Chris Ewan – Grab This Book

A Window Breaks – C.M. Ewan

If your family was targeted in the middle of the night, what would you do?

You are asleep. A noise wakes you.
You stir, unsure why, and turn to your partner.
Then you hear it.
Glass. Crunching underfoot.
Your worst fears are about to be realized.
Someone is inside your home.
Your choices are limited.
You can run. Or stay and fight.
What would you do?

I received a copy of A Window Breaks from the publisher through Netgalley.

Reading A Window Breaks is like riding a rollercoaster. You purchase your ticket (buy the book) and climb into the car (start reading). As your rollercoaster car starts to move you are filled with the anticipation of the shocks, twists and surprises that will soon follow.

But rollercoasters don’t just launch you into those breakneck speeds or hurl you round a sharp twist – there is a period of build up as you winch up an incline, the car getting ready for that point where you are tipped over the edge of a shocking drop and the real rush begins.

When reading A Window Breaks there is the same steady winch period where the reader gets introduced to the family at the heart of the story. You have time to take in your surroundings and get comfortable while out of sight there are cogs whirring and slowly drawing you to the top of the incline.

Then in the story A Window Breaks.

That is the point where this book tips you over the edge of that first rollercoaster incline and you, as a reader, are plummeting forward on an unstoppable thrill ride of twists, shocks and surprises. It is an adrenaline filled rush and you will not want to get off the ride are you are now fully committed to the whole experience. You can’t stop, you are compelled to keep moving forward, drawn along by the events which are unfolding and you want to be there at the end so you can proudly proclaim “I did it” and then you will recommend to your friends that they make the same journey and read A Window Breaks. It’s a rush.

So what’s the story actually about? Well I can tell you some of it but not too much as that takes us too deep into spoiler territory and I am not keen to do that. A Window Breaks follows a family who have endured too much personal trauma of recent times. The Sullivan family were originally a family of 4, the eldest son has recently died in a car crash (the car taken before he was legally entitled to drive). Parents Tom and Rachel are devastated and start to drift apart, their young daugher is keeping them together. Then further trauma occurs – a mugging as they leave a work event sees daughter, Holly, receive a nasty injury and the fragile family security takes another impact.

To allow healing time Tom, Rachel and Holly are invited to spend a few days in a remote lodge in the Scottish Highlands. The idyllic retreat will allow them time to relax and hopefully repair some of the cracks which have appeared in Tom and Rachel’s marriage. All seems well…until A Window Breaks.

I really, really enjoyed the latest thriller from C.M (Chris) Ewan. He can take the reader through an emotional wringer and his plots always carry a satisfying punch. Definite five star read for me, a proper page turner.

A Window Breaks is currently available in digital format and will release in paperback on 20 February 2020. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Window-Breaks-Nerve-shredding-Pulse-racing-Thriller-ebook/dp/B07S1TS6L6/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1575661790&refinements=p_27%3AC.+M.+Ewan&s=digital-text&sr=1-1&text=C.+M.+Ewan

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June 6

Long Time Lost – Chris Ewan

Nick Miller and his team provide a unique and highly illegal service, relocating at-risk individuals across Europe with new identities and new lives. Nick excels at what he does for a reason: he’s spent years living in the shadows under an assumed name.
But when Nick steps in to prevent the attempted murder of witness-in-hiding Kate Sutherland on the Isle of Man, he triggers a chain of events with devastating consequences for everyone he protects – because Nick and Kate share a common enemy in Connor Lane, a man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants, even if it means tearing Nick’s entire network apart.

My thanks to Sophie at Faber for my review copy

Last year I really enjoyed Chris Ewan’s Dark Tides. It was a claustrophobic, atmospheric thriller. This year Chris brings us Long Time Lost and shows his skills on a much larger platform as this is a globetrotting action adventure. It is also a damn fine read!

Nick Miller is a man with secrets. He comes to the rescue of Kate Sutherland who narrowly avoids death when the witness protection scheme fails her. Kate places her trust in Nick to keep her safe until such time as she can get to court to testify.

Miller, working with a handpicked team, is keeping a small number of people safe in various European cities. He has developed a surreptitious means for keeping track of them and as long as everyone follows Miller’s rules their safety will be assured. But there is one key question that everyone in the story must be able to answer: “Can you keep a secret?”

Kate and Miller are caught up in a desperate rush across Europe as Miller’s “clients” become targets.

Back at home, the police are very keen to catch up with Nick Miller. It seems that Miller has secrets of his own and if he values his continued freedom then he needs to keep off the radar too.

Long Time Lost is a tense thrill ride. Chris Ewan keeps the action zipping along and when we meet the bad guys that Kate and Miller are trying to escape, the tension cranks up a notch or two.

Chris Ewan always seems to create characters that I actually care about (given the number of books I can have on the go at any one time this is not something I say often). I had lots of fun reading Long Time Lost – it was one of the books I read long into the night when I really should have been trying to sleep. Perfect reading for thriller fans.

Long Time Lost is published by Faber & Faber. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Long-Time-Lost-Chris-Ewan-ebook/dp/B01B8GDRKE/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1464996879&sr=1-1

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May 11

My A-Z of Books

Having seen a few of these posts I thought I would have a stab at my own A-Z of books. Seems like a great way to let a few of my favourite books get a little bit of love.

I have pinched the questions from my blogger buddy Kate at Bibliophile Book Club. Fingers crossed I get them all!

Author you’ve read the most books from:

Probably Agatha Christie if you count individual titles. Then Terry Pratchett. Though if you count re-reads then I have read most of the Discworld books 4 or 5 times (at least) which puts Pratchett on top.

Best Sequel Ever:

Men At Arms (Terry Pratchett). I love the City Watch books, Vimes and Carrot first appeared in Guards! Guards! and returned in Men At Arms. Am cheating a little but it is my A-Z!

Currently reading:

Doctor Who: In The Blood (Jenny T Colgan), Baby Doll (Holly Overton), Nomad (James Swallow), The Wolf Trial (Neil MacKay)

Drink of choice while reading:

Coffee (strong), no sugar.

E-reader or physical book:

One of my pet hate questions. It is all about the story…book, e-reader, audio book, my phone’s Kindle App…I care not as I am happy with them all.

Fictional character you probably would have actually dated in high school:

I was a painfully shy teen – lets just go for having a major crush on Nancy Drew.

Glad you gave this book a chance:

Many years ago I picked up a new release called Killing Floor by a chap called Lee Child. He wrote about a character called Jack Reacher – glad I took a chance on an author I hadn’t heard of – been a fan ever since.

Hidden Gem book:

Haterz (James Goss).

Important moment in your reading life:

Deciding to write that first blog post about the book I had just finished? (James Oswald – Natural Causes) OR at age 14(ish) making the full transition to reading ‘grown up’ books and purchasing Pet Sematary.

Just finished:

Long Time Lost (Chris Ewan)

Kind of books you won’t read:

Romance and Non Fiction.

Longest book you’ve ever read:

Probably The Stand (Stephen King) but I don’t really stop to count the number of pages.

Major book hangover:

In a good or bad way? In the Cold Dark Ground by Stuart MacBride was MAGNIFICENT and I felt bad for the books that followed.

On the flip-side I read a thriller recently which had a plot twist that I really didn’t enjoy (book had been cruising to a 5*score) – I have yet to decide if I will review that one.

Number of bookcases you own:

Less than I once had! One, Two, Many…LOTS. Last year we removed our bannister at the top of the stairs and replaced the spindles with a new fitted bookcase.

One book you’ve read multiple times:

Just one? IT (Stephen King). Most of the Terry Pratchett books and ALL of the Mr Men books!

Preferred place to read:

On the train (guilt free reading time).

Quote that inspired you/ Gives you all the feels from a book you’ve read:

“At last Ben drops his hands. He starts to say something, shakes his head, and walks away. Ritchie follows him, then Beverly and Mike, walking together. No one talks; they climb the embankment to Kansas Street and simply take leave of one another. And when Bill thinks it over twenty-seven years later, he realizes that they really never did all get together again. Four of them quite often, sometimes five, and maybe six once or twice. But never all seven.” – IT, Stephen King.

Reading regret:

Lord of the Rings. Absolute dross – not sure why I stuck with it.

Series you started and need to finish:

John Sandford’s ‘Prey’ novels. I have missed the last couple of releases.

Three of your all time favourite books:

IT (Stephen King), Night Watch (Terry Pratchett), Belgarath The Sorcerer (David and Leigh Eddings)

Unapologetic fangirl for:

“fangirl” perhaps this challenge was not written with me in mind!

Doctor Who – been reading these books for over 35 years and have easily read over 400 unique Doctor Who titles.

Very excited for this release more than all others:

I never know what is coming up. I always look forward to the new Lee Child. I used to count down to the publication date of the new Terry Pratchett *sobs*.

Now that I have given it some thought…one of my favourite books last year was Tenacity by J.S. Law – am watching eagerly for the next from Mr Law.

Worst bookish habit:

Starting too many books at one time.

X marks the spot- start on the top left of your bookshelf and pick the 27th book:

The Defence – Steve Cavanagh. A signed copy I picked up at the Edinburgh Festival in Summer of 2015 – not realising that I would have the opportunity to meet Steve at Bloody Scotland just 3 weeks later where I could have asked him to personally sign it. This reveals quite a lot about how my life seems to pan out!!!

Your latest purchase:

Two: Exclusion Zone (J.M. Hewitt) and The Amber Shadows (Lucy Ribchester)

Zzzzz Snatcher book (the book that kept you up way too late):

A Quiet Belief In Angels (RJ Ellory). I bloody loved that one.

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October 23

Scarlett Point (short story) – Chris Ewan

SCARLETT POINT is a 6000 word short story from the bestselling author of SAFE HOUSE.

Cutler is a man with a dark secret, hiding out by the coast on the Isle of Man. Luke is a young boy hunting for an elusive treasure from an incomplete map. Their lives collide at SCARLETT POINT in a story about trust, redemption and how sometimes you find what you most need when you’re searching for something else.

SCARLETT POINT was originally commissioned by the Isle of Man Arts Council as part of the Island of Culture initiative and is now available exclusively as a Kindle Single.

Thanks to Chris Ewan who emailed me a copy of the story to read.

At around 6,000 words, it will not take you too long to enjoy Scarlett Point. Yet you can be assured that you will enjoy this tale.

Luke is a treasure hunter on a mission. He has an incomplete treasure map and it is imperative that he finds the loot – unfortunately he doesn’t know what he is looking for.

Cutler is camping on Scarlett Point, he just wants some peace and quiet away from everyone else so a young treasure hunter outside his tent is not a great start to his day.

What comes next is a clever story with a twist I didn’t see coming.

Chris also has a new novel out which I reviewed here: https://grabthisbook.net/?p=259

A cracking story of Hop-tu-Naa with a serial killer picking off a victim on 31^st October each year. A group of friends share a terrible secret – a prank that went badly wrong. Now it seems that someone is out to make them pay for their mistakes…

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October 6

Dark Tides – Chris Ewan

When Claire Cooper was eight years old her mother mysteriously vanished during Hop-tu-naa, the

Manx Halloween. At fourteen, Claire is still struggling to come to terms with her disappearance when she’s befriended by a group of five teenagers who mark every Hop-tu-naa by performing dares. But Claire’s arrival begins to alter the group’s dynamic until one year a prank goes terribly wrong, changing all their futures and tearing the friends apart.

Six years later, one of the friends is killed on Hop-tu-naa in an apparent accident. But Claire, now a police officer, has her doubts. Is a single footprint found near the body a deliberate taunt?

As another Hop-tu-naa dawns, bringing with it another death and another footprint, Claire becomes convinced that somebody is seeking vengeance. But who? And which of the friends might be next? If she’s to stop a killer and unlock the dark secrets of her past, Claire must confront her deepest fears, before it’s too late.

The author of the bestselling SAFE HOUSE returns to the Isle of Man with a thriller that will keep you up all night.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a copy for review.

I have sourced Wikipedia for the following explanation:

Hop-tu-Naa is a Celtic festival celebrated in the Isle of Man on 31 October. Predating Halloween, it is the celebration of the original New Year’s Eve.

Dark Tides features Hop-tu-Naa extensively so it is very important to understand that Hop-tu-Naa is NOT Halloween. It is celebrated on 31^st October and there appears to be a tradition of kids dressing up and visiting houses for treats (and there appears to be an expectation that you have to perform a song or ‘turn’ to be rewarded with your treat). BUT IT IS NOT HALLOWEEN.

What Hop-tu-Naa does provide is an annual creepy evening where dark deeds are done – perfect for a murder story where victims are being picked off once per year in what MAY be retribution for a prank that went badly wrong.

Dark Tides is the perfect novel for a winter night’s reading: it was atmospheric and exciting and I don’t think that I would have engaged in quite the same way had I been on a sunny beach.

The story plays out over a number of years but Chris Ewan keeps the pace going and handles the jumps in time very nicely. Moving through the years, bringing the reader up to date on the key events that impact upon our heroine (Claire) so we can pick up the tale as Hop-tu-Naa approaches again.

One feature of the book that I did enjoy was that (on occasion) we get an insight into the killer’s thoughts as they speculated on the likely outcome of their forthcoming murderous attempts.

The killer’s identity remains shrouded in mystery throughout and the reader will enjoy trying to second guess who the killer may be (I had several guesses as the story unfolded). It is also fun speculating who the next victim may be.

I find that Chris Ewan writes with a very readable style. He builds strong characters that I care about – it is not uncommon for me to finish a story and not be able to remember the name of the lead character. Not so with Dark Tides, I was hooked and I got very caught up in the events.

I don’t normally rate books but I will on this occasion – 5 stars for Dark Tides, I loved it.

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