#BlogTour - Truth or Dare by M.J. Arlidge

DO YOU WANT TO PLAY THE GAME?

THE BRAND NEW THRILLER FROM THE MIND OF MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER M. J. ARLIDGE

A crimewave sweeps through the city and no-one is safe. An arson at the docks. A carjacking gone wrong. A murder in a country park. What connects all these crimes without causes, which leave no clues?

Detective Inspector Helen Grace faces the rising tide of cases which threatens to drown the city. But each crime is just a piece of a puzzle which is falling into place.

And when it becomes clear just how twisted and ingenious this web of crime is, D.I. Grace will realise that it may be impossible to stop it . . .

THE BEST BOOK YET FROM THE MASTER OF THE KILLER THRILLER.

* * * * *

TRUTH OR DARE is the tenth book in M.J. Arlidge’s Southampton-set police procedurals featuring D.I. Helen Grace, his dedicated, if unorthodox, series protagonist. This time D.I. Grace is faced with a spate of unsolved, and seemingly unconnected, murders and violent crimes. Under pressure from her superiors and from the local press, to whom her former lover, and ambitious deputy, D.S. Hudson, is feeding information aimed at bringing Grace down, Helen struggles to make sense of the crimewave and, perhaps, to save her career. 

The investigation into the crimes is engrossing as D.I. Grace becomes increasingly convinced that these are not random occurrences, that there is a link between them, if only she could find the connection. But it is the subplot involving Hudson’s machinations that really drives the novel along. Hudson is a deliciously drawn character and, for me, the real antagonist. Possessing investigative skills but no empathy, and driven by self-interest, Hudson wants to lead the department and will stop at nothing in his campaign to remove Helen Grace. There is more than a touch of Iago in Hudson as he foments suspicion and mistrust in the team and encourages his superiors, already wary of adverse publicity and irritated by their D.I.’s unconventional approach, to see the team’s apparent failings as Grace’s alone. I became more and more frustrated and angry, but no less entertained, by Hudson’s success in undermining his boss. 

As you might expect from an author so well-versed in TV crime dramas, the novel is very televisual and moves at an rapid pace. TRUTH OR DARE is an exciting and engaging book and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. 

Thanks to Orion @orionbooks and Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers @Tr4cyF3nt0n for the invitation to take part in the Blogtour.

Hostage by Clare Mackintosh

You can save hundreds of lives.
Or the one that matters most . . . 

The atmosphere on board the first non-stop flight from London to Sydney is electric. Celebrities are rumoured to be among the passengers in business class, and the world is watching the landmark journey.

Flight attendant Mina is trying to focus on the passengers, instead of her troubled five-year-old daughter back at home - or the cataclysmic problems in her marriage.

But soon after the plane takes off, Mina receives a chilling anonymous note. Someone wants to make sure the plane never reaches its destination. They're demanding her cooperation . . . and they know exactly how to get it.

It's twenty hours to landing.
A lot can happen in twenty hours . . .

Prior to HOSTAGE, the only book by Clare Mackintosh that I have read is AFTER THE END, an intensely emotional and personal novel. Her latest is a completely different novel, a thriller about an aeroplane hijack, the current terminology is 'high concept' I believe; the books really could not be further apart - at least in plot terms. What they share is the author's stunning ability to craft an absorbing story and her gift for character and relationships.

HOSTAGE is a thrill-ride from start to finish. When Mina swaps shifts with a colleague, so that she can crew the first, historic, non-stop flight from London to Sydney, but, primarily, to escape the pressures of her relationships - with Adam, the husband she believes has cheated, and Sophia, their adopted daughter, precocious and loved but demanding, diagnosed with ‘a sea of acronyms’ - she cannot foresee that hijackers will use those relativity force her to help them take the plane. 

The plot alternates between the plane, where Mina finds a note threatening her family should she refuse to aid the hijackers, and her home, where the terrorists follow through on the threat. It is, at times, unbearably tense - can Mina outwit the hijackers, will Adam and Sophia survive - and Clare Mackintosh handles the beats perfectly, ramping up the suspense. If this was all she did, HOSTAGE would still be a remarkable thriller, but it is the characterisation which sets the novel apart. The family relationships are complex, realistic and believable; the terrorists are environmentalists and the author paints them so well that you find yourself sympathising with their aims, questioning the damage that we continue to do to the planet, even as you are repulsed and horrified by their methods. 

HOSTAGE is an outstanding work. Thanks to Little Brown, particularly Francesca Banks for the invitation to review the book. Now to the back catalogue…

#BlogTour - The Pact by Sharon Bolton

 A golden summer, and six talented friends are looking forward to the brightest of futures – until a daredevil game goes horribly wrong, and a woman and two children are killed.

18-year-old Megan takes the blame, leaving the others free to get on with their lives. In return, they each agree to a ‘favour’, payable on her release from prison.

Twenty years later Megan is free.

Let the games begin . . .

THE PACT is a twisty, and twisted, thriller about a careless, thoughtless crime and its long-lasting impact on the lives of those who perpetrate it. It takes a really talented author to produce a novel as enthralling and entertaining as this one with protagonists so thoroughly unlikeable. The teenagers, whose late night thrill ride the wrong way down the A40 ends in the deaths of a young family, are spoiled and entitled; the adults they become twenty years later are, despite the apparent successes they have made of their lives, just as nasty. The exception, at least in terms of her success, is Megan, who for some reason takes full responsibility for the crash that has the potential to ruin all their lives; she is however no more likeable than the others.

That Sharon Bolton not only keeps these people interesting but makes the reader care about what happens to them is astounding. The novel rattles along at a fast pace, told from the viewpoints of each of the group, so willing to accept Megan’s offer yet so anxious to avoid the consequences of the pact they agree to. The real pleasure is in watching the relationships unravel as the group start to become suspicious each other. It is frantic and fun.

Thanks to Tracey Fenton of Compulsive Readers @Tr4cyF3nt0n and Trapeze Books @TrapezeBooks for the invitation to the BlogTour.