The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

 

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse.

Published 18th February 2021 by Penguin UK.

From the cover of the book:

EVERYONE'S IN DANGER. ANYONE COULD BE NEXT.

An imposing, isolated hotel, high up in the Swiss Alps, is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But she's taken time off from her job as a detective, so when she receives an invitation out of the blue to celebrate her estranged brother's recent engagement, she has no choice but to accept.

Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge. Though it's beautiful, something about the hotel, recently converted from an abandoned sanatorium, makes her nervous - as does her brother, Isaac.

And when they wake the following morning to discover his fiancée Laure has vanished without a trace, Elin's unease grows. With the storm cutting off access to and from the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.

But no-one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she's the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they're all in...

*****************************

How I love a wintery thriller, and The Sanatorium is my absolute favourite kind. Who can resist the lure of a remote, creepy sanatorium with a murky past, high in the Swiss Alps, given new lease of life as a swish hotel? Not me!

Detective Elin Warner, newly arrived at the hotel in the company of her boyfriend, is nervous about meeting up with her estranged brother Isaac, who has invited them to celebrate his recent engagement here. Her levels of anxiety are high, as she is on an extended break from work after becoming involved in a difficult case that did not end well, but the offer of a free holiday from Isaac and the opportunity to address some of their issues is too good to refuse. Things have always been awkward between them, especially since the death of their younger brother Sam, and Elin is not sure how this little holiday is going to go.

When Isaac's fiancée Laure goes missing without a trace, Elin's suspicions that something is very wrong here bring her detective skills to the fore - skills which become vital when a massive avalanche cuts them off from civilisation and any hope of the Swiss police being able to get there. Can Elin discover what is going on before it is too late?

The whole premise of this book is a winner for me. The setting is perfect - isolated, with a dodgy past, and with more than a little of Stephen King's Overlook Hotel about it - you quite simply cannot ask for a better backdrop for a chilling, mystery tale. The atmosphere is taut and claustrophobic and the tension builds beautifully as things start to go very badly wrong, on both the weather and safety fronts, and your suspicion that this is not going to be a cosy little family reunion is rewarded in spades... but no spoilers from me folks!

There are some wonderful themes introduced in the telling of this tale especially around the subject of unresolved trauma, as well as gory details to delight lovers of the macabre, and the way Sarah Pearse uses water as a thread throughout really impressed me. The characters are more than a little unreliable on the witness front, which brings in a few delicious red herrings, ones that distract both the reader and our plucky detective Elin from getting to the truth of the matter until well into the story, and the end of the tale plays out with twist upon twist that sets you reeling. I did wonder if perhaps this was a bit too much at first, but then Pearse hits you with an unsettling epilogue that makes you rethink what has gone before and puts an intriguing spin on the whole piece. This was beautifully done and completely won me over. Will there be a sequel? I sincerely hope so!

The Sanatorium is a cracking debut thriller and is available to buy now from your favourite book retailer!

Thank you to Netgalley for my advance copy, in return for an honest  review.

About the author:

Sarah Pearse lives by the sea in South Devon with her husband and two daughters. She studied English and Creative Writing at the University of Warwick and worked in Brand PR for a variety of household brands. After moving to Switzerland in her twenties, she spent every spare moment exploring the mountains in the Swiss Alpine town of Crans Montana, the dramatic setting that inspired her novel. 

Sarah has always been drawn to the dark and creepy - remote spaces and abandoned places - so when she read an article in a local Swiss magazine about the history of sanatoriums in the area, she knew she’d found the spark of the idea for her debut novel, The Sanatorium. 

Her short fiction has been published in a wide variety of magazines and has been shortlisted for several prizes. 

The Long, Long Afternoon by Inga Vesper

 

The Long, Long Afternoon by Inga Vesper.

Published 4th February 2021 by Manilla Press/Bonnier Books.

From the cover of the book:

“Yesterday, I kissed my husband for the last time . . .”

It's the summer of 1959, and the well-trimmed lawns of Sunnylakes wilt under the California sun.

At some point during the long, long afternoon Joyce Haney, a seemingly happy housewife and mother, vanishes from her home, leaving behind only two terrified young children and a bloodstain on the kitchen floor.

While the Haney's neighbours get busy organising search parties, it is Ruby Wright, the family's 'help', who may hold the key to this unsettling mystery. Ruby knows more about the secrets behind Sunnylakes' starched curtains than anyone, and it isn't long before the detective in charge of the case wants her help. But what might it cost her to get involved?

In these long hot summer afternoons, simmering with lies, mistrust and prejudice, it could only take one spark for this whole 'perfect' world to set alight . . .

A beguiling, deeply atmospheric debut novel from the cracked heart of the American Dream, The Long, Long Afternoon is at once a page-turning mystery and an intoxicating vision of the ways in which women everywhere are diminished, silenced and ultimately under-estimated.

**************************************

1959: Welcome to Sunnylakes, Santa Monica, a picture perfect, white middle-class neighbourhood, filled with pretty houses behind white picket fences, where happy smiling housewives care for their shiny-faced children and strong, manly husbands - the epitome of the American Dream. But appearances can be deceptive.

Under the stifling heat of the California sun, something is rotten at the heart of Sunnylakes and this hidden darkness is about to be exposed by the disappearance of one Joyce Hanley - a seemingly happy wife and mother, who vanishes from her home one afternoon, leaving behind two distressed children... and a bloodstain on the kitchen floor. Where did she go, and why?

The story plays out in, after the event, third person perspectives from Ruby, the young black 'help', and Mike, the police detective investigating the mysterious disappearance - and also in the first person, from Joyce herself. These three accounts, when combined, will take you to some deep and thought provoking places.

Joyce's narrative is where we start. Her voice hooks you from the very beginning, and Inga Vesper quite brilliantly breaks up the flow of the story, which primarily runs back and forth between Ruby and Mike, with interjecting chapters that come to show us the truth behind her life - and her account contrasts quite starkly with the picture of the woman we hear from family, friends and neighbours after her disappearance.

The smart, feisty Ruby brings a different perspective on life behind the scenes in Sunnylakes, exposing many of the dark little secrets that lie beneath the brittle surface of respectability, although she is loathe to share what she knows with the police for fear of getting embroiled in a situation that could backfire on her - after all, this is a world where ingrained racism is still rife, even though segregation has been abolished, and the black person in the room will always be seen as the guilty party. She also shows us the reality of the other side of the tracks for the poor back and Latino families living in the city. 

Mike has relocated to Santa Monica under a cloud and is desperate to prove himself. His fish-out-of-water situation hampers his progress both within the police department, and within the environs of Sunnylakes - especially amongst its female contingent - but it also brings him an outsider's perspective. Interestingly, it is this perspective that allows him to connect with Ruby, and their combined efforts are key in solving the mystery of Joyce's disappearance - and I loved the way they worked together!

There are myriad themes running through the piece, all tied up in a story that not only sucks you into the taut and oppressive atmosphere of 1950s suburbia, but also shines a light on the burgeoning civil and women's rights movements. There are moments when you will laugh out loud, often at the absurdity of the idealised picture of 1950s feminine perfection that will have you thinking of the Stepford wives, but also be prepared to experience indignant rage and heart-rending sadness too - and I promise you that the thrilling conclusion will have you sitting on the very edge of your seat in tense excitement.

This is a beautifully written, compelling and emotive story, with a gripping mystery at its heart, and as an examination of the false icon of the 'American Dream' it is most impressive for a debut. 

The Long, Long Afternoon is available to buy now from your favourite book retailer or from Bookshop.org HERE.

Thank you to Inga Vesper and Manilla Press for sending me a proof copy of this book in return for an honest review and to Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Inga Vesper is a journalist and editor. She moved to the UK from Germany to work as a carer, before the urge to write and explore brought her to journalism. As a reporter, she covered the coroner's court and was able to observe how family, neighbours and police react to a suspicious death. 

Inga has worked and lived in Syria and Tanzania, but always returned to London, because there's no better place to find a good story than the top deck of a bus.

Ruthless Women by Melanie Blake

 

Ruthless Women by Melanie Blake.

Published 18th February 2021 by Head of Zeus.

From the cover of the book:

Ruthless Women takes readers on a wild ride behind the scenes of beloved TV drama Falcon Bay, beamed globally to millions three days a week from its picturesque location in the Channel Islands. But even in this beautiful coastal spot, tensions swirl. 

Once one of the world's most popular soap operas, but now with ratings and syndication at an all-time low, the production has been sold to an American business woman, beautiful and malevolent Madeline Kane, the new network owner who arrives on the tiny island just off Jersey, determined to do whatever it takes to get the show back to number one.

Writer Farrah, star Catherine and producer Amanda are the driven, ambitious women who keep the show on the road. But Farrah is losing episodes to the network's lead male rival, Catherine is terrified of the public falling out of love with her and Amanda's evil husband Jake, vice president of the network, is plotting to get his own wife kicked off the show.

As the dawn of a new era begins, cast and crew turn against each other with loyalty, decency, and trust, replaced by scandal, betrayal, and an outrageous ambition to survive.

In a true battle of the sexes, these women will do anything to stay on top. But can they team up to bring down their male rivals? Or will jealousy, betrayal and revenge tear their long held friendships apart?

As the story reaches a climax so shocking readers will be talking about it for decades, one thing is certain: only the most ruthless woman will survive...

**********************

Welcome to Falcon Bay!

Before we start, I need to set the scene a bit. Falcon Bay is a TV spectacular in the old style - there is nothing of the grey and tawdry about this baby. Instead we are talking the full on glamour and pzazz of the 80s style soap opera... sorry, continuing drama... here - the wonderful, over-the-top Dallas and Dynasty days, with big characters and salacious storylines.

Falcon Bay, set on a tiny, picturesque island in the balmy Channel Islands, was once the world's most popular soap opera, but is now fighting to stay on top in the dog eat dog sphere of television productions, where money talks and the viewing figures are everything. Now under the control of the beautiful and malevolent Madeline Kane, there are changes afoot to try to get Falcon Bay back to the number one spot - and not everyone on the show is happy about it. Heads are rolling, power is shifting and our driven, ambitious female characters writer Farrah, star Catherine and producer Amanda are fighting for their professional lives. 

Madeline is also determined to spice things up by introducing a new 'bitch' to the cast - one who will be chosen by the audience from a line-up of once famous older actresses, in an unconventional 'behind the scenes' reality show contest.... oh, and she also plans to kill off one of the main characters during a live screened extravaganza episode on Christmas Day in the most extraordinary of ways. Feelings are running high, everyone is under pressure to perform and all bets are off in this game of last man, or woman, standing. Only the most ruthless will survive... on both sides of the camera.

Prepare for a thrill ride of Machiavellian machinations, devious designs and raunchy ruses that will keep you hooked, as all the gloriously twisty threads play out... 

I cannot tell you how much fun I had reading this book! As someone who grew up watching the glamorous soaps of the 80s - the glitz, the power dressing, the Alexis vs Crystal cat-fights, the drama of trying to work out who actually shot JR - this book was like a walk down nostalgia lane, with an intriguing glimpse behind the scenes too. Add in the kind of sexy interludes reminiscent of the well-read paperback copies of Jilly Cooper, Jackie Collins and Shirley Conran books that used to be passed between friends during my youth and you have yourself a winning combination. For anyone of more tender years, just picture beautiful locations filled with beautiful people, steamy sexual encounters, affairs galore, back-biting, power plays, recriminations and revenge and you get the picture.

But as entertaining as all this is, there is so much more than 'Sex, Drugs and Cameras Roll' here, and these are the things that bring this book right up to date. Look behind the storylines and there is a lot to reflect on - modern sexual politics, female ambition and the glass ceiling; the pressure on women to look good, at all costs; the lack of acting roles for older women; the cut-throat nature of the acting profession and the fragility of many of those who work within it; the ongoing effects of the #MeToo movement; the power of social media; and the nature of female friendship and support networks. It was such a refreshing change to read a book filled with strong, older women too! 

Melanie Blake also brings a lovely vein of humour to the whole piece, and shows us her cynical side at the same time, by the way she pokes fun at the way soaps feel the need to come up with ever more bizarre story lines to get the edge over the competition.

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole glorious book and was gripped from page one all the way to the spectacular ending - which will have you punching the air, by the way. Move over Alexis Carrington... the era of the bitch is back, and long may she reign!

Ruthless Women is available to buy in e-book, hard cover and audio formats from 18th February 2021.

Melanie will be launching the book alongside two of TVs leading ladies Coleen Nolan and Beverly Callard who will be spilling the beans on their own personal lives for a digital book launch “Melanie Blake’s Girls Night in” that members of the public can buy tickets to for £10 including a copy of the book. Find out more here: A Girls Night In With Melanie Blake.

Thank you to Head of Zeus for providing me with an e-book copy of this book in return for an honest review and to Bei Guo of Midas Public Relations for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

MELANIE BLAKE IS BACK!

AND ONCE AGAIN SHE’S WRITING ABOUT A WORLD SHE KNOWS WELL.

As one as the UK’s most successful agents, managers and publicists for music stars and TV actresses, Melanie Blake has represented some of the most famous faces on British television and international screens.

Where her debut novel, the No. 1 bestseller The Thunder Girls, was inspired by the early years of her career spent working in the music industry, her follow up novel Ruthless Women is heavily influenced by the last 15 years Melanie has spent representing more female actresses than any other agent in her genre. Nicknamed The Queen Of Soaps, there is no one better placed to write a novel based around a continuing drama and its leading ladies.

With no formal education herself, Melanie is a true champion for working class women who are so often overlooked in our society.... and she might also just be the world's biggest Jackie Collins fan! 

 

Smoke Screen (Blix and Ramm Book Two) by Thomas Enger & Jørn Lier Horst

 

Smoke Screen (Blix and Ramm Book Two) by Thomas Enger & Jørn Lier Horst. Translated by Megan Turney.

Published in e-book format 18th December 2020 and paperback 18th February 2021 by Orenda Books.

From the cover of the book: 

When the mother of a missing two-year-old girl is seriously injured in a suspected terrorist attack in Oslo, crime-fighting duo Blix and Ramm join forces to investigate the case, and things aren't adding up...

 The second instalment in an addictive, atmospheric, award-winning series.

Oslo, New Year's Eve. The annual firework celebration is rocked by an explosion, and the city is put on terrorist alert.

Police officer Alexander Blix and blogger Emma Ramm are on the scene, and when a severely injured survivor is pulled from the icy harbour, she is identified as the mother of two-year-old Patricia Smeplass, who was kidnapped on her way home from kindergarten ten years earlier... and never found.

Blix and Ramm join forces to investigate the unsolved case, as public interest heightens, the terror threat is raised, and it becomes clear that Patricia's disappearance is not all that it seems...

***********************

I really enjoyed the first part of this new Nordic Noir crime series, Death Deserved, when I read it at the beginning of 2020 (review here), so I was looking forward to reading what Thomas Enger & Jørn Lier Horst had in store for detective Alexander Blix and blogger Emma Ramm in their second adventure, Smoke Screen.

The incredible Death Deserved cliff-hanger ending, with a huge explosion during the New Year's Eve firework celebration in Oslo, is exactly where this second instalment begins, dropping us seamlessly right into the action - and Blix and Ramm are both there at the scene, having been unable to rid themselves of the feeling that something was afoot. 

In the aftermath of the explosion, Blix pulls a horribly disfigured survivor from the icy waters of the harbour: one who appears to be the mother of the missing child, Patricia Smeplass, snatched ten years ago - a case he remembers all too well, and one which has co-incidentally been brought back to his attention very recently. At the same time, Ramm wanders through the wreckage, trying to record the events for the news site she works for, and discovers the explosion has touched her own life in a very shocking way - one which makes tracking down the perpetrator of this crime a personal mission.

It's time for Blix and Ramm to team up again in pursuit of the identity of the bomber who is not content to stop at only one explosion and has Oslo gripped in a state of fear. As the investigation gets underway it gradually becomes clear that terrorism may not be the real motive here - instead, the bombings may actually be related to the unsolved case of the missing Patricia Smeplass in some way. Can they discover the truth before anyone else comes to a violent end?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and became totally caught up in the story. The storyline here revolves more around the sins of the past than in the first book, but our authors cleverly create pace and tension in the present as Blix and Ramm put together all the pieces of the puzzle. There is plenty of excitement and chilly atmosphere to be enjoyed as the case progresses, and the truth is uncovered, but there is also an interesting thread about the different kinds of relationships between parents and their children, and how they show their love, that is quite intriguing. 

The characters of Blix and Ramm are more developed in this second book, and they know where they stand with each other. Blix is more more settled in his personal life, with a better relationship with his own daughter, which helps him bring an air of calm to the piece, which plays nicely against Ramm's more impulsive style. I love the way they touch base with each other, swapping subtle hints and ideas back and forth in the cagey, but co-operative, way they have of working together, and their evolving father-daughter like relationship is very touching.

This is another cracking tale from the combined penmanship of the best selling authors Thomas Enger & Jørn Lier Horst, and fine work by the translator Megan Turney. It's the kind of book that will have you reading long into the night to get to the end of the story, as it is as impossible to put down as the first book. You can almost feel yourself at the side of the both Blix and Ramm as the story moves between their independent investigations, until their threads collide at the moment of the heart-in-your-mouth ending - this is Nordic Noir at its very best and another winner from Orenda Books!

Smoke Screen is available to buy now in e-book from your favourite book retailer, and in paperback from 18th February 2021.

Thank you to Orenda Books for sending me an e-book 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.

About the authors:

Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger are the internationally bestselling Norwegian authors of the
William Wisting and Henning Juul series respectively. 

Jørn Lier Horst first rose to literary fame with his No. 1 internationally bestselling William Wisting series. A former investigator in the Norwegian police, Horst imbues all his works with an unparalleled realism and suspense. 

Thomas Enger is the journalist-turned-author behind the internationally acclaimed and bestselling Henning Juul series. Enger’s trademark has become a darkly gritty voice paired with key social messages and tight plotting. Besides writing fiction for both adults and young adults, Enger also works as a music composer. 

Death Deserved was Jørn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger’s first co-written thriller. They are currently working on the third book in the Blix and Ramm series.

The Invisible Case: A Sussex Crime Book (Book Three) Audio Book by Isabella Muir

 

The Invisible Case (Sussex Crime Book Three) Audio Book by Isabella Muir.

Narrated by Bridget Eaton.

Released 20th November 2020.

From the cover:

Heart-breaking tragedy or cold-blooded murder...?

An Italian stranger arrives in Tamarisk Bay and brings with him mystery and intrigue....

It's Easter 1970 in the seaside town of Tamarisk Bay. Amateur sleuth and professional librarian, Janie Juke, is settling into motherhood and some quality time with her family. When her Aunt Jessica is due back from Rome after nine years travelling around Europe, she arrives back in town with a new Italian friend, Luigi, and the whole family soon get embroiled in a tangle of mystery and suspicion, with death and passion at the heart of the story.

As time runs out on Luigi as prime suspect for murder, Janie has to use all of her powers of deduction in the footsteps of her hero, Hercule Poirot, to uncover the facts. Why did Luigi come to Tamarisk Bay? What is the truth about his family?

As Luigi's story unfolds, tragedy seems to haunt the past, present and unless Janie acts fast, possibly what is yet to come.

***********************************

The Invisible Case, despite the appearance of a dead body, is actually a gentle, cosy kind of crime story. It is set in Tamarisk Bay, a quiet Sussex sea-side town, and although the story starts in 1970 the characters are still very much set in the 1960s - very nostalgic!

The story revolves around new mother, professional librarian and amateur sleuth, Janie Juke. At the start of the tale, Janie is eagerly awaiting the return of her Aunt Jessica, who has been away in Italy for a number of years, and who is now returning to British shores. When Jessica arrives, she is in the company of a mysterious young Italian man, called Luigi. Luigi's motives for coming to Tamarisk Bay are somewhat hazy, and he is very upset about the loss of his briefcase on the journey to England, which he believes to have been stolen - although he is very reluctant to divulge why he is so concerned about the loss of the contents.

Unfortunately for the whole family, Luigi has a habit of sneaking around and when he is connected to the case of the suspicious death of another strange visitor to their quiet town, his truculent attitude and secrecy about the contents of his briefcase make him a person of great interest to the local police. Janie is called upon to emulate her hero Hercule Poirot in trying to extricate Luigi from the tangled mess he finds himself in, and what follows is a tale rich in themes of family, lost love and the legacy of secrets of the past.

I must admit that I did struggle with the narrator of this audible book, but the nature of the story itself is really rather charming. There are some nice twists and turns in the Christie style, especially the lovely opening with Jessica and Luigi's train journey, and many opportunities for Janie to channel her hero Hercule Poirot. There's lots of nice 1960s nostalgia to be found here too, but also hints of the 1970s to come, and a rich undernote of romance from the Italian side of the story which adds an exotic feel to the piece.

Much of this tale is very touching, and there are times when the bitter-sweet air of grief and lost love is quite overwhelming, but there are some lovely notes of pulling together in a crisis and reconciliation that are very heart-warming too.

This is definitely mystery on the cosy scale and one that will appeal very much to the lovers of stories like Call The Midwife and The George Gently series - so if you like your crime on the gentle, nostalgic side then this will be one for you.

The Invisible Case is available to buy now from your favourite book retailer, or via the links below:

Amazon UK     Amazon US

Thank you to Isabella Muir for providing me with a copy of this audio book in return for an honest review and to Rachel Gilby of Rachel's Random Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Isabella is never happier than when she is immersing herself in the sights, sounds and experiences ofthe 1960s. Researching all aspects of family life back then formed the perfect launch pad for her works of fiction. 

Isabella rediscovered her love of writing fiction during two happy years working on and completing her MA in Professional Writing and since then has gone to publish five novels, two novellas and a short story collection. The Invisible Case is the third book in her Sussex Crime Mystery series, featuring young librarian and amateur sleuth, Janie Juke. Set in the late 1960s, in the fictional seaside town of Tamarisk Bay, we meet Janie, who looks after the mobile library. She is an avid lover of Agatha Christie stories–in particular Hercule Poirot–using all she has learned from the Queen of Crime to help solve crimes and mysteries. All three novels are now available as audio books. As well as three novels, there are three novellas in the series, which explore some of the back story to the Tamarisk Bay characters. 

Her latest novel, Crossing the Line, is the first of a new series of SussexCrimes, featuring retired Italian detective, Giuseppe Bianchi who arrives in the quiet seaside town of Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, to find a dead body on the beach and so the story begins..

Isabella’s standalone novel, The Forgotten Children, deals with the emotive subject of the child migrants who were sent to Australia–again focusing on family life in the 1960s, when the child migrant policy was still in force.

Find out more at:

Author's website     Facebook     Twitter

The Red Admiral's Secret (Mark Poynter Book Two) by Matthew Ross

 

The Red Admiral's Secret (Mark Poynter Book Two) by Matthew Ross.

Published 3rd February 2021 by Red Dog Press.

From the cover of the book:

A Premier League bad-boy murdered at his newly refurbished home; a teenage runaway’s corpse uncovered on a construction site; a gunman shoots up the premises of the local gangland boss – all of them projects run by beleaguered builder Mark Poynter. 

Can he fix it?

Things seem to be on the up for builder, Mark Poynter. Mark’s got himself a nice little earner taking care of the sizeable property portfolio built up from the career earnings of former Premier League bad-boy and local celebrity, Danny Kidd. But when Danny Kidd puts an interested party’s nose out of joint by using his star status to gazump them on a development site – the derelict Admiral Guthrie pub - things turn ugly and incendiary, leaving Mark to deal with the consequences.

Meanwhile local villain, Hamlet, uses his subtle persuasion to dupe Mark into unwittingly help him launder vast sums of dirty cash but when it drags the area to the brink of gang warfare, Mark’s help is needed to try and broker a truce.

At the Admiral Guthrie secrets from the past meet conflicts of the present - will the rising flames reduce Mark’s future to ashes?

The Red Admiral’s Secret is the second in the series of darkly comic crime fiction novels featuring the beleaguered builder Mark Poynter, aided and hindered in equal measure by his trusted crew of slackers, idlers and gossips, and the lengths they go to just to earn a living.

*******************************

I cannot tell you how much I was looking forward to meeting up again with Marky-Mark Poynter and the gang after Matthew Ross' excellent debut novel, Death of a Painter (see my review here), and from start to finish The Red Admiral's Secret was just like catching up with friends and family - well friends and family embroiled in the fall out from murder and mayhem anyway!

Electrician, Mark Poynter, has pulled himself out of the mire he was involved in during the events of The Death of a Painter, and is now doing alright for himself both professionally and personally. Working for the ex-footballer Danny Kid and his brother, Stuart, in their property management business has proven to be profitable, but Mark cannot help but worry what the future holds, and whether it is sensible to put all his eggs in one basket. His nurse partner, Perry, has now more-or-less moved in giving him a loving, stable base to anchor himself to - if only he would allow himself acknowledge it. Uncle Bern and Disco are still putting in a, mostly, welcome appearance, and as for the loveable villain Hamlet, well he is never far away and still dragging Mark into some dodgy scheme whether he wants in or not.

When the Kidd brothers start to show an interest in developing the derelict Admiral Guthrie pub, some pretty nasty fellows come out of the woodwork and trouble ensues for them all - the kind of trouble that involves murder, the sins of the past, and possible gang warfare. Yep. poor old Mark is up to his neck in it again, as as is par for the course, it is up to him to try to sort in out.

There are some fabulous threads to this tale, which bring in a mix of the modern gang culture and that of the traditional crime bosses of the past; the repercussions of sibling rivalry ramped up to eleven; and commitment to friends, family and partners; which when added together make for a much more complex story than in the first book. I was really impressed with the slick way Mark Ross works all the threads out to their exciting conclusions, with some nice little twists and turns along the way. There's bags of mystery with menace that had me gobbling up the pages, and a good solid portion of emotion fit to warm the cockles of your heart that made me shed a tear or two at the end.

This really is a book where I recommend you take the time to read the first one in the series, because is makes such a difference to know the likely lads and lasses you are going to meet in this adventure, and the history that lies between them. It will also give you a chance to get into the vibe of Mathew Ross' style of humour, and the reams of top quality pithy banter that help make these books so enjoyable.

It's easy to see that Matthew Ross is really getting into his stride as a writer now, fleshing out his characters nicely and inventing even more involved plots that are both entertaining and absorbing, and I absolutely loved every cracking page. I cannot wait to see what comes next for Marky-Mark and his squad.

The Red Admiral's Secret is available to buy now from your favourite book retailer or direct from Red Dog Press HERE.

Thank you to Meggy Roussel at Red Dog Press for sending me an e-book copy of this book in return for an honest review and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Matthew Ross was born and raised in the Medway Towns, England. He still lives in Kent with his Kiwi wife, his children and a very old cat.

He was immersed in the building industry from a very early age helping out on his father’s sites during school holidays before launching into his own career at 17. He’s worked on projects ranging from the smallest domestic repair to £billion+ infrastructure, and probably everything in between.

A lifelong comedy nerd, he ticked off a bucket-list ambition and tried his hand at stand-up comedy. Whilst being an experience probably best forgotten (for both him and audiences alike) it ignited a love for writing, leading to various commissions including for material broadcast on BBC Radio 4 comedy shows.

Matthew moved into the longer format of novel writing after graduating from the Faber Academy in London in 2017.

The Red Admiral's Secret is his second novel series of stories featuring Mark Poynter and his associates, folloing on from The Death Of A Painter. Matthew enjoys reading all manner of books - especially crime and mystery; 80s music; and travelling and can’t wait for the next trip to New Zealand to spend time with family and friends.

The Children God Forgot by Graham Masterton

 

The Children God Forgot by Graham Masterton.

Published 4th February 2021 by Head of Zeus.

From the cover of the book:

A TERRIFYING BIRTH

A young woman is rushed to the hospital with stabbing pains in her stomach. The chief surgeon delivers a living child with the face of an angel and the body of a tentacled monster. The doctors are unanimous that the baby must die.

AN ESCAPE FROM THE DARK

Engineer Gemma is plunged into darkness in a tunnel beneath London. Before she escapes, a strange green light illuminates a cluster of ghostly figures. Gemma is certain they were children.

A SUPERNATURAL THREAT

DC Jerry Pardoe and DS Jamila Patel, of Tooting Police, have investigated the occult before - but nothing as strange and horrible as what they must confront in the city sewers. 

Down here in the dark, where the dead come back to life, witchcraft is the only force strong enough to save you...

*******************************

Graham Masterton is one of those authors that I have not come across before, so I was intrigued about what lay ahead for me in the pages of The Children God Forgot. In fact, this story contains one of those old fashioned, full-on horror books in the vein of James Herbert that I was so fond of as a teenager, so reading this one was a bit of a nostalgia trip for me.

This is the kind of horror that will appeal very much to lovers of the macabre, so if you prefer to get your horror kicks from tortured psychological suspense with a whisper of the supernatural, and find it hard to suspend your disbelief, then this is going to be too much of a blunt instrument for you. 

Still with me? Then read on... Instead, Graham Masterton fills his tale with creepy monsters, both in the deformed fleshy sense and spectral ones from beyond the grave, that can do you real harm, and he lets them run riot. The sights, sounds and even smells that are minutely described in these pages are ones that come from your worst stomach-churning nightmares, and they will leave you wishing you never have to venture into the sewers below the streets of London - do not read alone at night!

The characters are very likeable, with some well-written strong women, and despite Masterton's occasional habit to dwell overly on the physical attributes of the female players and indulge in the odd racial stereotype, I found myself becoming quite fond of them and worrying about the dangers that lay ahead in the story - and their bloody trials and terrifying tribulations were many, dear reader.

Although part of a series, this works well as a stand-alone and I really enjoyed the way Masterton weaves his gory fun into a book that is essentially a police procedural cum mystery tale by bringing in a big dollop of the occult. There are some deliciously dark, well-crafted themes exploring witchcraft, demonology and possession which were used to great effect, with nice echoes of The Exorcist, IT, Rosemary's Baby and even, at times, Alien - and a disturbing take on the subject of abortion too.

As in all good horror novels, the scary ride terminates with a disquieting ending that will haunt you, and since it bodes well for a sequel full of more ghastly goings on it will be interesting to see what Graham Masterton has up his sleeve for DC Jerry Pardoe and DS Jamila Patel next.

The Children God Forgot is available to buy now from your favourite book retailer, or via the links below:

Amazon UK     Kobo     Google Play     iBooks     Bookshop.org     Waterstones

About the author:

Graham Masterton was born in Edinburgh in 1946, and at the age of 17 he joined his local newspaper as a junior reporter. He was appointed deputy editor of Mayfair at the age of 21, and at 24 he became executive editor of Penthouse. After leaving Penthouse, he wrote The Manitou, a horror novel that became his first bestseller and was adapted into a film starring Tony Curtis.

Graham spent twenty-five years as one of the world’s bestselling horror authors before he turned his talent to crime writing. Inspired by the five years in which he and his late wife lived in Cork, he created a series of novels featuring Katie Maguire, the first female superintendent in the Irish police force. The first book in the Katie Maguire series, White Bones, was published by Head of Zeus in 2012 and became a top-ten bestseller. Graham continues to write thrillers and horror novels alongside the Katie Maguire crime series, which has now sold over a million copies worldwide.

Find out more about Graham Masterton:

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Find out more about Head of Zeus:

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Space Hopper by Helen Fisher

 

Space Hopper by Helen Fisher.

Published 4th February 2021 by Simon and Schuster UK.

From the cover of the book:

This is a story about taking a leap of faith
And believing the unbelievable

They say those we love never truly leave us, and I’ve found that to be true. But not in the way you might expect. In fact, none of this is what you’d expect.

I’ve been visiting my mother who died when I was eight.

And I’m talking about flesh and blood, tea-and-biscuits-on-the-table visiting here.

Right now, you probably think I’m going mad.
Let me explain…

Although Faye is happy with her life, the loss of her mother as a child weighs on her mind even more now that she is a mother herself. So she is amazed when, in an extraordinary turn of events, she finds herself back in her childhood home in the 1970s. Faced with the chance to finally seek answers to her questions – but away from her own family – how much is she willing to give up for another moment with her mother?

Space Hopper is an original and poignant story about mothers, memories and moments that shape life.

*********************************

Tell me a book is about time travel and I'm there... but Space Hopper turned out to be so much more than I was hoping for.

Our narrator, Faye, is a woman who considers herself lucky. She has two lovely daughters, a caring husband and wonderful friends, with very little to wish for, but the loss of her mother, Jeanie, when she was a young child is something she has found hard to deal with - especially as she has grown older. Then, one afternoon, a very strange thing happens... she finds herself travelling back in time to her childhood home and being given the chance to spend time with her mother (and herself as a child) and get answers to many of her questions. But her desire to repeat the process begins to have unforeseen effects on the happy life she has made for herself in the present - should she continue to long for the past or finally make the decision to say goodbye to her mother?

It turns out that Space Hopper is not so much a book about time travel, even though there are shades of the The Time Traveller's Wife here, but one about mothers and daughters, yearning to recapture what has been lost, faith, love, the fleeting nature of existence, and making peace with your past. It is achingly nostalgic for anyone who remembers being a child in the 1970s, like myself, full of warmth and humour, and will tug mercilessly on your heartstrings.

There is a lovely element of the blurring of lines between childhood and being an adult in this book that is so poignant. Faye sees herself as a responsible grown-up and yet there are times when she reverts to being childlike, sometimes within the safety of her relationship with her husband, but especially with her mother. All these years she has been yearning for her mother's touch and the need to have her cuts and bruises kissed better has never left her, but at the same time she is given the opportunity to look at her mother from an adult perspective and see her as a real person too. This blurring is also nicely picked up in the allusion that the imagination and sense of fun of childhood should be fed and nurtured, and allowed to carry over into adulthood.

I think it's fair to say that this is a book that is going to divide the crowd, particularly when it comes to the magical ending. The crux of the matter lies in the ever so subtle, almost imperceptible, thread of the fairy tale that runs seductively throughout this book. It's one that tugs ever so gently at your imagination, dropping hints with a suggestive trail of breadcrumbs that leads exactly where Helen Fisher has been guiding us all along, and I found it enchanting. I leave it up to you to discover the clues for yourself...

This is a beautifully conceived, emotional corker of a novel that I read in a single sitting, hanging on to every single word. It's one that defies being put in a box - apologies for the pun to anyone who has read this one - except perhaps the one labelled 'outstanding debut'!

Space Hopper is available to pre-order now from your favourite book retailer, and will be published in hardcover and e-book formats on 4th February 2021. Also available in audio book format.

About the author:

Helen Fisher spent her early life in America, but grew up mainly in Suffolk where she now lives with her two children. She studied Psychology at Westminster University and Ergonomics at UCL and worked as a senior evaluator in research at the RNIB. She is now a full-time author.

Space Hopper is her first novel. She is currently working on her second novel.

Who Is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht

 

Who Is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht

Published 21st January 2021 by Verve Books.

From the cover of the book:

New York City, 1962. Vera Kelly is struggling to make rent and blend into the underground gay scene in Greenwich Village. She's working night shifts at a radio station when her quick wits, sharp tongue, and technical skills get her noticed by a recruiter for the CIA.

Next thing she knows she's in Argentina, tasked with wiretapping a congressman and infiltrating a group of student activists in Buenos Aires. As Vera becomes more and more enmeshed with the young radicals, the fragile local government begins to split at the seams. When a betrayal leaves her stranded in the wake of a coup, Vera learns war makes for strange and unexpected bedfellows, and she's forced to take extreme measures to save herself.

An exhilarating page turner and perceptive coming-of-age story, Who is Vera Kelly? introduces an original, wry and whip-smart female spy for the twenty-first century.

***************************

I don't think I have ever read anything quite like this book before. It's unusual in that it is equal parts coming-of-age story and 1960's espionage thriller, with both parts of the novel standing up loud and proud in their own right, each asking the same question - who is Vera Kelly?

Vera's tale is told in two timelines, one playing out her domestic history in the USA starting in 1957 and ending when she goes off to South America to begin her career as a CIA operative, and the other telling the story of her year long mission in Buenos Aires from January 1966. The timelines swap back and forth in alternate chapters, until her past history collides with the present.  

The domestic part of the novel is where the coming-of-age part comes in. When we first meet her in her hometown of Chevy Chase, Maryland it is clear her life is in turmoil. She is struggling with her sexual identity and a very difficult relationship with her mother, and a drug overdose which may or not not be a failed suicide bid sets her on a rocky path that eventually leads to life among the gay scene in 1962 Greenwich Village, working night shifts as a technician at a radio station. Although she acknowledges her sexual preference for women, she is unable to settle into life in the big city, especially since she cannot live openly as a gay woman at this time.  Her technical skills get her noticed by a CIA recruiter, and the romantic lure of the life of a spy - and the very attractive pay cheque that comes with it - is too much for her to resist, so she embarks on a new career in the world of espionage.

Vera's early missions mainly comprise translator sort of roles, but then she is offered to undertake something much more complex, and dangerous, in Buenos Aires - wiretapping politicians and infiltrating a group of young student radicals. And it is this part of the story that gives us the full-on CIA espionage tale experience when January 1966 finds her masquerading as Canadian student Anne Patterson, while secretly spying on the local bigwigs and her fellow scholars - a role which may have gone without too many hiccups were it not for political upheaval, a coup and the need to escape capture after an act of betrayal.

Even though it sounds quite odd, playing an emotion-heavy coming-of-age chronicle against a hard-edged spy story works incredibly well. Of course, these sides of the novel offer some pretty big contrasts in style and content, but there are similarities that can be teased out of them too - and essentially, they both centre on assuming false identities and avoiding detection, and the thread of Vera's romantic entanglements is ever present.

Rosalie Knecht handles each and every part of this novel with sophisticated flair, with intriguing shades of Patricia Highsmith. She manages to write convincingly of the life of a young gay woman in 1960's New York and that of a CIA spy in the midst of a steaming political morass in South America, which takes some doing. Vera comes across beautifully as a strong, smart, witty, capable woman, subversive on more than one front, and with manifold charms. There are moments of deep emotion, high tension, humour and terror that draw you in completely.

There are some intriguing themes that come up in the telling of this tale too. An obvious one is the thread of sexuality and the need to hide in plain sight, but there are also some lovely strains about the role of women; patriotism; and playing at politics, especially by the upper middle classes - and underlying it all is the pervading sense that the entire novel is about fear of various kinds.

I absolutely adored this book and its fire-cracker of a protagonist. I cannot wait to read Vera's next adventure, Vera Kelly Is Not A Mystery, which is coming very soon!

Who Is Vera Kelly? is available to buy now from your favourite book retailer.

Thank you to Hollie McDevitt from Oldcastle Boks for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Rosalie Knecht is the author of Who Is Vera Kelly?, Vera Kelly Is Not A Mystery and Relief Map. She is also the translator of César Aira’s The Seamstress and the Wind (New Directions). 

She lives in New Jersey.

January 2021 Round-Up

January 2021 Reading Round-Up

It's been an interesting month on the reading stakes, thriller heavy, but with a wide rage of genres - and even a bit of non-fiction thrown in too. There is pretty much something in this selection of 16 books for everyone!

You will find the individual books listed below, next to my Instagram review pictures, with links to each of my reviews. Please feel free to have a poke around and check out anything which takes you fancy.

Shiver by Allie Reynolds

Without A Trace by Mari Hannah

Blood, Metal, Bone  by Lindsay Cummings

The Five by Hallie Rubenhold

The Art of Dying by Ambrose Parry

When The Children Come by Barry Kirwan

Winterkill by Ragnar Jonasson

The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor

 

 Cockfight by Maria Fernanda Ampuero

 

Our Little Cruelties  by Liz Nugent

The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell

In Darkness, Shadows Breathe by Catherine Cavendish

Keeper by Jessica Moor

A Remedy in Time by Jennifer Macaire

Asylum Road by Olivia Sudjic

The Scribe by A.A. Chaudhuri

If you like my photos, please come visit me on Instagram at @brownflopsy and give me a follow!