The Murder Exchange by Simon Kernick

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My Rating: 4/5

I am slowly working my way through Simon Kernick’s books and this is the second book he released. Simon Kernick has a very certain type of writing style. His books are usually very fast paced and normally it takes only a matter of a chapter or two before you are thrown in at the deep end of a story.

This book followed the same format and we dive straight into Max Iversson’s bad decision and when it all goes wrong. However, although you are thrown in at the deep end very quickly, the suspense level is not as high as I am used to with a Kernick book. I think this is a sure sign of the amount of time he has been writing. The fact that I read his newer stuff first and have gone back to his older work has the disadvantage of showing his weaker points at the beginning of his career.


Although slightly weaker than usual the story itself was a good one. Max Iversson was a great character, and although he usually stays within the law, he finds himself inadvertently being drawn over to the other side in his fight for the truth. John Gallan was also a pretty good character and although the typical `copper’ we see in books, there was no glossing over his very mundane personal life which actually brought more realism to the book in my eyes. We flit between characters by chapter and as the story progresses you see more and more of each one and they eventually overlap.

Other characters making a brief appearance is Tina Boyd (who appears in later Kernick books) as well as the Holtz family who are a central part of the plot. As ever there is no holding back on the levels of violence and gore, although it’s all done in keeping with the story. As usual towards the end we pick up even more pace before getting to the climax and pretty good ending. Overall I really dud enjoy the book, but for some reason there seemed to be something lacking. I have thought about it and really do think this is a case of reading his newer books first. This is certainly not a bad book by any means, but think that it certainly isn’t a good example of the first class work that he has gone on to produce. Another solid read, but slightly lacking that magic something!

Review of Killing Hour by Andrew Gross

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My Rating: 3/5

I had high expectations for this as I have loved his other books. I have to be honest and say I wasn’t as thrilled as I thought I would be. The story itself was okay, but just that, okay.

We meet Dr Jay Handler who is living happily with his wife and children when he receives a desperate phone call from his brother Charlie. Charlie’s son Evan has committed suicide. Ay decides to fly to visit them and help Charlie and his wife through this difficult time whilst grieving for Evan. What he doesn’t bank on is the fact that Evan’s death looks suspicious. Before long Jay is dragged into finding out what really happened to his nephew.

I liked the character of Jay and the story was well paced, but there were things I wasn’t keen on. Jay’s brother Charlie was lacking depth and there seemed to be a lot of the story elements that repeated too often.

I was saddened to read that the character Evan was based around Andrew Gross nephew who also committed suicide. The writing was good and the story not bad, I just don’t think this was his best.

Buried Alive by J A Kerley (Carson Ryder #7)

My Rating: 4/5

Jack Kerley has now written 7 of these books in the series featuring Detective Carson Ryder. I have not read the earlier books in the series but did read the last book entitled `Little Girls Lost’.

After Ryder witnesses the escape of the violent psychopath Bobby Crayline from prison, he decides a holiday is in order. He takes a rare break in the mountains with his faithful dog named Mix-Up (GREAT name for a dog by the way!). As usual, Carson’s break is interrupted, as any good fictional Detective should expect! He gets called to a grisly murder scene by an anonymous phone call.

His unexpected presence at the crime scene doesn’t go down well with local Detective Donna Cherry, but before long there are too many bodies to be fighting between themselves. Unwittingly Carson gets dragged into the murders and tries to help Cherry get to the bottom of it.

With the arrival of the FBI, things certainly don’t go smoothly and before long Carson realises there is a lot more at stake that a serial killer, as things and people from his past begin to emerge.

I enjoyed the last Kerley book I read and was looking forward to the next instalment. This didn’t disappoint in terms of Carson and the storyline. When I saw other reviews of the book, a couple of people complained there was a major plot spoiler quite early on that looked like an editorial mistake. Thankfully, I am not that bright and was so engrossed in the book I must have missed it!

Ryder is a great character and again is written well with all his baggage too. It’s nice to see him in an area that is not his local stomping ground and the character Donna Cherry made for a good match up as she is certainly not a pushover. The story itself starts with the escape of convict Bobby Crayline, and before long I forgot all about him while the other murders were taking place. This meant that there were two major plots running through the story which made it quite interesting.

The murder scenes were as usual very grisly and descriptive, but I must point out that Jack Kerley actually made me wince whilst reading one particular section of the book. I actually had to stop reading one scene involving a dead corpse laid out for viewing as it had my stomach turning! Either I have a very active imagination, or he is a great writer. I think it may be a combination of the two, but it makes for great reading.

The introduction of Carson’s brother was very interesting and although I don’t want to introduce a plot spoiler, I am glad the story panned out the way it did giving the story more room to grow in future books. The book was paced very well and towards the end we see it reach its climax and wrap things up nicely. All in all, once again a thoroughly enjoyable read, although not one for the weak stomached!

Destiny by Louise Bagshawe

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My Rating: 3/5

I only recently started reading Louise Bagshawe. I know that she has written for many years but have not read any of her earlier books. The most recent book I read was named Desire and had a suspiciously similar cover to this one. I enjoyed the last one and felt that it was chick lit with an element of `thriller’ thrown in for good measure. I felt that this book was firmly rooted back to the solely chick lit genre which is not necessarily a bad thing.

The first thing that struck me in the first half of the book was how much I disliked the main character Kate Fox. As a main character I almost expect to instantly like them and this was not the case with this book. Although I didn’t warm to her the story was easy to absorb yourself in. Kate is a typical money-grabbing woman. The only difference with her to other stereo-typical gold-diggers was that she seemed to be a very independent and intelligent woman. It kind of made me wonder why she was choosing this path for her life.

Sure enough it becomes apparent that this life is not for her but to extract herself from it means a long and dirty fight with her husband Marcus Broder. Broder was a despicable character that had wealth and power and absolutely zero respect for women. The second half of the book we see Kate struggle with her decisions and then a major event impacts her life in a way that she is unsure how to deal with.

This particular event is one that I didn’t see coming so adds to the element of surprise which is a good thing. I can’t say that this book throws up anything particularly new in this genre (which is very hard to do anyway) but Bagshawe has created characters that you find easy to get to know which is always a plus for me. The story is paced pretty well and towards the latter part of the book it picks up pace.

The ending was a little predictable but written well and I enjoyed it. The one thing that threw me a little bit was the amount of sex in the book. Don’t get me wrong you see it countless times in this genre and it is par for the course, but I just don’t remember Louise Bagshawe writing this raunchily in the last book. If you are a little prudish then maybe this isn’t for you. However, this book was pretty readable but with the amount of competition out there, I’m not sure its at the top of the selections!

Deadline by Simon Kernick

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My Rating: 4/5

I am slowly working my way through Simon Kernick’s books ever since picking up the book Relentless. Now I have to point out that after reading Relentless which is a 10 out of 10 book, the expectation was high. I also had the misfortune of not reading the books in order of publication which I dislike doing, even if they are stand alone novels.

In this book we meet Mike Bolt, a member of the SOCA. I get the impression that he may have appeared in previous books but you still get an overall history of him so this book can be read on its own. Mike is dragged into the investigation but has no idea that Andrea Devern is the lady in trouble. This is a major part of the storyline which adds to the tension of the story itself.

Andrea Devern is a woman in distress and as usual Simon Kernick manages to translate the fear onto paper. You can almost imagine yourself standing right next to this woman whose daughter’s life is being threatened. The first few chapters we are thrown in at the deep end with Andrea and see her making split second decision in order to try and save her daughter. There is also an underlying element of suspicion with the woman.

As usual the pace is frighteningly fast and before you know it you are halfway through the book. One of the things I love about Kernick is that when you start reading his books you feel like you are being physically dragged in and you are powerless to stop reading. There are many twists and turns in this book and the suspense level is cranked high. We get to read about Andrea chasing her daughter, Mike chasing the case and surprisingly we also see a glimmer of Andrea’s daughter Emma and the nightmare she has been dragged in to.

We also see Tina Boyd make an appearance on the case, and she can be seen in other Kernick books. I love Simon Kernick’s style of writing and don’t think for that he can be faulted. This isn’t my favourite book of his (as Relentless is just the best), but this is definitely an easy to read, high octane thriller with lots of plot twists. Overall another corker of a read from Kernick, sit down and hold on tight for the ride.

Dirty Tricks by Jo Carnegie

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My Rating: 5/5

Well, well, well…it seems Jo Carnegie is the new Jackie Collins. Wow, talk about a `bonk-buster’ of a book. I have read all of Jo’s books and enjoyed them all. This latest one was the best yet in my opinion. Her previous books introduce us to all different people living in the village and I must say that each book gives you another look into the lives of the villagers.

Although the books are set in and around the people that live or have lived in Churchminster you could read each one on their own and it wouldn’t make any difference. I like having a bit of background on all the various people we have seen in previous books especially when they pop up again in the current one.

This latest release takes us into the lives of Harriet and Saffy. Harriett is quite happy living in London, but with her mother having disappeared off to do charity work on the other side of the world, she realises she is missing something. Her mad idea of volunteering for a charity becomes a reality and before long she is signed up to help out at the Gatsby Community Centre.

The Community Centre introduces us to Zack the very sexy but mysterious man who runs the place, and Win the loud and lovable lady that everybody seems to go to for help. Win is a fabulous character and I could almost picture her in my head chatting to Harriet. Zack was also interesting although it took me longer to work out why he didn’t come across as well, however by the end of the book it all made sense.

Saffy meanwhile is set up in the country in her Mum’s house and is writing her first book. She is determined to make a go of it, but didn’t bank on Tom’s supermodel twin brother Rex popping up and becoming a temporary resident in the village. Zack and Tom may be twins and be identical in looks but as men they are polar opposites. Saffy finds herself drawn in to Rex and his world and before long her relationship with Tom is on rocky ground.

As ever the other village characters pop up and one on my absolute favourites is Harriet’s Dad Sir Ambrose. He made me laugh at his antics while Harriet’s mother was out of the country. We also see fleeting glimpses of Jed, Benedict and Caro as well as Clementine.

As usual Jo Carnegie has done a cracking job of bringing to life these weird and wonderful people of Churchminster. The book was so easy to read and had a brilliant ending that wrapped up things nicely. Don’t get me wrong this is not a book that is challenging, but myself personally, I don’t read `chick lit’ books for the challenge. In particular the one thing that stood out a mile for me with this book is the amount of sex in it! Now I love a good bonk buster with Jackie Collins being a favourite, but was shocked to see the change in JC’s books. I don’t recall Jo Carnegie writing like that before, although she certainly pulled the hat out of the bag with this book. In my eyes the perfect beach read, forget reality and get your teeth stuck into this glamorous, funny and trashy novel. Perfect!!!

Fighting Dirty by June Hampson (Daisy Lane #6)

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My Rating: 5/5

Kat’s Review: June Hampson started the series of Daisy Lane books with her debut novel Trust Nobody in 2006. The book features Daisy Lane in the early nineteen sixties. June Hampson was born in Gosport and this is the setting for her books. When I first read the debut book I was blown away. It was a refreshing change to read this type of book set in the sixties. I was hooked and have read each and every book since then. This current book is release number 6 in the series.

The series itself has remained pretty strong throughout. My last review of her previous novel wasn’t as good as others. The beauty of this series of books is that we travel through the years following Daisy and her friends and family. In doing this each book is that bit further along and more and more things are happening in her life as she gets older. In her last book Jail Bait, I felt that the story was good but maybe Daisy Lane was slowing down and I really wanted to see more of her elder son Eddie Lane. I couldn’t help but feel that some of the sparkle was missing from some of the characters that had shone through in her earlier books.

With this latest release it seems my wishes came true. Daisy Lane and her good friend Vera are certainly back in the picture and they have their `mojo’ back. They are indeed a major part of the storyline, but so too is Eddie, Daisy’s eldest son who is now a young man. After a stretch in prison good guy Eddie wants to get back to work. The only problem is that people treat him differently because of Roy. Roy is Daisy’s long time partner who also happens to be a top London gangster. Roy is like a father to Eddie and although Eddie has enormous respect for him, he wants to make it on his own.

As Eddie is making his plans, Daisy and Vera notice a young runaway boy with some awful bruises. This along with rumours of a friend’s lad arriving home with bruises makes them both suspicious. Daisy and Vera are determined to find out what is going on with these young lads and their bruised faces, but they don’t realise just how dangerous it could be as well as the fact that the truth may well be more devastating than they could imagine.

Vera, who in the first few books I took to my heart wasn’t that much of herself in the last book. In this book she is back but with her own troubles and worries. It was nice to see her back to form but also with a big dose of reality on her plate too. The story is set around the family and their friends and we get to see each person’s situation in the story which keeps it interesting right the way through. Daisy’s youngest son (as I mentioned in my last review of Jail Bait) is like the devil child and in this book he is no different. He is a despicable creature who is quite frankly a horrible character.

This book held my interest much more than the last as there are newer elements to the story along with characters such as Eddie’s girlfriend Summer, as well as Eddie and Jamie’s younger sister Gyp, whose father is none other than Roy. The young boys storyline was slightly different and maybe reminiscent of the era being the early eighties and it was quite nostalgic with the references to that period of time (makes me feel old!). The book flew by and I couldn’t quite believe that it was finished and I have to wait for the next one.

The story is a lot more fast paced than the last and the characters all seem to have their own brand of magic back. The ending wasn’t maybe what I expected but is certainly another good opener for the next book. The beauty of this sort of series is that the author has made sure that she moves the characters along in time and introduces new elements which I loved. I finished this with a feeling of satisfaction and realised just why I liked June Hampson so much in the first place. June Hampson along with the likes of Mandasue Heller, Kimberley Chambers and Dreda Say Mitchell just show that our British women are first class at producing top notch crime fiction. Highly recommended although I would suggest you start at the beginning.

Love You More by Lisa Gardner (DD Warren #5)

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My Rating: 5/5

 Lisa Gardner’s release prior to this one was entitled `Live To Tell’ and if I am being 100% honest it wasn’t my favourite of her books. There was a certain element of `supernatural’ to that book and it just didn’t sit right with me. Thankfully, she has returned to her former glory of producing a fantastic crime novel featuring DD Warren.

DD Warren is featured in a series of books and this latest book is number 5 in the series. Detective D.D Warren is a very headstrong woman working in a predominantly male environment. She is a tough, no-nonsense woman who seems to fluctuate between doing the right thing the legal way, and doing the right thing the illegal way. In the last book Live to Tell it seemed like DD had become this sex-starved workaholic. There was a certain element of believability about it but it seemed a little harsh for even her to become that bad. In this latest book she seems to have finally settled back to her normal self, with thankfully a man on the horizon. As well as DD being part of a murder case and missing child’s case, she also has her own personal issues to tackle which make for a great thread which can be continued on to the next book.

DD is paired up with her ex-loved Bobby Dodge on a strange murder case. Brian Darby is found dead on his kitchen floor. His wife Tessa Leoni is a state police trooper and is claiming to have shot him in self-defence. It should be a simple self-defence case but Tessa’s six year old daughter Sophie is missing. DD and Bobby soon become aware that this case is a little out of the ordinary. They are also aware that with a 6 year old child missing the clock is ticking.

Tessa has her own secrets and as such you see and hear from her as her story begins with walking into her kitchen that fateful night. Lisa Gardner has produced an outstanding book. Tessa is absolutely brilliant and you understand that this is written with the sheer though of how far you would go for your child.

The story is set into two parts that of DD and Bobby chasing the murder trail and Tessa trying to keep one step ahead the whole time. As usual I started out at a relatively sedate pace but soon couldn’t help but keep reading. The ending came as a shock (which is always nice) and as Lisa Gardner is famous for, her crime scene descriptions and gruesome murders are very descriptive. Set in harsh Boston winter I felt like I was literally running behind them ain the snow, this book was an absolute corker and I was so pleased that the author has also given us the added bonus of a new dimension for the character for the next book.

This is a brilliant book which I loved and I cannot imagine any crime fan not enjoying it. Fast paced, with lots of twists in the plot, it never stands still for a minute. Get out there and grab yourself a copy! 

10TH ANNIVERSARY BY JAMES PATTERSON (WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB #10)

My Rating: 3/5

In the last book 9th Judgement I was not a happy bunny. The lead character Lindsay seemed to have had a personality transplant and had become this wimp overnight. Thankfully she seems to have got some of her backbone back in this latest book. Her and her work partner Rich are a good fit and the case they worked on was the main thread of this book in the beginning. Thankfully the story was somewhat better than some of the others in the series although a long way off as good as they could be.

Yuki is the other character I just cannot get my head around. For a start she is an Assistant District Attorney so the true nature of somebody in that position doesn’t fit with how she is being written. The main thread for her was again not a bad story, but we keep seeing the insistent `pushing’ of her becoming involved with somebody and having to find herself a man. There is something about it that just doesn’t sit right with me.

Cindy is the one character that I think has become stronger and her relationship with Rich played a bigger part this time round. The last book I read their relationship felt like an added extra that was dumped in the book at the last minute but thankfully now it all seems to have taken an upward turn and fits her character and the story a lot better. Cindy was by far the best part of this latest read which isn’t that positive a sign seeing as the book features Lindsay a lot more.

Medical Examiner Claire was the only character that was missing for the largest part of the book. It felt like they had forgotten her or maybe it was the fact that there were a lot less dead bodies in this one for her to autopsy. Either way I think she should have featured more that she did.

Okay, I feel like I do this every time I read a Patterson nowadays. It’s almost like I get a shock if I love the book. The thing with Patterson books is that the writing style is genius. They are short sharp chapters which manage to pique your interest and keep you turning pages. However, the real heart of the stories seems to be somewhat missing. Is this down to Patterson losing his touch or down to the co-authors who some people claim are the real `writers’ to these books? Who knows?

The three stories that ran were okay, but just that, okay! They were interesting enough to keep me reading and in truth the only thing that made me that bit more interested were the characters I have grown to understand and know the more I have read.

The pace was as usual pretty good but there were no great surprises and like I mentioned before the body count was low! If this was the first in the series I think there would be less of a following and I think that people go back to these books time and time again because they are `easy readers’.

If you look at the overall rating of these Murder Club books you may be surprised. Amazon ratings show the majority of the series to be `middle of the road’ and I can understand why. Love him or loathe him, you won’t find many people that haven’t heard of or read a James Patterson.

This time I won’t try to convince myself that I won’t pre-order because (for no obvious reason) I probably will (what a sucker!). I wouldn’t say this was awful, but I wouldn’t say it was his best.

The Night Season by Chelsea Cain (Sheridan & Lowell #4)

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My Rating: 4/5
My Review: I was so looking forward to getting this latest Archie Sheridan instalment. Chelsea Cain’s last book was my first and although I hadn’t read the first two I had enough background to pick up on Archie’s past. This book is the 4th in the Gretchen/Archie series but you actually don’t see Gretchen Lowell in this book but it didn’t make the slightest bit of difference to me.

Once again it doesn’t take long for Archie to get thrown in at the deep end quite literally. Following his absence from work he throws himself back into this new case with renewed vigour. I adore Archie as a character; he is terribly flawed but a great character that is written extremely well. We also see the return of Susan Ward who I also love. She is a reporter who is always doing the opposite of what she is told. In this book she is no different. She trails Archie as he tries to track down this latest killer.

We also at the same time see what Susan has been investigating relating to a sixty year old tragedy. Unknowingly the two cases are interlinked and Chelsea Cain works wonders intertwining the two stories. As usual the body count is pretty high and there are no holds barred for the gritty and grimy crime scene descriptions.

Her writing is as usual well paced and full of suspense with the added bonus of two characters that work well together. The story itself was good and as usual Chelsea Cain has produced a book that is highly enjoyable.

Although this book is said to be part of the Archie/Gretchen series I am sort of glad that Gretchen didn’t appear. No doubt we haven’t sent the last of her but it was nicer still to see a different killer emerge from the shadows. As usual, I finished the book in just under two days, and then found myself disappointed. Why didn’t I take my time and make the book last longer? I suppose like everybody else I will just have to be patient and wait for the next instalment.