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Bloody January – Alan Parks (Audiobook)

When a teenage boy shoots a young woman dead in the middle of a busy Glasgow street and then commits suicide, Detective Harry McCoy is sure of one thing. It wasn’t a random act of violence.

With his new partner in tow, McCoy uses his underworld network to lead the investigation but soon runs up against a secret society led by Glasgow’s wealthiest family, the Dunlops.

McCoy’s boss doesn’t want him to investigate. The Dunlops seem untouchable. But McCoy has other ideas . . .

In a helter-skelter tale – winding from moneyed elite to hipster music groupies to the brutal gangs of the urban wasteland – Bloody January brings to life the dark underbelly of 1970s Glasgow and introduces a dark and electrifying new voice in Scottish noir.

My thanks to Canongate Books for my review copy which I received through Netgalley – I also bought an audible copy which I listened to through Audible.co.uk

Last September I attended the Bloody Scotland festival and one of my pals suggested I read Bloody January as it seemed like “my kind of story”. Ten months later I finally started reading and I am really regretting that ten month wait. Bloody January is very much “my kind of story” I utterly loved it. So much so that I cheated on the audiobook version with a digital copy so that I could “read” it quicker – it’s that good!

Alan Parks takes us back to Glasgow in the cold, damp January of 1973. The lead character is Detective Harry McCoy, he enjoys the company of a working girl, drinks heavily, takes drugs, smokes (everyone smokes) and his best friend is head of one Glasgow’s criminal gangs. I rather liked McCoy, we find he has come through some tough times and is not coping well.

McCoy is summoned to Barlinnie (Glasgow’s famous prison) to speak with a man he helped convict. He is given advance warning of a murder…can he stop a life being taken? Despite his reservations over the accuracy of this information McCoy tries to track down the girl but he arrives too late to prevent her very pubic death. The murderer then takes his own life but the question of WHY needs addressed and McCoy, with his young trainee “Wattie” in tow, are tasked with finding answers.

Much of the appeal in reading came from the interaction between the characters. McCoy and Wattie were especially fun to accompany on their investigations. Wattie has been moved from rural Ayrshire to learn how policing in “the big city” works – watching him find his feet is a blast.

Bloody January is a police procedural where none of the conventional procedures seem to be followed. It is a rough time, political correctness is totally unheard of and sexual equality is a tricky area for McCoy (as we get to see). Alan Parks has done a cracking job of making the old town come back to life around his readers. The story, the setting, the corruption and poverty all makes for brilliant reading and I loved reading about “old” Glasgow.

As I indicated at the outset I listened to the majority of the book on audiobook. Narration duties are in the very capable hands of Andrew McIntosh. I maintain that the narrator can make or break the audiobook experience – if the story sounds wrong then it will stop me enjoying the book. The good news is that McIntosh is perfect. Glasgow sounds suitably gritty and the characters come to life under his care.

I loved this step back in time. Bloody January is, without doubt, one of the books which I have enjoyed most in recent months. I can only hope that the characters which survive the tale (no spoilers) will return for another outing.

Bloody January is published by Canongate Books and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bloody-January-Harry-McCoy-novel-ebook/dp/B072M55NHT/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Category: 5* Reviews, Audiobook, From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

July 4

Straker’s Journey – Paul Hardisty

Welcome to the latest leg of the Claymore Straker journey – as brought to us by Paul Hardisty. We began our trip with Liz Loves Books before moving to Off The Shelf Books then to Espresso Coco. All those names link to you the journey and I’d highly recommend lingering on each blog once you have caught up with Straker and exploring the other content shared by Liz, Victoria and Dave.

Today we are concentrating on book three – Reconciliation for the Dead and I pass you to Mr Hardisty:

In the third instalment, Reconciliation for the Dead, I wanted to tell the story of how Clay comes to be the deeply disturbed man we meet in the first two books. Essentially a prequel, it opens in 1997, in the aftermath of events in Cyprus. Determined to somehow atone for the sins of his past, Clay has returned to South Africa to testify to Desmond Tutu’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Rania has returned to Paris, married, and is again working as a journalist. As Clay testifies, we are drawn back to 1980. Clay is a twenty-year old paratrooper in the South African Army, fighting in the Border War in Angola. All his illusions are shattered when he comes face-to-face with the real reasons for the war, and finds himself complicit in the most unspeakable atrocities. As with the other books, I was going for realism and historical accuracy.

Reconciliation for the Dead is published by Orenda Books and is available in digital and paperback format. Here is the overview…

Fresh from events in Yemen and Cyprus, vigilante justice-seeker Claymore Straker returns to South Africa, seeking absolution for the sins of his past. Over four days, he testifies to Desmond Tutu’s newly established Truth and Reconciliation Commission, recounting the shattering events that led to his dishonourable discharge and exile, fifteen years earlier. It was 1980. The height of the Cold War. Clay is a young paratrooper in the South African Army, fighting in Angola against the Communist insurgency that threatens to topple the White Apartheid regime. On a patrol deep inside Angola, Clay, and his best friend, Eben Barstow, find themselves enmeshed in a tangled conspiracy that threatens everything they have been taught to believe about war, and the sacrifices that they, and their brothers in arms, are expected to make. Witness and unwitting accomplice to an act of shocking brutality, Clay changes allegiance and finds himself labelled a deserter and accused of high treason, setting him on a journey into the dark, twisted heart of institutionalised hatred, from which no one will emerge unscathed.

Order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reconciliation-Dead-Claymore-Straker-Hardisty-ebook/dp/B01MTVTHRN/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1530726066&sr=1-3

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June 23

The Hand of An Angel – Mark Brownless

How far would you go to get a glimpse of the afterlife, and what would you bring back?

A shattering medical thriller with a heart-stopping climax.

Devoted family man and respected cardiologist Tom Boyand is obsessed with the near-death experiences of his patients. An obsession that leaves him dead on a table with his colleagues battling desperately to resuscitate him.

But Tom has pushed the limits of the experiment too far and he’s gone for too long, seeing more of the other side than anyone before.
They get him back but he isn’t the same person. And he’s not alone.

My thanks to Sam at Lounge Marketing (Lounge Books) for the chance to join this blog tour and for providing a review copy.

I reviewed The Hand of An Angel a few weeks ago but now that the official tour is running I am re-sharing my review. Coming up in a few short hours will be my wee chat with Mark Brownless, but before we discuss his chilling thriller I thought a recap may help….here is what I loved about this book.

I cannot remember the last time I read a medical thriller, however, The Hand of an Angel made me appreciate how much I had missed them. Doctors playing God, patients suffering mysterious ailments and so many long corridors with many, many closed doors…love, love, love a good medical drama. It is pleasing to be able to confirm that The Hand of an Angel is every bit a good medical thriller!

Tom Boyand is about to embark on the final journey. But he also plans to make it a return trip and live to tell the tale. In order to cheat death he has amassed a huge wealth of medical knowledge, assembled team of researchers and physicians who can help him “die” and then bring him back to life. Everything will be carefully monitored, all done under controlled conditions and Tom hopes that he will remember exactly how it feels to die so that he can share the knowledge.

The first half of the novel draws readers into Tom’s world. His project, his colleagues, his family and we get a very good idea as to the type of person that Tom is…a nice guy!

When the time comes to begin his experiment we are excited for Tom and his team and as a reader I was also keen to find out what he may experience after his death. Suffice to say I was shocked by how the story changed – perhaps I should have read the blurb before reading…

Tom becomes a changed man. His easygoing personality changes and he becomes paranoid, suspicious, aggressive and confrontational. Having spent so much time getting to know Tom it is upsetting to see the changes he appears to be undergoing. More so when when we see the impact it is having on his family and friends. Mark Brownless handles this change in dynamic brilliantly and it makes for gripping reading.

Unfortunately for Tom he has more pressing problems to contend with than a change to his moods. He believes that he may not have returned from the dead on his own. Tom keeps seeing the same strange figure in different places he visits…at work, at home and he cannot understand why other people don’t appear to notice.

What had been a great medical thriller now becomes a dark and sinister tale. The change up in tension is marked and it had me flicking the pages like a demon (as it were) trying to reach the end of the book as quickly as I could so I could find out what happened. And Wow.

This story totally sucked me in – what more could a reader ask for?

The Hand of an Angel is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hand-Angel-Mark-Brownless/dp/1976248744/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1527016541&sr=8-1

Follow the tour

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June 1

Thirteen – Steve Cavanagh

THE SERIAL KILLER ISN’T ON TRIAL.

HE’S ON THE JURY..

‘To your knowledge, is there anything that would preclude you from serving on this jury?’

Murder wasn’t the hard part. It was just the start of the game.

Joshua Kane has been preparing for this moment his whole life. He’s done it before. But this is the big one.

This is the murder trial of the century. And Kane has killed to get the best seat in the house.

But there’s someone on his tail. Someone who suspects that the killer isn’t the man on trial.

Kane knows time is running out – he just needs to get to the conviction without being discovered.

My thanks to Lauren at Orion for my review copy and the chance to join the blog tour.

I love a serial killer story. I love a courtroom drama. Thirteen was love squared, it was outstanding – the page turner you hope that every book will be but few actually achieve.

Thirteen is Eddie Flynn book 4. For me it was Eddie Flynn book 1 (though books 1, 2, 3 and the 0.5 novella are all on my Kindle screaming at me to read them). I can categorically state that you do not have to have read the earlier books to enjoy Thirteen.

Eddie Flynn is a former conman turned lawyer – he is headhunted by a large law firm to join the team defending a high profile Hollywood star who stands accused of murdering his wife and her lover. The actor maintains his innocence but the evidence seems beyond dispute.

The reader knows that the real killer is not on trial, he is devising a way to get onto the jury. From this position of power the killer believes he can influence how the other jurors will view the evidence and that he can ensure an innocent man is found guilty of a crime he committed. The twist is delicious and Steve Cavanagh has worked some serious magic to make this story astonishingly good.

To give away too much of the plot of Thirteen would be criminal – readers should discover the joy of this book for themselves. Eddie Flynn is a hugely likeable character and I loved the principled drive he brought to this case. The killer made for fascinating reading too – we spend quite a lot of time in their company and the lengths with are gone to for him to secure his position of control are astonishing (and kept me turning pages).

I can also add a little extra detail to my reading experience of Thirteen as before I knew I was joining the blog tour I had already started to listen to the audiobook. The book is narrated by Adam Sims who has the perfect voice for this story – a slightly gravelly American accent which I could listen to for hours (and did as it happens). As an audiobook can live or die by the skill of the narrator I was very happy to hear this wonderful tale enhanced by a skilled storyteller.

I tend not to score the books I read but Thirteen is a guaranteed five star read – one of the reading highs of the year.

Thirteen is published by Orion and can be ordered here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thirteen-serial-killer-isnt-trial-ebook/dp/B076PKVQJV/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527806735&sr=8-1&keywords=thirteen+steve+cavanagh

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May 30

Motherland – G.D. Abson

Motherland is the first in a gripping series of contemporary crime novels set in contemporary St Petersburg, featuring sharp and intriguing policewoman, Captain Natalya Ivanova.

Student Zena Dahl, the daughter of a Swedish millionaire, has gone missing in St Petersburg (or Piter as the city is colloquially known) after a night out with a friend. Captain Natalya Ivanova is assigned the case, making a change for Natalya from her usual fare of domestic violence work, but, because of the family’s wealth, there’s pressure for a quick result. But as she investigates she discovers that the case is not as straightforward as it may seem. Dark, violent and insightful, Motherland twists and turns to a satisfyingly dramatic conclusion.

My thanks to Mirror Books for my review copy and the chance to join the blog tour.

It was an absolute treat to read Motherland. Before I started to read I knew that I wanted the story to convey the location and a cultural identity of Russia so I could feel immersed in the story. It most certainly did that. But I also hoped to get a cracking crime thriller to entertain me. Motherland delivers that too.

Captain Natalya Ivanova is plucked from her latest assignment to give urgent attention to a missing student. The missing girl’s father is a businessman with significant wealth behind him and urgent action is needed, with the pressure on Natalya to deliver a fast resolution.

I was not shocked to find that there are significant political pressures placed upon Natalya as she conducts her investigation. The modern day equivalent of the KGB are keeping an eye on Natalya and when they are not comfortable with the direction her enquiries are taking they will intercede. This added element of suspicion and scrutiny gives Motherland a satisfying edginess as you read the story – always the possibility that a spanner shall be thrown into the works to disrupt Natalya’s plans.

There were plenty of twists and clever plotting to keep me concentrating as I read. I tend to skim read many of my books but the detail in Motherland kept me glued to the page, didn’t want to skimp on the story and was worried about missing some subtle clues in the plot. When I focus more on a story it only helps enhance my enjoyment so much satisfaction was had.

I realise that in the first 5 months of 2018 I have read crime thrillers set in Rome, Berlin, Louisiana and now St Petersburg. All seem so very far removed from my wee corner of Scotland but each book has had a distinctive voice and I have loved the variety of locations I am introduced to. Motherland does a wonderful job of capturing the uniqueness of St Petersburg.

Once you get into the story you will appreciate that Natalya is built up to be a strong lead character with a real life away from her investigations. You care more about the characters as they become more real to the reader, particularly Natalya, and you want to read her story (and hope that this will not be a stand-alone tale).

If you enjoy police procedurals and fancy a read which takes readers away from the more established stomping grounds of London, Oxford or Edinburgh then Motherland will deliver all the crimey fun you seek with a new backdrop to explore. Highly recommended.

Motherland is published by Mirror Books and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Motherland-gripping-thriller-Putins-Russia-ebook/dp/B077XPBDZV/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1527632672&sr=8-3&keywords=motherland

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May 30

Rubicon – Ian Patrick

Two cops, both on different sides of the law – both with the same gangland boss in their sights.

Sam Batford is an undercover officer with the Metropolitan Police who will stop at nothing to get his hands on fearsome crime-lord Vincenzo Guardino’s drug supply.

DCI Klara Winter runs a team on the National Crime Agency, she’s also chasing down Guardino, but unlike Sam Batford she’s determined to bring the gangster to justice and get his drugs off the streets.

Set in a time of austerity and police cuts where opportunities for corruption are rife, Rubicon is a tense, dark thriller that is definitely not for the faint hearted.

My thanks to Fahrenheit Press for my review copy and to Emma Welton (Damppebbles) for the chance to join the Rubicon blog tour

On rare (but happy) occasions I sit down to write a review and cannot think of any way to convey just how much I loved the book I have just finished. Going forward I may refer to this predicament as The Rubicon Dilemma.

Rubicon is utterly brilliant and you should make sure you read this book as soon as possible.

Not sure what else I can add…

…

Okay some information about the book may help. Sam Batford is working undercover for the Metropolitan Police, he is a wonderfully complex character who will do whatever it takes to complete his mission. But Sam is serving many masters and his motives and methods keep you guessing and you are never quite sure how he will behave next.

Sam is the main focus but we also keep track on DCI Winter – she wants drugs removed from the streets of London and will let nothing get in her way. With the two leads operating in very different ways it is inevitable that Rubicon will deliver some delightfully twisted and tense situations for readers to enjoy.

Reading about Sam spinning so many plates and keeping up the facade of confident bravado is engrossing. Yet the readers also get sneak peeks at the pressures it brings on him when he is alone and his guard lowered.

There always seems to be something happening in Rubicon. Some books will see the story ebb and flow but with this story there never seemed a good point to put the book to the side (even when I *really* needed coffee). If you want a story which delivers dark, twisty entertainment then I cannot think of many finer examples. Ian Patrick delivers a wonderfully crafted tale of tension and intrigue and I just did not want to stop reading.

Top, top read. The purchase link is below – use it.

Rubicon is published by Fahrenheit Press and you can order a copy here: http://www.fahrenheit-press.com/books_rubicon.html

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May 15

The Louisiana Republic – Maxim Jakubowski

New York, and the world, have been transformed by an unexplained global catastrophe now known as ‘the Dark. Once a modest researcher, has now become an involuntary detective.

He is recruited by her elder sister to find the missing daughter of a local gangster in a city in chaos where anarchy and violence are just a step away. He soon discovers the case is anything but straightforward and compellingly close to home. Compromising photographs and the ambiguous assistance of a young woman with ties to the criminal gangs lead him to New Orleans, which has seceded from the rest of America in the wake of the Dark.

A perilous journey down the Mississippi river, murderous hit women and sidekicks, and the magic and dangerous glamour of the French Quarter become a perilous road to nowhere and to madness in his quest for the amoral daughter, his own lost love and his sanity. Will he find the missing women or lose himself?

My thanks to Anne Cater and Random Things Blog Tours for my review copy and the chance to join the Louisiana Republic Blog Tour.

Been staring at a blank document for 10 minutes trying to find a way to begin a review of The Louisiana Republic…tricky…very tricky as this is the book which I loved for its striking difference to everything else I have read recently.

Okay, I think we are in.

The Dark has changed the modern world as we know it, a dystopian America is the setting for The Louisiana Republic and it is not a place for the faint of heart. Savage criminal gangs are running rampant through the cities and there is more than one President (some may see this as an improvement on our present reality). Battles are being fought over key strongholds, libraries are revered (because of what the Dark is) and people are required to learn lost skills.

Into this mix steps a gorgeous femme fetale who wants to recruit the our lead character (a detective) to find her missing sister. He should have said no, but that would have made a much shorter book. The missing sister is a legend among purveyors of specialist pornography. Before the Dark she was happy to pose for any picture which people would request and people had some very extreme requests. Her father used his vast wealth to try to remove every trace of these images from the hands of strangers, he also disowned his daughter and most certainly does not want some private detective to find her. No problem – he has a number of employees who can deliver very persuasive messages!

I should probably make it clear that The Louisiana Republic is not going to be to everyone’s taste. It is dark, violent, sweary, ~~shaggy,~~ though I think “erotic” is the official designation and dystopian thrillers are not to everyone’s liking. The deeper I got into The Louisiana Republic the more I lost the link to a releatable reality – and the more I enjoyed what I was reading. It is not easy to create a new world and breath such compelling life into the society you have built whilst also keeping the main story spinning along.

There are not many books like The Louisiana Republic but when a story like this comes along I cherish the opportunity it gives me to enjoy something so very different.

The Louisiana Republic is published by Caffeine Nights and is available in digital and paperback format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Louisiana-Republic-fantastic-distopia-erotica-ebook/dp/B07C5SJDHJ/ref=sr_1_8?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1526326337&sr=1-8

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May 10

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 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 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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