Month: August 2022

Book Review: Triptych by Karin Slaughter

Posted August 29, 2022 by louisesr in Review / 2 Comments

Triptych by Karin Slaughter
Series: Will Trent #1
Published by Random House on August 15th 2006
Genres: Thriller
Pages: 514
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
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When Atlanta police detective Michael Ormewood is called out to a murder scene at the notorious Grady Homes, he finds himself faced with one of the most brutal killings of his career: Aleesha Monroe is found in the stairwell in a pool of her own blood, her body horribly mutilated.

As a one-off killing it's shocking, but when it becomes clear that it's just the latest in a series of similar attacks, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is called in, and Michael is forced into working with Special Agent Will Trent of the Criminal Apprehension Team - a man he instinctively dislikes.

Twenty-four hours later, the violence Michael sees around him every day explodes in his own back yard. And it seems the mystery behind Monroe's death is inextricably entangled with a past that refuses to stay buried ...

This is the first book in the Will Trent series, I’ve just finished Slaughter’s Grant County series (I recommend you read those books first as this follows on from them) so I was excited to meet a new cast of characters. I went in to this with a vague idea of what I expected, obviously I knew we had a male lead, the entire series is named after him so I went in expecting a bit of a Jack Reacher type character – the all action hero. That is most definitely not what I got!

Will Trent is damaged, not through being ex military or anything like that but from his childhood neglect and being severely dyslexic. I found it really interesting to see the number of little things he does to help him through the day and to be able to do his job. What I also liked was that he’s not like Robert Hunter in the Chris Carter books where he’s just got a brilliant mind. Trent is someone who knows he has limitations and works bloody hard to ensure that they’re not actually limiting. He gets his answers through sheer determination.

While reading this there were a number of assumptions that I made, now granted, Slaughter deliberately led me towards these assumptions and then BAM she ripped them to shreds and I had a Holy Moly moment when I realised what had actually happened – and my stomach churned. I started this book almost feeling sorry for certain characters, believing that they had been badly treated and misunderstood. Then as the book progressed and you learnt more about them, those feelings disappeared. They weren’t misunderstood, they were trying to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes and they deserved all they got.

I’m intrigued to see where this series goes. Here we were introduced to Will and also to Angie, who works in Vice and grew up with Will. They’ve been supportive to each other throughout their lives and have previously had a relationship. I get a feeling we’ll have a will-they-won’t-they, they-do-then-regret-it type of relationship throughout the series.

Although dark and twisted, I didn’t think this was as dark as some other of Slaughter’s books and most definitely wasn’t on the scale of the Chris Carter that I reviewed last week! However, it’s not for the faint of heart.

About Karin Slaughter

Karin Slaughter is one of the world’s most popular and acclaimed storytellers. Published in 120 countries with more than 40 million copies sold across the globe, her 22 novels include the Grant County and Will Trent books, as well as the Edgar-nominated COP TOWN and the instant NYT bestselling stand-alone novels PRETTY GIRLS, THE GOOD DAUGHTER, PIECES OF HER, and FALSE WITNESS. Slaughter is the founder of the Save the Libraries project—a nonprofit organization established to support libraries and library programming. A native of Georgia, she lives in Atlanta. Her stand-alone novel PIECES OF HER is now streaming on Netflix, starring Toni Collette, and the Will Trent series are in development for television.

Book Review: The Night Stalker by Chris Carter

Posted August 26, 2022 by louisesr in Review / 3 Comments

This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.

Book Review: The Night Stalker by Chris Carter

The Night Stalker by Chris Carter
Series: Robert Hunter #3
Published by Simon and Schuster on August 18, 2011
Narrator: Thomas Judd
Length: 10 hours and 37 minutes
Genres: Thriller
Pages: 464
Format: Audiobook
Source: Audible
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This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

When an unidentified female body is discovered laid out on a slab in an abandoned butcher's shop, the cause of death is unclear. Her body bares no marks; except for the fact that her lips have been carefully stitched shut.

It is only when the full autopsy gets underway at the Los Angeles County morgue that the pathologist will reveal the true horror of the situation - a discovery so devastating that Detective Robert Hunter of the Los Angeles Homicide Special Section has to be pulled off a different case to take over the investigation

But when his inquiry collides with a missing persons' case being investigated by the razor-sharp Whitney Meyers, Hunter suspects the killer might be keeping several women hostage. Soon Robert finds himself on the hunt for a murderer with a warped obsession, a stalker for whom love has become hate.

Ah Chris Carter, the only author where I feel the need to put a content warning on when I do a review. This book is seriously violent, right from the beginning. If you are the least bit queasy and offended by violence then you do not want to read this. Now I’ve got this over with, lets review – this book is really good! I did a buddy read with a couple of people from my book group and for much of the book our comments consisted of WTF and 🤢🤮 emoji’s.

Detective Robert Hunter & his partner Detective Carlos Garcia are called in to investigate the murder of a woman who has been found in a butchers shop. Her mouth has been stitched shut, as has her genitals. Surprisingly, this isn’t actually the worst of it. The repercussions from the mutilated body lead to further deaths.

Soon, the body count escalates. More women are taken and found mutilated, all of them bear a striking resemblance to each other. Why these particular women and why the extreme violence?

I love the two main characters. They have a great relationship although they are both completely different, Hunter tackling the case from a psychological POV and Garcia putting in the grunt work of searching through databases. Hunter’s brain is very organised and clever, he knows so many things from reading books. He has a past that he keeps to himself but which has implications on his current abilities. He has a keen eye for detail and can reach conclusions long before anyone else. At the same time there is no arrogance to him. Garcia is much more human, he is affected by the murders much more than Hunter, having to walk away from some of the murder scenes in order to empty the contents of his stomach.

This book seriously gave me the chills. There were times when it really scared me, in a similar way to the tv series The Fall. We have a murderer who can break into people’s houses and be feet from them, while they have absolutely zero clue he is there. Even writing about it now sends a shiver down my spine.

About Chris Carter

Biographies can be an absolute drag, so I won’t bore anyone with a long life story.

I was born in Brasilia, Brazil where I spent my childhood and teenage years. After graduating from high school, I moved to the USA where I studied psychology with specialization in criminal behaviour. During my University years I held a variety of odd jobs, ranging from flipping burgers to being part of an all male exotic dancing group.

I worked as a criminal psychologist for several years before moving to Los Angeles, where I swapped the suits and briefcases for ripped jeans, bandanas and an electric guitar. After a spell playing for several well known glam rock bands, I decided to try my luck in London, where I was fortunate enough to have played for a number of famous artists. I toured the world several times as a professional musician.

A few years ago I gave it all up to become a full time writer.

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Book Review: Madame Burova by Ruth Hogan

Posted August 24, 2022 by louisesr in Review / 1 Comment

Madame Burova by Ruth Hogan
Published by Hachette UK on April 1, 2021
Length: 7 hr 55 min
Genres: Women's
Pages: 352
Format: Audiobook
Source: Audible
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Tarot Reader, Palmist and Clairvoyant is retiring and leaving her booth on the Brighton seafront after fifty years.

Imelda Burova has spent a lifetime keeping other people's secrets and her silence has come at a price. She has seen the lovers and the liars, the angels and the devils, the dreamers and the fools. Her cards had unmasked them all and her cards never lied. But Madame Burova is weary of other people's lives, their ghosts from the past and other people's secrets, she needs rest and a little piece of life for herself. Before that, however, she has to fulfill a promise made a long time ago. She holds two brown envelopes in her hand, and she has to deliver them.

In London, it is time for another woman to make a fresh start. Billie has lost her university job, her marriage, and her place in the world when she discovers something that leaves her very identity in question. Determined to find answers, she must follow a trail which might just lead right to Madame Burova's door.

I’m finding this a really difficult book to review. It’s not a book that I knew anything about or had even heard of, prior to it being chosen as the August read for the book club that I’m in so I went into it with absolutely no expectations.

Although I enjoyed this book, there wasn’t actually a lot that happened. If I had to sum it up it would be that Madame Burova tells Billie that she is adopted but she refuses to tell her who her parents are. Billie then works to figure this out for herself, knowing that her father is one of the Larkin’s holiday camp staff in a photo where Madame Burova used to work. The story takes place “then” the summer that someone became pregnant with Billie, it lets us get to know the characters so that we can begin to guess at who the parents might be. And “now” where Billie is getting to know Madame Burova and an assortment of characters who she is friendly with, while trying to investigate who her parents might be.

There is a large cast of characters, only a few of which are given centre stage and who’s storyline we follow. There is a secondary storyline of Treasure, a mixed race child who is bullied at school during the 1970’s, although beautifully written and an interesting storyline, it doesn’t really go anywhere and I’m not entirely sure why it was there.

Due to such a huge number of characters I struggled to remember who all of them were, except for those that were talked to by Clive. Clive believes he is working undercover for MI5, communicating with them through elastic bands. He is tolerated by everyone who accept him for who he is, he’s on the periphery throughout the novel. I actually loved how he remembered people – he is MI5 Clive, Billie is Billie in the bowler hat. Others are identified by the exact wording that was used when they were introduced to him.

The beauty of this book is in the writing, there’s not a huge amount of character development, there’s a large cast of characters who you don’t really get to know in any great detail and there’s not a great storyline. And I know that all sounds really negative, but I still enjoyed it. It could have been boring and a dnf, but it wasn’t, it was a “nice” book to read.

Book Tour: The Party House by Lin Anderson

Posted August 17, 2022 by louisesr in Review, Tour / 0 Comments

The Party House by Lin Anderson
Published by macmillan on 04/08/22
Genres: Thriller
Pages: 368
Format: ARC
Source: Random Things Tours
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The Party House by Lin Anderson is a deeply atmospheric psychological thriller set in the Scottish Highlands, for fans of Lucy Foley, Ruth Ware and Sarah Pearse’s The Sanatorium.

Devastated by a recent pandemic brought in by outsiders, the villagers of Blackrig in the Scottish Highlands are outraged when they find that the nearby estate plans to reopen its luxury ‘party house’ to tourists.

As animosity sparks amongst the locals, part of the property is damaged and, in the ensuing chaos, the body of a young girl is found in the wreck. Seventeen-year-old Ailsa Cummings went missing five years ago, never to be seen again – until now.

The excavation of Ailsa’s remains ignites old suspicions cast on the men of this small community, including Greg, the estate’s gamekeeper. At the beginning of a burgeoning relationship with a new lover, Joanne, Greg is loath to discuss old wounds. Frightened by Greg’s reaction to the missing girl’s discovery, Joanne begins to doubt how well she knows this new man in her life. Then again, he’s not the only one with secrets in their volatile relationship . . .

I received this book for free from Random Things Tours in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The description says it’s for fans of Ruth Ware, Lucy Foley and Sarah Pearse – those are some pretty big names to live up to but I think you can quite comfortably add Lin Anderson to the list.

The party house is about to open its doors again. It broke the rules during lock down and hosted a party (no, it’s not 10 Downing Street), a party that brought a new variant to the isolated community where it is situated. A party that led to the deaths of six locals, mainly children. You can see why the locals are not to keen on any more parties being held there. The day before the party is due to happen a number of locals break in and destroy a hot tub, unearthing a body.

This book has the best setting. I love books set in Scotland, not just those set int he grizzly cities like Glasgow but those in the haunting Highlands. It really does become so atmospheric, almost like a character in itself, I could really imagine being there.

There is a very “them and us” between the owners of the party house and the locals, there’s a lot of mistrust there (understandably) and I thought this was written really well. The arrogance of the owners really came across and got my back up.

This took a little while for me to get into, but the payback on sticking with it was more than worth it.

There is so many twists and turns and so much tension, that once I got into this I really didn’t want to put it down.

Now, my biggest warning is – this features COVID – if you have an issue with books that have covid in them, don’t read it. You’ll be missing a treat but I really hate it when people mark a book down because they’re not ready to deal with stories featuring the pandemic.

About Lin Anderson

Lin Anderson was born in Greenock of Scottish and Irish parents. A graduate of both Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities, she has lived in many different parts of Scotland and also spent five years working in the African bush. A teacher of Mathematics and Computing, she began her writing career four years ago. Her first film, Small Love, which was broadcast on STV, was nominated for TAPS writer of the year award 2001. Her African short stories have been published in the 10th Anniversary Macallan collection and broadcast on BBC Radio Four.

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Book Tour: All The Wicked Games by Lauren North

Posted August 17, 2022 by louisesr in Review, Tour / 0 Comments

All The Wicked Games by Lauren North
Published by Penguin on 01/09/22
Genres: Thriller
Pages: 368
Format: ARC
Source: Random Things Tours
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Goodreads

Are you ready to play?

Best friends Cleo and Rachel spend their evenings pretending to be people they're not, inventing elaborate stories to escape the monotony of their real lives. It's all harmless fun - until they play the game on the wrong person...

It's your move now.

Five years later, Cleo is still struggling to come to terms with the night that destroyed her friendship with Rachel and almost cost them their lives. And then she receives a text: Rachel is missing. Have you seen her?

There's only one person to blame.

Wracked with guilt for failing Rachel the last time they were in danger, Cleo races to find her friend. But could the past be repeating itself? Only this time, they're caught up in a far darker game.

The rules don't matter when the goal is revenge.

I received this book for free from Random Things Tours in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Ah, you know me, I love a good dual timeline thriller!

The book starts with Cleo who is on leave from her job on a cruise ship, receiving news that her friend Rachel has disappeared. Rachel was her best friend, but they’ve not been in touch for years. We then cut back to 5 years ago when Cleo and Rachel shared a flat and played an online “game” together – chatting to others and making up elaborate stories. They thought it was harmless fun. Until it wasn’t. Cleo learns that the games have started up again, and heads to London to investigate.

This has such a sinister feel to it and you know that something bad is going to happen, North spends some time building up to let us know what it was, moving backwards and forwards between then and now. We see the friendship between the two but we also see it all fall apart.

This is one of those books where at one point or another I suspected EVERYONE, I had no clue who to trust or who it might be. And some of the characters… there’s a phrase in Northern Ireland which perfectly describes them (and it’s one of my most favourite phrases ever).. they’re a wee bit west of the Woowah! Not entirely sure how I’m supposed to spell that and unsurprisingly spell checker was absolutely zero help. I quite liked Cleo in the now, but the person she was before, yeah, I’m not a fan, however Rachel, I don’t even know where to begin.

Lastly, the end. Wow. Sometimes I felt it was a wee bit slow getting there but it was worth it. I had the dawning as to what was going on right before it was spelt out for me. And WOW. So good.

About Lauren North

LAUREN NORTH writes psychological suspense novels that delve into the darker side of relationships and families. She has a lifelong passion for writing, reading, and all things books. Lauren’s love of psychological suspense has grown since childhood and from her dark imagination of always wondering what’s the worst thing that could happen in every situation.
Lauren studied psychology before moving to London where she lived and worked for many years. She now lives with her family in the Suffolk countryside.

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Book Tour: Quarter to Midnight

Posted August 11, 2022 by louisesr in Review, Tour / 5 Comments

Quarter to Midnight by Karen Rose
Series: New Orleans #1
Published by Hachette UK on August 4, 2022
Narrator: Lee Osorio
Length: 21 hours
Genres: suspense, Romance
Pages: 560
Format: Audiobook
Source: Purchased
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Goodreads

Rocky Hebert walks into his death at quarter to midnight one New Orleans night.

His son Gabe cannot accept the official verdict of suicide and enlists the help of the Burke Broussard Private Investigation Agency to discover the real cause of death.

PI Molly Sutton knows what it's like to lose a father in tragic circumstances and will go to any lengths to crack the investigation, as she tries to fight off her growing feelings for Gabe.

They soon realise Rocky was working on an investigation of his own; one that threatened to expose the deep corruption going all the way to the top of the police department. And that the key to the puzzle lies with a young witness to a murder that happened years earlier: Xavier Morrow.

Just what did Rocky know? And who might have shut him up?

As they get closer and closer to the truth, they realise that the killer is not going to stop at Rocky. And that Xavier is in very real danger. Someone will go to any lengths to protect what he witnessed that night coming out...

'High-wire suspense that keeps you riveted' Lisa Gardner

'Intense, complex and unforgettable' James Patterson

'Fast and furious' Sun

I am so happy to share that I am on the book tour for the new book from Karen Rose – Quarter to Midnight. This is the first book in a new series form her set it New Orleans. Thank you so much to Random Things Tours and the publisher for inviting me on to this tour.

*although I was gifted an advance copy of this book the version I had was unreadable. HOWEVER, I love Karen Rose books and would have bought this any way so although this is a tour, the book was purchased by myself.

I only discovered Karen Rose earlier this year and I am slowly working my way through her backlist. I was going to pass on this as it would have meant reading out of order (I know I do that a lot but I’m trying to stop) but then I discovered that this was the first in a new series so it would be rude not to right?

This is a huge book coming in somewhere around 600 pages, I got the audio and it was over 21 hours!!! Luckily for me, I don’t listen to it on 1x speed (seriously, does anyone really speak that slowly?) I found that 1.75x was the perfect speed for me with this and I read it over 3 days.

This was a bit of a weird book for me as it was all about the investigation, we know who was killed and we know who by. As the story unfolds we find out the why. The beauty of the story is in the process of what Gabe and Molly go through to avoid being killed themselves and to identify and catch the killer. I got so invested in this story and where it was going to go. There was non stop action and a bit of romance thrown in. It really didn’t feel like it was overly long, something which had worried me a little when I first looked at it.

I particularly like Xavier and his motley crew of family and friends. I thought they made a great addition to the storyline. They were so down to earth and likeable.

This is classified as romantic suspense, rather than the thriller that I know from her earlier books. While I enjoyed it, I definitely prefer a book with more thriller/suspense and less romance. But that is a personal preference of mine and as romantic suspense goes this was really good

Book Tour: From The Ashes

Posted August 2, 2022 by louisesr in Review / 1 Comment

From the Ashes by Deborah Masson
Series: Eve Hunter #3
Published by Random House on July 21, 2022
Genres: Thriller
Pages: 368
Format: ARC
Source: Random Things Tours
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Goodreads

As the house burns, the hunt for a killer begins...

In the dead of night someone starts a fire in a home for underprivileged children in Aberdeen. The flames spread quickly, and one person doesn't make it out alive.

But the victim wasn't found in their bedroom; they were discovered locked inside a secret basement underground. As DI Eve Hunter and her team search the blackened ruins, the case takes them into even darker territory.

Soon Eve unearths a horrific discovery at the heart of the property - one that turns the whole investigation on its head. Everyone in this home has something to hide, but who has a secret worth killing for?

I received this book for free from Random Things Tours in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Today it’s my stop on the Random Things Tour for From The Ashes by Deborah Masson.

I was discussing with some of the ladies in my book group last week and we were all in agreement that we’ve been introduced to some fantastic new (to us) authors through doing book tours and this is one of them! In fact, after reading this I’ve nominated the first book in the series as the September read for our book club so that we can introduce Deborah Masson to a whole new group of people.

As you can probably guess from the fact I want us to read the rest of the series, I really enjoyed this book.

I seem to have a lot of “tartan noir” on my reading list at the minute and Aberdeen is a brilliant, dark and gritty backdrop to this novel. I don’t know what it is about Scotland, it’s such a picturesque nation but at the same time the cities are always portrayed as grey and brooding. Maybe this is just a reflection of the books that I read.

This story is told from multiple perspectives; Eve who investigating the fire and the body that has been found, DC Scott Ferguson who is hiding a secret and neglecting the investigation while he concentrates on a child who has been run over; and that of the perpetrator

I spent much of the novel not understanding how all of the strands would pull together and be related to each other but they do, they all come together brilliantly, through a series of twists and turns that I didn’t see coming.

About Deborah Masson

Deborah Masson was born and bred in Aberdeen, Scotland. Always restless and fighting against being a responsible adult, she worked in several jobs including secretarial, marketing, reporting for the city’s freebie newspaper and a stint as a postie – to name but a few.
Through it all, she always read crime fiction and, when motherhood finally settled her into being an adult (maybe even a responsible one) she turned her hand to writing what she loved. Deborah started with short stories and flash fiction whilst her daughter napped and, when she later welcomed her son into the world, she decided to challenge her writing further through online courses with Professional Writing Academy and Faber Academy, where she wrote her
award-winning debut novel Hold Your Tongue, the first in the DI Eve Hunter series. Since then she has published two more books in the series, Out For Blood and From the Ashes.