The Hike by Lucy Clarke @lucyclarkebooks @HarperCollinsUK #NetGalley #TheHike #bookreview #BookTwitter

 The Hike by Lucy Clarke

Published by HarperCollins UK

Publication Date: 27th April 2023

My thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book ahead of publication.

Book Description:

THE PERFECT DAY FOR A HIKE

Leaving behind their everyday lives, four friends hike out into the beautiful Norwegian wild – nothing between them and the mountain peak but forest, sea and sharp blue sky.

THE PERFECT PLACE TO DISAPPEAR

But there’s a darker side to the wilderness. A woman went missing here one year ago, scarring the mountain with suspicion and unanswered questions.

Now, the friends are hiking into the heart of the mystery. And waiting on the trail is someone who’d do anything to keep their secrets buried – and to stop the group walking away alive. 

My Thoughts:

One of my favourite books ever was written by Lucy Clarke, so to be offered the opportunity to read this new one ahead of publication is absolutely amazing - thank you so much to the team at Harper Collins UK!

The four friends featured in this book go way back to school days and have been a pretty tight group of four ever since. Even though they have very diverse jobs and family situations back home they have kept in close touch and insist on a girls' trip away every year. This year local GP Liz has decided they need something a little more challenging than a week soaking up the sun and has chosen to make a childhood dream come true and come hiking up a mountain in Norway. Not everyone is keen on the idea - in fact Joni hasn't even responded to the suggestion, so it's just the three others who set off on the trip of a lifetime to climb the mountain which featured in their school geography project.

The first part of the book, the preparation for the trip and the travel there, is fairly slow but sets the scene that despite all the ladies being a tight knit group that certainly doesn't mean they don't have secrets from one another - and quite significant ones at that. Once part two kicks in and the mountain starts making its presence felt then the pace ramps up - and, it would seem, the ladies aren't the only ones with secrets. The locals let slip that a woman went missing at the same time the previous year - and some of them are more touchy about it than others. What is it between a small group of them which creates such a bad atmosphere the night before the girls set off on their trek? 

I loved reading about the experiences of the different women on the hike - the fact that Liz was the only one who had done any of the prep work and exercise plan beforehand; Maggie's worries about her daughter and whether she's brave enough to complete the journey and Helena's constant whinging about her blisters right from the get-go. The mood changes as the weather closes in and the plot takes a decidedly sinister turn.  Will any or all of the women get back safely? And who is that who keeps making shadowy appearances along the way?

I was perched on the edge of my seat at one part of the story (and literally yelled "NOOO!" at my kindle at one of the characters for the action they took) and I can say quite assertively that I won't be signing up for a mountain hike in Norway anytime soon, no matter how beautiful the scenery is before the weather takes a turn for the worse!

A great story of friendship and how far we will push ourselves out of our comfort zone for those we love.

About the Author:

Lucy Clarke has a first class degree in English Literature, and is a passionate traveller and diarist. She has worked as a presenter of social enterprise events, a creative writing workshop leader, and she is now a full-time novelist. Lucy is married to James Cox, a professional windsurfer, and together they spend their winters travelling and their summers at their home on the south coast of England.

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister @MichaelJBooks @GillianMAuthor #NetGalley #bookreview #WrongPlaceWrongTime

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

Published by Penguin Michael Joseph UK

Publication Date: 12th May 2022 (hardback), 2nd March 2023

My thanks to the publisher for allowing me access to this book in order to offer my review.

Book Description:

CAN YOU STOP A MURDER AFTER IT'S ALREADY HAPPENED?

It's late. You're waiting up for your son.

Then you spot him: he's with someone. And - you can't believe what you see - your funny, happy teenage boy stabs this stranger.

You don't know who. You don't know why. You only know your son is charged with murder. His future is lost.

That night you fall asleep in despair. But when you wake . . . it is yesterday. The day before the murder.

Somewhere in the past lie the answers - a reason for this crime.

And your only chance to stop it . . .

My Thoughts:

The first thing to say about this book is: wow! I am blown away with the planning of this book.

Secondly, do not let the whole "time travel" thing put you off. That is the whole reason I left this book on my shelf for SO long, thinking that I wouldn't be in the mood for a book with a sci-fi slant. How wrong was I? Although our main character is indeed stuck in a time loop, it doesn't affect the feel of the book as it is very much a mystery thriller but very cleverly written in reverse. Kind of. I very much wish I had read this book as soon as it landed on my virtual shelf and am SO impressed with Gillian McAllister's ability to write this book, keeping all the facts in order and lined up despite working in the opposite direction to the way this kind of book usually works.

Jen and Kelly have a great relationship. They met when Kelly arrived at Jen's father's law firm, him touting for business as a painter and decorator. Kelly is mega chilled, so laid back he's horizontal, as the saying goes. Jen is the super organised one, the disciplinarian who makes sure their 18 year old son Todd knows right from wrong and is one of the nice guys. It is therefore a major shock when Jen watches as her son comes home from a night out, is approached by an older guy. Todd turns and stabs him to death outside their family home. He's arrested and taken to the police station where he's kept for questioning.  Jen and Kelly have no choice but to return home, shocked and tired, leaving Todd to the consequences of his actions. Or do they?

Jen wakes up the next morning - except it's not the next morning, it's the day before. Once Jen can compute in her mind what's going on, she realises she's been sent back in a time loop in an attempt to put things right for her son and change his future. 

It's a few days since I completed this book and I am still totally overwhelmed at how an author can so accurately write this storyline. Every detail was spot on in how it fitted with other facts in the book later on (or earlier, depending on how you look at it). The characters are fleshed out perfectly at the various ages they would have been given the change in period. It's all just SO DARNED CLEVER and the conclusion to the book was an absolute pleasure after reading the challenges Jen and Kelly had to face along the way. I can honestly say I have never read a book like this before and Gillian has set the bar so high if any other author wants to try a similar theme for their next book.

About the Author:

Gillian McAllister is the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of the following novels:

Everything But The Truth (2017)

Anything You Do Say (2018) called The Choice in America

No Further Questions (2018) called The Good Sister in America

The Evidence Against You (2019)

How To Disappear (2020)

That Night (2021)

Wrong Place Wrong Time (2022)

All are standalone and can be read in any order.

The Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson @FaberBooks @PeterSwanson3 #bloggersborrowbooks #hardbackbooks #bookreview

The Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson

Published by Faber & Faber

Publication Date: 2nd March 2023

Book Description:

TWO'S COMPANY, THREE'S FATAL

'Do you remember me?' she asked, after stepping into my office.

When private detective and former teacher Henry Kimball is hired to investigate an ex-pupil's cheating husband, he senses all is not quite what it seems, and before he knows it he's gotten far too close to the other woman.

As the case gets ever stranger, he turns to the only person he can trust, Lily Kintner, someone with dark secrets of her own...

With its ingenious clockwork-like plot, and twists aplenty, The Kind Worth Saving is a crime novel to savour from a modern master.

My Thoughts:

The impending release of this book was the prompt I needed to get its forerunner, The Kind Worth Killing, off my shelf where it had been sitting for quite some time (it's not alone, I buy way more books than I'll ever get through in 5 lifetimes but hey, that's another issue). My blog post at the end of March will tell you my thoughts on that one, and suffice to say I was straight on my local library website to reserve a copy of The Kind Worth Saving as soon as I knew they'd ordered it in. 

Henry Kimball is back at work, although not in the role we last saw him in at the end of the last book. He's now a private investigator and he's more than a little curious, if not reluctant, when former pupil Joan Whalen (nee Grieve) comes into his office asking to sign him up to prove her husband's infidelity. He agrees to take on the case and despite there being not much to report back to Joan, he does however manage to find himself way too involved with the person I suppose would be classed as the "co-respondent" had there ever been a divorce petition.  

This book, as with its predecessor, isn't what you would call a hotbed of quickfire action; it creeps under your skin and has you reading "just one more chapter" on far too many occasions as you are so invested in what is going on. I actually went to bed early one night to catch up on my sleep but ended up getting back up again an hour later as my brain just kept demanding answers! This author has a very clever knack of linking characters in sinister ways, as you will know if you've read the first book (if not, I cannot stress more that you need to read that one first in order to pick up on the finer points of this book). I'm not sure I quite understand the relationship between Henry and Lily though; as close as they are, I do find that one a little unsettling and I was completely creeped out by quiet guy Richard Seddon - they do say you have to watch the quiet ones! 

With some great characters and intricate networking of people I would strongly recommend both books in the series although I have to say I think the first one still just edges it as my favourite. Don't be put off by the steady pace, you need to take your time to appreciate just how twisted these characters are!

About the Author: 

Peter Swanson's novels include The Girl With a Clock for a Heart (2012), nominated for an LA Times Book Prize. The Kind Worth Killing, a Richard and Judy pick and the iBooks store's thriller of the year in 2015; Rules for Perfect Murders, the 2020 Richard and Judy pick; and, most recently, Nine Lives (2022). He lives with his wife and cat on the north coast of Massachusetts.

I've run out of books...send help!

 

Only joking!

My apologies for not having a review ready for you this week. The dreaded covid has returned to plague me and my brain has struggled to put two words together which make sense. Normal service will hopefully resume next week, I have plenty of wonderful books waiting for me to recommend to you, but for now I'm afraid I can only share the words of Sarah J Maas accompanied by a couple of coffee-drinking gonks from my ever-growing collection.