Published in ebook 11th April 2020 and paperback on 23rd July 2020 by Orenda Books.
Read June 2020.
Journalist Lydia Wright is sent a video, apparently showing a murder on a London train, and she thinks she may have just the scoop she needs to revive her flagging career. But when she starts to investigate the story, it seems that there is no report of a crime having taken place.
At first, Lydia thinks she may have been pranked, but when an old colleague gets in touch with further details, she knows that she is on to something.
As Lydia goes about trying to find the witness who made the video she crosses paths with fixer Michael Stringer, who has his own reasons for wanting to find out what has happened to the victim.
Stringer deals in information, but the mystery murder has left him exposed and in danger from one of his heavyweight clients. He needs to find out what Lydia knows and fast if he is to stay ahead of the game.
As the clues lead Lydia into a nightmare world of corruption, gangsters and dodgy dealings, she finds herself in way over her head and in need of help - and Stringer finds that he may have been set up to take the fall for someone else.
They are both in mortal danger with little chance of walking away from the mess they find themselves in. How will they survive in this landscape where information has more power than a bullet?
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Blood Red City takes us right into the heart of the gritty dealings of the under-the-counter side of London's financial world. A world where huge sums of ill-gotten gains are funneled through complicated systems of shell-corporations, trades and investment deals under the nose of the authorities, in order for it to be secretly laundered into legitimate business funds.
Wright is no stranger to investigating the murky dealings of the high and mighty of London's political and property scenes, but when her big story was nixed by the management of her paper, and she was sidelined to reporting celebrity gossip, she was sure that her chance to be taken seriously as an investigative journalist was over. So when what looks like another big story has fallen into her lap, she is very keen to see it through to the bitter end. Little does she know what she is getting herself in to.
Stringer, on the other hand, is more than used to working both sides of the law in pursuit of his clients' needs. He deals in information and is a fixer for some very wealthy and powerful people. His modus operandi is polished and frighteningly believable in an age were social media is king, and almost everyone is reliant on the world wide web.
As the thrilling story begins to unfold from two different sides, that of Wright and Stringer, it is soon clear that they are working towards the same goal - to find out why a man was killed on a London train - and you find yourself yearning for them to work together to find a way to survive the fall out from the great big perilous can of worms they have opened. Both of them have skills that could complement each other - Wright is driven and desperate to uncover the machinations of the unworthy and, despite spending so much time in the underbelly of London's less seemly side, Stringer is still capable of making the right call when necessary.
I absolutely loved this tale of greed and gangsters, fixers and fraud, news and negotiations, money and menace! This is an intelligent thriller, which has such a realistic edge to it, that it will leave you wondering how much of this dodgy dealing actually goes on in the real world - rather a lot, I fear. There are baddies galore, even though many of them operate secretly under the veneer of respectability, and Wright and Stringer both make excellent characters to get behind.
This has all the elements you could ever want in a pacy, slick caper based in the financial heart of London, with the delicious hard-edge of an undercover spy story to boot - Bonds (investment) with a touch of Bonds (James), if you will. Rod Reynolds skillfully handles all the deliciously twisty threads as they beautifully come together into a very satisfying ending. I absolutely loved it and was rather sad to reach the end - in fact, I would dearly love to see the pairing of Wright and Stringer again Mr Reynolds, should you ever be so inclined!
Another highly recommended corker from the Ordena Books stable, Blood Red City is available to buy now in ebook format, and pre-order in paperback, from your favourite book retailer.
Thank you to Rod Reynolds and Orenda Books for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
From the cover of the book:
A witness but no victim. A crime but no crime scene…
When crusading journalist Lydia Wright is sent a video of an apparent murder on a London train, she thinks she’s found the story to revive her career. But she can’t find a victim, much less the killers, and the only witness has disappeared. Wary she’s fallen for fake news, she begins to doubt her instincts – until a sinister call suggests that she’s not the only one interested in the crime.
Michael Stringer deals in information – and doesn’t care which side of the law he finds himself on. But the murder on the train has left him exposed, and now he’ll stop at nothing to discover what Lydia knows.
When their paths collide, Lydia finds the story leads through a nightmare world, where money, power and politics intersect … and information is the only thing more dangerous than a bullet.
A nerve-shattering and brutally realistic thriller, Blood Red City bursts with energy and grit from the opening page, twisting and feinting to a superb, unexpected ending that will leave you breathless.
About the author:
A lifelong Londoner, Blood Red City is his first novel set in his hometown. Rod previously worked in advertising as a media buyer, and holds an MA in novel writing from City University London.
Rod lives with his wife and spends most of his time trying to keep up with his two young daughters.
Thanks so much for the blog tour support xx
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