The Removal Man by RJ Parker #NetGalley #TheRemovalMan @OneMoreChapter_ @Bookwalter #bookreview

 

The Removal Man by RJ Parker

Published by One More Chapter

Publication Date 29th April 2022 (kindle), 26th May 2022 paperback

Genre: Thriller

Book Description:

The Removal Man is an utterly unputdownable suspense thriller from the author of The Dinner Party and The Good Neighbour that imagines your worst house-moving nightmare – and then dials it up to 11.

Rose is moving. For her and her son, Noah, this is going to be a fresh start.

She’s almost finished packing but Noah is determined to spend one last night camping out in the garden like he used to. Rose agrees as long as he wraps up warm inside their small tent.

Four hours later she’s woken by a frantic banging on the window.

It’s Noah.

There’s someone in the garden.

That’s when Rose picks up the kitchen knife.

My Thoughts:

We meet Rose as she packs up the last few boxes of her belongings and watches as the removal company load the bigger furniture into the lorry and take it away. She and Noah have one last night at the house before they move on to the next chapter of their lives. They're moving to an apartment without a private garden so when Noah asks if he can camp out in the garden one last time Rose feels it would be too harsh to say no despite it hardly being the ideal weather to do so. Maybe she should have trusted her mother's instinct and suffered a sulky child rather than gone through the events which would follow.

It's only a few hours into Noah's camp-out when he appears frantically knocking at the door with a look of fear in his eyes.  Rose goes out with him to investigate as he is convinced there is someone in the garden. After a good search round Rose is happy that there is nobody there but Noah wants the reassurance of her company out in the tent, so she resigns herself to an uncomfortable night without sleep. Never a fan of the outdoor lifestyle Rose knows she won't settle but soon becomes aware of the sounds her son reported earlier. From this point on the story takes a very sinister turn.

As a book reviewer I hate to give any spoilers away but this edge of your seat thriller really does need to be read without knowing anything other than the setting detailed above. There is an extremely small cast of characters which creates a tight, pressure cooker atmosphere. Once you realise that Noah and Rose are not imagining the sounds they hear and where they originate from your mind goes into overdrive as regards who, why and how they are happening. I flew through this book in a day, and it really is an appropriate signing for the publisher as you really do want to read "one more chapter" (then another and another) as each one leaves you on a cliffhanger as to how and if Rose and Noah are going to make it to their new home the next day. 

Some parts of the story are maybe a little far-fetched - buy hey, it's fiction after all and a little bit of artistic licence never hurt embellish a story. It certainly had my pulse racing at regular intervals throughout - especially once we found out quite what the intruder was capable of prior to making their presence known that evening - and I honestly wasn't sure which of the characters was going to come out on top at the end.

A top-notch page turner, one which I was glad to be reading in daylight hours!

About the Author:

R J Parker's creative career began as a TV script writer, script editor and producer. It was this background that fed into a series of cinematic, high-concept thrillers that grabs the reader from the very first page and doesn't release them until the last. R J Parker now lives in Salisbury.

A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon @JoannaCannon #NetGalley @HarperCollinsUK @BoroughPress #ATidyEnding #book #review

 A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon

Published by HarperCollins, The Borough Press

Publication Date: 28th April 2022

Genre: Mystery & Thrillers, Womens Fiction

Firstly, my sincere thanks to the publisher for allowing me a review copy of this title via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Book Description:

A NICE, NORMAL HOUSE

Linda has lived around here ever since she fled the dark events of her childhood in Wales. Now she sits in her kitchen, wondering if this is all there is – pushing the Hoover round and cooking fish fingers for tea is a far cry from the glamorous lifestyle she sees in the glossy catalogues coming through the door for the house’s previous occupant.

A NICE, NORMAL HUSBAND

Terry isn’t perfect – he picks his teeth, tracks dirt through the house and spends most of his time in front of the TV. But that seems fairly standard – until he starts keeping odd hours at work, at around the same time young women start to go missing in the neighbourhood.

A NICE, NORMAL LIFE…

If Linda could just track down Rebecca, who lived in the house before them, maybe some of that perfection would rub off on her. But the grass isn’t always greener: you can’t change who you really are, and there’s something nasty lurking behind the net curtains on Cavendish Avenue…

My Thoughts:

Linda is a bit of a misfit, always has been and probably always will be. A "big-boned" girl, rather clumsy, whose mum has never really encouraged her in anything but an ordinary life. Her mum is happy to live vicariously via any means possible whether it's her neighbours, the soap operas she watches on TV or the local newspaper but now Linda is getting older she's not content with the life her mum's settled for and wonders if there's not more out there that life can offer her. It all starts when a glossy catalogue comes through her letterbox addressed to the previous homeowner, Rebecca. The whole concept of a "new improved Linda" is born and in a quest to make it a reality she endeavours to find Rebecca and re-model herself based on Rebecca's classy tastes.

At the same time all this is going on, Linda's husband Terry starts to change too; his work pattern becomes erratic, decades-old habits change only very slightly but enough for Linda to take note. Then the news comes that women have been found murdered in the locality - a field day for Linda's mum's amateur sleuthing to kick in. Luckily for Linda this means that both her mum and Terry are too preoccupied to notice the changes she herself is making, and then - what are the chances?? - Linda manages to track down Rebecca and gradually make friends with her and her boyfriend Jolyon. Linda is made up (literally at one point) but this is the point I began to feel quite sorry for her.  In Linda's world she has made a new friend and her plan is coming together but from the outside I was concerned that Linda had led such a sheltered life that she couldn't see what was happening to her. 

Joanna Cannon creates characters so incredibly well. Everyone knows a 'Linda' in their community so it's easy to relate to her and her family. Plus, we all must have wondered what life would be like if it was just that little bit more glamorous than our everyday. A bit more money, some smarter clothes, a posher house, all of that. It's also easy to forget that underneath someone's appearance and the assumptions we make about people, there is a different person. One they don't show to the world and that we would never imagine could possibly reside inside the shell that we are presented with. Their backstories often cloud our judgment of who they are too. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, trying to work out the real people inside Terry and Linda, Rebecca and Jolyon. Even so, Joanna still managed to sneak in a great finale to the story just when I thought I had the measure of everyone.

Once again, a beautifully crafted tale from Joanna Cannon. Elsie (from Three Things About Elsie) will remain my favourite of her characters but Linda certainly comes in a very close second.

About the Author:

Joanna Cannon graduated from Leicester Medical School and worked as a hospital doctor, before specialising in psychiatry. Her first novel The Trouble With Goats and Sheep was a top ten bestseller in both hardback and paperback and was a Richard and Judy pick. She lives in the Peak District with her family and her dog.

Take It Back by Kia Abdullah #NetGalley #TakeItBack #book #bookreview @HQstories @KiaAbdullah #ThrowbackThursday

 

Take It Back by Kia Abdullah

Published by HQ

Publication Date: 8th August 2019

Genre: Legal Thriller

My thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book - although I did actually purchase a paperback copy which is what my review is based upon.

Book Description:

IT’S TIME TO TAKE YOUR PLACE ON THE JURY.

The victim: A sixteen-year-old girl with facial deformities, neglected by an alcoholic mother. Who accuses the boys of something unthinkable.

The defendants: Four handsome teenage boys from hardworking immigrant families. All with corroborating stories.

WHOSE SIDE WOULD YOU TAKE?

My Thoughts:

I have to admit to having shelved this book for a very long time due to its content. but having done a stint at jury service earlier in the year I can't seem to be able to read enough courtroom thrillers at the moment. 
This book has two distinct main characters and they couldn't be more different from one another: Zara Kaleel who walked away from a successful career as a solicitor to become an advocate for victims of sexual assault and rape at Artemis House, a legal centre for those seeking support who might not otherwise be able to access such services. And Jodie Wolfe, facially disfigured from birth, whose father walked away because he could not cope and an alcoholic mother who does little to support Jodie either emotionally or financially. 
Zara and Jodie cross paths at Artemis House when Jodie reports having been raped by a group of 4 youths from her school. Zara is immediately thrown into a dilemma: can she as a Muslim woman, support a white girl who is accusing 4 young Muslim men of one of the worst crimes? Her immediate answer is yes, she can; a young woman has had the courage to report the crime. Any other factors are secondary whether it's Jodie's disfigurement or the social/political implications of the defendants' religion.
The book follows the procedure from the moment Jodie reports the crime right through to Zara's thoughts after the verdict has been given in court. The reactions of Jodie's mum and her friends, the thoughts of the young men as they deal with the fallout from the accusation and ensuing trial. Input from Zara's strict Muslim family as they try to dissuade her from supporting Jodie and stressing how the case will reflect badly on her personally in the Muslim community. The whole book makes the reader consider what life must be like on both sides of the story: a young girl who already stands out and 4 young men who are already potential targets for abuse purely on religious grounds. Then social media start to discredit those supporting each side of the argument, with angry scenes taking place outside the courtroom purely down to the sensitive nature of the case.
It's an excellent novel which really makes you rethink the impact allegations such as these make on everyone involved. The author demonstrates a good knowledge of the legalities in such cases and has clearly researched her facts and figures to make sure the story, whilst totally fictional, is based in the harsh facts of the real world.
I was really unsure who was telling the truth in this gripping thriller but even after the case was over the author still managed to throw in one last twist to the tale which had me demanding a retrial!  An excellent page turner which really gets you pondering some of the nastier things in life.

About the Author:

Born in Tower Hamlets in East London, Kia was raised in a family of eight children. As the most stubborn of six daughters, she constantly found herself in trouble for making choices that clashed with her parents’, a habit they came to accept when she became their first and only child to graduate from university – with a first in Computer Science.

In 2007, Kia left her job in tech to pursue the one thing she had always wanted: a career as a writer, taking a 50% pay cut in the process. She worked as sub-editor and later features editor at Asian Woman Magazine where she interviewed British-Asian luminaries including Riz Ahmed, Meera Syal, Nitin Sawnhey and Anoushka Shankar. 

Kia went on to join global publisher Penguin Random House where she helped grow digital readership at Rough Guides to over a million users per month. In 2014, she quit her day job to found Atlas & Boots, an outdoor travel blog now read by 250,000 people a month.

Today, she spends her time writing, hiking, mentoring pupils from Tower Hamlets and visiting far-flung destinations for Atlas & Boots.

Kia loves to travel, hates to cook and periodically highlights that, in actual fact, she is one of nine children (one passed away), making her number Seven of Nine… which is cool but only if you’re a Star Trek fan… which she is. But please don’t hold it against her.

You can find her on Twitter @KiaAbdullah

Six Days by Dani Atkins #book #review #SixDays @AtkinsDani @HoZ_Books @AriaFiction #PublicationDay

 

Six Days by Dani Atkins

Published by Aria Fiction

Publication Date: 14th April 2022

Genre: Womens Fiction, Romance

My thanks to the publisher Aria Fiction for the opportunity to read this book ahead of publication. The opinions given in this review are entirely my own and are unbiased.

Book Description:

He loves me... He loves me not... He loves me...

Gemma knows that she and Finn are destined to be together. They are soulmates. But then, on their wedding day, he never arrives at the church.

Gemma is convinced Finn wouldn't abandon her like this, even though he has disappeared once before. But back then he had a reason. She feels sure something terrible has happened, but no one else is convinced. Even the police aren't concerned, telling Gemma most people who disappear usually turn up in a week... assuming they want to be found, that is.

For the next six days Gemma frantically searches for Finn, even though every shocking revelation is telling her to give up on him. Before long, even she begins to doubt her own memories of their love.

How long can she hold on to her faith in Finn if everyone is telling her to let him go?

My Thoughts:

This book was exactly the type of read I needed, at just the right time. As a self-confessed cynic when it comes to all things 'big white wedding' I was the first to think the worst of Finn Douglas as I read the early chapters detailing how he left his bride-to-be Gemma Fletcher at the altar in all her wedding day finery.  I wasn't alone, as Gemma's chief bridesmaid and best friend Hannah (not Finn's biggest fan at the best of times) also tried to rein in her opinions of the situation they found themselves in so as not to upset Gemma any more than necessary. But Gemma cannot conceive that Finn would do this to her. She knows him better than anyone - even better than he knows himself. They're soulmates, destined to be together. He wouldn't just walk out on her! But it looks like he just did...

Six Days follows Gemma as she desperately tries to track down what happened to Finn from the moment he left his friends at his stag night. It's emotional, funny and heart breaking in equal measures. Dani Atkins takes us right back to the start of the couple's relationship, in a busy car park with only one space left - but it's not just the parking space they're in competition for. We follow the stop-start nature of things between them as life, Fate and Cupid all step in, each with their own idea of whether the couple are destined to be life partners - or not.

I could happily have read this book in one sitting given the opportunity. The easy, flowing writing style draws you right in for a big hug of a storyline. I changed my opinion of Finn several times along the way, undecided as to whether his absence at the church was intentional or not. The book could easily have become cluttered with superfluous characters, but the author kept the cast tightly in check with just those people significant in the story in the spotlight.

One of my favourite titles of the year so far, I award Six Days 5 large, very glittery stars.

About the Author:

Dani Atkins is an award-winning novelist. Her 2013 debut Fractured (published as Then and Always in North America) has been translated into seventeen languages and has sold more than half a million copies since first publication in the UK.

Dani is the author of five other bestselling novels The Story of Us, Our Song, This Love, While I Was Sleeping and A Million Dreams) and Perfect Strangers, a standalone eBook novella. In 2018, This Love won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award at the RNA awards in London.

Dani lives in a small village in Hertfordshire with her husband, one Siamese cat and a very soppy Border Collie.

Follow Dani on twitter @AtkinsDani or get in touch on Facebook at www.facebook.com/daniatkinsauthor

The Curfew by TM Logan #book #BookReview #TheCurfew @TMLoganAuthor @ZaffreBooks

 

The Curfew by TM Logan

Published by Zaffre Books

Publication Date 17th March 2022

Genre: Psychological Thrillers

Book Description:

Your son said he was home. WHY DID HE LIE?

I should have known something was wrong. I should have sensed it. Felt it in the air, like the build-up of pressure before a thunderstorm, that heavy, loaded calm.

The curfew
Andy and Laura are good parents. They tell their son Connor that he can go out with friends to celebrate completing his exams, but he must be home by midnight.

The lie
When Connor misses his curfew, it sets off a series of events that will change the lives of five families forever.

The truth?
Because five teenagers went into the woods that night, but only four came out. And telling the truth might mean losing everything...

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

My Thoughts:

As a parent this book captures in technicolour detail all your worst fears for your teenage children.  Laura and Andy Boyd are respected members of their community, a teacher and a local GP and as such are well known and recognised by everyone. Their children Connor and Harriet are high achievers academically although Harriet has some issues with others in school due to her "nerdiness", her parents accepting of the fact that she may well be on the autistic spectrum.

The trouble starts for Connor on the night he decides to go in to Beacon Hill Woods to celebrate the end of school exams with a small group of friends. Andy wakes in the small hours wondering if Connor has made it home in time for his curfew, and wife Laura assures him that everything is fine. Feeling uneasy Andy pushes his son's bedroom door open and sees his sleeping form wrapped in the duvet so goes back to bed. The following day Andy heads out to take his dog for a walk and receives a phone call from his brother asking whether he has seen Zac, Andy's nephew at all. Replying that no, he's not seen him he agrees to help look for Zac as he hasn't returned home from last night's celebrations. This is the point where things start to feel very uncomfortable for Andy; his brother is holding something back from him where they've always been so close previously. Zac is missing, then word comes through that another girl from last night's party has also not returned home. What on earth happened in the woods after dark?

I really liked the family dynamic of the Boyd household. The parents are supportive both of one another and of each of the children, protective yet not stifling characters. Harriet is probably my favourite character in the entire book as she works away in her own quiet manner to help protect her big brother who certainly gets the rubbish end of the stick in this story. There are some wonderfully unlikeable characters too whose glossy veneer of respectability proves to be too good to be true. They're present in most communities but hopefully aren't as vile as those featured here. It's certainly a book which makes you wonder how you would react if it was your child involved.

The pace of the story is perfect with the true facts being teased out gradually right the way through, interlaced with some very credible decoys. The Curfew is bang up to date with its references to social media and other IT systems which are used to both help and hinder the investigation. Where would we be without the superior knowledge of the younger generation when it comes to technology??

This is my favourite of TM Logan's work so far. The writing flows easily from the page and I whizzed through the whole book far more quickly than I expected. Definitely one to wrap yourself up in when you know you have a chunk of reading time available.

About the Author:

Bestselling author TM Logan was a national newspaper journalist before turning to novel-writing full time. His debut thriller LIES was one of Amazon UK’s biggest ebooks of 2017, selling 350,000 copies and gathering more than 1,400 5-star reviews.

Together with his second standalone thriller, ’29 Seconds’ (2018), his books are now published in a dozen countries around the world including the USA, South Korea, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Romania and the Netherlands.

Tim lives in Nottinghamshire with his wife and two children, and writes in a cabin at the bottom of his garden.

You can contact Tim via Twitter @TMLoganAuthor or through his website www.tmlogan.com

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley #NetGalley #TheParisApartment @lucyfoleytweets @HarperCollinsUK #bookreview

 

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

Published by HarperCollins UK

Publication Date: 3rd March 2022

Genre: Mystery & Thrillers

My thanks to the publisher for an early review copy of this book via NetGalley however I have indulged in a beautiful hardback copy so I can re-read this excellent novel multiple times and gaze at it on the shelf when I'm not reading it!

Book Description:

Welcome to No.12 Rue des Amants

A beautiful old apartment block, far from the glittering lights of the Eiffel Tower and the bustling banks of the Seine.

Where nothing goes unseen.
And everyone has a story to unlock.

The watchful concierge
The scorned lover
The prying journalist
The naïve student
The unwanted guest

Something terrible happened here last night.
A mystery lies behind the door of apartment three.

Only you – and the killer – hold the key . . .

My Thoughts:

Never have I read a book where the place felt as much of a character as the individual people. Every time I picked up the book, I was immediately swept into the Parisian way of life and instantly fell under its spell. The author has such a talent for making you part of this world with its glamorous people, famous landmarks, delectable food and drink - but also drags you in to the seedier side streets where life has a decidedly different atmosphere.
Ben Daniels is a journalist who has been staying at his mate Nick's apartment in Paris. Ben's sister Jess has found herself in a bit of a tricky situation in her most recent job and has called her brother to ask if she can crash on his sofa for a while until she can sort something out. While he's not overly keen on the idea, he agrees, gives her the address, and tells her he'll be there to meet her. Only when she arrives there's no sign of Ben, he's not picking up his phone and Jess gets an unsettling feeling that something is very wrong. She's had to sneak her way into the apartment block after one of the other tenants refuses to let her into the building and the concierge who seems to live in an outbuilding in the courtyard is decidedly unfriendly towards her. Nobody wants to assist her in her quest to find her missing brother - the language barrier and the fact that she knows nobody in the area are not helping either.
The story takes sinister twists and turns, you suspect everyone of having some kind of involvement in Ben's disappearance, yet you can't put your finger on why. There are secrets and untruths paving the way throughout the whole book which will be guaranteed to have you reading just one more of the short punchy chapters far longer than you planned to. Your jaw will drop, your eyebrows will switch from a heavy frown to shocking heights as the facts are gradually revealed and everything you've read suddenly falls into place. 
Who gets the happy ever after ending and who is left to rebuild their lives is something I'm not going to spoil for you as the author has spent so much effort constructing such a brilliant, intricately woven plot. I will be surprised if there are any readers who don't enjoy this book.

About the Author:

Lucy Foley studied English Literature at Durham and UCL universities. She then worked for several years as a fiction editor in the publishing industry – during which time she also wrote her debut, The Book of Lost and Found. Lucy now writes full-time, and is busy travelling (for research, naturally!) and working on her next novel.

Visit her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LucyFoleyAuthor and follow her on Twitter @lucyfoleytweets

Little Disasters by Sarah Vaughan #book #review #NetGalley #LittleDisasters @SVaughanAuthor @simonschusterUK

 

Little Disasters by Sarah Vaughan

Publication Date 1st May 2020

Published by Simon & Schuster

Genre: Medical/Legal Thriller

My thanks to publisher Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read and review this title. Sarah Vaughan's recent release Reputation and previous book Anatomy of A Scandal (soon to be a TV adaptation) are both high on my list of recommended reads.

Book Description:

You think you have the perfect family.

But everything can be broken.

Liz and Jess have been friends for ten years, ever since they both started a family. But how well do they really know each other?

When Jess arrives at hospital with a story that doesn’t add up, Liz is the doctor on call. 

Jess has devoted her life to family and home. But she is holding so many secrets. 

As the truth begins to emerge, Liz is forced to question everything she thought she knew: about Jess, and about herself. 

When something feels so personal, how do you stay professional? 

My Thoughts:

This book unfortunately became lost in a batch of titles on my 'to read' pile - possibly due to its content making it a book you really need to be in the right frame of mind for. Post-natal depression is a strong issue throughout the course of this book which can be a trigger for some readers. My advice: proceed with caution.

The story is based around a group of friends who came to know one another through an ante-natal group, their eldest children all due within a matter of weeks of one another in the later weeks of 2007. Jess is the only one lucky enough not to have to return to work, the one with the calm, instinctive approach to parenting; she's also the only one among the mums to go on to have a third child. But all is not well behind closed doors for Jess and her family, and it's about to get a whole lot worse.

Fast forward to early 2018 and one of the mums, Liz, is at work as a doctor in her local hospital in west London.  She is called to the emergency department to assess the condition of a little girl, 10 months old who has been brought in by mum. It's not until she reads the patient's name that she gets concerned: Betsey Curtis, daughter of her friend Jess. Once she has examined Betsey she realises what a difficult position she is in, and reluctantly calls her senior consultant for advice. An arrogant, old-school kind of consultant Liz's boss is quick to get social services involved due to the nature of Betsey's condition, a decision which inevitably causes bad feeling between Liz and Jess's wider group of friends. 

As the chapters switch between timeframes and characters we slowly but surely get the background to events leading up to Jess needing to take Betsey to the hospital. The difference in how society supports mental health issues in recent years compared to the stigma which surrounded it not all that long ago is explored and put into context, at some points making for an emotional read.

I don't want to go into too much detail as this would ruin the whole storyline. I did get an inkling of what had happened but there were still sufficient twists in the tale to lead the reader along a couple of diversions before the end.  I felt that the author presented realistic reactions from the various authorities and friends within the group and had clearly researched processes within health and social care settings so that the story remained credible. The pressures put on the parents of young families these days are demonstrated well too - the way we all feel that we need to put on a public face that everything is fine when really, we should say that we're having difficult day or need some extra support occasionally. 

It seems inappropriate to say I liked this book, more so that I respect the author for tackling some extremely sensitive content in a way which makes it a far less taboo subject and felt satisfied with the outcome.

About the Author:

Sarah Vaughan read English at Oxford and went on to be a journalist. After training with the Press Association, she worked for The Guardian for 11 years as a news reporter, health correspondent and political correspondent before leaving to freelance and write fiction. Her 3rd novel, Anatomy of a Scandal, was an instant international bestseller, a Sunday Times top five bestseller, a kindle number 1 bestseller, a Richard & Judy pick, and was longlisted for the Theakson's Old Peculier Crime Novel and shortlisted for awards in France, Sweden and the UK. It has been translated into 22 languages and is being adapted for TV.

Facebook: Sarah Vaughan Author

Twitter: @SVaughanAuthor

Website: www.sarahvaughanauthor.com