Category: Crime, Thriller, Mystery

Blood Tracks by Matt Hilton (Grey & Po #1)

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Synopsis: Introducing private investigator Tess Grey and Southern renegade ex-con Nicolas ‘Po’ Villere in the first of a brand-new series of fast-paced action thrillers. When her local District Attorney offers her a considerable sum of money to track down state witness Crawford Wynne, private investigator Tess Grey is in no position to refuse. Wynne is one of the few men still alive who can help the State nail vicious drug lord Alberto Suarez. But Tess is not the only one trying to track Wynne down. Suarez’s psychotic brother Hector has been hunting and butchering anyone who is a danger to his brother. Tess needs help and there’s only one man she can turn to: Southern renegade ex-con Nicolas Villere, known to all as Po. Po always gets his man, but he has never been teamed with a woman before. Both have their own agenda for taking on this case, and neither fully trusts the other. But of one thing they are sure: if they don’t cover each other’s backs, they are both going to die.

Kat’s Rating: 4/5

Kat’s Review: I must admit to having never got started on Matt Hilton’s successful series of books featuring Joe Hunter. I also realised I was so far behind that it would take me ages to catch up, so when I saw he had a new series out I thought it was a great opportunity to sample his writing. The two main characters in this new series are Tess Grey, an ex-copper turned Private Investigator and Nicolas ‘Po’ Villere who is an ex-con. I have to admit now I have finished the book that I struggled to get into it. Tess seemed a little dull and by the book for my liking. However, when Po turned up (GREAT lead character nickname by the way) things got a bit more interesting.

On reflection I think with it being a new series the slow start is because you are getting a feel for the character Tess. There are reasons relating to her past as to why she is the type of woman she is now. When she is given the opportunity to work for Emma Clancy as a PI she jumps at it and is introduced to Po as a man that can help her track her target down. Tess and Po need to find Crawford Wynne and bring him back as a State Witness. The story started off a little slowly and I felt like Tess needed a bit of a kick to liven herself up. Thankfully the charming ex-con Po more than made up for her as a character in the beginning.

The other character I cannot help but mention is an old friend of Po’s named Pinky. This guy HAS to make a comeback in future books as was absolutely brilliant! As the story progressed it became clear that Tess was becoming much more herself the longer she spent around Po. By the last quarter of the book we see the real Tess and it was a complete turnaround. There is the requisite bad guy and his helpers with a big dose of violence and some good old fashioned gun fighting going on. For a book that was a bit of a slow burner I ended up being totally captivated by both Tess and Po. The storyline picked up it’s pace and the last quarter was full on and I was practically speed reading. Plenty of action, thrills and two cracking new characters…what more could you ask for?

I must say this is a brilliant start to a new series and I really can’t wait to see what book 2 holds in store for them. I will certainly be getting the next in the series as soon as it’s available, and who knows maybe now I will be more inclined to get started on the Joe Hunter series. Overall I would definitely recommend this book and look forward to the next one.

Life or Death by Michael Robotham

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Synopsis: Why would a man escape from prison the day before he’s due to be released?

Audie Palmer has spent a decade in prison for an armed robbery in which four people died, including two of the gang. Seven million dollars has never been recovered and everybody believes that Audie knows where the money is.

For ten years he has been beaten, stabbed, throttled and threatened almost daily by prison guards, inmates and criminal gangs, who all want to answer this same question, but suddenly Audie vanishes, the day before he’s due to be released.

Everybody wants to find Audie, but he’s not running. Instead he’s trying to save a life . . . and not just his own.

Kat’s Rating: 5/5

Kat’s Review: Wow. First off I have to admit were it not for a Guest Reviewer I would never have known about Michael Robotham. Having never read any of his work I was looking forward to reading another new author. The synopsis sounded fantastic and to be honest the only criticism I have is that the cover does not do the book justice. If I walked past this in a bookshop I wouldn’t even pick it up. Aside from that there is little to grumble about.

Audie Palmer is a quiet and unassuming bloke; the only difference is that he decides to break out of prison one day before he was due to be released.  There are additional characters that play just as much a part in this book including Audie’s prison friend Moss and Special Agent Desiree Furness. All three of them are fabulous characters to read and they really make you connect with the story all the more.

There are so many questions surrounding Audie, and why he ended up inside. The story is told by peeling back layers very slowly, all the while giving the readers snippets of information from secondary threads of the story. I read 50% of the book in one go and found myself using every available opportunity to continue reading after that. Towards the ¾ mark I thought I had it worked out, and then promptly realised I was all wrong!

This book truly had me gripped from the very beginning to the very end and I was sad that I had finished it. I would highly recommend this book and have already lined up the next Robotham. He has also written a series of books featuring Joe O’Loughlin, and the 8th in this series was released in July 2015. I know what’s next on the ‘to-read’ list! Fantastic!

Black List by Will Jordan

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Synopsis: With no money, no prospects and a long list of computer crimes against his name, Alex Yates’s life is going nowhere until he is given a lucrative but dangerous offer – £100,000 to hack into the Central Intelligence Agency’s network and recover a file known only as the Black List. At first reluctant to get involved, the disappearance of an old friend leaves Alex with no choice but to return to a world he’d sworn to leave behind. But before he can unlock the secrets contained within the file, he suddenly finds himself the target of a nationwide manhunt. Someone wants him out of the picture fast.

Now plunged into a deadly race against time to recover the Black List, and hunted by police, intelligence operatives and a ruthless covert unit dispatched to take him down, Alex is left with no choice but to accept help from the violent and unpredictable woman who hired him. For in the Black List may lie his salvation, or his death…

My Rating: 4/5

My Review: I have never read any Will Jordan but have to admit the synopsis sounded interesting. I got stuck into this and quickly found it’s one of those books you don’t really want to put down. It’s a bit like one of those films, where you are worried to put the kettle on in case you miss the best bit! The only criticism I have after reading the book and looking at the other books is that the book says on Amazon that it’s a ‘Ryan Drake’ book. It seems that Will Jordan has written 3 books in the Ryan Drake series and allegedly this is the forth. I have to disagree and say that is a total ploy. Ryan Drake does not feature in the book AT ALL, and is mentioned in the final chapter only. This is a major ‘no-no’ in my book, as if I was following a series and read this book I would feel a little cheated. Okay that negative out the way on to the book itself.

Alex Yates is the lead character and he is so ordinary it’s ridiculous. He works in a dead end job and doesn’t have a lot to show for himself. However, as you read on it soon becomes clear that Alex has paid a high price for his skill…’hacking’. After a year in prison, he is made an offer of £100k to hack into the CIA’s systems to retrieve the ‘Black List’. This all happens within the first few chapters and I have to say it certainly draws you in. This has a high octane feel to it and as soon as you realise Alex has no choice but to take the offer things get even more frenetic.

What follows is Alex being helped by Anya, the woman who hired him. Anya is an interesting character, but it’s clear from the outset that she is a ruthless and violent soldier. The story picks up pace until the very last page and to be honest, although the ending may have been what I expected, the journey there was very exciting to read. There is loads of action and things take place that are far from Alex normal and mundane life. Don’t get me wrong, this borders on the far side of the believable, but frankly I don’t care. Simon Kernick writes in a similar way and I always enjoy those books.

What I will say is although it may be a tad unbelievable and a little predictable it’s a solid and fast paced thriller which will keep you highly entertained from start to finish. I would certainly read more by this author and may well look into the Ryan Drake books now. This would make a great holiday read and I would definitely recommend it!

Close Your Eyes by Michael Robotham

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Synopsis: I close my eyes and feel my heart begin racing

Someone is coming

They’re going to find me

A mother and her teenage daughter are found murdered in a remote farmhouse, one defiled by multiple stab wounds and the other left lying like Sleeping Beauty waiting for her Prince. Reluctantly, clinical psychologist Joe O’Loughlin is drawn into the investigation when a former student, calling himself ‘the Mindhunter’, jeopardises the police inquiry by leaking details to the media and stirring up public anger.

With no shortage of suspects and tempers beginning to fray, Joe discover links between these murders and a series of brutal attacks where his victims have been choked unconscious and had the letter ‘A’ carved into their foreheads.

As the case becomes ever more complex, nothing is quite what it seems and soon Joe’s fate, and that of those closest to him, become intertwined with a merciless, unpredictable killer . . .

Kat’s Rating: 5/5

Kat’s Review: I am becoming quite the ‘Robotham’ fan I must say. The last book I read of his was also my first (Life and Death) but I loved it so much I really wanted to make a start on this one. Close Your Eyes was released earlier this year and the synopsis sounded great. What I didn’t realise was that I was hitting a series of books featuring Joe O’Loughlin at this release which was number 8. Thankfully, you can get away with reading this as a standalone, but I was devastated to realise I had missed the previous 7.

Joe is a Clinical Psychologist, who suffers from Parkinsons. He is reluctantly brought into a police investigation because of a former student of his, that is intent on using Joe’s name to get him involved with the latest case.  We also meet his ex-wife Julianne and children Charlie and Emma. What seems like a straightforward double murder, throws up more suspects than you could imagine and that adds to the general intrigue of the story.

The other element of the story I liked was his old friend, ex-policeman, Vincent. Both of them are re-working the case and there are multiple threads that are picked up and then worked on even more as the suspect list grows, as does the reasoning behind them. The murder victims Elizabeth and Harper Crowe open up a literal can of worms as their lives are broken down to enable Joe to get to the bottom of who would want them both dead.

This book was a real ‘whodunnit’ and had the added element of a cracking lead character and absolutely brilliant additional characters. Although I haven’t read the rest in the series, this made me want to immediately catch up with the back catalogue. The ending was also a shock and one that left me feeling that I really needed to read the next one to see what happens next for Joe. I am amazed I have left it this long to read a Michael Robotham, but I will ensure that all future releases are top of the list!

Hope To Die by James Patterson (Alex Cross #22)

Synopsis: Detective Alex Cross has lost everything and everyone he’s ever cared about.

His enemy, Thierry Mulch, is holding his family. Driven by feelings of hatred and revenge, Mulch is threatening to kill them all, and break Cross for ever.

But Alex Cross is fighting back.

In a race against time, he must defeat Mulch, and find his wife and children – no matter what it takes.

Kat’s Rating: 4/5

Kat’s Review: It’s been nearly 10 months since I last read a Patterson Book, and 22 months since I last read an Alex Cross novel. Lately I have been a bit despondent with them although to be fair the last Alex Cross novel I read was a pretty good read. With that in mind I decided to fall back into Alex life, which with a Patterson novel is usually pretty effortless. Thankfully James Patterson demonstrates just how easy he finds it as I was plunged straight back into Alex Cross world and the one thing guaranteed to break the man, the loss of his family.

This latest release is book 22 in this series, which in itself is something of an achievement. Alex Cross has become a legendary fictional character and some of his early books from this series are still in my opinion some of the best I have ever read. However the series, along with many other JP books appear to be on shaky ground with fans across the world. I can include myself in that group as sometimes there is such a thing as ‘too much of a good thing’. Thankfully the last book ‘Cross My Heart’ was a vast improvement even though I wasn’t impressed with the ending. When you reached the end it makes it impossible for you to not buy this latest release as there are no conclusions until now. That kind of irritates but enough whining, on with the review of this latest.

With Alex Cross now in a perilous situation, we see him at possibly his most vulnerable. His arch enemy and frankly ruthless killer Thierry Mulch has taken those dearest to Cross, his family and Alex has now become the victim. This makes for an astonishing and very fraught opening with the book and one that has you reading incredibly quickly. Alex becomes a character that we not only know and love, but one that we now see stripped bare.

The book is based on the cat and mouse game between Alex and Thierry and has all the elements for a perfect Patterson/Cross novel. Short, sharp and punchy chapters interspersed with danger and threats from every corner. I have to be honest and say I was pretty gripped with the storyline from start to finish. I felt like this was Patterson going back to his roots and shows all of this authors talents at it’s finest. There were a few minor gripes (hence the 4 and not 5 stars) but overall I felt like James Patterson was finally back to his true style of writing. I found myself eager to get book 23 ‘Cross Justice’ but at nearly a tenner, I think I’ll wait!

Lost Girls by Angie Marsons (Kim Stone #3)

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Synopsis: The couple that offers the highest amount will see their daughter again. The losing couple will not. Make no mistake. One child will die. When nine-year-old best friends Charlie and Amy disappear, two families are plunged into a living nightmare. A text message confirms the unthinkable; that the girls are the victims of a terrifying kidnapping.

And when a second text message pits the two families against each other for the life of their children, the clock starts ticking for D.I. Kim Stone and the squad. Seemingly outwitted at every turn, as they uncover a trail of bodies, Stone realises that these ruthless killers might be the most deadly she has ever faced. And that their chances of bringing the girls home alive, are getting smaller by the hour…

Untangling a dark web of secrets from the families’ past might hold the key to solving this case. But can Kim stay alive long enough to do so? Or will someone’s child pay the ultimate price?

Kat’s Rating: 5/5 Continue reading “Lost Girls by Angie Marsons (Kim Stone #3)”

Written In The Scars by Mel Sherratt (Estate #4)

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Synopsis: Scars. Sometimes they’re visible. Sometimes they’re hidden deep within. After years of living as a single parent, all Donna Adams longs for is someone to make her smile, to share hopes and dreams with, to keep her warm at night. But when that certain someone gives her the attention she craves, true love doesn’t always follow the right path. 

Home from the army, Lewis is a changed man. Angry and consumed by grief, troubled by nightmares and flashbacks, his mind is worse now than ever. Shutting out what he’s seen isn’t easy, but he risks losing everything he’s come back to if he doesn’t, including his sanity. 

Megan Cooper hides her scars for fear of being rejected. Mary Marshall can’t always remember how she got hers. If the past could be erased to make a better future, we’d all want that, wouldn’t we? But life is never that easy for the residents of The Mitchell Estate… 

Kat’s Rating: 4/5 Continue reading “Written In The Scars by Mel Sherratt (Estate #4)”

Time To Die by Caroline Mitchell (Jennifer Knight #2)

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Synopsis: Don’t ever cross his palm with silver. 

He will reveal your most shameful secrets. 

He will predict your death. 

He is hiding a secret. 

He is hiding a monster. 

And all his predictions come true. 

Investigating a series of chilling murders, Detective Jennifer Knight finds herself tracking a mysterious tarot card reader known only as The Raven. 

As the death toll rises, Jennifer and her team build a picture of a serial killer on the edge of sanity, driven by dark forces. But these are not random killings. And the method behind the madness could be the most terrifying thing of all … Especially when it seems the death of one of their own is on the cards. 

Kat’s Rating: 4/5 Continue reading “Time To Die by Caroline Mitchell (Jennifer Knight #2)”

Don’t Turn Around by Caroline Mitchell (Jennifer Knight #1)

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Synopsis: As D.C. Jennifer Knight investigates a routine stabbing in the quiet town of Haven, she is shocked at what seems like a personal message from beyond the grave.

When more bodies are found, Jennifer is convinced the killings are somehow linked. What she discovers is more chilling than she could possibly imagine. The murders mirror those of the notorious Grim Reaper – from over twenty years ago. A killer her mother helped convict.

Jennifer can no longer ignore the personal connection. Is there a copycat killer at work? Was the wrong man convicted? Or is there something more sinister at play …

With her mother’s terrifying legacy spiralling out of control, Jennifer must look into her own dark past in a fight not only to stop a killer – but to save herself and those she loves.

My Rating: 4/5 Continue reading “Don’t Turn Around by Caroline Mitchell (Jennifer Knight #1)”

Fighting For Survival by Mel Sherratt (Estate #3)

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Synopsis: When Caren Williams finds herself back on the estate she fought so hard to get away from, little does she realise she’ll be living opposite her arch-enemy, Gina Bradley. Gina thinks she and her family rule Stanley Avenue so when Caren starts to become popular, she decides to hit her where it will hurt the most – she wants her husband. Lonely and depressed, Ruth Millington turns to drinking and self-harm to get her through the dark times but finds it’s a constant struggle. Spiralling out of control, maybe she should let Gina’s husband help her out when he comes calling. Twins, Rachel and Claire Bradley, took control of the girl-gang, the Mitchell Mob, when their leader was sent to a juvenile detention centre for assault. But Stacey Hunter is out now and wants to hold the position again. No one will back down – let battle commence. Brawling in the street, fighting on the square and conforming to peer pressure – it all comes down to holding your nerve. But this time not everyone will stay alive on the notorious Stanley Avenue…

Kat’s Rating: 5/5 Continue reading “Fighting For Survival by Mel Sherratt (Estate #3)”