Difference between revisions of "Newest Thrillers Reviews"

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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=SK Tremayne
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|isbn=1399613073
|title=The Ice Twins
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|title=Moral Injuries
|rating=5
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|author=Christie Watson
|genre=Thrillers
 
|summary=Angus inherits a Scottish island from his grandmother that holds fond memories from his childhood.  Although it's totally remote Angus, his wife Sarah and daughter Kirstie decide to move there from London.  Yes, daughter singular but they haven't always only had the one child.  Kirstie used to have a twin, Lydia, till 13 months ago.  Lydia died in a tragic accident, the circumstances of which have never fully been revealed.  At least everyone believes it was Lydia who died but what if…?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007563035</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Joakim Zander
 
|title=The Swimmer
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary='On a remote Swedish island, a little girl, Klara, grows up without a father. Now, twenty years later, she discovers a secret: a secret that powerful men will kill to keep hidden.'
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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 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.
 
 
The Swimmer begins in 1980, with a bombing in Damascus, and a tragedy that can be felt across decades.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781859175</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Sunny Singh
|author=Max Allan Collins
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|title=Hotel Arcadia
|title=Quarry's Choice
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|rating=3.5
|rating=4.5
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|genre=Thrillers
|genre=Crime
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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=If you are fed up with reading books about a hit man with a heart, why not try one of the ''Quarry'' series?  This is a man who is hired to kill and does not think too much about it; it's just a jobUsually Quarry arrives in a town, makes a hit and gets out immediately, but there is something about the world of the Dixie Mafia that is making him stay a little longerIs it the blackmail, the attractive young women, or the sense of revenge?
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|isbn=086154742X
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783290846</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Cody Goodfellow
|author=Leslie Charteris and John Telfer (narrator)
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|title=Vertical
|title=Enter the Saint
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|rating=3.5
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=When you think of thrillers written by a man in his early twenties there's a temptation to believe that the books might not be, well, top drawer, but that would be a mistake. The first of ''The Saint'' novels was published in 1928 when Leslie Charteris was just twenty one and this collection of stories is dated 1930.  You might expect the rambunctious adventurer we meet, but not the subtleties of the slightly world-weary man of the world, all-knowing about the evils to which men (and women) can sink, but they're all there. Admittedly the Saint is more boisterous and less subtle than he will become - but that speaks more about the later works than this book.
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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>B00OS74GQU</amazonuk>
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|isbn= 1803363991
 
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}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1804183210
|author=Christobel Kent
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|title=No Reserve
|title=The Crooked House
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|author=Felix Francis
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Women's Fiction
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|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Many years ago, a tragedy shook an English village. A whole family wiped out with no warning, a whole family, that is, except for one of the daughters who was, unbeknown to the assailant, upstairs at the time. Esme was that girl, but she is no more. She has a new name, a new identity, a new life, far away from that terrible place. As Alison she flies under the radar, not attracting any attention, with a menial job to fill her days. And she has every intention of staying that way, no intention of ever stepping foot in Saltleigh again.
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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 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751557501</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1405951680
|author=Jane Lythell
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|title=The Safe House
|title=After the Storm
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|author=Cameron Ward
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Rob and Anna are nearing the Honduras leg of their South American travelsHere they meet Kimberley and Owen, an American couple who charter out their own boat for sailing trips around the local islandsRob persuades Anna it will be a fun way to end their holiday but Anna isn't so sureThere's something about Owen and Kimberley that makes her hesitant about being shut away on a boat at sea with themPerhaps it's the way that he never sleeps or the mystery as to why there are no knives in the cutlery drawer. Rob thinks Anna's just overly imaginative, but time will tell.
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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 monthsAfter 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781855323</amazonuk>
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1448309743
 +
|title=The Devil Stone (DCI Christine Caplan)
 +
|author=Caro Ramsay
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Crime
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|summary=In the village of Cronchie on the West coast of Scotland, five members of a wealthy family are found murderedThe 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.
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=B0CCCPJJ5B
|author=John Connolly
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|title=The Last Person in the World
|title=The Wolf in Winter (Charlie Parker Thriller)
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|author=Matthew Tree
|rating=5
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|rating=4
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Private investigator Charlie Parker is surprised when Jude, a bum he's befriended and worked with in the past, is found  hanged in a basement.  It looks like suicide but Jude has been looking for his daughter Annie to rekindle their family relationship and has just raised over $100 to help find her. Odd time for suicide?  It becomes an even odder prospect when Annie herself goes missing after heading for the small Maine town of ProsperousCharlie decides to drop in on the good citizens of the small town and starts poking beneath the respectable veneer. It doesn’t take him long but there is a downside: this investigation may have a body count that includes Charlie.
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|summary=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 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>1444755366</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Dean Koontz
|author=Graham Fulbright
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|title=The House at the End of the World
|title=The Man With A Charmed Life and his part in saving the planet from WWIII
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|rating=4
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Englishman Henry Wright is employed by the Common Market (which would become the European Union in 1993) in Brussels and he's not entirely satisfied with his lot: he ''should'' be an interpreter but he seems to be restricted to more administrative duties.  He could refuse the offer he gets, but the chance to actually use his expertise in Russian, move across to the USA and make a point to his employers is just too temptingHe's also rather taken by Alexy Geary, the attractive woman from the intelligence-gathering agency who makes the offer, and it's not long before he's on his way.  Before he does he's peripherally involved in a shooting - and that's not something which usually happens to someone like him.
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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>1784620203</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1662453159
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1787636607
|author=Leslie Charteris and John Telfer (narrator)
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|title=The Trap
|title=The Saint Closes the Case
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|author=Catherine Ryan Howard
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
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|genre=Crime
|summary=On the way back to London with Patricia Holm late one night, Simon Templar saw a strange pulsing light and couldn't resist going to investigateWhat he discovered was a demonstration of a weapon which could well bring the world to war a mere twelve years after the end of the Great WarTemplar and his confederates concluded that the weapon could not be allowed to come into the public domain - and if necessary the inventor (who could easily recreate the weapon even if he gave assurances to the contrary) would need to be, er, sidelinedUnfortunately Templar and friends are not the only ones in search of the weapon: his old nemesis, Rayt Marius, has his own plans.
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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 homeShe 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00PABX9XE</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1529195977
|author=Chevy Stevens
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|title=None of this is True
|title=That Night
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|author=Lisa Jewell
|rating=3.5
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|rating=5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=It’s been 17 years since Toni went to prison for the murder of her sister. 17 years since she last saw her boyfriend Ryan, also convicted for the murder, since she had a meaningful conversation with her parents, since she went to a coffee shop or walked on the beach. Sent down when she was still a teenager, she’s been incarcerated for virtually half of her life and though she’s now coming up for parole, it’s not as easy as simply going back to her old life from before.
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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 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751555088</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1803136383
|author=Olivier Truc
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|title=Tin Soldiers
|title=Forty Days Without Shadow
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|author=David Chadwick
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=After an important Sámi relic is stolen from a museum in Kautokeino, a small, isolated village in the middle of the snowy tundra, tensions begin to rise between the residents. Local detective Klemet Nango and new recruit Nina Nansen are called upon to investigate the disappearance, whereupon they discover a second crime: a local reindeer herder has been brutally murdered. Nina soon suspects that the two events are linked, and, together with Klemet, embarks upon a journey full of secrets, mystery and brutality.
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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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847445861</amazonuk>
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=B0C7J9D21B
 +
|title=A Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)
 +
|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.
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=0241996104
|author=Donato Carrisi
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|title=Coming to Find You
|title=The Vanished Ones
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|author=Jane Corry
|rating=5
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Room 13 in the basement of the state morgue is where the sleepers are keptThese are the unclaimed bodies that have been classified as PHVsPotential Homicide VictimsThey are kept indefinitely, because they are evidence that a crime has been committed, possibly the only evidence.
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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 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0349140030</amazonuk>
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}}
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{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1529135389
 +
|title=The Fall
 +
|author=Gilly Macmillan
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Crime
 +
|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 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, too.  Eventually, Nicole found Tom dead in the swimming pool with a wound to his head.
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Alan Parks
|author=Antonin Varenne and Frank Wynne (translator)
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|title=To Die in June
|title=Loser's Corner
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Thrillers
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|genre=Crime
|summary=Meet Georges Crozat.  He's a policeman in Paris, who boxes on the side.  After a bout that leads to an almost embarrassing victory, he is made two offers – one from a clearly corrupt man behind the scenes in the sport, who seems to offer a few thrown fights for Georges, then some kind of status as assistant – training, guiding, profiteering; the other comes from a man known always as ''the Pakistani'' (or an unkind abbreviation of that), who has a friend of a friend who wants someone to do an enemy a mischief with their fistsGeorges doesn't take too long to choose the latter.  In alternating chapters, however, we're in the 1950s, and a rookie to the forces, Pascal Verini, is being shipped out to Algeria to work on the civil war causing the republic to break away and become independent from FranceLike Georges, he finds his situation one which also causes what may be misguided violence, even if he has a very different attitude to it.
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|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 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 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>0857052276</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1805300784
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1529382823
|author=Dan Fesperman
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|title=The Last Passenger
|title=Unmanned
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|author=Will Dean
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=''Unmanned'', the title of Fesperman's latest thriller, refers to the drones, the Predators, that Captain Darwin Cole flew over Afghanistan, from a shed somewhere in Nevada.
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|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 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 dementia. It's going to be good, isn't it?
 
 
It also refers to the state that those missions left Cole in, after one of them went badly wrongA poor call-down led to a misidentified target, a house destroyed, civilians killed, including two kids lying out in the open running away, and a girl, not dead but woundedCole could see her from his thousands of miles away, moving, agonising, separated by a considerable distance from the arm she would never use again.
 
 
 
A one-armed girl would haunt his dreams for a long time to follow.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857893424</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Mark Edwards
|author=Darragh McManus
+
|title=Keep Her Secret
|title=Shiver the Whole Night Through
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=Aidan Flood's life is miserable; he's not only bullied but he lost his girlfriend to someone who works at the local carnival and even heard that from someone else.  Life is just rubbish and needs ending totally.  This is something he almost manages to accomplish as well if it wasn't for a do-gooder passer-by.  The next morning while coming to terms with the fact he's still alive, he hears that Slaine McAuley, a girl he knows vaguely, has killed herself.  The only thing is that Aidan knows she hasn't – she told him herself after she'd died.  What did happen to her and why does she choose to tell him, of all people?  Aidan is on a mission: he ''will'' find out.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471404099</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Thomas H Cook
 
|title=A Dancer in the Dust
 
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=A man that risk management consultant Ray Campbell knew a lifetime ago is found dead on the streets of New York.  It's not just the fact that Ray knew him that's intriguing, it's where Ray knew him from: the African country of Lubanda where Ray once worked for an NGOThis death reminds him of another that happened out in Africa: that of a native Lubandan named Martine Aubert whom Ray loved and still lovesThere must be a connection and Ray will investigate till he finds it, no matter what he finds or what he remembers along the way.
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|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>1784081655</amazonuk>
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|isbn=166250893X
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
 
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|author=Jenny Lund Madsen and Megan E Turney (translator)
{{newreview
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|title=Thirty Days of Darkness
|author=Danny Weston
 
|title=The Piper
 
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=Teens
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|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Peter and Daisy are evacuated on the eve of World War Two to The Grange at Romney Marsh. Something seems wrong from the moment they get there: there are children dancing in the garden and strange music that plays at night. When Peter realises that Daisy might be in danger he’s willing to do anything he can to fill the promise he made to his mother, keep his sister safe.
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|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…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783440511</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1914585615
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=0861544056
|author=A D Garrett
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|title=Twin Truths
|title=Believe No One
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|author=Jacqueline Sutherland
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Scottish forensic science expert Professor Nick Fennimore,  and English DCI Kate Simms are both, for various reasons in St Louis, just as Nick plannedFennimore and Simms have worked together in the UK when Nick's wife was murdered and daughter kidnappedIn fact they were together the night they first went missing having a less than professional dinner.  Nick's daughter is still missing but while he follows new leads, he and Kate have other things to work onSt Louis has a serial killer to contend with: the victims are all mothers and their children are taken at the same timeNot so pure coincidenceNick sees connections so will try to make everyone else see themWhether his tactics work or not remains to be seen.
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|summary=Belle and David's twin daughters are just coming to the end of their first term at universityKit's been at Bristol and Jess's in ExeterIt'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 whileThen Kit rings up - can she bring her boyfriend home with herBelle 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 that.  And they'll be sharing a bedroom.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472114191</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Robert Dugoni
|author=Dai Henley
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|title=Her Deadly Game
|title=Blazing Obsession
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|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
 +
|author=Vanda Symon
 +
|title=Expectant (Detective Sam Shephard)
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Thrillers
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=When our story starts we know that events are going to be cruel to James Hamilton.  We might be envious of his high-end car business, with multiple dealerships and (as we later find out) a home in one of the ''nicer'' parts of Blackheath, but a couple of years down the line he'll be visited in his office by two policemen who tell him that his holiday cottage went up in flames the previous night and there are three bodies in the shell of the buildingJames won't believe that he's lost his wife, Lynne, stepson Georgie and daughter Emily.  He was going to leave shortly to join them, so ''obviously'' there had been a mistake...
+
|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 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>1784620513</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1914585577
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1787301036
|author=Sophie Littlefield
+
|title=What July Knew
|title=The Moon Pool
+
|author=Emily Koch
|rating=3.5
+
|rating=5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Comfortably off Colleen Mitchell is loath to let her 20 year old son go to North Dakota to work on the oil rigs but he's made up his mindUnfortunately her worst nightmares begin to materialise when he vanishes soon after starting work.  So, leaving her lawyer husband at home, she follows her maternal instinct to where he was last seenHis big corporate employers and the local police don’t seem that concernedHowever, in her suffering there is another person who knows exactly how Colleen feels: Shay, the mother of another lad who went missing at the same time. Hoping it's not too late they join forces and start their own investigation.
+
|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 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781856842</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|title=Don't Stand So Close
+
|isbn=0008454493
|author=Luana Lewis
+
|title=All the Dangerous Things
 +
|author=Stacy Willingham
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Thrillers
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=It’s cold outside. Dark. Snow is falling. You're safe inside. Of course you are, you've not left the house in months. You're alone, but you feel safe inside. You do. It’s ok. You can do this.
+
|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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0552169536</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1848458436
|title=A Most Wanted Man
+
|title=Just the Nicest Couple
|author=John le Carre
+
|author=Mary Kubica
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Melik is a Turkish heavy-weight boxing champion. He lives with his widowed mother in Hamburg and they are both doing their very best to keep below the radar. Since his father died they don’t even go to the mosque on a regular basis. But this particular weekend Leyla wants to go. Her daughter, still in Turkey, is getting married, and a special prayer seems to be in order. It is a visit that might well end up costing them the eight years good behaviour needed to finally get beyond their tolerated status to enable full German citizenship.
+
|summary=''The whole thing has spiralled out of control, turning into someone I'm not.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444769308</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
''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.
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Julia Bartz
|author=Louise Douglas
+
|title=The Writing Retreat
|title=Your Beautiful Lies
+
|rating=4
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=South Yorkshire 1984:  Annie Howarth comes from a mining family and is married to William, a police superintendent. Although she and their daughter have all the societal and financial status they could need, Annie's life is becoming very uncomfortable as the miners begin a strike that will become violent on both sides of the divide. It's either an illegal strike or assertion of rights depending on the side you're on but unfortunately Annie isn't permitted to choose.  However this is only the start of her problems. Tom Greenwood, a former boyfriend, is back on the streets after serving a prison sentence for manslaughter and he has unfinished business.  The problem for Annie is that the unfinished business is with her, eventually threatening her world and possibly even her life.
+
|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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0552779261</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0861544439
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1800465270
|author=Jane Shemilt
+
|title=The Lensky Connection
|title=Daughter
+
|author=Conrad Delacroix
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Jenny has a busy life – GP, wife of Ted, a successful surgeon, mother to twin teenage lads Ed and Theo and a teenage daughter (Naomi) to name but some of the rolesNow she tells herself that she should have realised Naomi's mood swings and higher heels signified more than a phaseIf she had, Jenny may have prevented her beloved child's disappearance; at least looking back on it that's what she tells herselfAs the police investigate, Jenny and her remaining family have to come to terms with not only what has happened, but what it reveals about each of them.
+
|summary=When we first meet Major Valeri Grozky, it's June 1995 and he's at the Serafimov Cemetry in St PetersburgHe's a pallbearer for his elder brother, Timur, whose death was drug-relatedValeri and Timur's father, Keto, is also a pallbearer and he's disgusted by what his son had becomeValeri 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 safetyTo her, he's a good sourceFor him, it's a way to get information published, which wouldn't otherwise be possible.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405915293</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|title=Research
 
|author=Philip Kerr
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|summary=John Houston is a multimillionaire with a beautiful wife, a number of mistresses, countless extravagances and an apartment in Monaco, for tax reasons. He made his fortune by creating a formula for a series of best-selling novels designed specifically to appeal to the average man on the street. John has a team of four ghost-writers to do all the writing, meaning that he can produce an average of six bestsellers per year. John calls his group of ghost-writers his ''atelier', his ‘workshop’, perfectly reflecting his views of them.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782065776</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Guy Adams
 
|title=The Rain-Soaked Bride
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=The last thing that the afflicted people see before their death is a wet woman in white.  The last thing they feel is their own personal rain cloud soaking them while everywhere else remains dry.  All also happen to be in top government jobsWhat's happening?  British Intelligence Department 37 (in the form of August Shining and Toby Greene) is there to find outThis may not be the full extent of the problems facing them though; not with a South Korean delegation coming to the UK for talks and August's sister April wanting to get in on the act.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091953162</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|title=The Phoenix Year
 
|author=David L Blond
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|summary=I was really looking forward to reading this, marketed as a thriller that spans the globe and centres on rich, powerful individuals trying to change the world. The cover is reminiscent of the opening titles of ''House of Cards'' and ''Damages'' and the fact that each chapter bears a title was appealing to me as well.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908959282</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
+
Move on to [[Newest Travel Reviews]]
|author=Guy Adams
 
|title=The Clown Service
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=If British Secret Intelligence Service operative Toby Greene worked for MacDonald's he'd be sacked for ineptitude.  Unfortunately for the nation he cost thousands of pounds more to train than your average burger-flipper so he's off to Section 37 instead.  The Section's label mentions anti-terrorism but, as his former boss told Toby ''If the security service is the circus, then Section 37 us where we keep the clowns.''  Meanwhile an old school Russian spy is coming to the UK with enough power to destroy London.  This may only be Toby's first job for 37 and will include a touch of astral projection but what could possibly go wrong?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091953154</amazonuk>
 
}}
 

Latest revision as of 11:26, 30 March 2024

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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

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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

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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

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

Move on to Newest Travel Reviews