Tuesday 28 February 2017

Porcelain: Flesh of Innocents by Lee Cockburn Blog Tour

Detective Sergeant Taylor Nicks is back and in charge of tracking down a sadistic vigilante, with a penchant for torturing paedophiles, in this unsettling crime thriller by a real-life police sergeant.

High-powered businessmen are turning up tortured around the city of Edinburgh with one specific thing in common — a sinister double life involving pedophilia. Leaving his ‘victims’ in a disturbing state, the individual responsible calls the police and lays bare the evidence of their targets’ twisted misdemeanours to discover, along with a special memento of their own troubled past — a chilling calling card. Once again heading the investigation team is Detective Sergeant Taylor Nicks, along with her partner Detective Constable Marcus Black, who are tasked not only with tracking the perpetrator down but also dealing with the unusual scenario of having to arrest the victims for their own barbarous crimes. But with the wounded piling up the predator’s thirst for revenge intensifies and soon Nicks discovers that she is no longer chasing down a sinister attacker but a deadly serial killer.

Vivid, dark and deeply unsettling Porcelain: Flesh of Innocents is the perfect next read for serious crime and police thriller fans.


Purchase from Amazon UK 
Purchase from Barnes & Noble

Book Spotlight

The book is a story about two young children who have suffered abuse all of their lives from their mother and her partner, both of them vile, cruel and sadistic people, until their rescue.
The story covers the trial from the first book Devil’s Demise, which a lot of people have been waiting for.

The book quickly moves on to violent, brutal assaults on people who have skipped the long arm of the law and vengeance grips the city.

The story revisit’s the children who are both now grown up now and the lives they are now leading and how they have coped with their past.

There are numerous extremely violent assaults that take place in the city, which the perpetrator leaves a special memento as their calling card and enough evidence of their victim’s crimes to have them face the justice they have managed to avoid.

One of the main characters suffers a very traumatic incident, one where they believe they have lost something so precious, that they feel that they can’t go on.

Taylor finds herself torn once again between Kay and Fran, her decision made, only for it to be cruelly taken away from her. Very broken and suffering her usual torment of self-destruct, she finds herself slipping once again, which only adds fuel to her other lovers anger and dismay.

The book delves into the dark recesses of human’s inability to control their deviation and lust for sadistic and evil pleasure that twist the stomachs of many. The story unravels many twists and turns, and you find yourself wishing harm on those who deserve it and for those who have caused harm to be saved.

Without giving too much away, this book will be a difficult read, as it was difficult to write, and harrowing even for me to read it over, but the story is a reminder that children aren’t children forever, and how their futures can be shaped by their past.

About Lee Cockburn

Lee Cockburn has worked for Police Scotland for sixteen years including as a police sergeant in Edinburgh for seven years and also as a public order officer. Before joining the force, she played for Scotland Women’s rugby team for fifteen years, earning over eighty caps for the Scottish ladies and British Lionesses teams. She also swam competitively for twelve years, successfully representing Edinburgh at the age of fifteen in the youth Olympics in Denmark in 1984. Lee lives in Edinburgh with her civil partner Emily and their two young sons Jamie and Harry. Her first book Devil’s Demise was published by Clink Street Publishing November 2014.

Follow Lee Cockburn on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lee_leecockburn


Sunday 26 February 2017

The Collective by R.S Williams Cover Reveal

Blurb:

Matilda Peters never knew a world outside hers existed, that is until Harvey comes along and shows her something beyond her imagination. All that is on Tilly’s mind is finishing her dissertation, getting her degree, and spending time with her friends before the end of the school year.
But everything changes when she meets Gabby, an agent of a secret society, and nothing prepared either of them for the adventure they are about to endure. Under the pressures of surviving, their friendship grows and they find friends in the most unlikely of places, and betrayal just around the corner.

Will they both be able to stop him before he tears Gabby’s society to the ground?



Author Bio: 

Rhianne Williams, formally known as RS Williams, writes Fantasy, Adventure and Romance novels. As an avid reader Rhianne has always been in love with the written word and the emotions a good story can create.

Discovering she had a knack for creating stories as a teenager, she started work on her first story. However, at 16 the mundane adult world called her back to an admin job and Rhianne put writing on the back burner until she turned 20. Rediscovering her fascination with writing and creating Rhianne then threw herself back into her writing in 2014.

When she isn't catching plot bunnies, typing up her creations or writing on her blog, you'll find her in front of the television watching her favourite shows, spending time with her family and getting lost in others fictional worlds.

Author Links:




The Cubit Quest by Trevor Leck Blog Tour

Twelve-year-old Charlie Watkins could have inherited his dad’s massive intellect.
He got his massive feet instead.

Perhaps if Charlie had that intellect he might have been able to figure out why so many men in suits were suddenly following him or where his dad hid the Cubit - a mythical object that men have sworn to protect and even more have died trying to possess - before his so-called accident.

If starting yet another new school wasn’t bad enough, Charlie meets Mr Leopold, a disfigured, mind-reading lunatic and discovers that he alone must find the Cubit if he is to save his dad. The Brotherhood, however, have other ideas. Led by the ruthless Draganovic, they will stop at nothing to get their hands on it. With the help of Mr Leopold and fellow new boy Elvis, Charlie sets out on The Cubit Quest.

Hunting for the Cubit, playing football, lessons with the dreaded Funeral Face and unsuccessfully avoiding school bully Grimshaw by day, Charlie finds his nights no less complicated. Stalked in his dreams, he’s soon immersed in a world of power struggles, battling dragons and duels to the death. With the Brotherhood hot on his heels and as the bullets begin to fly, there are no guarantees that Charlie, or anyone else, will make it to the end in one piece.


Purchase from Amazon UK

Book Spotlight for THE CUBIT QUEST by TREVOR LECK 

Twelve-year-old Charlie Watkins had accepted that he had to move into a tiny house that looked like it could fall down around his ears at any moment. He’d accepted that he was going to start yet another new school. He’d accepted the fact that he didn’t have a friend in the world – after all, even his imaginary friend got so fed up of moving that he simply vanished one day. But what he couldn’t accept, however, was the thought that he’d never have a normal conversation with his dad again. The accident had changed everything. 

And if starting yet another new school wasn’t bad enough, Charlie meets Mr Leopold, a Hawaiian-shirt-wearing, mind-reading lunatic, whose facial scar is so large it looks like someone tried to cut the top of his head off and not made a particularly good job of it. Worse still, within minutes of stepping into school he meets, and makes an enemy of, school bully, James Grimshaw. Even the teachers are no better, especially Mrs Graves or Funeral Face as everyone calls her behind her back as her stern looks make her look like she’s permanently attending a funeral. Finally, Charlie meets someone who doesn’t want to do him harm, fellow new boy, Elvis. The good news doesn’t stop there. Contrary to what the doctors said, namely that there was nothing more they could do for his father, Charlie discovers there is indeed a way to bring him back from whatever dark place he now finds himself in. All he has to do is to find something called the Cubit. All he knows about is… well, nothing. Never mind where it he, he has no idea what it is. So, with the help of Mr Leopold and Elvis, Charlie sets out on the Cubit Quest.
However, Charlie’s not the only one desperate to get his hands on something as highly prized as the Cubit. A ruthless collective of suit-wearing thugs, known only as the Brotherhood, want it too – and they have their own desperate methods of ensuring that they are the ones who acquire it. Led by the deadly and equally mysterious ‘Red Dragon’, a man with more power than most men could only dream of and who sounds like every James Bond villain rolled into one, he cares little for those who get in his way – and if that means eliminating one small boy, then so be it.

Hunting for the Cubit, playing football against local league and cup rivals, the Preston Pansies (who win by every dirty trick in the book, and by some that aren’t even written down!), lessons with the dreaded Funeral Face and avoiding (rather unsuccessfully) school bully Grimshaw by day, Charlie finds his nights no less complicated. Witnessing the building of a superstructure in his reoccurring dreams isn’t a problem for Charlie: being stalked by something that he suspects is significantly larger than himself is. No idea of the new world he now finds himself in, or any of the rules that govern that world, Charlie’s soon having to deal with mythical creatures, titanic battles and, even more worryingly for him, duels to the death.

Racing towards a climactic end, and with the Brotherhood hot on his heels, Charlie wants nothing more than to find the Cubit, rescue his dad and escape with his life. However, as the bullets, quite literally, begin to fly there are no guarantees that he, or anyone else for that matter, will make it to the end in one piece.

About the author:

Living in Telford, Shropshire, Trevor Leck has been dabbling in writing for over fifteen years. Always a fan of gripping adventure stories he has taken inspiration from his favourite authors, including John Grisham and J K Rowling, and the towns and cities he grew up, especially North Shields, to create his Young Adult series.




Saturday 25 February 2017

Wishlist February: Southern Gothic

I thought that I this month would combinate my love for the American South with my love for gothic tales. Hence Southern Gothic with everything from classic novels to more recent published ones. From pure horror to mystery tales...

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ONCE A PERSON LEAVES THE MOUNTAIN, THEY NEVER COME BACK, NOT REALLY. THEY’RE LOST FOREVER.

Nellie Clay married Hobbs Pritchard without even noticing he was a spell conjured into a man, a walking, talking ghost story. But her mama knew. She saw it in her tea leaves: death. Folks told Nellie to get off the mountain while she could, to go back home before it was too late. Hobbs wasn’t nothing but trouble. He’d even killed a man. No telling what else. That mountain was haunted, and soon enough, Nellie would feel it too. One way or another, Hobbs would get what was coming to him. The ghosts would see to that...

Told in the stunning voices of five women whose lives are inextricably bound when a murder takes place in rural Depression-era North Carolina, Ann Hite’s unforgettable debut spans generations and conjures the best of Southern folk-lore—mystery, spirits, hoodoo, and the incomparable beauty of the Appalachian landscape.

For fans of Gillian Flynn and Daniel Woodrell, a dark, gripping debut novel of literary suspense about two mysterious disappearances, a generation apart, and the meaning of family-the sacrifices we make, the secrets we keep, and the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love.

The Dane family's roots tangle deep in the Ozark Mountain town of Henbane, but that doesn't keep sixteen-year-old Lucy Dane from being treated like an outsider. Folks still whisper about her mother, a bewitching young stranger who inspired local myths when she vanished years ago. When one of Lucy's few friends, slow-minded Cheri, is found murdered, Lucy feels haunted by the two lost girls-the mother she never knew and the friend she couldn't protect. Everything changes when Lucy stumbles across Cheri's necklace in an abandoned trailer and finds herself drawn into a search for answers. What Lucy discovers makes it impossible to ignore the suspicion cast on her own kin. More alarming, she suspects Cheri's death could be linked to her mother's disappearance, and the connection between the two puts Lucy at risk of losing everything. In a place where the bonds of blood weigh heavy, Lucy must decide where her allegiances lie.

The mysterious saga of the Caskey family begins in Blackwater I: The Flood, as a devastating flood brings a strange and beautiful visitor to the small, sleepy lumber town of Perdido, Alabama.

Elinor Dammert's arrival will forever change the town and the wealthy and powerful Caskey family.

James, who dotes on Elinor like a second daughter...

Sister, who pines for Elinor’s strength and independence...

Oscar, who loves Elinor and determines to build a life with her...

And matriarch Mary-Love, perhaps the only person in Perdido with an inkling of Elinor’s true power and purpose.

For Elinor is more than she appears, and she brings to Perdido—and to the Caskeys—a deadly, inexplicable otherness from which no one can ever be safe.

Welcome to Babylon, a typical sleepy southern town, where years earlier the Larkin family suffered a terrible tragedy. Now they are about to endure another: fourteen-year-old Margaret Larkin will be robbed of her innocence and her life by a killer who is beyond the reach of the law.

But something strange is happening in Babylon: traffic lights flash an eerie blue, a ghostly hand slithers from the drain of a kitchen sink, graves erupt from the local cemetery in an implacable march of terror . . . And beneath the murky surface of the river, a shifting, almost human shape slowly takes form. Night after night it will pursue the murderer. And when the full moon rises over Babylon, it will seek a terrible vengeance . . .







The Sound and the Fury is the tragedy of the Compson family, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant. Their lives fragmented and harrowed by history and legacy, the character’s voices and actions mesh to create what is arguably Faulkner’s masterpiece and one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.





See other Wishlists:

Friday 24 February 2017

#BookReview The Girl from Rawblood by Catriona Ward

The Girl from Rawblood by Catriona Ward
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The genre-bending creativity of David Mitchell meets the gothic voice of Susan Hill in this highly praised debut

Iris and her father are the last of the Villarca line. For generations, the Villarcas have been haunted by "her." Her origins are a mystery, but her purpose is clear: when a Villarca marries, when they love, when they have a child—she comes, and death follows.

Confined in their lonely mansion on Dartmoor, Iris makes her father a promise—to remain alone all her life. But when she's fifteen, Iris breaks that promise. She dares to fall in love, and the consequences of her choice are immediate and heartbreaking. From the sun-spotted hills of Italy to the biting chill of Victorian dissection halls, The Girl from Rawblood is a lyrical and haunting historical novel of darkness, love, and the ghosts of the past.


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When it comes to horror a Gothic tale has something that with all likelihood always will appeal to me. Add a mysterious family haunted by an entity just called "her" and I'm sold. THE GIRL FROM RAWBLOOD instantly appealed to me with its fascinating cover and interesting description. Iris and her father live in a lonely old mansion on Dartmoor and he warns her that she should never fall in love because strong feelings bring on "her" and when she comes, brutal death will follow. Nevertheless, Iris does fall in love and with that, a series of events begin that lead Iris to learn the truth about "her."

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!

#BookReview Hemma hos Bettan (At home at Bettan's) by Eli Åhman Owetz (SWE/ENG)

Hemma hos Bettan by Eli Åhman Owetz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

SWEDISH REVIEW


"Men då åker vi väl dit då. Till 70-talet. Kan ni på lördag?"

De tre barndomsvännerna Bettan, Matte och Carina har fastnat i en grå vardag. Bettan drömmer om att öppna inredningsbutik men harvar på som busschaufför, Mattes författarkarriär vill aldrig riktigt ta fart och Carinas glamorösa liv slås i spillror när hon erbjuds avgångsvederlag från sitt chefsjobb.

De bestämmer sig för att åka tillbaka i tiden, till utsvängda jeans, blå Blend och Kiss. Till Bettans sommarställe där allting en gång började, och där en missuppfattning kommer att leda till den perfekta affärsidén - en retro-retreat för tilltufsade själar.


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Hemma hos Bettan är en supercharmig bok om tre vänner som av en slump öppnar ett retro-retreat för människor i 50+ åldern som behöver en återställare. Antingen har de blivit av med jobbet då de anser för gamla eller så behöver de bara finna sig själva igen. Och vad bättre då än att återvända till 70-talet när de var som lyckligast?

Boken tog för mig bara några timmar att läsa. Men så är det en feelgood bok, lättläst och så där passande mysig för när man vill ligga på soffan en ledig dag och bara läsa något trivsamt. Jag hade rätt roligt åt att jag trodde Matte var tjej när jag började läsa boken (min mamma trodde samma sak), men jag tror det beror på att feelgood böcker ofta har kvinnliga berättarröster. Jag insåg det först när Matte tilltalades som en han.

Hemma hos Bettan är en perfekt bok för alla 50+ som saknar 70-talet. Men den funkar också för yngre generationer, som till exempel dem födda i slutet av 70-talet (host) och som växte upp på 80-90-talet. För jag måste verkligen erkänna att det sista årtionden jag skulle vilja återvända till är 90-talet!

Tack till Bokfabriken för recensionsexemplaret!

ENGLISH REVIEW

"But let's go back there then. To the 70s. Can you on Saturday?" 

The three childhood friends, Bettan, Matte and Carina are stuck in life. Bettan dreams of opening an interior design shop, but harrows on as a bus driver, Mattes writing career has never really take off and Carina's glamorous life is shattered when she offered severance pay from her management position.

They decide to go back in time, to flared jeans, blue Blend (cigarettes) and Kiss. To Bettan's summer place where everything once started, and where a misconception will lead to the perfect business idea - a retro retreat for tousled souls.

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At home at Bettan's is a very charming book about three friends who by chance open a retro-retreat for people around 50 years old who need to take a break. Either they have lost their jobs because they are too old or they only need to find themselves again. And what's better than to return to the 70s when they were happiest?

The book took me only a few hours to read. But, that's not so surprising since it's a feel-good book, easy to read, and perfect for when you want to lie on the couch one day and just read something pleasant. The funny thing is that I Matte was a girl when I started reading the book (my mother thought the same thing), but I think it because that feelgood books often have a female narrative. I realized it first when Matte was addressed as a he.

At home at Bettan's is a perfect book for anyone 50+ missing the 70s. However, it works well for younger generations, such as those born in the late 70s (cough) and who grew up in the 80-90s. I have to admit that the 90s is the last decade I would like to return to!

Thanks to Bokfabriken for the review copy!

Thursday 23 February 2017

Cover Crush: Cold Hearted River by Keith McCafferty


For new visitors do I want to explain that Cover Crush is something that my friend Erin over at Flashlight Commentary came up with and I adopted the idea together with some other friends. And, now we try to put up a Cover Crush every week. You can check below my pick of the week for their choices this week!


Viking (Penguin Publishing Group)
FRONTLIST | On Sale Date: July 4, 2017
ISBN 9780525429609, 0525429603
Hardcover | 320 pages
Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Police Procedural

The sixth novel in the acclaimed Sean Stranahan mystery series

Sheriff Martha Ettinger reunites with once-again lover and sometime private detective Sean Stranahan to investigate the death of a woman who was stranded in a spring snowstorm. When a fly wallet is found in a pannier on the saddle of the woman’s horse, the leather engraved with the initials EH, Stranahan shows the wallet to Patrick Willoughby, the president of the Madison River Liars and Fly Tiers Club. Only a few days before, Willoughby was approached by a man selling fishing gear that had belonged to a famous outdoorsman and writer. All the clues point to an obsession with Ernest Hemingway, and Sean soon finds himself on the trail of a missing steamer trunk rumored to contain not only the writer’s valuable fly fishing gear, but perhaps even priceless samples of his unpublished work.

The investigation leads Sean into the salacious world of Chinese traditional medicines, and through one extraordinary chapter in Hemingway’s life to another. From a trout river in Michigan where a woman grapples with the cold in her hands and heart, to the ruins of Havana, and finally, to a cabin in Wyoming under the Froze To Death Plateau, Keith McCafferty’s latest novel in the Sean Stranahan mystery series is a thrilling tale.

Some thoughts about the cover:

This cover follows the same trail as the previous books, and I love the strong colors and the artwork. 

Check out what my friends have picked for Cover Crush's this week:

Flashlight Commentary
A Literary Vacation

Tuesday 21 February 2017

Revealing Nicola by Sam Cheever Book Blast

Revealing Nicola

by Sam Cheever

February 21, 2017 Book Blast

Revealing Nicola by Sam Cheever

Synopsis:

She has to overcome a lifetime of secrets…the shock of discovery.

He must protect a treasure that has turned passion to hate… reason to incoherence.
Poisoned by danger, intrigue, lust, and greed…their very survival is in the balance.
Can they endure the conspiracy and find love? And if they do…will it be enough?

Book Details:

Genre:Romantic Suspense, Thriller
Published by: Electric Prose Publications
Publication Date: February 7, 2017
Number of Pages: 183
ISBN: 978-1-63587-971-1
Series: La Fortuna DeVitis #1
Purchase Links: Amazon  | Barnes & Noble  | iTunes  | Goodreads 

Read an excerpt:

A coughing sound engaged Franco’s training and he had her on the ground beneath him before the second shot was fired.
The roast chicken exploded, sending shredded meat across the table and raining over them.
Nici’s eyes were wide with fear. “What?”
“Stay down. Don’t move.”
He crawled off her, reaching for his piece as he positioned himself between the car and the table. From the trajectory of the shots, Franco figured the shooter had gone high, probably sitting in a tree to the south of their position. If Nic stayed down on the ground between the table and the Jeep she should be out of his range. But he had no intention of leaving her there.
He needed to get her into the car and out of that park as fast as he could.
Another shot sighed past, hitting the side of the car. Behind him, Nic yelped and he was afraid she’d been hit. “You all right?”
“Other than peeing myself? I’m just dandy. You need to get down, Franco. You’re going to get shot.”
He couldn’t help smiling as his gaze slid slowly along the perimeter. “I’m the bodyguard, remember? I’m the one who’s supposed to get shot.”
“Don’t even joke about that.”
There! A dark form shifted between the branches of a tree, seventy-five yards away. Franco dived to the ground as three rounds peppered the table, spewing food in a messy arc around them. “Damn! This guy’s good.”
“Well yeah, I can see he’s really pissed off at that potato salad.”
Franco barked out a laugh. “Keep it down back there. I’m trying to concentrate.”
“Well can you hurry? I really do have to pee and I’m thinking you don’t want me to squat right here.”
The words were light but her voice quavered with fear. He nodded. “You’re right. Let’s quit screwing around with these jerks. When I say ‘go’, I want you to roll over to the car and slide underneath it. Move as quickly as you can to the other side and climb in. Keep your head down.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
“Okay.”
Franco lifted his head so he could see the guy in the tree. He hadn’t moved. He scanned the roads around the park and saw they were empty. Then he checked his magazine and found it half full. Hopefully it would be enough because his spare ammo was in the canvas bag in the back of the Jeep. He’d beat himself up for his carelessness later. At the moment he had bigger problems.
The SUV he’d seen driving past had pulled into position on the opposite side of the park, pinning them in.
“Franco?”
He slid back down, assessing his options. “No good. They’ve got the other side of the car covered now.”
She sighed so long and hard he glanced her way. She was glaring at him. “I told you I needed my gun.”
He shook his head, thinking fast. There had to be some way… Franco shoved at the picnic table but it was bolted down. Too bad, he thought, it would have made a good shield while they climbed into the car. His gaze caught on the trash can beside the table. It was metal, hopefully filled with a nice depth of neutralizing trash. It wasn’t much but it was the best chance they had. “Okay, new plan. I’m going to lay down cover fire while you climb into the Jeep on this side. Lie down on the floor in the back.”
“Then how are you going to get in?”
“I’m going to use that trash can as a shield.”
Silence met his statement. “While shooting, opening the car door, and driving away?”
“I didn’t say it was a good plan.”
“Here’s a better one. Give me the gun. I’ll provide cover while you grab the can and we can both use it to get into the car.”
“Not a chance.”
“Dammit, Franco! What’s the point in my having all this self-defense training if nobody will let me use it?”
“That’s a last ditch plan.”
“This is about as last ditch as it gets, homey.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I just gained new respect for your brother. If I was him I’d have introduced you to the nuclear wedgie at an early age.”
“Give me the gun, Franco.”
He would have liked to blow a hole in her plan. Unfortunately it was better than his. Dammit! “Okay. But try not to shoot me with it.”
She took the gun, ejected the mag like an expert, checked the rounds and slammed it back home. Then she sat up and slid across the grass to the table, peering over it. “That’s the shooter up there?”
“Yeah. You won’t be able to hit him but…”
Nic settled the muzzle of the gun onto the table and closed one eye.
“You shouldn’t close your eye…”
“Shut up, this works for me.”
“Okay, whatever, shoot the bad guy in the tree. Not the good guy sprinting toward the can. Got it?”
“Shoot the mouthy bodynapper with the can and gain myself some peace and quiet. Got it.”
“Lord help me.”
“Just go already, before these guys get restless.”
Right on cue, the Jeep jerked under a fresh round of bullets from the SUV. Franco glanced over the hood and saw that they were on the move. “The SUV’s coming on. We’ve got to do this now.”
“That’s what I said,” Nic murmured. She fired into the tree and Franco took off running.
Several more rounds sizzled through the air as he threw himself to the ground behind the can, some of them heading for him.
The can jerked under a couple of rounds, one of which went in high and passed straight through. There was a yelp behind him. Panic flared. “Nic?”
“I’m fine. He just stomped on my last nerve.”
Franco grabbed the can and hunkered behind it as a fresh round of bullets slammed through the air toward the shooter in the tree. There was a yelp and a rifle pinwheeled through the air to the ground, followed by the darkly clad shooter.
“Well, damn.”
“Lose the can, Martin. Here come the bad guys.”
She opened the door and threw herself inside as the SUV barreled toward them, a gun sticking out of the front passenger side window. Franco flung himself into the Jeep, trying to keep low as he clambered into the driver’s seat, and turned the key, gunning it forward as soon as the engine caught. Bullets continued to ping off the metal sides and back. A back window shattered and glass sprayed over them.
Franco headed for a copse of massive evergreens, figuring the guys in the SUV would have a harder time hitting them with a bunch of trees around. They slipped under the drooping branches and the shower of bullets stopped as they barreled across a thick carpet of dried needles. The sharp tang of evergreen filled the car as he took a turn on two wheels and headed toward the back of the park, keeping sight of the SUV driving alongside the thicket. The big car was managing to stay even with them and the occasional tree trunk exploded under a wayward bullet.
Nici’s head popped up.
“Stay down.”
“Hit the street, there’s a delivery truck backing out of that driveway there.”
She was right. If they could tuck in behind the truck…
“Hold on!” He jerked the wheel hard right and the passenger side door squealed as it scraped along a row of trunks with prickly branches. They emerged from the evergreen copse and hit a sidewalk, heading straight for a hydrant.
“Franco!”
He jumped as she squealed. “Stop that! You scared the crap out of me.” He jerked the wheel and the car missed the hydrant by inches, heading for a fat gray squirrel holding an acorn, its shiny brown eyes wide.
“Franco!”
“Oh for god sakes!” He jerked the wheel again, barely missing the stupid rodent, and they dropped with a bang of tortured suspension into the street just as the boxy white truck started toward the intersection. Franco tucked the Jeep in on the opposite side of it, blocking them from the SUV’s view, and took the first turn into a large subdivision as the truck lumbered on down the street.
A few quick turns later brought them out of the subdivision and Franco headed for the highway, the SUV nowhere in sight.

Excerpt from Revealing Nicola by Sam Cheever. Copyright © 2017 by Sam Cheever. Reproduced with permission from Sam Cheever. All rights reserved.

Author Bio:

Sam CheeverUSA Today Bestselling Author Sam Cheever writes romantic paranormal/fantasy and mystery/suspense, creating stories that celebrate the joy of love in all its forms. Known for writing great characters, snappy dialogue, and unique and exhilarating stories, Sam is the award-winning author of 50+ books and has been writing for over a decade under several noms de plume.

If you haven't already connected, Sam would love it if you Liked/Followed her wherever you enjoy hanging out online. Here are her online haunts:

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#BookReview Death of a Ghost by M.C. Beaton

Death of a Ghost by M.C. Beaton
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

There are many ruined castles in Scotland. One such lies outside the village of Drim. Hamish begins to hear reports that this castle is haunted and lights have been seen there at night, but he assumes it's some children or maybe the local lads going there to smoke pot, or, worse, inject themselves with drugs. Hamish says to his policeman, Charlie 'Clumsy' Carson, that they will both spend a night there.

The keening wind explains the ghostly noises, but when Charlie falls through the floor, Hamish finds the body of a dead man propped up in a corner of the cellar. After Charlie is airlifted to the hospital, Chief Detective Inspector Blair arrives to investigate the body, but there is none to be found. Dismissed as a drunk making up stories, Hamish has to find and identify the body and its killer before the "ghost" can strike again.


**********

I have only read one book previous in this series and to be honest was I not so impressed with it. However, I thought I would give the series on more chance. The story seemed interesting and I love reading books set in Scotland.

Death of a Ghost starts off with a haunted castle, but then it quickly turns into a murder mystery when Hamish and Charlie find a body in the castle. Who killed the man and why? This is only the beginning as more the killer goes after more people. And, it's up to Hamish to put a stop to it all.

I have some problems with this book, and one major problem is the way the book is written. It's pretty much just dialog and not much description. And, the dialog feels very terse and lacks fluency. This could be just me, but I find it very hard to get into the story because of that. The characters never come to life and for instance, Hamish problem with women, is that suppose to be funny? I actually don't know because it never is funny. It's just annoying. And Charlie being clumsy is another thing that is just not working for me. Not to mention when Charlie fell for Olivia, the books female fatal. That was just cringeworthy. The only things that kept me going were that I wanted to know who the murderer was.

Death of a Ghost is my last attempt reading this series. I just can't see what's so awesome with the books. The storyline, especially towards the end of the book was just so baffling. I mean everything concerning Chief Detective Inspector Blair felt like a parody. Without being funny.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!    
   
Death of a Ghost by M.C. Beaton

Monday 20 February 2017

Spotlight: There Is Always More To Say by Lynda Young Spiro


BOOK DESCRIPTION

Soho 1984: Two people meet and their worlds are changed forever. An unexpected meeting – a look that means their lives will never be the same again. In “There Is Always More To Say”, Lynda Young Spiro chronicles the lives of the couple through friendships, marriage, fleeting moments and snatched time. It is a passionate account about a connection between two people that never dies even when tested by distance and when life throws the unexpected at their feet.

“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances. If there is any reaction both are transformed.” C G Jung



HOW I WAS INSPIRED TO START WRITING

Thanks so much Magdalena and The Bookaholic Swede for having asked what inspired me to start writing. I’d love to tell you. Apparently I did tell a friend thirty years ago that one day I was going to write a novel and include them in it. I actually don’t remember having said that. But they do!

But for me the experience all started nearly three years ago when I began to channel my creative energies into writing. The end result being my recently published first novel, a never-ending story about an everlasting friendship called ‘There Is Always More To Say’. Because as we know there is always more to say!

I’m a mixed media artist who mainly works with fabrics, colours and recyclable bits and pieces which are all incorporated into my work. My passion for colour, my fascination with texture and my love of recycling have all found expression in a large body of work that includes textile design, latch-hooked rugs, needlepoint cushions, mosaics, painting and sculpture..

In April 2013 I saw an advert in the local paper the Ham&High for a part time examination invigilator. When I saw the advert, I don’t know why, but it appealed to me. And I applied for the job. It was nothing like anything I had ever done before. Both of my children were then at University and I was interested to know what they had gone through as students whilst taking exams. I knew that times had changed since I had been examined! What I didn’t know was in which direction this part time job would lead me. I didn’t know that the invigilating would lead me to expressing myself through a new and different media. I didn’t realise that whilst watching the candidates writing their papers so enthusiastically that it would get my own imagination going. And that it would be during these periods of silence whilst the exams were being written that I would be able to think and reflect about so many different things.

I started to write my thoughts, feelings, reflections and emotions down. I had very recently turned fifty-five and I realised that I had been married for over half of my life. I wasn’t sure where the time had gone. It made me think about my life before I was married and after I was married. The silence was really lovely in the examination hall. Very peaceful. There was a lot of time for me to spend thinking. And when I got home I started to write my thoughts and reflections down. Over time I realised that I had begun to accumulate a significant amount of writings and thoughts on various different scraps of paper. But I had no idea what to do with them. One afternoon sometime after the end of the summer exam period I chose to read and share some of these thoughts that I had written to a very close and old friend of mine. This friend immediately suggested that I consolidate them and suggested that I should write a book based on what I had written so far. The problem was that I had no experience of writing fiction. I didn’t know how to do this. Although the challenge did appeal to me.

So in September 2014 I enrolled onto a local writing class to help put these thoughts, observations and feelings into order to make a logical and interesting story. I left the class after three terms because it was too autobiographical. I was encouraged to continue writing after having gone to the class for that short amount of time. The positive feedback I received by reading passages to the other people in the class really encouraged me to continue writing.

I didn’t write the story in order. It never came to me in order. There was never a beginning, a middle or an end. I just started writing down my thoughts, my reflections and feelings about certain subjects which I then wove together to create a story. And although I have drawn on personal experiences this is not my story. I have drawn on a combination of my own experiences as well as those of my friends. I created this story from the ideas that were running around in my head. Ideas that had materialised from my imagination.

I never thought too hard about what I was writing and how I was writing the story. I just went ahead and wrote it. It just came to me. I wrote what I wanted to write and not what I thought I should be writing. I hope my readers will enjoy reading ‘There Is Always More To Say’ as much as I enjoyed writing it. I know this sounds like a cliché but it’s absolutely true. Opening the door of my story will hopefully show my reader the mirror of their mind.

I really enjoy hearing from my readers. I can be contacted at:

My own website: www.thereisalwaysmoretosay.com

Twitter: @lyndaspiro

Instagram: @lyndaspiro

Email: lyndaspiro@yahoo.co.uk



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lynda Young Spiro is a mixed media artist whose love of textiles, found objects and recyclable materials are incorporated into her colourful work. Lynda was born in 1959 in Hampstead, London, where she now lives with her husband and two sons. Lynda’s previous book Latch-Hooking Rugs is published by A & C Black.

There is Always More to Say is her award-winning first novel, which has since been recognised by Chill With A Book, Shelf Unbound, and Hollywood Book Festival.

Sunday 19 February 2017

#BookReview Shadowed Souls by Jim Butcher

Shadowed Souls by Jim Butcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In this dark and gritty collection—featuring short stories from Jim Butcher, Seanan McGuire, Kevin J. Anderson, and Rob Thurman—nothing is as simple as black and white, light and dark, good and evil..

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what makes it so easy to cross the line.

In #1 New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher’s Cold Case, Molly Carpenter—Harry Dresden’s apprentice-turned-Winter Lady—must collect a tribute from a remote Fae colony and discovers that even if you’re a good girl, sometimes you have to be bad...

New York Times bestselling author Seanan McGuire’s Sleepover finds half-succubus Elsie Harrington kidnapped by a group of desperate teenage boys. Not for anything “weird.” They just need her to rescue a little girl from the boogeyman. No biggie.

In New York Times bestselling Kevin J. Anderson’s Eye of Newt, Zombie P.I. Dan Shamble’s latest client is a panicky lizard missing an eye who thinks someone wants him dead. But the truth is that someone only wants him for a very special dinner...

And New York Times bestselling author Rob Thurman’s infernally heroic Caliban Leandros takes a trip down memory lane as he deals wih some overdue—and nightmarish—vengeance involving some quite nasty Impossible Monsters.

ALSO INCLUDES STORIES BY

Tanya Huff * Kat Richardson * Jim C. Hines * Anton Strout * Lucy A. Snyder * Kristine Kathryn Rusch * Erik Scott de Bie *

**********

Shadowed Souls is one of the best collection of short stories I have ever read. Sure there were one or two that I did not fully like as much as the other ones (not bad, just not my cup of tea), but there were several stories that were quite good. I mean I even ordered the first book in Tanya Huff's Vicki Nelson series after finished her short story. That is not something I do often.

What I really liked about the stories is that you don't have to have read anything before by the authors to get the gist of these short stories, sure there were times when I had wanted a short introduction before each story so that I had known more about what is going on. But, at the same time was it kind of nice to get to know the characters without any previous knowledge. It's like getting a chance to try out each author and see if the story and the writer's style are something for you. I mean several of the authors in this book have I never read anything of before and now I would love to read more from them.

Shadowed Souls has everything from ghost to zombies and it's a perfect book for urban fantasy fans. It's a collection that will work both for fans of the authors in this book and people that just like me loves urban fantasy and want to find new authors to read!  

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!

#BookReview Burntown by Jennifer McMahon

Burntown by Jennifer McMahon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Eva grew up watching her father, Miles, invent strange and wonderful things in the small workshop behind their house on the river that runs through their old mill town. But the most important invention of all was the one that Miles claimed came from the mind of Thomas Edison himself--a machine that allowed one to speak with loved ones long passed. Smuggled out of Edison's laboratory, the blueprints were passed down to Miles, and he's been using them to protect Eva, her mother, Lily, and her brother, Errol, ever since.

Then, one night when a storm is raging and the river is threatening to flood, the machine whirrs to life on its own. Danger, it says. You're in terrible danger. The next thing Eva knows is waking up on the side of the river and seeing her mother's grim face. Eva's father and brother are dead, their house has been washed away and an evil man is searching for them both. They need to hide.

Eva changes her name to Necco--a candy she always loved--and tries to put everything in her past behind her as she adapts to her new life off the grid. But when her boyfriend is murdered and her mother disappears, she knows that the past is starting to catch up to her.

What really happened the night of the flood? As Necco searches for the truth, her journey unites her with two women who are on desperate quests of their own. And as the trio follows the clues to solving the mystery of Necco's past, they discover that sometimes it's the smallest towns that hold the strangest secrets.


**********

I read The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon last year and I loved and I was thrilled for the chance to read this book.

Burntown, in my opinion, did not have the same intense storyline as The Winter People had. What I loved about the Winter People were the dual-timeline and the paranormal aspect of the story. It was thrilling and fascinating to read. Burntown lacked that and the story about Eve (Necco) just never got that intense. At first, it felt like what Necco went through was some sort of apocalyptic event. It was fascinating, but then it kind of fizzled out and I kept on wanting the story to pick up speed again and get interesting again. What made me stick with the story was the machine that made you speak to the dead, I was curious about it and I was also curious about whom killed Milo's mother. Did the killing of Milo's mother have something to do with what happened to Necco's family? 

For me was this book not especially memorable. It's not so long ago that I read it, but I found it was hard to write a review for the book since the story just didn't intrigue me so much. However, I did find it got better when Necco started to search for answers together with two very unlikely allies. I would say that the first part of the book before they got together and help each other was not as interesting as when they started to search for answers. 

For me was Burntown just not as good as The Winter People. That doesn't mean that this book was not good, it just didn't live up to my expectations I guess.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through Edelweiss for an honest review!   

Stolen by Carey Baldwin Blog Tour

Stolen

by Carey Baldwin

on Tour February 14 - March 3, 2017

Synopsis:

Stolen by Carey Baldwin

Is she missing…or a murderer?

When Laura Chaucer, daughter of a U.S. senator, vanishes from her college campus, celebrated FBI profilers Special Agent Atticus Spenser and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Caitlin Cassidy are called in. Thirteen years ago, Laura and her nanny disappeared from her family’s Denver home. Laura was found alive, but her nanny wasn’t so lucky… and the killer was never caught. Laura could identify him—if only she didn’t have a deep, dark hole in her memory.
Now she’s missing again. Did the troubled young woman run away or has the kidnapper returned? As women who look eerily similar to Laura’s nanny begin turning up dead, the Chaucer family psychiatrist renders a disturbing opinion: Laura is unstable, a danger to herself and others. Who knows what terrible secrets lurk in the shadowy recesses of her mind? Cassidy and Spenser must solve one of the most infamous cold cases ever to uncover the answer: Is Laura a killer, or is a monster still out there, waiting to claim another victim?

Book Details:

Genre: Suspense, Thriller
Published by: Witness Impulse
Publication Date: February 14th 2017
Number of Pages: 352
ISBN: 0062495542 (ISBN13: 9780062495549)
Series: Cassidy & Spenser #4
Purchase Links: Amazon  | Barnes & Noble  | Goodreads 

Read an excerpt:

Chapter One

Twilight
Somewhere in the Rocky Mountains
Consciousness was the enemy and Laura Chaucer its captive. No matter how badly she wanted to flee into a dark, unseeing void, the menacing chill of the knife pressed against her neck forced her to keep her chin high and her eyes open. As her pulse raged, pounding against the deadly blade, she wondered, horrified, if it was possible for her throat to slit itself.
If only her mind would drop into an abyss. If only she could crawl into a black hole and escape awareness, at least then she wouldn’t suffer. Cowardice dragged her eyelids shut.
Stop running away.
From deep within, a voice demanded she bear witness to her own death. Like broken wings beating against a gale, her eyelids fluttered up. Evil had been swirling around her for as long as she could remember, but she’d never had the courage to face it. Now, in her last moments, she must find the will. Before she left this twisted world, she needed to know the truth.
Who are you?
The answer she’d been running from her entire life loomed right behind her.
But the knife prevented her from swiveling her head to confront the bastard. A defiant move like that would surely cost her whatever precious seconds she had left. His breath, warm on her cheek reeked of booze, its stench curdling in her already woozy stomach.
Careful not to move her head, she braved a glance down and noted a wood floor.
Where am I?
A candle nub flickered in the dark; its yellow light illuminating patches of dust caked on an uneven plank tabletop. Bare log walls surrounded her. Eager for more clues, she sniffed. The scent of rain and earth hung heavily in the air. He must’ve stolen her from her room and brought her to a cabin—a primitive one.
Who was he?
You know, the voice within insisted. Stop pretending you don’t.
“I-I don’t know anything,” she answered, as if he and her thoughts were one and the same. “P-please, just let me go.”
The knife slipped across her throat, leaving fire trailing in its wake. Blood, warm and sticky, dribbled down her chest. Her head became heavy. The room spun. It would be so easy to let her chin fall, to drift into blessed unconsciousness, to leave it all behind.
But that would mean dying the same way she’d lived: running from the truth.
It’s not too late. As long as you have one breath left, there’s still time to change your craven ways.
Watching the blood, already darkening from contact with the air, snake between her breasts, she took it all in, and a gasp agonized its way up her throat.
She was naked.
Bound around the waist, chest and ankles to a chair.
It all seemed so…unreal. But the scrape of splintered wood beneath her bottom, the shivers that wracked her body from the frigid air, told her this was no dream. This wasn’t another one of her ubiquitous nightmares.
If she closed her eyes now, she’d never wake up.
Her throat burned with the urge to scream. But sensing that might give him pleasure, she clamped her teeth together, stuffing her fear down deep. She inhaled a fortifying breath through her nose. Wiggled her freezing fingers. But when she tried to shift her arms into a more comfortable position, she found that they, too, were tied to the chair, just up to the elbows. He’d left her hands and lower arms free, giving her enough slack to cross her palms in her lap and cover herself. Tears of gratitude for this small kindness welled in her eyes.
Maybe he of the knife had a tiny, shriveled semblance of a heart.
He proved he did not by dragging the jagged blade across her neck again—a shallow retracing of its former path that produced exquisite pain and more hot red blood. The need to cry out shook her body so hard the legs of the chair rattled against the floor. Then he pressed the knife’s point into the hollow of her neck—that spot that ought to be reserved for a lover’s kiss. It was as if this monster could not decide whether he wanted to kill her with a long, decimating swipe or by a swift, stabbing impalement. She didn’t know whether he was deliberately prolonging her agony or working up his nerve.
A spasm of fear knotted her toes. Her vocal chords trembled from the impossible effort of restraint. Finally, she opened her mouth, releasing a hysterical noise.
He wanted to hear her scream? Let him hear her laugh instead. Her pulse bounded harder against the blade, but she no longer feared the consequence.
Whether he revealed himself to her or not, she suddenly didn’t care. It didn’t matter who he was. It only mattered who she was. Relief flooded her entire being, drenching her in joy. Her death would be a victory.
Because it answered, once and for all, the question that had haunted her since the age of eight.
She was not a murderer.
Excerpt from Stolen by Carey Baldwin. Copyright © 2017 by Carey Baldwin & WitnessImpulse. Reproduced with permission from WitnessImpulse. All rights reserved.

Kudos for Carey Baldwin:

JUDGMENT, the first book in my Cassidy & Spenser Thriller series, has been named one of the "BEST BOOKS of 2014" by SUSPENSE MAGAZINE. Both JUDGMENT & CONFESSION are BOOKSELLERS BEST AWARD Finalists JUDGMENT is a DAPHNE DU MAURIER AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Finalist and a SILVER FALCHION finalist.

Author Bio:

Carey BaldwinCarey Baldwin is a mild-mannered doctor by day and an award-winning author of edgy suspense by night. She holds two doctoral degrees, one in medicine and one in psychology. She loves reading and writing stories that keep you off balance and on the edge of your seat. Carey lives in the southwestern United States with her amazing family. In her spare time she enjoys hiking and chasing wildflowers.

Catch Up With Ms. Baldwin On: Website , Goodreads, Twitter , & Facebook !


Tour Participants:


Giveaway:

This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours for Carey Baldwin and William Morrow | WitnessImpulse. There will be 5 US winners of one (1) eBook copy of Stolen by Carey Baldwin. The giveaway begins on February 12th and runs through March 5th, 2017.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Get More Great Reads at Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours

 

Saturday 18 February 2017

#BookReview Harley Quinn and Her Gang of Harleys by Jimmy Palmiotti

Harley Quinn and Her Gang of Harleys by Jimmy Palmiotti
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

With mischief afoot and tricks to be had, Harley Quinn and her Gang of Harleys are loose and no one is safe! Battling villians or saving civilians, which side are they on, only the Harleys know!

The best-selling creative team of Jimmy Palmiotti and Frank Tieri comes this mini-series Harley Quinn and her Gang of Harleys!

Collecting: Harley Quinn and her Gang of Harleys 1-6


**********

Harley Quinn decides to test her Gang of Harley by pretending to be kidnapped, unfortunately, they find out that it's a test (after spending a lot of time "looking" for her), but of course, then Harley gets kidnapped for real by a real psycho. Now the Harley's have to save Harley for real...

I must admit that it has taken me some time to warm up to the Harley's, but now with this volume have I finally started to like them and I quite enjoyed reading this volume. Now, the villain, the psycho who kidnapped Harley is a bit pathetic, a rich wannabe Harley Quinn who is pissed off because she failed the audition to join the Harley's. Still, the volume was good, despite not having a cool villain to fight off, thanks to Harley and her gang.



I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through Edelweiss for an honest review!

Friday 17 February 2017

#BookReview A Room Full of Killers by Michael Wood

A Room Full of Killers by Michael Wood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The third book in Michael Wood’s darkly compelling crime series featuring DCI Matilda Darke. Perfect for fans of Stuart MacBride, Mark Billingham and Val McDermid.

Eight killers. One house. And the almost perfect murder…

Feared by the people of Sheffield, Starling House is home to some of Britain’s deadliest teenagers, still too young for prison. Now the building’s latest arrival, Ryan Asher, has been found brutally murdered – stabbed twelve times, left in a pool of blood.

When DCI Matilda Darke and her team investigate, they uncover the secrets of a house tainted by evil. Kate Moloney, the prison’s manager, is falling apart, the security system has been sabotaged, and neither the staff nor the inmates can be trusted.

There’s only one person Matilda believes is innocent, and he’s facing prison for the rest of his life. With time running out, she must solve the unsolvable to save a young man from his fate. And find a murderer in a house full of killers…


**********

I thought before I read this book that I was quite hardened when it came to crime novel that I could deal with quite a lot (except harming of animals and children), but there were really tough parts in this book that was hard for me to get through and that were the chapters that were the POV of the children, the murderers.

A Room Full of Killers is a dark and tragic book that I devoured. It's engrossing, but at the same time is it not an easy book to get through. DCI Matilda Darke has a lot on her plate, with the release of a book concerning a kidnap case that she was in charge of that went wrong. Also, she is still not completely over her husband's death 18 months earlier. And, now this case at the Starling House. A teenager is dead, and who could have done it? The question of why someone murdered him is perhaps not hard to understand since Ryan Asher is a convicted murderer, but someone got him out of a locked room. Matilda then meets one of the inmates, Thomas, and Matilda is convinced that the young boy is innocent of the crime he is said to have done. Now she wants to find Ryan's murdered and at the same time is she trying to get Thomas free.

I found the book thrilling and intense and the last part of the book had some really great twist to the story. I was a bit surprised on how Matilda could believe someone to be innocent by just looking at him. I mean quite literary just instantly believe his innocent without knowing much about the case. I'm not a police, but appearance can be deceiving, but I guess I much more cynical. Still, it added drama to the story. The side story with the kidnap case was also interesting and I'm really curious to see the impact it will have in the next book. If the kidnapping will be solved. I'm also quite eager to get the two previous books to read!

A Room Full of Killers is an excellent thriller. The characters are well-developed and interesting to follow and the case is interesting and I love the ending!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review! 

Thursday 16 February 2017

#BookReview Kan man dö två gånger? (Can you die twice?) by Leif G.W. Persson (SWE/ENG)

Kan man dö två gånger? by Leif G.W. Persson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

SWEDISH REVIEW

Sjöscouten Edvin sätts i land på Ofärdsön i Mälaren för att plocka svamp. Istället hittar han en halvt begravd dödskalle.

Trots att Edvin bara är tio år har han genast situationen klar för sig. Han lägger kraniet i en plastpåse, rymmer från scoutlägret och åker raka vägen hem till sin granne - kriminalkommissarie Evert Bäckström.


*********

Med tanke på vilket stor namn Leif G.W. Persson är i Sverige och med tanke på att kriminalare är en favorit genre så känns det lite konstigt att jag innan denna bok faktiskt inte hade läst en enda bok av GW tidigare. Det har helt enkelt inte blivit av. Däremot har jag hört talas om Evert Bäckström, inget speciellt gott. Så jag såg fram emot att läsa Kan man dö två gånger? och se vad jag skulle tycka om boken.

Själva handlingen var intressant då det handlar om en besynnerlig mordgåta. En dödskalle hittas, identitet säkerställs och man upptäcker att personen i fråga har redan blivit dödförklarad en gång tidigare, och det råder inga som helst tvivel om att rätt person dödförklarades första gången. Eller? Det är i alla fall vad Bäckström och hans gäng måste klura ut. Och det är en synnerligen intressant utredning som kommer att sträcka sig utomlands.

Kan man dö två gånger? är en välskriven kriminalroman. Jag kom att tycka väldigt mycket om GWs sätt att skriva, sakligt, finurligt och mellan varven väldigt roligt. Fallet är intressant, men vid sidan om det älskar jag verkligen att läsa om hur Bäckström driver den nya åklagaren till vansinne. På sitt eget sätt. Faktum är att Bäckström må vara en man med många fördomar, men jag gillar honom ändå och lilla Edvin, grannpojken som hittade dödskallen är störtcharmig.

Allt som allt, en mycket bra bok och trots att jag inte läst en enda bok i serien innan så var handlingen lätt att hänga med i, mycket tack vare att karaktärerna var så välutvecklade och intressanta.

Tack till Albert Bonniers Förlag för recensionsexemplaret!

ENGLISH REVIEW


Boy scout Edvin is put ashore on the isle of Ofärd (misfortune) in Mälaren to pick mushrooms. Instead, he finds a half-buried skull.

He immediately knows what he has to do. He put the skull in a plastic bag, can accommodate from scout camp and go straight home to his neighbor - Inspector Evert Backstrom.


*********

Considering what big name Leif G. W. Persson is in Sweden and given that the crime novels is a favorite genre of mine, is it a bit strange that I have not read a single book of GW before I read this one. I simply haven't had time for them. However, I have heard of Evert Backstrom, nothing special good to be honest. So, I looked forward to reading Can you die twice? and see what I would think of the book.

The story was interesting because the murder mystery is quite odd. A skull is found, the identity is confirmed and then it's discovered that the person in question has already been declared dead once before, and there is no doubt that the right person was declared dead the first time. Or is it so clear? Backstrom and his gang must figure out what's going on because you can't die twice. And it's a very interesting investigation that will extend overseas

Can you die twice? is a well-written crime novel. I came to like it very much thanks to GW's writing style. It's factual, clever and now and then funny. The case is interesting, but besides that, did I really love to read about how Backstrom, in his own way, is driving the new prosecutor to madness. The fact is that Backstrom may be a man of many prejudices, but I like him anyway and little Edvin, the neighbor boy who found the skull is truly charming.

All in all is the book very good, and although I have not read a single book in the series before so was the plot easy to keep up with, thanks to the characters were well developed and interesting.

Thanks to Albert Bonniers Förlag for the review copy!

Cover Crush: Little Girls by Ronald Malfi


For new visitors do I want to explain that Cover Crush is something that my friend Erin over at Flashlight Commentary came up with and I adopted the idea together with some other friends. And, now we try to put up a Cover Crush every week. You can check below my pick of the week for their choices this week!

Pinnacle (Random House)
FRONTLIST | On Sale Date: June 27, 2017
ISBN 9780786041381, 0786041382
Mass Market | 352 pages |
Fiction / Horror

From Bram Stoker Award nominee Ronald Malfi comes a chilling novel of childhood revisited, memories resurrected, and fears reborn . . .

After years away, Laurie returns to the home where she was raised by a cold, distant father who recently exorcised his demons. But no amount of cleaning can wipe away the troubled past. She feels it lurking in the broken moldings, sees it staring from an empty picture frame, hears it laughing in the moldy greenhouse deep in the woods…

At first, Laurie thinks she’s imagining things. But when she meets her daughter’s new playmate, she notices her uncanny resemblance to another little girl who used to live next door. Who died next door. With each passing day, Laurie’s uneasiness grows stronger, her thoughts more disturbing. Like her father, is she slowly losing her mind? Or is something truly unspeakable happening?



Some thoughts about the cover:

As a horror fan, and especially haunted house fan does this cover looks absolutely gorgeous, in an ominous kind of way! Which btw is just what I'm after when it comes to horror books. The house from that angle and the birds flying over the roof. A really haunting look...

Check out what my friends have picked for Cover Crush's this week:

Flashlight Commentary
Layered Pages

Tuesday 14 February 2017

#BookReview Killer Look by Linda Fairstein

Killer Look by Linda Fairstein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

New York City is one of the fashion capitals of the world, well-known for its glamour and style. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the runway, where American haute couture continually astounds with its creativity, daring, and innovation in the name of beauty. Yet high fashion means high stakes, as Alex Cooper quickly discovers when businessman and designer Wolf Savage is found dead in an apparent suicide, mere days before the biggest show of his career. When the man's daughter insists Savage s death was murder, the case becomes more than a media sensation: It is a race to find a killer in a world created entirely out of fantasy and illusion.

With her own job at the DA's office in jeopardy, and the temptation to self-medicate her PTSD with alcohol almost too strong to resist, Alex is not anyone's first choice for help. But she is determined to uncover the grime and the possible homicide beneath the glitz. Along with detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, Alex must penetrate the twisted roots and mixed motives among the high-profile players in the Garment District. The investigation takes the trio from the missing money in Wolf Savage's international fashion house to his own recovery from addiction; from the role of Louisiana Voodoo in his life to his excessive womanizing; and to the family secrets he kept so well-hidden, even from those closest to him just as things are about to get deadly on the catwalk.

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I have to admit that I was unsure that I would like this story because of the fashion angle. I have read two books previous in this series and have enjoyed them both so I hoped it would turn out to be just as good as they had been. And, yes, despite my lack of fashion interest did this book work out for me. But, then again, a killer in the fashion world doesn't seem that far-fetched when you think about it. All those egoistic, megalomaniacs that only care about earning more money would probably kill without any problems if that meant earning more money. I mean some of them already do that with poor working conditions, buildings collapsing and minimum wagers. Sorry, I got off the track... 

In Killer Look is Alex Cooper recuperating after being kidnapped in the previous book, and what better way to get back than to help an old school mate to find out the truth about her father's death. Everything points to suicide, but Alex is not so sure and together with detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace is she investigating the case. Or rather they are and she is unofficially helping. But, perhaps she should have stayed out of this and focused on getting better because there seemed to be danger lurking in the fashion world... 

I ended up quite liking the book. I especially like the fact that Alex and Mike are now official a couple, it will be interesting to read the previous books to see how that happened since they have been just friends for years. I liked the case and I liked the tidbit of fashion history that Linda Fairstein includes in the story. That's one of the best things about this series besides the cases. I just love reading books that include interesting tidbits. The case may have started off a bit slow, but it got more interesting as the story progressed and it seems that a lot of the people around Wolf Savage has secrets...

Killer Look is a superb book, although personally, I can't understand why you want to spend so much money on clothes when you can buy books instead...

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!