Novella – Grab This Book

Kill it With Fire – Adam Maxwell

They say revenge is a dish best served cold but some like it hot.

Double-crossed and with her reputation as a master criminal compromised,
Violet Winters means to fight fire with fire.

She doesn’t play by other people’s rules, or any rules so hell’s fury is about to rain down.

Furious, fearless and fighting mad she is ready to risk her life to save her name.

Time for a quickie? Of course you do – especially when I want to tell you about the fabulous Kill it With Fire.

Earlier this year I raved wildly about a brilliant heist story I had enjoyed. It was called The Dali Deception and was written by Adam Maxwell. If you click the link on the book title you can see my 5* review. I took to Twitter and proclaimed my love for the brilliant story telling and urged Mr Maxwell not to keep us waiting too long for another adventure for Violet Winter and her motley crew. Happy Days, he answered our pleas and Kill it With Fire is here.

I mentioned this was a quickie – Kill it With Fire is a novella which comes in at around 130 pages. A nice bite size read with loads of fun, action, scrapes and twists crammed into an entertaining evening’s reading.

It’s tricky to do a review of Kill it With Fire (as it was with The Dali Deception) as the enjoyment of the stories comes from not knowing what Violet and her gang have planned. They have a target or, in KIWF’s case, a mission to accomplish. It is hard to see how the different members of Violet’s team all can contribute to the chaos she has planned but with flawless planning and terrible execution this story takes us on a trip into destruction.

How vague was that? Sorry, but I don’t want to spoil too much as I really want you to read the book. All the fun comes from not knowing what is about to happen next or how a seemingly impossible feat can be conned to work to Violet’s advantage.

Adam Maxwell will give you just a glimpse as to what Violet has planned but the best laid plans seem to come unstuck. Can Violet think on her feet fast enough to save her life? Lets hope so as I want more books in this series!

The Dali Deception and Kill it With Fire are “Kilchester” books – they rank highly among the best stories I have read this year. Clever, funny, exciting and brilliantly readable. A crime novel where the bad guys are our good guys and there are badder bad guys to boo. Perfect.

Kill it With Fire is available in digital format and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07KKP33WM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1542320298&sr=1-1

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July 10

Beast In The Basement – Jason Arnopp

In a big house in the countryside, a recently bereaved and increasingly unstable author toils over a novel which will close the best-selling trilogy of Jade Nexus fantasy books.

Speculation and rumour are rife among hardcore Jade Nexus fans that their heroine will die at the novel’s conclusion – a possibility against which they loudly protest via social media as the release date nears.

How do you deal with grief, under such intense pressure? How do you cope with distractions from your work such as a violent intruder, panicked messages from your agent and a potential love interest moving into the cottage across the field? And far worse than any of those problems… what do you do about the Beast in your basement?

Normally I write my reviews by discussing the story and flagging/highlighting what I liked. I may discuss the characters that stood out and cover some of the subject matter (it’s a murder story, an espionage thriller, a dark comedy…). Normally that’s what I do.

Not with Beast In The Basement.

First rule on my blog is NO SPOILERS. So I am not even going to hint at Beast In The Basement, not going to discuss the story, not going to even name the characters. I AM going to tell you that this is a cracking story and I really enjoyed it.

Jason Arnopp has penned a wonderful wee shocker of a story. One of the stories that draw you in really quickly and keep you guessing right up to the point the clues fall into place and your jaw hits the floor. From that point (after you have picked up your jaw) you devour the rest of the book as you need to know what will happen next.

Beast In The Basement is recommended for those that enjoy their stories to have a bit of a twist, some tragedy, a shock or two and basically anyone that enjoys a bloody good read.

Don’t spoil it for anyone.

Only discuss it with people that have also read the book.

Tell others to read it too.

Get your copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beast-Basement-Novella-Jason-Arnopp-ebook/dp/B0099Y6EVM/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1468189945&sr=1-2&keywords=jason+arnopp

Beast In The Basement is published by Retribution Books and is available in digital format.

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June 4

Harvest Festival – Karl Drinkwater

First the birds went quiet. Then the evening sky filled with strange clouds that trapped the heat below. Now Callum wakes, dripping in sweat. Something has come to his isolated Welsh farm. If he’s going to keep his family alive during this single night when all hell breaks loose, he’ll have to think fast. And when he sees what he’s facing, he suspects even that may not be enough.

One of my own purchases this one but special shout-out ‘thanks’ to Sarah Hardy from By The Letter Book Reviews who wrote the review that made me buy Harvest Festival.

A shorter review as this is a novella and I don’t want to spoil too much of Harvest Festival as the fun is in the unknown in this one.

On a remote Welsh farm a family awake to find intruders on their property. Callum leaves the safety of the home to investigate who is snooping around his farmyard – what he finds is both shocking and terrifying and now Callum has made himself and his family into targets.

What begins as a picture of a typical family scene soon flips into a terrifying fight for survival. I enjoyed how the author took time to ensure we cared about Callum and his family before the peril kicks in. Once the danger had arrived the pace picked up and remained relentless.

Harvest Festival was a straight through, single sitting read. I really enjoyed where the author took the story and the finale left me hoping Callum’s family would come through unscathed – sadly I cannot tell you if they did…no spoilers!

Harvest Festival is published by Organic Apocalypse and can be ordered here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Harvest-Festival-Karl-Drinkwater/dp/1911278088/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1464993546&sr=8-7&keywords=harvest+festival

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