Tag: suspense

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Dark Corners by Darren O’Sullivan ⭐⭐⭐.5

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Published: April 2nd, 2020
Pubisher: HQ
Format: Paperback, Kindle
Genre: Mystery, Suspense

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

SYNOPSIS:

You thought you’d escaped your past

It’s been twenty years since Neve’s best friend Chloe went missing. Neve has never recovered and promised herself she’d never go back to that place.

But secrets can come back to haunt you

When Neve receives news that her first boyfriend Jamie has gone missing, she’s forced to return. Jamie has vanished without a trace in a disappearance that echoes the events of all those years ago. Somebody is watching and will stop at nothing until the truth about what took place that night is revealed …

MY REVIEW:

“One way or another, secrets were debts that had to be paid.”

Dark Corners is an eerie, mysterious and gripping thriller that had me hooked from the first page. It is a story about friendships, secrets, lies and revenge. How we can run from the past but it will always catch up with you.

Neve Chambers left the small mining village where she was born and raised after the disappearance of her best friend, Chloe, and has tried not to look back. But when an old friend gets in touch to tell her that Jamie, her first love, is now missing, she feels she has no choice but to go back. Returning to the claustrophobic village, she immediately feels everyone’s eyes on her and the whispered rumours resume. As she reconnects with the friends she left behind and searches for Jamie the evidence seems to suggest that his disappearance is connected to Chloe’s, forcing Neve to confront the part she played in events twenty-one years ago.

The story is told in dual timelines. In flashbacks we go back to the summer of 1998, when Neve and her six friends are hanging out and celebrating the end of their exams, unaware that before the summer ends one of them will vanish and the rest of them will see their lives changed forever. The flashbacks made the book feel part coming-of-age story, which I enjoyed, and felt authentic, bringing back memories of my own teenage years with friends in the late nineties, when we would hang out with just a curfew and there were no mobile phones and social media. I loved that these flashbacks gave  the reader a sense of why Neve was so anxious about returning to the village while also providing a dual sense of mystery alongside what had happened to Jamie.

In the present day we follow Neve as she returns to the village and searches for Jamie, finding herself embroiled deeper in mystery and danger than she’d anticipated as it seems The Drifter, a mysterious man the friends saw near the mine when Chloe vanished, is back and taking his revenge on those who saw him all those years ago. The author did a great job of keeping the reader guessing and I was totally at a loss as to who The Drifter might be or what had happened to Chloe and Jamie. 

The atmospheric, chilling, ghostly and claustrophobic small mining village was the perfect setting for the story, adding extra layers to the mystery and foreboding and casting its shadow over all who live there. The dual disappearances and timelines were easy to follow and as the tension was raised in the flashbacks, you could feel it increasing in the present day too as like Neve you became suspicious of everyone and didn’t know who to trust. 

Dark Corners is a twisty, intriguing and cryptic thriller that I devoured in just a few hours. Cleverly written, it is filled with twists and turns that keep you guessing right up until the jaw-dropping finale. A great read for anyone who enjoys this genre. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Darren O’Sullivan is the author of #1 bestsellers, Our Little Secrets, Close Your Eyes and Closer Than You Think. His latest, Dark Corners is coming April 2020.

When Darren isn’t writing, he is usually rolling around on the floor, pretending to be a pirate with his 4 year old.

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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 Memory Wood by Sam Lloyd ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Published: February 20th, 2020
Publisher: Bantam Press
Format: Hardcover, Kindle
Genre: Thriller, Suspense

Today is my spot on the blog tour for this sensational debut. Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for the invitation to take part and to Bantam Press for the gifted copy of this book.

SYNOPSIS:

Elijah has lived in the Memory Wood for as long as he can remember. It’s the only home he’s ever known.

Elissa has only just arrived. And she’ll do everything she can to escape.

When Elijah stumbles across thirteen-year-old Elissa, in the woods where her abductor is hiding her, he refuses to alert the police. Because in his twelve years, Elijah has never had a proper friend. And he doesn’t want Elissa to leave.

Not only that, Elijah knows how this can end. After all, Elissa isn’t the first girl he’s found inside the Memory Wood.

As her abductor’s behaviour grows more erratic, Elissa realises that outwitting strange, lonely Elijah is her only hope of survival. Their cat-and-mouse game of deception and betrayal will determine both their fates, and whether either of them will ever leave the Memory Wood . . .

MY REVIEW:

This exciting, compelling, daring and clever debut is without a doubt my book of the month. Atmospheric and creepy, it reads like a modern-day Grimm’s fairytale; full of jaw-dropping twists and keeping you on tenterhooks from start to finish.

13-year-old chess prodigy Elissa is abducted from a tournament in Bournemouth, waking to find herself imprisoned in a cellar in the “Memory Wood.”  She is soon visited by Elijah, a strange 12-year-old boy who claims to want to help but won’t go to the police or help her escape. He just wants a friend, and though he unnerves her, Elissa recognises that he could be her only means of escape. Will she be able to convince Elijah to help her return to her family? Or will she suffer the fate of his other friends that once lived below the Memory Wood?

Utterly mind-blowing and brilliant, it seems impossible that this is the author’s first novel. The exquisite, immersive prose and tangled web of intricate twists and turns had me transfixed. Not a single word was wasted and I devoured this book, desperate for answers and to learn the fate of our young narrators. 

Elissa and Elijah couldn’t be more different: Elissa is a warrior; the young prodigy uses her high intelligence, knowledge of the game, love of puzzles and trivia and tremendous courage to try and escape her captors. Though he says he is on her side, she realises she must tread carefully with Elijah and use his innocence and isolated upbringing against him, while also appearing to trust him as her friend. Elijah is a tragic but menacing soul. There’s something off about him from the start, and it’s not just that he doesn’t want to help an abducted girl escape. It’s the little clues he gives to his past, how he hides in the shadows, and how he can change from one moment to the next. I had my suspicions about him that were ultimately proven right, but with an almighty twist that shook me to the core. Running throughout the book is a captivating power struggle between the pair, where each is playing their own game in a bid to win and survive. 

The Memory Wood is an astonishing debut that crackles with tension from start to finish. Addictive, eerie and jaw-dropping, you won’t be able to put this book down. If you pick up just one book I’ve read this month then make sure it’s this one. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Sam Lloyd grew up in Hampshire, making up stories and building secret hideaways in his local woods.
These days he lives in Surrey with his wife, three young sons and a dog that likes to howl. He enjoys craft
beer, strong coffee and (rarely) a little silence. The Memory Wood is his debut thriller.

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The Snakes by Sadie Jones ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Published: February 20th, 2020
Publisher: Vintage
Format: Paperback
Genre: Thrillers, Suspense, Literary Fiction

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Snakes. Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for the invitation to take part and to Vintage for the gifted copy of the book.

SYNOPSIS:

Family secrets can be deadly…

Newly-weds Dan and Bea decide to escape London. Driving through France in their beaten-up car they anticipate a long lazy summer, worlds away from their ordinary lives.

But their idyll cannot last. Stopping off to see Bea’s brother at his crumbling hotel, the trio are joined unexpectedly by Bea’s ultra-wealthy parents. Dan has never understood Bea’s deep discomfort around them but living together in such close proximity he begins to sense something is very wrong.

Just as tensions reach breaking point, brutal tragedy strikes, exposing decades of secrets and silence that threaten to destroy them all.

‘A twisty delight of a novel, a cracking page-turner that has much to say about modern life and our attempts to find a way to navigate it, no matter where we come from’ Cathy Rentzenbrink

MY REVIEW:

“You’d swear you could see it, in the cracks in the pavements and the bricks in the walls; violence and grief.”

Bea and her husband Dan have decided to take a three month break from their lives in London to go travelling. Beginning in France, they stop at the hotel owned by Bea’s older brother, Alex. When they arrive they find the hotel is rundown and unfit for business, but Bea insists they stay. When Bea’s parents join them unexpectedly a few days later, the visit isn’t welcome. Bea has an animosity towards them that Dan doesn’t understand, insisting she doesn’t want them in their lives, but saying she can’t leave Alex alone to deal with them. Over the coming days, the couple’s dream of an idyllic break away from everything crumbles as old secrets and resentments resurface and tragedy strikes.

Narrated by newlyweds Bea and Dan, she has never told him the full story about her parents. He doesn’t know why she wants nothing  to do with them or that they aren’t just well off and are part of the elite 1%. Bea is a paragon of morality and virtue – she works with vulnerable people, volunteers with charities, wants to save the planet and is a big believer in justice. She sees things in black or white and refuses to compromise on her morals – something Dan admires but her father mocks her for. Being around her family again means Bea must face that she harbours a deep rage and wrath towards them for their transgressions, things she can’t forgive but also refuses to share with Dan, leaving him confused and driving a wedge between them as he sees two very different people to those his wife sees, not understanding her deep resentments and inability to forgive.  

The Snakes is a story about temptation, power, morality and forgiveness. It is a story about a toxic family and dark secrets that explores moral dilemmas and the consequences of the characters’ actions on those around them. It was dark, intriguing and unexpected, keeping me guessing right until the final page. While it didn’t have the heart-pounding tension you find in some thrillers, it was full of a subdued suspicion that was compulsive. The tragedy that strikes the family and search for truth and justice that unfolds is secondary to the story about the family itself. 

I hadn’t seen a lot of reviews for this book before reading but I had heard that it was a marmite book, with some people not taking to the format and others loving it. Well, I’m one of the strange ones who has mixed feelings about marmite, and that’s kind of how I felt about this book, which was a very different novel from the one I was expecting. The Snakes is a compelling, well-written and readable novel with a shocking and abrupt conclusion that lingers.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Sadie Jones is a screenwriter and a #1 Sunday Times bestselling author. Her first novel, The Outcast won the Costa First Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. It was also a Richard and Judy Summer Reads number one bestseller and adapted for BBC Television. Sadie also wrote: Small Wars (2009), The Uninvited Guests (2012) and Fallout (2014). Her fifth novel, The Snakes, was listed as ‘March book of the month’ in The Bookseller.

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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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The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Published: February 6th, 2020
Publisher: Trapeze
Format: Hardcover, Kindle
Genre: Mystery, Suspense

Today is my stop on the blog tour for this exhilarating debut. Thank you to Tracy at Compulsive Readers for the invitation to take part, and Trapeze and NetGalley for the eBook ARC.

SYNOPSIS:

Things will never be the same again…

Ben is driving on the motorway, on his usual commute to the school where he works.

A day like any other, except for Adam, who in a last despairing act jumps in front of Ben’s car, and in killing himself, turns the teacher’s world upside down.

Wracked with guilt and desperate to clear his conscience, Ben develops a friendship with Alice, Adam’s widow, and her 7-year-old son Max.

But as he tries to escape the trauma of the wreckage, could Ben go too far in trying to make amends?

Gripping and sinister, The Wreckage is guaranteed to keep you up all night….

MY REVIEW:

Wow! What an exhilarating and breathtaking rollercoaster ride this was. The Wreckage is an utterly gripping debut. Cleverly crafted, perfectly paced and full of heart-stopping tension, I devoured this book, unable to put it down and staying up to the early hours until my eyes betrayed me and I had to sleep.

The two protagonists are flawed and fractured characters, but that is where the similarities end. Their approach to life and how they deal with trauma is vastly different and were fascinating to observe. Ben is immediately shaken by the accident and struggles to cope with the knowledge that he’s killed a man. An already anxious person, it plunges him deeper into his anxiety and brings on a depression that he can’t seem to climb out of. When he decides to visit Adam’s family it’s as a form of restitution, to try and make amends for what he’s done. He’s a sensitive, kind soul who falls apart easily and is very concerned with how others see him. I could relate to his anxiety and felt a great amount of sympathy for him. Alice is a different kettle of fish. She’s stoic, spiky, pragmatic and resilient. She doesn’t seem to care what others think and can come across as unemotional at times. I soon warmed to her though, especially her often scathing observations that made me chuckle, especially when they were at such odds with the tragedy or seriousness of a situation. They both go on an emotional journey over the course of the book and I enjoyed seeing how they changed and the way it affected my feelings for them, with my sympathies drastically changing by the end of the book.

As Ben and Alice became closer, it was clear that he thought there was more to their relationship and had deeper feelings than she did. As his feelings grow he also begins to lose control and things start to take a more sinister turn. We see a different side to him as  he becomes obsessive, menacing and unhinged. The atmosphere was ionised as his behaviour became increasingly unpredictable and frightening. 

The Wreckage is an outstanding page-turner from a sensational new talent. It’s a story that has tension running through its veins, the pulse beating more rapidly over its course until we reach an electrifying crescendo and an ending that gave me chills. If you enjoy well-written, exciting thrillers, then do yourself a favour and read this book. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Born in London in 1987, Robin Morgan-Bentley has been making up stories since he was very little. After graduating from Cambridge University with a First Class degree in Modern and Medieval Languages, he worked at Google in London, Madrid and New York.

Since 2014, he has worked with authors and actors at Audible. For the Audible Sessions podcast, he has interviewed many thriller writers, and it was his conversations with them that inspired him to start writing his stories down. Robin lives in north London with his husband, Pauly.

Robin’s debut psychological thriller, The Wreckage, will be released on February 6th 2020.

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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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Blog Tours book reviews

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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