#BlogTour - Geiger by Gustaf Skördeman

 The landline rings as Agneta is waving off her grandchildren. Just one word comes out of the receiver: ‘Geiger’.

For decades, Agneta has always known that this moment would come, but she is shaken. She knows what it means.

Retrieving her weapon from its hiding place, she attaches the silencer and creeps up behind her husband before pressing the barrel to his temple.

Then she squeezes the trigger and disappears – leaving behind her wallet and keys.

The extraordinary murder is not Sara Nowak’s case. But she was once close to those affected and, defying regulations, she joins the investigation. What Sara doesn’t know is that the mysterious codeword is just the first piece in the puzzle of an intricate and devastating plot fifty years in the making . . .

 GEIGER is a surprising novel which retains the ‘small’ while dealing with big, potentially cataclysmic post-cold war themes. By that I mean that, while many ‘big’ espionage novels tend to deal with macro events, often at the expense of character, Gustaf Skördeman’s debut has all the excitement of the thriller while retaining the character and small details of the detective-crime novel, and successfully marries the two into a very satisfying whole. 

The beginning of the book lulls the reader. The opening is slow and deliberately paced as the Broman family, popular, retired Swedish television entertainer, Stellan, his wife, their daughters and grandchildren, gather for a family dinner. It is a very ‘literary’ opening, a upper-middle class family, the musings of one of the daughters, the quiet tensions in such gatherings - it isn’t clear where this is going. And then, once the extended family has left, the mother, Agneta, takes a call and immediately shoots her famous husband in the head, and disappears. 

Where many novels would concentrate on Agneta’s mission, on what drives her, this story concentrates on the investigation into Stellan’s murder, an investigation into which Detective Sara Novak is drawn due to her history with the family. This history, the complicated relationship Sara had with the Broman sisters, with her own mother, who was the Stellan’s maid, as well as her current relationships with her own husband and children, drive the plot. Suspecting that Agneta has been taken by her husband’s killers, the investigation concentrates on Stellan, his past as Sweden’s ‘uncle’, his social life with the rich and powerful in media and politics, on trying to find who would have reason to kill him. This leads to shocking revelations which impact on Sara, her family, and, potentially, on peace in Europe. And, at points in the novel, we catch up with Agneta…

I enjoyed GEIGER a lot. It has been compared with I Am Pilgrim but I don’t see it. It’s much, much better than that.

Thank you @ZaffreBooks and @Tr4cyF3nt0n #CompulsiveReaders for the invitation to the #BlogTour.

#BlogTour - Rites of Spring by Anders de la Motte

Southern Sweden: Beautiful countryside, endless forests, coastal walks, dark days - and even darker nights. But beneath the beauty lies a dark heart . . .

Skåne, 1986: On the night of Walpurgis, the eve of May Day, where bonfires are lit to ward off evil spirits and preparations are made to celebrate the renewal of spring, a sixteen-year-old girl is ritualistically murdered in the woods beside a castle. Her stepbrother is convicted of the terrible deed and shortly after, the entire family vanishes without a trace.

Spring, 2019: Dr Thea Lind moves into the castle. After making a strange discovery in an ancient oak tree on the grounds, her fascination with the old tragedy deepens. As she uncovers more and more similarities between her own troubled past and the murdered girl, she begins to believe that the real truth of the killing was never uncovered.

What if the spring of 1986 claimed more than one victim?

‘Ok, I admit it. I’ve become completely obsessed with the mystery of Elita Svart. A dead girl whose spirit seems to hover over the area, even though her house was boarded up the day after her funeral. A dead girl whom nobody wants to talk about, yet someone still lays flowers on her grave.’

When Thea Lind moves with her husband to the village in which he grew up, and in which she is to be the new GP, she finds herself drawn to a Polaroid image of a teenage girl, dressed in white, bound at the wrists in ribbons held by four younger children in animal masks; a girl who died, was murdered, in an apparent ‘spring sacrifice’ to the Green Man. As her interest increases, the mystery deepens. Why does no one in the village, including her husband and in-laws, want to speak about the murder? Was Elita Svart complicit in her own murder? Is the man found guilty truly responsible for the death?

The book is chillingly atmospheric. Thea’s investigation is intercut with flashbacks to the events of Walpurgis Night, 1986 and extracts from a letter left by the murdered girl. The plot is purposely slow which only adds to the growing feeling of unease. Indeed, the novel reads very much like a gothic horror novel, reminding me of Harvest Home, of the Wicker Man, and of Midsommar. At times, the prose, and the pace, is reminiscent of Shirley Jackson. There is a strangeness, a coldness to many of the characters which, again, really fits the gothic tone of the narrative and adds to the reader’s disquiet and uncertainty. 

Anders de la Motte has a great feel for the Swedish countryside in which the action takes place and he weaves the folklore, pagan rituals and beliefs into an unsettling mystery. RITES OF SPRING is unlike any other ‘Scandi-crime’ novels I have read. I look forward to the other seasons in the Skåne quartet.

Thanks to @ZaffreBooks @Tr4cyF3nt0n @AndersdelaMotte for the invitation to take part in the BlogTour.

#BlogTour: Trust Me by T. M. Logan

Two strangers, a child, and a split second choice that will change  everything . . .

Ellen was just trying to help a stranger. That was how it started: giving a few minutes respite to a flustered young mother sitting opposite her on the train. A few minutes holding her baby while the mother makes an urgent call. The weight of the child in her arms making Ellen’s heart ache for what she can never have.

Five minutes pass.

Ten.

The train pulls into a station and Ellen is stunned to see the mother hurrying away down the platform, without looking back. Leaving her baby behind. Ellen is about to raise the alarm when she discovers a note in the baby’s bag, three desperate lines scrawled hastily on a piece of paper:

Please protect Mia

Don’t trust the police

Don’t trust anyone

Why would a mother abandon her child to a stranger? Ellen is about to discover that the baby in her arms might hold the key to an unspeakable crime. And doing the right thing might just cost her everything . . .

On a train to Marylebone Station, Ellen holds a young woman’s baby girl while the mother takes an important call. As the train pulls out of the next stop, Ellen is shocked to see the young woman on the platform, abandoning the child in her care, along with a note telling her to trust no one including the police. Arriving in London, and convinced that she is being followed by a strange man who had sat opposite her on the train, Ellen resolves to take the child to a police station. Instead, she finds herself abducted and held hostage...

TRUST ME is a fast moving thriller, full of twists and turns, red-herrings and believable characters. Largely narrated by Ellen, a sympathetic character, whose choices make sense based on her situation and what she tells us about herself, the story is one of suspicion and paranoia. Ellen is thrust into a situation that she does not understand. Having had failed IVF treatment, abandoned by her husband, who is now expecting a child with his girlfriend, Ellen is naturally drawn to the baby. But she does not know who to trust.

T. M. Logan has a real talent for thrilling, psychological mystery. The story is told in short chapters, cliff-hangers which make the reader want to press on. We learn just enough about the supporting cast to make us share Ellen’s confusion and suspicions. The ending is perhaps telegraphed a little, but it doesn’t matter; TRUST ME is exciting and entertaining. It keeps the reader guessing and moves with an intensity and breathlessness; an ideal lockdown read.

Thanks to T. M. Logan, Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers and Zaffre Books for the invitation to take part in the Blogtour.

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#BlogTour: The Fall of Koli by M. R. Carey

The Fall of Koli by M.R. Carey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Fall of Koli is the third and final novel in the breathtakingly original Rampart trilogy – set in a strange and deadly world of our own making.

The world that is lost will come back to haunt us . . .

Koli has come a long way since being exiled from his small village of Mythen Rood. In his search for the fabled tech of the old times, he knew he’d be battling strange, terrible beasts and trees that move as fast as whips. But he has already encountered so much more than he bargained for.

Now that Koli and his companions have found the source of the signal they’ve been following – the mysterious “Sword of Albion” – there is hope that their perilous journey will finally be worth something.

Until they unearth terrifying truths about an ancient war . . . and realise that it may have never ended.

published by Orbit Books 

Alan Parks' Harry McCoy series

I never do this!

“For a bit of excellent Tartan Noir”, said my Glaswegian pal, “try Alan Parks starting with Bloody January.” So, Paul’s recommendations being highly valued, I started with BLOODY JANUARY. A couple of weeks later, I had read all four of Park’s Harry McCoy novels back-to-back.

BLOODY JANUARY introduces Glasgow Detective Harry McCoy. It’s January 1973 and McCoy witnesses the murder of a young girl in Glasgow’s central bus station whose killer commits suicide before he can be apprehended. Investigating, McCoy finds links to a high-powered family, and to his own past. Part of that past is Stevie Cooper, a career criminal, pimp, drug dealer, and gang boss, whose stock is rising in the Glasgow underworld. Cooper is also Harry McCoy’s friend and sometime protector.

FEBRUARY’S SON finds McCoy investigating the death of a young Glasgow Celtic football star, murdered in grisly circumstances. McCoy uncovers links to a Glasgow crime family. Then the bodies start to pile up…

The third novel, BOBBY MARCH WILL LIVE FOREVER, jumps to August 1973 with Glasgow in the middle of a heatwave. A young girl has gone missing, a citywide manhunt in operation, but McCoy is shut out of the investigation run, as it is, by an old adversary in the force. Reduced to following up a series of small time bank robberies, McCoy also looks into the apparent overdose death of fading Glasgow rock star, Bobby March. This is possibly my favourite of the novels, with a fever-dream-like visit to ‘70s Belfast a highlight.

THE APRIL DEAD. April 1974. Bombs are going off in Glasgow but, despite the city sharing some of Northern Ireland’s sectarianism, this doesn’t feel like the IRA to Harry McCoy. Meanwhile, Harry is approached by the father of a US sailor who has gone missing from a nearby American naval base.

All four novels are well plotted mystery-thrillers, Alan Parks clearly knowing how to construct a story. But it is the characters and the setting, the atmosphere that sets these books apart. Parks’s Glasgow is a dark, bleak place populated by drug dealers, prostitutes, criminal gangs, the homeless, good and bad polis, police in the Glasgow vernacular. It feels authentic, as much a character in the stories as Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles or Lawrence Block’s New York. 

McCoy is not a dirty cop, or polis, but he is conflicted. He has a strong sense of morality, knows what is right and wrong, but the dividing line doesn’t always tally with where others, particularly other polis, would consider it to be. He has allies in his boss, Murray and his new partner, Wattie, but continually tests their support. He has a complicated relationship with Stevie Cooper, to whom he has a strong loyalty due to their shared past when Cooper protected the young McCoy, often suffering in his stead. But McCoy is not blind to Cooper’s sociopathic nature. In Cooper, we see echoes of Hawk in Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels or Mouse in Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins stories. Cooper is no sidekick, no gangster with a heart of gold. He is a genuinely dangerous man, one whom McCoy reluctantly allows to run, feeling perhaps that Cooper is a better alternative to his criminal rivals, but knowing that there will be a reckoning and that he will someday have to take Cooper down. The reader, and Harry McCoy, suspect that this may prove impossible.

This is simply one of the best continuing series out there at present and can stand with the best of any era. Think Raymond Chandler, Ross MacDonald, William McIllvaney, Ian Rankin. Yes, all the standard elements are there and, in lesser hands, the books could be clichéd but they transcend the genre. Violently. Viscerally.

The only real problem is that, now that I have caught up, it’s going to be a long wait for the next in the series. I can’t wait for May, whenever that might be…

#BlogTour - Fatal Isles by Maria Adolfsson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A remote island. A brutal murder. A secret hidden in the past...

In the middle of the North Sea, between the UK and Denmark, lies the beautiful and rugged island nation of Doggerland.

Detective Inspector Karen Eiken Hornby has returned to the main island, Heimö, after many years in London and has worked hard to become one of the few female police officers in Doggerland.

So, when she wakes up in a hotel room next to her boss, Jounas Smeed, she knows she's made a big mistake. But things are about to get worse: later that day, Jounas's ex-wife is found brutally murdered. And Karen is the only one who can give him an alibi.

The news sends shockwaves through the tight-knit island community, and with no leads and no obvious motive for the murder, Karen struggles to find the killer in a race against time.

Soon she starts to suspect that the truth might lie in Doggerland's history. And the deeper she digs, the clearer it becomes that even small islands can hide deadly secrets...

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, which might be best described as a Scandinavian police procedural, but isn’t, really... FATAL ISLES by Maria Adolfsson was originally published in Sweden as ‘Felsteg’ (The Wrong Step in apparently the literal translation and is, for me, a better title; the only thing I didn’t like about the book was the title). It is the first novel in the Doggerland series about DI Karen Eiken Hornby, who we first meet as she sneaks away from an ill-advised post-Oyster Festival liaison with a man who turns out to be her boss. When the boss’s wife is found murdered later that morning, Eiken’s life becomes even more complicated. 

The plot is not rushed. It takes its time, is full of twists and turns, and is populated by a large cast of characters, all well-drawn and convincing. The story is dark and gripping but there are occasional moments of humour, particularly in the interactions between some characters. But it is to the author’s, and translator’s, credit that FATAL ISLES’s greatest strength is its sense of place. Doggerland is perhaps the most realistic character in the book, possibly surprising as it doesn’t actually exist. Or, rather, doesn’t really exist anymore. What I initially thought to be one of the Danish islands is actually Maria Adolfsson’s reimagining of the last part of the land bridge which one connected Great Britain to Continental Europe, and which sank into the North Sea over 7000 years ago. 

The author creates a place with elements of both UK and Scandinavian society. She describes the history, geography and geology, the customs, the people, even the town planning and zoning, with a verisimilitude that is stunning and very subtle, all done within the confines of, and serving, the story. Karen Eiken too reflects the pluralism, having left Doggerland for a life in London, returning years later with her own emotional burden. She is an intriguing character and will, along with the way Adolfsson brings the story to a satisfying conclusion while building a supporting cast of equal intrigue, bring me back for further instalments. I hope it’s not too long. 

Thanks to @AdolfssonMia @ZaffreBooks and @Tr4cyF3nt0n for the opportunity to discover and review this superb novel.

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Review: Exit

Exit by Belinda Bauer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have heard a lot of good things about Belinda Bauer and have bought several of her books on these recommendations, but I hadn't got round to reading any of them until EXIT when given the opportunity to listen to the audiobook. I have to say it was not at all what I expected, which I think was some form of physiological thriller, perhaps a domestic noir. EXIT is actually a gentle, funny, sometimes darkly so, mystery about 'assisted' suicide gone wrong.

Felix Pink is a 75 year-old widower, an 'Exiteer', part of a group who attend to those who want to take their own lives, to end their own suffering, to be with them at the end but, crucially, do nothing to cause the actual death. When Felix, and his new, inexperienced, young partner, attend to their latest 'client' something goes terribly wrong and Felix believes he has made the biggest mistake of his life. But later, as he tries to atone for his mistake, Felix begins to believe he may have been setup. Meanwhile, a young detective, Calvin begins to investigate the death and the role that two strangers seen on CCTV may have had in it.

The book is beautifully written and the audiobook narration by Tim McInnerney is sympathetic and entertaining. The main characters are realistic and charming, as are many of the supporting cast. Despite the subject matter, some of the scenes are truly comical and, although I felt those from Felix's viewpoint worked significantly better than those from Calvin's, I really enjoyed the book to its poignant conclusion and will be going back to read those other Belinda Bauer book on my TBR pile.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Audio for access to the audiobook.

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Review: The Survivors

The Survivors by Jane Harper
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have always been a sucker for 'returning home' novels and, in recent years, perhaps any year, Jane Harper's THE DRY was one of the best. THE SURVIVORS is a close second. Like her debut, this novel concerns a man returning home after a tragedy. Kieran returns to Tasmania, to a small coastal town where, several years ago his brother, Finn, died in circumstances for which Kieran has always felt guilt. Finn did not die alone and others blame Kieran too. Not long after Kieran, his girlfriend and their baby daughter arrive back in Evelyn Bay another suspicious death occurs...

Jane Harper has spun another tale of going home, to suspicion, to gossip, to retribution? THE SURVIVORS is tightly plotted and suspenseful, but it is the author's ability to draw realistic, fully-rounded and flawed characters, and her sense of place which makes the book stand out. You can feel the sand blowing against your shins, hear the waves crashing around the feet of the statues which stand in the surf and which give the novel its title. But, of course, the real survivors are those whose lives have been impacted by decisions made in the past. The book is a tour de force which builds to a climax as storms, both physical and metaphorical, rise and threaten to devastate everything in their path.

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#BlogTour - Kill a Stranger by Simon Kernick

To save a life, could you take another?

How far would you go for the one you love?

And how well do you really know them?

They took your fiancée.
They framed you for murder.

You’re given one chance to save her. To clear your name.
You must kill someone for them.

They give you the time and place.
The weapon. The target.

You have less than 24 hours.

You must make an impossible choice.

        

KILL A STRANGER moves at a relentless pace from the start with DCI Cameron Doyle's revelation that he is interrogating three suspects all of whom he believes are lying. What follows is presented in the statements of these three suspects. We meet Matt, who returns home after a night on the town to discover his fiancé dead in their bed. Except the body is not his fiancé, Kate, but a stranger. Kate has been kidnapped and, to secure her release, Matt is told he must dispose of the body, and he must kill another person.

Kate is another of the suspects and she relates the story of her kidnapping and captivity. The third suspect is Sir Hugh Roper, a successful but somewhat shady businessman.

Through the statements of these three, occasionally interrupted by the DCI's commentary, the plot crashes forward at breakneck speed. Simon Kernick writes in short chapters, switching viewpoints as the characters tell their versions of the story, often contradicting each other, and ending each with a cliffhanger. Each of his unreliable narrators has something to hide, is not telling the whole truth, and Doyle is struggling to decide which, if any of them, is closest to revealing what really happened. That Doyle too has something of an agenda, having had previous run-ins with Sir Hugh, makes the reader wonder if he is trying to push the case in his own preferred direction.

It would be unfair to reveal anything else but KILL A STRANGER is a fast-moving thriller, full of misdirection and red herrings which Kernick brings to a satisfying, if surprising, conclusion. 
        
About the Author
Simon Kernick is a number one bestseller and one of the UK's most popular thriller writers with huge hits including RELENTLESS, THE LAST 10 SECONDS, SIEGE and THE BONE FIELD series.

Thanks to @hachetteUK @headlinepg and @Tr4cyF3nt0n for the invitation to take part in the BlogTour.

Review: Blacktop Wasteland

Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"You start down a road like this and before you know it you can't find your way back. You lose yourself."

BLACKTOP WASTELAND is simply stunning, a dark, fast-moving, thrill-ride; funny and heart-breaking. At its centre is Beauregard 'Bug' Montage, a road racer, a mechanic, a former getaway driver, a tragic anti-hero of Shakespearian proportions, a black man whose struggle to provide for the family he clearly loves draws him back for one last big score. S.A. Cosby has delivered a story that echoes classic 1970s movies, The Driver and The Friends of Eddie Coyle spring to mind, as well as Elmore Leonard and Charles Willeford, and more recently, Jordan Harper and Bill Beverly.

The book is full of deeply flawed and well-rounded characters, dialogue that rings true, and the best written car chases I have ever read, you can hear the engines screaming and smell the rubber burning. One of the best novels I have read this year and destined to be a classic. I can't wait to see what he does next.

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Review: Letters from the Dead

Letters from the Dead by Sam Hurcom
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sam Hurcom's debut, A SHADOW ON THE LENS, was one of the surprises of 2019, a genre mashup which was a great read. Hurcom's follow up, LETTERS FROM THE DEAD, continues the story of forensic photographer, Thomas Bexley. It is 1905, a year after the terrifying events of the previous book, and Bexley has not recovered. Mentally disturbed, drinking heavily, he loses whole days, weeks even, to blackouts; he does not work, avoids human contact, and believes he is haunted by the dead. Bexley is a mess but is pulled out of his fugue state, at least partially, when his estranged mentor, Elijah Hawthorn, is identified as the chief suspect in a series of kidnappings, and presumed murders, carried out by 'The London Wraith'. Bexley sets out to prove Hawthorn innocent.

As in his last novel, Sam Hurcom weaves a story which crosses genres. There are elements of Sherlock Holmes and Hammer Horror, The 39 Steps and, particularly early on, Scooby Doo (and I really mean that as a compliment) as Bexley evades his former colleagues in Scotland Yard and travels to Scotland, drawn by letter from Hawthorn, a letter sent several months previously. Accompanied by the sister of one of The Wraith's victims, Bexley follows a series of clues which lead to an even bigger mystery. Here the novel becomes a little DaVinci Code-like (albeit with better prose) as the plot is driven by coincidence and I admit my heart sank a little. But...suddenly it ALL changes and the changes cause Thomas Bexley, and the reader, to doubt everything that has gone before. It is a masterstroke.

Ultimately, Hurcom stops short of going where I really wanted him to but still delivers s thrilling, disturbing, and very satisfying second novel and I look forward to his third.

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