Blog Tour: I am Dust by Louise Beech

April 1, 2020

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

i am dust by louise beech - Blog Tour: I am Dust by Louise Beech

I Am Dust by Louise Beech
Published by Orenda Books on February 16, 2020
ISBN: 9781913193225
Genres: Fiction, Thrillers, Crime
Pages: 300
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
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five stars - Blog Tour: I am Dust by Louise Beech

The Dean Wilson Theatre is believed to be haunted by a long-dead actress, singing her last song, waiting for her final cue, looking for her killer. Now Dust, the iconic musical, is returning after 20 years. But who will be brave enough to take on the role of ghostly goddess Esme Black, last played by Morgan Miller, who was murdered in her dressing room? Theatre usher Chloe Dee is caught up in the spectacle. As the new actors arrive, including an unexpected face from her past, everything changes. Are the eerie sounds and sightings backstage real or just her imagination? Is someone playing games? Is the role of Esme Black cursed? Could witchcraft be at the heart of the tragedy? And are dark deeds from Chloe's past about to catch up with her? Not all the drama takes place onstage. Sometimes murder, magic, obsession and the biggest of betrayals are real life. When you're in the theatre shadows, you see everything. And Chloe has been watching.

You know you are in trouble when your first thought after finishing an epic book is how on earth are you going to review it? How on earth can I do it justice? Never has dust been so visible. I am Dust is outstandingly perfect!

This was an amazing read. This is a book that you don’t want to review straight away. You need to take a breather and relish in the absolute mastery that is I am Dust. It is a story that envelops your soul, becomes at one with your psyche and knows at your senses. This book flows so beautifully that it speaks to you on a raw and deeper level. It reads easily, and you end up being so absorbed in the plot. You are absorbed by the pages until you are living and breathing the story. There isn’t enough stars that I could possibly rate this book at realistically.

The Dean Wilson Theatre has newly opened. The year is 1999, and the first show being shown is Dust. Morgan Miller plays the character Esme Black. The unfortunate event that occurred on the fourth showing as the murder of Morgan Miller. The inevitable action being that the show was cancelled. There was no successful encore, no new roles, just a wasted potential. It has been rumoured that Miller haunts the theatre, in her full Esme Black get up. The case was never solved, and her murderer is still on the loose. The threatening shadows keep you on your toes. You can feel the threat. Louise Beech’s writing is magnificent. My senses were on red alert. I could see the mystery, sense the fear. The story was seeped in coldness. The characters are balancing a sheet of thin ice – one movement could immerse us all.

We are now twenty years in the future and Dust is returning for a comeback show. It splits its audience – some are anticipating great things, and some believe that it should be left well alone. The theatre ultimately hope that this revival will bring a necessary injection of renewed customers. Bringing it back to where it all began could either cure or kill the theatre’s survival. I was enamoured with the plot and couldn’t see the impending threats that slowly began to reveal themselves.

We meet some new characters. Chloe being the one that touched me on a raw and gritty level. For me she is easily led with a resounding need to just fit in. she is a broken character and the emptiness that screams at us from behind her eyes is enough to crack the readers hearts into a thousand pieces. The story has an undercurrent of melancholy and it is very easy to fall into a saddened state while experiencing the characters life. Louise Beech has managed to intertwine two lives that were connected through the ages.

I am Dust is gritty and compelling. It is dead set to be a book that gets everyone talking in 2020. It’s visceral, addictive and Louise Beech’s storytelling is so mind-blowing that she takes it an elusive quality.

Thanks to Anne @ Random Things Tours for my spot on the blog tour.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Louise Beech is an exceptional literary talent, whose debut novel How To Be Brave was a Guardian Readers’ Choice for 2015. Her second book, The Mountain in My Shoe was shortlisted for Not the Booker Prize. Both of her previous books Maria in the Moon and The Lion Tamer Who Lost were widely reviewed, critically acclaimed and number-one bestsellers on Kindle. The Lion Tamer Who Lost was shortlisted for the RNA Most Popular Romantic Novel Award in 2019. Her short fiction has won the Glass Woman Prize, the Eric Hoffer Award for Prose, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition, as well as shortlisting for the Bridport Prize twice. Louise lives with her husband on the outskirts of Hull, and loves her job as a Front of House Usher at Hull Truck Theatre, where her first play was performed in 2012.

Louise Beech

Blog Tour: Dead Wrong by Noelle Holton

March 18, 2020

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

45174405. SY475 - Blog Tour: Dead Wrong by Noelle Holton

Dead Wrong by Noelle Holton
Series: DC Maggie Jamieson
Published by One More Chapter on 14th March 2020
Genres: Mysteries & Detective Stories
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Buy on Amazon
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four stars - Blog Tour: Dead Wrong by Noelle Holton

four stars - Blog Tour: Dead Wrong by Noelle Holton

The serial killer is behind bars. But the murders are just beginning…

DC Maggie Jamieson's past comes back to haunt her in this dark and gripping serial killer thriller.

Three missing women running out of time…

They were abducted years ago. Notorious serial killer Bill Raven admitted to killing them and was sentenced to life.

The case was closed – at least DC Maggie Jamieson thought it was…

But now one of them has been found, dismembered and dumped in a bin bag in town.

Forensics reveal that she died just two days ago, when Raven was behind bars, so Maggie has a second killer to find.

Because even if the other missing women are still alive, one thing’s for certain: they don’t have long left to live…

Dead wrong is a white-knuckle ride of epic proportions. Noelle Holton is a master weaver of societal and conscientious topics that will leave an imprint etched upon the brain which will leave us stagnated into constantly thinking about the story. It’s a story that opens up that never-ending conundrum of why people act and behave in the way that they do. It’s a rash that can never be satisfied, unfortunately it’s these types of moral questions that make the world go round and Noelle Holton makes it spin all that faster.

The second instalment in the DC Maggie Jamieson series, which can be read as a standalone but if you are able to, you should read Dead Inside. Both books are so raw and gritty and will give you the full immersive experience of Noelle’s writing. Maggie is a character that we all wish was us. Strong, competent and an extraordinaire at daily ass kicking’s in her job. Maggie is dealing with some prickly work colleagues but the undefinable will to do justice is her driving force. It’s truly admirable. I imagine second guessing is loud voice trying to make itself heard, but Maggie pushes it further back and is confident in her ability to do the best job possible.

In Dead Wrong we are centred around the story of Bill Raven. Previously convicted serial killer who quite obviously hungers for the limelight. He brags about his revolting exploits during confession. I can only imagine just how damaging that would potentially be for the families involved. Its an exceptional examination of how serial killers or psychopaths behave. Their absolute disregard of how to treat others in a socially acceptable society, how they have such utter disregard for other human beings’ feelings and it highlights just how dangerous they are to society. Things are about to go crap to the fan when Bill Raven decides to appeal his sentence citing a psychotic break and being under the influence of illicit substances. Was it an unlawful imprisonment or is he crazier than everyone thought? What implications is this going to have for DC Maggie Jamieson’s career?

Maggie ends up being vilified in the media for putting an innocent man behind bars…well why wouldn’t she? No bodies have been recovered and at best it seems like the investigation only coughed up circumstantial evidence. It did remind of a scene from silence of the lambs. He is a dead ringer for Hannibal lector with his creepy demeanour and leering attitude. Maggie is working against the clock to determine who the killer is. Noelle Holton pushes us down the rabbit hole, we try to grab a hold of something but nothing tangible manifests itself. We just have to keep pushing forward, grasping those clues and getting through the maze that is Dead Wrong.

Dead Wrong is bleeding in authenticity. It’s raw, gritty and utterly compulsive. It developed a life of its own, reached out and grabbed me by the throat – it didn’t let go until the very last page.

Thanks to Sarah @ Books On The Bright Side for my spot on the blog tour.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

unnamed 1024x1024 - Blog Tour: Dead Wrong by Noelle Holton

Noelle Holten is an award-winning blogger at www.crimebookjunkie.co.uk. She is the PR & Social Media Manager for Bookouture, a leading digital publisher in the UK, and was a regular reviewer on the Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast. Noelle worked as a Senior Probation Officer for eighteen years, covering a variety of cases including those involving serious domestic abuse. She has three Hons BA’s – Philosophy, Sociology (Crime & Deviance) and Community Justice – and a Masters in Criminology. Noelle’s hobbies include reading, attending as many book festivals as she can afford and sharing the booklove via her blog.
Dead Inside is her debut novel with One More Chapter/Harper Collins UK and the start of a new series featuring DC Maggie Jamieson.

Connect with Noelle on Social Media here:
Twitter: (@nholten40) https://twitter.com/nholten40
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/noelleholtenauthor/
Blog FB page: https://www.facebook.com/crimebookjunkie/
Instagram: @crimebookjunkie
Website: https://www.crimebookjunkie.co.uk
Bookbub Author page : https://bit.ly/2LkT4LB

Blog Tour: Mexico Street (Chas Riley #8) by Simone Buchholz

March 11, 2020

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

mexico street by simone buchholz - Blog Tour: Mexico Street (Chas Riley #8) by Simone Buchholz

Mexico Street by Simone Buchholz
Published by Orenda Books on March 5, 2020
ISBN: 9781913193157
Genres: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, International Mystery & Crime
Pages: 276
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

four stars - Blog Tour: Mexico Street (Chas Riley #8) by Simone Buchholz

Night after night, cars are set alight across the German city of Hamburg, with no obvious pattern, no explanation and no suspect. Until, one night, on Mexico Street, a ghetto of high-rise blocks in the north of the city, a Fiat is torched. Only this car isn't empty. The body of Nouri Saroukhan--prodigal son of the Bremen clan--is soon discovered, and the case becomes a homicide. Public prosecutor Chastity Riley is handed the investigation, which takes her deep into a criminal underground that snakes beneath the whole of Germany. And as details of Nouri's background, including an illicit relationship with the mysterious Aliza, emerge, it becomes clear that these are not random attacks, and there are more on the cards.

Mexico Street, where the atmosphere is buzzing and the air is smoking, quite literally! It reminds me of a slogan that should be on the city’s signs. The title hides the depravity and the greed that is Hamburg’s underbelly. It’s a novel that packs a seriously kilter throwing punch. Gangster families. Strong women. Forbidden love. it investigates the complexities of whether good truly dominates over evil or whether that is just a fabricated construct to give us hope. Be prepared to freshen up those pearly whites because this is a novel with bite!

We open with a bang or more accurately a scorch. There’s a car on fire in Mexico Street. There’s a man still in it, threatening to be burned alive. The fire brigade arrives, the man is taken to hospital with smoke inhalation. It said he comes from the crime family, Saroukhan from Bremen. His death is neither a shock nor does it unsettle them, he has been dead to them for several years. Just how bad does it need to be for an entire family to disown their son? Their reaction and the lives this family leads had me entirely curious about the sanctity of family in their eyes. We are immediately catapulted into the brutality and the mistreatment of the woman. If we can say a woman is the nurturer in a family, then the men of this story are the destructors.

The ones trying to decode this crime are an elite team. We have our unlikely heroine, Chastity Riley, the state prosecutor. She can throw punches like the big boys and break barriers with her iron will. She’s flawed just like the rest of us. Cracking complicated crimes seem like a piece of cake to her but relationships seem unattainable, shrouded in smoke, not quite trusting herself to let go and be herself. She was a galaxy away from what I expected going into this book, but she was so imperfectly perfect she was a character I was straight behind, ready to take any insight she felt confident giving out. Somethings don’t add up in her initial estimations. Who was the redhead woman they saw running away from the scene of the crime, an innocent bystander or the culprit? *Enter twilight show theme music*

Simone Buchholz is an entirely new author for me and wow I was equal parts amazed and perplexed not only by her ability to weave a raw and gritty crime narrative but her writing is tack sharp with large doses of tension thrown into the mix with a threatening shadow that creeps into every aspect of the investigation. It’s dark, it’s dangerous and it will delight all crime fans. This is a complicated story of family and the saying especially rings true in this tale – “you can’t pick your family.”

Mexico Street is highly compelling and brought me straight upright and reminded why I love crime fiction. It brought us a wealth of details and sucked me into a black hole of twisty thriller-ness!!

Thank you to Anne Cater @ Random Things tours for my spot on the blog tour. Big Thanks also to Rachel Ward on the translation without whom, i would never have read this absolute gem!

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 as well as runner-up 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.

Simone Buchholz