To celebrate the paperback of Dead Sweet, I’m re-sharing my review from the hardback tour. You can get a copy from all good bookshops and here.
When Óttar Karlsson, a wealthy and respected government official and businessman, is found murdered, after failing to turn up at his own surprise birthday party, the police are at a loss. It isn’t until young police officer Sigurdís finds a well-hidden safe in his impersonal luxury apartment that clues start emerging. As Óttar’s shady business dealings become clear, a second, unexpected line of enquiry emerges, when Sigurdís finds a US phone number in the safe, along with papers showing regular money transfers to an American account. Following the trail to Minnesota, trauma rooted in Sigurdís’s own childhood threatens to resurface and the investigation strikes chillingly close to home…
Atmospheric, deeply unsettling and full of breakneck twists and turns, Dead Sweet is a startling debut thriller that uncovers a terrifying world of financial crime, sinister cults and disturbing secret lives, and kicks off a mind-blowing new series.
Katrín Júlíusdóttir has a political background and was a member of the Icelandic parliament from 2003 until 2016. Before she was elected to parliament, Katrín was an advisor and project manager at a tech company and a senior buyer and CEO in the retail sector. She worked from a young age in the fishing industry, was a store clerk and also worked the night shift at a pizza restaurant. She studied anthropology and has an MBA from Reykjavík University. Katrín’s debut novel Dead Sweet received the Blackbird Award and was an Icelandic bestseller upon publication. She is married to critically acclaimed author Bjarni M. Bjarnason, who encouraged her to start writing. They have four boys and live in Garðabær.
My thoughts: this was really good, but also really awful because when the truth comes out about the victim, Óttar, he turns out to have been one bad man and I didn’t really want the cops to find his killer, because weirdly I felt bad for them – not him!
SigurdÍs is a really good investigator, even if she does go off on her own – she just wants to prove to her bosses that she’s a great cop and not keep getting left out of investigations or given paperwork to shuffle.
I really hope this grows into a series as I was completely hooked, the writing (and Quentin’s brilliant translation work) was so gripping and compelling, even as I realised, oh no, he’s guilty of really gross and horrible things, I wanted to keep reading.
Four hundred years ago, the Monty Python team would have been burnt at the stake for making their hit movie ‘The Life of Brian’. Luckily on its release they survived the hostile reception but the film did not, as it was banned in many countries for blasphemy. But now, years later the whole controversy will be re-ignited by the most extraordinary research that was stimulated by the film’s infamous ending, where the Pythons sing “Always look on the Bright side of Life’ while being nailed onto their crosses.
It became obvious while filming that the crucifixion process does not work. But how can that be when it is reported by every Roman historian past and present, that crucifixion was the method of capital punishment used for slaves and rebels? The simple answer not only unravelled the true story of the charismatic Jew called Jesus, but also uncovered the monumental secret that has been hinted at by esoteric groups over the centuries, the implications being nothing less than earth shattering.
THE FACTS ARE UNDENIABLE
THE EVIDENCE IS COMPELLING
BUT THE CONCLUSIONS ARE ASTONISHING
Julian Doyle is a distinguished British filmmaker with an outstanding career in the film industry. He is widely recognised for his long-standing collaboration with Monty Python, where he worked on their most celebrated films including Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and The Meaning of Life. In addition to his work with Monty Python, Julian has directed several acclaimed feature films including Love Potion (1987) and Chemical Wedding (2008), a supernatural thriller co-written with Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson. His directorial credits also include music videos for iconic artists such as Kate Bush’s Cloudbusting and Iron Maiden’s Can I Play with Madness.
Described by Python Terry Jones as “an original polymath”, Julian is a leading expert on Christian history and mythology. His books include The Gospel According to Monty Python, Crucifixion’s A Doddle: The Passion of Monty Python, and historical mystery thriller The Jericho Manuscript. Visit www.juliandoyle.info.
My thoughts: Two things to know before I talk about this book; 1. I love Monty Python, 2. I studied Theology at A Level and know a weird amount about Biblical history. I also managed to get a Python reference into every A Level exam essay.
Right, moving on. The author very kindly wrote me a note to explain that this book is about the historical Jesus, not the Jesus of faith. I think he was worried that with my first name (Madeleine – the French version of Magdalene, who I am named for), I might be religious.
Well, I was raised in the Church of England and went to Sunday School and church schools, which were enough to put me off. I consider myself a person of faith, or spiritual rather than strictly religious. I have a very healthy dose of scepticism and have done plenty of reading around the scriptures, so this book was perfect for me. I like to question the accepted orthodoxy, and am highly suspicious about the huge amount of editing that the Bible has gone through over the centuries.
The author starts by looking at the physical act of crucifixion, which of course is how Life of Brian ends. I found this really interesting, partly because I read a lot of crime fiction and quite a few serial killers seem to crucify their victims in fiction, but having it debunked here, makes me wonder whether any of those crime writers did any research or just assumed it would work?
I enjoyed reading the different chapters on the Gospels inaccuracies, additions, erasures, and the weird ways in which the different writers (and the later editors) adjusted the stories to fit their particular viewpoint and narrative. It’s something I’ve actually studied and I was nodding my head a lot.
There’s also a chapter on my namesake – Mary Magdalene, and whether she’s also Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. He also explores the later myths and beliefs about her, and the Templars fascination with her.
What she definitely isn’t is a prostitute. That comes from a misreading of John’s Gospel, where a story about an unnamed sex worker is after a story about Mary M. They are not the same woman. That’s just some lazy casual sexism and misogyny. From the church? NEVER!! This was really interesting reading too, having read a book about Jesus’ women. I won’t give you an essay here, you can read them yourself.
There’s an incredible amount of research been done here, and it is all extremely interesting. I won’t break it all down. I did get a bit confused by all the Templar Knights, Masons, references to that godawful Dan Brown rubbish (bad literature, no grasp of geography, terribly poorly researched) as though it was legitimate scholarship, I am aware there are hundreds of theories and conspiracies about these organisations, I dont know much about any of it and thought it dragged some of the very good, legitimate points being made, down.
Overall I thought this was a really interesting book that makes some interesting points and it’s very readable, which not all scholarly examinations of the Bible are, trust me. I would have liked more on making Brian, but that was the jumping off point to looking more closely at the historical records in contrast to the Bible’s versions of events. I don’t know that I’d give this book to my religious relatives, but I can think of several people I know who would really enjoy it and happily hold internal debates with it as I have.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Six guests are invited to paradise. Not all of them will survive.
Ryleigh is a struggling artist, still trying to catch her break in theater. Her new best friend offers her a once in a lifetime opportunity — a week on her family’s private island on Lake Michigan.
She doesn’t belong here. She doesn’t know these people at all.
Kerrigan is the housewife with the perfect life. She has a loving husband and a glamorous city apartment. Her life is everything she could ever dream of.
Her husband hates her. Their marriage is a sham.
Cole is the only local on Stonecliffe Island. He’s there to make sure the guests have everything they want. He has to focus on creating the perfect experience.
He can’t afford any distractions after last summer. This is his final chance.
Each guest has their own villa. There are staff on-call to help with every need — a masseuse, a chef to make dinner every night, waiters pouring endless champagne. It’s going to be perfect.
But a violent storm looms on the horizon. There’s no way off the island.
Then, one of the guests disappears. And they won’t be the last . . .
Adriane Leigh is a USA Today bestselling author of multiple novels and novellas. With appearances in publications such as Vogue Magazine and The Montreal Gazette, the award-winning author, in addition to writing, founded RARE: Romance Author & Reader Events, a community of internationally-renowned book conventions that draw thousands of readers and #1 bestselling authors to events around the world each year.
She hosts a podcast, The Rebel Artist, and her books are translated into French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.
Note to self; do not accept any invitations to remote islands, ever.
Invited for a combination will reading and holiday on a rather exclusive island, this rather disparate and bickering group arrive, spend several days falling out with each other and then leave, minus two of their number, who are either missing or dead.
There’s some serious confusion over what happened, stories keep changing, no one is reliable and the police never really seem to get to the bottom of it. The island’s caretaker is arrested and charged with neglect and manslaughter, but is he really to blame for any of it, or is there something larger and nastier going on?
Nine months later, the survivors are slowly building new lives, but none of them have really moved on. Questions still remain and some are plagued by guilt. Things get stranger and more volatile. But can anyone untangle the mess and find out what really happened?
Twisted and twisting, this is an edge of your seat “what just happened?” read. The lives of the characters are so enmeshed and messy, it’s not surprising that events are beyond their control and more than one of them is capable of murder.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
DCS Kat Frank knows all about loss. A widowed single mother, Kat is a cop who trusts her instincts. Picked to lead a pilot programme that has her paired with AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) Lock, Kat’s instincts come up against Lock’s logic.
But when the two missing person’s cold cases they are reviewing suddenly become active, Lock is the only one who can help Kat when the case gets personal. AI versus human experience. Logic versus instinct. With lives on the line can the pair work together before someone else becomes another statistic?
My thoughts: The premise of this book is really interesting – a brilliant scientist has developed an AI program to assist the police in solving crimes. It removes the emotions from the investigation but does that make it foolproof?
Paired with DCS Kat Frank, herself and excellent detective, can AIDE Lock help her find out who is abducting people, cases that have gone cold, before anyone else goes missing?
The case becomes very personal to Kat and Lock has a lot to learn from the human investigators in the team. Can their unique blend of cutting edge science and emotional intelligence create a crime solving team better than anything that’s come before?
I really enjoyed this, Kat and her team are great, and Lock is really intriguing, both as a concept and as a character, he’s designed to learn and expand his knowledge, but will it make him more human?
The case itself is shocking and disturbing, which adds to the sense that this is something new. It’s a science based case in many ways as well as being deeply human. Absolutely cracking stuff. I dived straight into book two from here, I couldn’t resist.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
For this blogathon I’m re-sharing my review of Jack Jordan’s thrilling Redemption.
THE LATEST PULSE-POUNDING THRILLER FROM MASTER OF THE MORAL DILEMMA AND SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER JACK JORDAN
Aaron Alexander has just been released from jail after serving eleven years for causing the death of Joshua Moore in a hit-and-run. Now a free man, all he wants to do is stay on the straight and narrow and leave his troubled past behind him. But for Joshua’s mother Evelyn, eleven years in jail isn’t nearly enough. Consumed by grief and rage, she has been waiting for Aaron’s release, counting down the days until she can exact the revenge he deserves. And now that time has come. But as Evelyn and her husband Tobias embark on a road trip to track Aaron down, they find themselves caught on two different sides of a gripping game of cat-and-mouse. Because Tobias knows what Evelyn is planning, and he will do anything to save her from herself. Even if it means protecting the man who killed their son.
Locked in a collision course set in motion eleven years ago, Aaron, Evelyn and Tobias are about to find out whether the road they have chosen leads to redemption . . . or to retribution.
My thoughts: this is a rollercoaster of a revenge road trip from hell. Ordinary couple Evelyn and Tobias had their lives turned upside down by the death of their son, and now, instead of returning to the UK and working through their grief, Evelyn has decided to track down the recently released Aaron and kill him.
She abandons Tobias in a motel and heads off on her own with a gun and no real plan. Tobias has to commit several crimes to chase after her, trying to stop her killing anyone, especially Aaron. Unfortunately it’s a bit late as Evelyn’ rage is blinding her to anything and she’s trigger happy.
As Tobias chases Evelyn and Aaron has to go on the run to avoid her, truths come to the surface and all three are forced to reevaluate their lives.
Twisty, intelligent and cinematic, thus thriller has a real punch..
“My name is Phyllis Ada Latour, known to many in my later years as Pippa, and I am 102 years old. I am also known by other names — code names and alias names — because I was a World War II secret operative agent. This is my memoir, which finally tells the story of my life working behind enemy lines in France 80 years ago. It is a part of my life that, until now, I have intentionally never revealed to anybody. Not my husband (when I had one), nor my children — even when they became adults. This book tells the truth about my war. I’m the last living female special operative from F Section and I need to record what happened before I die. I would like to leave my story behind so that, perhaps, young women in particular might know what it was like for me back then”. – Pippa Latour
‘Vivid, honest, inspiring and sometimes shocking, Pippa Latour’s memoir shows how right the SOE were to assess her as having ‘”tons of guts”‘ – CLARE MULLEY, author of Agent Zo
The Last Secret Agent, by Pippa Latour is the extraordinary untold story of Latour, who parachuted into occupied France in 1944 as an undercover agent and sent secret messages back to Britain.
In June 1940, a covert new force – the Special Operations Executive (SOE) – was set up to wage a secret war. Its agents were tasked with sabotage and subversion behind enemy lines, and over the course of the next five years, 470 special agents would be sent into France. Only 26 female SOE agents, including Pippa, would return. Pippa had an extraordinary life – born in 1921 she lived in Congo, Kenya and France before eventually landing in London. In 1943, aged 23, she was parachuted into France, where she travelled around the occupied countryside, concealing her codes in a hair tie and her Morse key underneath her bicycle seat, and sending crucial information back to Britain in the lead-up to D-Day. More than once, she came frighteningly close to being discovered. For decades, Pippa told no one – not even her family – of her incredible feats.
Now for the first time, her story can be told in full. It is an incredibly rare first-person story. Although there are several biographies of female WW2 spies, there are no other first-person memoirs of this kind. And as the last female WW2 SOE agent to die, Pippa’s story will be the first and last to be told in this way. It is a rare and privileged glimpse into her life, and in many ways, it is Pippa’s last public service, her last contribution to freedom. It is a remarkable testament to a remarkable and brave woman.
THE AUTHOR PIPPA LATOUR – following the war, Pippa settled in New Zealand where she raised four children. For decades, Pippa told no one – not even her family – of her incredible feats during WWII. For seventy years, Pippa’s contributions to the war effort were largely unheralded, but she was finally given her due in 2014 when she was awarded France’s highest order of merit, the Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. Pippa was the last surviving F (France) Section Special Operations (SOE) agent from World War II. In the final months of her life, Pippa finally decided to tell her remarkable story, written with the assistance of award-winning historical documentary producer and writer Jude Dobson. Pippa died in 2023, at the age of 102.
My thoughts: This was incredible, Pippa Latour lived a heck of a life, born in South Africa, raised in the Congo, orphaned but with a wonderful extended family who love her, sent to finishing school in Paris just before the war and then after joining the WAAF, she’s recruited by SOE to go to France undercover as a spy.
Her life behind enemy lines is incredibly dangerous, terrifying and yet there’s something a little bit magical about it. Pretending to be a teenage girl selling her French grandparents soap, she snoops around the Normandy countryside, relaying troop movements and locations by radio, in Morse code, to London, as D-Day preparations ramp up.
Shocking, terrible things happen, some of them because of her intel, and her own life is on the line several times. She mentions the other female SOE operatives in France, many of whom sadly did not survive, incredibly brave women all.
Pippa lived to be 102, having lived and extraordinary life, but her war years were largely unknown, even to her family, for a long time. This memoir is full of brave, courageous, ordinary men and women opposing the massed forces of the Nazis and fighting for freedom. It stands as a wonderful tribute to those people and also to the magnificent Pippa herself, who did something few could and help influence the course of the Second World War. Genuinely inspiring, heart pounding, mind boggling stuff.
*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 this swoon-worthy conclusion to the New York Times instant bestselling Luminaries trilogy, Winnie continues her fight against the monstrous nightmares of Hemlock Falls and finds answers about her past.
Winnie Wednesday’s future is looking bright. Hemlock Falls is no longer hunting the werewolf, she and Erica Thursday are tentative friends, and Winnie finally knows exactly where she stands with Jay Friday.
With everything finally on track, Winnie is looking forward to the Nightmare Masquerade, a week-long celebration of all things Luminary. But as Luminaries from across the world flock to the small town, uninvited guests also arrive.
Winnie is confronted by a masked Diana and charged with an impossible task–one that threatens everything and everyone Winnie loves.
As Winnie fights to stop new enemies before time runs out, old mysteries won’t stop intruding. Her missing father is somehow entangled with her search for hidden witches, and as Winnie digs deeper into the long-standing war between the Luminaries and the Dianas, she discovers rifts within her own family she never could have imagined.
What does loyalty mean when family and enemies look the same?
The forest is more dangerous than ever as secrets are revealed in this highly-anticipated, swoon-worthy conclusion to the bestselling Luminaries trilogy.
My thoughts: I don’t agree with the above blurb writer, I don’t think this book is “swoon-worthy” whatever that means. It is however, very good.
Winnie and her friends finally start to unravel all the secrets and mysteries in Hemlock Falls, they might finally unmask the Dianas and find out what happened to Winnie’s dad.
But first they have to get through the Nightmare Masquerade, for reasons she never understand Winnie is made the sort of mascot, like a prom queen, for the event, which is her worst nightmare. She hates the attention, she can’t be off the cuff funny, and it makes sneaking around looking for clues really tricky, oh and she can’t wear her beloved Save the Whales hoodie.
Erica has to do a lot more snooping, and Jay is in trouble, Winnie needs to get away from the spotlight to solve this thing once and hopefully, for all.
There’s lots of action and racing against the clock craziness, the Dianas launch their own plan, Winnie gets put under a spell that means she can’t tell anyone what’s going on, Jay gets kidnapped (don’t you love it when the macho stereotype is the damsel in distress) and Winnie breaks out of jail.
This was a lot of fun, with lots of plot, lots of tying up loose ends, answers finally about what happened to Erica’s sister and Winnie’s dad, and the door left open for more in the Luminaries’ world…
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
I am accused of the worst of crimes – murdering my baby – and I have hours before this passenger ferry docks in Spain to find him, alive. Someone knows about my difficult past and darkest secrets, and now I think they’ve taken my baby. But who would do this to me and why? I know the answer. Or least I think I do…
The police want to know why I have fled my home and husband. How do I tell them that I had a breakdown after my first baby died? That today is the anniversary of his death? That my husband is planning on having me sectioned? Despite what my husband says, I’m not ill. Am I? For I have discovered he has an agenda…
So how could I have been so wrong about him?
And how do I convince the police I’m innocent, when everyone believes I’m guilty, and get my baby back before he disappears forever?
Daniele Ramsay is the author of the DI Jack Brady crime novels and other dark thrillers. She is a Scot living in the North-East of England and was previously published by Hodder & Stoughton and Avon.
My thoughts: Losing a child is every parent’s worse nightmare, and after her son dies of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), Alice becomes ill with depression. After spending some time in a psychiatric unit getting better, and discovering she’s pregnant once more, Alice vows that she will do everything in her power to protect her next child.
Tom, her surgeon husband, hires a nanny to help out, but Alice’s troubled mind is increasingly paranoid and she starts to imagine that he’s planning to have her committed and take off for his native US with their son.
It all comes to a head on a ferry to Spain, where her brother Oli is staying, when someone takes baby Eli from her, and she can’t remember what happened.
But Alice’s paranoia and fears aren’t entirely unfounded, someone is targeting her and her family, but she’s looking in the wrong direction.
Full of twists, I wasn’t sure who was trustworthy and I really felt for Alice as she struggled to grieve for Noah and then bond with Eli while it was all so raw. People grieve in different ways, and she gets upset that Tom seems less affected than her. It all builds up in her head and she reacts instinctively, but it puts her and Eli into further danger.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Hattie Gilby has not been back to her family home since the devastating events that took place there years ago. Events that changed Hattie and which continue to haunt her today. But one phone call changes everything.
Now Hattie is going back to her family home to face her brothers, Adam and Luke and to hear the last words of her dying mother.
Imogen Gilby hasn’t spoken a word since the night she was beaten almost to death and her husband was murdered. But now it’s time to reveal the truth about what happened that night and the secrets that almost destroyed her.
Hattie isn’t sure she wants to know the truth. And it seems someone close to them will do anything to make sure the secrets stay hidden forever…
Another chilling read from bestselling author L H Stacey guaranteed to keep you up all night!
Perfect for fans of Valerie Keogh, J.A. Baker and Diana Wilkinson.
L. H. Stacey is the bestselling psychological suspense author of over seven novels. Alongside her writing she is a full-time sales director for an office furniture company and has been a nurse, an emergency first response instructor and a PADI Staff Instructor. She lives near Doncaster with her husband.
My thoughts: Hattie doesn’t return to her parents’ house, she can’t move on from the terrible events of the night her father was killed and her mother brutally beaten. They still don’t know who did it, and Hattie worries she might have been responsible. She and her cousin Louisa were involved in something that went awry and she’s always wondered if that was what led to the tragedy.
But now, as her mother is dying, she has returned and as she and her brothers Luke and Adam look through all the paperwork in their mother’s old office, a terrible, truly shocking secret emerges. It seems their parents were involved in something very dark, and that certainly led to their father’s death.
I was genuinely shocked, the secrets that the house holds are horrific and terrible. Somehow Hattie manages not to completely spin out, I’m not sure I could be as cool as she is. As the siblings unearth their parents’ past, we’re shown the events that led to the assault and murder.
It seems there was a lot more to what happened that night than any of the siblings are aware. And someone close to them knows a lot more than they’ve ever said.
Full of shocking moments and twists, this was utterly gripping and a compelling read.
*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 London, 1666, drinking coffee can get you killed…
The case of Samuel Pepys’s missing pocket watch escalates rapidly when Eustace Blount, writer and wit, is found murdered in Rose’s Coffee House on The Strand.
Blount was a prig, a poseur and a parliamentarian – nobody liked him, not even his friends – and Pepys’s intrepid personal inquisitors, Abby Harcourt and Jacob Standish, find themselves with a suspect list as unwieldy as it is perplexing.
When their investigation leads to the nearby Gilded Bean coffee house, frequented by fervently royalist members of parliament, it becomes clear that a dangerous political game is afoot. Abby and Jacob face their most audacious challenge yet:
To break into Westminster Palace, at the very heart of English politics. The penalty, if discovered – is death.
Ellis Blackwood fell in love with the writings of Samuel Pepys, and the 17th-century England he inhabited, through the great man’s published diaries. The Samuel Pepys Mysteries are the result of that literary love affair.
My thoughts: I really like this series, it’s a lot of fun and brings the hubbub of 17th Century London to vivid life.
The coffee shops were a new concept and where the great and good (and not so good) would meet to talk, boast and scheme. They were male only spaces much of the time and Pepys would have been very familiar with them.
When Pepys asks his two inquisitors to locate his missing pocket watch, which he thinks may be in one of those very coffee shops, they stumble into murder and intrigue, just round the corner from Jacob’s house.
Abby as always, is quicker off the mark and starts to untangle the relationships between the coffee house denizens, the wits who spend their days writing pretty terrible poetry and the politicians who pontificate and squabble just round the corner.
The plot the pair discover threatens the King himself, Charles II, and the heart of government, much like the Gunpowder Plot that almost killed his grandfather.
Clever, entertaining and enjoyable, each installment of this series gets better and better.
*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 