Category Archives: #amreading

Who Did You Tell by Lesley Kara

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4 Stars from me

This book is in part a fascinating peek into the world of the AA, the meetings, the ‘Big Book, the ‘twelve steps’, and the sheer risk and trust you are forced to have with a room full of strangers. I really enjoyed this part of the story and found it – and Astrid’s struggle not to drink – really interesting.

I read Who Did You Tell in a day and found it hard to put the book down as I struggled to work out who was stalking Astrid and why, who she could trust and whether her relationship with Josh was going to work as she tried her best to leave the past behind.

The small town vibe was hilarious, I loved all the nosy neighbours and busybodies.

And, who isn’t in love with Josh? What a sweetie.

Synopsis: It’s been 192 days, seven hours and fifteen minutes since her last drink. Now Astrid is trying to turn her life around.

Having reluctantly moved back in with her mother, in a quiet seaside town away from the temptations and painful memories of her life before, Astrid is focusing on her recovery. She’s going to meetings. Confessing her misdeeds. Making amends to those she’s wronged.

But someone knows exactly what Astrid is running from. And they won’t stop until she learns that some mistakes can’t be corrected.

Some mistakes, you have to pay for…

Closer than Blood by Paul Grzegorzek

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5 Stars from me!

I can’t recommend this book enough. I felt a genuine excitement while reading Closer than Blood as it dawned on me that this book wasn’t just good, it was bloody brilliant! It is likened in the blurb to a Peter James style book but I would suggest it is more a hybrid of Peter James and Simon Kernick – it is clever, it is FAST, it has a subtle dry wit, it is exciting – honestly I was very rapidly utterly engrossed and couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.

PC Gareth Bell is a great character, he is charismatic and the scenes with his dad are, simply, beautiful. It is quite obvious when reading these little snippets that they are written from a deeply personal place and it makes them touch just the right chord.

Brighton makes for the prefect backdrop and it is fab to hear landmarks and visual descriptions of properties and areas as the characters make their way around the town.

I liked the friendships, I liked the bad guys (and gals), I liked the edginess, the fear, the fight scenes (usually skip them so they must have been good!), the sentiment and the general air of peril throughout the whole thing.

As the eagle-eyed among you may have gathered, I really enjoyed this book and heartily recommend it. I can’t wait to read more by this author.

twitter: @paulglaznost

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Synopsis: You would do anything for your family. Wouldn’t you?

The real nightmare begins when the missing person returns…

PC Gareth Bell is about to arrest a cocaine dealer on Brighton Marina, when he makes a shocking discovery that turns his world upside down: the dealer is his long-lost brother, Jake, someone he thought had died years ago.

But their reunion is short lived. For Jake is on the run from a cold-blooded killer, whose network reaches all the way into the police force itself. Now that his brother’s life is on the line, Bell has only two choices. Family, or duty?

A gripping crime thriller, perfect for fans of Peter James.

‘Writes with raw, engaging, authenticity’ Peter James

The Silent House by Nell Pattison

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4 Stars from me

Such a clever story! I found myself truly quite fascinated by the introduction to the deaf community within this book – the deaf club, the signing during arguments (selfishly something I’ve never thought about before, but when we argue we shout over each other while walking away, stomping around, from different rooms etc but deaf people would have to have self restraint in order to keep watching and signing while arguing).

Paige and her sister were great characters, there was something quite sweet and naive about them and the way they set about trying to find the killer.

The elements of peril when Paige felt under threat were great and really unnerving. There were so many scenes were I was willing her not to do what she was doing! I devoured this book and just had to keep reading to see what happened next and ultimately which of these characters could murder a sweet child in cold blood.

The scenes with her love interests were fab too, again really quite sweet and I was routing for the policeman!

Overall, Nell Pattison, has created a clever little whodunnit style police procedural with the added dimension of a huge number of the characters and potential suspects/victims being deaf. I really enjoyed it.

Synopsis: If someone was in your house, you’d know. Wouldn’t you? But the Hunter family are deaf, and don’t hear a thing when a shocking crime takes place in the middle of the night. Instead, they wake up to their worst nightmare.

The police call Paige Northwood to the scene to interpret for the witnesses. They’re in shock, but Paige senses the Hunters are hiding something.

One by one, people Paige knows from the Deaf community start to fall under suspicion. But who would kill a little girl?

Was it an intruder?

Or was the murderer closer to home?

This mystery will keep you up all night – perfect for fans of The Silent Patient and Cara Hunter

Murder in Montague Falls

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Giveaway Time!

For your chance to win a print copy (US Only), or a digital copy (International) of Murder in Montague Falls click the link below!

 Click here to enter via a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

MurderIn

If you’re still searching for the perfect Halloween read, check out this collection of chilling tales! Murder in Montague Falls will have you reading long into the night!

MURDER IN MONTAGUE FALLS ebook front cover

Murder in Montague Falls

Publication Date: August 29, 2019

Genre: Anthology/ Noir/ Dark Fiction

WHITE HOT THRILLS! PITCH BLACK DEEDS!

3 TALES OF TEENS TACKLING THEIR DARKEST RITES OF PASSAGE

Acclaimed storytellers Russ Colchamiro, Sawney Hatton, and Patrick Thomas each present an original novella brimming with enough danger, intrigue, and murder to get readers’ blood pounding and hearts racing.

In Colchamiro’s RED INK, a paperboy with an overactive imagination witnesses a brutal killing on his route—or has he taken his fantasy spy games a step too far?

In Hatton’s THE DEVIL’S DELINQUENTS, a trio of teenage misfits in pursuit of success, power, and revenge practice amateurish occult rituals… with deadly consequences.

In Thomas’s A MANY SPLENDID THING, a sultry high school teacher enrolls one of her students to get rid of her husband. But will the young man really graduate to murder?

Goodreads

Here are some teasers from the book:

Red Ink

An infrared scope cut through the suburban tree line.

Perched on a high-angle branch in the neighbor’s spruce tree, Isaac could see her through the living room window, six houses away.

The M21 semi-automatic sniper rifle with fiberglass stock and 20-round box magazine was snug against his shoulder.

One bullet. One body.

Though camouflaged within a thicket of evergreen leaves, he had a clean shot.

“Come on,” he whispered, his eye against the scope. “Give me the signal.”

In perfect synchronicity, Isaac’s earpiece crackled. “Target confirmed. Kill shot approved.”

Devil’s Delinquents

Natalie exits her room with the ritual kit, locking the door behind her.

Her father, swathed in a cornucopia-pattern quilt, sits in his wheelchair in the den, positioned near enough the window so that he can be in the daylight. Maybe he enjoys it, but one cannot tell for certain since his face registers no enjoyment, nor any other emotion.

Natalie kneels down before him, flips up the quilt, and undoes the bottom three buttons of his shirt, exposing his stomach. Between her fingertips, she wields the double-edged blade for a safety razor. She carefully nicks the skin above his father’s belly button. She looks up at him, detects no reaction.

She makes intersecting six-inch-long slices into his stomach, then carves a large circle around the lines, working around the seeping blood. Upon finishing, she evaluates her work and nods.

“I’m going to bring you back, daddy,” Natalie says to him, kissing his knuckles. “I promise.”

Splendid Thing

Rosa went from smiling to bawling in less time than it took to blink. I pulled her in and held her against my bare chest. She pounded my ribs with her closed fists.

“Why won’t you understand! There is no other way! If we don’t kill him soon, you’ll come to school one day and find that he killed me. How are you going to feel then? Especially if he figures out that you’re my lover! You would follow me to the Pearly Gates.”

“Rosa, this talk of killing is crazy.”

She pushed herself back and slapped me hard across the face. “You think I’m crazy?”

Available on Amazon

Have you ever heard of a book having its own soundtrack? Well this one does!

About the Authors

Russ Colchamiro Headshot

RUSS COLCHAMIRO is the author of the rollicking space adventure, Crossline, the zany sci-fi backpacking series Finders Keepers, Genius de Milo, and Astropalooza, editor of the sci-fi mystery anthology, Love, Murder & Mayhem, and contributing author for his newest project, Murder in Montague Falls, a noir novella collection, all with Crazy 8 Press.

Russ has contributed to several other anthologies including Tales of the Crimson Keep, Pangaea, They Keep Killing Glenn, Altered States of the Union, Thrilling Adventure Yarns, Brave New Girls vols. 3&4, Camelot 13, TV Gods 2, and Footprints in the Stars.

He is now finalizing the first in an ongoing SFF mystery series featuring his hard-boiled private eye Angela Hardwicke and has several other SFF, crime fiction, and children’s book projects in the works.

Russ lives in New Jersey with his wife, their twin ninjas, and their crazy dog, Simon.

For more on Russ’s works, visit www.russcolchamiro.com, and follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @AuthorDudeRuss.

Sawney-casual-smaller

SAWNEY HATTON is an author, editor, and screenwriter who has long loved playing in the dark. His published works include the Dark Comedy novel Dead Size, the YA Noir novella Uglyville, and the Dark Fiction short story collection Everyone Is a Moon. He also edited the Sci-Fi Horror anthology What Has Two Heads, Ten Eyes, and Terrifying Table Manners?

Other incarnations of Sawney have produced marketing videos, attended chili cook-offs, and played the banjo and sousaphone (not at the same time). As of this writing, he is still very much alive.

For more semi-unseemly insights into Sawney, visit his website at www.SawneyHatton.com or find him on Twitter and Facebook.

Patrick Thomas Headshot

PATRICK THOMAS is the award-winning author of the beloved Murphy’s Lore series and the darkly hilarious Dear Cthulhu advice empire.

His 40+ books include Fairy with a Gun, By Darkness Cursed, Lore & Dysorder, Dead to Rites, Startenders, As the Gears Turn, Cthulhu Explains It All, and Exile and Entrance. His is the co-author of the Mystic Investigators series, The Santa Heist, and the Jack Gardner mysteries.

Patrick is the co-editor of Camelot 13 (with John French), New Blood (with Diane Raetz), and Hear Them Roar (with CJ Henderson), co-created The Wildsidhe Chronicles YA series and is the creator of the Agents of the Abyss series.

He has had more than 150 short stories published in magazines and anthologies, with his work for YA and children including the Ughabooz books, the Undead Kid Diaries, the Joy Reaper books, and the Babe B. Bear Mysteries as Patrick T. Fibbs.

Visit him online at www.patthomas.net and www.patricktfibbs.com

Blog Tour Schedule

October 28th

Reads & Reels (Review) http://readsandreels.com

Viviana MacKade (Guest Post) https://viviana-mackade.blog/

Jessica Belmont (Review) https://jessicabelmont.wordpress.com/

Reviews and Promos by Nyx (Spotlight) https://nyxblogs.wordpress.com/

October 29th

Book Dragons Not Worms (Review) https://bookdragonsnotworms.blogspot.com/?m=1

Cup of Books (Review) https://cupofbooksblog.wordpress.com/

The Magic of Wor(l)ds (Spotlight) http://themagicofworlds.wordpress.com 

October 30th

B is for Book Review (Spotlight) https://bforbookreview.wordpress.com

Breakeven Books (Spotlight) https://breakevenbooks.com

Bibliolater (Spotlight) https://www.jennifermitchellbooks.com

October 31st

I Smell Sheep (Guest Post) http://www.ismellsheep.com/

J Bronder Book Reviews (Review) https://jbronderbookreviews.com/

My Bookish Bliss (Review) http://www.mybookishbliss.com

Splash into Books (Spotlight) http://splashesintobooks.wordpress.com

November 1st

Musings of a Final Girl (Review) https://musingsofafinalgirl.wordpress.com/

The Reading Chemist (Spotlight) https://thereadingchemist.com/

Kelly Lacey (Spotlight) https://lovebooksgroup.com/

Entertainingly Nerdy (Spotlight) https://www.entertaininglynerdy.com

Read and Rated (Spotlight) https://readandrated.com/

I Love Books and Stuff (Spotlight) https://ilovebooksandstuffblog.wordpress.com

Banshee Irish Horror Blog (Spotlight) www.bansheeirishhorrorblog.com

Blog Tour Organized By:

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R&R Book Tours

A Deathly Silence by Jane Isaac

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5 Stars from me

Jane Isaac has a lovely writing style, she is among the group of authors whose books I pick up without hesitation for I know that I am guaranteed an exciting tale with comfortable and well rounded characters.

DCI Helen Lavery is fast becoming a favourite of mine and I might just adopt her mantra for myself:

“Assume nothing. Believe nobody. Challenge everything.”

In A Deathly Silence Helen is just returning from an absence – I loved the opening scenes with her in the hotel ordering a bottle of wine, SO real and total sucked me straight into her life – and finds herself plunged deep into a major investigation as a fellow officer has been found murdered.

Not only has one of their own been murdered but also quite brutally tortured and yet the victim seemed to live quite a blameless life – liked by fellow officers and respected by criminals for her fairness – and she leaves behind two young children and a grieving partner for whom Helen is determined to find justice.

There are many lines of enquiry and we follow Helen has she determinedly set off to work through them all. The book has a great pace and I could easily have devoured it in one rainy day into evening sitting, however I made sure to spread it over a couple of days! Having looked forward to reading A Deathly Silence for so long I made sure to do it justice.

Characterisation throughout is spot (as I would totally expect) and all characters – from our two young scallwags, through all ranks of the police and a variety of members of the public – are all beautifully well defined.

This is police procedural at its best and I can easily visualise it becoming a TV series, much like Tennison.

I would heartily recommend #ADeathlySilence and indeed any of Jane’s books to any fans of crime thrillers and police procedurals and I look forward to reading more.

#ADeathlySilence @JaneIsaacAuthor @Legend_Press

Synopsis: When the mutilated body of a police officer is found in a derelict factory, Hamptonshire force are shocked to the core.

DCI Helen Lavery returns from injury leave and is immediately plunged into an investigation like no other. Is this a random attack or is someone targeting the force? Organised crime groups or a lone killer?

As the net draws in, Helen finds the truth lies closer than she could have imagined, and trusts no one.

But Helen is facing a twisted killer who will stop at nothing to ensure their secrets remain hidden. And time is running out…

What He Did by J G Roberts

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4 Stars from me

This is my first time reading anything by J G Roberts and I am delighted to say that I really took to our lead detective Rachel Hart although I can’t help feeling that I should have read book 1 in the series first and I am going to suggest to anyone considering ‘What He Did’ to definitely go ahead and buy/download it but to also get yourself a copy of Little Girl Missing by the same author.

What He Did has a clever storyline and many potential suspects with red herrings and discoveries along the way. Detective Rachel Hart has an interesting style in terms of how she leads her team and also how she conducts her personal life, I feel I need to know her a little better to fully understand some of her ways.

I was quickly drawn into this book and keen to discover who the killer was as one by one a group of old team mates begin to be murdered and a hidden secret is revealed as the motive. The bulk of the book is essentially a whodunnit with a few other stories running concurrently (as you would expect) which interweave at salient points.

I am looking forward to book 3 and I have to say I’ve taken a real dislike to Rachel’s boyfriend, Tim!

My thanks to @Bookouture Books on Tour for letting me take part.

Synopsis: Your husband’s car crash wasn’t an accident…

Maddy Shaw learns the life-shattering news in the most horrific way: live on air. As the shaky phone recording pans over the terrible crash, she recognises her husband Simon’s car in the wreckage… He is critically injured, and she rushes to his side.

Detective Rachel Hart knows how it feels to have a loved one’s life hanging in the balance, and hurries to support her friend. Maddy is distraught about her husband’s accident, and Rachel decides to investigate. It’s not her case, but if she can give her friend answers, she will. But she soon realises Simon didn’t crash because he was distracted, or because a tyre blew. Someone made this happen. Someone who wants Simon dead…

After the discovery of a threatening letter buried in Simon’s diary, Maddy has to ask how well she knew her husband. Then a new victim is found – an old friend of Simon’s, a man he hasn’t seen in years. It seems a dark secret from their past has finally come to light… The killer has a list of targets, and they are dying one by one.

Rachel must race against time to protect her friend and find the murderer, before another life is taken. But however fast she runs, it seems the killer is always one step ahead. And Maddy must decide if she wants the truth – even if it puts her in the killer’s path…

A twisty and breath-taking thriller for fans of Rachel Abbott, Cara Hunter and Angela Marsons.

Deadly Silence by OMJ Ryan

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4 Stars from me

I loved this debut for Detective Jane Phillips and quickly felt invested in the story and the characters. So much so that I found myself hankering after reading the backstory for Jane!

There is a certain brutality about the murders yet there are definite glimpses of a murderer with a softer side – someone who is ‘just getting the job done/righting a wrong’ which made them all the more compelling in my view. Is it wrong to admit I liked their distinctive style?

DI Jane Phillips has a brilliant team and, despite her recent demotion, they very much have her back and this is what allows the case to actually be solved. The strength of trust and respect within her team is a beautiful touch. Her new ‘boss’ Brown, an old adversary and sufferer of small man syndrome, does everything in his power to set her up and attempt to solve the case by fair means or foul. He is deliciously dislikable and plans the perfect counter to Phillips as the team strive to solve the case before more murders are committed.

Deadly Silence has an original storyline on a contemporary theme, it contains and nice balance of peril and detective work, the scene setting and character creation are all brilliantly crafted and I really look forward to reading the next book in the series.

My thanks to @OMJRyan and #InkubatorBooks for letting me take part in this @DamppebblesBTs blog tour.

Deadly Silence (Detective Jane Phillips #1) by OMJ Ryan

#DeadlySilence #InkubatorBooks @OMJRYAN1 @damppebbles @DamppebblesBTs #damppebblesblogtours

www.inkubatorbooks.com/omj-ryan-author-page

Synopsis: Some sins can never be forgiven. DI Jane Phillips was a star detective driven by a relentless quest for justice. But then she stepped outside the law. Now, demoted and suffering with PTSD, she finds herself facing the deadliest threat of her career – a serial killer who is preying on vulnerable women, murdering them in a shocking and bizarre ritual. A master of deception, he selects his victims at random. Or so it seems. But as Phillips investigates, she begins to see a method in the killer’s madness. Perhaps these victims aren’t random at all…  As the pressure mounts, can Phillips find the link between these ritual murders before the killer strikes again — or will her dogged determination to solve the case bring his deadly silence to her door?