Monthly Archives: September 2011

Victim Six by Gregg Olsen – Book Review

Posted on September 30, 2011
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The bodies are found in towns and cities around Puget Sound. The young women who are the victims had nothing in common…except the agony of their final moments. But somebody carefully chose them to stalk, capture, and tortured depraved killer whose cunning is matched only by the depth of his bloodlust. But the dying has only just begun. And the next victim will be the most shocking of all…

One of the very first things that attracted me to Gregg Olsen’s Victim Six book was undoubtedly the jacket cover. A solitary man stands resolute, peering over a wide expanse of water, a deep and inviting body of tranquil water that draws you in as if your very life depended on it. A chilling fog is rising slowly over the lake giving the book a haunting and eerily hypnotic appearance, all this before I’d read the very first page. All I wanted to do was run to the very edge of the small wooden jetty and jump in. I announced to the twitter world that I wanted to do just that but when author Gregg Olsen replied with a simplistic “Don’t do it” I should have realised there and then I was in for a scary ride! The problem is I didn’t listen and I jumped into the book with both feet!

Victim Six is wrong in so many ways, in parts it made me catch my breath, shudder, shake my head and wonder how on earth a serial killer as depraved and unhinged as this could exist. It made me question not only Olsen’s sanity but how an author could come up with something as imaginative, brutal, perverse and downright wrong – yet so right!! This book isn’t for the fainthearted but one thing I will guarantee is …

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Good Offices by Evelio Rosero – Book Review

Posted on September 25, 2011
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Tancredo, a young hunchback, observes and participates in the rites at the Catholic church where he lives under the care of Father Almida. Also in residence are the sexton Celeste Machado, his goddaughter Sabina Cruz, and three widows known collectively as the Lilias, who do the cooking and cleaning and provide charity meals for the local poor and needy. One Thursday, Father Almida and the sexton must rush off to meet the parish’s principal benefactor, Don Justiniano. It will be the first time in forty years Father Almida has not said mass. Eventually they find a replacement: Father Matamoros, a drunkard with a beautiful voice whose sung mass is spellbinding to all. The Lilias prepare a sumptuous meal for Father Matamoros, who persuades them to drink with him. Over the course of the long night the women and Tancredo lose their inhibitions and confess their sins and stories to this strange priest, and in the process re- veal lives crippled by hypocrisy.

One thing became clear to me early on – while reading Good Offices by Evelio Rosero – was its fluidity. Reading such a beautiful and energetic translation – by Anne McLean and Anna Milsom – I lost myself in its simplicity and free flowing narrative. I felt as if Rosero was conducting a small orchestra, a solo violin performance, or perhaps I was sitting at the theatre where one solitary voice spoke to me, just like an actor on stage reciting a monologue. Whatever the performance, be it classical or acting, I was spellbound and couldn’t put the book down finishing it in one sitting.

To me I imagined Rosero sitting down in his favourite writing chair, a glass of his favourite tipple in close proximity and writing the first thing that came to his head with a …

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Dreda Say Mitchell – Writing A Series

Posted on September 25, 2011
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As Hit Girls hits the books shelves on the high street I ask myself how did a single character I wrote about seven years ago turn into five books? I certainly hadn’t consciously set out to write a series of books about the same characters. So how did it happen? The trigger for writing my first novel, ‘Running Hot’, was the story of Schoolboy, a drug dealer desperate to get out of the East End underworld. I was desperate as well, wanting to share his life with anyone who would listen because Running Hot represented my opportunity to tell the world about part of the life I’d witnessed growing up on a housing estate in east London. And that was it! The publication of the book should’ve been the end of the story; I was happy to move on to write something else… but my readers had other ideas.

I started to get emails from people asking me if I was writing about some of the other characters? What about Lord Tribulation? Jackie Jarvis? Queen? It sent me into a bit of a spin because it hadn’t even occurred to me to write more about the other characters, this was Schoolboy’s story after all. Wasn’t’ it? Then I realised it wasn’t only his story and actually my starting point had been to explore a wider range of characters and London itself. I got all excited thinking about having an opportunity to pop the spotlight on another character. I will admit at this stage I didn’t have a grand plan for a series spanning umpteen books, but yeah some of the people in Running Hot deserved their own narrative.

But whom should I choose to write about next?  Two characters shot to the top of the ‘write about me’ …

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The Affair by Lee Child – Book Review

Posted on September 25, 2011
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March 1997. A woman has her throat cut behind a bar in Carter Crossing, Mississippi. Just down the road is a big army base. Is the murderer a local guy – or is he a soldier?

Jack Reacher, still a major in the military police, is sent in undercover. The county sheriff is a former U.S. Marine – and a stunningly beautiful woman. Her investigation is going nowhere. Is the Pentagon stonewalling her? Or doesn’t she really want to find the killer?

The adrenaline-pumping, high-voltage action in The Affair is set just six months before the opening of Killing Floor, and it marks a turning point in Reacher’s career. If he does what the army wants, will he be able to live with himself? And if he doesn’t, will the army be able to live with him? Is this his last case in uniform?

If you happen to be one of the rare and isolated readers who have yet to discover – full on action hero -Jack Reacher, I only have one question for you – where have you been this past fourteen years, Mars?!! The Affair marks Lee Child’s 16th Jack Reacher adventure and is without question the book Reacher fans have been waiting for, for one very simple reason, we discover why Reacher left the army.

Incredibly well paced and remarkably fluent, The Affair is another multi-layered adventure that entertains on so many levels. There’s a little action – not as much as I’ve come to expect from Reacher mind – some romance, explosive encounters and a depth in a protagonist I didn’t anticipate. Reacher, for me, is more guarded, more circumspect yet given the fact that he is still working under the express orders of the Army and Pentagon this is to be expected.

Billed as …

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Cold Vengeance by Preston & Child – Book Review

Posted on September 21, 2011
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Devastated by the discovery that his wife, Helen, was murdered, Special Agent Pendergast must have retribution. But revenge is not simple. As he stalks his wife’s betrayers – a chase that takes him from the wild moors of Scotland to the bustling streets of New York City and the darkest bayous of Louisiana – he is also forced to dig further into Helen’s past. And he is stunned to learn that Helen may have been a collaborator in her own murder. Peeling back the layers of deception, Pendergast realizes that the conspiracy is deeper, goes back generations, and is more monstrous than he could have ever imagined – and everything he’s believed, everything he’s trusted, everything he’s understood . . . may be a horrific lie.

Every now and then you pick up a book and completely lose yourself in the story, the narrative and the tension; Cold Vengeance was certainly one of those books for me. Beginning with a stag hunt on the Scottish moors where Pendergast is left for dead with a bullet to his chest, I was immediately immersed in a struggle to survive the harsh elements, a thirteen point stag – 500 inches of antler – and a bog that took no prisoners. Although unrelated I couldn’t help but compare the opening scenes with Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles – fog, rain, treacherous conditions – mind you Cold Vengeance didn’t have the hound causing mayhem on the moors!

Although the second instalment in the –Helen trilogy – Special Agent Pendergast series, Cold Vengeance works well as a standalone and is incredibly enjoyable, fluid and entertaining. However, I would recommend reading Fever Dream (released in 2010) before approaching this novel as there are a number of key events discussed that I would have preferred …

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Into Dust by Jonathan Lewis – Book Review

Posted on September 18, 2011
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The Minister for Defence is blown to smithereens in his car on a lonely road in the Brecon Beacons, where he has a weekend hideaway. DI Ned Bale is on the crime scene within seconds, but neither he nor forensics can work out how on earth the crime was committed, let alone who did it, or with what motive.

That is until one fingerprint is found on one tiny fragment of the explosive timing device. The fingerprint of Ned Bale’s closest ally in the Force, dog handler Kate Baker. But how on earth could her fingerprint be on a terrorist’s bomb. Far away on bomb disposal duty in Afghanistan, Kate has to be questioned.

But Kate herself has become involved with someone extremely plausible, attractive and dangerous. The mystery which unravels through this gripping thriller is completely unexpected.

Into Dust by author Jonathan Lewis served as my introduction to the DCI Ned Bale series and I have to say I found Bale such an engaging character that I didn’t want this particular story to end! A thoroughly entertaining storyline that spends as much time in Wales – Brecon Beacons – as it does in Afghanistan and Camp Bastion – located in Helmand Province – it captured my imagination with a combination of Welsh sheep grazing in the national park and flat jackets on patrol in Afghanistan fighting the Tali-Tubbies!

I have to admit when I first read the book jacket discovering that the serving Minister of Defence had been targeted and killed in the Brecon Beacons I hurried into reading, for Into Dust was the first book I’ve had chance to read set in Wales in a number of years, not to mention the modern and relevant storyline featuring fictional serving soldiers in Afghanistan, this was quite clearly a win …

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Interview with author Emlyn Rees

Posted on September 13, 2011
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Joining me today is Emlyn Rees, author of the action thriller title Hunted (reviewed here). Set in and around the streets of London it tells the story of Danny Shanklin, former CIA operative who struggles to clear his name in a frenetic game of cat and mouse. Welcome Emlyn:-

Thanks for having me on the site.

Emlyn, when did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? Did you get one of those pivotal moments in school or did it come later?

In true Adrian Mole style, I got into reading (mostly good) and writing (mostly bad) poetry when I was a teenager. As well as thinking it would impress girls (it didn’t), I had an absurd fantasy that one day I’d get asked by a bunch of other revolutionary young poets to get involved in something epic like the Spanish Civil War (I never got the call).

What books/authors have most influenced you most and why?

In terms of thriller writing, I’d have to go for James Clavell, who I think is hard to beat in terms of technique and sheer scale. I think one of the chase scenes in SHOGUN comes in at nearly 200 pages. For style I’d cite Cormac McCarthy. He conveys a huge amount with a very few words. A lot of people describe him as lit fic, but I’d say he’s a pretty much perfect thriller writer too.

A fairly random question for you now… Given the chance to go back in time and spend two weeks either with an historical figure or event where would you travel and why.

I’m quite fickle with my enthusiasms, meaning I tend to get into whatever I’m reading at the moment, which right now is: London Calling: A Countercultural History of London Since 1945, …

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Cage of Bones by Tania Carver – Book Review

Posted on September 12, 2011
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Workers demolishing a building in Colchester make a horrifying discovery in the basement: a cage made of human bones . . . with a feral child inside. As Phil Brennan and Marina Esposito investigate, they expose the trail of a serial killer who has been operating undetected for thirty years – a killer with a disturbing connection to Brennan’s father.

One of the great things about reviewing books, I’ve discovered, is that you never quite know what to expect when you begin reading a new author. Will it be a flop, will it flow, will you like what they have to say and how they say it? Over the last thirteen months I’ve only failed to read one book – gave up after 55 pages – so either my threshold is above average or I’ve been incredibly lucky and the standard of what’s on offer at the moment is incredibly high. I’m going to go with a high standard, one has to remain positive!

Weighing in at well over 500 pages Cage of Bones is a meaty book – sorry couldn’t resist! – and it’s certainly not for the feint hearted. From the very outset the book gripped me and just like the victims it became evidently clear I wasn’t going anywhere. Fortunately I’d switch off the light at the end of a night’s reading, pull back the bedding and go to bed; no such luxury afforded the poor unfortunate souls in Cage of Bones mind.

Cage of Bones is avilable in Paperback & Kindle.

Darkness has come and gone and Faith is frantically running through the forest, desperate to escape her abductor, naked as the day she was born she’s running for her life; literally. If caught she knows there will be no escape, her life no matter how bad it seems is worth …

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The Accident by Linwood Barclay – Book Review

Posted on September 10, 2011
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Glen Barber’s life has just spiralled out of control. His wife’s car is found at the scene of a drunk-driving accident that took three lives. Not only is she dead, but it appears she was the cause of the accident. Suddenly Glen has to deal with a potent mixture of emotions: grief at the loss of his wife, along with anger at her reckless behaviour that leaves their young daughter motherless. If only he could convince himself that Sheila wasn’t responsible for the tragedy. But as more and more secrets begin to surface, Glen may have to face something much, much worse…

Linwood Barclay is back with a bang and it appears there’s no stopping the Canadian author as he delivers yet another cracking thriller. When I first read Linwood Barclay, in October last year, (Never Look Away reviewed) I was mesmerised, hooked and left wondering why I hadn’t “discovered” him sooner. Now, whenever I mention Barclay’s name to people the reaction is constant “Oh he’s amazing, he’s a great author, I love his books” and although I’m only two books in to his career I’m starting to form the same adoring opinion!

The Accident is quite an insular and claustrophobic story, the majority happening within a small community where every man, woman and dog appear to be connected in one way or another! Although The Accident – an intelligent and complex narrative – had me gripped until the very end I didn’t think it was as powerful as Never Look Back, it was highly entertaining and enjoyable nonetheless.

One thing I’ve found Linwood does well is character development and The Accident is no exception. Glen Barber, a local builder employing a handful of workers, is for the most part a hard working honest man whose life …

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Sequence by Adrian Dawson – Book Review

Posted on September 5, 2011
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A naked male, dead in an alleyway with bullets that don’t make sense. A note, written in 13th Century Latin secreted about his person along with the name and room number of an autistic mental patient. Fingerprints burned away and tattoos completely removed. Of all the possible duties, the last task LAPD detective Nick Lambert wanted was the drive to Oakdene to interview the girl. It gets worse when he discovers that as well as being autistic, she’s also mute.

But when an off-hand comment from the nurse piques Nick’s attention, he can’t help but follow the lead. What he finds will turn his entire world – his entire existence – upside down. Clues to the location of valuable stone tablets, the only tablets described in Exodus as being ‘written by the hand of God’. These are not the Ten Commandments… these are ALL the commandments and Nick suddenly finds himself at the heart of a centuries old battle to find, and hide, the kind of extremely valuable information that mankind was never meant to possess.

It is only when Nick realises he was a key player in the game long before it started, and that he will be a key player long after it is over, that he will discover the true importance of those around him. Nick has no so inadvertently stumbled into the most important human being who has ever lived. One who will not only change the world once, but will do it over and over again.

Within a few pages I just knew I’d have to have my wits about me with Sequence, the new conspiracy/Hi-Tec thriller from Adrian Dawson and follow up to the highly successful Codex. I can safely say I don’t think I’ve read anything quite so complex and entertaining …

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My Route To Publication by Adrian Dawson

Posted on September 5, 2011
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by Adrian Dawson

Picture the scene… It’s late summer 1999 and a young writer has just finished the first manuscript he’s ever been truly happy with. Inside another novel he really likes the agent who represented said book is thanked and so he decides to send him a copy. Throwing etiquette fiercely to one side he bags up the entire tome and, at great expense, sends this weighty package all the way down to London. He does not know who this agent is specifically, only the agency he works for and in those carefree pre-internet days that was about as far as his basic research took him. All he does know is that said agent likes the same kind of book that said author likes, so this must be the agent for him. It’s a done deal.

So he sits back and waits. Patiently.

A week or so later that same author, deciding that patience is a vastly overrated concept, picks up the phone and contacts said agency only to be told, quite tersely, that his work is in the slush pile and will be read within the next 6-8 weeks.

So he sits back and waits. Again. Patience, it seems, is not an optional virtue.

Another week passes and said agent calls said author. At 9pm on a Monday night, no less. He asks who else has been sent this manuscript and is told, quite honestly “No-one!” “Don’t!” he says, so excitedly that to put it in writing requires an overuse of the Shift-1 key. “I want it! I’m half way through! I love it and I’ll be back to you in a week!” Placing the phone down and looking out of the window, the author sees that every bird in the parish is singing in harmony, the …

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The Ridge by Michael Koryta – Book Review

Posted on September 3, 2011
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On an isolated ridge in the Kentucky woods stands a homemade lighthouse, hundreds of miles from any substantial body of water. Local reporter Roy Darmus has always found it an amusing oddity- until he is selected as the recipient of a suicide note from its builder. Roy enters the bizarre structure to find the walls covered in maps bearing the names of the dead – including his own parents, who were killed in a car accident when he was a boy. Roy soon has a storytelling assignment more daunting than anything he’s seen before: convincing people that an age-old legend has in fact come to life.

With haunting atmosphere and tension-coiled plot, THE RIDGE is a terrifying journey into the heart of darkness.

I’ve always had a fascination with lighthouses – end of statement! Don’t ask me why or how because I honestly couldn’t tell you but the sad fact is, despite this fascination, I’ve never been in one! The closest I came to fulfilling my goal was on holiday a few years ago in Australia while visiting friends in Byron Bay. Unfortunately for me my timing was off and the lighthouse was closed. The magnificent lighthouse, built in 1901 is on Cape Byron Bay and stands proudly as the most Easterly light in Australia. Living in a windswept lighthouse, witnessing wave upon wave voraciously lashing against the unforgiving rocks somehow appeals to me! Whether it’s the romantic in me or a desire to live a solitary life I have no clue! Michael Koryta’s new supernatural thriller The Ridge revolves around a lighthouse built in a vast woodland by a solitary drunk who has seen better days.

The Ridge is the third book I’ve read by Michael Koryta in the last twelve months and I have to say he’s fast …

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Hunted by Emlyn Rees – Book Review

Posted on September 1, 2011
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Danny Shanklin wakes up slumped across a table in a London hotel room he’s never seen before. He’s wearing a black balaclava, a red tracksuit and a brand new pair of Nikes. There’s a faceless dead man on the floor and Danny’s got a high-powered rifle strapped to his hands. He hears sirens and stumbles to the window to see a burning limousine and bodies all over the street. The police are closing in. He’s been set up. They’re coming for him…

With only his tech support friend, the Kid, for backup, Danny sets out on a nail-biting odyssey though the panicked city streets, in a desperate bid to escape, protect the people he loves, and track down the terrorists who set him up – and make them pay. But with 500,000 CCTV cameras, 33,000 cops, 9 intelligence agencies, and dozens of TV news channels all hot on his tail, just how long will THIS one innocent man be able to survive?’

The name’s Shanklin, Danny Shanklin. Move over Reacher, there’s a new action man in town! If you’re looking for a high octane, adrenalin filled adventure complete with a non stop narrative then Hunted by new kid on the block Emlyn Rees – not to be confused with the musical band from the 90’s of course – is that book. I  couldn’t put it down and certainly didn’t want it to end, that’s for sure – a remarkable debut offering – and with an already overflowing action genre market it’s hard to stand out from the crowd but in Danny Shanklin, Rees has created an entertaining and believable character that is set to run and run – literally!

I’ve been fortunate enough this year to have experienced a few cracking debut titles – Urban Waite’s The Terror of …

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