Category: reviews

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Grace – A.M. Shine

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A haunting, atmospheric modern Gothic horror tale based on traditional Irish mythology, from the author of smash hit The Watchers.

Ancient evil is awakened on a lonely isle off the coast of Ireland.

TO LEARN THE TRUTH WOULD YOU DESCEND INTO HELL?

Off the west coast of Ireland lies a lonely island, isolated and wilfully forgotten. Some say there hasn’t been a child born on the island for thirty years. Others speak of strange deaths there, decades ago.
But no one really knows what happened. Locals believe that the dark times are behind them.
They are mistaken.

Grace, adopted at four years old, has never known where she came from. A mysterious phone call leads her back to the island where she was born – and where a terrible evil has been disturbed.

As the evil starts to spread, Grace finds herself dragged back into a living nightmare that threatens to engulf anyone who steps into its path.

Grace is perfect for fans of horror classics, Paul Tremblay, and Kealan Patrick Burke.

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A.M. Shine writes in the Gothic horror tradition. Born in Galway, Ireland, he received his Master’s Degree in History there before sharpening his quill and pursuing all things literary and macabre. He is a member of the Irish Writers Centre. His debut novel, The Watchers, has been made into a major motion picture produced by M. Night Shyamalan. Follow him on @AMShineWriter and
http://www.amshinewriter.com
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My thoughts: This is a weird twisted and creepy book set on a remote island off the coast of Ireland. When Grace receives a call telling her that her biological mother has died and left Grace her estate, she closes up her bookshop and goes to the island, despite it being against her late mother’s wishes. She will wish she had taken the advice and let the solicitor sell the house.

The island is home to an ancient evil being that torments the remaining inhabitants. There are no children on the island, just a handful of older people who really should have left. They’re terrified and traumatised by events in the past and now the creature has reawakened and wants to finish what it started all those years before.

The youngish parish priest wants to help his remaining parishioners but he’s not really equipped to deal with monstrous demonic beings or ghosts, and by the time he learns the truth, it may well be too late.

Dark and full of the horrors of things hidden by the mist and darkness, this will put you off going to explore creepy islands with a tiny population. Which is probably a good thing!

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Esther is Now Following You – Tanya Sweeney

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Esther first sees Ted walking in a park in London. They lock eyes and for a fraction of a second, she feels something she’s never felt before.

She starts by reading up about his life in Canada and his work as an actor. Then she watches every interview with him online. It isn’t long before she’s joined Ted’s fan site online where she and the ‘Tedettes’ stalk his every move. When Ted gets a new celebrity girlfriend, Esther decides that things have gone far enough. She leaves her husband, takes all their savings, and buys a one-way ticket to Canada. After all, Ted might not know it yet, but they are meant to be together – he just needs a little bit of persuading.

At its heart, Esther is Now Following You is a fresh, funny and deeply affecting novel about what happens when life gets too much and what we do to cope. It combines the humour of Fleabag and Green Dot’s unattainable obsession, told with the propulsion of Baby Reindeer.

Tanya Sweeney is an Irish journalist, columnist and regular contributor to radio and TV. Her personal columns focus on a variety of subjects including parenting, pregnancy, friendship, culture, and body issues. She currently works on the Weekend magazine at the Irish Independent, and her experience working in the music, film & TV industries helped inspire her debut novel.

My thoughts: Esther becomes obsessed with an actor called Ted during a difficult and distressing time in her life, she channels all her grief and pain into the parasocial relationship in her head. Unfortunately she takes it way too far. Moving to Toronto on a whim and inserting herself into the life of Ted’s sister in a bid to get closer to him. 

She’s actually a rather sweet person, is Esther, but dealing with something very difficult and running away from her problems, which I know from bitter experience never works. She doesn’t have much of a support network and that means she creates this whole other life in her head, thinking that somehow it will all be better if she and Ted were a couple.

I did want to give a shake and a talking too at times, but I also really felt for her. Things happen to us that feel way too big and scary, so we run. I completely understand and for the most part a harmless imaginary life of celebrity adjacent happiness is an idle fantasy. Just don’t do an Esther and decide to make it a reality.

Darkly comic and heartfelt, this was a really interesting and oddly enjoyable book that I would suggest avoiding if you’re dealing with anything like Esther is (content warning: child loss, stillbirth) and it’s too raw but otherwise do read this to remind yourself, if nothing else, that boundaries are important and your favourite actor doesn’t even know your name, but depending on how obsessive you are, they do know your Twitter handle.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Secretary – Deborah Lawrenson

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Moscow, 1958. At the height of the Cold War, secretary Lois Vale is on a deep-cover MI6 mission to identify a diplomatic traitor. She can trust only one man: Johann, a German journalist also working covertly for the British secret service. As the trail leads to Vienna and the Black Sea, Lois and Johann begin an affair but as love grows, so does the danger to Lois.

A tense Cold War spy story told from the perspective of a bright, young, working-class woman recruited to MI6 at a time when men were in charge of making history and women were expendable. Authentic details are provided by the 1958 diary kept in Moscow by the author’s own mother, who worked for British intelligence.

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Deborah Lawrenson spent her childhood moving around the world with diplomatic service parents, from Kuwait to China, Belgium, Luxembourg and Singapore. She read English at Cambridge University and worked as a journalist in London. She has written ten novels, including two Death in Provence mysteries as Serena Kent, and her writing is praised for its vivid sense of place.

My thoughts:This was utterly gripping and really, really good. I’ve had a bit of a love of Russian history since my A Levels and a very memorable trip to the country (the hotel we stayed in is mentioned in the book!) and it was interesting to read something set during an infamous period of time  – when the Cambridge spy ring was being unmasked.

It was also really interesting to have the story from a female perspective, inspired by the author’s mother’s own role as a secretary at the British Embassy and as an MI6 operative. Most spy thrillers are full of gungho action and men who are either very dashing or the extreme opposite (like Jackson Lamb from Mick Herron’s Slough House series), they are very rarely female.

Lois is indeed a secretary, but she’s also under orders from MI6, and her job is a cover. She’s been sent to see if she can work out if anyone on the embassy staff might be passing information to the Russians. She’s been told not to trust anyone but German journalist (and fellow spy) Johann.

At times she feels completely out of her depth, and her very strange flatmate and colleague doesn’t help matters. There are important things to do, possible defectors to locate, Russian tails to shake off, and the very real possibility of romance.

Things do go somewhat awry, and far from anyone she can ask for advice, Lois has to essentially wing it. But can she do the job?

I really liked Lois, I liked her determination, the way she wanted to stay the course, even when things were going wrong all over the place. She’s level headed and practical, willing to improvise to get the job done. A really enjoyable, intelligent thriller.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Dead Men Don’t Ski – Patricia Moyes

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Inspector Henry Tibbett is taking a much-needed holiday from his job at Scotland Yard with his wife Emmy. Headed for a spot of skiing in the Italian Dolomites and some first-class people-watching, Tibbett’s worries blissfully melt away. That is, until a fellow guest who boards the ski lift alive at the top of the mountain is found dead when the lift touches bottom. Another dead body turns up, and then another, and it becomes clear that Murder has come to the mountain.

Patricia Moyes (1923-2000) was an acclaimed British mystery novelist, best known for her long running series featuring Inspector Henry Tibbett. The tenth book in the series, Who Saw Her Die?, was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe award, and Moyes was inducted into The Detection Club, presided over by Agatha Christie, in the same year. Her early career also included work as a radar operator in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force; as a screenwriter – with credits including the Robert Hamer film School for Scoundrels and Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected –; as an assistant editor for Vogue magazine; and as a translator.

My thoughts: This was a lovely classic crime story, set on a mountain in Italy. Asked to assist when one of his fellow travellers is murdered, DI Tibbett and his wife Emmy start investigating the other hotel guests. Among the people on the mountain is a murderer.

Uncovering all sorts of other dodgy goings on in this supposedly quiet and peaceful place, Tibbett sets a trap for the killer, he’s pretty sure he’s worked it all out.

Highly enjoyable and at times quite funny, I particularly liked Emmy, I can’t wait to see how crime ruins the Tibbetts next holiday.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Zig Zag Girl – Ruth Knafo Setton

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 Atlantic City’s shady history comes to life when a magician with a mysterious past races to discover her friend’s killer before he strikes again, but finds herself falling for the prime suspect, who holds the secret to her true identity. 

ZIGZAG GIRL by Ruth Knafo Setton is a noir-tinged feminist thriller where The Prestige meets Knives Out in Atlantic City’s haunted magic underworld. When brilliant young magician Lucy Moon discovers her best friend murdered inside the infamous sawing box that killed a performer decades ago—a black rose stuffed in her mouth, the same signature from Lucy’s own buried past—she’s thrust into a deadly game where every suspect is a master of deception and the killer seems to know secrets about her she’s spent a lifetime hiding. Racing to unmask a murderer before they strike again, Lucy must navigate Atlantic City’s shadowy criminal networks, resist falling for a charismatic magician who might be the killer, and confront the ghost of a glamorous 1940s assistant whose unsolved murder in that same box echoes through time—all while performing the most dangerous trick of her life: discovering who she really is before her past catches up with her. With its intoxicating blend of illusion, murder mystery, and gothic atmosphere, this cinematic thriller delivers a visually stunning world of stage magic, a complex heroine forced to unmask herself to catch a killer, and a powerful exploration of women who create their own magic to survive in a world designed to make them disappear.

Amazon UK

Born in Morocco and raised on tales of djnoun and desert wonder, I’ve sailed around the world three times teaching university students aboard ships, studying magic and collecting stories of the impossible. I’ve been sawed in half and in thirds, broken free from straitjackets, and learned the art of illusion from masters across the globe. I transformed these adventures into Zigzag Girl, a thriller set in Atlantic City’s glittering casinos and the haunted Pine Barrens of New Jersey—where I stood at the grave of the Jersey Devil and felt the dark heart of my killer. In this shadowy landscape where magic meets menace, my protagonist must use every trick she knows to survive.

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My thoughts: This was a clever and at times chilling murder mystery set amongst the late night magic crowd in Atlantic City. Lucy is the daughter of a famous magician and set to introduce her new act with two of her best friends when one of them is brutally murdered.

Despite being warned off by the cops, Lucy investigates, and as she does, she learns the truth about her own origins and the ghost of a murdered magician’s assistant from the 1940s that haunts her.

Full of twists and turns, untrustworthy people and masks, Lucy must navigate her way between truth and fiction to draw it the killer without falling victim herself.

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

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Blog Tour: What Evil Hides – Rachel Amphlett

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A man’s body is found in a Kentish hop field, his brutal death marked by horrific
injuries.

As Detective Kay Hunter begins to investigate, the case quickly reveals itself to be anything but routine. The local farming community is tight-lipped, the victim’s background is unclear, and the evidence uncovers a trail of conflicting stories and long-held secrets.

With the media and her superior officers demanding answers, Kay must navigate the lies and unravel the truth to solve one of the most complex murder investigations of her career.

In a landscape shaped by tradition and silence, some secrets are buried for a
reason.

What Evil Hides is the fifteenth book in the bestselling Detective Kay Hunter series,
and perfect for readers who love twisty murder mysteries.

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Before turning to writing, USA Today bestselling crime author Rachel Amphlett played guitar in bands, worked as a TV and film extra, dabbled in radio, and worked in publishing as an editorial assistant.
She now wields a pen instead of a plectrum and writes crime fiction with over 30 crime novels and short stories featuring spies, detectives, vigilantes, and assassins.
A keen traveller and accidental private investigator, Rachel has both Australian and British citizenship.
You can find out more about Rachel and her books at http://www.rachelamphlett.com.

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My thoughts: Some farm workers harvesting hops discover a murdered man, his body cruelly disfigured amongst the bines. The police can’t work it out, it looks like it might be ritualistic, but there hasn’t been anything else locally.

As they investigate both the farm where the body was found and the deceased’s life, they’re left with more questions than answers. There are traces of three suspects, and the farm has a few disgruntled former employees. Was the victim chosen intentionally or at random? Is the farm being attacked or something else? An area of poisoned crops raises more questions.

Can the team solve it before headquarters passes it over to another DI to try to unravel the answers?

Another clever and interesting case from Rachel Amphlett, one of the best crime writers around.

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

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Blog Tour: Under Vixens’ Mere – Kit Fielding

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If poor Harry Jones hadn’t lowered himself into the water one freezing winter’s night, a long-buried secret would never have come to the surface.

If …


Big Ed and Milly had been able to have children, Karen hadn’t longed for love and romance, Lorrie hadn’t finally ditched Petra, Dinah hadn’t found out the truth about Barry, Jed hadn’t dealt drugs and got Anna pregnant, Carl Thomson hadn’t come looking for him, and Moses hadn’t heard the commotion …

then there would be no story of Vixens Mere to tell.

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Kit Fielding plans and writes his novels in a motorhome at various locations around the country.
The feeling of impermanence is natural to him due to his mother’s traveller roots and a childhood succession of tied-cottages accommodation in different parts of England.
Kit Fielding says that there was always a curiosity about what was waiting, or was lurking, just around the corner. This legacy has stayed with him to the present day and it feeds into his work.

Insta: @inkspotpub FB: Inkspotpublishing

My thoughts: This is the story of the residents of Vixens Mere, a mooring of canal boats next to a farm, Foxes Farm. Over the course of a winter the residents’ lives will be altered by death, by secrets coming to the surface (quite literally in one case) and dark deeds done for the right reasons.

Big Ed and Milly are a permanent fixture on the canal, they’ve lived there since a life of travelling came to an end, their son Moses lives with them, sometimes he helps his dad, sometimes he goes to school. A project about his family tree stirs up old worries for his parents.

There are several other boats moored alongside them, some permanent, some only there for a season. Their lives interweave and connect over the years and come together once more, some after a long time.

It’s an interesting mix of people, from Lorrie, who’s fleeing a long term relationship gone bad, to Jed who has always lived on his barge, first with his parents and now with girlfriend Anna, then there’s Pete, who works at the pig farm and lives on a boat called Saddleback (a breed of pig – although it was called that before he moved in), then there’s Karen and her deeply troubled former soldier husband Harry, they come by once a year.

Finally there’s Brodie and his dog Mick, Scottish but raised on the road by his grandmother, he hasn’t come by Vixens Mere in some time, but his presence is a catalyst for some of the secrets of this quiet backwater to be revealed.

It was an interesting read, with an intriguing mix of characters, all from different walks of life, living in this quiet place.

Giveaway to Win 3 x Stacks of 5 Inkspot Publishing books (UK Only)

Win 3 x Stacks of 5 Inkspot Publishing books (UK Only)

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

**Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Gleam box below. The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or
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Blog Tour: Maria the Wanted – V. Castro

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Newly-turned Mexican vampire, Maria, is not just out for blood, she wants answers.

From the twice Bram Stoker-nominated author of The Haunting of Alejandra and Immortal Pleasures, a gripping tale of empowerment, desire and belonging, perfect for readers of A Dowry of Blood and Certain Dark Things.

Maria is a wanted woman. She’s wanted by an Aztec trafficker, a cartel boss, the people she fights for, and now the devil she can’t resist. A would-be immigrant turned vampire, Maria is forced to leave her home and family and embark on a journey across Mexico. She learns to fight, becoming an unlikely bad-ass enforcer of justice. Then an encounter with a violent, ruthless vampire boss leads her to find her creator. Drawn into a world of ancient vampires, deadly conspiracies and a dangerously seductive devil, Maria must find a way to fight for herself and all humankind.

A fierce and seductive horror thriller, pulsing with rage, fear and desire, that explores a vampire woman’s determination to find her place in the world.

My thoughts: Maria might have been turned into a vampire, but she chooses to use her new found strength to protect the weak and innocent, not exploit them.

After years in Mexico, looking after the town she lives in, she knows she must leave and search for others like her, particularly her creator, Adam.

Her search will bring her to the US and then to England, where Adam will introduce her to the Keepers, an ancient order of vampires sworn to protect humanity. She joins forces with them and learns that demons and gods are real, when she meets Lucifer, a powerful being intent on destruction.

Maria is incredibly emotionally strong before and after her transformation, she cares deeply for people and this makes her into something of a superhero. She tries to resist the blood lust that drives other vampires to kill, and takes down those who exploit the poor and vulnerable. It’s a really interesting take on vampire mythology. These vampires want to save the world, not devour it.

I really enjoyed this book, and really like Maria, she hasn’t had an easy life and her vampire life isn’t easy either. But she does find happiness with her friends and possible love with Vlad, the son of the Impaler, who also wants to help the humans and protect them from true evil.

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

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Blog Tour: Murder on the Cricket Green – Catherine Coles

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Westleham Village, May 1948

The villagers of Westleham are excited for the first village cricket match since the end of the war. But Martha Miller has more pressing concerns – namely, the sudden reappearance of her husband, Stan,
missing for two years and acting as though nothing has happened.

Martha doesn’t know what to feel, especially now that his return threatens her growing fondness for the kind-hearted village vicar, Luke. Yet she’s not the only one unsettled by Stan’s return…

As the match begins and the crowd cheers, Stan suddenly collapses – dead before he hits the ground.
And all eyes turn to Martha.

To clear her name, she must uncover the truth about Stan’s missing years and his sudden reappearance. But in a village this small, everyone has something to hide.

Will Martha’s amateur sleuthing find the real killer or will she pay the price for someone else’s deadly deed?

Let the investigation commence!

Find out if Martha and Luke can catch the killer in a brand new Martha Miller mystery from bestselling author Catherine Coles, perfect for fans of Lee Strauss and Beth Byers!

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Catherine Coles writes bestselling cosy mysteries set in the English countryside. Her extremely popular Tommy & Evelyn Christie series is based in North Yorkshire in the 1920’s and Catherine herself lives in Hull with her family and two spoiled dogs.

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My thoughts: The sudden reappearance of husband Stan sends Martha into a spin, he’s accompanied by two friends and has apparently been happily living in Brighton for the last two years. He swears he’s come to put things right, put her cottage into her name, and is very shocked to discover that the money he sent her through the village solicitor never reached Martha.

And when he suddenly drops dead on the Cricket Green in the village’s first match in several years, everyone looks at Martha. The spouse is always the first suspect after all. But there are plenty of other people who might have felt strongly enough to do away with Stan, and Martha is determined to prove her innocence.

A clever and highly enjoyable slice of historical crime fiction set in the English countryside, where murderers lurk and the police always need a hand solving the case!

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

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Blog Tour: The Night Ship – Alex Woodroe

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Driving a logging truck through the Romanian mountains, smuggler Rosi and her crew come across a radio signal that hints at impending doom. As the world goes completely dark, their truck becomes a vessel sailing across a sea of nothingness. But they’re not alone: transmissions trickle in through the radio from similar isolated islands across the country, from amateur radio hobbyists and police cars and customs facilities.

Attempting to rescue survivors and find a way out, the group save more lives, but soon discover that something hungry lurks below, and it’s sending up agents – and transmissions – of its own.

Comparison Titles: Pontypool Changes Everything by Tony Burgess, The Boats of the Glen Carrig by William Hope Hodgson, Void 1680 AM by Ken Lowery, The Vast of Night (2019 film directed by Andrew Patterson)

Alex Woodroe is a Romanian writer of dark speculative fiction and Shirley Jackson Award-nominated editor-in-chief of Tenebrous Press. She’s the author of Whisperwood, as well as several short horror, fantasy, and science-fiction stories and non-fiction articles published in venues like Nightmare Magazine, Horror Library, the Nosleep podcast, and more.

She lives in the heart of the Transylvanian region of Romania, and lets her country’s culture and unique natural landscapes influence her work. She’s been a translator, a beermaid, a teacher, a copywriter, and a dog trainer, but ultimately realized she wouldn’t be happy until she terrified people for a living. alexwoodroe.com / X: @alexwoodroe / Instagram: @alexwoodroe

My thoughts: This gets quite sinister and dark, but is very clever and enjoyable. As the logging truck becomes a place of refuge against the strange plant like creature trying to make every human part of itself, Rosi becomes a hero in the valiant struggle to make it through the disintegrating world and darkness towards salvation. Her allies are unlikely, and not everyone will survive this strange journey, but if they can parse the messages in the radio transmissions and find the one that will lead them safely to a refuge that the creature can’t reach, perhaps the future has hope.

Rosi’s contraband goods aren’t all useful, no one needs jeans at the end of the world, but the food and booze help them get through the endless night, especially when things seem impossible. She will also realise some things about herself and find a strange happiness on board the truck they christen the Night Ship.

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