Don't Look Back by Jo Spain #bookreview #libraryloan #hardbackbooks @QuercusBooks

 

Don't Look Back by Jo Spain

Published by Quercus Books

Publication Date: 11th May 2023

Book Description:

For one week, everything in Luke Miller's life is perfect. Surprised with a belated honeymoon by his wife, Rose, he's had seven days with her in a Caribbean paradise. It's more than he ever thought he'd deserve.

But as they pack their bags, Rose breaks down, confessing that on the day they left London, a violent man from her past tracked her down and broke into their home. He wasn't expecting her to fight back. And, in her terror, Rose killed him. Now there's a dead body in Luke's apartment, and only one person he can think to turn to.

Mickey Sheils never expected to hear from Luke again, not after he disappeared the first time. Luke knows Mickey can't deny a woman who needs help, so she promises she'll deal with things - she'll make sure Rose doesn't have to keep running.

But it turns out, some lies are too big to run from.

My Thoughts:

This is only the second of Jo Spain's novels I've read - the first one made a massive impression on me with its opening lines, so much so that I have almost her entire backlist on my shelf waiting until I can commit a good chunk of reading time to consume them. This one opens only very slightly less dramatically, in that the first few paragraphs lull you into a sense of relaxation on a Caribbean island, waves at the feet of one of our main characters as he sips at his beer. Pure bliss - until he returns to the villa where they've been staying for the last week and his wife drops the bombshell that the real reason they are here is not as he thought, an impromptu late honeymoon, but because she left a dead body in their apartment back in London and had to get the two of them out of there quickly. **cue the sound of a needle skittering across a vinyl record rather abruptly**

Luckily for Luke and his wife Rose there are people back in London who can assist in tidying up this mess. But only if the information they are given is accurate. It quickly becomes obvious that Rose has not been entirely honest with Luke, however he seems very twitchy too and seems to be holding something back from Rose. But whose lies are the most dangerous? 

Jo Spain works her magic brilliantly in planting seeds of doubt in the reader's mind about who is telling the truth, what secrets they hide, who is blameless in the whole situation, whether any of them can escape the island of Saint-Therese in one piece; these and oh, so many more questions flood this novel but never to the point of losing the thread of the story. 

I love the characters of Mickey, Elliot and especially the policeman from Saint-Therese, Inspector Alleyne, who become entangled in the whole situation. They are so well drawn I could see pictures in my mind of each of them as I read. My opinions of Luke and Rose changed dramatically as the book progressed and did a couple of pendulum swings as the facts were drip-fed in. Do they deserve each other? Quite possibly, in my opinion.

I would recommend this as a great book to take on your summer break, ideal for curling up on your sunbed and losing yourself in for hours at a time. Because you will get so immersed in trying to figure out the truth of the situation, the time will fly. Just remember to put your sunscreen on before you start!

About the Author:

Jo Spain is the author of the bestselling Tom Reynolds detective series and several No.1 bestselling standalone thrillers. She began writing full-time when her first book, top ten bestseller With Our Blessing, was chosen as one of 7 finalists in the Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller competition.

Jo is a full-time screenwriter. Her first show, critically-acclaimed crime series 'Taken Down', aired in 2018. In 2021, she co-wrote Harry Wild, starring Jane Seymour, with its creator, Emmy-award winning David Logan (to air 2022). She is currently working on several international productions, including adaptations of her own novels.

A graduate of Trinity College, Jo lives in Dublin with her husband and four children.

The Trial by Rob Rinder #NetGalley #TheTrial @RobbieRinder @centurybooksuk #booktwt #bookreview

 

The Trial by Rob Rinder

Published by Century

Publication Date: 22nd June 2023

Book Description:

ONE MURDER. ONE IMPOSSIBLE CASE. WHO IS GUILTY?

When hero policeman Grant Cliveden dies from a poisoning in the Old Bailey, it threatens to shake the country to its core.

The evidence points to one man. Jimmy Knight has been convicted of multiple offences before and defending him will be no easy task. Not least because this is trainee barrister Adam Green's first case.

But it will quickly become clear that Jimmy Knight is not the only person in Cliveden's past with an axe to grind.

The only thing that's certain is that this is a trial which will push Adam - and the justice system itself - to the limit . .

My Thoughts:

A fabulous insight into the goings-on behind the scenes in the world of the justice system! I know The Trial is a work of fiction, however Rob Rinder is a highly respected barrister with many years' experience so I suspect there are a few characters within its pages who could possibly be based loosely on real people who he has crossed paths with over the years. 

The focus of this book is a young man, Adam Green, who is in his first year of pupilage in Chambers - he's basically there to prove his worth over the 12-month period and in return, if he passes scrutiny of the "higher-ups" he earns himself a proper job as a junior barrister. The book begins with him chasing his tail constantly, propping up the ego of his mentor, the bouffant-hairstyled and extremely arrogant Jonathan Taylor-Cameron; the pupil master is more than content for Adam to do all the donkey work while he takes the plaudits in court when their case is successful. Then the chief clerk, who allocates the caseloads to the various legal teams, ups the ante by setting Jonathan and his staff the high-profile case of defending Jimmy Knight, who is accused of murdering top police officer and public favourite Detective Inspector Grant Cliveden.  Jonathan is apoplectic with rage at being allocated such a "lost cause" of a case which will be the top story in all the media. He only likes to be seen as a winner, so thus it falls to Adam to fight Jimmy's corner.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Adam grow as a person throughout this book, his moral dilemmas based on his personal life experience often clouding his judgment. The narrating of his day-to-day workload is hilariously interspersed with the regular phone calls he receives from his mum, who is desperate to find him a suitable young lady with whom he can tie the knot - I can imagine that these chapters could well be based on the author's own experiences as a young man! 

There are some juicy twists to this excellent debut novel, and there's an interesting slant on whether the truth or a different kind of justice is the most important outcome in some situations. I can imagine lots of book clubs choosing this for their reading lists - and I'd love to be a fly on the wall to hear the ensuing discussions! I very much look forward to further instalments in the life of young Adam Green soon.

About the Author:

Rob Rinder is a barrister turned writer and broadcaster. In 2014, while still a practising Barrister, he began starring in his reality court show Judge Rinder, and now uses his legal knowledge working in the media to make the law more accessible. He is also the author of two books and a columnist for The Sun and the London Evening Standard newspapers. His participation in Who Do You Think You Are? retraced the story of his Holocaust survivor Grandfather received a BAFTA. The BBC series he presented 'The Holocaust, My Family & Me' was aired to wide critical acclaim. In 2020, Rob was awarded an MBE for his services to Holocaust education and an honorary doctorate for his legal work.

The Other Couple by Diane Jeffrey #NetGalley @HQStories @dianefjeffrey #TheOtherCouple

 

The Other Couple by Diane Jeffrey

Published by HQ/Harper Collins

Publication Date: 14th June 2023 (ebook & audiobook), 2nd August 2023 paperback

Book Description:

Two couples. A fatal accident. And a decision that changes everything…

Kirsten and Nick are enjoying a weekend away until, on their drive home, they accidentally run over and kill a man. They should call for help – but they have too much to lose, and no one can know the real reason they’re here. Instead, they make a split-second decision to conceal the accident.

Amy and Greg have just celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary. Amy is expecting a baby, and they couldn’t be happier. So when Greg fails to come home from a dog walk one weekend, Amy knows the police are wrong to believe he left of his own accord. Someone must be behind Greg’s disappearance, and Amy won’t give up until she gets justice – or revenge.

If you had nothing left to lose, how far would you go to find the truth?

My Thoughts:

Kirsten and Nick are enjoying a weekend away from reality at a holiday let in Devon. Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and all too soon they are handing the keys back to the owner and beginning their journey home. And so begins their horror story: The Taylors, as they are known on this short break, can no longer exist. The secrets they have carried with them for so long are threatening to out the covert couple, and ruin families and their carefully curated reputations. 

After an incident on a leafy country lane, Kirsten soon sees a different side of Nick, one that she's not sure that she either likes or trusts. He's far too cold and calculated - something she initially finds reassuring, until she starts to think more deeply into it. He seems to have a way of making things go away - which covers their tracks nicely for a while. But once the truth starts to unfold a few weeks later and the enormity of what they have done hits home, Kirsten is concerned that Nick would happily throw her under the bus in order to save his own skin. Neither of them are nice people, and I pretty much felt that they deserved each other for what they'd done and how they handled the situation.

Meanwhile, back in Devon the family whose lives have been decimated are coming to terms with what has happened to them - and it doesn't take long for the anger and resentment to turn their desire for justice into the need for revenge.

The story is told from both sides with chapters highlighting the course of events from each of those involved. Although this gives the reader great insight, there are still plenty of facts left for some jaw dropping reveals throughout. There are also letters dotted throughout the book from a character incarcerated in prison, initially whilst awaiting trial and then during the courtroom scenes - the great part is that we are not given many clues as to the identity of this mystery defendant, not even whether they are male or female. As I weighed up the possibilities it still was not obvious whose voice we were reading.

Overall I felt that the characters balanced each other so well - the nasty couple set on one side against such a lovely, wholesome couple on the other, and while life really was cruel to Amy and Greg I think the author gave them as fair an ending as was ever possible. 

A great story that had me wondering how it would pan out - I definitely want to read more from this author in future.

About the Author:

Diane Jeffrey is a USA Today bestselling author.

She grew up in North Devon and Northern Ireland. She now lives in Lyon, France, with her husband and their three children, Labrador and cat.

Diane has written six psychological thrillers, all published by HQ / HarperCollins.

The Guilty Mother, Diane's third book, was a USA Today bestseller and her fourth novel, The Silent Friend, was a Karin Slaughter Killer Reads pick for ASDA. Her fifth psychological thriller, The Couple at Causeway Cottage has been shortlisted for an International Thriller Writers award.

The Other Couple is Diane's latest psychological thriller and will be released on 14th June 2023 in ebook and audiobook and on 2nd August 2023 in paperback.

Diane is an English teacher. When she's not working or writing, she likes swimming, running and reading. She loves chocolate, beer and holidays.

Above all, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends.

Author website: www.dianejeffrey.com

Readers can also follow Diane on Instagram and Twitter @dianefjeffrey

                                              or on Facebook.com/dianejeffreyauthor

The Woman in Carriage 3 by Alison James @bookouture #NetGalley #TheWomaninCarriage3 #bookreview

The Woman In carriage 3 by Alison James

Published by Bookouture

Publication Date: 22nd May 2023 (ebook), 7th June 2023 (paperback)

Most importantly, I need to say a huge thankyou to the team at Bookouture for the opportunity to read this book via NetGalley. I am happy to provide my unbiased opinions by way of thanks.

Book Description: An ordinary journey. A shocking secret. And the perfect murder…

Hattie travels on the 18.53 train home every night. She sits in the same seat, in the same carriage, and sees the same people. The unwritten rule is you don’t talk to your fellow passengers, but Hattie has been watching them all for months now to distract herself from her own troubles.

Then one night a commuter suddenly drops dead. And the terrible accident changes everything.

In the aftershock of the tragic death, the group of strangers huddled around the two tables in carriage 3 strike up a conversation. Boundaries are shattered, connections are made and Hattie becomes tangled up in the lives of her fellow passengers as they travel to and from London every day.

But Hattie has no idea what she’s letting herself in for. The ordinary people on her ordinary journey all have dangerous secrets. When another commuter is killed, Hattie suspects someone in carriage 3 is responsible. Who can she trust? And is the truth closer to home and more dangerous than she could have guessed?

My Thoughts:

My warning regards this book: it starts slowly and chugs along gently for quite a while.; I didn't warm to any of the characters in the first part of the story and especially wanted to give Hattie a good shake and tell her to grow up. But I recommend you stick with it because all of a sudden, things take off at quite a pace and don't let up.
Finding herself single again and living back at her parents' home, Hattie engages in a string of blind dates with internet matches and enjoys far too much alcohol than is good for her. Then one evening, the train she regularly travels home on grinds to an emergency stop and the unwritten rule of London commuting is broken, forcing a small group of the passengers to actually engage with one another. They exchange names and vague details about themselves and somehow manage to create a Whatsapp group to keep in touch with each other.
The group is extremely diverse in their ages and occupations, but one of the group catches Hattie's eye and sets her heart racing: Casper Merriweather. Despite his dashing good looks, he's not popular with all of the group. The mousy Bridget avoids speaking to him, and the more mature Julian - a judge, no less - is particularly wary of him, and warns Hattie to be careful. 
Then another incident on their commute, this time much closer to home, pulls their group apart as quickly as it formed. None of the group knows who to trust any more, and they all avoid that regular journey, each stating various excuses for not being on the train. The author cleverly plants seeds of doubt about each of the group in that first section of the book - the part that seems slow is actually the part where the reader forms a lot of opinions about each passenger, without realising it at the time.
The latter part of the book rattles along at a fair old pace - I don't want to say any more about the plot or characters here as you need to let the bombshells drop as the writer intends in order to get the full effect. I was jumping around on my seat at certain points, willing different characters either to take action or dodge situations and I always feel a book has hit its mark when it evokes such strong feelings in me.
Thank you, Alison James, for a fantastic rollercoaster of a ride on the 1853 - any doubts I had at the start were truly blown away by the end of the book, and I will be recommending this to anyone wanting an edge of the seat read.

About the Author:

Alison James was born in the Cotswolds but spent most of her formative years abroad. She studied languages at Oxford, then became a journalist and author, returning to university after her two children to take a law degree. After a three-year stint as a criminal paralegal, she worked as a commercial copywriter and then a TV storyliner, before coming full circle to write fiction again.

The Other Mothers by Katherine Faulkner #TheOtherMothers #NetGalley @BloomsburyBooks @k_faulkner #bookreview

 

The Other Mothers by Katherine Faulkner

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing

Publication Date: 8th June 2023

Book Description:

You want to be one of them. Until you know them.

The unguessable, unputdownable new thriller from the author of international bestseller Greenwich Park.

Ex-journalist Tash has been searching for a story to launch her freelance career. But she has also been searching for something else. New friends to help her navigate motherhood.

She sees them at her son’s new playgroup. The other mothers. The sleek, the sophisticated, the successful mothers… The women she wants to be.

And then one day they welcome her into their circle and Tash discovers the kind of life she has always dreamt of; their elegant London townhouses a far cry from her cramped basement flat and endless bills.

These families seem to have everything. But they also have their secrets.

And it’s soon clear that not everyone at the playgroup can be trusted...

My Thoughts:

I buddy read Katherine's earlier book Greenwich Park with my daughter last year and we were both impressed by the author's writing. When the opportunity to read The Other Mothers came up for me via NetGalley I was keen to sign up - I wanted to see whether the author could keep up her excellent ability to hide clues amongst the general storytelling, one of the strengths of Greenwich Park for me. I'm delighted to say, she hasn't let me down in this book. In fact, I can confidently say that she has risen to the challenge I had silently set her, and excelled far further than I could have hoped. 

The opening scenes of the book are set in a police station in Cornwall, with Tash explaining to officers how she met the other members of the group she is staying with. How these scenes could possibly link to a new development of flats near Tash and her family's home in London, her faltering career as a freelance journalist and her son Finn's playgroup were a mystery to me. 

Like many new mums with a limited support network Tash struggles to find her feet integrating into the groups of expensively presented, highly polished women who are established regulars at the local playgroup - in her head Tash brands them "the ponytail mums". Imagine her delight when one of them invites her into their clique of coffee dates at the cafe across the road, safe in the knowledge that her son Finn is in good hands, making his own friends and growing in confidence without her. And that's just the start of it.

But while the playgroup is good for Finn, it quickly becomes clear that Tash's latest investigative report is upsetting some of the locals - and to her shock, actually involves the former nanny of one of the ponytail mums. She's soon in a worrying dilemma as to whether to keep looking into the case or, as the disturbing warnings suggest, she should steer well clear.

This is where the quality of Faulkner's writing comes in; all the clues point to there being connections to the playgroup parents, but which ones? Who should she be wary of? The more Tash digs, the more skeletons start rattling at cupboard doors and soon Tash has more to be worried about than just a newspaper article: she and her family are beginning to suffer in her search for the truth. Will she be able to set aside her quest to settle what she feels is a huge injustice in order to protect her family?

The more I read about the ponytail mums and their associated families, the more I felt uncomfortable. It just goes to show that the gloss and veneer of wealth and being part of the in-crowd, whilst seeming attractive from the outside, also has its downsides. I felt that the author perfectly captured the pressures there are on new mums to fit in, the feeling that certain people just know what to do and how to act so that they fit seamlessly into the role, while others are left floundering on the outside looking in, waiting for that golden ticket of invitation to the circle of acceptance. The secrets and hidden links are all there amongst the pages, woven so discreetly into the story that I only picked up on a couple of them. 

With Tash getting closer to the truth every day, the big question is: as the group closes ranks, will she be included in their number or left on the outside looking in as she was in the beginning? Do they see her as one of them or an outsider with her less than desirable home and limited budget? I was glued to this book as the facts were gradually disclosed, the pacing absolutely pitch perfect. 

I highly recommend this book - and if you missed out on Greenwich Park then I suggest you grab a copy of that one too!

About the Author:

Katherine is a London-based author and journalist. She studied History at Cambridge University, graduating with a First, then completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Newspaper Journalism. Since then she has been working as an investigative reporter and latterly an editor. Her work has been published in many national papers, and she most recently worked at The Times, where she was the joint Head of News.

While working as an undercover reporter, Katherine won the Cudlipp Award for public interest journalism and was nominated for a string of others. She was also commended by a committee of MPs for 'the highest standards of ethical investigative reporting.'

Katherine was inspired to write her debut novel about the complexity of female friendships after attending NCT classes when pregnant, and her experience of sudden intimacy with complete strangers.

She lives in Hackney, East London, where she grew up, with her husband and two daughters.

The Search Party by Simon Lelic #NetGalley @VikingBooksUK @Simon_Lelic #bookreview #TheSearchParty

 

The Search Party by Simon Lelic

Published by Viking Books UK

Publication Date: 20th August 2020

Book Description:

16-year-old Sadie Saunders is missing.

Five friends set out into the woods to find her.

But they're not just friends...

THEY'RE SUSPECTS.

You see, this was never a search party.

It's a witch hunt.

And not everyone will make it home alive...

THE CHALK MAN meets THE HUNTING PARTY in this gripping story; witness four suspects as, alongside DI Fleet, you attempt to discover the truth about what happened to Sadie...

My Thoughts:

This book is written in an unconventional style and it therefore took me a while to settle in and realise what was going on. Where Cara Hunter successfully uses interviews and social media posts to help tell her story, this book uses purely the interviewee's responses during police interviews to tell the tale in the majority of chapters Because of this I found the overall story much more difficult to follow. The chapters from DI Fleet's perspective are written in a more traditional style and I found these flowed much better. Sections of the book felt as though it was the author's writing rather than language and phraseology a young person would use, the authenticity often switching within a chapter which I found off-putting.

The premise of the book is that a 16 year old girl is missing, feared drowned, and the local police force are focusing the search for her in the river. A group of her close friends have decided they know her far better and decide to form their own search party in another area, and it gradually becomes clear that this hasn't ended well for them.

None of the narrators is reliable and, where I usually love this in characters, unfortunately there are so many story threads that I just found it incredibly messy.  I suppose this would be an accurate representation of how things would be for the police in a real-life case of this kind, however in a fictional world it came across a bit clunky.

I didn't dislike this book and I look forward to reading more from this author - I previously loved his book The House - but I'm not sure I would re-read this one.

About the Author:

Simon Lelic is the author of seven highly acclaimed thrillers: Rupture (winner of a Betty Trask Award and shortlisted for the John Creasey Debut Dagger), The Facility, The Child Who (longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger and the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger), The House, The Liar's Room, The Search Party and The Hiding Place. He has also written The Haven series for younger readers, twice shortlisted for the CrimeFest awards.