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REVIEW: The Search Party by Simon Lelic
The Search Party is a story that aims to entangle the reader into the web Simon Lelic has so expertly weaved. It incorporates the fear and danger of the forest – personally, there’s nothing more frightening than the open forest in the dead of the night. The branches reaching out and enveloping you in a death hug, the eerie noises that can empale you with terror, and the dark longs to crush you with its inky blackness. A group of friends is one member down, a disappearance, and the remainder of the group decides to lead a search party to locate her. However, what are their motives, and are they…
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REVIEW: Remember my Name by Sam Blake
I have a soft spot for Irish psychological thrillers. The atmosphere, threat, and gothic feel of its landscape has me like a moth to the flame. Remember my Name is no different. It quickly becomes clear that the reader is dealing with a giant sticky spider web of emotions and deceit. Just how much do we know the person we willingly give our hearts and souls to? Sam Blake weaves a web so delicate, so precise that the plots and subplots expertly fall into place in the exact moment they should. Trust in her craft, the clock Is ticking, and you can feel the wrought anxiety in the character’s reactions.…
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REVIEW: Hide by Nell Pattison
Hide was a difficult book for me to rate. It didn’t work all that well for me. The cover is extremely enticing, and the plot sounded like one of my favourite thriller tropes – whiteout conditions. A lot of people think that the snow is this beautiful phenomenon that reminds them of Christmas time and sitting around an open fire. I, however, have always found it just a bit too scary. Imagine being caught in whiteout conditions, you can’t see anything, and someone or something could easily sneak up on you without your knowledge. Scary stuff! However, the plot was a bit flat for me. Imagine spending Christmas with those…
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REVIEW: The Woman on the Pier by B.P. Walter
The Woman on the Pier…going, to be honest here, I felt like the title was the biggest spoiler. It’s not until you finish the book just how big a spoiler you have been dealt. The story dealt with difficult content and if you are triggered by child death and terrorist attacks, I would advise you to stay clear of this one. A mother and father grieving for their teenage daughter’s lost life and potential, Jessica. A marriage crumbling from the very seams. Secrets that could destroy everything. Jessica planned to visit her friend in Somerset so why on earth was she killed in a terrorist attack at Stratford train station?…
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REVIEW: The Long Weekend by Gilly MacMillan
The Long Weekend is a psychological thriller that likes to live in your head rent-free. The story follows three couples who look to escape the city constraints and rent a converted barn in Northumbria for a long weekend. It’s abundantly clear that the couples all have their problems. Ruth and Toby have recently welcomed their baby boy Toby, but it isn’t the picnic the couple imagined, Ruth is struggling with alcoholism and her marriage is plagued with suspicion and paranoia. Jayne and Mark are ex-forces, and they are hoping to bury trauma from their tours in the Middle East. Emily and Paul are newly married and basking in their newfound…
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REVIEW: The Killer in the Snow (DI James Walker #2) by Alex Pine
Very few authors can keep me engrossed in a story from the beginning, through the middle until the very end. Alex Pine has done just that with The Killer in the Snow. The cover initially pulled me in, but I stayed for the storyline. A family massacre with mother, father and daughter killed in cold blood. It initially looks like a murder-suicide but as the investigation delves deeper it’s found to have dark connotations to a similar murder/suicide on the same property twenty-four years ago. Are the two connected? Or is this a deathly case of coincidence? If you’ve been a follower of my blog for any length of time,…
