Author: emmasbibliotreasures

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book reviews

Publication Day Review: ‘After The End’ by Clare Macintosh ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Happy Publication Day to Clare Macintosh and her incredible new novel. I read this a little while ago now and have been eagerly waiting to share it with you.

SYNOPSIS:

Max and Pip are the strongest couple you know. Only now they’re facing the most important decision of their lives – and they don’t agree. 

As the consequences of an impossible choice threaten to devastate them both, nothing will ever be the same again.

But anything can happen after the end…

REVIEW:

A heartbreaking and impossible dilemma is handled in a beautiful, sensitive and original way in this emotional novel. This isn’t the kind of book you expect from this Ms Macintosh but it could be her best yet.

The story opens with a courtroom where parents are awaiting a judge’s ruling on their young son’s fate and then goes back to when two-year-old Dylan Adam lies unconscious in hospital with complications from chemotherapy to treat his brain tumour. When doctors tell his parents Max and Pip they’ve reached the end of the road they ask them to make an impossible choice: further treatment that will prolong Dylan’s life for a while or palliative care. Initially the couple are in no doubt of their agreement of the right choice. But by the time they come to tell the doctors their decision Pip has changed her mind and the couple now find themselves on opposing sides of a battle where both believe they know what is best for their beloved son.

What would you do? How do you know what the right choice is? What if the one you made wasn’t the right one? What would life have been like if we’d taken the other path? These questions and more are explored in this poignant and thought-provoking story. 

I don’t want to say too much about what happens once they go to court as it would ruin the story, but after the court case is written in a unique manner that gave the book a lot of it’s charm. It was unexpected and at first I wasn’t sure what I thought. But I quickly loved the direction the author took and the message she was conveying to the reader. 

This was one of the most moving, tragic and affecting stories I have ever read. Max and Pip are faced with the choice no parent ever wants to make and you can’t help but have your heart break alongside them. 

One last thing- you need to read the author’s notes at the end of the book. In these notes the author shares her motivation for writing this story and my heart broke all over again. 

Clare, I have such admiration and respect for your bravery in writing this book. You have touched my heart and soul with this unforgettable story.

Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group UK and Clare Macintosh for the chance to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Out today.

 

 

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book reviews

Review: ‘Then She Vanishes’ by Claire Douglas ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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SYNOPSIS:

THE ONLY THING MORE SHOCKING THAN THE FIRST CHAPTER…IS THE LAST.

Everything changed the night Flora disappeared.

Heather and Jess were best friends – until the night Heather’s sister vanished.

Jess has never forgiven herself for the lie she told that night. Nor has Heather.

But now Heather is accused of an awful crime.

And Jess is forced to return to the sleepy seaside town where they grew up to ask the questions she’s avoided for so long.

What really happened the night Flora disappeared?

REVIEW:

“I feel calm…Not as I imagined a person would feel who’s about to commit murder.”a

An exciting, twisty thriller full of suspense about secrets kept for almost two decades that merge with the shocking, and seemingly motiveless, murder of an elderly woman and her son in a sleepy seaside town.

This gripping story is told mostly from the perspectives of Jess, a journalist rebuilding her life in Bristol after she left London in a cloud of controversy, and Margot, the mother of Heather, who is the woman accused of killing two people before she attempted suicide. There appears to be no motive for the crime. She didn’t know the victims so why murder them in cold blood? It also flashes back to August 1994 when Heather’s older sister, Flora, went missing and even to Heather in her coma.  

“The image I’ve always had of my one-time best friend is warping and distorting in my mind..”

Jess isn’t just a journalist in this case though, she grew up in Tilby, the location of the murders, and the alleged perpetrator was her best friend until the summer of 1994 when Heather’s sister, Flora, went missing and secrets tore them apart. Now Jess not only has to do her job and get the story, she also has to face things she’s been running from for the last eighteen years and face the best friend she betrayed.

But is Heather guilty? Both Jess and Margot insist that the murders are out of character for the gentle, kind and loving woman they knew. She’s happily married with a longed for child, why would she do this? But while saying these things out loud they both secretly wonder and allude to there being another side to Heather. Something lurking beneath the surface that they’ve tried to ignore.

“Do you remember what she told you? it was a secret you promised never to tell. And if you had told, it might not have happened”.

Jess has been hiding a secret about Flora’s disappearance all these years and is wracked with guilt over what she never told anyone. But she promised she wouldn’t. And at 14 years old she thought she was protecting the person who swore her to secrecy, not putting Flora in danger. But she isn’t the only person keeping secrets; everyone is keeping them in this twisted tale, even Heather in her coma teases us with secrets and possible answers to our many questions if she could only wake up. What we don’t know is how all these secrets piece together and how all our characters are linked.Nothing is simple and everything will be revealed.  

They didn’t lie when they said the final chapter was even more shocking than the first – Wow! The dramatic prologue was chilling, the whole book had me on the edge of my seat, but the final chapter was sensational and startling. The author cleverly keeps you on tenterhooks playing a guessing game right until the end and the payoff is totally worth it. This was my first read by this author but I now want to go and read her previous books. You won’t be able to put this book down.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin UK – Michael Joseph and Claire Douglas for the chance to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: June 27th

 

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book reviews

Review: ‘Someone We Know’ by Shari Lapena ⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

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SYNOPSIS:

It can be hard keeping secrets in a tight-knit neighbourhood.

In a tranquil, leafy suburb of ordinary streets – one where everyone is polite and friendly – an anonymous note has been left at some of the houses.

‘I’m so sorry. My son has been getting into people’s houses. He’s broken into yours.’

Who is this boy, and what might he have uncovered? As whispers start to circulate, suspicion mounts.

And when a missing local woman is found murdered, the tension reaches breaking point. Who killed her? Who knows more than they’re telling? And how far will all these very nice people go to protect their secrets?

Maybe you don’t know your neighbour as well as you thought you did..

REVIEW:

Everybody has their secrets. And in the wealthy New York suburb of Aylesford the secrets of some neighbours are about to collide when one of them is found dead in her car in the lake. Was it her husband who was sleeping with one of the neighbours? Was it her own secret lover? And did the teenage boy who’s been breaking into neighbours homes see something that could be the key to solving the crime?

Once again Shari Lapena takes you on a roller-coaster ride of twists and turns in this surprising thriller. She is an author who knows how to grip and entertain her audience, building the tension slowly before ramping it up to a point where I was so hooked that I stayed up until ridiculous o’clock to get to the end.

The story involves a number of characters and subplots that are clearly all going to link together but you aren’t quite sure how. Sixteen-year old Raleigh Sharpe has been breaking into people’s homes for a kick, his mother Olivia is beside herself when she finds out and thinks he should be made to apologise to his victims, something his father, Paul, is against. Robert Pierce has reported his wife, Amanda, missing after she never returned from a weekend away with her friend. The police think she’s run away until her body is found stuffed in the boot of her car at the bottom of the lake. Both of the Pierce’s were being unfaithful but with whom? Other neighbours are harbouring their own secrets and you are left guessing who’s secrets are the important ones, who will be the key to finding out who killed Amanda, and who is actually telling the truth.

Out of all the characters I thought Olivia was the most sympathetic. I could feel her pain, despair, and helplessness after finding out what Raleigh had done. Her concern at what else she doesn’t know and how she had no idea what to as her world falls apart were reactions I think any of us would have. As a mother of teenage boys I could relate to her feelings and know I would feel as shocked and lost as she did if I were in her shoes. The least sympathetic character was Robert. He was creepy, chilling, malevolent and manipulative. He seems to be the obvious killer and I found myself understanding why Amanda cheated on him as he was so vile. I don’t think I’ve ever hoped someone is guilty as much as I did with him.

I’ll admit, I didn’t know if I was going to like this book. It started slowly and though my interest was held it didn’t instantly thrill me like her other books. But then the author masterfully began to weave the puzzle pieces together, the secrets began to escalate, and there is one twist after another until we reach the dramatic final reveal. Someone We Know is another fantastic thriller and example of Shari Lapena’s skill at writing character-driven suspense with a conclusion that will leave you in awe.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, Bantam Press and Shari Lapena for the chance to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: July 25th.

 

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book reviews

Review: ‘Evvie Drake Starts Over’ by Linda Holmes ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

 

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SYNOPSIS:

You don’t always get to start your life over.

Sometimes, life starts itself over for you. 

One morning, Eveleth ‘Evvie’ Drake got up, packed her suitcase, and got ready to leave her life – and her perfect husband – behind. But before she walked out of the door, she received a phone call asking her to come to the hospital. 

That day, Evvie’s new life as a widow began. 

Now wrestling with her guilt and grief, Evvie has found her independence, but not in the way she planned. Unable to leave the house she once dreamed of escaping, it’s clear to her best friend Andy that Evvie needs a change. And Andy might just have the answer. 

Dean Tenney was a big-shot baseball star, until a bad case of the ‘yips’ meant he couldn’t play anymore – or understand why. An invitation from his childhood friend Andy to stay in Maine for a few months seems like the perfect chance to hit the reset button. 

When Dean moves into the apartment at the back of Evvie’s house, the two make a deal: Dean won’t ask about Evvie’s late husband, and Evvie won’t ask about Dean’s baseball career. But rules have a funny way of being broken sometimes, and as a friendship begins to evolve, Will Evvie and Dean be brave enough to let go of the past and start over again?

REVIEW:

When I started this book I felt like I needed something lighter and a bit different. I couldn’t have chosen more perfectly. Reminiscent of Eleanor Oliphant Is Just Fine, I fell in love with this quirky, warm, lighthearted and witty book and it’s delightful protagonist. This is one of those books you find yourself reading with a smile on your face.

Eveleth “Evvie” Drake had been with her husband Tim for exactly half of her life on the day he died. That day she was also leaving him. But nobody knows, not even her best friend Andy, so when she’s unable to leave her house months later, everyone assumes she’s heartbroken at the loss of her ‘perfect’ husband. You see, Evvie has never told anyone the truth about Tim – that he controlled everything, that she lived in fear of his outbursts, that he blamed her for every mistake, and undermined and demoralised her daily. She’s too ashamed to tell. Especially now he’s gone.

Evvie, oh wonderful Evvie. I love this character so much! She is sympathetic, relatable, timid, kind, quirky, amiable, lacks confidence and is stronger than she realises. Surviving and walking away from an abusive relationship takes strength, and though her husband died before she actually left, the fact she was in the midst of doing so shows tremendous bravery. She cares too much about what other people think and looks at everything she does from the viewpoint of a critical outsider. This obviously stems from her  husband conditioning her to think badly of herself and she doesn’t realise that others aren’t judging her as harshly as she thinks. Evvie always wants to do the right thing but like everyone she makes mistakes and can be unlikeable. These flaws added to the realism and I enjoyed seeing her learn and grow from them.

When former professional baseball player Dean Tenney moves into the apartment attached to her house, Evvie is instantly attracted to him but brushes it aside. Dean is also going through a big upheaval after suddenly losing his ability to pitch. He’s tried everything to find out what when wrong but is still clueless and lost without the one thing he’s known all his life. I liked the parallel of Dean’s baseball career with Evvie’s marriage and the way they went from strangers to not just friends, but the only friend that can really understand what they’re going through. Their slow transition to friendship was a joy to read and I was rooting for them from the start.

I hadn’t seen any reviews for this novel or read anything by the author before so I was unprepared for how much I’d love this enchanting story. Evvie Drake Starts Over is like a breath of fresh air on a warm day and is the perfect summer read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton and Linda Holmes for the chance to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: June 27th

 

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book reviews

Review: ‘Here To Stay’ by Mark Edwards⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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SYNOPSIS:

A beautiful home. A loving wife. And in-laws to die for.

Gemma Robinson comes into Elliot’s life like a whirlwind, and they marry and settle down into his home. When she asks him if her parents can come to stay for a couple of weeks, he is keen to oblige – he just doesn’t quite know what he’s signing up for. 

The Robinsons arrive with Gemma’s sister, Chloe, a mysterious young woman who refuses to speak or leave her room. Elliot starts to suspect that the Robinsons are hiding a dark secret. And then there are scars on his wife’s body she won’t talk about.

As Elliot’s in-laws become more comfortable in their new home, encroaching on all aspects of his life, it becomes clear they have no intention of moving out. To protect Gemma, and their marriage, Elliot delves into the Robinsons’ past. But is he prepared for the truth?

From the two million copy bestselling author comes a tale about the chilling consequences of  welcoming strangers into your home.

REVIEW:

Another nail-biting, chilling tale of domestic noir from the man that Jennifer Hillier has rightly crowned “The King of domestic horror”.

Elliot Foster and Gemma Robinson meet one summer afternoon. She saves his life after a near-fatal bee sting and they fall hard and fast, marrying just two months later in Vegas. Elliot couldn’t be happier.

A few weeks after their wedding Gemma tells Elliot that her parents are moving back to the UK and asks if they can stay with them for a few weeks?  Wanting to make his new wife happy, and to meet his new in-laws, Elliot agrees. It will be the biggest mistake he ever makes.

This book is AMAZING! It started off slowly and while I was enjoying it, I didn’t foresee just how horrifying, mind-blowing and simply incredible it would become. Though this being Mark Edwards I am also not surprised. Full disclosure: I am a huge fan of this author. Ever since I first read The Retreat last summer , which I loved the nod to in this novel, I haven’t been able to get enough of his books. The Magpies trilogy is considered his greatest work, and it’s antagonist, Lucy Newton, is one of the greatest villains I’ve read. But this story and it’s villains give them both a run for their money.

Do you think you’ve got the in-laws from hell? Well Elliot’s are probably worse. I know I’d happily take my awful ex-mother-in-law over them any day! Jeff and Lizzy Robinson are two of the most despicable, repulsive, noxious, contemptible, foul and vile people I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading about. They turn Elliot’s world upside down and inside out. They seem determined to not only take his home but destroy his entire life. It got me so angry reading how they behaved. 

Elliot is the all-round nice guy. He’s worked hard and made a good life for himself, runs a non-profit working with underprivileged kids, thinks of others, is kind-hearted, and has finally met the woman of his dreams. Then the Robinsons threaten to take it all away. He gives them the benefit of the doubt over again, tell himself his suspicions are crazy and finds rational explanations for things. And every time they then do something even worse. I didn’t judge Elliot for some of his fantasies about what he’d like to do to them. I understood. How could you not loathe such toxic people.

The Robinson siblings are the mysterious characters, especially Chloe who is deathly ill and locks herself away when they first move in. They all seem frightened of their parents are secretive about their childhood and what exactly has happened to make them all so scared. Though Gemma and Elliot are married it was all so fast he barely knows her, or her past, and as the story unfolds he realises just how little he knew before making such a big commitment and inviting her family to stay with them.

I don’t want to give any details away as the shocks add to the escalating horror and brilliance of this book. I highly recommend this edge-of-your-seat thriller; just be warned that it’s a turbulent ride. And another thing…be careful who you invite to stay in your house. They just might never leave…

Thank you to Mark Edwards, Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley for the chance to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: September 1st

 

 

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book reviews

Review: ‘Stone Cold Heart’ by Caz Frear ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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SYNOPSIS:

A fractured marriage.

A silent family.

A secret that connects them all.

When DC Cat Kinsella is approached by Joseph Madden for help with his wife, Rachel, there’s not much she can do. Joseph claims that Rachel has been threatening him, but can’t – or won’t – give Cat details as to why. Dismissing it as a marriage on the rocks, Cat forgets about it.

That is until Naomi Lockhart, a young PA, is found dead after a party attended by both Joseph and Rachel and Joseph is arrested for the murder. Joseph says his wife is setting him up. His wife says he didn’t do it. The trail of evidence leads to even more questions…

Adulterer. Murderer. Victim.*

Who would you believe?

REVIEW:

Wow! Jaw-dropping and addictive, I absolutely loved this book and knew I was in for a great read as soon as I read the prologue. Ms Frear has a new fan in this reader after this tantilising thriller.

Twenty-two year old Naomi Lockhart is found dead by her housemate. She was last seen at a party at her boss’s house Saturday night and has been missing from work the last two days. DC Cat Kinsella and Murder Investigation Team 4 are called in to investigate and quickly learn that she died not long after the party. The evidence leads them to a suspect: Joseph Madden, the brother-in-law of Naomi’s boss. He’s not a stranger to Cat, he owns a local coffee house and even spoke to her a few months ago claiming his wife, Rachel, is threatening him and asking what he can do about it. At the time Cat viewed it as overblown marriage woes, but now he’s claiming Rachel is framing him for murder. Rachel is clearly terrified of her husband and does nothing but protest his innocence and Joseph’s claims seem like nothing but a desperate way to put the blame elsewhere.

Information trickles slowly and reluctantly from their witnesses, frustrating the police but making for an electrifying read. Is Joseph capable of murder? Is he their man? As things are revealed Cat is reluctantly dubious and it seems their witnesses are all keeping more secrets that are yet to be told. Who killed Naomi?

Cat Kinsella is a unique protagonist. She, and this book, stands out in the sea of police procedurals because of her flawed and complex character. She breaks the rules, keeps secrets and has told many lies, has a shady family, is dating someone she shouldn’t, and yet she is someone we love and can root for despite all her mistakes. I wanted her to win. I wanted her to conquer her shame of where she’s from and the toxic family she was raised in. I want her inappropriate relationship to work. She was wonderfully written and I enjoyed every minute I spent reading her.

One of the things I enjoyed about this novel was the array of unreliable and morally ambiguous characters, including almost every witness. I found myself both loving and hating so many of them and could never quite be sure what the truth was or what side they were on, other than their own, of course. Joseph Madden was a perfectly written narcissistic abuser. He made my blood run cold from his first appearance and I desperately wanted him to be guilty simply because he was such a vile person. With Rachel the author depicted the terror, shame and guilt of an abused partner in a realistic way. Your heart breaks for her over and again and you just want to make her see sense and get away from her destructive relationship.

I didn’t realise before starting that this was book two in a series. It didn’t affect my enjoyment of it though as the author not only gave enough information to catch you up on events as needed, but it all sounds so juicy that she sold the book to me while I was reading and I immediately bought it when I finished. I loved the author’s writing style, particularly the banter between Cat and her colleagues and the wit that had me laughing out loud on many occasions.

The final part of this fabulous, twisty thriller had me on tenterhooks wondering who did what and reeling from each bombshell. After the shocking concluding sentences, I am now impatiently waiting for book three and to find out what is next for Cat. I can’t recommend this book or this author highly enough.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bonnier Zaffre and Caz Frear for the chance to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: June 27th.

 

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book reviews

Review: ‘The Van Apfel Girls are Gone’ by Felicity McLean ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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SYNOPSIS:

A compulsive, note-perfect debut for fans of The Virgin Suicides and Picnic at Hanging Rock.

‘We lost all three girls that summer. Let them slip away like the words of some half-remembered song and when one came back, she wasn’t the one we were trying to recall to begin with’.

Tikka Malloy was eleven and one-sixth years old during the long summer of 1992, growing up in an isolated suburb in Australia surrounded by encroaching bushland. That summer, the hottest on record, was when the Van Apfel sisters – Hannah, the beautiful Cordelia and Ruth – mysteriously disappeared during the school’s Showstopper concert, held at the outdoor amphitheatre by the river. Did they run away? Were they taken? While the search for the sisters unites the small community, the mystery of their disappearance has never been solved.

Now years later, Tikka has returned home and is beginning to make sense of that strange moment in time. The summer that shaped her. The girls that she never forgot.

Brilliantly observed, spiky, sharp, funny and unexpectedly endearing, The Van Apfel Girls are Gone is part mystery, part coming-of-age-story – with a dark shimmering unexplained absence at its heart.

 

MY REVIEW:

The Van Apfel Girls are Gone is a beautifully haunting mystery about childhood, adolescence, secrets and regrets, that takes place over the course of one transformative and unforgettable summer.

Tikka Malloy is haunted by the disappearance of her school friends and neighbours, Hannah, Cordelia and Ruth Van Apfel. They vanished in the sweltering summer of 1992, when Tikka was eleven years old, and despite an extensive search no one ever learned the truth of what happened to the sisters. When Tikka travels back to the small, isolated suburb in Australia she was raised in, she decides it is finally time to make sense of her memories and discern the truth: not only to find out the fate of her friends but also to free herself from the torturous remorse she still feels.

I started reading this book with high hopes as while I have not yet read the books mentioned in the synopsis, I have seen both films and. they were stories that both fascinated and haunted me in a way that is unique to an unsolved mystery. Thankfully, it did not disappoint. I loved this book and find myself still thinking about the mysterious Van Apfel girls.

Hannah, Cordie and Ruth Van Apfel live on the same street as Tikka and her older sister, Laura. Cordie is the one everyone is drawn to: the beauty that shines out, the cool one, the rebellious one. Their parents are religious zealots and are terrified of their violent father. The five girls spend as much time as possible together although to Tikka’s frustration she is often lumped with seven-year-old Ruth, four years her junior, and left out of the older girl’s discussions and plans.

The night the sisters vanished and the events surrounding that night are burned into Tikka’s memory and she’s plagued by guilt and regret. When back in Australia she and her sister discuss the secrets they’ve held for twenty years. It was confusing for Tikka and Laura as they knew what they were seeing was wrong but were so young they didn’t know what to do about it or who, if anyone, they should turn to.

I loved this mesmerising novel. Atmospheric, delightful, captivating, nuanced and nostalgic but also somber, sinister and dire, it had me hooked from the first page. It explores how tragedy can shape our future and how we see things differently with an adult perspective versus a child’s eye. Will we find out what happened to Hannah, Cordie and Ruth? I will leave you to find out for yourself when you read it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Oneworld Publications, Point Blank and Felicity McLean for the chance to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Out now.

*Thank you to Felicity McLean for the permission to use her picture.

 

 

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book reviews

Publication Day Review: ‘The Whisper Man’ by Alex North ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Happy Publication Day to Alex North and his chilling thriller.

SYNOPSIS:

If you leave a door half-open, soon you’ll hear the whispers spoken…

Still devastated after the loss of his wife, Tom Kennedy, and his young son Jake, move to the sleepy village of Featherbank looking for a fresh start.

But Featherbank has a dark past. Fifteen years ago a twisted serial killer abducted and murdered five young boys. Until he was finally caught the killer was known as ‘The Whisper Man’.

Of course, an old crime need not trouble Tom and Jake as they try to settle in to their new house. Except that now another boy has gone missing. And then Jake begins acting strangely.

He says he hears whispering at his window…

MY REVIEW:

“If you leave a door half-open, soon you’ll hear the whispers spoken…If you’re lonely, sad and blue, the Whisper Man will come for you”

A boy who hears whispers from people no one else can see echoes the spine-chilling moment in The Sixth Sense when Haley Joel Osment’s character utters the immortal words “I see dead people” in this eerie, menacing, unsettling and sinister novel. This is a book you do not want to read at night!

Six-year-old Neil Spencer disappears when walking home one summer evening. An extensive search yields no clues until Neil’s mother remembers him mentioning whispering outside his window one night. This revelation terrifies Featherbank detectives as the town is still haunted by Frank Carter, a local man who abducted and killed five young boys in 20 years ago. He is also known as the Whisper Man. His final victim’s body was never recovered and there were rumours of an accomplice. Could that be who abducted Neil?

Tom Kennedy and his son, Jake, are looking for a fresh start after the death of Tom’s wife the year before. Tom feels he is failing as a father and that he and Jake are drifting further apart. He’s hoping moving will change that. But it seems their problems have followed them, and the gulf between them only widens and the worrying incidents only increase after they move into the strange new house in Featherbank. With Jake hearing whispers and talking about things he shouldn’t know there’s undertones of something  malevolent lurking in the shadows of the Kennedy home.

I was hooked from the foreboding prologue right until the very last page of this book. The two main characters were well written: Tom is the grieving widower who is struggling to connect with his son in his own grief and also trying to evade the pain of his own childhood. He wishes his son was more “normal” and worries about him being too sensitive. Jake is a lonely child who is scrambling to make sense of the grief,emptiness and fear he feels after his mother’s death. He feels his dad doesn’t like him and takes solace in imaginary friends and his special things. For a lot of the book it isn’t clear how Tom and Jake are connected to the Whisper Man storyline and Neil’s disappearance, and I loved trying to find clues to figure out where the story would go next. I was usually wrong.

The Whisper Man is an exquisite, multi-layered, chilling and emotional novel. There were many twists and turns, some so jarring and unexpected I could only sit there in shock. Spectacularly written, this is a tense and haunting thriller that you don’t want to miss.

Out today.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin UK, Michael Joseph and Alex North for the chance to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

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book reviews

Review: ‘We Were Killers Once’ by Becky Masterson ⭐⭐⭐⭐

In 1959, The Walker family murders shook Florida. As many as 587 people were considered suspects – but 60 years on the investigation remains unsolved.

Former FBI agent Brigid Quinn has been obsessed with the Walker case since she was a child. She believes it holds striking similarities to another high profile investigation of the time: the Clutter family murders, made infamous by Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. What if Perry Smith and Dick Hickock – executed for those murders – had killed again? And what if there was a third killer, who remained unknown?

Jerry Beaufort has just been released from prison after decades behind bars, and though he’d like to get on with living the rest of his life, he knows that somewhere there is a written record of the time he spent with two killers in 1959. But following the path of the letter will bring Jerry into contact with the last person he’ll see as a threat: Brigid Quinn.

From the author of Edgar Award finalist and CWA Gold Dagger shortlisted Rage Against the Dying comes this unputdownable and fascinating alternative look at one of America’s most famous crimes.

I have been fascinated with the Clutter murders ever since I read In Cold Blood over twenty years ago. So when I saw that this novel offered an alternative look at that case and one that was linked to it I couldn’t wait to read it.

Brigid Quinn was just six-years-old when she first heard of the Walker family murders when her police officer father and his work buddies were discussing the case as she sat on his knee. Since that night she has been haunted by the unsolved case. Sixty years later she is a former FBI agent living with her husband, Carlo, in Arizona unaware that the case that’s been her obsession is about to affect their lives in unexpected ways.

Jeremiah Beaufort is being released after thirty three years in prison. But before he can enjoy his new found freedom he has business to take care of. Business that has threatened to catch up to him for most of his life. As he follows the trail of a confession by an old acquaintance, he is led to Arizona and a former priest named Carlo DiForenza. What he doesn’t realise is that it has also led him to the man’s wife, Brigid, who is passionate about finding the same answers that he’s trying to bury forever.

The author has created a perfect amalgamation of true crime and crime fiction with this gripping and believable novel. I love both genres and loved how she brought them together. I admit that part of my enjoyment of this book came from my fascination with the Clutter murders. Both main characters are connected to the infamous case in different ways and I loved the alternative version that was explored in this novel.

One potential drawback of this book is that both of the main characters aren’t likeable. Beaufort is unlikable in the right ways; we aren’t supposed to like the bad guy. He sees himself as intelligent and being called stupid or evil are his pet hates. Despite all he’s done he thinks he can’t be a bad person and justifies most of his actions. His many years in prison have made him an alien in the modern world and I thought that this aspect was written particularly well and allowed for some much needed humour at times. Brigid’s character could have been likeable but I found her obsession and jealousy of her husband’s late wife tiresome and felt like instead of humanising her, it undermined her  intelligence and made her appear whiny. It is good for a character to be flawed but I felt this flaw went a little too far. I did like that she maintained an understandable suspicion of people and would do anything to protect those she loved. She clearly has a great gut instinct and isn’t afraid to follow it.

We Were Killers Once is an intriguing, absorbing thriller. I didn’t know when I requested it that it is book four in a series and didn’t feel like I missed anything reading it as a standalone. A mix of fascinating fiction with tantalising fact re-imagined and woven through the pages, I would recommend this book to anyone who loves crime fiction and true crime.

Thank you to NetGalley, Orion and Becky Masterson for the chance to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: June 13th.

 

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Review: ‘The Liar’s House’ by Carla Kovach ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

IMG_20190607_110009_285.jpgSamantha stumbled out of the party and out onto a busy street only ten minutes away from her home. But she never made it home.

Seven years after Samantha’s disappearance, on what would have been her thirty-fifth birthday, her best friend Diane is shocked to find a letter addressed to Samantha on her doorstep.

Opening the envelope, Diane pulls out a birthday card and a finger nail painted in dusky pink nail polish. The same shade Samantha always wore. The same shade she was wearing the night she went missing.

When police analyse the nail they don’t get the result they expected. Instead of linking them to Samantha, the nail belongs to another woman, Jade Ashmore. And Jade was murdered the night before the envelope was delivered…

***TRIGGER WARNING*** Domestic Abuse

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookoture and Carla Kovach for the chance to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

DI Gina Harte and her team are back for the fourth book in this fantastic series and the ominous tone is set from the start.

Samantha Felton is being watched by a man taking pictures at the local social club. She knows he’s watching and is enjoying putting on a show with another man on the dance floor. What she doesn’t know is that the man behind the camera thinks she needs to be taught the error of her ways and is taken by surprise as he attacks her as she leaves the club.

Seven years later Jade Ashmore is making the short walk home after a party when she’s suddenly aware of footsteps behind her. She hopes the person will pass but instead she’s attacked and knocked unconscious. Her attacker is disturbed by a late night dog walker but it’s too late for Jade.

Diane still misses her best friend Samantha and thinks of her often. What happened to her seven years ago? On Samantha’s birthday she finds a card addressed to her friend hand delivered to her house. Inside is a sinister greeting in cut out letters and a finger nail painted in the same shade Samantha always wore. She calls the police and DI Gina Harte attends the call. When the nail is analysed they’re all shocked to discover it belonged to Jade, not Samantha. Could the two cases be linked? Why is someone reminding them about Samantha after so long? And why did they attack Jade?

The two cases become linked when Jade’s finger nail is found in a birthday card addressed to Samantha that was delivered to her best friend, Diane, the same day Jade was killed. But why now after seven years? There are multiple suspects and very few clues in this gripping thriller.

Carla Kovach has done it again. She’s written another riveting installment in what is one of my favourite police book series. As Gina and her team search for the man responsible for Jade’s murder, and possibly Samantha’s disappearance, there seemed to be two or three suspects that emerged. Despite this the team are mostly working with hunches and circumstantial evidence as real clues to the culprit evade them.

At the same time Gina’s personal life is causing problems when a man she recently went on a date with refuses to take no for an answer, won’t stop messaging and keeps turning up unannounced. To add to her problems she finds her past and present are entangled in her latest case and threatening the reputation she’s spent years building.

Themes of domestic abuse and stalking are handled with raw honesty throughout the book. We see the way these men control their partners through fear, using it to coerce them into doing things they don’t want to just to please them. The reader is again shown the long-lasting psychological damage of abuse through Gina’s character, and how even decades after freeing yourself of the relationship you can still be haunted by it. The author is skilled at writing domestic abuse, in all its forms, in a way that helps the reader understand these women, why they stay, why they take desperate courses of action and do the various things we see them do to protect their abusers.

The Liar’s House is what we’ve come to expect and love from this series: complex characters, brutal, gruesome murder scenes and great writing. This novel was particularly skillfully written and ingeniously plotted. I can’t wait for book five!

Publication Date: 2nd July