December 31

My Favourite Books from 2020

Happy Hogmanay from a snowy Scotland.  As the sun sets for the final time on 2020 I think we can all agree that this has not been one of the better years.  Yet I look back on the previous 12 months with my bookish eyes and there were some great moments (mainly books I loved which offered escapism from our real-world dystopia).

Before everything stopped in March and we were no longer allowed out to play I had the joy of attending two events in Glasgow.  A special mention and my thanks to the Orenda authors who made the trip to Glasgow for the Orenda Roadshow.  Also to Elly Griffiths who hosted an afternoon tea and book reading in Waterstones in Sauchiehall Street.  Little did I know at the time that this would be the only events I would attend all year – both days were great fun and I took the teenager along too where he initially got a bit starstruck but also started his own collection of signed crime thrillers…I am so proud!

But I digress.  This post is my end of year wrap up.  The ten books which brought me the most joy and esacapism during the year.  Some were the right book at the right time. Some were great stories I could not put down and the others were titles I immediately put into the hands of someone else with a nod of “You MUST read this”.

 

10 – Curse The Day – Judith O’Reilly (Head of Zeus)

At a global tech gala hosted at the British Museum, scientist Tobias Hawke is due to unveil an astonishing breakthrough. His AI system appears to have reached consciousness, making Hawke the leading light in his field.

But when terrorists storm the building, they don’t just leave chaos in their wake. They seize Hawke’s masterwork, sparking a chain reaction of explosive events which could end the world as we know it.

Michael North, ex-assassin and spy-for-hire, must find the killers and recover the AI. But he can’t do it alone. Hawke’s wife, Esme, and teenage hacker, Fangfang, have their own reasons to help complete North’s mission – and together they unravel a dark and deadly conspiracy which stretches right to the top of the British elite.

Can North survive long enough to uncover the whole truth? Or is it already too late for humanity?

 

9 – Dark Highway – Lisa Gray (Thomas & Mercer)

An isolated highway in the middle of the desert—the perfect place to hide a secret.

LA-based artist Laurie Simmonds disappeared two months ago, her campervan abandoned on the isolated Twentynine Palms Highway, miles from anything—or anyone. With the police investigation stalled, her parents put all their faith in private investigator Jessica Shaw to find out the truth of what happened.

Jessica and her partner Matt Connor discover that two other women are missing, their disappearances connected to the same highway. When a link emerges between these women and a group of former college friends, Jessica feels certain they’re closing in on their target.

But no sooner do they follow this up than Laurie’s parents get spooked and drop the case. Jessica is blindsided but determined not to give up: three women are missing, and many more may be at risk. She can’t turn her back on them. But the more she pulls at the threads of the truth, the closer she comes to danger. Can she find out who’s behind these crimes before they come for her?

 

8 – Thirty-One Bones – Morgan Cry (Polygon)

When Daniella Coulstoun’s estranged mother Effie dies in Spain under suspicious circumstances, she feels it’s her duty to fly out for the funeral.

On arrival, Daniella is confronted by a dangerous group of expat misfits who claim that Effie stole huge sums of cash from them in a multi-million property scam. They want the money back and Daniella is on the hook for it.

When a suspicious Spanish detective begins to probe Effie’s death and a London gangster hears about the missing money, Daniella faces threats on every front. With no idea where the cash is and facing a seemingly impossible deadline, she quickly finds herself out of her depth and fighting for survival in a strange and terrifying world.

7 – One White Lie – Leah Konen (Penguin)

Imagine you’ve finally escaped the worst relationship of your life, running away with only a suitcase and a black eye – and you’re terrified what will happen if he finds you.

Imagine your new next-door neighbours are the friends you so desperately needed – fun, kind, empathetic, very much in love.

Imagine that they’re in trouble. That their livelihoods – even their lives – are at risk. They have a plan to keep all of you safe, but they just need you to tell one small lie.

One small lie, and all of these problems would disappear . . .

You’d do it. Wouldn’t you?

It’s only one small lie, until someone turns up dead.

 

6 – The Resident – David Jackson (Viper)

THERE’S A SERIAL KILLER ON THE RUN
AND HE’S HIDING IN YOUR HOUSE

Thomas Brogan is a serial killer. With a trail of bodies in his wake and the police hot on his heels, it seems like Thomas has nowhere left to hide. That is until he breaks into an abandoned house at the end of a terrace on a quiet street. And when he climbs up into the loft, he realises that he can drop down into all the other houses through the shared attic space.

That’s when the real fun begins. Because the one thing that Thomas enjoys even more than killing is playing games with his victims – the lonely old woman, the bickering couple, the tempting young newlyweds. And his new neighbours have more than enough dark secrets to make this game his best one yet…

Do you fear The Resident? Soon you’ll be dying to meet him.

 

5 – A Dark Matter – Doug Johnstone (Orenda Books)

Meet the Skelfs: well-known Edinburgh family, proprietors of a long-established funeral-home business, and private investigators

When patriarch Jim dies, it s left to his wife Dorothy, daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah to take charge of both businesses, kicking off an unexpected series of events.

Dorothy discovers mysterious payments to another woman, suggesting that Jim wasn’t the husband she thought he was. Hannah s best friend Mel has vanished from university, and the simple adultery case that Jenny takes on leads to something stranger and far darker than any of them could have imagined.

As the women struggle to come to terms with their grief, and the demands of the business threaten to overwhelm them, secrets from the past emerge, which change everything

A compelling, tense and shocking thriller and a darkly funny and warm portrait of a family in turmoil, A Dark Matter introduces a cast of unforgettable characters, marking the start of an addictive new series.

 

4 – Stone Cold Trouble – Amer Anwar (Dialogue Books)

Trying – and failing – to keep his head down and to stay out of trouble, ex-con Zaq Khan agrees to help his best friend, Jags, recover a family heirloom, currently in the possession of a wealthy businessman. But when Zaq’s brother is viciously assaulted, Zaq is left wondering whether someone from his own past is out to get revenge.

Wanting answers and retribution, Zaq and Jags set out to track down those responsible. Meanwhile, their dealings with the businessman take a turn for the worse and Zaq and Jags find themselves suspected of murder.

It’ll take both brains and brawn to get themselves out of trouble and, no matter what happens, the results will likely be deadly. The only question is, whether it will prove deadly for them, or for someone else . . . ?

 

3 – How The Wired Weep – Ian Patrick (Independently Published)

The Wire crosses the pond.

Ed is a detective who handles informants. He recruits Ben, a young man, who is treading a dangerous path into the criminal underworld.
Ben’s unsure of where his loyalties lie. They have to find a way to work together despite their differences.

Both men are drawn into the world of Troy, a ruthless and brutal leader of an Organised Criminal Network.

Ben is torn between two worlds as he tries to walk the impossible line between criminality and helping Ed combat crime.
He lives in fear of discovery.

When your life is thrown upside down who do you turn to in order to survive?

Set against the backdrop of the 2012 Olympic Games, How the Wired Weep is a fast paced urban thriller where time is against both men as they attempt to serve their own agendas.

 

2 – Bobby March Will Live Forever – Alan Parks (Canongate)

WHO IS TO BLAME WHEN NO ONE IS INNOCENT?

The papers want blood.
The force wants results.
The law must be served, whatever the cost.

July 1973. The Glasgow drugs trade is booming and Bobby March, the city’s own rock-star hero, has just overdosed in a central hotel.

Alice Kelly is thirteen years old, lonely. And missing.

Meanwhile the niece of McCoy’s boss has fallen in with a bad crowd and when she goes AWOL, McCoy is asked – off the books – to find her.

McCoy has a hunch. But does he have enough time?

 

1 – King of the Crows – Russell Day (Fahrenheit Press)

2028, eight years after a pandemic swept across Europe, the virus has been defeated and normal life has resumed.

Memories of The Lockdown have already become clouded by myth, rumour and conspiracy. Books have been written, movies have been released and the names Robertson, Miller & Maccallan have slipped into legend. Together they hauled The Crows, a ragged group of virus survivors, across the ruins of London. Kept them alive, kept them safe, kept them moving.

But not all myths are true and not all heroes are heroes.

Questions are starting to be asked about what really happened during those days when society crumbled and the capital city became a killing ground.

Finally the truth will be revealed.

 

 

And there you have it – ten cracking books.  Bring on 2021 I am ready for new stories.

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July 30

The Resident – David Jackson

THERE’S A SERIAL KILLER ON THE RUN
AND HE’S HIDING IN YOUR HOUSE

Thomas Brogan is a serial killer. With a trail of bodies in his wake and the police hot on his heels, it seems like Thomas has nowhere left to hide. That is until he breaks into an abandoned house at the end of a terrace on a quiet street. And when he climbs up into the loft, he realises that he can drop down into all the other houses through the shared attic space.

That’s when the real fun begins. Because the one thing that Thomas enjoys even more than killing is playing games with his victims – the lonely old woman, the bickering couple, the tempting young newlyweds. And his new neighbours have more than enough dark secrets to make this game his best one yet…

Do you fear The Resident? Soon you’ll be dying to meet him.

 

My thanks to Viper Books for my review copy and for the opportunity to join the blog tour.

 

Thomas Brogan. Serial Killer. Star of The Resident.  This is his story, no detective being tormented by an elusive character leaving cryptic clues to taunt the police. No reporter chasing down a story and stumbling across a killer’s legacy.  This is Brogan, a dangerous killer who from the opening pages is on the run as his latest murders have been discovered too soon.   Brogan is on the run and the police are hot on his tail.

Fortunately for Brogan (and for the story) he eludes capture by hiding in an abandoned house at the end of a row of terraced properties.  Seeking a safe place to lie low he makes his way to the attic space and makes a fascinating discovery – he can access all four houses in the terrace by moving along the loft space. Brogan’s first thought – he can find more victims to have fun with.

How do we know Brogan’s thoughts?  Well author, David Jackson, shares Brogan’s inner dialogues – he talks to himself (argues frequently). We hear Brogan’s thought process, his internal debates over the next course of action and his common sense telling him what he should and should not consider to be his next move.  This works well for driving forward the story. If nobody knows Brogan is in the loft and Brogan doesn’t have his conversations with himself then it would be difficult for the reader to understand why Brogan is acting the way he does because Brogan has a plan and he plans to have some fun while he waits for the coast to clear.

There is nothing of interest in the abandoned house which Brogan used to access the loft space.  The other three houses in the terrace offer much more interesting fare. There is the elderly woman who only gets visited by her carer each day. The arguing couple who seem best ignored and the young professional couple in the last house.  They have so much potential for Brogan and he plans to mess with their heads before he ends their lives.

Brogan is not a likeable character and his actions when he comes down from the attic space into the houses below re-enforce what a loathsome character he is.  He purposefully stirs up disharmony in the young couple’s marriage. He digs into their secrets when they are out and moves items around their house.  He steals food from all the houses where he can but soon finds an easier way to get the grub he needs. Being Brogan this involves upsetting another character in the book but this means little to him as the end result works to his advantage.

Following Brogan’s activities had a very real “one more chapter” dilemma, I just didn’t want to take a break from the book.  I am very much a fan of serial killer stories and The Resident has a very different feel from the “normal” murder tales because the reader travels with the killer. I powered through The Resident in very short time and was nicely caught out by a few of the unexpected details which arose. It’s different, it zips along at a cracking pace and I loved it.  Five star thrills once again from David Jackson.

 

 

The Resident is published by Viper and is available in physical and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B083ZL59H9/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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May 14

Your Deepest Fear – David Jackson

‘Sara! Remember! Victoria and Albert. All I can say. They’re here. They’re-‘

These are the last words Sara Prior will ever hear from her husband.

As DS Nathan Cody struggles to make sense of the enigmatic message and solve the brutal murder, it soon becomes clear that Sara is no ordinary bereaved wife. Taking the investigation into her own hands, Sara is drawn into a world of violence that will lead her in a direction she would never have suspected.

For Cody, meanwhile, things are about to get personal in the darkest and most twisted ways imaginable . . .

 

My thanks to the publisher for my review copy which I received through Netgalley and to Tracy Fenton for the opportunity to join the blog tour.

 

Where to start with this beauty?  David Jackson has delivered a storming read, darker than the average police thriller. Delightfully creepy moments are plentiful as he pits his lead character (Nathan Cody) against his mysterious nemesis – a masked stranger responsible for the death of Cody’s partner and for mutilating Cody himself.

This is the fourth Nathan Cody book.  Cody is very much a man defined by his past and as such readers will benefit from reading the earlier titles (A Tapping At My Door, Hope To Die and Don’t Make A Sound).  However, everything you need to know about Cody’s background is nicely covered in Your Deepest Fear so there is no chance you will fail to understand the significance of some of the bigger moments in this book.

Cody is investigating a brutal murder. The victim has been subjected to a prolonged attack prior to death which would have meant he suffered greatly before the end. There is nothing in the mans background which would have given cause for suspicion or may have brought him into contact with the ‘wrong types’. So why was this man chosen for such an unpleasant death?

The victim’s widow is also causing problems for Cody. She found her husband’s body after he had left a message/call for help on her answer phone. Contained in the message was a possible clue to identify his killers but she cannot work out what the clue means. At least that is what she is telling Cody.

Despite having a murder to solve Cody is distracted in Your Deepest Fear. This is because his own Deepest Fear is coming back to taunt him. The clowns. The terrifying clowns who tortured Cody and left him broken have returned. Their leader wants to play a game with Cody…the prize is the chance for Cody to discover the identity of his tormentor. But the game will be dangerous and Cody will have a high price to pay for the information he wants.

I don’t know if I can do Your Deepest Fear justice in a review without spoiling too much of the story. It is a wickedly good read. Cody is put through an emotional wringer yet the clowns always seem one step ahead of him.  David Jackson has pitched the terror in the cat and mouse game perfectly.

Some books you just don’t want to put down. Count Your Deepest Fear on that list – it has a story guaranteed to draw you in. Simply brilliant.

 

 

Your Deepest Fear is released on 16 May 2019 and is published by Zaffre in hardback, digital and audiobook format.  You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Your-Deepest-Fear-darkest-thriller-ebook/dp/B07JWBG9X4/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=david+jackson&qid=1557773893&s=gateway&sr=8-1

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May 8

Q&A – David Jackson: A Tapping At My Door

A Tapping At My DoorToday I am delighted to be joined by David Jackson.

After establishing a successful series of novels featuring New York detective Callum Doyle, David’s new book A Tapping At My Door introduces a new lead character – Nathan Cody.

 

Character Assassination: Meet Nathan Cody

Who is Nathan Cody? 

Nathan Cody is a Detective Sergeant with the Major Incident Team in Liverpool. Prior to that, he was an undercover cop – a job he loved until things went drastically wrong. What keeps him going is a good heart and a powerful obsession for justice.

Cody arrives carrying a heavy burden of past trauma, is he defined by his vulnerability? 

It doesn’t define him, but his traumatic past is certainly a potent and damaging influence on his life. His arc throughout the series will concern his attempts to rid himself of that menacing shadow.

Cody is hopefully going to return but have you also left scope to write Cody stories pre-dating events in A Tapping At My Door? 

Cody will definitely return soon: I have nearly finished writing the second novel in the series. As we shall see, Cody’s past will continue to haunt him, and so guide his future actions, but there is also ample opportunity to write stories set in his recent history, particularly when he was an undercover cop.

Was it tough to turn your back on Callum Doyle and start with a clean slate?  Have you tried to ensure the two characters do not share similar traits?

I haven’t quite turned my back on Doyle. Bonnier have taken on the rights to those books too, and so the hope is that the two series will continue in parallel. I would say that the two characters are different in many ways. The one thing they do share, for good or for bad, is the sense of humour of their creator!

Will Cody ever meet Callum Doyle? 

I was asked about such a Cody/Doyle ‘mashup’ at my book launch. It’s an intriguing thought, and one that I wouldn’t rule out. I think I could have great fun with that.

 

A TAPPING AT MY DOOR

A woman at home in Liverpool is disturbed by a persistent tapping at her back door. She’s disturbed to discover the culprit is a raven, and tries to shoo it away. Which is when the killer strikes.

DS Nathan Cody, still bearing the scars of an undercover mission that went horrifyingly wrong, is put on the case. But the police have no leads, except the body of the bird – and the victim’s missing eyes.

As flashbacks from his past begin to intrude, Cody realises he is battling not just a murderer, but his own inner demons too. And then the killer strikes again, and Cody realises the threat isn’t to the people of Liverpool after all – it’s to the police.

Following the success and acclaim of the Callum Doyle novels, A Tapping at My Door is the first instalment of David Jackson’s new Nathan Cody series.

 

A Tapping At My Door is available now in Hardback and Digital formats. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tapping-My-Door-Gripping-Thriller/dp/1785761072/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462746307&sr=8-1&keywords=a+tapping+at+my+door

 

 

 

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