Tag: psychological thrillers

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Mine by Clare Empson ⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

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Published: March 19th, 2020
Publisher: Orion
Format: Paperback, Kindle
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Mystery

Thank you to Tracy at Compulsive Readers for the invitation to take part in this blog tour and to Orion for my gifted copy of the book.

SYNOPSIS:

‘Who am I? Why am I here? Why did my mother give me away?’

On the surface, Luke and his girlfriend Hannah seem to have a perfect life. He’s an A&R man, she’s an arts correspondent and they are devoted to their new-born son Samuel.

But beneath the gloss Luke has always felt like an outsider. So when he finds his birth mother Alice, the instant connection with her is a little like falling in love.

When Hannah goes back to work, Luke asks Alice to look after their son. But Alice – fuelled with grief from when her baby was taken from her 27 years ago – starts to fall in love with Samuel. And Luke won’t settle for his mother pushing him aside once again…

MY REVIEW:

I was not prepared for the avalanche of emotions that I would feel while reading this book. Ms. Empson broke me with this absorbing story of motherhood, family and true love. 

Told over dual timelines the story begins with 27-year-old Luke meeting his birth mother, Alice, for the first time. We then follow as they get to know each other and as Alice meets Luke’s girlfriend Hannah and baby son Samuel, and Luke meets his father Rick. Their reunion goes so well that when Hannah returns to work after her maternity leave, Alice is the one to look after Samuel. But as Alice gets closer to the family, and Samuel in particular, Luke begins to question how well they know her. Can they really trust her with their baby? Or is Luke being paranoid because he feels he’s being pushed out by his mother all over again? 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I started this book, but it certainly wasn’t something so emotional.  The story is steadily paced with flashbacks to Alice finding her true love, becoming pregnant and giving up the baby she wanted to raise running parallel to the story of the two of them reconnecting twenty-seven years later. I liked the author’s decision to only have Alice’s point of view in the flashbacks as it added to the sense of mystery and put us in the same boat as Luke with wondering what happened when he was a baby and what her intentions are now. It also added to the sense of foreboding that is present throughout the book, though you are never quite sure what it will mean and where the story will take you. 

The characters slowly reveal themselves in the same way people do when getting to know each other. You could tell the author had researched the emotional impact of adoption on everyone involved and she brings that to each character expertly. The author has a way of reaching into your heart and soul so you feel everything they do: elation, trepidation and optimism when Luke and Alice meet and become part of each other’s lives, the passion and intensity of Alice and Jacob falling in love, and Luke’s heartache and confusion as his feelings for his birth mother become more complex. Both narrators were likeable, relatable and sympathetic. I was rooting for them individually and as mother and son, hoping for a happy ending after the heartache they’ve both suffered. 

Mine is an engrossing, poignant, hopeful and heartbreaking story. This is the first time I’ve read anything by this author and I will be buying her first book so I can read more. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Clare Empson worked as a staff writer on national newspapers covering everything from collapsing merchant banks to tea with the late Barbara Cartland (everything pink including the cakes). Eight years ago, she moved to the West Country and founded the arts and lifestyle blog countrycalling.co.uk.

The idyllic setting inspired her first novel, which reveals the darker side of paradise. Clare lives on the Wiltshire/Dorset border with her husband and three children.

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Little Friends by Jane Shemilt ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

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Published: February 20th, 2020
Publisher: Penguin UK
Format: Paperback, Kindle
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Mystery, Domestic Fiction, Suspense, Crime Fiction

Thank you to Penguin UK for the invitation to take part and the gifted copy of the novel.

SYNOPSIS:

Their children are friends first. They hit it off immediately, as kids do. And so the parents are forced to get to know each other. Three wildly different couples. Three marriages, floundering.

There are barbecues, dinner parties, a holiday in Greece. An affair begins, resentments flare, and despite it all the three women become closer.

Unnoticed, their children run wild. The couples are so busy watching each other that they forget to watch their children.

Until tragedy strikes.

Because while they have been looking the other way, evil has crept into their safe little world and every parent’s biggest nightmare is about to come true…

MY REVIEW:

“I used to think truth was a simple thing. That there could only be one truth, single and essential – like light, say, or water. Now I know it comes in layers, some more transparent than others. If you look carefully – and we didn’t – you can see through the top layer to the darkness beneath…”

The lives of three families entwine with devastating consequences in this readable novel.

When Eve begins private tuition for children with dyslexia, Melissa and Grace sign their children up. Over the course of the summer, the families become friends: having barbecues and even going on holiday together. But the smiles and laughter are hiding three marriages in trouble and the adults are so busy with their own problems that they fail to notice the fear in their children and the evil lurking in their midst. Secrets are slowly revealed amid tragedy and heartbreak, leaving the three families shattered and their lives irrevocably changed.

Jane Shemilt is an author who’s been on my radar for a while but I’ve never got around to reading so I jumped at the chance to take part in this blog tour. The writing is subdued, affecting and compelling, starting slow before reaching a steady pace and then ramping up the tension as we approach the finale. The characters are deftly drawn and distinct, so that the reader never gets lost despite the multiple points of view. Eve, Melissa and Grace are each hiding marital problems and insecurities, putting on a mask in front of the others. There husbands feature prominently but it is only the women who narrate the story. We are only given small glimpses of the children’s perspectives, but they have a big impact. I did predict most of the twists but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book or the tension as I anticipated them being discovered. 

The two characters that I was drawn to most of all were mother and daughter Melissa and Izzy. It was obvious to me immediately that Melissa was in an abusive marriage, with red flags flashing loudly about her husband Paul and their relationship. Maybe it is my own history of such a relationship that made me feel so drawn to her, but I spent the book hoping she’d find the strength to finally leave and find safety away from the private hell of her marriage. Izzy is the rebel; the one who leads the other children and embroils them in games they don’t want to play. She also notices everything and seems keen to stir up trouble. I didn’t like Izzy but I felt sorry for her as I believed some of her issues could be down to living in a house with an abusive father. The dynamic between her and Melissa was sad and it seemed she needed some tough love rather than being indulged like she was by both parents. 

Little Friends is an intricate, raw and tragic story about families and dark secrets. It is a reminder of how evil can lurk in the most unexpected places and wearing surprising disguises, just waiting to tear lives apart. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

While working as a GP, Jane Shemilt completed a postgraduate diploma in Creative Writing at Bristol University and went on to study for the MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa, gaining both with distinction. Her first novel, Daughter, was selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club, shortlisted for the Edgar Award and the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize, and went on to become the bestselling debut novel of 2014. She and her husband, a professor of neurosurgery, have five children and live in Bristol.

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The Furies by Katie Lowe ⭐⭐⭐

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Published: February 20th, 2020
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Format: Paperback, Kindle
Genre:  Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Gothic Fiction, Paramanoranol Fiction, Coming-of-Age Fiction

Thank you to Tandem Collective UK for the invitation to take part in this readalong and to HarperCollinsUK for the gifted copy of the book.

SYNOPSIS:

IT’S 1997. VIOLET IS A NEW STUDENT AT ELM HOLLOW ACADEMY AND DESPERATE TO FIT IN.

Quiet, artistic, unremarkable. When invited to an advanced study group by her alluring art teacher, Annabel, she is at once terrified and delighted.

There she meets Robin, Grace, and Alex: charismatic outsiders who invite her into their clique.

But once the study sessions on the school’s history of seventeenth-century witchcraft and magic become more than just theory, Violet must decide what she’s prepared to do in order to stay popular.

And maybe she’ll solve the mystery of what happened to a former member of their group. The one who went missing.

MY REVIEW:

“Some things simply cannot be believed. Even when you know they’re true.”

The Furies is a story about power and vengeance. It follows four teenage girls full of insecurities and desperate to fit in who, like the mythological Furies, use their powers to punish evil deeds. It shows the force peer pressure can wield and the damage that can be done by choosing the wrong friends.

Violet is the new girl at Elm Hollow College, a prestigious school with a past steeped in rumours of witchcraft. She is soon befriended by Robin, who is the yin to Violet’s yang. The pair soon become inseparable and Violet becomes friends with Robin’s other friends Alex and Grace. After being invited to be part of a secret group by one of the teachers, Violet learns more about the school’s inauspicious history and the four girls begin to study witchcraft, using it to wield power and seek vengeance on those they deem deserving.

Violet and Robin are drawn to each other for very different reasons – one wants a follower, the other to be accepted. Violet is a quiet, intelligent girl who overthinks everything. She is still coming to terms with the death of her father and sister and is just trying to get through each day, preferring to blend into the shadows. Robin is gregarious, spontaneous and loves any kind of attention. She has a reputation as a bad girl that she thrives on. Violet is beguiled by her and blindly follows wherever she goes, finding herself drawn down a dark path of debauchery, obsession and death. I liked their differences and felt like deep down they both had a vulnerability that’s rooted in a need to belong and feel seen. At times it seemed a stretch how Violet would do whatever Robin wanted without thinking, but peer pressure is a strong thing and many teenagers find themselves in situations they’d never have even considered because a friend dared or encouraged them to do it.

The Furies opens with a stunning prologue full of beautiful prose that is at odds with the dark, macabre things being described. There is a promise of something sinister and foreboding. Unfortunately, the rest of the book is a slow-burn and feels a bit lacklustre after such a compelling start.

But while I didn’t love the book, I did like it. The atmospheric, lyrical prose draws you in and brings the world to life around you. I enjoyed the school lore and the interesting perspective on vengeance that is offered through the study of myth and witchcraft – something that was clearly well researched. I did find some things about this book a little disappointing, such as the story was told like a stroll down memory lane rather than the eerie, murder mystery that the prologue and synopsis teased. Also, I found the characters in the book unlikeable and was unable to bring myself to really care who lived or died or what had happened to the missing girl.

Overall, this was a well-written book that was just a little too slow and not witchy enough for me. It may be more suited to a younger reader and I would recommend this if you’re looking for a coming-of-age story rather than a mystery.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Katie is a writer living in Worcester, UK, whose debut novel The Furies is published by Harperfiction (UK), St Martin’s Press (US) and eight other territories worldwide.

A graduate of the University of Birmingham, Katie has a BA(Hons) in English and an MPhil in Literature & Modernity. She returned to Birmingham in 2019 to complete a PhD in English Literature, with her thesis on female rage in literary modernism and the #MeToo era.

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The Holdout by Graham Moore ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Published: February 20th, 2020
Publisher: Orion
Format: Hardcover, Kindle
Genre: Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Legal Thriller.

Welcome to my spot on the blog tour for this sensational thriller. Thank you to Tracy at Compulsive Readers Tours for the invitation to take part and to Orion for the gifted copy of the book.

SYNOPSIS:

One juror changed the verdict. What if she was wrong?

‘Ten years ago we made a decision together…’

Fifteen-year-old Jessica Silver, heiress to a billion-dollar fortune, vanishes on her way home from school. Her teacher, Bobby Nock, is the prime suspect. It’s an open and shut case for the prosecution, and a quick conviction seems all but guaranteed.

Until Maya Seale, a young woman on the jury, persuades the rest of the jurors to vote not guilty: a controversial decision that will change all of their lives forever.

Ten years later, one of the jurors is found dead, and Maya is the prime suspect.

The real killer could be any of the other ten jurors. Is Maya being forced to pay the price for her decision all those years ago?

MY REVIEW:

A decade ago Maya Searle was the lone holdout on a jury that was deciding the fate of Bobby Nock, who was on trial for the murder of fifteen-year-old Jessica Silver. The others slowly changed their votes until they unanimously voted not guilty. Afterwards, the group were shocked to find themselves vilified by the press and public, 84 percent of whom believed he was guilty. Their lives were irrevocably changed and Maya has done her best to shake off her notoriety in the years since. Now a defence lawyer she is pulled back into that time she’d rather forget when she’s approached by one of the other jurors who claims to have new evidence of Bobby’s guilt and plans to reveal it in a docuseries about the case. But on the night all the jurors are back together for the first time in ten years, and before the new evidence is revealed, one of them is found murdered. And Maya is the prime suspect. Is someone exacting revenge for what happened ten years ago? And did Maya really allow a guilty man to go free?

As soon as I read the synopsis for this book I knew I had to read it. My anticipation was sky high when I started reading and, thankfully, it was even more spectacular than I was hoping. The writing was of such a high caliber that I wasn’t surprised to read the author is an award winner. Sizzling with tension, Moore knows how to hold his reader captive. Each time I was sure I had things figured out he’d pull the rug from under me. 

Told in dual timelines, the flashbacks are particularly fascinating as we get a glimpse of each of the juror’s backstories, their thoughts during the trial and deliberations, and watch how they went from one holdout voting not guilty, to changing their verdicts; each falling one at a time like dominoes as Maya argued her case. The characters were all deftly written, their transgressions slowly revealed as Maya tries to discover who would want one of them dead. I could wax lyrical about the details of this book but I hate giving away spoilers, especially when the surprises in the book are part of what makes it so brilliant. 

The Holdout is an astounding, unexpected and mind-blowing thriller. I tore through this twisty whodunit with an energy almost as fervent as the pace of the book itself. I was left not knowing which way was up after the magnificent conclusion and am still thinking about it weeks later. I have no doubt that this will be one of the most talked about thrillers of 2020. This is an absolute must-read.  

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Graham Moore is a New York Times bestselling novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter. His screenplay for The  Imitation Game won the Academy Award and WGA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2015 and was nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe.

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The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Published: January 16th, 2020
Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
Format: Paperback, Kindle
Genre: Mystery, Psychological Thriller

Today is my stop on the blog tour for this fresh and enticing novel. Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for the invitation to take part and to Bitter Lemon Press for the gifted copy of this book.

SYNOPSIS:

On a stormy summer day the Aosawas, owners of a prominent local hospital, host a large birthday party. The occasion turns into tragedy when 17 people die from cyanide in their drinks. The only surviving links to what might have happened are a cryptic verse that could be the killer’s, and the physician’s bewitching blind daughter, Hisako, the only person spared injury. But the youth who emerges as the prime suspect commits suicide that October, effectively sealing his guilt while consigning his motives to mystery.

The police are convinced that Hisako had a role in the crime, as are many in the town, including the author of a bestselling book about the murders written a decade after the incident, who was herself a childhood friend of Hisako and witness to the discovery of the murders. The truth is revealed through a skillful juggling of testimony by different voices: family members, witnesses and neighbours, police investigators and of course the mesmerising Hisako herself.

The Aosawa Murders takes the classic elements of the mystery genre but steers away from putting them together in the usual way, instead providing a multi-voiced insight into the psychology of contemporary Japan, with its rituals, pervasive envy and ever so polite hypocrisy. But it’s also about the nature of evil and the resonance and unreliability of memory.

Part Kurasawa’s Rashomon, part Capote’s In Cold Blood.

MY REVIEW:

On a stormy summer’s day in 1973 the house of the prominent Aosawa family is buzzing with auspicious birthday celebrations of three generations. Friends and family fill the rooms and local residents are coming and going throughout the day. But before the day is over the house becomes a grotesque crime scene – bodies contorted into strange positions and the stench of vomit and excrement permeating the air after seventeen people are poisoned by suicide. But the police have no real clues and the two survivors aren’t of much help: the housekeeper is unconscious and Hisako, the only surviving member of the Aosawa family, is blind. 

The Aosawa Murders is an exploration of the seemingly motiveless crime, the impact it had on those who survived and the local community. It also delves into the impact of a bestselling book that was written by one of the witnesses a decade later, and tries to finally get to the truth of what happened that dreadful day. 

The complex story is told over three decades using various styles and literary devices, each chapter told by a different witness in a very different and distinctive voice. The interviews in particular add to the mysterious atmosphere as we only ever read the responses. This singular novel is written like a work of non-fiction and reads so authentically that I had to keep reminding myself that I was reading fiction rather than a true crime novel.  

Though there are an array of characters in the book the primary focus is on two female characters: Hisako Aosawa, the twelve year old who was the only surviving family member, and Makiko Saiga, her friend and later the author of the book about the murders. Rumours have always swirled around Hisako as she was the only person in the house that didn’t take a sip of poison, even after a mentally ill young man committed suicide and left behind a confession and evidence that he committed the crime. Both women are enigmatic characters that stay away from the limelight and have left lasting impressions as a result of the crime that are examined throughout the book. 

The Aosawa Murders is a unique, fascinating and riveting novel. The author’s hypnotic imagery and prose made it impossible to put down, even managing to add an element of beauty in the grim, heart-rending torture of the victim’s final moments. Nothing is black and white, but full of shades of grey, the author keeping things ambiguous and cryptic so the reader is always questioning the truth and unsure what to think. Part of the brilliance of this book was that I never managed to quite make up my mind about what had really happened and am still questioning the truth about that fateful day. 

I would highly recommend this book, especially if you enjoy true crime novels such as In Cold Blood. It is the author’s first book to be translated into English and I’m hoping her others are translated soon so I can see if they’re as addictive as this one. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Riku Onda, born in 1964, is the professional name of Nanae Kumagai. She has been writing fiction since 1991 and has won the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers, the Japan Booksellers’ Award, the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Best Novel for The Aosawa Murders, the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize, and the Naoki Prize. Her work has been adapted for film and television. This is her first crime novel and the first time she is translated into English.

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The Guest List by Lucy Foley ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Published: February 20th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, Kindle
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Crime Fiction

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for this magnificent thriller. Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for the invitation to take part and to HarperCollins UK for the gifted copy of the book.

SYNOPSIS:

A gripping, twisty murder mystery thriller from the No. 1 bestselling author of The Hunting Party.

On an island off the windswept Irish coast, guests gather for the wedding of the year – the marriage of Jules Keegan and Will Slater.

Old friends.
Past grudges.

Happy families.
Past jealousies.

Thirteen guests.
One body.

The wedding cake has barely been cut when one of  the guests is found dead. As a storm unleashes its fury on the island, everyone is trapped.

All have a secret. All have a motive.
One guest won’t leave the wedding alive…

MY REVIEW:

“It feels personal this storm. It feels as though it has saved all its fury for them.”

The scene is set for the perfect wedding for the perfect couple. It is the first wedding to be hosted on the remote island and the wedding planner hopes it will help silence the whispers about ghosts and launch it instead as sought-after wedding venue. But things don’t go to plan. As a storm rages on the evening of the wedding, a waitress runs into the marquee screaming that there’s a body outside. The story then gradually unfolds in dual timelines over the course of two days, as secrets are revealed, relationships unravel and someone takes their revenge…

This book was SPECTACULAR. I was transfixed from start to finish, and by the end I was completely shook. I am in awe of the author’s talent and her ability to weave such a tangled web of inextricably linked characters and plot lines in this enthralling mystery. You are left wondering which of the rich and distinct characters could be victim or killer and why it has happened. I had so many questions and theories swimming in my head that shifted as things slowly coalesced. 

The setting of the book is vital to its whole tone. The remote island, the whispered tales of ghosts and the bleak weather all come together to create a sense of isolation and hopelessness. The guests are unable to escape each other or the island, and find themselves at the mercy of the increasingly toxic atmosphere and the storm brewing both inside and outside the folly. 

The Guest List is a sinister, suspicious, captivating and unexpected page-turner. A wonderfully twisty whodunit that reels you in and spits you out when it’s finished with you, this is the perfect read for anyone who enjoys mysteries and thrillers. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lucy Foley studied English Literature at Durham and UCL universities and worked for several years as a fiction editor in the publishing industry, before leaving to write full-time. The Hunting Party, an instant Sunday Times and Irish Times no. 1 bestseller, was Lucy’s debut crime novel, inspired by a particular remote spot in Scotland that fired her imagination. Lucy is also the author of three historical novels which have been translated into sixteen languages. Her journalism has appeared in ES Magazine, Sunday Times Style, Grazia and more.

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Beast (Six Stories #4) by Matt Wesolowski ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Publisher: Orenda
Published: February 6th, 2020
Format: Paperback, Kindle
Genre: Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Horror, Crime Fiction, Coming-of-Age Fiction.

Welcome to my spot on the blog tour for this dark and thrilling book. Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for the invitation to take part and to Karen at Orenda for the eBook ARC.

SYNOPSIS:

Elusive online journalist Scott King examines the chilling case of a young vlogger found frozen to death in the legendary local ‘vampire tower’, in another explosive episode of Six Stories…

In the wake of the ‘Beast from the East’ cold snap that ravaged the UK in 2018, a grisly discovery was made in a ruin on the Northumbrian coast. Twenty-four-year-old vlogger, Elizabeth Barton, had been barricaded inside what locals refer to as ‘The Vampire Tower’, where she was later found frozen to death.

Three young men, part of an alleged ‘cult’, were convicted of this terrible crime, which they described as a ‘prank gone wrong’. However, in the small town of Ergarth, questions have been raised about the nature of Elizabeth Barton’s death and whether the convicted youths were even responsible.

Elusive online journalist Scott King speaks to six witnesses – people who knew both the victim and the three killers – to peer beneath the surface of the case. He uncovers whispers of a shocking online craze that held the young of Ergarth in its thrall and drove them to escalate a series of pranks in the name of internet fame. He hears of an abattoir on the edge of town, which held more than simple slaughter behind its walls, the tragic and chilling legend of the ‘Ergarth Vampire’….

Both a compulsive, taut and terrifying thriller, and a bleak and distressing look at modern society’s desperation for attention, Beast will unveil darkness from which you may never return…

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MY REVIEW:

Beast is a chilling, captivating and suspenseful story told by an original voice in a fresh and creative way. It is a story of the search for the truth of a young girl’s brutal murder that lies hidden behind the differing perspectives of those who knew her. It is an exploration of internet culture, the obsession with becoming internet famous and what motivates three young men to murder a popular young woman without apparent reason.

Elizabeth Barton was a YouTube star on the rise and the darling of Ergarth, a bleak, rundown town on the Northumrian coast. Her brutal murder left the town stunned. But could there be more to Elizabeth and her death that has been reported? In his podcast, Six Stories, online journalist Scott King attempts to find the answer to this and other questions surrounding the crime by talking to those who knew those involved best of all.

I loved the podcast format of this book. It’s the first time I’ve read anything like it and as a true crime buff it is exactly the kind of thing I listen to. I loved how realistic it felt, like I was actually listening to the interviews and commentary. The different perspectives provided a unique and fascinating look at the crime and the effects on those left behind, as well as helping to slowly reveal the pieces of the puzzle King was trying to solve. Wesolowski’s writing was absorbing, atmospheric and descriptive; demanding your attention and pulling you in. The eerie legend of the Vampire Tower and the Ergarth Vampire permeate the pages and provide an air of spine-tingling unease. 

We only get a first person glimpse of Elizabeth in the YouTube videos she posted leading up to her death. It’s clear she’s  on in these videos; being the person she wants the world to see. But is it the real her? Everyone in town loved Elizabeth. She was popular, kind and known for her philanthropy. Girl wanted to be her, and boys wanted to be with her. But as he digs deeper King learns there is another story, things she made sure was hidden from the world that didn’t fit the image she was trying to maintain. But we aren’t sure which is real and the more we learn the more the mystery deepens. I liked that Scott was so elusive in this book. Though he’s there throughout we don’t know a lot about him and I found that helped me focus on the story he was trying to tell. The book does hint at things about him being revealed in a previous book, but it’s a passing comment here or there and didn’t affect my enjoyment or understanding of the story. It just made me even more eager to read the other books in the series.

The Six Stories series is one I’ve been meaning to read for a while after seeing a lot of praise for it online and I’m glad I’ve finally read a book by this marvelous author. Spectacularly written, chilling, cryptic, ominous and unpredictable, this is a book that will stay with you for all the right reasons. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor for young people in care. Matt started his writing career in horror, and his short horror fiction has been published in numerous UK and US based anthologies such as Midnight Movie Creature, Selfies from the End of the World, Cold Iron and many more. His novella, The Black Land, a horror set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. His debut thriller, Six Stories, was an Amazon bestseller in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, and a WHSmith Fresh Talent pick, and film rights were sold to a major Hollywood studio. A prequel, Hydra, was published in 2018 and became an international bestseller. Changeling, book three in the series, was published in 2019 and was longlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year and shortlisted for Capital Crime’s Amazon Publishing Reader Awards in two categories: Best Thriller and Best Independent Voice.

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Never Look Back by A. L. Gaylin ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

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Publisher: Orion
Published: February 6th, 2020
Format: Paperback, Kindle
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Mystery, Suspense

Today is my stop on the blog tour for this fantastic thriller. Thank you to Tracy at Compulsive Readers for the invitation to take part and to Orion for the gifted copy of the novel.

SYNOPSIS:

She was the most brutal killer of our time. And she may have been my mother…

When website columnist Robin Diamond is contacted by true crime podcast producer Quentin Garrison, she assumes it’s a business matter. It’s not. Quentin’s podcast, Closure, focuses on a series of murders in the 1970s, committed by teen couple April Cooper and Gabriel LeRoy. It seems that Quentin has reason to believe Robin’s own mother may be intimately connected with the killings.

Robin thinks Quentin’s claim is absurd. But is it? The more she researches the Cooper/LeRoy murders herself, the more disturbed she becomes by what she finds. Living just a few blocks from her, Robin’s beloved parents are the one absolute she’s always been able to rely upon, especially now amid rising doubts about her husband from internet trolls. Robin knows her mother better than anyone.

But then her parents are brutally attacked, and Robin realises she doesn’t know the truth at all…

MY REVIEW:

Wow! This was a roller-coaster ride that I didn’t want to end. Multiple plot lines and characters were woven together like an intricate patchwork quilt in this complex, thrilling and addictive read. 

In letters to her future daughter, infamous murderer April Cooper reveals what really happened in the summer of 1976, when she and her boyfriend, Gabriel LeRoy, better known as the Inland Empire Killers, embarked on a murder spree that terrorised their town before finally perishing in a fire. In the present day, Quentin Garrison is working on his new podcast Closure, telling the story of his family connection to the case and how the couple’s actions have impacted survivors and their families. When he contacts journalist Robin Diamond and tells her he has reason to believe her mother Renee is connected to the killings, she dismisses the idea as preposterous. But then her parents are attacked in their homes and she realises she doesn’t know her mother as well as she thought. Could her mother know something about what happened forty years ago? Both determined to get to the truth, we follow as it is slowly unveiled and lives are changed forever.

The mystery of April Cooper, her true role in the murders and if she survived the fire that supposedly killed her is the heartbeat of this story. She is an enigmatic, vivid character who looms large on every page. Through her secret letters, which were my favourite part of the book, we were offered an insight into who she was and the truth behind the lurid, sensationalist headlines and local lore. I had a real soft spot for her, even in the moments she wasn’t likeable and I was desperate to find out what had really happened to her. 

I devoured this book and knew it was one I’d love from the first page. When I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about reading it. I loved that I couldn’t figure it out, vacillating so many times in my suspicions. While I was right about some things, there was a lot I never would have thought of in a million years. On the surface it seemed a simple storyline but it morphed into something unexpected, something much more complex and inextricably linked than I imagined. The shocking revelations had my jaw on the floor and at one point in my notes I wrote “F***!! This is mental!” The twists came so fast at one point I thought I was going to get book whiplash. I’m in awe of the intricate plots that authors create and, while it would be kind of terrifying, I’d love to get a look inside their brain to find out how on earth they think of them. 

Never Look Back is a first class psychological thriller. The plot is nuanced and peppered with clues and red herrings that keep you on your toes until the last pages. It is a story about family, long-held secrets and the ripple effect caused by trauma. It is a search for the truth that shatters people’s lives while giving others a chance at redemption. 

Compelling, tense, atmospheric, deliciously suspicious and utterly brilliant I would recommend this book to any thriller lover. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Alison Gaylin’s debut book was nominated for an Edgar Award in the Best First Novel category. A graduate of Northwestern University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Alison lives with her husband and daughter in upstate New York.

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Never Look Back MMP Blog Tour

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The Alibi Girl by C.J. Skuse ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

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Publisher: HQ
Published: February 6th, 2020
Format: Paperback, Kindle
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Dark Comedy, Coming-of-Age Fiction

Welcome to my spot on the blog tour for this fantastic thriller. Thank you to HQ for the invitation to take part and the gifted copy of this novel.

SYNOPSIS:

JOANNE HAYNES HAS A SECRET.
THAT IS NOT HER REAL NAME.

And there’s more. Her flat isn’t hers. Her cats aren’t even hers. Even her hair isn’t really hers.

Nor is she any of the other women she pretends to be. Not the bestselling romance novelist who gets her morning snack from the doughnut van on the seafront. Nor the pregnant woman in the dental surgery. Nor the chemo patient in the supermarket for whom the cashier feels every so sorry. They’re all just alibis.

In fact, the only thing that’s real about Joanne is that nobody can know who she really is. 

But someone has got too close. It looks like her alibis have begun to run out…

MY REVIEW:

Absolutely, bloody brilliant! I tore through this book in under a day. The word ‘unputdownable’ couldn’t be more appropriate than when talking about books written by C.J. Skuse. Riveting, addictive and full of Skuse’s trademark dark humour, this was a joyous read despite the subject matter. 

Ellis has a variety of aliases which change depending on who she’s talking to; Genevive who cleans rooms at a local hotel, single mum Joanne living in a dingy flat, doctor Mary who has just given birth to her fifth child with her gorgeous husband, Charlotte the famous novelist, a cancer patient and bride-to-be. No one knows her real name apart from Scants as it’s too dangerous for them to know. But Ellis is sure she’s being followed, that the people she’s running from have found her and her time is running out. 

Skuse has a flare for turning unlikable characters into ones you take to your heart. She did it with Rhiannon in the Sweetpea series, and she has done it again with the protagonist in this book. Ellis is a compulsive liar, the girl who cries wolf. She doesn’t like or trust adults, preferring the company of children and is very child-like in her own behaviour. In dual timelines Ellis’ story is slowly revealed and we learn why she has to hide, why she invents a multitude of identities to live in and why her innocence seems so sad. It’s a harrowing and heartbreaking tale, and by the end of the book I wanted to reach through the pages and give her a big hug. 

I love the raw honesty and dark, cutting humour she brings to her prose. There’s nothing else like it out there and it’s made her one of my must-read authors. The story is intriguing, keeping me guessing throughout, and with plenty of twists to keep you on your toes. I did guess most things right but there were turns the author took I wasn’t expecting but I loved as it increased the mystery and intrigue.  

The Alibi Girl is an entertaining, emotional, complex and refreshing read. It is a perfect mix of mystery, thriller and dark comedy that was just what I needed after some heavy books. I can’t recommend this book, and this author, highly enough.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

C.J. Skuse is the author of the Young Adult novels Pretty Bad Things, Rockoholic, Dead Romantic (Chicken House), Monster and The Deviants. She has recently written the adult crime novels Sweetpea and its sequel for HQ/HarperCollins. C.J. was born in 1980 in Weston-super-Mare, England and has First Class degrees in Creative Writing and Writing for Children and, aside from writing novels, lectures in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University. 

C.J. loves Masterchef, Gummy Bears and graveyards. She hates hard-boiled eggs, going to the dentist and coughing. The movies Titanic, My Best Friend’s Wedding and Ruby Sparks were all probably based on her ideas – she just didn’t get to write them down in time. Before she dies, she would like to go to Japan, try clay-pigeon shooting and have Tom Hardy present her with the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

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Blog Tours book reviews

Little White Lies by Philippa East ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

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Publisher: HQ
Published: February 6th, 2020
Format: Paperback, Kindle
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Coming-of-Age Fiction
Trigger Warnings: Abuse, Trauma 

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for this debut thriller. Thank you to HQ for the invitation to take part and the gifted copy of the novel.

SYNOPSIS:

She only looked away for a second…

Annie White only looked away for a second, but that’s all it took to lose sight of her young daughter.

But seven years later, Abigail is found.

And as Anne struggles to connect with her teenage daughter, she begins to question how much Abigail remembers about the day she disappeared….

Addictive, edge-of-your-seat, dark women’s fiction perfect for fans of Heidi Perks, Sophie Hannah and Lisa Jewell.

 

MY REVIEW:

“It was when it was over that all the rest began, all that led up to that night on the bridge. When I had to account for everything I had done. And, ultimately, everything I had not.”

Seven years after Abigail White went missing at a London tube station she walks into a police station gripping the hand of a young girl. When her mother receives the call to say her fifteen-year-old daughter has been found, her joy is tinged with dread. Anne has been keeping a dreadful secret since that day, one that she has lived in fear of being revealed while also desperately doing all she can to find her child. Will her daughter remember what she did that day? Or will she return home without the truth shattering her family even more?

This one had me intrigued from the start. It started slowly, beginning on the day that Abigail is returning home, and gradually pulled me in, picking up pace until I was gripped by the heart-pounding tension and sizzling fear as more of the story was revealed. At the heart of this book is  a story about family. The two sisters and their families have always been incredibly clo and her sister Lillian had their daughters Abigail and Jess just two weeks apart and they were more like twins than cousins. The two families have remained close since Abigail’s abduction, a relationship that is an integral part of the story. 

In this book the author has The author has used her expertise as a psychologist and therapist to illuminate the complexities of the ‘joyful’ homecoming of a kidnapped child after many years: the fear alongside the relief and happiness, the disconnect between the child and their parents, the adjustments that are needed and the effects of trauma not only on the child, but their extended family. She also highlights how hard it might be for a child to trust their parents after they failed to protect them and their inner battle regarding their affection and fear for their captor and not knowing if all they’ve believed for so many years is actually true. My heart broke for this fractured family as I watched them try to piece themselves back together. The disconnect between Anne and Abigail was particularly palpable and tragic; she’s waited so long to her her child back and now doesn’t know how to be with her. This is compounded by her fear of what Abigail remembers and the guilt she’s carrying for whatever she did that day, but I wanted to reach through the pages and tell her to just hold her daughter. The author also highlighted the stunted personal growth Abigail would have gone through and used small details to show this. 

Though there are male characters in the book it did feel like a story dominated by female characters and it was they who were the most richly drawn. All of them were well-intentioned but flawed. I liked that Abigail wasn’t the stereotypical child that’s just thrilled to be home and happy now she’s free.. She’s quiet, distant, surly, evasive, and scared. She’s endured unspeakable horrors and is reluctant to share what she’s been told by her captor. She slowly reveals little morsels, usually to Jess, and a picture gradually emerges of just how much he messed with her mind and hurt her emotionally. Obviously there’s a lot of sympathy for her, but the menacing undercurrent to her character and ambiguity of whether or not she’s causing harm made her all the more interesting to read. 

Little White Lies is an emotional, twist-filled story. The author had a skill for making you think you can relax after a revelation only to leave you stunned with yet another heart-pounding twist that has you reading so fast the words almost blur. As the story progressed the author threw in a number of curveballs to throw us off the scent regarding Anne’s secret. I had a few theories about it, and about the man who’d taken Abigail, but I was so wrong. When the truth was finally revealed my jaw was on the floor. 

A sizzling debut that you don’t want to miss. A perfect read for anyone who loves a good, twisty thriller.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Philippa East works as a Clinical Psychologist and therapist. She lives in Lincolnshire with her husband and cat. Philippa’s prize-winning short stories have been published in various literary journals and Little White Lies is her debut novel.

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