The best fiction is almost fact. The persecution in James’ novel is sadly familiar: a girl and a woman who others see as different from them becomes feared, reviled and hunted. Increasingly subjected to hate crimes and condemned without evidence, a mother and daughter struggle to clear their reputations in a town which is no […]
Would you play a game to save your life? I’m a big fan of psychological thrillers and the premise for ‘Play for me’ was definitely intriguing: ‘LJ must give the performance of a lifetime, if she wants to avoid a deadly final curtain call…’ What’s it about? LJ’s life is going downhill – fast. She […]
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 […]
When a blurb promises a huge twist, I’m wary. If I’m on the lookout for a twist, I might be disappointed when I find it. I might guess it before it arrives. I might not trust anything I read because, well, why should I? I’ve been told my assumptions will be wrong. But. When there […]
I LOVED THIS BOOK. ‘The October List’ is a crime novel with a fabulous twist: the story unfolds in reverse. Think ‘Memento’ but with fewer tattoos and less treachery. Nah, I’m kidding. There’s plenty of treachery. The idea Gabriela’s daughter has been kidnapped. She is waiting desperately for news. The door opens, but it isn’t […]
When you realise your police investigation is going to expose your own double life… #Awkward What’s it about? DI Helen Grace is summoned to ‘The Torture Rooms’, a Southampton night club that caters for a particular clientele, to discover a murdered man bound from head to toe. As she unwraps him, she discovers she knows […]