Tag: Fiction

Just finished reading: The Calling (a John Luther novel) by Neil Cross

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What the blurb says: “Meet Detective Inspector John Luther. He’s brilliant; he’s intense. He’s obsessional. He’s dangerous.

John Luther has an extraordinary clearance rate. He commands outstanding loyalty. And yet he seethes with a hidden fury that at times he can barely control. Sometimes it sends him to the brink of madness, making him do things he shouldn’t; things way beyond the limits of the law.

This is the story of the case that tore Luther’s personal and professional relationships apart and propelled him over the precipice. Beyond fury, beyond vegeance. All the way to murder.”

I’m a big fan of the BBC series LUTHER (in which Idris Elba plays the title role) and couldn’t wait to read this book, the first novel in the John Luther series written by the show’s creator and writer Neil Cross.

Like the series, it’s a gritty and often shockingly brutal glimpse into the work of Detective Inspector John Luther. Rather than continue from the end of the second series, it takes the reader back to the time just before the first series begin and follows John as he works the case of the horrific murder of a man and his pregnant wife in their London home. As Luther and the killer become entangled in a deadly game of cat and mouse, Luther’s relationship with Zoe, his wife, begins to unravel. It’s a story that, just like its main character, is as intense as it is compelling.

If you’re a fan of the TV series, or a fan of gritty police procedurals, then this book is well worth a read.

 

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/

Good Reads Choice Awards 2012: Mystery and Thriller – cast your vote now!

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Good Reads Choice Awards logo

Good Reads Choice Awards logo

That’s right, it’s time to vote for your Good Reads Choice Awards 2012: Mystery and Thriller books.

The folks over at Good Reads organise these awards to showcase the top reader voted for books of the year.

Right now it’s the semi-final round (2 of 3 rounds) and there are twenty books to pick from including those by Lee Child, Tana French, Harlan Coben and Gillian Flynn.

So, what are you waiting for? Click along to cast your vote for your favorite mystery and thriller books here:  http://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-mystery-thriller-books-2012#74616-Best-Mystery-&-Thriller

To find out more about the Good Reads Choice Awards and the voting process visit

http://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-books-2012

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Learning from the CWA’s ‘Is Crime the new Literary Fiction?’ event

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The Panel

The Panel

On Monday I went along to the Crime Writers’ Association panel event ‘Is Crime the new Literary Fiction?’ With Sophie Hannah, Lee Child, Peter James and Benjamin Black (John Banville) as panellists it made for a lively and entertaining evening.

In the first part of the session, the panellists discussed the question, reflecting that some of the best fiction in the twentieth century is crime fiction, and yet you do encounter snobbery about the genre. What came across really clearly was each of the panellists’ passion for the crime thriller genre and their love of writing it.

As the discussion broadened, each of the panellists talked about how they approach their writing, what interests them about the genre, and the importance of great characters and great stories.

As an aspiring crime thriller writer, the key takeaways from the session for me were:

  • On thinking about character’s in action, the discussion on psychological depth was really interesting: how everyone is a psychological puzzle and that choosing who to trust and what will happen when a character does/doesn’t embodies the puzzle questions we ask ourselves in life.
  • That there’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach to writing – that it could be starting with an essence of plot, or planning everything in advance, or not knowing what happens in the next line let alone the next chapter.
  • That characters and story are both important in crime fiction – that you need strong, likable and memorable characters and a great story including a puzzle and a satisfactory conclusion.
  •  And, on pace, that stories don’t have to be fast paced, but they do have to be compelling. Pace is about variation.

It was a fabulous evening and I’d like to say a huge thank you to the panellists, and to the Crime Writers’ Association for organising the event.

 

ps. CTG was delighted to meet Lee Child and Peter James after the panel finished, and had a true fan-girl moment when discussing a shared love of coffee with Lee Child.

Daily Ponder: Book spotting on the Train

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Kindle

Kindle (Photo credit: Simply Bike)

In just a few hours I’ll be heading up to London for the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) hosted panel discussion “Is crime the new literary fiction?” that’s being held at Kings Place.

One of the things I always like to do on the train ride to London and back (and on the tube) is to check out the books my fellow travelers are reading. Are they crime thrillers, romance, science fiction, fantasy, historical or something else? And, more importantly, have I read them, and do they look like the type of thing I’d like to read.

I’ve even had quite a few bookish conversations with fellow commuters, and got some excellent recommendations from them. But, it’s not quite as easy as it used to be. That’s because of eReaders. I just can’t (or not as secretly) take a sneaky peep at the cover of the book being read. Although, that said, if I’m standing on the train, and someone sitting nearby is reading on an eReader (especially if the font size is set to large) it is possible.

But, not to be deterred (and, of course, being of a rather nosy disposition!) I’ll be book spotting on the train as I travel.

I wonder what crime thriller books I’ll glimpse today …

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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.

Competition Alert: CWA Debut Dagger has opened!

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Entries have opened for the Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger competition. Budding crime writers can enter the competition from now until the closing date of 2nd February 2013.

The competition offers a prize of £700 and all shortlisted entrants receive a professional assessment of their entries.

The shortlist will be announced at CRIMEFEST in May, and the winner announced at the glitzy CWA Awards Ceremony in July 2013.

To enter you’ll need a 500 – 1000 word synopsis and the first 3000 words (or fewer) of your novel, plus you’ll need to complete the entry form, pay the entry fee and ensure you’re abiding by the competition rules.

To find out more about the competition and how to enter, head over to http://www.thecwa.co.uk/daggers/debut/index.html

While you’re there, you can also sign up for regular competition updates, and check out the wealth of writing hints and tips.

So what are you waiting for?

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: 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: Kind of Cruel by Sophie Hannah

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A superbly chilling and complex psychological thriller

“Amber Hewerdine knows more than she is telling. She knows that she hasn’t slept since the arson attack which killed her best friend. She knows that it is not normal for four members of your family to disappear one Christmas morning, and then reappear the next day, refusing to explain or ever speak of it again. And she knows that somewhere, buried deep in her subconscious, is the key to what happened all those years ago at Little Orchard.

Kind, cruel, kind of cruel.  These are the words she keeps coming back to. But what do they mean? Any why is she arrested within hours of first saying them, for the murder of a woman she has never met?”

An insomniac, Amber is struggling against her own body, and consults a Hypnotherapist to she if they can help. Instead of the relief she needs, the session unlocks memories that Amber has unknowingly pushed from her consciousness. These confusing and still unplaced memories start Amber on a quest to discover where they come from and why the Police believe she holds the key to an unsolved murder case.

As Amber tries to piece together a series of seemingly unconnected events, and consults the Hypnotherapist for further sessions, things become murkier rather than clearer, and the demons in her past threaten to overwhelm her.

For me, Amber wasn’t a character I instantly liked, but the situation she found herself in, and how she reacted, made her highly intriguing.

As the story progressed, and I found out more about Amber: how she’d taken in her best friends young children after her death, how she always felt in the shadow of her perfect sister-in-law, and how she decided to help DC Simon Waterhouse solve the case, she became someone I really wanted to root for.

I’m a big fan of Sophie Hannah’s brand of complex psychological thrillers, and this story didn’t disappoint. It has a wealth of interwoven connections challenging the reader to solve them.

Kind of Cruel is a chilling and unsettling tale of how unseen pressures and secrets within a family can distort and twist the everyday into the chilling. A shocking glimpse behind the mask of a seemingly ‘perfect’ family, and as much of a ‘why done it’ as a ‘who done it’.

Highly Recommended.

 

 

 

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