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Alice Alone by Amanda Brookfield
Alice Alone made me suddenly realise the impending sense of what’s to come. With my eldest child approaching his 16th birthday, it gave me a sense of dread of the empty nest syndrome that awaits me in the none too far away future. How will I react when they start flying the nest? It sounds absolutely horrid. A bit like Alice, I’m a stay-at-home mum that has devoted her entire life to rearing my children, the impending thought that one day soon, I won’t have them to constantly care for is a bit grim. Maybe I’ll start collecting dogs! The author nailed how women of Alice’s generation generally aspired to…
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The Lonely Lake Killings by Wes Markin
The Lonely Lake Killings is the perfect page turner. This is the kind of book that you’ll want to lock yourself away for to stop any unnecessary interruptions. Loneliness can be a silent killer. Something easily solved, it’s effects sharper than a blade. The Lonely Lake Killings is a fast-paced police procedural. After reading a large amount of them it really doesn’t take too long to decide whether that story is going to be for you. Having read Wes Markin’s work previously, I decided this was a story worth taking a chance on. Once again, Markin’s unique voice, steeped in humour and humanity had me engrossed with only a few…
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The Hiker by M.J. Ford – REVIEW
The Hiker has it all – suspense, mystery, and tension. A small-town mystery with the nostalgia of midsummer murders or Jonathan Creek. Not one word is wasted. Well strike me down – The Hiker is a story that you will not want to read in the darkened shadows of the countryside. It creeps into the mind’s darkest recesses and makes its home; it lays down roots and leaves you searching for the answers. The prologue set the scene perfectly – a sense of mystery and fear that creeps into the reader’s peripheral vision. I held my breath and attempted to count to ten, I have to say I found it…
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The Girls Who Disappeared by Claire Douglas – REVIEW
The Girls Who Disappeared is a story crafted by the Queen of the unfathomable twist. It’s like an itch you can’t quite reach, a brilliant character study with razor sharp writing. The girls who disappeared is a strong novel about friendship, family, and the spreading virus that is lies and betrayal. We can all remember what it was like being eighteen, right? That taste of freedom has seeped into our veins, and we want more of it. A driving license, a car, and a group of friends – the possibilities are endless, well they would be if it wasn’t cut to a drastic end with a car accident on the…
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The Beach Party by Amy Sheppard – REVIEW
I have a soft spot for cold cases; I will inhale all the true crime podcasts, books, and documentaries that I can find. They tend to throw up all manners of dead ends, webs of deceit, and secrets lurking around every corner. That’s why The Beach Party caught my eye. With an enticing cover and a dark premise, it promises a story to keep you guessing. It promises to have the reader so engrossed that the ticking of the clock is the only sound you can hear in the background. A girl was found murdered on the beach, and no one was ever charged for it, but it’s being re-examined…
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REVIEW: Sundial by Catriona Ward
Sundial, much like its atmospheric veracity, blew me away. I stood in the desolated desert and allowed the dust and the sound of longing carried by the wind to scratch at my skin. I’ve never been one for extremes, especially the heat but this novel made it more claustrophobic, more suffocating, and felt myself clawing for the cool. Sundial had everything that I love in a horror story…oppressing sense of dread. A threat that is entirely human. A will to protect and survive. Horror isn’t exclusively about ghost stories, the supernatural, and things that go bump in the night. Horror examines just how the humanity (or lack thereof) of our…
