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REVIEW – Deadly Caller (Detective Jane Phillips) by OMJ Ryan
Deadly Caller is yet another novel by OMJ Ryan that never fails to get the gears moving. There’s only one thing you should do when seeing this in bookstores – THAT IS INSTANT BUY. It won’t be a shock to find out that Ryan’s skill impressed me from Jane Phillip’s first outing. He instigated my love of police procedurals and has only made that love grow stronger. The author has used the technology of a pandemic world and made it deadlier! A murder was witnessed over a zoom meeting. I’ve come to expect the unexpected from Ryan, but this is another stellar outing for Phillips and her team! “There is…
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The Dark Remains by William McIlvanney & Ian Rankin
The Dark Remains is undeniably authentic and a true testament to everything Glasgow was in the ’70s and ’80s. I haven’t had the pleasure of reading the Laidlaw series by the late and great William McIlvanney but I will be rectifying that as soon as possible. Gangland Glasgow and its brutal violence and its territorial wars, the tone was set and it was addictive as it was horrifying. Ian Rankin had massive shoes to fill but he laced them up, took pen to paper, and paid homage to Scotland’s father of Tartan Noir. The Dark Remains is just that, dark. It doesn’t pull any punches, it doesn’t pretty anything up,…
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Review : Mummy’s Little Secret by M. A. Hunter
Mummy’s Little Secret was an explosive and fraught story with past traumas around every corner. This story broke me a little inside, call it the powerful narrative, the secrets that we try to keep locked away or the maternal instinct within me, wanting to protect those that are vulnerable. I’m going to try and do this review justice and explain exactly why this book altered me emotionally. The prose was flawless, the teasing of the plot was carried out like a highly trained string musician. Mummy’s Little Secret is told over two timelines, two families, two main characters. Before and now. Jess’s family and Morag’s. Two completely different women, from…
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Review: Rabbit Hole by Mark Billingham
Sometimes there is just a powerhouse name in the thriller genre but somehow their work has just evaded you for one reason or another. Rabbit Hole was my first taste of the talented Mark Billingham’s work. I’m neither surprised nor shocked that I fell down the Rabbit Hole. The mind of Billingham is devious and twisted, he will take a common misconception in mental health and twist and turn it until it no longer resembles what it once was. The author did the groundwork, and the reader took one step and we fell into the dark and depraved mind of Alice Armitage. She is an ex-police officer who has been…
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Review: The Doll by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
The Doll is the fifth story in the Icelandic Freyja and Huldar series. The cover instantly had me at hello. I am a huge fan of the creepy and intriguing and that cover came from the horror gods. The Doll is discovered after being trawled by a fishing net in Faxafloi Bay by Rosa Thrastdottir. Five years later bones have been discovered in the same place as the Doll, is it a coincidence or is this more to this story than meets the eye? Also, serious sex abuse allegations have been made against Bergur Alvarsson. Three different stories and timelines but just how do they knit together? The premise of…
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One Good Lie by Jane Isaac | Blog Tour Review
When this book landed on my kindle I just had that deep instinctual knowledge that this was going to be my kind of book. The relationship between siblings is a deep and complicated one. We have this passed down expectation that we should be close with them but don’t look away too quickly because sibling rivalry will soon be skipping down the corridors of the mind. The blurb had me searching for clues, is there something hidden in plain sight? Is a shadow creeping at the very edge of your vision? This stand-alone thriller was everything I needed at precisely the right time. One Good Lie had a strong opening…
