Grab This Book – Page 55 – Helping readers find great books they may otherwise miss

Salt Lane – William Shaw

SHE ALWAYS WENT TOO FAR

DS Alexandra Cupidi has done it again. She should have learnt to keep her big mouth shut, after the scandal that sent her packing – resentful teenager in tow – from the London Met to the lonely Kent coastline. Murder is different here, among the fens and stark beaches.

SHE WAS THE ONE WHO FOUND THE KILLERS

The man drowned in the slurry pit had been herded there like an animal. He was North African, like many of the fruit pickers that work the fields. The more Cupidi discovers, the more she wants to ask – but these people are suspicious of questions.

AND NOW IT WAS KILLING HER

It will take an understanding of this strange place – its old ways and new crimes – to uncover the dark conspiracy behind the murder. Cupidi is not afraid to travel that road. But she should be. She should, by now, have learnt.

Salt Lane is tagged as the first in a new series which will feature DS Alexandra Cupidi – sounds good to me, I loved Cupidi and she drives this story.

Cupidi has left the Metropolitan Police and relocated to Kent, readers are given early glimpses into her background which allude to why she may have made this move and it is clear that she may not have made the best of choices in the past. Cupidi brings her daughter but faces the single parent dilemma of how to do parenting things when work commitments are all consuming and a listless teenager is not keen to conform or help her mother.

Cupidi is partnered with Constable Ferriter and the dynamic and developing relationship between the two women made for terrific reading. Cupidi seems prickly and aloof while Ferriter is younger and more impetuous. Both can deliver some cracking one liners or a suitably waspish comment so their discussions are a joy to read.

Salt Lane, supported by cracking lead characters, is a dark thriller which I really, really enjoyed.

A man is murdered in a slurry pit, pushed in and held under the sludge until life left his body. A grim murder investigation for Cupidi who was already fronting a second murder investigation after a woman’s body was pulled from water with no identification documents which may have let the police know who she was.

There is loads going on in Salt Lane and the story is wonderfully told by William Shaw. The book holds a real feeling of location and scenes come to life very vividly as I was reading. I found pages were flying past as I kept reading, one more chapter, one more chapter – brilliant pacing which avoided lulls in the narrative and kept me hooked.

More Cupidi please…stories of this quality don’t come around too often.

Salt Lane is available in hardback, digital and audio formats and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Salt-Lane-Alexandra-Cupidi-Book-ebook/dp/B073BPFJGM/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1525941622&sr=1-1

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May 10

Fault Lines – Doug Johnstone

A little lie … a seismic secret … and the cracks are beginning to show…

In a reimagined contemporary Edinburgh, where a tectonic fault has opened up to produce a new volcano in the Firth of Forth, and where tremors are an everyday occurrence, volcanologist Surtsey makes a shocking discovery.

On a clandestine trip to new volcanic island The Inch, to meet Tom, her lover and her boss, she finds his lifeless body, and makes the fatal decision to keep their affair, and her discovery, a secret. Desperate to know how he died, but also terrified she’ll be exposed, Surtsey’s life quickly spirals into a nightmare when someone makes contact – someone who claims to know what she’s done…

My thanks to Orenda Books for my review copy and to Anne for inviting me to join the blog tour

There is a volcano in Edinburgh and it has changed the lives of all the residents of the capital. Earth tremors are commonplace and the unexpected arrival of a new volcanic isle at the edge of the city means that the scientific community have an exciting and unexpected new area to investigate.

Surtsey is a volcanologist and she is studying The Inch, on an evening trip to the new island she plans to meet her lover Tom (who is also Surtsey’s boss). However, all her plans are unexpectedly changed when she discovers Tom’s body. There can be no doubt that Tom was murdered so Surtsey decides to head home and not report the crime. Nobody knows about their relationship and Surtsey did not tell anyone she was traveling to The Inch, if she can keep her head down then she may be able to keep her part in Tom’s life a secret.

Unfortunately for Surtsey this is not going to happen. Someone knows she and Tom were sleeping together and it is not long before the secret is out. The police will come calling, Tom’s widow is convinced Surtsey is the killer and Surtsey’s boyfriend doesn’t react well to the news either.

Her world is falling apart and Surtsey needs to rely upon her friends and family but there can be no respite their either. Her mother is in final stages of terminal cancer, her sister and mother barely speak and Surtsey feels she is intermediary between the two at a time when every conversation is strained and challenging. Surtsey can see her mother slipping away and is struggling to cope.

Fault Lines is a murder, mystery while Tom’s killer remains free. However there is so much more depth to Doug Johnstone’s story as the human drama of Surtsey’s struggle plays out too, the chapters with her mother are quite distressing in places as the reader shares Surtsey’s anguish at seeing her rock diminishing in front of her eyes.

I thoroughly enjoyed Fault Lines, the story flows wonderfully and the characters are deep and engaging. A book which draws you into the lives of the characters and you just want to keep reading to see how the story unfolds.

Fault Lines is published by Orenda Books and is available in digital and paperback format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fault-Lines-Doug-Johnstone/dp/1912374153/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1525901181&sr=1-1

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May 9

Don’t You Dare – A.J. Waines

What if your daughter becomes your enemy?

When barmaid, Rachel, discovers her soon-to-be-married daughter, Beth, pinned down by a stranger in the pub cellar, Rachel lashes out in panic and the intruder ends up dead. In desperation, Rachel convinces Beth they should cover up the crime and go ahead with the planned wedding in one month’s time.

Rachel, however, has her own reasons for not involving the police.

Hiding their dreadful secret is harder than they both imagined and as the big day approaches and the lies multiply, Beth becomes a liability. Rachel looks on in dismay at the hen party when, after too many drinks, Beth declares she’s about to make a special announcement. But before Beth can say a word she disappears…

When two people share a chilling secret can both hold their nerve?

My thanks to Sarah at Bloodhound Books for my review copy and the chance to join the Blitz

Having previously read a few books by A.J. Waines I picked up Don’t You Dare knowing (without even opening the first page) that I was holding a book with guaranteed thrills and an engaging story. Some quality reading time proved me right.

Rachel is alone in the pub when she spots light coming from a room in the cellar where nobody should be. She is startled to find her daughter, Beth, cowering under a strange man – Beth is clearly terrified and Rachel rushes to protect her daughter. A scuffle ensues and when it abruptly ends the man lies dead with the mother and daughter standing aghast over his body.

Urgent action is needed and the pair decide they can hide the body and escape detection. Nobody knows they were in the pub at the time the incident occurred and the man was not meant to be there either – if they can keep their cool and plan carefully then they can keep this terrible secret and get on with their lives.

Of course it is never as easy as it sounds and Beth starts to feel the burden of guilt hanging over her. Rachel is stronger but readers are given some insight into the fact that Rachel may well have experience of keeping secrets – perhaps this was why she was not keen to involve the police from the outset and elected to keep their crime secret?

Don’t You Dare splits narration duties between Rachel and Beth. It gives readers insight into how each woman is coping with the events following their ill-fated evening. The need to keep the secret becomes overwhelming and it is not long before lies and more lies are needed to cover Beth’s increasingly erratic behaviour and to try to throw the police off the track of a missing person investigation.

Tension from first page to last as lies are spun and trust is shattered, I highly recommend Don’t You Dare.

Don’t You Dare is published by Bloodhound Books and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dont-You-Dare-heart-stopping-psychological-ebook/dp/B07CLKBQQ9/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

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May 3

Death of an Actress – Antony M Brown

Published in time for the 70th anniversary of one of the most dramatic trials in British criminal history.

DEATH OF AN ACTRESS is the second in the Cold Case Jury Collection, a unique series of true crime titles. Each case study tells the story of an unsolved crime, or one in which the verdict is open to doubt. Fresh evidence is presented and the reader is invited to deliver their own verdict.

October 1947. A luxury liner steams over the equator off the coast of West Africa and a beautiful actress disappears from her cabin. Suspicion falls on a dashing deck steward with a reputation for entering the cabins of female passengers. When the liner docks at Southampton, the steward is questioned by police. Protesting his innocence, he makes an astonishing admission that shocks everyone, and is charged with murder. His trial at the historic Great Hall in Winchester draws the world’s media. He is found guilty and sentenced to hang.

But was the verdict sound?

Many believe not.

Now for the first time, Antony M. Brown has secured unprecedented access to the police file, enabling the definitive story to be told. Included in the file are original court exhibits, including a hairbrush with strands of the actress’s red hair. Could a personal effect left behind in her cabin provide clues to how she might have died? Take your seat on the Cold Case Jury…

My thanks to Mel at Mirror Books for my review copy and the opportunity to join the blog tour.

A rare dip into True Crime today at Grab This Book. I generally don’t read True Crime stories as I am terrible at keeping track of characters and non-fiction tends to have a larger list of people, places, names and other important details which it is very important to keep track of. Also I like knowing that the horrible things I usually read about are all just made up, when it becomes REAL I get uncomfortable. The psychologists can have some fun with that last confession!

So how did I get on with Death of an Actress? I will be honest and confess that I rather enjoyed it. Quite a lot as it turns out.

This is the second book in Antony M Brown’s Cold Case Jury collection. A real life crime is presented to the reader. Through disclosure of facts, compilation of official documents presented in the real life court cases and some dramatic recreations of events penned by the author the reader gets the case compiled for their consideration.

The twist which I loved was that once you have read the book you visit the Cold Case website and cast your own vote as to how you felt the accused should have been charged. I cast my own verdict on Death of an Actress just before I started writing this review. Unsurprisingly I did not side with the most popular verdict.

Death of an Actress recounts the murder of Gay Gibson, a young rising star of the stage who was traveling from South Africa back to Southampton on luxury liner Durban Castle. One night Miss Gibson vanished from her cabin and her body was never found. A crew member, James Camb, was suspected of her murder – he had a reputation for pressing his advances upon single female passengers and had taken a shine to young Gay.

Antony M Brown will introduce readers to Gay Gibson and guide us through her young life and explore her character. He considers Camb and his reputation and status among the crew of the Durban Castle. He then uses dramatic recreations to explore the last days of Gay Gibson’s life. Using witness statements, news paper reports and other primary source material we get a great insight of life on board the Durban Castle for those important days after the ship left South Africa.

The fun in reading Death of an Actress is absorbing the information provided, forming your own assessment of the behaviours of Camb and Gibson and then working out if the arrest, and trial, of James Camb for Miss Gibson’s murder was correct or if some important facts were not given proper consideration.

I must admit I was caught up in the details of the case. I knew I was going to cast my own verdict on events when I finished the book so I was paying close attention (most unlike me). I was shocked by some of the omissions from the court case and I got sidetracked from fact by some “additional” detail which was included after the main case had been discussed, unverified recollections of stories overheard but which had potential to change the nature of the trial.

All very interesting and very well constructed by the author. Some readers may quibble that a dramatic recreation of conversations which the author could not have possibly have overhead have no place in a true crime book. Personally I really enjoyed the switch from hard facts to the authors own interpretation of possible scenarios – it opened up my own imagination to what may have occurred.

A very welcome change to my normal choice of book. I may even read another True Crime book soon…particularly as I cannot help but notice this was the second case for the Cold Case Jury. The first book has the intriguing title The Green Bicycle Mystery.

Highly recommended!

Death of an Actress is published by Mirror Books and can be ordered in digital or paperback format here:

http://www.mirrorcollection.co.uk/products/details/search_results/DeathofanActress/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Actress-story-murder-Collection/dp/1910335827/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524665646&sr=8-1&keywords=death+of+an+actress+book

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May 1

My Mother’s Secret – Sanjida Kay

You can only hide for so long…

Lizzie Bradshaw. A student from the Lake District, forced to work away from home, who witnesses a terrible crime. But who will ultimately pay the price?

Emma Taylor. A mother, a wife, and a woman with a dangerous secret. Can she keep her beloved family safely together?

Stella Taylor. A disaffected teenager, determined to discover what her mother is hiding. But how far will she go to uncover the truth?

And one man, powerful, manipulative and cunning, who controls all their destinies.

My thanks to Corvus Books for my review copy

Having thoroughly enjoyed the two previous novels by Sanjida Kay I was keen to see what lay in store for readers in My Mother’s Secret.

Family drama from multiple narrators is what I got to enjoy, the story is told from different viewpoints and we can see one incident played out from various perspectives. One of the main voices is teenager Stella and her contributions are perfectly laced with teenage hormones and anger.

Sanjida Kay gets right into the head of each of her narrators – we read what a wife thinks about her husband, his annoying habits and quirks which irritate her. Stella’s frustrations at her mother and the lack of respect she feels towards her father who seems too forgiving of others.

Chapters come in small bursts and name the next narrator so you can know who is pulling the story on. I have a terrible habit of skipping chapter names/numbers so I often found I had to flick my eyes back a page to make sure I knew who was speaking (do not adopt this lazy reading habit!!!)

I am purposefully not speaking too much about the plot for fear of slipping spoilers. There are secrets lurking in this tale (and I love stories with secrets) but the reason things are kept a secret is that having the information made pubic can create pain or problems for others. Probably not ideal for the characters in My Mother’s Secret…

Sanjida Kay writes beautifully and I swear that I could smell fresh baking or the countryside freshness as I was reading her latest book. Trials and troubles in this story – well worth your time seeking this one out.

My Mother’s Secret is published by Corvus on 3 May 2018 and can be ordered here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Mothers-Secret-brilliantly-deception-ebook/dp/B0785MSQDD/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525208302&sr=8-1&keywords=my+mothers+secret

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April 29

Panic Room – Robert Goddard

Another evening of fun looms with the First Monday Crime team. For May 2018’s gathering they are meeting on Monday 30th April – so not in May at all. This follows on from the April Meeting which actually took place on the SECOND Monday in April. Despite their dubious decision to call the evening First Monday I am reliably assured that these gatherings in London are great fun and give readers the chance to hear some top authors discuss their work and I am sure book signing opportunities exist too.

For details on First Monday Crime visit their website HERE

One of the guests at May’s meeting is the legend that is Robert Goddard – his latest thriller Panic Room is a terrific read so lets take a closer look….

Sometimes the danger is on the inside . . .

High on a Cornish cliff sits a vast uninhabited mansion. Uninhabited except for Blake, a young woman of dubious background, secretive and alone, currently acting as housesitter.

The house has a panic room. Cunningly concealed, steel lined, impregnable – and apparently closed from within. Even Blake doesn’t know it’s there. She’s too busy being on the run from life, from a story she thinks she’s escaped.

But her remote existence is going to be invaded when people come looking for the house’s owner, missing rogue pharma entrepreneur, Jack Harkness. Suddenly the whole world wants to know where his money has gone. Soon people are going to come knocking on the door, people with motives and secrets of their own, who will be asking Blake the sort of questions she can’t – or won’t – want to answer.

And will the panic room ever give up its secrets?

My thanks to Patsy at Transworld for my review copy.

Panic Room is a book riddled with mysteries, the biggest being why would someone need a panic room in their house?

Jack Harkness is in a whole lot of trouble, his business and reputation are in tatters and the vultures are circling for his cash and assets. His luxury Cornish home is held in the name of his wife (who is no longer on the scene) and she has decided to sell it. The book opens with estate agent Don Challenor being asked to travel from London to Cornwall to appraise the house for sale – time is of the essence and Don is offered a healthy sum to do the job quickly and efficiently.

On arrival in Cornwall he finds the house and an unexpected resident – a young woman called Blake who was working as housekeeper. Don is instructed to make sure that Blake leaves the property immediately. Blake has other ideas.

While Don is checking the house he discovers an anomaly in the Master Bedrooom – the dimensions of the room seem to be off. Further investigation reveals the titular Panic Room, a puzzle which Don has to solve as the room is closed over. Is it malfunctioning or could there be someone inside?

As the story unfolds the puzzles and mysteries build up – Blake and Don will attempt to locate a missing girl, fall afoul of a witch and will have to keep one step ahead of a couple of “heavies” who are very interested to learn of the existence of the Panic Room.

You read Panic Room, you get instantly caught up in the problem facing Don and before you know it 100 pages have flown by and you have more questions than answers.

I really enjoyed this book – it draws you in and you want to keep reading. Exactly what a good story should do!

Panic Room is published by Bantam Press and is available in Hardback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Panic-Room-Robert-Goddard-ebook/dp/B01I0RU1O4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525015964&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+goddard

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April 29

The Girl Who Got Revenge – Marnie Riches

Revenge is a dish best served deadly…

A twelve-year-old girl is found dead at the Amsterdam port. An old man dies mysteriously in a doctors’ waiting room. Two seemingly unconnected cases, but Inspector Van den Bergen doesn’t think so…

Criminologist George McKenzie is called in to help crack the case before it’s too late. But the truth is far more deadly than anyone can imagine… Can George get justice for the dead before she ends up six-feet under too?

My thanks to Sabah at Avon for the chance to join the blog tour

Returning visitors to Grab This Book will know that I am a huge fan of the George McKenzie The Girl Who books by Marnie Riches. For once I found that I was following a series from the first release of the first book and then impatiently waiting for the next book to be written. Then the next. Then the next. Now The Girl Who Got Revenge has arrived and I am delighted.

Before I get to the actual story the housekeeping…it is the fifth book in a sequence. There are not any major spoilers relating to events in the first four books and you do not have to have read all the earlier titles to enjoy The Girl Who Got Revenge. This may also be a great time to highlight that until now The Girl Who titles were only available in digital format for your Kindle/Kobo/E-Reader. The good news is that all 5 books will be available in paperback which I hope means they will find their way to new readers

The Girl Who Got Revenge was another storming page turner. George and Van den Bergen are back at their very best even though the hypochondriac, Van den Bergen, is ever more determined he is rushing towards diagnosis of a terminal illness. It places his relationship with George on rocky ground again, yet when he watches an old man die right in front of his eyes it will shake the policeman to his core.

The old man’s death appears a tragic case of someone reaching the end of their days, however, at the autopsy a surprising discovery links his death to that of a second person – could there be more to his death than first thought?

Elsewhere, the police are required to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of a young girl who was being smuggled through The Netherlands in the back of a truck with dozens of other refugees. The situation is highly emotive and once again Marnie Riches takes a topical plight and builds a compelling story.

I honestly cannot say enough good things about The Girl Who Got Revenge (or indeed about ALL the books in this series). These are fantastic stories, which enthrall, entertain and captivate me in equal measure. George McKenzie is the feisty lead character that I love reading about and as soon as I finish one book I start longing for her return.

Five star thrills and pure reading enjoyment.

The Girl Who Got Revenge is published by Avon and is available in digital and paperback format. You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Girl-Who-Got-Revenge-addictive-ebook/dp/B076P22L95/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1524952013&sr=1-1&keywords=marnie+riches

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April 29

The Family At Number 13 – S.D. Monaghan

The most perfect lives can hide the darkest secrets…

Mary has everything. Beautiful and rich, she lives on an exclusive street in the heart of the city, in a house with gorgeous views and an immaculately maintained garden. Her life looks perfect.

But behind closed doors the truth is very different. Her husband Andrew barely speaks to her, spending his days down in the basement alone. Her teenage nephew is full of rage, lashing out with no warning. Her carefully constructed life is beginning to fall apart.

And then someone starts sending Mary anonymous notes, threatening her and her family…

Everyone has secrets. But is someone at number 13 hiding something that could put the whole family in danger?

My thanks to the Bookouture team for my review copy and the chance to join the blog blitz

This is a tricky wee review to write as the need to avoid spoilers is at a premium…such is the way with twisty and unpredictable stories. What also makes it tricky is that there are several characters in the book who get to take the lead narrative and I didn’t warm to any of them very much. But that’s not a complaint, it is what drives the story onward.

As the story begins to hit its stride we meet Connor. He is a psychiatrist and is not having the best of days, he has just tried to move on one of his patients having reached a point where he felt he could no longer offer the support the patient needed. Unfortunately the patient is not happy with Connor’s decision and the suggestion to end their sessions ends badly. The patient is a rich and influential man his threats to ruin Connor for abandoning him do not make Connor feel any better about his decision.

But things start to look up for Connor – an unexpected opportunity to relocate to a new property in a seemingly idyllic neighbourhood almost seems too good to be true. He can move his practice to one of the rooms in the large house and work from home – saving on office rent and making his workplace more appealing for prospective clients. It should possibly not come as too much of a surprise to learn that the move does not work out well for Connor and soon he finds he has made a terrible decision.

The interaction between the majority of characters in The Family At Number 13 will treat readers to a series of fractious encounters. Tensions run high throughout and if you enjoy the uncertainty of not knowing what the author will throw at us next then this is the perfect read for you. I was kept on my toes keeping up with some of the twists and turns in this story.

Not one for the cozy crime readers – lots of unpleasantness going on in The Family At Number 13. A dark thriller indeed.

The Family At Number 13 is published by Bookouture and is available in paperback and digital formats and can also be ordered as an audiobook. You can get your copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Family-Number-13-absolutely-psychological-ebook/dp/B07B6BPHLV/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524949225&sr=8-1&keywords=the+family+at+no+13

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April 27

Songs By Dead Girls – Lesley Kelly

When Scotland’s leading virologist goes missing, Mona and Paterson from the Health Enforcement Team are dispatched to London to find him. In a hot and unwelcoming city, Mona has to deal with a boss who isn’t speaking to her, placate the Professor’s over-bearing assistant, and outwit the people who will stop at nothing to make sure the academic stays lost.

Meanwhile, back in Edinburgh, Bernard is searching for a missing prostitute, while Maitland is trying to keep the Chair of the Parliamentary Virus Committee from finding out quite how untidy the HET office is.

My thanks to Ruth Killick for my review copy and the chance to join the blog tour.

Songs By Dead Girls takes the reader back to Lesley Kelly’s virus riddled depiction of Edinburgh first encountered in the fabulous The Health of Strangers. I was a huge fan of THoS when I read it last year (my review is here) so I was delighted to hear Lesley was re-visiting the dystopian world she had created.

Life in Edinburgh is not too dissimilar to our reality, but a terrible virus has had devastating impact upon the population and regular health screenings are required to ensure everyone remains virus-free. The HET guys are tasked with ensuring people attend their screenings and chasing down potential defaulters. Songs By Dead Girls they face a significant challenge as the primary expert on the virus has vanished just ahead of his scheduled check-up. He is due to make a presentation to the Scottish Parliament so his absence will soon be noticed – can the HET track down their missing expert without the media finding out what they are up to?

The constant threat of the virus hangs over all characters but it is fascinating to see people adapting quickly and viewing the danger as a frustration – totally believable. The story balances the HET duties and responsibilities with their family/personal lives too. These “away from work” scenes make the characters come to life for me, they are more than the day job and they have loved ones, problems and loneliness to contend with too – that engagement and buy in will keep me returning for more pages, another chapter.

Songs By Dead Girls was a brilliant read. It was fun, suitably puzzling, had several engaging plot threads which kept my attention and I love the dysfunctional HET family – they range from competent to bonkers and are so entertaining. Following their growth and development over the two books has been a treat and now that I know there is scope for more HET stories I really hope that this will happen (please).

If you enjoy a twisty thriller with engaging characters then Songs By Dead Girls is an absolute must read. I love this twisted world that Lesley Kelly has created and she delivers the fun along while also keeping an undercurrent of danger for her wonderful cast.

Songs By Dead Girls is published by Sandstone Press and is available in digital and paperback format. You can get your copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Songs-Girls-Health-Strangers-Thriller-ebook/dp/B076WDH824/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524854543&sr=8-1&keywords=lesley+kelly

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April 22

Presumed Dead – Mason Cross

‘What do you know about the Devil Mountain Killer?’

THEN

Adeline Connor was the Devil Mountain Killer’s final victim. After she was gunned down, the murderer disappeared and the killing spree ended.

NOW

Carter Blake has been hired to do what he does best: to find someone. But this time he’s hunting a dead girl – Adeline Connor’s brother is convinced she’s still alive.

But this town doesn’t want an outsider digging up old business. And as Blake gets deeper into the case, it starts to become clear that the murders didn’t just stop fifteen years ago.

The killer is on the hunt again.

My thanks to Lauren at Orion for my review copy

Presumed Dead is the fifth Carter Blake novel by Mason Cross. It is also the Carter Blake novel I have enjoyed the most – no slight on the previous four books (this is a series I love) but Presumed Dead gave me everything I want from my thrillers and I virtually inhaled it.

Housekeeping first: don’t be put off by the fact it is the fifth title in the series, other than knowing it features the return of the lead character Presumed Dead can very much be enjoyed without reading the earlier books. And you *will* enjoy it, it is a cracking read!

Blake is back doing what he does best, finding someone who is missing. However, history shows that the girl he is asked to track was the last victim of a serial killer, a killer that was never caught. Adeline Connor is presumed dead, the crime scene at which the Devil Mountain Killer abruptly ended his murderous spree was soaked in her blood. Police recreated the murder scene and likely sequence of events and there was no realistic way that Adeline could have survived, yet her brother maintains that more than 10 years later he has seen his sister alive and well. Blake is asked to find her.

The challenge for Blake is to work out who is telling him the truth. If the police are sure a murder took place they will not welcome someone trying to prove they made a mistake. Is the victim’s brother a reliable witness? Does the desire for his sister to be found cloud his common sense and judgment. The residents of the town where events unfolded do not want to dwell on those past events and they certainly don’t want to consider the killer may still be around – this would be a problem should a dead body (or two) turn up after Blake starts asking questions…

Did I mention how much I loved reading Presumed Dead? Brilliant, brilliant story telling from Mason Cross. If you have not yet discovered the Carter Blake books then this is the perfect opportunity to find out why readers look forward to each new release.

Presumed Dead is published by Orion and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Presumed-Dead-Carter-Blake-Book-ebook/dp/B076PS8BSJ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524388910&sr=1-1&keywords=presumed+dead+mason+cross

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