Published March 27th, 2025 by Orenda Thriller, Mystery, Crime Fiction, Nordic Noir, Hardboiled Mystery, Women Sleuths, Crime Series, Police Procedurals
Welcome to my review for this sensational first installment in an exciting new series. Thank you to Orenda Books for sending me a copy in exchange for my honest review.
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
Psychologist and expert on body language and memory, Kari Voss investigates the murder of two teenaged girls in the small Norwegian town of Son, as suspicion is cast on multiple suspects. A mesmerisingly dark, twisty start to a nerve-shattering new series by two of the world’s finest crime writers…
‘Blown away by this cracking thriller and I was already loving it before they hit me with THAT ending. Bravo!’ Trevor Wood
‘I absolutely loved this. A body language expert with grief of her own, a devastated community full of secrets, and a final sentence that leaves you reeling. Can’t wait for the next in the series’ Sam Holland
‘This is the perfect thriller’ Michael Wood
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Everyone here is lying…
Expert on body language and memory, and consultant to the Oslo Police, psychologist Kari Voss sleepwalks through her days, and, by night, continues the devastating search for her young son, who disappeared on his birthday, seven years earlier.
Still grieving for her dead husband, and trying to pull together the pieces of her life, she is thrust into a shocking local investigation, when two teenage girls are violently murdered in a family summer home in the nearby village of Son.
When a friend of the victims is charged with the barbaric killings, it seems the case is closed, but Kari is not convinced. Using her skills and working on instinct, she conducts her own enquiries, leading her to multiple suspects, including people who knew the dead girls well…
With the help of Chief Constable Ramona Norum, she discovers that no one – including the victims – are what they seem. And that there is a dark secret at the heart of Son village that could have implications not just for her own son’s disappearance, but Kari’s own life, too…
For fans of Harlan Coben, Lars Kepler, Jo Nesbo and Jorn Lier Horst … and The Mentalist
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MY REVIEW:
The first in an exciting new series, Son is a nerve-shredding thriller that had me on the edge of my seat. It introduces us to Kari Voss, a psychologist and expert in language and memory who is often referred to as a ‘human lie detector’. By day, Kari consults with the Oslo Police on cases, and by night, she searches for her son who disappeared on his 9th birthday seven years ago. When two teenage girls are brutally murdered and one of their friends is charged with the crime, Kari is pulled into the investigation. And while the police believe the case is closed, Kari believes the boy could be innocent. So, she starts her own investigation, leading her down a dangerous path that ultimately sees her past and present collide in unexpected ways.
Johana Gustawsson and Thomas Enger are the writing duo I didn’t know I needed. A sinister storytelling dream team, together they have crafted a masterfully written thriller that is psychologically rich, unbearably tense, intricately interwoven and densely plotted. The story explores a number of topics: grief, trauma, secrets, lies, truth, suspicion, memory and true crime. It is meticulously researched and I enjoyed learning more about how our bodies tell the truth even when we don’t, how our memory isn’t as reliable as we’d like to think and the double edged sword that our true crime fascination can be. It’s thought-provoking, action-packed and left me breathless.
Nothing and no-one is what they seem in this book. Everyone has multiple layers and different sides to them and they choose which parts they show to whom. Gustawsson and Enger use this expertly, creating a layered narrative and characters by carefully showing the reader what they want them to see before slowly unveiling the truth piece by piece. It created heart-pounding tension that had me second guessing myself at every step. Even the book’s title has hidden meaning as it relates to both the disappearance of Kari’s son, and is also the name of the town where the teenagers are murdered.
Kari Voss is a compelling new protagonist who I loved reading. She’s intelligent, determined and strong, but also vulnerable, broken and flawed. My heart broke for her losing her husband, and I can’t imagine the pain of not knowing what happened to your child. I had so much admiration for how she got through each day and appreciated that the authors showed us her flaws too, allowing me to connect with her on a human level. The other characters were equally as well-written and I liked that we could never be completely sure who the bad guy was and there were many suspects for the crime. It kept the tension high while also keeping you guessing right up until the big reveal, which I was NOT ready for.
Dark, suspenseful, hard-hitting and totally addictive, this is a sensational start to a series that every thriller lover should have on their shelves. And that ending! I’m going to need book two ASAP.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
French Johana Gustawsson and Norwegian Thomas Enger are the international bestselling authors of the Roy & Castells and Henning Juul crime series respectively, published in more than 50 countries worldwide. SON, which kickstarts their new series set in Norway, is the first collaboration of the two former journalists. It stars social psychologist Dr. Kari Voss, a world-renowned expert in memory and body language, commonly known as ‘The human lie detector’.
Published January 20th, 2025 by Boldwood Books Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Crime Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Noir Fiction, Hardboiled, Mashup Novel
Welcome to my reivew for this unsettling thriller, which is one of the SquadPod Featured Books this month. Thank you Boldwood Books for sending me an audio copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
How can you fight for a life you can’t remember?
One moment I was just living my life, finding my way in the world. The next I woke up in a hospital bed with years of my life missing.
The man by my side – Rob, my husband – looks familiar, but I can’t remember marrying him. I can’t remember our life together. Most haunting of all: I can’t remember anything about the last five years.
Rob keeps telling me that everything will be fine, that my memories will return, but something feels… wrong. Why does our flat feel so unfamiliar? Why does he flinch when I ask questions? Why are none of my friends and family in touch?
The more I try to piece my life back together, the more I question everything – even myself. Who is Rob, really? And can I trust him? More importantly, can I trust myself?
A compulsive and obsessive read that will have you saying ‘just one more chapter!’ Perfect for fans of Before I Go To Sleep and Alice Feeney
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MY REVIEW:
Beth wakes up in hospital with no memory of what happened or how she got there. She’s told she had a car accident and that they’ve called her husband. But Beth doesn’t have a husband. And how did she end up in England when she’s never left Australia? The Doctor tells her she has retrograde amnesia and Beth learns she’s lost five years of her life. Rob, the man they say is her husband, takes her home to recover and keeps telling her everything will be fine. But Beth can’t shake her feelings of unease. And it seems that the more she learns, the more questions she has. Can she really trust what Rob is saying?Moreover, can she trust her own mind?
Dark, emotive and unbearably tense, Alison Stockham had me in her thrall from start to finish with this unsettling thriller. I listened to this on audiobook and loved how evocatively the narrator told the story, immediately pulling me in. But it is Stockham’s writing that really stole the show. Expertly written, tightly plotted and fast-paced, it was hard to predict and I didn’t see those jaw-dropping twists coming. Filled with adrenaline and atmosphere, the suspense and fear pervades every page and you’ve no idea who to trust or what the truth is.
The story was filled with characters who are complex, flawed, relatable and real which made it easy to feel invested in their lives and care about what happened to them. Beth is likeable and Stockham does a great job of putting the reader in her shoes. From the moment Beth wakes up in hospital we feel her confusion, fear and disarray. Her flashbacks were so vivid and palpable that I would feel my own heart race alongside hers, and my heart broke as she tried to remember the pieces of her life she’d lost. But where I empathised most of all was with Beth’s feelings regarding her husband, Rob. Rob triggered my bad guy radar early on with what seemed like cold, mean and manipulative behaviour. And there was also the uneasy feeling he gave Beth. But what I liked was that you couldn’t be completely sure you were right about anything or anyone in this story as Stockman kept you questioning your own mind, just as Beth questioned hers.
Taut, twisty and unnerving, Alison Stockman has crafted a consuming sinister thriller not to be missed.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Alison Stockham’s debut novel, The Cuckoo Sister, was a top 10 bestseller and was also longlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize. Her novels The Silent Friend and The New Girl have since been published.
From a background in film and television production, working in film dramas and then TV documentary production for the BBC and Channel 4, she then worked as the events coordinator for Cambridge Literary Festival. Now a full time writer, she lives in the city with her husband, their children and their cat, who keeps her company while she works on the next book.
Published March 12th, 2025 by Bookouture Thriller, Mystery, Crime Fiction, Police Procedural, Crime Series, Suspense, Noir Fiction
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for this dark, gritty and addictive thriller. Thank you to Bookouture for the invitation to take part and for sending me an eBook in exchange for my honest review.
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
It’s dark as the young woman leaves work. Crossing the empty car park alone, she thinks about the warmth of her little house. But she doesn’t make it home that night. Or ever again…
Thirty years ago, Ruth Pritchard’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Elissa, went missing. Police were called, neighbours were interviewed, and even Ruth’s own husband was investigated, but the case went unsolved. Elissa disappeared forever.
Now, Ruth watches the local news and hears about another girl gone from the same streets where her beloved daughter was last seen, and her heart races. A distinctive red scarf was found at a crime scene, and she recognises it instantly. It belonged to Elissa.
After Ruth alerts the police, they rush to speak to her, but nobody answers the door. Her small home stands eerily quiet. Just like her daughter before her, Ruth has vanished into thin air.
Friends say that Ruth suspected someone close to home took Elissa. Others say she never trusted her husband again after he was questioned by police. Did she finally discover the truth behind her daughter’s disappearance? And will her friends and family ever see her again?
From bestselling author Carla Kovach, this absolutely unputdownable crime thriller is perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Cara Hunter and Clare Mackintosh.
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MY REVIEW:
Gina Harte and her team are back. And this time they are investigating a suicide that has links to a kidnapping thirty years ago. It opens with a chilling prologue and then the discovery of a man’s body in his car. The man has clearly taken his own life, but he has left an ominous note talking about a girl he’s tried to keep safe. With no real clues or idea who this girl is, the race is on for the team to identify their John Doe and the girl in the note and then find her before it’s too late. Alongside the case, Gina is going through a lot in her personal life as someone is threatening to expose the secret she’s kept hidden for decades. A secret that will end her career. Can she find the girl, solve the case and stop her secret from being revealed?
Tense, twisty and totally addictive, this heart-stopping thriller had me holding my breath as I read. It might be seventeen books in, but the Gina Harte Series keeps getting better with each installment. Carla Kovach is a thriller queen who delivers stories time and again that are well-written, cleverly plotted, dark, gritty, and nail-bitingly tense. The crimes explored in this series are always hard-hitting and can be difficult to read, but Kovach never makes them feel gratuitously violent and instead amplifies the voices of victims of crime, writing these stories in a way that is raw, honest, but also sensitive to what they have been through.
Ms. Kovach fills her stories with characters that are flawed, relatable and morally complex, exploring how good people can do bad things and making you question what you might do in their shoes. Gina is a fantastic protagonist who is easy to root for, even if I don’t always agree with her. After reading this series for so long, Gina and team feel like old friends and I’m invested not only in the crimes they are solving, but their personal lives too, so I was on tenterhooks as someone threatened to destroy Gina’s life by exposing her secret. Can she keep flying so close to the sun without being burned?
A riveting thriller that kept me guessing, this is another must-read thriller from Ms. Kovach.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Carla Kovach is a USA Today bestselling author from the UK and is published by Bookouture, Sphere, Boekerij and Virtualo. Her DI Gina Harte series has been translated into Dutch, German and Polish.
As well as novels, she has also written stage and screenplays.
Welcome to my list of most anticipated April released. There are some exciting debuts, including The Eights, Mere, The Midnight King, A Line You Have Traced, and This Is Not A Game, and some new releases from authors I love including Nita Prose, Eve Smith, Essie Fox, Abigail Dean and Paige Toon.
Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou
Published April 1st by Wildfire Fairy Tale, Gothic Fiction, Horror Fiction
BOOK DESCRIPTION: Something terrible has happened.
In a mysterious apartment filled with ghosts, our unnamed narrator attempts to explain this to her child – how do I talk about this? she wonders.
The truth must become something beautiful. We must begin with a fairy tale.
And so she begins to construct a beautiful fairy tale for her child – one that begins with a strange baby boy whose nails grow too fast and whose skin smells of soil. As he grows from a boy into a man, a plague seems to follow him everywhere. Tragedy strikes in cycles – and wife after wife, death after death, plague after plague, every woman he touches becomes a ghost. These ghosts call out desperately to our narrator as she tries to explain, in the very real world, exactly what has happened to her.
And they all agree on one thing, an inescapable truth about this man, this powerful lord who has loved them and led them each to ruin:
If you leave, you die. But if you die, you stay.
A debut novel as emotionally poignant as it is fiercely smart, Sour Cherry is an arresting debut examining toxic masculinity through its chorus of women – deconstructing the idea of what makes someone a monster.
Published April 3rd by Gollancz Historical Fiction, Fairy Tale, Mythology, Greek Mythology, Science Ficiton, Gay Ficition
BOOK DESCRIPTION: A timely and timeless reimagining of the story of Dionysus, Greek God of ecstasy and madness, revelry and ruin, for readers of The Song of Achilles and Elektra.
Raised in a Greek legion, Phaidros has been taught to fight for the homeland he’s never seen and to follow his commander’s orders at all costs. But when he rescues a baby from a fire at Thebes’s palace, his commander’s orders cease to make sense: Phaidros is forced to abandon the blue-eyed boy at a temple, and to keep the baby’s existence a secret.
Years later, after a strange encounter that led to the death of his battalion, Phaidros has become a training master for young soldiers. He struggles with panic attacks and flashbacks, and he is not the only one: all around him, his fellow veterans are losing their minds.
Phaidros’s risk of madness is not his only problem: his life has become entangled with Thebes’s young crown prince, who wishes to escape the marriage his mother, the Queen, has chosen for him. When the prince vanishes, Phaidros is drawn into the search for him-a search that leads him to a blue-eyed witch named Dionysus, whose guidance is as wise as the events that surround him are strange. In Dionysus’s company, Phaidros witnesses sudden outbursts of riots and unrest, and everywhere Dionysus goes, rumors follow about a new god, one sired by Zeus but lost in a fire.
In The Hymn to Dionysus, bestselling author Natasha Pulley transports us to an ancient empire on the edge of ruin to tell an utterly captivating story about a man needing a god to remind him how to be a human.
Published April 3rd by Fig Tree Historical Fiction, Coming-of-Age Story
BOOK DESCRIPTION: They knew they were changing history. They didn’t know they would change each other.
Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its 1000-year history, the world’s most famous university has admitted female students. Giddy with dreams of equality, education and emancipation, four young women move into neighbouring rooms on Corridor Eight. They have come here from all walks of life, and they are thrown into an unlikely, life-affirming friendship.
Dora was never meant to go to university, but, after losing both her brother and her fiancé on the battlefield, has arrived in their place. Beatrice, politically-minded daughter of a famous suffragette, sees Oxford as a chance to make her own way – and her own friends – for the first time. Socialite Otto fills her room with extravagant luxuries but fears they won’t be enough to distract her from her memories of the war years. And quiet, clever, Marianne, the daughter of a village vicar, arrives bearing a secret she must hide from everyone – even The Eights – if she is to succeed.
But Oxford’s dreaming spires cast a dark shadow: in 1920, misogyny is still rife, influenza is still a threat, and the ghosts of the Great War are still very real indeed. And as the group navigate this tumultuous moment in time, their friendship will become more important than ever.
The Eights is a captivating debut novel about sisterhood, self-determination, courage, and what it means to come of age in a world that is forever changed.
Published April 3rd by Mantle Historical Fiction, Lesbian Literature, Historical Romance, Supernatural Fiction, Religious Ficiton, Medieval Romance
BOOK DESCRIPTION: Mere by Danielle Giles is a hypnotic historical novel about fear and survival, power and position, and a love that takes hold in the darkest of places.
Norfolk, 990 AD. Deep in the Fens, isolated by a vast and treacherous mere, an order of holy sisters make their home. Under the steely guidance of Abbess Sigeburg they follow God’s path, looking to their infirmarian, Hilda, to provide what comfort and cures she can.
But when the mere takes a young servant boy, Sigeburg’s grip falters and Hilda quickly realizes this place holds secrets darker and more unholy than she can fathom.
Then proud Sister Wulfrun, a recent arrival to the convent, has a vision: a curse is upon them and change must be brought. Is she saint or serpent? To Hilda, Wulfrun is a signal bolder and brighter than any fire set – one she cannot help but follow . . .
Published April 3rd by Bantam Press Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Coming-of-Age Story, Urban Fiction
BOOK DESCRIPTION: The Silent Patient meets The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in this elegant and twisty debut thriller. _
When does the acting stop – and the deception begin?
Famous film star Lila Crayne is America’s Sweetheart: she’s generous and kind, gorgeous and magnetic. A golden girl. She and her fiancé, visionary filmmaker Kurt Royall, have settled into a stunning New York apartment, and are embarking on a new movie: a modern feminist adaptation of a classic twentieth-century novel.
To prepare for the leading role, Lila begins work with charming and accomplished therapist Jonah Gabriel to dig into the trauma of her past. Soon, Lila’s impeccably manicured life begins to unravel on the therapy couch – and Jonah is just the man to pick up the pieces. But everyone has a secret, no one is quite who they seem, and before long, careers, reputations and lives are in danger of being irrevocably destroyed . . .
Published April 3rd by Renegade Books Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Mashup Novel
BOOK DESCRIPTION: 1922: You are cordially invited to summer at the Gatsby Mansion in West Egg, with the most illustrious – and the deadliest – guest list.
Freshly twenty-one and sporting a daring new bob, Greta Gatsby – younger sister to the infamous Jay – is finally free of finishing school. An idyllic summer stretches ahead of her at the Gatsby Mansion, the jewel of West Egg.
But when Greta arrives at the secluded white-stone estate bathed in the late-afternoon light, she finds she isn’t the only visitor. Jay is hosting an intimate gathering of New York’s fashionable set: Daisy and Tom Buchanan, along with his brother Edgar, Nick Carraway and Jordan Baker.
That evening, the guests enjoy a candelabra-lit dinner party. That night, they dance to the lilt of the gramophone. The next morning, one of them is missing.
Murder has come to West Egg, the warm breeze tainted by scandal, betrayal and secrets. Turning sleuth isn’t how Greta meant to spend her summer – but what choice does she have when one of them could be next?
The gilded opulence of the Roaring Twenties. A murder that scandalises high society. And a clever young woman of unusual persistence… A deliciously unputdownable whodunnit perfect for fans of The Christie Affair and Miss Austen Investigates.
Published April 3rd by Picador Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Erotic Thriller, Drama
BOOK DESCRIPTION: This is a murder mystery. This is a story about love. Or is it? . . .
Fair Play is the puzzle-box story of two competing tales that brilliantly lay bare the real truth of life – the terrifying mystery of grief.
‘A treat – clever, confident, and always surprising’ – Paul Murray, author of THE BEE STING
Abigail and her brother Benjamin have always been close. To celebrate his birthday, Abigail hires a grand old house and gathers their friends together for a murder mystery party. As the night goes on, they drink too much and play games. Relationships are forged, consolidated or frayed. Someone kisses someone they shouldn’t, someone else’s heart is broken.
In the morning, everyone wakes up – except Benjamin.
Suddenly everything is not quite what it seems. An eminent detective arrives determined to find Benjamin’s killer. The house now has a butler, a gardener and a housekeeper. This is a locked-room mystery, and everyone is a suspect.
As Abigail attempts to fathom her brother’s unexpected death in a world that has been turned upside down, she begins to wonder whether perhaps the true mystery might have been his life . . .
Published April 3rd by Black & White Publishing Romance Novel, Magical Realism, Contemporary Romance
BOOK DESCRIPTION: At seven o’clock one Tuesday evening, in a perfectly ordinary tower block near Westminster, four strangers meet for the first time. They each have three things in common: all suffered a traumatic experience six months earlier; all exhibit a dogged inability to put it behind them; and all accepted an invitation to attend tonight’s counselling session with the unconventional Genevieve – a determined woman with an unusual theory to test.
But this isn’t a novel about psychotherapy or self-forgiveness. Because there is another reason these four people have been brought together. And when that perfectly ordinary tower block near Westminster turns out to be not quite so ordinary, all five are forced to make some unexpected – and, for some, impossible – decisions . . .
A novel about friendship, strength and love, The Seven O’Clock Club is a reminder that life can give you hope. Even in the darkest of spaces.
Published April 3rd by Tor Contemporary Fantasy, Dark Fantasy
BOOK DESCRIPTION: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six, Succession meets magic in Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake. This is the story of three siblings who, upon the death of their father, are forced to reckon with their long-festering rivalries, dangerous abilities and the crushing weight of all their unrealized adolescent potential.
Where there’s a will, there’s a war.
Thayer Wren, brilliant CEO of Wrenfare Magitech, is dead. As the ‘father of modern technology,’ he leaves an incredible legacy. But which of his three telepathically and electrokinetically gifted children could inherit the Wrenfare throne?
Meredith, head of her own profitable company, has recently cured mental illness. If only her journalist ex-boyfriend wasn’t set on exposing what she really is: a total fraud. Arthur, second-youngest congressman ever, wants to do everything right. Except his wife might be leaving, and he’s losing his re-election campaign. Heading Wrenfare could relaunch his sinking ship. Eilidh was a world-famous ballerina, until a life-altering injury. Gaining the company might finally validate her worth.
On the pipeline of gifted kid to clinically depressed adult, nobody wins. Yet as they gather to read his final words, which Wren will come out on top?
This is a compulsive contemporary fantasy of family, twisted love and dangerous secrets from a writer at the height of her powers.
Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon by Mizuki Tsujimura
Published April 3rd by Doubleday Mystery, Magical Realism
BOOK DESCRIPTION: THE UNFORGETTABLE MILLION-COPY JAPANESE BESTSELLER BY THE AUTHOR OF LONELY CASTLE IN THE MIRROR
Brimming with suspense and heartbreak, the million-copy Japanese fantasy mystery for fans of BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD and LONELY CASTLE IN THE MIRROR ______________
Is there anyone you wish to see?
So asks the smart young man, Ayumi, to his clients who have come to him for a reunion with the person who once changed their life.
But it is no ordinary reunion The people they ask to see have passed away.
Calling himself the go-between, Ayumi lays down strict rules around the meetings between the living and the dead: the deceased cannot have been summoned by anyone else; they may refuse; and they must meet under a full moon.
– Anxious Hirase asks to see the celebrity who showed her kindness at a critical moment; – An arrogant family man wants clarity about a will from his beloved mother; – After a bike accident, a school girl has a question for her former best friend; – A salary man wants to ask the only woman he ever loved what caused her to run away.
With each reunion, tantalizing clues are scattered for readers to piece together the emotional truth behind the go-between in this mesmeric and unputdownable tale of kindness, compassion and connection.
Published April 8th by Quercus Romance, Romantic Comedy, Melodrama, Tragicomedy, Drama
BOOK DESCRIPTION: Lost at sea . . . with your one-night stand
‘Feels like a brand new version of romance . . . I drowned happily in this book’ Jodi Picoult
‘I adored it, it was so romantic’ Marian Keyes
Lexi is looking for no-strings-attached fun with a stranger. She deserves one night for herself, doesn’t she?
Zeke is looking for love. But for one night with a woman like Lexi, he’ll break his rules . . .
Sparks fly at the pub, one passionate kiss leads to another and they end up stumbling home to the marina together.
The next morning, hungover and shaken by an amazing night, Lexi is more than ready for Zeke to leave. There’s just one small problem . . . the houseboat they stayed on has been swept out to sea.
As their supplies start to run dangerously low, and the waves pick up, Zeke and Lexi soon realise there’s much more on the line than their new relationship.
How long can they really survive on a drifting houseboat in the North Sea? Will search and rescue find them? And who will they be if they both make it back to dry land?
Swept Away is the epic new romance from the million-copy bestselling author of The Flatshare and The No-Show about your one-night stand becoming your one and only lifeline. Sharp, funny and breathtakingly intense, this standout novel is set to capture readers’ hearts next spring.
Published April 10th by Orenda Books Thriller, Speculative Thriller, Medical Thriller, Science Fiction, Alternative History
BOOK DESCRIPTION: Living forever can be lethal…
Ruth is a law-abiding elder, working out her national service, but she has secrets.
Her tireless research into the disease that killed her young daughter had an unexpected outcome: the discovery of a vaccine against old age. Just one jab a year reverses your biological clock, guaranteeing a long, healthy life.
But Ruth’s cure was hijacked by her colleague, Erik Grundleger, who hungers for immortality, and the SuperJuve – a premium upgrade – was created, driving human lifespan to a new high. The wealthy elite who take it are dubbed Supers, and the population begins to skyrocket.
Then, a perilous side-effect of the SuperJuve emerges, with catastrophic consequences, and as the planet is threatened, the population rebels, and laws are passed to restore order: life ends at 120. Supers are tracked down by Omnicide investigators like Mara, and executed…
Mara has her own reasons for hunting Supers, and she forms an unlikely alliance with Ruth to find Grundleger.
But Grundleger has been working on something even more radical and is one step ahead, with a deadly surprise in store for them both…
Published April 10th by Viper Books Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller
BOOK DESCRIPTION: ‘This is a work of fiction. This is not a confession.’
Lucas Cole is a bestselling writer. He is also a father, a widower, and a beloved celebrity in his small town. He is an unassuming man - tall, thin and quietly friendly. Lucas Cole is also a serial killer.
Nathan Cole has known the truth about his father since he was ten years old. Too terrified to go to the police, he ran away from home as soon as he was able, carrying the guilt of leaving his sister behind. But when Lucas is found dead in a dingy motel room, Nathan returns to his childhood home for the first time in seventeen years. It’s there he finds The Midnight King, his father’s final unpublished manuscript, a fictionalised account of his hideous crimes, hidden in a box of trinkets taken from his victims. Trinkets that include a ribbon belonging to a missing eight-year-old girl who disappeared only days before his father’s death.
Now, Nathan must deal with the consequences of keeping his father’s secret. But it may not be as simple as finding a lost child. For The Midnight King holds Nathan’s secrets as well as Lucas’s, and he is not the only one searching for the truth…
Full of unexpected twists and heartrending turns, The Midnight King is a gripping thriller perfect for fans of Chris Whitaker, S.A. Cosby and Ian Rankin.
Published April 10th by Harper Collins UK Thriller, Suspense, Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Domestic Ficiton
BOOK DESCRIPTION: They raised me. Nurtured me. And lied about everything.
Sadie’s childhood has always been shrouded in mystery.
But there are three things she knows.
She was raised by two aunts.
She never knew her parents.
She is convinced she was stolen.
Cristy Ward, podcast host, is gripped by Sadie’s story. It’s perfect for her next true-crime investigation. Yet Sadie’s aunt claims it’s all a fantasy.
As the evidence begins to stack up, and the lies fall apart, they all could be in a lot more danger than they thought…
Published April 10th by Harper Collins UK Mystery, Thriller, Crime Ficiton, Women Sleuths, Crime Series
BOOK DESCRIPTION: A hidden treasure. A hotel heist. Only THE MAID can solve the mystery.
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Molly the maid is no stranger to secrets…
She sees everything behind closed doors at the Regency Grand hotel: wiping away the dust and grime of guests passing through.
But one secret lies much closer to home.
An old trinket – a faux Fabergé egg – is revealed to be a precious antique during an appraisal at the hotel, making Molly a rags-to-riches sensation. But no sooner has the egg shown its value than it’s stolen: vanishing without a trace.
Determined to crack the case of the missing Fabergé, Molly begins dusting for clues – uncovering a mystery that stretches deep into the past.
For in the pages of a long-forgotten diary, written by her late gran, lie the secrets that could unlock all others – and only Molly holds the key…
BOOK DESCRIPTION: MEET THE DETECTIVE DUO YOU’LL NEVER FORGET __________
89-year-old Margaret has lived on Garnon Crescent all her life, except for those few years she never talks about. She knows all the neighbours; their hopes, their heartbreaks.
Only recently, Margaret’s memory isn’t what it used to be. She is sure Barbara, her best friend and neighbour, told her something important. Something she was supposed to remember.
When Barbara is found dead, Margaret determines to recover her missing memory. She and her grandson James begin to investigate, but soon strange incidents occur in her home. Margaret’s daughter thinks her memory is getting worse, but Margaret knows somebody wants her out of the way.
Because Margaret holds the key to solving this crime. If only she could remember where she put it.
Published April 10th by Riverrun Historical Fiction, Crime Fiction, True Crime
BOOK DESCRIPTION: A Granite Silence is an exploration – a journey through time to a particular house, in a particular street, Urquhart Road, Aberdeen in 1934, where eight-year-old Helen Priestly lives with her mother and father.
Among this long, grey corridor of four-storey tenements, a daunting expanse of granite, working families are squashed together like pickled herrings in their narrow flats. Here are Helen’s neighbours: the Topps, the Josses, the Mitchells, the Gordons, the Donalds, the Coulls and the Hunts.
Returning home from school for her midday meal, Helen is sent by her mother Agnes to buy a loaf from the bakery at the end of the street. Agnes never sees her daughter alive again.
Nina Allan explores the aftermath of Helen’s disappearance, turning a probing eye to the close-knit neighbourhood – where everyone knows everyone, at least by sight – and with subtlety and sympathy, explores the intricate layers of truth and falsehood that can coexist in one moment of history.
Full of echoes, allusions and eerie diversions, A Granite Silence is an investigation into a notorious true crime case, but also a stylish, imaginative inquiry into who gets to tell a story, how it is told, and why.
Published April 10th by Magpie Science Ficiton, Time Travel Ficiton
BOOK DESCRIPTION: ‘We can fix what we have done. We can undo the mistakes our ancestors made. We can set right what has been done wrong… You are the first step.’
In a silverware shop, a young wife works alongside her husband. Amid growing political turmoil, Bea finds solace in the local marsh, where she is visited recurrently by a mysterious presence, logging each appearance carefully in a scarlet journal. In a time like now, Kay navigates friendship, queerness and the temporary job market, whilst contemplating the significance of her life in a world with such an uncertain future. At her grandmother’s house she finds an intriguing record of an angel’s visits. A hundred years into the future, outsiders have banded together to live off-grid away from a corrupt government and a city wracked by oppression and climate change. When Ess is chosen for a virgin mission, a journey into the past to save the present, she is guided only by a well-thumbed red notebook… Set against the shifting landscape of East London marshes and expanding over three centuries, this is the breathtaking, urgent story of three women separated by history but threaded together by unknown forces.
Published April 10th by Faber & Faber Literary Fiction
BOOK DESCRIPTION: It seems so odd to me now, how one can be so unsettled by the improbable. When we know that our entire existence is founded on freak occurrences and improbable coincidences. That we wouldn’t be here at all if it weren’t for these curious twists of fate.
The first volume of the poetic, page-turning masterpiece about one woman’s fall through the cracks of time.
Tara Selter has slipped out of time.
Every morning, she wakes up to the 18th of November. She no longer expects to wake up to the 19th of November, and she no longer remembers the 17th of November as if it were yesterday.
She comes to know the shape of the day like the back of her hand – the grey morning light in her Paris hotel; the moment a blackbird breaks into song; her husband’s surprise at seeing her return home unannounced. But for everyone around her, this day is lived for the first and only time. They do not remember the other 18ths of November, and they do not believe her when she tries to explain.
As Tara approaches her 365th 18th of November, she can’t shake the feeling that somewhere underneath the surface of this day, there’s a way to escape.
WINNER OF THE 2022 NORDIC COUNCIL LITERATURE PRIZE
The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight
Published April 10th by Quercus Domestic Fiction, Coming-of-Age Story
BOOK DESCRIPTION: Pen and Alice, childhood best friends from Toronto, are in their first year at the University of Edinburgh. Each has come to the city for her own reasons.
Pen knows her divorced parents back in Canada are hiding something from her. She believes she’ll find the answer here in Scotland, where an old friend of her father’s – now a famous writer known as Lord Lennox – lives. When she is invited to spend the weekend at Lennox’s centuries-old estate with his enveloping, fascinating family, Pen begins to unravel her parents’ secret, just as she’s falling in love for the first time . . .
Meanwhile Alice, an aspiring actor, sees university as her route to the West End and beyond. The star of this year’s theatre production, she’s making the most of the power she wields as an object of desire – until an affair with her tutor begins to slip from her control.
Witty, warm and wildly unputdownable, The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus is at once a love story and an irresistible mystery, a celebration of female friendship, and a study of how looking back can help us move forward.
Published April 10th by Fourth Estate Mystery, Suspense, Domestic Fiction, Humorous Fiction
BOOK DESCRIPTION: Maybe having a few enemies on the school run means you’re doing something right…
Florence knows all about failure. After a dismal end to her 2000s girlband career, she’s moping around West London, single, broke and unfulfilled. The only things she’s proud of are her increasingly elaborate nail art choices – and her ten-year-old son, Dylan.
But when Alfie Risby, Dylan’s bitter class rival and the child heir to a frozen foods empire, mysteriously vanishes on a school trip, Dylan becomes a prime suspect. Florence has to get her act together, find the missing boy and clear her son’s name or risk losing him forever. The only problem? She doesn’t have any detective skills, she’s not exactly popular at the school gates and she’s just found Alfie’s backpack hidden under Dylan’s bed…
All the Other Mothers Hate Me is an irresistibly witty novel about fitting in, starting over and the lengths we’ll go to for the people we love.
Published April 10th by Century Romance Novel, Contemporary Romance
BOOK DESCRPTION: Three days to fall in love. Six years to try to forget.
Ellie didn’t expect to fall in love while travelling in Europe. But she also didn’t expect to meet a man like Ash.
Three blistering days in Lisbon is all it takes to form an unforgettable connection – deep enough for them to plan to meet again in Madrid. But Ellie arrives late, and Ash is nowhere to be found.
Six years later, the memory of Ash and their time together still burns deeply in Ellie’s heart. She hopes that her dream job as a gardener on a grand estate in Wales will bring the fresh start she desperately needs.
But when Ash unexpectedly crashes back into her life, Ellie is forced to question if the universe has other plans…
Published April 10th by Picador Contemporary Fantasy, Magical Realism, Translated Fiction
BOOK DESCRIPTION: The must-have sequel to Sosuke Natsukawa’s bestselling The Cat Who Saved Books – an uplifting tale from Japan about a talking cat, a book-loving girl and the power of books to make a difference in the world.
Nanami sees nothing wrong with a library and cat combination. But a talking cat is a whole other story.
Nanami Kosaki loves reading. The local library is a home from home and books have become her best friends. When Nanami notices books disappearing from the library shelves, she’s particularly curious about a suspicious man in a grey suit whose furtive behaviour doesn’t feel right. Should she follow him to see what he’s up to?
When a talking tabby cat called Tiger appears to warn her about how dangerous that would be, together they’re brave enough to follow the frightening trail to find out where all the books have gone. Will Nanami and Tiger overcome the challenges of the adventure ahead?
Warm, wonderful and wise, The Cat Who Saved the Library is also a powerful lesson never to underestimate the value of great literature, and a reminder always to think for ourselves, no matter what our charismatic leaders might say.
Published April 17th by Picador Historical Fiction, Coming-of-Age Story, LGBT Literature
BOOK DESCRIPTION: From the author of The End We Start From, now a major film starring Jodie Comer, and taking inspiration from the influential Bloomsbury Group, Days of Light is a sweeping, gorgeous story for fans of Mothering Sunday and The Hours.
Easter Sunday, 1938. Ivy is nineteen and ready for her life to finally begin. In the idyllic Sussex countryside, her sprawling, bohemian family and their friends gather for lunch, awaiting the arrival of a longed-for guest.
It is a single, enchanted afternoon that ends in tragedy.
Days later, at a funeral, Ivy is kissed by the man she will marry, and grieves with the woman who will become the love of her life. And this is only the beginning . . .
Chronicling six pivotal days across six decades, Days of Light moves through the Second World War and the twentieth century on a radiant journey through a life lived in pursuit of love and in search of an answer.
Published April 17th by Doubleday Literary Fiction, Romantic Comedy, Drama, Family Saga
BOOK DESCRIPTION: Family is everything, even when it falls apart. Discover the brand-new novel from the multi-million-copy bestselling author.
There is a heatwave across Europe.
Goose and his three sisters gather at the family’s house by Lake Orta in Piedmont, Italy. Their father, a famous artist, has recently remarried a much younger woman and decamped to Italy to finish his masterpiece. Now he is dead and there is no sign of a painting.
Although the siblings have always been close, as they search for answers over that summer, the things they learn – about themselves, their father and their new stepmother – will drive them apart before they can come to any kind of understanding of what their father’s legacy truly is.
Extraordinarily compelling, at heart this is a novel about sibling relationships and those hairline cracks that can appear within a family: what what happens when they splinter, and what it would take to mend them.
Mythica: A New History of Homer’s World, Through the Women Writter Out of It by Emily Hauser
Published April 17th by Doubleday History
BOOK DESCRIPTION: Did you love Madeline Miller’s Circe? Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls? Jennifer Saint’s Elektra? Natalie Haynes’ A Thousand Ships?
But did you ever wonder who the real women behind the myths of the Trojan War were?
Now award-winning classicist and historian Emily Hauser takes readers on an epic journey to uncover the astonishing true story of the real women behind ancient Greece’s greatest legends – and the real heroes of those ancient epics, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.
Because, contrary to perceptions built up over three millennia, ancient history is not all about men – and it’s not only men’s stories that deserve to be told . . .
In Mythica Emily Hauser tells, for the first time, the extraordinary stories of the real women behind some of the western world’s greatest legends. Following in their footsteps, digging into the history behind Homer’s epic poems, piecing together evidence from the original texts, recent astonishing archaeological finds and the latest DNA studies, she reveals who these women – queens, mothers, warriors, slaves – were, how they lived, and how history has (or has not – until now) remembered them.
A riveting new history of the Bronze Age Aegean and a journey through Homer’s epics charted entirely by women – from Helen of Troy, Briseis, Cassandra and Aphrodite to Circe, Athena, Hera, Calypso and Penelope – Mythica is a ground-breaking reassessment of the reality behind the often-mythologized women of Greece’s greatest epics, and of the ancient world itself as we learn ever more about it.
Published April 24th by Orenda Books Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller, Historical Mystery, Gothic Fiction, Biographical Fiction, Crime Fiction
BOOK DESCRIPTION: When the disgraced Lord Byron is associated with the deaths of women in Venice, he turns detective to unveil the killer and clear his name. A dazzling, riveting historical mystery by the author of the Sunday Times bestseller, The Fascination. –––––––
When fiction is fatal…
Living in exile in Venice, the disgraced Lord Byron revels in the freedoms of the city
But when he is associated with the deaths of local women, found with wounds to their throats, and then a novel called The Vampyre is published under his name, rumours begin to spread that Byron may be the murderer…
As events escalate and tensions rise – and his own life is endangered, as well as those he holds most dear – Byron is forced to play detective, to discover who is really behind these heinous crimes. Meanwhile, the scandals of his own infamous past come back to haunt him…
Rich in gothic atmosphere and drawing on real events and characters from Byron’s life, Dangerous is a riveting, dazzling historical thriller, as decadent, dark and seductive as the poet himself…
Published April 24th by HarperNorth Gothic Ficiton, Hisotrical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Ghost Story, Horror Ficiton, Nautical Fiction
BOOK DESCRIPTION: Each time the globe turns, murder strikes…
1597, London. When Beatrice’s husband returns from exploring the New World, he comes home with unexpected company: a mysterious woman, and an enormous painted globe.
As Hugh refuses to explain who their female guest is, Beatrice’s foreboding grows. The unwieldy globe now strikes her as sinister – a reminder of the world of secrets pervading her household.
Then one night, the great, hulking globe begins to turn of its own accord. Terrifying new illustrations appear on its face – and when untimely deaths ensue, Beatrice is convinced that the drawings are connected.
Desperate to prove that she is not paranoid, Beatrice risks everything to uncover the truth. What sinister force is behind these killings? What really happened on Hugh’s excursion to the Americas? Who is the strange woman who won’t leave her house? And on this otherworldly map of murders, who will be painted as the final victim?
Published April 24th by Doubleday Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Crime Fiction
BOOK DESCRIPTION: The gripping new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Tall Bones, the haunting bestseller and Book of the Month for the Guardian, Grazia and the Observer. _______
‘There’s nothing like it. The way the world gets real quiet when a gator’s nearby…And then the water, suddenly boiling as that black head surfaces and the ancient reptile erupts into the air hissing like a devil…’
The Labasques aren’t like other families.
Living in a shack out in the swamps, they scrape a living hunting down alligators just to get by. To the good people of Jacknife, Louisiana, they are trouble-makers, outcasts, the kind of people you wouldn’t want living on your doorstep.
So when Cutter Labasque is found face down in the muddy swamp, no one seems to care, not even her two rough-cut brothers. The only person who questions the official verdict of suicide is Cutter’s childhood friend, Loyal May, who has just returned home to care for her ageing mother.
Loyal left town at the age of 18, having betrayed everything she valued most. Now, there may be no way for her to find forgiveness, but there may be restitution…
Set against the haunting beauty of Southern Louisiana, Our Last Wild Days is a stunning, evocative novel about the ways in which we come to understand our place in the world.
Published April 24th by Century Mystery, Crime Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Humorous Fiction
BOOK DESCRIPTION: Two unlikely detectives. A killer cocktail of suspects.
A Gibson martini garnished with three silverskin onions is 77-year-old Mimi’s favourite cocktail. It is best served with a crossword puzzle, not as an apéritif at Jane Ireland’s extravagant auction party.
But given Mimi has been blackmailed into attending Jane’s event, at a grand old mansion on Mackinac Island (Michigan’s answer to The Hamptons), there are worse drinks she could spend an evening sinking.
Thankfully for her, she’s roped her granddaughter, Addie – who is escaping the heartache caused by her manipulative ex-fiancé – into accompanying her. While Addie spots celebrities and socialites in the manor’s labyrinth of dark rooms and Mimi wonders how to confess the real reason for her presence at the soiree, a scream pierces the air.
Jane is dead.
And when a second body turns up, Mimi and Addie soon become the unlikeliest of sleuths in a race to narrow down the suspects.
In a house that contains as many secrets as the people within it, it’s going to take more than a Gibson to survive the night…
Jessica and Linda have been best friends since the first day of school. Both girls are from very different broken homes – and beautiful, wilful Jessica has always ensured their survival.
Now eighteen, the two girls have come to Wilde – an elite university in the heart of Dublin, far away from their troubled childhoods. Jessica thrives immediately, and, with the faithful Linda at her side, finds herself at the heart of a new circle of friends.
But then Mark enters the picture. A philosophy student a few years older than them, he has strange and compelling ideas about self-discovery. When Linda and Mark start dating, Jessica is disturbed by the change in her friend – and how quickly she seems to have fallen under this abrasive, charismatic man’s control.
It turns out that Mark’s influence is not limited to Linda alone; and Jessica soon finds out that her whole group of friends are keeping secrets for him – culminating in a terrible tragedy that strikes at the end of their first year.
Years later, Jessica is still grappling with her guilt over what happened at Wilde. And when Mark resurfaces, she knows she owes it to herself – and Linda – to set the record straight once and for all.
Published April 24th by Simon & Schuster UK Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Crime Fiction, Science Fiction, Crime Series
BOOK DESCRIPTION: DCS Kat Frank and AIDE Lock are back in a cutting-edge new thriller.
The truth will always come out, but at what cost?
Fresh from successfully closing their first live case, the Future Policing Unit are called in to investigate when a headless, handless body is found on a Warwickshire farm. But as they work to identify the victim and their killer, the discovery of a second body begins to spark fears that The Aston Strangler is back. And as the stakes rise for the team, so do the tensions brewing within it.
When DCS Kat Frank is accused of putting the wrong man behind bars all those years ago, AIDE Lock – the world’s first AI Detective – pursues the truth about what happened with relentless logic. But Kat is determined to keep the past buried, and when she becomes the target of a shadowy figure looking for revenge, Lock is torn between his evidence-based algorithms and the judgement of his partner, with explosive results.
When everything hangs in the balance, it will all come down to just how much an AI machine can learn, and what happens when they do . . .
Published April 24th by Akan Books Literary Fiction, Psychological Fiction
BOOK DESCRIPTION: Tender, brutal, devastating, OVERSPILL is the debut novel from incredible new literary talent, Charlotte Paradise, perfect for fans of Sally Rooney and Coco Mellors
Sara is twenty-five. She has never used a tampon without having a panic attack.
She starts dating Miles. For three months, they don’t touch. Miles respects her boundaries, though he longs for them to melt away. Sara desires Miles, but she knows her body, or rather she knows it is an unknowable thing.
Sara wants to be in love, to find a person who allows her to be herself. Someone who is happy with everything she is and everything she isn’t. Miles hopes he won’t hurt her.
But how do you navigate a relationship for which there is no blueprint? How do you love someone when your body is not your own, and how do you reclaim it?
Published April 24th by Simon & Schuster UK Romance Novel, Contemporary Romance, Holiday Fiction
BOOK DESCRIPTION: The brilliantly escapist and gloriously romantic new summer read from million-copy Sunday Times bestselling author Heidi Swain!
Summer is in full swing when Daisy drives back into Wynmouth in her almost-clapped-out car, having left both her most recent job and the man her parents thought she was going to marry. Coming home could be just what she needs to move her life on.
At Wynbrook Manor, things are in disarray. Owner Algy isn’t getting any younger, and Daisy’s mum Janet, housekeeper at the manor, spends her days running around after him, while Daisy’s dad Robin, the gardener, has been let down by the person he had lined up to take care of the new cut-flower garden.
As Daisy tries to find her place at Wynbrook and in the village, she’s drawn to summer visitor Josh. But when he turns out to be not the person he appears to be, will the spark between them fizzle out? And with it, the chances of this turning into the best summer ever?
Published March 13th, 2025 by Phoenix Mystery, Thriller, Domestic Fiction
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for this captivating slice of suburban drama. Thank you to Tracy at Compulsive Readers tours for the invitation to take part, and to Phoenix for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
Australia, 1979.
It’s the height of summer and on a quiet suburban cul-de-sac a housewife is scrubbing the yellow and white chequered tiles of her bathroom floor. But all is not as it seems. For one thing, it’s 3 a.m. For another, she is trying desperately to remove all traces of blood before they stain. Her husband seems remarkably calm, considering their neighbour has just been murdered.
As the sun rises on Warrah Place, news of Antonio Marietti’s death spreads like wildfire, gossip is exchanged in whispers and suspicion mounts. Twelve-year-old Tammy launches her own investigation, determined to find out what happened, but she is not the only one whose well-meaning efforts uncover more mysteries than they solve. There are secrets behind every closed door in the neighbourhood – and the identity of the murderer is only one of them . . .
Richly atmospheric and simmering with tension, The Grapevine is an acutely observed debut novel about prejudice and suspicion, the hidden lives of women, and how the ties that bind a community can also threaten to break it.
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MY REVIEW:
Australia, 1979. The residents of Warrah Place are rocked by the news of Antonio Marietti’s death. It spreads like wildfire, the gossip between neighbours on this quiet cul-de-sac fanning the flames of rumour and suspicion. While the adults whisper accusations, twelve-year-old Tammy decides to launch her own investigation but is unprepared for what she discovers…
A community full of secrets, lies and prejudices, a captivating murder mystery, and an explosive finale, Kate Kemp’s debut has all of this and so much more. Wonderfully written, acutely observed and deeply human, I loved this fantastic debut. There’s a strong sense of community from the start, but it is soon evident that not everyone is who they seem on this claustrophobic cul-de-sac and secrets, lies and prejudices lurk in the homes on Warrah Place. There is a huge cast of characters which did make it hard for me to get into the story at first. But I found that once I had a chunk of time to really immerse myself in the story I was in its thrall. Part psychological suspense, part domestic fiction, the tension sizzled like the summer sun that was beating down, keeping me guessing right up until that devastating final twist.
But what really had me hooked was the relationships between the neighbours. Richly drawn, authentic and relatable, they leaped from the pages and pulled me into their world, slowly unveiling the secrets they were trying to hide. I loved delving into their lives and discovering what they were hiding while trying to guess what happened to Antonio the night he was murdered. Much of the story is narrated by Tammy, a precocious, quirky and curious twelve-year-old who is emotionally neglected by her mother. Tammy decides to solve the crime, and it was fun to see the story through her naive eyes. The adults are flawed and preoccupied, allowing Tammy to overhear much of her investigation as they forgot she was listening. There are some very unlikeable characters on Warrah Place, but there were also some strong female characters that I loved reading.
Atmospheric, revealing, and utterly compelling, The Grapevine is a delicious slice of suburban drama not to be missed.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kate Kempis an Australian writer living in the UK. She trained as an occupational therapist and then as a systemic psychotherapist, and has worked with families and individuals in mental health services in both Australia and the UK. In 2021, she won the Stylist Prize for Feminist Fiction and the Yeovil Literary Prize. The Grapevine is her first novel.
Published March 13th, 2025 by Head of Zeus Thriller, Mystery, Suspense
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for this darkly funny and compelling murder mystery. Thank you to Andrew at Head of Zeus for the invitation to take part and for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
‘With biting, mordant humor, Chilton sends readers on a serial killer hunt for our disassociated, true-crime-obsessed social media age.’ ASHLEY WINSTEAD, bestselling author of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife
Kirby Cornell needs a break from everything: – Her crumbling flat in the sleepy town of Crowhurst (famous for its award-winning sausage rolls and a second-rate serial killer from the 90s). – Her dead-end job. – Her sleazy landlord. – Her slobbish housemates. – And, most of all, the terrible thing they all did.
Luckily, that hasn’t caught up with her just yet. Until a new message on their old group chat pops up:
Everyone in the group chat will die.
It’s the first text her ex-flatmate and social-media sleuth Esme has sent for ages, but that’s not the really weird thing.
The really weird thing is, Esme died twelve months ago.
Don’t miss the new laugh-out-loud thriller from L.M. Chilton, Everyone in the Group Chat Dies – a murder mystery that fuses the flatmate comedy of Friends with the serial-killer thrills of I Know What You Did Last Summer.
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MY REVIEW:
“They say there are three sides to every story: mine, yours and the truth. So, which one do you want?”
I love a thriller that is injected with dark humour, so I had high hopes for this book. And I was not disappointed. L. M. Chilton has crafted a suspenseful, funny and inventive murder mystery that had me glued to its pages. The plot is delightfully absurd: Kirby gets an alert from her old housemate group chat. It’s a text from her former housemate Esme that reads, ‘Everyone in the group chat will die.’ But it isn’t the chilling message that unnerves Kirby. What really sends a chill down her spine is that Esme died twelve months ago. So who is the message from? Could they know the secrets that Kirby and her other housemates vowed to keep the night Esme died? Moving between the present and events that happened a year earlier, Chilton builds the tension as Kirby relentlessly tries to solve mysteries in both timelines but keeps things lighthearted thanks to the humour that is woven in. I was on the edge of my seat, the many twists and turns giving me book whiplash as I tried to follow the clues and solve the puzzles myself.
The compelling characters are equal parts likeable and unlikeable. There were great dynamics between them, lots of witty banter and petty squabbles that added a layer of realism and relatability. We know from the start that they are all keeping secrets about the night Esme died, meaning we never know who is friend or foe and I was searching every word and action for clues. Esme herself is an enigma, turning up out of the blue one night saying she’s been sublet the spare bedroom and revealing little about herself other than she’s there investigating the murders that happened in the small town thirty years ago. But she also feels very relatable and, like Kirby, I was desperate to find out the truth about her in both timelines.
A darkly funny, clever and surprising murder mystery that will keep you on your toes, I highly recommend this book.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
L.M. Chilton has been a journalist for 15 years, working for TV shows like This Morning, The One Show and Loose Women, as well as magazines and newspapers such as The Times, The Mirror, Metro, New!, Cosmopolitan and Glamour.
He started his journalism career writing for ‘real life’ magazines, interviewing people from all over the world about the terrifying, hilarious and heart-breaking things that had happened to them. And also funny things their pets had done.
He works from home in London, thinking of twists for murder mysteries and practicing the banjo instead of writing (much to the annoyance of his neighbours).
L.M. Chilton is represented by James Wills at Watson, Little
Published March 6th, 2025 by Doubleday UK Historical Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Biographical Fiction
Today is my stop on the blog tour for this enthralling story. Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for the invitation to take part, and to Doubleday for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
This is the story of three women – one an orphan and refugee who finds a place in the studio of a famous French artist, the other a wife and mother who has stood by her husband for nearly forty years. The third is his daughter, caught in the crossfire between her mother and a father she adores.
Amelie is first drawn to Henri Matisse as a way of escaping the conventional life expected of her. A free spirit, she sees in this budding young artist a glorious future for them both. Ambitious and driven, she gives everything for her husband’s art, ploughing her own desires, her time, her money into sustaining them both, even through years of struggle and disappointment.
Lydia Delectorskaya is a young Russian emigree, who fled her homeland following the death of her mother. After a fractured childhood, she is trying to make a place for herself on France’s golden Riviera, amid the artists, film stars and dazzling elite. Eventually she finds employment with the Matisse family. From this point on, their lives are set on a collision course….
Marguerite is Matisse’s eldest daughter. When the life of her family implodes, she must find her own way to make her mark and to navigate divided loyalties.
Based on a true story, Madame Matisse is a stunning novel about drama and betrayal; emotion and sex; glamour and tragedy, all set in the hotbed of the 1930s art movement in France. In art, as in life, this a time when the rules were made to be broken…
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MY REVIEW:
Atmospheric, evocative and enthralling, Madame Matisse peels back the curtain to tell the story of the three women in the life of celebrated artist Henri Matisse: his wife, Amelie, her assistant, Lydia, and his daughter, Marguerite. Told from multiple points of view over multiple decades, truth proves stranger than fiction in this compelling story of art, glamour, love, passion and betrayal.
The story opens in Nice, 1939. Henri’s wife, Madame Amelie Matisse, has been at his side for forty years. Now suffering from chronic pain and mostly housebound, she has employed Russian emigre Lydia Delectorskaya to assist her in her daily tasks. They had initially got along well, but recently Amelie has begun to fear that Lydia has stolen the affections of her husband and invaded her household. Desperate to regain control, Amelie issues Henri with an ultimatum: her or Lydia. Meanwhile, Henri’s daughter Marguerite is caught in the crossfires of their conflict, unsure how to help either of her parents.
First of all, can we take a moment to admire the beautiful cover, which is matched by Sophie Haydock’s beautiful storytelling. This is merged with her meticulous research and evocative imagery, bringing these historical characters to life once more. Each of the women take turns to narrate their story: first Amelie, Henri’s formidable and loyal wife, then his deviated assistant, Lydia, and finally Marguerite, the loving daughter. They are three very different women whose lives are shaped by one man. Exploring themes of identity and sexism, Haydock examines how each of the women sacrifice so much of themselves for Henri, struggling to find their place in the world other than as his wife, companion or daughter. All three women are very intelligent, but they have little opportunity to explore their own potential as they are pushed to the sidelines for Henri, making themselves smaller in order to elevate him and end up becoming part of his story instead of creating their own. Haydock finally gives them the chance to be the star of their own story and I loved learning about these fascinating women.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sophie Haydock is an author, editor and journalist (Sunday Times, Financial Times, Guardian), based in Folkestone, Kent, where she is curator of Folkestone Book Festival. Her debut, The Flames – about the women who posed for the scandalous artist Egon Schiele in Vienna a century ago – was named by the Times as one of the Best Historical Fiction Books of 2022. It was longlisted for the HWA Debut Crown Award, and the Italian translation, Le Fiamme, won the Premio Letterario Edoardo Kihlgren for debut novels. She worked for the Sunday Times Short Story Award and is associate director of the Word Factory.
Published February 27th, 2025 by Orenda Books Gothic Fiction, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Horror Fiction, Crime Fiction, Noir Fiction, Supernatural Fiction
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for the haunting and hypnotic Small Fires. Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for the invitation to take part, and to Orenda for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
Suspected of murdering their parents, sisters Lily and Della flee to a strange, unnamed island in Scotland, and their arrival puts in motion a horrifying series of events… Literary suspense meets folk horror in 2025’s most original, mesmerising modern gothic masterpiece…
‘A deeply unsettling and thought-provoking tale of survival and storytelling, mixing elements of gothic and folk horror with literary suspense. Beautifully woven and eerily atmospheric’ Anna Mazzola
‘Rarely will you meet a story as unsettling, nor one as bewitchingly told. With its roots snaking into folk horror, Small Fires plays with the contemporary gothic vibe reminiscent of Midsommar and The Wicker Man … I challenge you to pick it up and when you do, to put it down’ Janice Hallett
‘Ronnie Turner has a way of weaving words into a spell – the darkest of spells. Mesmerising, sinister … this modern folklore gothic will chill you to the bone’ Essie Fox
‘Crackles with menace and authenticity. Kept me up late and crept into my dreams’ Sarah Hilary
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Evil runs through this cursed island And these wicked sisters are about to make it burn…
When sisters Lily and Della Pedley are persecuted for the shocking murder of their parents, they flee from their home in Cornwall to a remote and unnamed island in Scotland – an island known for its strange happenings, but far away from the whispers and prying eyes of strangers.
Lily is terrified of what her sister will might do next, and she soon realises that they have arrived at a place where nothing is as it seems. A bitterness runs through the land like poison, and the stories told by the islanders seem to be far more than folklore.
Della settles in too easily, the island folk drawn to her strangeness, but Lily is plagued by odd and unsettling dreams, and as an annual festival draws nigh, she discovers that she has far more to fear than she could ever have imagined. Or does she…?
Chilling, atmospheric and utterly hypnotic, Small Fires is a contemporary gothic novel that examines possession, generational trauma, female rage, and the perilous bonds of family – an unsettling reminder that the stories we tell can be deadly…
Midsommar meets Midnight Mass in a folk horror, modern gothic masterpiece.
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MY REVIEW:
“They say the Devil came here. He fell to the earth long ago and he never left.”
Murderesses. Witches. Pariahs. These are the names that were used to describe Lily and Della Pedley. Suspected of murdering their parents, their gruesome history precedes them everywhere they go. Even on an isolated and unnamed Scottish Island where the Devil is said to have fallen and made his home beneath the soil. As the sisters try to start anew on the island, whispers and judgement surround them as they unknowingly set in motion a nightmarish chain of events.
Atmospheric, haunting and hypnotic, Small Fires reads like a dark and twisted fairytale. Mired in darkness from its opening pages, malevolence drips from every word of this magnificent gothic mystery. A masterful sinister storyteller, Ronnie Turner merges gorgeous literary fiction with nail-biting horror and suspense to create her own unique fiction recipe. Her choreography is exquisite; a sense of dread permeating the pages as she hides the poison in plain sight, coiled like a viper waiting to strike. She is adept at putting her reader off-kilter with red herrings until she’s ready to floor you with one of her shocking revelations. Elements of Scottish and Cornish folklore are woven throughout as Turner explores the role stories play in our lives, asking how they inspire and shape us, and how they shape our perception of others. She also explores themes of identity, examining how each of us can have many different identities, some that are thrust upon us and others we might hide behind.
Told by multiple characters in dual timelines, the story is filled with richly drawn characters who are also deeply unnerving. At the heart of the story is sisters Lily and Della, one bitter and one sweet, with a harrowing and notorious past. Though part of their story is known, there is a lot of mystery that surrounds them. Our other narrator is Silas, a strange and curious individual with an equally mysterious history. Flashbacks allow us glimpses inside the pasts of all three characters, slowly revealing disturbing truths that they’ve tried to keep hidden. And then there was the island itself, which felt alive and like a character in its own right thanks to the myths and folklore about the devil dwelling below ground that surround it.
A dark and unsettling gothic thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish, Small Fires is a must read.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮.5
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ronnie Turner grew up in Cornwall, the youngest in a large family. At an early age, she discovered a love of literature. She now works as a Senior Waterstones Bookseller and barista. Ronnie lives in the South West with her family and three dogs. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling and taking long walks on the coast.
Published February 13th, 2025 by Bantam Press Mystery, Suspense,Psychological Thriller, Crime Fiction, Women Sleuths
Welcome to my review for this nerve-shredding debut. Thank you to Bantam Press for the invitation to take part in the readalong and for sending me a proof copy of the book.
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
‘When you trap a group of mystery authors on a secluded island, the result is wickedly delightful mayhem! It’s Agatha Christie on steroids‘ ― Tess Gerritsen ‘You’ll trip over the twists in this sneaky, snaky mystery‘ – A.J. Finn ‘Glass Onion meets Cluedo in this intricate and clever thriller‘ ― Catherine Cooper
Six thriller authors. One writing retreat. You’d die to be on the guest list . . .
The Host Legendary mystery author J. R. Alastor’s books are sold all over the world, but no one knows his real name. After years hiding in the shadows, he has sent out six invitations to an exclusive murder mystery retreat on his private island.
The Assistant Mila del Angél has been hired to ensure the week runs smoothly. She has yearned for revenge on a ghost from her past for years – and this could be her chance to get it.
The Players The six bestselling thriller writers accept their invitations without question – it’s an opportunity any author would kill for.
The Game What should have been a week of trope-filled games takes a sinister turn when one guest is found dead, and the others find themselves in the midst of a nightmare drawn from Alastor’s dark imagination. They may have written thrillers – but now they and Mila must survive one…
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MY REVIEW:
Six thriller authors are invited to a secluded island for a writing retreat hosted by enigmatic mystery author J. R. Alastor. His assistant, Mila, has been hired to ensure that the week goes off without a hitch. But Mila has plans of her own to avenge a wrong done to her many years ago. The week starts off as planned, but things take a sinister turn when one of the guests goes missing and the writers find themselves trapped inside a nightmare darker than any thriller they could have written…
As a bibliophile whose favourite thriller trope is locked-room or claustrophobic mysteries, this book felt like it was written for me. I loved the idea of thriller writers being caught up in a real life whodunnit and fighting for survival as they try to unmask the killer. Masterfully written, cleverly choreographed, intricately woven and filled with nerve-shredding tension, the foreboding dripped like blood from every page. When I started I was taking part in a readalong but soon found myself so completely hooked that I threw the reading schedule out of the window and devoured it in just a few hours, on the edge of my seat as my heart raced. Richly drawn, complex and flawed, the characters leaped from the pages and my mind whirred with some wild theories and suspicions, but they were nothing compared to what actually took place in this jaw-dropping whodunnit.
Suspenseful, chilling and utterly mesmerising, this is a book all thriller lovers need on their TBR. Ande Pliego has showcased herself as a writer to watch with this magnificent debut, and I will be pre-ordering whatever she writes next.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ande Pliego began writing stories when she discovered she could actually wield her overactive imagination for good. A lover of stories with teeth, she writes books involving mind games, dark humor, general murder and mayhem, and most importantly, finding the hope in the dark.
When not reading or writing, she can usually be found dabbling in art, scheming up her next trip, or making constant expeditions to the library. Born in Florida, raised in France, and having left footprints all over the globe, Ande is settled in the Pacific Northwest, USA, with her craftsman husband and little son.
Published January 30th, 2025 by HQ Thriller, Dark Comedy, Mystery, Suspense, Crime Fiction, Satire, Contemporary Romance, Humorous Fiction
Welcome to my bookish thoughts on this darkly funny and deadly thriller. Thanks to HQ for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
Your favourite anti-heroine, Kitty Collins, is back! Expect more wit, sass, and, of course, murder…
‘I was rooting for Kitty even as she killed more men (oops!). Funny and twisty in the best of ways’ Tasha Coryell
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My name is Kitty Collins and I’m a serial killer.
I don’t want to kill. It’s just so hard to resist. Some men really, really deserve it.
Men like Blaze Bundy, an anonymous influencer spreading misogyny online. He’s making it very hard for me to control my murderous urges.
Meanwhile I’m in the South of France to watch my mother marry a man I’ve never met. I should be drinking cocktails and focusing on my tan, not plotting a murder.
But a woman’s work is never done. Surely one more teensy little kill wouldn’t hurt, would it?
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MY REVIEW:
“But it’s never enough, is it. As long as men exist, I’m going to have to be out there protecting women.”
Kitty Collins is back! I loved Katy Brent’s wickedly funny debut How To Kill Men and Get Away With It, and I was thrilled to see that Kitty was back. Deliciously dark, devious and deadly, I Bet You’d Look Good in a Coffin is every bit as good as its predecessor. I listened to this on audiobook and couldn’t turn it off once I’d started, devouring it in just a few hours.
Picking up after the events of the first book, we meet a very different Kitty at the start of the book. Life is good. She’s happily loved up with her boyfriend, Charlie, and has sworn off killing. But she misses it. And – let’s face it – there are some men who just make it so hard not to murder them. One such man is Blaze Bundy, the anonymous and misogynistic influencer spreading his hate online and seeming to taunt Kitty in his posts. Can she keep her murderous urges under control? Or will she go back to doing what she knows best?
I have loved Kitty since the moment I met her in book one. Snarky, sassy, feisty and warped, she’s easy to root for and it is fun to live vicariously through her as she carries out her murderous missions. And while some of that is initially tamed this time around, it’s soon apparent Kitty isn’t enjoying murder sobriety and she’s still the same woman with a thirst for revenge underneath. Katy Brent skillfully portrays Kitty’s inner torment as she fights the urge to kill predatory men. I think all of us can relate to that battle inside as we try to resist the urge that is bad for us. Even if in my case it’s chocolate rather than murder. I also enjoyed seeing more of Kitty’s strained relationship with her mother. It humanised her and gave us greater insight into what makes her tick, especially as their estrangement is all wrapped up in Kitty’s deadly hobby.
Darkly funny, outrageous, moving and addictive, Brent has once again crafted an unflinching commentary on misogyny, male violence against women and female rage that will have you hooked from start to finish. Perfect for fans of Sweetpea that are looking for a new female serial killer to stan, pick this up now!
I just hope that this isn’t Kitty’s last outing.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰
*I listened to this on Bookbeat. Click here to listen for 2 months for free*
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Katy is an author and award-winning journalist from the UK. She has worked on newspapers, magazines and websites since 2005, writing about popular culture. How To Kill Men and Get Away With It (HQ, 2022) is her first novel.
Emma's Biblio Treasures 