I’m going to start with an unusual disclaimer here… If you already know you want to read this book, don’t read my review – don’t read any reviews – and definitely don’t read the praise inside the front cover! What’s it about? Sal and Charlie are married. They love each other – supposedly – but […]
‘Two years of internet dating. It’s fair to say they haven’t flown by.’ Meet DS Manon Bradshaw: single, lonely, funny and clever. Steiner introduces us to Manon while she’s on her first, and last, date with Brian – or was it Keith? Either way, the sex was as dull as the conversation, leaving our lonely […]
Trust. Doubt. Ultimately even a court’s conviction is based on a handful of opinions. What damage might it do to a family if those opinions were wrong? If that conviction were unmerited? Would you know? Would you doubt? And would you risk everything to find out? Gillian McAllister’s fourth psychological thriller explores this question through […]
I have been lucky enough to meet Louise Beech in person, and she is lovely. Really lovely. But my word, her characters can be thoroughly horrible to each other! Expect child neglect and abandonment, dark, (consenting adult!) sex games and the brutal murder of a pregnant woman – and those are just the secrets and […]
One hotel. Twenty survivors. Who will be…the last? It’s not surprising that Hanna Jameson’s post-apocalyptic novel is so popular: America’s incumbent President is one who surely has us all wondering when, rather than whether, nuclear war will erupt. But what will happen when it does? Hanna Jameson has some ideas, and they aren’t pretty… What’s […]
He plays the oldest children’s game in the world: hide and seek. Only the Eye Collector plays it to death… I love stories which play with narrative, so when I realised that the story of the Eye Collector began with an epilogue and concluded with a prologue, I knew I was going to enjoy it. […]
‘I know who you are’ by Alice Feeney. Having read and LOVED Alice Feeney’s debut novel, ‘Sometimes I Lie’, I was delighted to spot her second book, ‘I know who you are’, at Crimefest this year. Would it live up to the twisty masterpiece of her first book? The short answer is, not quite, but […]
‘The Devil’s Dice’ by Roz Watkins You know it’s a good book when you giggle out loud three times during the first chapter. You know it’s a fabulous book when it just gets more and more interesting as you get to the heart of the plot. What’s it about? A lawyer is found dead in […]
Are you the person you want to be? While Steve Mosby’s ‘The Nightmare Place’ is primarily a crime thriller focused on the hunt to catch a violent serial offender, it has quite a strong tilt towards self judgement and self assessment, which I found interesting. DI Zoe Dolan could have turned into a criminal herself, […]
Forensics and psychological profiling are probably my favourite crime fiction elements. Kate Rhodes uses both effectively to create a fast paced and rather gruesome tale in ‘Blood Symmetry’, her fifth novel in her popular Alice Quentin series. What’s it about? Clare Riordan is out running with her son, Mikey, one morning when they are both […]