Category: Book Review

Need You Dead by Peter James (Roy Grace #13)

Synopsis: Lorna Belling, desperate to escape the marriage from hell, falls for the charms of another man who promises her the earth. But, as Lorna finds, life seldom follows the plans you’ve made. A chance photograph on a client’s mobile phone changes everything for her.

When the body of a woman is found in a bath in Brighton, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is called to the scene. At first it looks an open and shut case with a clear prime suspect. Then other scenarios begin to present themselves, each of them tantalizingly plausible, until, in a sudden turn of events, and to his utter disbelief, the case turns more sinister than Grace could ever have imagined.

Kat’s Rating: 4/5 Continue reading “Need You Dead by Peter James (Roy Grace #13)”

Blood Feud by Anna Smith (Kerry Casey #1)

Synopsis: They came for her family. Now she’s coming for them. This nail-biting thriller introduces Glasgow’s newest gangland mistress, Kerry Casey – a gripping read perfect for fans of Martina Cole and Kimberley Chambers.

Kerry Casey thought she’d made a life away from the dirty dealings of her gangster family. Her father wanted to make them legit – her brother Mickey had other ideas, and now it’s got him killed. When Mickey’s funeral turns into a bloodbath at the hands of a group of anonymous shooters and Kerry’s mother is killed in the crossfire, Kerry finds herself at the head of the Casey family, and desperate for revenge. Continue reading “Blood Feud by Anna Smith (Kerry Casey #1)”

BLOG TOUR – No Comment by Graham Smith (Harry Evans Novella)

Synopsis: When a single mother, Julie Simon, is found in her kitchen with a stab wound to her stomach, Cumbria’s Major Crimes Team are handed the case. Under the supervision of DI Campbell and witîh advice from his former DI, Harry Evans, DC Amir Bhaki fights to discover who assaulted an innocent woman and left her with life-threatening injuries.
Nothing is as it first appears and when the team looks into Julie’s life they uncover a hidden sex-life that may just hold the key to the identity of her attacker.

Kat’s Rating: 4/5

Kat’s Review: This novella/short story is just under 100 pages, and although these sorts of short books aren’t always my cup of tea, this was a really enjoyable bite sized read.

The Major Crimes Team are handed a case involving the stabbing of a single mother Julia Simon. Even though a short story Smith manages to pack a fair bit into this latest installment. This is almost like a mini catch up to see where the team are and what they are up to.

We see DI John Campbell trying to replace the now retired Harry Evans, however somehow I don’t see it happening. What I did get was a small but jam packed mini investigation with colleagues such as DC Amir Bhaki and DC Lauren Phillips making a welcome return. Thankfully this seems like the perfect time to read this with a full length novel entitled ‘When The Waters Recede’ due in May.

Blog Tour: The Absent Man by Robert Enright

 Synopsis: BERMUDA JONES AND ARGYLE ARE BACK IN THE THRILLING SEQUEL TO DOORWAYS


Something is killing…

A woman is found dead in her flat on a freezing night in Glasgow, her heart ripped from her chest. With no signs of a weapon or forced entry. Hours later, her heart is delivered to the Necropolis on the outskirts of town.

Six months after stopping the terrifying Barnaby atop Big Ben, Bermuda finds himself on the hunt for a killer in a city he doesn’t know with a police force that doesn’t want him. With no links between the victims and the death toll rising, Bermuda has to face a sceptical detective, a seemingly distracted Argyle and an unknown horror that stalks from the shadows.

All in the name of answering one question…

Who is The Absent Man?

Kat’s Rating: 5/5 Continue reading “Blog Tour: The Absent Man by Robert Enright”

BLOG TOUR: The Broken by Casey Kelleher (Byrne #2)

Synopsis: They took her dad, but she won’t let them take her.

Nancy Byrne was the apple of her daddy’s eye. He might have been one of the most-feared gangsters in London, yet Jimmy Byrne idolised his little Nancy. But now Jimmy is dead, gunned down in cold blood – and Nancy vows to avenge his death.

She’s only twenty years old, but as the new head of the ruthless Byrne gang, running a lucrative world of drugs, sex and violence, she’s in over her head. Keeping her family together while her beloved grandma falls apart and her brother Daniel goes off the rails forces Nancy to grow up – fast.

But while Nancy takes the men on at their own game, there’s a greater danger hiding on the dark streets. Jimmy’s killer is on her trail – and will stop at nothing to shut her up.

Blood might be thicker than water, but soon, Nancy realises she can’t trust anyone. Not even her own family.

Especially her own family.

Kat’s Rating: 4/5 Continue reading “BLOG TOUR: The Broken by Casey Kelleher (Byrne #2)”

Look For Me by Lisa Gardner (DD Warren #9)

Synopsis: Detective DD Warren and Flora Dane are in a race against time to save a young girl’s life – or bring her to justice.

A family home has become a crime scene. Five people are involved: four of them have been savagely murdered; one – a sixteen-year-old girl – is missing.

Was she lucky to have escaped? Or is her absence evidence of something sinister?

Detective D. D. Warren is on the case, as is survivor-turned-avenger Flora Dane.

Seeking different types of justice, they must make sense of the clues left behind by a young woman who, as victim or suspect, is silently pleading, Look for me.

Kat’s Rating: 4/5 Continue reading “Look For Me by Lisa Gardner (DD Warren #9)”

Hard Fall by J B Turner (Jon Reznick #5)

Synopsis: A friend in danger. A shadowy psych ward. A conspiracy beyond Reznick’s worst nightmares.

When an old Delta Force buddy comes to Jon Reznick for help, paranoid and fearing for his life, Reznick feels duty-bound to protect him. As a black-ops specialist, loyalty to his brothers in arms comes before everything—even the law.

But Jerry White proves difficult to protect. A runaway from a top-security psychiatric facility in upstate New York, he’s considered a danger to himself and others, and Reznick is powerless to stop shadowy senior hospital managers taking Jerry back by force. When FBI Assistant Director Martha Meyerstein warns him off, Reznick ignores her advice, suspecting the Wittenden Institute is not what it seems.

Digging deeper into the hospital’s background—and that of its esteemed manager, Dr. Robert Gittinger—Reznick begins to unravel a sinister plot that will bring warzone black ops to American soil. And when his own life comes under threat, he discovers that Jerry is trapped in a web of high-level conspiracies more terrifying than anything he has ever encountered…

Kat’s Rating: 5/5 Continue reading “Hard Fall by J B Turner (Jon Reznick #5)”

The Silent Children by Carol Wyer (Detective Robyn Carter #4)

51IqfUexH6L._UY250_

Synopsis: The boy studied the bruise turning yellow at the base of his neck. With quick fingers his mother tightened his tie, and pulled his collar high above it. Her eyes alone said, We will not speak of this…

Years later, a man is found shot dead in a local park. On his phone is a draft text: I can’t keep this secret any longer. The recipient is unnamed.

Detective Robyn Carter knows this secret is the key to the case, but his friends and family don’t offer any clues, and all her team have to go on is a size-ten footprint.

Then a nurse is found in a pool of blood at the bottom of her staircase, and a seemingly insignificant detail in her friend’s statement makes Robyn wonder: are the two bodies connected, and has the killer only just begun?

When another body confirms Robyn’s worst fears, she realises she’s in a race against time to stop the killer before they strike again. But just as she thinks she’s closing in, one of her own team goes missing.

Buried in the past is a terrible injustice. Can Robyn uncover the truth before another life is lost?

Kat’s Rating: 4/5 Continue reading “The Silent Children by Carol Wyer (Detective Robyn Carter #4)”

Doorways by Robert Enright

Synopsis: The Otherside is located at the fringes of our world, hiding in plain sight and existing within our shadows. Shielded from humanity, the Otherside is watched over by the BTCO, a highly secret government agency. BTCO agents are the few humans who possess ‘The Knack’, a genetic anomaly that allows them to see the truth of existence. Franklyn ‘Bermuda’ Jones is the BTCO’s finest agent, the only human to have passed to The Otherside and returned. Gifted with the ability to physically interact with The Otherside, Bermuda reluctantly stands between both worlds, pining for the life he had to leave behind and the daughter he can no longer see. Teamed with Argyle, an enigmatic Otherside warrior, Bermuda is assigned the case of a missing woman who has vanished under mysterious circumstances. As Bermuda delves further into the disappearance, he uncovers a conspiracy that threatens to destroy the truce between two worlds…and finds himself in a race against time to safeguard humanity’s very existence.

Kat’s Rating: 5/5

Kat’s Review: Oh. My. God. I cannot believe how much I loved this book. I don’t read Science Fiction and to be honest had no idea this book fell into that Genre. By the time it was in front of me and I started reading I actually groaned out loud AND rolled my eyes!!! Now having finished this in 2 sittings, I feel a little foolish. I mean, ME…reading Sci-Fi and LIKING IT?!?!?!?! So yes it seems I have a new genre to add to my ‘like’ list.

I have no previous knowledge on Sci-Fi books so am probably not the most qualified but the basis of this whole ‘world’ is that there are three types of people. ‘Others’ that belong to the other world, ‘Neithers’ which are stuck in between and us humans! Sounds weird but surprisingly made complete and utter sense when reading it. What made this even more interesting is that the main character Franklyn ‘Bermuda’ Jones is the only bloke who has the ‘knack’ of seeing the Neither and Others but is also the only human that has survived a journey to the other side. With that gift (which he feels is a curse) he is an agent for a specialist and very secretive agency known as the BTCO.

Essentially this book sees Bermuda fighting to find a missing woman along with his sidekick Argyl. What makes Argyl a little bit special is that he is a Neither, so he is stuck between the two worlds and only Bermuda can see him. Your every day passer by just thinks Bermuda is a crazy guy. Argyl is a cracking character and I instantly loved him. He is determined to be the warrior that always keeps Bermuda safe. Once the two of them start to investigate the disappearance of the young girl, they realise that this is a lot more than a straightforward disappearance, and this may well be the thing that tips the world over that edge they have stayed so desperately to one side of.

This book had everything to keep me well and truly entertained and nobody is more surprised at this than me! This author has not only written a compelling book, but has literally converted me now, and it’s a great feeling that I now know I can enjoy Sci-Fi without the eye-rolling! A fantastic read and one that has now made me want to read the next one…Mr Enright PLEASE tell me there will be another!!!

Continue reading “Doorways by Robert Enright”

Class Murder by Leigh Russell (Geraldine Steel #10)

Synopsis: Geraldine Steel is back for her tenth case. Reunited in York with her former sergeant, Ian Peterson, she discovers that her tendency to bend the rules has consequences. The tables have turned, and now he’s the boss.

When two people are murdered, their only connection lies buried in the past. As police search for the elusive killer, another body is discovered. Pursuing her first investigation in York, Geraldine Steel struggles to solve the confusing case. How can she expose the killer, and rescue her shattered reputation, when all the witnesses are being murdered?

Kat’s Rating: 5/5 Continue reading “Class Murder by Leigh Russell (Geraldine Steel #10)”