Category: Audio Books

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Audio Books Beat the Backlist book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures

SKELF SUMMER: The Great Silence (The Skelfs, 3) by Doug Johnstone

Published August 19th, 2021 by Orenda
Thriller, Mystery, Crime Fiction, Suspense, Noir Fiction, Crime Series, Romance Novel, Urban Fiction

Welcome to my review for the witty, riveting and suspenseful, The Great Silence, which is the third book in the Skelfs series and my third Skelf Summer Post. Thank yout to Orenda 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:

The discovery of a human foot in an Edinburgh park, the inexplicable circumstances of a dying woman, and the missing daughter of Jenny’s violent ex-husband present the Skelf women with their most challenging – and deadly – cases yet… Book THREE in the addictive The Skelfs series!

‘Simply stunning. Tense, funny and deeply moving’ Mark Billingham

‘If you loved Iain Banks, you’ll devour the Skelfs series’ Erin Kelly

‘Nobody portrays modern Edinburgh better than Doug Johnstone. The Great Silence speaks volumes about the power of story’ Val McDermid

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Keeping on top of the family funeral directors’ and private-investigation businesses is no easy task for the Skelf women, and when matriarch Dorothy discovers a human foot while walking the dog, a perplexing case presents itself … with potentially deadly results.

Daughter Jenny and grand-daughter Hannah have their hands full too: The mysterious circumstances of a dying woman lead them into an unexpected family drama, Hannah’s new astrophysicist colleague claims he’s receiving messages from outer space, and the Skelfs’ teenaged lodger has yet another devastating experience.

Nothing is clear as the women are immersed ever deeper in their most challenging cases yet. But when the daughter of Jenny’s violent and fugitive ex-husband goes missing without trace and a wild animal is spotted roaming Edinburgh’s parks, real danger presents itself, and all three Skelfs are in peril.

Taut, dark, warmly funny and unafraid to ask big questions – of us all – The Great Silence is the much-anticipated third instalment in the addictive, unforgettable Skelfs series, and the stakes are higher than ever.

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MY REVIEW:

“The monsters in our lives don’t look like monsters, horns and slavering fangs. The worst deeds in the world are done by people who look like any of us.”

In the third instalment of the outstanding Skelfs Series, they face their most challenging and unusual cases yet: a human foot is discovered in a park, a dying woman whose children are convinced she’s being poisoned by her lover, alien messages, a wild animal roaming Edinburgh’s parks, and the disappearance of the daughter of Jenny’s violent ex-husband. 

Suspenseful, twisting and completely addictive, The Great Silence is another outstanding return to Edinburgh and the Skefl women. I’ve never read a series back-to-back like this so I was a bit concerned about getting fatigued from reading the same characters, but I needn’t have worried because Doug Johnstone ups his game with each book, creating a novel that is even better than the last with each instalment. I can’t get enough of this series and my new concern is what I’m going to do when I’ve read book six and I’ve got a long wait for the next one!

One of my favourite things about this series is that it has a bit of everything: family drama with a twist of science, a dash of romance, lots of emotion, and an abundance of suspense. Johnstone also explores more serious issues such as prejudice, domestic abuse, alcoholism and climate control, seamlessly weaving them into the narrative alongside the heart-stopping tension and mystery. This time around the cases are a bit more unusual and bizarre, and the tension has been dialled all the way up to ten, keeping me glued to the pages and on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. I also loved that now I’m three books in, I’ve got to know the Skelf women, so reading these books  is like catching up with old friends – albeit friends with very turbulent lives and unconventional jobs. 

Dark, witty, suspenseful and totally riveting, The Great Silence, and all of the Skelfs Series, are a must-read. 

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰

*I listened to this on Bookbeat. Click here to get 60 days of listening free with my affiliate link*

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Doug Johnstone is the author of Fourteen novels, includingThe Great Silence, the third in the Skelfs series, which has been optioned for  In 2021, The Big Chill, the second in the series, was longlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. In 2020, A Dark Matter, the first in the series, was shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year and the Capital Crime Amazon Publishing Independent Voice Book of the Year award. Black Hearts (Book four), was published in 2022, with The Opposite of Lonely (book five) out in 2023. Several of his books have been bestsellers and award winners, and his first science fiction novel, The Space Between Us, was a BBC2 Between the Covers pick. He’s taught creative writing, been writer in residence at various institutions, and has been an arts journalist for twenty years. Doug is a songwriter and musician with five albums and three EPs released, and he plays drums for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers. He lives in Edinburgh.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Orenda Books | Bookshop.org* | Waterstones* | Amazon*
*These are affiliate lnks

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx

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Audio Books Beat the Backlist book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures

REVIEW: The Serial Killer’s Wife by Alice Hunter

Published May 27th, 2021 by Avon Books
Psychological Thriller, Noir Fiction, Serial Killer Books

Welcome to my review for this chilling debut. Thank you to Avon Books for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. I read this as part of my Beat the Backlist 24 Challenge.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

*Read it before you watch it – now a major TV series for Paramount+*

‘The final double twist is well worth waiting for’My Weekly

‘Hooks you in to the drama straight away’ The Sun

Every marriage has its secrets…

Beth and Tom Hardcastle are the envy of their neighbourhood – they have the perfect marriage, the perfect house, the perfect family.

When the police knock on their door one evening, Beth panics. Tom should be back from work by now – what if he’s crashed his car? She fears the worst.

But the worst is beyond imagining.

As the interrogation begins, Beth will find herself questioning everything she believed about her husband.

They’re saying he’s a monster. And they’re saying she knew.

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MY REVIEW:

Tom and Beth have the picture-perfect house, the perfect child, perfect marriage. Or that’s what everyone thinks. Every marriage has its secrets, and theirs are about to be revealed…

One of the things I can’t help but think about whenever a killer is reported upon is what about their family. Do they have a partner? Children? Did those close to them notice anything untoward? Were they scared of them? Or were they blissfully unaware that anything was amiss and left with their whole world turned upside down when they were arrested? Those are the kinds of questions that Alice Hunter explores in her sensational debut, The Serial Killer’s Wife. This book had been on my shelf since before publication so I decided to listen to the audiobook as part of my attempt to beat my backlist this year. And I am so glad I did. What. A. Book! Nail-bitingly tense, unsettling and twisty, I was not prepared for what was on these pages and could only hold on tight as Alice Hunter took me on an insane ride. 

The story opens when the police arrive at Beth and Tom’s house to question him about a murder. It then moves between narrators and timelines, following the couple as it moves between the aftermath of his shocking arrest and events leading up to that day. Tom is protesting his innocence while Beth is in total disbelief that the man she shared her life with could have killed someone. Tom gave me bad vibes in many ways but I couldn’t decide if he was innocent or guilty. Meanwhile, my heart went out to Beth as she tried to make sense of it all. I was on the edge of my seat as Hunter deftly unpicked the intricate tangled web of secrets and lies, taking my breath away with each new revelation. This book is a masterclass in misdirection and my notes were full of annotations such as  ‘OMG’, ‘WTF is happening’, and ‘I can’t believe the twists that keep coming’. This has now been adapted for TV and I’m excited to watch soon as it is perfect for adaptation. 

Atmospheric, chilling, twist and surprising, this one is a must for all thriller fans. 

Rating: ✮✮✮✮.5

*I listened to this on Bookbeat. Click here to get 2 months of listening free with my affiliate link*

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

After completing a psychology degree, Alice Hunter became an interventions facilitator in a prison. There, she was part of a team offering rehabilitation programmes to men serving sentences for a wide range of offences, often working with prisoners who’d committed serious violent crimes. Previously, Alice had been a nurse, working in the NHS. She now puts her experiences to good use in fiction. THE SERIAL KILLER’S WIFE draws heavily on her knowledge of psychology and the criminal mind.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Waterstones* | Bookshop.org* | Amazon*
*These are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx

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Categories
Audio Books book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures

BOOK REVIEW: The Family Experiment by John Marrs

Published May 9th, 2024 by Pan Macmillan
Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Crime Fiction, Dystopian Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction, Cyberpunk

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

‘If you love Black Mirror you have to read John Marrs. The Family Experiment is chilling, inventive, horribly plausible and brilliantly addictive.’ – C. J. Tudor, author of The Gathering

‘The books of John Marrs have become a quiet phenomenon. The Family Experiment will cement his reputation for writing intriguing thrillers rooted in the near future that tackle big issues . . .thoughtful, well written . . .and alarming’ Daily Mail

Some families are virtually perfect . . .

The world’s population is soaring, creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. And in the UK, breaking point has arrived. A growing number of people can no longer afford to start families let alone raise them.

But for those desperate to experience parenthood, there is an alternative. For a monthly subscription fee, clients can create a virtual child from scratch who they can access via the metaverse and a VR headset. To launch this new initiative, the company behind Virtual Children has created a reality tv show. It will follow ten couples as they raise a Virtual Child from birth to the age of eighteen but in a condensed nine-month time period. The prize: the right to keep their virtual child or risk it all for the chance of a real baby . . .

Set in the same universe as John Marrs’s bestselling novel The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and twisted thriller about the ultimate ‘tamagotchi’ – a virtual baby.

‘John Marrs is a writer at the top of his game and The Family Experiment is his best yet. Frighteningly plausible, gripping, dark, and so clever.’ – Claire Douglas, author of The Woman Who Lied

‘An unsettling and immersive roller coaster which hurtles towards a chilling denouement – a truly thought-provoking, single-sitting thriller. Loved it. ‘ – Ellery Lloyd, author of The Club

‘The Family Experiment is an eerie and darkly addictive thriller that will have your mind whirling throughout.’ – Culturefly

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MY REVIEW:

The UK is at breaking point thanks to a soaring population, overcrowded cities, and economic crisis. Many people can’t afford to live, let alone start a family and raise them. But there is a new way to raise a family for those who long to do so: meta children. For a monthly subscription, clients can create a virtual child from scratch, accessing them through a VR headset. To launch their new initiative, the company behind the Virtual Children has created a reality TV show following ten couples as they raise their Virtual Child from birth to eighteen, which will be condensed into a nine-month period. The winners will then pick their prize: keep their Virtual Child or try for a real baby. 

Dark, menacing, unsettling and twisty, The Family Experiment is the latest gripping thriller from John Marrs. Set in the same universe as his previous books The One and The Marriage Act, this is a masterclass in speculative fiction. Expertly written, skillfully plotted and cleverly constructed, he combines heart-pounding tension with complex family relationships and moral and social issues facing us today.  What makes the things that Mr. Marrs writes about in his speculative thrillers so compelling, is how deeply uncomfortable and terrifyingly plausible they are. With how far technology has come and the soaring cost of living, I can imagine a world where ‘tamagotchi children’ exist as an alternative to flesh and blood. Personally, I find it all deeply unnerving and only like the idea as a way to get an idea of what parenthood is like, not as a substitute for living children. 

A bingeable thriller filled with twist after twist, The Family Experiment keeps you guessing until  the very last page. Complex, clever, surprising and unnerving, this is a must-read for any thriller lover. 

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰

*I listened to this on Bookbeat. Click here to get 2 months free with my affiliate link*

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

John Marrs is an author and former journalist based in London and Northamptonshire. After spending his career interviewing celebrities from the worlds of television, film and music for numerous national newspapers and magazines, he is now a full-time author. His books include No1 bestseller and Netflix series The One, The Passengers, award winning What Lies Between Us and The Good Samaritan.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Waterstones* | Bookshop.org* | Amazon*
*These are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx

Categories
Audio Books Beat the Backlist book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures

BOOK REVIEW: Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

Published September 28th, 2023 by Pan Macmillan
Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller, Murder Biography, Serial Killers

Welcome to my review for this dark, brutal and intoxicating thriller. Thank you to BookBreak and Pan Macmillan for sending me this proof copy in exchange for my honest review.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

A Richard & Judy Book Club pick
New York Times Bestseller
A Goodreads Choice Award Finalist


Bright Young Women is an unflinching thriller based on Ted Bundy’s heinous crimes, as two women search for justice in the wake of his brutal murders. From Jessica Knoll, author of the New York Times bestseller and #1 Netflix movie Luckiest Girl Alive.

‘A compelling, almost hypnotic read’ – Lisa Jewell, bestselling author of None of This is True

‘Knoll deconstructs the myth of a criminal mastermind, revealing the women he seeks to destroy as the truly brilliant ones’ – Flynn Berry, author of Northern Spy

Tallahassee, 1978. Sorority president Pamela Schumacher wakes to a shocking scene of implausible violence and death, and is drawn into a mystifying crime that grips the nation for decades . . .

In Seattle, Tina Cannon connects her best friend’s disappearance to the Tallahassee tragedy, and is convinced that a single man is responsible.

Determined to find justice, the two join forces as their search for answers leads to a final, shocking confrontation . . .

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MY REVIEW:

“No one tells you how painful it is to be afraid. Like a bee sting to the entirety of your central nervous system.” 

Brutal, dark, fearless and intoxicating, Bright Young Women is based on the heinous crimes of Ted Bundy. As a true crime enthusiast (someone really needs to come up with a better way to say that) this book was on my radar as soon as I heard about it, but it was a glowing review from a fellow blogger recently that made me bump it up my list. And I am so glad that I did as I devoured this in under a day, unable to tear myself away from the heart-stopping story. 

“Right here, right now, I want you to forget two things: he was nothing special, and what happened was not random.”

Tallahassee, Florida. January, 1978. Sorority president Pamela Schumacher is on her way to bed when she hears a thud, followed by footsteps running on the floor above her. She follows them and sees a man fleeing the house holding a weapon in his hand.She goes to check on her sisters and finds a terrifying scene of carnage. Four of her sisters have just been attacked by ‘The All-American Sex Killer’, drawing Pamela into the hunt for a killer that grips the entire nation.

“They will call you hysterical no matter how much dignity you have. So you might as well do whatever the hell you want.”

My nervous system is still on boil after bingeing this harrowing thriller. This book is a master-class in how to write a thriller that drips with malevolence. But it is also so much more. Jessica Knoll barely talks about the killer, focusing instead on the victims and those who loved them. It is boldly but sensitively written, running a rainbow of emotions through the story as she gives a beating heart and a voice to those who are so often forgotten in true crime. She gives these girls real identities and reminds us that they are so much more than a mere footnote in a sadistic killer’s story and that it is in fact he who is the footnote in theirs. She also discusses female rage and how although it is often righteous, it is often dismissed as hysteria, particularly by men. We see this in how Pamela and her sisters repeatedly restrain their emotions instead of allowing themselves to feel and show what’s really inside them.

“Women got that feeling about him, that funny one we all get when we know something isn’t right, but we don’t know how to politely extricate ourselves from the situation without escalating the threat of violence or harassment. That is not a skill women are taught, the same way men are not taught that it is okay to leave a woman alone if what she wants is to be left alone.”

As someone who regularly watches, listens to and reads about true crime I enjoyed the victim-centric aspect of this book and Knoll’s timely exploration of our obsession with true crime and serial killers. But what I particularly loved was how she dismantled the many myths about Bundy in one fell swoop. I simmered with rage as I remembered how he was praised for his good looks, charm and intelligence, but was left with a smile of satisfaction as she busted those myths simply by focusing on who he really was, rather than the caricature he’d become.  And that ending. Wow! It was so powerful and moving that I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces as I listened. 

“Things grow differently when they’re damaged, showing us how to occupy strange new ground to bloom red instead of green. We can be found, brighter than before.”

Knoll seamlessly moves between the multiple timelines and perspectives to tell the story. I particularly liked how she makes the attack on the sorority the focal point of Pamela’s perspectives, telling us how many days, hours or minutes it is before or after the crime. I found this helped me understand Pamela even more. How her life would forever be split into ‘before’ and ‘after’ and how this tragic event had shaped every facet of her existence. Two of the threads are narrated by Pamela while another is narrated by Ruth, another suspected victim of the killer. While each of them are compelling, it is the raw, heartbreaking emotion in Pamela’s narration that will stay with me most of all. I felt what she did in my soul. My heart raced as I listened to her hear the attack and discover her sisters bludgeoned, I shook with fear and anger when she did, I fought back tears as she talked about carrying her lost best friend with her through her life ever since, and I felt her determination to turn this tragedy into something greater than herself.  She is a truly remarkable and compelling character that I won’t forget.

“Time does not heal all wounds. Grief is just like a sink full of dirty dishes or a pile of soiled laundry. Grief is a chore you have to do and it’s a messy one at that.”

Intense, chilling, heart-wrenching and evocative, Bright Young Women is an unflinching novel that will stay with me long after reading and will undoubtedly be in my list of top reads this year. Highly recommended.

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮

* I listened to this book on Bookbeat.
You can get 90 Days listening free with my affiliate link here*

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

Jessica Knoll is the New York Times Bestselling author of THE FAVORITE SISTER and LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE—now a major motion picture on Netflix starring Mila Kunis. She has been a senior editor at Cosmopolitan, and the articles editor at SELF. She grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and graduated from The Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and bulldog, Franklin. BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN is her third novel.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Waterstones* | Bookshop.org* | Amazon*
*These links are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxx

Categories
Audio Books Beat the Backlist book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures Most Anticipated 2023

BOOK REVIEW: The Marriage Act by John Marrs

Published January 19th, 2023 by Pan Macmillan
Thriller, Suspense, Mystery, Dystopian Fiction, Science Fiction

Thank you to Pan Macmillan and Bookbreak for sending me a proof copy in exchange for an honest review.

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BOOK DESCRIPTION:

‘Clever, compelling and terrifyingly plausible’ – C. J. Tudor, author of A Sliver of Darkness

What if marriage was the law? Dare you disobey? Set in the same world as The One, now a Netflix Original Series, The Marriage Act is a dark, high-concept thriller from bestselling author John Marrs.

‘A page-turning and thought-provoking read’ – Daily Mirror

Britain. The near future. A right-wing government believes it has the answer to society’s ills – the Sanctity of Marriage Act, which actively encourages marriage as the norm, punishing those who choose to remain single.

But four couples are about to discover just how impossible relationships can be when the government is supervising every aspect of our personal lives, monitoring every word, every minor disagreement – and will use every tool in its arsenal to ensure everyone will love, honour and obey . . .

Shortlisted for the Goodreads Awards 2023.

Black Mirror meets thriller with a dash of Naomi Alderman’s The Power.

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MY REVIEW:

The Marriage Act is a pacy speculative thriller set in Britain in the near future. A right-wing government has brought into law the Sanctity of Marriage Act, actively encouraging marriage by offering benefits for those opting for a Smart Marriage and punishing those who remain single. They believe it is the answer to society’s problems. After all, what could go wrong with a system where the government monitors and controls every aspect of your relationship? Four couples are about to find out…

John Marrs is at the top of his game and can do no wrong in my eyes. Everything he writes is golden; cleverly crafted with a merciless finesse that keeps his reader on tenterhooks from start to finish. A perfect marriage of complex moral and social issues, red herrings, shocks and suspense, this is a masterclass in speculative fiction. It grabs your attention from the dark opening pages that contain a promise of secrets just waiting to be revealed.  Much of this story seems far-fetched at first. But, as you read, you begin to realise that none of this is beyond the realms of possibility. Suddenly everything feels frighteningly real and the fact that I could imagine all of this happening chilled me to my core.

This is the fourth book set in The One Universe, the dystopian world that Marrs created which connects a number of his books, coming after The One, The Passengers, and The Minders. While it isn’t necessary to read these in order to follow what’s happening in this book, I highly recommend reading ALL of Marrs’ books. Now, back to The Marriage Act. Those who sign up to a Smart Marriage are monitored 24/7 by a device called an Audite. The Audite listens and records the couples conversations throughout the day, not only picking up on every word, but also their tone and the volume of their voices. This constant monitoring leads to a claustrophobic atmosphere, feelings of distrust, and people manipulating or avoiding conversations. If the Audite decides your marriage is in trouble they will send a Relationship Responder who then lives with you and helps you work on your marriage issues. In this complex and nuanced story there are many different clauses that also come along with a Smart Marriage, and as the story goes on we see the many flaws in the system. 

The story is told in mixed media from multiple points of view. I listened to it on audiobook and while the narration is fantastic, it did feel very confusing at first and I struggled to keep up with the many characters and threads of the story. But that didn’t last long, and I soon lost myself in the story, devouring the book in under a day. Marrs has created a large cast of interesting characters that come from different walks of life. Some were easier to root for than others, and there were some I couldn’t stand, but all of them were compelling, flawed, relatable and real. They are people you could imagine as your friends, family or neighbours, heightening the feeling that this could all actually happen. 

Ominous, tense, twisty and thought-provoking, The Marriage Act is a compulsive thriller charged with adrenaline charged with adrenaline that you won’t want to put down. Highly recommended.

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰

*I listened to this book on Bookbeat. You can listen for two months free by clicking this link*

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

John Marrs is an author and former journalist based in London and Northamptonshire. After spending his career interviewing celebrities from the worlds of television, film and music for numerous national newspapers and magazines, he is now a full-time author. His books include No1 bestseller and Netflix series The One, The Passengers, award winning What Lies Between Us and The Good Samaritan.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Waterstones* | Bookshop.org* | Amazon*
*These links are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxx

Categories
Audio Books Beat the Backlist book reviews

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

Published October 28th, 2021 by Tor
Fantasy Fiction, Contemporary Fantasy, Fantasy Comedy, Romance Novel, Gay Fiction, Ghost Story, Horror Fantasy

Thank you Tor and BookBreak for the sending me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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SYNOPSIS:

Witty, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is a gift for troubled times. TJ Klune brings us a warm hug of a story about a man who spent his life at the office – and his afterlife building a home.

From the author of joyous New York Times bestseller The House in the Cerulean Sea.

Welcome to Charon’s Crossing.
The tea is hot, the scones are fresh and the dead are just passing through.

When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own sparsely-attended funeral, Wallace is outraged. But he begins to suspect she’s right, and he is in fact dead. Then when Hugo, owner of a most peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace reluctantly accepts the truth.

Yet even in death, he refuses to abandon his life – even though Wallace spent all of it working, correcting colleagues and hectoring employees. He’d had no time for frivolities like fun and friends. But as Wallace drinks tea with Hugo and talks to his customers, he wonders if he was missing something.

The feeling grows as he shares jokes with the resident ghost, manifests embarrassing footwear and notices the stars. So when he’s given one week to pass through the door to the other side, Wallace sets about living a lifetime in just seven days.

Fans of A Man Called Ove and The Good Place will fall for this queer love story by TJ Klune.

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MY REVIEW:

“It’s never enough is it? Time. We always think we have so much of it, but when it really counts we don’t have enough at all.”

When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his sparsely-attended funeral he is outraged and refuses to accept that he’s dead. But, he begins to believe her when she takes him to Charon’s Crossing, a quirky tea shop run by Hugo, a man who promises to help him cross over. Despite his life being one of all work and  no play, Wallace is reluctant to leave his life behind and sets out to try and live a lifetime in the week he’s been given to pass through the door to the other side.

Witty, moving, cosy and unique, Under the Whispering Door is a book that warms you from the inside like a warm drink on a cold day. This was my tenth backlist book of the year and my introduction to T. J. Klune, an author I’ve been meaning to read for a long time. I now completely get the hype surrounding him and his books and will be prioritising reading his other books on my TBR. An exploration of life, love, death, grief and redemption, this broke my heart into a million pieces and then glued them back together. I appreciated how Klune examined the many stages of grief; how the pain of losing those we love never leaves us but leaves a permanent mark on our heart and soul. Beautifully written, richly imagined and evocative, the storytelling merged with the spectacular narration to make the story come to life around me so vividly that I felt like I’d flown through a hurricane and landed in Oz like Dorothy, opening the door to a magical and colourful new world I never imagined. 

Whimsical, escapist, colourful and deeply poignant, this gorgeous fantasy is one that will stay with me long after reading. Highly recommended.

Rating: ✮✮✮✮.5

*I listened to this on Bookbeat. Follow this link to get your first 60 days of listening for free.*

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

TJ KLUNE is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling, Lambda Literary Award-winning author of The House in the Cerulean Sea, The Extraordinaries, and more. Being queer himself, Klune believes it’s important—now more than ever—to have accurate, positive queer representation in stories.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Waterstones* | Bookshop.org* | Amazon*
*These are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxx

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Audio Books Blog Tours book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures

BLOG TOUR REVIEW: Leave No Trace (Kat and Lock, Book 2) by Jo Callaghan

Published March 28th, 2024 by Simon & Schuster UK
Psychological Thriller, Science Fiction, Book Series

Today is my stop on the blog tour for this riveting and nerve-shredding thriller. Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for the invitation to take part, and to Simon and Schuster UK for the proof copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

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SYNOPSIS:

DCS Kat Frank and AIDE Lock return in the provocative new thriller from the author of In the Blink of an Eye.

‘A smart, agile, immaculately plotted and moving thriller that is unswervingly gripping and scary, and at the same time beautifully tender and humane’ NICCI FRENCH 
‘Chilled me to the bone and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. Callaghan writes with such intelligence; interspersing humour with moments of utter heartbreak’ NIKKI SMITH
 
One detective driven by instinct, the other by logic.
It will take both to find a killer who knows the true meaning of fear . . .
 
When the body of a man is found crucified at the top of Mount Judd, AIDE Lock – the world’s first AI Detective – and DCS Kat Frank are thrust into the spotlight as they are given their first live case.
 
But with the discovery of another man’s body – also crucified – it appears that their killer is only just getting started. With the police warning local men to be vigilant, the Future Policing Unit is thrust into a hostile media frenzy as they desperately search for connections between the victims. But time is running out for them to join the dots and prevent another death.
 
For if Kat and Lock know anything, it’s that killers rarely stop – until they are made to.

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MY REVIEW:

DCS Kat Frank and AIDE Lock are back thrust into the spotlight when they finally get to investigate their first live case in the second instalment of this gripping crime series. The pair are called to an unusual crime scene where a man has been found crucified at the top of Mount Judd. And when the body of a second man is found crucified it seems that their killer is just beginning. Local men are warned to stay vigilant as the Future Policing Unit face a race against the clock to find and stop the culprit before they kill again. 

Compelling, tense and surprising, I couldn’t put this one down. This time around the duo find themselves embroiled in a case that makes national headlines, putting them under even greater pressure. While the first book focused more on the sci-fi aspect of an AI detective, this time around there is less sci-fi and more crime, allowing Jo Callaghan to showcase herself as a crime writer to watch. I enjoyed the darker tone she took this time around and this is exactly the kind of twisted thriller that sings to me. After enjoying the audiobook last time I decided to listen again and loved it. I particularly enjoyed how the killer’s pov is told in an echoey way that is so eerie it sent chills down my spine every time I heard it. Even just thinking about it is making me shiver. 

I loved being back with the Future Policing Unit. Kat and Lock are a unique and fascinating detective team and I loved their banter and camaraderie, which has grown since their rocky start in the first book. But it is only their second case and they are still learning how to work together, something that can be tricky when one of them is driven by instinct and the other by logic. I like how well they balance each other out; one’s weaknesses being the other’s strengths, and how they both were learning to be better officers by including some of each other’s methods. I also really liked that Lock is no longer treated as a perfect detective. We see some of his limitations and flaws, which kind of humanises the AI detective a little. It certainly made me warm to him more this time around. 

Riveting, pacy, and filled with nerve-shredding tension, Leave No Trace is an action-packed thriller that will keep you on your toes. Now I just have to wait impatiently for book three. 

Rating: ✮✮✮✮.5

*I listened to this on Bookbeat. You can listen, too, with 2 months free listening with my affiliate link. Click here*

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

Jo Callaghan works fulltime as a senior strategist, where she has carried out research into the future impact of AI and genomics on the workforce.She was a student of the Writers’ Academy Course (Penguin Random House), was long listed for the Myslexia Novel Writing Competition and Bath Novel Competition. After losing her husband to cancer in 2019 when she was just forty-nine, she started writing IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE, her debut crime novel. Published to critical-acclaim, it selected by Val McDermid for her New Blood panel of the best debuts of 2023 and for BBC Two’s Between the Covers Book Club. TV rights were sold in a major acquisition.

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Please check out the reviews from the other bloggers taking part in the blog tour.

Categories
Audio Books Beat the Backlist book reviews Read Christie

BOOK REVIEW: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Poirot) by Agatha Christie

Published June 1926
Mystery, Detective Novel, Crime Fiction, Classic Fiction

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SYNOPSIS:

Think you know whodunnit?
Think again.

Poor Roger Ackroyd. He knew the woman he loved had been harbouring guilty secret. And then, yesterday, she killed herself.

But guilty secrets rarely stay secret. Who had been blackmailing her? Had it really driven her to suicide? Sadly, Roger Ackroyd wasn’t going to live long enough to find out . . 

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MY REVIEW:

“Everyone had a hand in the elucidation of the mystery. It was rather like a jig-saw puzzle to which everyone contributed their own little piece of knowledge or discovery. But their task ended there. To Poirot alone belongs the renown of fitting those pieces into their correct place.”

King’s Abbot is a hotbed of secrets, rumours, and suspicion surrounding the widow Mrs. Ferrars. After her husband’s death the year before, there were whispers that she was responsible, and now, after her own death from an overdose, there is talk that it wasn’t by her own hand, but revenge for killing her husband. Roger Ackroyd is one of those who believes she was killed and confides his suspicions to Detective Hercule Poirot. Not 24 hours later, Ackroyd is murdered. Could the two cases be linked? And did the secret Mrs Ferras was hiding have anything to do with them?

My choice for Read Christie in February was The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which is widely regarded as her greatest novel. Again I decided to listen on audiobook and was pulled in by the narration from the start, transporting me back to 1920s England and the quaint and peaceful village of King’s Abbot. A compelling whodunnit filled secrets, suspicion and murder, I can see why this is a favourite for many readers. I was captivated, listening on tenterhooks as I waited to learn if my predictions were correct and thrilled when I learned I’d got it right. 

Tense, gripping, and atmospheric, I highly recommend The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. I’m loving finally discovering Agatha Christie’s books in all their glory and can’t wait for next month already. 

Rating: 🔎🔎🔎🔎🔎

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

Born in Torquay in 1890, Agatha Christie began writing during the First World War and wrote over 100 novels, plays and short story collections. She was still writing to great acclaim until her death, and her books have now sold over a billion copies in English and another billion in over 100 foreign languages. Yet Agatha Christie was always a very private person, and though Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple became household names, the Queen of Crime was a complete enigma to all but her closest friends.

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Categories
Audio Books book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures Most Anticipated 2024

BOOK REVIEW: Song of the Huntress by Lucy Holland

Published March 21st, 2024 by Pan Macmillan
Historical Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Fantasy Fiction, Fairy Tale, Norse & Viking Mythology

Happy Publication Day to Song of the Huntress, the dark and fierce feminist historical fantasy by Lucy Holland. Thank you to Bookbreak, Pan Macmillan, and NetGalley for my proof copies.

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SYNOPSIS:

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SISTERSONG

‘Lucy Holland’s lyrical prose and powerful storytelling will lure you in’ – Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne

A must-read for fans of Circe, Song of the Huntress recasts the folklore behind the Wild Hunt into a dark, feminist fantasy set amidst the legends and beauty of ancient Britain.

Britain, 60 AD. Hoping to save her lover and her land from the Romans, Herla makes a desperate pact with the Otherworld King. She becomes Lord of the Hunt and for centuries she rides, reaping wanderers’ souls. Until the night she meets a woman on a bloody battlefield – a Saxon queen with ice-blue eyes.

Queen Æthelburg of Wessex is a proven fighter, but after a battlefield defeat she finds her husband’s court turning against her. Yet King Ine needs Æthel more than ever: the dead kings of Wessex are waking, and Ine must master his bloodline’s ancient magic if they are to survive.

When their paths cross, Herla knows it’s no coincidence. Something dark and dangerous is at work in the Wessex court. As she and Æthel grow closer, Herla must find her humanity – and a way to break the curse – before it’s too late.

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MY REVIEW:

“Tonight, Herla will give them a monster.”

Happy Publication Day to Song of the Huntress, the dark, fierce, feminist historical fantasy retelling of the folklore behind the Wild Hunt. This propulsive fantasy novel transports us to ancient Britain and introduces us to Herla, who has been cursed to be Lord of the Wild Hunt after making a desperate deal with the Otherworld King. For centuries she has ridden, reaping the souls of those she has slain in battle. When she meets Queen Æthelburg of Wessex on a bloody battlefield, Herla knows that her meeting with this fierce warrior Queen is no accident as there is danger lurking,, whispers about Æthel are louder than ever in court, the King is fighting his own brother, tensions between Christians and Pagans are at an all time high, people are dying strange deaths, and the Otherworld is getting ready to strike. Can Herla find a way to break her curse and help the Queen?

This was a gorgeously woven tapestry of history, folklore, fantasy and magic. I listened to this on audiobook, and was immediately captivated by the riveting narration. And, despite the fact it was quite a long story, the quality of both the storytelling and the narration never faltered, keeping me completely immersed in its pages from beginning to end. It is expertly written, richly drawn, and meticulously researched, Lucy Holland’s knowledge and passion for the myth evident in every word. Her evocative characters leaped from the pages and I was caught up in the emotions of these ferocious women and their unique love story.

Powerful, savage and striking, Song of the Huntress is a must read for anyone who enjoys stories filled with history, myth and magic. 

Rating: ✮✮✮✮.5

*You can listen to this book on Bookbeat as part of your free 60-day trial via this affiliate link*

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

I’m a writer living in south-west England on the red shores of the Jurassic Coast. It’s a beautiful, mysterious part of the country, steeped in myth and folklore. And so unsurprisingly, it’s a perfect place in which to make up stories.

In the vein of most writers, I’ve been making up stories for a long time. Despite attending theatre school for six years, books were my first love. My parents read a lot to us as children – I guess it’s their fault my sister and I both turned out as authors!

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Categories
Audio Books book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures

Book Review: Idol by Louise O’Neill

Published May 12th, 2022 by Bantam Press
General Fiction, Thriller

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SYNOPSIS:


‘Follow your heart and speak your truth.’

For Samantha Miller’s young fans – her ‘girls’ – she’s everything they want to be. She’s an oracle, telling them how to live their lives, how to be happy, how to find and honour their ‘truth’.

And her career is booming: she’s just hit three million followers, her new book Chaste has gone straight to the top of the bestseller lists and she’s appearing at sell-out events.

Determined to speak her truth and bare all to her adoring fans, she’s written an essay about her sexual awakening as a teenager, with her female best friend, Lisa. She’s never told a soul but now she’s telling the world. The essay goes viral.

But then – years since they last spoke – Lisa gets in touch to say that she doesn’t remember it that way at all. Her memory of that night is far darker. It’s Sam’s word against Lisa’s – so who gets to tell the story? Whose ‘truth’ is really a lie?

‘You put yourself on that pedestal, Samantha. You only have yourself to blame.’

Riveting, compulsive and bold, IDOL interrogates our relationship with our heroes and explores the world of online influencers, asking how well we can ever really know those whose carefully curated profiles we follow online. And it asks us to consider how two memories of the same event can differ, and how effortlessly we choose which stories to believe.

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MY REVIEW:

Dark, unflinching, cryptic and compelling, Idol is an exploration of image, social media, our relationship with our idols, and the nature of truth and memory. The story centres around Samantha Miller, a social media influencer and lifestyle guru with three million followers that hang on her every word who has built a business empire on a foundation of encouraging positivity, being your best self, and her recovery from sexual assault and addiction. To promote her new number one book Sam writes an essay talking about her teenage sexual awakening with her best friend, Lisa. Until now she hadn’t told a soul and after the essay goes viral Sam learns that Lisa doesn’t remember the night like she does. As her reputation crumbles and she teeters on the brink of losing everything, Sam heads back to her hometown to try and convince Lisa to tell the truth. But which woman’s version is actually the truth?

Louise O’Neill has knocked it out of the park again with this thought-provoking and intelligent thriller. Skillfully written, intricately woven and cleverly plotted, I was not prepared for the bumpy ride this was about to take me on. This is one of those books where you are never quite sure what is real and what isn’t, who is a reliable character, and what is going to happen next. Sam is a very dislikeable protagonist. She’s self-centred, vain, image-obsessed and insecure. Even learning of her difficult past and the damage it has caused didn’t endear her to me and I never knew if I could trust her. This climate of distrust added to the feeling of suspicion and tension that ran throughout the story and I could never quite figure out what had really happened that night between Sam and Lisa. Every time I thought I’d got it figured out another twist would turn everything on its head, and my jaw hit the floor when everything was finally revealed.

O’Neill examines a variety of timely topics in this book, including the world of influencers and the disparity between the carefully curated social media posts and their real lives. She also explores truth and memory, asking if there is really only one ‘truth’? Or does the ‘truth’ depend on our perspective? And if two people remember the same event differently, does that mean there is more than one ‘truth’? It’s an unnerving thought as we like to believe that truth is finite rather than determined by perspective. Another topic she looks at is the stories we tell and what we choose to believe. We’ve all heard the saying ‘if you tell yourself a lie enough times you believe it’. But what does it actually mean if a person tells themselves a lie enough times that they become convinced it is real? And how does that affect those around them? I thought the way O’Neill explored this was particularly clever, though I won’t give any more detail to avoid spoilers.

Bold, twisty, topical and totally riveting, Idol is a brilliant thriller that I highly recommend.

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

Louise O’ Neill is from Clonakilty, in west Cork. After graduating with a BA in English Studies at Trinity College Dublin, she went on to complete a post-grad in Fashion Buying at DIT. Having spent a year in New York working for Kate Lanphear, the senior Style Director of ELLE magazine, she returned home to Ireland to write her first novel.
She went from hanging out on set with A-list celebrities to spending most of her days in pyjamas while she writes, and has never been happier.

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx