Blog Tour: Beast (Six Stories #4) by Matt Wesolowski

February 18, 2020

Beast by Matt Wesolowski
Published by Orenda Books on February 6, 2020
ISBN: 9781913193133
Genres: Horror, Mystery
Pages: 320
Format: ARC, Paperback
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

five stars - Blog Tour: Beast (Six Stories #4) by Matt Wesolowski

Elusive online journalist Scott King examines the chilling case of a young vlogger found frozen to death in the legendary local 'vampire tower', in another explosive episode of Six Stories...
In the wake of the 'Beast from the East' cold snap that ravaged the UK in 2018, a grisly discovery was made in a ruin on the Northumbrian coast. Twenty-four-year-old Vlogger, Elizabeth Barton, had been barricaded inside what locals refer to as 'The Vampire Tower', where she was later found frozen to death.
Three young men, part of an alleged 'cult', were convicted of this terrible crime, which they described as a 'prank gone wrong' However, in the small town of Ergarth, questions have been raised about the nature of Elizabeth Barton's death and whether the three convicted youths were even responsible.
Elusive online journalist Scott King speaks to six witnesses - people who knew both the victim and the three killers - to peer beneath the surface of the case. He uncovers whispers of a shocking online craze that held the young of Ergarth in its thrall and drove them to escalate a series of pranks in the name of internet fame. He hears of an abattoir on the edge of town, which held more than simple slaughter behind its walls, the tragic and chilling legend of the 'Ergarth Vampire...
Both a compulsive, taut and terrifying thriller, and a bleak and distressing look at modern society's desperation for attention, Beast will unveil a darkness from which you may never return...

What an absolute Beast! Fist bumps all round to Matt Wesolowski. The premise of a pod cast that investigates true crime is always going to warm my soul. This is my first rodeo reading this author, but it will not be the last. I’m going to immediately order the six stories series. Rest assured you can read this as a standalone, I did, and I didn’t find myself grappling for more back story information.

This book has everything to get you through the remainder of the cold winter dark nights. Vampires, a grisly murder and a podcast series that will send chills ricocheting down your body.

Horror is right up there in my favourite genres but quite often the stories are regurgitated with samey plotlines, disappointing conclusions and it all just leaves me feeling jaded. The author has created something really quite original, I definitely haven’t read anything like it before. The opening instantly had me licking my lips and fighting a giddy feeling that this was going to rock my damn boat.

Beast is like a vivid nightmare. The sweat beads at your temple, you rock back and forth, you will yourself to wake up but at the same time you really don’t want to. I was transported to Ergath and I was transported to the dark underbelly of poverty, despair and a deep-seated horror that I just couldn’t get enough of!

Podcasts are simply amazing. If I’m not reading a book or listening to an audiobook, then I’m listening to a podcast. They are informative, we have a great selection at the tap of a finger, it has never been easier to be instantly entertained.

The Scott King podcasts are top tier level. Scott King delves into true crime cases that spark his interest, he’s influential and can connect with his interviewees on a personal level. Imagine an empty room – no furniture, blinds drawn, and walls covered floor to ceiling in newspaper clippings, internet printouts, victim and perpetrator photographs. An incident room. He’s immaculate.

It’s split into six episodes/interviews from six people directly involved with the victim of the crime. You get their take on the crime and the victim and perpetrator, you get the whole spectrum, good and bad. Let me make this absolutely clear this is a podcast that yanks at your attention as you weigh up the different points of view. Beast will turn you into just that – a hungering beast clawing at every bit of evidence, every scrap that Scott King will throw at us.

The story is an intriguing one. The beast of the East snow storm of 2018. A dead vlogger. A dangerous following. An old tale of Vampires. Three culprits. A foreboding tower. The darkness this story creates is threatening and ever lingering. It creeps up on you and you don’t notice until it’s too late. Supernatural or something far darker, something more human? Well I guess you’re just going to have to read the book/podcast.

Beast Is a richly immersive and deeply haunting that catapults you into a world of intrigue, fear and terrifying monsters. An avid blend of nightmare and mystery.

Thanks to Anne Cater @ Random Things book tours for my spot on the blog tour.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

IMG 1026 copy 2 200x300 1 - Blog Tour: Beast (Six Stories #4) by Matt Wesolowski

Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor for young people in care. Matt started his writing career in horror, and his short horror fiction has been published in numerous UK- an US-based anthologies such as Midnight Movie Creature, Selfies from the End of the World, Cold Iron and many more. His novella, The Black Land, a horror set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. His debut thriller, Six Stories, was an Amazon bestseller in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, and a WHSmith Fresh Talent pick, and film rights were sold to a major Hollywood studio. A prequel, Hydra, was published in 2018 and became an international bestseller. Changeling, book three in the series, was published in 2019 and was longlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and shortlisted for Capital Crime’s Amazon Publishing Reader Awards in two categories: Best Thriller and Best Independent Voice.

Follow Matt on Twitter @ConcreteKraken and on his website: mjwesolowskiauthor.wordpress.com

Orenda Books

Blog Tour: The Sinner (Tom Killgannon #2) by Martyn Waites

February 15, 2020

The Sinner by Martyn Waites
Published by Bonnier Zaffre Limited on 2020-02
ISBN: 9781785765520
Genres: Mysteries & Detective Stories
Pages: 352
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

In prison not everyone is guilty . . .

Tom Killgannon, ex-undercover police officer and now in witness protection, is recalled to active service by his handler, DS Sheridan. His mission is to befriend notorious child killer Noel Cunningham and find out where he buried the bodies of his victims. The only problem is that Tom has to obtain that information from within Blackmoor prison itself. Undercover and with only DS Sheridan knowing he is there, 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 that he has been sent to Blackmoor Prison?

The Sinner…

A person who transgresses against divine law by committing an immoral act or acts.

This novel blew my flipping socks off. This is the second instalment of the Tom Killgannon series, but rest assured you can easily read this as a standalone. I did and at no point did I feel like I was missing any major plot point. The plot moulded and transformed into an all-encompassing shadow. It started off small but quickly broke free of its bonds and showed its monstrous side. I lapped this story up like there were no tomorrow. I proceeded to buy book one straight after devouring this enticing novel.

I’m like an addict for Crime Fiction, nothing gets my excitement flowing than an intriguing plot with murder and a bad ass detective, but, The Sinner was so much more. It doesn’t give you what you expect. It likes to break the mould. It creates a bigger beast, one you won’t find easy to forget.

Martyn Waites is a new author to me but one I will be reading more of in the future. He has the ability to examine the psyche of his readers and exploit it to his agenda. He plays on our emotions, using both good and bad to evoke both the worst and best out of us. The power of his storytelling plays out in the most vivid foreshadowing that the brain conjures up.

We see the scenario in The Sinner time and time again in crime dramas on TV. Undercover cop finally exposes himself in the big moment and the bad guy is taken away, screaming and shouting about betrayal. This was Tom Killgannon’s life until he was put into witness protection for his part in bringing to justice, Dean Foley. What’s the impact of this on his mental health? What is the fallout and just how does someone rebuild their life with a new name but memories of a troubling past?

The Sinner epitomises the feeling that you shouldn’t trust anyone. Everyone should set off your siren. Everyone has the potential to back stab and fill you with mistruths…the good guys aren’t necessarily good. The Sinner leads you down a slippery, ice covered road – just when you think you have your footing, you slip and fall without grace. Its secrets and lies that have brought you there. Just what will help you navigate back out?

The take down of Dean Foley was the most successful sting of his career but it is not without great personal pain and turmoil. Fast forward a few years and he is settled in Cornwall. Martyn Waites has really laid bare Tom Killgannon’s vulnerabilities. He doesn’t let many get too close to him and leads a pretty much solitary life but that is about to be turned on its head by the demand that he does one last job – Undercover in Broadmoor Prison. This is where The Sinner truly comes into its own.

Broadmoor is the last place he either wants or needs to be. If he had any choice, he would be tucked up in his cosy house in Cornwall. He doesn’t, so he is in the hellish, cramped and claustrophobic Broadmoor. He develops a palpable coldness, like an armour. He’s meant to be extracting information from child killer, Noel Cunningham but instead he’s faced with the cruel twist of fate of being in the same prison as Dean Foley, the drug lord he double crossed all those years ago. How much danger is he in? When he envisioned this being is last job just how literal did he imagine he was being.

The Sinner is a bubbling pit of brilliance with multiple diversions, great big red herrings and deceives us all by omission. A book that you just can’t get out of your head in-betweens sittings.

Thanks to Tracy @ Compulsive Readers for my spot on the blog tour.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gollancz Headshots MCM OCT2018 17 682x1024 - Blog Tour: The Sinner (Tom Killgannon #2) by Martyn Waites

I spent the next fifteen years or so mainly doing theatre as well as TV and commercials. All the while I was telling people I was going to write a novel. I never actually did anything about it, but the thought was there. I wrote a couple of awful plays that will never see the light of day but no prose. So I wrote a short story. Then another one. And they started getting longer and more involved. I figured I was ready to write a novel.

The only thing that fired me up at the time was American crime fiction. I wanted to take that template, the vitality and sense of engagement with their subject matter, that involvement that I found largely lacking in British crime fiction and set it in a recognisably contemporary British city. The obvious place was Newcastle.

The result was Mary’s Prayer, a noirish crime novel featuring the flawed but interesting Stephen Larkin. It was published five years after I started it. I followed it a year later with Little Triggers, again featuring Larkin, then Candleland and the Larkin trilogy was complete.

Born Under Punches followed, an ambitious novel about the miners’ strike and its legacy. It won the Grand Prix du Roman Noir Etranger at the Beaune Festival International du Film Policier. Then I wrote the White Room, a harrowing, fictionalised account of a child killer not unlike Mary Bell set in Sixties Newcastle. The Guardian named it as one of the books of the year.

I then created Joe Donovan and his Albion team and wrote The Mercy Seat. It was nominated for the Crime Writers Association Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for thriller of the year. I was also nominated for the CWA Dagger in the Library for best body of work and the CWA Short Story Dagger for ‘Love’, a story that had appeared in the anthology London Noir. Didn’t win any of them.

The next Donovan novel was Bone Machine, a serial killer thriller set in Newcastle. The third, White Riot, was released in January 2008 followed by the most recent Donovan novel, ( hate to say final) Speak No Evil, in February of 2009.

I then became Tania Carver for most of the next decade, writing eight internationally best-selling thrillers featuring police detective Phil Brennan and profiler Marina Esposito. The first in the series, The Surrogate, was shortlisted for the Theakstons Award for Crime Novel of the year. It was followed by The Creeper, Cage of Bones, Choked (US title: The Black Road), The Doll’s House, Truth or Dare, Heartbreaker and The Lost Girl.

During this time I was approached to write the sequel to Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black for Hammer Books, to coincide with the release of the sequel to the movie. Angel of Death was the result.

I also collaborated with Mark Billingham, David Quantick and Stav Sherez on Great Lost Albums, the funniest music book ever written. Or so we think.

Aside from the novels I have also held two writing residencies in prisons. One at Huntercombe Young Offenders Institution and one at HMP Chelmsford. I have also delivered drama and creative writing workshops to socially excluded adults and teenagers in South London and Essex. University work includes spells at Anglia Ruskin in Cambridge teaching an MA in Creative Writing and two stints as the RLF Writing Fellow at Essex University. I also do manuscript appraisals and freelance editing work.

I returned full time to writing under my own name with The Old Religion, the first in the Tom Killgannon series in 2018. This will be followed by The Sinner, the next in the series, in August 2019.

Also look out for Feast of Fear, my first Doctor Who audio adventure for Big Finish. It’ll be out in the autumn. It was a dream come true to write this and I hope there’ll be more of them.

And that’s the story so far.

Martyn Waites

Review|The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith

February 10, 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.

48408361. SY475 - Review|The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith

The Library of the Unwritten by A. J. Hackwith
Published by titan Books on October 1, 2019
ISBN: 9781984806383
Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Contemporary, Humorous
Pages: 384
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

four stars - Review|The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith

In the first book in a brilliant new fantasy series, books that aren't finished by their authors reside in the Library of the Unwritten in Hell, and it is up to the Librarian to track down any restless characters who emerge from those unfinished stories.
Many years ago, Claire was named Head Librarian of the Unwritten Wing-- a neutral space in Hell where all the stories unfinished by their authors reside. Her job consists mainly of repairing and organizing books, but also of keeping an eye on restless stories that risk materializing as characters and escaping the library. When a Hero escapes from his book and goes in search of his author, Claire must track and capture him with the help of former muse and current assistant Brevity and nervous demon courier Leto.
But what should have been a simple retrieval goes horrifyingly wrong when the terrifyingly angelic Ramiel attacks them, convinced that they hold the Devil's Bible. The text of the Devil's Bible is a powerful weapon in the power struggle between Heaven and Hell, so it falls to the librarians to find a book with the power to reshape the boundaries between Heaven, Hell….and Earth.

What do you get when you have a sassy librarian, a muse, a hero, Arcanist and a demon walk into Valhalla? Well a whole heap of action, hilarity and a story that just wont quit. The story is literally on fire. The pages sear your fingers and your eyes, it’s too hot to handle. With the first chapter you just know you are going to fall in love with the sublime writing style and the characterisation that literally smacks you in the genitals – it is that vivid in its fantastical realism. The story dances in front of your vision threatening to consume itself into your very soul.

I was very excited to discover that this is the first book in a brand-new series. Oh, my giddy aunt, this book is was beyond every expectation. My mind was conjuring up an evil darkness that hell threatens but so absolutely delivers. I could almost feel the heat within the library, getting me hot under the collar, my blood boiling, the sweat dripping down my spine. It’s a heady mix somewhere between the realms of fear and anticipation. This book gave me chills! It was fully immersive, and I loved team HELL!

The library of the Unwritten is immersed in the pits of hell. It contains the unwritten books, the characters of which trapped in their unfinished works. They are desperate to become reconnected with their authors, to the point that they have often tried to escape. In charge of this wing of the library is Claire. The non-stereotypical sexy, prim and proper type. What we have instead is a badass, no bowing down to Lucifer and she is tough as old boots! She has a tragic backstory which made me fall in love with her even more. The POV’s were split into Claire, Leto our friendly demon and Ramiel the fallen angel. Each one offered more emotion, more insight and blasted me with such an extreme sense of urgency that I kept willing myself to read more…I was never fast enough, and my appetite was well and truly whetted.

Now the book of hell is on the loose and it is a race against time to recover it before the fallen angel Ramiel catches up with it and takes it to his divine leader. Will the book take the highway to hell or the stairway to heaven? Only time will tell. The sense of foreboding is magnificent and the trials and tribulations that the team encounter is out of this world. This story was quite simply addictive, I found myself reading the pages faster and faster, nothing was stopping me finding out the ending to this story.

I loved the compassion, the ruthlessness, the take no prisoners aspect of some characters. It all just moulded into a titanium structured plot. I await with baited breath for the next instalment. Ah Angels Vs. Demons the oldest battle of all time. It couldn’t have been sweeter.

The Library of the Unwritten will hook you in with its atmospheric storytelling. The author ratchets up the tension with its palpable heat. A.J. Hackwith writes with great power and the book pumps with a great power force that draws you in, time and time again.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image asset - Review|The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith

Amanda is a magpie of plots, bad ideas, and spite. She is a queer speculative fiction writer who writes contemporary fantasy as A. J. Hackwith and sci-fi romance as Ada Harper. Her writing has appeared in Uncanny Magazine and various anthologies, and she’s an alumni of Viable Paradise workshop. She’s represented by Caitlin McDonald of Donald Maass Literary Agency.

Amanda lives in Seattle, WA with her husband and her ghosts. She’s a Slytherin girl, a Ravenclaw nerd, and she always takes the renegade interrupts. And really, isn’t that the important things to know?

Subscribe to the quarterly newsletter for book news, sneak peeks, and other updates

A.J. Hackwith Website

Blog Tour: The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley

February 10, 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.

the wreckage by robin morgan bentley - Blog Tour: The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley

The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley
on February 6, 2020
ISBN: 9781409194170
Genres: Psychological Thriller
Pages: 336
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

four stars - Blog Tour: The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley

'Immersive, compulsive and gripping' C. L. Taylor
'Clever and compelling' Fiona Barton
Things will never be the same again...
Ben is driving on the motorway, on his usual commute to the school where he works.
A day like any other, except for Adam, who in a last despairing act jumps in front of Ben's car, and in killing himself, turns the teacher's world upside down.
Wracked with guilt and desperate to clear his conscience, Ben develops a friendship with Alice, Adam's widow, and her 7-year-old son Max.
But as he tries to escape the trauma of the wreckage, could Ben go too far in trying to make amends?
Gripping and sinister, The Wreckage is guaranteed to keep you up all night...

The Wreckage– it’s clear from the offset the tone this story is going to take. A car wreck. Speeding towards an end goal that destroys lives. Whiplash that leaves you feeling pained and distraught. It’s a real play on the title and the deeper meaning behind it is poetic brilliance. This book hits you in the feels like a ten-tonne truck to the chest. You need to escape from the wrecked car, you’re injured, your disorientated and you have to drag yourself to safety. It’s pitch black and your senses have left you. You need to stumble from one event to the other – this book is the direct correlation to this.

As a debut I didn’t know what to expect. Let me tell you this – rarely have I read such a fully immersive, compelling and eye popping read such as The Wreckage. Robin Morgan-Bentley knows just how to lead his readers down a maze, blindfolded and panicky. A Suicide. A Grieving family. A driver left with an incredible responsibility. A mysterious note.

In mere hours Alice’s world is turned upside down. A stay at home mother to her cherished son, Max. she loves a wine or two but tell me what mother doesn’t? Was she expecting the news on that fateful day? What would drive someone to make the decision to throw themselves in front of a moving car on the motorway? I was in my element reading the alternating POV’s in The Wreckage – both Alice’s and Ben’s narrative was emotive and heart-wrenching. It left me with an extreme sense of urgency and it was compelling to have the POV of someone that had been driving the car as opposed to the usual fallout from the victim’s family.

Both Alice and Ben were victims. It was as clear as the nose on your face. Ben really struggled with the feelings of guilt and seemed to only want to do right for his perceived wrong. Alice was left to raise an eight-year-old boy who had his father and her husband wrenched from their lives. There was secrets, lies and a sense of foreboding that kept creeping into my peripheral vision. They are both trying to navigate their own versions of the highway to hell.

I found Ben to be the more interesting character. The Inspectorates proclaimed country’s best school teacher. He has a solid routine that he sticks to, doesn’t drive recklessly, the patience of a saint – the accident hits him very hard. It is also the catalyst that sends him down a destructive and obsessive path. Imagine dominoes – once that first one gets sent on its way, there is no stopping the wave of destruction. This book gave me such an addictive need to find out what happens next – I raced to the finish. The author gave me such a need to work out why Ben, Alice and Adam behaved in the way they did.

In all honesty, I really struggled with Alice. Yes, she was struggling with the death of her husband, but she presented as a bit reckless and irresponsible. She seemed to be so focussed and lost in her own grief that she seemed to lose sight of the most important person – Max. she drank too much and couldn’t acknowledge help when offered. You can tell that her world has turned grey, but she has to be strong for her son. I think the author wrote the character in such a way that you feel conflicted in how she behaves and her motives. Is wrong vs. right so obvious in this story?

The Wreckage is a tightly weaved plot that could cut your oxygen. The story left me guessing right until the end. I doubted every character and felt conflicted around every corner. Be prepared to be catapulted onto a lake of ice, you will need to navigate the thin ice without falling into the cold depths below.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robin Morgan Bentley BW cropped for website 300x300 1 - Blog Tour: The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley

After graduating from Cambridge with a First Class degree in Modern and Medieval Languages, Robin Morgan-Bentley worked for five years at Google.

Since 2014, he has been the Senior Editorial Manager at Audible, responsible for deciding which audiobooks they promote to their customers and how. He also runs their podcast, Audible Sessions, and has interviewed multiple authors including Fiona Barton, Clare Mackintosh, Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Anthony Horowitz and Jeffery Deaver to name a few. His conversations with them are what inspired him to start writing.

Check out Robin’s website here.
www.robinmorganbentley.com

Review: All The Best Lies by Joanna Schaffhausen

February 8, 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.

IMG 20200209 082443 - Review: All The Best Lies by Joanna Schaffhausen

All the Best Lies by Joanna Schaffhausen
Published by titan Books on February 11, 2020
ISBN: 9781250297396
Genres: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Police Procedural, Thrillers, Crime, Women Sleuths
Pages: 320
Format: ARC, Paperback
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

four stars - Review: All The Best Lies by Joanna Schaffhausen

The highly anticipated third novel in the award-winning Ellery Hathaway mystery series.FBI agent Reed Markham is haunted by one painful unsolved mystery: who murdered his mother? Camilla was brutally stabbed to death more than forty years ago while baby Reed lay in his crib mere steps away. The trail went so cold that the Las Vegas Police Department has given up hope of solving the case. But then a shattering family secret changes everything Reed knows about his origins, his murdered mother, and his powerful adoptive father, state senator Angus Markham. Now Reed has to wonder if his mother's killer is uncomfortably close to home.
Unable to trust his family with the details of his personal investigation, Reed enlists his friend, suspended cop Ellery Hathaway, to join his quest in Vegas. Ellery has experience with both troubled families and diabolical murderers, having narrowly escaped from each of them. She's eager to skip town, too, because her own father, who abandoned her years ago, is suddenly desperate to get back in contact. He also has a secret that could change her life forever, if Ellery will let him close enough to hear it.
Far from home and relying only on each other, Reed and Ellery discover young Camilla had snared the attention of dangerous men, any of whom might have wanted to shut her up for good. They start tracing his twisted family history, knowing the path leads back to a vicious killer—one who has been hiding in plain sight for forty years and isn't about to give up now.

All The Best Lies really injects truth into that old saying – Las Vegas is the city that never sleeps! Its seeped in sin, a place where we can forget our old selves, our realities are locked in the back of our minds and we can invent a new identity, a new truth. Well, eventually that truth will rear its ugly head and bite you on your behind. The characters are complex and brought to life in multi-dimensional 4k reality. A crime novel should unseat you, leave you questioning the fragility of the human existence but also be blasted with the fear of how easily psyches can break and commit the most atrocious crimes known to man.

What would you do if you were given the opportunity to reopen a cold case that had such a personal connection? What if it was your mother? This case was truly baffling. Reed Markham is tasked with this exact scenario. He has an outstanding reputation of getting the bad guy and he is determined this is will be like every other case he handles. He doesn’t anticipate the scene of the crime photos showing his mother carved up like a Christmas turkey, however. The further he digs, the more he’s conflicted by family loyalty and unmasking the killer.

Joanna Schaffhausen epitomises the inner turmoil that Reed Markham feels. He’s desperate to find out the who and the why. He needs to feel a sense of closure and putting that chapter in his life to rest but are external forces going to allow him that? The pace of All The Best Lies is akin to rocket force. You feel that countdown and with that your heart, your stomach and your brain begin to go into meltdown. You know when it finally takes off – you will have to hold on for dear life. The descriptions allow us to placed straight into Reeds shoes – we feel every part of his desperation, his pain but also dogged determination to unearth the truth.

With every great detective you need an equally awesome sidekick and there is literally no better than, Ellery Hathaway. A suspended cop that he has known since she was an abused and frightened teen. They are inextricably linked to each other and each has the others back through thick and thin. She’s happy to go along for the tumultuous ride to Las Vegas and is prepared to unearth trouble. I loved these two together – the electricity between them was palpable. The sexual tension in All The Best Lies threatened to burn a hole through me.

Plenty of potential suspects with not one of them being pearly white. We all have a history, and everyone goes through the wringer with Hathaway and Markham. No stone is left unturned. I loved the direction the author took us on. It was unexpected and so very thrilling. As they dig deeper and deeper they find that they could potentially be in danger, do they back off or do they continue with renewed vigour? Everyone is a suspect.

All The Best Lies catapults you into an evocative setting with a sinister undertone simmering about power, politics and family. A plot so tautly constructed you feel the need to hold on for dear life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joanna Schaffhausen wields a mean scalpel, skills she developed in her years studying neuroscience. She has a doctorate in psychology, which reflects her long-standing interest in the brain―how it develops and the many ways it can go wrong. Previously, she worked as a scientific editor in the field of drug development. Prior to that, she was an editorial producer for ABC News, writing for programs such as World News Tonight, Good Morning America, and 20/20. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and daughter

Joanna Schaffhausen

Blog Tour: A Wash of Black by Chris McDonald

February 6, 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.

a wash of black by chris mcdonald - Blog Tour: A Wash of Black by Chris McDonald

A Wash of Black by Chris McDonald
Published by Red Dog Associates on February 4, 2020
ISBN: 9781913331214
Genres: Crime, Mysteries & Detective Stories, Mystery & Detective, Police Procedural
Pages: 268
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

five stars - Blog Tour: A Wash of Black by Chris McDonald

IT'S NOT LIFE THAT IMMITATES ART. IT'S DEATH.
Anna Symons. Famous. Talented. Dead.
When the body of a famous actress is found mutilated on an ice rink in Manchester, recreating a scene from a blockbuster film she starred in years ago, DI Erika Piper must find the culprit; the media-dubbed 'Blood Ice Killer.'
Having recently returned to work after suffering a near fatal attack herself, she must once again prove her worth. When another body is found, and the killer issues a personal threat, Erika has to put her demons aside and crack the case, or suffer the deadly consequences.

Art is subjective. Murder is brutal. The two combined create a heady mix for a psychopathic cocktail. A wash of Black is Chris McDonalds debut and what a poignant and as such is a breeze block straight into the chest. The walk between functioning citizens and sanity is a knife’s edge. I have read so many Crime and Police procedurals lately that it takes something truly remarkable to pull me in – the author caught me by the neck and yanked hard! The prologue was like a defibrillator constantly restarting me…making me aware that what I was reading was true. The crime was like an ice-cold fist gripping my heart.

That opening chapter had me holding my kindle in a death grip. The words jumped from my screen, danced in a rhythmic beat and created threatening shadows that sealed the deal. The tension could have torn through the page like a knife. My eyes and my brain couldn’t keep up with each other. My brain was conjuring images before my eyes took in the final word. Chris McDonald knows just how to get you by the jugular and keep you gasping for any morsel of breath that he allows you to have.

We don’t expect the evil to be lurking around the corner. We don’t expect to meet our end at the hands of another. I’m not a schemes person but A Wash of Black had me clutching my stomach and trying to force the queasy feeling back down. I may have nearly lost my lunch, but the poor victim lost a lot more than that. It was thrilling and had me looking over my shoulder more than once. This book had everything I look for in Crime Fiction. The author had weaved an intricate web of clues and like the Poirot in me, I just had to follow them. Walking into the darkness I was prepared for the evil to grab me and pull me under.

Mr McDonald had developed an uncanny ability to leave you blind. Unsure of which way is right. Unable to detect those usual nuances that depict a lie or deception. He set us up to fall and fall I did… straight into a bottomless hole. Are you ready for your senses to leave your body?

What’s a great story without an amazing protagonist? Erika Piper is a straight-talking. No holds barred, strong woman. We meet her after an incredibly traumatic event in her career. Physical damage. Metal turmoil. A crumbling relationship. Her team is supportive but some great funny moments too. It was only strengthened by the foundations that was a concrete -strong narrative. The crime scenes, the teasing of clues, an unreliable narrator, all was fed to us and as starving little disciples we inhaled it all and begged for more. I had every faith she would hunt down this evil murderer and bring him to justice.

The plot in Wash of Black is so tautly wound that you fear it’s going to snap and take your head off. It captivates your attention and literally has you sitting on the edge of your seat. It’s so fast paced that it’s a race to get to the next page, the next chapter and before you know it you have read the last word. What more could you possibly want in a crime fiction novel? Gruesome Murders. A calling card. A mysterious homeless man that seems to turn up. Will they find the killer before they strike again?

Chris McDonald has earned his place at the table. His novel is original and suspenseful. It’s hard hitting prose with its perfect execution and razor-sharp dialogue make this author one to watch.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

81pObnSPq3L. US230 - Blog Tour: A Wash of Black by Chris McDonald

Originally hailing from the north coast of Northern Ireland and now residing in South Manchester, Chris McDonald has always been a reader. At primary school, The Hardy Boys inspired his love of adventure, before his reading world was opened up by Chuck Palahniuk and the gritty world of crime.

He’s a fan of 5-a-side football, has an eclectic taste in music ranging from Damien Rice to Slayer and loves dogs.

Red Dog Press

Blog Tour: Little White Lies by Philippa East

February 4, 2020

Little White Lies by Philippa East
Published by HarperCollins UK on February 4, 2020
ISBN: 9780008365400
Genres: Fiction, Thrillers, Suspense, Psychological, Coming of Age, Domestic, Friendship, General
Pages: 352
Format: ARC, Paperback
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

four stars - Blog Tour: Little White Lies by Philippa East

‘Breathtaking suspense. A phenomenal talent’ HOLLY SEDDON ‘Terrifically engaging’ JO SPAIN ‘Addictive. I couldn’t put it down’ PHOEBE MORGAN ‘A heart-thumping, racing thriller’ CHRISTINA McDONALD
She only looked away for a second...
Anne White only looked away for a second, but that’s all it took to lose sight of her young daughter.
But seven years later, Abigail is found.
And as Anne struggles to connect with her teenage daughter, she begins to question how much Abigail remembers about the day she disappeared...
Addictive, edge-of-your-seat dark women’s fiction perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, BCC drama Thirteen, and Emma Donoghue’s Room.

It’s a known fact that I love Crime Fiction and I have found myself searching for an added element, something that speaks to me, is a calling card left in a deserted room. It leaves clues for me to discover, to strip layer after layer back until I have been exposed to the dark secrets. This is what you can expect from Little White Lies. The writing style, the thrilling voice – this book gives me the Psychological Thriller Fuzies!

Little White Lies will creep up on you, catch you off guard and kick your heart into a galloping crescendo. You know when an opening chapter lays the foundations to be a rollercoaster ride that your attention will be focusing in rapturous enchantment. My attention didn’t wander, it didn’t ebb, instead it transported into the pages and became one with the story.

So, what had my attention so captured, you ask? Multiple layers of deceit. Child abduction that wasn’t as it appeared. An overbearing aunt. A long-buried family secret. A police Officer that sees more than they want.

The narrative blew me away. The research that brought this story to life was skilfully presented to us in the most realistic form. The feeling of a threatening shadow just creeping into the corners of your vision was palpable. What would be revealed? Would it be a bad thing for their daughter to turn up? What would she say, how would she behave? Is ignorance truly bliss?

Your daughter has been missing for seven years. You’ve pretty much lost all hope of her coming home, alive, right? What happens when you receive a phone call saying she had walked into the police station with another little girl…but, not once has she asked to come to you. That fateful day she went missing. The fact that you were meant to protect her against harm. Just what has she seen and experienced? The story is poignant, heart-breaking and I spent periods during reading just imagining how I would feel if it was one of my own boys. It’s really not worth imagining.

Events really take a turn when Abigail finally comes home. Nothing’s the same. No amount of telling her she is safe, family dinners, shopping trips and decorating bedrooms is going to erase the trauma that this girl has suffered. It is at this point that the brain fog lifts and I’m left feeling bereft like Abigail. The pain is apparent, and she truly doesn’t know which way is up.

This book is an uncomfortable read. I struggled to prise it from the death grip I had upon the book. Philippa East knows just how to punch you in the jugular and wreak havoc with your emotions. This book is akin to being dropped into quicksand with an anchor strapped to your ankle – it forces you to swim between one raw emotion to another. Little White Lies deals with difficult themes, but they are handled with extreme delicacy and tact. It was invigorating to read about a child that did finally return home. It dealt with how the parents would have to navigate extremely murky waters. It was a tale of hope and new beginnings but one of immense patience.

Little White Lies was a devastatingly emotional read. The narrative is like a death grip- unyielding and heartfelt. I read it with my heart in my mouth.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hello, I am a fiction writer living in Lincolnshire.

I have written short stories for a several years, a number of which have been published in literary magazines including Brittle Star, Fictive Dream, and Shooter Magazine. I’ve also had a few successes in competitions such as The Fiction Desk and Retreat West.

In 2017, I was long listed in Mslexia First Novel award. This year, I secured a publishing deal with HQ/HarperCollins for my debut ‘Little White Lies’. This Book Club read tells the story of a family whose missing child is found alive seven years after her disappearance; it is a book that begins where other stories end.

In the beginning, I graduated with a degree in Psychology and Philosophy from Oxford University. I subsequently trained as a Clinical Psychologist and worked for 12 years in the NHS before establishing my own psychology practice. This background in philosophy and psychology serves as the inspiration for many of my stories.

I now divide my time between clinical work and writing, and I share my love of writing with my members of the Lincolnshire-based writers’ group The Lindum Scribes.

‘Little White Lies’ will be out in early 2020.

Philippa East

Blog Tour: Death Deserved by Jorn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger

February 3, 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.

death deserved by thomas engerjorn lier horst - Blog Tour: Death Deserved by Jorn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger

Death Deserved by Thomas EngerJorn Lier Horst
Published by Orenda Books Limited on January 31, 2020
ISBN: 9781913193010
Genres: Fiction, Thrillers, Suspense, Romance, Mystery & Detective, Hard-Boiled, Action & Adventure, Noir, City Life, Crime, International Mystery & Crime, Police & Law Enforcement, Women Sleuths, Political, Police Procedural, General
Pages: 276
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

five stars - Blog Tour: Death Deserved by Jorn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger

Police officer Alexander Blix and celebrity blogger Emma Ramm join forces to track down a serial killer with a thirst for attention and high-profile murders, in the first episode of a gripping new Nordic Noir series...
Oslo, 2018. Former long-distance runner Sonja Nordstrøm never shows at the launch of her controversial autobiography, Always Number One. When celebrity blogger Emma Ramm visits Nordstrøm’s home later that day, she finds the door unlocked and signs of a struggle inside. A bib with the number ‘one’ has been pinned to the TV.
Police officer Alexander Blix is appointed to head up the missing-persons investigation, but he still bears the emotional scars of a hostage situation nineteen years earlier, when he killed the father of a five-year-old girl. Traces of Nordstrøm soon show up at different locations, but the appearance of the clues appear to be carefully calculated ... evidence of a bigger picture that he’s just not seeing...
Blix and Ramm soon join forces, determined to find and stop a merciless killer with a flare for the dramatic, and thirst for attention.Trouble is, he’s just got his first taste of it...

Some publishers are just complete go-to. Crime fiction and Nordic Noir are phrases that are somonis with Orenda Books. This blog tour invitation for Death Deserved was an automatic YES YES YES. Nordic Noir is a relatively new genre for me, but I am quickly falling head over heels. It has restarted my heart and gave me a passion for crime fiction once more. I couldn’t wait to get my grubby little hands on this exciting and riveting read.

I was expecting huge things from this superstar double act. The anticipation was melting my brain. The prologue created that taut tension that I crave and live for. My eyes couldn’t stop the uncontrollable speed that they took in the lines of the book. The words took on a life of its own. They grew legs and marched straight up to my face and smacked me silly…it had my full attention.

Deserved Death was an interesting title choice but one that seeped in a rightness as soon as the final page was put to rest. Is any untimely death deserved? What events in a person’s life would make it a given that they deserve to die. I’m sure at some point in our lives we have done something that was immoral or bad, does it necessarily mean that our deaths would be deserved? The authors captured everything that I anticipate in Nordic Noir. They led you down a deserted road, one that had the hairs on the back of your neck stand to attention, military style. The possibilities were endless, and my stomach churned like it was on the super spin cycle. Nausea and crime is my favourite combination.

This book sets the tone. The dark and dangerous tone. Just sit and imagine taking in the words and the ominous theme tune to the exorcist playing in the background. You know it isn’t going to be like visiting your sweet aunt for the afternoon. It’s going to be a rollercoaster ride over the Grand Canyon except that half of the track is missing. Heart in mouth. Senses threatening to leave your body. It truly challenges the control you have over your own emotions.

Two narrators. Two broken characters. Connections intertwined. We meet Alexander Blix, a quiet police officer who has gone through the emotional wringer both professionally and personally. He acts from the heart frequently and is more an action man than a procedure man. It causes him difficulties in his job, but he is respected and admired by his close- nit team. He instantly spoke to me on a deep level. He is relatable and is living a life in the shadows not fully grasping it by the balls. A victim of his past. He threatens to become a victim of his future too.

We also meet Emma Ramm, celebrity blogger. She also has her own skeletons in the cupboard. She can appear cold but progressively you uncover the real her, layer by complex layer. At times she seemed like a rubix cube. Frustrating and complex to fathom out.

Set in Oslo, ex-former long-distance runner, Sonja Nordstrøm has recently released her scathing autobiography. Emma Ramm discovers her lack of contact for a TV interview and visits her home. There appears to have been a struggle. There is, however, no sign of her. The police launch an official investigation. An intriguing Number One has been attached to the TV. The scene is unsettling, and you can feel a lingering shadow threatening to creep beyond the edges.

There is a bigger picture emerging. The police investigation is stretched taut to its very limits. Blix is still haunted by the tragedy that saw him kill a 5-year-old girl’s father. Guns still make him nervous, but his persona belies the man he portrays to the world. The cracks threaten to split. Can he keep it together until the end of the investigation?

The main theme running through this book is the human condition and it’s need and pure want of fame and the culture of celebrity. What drives people to want these things with such a hunger? We know from history that money doesn’t make you happy. More often than not it attracts ill mental health like a calling card. In this story the burden of celebrity attracts the dark. It has created a festering wound seeping in dysfunctionality and pain. It certainly made me think about the important things in life. I am quite happy being a nobody.

Death Deserved is a tautly woven, intricately written tale of suspense and layer upon layers visceral action. The authors nail the exact art of Nordic Noir and make you hunger for more.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Jorn Lier Horst Author pic - Blog Tour: Death Deserved by Jorn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger

Thomas Author Pic 1024x687 - Blog Tour: Death Deserved by Jorn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger

Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger are the internationally bestselling Norwegian authors of the William Wisting and Henning Juul series respectively. Jørn Lier Horst first rose to literary fame with his No. 1 internationally bestselling William Wisting series. A former investigator in the Norwegian police, Horst imbues all his works with an unparalleled realism and suspense. Thomas Enger is the journalist-turned-author behind the internationally acclaimed and bestselling Henning Juul series. Enger’s trademark has become a darkly gritty voice paired with key social messages and tight plotting. Besides writing fiction for both adults and young adults, Enger also works as a music composer. Death Deserved is Jørn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger’s first co-written thriller.

Orenda Books

Blog Tour: I Could Be You by Shelia Bugler

January 29, 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.

48671519. SY475 - Blog Tour: I Could Be You by Shelia Bugler

I Could Be You by Shelia Bugler
Published by Canelo on January 23rd 2020
Genres: Psychological Thriller
Pages: 384
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
four stars - Blog Tour: I Could Be You by Shelia Bugler

four stars - Blog Tour: I Could Be You by Shelia Bugler

A life has been taken. But whose life is it?
On a stifling hot day, former journalist Dee Doran finds the crumpled body of her friend at the roadside. Katie and her little boy, Jake, have been a light in Dee’s otherwise desolate life – now a woman is dead and a child is missing.

Katie has been keeping secrets for a long time. Years earlier, she fell for the wrong person. But he was in love with someone else; who he couldn’t have but couldn’t keep away from. When jealousy and desire spilled over into murder Katie hid the truth, and has been pretending ever since.

As Dee assists the police with their enquiries she’s compelled to investigate too. She realises Katie wasn’t who she claimed to be. Lies are catching up. Stories are unravelling. Revenge is demanded and someone must pay the price. The question is: who?

Don’t miss this explosive crime thriller perfect for fans for Alex Marwood and Fiona Barton.

The impact a child can have on your life can be profound and everlasting. Even if that child isn’t yours. A child can lighten up the darkest of lives. They have an infectious way of melting even the coldest of personas. A child and their impact have a way of shaping your life, usually for the better. Family isn’t always determined by blood, it is the connection that we make with a kindred soul. What happens when that tie is severed? It feels like we are literally missing a part of ourselves. It’s an irrevocable wrenching of the heart. I instantly signed up for this blog tour for its intense cover and a synopsis that is dripping in mysterious intrigue.

Reading I could be you can be described as looking into the mirror and for the first time being able to see something more than just you. All your flaws, past mistakes and your vision for the future are suddenly flashing before your eyes. There’s a figure in the background threatening to be revealed in all its glorious technicolour but what exactly will revealed? It fogs your mind, makes you forget. Your memories feel like a freezing fog, keeping you in the now and happy to keep you oblivious.

The opening is a friend’s, or family members worst nightmare. That is exactly where it should stay. Seeing someone you care about is harmed and no-one felt the need to stop and help. A crushed buggy and no sign of the precious little 2-year-old boy that you doted over, you babysat and most important of all, you loved, as if he were her own. It’s poignant, heart-breaking and left me imagining my own pain if it were one of my own boys. The impact of what has just happened finally enters my foggy brain and I’m left feeling bereft just like Dee. Her pain is apparent, and she starts losing her direction.

I was unable to prise this book from my hands and Sheila Berger knows just how to punch you in the feels. She forces you to dip your foot into the water and she sends you swimming from one raw emotion to another. It leaves you feeling wrecked and disorientated, but you know the only way is forward.

I could Be You deals with difficult tropes, but they are handled with dignity and tact. The grief of a missing child is a wrought cage of emotion. We see this nearly every day in the newspapers. Press releases. Emotional reaching out. Trauma lingering. Sheila Bulger gives this type of grief a form – it’s ugly but realistic and it inflicts a severe whiplash with its intensity.

Dee’s young friend is found on the side of the road apparently being ran over in a hit and run. The buggy is beside her and it’s empty. Her friend, Kate, would have had her son with her, wouldn’t she? Just where has the little boy gone? The police are called, and they start gathering evidence and information and it is quickly discovered that nothing is as it seems. It becomes very twisty and my head needed to be straightened several times during my read of I Could Be You.

When Dee discovers some mistruths surrounding her death she sets out to rebirth the Journalist in her. She gets help from her cousin, Louise who is still a Journo. Together they plot to get to the bottom of Katie’s past and any missing links to where the little boy could be. The story is told in the present and we have flashbacks to Katie’s past which strengthens the plot.

I Could Be You was brilliantly eerie. It was a true psychological thriller that has tons of pace and atmospheric brilliance. You need to push forward to decipher the twists.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

sheila bugler 200x300 1 - Blog Tour: I Could Be You by Shelia Bugler

My new crime series launches in January 2020. The series features jaded journalist Dee Doran and the books are all set in my adopted home town, Eastbourne. I Could Be You is the first in the series, and it’s available now for pre-order from Amazon, Kobo, and Apple Books.

‘Imagine a collaboration between Anne Tyler and AM Homes.’ Ken Bruen.

‘One of the rising stars of Irish literature.’ Clare People.

‘Propulsive action and stirring plot twists abound in this compelling thriller… one of those books you’ll read in one sitting. Thoroughly entertaining!’ Wendy Walker, Sunday Times Bestselling author.

‘A beautifully written and atmospheric page-turner that is also a totally absorbing read… I loved it.’ Abbie Frost, author of The Guesthouse.

‘A brilliant read – twisted, cleverly plotted and one hell of a page-turner.’ M J Lee, author of Where the Truth Lies.

Sheila Bugler website

Blog Tour: Snowball by Gregory Bastialnelli

January 29, 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.

snowball by gregory bastianelli - Blog Tour: Snowball by Gregory Bastialnelli

Snowball by Gregory Bastianelli
Published by Flame Tree Press on January 30, 2020
ISBN: 9781787583481
Genres: Fiction, Horror
Pages: 256
Format: ARC, Paperback
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

five stars - Blog Tour: Snowball by Gregory Bastialnelli

A group of motorists become stranded on a lonely stretch of highway during a Christmas Eve blizzard and fight for survival against an unnatural force in the storm. The gathered survivors realize a tenuous connection among them means it may not be a coincidence that they all ended up on this highway. An attempt to seek help leads a few of the travelers to a house in the woods where a twisted toymaker with a mystical snow globe is hell bent on playing deadly games with a group of people just trying to get home for the holidays.
FLAME TREE PRESSis the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

Flame Tree Press are quickly becoming my go-to purveyor of horror. Snowball is seeping in a creeping dread with amazingly strong characterisation. The snow provides the perfect backdrop in this heart attack inducing horror story. It limits your vision, your senses intensified and on red alert. The eerie quiet closes in around you, impacts your psyche and delusions start to take precedence in your mind. They take a seat and makes itself comfy, you aren’t going to make it to the end without being unscathed. Prepare to feel as broken as the characters by the closing of the last page.

It’s Christmas Eve in New Hampshire. A terrifying, blizzard creating snow is starting to fall. Travellers are unaware of the disastrous effects this will cause to their travel plans. We are also introduced to the snow plough driver and we see first-hand just how the snow can play tricks with your vision and your mind. Was that a deer in the road or just a figure conjured up by an overactive imagination? He took a snap decision. He came to a stop and got stuck in the snow, right up to the plough blade. The cold is going to seep into the driver’s pores, rip them open and reveal a fear most palpable. It is this scene building that makes Snowball such a winner.

The cold is seeping into his bones, but he doesn’t fail to notice the figure in the snow. A Snowman. A completely benign figure that represents no threat to anyone, right? Well, when did you last see a snowman with rows of razor-sharp teeth. The malice is evident, like an omen that will end your days here on earth. The scene had my stomach churning, my heart thumping at a staccato beat and my vision blurry with the nightmarish images that were flashing before my eyes.

The book title is perfect. It’s poetic. It made the synapses in my brain fire quicker; my imagination was a fertile breeding ground for imagining what would happen next. As a snowball it starts small and as events take multiple turns it gathers speed, it gets bigger until it takes things out. It’s unstoppable, and it will turn on you if you try. This is an immediate author I will be reading more of. He knows how to cut to the quick and his words inject icy cold fluid into every nerve ending.

Snowball is dark, claustrophobic and full of soul breaking suspense. This book blew my mind to fragments that I struggled to gather afterwards. An altogether triumphant book of original horror.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gregory Bastianelli Author Pic - Blog Tour: Snowball by Gregory Bastialnelli

Gregory Bastianelli is the author of the novels, “Loonies” and “Jokers Club.” His stories have appeared in the magazines Black Ink Horror, Sinister Tales and Beyond Centauri; the anthologies “Night Terrors II”, “Cover of Darkness” and “Encounters”; and the online magazines “Absent Willow Review” and “Down in the Cellar”. Gregory’s novella “The Lair of the Mole People” appeared in the pulp anthology “Men & Women of Mystery Vol. II”.

He graduated from the University of New Hampshire where he studied writing under instructors Mark Smith, Thomas Williams and Theodore Weesner. Gregory worked for nearly two decades at a small daily newspaper, where the highlights of his career were interviewing shock rocker Alice Cooper and B-Movie icon Bruce Campbell.

He became enchanted with the stories of Ray Bradbury as a young child, and his love of horror grew with the likes of Richard Matheson, Robert Bloch, Stephen King and Ramsey Campbell.

Gregory lives in Dover, NH, in a Colonial home built in the 1700s. He enjoys kayaking, hiking and bicycling in the summer and snowshoeing and racquetball in the winter. Along with spending time with family, he enjoys traveling … especially to Italy, where he has visited his ancestral home and relatives residing there, also hiking the Path of the Gods on the Amalfi Coast and to the top of Mount Vesuvius.

Gregory Bastianelli is a member of the Horror Writers Association and the New England Horror Writers.

Gregory Bastianelli