A modern day Agatha Christie.   

As the front covers says everyone’s invited, everyone’s a suspect. Halfway through the book you’re so acquainted with the characters they’re practically friends. And yet you still you have no idea who the killer is OR the victim. The level of suspense is precariously high, but it stands strong. There are clues on every page, from the party of friends, the staff, and the surprise Icelandic visitors. Even as the book was coming to a close, all the secrets and lies kept tumbling, keeping the true killer out of sight until the very end. Bravo Ms Foley!

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.

Not a spoiler – the back cover says it all. Rosie's older sister went missing fifteen years previously, and Anna wonders about her real parentage is. What I thought was going to be a straightforward thriller, how wrong was I! It got murkier and murkier the further I read. I was completely embroiled in Anna and Rosie's stories respectively. And at one point shouting 'No!!!!!' at the book.
 
A fantastic debut from Ms Barber.
 
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. 

As I really enjoyed Mr Horowitz's new Sherlock Holmes in The House of Silk, I was very excited to get the chance to read The Sentence is Death. I read the book in two days and couldn't put it down – it was a sumptuous way to spend the weekend.
 
Anthony is a writer, (the writer of this book and many others) and Daniel is an ex-policeman turned private detective. I knew immediately I was going to be a fan of Daniel and Tony's pairing. The book opens on the television set for Foyle's War (I couldn't help but check – yes, Mr Horowitz was indeed a writer for said television programme), when Daniel Hawthorne comes blustering onto set ruining an expensive take.
 
The race to solve the murder was on…. Between Daniel and Tony, and between them and the police. A second death that was possibly a second murder, possibly a suicide, or possibly an accident muddied the waters. There were enough clues and red herrings to keep me wondering throughout the book.
 
I didn't realize this was the second book in the Daniel Hawthorne series.
And luckily I can now binge straight away on more Daniel Hawthorne with the first in the series The Word is Murder.
 
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. 

Another brilliant debut!

I found the book a little difficult to get into but by the third chapter or so, I was well and truly in the story. It is told from three perspectives: Ryan's mother, Moira; Ishbel, the mother of Abigail, the first victim; and DI Helen Birch. The subject matter is hard, dark, and thought provoking, as is how the media and social media respond to such a catastrophe. I really enjoyed the conflicting narration, and felt for all the characters in the hopeless and heartbraking situation. Not to mention the finale is devastating.
 
I hope this is the first installment of a DI Birch series.
 
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
 
Thank you so much the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary electronic copy in return for an honest review. 

The book is interspersed with chapters from the view of the killer, and the perspective from the law rushing against the clock to find him. Even though the reader is sometimes one step ahead having the killer's method in mind, there is twist after twist. Predictably, there is a new policeman in town but that's where any certainty ends. It's impossible not to fall for the beautiful and broken DI Callanach with his back-story woven into the story in small segments like a jigsaw puzzle.
 
The gore of the action is sometimes too gruesome. And there were a couple of times I gasped aloud and turns in the plot. When the finale presented itself, it could have gone a number of ways and I was not able to put the book down until I had finished it.
 
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.