The Talk Show by Harry Verity #TheTalkShow @Bloodhoundbook @BookFunnel @hverityauthor

 

The Talk Show by Harry Verity

Published by Bloodhound Books

Publication Date: 1st March 2021

Genre: Psychological Thriller

279 pages

Book Description:

You never know who is watching...

When Edward gets a job working behind the scenes on the notorious and controversial Michael O’Shea Show, he thinks he’s hit the big time. But little does he realise what he’s let himself in for. 

The presenter’s brother is arrested for sex crimes, and the show is threatened with cancellation when two guests are reported missing. Then, when a member of the backstage staff is abducted, it becomes clear someone has the show in their sights. 

Is someone trying to sabotage a seemingly harmless talk show by targeting its presenters and guests? Or does the truth lie somewhere closer to home?

One thing is for sure, there’s no telling who’s watching The Talk Show…

My Thoughts:

I loved the concept of this book. With the recent controversy surrounding talk shows in the UK I was interested to see where the author would take it. I wasn't disappointed!  

New recruit to the team Edward has ideas of grandeur with his new job in television. It doesn't take long for his bubble to burst as he realises he really is the lowliest person on the team and his colleagues are quick to quell any enthusiasm he had to begin with. As you would expect there are a lot of big egos clashing on the show and the media are constantly looking to cast accusations against any of the show's presenter - some with more truth to them than others. Edward isn't the only who gets shouted down on a regular basis, with show psychologist Bernard Braithwaite also constantly in the firing line. Edward wonders how he copes in his role as he seems very anxious and lacking in confidence for someone in his position. 

I will be honest that the first half of the book was quite slow and I was almost at the point of abandoning the book (sorry!) but then BANG! things kicked in and the story took off at a rate of knots which had me hanging on tight. I'm so glad I kept with the story as the second half really was action packed.  You have guests being abducted, accusations of all kinds being levelled at just about everyone on the team and then police arriving to shut the show down while their enquiries continue because things just got very real. 

My opinion of this book is that if you are prepared to hang in there while the scene is set then you are in for a treat once everyone is in their places. I guarantee they won't be where you expect at the end!

About the Author:

Harry Verity grew up in the city of Leicester in the UK and then studied at Loughborough University and obtained an MA in Early Modern History from the University of York.

After leaving university he pursued a career writing freelance for magazines and newspapers and worked in British Book store WH Smith as a sales assistant.

As well as writing Harry travels all around the world, experiencing new cultures and making new friends. He is currently based in Vietnam where the impact of COVID-19 has been minimal.

The Talk Show is his first novel.

Your Neighbour's Wife by Tony Parsons @NetGalley @TonyParsonsUK @penguinrandom #YourNeighboursWife

 

Your Neighbour's Wife by Tony Parsons

Published by RandomHouse Cornerstone, Century

Publication Date 7th January 2021

Genre: Mystery & Thrillers

My thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read this novel via NetGalley in exchange for my views.

Book Description:

What do you do when your perfect life spins out of control? A gripping psychological thriller that combines the emotional warmth of Man and Boy with the page-turning brio of The Murder Bag.

Tara Carver seems to have the perfect life. A loving mother and wife, and a business woman who runs her own company, she’s the sort of person you’d want to live next door to, who might even become your best friend.

But what sort of person is she really?

Because in one night of madness, on a work trip far from home, she puts all this at risk. And suddenly her dream life becomes a living nightmare when the married man she spent one night with tells her he wants a serious relationship with her. And that he won’t leave her or her precious family alone until she agrees.

There seems to be only one way out. And it involves murder ...

My Thoughts:

The one part of this book that really puzzled me was its title. I still can't quite work out its relevance even at the end of the story.

Tara Carver has it all: nice house, nice family and her own successful business. Her husband is a house husband who looks after their daughter so she can work at her on-line dating agency with her friend and colleague. So with all those positives, why would she risk it all for a one night stand in a foreign land?  

This is what she begins to ask herself when she realises that the man she opted to risk it all with wants far more than  a quick fling. Even before she has finished her business trip he's pestering her for more so she decides to do a quick flit back home in an attempt to escape his attention. Sadly things only get worse - to the point where the police are knocking on her door. But it's not her they're interested in, it's her husband.

There are some interesting twists along the way in this book but to be honest I disliked Tara's self-centred character so much it put me off the whole book. The extents she goes to in order to protect her self were shocking, and the people who put themselves in the firing line for her in my opinion needed a psychological assessment.  

The sacrifices made in her name went above and beyond what anyone should do for another person and I was shocked at her reaction to them.  Not a book I particularly enjoyed I'm afraid. And please can someone explain that title?!

About the Author:

Tony Parsons is a bestselling novelist and an award-winning journalist. His books have been published in over forty languages and his multi-million selling novel Man and Boy won The Book of The Year prize in 2000. Most recently, he created the Max Wolfe crime series. Tony lives in London with his family.

The Ex by Diane Saxon @NetGalley @BoldwoodBooks @Diane_Saxon #TheEx

 

The Ex by Diane Saxon

Published by Boldwood Books

Publication Date: 2 March 2021

Genre: Mystery & Thrillers

My thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book ahead of publication in exchange for my honest opinion.

Book Description:

Sometimes your past just won't let go...All NEW from Diane Saxon

As a heat wave grips the country, DS Jenna Morgan is called to a domestic incident at the home of a young family in Ironbridge.

Pregnant Imelda Cheetham-Epstein has been found unconscious by her husband, Zak with serious head injuries.

When Jenna arrives on the scene, she discovers something even more disturbing – the couple's eleven-month-old son, Joshua, is missing and the race against time begins to find him.

Is this an accident or something more sinister?

Are the two incidents linked?

Or has something in the Cheetham-Epstein's past caught up with them?

My Thoughts:

A word of warning: this is the fourth book in a series, something I wasn't aware of until I came to write my review. That said, it clearly worked well as a stand alone novel as I didn't feel like I had missed huge chunks of the story.  DS Jenna Morgan has a pretty traumatic history in her police career that much is evident but I didn't feel that the previous incidents totally overwhelmed this story as sometimes can happen. She's a good strong character who has learned how to cope with her demons.

The location of the story in the Black Country made a nice change as we don't seem to have many writers setting their books around Ironbridge and the intense heatwave was an excellent pressure cooker environment to add to the time constraints needed to find a missing one year old child.  Little Joshua has disappeared during the violent attack on his mother but the detectives are suspicious of dad Zak as he claims not to have heard anything despite being in the property at the time.

The book is cleverly written as the reader knows exactly who has carried out the attack and to an extent why but the finer details run far deeper than events suggest.  It took me a good while to get even close to the facts but I did get a gut feeling part way through the story so the 'reveal' wasn't as big a shock as it could have been.

There are a couple of truly shocking and disturbing scenes in the book but you can't really put any trigger warnings on it without giving away the whole story which I felt was well written and tackled some very real issues. Some of the more peripheral characters felt particularly realistic.

I would like to go back and revisit the earlier books in the series to get better background on the detectives side of things to see how their characters have developed from the start.

About the Author:

Diane Saxon lives in the Shropshire countryside with her tall, dark, handsome husband. She has two gorgeous daughters, a Dalmatian, two cats, numerous rare breed chickens, and a black Labrador called Beau--a name borrowed by her hero in For Heaven's Cakes.

After working for years in a demanding job, Diane gave it up when her husband said, "Follow that dream." She subsequently had 12 Romances published for the U.S. market then turned to the dark side with her psychological thrillers. With a four-book deal through Boldwood Books, her first in series, Find Her Alive was released in 2019 followed by Someone's There in February 2020. What She Saw is her latest release in September 2020 and Diane is head down currently editing Book 4.

Find her at her website https://dianesaxon.com/ or on Twitter: @Diane_Saxon

The Killing Choice by Will Shindler @NetGalley @HodderBooks @WillShindler #TheKillingChoice

 

The Killing Choice by Will Shindler

Published by Hodder & Stoughton

Publication Date 11th February 2021

Genre: Crime, Mystery & Thriller

My thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book ahead of publication via NetGalley in exchange for my opinion.

Book Description:

'Leave your daughter with me, or I will kill you both'

It felt like a normal Friday evening before Karl and his daughter Leah were ambushed by a figure in a blank mask. At knife point, Karl is forced to make an impossible choice. Stay and die, or walk away from Leah and take this thug's word that they both will live.

Should Karl trust a villain and leave his daughter with a knife at her throat? Could he ever live with himself if he did?

It's not long before more seemingly unconnected and innocent people across London are offered a deal in exchange for their life. More blood is spilled, more families shattered, and more people are left to suffer with the consequences of their decisions.

DI Alex Finn and DC Mattie Paulsen must hunt for a killer that appears to have no face, no motive and no conscience before more victims are forced to make their choice.

This is second in Will Shindler's Finn and Paulsen series - a British detective series that ranks with Mark Billingham, M.J. Arlidge and Stuart MacBride.

My Thoughts:

Part one of this series which came out last year was one of the stand out novels of the year for me, especially as a debut book, so when I spotted book two I was desperate to be approved. Thank you so much to the publishers for your generosity, I have not been disappointed.

Detective Finn is still struggling with the loss of his wife and often hears her voice advising him on how to get on and live life to the fullest without her. Some days he listens, other days are harder and because of this her best friend has been despatched to try and help get him back in the swing of things again. All this is background though, but helps him understand the lives of Isiah and his 2 young lads who are trying to keep going after losing their wife and mum suddenly. The relationship between dad and the older lad has pretty much broken down and the younger lad is testing the boundaries of growing up.

Finn and his sidekick are called to the brutal murder of a woman in controversial circumstances. Her father allegedly left her in the hands of their attacker in order to get help but things took a horrific turn instead.  This is the start of an apparent serial killer spree in London and it needs Finn & Paulsen to get on top of things quickly to stop any further killings.

With knife and drug crime rife in the area Finn needs to follow the clues but is someone deliberately leading them in the wrong direction or is his gut instinct right? Nothing lead me to work out who -dunnit, I was not even close so well was the trail set.

I really enjoyed trying to work out whether this was gang warfare gone wrong, drug dealers crossing over territories or a completely separate serial killer at work. But why does everything keep coming back to the same common denominator on a derailed train?

Great characters, plenty of depth to the plotting and realistic crime scenes all the way. Plus it will make you ask yourself what would you do in that situation?

About the Author:

Will Shindler has been a Broadcast Journalist for the BBC for over twenty-five years, spending a decade working in television drama as a scriptwriter on Born and Bred, The Bill and Doctors. His time on these leading prime time dramas has given him a rich grounding in authentic police procedure, powerful character development and gripping narratives. He currently combines reading the news on BBC Radio London with writing crime novels and has previously worked as a television presenter for HTV, a sports reporter for BBC Radio Five Live, and one of the stadium presenters at the London Olympics. The Burning Men is his first novel.

I Follow You by Peter James @panmacmillan @peterjamesuk #IFollowYou

 I Follow You by Peter James

Published by PanMacMillan

Publication Date: 1st October 2020

Genre:Psychological Thriller

Book Description:

To the outside world, suave, charming and confident doctor Marcus Valentine has it all. A loving wife, three kids, a great job. But there’s something missing, there always has been. . . . or rather, someone . . .

Driving to work one morning, his mind elsewhere and not on the road, he almost mows down a female jogger on a crossing. As she runs on, Marcus is transfixed. Infatuated. She is the spitting image of a girl he was crazy about in his teens. A girl he has never been able to get out of his mind.

Lynette had dumped him harshly. For years he has fantasized about seeing her again and rekindling their flame. Might that jogger possibly be her all these years later? Could this be the most incredible coincidence?

Despite all his attempts to resist, he is consumed by cravings for this woman. And when events take a tragically unexpected turn, his obsession threatens to destroy both their worlds. But still he won’t stop. Can’t stop.

My Thoughts:

Peter James has long been a favoured author of mine and I have to admit that I even went so far as to order myself a signed copy of this book. Who says bloggers don't buy books?!

The location for this story, the Channel Island of Jersey, I found was a great setting to create a claustrophobic feel for this book. While the scenery is beautiful the area is relatively small so the opportunity to lose yourself in a crowd is pretty limited. Which is why our villain of the piece Marcus Valentine finds it easy to track his target's movements; together with technology of running trackers he can study her regular routes and time schedules - but even for a man who is obsessed with accurate time keeping he manages to miss her so many times.

Marcus and Georgie have their first encounter when Marcus is running late for work, zooming along the road in his flash Porsche while Georgie is out on her morning run.  He very nearly wipes her out on a crossing when he almost runs a red light and from that point on he is completely obsessed with having Georgie in his life.  Then when he finds out she is soon to be married to one of his friends things take a very sinister turn.

The creepy location of an out of season hotel, a rather random caretaker with a penchant for clown outfits and an unhealthy fixation on an event on Marcus's past all add layers to the story which have the hair on the back of your neck standing up. After all the thought and planning he has put into keeping tabs on Georgie he can't quite believe his luck when a situation involving her fiance plays straight into his hands. He genuinely feels he is able to play god and control exactly how he wants their lives to play out. I felt sorry for his wife and children - and for all his colleagues who he patronised and controlled at any given opportunity. Pretty much anyone who he came into contact with really.

I whizzed through this book in just over a day and enjoyed it as much as his other books - although I don't think anything will ever top that first book in the Dead Series.

The hardback and kindle editions are out now, but if you would prefer to wait for the paperback then you'll have to hang on until June.

About the Author:

Peter James is a UK No. 1 bestselling author, best known for writing crime and thriller novels, and the creator of the much-loved Detective Superintendent Roy Grace. With a total of 17 Sunday Times No. 1s under his belt, he has achieved global book sales of over 20 million copies to date, and has been translated into 37 languages.

Synonymous with plot-twisting page-turners, Peter has garnered an army of loyal fans throughout his storytelling career - which also included stints writing for TV and producing films. He has won over 40 awards for his work, including the WHSmith Best Crime Author of All Time Award, Crime Writers' Association Diamond Dagger and a BAFTA nomination for The Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons for which he was an Executive Producer. Many of Peter's novels have been adapted for film, TV and stage.

The Juggle by Emma Murray @NetGalley @BoldwoodBooks @gilbster1000 #rachelsrandomreviews @MurrayEmma #TheJuggle

 

The Juggle by Emma Murray

Published by Boldwood Books

Publication Date 11th February 2021

Womens Fiction, Humour

My thanks to Rachel Gilbey of Rachels Random Resources for the invitation to read this book ahead of publication and feature my review as part of the promotional blog tour. My views here are my own and unbiased.

Book Description:

Mother-of-one Saoirse is just about holding it all together – combining part time work with the school run, while her husband David gets to focus on his career. But when David loses his job, everything has to change.

With no hesitation, Saoirse suggests she takes on the role of main breadwinner. After all, how hard can it be? And when a new client offers her a life-changing sum of money, Saoirse can look the other over-achieving Woodvale school-run mums in the eye with pride.

But there’s a problem with keeping too many balls in the air – eventually one is bound to drop. And when that happens – well, who knows what the consequences could be…

Laugh-out-loud funny, achingly relatable, but with a heart of gold, and warmth running through every page. This is the perfect read for anyone who has way too many balls in the air! The novel may or may not have been inspired by real life…

My Thoughts:

I was completely unaware when I signed up for the blog tour that this book is a sequel and even by the end of the story I didn't feel like I had missed significant amounts of information by not reading the first one. On reflection yes, I probably had but not sufficient to spoil the story for me.

Saoirse and David have life pretty much sorted, David works in banking while his wife does the school run and works as a ghost writer from home. Then life does what it does and drops a bombshell with David being made redundant from his job. But this coincides with Saoirse being offered the chance to earn big bucks for a seemingly easy writing job and for only six months work.  There's a saying: if something looks too good to be true it usually is. This comes to Saoirse's mind when she hears the offer - but in a desperate effort to take the pressure off David she agrees to the task and at first she believes all her dreams are coming true. 

The author presents us with comical narration of the family's day to day life with Saoirse's twice daily dreaded experience of the Organics, the seemingly perfect school run mums. Anyone who has done the school run will be able to relate to these tales and there are some particularly laugh out loud events which befall Saoirse and her daughter Anna. Dad David tries to take the strain of these treks to the school gates much to Anna's dismay (nothing the promise of a much frowned upon pink doughnut won't solve though) so that Saoirse can travel across London to meet the eccentric benefactor who is facilitating this change of lifestyle.

While taking his sabbatical from work David makes the decision to try and trace his birth mother (this must be one of the sections of the story which the first book provides a background on) which causes the inevitable ripples in his relationship with his adoptive mother, a cold, rather strange individual I found. This part of the story I found quite emotional in more ways than one, which I wasn't expecting amongst the humour I had been reading so far.

I found the whole book a very realistic representation of the many and varied characters in life - but at the same time realised that even with all these different personalities, humans are the same the world over and we are all stereotypes in one form or another. 

This would be a fun book to discuss for a book club with all sorts of issues to discuss from parenting styles, employment issues, adoption, friendship boundaries and many, many more.

From the Author:

I am an Irish author living in London, UK. I started writing stories when I was 9 years old. My first 'book' was called 'Carrie the Kitten and Friends,' scribbled untidily in a school notebook (my handwriting is as appalling today as it was back then). My favourite subject at school was English, and I regularly bored dozens of fellow school children with my prolific essay-writing. Following university where I studied English and Spanish (my Spanish is mediocre at best, but mysteriously improves after a few glasses of wine), I moved to London to pursue a banking career. Turning 30 gave me the push I needed to take all my savings and invest them into pursuing my dream job as a full-time writer. Over the last decade, I have worked on mainly nonfiction books in the area of business and academic textbooks, but my first love has always been fiction. At a publishing event a few years ago, a literary agent gave me some great advice, 'To be a writer, you need to be passionate about the subject and write from the heart.' The birth of my two daughters inspired me to apply this advice to a series of books about motherhood and its impact on romantic relationships, women friendships, and family dynamics. They are set in London and Ireland (where I am originally from) and give a humorous account of the frustrations of being a parent. Writing these books has been the hardest but most worthwhile thing I have ever done in my career. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I love writing them.

You can find out more and follow my blog at www.emmamurray.net

End of the Line by Robert Scragg #blogtour @NetGalley #EndoftheLine @robert_scragg @allisonandbusby

 End of the Line by Robert Scragg

(Porter & Styles book 4)

Published by Allison & Busby

Publication Date: 21st January 2021

Police Procedural

Book Description:

Detective Jake Porter s life was shattered when his wife was killed by a hit-and-run driver nearly four years ago. Since then, he has been building a new life piece by piece, but this is rocked when evidence comes to light that might finally lead him to her killer.

At the same time, he and his partner DS Nick Styles have a volatile case to juggle. Ross Henderson was a vlogger rallying against the growing tide of the far-right. As his audience tuned in to his latest live broadcast, they watched in horror as he was brutally murdered.

While struggling to prevent full-blown riots in the wake of the atrocity, following the trail to his wife s killer will take its toll. Porter will have to act like a criminal in order to take down the personal responsible, but there's no guarantee he will come out the other side alive.

My Thoughts:

The first thing to say is a huge thank you to Christina Storey at Allison & Busby publishers for the invitation to be part of the blog tour for this book. The opinions expressed here are my own and are unbiased - I have followed this series right from the start and could not have been more excited to discover Porter & Styles were back for another instalment.

I was quite surprised to find the opening of the book goes pretty much straight to the action with information filtering through to Porter that there has been a breakthrough in the years-old hit and run case in which his wife was killed. Despite being directly told to keep away from the case, Jake can't overcome his instinct to find his wife's killer and vows to himself he will do his own investigative work - whilst promising his bosses he will stay away.

While the detectives are dealing with that bombshell, a new case comes in: the graphic 'live on social media' slaying of a prominent political influencer Ross Henderson which soon means that Porter & Styles have their hands full and are well and truly distracted. With the possibility of terrorist activity in their case the Chief brings in the Counter Terror Unit to support their team, in the form of DI Taylor Bell. She may be small but she makes a big impression on the detectives;  Jake can't help but take a liking to her, however Styles isn't so sure. All this high profile activity doesn't stop Porter doing a bit of moonlighting on his own investigation though and he's soon burning the candle both ends with the effects very quickly becoming obvious to his partner Evie as well as his workmate Styles. Well, you can't really hide a trip to your local A&E can you?

This is a book which pulls you strongly into both storyline threads at the same time with some great characters from the criminal fraternity being created by the author as well as the detectives' boss continuing in his arrogant, self-indulgent manner which we have seen demonstrated in earlier books. It is very much a book of its time with the terror angle, the far right attitudes so accurately recreated in some of the nasty members of the cast and the reflection of today's on-line promotion of attitudes and ideas which so quickly inflame sections of society to jump on band wagons which promote hate and violence so easily. I'm sad to say I found this to be a very believable story.

Amongst all the violence and criminal activity there are also some very witty lines and I love the banter which flows between the characters - especially bringing in a feisty new female detective with her own brand of wit. I hope we see more of her in future instalments of this series.  The book flows well and kept me well and truly hooked in - even at three quarters of the way through I could not see where we were heading for the conclusion.  Would we find out who was responsible for killing Holly or would that be the one that gets away until the next book? Is the killer of Ross Henderson the one we initially assume it to be?  I am definitely not giving anything away on either count but have to say it's been a while since a book had me as bamboozled as this one.

Definitely a 5 star read for me and if you haven't read this series I suggest you do as it is a cracker. You could read this as a standalone but I feel you will get a lot more from starting at the beginning and growing with the characters along the way.

Thanks again to the publisher - I only have one question: when is book 5 due out please?

About the Author:

Robert Scragg had a random mix of jobs before taking the dive into crime writing; he's been a bookseller, pizza deliverer, Karate instructor and Football coach. He lives in Tyne & Wear, and is a founding member of the Northern Crime Syndicate crime writers group. For a full list of upcoming events and more info about Robert and his books, visit www.robertscragg.com