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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,…
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REVIEW: The Cult by Abby Davies
The Cult was a difficult read for me. The subject matter was hard-hitting and painful. I’m not saying that it wasn’t what it needed to be – it was but boy did it punch you in the gut. The story is told over two timelines which at times got a bit repetitive and convoluted. Love tells us about her experience of living in a community that at first has its values rooted in Love and values but very quickly we witness it all hit the fan. The chapters from Love become very sinister, something we have read about time and time again about these so-called Cults. I need to be…
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REVIEW – Exit by Belinda Bauer
Exit by Belinda Bauer was a testament to humour and the conflicting need to do the right thing. Felix, a man that has known his share of hardship in the world with the deaths of both his wife and son longs to do some good in the world. He watched his son depart painfully and doesn’t wish to see others in that position, so after much deliberation, he joins the exiteers. A group that believes stringently in euthanasia and the right to choose. Bauer has created a tightly plotted and dark story that shows investigates the complexities of aided suicide. Exit is as complex as it is touching. Aided Euthanasia…
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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: Into The Dark by Stuart Johnstone
Into The Dark is a stark warning that we can all become products of our past if we allow it to consume us. The past can haunt us, and it can keep tiptoeing back into our lives. Is it ever possible to bury the past? This premise is one that sends chills down my spine. Edinburgh is known for its culture, its connections with Europe but it also has got a dark side. Murder and deceit can be found in dark corners just like any other city. Sergeant Donald Colyear is back in Edinburgh and is about to be found embroiled in a case that is as dark as it…
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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…
