Tag Archives: readandrated

Twisted by Steve Cavanagh

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5 Stars from me – can I give it 10?

It’s just bloody brilliant, go read it!

I could leave it there really, shortest review in history and truly accurate. I’ve not read anything by Steve Cavanagh before and I will now be seeking out a copy of Thirteen, the guy is a genius, mind you if I were his wife I don’t think I’d let him take out life insurance against me. Or have any sharp knives in the house. Or plastic sheeting. Or turn my back on him. Or ever sleep… Other than that, I expect it’s all good and nice and relaxed.

The writing style is superb, it is gripping, beautifully paced and has that magic quality of being ‘unputdownable’. I raced through the pages loving every twist and turn and yet desperately trying to slow down as I knew the book was coming to a conclusion.

I don’t want to give any spoilers – except maybe clear your diary and stock up on tea and biscuits – but if you enjoy a bit of clever killing with lots of twists and undercurrent of good humour then you need to read this book.

‘Kill your darlings’ love it and never has it been so true.

 

Synopsis: BEFORE YOU READ THIS BOOK
I WANT YOU TO KNOW THREE THINGS:

1. The police are looking to charge me with murder.
2. No one knows who I am. Or how I did it.
3. If you think you’ve found me. I’m coming for you next.

After you’ve read this book, you’ll know: the truth is far more twisted…

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The Quaker by Liam McIlvanney

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4 Stars from me

This is a great, gritty, atmospheric thriller with an air of ‘Life on Mars’ about it owing to the timeframe of 1969. The sexism and outdated viewpoints are captured beautifully, as is the impact of and resentment towards DI McCormack when he is drafted in to find fault in the original investigative team.

The story of ‘The Quaker’ is really quite dark and frightening, it’s a wonder any women ever left home during this time, let alone went to the dance halls where he was known to prey.

I loved DI Duncan McCormack, he was a well rounded character to get to know – as was Goldie – and he holds a strong line throughout the book. There are also some great little sub plots and the time and detail taken on them is admirable and really added to the quality and craftsmanship that shines out from the pages.

The reason I have given 4 stars rather than the 5 that the quality of this story deserves is because for all the brilliance, there are regularly patches where the story lags and becomes slow. Possibly it is a writing pattern/style that I am just not familiar enough with but for me it let the book down.

Having said that, I enjoyed meeting DI Duncan McCormack and would certainly go out of my way to pick up book 2 as I look forward to reading more about him and how his future unfolds.

 

Synopsis: Glasgow, 1969. In the grip of the worst winter for years, the city is brought to its knees by a killer whose name fills the streets with fear: The Quaker. He’s taken his next victim — the third woman from the same nightclub — and dumped her in the street like rubbish. The police are left chasing a ghost, with no new leads and no hope of catching their prey. After six months, DI Duncan McCormack, a talented young detective from the Highlands, is ordered to join the investigation — with a view to shutting it down for good.

His arrival is met with anger from a group of officers on the brink of despair. Soon he learns just how difficult life can be for an outsider, for McCormack is an outcast in more ways than one. When another woman is found murdered in a tenement flat, it’s clear the case is by no means over. From ruined backstreets to the dark heart of Glasgow, McCormack follows a trail of secrets that will change the city — and his life — forever . . .

Brilliantly crafted with great depth and nuance, The Quaker is an electrifying thriller that expertly captures the gritty atmosphere of paranoia and hopelessness in a city on the verge of a great upheaval. 

Have You Seen Her by Lisa Hall

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5 Stars From Me!

I warn you now, you will not want to put this book down.

Have You Seen Her by Lisa Hall is a sure fire bestseller. It is fast paced and gripping with a killer storyline.

Much like her previous novels, the attention to detail which accompanies the story is faultless – the perfect description of the way a circle of mould sinks into the dregs of a cup of coffee, the crisp crunch of frosty grass – exquisite, essentially unnecessary details which add a sheen of excellence to an already brilliant story.

The main characters, Anna, Fran, Dominic, Ruth, Ella etc are so incredibly well defined that I feel like I know them; Anna especially so, and as such I couldn’t help but imagine their anguish and feel their pain. I would easily have raced through this book in one sitting except that I had some actual real life things to do, consequently I started it on Saturday morning and finished it in a second sitting on Sunday morning – as such I know for sure that it is compelling, addictive reading because I thought about the characters for the rest of Saturday. Unconsciously, my mind was picking away at the threads of the story trying to work out what had happened to Laurel.

As for the story itself – no spoilers from me as ever – it is relentless, it continually tests you and races from one dead end to another, it is clever, the relationships within it feel so flawed they have to be real, it is awash with red herrings (or is it…) and it is simply and utterly brilliant.

In a nutshell: if this lady so much as writes a shopping list, I want to read it.

Don’t hang around reading this review, seriously you are wasting time just go and buy the book already!

 

Synopsis: Bonfire Night. A missing girl. Anna only takes her eyes off Laurel for a second. She thought Laurel was following her mum through the crowds. But in a heartbeat, Laurel is gone.

Laurel’s parents are frantic. As is Anna, their nanny. But as the hours pass, and Laurel isn’t found, suspicion grows.

Someone knows what happened to Laurel. And they’re not telling.

Have You Seen Her is the breath-taking new thriller with a killer twist from bestseller Lisa Hall.

Praise for Lisa Hall:

‘A dark, compelling read that demands to be read in one sitting.’ Sam Carrington

‘Compelling, addictive… brilliant!’ B A Paris

‘This is an unrelenting and scarily plausible story weaved expertly around some very real characters. Good luck putting it down…’ Heat

‘An addictive read.’ Closer

‘This is a fast-paced book, and with twists up until the final page, you won’t regret investing in it.’ Woman Magazine

‘Breathlessly fast-paced and cleverly unsettling, this thriller about a couple trying to escape their past is the very definition of unputdownable.’ Heat

Dead If You Don’t by Peter James

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5 Stars from me!

The fact this is the 14th book in the series certainly hasn’t diminished it’s shine. For me, one of the signs of a great author is whether or not they can make you care if someone lives or dies and I found myself racing through the pages desperately hoping that Mungo would survive his ordeal.

Peter James seemingly captures everything in this novel, his references are all current, his knowledge and detail are incredible and – while Roy Grace is like a comfy pair of slippers – the story is fast paced, interesting and exciting. I can’t recommend these books enough. If you are new to this series, I envy you enormously as you’ve got 14 fabulous books to read through!

 

Synopsis: Roy Grace, creation of the CWA Diamond Dagger award winning author Peter James, faces his most complex case yet in Dead If You Don’t.

Kipp Brown, successful businessman and compulsive gambler, is having the worst run of luck of his life. He’s beginning to lose, big style. However, taking his teenage son, Mungo, to their club’s Saturday afternoon football match should have given him a welcome respite, if only for a few hours. But it’s at the stadium where his nightmare begins.

Within minutes of arriving at the game, Kipp bumps into a client. He takes his eye off Mungo for a few moments, and in that time, the boy disappears. Then he gets the terrifying message that someone has his child, and to get him back alive, Kipp will have to pay.

Defying instruction not to contact the police, Kipp reluctantly does just that, and Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is brought in to investigate. At first it seems a straightforward case of kidnap. But rapidly Grace finds himself entering a dark, criminal underbelly of the city, where the rules are different and nothing is what it seems . . .

Don’t You Cry by Cass Green

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5 Stars from me

I loved this book from start to finish, it was thoroughly enjoyable.

I hadn’t read the synopsis before reading the book so the whole storyline was a surprise for me which I think made it even more enjoyable.

Nina is a great character, I really liked her and she held my sympathies throughout. I even found myself liking her cliched twat of an ex-husband and I usually hate those cheating b******* on principle so hats off to Cass Green for excellent characterisation all round. Especially so for the one person I hated! No spoilers…

This book takes some wonderful twists and turns and I recommend reading it in one or two sittings so that you can really immerse yourself in this bizarre little tale. As well as racing through the pages, I appreciated the moments of gentle good humour and how cleverly written it was to include such subject depth within a fast paced and gripping tale.

I’m off to look up more books by Cass Green as I simply adored her writing style.

 

Synopsis: One stolen baby. Two desperate strangers. One night of terror.

The USA Today and Sunday Times top ten bestselling author returns with a dark and twisty psychological thriller.

She saved your life.
When Nina almost dies during a disastrous blind date, her life is saved by a waitress called Angel. But later that evening, Nina is surprised by a knock on the door. It’s Angel – and she’s pointing a gun at her.

Now she’ll make you pay.
Minutes later, Angel’s younger brother Lucas turns up, covered in blood shielding a stolen newborn baby in his arms. Nina is about to endure the longest night of her life – a night that will be filled with terror and lead her to take risks she would never have believed herself capable of…

A Cold Day In Hell by Lissa Marie Redmond

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4 stars from me

I really enjoyed A Cold Day in Hell, I don’t think I’ve read anything by Lisa Marie Redmond before so it feels extra special to have found another author whose work I would like to follow.

Lauren and her partner Reese make for a great team and I enjoyed their relationship throughout the book. The moral conflict hovering just beneath the surface virtually the whole way through was excellent and there were many occasions where I found myself wondering what I would do in Lauren’s situation.

I’m a sucker for a cold case (love New Tricks and Silent Witness etc) and I will definitely be looking out for more books by Lissa Marie Redmond.

The ‘men can’t resist Lauren’ thing I found a little bit unnecessary… Maybe it was just overegged a little?

Synopsis: Lauren Riley is an accomplished detective who has always been on the opposite side of the courtroom from her nemesis, slick defense attorney Frank Violanti. But now he’s begging to hire her as a private investigator to help clear his client of murder. At first Lauren refuses, wanting nothing to do with the media circus surrounding that case—until she meets the eighteen-year-old suspect.

To keep an innocent teen from life in prison, Lauren must unravel the conflicting evidence and changing stories to get at the buried facts. But the more she digs, the more she discovers that nothing is what it first appears to be. As Lauren puts her career and life in danger, doubt starts to lurk on every corner . . . and so does her stalker. 

Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner

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4 stars from me!

Cracking debut, I love the DS Manon Bradshaw character and as someone else has said on a review – I didn’t want it to end.

Missing, Presumed is set in Cambridgeshire which made it all the more appealing to me as I am familiar with a lot of the place names and can picture them very clearly as I read.

Manon is just fabulous, she reminded me of a mix of DCI Matilda Darke, Vera Stanhope and Olivia Coleman – yes I know that is a meld of the living and the fictional! The rest of her team are also good solid players – I completely love Davy.

This is a brilliantly creative storyline, essentially focusing on a missing person yet with a whole host of side stories and sub-plots ensuring that the narrative stays alive, busy and engaging. I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more by Susie Steiner.

Synopsis: Mid-December, and Cambridgeshire is blanketed with snow. Detective Sergeant Manon Bradshaw tries to sleep after yet another soul-destroying Internet date – the low murmuring of her police radio her only solace.

Over the airwaves come reports of a missing woman – door ajar, keys and phone left behind, a spatter of blood on the kitchen floor. Manon knows the first 72 hours are critical: you find her, or you look for a body. And as soon as she sees a picture of Edith Hind, a Cambridge post-graduate from a well-connected family, she knows this case will be big.

Is Edith alive or dead? Was her ‘complex love life’ at the heart of her disappearance, as a senior officer tells the increasingly hungry press? And when a body is found, is it the end or only the beginning?

Perfect Death by Helen Fields

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4 stars from me

I really enjoy the Luc Callanach character, appearing almost too good to be true, he has a great back story which gets fully developed in Perfect Death and we understand a lot more about him and his relationship with his mother during this book.

The story itself is very clever, with little sub-stories that inevitably interweave and merge as the tale develops. In fact there are two main threads to this book and one of them contains micro-stories as you are introduced to each new victim. The killer is clever too and (without wishing to give anything away) their different ways of ensnaring their victims is really well constructed and orchestrated. Helen Fields has peppered throughout the book several emotional punches that are delivered with skill and aplomb.

DCI Ava Turner finds herself newly promoted and she is a great female lead – and a much more tangible character than Luc Callanach, for me anyway.

DI Luc Callanach and DCI Ava Turner’s relationship is an interesting one, will they won’t they? I think we all know they’d like to!

 

Synopsis: Unknown to DI Luc Callanach and the newly promoted DCI Ava Turner, a serial killer has Edinburgh firmly in his grip. The killer is taking his victims in the coldest, most calculating way possible – engineering slow and painful deaths by poison, with his victims entirely unaware of the drugs flooding their bloodstream until it’s too late.

But how do you catch a killer who hides in the shadows? A killer whose pleasure comes from watching pain from afar? Faced with their most difficult case yet, Callanach and Turner soon realise they face a seemingly impossible task…

The Woman in the Window by A J Finn

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5 stars from me

I received this book as a birthday present from my son which allowed me to indulge in the luxury of reading a hardback!

I read The Woman in the Window in three sittings, and if I hadn’t have had to go out (i.e. to work!) it would have been two. Is this a compliment, I hope so, I thought A J Finn was a woman as they captured Anna’s perspective so well. Reminiscent of Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train – only in so much as they are all absolute slam dunks!

The story telling and the creation of poor Dr Anna Fox’s world is magnificent. I lived and breathed her locked in world with her and saw life through her eyes. The old movie references throughout were utterly sublime and made me crave a slice of her bonkers existence!

A few have bemoaned that they saw twists coming. I thought I had as well but on reflection I wonder if some of the ‘twists’ are so obvious that you are meant to suss them out because you then read on with that knowledge in your head, which I feel enhances the depth of the story in a lot of ways.

I didn’t guess the overall ‘whodunnit and why’ and I truly enjoyed racing my way through these pages. I simply have to give it 5 stars as I now feel slightly bereft that its over and I can no longer dip into Anna’s world.

A great, fast paced, wham bam thank you mam of a read.

 

Synopsis: Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors.

Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble—and its shocking secrets are laid bare.

What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.

Lie With Me by Sabine Durrant

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5 stars from me!

Wow, you know that phrase ‘it was like watching a car crash in slow motion’? Well, Lie With Me by Sabine Durrant is like watching a car crash in slow motion, and then crash into another car, and then another one, and then, you get the idea.

Bizarrely, for the first few chapters, I started off by thinking I wouldn’t enjoy the book. I didn’t really like any of characters, and reading it made me feel almost uncomfortable.

But then I kept reading.

And if I thought I felt uncomfortable at the start, it is nothing compared to how I felt at the end!

In the synopsis, the book is described and claustrophobic and unsettling – that description is bang on.

There is so much not to like in this book, the people, the situations, the general air of unease and, for me, continually trying to work out what is going on and who is telling the truth.

Truly, great workmanship from Sabine Durrant! It’s a horrible book that I suggest you clear a day and sit down right now to read.

 

Synopsis: “I suppose what I am saying is, how much do we collude in our own destruction? How much of this nightmare is on me?

You can hate and rail.
You can kick out in protest.

You can do foolish and desperate things, but maybe sometimes you just have to hold up a hand and take the blame.”

Breathless.
Claustrophobic.
Unsettling.
Impossible to put down.

From the author of Under Your Skin and Remember Me This Way, Sabine Durrant. The dazzling new must-read for all fans of The Girl on the Train, Gone Girl, and The Widow.