Category: Book Reviews

My Favorite Books of 2012

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My favorite books of 2012

My favorite books of 2012

At this time of year everyone seems to be making lists of their top ten, twenty, fifty or hundred things of 2012.

So, just to be a little different, I’m not going to make a list.

Instead, I’m going to talk about my five favorite books of 2012 and why I loved them. And I’ll talk about them in the order that I read them in.

Here goes …

Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham (Orion). This part police procedure, part psychological thriller follows Detective Constable Fiona Griffiths on her first murder case. It’s beautifully written, darkly quirky, and leaves you wanting more. And luckily for us there will be more. I believe the second book in the Fiona Griffiths series will be out in 2013.

The Fall by Claire McGowan (Headline). This  crime thriller tells the interwoven stories of three strangers – Charlotte, Keisha, and DC Matthew Hegarty – who are thrown together in the aftermath of a murder in a nightclub. With hugely compelling characters, a super-rapid pace and numerous twists and turns, it’s a real page turner. Claire McGowan’s next book, The Lost, is definitely one to look out for when it comes out in April 2013.

The Affair by Lee Child (Bantam Press). Another great Jack Reacher novel. This one is set six months before the opening of Killing Floor and follows Reacher on a mission in a small town in Mississippi. It’s everything you’d expect – quick-paced action, imaginative problem-solving, a love interest, and the bad guys getting Reacher’s very own brand of justice.

Heart-Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne (Headline). This young adult crossover novel is a real rollercoaster read. In diary form, it tells the story of Emily Koll, Archway Young Offenders Institution’s most notorious inmate. It’s sad yet funny, tense yet light-hearted, chilling yet warming, and fragile yet powerful. Through Emily’s story of love, grief, hate and revenge, you discover what drove her to do what she did.

Sleepwalkers by Tom Grieves (Quercus). This gripping psychological thriller follows the stories of adult Ben and teenage Toby – two strangers experiencing vivid and terrifying dreams – as they try to make sense of the jumbled up fragments of forgotten memories that haunt them. A real edge-of-your-seat read, I found this story un-put-downable.

So, there you have it. My favorite books of 2012.

What were your favorites?

Just finished reading: The Uninvited by Liz Jensen

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The Uninvited book cover

The Uninvited book cover

 A vivid, unsettling look at a possible future

What the cover says: “As chilling murders by children grip the country, anthropologist Hesketh Lock has his own mystery to solve: a bizarre scandal in the Taiwan timber industry. He has never been good at relationships. Asperger’s Syndrome has seen to that. But he does have a talent for spotting behavioural patterns, and an outsider’s fascination with group dynamics.

Hesketh has no obvious reasons to connect the South East Asian case with the atrocities back home. Or with the increasingly odd behaviour of his beloved step son, Freddy. But when his Taiwan contact dies shockingly, and more acts of sabotage and child violence sweep the globe, Hesketh is forced to make connections that defy the rational principles on which he has staked his life, his career and – most devastatingly of all – his role as a father.”

 

The Uninvited isn’t the usual type of book I read. Is it crime, thriller, paranormal, science fiction or something else?

I’m not sure.

But whatever it is, it’s an interesting and thought provoking read, with an unusual take on the impact of environmental change.

It’s summarised on the dust-jacket as ‘part psychological thriller and part dystopian nightmare’. And I guess that’s right.

Either way, if you’re looking for something rather different – with engaging characters, a set of seemingly unconnected and unnervingly brutal incidents to piece together, and a theme that will keep you thinking long after the story is finished, this could be for you.

Indie Spotlight: The Missing by Karl Vadaszffy

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The Missing cover image

The Missing cover image

What the cover says: “John Simmons is en route to London with his girlfriend, Jennie Michaels, whom he intends to propose to that evening. He pulls into the London Gateway Services, leaving Jennie in the car. But when he returns, she has disappeared. Frantic with worry, he turns to the police for help. The police doubt that Jennie exists: there is no trace that she ever existed.

John, convinced Jennie was not a figment of his imagination, sets out in a desperate attempt to find the woman he fell in love with. He has the help of Detective Sergeant Kate Nielsen, herself haunted by a botched undercover operation that led to her being raped four years earlier.

Everything he can remember of Jennie – where she worked, where she lived – turns out to be untrue. Nielsen, following John as he lurches from one lead to another, begins to wonder if Jennie could be the eleventh victim of a serial killer. Their investigation becomes increasingly urgent and threatens to bring back dark and murky images from Nielsen’s past.”

John Simmons is in a nightmare situation. His fear for Jennie and his determination to find her make him a sympathetic and compelling character. Even though everything he thought was true about his girlfriend turns out to be false, he won’t give up. Finally, he persuades DS Kate Nielson to help him.

But as John becomes increasingly desperate to find Jennie, and his behaviour becomes more and more erratic, DS Kate Nielson’s challenges grow. Her boss thinks John is delusional, and Kate herself begins to doubt if Jennie ever did exist.

But when another woman is brutally attacked and murdered, John’s convinced there’s a connection. As John and Kate hunt for the killer, they become targets themselves.

The race is on. Can Kate find Jennie and catch the killer before she becomes the next victim?

The Missing is an action packed, high tension read. The stakes continue to rise, and the list of suspects continues to grow, while the question ‘Did Jennie Michaels really exist?’ adds further complications.

Part police procedural, part action thriller, part psychological thriller, with more than enough twists to keep the reader guessing until the end, this is a debut novel well worth checking out.

Debut novelist, Karl Vadaszffy, is published by Peach Press in eBook format. You can find out more at his website: www.karlvad.com

The Missing is the first book in the DS Kate Nielson series.

 

Guest review on the Mean Streets Crime Fiction blog: Snakes and Ladders by Sean Slater

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This week I’ve been guest reviewing over on the awesome Mean Streets Crime Fiction review blog.

Here’s a sneaky peek at my review:

A smart, rapid-paced crime thriller that’ll keep you guessing to the end

Detective Jacob Striker is facing the most shocking case of his career.  Called to attend a suicide death in a bad part of town, Striker expects to find another life lost to drug addiction. But this time the victim isn’t just another sad statistic, it’s someone Striker knows. And he’s sure it wasn’t suicide.

Striker and his partner, Felicia, investigate, uncovering connections between the victim and the support group overseen by psychiatrist Dr Erich Ostermann. As they delve deeper in the goings on at the Riverglen Mental Health Facility, Striker discovers his good friend and recent patient of Ostermann, Larisa Logan, has gone missing.

Striker battles to discover the identity of mysterious killer ‘The Adder’ while also searching for Larisa. With every lead Striker finds, The Adder makes a brutal move. As the body-count rises, Striker risks his professional and personal lives to bring the killer to justice.

Detective Jacob Striker is a bold and likable character. He’s smart, brave and wants to do the right thing – even if it’s not exactly following orders. He’s also a single parent, trying to care for his troubled teenage daughter while staying on top of his cases. Larisa, his work partner (and on/off lover) is equally smart, courageous and focused, and together they make a formidable team.

And they need to be …

Hop over to the Mean Street Crime Fiction blog to read the rest http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/crimefiction/2012/11/snakes-and-ladders-by-sean-slater/

Book Review: Love is Murder – Thriller 3 edited by Sandra Brown

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Love is Murder book cover

Love is Murder book cover

I don’t often read short stories, but this book is a little different.

The dust jacket promises:

“Prepare for heart-racing suspense in this original collection by thirty of the hottest bestselling authors and new voices writing romance suspense today … Bodyguards, vigilantes, stalkers, serial killers, woman (and men!) in jeopardy, cops, thieves, P.I.s, killers – these all-new stories will keep you thrilled and chilled late into the night.”

And it doesn’t disappoint.

But be warned, this is romance with a deadly twist! From Lee Child’s ‘I Heard a Romantic Story’ – an explosive tale of tough choices in the face to duty – to Roxanne St Claire’s ‘Diamond Drop’ – following Donovan Rush on a diamond pick-up with a sexy twist – and Patricia Rosemoor’s ‘Hot Note’ – a glimpse into Detective Shelley Caldwell’s romantic life as well as working a case – there’s something for romantics and crime fiction enthusiasts alike.

What’s especially great about this collection is the bite-sized nature of the stories – you can devour a whole story in your lunch break, a short train ride, in the bath, or whenever you’re able to grab a few stolen moments to read. Although, if you’re going to carry the hardcover book around with you, be warned, it’s pretty big and heavy!

Highly recommended.

Review: Heart-Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne

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Book Cover

An utterly gripping read from the first page to the very last

“When Archway Young Offenders Institution is closed down a notebook is found in one of the rooms. Its pages reveal the dark and troubled mind of Emily Koll, Archway’s most notorious inmate.”

Heart-Shaped Bruise is the debut novel of Tanya Byrne, and it’s a real corker. This young adult/adult cross-over story, is emotive, compelling and highly absorbing.

It tells the story of eighteen-year-old Emily Koll, through the diary she kept while at Archway Young Offenders Institution. As well as chronicling daily life as an inmate, Emily confides in the pages the things she can’t bring herself to tell the Institution’s therapist, Doctor Gilyard. Emily tells her story in her own style – cynical, witty and with more than a touch of dark humour. She might not be ‘likable’ to all, but she’s certainly very ‘readable’.

It’s hard to write a review without giving the story away, but I’m not going to tell you what Emily did or why she did it – it’s just too big a spoiler. What I will say is that as Doctor Gilyard tries to persuade the fragile-tough Emily to tell her why she did what she did, Emily’s barriers gradually crumple and she confides in the diary all the things that happened to tear her family apart and how she decided to take her revenge on the person she saw as responsible.

It’s a story of opposites – it’s sad yet funny, tense yet light-hearted, chilling yet warming, fragile yet powerful. Through Emily’s story of love, grief, hate and revenge, you go through the full rollercoaster of emotions. And it’s beautifully written, with a strong narrative voice that pulls you into Emily’s world, immerses you in her reality, and pulls a hard emotional punch at the end.

This is one of the most remarkable and unique books I’ve read this year. Whether you’re an adult or a young adult, this is a fantastic story that I think all fans of psychological thrillers will enjoy.

Highly recommended.

 

Heart-Shaped Bruise is published by Headline and is available now.

Review: BAPTISM by Max Kinnings

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Baptism cover

Baptism cover

A breathtakingly rapid-paced action thriller set in modern day London

From the back cover:

“07:45am. A monk lies dead in Snowdonia, a knife protruding from his throat. A young family is being held at gunpoint in a house in Wimbledon. The mission has begun.

08:56am. A London Underground train lies stationary in a tunnel, four hundred passengers trapped inside. All efforts to communicate with it have been met with silence.

09:15am. DCI Ed Mallory has just started his day. The Met’s top hostage negotiator is about to discover that, today, an underground train is not the only thing on the line.”

BAPTISM is told through the points of view of multiple characters, these viewpoints knit together to reveal the full story of the hostage situation, and the incidents that led up to it, through three interwoven storylines.

There’s the story of the members of the church of Cruor Christi. This is a religious group divided. Firstly, there’s Tommy and Belle, who are responsible for the hostage situation, and secondly there are, Simeon and Varick, who are trying to stop them carrying it out.

Then there’s the story of the claustrophobic train driver, George Wakeham, and his wife, Maggie, as they’re forced to help Tommy and Belle hijack a tube train under threat of their children being killed.

And then there’s that of the Police and other officials trying to contain and resolve the situation, and is predominantly told through the eyes of DCI Ed Mallory, a blind hostage negotiator.

As the three main storylines twist and turn together, the full impact of the terrifying situation becomes clear. The reader sees how  it effects those touched by the event – the hostages trapped in the tunnel on the hottest day of the year by their captors, the train driver who is desperate to get his wife and children back safely, and the negotiator who has to fight the demons of past failure to try and save the hostages.

It’s a tense, unnervingly believable story with a high body-count and moments of brutal violence.

From the shocking first chapter, through to the dramatic conclusion, this is a fast-paced, seat-of-your-pants action thriller that had me reading far later into the night than I intended because, quite simply, I couldn’t put it down. That said, I did find reading it as I sat on the tube going along the Northern Line rather unsettling!

If action thrillers are your thing, then this one is definitely worth checking out.

Highly recommended.

 

BAPTISM by Max Kinnings is out now, published by Quercus.

 

My Reading List

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Piles of books

Piles of books (Photo credit: ollily)

So many crime fiction books, not enough time!

I’ve always been a real hoarder of books, but recently my ‘To Read’ pile seems to have grown far more than usual.

On my list at the moment I’ve got:

  • BAPTISM by Max Kinnings
  • Heart-Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne
  • Snakes & Ladders by Sean Slater
  • Dark Eyes by William Richter
  • Sleep Walkers by Tom Grieves
  • The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz
  • 11.22.63 by Stephen King
  • A Wanted Man by Lee Child
  • Survivor by Gregg Hurwitz

And with the darker nights drawing in, it’s the perfect time to curl up by the fire and read my way through them.

What’s on your ‘to read’ list at the moment?

Review: XO by Jeffery Deaver

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XO cover image

Part police procedural, part psychological thriller: a wholly engaging read

What the synopsis says … “Country singing starKayleigh Towne’s career is reaching new heights with her huge hit single “Your Shadow” but the increased fame is also bringing unwanted attention. An innocent exchange with one of her fans, signed with an “XO,” leads Kayleigh into the dangerous and terrifying realm of obsession.

Edwin Sharp thinks Kayleigh’s songs contain messages that speak directly to him. Despite her clear rejection and threats from lawyers and law enforcers, he remains convinced that “Your Shadow” was written just for him, and he announces he’s coming for Kayleigh. Then a potentially fatal accident occurs at the concert hall where Kayleigh is rehearsing for a triumphant hometown performance, and she is convinced that someone – maybe Edwin – was there watching her from the darkness.

True to his word, Edwin Sharp soon makes an ominous appearance in town, and California Bureau of Investigation Agent Kathryn Dance, a friend and fan of Kayleigh’s on vacation in Fresno to attend the show, intervenes on her behalf, drawing Sharp’s frightening attention to herself. That night a member of the road crew is murdered in an eerie echo of an image from her chart-topping song. As more deaths loom on the horizon, Kathryn Dance must use her considerable skills at investigation and body-language analysis to stop the stalker and save more innocent victims. But before long she learns that, like many celebrities, Kayleigh has more than one fan with a mission.”

It’s a clever story, one that has you thinking on more than one occasion that you definitely know who the killer is, only to discover a few pages on that there’s another piece of evidence that points away from that person and onto another.

Throughout the book, the lyrics of Kayleigh Towne play a large part in the action – being used as a killers calling card, the police trying to interpret them to locate a murder scene, the comfort the writer brought from them during personal hardship or, occasionally, as simply a tuneful accompaniment to a beer.

This is the first Kathryn Dance novel I’ve read. As you’d expect from Deaver, she’s a well drawn, engaging character: clever, witty and not afraid of throwing herself into the action, she’s made all the more real for the insecurities and family worries she grapples with in her personal life.  And, as a bonus, there’s even a guest appearance by another of Deaver’s well known continuing characters.

Highly recommended.

Review: The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson

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Cover of "The Killer Inside Me"

Cover of The Killer Inside Me

Brutal. Compelling. And Utterly Absorbing: first-person narration at its finest

“Lou Ford is the deputy sheriff of a small town in Texas.  The worst thing most people can say against him is that he’s a little slow and a little boring.  But, then, most people don’t know about the sickness – the sickness that almost got Lou put away when he was younger.  The sickness that is about to surface again.”

I have to admit I was rather unsure how I’d find this book. On the cover is an endorsement from Stanley Kubrick. It reads, “Probably the most chilling and believable first-person story of a criminally warped mind I have ever encountered.” This made me worry that the book might be a little too much for me to handle.

But I didn’t need to. Because although Kubrick is absolutely correct: the story is both chilling and believable, and there is no doubt that the first-person narration of Lou Ford is decidedly warped. It’s also brilliant. Utterly brilliant.

A true story of gritty noir, Thompson’s honest and darkly charming style pulls you into the story and gets you to care about Lou Ford, even though you know things are going to get bad. And despite the fact that you know “the sickness” is coming, and that Lou is preparing to do some very bad things, you can’t help but want to read more.

But, let’s be clear, this isn’t a first-person narrated killer like Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter. Lou Ford’s not doing anything that’s justifiable or righteous in any way. And when the bad stuff happens, although you knew it was coming all along, it slams into you quicker than you think.

Lou’s actions are brutal and horrifying, yet you find yourself wanting to stay with him and keep following the story to find out where it leads. Because warped and wrong as what Lou does is, he’s a compelling and complex character that you can’t help but keep reading about.

Written in 1952, and adapted to film in 1976 and 2010, Jim Thompson’s novel still seems fresh and contemporary.

Highly Recommended.

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