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The Blossom Twins by Carol Wyer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for the fifth installment in this sensational crime series. Thank you to Bookouture for the invitation to take part, and to Bookouture, NetGalley and Carol Wyer for my copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

SYNOPSIS:

Their parents thought they were hiding..

One beautiful summer’s evening, thirteen-year-old-twins Ivy and Erin Westmore snuggle down in a tent in their back garden, giggling and sharing secrets.

When their mother goes to wake the girls the next morning, their tent is empty.

The alarm is raised and Detective Natalie Ward is put on the case. When the twins’ bodies are discovered on nearby marshland, covered with deep pink petals, an icy shiver travels down Natalie’s spine. Everything about the girls’ deaths reminds her of a horrifying case she worked on earlier in her career, which saw a killer of the worst kind placed behind bars.

The next day, that feeling is heightened when she receives a chilling note saying ‘I’m back’. Is this killer a copycat or did Natalie put the wrong person in prison all those years ago? In a small town, where no stranger goes unnoticed, what is Natalie missing?

Consumed by the case, determined to prevent more deaths, Natalie misses the fact that it is her attention the killer wants. And to get it, he has his sights set firmly on her precious daughter, Leigh..

Gripping, fast-paced and nail-bitingly tense, this book will keep you flying through the pages long into the night. Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott and Karin Slaughter.

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MY REVIEW:

OMG! Carol, you broke me. I felt utterly bereft after the emotional journey from reading this book and it took days to recover. The fifth installment in the Detective Natalie Ward series may have a sweet, floral title but behind it Carol’s most shocking, jaw-dropping and emotional book to date. I quickly devoured it, filled with an urgent need for answers, only to be left wishing I hadn’t found them. This is her best novel yet and shows just why this woman is one of my favourite, must-read crime writers.

When fourteen-year-old Isabella Sharpe disappears during a concert a search soon leads to the discovery of her body. Detective Natalie Ward and her team are called to investigate and the macabre scene immediately reminds her of the first murders she investigated – The Blossom Twins. Those devastating crimes shattered Natalie and the mistakes made haunt her to this day. She tells herself she’s overthinking – the killer was found and died in prison – but she can’t seem to shake her suspicions. 

Twins Ivy and Erin Westmore go missing while camping in their back garden and soon the girls’ bodies are found chillingly posed just like the Blossom Twins. Details that were never made public are identical. Is this the work of a copycat or did Natalie get the wrong man? She and her team race to find answers before more innocent lives are taken.

After four previous books it’s fair to say I’m attached to these characters and they feel like old friends. That made this a hard book to read as Natalie and her husband David are now separated but living in the same house and haven’t told the kids. He’s hoping for a reconciliation, she’s looking forward but is also battling immense guilt over how her children will take the news. This storyline is a big part of the book and Natalie’s emotional turmoil isn’t helped by her new case having disturbing similarities to an old case that haunts her to this day, a new boss that talks to her like she’s imcompitent, or the arrival of a former nemesis charged with helping the team find their killer. 

The addition of John Briggs to the team added an extra dose of tension and drama to the story. He and Natalie worked together on the Blossom Twins case and its clear there’s no love lost between them. He rubs the whole team up the wrong way with his brash, aggressive and insensitive manner and consistently undermines Natalie by going behind her back to their boss questioning her capability to solve the case. I hated him. He was a perfect nemesis for Natalie and though I love how well the team usually work together, it was interesting to see how she reacted to someone who isn’t a team player and was determined to get in her way.

As is usually the case with Carol’s books, my favourite parts were those where we get the killer’s point of view. He’s manipulative, callous, cocky, twisted and sent a chill down my spine. It was terrifying how in control he is and how detailed his plans are. The flashbacks revealed just how far he would go to get what he wanted and how sinister he was. I had some wild theories about who this person was and I went through many different suspects, telling myself I must be wrong with the two I had the most suspicion of. It was a puzzle I couldn’t solve, which is something I love when reading this genre.

So if you want a fast-paced, nail-biting, addictive, heartbreaking and thrilling book then look no further. More than ever I’m desperate to know what is next for Natalie and her team. Though I’m a bit scared of what Carol might do next.

Out now.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Winner of The People’s Book Prize Award, Carol Wyer is an award-winning author and stand up comedian who writes feel-good comedies and gripping crime fiction.

A move to the ‘dark side’ in 2017, saw the introduction of popular DI Robyn Carter in LITTLE GIRL LOST, the #2 best-selling book on Amazon, #9 best-selling audiobook on Audible and Top 150 USA Today best-seller.

A second series featuring DI Natalie Ward quickly followed and to date her crime novels have sold over 600,000 copies and been translated for various overseas markets, including Norwegian, Italian, Turkish, Hungarian Slovak, Czech and Polish.

Carol has been interviewed on numerous radio shows discussing ”Irritable Male Syndrome’ and ‘Ageing Disgracefully’ and on BBC Breakfast television. She has had articles published in national magazines ‘Woman’s Weekly’ featured in ‘Take A Break’, ‘Choice’, ‘Yours’ and ‘Woman’s Own’ magazines and the Huffington Post.

She currently lives on a windy hill in rural Staffordshire with her husband Mr Grumpy… who is very, very grumpy.

To learn more about Carol, go to http://www.carolwyer.co.uk or follow Carol on Twitter: @carolewyer.

Carol also blogs at http://www.carolwyer.com

The Blossom Twins - Blog Tour Poster

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book reviews

Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Happy Paperback Publication Day to this phenomenal book. I was lucky s enough to read an early proof via NetgGalley at the end of last year and it immediately became now only my favourite book of 2018, but one of my favourites of all time. It has sold over 4 million copies worldwide and is soon to be developed into a film. Thank you to Little Brown Book Group for my #gifted limited edition proof.

SYNOPSIS:

#1 New York Times Best Seller

A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick.

For years, rumours of the ‘Marsh Girl’ have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself up to a new life – until the unthinkable happens.

Perfect for fans of Barbara Kingslover and Celeste Ng , Where The Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

MY REVIEW:

Breathtaking, beautiful, haunting, heartbreaking, mesmerising and unforgettable; these are the words that first come to mind when I think of this sensational book.

The story begins in 1969 when two young boys discover the body of local football hero Chase Andrews lying in the Marsh. There is immediate suspicion that the death is not accidental and talk of who could have killed him. We then go back to 1952 where six-year-old Kya is sat on the front porch watching in disbelief as her “Ma” walks away in her best shoes carrying a suitcase. The book then continues in dual timelines: we follow the hunt to find who killed Chase as the police try to ascertain what is rumour and gossip and what is fact, and also watch as Kya grows up on the Marsh and learns to not only survive, but flourish.

Reading about how Kya lives was difficult and heartbreaking. She is seen as “Marsh Trash” by those who live in Barkley Cove, and avoided and vilified by adults and children alike. After her Ma leaves, her siblings soon follow and she is left alone with her Pa, a violent drunk who is often absent. When he eventually abandons her too she has to find a way to make an income and finds a friend in Jumpin,who owns Gas and Bait which sells gas and groceries, and his wife Mabel. Her one day at school was a disaster so she gets her education from the world around her and studies the Marsh, sea and sand. For many years she’s unable to read but then Tate, who was a friend of her older brother, offers to teach her. They inevitably fall in love and he awakens a side to Kya she didn’t have before, one where she needs someone and enjoys another person’s company. When he leaves her heartbroken she feels unable to trust anyone and completely withdraws into herself and her Marsh again, determined never to rely on anyone but herself from now on.

Very quickly after Chase is found, suspicion from the townspeople falls on the Marsh Girl, who was rumoured to have had some kind of relationship with him at one point. Her elusive behaviour each time the police try to talk to her doesn’t help convince people of her innocence. It seems even in the absence of evidence most people have decided they know what happened and convicted her of the crime in their jury of small-town opinion.

By the time I was half way through the book I was consumed and couldn’t stop reading. It was a completely different book to what I expected it to be, although I don’t really know what I expected. I knew I had a book I loved on my hands and that the trepidation that comes with reading a much talked about, hyped book was unnecessary. 

The author has a remarkable ability to make you feel and understand from Kya’s perspective in this book. You feel her crippling loneliness at a life lived truly alone, her overwhelming fear of anything or anyone outside the Marsh, admiration that she surviving such a life and all she accomplished despite the odds, and anger at the way she was treated, judged, used and failed by almost everyone she meets.

Delia Owens is a phenomenal writer, and Where The Crawdads Sing is a spectacular debut.. It is a long book and I admit there were times that reading it felt like a slog, but that was because of the southern dialect and heavy subject matter and not because of boredom. I loved this story and it didn’t take long for me to find it hard to put down. It is an eloquently written, powerful, emotive, and extraordinary novel. It is a masterpiece that you won’t be able to forget and will stay with you long after you read it.

Out now.

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Blog Tours book reviews

The Lies We Hide by S.E. Lynes ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for this poignant story. Thank you too Bookouture for the invitation to take part, and to Bookouture and NetGalley for my copy of this book. 

SYNOPSIS:

The truth can set you free, or make you a prisoner…

Thirty years ago, Nicola Watson lived with her parents and older brother in a respectable suburb. At ten years old, she didn’t yet understand why her stomach tightened when she heard her father’s heavy tread as he returned home late at night, or why it made her brother Graham’s stammer get worse, or why one night her mother Carol woke them both, wide-eyed and whispering, and took them out of their home and into the unknown.

Now a successful lawyer in the city, with a life poles apart from her dark beginnings, Nicola has returned home for her mother’s funeral. But as she stands in her mother’s house, remembering the woman who sacrificed everything for her children, Nicola has to confront the guilt she feels for leaving her family behind. And the belief that she played a part in events that led to her brother going to prison for murder.

All Carol wanted to do was protect her children, but escaping her husband was only the beginning of the story. And when Nicola learns the truth of what her mother did, it will change everything she thought she knew about herself and her family.

A gripping, emotional story of family secrets, and the strength of a mother’s love in the darkest times.

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MY REVIEW:

The Lies We Hide is a story about a family trying to make it through the trials and trauma life throws their way. A story about secrets, lies, guilt and forgiveness. Of a mother’s strength and sacrifice to keep her children safe.

The story is told in three timelines: In 1984 Carol flees with her children in the middle of the night after her abusive husband, Ted, tries to kill her. In 1992 Richard is a prison chaplain trying to reach an inmate, Graham, and help lift the heavy burden of guilt he feels. And in 2019 Nicola is grieving their mother, looking back on her life and trying to assuage her own feelings of  guilt. The author effortlessly weaves between these timelines to tell the story of the Watson family and slowly unveil the secrets they’ve kept hidden for decades. 

I loved this book. I’ve heard lots of praise for S.E. Lynes but this is the first time I’ve read one of her books (though shamefully I have four of them sitting on my kindle). I am now one of those singing her praises. Her writing is honest, raw, emotional and captivating. The Lies We Hide deals with a log of difficult subjects such as abuse, addiction and murder, but she handles them all with sensitivity.  

The characters were all well written and it felt like a book made up of troubled and fragmented souls. I liked how nuanced the author wrote them as it made them feel real. Although I expected Nicola to be the main character of this book, she ended up being the member of the Watson family we know least of all. She is telling a story where she’s on the fringes, that she  only learned the details of as she got older, some that she is even finding out as we do. Carol was far from perfect but I liked her most of all. She was a strong, brave woman who would do anything for her children. Leaving an abuser is incredibly hard and for her to flee with nothing but a few things in a bag was courageous. Her struggle to not go back to Ted and to build a new life for her and the kids was true to life and heart-rending. I longed for her to find the happiness she deserved and finally feel free of Ted both inside and out. Ted was a vile, disgusting man who I hated. I could understand why Carol had loved him once and why she found it hard to leave, but he was a perfectly written example of an abusive alcoholic and I was hoping he’d get his just desserts from early on. 

Graham is a mess but my mother’s heart broke for him with all he went through in his young life. I liked that I was able to both be disgusted at how he was acting and want to wrap my arms around him and tell him he’d be okay at the same time. For me, Graham was the character where the author’s writing shone most of all as he had such a richly developed character with so many different parts and was both awful and lovely at the same time. I particularly loved the relationship between him and his chaplain, Richard. There were so many great scenes between them and they got me feeling ALL the emotions at one stage or another. I could vividly picture the two of them in that room during the sessions and I think it was a great choice to have Richard, rather than Graham, tell that part of the story so we got a broader perspective and a chance to see things from the outside.

Secrets and guilt play a huge role in this novel. All our main characters are hiding things, sometimes because they believe it’s best for those we love, and are living with guilt over those secrets and things they’ve done. Experly plotted, the secrets remained hidden even from the reader for most of the book, and showed that this author knows how to surprise you with a great twist.

Spectacularly written, The Lies We Hide is an emotional, captivating, unflinching novel that I would highly recommend. That ending alone was worth reading the book for! I am glad I’ve finally had the pleasure of reading this author’s work and can’t wait to finally read her back catalogue. 

Out now.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Amazon best selling author of ‘intelligent and haunting’ psychological thrillers VALENTINA, MOTHER, THE PACT, THE PROPOSAL and THE WOMEN. 

S E Lynes is a writer, tutor and mentor. Formerly a BBC producer, she has lived in France, Spain, Scotland, Italy, and now lives in Greater London with her husband, three kids and her dog, Lola. 

Her critically acclaimed debut, VALENTINA, was published by Blackbird Digital Books in July 2016. Her second novel, MOTHER was published by Bookouture in 2017, followed in 2018 by THE PACT and THE PROPOSAL. In August 2018, VALENTINA was published in a new edition by Bookouture and THE WOMEN was released in 2019. Her new novel, the dark and gripping family drama, THE LIES WE HIDE, is published Dec 4th 2019.

Susie Lynes has also published two children’s books in Italy: Il Leopardo Lampo and La Coccodrilla Ingamba, both available at Amazon.it

Find her on:

Facebook S E Lynes Author

Twitter @SELynesAuthor  

The Lies We Hide - Blog tour

Categories
Blog Tours book reviews

The Pact by Amy Heydenrych ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for this absorbing thriller. Thank you to Tracy at Compulsive Readers for my invitation to take part and to Zaffre and NetGalley for my copy of the book.

SYNOPSIS:    

What if a prank leads to murder?

When Freya arrives at her dream job with the city’s hottest start-up, she can’t wait to begin a new and exciting life, including dating her colleague Jay.

However, Nicole, Jay’s ex and fellow employee, seems intent on making her life a misery. After a big deadline, where Nicole continually picks on her, Freya snaps and tells Jay about the bullying and together they concoct a revenge prank. The next morning Nicole is found dead in her apartment.

Is this just a prank gone wrong? Or does Freya know someone whos is capable of murder – and could she be next?

MY REVIEW:

“It was just a joke, a little slice of revenge…”

The story at the heart of this book is one that is all too familiar to most women. We all have stories about the male colleague who makes unwelcome suggestive remarks, gets a bit too handsy, holds onto a hug for that little bit too long or makes us feel uncomfortable in a way we can’t put our finger on. I bet there’s someone in your mind that describes right now. I know there is in mine. And what do we do? We usually brush it aside so we don’t cause a problem and tell ourselves it’s harmless fun. And if we do report it then we face the accusations that we led them on, did something to cause it and watch as things are twisted to paint them as the victim and us as the harasser. The #MeToo movement is beginning to change the tides and has inevitably sparked a wave of books and other media that address these issues. The Pact is the best I’ve read yet.

I didn’t expect this to be such a timely book but I am glad this author chose to write this particular story. As well as sexual harassment the book takes a look at other social issues such as bullying in the work place, the inequality between the sexes in certain professions, women being pitted against each other and how the media looks at female victims of crime. All the topics were handled in an honest and sensitive manner that felt realistic and sadly relatable.

The author filled this book an eclectic mix of strong, intelligent but flawed female characters. The narrators, Isla and Freya, are both ambitious and passionate about their chosen field. Both have things in their past that have left them a little fragile and fractured but also gave them strength that I don’t think they recognised in themselves at first. I liked both characters and thought their bad decisions only made them more human and relatable. Nicole was the mean girl. While she’s alive we only see her through Freya’s eyes and, as she is being bullied by her, that’s quite a biased lens. I could see how some people were manipulating things and wondered if there were things we didn’t know about that were contributing to her behaviour. Another thing that happened because we only see her from Freya’s point of view is that it was hard at times to be sympathetic or mournful of her death. The choice to make her both murder victim and villainess, and the author’s ability to evoke in me such constrasting feelings towards her, were a testament to her talent. The characters who manipulated, lied and harassed people were expertly written (I’m not naming them to avoid spoilers). They were classic examples of abusers and narcissist – masquerading behind a veil of charm, charisma, kindness and kinship. Their victims were like lambs to the slaughter at the hands of their expert scheme.

The story is written in multiple timelines and moves somewhat sporadically between them. It felt choppy and confusing at times as a result and I sometimes had to double check what timeline we were in to make sense of things. But as more of the story was told this got better and things flowed more smoothly. There were times I liked the use of multiple timelines as they were used to weave clues through the story and tease the reader before jumping to another point in the story, leaving us in suspense.

The Pact manages to hit all the requirements for a riveting, explosive and involving thriller while also being an acutely observed commentary on some of the most harrowing, difficult and important issues we face. While I did guess some things early on I was left with my jaw on the floor when the author delivered the coup de grace.

Out now.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Amy is a writer and book blogger based in South Africa. She has been shortlisted twice for the acclaimed Miles Morland African Writing Scholarship. Her short stories and poems have been published in multiple anthologies including Brittle Paper, The Kalahari Review and the Short Sharp Stories anthologies. When she is not writing her own fiction, she ghost-writes books and columns for global tech and financial companies.

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Blog Tours book reviews

Who Did You Tell by Lesley Kara ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for this new thriller. Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for the invitation to take part, and Bantam Press for the gifted copy of the book.

SYNOPSIS:

Every town has its secrets. Lesley Kara knows them all…

From the author of 2019’s biggest crime thriller debut, The Rumour, comes an addictive new novel…

It’s been 192 days, seven hours and fifteen minutes since her last drink. Now Astrid is trying to turn her life around.

Having reluctantly moved back in with her mother, in a quiet seaside town away from the temptations and painful memories of her life before, Astrid is focusing on her recovery. She’s going to meetings. Confessing her misdeeds. Making amends to those she wronged.

But someone knows exactly what Astrid is running from. And they won’t stop until she learns that some mistakes can’t be corrected. 

Some mistakes, you have to pay for…   

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MY REVIEW:

This brilliant thriller started slowly but then drew me in as the pace and tension increased and simmered with fear. It was well written and plotted and I loved the suspense that came from the paragraphs in italics as a mysterious person fantasises about murder and vengence. Is this voice Astrid’s before she got sober or is it someone else who has their sights on her? I wasn’t sure and changed my mind on this and the identity of this mystery narrator many times throughout the book. As the story progressed it was impossible to know which characters we could trust and like Astrid I was seeing enemies everywhere, even in those I’d never wondered about early on.

Dealing with a central theme of alcoholism and addiction, this is an emotional read in places. The author has clearly done her research and captured the daily battles that are faced by a recovering alcoholic and the devastating effects on their life, friends and family in a way that was honest, real and raw. I had never really thought about the extent of the turmoil, exhaustion, terror and they face every moment they’re awake until I read this book. The author wrote Astrid’s constant battle to stay sober so expertly that my own heart would race when she faced temptation and I shouted inside my head for her to stay strong. 

Astrid was an interesting protagonist. I could never quite decide if she was unreliable or really in jeopardy, which I liked because it added an extra layer of tension and mystery to the story. The small town setting helped to convey her feeling of being watched and monitored every time she leaves the house and I could feel her fear radiating from the pages as she tried to decipher who knew her secrets, if she’s really going crazy, and who she could trust.  Guilt and depression are themes that ran through the book and, for Astrid, go hand in hand. The author explored this in a way that showed her vulnerability and self-loathing as well as her dark side, and managed to make her less likeable yet more sympathetic.

Who Did You Tell is a captivating and twisty thriller full of dark secrets, suspicion and revenge. Every time I thought I had things figured out the author would throw in another twist and I’d have to rethink what I thought I knew. The further I got into the story, the more I was on the edge of my seat. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough as we approached the end. Though I got some things right, when the full picture was revealed it still had my jaw on the floor in shock.

Out December 5th.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lesley Kara is an alumna of the Faber Academy ‘Writing a Novel’ course. She grew up in Essex and now lives with her family on the North Essex coast. Lesley has been a teacher and worked as a bookseller. Her first novel, The Rumour, was a Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller. The Rumour has been optioned for TV (Cuba Pictures) and has sold in 15 territories to date.

Categories
Blog Tours book reviews

Violet by S.J.I. Holliday ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for this twisty psychological thriller. Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for the invitation to take part and to S.J.I. Holliday and Orenda books for the gifted ebook copy of this novel.

SYNOPSIS:

When two strangers end up sharing a cabin on the Trans-Siberian Express, and intense friendship develops, one that can only have one ending…a nerve-shattering psychological thriller from bestselling author SJI Holliday.

Carrie’s best friend has an accident and can no longer make the round-the-world-trip they’d planned together, so Carrie decides to go it alone.

Violet is also travelling alone, after splitting up with her boyfriend in Thailand. She is also desperate for a ticket on the Trans-Siberian Express, but there is nothing available.

When the two women meet in a Beijing Hotel, Carrie makes the impulsive decision to invite Violet to take her best friend’s place. 

Thrown together in a strange country, and the cramped cabin of the train, the women soon form a bond. But as the journey continues through Mongolia and into Russia, things start to unravel – because one of these women is not who she claims to be…

A tense and twisted psychological thriller about obsession, manipulation and toxic friendships, Violet also reminds us that there’s a reason why mother told us not to talk to strangers…

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MY REVIEW:

This claustrophobic and disturbing psychological thriller takes the reader on a wild ride as we follow travellers, and new friends, Violet and Carrie on their cross-country journey on the Trans-Siberian Express. Nothing and no-one is what they seem in this mysterious, foreboding and tense thriller that had me guessing throughout. 

The story is narrated by Violet with Carrie’s voice appearing in the form of emails to her friends and family back home. I thought this was a great way to show us Carrie’s perspective and give us an alternative look at events. Both girls were curious characters but not very likeable, and neither were any of the background characters we met along the way. From the start I didn’t trust Violet, and it was soon apparent that there was something very wrong with her. Something that ran deep. Carrie couldn’t have been more different. She is chatty and makes friends easily.  The pair develop a strong and intense bond but Violet goes further, developing an unhealthy obsession with her new friend and will do anything to keep her close. 

This was my first read by this author and I now can’t wait to read more. She transported me to places I’ve never been with her evocative and descriptive prose. I also loved how she teased us, alluding to fragments of the girls’ past and how we are left to guess what Violet means by the sinister sentences she will randomly throw out. It’s soon clear she has some dark secrets and is hiding behind a smokescreen of lies but the author leaves us as clueless as Carrie, heightening the suspense. 

Violet is an exciting story about obsession, jealousy, rage, secrets and devious desires. It is also a cautionary tale about trusting strangers and intense, toxic friendships. I devoured the pages as we approached the crescendo – the shocking revelations coming thick and fast, a million questions in my head –  before finally reaching the deft and satisfying conclusion. 

I would highly recommend this book, particularly if you enjoy Killing Eve or Single White Female. 

Out now. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

S.J.I. (Susi) Holliday is a scientist, writing coach and bestselling author of five crime novels,  including the Banktoun Trilogy (Black Wood, Willow Walk and The Damselfly), the festive chiller The Deaths of December and her creepy Gothic psychological thriller The Lingering. Her short story Home From Home was published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and shortlisted for the CWA Margery Allingham Prize. Encapsulating her love of travel and claustrophobic settings, her latest novel, Violet, explores toxic friendships and the perils of talking to strangers, as well as drawing on her own journey on the Trans-Siberian Express over 10 years ago. All of her novels have been UK ebook number-one bestsellers. Susi was born and raised in Scotland and now divides her time between Edinburgh, London and as many other exciting places that she can fit in.

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book reviews

The Assistant by S. K. Tremayne ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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SYNOPSIS:

She’s in your house. She controls your life. Now she’s going to destroy it.

A terrifying and timely new psychological thriller, from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The Ice Twins.

She watches you constantly.

Newly divorced Jo is delighted to move into her best friend’s spare room almost rent-free. The high-tech luxury Camden flat is managed by a meticulous Home Assistant called Electra, that takes care of the heating, lights – and sometimes Jo even turns to her for company.

She knows all your secrets.

Until, late one night, Electra says one sentence that rips Jo’s fragile world in two. ‘I know what you did.’ And Jo is horrified. Because in her past she did do something terrible. Something unforgivable.

Now she wants to destroy you.

Only two other people in the whole world know Jo’s secret. And they would never tell anyone. Would they? As a fierce winter brings London to a standstill, Jo begins to understand that the Assistant on the shelf doesn’t just want to control Jo, it wants to destroy her.

MY REVIEW:

This story has seeped into my psyche and given me the most bizarre dreams of technology terrorising my life since reading. I don’t have an Alexa, any smart meters or Home Assistants. And after this book, I have never been more thankful of that! Intriguing, suspenseful, creepy and unpredictable, The Assistant exposes and explores a very modern fear alongside ones that have been around for years. 

Jo is a freelance journalist, recently divorced and living in her best friend Tabitha’s spare room. The Camden flat is the height of luxury and high-tech, filled with the latest Home Assistants who control everything from the temperature and lights, to answering your questions. Jo is alone most of the time so she’s started talking to one of the assistants, Electra, for company. But one night the assistants suddenly don’t seem so friendly, uttering the terrifying words – “I know what you did…I know your secret.” Jo is horrified because she does have a secret. One that only two others know. A secret that has haunted her for fifteen years. As the assistants begin to terrorise Jo, it soon clear they want more than control. They want to destroy her. As her life slowly unravels, Jo desperately tries to get to the truth before it’s too late for herself and those she cares about.

Eerie, menacing and sinister, The Assistant is a timely story about our love affair and reliance on technology mixed in with a story about mental health problems and good old fashioned vengeance. It is a claustrophobic story and you have a real sense that someone or something is  always watching and listening. 

Jo was an unreliable protagonist as early on we learn her father had late-onset schizophrenia and his symptoms were remarkably similar to what she is experiencing. Everything is questionable: is she hallucinating the assistants saying these things or is this really happening? I liked this as we never know what to think which makes the story harder to predict and you’re full of questions right up until the end. I would go back and forth in my own thoughts on Jo’s sanity and what was really happening throughout the book. 

The idea that someone could weaponise the assistants against us filled me with a lingering sense of horror. We’re all dependent on technology to some degree. If I leave the house without my phone I panic and feel like my arm has been cut off. We don’t think twice about using these devices to make life easier and connect with people. It is also seen as something that doesn’t make mistakes and it certainly doesn’t think for itself, which is why no one believes Jo when she says it’s out to get her, is speaking to her and doing things using her email accounts of its own accord. That’s just crazy. And it seems just as crazy that someone could be using the assistants to get some kind of revenge. After all, Jo is in charge of the apps. 

This was my first book by this author but won’t be my last. I loved the language and vivid imagery in his writing and though I felt like it started a little slow, the tension soon ramped up to a nail-biting suspense. I was desperate for answers and couldn’t put the book down, racing towards the finale where the jaw-dropping twist and revelations left me blindsided. 

I would recommend this unsettling and unpredictable novel for anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers. Just make sure you unplug your Alexa before you start…

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollinsUK for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Published November 29th.

Published November 29th.

Categories
book reviews

High Heels and Beetle Crushers by Jackie Skingley ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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SYNOPSIS:

This compelling memoir of a girl in uniform reveals the first-hand experience of the social attitudes towards women in post-war Britain.

A compelling memoir of post-war Britain. Jackie Skingley grew up with limited career choices but joining the Women’s Royal Army Corps offered her a different life, living and working in the military world, against the backdrop of the Cold War. Packed full of stories reflecting the changing sexual attitudes prior to the arrival of the pill and the sexual revolution of the  mid-60s, Skingley’s memoir denotes a shift in the political and social fabric of the era. Follow her relationships with the men in her life from finding her first true love, which through a cruel act of fate was denied to her, to embarking on a path of recovery.

MY REVIEW:

I was asked to read this memoir by Jackie herself after she followed me on twitter. I’ve come to know her as a kind woman who’s passionate about her book so while I’ve been excited about reading it, I’ve also been apprehensive as I will only give honest reviews and was hoping it would be as delightful as the woman herself. I needn’t have worried. High Heels and Beetle Crushers is a charming and fascinating memoir filled with entertaining and heart-rending stories. 

It begins with an air raid siren blasting in 1944 when Jackie is just three years old. Seeing an air raid through the eyes of a young child felt particularly poignant. We also learn that this particular night her father, Flight Lieutenant Jack Skingley, is killed along with thousands of others from his regiment during an air raid in Germany. From there we follow her through childhood, adolescence and becoming a young woman determined to spread her wings and find adventure and independence. We watch her discover boys, begin her first relationship, fall head over heels in love, move out for her first job and settle on a career that she loves. 

Jackie has plenty of colourful anecdotes to share alongside the more emotional stories. She’s been through a lot and there were many times I was fighting tears as my heart broke for what she went through. But what came through time and again is her indomitable strength and resilience in the face of everything. Her tenderness for most of those recalled in the book is in every word she writes, as does her distaste for those who, quite frankly, deserve it. 

I was born in 1979 and the world has changed dramatically in the time I’ve been alive. There’s things I remember being normal that are alien to my children, so it was interesting to read a memoir where even more has changed in that person’s lifetime and be reminded how recent it was that homosexuality was made legal, sexual attitudes changed, how differently women were viewed and the less options they had. For instance, she talks about how her mother had to put up with her lot in life when she found herself in an abusive marriage due to the social stigma of divorce. As someone who’s divorced an abusive husband this made me once again incredibly thankful it was in a time when there isn’t that stigma and people encourage you to become free of abusive relationships. 

I would highly recommend this book if you’re looking for a compelling, entertaining and quick read. It will make you laugh, make you angry, make you fight tears, but it will also teach you things and make you think. I would also recommend it for fans of things like Call The Midwife or Land Girls. I don’t read many memoirs but I’m glad I read this one and can’t wait for the follow up. 

Thank you to Jackie Skingley and John Hurt Publishing Ltd for the e-Book ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Published December 14th.

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Categories
Blog Tours book reviews

Blog Tour Review: Snow Creek by Gregg Olsen ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for this exciting first installment in a new crime series. Thank you to Bookoture for the invitation to take part and to NetGalley and Bookoture for my copy of this book. 

SYNOPSIS:

Footprints were scattered about like fallen leaves. She looked down into the ravine, and once more her lungs filled with fear. A body, blackened and motionless, lay splayed out in the bushes.

Detective Megan Carpenter is no stranger to evil. Escaping the horrors of her old life, she’s vowed never to let anyone hurt her or those she loves ever again. Joining the small police force in Jefferson County’s Port Townsend, Megan is determined to get every victim of a crime the justice they deserve.

So when Ruth Turner walks into the Sheriff’s office claiming her sister Ida Watson has been missing for over a month, Megan’s instincts tell her that she needs to do more than just file a report.

Arriving at a secluded farmhouse in the hills above Snow Creek, she finds Ida’s teenage children alone and frightened.

Then a few days later, close to the Watson’s home, the blackened body of a woman is discovered in an abandoned pickup truck.

Megan must unravel the disturbing secrets of the isolated Snow Creek community to catch the killer. 

But Megan has dark secrets of her own too.

Hidden in the back of her closet is a box of tapes containing every single recording of her therapy sessions with Doctor Albright over thirteen years ago. As Megan begins to play the tapes, she’s taken straight back to the time she was a kid called Rylee, fighting to survive.

Can Megan finally confront the past she’s spent years trying to block out and will listening to her own painful story help her solve the complex case she’s now entangled in?

From the Number One New York Times and Amazon Charts bestselling author, comes an absolutely heart-stopping and completely unputdownable crime series, introducing Detective Megan Carpenter.

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MY REVIEW:

Full disclosure: I am a sucker for a good crime series and police procedural. They’re my go-to reads if I’m ever in a reading slump. When I saw Gregg Olsen was releasing the first in a new crime series I couldn’t resist checking it out as I loved the book I read by him a few months ago. Boy am I glad I did! Snow Creek is a fast-paced, jaw-dropping, twisty and utterly addictive thriller that I devoured in just a few hours. A thriller lover’s dream, it will consume you and leave you breathless.

Ruth Turner walks into the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to report her sister Ida Watson missing. Detective Megan Carpenter decides to do a welfare check rather than just file a report. When she arrives at the secluded house in the hills above Snow Creek she finds Ida’s two teenage children, Joshua and Sarah. They say that their parents went on a mission trip to Mexico but after making calls it becomes clear they never arrived in Mexico and Ida and Merritt are missing. 

When a woman’s charred body is found in an abandoned car the mystery of Ida’s whereabouts is solved. With Merritt missing and Sarah telling the Detective that her father was abusive, Megan has her prime suspect. The race is on to find Merrick and bring Ida’s killer to justice. But as further evidence is uncovered Megan starts to wonder if they’ve been focusing on the wrong person and someone else could be their killer…

This is my second read by Gregg Olsen and has secured my love of his writing. Both books were nail-biting and showed that he knows how to pack a punch, bringing shocking twists and turns at unexpected moments. There were so many in this book I got book whiplash. And OMG that ending! I wanted to scream in frustration when I realised that was the final page. I need the second installment now!

For any crime series to succeed you need a good protagonist and Detective Megan Carpenter certainly fits that bill for me. She was likeable, relatable and absolutely fascinating. Her past is shrouded in mystery, with parts of it slowly being unveiled over the course of the book as she listens to the tape from her counselling sessions with Doctor Albright thirteen years ago. The shocking revelations made me love this character all the more and I think the author has written one of the most intriguing and compelling protagonists of a series that I’ve read. She was the best character in the book and I can’t wait to learn more about her dark secrets and shadowy past.

I would highly recommend Snow Creek to anyone who enjoys crime fiction, thrillers and domestic noir. This is a book you don’t want to miss!

Out now.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A #1 New York Times, Amazon Charts, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author, Olsen has written nine nonfiction books, seventeen novels, a novella, and contributed a short story to a collection edited by Lee Child.

The award-winning author has been a guest on dozens of national and local television shows, including educational programs for the History Channel, Learning Channel, and Discovery Channel.

The Deep Dark was named Idaho Book of the Year by the ILA and Starvation Heights was honored by Washington’s Secretary of State for the book’s contribution to Washington state history and culture.

Olsen, a Seattle native, lives in Olalla, Washington with his wife, twin daughters, three chickens, Milo (an obedience school dropout cocker) and Suri (a mini dachshund so spoiled she wears a sweater).

AUTHOR SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

Website: https://www.greggolsen.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreggOlsenAuthor/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Gregg_Olsen

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Categories
book reviews

Her Dark Heart by Carla Kovach ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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SYNOPSIS:

Rory is waiting at the door of the pre-school – a painted picture of his mother Susan in his small hand. But Susan isn’t going to see the picture, because she has vanished.

Susan Wheeler is a devoted mother. She would do anything for her three children. She drops them off and picks them up every single day. Until one day when Susan kisses them goodbye and then never comes to pick them up.

Susan’s mother Mary is worried. Susan is recently divorced and has been finding things hard recently, but she loves her kids – she’d never leave them.

Susan’s sister Clare is furious. It’s just like her to go missing. It’s not the first time either. Susan has always been a troublemaker. Always seeking attention. She knows Susan has been lying to the family for years. And she knows that Susan has been sneaking out of her family home for weeks…

As the hours turn into days, even Clare becomes fearful for Susan. And when Mary discovers Susan’s diary, she begins to uncover a dark secret from her childhood. Something no one in the family knew. When the  final diary entry leads the police to a man who is discovered dead in a local park, they’re left wondering if Susan vanished because she is a victim. Or because she is a suspect.

MY REVIEW:

She’s done it again. This is another winning installment in the Detective Gina Harte series. Gripping, tense, thrilling and unputdownable, I flew through it in under a day. 

Susan Wheeler is a devoted mum to her three children. She’s going through an acrimonious divorce but it is out of character when she not only doesn’t turn up to collect her youngest child, two-year-old Rory from pre-school, but also doesn’t come home that night or the next day. Her mother Mary is worried but her sister, Clare, and ex-husband, Ryan, think it’s a bid for attention. Finally, Mary calls the police and Gina and her team are assigned to the case. 

There are few clues but Susan’s diary leads them to a man who was possibly the last person to see her before she disappeared. But he’s found dead, having been brutally beaten and tortured before he was strangled to death. Is Susan a victim or did she have some part in this man’s death? The team keep digging but the missing pieces of the puzzle seem to elude them and Gina gets the sense there’s things the family aren’t telling her. It’s a race against the clock to put the pieces together, get to the truth and find Susan before she or someone else turns up dead. 

Her Dark Heart is the fifth book in this series and it lives up to the high bar that’s been set in the others. While knowledge from the other book does help with things like Gina’s backstory and character relationships it is still possible to read this as a standalone. The author is skilled in writing twisty crime fiction full of relatable characters and bad guys that make your skin crawl. 

Some of my favourite parts were from the chapters narrated by our mystery perpetrator. He was sinister, repulsive, delusional, and is determined to inflict his wrath and revenge for what happened all those years ago; though we don’t yet know what occurred. These chapters revved up the tension and had me on the edge of my seat as I tried to figure things out. There were a plethora of suspects but I couldn’t predict who he was or exactly why he was doing this. I did manage to guess part of it correctly but I was still blindsided by the revelations that came as we reached the jaw-dropping finale.

As with the author’s other books there are deeper themes running through this book than what appears on the surface. This time it’s secrets. Susan and her family are all harbouring various secrets and Gina is facing the emotional consequences of secrets she has kept for decades. While the Collins family’s secrets have led to Susan’s abduction and threaten to tear their family apart, Gina is missing her mother and feeling she has no right to grieve for not being there when she died because of the invisible chains her abusive late husband kept her in and how keeping the abuse secret led to their estrangement. It shows us how secrets can snowball, with devastating and catastrophic results.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime fiction and police procedurals. If you haven’t read the previous books in the series then check those out too. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Out today.