Guiltless is my third trip to Sandhamn, a small island off the Swedish coast with a population of only a couple of hundred people but – seemingly – a Guiltless is my third trip to Sandhamn, a small island off the Swedish coast with a population of only a couple of hundred people but – seemingly – a lot of murder. I have to say, it sounds beautiful there, but – given the death count – I would think twice before visiting. This time, the victim is a young girl, missing for months before Nora’s boys find her body. She is an island native (vs. the visitors that flood the island in the summer) and so her death is possibly more shocking than it might have been otherwise and the small community are rocked to it’s core. The question is why and who? It’s a question Nora finds herself in the middle of, not just because her sons found the body but because her best friend, Thomas, is investing the case. Nora and Thomas make an interesting team. They don’t investigate together as such but they do use each other to bounce ideas off, as well as supporting each other in life in general. I like their relationship (purely platonic) and both Nora and Thomas as individuals and I think it is this that keeps bringing me back to the series. They are genuinely nice people, the type I would want to know. Their friendships seems natural and I can only commend Sten for how well she has created these two people. Her plots too are pretty good. There is a simplicity to them when you first start reading but soon the twists start coming and you don’t really know where you are. Clever. At the same time, a word that does pop to mind when describing her novels is gentle because you aren’t being beaten over the head with wild card detectives or omnipotent killers. There is an old fashioned element here, a lot of who dunit and (thankfully) very little in the way of gruesome. This style fits me perfectly more often now I find. I don’t like lots of gore with my crime and I am tiring of detectives that go out on their own and don’t listen to anyone else on their team, usually whilst not sleeping, not eating and drinking too much. There is none of that in Thomas, and I like it. I also liked the book – a lot – and definitely recommend it (including for those who haven’t read the first two – it’s definitely a standalone)....more
I think it’s fair to say that Robert Bryndza has done it again with this, the latest, in the Erika Foster series. Still stuck behind a desk in BromleyI think it’s fair to say that Robert Bryndza has done it again with this, the latest, in the Erika Foster series. Still stuck behind a desk in Bromley, Erika is missing her former role in the murder investigation team. Her application to go back, though, has been turned down – and she’s angry about it, no more so than when she’s summarily dismissed from a crime scene.
The scene – the body of a young woman has been found in a dumpster, badly beaten and tortured. She has been missing for only a few days and Erika’s gut is telling her that the killer is likely to strike again. The problem is no one wants to hear, not least the head of the murder investigation team (and her former adversary), even when she gets as close to begging as she can get and uncovers evidence his team haven’t.
Then, in twist I won’t share for spoilers, she gets given the opportunity to become senior investigating officer and the chase is on for a killer who is becoming more prolific and more violent. As a reader, you know who he is, what he plans to do next and you see him spiralling. It all adds to the tension as you also watch Erika and her team struggle to follow the clues, hoping for a lucky break and praying that they get to the latest missing girl in time.
And it is tense, from page one, and not letting up right until the very end. The killer is suitably evil and just to say smart enough to keep ahead of the police (for a while at least), making my skin crawl more than a little. And Erika is her usual brilliant self, trying hard not to be self-destructive for once but not doing too well at it.
The mix of tough and vulnerable in her is something I like in my characters. She isn’t a complete hard-ass, is liked and admired by her team, but her past has left her damaged and with a hard outer shell. She wants to break out but it’s hard. Still, we get to see a little of that in this story, making her and her team more real than ever.
As for the story itself, you couldn’t ask for more really. It’s a cracking read from start to finish. These are all things I’ve said about other books in the series but here it is again – it was well written, had great pace (I read it in a day which is rare for me), great characters – event the bad guy was well rounded (see creepy killer above), and kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. Can I say any more? I don’t think so – I loved this and really recommend it. ...more
Red, the colour of anger and revenge, and the colour Zoey imagines inside herself as she prowls the streets of New York looking for people who need saRed, the colour of anger and revenge, and the colour Zoey imagines inside herself as she prowls the streets of New York looking for people who need saving. It’s not all altruistic though, it’s her way of taking control of her life, something she doesn’t feel and hasn’t had since her parents were killed and she was left for dead 10 years previously. No one was ever arrested for the murders but Zoey knows who is guilty and, now, she feels strong enough to start making them pay.
On the outskirts of New York, Claudia is looking to start afresh, having left the city and moved into a run down farmhouse left to her by her father. Her plan is to rebuild and refinish the farm, creating a life away from the grind of the city for her and her daughter. Like Zoey, Claudia has a past touched by violence – her daughter, Raven, is possibly the result of rape. She has never wanted to know but it has coloured her and Raven’s lives.
As Zoey and Claudia’s stories unfold over alternating chapters it starts to become clear that violence isn’t the only thing that links them and that their lives are on a collision course, destined to intersect and putting them all in danger again. Just how this happens I won’t say (spoilers) but I will say Lisa Unger brings it all together very well, building the tension slowly and steadily until the final scenes.
At its core Red Hunter is a pretty simple story and, describing it recently I realised that I made it sound like there isn’t a lot to it. But there is. Unger makes it so much more because the characters she creates are so strong that there is a life to their stories that makes you want to keep reading.
Zoey, Claudia, Raven and the supporting case felt so real to me, I cared for them a lot by the end. I’ve seen some of these people before – the angry young woman out for revenge, the older woman looking for a new start and trying to run from her fears – but it didn’t feel that way. They felt fresh, fully formed, and I wanted things to work out for them.
The writing itself was clear, crisp, simple like the story but in a good way. I really enjoyed reading it, turning the pages, and didn’t find myself bored once, even when I realised what was coming (because I did, something which normally leaves me disappointed).
This is the first Lisa Unger book I’ve read, though a few are on my to read list, and it won’t be the last. The story, the style, the characters. It had everything I enjoy and look for in a book and, as a result, I found myself liking it a lot. Highly recommended. ...more
After reading The Kind Worth Killing last year, which was my first book by Peter Swanson and one of my favourite of 2016, I set myself a mini-challengAfter reading The Kind Worth Killing last year, which was my first book by Peter Swanson and one of my favourite of 2016, I set myself a mini-challenge for 2017 – of reading at least one more of his books. As it was due out, I decided Her Every Fear would be the one and was rather excited to finally pick it up a couple of weeks ago.
The description above (from Goodreads) is rather long and goes a long way to explaining the story, so I won’t repeat it here and maybe spend a little time instead talking about how the book is written and the characters. It starts with Kate’s story, her anxiety as she moves to Boston and her thoughts / feelings as she settles in to the apartment of a cousin she’s never met. Walking around the strange flat, opening drawers, skimming across shelves, she can’t get a feeling for him at all, immediately setting her to wonder and pushing her imagination into overdrive.
And she does have an imagination, one that sees danger everywhere. Just seeing a friend knock on her neighbours door convinces her that neighbour is dead, and when she’s proved right, she spirals. Her behaviour, which seems erratic from the moment you meet her, becomes more so as she starts to lock herself away from a city she hasn’t even had time to explore and begins to suspect her neighbours and he cousin. She feels claustrophobic and so did I.
The fist third of the book is Kate’s story and it was easy to fall into. I can’t say I liked Kate (I didn’t) but I understood some of her behaviours as her past was revealed. Then it jumps to Corbin, her cousin. I have to say, I found the switch to Corbin’s voice jarring after spending so long with Kate and it pulled me out of the story a bit…I’m not sure I ever really got back into it.
You hear about Corbin’s arrival in London but not much more before you move back over a decade to when he was a student, also in London, and a series of events that set his life on a trajectory he couldn’t have imagined and definitely didn’t want. His past doesn’t paint him in a good light and does lead you to question whether he is Audrey’s killer. In Corbin, I found another unlikeable character…leaving me struggling to connect with the book.
Strangely, I did quite like Alan, whose voice you hear through chapters interspersed throughout the book. He’s an odd one and definitely suspect. But there was something about him that drew me to him and made me warm to him, hoping he wasn’t the killer. There is another voice too (not saying whose – spoilers), which sheds more light on Corbin’s story and helps bring everything to a conclusion.
I have to say, for me, that (the conclusion) couldn’t come soon enough because I was tired. The book felt long. The story – for me – dragged for the second half and the characters – as mentioned above – just didn’t do it for me. Their fates, I felt blah about and this made me sad.
I so wanted to like this book and, no matter how many times I think back to it, I have to say I just didn’t. It wasn’t badly written and the story had some great twists but not caring about the characters meant that even these weren’t enough to save it for me. I know from other reviews I am in the minority here but it just wasn’t for me – I liked it, but only a little!
I was really looking forward to reading The Stranger after reading another of her books, Without You. In the opening prologue, I thought I was going tI was really looking forward to reading The Stranger after reading another of her books, Without You. In the opening prologue, I thought I was going to be reading a darker book than I got, but this isn’t a bad thing. Whilst The Stranger is a thriller, it was a much more nuanced and thoughtful piece of writing than I had maybe being expecting. Migrants, and how we see and treat them, are at the heart of this story. Sarginson manages to highlight issues without being preachy and turns their plight and our response to it into a gripping read, one that kept me turning pages. Possibly the only downside to the book is the bad guy became clear a bit too early for me as I like to be kept guessing BUT to make up for this there were other twists in the tale I didn’t see coming at all and which kept me reading. I liked it a lot and would definitely recommend it.
The Dead Room has been sat on my kindle for a while, a long while (around about five years) and was released earlier than that (2009). I have to say,The Dead Room has been sat on my kindle for a while, a long while (around about five years) and was released earlier than that (2009). I have to say, finally opening it up I was feeling rather guilty about having waited so long to read it and I was also rather nervous. I had it in my head it wouldn’t be any good or I would have read it by now. Thankfully, whilst the guilt didn’t go away, the nerves did after a few pages because this was a pretty good read.
Darby is the type of strong female character I like – determined, driven, incredibly smart and incredibly loyal to her partner (and best friend) Coop, who finds himself in the middle of her investigation and not in a good way. This is because it takes place in the Boston suburb he was born, raised and still lives – a suburb that was once run by Irish gangs and has never quite gotten over it. There is still a code of silence that it’s residents live by, even when the bodies of dead girls are found buried in the basement of a house, and secrets that not even Coop are willing to share. How these bodies link to the murder of a young mother in another part of Boston and the trail of destruction being left by a mystery gunman is for Darby to figure out, whilst trying not to get killed. She does manage it but not before heading down more than one dead end and getting into more than one dangerous situation. Thankfully, she’s pretty handy with a gun as well as a forensic kit and can take care of herself.
Because I haven’t read the first two books of this series (this is the third) I am not sure how Darby got to be so handy with a gun or why a crime scene investigator also seems to be in charge of the investigation of a murder (people seem to defer to her at each stage). I have to say, I feel like I have missed something as a result, some part of her past which explains who she is and how she behaves. It wasn’t the end of the world but it did bring me up short a few times in reading the book and pull me out of it. I did find myself wishing I had started at the beginning of the series or had a cheat sheet of characters and their backgrounds. This probably wouldn’t be the same for everyone but for me it meant it didn’t quite stand alone. That said, it was the one downside in a well written, fast-paced, book which I had thought might feel a bit dated but wasn’t at all. I liked it a lot and will definitely read Chris Mooney again....more
You is a book with a difference, or at least it felt different to me, reading about it and then reading it. It’s told from the point of view of Joe, tYou is a book with a difference, or at least it felt different to me, reading about it and then reading it. It’s told from the point of view of Joe, the Stalker, and it’s quite unapologetic about it. There is no attempt to make his actions seem more reasonable – no calling back to a difficult childhood to explain his actions, which include murder. He is, quite simply, a psychopath – obsessively following and inserting himself into the life of a young woman because he is convinced she is the one for him. Told from his perspective, she probably is. She is perfect. Beautiful, clever, engaging. Every negative behaviour of hers (she has a lot of boyfriends, always leaves her studies to the last minute, calls on people then drops them like hot potatoes) Joe can see and find cute, or something he could fix if only he was her boyfriend. To do that, of course, he has to turn himself into her perfect man. For the first two thirds of this book I was completely drawn in to how Joe slowly wove his way into Beck’s life, tuning up at just the right time to save her from herself (as he saw it) and always saying the right thing at the right time. Joe’s is the only voice you hear. It’s repetitive and convincing. I started to think he might not be that bad after all just misunderstood. But no, he’s basically rotten to the core with no redeeming features. It was this that eventually got to me I think. The lack of redemption. He was never going to learn and there was only one way this story was going to end. With just his voice in my head and no possibility of a happy ending I started to flag. I became tired of reading and, for me, the last 100 pages were a slog. I almost put the book down but kept reading in case I was wrong about the outcome (I wasn’t). It is a shame because it’s not a badly written book by any means. In fact, it’s clever in taking the angle and in creating the character Joe. The problem was I couldn’t get away with such a relentless voice and nothing to cut it with for over 400 pages. Take 50 – 100 out and I think I would have been fine. I’d probably have been raving about this book as so many others have. As it is, because of the length and lack of change of page and tone, I have ended up liking vs. loving this book.
The Escape starts as it means to go on, by throwing you right into the action and not letting up until it’s all over. It opens with Jo walking to her The Escape starts as it means to go on, by throwing you right into the action and not letting up until it’s all over. It opens with Jo walking to her car, running late for picking up her daughter. She never leaves her office this late and she’s in a rush. Just in these first few sentences you realise that Jo is tightly wound, no more so than when a stranger comes up behind her whilst she is trying to get into her car. You see her internal struggle – does she know the woman? is she really a neighbour? should she offer her a lift? and now that’s been asked for, should she say yes?
From this first, slightly scary but potentially harmless meeting, things spiral quickly and the threats to Jo become more real and more dangerous. Someone has invaded her life and is determined, it seems, to make it a living hell. Worse, no one will believe her – including the police and (worse) her husband, Max.
Page by page, C. L. Taylor builds the tension, playing cat and mouse with Jo and making you as the reader wonder just what is going on – where does the truth lie. This is my first C. L. Taylor book and I loved it. I thought the story was interesting, with lots of twists and turns and plenty of suspense to keep me turning the pages.
Driving along country roads at night is never fun, especially in the pouring rain, and – for a woman alone – it can be especially scary, the idea of bDriving along country roads at night is never fun, especially in the pouring rain, and – for a woman alone – it can be especially scary, the idea of being stranded, alone, in the dark. For Cass all these fears start to come to the fore when she pulls over to help a stranded vehicle but can’t then get herself to get out of the car to see if the woman she sees sitting in the driver’s seat needs help. The fact that the woman doesn’t call out to her or get out of her car to talk to her convinces Cass she’s ok and so, instead of doing more, she heads home….only to wake up the next morning to the news that the woman is dead.
The news is bad enough, flooding Cass with guilt as she realises she may have been able to save the woman, but it’s made worse when she finds out that it’s someone she knew. This sends her spiralling, unable to sleep and a unable to concentrate. As the days and weeks go on, Cass struggles to get her mind back on track and starts to become more forgetful still, something which could be down to the murder, the mysterious calls she’s been receiving since then (with nobody speaking when she picks up), or it could be something worse – a sign of the early on-set dementia that killed her mother.
Her husband tells her it’s stress, her best friend tells her she’s been silly but Cass isn’t so sure. Something is wrong, a killer coiled be after her. The only problem is no one will believe her. That included me as a reader, at least at times. Her behaviour was so erratic; her friends, husband, doctors, are convinced she is stressed, anxious, cracking up and it does seem to be the case. B. A. Paris does a great job leaving you guessing almost all the way to the end as to who is right, then they reveal the truth and turn the story on its head.
It’s a formula followed by a lot of authors in this genre – the fragile woman who seems to be loosing her mind, the family and friends who want to support her but don’t believe her, the strange occurrences and odd happenings, before it all becomes clear at the end. I don’t mind formulas at all though as long as they are done well, and that was definitely the case here. B. A. Paris created an interesting character in Cass, one I couldn’t help but like and root for. She was well written, as was the book, with short chapters to keep you turning pages – which I did – and a strong plot.
When it got to the twist I had an inking but wasn’t 100% sure what was going to happen or how it would turn out. I thought B. A. Paris’ answer was clever and I was left completely satisfied. I hadn’t felt quite that way with their first book, though I had enjoyed it but this felt much more accomplished and much more confident. I am really glad I got the chance to read it – liked it a lot....more
This is a 4.5 review as it was pretty close to perfect for me.
Towards the end of last year I read some really positive reviews of Duplicity that meanThis is a 4.5 review as it was pretty close to perfect for me.
Towards the end of last year I read some really positive reviews of Duplicity that meant I couldn’t resist picking a copy up. I wasn’t disappointed – sometimes the case when you have high hopes for a book – as this was as good a read as others had promised.
It starts with the police being called to a homicide. The victim, Max, is a man who seems to have everything including money and the love of a beautiful young wife. Married only weeks, Alissa is devastated by the death of her husband but also considered lucky – she escaped with her life. Of course, it won’t be much of a life without Max and so it seems understandable to everyone around her when she withdraws from them, moving out of her family home and not returning phone calls.
Only one person isn’t convinced and that’s the Detective, DS Carter, who is investigating the case. His gut instinct is that something is wrong. Only he’s not sure what and he can’t get anyone else to believe him – especially not his boss, DI Wilmott, newly promoted and out to make name for himself. Wilmott is also more than a little besotted with Alissa and convinced of her innocence. Like a dog with a bone, though, Carter can’t let go.
As a reader, you are left uncertain for the first third of the book whether Carter is right or just misguided by his intense disliking of his new boss and misjudging the situation as a result of too many sleepless nights – his wife has recently died of cancer and he feels very much alone. You know something is going on because the killer is telling their story alongside Carter’s in alternating chapters. But as you have no idea who the killer is you can’t really see how Carter can blame it on Alissa, other than his belief that she is too good to be true.
Plus, through his investigations, there seems to be plenty of other likely candidates – Alissa’s ex-boyfriend, Max’s best friend who might be in love with Alissa too, the best friends sister who was definitely in love with Max, and the residents of a development built by Max on the site of an old asbestos factory who are now unable to sell the homes which are making them ill (Max it seems wasn’t quite as perfect as people thought).
The second third brings a great twist to the story that leaves you in no doubt who the killer is and it isn’t something I saw coming, which is always the sign of a good story. I won’t share it (spoilers) but will say it set a different tone for the rest of the book. Knowing who the murderer was and wondering if they would get away with what seems like might be the perfect crime kept me turning the pages.
As in many of this genre, you have to suspend belief a little with the twist but I have to say I was o.k. with that because it was done so well. In the hands of a less skilled writer, it might have all gotten a bit silly Sibel Hodge does a brilliant job and making it all seem real and reasonable. I totally bought into what happened next.
It helps that Hodges also paints some great characters. I especially liked Carter. He was wounded and knew it but is unsure where to take his life. He felt very human. And he’s a good cop, though not one that plays by the rules. He believes in right and wrong and seems to be a nice person, one you would want on your side. There is nothing better than finding yourself rooting for a character and wanting to get to know them more.
And, for a way to end 2016, there was nothing better than this book. It was a clever plot, well written, and full of twists and turns. I really, really, enjoyed it and will be reading more of Sibel Hodge – who I’ve not read before – going forward....more
The Bones of You has left me perplexed. I read it in only a couple of sittings and found it very compelling, I really couldn't stop turning the pages.The Bones of You has left me perplexed. I read it in only a couple of sittings and found it very compelling, I really couldn't stop turning the pages. Yet, I'm not sure how I feel about it having taken a few days between finishing it and writing the review. I enjoyed it - I'm just not sure how much.
There is a lot to recommend it. The plot is interesting and has plenty of twists and turns (leading to the page turning) and it is well written, with some great descriptive passages. There is also a slightly supernatural element in that the story is not only told by Kate, the central character, but also by Rosie who hasn't been able to move on after her death. This isn't something that would always appeal to me but I thought it was well done.
I found myself looking forward to the Rosie chapters, which I thought were really clever and felt haunting (which is basically what Rosie was doing). Then I'd get back to Kate and feel a slight sinking. And I think this is where my problem lies because although it's a good story, I didn't like Kate - at all. I thought her reaction to Rosie's disappearance was over the top and her response to Jo and Neal's actions too slow. It didn't seem right and it didn't seem believable.
I wanted more action from Kate and I think I expected that from the book blurb - her "unravelling tangled threads" - but it seemed she didn't do much unravelling. For me, she was more a bystander, albeit a close one - someone who happened to be at the right (or wrong) place at the right (or wrong) time. I wanted more oomph and I wanted her to question more. That she wasn't / didn't frustrated me and has left me with these mixed feelings about the book, which is a shame because it isn't all bad. It does mean though that whilst I liked this one but can't go further than that - sorry! ...more
Arriving in Alaska, Yasmin isn’t greeted by her husband as she expected but by the state police and bad news. There has been a fire in the remote villArriving in Alaska, Yasmin isn’t greeted by her husband as she expected but by the state police and bad news. There has been a fire in the remote village her husband has been staying in as part of his job as a wildlife photographer. No one has survived, including him. Ruby knows something is going on but she isn’t sure what because she is deaf. Reading lips where she can, though, she knows it isn’t good and she knows it is likely something to do with her dad because he isn’t there to greet him.
The news of his death is something neither she or Yasmin believe. He understands the wilderness, he would have survived. He had called them after the fire struck. They need to get to him. And so they head out, initially hitching a lift with a long distance lorry driver before getting behind the wheel themselves, braving the brutal landscape and a winter storm, and trying not to be too afraid of the headlights that dog them – keeping pace but never getting too close.
It’s all pretty incredible and somewhat unbelievable and I now know more about ice truckers than I ever wanted or needed to. But it was also kind of fun – the chasing through the ice and Yasmin and Ruby’s battle to survive – and I enjoyed the book as a result. I liked Yasmin and Ruby and wanted them to succeed – I thought Ruby, especially, was well drawn.
I thought the book was well written despite (or in spite of) the leaps in logic it had to make (a woman who has never driven an eighteen-wheeler manages to make it hundreds of miles without any training and just one conversation with a trucker?) and kept me interested and turning the pages. It might not be for everyone but if you can suspend belief, it is worth a read – liked this one....more
I had been wanting to read Disclaimer ever since reading some really good reviews last year. Plus, I loved the concept – it sounded different (well soI had been wanting to read Disclaimer ever since reading some really good reviews last year. Plus, I loved the concept – it sounded different (well somewhat – there was still a deep, dark, secret to be discovered as in the majority of books I read!).
I am pleased to say I wasn’t disappointed. This is a debut novel and well written and plotted. The idea of a novel about a novel is clever and shows how easily fact and fiction can be distorted. I was gripped from the beginning, with Renee Knight getting straight into the action and speeding along to a conclusion I didn’t see coming (well not till it was almost too late to feel any level of smugness for having figured out the secret).
Catherine isn’t he most likeable person and her husband made me mad pretty much from the moment he found out what was happening but that didn’t put me off because my sympathy for the person who is, technically, the bad guy. I understood his motives, even if I didn’t agree with his actions. It meant I wanted to know what happened to everyone involved in the end and that – as a result – I loved this book. Highly recommended!...more
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