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Fifth Victim by Zoë Sharp – Book Review

Posted on February 5, 2012
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The only thing more terrifying than fighting for your life is fighting for someone else’s…Bodyguard and ex-Special Forces soldier Charlie Fox would do anything to take her mind off her partner; shot, left for dead and now lying in a coma. So concentrating on a new assignment seems like the perfect way to escape the pain, and her own empty apartment. The job: to protect the naive daughter of an investment banker from a gang of kidnappers who prey on the children of the wealthy Long Island set. Kidnap is a lucrative crime for those with the nerve to pull it off. Usually those who disappear are returned unharmed – except this syndicate likes to take a piece of the victim as part of the pay-off. Still, it all looks simple at first.

A round of exclusive boutiques, charity auctions, luxurious parties aboard million-dollar yachts – and few risks for an experienced operative. But Charlie soon finds out that defending a girl determined to put herself in danger is far from easy. And when her instincts lead her to suspect an inside job, she discovers that not everyone who mingles with the jet-set is what they seem – and the idle rich can be as ruthless as any criminal.

Fifth Victim has been sitting patiently on my To Be Read pile for a number of months, more months than I care to remember. I recall briefly meeting Zoë Sharp in May last year and although it was a quick meeting one thing was clear, her passion for Charlie Fox – her protagonist – was infectious. I knew there and then that I wanted to read one of her adventures but it has – rather ashamedly – taken me eight months to finally pick up the book and read. They say …

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The Fall by Claire McGowan – Book Review

Posted on February 2, 2012
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What would you do if the man you love was accused of murder?

Bad things never happen to Charlotte. She’s living the life she’s always wanted and about to marry wealthy banker, Dan. But Dan’s been hiding a secret, and the pressure is pushing him over the edge. After he’s arrested for the vicious killing of a nightclub owner, Charlotte’s future is shattered.

Then she opens her door to Keisha, an angry and frustrated stranger with a story to tell. Convinced of Dan’s innocence, Charlotte must fight for him – even if it means destroying her perfect life. But what Keisha knows threatens everyone she loves, and puts her own life in danger.

DC Matthew Hegarty is riding high on the success of Dan’s arrest. But he’s finding it difficult to ignore his growing doubts as well as the beautiful and vulnerable Charlotte. Can he really risk it all for what’s right?

Three stories. One truth. They all need to brace themselves for the fall.

Although billed as a crime and police procedural novel, The Fall by debut author Claire McGowan – Director of the Crime Writer’s Association – is so much more than interviewing suspects and listening to witnesses give evidence in a murder trial – for me this book is about an unlikely relationship between two very different women and to some extent a police detective focussing on his career and gaining promotion.

I don’t normally begin a book review discussing characterisation but as I personally found it to be the main ingredient in the story I think I’ll allow myself a little latitude just this once! Told from three very individual perspectives, that of Charlotte, Keisha and Hegarty, I enjoyed how McGowan developed the story and relationships, never forcing either, allowing them to flow effortlessly and develop …

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Tom All Alone’s by Lynn Shepherd – Book Review

Posted on February 1, 2012
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London, 1850. Fog in the air and filth in the streets, from the rat-infested graveyard of Tom-All-Alone’s to the elegant chambers in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, where the formidable lawyer Edward Tulkinghorn has powerful clients to protect, and a deadly secret to hide. Only that secret is now under threat from a shadowy and unseen adversary – an adversary who must be tracked down at all costs, before it’s too late. Who better for such a task than young Charles Maddox? Unfairly dismissed from the police force, Charles is struggling to establish himself as a private detective. Only business is slow and his one case a dead end, so when Tulkinghorn offers a handsome price for an apparently simple job Charles is unable to resist. But as he soon discovers, nothing here is what it seems.

An assignment that starts with anonymous letters leads soon to a brutal murder, as the investigation lures Charles ever deeper into the terrible darkness Tulkinghorn will stop at nothing to conceal. Inspired by Charles Dickens’ masterpiece Bleak House, Tom-All-Alone’s is a new and gripping Victorian murder mystery which immerses the reader in a grim London underworld that Dickens could only hint at – a world in which girls as young as ten work the night as prostitutes, unwanted babies are ruthlessly disposed of, and those who threaten the rank and reputations of great men are eliminated at once, and without remorse.

There aren’t many authors today who will happily take on Jane Austen, there are even fewer around who will also take on the great Charles Dickens. Who in their right mind – and you have to question their sanity – would take a classic Austen book and add a murder giving her own unique spin on Mansfield Park? In 2010 Shepherd did just that …

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V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton – Book review

Posted on January 14, 2012
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Las Vegas, 1986. A young college graduate is murdered when he is unable to pay back a loan funded by notorious criminal Lorenzo Dante. Two years later private investigator Kinsey Millhone finds herself assisting to apprehend a shoplifter – Audrey Vance – in a shopping centre. Events take a much darker turn when Audrey’s body is discovered beneath the Cold Spring Bridge, a local suicide spot. Unable to believe she took her own life, Audrey’s fiancé Marvin Striker hires Kinsey to investigate. It soon emerges that the shoplifter had become caught up in a much larger operation. Meanwhile Lorenzo Dante has begun to grow weary of his life in organised crime and frustrated with his violent and impulsive younger brother Cappi. While the police net begins to close in on him, Dante meets the beautiful Nora, who exerts a powerful pull over the gangster. As Kinsey’s enquiries reach a dramatic head, it becomes clear that she and Dante have one thing in common – they must be careful who they trust . . .

Until I received V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton a few weeks ago I have to admit I’d never heard of either the author or her protagonist Kinsey Millhone, a colourful, balsy and determined private detective. I had no idea this was part of a series and as I read the book I began to wonder if it was a standalone or continuation of a long standing storyline. The further I read the more I wanted to discover – on finishing the book – that there was more to ascertain about our heroine. Imagine my delight when I discovered this wasn’t Kinsey’s first outing as a private eye! When time allows I’ll certainly explore the rest of the series if this title is anything to …

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Tideline by Penny Hancock – Book Review

Posted on January 10, 2012
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One winter’s afternoon, voice coach Sonia opens the door of her beautiful riverside home to fifteen-year-old Jez, the nephew of a family friend. He’s come to borrow some music. Sonia invites him in and soon decides that she isn’t going to let him leave. As Sonia’s desire to keep Jez hidden and protected from the outside world becomes all the more overpowering, she is haunted by memories of an intense teenage relationship, which gradually reveal a terrifying truth. The River House, Sonia’s home since childhood, holds secrets within its walls. And outside, on the shores of the Thames, new ones are coming in on the tide…

I came across Tideline by Penny Hancock completely by accident, in all honesty I hadn’t planned to read it, and had it not been for twitter I wouldn’t have. I remember I was in the middle of reading Finders Keepers [Review] by Belinda Bauer when I noticed @keithbwalters and @alice_murphy from Simon & Schuster raving about the book. I wasn’t on the lookout for another January title – I have more than enough – but when Alice and Dawn offered me the chance to read it I simply couldn’t refuse!

Tideline is a dark and enveloping psychological thriller that will hook you from the very first page and keep you captive until the final early morning tide of an old and well-documented river is but a distant memory. I don’t think I can remember reading a book where the main protagonist had such an effect on me literally moments after beginning a book. I distinctly remember having to put the book down after ten pages to take stock of who Sonia was, this really is powerful stuff. Sonia frightened me, psychologically. It was clearly evident this was a woman who had seen better days …

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Total Immunity by Robert Ward – Book Review

Posted on January 5, 2012
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Smart, tough Los Angeles FBI agents Jack Harper and Oscar Hidalgo breathe sighs of relief after violent diamond smuggler Karl Steinbach is finally arrested in a complex sting. Vowing vengeance on the agents who brought him down, Steinbach is imprisoned – only to be offered a release with total immunity in a dodgy deal with Homeland Security. As Jack and Oscar’s team of agents start to die, it becomes clear that Steinbach’s is no idle threat. But when the pair investigate their slain comrade’s lives, they discover that what looked like retribution is actually tied to a web of deceit that stretches to the highest echelons of the FBI.

Navigating car chases, shootouts, and even venomous reptiles, Jack and Oscar furiously pursue clues scattered throughout the underbelly of Los Angeles, in a desperate attempt to find the killer – before he finds them. With a storyline crackling with action, a dazzling cast of thugs, traitors, killers and creeps, and a cinematic portrait of a seamy Los Angeles clogged with corruption and greed, Robert Ward’s turbulent new thriller is clever, contemporary and cool as ice.

I’ve always enjoyed FBI, Homeland Security, based thrillers and although they don’t turn up as often as I would like – the last one being Cold Vengeance by Preston & Child in September – I was rather excited to start Total Immunity by Robert Ward. Ward, perhaps best known for his work as a producer and writer for Hill Street Blues and Miami Vice, has written a number of books but Total Immunity marks the first in a series concentrating on main protagonists Agents Jack Harper and Oscar Hidalgo.

A fast paced narrative I found Total Immunity a very quick and entertaining read, nothing too taxing and not overly complex, the storyline is well delivered and …

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The Sick Rose by Erin Kelly – Book Review

Posted on December 25, 2011
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‘You kept my secret. I know yours now. That makes us even.’

Paul has been led into a life of crime by his schoolyard protector, Daniel – but one night what started as petty theft escalates fatally. Now, at nineteen, Paul must bear witness against his friend to avoid imprisonment.

Louisa has her own dark secrets. Having fled from them many years ago she now spends her days steeped in history, renovating the grounds of a crumbling Elizabethan mansion. But her fragile peace is shattered when she meets Paul; he’s the image of the one person she never thought she’d see again.

A relationship develops between them, and Louisa starts to believe she can experience the happiness she had given up on; but it soon becomes apparent that neither of them can outrun their violent past . . .

When I began reading The Sick Rose by Erin Kelly two days ago I wasn’t quite sure what I was expecting. Sure I was aware of the gardening references, the horticultural theme, an Elizabethan renovation and of course mystery but what I wasn’t prepared for was an emotively dark and psychological journey involving two protagonists, both very different in their own way, yet somehow kindred spirits magically drawn together by fate.

The narrative is very well paced, Kelly using numerous flashbacks to aid the current storyline, and is intelligently written with an effortless yet highly complex prose. The story itself is a well-structured multi layered drama that works on a number of levels. The crime and mystery element, for me, is secondary to Paul and Louisa, the two protagonists, both of whom are trying to start from fresh, hidden away from those that could do them both damage. As the story progresses their lives become entangled and an unexpected and unlikely …

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The Inner Circle by Brad Meltzer – Book Review

Posted on December 22, 2011
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The darkest secret of the U.S. Presidency is about to be revealed.

Beecher White, a young archivist for the US government, has always been the keeper of other people’s stories, never a part of the story himself . . . Until now.

While Beecher is showing Clementine Kaye, his first childhood crush, around the National Archives, they accidentally uncover a priceless artefact – a two-hundred-year-old dictionary once belonging to George Washington. Suddenly Beecher and Clementine are entangled in a web of conspiracy and murder.

Beecher’s race to learn the truth behind this mysterious treasure will lead to a code that conceals a disturbing secret from the nation’s founding. A secret that some believe is worth killing for.

For as long as I can remember I’ve always had a fascination with the United States, the history and her Presidency and when the paperback edition of Brad Meltzer’s The Inner Circle landed on my desk a few days ago I jumped at the chance to pay a visit not only to the West Wing – minus Josiah Bartlet unfortunately – but the National Archives. Try as I might I couldn’t get Nicholas Cage’s National Treasure and the multiple copies of the Declaration of Independence out of my head, and that was before I began reading!

The Inner Circle combines betrayal, the presidency, murder and a deep rooted conspiracy to deliver a complex and compelling political thriller, an intriguing thriller that will keep you guessing until the final pages. Meltzer  takes you one way and then another, all the while constantly introducing more than enough red herrings to confuse matters, and then, just when you think you have it all figured out, he switches things around and no one – nothing – is who they first appear to be.

Although the narrative is …

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My Top 15 Books of 2011

Posted on December 19, 2011
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After reading in excess of 120 books this year it was never going to be easy whittling the list down to just 15 favourite books of the year let alone 10! Following last year’s top 15 books of 2010 I thought I’d keep to the same formula but before I list my top books of 2011 I wanted to take time out and mention a handful of titles that narrowly missed out.

Alison Bruce’s The Calling, the third in the DC Goodhew series, is a strong police procedural and an incredibly entertaining crime novel. If you are looking for a standalone novel with an evocative story, stunning landscape and vibrant characters then look no further than Peter Robinson’s Before The Poison. We change the pace a little with two books I struggled to put down Death Mask by Kathryn Fox and Already Gone by John Rector. Finally we have The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz a throwback to Arthur Conan Doyle and the first Sherlock Holmes title to receive the blessing of the Conan Doyle estate.

And so without further ado my top 15 reads of 2011:-

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15
 Beauty and the inferno – Roberto Saviano

Few people have had to endure – or will ever have the courage to do so – what Roberto Saviano has since the release of Gomorrah in 2006. In Beauty and the inferno he continues to name names and never shies away from adversity or death. The fact that this book took two years to publish is testament to the dogged determination of Roberto and the crew at Maclehose Press. Exceptional.

Published by Maclehose Press- Review

14
 Before I Go To Sleep – SJ Watson

There’s something so powerful and natural about this book that makes me want to read it again

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Creep by Jennifer Hillier – Book Review

Posted on December 14, 2011
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If he can’t have her . . .

Dr. Sheila Tao is a professor of psychology. An expert in human behaviour. And when she began an affair with sexy, charming graduate student Ethan Wolfe, she knew she was playing with fire. Consumed by lust when they were together, riddled with guilt when they weren’t, she knows the three-month fling with her teaching assistant has to end. After all, she’s finally engaged to a kind and loving investment banker who adores her, and she’s taking control of her life. But when she attempts to end the affair, Ethan Wolfe won’t let her walk away.

. . . no one else can.

2011 has been quite the ground breaking year for me and incidentally marks my first full year reviewing and I can honestly say I wouldn’t change the experience for the world. As we approach the festive season – happy holidays, the coke lorry, turkey (cooked), stuffing, did I mention the coke lorry?  – the books are still arriving thick and fast and despite a volatile financial market there appears to be no let-up in publications, January is going to be a very busy month. Apparently crime does pay!

Creep is available in the UK (Paperback & Kindle) & US (Hardback)

With that in mind choosing the next book to read/review is never easy, people often ask me how I make my decision, sometimes it’s as simple as taking pot luck, closing my eyes and picking up a book off the shelf and other times it’s a long drawn out process depending on my reading mood and publication deadlines. When Creep – by debut Canadian author Jennifer Hillier – arrived in the mail, the cover garnished with handcuffs attached to a metal chain, I was in the …

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Julia by Otto de Kat – Book Review

Posted on December 8, 2011
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One summer’s afternoon in 1981, a factory owner, Christiaan Dudok, is found dead in his study having taken his own life. He has left no suicide note, but on his desk is a newspaper from 2 April 1942, reporting on the bombing of the north German town of Lubeck. The list of the dead includes the highlighted name of Julia Bender. As a young man finishing his studies in Lubeck in 1938, Christiaan is irresistibly drawn to Julia, a courageous German who has emphatically rejected the Nazi regime. But that same year he is forced to leave both Germany and the woman he loves, even though he suspects that he is making the greatest mistake of his life. Julia is the story of a life lived wrongly, of a love so great that it endures for decades, and yet still fails. Fear of life and loss of courage, and terrifying inhuman fanaticism are the compelling themes explored in Otto de Kat’s elegantly accomplished, elegiac novel.

I’ve had Julia by Otto de Kat on my bookshelves for a few months now – this review unfortunately missing the publication date by a few weeks – and although I’ve walked past the shelves daily, catching the title in my peripheral vision on numerous occasions, I’ve never been tempted to pick up the book and start reading. I couldn’t tell you why, just one of those things I guess, but one thing I can categorically say now, without hesitation; is that I wish I’d read it when it first arrived!

Physically it reminds me of another title from Maclehose Press I reviewed back in September – Good Offices by Evelio Rosero – and although similarly small in stature, Julia certainly packs a literary punch with an evocative and beautiful narrative that effortlessly reaches the …

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Already Gone by John Rector – Book Review

Posted on December 7, 2011
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Jake Reese is an ordinary guy with an ordinary job, trying to block out the memory of his violent past by planning for the future with his new wife, Diane. But the past has a habit of refusing to stay buried…When two men attack Jake in a car park and cut off his ring finger, he tries to dismiss it as an unlucky case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But when events take a more sinister turn and Diane goes missing, Jake knows he can no longer hide from the truth. As he embarks on a mission to find Diane, Jake finds himself dragged back into the life he thought he had walked away from forever and the days ahead begin to unfold in terrifying ways…

A little over a year ago I read and reviewed Cold Kiss by John Rector, a dark tale of two strangers who make one mistake after another – a book I incidentally loved – when they stumble across a stranger in a bar. A classic Noir title, Cold Kiss is as strong a debut as you could hope for so it was with eager anticipation I began reading his latest title Already Gone a few days ago and although not in the same vein as Cold Kiss it was one of the quickest reads I’ve had in 2011. If ever there was a book I would class as “I couldn’t put that down” this year, Already Gone is without doubt at the top of that category.

The book is a veritable page turner and, set at an enviable pace, it just begs to be read. The narrative is crisp, well written and delivered at such a breakneck speed that I finished the book in a little under …

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Lynn Shepherd talks Charles Dickens

Posted on December 7, 2011
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A little over twelve months ago I read Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynn Shepherd and was blown away by the narrative, storytelling and characterisation, so much so the book was one of my top reads for 2010 and to this day holds a special place on my shelf for a number of reasons. Murder at Mansfield Park, published by Corsair, is now available as an E-Book download.

I hadn’t expected to enjoy it, it’s not the sort of book I would normally read but such was its endearing prose I found myself spellbound and if anyone has any doubt about whether the book is for you why not take time and read my review of Lynn’s book or just listen and watch Lynn enthusing about the title in her video.

“When one of the principle cast members is brutally killed, the book moves up a gear and becomes an enchanting murder mystery. Can one class a murder as enchanting?! The grim discovery of the body in a muddy ditch introduces us to an assured thief-taker, or private detective to you and me – Charles Maddox.”

In the second of Lynn’s videos the author talks about her new murder mystery Tom-All-Alone’s – a book inspired by Charles Dickens’ Bleak House – which is published early next year by Constable & Robinson in the UK to coincide with the celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth in February 1812 – the book also serves as Lynn’s personal tribute to the renowned author who died aged just 58 years old.

If you’d like to learn more then please do visit Lynn Shepherd at her website.…

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Anthony Hays and Potatoes

Posted on December 3, 2011
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I like crime fiction and suspense thrillers.  I like them to be accurate, as much as possible.  As an author myself, I set high standards for my own work.  Of course, occasionally I screw up.  It is inevitable.  In a recent entry in my Arthurian series, I made the error of mentioning, in a list of foods served at a banquet, potatoes. Yes, I knew that potatoes were not around in 5th century Britain.  I made a mistake, one that nobody else caught either until one vigilant reader saw it. The reader claimed that she had almost tossed the book aside on reading that.  I thought that was a bit extreme. Little things like that happen. But what shouldn’t happen is when authors make errors simply because they assume they know what they’re talking about. That’s bad. And it gives all of us a bad name.

Many years ago, I was talking to a bestselling author of contemporary thrillers.  His books were set in exotic locales around the globe.  I mentioned that it must be great to travel to all of those places to do research. “Oh,” he said, offhandedly, “I never go to those countries until after the book is written. I use travel brochures.” His answer bothered me then, and it bothers me now.  Recently, while reading a thriller, on the bestseller lists, I was reminded of how dangerous that was. The Killing Way Review.

This particular author had set a short scene in Kuwait.  In the great scheme of things, it was actually a scene that could have been cut without harming the broader plot. Would that it had. The author’s protagonist, sitting at a restaurant in Kuwait, orders a vodka martini. Upon reading that scene, I completely understood my reader’s reaction to potatoes in …

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