#Blogtour The Scent Of Death by Simon Beckett @BeckettSimon @TransworldBooks @HJ_Barnes #DavidHunter

The Scent Of Death by Simon Beckett  Bantam Press  April 18th

It’s been a good summer for forensics expert Dr David Hunter. His relationship is going well and he’s in demand again as a police consultant. Life is good.

Then a call comes from an old associate: a body has been found, and she’d like Hunter to take a look.

The empty shell of St Jude’s Hospital now stands awaiting demolition, its only visitors society’s outcasts, addicts and dealers. A partially mummified corpse has been discovered in the hospital’s cavernous loft, but not even Hunter can say how long it’s been there. All he knows for sure is that it’s a young woman. And that she was pregnant.

Then the collapse of the loft floor reveals another of the hospital’s secrets. A sealed-off chamber, with beds still inside. Some of them occupied…

For Hunter, what began as a straightforward case is about to become a twisted nightmare that threatens everyone around him. And as the investigation springs yet more surprises, only one thing is certain.

St Jude’s hasn’t claimed its last victim…

My Review

You know when you are late to a party or join a conversation halfway through and wonder what you have missed, well that is how I felt about Simon Beckett’s The Scent Of Death. How could I have been so late to this wonderful series, and have waited so long to meet forensic anthropologist Dr David Hunter? There was obviously some back story that I didn’t know but that really did not matter as The Scent Of  Death can be read as a standalone.

Dr David Hunter was a serious soul, not surprising for someone who had lost his wife and daughter nor his choice of career. Above all else Hunter and his job were absolutely fascinating and Beckett dazzled me with his wonderful descriptions of the varying stages of a dead bodies decomposition, the techniques used to piece that person back together and discover how they died. I felt like I was there in the mortuary with Hunter and wasn’t quite sure I would have had the patience required to carry out such painstaking work.

If the dead bodies were fascinating then so to was the novels setting. The imposing, dilapidated building that was St Jude’s Hospital emitted scenes that were full of darkness, an aroma of damp and decay rose from the pages. I too felt myself lost in its unwinding, endless corridors, inhaling the dust, smelling the deadly aroma of death.

You wanted Beckett to hurry up and unearth the hospital’s secrets, but instead he took his time, filling background, slowly building the many layers of the story. I was enthralled by his wonderful set of characters, from the investigating police officers to the eerie and combative figure of Lola and her son.

Beckett brilliantly built the tension until boom, the pace went so fast that you weren’t quite sure what had hit you. The varying strands came together, connections were made and you could sense the lightness emerging until he gave us one final surprise that you never saw as it crept up on you and pounced!

For me, The Scent Of Death was crime writing at its best, it had an intelligence that is so often lacking from the many novels that litter the genre. The narrative bristled with wonderful descriptions that triggered the imagination, its characters were based in reality, personable and in some cases chilling, never one dimensional. It was a novel that that I loved and admired and I shall be revisiting the world of Dr David Hunter very soon.

I would like to thank Transworld for a copy of The Scent Of Death to read and review and to Hayley Barnes for inviting My Bookish Blogspot to participate in the blogtour.

About the author

Simon Beckett has worked as a freelance journalist for national newspapers and colour supplements. He is the author of five international bestselling crime thrillers featuring his forensic anthropologist hero, Dr David Hunter: The Chemistry of Death, Written in Bone, Whispers of the Dead, The Calling of the Grave and The Restless Dead. His stand-alone novels include Stone Bruises and Where There’s Smoke. He lives in Sheffield.

#Blogtour Say Your’re Sorry by Karen Rose @KarenRoseBooks @headlinepg @annecater #RandomThingsTours #SayYour’reSorry #chilling #romantic

Say You’re Sorry by Karen Rose Headline February 21st 2019

Special Agent Gideon Reynolds has tried hard to put his past behind him. He escaped the violence of his
cult upbringing when he was just thirteen, and since then routine and discipline have been his way of
making sense of the world. But when a petite blonde woman crashes into his life, he begins to realize that
a little bit of chaos might not be so bad.
Daisy Dawson has had more than her fair share of pain too – but she’s done being a victim. Daisy’s
determined to explore every new experience she can – including getting to know the dark and serious FBI
investigator she meets when she fights off a masked attacker one night.
It soon becomes clear that Daisy’s attack was just the beginning. Now the bloodied bodies of young
women are showing up all over California, and, as Gideon tries to find the killer, it’s clear that Daisy is in
more danger than they ever realised…

My Review

I’m all for trying something new, so I thought, what the heck when Karen Rose’s Say Your Sorry blogtour invite dropped in my inbox. It was not my usual type of book as I would read suspense but not romance, so I was interested to see how I would get on.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised, the romance worked in with the suspenseful plot worked extremely well. It added light to what otherwise would have been a very dark novel.

I knew from the start that the main characters Daisy and Gideon would get it together, it was just a matter of how and when. They perfectly complemented each other on a deeply personal level and when struggling to discover who attacked Daisy., it felt like the start of a brilliant partnership.

As for the suspenseful bit, that was a real white knuckle ride, at times very chilling and terrifying. You knew who the murderer was from the very beginning, and he was definitely not someone you would like to meet. Most perpetrators in this genre tend to be one dimensional, but this was where Rose was clever. Yes, he was evil and brutal but he had obviously suffered some serious psychological damage as he grew up and still struggled with it to the extreme in the present day. Rose’s skill was her ability to slowly unravel him as we read, to lay his psyche bare for us all to see, to recoil in horror as we knew what would and could happen next.

There were various strands to Say Your’re Sorry and none were more interesting than Gideon’s past. The product of a hideous cult that had scarred him beyond anything you could imagine you had to admire his courage and determination to make a life for himself and become a fully functioning FBI agent. I think this was why Daisy and himself complemented each other so well, as she too came to terms with an unusual upbringing that was both difficult and challenging. I loved Rose’s addition of Brutus the service dog but did worry that she would get squashed or have no fur due to Daisy’s frequently high anxiety levels!

In Roses’s capable hands the varying strands slowly came together, as she sent your heart rate soaring and you read on furiously to discover the outcome. That heart rate remained high throughout as she alternated between the perpetrator and Daisy and Gideon’s race against time to catch him. Rose did not shy away from some pretty graphic descriptions, totally relevant to the story and aptly illustrated just how dangerous a person Daisy and Gideon were up against.

Say Your’re Sorry was not for the fainthearted, it was dark, gritty and lived up to its inclusion in the suspense genre. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the combination of romance and suspense and I fell a little in love with Gideon, although I may have some competition from Daisy! I will be eagerly awaiting the next instalment.

I would like to thank Headline for a copy of Say Your’re Sorry to read and review and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting My Bookish Blogspot to participate in the blogtour.

About the author

 

KAREN ROSE was introduced to suspense and horror at the tender age of eight when she accidentally read Poe’s The Pit and The Pendulum and was afraid to go to sleep for years. She now enjoys writing books that make other people afraid to go to sleep.
Karen lives in Florida with her family, their cat, Bella, and two dogs, Loki and Freya. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, and her new hobby – knitting.

#Blogtour Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce @harriet_tyce @Wildfirebks @annecater #RandomThingsTours #BloodOrange

Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce  Wildfire Books  February 21st 2019

An utterly addictive, spectacularly dark psychological thriller that explores
the power of desire, jealousy and betrayal. Alison has it all. A doting husband, adorable daughter, and a career on the rise – she’s just been given her first murder case to defend. But all is never as it seems . . . Just one more night. Then I’ll end it. Alison drinks too much. She’s neglecting her family. And she’s having an affair with a colleague whose taste for pushing boundaries may be more than she can handle. I did it. I killed him. I should be locked up. Alison’s client doesn’t deny that she stabbed her husband – she wants to plead guilty. And yet something about her story is deeply amiss. Saving this woman may be the first step to Alison saving herself. I’m watching you. I know what you’re doing. But someone knows Alison’s secrets. Someone who wants to make her pay for what she’s done, and who won’t stop until she’s lost everything . . .

My Review

The scene was set, the cigarette smoke trailed into the air and the orange with a knife was ready, according to the prologue of Harriet Tyce’s hotly anticipated debut Blood Orange. The question that I asked myself was, was I ready and just what did Tyce have in store for me? The simple answer was a lot, and Tyce gave me no opportunity to catch my breath, as events got a little bit weird and twisted.

But first of all what about the characters? Don’t expect to like them because I didn’t, I found them all quite self absorbed and in some cases frustrating. In no way did this spoil the story, in fact it very definitely added to it, it gave the narrative its tense, nervous and sharp feel.

At the beginning I really didn’t like our main protagonist, Alison, an up and coming barrister embroiled in an affair, who drank too much and appeared to be putting her whole family at risk. There was no doubting that she loved her daughter, but you had to feel sorry for her stay at home husband, forced to pick up the pieces of her drunken escapades and seemingly oblivious to her affair. There was no questioning her skill as a barrister and her handling of her client’s murder charge, but you did wonder if she would be able to get it together to not only save her client but also herself.

Her husband Carl, on the other hand seemed in control, capable and efficient but as the novel progressed I sensed something that wasn’t quite right, a bit like an itch that you cannot get rid of no matter how hard you try.

As the two navigated their way through their marriage, so Tyce took us on a roller coaster ride that you knew you did not want to get off until you discovered the whole truth. Tyce took us one way and then another, and I never knew who was telling the truth and who was lying and I have to admit to being absolutely hooked as I was drawn deeper and deeper into Tyce’s compelling plot.

It was Tyce’s ability to run almost two separate storylines side by side, the edges blurred at times, that made it so compelling. She never confused the reader, the legal jargon was minimal, used only when needed and easy to understand, testament to Tyce’s own background as a criminal barrister. It gave the novel an element of realism and I wouldn’t  have been surprised if what she wrote about had actually or would at sometime happen in the future.

Blood Orange was one of those novels that demanded to be read in one sitting, it was compulsive, compelling and pretty damn good, so forget those plans you had this weekend, get comfy and enjoy!

I would like to thank Wildfire Books for a copy of Blood Orange to read and review and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting My Bookish Blogspot to participate in the blogtour.

About the author

Harriet Tyce grew up in Edinburgh and studied English at Oxford University before
doing a law conversion course at City University. She practised as a criminal barrister in London for nearly a decade. She is currently doing a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.
She lives in north London. Blood Orange is her debut novel.
Find Harriet on Twitter on @harriet_tyce

#Blogtour Beton Rouge by Simone Buchholz @ohneKlippo @OrendaBooks @annecater #RandomThingsTours #BetonRouge #ChastityRiley

Beton Rouge by Simone Buchholz  Orenda Books February 21st 2019

On a warm September morning, a man is found unconscious and tortured in a cage at the entrance to the offices of one of Germany’s biggest magazines. He’s soon identified as a manager of the company. Three days later, another manager appears in a similar way.
The magazine staff were facing significant layoffs, so sympathy for the two men is in short supply. Chastity Riley and her new colleague Ivo Stepanovic are tasked with uncovering the truth behind the attacks, an investigation that goes far beyond the
revenge they first suspect, to the dubious past shared by both victims. Travelling to the south of Germany, they step into the hothouse world of boarding schools, where secrets are currency, and monsters are bred…monsters who will stop at nothing to protect themselves.

My Review

Chastity Riley was back but was she still the same, hard, impenetrable character we discovered in Blue Night? In respect of being hard and impenetrable I would have to say, yes, and perhaps more so, but this time there was something different. I felt Riley had reached a crossroads in her life, she seemed unsettled, unsure, even depressed. I wasn’t quite sure what the catalyst was, but maybe it was her new colleague Stepanovic. He came across as pretty similar to Riley, a bit of a loner, no obvious relationship and it was almost as if they had discovered something mutual, something that clicked and I could see their relationship developing, maybe into the next novel.

They appeared to work so well together as they attempted to solve the case of two men tortured and unceremoniously placed in cages in public for all to see. An unusual crime, that made for interesting reading made even more intriguing as they dug deeper.

The city of Hamburg once again played its part, its cobbled streets and back street bars gave it a gritty, edgy feel, perfectly matching Riley’s personality.

What impressed most was Bucholz’s structure, short punchy chapters, and narrative that was razor sharp. Whilst the crimes were there to be solved, they were secondary to what I thought was the real purpose of the novel. I almost felt like I was reading the inner workings of Riley’s mind, sensed her turmoil as she fought with herself. Change was coming and I am not sure she liked it, it left her adrift and I wondered if Bucholz was using Beton Rouge as a stepping stone to something bigger and more challenging and spectacular in book three. I may have found Riley frustrating at times but you couldn’t help but hold a grudging admiration and respect for Bucholz’s creation.

Roll on book and three and please don’t take too long Simone Bucholz.

I would like to thank Orenda Books for a copy of Beton Rouge to read and review and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting My Bookish Blogspot to participate in the blogtour.

About the author

Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. At university, she studied Philosophy and Literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious Henri-Nannen-School in Hamburg. In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award, and second place in the German Crime Fiction Prize, for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. She lives in Sankt Pauli, in the heart of Hamburg, with her husband and son.

#Blogtour The Lost Man by Jane Harper @janeharperautho @LittleBrownUK #TheLostMan

The Lost Man  by Jane Harper  Little Brown

He had started to remove his clothes as logic had deserted him, and his skin was cracked. Whatever had been going through Cameron’s mind when he was alive, he didn’t look peaceful in death.

Two brothers meet at the remote border of their vast cattle properties under the unrelenting sun of the outback. In an isolated part of Australia, they are each other’s nearest neighbour, their homes hours apart.

They are at the stockman’s grave, a landmark so old that no one can remember who is buried there. But today, the scant shadow it casts was the last hope for their middle brother, Cameron. The Bright family’s quiet existence is thrown into grief and anguish.

Something had been troubling Cameron. Did he choose to walk to his death? Because if he didn’t, the isolation of the outback leaves few suspects…

My Review

You know its going to be a good 2019 when a new novel  by Jane Harper lands on your door mat. Would  it be as good as her two previous novels The Dry and Force of Nature and I am pleased to report that yes it was.

First of all its addictive, from the very first page when Cameron is found dead at The Stockman’s grave you want to know exactly what made him walk to his death. Harper then proceeds to take us on a journey full of twist and turns, and a cast of characters who could or couldn’t have had a hand in his death and she used the most wonderful character of Cameron’s elder brother Nathan to tell the story.

Here was a broken man, haunted by a devastating divorce, father to a son he hardly ever saw and ostracised by the outback community where he lived. Thrown back together with his family it gave Harper the perfect vehicle to show us a family torn apart by grief, bearing the scars of a father and a husband who was both violent and difficult.

It was what made this novel stand out within its genre, it just wasn’t your typical thriller, it was more an examination of how life and the people in it can have such a devastating affect on individuals. I felt huge sorrow for Nathan, as he grappled with his own emotions, yet you could feel that underneath there were nagging doubts surrounding the death, that saw him dig deep into the families past, suspicion falling on nearly everyone.

Each family member dealt with the death in differing ways and I loved the diversity Harper injected as we too had to unpick motives, and actions to try and work out if it was murder. The revelations that unfurled were like little tremors until finally the earthquake, the truth, which shocked and surprised me as I am sure it will anyone who reads it.

What really struck me about The Lost Man was the wonderful insight into life as a farmer in outback Australia. It was and is a life that was totally isolating and lonely, your nearest neighbour over four hours drive away, no shop to pop to to buy the odd bottle of milk. It was a hard life that required special characteristics of its people in order to survive, magnifying their actions, and at times their desperation. The arid, dusty landscape and the unrelenting heat emanated from the pages and it gave the novel an unwavering intensity, heightening the drama which, at times I found quite chilling.

Once again, Jane Harper has delivered a first class thriller, that may not be action packed but will slowly wheedle its way inside your head,  enthralling you from start to finish.

About the author

Jane Harper is the author of the international bestsellers The Dry and Force of Nature. Her books are published in more than 36 territories worldwide, with film rights sold to Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea. Jane has won numerous top awards including the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel, the British Book Awards Crime and Thriller Book of the Year, the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year and the Australian Indie Awards Book of the Year. Jane worked as a print journalist for thirteen years both in Australia and the UK and now lives in Melbourne.

 

#Review The Familiars by Stacey Halls @stacey_halls @BonnierZaffre #Pendle #Witches

 

The Familiars by Stacey Halls  Bonnier Zaffre February 7th 2019

To save her child, she will trust a stranger. To protect a secret, she must risk her life…

Fleetwood Shuttleworth is 17 years old, married, and pregnant for the fourth time. But as the mistress at Gawthorpe Hall, she still has no living child, and her husband Richard is anxious for an heir. When Fleetwood finds a letter she isn’t supposed to read from the doctor who delivered her third stillbirth, she is dealt the crushing blow that she will not survive another pregnancy.

Then she crosses paths by chance with Alice Gray, a young midwife. Alice promises to help her give birth to a healthy baby, and to prove the physician wrong.

As Alice is drawn into the witchcraft accusations that are sweeping the North-West, Fleetwood risks everything by trying to help her. But is there more to Alice than meets the eye?

Soon the two women’s lives will become inextricably bound together as the legendary trial at Lancaster approaches, and Fleetwood’s stomach continues to grow. Time is running out, and both their lives are at stake.

Only they know the truth. Only they can save each other.

My Review

I had been so excited to read The Familiars, my hometown in Barnoldswick, Lancashire sits in the shadow of Pendle Hill and as a little girl I was always fascinated by the stories of the Pendle Witches. Imagine my delight when I first heard about The Familiars and was then lucky enough to receive a proof copy, at last a novel set in my locality, but would I be disappointed?

I can happily say that I wasn’t. I adored the characters, none more so than Fleetwood Shuttleworth, a young woman who clearly adored her husband, Richard, yet couldn’t give him the one thing he so desperately wanted, a son. You would have expected a woman of her status to be vain, a woman used to the luxuries of her position, and a naivety that betrayed her age, a mere seventeen years old, yet she was none of those. To my utter delight Fleetwood was bold and brave, almost tomboyish, and her determination to fight injustice on behalf of her midwife and friend Alice Grey saw her risk everything and more.

Alice Grey was the young women who promised to safely deliver Fleetwood’s baby, to ensure that Fleetwood herself also survived. She was hardworking, caring, poor, a victim of circumstance that put her own life in danger, but you couldn’t help but love her gentle, caring nature, and admire her iron will and strong instinct for survival. Fleetwood and Alice’s relationship was touching and heartwarming, each finding in one another what they had failed to find elsewhere, friendship.

The imposing and beautiful Gawthorpe Hall and the surrounding countryside provided the perfect setting, and Halls’s narrative captured its essence beautifully. I loved reading about the towns of Padiham and Colne, so close to myself, yet now so very different. Halls gave a real sense of their vibrancy, of the dirt and grime and the grinding poverty that many found themselves in. Set against all this were the witches, women who only sought to help people, using old wives tales, potions and sayings that many so clearly misunderstood, and often for their own  personal reasons. The villains of the novel, were just that, villains, who you loathed from the moment you met them, none more so than Roger Nowell, chief witch hunter, and the man I would quite happily have sent to the same fate he wished to send his supposed witches!  I wasn’t quite sure about Fleetwood’s husband Richard, at first I liked him, then well, you will have to read and find out.

But what about Fleetwood? Oh how I cheered her on as she stood up to Roger and his cronies, as spoke out of turn and placed herself in danger, she was truly a woman ahead of her time  and I loved her all the more for it.

The Familiars wasn’t a novel that gave you the luxury of time, its narrative was fast and furious, packed with drama, Halls throwing everything at you from wind, rain, darkness, witchcraft and vile, ignorant people intent on destroying the innocent. It wasn’t all darkness, there were the odd glimmers of hope and light but would there be a happy ending? I know that I wanted one, but at times I wasn’t quite sure I would get one, all I knew was that Fleetwood was a true heroine, a truly remarkable young woman, a wonderfully created character, testament to the skills of the author.

The Familiars will have you hooked from page one and I read in two sittings as I travelled to and from London so if you are planning on reading, put some time aside, get comfy on the sofa with a large mug of tea and enjoy!

P.S any TV production companies out there, please option The Familiars, it would make the most fanatsic drama series!

I would like to thank Bonner Zaffre fro a copy of The Familiars to read and review.

 About the author

Stacey Halls grew up in Rossendale, Lancashire, as the daughter of market traders. She has always been fascinated by the Pendle witches. She studied journalism at the University of Central Lancashire and moved to London aged 21. She was media editor at the Bookseller and books editor at Stylist.co.uk, and has also written for Psychologies, the Independent and Fabulous magazine, where she now works as Deputy Chief Sub Editor. The Familiars is her first novel.

 

#Blogtour Inborn by Thomas Enger @EngerThomas @OrendaBooks @annecater #RandomThingsTours #Inborn

Inborn by Thomas Enger  Orenda Books February 22nd 2019

When the high school in the small Norwegian village of Fredheim becomes a
murder scene, the finger is soon pointed at seventeen-year-old Even. As the
investigation closes in, social media is ablaze with accusations, rumours and
even threats, and Even finds himself the subject of an online trial as well as
being in the dock … for murder?
Even pores over his memories of the months leading up to the crime, and it
becomes clear that more than one villager was acting suspiciously … and
secrets are simmering beneath the calm surface of this close-knit community.
As events from the past play tag with the present, he’s forced to question
everything he thought he knew. Was the death of his father in a car crash a
decade earlier really accidental? Has his relationship stirred up something that
someone is prepared to kill to protect?
It seems that there may be no one that Even can trust.
But can we trust him?
A taut, moving and chilling thriller, Inborn examines the very nature of evil, and
asks the questions: How well do we really know our families? How well do we
know ourselves?

My Review

There was nothing like a foray into Scandi Noir when actual snow was lying on the ground outside my window, except in Thomas Enger’s Inborn, there was no snow just a constant deluge of rain, most unusual for a novel set in Norway! Yet, that didn’t matter as it somehow added to the depressing and disturbing circumstances the main protagonist, Even found himself in.

What would you do if you were sixteen years old and found yourself under suspicion of murder? That is exactly what Enger set out to show us and wow, did he do a good job!

From the very first page there was no let up in the pace as Enger placed Even right at the centre of everything. You could feel the tense pressure he was under, yet somehow apart from the odd blip there was a calmness and maturity about him, an inherent need to prove his innocence and unearth the real killer.

What Even didn’t expect and what I didn’t expect were the multiple layers he would have to peel back. Each seemed to strike closer to home and even closer to truths about Even’s family, that many wanted to see remain quite firmly in the past. There was always a niggle at the back of my mind that he did do it, that he was the killer. Enger did nothing to alleviate my suspicions as he piled up the evidence, and what a brilliant way he chose to do it with an immersive narrative and an imaginatively devised structure, whereby he used Even’s testimony in a courtroom, long after the completion of the investigation, to tell the story.  I admired the seamless way Enger flit between past and present, you never knew quite what would happen next and in which direction Even would take us. The additional use of Even’s  ‘trial’ by social media increased the tension and I was even more convinced that he was guilty.

Every crime novel needs detectives and Inborn was no different but Enger’s detective Yngve Mork wasn’t your usual brash, go get em type, instead he was a man who struggled with his own loss, and emotions. His methods were sensitive, thorough and intelligent and gave me confidence that he would solve the murders,

Perhaps one of Enger’s greatest skills was his ability to perfectly match Mork’s emotions with the investigation, almost as if he was wading through a dark,  dense forest before he slowly emerged into daylight, intact and with a solution.

Even and Mork’s stories also sat perfectly side by side, as they simultaneously unfurled the novel’s many layers, the latter parts both dramatic and very very tense. It was not quite the ending I expected, but surely that is what you want from a very good crime/thriller.

Inborn was writing at its best, it’s pace unrelenting, it’s characters interesting and compelling and just a fantastic read.

Can someone please pass me another Thomas Enger novel, I am hooked!!

I would like to thank Orenda Books for a copy of Inborn to read and review and Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inviting My Bookish Blogspot to participate in the blogtour.

About the author

 

Thomas Enger is a former journalist. He made his debut with the crime novel Burned in 2010, which became an international sensation before publication, and marked the first in the bestselling Henning Juul series. Rights to the series have been sold to 28 countries to date. In 2013 Enger published his first book for young adults, a dark fantasy thriller called The Evil Legacy, for which he won the U-prize (best book Young Adult). Killer Instinct, upon which Inborn is based, and another Young Adult suspense novel, was published in Norway in 2017 and won the same prestigious prize. Most recently, Thomas has cowritten a thriller with Jørn Lier Horst. Enger also composes music, and he lives
in Oslo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#Blogtour Gallowstree Lane by Kate London @kate_katelondon @CorvusBooks @annecater #RandomThingsTours

Gallowstree Lane by Kate London  Corvus  February 7th 2019

When a teenage boy steps out of the shadows of Gallowstree Lane and asks a passer-by for help, it’s already too late. His life is bleeding out on the London street.

The murder threatens to derail Operation Perseus, a cover police investigation into the Eardsley Bluds, an organised criminal network. Detective Kieran Shaw can’t and won’t allow that to happen. But fifteen-year-old Ryan has other ideas. He’s witnessed the death of his best friend, and now he wants someone to pay…

As loyalties collide, a chain of events is triggered that threatens everyone with a connection to Gallowstree Lane.

My Review

Imagine a spider spinning its web, the strands are numerous, until finally they all fit neatly together, ready to catch its prey. This is exactly how I viewed Kate London’s Gallowstree Lane. It didn’t matter that it happened to be book three of a series, as it stood up so well as a standalone, even if there were a few bits that I perhaps, needed to catch up on.

The subject matter couldn’t have been more timely or relevant, as night after night we hear of another stabbing, of another, often young person in our cities. What does it mean for all those involved, wether they be the victim, the friends, the family, the gangs that run the streets or the detectives who have to solve the crime. London put me right in the middle of the action, from the chilling and horrifying first scene of young Spencer bleeding out on the street as his friend Ryan looked helplessly on to the frustration and danger encountered by the investigating detectives.

For me, it wasn’t so much about the investigation but the gang culture, their use of vulnerable young teens desperate for money, but most of all admiration and attention. Her characterisation of Ryan was superb, a young lad with no strong family behind him, no-one to put him right. His vulnerability and confusion screamed at me from the pages, my frustration with the police and authorities screamed even louder, as I read. It was almost like watching a car crash in slow motion.

The ruthless pursuit of territory, of superiority by the rival gangs the Bluds and the Soldiers was not pleasant to read, yet London’s real experience as a detective gave it an all too horrifying reality.

London was equally brilliant at her portrayal of the investigation and I was pleased that it wasn’t cold or unfeeling.

I loved Lizzie’s vulnerability as a single Mum, desperately trying to be a good mum to her toddler as well as a good police officer. I admired her tenacity and determination to put everything on the line to prove a point, that she could do it all no matter what. She was testament to how much harder it was to be woman in a mans world, which is not to say that is what I thought London was trying to achieve but my own personal thoughts.

Sarah was equally tenacious and determined, with a stubborn streak that saw her get results.

Lizzie and Sarah may have been polar opposites but they cared, they wanted to protect Ryan and they prevented the novel from being cold and hard, they gave it the emotion it needed. Now don’t get me wrong, I know men have feelings but London only gave me glimpses as Kieran fought to save all his hardwork of the past two years, they gave the novel balance with their harder, more pragmatic approach.

London handled her characters beautifully, her complex plot with ease, laying down layer upon layer of background, delicious intrigue and the London streets that held so much menace and danger.

If you want an honest, realistic portrait of the prevalent gang culture on the modern streets of our cities then i suggest you grab yourself a copy of this superb novel.

I would like to thank Corvus for a copy of Gallowstree Lane to read and review and to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inviting My Bookish Blogspot to participate in the blogtour.

About the author

Kate London graduated from Cambridge University and moved to Paris where she trained in theatre. In 2006 Kate joined the Metropolitan Police Service. She finished her career working as part of a Major Investigation Team on SC&O1 – the Metropolitan Police Service’s Homicide Command. She resigned from the MPS in August 2014. Her debut novel Post Mortem was published by Corvus in 2015.

#Blogtour Flowers Over The Inferno by Ilaria Tuti @ilaria_tuti @wnbooks @gigicroft #FlowersOverTheInferno #TeresaBattaglia

Flowers Over The Inferno by Ilaria Tuti    W&N  February 7th 2019

HOW DO YOU SOLVE A CRIME WHEN YOUR OWN BODY IS FIGHTING AGAINST YOU?

Something devastating has taken place here in these mountains. Something that requires all my investigative abilities.
My name is Teresa Battaglia, I am a police chief inspector and I walk through hell every day. It’s not my gun, nor my uniform: my real weapon is my mind. Yet my mind is failing me…
My name is Teresa Battaglia, I have a secret that I dare not reveal even to myself, and for the first time in my life I am afraid.

In the village of Travenì, surrounded by the majestic beauty of the Italian Alps, a series of violent assaults take place. 

When the first body is found in the woods, Police inspector Teresa Battaglia quickly realises her decades of experience as a profiler will not be enough to solve what looks like the work of a profoundly deranged mind. Soon more victims are found and when a new-born baby is kidnapped, Teresa’s investigation becomes a race against the clock.

But Teresa is also fighting a different kind of battle: against the silent reticence of a community determined to protect a secret legacy of shame; and against her own body, weighed down by age and diabetes, and her mind, once invincible and now slowly gnawing away at her memory…

My Review

I have to admit to some trepidation when I started Flowers Over The Inferno. Was it going to be just another crime novel? Would the translator get the essence of the characters and the authors narrative? I needn’t have worried, the translation was top notch and the novel absolutely superb.

Why? The characters were more than interesting and absorbing. Lead investigator, Superintendent Teresa Battaglia wasn’t your average detective, she was older, ill with diabetes and hid her past and present circumstances from those around her. It was only the reader that got to know the real Teresa, the one filled with fear and pain. On the outside she was tough, unforgiving, intolerant, only the odd crack in her facade appeared as the relationship between herself and Inspector Massimo Marini developed.

Massimo Marini, the new kid on the block, the outsider was a man to be admired as he persisted in his attempts to impress his new boss. You could tell this would be the start of a very good relationship as somehow they complemented each other, each working to their strengths to solve the murders.

The crimes were horrifying and Tuti was unflinching in her descriptions, which were definitely not for the faint hearted. Don’t be put off as there was more to them than simple violence and that is what was so interesting about the direction this novel took. It wasn’t necessarily about the horrifics of murder, for me, it was more about us as human beings. What makes us who we are? How does our upbringing affect our adult life and would it necessarily turn us into a murderer?

Tuti’s exploration of these themes was absolutely fascinating and at times heartbreaking as she delved deep into past and history of the small ski town of Traveni to answer those questions. The intermingling of past and present was seamless and slowly, before even Teresa and Massimo had worked out and brought all the varying strands together, you knew what happened, who the murderer was. The only question left was how they would learn all the facts, how they got there and would they be in time before more victims turned up amongst the forests of Traveni.

As with all good crime novels it didn’t happen easily and Massimo and Teresa had to use all their skills and a bit of luck to get there. Their journey was fast paced, intense and the latter parts of the novel both dramatic and heartrending. The landscape played an important part, the snow, the deep, dark, dense, forest and the starkness of the quarries and caverns were brilliantly described and intertwined, pitting itself against the police, thwarting them at every turn and provided the perfect camouflage for our perpetrator. The themes of man’s need to develop, to cut back the environment, to protect the tourist industry played a part but remained in the background.

It was this heady mix of the human psyche, the horrors of  the past, the environment and the two wonderful characters of Battaglia and Marini that made this novel so good, so immersive and for me just brilliant.

I would like to thank W&N for a copy of Flowers Over The Inferno to read and review and to Virginia Woolstencroft for inviting MY Bookish Blogspot to participate in the blogtour.

About the author

ILARIA TUTI lives in Friuli, in the far north-eastern part of Italy. FLOWERS OVER THE INFERNO, her debut novel and the first book in the Teresa Battaglia trilogy, was a top 10 bestseller on publication and the biggest debut of 2018 in Italy.

#Blogtour The Geography of Friendship by Sally Piper @SallyPiper @Legend_Press #The GeographyofFriendship

The Geography Of Friendship by Sally Piper   Legend Press  February 1st 2019

When three women set off on a hike through the wilderness they are anticipating the adventure of a lifetime. Over the next five days, as they face up to the challenging terrain, it soon becomes clear they are not alone.

Lisa, Samantha and Nicole have known each other since school. Lisa is a fighter, Samantha a peacekeeper and Nicole a rule follower. United they bring out the best in one another.

Only once it is too late for them to turn back do they appreciate the danger they are in. Their friendship is tested, and each of them must make a choice that will change their lives forever.

My Review

There is some great fiction winging its way from Australia and Sally Piper’s The Geography of Friendship is another one to add to the list.

It wasn’t your average thriller, three girls go on a hike and only two come back etc, it was more an examination of friendship, of how events can change, divide or simply destroy friendship. It was also about how we react as individuals to a traumatic occurrence and the lasting implications it can have on the trajectory of our lives.

Piper’s three main protagonists were all so different, and I think that is what made this novel so immersive and enjoyable.

Samantha, self-conscious about her weight, mother to three boys and a husband who no longer saw her, the spark no longer glowing in their marriage.

Lisa, feisty, quick-tempered, single parent and always thought that to get anywhere you literally had to fight.

Nicole was harder to get a grasp of, a loner with a hard impenetrable exterior that tweaked your interest, that made you want to know why.

Flitting between past and present, Piper immersed us in their individual thoughts, and emphasised the wide divide that stretched between them. You could sense the tension as they confronted their fears and faced up to home truths that had long laid dormant, festering just beneath the surface.

Piper beautifully intertwined the differing landscape into the story, the heat simmered from the pages as you got a feel for the growing isolation of the three women.

What made this novel so compelling was its slow burn, the sense of anticipation Piper created so that you never knew quite what would happen next. When the tension became almost too much and just when you thought you couldn’t stand anymore, bang. Piper hit you with scenes that were wonderfully dramatic and definitely well worth the wait.

I so desperately wanted them to be ok, to regain the bond that they once shared, to put the past to bed.

To find out if they did then I suggest you buy or borrow The Geography of Friendship and discover the outcome for yourself.

I would like to thank Legend Press for a copy of The Geography of Friendship to read and review and for inviting My Bookish Blogspot to participate in the blogtour.

About the author

Sally Piper is an award-winning Brisbane based writer.  She is a former nurse and nurse educator, specialising in neurosurgical critical care, and has worked in both Australia and the UK.

Sally has had short fiction and non-fiction published in various online and print publications, including a prize-winning short story in the first One Book Many Brisbanes anthology, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Saturday Paper, Weekend Australian and WQ plus other literary magazines and journals in the UK. She has been interviewed for radio, been a guest panellist at literary festivals and delivered many author talks and readings.

Sally holds a Master of Arts (Research) in Creative Writing from Queensland University of Technology. During her post-graduate studies she also tutored on the QUT Creative Writing program. She currently presents workshops and seminars for the Queensland Writers’ Centre and mentors on their ‘Writer’s Surgery’ program.

sallypiper.com

Follow Sally on Twitter @SallyPiper