Review: One True Word by Snæbjörn Arngrímsson

Synopsis: After a day of simmering tension on a trip to an uninhabited island, Júlia snaps and leaves her husband Gíó marooned in the middle of a freezing fjord in the depths of the Icelandic winter, with night drawing in.

When she regrets her decision and returns, he is nowhere to be found. The police launch a manhunt, but soon their suspicion falls on his wife. She spins them a story to hide her involvement, but she can feel the net closing in.

Is Gíó alive or dead? In hiding or hunting her down? And can Júlia get to the truth before it destroys her?

~ ~ ~

Another Icelandic noir that I am putting right up there was one of my favourite reads for the year (Eva Björg Ægisdóttir's "The Creak on the Stairs" was my first Icelandic thriller - aside from the Icelandic Sagas of old.).

Not only is the reader compelled to finish this mystery, but also impelled by the unreliable first person narrative of Julia and the investigation into the disappearance of "husband" Gíó. 

The concise chapters move back and forth as Julia recounts current events and those from her past in an effort to draw the reader into her mindset. But we know her version of events is unreliable as she constantly lets us know that she is a habitual liar, who lies easily and unaffectedly.

"I enjoyed the way lying tasted"

"I have a habit of lying"

Julia constantly yet not consistently puts forward her version of events and whilst the police net is closing in around her, a decided lack of proof sees Julia embark on her own quest .... for freedom ... for survival.  This is another point she makes quite clear to the reader - she is a survivor!

Is this mystery solved .... well, that is for each reader to decide.

Review: The Bucharest Legacy by William Maz

Synopsis: CIA agent Bill Hefflin is back in Bucharest—immersed in a cauldron of spies and crooked politicians ...

The CIA is rocked to its core when a KGB defector divulges that there is a KGB mole inside the Agency. They learn that the mole's handler is a KGB agent known as Boris. CIA analyst Bill Hefflin recognizes that name—Boris is the code name of Hefflin's longtime KGB asset. If the defector is correct, Hefflin realizes Boris must be a triple agent, and his supposed mole has been passing false intel to Hefflin and the CIA. What's more, this makes Hefflin the prime suspect as the KGB mole inside the Agency.

Hefflin is given a chance to prove his innocence by returning to his city of birth, Bucharest, Romania, to find Boris and track down the identity of the mole. It's been three years since the bloody revolution, and what he finds is a cauldron of spies, crooked politicians, and a country controlled by the underground and the new oligarchs, all of whom want to find Boris. But Hefflin has a secret that no one else knows—Boris has been dead for over a year.

~ ~ ~

A thrilling follow up to The Bucharest Dossier, which sees Bill back in Bucharest, tracking down not only a long dead mole, but who has now assumed his identity. A proverbial cat-and-mouse game is played out against a backdrop of conspiracy, corruption, espionage, and where every man and his dog is out for a piece of something. Democracy is slow as generations grew up in an era where bribes and blackmail were pervasive - it is a system not so easily given up, especially for those with the information and the power to hold onto it and meld it into something of their own. This is the world into which Bill is thrust in his search not only for the mole but the means with which to clear the suspicion attached to his own name.

They say "write what you know" - and Maz does this to perfection, giving the reader an insider's view of Bucharest pre and post Glasnost. A worthy successor to The Bucharest Dossier.

Review: The Lewis Trilogy by Peter May

The Blackhouse

The Isle of Lewis is the most remote, harshly beautiful place in Scotland, where the difficulty of existence seems outweighed only by people's fear of God. But older, pagan values lurk beneath the veneer of faith, the primal yearning for blood and revenge.

When a brutal murder on the island bears the hallmarks of a similar slaying in Edinburgh, police detective Fin Macleod is dispatched north to investigate. But since he himself was raised on Lewis, the investigation also represents a journey home and into his past.

Each year the island's men perform the hunting of the gugas, a savage custom no longer necessary for survival, but which they cling to even more fiercely in the face of the demands of modern morality. For Fin the hunt recalls a horrific tragedy, which after all this time may have begun to demand another sacrifice.

The Lewis Man

A MAN WITH NO NAME. An unidentified corpse is recovered from a Lewis peat bog; the only clue to its identity being a DNA sibling match to a local farmer. A MAN WITH NO MEMORY. But this islander, Tormod Macdonald - now an elderly man suffering from dementia - has always claimed to be an only child. A MAN WITH NO CHOICE. When Tormod's family approach Fin Macleod for help, Fin feels duty-bound to solve the mystery.

The Chessmen

Fin Macleod, now head of security on a privately owned Lewis estate, is charged with investigating a spate of illegal game-hunting taking place on the island. This mission reunites him with Whistler Macaskill—a local poacher, Fin's teenage intimate, and possessor of a long-buried secret. But when this reunion takes a violent, sinister turn, Fin realizes that revealing the truth could destroy the future.

The Black Loch

A MURDER

The body of eighteen-year-old TV personality Caitlin is found abandoned on a remote beach at the head of An Loch Dubh - the Black Loch - on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis. A swimmer and canoeist, it is inconceivable that she could have drowned.

A SECRET

Fin Macleod left the island ten years earlier to escape its memories. When he learns that his married son Fionnlagh had been having a clandestine affair with the dead girl and is suspected of her murder, he and Marsaili return to try and clear his name.

A TRAP

But nothing is as it seems, and the truth of the murder lies in a past that Fin would rather forget, and a tragedy at the cages of a salmon farm on East Loch Roag, where the tense climax of the story finds its resolution.

~ ~ ~

I have read the first three in the series, and all stories follow on from the previous - I have yet to read the fourth instalment. These are not your typical police procedural nor detective fiction; but there is certainly mystery, crime, drama.

The stories are a look into the darker side of a small enclosed, almost claustrophobic community, with long hidden secrets, whose community, like the island itself, is not without scars, and no-one remains untouched by tragedy. The truth of murder lies in a past best forgotten.

The Blackhouse sees the return to Lewis of Fin Macleod, sent to investigate a local death. His presence brings to light that long buried secrets from the past, which is a catalyst for the crimes he is sent to investigate. Even Fin himself has secrets so deeply buried that he has forgotten them.

The Lewis Man delves into the past of another island family with the discovery of the bog-body of a murdered man. But are those revealing what they know reliable narrators.

The Chessman deals with past events linked back to Fin's university days and a local rock band.

May has a way of slowly luring in the reader until they find themselves fully immersed in not only the narrative and characters, but the island of Lewis itself. May's prose is dark and brooding, at times even menacing, that one almost feels the isolation and harsh ruggedness of the Outer Hebrides.

For those with an interest in family drama with long hidden secrets, this series is one for you.

Review: Ink Ribbon Red by Alex Pavesi

Synopsis: Knives Out meets Saltburn in this wickedly plotted thriller where a group of friends play a deadly game that unwraps a motive for murder, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Alex Michaelides.

Anatol invites five of his oldest friends to his family home in the Wiltshire countryside to celebrate his thirtieth birthday. At his request, they play a game of his invention: Motive Method Death. The rules are simple: everyone chooses two players at random and imagines a scenario where one kills the other, then writes it down as a short story.

Points are given for making the murders feel real, as Anatol explains to the group. Of course, when given this assignment, it’s only natural to use what you know. Secrets. Grudges. Affairs. But once you’ve put it in a story, that secret is out. It’s not long before the game has reawakened old resentments and brought private matters into the light of day. So with each fictional murder, someone new gets a very real motive.

Ink Ribbon Red ultimately asks: When a real murder is headed your way, will you be able to spot it in time?

~ ~ ~

You really need to read this as a physical copy, because as the author states, this is ... " a mystery novel that builds its central mystery on the reader’s inability to tell story from story within story ..." and boy does the author achieve that in spades!

OMG .... talk about being led down the proverbial rabbit hole over and over again before some faint glimpse of reality presents itself ... the unreliable narratives (yes plural) ... the red herrings ... the back and forth between past and present ... this is definitely one book that needs to be savoured slowly, not rushed, and definitely read again ... and again!

Many will take umbrage at the narrative style and story format (even I was sceptical) but it really does work!

Highly recommended.

Review: What's Mine Is Yours by Leah Mercer

Synopsis: She invited her into her home. She shouldn’t have…

Emily: It’s been a long time since my best friend Ava stopped speaking to me. But I knew I’d find a way back in. When I hear that her daughter won’t sleep at home because of a burglary on the street, I offer to swap houses for a while. Ava is so grateful. And now I’m staying in her family home, I finally understand why she’s been avoiding me… Ava isn’t as perfect as she makes out. She’s been hiding a big secret that could ruin her idyllic life. Only now, I know all about it…

Ava: I didn’t want to let Emily back into my life, but my daughter begged me to agree to the swap. I’ll do anything for my precious girl. As I lie in Emily’s bed in her cramped apartment, I fear what she’s up to inside my home. Has she looked through my belongings? Has she found the key to the locked room in my basement? And does she know the truth about what I did?

Two friends. Two secrets. Which one is telling a deadly lie, and which is in danger?

~ ~ ~

Two women - initially friends but drifted apart, are brought back together by tragedy and decide to house swap. One is keen - one is reluctant - but both women have secrets they have no wish for the other to discover, especially now that they have swapped residences!

Quick easy chapters with flowing first person narratives that quickly build the intensity of the drama until dark secrets linking them all are finally laid bare, out in the open. The reader is left wondering just how will these revelations impact the women and their families, and will it propel one or the other into actions with unforgiving consequences.

Loved every page as I sat highly engrossed trying to discover the secrets of Ava and Emily before they were ultimately revealed to the reader.

Review: Dead of Summer by Jessa Maxwell

Synopsis: Orla O’Connor hasn’t been to the isolated New England enclave of Hadley Island since she graduated from high school a decade ago. As a teenager, her best friend Alice disappeared from its shores without a trace—but with plenty of rumors.

Now, Orla returns to her family’s beachfront home to clean it out before her parents sell it. The island and her best friend’s house next door, abandoned after her family left in grief, are stirring up memories she would like to avoid. Then there are the locals, always gossiping and watching Orla’s every move. Worst of all, David, Orla’s childhood crush and son of a wealthy Manhattan family, is back for the summer with his new, impossibly pretty girlfriend, Faith.

Faith suspects that David is going to propose but as soon as she settles into his family’s sprawling Hadley Island estate, she feels out of place. She anticipated a luxurious summer of fun and romance, but David is never around—lured into business conversations with his entrepreneur father from dawn to dusk. With nothing else to do, Faith begins to investigate the island’s dark past, curious about what really happened to Alice all those years ago.

Meanwhile, local Henry hasn’t left his house since the young girl went missing, in an attempt to let the accusations against him die down. Except they never have. For years, Henry has had an endless supply of time to pursue his only hobby, watching the island from his telescope and recording the activities of its inhabitants. But Orla’s return has shaken him and lately he’s been seeing strange things: shadowy figures walking on the beach in the middle of the night and a light on in the upstairs window of the long-abandoned house of the missing girl.

When there’s another disappearance on the island, all three find themselves pulled into an eerie and twisty mystery that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

~ ~ ~

Hadley Island - an isolated, secluded, insular, almost claustrophobic community, holding its dark secrets very close, especially by those with money and power. A community dominated by what is referred to as "narrow-prying neighbours" - where the public and private activities of individuals are open to observation (and interference) by the greater community.

Orla O'Connor is drawn back to the island by unfinished business left behind after her hasty departure many years ago when best friend Alice disappeared.  Faith Ellis, a new arrival, is joining boyfriend David Clarke and his family, whilst hoping for an announcement of impending nuptials.  Long term resident Henry Wright, hidden from the community, plays silent witness to all that happens on the island.  What dark secrets will ultimately draw all three together - will these secrets be exposed or kept hidden once again - will the mystery surrounding Alice be finally laid bare.

Using flashbacks and recalled memories, Maxwell weaves her web that slowly draws the reader into the narration. We the reader suspect, guess, imagine where we are being led, but before long the pathway comes to a dead-end and we must back track to find that little trail off to the side that we missed. The clues are there for those paying attention - but Maxwell is clever in deceiving as well as exposing.

Wonderful read that I could not put down - my first by this author - and a great start for this reader.

Review: The Bluff by Bonnie Traymore

Synopsis: “What do you have to lose, Kate?” Ryan asked me, as we stood on the bluff looking out on Lake Michigan.   Turns out, almost everything.

When I first moved from Manhattan to this small town six years ago, I worried about many things. I worried about finding a job. I worried that I’d be bored. I worried that my relationship with charming photographer Ryan Breslow was moving too fast. But I never worried about whether the ground beneath my feet would crumble—both literally and figuratively.

My marriage didn’t go as I’d imagined. A year ago, Ryan met his untimely death in a car accident that’s still under investigation. Isolated and alone, all I wanted was to sell my home and leave Crest Lake and its painful memories behind.

But with my home inching ever closer to the edge of the crumbling bluff, the property has become unmarketable. All of us on the lakefront have lost chunks of property, and tempers are at a boiling point about what to do next.

And now, on the evening of a contentious vote about how to fix this pressing issue, my nemesis on the shoreline committee has been murdered. I know how it looks, but it’s not what it seems. But I have to get my plan passed and cash out.

Because I do have secrets.   And they won’t stay buried forever.

~ ~ ~

OMG! I loved this so much that I read it in one sitting!

The scene for this mystery is a small coastal community, with the houses of some of the residents at risk of vanishing under the powerful force of mother nature.  Three plans have been submitted for consideration to stop or temporarily halt the impeding ecological disaster - all have their supporters and detractors - but who is willing to commit murder to ensure their plan is the one the proceeds. 

Central to all is our narrator, Kate Breslow, a relative newcomer to the community, and one of those putting forward a plan for community consideration - which has firmly put a target on her back.  When murder is committed, Kate comes under the scrutiny of local law enforcement - and one detective in particular. Will Kate's secrets be finally revealed?

So much to commend this - classic first (Kate Breslow) and third (Det. Travis Whittaker) person narration; red herrings; misdirection; secrets, lies and betrayals; flashback to provide context or detail; the final scene to wrap things up to a conclusion .. and then ... the kicker! 

Definitely reminds me of Lucy Foley, so those who enjoy Foley will love this one too! An easy read, with short chapters alternating between the narration, that gradually build the tension.

Must check out more by this author.

Review: The Recruiter by Gregg Podolski

Synopsis: An action-packed debut from Gregg Podolski, The Recruiter is a thrilling and unique adventure through the European underworld.  When bad guys need good help, they call Rick Carter.

He’s a criminal recruiter, searching for contract killers, cyber hackers, gun smugglers, and any other assorted villains-for-hire a European crime boss might need. But, when the family he left behind in New Jersey is caught up in a client’s plot to monopolize the black market, Rick has to save them from two of his own top candidates: deadly assassins known only as Ghost and The Persian.

Fixing his own mess will require a set of skills he doesn’t have—not a problem, as finding qualified help is where he excels. But stepping into action, becoming the hero his family needs, that’s new territory. For a man who’s spent the last ten years being the best at helping the worst, this may be his last chance to do something right.

~ ~ ~

Barely a quarter of the way in, I gave this four stars. It deserves five - what a roller-coaster ride through the murky underworld and the shady world of espionage. The bad guy is the good guy and the villains are suitably bad.

Rick Carter is a recruiter - he lines up "staff" for those who are willing to pay big bucks for a job to be done - no questions asked. However, things go a little awry (understatement) when a new client comes on the scene and makes Rick an offer he cannot refuse. Now Rick must use his skills and contacts to ensure that this new client does not achieve their end game - and it will come at a personal cost.

It is so easy to become invested in Rick's narrative as the tale rockets along - sometimes a break-neck speed - to an inevitable outcome, which is not a a tidy affair at all. The body count is high, the violence oft times gratuitous, the humour suitable dark, the undertones noirish, the action non-stop. For a first novel, the reader could not ask for anything more. Except more!

A couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to read a number of books of a similar genre (Truhen, Milford, Johnson, Holmen, Hamdy, and McDonnell). Podolski is in good company and I look forward to reading more.

Review: Dogboy V Catfish by Luke Gracias

Synopsis: On the day of her second wedding, Katherine Fisher, aka 'Catfish' set the date for her divorce. In precisely 18 months, she would be entitled to half of their combined assets and receive maintenance payments until her five- year-old daughter, Emma, turns 18. Just as Catfish was about to take her husband, Lindsay 'Dogboy' Kramer (a successful businessman and dog whisperer) to the cleaners, he goes missing.

The police investigation into Dogboy's disappearance leads them into the dark world of counterfeit designer goods, money laundering, and drug smuggling. With Dogboy's assets frozen and the mob protecting their interests, the missing persons case escalates to homicide. Catfish is in a race against time to get hold of Dogboy's assets before the police get hold of her.

One question remains - is Dogboy dead or alive?

~ ~ ~

This is my "read" of the year!

Gracias' excellent narrative provides for an engaging and thrilling "whodunnit" when a former beauty queen marries a loner for his money and begins divorce proceedings before the ink has even dried on the marriage certificate. Unfortunately, said bride soon finds that everything she thought she was getting, quickly turns to dust and slips through her fingers as her sordid past comes back to bite her in the arse.

This is a departure from Gracias' other two books - but it is a strong stand-alone. I read this in one sitting - driven by the compulsion to keep reading and wanting to know the fate Dogboy. For someone to win, someone must lose - would it be Dogboy or Catfish?.

Review: The Hiding Place by Simon Lelic

Synopsis: Four Friends. One Murder. A Game They Can't Escape.

'It was only a game.' ~ Until a boy went missing.
'No one was meant to get hurt.' ~ But a body has been found.
'Just some innocent fun.' ~ Except one of them is a killer.
Ready or not, here I come.  It's time to play hide and seek again.

I actually read this in one sitting in December 2021 - so obviously I was held fast in its grip. The Hiding Place follows on strongly from The Search Party, though this can be read as a stand-alone.

A dying boy prays to God that no-one will find him - but they did - 22 years later. Can Fleet and Collins solve this cold case, thrust upon them with no anticipation of it ever being solved. But solve it they do, bringing the secrets of a posh school out in the open as they seek redemption for the child.

Brilliant narrative, alternating between the current investigation and the boy's last days.  Like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle which at first seem to fit but then don't as they will be found to fit somewhere else.

Lelic's tenth book and my second from him - both being fabulous reads.

Alex Connor's Art Mystery Novels

Alex (Alexandra) Connor was born and educated in England. She has had a variety of careers including photographic model, personal assistant to a world famous heart surgeon, and working in a Bond Street art gallery.Having always had an intense interest in the history of art, Alex – who has previously written historical novels and non fiction – is now concentrating on writing conspiracy thrillers set in the art world.

The Rembrandt Secret (aka The Other Rembrandt)

History's biggest conspiracy is about to be revealed. But not if a brutal murderer has anything to do with it . . .

Marshall Ziegler's father runs a gallery in London, which Marshall has always ignored. But when his father is beaten to a pulp, disembowelled and left to die, Marshall suddenly needs to know every last detail of his life.

He discovers that his father knew a dark secret at the heart of Rembrandt's life, one that has the potential to bring down one of the worlds most lucrative industries. But a sadistic murderer is on the case, killing in increasingly brutal ways to keep it hidden.

Will Marshall beat the killer to the truth? Who can he trust? Will he stay alive long enough to reveal the greatest secret never told?

The Caravaggio Conspiracy

1608. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, the greatest Italian painter of his day, is expelled from the Order of the Knights of Malta. Subject to a clandestine hearing, his crime remains a closely guarded secret.

2014. Two bodies are found in a London art gallery – stripped naked, necks bound with wire and legs obscenely contorted. They are twin brothers – successful art dealers – their brutal murder linked to the mysterious disappearance of two paintings by the master Caravaggio.

Investigators are confounded, and it falls to art expert Gil Eckhart to identify the killer before he slays again. But as the search for clues takes him from the glamorous skyline of New York to the fetid catacombs of Palermo, Eckhart finds that in the high-stakes world of art, good and evil are often tarred with the same, blood-soaked, brush.

The Bosch Deception

A Truth Concealed: Brabant, 1473. 

A clandestine brotherhood hides a secret that could bring down the Catholic Church. Their chosen hiding place - the art of Hieronymus Bosch.

A Terrible Conspiracy: London, 2014. 

An excommunicated priest approaches both the Church and the art world, claiming to possess an artefact that will destroy their reputations.

A Ticking Clock: This man, Nicholas Laverne, is poised to end over 500 years of silence and injustice. Yet, unknown to Nicholas, he has just summoned a killer intent on silencing him.

I read the above three books over the course of a couple of weeks, interspersed with my other reading - its is amazing how quickly you can get through a physical book compared to an e-book.

I started with Caravaggio then Bosch and finished with Rembrandt. Of the three, only the enigmatic Caravaggio held any real interest for me - I just happened upon the other two at the same time as I came across the Caravaggio tome - and thought, why not?  All three had been sitting on the shelves of my own personal library for a number of years before I finally picked them off the shelf.  I had in the meantime read Connor's The Wolves of Venice, which I really didn't like, and figured - as I was in the midst of a book culling - to finally read a number of tomes that had been gathering dust, especially those that appeared to be a part of a series - or in this instance, similarly themed.  

Despite the different cast of characters, artist and mystery, the narrative formula is essentially the same. Past events surrounding a famous artist insinuate themselves into the 20th / 21st Century, requiring the solving / revealing of the said mystery with ensuing high body count.

Whilst I did enjoy these three for what they were - an not too dull adventure in the art world with a healthy dose of conspiracy theory - they really are not something I would go back to read again.  And so these three tomes will be donated / consigned to the little neighbourhood street library with a number of others.

More historical art mysteries:

> Reader's Digest: 13 Strangest Unsolved Mysteries of the Art World

> Culture Trip: 11 Biggest Unsolved Art Mysteries of All Time

Review: All The Old Knives by Olen Seinhauer

Synopsis: Nine years ago, terrorists hijacked a plane in Vienna. Somehow, a rescue attempt staged from the inside went terribly wrong and everyone on board was killed.

Members of the CIA stationed in Vienna during that time were witness to this terrible tragedy, gathering intel from their sources during those tense hours, assimilating facts from the ground with a series of texts coming from one of their agents inside the plane. So when it all went wrong, the question had to be asked: Had their agent been compromised, and how?

Two of those agents, Henry Pelham and Celia Harrison, were lovers at the time, and in fact that was the last night they spent together. Until now. That night Celia decided she’d had enough; she left the agency, married and had children, and is living an ordinary life in the suburbs. Henry is still an analyst, and has traveled to California to see her one more time, to relive the past, maybe, or to put it behind him once and for all.

But neither of them can forget that long-ago question: Had their agent been compromised, and how? And each of them also wonders what role tonight’s dinner companion might have played in the way things unfolded.

All the Old Knives is Olen Steinhauer’s most intimate, most cerebral, and most shocking novel to date—from the New York Times bestselling author deemed by many to be John le Carré’s heir apparent.

I came to this through a back-handed compliment from another reader - and the premise intrigued me so much so that I read it in one sitting! And verdict - definitely one for my espionage shelf!

The narrative alternates between Henry and Celia as the meeting is arranged and finally takes place. There is the most important reflection on not only past events but also of their own relationship at the time. The narrative is punctuated with emails and other documents from the period adding context and background to the events that led to this meeting.

This is a wonderfully engrossing cat and mouse standoff between two people trained to lie and be deceptive - as Celia reflects, "...  we are both trained in manipulation ... we are both less than trustworthy ...".  Who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist remains in doubt right up to the very end.

The narrative is intense, well written, skillfully plotted and slightly ambiguous with nothing being given away - Steinhauer maintains his poke face throughout.  This is also a tale of love, revenge and betrayal - as all the pieces are placed on the chessboard, does the real narrative reveals itself, and we are forced to do a double-take and retreat back through the pages to see what we missed - and when.!

I can see why this was picked up to be made into a film - it will make for a rivetting drama, and the book itself is definitely up there with the great espionage tomes of past generations.

Review: Looking For Mr Fly by KK Byrne

Synopsis: Looking for Mr Fly is a psychological thriller that looks at the lives of seemingly regular individuals that have very little in common with the exception that they are all chasing the elusive goal of happiness. Tragedy is the catalyst that drives the groups demons to the surface and it soon becomes evident that when you peer underneath the veneer of normaility and look closely enough you find that people are anything but normal.

How well do any of us really know our work colleagues. Here author KK Byrne silently posits the question whilst exploring the interconnecting relationships of a small group of co-workers through interweaving narratives.

Set against a bleak landscape which seems to project itself onto the lives of these individuals, Byrne has created a tantalising psychological thriller, whose detailed ambiance slowly, and subtlety, draws you in, leaving you constantly second guessing where you are being lead. In fact, the narrative is as manipulative and as disingenuous as some of the characters.

" ... there is a story to tell there ... the only trouble will be getting someone to tell it ..."

The ending is not how a reader will imagine it ... but ... well .... I will leave that for the reader to discover for themselves. Definitely a book to be read and savoured in one sitting!

Review: The Perfect Family by Robyn Harding

Synopsis: The bestselling author of the The Swap explores what happens when a seemingly perfect family is pushed to the edge... and beyond in this “propulsive, constantly surprising” (Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, author of The Girls Are All So Nice Here) thriller.

Thomas and Viv Adler are the envy of their neighbors: attractive, successful, with well-mannered children and a beautifully restored home.

Until one morning, when they wake up to find their porch has been pelted with eggs. It’s a prank, Thomas insists; the work of a few out-of-control kids. But when a smoke bomb is tossed on their front lawn, and their car’s tires are punctured, the family begins to worry. Surveillance cameras show nothing but grainy images of shadowy figures in hoodies. And the police dismiss the attacks, insisting they’re just the work of bored teenagers. Unable to identify the perpetrators, the Adlers are helpless as the assaults escalate into violence, and worse. And each new violation brings with it a growing fear. Because everyone in the Adler family is keeping a secret—not just from the outside world, but from each other. And secrets can be very dangerous….

This twisty, addictive page-turning suspense novel about a perfect family’s perfect façade which will keep you turning pages until its explosive ending.

~ ~ ~

A fantastic page turning, gut wrenching, edge of your seat psychological thriller. Going to be up there on my list of must reads for 2021! I really can't add much more except - read this!

2025: Well actually I can.

This is a psychological thriller with an emphasis on unstable, delusion mental and emotional conditions; it focuses on the devious depths of the human mind; the stressed characters revealing a focus on the distorted mental perception and a slow dissolving sense of reality.  As events spiral out of control, anxiety, paranoia, and mind games take hold amplifying the tension, suspense, dread, fear, terror, deception and manipulation.  As secrets are laid bare, the family quietly implodes.  The question is asked: why them - why all of them?

"... the truth is so much worse ..."

Review: The Milan Contract by Stephen Franks

Synopsis: ‘Except for the ugly brown bullet hole, the corpse could have been the image of the man in the mirror’.

Lukas Stolz, an ex-East German maths guru is shot dead outside the Hotel Napoli in Milan. But Lieutenant Raphael Conza soon wonders whether the bullet that killed Stolz was meant for someone else.

Conza’s investigations uncover a vital witness who may know the moped rider spotted leaving the murder scene. Another witness goes missing and someone is leaking details about the case.

The gang behind the murder will stop at nothing to cover their tracks and Lieutenant Conza finds himself fighting not only the assassins, but also powerful allies determined to protect them. He soon realises he’s out of his depth in pursuit of brutal killers in both Italy and the UK and has to reconsider his options after discovering a plot that could have international repercussions.

Here you have all the ingredients of a great crime thriller: espionage, sabotage, murder, revenge, hatred, blackmail, intimidation; plausible protagonists; powerful antagonists; shady killers; long held secrets dating back decades. And then there is Milan - a city that inspires and entices with its eclectic peoples and culture, a fast-paced metropolis that ignites the senses and yet harbours a darker underbelly that few are exposed to.

And just when you thought you knew where you were being led, you take a misstep and find yourself with more questions than answers.

A fantastic first novel - and cannot wait for more!

further reading:

• Milan Crime Stats
• Culture of Milan
• Milan Crime News

Review: The Devil's Advocate by Steve Cavanagh

Synopsis: 

A deadly prosecutor

They call him the King of Death Row. Randal Korn has sent more men to their deaths than any district attorney in the history of the United States.

A twisted ritualistic killing

When a young woman, Skylar Edwards, is found murdered in Buckstown, Alabama, a corrupt sheriff arrests the last person to see her alive, Andy Dubois. It doesn't seem to matter to anyone that Andy is innocent.

A small town boiling with rage

Everyone in Buckstown believes Andy is guilty. He has no hope of a fair trial. And the local defense attorney assigned to represent him has disappeared.

A former con-artist

Hot shot New York lawyer Eddie Flynn travels south to fight fire with fire. He plans to destroy the prosecutors case, find the real killer and save Andy from the electric chair.

But the murders are just beginning.  Is Eddie Flynn next?

" ... justice was simply a cloak he wore to disguise his true nature ..."

Can an outsider come into a small insular town and save a young man's life? If any man can, its Eddie Flynn. Without giving too much away, Eddie is call in to save a young man from death row - the odds are against the prisoner and Eddie as not everyone is happy to see justice served - at least not well.

Cavanagh again allows his readers to enter the inner sanctum of Eddie and his team, slowly building up the tension, drawing the reader ever deeper into an Alabama with its present deeply rooted in its past. Then the sucker punch sends you reeling back, before, like any good prize fighter, Cavanagh lifts and delivers the coup de grace with a series of body shots than send his villain to the mat.

If you have not picked up this series, it is high time you did. Each and every book is a gem; Cavanagh has a way with words that make the reader feel that they are actually part of the story and not just a interested onlooker.

After five books down, I was lucky enough to be one of a few to read this - book six (or six point five) - early via the publisher and the author; and will be adding this to my own collection without any hesitation.

Review: Catch Us The Foxes by Nicola West

Synopsis: Some secrets you try to hide. Others you don’t dare let out … Twin Peaks meets The Dry in a deliciously dark and twisted tale that unravels a small town.

Ambitious young journalist Marlowe ‘Lo’ Robertson would do anything to escape the suffocating confines of her small home town. While begrudgingly covering the annual show for the local paper, Lo is horrified to discover the mutilated corpse of Lily Williams, the reigning showgirl and Lo’s best friend. Seven strange symbols have been ruthlessly carved into Lily’s back. But when Lo reports her grisly find to the town’s police chief, he makes her promise not to tell anyone about the symbols. Lo obliges, though it’s not like she has much of a choice – after all, he is also her father.

When Lily’s murder makes headlines around the country and the town is invaded by the media, Lo seizes the opportunity to track down the killer and make a name for herself by breaking the biggest story of her life.

What Lo uncovers is that her sleepy home town has been harbouring a deadly secret, one so shocking that it will captivate the entire nation. Lo’s story will change the course of her life forever, but in a way she could never have dreamed of.

I don't tend to wax lyrical about a book but in this case I will make a rare exception.

I am going to put this forward as one of my must read psychological thrillers for the year - right up there with two of my past favourites - Killing The Girl and The Creak on the Stairs.

I - and probably much to the angst of the publisher - recommend having a physical copy of this book as you will often find yourself moving backwards and forwards, thinking you have missed some little clue, as the author dangles much before you, only to snatch it away at the last moment.

This book is - to use a colloquialism - an onion. There are so many layers that the reader really does need to pay attention. The synopsis really does give the reader a slight inkling as to what to expect - but you are being deceived. And don't think that by skipping to the end you have the whole story - you don't! You will find yourself sucker punched a number of times before the ending is revealed.

In the words of our protagonist: " ...... I know better than anyone just how alluring a conspiracy theory could be ..... I had fallen for it's allure ... it was a better story than the truth ..." - but what is truth, what is conspiracy and what is delusion ....... well, I for one won't be revealing that!

All I will add, is someone had better snap up the film rights to this one rather quickly!

Kiama Visitor Guide 

Review: The Lane Betrayal by John A Heldt

Synopsis: Virginia physicist Mark Lane has a problem. Weeks after privately creating two time machines, he learns his corporate partner wants to use the portable devices for nefarious purposes. Rather than give him the chance to do so, Mark takes the time boxes and escapes to the relative safety of 1865.

For Mark, wife Mary, and their children, the adventure is a chance to grow. Mary runs a business. Jeremy, 19, and Ashley, 12, befriend escaped slaves. Laura, 22, finds her place as a nurse. Jordan, 25, falls for a beautiful widow. All hope to find peace in the past.

Billionaire Robert Devereaux has other ideas. Shortly after Mark's betrayal, he sends an assassin to 1865 to retrieve his property and set matters straight.

Filled with romance, suspense, and history, The Lane Betrayal follows a modern American family as it tries to find security and contentment in the final weeks of the Civil War.

This is my first book from author John Heldt, and I must say, for a "time travel" tome, I was pleasantly surprised. Though I am sure we, as readers and historians, have no doubt contemplated it, I will be the first to admit that the whole "time travel" genre is not really my thing as what I had previously read, was poorly done and just put me off altogether.

As mentioned, I was pleasantly surprised with this story of a family on the run from a meglomaniac with plans to use the devices created, to rule the world. Yes I know, rather Austin Powers-esque. However, that is not the case here. The family must fly under the radar to avoid bringing undue attention to themselves, whilst not altering events, and avoid crossing paths with the man sent to find them. To that end, the family must adapt and adopt their surroundings - Civil War Virginia in 1865 - which for some members of the family present some challenges.

The narrative is told from alternating points of view - the members of the Lane family, the man sent to find them, and Mark Lane's modern-day colleagues for whom (bar one) he is an anathema. Can the family stay one step ahead and survive, or will they be forced to reveal themselves.

Well ... no real spoiler alert as the second in the series "The Fair" has been published and a third - "Sea Spray" - is due out soon - so more thrilling adventures into America's past with the Lane family await the reader!

John A Heldt is the author of the Northwest Passage, American Journey, Carson Chronicles, and Time Box series.

Blog: http://johnheldt.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnaheldt

Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnheldt

Review: The House of Killers by Samantha Lee Howe

Synopsis: Killing Eve meets Jason Bourne in this nerve-shredding new thriller series simmering with obsession and espionage… Serial killer Neva has been conditioned not to ask questions of the mysterious Network, to remain perfectly incurious and perennially cold-blooded. She must simply execute the targets they text her and live to bury the tale. But then she’s tasked with terminating a fellow assassin and glimpses her own future in her colleague’s fate. When she leaves flowers on the gravesite, someone notices.

Agent Michael Kensington knows he’ll have his work cut out for him when he’s recruited by MI5 onto operation Archive to piece together patterns in cold cases. Nothing could ever have prepared him for Neva…

An assassin obsessed with hell, a fugitive tortured by the secrets of her past, a woman destined to unthread him

The premise and the cover drew me into this first class thriller! We follow Neva, a conditioned serial assassin, as she undertaken her latest missions. But when her next assignment is one her her own, things begin to fall apart, and as a result, that instilled conditioning opens up fragments to a long hidden past, one she now starts to question. Thrown into the mix is MI5 agent, Michael Kensington who has been hot on Neva's trail for some time. And then their paths inextricably cross (as you know they must!) - and Michael follows his own path of hide and seek, not only with Neva but with his own agency.

But it is always with Neva that the reader will empathise, as more and more of her past is revealed.  The author has provided the reader with an engrossing, well crafted cat and mouse game - assassin and victim - assassin and agent - assassin and employer. We never know if Neva will break free or will be drawn back into the tightly woven web that offers a rather curiously dystopian view where money and power and greed force humanity to take a backseat.  There are so many reveals, and twists and turns that one wonders where you - the reader - will eventually end up!

It is the start of what promises to be an enthralling trilogy!

Note: I believe the next books are "Kill or Die" (May 2021) and "Kill A Spy" (July 2021)

Visit Samantha's website >>> HERE

Review: The Second Life of Inspector Canessa by Roberto Perrone

Synopsis: Family secrets, terrorist plots and the return of a legendary cop: a ferociously paced noir thriller from one of Italy’s top crime writers, and the second book in Pushkin Press’s collaboration with Walter Presents.

Annibale Canessa didn’t want to go back to his old life. When everything went wrong in 1984, he traded his brutal, exciting career in the Carabinieri for paradise in San Fruttuoso. He started swimming in the bay at dawn and helping his elderly aunt run a small restaurant. His life was calm.

But some shattering news pulls him back in - his estranged brother has been found dead; lying beside him, the body of an ex-terrorist, a man Canessa himself caught. Back in Milan, Canessa must pursue old connections and unsolved crimes, which draw him ever deeper into the underworld he thought he’d left behind…

Loved it!

I am really getting into crime /detective /  thriller / noir fiction set outside of the standard locations of the UK and USA.  And this one by Perrone is no exception to the great books I have been reading.

The synopsis covers it all: retired cop returns to avenge the killing of his estranged brother and work out the link with acts of terrorism from thirty years previous, and hence the back and forth with the timeline.

We are introduced to a number of characters early on, and it is only as we slowly progress, does their relevance to the narrative become apparent (I kept a list to keep track!).  Many of these are not nice folks - and that is the aim of the author, I think, to provide varying shades of good and bad (and some downright evil), with which to demonstrate the blurred lines and vagaries of what is right and what is just.  Even Canessa himself reminds me of "Dirty Harry" - a no-nonsense, ultimately good guy, who believes that if you shake the tree hard enough, the rotten fruit will eventually fall.

As I mentioned, I loved it. For me, it had all the required elements: crime, mystery, history, passion, power, corruption, secrets, revenge, intriguing characters, action, resolution.