Category: Crime, Thriller, Mystery

PLAYING DEAD BY JESSIE KEANE (ANNIE CARTER #4)

My Rating: 5/5

**NOTE**SPOILERS**

If you haven’t read the previous Annie Carter books, you should read them and not read this review as it will inevitably contain spoilers!

I (for some reason) was under the impression that Annie Carter was part of a trilogy only and that after the third book that was the end. How wrong (and secretly delighted) was I when I realised her new book was featuring the one and only Annie Carter.

As those who have read her previous books will know she is now married to Mafia Mob boss Constantine Barolli. The book takes us straight into the action of Annie in New York with her husband before tragedy strikes. I must admit that it only took me a matter of two or three chapters before I was drawn into Annie’s world again hook line and sinker!

Annie’s life is once again in turmoil and as she heads back to London she has no idea what is in store for her. We once again see the old faithful characters re-appear that have featured in her previous books such as her friend Dolly who now runs the clubs in London for Annie, as well as Ellie and Chris who run the brothels.

In addition to the older friends we meet the newer members of Annie’s family in the form of her stepchildren, and what a bunch they are. Constantine’s three children were fabulous characters and I absolutely hated two of them from the very beginning.

Added to Annie’s pressures of her extended family is the re-appearance of her supposedly dead ex-husband Max which puts a completely different spin on what has happened in the series so far.

The story has incredible pace from the very beginning and we see a slightly more timid Annie try to get her life back together in London. In the beginning I was wondering what had happened to the feisty woman we met in the last three books but thankfully as she fights back to get her life together we once again see her character come back to life.

The book picks up pace nicely and the ending was brilliant (although I figured who the bad guy was around the halfway stage). Jessie Keane has yet again produced an outstanding book, and one that I think Annie Carter fans are going to love. Lots of twists and surprises all the way through, combined with brilliant writing made for a top notch read in my opinion. I suppose now all that’s left to do is count the days until the next Jessie Keane release.

Highly recommended, although I would suggest starting at the first book in the series to gain the background of Annie Carter!

NOW YOU SEE HER BY JAMES PATTERSON AND MICHAEL LEDWIDGE

My Rating: 5/5

I first have to explain that I am a HUGE Patterson fan, but also a HUGE Patterson critic when it comes to his co-written books. There has been much speculation over the years about how much input Patterson has with these books and in my opinion some of his most recent work was diabolical, leaving me to wonder if he even glanced at them, let alone co-written them.

Michael Ledwidge started writing the Michael Bennett series with JP a while back and I am now a die-hard Bennett fan. I do however wonder if more of this book is Michael Ledwidge’s doing with a smattering of the Patterson touch? Maybe that is the secret to this pairing?

This book I was wary of, just because it was a stand alone co-written book and I wasn’t sure whether this would be as awful as the other recent ones, but I needn’t have worried. This book had me hook, line and sinker from chapter one.

It starts in the current day with Nina Bloom in New York with her daughter. After the first introductions are made, we are transported back to the early days in Nina’s life when she met her husband Peter. The book starts off with a bang and the disastrous events that start Nina’s life spiralling. Following the shocking events you can literally feel every emotion of this woman rolling off the page.

We then follow Nina’s life and how everything got her to where she is today. Nina’s husband Peter is a truly despicable character who I loathed from the moment I read about him, but for all the loathing it made for a special read due to the intense feelings I had to the characters in the book.

As Nina’s journey is made you feel the tension and fear build up in her life and then we are catapulted into her journey to try to save both herself and her daughter. There are other more minor characters making appearances but the whole crux of the story centres around Nina and her husband Peter.

I read this in a matter of hours and when the ending was finally reached I felt satisfied that this was the best Patterson book I had read in a while. Actually, I correct myself; I think this was the best Ledwidge book I had read in a while!

The book was everything you would expect, fast, edgy and full of suspense. The perfect book in every way and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was one of those books that made me think it would make a great film! Highly recommended!

Fallen by Karin Slaughter (Will Trent #5)

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My Rating: 5/5

This book opens up with a dramatic starter as Faith returns to her mother’s house and is immediately put in the middle of what looks like a war zone. It makes for some high octane reading very early on. It certainly put me in the frame of mind for the investigation that would follow this crazy situation.

I found that by reading the Will Trent books, I had a feel for the characters Will and Faith, but beyond that there were a lot of unanswered questions. This book seems to address Faith and her history which I liked. The books pace starts kind of frenzied and to be honest doesn’t let up much pace at all throughout the book, it almost made me read with a sense of urgency.

The story however does require an element of concentration, there are a lot of theories and characters names very early on meaning you really do need to pay attention to follow these threads all the way through. Sadly the downside to such an intense book is that as readers you are so drawn in you forget your surroundings (never good when you forget to turn the bath off’).

As the book gets going we see Will Trent with the help of Sara Linton try to discover who is behind the disappearance of Faith’s mother. OF course Will has his doubts about Evelyn, but for the sake of his partner he does everything in his power to find her, even if it means breaking the rules. Will is not the sort of character to break the rules, which is where his boss, and Evelyn’s close friend, Amanda Wagner comes into play.

Amanda is a character that is slightly off kilter, but a character that I absolutely adore. She is a no nonsense old school woman that is determined to find her friend, and she doesn’t care who she has to lie to or trample on to find her. Sara Linton plays the lesser role in the overall story, but as other parts of the series begin to develop, you can see where she is starting to get her life back together.

Following the end of the Grant County series, I was convinced that there would never be a better male lead that Jeffrey Tolliver. I was so wrong, and if I am being completely honest, a little bit smitten with my `new’ favourite male lead Will Trent.

As the story reaches its climax, lots of the parts of the puzzle start to come together. The threads that had been interwoven throughout the book now start to be explained, and the ending was absolutely brilliant.

Yet again I read a fast paced, tense thriller by Karin Slaughter that left me feeling sad I had finished another instalment. Having said that it again has left us as readers with the perfect platform for the next part of the series, and boy do I want to know how that goes. I cannot praise Karin Slaughter highly enough, she is an author that has taken chances, but knew exactly where they were leading, and the pathway she took was sheer genius. If you haven’t read her work before I would strongly suggest you start at the beginning and work your way through them, you won’t be disappointed.

Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben

My Rating: 4/5

I have read one of Harlan Coben’s stand alone novels, albeit some time ago, and wanted to start at the beginning of his very popular series of books featuring Myron Bolitar. When I started this book, it didn’t take me more than a few chapters to fall head over heels for the character Myron. One of the reasons for this is the element of his character that is witty and sarcastic, always a winning combination for me.

In addition to Myron we meet his friend and sidekick Win Lockwood and his work colleague Esperenza. All of them seem to make an extraordinary yet very believable group of friends. Their relationships throughout the book had me smirking at some of the more sarcastic comments they make to each other.

With the added benefit of really gelling with the characters we see the story start to unfold with Myron’s star client Christian Steel. The story itself is quite complex and there are a lot of plot threads that we pick up along the way. What I loved was the endless possibilities this story threw up and that I was actually none the wiser towards the second half of the book.

The one element that I didn’t like and I don’t know why, was the one involving Myron’s ex Jessica. Maybe it was because I just didn’t like the character but I was irritated by how flawless and beautiful she was meant to be. Overall and by the end of the book I had warmed a little to her, although in all honesty not that much! I was pleased with the ending and thought it was all wrapped up nicely with enough intrigue for me to wonder what is next for Myron and Win. Will look forward to reading the next instalment! The fact that this book was first published in 1995 and there are now another 9 books to be read doesn’t put me off; it makes me wish I could read faster!

Snapshot by Craig Robertson

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My Rating: 4/5

Craig Robertson’s first book Random was very enjoyable and I found it easy to read once past the first few chapters. When picking up his second book Snapshot, I found myself with the same problem. The first few chapters just seemed so slow and unfinished that I felt like I couldn’t get into the story.

I made the assumption that as the book progressed it would improve and I would again enjoy this book as much as the last one. The story itself is told pretty well but with a sniper seemingly intent on killing every drugs associated criminal in Glasgow, the body count was pretty high very early on.

In addition to the sheer number of bodies was the very dark side of the book with the very graphic crime scene descriptions, which I think was added to from the perspective of the character Tony Winters as he photographed the bodies.

I found myself reading this book and feeling like it was an effort. I couldn’t connect to the two main lead characters of Tony Winters and D.I Addison. Tony Winters seemed so dysfunctional I found it hard to like anything about him, and D.I Addison was no better, with the excessive drinking and general `breaking of rules’ attitude.

Around three quarters of the way through the book the plot started to come together a bit more and the pace was kept up until the end of the book with a decent ending. Overall, I felt that I really struggled with this book and I can’t say it’s because the writing or plot was bad, I just didn’t connect with it.

Overall, I think the book was well written but with a very dark side and that includes the characters. It wasn’t awful but I failed to see it in the same light as his last book.

Dead Mans Grip by Peter James (Roy Grace #7)

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My Rating: 3/5

Now the first thing I want to point out is that I am a huge Peter James fan and in particular of this series. Roy Grace is a fantastic character who I have studiously followed in each book. Peter James has always done a fantastic job of creating stories that capture you and the recurring characters that I have slowly fallen in love with. However, this book failed to leave me with the same satisfaction as others in the past.

The story itself starts off with quite a dramatic car accident. We have a short introduction of the main characters and then the accident itself is described in all its horrific detail. The beginning set the pace and as usual with a Peter James book the pace stays that way usually to the very end. This new book is as usual over 500 pages long and I felt that around the halfway mark my interest was becoming far less that it usually is.

The main storyline is centred on Carly Chase who was involved in the traffic accident that involved the death of a young man. It now seems that Carly’s life is in danger by a killer that has already murdered the other two people involved in the accident. I think the main let down for me was the killer themselves; there was a certain air of disbelief that Peter James had taken this route and I found it lessened my enjoyment of the book.

His writing style is as ever fantastic which makes a book ten times easier to read and as usual his characters are all very strong and make a lasting impression. The appearance of the much loved characters is again a sign of how good a writer he is, so from that perspective he cannot be faulted. Roy Grace along with Glenn Branson and some other recurring characters are as ever brilliantly written and people I want to continue seeing.

Roy’s relationship with Cleo is visited throughout the story and we see the glimpses of potential problems for both of them in the future. It is hard to explain why without containing plot spoilers but trust me; this element of the book is brilliant because Peter James has you so hooked on finding out what will happen you just HAVE to buy the next book he publishes.

The last part of these books is the element of Roy’s past concerning his wife Sandy. At the end of his last book I was convinced we would see a conclusion to it in this book. I was wrong! In a way I was irritated by the fact as a reader I didn’t get the answers I wanted, but boy does Peter James throw in a shocker at the end of this book! It was enough of a shocker to nearly make me forgive him the weak killer element of this story.

Overall I really enjoyed the writing style and elements of the story, but the weak element of the killer really made it feel a bit of a let down for me. Finding it hard to rate but will probably say middle of the road. Not his best book in this series, but a crucial element in the ongoing saga of Roy’s past! My advice is to start at the beginning of the series and work your way through.

The Victim by Kimberley Chambers (O’Hara/Mitchell’s #3)

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My Rating: 5/5

*If you plan on reading the first two parts of this trilogy please do not read this review as it will inevitably contain spoilers, as the story is so much further along now*

Every now and then as a reader you come along a new author that blows you away. You wonder how you had never picked up one of their books and if anybody else can match up to them. This is how I felt when I started reading Martina Cole in the early days. Don’t get me wrong, she is still a great author but I found myself becoming more and more disappointed with her books. When I picked up my first Kimberley Chambers book I was transported back to what I fondly call the Martina Cole `early days’. Kimberley Chambers has written three excellent stand-alone books and has now finished and released the final part of the O’Hara/Mitchell trilogy.

Having read the first two parts I had a good idea of the characters and what they had been through to get to the stages they were at now. The Mitchell and O’Hara family are still battling, only this time Eddie Mitchell’s daughter Frankie is in prison and there are new additions to the family such as Eddie’s partner Gina. The characters themselves are first class and they are rough around the edges and frighteningly real. Because this was part 3, I was itching to know what would become of the two families and boy was I unprepared for the rollercoaster I was taken on. The book is a hefty 432 pages and we are thrown straight in at the deep end with both families from page 1.

The wonderful thing about reading her books is the sheer speed at which you are catapulted into the characters worlds. I worry about writing too much involving the characters and storyline as it is easy to give away spoilers but I will say this. You will be on the edge of your seat and will not want to put the book down. This book was read in just over a day and it didn’t leave my side for too long.

The last quarter of the book is full of suspense and what if’s and I found myself jigging up and down because I was so eager to get to the end. I wasn’t disappointed at all and thought that Kimberley Chambers has written her best work yet. The book was wrapped up nicely, but not perfectly which again adds that touch of realism to it. The only disappointing thing for me is that as usual I have been impatient and will now have the job of counting the months until her next release.

People tend to read the same type if books and I have seen many comments saying that she is as good as Martina Cole. That statement is in my opinion incorrect, she is better than Martina Cole. For all you people that are on the lookout for a new author, if you haven’t tried KC yet, maybe now is the time to start!

Dead Like You by Peter James (Roy Grace #6)

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My Rating: 4/5

I first picked up a Peter James book a while back entitled `Dead Simple’. It was (luckily for me) the first in the Roy Grace Series and was based around a harmless stag night prank that went wrong. From that book I was hooked and each of the 4 books that followed was fantastic. Thankfully this latest instalment is no different. This latest Roy Grace offering is pretty hefty with a massive 500 pages. This didn’t put me off, in actual fact quite the opposite.

This story all starts following the brutal rape of a woman on New Years Eve. Only a week later another woman is attacked. What concerns Roy is that both of the women that were attacked had their shoes taken. It begins to ring alarm bells with him as these current attacks seem to mirror those that haunted Brighton back in 1997. The attacker back in 1997 had been named `The Shoe man’ and was believed to have raped 5 women before moving on to kill another 2. The attacker was never caught and Roy finds himself wondering whether the killer is back or whether they have a copycat on their hands.

Roy Grace has come back in this book a little more relaxed than before. He is living with his girlfriend Cleo who is due to give birth to their first baby any day. Cleo and Roy’s relationship has taken time to grow on me but as you see more and more of Cleo’s supportive side you get to like her that little bit more. In addition to Roy we see the return of Glen Branson who works with Roy. He recently split from his wife and is going through a hard time. I must admit we didn’t see as much of Glen this time as in previous books and I missed his presence at times.

The story itself is written over two time periods. The further in to the investigation Roy goes, the more of the past you get to see. We see him working both crime scenes both in the present and the past. It’s written cleverly and isn’t made too complicated. The reader gets to see the parallels and the differences between the two cases which ended up making me feel like I had solved the case halfway through. I was wrong, so I think my police career is a non-starter!

There are still enough plot twists to keep you interested and several suspects which makes for interesting reading. I also thought that Peter James had dealt with the rape storyline very well with it not being too over the top, but trying to be sensitive at the same time. I whizzed through this in a matter of days and thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes I was disappointed that we didn’t see anything of the `Sandy’ storyline come up but there is always hope for the next instalment.

If you have never read Peter James and like Crime/Thriller’s, I would highly recommend you give this a try.

Gridlock by Sean Black (Ryan Lock and Ty Johnson #3)

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Adult movie actress Raven Lane is one of the most lusted after women in America, with millions of fans to prove it. But when a headless corpse turns up in the trunk of her car, she realizes that fame carries a terrible price.
Fearing for her life, and with the LAPD seemingly unable to protect her, Raven turns to former military bodyguard Ryan Lock for help. As events spiral out of control, Lock is drawn into a dangerous world where money rules, sex is a commodity to be bought and sold, and no one can be trusted, least of all his beautiful new client…
My Rating: 5/5

Kat’s Review: I read Sean Blacks first and second books and absolutely loved them. Ryan Lock is an ex-military bodyguard who has worked private security and has now set up his own company that can be called upon for any type of job. He has a partner Ty Johnson who is an ex-marine who Ryan met whilst in Iraq. Together they make a formidable team and seem unafraid to take on any type of work.

In this book, Ryan and Ty are asked to work for famous adult movie actress Raven Lane. Raven is lusted after by many people across the world and has an army of fans, however, when a headless corpse turns up in the boot of her car she feels compelled to get Ryan and Ty in for her private security. Before long what seems like a simple stalking case gone wrong, turns into a horrific crime spree by what looks like a cold blooded killer.

Sean Black is now on his third book and you can tell that he is pushing himself and the book came across even better than his first two. The book is very fast paced, and this is a lot easier to read as things start off relatively simple but before long the pace picks up and you are thrown along with the characters as things progressively get worse.

The one major difference between this book and his previous is that the murders and crime scenes are a lot more graphic and descriptive. In my opinion this made the book a lot better because you then start questioning who is on the right side of the law and who isn’t. There are quite a lot of twists and turns too and I must say that I was shocked and saddened by the ending. Although shocked, it is an absolutely first class platform for the next book which I cannot wait to get my hands on. Sean Black is certainly coming into his own in this genre and I think this is his best yet, I can only hope that they continue to be this good.

Dead End by Leigh Russell (Geraldine Steel #3)

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My Rating: 5/5

In Leigh Russell’s third installment of ‘DI Geraldine Steel’ Series we once again see Geralding thrown into a messy and disturbing case. In this particular book, headmistress Abigail Kirby is found dead in a park, but in this instance it seems that her tongue has been cut out. DI Geraldine Steel, along with her colleague Ian Peterson are put on the case, and when a potential witness is blinded and murdered, the case seems to get out of control.

I admit that I am a sucker when it comes to ‘series’ featuring the same people. In particular I liked Leifh Russell as I have read each of her books from her debut novel ‘Road Closed’. This time around the writing is so much better as the story flows so easily. LeighRussell is a writer that is going from strength to strength with every book she writes.

I found that in the first book we didn’t learn enough about Geraldine herself, or the people she worked with. In this book Geraldine’s personal life seems to run alongside her career and we get to see the more emotional side to her which I loved. We also see a lot more of Ian Peterson and this is a true testemant to how much better this book is than her first.

The characters have developed so much more and as reader you feel like you are taking their life journey with them. Geraldine is far from perfect but is a complete workaholic who has some serious personal issues that can sometimes affect her judgement. It is things like this that add the touch of realism to this book.

The crimes in the book are as ususal gruesome and bloody, and extremely well detailed, without being too over the top. We see the workings of real police who make some huge errors along the way (which is always nice).

I only have one criticism about the book and that is that I had a sneaking suspicion of the killer around halfway through. Having said that, I do that with many of the books I read. Apart from being suspicious (and then being correct in my assumption) this book is absolutely, 100% the best book Leigh Russell has written so far. I am now eagerly awaiting the next installment and there were major parts of Geraldine’s life that are unanswered and I realloy need to know more about.

Thoroughly reccommended and I truly think that Leigh Russell has now created a series that can rival other major crime writers out there. I would suggest starting at book one and working your way through as by the time you get to this one you will be itching to read book 4. Can’t wait for the next one!