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20/6/2019 0 Comments

Review: I Looked Away

I Looked Away by Jane Corry
Page length: 512 pages
Genre: Crime Fiction, Thriller  
Publication Date: 27 June 2019
Publisher: Cornerstone Digital
Source: ARC via NetGalley
 
Stars:  5 out of 5
 
Link: AMAZON (UK)

 
ABOUT I LOOKED AWAY
 
Every Monday, 49-year-old Ellie looks after her grandson Josh. She loves him more than anyone else in the world. The only thing that can mar her happiness is her husband's affair. But he swears it's over now, and Ellie has decided to be thankful for what she's got.
 
Then one day, while she's looking after Josh, her husband gets a call from that woman. And just for a moment, Ellie takes her eyes off her grandson. What happens next will change her life forever.
 
Because Ellie is hiding something in her past.
 
And what looks like an accident could start to look like murder...
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My Review:

I really enjoyed Jane Corry's previous books – My Husband's Wife, The Dead Ex and Blood Sisters – she has a unique talent for presenting darker themes of society – prison and homelessness – in the case of I Looked Away, and exposing humanity's flaws.
 
I Looked Wway is told from two perspectives:
 
Ellie – then and now – then, when she was a young girl and her little brother was involved in an accident. And now – when her young grandson is also at risk.
 
Jo – a middle class woman who has found herself homeless and tries to navigate living on the streets.
 
Beautifully told, the heartache and heartbreak endured by Ellie throughout her life was foremost, woven with the grief was the foundation for this twisty thriller.
 
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
 
Thank you so much the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary electronic copy in return for an honest review. 
 
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14/6/2019 0 Comments

Review: The Last Widow

The Last Widow by Karin Slaughter
Genre: Crime/Thriller
Page Length: 464 Pages
Publication Date: 14 June 2019
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: ARC via NetGalley
 
Stars:  5 out of 5
 
Link: AMAZON (UK)

 
ABOUT THE LAST WIDOW:
 
It begins with an abduction. The routine of a family shopping trip is shattered when Michelle Spivey is snatched as she leaves the mall with her young daughter. The police search for her, her partner pleads for her release, but in the end…they find nothing. It’s as if she disappeared into thin air.
 
A month later, on a sleepy Sunday afternoon, medical examiner Sara Linton is at lunch with her boyfriend Will Trent, an agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. But the serenity of the summer’s day is broken by the wail of sirens.
 
Sara and Will are trained to help in an emergency. Their jobs – their vocations – mean that they run towards a crisis, not away from it. But on this one terrible day that instinct betrays them both. Within hours the situation has spiralled out of control; Sara is taken prisoner; Will is forced undercover. And the fallout will lead them into the Appalachian mountains, to the terrible truth about what really happened to Michelle, and to a remote compound where a radical group has murder in mind…
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My Review:

I love Karin Slaugter's writing. The Last Widow is a brilliant and compelling read from start to finish. I didn't realise that this was a Will Trent novel, so pleasantly surprised from the get go!
 
The prologue starts in a normal day in a department store, the interaction between mother and daughter. The end of which leaves everything to the imagination "Ashley had run off, just like they had taught her to do. Which was fine, because the man did not want Ashley. He wanted Michelle."
 
Ms Slaughter writes in such a way it's impossible not to feel there with the characters. To feel their pain, their anguish and the dialogue is sharp and the description at times visceral.
When Sara gets taken at gunpoint, Will is left injured and determined to find her. The time is ticking, but bureaucracy and competing law enforcement bodies competing for jurisdiction.
 
With Will chasing after a home-grown terrorist group, there are timely comparisons to Charlottesville.
 
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
 
Thank you so much the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary electronic copy in return for an honest review. 
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29/4/2019 0 Comments

Review: Cape May

Cape May by Chip Cheek
Page length: 257 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction    
Publication Date: 30 April 2019 (Hardcover)
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Source: ARC via NetGalley
 
Stars:  5 out of 5
 
Link: AMAZON (UK)
 
ABOUT CAPE MAY
 
September 1957
 
Henry and Effie, young newlyweds from Georgia, arrive in Cape May, New Jersey, for their honeymoon. It's the end of the season and the town is deserted.
As they tentatively discover each other, they begin to realize that everyday married life might be disappointingly different from their happily-ever-after fantasy.
 
Just as they get ready to cut the trip short, a decadent and glamorous set suddenly sweep them up into their drama - Clara, a beautiful socialite who feels her youth slipping away; Max, a wealthy playboy and Clara's lover; and Alma, Max's aloof and mysterious half-sister.
 
The empty beach town becomes their playground, and as they sneak into abandoned summer homes, go sailing, walk naked under the stars, make love, and drink a great deal of gin, Henry and Effie slip from innocence into betrayal, with irrevocable consequences that reverberate through the rest of their lives...
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My Review:

From the first chapter I was hooked. Henry and Effie arrive in a deserted holiday town out of season. They consummate their marriage in a quick perfunctory manner and head out to see what little is on offer in the deserted holiday town.
 
They get to know each other, properly, the longest they've spent alone together. And start to discover and enjoy each other's bodies as any honeymooning couple.
 
Effie is disappointed that she isn't able to show Henry the Cape May she remembers. When Effie and Henry bumps into the overbearing Clara, a gorgeous socialite from the city, they join Clara's party scene, their Southern morals are loosened by the hard liquor and decadent living. They decide to extend their stay, to unexpected consequences. How will the Christian couple keep up with the partying? And can they ever return to their sleepy town in the south?
 
The story was sublime, and was beautifully told.
 
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
 
Thank you so much the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary electronic copy in return for an honest review. 
 
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18/4/2019 0 Comments

Review: The Break

The Break by Ronnie O'Sullivan
Page length: 317 pages
Genre: Crime Fiction   
Publication Date: 18 April 2019 (Paperback)
Publisher: Pan
Source: ARC via NetGalley
 
Stars:  5 out of 5
 
Link: AMAZON (UK)

 
ABOUT THE BREAK
 
The Break explodes into the gangland world of 90s Soho, by snooker world champion and national superstar, Ronnie O'Sullivan.
 
It’s 1997 and Cool Britannia’s in full swing. Oasis and Blur are top of the pops and it feels like the whole country’s sorted out for E’s and wizz.
 
But it’s not just UK plc that’s on a high. Life’s looking up for Frankie James too. He’s paid off his debts to London’s fiercest gang lord, Tommy Riley. His Soho Open snooker tournament is about to kick off at his club. The future looks bright.
 
But then Frankie finds himself being blackmailed by a face from his past. They want him to steal something worth millions. It's enough to get him killed. Or banged up for life if he says no.
 
Frankie’s going to need every ounce of luck and guile that he’s got if he’s going to pull off the heist of the century and get out of this in one piece.
 
The Break is the third, fast-paced Soho Nights thriller, by snooker champion Ronnie O’Sullivan.

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My Review:

The e-book of The Break was published in 2018. This review coincides with the paperback being launched on 18 April 2019.
 
I really enjoyed the first two books in this Soho Nights Trilogy and COULD NOT WAIT to read The Break. And what a delight it was. It revisits Frankie, owner of the Ambassador Club and him trying to avoid getting involved in the plans of warring local mobsters. All he wants is an easy life. Frankie has set up a legitimate snooker competition but on the eve before the launch someone is trying to fix the outcome. That is the least of his worries when a ghost from his past comes back to haunt him and coerces him to be part of a heist.
 
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
 
Thank you so much the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary electronic copy in return for an honest review.
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21/3/2019 0 Comments

Review: She Lies in Wait

She Lies in Wait by Gytha Lodge
Page length: 400 pages
Genre: Crime Fiction, Thriller  
Publication Date: 21 March 2019 (Hardback)
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Source: ARC via NetGalley
 
Stars:  5 out of 5
 
Link: AMAZON (UK)

 
ABOUT SHE LIES IN WAIT
 
Six friends. One killer. Who do you trust?
Seven friends go down to the woods.
But one never comes home.
Now, a body has been found.
They thought they'd got away with it.
But now they're all suspects.
Who do you trust?
 
On a hot July night in 1983, six school friends go camping in the forest. Bright and brilliant, they are destined for great things, and young Aurora Jackson is dazzled to be allowed to tag along.
 
Thirty years later, a body is discovered. DCI Sheens is called to the scene, but he already knows what's waiting for him: Aurora Jackson, found at long last.
 
But that's not all. The friends have all maintained their innocence, but the body is found in a hideaway only the six of them knew about.
 
It seems the killer has always lurked very close to home...
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My Review:

DCI Sheens gets a call he's been waiting thirty years for. The decomposed body of the missing girl, Aurora, has been finally been found. The story is told in two timelines a) now –Sheen's police investigation and b) then – Aurora's story. The chapters are well thought out and you are able to keep up with the clues in real time investigation against what happened in 1983. Everyone is a suspect.
 
I really enjoyed She Lies in Wait, and it kept me guessing and changing my suspects until the very end.
 
I hope to see more of DCI Sheens and especially DC Hanson.
 
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
 
Thank you so much the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary electronic copy in return for an honest review. 
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