Rachel Brown plays Doctor Elouise Sparks in the popular TV series ‘Emergency’. Though successful in her career, Rachel has just learned that her chance of conception is small, and she is devastated by the information.
That’s when Mikey Bell takes Rachel from her home to a remote mountain cottage. But Mikey’s motive isn’t ‘normal’. He has a strange request. The good news is that if Rachel can deliver by Christmas Day, he’ll let her go.
But someone else in the cottage is not on the same page as Mikey. This person has different designs for Rachel, and the bad news is that this No.1 Fan has no intention of ever letting her leave.
My Review
This was so fast-paced and relentless that after reading it in two sittings, my head was spinning. From one horrific event to another, the shocks just never stopped coming.
When TV actress Rachel Brown is kidnapped by a lunatic, you know it’s not going to end well. And if you thought her No 1 fan Mikey is nuts, just wait until you meet his nana. I was definitely reminded of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho more so than Misery, except that the old lady in this case isn’t dead – yet.
Rachel is married to Jacob, who also plays her husband in the TV series Emergency. One night, Jacob is beaten up outside their home by a man in a blue anorak, the same man Rachel believes was stalking her earlier. He probably won’t come back again the police tell her. They rarely do. Wrong! And so the nightmare begins.
Did I already tell you what Mikey’s other obsession is apart from Rachel’s character in Emergency? No. Well it’s Christmas and all things related. He wears a Christmas jumper the year round, keeps a dust- covered plastic tree up in the corner of the room where he hides Rachel, and hangs tinsel around the place. And he sings corny Christmas songs to himself, like Rocking Around The Christmas Tree and Let It Snow.
This was so good! You can’t beat a fast-paced thriller that never lets up, a likeable main protagonist and a lunatic perp with an evil nana. Once you start reading, clear the decks, skip work, make a flask full of tea, get some snacks in and keep going till the end. You won’t be disappointed. It’s brilliant!
Incidentally, I love the cover. It’s really beautiful and the colours are stunning.
Many thanks to the author @Abby13Richards for a pre-publication copy.
About the Author
Abby Davies was born in Macclesfield in 1984. She grew up in Bedfordshire in a seventeenth century cottage near Flitton Moor and started writing ‘thrillers’ when she was seven years old. After reading English Literature at Sheffield University and training to be an English teacher, she wrote novels in her free time.
She was shortlisted for the Mslexia Novel Competition in 2018 and longlisted for the Blue Pencil Agency First Novel Award in 2019. Her debut Mother Loves Me was published by HarperCollins in 2020. The Cult came out in 2021. Arrietty was her third novel followed by Her No1 Fan.
She lives in Wiltshire with her husband, daughter and two crazy cocker spaniels.
+ fiction, germany, Historical fiction, holocaust, love, nazi germany, prostitution, review, war, World War Two, WW2
Fireweed by Richard Vaughan Davies Guest Post
It’s Hamburg in 1947 and young British lawyer Adam is posted to the destroyed city to assist in the prosecution of Nazi war criminals — an exhausting, soul-destroying and demoralising task.
He starts to visit the Lion House brothel, where he falls in love with Rose, an aristocratic German girl forced to work as a prostitute during a time of strict anti-fraternisation rules.
Rose is beautiful, educated, clever and witty, and Adam becomes increasingly obsessed with her. He starts to plan their future but, with the world against them, is a future possible?
When a Nazi prisoner, responsible for the cold-blooded killing of hundreds of innocents, escapes Adam’s custody, there is only one place for the desperate man to hide: Hamburg’s forbidden Dead Zone. Adam’s career and reputation is on the line and he is desperate to find the dangerous fugitive, no matter the cost.
Guest Post
“Today I’d love to introduce my novel Fireweed, written over a three year period from 2016 to 2019.
“After attending many Creative Writing groups, it seemed high time I tried to put what I’d learnt into practice… I only turned to writing in retirement. Prior to this, I was a businessman for many years. On business trips to Germany, I was always horrified by the terrible destruction Allied bombers had wrought on almost every German city and town. I wondered what it would have been like for a young English officer posted to a ruined city like Hamburg, immediately after the war ended? Strict anti-fraternisation regulations forbade any contact between the occupying forces and the German population, but these measures were soon relaxed?
“What if our young officer fell in love with a German girl while working as a lawyer in the post-war trials?
“It felt as if the book was starting to write itself and I just had to act as typist. I started setting aside an hour a day to hammer away at my desktop and I’d edit the previous day’s work each morning.
“I knew what I wanted from the book…
“I wanted to try to emulate, however inadequately, the type of author I had always enjoyed – Nevil Shute, Nigel Balchin, Winston Graham and others. I also wanted to incorporate what I’d learnt on visits to the Normandy beaches and the trenches of WW1. I’d always been fascinated by the war and post-war period and I wanted to write the book I’d like to read…
“I had studied German at school so was acquainted with the language and a visit to Hamburg in my youth had stuck with me. I could envisage the setting perfectly and so. The writing began and it didn’t stop until the story was told.
“I decided to call the novel Fireweed. This is the name for the seed that lies dormant in the ground and germinates in intense heat. It sprang up across the bomb sites of Europe, representing the power of life in destruction. Like Fireweed, I wanted my characters to find life amongst the debris of war.
“I also hope that the characters will come to life in the minds of my readers and stay with them after they close the book.”
Many thanks to READ Media for inviting me to share a guest post from Fireweed.
About the Author
Richard Vaughan Davies is an author living in the Cotswolds. Formerly an entrepreneur with a successful business in men’s retail in Chester and North Wales, he wrote a regular business column in the Liverpool Daily and published a how-to-book named Let’s Talk Shop. Richard is the author of In the Shadow of Shakespeare. Fireweed is his latest work.
What if I told you that sleep was just a habit? What if the third of your life you spend asleep, you could be awake instead?
Grafton is a single dad who works in local radio, but he’s always dreamt of being a ‘real’ journalist. When he gets a whiff of a story – a Scottish commune whose residents believe that sleep is a social construct – he decides to investigate… something tells him ‘the Sleepless’ might finally provide answers about his wife, Liz, who abandoned him and their son Isaac for a similar cult in India.
Born out of COVID-19’s age of ‘alternative truths’, this commune set in Ardnamurchan, Scotland, rejects societal routines of sleep with the aim of achieving a toxin cleanse, a nirvana of sorts…
However Grafton finds the truth of the commune is much more sinister and its governance thirsts for blood, using torturous methods to keep its followers weak…
As Grafton is drawn deeper into the extreme world of the Sleepless, Liz reappears, and Grafton has to race to save both himself and his son…
Meet the Author
Liam Bell is author of three previous novels, Man at Sea, So It Is and The Busker, as well as short stories and articles in publications including New Writing Scotland, Litro, and Northwords Now. He was born in Orkney and grew up in Glasgow. He has studied at Queen’s University Belfast, the University of Glasgow, and the University of Surrey and now teaches at the University of Stirling. More information at www.liammurraybell.com or on X @liammurraybell.
X (Twitter)
@liammurraybell
@fly_press
@KellyALacey
@lovebookstours
+ brothers, Christmas, cosy mystery, crime fiction, Detective novel, family, female friendship, fiction, friendship, grief, Historical fiction, Italy, London, loss, love, marriage, motherhood, murder, novella, review
Christmas At The Saporis by KD Sherrinford
What will the Saporis find under the tree this year—Christmas presents, or family skeletons?
In the spirit of the holiday and a wish for familial harmony, Irene Adler persuades her detective husband to invite his brother Mycroft to Christmas luncheon. Holmes had cut ties with his brother when he discovered the machinations Mycroft employed that drove Sherlock and Adler apart for four years. He isn’t really sure this reunion is a great idea, but he can deny his wife nothing.
#ChristmasAtTheSaporis @KDSherrinford @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour
Of course, they can’t tell the children what Mycroft is to them, as that would entail learning that their father is the celebrated detective when they know him simply as Lucca Sapori. And just when they think things may be going better than expected, ghosts of the past crop up in unexpected ways and threaten to ruin the holidays for everyone.
My Review
In Christmas At The Saporis, we go back in time to when Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler have been reunited for a number of years and their two children Nicco and Charlotte are aged eight and four. They are living on a farm on the Sussex Downs (an area I know well), rearing horses and various other animals.
Sherlock is masquerading as Lucca Sapori, so as not to put himself or his family in danger. They have always been protected by Sherlock’s brother Mycroft, who works for the government (and arranged Sherlock’s secret identity), but they haven’t spoken since he persuaded Irene to leave Sherlock some years before. He told her that Sherlock would never settle down and she would be better off leaving him. She was expecting Nicco at the time and it was four years before they were reunited and Sherlock met his son.
But back to the story. Irene thinks the time has come to mend the rift and wants to invite Mycroft for Christmas, so harmony can be restored and the two brothers can be reconciled. However, the children do not yet know that their father is the famous detective Sherlock Holmes, so Mycroft cannot be introduced as their uncle.
They also invite Mrs Hudson, Holmes’s housekeeper from Baker Street (who both cooks the dinner and then joins them at the table much to Mycroft’s surprise), while other unexpected visitors arrive – both human and animal – and the festivities turn to chaos. It’s a very entertaining novella, though you really need to have read Song For Someone first for it to make sense. I read it in under an hour in the back of the car on the way to London.
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
KD Sherrinford was born and raised in Preston, Lancashire, and now resides on The Fylde Coast with her husband John. She was employed by Countywide for over 20 years and became a Fellow of The National Association of Estate Agents. Retirement finally gave KD the opportunity to follow her dreams and start work on her first novel. Song for Someone. KD recently completed her second book in the Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler mystery series Christmas at The Saporis. The third Meet Me In Milan will be published this summer.
KD’s Links
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/kdsherrinford/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/KDSherrinfordAuthor.co.uk
Twitter : https://twitter.com/KDSherrinford
Website : https://www.kdsherrinford.co.uk
Christmas at the Saporis
Book Links
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75538189-christmas-at-the-
saporis
Buy Links – https://mybook.to/christmassaporis-zbt
+ crime fiction, dark humour, dementia, fiction, grief, humour fiction, murder, psychopath, revenge, review, serial killer
You’d Look Better As A Ghost by Joanna Wallace
I have a gift. I see people as ghosts before they die. Of course, it helps that I’m the one killing them.
The night after her father’s funeral, Claire meets Lucas in a bar. Lucas doesn’t know it, but it’s not a chance meeting. One thoughtless mistyped email has put him in the crosshairs of an extremely put out serial killer. But before they make eye contact, before Claire lets him buy her a drink, even before she takes him home and carves him up into little pieces, something about that night is very wrong. Because someone is watching Claire. Someone who is about to discover her murderous little hobby.
#YoudLookBetterAsAGhost @JoWallaceAuthor @ViperBooks #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
The thing is, it’s not sensible to tangle with a part-time serial killer, even one who is distracted by attending a weekly bereavement support group and trying to get her art career off the ground. Let the games begin…
My Review
As soon as I read the synopsis, I thought of one of my literary heroes – Will Carver. Dark and funny, You’d Look Better As A Ghost reminded me a bit of Psychopaths Anonymous. And this certainly was dark, and very funny if you love that kind of humour.
Claire is a serial killer. There’s no other way of putting it. Sometimes she just can’t help murdering those who annoy her. She clearly sees them as ghosts and that’s when she knows exactly what she must do. And it’s often going to be gory and gruesome. No subtle poison and body dumped in a lake somewhere. She quite likes to carve them up and bury the body parts.
Of course they have to REALLY upset her, though that’s not difficult. Like Lucas when he emails her to say she’s been shortlisted in an art competition and then informs her that he made a mistake, and it’s another Claire. Not even an apology, after lifting up her spirits and then shattering her dreams.
Not helped by the fact that her beloved father has just died, having spent the last years of his life in a dementia ward. Claire is distraught. So she attends a bereavement support group, where she meets some VERY annoying people, so no prizes where I’m going with this.
At intervals, we see Claire as a child, on her fifth, sixth and seventh birthdays. Her mother is one of the nastiest, most selfish and horrible people you will ever meet in a book. In fact the passages about Claire’s childhood are amongst my favourite, dark but not remotely funny. What a brilliant and unusual book – you might even find yourself rooting for Claire.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Joanna Wallace worked as a solicitor until an autoimmune condition took away some of her sight. She now volunteers at a charity helpline and runs a family business with her husband. She was partly inspired to write You’d Look Better As A Ghost following her father’s diagnosis of early onset dementia. Joanna lives near London with her husband, four children and two dogs.
Forty-eight hours to find her passion. Seven days to find his way back on stage. One chance to take a risk on love.
If Fran doesn’t nail this audition for a major TV role, she’s officially done as an actress. She just needs to tap into her inner seductress… who doesn’t seem to exist.
Enter stage right: Jae-seung.
To Fran, he’s just her landlord’s ridiculously hot nephew, helping her rehearse. To the rest of the world, Jae-seung is lead singer of global sensation, JYNKS – and he’s missing in action.
Together, they embark on an international journey of discovery: Fran, to track down her estranged mother and unlock her tightly guarded heart; Jae-seung, to continue (reluctantly) with his tour rehearsals. The chemistry between them is off the charts. But Jae-seung’s life is in South Korea, under strict contracts and constant scrutiny. Would a fling unleash Fran’s passion, or break the heart she’s learning to open?
A fast-paced, forbidden romance for fans of Helen Hoang, Lindsey Kelk and Ali Hazelwood.
And here is the cover of this great new book published 15th February 2024:
Genre: K-Pop Romance
Publisher: Canelo
Check out the video clip below:
Twitter:
@canelo_co
@carolinekauthor
@lovebookstours
Instagram:
@canelo_co
@carolinekauthor
@lovebookstours
Facebook:
@canelobooks
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+ brothers, cosy mystery, crime fiction, Detective novel, family, female friendship, fiction, grief, Historical fiction, Italy, London, loss, love, marriage, motherhood, murder, narcissist, psychopath, review, Uncategorized
Song for Someone by KD Sherrinford
Charlotte Sapori has led a wonderful life safely tucked in the bosom of her family.
Her mother, Irene Adler, is a renowned opera singer, while her father, Lucca Sapori, does important government work that frequently takes him away from them. Charlotte is close to her older brother, Nicco, and they are both doted on by their parents. All is well until her mother receives an unexpected diagnosis which shakes the family’s core.
#SongForSomeone @KDSherrinford @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour
Knowing herself to be dying, Adler confesses to Charlotte things that have long been kept from her, telling her to find and read her diary. A distressed Lucca Sapori tells his daughter to read his as well. And by the way, Lucca Sapori is not his real name; in fact, she may have heard of him; he is actually the world-famous detective Sherlock Holmes.
Charlotte finds both diaries and plunges into the hidden world of Irene Adler and Sherlock Holmes as she discovers what brought them together and how they managed to stay together for thirty years, having to battle the odds.
My Review
When Charlotte Sapori’s mother, the renowned opera singer Irene Adler, is diagnosed with a serious illness, she decides the time is right to give both her diary and that of her husband Lucca Sapori, to their daughter Charlotte. Knowing that she hasn’t got long to live, Irene tells Charlotte to read them both after she passes away.
It’s then that we are plunged into the mysterious worlds of both Irene and Sherlock Holmes (who is of course Lucca Sapori) and the book is divided into chapters from both points of view. But first we must go back even further to when the couple first ‘met’ briefly. The prologue – A Very Bohemian Scandal – is the first introduction to both of them, but Holmes was in disguise. Years later Irene confesses that she knew who he was at the time, something which fascinates him – she must be a remarkable woman to have rumbled one of his famous disguises.
Seven years later Irene is being pursued by the man who murdered her husband in London. She saw him clearly, so she has escaped to Milan, where she had previously performed at La Scala for many years. But she is not safe. It is here that she meets Holmes again, who swears to protect her, so they pretend to be husband and wife and hide out with Sherlock’s friends on their farm. They initially detest each other and argue constantly, but in the words of Queen Gertrude from Shakespeare’s Hamlet ‘the lady doth protest too much, methinks’, and their hatred soon turns into admiration and finally, love.
I have to say at this point that I still can’t quite visualise Holmes (in any guise from Basil Rathbone and Peter Cushing to Jeremy Brett and Benedict Cumberbatch) as a lover, a husband and a father. He is often portrayed as being direct to the point of rudeness, unable to sustain relationships with women, and uncomfortable in social situations, to the point of exhibiting many of the signs of Asperger’s. This includes his high IQ but EQ (Emotional Quotient) of almost zero.
The author, incidentally, is a talented pianist, having learnt the piano from age six, playing the music of some of her favourite composers, Beethoven, Schubert, Stephen Foster, and Richard Wagner, who all strongly feature in her novels. I have a feeling that Sherrinford is a ‘nom de plume’, supposedly being the name Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had originally considered for his great detective before finally settling on Sherlock. It is also suggested that Sherrinford Holmes would be a third brother, but I digress.
Song For Someone is an entertaining romp through the imagined world of our favourite detective, seen through the eyes of Irene Adler, as well as through Sherlock himself. I can see that the author has done a huge amount of research to stay faithful to the spirit of the characters, while allowing Sherlock to fall in love and become more human and empathic (well up to a point anyway). I hope we see this on TV very soon – it would make a great series.
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
KD Sherrinford was born and raised in Preston, Lancashire, and now resides on The Fylde Coast with her husband John. She was employed by Countywide for over 20 years and became a Fellow of The National Association of Estate Agents. Retirement finally gave KD the opportunity to follow her dreams and start work on her first novel. Song for Someone. KD recently completed her second book in the Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler mystery series Christmas at The Saporis. The third Meet Me In Milan will be published this summer.
KD’s Links
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/kdsherrinford/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/KDSherrinfordAuthor.co.uk
Twitter : https://twitter.com/KDSherrinford
Website : https://www.kdsherrinford.co.uk
Song for Someone
Book Links
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63901509-song-for-someone
Buy Links – https://mybook.to/songforsomeone-zbt
After struggling to find a job since his university graduation, a young bisexual man, Max Velasco, reconnects with his former gay lover, Milo Dumont, a famous DJ and social media content creator.
Instagram @ianostroffauthor @lovebookstours
Impressed by his writing ability, Milo hires him to be a copywriter at his organization, Joie Media, a company that functions as a platform highlighting Milo’s brand for his online audience.
Max’s work soon takes him all over Mexico, where Milo pushes aside the harsh realities of the global pandemic and hopes to reignite the spark that he and Max had in high school.
But when Max falls in love with Diana Romero, a social media manager for Joie Media, Milo’s true nature is revealed. Max begins resenting his lack of a work-life balance and the pressures Milo places on him. It makes him desperate to move on from Joie Media before he’s stuck there for good.
The Author – Ian Ostroff
+ abuse, bullying, child abuse, childhood, depression, domestic noir, family, fiction, friendship, lies, love, marriage, mental health, mental illness, motherhood, psychiatric hospital, relationships, review, schizophrenia, sisters
Geraniums by Marlene Hauser
The second book by professional writer and producer, Marlene Hauser, is inspired by many women and men who have overcome challenging childhoods to become contributing and outstanding adults.
Lily Preston, clever beyond her years, is only four when she realises her family is headed for disaster. While she, older sister Mags and younger brother Artie are dragged around America and the world during the 1960s and early ’70s by their military father Jack, he propels their mother, gentle, green-fingered Lauren Rose, to the edge of insanity through mental and physical abuse. A cat-and-mouse game of escape and entrapment ensues, testing Lily’s resilience, resourcefulness and family loyalty to the limit.
#Geraniums @mhauser_author @BookGuild #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #BlogTour
Jack, an emotionally scarred war veteran, enlists the help of his equally formidable mother Emma to turn his children against the fragile Lauren Rose and drive her away. Their next mission is to make Lily and her siblings conform to a strict, unforgiving code of behaviour and crush their spirited natures. Rebellion is met with increasingly harsh penalties.
Jack brings new women into his children’s lives, but Lily vows that, no matter what, she will one day trace her real mother, compelled to by the enduring bond between them. Love arrives in the form of high-school sweetheart Diego, who helps her in her quest to break free from Jack and Emma’s control.
When their persecution of her reaches bizarre new heights, Lily is forced to stand up to them in public and assert her right to independence, a college education, the chance to fulfil her dream of becoming a writer… once she has achieved the longed-for reunion with her mother.
My Review
The treatment of Lily, her older sister Mags and younger brother Artie, meted out by their emotionally scarred father Jack Preston and his horrendous mother Emma is insane. I know Jack suffers from PTSD, but the way he treats them is unforgivable.
Emma, crippled in her back by childhood polio, is a monster. My grandmother also had what we called a ‘Dowagers Hump’ and was only 4’9″. I never really knew what caused her spinal deformity, but she was the sweetest, kindest lady I ever knew. Emma’s disability is no excuse for her unbelievable behaviour, particularly towards Lily.
Jack meets Lauren Rose, beautiful, gentle and kind. She loves flowers, particularly geraniums, which Emma thinks are common (how dare she), and grows them in terracotta pots. Jack can be very jealous and controlling. Emma thinks Lauren Rose isn’t good enough for her son.
They have three children, but their marriage is falling apart. Jack is driving his wife to the brink and Emma is actively encouraging him to divorce her and even have her committed. It’s heartbreaking.
For the children, there is a pattern emerging that will almost destroy them. A series of ghastly women, Jack is vulnerable as well as controlling. He controls his wife and the children, while his mother and his women control him. As far as Lauren Rose is concerned, he tells the kids that she is dead to them.
Lily is determined to be reunited with her mother, who she is sure is alive somewhere. Mags believes that Lauren Rose could have done more to help them. Artie is threatening to go off the rails. It’s a difficult dilemma, because I can see where Mags is coming from. Even if her mother was mentally incapable of doing anything (I know this from personal experience), their other Nana and Granddad could have done far more to rescue them from the dysfunctional situation they were in.
I don’t know how anyone could be so cruel to their children and their grandchildren. It’s a staggeringly good story, emotional and gut wrenching – at times I just couldn’t believe what was happening. I became so invested in the children, I didn’t want it to end.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Marlene Hauser is the American author of Off-Island and originated the award-winning TV film Under the Influence. Marlene holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in the City of New York. She lives in Oxford. Marlene says, “I wrote this book because I thought it was a story that needed to be told, especially from that post war or baby boomer era. I took inspiration from the many women and men who have overcome challenging childhoods to become contributing and outstanding adults. I also took inspiration from my paternal grandmother, who bought herself a typewriter back in the day and never wrote, and for my father, who was a great storyteller.”
+ fiction, gothic, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, review, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, superstition, thriller, twins, witchcraft, witches
The Murmurs (Annie Jackson Mysteries #1) by Michael J Malone
On the first morning of her new job at Heartfield House, a care home for the elderly, Annie Jackson wakens from a terrifying dream.
And when she arrives at the home, she knows that the first old man she meets is going to die. How she knows this is a terrifying mystery, but it is the start of horrifying premonitions … a rekindling of the curse that has trickled through generations of women in her family – a wicked gift known only as ‘the murmurs’…
#TheMurmurs @michaelJmalone1 @OrendaBooks #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour #Gothic #Scotland #supernatural
With its reappearance comes an old, forgotten fear that is about to grip Annie Jackson. And this time, it will never let go…
My Review
I adored this book. I couldn’t wait to read it. Really spooky and scary, but the most terrifying part is when we go back in time to the ‘witches’ who were accused of witchcraft, forced to confess and then strangled before their bodies were thrown on the bonfire.
Annie Jackson comes from a line of women who have a ‘gift’ or is it a curse? She knows when someone is going to die and how. But when she tries to warn them, she is treated like a mad woman, even when she is only twelve years old. She can see the person dying, their faces turn into skulls, and she hears sounds and voices which are referred to as ‘the murmurs’.
On the first day of her new job in a nursing home (not the best place to avoid death premonitions), she sees an old man having a stroke on the bathroom floor and dying. Before she goes home, she tries to warn him, but he tells her to go away and leave him alone. It’s just the beginning of her terrifying dreams and visions. She can’t look at anyone, in case she sees their demise.
She tries to find out as much as she can about the family curse, but everyone seems to be keeping schtum. When she was still a child, her mother died in an accident, but Annie somehow survived. She remembers nothing about it and very little of her life beforehand. Then her father dies too and she and her twin brother go to live with a foster family.
As she starts to remember tiny snippets from her childhood, she discovers that her mother had two sisters – Sheila and Bridget – one of whom she met just once. She knew that Sheila was ill.
Her mother is very religious and they attend a church which is almost a cult. (Oh how I love this kind of thing as anyone who has read my reviews will know.) The local ‘pastor’ puts his hands on Annie’s head and tries to get rid of the devil inside her. It’s very creepy. Outside the church, an old woman whispers that Annie should be burnt at the stake. It’s all scary stuff with a gothic feel and a mixture of superstition and a hint of the supernatural.
We are interrupted during the story today, by flashbacks to the witches, episodes in Annie’s mother’s life and incidents of ‘the murmurs’ in Annie’s childhood. For instance she knew that a local girl would be involved in something terrible, but no-one will listen to her.
I’m going to say it again. I absolutely adored this book. It’s just up my street and I look forward to reading more about Annie in the future. I know this because it’s the first of the Annie Jackson Mysteries #1.
If I could offer Annie one word of advice it would be to accept what you see. You probably can’t prevent it anyway, without changing the future as well. While this would be devastating, it would surely be better than telling someone they are going to die and failing to prevent it. Or maybe not. Thank goodness I don’t have Annie’s gift.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Michael Malone is a prize-winning poet and author who was born and brought up in the heart of Burns’ country. He has published over 200 poems in literary magazines throughout the UK, including New Writing Scotland, Poetry Scotland and Markings. Blood Tears, his bestselling debut novel won the Pitlochry Prize from the Scottish Association of Writers. His dark psychological thriller, A Suitable Lie, was a number-one bestseller, and is currently in production for the screen, and five powerful standalone thrillers followed suit. A former Regional Sales Manager (Faber & Faber) he has also worked as an IFA and a bookseller. Michael lives in Ayr, where he also works as a hypnotherapist.
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.
+ abuse, child abuse, childhood, family, fiction, grief, lies, loss, love, marriage, motherhood, nineties, review, secrets, sisters
The Short Straw by Holly Seddon
Three sisters find themselves lost in a storm at night, and seek safety at Moirthwaite Manor, where their mother once worked.
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They are shocked to find the isolated mansion that loomed so large through their troubled childhoods has long been abandoned. Drawing straws to decide who should get help, one sister heads back into the darkness. With the siblings separated, the deadly secrets hidden in the house finally make themselves known and we learn the unspeakable secret that binds the family together.
My Review
This was nothing like I expected. Abandoned mansion house in the middle of nowhere, violent storm, car breaks down, three sisters alone, ghosts, unhinged serial killer on the loose, Gothic horror? Forget it. This is very different, although the atmosphere is permanently thick with menace, it’s also a very emotional read.
It’s told in two timelines (a third thrown in just briefly for good measure), one revolving around the girls mother Rosemary in 1993, the other in the here and now. Nina is the eldest child, working as a midwife, her relationship with girlfriend Tessa seemingly on the rocks. Then there is Lizzie, frumpy, prefers animals to people and works at a dog rescue centre. Finally there is Aisa, who moves around, house-sits, has no fixed abode and is currently pet sitting a cat called Poisson in Paris. She has to get back.
In 1993, the girls lived with their mum in a two-bed cottage near Morthwaite Manor, the aforementioned mansion, where she was the housekeeper. Their dad is Bob, who was one of the boys who lived at the manor – it was a home for the unwanted and unloved, where boys could start a new life (theoretically) under the protection of the Brigadier and his wife Mrs Proctor. Alan also lived there and is now a gamekeeper of sorts, who appears to shoot at anything that’s not nailed down, mainly rabbits and birds. He prefers to live in a tent in the grounds.
They had a son, William, who went off to university, but came back to look after the house after his parents died. He is married to Selina and they had a daughter Jane, the same age as Lizzie.
Thirty years later, the three sisters are visiting their dad, but on the way home, they run out of petrol and have to abandon the car and find somewhere to shelter. Morthwaite Manor is close by, so that’s where they head. But when they get there, the place has been left to go to wrack and ruin. The front door is unlocked though, so they go in.
They draw straws to decide who will go for help and so it begins. No ghosts, no serial killers, no monsters under the bed, just the unlocking of the terrible secrets of the past – secrets long forgotten, but ones that will bind them all forever. I loved it.
Many thanks to @Tr4cyF3nt0n for inviting me to be part of the #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour and to NetGalley for an ARC.
About the Author
Holly Seddon is the international bestselling author of TRY NOT TO BREATHE, DON’T CLOSE YOUR EYES, LOVE WILL TEAR US APART, THE HIT LIST and WOMAN ON THE BRIDGE. After growing up in the English countryside obsessed with music and books, Holly worked in London as a journalist and editor. She now lives in Kent with her family and writes full time. Alongside fellow author Gillian McAllister, Holly co-hosts the popular Honest Authors Podcast. You can find her on Twitter @hollyseddon, Instagram and Facebook @hollyseddonauthor.
As the world falls apart, a deadly conspiracy comes together . . .
London, 2007. It’s summer in the the economy is booming, profits are up and the stock market sits near record highs. But journalist Gil Peck is a lone voice worrying it can’t last. Deep in the plumbing of the financial system, he has noticed strange things happening which could threaten the whole economy. But nobody wants to hear not the politicians taking credit for an end to boom and bust, not the bankers pocketing vast bonuses, not even Gil’s bosses at the BBC, who think it’s irrelevant.
When Gil gets a tip-off that a small northern bank has run out of money, everything changes. His report sparks the first run on a UK bank in 140 years. The next day, Marilyn Krol, a director of the Bank of England dies in an apparent suicide.
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For Gil, it’s personal. Marilyn was his was his scoop connected to her suicide? Or is there something more sinister in her death? Gil is determined to find out.
The more he investigates, the more he is drawn into the rotten heart of the financial system, where old school ties and secret Oxbridge societies lubricate vast and illegal conflicts of interest. The whole economy has been built on a house of cards, and Gil is threatening to bring it down.
When simply reporting the facts can make or break fortunes, Gil has to ask is he crossing the line between journalist and participant? Are his own conflicts of interest making him reckless? And in a world ruled by greed where nothing and no-one is too big to fail, what price will he pay for uncovering the truth?
My Review
All the time I was reading, I couldn’t help wondering how much of Gil Peck is based on Robert Peston himself. Or is Gil a mish-mash of the people Robert has met during his illustrious career? I hoped (prayed) it was the latter. When I got to the end, the author informs us that ‘every character is both a figment of my imagination and an amalgam of people I’ve encountered and know.’ Phew! I would hate to think of Robert selling drugs at Balliol and …. well I can’t tell you any more.
I did struggle a bit to keep up with the financial jargon eg subprime mortgages, bonds, and hedge funds. Imagine if ‘you were telling your grandmother what’s going on, how would you put it?’ Peck recommends at one point, unless of course she’s been a hedge fund manager, which she wasn’t. And neither am I. In fact what I know about the world of high finance could be written on the back of a Bitcoin. But I still recognise corruption in finance and politics and often question how some of the people involved, supposedly Oxbridge clever, can be so stupid. Greed I suppose trumps (no pun intended) common sense.
This was a fascinating read, not high-brow or dry as one might expect (or fear), but fast, entertaining and sprinkled with sex, romance, intrigue and unexplained deaths. The characters are larger than life, and often based on actual politicians of the day, though I hope they didn’t behave the way this lot do. The Malmsey Club at Oxford, for example, reminds me of The Bullingdon Club (minus the pig’s head) and I can see subtle references to various politicians, Russian oligarchs, and members of the press and BBC. Most of them fictitious, but mixed with actual personalities of the time.
Oh and it’s a follow-up to The Whistleblower, which I haven’t read and didn’t realise until much later. The Crash, however, can be read as a standalone. It’s great stuff, well written (it would be) and I certainly didn’t expect the outcome. I’d go as far as saying I was shocked. But in the world of power, politics and finance, I guess anything is possible.
Many thanks to @Tr4cyF3nt0n for inviting me to be part of the #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour and to NetGalley for an ARC.
About the Author
Robert James Kenneth Peston is an English journalist, presenter, and author. He is the political editor of ITV News and host of the weekly political discussion show Peston. From 2006 until 2014, he was the business editor of BBC News and its economics editor from 2014 to 2015.
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