Expert on body language and memory, and consultant to the Oslo Police, psychologist Kari Voss sleepwalks through her days, and, by night, continues the devastating search for her young son, who disappeared on his birthday, seven years earlier.
Still grieving for her dead husband, and trying to pull together the pieces of her life, she is thrust into a shocking local investigation, when two teenage girls are violently murdered in a family summer home in the nearby village of Son. When a friend of the victims is charged with the barbaric killings, it seems the case is closed, but Kari is not convinced. Using her skills and working on instinct, she conducts her own enquiries, leading her to multiple suspects, including people who knew the dead girls well…
With the help of Chief Constable Ramona Norum, she discovers that no one – including the victims – are what they seem. And that there is a dark secret at the heart of Son village that could have implications not just for her own son’s disappearance, but Kari’s own life, too…
Known as the Queen of French Noir, Johana Gustawsson is one of France’s most highly regarded, award-winning authors, recipient of the prestigious Cultura Ligue de l`Imaginaire Award for her historical thriller Yule Island. Number-one bestselling books include Block 46, Keeper, Blood Song and The Bleeding. Johana lives in Sweden with her family.
A former journalist, Thomas Enger is the number-one bestselling author of the Henning Juul series and, with co-author Jørn Lier Horst, the international bestselling Blix & Ramm series. One of the biggest proponents of the Nordic Noir genre, his books have been translated into twenty-eight languages. He lives in Oslo.
My thoughts: I knew from the authors that this was going to be good, gripping and shocking. There are lots of different sons in this book, from Kari’s, missing for seven years, to the suspect, whose parents don’t seem remotely interested in him, as friends and other connected people.
The town where two teenage girls are brutally murdered is called Son, it’s quiet, not many full time residents, and they’re planning a Halloween party, but someone decides to stop them from ever having a good time. The police arrest an acquaintance of theirs, who admits to being in the house, having been invited to bring over some drugs, but says he’s innocent. The detectives don’t believe him. Kari does. She analyses his body language, those nonverbal clues that say a lot more than words.
So she starts digging. Digging into the lives of the two victims, into the lives of their families and friends. She learns a lot of secrets – affairs, money troubles, blackmail. But are any of them bad enough to kill over? Or is it something she can’t even yet guess at?
This is a real page turner – each revelation and twist kept me hooked. Kari is an interesting character, she goes against her police colleagues, determined that the science proves she’s right and that somewhere in all the evidence she uncovers, will be the answer, the reason why two young women were brutally killed. And in helping the suspect, her lost son’s best friend, maybe she can find some peace too.
She’s the woman of his dreams. He’s the monster from her nightmares.
When Daniella rescues elderly Peggy from a mugger on a Boston street, she expects nothing in return. But then she meets Peggy’s son, Lucas—devastatingly handsome and utterly captivating. Unlike her distant husband Grant, Lucas sees her. Wants her.
Daniella can’t resist and they spend one reckless night together which she immediately regrets.
Too late, because Lucas doesn’t just want Daniella. He needs her. And he’s willing to destroy everything—and everyone—standing in his way.
Lucas plays the long game, worming his way into Daniella’s life—befriending Grant, charming her twin daughters, inveigling his way into her family. Every time she turns around, he seems to be there.
As the depths of his obsession become clear, Daniella realizes she’s in a fight for her life. Because the family she tried to help is hiding something dark. Something deadly.
And she’s already in too deep to escape.
Don’t Answer the Phone – the chilling psychological thriller from the best-selling author of One Little Mistake and The Visitors.
Miranda Rijks is a writer of fast-paced, twisty psychological thrillers many of which have been Amazon bestsellers. She has an eclectic background ranging from law to running a garden centre. After surviving bone cancer, Miranda turned to writing and is now living the dream, writing suspense novels full time. She lives in West Sussex, England with her Dutch husband and two black Labradors and spends as much time as she can in the Swiss Alps.
My thoughts: Daniella helps an older woman who was being mugged. Peggy is very grateful and the two women become friends. Unfortunately this brings Daniella, a married mother of twins, to the attentions of Peggy’s son, Lucas. He’s obsessive, violent and likes to get his own way. He decides that Daniella is the one for him, and won’t let anyone – his mother, her husband, get in his way.
His campaign to win over Daniella starts well, but as she rejects him, he turns violent. But not towards her. He believes that he can still convince her to be his. Things get nastier, more violent, Daniella becomes a victim too.
There are plenty of red flags in Lucas’ behaviour, and Daniella certainly spots some of them. He’s scarily obsessive, the death of his former girlfriend worries her, other incidents make things worse. The story is gripping and full of sudden twists and turns, Daniella and her family are put into danger, and things change for them forever.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Ingrid Barker arrives back at Strathbairn to attend the funeral of her old employer, Charles McCleod.
Every bone in Ingrid’s body screams for her to leave, and as she walks from the graveside, she can’t shake the suspicion that Charles was murdered. As she hurries to uncover the truth and get away from Strathbairn, another murder takes place – one that traps her in the very place she is desperate to escape from.
Running out of time and clues, can Ingrid evade the truth of that terrible night up at the abbey the last time she was here, and can she solve the mystery of Charles’ death before his ghost does away with her?
An unputdownable gothic mystery laced with dark family secrets, SECRETS TAKEN TO THE GRAVE is the second book in the Strathbrain Trilogy series of historical mystery novels by Isobel Blackthorn.
Isobel Blackthorn is an award-winning author of immersive and inspiring fiction. She has penned over twenty-five books including a number of bestsellers.
Among her credits, Isobel’s biographical short story ‘Nothing to Declare’, which forms the first chapter of her biographical novel Emma’s Tapestry, was shortlisted for the Ada Cambridge Prose Prize 2019. One of her Canary Islands novels, A Prison in the Sun, was shortlisted in the LGBTQ category of the Readers’ Favorite Book Awards 2020 and the International Book Awards 2021. The Cabin Sessions was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award 2018 and the Ditmar Awards 2018. And The Unlikely Occultist: A biographical novel of Alice A. Bailey received an Honorable Mention in the 2021 Reader’s Favorite Book Awards.
Blackthorn is the author of the world’s only biography of Theosophist and mother of the New Age movement Alice Bailey – Alice A. Bailey: Life & Legacy. Isobel’s writing has appeared in journals and websites around the world, including Esoteric Quarterly, New Dawn Magazine, Paranoia, Mused Literary Review, Trip Fiction, Backhand Stories, Fictive Dream and On Line Opinion. Isobel was a judge for the Australasian Shadow Awards 2020 long fiction category. Her book reviews have appeared inNew Dawn Magazine, Esoteric Quarterly, Shiny New Books, Sisters in Crime, Australian Women Writers, Trip Fiction and Newtown Review of Books.
Isobel’s interests are many and varied. She has a long-standing association with the Canary Islands, having lived in Lanzarote in the late 1980s. A humanitarian and campaigner for social justice, in 1999 Isobel founded the internationally acclaimed Ghana Link, uniting two high schools, one a relatively privileged state school located in the heart of England, the other a materially impoverished school in a remote part of the Upper Volta region of Ghana, West Africa. After working as a teacher, market trader and PA to a literary agent, she arrived at writing in her forties, and her stories are as diverse and intriguing as her life has been.
Isobel has performed her literary works at events in a range of settings and given workshops in creative writing.
British by birth, Isobel entered this world in Farnborough, Kent, UK. She has lived in England, Australia, Spain and the Canary Islands. She now lives and writes in Spain. She is currently at work on two novels composed in Spanish.
My thoughts: Ingrid returns to Strathbrain for the funeral of her former employer, despite misgivings. What she learns there is that his supposed natural death wasn’t.
And there’s more – she finds a history of the McCleod family that details the bloody history of the members. Generations of them with murder on their minds. It makes her even more concerned about staying there as Miles is behaving strangely. Is he the one Charles’ ghost wants her to identify as his killer?
Her daughter, Susan, is happily settled in with the house’s staff, baking with the cook, helping the maid clean the fireplaces. It makes it harder for Ingrid to insist on returning to Winchester soon. She also learns some things about her own family, but these are happier. Until bones are found in the old Abbey and bring up more recent history and could change everything.
Haunted and sinister, Strathbrain is not a friendly house, but by putting its ghosts to bed, things might finally change. And as Christmas approaches, putting the past behind them and starting the new year fresh is something Ingrid really wants.
The plot zigs and zags, every time Ingrid thinks she might escape, something happens to keep her there. All the twists kept me wondering what might happen next, were Ingrid and Susan at risk? Hopefully the darkness is behind them and when Ingrid next returns to Scotland it’s for happier reasons. But probably not!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Hannah is miserable. Her love life is in ruins, her contract demands a sequel to her bestselling crime debut – and she’s out of ideas. After a mortifying TV interview, her agent ships her off to a sun-drenched Sicilian villa with a simple order: finish the book. No distractions. No excuses. But inspiration doesn’t strike – murder does. When a night out ends in murder, Hannah finds herself at the centre of a murder investigation … again. The police want her out of the way, and the only person who seems to believe her is a young but charming Italian police officer. That is, until she doesn’t. Soon Hannah is chasing suspects, fleeing crime scenes, and doing whatever it takes to avoid becoming the next victim. She came to write a crime novel. Now she’s trapped inside one.
ABOUT JENNY LUND MADSEN
Jenny Lund Madsen is one of Denmark’s most acclaimed scriptwriters (including the international hits Rita and Follow the Money) and is known as an advocate for better representation for sexual and ethnic minorities in Danish TV and film. She made her debut as a playwright with the critically acclaimed Audition (Aarhus Teater) and her debut literary thriller, Thirty Days of Darkness, first in an addictive new series, won the Harald Mogensen Prize for Best Danish Crime Novel of the year, was shortlisted for the coveted Glass Key Award, longlisted for the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger, and won the Crime Fiction Lover Award for Best Crime Book in Translation. She lives in Denmark with her wife and young family.
Hope and resentment collide as Elara Vayle seeks a life beyond tragedy in Aurora’s Edge by Dane Reavers. The decision she makes sets her on a course that challenges her understanding of loyalty, family, and identity.
New Geneva’s elevated skyline stands in sharp contrast to the hardship endured in the Dredges below. After a Dominion explosion claims her parents’ lives, sixteen-year-old Elara Vayle hides aboard the starship Aurora in pursuit of autonomy. The ship functions as a tightly regulated community, where discipline coexists with concealed motives. Captain Mira’s leadership keeps operations steady, yet her shared history with Elara gradually reshapes their interactions. As Elara integrates into the vessel’s engineering systems, she must confront the resentment she harbors toward the Imperial Dominion. Pulse, an AI embedded with her father’s neural imprint, provides both technical insight and emotional complexity.
When sabotage threatens the ship’s stability, buried tensions surface. With the safety of the crew at stake, Elara must weigh loyalty against anger and determine what kind of future she intends to build.
Dane Reavers is a U.S. Navy veteran and electrical engineer whose career spans military service and industrial system design. He served as an Electronics Technician aboard the USS Vandegrift before returning to the Pacific Northwest to work in high-tech and manufacturing environments. His hands-on technical background brings a grounded, “wrench-in-hand” realism to Aurora’s Edge. He lives and writes in the Pacific Northwest with his family. Follow him on Instagram.
Chapter One
2425, EARTH New Geneva, the jewel of the Allied Planets, hung above the shadowed guts of the Dredges like a gleaming Elysium. The metal-slatted faux sky that split the two worlds cast its silent taunt down onto the grime-choked underbelly below
The neon lights of the cracked, ruined alleyways flickered like dying stars, casting sickly shadows of green and purple across the darkened brick and concrete of the under-city. A rumbling hum of industry permeated the air in an unending cacophony, a constant reminder of the dismal inevitability of cheap labor that fed the utopian ideals that loomed above them.
Among the dark streets and ruined buildings, the shanty Scragtown stood with rusted corrugated sheeting and rotting, moss-covered wooden beams that threatened to collapse under their own weight. The endless sea of shanties lay as a testament to the squalor of those who dwelled here. The criminals, revolutionaries, and runaways of Scragtown often quoted the popular mantra, “The rest of the Dredges are for the workers, the slaves of the AP. Scragtown is for us, the true dredge of society.”
In the dim, gray light, sixteen-year-old Elara Vayle hunched on the rotted sill of a filthy window. Tangled blonde hair hung around her shoulders, a single violet bang falling across her forehead. The panes that weren’t boarded up with cracked, worn wooden wood were covered with a thick layer of filth that made it nearly impossible to see through. Her bright, emerald eyes peered through a strip of smeared grime, staring up at the faux sky of the Dredges. Slim fingers toyed with a silver locket, engraved with a starfield, that hung from her neck on a tarnished chain. Along the rusted walls behind her, loose pieces of scrap paper were plastered, displaying complex technical schematics and calculations, drawn by hand.
“It’s time, Elara,” a familiar, snarky voice buzzed in her brain, “they’re not going to return.”
Elara averted her eyes from the cold steel grating that made up the Dredges’ sky and glanced down at the threadbare doll that had been carelessly cast aside. Her eyes were swollen and dry, she couldn’t produce any more tears, even though she desperately needed to. She exhaled, her voice low as she whispered, “Oh, Milo…” and stepped away from the window, lifted the doll to her reddened eyes, then let her arms fall, the little rag figure dangling limply between her fingers. With a sigh, she set it gently on the teal-painted dresser, her fingertips lingering on the greasy fabric.
“It’s no use fretting about them, Elara,” Pulse hummed, “they’re gone, we will be too if you don’t make up your mind, now.”
She returned to the window, her gaze returning to the sight of the cold, slatted surface, and her tenor shifted—soft, detached, “How long until she departs, Pulse?” she hummed to herself.
“It’s going to be a rough go of it, the streets are buzzing with enforcer drones,” Pulse grumbled, “you waited too long, the odds of reaching the ship now are low…” he ticked with a cold precision in her brain, calculating the exact odds, “… let’s just say it’s really low.”
It’s so dangerous out there, especially after what happened to Jax… and Tess… she glanced back at the doll … and Milo. The stupid thing looked like it was judging her, like everyone always did, as if to say, “You should’ve gone after them, it’s all your fault.” Her gut twisted, and she shoved the thought down, hard, then frowned as she silently mouthed the words to the abandoned doll, “I know…” her voice cracked, she couldn’t manage even a whisper. Her frame shuddered under the imaginations of what perverse horrors might have befallen poor Tess… poor Milo. There was nothing she could do about it, her ship had literally come in.
What’s a detail, theme, or clue in your book that most readers might miss on the first read—but you secretly hope someone notices?
The rumpled man in the junk market that Elara sees in her vision is described to resemble Fox Mulder from The X Files, although in this book, he is actually an alien from the race known as the Nords (an alien race that greatly resembles “weird-looking” humans).
When did this story or idea “click” into place for you—was there a single moment you knew you had to write it?
I have been wanting to write since I was in middle school. The decision to write this book was just one in a long string of failed attempts to get started. When the first draft for the book was only 35 pages in length, I asked myself how this could become a book. Mr. Google told me, “Use more subplots,” so I did, and got something of a novel going. At that point, the machine was unstoppable.
Which character or real-life person surprised you the most while writing this book, and why?
When I was writing Zora’s scenes, I couldn’t help but tear up. Her trauma and stoic silence in the face of her innermost fear spoke to me.
If your book had a soundtrack, what three songs would be on it and what scenes or moments would they pair with?
Funny you should mention a soundtrack. I already have one song fully produced for Aurora’s Edge, titled “Aurora’s Edge,” funnily enough. But while writing this book, I was heavily inspired by songs such as “We’ll Meet Again” by The Fat Rat, “Instant Crush” by Daft Punk, and “I Really Want to Stay at Your House” by Let’s Eat Grandma.
What’s one belief, question, or emotional truth you hope readers carry with them long after they finish your book?
Ideological, theocratical, political, and nationalistic viewpoints should not be used as an end-all, be-all of a person’s core. Someone can have their own beliefs and still be unique from the herd that shares their beliefs.
Tell us about a moment during the writing process when the story (or message) took an unexpected turn.
The book almost wrote itself at times, and themes kept creeping into the narrative that tied back into earlier themes. I think when Elara faces down death in the climax, it mirrors a tragedy of her past that makes the loss she faces more visceral.
If your protagonist (or the central figure in your nonfiction) could give the reader one piece of advice, what would it be?
When that little voice in your head that pushes you down your personal paradigm tells you how the world is set up, sometimes it’s better to ignore it, especially when the world screams back at you in contrast.
What real-world place, object, or memory helped shape a key element in your book?
As far as the Aurora’s layout goes, I would have to say that the USS Vandegrift was a primary real-world place that helped me describe the cramped space aboard the deep-space freighter.
What’s something you had to research, learn, or experience to write this book that genuinely shocked you?
Well, I have zero background in medicine, so I had to research how Elara breaking her ribs would affect her in both the short term and the long term.
If your book were invited to join a shelf with three other titles, which ones would make you happiest—and what would that shelf say about your story?
File this book between Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Project Hail Mary, with Dungeon Crawler Carl acting as the bookend to keep them all upright.
A decades-old murder. A haunting legacy. A plot for revenge.
Stella Darnell knows her partner Jack is hiding something. After following him one evening, she discovers he’s been consulting a psychic in a desperate attempt to reach his dead mother. A sceptic by nature, and feeling betrayed by his lies, Stella fears what this means for their relationship.
Seeking distraction, she accepts DI Toni Kemp’s invitation to join her for a holiday in a small village in Gloucestershire. But the visit is derailed when a body is discovered at a shrine where a woman died decades earlier.
Drawn into the investigation, Stella must confront the legacy of a once-famous psychic whose shadow still hangs over Prestbury – while in the darkness, someone bent on revenge waits patiently for the perfect moment to strike…
Perfect for fans of LJ Ross and Kate Rhodes, this is the tenth gripping mystery in this must-read series that can be enjoyed in any order.
Lesley Thomson is the bestselling author of The Detective’s Daughter series, which has sold over 850,000 copies worldwide. The tenth instalment, The Shrine, marks a major milestone in the acclaimed series. Renowned for her atmospheric, character-driven mysteries, Thomson’s writing has been likened to Barbara Pym for its keen psychological insight and wit. Her debut, A Kind of Vanishing, won the People’s Book Prize, cementing her reputation as a distinctive voice in crime fiction. She lives in Sussex with her partner and their dog. Visit her website at http://www.lesleythomson.co.uk
My thoughts: I don’t believe mediums can contact the dead, so I’m definitely team sceptic, like Stella here. She’s worried about her partner Jack, who wants to find a way to communicate with the mother he lost as a child.
While worrying about that, she goes on a little break to Gloucestershire and gets caught up in a murder case while out delivering fish (you have to read it, it will make sense) and coming across a body left at the roadside shrine for a woman killed years before in a hit and run.
Alongside Stella’s misadventures, there’s also Jane’s story. Jane is visiting an old friend in the same village Stella’s staying in. She’s got a rather different agenda however, her friend’s mother (now deceased) once sent her away with a threat. She’s determined to free her friend from the shadow of her awful mother, who was once a famous medium.
Obviously Stella’s and Jane’s paths will cross, as Stella investigates the murder of the man left at the shrine. But there’s a lot more going on too. From stalkers to dodgy builders, secrets and murder. It’s all here in this supposedly quiet village.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
We’re thrilled to present the cover for Vacation Situation by Jenny Alexandra! Pre-order now!
Vacation Situation (Evermore Book One)
Expected Release: August 31, 2026
Genre: Spicy Summer Romance/ Opposites Attract
Spicy
Opposites-attract
Forced Proximity
He-falls-first
Vacation Romance
Small-town
Summer Fling
Situationship
California cool girl Frankie Sinclair loves nothing more than a hot, forever-single girl summer. When she gets the chance to chillax for a week at the vibey Evermore Inn in Carmelita Bay, she sets her situationship-seeking sights on Theo Beck—a workaholic hottie and, unfortunately for her, a big relationship guy.
After their first encounter creates more sparks than fireworks on the beach, they agree to a one-week, no-strings-attached fling—a plan that becomes harder and harder to stick to as Frankie starts questioning her lifelong commitment to pushing love away.
Because sometimes the best situations are the ones that linger long after summer’s gone.
— He falls first
— A pirate-ship dance floor
— A high-heel mishap
— Fogged-up car windows
— A beach bonfire gone wrong
— Chocolate-covered strawberries
— Bestie love, always
— “Happy ending” massages
— On-again, off-again sexual tension that absolutely sizzles
Happy release day to author J. Morgyn White! Demons for Breakfast is now available!
Demons For Breakfast (Nightshade Hearts Book 1)
Release Date: March 13, 2026
Genre: Urban Fantasy Romance
🌿 Urban Fantasy
✨️ Reluctant Partnership
🌿 Cursed Hero
✨️ She Saves Him
🌿 Witch Romance
✨️ Slow burn
🌿 Based Magic
San Francisco is cracked open by demon portals, but Sorrel Redwood has always known the dead don’t stay quiet. A commune-raised herb witch with a silver mane and lavender-tinted shades, Sorrel makes her living banishing spirits and brewing intention oils. What she really wants, though, is revenge—the kind that only comes when she finds the demons who tore her mother from the world.
But when a botched banishment binds her to Ranth, a centuries-old wizard with more scars than secrets, Sorrel’s witch-for-hire gig turns into a war. Demon hounds are hunting. An ancient cult is watching. And thanks to the curse laced through Ranth’s golden bracelet—now mirrored on Sorrel’s own wrist—if he dies, she dies.
With her Scooby-gang of experts, a grumpy cat named Antimony, and every herb in her belt, Sorrel will have to decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice. Because in San Francisco, even the city of fog can’t hide the truth: not all demons wear horns, and not all hearts stay human.
A Cornish clifftop, a sunny afternoon, a quaint little teashop… but wait a minute. Is that jam, or blood? Maddie Penrose is determined to find out!
Maddie Penrose is staying with her beloved grandmother, Nor, at her gorgeously idyllic Cornish farm. She’s looking forward to days helping out in Nor’s little teashop and evenings wandering down the cliff path to watch the sunset. But before Maddie has even finished serving up scones on her first morning, a man bursts through the door: Nor’s neighbour Clive has found a body in the field behind the teashop…
Maddie is straight to the scene, fancying herself as a bit of an Agatha Christie. But solving this mystery is far from a piece of cake. Her list of suspects is jam-packed with locals, with some a little too close to home: the newcomer renting out one of Nor’s barns is acting suspiciously, the victim’s boyfriend has disappeared without trace, and Clive isn’t really Maddie’s cup of tea either…
But the proof is in the pudding when there’s another murder – her prime suspect is dead. And when Maddie finds a backpack belonging to the first murder victim, her diligent notetaking and quick thinking leads her to discover that the killer will act again, and soon. Maddie is horrified to discover that it looks like she is their next target…
Can Maddie and Nor work as a team to piece together the puzzle? Or will murdering Maddie be the icing on the cake for the killer?
A totally addictive, witty and warm cozy mystery that will keep you reading late into the night, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Verity Bright.
Fliss Chester lives in Surrey with her husband and writes historical cozy crime. When she is not killing people off in her 1940s whodunnits, she helps her husband, who is a wine merchant, run their business. Never far from a decent glass of something, Fliss also loves cooking (and writing up her favourite recipes on her blog), enjoying the beautiful Surrey and West Sussex countryside and having a good natter.
My thoughts: I really enjoyed this mystery set in my beloved Cornwall and investigated by someone who has a very similar name to mine!
Maddie is staying with her nan, Nor, who runs a tea shop on the family farm, and as a chef, she’s helping out with the baking. When the neighbouring farmer appears in the cafe covered in blood, she knows exactly what to do, call 999 and put the kettle on.
Maddie’s intrigued by the murder, and starts doing a bit of investigating of her own, plus the police detective in charge is rather dishy.
The case has plenty of twists and turns, and Maddie is learning a lot about the village and its residents. She’s writing a rather unusual recipe too – one that might end up in solving a murder. With help from two of the best named cats around – Crumpet and Toast.
I loved Fliss Chester’s other books and this was very good, and I’m looking forward to seeing what Maddie and Nor cook up next.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
A killer is hunting Auckland’s homeless. No one cares. No one but Max. These are his people…
Max Grimes is homeless, living on the streets of Auckland – among the forgotten, the invisible. But now someone is hunting the homeless, killing them one by one. No one cares. Except Max.
Trying to put his shattered life back together, Max is pulled into a deadly game when a face from his past reappears, reopening wounds he thought were long buried. As whispers of a Grim Reaper spread terror through the city, Max must race against time – not only to find the killer, but to outrun the ghosts chasing him. Because if he fails, he’ll be next.
Vanda Symon is a crime writer from Dunedin, New Zealand, and the President of the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa.
The Sam Shephard series, which includes Overkill, The Ringmaster, Containment, Bound, Expectant and Prey, hit number one on the New Zealand bestseller list, and has also been shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award, as has her then standalone thriller, Faceless. Overkill was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and Bound and Expectant have been nominated for USA Barry Awards. All six books have been digital bestsellers, and are in produc on for the screen.
Vanda lives in Dunedin.
My thoughts: the homeless community is vulnerable in so many ways, something this killer exploits. His methods are fiendish, if Max hadn’t asked his detective friend Meredith to dig a little deeper and order autopsies, the deaths would go unremarked, just more statistics.
Max has also been approached by perhaps the last person on earth he would want to help. But he doesn’t want to be distracted, someone has to stop the killer from taking the lives of any more homeless people – people he counts as friends, people who deserve better than being moved along and forgotten.
But Max is now on the killer’s radar and his life is in serious danger, and while his past has left him with some skills, his present situation makes him as vulnerable as any of the other victims.
Totally gripping, intelligent crime writing, with a protagonist who might have stopped being a detective, but still wants to help people.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 