Friday 4 December 2020

#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.




Thursday 19 November 2020

Review: Blacktop Wasteland

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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Monday 16 November 2020

Review: Letters from the Dead

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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Saturday 7 November 2020

Review: The Searcher

The Searcher The Searcher by Tana French
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

'A small place. A small town in a small country. It seemed like that would be easier to make sense of. Guess I might have had that wrong.'

THE SEARCHER is Tana French's latest captivating novel. Like her last, THE WYCH ELM, the book is a standalone, unconnected to her excellent Dublin Murder Squad series, although the protagonist in this case is a policeman or, at least, a ex-policeman. Cal Hooper is a 48 year-old retired Chicago detective, disillusioned and somewhat burnt out, who has relocated to a small village in the west of Ireland, to a dilapidated cottage which he intends to fix up, as he rebuilds and mends his psyche. Cal is befriended by Trey Reddy, a local kid whose brother has disappeared, he begins to investigate, initially reluctantly; less so as it becomes clear that not everyone in the village wants Trey's brother found.

THE SEARCHER is a slow-burn, unhurried, character-driven story, full of the gorgeous, descriptive, evocative writing for which Tana French is known. After a phone call to his daughter, Cal feels 'a sense that somehow, inspire of having been on the phone all that time, they haven't had a conversation at all; the whole thing was made of air and tumbleweed.'. A character has 'the look of a woman who's had too much land on top of her, not in one great big avalanche but trickling down little by little over a lot of years.'

It is perhaps not accidental that the title of the novel is almost that of John Ford's 'The Searchers'. The feel of the novel is that of a western set in rural Ireland, particularly a scene in which Cal and another character keep watch through a restless night, anticipating some attack on the house. This is not the romanticised Ireland of The Quiet Man or, if it is, it is now blighted by unemployment and the drugs trade. There is a melancholy, a feeling of inevitability to the events of the novel. And it is very, very good.

I have liked all of Tana French's books. FAITHFUL PLACE is my favourite and THE SEARCHER, whose theme and tone echoes that earlier book, comes very, very close.

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Wednesday 4 November 2020

#BlogTour - The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly




 

THE MOST IMPORTANT CASE OF HIS LIFE. ONLY THIS TIME THE DEFENDANT IS HIMSELF

"The law of innocence is unwritten. It will not be found in a leather-bound code book. It will never be argued in a courtroom. In nature, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In the law of innocence, for every man not guilty of a crime there is a man out there who is. And to prove true innocence the guilty man must be found and exposed to the world."

* * * * *

Heading home after winning his latest case, defense attorney Mickey Haller - The Lincoln Lawyer - is pulled over by the police. They open the trunk of his car to find the body of a former client.

Haller knows the law inside out. He will be charged with murder. He will have to build his case from behind bars. And the trial will be the trial of his life.

Because Mickey Haller will defend himself in court.

With watertight evidence stacked against him, Haller will need every trick in the book to prove he was framed. But a not-guilty verdict isn't enough. In order to truly walk free, Haller knows he must find the real killer - that is the law of innocence...

* * * * *

THE LAW OF INNOCENCE is seventh in Michael Connelly's The Lincoln Lawyer series, a sequence which has become one of the best legal thriller series around and truly the equal of Connelly's Harry Bosch series. The books have a different feel to the Bosch novels, both through the first person narration of Mickey Haller, the eponymous Lincoln Lawyer and Harry Bosch's half-brother, and by Mickey's less strict 'code' than that by which Bosch lives. Mickey is a fast talking dealer, a man with a sense of right and wrong but who is prepared to bend the rules, muddy the waters, when necessary to get the right verdict. This time his task is made much more difficult as Haller is the accused, whose decision to defend himself is further hampered by  a prohibitive bail leading to his incarceration.

The real joy of the series, as with all great series, is the characters, the interactions between Haller and his team, including his investigator, Cisco, Harry Bosch, and two (!) ex-wives. The dialogue is sharp and snappy, the plot moves like a snake, the threat to Haller, from the dogmatic prosecution and from fellow prisoners, feels real and has the potential for lasting consequences. The courtroom scenes are truly thrilling.

While there are callbacks to previous novels, the book can be read as a standalone, although those who start here should be prepared to devote some considerable time in going back to the start and catching up - I don't believe you could read this and not want more...

While it doesn't play a huge part in the plot, this novel is the first that I have read, especially by a renowned authors, in which Covid-19 appears. As the plot develops, Haller becomes aware of news stories about a virus in Wuhan, he starts to see people wearing masks in the street and then in the jail. It is well done and adds to the verisimilitude. It is ironic that I am reviewing the book on a day when America is counting votes in an election so affected by Coronavirus.

THE LAW OF INNOCENCE is a fine addition to a fine series. I really enjoyed spending time with Haller, Cisco, Maggie McFierce and the rest. I love the Harry Bosch books, and it is close, but the Haller novels may now be Michael Connelly's preeminent series. Can't wait to find out what happens next.

Thanks to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers and to Orion Fiction/Hachette for the advance review copy.



Monday 2 November 2020

Review: The Chalet

The Chalet The Chalet by Catherine Cooper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

1998, in La Madiere in the French Alps, two ski instructors lose a pair of brothers in poor weather. Only one of the brothers returns. 

22 years later, in similarly bad weather, two couples stay in one of the resorts chalets, along with a baby, a nanny and employees of the chalet company. Each of these people have secrets; at least one of them is connected to the events of 1998.

THE CHALET is a claustrophobic thriller in a setting of which I know very little. I have never been skiing, or visited a resort such as La Madiere. It is to Catherine Cooper's credit that she uses her intimate knowledge of such resorts to take the reader there. It is even more impressive that she makes this group of pretty unlikeable characters compelling. Each of these individuals is hiding something; none of them are particularly sympathetic. And yet, we care what happens, as the truth is gradually revealed slowly through the first person, unreliable narration by several of the main characters and the judicious use of flashbacks.

I really enjoyed THE CHALET, a thrilling, and chilling, debut. Thanks to Harper Fiction for the review copy.

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Sunday 11 October 2020

Review: A Song for the Dark Times

A Song for the Dark Times A Song for the Dark Times by Ian Rankin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Proof that retirement is not the end. Ian Rankin made the decision many years ago that his central character, John Rebus, would age in real time meaning that he was forced to leave the police force several novels ago, yet the subsequent books have been no less thrilling or entertaining. A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES is no exception.

Rebus heads north having received a call from his daughter, Samantha, whose partner, Keith, has gone missing. Back in Edinburgh, Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox investigate the murder of a James Bond-worshipping Saudi playboy student. The narrative alternates between the two plots connected by the relationship between Rebus and Clarke as they stay in touch by phone. And, when Siobhan's investigation turns up someone from near to the village in which Rebus's daughter lives, the cases become more intertwined.

As always though, it is the characters who drive the story. We enjoy spending time with the cantankerous John Rebus, and we worry about the COPD which has caused him to leave his flat, due to the struggle with stairs. He is getting old and Siobhan worries about him, even as she is exasperated by both Rebus and Fox. I really hope there are many more Rebus mysteries to come but, should the day come, and it will be a sad day, there is great potential in Clarke's and Fox's love/hate relationship.

And what happens after that last chapter? I cannot wait to find out.

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Saturday 3 October 2020

#BlogTour - The Trials of Koli by M.R. Carey

EVERYTHING THAT LIVES HATES US

Beyond the walls of Koli's small village lies a fearsome landscape filled with choker trees, vicious beasts and shunned men. As an exile, Koli's been forced to journey out into this mysterious, hostile world. But he heard a story, once. A story about lost London, and the mysterious tech of the Old Times that may still be there. If Koli can find it, there may still be a way for him to redeem himself - by saving what's left of humankind.


THE TRIALS OF KOLI is the second novel in M R. Carey's breathtakingly original Rampart trilogy, set in a strange and deadly world of our own making.


M. R. Carey has been making up stories for most of his life. His novel The Girl With All the Gifts was a word-of-mouth bestseller and is now a major motion picture based on his own screenplay. Under the name Mike Carey he has written for both DC and Marvel, including critically acclaimed runs on X-Men and Fantastic Four, Marvel's flagship superhero titles. His creator-owned books regularly appear in the New York Times graphic fiction bestseller list. He also has several previous novels, two radio plays and a number of TV and movie screenplays to his credit.


'It was kind of like there was a crowd of people all around me and they was shouting. But they were dead people, gone into the ground a long time before, and their voices did not carry. Only the marks was left, like voices that had froze and fell to the ground.'


In THE BOOK OF KOLI M.R. Carey introduced Koli, a fifteen year-old boy, exiled from his medieval-like village in post-apocalyptic England, several hundred years in our future. In THE TRIALS OF KOLI our titular hero and his new companions continue their journey south, drawn by the 'Signal' which promises London and Koli's dream to bring people together, to increase the 'gene pull' and reverse the decline of healthy human childbirth in the villages. It is fun to fall back into the rhythms of Koli's vernacular, his voice Huckleberry Finn-like but very much his own, as he narrates the travellers' journey to find the source of the Signal by way of places such as Birmagen and encounters with the armies of Half-Ax.


But there is a second voice, Spinner. In the first novel, Koli tells us, “The two sides is this: I went away, and then I come home again.” Spinner's story keeps us up to date with what has happened in Mythen Rood following Koli's expulsion by the Ramparts and how both the actions of the ruling class and external influences have changed the place to which Koli intends to return. This narrative is just as enthralling as Koli's as, in a strangely prescient turn of events, the village is struck by a deadly illness the effects of which the Ramparts are powerless to arrest. In an attempt to end the deaths, Spinner is drawn into a conspiracy which could change the political structure of Mythen Rood forever.


TRIALS picks up immediately after the events of THE BOOK OF KOLI and the plot really speeds up. Along the way Carey touches on many issues which reflect our own society, the tribalism and intolerance, the war on facts and truth, the apparent intention of those in power to keep the population stupid and compliant... Like its predecessor, THE TRIALS OF KOLI is as thought provoking as it is entertaining and thrilling. I can't wait to see where the trilogy goes and how M.R. Carey brings Koli's story to a conclusion.


Thanks to @MsAnnaJackson @michaelcarey191 @orbitbooks and  @Tr4cyF3nt0n for the opportunity to take part in the BlogTour.





Sunday 27 September 2020

#BlogTour - City of Spies by Mara Timon

LISBON, 1943: When her cover is blown, SOE agent Elisabeth de Mornay flees Paris. Pursued by the Gestapo, she makes her way to neutral Lisbon, where Europe’s elite rub shoulders with diplomats, businessmen, smugglers, and spies. There she receives new orders – and a new identity. 

Posing as wealthy French widow Solange Verin, Elisabeth must infiltrate a German espionage ring targeting Allied ships, before more British servicemen are killed.

The closer Elisabeth comes to discovering the truth, the greater the risk grows. With a German officer watching her every step, it will take all of Elisabeth’s resourcefulness and determination to complete her mission.

But in a city where no one is who they claim to be, who can she trust?



Mara Timon’s debut novel is one of intrigue and espionage in World War II. With little preamble, we are thrust straight into the action as, betrayed to the Gestapo in Paris, our heroine goes on the run. Following a thrilling escape through the French countryside to the coast, Elizabeth arrives in Lisbon, a city whose neutrality means that British and German agents mix with French refugees and locals, where the war is fought in the shadows, kidnappings and assassinations a daily event. Working undercover for her godfather, an English ‘diplomat’, Elizabeth finds herself entering this society, where anyone might be an enemy or an ally, where she will need all her training and guile just to survive. The core of the novel is tense and claustrophobic as Elizabeth , alias mysterious French widow, Solange Verin, tries to find those responsible for betraying Allied ships to the Nazis, only to explode into a breathtaking climax as she confronts the enemy. 

CITY OF SPIES is a “Girls Own’ thriller, an adventure set against the complex and confusing theatre that is wartime Portugal. I was unfamiliar with events in Lisbon during the war but Mara Timon vividly brings the city to life. The espionage is much more towards the Fleming end of the spectrum than the Le Carre, and none the worse for that, but this is a fresh take on the genre, glamorous, romantic and exciting. 








Monday 31 August 2020

Review: Knife Edge

Knife Edge Knife Edge by Simon Mayo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

KNIFE EDGE is a thriller about terrorism with a breathless opening which rivals anything I have read in the genre as, in 29 minutes one morning in May, a series of attacks leaves 7 London commuters dead. In the Canary Wharf offices of the IPS news agency, Famie Madden and her fellow journalists, begin to realise that the killings have been coordinated and the victims are colleagues in the agency's Investigation team. 

Simon Mayo, a radio and TV presenter, who presents my favourite film review show on BBC Radio 5, is a fine writer. The early chapters detailing the killings and their immediate aftermath are tense and claustrophobic, and Mayo's descriptions of an early morning London into which panic and fear erupt, are intensely vivid and convincing. The scenes following this are less riveting as the story alternates between Famie's attempt to protect herself and her family, while also attempting to identify those responsible for her colleagues' deaths, and scenes set in the terrorist cell. Here the story slows and the constant references to the terrorists as 'The Leader', 'The Woman' and "The Student' are a little clumsy. The book does lift again with a climactic confrontation with the terrorists which, while not reaching the heights of the initial chapters and being, perhaps, a little formulaic, does bring the novel to a satisfying conclusion.


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Tuesday 18 August 2020

Review: The Stranger

The Stranger The Stranger by Simon Conway
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

‘My name is Nasruddin al-Raqqah.’

'I was kidnapped by the British for a crime I did not commit and they sent me to Damascus. I was questioned and tortured, I spent more than ten years in a tiny cell deep under the ground without sunlight, without speaking. Every day I washed the bodies of those killed by Assad. Thousands of bodies, men and women, I thought I was dead and in hell.'

'But now I am free.’

Ten years ago, MI6 Officer, Jude Lyon witnessed the rendition of The Engineer, a terrorist responsible for the killings of 25 British soldiers in a fiendishly clever attack in Pakistan. Haunted by his part in the handing over of the captive and his pregnant wife to torture, Jude becomes involved once more when The Engineer, long presumed dead, is offered for sale on the dark web by a terrorist organisation who have violently freed him from captivity. The press have now come into possession of documents proving British complicity in The Engineer’s rendition, Jude is caught in the political crossfire as the guilty scramble to cover their tracks while their rivals seek advantage, and he is unable to shake the memory of Nasruddin al-Raqqah’s last words as he was dragged away, “I am not The Engineer.”

And who is The Stranger...?

THE STRANGER is a fast paced ‘War on Terror’ thriller with interesting characters, a tightly plotted, tense set up, political intrigue, and an explosive climax but the characters are conflicted, the politics anything but straightforward. There are no goodies and baddies and Simon Conway, a writer with whom I was previously unfamiliar, has delivered a novel that is several steps above the gung-ho, flag-waving thrillers that seem to fill the shelves, much more Le Carre than Clancy.



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Thursday 6 August 2020

Review: Invisible Girl

Invisible Girl Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

INVISIBLE GIRL is an intense, absorbing, character-driven domestic psychological thriller. The narrative, told through the experiences of three viewpoint characters, concerns sexual assault, infidelity, suspicion, trial by media and social media. The 'action' takes place in the largely dark, claustrophobic streets of a village-like district of London.

Cate Four, mother of two teenagers, wife to psychologist, Roan, lives with her family in the temporary accommodation of a flat in Hampstead, as the family home in Kilburn is renovated. It should be an adventure, the desirable and affluent area known for intellectuals and artists. But Cate, who came close to separating from her husband when he had an affair suspects that Roan may be wandering but, having accused him of infidelity a year previously, buries her fears.

Owen Pick, a strange, socially awkward teacher, who lives opposite the Fours, is suspended from his job following accusations of sexual harassment from female students. When Cate's daughter, Georgia, is followed home along dark streets and her friend Tilly claims she was assaulted by a stranger, the Fours wonder about their neighbour.

Saffyre Maddox is a 17-year old former patient of Roan Four, whom she saw because she was self-harming, caused by something which happened to her when she was 10. Having developed an attachment to her psychologist, she misses her regular appointments and secretly follows Roan, frequently spying on the Fours' home. When Saffyre goes missing, and is found to have been near the Fours, suspicion naturally falls on their neighbour, Owen Pick.

Lisa Jewell draws her characters so well conveying emotions through their actions and reactions. We see the trauma caused by a lack of communication, the married couple tiptoeing around each other, the mother unable to confront her children, suspicions growing in relationships because people are afraid to ask questions. Owen Pick is adjudged guilty by the media and, as other sexual attacks are revealed in the area, we begin to question whether his embarrassment and discomfort around women is hiding more dangerous traits.

The story's shifts in viewpoint and timelines keeps the reader on edge throughout. In reality, not an awful lot happens, the action largely in the minds of her characters, but Jewell ramps up the tension expertly and we never really fully know any of the protagonists. There is some wonderfully descriptive writing too, particularly in the sections narrated in the first person by Saffyre, an incredibly perceptive 17-year old. One particular passage, as Saffyre describes Roan Four's consulation room, is among the best, most atmospheric scenes I have read this year, but throughout there are little touches that make INVISIBLE GIRL a joy to read. The story is tense and oppressive, the underlying subject matter harrowing and distasteful, none of the characters truly what they initially seem, but the Lisa Jewell skilfully holds this all together and delivers a satisfying mystery while raising questions which will stay with the reader long after the story is done.

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Wednesday 29 July 2020

Review: Cry Baby

Cry Baby Cry Baby by Mark Billingham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

CRY BABY is Mark Billingham's 20th novel in 20 years and the 17th in his Tom Thorne series. The story takes place 24 years ago in 1996 and sees Thorne as a 35 year old, less experienced but well on his way to becoming the character who first appeared in SLEEPYHEAD in 2001. Thorne investigates the disappearance of a 7 year old boy, a case which echoes another, years before in which a family died, deaths for which Thorne, unfairly, takes some of the blame. An empathetic investigator, Thorne is driven to find the boy, and to fight against the incompetence in the police team, which threatens to hamper progress.

Along the way, we see Tom Thorne's first meeting with Hendricks, a very funny beginning to their friendship, and the aftermath of the breakdown of his marriage, another source of black humour. Billingham, despite downplaying his ability to write historic novels in his afterword, perfectly captures north London in the '90s, particularly in the characters' obsessions with the Euro '96 football tournament, but also in the lack of mobile phones and internet. It feels authentic and is an entertaining and exciting police procedural. A fitting 20th anniversary tribute to the character but also a worthy addition to the series.

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Tuesday 28 July 2020

Review: The Quality of Madness: A Life of Marcelo Bielsa

The Quality of Madness: A Life of Marcelo Bielsa The Quality of Madness: A Life of Marcelo Bielsa by Tim Rich
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A serviceable biography of Marcelo Bielsa. Bielsa is notoriously reluctant to give interviews so there are few insights into the man, the book largely restricted to a chronology of his career and comments from those who worked with him, most of which seem to come from previously published interviews and/or press conferences. Ending, as it does, mid way through the most recent, Covid-19 interrupted, season the book misses perhaps Bielsa’s greatest achievement to date, taking Leeds United back to the English Premier League after 16 years in the wilderness. I suspect a revised edition soon.

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Friday 26 June 2020

Review: A New Day Yesterday: UK Progressive Rock & The 1970s

A New Day Yesterday: UK Progressive Rock & The 1970s A New Day Yesterday: UK Progressive Rock & The 1970s by Mike Barnes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Really enjoyable meander through progressive rock in the 1970s. I took my time with this, adding notable tracks to. Spotify playlist and listening along. Mike Barnes is clear that his subject is progressive rock and not Prog, a term which encompasses a particular subset, albeit one that most readers would be more familiar with. Barnes finds few concept albums and fewer wizards and hobbits. He does find musicians willing, and able, to push the boundaries of ‘popular’ music, whose influences are as likely to have been Leoš Janáček as Elvis Presley.

Rather than a strict chronology, Barnes finds themes with which to structure the book. He begins with the big hitters - King Crimson, Pink Floyd, ELP, Genesis, Yes and Jethro Tull - before taking a look at some possibly less well-known groups. This is perhaps the book’s only weakness, at least for me; I have never really had much interest in ‘the Canterbury scene’ and can’t get on with Van Der Graff Generator much either. I did find Henry Cow, of whom I had never interesting and came away with a renewed appreciation of Gong and Steve Hillage.

The book ends with a reappraisal of the often repeated theory that punk was a reaction to, and the end of, progressive rock (it really wasn’t) and revisits some of the better known names, and how they had changed by the decade’ s end.

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Sunday 21 June 2020

Review: Shooter in the Shadows

Shooter in the Shadows Shooter in the Shadows by David Hewson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I like David Hewson’s writing. His prose is clear and straightforward yet descriptive and evocative. Some years ago I picked up THE LIZARD’S BITE, the fourth in Hewson’s Italian set series about Detective Nick Costa, and I have enjoyed periodic visits to catch up with Costa and to share the author’s love of Italy.  SHOOTER IN THE SHADOWS, set on a small island in the Venetian lagoon, coincidentally the location for that earlier novel, is a stand-alone but no less exciting and gripping than the series. 

SHOOTER IN THE SHADOWS is a thriller about an American journalist turned true-crime author, Tom Honeyman who, having had a huge success with his first book, about a grisly murder in upstate New York, has struggled to follow it up. Every year Honeyman comes to Maledetto, the small Venetian island which his success allowed him to buy, to start a new book in the hope of returning to the bestseller lists. But that initial success has proved a millstone, Honeyman’s life a mess, his wife having committed suicide, his daughter estranged and Maledetto a drain on his dwindling finances. When Laura, his daughter makes contact and him on the island, things appear to be improving, but soon both find themselves held prisoner by someone who believes that Honeyman got it wrong in his book and wants him to right a sequel to correct that error, to reveal the truth about who really burned two people to death, or die themselves. Honeyman has 4 days...

David Hewson’s characters are really well-formed. As the novel alternates Honeyman’s predicament with chapters of the new book, we find that he is not really a very nice guy, a talented writer but a poor reporter who substitutes vivid imagination for facts when necessary. But it is not only Honeyman who comes alive - the small town American cop; the wild, bohemian, sexually free teacher who died in the fire with her student lover; Honeyman’s wife, who gave up her own journalistic career to bring up their daughter - despite being drawn in relatively few scenes, jump off the page fully-formed. The joy of SHOOTER IN THE SHADOWS is the inherent unreliability of the narrator as we only have Honeyman’s version of what he think happened. And, even when I guessed the true events about three quarters in, seeing the truth play out was really satisfying. Except, I only thought I had solved it. There are events that even Honeyman doesn’t know, leading to a great twist. 

Hewson captures the essence of the lagoon, the sounds, the smells. The setting is excellent, Maledetto simultaneously within sight of Venice’s main islands yet as remote from civilisation as it is possible to be in the lagoon.

SHOOTER IN THE SHADOWS is highly recommended.



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Monday 15 June 2020

#BlogTour - The Lies I Tell by Joel Hames





SHE’S WATCHING YOU
BUT WHO’S WATCHING HER?

From the bestselling author of Dead North, a tense, claustrophobic psychological thriller perfect for fans of Lucy Foley, Claire McGowan and Clare Mackintosh.

Meet Polly. Meet Emily. Meet Belinda. 

They're all me. My name is Lisa and I’m an identity thief. If I’m not inside your system stealing your money, I’ve probably already stolen it. I’m your friend. I’m a thief. I’m gone. 
I’m in control. 

Only now, the tables have been turned. I’m in danger. My son is in danger. And I don’t know where that danger’s coming from. 

Any friend. 
Any enemy. 
Any stranger. 

Anyone from the past I’ve been trying to outrun for years.

NOBODY CAN BE TRUSTED.


Sunday 14 June 2020

#BlogTour - All Fall Down by M.J. Arlidge

“You have one hour to live.”
Those are the only words on the phone call. Then they hang up. Surely, a prank? A mistake? A wrong number? Anything but the chilling truth… That someone is watching, waiting, working to take your life in one hour.
But why?
The job of finding out falls to DI Helen Grace: a woman with a track record in hunting killers. However, this is a case where the killer seems to always be one step ahead of the police and the victims.
With no motive, no leads, no clues – nothing but pure fear – an hour can last a lifetime…
ALL FALL DOWN is the ninth in M.J. Arlidge’s series featuring DI Helen Grace and my first exposure to both character and author. The novel works well as a standalone though, and Grace, a determined, flawed investigator, is an intriguing protagonist whose backstory I am interested in exploring down the line.
Set in Southampton, the novel is a well-structured police procedural with strong, realistic characters. DI Grace investigates the murder of Justin Lanning, a successful businessman in his mid twenties. Lanning had, according to his partner, received a call prior to his death, the caller threatening that he had only one hour to live. As Grace’s team delve into the victim’s history they discover that he is one of five school friends who had been abducted by Daniel King eight years previously during a Prince of Edinburgh Awards hike on the South Downs. The five were tortured by King before four of them escaped. It appeared that, after killing the remaining student, King committed suicide, although his body was never found. Recently, King has returned to the public consciousness due to the publication of a book about the experience by another of the survivors. Grace and her team become convinced that there is a connection to the events of the past, and to King, and that the survivors may be at risk.
There is a mixture of action and character-driven drama. The relationships within the team, particularly between Helen Grace and her deputy, Joseph Hudson, whom she has, perhaps rashly, taken as a lover, threaten to derail the investigation. The relationship between the survivors of King’s torture are also more complex than they initially appear. The author maintains tension until the end and it all makes for an enjoyable thriller.
M.J. Arlidge has worked in television on prime-time crime thrillers and ALL FALL DOWN has that sort of feel. I could see DI Helen Grace and her team appear in that medium but meanwhile look forward to discovering the other books.
Thanks to @Tr4cyF3nt0n at Compulsive Readers @mjarlidge and @orionbooks @orion_crime for the opportunity to review ALL FALL DOWN.


Monday 8 June 2020

Review: On Her Majesty's Secret Service

On Her Majesty's Secret Service On Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ian Fleming
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I haven’t read all the Bonds but I have had the audiobook of this, read very entertainingly by David Tennant, on my list for some time so decided to read and listen. 
As with all Fleming’s output, the book, from 1963, is very dated. Fleming writes well in a very well-spoken English style but the book is as misogynistic as you would expect. It begins as Bond watches a young woman, and becomes concerned that she is considering suicide. We find a little bit about their relationship in flashback before they are both captured and whisked off to meet a shady Corsican who takes a shine to Bond.
The next section, where the book almost loses its way, follows Bond, typically poorly undercover, to the mountaintop retreat of his arch enemy, Blofeld, whose sinister plan seems to resolve around becoming certified as a Count and hypnotising some British farm girls into liking cows and an Irish colleen into appreciating potatoes… However, things take off when Bond’s identity is uncovered and he has to escape down the mountain in a genuinely exciting fashion, pursued by Blofeld’s thugs and an avalanche.
Those who have seen the movie will know the tragic ending. Indeed the film followed the book fairly closely and, having watched the movie recently, both are overlong and slightly out-stay their welcome. Enjoyable but disjointed, Tennant’s narration just about holding it together.


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Friday 1 May 2020

#BlogTour - The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey



The first in a gripping new trilogy, The Book of Koli charts the journey of one unforgettable young boy struggling to find his place in a chilling post-apocalyptic world. Perfect for readers of Station Eleven and Annihilation.
Beyond the walls of the small village of Mythen Rood lies an unrecognisable world. A world where overgrown forests are filled with choker trees and deadly vines and seeds that will kill you where you stand. And if they don’t get you, one of the dangerous shunned men will.
Koli has lived in Mythen Rood his entire life. He knows the first rule of survival is that you don’t venture beyond the walls.
What he doesn’t know is — what happens when you aren’t given a choice?

“The two sides is this: I went away, and then I come home again.”
M.R. Carey’s THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS was a stunning take on post-apocalyptic zombie/vampire tropes which made him one to watch for me. THE BOOK OF KOLI, the first of a trilogy, may eclipse that novel.
In the first half of the book, Koli, a fifteen year-old boy, tells of his life in the northern English village of Mythen Rood. The society is medieval-like although there are remnants of ‘old tech’, items of great power that have survived from times before ‘the Unfinished War, and which bestow great power on those who can ‘wake’ them. These masters of the tech, the Ramparts, are the village leaders and Koli desperately wants to become one of them, and he has reached the age at which he be tested for the ability to wake tech.
The joy of the novel is that we are evidently many years, possibly centuries, after the collapse of advanced society. Villages have become isolated, travel almost non-existent (very apt given the state of the world at publication), and fewer babies are being born. The ‘old tech’ is ‘future tech’ to us but, crucially, not so far advanced from early 21st century to be unrecognisably plausible.
“That’s the heart of my story, now I think of it. The old times haunt us still. The things they left behind save us and hobble us in ways that are past any counting. They was ever the sift and substance of my life, and the journey I made starts and ends with them.”
Koli’s narration is naturalistic, jumping around at times, running off at tangents as something else occurs to him. He pulls you into the story, his innocence and inquisitiveness, his jealously of the Ramparts, his wonder at, and desire to possess, the old tech.
“I risked everything I hard to grab a piece of tech I could own. I broke the law to get my hands on the Dreamsleeve. Got myself made faceless, and almost got my whole family hanged on the gallows.”
The second half of the book tells of Koli’s journey beyond the walls of Mythen Rood, into the unknown where “everything that lives hates us.” The forests are full of carnivorous trees, another result of the old tech, a runaway experiment to grown plants in soil devastated by global warming. There too, live cannibalistic shunned men, outside village society and preying on those who become lost or detached. 
The book is incredibly entertaining - thrilling, scary and funny. Koli is a wonderful character, as is his companion, Monono, but it is only fair to let the reader discover her themselves. If the following books, the next of which is coming in only a few short months, live up to this, with promises of finding out more about mythical places like Half-Ax, Birmagen, even London, THE BOOKS OF KOLI may well become one of the classic sci-fi/fantasy trilogies. I can’t wait.
Thanks to Orbit Books and Compulsive Readers for the invitation to the Blog Tour. 
@michaelcarey191 @orbitbooks @Tr4cyF3nt0n

Thursday 19 March 2020

Review: The Boy from the Woods

The Boy from the Woods The Boy from the Woods by Harlan Coben
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I first discovered Harlan Coben with TELL NO ONE and the novels which followed it, novels about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary situations. Later I found his Myron Bolitar series, with his series character, a sports agent come investigator. THE BOY FROM THE WOODS is almost a hybrid of the two. There is an unusual character, Wilde, the titular ‘boy’, who was actually discovered as a child living in the woods alone, who has the potential to be that series character, Coben’s own Jack Reacher or Joe Pike, with a dollop of IQ-like Holmesian deductive skills thrown in. This is not to suggest that Coben has become derivative - he is still the exciting writer of suspense he has always been - just that he has found a character with the potential to rival those mentioned.

The plot is intriguing - a disappearance or is it a kidnapping; rich media-types; spoilt, bullying school kids and those caught in their orbit - and is held together by a cast of characters, particularly Wilde and his surrogate mother-figure, TV-lawyer, Hester Crimstein, of whom we look forward to meeting again. A very good thriller from a master of the thriller and the promise of a first-class series.

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Sunday 23 February 2020

Review: The Guest List


The Guest List by Lucy Foley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

THE GUEST LIST shares a lot with Lucy Foley's last novel THE HUNTING PARTY. As in the previous novel we have an event in a remote location attended by a frankly, fairly unlikeable bunch of characters and presumed crime, the details of which are revealed slowly through judicious use of timelines. The wedding of a successful web-magazine editor and a handsome Bear Grylls-type adventure TV personality is held on a remote island off the coast of Ireland. The story is told in the first person by several viewpoint characters - the bride, the best man, the bridesmaid, the wife of the bride's best friend 'the plus one' and the wedding planner - most of them flawed and damaged; and a third person narrative set after some calamitous event, the nature of which is not immediately revealed.

It is all very Agatha Christie and the plot occasionally relies a little too much on coincidence, but it is incredibly well done. Foley has a real talent for making the reader care what happens to people with few redeeming qualities. With a few exceptions, the characters are a nasty bunch with murky backstories - deliciously so. For me the conclusion, although satisfying, was a little too neat but getting there was great fun.

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Thursday 13 February 2020

#BlogTour - Never Look Back by A L Gaylin AudioBook Tour

She was the most brutal killer of our time. And she may have been my mother…
When website columnist Robin Diamond is contacted by true crime podcast producer Quentin Garrison, she assumes it’s a business matter. It’s not. Quentin’s podcast, Closure, focuses on a series of murders in the 1970s, committed by teen couple April Cooper and Gabriel LeRoy. It seems that Quentin has reason to believe Robin’s own mother may be intimately connected with the killings.
Robin thinks Quentin’s claim is absurd. But is it? The more she researches the Cooper/LeRoy murders herself, the more disturbed she becomes by what she finds. Living just a few blocks from her, Robin’s beloved parents are the one absolute she’s always been able to rely upon, especially now amid rising doubts about her husband and frequent threats from internet trolls. Robin knows her mother better than anyone.
But then her parents are brutally attacked, and Robin realises she doesn’t know the truth at all…
I have to confess that Alison (A.L.) Gaylin is a new author to me and, intrigued by the synopsis, particularly the podcast reference, I was expecting something in the vein of Matt Wesolowski’s excellent Six Stories series in which the plot is essentially driven by the podcast element. NEVER LOOK BACK is a more conventional, though no less entertaining, crime novel in which Quentin Garrison’s Closure podcast is the starting point for a psychological thrill-ride with more twists and turns than a really twisty-turny thing. Garrison’s podcast investigates the 1970s murder spree of Gabriel LeRoy and April Cooper, crimes which echo Bonnie & Clyde, Badlands and Natural Born Killers, crimes which have long impacted Quentin’s family and, unknown to her until Quentin tracks her down, that of Robin Diamond.

The writing is excellent, the plot races along and the characters are believable and relatable. The story is told from the viewpoints of Quentin and Robin in present day and in the letters April Cooper wrote to the daughter she hoped to have someday. And the letters reveal a story that is much more complex than the reported ‘facts’… The audiobook is narrated alternately by male and female voices and the female in particular is convincing and sympathetic, especially as April. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and the narrators really bring the dialogue to life. Highly recommended.
Thanks to Compulsive Readers and Orion Book for the opportunity to review NEVER LOOK BACK.

Sunday 9 February 2020

Review: Roger Daltrey: Thanks a lot Mr Kibblewhite: My Story

Roger Daltrey: Thanks a lot Mr Kibblewhite: My Story Roger Daltrey: Thanks a lot Mr Kibblewhite: My Story by Roger Daltrey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Roger Daltrey’s story read by Roger Daltrey. Perhaps not as enthralling as Pete Townsend’s WHO I AM, Daltrey seemingly a more contented and less conflicted individual, it is nonetheless a hugely entertaining autobiography from one of the great singers, and survivors, in rock history. More humour than In Townsend’s book too and even more so having Rog read it himself - on a couple of occasions he starts to laugh as he reads particular passages, as it comes back, and has to have another go...

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Wednesday 5 February 2020

#BlogTour - The Sinner by Martyn Waites

 The Sinner by Martyn Waites
My rating: 5 of 5 stars 
A repost of one of my favourite thrillers from 2019 - in paperback February 6th

Tom Killgannon, ex-undercover police officer and now in witness protection, is recalled to active service by a local police task force, headed by DS Sheridan. His mission is to befriend notorious child killer Noel Cunningham and find out where he buried the bodies of his final two victims.
The catch? Tom has to obtain that information from within Blackmoor prison itself.
Undercover and with no back-up, Tom soon runs into danger.
In the prison is convicted gangster Dean Foley. He used to run Manchester’s biggest gang, until Tom’s testimony put him away for life. He recognises Tom, and so begins a cat-and-mouse game as Tom fights for survival before Foley can get his revenge.
But why can’t Tom reach DS Sheridan and what is the real reason he has been sent to Blackmoor prison?
Martyn Waites last novel, ‘The Old Religion’, found Tom Killgannon living in Cornwall, in the witness protection programme for reasons unknown to the reader, and getting caught up in pagan rites and farmers’ rights. In ‘The Sinner’, Tom’s past catches up with him as his ‘handlers’ demand that he enters Blackmoor prison in an attempt to persuade a child killer to reveal the location of his victims’ bodies. Tom is undercover, his true identity unknown to even the prison authorities and he very soon discovers that something is not right in the police unit that is directing him. Worse, he finds that the crime boss whom he ‘betrayed’ when an undercover operative is also in Broadmoor. 
‘The Sinner’ has a completely different feel to ‘The Old Religion’, owing more to the likes of ‘Bronson’ or ‘Scum’ where the previous book was more ‘The Wicker Man’. Waites makes the change in direction just as believable and exciting though, as Tom struggles to survive in an increasingly hostile situation while those he has left behind in Cornwall are tormented by the people whose agenda he is being manipulated into following. The book is gritty and dark and very televisual as one might expect from the author’s background as an actor. I was drawn into the darkness and could really see this working as one of those 9PM Sunday night crime miniseries that the BBC do so well.
@MartynWaites @ZaffreBooks


#BlogTour - Still See You Everywhere by Lisa Gardner

A remote tropical island. Countless dangerous secrets. No way to call help. ‘A  master of the thriller  genre’ David Baldacci ‘Full-on  acti...