REVIEW ~ Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Home is where the lies are....

Libby Day was just seven years old when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice" of Kinnakee, Kansas. She survived—and famously testified and her evidence put her fifteen year old brother behind bars. Since then, she's just been wandering through life on a daily basis but twenty-five years later, the Kill Club—a secret secret society obsessed with notorious crimes—locates Libby and pumps her for details as they are convinced of Ben's innocence and hope to discover proof that may free Ben. Libby hopes to turn a profit off her tragic history. She’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club—for a fee.

Libby starts to question everything to do with the case she never dared contemplate before. Was the voice she heard her brother's? Ben was a troubled young teen in their hometown but was he capable of murder?

As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started—on the run from a killer.

Absolutely LOVED this book, a very dark read in parts but full of tension and the suspense was palpable on every page, I even think I held my breath on a couple of occasions too and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I didn't know who to trust and who to believe, I thought I had it worked out on a few occasions theoughout the book but I was completely wrong.

I'll definitely check out the film too but I'm sure it'll be nowhere as good as this read. I really feel that this book was so much better than Gone Girl also, I never disliked a book so much after I'd finished it.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Dark Places is available in all good bookshops, libraries, on audio and on Kindle where it is currently £5.99 at the time of publication of this review.

BLOG TOUR ~ Snakes and Ladders by Victoria Selman

Hi Everyone,

Today was my stop on the Blog Tour for Snakes and Ladders by Victoria Selman where I've an author content piece from Victoria where she introduces us to her charater, Ziba Mackenzie & also tells us about the setting of her debut nnovel Snakes and Ladders. I was thrilled to be asked by Tracy Fenton from Compulsive Readers to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else has taken part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of the author content so without further ado, here it is:

Introducing: ZIBA MACKENZIE

Her job is hunting killers. Her talent is thinking like them.

Gutsy, fierce and in your face, Ziba is confronting her own demons as well as society’s most dangerous minds- dealing with her husband’s premature death while fighting her feelings for his best friend. Navigating these challenges takes strength and skill especially since her professional life has a way of trespassing into the personal.

“Trust gets you killed faster than an MK-77”
The daughter of an adored Iranian father and an emotionally distant English mother, Ziba is a social misfit with serious trust issues whose father died suddenly when she was in her teens. As an adult, Ziba keeps her mother, Emmeline, at arm’s length. Though finally in Snakes and Ladders, we see that perhaps Emmeline understands her better than she thinks.
“His voice was deep and gravelly with a Scottish lilt. He used his hands. He planted his feet. He commanded the room. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. The guy snared me the moment he opened his mouth.”

Less than two years after they met, Ziba’s husband Duncan was lying dead beside her on the pavement; a circular wound puncturing his forehead, an unmarked VW Crafter speeding away. His killer has never been caught. And Ziba won’t rest until he is.
“Jack makes me laugh. He calls me out on my shit. When I’m with him I’m back in my father’s study, chomping sugared almonds and listening to the Tehran Symphony Orchestra on his big old-fashioned gramophone. I’m home.”

Jack is Ziba’s lighthouse, the one person she can rely on. And in her line of work, you really need a friend. Only now she’s falling in love with him everything’s about to change- not least because moving on also means letting go.



Setting of Snakes and Ladders

In Snakes and Ladders, I move between the FBI Academy in Quantico, Scotland Yard in London and HMP Wakefield, nicknamed Monster Mansion owing to the notorious inmates it has housed. Ian Huntley, Harold Shipman and Michael Sams have all been ‘guests’ there. It’s not a nice place.
The story takes place in March with the snow falling in London as Ziba arrives back at Scotland Yard having been recalled from Quantico to join the hunt for the Pink Rose Killer, a serial murderer terrorising the capital. It’s freezing, unseasonably cold. The city is shrouded in white.
In these conditions she must to and from Wakefield trying to extract information out of the Lecter like Vernon Sange who seems to know the perpetrator’s identity. And who has a terrible price.
I wanted to use the snow to increase the oppressive atmosphere already created by the prison visits, crushing timeframe until the next murder and the perpetrator’s closed house so that the reader would feel, as Ziba does, that there is little room to breathe.

BLOG TOUR ~ Through The Wall by Caroline Corcoran

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday was my stop on the Blog Tour for Through The Wall by Caroline Corcoran where I've a review from her debut novel but I had a senior moment and was convinced that it was today so I'm really sorry that this is a day late. I was thrilled to be asked by Sabah Khan from Avon Books to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else has taken part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of the review so without further ado, here it is:

Lexie’s got the perfect life. And someone else wants it…

Lexie loves her home. She feels safe and secure in it – and loved, thanks to her boyfriend Tom.

But recently, something’s not been quite right. A book out of place. A wardrobe door left open. A set of keys going missing…

Tom thinks Lexie’s going mad – but then, he’s away more often than he’s at home nowadays, so he wouldn’t understand.

Because Lexie isn’t losing it. She knows there’s someone out there watching her. And, deep down, she knows there’s nothing she can do to make them stop…

Well, where do I start with my review other than with I didn't like it, I LOVED it. A very slick, well written and constructed debut novel, although it took me a little while to get into but I think that was just me with having so much on lately but once I got really excited engrossed in it, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough, told over the period of almost a year and from two different characters with Lexie been one but I'm not going to say who the other is and I wasn't sure how they would fit into the story but you're never going to look at your neighbour in the same at again and if you live in an apartment then you're going to want to check everything, especially double checking and even triple checking EVERYTHING and even to go as far as saying checking over your shoulder more often!!

I could feel my heart beating in my ears at times as I turned the pages and it's such a creepy thriller, definitely one to read on these cold dark nights but don't forget to triple check everything. I'd even go as far as to say I'd love to see this been made into a tv series as it has great potential.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Through The Wall is available from all good bookshops, libraries, on audio and on Kindle where it is currently £0.99 at the time of publication of this review.

BLOG TOUR ~ In The Absence of Miracles by Michael J Malone

Hi Everyone,

Today is my stop on the final day for the Blog Tour for In The Absence of Miracles by Michael J. Malone where I have a review from his latest novel. I was thrilled to be asked by Anne Cater from Random Things Tours who organised this tour in conjunction with Orenda Books to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else has taken part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of this review so without further ado, here it is:

Meet John Docherty, a school teacher who has just recently seen his mother taken into a nursing home following a massive stroke and according to the doctors she is unlikely to be able to live independently again. He has no other option but to sell the family home to fund her care. 

John returns to his family home in order to start packing everything up in the house in order to put the house on the market and when he's sorting through his family's past he's forced to revisit his childhood, when he stumbles upon a box in the attic he finds an undeniable truth that he had a brother who disappeared when he was only a toddler himself. A brother no one ever mentioned and a brother that he knew absolutely nothing about. This discovery sets John on a path from which he may never recover from the family secret that turns his world upside down the deeper he digs.

Well, where do I start with this review other than even though it upset and broke me, I LOVED it. It was such a dark, harrowing, tense and shocking psychological thriller, I couldn't turn the pages quick enough. At times, it was quite tough to read with some of the revelations that I had to put it down for a little while as I could feel my anger bubbling to the surface knowing that there can be people like this walking amongst us. It deals with some tough subject matter which was handled so well and written perfectly. I don't want to say anymore incase I may say something by accident apart from that I've been an emotional wreck after I'd turned the last page last night.

This story had it all from family, betrayal, deceit, secrets, lies, protectiveness to more sensitive and hard-hitting issues which were handled quite sensitive and I found that I had tears in my eyes at the end along with shedding a few along the way, so grab this book, curl up on the couch with plenty of chocolate and tea and prepare to have a few lump in your throat moments, I did!

In The absence of Miracles is available in all good bookstores, libraries, on audio and on kindle where it is currently £3.99 at the time of publication of this review.

BLOG TOUR ~ Lake Child by Isabel Ashtown

Hi everyone,

Today is my stop on the final day of the Blog Tour for Lake Child by Isabel Ashdown where I've a review of her latest novel. I was thrilled to be asked by Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers who organised this tour in conjunction with Trapeze Books to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else took part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of the review so without further ado, here it is:

You trust your family? They love you? Don't they?

Eva Olsen is a seventeen year old girl who was involved in a serious car accident where she was in a coma and can't really remember what happened that fateful night. She wakes up in her bed in the attic where her devoted parents are caring for her, she's been bed bound for what seems to be quite a while and is locked into the room when her parents are not with her in the room, but why?? As her memory starts to return slowly she starts to remember certain elements of the night in question but she begins to doubt what her parents are telling her about the accident and decides that she wants to find out the truth and the only way that can happen is if she escapes from her parents house. But what if someone doesn't want her to find out??

Well, where do I start with my review other than I absolutely LOVED it, it was so good. I was on the edge of both my seat and my bed whilst reading it & couldn't turn the pages quick enough. It was like peeling an onion with layer upon layer of secrets, lies and twists been revealed and when you thought you had everything worked out there was other layers revealed. There is also another back story running through the storyline which comes together very nicely as the story goes on. This story had it all from family, betrayal, secrets, lies, protectiveness to more sensitive and hard-hitting issues which were handled quite sensitively and I found I had a little tear in my eye at the end.

A very clever and atmospheric psychological thriller set in a remote valley town in the heart of the forest of Norway's ancient fjords.

Lake Child is available from all good bookstores, libraries, on audio and on Kindle where it is currently £3.99 at the time of publication of this review.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

REVIEW ~ 47 Seconds by Jane Ryan

With huge thanks to Poolbeg, Paula Campbell, Caroline & Jane Ryan I received a copy of this in exchange for an honest review............

I HEREBY SOLEMNLY AND SINCERELY DECLARE BEFORE GOD THAT I WILL FAITHFULLY DISCHARGE THE DUTIES OF A MEMBER OF THE GARDA SIOCHANA.....

When a frozen solid human arm contained in a pig carcass in Dublin docks, this provides the starting point for Detective Garda Bridget Harney and her obsession with Séan Flannery and his organised crime family began when he claimed his assault on an underage victim was consensual but the case against him fell apart. Detective Harney is based in Harcourt Square in the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB) where Bridget hunts the sinister Sean Flannery, unaware of the destructive consequence of her own actions. Bridget realises no rules hinder Flannery, so why should they hinder her so her obsession intensifies even more against him and will try absolutely everything in her power and non-power to catch him out but her instincts tell her Flannery is involved. Her colleagues say there is no evidence. But Bridget refuses to let Flannery slip further into the darkness.

This is Jane Ryan’s debut crime novel and it was an excellent novel too, set in my hometown of Dublin so I could relate to so many of the scenes that are in the novel. It's a very well written, compelling and constructed novel, full of pace, a few twists to keep you in check and a few shocking and gasp out loud moments which I definitely had as I definitely didn't see coming in the storyline but I'm not going to spoil it for anyone so you're just going to have to get yourself a copy and see what I'm talking about. 47 Seconds has been described as "addictive reading" which that it certainly is, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough and I really hope that it won't be too long until we get to catch up with Detective Garda Bridget Harney again?

47 Seconds is available from all good bookstores, libraries, audio and on Kindle where it is currently £0.99 at the time of publication of this review. 

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

BLOG TOUR ~ Endgame by Daniel Cole

Hi Everyone,

Today is my stop on the final day of the Blog Tour for Endgame by Daniel Cole where I've a review of his latest and final novel in the Ragdoll Trilogy. I was thrilled to be asked by Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers who organised this tour in conjunction with Orion Publishing to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else is taking part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of the review so without further ado, here it is:

A locked room. A dead body. A secret that went to the grave.

When retired officer Finlay Shaw is found dead in a locked room, everyone presumes it was a suicide but the now disgraced Detective William "Wolf" Fawkes isn't so sure.

Together with his former partner Detective Emily Baxter and Private Detective Edmunds, Wolf's team begin to dig into Shaws early days on the beat to see if they can uncover anything but will this open a can of worms and discover anything in Shaw's past. Was he as innocent as they all thought? Or is there more to his past that he was ever let on??

But there's a problem in the force where not everyone wants Wolf back but as his investigations delve deeper into police corruption, it will not only be his career on the line but those lives of who he holds closest also.....

Well, where do I start with this.....I absolutely loved it and can't believe that it's the final instalment in the Ragdoll Series, I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was so great to have Wolf back after the ending of Hangman. I would suggest you read all of these in order as the story does carry throughout them. I love how Daniel can throw laugh out loud moments in all three of his books especially when you've just read a heavy, gruesome scenes which makes these books work. Endgame also tied up any loose ends that were left from books 1 and 2 and it wasn't as gruesome as in the previous books but please don't let that put you off reading them.

It was a very fitting end to the trilogy and I will miss the characters, especially Wolf who I've grown so fond of despite his flaws but I DO hope they will make a return in some way perhaps in another book but go and get this, you definitely won't be disappointed but make sure you read them in order.

Endgame is available in all good bookshops, on audio, libraries and on Kindle where it is currently £1.99 at the time of publication of this review.