Book Review: TRACED by Catherine Jinks

 

 

Title: TRACED

Author:  Catherine Jinks

Read: January 2025

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 all the stars!

 

Book Description (Goodreads):

 

Jane is a contact tracer. She has to call a lot of people and some of them don’t want to talk. Various reasons—tax or immigration issues, infidelity. Domestic abuse.

Jane knows all about that. She and her daughter Tara have spent years in hiding from Tara’s manipulative and terrifying ex. Now, as Jane talks to a close contact, she realises the woman on the phone is scared of the same man—and he’s close. Too close.

Suddenly the past comes slamming back into the present as Jane realises she and Tara can’t keep running forever.

One day, they’re going to be found.

My musings:

 

This book was utterly terrifying! TRACED starts with our main protagonist, Jane, a covid-19 contact tracer, calling people who have unwittingly been exposed to the virus and reminding them to isolate for 14 days until they have been declared virus-free. Nicole, her latest client, sounds absolutely terrified when she hears that her cousin has just tested covid-positive. She confides in Jane that she is scared that her fiancé, who controls her every move, will be furious that she allowed her cousin to visit, and that she is afraid for her life. At first, Jane thinks that Nicole is overreacting – but once she hears who her fiancé is, she knows that Nicole’s life truly is in danger.

 

We soon learn that Jane speaks from experience: her own daughter Tara only narrowly escaped from the clutches of her abusive, controlling ex, which involved changing her name and moving to a place he would never think to look for her. After being so very careful, Jane has once more crossed his path, and she is terrified that he will come after her and Tara.

 

TRACED was a taut domestic thriller with a constant undercurrent of danger that built tension as it raced towards its utterly terrifying finale. It was frightening and confronting to witness Jane and Tara’s well-grounded fears and their feeling of helplessness as once again the noose threatens to tighten around their necks, despite all their efforts to stay under the radar. I found Jane’s voice extremely compelling, to a point where I fervently wished death upon one particular character in the book. I was biting my nails as the inevitable showdown neared!

 

TRACED surpassed all my expectations and is my first 5-star read for the year. If you love an original, enigmatic protagonist, then Jane is the perfect character. A race against time in an atmospheric Australian setting, fighting a very real battle many women in our society face every day – which is perhaps one reason this book was so terrifying. Jinks is a talented writer, and I look forward to reading more of her books in future. Highly recommended!

Audiobook Review: ONE PERFECT COUPLE by Ruth Ware

Title: ONE PERFECT COUPLE

Author: Ruth Ware

Narrator:  Imogen Church

Read: July 2024

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2

 

Book Description:

 

Lyla is in a bit of a rut. Her post-doctoral research has fizzled out, she’s pretty sure they won’t extend her contract, and things with her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, aren’t going great. When the opportunity arises for Nico to join the cast of a new reality TV show, The Perfect Couple, she decides to try out with him. A whirlwind audition process later, Lyla find herself whisked off to a tropical paradise with Nico, boating through the Indian Ocean towards Ever After Island, where the two of them will compete against four other couples—Bayer and Angel, Dan and Santana, Joel and Romi, and Conor and Zana—in order to win a cash prize.

But not long after they arrive on the deserted island, things start to go wrong. After the first challenge leaves everyone rattled and angry, an overnight storm takes matters from bad to worse. Cut off from the mainland by miles of ocean, deprived of their phones, and unable to contact the crew that brought them there, the group must band together for survival. As tensions run high and fresh water runs low, Lyla finds that this game show is all too real—and the stakes are life or death.

A fast-paced, spellbinding thriller rife with intrigue and characters that feel so true to life, this novel proves yet again that Ruth Ware is the queen of psychological suspense.

 

My musings:

 

It’s no secret that Ruth Ware is one of my favourite mystery writers and that I love the slow-burning, simmering tension that drives her stories. Initially, I was worried that ONE PERFECT COUPLE seemed to be following a well-trodden path of other novels, but I should have had more faith in Ware’s skill of brewing a cup of her own special magic. As the story unfolded, it soon became clear that this was a very cleverly planned tale of murder and survival that would break the mould and offer the kind of surprising ending Ware is known for. However, the thing I appreciated most of all was how each character came into their own in the course of the story: if I had disliked just about every one of them when I started reading (hence my initial doubts), by the end of the story I felt quite proud of the survivors.

Described by various reviewers as a mixture between AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, SURVIVOR, and LORD OF THE FLIES, this closed-door mystery did pack a lot of plots into its pages. I’m not one to watch much reality TV, but ONE PERFECT COUPLE gave me more pleasure than any of those type of shows ever have. I must also say that it was the perfect story for an audio-book: read by the very skilled Imogen Church (who I think has narrated all of Ware’s previous books), the visual scenes had me totally hooked and really drove up the tension! My only little quibble was with the WHY reveal of the story, which seemed a little far fetched even for an intended-to-be unexpected plot twist – it just didn’t gel with what had otherwise been a very cleverly constructed story (taking this opportunity to mention the diary entries, which had me fooled the entire time).

 

 Summary:

 

All in all, ONE PERFECT COUPLE was tense, claustrophobic and atmospheric and made for captivating listening from beginning to end, even if it lacked the Gothic vibes I usually look for in Ware’s mysteries. I especially loved the character development and Ware’s keen observations of people acting and reacting under pressure. Despite my initial doubts I very much enjoyed ONE PERFECT COUPLE and highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a clever closed-door mystery.

Book Review: THE NIGHT SHIFT by Alex Finlay

 

Title: THE NIGHT SHIFT

Author:  Alex Finlay

Publisher:  Head of Zeus

Read: February 2022

Expected publication: out today!

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟1/2

 

Book Description:

 

 

It’s New Year’s Eve 1999. Y2K is expected to end in chaos: planes falling from the sky, elevators plunging to earth, world markets collapsing. A digital apocalypse. None of that happens. But at a Blockbuster Video in Linden, New Jersey, four teenage girls working the night shift are attacked. Only one survives. Police quickly identify a suspect who flees and is never seen again.

Fifteen years later, in the same town, four teenage employees working late at an ice cream store are attacked, and again only one makes it out alive.

Both surviving victims recall the killer speaking only a few final words... “Goodnight, pretty girl.”

In the aftermath, three lives intersect: the survivor of the Blockbuster massacre who’s forced to relive her tragedy; the brother of the original suspect, who’s convinced the police have it wrong; and the FBI agent, who’s determined to solve both cases. On a collision course toward the truth, all three lives will forever be changed, and not everyone will make it out alive.

What attracted me to this book:

 

I’ve always found it difficult to find pulse-pounding, adrenaline filled, fast paced thrillers that also touch your heart with empathetic characters and emotional depth, but this is exactly what I got with Alex Finlay’s last book EVERY LAST FEAR. I was therefore thrilled to get the opportunity to read his latest book, THE NIGHT SHIFT, especially since it sees the return of FBI agent Sarah Keller to solve another case.

My musings:

 

If you were around in 1999, you may remember the panic as the media storm erupted forecasting the end of the world as all our computer systems would surely crash, launching missiles, making the stock market collapse and generally causing death and destruction.  I was working in a video store in real life in 1999, so Finlay’s Blockbuster store setting brought back some memories! Luckily not as traumatic as for Ella, who is the only survivor of the four teenage girls who were attacked by an unknown assailant in the video store in 1999. Fifteen years later, the scenario repeats itself when three teenage girls are killed in an icecream parlour, again with one girl surviving the attack but unable to remember the event. Ella, whose earlier trauma has motivated her to become a therapist specialising in counselling victims of similar tragedies, is the only person the girl will talk to. It’s not long until Ella finds some similarities between her and the new victim’s account. Could the same killer be back?

 

Enter FBI agent Sarah Keller, who is now heavily pregnant with twins but still as determined as ever to fight crime and solve this new case. Told through several POVs and featuring a large cast of interesting characters, THE NIGHT SHIFT plays out in Finlay’s action-packed style as the hunt for the killer begins. And it’s not just the law enforcement agents who have the motive and the means to chase leads. I did guess the culprit very early on, but this didn’t mar my reading pleasure as this fast-paced tale rolled out.

 

I admit that I enjoyed the later part of the book more than its beginning, which seemed to introduce a lot of characters and took some time to get going. I also found the title and the synopsis a bit misleading, as the events set in 1999 feature only very briefly, as does any mention of the “night shift” – if you are looking for a nostalgic read set in the 90’s you may get disappointed. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the more action packed later part of the book, especially Chris’ POV, with some surprises and heartbreak along the way. Keller was almost a peripheral character in this one, as we have some much more interesting cast members with various agendas also giving chase, whose stories I found more compelling and intriguing than Keller’s.

  

Summary:

 

THE NIGHT SHIFT was the type of action packed book that makes for a great escape and some entertaining weekend or holiday reading. Finlay writes in a way that made the scenes roll out vividly and almost movie-like in my mind (I wouldn’t be surprised if someone snaps this one up for film). Fast paced and entertaining!

 

 

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Head of Zeus for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: I AM THE SEA by Matt Stanley

 

Title: I AM THE SEA

Author:  Matt Stanley

Publisher:  Legend Press

Read: December 2021

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 all the stars!

 

Book Description:

 

1870. Apprentice lighthouseman James Meakes joins two others at the remote offshore rock of Ripshaw Reef - replacement for a keeper whose death there remains unexplained.Meakes' suspicions grow as he accustoms himself to his new vertical world. He finds clues, obscure messages and signs that a fourth occupant may be sharing the space, slipping unseen between staircases.

With winter approaching, the keepers become isolated utterly from shore. Sea and wind rage against the tower. Danger is part of the life. Death is not uncommon. And yet as the storm builds, the elements pale against a threat more wild and terrifying than any of them could have imagined. 

My musings:

 

Phew, what a crazy ride this book was! If you have had any ill-conceived romantic notions about the life of a lighthouse keeper, then this book will soon set you straight. It started innocently enough: young James Meakes arrives at the remote Ripsaw Reef Lighthouse to commence his six months term as trainee lighthouse keeper under the supervision of Principle Bartholomew and Assistant Keeper Adamson. On the same day, the body of another lighthouse keeper, Spencer, is taken away from the island for autopsy, as he has passed away in suspicious circumstances, a fact that will come to haunt James during his traineeship. Straight away, we learn of James’ fascination with the lighthouse and life within it, which he shares freely with the reader. I can never resist books about lighthouses, so was most intrigued to hear details of its construction and workings, as well as the regimented lives and power structure of the men living in its confines.

 

It soon becomes obvious that all is not well in the lighthouse. Assistant keeper Adamson never exchanges a civil word with the head keeper, and also gives James a hard time, playing multiple pranks on him as he is starting out in his apprenticeship. James becomes convinced that Adamson has a dark past and that he may pose a danger to him, especially once he discovers eerie writings on walls and in hidden cupboards, as well as a message in a bottle warning him of danger. Did the unlucky assistant keeper Spencer write these as a warning prior to his death? And whilst James is able to district himself with the strict routine of his work, things start going wrong when an inspector arrives from the mainland and upsets the delicate balance ...

 

Stanley sure knows how to set a scene. Whilst the lighthouse initially presented a fascinating and interesting backdrop of fine engineering and workmanship, it soon took on a sinister countenance as the weather closed in and young James began to suspect that all was not well in its confines. The claustrophobia slowly increased until it had dispelled the last vestiges of any romantic or cosy notions I may ever have entertained about life in a lighthouse. But like the birds attracted to its beacon and crashing against its solid walls to their certain death, I was equally compelled to read on, even as the atmosphere became decidedly sinister and eerie. Stanley’s writing, which initially progressed in an orderly, almost scientific fashion reflecting young James’ fascination with his new home and detailed descriptions of the lighthouse, became more frantic and disjointed as James becomes fearful for his own life.

 

I am impressed by the way the author pledges the lighthouse itself as a character in the story, from solid foundation to dangerous foe, as if it had turned against the men manning it. Such a deliciously claustrophobic atmosphere is something I always seek out but not often find in novels, and it was masterfully crafted here. From early on, in the back of my mind, a suspicion was growing, ultimately consuming me throughout the reading experience. And despite several misdirections and my hope to be proven wrong, I found that in the end my worst fears were confirmed in an action packed finale so dramatic and horrific that it will probably stay in my mind forever, whenever I lay eyes on a lighthouse. Some imagery would befit a Hitchcock movie, such as the scores of birds committing suicide by throwing themselves against the lighthouse windows attracted by the light. Others are a stark contrast in their beauty, such as the aurora borealis as glimpsed from the top of the tower. And some are made from your worst nightmares, not to be described here because I am not about to spoil the experience for you by giving too much away.

 

Summary:

 

All in all, I AM THE SEA is one of those dark, claustrophobic and highly atmospheric books that comes around only rarely. Written in the first person, it will make you question everything, from the reliability of the narrator to the unravelling of the mind as the isolation takes its toll. And whilst the fascinating facts about the engineering of the lighthouse and the regimen controlling the lives of its keepers was most interesting, the lighthouse and the surrounding hostile sea soon became an evil force that made me shiver. Or was the evil within its walls? Culminating in an action packed, violent and vicious finale, this is a book that should be on your must-read list if you love an eerie, claustrophobic setting and characters who all have something to hide. Cleverly crafted, this book really got under my skin and its images will haunt me for some time to come. Highly recommended.

 

 

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Legend Press for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: STRANDED by Sarah Goodwin

 

Title: STRANDED

Author:  Sarah Goodwin

Publisher:  Avon Books UK

Read: August 2021

Expected publication: 14 September 2021

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2

 

Book Description:

 

Eight strangers.
One island.
A secret you'd kill to keep.

When eight people arrive on the beautiful but remote Buidseach Island, they are ready for the challenge of a lifetime: to live alone for one year.

Eighteen months later, a woman is found in an isolated fishing village. She’s desperate to explain what happened to her: how the group fractured and friends became enemies; how they did what they must to survive until the boat came to collect them; how things turned deadly when the boat didn’t come…

But first Maddy must come to terms with the devastating secret that left them stranded, and her own role in the events that saw eight arrive and only three leave.

My musings:

 

For a long time, I was fascinated with the premise of reality TV shows like Survivor, until I found that they were more about bitching, backstabbing and forming alliances than actual survival skills and team work. Apparently this is what viewers like to see – go figure! If you are like me, and those things bring back all the bad memories about high school and some workplaces, then you may find this book super stressful to read. If you were one of the popular group who ruled the courtyard and inspired fear in the lesser mortals, you may also find it stressful – eventually.

 

I love how Sarah Goodwin has run with the theme and explored it all in depth. And be assured, bitching, backstabbing and forming alliances aside, there is plenty of survival to be had in STRANDED. It’s all that reality TV promised but never delivered (perhaps because no ethics committee would ever approve it), and despite biting my nails to the quick I appreciated the mounting tension and breath-holding levels of anxiety some of the scenes induced.

 

In a nutshell, STRANDED explores what happens when you put eight strangers together on a secluded island and let them sort out their own pecking order. If it’s one thing that the TV version of Survivor has shown us, it may not necessarily be the cleverest who win points, but the ones who can get the majority votes, even if they rule with bullying and threats. Maddy, with her history of a sheltered childhood, overprotective parents and home schooling, was never going to be well equipped for this type of power game, so as soon as she calls out the head bully, her fate is sealed. And if you think that someone in the group would stick up for the underdog, then think again – because suddenly Maddy finds herself out in the cold, fighting for survival. And the wilderness is the least of her problems ...

 

STRANDED was one of those books that totally took me by surprise. I was lured by the wilderness setting and found myself with a gripping, adrenalin-fuelled and tense read that was hard to put down. At times, it was also immensely frustrating as the voice of reason was overruled, time and time again. Even though Maddy was perhaps ill equipped for negotiation and getting her point across, it was easy to see how anyone could easily end up in her position. And once the die was cast, there was no going back. “Wow, that escalated fast”, I kept thinking, not realising that much worse was yet to come.

 

 

Summary:

 

STRANDED is a book that speaks to both our inner survival instinct as well as addressing the question: “If the world as we knew it ended tomorrow, how well equipped would you be to survive?” It also confronts the theme of herd mentality and how easily we fall for power rather than reason. It’s a LORD OF THE FLIES, adult version, and just as brutal. For those easily triggered, some scenes may turn your stomach and give you nightmares, but then the end-of-the-world scenario isn’t ever going to be pretty either, is it? I loved the background information about all those skills necessary for survival our ancestors knew but most of us have long un-learned: foraging, how to grow a crop in the wilderness, how to build a basic shelter and most of all, how to be part of the natural environment and work with it. It’s a clever, original and heart-pounding story that will keep me mulling over some of its themes for a long time to come.

 

 

 

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books UK for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: THE RISING TIDE by Sam Lloyd

 

Title: THE RISING TIDE

Author:  Sam Lloyd

Publisher:  Bantam Press

Read: April 2021

Expected publication: 8 July 2021

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 all the stars!

 

Book Description:

 

Life can change in a heartbeat.

Lucy has everything she could wish for: a beautiful home high on the clifftops above the Devon coast, a devoted husband and two beloved children.

Then one morning, time stops. Their family yacht is recovered, abandoned far out at sea. Lucy's husband is nowhere to be found and as the seconds tick by, she begins to wonder - what if he was the one who took the boat? And if so, where is he now?

As a once-in-a-generation storm frustrates the rescue operation, Lucy pieces together what happened onboard. And then she makes a fresh discovery. One that plunges her into a nightmare more shocking than any she could ever have imagined . . .

My musings:

 

WOAH! Now that was intense! After that pulse pounding finale I’d better sit and catch my breath for a while, and collect my thoughts. Make sure to enter this thriller willing to leave all your preconceptions at the door, because they will be challenged in this dark, terrifying race against time.

 

But let’s start at the beginning, shall I? Lucy and Daniel Locke are a happy couple living with their two children in a small seaside community on the treacherous Cornish coast. Both are people of the sea – Daniel owns a marine business together with his old childhood mate, and Lucy has built up a successful food venue in a town that relies on both fishing as well as tourism. Their beautiful home overlooks the ocean that is an integral part of their existence, and their life seems idyllic to any stranger peering in through the windows. Until the day one of Lucy’s friends and employees comes running up to her house to inform her that their boat has been found drifting out to sea, abandoned. And Lucy’s world comes crashing down ....

 

Sam Lloyd is an author who is new to me, but it didn’t take me long to find out that he is an absolute master at creating a claustrophobic, atmospheric background on which he will paint his terrifying, pulse pounding thriller. Step 1: describe an idyllic seaside village that instantly makes everyone want to pack up on go there on holidays. Step 2: there is a monster storm brewing in the distance. Step 3: a missing husband, missing children and a race against all the forces of nature in the faint hope that you will see your loved ones alive again. This was not a story for the faint of heart! As the black storm clouds gathered on the horizon, the dark secrets also came out of the town’s cracks and crevices, putting absolutely everything you had come to believe under scrutiny. I read most of the story with my white knuckles shoved in my mouth, hardly daring to breathe as the drama unfolded.

 

A real psychological thriller is one that makes me constantly doubt everything and everyone, even my own perception of reality, and Sam Lloyd manages this seemingly effortlessly by making all his characters somewhat unreliable, even the setting, which unleashed a terrifying force of nature onto its hapless inhabitants. This, people, is how you create unbearable tension! As much as I loved Lucy and my heart bled for her, I also never fully trusted her. I had so many theories as the story unfolded, and yet found myself tapping in the dark for most of it. My only comfort is that it took seasoned detective DI Abraham Rose quite some time to get on the right trail as well, and even if he wasn’t the world’s most stable of characters himself, he was at least able to follow the clues much better than I could. 

 

Summary:

 

All in all, THE RISING TIDE will appeal to readers who love a claustrophobic, atmospheric setting but prefer an action packed story to a slow-burning mystery. If you are looking for fast-paced, then you have come to the right place, as this adrenaline-fuelled finale will leave you gasping for air.  My only advice is that you allow enough time to read this book in one sitting, as it’s impossible to put down once the dark clouds of impending doom start appearing on the horizon. This definitely made it onto my favourites list and I can’t wait to read more from this author in future!

 

 

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Bantam Press for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: EVERY LAST FEAR by Alex Finlay

 

Title: EVERY LAST FEAR

Author:  Alex Finlay

Publisher:  Head of Zeus

Read: March 2021

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2

 

Book Description:

 

After a late night of partying, NYU student Matt Pine returns to his dorm room to devastating news: nearly his entire family—his mom, his dad, his little brother and sister—have been found dead from an apparent gas leak while vacationing in Mexico. The local police claim it was an accident, but the FBI and State Department seem far less certain—and they won’t tell Matt why.

The tragedy makes headlines everywhere because this isn’t the first time the Pine family has been thrust into the media spotlight. Matt’s older brother, Danny—currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his teenage girlfriend Charlotte—was the subject of a viral true crime documentary suggesting that Danny was wrongfully convicted. Though the country has rallied behind Danny, Matt holds a secret about his brother that he’s never told anyone: the night Charlotte was killed Matt saw something that makes him believe his brother is guilty of the crime.

When Matt returns to his small hometown to bury his parents and siblings, he’s faced with a hostile community that was villainized by the documentary, a frenzied media, and memories he’d hoped to leave behind forever. Now, as the deaths in Mexico appear increasingly suspicious and connected to Danny’s case, Matt must unearth the truth behind the crime that sent his brother to prison—putting his own life in peril—and forcing him to confront his every last fear.

My musings:

 

Sometimes, I just want to binge on a book just as I would on a great Netflix series or a classic action movie, and Alex Finlay’s debut was perfect for a pulse-pounding night of reading. Yes, I did read this in one sitting, and I enjoyed it immensely!

 

EVERY LAST FEAR started off with some of the most sinister and intriguing first lines I have ever read: “They found the bodies on a Tuesday. Two days after the family had missed their flight home. Six days after all the texts and social media had gone dark.” I was immediately hooked. Here starts Matt Pine’s nightmare, when he finds out that his entire family – mum, dad, sister Maggie and brother Tommy – have been found dead in their cabin whilst vacationing in Mexico. No, hold on, not his entire family, because he also has an infamous older brother who is in jail, convicted of the murder of his girlfriend when he was in his teens. And thus, Matt’s life is shattered once more.

 

Even though the story starts with the deaths of most of the Pine family, we get to know them gradually through flashbacks to their lives just prior to their ill-fated holiday. Not every author can pull this off, because it’s difficult to get invested in a character when you already know their fate. But the more I read about Evan, Maggie, Olivia and Tommy I got to like them, and ultimately grieve for them as they met their death. Which was the very thing that made me emotionally so invested in this book that I read until late into the night to find out all the answers.

 

With multiple POVs and a rich cast of characters – we not only hear from the entire Pine family but also from the POV of Sarah Keller, the FBI agent tasked to investigate their tragic deaths – the story rolled out movie like in front of my eyes. This is not a simple whodunit, but a multi-layered plot with roots in another crime, the one Danny Pine has been convicted of all those years ago, devastating his parents and alienating his younger brother Matt. There are a lot of threads, red herrings galore, a true crime podcast thrown into the mix and some political happenings, too. Even with all those threads shooting off in different directions, the story moved along at a pace that made my pulse race, craving answers.

 

Yes, some readers have said that there were moments when you had to suspend disbelief. And yes, some of the characters are stereotypes, but just as I automatically picture a Bruce Willis type in an action movie, these somehow helped to form some strong imagery of characters you only get to meet very briefly. Did this bother me? No. This was pure entertainment, and I was happy to roll with it. To be honest, a lot of it went over my head as I cried for Maggie and little Tommy, held my breath as Matt went to Mexico to claim the bodies of his entire family (just imagine that heartbreak!) and was intrigued by Danny’s backstory. There was just so much going on! It wasn’t until the end that I could see where this was all headed, and by then I was almost glad for the reprieve.

 

Summary:

 

EVERY LAST FEAR will appeal to readers who enjoy a fast-paced, entertaining thriller rather than a whodunit that offers up clues like a trail of breadcrumbs for readers to follow and practice their own investigation skills. It requires some suspension of disbelief and may feel a bit heavy-handed at times, but as far as entertainment value goes, it was pure gold for me. Read it binge-style as you would sit through an action movie. With food on hand. And plenty of time to spare. I loved it and look forward to reading more from this author in future.

 

 

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Head of Zeus for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: DEADLY GAMES by Steve Frech

 

Title: DEADLY GAMES

Author:  Steve Frech

Publisher:  HQ Digital

Read: December 2020

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

I know everything about you.

I know your name, your birthday, your kids’ names, where you live, where you work. I know when you get that big promotion, or when you argue with your spouse.

You tell me all this because I’m your bartender.

But someone knows everything about me too. Someone knows all my secrets and they’re using them against me. They’re setting me up.

The police think I murdered Emily Parker. To prove my innocence I need to find the real killer.

My musings:

 

I love mysteries where the amateur sleuth has an unusual profession other than a detective, PI or journalist, so I was instantly intrigued by barman Clay, our main protagonist who finds himself caught up in a deadly game with a serial killer. Original and fast paced, the story soon swept me along in its wake, and kept me reading late into the night.

 

What a refreshingly original thriller this was! Not only was Clay an enigmatic and interesting character, but the constant sense of menace and danger that set a terrifying background to the story created tension and intrigue. Frech’s writing style moves the story along at a good pace, and sometimes I had to remind myself to stop and take a breath as things were happening at breakneck speed.

 

A good barman is observant – he will not only remember his customer’s drinking preferences, but he can also read them like a book and change his personality to boot. Clay is good at his job, and his clients love and respect him. So it comes as a surprise when he gets a visit from police to question him about one of his regulars, who has just been found murdered. A married woman Clay just happened to have an affair with. And just like that, Clay finds himself in the centre of a murder investigation, with a killer who is always a step ahead of him, determined to make Clay the prime suspect. He has no option but to play along – first, to clear his name, but soon just to stay alive.

  

Summary:

 

DEADLY GAMES will appeal to readers who love a fast paced, atmospheric and suspenseful cat-and-mouse game, like the Jack Reacher series. And whilst Clay is no ex-army bad boy, he also shows a lot of initiative in trying to outwit his opponent. As the story nears its finale, there is plenty of action, suspense and bloodshed! I found the story original and captivating, and couldn’t put it down. I very much look forward to reading more from this author in future!

Thank you to Netgalley and HQ Fiction for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: THIS TENDER LAND by William Kent Krueger

Title: THIS TENDER LAND

Author:  William Kent Krueger
Read: July 2020

Expected publication: 1 August 2020

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2

Book Description:

1932, Minnesota—the Lincoln School is a pitiless place where hundreds of Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to an orphan named Odie O’Banion, a lively boy whose exploits earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee, he and his brother Albert, their best friend Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own.

Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphans will journey into the unknown and cross paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an en­thralling, big-hearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.

What attracted me to this book:

THIS TENDER LAND is the type of story I would have loved to listen to as a child. Set in the 1930’s, the era of the Great Depression, the book focuses on the adventures of four orphans who are on the run from an evil headmistress, using a canoe on a tributary of the mighty Mississippi river to evade the authorities. It evoked memories of my Dad reading us stories of the adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer as we listened, wide-eyed and spellbound, with a foreign wonderland of wild river country and colourful characters taking shape in our minds.

My musings:

Sometimes you know within a few pages that you are going to love a book. As soon as I met Odie O’Banion, the narrator of the story, as he recalls memories of his 12-year old self growing up in Lincoln School for Native American children with his brother Albert and best friend Mose, I knew I was in for a real treat. My heart broke for Odie and his schoolmates as the full horror of life at this institution was revealed, and I cheered for them as they made their getaway. From here on, a wonderful adventure unfolded, brimming with a rich cast of interesting and well-rounded characters that made the story roll out like a movie in my mind. My inner child was full of awe for the four adventurers, whilst my maternal side just wanted to grab them, hug them and give them a good hot meal and a warm bed to sleep in.

The author brings the era of the Great Depression to life, with all its hardships but also the generosity and camaraderie that helped people survive. With the wonderfully atmospheric setting of the (fictional) Gilead River and the mighty Mississippi, the stage was set and I was transported into another world I would only emerge from reluctantly, hours later, still dazed from the different world I had just experienced.

Summary:

THIS TENDER LAND really was the best type of book, one that took me out of my own reality and made me live another life, during another time, as seen through Odie’s eyes. I just loved those four “vagabonds”! I laughed, I cried, I raged and cheered – all the emotions! It’s a book that will appeal to a wide audience, from teenagers to the old – all you need is a sense of adventure and a bit of compassion for the wonderful people you will encounter on the journey. I didn’t want the story to end, and the characters are still very much alive in my mind. This is perhaps why I would have preferred a more open ending than the older Odie looking back at his childhood and the years that followed, but it’s still one that will go onto my favourites list this year. I really loved the author’s writing style and can’t wait to read my way through his other books.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Australia for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.