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Evil Games by Angie Marsons (Kim Stone #2)

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Synopsis: When a rapist is found mutilated in a brutal attack, Detective Kim Stone and her team are called in to bring a swift resolution. But, as more vengeful killings come to light, it soon becomes clear that there is someone far more sinister at work. With the investigation quickly gathering momentum, Kim finds herself exposed to great danger and in the sights of a lethal individual undertaking their own twisted experiment. Up against a sociopath who seems to know her every weakness, for Detective Stone, each move she makes could be deadly. As the body count starts to mount, Kim will have to dig deeper than ever before to stop the killing. And this time – it’s personal.

Kat’s Rating: 5/5 Continue reading “Evil Games by Angie Marsons (Kim Stone #2)”

THE TIME OF OUR LIVES BY JANE COSTELLO

Kat’s Rating: 3/5

Synopsis: Imogen and her friends Meredith and Nicola have had their fill of budget holidays, cattle-class flights and 6 a.m. offensives for a space by the pool. So when Meredith wins a VIP holiday at Barcelona’s hippest new hotel, they plan to sip champagne with the jet set, party with the glitterati and switch off in unapologetic luxury. But when the worst crisis of her working life erupts back home, Imogen has to juggle her BlackBerry with a Manhattan, while soothing a hysterical boss and hunting down an AWOL assistant. Between a robbery, a run-in with hotel security staff and an encounter on a nudist beach that they’d all rather forget, the friends stumble from one disaster to the next. At least Imogen has a distraction in the form of the gorgeous guy who’s always in the right place at the very worst time. Until, that is, his motives start to arouse a few suspicions.

Kat’s Review: For some reason this Jane Costello book slipped through the net, so realising that I made a prompt start on this book. Imogen, Meredith and Nicola are three friends that have won themselves a VIP trip to Barcelona. In their minds they are well on their way to sipping champagne and cocktails amongst the jet setters. Sadly, from the very moment they get to the airport things are destined to go wrong. Now I am quite a Costello fan but found myself struggling to get into the first few chapters. I persevered but for some unknown reason the book felt like it was hard work.

I quite liked the characters but sometimes they grated on me, normally with a JC book I love the characters that she creates but just found I couldn’t gel with these three. Harry was a prominent male character and he was instantly likeable and easy to read about. I think overall Imogen irritated me the most and unfortunately for me if I don’t like the character there is less chance I will enjoy the book. Maybe this was just my mood, who know, but I just wanted to slap her round the head and destroy her phone! Meredith and Nicola were slightly easier to read, but with constant interruptions from Meredith it just lost its appeal.

It sounds like I am being un-necessarily harsh and I really am not. Jane Costello has a great writing style and her books are always so enjoyable. For some reason this one and I just didn’t quite gel. There were elements about it I loved, but as the characters were so annoying it lowered my enjoyment. This certainly isn’t a bad book, just one that wasn’t for me.

Hunted by Paul FInch (Mark Heckenburg #5)

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My Rating: 5/5

Availability: Paperback, Kindle, Nook, Kobo

Synopsis: Heck needs to watch his back. Because someone’s watching him. Across the south of England, a series of bizarre but fatal accidents are taking place. So when a local businessman survives a near-drowning but is found burnt alive in his car just weeks later, DS Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg is brought in to investigate. Soon it appears that other recent deaths might be linked: two thieves that were bitten to death by poisonous spiders, and a driver impaled through the chest with scaffolding. Accidents do happen but as the body count rises it’s clear that something far more sinister is at play, and it’s coming for Heck too.

My Review: One VERY important thing you need to remember to do when reading this book is BREATHE!!! I found myself holding my breath in far too many parts of this book but all in a very good way. I only recently discovered Paul Finch and his first release featuring DS Mark Heckenburg (or Heck as he is better known) was a knockout. The 3 following books in the series were all great but didn’t quite have the same pull for me as the debut to the series Stalkers. Until now…

Heck is contacted by his boss and ex-lover Gemma Piper to go and take a look at a strange case which involves a supposed accidental death. It involves going down to leafy Surrey and having to meet a new group of coppers namely one Gail Honeyford. It appears that they already have their suspicions and Gail is already on the case. However, Heck not only has the challenge of a difficult temporary colleague, but of more than one strange and bizarre cases. It seems like no type of crime from the bizarre to the downright shocking is exempt from the cases that keep cropping up.

From the outset the pace ratchets up and rarely gives you time to breathe. A few times I realised I was holding my breath for longer than necessary and as usual Heck manages to get himself into some awful positions. I for one will never look at an image of a spider in a glass jar without thinking about a particular scene in this book. Although Gemma Piper has featured in previous books she is not really a main actor in this latest instalment and if I’m honest I think that’s a good thing. It leaves open so many more possibilities, yet leaves her in the series (so to speak, sorry not very well articulated there…but you know what I mean).

Overall, this book was a first class one from Mr Finch, and certainly an instalment that will keep me going back for more. Thank goodness there is another book due for release later this year! Highly recommended book AND series.

P.S I think I am developing another fictional character crush

You Are Dead by Peter James (Roy Grace #11)

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Kat’s Rating: 4/5

Synopsis: THEY WERE MARKED FOR DEATH. The last words Jamie Ball hears from his fiancée, Logan Somerville, are in a terrified mobile phone call. She has just driven into the underground car park beneath the block of flats where they live in Brighton. Then she screams and the phone goes dead. The police are on the scene within minutes, but Logan has vanished, leaving behind her neatly parked car and mobile phone. That same afternoon, workmen digging up a park in another part of the city, unearth the remains of a woman in her early twenties, who has been dead for 30 years.

At first, to Roy Grace and his team, these two events seem totally unconnected. But then another young woman in Brighton goes missing – and yet another body from the past surfaces. Meanwhile, an eminent London psychiatrist meets with a man who claims to know information about Logan. And Roy Grace has the chilling realization that this information holds the key to both the past and present crimes . . . Does Brighton have its first serial killer in over eighty years?

My Review: <HUGE sigh>, I’m not sure where to start. Peter James is a bit of a Legend in my eyes. He is one of those authors that everybody knows; the man is most certainly one of my favourites. The one small problem I have, and have continued to have with the last few books is the ongoing storyline involving his missing wife Sandy. Now for people wanting to start the series from the beginning and haven’t yet got around to it, please don’t carry on reading my review because it will no doubt contain spoilers (this also applies to people who haven’t read the latest book as things mentioned in my review refer to those events, and I HATE a spoiler.

Roy is back and is dealing with a number of big changes such as a new son, moving house and dealing with the loss of a colleague. To pick up a new Roy Grace feels like meeting up with old friends and this one is no different. Both Roy and Glen (his colleague) make these books along with a few favourites such as Norman Potting, and the ones I can’t stand such as Roy’s new boss Cassian. This new book actually opens with a pretty hair raising and dramatic abduction of Logan Somerville and the pace is pretty frantic in the beginning. In the same afternoon the discovery of remains underneath a path which look to be thirty years old mean that Grace and his team have a lot of work on.

The storyline was certainly woven with enough mystery and intrigue to keep me turning the pages and once again we see flashes of potential closure regarding Roy’s missing/presumed dead wife Sandy. As these parts of the story (albeit small parts) were revealed I was once again hoping that this element of the storyline would be concluded. Sadly, I was mistaken! Back to the main events in the book and it seems that Roy’s work life is overtaking his ability to control his personal life. I love the fact that we see both in this series. The other thing that I think is absolutely brilliant is that you get a real feel for the actual police work that Roy and his team have to go through. There is no magical ‘tah dah’ moment where Roy cracks the case as if by magic. It’s done and the story told with all of the team working and pulling their weight. This gives a real authenticity to the story as well as previous books which I love.

Sadly, I figured out part of the story towards the end but actually liked the way the story was wrapped up. However, the reason for the 4 stars and not 5 is this whole Sandy thing. I’m not entirely sure whether this is a conclusion to it, but am pretty sure it can’t be…can it? It was one of those moments that seem a little bit like a cliff-hanger. Or was this PJ’s way of closing the chapter on it all. Because I’m really not sure I don’t quite know how I feel. If this is PJ’s was of closing it, then I feel cheated. If it isn’t then I am so bored of waiting for it all to go belly up. Either way I am still a little bit confused. That aside, another really solid read once again from the main man!

REVIEW OF ONE MILE UNDER BY ANDREW GROSS

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Kat’s Rating: 4/5 (just!)

Synopsis: Leading a tour down the rapids outside Aspen, Colorado, whitewater guide Dani Haller comes across the body of a close friend. Refusing to believe it was an accident, Dani uncovers evidence that backs up her suspicions and takes her case to Wade Dunn, local police chief and her ex-stepfather. Wade insists the case is closed but Rooster, a hot-air balloon operator, claims he saw something that Dani needs to know. Before she can find out, however, Rooster plunges to his death in a fiery crash. Dani threatens to go public with her evidence, and finds herself thrown in jail. When ex-detective Ty Hauck receives word that his god-daughter is in trouble, he immediately jumps to her aid. Together he and Dani step foot into a sinister scheme running deep beneath the surface of a quiet, Colorado town that has made a deal with devil to survive.

Kat’s Review: I am a fan of both Andrew Gross and the character Ty Hauck. However, this is the first Ty Hauck book in 5 years and I admit I was a little nervous. After reading around 20% of the book I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Ty, but to be honest I wasn’t missing him. The main character Dani Haller is a feisty girl who works as a white-water guide. She comes across the body of a friend and is then like a dog with a bone, convinced that it was no accident. Dani is a great character and is gutsy and smart which always pulls me in. When Ty Hauck finally got a mention a fifty of the way I, I was quite surprised. It turns out that Dani is his God Daughter and he is the one that gets the phone call to go and help her out of the trouble she has landed herself in.

First off I had to try and reach the corners of my brain to work out what happened to Ty in the last instalment. Yu do get a brief overview but it wasn’t ringing any bells so I finally relented and went back and read my review to jog my memory. When Ty first appears it almost seems like he has had a bit of a personality transplant, either that or his extreme absence just hasn’t made my heart grow fonder! Anyhow, when he picks up Dani and gets collared with looking into the death of her friend it then starts to get interesting. There are certainly a lot of bad guys in this book and an awful lot of dodgy dealings and underhand tactics with a large corporation.

The last quarter of the book was much more ‘old-school’ Ty Hauck and it was much pacier and full of quite a few tensions and hair raising moments. Having said all of that, I struggled to rate this. Initially I wanted to give it 3, middle of the road but felt that the last part of the book more than made up for it so finally decided on a 4. I think my reluctance to be more positive is that I have come to the conclusion 5 years is too long to not read about a character (just in my opinion). It has been too long between books and I felt like it was meeting a new character all over again. There are numerous parts of this book that show just how awesome an author Andrew Gross is, but please Mr G….don’t leave Ty out for too long next time

It’s Not Me, It’s You by Mhairi McFarlane

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My Rating: 5/5

Synopsis: Delia Moss isn’t quite sure where she went wrong. When she proposed and discovered her boyfriend was sleeping with someone else – she thought it was her fault. When she realised life would never be the same again – she thought it was her fault. And when he wanted her back like nothing had changed – Delia started to wonder if perhaps she was not to blame. From Newcastle to London and back again, with dodgy jobs, eccentric bosses and annoyingly handsome journalists thrown in, Delia must find out where her old self went – and if she can ever get her back.

My Review: I’ve read one other Mhairi McFarklane book and enjoyed it so was looking forward to reading this latest release. Delia Moss in the beginning seems a nice enough girl and living with her boyfriend Paul life seems to be reasonably good for her. However, when she proposes to her boyfriend she has no idea that it will lead to the discovery of his infidelity. From that very moment I was rooting for Delia to change her ways and tell him where to go. Thankfully we see Delia’s escape route and take the journey with her.

Her friend Emma lives in London and this is where Delia escapes to. What starts out as her taking some time out, becomes a whole lot more with some very funny moments along the way. In addition to Emma, Delia meets people such as Naan, Stephanie and Adam along with her new boss Kurt. All of the characters play their part and make for brilliantly compulsive reading.

Mhairi manages to capture the lovely ‘Geordie’ accent without overkill with some of Delia’s sayings, as well as making you feel like you are walking the streets of London with her. There were some moments where I wondered where the storyline was going, but when it all came together it was a fantastic read. I can honestly say having only read one of her previous books, that she may well be a somewhat under rated author. I know for a fact that I will be putting her straight on to my ‘definite to buy/read/follow’ list. A fantastic read, one which will make for a perfect summer holiday!

The Wronged by Kimberley Chambers (Butlers #3)

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My Rating: 5/5

Synopsis: When the going gets tough, the Butlers get even… ‘Murdered in 1980 she was, bless her. Now I’ll tell you the story of everything that’s happened since…’ No parent should ever have to bury their child, but God knows the Butlers have buried more than their fair share. Now, Vinny and Michael are planning the downfall of all who’ve wronged them. The Butlers don’t forgive or forget, and they take their secrets to the grave. As yet more tragic events rip the family apart, loyalties are on a knife edge. Times are changing in the East End, and the brothers who have always stuck together are at each other’s throats. As the old saying goes – you keep your friends close, and your enemies closer… But you keep your family right where you can see them. Continue reading “The Wronged by Kimberley Chambers (Butlers #3)”

My Husband Next Door by Catherine Alliott

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Synopsis: Separated in every way but distance, Sebastian resides in an outhouse across the lawn from his ex-wife Ella’s ramshackle farmhouse. With a home crowded by hostile teenaged children and gender-confused chickens, Ella finds comfort in the company of the very charming gardener, Ludo. Then Sebastian decides to move on, catching Ella horribly unawares.

How much longer can she hide from what really destroyed her marriage… and the secret she continues to keep?

Kat’s Rating: 3/5

Kat’s Review: I’ve been reading Catherine Alliott’s books for many years and was looking forward to starting this one. However, for some reason by the time I had finished the book I just thought it was okay, just that…okay. Ella and her artist husband Sebastian separated and the end result is now two lazy teenage children and Sebastian living in an outhouse on the farm. This means that Ella is left with holiday guests to look after, the children to wait on hand and foot, and to add to the mix her Mother comes to stay after herself experiencing marital difficulties.

Ella was a nice enough character and the storyline trundled along, but it was lacking that normal sparkle that her books have, such as ‘A Rural Affair’. We also meet Ginnie who is Ella’s sister and although her life looks to be perfect, it may just be that appearances are deceptive. On the whole the book is certainly readable, no doubt about that, but I just felt like I was waiting for something else to happen. It seemed to be middle of the road and the attempts at secrets and character changes just seemed stilted and forced.

I was disappointed but only because I have previously really enjoyed some of her books. It certainly wasn’t a bad read; it just wasn’t what I expected. I will look forward to the next one and hope that Catherine Alliott returns to that magic sparkle that her books normally have.

Only The Brave by Mel Sherratt (Allie Shenton #3)

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Kat’s Rating: 4/5

Synopsis: When one of the notorious Johnson brothers is murdered and a bag of money goes missing, a deadly game of cat and mouse is set in motion. DS Allie Shenton and her team are called in to catch the killer, but the suspects are double-crossing each other and Allie has little time to untangle the web of lies. As she delves deeper into the case, things take a personal turn when Allie realises she is being stalked by the very same person who attacked her sister seventeen years ago and left her for dead.

*Please note that due to this book being part of a series, if you haven’t read the previous books and plan on doing so then don’t continue to read the review as it will inevitably contain spoilers*

Kat’s Review: I was so excited to get an early copy of the new Mel Sherratt, and especially pleased that it was another ‘Allie Shenton’ book. Taunting The Dead and Follow My Leader are books 1 and 2 respectively and I would strongly recommend you read the books in order. Allie is back and facing the worst possible scenario in her personal life. Her sister was attached 17 years prior and life has never been the same for her since. It seems that now, the person who attacked her sister is now targeting Allie. In addition to this the body of Jordan Johnson is found and typically it seems he has links to Terry Ryder (featured in previous book).

The big difference in this latest book is Allie herself. She seemed somehow more vulnerable than usual and maybe not as strong as in previous books (which isn’t always a bad thing). On the other side of the fence we meet all the neighbours living in the flats where Jordan’s body was found. It seems before long that there are numerous candidates and it seems there is more double-crossing going on than you can shake a stick at. The endless list of people who could be potential suspects are brilliant and I could picture each and every one of them. The other difference with this book is that it’s set over 24 hours so the chapters are started with the relevant time frame. I’m not that much of a fan of short time span books but this one worked well and had loads of pace and momentum.

Overall this was pretty much packed with all sorts of goings on and kept my interest right the way through. There are two storylines running throughout and for once this book finishes on something of a complete note. Hopefully this means that Allie will return fighting fit for another book and another new case. There is only one small thing that I consider a negative in this and previous books and that is Allie’s husband Mark. He doesn’t seem that prominent and to be honest would prefer that she got rid of him. I haven’t really felt like I connected with him as a character and he seems far too boring for her. The danger element of a man (such as in the last book) worked like a charm in my eyes. This is just a personal opinion but one that bugs me. Aside from the extremely boring husband another cracker for Mel Sherratt!

THE MOURNER BY SUSAN WILKINS (KAZ PHELPS #2)

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Kat’s Rating: 4/5

Synopsis: If she can’t get justice, will she settle for vengeance? Kaz Phelps has escaped her brother and her criminal past to become an anonymous art student in Glasgow. But can life under the witness protection scheme ever give her the freedom she craves? Banged up and brooding, Joey Phelps faces thirty years behind bars. Still, with cash and connections on the outside, can an overstretched prison system really contain him? Helen Warner, once Kaz’s lawyer and lover, is a rising star in Parliament. But has she made the kind of enemies who have no regard for the democratic process, or even the law? Ousted from the police and paralysed by tragic personal loss, Nicci Armstrong is in danger of going under. Can a job she doesn’t want with a private security firm help her to put her life back on track? A murder dressed up as suicide and corruption that goes to the heart of government unite ex-cop and ex-con in a deadly quest to learn the truth. What they discover proves what both have always known – villainy is rife on both sides of the law.

My Review: I was really pleased that I had the second book by Susan Wilkins as I have only recently finished the first. I wanted to know what happened with Kaz and Nicci. Kaz Phelps is currently living in Glasgow under a different name. She was the one that helped put her brother Joey behind bars. However, when she hears news that Helen Warner, her one time lover and her lawyer had been found dead the first thing she did was return to London. We also catch up with Nicci Armstrong, the one-time copper who has suffered extreme personal tragedy. She is now working with one of her old colleagues in private security.

I was shocked with the opening of the story even though the synopsis makes it clear that Helenr Warner is the victim. I liked Helen and was sad to see her leave the story. However when Kaz decides to approach Helen’s long term partner Julia things get very interesting. As for Nicci, well she is just a fantastic character to read about. Sadly in the beginning we se her struggle as she is trying to remain working to stop herself from travelling down a grieving path which probably involves a lot of drinking. It makes you really root for her as she is fundamentally a good person who is struggling to come to terms with what has happened to her.

In the meantime, Kaz seems to be getting herself more and more involved and before long she crosses paths with people that work for Joey. The Joey element of the story was done really well and I was totally engrossed from start to finish. It felt like even as just the reader, you were taking part on the journey to get to the truth and you second guess every single person! There was so much going on that you didn’t know where each thread was taking you, but there are no un-necessary complications, just plenty of action and drama. Susan Wilkins certainly has that flair for writing, which I guess is why she is such a successful script writer! However, its more than that, she has slotted into this part of the genre, that gritty and realistic type book that grabs you at page one and refuses to put you down until the end.

I was surprised by the ending, but the end result was that if book 3 was ready and waiting I would have moved straight on to it, so I guess the desired result was met. If you haven’t read Susan Wilkins, take a look at her first book and I will guarantee you want to read the second. Can’t wait to see what she produces next!