Tag: reviews

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Sycorax – Nydia Hetherington

ramblingmads

A captivating reimagining of the life lived by the powerful witch Sycorax before her banishment to the island in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest

Born of the sun and moon, shaped by fire and malady, comes a young woman whose story has never been told…

They call her Sycorax. Seer. Sage. Sorceress.

Outcast by society and all alone in the world, Sycorax must find a way to understand her true nature. But as her powers begin to grow, so too do the suspicions of the local townspeople. For knowledge can be dangerous, and a woman’s knowledge is the most dangerous of all…

With a great storm brewing on the horizon, Sycorax finds herself in increasing peril – but will her powers save her, or will they spell the end for them all? Find out in this gripping and vivid narrative exploration of one of literature’s most mysterious figures.

Originally from Leeds, Nydia Hetherington moved to London in her twenties to embark on an acting career. Later she moved to Paris where she studied at the Jacques Lecoq Theatre School before creating her own theatre company. When she returned to London, she completed a creative writing degree at Birkbeck and is the author of A Girl Made of Air.

My thoughts: Sycorax is only briefly mentioned in The Tempest, mother to Caliban, she could predict storms. From these tiny threads Nadia Hetherington has spun a magical, tragic tale of a woman outcast and alone, who only wants to help others, to belong.

Born to a mother who is of the Moon and a father who is of the Sun, the girl who would become Sycorax is afflicted with chronic pain, an illness she has inherited from her healer mother. She battles with her own body and with the scorn of the local townsfolk, who will buy her potions and curse her at the same time.

The pirate Barbarossa saves her, she warns him of a storm that lays waste to an approaching enemy army, but not his men, who he chooses not to send out following her words.

But before he can ensure her safety, she is preyed upon by a man beloved by the people but secretly cruel and manipulative.  She’s alone except for one elderly woman who tries to help her.

It’s a sad, lyrical and mystical story. The story of a young woman pushed away for being different, ill treated by the people who should have welcomed her, who should have been kinder. She could have helped them, been a useful member of their community. I really felt for her.

As someone who lives with chronic pain, it resonated with me, fighting your own body is horrible, it leaves you exhausted and frustrated, add that to being alone and rejected by your community, and it’s no wonder that she finds an isolated island a sanctuary. Long before Prospero arrives and enslaves her son.

*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: Ordinary Saints – Diamond Ni Mhaoileoin

ramblingmads

Can you imagine it? Can you imagine me there in the front row in Saint Peter’s Square? The lesbian sister of a literal saint.

Brought up in a devout household in Ireland, Jay is now living in London with her girlfriend, determined to live day to day and not think too much about either the future or the past. But when she learns that her beloved older brother, who died in a terrible accident, may be made into a Catholic saint, she realises she must at last confront her family, her childhood and herself . . .

Inspired by the author’s own devout upbringing, Ordinary Saints is a brilliant debut novel from a fresh, exciting new voice which asks – who gets to decide how we are remembered – and who we will become?

Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin was the winner of the inaugural PFD Queer Fiction Prize and was also shortlisted for the Women’s Prize Trust Discoveries Prize in 2022. Her début literary novel Ordinary Saints was shortlisted for the 2025 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize.

‘Inspired by my own upbringing in a devout family, Ordinary Saints asks how we, particularly as queer people, can reconcile ourselves with the beliefs, communities and selves we’ve had to leave behind. The premise is also based on real events. In October 2020, I read about the beatification of Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager who is expected to become the first millennial saint. I couldn’t stop thinking about his family and how the cause for canonisation, on top of the grief of losing a son or brother, would affect them. This became the instigating question of my novel and my protagonist ‘the emigrant lesbian sister of a literal saint’ appeared soon afterwards.’ Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin, 2024

My thoughts: This book has an excellent opening line, and is really interesting and a bit funny. Or maybe that’s just me. Jay’s older brother died young in a terrible accident, he was training to be a priest. Jay was a teenager.

Now, thirteen years later, her dad calls and says he might be beatified as a saint. Unbeknownst to her, her parents have been helping to compile proof that he has been responsible for miracles after his death.

Jay is at a loss as to how to deal with this utterly bizarre thing. She’s not much of a Catholic these days, and she cannot get behind the campaign to turn her brother into a saint. She is forced to revisit and examine her relationship with him, and with her parents.

It’s a really interesting premise and while I was raised going to church, the Church of England doesn’t make saints, so this whole concept is mind boggling. The idea that in the 21st century anyone can imagine that there are new saints to be made is just, well, bewildering.

I really enjoyed this book, I empathised with Jay, struggling to reconcile the brother she remembers with the version being presented by the church, worthy of sainthood. The complicated nature of grief, memory and family relationships are all laid bare and Jay has to try to work out whether she can really believe that her brother, someone she isn’t sure she really knew, could really be perfect.

*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: Book of Forbidden Words – Louise Fein

ramblingmads

“What power lay there in words on a page. And with that thought, Charlotte knew she would not rest until she had seen what was in the manuscript that Lysbette so desperately wanted to preserve in print.”

1552, Paris: Against a backdrop of turmoil, suspicion, and paranoia, the printing press is quickly spreading new ideas across Europe, threatening the power of church and state and unleashing a wave of book burning and heretic hunting. When frightened ex-nun Lysbette Angiers arrives one day at Charlotte Guillard’s famous printing shop with her manuscript, neither woman knows just how far the powerful elite will go to prevent the spread of Lysbette’s audacious ideas.

1952, New York: Milly Bennett, lonely and unmoored, is a seemingly ordinary housewife with a secretive past. Balancing the day-to-day boredom of keeping house and struggling to find her way with the mothers at her children’s school, she finds her life taking an unexpected turn as conspiracies spread amidst the paranoid clamors of McCarthy’s America. When a relic from her past presents her with a 400-year-old manuscript to decipher, she is reluctantly pulled into a vortex of danger that threatens to shatter her world.

From the risky backstreets of sixteenth-century Paris to the unpredictable suburbs of midtwentieth century New York, the stakes couldn’t be higher when, 400 years apart, Milly, Lysbette, and Charlotte each face a reality where the spread of ideas are feared and every effort is made to suppress them.

Dramatic and affecting, and inspired by the real-life encrypted Voynich manuscript, Book of Forbidden Words is both an engrossing story about a timeless struggle that echoes through the ages and a testament to the indomitable spirit of those who dare to let their words be heard.

Louise Fein is the author of Daughter of the Reich, which has been published in thirteen territories, the international bestseller The Hidden Child, and The London Bookshop Affair. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from St Mary’s University. She lives in Surrey, UK, with her family.

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this book, it wove a fascinating story through the lives of three women whose lives are affected by the manuscript.

Lysbette was a ward of Thomas More, who inspired by his Utopia she creates her incredible document, offering a proto-feminist idyll, a world where women are not at the whims of men.

Charlotte, based on a real life historical figure, is the person Lysbette entrusts her manuscript to, asking for it to be printed shortly before she is tragically murdered.

Finally the manuscript resurfaces 400 years later and is given to Milly, who once worked at Bletchley Park, with the request that she attempt to decode it and find out what is contained within. She was once a bit of an expert in Ancient Greek and Latin, before the war and her marriage. Her language skills come back to her as she attempts to interpret the secrets hidden in Lysbette’s work. 

All three women face adversity and are overlooked and poorly treated by the men around them. Each is ahead of her time in so many ways.

Lysbette’s incredible writing was too much for her own time, but could have been seen as incendiary in the tense religious and political environment she lives in. As a practicing Catholic and former nun in newly Protestant England, she runs a terrible risk. Forced into an unwanted marriage with a violent man, she takes a risk in taking the manuscript to Charlotte.

Charlotte in her turn is already on the list of subversives for publishing books that the church disapproves of. Her printers is raided following a supposed tip off that she’s once again printing illegal works. But her decision to produce a singular copy of Lysbette’s text, encoded in the hope that one day the world will be ready for it, is still incredibly brave and surprising.

Milly was probably my favourite character. Having worked at Bletchley Park decoding the messages of the Nazi war machine, and with an unfinished degree in Classics, she’s a bored and frustrated 50s housewife, trapped in America’s new suburbia.

Being given the mysterious manuscript by her former boss changes everything. It’s the height of McCarthyism and the world is filled with conspiracies and neighbours watching each other. Milly already doesn’t fit in, and her preoccupation with the manuscript looks suspicious to the paranoid residents of the town.

Her only real friends, librarian Susan and editor Myra, are also under investigation as ‘subversives’. Because anyone, especially women, who don’t fit into the mould, can’t be trusted.

There is plenty to make me angry, because it doesn’t feel like much has changed sometimes, and it’s so frustrating that even today, something like Lysbette’s incredible manuscript would still be considered questionable. All the progress we’ve made so far, and a women led Utopia would still be seen as too much.

It’s a really, really good book, and I am fascinated by the inspiration for it, the as yet unencrypted Voynich manuscript, which might also be written by a woman or women, and might even contain something as incredible as the one in this book.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: A Wedding at the Little Bookshop by the Sea – Eliza J Scott

ramblingmads


Booksellers Florrie Appleton and her fiancé Ed are just three weeks away from their dream wedding.

Between hand-selling beloved classics, unveiling Ed’s enchanting window displays and hosting lively book readings with local authors, they’ve managed to plan an intimate ceremony that promises to be everything they’ve ever hoped for – filled with literary delights, lots of laughter and the love of those closest to them.

But when Ed’s mother Dawn arrives unannounced on their doorstep, Florrie’s world is thrown into chaos like confetti. Dawn claims she’s come to help with the wedding preparations, yet she’s never
shown the slightest interest in her son before. As she starts dismissing their carefully curated shelves and snooping around their cosy cottage, Florrie can’t shake the feeling that Dawn’s plans stretch far beyond simply choosing flowers and cake.

With her close-knit group of friends rallying around her and the bookshop’s loyal customers offering support, can Florrie protect her relationship and the bookshop that means everything to them both?

Or will their happily ever after slip through their fingers like pages torn from one of her treasured books?

Purchase


Eliza J Scott lives in North Yorkshire with her family and has wanted to be a writer as far back as she can remember. She is inspired by her beautiful surroundings and loves to write heartwarming stories
based on romance and friendship with a generous dollop of community spirit and a hint of humour.

When she’s not writing, Eliza can usually be found with her nose in a book or working in her garden doing a spot of plot wrangling (of the writing variety), and battling against the weeds. The weeds,
unfortunately, are currently winning but Eliza is undeterred. Roses are amongst her favourite flowers and she doesn’t need much of an excuse to visit a plant centre, where a new rose always seems to
mysteriously find its way onto her trolley much to her husband’s astonishment.

Eliza also enjoys having a catch-up with friends over tea and cake, as well as bracing walks in the countryside, rounded off by a visit to a teashop – for yet more tea and cake!

Amazon author page: Eliza J Scott – UK or Eliza J Scott – US
Website: Eliza J Scott
Twitter/X: @ElizaJScott1
Facebook: @elizajscottauthor
Instagram: @elizajscott

Bookbub: @elizajscott
Threads

My thoughts: Florrie and Ed are counting down the days to their wedding, when Ed’s ghastly mother shows up, looking to cause havoc and derail their plans.

She’s still mad that Ed’s grandparents left their bookshop to him and Florrie, and wants to drive a wedge between the couple. Unfortunately for her, they’re strong and can see what she’s up to.

Florrie’s friends have planned a week’s worth of pre-wedding fun, a long and entertaining hen week, with no pig wrangling involved (promise!) It should keep her distracted and hopefully stop any panic about what Ed’s mad mother is up to. 

And then, before they realise, it’s time to say “I do”. 

This is a lovely, funny, fun read, light and entertaining, perfect for unwinding and letting your own worries go for a while.

*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 Silent Boy – Michelle Kidd

ramblingmads

A brutal double murder. A traumatised little boy.

Detective Jack MacIntosh tackles his most impossible case yet.

Detective Jack is standing at the graveside of his old friend and mentor, DCI Frank
Tyler, when the call comes in. ‘Boss – we need you NOW!’

He arrives at a smart Richmond townhouse to a scene of unspeakable horror. There’s blood everywhere – soaking through the thick-pile rug, slashed across the curtains, sprayed across the ceiling. Two bodies lie side-by-side, next to the king-sized bed.
They’re not fresh. They’ve been there at least two weeks.

Nothing adds up. A frenzied attack, yet meticulously executed. Carefully planned. No forced entry.

Then the most chilling discovery of all.
A six-year-old boy, hiding in the study. Clothes stiff with dried blood. Eyes blank.
Silent.

Joshua is the only witness. And whatever he saw has trapped him deep inside himself.

Now Jack is in a race against time to unlock the little boy’s memories and coax out the truth – before the killer returns to silence Joshua for good.

Goodreads
Purchase

Michelle Kidd is a crime fiction author best known for the DI Jack MacIntosh and DI
Nicki Hardcastle series. Michelle qualified as a legal executive in the early 1990s,
spending ten years practising civil and criminal litigation.

But the dream to write was never far from her mind and in 2008 she began writing the first book in what would later become the DI Jack MacIntosh series.

Michelle now works full time for the NHS and lives in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
She enjoys reading, wine and cats — not necessarily in that order.

Facebook Instagram Twitter Website

My thoughts: Michelle writes smart, cleverly plotted crime fiction. Her Detective Jack MacIntosh is a complicated character, he’s a good investigator and leader, but he has secrets and complications that could endanger his career. He’s working on an investigation of his own alongside his official cases.

This one is shocking, two people brutally murdered, and their six year old son has been alone in the house with his parents’ bodies for some time. Did he see what happened? He’s not talking and it will take a skilled psychologist to get him to open up.

The couple’s family are in Jack’s sights, the dead man’s brothers are evasive and quick to complain but not to help. Joshua seems afraid of them too.

As the team dig into the family’s secrets and hope for Joshua to start talking, Jack’s distracted by his secret case, and worried about the implications of dealing with a dangerous gangster.

The case is full of twists and the killer is a surprise, I certainly didn’t guess it right up until the last second. Excellent 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.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Saoirse – Charleen Hurtubise

ramblingmads

Can a great love survive a great deception?

In the wilds of Donegal, Ireland, 1999, Saoirse is an artist living an outwardly idyllic life. Her tender husband Daithí and two beloved daughters are regular subjects for her work, and in them she has found the safe home that she has always longed for. She tends not to talk about her past, and those that love her have learned to accept that the full story is too painful for her to disclose.

When her Dublin exhibition unexpectedly wins a prestigious award that invites a swarm of publicity, Saoirse is left panic stricken. The unanticipated recognition threatens to expose a decade’s worth of buried memories and past crimes. Because what her family and friends don’t know is that Saoirse has been on the run since she was seventeen, she has stolen an identity to survive, and whilst Ireland might now be her home, it wasn’t her first – and now her past life is poised to reclaim her.

Charleen Hurtubise has lived in Dublin, Ireland for over 25 years, having moved from Michigan, USA. She is a teacher and artist as well as a writer, and her short fiction, essays and poetry have appeared in various publications. She holds an MFA Creative Writing from University College Dublin (UCD) where she has also facilitated creative writing modules.

My thoughts: Saoirse has been running from something her whole life, but now she’s found a home, she’s finally safe, but it all might be lost in an instant.

I was utterly hooked by Saoirse’s story, her awful childhood, her attempts to start over, her love for Daithí and her children, her passion for her art. She’s a fascinating character, she’s had to fight for so long, struggle for survival.

It might not be the happiest of stories, but Saoirse is a survivor, a chameleon, changing herself to fit in, to keep going, always living on her nerves. It’s intense but gripping, moving and full of beauty.

*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: Hidden Truth – C.D. Steele

ramblingmads


Private Investigator Joe Wilde is investigating the murder of Philippa Redmond a former Labour MP.
She had been found dead in her sauna over the Christmas holidays six weeks ago. The majority of her family had been staying with her at the time, but the police didn’t regard any of them as
suspects. Evidence suggested an intruder had got into her home.

Joe also takes on a cold case of a missing woman named Julie Turnbull. She had disappeared six years ago without a trace. Meanwhile Joe’s good friend DI Whatmore is investigating the horrific murder of a woman who was burnt alive in her own home. His investigation crosses over with Joe’s missing person investigation. As they conduct their own investigations there are more killings.
DI Whatmore and Joe must join forces to track down a serial killer and solve a puzzling mystery, but doing so puts them and others in grave danger.

UK Paperback UK ebook
US Paperback US ebook

Author Bio – C.D Steele works as an Executive Officer in the Civil Service. He has a degree in Recreation Management and lives in County Down, Northern Ireland. This is his third novel and is the
next book in the Joe Wilde Series after False Truth and Dark Truth.

CD Steele on Amazon

Giveaway to Win 3 x copies of False Truth (book 1 in the Joe Wilde series) and 1 x copy of Dark Truth (book 2). (Open to UK Only)

My thoughts: Private Detective Joe Wilde, formerly of MI6 has two complicated cases on his desk. One the murder of a former MP, the other the disappearance of a young woman six years ago.

The family of the MP are cagey, and not happy with his lack of progress, her daughter keeps threatening to stop paying him.

But the missing girl seems to be connected to something bigger, as DI Whatmore’s investigation reveals, a robbery, several murders and gangsters are all involved. The missing Julie seems to have been the daughter of a rather unsavoury person and been dragged into a whole mess before she disappeared.

As Jack and the police carry out their investigations they put themselves in the firing line as someone is chasing old secrets and won’t stop for anyone.

It’s a tangled web that has to be unwoven in order to solve the tragic disappearance and the MP’s murder too. Although Jack is dedicated and determined. This is a clever read with a twisty turny plot.

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


**Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Gleam link. The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or
email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of
the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only forfulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not  responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.**

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Six Hours to Live – Charlie Gallagher

ramblingmads

Margate, on England’s south coast. The hottest day of the year.

A derelict warehouse on an industrial estate. A woman claws desperately at the
smooth, unbroken walls of a steel shipping container as it slowly fills with water.

She has six hours to live.

Her husband gets a chilling message on his phone: Drown The Rats. And a map. He
races to the site. He sees his wife struggling for life . . .

Police Constable Abigail Morton is in her twenties, can’t find a man she wants to
keep, and has just resigned after being passed over for promotion. Her special talent is getting people to talk to her, making her perfect for the role of source handler.

The one detective she really respects is DCI Paul Cotterill. And Abigail is the one
person Cotterill needs in this case. When she gets the call from him, she’s back in.

Goodreads
Purchase

Charlie Gallagher was a serving UK police officer for thirteen years. During that time he had many roles — starting as a front-line response officer, he became a member of a specialist tactical team and finally a detective investigating serious offences. Charlie left to concentrate
on writing full time.

Facebook Twitter Instagram

My thoughts: This was a really interesting and fascinating case, death by drowning is apparently incredibly unpleasant, your body desperately tries to fight it. I cannot imagine what watching someone you love die in that way, but that is what happens here.

The police are at a loss, the victims were connected to their covert intelligence unit – passing on information about criminals they happen to be in the orbit of. But someone is clearly unhappy about this and is determined to stop them. It looks like there’s a leak in the unit, so the team have been suspended. At the end of his wits, their boss DCI Paul Cotterill calls on Abigail Morton – freshly resigned from the police, to help him.

I really like Abigail, she’s clever and resourceful, knows her own mind and has become frustrated after being passed over for promotion in the very team that needs her help. She’s not impressed with Cotterill’s methods, but she is intrigued by the case.

As these two cops attempt to get to the bottom of these awful deaths, find the leak and prevent another person from being killed, they come into contact with a strange man who commits the same crime repeatedly in order to get into police custody. He might hold the key to the whole case.

Gripping and intelligent stuff, I wanted more immediately. Abigail is a really interesting character and I would like to see what happens next for her.

*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: Sharks – Simone Buchholz, translated by Rachel Ward

ramblingmads

In Wilhelmsburg, Hamburg’s so-called ‘problem area’, an American couple is found brutally murdered in a derelict house. Prosecutor Chastity Riley is assigned the case and quickly finds herself waist-deep in a murky tangle of city planners, shady investors and vanishing officials.

The gentrification machine is rolling on, and someone is sending a very clear message. As November fog settles over the city, Chastity is coughing up blood, her personal life is a slow-motion disaster, and her former colleague, Faller, won’t stop interfering.

But nothing’s going to stop her from cutting through the lies – not even the sharks circling ever closer…

Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau. At university, she studied Philosophy and Literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious HenriNannen-School.

In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award as well as runner-up in the German Crime Fiction Prize for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. The critically acclaimed Beton Rouge, Mexico Street, Hotel Cartagena (winner of the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger) and River Clyde all followed suit, with 2023’s The Acapulco and 2024’s The Kitchen reloading the series.

She is on the board of PEN Berlin, and is at the forefront of the lobbying movement for fair pay for authors. She lives in Sankt Pauli, in the heart of Hamburg, with her son.

My thoughts: Chastity Riley has a nasty virus she can’t shake, and a nasty case too. Two elderly Americans who have lived in Hamburg for decades, have been murdered in their homes.

As the team investigate, they discover a mess of planning applications, permits, foreign investment and no one wants to answer her questions. There’s a niece who has hired a retired Faller, who has started working as a PI, but her story seems a bit off.

Faller’s replacement has started, and causes more than a ripple in Chastity’s personal life too. She needs to get some rest, but she can’t shake this case.

Another clever and twisty turny story of Hamburg’s seedy underbelly and opaque bureaucracy. Chastity gets more complicated, and the changes to her team of detectives throws up complications. I’m really glad this series is back, the writing is always excellent and compelling, really enjoyable.

*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

Blogathon: The Death Watcher – Chris Carter

ramblingmads

The 13th adrenaline-packed Robert Hunter thriller and Top Ten Sunday Times bestseller.

When a routine autopsy on what looked like a straightforward hit-and-run leads the LA Chief Medical Examiner, Dr Carolyn Hove, to discover some puzzling inconsistencies, she calls in Detective Robert Hunter of the LAPD Ultra Violent Crimes Unit. Not only did Dr Hove discover that the death wasn’t caused by a hit-and-run, but she also found indications that the victim had been severely tortured prior to death.

What no one realises is that what Dr Hove has stumbled upon is just the tip of the iceberg and it will lead Hunter and his partner, Carlos Garcia, on the trail of a twisted and clever killer who hides in plain sight. A serial killer no one even knew existed – a killer who has always operated under the radar, expertly disguising every gruesome murder as an accidental death.

But with no leads as to why the victim was targeted, the investigation comes to a standstill, until another body is discovered with an alternative cause of death.

What becomes clear is that this serial killer isn’t going to stop – unless Hunter and Garcia can get to him.

But how do you investigate a murder when you have no victims? How do you catch a killer who leaves behind no crime scene? How do you stop a ghost who no one can prove even exists?

My thoughts: Thirteen books into this dark but compelling series, I am still completely hooked. This case might be Hunter and Garcia’s strangest yet.

Because their medical examiner is brilliant, she spots a few things that prove their hit and run victim is nothing of the sort – he died from hypothermia. In Southern California, in summer. Now I have actually spent summer in Orange County, south of LA and it is hot. So, so hot. There’s just no way you could get that cold unless you were locked in a freezer. And nobody does that voluntarily.

While Hunter and Garcia are trying to figure out whodunnit and why. There’s another body that appears, again the supposed cause of death doesn’t match the evidence on the body. A body that was donated to the students at a medical school, training to be medical examiners.

Slowly, the brilliant detective duo, veterans of dozens of baffling cases, put together what links the victims and what might the killer be thinking.

Chris Carter is a brilliant writer, and was a criminal psychologist, and really knows how to build suspense and a sense of real danger, which once again Garcia and Hunter find themselves in.

This blogathon has been just tremendous to be part of and I cannot wait to see what Carter writes next.

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