Difference between revisions of "Newest Thrillers Reviews"

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[[Category:Thrillers|*]]
 
[[Category:Thrillers|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Thrillers]]
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[[Category:New Reviews|Thrillers]]__NOTOC__<!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=0008385068
|author=Paula Daly
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|title=The Midnight Feast
|title=Just What Kind of Mother Are You?
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|author=Lucy Foley
|rating=5
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Lisa Kallisto is almost the typical MumShe's got a husband and three children and she's permanently tiredHer full-time job at the local animal rescue centre frequently spills over into her home life and she's constantly chasing around trying to catch up with what she ought to have doneHusband Joe is a taxi driver and they can only just manage to afford the rent on their cottage in the picturesque lake districtIt's normally pretty crime free but then a young girl - really only a child - is abducted and brutally rapedThen another girl of about the same age goes missing and Lisa was responsible for her safety.  What do you say, what do you do in that situation?  Lisa is about to find out.
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|summary=It's midsummer on the Dorset coast and guests gather at The ManorIt's their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promised.  It's all headed up by Francesca MeadowsThe Manor was her ancestral home and she's converted it into an impressive retreat for the wealthy and famousHer husband, Owen, was the architect and work is still ongoing on parts of the siteThe heat is oppressive and amongst the guests are enemies as well as friendsOld scores are going to be settled and it won't be long before a body is found.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0593071697</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Saima Mir
|author=John le Carre
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|title=Vengeance
|title=A Delicate Truth
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|rating=3.5
|rating=5
 
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=It's 2008 and Paul is recruited by, apparently, the government to assist in an undercover operation in Gibraltar. It's perfectly straightforward and its success will impede a cell of Al Qaeda.  Paul performs, is thanked and taken home without complications.  Fast forward to 2011 and Toby Bell is promoted to the role of private secretary for Paul's recruiter, MP Fergus Quinn. Whilst acquainting himself with Quinn's CV, Toby uncovers the story of the mission, discovering not only Quinn's involvement but hints that it may not have been as straightforward as all that. Quinn also appears to have been connected with an organisation that's not all it seems, unfortunately for a particular pillar of a Cornish community for whom life will never be the same again.
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|summary= I was instantly intrigued by the premise of this novel – an organised crime syndicate in the north of England run by a Muslim woman. The fact that it was the second in a series I hadn't read didn't stop me – I've jumped midway into a few series before (on page and screen) and it needn't be a hindrance if it's good enough. And that wasn't a problem here. Vengeance swiftly brings you up to speed, and I never felt lost.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>067092279X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0861541561
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=David Chadwick
|author=Gerald Wixey
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|title=Headload of Napalm
|title=4 Bones Sleeping
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|rating=4.5
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=There's quite a contrast between the settings in ''4 Bones Sleeping''. To begin with there's the time. Just about everything that happens goes back to the end of the Second World War and just afterwards, when people were coming to terms with having won the war, but not quite  knowing what to do with the peace.  Then there's 1980 when we wondered if we'd won the war, but lost the peace. The places are very different too: the people involved in this story have their being in the seedier parts of London in the post-war years, but what are they all doing in a one-horse town in rural Oxfordshire?  And where did the money come from which allowed Jack to own the local newspaper and make Harry the landlord of the pub?
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|summary= It's September 1973 in Hicks, California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of LA and Las Vegas both a significant drive away. Not much happens in Hicks. A silver mine and a defence contractor are the main local employers but otherwise, there's not much of note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is quiet, until....
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471760596</amazonuk>
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|isbn= B0D321VJ76
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1399613073
|author=Eric Van Lustbader
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|title=Moral Injuries
|title=Last Snow (Jack McClure Trilogy)
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|author=Christie Watson
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary= Jack McClure, aide and friend to the US president, is back at work after the death of his daughter and the resolved kidnapping of President Carson's own daughter, AlliHowever, Jack hasn't fully recovered; he's still in mourning and full of self-recrimination but the show must go onWhen an American senator is killed in Capri Jack's on hand to investigate, starting a mission that will take him into the Ukraine and the seamier side of power on both sides of the AtlanticApparently not all the President's closest advisors can be trusted and that's not Jack's only complicationAfter Alli's traumatic experiences at the hands of Morgan Herr Jack is the only person she trusts, so she's coming along for the ride, through hell, high water and a few murders.
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|summary=Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a centuryOlivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeonLaura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor.  Anjali is the free spirit of the group and she becomes a GPWhen we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedyWe don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences.  Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends.  This time, it's their teenage children who are involved.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781850771</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Sunny Singh
|author=Graham Thomas
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|title=Hotel Arcadia
|title=Maria & The Devil
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|rating=3.5
|rating=4
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|genre=Thrillers
|genre=Fantasy
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|summary=The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel managerAs Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photographyAlthough they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.
|summary=''The Devil has ridden out''.
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|isbn=086154742X
 
 
Maria's lover is Montana's most feared outlaw. He has left her alone in a secluded cabin deep in the wilderness. Maria is pregnant. Left in solitude, she develops a familiar routine that feels safe. But the isolation is pervasive and Maria's defences against it are crumbling. And while she waits for her lover to return, she is discovered by Rickman Chill, whose gang is tracking the Devil in a relentless quest for revenge. What will happen when Chill discovers Maria's identity? Will the Devil return in time?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00BFEC2NI</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Ian Tregillis
 
|title=The Coldest War (Milkweed Triptych)
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|summary= England 1963: The war is over, Hitler defeated and the Russians (Britain's ally) retain most of mainland EuropeThe Briton in the street believes that it was Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain that saved the nation but ex-naval intelligence officer Raybould 'Pip' Marsh and his former friend Lord William Beauclerk know differentlyThe nation was saved by warlocks like Lord Will, the same warlocks that are now being murdered.  However, fighting over, Pip and Will are both war-weary and want to be left alone but the Secret Intelligence Service has other ideas.  For the Nazi experimental 'willpower' children are now adult and assembling in England, still equipped with the super powers of their childhood.  This means Will and Pip have old scores to settle and greater evils waiting to be faced… Yes… ''those'' greater evils are back.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356501701</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Cody Goodfellow
|author=Sophie Hannah
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|title=Vertical
|title=The Carrier
 
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=Crime
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|genre=Thrillers
|summary= Due to a delayed flight home, Gaby has to stay overnight in a German hotel with fellow passenger Lauren.  During the night Lauren tells Gaby about a man charged with the murder of his paralysed wife.  At this point two things strike Gaby: 1. Lauren believes him to be innocent.  2. He's Tim Breary, Gaby's former lover with whom she has unfinished business.  Once home Gaby is determined to prove his innocence but that's easier said than done.
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|summary= There's something about tall buildings that just captures my imagination. Who doesn't love a good view from up high, after all? Even the drabbest office building is somewhere I'm intrigued to get inside if it's 40 stories tall. So when I picked up this book – about people who scale tall buildings for fun – I was instantly intrigued.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340980729</amazonuk>
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|isbn= 1803363991
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1804183210
|author=Justin Huggler
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|title=No Reserve
|title=Burden of the Desert
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|author=Felix Francis
|rating=5
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|rating=4
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary= Journalist Zoe Temple can't believe her luck when she's sent to Iraq to cover the birth of an emerging nation, not thinking that such luck can sometimes run outMahmoud earns his money driving journalists from story to story, sometimes only just escaping intactHowever, the most dangerous thing he will ever do is fall in loveRick Benes is one of the American soldiers on the news, his only ambition being to get his platoon home safely as Iraq's birth pangs are violent and unrelentingAnd then there's Adel, a young Iraqi lad who never dreamt of violence; not until the day that Benes killed his family.
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|summary=Thirty-four-year-old Theo Jennings shouldn't have been on the rostrum when the colt - as yet unnamed - came up for auction, but Peter Radway, the chairman, hadn't arrived, so he continued his session.  To say that he was shocked when the bidding reached three million pounds would be an understatement. A lovely animal - but three million pounds? Two men had been bidding against each otherBrian Kitman and Elliot 'Mitch' Mitchell were well-known and respected in the racing industryJennings was in one of the cubicles in the toilets when the two men came in and their conversation revealed that the horse had been deliberately bid up to that figure.  Both were happy that they had insurance in placeThe following morning, the horse was dead in its stall.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1479352047</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1405951680
|author=J E Ryder
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|title=The Safe House
|title=Blood Pool
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|author=Cameron Ward
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=Samantha Shelley was surprised to become the owner of a boatyard when her husband died in a cliff fall.  She had worked in the East Devon boatyard - run it in fact - for quite some time but it's the men of the Shelley 'blood pool' who have always inherited the land for the past two hundred years.  She was aware of ill-feeling against her in the village, but her priority was to keep the business running as smoothly as possible for herself and for the staff she employed.  There was  some support in the village - an old friend, known to one and all as 'the Prof' - had always been there for her and willing to listen to her outpourings or just to chatter as she drank coffee.  Then he disappeared in violent circumstances.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00AR0XFX2</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Gillian Flynn
 
|title=Gone Girl
 
|rating=5
 
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=There’s a distressing moment in any long-term relationship where you realise that, in practice, happily ever after looks a lot like an eternity of small, snarling arguments about who forgot to buy food, who should take out the rubbish and who is responsible for that mouldering pile of clothes in the corner of the bedroom. Domestic bliss is often more like very polite guerrilla warfare between two people who love each other so much that they want to spend the rest of their lives fighting about it. You and your partner are absolutely in each other’s pockets – but no matter how close you are, there’s always one last barrier you can’t break down. You aren’t them, and they aren’t you, and so you can never truly know what’s really going on inside that well-known head.  
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|summary=Jess Walker accepted an offer (OK, actually she was gently nudged into it by her friend, Rupert) to caretake a luxury property in the Australian outback for a couple of months.  After the problems she'd had at work, it seemed like just the break she needed.  She was no longer a data analyst for the Metropolitan police in London: she was Jess who was returning to the country of her birth and in need of the space to get over the traumatic end of her relationship with Charles. A few weeks in the Otway Ranges in Victoria sounded like just the ticket.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0753827662</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1448309743
|author=Daniel O'Malley
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|title=The Devil Stone (DCI Christine Caplan)
|title=The Rook (The Checquy Files)
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|author=Caro Ramsay
|rating=5
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|rating=4
|genre=Fantasy
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|genre=Crime
|summary= A woman wakes up with amnesia surrounded by dead people wearing gloves.  In her pocket she discovers a letter from Myfanwy Thomas, the previous inhabiter of her body.  Myfanwy tells a strange story of working for 'the Checquy', a paranormal version of MI5 which has been permeated by a web of betrayal and danger.  The problem is that Myfanwy never discovered the source before her body changed hands (so to speak).  The amnesiac has a clear choice: to continue Myfanwy's investigation or to do a runner.  It's her decision but Myfanwy's warning is less than encouraging:
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|summary=In the village of Cronchie on the West coast of Scotland, five members of a wealthy family are found murdered.  The only item missing from the home is the Devil Stone: myth says that if the stone is removed from Otterburn House, death will follow.  The only suspects are known Satanists but in many ways, that's an easy conclusion given that two of them 'discovered' the body.   The Senior Investigating Office is DCI Bob Oswald but when he disappears, DCI Christine Caplan is pulled in to 'shadow' him.
 
 
::''Remember they want you dead.''
 
 
 
Something for her to bear in mind along with the fatal, unintended consequences of permitting cheap cheese into the UK.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908800372</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Alan Furst
 
|title=The Spies of Warsaw
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|summary=The reluctant, recently widowed Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier is military attaché to the French embassy in the Warsaw of 1937.  Decorated during World War I, Mercier would rather be a field officer than attend endless receptions, parties and debriefing sessions necessary for his unofficial role, handling citizens who are encouraged or coerced to work against the interests of other states.  He watches whilst Poland is squeezed between the Nazis on one side and the increasing profile of Stalin and Russia on the other, convinced that war will not only be inevitable, but soon.  However, no one will listen to him as he gathers evidence and protects those he can from the onslaught to follow.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780222203</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=B0CCCPJJ5B
|author=Amy McLellan
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|title=The Last Person in the World
|title=The Orchid Field
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|author=Matthew Tree
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=In London petroleums expert Catherine Davenport ponders whether a change of employer is going to be to her advantage.  An ill-advised fling with her boss is causing her embarrassment at work, particularly now that he has a new born childAn offer of a job that would take her out to Mexico to do a report on an off-shore oil field is too good an opportunity to miss.  In Mexico Inspector Cortez is languishing in Port Luz in  the back of beyond, sent in disgrace from his post in the city. He knows that he’s not - and never has been - corrupt but no one else believes himIn fact it’s seen as normal.  Then a body appears on the beach and the local fishermen point out into the gulf and tell him that it came from there. When he looks more closely he realises that they mean the oil rigs.
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|summary=Our narrator was a scholarship day boy at the London-based public school where he met Ralph FinnsIt was an unusual relationship as Ralph was a boarder and had money to throw around on a  Rolex watch, vintage wines and a state-of-the-art sound system.   Both were probably quite surprised when they became almost friends and certainly more than acquaintancesFinns had no intention of going on to University, unlike our storyteller who had a place at Wolverton College in Wellingford, the UK's third most prestigious university. Before going up, he took up a loose invitation to visit Ralph at his home, Clouds Manor in West Dorset.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00AWELKJY</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Dean Koontz
|author=R Julian Cox
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|title=The House at the End of the World
|title=Shadow on the Sun
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=There's always been a quandary for the ethically-minded scientist - what to do when your scientific discoveries can be used for less-than-ethical purposesRobert Oppenheimer faced this problem when his work as a theoretical physicist resulted in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Dr Jonathan Anderson faces a similar situation and - unbelievably - the consequences could be even more far reaching than the consequences of Oppenheimer's work.  There's a conflict with his strong religious beliefs as well as with his professional ethics.
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|summary=When you experience overwhelming tragedy and feel that there is no one on your side, you can either suck it up, saddle up and ride on or you can retreat to your own private fortress on an island that sits snugly in a small chain of tiny dots on the map and live out your days in peace and solitudeThat's what Katie thought she was doing when she shut down her old life to start afresh on Jacob's Ladder; and all would have been the aforementioned peace and solitude were it not for the pesky US Government occupying Ringrock, the neighbouring island and perpetrating all manner of mischief in the name of science and quite possibly bringing about the end of all mankind.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0957322607</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1662453159
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1787636607
|author=Guy Booth
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|title=The Trap
|title=The Arthur Moreau Story
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|author=Catherine Ryan Howard
|rating=3.5
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|rating=4.5
|genre=Horror
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|genre=Crime
|summary=You could be forgiven for thinking that Johnny Debrett is an unlikely hero, given his occupation as a seller of second hand books, but he has some illustrious connections, not least to Sir Frederick Appleby.  Some say that ''he'' runs the country and Appleby's deputy, Peter Tyndale is married to Debrett's sister, Celia. Our tale began many years before with some two hundred mysterious and widely reported deaths on a French island which hadn't elicited a single cry of grief from a relative, but we join the story as Appleby asks Debrett to attend the funeral in France of a former business partner, Arthur Moreau.  There are, apparently, some unresolved queries about Moreau and despite Debrett's estrangement from the deceased over recent years he's thought to be the person best able to obtain the answers.
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|summary=It's a scene replicated all too often in the early hours of the morning.  Drunken revellers spilling out of clubs and looking for a way to get home.  Some are lucky and manage to get one of the few taxis available.  Others squash onto the night bus that will only go as far as one of the outlying villages.  The woman all regret the 'taxi problem', particularly in the light of 'the missing women'.  For one young woman, the final stop on the bus leaves her a long way short of her home.  She had intended to ring someone to come and collect her - but her phone's dead. The bus had driven off before she had the chance to beg the bus driver to let her use his.  There's no option but to start walking - unsuitably clothed and in high-heeled shoes.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906791740</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1529195977
|author=Erin Kelly
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|title=None of this is True
|title=The Burning Air
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|author=Lisa Jewell
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary= It's the Macbrides' annual Guy Fawkes' weekend trip to their Devon holiday home but much has changed since the last Bonfire NightTheir mother Lydia has died, their father Rowan copes only with alcoholic aid and the marriage of Sophie and Will has fireworks of its ownSome happiness exists though: Tara and partner Matt are deeply in love and Felix is bringing his first serious girlfriend to the gatheringHer name's Kerry and, by the end of the weekend, she'll have kidnapped Sophie's baby revealing darkest secrets that refuse to remain buried.
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|summary=On her 45th birthday, Alix Summer celebrated with a crowd of friends in the Landsdown pub on Salisbury Road when she encountered Josie FairShe, too, was out celebrating her 45th birthday, only she was just with her husband, Walter.  It turns out that not only are Alix and Josie birthday twins, they were both born in St Mary's hospitalThat's where the similarities end, though: Alix, with her husband, Nathan, are in the midst of a joyful, monied group of friends and whilst they're not ''exactly'' rowdy, they're enjoying themselvesJosie, on the other hand, holds her handbag close to her tummy and you get the sense that Walter's not too happy.  He's not used to spending this much money on a meal - but it is Josie's birthday after all.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444728326</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1803136383
|author=Mark Oldfield
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|title=Tin Soldiers
|title=The Sentinel
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|author=David Chadwick
|rating=4
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Plaza De Toros, Badajoz, 15th August 1936: a group of prisoners are marched across the sands of the bullring, lined up against the barrera and, mown down rifle-fire. The first group of many.
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|summary= Wat Tyler has returned from fighting in Vietnam under something of a cloud. What actually happened out there is gossiped about and nobody is sure exactly what took place, but an act of heroism leading to a rare battlefield commission followed by rank cowardice and disgrace seems to be the consensus. Wat himself is keeping his cards close to his chest, as he always does.  
 
 
Cut to 2009.  In the mountains known as the Sierra de Gredos in central Spain, there was mine.  For some reason it was abruptly closed in 1953. On another newbie-assignment forensic investigator Dr Ana Maria Galindez is about to find out why.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908800186</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=B0C7J9D21B
|author=Bryan Forbes
+
|title=A Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)
|title=The Soldier's Story
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|author=A J Lewis
|rating=5
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|rating=4.5
|genre=Thrillers
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|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Alex Seaton awaits his post-war demob from the British army in Germany while tracking down wrong-doers ranging from allied black-marketeers to Nazi war criminals.  Although fraternisation with locals is still frowned on, Alex meets and befriends university lecturer Professor Grundwall after a chance meetingUnited by their love of books, Alex becomes a regular visitor to the Professor's homeHowever books aren't the only attraction: Alex gradually falls in love with the Professor's daughter, Lisa. Their future together seems assured until Alex uncovers a secret that will rip to the core of Alex's loyalties and jeopardise more than just their love.
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|summary=When we first meet our hero, his name is Ettore and he lives at The House of Beautiful SwallowsIdyllic as this might sound, it's a bordello and Ettore's mother died when he was bornHe's not been short of mothers, though - but for someone of his background in late-eighteenth-century Amalfi, it's difficult to obtain decent employment. The stint working with the preparation of anchovies didn't work out and bastards are considered bad luck on fishing boats.  Ettore was nothing if not resourceful - and determined - and it was not long before he had a successful business as a guide for visitors.  He was even saving some money.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0704372800</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=0241996104
|author=Dan Fesperman
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|title=Coming to Find You
|title=The Double Game
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|author=Jane Corry
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=American Bill Cage is a middle-aged PR man who worships at the shrine of spy novelsIt's a love he's inherited from widowed diplomat father(Bill's mother having died in an accident when he was very young.) He fondly remembers his childhood as he travelled from posting to posting with his dad and their vast spy fiction library.
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|summary=Nancy's mother and step-father were brutally stabbed at their Sussex farmhouse and her step-brother, Martin, has been convicted of their murder.  We first meet Nancy outside the court, after Martin receives a life sentenceThe barrister tells her that she's received a 'silent sentence' - she's not been found guilty of anything but will have to live with what happened for the rest of her lifeOf course, it's made worse because Nancy's rich - she inherited five million pounds from her mother - and the papers are making the most of it''Farmhouse slaughter daughter'' is one favourite epithet and ''rich bitch'' might not be printed but is undoubtedly spoken.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857893378</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1529135389
|author=Emily Barr
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|title=The Fall
|title=Stranded
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|author=Gilly Macmillan
|rating=3.5
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|rating=4.5
|genre=Thrillers
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|genre=Crime
|summary=After her marriage ends Esther finds herself dreaming of getting away, running away for a while, to an island paradiseShe decides to make a trip to Malaysia, but a day trip out to a small, remote island finds her stranded there, along with several other people, when their guide does not return to pick them upThere is no way home without a boatWill this group of stranded strangers manage to survive, or will suspicions and tensions get the better of them as they wait to be rescued?
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|summary=Nicole Booth had spent the morning at the county fair before she returned home.  There was no sign of her husband but opera was playing on the state-of-the-art music system installed in The Glass Barn.  They'd not been in the architect-designed house on Lancaut Peninsula for long and were still getting used to all the high-tech systems Tom had insisted uponSome of them fought with each other and didn't work as reliably as they shouldIt had all come about through a ten-million-pound lottery win and they were still getting used to having that sort of money, tooEventually, Nicole found Tom dead in the swimming pool with a wound to his head.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>075538797X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Alan Parks
|author=Alex Churton
+
|title=To Die in June
|title=The Babylon Gene
 
|rating=2.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|summary=Author of popular scientific philosophy, Dr Toby Ashe, is also a covert member of 'Oddballs', a multi-skilled section of British Intelligence.  Their purpose is to profile and identify the rise of terrorists and their organisations before too much damage is done.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908800119</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=John Grisham
 
|title=The Racketeer
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=Malcolm Bannister is forty-three years old and a lawyerHe's also in prison for a crime he didn't know he was committing and in which he had no criminal intentHalfway through a ten-year stretch he's the only black man in the prison serving time for a white collar crime: that's what happens when you're just a bit naive and what looks like a genuine real estate deal turns out to be part of a massive money laundering operationThe prison he's in is relatively relaxed and he's the librarian, but he's lost his job, his wife's divorced him and he wonders if he'll ever see his young son again.  Other than that, life's pretty much of a muchness.
+
|summary=What first seems like the unfortunate, accidental death of a homeless man on the streets, suddenly starts to feel like something more sinister as another body is discovered, and then anotherThis is worrying enough for detective Harry McCoy, but all the more so because his own father is a down and out alcoholic, with no fixed abode, and he has been for yearsAt the same time as facing these possible murders, Harry is also dealing with a move to a different police station, and the arrival there of a woman who claims her little boy has gone missing, only no record of the boy having existed can be foundSomething feels wrong - not just with the woman’s story but also with the other officers where he has been stationed, but can Harry uncover just what is going on?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444729748</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1805300784
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1529382823
|author=A R Yoba
+
|title=The Last Passenger
|title=They Call Me... Montey Greene
+
|author=Will Dean
|rating=3
+
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=''He didn't believe in coincidences but he did believe in conspiracies.''
+
|summary=Caroline Riley (she prefers 'Caz') is middle-aged and has found herself somewhat surprisingly in love with Pete.  They're off on a cruise to New York on ''Atlantica''.  Caz's sister, Gemma, reckons that Pete is going to propose but Caz hasn't spotted a ring-shaped bulge in his suit pocket and she doesn't know whether she's relieved or disappointed. They've not been a couple for that long and the trip will be an excellent opportunity to get to know him a bit better. Meanwhile, Gemma is looking after Caz's cafe as well as their mother who has dementia. It's going to be good, isn't it?
 
 
Little does Montey Greene know how well this motto will serve him. Aside from a brief hold-up at customs, Montey is thoroughly enjoying his holiday in Milan. Recently separated from his wife, he's enjoying eyeing up all the lovely Italian women, meeting up with friends, and just generally pleasing himself.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0985440813</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Mark Edwards
|author=Adam Hamdy
+
|title=Keep Her Secret
|title=Battalion
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=We're twenty years or so into the future and the world is desperately short of oilTrouble always follows such a situationThere are energy shortages, economies are contracting and the threat from terrorism is constant. The CIA and the FBI were amalgamated some time ago and agent Scott Pierce of the FSA is hunting the man known as The SpiderHe's been in deep cover - including a prison sentence - but this isn't just work to him.  The Spider was responsible for the Eurostar bombing which cost Pierce his wife and he's determined to see the man deadThe fact that The Spider is determined to strike at the heart of America's democratic institutions and bring her to her knees is ''almost'' secondary.
+
|summary= Matthew and Helena are in Iceland, rekindling their university romance some twenty-odd years after they first met.  The alien-landscape of the lava fields and black beaches is breath-taking and Helena seems intent on getting the perfect photograph to encapsulate the joy she is feeling in this moment, even if it kills her… which it nearly does when the edge of a ravine gives way and Helena finds herself clinging to the rockface with just the snagged strap of her rucksack between her and a 500 foot drop to certain death belowConvinced she is going to die, Helena must purge herself of the shocking secret she has been keeping and makes a panicked, cryptic declaration to MatthewJust moments later their heroic, and frankly very well prepared, Icelandic tour guide swoops in and hauls Helena to safety and Matthew is left wondering what he just learned about Helena.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B009L64TLU</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=166250893X
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Jenny Lund Madsen and Megan E Turney (translator)
 +
|title=Thirty Days of Darkness
 +
|rating=3.5
 +
|genre=Thrillers
 +
|summary=Hannah presents as an unlikeable, bitter woman, an author of failing if well-regarded literary short novelsSorry to leave her bottles of red wine behind her for an afternoon at a book fair, she flukes her way into a public argument with the latest hot shot in the world of crime fiction, saying he's populist trash and only writing what anyone could write.  Cue the bet that she cannot live up to that accusationHer publisher duly books her flights from Denmark to Iceland, where she is put up for a wintry month away from it all.  Just on the point of despairing – about her writing, about the people and the lack of stimulus for her plot, more or less about everything – word comes that the landlady's nephew has been found dead…
 +
|isbn=1914585615
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=0861544056
|author=Ian Tregillis
+
|title=Twin Truths
|title=Bitter Seeds (The Milkweed Triptych)
+
|author=Jacqueline Sutherland
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=It's 1939 and Lt Commander Raybould 'Pip' Marsh of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service travels to Portugal to smuggle out Krasnopolsky, a fascist with a secretHowever things don't go to planKrasnopolsky nerves are justified as, in the time it takes to order drinks, he spontaneously combusts.  Marsh is too late to extinguish him but manages to retrieve Krasnopolsky's case to take back homeHe finds the surprises keep on coming: it contains film footage of people becoming 'insubstantial' whilst walking through walls, others absorbing bullets and some bursting into flames with no apparent side-effects (unlike poor Mr Krasnopolsky)Marsh realises the Nazis' unconventional weapons need an unconventional response and so calls on Lord William Beauclerk who happens to be a warlock.  Operation Milkweed is on so let other-worldly battle commence.
+
|summary=Belle and David's twin daughters are just coming to the end of their first term at university.  Kit's been at Bristol and Jess's in Exeter.  It's not only the first time they've been away from their parents for any length of time - but they've also been apart from each otherBelle can't wait to have them all to herself for a whileThen Kit rings up - can she bring her boyfriend home with her?  Belle would prefer that he didn't come but doesn't want to upset KitIvo's apparently 'older': he's twenty-four to Kit's eighteen but Belle figures that she can cope with thatAnd they'll be sharing a bedroom.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356501698</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Robert Dugoni
|author=Darragh McManus
+
|title=Her Deadly Game
|title=Even Flow
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Crime
 
|genre=Crime
|summary=Jonathon Bailey, Cathy Morrissey and Patrick Broder of Network 4 News sit in a viewing room unable to believe their eyes as the courier-delivered VT flickers in front of themWealthy banker's son and society playboy Cliff Hudson seems to be suspended from the top of a tall building by his anklesHe's tied to a friend identified as 'Steve', both terror stricken and whimpering an apology prompted by three men oddly dressed in tuxedos and balaclavas.  As the city will soon come to realise, these men (pseudonyms Wilde, Whitman and Waters) are the 3W Gang, sworn to do society's dirty work for it as they isolate and punish bigots.  Crusaders or criminals?  Detective Danny Everard of the NYPD doesn't have the luxury of choosing, just the headache of trying to catch them.
+
|summary= Patrick Duggan & Associates has been the life's work of Patsy Duggan – rather charmingly nicknamed 'The Irish Brawler' due to his reputation for no holds barred courtroom performances in defence of his clientsAlong with an indisputable talent for the law, Patsy also has a gift for drinking himself to oblivion and inevitably the latter was beginning to overshadow the formerEnter Keera Duggan, former competitive chess prodigy and proven Seattle Prosecutor who finds herself in the hideous position of asking her father for a job at the family firm because a romantic entanglement with a senior colleague, Miller Ambrose, had gone, rather spectacularly, south.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780991312</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1662500181
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Vanda Symon
|author=Peter Terrin
+
|title=Expectant (Detective Sam Shephard)
|title=The Guard
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=Harry and Michel are very good at their job, even if we might think their job is not that great.  They and they alone are responsible for protecting the building they live in.  Designed as an impregnable fortress containing many immense, palatial apartments inhabited by the ultra-rich, the only way in is through the basement carpark, where they reside in their own small patch of territoryThey are certainly diligent – inspecting their stash of munitions twice a day, even if nothing could possibly interfere with their supply of bullets, and navigating around the large expanse of space where each of the forty floors above them has space for three supercars.  But while one seems to be dreaming of things he might not get to witness – promotion to guarding villas in Elysian fields with becoming owner's wives, the other seems to be hearing things that might not actually be there to be heard…
+
|summary=Detective Sam Shepherd is approaching the start of her maternity leave when there is a brutal, shocking murder of an expectant woman in DunedinSuddenly she finds herself embroiled in the hunt for a killer targeting pregnant women, with all the extra pressure that entails being pregnant herselfFinding herself put on desk duties, which she rails against, she just can't let the case go and she starts to follow every thread to uncover what's actually happening, and the increasingly disturbing worry of just what might happen next.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857050877</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1914585577
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1787301036
|author=Adam Blake
+
|title=What July Knew
|title=The Demon Code
+
|author=Emily Koch
|rating=4.5
+
|rating=5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Inside, things are better for the reader, but less so for former Detective Sergeant Heather Kennedy.  She's just punched the first and only client of her private security business, who was supposed to be her link to other clientsSomeone from her past, Emil Gassan, keeps calling to talk about a case she handled while she was with the Police and which resulted in her being thrown out of the force.   She's also struggling to cope with the fact of her father's death a year previously, as well as failing to move on from catching her partner Isobel cheating on her.
+
|summary=When we first meet July Hooper on 20 July 1995 she's just ten years old.  She's a careful, meticulous childThe care has been taught by her father, Mick Hooper, who is not prepared to discuss the death of his wife, July's mother, and any hint that the conversation is heading that way will lead to the necessity of a Lesson.  Other infractions of his requirements also lead to these Lessons and he's not even careful about whether or not the injuries are visible. July's teacher is concerned and brings up the possibility of abuse with the head but her worries are dismissed: Mick has been good to the school, has he not?  The playground wouldn't have been resurfaced but for him.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751545783</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Yrsa Sigurdardottir
+
|isbn=0008454493
|title=I Remember You
+
|title=All the Dangerous Things
|rating=5
+
|author=Stacy Willingham
 +
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Crime
 
|genre=Crime
|summary=Too often, people – such as myself – refer to a book as being a rollercoaster read, mostly down to a simply topsy-turvy plot.  But this is the true embodiment of a white-knuckle ride.  It has the anxiety of the queue as we watch three people – a couple and another young woman – get ferried across the fjord to one of western Iceland's most remote outposts, with the aim being to renovate an old building as a guesthouseThere's the crunch of the roll-cage protection bars locking us in as we find that something very malevolent is hiding in the tiny settlementAnd just as the car starts we might be seeking in vain the relieved thumbs-up from those leaving the ride, telling us all is well and all survived.
+
|summary=Isabelle Drake hasn't really slept for a year - well, apart from the odd occasion when she lost track of time or drifted off for a moment.  It's now a year since her son, Mason, was stolen from his bed in the middle of the night and Izzy is consumed with guilt that she heard nothing and particularly about her relief in the morning when she thought he was sleeping in.  In that year she's done everything she could to raise awareness about the caseShe does interviews and when we meet her, she's just been to TrueCrimeCon where she gave a keynote  presentationOn the plane back, she's approached by a podcaster, Waylon Spencer, who points out that she could do a podcast and get to so many more people than she could by giving speeches to a few hundred people at conferences.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444738496</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1848458436
 +
|title=Just the Nicest Couple
 +
|author=Mary Kubica
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Thrillers
 +
|summary=''The whole thing has spiralled out of control, turning into someone I'm not.''
  
{{newreview
+
''Just the Nicest Couple'' is the story of two couples: Christian and Lily Scott, and Nina and Jake HayesThe connection between the two is that Lily and Nina teach in the same school: Nina teaches English and Lily covers high school algebra.  The couples have mixed as a foursome but it's not a regular thingChristian is a market research analyst and Jake is a neurosurgeon: they don't have much in common except their wivesLily hasn't said anything yet, but she's pregnantShe has a lengthy history of miscarriages so she doesn't want to tempt fate by making the knowledge public.
|author=G Willow Wilson
 
|title=Alif the Unseen
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=Alif lives under an alias and he has a good reason for that: he's a hakinista in an Arabian oil producing country that, to put it mildly, doesn't encourage free speech.  He sells IT know-how and wizardy to any covert organisation that works against the government, their agenda unimportant as long as the aim is the downfall of their oppressionBut all that's about to change as Alif falls in love and, as it's the wrong girl at the wrong time, is spurnedHis response to this romantic let down is to create a computer programme that will identify her internet activity by her individual typing pattern.  Unfortunately what works for him also works against him.  It's captured by the notoriously dangerous government censor 'The Hand' who also wants Alif and his hidden network of colleagues.  Now Alif runs to preserve his life and those who have trusted him, his only possession an ancient manuscript from his former loveJust a book, albeit one that's accompanied by myths and old wives' tales rendering it irrelevant a logical worldHowever, sometimes the most desperate of times requires more than logic and, sometimes, a mere book of stories may be more than it seems.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857895664</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
+
Move on to [[Newest Travel Reviews]]
|author=Julie Corbin
 
|title=Do Me No Harm
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=Dr Olivia Somers is minding her own business, trying to raise two kids alone in the wake of her divorce, when everything goes wrong and her son, Robbie, ends up in hospital. It’s hard to work out what really happened, or even if Robbie is giving her the full story, but when there’s a further incident, this time involving a break in at their home, it becomes clear that these are no random attacks, and someone is out to get them. With the help of a friendly (and handsome) detective, Olivia tries to piece together the puzzle to work  who is behind the trouble, and it’s a race against time to figure it out before the next unwelcome surprise from the culprit.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340918969</amazonuk>
 
}}
 

Latest revision as of 09:57, 19 June 2024

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Review of

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley

4.5star.jpg Thrillers

It's midsummer on the Dorset coast and guests gather at The Manor. It's their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promised. It's all headed up by Francesca Meadows. The Manor was her ancestral home and she's converted it into an impressive retreat for the wealthy and famous. Her husband, Owen, was the architect and work is still ongoing on parts of the site. The heat is oppressive and amongst the guests are enemies as well as friends. Old scores are going to be settled and it won't be long before a body is found. Full Review

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Review of

Vengeance by Saima Mir

3.5star.jpg Thrillers

I was instantly intrigued by the premise of this novel – an organised crime syndicate in the north of England run by a Muslim woman. The fact that it was the second in a series I hadn't read didn't stop me – I've jumped midway into a few series before (on page and screen) and it needn't be a hindrance if it's good enough. And that wasn't a problem here. Vengeance swiftly brings you up to speed, and I never felt lost. Full Review

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Review of

Headload of Napalm by David Chadwick

4.5star.jpg Thrillers

It's September 1973 in Hicks, California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of LA and Las Vegas both a significant drive away. Not much happens in Hicks. A silver mine and a defence contractor are the main local employers but otherwise, there's not much of note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is quiet, until.... Full Review

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Review of

Moral Injuries by Christie Watson

4.5star.jpg Thrillers

Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved. Full Review

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Review of

Hotel Arcadia by Sunny Singh

3.5star.jpg Thrillers

The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel manager. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists. Full Review

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Review of

Vertical by Cody Goodfellow

3.5star.jpg Thrillers

There's something about tall buildings that just captures my imagination. Who doesn't love a good view from up high, after all? Even the drabbest office building is somewhere I'm intrigued to get inside if it's 40 stories tall. So when I picked up this book – about people who scale tall buildings for fun – I was instantly intrigued. Full Review

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Review of

No Reserve by Felix Francis

4star.jpg Thrillers

Thirty-four-year-old Theo Jennings shouldn't have been on the rostrum when the colt - as yet unnamed - came up for auction, but Peter Radway, the chairman, hadn't arrived, so he continued his session. To say that he was shocked when the bidding reached three million pounds would be an understatement. A lovely animal - but three million pounds? Two men had been bidding against each other. Brian Kitman and Elliot 'Mitch' Mitchell were well-known and respected in the racing industry. Jennings was in one of the cubicles in the toilets when the two men came in and their conversation revealed that the horse had been deliberately bid up to that figure. Both were happy that they had insurance in place. The following morning, the horse was dead in its stall. Full Review

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Review of

The Safe House by Cameron Ward

4star.jpg Thrillers

Jess Walker accepted an offer (OK, actually she was gently nudged into it by her friend, Rupert) to caretake a luxury property in the Australian outback for a couple of months. After the problems she'd had at work, it seemed like just the break she needed. She was no longer a data analyst for the Metropolitan police in London: she was Jess who was returning to the country of her birth and in need of the space to get over the traumatic end of her relationship with Charles. A few weeks in the Otway Ranges in Victoria sounded like just the ticket. Full Review

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Review of

The Devil Stone (DCI Christine Caplan) by Caro Ramsay

4star.jpg Crime

In the village of Cronchie on the West coast of Scotland, five members of a wealthy family are found murdered. The only item missing from the home is the Devil Stone: myth says that if the stone is removed from Otterburn House, death will follow. The only suspects are known Satanists but in many ways, that's an easy conclusion given that two of them 'discovered' the body. The Senior Investigating Office is DCI Bob Oswald but when he disappears, DCI Christine Caplan is pulled in to 'shadow' him. Full Review

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Review of

The Last Person in the World by Matthew Tree

4star.jpg Thrillers

Our narrator was a scholarship day boy at the London-based public school where he met Ralph Finns. It was an unusual relationship as Ralph was a boarder and had money to throw around on a Rolex watch, vintage wines and a state-of-the-art sound system. Both were probably quite surprised when they became almost friends and certainly more than acquaintances. Finns had no intention of going on to University, unlike our storyteller who had a place at Wolverton College in Wellingford, the UK's third most prestigious university. Before going up, he took up a loose invitation to visit Ralph at his home, Clouds Manor in West Dorset. Full Review

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Review of

The House at the End of the World by Dean Koontz

4star.jpg Thrillers

When you experience overwhelming tragedy and feel that there is no one on your side, you can either suck it up, saddle up and ride on or you can retreat to your own private fortress on an island that sits snugly in a small chain of tiny dots on the map and live out your days in peace and solitude. That's what Katie thought she was doing when she shut down her old life to start afresh on Jacob's Ladder; and all would have been the aforementioned peace and solitude were it not for the pesky US Government occupying Ringrock, the neighbouring island and perpetrating all manner of mischief in the name of science and quite possibly bringing about the end of all mankind. Full Review

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Review of

The Trap by Catherine Ryan Howard

4.5star.jpg Crime

It's a scene replicated all too often in the early hours of the morning. Drunken revellers spilling out of clubs and looking for a way to get home. Some are lucky and manage to get one of the few taxis available. Others squash onto the night bus that will only go as far as one of the outlying villages. The woman all regret the 'taxi problem', particularly in the light of 'the missing women'. For one young woman, the final stop on the bus leaves her a long way short of her home. She had intended to ring someone to come and collect her - but her phone's dead. The bus had driven off before she had the chance to beg the bus driver to let her use his. There's no option but to start walking - unsuitably clothed and in high-heeled shoes. Full Review

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Review of

None of this is True by Lisa Jewell

5star.jpg Thrillers

On her 45th birthday, Alix Summer celebrated with a crowd of friends in the Landsdown pub on Salisbury Road when she encountered Josie Fair. She, too, was out celebrating her 45th birthday, only she was just with her husband, Walter. It turns out that not only are Alix and Josie birthday twins, they were both born in St Mary's hospital. That's where the similarities end, though: Alix, with her husband, Nathan, are in the midst of a joyful, monied group of friends and whilst they're not exactly rowdy, they're enjoying themselves. Josie, on the other hand, holds her handbag close to her tummy and you get the sense that Walter's not too happy. He's not used to spending this much money on a meal - but it is Josie's birthday after all. Full Review

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Review of

Tin Soldiers by David Chadwick

4.5star.jpg Thrillers

Wat Tyler has returned from fighting in Vietnam under something of a cloud. What actually happened out there is gossiped about and nobody is sure exactly what took place, but an act of heroism leading to a rare battlefield commission followed by rank cowardice and disgrace seems to be the consensus. Wat himself is keeping his cards close to his chest, as he always does. Full Review

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Review of

A Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries) by A J Lewis

4.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

When we first meet our hero, his name is Ettore and he lives at The House of Beautiful Swallows. Idyllic as this might sound, it's a bordello and Ettore's mother died when he was born. He's not been short of mothers, though - but for someone of his background in late-eighteenth-century Amalfi, it's difficult to obtain decent employment. The stint working with the preparation of anchovies didn't work out and bastards are considered bad luck on fishing boats. Ettore was nothing if not resourceful - and determined - and it was not long before he had a successful business as a guide for visitors. He was even saving some money. Full Review

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Review of

Coming to Find You by Jane Corry

4.5star.jpg Thrillers

Nancy's mother and step-father were brutally stabbed at their Sussex farmhouse and her step-brother, Martin, has been convicted of their murder. We first meet Nancy outside the court, after Martin receives a life sentence. The barrister tells her that she's received a 'silent sentence' - she's not been found guilty of anything but will have to live with what happened for the rest of her life. Of course, it's made worse because Nancy's rich - she inherited five million pounds from her mother - and the papers are making the most of it. Farmhouse slaughter daughter is one favourite epithet and rich bitch might not be printed but is undoubtedly spoken. Full Review

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Review of

The Fall by Gilly Macmillan

4.5star.jpg Crime

Nicole Booth had spent the morning at the county fair before she returned home. There was no sign of her husband but opera was playing on the state-of-the-art music system installed in The Glass Barn. They'd not been in the architect-designed house on Lancaut Peninsula for long and were still getting used to all the high-tech systems Tom had insisted upon. Some of them fought with each other and didn't work as reliably as they should. It had all come about through a ten-million-pound lottery win and they were still getting used to having that sort of money, too. Eventually, Nicole found Tom dead in the swimming pool with a wound to his head. Full Review

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Review of

To Die in June by Alan Parks

4star.jpg Crime

What first seems like the unfortunate, accidental death of a homeless man on the streets, suddenly starts to feel like something more sinister as another body is discovered, and then another. This is worrying enough for detective Harry McCoy, but all the more so because his own father is a down and out alcoholic, with no fixed abode, and he has been for years. At the same time as facing these possible murders, Harry is also dealing with a move to a different police station, and the arrival there of a woman who claims her little boy has gone missing, only no record of the boy having existed can be found. Something feels wrong - not just with the woman’s story but also with the other officers where he has been stationed, but can Harry uncover just what is going on? Full Review

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Review of

The Last Passenger by Will Dean

4.5star.jpg Thrillers

Caroline Riley (she prefers 'Caz') is middle-aged and has found herself somewhat surprisingly in love with Pete. They're off on a cruise to New York on Atlantica. Caz's sister, Gemma, reckons that Pete is going to propose but Caz hasn't spotted a ring-shaped bulge in his suit pocket and she doesn't know whether she's relieved or disappointed. They've not been a couple for that long and the trip will be an excellent opportunity to get to know him a bit better. Meanwhile, Gemma is looking after Caz's cafe as well as their mother who has dementia. It's going to be good, isn't it? Full Review

166250893X.jpg

Review of

Keep Her Secret by Mark Edwards

4.5star.jpg Thrillers

Matthew and Helena are in Iceland, rekindling their university romance some twenty-odd years after they first met. The alien-landscape of the lava fields and black beaches is breath-taking and Helena seems intent on getting the perfect photograph to encapsulate the joy she is feeling in this moment, even if it kills her… which it nearly does when the edge of a ravine gives way and Helena finds herself clinging to the rockface with just the snagged strap of her rucksack between her and a 500 foot drop to certain death below. Convinced she is going to die, Helena must purge herself of the shocking secret she has been keeping and makes a panicked, cryptic declaration to Matthew. Just moments later their heroic, and frankly very well prepared, Icelandic tour guide swoops in and hauls Helena to safety and Matthew is left wondering what he just learned about Helena. Full Review

1914585615.jpg

Review of

Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen and Megan E Turney (translator)

3.5star.jpg Thrillers

Hannah presents as an unlikeable, bitter woman, an author of failing if well-regarded literary short novels. Sorry to leave her bottles of red wine behind her for an afternoon at a book fair, she flukes her way into a public argument with the latest hot shot in the world of crime fiction, saying he's populist trash and only writing what anyone could write. Cue the bet that she cannot live up to that accusation. Her publisher duly books her flights from Denmark to Iceland, where she is put up for a wintry month away from it all. Just on the point of despairing – about her writing, about the people and the lack of stimulus for her plot, more or less about everything – word comes that the landlady's nephew has been found dead… Full Review

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Review of

Twin Truths by Jacqueline Sutherland

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Belle and David's twin daughters are just coming to the end of their first term at university. Kit's been at Bristol and Jess's in Exeter. It's not only the first time they've been away from their parents for any length of time - but they've also been apart from each other. Belle can't wait to have them all to herself for a while. Then Kit rings up - can she bring her boyfriend home with her? Belle would prefer that he didn't come but doesn't want to upset Kit. Ivo's apparently 'older': he's twenty-four to Kit's eighteen but Belle figures that she can cope with that. And they'll be sharing a bedroom. Full Review

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Review of

Her Deadly Game by Robert Dugoni

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Patrick Duggan & Associates has been the life's work of Patsy Duggan – rather charmingly nicknamed 'The Irish Brawler' due to his reputation for no holds barred courtroom performances in defence of his clients. Along with an indisputable talent for the law, Patsy also has a gift for drinking himself to oblivion and inevitably the latter was beginning to overshadow the former. Enter Keera Duggan, former competitive chess prodigy and proven Seattle Prosecutor who finds herself in the hideous position of asking her father for a job at the family firm because a romantic entanglement with a senior colleague, Miller Ambrose, had gone, rather spectacularly, south. Full Review

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Review of

Expectant (Detective Sam Shephard) by Vanda Symon

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Detective Sam Shepherd is approaching the start of her maternity leave when there is a brutal, shocking murder of an expectant woman in Dunedin. Suddenly she finds herself embroiled in the hunt for a killer targeting pregnant women, with all the extra pressure that entails being pregnant herself. Finding herself put on desk duties, which she rails against, she just can't let the case go and she starts to follow every thread to uncover what's actually happening, and the increasingly disturbing worry of just what might happen next. Full Review

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Review of

What July Knew by Emily Koch

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When we first meet July Hooper on 20 July 1995 she's just ten years old. She's a careful, meticulous child. The care has been taught by her father, Mick Hooper, who is not prepared to discuss the death of his wife, July's mother, and any hint that the conversation is heading that way will lead to the necessity of a Lesson. Other infractions of his requirements also lead to these Lessons and he's not even careful about whether or not the injuries are visible. July's teacher is concerned and brings up the possibility of abuse with the head but her worries are dismissed: Mick has been good to the school, has he not? The playground wouldn't have been resurfaced but for him. Full Review

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Review of

All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham

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Isabelle Drake hasn't really slept for a year - well, apart from the odd occasion when she lost track of time or drifted off for a moment. It's now a year since her son, Mason, was stolen from his bed in the middle of the night and Izzy is consumed with guilt that she heard nothing and particularly about her relief in the morning when she thought he was sleeping in. In that year she's done everything she could to raise awareness about the case. She does interviews and when we meet her, she's just been to TrueCrimeCon where she gave a keynote presentation. On the plane back, she's approached by a podcaster, Waylon Spencer, who points out that she could do a podcast and get to so many more people than she could by giving speeches to a few hundred people at conferences. Full Review

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Review of

Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica

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The whole thing has spiralled out of control, turning into someone I'm not.

Just the Nicest Couple is the story of two couples: Christian and Lily Scott, and Nina and Jake Hayes. The connection between the two is that Lily and Nina teach in the same school: Nina teaches English and Lily covers high school algebra. The couples have mixed as a foursome but it's not a regular thing. Christian is a market research analyst and Jake is a neurosurgeon: they don't have much in common except their wives. Lily hasn't said anything yet, but she's pregnant. She has a lengthy history of miscarriages so she doesn't want to tempt fate by making the knowledge public. Full Review

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