Posted in Reading, Reviews

Pop Goes The Weasel – M J Arlidge

Posted on by J

imageA man’s body is found in an empty house. His heart has been cut out and delivered to his wife and children.

He is the first victim, and Detective Inspector Helen Grace knows he will not be the last. But why would a happily married man be this far from home in the dead of night?

The media call it Jack the Ripper in reverse: a serial killer preying on family men who lead hidden double lives.

Helen can sense the fury behind the murders. But what she cannot possibly predict is how volatile this killer is – or what is waiting for her at the end of the chase…

Pop Goes the Weasel is the sequel to Richard & Judy book club pick Eeny Meeny, and I have to say there is no evidence of that ‘difficult second novel’ here. Arlidge maintains the same great pace from Eeny Meeny in this novel and ensures that the plot is not only as equally dark and twisted, but also that those who are eager to bring down DI Helen Grace are more despicable and determined than before.

Just as with Eeny Meeny previously, Pop Goes the Weasel is a real page turner of a book, that I would have sat and completed in one sitting had it not been for the pesky need of a few hours sleep. Helen Grace is a delightful character, that I really enjoy reading about, constantly unsure of what other people think of her and yet always confident in everything she does.

Overall this is a fabulous read, that as any good novel does leaves you with enough unanswered questions about who will be coming back, and how Helen’s relationships will change or grow that you’ll be keen to discover just when the next installment will be available, and hitting that pre-order button as soon as you can.

Posted in Blogging

Dagger In The Library Long List Announced

Posted on by J

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And the nominees are…….

MC Beaton (Constable & Robinson)
Tony Black (Black and White Publishing)
Sharon Bolton (Transworld Publishers)
Elly Griffiths (Quercus)
Mari Hannah (Pan)
James Oswald (Michael Joseph)
Phil Rickman (Corvus)
Leigh Russell (No Exit Press)
Mel Sherratt (Thomas & Mercer)
Neil White (Sphere)

 

1,384 people voted for 636 different authors, resulting in a huge variety of crime writing styles being highlighted this year.  I know who I would like to see picking up the award this year.  How about you?

Posted in Reviews

Mr Mercedes – Stephen King

Posted on by J

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In the frigid pre-dawn hours of a distressed mid-western city, hundreds of folk are lined up for a spot at a job fair. Without warning, a lone driver ploughs through the crowd in a stolen Mercedes, running over the innocent, backing up and charging again. Eight people are killed, fifteen are wounded, the killer escapes.

Bill Hodges is a retired cop, depressed, lonely and still haunted by the unsolved crime. When out of the blue he receives a crazed letter from someone claiming to be the Mercedes killer, and threatening further acts of violence, Hodges becomes hell-bent on tracking him down and preventing another tragedy.

Brady Hartfield lives with his alcoholic mother in the house where he was born and is preparing to kill again. Only Hodges together with a couple of misfit friends can apprehend the killer in this high stakes race against time, because Brady’s next mission, if it succeeds, will kill or maim hundreds, even thousands.

OK. I admit it. Mr Mercedes is the first Stephen King novel I have ever read. Not that I haven’t tried before, but nothing has ever ‘grabbed’ me and made me want to follow it through to the end. That said, I’m not really a fan of the horror genre when it comes to my choice of reading material. Mr Mercedes isn’t a horror story, it’s a classic crime thriller and I loved it.

It took me while to get used to some of the characters as they certainly were a real rag-tag bunch of misfits, with Holly being the most difficult to frame in my mind, but the group dynamic was one that worked really well.  Bill Hodges is a truly depressed and broken man at the beginning of the tale, but once his ‘scooby gang’ is brought together the change is fast and you can see how he would have been a great detective in his police days.

In contrast the downward spiral of Brady Hartfield as the book progresses is slow, yet clearly visible and perfectly timed to the pace of the novel.  It was almost a delight seeing him lose his controls and clarity of purpose as Hodges closes in.

I’ve read many mixed or poor reviews of Mr Mercedes, and surprisingly most of these seem to have come from lifelong Stephen King fans. Personally I think this is probably down to the change in genre, because as a prolific crime fiction reader I think King has done a great job myself, so I’m really glad to note that this is the first in a trilogy as it means I have more to look forward too.

Posted in Reviews

Safe As Houses – Simone Van Der Vlugt

Posted on by J

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A single mother stands in the garden of her isolated house, hanging out the washing, when suddenly a man appears. When he grabs at her, Lisa runs, but she is not quick enough. Suddenly Lisa and her young daughter find themselves held hostage in their own home. In the following hours and days, Lisa will do the unimaginable to protect her child – all the time wondering why the only witness has not come back to help her…

Safe As Houses is a dark and gripping tale of life, love, lies and survival.

Two women, both fighting for their lives, the survival of one dependant upon the survival of the other.  Ordinary everyday women whose lives both take a deadly turn on the same fateful night.

Safe as Houses will have you enthralled as the story slowly unfolds around you, carefully and very deliberately ratcheting up the tension, before hitting you below the belt with a couple of cracking last minute twists.

Posted in Reading, Reviews

Dear Daughter – Elizabeth Little

Posted on by J

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Janie owes everything to her mother.
Her looks. Her money.
Her murder conviction.

At 17 celebrity wild child Janie Jenkins was jailed for the murder of her mother. It was no secret she didn’t like her, but did she kill her?

Ten years later and Janie is out, her case overturned due to mishandling of evidence by the crime lab. Hiding from the media who believe she has escaped justice, Janie has travelled to a small town in the Black Hills, looking for the truth behind what happened that fateful night.

Following the tale of rich, pretty and overeducated celebrity Janie Jenkins in the days after her release from prison for the murder of her own mother, Dear Daughter grabs you firmly by the hand and doesn’t let go until you get to the end of this completely engrossing read. It’s a book chock full of contrasts, the socialite in the small town, the celebrity seeking anonymity, the sassy back chat against the quiet unassuming thought through response. It’s best displayed through protagonist Janie, a true wild child, constantly searching for the boundaries in the unlimited lifestyle of the privileged, who in order to find the truth, is forced to become the exact opposite of everything she has ever been.

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Dear Daughter also portrays brilliantly the dynamics of both large families and small communities. In the Black Hills town there are the age old feuds and fall outs amongst the families, the parental misunderstandings of the children, the sibling rivalries, together with the matriarchs that are seen to ‘hold these things together’, even if they don’t. There is some part of familial relationships in there that anyone reading this book will be able to relate to immediately. It shows a delightful amount of insight and only adds to the pleasure of reading this novel.

It’s an excellent debut you won’t want to put down once you have started and with Dear Daughter, Elizabeth Little has well and truly earned her place on my one to watch list.

Posted in Blogging

The Dagger in the Library 2014 – choose the long list

Posted on by J

Dagger-in-the-Library-300x320Together with Dead Good Books, this year the Crime Writers Association is giving UK readers the chance to vote for their favourite author to be added to the long list for their 2014 Dagger in the Library award.

 The Dagger in the Library is one of six highly prized CWA Dagger Awards, which have been awarded to crime writers since 1955. It is a unique literary award in that it offers a chance for readers to nominate their favourite British crime fiction authors. Nominations close on September 1st 2014 and the Dagger winner will be chosen by a panel including previous winners, CWA representatives and UK librarians. The Dagger in the Library is awarded not for an individual book but for the author’s body of work to date and helps emerging authors gain deserved recognition and publicity for their writing. Previous winners of the CWA Dagger in the Library award include Belinda Bauer, Steve Mosby, Mo Hayder, Colin Cotterill, Stuart MacBride and Alexander McCall Smith.

Make sure you vote, your favourite crime author needs YOU! As the award is for a body of work, nominated authors should have published at least three books. To nominate an author, simply fill in the nomination form here Nominations close on September 1st 2014 and the Dagger winner will be chosen by a panel including previous winner Steve Mosby, CWA Director Lucy Santos and UK librarians.

As an added incentive there’s also the chance to win £200 worth of books, just for taking part.

Posted in Blogging

Well I wasn’t expecting that…

Posted on by J

The Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival (Harrogate) is my ‘come hell or high water’ weekend away, whatever it takes for me to get there I will be there.

This year it was extra special for me.

My partner of the last five and a half years chose the festival as a venue to propose, at the end of one of the panels being moderated by friend, and this years programming chair, Steve Mosby.

Overwhelmed doesn’t cover it.

Suffice is to say I don’t think there’ll ever be another crime fiction panel quite like this one for me. We even managed get a few mentions here and there, and twice over here too….

Posted in Reviews

The Directive – Matthew Quirk

Posted on by J

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After escaping the corrupt back rooms of Washington, DC, Mike Ford is again playing a dangerous game–this time the stakes are even higher.

Mike’s brother is in over his head in a powerful conspiracy to steal a secret worth billions of dollars from the little-known but unbelievably influential trading desk at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In an effort to help, Mike soon finds himself trapped by the dangerous men in charge–and forced to call on all the skills of his criminal past in order to escape.

If I had to sum up The Directive by Matthew Quirk in one word it would be quite simple…

“Addictive”

Pacy, without being too fast, it’s one of those rare novels where there was no one thing I could put my finger on to say what I was really enjoying about it, just that the whole package was one that meant I was unable to put the book down.

The Directive is an enjoyable thriller, with a good plot at its heart, and even if you think you’ve figured out who is behind it all before it’s revealed in the final showdown, there is plenty in there to keep you second guessing yourself all the way to the end.