Month: October 2014

Posted in Blogging

A Book A Day, End of month wrap….

Posted on by J

One is for

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One Kick by Chelsea Cain.  After six successful novels with her serial killer / detective duo, Cain is back with a new character and a new direction. Famously kidnapped at age six, Kick captured America’s hearts when she was rescued five years later. Now, twenty-one, she finds herself unexpectedly entangled in a missing child case that will put her talents to the test. 

Two is for

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Two For The Dough by Janet Evanovich.  The second in the now 25 book strong (including between-the-numbers novels) series featuring bounty hunter Stephanie Plum.  Madcap capers, romantic entanglements and explosive adventures are packed into every single one.

Three is for

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The Three by Sarah Lotz.  One of the best books I’ve read all year.

Four is for

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Four of my favourites. Without returning to the Stephanie Plum series, I couldn’t find a book for four, so instead I picked four of my favourite books of the year so far. Dead Men’s Bones by James Oswald, The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins, Crooked Herring by LC Tyler and The Fire Witness by Lars Kepler.

Five is for

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Five by Ursula P Archer.  In which our author takes a popular hobby, gives it a macabre twist, and produces are thrilling game of cat and mouse.

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A Book A Day, Sunday Wrap Up #4

Posted on by J

T is For

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Trouble In Mind by Jeffery Deaver.  When it comes to short stories, Deaver is the master of the evil twist.  Trouble In Mind  is his latest collection with the promise of more collections on the way in the none to distant future.

U is For

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Ultimatum by Simon Kernick.  If you want a guaranteed one sitting, race against time thriller you can’t go wrong with anything from Kernick, and whilst there are serial characters involved, the majority of books can be enjoyed as standalone novels.

V is For

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Vendetta by Dreda Say Mitchell.  Released on November 6th 2014, Vendetta sees a new direction for this award winning author.  Watch out for LifeOfCri.me’s participation in next months Vendetta blog tour.

W is For

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Watch Me by James Carol After recently finishing the first Jefferson Winter novel Broken Dolls, I can’t wait to get stuck into Watch Me.  It’s also one of the books shortlisted for the Specsavers Crime Thriller Book Club Award 2014.

X is For

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XO by Jeffery Deaver (bet you didn’t think I’d find an X did you?)  The second Deaver of the week, XO is the third novel featuring Kathryn Dance as a lead following her introduction as a character in Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series, and it’s her best singular outing yet.

Y is For

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You By Caroline Kepnes. A chilling account of unrelenting passion, and a perversely romantic thriller that’s more dangerously clever than any you’ve read before.

Z is For

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Zoo by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge.  What A-Z of books wouldn’t be complete without a Patterson.  As for me, I’m known for not being a fan of his production line style publishing, but I can’t deny that his books are addictive reads.  That said, he needs to keep up that rate as my record for sitting and reading one of his books from beginning to end is 2hrs 27 minutes…..

Posted in Blog Touring, Reading, Reviews

The Dying Place – Luca Veste

Posted on by J

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Once inside…there’s no way out

A fate worse than death…

DI Murphy and DS Rossi discover the body of known troublemaker Dean Hughes, dumped on the steps of St Mary’s Church in West Derby, Liverpool. His body is covered with the unmistakable marks of torture.

As they hunt for the killer, they discover a worrying pattern. Other teenagers, all young delinquents, have been disappearing without a trace.

Who is clearing the streets of Liverpool?

Where are the other missing boys being held?

And can Murphy and Rossi find them before they meet the same fate as Dean?

We all know about them, have seen the stories, listened to the news and watched them gather. Some of us have been on the receiving end of their actions.  The ‘feral youths’, the lost and disenfranchised children society doesn’t have any time for.  We’ve all judged them, silently, passively, perhaps vocally.  But who are we to judge?

The Dying Place is the second outing for Detective Inspector David Murphy and DS Laura Rossi and maintains the dark undertones of Dead Gone with the pair searching for a vigilante cleansing Liverpool’s youth community.  Murphy, still scarred from his run in with a serial killer is walking a fine line trying to keep his marriage together when the first body is found. As the body count increases the tension ratchets up rapidly and when a policeman is shot in the line of duty, Murphy knows he must do all he can to catch this killer before more people die.

What follows is a trail of violence and a shocking final showdown that left me with quite a lump in my throat.  The Dying Place is superbly written and will have you asking moral questions not just of the characters, but of yourself.  It also succeeds in keeping you guessing as to the real identity of the villain before it is revealed and ensures you want to do nothing more than keep turning those pages until the story plays out.

It’s a fantastic follow up to an amazing debut and highly recommended for all crime fiction fans. The Dying Place is Out Now for Kindle, and available in Paperback from December 4th 2014

Posted in Blog Touring, Reading, Reviews

Race To Death – Leigh Russell

Posted on by J

imageWhen a man plummets to his death from a balcony at York races, his wife and brother become suspects in a murder enquiry. Meanwhile Richard is being stalked by a killer issuing death threats. Richard is reluctant to go to the police, for fear his own dark secret will be exposed. Newly promoted Detective Inspector Ian Peterson is investigating the death at the races when a woman’s body is discovered. Shortly after that, Richard is killed. With the body count increasing, the pressure mounts for his team to solve the crimes quickly. But the killer is following the investigation far more keenly than Ian realises and time is running out as the case suddenly gets a lot closer to home…

Race To Death is the second outing as a main lead for DI Ian Peterson, a character that appeared originally in the first three Geraldine Steel books by the same author.  In Race To Death he has recently accepted a promotion from DS to DI which involves moving hundreds of miles from his current home to the city of York.  This move is just one of the things I enjoyed about Race To Death, as a new location and new colleagues means the chance to get to know a whole host of new characters making this a new start for the reader as well as the protagonist.

With a wife already unhappy with the demands of ‘the job’ on his time and as yet unsettled in their new home, under pressure from a boss he is struggling to find common ground with and a murder case leading to nothing but dead ends, DI Peterson has his work cut out.  Out to impress he is determined to do what it takes to find the killer.  Russell has written these new relationships well so it is easy to identify with the characters as they settle into their new routines.

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The plot has more than enough false leads to keep you guessing to the very end. It throws you straight into the action, and the tempo continues at a steady beat throughout ensuring you won’t want to put it down until you know whodunit.

All in all it’s a riveting read and I’m really looking forward to finding out what’s next for DI Peterson.

 

For your chance to win a copy of Race To Death, tweet this post and follow @LOCrime, or leave a comment below.

Posted in Blogging

A Book A Day, Sunday Wrap Up #3

Posted on by J

M is For

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Missing You by Harlan Coben, master of fast paced novels where the hidden pasts of ordinary people come back to haunt them with a killer twist at the end. Guaranteed thrillers.

N is For

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Natural Causes by James Oswald.  First of the so far four strong Inspector McLean series, fabulous reads that keep getting better and better.  Carefully pictured here with what James calls a Heilan Coo cushion, because when he’s not writing he breeds these handsome cows.

O is For

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On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle, if you like a good coffee and your crime a little cosier, head over to this coffee shop mystery series.

P is For

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Payback by Kimberley Chambers.  Welcome to the East End of London, where even your family doesn’t always have your back…

Q is For

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Quentin Bates.  Author of the Icelandic based novels featuring Officer Gunnhilder.  Frozen Out is the first in this series atmospheric, dark and intricately plotted masterpieces.

R is For

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Reykjavik Nights by Arnaldur Indridason.  Another Icelandic based series, the 10th of Indridasons books to be translated into English sees us going back to the roots of my favourite damaged detective, Erlendur.

S is For

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Sorrow Bound by David Mark. The third dark outing for DS Aector McAvoy.

Posted in Blogging

Book 100

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Almost a month later than reaching the same target in 2013 I’ve just finished reading Crooked Herring by L C Tyler.

Which means I’ve  finally reached the end of my 100th book of the year.  It’s going to be tight if I’m going to beat last year’s target of 130 books read. … ;(

Posted in Blogging

A Book A Day, Sunday Wrap Up #2

Posted on by J

F is For

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Flesh House by Stuart MacBride.  Flesh House is the fourth book in the Logan McRae series and is the pivotal point where a good character becomes a great character.  It’s dark, gruesome and you’ll never look at bacon the same way again.

G is For

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The Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly.  Mickey Haller Book 5. The latest installment of just one of Michael Connelly’s fabulous series.  If you love legal thrillers with a great twist, get into these.

H is For

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Hostage by Kristina Ohlsson, I haven’t read this one yet but with its plot of a plane in flight being taken by force and being held for ransom it’s one I’m keen to read.

I is For

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In The Dark by Mark Billingham.  In The Dark was the first standalone novel that Billngham wrote after taking a break in his Tom Thorne series of novels.  Since then however, main character Helen Weeks has appeared more often, crossing over and enhancing the Thorne books.

J is For

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Joyland by Stephen King.  I’ve only ever read one Stephen King novel, which was Mr Mercedes.  I’m now moving on to try a few more recently adding this one to my TBR pile.

K is For

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Kind of Cruel by Sophie Hannah.  Always dark, detailed, and extremely well plotted, Sophie Hannah’s books are a guaranteed riveting read.

L is For

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Long Way Home by Eva Dolan.  Way too many good friends have told me this is brilliant.  One day soon, I hope, I’ll get to find out…

Posted in Reading, Reviews

Cut Out – Fergus McNeill

Posted on by J

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Nigel never meant for it to happen. At first, he just wanted to be Matt’s friend. But when he discovers he can hear what is going on in the flat below him, his fascination with his new neighbour drifts into obsession.

Rearranging his furniture to recreate the layout of the rooms downstairs. Buying the same clothes, going through his post, his things. Becoming Matt without him ever knowing.

And it would have been all right, if Matt hadn’t brought the girl home.

When things spiral out of control, Detective Inspector Harland has to unravel the disturbing truth. But there’s far more to the case than meets the eye . . .

Creepy, disturbing and all too frighteningly plausible.

It’s been a while since I found myself completely unsettled by a novel but Cut Out certainly did that to me. This was probably not helped by the fact I stayed up until the wee small hours of the morning so I could finish the book in one sitting.

Cut Out leaves you in no doubt about the dark themes contained within from the very beginning, by opening with the highly gruesome and sadistic murder of a small time drug dealer, before moving on to the main story of Nigel, an isolated man, with little in the way of social skills who prefers to work from home than amongst his colleagues at the agency he photoshops pictures for.

When a new neighbour moves in downstairs, Nigel’s life is changed completely. Matt is everything Nigel wants to be, good looking, confident, a hit with the girls and after a friendly night in front of the TV as neighbours, Matt soon moves from Nigel’s role model, to the object of his obsession.

As his justification for his deeds becomes more irrational, and his actions more and more intrusive, it is soon clear not just how shocking his behaviour has become, but also how plausible it is for someone with access and a little technical knowledge to do the same to you.

Cut Out is the third of the DI Graham Harland books from Fergus McNeill and the first I’ve read. It works well as a stand alone not revealing much from the previous novels giving those like me a chance to not only enjoy this great read without feeling I was missing something and also giving me the chance to go back and explore an intriguing character. There are certainly questions I have from this book which have been answered already, making me keen to now seek them out.

In the meantime, I’m off to check just who has the keys to my flat……

Posted in Blogging

A book a day, Sunday wrap up #1

Posted on by J

A is for….

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A Song For The Dying by Stuart MacBride. The second in the Ash Henderson series, this is a gritty, gripping tale that you won’t want to put down.

B is for….

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Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes. High up in my To Be Read pile, I’m really keen to get to this one as it looks fabulous.

C is for….

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Cut Out by Fergus McNeill. Book 3 in his series featuring DI Graham Harland, Cut Out had me up until the early hours of the morning determined to get it finished.

D is for….

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Dead Men’s Dust by Matt Hilton. If you are a fan of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher or Robert Crais’ Elvis Cole & Joe Pike then you will love Matt Hilton. Dead Men’s Dust introduces us to Joe Hunter, a fabulous character who’s still going from strength to strength a fabulous 9 books later.

E is for….

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Entry Island by Peter May. Shortlisted for the Specsavers Crime Thriller Book Club Award 2014, this is another book that has recently moved higher up my To Be Read pile.