Review: The Fallout by Rebecca Thornton

March 7, 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.

This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.

the fallout by rebecca thornton - Review: The Fallout by Rebecca Thornton

The Fallout by Rebecca Thornton
Published by HarperCollins on December 5, 2019
ISBN: 9780008373146
Genres: Fiction, Thrillers, Domestic, Psychological, Family Life, Marriage & Divorce, Women, Friendship, General, Suspense
Pages: 432
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

two stars - Review: The Fallout by Rebecca Thornton

The accident. The lie. The fallout will be huge . . .
When Liza’s little boy has an accident at the local health club, it’s all anyone can talk about.
Was nobody watching him? Where was his mother? Who’s to blame?
The rumours, the finger-pointing, the whispers – they’re everywhere. And Liza’s best friend, Sarah, desperately needs it to stop.
Because Sarah was there when it happened. It was all her fault. And if she’s caught out on the lie, everything will fall apart . . .
‘A fizzing, unputdownable, gripping read’ Elizabeth Day
‘The perfect page-turner’ Susan Lewis
‘Secrets, lies, suspicion and betrayal: THE FALLOUT has it all – and then some’ T M Logan

What would you do if your five-year-old son fell and got injured on your watch. Your best friend tells you they checked on him before the accident happens. He was safe and happy. You would trust that, wouldn’t you? The Fallout examines the chain of events this accident triggers; they are catastrophic, and no one’s lives will ever be the same again. Friendships should be filled with trust and compassion to what ends will the threads that hold them together snap. The Fallout examines the confines and limits of friendships and the parenting circles of school age children. The two-faced sides of mothers that spend all their time professing kindness but are entirely judgemental at every turn.

I mulled over how to review The Fallout and generally how I felt about it. It was a premise that was topically relevant but in a lot of ways it fell a bit flat. You are fully aware that these things take place. The WhatsApp groups between parents, the snippy behaviour, the envious behaviour of parents that are placed on a pedestal and you can’t help but want their life. These things are going to take place in such a technologically advanced era.

The biggest flaw in The Fallout, for me wasn’t the really the story itself. The characters didn’t connect with me nor were they very nice people. Sarah, although been through an incredibly traumatic event some of her actions were dubious at best and damaging at worst. She seemed to be more concerned about her incredibly dangerous obsession with Ella and her life rather than the safety of a child. Her actions through-out the story just pushed the dominoes over and they kept catapulting to a dangerous climax. She was naive and seemed to be lost within herself.

Liza is a woman that is still in that new-born phase of losing themselves to being a mother to a fully demanding infant. It’s hard to juggle being attentive to the baby’s needs and also being fully present to a five-year-old. It’s a very difficult balance to have successfully. The part of Liza that I just couldn’t cope with was how she let her husband, Gav railroad her into parenting decisions. He has taken the decision to separate from her but refuses to move out of the marital home, WTF is all that about? The way he talks to her is abhorrent, claiming that he needs to keep an eye on her.

Ella is the woman that seems to have it all. She knew Sarah and Liza when they were all expecting their five-year olds at the NCT workshops. She then ghosted them all and has always been the object of Sarah’s obsession. Her money, her house, her beautiful children. What is she hiding and why has she now come into their lives again. Is everything as perfect as it seems?

The Fallout is told in Sarah and Eliza’s perspectives and the viciousness that can be yummy mummies. An accident that leads to Sarah telling a lie that leads to her subsequent guilt. The mummies and their children and their exclusive fitness club was anything but my cup of tea. They all seemed so far removed from the real world. The ending, in my opinion was more of an anti-climax. The story could have been great but the execution of it didn’t work.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rebecca Thornton’s third novel – THE FALLOUT – will be published in April 2020, with a Kindle release on December 5th 2019.
Twitter: @RThorntonwriter
Insta: Rebecca_Thornton_writer

Rebecca Thornton

Blog Tour: The Holdout by Graham Moore

March 5, 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.

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The Holdout by Graham Moore
on February 18, 2020
ISBN: 9780399591785
Genres: Fiction, Thrillers, Legal, Crime, Psychological
Pages: 336
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

four stars - Blog Tour: The Holdout by Graham Moore

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • One juror changed the verdict. What if she was wrong? From the Academy Award–winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game and bestselling author of The Last Days of Night. . . . “Exhilarating . . . a fiendishly slippery game of cat-and-mouse suspense and a provocative, urgent inquiry into American justice (and injustice) in the twenty-first century.”—A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window
It’s the most sensational case of the decade. Fifteen-year-old Jessica Silver, heiress to a billion-dollar real estate fortune, vanishes on her way home from school, and her teacher, Bobby Nock, a twenty-five-year-old African American man, is the prime suspect. The subsequent trial taps straight into America’s most pressing preoccupations: race, class, sex, law enforcement, and the lurid sins of the rich and famous. It’s an open-and-shut case for the prosecution, and a quick conviction seems all but guaranteed—until Maya Seale, a young woman on the jury, convinced of Nock’s innocence, persuades the rest of the jurors to return the verdict of not guilty, a controversial decision that will change all their lives forever.
Flash forward ten years. A true-crime docuseries reassembles the jury, with particular focus on Maya, now a defense attorney herself. When one of the jurors is found dead in Maya’s hotel room, all evidence points to her as the killer. Now, she must prove her own innocence—by getting to the bottom of a case that is far from closed.
As the present-day murder investigation weaves together with the story of what really happened during their deliberation, told by each of the jurors in turn, the secrets they have all been keeping threaten to come out—with drastic consequences for all involved.

Wow. The Holdout is a serious examination of the politics of law, social impact of race and gut instinct. The first chapter was a sucker punch to the gut. The imagery was gruesome but tantalising to the highest degree. I found myself holding my breath waiting for that bomb to drop. I was gripped from its anxiety inducing start to the finale like ending. This was a premise that definitely had me hooked – just how persuasion and obsession can collide.

Ten years ago, Maya Searle was a member of the jury on the case of missing Jessica Silver, daughter of extremely wealthy Lou Silver. Immediately the cogs begin to turn, and you wonder if money talks in this case. Her teacher, Bobby Nock is in the dock charged with her disappearance and possible murder?? The evidence is presented but a lot of it could be deemed as circumstantial…does his race have a bigger picture to play and needing to be seen to prosecuting someone? It’s a picture painted to be one of a moral conundrum. The trial is a complete farce and truly deserved to be thrown out.

The Holdout – Maya Searle is convinced that Bobby Nock is not guilty. She reasons with the other jury members and somehow convinces them all to return a verdict of not guilty. The immediate future having consequences for them all. Was it the right decision? The acquittal of Bobby Nock was highly controversial none the less because of Lou Silver’s standing.

Fast forward ten years…Maya Searle is at the top of her game. A world class criminal lawyer. Her notoriety of being a jury member on the Bobby Nock trial brings her clients swooping in. You might think that this is a case of lessons learned but The Holdout is far more complex than that. An old jury member comes crashing back into her life, albeit it unwanted, that is a chapter of her life that she never wanted to revisit again. He has clung to the hope that his gut instinct was right all along – that Bobby Nock was guilty. He obsessively researched every bit of evidence and now apparently has no evidence to uncover. He will share it with Maya so long as she agrees to take part in a docuseries. I enjoyed the interactions between these two characters…Graham Moore led us down a series of mazes and laid the foundations for the reader deciding just how grey each character was.

Graham Moore has created this story whilst balancing on a knife’s edge. He allows the seeds of doubt to creep into the readers mind. It starts off as an echo, one that you aren’t too sure you heard until it reaches a crescendo, an ear splitting one. He sets a trap and it beautifully captures the reader with no obvious way out. How much of what Maya believed was seen through distorted glasses? Was she right in convincing the other jury members or was she young and naive?

The Holdout makes you rethink what you thought you knew. Compelling characters with a creepy and threatening narrative.

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Graham Moore is a New York Times bestselling novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter. His screenplay for THE IMITATION GAME won the Academy Award and WGA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2015 and was nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe. The film, directed by Morten Tyldum and starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, received 8 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.

Graham’s first novel, THE SHERLOCKIAN (2010), was published in 16 countries and translated into 13 languages. It was called “sublime” and “clever” and “delightful” by the New York Times, “savvy” and “entertaining” by the Los Angeles Times, and lots of other nice things as well. Graham’s second novel, THE LAST DAYS OF NIGHT will be published in fall 2016 by Random House.

Graham lives in Los Angeles.

Graham Moore

Blog Tour: The Guest List by Lucy Foley

March 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.

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The Guest List by Lucy Foley
Published by HarperCollins Publishers on March 19th 2020
ISBN: 9780062978738
Genres: Fiction, Thrillers, Suspense, Crime, Psychological
Pages: 448
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

four stars - Blog Tour: The Guest List by Lucy Foley

A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from the author of The Hunting Party.
The bride ‧ The plus one ‧ The best man ‧ The wedding planner ‧ The bridesmaid ‧ The body
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It's a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.
But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride's oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.
And then someone turns up dead. Who didn't wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?

The Guest List spins a wonderous tale of the wedding of the year. Set the scene…you’re hearing about the upcoming nuptials everywhere. You know it would do you well to be spotted there – you know it would advance you. Then that invite drops through your door. The marriage of reality TV star Will Slater and the stunning Jules Keegan, a magazine publisher. The event is to take place on the isolated, Cormorant Island situated off the Irish coast. I’m almost at a loss for words to review The Guest List. The reason being? Imagine Einstein wrote a thriller and left clues jotted in code…this taps on just how much of a genius Lucy Foley is.

I’m in love with the way Lucy Foley writes. The multi-perspectives don’t feel confusing, they feel enriching. Her descriptions makes you want to wander off the beaten path. Don’t go alone though because something is likely to snap at heels if you wander too far. The narrative is razor sharp and will cut into your bonds to set you free. The reader is supplied with a heady cocktail mixed with tension, palpating causing fear and cold hard chaos. If you want to have the living daylights scared out of you it has to be Lucy foley. The Psychological Thriller is an uber popular genre these days, but it takes a true genius to juggle so many balls/contextual twists and still be able to keep fresh, raw and unique.

The guests arrive and not for one moment do you not feel the electricity of raw tension running and zapping through every scene. There is the ugly side of the human existence just bubbling at the surface – jealously and secrets. Lucy Foley has hit the nail on the head with her realistic realism being injected here. Not for one moment do I believe this doesn’t go on in everyday weddings, but, we are conditioned to hide it. The ugly parts of our personality shoved deep down.

Can pasts ever be truly forgotten or are the wedding guests walking amongst someone inherently despicable? The vows are said, the rings exchanged and the bemouth of a cake is barely cut when a body is discovered within the marshes. Let me tell you, not many books can transport you into a character’s shoes, but The Guest List does this with such laser precision. This is the exact point when the story shrouds the guests in a blanket of eerie fog. Suspicions turn on each other, they can’t see their true form and the greyness leaves Goosebumps on your flesh.

Panic rises. The guests are trapped on an isolated island being bombarded by gale force winds and storms. There is no escape. Can they work out who the calculated killer is that seems to be hiding in plain sight, do they want to? It’s an ingenious plot that will have you gripped until the grand unveiling. Be prepared to feel the suffocation, the heart in throat pain and storyline that just wont quit. I wanted more and had it delivered to me on a silver platter. Do not ever doubt the depths a human being can slither to.

The Guest List is akin to tiptoeing on a frozen lake, you think you have it in control, and focussed and then Lucy Foley plunges you into its icy depths when you least expect it. I was in the book’s clutches, scrambling to get free but it’s a fruitless endeavour.

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lucy Foley studied English Literature at Durham and UCL universities and worked for several years as a fiction editor in the publishing industry, before leaving to write full-time. The Hunting Party is her debut crime novel, inspired by a particularly remote spot in Scotland that fired her imagination.

Lucy Foley

Blog Tour: Avenge The Dead (Frank Farrell #3) by Jackie Baldwin

February 28, 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.

avenge the dead di frank farrell book 3 by jackie baldwin - Blog Tour: Avenge The Dead (Frank Farrell #3) by Jackie Baldwin

Avenge the Dead (DI Frank Farrell, Book 3) by Jackie Baldwin
Published by One More Chapter on February 28, 2020
ISBN: 9780008383909
Genres: Fiction, Crime, Mystery & Detective, Police Procedural, Christian, Suspense, Action & Adventure, Literary, General, Thrillers
Pages: 410
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

four stars - Blog Tour: Avenge The Dead (Frank Farrell #3) by Jackie Baldwin

Sometimes murder is the only way to get even...
The gripping new Scottish crime thriller that you won’t be able to put down. Perfect for fans of L J Ross and Val McDermid.
Four friends with dark secrets. One killer out for revenge.
DI Frank Farrell and DS McLeod are tasked with investigating the brutal murder of a defence solicitor’s wife in Dumfries.
It’s been over a year since they left the town after an investigation robbed them of a dear friend. But now they’re back and must find a way to move on.
When the son of another defence solicitor is murdered, a strange tattoo etched on his body, the case takes them into darker, more disturbing territory.
It leads them back into the past – to a horrific fire in a cottage that took a woman’s life, to four friends harbouring dark secrets – and finally to a killer waiting patiently for revenge.
Praise for Avenge the Dead
‘Expertly plotted, I was completely engrossed in the investigation and the lives of the characters, there were twists and turns all the way through keeping me on the edge of my seat... definitely a “just one more chapter” kind of read!’ Sharon Bairden, Chapter in My Life
‘Brutal and gritty in parts whilst sensitive and emotional in others, this book had me turning the pages well into the night’ Alison, NetGalley
‘This was another riveting foray into the world of DI Frank Farrell! From the first chapter, I could not put this novel down, staying up late to finish just to see what would come next’ Krystal, NetGalley

Avenge The Dead is an exquisite case study on how the past never truly can stay buried. Life in the spotlight can have dire consequences. The invisible bands that hold together relationships and families can violently tear with no means to be repaired. The story paints a vivid picture of how an action change the landscape of one’s life forever. This gritty police procedural ticked all the boxes. Jackie Baldwin gently coaxed me down an unsuspecting path before setting her trap – I aimlessly walked straight into it and she wasn’t sorry a bit! I greedily lapped it up like there were no tomorrow.

DS Mhairi MacLeod and DI Frank Farrell are pulled in to assist with the murder of a very prominent solicitor in Dumfries. Are things as straightforward as they seem? The husband has an alibi, but it seems weak. Is it always the spouse that’s to blame or is there darker avenues at play?

The investigation has many hurdles, none so prominent as the obvious turmoil that DI Frank Farrell is suffering from. He’s a mess. Can he really be trusted to lead an investigation appropriately and to completion? Drinks a problem. Bottling up his emotions has become a problem. it’s obvious that something needs to be done. This humanity and realistic reaction to trauma was especially well done. Although I wanted him to get better, the depths of my feeling for the situation was one of empathy.

Avenge The Dead tackles some particularly difficult topics. We are fed the idea that the murdered wife was less than faithful to her solicitor husband. An affair with another solicitor. Is it possible that either her husband or her lover could have murdered her? Is she keeping any other secrets in her closet or is the husband? The author led us on a merry trail of betrayal, secrets and brutality. The clue finding was an adventure and I was more than ready. Buckled up and ready to go.

We are catapulted into the fire alongside our detectives once again when it comes to light that another murder has been committed. This time, a son of another solicitor. I know what you’re thinking…what’s the connection between the solicitors? Buy the book to find out, I promise you won’t be disappointed. Some of my estimations were way off the mark, its actually laughable just how wrong I was. The author skilfully pulled the wool over my eyes, I was blind to it. The pace was like a bullet…swift, complete and without mercy.

Avenge The dead is seeping in the need for justice. Clear your schedule because you won’t rest until that last page has been digested. Jackie Baldwin discusses dark themes with compelling authority.

Thanks to Emma@ Damppebbles for my place on the blog tour.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jackie 02 by Kim Ayres 683x1024 - Blog Tour: Avenge The Dead (Frank Farrell #3) by Jackie Baldwin

Jackie Baldwin is a Scottish crime writer. Her debut crime novel, Dead Man’s Prayer, was published by Killer Reads on 2^nd September 2016. The second in the series, Perfect Dead was published on 15^th June 2018. For most of her working life, she has been a solicitor specialising in Family and Criminal Law. She later retrained as a hypnotherapist. Married with a grown family, she recently moved from Dumfries to East Lothian.

Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackieMBaldwin1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JackieBaldwinAuthor/

Website: http://jackiebaldwin.co.uk/

Competition Time!

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An Avenge the Dead Prize Bundle featuring all three books in the DI Frank Farrell series signed by the author plus extra treats!

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Blog Tour: Blood Will Be Born by Gary Donnelly

February 27, 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.

blood will be born by gary donnelly - Blog Tour: Blood Will Be Born by Gary Donnelly

Blood Will Be Born by Gary Donnelly
Published by Allison & Busby Ltd on February 20, 2020
ISBN: 9780749025267
Genres: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Police Procedural, General, Hard-Boiled, Noir
Pages: 320
Format: ARC, Paperback
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

five stars - Blog Tour: Blood Will Be Born by Gary Donnelly

‘Brilliant. An exciting new voice in Northern Irish noir’ Adrian McKinty, author of The Chain
MURDER. BLACKMAIL. WELCOME TO BELFAST.
DI Owen Sheen vowed never to return to Belfast, but he needs answers about his brother’s death. He is on loan from London’s Met to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, although before he can dig into the past, he must babysit DC Aoife McCusker on her first murder investigation.
As the case slides into chaos, can Sheen put his personal agenda aside? And will McCusker keep her job long enough to ensure that this first case is not her last?
‘A gripping debut thriller. The story thunders to its bloody conclusion’ Stuart Neville, author of Those We Left Behind
'Blood Will Be Born is a rare find - a sucker punch to the gut that will also put a tear in your eye. Unflinching but never cynical, twisty but utterly plausible, and full of heart. I loved it. I only wish it didn't feel so timely' Catriona McPherson, author of Strangers at the Gate

Blood Will Be Born sets its explosive tone in the mind-blowing prologue. Imagine a bullet ricocheting off the walls in a box room. This is exactly how I would describe this cracking debut novel. That bullet is speeding towards its end goal. It’s impossible not to get hit in the wreckage, this is the delightful experience that Blood Will Be Born will engross you in. every twist, every delightful description has you ducking but also in rapturous attention. The story leaves you with a nasty case of whiplash that leaves you pained and distraught. The deep meaning behind the title is pure poetic brilliance.

Bearing in mind that this is a debut, it is seeping in palpating brilliance. Gary is the Irish Noir Fisherman extraordinaire. He’s pulled you in hook, line and sinker. His narrative pulls you in, ties you up and leaves you for dead.

A revisited past. Anger and anguish. A thirst for revenge. Mixed loyalties. It’s a heady mix

The setting gives you the immense feeling of unrest with a bubbling undercurrent of both events gone by but also events being ready to be perpetrated. The troubles are still at the forefront of everyone’s minds. It won’t do any good to forget, but the want and raw need to forget is what drives the people. It’s that human want -peace and quiet. What I loved most about Blood Will Be Born is just how flawed the characters are. John Fryer is a haunted man. Left in an asylum to basically rot. He is consumed by the death (his own doing) of a young man in 1976. He was a tough guy in the IRA but has his time being locked away really changed him?

Christopher Moore. His only motivator is revenge. Revenge for him and his father. His perceived sin has rotted his brain for years. Apparently being born to a protestant father and a catholic mother is akin to pissing on the altar of Jesus. Harsh words spoken and never forgotten and now he’s back, and he’s going to make people pay.

DI Owen Sheen. Belfast was a painful memory. He hasn’t been back since he was a boy. A bomb that killed his brother. They fled to England for their lives. Time moves on as they say, and he is now a detective in Metropolitan Police, murder squad. When the opportunity knocks on his door to take a position on the Historical Crimes Unit he grabs it by the balls. His hunger for revenge is fuelling his decision.

DC Aoife McCusker is flawed but she is determined to prove herself when she lands a promotion in serious crimes in Belfast. She’s a bit miffed when she has to babysit a new DI Joining their team. They head to the crime scene – the murder of an apparent sweet old lady. Does she have a connection to the individuals responsible for Owen Sheen’s nightmares?

Blood Will Be Born is an utter kick to the genitals. Its swift, brutal and it brings you to your knees. Its utterly compelling and deviously plotted. A dark twisted tale that will leave you gripped from start to finish.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Gary Donnelly is a crime and thriller writer from Belfast who lives and works in London. BLOOD WILL BE BORN, the first in the DI Owen Sheen Belfast thriller series, was originally published as an e-book to critical acclaim in 2017 and will be properly relaunched in trade paperback/e-book by Allison and Busby in February 2020 with the sequel, KILLING IN YOUR NAME, to follow in September 2020. Watch Gary speak about his book in this 30 minute televised interview on Novel Ideas for NVTV. The audio book, published by Isis Publishing Ltd, is spoken by Irish actor Stephen Armstrong. Adrian McKinty, the award winning author of The Chain, had this to say about the book: “A twisty, violent, cop thriller set in post conflict Belfast where hard men lurk in pubs and back alleys awaiting their chance to mete out the old kind of justice from the dark days of the Troubles. Brilliant. Gary Donnelly is an exciting new voice in Northern Irish noir.”

Gary attended a state comprehensive school in west Belfast, read History at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and has lived and worked in London since the late 1990s. In his time he has been a Belfast cemetery manager, a business conference organiser in the City, a council gardener in Neasdon, and gained a further degree in Psychology, which he teaches in north London. Gary is married to the lovely Sacha and has two non-returnable children. He can cook up a storm and play a mean guitar (after a few drinks).

Gary has this to say about his writing: “I always wanted to write a novel and after I enrolled on a course at the City Lit two years ago, the initial outline of BLOOD WILL BE BORN emerged from one of the homework exercises. But the story has been incubating for much longer. I left Belfast 20 years ago but you see it never really left me. The course finished, and I kept writing; on my day off, weekends and while travelling into work. I took the first 3000 words to Crimefest 2016’s Pitch an Agent slot and some top flight agents gave the sample and the synopsis and big thumbs up, which was very encouraging. Enough, in fact, to get up at 5am to write before work, and finish the first draft.

Gary Donnelly

The Snakes by Sadie Jones

February 23, 2020

The Snakes by Sadie Jones
Published by Penguin on June 25, 2019
ISBN: 9780062897046
Genres: Fiction, Literary, Thrillers, Suspense, Horror
Pages: 448
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
two stars - The Snakes by Sadie Jones

“The Snakes is many things—a parable and an ancient drama where a father’s greed devours his children, a police procedural, an avid take on tabloid venality, and a bitter comedy, superbly observed, where behind a woman’s eyes she is ‘all movement inside herself, like a wasp in a glass.’ I admit that I’m still shaken by parts of this novel. Sadie Jones writes with pitiless aplomb and corrosive intelligence.”—Louise Erdrich
A chilling page-turner and impossible to put down, THE SNAKES is Sadie Jones at her best: breathtakingly powerful, brilliantly incisive, and utterly devastating.
The new novel by Sadie Jones tells the tense and violent story of the Adamsons, a dysfunctional English family, with exceptional wealth, whose darkest secrets come back to bite them. Set mostly in rural France during contemporary times, THE SNAKES is an all-consuming read and a devastating portrait of how money corrupts, and how chance can deal a deadly hand.
THE SNAKES exposes the damage wreaked by parents on children as observed by a new member of the family, Dan, a mixed-race man from Peckham who marries Bea, the daughter who refuses to take any of her father’s filthy money. But when Bea’s brother Alex (who runs a shabby hotel in Paligny, France) dies suddenly in unexplained circumstances, the confusion and suspicion which arise bring other dark family secrets—and violence—to the surface. And none of the family, even the good members, go untouched.

This book turned into a real disappointment. It wasn’t like I struggled to get through the book. From page one I was loving the journey, loving the complexity of every character. Appreciating their role, their intricacies, their pain and the road that each decided to take. The book for me, was a five-star read right up until the last two chapters. The writing was engaging, and it had my attention so rapturously, I felt like I was contained within a vice. It was intense and emotional, and I craved to know what the ending would deliver. It was flat and completely separate from what was building. I was disappointed.

The majority of the book was exceptional. The Snakes is a story about the complexity of money and the power that corrupts within. Families can either be destroyed by it or brought together. This story is unfortunately the former. We get a glimpse of how money and the type of wealth that is astronomical can borne a childhood of at worst abuse and at best indifference.

The Snakes allows us a fly on the wall view of a personal family tragedy. A death that is not completely unexpected but raw and grievous all the same. The family is dysfunctional. Abuse always creeping at the edges of our vision, shocked by the behaviour and the actions of those that are meant to be there to protect no matter what. The language and the tone in which the father, Griff addresses his children is standoffish and brutal like they are mere business transactions. The death is the catalyst to the band aid being truly ripped off. Secrets will finally come to the fore.

The book has a very depressing and melancholy dissonance resonating throughout its pages. It’s thought provoking and makes you think about the fragility of life and the glue that keeps families together. This story really highlights the old adage that money is the root of all evil. This is where Sadie Jones comes into her own. Her characters are so impeccably constructed from the conflict to the love and security. The atmospheric world building was so bang on the nail for creepy, threatening shadow that threatened to engulf them all. The Snakes in the attic seemed like the perfect symbol for dread that the hotel had opened up. Money and secrets a dreadful cocktail to sip from.

And then the impressive build up seemed to evaporate in front of the readers eyes. It took an unsuspected and strange turn. I don’t mean in the form of a shocking twist. I mean that the ending didn’t make any sense. It felt like the author rushed the ending and didn’t listen to her character’s personalities, their inner voices. It was a mess.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sadie Jones is a novelist and screenwriter. Her first novel, The Outcast (‘Devastatingly good’, Daily Mail) won the Costa First Novel Award in 2008 and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. It was also a Richard and Judy Summer Reads number one bestseller and adapted for BBC Television. Her second novel, Small Wars (‘Outstanding’, The Times; ‘One of the best books about the English at war ever’, Joel Morris), was published in 2009, and longlisted for the Orange Prize. Her third, in 2012, was The Uninvited Guests (‘A shimmering comedy of manners and disturbing commentary on class… a brilliant novel’, Ann Patchett) followed by Fallout in 2014 (‘Intoxicating and immersive’, The Sunday Times).

Sadie Jones

Audio Blog Tour: The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley

February 20, 2020

The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley
Published by Orion Publishing Group on February 6, 2020
ISBN: 9781409194187
Genres: Family & Relationships, Abuse, Domestic Partner Abuse, Fiction, Thrillers, Crime, Psychological, Family Life, Marriage & Divorce
Pages: 304
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
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Goodreads

five stars - Audio Blog Tour: The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley

One fatal crash. Two colliding worlds. Three wrecked lives.
Ben is driving on the motorway, on his usual commute to the school where he works.
A day like any other...
Except for one man who, in a final despairing act, jumps in front of Ben's car, turning the teacher's world upside down in a single horrifying instant...
Wracked with guilt and desperate to clear his conscience, he develops a friendship with Alice, the dead man's wife, and her 7-year-old son Max.
But as he tries to escape the trauma of the wreckage, could he go too far in trying to make amends?
How would you cope, knowing you'd caused someone's death? And are the dynamics of this friendship exactly what they seem?

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.

The audio was beautiful. It packed a powerful punch. It heightened the alarming amount of anticipation I was experiencing. It resonated with the fear, the grief, the panic. The Multiple authors hit that sweet spot. We were living the extremes of two forever changed characters and the loss the narrators catapulted into the story made it, in my opinion. The audiobook was inhaled in a matter of hours. It became a living, breathing entity.

Thanks to Alex @ Orion Books for a copy of the Audiobook for review purposes.

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
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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?

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A.J. Hackwith Website

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
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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: 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