Blog tour: 4 to 11 August 2021

Synopsis

The wounds you can’t see take the longest to heal …

In an isolated cottage on the banks of a Scottish loch, a reclusive couple take on a new live-in carer.

As Lucy gets to know her employers, she realises the house and the people in it aren’t what they seem. Is the house haunted or is something far more sinister living within the walls?

As secrets and lies begin to unravel, Lucy starts to question what is real. But one thing seems certain, if scars cannot heal, people will never forgive …

My review

Scars begins in 2008 with a terrifying scene involving several women, then we skip forward in time and meet Lucy, who is starting a new job as a live-in carer for a reclusive couple, Diana and Richard Davenport, at Willow Cottage, which is located near a remote Scottish loch on the west coast of Scotland. Lucy will be looking after Richard and preparing meals and doing other household tasks.

Diana, an artist, is in her late sixties and her husband is a similar age and was an even more successful artist. The couple were both badly injured in a nasty car accident in London and Richard has been left in a wheelchair in a vegetative state and can’t communicate or respond and Diana has bad scarring on her face and suffers bad pain from her injuries.

We meet a local man called Mylo, who brings food supplies to the cottage, delivers mail and does other odd jobs like gardening. He shows Lucy around the area on his boat and seems friendly, if slightly troubled.

As Lucy gets to know her introverted and eccentric employer, Diana, she learns more about the couple’s pasts, their daughter and about the dreadful events that have happened recently in the house. Diana is addicted to painkillers and sleeping pills and drinks far too much alcohol. Her mental health deteriorates and she stops painting and she imagines things and becomes convinced that the house is haunted.

Diana’s behaviour gets more erratic and her drinking and pill popping get even worse and she doesn’t look after herself properly, let alone her husband. Lucy struggles to care for Diana as well as Richard and she has to call for help on several occasions as the situation worsens and she becomes concerned for her own safety.

The story is told from Lucy and Diana’s points of view, with the odd flashback to the past, and it’s fascinating to read how differently the women see the same events. Neither of them was very likeable. Diana, in particular, is cold and aloof and rather mean to Lucy, who is doing her best to look after the couple in rather difficult circumstances, in a remote and isolated location with no modern communications!

Overall, I really enjoyed this dark, tense and twisty thriller. It was chilling, disturbing and kept me gripped throughout and I was never quite sure which way it was going – all kinds of theories were running through my head and I had suspicions about several characters! Everyone seemed to be hiding things and they were all rather flawed characters, who were untrustworthy and unreliable narrators with lots of secrets.

I’m not usually a fan of ghostly supernatural stories but it worked well in this case and the creepy cottage and the beautiful but isolated rural setting combined well to create an eerie and unsettling gothic read.

The title of the novel is perfect – the main characters were all scarred, both physically and mentally, and it was intriguing to find out more about them as the cleverly plotted story progressed and elements were revealed.

This is the first book of the author’s that I’ve read but I’m now keen to read Damaged and Girl A.

Buy the book

Scars by Dan Scottow can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks. See also Ethical Book Search.

About the author

Dan Scottow grew up in Hertfordshire before moving to London in his early twenties. After more than 10 years living there, he decided enough was enough, and packed his bags for Scotland in search of a more peaceful life.

Dan works as a graphic designer, but dreams of the day he can give it up and write full time.

Besides writing, he enjoys painting, watching a good scary film, travelling the world, good food, long walks on the beach with his dogs, and of course, reading a great book.

Dan’s psychological thrillers, Damaged and Girl A, are out now, and available to buy or download.

Twitter: @DanScottow
Facebook: @danscottowauthor

Thanks

Thanks to Dan Scottow for my digital copy of Scars and for my place on the blog tour.

Blog tour: 29 July to 6 August 2021

Synopsis

What was it like? Living in that house.

Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into a rambling Victorian estate called Baneberry Hall. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a memoir called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon.

Now, Maggie has inherited Baneberry Hall after her father’s death. She was too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father’s book. But she doesn’t believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist.

But when she returns to Baneberry Hall to prepare it for sale, her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the pages of her father’s book lurk in the shadows, and locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself – a place that hints of dark deeds and unexplained happenings.

As the days pass, Maggie begins to believe that what her father wrote was more fact than fiction. That, either way, someone – or something – doesn’t want her here.

And that she might be in danger all over again …

My review

Twenty-five years ago, Maggie Holt and her family fled from Baneberry Hall, near the village of Bartleby in Vermont, after living there for just 20 days. Maggie was only five and remembers nothing of her time in the house and why they left so suddenly, fearing for their lives. Her parents, Ewan and Jess, refuse to talk about it with her but her father wrote a bestselling book called House of Horrors, which is said to be the real-life true account of their terrifying experiences.

While some people believe the book is all true, others are convinced it is all fake and Maggie, herself, thinks the truth is somewhere in between the two. The book has made Maggie notorious and has affected her whole life – she was an outcast at school and still finds that everyone is curious about what happened and she regularly gets contacted by people wanting to know more.

Ewan Holt has now died and as his sole beneficiary, since her parents’ divorce 22 years ago, Maggie discovers that she has inherited the rambling Victorian estate of Baneberry Hall, which her father never sold. She is shocked by the news but, as an interior designer, she can’t resist going to visit the house to see what state it’s in and decides to spend the summer doing it up to sell, while also searching for clues to discover once and for all what actually happened there.

The story is told from Maggie’s point of view in the present day, alternated with chapters from Ewan’s book, which was written soon after the family escaped the house. This is cleverly done and works well as we follow Maggie’s investigations as the events (real or imagined) are recounted in the book. We learn how the family came to buy the house, as well as some of its past history and then find out about the frightening events that led up to the family leaving Baneberry Hall in the dead of night and never returning.

Maggie was a good protagonist and very brave at times – she seemed to face danger head on and was determined to be fearless and she questioned everything, including the local residents! It was also really interesting to see things from her father’s point of view and learn more about him, even though he was an unreliable narrator and we weren’t sure how true to life his account of events was.

Right from the start, this novel is really creepy and eerie and makes for uncomfortable reading – there’s a strong sense of foreboding and dread and I was just waiting for terrible things to happen! It’s definitely not a book to read late at night and all alone in the house!

Baneberry Hall has a disturbing past with several deaths over the decades and as I read Home Before Dark, I kept changing my mind about what was going on and who or what was responsible. I don’t really believe in ghosts but the evidence seems indisputable as strange and unexplained things keep happening.

Overall, I really enjoyed this twisted, addictive and creepy story. It’s well written and cleverly plotted with lots of suspense and so many freaky occurrences! It’s very atmospheric and gothic with some sinister characters (both real and ghostly). The setting is brilliant and I could just picture the house, its various rooms and the surroundings and the nearby village with a horrible motel.

At first, I thought this book was going to take me ages to read as it’s nearly 400 pages and the font is quite small but it’s a compelling read and I raced through it in a couple of days and was thoroughly gripped by this scary and chilling tale.

I’ve already read Lock Every Door but will definitely be checking out the author’s other books, Final Girls and Last Time I Lied, very soon! And I’m already looking forward to Survive the Night, which sounds brilliant!

Buy the book

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks. See also Ethical Book Search.

About the author

Riley Sager is the pseudonym of a former journalist, editor and graphic designer who previously published mysteries under his real name.

Now a full-time author, Riley’s first thriller, Final Girls, was a national and international bestseller that has been sold in 25 languages. A film version is being developed by Universal Pictures and Anonymous Content.

A native of Pennsylvania, he now lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

Twitter: @riley_sager
Facebook: @rileysagerbooks
Instagram: @riley.sager
Website: https://www.rileysagerbooks.com

Blog tour

Thanks to Niamh Anderson at Hodder & Stoughton for my paperback copy of Home Before Dark and for my place on the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.

Blog tour: 26 July to 4 August 2021

Synopsis

Once upon a time there was a red wolf. But this is no fairy tale. He was a killer.

A convicted murderer with a story to tell
Serial killer Michael Reave – known as The Red Wolf – has been locked in Belmarsh Prison for over 20 years for the brutal and ritualistic murders of countless women.

A grieving daughter with a secret to unearth
Ex-journalist Heather Evans returns to her childhood home after her mother’s inexplicable suicide and discovers something chilling – hundreds of letters between her mother and Reave, dating back decades.

A hunt for a killer ready to strike again
When the body of a woman is found decorated with flowers, just like his victims, Reave is the only person alive who could help. After years of silence, he will speak to Heather, and only Heather.

If she wants to unearth the truth and stop further bloodshed, she’ll have to confront a monster.

My review

After the unexpected death of her estranged mother, former journalist Heather Evans heads to her old family home in Balesford to sort out Colleen’s belongings and finalise the funeral arrangements. The pair haven’t been close for years, since her father’s death, but Heather is shocked by her mother’s suicide and the strange note that she left behind and hopes to discover some clues in the house that will give her an idea about Colleen’s mental state in the weeks before her death.

The house is eerie and it feels like there’s a presence inside with various strange things happening. Her mother’s friend, Lilian, from up the road is a bit odd, despite kindly popping in with a stew. Luckily, Heather has an old friend, Nikki Appiah, who gets in touch again and the pair meet up for a drink.

While sorting paperwork in the attic, Heather is surprised to discover an old biscuit tin containing two bundles of letters between her mother and a man called Michael Reave who was in prison. The letters go back decades, including the early years of her parents’ marriage. Heather searches on the internet and is horrified to discover that Reave is still in Belmarsh prison and is a convicted serial killer, nicknamed The Red Wolf, who was responsible for the murder of five women in Lancashire and Manchester, and possibly many others too.

When Heather confesses to her friend about the letters she’s found, Nikki tells her that, shockingly, there have been some similar murders recently and women have been found dead and laid out in the same intricate way as Reave used to, using flowers and plants. Either a copycat killer is at large or Reave wasn’t responsible for the original crimes. Or perhaps he had an accomplice?

Heather phones the police and talks to DI Ben Parker about the letters and he’s very interested in Colleen’s correspondence and connection with Reave, especially in light of recent events. The police speak to Reave, who is keen to meet up with Heather when he learns that she is Colleen’s daughter.

It doesn’t make sense that Colleen would have corresponded with such a man and Heather agrees to talk to Reave. The meetings between them are very tense and there’s a lot unsaid between the two of them. I felt scared for Heather, her safety and mental health. At times, the tension is unbearable as Michael appears to be on the brink of confessing secrets to Heather, before distracting her with creepy Grimm’s fairy tales and changing the subject. He seems to enjoy the attention and likes manipulating the conversation and teasing her. It feels like he is in control throughout and he’s toying with Heather.

As she continues to meet up with Reave and learns more about her mother’s past, Heather can’t resist using her journalism skills to dig deeper and try to discover what’s going on. Is she putting herself in real danger? Will she be the next victim of the serial killer?

Overall, I really enjoyed this dark, creepy and disturbing serial killer crime thriller, which was cleverly plotted, well written and had great tension. It kept me gripped throughout and I was fully absorbed in the storyline and desperate to find out what was going on! It was an unsettling and, at times, grisly read and I felt on edge throughout, just waiting for something awful to happen!

Heather is a rather intriguing character – she was brave but also foolhardy and was also hiding some secrets. I liked the way she was determined to speak to Reave and learn more about her mother’s past, even if she wasn’t really sure that she wanted to know the truth! Reave was also a compelling character – despite his obvious flaws and appalling crimes, I was curious to learn more about him and his childhood.

This was an excellent and well-crafted story, with lots of twists and turns, and some unusual elements that made it different from your usual thriller. Not being much of a fantasy fan, I haven’t read any of the author’s previous books but I’ll definitely look out for any other crime thrillers that she writes! It would be great if this was a series as I’d love to read more about Heather Evans and DI Ben Parker.

Buy the book

Dog Rose Dirt by Jen Williams can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in hardback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks.

About the author

Jen Williams lives in London with her partner and their small ridiculous cat. Having been a fan of grisly fairy tales from a young age, these days Jen writes dark unsettling thrillers with strong female leads, as well as character-driven fantasy novels with plenty of adventure and magic. She has twice won the British Fantasy Award for her Winnowing Flame trilogy, and when she’s not writing books she works as a bookseller and a freelance copywriter.

Twitter: @sennydreadful
Instagram: @sennydreadful19
Website: https://www.sennydreadful.co.uk

Blog tour

Thanks to Jennifer Harlow at HarperCollins for my copy of Dog Rose Dirt and to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for my place on the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.

Blog tour: 19 to 25 July 2021

Synopsis

Eliza is angry. Very angry, and very, very hot.

Late for work and dodging traffic, she’s still reeling from the latest row with husband Paddy. Twenty-something years ago, their eyes met over the class divide in oh-so-cool Britpop London, but while Paddy now seems content filling his downtime with canal boats and cricket, Eliza craves the freedom and excitement of her youth. Fifty sounds dangerously close to pensionable: her woke children want to cancel her, a male motorist has just called her a ‘mad old bat’ and to cap it all her hormones are on the run. Who knew menopause was puberty’s evil older sister?

But then a moment of heroism draws an unexpected admirer, and Eliza sets out to discover whether the second half of life can be a glass half full after all. She might suffer mental fog and night sweats – and have temporarily mislaid her waist – but this is her renaissance.

My review

Set in Warwickshire, near Stratford-upon-Avon, Woman of a Certain Rage tells the story of Eliza Finch, 50, menopausal and frustrated by life in several ways! She is married to Paddy Hollander, a bespoke cabinet maker, and they have three children, Joe (19), Summer (17) and Edward (12).

When we first meet Eliza, the family’s dog, Artemis (Arty), has just died and she is still in mourning and has a big argument with Paddy after he suggests they get a new puppy.

She’s feeling misunderstood by her husband, who can’t empathise with her menopausal symptoms (hot flushes, crazy mood swings, forgetfulness, overactive bladder, loss of sex drive, insomnia), and is feeling unloved and unwanted by her children, who seem to dismiss her opinion and rather look down on Eliza and act embarrassed by her.

Eliza is stuck in a rut and frustrated by life, mourning her younger carefree days and her loss of identity, fed up with being overlooked and ignored. Paddy is more interested in his work, the family canal boat and cricket. Her children cause her lots of worries – from her youngest son, Ed, who is autistic and very fixed in his ways and anxious about his routine, to her teenage daughter, Summer, who is at a difficult, impressionable age, and her oldest son, Joe, who is in his first year at uni and struggled with depression when he was younger. She also has strained relationships with her elderly parents, Peter and Fiona, and with her younger brother, Miles, who has just come out as gay after three marriages to women and fathering two sons. Her older sister, Jules, and her control-freak husband, Reece, also drive her crazy!

Eliza always wanted to be an actor and studied drama at university but she wasn’t very successful and, being too tall, struggled to find suitable roles. She then did radio work and is now a voice artist, narrating non-fiction and fiction books, and also works part time for an all-female estate agency doing viewings.

She gets up to some great escapades – there’s a particularly funny one where she experiences road rage and ends up in a daring rescue mission! Eliza also has amusing encounters with an Italian man called Matteo, who runs the local restaurant, and she gains a Japanese tourist friend who keeps popping up when least expected.

Woman of Certain Rage is an honest, thoughtful and hilarious account of a menopausal, fifty-something woman who is struggling with her life, jobs, husband, marriage, children and her parents and siblings, while trying not to explode with rage or melt into a puddle due to her emotions and internal heating system going haywire!

The book is entertaining, amusing and poignant and has some great observations and witty one liners. I’m in my early forties, so not quite menopausal yet, but I still found Eliza’s turbulent emotions and frustrations very relatable and loved her wry sense of humour!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book – it was a great slice of humour and despite being a fairly chunky book, I zipped through it, chuckling away at Eliza’s antics! It’s not my usual type of read but I could identify with the main character well and was rooting for her to overcome her various challenges!

I’m not sure if I’ve read any of Fiona Walker’s other books but I’ll definitely be checking them out now.

Buy the book

Woman of a Certain Rage by Georgie Hall can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in hardback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks.

About the author

Georgie Hall is the alter-ego of best-selling author and woman of a certain (r)age, Fiona Walker. Stepping aside from her usual big-cast comedies to write as Georgie, she has her sharp-eyed wit firmly fixed on midlife, marriage, motherhood and menopause. Woman of a Certain Rage is for women everywhere who refuse to be told it’s too late to shake things up.

Twitter: @GeorgieHallUK
Facebook: @georgiehalluk
Instagram: @georgiehalluk
Website: https://georgie-hall.com/

Blog tour

Thanks to Avneet Bains at Head of Zeus for my copy of Woman of a Certain Rage and for my place on the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.

Blog tour: 5 to 25 July 2021

Synopsis

I saw it. He smothered her, pressing his hands on her face. The police don’t believe me, they say it’s impossible – but I know what I saw.

Xander Shute – once a wealthy banker, now living on the streets – shelters for the night in an empty Mayfair flat. When he hears the occupants returning home, he scrambles to hide. Trapped in his hiding place, he hears the couple argue, and he soon finds himself witnessing a vicious murder.

But who was the dead woman, who the police later tell him can’t have been there? And why is the man Xander saw her with evading justice?

As Xander searches for answers, his memory of the crime comes under scrutiny, forcing him to confront his long-buried past and the stories he’s told about himself.

How much he is willing to risk to understand the brutal truth?

My review

Set in London, I Know What I Saw, the author’s second novel, tells the story of former wealthy banker, Xander Shute, who has been living on the streets for the last 30 years.

One rainy evening, after an altercation with another homeless man in Hyde Park, Xander is injured and soaking wet and needs to find shelter to avoid becoming ill. He walks away, disorientated, and finds himself in Mayfair, where he notices the lower trade door to a house is ajar. He sneaks inside and falls asleep on the floor of the living room. He’s woken by the return of the residents and quickly hides behind a sofa. The couple are fractious and start arguing and Xander is horrified to hear the situation escalate and, powerless and afraid to help, he witnesses the woman being murdered in front of him.

When the man leaves, Xander makes his escape and decides he must report the woman’s murder to the police. They’re rather dismissive and say he’s mistaken and they keep telling him to stop wasting their time. He’s determined to find out exactly what happened to the woman and his own buried memories slowly emerge and become more regular and vivid as he gets nearer to discovering the truth.

Xander also gets back in touch with friends from his past, who are shocked to see him again after all this time, and this triggers the stirring of various fractured memories in his mind. He struggles to put all the pieces together and can’t work out what is real and what he’s imagining.

Xander is a complicated character – after so many years being homeless, he’s streetwise and self-sufficient but also very vulnerable and there is lots hidden away beneath the surface, which is slowly revealed as the story progresses. He used to have a privileged life – he was a Cambridge graduate and earnt lots of money as a city banker – but there are hints of trauma from his past in flashbacks to memories of his parents, brother, Rory, and former girlfriend.

Over the decades, Xander has learnt to follow various unwritten rules and keep his wits about him to stay safe on the streets and he divides London up into several zones (red, blue, green and purple) and tries to avoid venturing too far into the dangerous (red) and unpredictable (purple) areas. We learn about what life is like on the streets – how Xander tries to stay warm with plastic bags and newspaper, the places he visits to find food and the practicalities of living and sleeping on the streets and being unable to wash properly.

The main protagonist is an intriguing but also very unreliable narrator with memory problems and secrets, and I was never really sure if he was telling the truth as he’s rather confused a lot of the time and keeps getting flashbacks. Despite all this, I had sympathy for this troubled man and found myself hoping he would figure out what on earth was going on! I especially liked Xander’s friendship with a student, Amit, he meets in the local library, who keeps an eye out for him and helps him use the computer.

As the novel progresses, through fragments of memories and remembered events, we start to learn why Xander gave up his privileged existence and all the trappings of wealth for a simple but dangerous life on the streets, free from the constraints of a job, house, money, family and even friends. It’s a dramatic story but realistic and I could easily see how someone could descend to these depths of despair after a difficult past.

Overall, I really enjoyed this compelling and disconcerting murder mystery novel, which was cleverly written and made for tense and uncomfortable reading. The character-driven thriller is gripping, intense and engaging and its tormented protagonist is fascinating. The story is slow paced but well plotted with plenty of twists and turns, highs and lows, and just enough was revealed on each page to keep me thoroughly hooked.

I really must check out the author’s debut, You Don’t Know Me, which I’ve heard such good things about and it’s been on my Kindle for over three years!

Buy the book

I Know What I Saw by Imran Mahmood can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in hardback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks.

About the author

Imran Mahmood is a practising barrister with almost 30 years’ experience fighting cases in court. He hails from Liverpool but now lives in London with his wife and daughters.

His debut novel, You Don’t Know Me, was chosen by Simon Mayo as a BBC Radio 2 Book Club Choice for 2017, longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and for the CWA Gold Dagger, and is currently being adapted for screen in three parts.

When not in court or writing novels, he can sometimes be found on the Red Hot Chilli Writers’ podcast as one of the regular contributors.

Twitter: @imranmahmood777
Instagram: @imranroundthecorner

Blog tour

Thanks to Raven Books for my hardback copy of I Know What I Saw and to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers for my place on the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.

Blog tour: 2 to 14 July 2021

Synopsis

Twenty-seven bodies, vacuum-packed, buried in a woodland trench – some have been there for years, some for just days.

DI Foley finds himself the Senior Investigating Officer on one of the largest murder cases the country has ever seen. This could make his career.

But as new discoveries unfold, this horrific gangland crime suddenly gets personal. Too personal.

Foley has a choice. Solve the crime and risk his family? Or leave well alone?

To a man like Brendan, that’s no choice at all …

My review

Far From the Tree is the first book in the Thirty Miles trilogy and was originally released in audio and became an Audible number one bestseller.

It’s Detective Inspector Brendan Foley’s son’s christening but he’s called away to a horrendous crime scene – 27 bodies, wrapped in plastic and in varying stages of decomposition, have been discovered in a large grave in Peel Hall forest park in Warrington. As the police and forensic team begin examining the bodies, DI Foley is horrified to discover that he recognises one of the victims.

Brendan is determined, for his family’s sake, to take charge of the investigation and find the killer and he manages to persuade Superintendent Monroe to let him stay on the case. At first, he seems to be doing a valiant job in trying circumstances but, when he’s involved in an embarrassing altercation at the police station, he’s told to take some compassionate leave and go home and look after his wife and sons.

As the team struggle to identify the victims and make a connection between them all, Brendan is carrying out his own investigations, with a little help from Detective Sergeant Iona Madison, and he realises that the key to the whole case may be a lot closer to home than he realised.

With Warrington being between Liverpool and Manchester, there are blurred lines amongst the local criminal gangs about whose patch it actually is and the police are baffled about who is responsible and why. Will they figure it out before things escalate and more people are killed?

This is a great book – engaging and action packed with lots of twists and turns and some shocking cliff hangers! I raced through it in a few days, frantically turning the pages and holding my breath at some particularly tense moments! It’s dark and disturbing, with some nasty characters and a few of the police officers weren’t very pleasant either! I’d definitely recommend Far From the Tree if you love police procedurals as much as I do!

I was fascinated by the setting of the Warrington police station, which was housed in the town’s old converted Victorian baths. I loved the descriptions of the different elements of the station, all based in and around the three former pools. It’s a shame this is all fiction as I’d love to see photos!

I liked the main protagonist, DI Brendan Foley, despite the fact he, understandably, became obsessed with the case and rather neglected his wife, Mim, 15-year-old son, Dan, and baby son, Mick. He also has a few secrets that he’s been desperately trying to keep under wraps for years, which added to the intrigue. DS Iona Madison is a fascinating character too and it’s great that she’s a tough amateur boxer and can handle herself!

Overall, I really enjoyed this cleverly plotted and gripping police procedural. It was entertaining and well paced and there were some startling revelations at various points throughout! There were vivid descriptions of cadavers and some nasty violent attacks on live victims, which also really added to the gruesomeness!

I recently read and enjoyed Blackstoke by the author and must check out his Ben Bracken series soon. I’m looking forward to the next book in the Thirty Miles trilogy and can’t wait to see how the characters develop and tackle their next investigation.

Buy the book

Far From the Tree by Rob Parker can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in hardback and paperback. Or purchase all formats directly from the Red Dog Press online shop.

About the author

Rob Parker is a married father of three, who lives in Warrington, UK. The author of the Ben Bracken thrillers, Crook’s Hollow and the #1 Audible bestseller, Far From the Tree, he enjoys a rural life, writing horrible things between school runs. Rob writes full time, attends various author events across the UK, and boxes regularly for charity.

He spends a lot of time in schools across the north, encouraging literacy, storytelling and creative writing, and somehow squeezes in time to co-host the For Your Reconsideration film podcast, appear regularly on The Blood Brothers Crime Podcast, and is a member of the Northern Crime Syndicate.

Twitter: @robparkerauthor
Facebook: @robparkerauthor
Instagram: @robparkerauthor
Website: https://robparkerauthor.com

Blog tour

Thanks to Meggy Roussel at Red Dog Press for my digital copy of Far From the Tree and for my place on the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.

Blog tour: 8 to 14 July 2021

Synopsis

Brendan is an ordinary man; a married man and devoted father who has always tried to live his life well and do the right thing. Now, on the cusp of sixty and having lost his job after corporate downsizing, he is struggling to stay afloat in the only work on offer for a man his age – driving for Uber.

When one of his rides, a retired professor named Elise, asks to be dropped off outside an abortion clinic where she now volunteers, Brendan finds himself driving right into the explosive epicentre of one of the most polarised ethical issues of our time. As the religious and moral divisions deepen within his own family, everything about the life Brendan knew, starts to unravel. Will the unlikely friendship with Elise bring the possibility of a new life or does the ‘good guy’ never win?

The portrait of a man trying to navigate a world of division and anxiety, Afraid of the Light is a highly charged, plot-driven, deeply affecting social thriller that speaks to our troubled times.

My review

In Afraid of the Light, we meet Brendan, 56, who is married to Agnieska, 54, and they have a daughter called Klara, 24. After 27 years, Brendan was made redundant from his job as a regional sales director for a big electrical cable company called Auerbach and now works long hours as an Uber driver in Los Angeles, dealing with aggressive and rude customers, earning the minimum wage and living on the brink of losing his livelihood at any moment – if someone complains about his car or behaviour, he’s likely to be let go by Uber.

One day, Brendan picks up a woman called Elise Flouton, a retired UCLA professor and women’s rights activist, and drops her outside what turns out to be an abortion clinic, where she volunteers, and it’s from this point that his world quite literally explodes. He gets caught up in events that make him question his own beliefs and those of his family and friends and he learns things about them that shock him to the core. He becomes involved in tense and dangerous situations and the lives of several people are put at risk. Can Brendan help to resolve the situation before his close family members are hurt?

In between fascinating observations of his mainly unpleasant passengers, we learn more about Brendan and his life and family – his childhood, how his parents got together, how he met his wife, their religion and beliefs, their daughter, etc. It makes for intriguing reading and really helps to build a picture of our main protagonist, who often does what is expected of him and what he thinks he should do, rather than what he actually wants to do. He is struggling and regretful and quite literally ‘afraid of the light’ at times.

From a rather relaxed start, the pace speeds up rapidly and I was surprised by the direction that the book took and found it very dark, gripping and tense and I flew through it in less than a day and couldn’t put it down. It’s engagingly written, covers some very emotive topics and is very powerful and thought provoking.

I haven’t read any books by the author before but the synopsis for Afraid of the Light was intriguing and I was keen to read it. This compelling and emotional thriller includes some difficult issues including family relationships, grief, religion, abortion and a person’s choices in life, and made me question my own beliefs and thoughts.

I really enjoyed this provocative and enthralling novel; it was cleverly plotted and made a big impression on me and I was still thinking about it days later. I will definitely be checking out the author’s back catalogue and reading more of his books soon!

Buy the book

Afraid of the Light by Douglas Kennedy can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks.

About the author

Douglas Kennedy is a masterful storyteller whose compelling and thought-provoking, moral and emotional page-turners have sold 15 million copies around the world.

Kennedy was born and raised in Manhattan and educated at Bowdoin College and Trinity College Dublin. He returned to Ireland in early 1977 and co-founded a theatre company, Dublin Stage One. Eighteen months later he was put in charge of the Abbey Theatre’s studio theatre, The Peacock. During his five-year tenure he began to write – selling his early radio plays to RTE and then to BBC Radio 4. He quit his post at The Abbey Theatre in 1983 to become a full-time writer and has lived by his pen since then.

Kennedy was a columnist for the Irish Times and, in addition to four plays for BBC Radio 4, had a stage play, Send Lawyers Guns and Money, staged by The Peacock Theatre in 1984. His first book, Beyond the Pyramids: Travels in Egypt was published in 1988, the same year he moved to London. Two further narrative travel books followed: In God’s Country: Travels in the Bible Belt USA (1989) and Chasing Mammon: Travels in Pursuit of Money (1992).

In 1994, Kennedy’s first novel, The Dead Heart, was published, followed by The Big Picture (1997) which was an international bestseller, selling over three million copies and publishing in 22 languages. His subsequent acclaimed novels include: The Job (1998), The Pursuit of Happiness (2001), A Special Relationship (2004), State of the Union (2006), The Woman in the Fifth (2007), Temptation (2008), Leaving the World (2009), The Moment (2011), Five Days (2014), The Heat of Betrayal (2016), The Great Wide Open (2019) and Isabelle in the Afternoon (2020). The Big Picture was filmed in France as ‘L’Homme Qui Voulait Vivre Sa Vie’, directed by Eric Lartigau and starring Romain Duris and Catherine Deneuve. The Woman in the Fifth was filmed by Pawel Pawlikowski, starring Ethan Hawke and Kristen Scott Thomas. He received a WH Smith Award for The Big Picture, the Prix Deaville for Temptation, and the first Grand Prix du Figaro for his body of work.

A celebrated writer in France, Douglas has sold over 8 million copies of his books there alone and is a fluent French speaker. In 2007, he was awarded the French decoration of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He has also published a book of philosophy, All the Big Questions … With No Answers and two children’s books.

Douglas divides his time between Maine, Manhattan, Paris, London and Berlin and is available for interview and events.

Twitter: @DKennedy_Novels
Facebook: @DouglasKennedyBooks
Instagram: @douglaslkennedy
Website: https://www.douglaskennedynovels.com

Blog tour

Thanks to Hutchinson Heinemann for my paperback copy of Afraid of the Light and to Megan Denholm at ED PR for my place on the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.

Blog tour: 29 June to 8 July 2021

Synopsis

DI Kate Young can’t trust anybody. Not even herself.

In the bleak countryside around Blithfield Reservoir, a serial murderer and rapist is leaving a trail of bloodshed. His savage calling card: the word ‘MINE’ carved into each of his victims.

DI Kate Young struggles to get the case moving – even when one of the team’s own investigators is found dead in a dumpster. But Kate is battling her own demons. Obsessed with exposing Superintendent John Dickson and convinced there’s a conspiracy running deep in the force, she no longer knows who to trust. Kate’s crusade has already cost her dearly. What will she lose next?

When her stepsister spills a long-buried secret, Kate realises she’s found the missing link—now she must prove it before the killer strikes again. With enemies closing in on all sides, she’s prepared to do whatever it takes to bring them down. But time is running out, and Kate’s past has pushed her to the very edge. Can she stop herself from falling?

My review

A Cut for a Cut is the second book in the Detective Kate Young series and after enjoying the first book, An Eye for an Eye, and taking part in the blog tour earlier this year, I was keen to read this one!

This book is set in Staffordshire, about four months after the first novel, and Kate is still determined to investigate her boss, Superintendent John Dickson, after all she learnt about him and the corruption in the force in her previous investigation.

When a woman is found dead in a waste bin in a restaurant car park in Abbots Bromley, Detective Inspector Kate Young and her small team of Detective Sergeant (DS) Emma Donaldson, 23, DS Morgan Meredith, 24, and Detective Constable (DC) Jamie Webster, 27, are tasked with discovering what happened to the unfortunate victim, who has the word ‘MINE’ cut into the flesh on her back.

Kate is still struggling after recent events involving her husband, Chris, and the appearance of her stepsister, Tilly, and her five-year-old son, Daniel, newly arrived from Australia, causes more turmoil in her life. She has a rather difficult relationship with Tilly due to her stepsister’s former husband, Jordan.

When a second body is found and it’s someone known to Kate and her team, the pressure on them to find the murderer intensifies. The investigation seems to be stalling and they struggle to find any links between the victims or locate many possible suspects or any useful witnesses. Yet again, Kate’s boss, Dickson, seems to want her to fail and enjoys putting obstacles in her path and making her life difficult. She’s also still suspicious of Detective Chief Inspector William Chase who isn’t very encouraging either.

Tilly is planning to move to Staffordshire permanently after tying up her affairs in Australia and she gets back in touch with some old friends from school in Uttoxeter and arranges a few dates too. With a killer on the loose, Kate warns her to be careful but, despite being attacked in the past, her stepsister isn’t too worried and takes some self-defence classes.

The police hit dead end after dead end and can’t connect any of the victims or their families or acquaintances and, unbeknown to the team, the killer is starting to get even more agitated and it’s only a matter of time before he attacks more women. Will Kate be able to work out the culprit and his motive before it’s too late?

I really enjoy police procedurals and this was another brilliant read from the author! The story is engaging, well plotted and tense – at times, I was shouting at various characters as they did daft things and put themselves in danger!

Kate is a strong character and despite the traumatic events of the past year, she manages to stay focused and determined, and she works well with her small team, getting the best from them in trying circumstances.

The storyline is gripping and, although the investigation is frustrating at times as the police don’t seem to be getting anywhere, I imagine it’s very reminiscent of real-life cases where they just need that lucky break to solve the crime. The book was cleverly written and well paced and there were some vital breakthroughs at key moments.

Overall, this was a very entertaining read and I read it in a day and didn’t want to put it down! There were some good twists and turns and I enjoyed trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. I didn’t make some of the connections and was surprised by how things turned out.

This series is developing well and I’m enjoying getting to know Kate Young and her small team and can’t wait for the next instalment!

Buy the book

A Cut for a Cut by Carol Wyer can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback.

About the author

USA Today bestselling author and winner of The People’s Book Prize Award, Carol Wyer writes feel-good comedies and gripping crime fiction.

A move from humour to the ‘dark side’ in 2017, saw the introduction of popular DI Robyn Carter in Little Girl Lost and demonstrated that stand-up comedian Carol had found her true niche.

To date, her crime novels have sold over 750,000 copies and been translated for various overseas markets.

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 magazine, 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.

When she is not plotting devious murders, she can be found performing her comedy routine, Smile While You Still Have Teeth.

Twitter: @carolewyer
Facebook: @AuthorCarolEWyer
Instagram: @carolwyer
Website: www.carolwyer.co.uk
Blog: www.carolwyer.com
YouTube: @CarolEWyer

Blog tour

Thanks to Emma Welton at damppebbles blog tours for my digital copy of A Cut for a Cut and for my place on the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.

Blog tour: 10 to 22 June 2021

Synopsis

The DNA results are back. And there’s a serial killer in her family tree …

Liz Catalano is shocked when an ancestry kit reveals she’s adopted. But she could never have imagined connecting with her unknown family would plunge her into an FBI investigation of a notorious serial killer …

The Tri-State Killer has been abducting pairs of women for forty years, leaving no clues behind – only bodies.

Can Liz figure out who the killer in her new family is? And can she save his newest victims before it’s too late?

My review

It’s 2019 and Liz Catalano, 27, a social media associate, lives with her cousin Andrea (Andie) Catalano, 28, an X-ray technologist, in a two-bedroom ground floor apartment in a Greenpoint townhouse in New York. Andie buys Liz a 23andMe DNA ancestry test kit for her birthday and, when they compare their results, they discover that Liz is adopted. She’s shocked as she had no idea that her mum and dad weren’t her real parents as they’d never told her. She also learns that her birth mum was in prison when she had Liz.

Liz puts her details into various ancestry websites via one website, GEDMatch, in order to trace her relatives and also ticks the option to allow law enforcement to access her ancestry results. A couple of weeks later, she hears back from a grand uncle, Cristian (Cris) Dominio (65), and his wife, Rosie, in Connecticut. She arranges to meet up with them and finds out a bit more about her mum, Teresa, and discovers that there aren’t many of her close relatives left now.

Soon after, the FBI contact Liz as her DNA is a familial match to an ongoing multi-person homicide investigation. She’s horrified and quickly researches various active serial killers to try and work out who it could be. One that seems to match the timescales is the Tri-State Killer, who has evaded capture for decades and held captive, tortured and murdered numerous women over the years.

The Tri-State Killer’s first kill was in 1974 and he next struck 17 years later and from then on abducted and murdered pairs of women every two years to 2012. He’s been operating for over 40 years but the police only have vague details about his identity (grainy CCTV footage and a rough sketch) and a partial DNA sample taken from his first victim. After a gap of six years, it now seems that he’s back on the scene as two university students from Boston have been missing for nine months.

Liz is determined to investigate the case and work out what her links are to the serial killer, despite the danger she’s putting herself in. She’s feisty and determined – and rather reckless – but full of spirit. She’s in a unique position and the FBI agents tell her details of the cases in the hopes that she will discover some relevant evidence and links when talking to members of her newly found family.

Interspersed between scenes and dialogue from Liz and Andie are gruesome and disturbing chapters focusing on the Tri-State Killer’s numerous victims – how he approached the pairs of women or what happened afterwards. This works well and helps to ramp up the tension and it made me think about what must have happened to the women mentioned in the previous flashbacks.

Overall, this was a gripping and engaging read and kept me thoroughly entertained! It was over 400 pages long but it flew by and I couldn’t wait to find out if Liz would manage to work out who the Tri-State Killer was before she ended up as one of his victims!

The chilling story was cleverly plotted and well paced and I was never quite sure who was telling the truth. I suspected several different characters as they were all rather suspicious at times and there were a few hints and red herrings.

It was an intense read and I could sympathise with Liz’s feelings after discovering that she was adopted – she felt like her whole life had been a lie and that she’d been let down by everyone in her family, a lot of whom knew she was adopted. She almost rejects her parents in her desperation to discover the truth about her ancestry and she becomes obsessed with trying to work out which of her relatives is the Tri-State Killer. She’s lucky that Andie and her boyfriend, Travis, are so supportive. There were lots of tense moments as Liz kept putting herself in danger.

This was an intriguing and entertaining story and I find it fascinating that it was written by two authors! I understand they’re releasing another book in six months’ time so I’m already looking forward to that one!

Buy the book

The Family Tree by Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks.

About the authors

Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry met as co-workers in New York City in 2012, discovering a shared passion for writing and true crime. After Steph relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2018, they continued to collaborate creatively. Separated by 5 states, they spend countless hours scheming via Facetime and editing each other’s typos in real time on live Google docs. The Family Tree is the writing duo’s first co-authored crime novel.

Steph Mullin works by day as Creative Director for a Media, Entertainment and Digital Marketing Solutions company, using early mornings, nights, and weekends to write fiction.

Steph’s dream of becoming a writer started at age 6, followed by winning scholastic writing awards and crafting articles for her university’s literary magazine. In her 20s, she became engrossed in true crime podcasts and literature, which later became the perfect source of inspiration to launch her second career writing dark and twisty thrillers.

In 2018, Steph relocated from NYC to Charlotte, North Carolina where she currently resides with her husband and her rescue puppy. Outside of reading, writing, and playing with her dog, you may find her sipping on a soy latte, watching a new movie, or trying out new recipes in the kitchen.

Twitter: @Steph_Mullin
Instagram: @stephmullin_author

Nicole Mabry works in television as Senior Manager of Post Production in the photography department. She is the author of Past This Point (2019, Red Adept Publishing), an award winning apocalyptic women’s fiction novel. Past This Point was chosen as Best Book of the Year by Indies Today and won first place in the Global Thriller division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards.

Twitter: @NicoleAMabry
Instagram: @nicolemabry_author

Blog tour

Thanks to Avon Books for my copy of The Family Tree and for my place on the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.