December 31

Top Ten Reads of 2018

Another year draws to a close and I get to choose my favourite books from the last 12 months.

The ten books I have selected are not presented in any order. I include the blurb to ensure you get the best description of each story (rather than my enthusiastic ramblings). If it is on this list it is because I loved the book and the story captivated me and has stuck with me weeks or months after I finished reading.

 

City Without Stars – Tim Baker

Mexico – Ciudad Real is in crisis: the economy is in meltdown, a new war between rival cartels is erupting, and a serial killer is murdering hundreds of female workers.

Fuentes, the detective in charge of the investigation, suspects that most of his colleagues are on the payroll of his chief suspect, narco kingpin, El Santo. If he’s going to stop the killings, he has to convince fiery union activist, Pilar, to ignore all her instincts and work with him. But in a city eclipsed by murder, madness and magic, can she really afford to trust him?

 

 

 

Dark Pines – Will Dean

SEE NO EVIL

Eyes missing, two bodies lie deep in the forest near a remote Swedish town.

HEAR NO EVIL

Tuva Moodyson, a deaf reporter on a small-time local paper, is looking for the story that could make her career.

SPEAK NO EVIL

A web of secrets. And an unsolved murder from twenty years ago.

Can Tuva outwit the killer before she becomes the final victim? She’d like to think so. But first she must face her demons and venture far into the deep, dark woods if she wants to stand any chance of getting the hell out of small-time Gavrik.

 

 

 

The Darkness – Ragnar Jonasson

A young woman is found dead on a remote Icelandic beach.

She came looking for safety, but instead she found a watery grave.

A hasty police investigation determines her death as suicide . . .

When Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the Reykjavik police is forced into early retirement, she is told she can investigate one last cold case of her choice – and she knows which one.

What she discovers is far darker than suicide . . . And no one is telling Hulda the whole story.

When her own colleagues try to put the brakes on her investigation, Hulda has just days to discover the truth. A truth she will risk her own life to find.

 

 

The Lost Village – Neil Spring

The remote village of Imber – remote, lost and abandoned. The outside world hasn’t been let in since soldiers forced the inhabitants out, much to their contempt.

But now, a dark secret threatens all who venture near. Everyone is in danger, and only Harry Price can help. Reluctantly reunited with his former assistant Sarah Grey, he must unlock the mystery of Imber, and unsurface the secrets someone thought were long buried. But will Sarah’s involvement be the undoing of them both?

 

 

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.

 

 

The Lingering – SJI Holliday

Married couple Jack and Ali Gardiner move to a self-sufficient commune in the English Fens, desperate for fresh start. The local village is known for the witches who once resided there and Rosalind House, where the commune has been established, is a former psychiatric home, with a disturbing history

When Jack and Ali arrive, a chain of unexpected and unexplained events is set off, and it becomes clear that they are not all that they seem. As the residents become twitchy, and the villagers suspicious, events from the past come back to haunt them, and someone is seeking retribution…

 

 

 

The Hangman’s Hold – Michael Wood

There’s a killer in your house.
The Hangman waits in the darkness.

He knows your darkest secrets.
He’ll make you pay for all the crimes you have tried desperately to forget.

And he is closer than you think.
DCI Matilda Darke is running out of time. Fear is spreading throughout the city. As the body count rises, Matilda is targeted and her most trusted colleagues fall under suspicion. But can she keep those closest to her from harm? Or is it already too late?

 

 

 

The Janus Run – Douglas Skelton

When Coleman Lang finds his girlfriend Gina dead in his New York City apartment, he thinks nothing could be worse… until he becomes the prime suspect.

Desperate to uncover the truth and clear his name, Coleman hits the streets. But there’s a deranged Italian hitman, an intuitive cop, two US Marshals, and his ex-wife all on his tail. And trying to piece together Gina’s murky past without dredging up his own seems impossible. Worse, the closer he gets to Gina’s killer, the harder it is to evade the clutches of the mysterious organisation known only as Janus – from which he’d long since believed himself free.

Packed with plot twists, suspense and an explosive climax, The Janus Run is an edge-of-the-seat, breathtaking thriller – NYC noir at its finest.

 

The Puppet Show – M.W. Craven

A serial killer is burning people alive in the Lake District’s prehistoric stone circles. He leaves no clues and the police are helpless. When his name is found carved into the charred remains of the third victim, disgraced detective Washington Poe is brought back from suspension and into an investigation he wants no part of . . .

Reluctantly partnered with the brilliant, but socially awkward, civilian analyst, Tilly Bradshaw, the mismatched pair uncover a trail that only he is meant to see. The elusive killer has a plan and for some reason Poe is part of it.

As the body count rises, Poe discovers he has far more invested in the case than he could have possibly imagined. And in a shocking finale that will shatter everything he’s ever believed about himself, Poe will learn that there are things far worse than being burned alive …

 

The Dali Deception – Adam Maxwell

Five criminals. Two forgeries. And one masterpiece of a heist.

Violet Winters—a professional thief born of a good, honest thief-and-con-artist stock— has been offered the heist of a lifetime. Steal a priceless Salvador Dali from the security-obsessed chairman of the Kilchester Bank and replace it with a forgery.

The fact that the “painting” is a signed, blank canvas doesn’t matter. It’s the challenge that gives Violet that familiar, addicting rush of adrenaline. Her quarry rests in a converted underground Cold War bunker. One way in, one way out. No margin for error.

But the reason Violet fled Kilchester is waiting right where she left him—an ex-lover with a murderous method for dumping a girlfriend. If her heist is to be a success, there will have to be a reckoning, or everything could go spinning out of control.

Her team of talented misfits assembled, Violet sets out to re-stake her claim on her reputation, exorcise some demons, and claim the prize. That is, if her masterpiece of a plan isn’t derailed by a pissed-off crime boss—or betrayal from within her own ranks.

 

 

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September 19

The Hangman’s Hold – Michael Wood

Your life is in his hands.

In the gripping new serial killer thriller from Michael Wood, Matilda Darke faces a vicious killer pursuing his own brand of lethal justice. Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons and Helen Fields.

There’s a killer in your house.
The Hangman waits in the darkness.

He knows your darkest secrets.
He’ll make you pay for all the crimes you have tried desperately to forget.

And he is closer than you think.
DCI Matilda Darke is running out of time. Fear is spreading throughout the city. As the body count rises, Matilda is targeted and her most trusted colleagues fall under suspicion. But can she keep those closest to her from harm? Or is it already too late?

 

Book 4 in the DCI Matilda Darke series and one of the few books I have been keeping an eye out for. Despite the volume of crime thrillers which are released each year – one or two crime series do stand out for me in the publication schedules and command urgent reading on release. Michael Wood’s Matilda Darke series is in my select band of “must read new books”.

A significant factor in my love of these stories is Darke herself.  She is something of a car crash and carries more emotional baggage than most.  Her back story has been well defined in the first three novels and returning readers will enjoy how the author builds on the past events to twist the knife in Matilda’s recovery progress.  Fear not New Readers as everything you need to know is deftly explained by the author to ensure you can read The Hangman’s Hold as a stand-alone thriller (though you will want to go back and catch up on the earlier books).

Serial killer stories always fare well at Grab This Book as they are my favourite crime thrillers. Sit me down with a good serial killer tale and I will lose myself in a book for hours. The Hangman’s Hold is a good serial killer tale – a VERY good serial killer tale.

The clue is in the title so it is no great shock to find that the murderer leaves his victim hanging from a traditional hangman’s noose. He targets his victims to ensure the people he kills “deserve” to die – at least they do in his opinion and as the Hangman is delivering judgement on his victims there will be no leniency shown.

The reader gets a close look at the crimes and Michael Wood also ensures we see the impact the killers actions have on the families of the deceased. A very powerful and effective way of bringing us fully into Matilda’s world as she tries to find a way to prevent more deaths and catch the killer.

From very early in the story the actions of the murderer will strike close to Matilda and her friends. As events unfold Matilda becomes a target for the Hangman, he taunts her and the suggestion is made that the killer may be known to her – who can Matilda trust and could mistakes she has made in the past place her in danger today?

My anticipation for The Hangman’s Hold was entirely justified. I chewed this one up and immediately had the wistful realisation that there will not be another Matilda Darke novel for a wee while. These books are a treat – go read them.

 

The Hangman’s Hold is published by Killer Reads and is available in digital and paperback format. You can (and should) order a copy through this link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hangmans-Hold-gripping-thriller-Matilda-ebook/dp/B07CQ972JC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537218191&sr=8-1&keywords=the+hangmans+hold

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