Category: Blog Tours

The Corpse Role Blog Tour: an interview with author Keith Nixon

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The Corpse Role cover image

The Corpse Role cover image

Today I’m delighted to welcome Keith Nixon, author of The Corpse Role, to the CTG blog as part of his blog tour.

The Corpse Role is out now, can you tell us a bit about it?

It’s a police procedural with a major twist at the end. This is the blurb:

When the body of a security guard implicated in a major robbery two years ago turns up in a shallow grave DI Charlotte Granger is called in. £1.2 million went missing in the heist – the money has never been found and the culprits remain at large. At the time the robbery had been major news and becomes so again, with investigative journalists, her own superiors and career criminals crawling all over the case. However, Granger’s own past threatens to catch up with her…

How did you get the idea for the story?

These things usually start with the kernel of an idea and then I add the layers and Corpse was no different. The trouble is, if I tell you the original idea, I’ll give the twist away!

What’s your writing process – do you plan first or dive straight in?

A mix of both to be honest. I put a degree of planning in up front, have a central theme, characters, some chapters mapped and an ending but the stuff in between is a mystery until I get down to the nuts and bolts of writing! It’s also fairly normal for me to hit a wall about a third of the way in and then have to take a step back and have a good look at how the narrative is working out.

If you had to pick one, what’s your best writing moment so far?

Dream Land for sure. It’s an 8k word novella that’s now the first part of Russian Roulette – Konstantin the Russian tramp from my first debut novel and his first 24 hours in Margate. 8 days of hectic writing and editing around my day job. The Russian found his place in the world as a result of that work.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given on writing?

Never, ever give up.

Author Keith Nixon

Author Keith Nixon

And, lastly, what does the rest of the year have in store for you?

Lots! May 11th I have I’m Dead Again being published, the third Konstantin novel after The Fix and Russian Roulette. I’m also working on the fourth in this series, a further stand alone police procedural and finally I’ll start the 3rd in Roman historical fiction series about Caradoc, Britain’s first great General, but later in the year.

Wow, that sounds like a very busy year!

Huge thanks to Keith for coming and talking to us at the CTG blog today.

The Corpse Role is out now. Recommended for fans of police procedurals, this twisty-turny tale follows DI Charlotte Granger as she investigates a chain of murders where the targets are both criminals and cops. With evidence tampered with, and no one telling the full truth, can she find those responsible before the next person dies? Told across two time-lines, this is an intricately woven tale, with one hell of a twist towards the end.

To find out more about Keith Nixon and his books hop on over to his FaceBook page here https://www.facebook.com/keithnixonauthor and follow him on Twitter @knntom

 

The hidden Blog Tour: Guest Post by Emma Kavanagh – The Psychology of Police Shootings

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HIDDEN cover image

HIDDEN cover image

Today, I’m thrilled that the CTG blog is playing host to Emma Kavanagh’s hidden blog tour. With a PhD in Psychology, and a career working as a police and military psychologist, training firearms officers, command staff and military personnel how to handle extreme situations, Emma’s used her expert knowledge to create hidden – a gritty, tense, page-turner of a book that will be published in hardback on 23rd April.

Here’s what the blurb says: “He’s watching. A gunman is stalking the wards of a local hospital. He’s unidentified and dangerous, and has to be located. Urgently. Police Firearms Officer Aden McCarty is tasked with tracking him down. Still troubled by the shooting of a schoolboy, Aden is determined to make amends by finding the gunman – before it’s too late.

She’s waiting. To psychologist Imogen, hospital should be a place of healing and safety – both for her, and her young niece who’s been recently admitted. She’s heard about the gunman, but he has little to do with her. Or has he?

As time ticks down, no one knows who the gunman’s next target will be. But he’s there. Hiding in plain sight. Far closer than anyone thinks.”

Now, it’s over to Emma to find out more about The Psychology of Police Shootings – Attentional Spotlighting …

Imagine for a moment that you are walking through a crowded room. Your senses are assaulted with a cacophony of noise, voices, music, the scraping of a chair on tile. There is food cooking somewhere – you know because you can smell it. And that smell makes your stomach growl, the sound of it vanishing into the chaos that surrounds you.

Then you see something. A flash of metal.

You stare at it.

It can’t be.

A figure moves in front of you, but you don’t see who it is or what they’re doing, because all of your attention is focused on that flash of metal. You bob your head until you can find it again, your heart pounding. You tell yourself that it cannot possibly be.

Then you see it and your mouth goes dry.

He has a gun.

Once you have seen it, once your brain has run through identification options in order to positively identify that this thing in front of you is in fact a weapon, your adrenaline will kick in. The fight or flight reaction taking effect. Whatever else unfolds around you, your attention will be trapped, caught on the hook that is the weapon – the thing that could kill you.

Author Emma Kavanagh (c) Matthew Jones

Author Emma Kavanagh (c) Matthew Jones

It makes sense, doesn’t it? That evolution should design us to pay attention to things that can present a danger to us. We only have so many cognitive resources, and so when something threatening appears in our environment, we often experience what is known as attentional spotlighting – the focus on one particular object with the exclusion of everything else.

Now, imagine what this will mean for a firearms officer. We train them to look for weapons within their environment. Especially guns. A gun can kill them, not to mention the innocent civilians that surround them. BUT! Once they have spotted a gun, their next job is to keep their attention as open as possible. In other words, we’re trying to force them to fight back against the teachings of evolution. Because when your attention is focused on the gun alone, you may not see the child that is running towards you, directly into the line of fire. You may not see that there is another gun, this one closer, its owner with their hand on the grip.

We do this with training, by putting officers in high-stress situations and teaching them to countermand their own natural instincts. We train these officers over and over again, so that, when their lives are threatened, they are able to perform in a way that will save their own lives, and those of others.

A massive thank you to Emma Kavanagh for joining us today and for giving a glimpse into this specialist area of training.

You can follow Emma on Twitter @EmmaLK and for a sneaky peak at hidden hop over to Dead Good Books to read an extract … http://www.deadgoodbooks.co.uk/index.php/extract-hidden-emma-kavanagh/

And be sure to drop by next week to read our full review of hidden.

Also, make sure that you check out all the other fabulous tour stops taking place as part of the blog tour:

Hidden Blog Tour

The Touched Blog Tour: A Writer’s Life guest post by Joanna Briscoe

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Joanna Briscoe (c) Jason Alden

Joanna Briscoe (c) Jason Alden

Today I’m handing over the reins of the CTG blog to Joanna Briscoe whose latest novella TOUCHED is published today. Joanna is the author of Mothers and Other Lovers, Skin and the highly acclaimed Sleep with Me which was published in ten countries and adapted for television.

She spent her  early years in ‘the village of the damned’ – Letchmore Heath in Hertfordshire – which was the location for the celebrated 1960 film based on John Wyndham’s novel The Midwich Cuckoos – and the inspiration for her Hammer novella TOUCHED.

So, over to Joanna …

A Writer’s Life

There is much that is unglamorous about a writer’s life… and much that is privileged. At the moment, I walk through a King’s Cross that changes daily, and have a swim, on the way to the British Library, and this feels amazing.

It’s true that there are lots of publishing parties, award parties, and I hang out with lots of other authors, but I wouldn’t really wish this career on my children. It’s too solitary, neurotic, insecure… How I dream, so often, about being with other people, in an office, on a film set, in a school. Just being surrounded by people working, instead of labouring in silence, would be amazing.

Yet, as with most writers, I am driven to do this. It doesn’t feel like a choice, rather, a compulsion.

TOUCHED cover image

TOUCHED cover image

TOUCHED has collected some rave reviews and is an eerie ghost story, and a chilling and creepy tale.

Here’s the blurb: “Rowena Crale and her family have moved from London to a cottage in a picture perfect English village. But despite their efforts, the cottage resists all attempts at renovation. Walls ooze damp, stains come through layers of wallpaper, ceilings sag, and strange voices emanate from empty rooms. And then, one by one, Rowena’s daughters go missing….”

To find out more hop over to Joanna Briscoe’s website at www.joannabriscoe.com and follow her on Twitter @JoannaBriscoe

 

BLACK WOOD BLOG TOUR: CTG reviews BLACK WOOD by SJI Holliday

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BLACK WOOD cover image

BLACK WOOD cover image

If you like psychological thrillers then this superb debut novel is going to be a real treat for you. I first had the chance to read it, pre publication, last autumn and have been bursting to talk about it ever since! So I’m delighted that the Crime Thriller Girl blog is today’s tour stop on the BLACK WOOD Blog Tour …

What the blurb says: “Something happened to Claire and Jo in Black Wood: something that left Claire paralysed and Jo with deep mental scars. But with Claire suffering memory loss and no evidence to be found, nobody believes Jo’s story.

Twenty-three years later, a familiar face walks into the bookshop where Jo works, dredging up painful memories and rekindling her desire for vengeance. And at the same time, Sergeant Davie Gray is investigating a balaclava-clad man who is attacking women on a disused railway, shocking the sleepy village of Banktoun.

But what is the connection between Jo’s visitor and the masked man? To catch the assailant, and to give Jo her long-awaited justice, Gray must unravel a tangled web of past secrets, broken friendship and tainted love. But can he crack the case before Jo finds herself with blood on her hands?”

Set in a small town where everyone knows everyone else’s business (and past) this psychological thriller uses the claustrophobic setting to maximum effect. There’s a real sense of foreboding as the current and past timelines alternate back and forth, and the tension ratchets up notch-by-notch.

Banktoun might at first appear to be a small, quaint village with a low crime rate that leaves Sergeant Davie Gray wishing for a bit more police work, but scratch the surface and the secrets simmering just below the surface soon start to threaten the uneasy peace.

When a spate of attacks by a balaclava wearing man jolt the villagers from their usual calm, tensions start to rise and after a visitor from the past makes an appearance at the local bookstore where Jo works it’s not long before she begins to unravel. With the flood of memories and questions arising from that fateful day in the woods over twenty years ago threatening to overwhelm her, Jo decides to try and uncover what really happened all those years ago to her and Claire. She sets out to investigate, determined to get her own justice. Question is, can she discover the truth before her paranoia and fears get the better of her?

Jo is an unpredictable, and at times unreliable, narrator who makes for an interesting and flawed heroine. Sergeant Davie Gray is an altogether more solid and reliable narrator, and as such is the perfect counterbalance to Jo.

I was immediately hooked from the first page. From the small village location, to the cast of engaging and interesting characters, many of whom seemed to be hiding something, I found BLACK WOOD a really ‘moreish’ read. I loved the twists and turns, and – although I’m usually pretty good at figuring out who did it – this book had me guessing to the end. It also features some pretty creepy masks!

BLACK WOOD is an excellent debut. An atmospheric, pacey and darkly-suspenseful mystery, it’s perfect for fans of psychological thrillers.

Highly recommended.

[with thanks to Black & White Publishing for my copy of BLACK WOOD]

To find out more about SJI Holliday and BLACK WOOD hop on over to her website at: www.sjiholliday.com and follow her on Twitter @SJIHolliday

And don’t forget to check out the other stops on the fabulous BLACK WOOD BLOG TOUR …

Blog-Tour-URLs[3]

#TheAbruptPhysicsofDying Blog Tour: Simplifying my Life by Paul E. Hardisty

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cover image

cover image

Yesterday, I reviewed the fabulous debut thriller THE ABRUPT PHYSICS OF DYING by Paul E. Hardisty, a novel that’s been described by best selling author Peter James as “a stormer of a thriller”. Today, I’m thrilled to be the latest stop on wonderful new publisher Orenda Books’ blog tour for this brilliant book.

So, just to recap, here’s the blurb for THE ABRUPT PHYSICS OF DYING: “Claymore Straker is trying to forget a violent past. Working as an oil company engineer in the wilds of Yemen, he is hijacked at gunpoint by Islamic terrorists. Clay has a choice: help uncover the cause of a mysterious sickness afflicting the village of Al Urush, close to the company’s processing facility, or watch Abdulkader, his driver and close friend, die. As the country descends into civil war and village children start dying, Clay finds himself caught up in a ruthless struggle between opposing armies, controllers of the country’s oil wealth, Yemen’s shadowy secret service, and rival terrorist factions. As Clay scrambles to keep his friend alive, he meets Rania, a troubled journalist. Together, they try to uncover the truth about Al Urush. But nothing in this ancient, unforgiving place is what it seems. Accused of a murder he did not commit, put on the CIA’s most-wanted list, Clay must come to terms with his past and confront the powerful forces that want him dead.”

And here, to tell us about how he’s planning to simplify his life (if his book collection will allow it!) is debut author Paul E. Hardisty …

Pretty Soon I am Going to Simplify my Life.

I’ve realised that I don’t need much to be happy.   Don’t need three-quarters, more, of the stuff that fills up the place I live. Hell, I don’t even need the place I live – now that the kids are older and starting their own lives. A roof to keep out the ever less-frequent rain and something to keep me warm on those ever rarer cold nights, sure. But rooms filled with furniture and exercise equipment and shipping containers of appliances and toys and obsolete printers and all of the clutter that suffocates most citizens of G20 nations? I’ve decided no.

So one day soon, we’re going to go South, into the bush, and live in a shack. All I need, I’ve decided, is my mountain bike, writing stuff, and my favourite books. But the place won’t be big. And we’ll probably build most of it ourselves.   So I’ll have to choose carefully. The first twenty or so are easy, like your all-time best ever football (or in my case, ice hockey) side. After that it gets tougher.  I guess I could always just go with the kindle, pack a lifetime of reading in one place, but I can’t be stuffed with all the chargers and cables, and quite frankly, the lack of smell.   That musty old-book smell that makes you want to stick you face into the pages and breathe in all of the words you love. I must be part dog (my wife thinks so).

Paul E. Hardisty

Paul E. Hardisty

Ok. Top Twenty. Criteria: none – just go with it, without planning. And be honest. As fast as you can. A Farewell to Arms (Hemingway) – my dad’s old paperback copy; The Way of a Transgressor (Negley Farson) – a first edition, falling apart. He was the original real traveller. My hero. War and Peace (Tolstoy) – read it while rough-necking in Texas, oil smudged pages, the contrast; A Moveable Feast (Hemingway) – when I realised I wanted to be a writer of fiction (which I’ve since found is truer than non-fiction); The Count of Monte Cristo (Dumas), in French, timeless storytelling; Chaos (James Gleick) – everyone should read this, the mysteries of the universe exposed; Goodbye to All That (Robert Graves) – to survive that war, the way he did, and to think of what could have been lost if he had been killed, how much was lost in that nightmare; and so, I Claudius and Claudius, the God (Robert Graves) – his masterpiece (counts for two). What’s that? Nine.

Eleven more. Okay. Les Particules Elementaires (Houellebecq) – in French, hard, challenging, utterly contemporary; Antarctica (Kim Stanley Robinson) – science fiction about the present, beautifully written; Adventures in the Skin Trade (Dylan Thomas) – another one of my dad’s old volumes; Jude the Obscure (Thomas Hardy) – pretty close to top five, the last line has propelled me ever since I read it; Pure (Andrew Miller) – something about this book grabs me, it’ll take me a few more years to figure out exactly what; Le Pere Goriot (Zola) – in French, genius; Martin Eden (Jack London) – another book that cried out to me not to give up; A Night Over Water (Ken Follett) – a subtle thriller, loved it; Three Cheers for Me (Donald Jack) – the funniest book I’ve ever read; Macbeth (you know who) – just re-read it a few months ago, more there every time I pick it up; and twenty (but probably first) Seven Pillars of Wisdom (T.E. Lawrence).

Out of space. Too many missing. Especially some fantastic newer stuff. Guess I’ll have to take my kindle along. Screw it, we’ll build the interior walls of the shack out of books.

***

You can find out more about Paul here: http://paulehardisty.wix.com/paulehardisty

Follow him on Twitter @Hardisty_Paul 

Plus, check out his fabulous publisher ORENDA BOOKS here: http://orendabooks.co.uk and on Twitter @OrendaBooks

And don’t forget to hop over to the other stops on this fantastic blog tour …

Abrupt Physics Blog Tour Banner

Your chance to win: The Escape and The Target by David Baldacci #bookgiveaway

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This week I’m thrilled to be partnering up with those wonderful folks over at Pan MacMillan as a stop on the David Baldacci Blog Tour and to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a copy of David Baldacci’s latest books – The Escape (out in hardback last week) and The Target (published in paperback last week).

Here’s some more about the books …

The Escape cover image

The Escape cover image

The Escape by David Baldacci

What the blurb says: “Military CID investigator John Puller has returned from his latest case to learn that his brother, Robert, once a major in the US Air Force and an expert in nuclear weaponry and cyber-security, has escaped from the Army’s most secure prison. Preliminary investigations show that Robert – convicted of treason – may have had help in his breakout. Now he’s on the run, and he’s the military’s number one target.

John Puller has a dilemma. Which comes first: loyalty to his country, or to his brother? Blood is thicker than water, but Robert has state secrets which certain people will kill for. John does not know for sure the true nature of Robert’s crimes, nor if he’s even guilty. It quickly becomes clear, however, that his brother’s responsibilities were powerful and far-reaching.

With the help of US intelligence officer Veronica Knox, both brothers move closer to the truth from their opposing direction. As the case begins to force John Puller into a place he thought he’d never be – on the other side of the law – even his skills as an investigator, and his strength as a warrior, might not be enough to save him. Or his brother.”

With masterful storytelling and a quick-fire pace that’ll have you hurtling through the pages unable to put the book down, The Escape is a must-read for all thriller fans.

 

The Target cover image

The Target cover image

The Target by David Baldacci

What the blurb says: “A time to kill – or a time to die? The mission is to enter one of the most dangerous countries in the world. The target is one of the toughest to reach. The result could be momentous – or it could be Armageddon.

There is no margin for error. US government operatives Will Robie and Jessica Reel have to prove they are still the best team there is. But are they invincible when pitted against an agent whose training has been under conditions where most would perish?

An old man is dying in an Alabama prison hospital, it seems there is one more evil game he has still to play. And it’s a game which comes close to home for Reel and Robie. But this time the stakes might be way too high.”

The Target hooked me into the story from the very first page. Will Robie and Jessica Reel make for a great, if rather unconventional, duo. With high stakes, and ever-rising tension, this book will leave you breathless.

About the author …

David Baldacci has published twenty-eight novels – all have been national and international bestsellers, and several have been adapted for film and tv. His books have been translated into more than forty-five languages and sold in over eighty countries. He’s received many accolades for his writing, and most recently was inducted into the International Crime Writing Hall of Fame, and received the Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award. You can find out more about him by popping over to his website http://davidbaldacci.com/ and follow him on Twitter @davidbaldacci

So, to the competition …

*** THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED AND THE WINNER NOTIFIED ***

For a chance to win all you need to do is tweet the link to this post (using the Twitter button below) OR retweet one of the CTG tweets about the giveaway. [You’ll also need to follow us on Twitter, so that we can send you a direct message should you win].

Rules
(1) One entry per reader (2) UK residents only – due to postage costs – sorry! (3) We will draw the winner at random (4) No cash alternative (5) The competition closes for entries at 9pm GMT on Sunday 30th November 2014 (6) The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Good luck!

 

The Escape by David Baldacci is out now £18.99 (Macmillan)

The Target by David Baldacci is out now £7.99 (Pan)

For more opportunities to win David Baldacci books check out the rest of the blog tour stops …

 

David Baldacci Blog Tour Poster

David Baldacci Blog Tour Poster

The Falling Blog Tour: an interview with author Emma Kavanagh

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Author Emma Kavanagh

Author Emma Kavanagh

Today I’m delighted to welcome Emma Kavanagh to the CTG blog as a stop on the blog tour for her fabulous debut novel FALLING. 

Welcome Emma. Your debut novel – Falling – is out this month. Can you tell us a bit about it?

Falling is the story of a plane crash and a murder – two events that bring together the lives of four characters as they try to deal with the aftermath.

Have you always wanted to be a writer, and what was it that attracted you to crime fiction?

I announced to my parents that I wanted to be a writer when I was 5! So yes! I have very eclectic reading tastes and there are so many genres that I love, but crime fiction seemed to come naturally to me. I think mainly because of my background in police psychology. I like exploring the way in which people can be pushed into terrible deeds.

Could you tell us a little about your route to publication?

It wasn’t a simple process, but then I’m not sure that it ever is. I managed to complete a full novel length story, congratulated myself on that, then realised it was pretty dreadful. My second attempt was good enough to land me my agent, but still didn’t get me that coveted publishing deal. So, I rolled up my sleeves and started again, hoping desperately that this next one would allow me to begin my career. That book was Falling.

How would you describe your writing process, do you dive right in, or plan the story out first?

I’m a planner. In fact, I’m such a planner that I think I have a bit of a problem. I even use spreadsheets. Things do tend to move about as the story progresses, but at least using the spreadsheets allows me to keep track of everything.

Who are your favourite crime writers – which books and authors have inspired you?

I love Agatha Christie with a passion. Her plotting is so clever and complex. My absolute favourite is And Then There Were None – such a chilling story. My other huge inspiration is Kate Atkinson. She crosses many genres in her writing, and is so hugely talented

Falling cover image

Falling cover image

What advice would you give to new writers aspiring to publication?

Never give up. Getting published is not easy. It takes an incredible amount of perseverance. But it is a myth that you have to know someone to get an agent or get a publishing deal. I knew absolutely no-one. If you need to write, then write. And keep writing until you reach your goal.

And lastly, what does the rest of 2014 have in store for you?

2014 has been an incredibly busy year for me, with the release of Falling and the birth of my second son 8 weeks ago. I finished book 2 – Hidden – a couple of months ago, so my goal for the rest of this year is to enjoy spending time with my baby and his older brother before getting started on book 3 in the new year.

Fantastic. Thanks so much for stopping by the CTG blog. We loved FALLING (you can read our review next week) and really look forward to HIDDEN coming out next year.

You can follow Emma on Twitter @EmmaLK

And you can read an extract from FALLING via this link http://bit.ly/FallingExtract

Also, don’t forget to hop over to these other great blogs to check out the other stops along the tour …

Falling_blog_tour_graphic_final_2909

Blog Tour: The Dying Place by Luca Veste

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The Dying Place cover image

The Dying Place cover image

What the blurb says:

“Once inside THERE’S NO WAY OUT…

DI David Murphy and DS Laura Rossi make a grisly discovery. The body of a teenage boy, dumped in front of a church in Liverpool. His torso covered with the unmistakable marks of torture.

And a shocking fact soon comes to light. Seventeen-year-old Dean Hughes was reported missing six months ago, yet no one has been looking for him. A known troublemaker, who cared if he was dead or alive?

But soon the police realise Dean isn’t the only boy who’s gone missing in similar circumstances. Someone has been abducting troubled teens. Someone who thinks they’re above the law. Someone with terrifying plans for them.”

As a big fan of Luca Veste’s debut novel – Dead Gone – I was thrilled to get my hands on an early copy of the second book in the Murphy and Rossi series – The Dying Place. And, as with his first book, Veste weaves a twisting, turning plot to skillfully produce a fast-paced police procedural that keeps you guessing right to the end.

When the body of a murdered teenager is found outside a church, Murphy and Rossi are called in to investigate. As they delve deeper into the case it becomes clear that someone, or some people, are taking teenagers off the street and holding them against their will, trying to ‘re-train’ them through a brutal form of national service.

This is a hard book to review without giving away any spoilers [and you know how I hate to do that!] but what I will say is that Veste’s Liverpool is an unsettling, dangerous place where frustrations between the older generation and the young run high.

Told through multiple points of view, the story highlights the impact of violent crime on victims’ families – on the parents whose children don’t ever return home and on the adult children whose elderly parents fall victim to teenage gangs – with a nod towards how depending on where you live, and what job you (or your parents have) the value of your life might be perceived by the media.

It also shows how grief can twist into vengeance and how that can be a powerful motivator, exploring the theme of vigilante justice in an up-close and disturbingly convincing way through the eyes of the characters.

As in Dead Gone, Murphy and Rossi are a brilliantly paired double act; the strong bond between them showing through their ever-present banter, and their unswerving loyalty in the face of adversity.

Engaging and thought provoking, The Dying Place is a truly gripping read.

Highly Recommended

 

Blog Tour Banner

Blog Tour Banner

 

The Broadchurch Beacon Blog Tour: The Broadchurch novel by Erin Kelly

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Broadchurch novel cover image

Broadchurch novel cover image

What the blurb says: “It’s a hot July morning in the Dorset town of Broadchurch when Beth Latimer realises her eleven-year-old son, Danny, is missing. As Beth searches desperately for her boy, her best friend, local police officer DS Ellie Miller, arrives at work to find the promotion she was promised has been given to disreputable Scottish outsider DI Alec Hardy.

When Danny’s body is found on the beach Ellie must put her feelings aside as she works with DI Hardy to solve the mystery of Danny’s death. As the case becomes a murder investigation, the news hits the press, jolting sleepy Broadchurch into the national spotlight.

As the town’s secrets begin to unravel, members of this tight-knit community begin to consider those in their midst. Right now it’s impossible to know who to trust …”

I was so excited to get my hands on this hotly anticipated novel.

Inspired by the BAFTA award-winning ITV series created by Chris Chibnall, Erin Kelly has done a fabulous job of capturing the atmosphere and tone of the show in this translation from screen to page.

True to the characters and honest to the story, what the reader gets from the novel is the chance to experience events from inside the heads of the main characters. It’s like seeing the whole thing in HD through a lens angled slightly differently, exploring the characters inner thoughts and emotional battles for a deeper insight into what happened that dreadful July when Danny died.

Told in the present tense, the novel feels immediate and dynamic. The tension arising from the different styles of DI Alec Hardy and DS Ellie Miller vibrates off the page and, as in the TV series, they make for compulsive watching (reading). As the small seaside town of Broadchurch reels from the loss of one of it’s own, and the police (and the journalists) strive to find Danny’s killer, it becomes clear that beneath their smiley exterior some locals have dark secrets in their past that once revealed will change the small seaside town forever.

So, the big question, does the book feel authentic to the characters and the series? Definitely, yes.

And, does it feel like a story and entity in its own right? Absolutely, yes.

Emotive and suspenseful, this is a must-read for fans of the show and crime fiction readers alike.

Highly recommended.

 

To find out more about the book, hop over to The Crime Vault where you can read an extract: http://www.thecrimevault.com/ebooks/broadchurch/

This post is part of the Broadchurch Beacon Bloggers Tour. Check out the other fabulous tour stops here:

Broadchurch Beacon Blog Tour poster

Broadchurch Beacon Blog Tour poster

Dan Smith Blog Tour: The Darkest Heart by Dan Smith #bookgiveaway

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Blog Tour Poster

Blog Tour Poster

As part of the fabulous Dan Smith blog tour those lovely folks over at Orion have given us ten copies of Dan Smith’s novel The Darkest Heart to giveaway.

How it works:

For a chance to win all you need to do is tweet the link to this post (using the Twitter button below) OR retweet one of the CTG tweets about the giveaway. [You’ll also need to follow us on Twitter, so that we can send you a direct message should you win].

OR

If you’re not on Twitter don’t worry. You can also enter by emailing crimethrillergirl[at]gmail[dot]com. Give your email the header THE DARKEST HEART and give your name and postal address.

Rules
(1) One entry per reader (2) UK residents only – due to postage costs – sorry! (3) We will draw the winners at random (4) No cash alternative (5) The competition closes for entries at 9pm GMT on Sunday 13th July 2014 (6) The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW CLOSED.

The Prize: Dan Smith’s novel The Darkest Heart

What the blurb says: ‘There were times I felt I would always be death’s passenger. It moved one step ahead of me wherever I went, letting its shadow fall across me. It carried me on; shaded me from the world other people lived in.’

Leaving behind his life of violence in Brazil’s darkest shadows, Zico is determined to become a better man. But it seems his old life isn’t quite done with him yet when he’s tasked with making one last kill. It’s one that could get him everything he has ever wanted; a house, some land, cash in his pocket, a future for him and his girlfriend, Daniella. But this one isn’t like all the others. This one comes at a much higher price.

THE DARKEST HEART is a journey through the shadowy heart of Brazil and the even darker mind of a killer, where fear is a death sentence and the only chance of survival might mean abandoning the only good thing you’ve ever known.”

If you haven’t checked them out already, hop along to these wonderful blogs (all part of the Dan Smith blog tour) to find out more about Dan Smith and The Darkest Heart …

Crime Fiction Lover – The Dark Heart of Brazil article http://www.crimefictionlover.com/2014/06/the-dark-heart-of-brazil/

Crime Book Club – The Darkest Heart extract http://www.crimebookclub.co.uk/an-extract-of-darkest-heart-by-dan-smith/

Trip Fiction – Dan Smith talks about setting http://www.tripfiction.com/dan-smith-thriller-set-in-brazil/

Raven Crime Reads – Dan Smith talks about his inspiration for Red Winter http://ravencrimereads.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/dan-smith-blog-tour-the-inspiration-behind-red-winter/

The Murder Room – an extract from Red Winter http://www.themurderroom.com/blog/red-winter-extract/

Shots Blog – Dan Smith talks about beliefs and superstitions http://wwwshotsmagcouk.blogspot.co.uk/

 

To find out more about Dan Smith and his novels, pop on over to his website at http://www.dansmithsbooks.com

And also on the Orion website at https://www.orionbooks.co.uk/books/detail.page?isbn=9781409142652