan Howard takes us back in time to when the killer was active and committing his crimes. The narrative covers both timeframes (then and now) so we can have a comprehensive picture of the man Jim Doyle was and the man he has become. This is also the case for Eve Black who survived a home invasion and escaped the murderer to grow up in a remote cottage with her grandmother where she was sheltered from the potential of a second attack. Eve is determined to tell her story and she plans to find justice for her family and the other victims.

Reading (partially) like a true crime novel, but with lots of extra content which firmly marks it as a gripping crime fiction read, The Nowhere Man is one of those wonderful bookish delights you always hope to pick up. The characters leap out the pages and are vividly realised, the story is so engaging that you will yourself to read one more chapter as you need to know what’s coming next. As a reader you want to be picking up a book which makes you glad you read it – that’s The Nothing Man. I loved it.

The Nothing Man is published by Corvus and is currently available in Hardback, digtial and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0855N98FH/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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