Tag: crime fiction

WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T MAKE A SOUND . . .

The stunning new crime thriller from one of British crime writing’s brightest talents, and one of the twistiest, most gripping and emotional reads of the year.
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A father is murdered in the dead of night in his London home, his head wrapped tightly in tape, a crude sad face penned over his facial features. But the victim’s only child is left alive and unharmed at the scene.

Met Police detectives Grace Archer and Harry Quinn have more immediate concerns. Notorious gangster Frankie White has placed a target on Archer’s back, and there’s no one he won’t harm to get to her.

Then a second family is murdered, leaving young Uma Whitmore as the only survivor.

With a serial killer at large, DI Archer and DS Quinn must stay alive long enough to find the connection between these seemingly random victims. Can they do it before another child is orphaned?

My thoughts: David Fennell’s books always seem to explore the darkest parts of the psyche, and here is no different. When a father is murdered, home alone with his young son, and his head wrapped in tape, a sad face drawn on it, the police are scratching their heads. What is the killer trying to say?

Archer and Quinn are a little distracted by the threat of gangster Frankie White, who has promised to kill Archer and her Grandad, as part of his retaliation for the death of his grandson in police custody.

Archer’s Grandad, Jake, then has a stroke, possibly from all the stress and worry, so now she’s back and forth to the hospital, living under fear of being murdered and trying to solve the riddles of this strange new killer. As more parents are found by their children dead in bed, fear mounts.

Can they get out from under White’s threats and solve the case or will a bullet stop Archer for good?

Another dark, twisted thriller from Fennell with a brilliant unveiling of the murderer, a tragic and grim back story and the resolution of the Archer/White story arc too. Highly enjoyable and just creepy enough.

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

In the village of Cronchie, a wealthy family are found brutally murdered. The Devil Stone, an heirloom rumoured to bring death if removed from their home, is the only thing stolen. The key suspects are known satanists. But when the investigating officer disappears, DCI Christine Caplan is pulled in to investigate.

Caplan knows she is being punished for a minor misdemeanour when she is seconded to the Highlands, but she’s confident she can quickly solve the murders and return home to her fractious family. But as she closes in on the truth, it is suddenly her life, not her career, that is in danger.

Caro Ramsay is the Glaswegian author of the critically acclaimed Anderson and Costello series, the first of which, Absolution, was shortlisted for the CWA’s New Blood Dagger for best debut of the year. The ninth book in the series, The Suffering of Strangers, was longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize 2018. 

@CaroRamsayBooks | caroramsay.com

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this macabre thriller about death and devil worship in the Scottish Highland Town of Cronchie. It’s remote enough that despite it being teenagers who claim to be worshipping Satan in the woods, it actually gets believed by some of the locals, instead of the eye roll you might get in a bigger place.

But there’s a lot more going on than the horrific murders of an entire family. Someone is determined to stop DI Christine Caplan from solving the murders or looking too closely at the death of the local DCI, driving home from the crime scene. Who at the local police station can she trust? Are members of her own team involved in the conspiracy she uncovers?

Clever, gripping and with enough twists to make you dizzy, this was highly enjoyable and totally ingenious in many ways. I don’t think I’ve read any of the other titles in this series, something I need to rectify immediately.

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

For almost a decade now, Brent Wright has been in prison for the murder of seven women – unless the surviving twin sister of one of his victims is right and Brent didn’t kill anyone at all. 

She goes to Brent’s sister in her last attempt to prove that Brent didn’t kill Sunni. 

In fact, Sunni’s alive … and she’s the real murderer behind everything. 

If the theory is true, Sunni is dangerous and they should leave well enough alone, but neither sister will be entirely satisfied until they find out for certain.

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Rebecca Frost is a published academic who researches and writes about serial killers. Her dissertation was about the history of written true crime in the United States. She is the author of three books published through McFarland on Jack the Ripper, H.H. Holmes, and Making a Murderer, is currently under contract for two books about the works of Stephen King, one through McFarland and one through Lexington. She is also the author of Psychological Thriller Not Your Mary Sue published through Aesthetic Press. BLOOD SISTERS is her second published title through Aesthetic Press. Rebecca uses her research into both real and fictional serial killers in order to realistically craft her own murderous characters.

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My thoughts: the sister of a convicted killer teams up with the sister of one of his supposed victims – who might still be alive, and might just be the real killer.

With lots of twists and turns, this is a clever and twisted tale from a writer with an interest in serial killers that keeps you hooked.

Vanessa will do almost anything to prove her brother’s innocence, and Skye wants to prove that Sunni’s still alive, somewhere. The pairing is interesting and I felt for Vanessa, she’s only got Brent, (and her husband and his snotty family) her brother means the most to her and she never believed he was guilty. An enjoyable and compelling read.

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

A killer is hiding in plain sight, like a snake in the long grass…

When Dr Nell Ward stumbles across a woman’s body amongst the purple heather on Furze Heath, she was on the lookout for nests of poisonous adders.

But something is lurking out here far more dangerous than vipers.

A cold-blooded killer is on the loose and this is not his first victim. As DI James Clark begins to investigate, a pattern emerges pointing towards this being the work of a serial killer. Every victim shares the same physical characteristics – all of which are a match to Nell herself.

As Nell is pulled into a tightly coiled mystery, she can’t help feeling someone is tracking her every move…

Can she unmask the murderer before they strike again?

A completely gripping and page-turning cosy mystery, perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Janice Hallett and Robert Thorogood.

My thoughts: I really like this series, but if I was Nell, I’d maybe stop going anywhere on my own – she either finds dead bodies or almost becomes one in every story, including this one! Maybe it’s time to write a book on bats Nell, something you can do inside, safely.

Having said that, could murderers stop leaving bodies in beautiful places full of wild creatures, it’s probably affecting them quite badly too. Not every little newt or adder fancies finding dead humans in their homes. Which is how come Nell finds this one, she’s doing an ecological survey on a planned development site, one teeming with wildlife, some of which is protected, and stumbles across a corpse.

Could the killer be one of her new colleagues? And if so, how much danger is she in, given that the deceased looks a lot like her?

With Rav in hospital, and Nell needing to finish this survey and help the animals move house, it’s up to James, luckily a police inspector, to work out whether it’s one of the four men Nell now works, which one and why. Not that Nell, or Rav, can leave it alone.

Rav’s long road to recuperation following his accident in the last book, is well done. My former husband was a paraplegic, so I felt for Rav, spinal injuries are very hard to overcome and can be endlessly frustrating as you reconcile the person you are post-injury with who you were before. But you can lead a full and happy life disabled, and I hope Rav learns that, Nell isn’t going anywhere.

The crimes of this killer also relate to the work of Nell’s mother, a Tory MP with an eye to prison reform, partly due to all the scrapes Nell gets into. She’s a total magnet for murder and chaos. Even when she says she wants to focus on her work as an ecologist and bat expert (please fewer murdered bats in future, that was probably the worst bit), she can’t help getting involved with the investigation.

James also gets more of a role in this book, I quite like him. He puts up with Shannon’s craziness and is a dedicated officer and a good friend. He really shows his detective nous in this one, and there’s more of his team too. It isn’t Nell and Rav doing all the investigating this time. Although Rav spots a few crucial clues.

This series gets better and better with each book and I’m really pleased. I also feel my British wildlife knowledge has improved too (the author is a Doctor of ecology, like Nell) and I love all the different creatures Nell and Rav come across too.

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

There’s more than one way to go missing…

When Ryan Kennedy is imprisoned after killing a police officer, he knows what he has to do. Keep his mouth shut about who he was working for, keep his head down, and rely on his youth to keep his sentence short. When he gets out, he’ll be looked after.

Following the death in the line of duty of a fellow detective, DI Sarah Collins has left the capital for a quieter life in the countryside. But when a missing teenager turns up on her patch, she finds herself drawn into a much bigger investigation – one that leads her right back to London, back to the Met, and back to Ryan Kennedy, the kid who killed a cop.

This powerful novel from a former Met detective explores the devastation that organized drug-running gangs can wreak on young lives. It asks who deserves to be saved – and whether saving them is even possible…

Kate London graduated from Cambridge University and worked in theatre until 2006 when she joined the Metropolitan Police Service. She finished her career working as part of a Major Investigation Team on the Metropolitan Police Service’s Homicide Command. She has since written four novels in The Tower series, which is now a major ITV drama, starring Gemma Whelan. She is on Twitter @K8London.

My thoughts: after a police officer is killed by a teenager, the officers most affected by the killing are scattered across the Met and beyond – trying to move on.

But a chance to take down a county lines drug gang, and the killer, now free from prison, who may or may not be involved. As a mother desperately seeks her missing son, dragged into a life of crime and fear, the police see a way into the gang to bring them down and save lives.

A gripping and compelling book from a former detective, tackling one of the big issues facing law enforcement today – county lines and the young people whose lives are destroyed by the web of crime and violence they’re drawn into.

The writing is concise and intelligent, the characters flawed and realistic, the story compelling and moving. A highly enjoyable and interesting read.

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