Category: reviews

books, reviews

Book Review: Henry Crowne Paying the Price Books 1&2: Collapse & Breaking Point – Freddie P Peters

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He is a secret IRA operative.

He is one of the most successful City banker in London …

Now he is accused of murder.

Henry Crowne’s case seems decided from the very beginning. His Irish background, financial terrorist connections and City reputation inexorably tilt the scales against until Nancy Wu, former eminent Queen’s Counsel accepts to mount Henry’s defence. Will she manage to unpick the devious manipulations of a most twisted case before the shadows of her own past swallow her down?

Collapse is a political and espionage thriller, the first book in the Henry Crowne: Paying the Price series. If you like The Big Short by Michael Lewis, The Fear Index by Robert Harris and A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks you will enjoy the twists and turns of Freddie P Peters’ latest fast-paced thriller.

Discover Collapse now…

One financial terrorist in prison,

Two City bankers dead,

And … a $350 trillion banking scandal called LIBOR.

The suspicious suicide of two high-profile City bankers brings former QC Nancy Wu and Inspector Jonathan Pole together again in an investigation that implicates the UK government, the Bank of England, and London’s top banking executives.

As the true motive of the deaths continues to elude them, Nancy persuades a reluctant Inspector Pole to involve Henry Crowne. Once a brilliant financier, Henry is now serving a 30-year sentence in the obscure High Security Unit of HMP Belmarsh for financial terrorism.

A $350 trillion scandal is about to explode, rocking the fragile beginnings of the global recovery. Can the unlikely team unravel this complex puzzle before a dark plan destroys it all?

‘Breaking Point’ is a political and espionage thriller, the second book in the ‘Henry Crowne: Paying the Price series. If you liked The Big Short, The Fear Index or the TV series The Body Guard, you will enjoy the twists and turns of Freddie P Peters’ latest fast-paced thriller.

My thoughts: the author got in touch a while ago and very kindly sent me these books for an honest review.

I know virtually nothing about the finance world – I graduated into the mess of the 2008 crisis when all the jobs dried up, and I still don’t fully understand what happened. But these clever thrillers do a good job of explaining the financial skullduggery behind a series of murders and supposed accidents.

I really like Nancy Wu, former barrister, art collector and now advisor to Scotland Yard. She’s smart, connected and a bit scary, I think if you came up against her in court you’d think twice. I also really liked Inspector Pole, he was a fascinating figure and I want more about his back story.

Henry is a bit of an anti-hero, he’s done some terrible things, but is trying to pay for them by helping Pole investigate some highly suspicious deaths in the City. Even though Pole is the one who arrested him. They respect each other’s expertise and insights, even if they’re not exactly friends.

There are lots of twists and turns in Henry’s eventual downfall, some of which he causes himself (don’t walk into your boss’ office and point a gun at him as armed police are storming the building!) But somehow Henry escapes unscathed enough to accept his punishment.

Join me in December for books 3 and 4, and check out the author’s website for exclusive short stories related to the series and more.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Bone Shard Emperor – Andrea Stewart

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The Emperor is Dead. Long live the Emperor.  
 
Lin Sukai finally sits on the throne she won at so much cost, but her struggles are only just beginning. Her people don’t trust her. Her political alliances are weak. And in the north-east of the Empire, a rebel army of constructs is gathering, its leader determined to take the throne by force.  
 
Yet an even greater threat is on the horizon, for the Alanga–the powerful magicians of legend–have returned to the Empire. They claim they come in peace, and Lin will need their help in order to defeat the rebels and restore peace.  
 
But can she trust them?  

My thoughts: Lin is now emperor, she’s stopped the cruel practices of her father, she’s trying to keep the empire together, find out her father’s secrets, rule fairly and not fall victim to her inherited enemies. As she plans a tour of the islands, an army of constructs is gathering and other threats are coming too.

I like Lin, I feel a bit sorry for her, she’s up against an awful lot and doesn’t have many people she can trust to have her back. Even her Captain of the Guard, Jovis, has reasons to betray her. But they have to work together to solve the Alanga mystery – are they both possessed of the powers of the ancient magicians?

I also really like Jovis, and his companion Mephi, I like their relationship and the way Jovis wants to trust Lin but isn’t sure he should. I also really liked Phalue and Ranami, I think they were really interesting as they tried to govern their island and support Lin from afar. Up against their own challenges, it’s a bit like the empire in miniature.

This series just gets better and better, it’s a really enjoyable fantasy world, there’s a lot of clever, interesting things going on, the magic system is really intriguing and I enjoyed all the politics and intrigue.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Extreme Prejudice – Gordon Bickerstaff

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Read my reviews on some of the other books in this series – Everything To Lose The Black Fox

A foreign embassy official warns the UK government of a bomb attack on London. Zoe Tampsin’s Lambeth Group team is launched into a race against time to find the terrorists.

As Zoe unpicks the details, she suspects the informant didn’t tell her the whole story. With time running out, her team chase a promising lead only to have it wrenched from their grasp. Either the bombers were incredibly lucky, or they received a tip-off.

One of her team infiltrates the bombers. She discovers the attack has started, and her colleague Gavin Shawlens is missing, presumed killed by the terrorists.

While searching for Gavin, a massive disaster unfolds. Can Zoe stop colossal loss of life in a small community and prevent the collapse of a key pillar of society.

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I was born and brought up in Glasgow, Scotland. I studied biochemistry, and I’ve worked in several Scottish universities where I did research on enzymes, and taught biochemistry. After thirty years of teaching and research I retired my academic pen, and took up a mightier fiction pen. 

I live in central Scotland with my wife and we enjoy reading, writing, and walking in the hills.

The Lambeth Group books follow the secret government investigations of undercover agent Zoe Tampsin. A strong female protagonist with courage, determination, and guile. She works with specialist consultant, Gavin Shawlens.

 Follow him at:
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My thoughts: I’ve really enjoyed the previous Lambeth Group books I’ve read, they’re really fast paced with lots of action and conspiracies. Extreme Prejudice is no different. Zoe and her team are after a group of suicide bombers, or so they think. There’s also a dodgy fake doctor peddling “cures” that seems connected and needs looking into, so she sends Gavin in undercover with Holly to see what they can find.

Of course something goes wrong and the team have to launch into action to stop the terrorists from carrying out their evil ploy, and rescue a missing journalist. Everything moves quickly and plans have to change on the spot.

These books are very readable, Gordon doesn’t make you suffer through pages of exposition and instead delivers a cracking plot that whizzes along. He’s also a massive supporter of book bloggers, so I’m very grateful for that. If you want a fun, fast paced, topical thriller with lots of action and adventure (and gadgets) then read this series.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Kingscastle – Sophie Holloway

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An enchanting romance that fans of Bridgerton will take to their hearts Captain William Hawksmoor of the Royal Navy never expected to inherit Kingscastle and is none too pleased when he does so. Especially when he learns that he must marry within a year or be forever dealing with trustees. As the new Marquis of Athelney, the captain takes command of Kingscastle and discovers much to be done to set it in order. He must also contend with his aunt, Lady Willoughby Hawksmoor, who is determined that her daughter will be his wife. When she discovers he is far more interested in Eleanor Burgess, her underpaid and much put-upon companion, Lady Willoughby shows she will stop at nothing to keep them apart.

Author Biography. Sophia Holloway read Modern History at Oxford, also writes the Bradecote and Catchpoll medieval mysteries as Sarah Hawkswood. Website

My thoughts: this was a lot of fun, with Captain William Hawksmoor having to deal with terrible relatives, his aunt was a complete bitch, ancient buildings, bad weather – I loved him buying boats to rescue people in the flood, so very naval. His friends were also excellent people and when he finally goes after the love of his life, nothing can stand in his way. Especially Lady Willoughby, who I would definitely have pushed out of a window.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Gift Book One; Eleanor – R.A. Williams Plus: A Giveaway!

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A lush historical adventure that’s equal parts Gothic horror as it is tale of lost love, The Gift: Eleanor is the first in an exhilarating new trilogy that takes you from the Titanic to the trenches of WWI, and Honduran shipwrecks to ancient crypts in the heart of London.

The North Atlantic, 14 April 1912. Amid the chaos of the sinking Titanic, a young Eleanor Annenberg meets the eyes of a stranger and is immediately captivated. As the ship buckles around them, she follows him down into the hold and finds him leaning over an open sarcophagus, surrounded by mutilated bodies. She catches but a glimpse of what lies within before she’s sucked into a maelstrom of freezing brine and half-devoured corpses.

Elle is pulled out of the water, but the stranger – and the secrets she stumbled upon – are lost. Unintentionally, however, he leaves her a gift; one so compelling that Elle embarks on a journey that pulls her into a world of ancient evils, vicious hunters and human prey to find the man who saved her that fateful night. From trench warfare at Cape Helles in 1915 to a shipwreck in the tropical shallows off the Honduran coast, from a lost mine beneath the towering Externsteine in a Germany on the verge of war to the gothic crypts of Highgate Cemetery in London, Elle gets closer to a truth she has sought for most of her life. But at what cost? Gifts, after all, are seldom free.

An immersive gothic story spanning decades, The Gift is a compelling read that weaves the supernatural of Dracula with the adventure of Indiana Jones.

My thoughts: this was a fun, adventurous romp through early twentieth century history, a lot of it terrible, following in the footsteps of a monster who kills his own kind and recruits others to his cause. Elle spends her life in pursuit of the mysterious Balthazar, hunting him across the globe, from Michigan to Folkestone, the Caribbean to German forests, she won’t stop looking.

Hidden in the relics and artifacts of ancient civilizations are clues to the creatures known as Crimen – the Guilty. Vampiric monsters who want only to feed on the flesh of the living, they wiped whole societies out, and few references to them remain. As a ethnologist, Elle has studied these traces, putting forward a theory about them that she slowly discovers might just be right.

She risks her life to find out more, especially as Germany edges towards the Second World War, her being American doesn’t stop her being Jewish making the increasingly violent state suspicious of her. But in being sent to Britain, a place she left in 1912, she might just finally get her answers.

Elle is a sort of scientific proto-Buffy. In love with a monster, and in need of her own Scooby gang (yes I spent my teens obsessively watching the show, yes I can still quote bits of it.) She’s incredibly smart and doesn’t care much about her personal safety. Balthazar has left clues all over the world as he wades through the trenches at Gallipoli, or hunts in the Belgian Congo, for the banshee Siobhan, carving a legend along the way. Setting everything up for an incredible series of exciting and hair raising adventures.

Who wants to win a book?

Fancy winning a copy of this fantastic tale? Then simply follow me on Twitter and tweet me this password: #TheGiftisGiving you have between right now and publication day on December the 9th.

UK/Ireland only, book will be provided by the publisher. ramblingmads is not responsible for safe delivery of your prize.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: High Pressure – Sam Blake

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As temperatures soar across Europe during the hottest summer for forty years, a series of hoax terrorist attacks is generating panic in London. Then a bus blows up on Oxford Street and the hoaxes have suddenly become real. 

Student Brioni O’Brien has been desperately trying to contact her older sister since she unexpectedly returned early from travelling, so when Marissa’s bag is found near the site of the explosion, she fears the worst.

Teaming up with terrorism expert Anna Lockharte to search for Marissa, Brioni discovers that her sister had

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Sam Blake’s debut novel, Little Bones, was No 1 in Ireland for four weeks, and was nominated for Irish Crime Novel of the Year. It launched the bestselling Cat Connolly trilogy. Her first standalone psychological thriller, Keep Your Eyes On Me, went straight to No 1 and its follow-up, The Dark Room was an Eason Ireland No 1 for three weeks. Sam is originally from St. Albans in Hertfordshire but has lived at the foot of the Wicklow mountains for more years than she lived in the UK.

Follow her on social @samblakebooks. Visit http://www.samblakebooks.com for news and events and get a bonus free short story in audio & text when you subscribe to her newsletter.

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My thoughts: this was a clever and complex thriller that goes in directions that aren’t as predictable as it might first appear. Marissa and Brioni are Irish sisters who get caught up in a plot to cause terror in central London by terrorists. Luckily there’s a whole team of experts looking out for them after Marissa disappears and Brioni goes looking for her.

I liked Brioni a lot, she was pretty smart and determined not to let her sister’s disappearance go ignored, even with all the other things happening. I also really liked Anna, who even though she didn’t know Marissa and had only just met Brioni, she was more then willing to help out and stick by Brioni as she hunts for her sister.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: The Imperfect Art of Caring – Jessica Ryn

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One small act can make a big difference

Violet Strong is strong by name but not by nature, or so she thinks. She listens but never talks about herself. She’s friendly but doesn’t have many real friends. She’s become good at keeping people at a distance ever since she left home at eighteen and never looked back.

But when Violet is forced to return home to care for her estranged mother Glenys, she quickly finds out that life as a carer isn’t easy. Feeling overwhelmed, she’s forced to turn to the other local carers, including childhood friend Adam, for help. Although returning home still feels like a mistake, maybe it will help Violet right some wrongs. After all, she can’t keep running from her past forever, and in learning to look after others, perhaps Violet can start to finally love herself.

My thoughts: I loved Jessica Ryn’s first book, The Extraordinary Hope of Dawn Brightside, and this is brilliant too. It made me cry, I felt so connected to the characters. I’m technically a carer, although I have my own disabilities, my husband is a paraplegic and I care for him. It can be very lonely at times, when things have been bad, and I totally related to the caring figures in this book. But I also related to Abbas, and his mental health issues, I have depression and anxiety, there are days when I can’t cope, can’t get out of bed, can’t do simple things. So I understood him, and Violet’s mum Glenys, too.

This book was so lovely and sweet and sad, and I wanted to reach into the pages and hug Violet and Tammy. Honestly if you need a dose of comfort reading, full of friendship and hot chocolate and soup, and love, then read this.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: Cytonic – Brandon Sanderson

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Spensa’s life as a Defiant Defense Force pilot has been far from ordinary.

She proved herself one of the best starfighters in the human enclave of Detritus and she saved her people from extermination at the hands of the Krell – the enigmatic alien species that has been holding them captive for decades. What’s more, she travelled light-years from home as a spy to infiltrate the Superiority, where she learned of the galaxy beyond her small, desolate planet home. Now, the Superiority – the governing galactic alliance bent on dominating all human life – has started a galaxy-wide war. And Spensa has seen the weapons they plan to use to end it: the Delvers. Ancient, mysterious alien forces that can wipe out entire planetary systems in an instant.

Spensa knows that no matter how many pilots the DDF has, there is no defeating this predator.

Except that Spensa is Cytonic. She faced down a Delver and saw something eerily familiar about it. And maybe, if she’s able to figure out what she is, she could be more than just another pilot in this unfolding war. She could save the galaxy. The only way she can discover what she really is, though, is to leave behind all she knows and enter the Nowhere. A place from which few ever return.

To have courage means facing fear. And this mission is terrifying.

My thoughts: I have really enjoyed this series, and was excited to read this next book in Spensa’s story.

In this she escapes her captors and enters the nowhere, a strange realm inside reality, where she must learn more about her cytonic abilities and find a way home. She meets new friends, including a man who just might be M-Bot’s original pilot, some pirates and some strange creatures. She learns more about the Superiority and the delvers and about herself too.

This was such a brilliant book, it really advanced the overarching story while also allowing Spensa to act as though she was in one of the adventure story’s her Gran-Gran told her. Although I will choose to ignore her belief that David Bowie isn’t real. I loved seeing more of M-Bot as he became more sentient, and Hosho, and of course the magnificent Doomslug. Cannot wait for Defiant, the next chapter in the tale.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: The Soul Catcher – Monica Bhide

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Set in modern India in a dimension where time and space are fluid, Monica Bhide’s The Soul Catcher, a novel in stories, is a mosaic narrative about destiny, grief, loss, faith, love, and sisterhood. It takes us on a magical journey that begins with an unspeakable tragedy, and concludes with a surprising resolution. It chronicles the life of Yamini Goins — the Soul Catcher — a woman who transports souls from one body to another to keep people alive. In Yamini’s India, one set in harsh realities and far removed from tourist traps and movie cliches, anguish and death battle second opportunities and powerful prayers in an eternal dance in which magic and the impossible are mere elements of everyday life. Is death the end? What are the consequences of prolonging life by supernatural means? How does pain shape our identity?

A violent, touching, unique narrative with a great sense of place, The Soul Catchers features a diverse cast of complex characters – pain healers and lovers, parents and broken souls – that bring life and death to the page. The Soul Catcher explores that which makes us human—the desire to live, the fear of death, the longing for love and the release that comes with the acceptance of fate. Throughout the dark overtones of the interwoven tales of this book, an electric current of transcendence echoes from every page as each character attempts to shift his or her destiny to the whims of their hearts. 

Monica Bhide is an award-winning writer, accomplished literary coach, gifted poet, storyteller, and educator with a lyrical voice and universal appeal. As a bestselling fiction and internationally renowned cookbook author, Monica is known for sharing food, culture, mystery, and love in her writing. 

A respected writing authority, Monica appears regularly on NPR and conducts sold-out workshops on writing, food, culture, and scheduled speaking events at prestigious venues as the Smithsonian Institution, Sackler Gallery, Les Dames d’Escoffier, Georgetown University, and Yale University. She has taught all over the world including conferences in London, Dubai, US etc. She has also been the “Writing Coach in Residence” for the annual conference of the Association of Food Journalists.

  • Monica’s short story collection, The Devil in Us, topped the list on Kindle as a bestseller in its category of Literary Short Fiction. Her memoir, A Life of Spice, was picked by Eat Your Books as one of the top five food memoirs of 2015.
  • Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi picked Bhide’s Modern Spice (Simon & Schuster, 2009), as one of the “Best Books Ever” for Newsweek in 2009.
  • The Chicago Tribune named Monica “one of the seven food writers to watch in 2012”.
  • In April 2012, Mashable.com picked her as one of “the top ten food writers” on Twitter.
  • Her work has garnered numerous accolades and has been included in four Best Food Writing anthologies (2005, 2009, 2010, and 2014).

As a noted international food writer, Monica has built a diverse and solid audience through her books and articles in top-tier media such as: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Ladies Home Journal, AARP-the Magazine, Parents Chicago Tribune , Christian Science Monitor, Bon Appétit, Town and Country Travel, Food and Wine, Cooking Light, Coastal Living, Health, Better Nutrition, and many others.

Monica lives in Virginia with two sons.

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My thoughts: this was a lyrical and beautiful book about love, pain, and saving lives. A magical realist novel featuring people with special gifts, from the titular soul catcher, her healer sister, a little girl who can summon the rain, another who can see the truth. Each story builds into a larger narrative connecting the soul catcher to each character along the way, as she returns to India in time to save the life of someone important to her.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: Deadly Little Lies – Stephanie DeCarolis

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THE PERFECT LIFE

Juliana Daniels finally has the life she’s always dreamed of. A loving husband, a career as an attorney, and a cozy apartment in Manhattan to call home.

But when she gets a message from an old college friend, her blood runs cold. Remember me?

ONE DEADLY LIE

Juliana drops her phone as though she’s been scalded. The name Jenny Teller shines out from the screen… but Jenny can’t have sent that message.

Because Jenny is dead.

Juliana’s other college friends have all received the same message. The four of them are the only ones who know the truth about the night Jenny died. It’s a secret they have kept buried for thirteen years.

WHO DO YOU TRUST?

With ‘Jenny’ now blackmailing them and threatening to expose their secret, only one thing is certain. Someone else knows the truth about that night… or one of them is lying.

My thoughts: university in the US seems a lot more incestuous than in the UK, I don’t know whether it’s because they’re more campus based or that they have roommates. I lived in halls and my uni was on a campus but the main road outside took you into London in 20 minutes. American colleges seem like towns to themselves. It’s certainly the case here, where four young women end up getting into serious trouble after another student dies.

The creepy emails and messages from “Jenny” after so many years are unsettling and lure the women back to campus to settle some scores and get answers.

Juliana has tortured herself over what happened, pulling away from her friends and trying to build a different version of herself, she doesn’t even tell her husband about what happened.

The way things are resolved, answers are given and justice is done at the end felt realistic and didn’t go for the schlocky factor, which I liked. A clever thriller about truth and friendship.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.