My name is Linda. Most of my friends, not that I have many left, call me Lindy. I work as a housekeeper in a local hotel. I had the world at my feet once. Not any more.
The first time I saw Mia was in the car park. She came over to help when my shopping bag split. There’s something about her delicate femininity that mesmerises me.
Ever since then, I’ve been kind of obsessed. Mia is stunning, with beautiful ash-blonde hair. I’ve had mine cut in the same style.
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She has two beautiful children, the same age as mine. A gorgeous home on an exclusive estate. And a husband who’s the old-fashioned kind who picks her up after a night out. Mine wouldn’t even pick me up if I fell over in the street.
But then I get a call. Mia’s voice on the phone is breathy, edgy. She’s whispering, like she doesn’t want anyone to hear. ‘Lindy, I need your help. Listen to me, please.’
I’ll help her. But only if she helps me . . .
My Review
I started this in the morning and by the end of the day I had finished it. I took it with me everywhere so I could keep reading.
The book is written from the point of view of both women – Lindy and Mia. Mia’s life is perfect. She has a handsome husband called Ricky who works in TV. She’s beautiful and has two grown up daughters. Lindy lives in her shadow, obsessively stalking her and craving her life. At least that’s how it seems.
Then one day, it all changes. I felt quite sorry for Lindy because we know there has been a terrible tragedy in her life, we just don’t know what it is yet. But it’s Mia I was rooting for. Her popular, charismatic husband is turning into a monster. And all because he wants her inheritance – the inheritance that was left by her grandmother for their two grown up daughters. But Mia has a secret, which she will do anything to keep hidden.
Now, if I was Mia, I would have come clean straight away. I did not understand why she wouldn’t reveal the truth about her past, however terrible and traumatic it would be for others.
There were times when the plot was somewhat far-fetched, but if ‘you can suspend disbelief’, you will enjoy the story as much as I did. It was so entertaining, I really couldn’t put it down.
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Sadie Ryan is the author of three books. Guilty came out in April 2021, a psychological thriller. The Housekeeper is her latest novel. She loves animals and lives in leafy Cheshire in the North West of England with her daughter and rescue dog. When not writing she spends her time reading, gardening, walking her dog or watching old black and white movies. When asked where she gets her ideas from, she says, ‘From observation, inspiration and lots of wicked thoughts.’
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+ abuse, child abuse, crime fiction, fiction, friendship, Iceland noir, lies, murder, nineties, police drama, political thriller, politics, religion, revenge, review, Scandi noir, secrets, thriller
Dead Sweet by Katrín Júlíusdóttir translated by Quentin Bates Paperback Tour
This brilliant book is now out in paperback!
When Óttar Karlsson, a wealthy and respected government official and businessman, is found murdered, after failing to turn up at his own surprise birthday party, the police are at a loss.
It isn’t until young police officer Sigurdís finds a well-hidden safe in his impersonal luxury apartment that clues start emerging.
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As Óttar’s shady business dealings become clear, a second, unexpected line of enquiry emerges, when Sigurdís finds a US phone number in the safe, along with papers showing regular money transfers to an American account. Following the trail to Minnesota, trauma rooted in Sigurdís’s own childhood threatens to resurface and the investigation strikes chillingly close to home…
Atmospheric, deeply unsettling and full of breakneck twists and turns, Dead Sweet is a startling debut thriller that uncovers a terrifying world of financial crime, sinister cults and disturbing secret lives, and kicks off an addictive, mind-blowing new series.
My Review
What a brilliant debut novel from a new Icelandic writer. Definitely one to watch and the first novel in a cracking new series.
Police officer Sigurdís nearly lost her job after losing her temper with a suspect. She couldn’t hold back. It was a domestic violence incident and we discover that Sigurdís herself was also a victim when she was a child. Her father, a respected senior officer in the police force beat her mother and then one day became so violent he nearly killed them all – Sigurdís, her brother Einar and their mother. He was arrested and sent to prison and Sigurdís and Einar went to live with their mother’s sister Halla.
In her first case back at work, Sigurdís is called upon to help investigate the murder of Óttar Karlsson, a wealthy and respected government official and businessman, who was found dead on the beach. Who would have killed him? It was a brutal attack. He didn’t die straight away. He was left to suffer first.
The police has no leads, until Sigurdís finds a hidden safe in Óttar’s house, which contains evidence of shady business dealings, a mysterious phone number, and papers showing regular money transfers to an American account.
Head of department Garðar, is certain that someone wanted revenge for being cheated out of their livelihood, but Sigurdís has other ideas. She believes it’s more personal and linked to a woman in America who knew Óttar when he was at Univeristy in Minnesota.
It’s fascinating and exciting, but little did I know how it would pan out. When Sigurdís digs deeper and even travels to America to investigate further, it becomes darker and darker, with some shocking revelations. And that’s all I can say! And there’s even a hint at a possible romance for Sigurdís in the books to come.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Katrín Júlíusdóttir has a political background and was a member of the Icelandic parliament from 2003 until 2016. Before she was elected to parliament, Katrín was an advisor and project manager at a tech company and a senior buyer and CEO in the retail sector. She worked from a young age in the fishing industry, was a store clerk and also worked the night shift at a pizza restaurant. She studied anthropology and has an MBA from Reykjavík University. Katrín’s debut novel Dead Sweet received the Blackbird Award and was an Icelandic bestseller upon publication. She is married to critically acclaimed author Bjarni M. Bjarnason, who encouraged her to start writing. They have four boys and live in Garðabær.
About Orenda Books
Orenda Books is a small independent publishing company specialising in literary fiction with a heavy emphasis on crime/thrillers, and approximately half the list in translation. They’ve been twice shortlisted for the Nick Robinson Best Newcomer Award at the IPG awards, and publisher and owner Karen Sullivan was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. In 2018, they were awarded a prestigious Creative Europe grant for their translated books programme. Three authors, including Agnes Ravatn, Matt Wesolowski and Amanda Jennings have been WHSmith Fresh Talent picks, and Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, won an English PEN Translation Award, and adapted for BBC Radio Four ’s Book at Bedtime. Six titles have been short- or long-listed for the CWA Daggers. Launched in 2014 with a mission to bring more international literature to the UK market, Orenda Books publishes a host of debuts, many of which have gone on to sell millions worldwide, and looks for fresh, exciting new voices that push the genre in new directions. Bestselling authors include Ragnar Jonasson, Antti Tuomainen, Gunnar Staalesen, Michael J. Malone, Kjell Ola Dahl, Louise Beech, Johana Gustawsson, Lilja Sigurðardóttir and Sarah Stovell.
‘Three miles away at Scheveningen the grey beach was bleak, unvisited, the daylight fading. It was getting colder.
Why linger? There was nothing out there but the cold North Sea stroking the land. In the town there would be bustle, conversation, connections, chances to not be alone.’
Stefan owns a moderately successful art gallery in The Hague, passing his days in a comfortable but spiritless rut.
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 252
Publisher: Dalmerino Press
Freelance journalist Anna has quit her corporate job in search of something more fulfilling.
Art school student Nikki works part-time at Stefan’s gallery and hopes for a breakthrough exhibition; her student friends Petra and Suzanna have the same hope but things are not going their way.
Established local artist Matthijs reaches a turning point in his fifties.
Second chances come and go, but will they be taken?
David Kintore’s beguiling debut novel brings together a cast of characters navigating their way through the art world – breaking in, struggling, thriving, drifting.
My Review
If like me you are an avid reader of crime fiction, you will probably be waiting for the first murder to take place. But this is not that type of book. It’s a gentle story that takes place over a number of years and follows the lives of eight people, none of whom I wanted to murder.
Stefan is a gallery owner in The Hague, relatively successful, divorced, and frankly, rather bored with his life. Anna is a journalist (half English, half Italian) who lives in Amsterdam and has recently gone freelance. She had been commissioned to write an article about the thriving art scene in The Hague, and that is how she meets Stefan.
Nikki is an art student of huge talent whose paintings attract the attention of Japanese art collectors Shinju and Yukiko who visit Stefan’s gallery on a European tour. The couple are really minor characters, but we do follow them throughout the book.
Petra and Suzanna are also art students, but they are not attracting the same attention as Nikki. They paint together, which causes problems at the university, as they want to enter a joint picture for the final graduate degree show.
And finally we have Matthijs, who is both an artist and a teacher at the college where the three young women are students. He is having a mid-life crisis in his late fifties, because his career seems to have stalled and he isn’t sure where to go with it.
The book teaches us a lot about the art world, but also about Dutch culture and food. Look away if you (like me) are vegetarian, as there are a lot of rabbit and pork dishes being consumed. It’s a great insight into life in another country, and we also spend some time in Tokyo and Brussels.
Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of the #SecondChanceInTheHague blog tour.
About the Author
David Kintore was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and grew up in York, England. He is the author of the non-fiction series of ‘Silver Screen Cities’ books, celebrating cinema-going in London, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Lisbon. His debut novel, ‘Second Chance in The Hague’, is out now.
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From the author of The Stationery Shop of Tehran, a heartfelt, epic new novel of friendship, betrayal and redemption set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran.
In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams of a friend to alleviate her isolation.
Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind, passionate girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions for becoming ‘lion women.’
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But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls’ high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives.
Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures.
But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences.
My Review
I confess I cried and not just at the end. Real tears running down my face. I found this book so emotional, even more so because much of it actually happened. The two main characters – Ellie and Homa – are fictitious, but their struggles are real. I remember well when the Ayatollah Khomeini took power from the Shah, and the large numbers of Iranians who came to the UK.
Ellie’s family are wealthy, but when her father dies, she and her mother are forced to move downtown, where she meets Homa at her new school. Homa is brave and feisty, but Ellie’s mother doesn’t approve of the friendship, because of Homa’s lower status. Then Ellie’s circumstances change and she is back in the privileged world of her early childhood.
Soon she and Homa lose touch, only to meet up again years later. They instantly rekindle their friendship, but their worlds are still miles apart – Homa being fiercely political, while Ellie just wants to get married and have children.
As we follow the women through three decades of unrest in Iran, we can see how their paths will become more divergent, but will it see the end of their friendship forever?
I can’t express how amazing this book is. The way in which women’s rights were systematically stripped away in Iran was both shocking and horrific. Women could be beaten for showing a strand of hair that slipped out of their hijab, or any ‘forbidden’ flesh. The clock was turned back not decades, but centuries.
But it’s the personal stories that had the deepest effect on me. This is a book that everyone should read.
As an aside, I was fascinated by the things that Ellie found so exciting in New York, like an orange powder you dissolve in water to make a drink, fish fingers, TV dinners etc – the sort of highly processed foods we now believe are responsible for our declining health. So interesting.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Marjan Kamali, born in Turkey to Iranian parents, spent her childhood in Kenya, Germany, Turkey, Iran, and the United States. After graduating from UC Berkeley, she received her MBA from Columbia University and an MFA in creative writing from New York University. She is the award-winning author of The Stationery Shop of Tehran and Together Tea. Marjan is a 2022 recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship. She lives with her husband and two children in the Boston area.
Gladys is feeling sad, as any 13-year-old would when she finds out her parents are getting divorced. She has to move house and school.
Feeling lonely and missing her friends, her father takes her up Sugarwell Hill sledging after a heavy snowfall.
When Gladys crashes into a snowman, she is catapulted into a magical world.
This is where she meets Harvey Tootblaster, (Clumpy to his friends). Also, a strange but lovable creature who will guide and help her on her adventure.
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Gladys visits a village where it’s obligatory to wear slippers upon entry. She goes on a quest to find the heart of the Rainbow Forest and discovers Clumpy’s unique way of drying things and crossing rivers!
An inspiring story of how a lonely child is thrown into a whirlwind of adventures and makes friends with the unlikeliest of characters.
My Review
This is the fourth of Paul’s books I have read and reviewed. They centre around a child’s magical adventures, but there is always a deeper message, like bullying or loneliness.
Lonely Girl is for marginally older children than the other three. Gladys’s mum and dad are getting a divorce and Gladys is very upset. When her mum can’t cope, she has to live with her dad, but his house is on the other side of the town, so she has to change schools. She is very lonely, but doesn’t want to make new friends or join in any activities.
Then one day, after heavy snowfall, her dad takes her sledging. But it doesn’t go as planned and after crashing into a snowman, she ends up in a magical world, where she befriends a giant creature with some unfortunate toilet habits. Together they must work out how to cross the dangerous bridge to visit a village where everyone wears slippers.
What will happen to Gladys in the Rainbow Forest, and how can she get back home to her dad? She soon learns the power of friendship over adversity, and it changes her life forever.
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
“I was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England in 1960 to a single parent family. I am the youngest of five siblings – four boys and a girl. I was brought up on a council estate and my family had very little, just like many other families on the estate at the time. I attended two schools as I grew up Bentley Lane Infants/Junior School and then onto Stainbeck High School. For me school was always hard, mainly because of my absenteeism. I wasn’t ill, it was just my mum didn’t send me (empty nest syndrome). Looking back at my school years there is a good chance I spent more times at home, than I did in school.
“I officially left school in 1976 and my first full time job was making special mirrors, the ones you see in pubs. I didn’t last long there before I got bored. I had a number of other jobs after that, but I didn’t stay long in any of them. One job I stayed a full day before not going back, but my record for the shortest stay was 4 hours, I walked away from this job after the hourly rate was cut from 90p an hour, down to 70p an hour.
“The following year I was forced to take a job, back at Stainbeck High School repairing school desks. While here I met my wife, Beverley. We are still together and have two wonderful grown- up children and three grandchildren. I worked for Leeds City Council, in the Housing section for 22 years, before retirement. Since retiring I have the time to carry out one of my first loves, writing stories.”
Follow Paul at:
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Books Links:
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+ audio book, child abduction, crime fiction, fiction, kidnapping, loss, love, obsession, review, serial killer, thriller, USA
All The Colours Of The Dark by Chris Whitaker
A missing persons mystery, a serial killer thriller, and an epic love story – with a unique twist on each…
Late one summer, the town of Monta Clare is shattered by the abduction of teenager Joseph ‘Patch’ Macauley. Nobody more so than Saint Brown, who will risk everything to find her best friend.
But when she does: it will break her heart.
Patch lies alone in a pitch-black room – until he feels a hand in his. Her name is Grace and, though they cannot see each other, she lights their world with her words.
But when he escapes: there is no sign she ever even existed.
Left with only her voice and her name, he paints her from broken memories – and charts an epic search to find her.
As years turn to decades, and hope becomes obsession, Saint will shadow his journey – on a darker path to hunt down the man who took them – and set free the only boy she ever loved.
Even if finding the truth means losing each other forever…
My Review
I can’t pretend I initially enjoyed it quite as much as We Begin At The End, because no-one can take the place of thirteen-year-old Duchess Day Radley, self-proclaimed outlaw.
But thirteen-year-old Joseph ‘Patch’ Macauley is a self-proclaimed pirate, which is almost as good. He was born with one eye, so it goes without saying that he would wear a patch over the other. I loved him and his best friend Saint Brown. I even loved Misty Meyer, who really comes into her own throughout the book.
But my favourite character has to be Sammy, the alcoholic, womanising, fine art dealer. He’s everything I should hate, but every time he opens his mouth, I laugh out loud, sometimes while walking along the road with my earbuds in. Some of the things he says are just hilarious. And then along comes Charlotte and she is just as funny as Sammy. She reminds me a bit of Duchess. Rude and spiky. But very vulnerable.
But the story really belongs to Patch and Saint, and Patch’s search for Grace, the girl he never saw in the darkness, but will always be there for him. He paints her over and over, from her words and his memories. He will find her, even though there are many who don’t believe she ever existed.
It’s very long as an audio book, one to be savoured and not rushed, but I was hooked. There were times when it was probably a tad overlong, but then towards the end it became very emotional and by the last few chapters I was in tears. You live and grow with the characters, and now I’m going to miss them.
About the Author
Chris Whitaker is the award-winning author of Tall Oaks, All the Wicked Girls, We Begin at the End, and The Forevers (YA). His debut Tall Oaks won the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award. An instant New York Times and international bestseller, We Begin at the End was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month, a Barnes & Noble Book Club Pick and a Good Morning America Buzz Pick. The novel won the CWA Gold Dagger Award, the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year, the Ned Kelly International Award, and numerous awards around the world.
We Begin At The End has been translated into twenty-nine languages, with screen rights going to Disney, where ‘Hamilton’ director Thomas Kail and producing partner Jennifer Todd will develop the book for television. Chris lives in the UK.
+ child abuse, childhood, family, fiction, friendship, lies, love, motherhood, review, secrets, thriller
A Safe Place by Stephanie Carty
What happens when your home becomes your prison?
Twelve-year-old Cate has never left her village. She’s never had a friend. She’s never even hugged her mother.
Imogen, Cate’s mum, spent her youth travelling the country with her father. He believed she had a gift and used her for his own gain. With her innocence snatched away, Imogen vowed to build an idyllic and safe childhood for her daughter.
But Cate soon becomes curious about life outside their home, and Imogen begins to wonder if the decision to close them off from society was the right one. Then when Zach, Imogen’s enigmatic ex-lover, returns to the village, years of deception come to light.
Why has Imogen never touched her daughter? Is Zach responsible for a heinous crime? And what is Cate truly capable of?
A Safe Place is a chilling suspense novel about decades of secrets, lies and guilt.
My Review
I wasn’t sure what to think before I started reading A Safe Place and it wasn’t at all what I expected. It’s described as a thriller, but that is not how I saw it. A chilling suspense novel? Again I found it more creepy than chilling. But I loved every word of it.
The story takes place in two time-lines from the points of view of twelve-year-old Cate and her mother, Imogen. Imogen had a traumatic childhood, dragged around by her father on the Rounds, visiting old and sick people, because he believed Imogen had a ‘gift’ and could help heal them. Did she? I’m not sure. The placebo effect can be very powerful.
Cate is very bright, with a vivid imagination, but because her mother is keeping her away from the outside world, she has no point of reference for the things she believes. Her reality is totally skewed. Her mother is trying to protect her, so Cate doesn’t go to school, or meet any other children. She doesn’t watch TV or access the internet. I get why Imogen is doing what she does, but even though her heart may be in the right place, she is totally misguided. Maybe even a bit bonkers to be honest. And then Zach arrives and turns everything on its head.
I adored this book. It’s so different and original. I loved Cate, not sure about Imogen – she’s hard to understand. Is what she is doing to Cate born out of love, yet still a form of abuse? You’ll have to decide.
Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of the #ASafePlace blog tour.
About the Author
Stephanie Carty is a writer and Consultant Clinical Psychologist / NHS Head of Psychology in the UK. Her short fiction is widely published. She has been placed and shortlisted for many competitions including the Bristol Short Story Prize, Bath Short Story Award, Aesthetica Creative Writing Award and Bridport Prize. Her novella-in-flash Three Sisters of Stone won Best Novella in the Saboteur Awards 2019 and her short fiction collection The Peculiarities of Yearning won its category in the Eyelands Book Prize.
Stephanie’s writers’ craft book Inside Fictional Minds: Tips from Psychology for Creating Characters was published in 2021 and a writers’ guide to analysing your own writing to better understand yourself The Writing Mirror was published early 2024.
Her debut psychological thriller Shattered was published in February 2023. A Safe Place is published in November 2024.
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+ Catholic Church, female friendship, fiction, friendship, Historical fiction, history, loss, love, review, secrets
Broken Madonna by Anna Lucia
Elena Ferrante meets Bernadette of Lourdes in a story of love, loss and belonging, spanning post WW2 Italy through to 90’s England
Italy 1949
At an orphanage in the poverty-stricken Apennine Mountains, 15-year-old Adelina has only one friend – enigmatic, fragile Elisabetta, 11.
When Elisabetta claims to see the Madonna by the river, Adelina has doubts. But after Elisabetta appears to heal a traumatised young soldier, Giulio, who starts to walk again without his stick, crowds flock to witness the mystery of Elisabetta’s miracles.
Adelina can no longer contain her misgivings and seeks out scheming priest, Padre Bosco. The secrets of the past begin to unravel, and Adelina, Elisabetta and Giulio each have to confront who or what to believe.
Soon they face a terrible reckoning which will cause deep ripples in all their lives, reaching across the years to 1990s England.
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Genre
Broken Madonna is upmarket historical/book club, for readers who have enjoyed bestsellers Go as a River by Shelley Read, Small Pleasures by Claire Chambers, The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak and The Wonder by Emma Donoghue.
Readers are also likely to enjoy the relationship themes and impact of religion in the writing of Isabel Allende, John Boyne and Colm Toibin.
Novel themes
Stolen and denied motherhood
Aftermath of war
Child abandonment
Cruelty
Betrayal
Belonging
Religion
Corruption
Strong women versus cruel, self-interested men
Mental health PTSD
Love
Friendship
Devotion
Honesty
Redemption
My Review
What an emotional read. From an orphanage in the poverty-stricken Apennine Mountains of Italy in 1949, to both Italy and England in 1999, this book will leave you in tears, at least it did me. Adelina, aged 15 and 11-year-old Elizabetta are best friends. Fragile and deeply religious, Elizabetta looks to Adelina for support.
When Elizabetta claims to see the Madonna by the River Mollarino, Adelina is sceptical. She thinks her friend is too easily overcome with emotion. But when injured soldier Giulio is ‘healed’, the whole town flocks to see her. She becomes known as The Barefoot Flower Girl of Atina. Her fame spreads and she becomes yet another child to have been ‘visited’ by the Virgin Mary. These appearances are known as the Marian Apparitions, the best known of which is probably Our Lady of Fatima.
You might find this a hard read if you are a committed Catholic. I attended a Convent school in the late 1960s, but quickly became disillusioned due to the attitude of the priests. A bit like Sister Beatrice who believed women were the way forward for the church. Our nuns, unfortunately, were not so forward thinking.
The power of the Church in Italy at that time was total, and many men of the cloth like Padre Bosco were giddy with power, yet repulsively obsequious in the company of their superiors. It’s quite disturbing to observe.
I adored this book and I loved Adelina and her enquiring mind. Elizabetta’s unquestioning faith is hard to stomach at times, and even though Sister Beatrice is a strong woman, she is still spiteful towards Adelina, rapping her over the knuckles with a ruler when she struggles to read. I became very invested in their lives.
I love the cover by the way.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Born in England to older Italian immigrant parents, Anna Lucia spent long, hot summers in the Apennine mountain village they had left behind to escape poverty and lack of opportunity. In the local dialect, she listened to the stories of elderly relatives about a time, place and way of life that was far, far removed from 1970s and 1980s suburbia.
Those voices, particularly of strong women who led tough lives, never went away, neither did the echoes of Catholicism.
Anna has been awarded support for her writing from Arts Council England, and also writes short stories, flash fiction and poetry. She is Chair of Trustees of literature development agency, New Writing South.
Says Anna ‘I’m self-publishing the novel (as Fluency Publishing) to coincide with my 60th birthday in November 2024, with a birthday launch planned at the Duke of Yorks cinema in Brighton, with a showing of my favourite film, Cinema Paradiso.
‘For a little more about me, please see my website. Please note this is my work website – my author website annalucia.co.uk will be live soon.’
It’s been years since Amelie abandoned her home to become an elite agent of the Academy.
In its embrace she has found support and stability, but in return the Academy uses her gifts for destruction and control. For ten years, she has chosen to live only for the moment, neither questioning nor considering the motives of her employer.
But when Amelie and her pod of fellow agents, “graduate” into becoming strategic operatives, they are spirited off to an isolated island. Here they uncover a labyrinth of deception and lies far more sinister than any they ever imagined, including Verite, a new virtual reality game, in which time has no meaning and your blood holds the keys to your soul.
In the Ghosting Academy, consciousness is currency, morality is shackles and there is no death.
My Review
In Ghosting Academy, we have moved forward many years and Amelie is now working as an elite agent for the Academy. But all is not as it seems and there are some very sinister goings on there. Amelie and her friends have been taken to an island from which there is no escape.
Some of this is really quite scary – I actually found it scarier than Lexy’s other books. The beach scene in particular is very nasty, with the fish and what they do (this is mentioned more than once and it chilled my blood). One reason not to try and swim for it to get away.
I can’t pretend that I understood everything that was going on – Shells, Simulacra, Incubi and Cambion. It’s all very complicated and I was often out of my depth. Especially with the virtual reality game Verite, as I never graduated past The 7th Guest.
Apart from Amelie, we met some new characters – James, Majo and Widget from her ‘pod’, plus the ‘Director’, but we are also reintroduced to others like Lazlo and Veronica from Fanning Fireflies, Caio, Dante and Kara, and Clovis and Rose from Bright Midnights.
Somehow I don’t think this is the last we will see of Amelie and co. There is so much left unresolved, and we need answers. I really enjoyed Ghosting Academy, even though it is not my usual genre. It is probably my favourite of the three books by this author that I have read so far.
Many thanks to @LiterallyPR for inviting me me to be part of the #GhostingAcademy blog tour.
About the Author
Lexy Delorme was born in San Diego, California. After graduating from the University of North Carolina School of law, various internships and years working in risk, tax, family, and international law, she now classifies herself as a recovering attorney. With a father who served in the US Military, Lexy had a wandering lifestyle from her earliest days and in her time has been a pop musician, a science geek and a writer for magazines like Bonjour Paris and Playtimes. Throughout all of her different careers, her love of fiction has been a mainstay.
Within this eclectic life, she was also one of the first employees at 23andMe, a genomics and biotechnology company based in Mountain View, California and that experience influenced the genetic aspects of her Limerent Series, of which Caio is the first book.
For as long as she can remember she’s had characters in her head. As a child, these were the friends she wished to have. As a young woman, the lovers she wanted to find or the people she wanted to become. Writing fiction novels allows her the chance to give these characters a background, a story and a voice.
Having lived in in three continents, none US states, and 21 cities around the world, including London and Hong Kong, Lexy now lives in Paris with her French husband and two very cool sons. She is currently working on the next books in the Limerent Series.
Buy Links
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Goodreads Link
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Literally PR
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LS Delorme
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+ crime fiction, fiction, folklore, gothic, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, loss, murder, murder mystery, mystery, mythology, obsession, review, Scandi noir, Sweden
Yule Island by Johana Gustawsson translated by David Warriner Paperback Tour
This brilliant book is now out in paperback.
Art expert Emma Lindhal is anxious when she’s asked to appraise the antiques in the infamous manor house of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families, on the island of Storholmen, where a young woman was murdered nine years earlier, her killer never found.
As she goes about her painstaking work and one shocking discovery yields clues that lead to another, Emma becomes determined to uncover the secrets of the house and its occupants.
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When the lifeless body of another young woman is found in the icy waters surrounding the island, Detective Karl Rosén arrives to investigate. Could this young woman’s tragic death somehow hold the key to the first?
Battling her own demons, Emma joins forces with Karl to embark upon a chilling investigation, plunging them into horrifying secrets from the past – Viking rites and tainted love – and Scandinavia’s deepest, darkest winter..
My Review
You often read a synopsis which says that the book is full of twists and turns. Except you guess most of them. Or an ending you won’t see coming, though you do. Well, what can I say! Yule Island is as twisty as they get and you really won’t see what’s coming.
At one point, about three quarters of the way through, I thought what the hell? What just happened? Then there’s another twist and then another, until the whole story is turned on its head. Because you made an assumption and it was wrong. And then another, which was also wrong. When you realise, you think ‘of course’. But the clues are so well hidden, like Gustav’s secret tunnel. We trust the characters we are supposed to trust and dislike others because we are led that way. It’s so cleverly done that I was really shocked.
The story is told from the point of view of three of the characters. Art expert Emma Lindahl is working alone at the manor house on Storholmen island to appraise the artefacts, antiques and paintings of one of Sweden’s richest families, the Gussmans. Detective Karl Rosén is the police officer who investigated the ‘hanging girl’ murder in the grounds of the house nine years ago. It was never solved and now another dead girl has been found in the ice, killed in a very similar fashion. Viktoria is a housekeeper for the family living there. She is worried about her daughter Josephine and her relationship with the teenage son of the owners. He is obsessed with mythology and folklore and ghosts coming out of the ground.
It’s very sinister and terrifying. Emma is amazingly brave to work in the house on her own. She is on a very strict schedule and is not supposed to visit at any other times, which also seems a bit bizarre as there is never anyone else around. The owner Niklas Gussman met her when she arrived and was rude and distant. But she makes friends with the residents of the island, like Anneli at the Ett Glas cafe, Lotta who brings people over on the boat, and Lotta’s husband Björn, who has worked at the manor as a handyman for decades.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press and television. Her critically acclaimed Roy & Castells series, including Block 46, Keeper and Blood Song, has won the Plume d’Argent, Balai de la découverte, Balai d’Or and Prix Marseillais du Polar awards, and is now published in 28 countries. A TV adaptation is currently underway in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. The Bleeding – number one bestseller in France and the first in a new series – will be published in 2022. Johana lives on the west coast of Sweden with her Swedish husband and their three sons.
About Orenda Books
Orenda Books is a small independent publishing company specialising in literary fiction with a heavy emphasis on crime/thrillers, and approximately half the list in translation. They’ve been twice shortlisted for the Nick Robinson Best Newcomer Award at the IPG awards, and publisher and owner Karen Sullivan was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. In 2018, they were awarded a prestigious Creative Europe grant for their translated books programme. Three authors, including Agnes Ravatn, Matt Wesolowski and Amanda Jennings have been WHSmith Fresh Talent picks, and Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, won an English PEN Translation Award, and adapted for BBC Radio Four ’s Book at Bedtime. Six titles have been short- or long-listed for the CWA Daggers. Launched in 2014 with a mission to bring more international literature to the UK market, Orenda Books publishes a host of debuts, many of which have gone on to sell millions worldwide, and looks for fresh, exciting new voices that push the genre in new directions. Bestselling authors include Ragnar Jonasson, Antti Tuomainen, Gunnar Staalesen, Michael J. Malone, Kjell Ola Dahl, Louise Beech, Johana Gustawsson, Lilja Sigurðardóttir and Sarah Stovell.
Solving their own murders is the least of their problems…and the beginning of Stone & Steele, a reluctant yet surprisingly skilled investigative team.
The Golden Age of Hollywood, 1938. Vivian Steele moved to California to start a new life. She opened a fashion boutique in Beverly Hills, befriended Carole Lombard, the actress, and married a successful banker. But when her husband is murdered, Vivian discovers she isn’t the only one hiding a few secrets.
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An anonymous phone call lures Vivian to a plush hotel room where she stumbles upon the dead body of a beautiful young actress – her husband’s mistress. To add fuel to the fire, she’s not alone.
Preston Stone, Hollywood’s beloved playboy and Vivian’s nemesis, is standing beside her. Suspiciously, they part ways only to find themselves alone again at a movie premiere two days later, and the message becomes brutally clear. They’re both the next targets of a cold-blooded killer.
Together, Vivian and Preston are thrown into a deadly race to find a missing collection of valuable coins and stop a vicious killer before they become the next murder victims. But first, they need to stop pointing their fingers at each other.
A Perilous Premiere is the first book in this exciting new 1930s murder mystery series starring a great cast of characters ranging from the rich and famous to Bella, a Boston Terrier, her new friend, Boris, a Saint Bernard, and a few other endearing folks.
My Review
Two brand new protagonists and the first book in an exciting new series. No, not Stone and Steele! It’s Bella, the Boston Terrier and her friend, Boris, the giant Saint Bernard.
I jest. The dogs aren’t very good at solving crimes, but Preston Stone and Vivian Steele are. It’s just that they hate each other, and constantly bicker. It’s a shame, because they are actually very good at working together, but it does make the story more entertaining.
Vivian Steele moved to California to begin a new life. She owns a fashion boutique and designs all the clothes herself. She’s beautiful and talented, and counts the famous actress Carol Lombard amongst her best friends. Then her husband George is murdered and she finds herself in grave danger.
Preston Steele is a rich, handsome playboy, with a string of broken hearts behind him, including Vivian’s sister Patricia. He’s also caught up in the same dangerous game as Vivian, but can they put their differences behind them and work together?
Well we’ll have to see, but by the end of the book. it looks a bit more promising. It’s going to be a cracker of a series I feel, with our intrepid investigators at the helm, two cute dogs, Nora at the boutique, Preston’s sidekick Nick, and lots of others from the world of Hollywood glamour.
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Award-winning author Gail Meath writes historical romance novels that will whisk you away to another time and place in history where you will meet fascinating characters, both fictional and real, who will capture your heart and soul. Meath loves writing about little or unknown people, places and events in history, rather than relying on the typical stories and settings.
Follow Gail at:
Facebook: https://facebook.com/Gail-Meath-Author-121289219261348
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/GailMeathAuthor
Website: https://www.gailmeath.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220301814-a-perilous-premiere
Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/perilouspremiere-zbt
+ crime fiction, Detective novel, fiction, kidnapping, loss, murder, Nordic noir, police drama, review, Scandi noir, thriller
Victim by Jorn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger Translated by Megan Turney (Alexander Blix Book #5)
Two years ago, Alexander Blix was the lead investigator in a missing person’s case where a young mother, Elisabeth Eie, was kidnapped. The case was never solved.
Blix’s career in law enforcement is now over, but her kidnapper is back, leaving evidence of Elisabeth’s murder in Blix’s mailbox, as well as hints that there are other victims.
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At the same time, Emma Ramm has been contacted by a teenage girl, whose stepfather has been arrested on suspicion of killing a childhood friend. But there is no body. Nor are there any other suspects…
Blix and Ramm can rely only on each other, and when Blix’s fingerprints are found on a child’s drawing at a crime scene, the present comes uncomfortably close to the past.
A past where a victim has found their own, shocking form of therapy.
And someone is watching…
My Review
It’s nearly two years since I read Unhinged, so I’m quickly going to repeat why I love Scandi Noir. I particularly like Nordic Noir, but as I couldn’t explain my reasons at the time, I looked it up and this is what I found:
- A strong plot, with multiple complex threads and a few twists. Tick
- Brutal crimes, often in quiet and/or safe communities. Tick
- A bleak setting, whether on city streets or a remote fjord. Tick
- A tortured protagonist, typically a detective with a mysterious or painful past. Definitely tick
Now on to the story and it’s a corker. Two years ago, Alexander Blix faced unimaginable tragedy and heartache, which resulted in his taking the law into his own hands. He lost his job, went to prison and even though he was eventually acquitted, he can no longer be a serving police officer.
So when a cold case – the kidnapping of young mum Elisabeth Eie – suddenly appears relevant again, Blix can’t leave it alone. It’s all he was ever good at – solving crimes. He knows he can help, but the police don’t want him near it – or them.
In the meantime, ex-journalist Emma Ramm, with whom Blix worked on many occasions, has been contacted by 15-year-old Carmen about her stepfather’s arrest for murder. She believes he is innocent and needs Emma’s help to prove it.
Victim is such an exciting read by two of Norway’s bestselling authors. There are a number of threads which ultimately come together in a most satisfying, if sinister, way. I read it in two sittings, finishing ten minutes before our plane landed. I’d have remained on the aircraft if I hadn’t!
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Authors
Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger are both internationally bestselling Norwegian authors. Jørn Lier Horst first rose to literary fame with his no. 1 bestselling William Wisting series. A former Detective Chief Investigator in the Norwegian police, Horst imbues all his works with an unparalleled realism and suspense.
Thomas Enger is the journalist-turned-author behind the acclaimed Henning Juul series. Enger’s trademark is his dark, gritty voice paired with key social messages and tight plotting. Besides writing fiction for both adults and young adults, Enger also works as a music composer. Death Deserved, the first book in the Blix & Ramm series, was Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger’s first co-written thriller,
Orenda Books is a small independent publishing company specialising in literary fiction with a heavy emphasis on crime/thrillers, and approximately half the list in translation. They’ve been twice shortlisted for the Nick Robinson Best Newcomer Award at the IPG awards, and publisher and owner Karen Sullivan was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. In 2018, they were awarded a prestigious Creative Europe grant for their translated books programme. Three authors, including Agnes Ravatn, Matt Wesolowski and Amanda Jennings have been WHSmith Fresh Talent picks, and Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, won an English PEN Translation Award, and adapted for BBC Radio Four ’s Book at Bedtime. Six titles have been short- or long-listed for the CWA Daggers. Launched in 2014 with a mission to bring more international literature to the UK market, Orenda Books publishes a host of debuts, many of which have gone on to sell millions worldwide, and looks for fresh, exciting new voices that push the genre in new directions. Bestselling authors include Ragnar Jonasson, Antti Tuomainen, Gunnar Staalesen, Michael J. Malone, Kjell Ola Dahl, Louise Beech, Johana Gustawsson, Lilja Sigurðardóttir and Sarah Stovell.
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