Category: Book Reviews

CTG REVIEWS: TWO O’CLOCK BOY by MARK HILL

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Today I’m delighted to be a part of Mark Hill’s blog tour for the debut that’s taking the UK by storm – Two O’Clock Boy.

What the blurb says:

“TWO CHILDHOOD FRIENDS… ONE BECAME A DETECTIVE… ONE BECAME A KILLER…

Thirty years ago, the Longacre Children’s Home stood on a London street where once-grand Victorian homes lay derelict. There its children lived in terror of Gordon Tallis, the home’s manager.

Then Connor Laird arrived: a frighteningly intense boy who quickly became Tallis’ favourite criminal helper. Soon after, destruction befell the Longacre, and the facts of that night have lain buried . . . until today.

Now, a mysterious figure, the Two O’Clock Boy, is killing all who grew up there, one by one. DI Ray Drake will do whatever it take to stop the murders – but he will go even further to cover up the truth.”

From the chilling prologue to the nail-bitingly intense final pages this London-set police procedural had me hooked.

Longacre Children’s Home burnt to the ground thirty years ago, but the horrors that occurred during the time it was open still haunt those that grew up there and the adults that had dealings with the place. Most of them just want to forget, but someone won’t leave the past behind – they are picking off the people who grew up at Longacre – and dragging back up all the secrets that have been burried for thirty years.

Enter newly promoted DS Flick Crowley and her mentor and boss DI Raymond Drake. Two dynamic detectives determined to get to the truth behind the murders – and also two people with connections to the Longacre themselves. As their professional and personal lives colide, and they try to piece together the evidence as the body count rises, can they work together to find the killer or will the memories and questions the investigation raises force them apart?

I loved this story with its strong procedural detail and gritty, authentic feel to the narrative. Flick and Ray are two great new police characters and, as the investigation puts increasing pressure on their relationship, I was fascinated to find out how things would play out.

The story twists and turns, ratcheting up the tension with every chapter as one-by-one the past residents of the Longacre are singled out by the mysterious Two O’Clock Boy. As more secrets get exposed, and Flick and Ray get ever closer to the killer, the pace accelerates to full throttle, propelling you into the edge-of-the-seat show down and shocking revelations at the climax.

The Two O’Clock Boy is a masterful debut and a real must-read for lovers of police procedurals and detective stories – I recommend you add it to your ‘to read’ stack immediately!!

 

You can find out more about Mark Hill by popping over to his website at www.markhillauthor.com and following him on Twitter @markhillwriter

The Two O’Clock Boy is out in paperback and eBook now – you can buy it here from Amazon and here from Waterstones

And don’t forget to check out all the stops on the Two O’Clock Boy One Hot Blog Tour…

 

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CTG REVIEWS: FEVER CITY by Tim Baker

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What the blurb says: “Nick Alston, a Los Angeles private investigator, is hired to find the kidnapped son of America’s richest and most hated man. Hastings, a mob hitman in search of redemption, is also on the trail. But both men soon become ensnared by a sinister cabal that spreads from the White House all the way to Dealey Plaza. Decades later in Dallas, Alston’s son stumbles across evidence from JFK conspiracy buffs that just might link his father to the shot heard round the world.”

 

This is one hell of a read.

I’m a total sucker for anything to do with JFK and Marilyn Monroe, so FEVER CITY with its thriller and conspiracy plotlines had me totally hooked.

The story is told through multiple narrators, and across three timelines – two in the 1960s and one in present time. As the storylines of investigation, redemption, obsession and the search for personal truth intertwine, they give the reader tantalising glimpses of the full picture, and raise the stakes and the tension ever-higher towards the shocking climax.

It’s as gritty and violent as the most ruthless hitman, and as glamorous and captivating as the most beautiful femme fatale. And the writing is simply stunning.

FEVER CITY is a cinematic, mystery-filled thrill of a read. If you like your thrillers super twisty with an extra loading of suspense, you won’t be disappointed – buy it now!

 

FEVER CITY is out in paperback now. You can buy it from Amazon here and from Waterstones here

To find out more about Tim Baker and stay up to date with news on his books follow him on Twitter @TimBakerWrites

CTG REVIEWS: BLACK NIGHT FALLING by ROD REYNOLDS

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To celebrate Rod Reynolds’s BLACK NIGHT FALLING being published in paperback today I’m re-running my review of this fabulous book…

What the blurb says: “Having left Texarkana for the safety of the West Coast, reporter Charlie Yates finds himself drawn back to the South, to Hot Springs, Arkansas, as an old acquaintance asks for his help. This time it’s less of a story Charlie’s chasing, more of a desperate attempt to do the right thing before it’s too late …”

The second book in the Charlie Yates series is another noir-drenched belter of a thriller.

When Charlie gets a call from Jimmy Robinson, a shady reporter from Texarkana – a place Charlie just wants to forget – asking for help, his gut instinct is to hang up. But when Jimmy hints that the trouble that chased Charlie from Texarkana could be connected to murders in Hot Springs, Charlie finds himself agreeing to make the trip. But when he lands at Hot Springs things aren’t at all what he’d expected, and a bad situation turns dire fast. Charlie feels driven to discover the truth of what’s going on and starts to investigate. He soon finds out that beneath it’s party town exterior, Hot Springs has a darker, and much more dangerous side.

Picking up a few months after Rod Reynolds stunning debut The Dark Inside ended, Black Night Falling oozes authenticity and a whole lot of deeply dark menace. The prose is a delight, and I adored the rhythmic cadence.

Reporter Charlie Yates is a great character, and in this second book of the series he’s doing his damnedest to move on from his past – his exile from New York, his failed marriage, and the brutal events in Texarkana that nearly claimed his life – by making a new life for himself in California. But it seems no matter how hard he tries, trouble always finds him! He’s still rather brooding and a bit mysterious, but he’s got a little more hope about him – or at least he’s trying to have!

I think that if Raymond Chandler and John D. MacDonald had co-written a book it might have been rather like BLACK NIGHT FALLING. Darkly gritty and authentically compelling, this is a flawless treat of a novel.

A must-read for all thriller fans. I recommend that you get it right now!

(And if you’ve not read The Dark Inside – get that too!)

BLACK NIGHT FALLING is published today! You can buy the book here from Amazon or from Waterstones by clicking on the store name.

To find out more about Rod Reynolds and his books go to his Amazon author page here and be sure to follow him on Twitter @Rod_RW

CTG Reviews: BONE DUST WHITE by Karin Salvalaggio

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What the blurb says: “Someone is knocking at the door to Grace Adams’s house and won’t stop. Grace thinks she knows who it is, but when she looks out her bedroom window, she sees a woman she doesn’t recognize walking on the trails behind her home. The woman isn’t alone for long before a man emerges from the dark of the surrounding woods and stabs her, then retreats into the shadows, leaving her to die in the snow. Frantic, Grace calls the police, but knows they’ll never arrive in time, so she herself goes to the woman and is surprised to find she’s not a stranger – and that only raises more questions.

Badly shocked, Grace is taken to the hospital, and Detective Macy Greeley is called back to the small town of Collier, Montana, where she worked a case once before. She needs to track down the killer and find out what the murder has to do with Grace, a troubled young woman whose harrowing past may have finally come in from the cold. But the town of Collier is just as hard-bitten now as it was years ago, and Macy will have to reopen old wounds as she investigates a murder that looks like it took eleven years to come to pass.”

This is one of those books that pulls you into its world and holds you captive throughout the story until the very last word. And be warned, the world of BONE DUST WHITE is a claustrophobic place; a small town bursting with lies and deceit, a harsh winter environment that is as much of a killer as the humans who stab and shoot within it, a place where you can never escape from your past or the interference of others in your future. In short, the perfect setting for a crime thriller!

Detective Macy Greeley is a strong female lead. She’s pregnant, and heading towards single motherhood due to a rather complicated set of circumstances, but focused on solving the fresh case of the shooting outside Grace Adams’s house, and finding answers to solve the cold case of four young women’s deaths and the disappearance of another, many years previously. It’s not easy though. Aside from the dead ends, and difficulty in getting straight answers about either case from anyone in Collier, she’s also forced to reconnect with her own past in the small town, and the unfinished business she left behind.

As Macy digs deeper into the present and the past she starts to unravel the intricate web of secrets, lies and messy relationships that bind friends and enemies to the town. I especially loved the dark, brooding atmosphere of Collier and the quirky, unique characters that populate it. With gorgeous writing, a suspenseful storyline, and cast of characters where no one is telling the whole truth, this is thriller writing at its finest.

Chillingly creepy and hauntingly atmospheric BONE DUST WHITE is an absolute must read for crime fiction fans.

You can buy BONE DUST WHITE from Amazon here

And find out all about Karin Salvalaggio and her books here and follow her on Twitter @KarinSalvala

CTG REVIEWS: THE DAMSELFLY by SJI HOLLIDAY

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What the blurb says: “Katie Taylor is the perfect student. She’s bright and funny, she has a boyfriend who adores her and there are only a few months left of school before she can swap Banktoun for the bright lights of London. Life gets even better when she has an unexpected win on a scratch card. But then Katie’s luck runs out.

Her tragic death instead becomes the latest in a series of dark mysteries blighting the small town. The new school counsellor Polly McAllister, who has recently returned to Banktoun to make amends in her own personal life, is thrown in at the deep end as the pupils and staff come to terms with Katie’s death. And it’s not long before she uncovers a multitude of murky secrets. Did Katie have enemies? Is her boyfriend really so squeaky clean? And who is her brother’s mysterious friend?

With Banktoun’s insular community inflamed by gossip and a baying mob stirring itself into a frenzy on social media, DS Davie Gray and DC Louise Jennings must work out who really murdered Katie before someone takes matters into their own hands…”

THE DAMSELFLY is the third book in the Banktoun series, and a real firecracker of a read.

Series favourite, DS Davie Gray is back, joined by DC Louise Jennings to try and work out who killed local teenager Katie Taylor, a resident of the rather ill-fated Banktoun in Scotland.

As always with this series, I found myself hooked fast and pulled deep into the small town whisperings and curtain-twitching claustrophobia of the small Scottish town. Katie is a compelling character, and although she is only alive for a short time on the page, she is a constant presence within the book, one that has you willing DS Gray and DC Jennings on in their search for her killer.

But they don’t have an easy task. Banktoun is a place of many secrets, and getting them uncovered is a difficult job. With the police no closer to an arrest, and the outrage in the town growing by the hour, it isn’t long before social media is used to incite townsfolk to take matters into their own hands. Someone is playing an evil game. Question is, who?

As DS Davie Gray and DC Louise Jennings are soon to find out, in a town plagued by lies and resentments, danger can be far closer than you think.

I loved this book. It’s a brilliant page turner of a read with and a twisting, turning story that takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions. It’s also gut-wrenchingly emotive, with vivid characters, and a creepy and stiflingly intense location.

An outstanding police procedural that had me captivated from the very first page to the jaw-dropingly shocking finale, THE DAMSELFLY is a must read for all crime fiction fans.

THE DAMSELFLY is out today. You can buy it from Amazon here

And be sure to pop over to SJI Holliday’s blog here and follow her on Twitter @SJIHolliday 

CTG REVIEWS: THE INTRUSIONS by STAV SHEREZ

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What the blurb says: “When a distressed young woman arrives at the station claiming her friend has been abducted, and that the man threatened to come back and ‘claim her next’, Detectives Carrigan and Miller are thrust into a terrifying new world of stalking and obsession.

Taking them from a Bayswater hostel, where backpackers and foreign students share dorms and failing dreams, to the emerging threat of online intimidation, hacking, and control, The Intrusions explores disturbing contemporary themes with all the skill and dark psychology that Stav Sherez’s work has been so acclaimed for.

Under scrutiny themselves, and with old foes and enmities resurfacing, how long will Carrigan and Miller have to find out the truth behind what these two woman have been subjected to?”

Not only is Stav Sherez a masterful word wizard, he also knows how to tell one hell of a story.

THE INTRUSIONS is the latest book in the Carrigan and Miller series and thrusts the detective duo deep into the warped and brutal world of a smart and sadistic killer who is leaving a trail of broken minds and broken bodies in their wake.

This is one of those novels that grabs you from the very start and dares you not to look away as it takes you on an uncompromising dive into the dark recesses of online behaviour. It’s an authentically real feeling police procedural with a strong emotional heart. Every character is rounded and nuanced, and every twist and turn in the plot hooks you harder and propels you quicker through the chapters towards the breathtaking finale.

Darkly poetic and chillingly haunting, THE INTRUSIONS gets under your skin and into your mind, lingering long after the final page has been turned.

An absolute must read for all crime fiction fans.

THE INTRUSIONS is published on 31 January on Kindle and the 2 February in trade paperback. You can order it from Amazon here 

To find out more about Stav Sherez hop over to his publisher Faber’s website here and be sure to follow him on Twitter @stavsherez

You can also check out the great stops on THE INTRUSIONS Blog Tour …

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CTG REVIEWS: TALL OAKS by Chris Whitaker

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What the blurb says: “When three-year-old Harry goes missing, the whole of America turns its attention to one small town. Everyone is eager to help. Everyone is a suspect. Desperate mother Jess, whose grief is driving her to extreme measures. Teenage Manny, whose absent father has left him with strange ideas of how to make his mark. Photographer Jerry, who’s determined to break away from his controlling mother once and for all. And, investigating them all, a police chief with a hidden obsession of his own …”

OMG this book! It was my top crime novel read of 2016 and one of those books that stays with you long after you’ve finished it.

Set in a backwater town in America, it’s quirky, secretive and unputdownable. It reminded me of Twin Peaks and Fargo, crossed with Stephen King’s Under The Dome, but it has its own special kind of magic too, its own special kind of terror.

Because spine-chilling, heart-pounding dread is something that Chris Whitaker is a master at creating. You want look away, but he hooks you with brilliantly unique characters like the distraught and troubled Jess, noir gangster obsessive Manny, isolated photographer Jerry, cake creator extraordinaire French John, car salesman and looking for love Jared, and troubled Police Chief Jim and you can’t stop, you just can’t stop – you have to know what happens to them.

Also there’s a clown. A really scary-as-hell clown!

And there are lighter moments too. Chris Whitaker traverses darkness and light in a super skillful way, bringing a little lightness through dark humored moments between characters. The pace is face, the twists are plentiful, and the end revelation had me gasping out loud.

In short this is a must-read crime thriller, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Buy it now!!

You can buy TALL OAKS from Amazon here

To find out more about Chris Whitaker follow him on Twitter @WhittyAuthor

HAPPY LAUNCH DAY: THEN SHE WAS GONE by LUCA VESTE

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THEN SHE WAS GONE is the fourth novel in the brilliant Murphy and Rossi detective series.

Here’s the blurb: “Tim Johnson took his baby daughter out for a walk and she never made it home. Johnson claims he was assaulted and the girl was snatched. The police see a different crime, with Johnson their only suspect.

A year later, Sam Bryne is on course to be elected as one of the youngest MPs in Westminster. He’s tipped for the very top … until he vanishes.

Detectives Murphy and Rossi are tasked with discovering what has happened to the popular politician – and in doing so, they unearth a trail that stretches into the past, and crimes that someone is hell-bent on avenging.”

Luca Veste knows how to blend the authentic detail of a police procedural with the fast-paced thrills of a thriller. This is one of my favourite series, and is a must for crime thriller fans. If you’ve not read him, trust me, you need to start right now.

THEN SHE WAS GONE is published today! You can buy it here from Amazon.

Find out more about Luca over on his website http://www.lucaveste.com and follow him on Twitter @LucaVeste

And watch this space for a more detailed review of THEN SHE WAS GONE to follow …

 

CTG REVIEWS: NIGHT SCHOOL by LEE CHILD

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What the blurb says: “In the morning, they gave Reacher a medal. And in the afternoon, they sent him back to school. It’s just a voice plucked from the air: ‘The American wants a hundred million dollars’. For what? Who from? It’s 1996, and the Soviets are long gone. But now there’s a new enemy. In an apartment in Hamburg, a group of smartly-dressed young Saudis are planning something big. Jack Reacher is fresh off a secret mission and a big win. The Army pats him on the back and gives him a medal. And then they send him back to school. It’s a school with only three students: Reacher, an FBI agent, and a CIA analyst. Their assignment? To find that American. And what he’s selling. And to whom. There is serious shit going on, signs of a world gone mad. Night School takes Reacher back to his army days, but this time he’s not in uniform. With trusted sergeant Frances Neagley at his side, he must carry the fate of the world on his shoulders, in a wired, fiendishly clever new adventure that will make the cold sweat trickle down your spine.”

Lee Child’s latest addition to the Jack Reacher series is Reacher #21 – NIGHT SCHOOL and I was super excited to get my hands on an early proof copy – black covers, very minimal (rather like the great Reacher himself). Or at least it was very minimal, till I travelled to Scotland with it in my overnight bag, and the glitter originally stuck onto the wrapping paper of a gift I was taking relocated itself onto the book cover. I guess I’m probably the only person with a glittery copy of NIGHT SCHOOL!

Anyway, back to the book …

Well, as always, Reacher #21 delivers the Reacher-style goods. It also forces fans to delay gratification on the present day Reacher/Chang what-happens-next question from the end of the previous book – MAKE ME – and instead takes us back in time to when Reacher was still in the military. Not an easy delay for an impatient Reacher addict like me to take, but as Lee Child pairs Reacher back up with Neagley I’m willing to concede it’s a fair trade.

And in NIGHT SCHOOL it’s fascinating to see Reacher back in the structured environment of the military – reacting to the confines of protocol and hierarchy, yet still very much ‘being Reacher’; hard-wired to do whatever is needed to get justice, pushing blocks out the way (or ignoring them), and challenging the status quo. There’s a strong investigatory feel to the story, with lots of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing, and the pace whips along at breath-taking speed.

The relationship between Reacher and Neagley is complex and interesting – the mutual respect, the banter, the attraction yet inability to connect physically due to Neagley’s phobia of being touched. It was a joy to spend time with them in NIGHT SCHOOL and I’m hoping that we might get to see more of their relationship in future books.

NIGHT SCHOOL is everything you want from an action thriller – fast, hard and gripping. Read it now, then go back and read all the rest!

And, for the next book in the series – Reacher #22 (I’m guessing black cover, no glitter) what I REALLY want to know what happens between Reacher and Chang!

You can buy NIGHT SCHOOL from Amazon here

Find out more about Lee Child and the Reacher series at www.leechild.com 

 

CTG REVIEWS: A TIME TO DIE by TOM WOOD

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Here’s the blurb: “A killer can be a hero. If the assassin known only as ‘Victor’ once had a moral compass, it is long since buried, along with his many victims. But some men are so evil they must die for reasons other than just money. Like Milan Rados, a former war criminal who has escaped trial to become a formidable power. Tracking down and killing this brutal man will win Victor a reprieve for his own recent crimes on British soil. But Victor isn’t the only one who wants Rados dead. One woman will do anything to see Rados’ blood spilled on the snow of Eastern Europe. Now Victor has an unlikely ally – but an army stands between them and justice.”

I’m a big fan of the Victor the Assassin books and A TIME TO DIE is another great addition to the series.

Victor is the ultimate ‘lone wolf’ – he’s known as Victor but has many aliases, he changes his appearance regularly to put anyone on his tail off track, and he has no family or friends. He doesn’t trust anyone, and regards all he meets as a potential threat. He’s cold, calculating and by rights should be very difficult to like. Yet as a reader I find him strangely likable. Perhaps it’s because he’s so up front about how he is – there’s no pretence, he says what he thinks even when it’s not what someone wants to hear (for example, if they ask if he’s going to kill them and the answer is yes!). That said, he does some dreadful things, so I don’t think I’d actually want to meet him!

But reading about him is fantastic.

Tom Wood’s writing has a fabulously cinematic quality to it and in A TIME TO DIE Victor is both hunter and prey. His assignment is more dangerous than is usual even for him. He has to gain the trust of the elusive war criminal Milan Rados – a man with no conscious and a sickening love of the brutal and macabre – in order to get close enough to kill him.

But hard as that is, it’s complicated even further when Victor learns he has a price on his head – a throw back from a previous job – and he becomes the target of other professional assassins.

With some stunning action-packed set pieces, and a pace that whips along from beginning to end leaving you breathless, A TIME TO DIE is a must-read for thriller fans.

You can buy A TIME TO DIE from Amazon here

To find out more about Tom Wood pop over to his website https://tomwoodbooks.com/books/ and be sure to follow him on Twitter @TheTomWood