The brand-new thriller featuring DCS Kat Frank and AIDE Lock, from the award-winning Sunday Times bestselling author of In the Blink of an Eye.
Human suspicion. AI manipulation. When truth can be rewritten, who can you trust?
DCS Kat Frank is back at the Future Policing Unit after a devastating loss – and straight into her most disturbing case yet.
On Halloween night, a local MP is found murdered. Beside the body is a taunting message in binary code, aimed directly at Kat:
Catch me if you can.
The victim was a vocal opponent of AI. The motive looks political. But as Kat investigates with her partner, AIDE Lock – the world’s first AI detective – the case spirals into something far more dangerous.
Then a cyberattack takes down the National Grid.
With the country in chaos and lives on the line, Kat and Lock must track a killer who is always one step ahead. But in a world of deepfakes, deception and digital ghosts, instinct is no longer enough.
Kat must decide whether to trust the one thing she still fears most: her AI partner.
Because this time, Lock may not just be solving the case.
He may be changing what it means to be human.
Can Kat stop a killer before the lights go out for good?
My thoughts: This series is so good, and so prescient as the debate about AI gathers steam.
Lock and Kat are investigating the murder of a local MP, her body found with a message that seems to be just for them.
As they investigate it seems their case has far reaching dimensions, as an unknown threat emerges and attacks the national grid, demanding the government should hand over millions in return for getting to keep the lights on.
At the same time, a member of Kat’s team has a critically ill child, if they don’t get the power back on, it could have serious consequences for them.
Seconded onto the government’s emergency response team, Kat and Lock must find this hidden threat and stop them before the generators run down.
I was absolutely gripped, such a good case, Kat is a great protagonist and even though Lock is an AI construct, he’s surprisingly human at times. I really enjoyed every page, Jo Callaghan is a fantastic writer.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
In the dead of night, lying in her father’s jungle lodge, Laelia watches her partner Aid sleeping – her mind racing with everything that’s brought her to this moment.
The heady Caribbean holiday when they first met.
The rum-fueled passion that, day by day, creeps into something darker.
The secrets she discovered in a hidden nook of the lodge, revealing a devastating past.
Above all, she thinks about the impossible decision she must make before dawn.
Does she stay silent and protect their newfound paradise? Or does she confront the lies which run as deep and dark as the lagoon – surfacing a dangerous truth from which there’s no return…
JO MOREY is a graduate of the Faber Academy and the Curtis Brown Breakthrough Mentoring Scheme. The Night Lagoon is her first novel, a literary suspense, for fans of The White Lotus and Where the Crawdads Sing. It was selected as The Sunday Times ‘Book of the Month’, is one of Good Housekeeping’s ’20 Hottest Books of the Summer’ and has been described by US Publishers Weekly as ‘Lush and immersive with a chillingly effective payoff.’
Like her protagonist, Jo wears hearing aids and suffers constant tinnitus. She lives in West Sussex at the foot of the South Downs with her husband, two boys and two Portuguese Water Dogs. Jo is currently working on her next novel, set on the North Island of New Zealand where she used to live.
My thoughts: Belize isn’t somewhere I know anything about, beyond the fact that it was once occupied by the British.
Laelia’s father is an academic specialising in orchids, of which Belize has many species. She and her sister Chloe are visiting him for his birthday, with their partners and children.
When he has a terrible accident and ends up in hospital, she decides to stay and look after his home, prepare it for his return. But as she and her partner Aid settle in with her children, Ella and Dylan and become part of the community, things start to go awry.
Aid has secrets, secrets Laelia needs to learn in order to stay safe. Her father knew some of them and if he ever wakes up, he’ll be able to tell her. But Aid isn’t behaving like his usual self and his past is beginning to intrude into their present.
Gripping and fascinating, with a great protagonist whose disability makes it harder for her to be sure what is true and what she’s heard.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Welcome to England’s New Forest, where clinging mists hide many a secret. Step beneath the towering pines — on any twisty heathland path — and you’ll soon realise there’s more to this place than meets the eye . . .
Detective Elinor Saxby leaves the city for a crooked little cottage near sleepy Lyndhurst village. It’s not exactly her dream home, cut off from everything and everyone she’s ever known. But Elinor will do anything to leave her troubled past behind. She can run from her demons. But she can’t hide.
The very next morning, Elinor gets a call from her new sergeant. A woman’s been found dead. Drowned in the pool of her luxury woodland spa. Her silk gown is ruined. Her perfect skin marred by livid red hand prints.
But it’s not these details that send Elinor spiralling in panic. It’s the victim’s name. Because the dead woman is no stranger to Elinor. She texted just last night to ask Elinor one last favour. Now the only favour Elinor can do her is to find her killer.
Linda Mather is the author of the Jo and Macy Mystery series. The 6th book in this series is THE PERFECT HOUSE FOR MURDER, published in August 2023. Her Jo and Macy Mystery books are Forecast Murder, A Sign for Murder, Murder as Predicted, The Hanged Man and A Future Murder, all published by Joffe Books and available on Amazon. They feature Jo Hughes and her private investigator boss David Macy. Jo is an astrologer, who also works as a PI and whose tenacious inquiries lead her to twisty resolutions.
The Jo and Macy Mysteries series is set in the West Midlands and Cotswolds. A sense of place is really important to Linda. She likes to research the places she writes about by visiting when she can to absorb the atmosphere, weaving the details into the stories.
The idea for her latest book came to her during lockdown during many canal walks. The cottages with their flower-filled window boxes and the idyllic pubs along the canal path are so pretty and perfect that it looks as if nothing bad could ever happen there. Linda saw this as a challenge.
Linda has recently landed a contract for 3 books in a police thriller series and is currently writing the first of these, which is set in the New Forest.
She also has plans for the next Jo & Macy Mystery.
My thoughts: Elinor has moved from the busy buzz of Birmingham Police to the sleepy New Forest, where she doesn’t think they have much crime. But her first case is murder, and the victim is someone she knows.
While the team get to work, Elinor has to deal with office politics, a new boss, and members of her team who would rather be anywhere else than here.
Luckily newly qualified Detective Constable Nancy is keen as mustard and determined to get to the bottom of the case, how did a trauma counsellor end up face down in the pool at a luxury hotel and spa with her lungs full of chlorine gas? And does an accident involving the same hotel’s handyman and his moped have anything to do with it?
As the case unfolds and the team starts to get used to their new DCI, can they get to the bottom of things and work together, and can Elinor whip them into shape subtly, avoiding comparisons with her predecessor, whose exit seems to be have been swifter than she originally believed. What is going on in the New Forest?
An enjoyable and engaging start to a new series, from which Nancy emerges as the most interesting character apart from Elinor, who has plenty of secrets of her own. I look forward to more in the next book.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Leo and Viv’s Friday night starts out like any other. A bottle of wine, a takeaway from their favourite Chinese restaurant, a movie, then an early night.
But when Leo wakes up, he finds he’s not in London anymore; he’s naked and alone in an unfamiliar bed, in an anonymous hotel, on the other side of the world. Viv wakes up to a ringing phone. It’s Leo – he claims that he’s in Australia, despite the impossibility of it. An emergency passport is arranged.
A return flight to London is booked, but before Leo can make it onto the plane, there’s a flicker in the corner of his vision, and he wakes up in another bed, in another hotel room, in another country.
Disoriented, Leo soon discovers he’s not alone. Someone with access to a groundbreaking technology and an axe to grind is beaming a group of individuals around the globe – and hunting them down, one by one, committing perfect, untraceable murders.
As Leo fights for his life, back in London, Viv is struggling to understand what’s happening. But as her investigation deepens she starts to unearth secrets from Leo’s past. Dark secrets. Secrets that might be enough to make someone want to kill him. And the more she learns about Leo, the less she seems to know and the less certain she is that her husband is a man worth saving.
Robin Brookes grew up in Sydney, Australia and now lives in Brighton, England. She has worked as a playwright, copywriter and bookseler. The idea for The Arrival came about after Robin heard, and misunderstood, the science behind the 2022 Nobel Prize for Physics. It is currently in development as a feature film.
My thoughts: This is a very clever story, you’re as at sea as Leo and Viv to begin with, as they try to make sense of how Leo has woken up on the other side of the world, 24 hours away by plane, just seconds it seems to them.
As the story unfolds, and Viv investigates how someone could be controlling where Leo finds himself, from Australia, to North Korea and beyond, you learn they face a dangerous and angry foe, intent on revenge for the sort of incidents that fester and become larger the longer you dwell on them. They’ve had access to an incredible new technology, and they’re using it to carry out their outsized revenge plan, despite it not officially being able to transmit people, just objects.
Viv is determined to get her husband back before she gives birth, and Leo must stay alive long enough to make it home, unsure who his enemy is, or what they’re capable of.
Tense, gripping and really enjoyable, this is a brilliant thriller with an ingenious plot.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own
Discover Italy’s bewitching region of Puglia with the seventh Daniel Leicester mystery, the most propulsive yet . . .
English detective and Bologna resident Daniel Leicester has been summoned by a dying relative to the wildest corner of Puglia, home to revered saints, fearsome mafia clans, hidden catacombs and sinister ceremonies.
As Daniel discovers that his Italian family’s history runs deep in the veins of the region, old grudges resurface, superstitions awaken and he is drawn into a case of stolen antiquities. But when a contact is murdered by mobsters, it’s clear that mafia rule is more powerful than local mysticism.
Lured by magic but trapped by the mob, Daniel is unable to return to his beloved Bologna. His family is bound to Puglia more tightly than he ever imagined, and powerful people want answers he can’t give. And when Daniel’s daughter is snatched during a Holy Week procession, he sees first-hand just how far they’re prepared to go . . .
Tom Benjamin grew up in the suburbs of north London and worked as a journalist before becoming a Scotland Yard spokesperson.
He later moved into public health, where he developed Britain’s first national campaign against alcohol abuse, and led FRANK, a drugs awareness programme.
He now lives in Bologna. Old Bones in Puglia is the seventh book in his Daniel Leicester series of mysteries.
My thoughts: Daniel is accompanying the Commandante to Puglia, where the older man once served and met his wife, who comes from the region.
They’ve been asked to come to the aid of archaeologists, who think their most recent finds are actually forgeries and the real ancient relics have been stolen to sell to the highest bidder.
But it’s all a lot more complicated than it first seems, there are secrets galore in a region where no one wants to talk to the police, or to a PI.
Then Daniel’s beloved daughter Rose is kidnapped in broad daylight. Is it connected to the case or something older, more confusing?
As Daniel attempts to understand the layered, complex tangle of superstitions, secrets and history in the place, he finds himself entangled with witchcraft, revenge and murder.
A clever, well written story that draws you in and keeps you hooked until the very last page. This series just gets better with every book.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
On the brink of war, one secret will tear a powerful family apart.
The Hartford sisters gather for one final night at Bonsall Hall, their once-grand family estate, on the eve of it being lost forever. The dinner is meant to mark an ending — a farewell to the house, the past, and the life they once knew. But before morning comes, everything changes.
Audrey, the youngest, is reckless and curious, always pushing against the rules that bind her. Katherine, the eldest, is controlled and calculating, fiercely protective of thefamily’s reputation at any cost. Beatrice clings to elegance and influence through her dangerous political connections, while Sophia’s radical beliefs place her on the opposite side of everything the family stands for.
When a guest disappears under suspicious circumstances, the fragile balance between the sisters begins to fracture. As Europe edges closer to war, their personal loyalties collide with their political convictions, and Audrey is drawn into a shadowy world of secrets, surveillance and power struggles that reach from country houses to intelligence offices.
With Britain racing to prepare for a conflict, the sisters must decide where they stand — with each other, with their country, or with their own beliefs. Because some truths could change the course of history… and some are deadly enough to destroy a family.
Of Sisters and Spitfires is a gripping historical thriller about family and the moral compromises made in the shadow of war, perfect for fans of Kate Atkinson and Robert Harris.
Frank Francis is a pseudonym for the combined work of George F. Brown and Guillaume Jest, known for their contributions to the historical thriller genre.
My thoughts: The Hartford sisters made me think of the Mitford sisters (probably intentionally), where they were on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Although they still had their parents and brother, and I think at least one of them was properly nuts.
The Hartfords struggle with their relationships, politics causing division, but they pull together when they have to. When a guest to the family home is killed mysteriously in the middle of the night, after visiting to bring them their brother’s journal, it seems there’s more to his visit than it first appears.
Youngest sister, Audrey, investigates with the help of a journalist friend, and is soon caught up in the huge changes sweeping Europe, especially in Germany, where she finds a cell of resistance fighters against the Nazi threat.
But what she soon learns is that things are much more complicated than it first appears, and her family secrets go deeper than she could imagine.
It’s a clever concept, a complex plot and reflects the real situation of the 1930s and 40s, as Europe headed to war.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Welcome to Honeybee’s diner, where the scent of butter and garlic wraps itself around you, thick and comforting. Jessie Haynes’ homestyle cooking feeds the hearts and souls of the good people of Willow Bluff. Until someone puts murder on the menu!
Y’all are invited to dig into a steamin’ plate of meatloaf. The diner’s well-worn red chairs have cradled folks from every corner of Willow Bluff—Jessie’s podcasting bestie, Tee, Old Mr Higgins, two mighty mischievous kittens, Biscuits and Gravy, and every tattling townsperson in between—so when the mayor turns blue after a bite of Jessie’s famous shrimp and grits, she finds herself in seriously hot water…
Suddenly, all eyes are swivelled toward Jessie. For fifty years her family has fed Willow Bluff, and Jessie won’t let one mouthful shatter the legacy of her grandmother’s secret recipes. The mayor’s peanut allergy was talk of the town, so when traces are found in his food, Jessie must fight to clear her name.
An empty peanut packet in the diner’s pantry has Jessie and Tee hot on the heels of the murderer when another case of food tampering occurs at a nearby bakery. Someone is dishing out delicious death sentences. How many locals will get served before Jessie can crack the case? Her investigation must be a recipe for success or Honeybee’s will be toast…
This unputdownable and addictive cozy mystery is full of Southern charm, a gripping whodunnit and a feisty amateur sleuth. It’s perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, Ellery Adams and Joanne Fluke.
Skylar Warren is a Chicago native and a graduate of Chicago State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, Media Arts and Theatre. She now lives in New York City and works as a claims adjuster. In her spare time, she enjoys watching mysteries and solving puzzles.
My thoughts: This was a fun and enjoyable crime caper centering on a diner in a small town called Willow Bluff. Jessie has taken over the diner her grandmother founded, cooking her recipes for the town.
Until disaster strikes and the mayor drops dead of anaphylaxis on the diner’s anniversary. He’s well known to be allergic to peanuts and Jessie is insistent that her kitchen is peanut free, so how did the nuts get into his food?
Did someone murder the mayor and frame Jessie? Luckily she has a crack team of investigators – also known as her friends – to solve the case. And it helps that the sheriff is on her side too, the evidence has been collected and is being analysed.
Unfortunately the town is a gossip’s paradise and the local estate agent, a rather nasty woman, cannot stop spreading rumours and undermining Jessie’s attempts to assert her innocence.
I hope this becomes a series, with Jessie and her friends solving crimes in their small town, the characters are fun and there are cats called Biscuits and Gravy.
*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 man returning from war often expects to find something left behind, some piece of life waiting to be reclaimed. In The Devil’s Shadow series by Burt Tyson, Captain Robert Hester instead faces a reality where everything he once relied on has vanished, leaving him to confront what comes after loss.
For Captain Robert Hester, the end of the war does not bring closure. It leaves him wounded, hunted, and without direction in a world that has moved on without him. The structures that once defined his life have fallen away, replaced by a path shaped entirely by consequence and personal choice.
His story begins in The Shadow Appears, where he emerges from the war with his name placed on a Union kill list as the Confederacy collapses around him. Returning home offers no refuge. Instead, he is met with a devastating loss that erases everything he expected to find. What follows is no longer about causes or commands, but a deeply personal pursuit. Riding with his loyal sergeant through a fractured landscape, he confronts a world where survival often outweighs honor and former soldiers have become something harder and less certain.
Without that driving force, The Shadow Grows places Hester in unfamiliar land, moving forward without purpose and carrying the weight of what remains. A chance encounter with a wounded Apache elder draws him into a different way of living, one grounded in patience and discipline. When violence threatens those around him, he must decide whether to remain apart or step forward, knowing the choice will define his future.
Burt Tyson writes historical Western fiction rooted in the aftermath of the Civil War, where questions of honor, loss, and survival take center stage. Influenced by classic storytellers like Louis L’Amour, Larry McMurtry, and the Western television heroes he grew up watching, his work explores what happens when the fight is over and a man is left to decide who he is without it.
His Devil’s Shadow series follows Captain Robert Hester through a fractured post-war America and into the unforgiving frontier beyond.
Tyson lives in a small town in South Carolina, where the landscape is quiet—but the stories he tells are anything but. Visit Burt at his website.
The Shadow Appears
Chapter 1
The buzzing woke me. I opened my eyes. It was morning. I saw the blowfly on the sheet that covered my chest, staring at me through his two large eyes, his wings vibrating in the still air.
I didn’t even bother to shoo him away. It was a waste of time. There were too many of them. There shouldn’t have been. It was the last week of March in Richmond in 1865, and there should have been a few in sun-warmed windows and no more.
But this was the Chimborazo Hospital and blowflies were everywhere, along with the groans and cries of wounded men— many dying—and the ever-present stench of disease, gangrene, human waste, and blood.
We were a sad lot. Too little medicine. Too little food. Too little hope. Too much pain. Too much fear. And for many, too few limbs.
But it was far better than the field hospital where I had lain for a day after being shot. Or the jolting, painful wagon ride to Richmond.
I had been here since the middle of December. First, it was the wound and the blood loss. Then, the fever had come. And, now, it was just the weakness. I didn’t have the strength to get out of bed—a pretty pitiful sight for a cavalry officer.
I heard the click of cavalry boots on the wooden floor before I saw the figure. Captain Jonathan Washburn stood at the end of my bed. His left sleeve was folded up and pinned at the shoulder. I could never get used to seeing him without his arm.
“Well, Captain, I suppose you’ve malingered long enough. You have new orders. Get yourself dressed. We’re taking you out of all this.”
“I’m being released from this hell-hole? You mean that?”
“I do, indeed. Turley, front and center, man. Get yourself out here and help the captain.”
Sergeant Josiah Turley materialized as if out of thin air. A lean, wiry mountain boy, Turley was raw-boned, with a shock of red hair and a disposition to match.
It was Turley, more than anyone else, who had saved me.
The Shadow Grows
Chapter 1
I rode out of Parral with no sense of purpose, no mission. I was lost. I still had the dreams. Every night.
They began as they always did, with the bloody tears streaming from my mama’s portrait, the wraithlike figures of Aunt Callie, my daddy, my sister, and my fiancée swirling about me, asking why I hadn’t saved them. And then, after the fire and the blood of my home place, the faces of Ruth and Laurie and the bodies of Abby and Jacob. And then all of the loved ones in the dream swirled around me like tormented spirits. Their voices joined together in a single chorus. Though their mouths never moved, I heard their words.
You’ve failed us. Where is our vengeance? Where is our peace? What are we to do?
Their haunting bodies pressed around me, choking me with their presence.
And each night I would come awake, unable to breathe, my heart racing. It always felt like I would never regain my breath or still my heart. The oppression of sadness and pain and guilt never seemed to go away.
As I rode westward, riding the big gray stallion, Quicksilver Ghost, and leading three other horses, Lady Red, the bay I had given my sister, and two black geldings, I still carried the hope of revenge on George Stoneman for what his bummers had done to the ones I loved back in Virginia and North Carolina. But with the failure of Jo Shelby’s plans to regroup and reenter Texas to continue the fight against the Yankees, I had little left but despair. I rode the lonely wastes of Chihuahua State in Mexico, heading for the Copper Canyon. I had nothing else to do that mattered.
I decided I would enter the Barrancas del Cobre, the Copper Canyon, from the west and ride back toward Texas. I rode through the towns of La Noria, El Tule, San Pablo Balleza, La Loma, Yoquivo, Batopilas, La Bufa, and Cusarare. At each of the towns, I found a place for my horses and cared for them. I ate in whatever cantina the town had to offer and drank mescal.
At Cusarare, I rode east toward the canyon, descending into the most desolate country I had ever seen. And the most beautiful. From the high mountain ridges to the bottom of the canyon, I went from alpine peaks of pines and Douglas fir at almost eight thousand feet to huge figs and palm trees at the bottom of the canyon at just eighteen hundred feet above sea level.
For the next two weeks, I rode through the Copper Canyon. I marveled at the copper and green color of the canyon walls and the beauty and stillness of it. There was plentiful game, and I ate well while riding through this marvel of nature. I saw no one and no sign of anyone.
The peace and solitude felt good. I thought a lot. About my life for the past few years. And about what the Padre had said to me. But I still had the dreams.
Q & A
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? That men, at least prior to current times, were never taught to deal with failure. And, yet, the loss of the War and the “Cause” carried with it, often, the loss of home, family, future and purpose. What better metaphor for failure than the Confederate soldier after the Civil War?
When did this story or idea “click” into place for you—was there a single moment you knew you had to write it? The issue of men and loss had been around since the mid-1980s when I was forced to close a business and my wife divorced me. Around 1990, I wrote a novel which would become the 5th novel in this series. After my 2nd wife died in 2016, I started writing again and wrote the 1st novel in the series which sets the tone and the themes for the rest of the series: loss, failure, guilt, despair…and, perhaps, redemption.
Which character or real-life person surprised you the most while writing this book, and why? The Mexican Padre (not a real-life person). His thoughts and questions surprised me as they were not ones I had had.
If your book had a soundtrack, which songs would be on it and what scenes or moments would they pair with? The Theme Song of the Gray Ghost TV series about John Singleton Mosby for the opening of the novel. “Lorena,” during and after the destruction of his home and the killing of his family and his fiance. “The Bonnie Blue Flag,” during the journey through the devastated South to rejoin Jeff Davis and then to reach Texas. “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” as Captain Hester, Sergeant Turly and Corporal Travis enter and ride through Texas. A Mexican song celebrating the Battle of Puebla (e.g., La Paloma Juarista), as a foretelling of the outcome of Shelby’s attempt to negotiate with Maximillian, to be played during the scene when Hester explains his break with Shelby. Mariachi music in the scene in the cantina with confrontation with Mexican vaquero. “Ave Maria instrumental” for the scenes with Padre Jose as Hester is recovering from wounds. The theme song for the movie The Outlaw Josie Wales for the final scene of the novel.
What’s one belief, question, or emotional truth you hope readers carry with them long after they finish your book? That the Cowboy Code endures…honor.,honesty, courage, knowing right from wrong.
Tell us about a moment during the writing process when the story (or message) took an unexpected turn. The introduction of Jim Dandy Travis and the events in Dogtown and on the Travis ranch.
If your protagonist (or central figure) could give the reader one piece of advice, what would it be? Fight for right and saddle up no matter how high the risk.
What real-world place, object, or memory helped shape a key element in your book? Jo Shelby’s retreat into Mexico.
What’s something you had to research, learn, or experience to write this book that genuinely surprised you? Almost everything. Civil war guns, post-war Natchez, Shelby’s march into Mexico, horses, etc.
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? Lonesome Dove, The Daybreakers, Kilkenny, Appaloosa That this is a Western about strong men with honor, fighting for a place to live and overcoming life’s circumstances.
A kidnapped girl. An impenetrable fortress. Sounds like a job for Breed.
Keen to discover what she knows about a looming conspiracy, Breed and Stein plan to question German cabaret performer Käthe Ziegler in New York.
Their plan is derailed when Käthe is kidnapped by a team of professionals. They want her and a piece of jewelry she’s been hiding — an ancient gold seal she stole from the most dangerous man in Europe.
Karl Graf is Germany’s Vice-Chancellor, the head of a secret society of senior politicians and industrialists, and a man with a plan to reshape the continent. He wants his seal back. He wants Käthe back. And he’s prepared to kill anyone who gets in his way.
Breed and Stein discover that Kathe has been taken to a castle high in the Bavarian Alps. Against all odds, they climb to the fortress, which sits atop a lethal three-thousand-foot peak.
Inside, they find Käthe, Graf, and the truth about an eighty-year-old conspiracy that began in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany and ends — in a bloody climax — on Christmas Eve.
Blood Pact — Book Thirteen in the stunning Breed action thriller series. Perfect for fans of Jason Kasper, Jack Carr, and Lee Child.
Cameron Curtis has spent thirty years on trade floors as a trader and risk manager. He was on the trade floor when Saddam’s tanks rolled into Kuwait, when the air wars opened over Baghdad and Belgrade, and when the financial crisis swallowed the world.
Having written fiction as a child, he is the author of the Breed action thriller series.
My thoughts: Breed and Stein are in Germany, which is supposed to be an ally, but as they attempt to keep Käthe from her captors, they discover a conspiracy that dates back to during WWII and the Nazi obsession with the supernatural.
As with all the Breed thrillers, the plot moves very quickly and I found the parts where Käthe is relating the history of her family and their relationship with the Grafs, quite slow in comparison.
There’s also a lot of gunfights and dead bodies – obviously they’re mostly henchmen so even their employer doesn’t really care, even when Breed is chucking them down the cliff the German castle they’re holed up in, stands on.
As Käthe fills in the back story, Stein and Breed are working out what the group of powerful politicians are up to in their castle stronghold at Christmas. Could they be preparing to bring down the world as it currently stands and go back to their grandparents’ time?
Thankfully Breed and Stein are there, as there seems to be a mole and worryingly their Director and President might be a bit more involved in this than either operative would like.
We still don’t learn anything about Breed, his past is a closed book, but he does get to be the hero of the hour, and even if he doesn’t believe in the supernatural element of this mission – he is very clear on the potential fall out should it succeed.
After another success, he and Stein must head back to the US to confront their Director and try to locate the mole – the one who almost cost their lives this time.
*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 touring April release, Brake Me by Athena & Marluxia Bliss. Guaranteed to rev engines and curl toes!
Brake Me
Release Date: April 24, 2026
Genre: Very Spicy MM Paranormal Romance
Possessive Love Interest
Only One Who Understands Me
Slow Burn to Obsession
Forbidden Love
Found Family (Garage Edition)
Touch-Starved Meets Touch-Hungry
Machine With A Soul
Love from the first Vroom
“Fucking Fox was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. The shadows of the car wrapped around me, through me, surrounding every nerve with heat and motion.
I knew how to drive him, and Fox clearly knew how to drive me crazy.”
Buying a 1992 Mustang was a stupid idea, and Al knew it, but he had loved that car from the very first moment he’d laid eyes on him. He’d never expected that the car would love him back, until a dark, shadowy figure appeared in the passenger seat beside him, eager to show Al his gratitude. Al’s new car, Fox is a jealous, possessive, powerful machine that adores his new owner and will happily distract Al from his driving, but when the two are forced apart, both will have to make sacrifices before they can be reunited.
Please be sure to read the content warning carefully!
ramblingmads 