corruption – Grab This Book

Bastard Verdict – James McCrone

You don’t have to win, just don’t lose.

High stakes and low politics combine with deadly effect in the new thriller, Bastard Verdict, by James McCrone.

A second referendum on independence looms, and a Scottish official enlists elections specialist Imogen Trager, a by-the-numbers, if rarely by-the-book investigator, to look into irregularities in the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum. Imogen uncovers a trail of criminal self-dealing, cover-ups, and murder leading to the highest levels of power. None but a very few know the truth. And those few need it to stay hidden at any cost.

Imogen will risk what’s left of her standing, her career–and maybe her life–to get at the truth.

I received a review copy of Bastard Verdict via Netgalley and was invited to host this leg of the blog tour by Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours.

In the United Kingdom if you mention a contentious referendum result most people will immediately think of the 2016 “Brexit” vote. If, however, you live in Scotland then your first thoughts may well shift to the 2014 Independence Referendum. This YES/NO vote split the country, families disagreed, friends fell out and the media first showed their true colours by brazenly ditching any suggestion of impartiality…you see! It still causes high emotion.

The “Indy Ref” is almost 9 years in the past (a generation if you’re Irish but apparently not if you’re Scottish) the outcome still raises passions and many, many people believe there were significant trust issues surrounding the vote and the result. In Bastard Verdict James McCrone turns attention to the turmoil, incorporates the suspicions and unusal practices into a cracking thriller He brilliantly taps into the paranoia which his protagonists will experience as they look to see if there was Governmental interference in the vote and it makes the story a tight and tense affair.

Imogen Trager is an FBI agent but she is working at Glasgow University as a guest lecturer following her involvement in an extremely high profile case in the US where she exposed vote tampering in the Amercian elections. Imogen became toxic at home as the fallout from her investigations cast huge ripples through the American political system. She is in Scotland where she will be safely out of the way! But soon after her arrival Imogen is approached by a high ranking official of the Scottish Government. He indicates he would like Imogen to spend some time looking at the 2014 Independence referendum, she is a specialist in identifying election irregularities and he says the 2014 election “was stolen”. But his request comes with a warning, if Imogen is going to look at the vote she must be very careful – if she does find any evidence of wrongdoing then this can only have been orchestrated by some very powerful people. Those people would not want anyone to shine a spotlight on their interference.

McCrone has also tapped into live political issues. In Bastard Verdict there is a strong suspicion the UK Goverment is seeking to announce a new policy initiaive to make Great Britain stronger. This patriotic excercise in London would also seriously undermine the authority of the devolved governments and would see several key areas which are legislated in Edinburgh cede back to London’s control. If Imogen can identify interference in the Independence Referendum it will seriously undermine any London attempts to wrestle control away from Scotland – suddenly a vote nine years ago has a very real and imminent deadline if doubt is to be cast upon the outcome.

As someone that closely followed the 2014 election I was very aware of some of the “unusual” elements surrounding the vote. James McCrone uses real questions (never fully answered) as fictional plot points which drive Imogen’s investigations forward. When there is suspicion of sensitve infomration being revealed people start to die. But the forces working against Imogen and her small cohort of colleagues are worried and mistakes are being made – the reader gets to follow both sides of the process we see when robberies are arranged, when surveillance is deployed and who is calling the shots. Knowing Imogen is getting deeper into danger keeps the reader turning the pages.

Election vote counting doesn’t sound like the most likely backdrop for a crime thriller but James McCrone steps up and makes it an utterly absorbing read. I loved this story and have already been recommending it to many of my friends.

Bastard Verdict publishes on 18 May 2023 and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0999137743/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3

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March 29

Vine Street – Dominic Nolan

Soho, 1935. Sergeant Leon Geats’ patch.

A snarling, skull-cracking misanthrope, Geats marshals the grimy rabble according to his own elastic moral code.

The narrow alleys are brimming with jazz bars, bookies, blackshirts, ponces and tarts so when a body is found above the Windmill Club, detectives are content to dismiss the case as just another young woman who topped herself early. But Geats – a good man prepared to be a bad one if it keeps the worst of them at bay – knows the dark seams of the city.

Working with his former partner, mercenary Flying Squad sergeant Mark Cassar, Geats obsessively dedicates himself to finding a warped killer – a decision that will reverberate for a lifetime and transform both men in ways they could never expect.

I recieved a review copy through Netgalley from the publisher but bought the audiobook and listened to Vine Street so my review reflects the audiobook I purchased rather than the written copy I initially recieved.

Had I listened to Vine Street before Christmas then it would have, without a shadow of doubt, been my favourite audiobook of 2021. As it stands it is currently my top audiobook listen of 2022 and the title which other audiobooks need to beat. So shall we proceed on the assumption you know I loved this book?

London in the 1930s is where most of the action in Vine Street takes place, except the story isn’t confided to that period. In fact, the opening scenes are actually set decades later when characters we will come to know well have their quiet retirement disturbed when ghosts from the past will be brought to their door.

But Soho is where much of the action will take place and we meet Leon Geats he is a police officer but he immediately struck me as the cop who doesn’t conform or play by the rules. This first impression was pretty much spot on as Geats is a loose cannon in his team and very much takes life in his own style. Geats is called to a house where a woman has died. She is found with a stocking around her neck but the investigating officer doesn’t want to rule it as murder. She appears to have been a working girl and a foreign national – almost not worth the bother of investigating! But Geats isn’t having it and he will dig and ask questions despite the apathy of his colleagues.

What Geats had not anticpated was the presence of a child at the murder scene. The daughter of the victim and all alone in the world, she takes a shine to Geats but he knows his lifestyle is too chaotic to be able to care for her so he finds one of her relatives to care for her. It’s a sensible and, Geats thinks, the correct thing to do but, as we will see, some decisions have reprecussions.

Vine Street is a huge book and it is impossible for me to do it justice in a brief review, I could wax lyrical for many, many pages. It’s the story of 1930’s Soho, the dancing, the girls, the hardship of the time, the police and some corruption within their ranks. But at heart it is a story about murders and an obsession to catch a killer. You will be drawn back in time and become fully immersed in these London streets. You will know the bar owners, who likes the music and where the dancing happens. But the lighter side of Soho has an opposing dark side. Prejudices are rife, racism, sexism, homophobia are commonplace and it will make for uncomfortable reading at times. Dominic Nolan takes it all and delivers the reader with an experience which will not quickly be forgotten.

I mentioned that I had listened to the audiobook of Vine Street. The narrator is Owen Findlay and he made this story shine. It’s without doubt one of the best narrator/story combinations I have heard for quite some time. The book is cracking and Findlay gave it such energy that I was hanging onto his every word. It’s over fourteen hours of listening and I am not going to lie when I say I wanted more.

There are real emotional highs and lows in Vine Street, some characters left too soon and I missed them badly. Some more than outstayed their welcome and I was glad when their contributions were at an end. The emotional impact all these players had on me is testament to the outstanding work of the author. There are some books I will always be glad I read, Vine Street is on that list.

Vine Street is currently available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. Paperback will be incoming this summer. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/vine-street/dominic-nolan/9781472288851

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March 11

The Blood Tide – Neil Lancaster

You get away with murder.
In a remote sea loch on the west coast of Scotland, a fisherman vanishes without trace. His remains are never found.

You make people disappear.
A young man jumps from a bridge in Glasgow and falls to his death in the water below. DS Max Craigie uncovers evidence that links both victims. But if he can’t find out what cost them their lives, it won’t be long before more bodies turn up at the morgue…

You come back for revenge.
Soon cracks start to appear in the investigation, and Max’s past hurtles back to haunt him. When his loved ones are threatened, he faces a terrifying choice: let the only man he ever feared walk free, or watch his closest friend die…

Max, Janie and Ross return in the second gripping novel in this explosive Scottish crime series.

I received a review copy from the publishers through Netgalley.

If you missed out on Dead Man’s Grave last year then the good news is that it recently released in paperback and is available in all your favourite book-buying places. The other good news is that Dead Man’s Grave is the first book in what I am calling “an unmissable new series” so you should grab a copy as soon as possible and catch up on the exploits of DS Max Cragie.

The Blood Tide, which is why we are here today, is the second Cragie book. It picks up after the events of Dead Man’s Grave and Craigie is about to get drawn into another tension packed adventure. While The Blood Tide can be read as a stand-alone title there are recurring characters across the two stories where knowing their background will help you understand why they undertake certain actions in the second book.

On the shores of western Scotland a small boat is coming ashore with a significant supply of class A drugs on board. There is a sole occupant in the boat but he knows he is meeting a friend when he reaches land and he will be well paid for the risks he is taking. What he had not anticipated was encountering two strangers on the shore and he was even more unprepared for what happens next. Perhaps the payment wasn’t quite enough or he underestimated the level of risk he was taking?

Next we head south to the Erskine Bridge. A cop on his way home at the end of a long shift spots a man on the edge of the bridge ready to jump. He stops and tries to talk down this desperate stranger but the man is terrified and after telling the cop there is nothing he nor anyone else can say or do to protect his family from the powerful, dangerous people he steps off the bridge.

The event leaves the cop badly shaken but he writes up the incident and realises the terrified man had implied there were police involved in the threat against his family. He calls his friend Max Craigie to tell him about the incident and Max agrees to meet him to discuss this further. But before the meeting can take place there is another death and Craigie believes there is a dangerous connection.

I really don’t want to get too much deeper into the events of The Blood Tide as I want to avoid too many spoiler possibilites. Suffice to say Lancaster’s recognisable patterns of tension, explosive drama and putting his lead characters through peril and trauma are very much present. It is exactly what you want from a crime thriller, think “one more chapter” and you’re there.

Drugs and corruption are powerful motivators and people will do anthing to protect their interests when both are involved. Craigie and his colleagues, Janie and Ross, will have their work cut out to identify where the risks lie and their lives will be in danger – even if they don’t know it. When you investigate the colleagues around you it is impossible to know who you can trust.

There are more than a few shocks and twists waiting within the pages of The Blood Tide. I had been in a bit of a reading slump before I picked this book up and it blew away those cobwebs. High stakes, fast paced and wonderfully realised characters, do not miss out on this series.

The Blood Tide is available in Hardback, Audio and Digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-blood-tide/neil-lancaster/9780008518462

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September 9

Black Reed Bay – Rod Reynolds

Don’t trust ANYONE…

When a young woman makes a distressing middle-of-the-night call to 911, apparently running for her life in a quiet, exclusive beachside neighbourhood, miles from her home, everything suggests a domestic incident.

Except no one has seen her since, and something doesn’t sit right with the officers at Hampstead County PD. With multiple suspects and witnesses throwing up startling inconsistencies, and interference from the top threatening the integrity of the investigation, lead detective Casey Wray is thrust into an increasingly puzzling case that looks like it’s going to have only one ending…

And then the first body appears…

I received a review copy from Karen at Orenda Books and I would like to thank Anne Cater at Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the Black Reed Bay blog tour.

Hi, can we have our ball back please? Everything was fine until Rod Renolds came along with Black Reed Bay and utterly smashed it out of the park.

I should just stop there. Read it, loved it and basically I didn’t want it to end. The lead character, Casey Wray, is one of the strongest and most interesting new headliners I have encountered for a long time and I want to read more about her. Rod Reynold’s writes beautifully and builds a world around his reader which keeps you hooked on the story he is telling.

Everything starts with a panic call to the police. A young woman is running down a street in a nice residential area but is clearly terrified of something, what is she is trying to escape from? She manages to give the police details of her location but not what the threat is. Then the call ends abruptly and the woman disappears before the police can respond.

Casey Wray and her partner Cullen are investigating but it seems everyone they speak with has a different version of events. Many residents saw the missing woman run down the street and the man she had been visiting (and Casey’s chief suspect) agrees she had been at his home before panicing and running out. But nobody knows where she went and (crucially) nobody wanted to open their door to help her.

Staying well clear of spoilers makes it tricky to outline why I enjoyed this book as much as I did. Casey’s missing person enquiries see her stumble into a much bigger concern. This puts Casey and her colleagues into closer contact with other departments within the police and this isn’t the best of time to put her boss under pressure as he is feeling the pinch too. An internal investigation focusing on how a violent and intoxicated suspect was brought under control with “excessive force” means the whole team feel they are being picked on by the top brass.

Casey’s investigation is detailed, compassionate and thorough, the author has given real life and energy to his characters and I was utterly absorbed by what I was reading. This, in turn, made some of the shocking twists more dramatic and gave them bigger impact. The missing woman’s family are anxious, worried, angry and desperate, this rubs off on Casey and on the reader and your investment in this story grows.

Late night phone calls, screaming women and then a body is found, everything is escalating and Casey and Cullen are in the thick of it. This is page-turner central, the kind of book I love to read with the drama and tension you always hope your next read will offer.

Consider me a very happy, satisfied reader. Black Reed Bay – read it!

Black Reed Bay is published by Orenda Books and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08T65D9XX/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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July 6

Dead Man’s Grave – Neil Lancaster

This grave can never be opened.
The head of Scotland’s most powerful crime family is brutally murdered, his body dumped inside an ancient grave in a remote cemetery.

This murder can never be forgotten.
Detectives Max Craigie and Janie Calder arrive at the scene, a small town where everyone has secrets to hide. They soon realise this murder is part of a blood feud between two Scottish families that stretches back to the 1800s. One thing’s for certain: it might be the latest killing, but it won’t be the last…

This killer can never be caught.
As the body count rises, the investigation uncovers large-scale corruption at the heart of the Scottish Police Service. Now Max and Janie must turn against their closest colleagues – to solve a case that could cost them far more than just their lives…

My thanks to Finn Cotton at HQ for the opportunity to read Dead Man’s Grave ahead of publication

Dead Man’s Grave.

This.

Book.

Is.

Brilliant.

I could stop writing at this point, I loved it. But I am going to rave a bit more…

Dead Man’s Grave grabbed me in the opening pages and is still in my thoughts a few weeks after I finished it. Top quality crime fiction with lashings of tension and drama, mysteries and secrets for the reader to discover as they read. There is humour to break up the darker scenes and, despite the very clear presence of the villains of the piece, there are several untrustworthy characters who are hidden from DS Max Craigie. Watching him flush them out into the open is why you will keep those pages turning long into the night.

I mentioned Max Craigie – who he? He is a name you want to watch out for! An officer with Police Scotland and working out of Glasgow he used to work for the Met in London and brings a wealth of experience to his team. And Craigie will need to bring every ounce of that experience to his next investigation as a leading member of one of Scotland’s most powerful crime families has gone missing. His family (the criminals) are prepared to co-operate with the police as they want their father back. But Craigie knows they have their own contacts within the police so everything he knows will soon make its way back. Who can he trust amongst his own colleagues to help him and who is passing information to the crooks?

Working with the capable and quirky Janie Calder the pair make their way North from Glasgow to the wilds of the Scottish Highlands to visit the last place the missing gangster was seen. Their journey is far more successful than he anticipated and their missing person investigation turns into a murder hunt. This isn’t going to be the first murder either as a violent gang are hellbent on avenging a centuries old feud and a family who have no knowledge of recent events are now in grave danger.

The action moves up and down the country and Cragie and Calder discover the corruption in the police runs much deeper than a few informants in each station. Can they shine a light on the perpretators or will their interference prove too costly? Craigie is at risk and as he unknowingly courts death I could not turn the pages fast enough.

Dead Man’s Grave was recently announced on the Longlist for the 2021 McIlvanney Prize, it’s already establishing its credentials as one of the best Scottish crime thrillers of the year. Trust me on this one, you will struggle to find a more gripping read.

Dead Man’s Grave releases digitally on 16 July 2021 and the paperback will be available in September. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0925KS87N/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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October 3

Corruption – Elizabeth Ducie

Out of fear. Out of greed. Out of evil. Corruption springs from many roots.

Teenagers fall prey to a deadly new drug craze sweeping across Russia. Pharmaceuticals destined for Africa turn up on the backstreets of Moscow, St Petersburg and Vladivostok. Regulator Suzanne Jones and her sister, Charlie, fight to stop the pushers before more kids die.

But will their discoveries mean a friend goes to prison? And are they putting their loved ones in danger?

With old adversaries and surprising new allies, the Jones sisters face their toughest challenge to date.

The heart-stopping final episode in the Suzanne Jones series of thrillers set in the sometimes murky world of international pharmaceuticals

My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Reads for my review copy and the chance to join the blog tour.

It seems that Corruption is the third novel in the Suzanne Jones series. I had not realised that there had been two previous novels until I had finished reading the book so I can offer a firm assurance that you do not have to have read the first two books to enjoy (or keep up with) events in Corruption.

I started reading and had some initial concerns that I may not enjoy Corruption. The story is told from multiple viewpoints and I felt that we were flicking around a little too much and I struggled a little to follow events. However my concerns did not last long…after a short while the story settled into a more natural rhythm. Either I got more focused or the character introductions and scene setting needed to be quickly established to allow the story to flow.

Corruption is a cleverly plotted thriller with a satisfying number of twists and surprises which kept this reader engaged. Once or twice I thought I could tell where this story (which was riddled with lies, fraud and blackmail) was heading. Then a twist or unexpected event would change the course of the story and I was back to trying to second guess the author. I always enjoy when stories don’t pan out as I expect them to – keeps me reading!

The book has a pharmaceutical backdrop and, to my untrained eye, there was a pleasing level of authentic sounding information about the pharmaceutical industry. While I cannot know if it was accurate I certainly had no trouble believing what I was reading about practices within the industry and it allowed me to buy into the story.

An entertaining read. The characters were well defined with the bad guys very unlikable and our key players – the sisters – being given the opportunity to shine. A good balance of suspense and thrills and I can honestly say I did not foresee that ending!

Corruption is available in digital and paperback format and can be ordered here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Corruption-Suzanne-Jones-Elizabeth-Ducie/dp/0956950892/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1538430414&sr=8-1

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July 18

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

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December 11

The Silent Room – Mari Hannah

A security van sets off for Durham prison, a disgraced Special Branch officer in the back. It never arrives. En route it is hijacked by armed men, the prisoner sprung. Suspended from duty on suspicion of aiding and abetting the audacious escape of his former boss, Detective Sergeant Matthew Ryan is locked out of the manhunt.

Desperate to preserve his career and prove his innocence, he backs off. But when the official investigation falls apart, under surveillance and with his life in danger, Ryan goes dark, enlisting others in his quest to discover the truth.

When the trail leads to the suspicious death of a Norwegian national, Ryan uncovers an international conspiracy that has claimed the lives of many.

My thanks to Macmillan for my review copy

For a change, I am starting with the important and essential point about my review. The Silent Room is a great read and I am going to include it in my 5 star review category.

It was not until I finished reading The Silent Room that I realised just how much I had enjoyed it. Obviously I knew while I was reading that it was a good story and that I was loving the twists and shocks that arose along the way. But I finished it yesterday and I still find myself wanting to read more about DS Matthew Ryan – he was a strong lead character and are elements of the story which I now find I want to see developed further (an unsubtle hint for Mari Hannah there that I would be delighted to see these characters return).

At the start of the book Ryan is reeling from the discovery that his friend and former boss has been sentenced to prison – as a disgraced officer he is cast out from the police force he served for a long and seemingly glorious career. Ryan refuses to believe the worst of his mentor and when the prison transit van is hijacked en route to Durham Prison Ryan knows that his friend needs his help. However, his colleagues on the force are less keen to forgive and their suspicions soon turn to Ryan too.

Acting without the support of his colleagues the onus falls on Ryan to investigate an abduction and disprove corruption charges. Thus begins a frantic race against time for Ryan, he enlists help of friends and associates who risk their own safety (and in some cases their careers) to provide whatever help they can to Ryan. Mari Hannah does a fantastic job of conveying the tension that surrounds Ryan’s desperate investigations and also of the frustration he encounters when the Professional Standards team try to implicate him in corrupt activities too.

I really cannot share too much of the finer detail of The Silent Room. It is often the way of a brilliant thriller that talking about what makes it so good will then involve discussing spoilers! The characters are fun, likeable (except when they are MEANT to be disliked), they are believable and they jumped off the pages for me. The Silent Room is everything a good crime story should be and I have no doubt that it will delight readers.

Did I mention I loved it?

The Silent Room is available now in Hardback and Digital formats: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1447291042?keywords=mari%20hannah&qid=1449792188&ref_=sr_1_1_twi_har_1&s=books&sr=1-1

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September 3

Reciclador – Joff Sharpe

Medical school drop-out Yessica Sanchez opens a restaurant in her home town of Medellin, the most dangerous city in the world. She falls in love with a Swiss backpacker and together they enjoy a simple, idyllic lifestyle. But the traveller, Marcus Hamm, carries a dark secret and when a man is killed outside the restaurant it triggers a series of events that threaten their lives and will test their relationship to its limits.

Soon other interested parties like the CIA, mercenaries and Colombian police are competing to secure the huge financial prize that they believe to be at stake. Only Yessica’s father, an unassuming but cunning professor of anthropology, can save his family from a terrible fate. He’ll stop at nothing to do so.

The backdrop to the story includes some of the more colorful aspects of Medellin, such as its spectacular festival of flowers and Young Women’s Talent Competition, and a host of interesting characters from every part of Colombian society.

My thanks to Emma at Busy Bee for my review copy.

One of the reasons I started to blog was that I wanted to make readers aware of books that I had read which I thought other people would also enjoy. I also set myself a personal challenge of reading new authors and also books which are suitably different from my normal go-to titles. This brings me nicely to Reciclador by Joff Sharpe – a debut novel set in Columbia’s roughest suburbs. Did I enjoy it and do I want lots of people to read it? Damn right!

The problem that I am going to have in explaining why you should read Reciclador is that if I enthuse about what I loved about the story then I need to include spoilers and spoilers are banned on these pages.

Reciclador tells the story of Marcus and Yessica. They run a restaurant in Medellin, Columbia (the most dangerous city in the world). Life seems simple for the couple and the restaurant is doing well but readers soon learn that Marcus cuts a somewhat mysterious figure. Yessica, however, is much more open and is invited, as a successful local businesswoman, to help the younger women of Medellin to show their skills and talents through a Young Women’s Talent Competition. In a city where drawing attention to your successes can be a dangerous idea Yessica soon finds her restaurant is receiving some unwanted attention.

Although Yessica and Marcus are the main characters in Reciclador we also get to spend time with a variety of characters from very different social backgrounds. Corrupt policemen, savvy politicians, street kids scrapping for status and their peers who are looking to lift themselves out of their impoverished existence. Reciclador was an eye-opening read and although it is a work of fiction the story is grounded in fact which makes some of the events so much more disconcerting. I urge you to read my chat with author Joff Sharpe where he discusses how much of the story was influenced by actual events. Full interview can be found here: https://grabthisbook.net/?p=983

If you are looking for a gripping thriller which offers something a little different from the norm then Reciclador should be right up at the top of your list. The dynamics of Columbian society essentially mean that anything goes, everyone has a price, nobody is above intimidation and violence is commonplace. Drop in two people trying to live a quiet life (who find themselves with a dead body on their property) and you know that things are going to go wrong fairly quickly.

When I consider the titles I have covered on my blog I cannot think of any book which is comparable to Reciclador. A fresh reading experience which I devoured – a book I wanted to read in one sitting yet a book I did not want to end. I hope that Joff Sharpe decides to return to Medellin as this is a city which offers so much potential for more thrilling tales. 5 star thrills – loved this!

Reciclador is the debut novel from author Joff Sharpe, who has written about financial fugitives for Newsweek, Huffington Post and Hong Kong’s largest circulation English-speaking newspaper, The South China Morning Post.

He has previously published a non-fiction book ‘Who Dares Wins in Business’ which combined wisdom from his early career as an SAS Special Forces officer and his role today as an executive in a £17 billion real estate investment company.

Other entries on Joff’s CV include: a year living amongst the Iban headhunters of Borneo, running an internet company for Rupert Murdoch and being Piers Morgan’s HR director.

Reciclador is available now through Amazon in paperback and digital format: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Reciclador-Recycler-Mr-Joff-Sharpe/dp/1512269387/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1441233935&sr=1-1&keywords=reciclador

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