I love unreliable narrators. So when I saw this story in which the main character openly announces, ‘Sometimes I lie’, well, I was hooked even before I read the rest of the blurb. This is journalist Alice Feeney’s debut novel and, yes, for fans of psychological thrillers, it is absolutely as good as it promises. What’s it about? […]
I love reading about forensics. Catching a criminal because of tell-tale threads of fibres or revealing smears of vital DNA is at the heart of shows like CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) and many a crime novel. There’s something so compellingly CERTAIN about forensic evidence…even when competing criminalists are arguing that a piece of evidence supports […]
Sometimes a book surprises you. Last year that book was David Young’s debut novel, ‘Stasi Child’ – winner of the CWA Historical Dagger award. Despite my vague belief that I don’t really enjoy reading historical fiction, despite my occasional professed boredom with another story focusing on life in post-WW2 Germany, I LOVED ‘Stasi Child’. It’s […]
Talented author and all-round-lovely-bloke G. J. Minett has his second novel, ‘Lie in Wait’ released in paperback today. To celebrate, I am reposting my original review . Enjoy! Then go book shopping. Go on. It’s a Wednesday. Three whole days to go ’til the weekend. Treat yourself – and your shelf. Last year I read and LOVED G. […]
In 1989, someone murdered 20 year-old Lucie Martin and put her body in a lake. Fourteen years later, her bones were discovered during a heatwave, but her murderer remained unknown and a source of intense speculation in Western France. Cue forensic expert Enzo MacLeod, who wants to conclusively solve the cold case so Lucie’s parents can […]
When is a mystery not a mystery? Is it when you can work out the killer in the first third of the book and (rarely) doubt that you’re wrong? Or is it when you’re always several steps ahead of the main investigative character, rendering much of their hypothesising redundant? Maybe it’s when you aren’t convinced […]
What does it take to make a man kill? Prosecutor Teodor Szacki is forced to discover some difficult truths in this stunning conclusion to Zygmunt Miloszewski’s loosely connected trilogy. This works perfectly as a standalone novel, exploring the work of prosecutors in Poland, contemporary social attitudes towards domestic abuse and the true driving forces behind […]
‘You must be the only person who hasn’t read this book.’ So commented the bemused bookseller who recently rang up my purchase of ‘The Girl on the Train’, about a year and a half after the entire rest of the world read it. ‘Or maybe you already have…?’ he began, obviously beginning to doubt my […]
When is a patient not a patient? When they have no desire to get better, and every intention of causing you harm… Jenny Blackhurst’s debut novel, ‘How I Lost You’, caught my eye a few months ago at Crimefest16. It looked fascinating but somehow slipped out of my immediate TBR pile and disappeared. Having found […]
“I did something terrible, Grace. I hope you can forgive me.”‘ Charlie’s last words to best friend Grace have haunted her since Charlie died four months ago. What can Charlie possibly have done? It can’t be worse than what Grace did…can it? What’s it about? After her best friend dies, Grace feels set adrift. In […]