Difference between revisions of "Newest Thrillers Reviews"

From TheBookbag
Jump to navigationJump to search
 
(53 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown)
Line 2: Line 2:
 
[[Category:New Reviews|Thrillers]]__NOTOC__<!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->
 
[[Category:New Reviews|Thrillers]]__NOTOC__<!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1471196615
+
|author=Sunny Singh
|title=Iced
+
|title=Hotel Arcadia
 +
|rating=3.5
 +
|genre=Thrillers
 +
|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 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.
 +
|isbn=086154742X
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Cody Goodfellow
 +
|title=Vertical
 +
|rating=3.5
 +
|genre=Thrillers
 +
|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.
 +
|isbn= 1803363991
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1804183210
 +
|title=No Reserve
 
|author=Felix Francis
 
|author=Felix Francis
|rating=4.5
+
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Thrillers
 +
|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 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.
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1405951680
 +
|title=The Safe House
 +
|author=Cameron Ward
 +
|rating=4
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Miles Pussett used to be a Steeplechase jockey but those days are past and he now gets his thrills from hurling head-first down the three-quarter-mile Cresta Run, occasionally reaching eighty miles an hourHe was in St Moritz the same weekend as White Turf - that's high-class horseracing on the frozen lake and against his better judgement he gets talked into helping with the saddling of the horses.  It's seven years since he put horseracing behind him and he swore that he'd never go back to itBut when he sees that something suspicious is going on, Miles can't help but look for answers, even when it puts him in danger.
+
|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 neededShe 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 CharlesA few weeks in the Otway Ranges in Victoria sounded like just the ticket.
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=147228612X
+
|isbn=1448309743
|title=The Late Train to Gipsy Hill
+
|title=The Devil Stone (DCI Christine Caplan)
|author=Alan Johnson
+
|author=Caro Ramsay
|rating=4.5
+
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Crime
 +
|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.
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=B0CCCPJJ5B
 +
|title=The Last Person in the World
 +
|author=Matthew Tree
 +
|rating=4
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=We all know people like Gary Nelson, although we probably haven't taken much notice of themThey live quiet, uneventful lives and stay mostly under the radar. In a city like London, that's quite easy - and even Gary's three flatmates largely ignore himThe highlight of his day is watching a beautiful young woman apply her makeup as she goes to work on the train each morning: he'd love to ask her for a date but he doesn't have the courage. Then, on his homeward commute, Arina speaks to him and asks for his help.  Before long he finds himself on the run from mobsters, Russian secret agents and the Metropolitan police.
+
|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.
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=0008433631
+
|author=Dean Koontz
|title=Next of Kin
+
|title=The House at the End of the World
|author=Kia Abdullah
+
|rating=4
|rating=5
 
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=It was the sort of thing that happened every day, although not to Leila Syed.  She'd never driven her nephew, Max, to school before but his father, Andrew Hanson, had rung her in a panicHe was supposed to be taking Max to school but he'd been called into work and the delay in getting there could lead to financial losses.  As the school was only five minutes out of Leila's way, could she drop him off?  Of course, she could and a sleeping Max was duly strapped into the back of her car.  On the way Leila took a phone call - there was panic at her work too, with a problem which could put a multi-million-pound contract at risk.
+
|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.
 +
|isbn=1662453159
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1784165263
+
|isbn=1787636607
|title=Invite Me In
+
|title=The Trap
|author=Emma Curtis
+
|author=Catherine Ryan Howard
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Crime
 
|genre=Crime
|summary=Martin Curran's wife, Eliza knew that she had to be home to make his lunch for one o'clock on the dot, despite the fact that she was actually painting one of their properties prior to it being letIf she didn't get home, there would be troubleThere was some excuse: Martin was a paraplegic and confined to a wheelchair, but don't be too quick to be understandingHe was also a very unpleasant person: he once told Eliza ''you're good at being a disappointment''.  All this was in Eliza's mind when she first met Dan Jones who arrived, unannounced, at the flat just as Eliza was about to leave: he wanted the lease of flat 2, 42 Linden Road and he was desperate to get in before it was advertised as being available.
+
|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 villagesThe 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 hisThere's no option but to start walking - unsuitably clothed and in high-heeled shoes.
 
}}
 
}}
{{Frontpage  
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Robert Peston
+
|isbn=1529195977
|title=The Whistleblower
+
|title=None of this is True
|rating=3
+
|author=Lisa Jewell
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=I'm not the first to point out how fitting it is for Robert Peston to write a political thriller, so I'll move on quickly – but this won't be winning any awards for originality. It's an interesting plot with a good pace, but it does very little to differentiate itself and I suspect before much time has passed I'll have forgotten a lot of it.  
+
|summary=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.
|isbn=1838775242
+
}}
}}  
 
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|author=Teresa Driscoll
+
|isbn=1803136383
|title=Her Perfect Family
+
|title=Tin Soldiers
|rating=5
+
|author=David Chadwick
 +
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=The novel begins by introducing you to Gemma, who at first instance appears to be your average student, faced with the familiar horrifying realisation, at the eleventh hour, that her graduation outfit is all wrong. Suddenly, Gemma receives an eerie message stating ''He is not who he says he is…'', paving the way for the sinister tone that remains throughout the novel. In a twist of events, and after a change of outfit, Gemma is shot in the midst of her graduation ceremony. With Gemma then in a coma, what follows is a complex whodunit with a list of suspects that continues to grow the further you read.
+
|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.  
|isbn=1542028752
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=0008370982
+
|isbn=B0C7J9D21B
|title=Rock Paper Scissors
+
|title=A Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)
|author=Alice Feeney
+
|author=A J Lewis
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Historical Fiction
 +
|summary=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.
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=0241996104
 +
|title=Coming to Find You
 +
|author=Jane Corry
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Amelia Wright is forty-two and it was the staff raffle at Battersea Dogs Home that gave her a weekend away in a converted chapel in ScotlandHer husband, Adam, isn't so keen on the ideaLike Amelia, he knows that their marriage has been under strain: he's a screenwriter and he's never shy of making it clear to Amelia that he'd prefer to spend time with the novels he's hoping to adapt than with her.  Amelia's annoyed that he never enquires about how her day has been - and working with the dogs, many of whom have been abused, is never easyStill - she's won the weekend away, even if it does mean driving for eight hours in her 1978 Morris Minor Traveller with Adam beside her in the passenger seat - and then doing the same thing to come back a couple of days later.
+
|summary=Nancy's mother and step-father were brutally stabbed at their Sussex farmhouse and her step-brother, Martin, has been convicted of their murderWe 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.
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=0008421714
+
|isbn=1529135389
|title=Mrs March
+
|title=The Fall
|author=Virginia Feito
+
|author=Gilly Macmillan
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=The problem began just after the publication of George March's most successful novel to dateEveryone but Mrs March (we know her first name only on the last page) seemed to either be reading it or had already done soEvery day Mrs March went to the local patisserie to buy olive bread but on that particular morning, Patricia asked, as she was wrapping the bread, ''but isn't this the first time he's based a character on you?''  She mentioned that Johanna, the principal character had 'her mannerisms''Perhaps this would not have mattered, except for the fact that Johanna is the whore of Nantes - ''a weak, plain, detestable, pathetic, unloved, unloveable wretch.''
+
|summary=Nicole Booth had spent the morning at the county fair before she returned homeThere was no sign of her husband but opera was playing on the state-of-the-art music system installed in The Glass BarnThey'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, tooEventually, Nicole found Tom dead in the swimming pool with a wound to his head.
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=0241989094
+
|author=Alan Parks
|title=The Perfect Life
+
|title=To Die in June
|author=Nuala Ellwood
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Thrillers
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=In August 2018 we meet a young woman called Imogen and she's viewing a house in Goring-on-Thames and telling the estate agent about her three children, Lavender, Freddie and BarclayThe boys are a bit of a handful which is why she's making this trip on her own.  The house would be perfect for them.
+
|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 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?
 
+
|isbn=1805300784
It's the same month but now we're in Wimbledon and we encounter the same young woman, only this time she's job hunting and living in her sister, Georgie's, spare room, where she's been since she broke up with her boyfriend, Connor.
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1787634493
+
|isbn=1529382823
|title=All Her Fault
+
|title=The Last Passenger
|author=Andrea Mara
+
|author=Will Dean
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=It had seemed like one of those serendipitous events which sometimes happenMarissa Irvine had been hoping that the opportunity would arise for her son, Milo, to go on a play dateShe was concerned that he didn't have any friends at his new school.  Milo would go home from Kerryglen National School in an affluent Dublin suburb with his classmate Jacob - and Marissa would pick him up from 14 Tudor Grove a little later.  What could be better?  Only, when Marissa arrived at the house, expecting to meet Jacob's mother, Jenny, the door was answered by Esther, who didn't know Jenny or JacobThe phone number she'd been given for Jenny was not recognisedMilo had disappearedAnd so had Jenny's nanny.
+
|summary=Caroline Riley (she prefers 'Caz') is middle-aged and has found herself somewhat surprisingly in love with PeteThey'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 disappointedThey've not been a couple for that long and the trip will be an excellent opportunity to get to know him a bit betterMeanwhile, Gemma is looking after Caz's cafe as well as their mother who has dementiaIt's going to be good, isn't it?
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|author=Claire McGowan
+
|author=Mark Edwards
|title=I Know You
+
|title=Keep Her Secret
|rating=4
+
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=''Then:'' Casey returns from a walk with the baby, Carson, and comes across three bodies, almost a whole family taken down.
+
|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 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.
 
+
|isbn=166250893X
''Now:'' Rachel is out for a walk with her dog, Brandy, when she comes across a body in the woods.
 
 
 
|isbn=1542019974
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|author=Peter Papathanasiou
+
|author=Jenny Lund Madsen and Megan E Turney (translator)
|title=The Stoning
+
|title=Thirty Days of Darkness
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
 +
|genre=Thrillers
 +
|summary=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…
 +
|isbn=1914585615
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=0861544056
 +
|title=Twin Truths
 +
|author=Jacqueline Sutherland
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=In a town sleazy enough to make sh*tholes elsewhere look glamorous in comparison, a teacher has been transported across town at night in a shopping trolley, and she's been taped to a tree and she's had rocks bowled at her as if she were the world's tallest cricket stumps. When she's discovered by the town gossip everyone, including the local cops, are quite confident the culprit has come from the immigrant detention centre the place is reluctantly home to. An arson attack on that shows the feeling and it's only fair, is the general opinion, for the occupants are often setting their own fires in protest at their conditions. Cue the arrival of George Manolis, a higher rank from the city, to sort everything out. Because such an aggrieved, insular community is really going to welcome a Greek-heritaged city boy laying down the law...
+
|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 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.
|isbn=1529416973
+
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Robert Dugoni
 +
|title=Her Deadly Game
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Crime
 +
|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 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.
 +
|isbn=1662500181
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1787631869
+
|author=Vanda Symon
|title=The Rising Tide
+
|title=Expectant (Detective Sam Shephard)
|author=Sam Lloyd
+
|rating=4.5
|rating=4
+
|genre=Crime
 +
|summary=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.
 +
|isbn=1914585577
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1787301036
 +
|title=What July Knew
 +
|author=Emily Koch
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Lucy Locke's early life hadn't been easy but she'd built a good and decent life in the aftermath.  She's now married to Daniel, who co-owns Locke-Povey Marine on Penleith Beach, and they live at Wild Ridge on Mortis Point with Billie, Lucy's daughter and Fin, the child she had with DanielThey have financial difficulties, some caused by Nick Povey, Daniel's partner and so-called best friendNick and Daniel have a history together from the time they both spent in a children's home but it's difficult to think that Nick has Daniel's best interests at heart, particularly where Lucy, or money, is concerned.
+
|summary=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 LessonOther infractions of his requirements also lead to these Lessons and he's not even careful about whether or not the injuries are visibleJuly'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.
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1786332388
+
|isbn=0008454493
|title=The First Day of Spring
+
|title=All the Dangerous Things
|author=Nancy Tucker
+
|author=Stacy Willingham
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Crime
 +
|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 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.
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1848458436
 +
|title=Just the Nicest Couple
 +
|author=Mary Kubica
 +
|rating=4
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Sometimes I wonder if I take my pleasures too sadly - and ''The First Day of Spring'' was one such occasion.  The writing is superb and completely compelling.  The characterisation is excellent and the plot grips you and won't let goSo, what's the problem? Well, the problem is Chrissie, the main characterWhen we first meet her she's just eight years old, small for her age and she readily tells us that she's just killed someone - a two-year-old boy.  She's completely cold about what she's done with her main memory being that whilst she was killing - suffocating - her hands seized up.  There's a clue that Chrissie isn't completely responsible for her actions a little later in the book: when will Steven come back, she wonders?  Hasn't he been dead for long enough?
+
|summary=''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 algebraThe 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 wivesLily 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.
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=B088YWF5BC
+
|author=Julia Bartz
|title=The Lies We Tell
+
|title=The Writing Retreat
|author=Jane Corry
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Sarah Wallace said that she grew up on a council estate in Kent and that she had two brothers and two sisters. It seemed to have been a loving, stable family. When we first meet her, she can't sleep because her son, Freddie, who's nearly sixteen, hasn't come home by the time he sort of half-promised he'd be in by. Her husband, Tom, is fast asleep: they're moving house in the morning but he's still going to be going to work and he needs his sleep.  He wakes, though, when Freddie does come in and overhears him tell his mother that he's killed someone.
+
|summary= Roza Vallo. Anyone in the world of publishing knows the name. Writers want to be her, agents want to represent her. She's something of a legend with an impressive, if compact, back catalogue of works that started with her breakthrough novel, published when she was barely out of childhood. Alex, a writer-slash-editor, is more than a little obsessed with Roza, and is stunned when, following a series of unexpected events, she is invited to be part of her month-long writers' retreat.
 +
|isbn=0861544439
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|author=Louise Candlish
+
|isbn=1800465270
|title=The Heights
+
|title=The Lensky Connection
 +
|author=Conrad Delacroix
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Ellen doesn't expect to see Kieran that day. She's on site, visiting a client for a lighting consultation when she spies him in a building across the way. There are lots of things, lots of people, you might see when you look out across London, but this isn't one Ellen expected that day or in fact any other day. Why? Because Kieran has been dead for over two years, and Ellen knows this for a fact, because she had a hand in his murder.
+
|summary=When we first meet Major Valeri Grozky, it's June 1995 and he's at the Serafimov Cemetry in St Petersburg. He's a pallbearer for his elder brother, Timur, whose death was drug-related.  Valeri and Timur's father, Keto, is also a pallbearer and he's disgusted by what his son had become.  Valeri thinks differently: he's determined to make his own stand against organised crime and avenge Timur's death.  Within a matter of months, his obsession will have cost him his marriage to Marisha and created a dubious link with Natassja Petrovskaya, a journalist.  She's determined to expose any and all corruption - and she's less concerned than she ought to be about her own safety. To her, he's a good source.  For him, it's a way to get information published, which wouldn't otherwise be possible.
|isbn=1471183483
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1838853804
+
|isbn=1529356660
|title=The Cursed Girls
+
|title=The Sanctuary
|author=Caro Ramsay
+
|author=Emma Haughton
|rating=4
+
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Megan Melvick's earliest memory is of her fourth birthday: she followed her grandfather down to the pond, only to find that he'd hanged himselfTwenty years later she's back home again and this time the occasion is no less sadShe's there to say her final farewells to her sister, Melissa, who is dying of anorexiaAs she dies, Melissa whispers 'sorry' to Megan but what did she meanThere were lots of things, minor and major cruelties, for which Melissa might have been sorry - or was it even a question?  Was she asking if Megan was sorry for sleeping with Melissa's husband, Jago, on their wedding day?  The Melvicks might seem to have everything - Ivan Melvick was Lord Lieutenant of the County and money was never in short supply - but there did seem to be a curse. In addition to Melissa's health problems, Megan was deaf and their mother, Beth, had left suddenly three years before.  Would she come back for her elder daughter's funeral?
+
|summary=It was the quiet which woke Zoey up - or, rather, the absence of the noise which was  a constant in New YorkHere it was silent and the heat was overwhelmingWhen she looked out of the window all she could see was the desertHow did she get here?  Zoey was house-sitting for Uncle Dan and his two Manx cats and she remembered that she'd been out with Franny and Rocco last night.  She knew that she'd had quite a lot to drink but how could she have got to the desert from New YorkShe had no memory of getting on a plane but as she thought back, a memory of sirens, flashing lights and of being pushed into a car snagged on the edge of her mind.
 
}}
 
}}
  
 
Move on to [[Newest Travel Reviews]]
 
Move on to [[Newest Travel Reviews]]

Latest revision as of 10:04, 9 February 2024

086154742X.jpg

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

1803363991.jpg

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

1804183210.jpg

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

1405951680.jpg

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

1448309743.jpg

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

B0CCCPJJ5B.jpg

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

1662453159.jpg

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

1787636607.jpg

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

1529195977.jpg

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

1803136383.jpg

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

B0C7J9D21B.jpg

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

0241996104.jpg

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

1529135389.jpg

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

1805300784.jpg

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

1529382823.jpg

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

0861544056.jpg

Review of

Twin Truths by Jacqueline Sutherland

5star.jpg Thrillers

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

1662500181.jpg

Review of

Her Deadly Game by Robert Dugoni

5star.jpg Crime

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

1914585577.jpg

Review of

Expectant (Detective Sam Shephard) by Vanda Symon

4.5star.jpg Crime

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

1787301036.jpg

Review of

What July Knew by Emily Koch

5star.jpg Thrillers

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

0008454493.jpg

Review of

All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham

4.5star.jpg Crime

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

1848458436.jpg

Review of

Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica

4star.jpg Thrillers

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

0861544439.jpg

Review of

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

4star.jpg Thrillers

Roza Vallo. Anyone in the world of publishing knows the name. Writers want to be her, agents want to represent her. She's something of a legend with an impressive, if compact, back catalogue of works that started with her breakthrough novel, published when she was barely out of childhood. Alex, a writer-slash-editor, is more than a little obsessed with Roza, and is stunned when, following a series of unexpected events, she is invited to be part of her month-long writers' retreat. Full Review

1800465270.jpg

Review of

The Lensky Connection by Conrad Delacroix

4.5star.jpg Thrillers

When we first meet Major Valeri Grozky, it's June 1995 and he's at the Serafimov Cemetry in St Petersburg. He's a pallbearer for his elder brother, Timur, whose death was drug-related. Valeri and Timur's father, Keto, is also a pallbearer and he's disgusted by what his son had become. Valeri thinks differently: he's determined to make his own stand against organised crime and avenge Timur's death. Within a matter of months, his obsession will have cost him his marriage to Marisha and created a dubious link with Natassja Petrovskaya, a journalist. She's determined to expose any and all corruption - and she's less concerned than she ought to be about her own safety. To her, he's a good source. For him, it's a way to get information published, which wouldn't otherwise be possible. Full Review

1529356660.jpg

Review of

The Sanctuary by Emma Haughton

3.5star.jpg Thrillers

It was the quiet which woke Zoey up - or, rather, the absence of the noise which was a constant in New York. Here it was silent and the heat was overwhelming. When she looked out of the window all she could see was the desert. How did she get here? Zoey was house-sitting for Uncle Dan and his two Manx cats and she remembered that she'd been out with Franny and Rocco last night. She knew that she'd had quite a lot to drink but how could she have got to the desert from New York? She had no memory of getting on a plane but as she thought back, a memory of sirens, flashing lights and of being pushed into a car snagged on the edge of her mind. Full Review

Move on to Newest Travel Reviews