Tag: thrillers

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Book Blitz: Vengeance is Mine – John Macrae

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The Vengeance Man is back from the dead. For one last mission.

Former intelligence operative Mike Farrah thought he was done with spies, assassins and secret wars.
Then his old handler comes calling.
A ruthless enemy cell is operating on British soil.
The government needs bait.

Mike must become The Vengeance Man. A black-ops legend. A vanished assassin. A ghost everyone believes is buried.

Then Mike learns the truth about Dawn. The woman he loved didn’t die by
accident. She was murdered.
And the people who killed her are the same people now hunting him.

This isn’t just a mission. It’s revenge.

Because Mike Farrah has one chance to expose the killers.

One chance to avenge Dawn.

And one chance to survive being the most wanted ghost in Britain.

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John MacRae is the cover name of a former senior Intelligence Officer with a Special Forces background. He has written extensively on intelligence and military history, and has worked for BBC television and other TV companies as an advisor on military and intelligence subjects. He saw active service in the Falkland Islands, Cyprus, Arabia, and Northern Ireland.

My thoughts: Told he just has to be the mysterious Fritz, the Vengeance Man, a voice on the end of the phone for the various government spooks involved in what becomes Operation Ajax, Mike Farrah agrees, although he still isn’t happy with the last job he did for the intelligence services, ending as it did with two dead women, and a plate in his head.

But of course, it doesn’t go to plan, and he’s up to his neck in rogue Israeli agents, dodgy documents, gun fights, questions about his finances, several guns that he has supposedly been officially given, suspected of killing a mugger, his flat being ransacked and other nonsense.

But he is sort of enjoying it, helped by his developing relationship with Anna, a woman who also knew Dawn, and wouldn’t mind getting some revenge on her killers too. Anna has her own money, her own flat and is far too savvy to fob off with his cover story, so she’s soon drawn into the plot.

There’s a lot of meetings both in Whitehall and various London pubs, dinners out and a dodgy but on paper stunningly clean Irish gangster/businessman who might have some work for Mike down the line. Seems like the Vengeance Man can retire but keep his hand in with the intelligence crowd, just in case.

At moments funny, then action packed, I really liked Mike and Anna, and was pleased nothing horrible happened to either of them. The whole case hinges on passing off some fake documents as the real thing and following the money to see who is so keen to get their hands on what they think is solid gold blackmail material.

It’s a clever premise and I think that Mike will continue to prove to be an asset as the series goes on, and possibly Anna as well, as she’s clever and well connected.

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

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Book Review: The Hiding Season – Ava Glass

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After a painful divorce, Maya Landry is in desperate need of a fresh start, which she finds deep in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. Maya’s relieved when she’s hired as a summer keeper of billionaire-owned ski lodges left empty after snow season ends, and her new life of peace and isolation is going exactly as hoped . . . until she stumbles across a dead body on the living room floor of one of the lodges. There’s no cell service on the resort, and by the time she’s able to find a signal and call the police, the body is gone. In fact, there’s no evidence a body was ever there at all.

The police think Maya is unstable, and she’s not convinced they are wrong. But later that night, a stranger walks up to her and tells her that someone knows she was up on the mountain that day, someone willing to kill to keep their secrets. She’s not sure whether to believe him . . . until the killers come for her in the dead of night. Maya narrowly escapes, only to find that same mysterious man waiting to rush her away. But can she trust him? Can she trust anyone?

Only one thing is certain: The people who committed the murder are coming for her. Maya is the only person alive who might reveal what happened up on the mountain. And they want her gone.

Dubbed ‘The new queen of spy fiction’ by The Guardian, ‘The real thing’ by the Washington Post and ‘A worthy heir to the James Bond mantle’ by James Patterson and shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger, Ava Glass is the UK’s leading female spy fiction writer and has sold over 2 million copies worldwide.

 The Hiding Season follows Ava Glass’ successful Emma Makepeace series, which included The Chase, The Trap, and her critically acclaimed 2023 thriller The Traitor, which wasa Grazia Book of the Month, a Washington Post Book of the Year, a Cosmopolitan Book of the Year and a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. Film rights to The Chase and The Traitor serieshave been acquired.

 Ava Glass’ spy novels are based on first-hand experience working with spies for the British government alongside several years working as an investigative journalist and crime reporter in America. One of vanishingly few female authors writing spy fiction, Ava Glass is breaking down the door to the most male-dominated genre in fiction.

 Ava Glass is an experienced broadcaster and a go-to talking head when something’s going on in the world of spies, and frequently appears on Sky News, BBC News and BBC Radio 4. She has also co-presented a true crime documentary TV series for Channel 4 and is a regular guest expert on current affairs podcasts.

My thoughts: This was a bit different from the other Ava Glass books which are about professional spies, instead the protagonist here is Maya Landry, whose job cleaning the holiday homes of very wealthy people in a private ski resort brings her into the orbit of a terrifying criminal mastermind who even the FBI can’t seem to bring down.

Maya sees something she very much shouldn’t have, and it means she has to run. FBI agent Riley appears at the local bar and tells her she needs to run, and he’ll help her.

A year later, having successfully laid low in Texas, some dangerous people turn up and she calls Riley for help. Now they’re on the run with both the FBI and the crime boss on their trail. Can things get any worse? Can Maya really trust Riley?

Gripping and full of moments of surprise, there are still questions Maya needs answers to, but first of all, she needs to stay alive and one step ahead of law enforcement and criminals.

I really liked Maya, she was genuinely in the wrong place at the wrong time – she doesn’t know who the victim was, or the killer. But that’s not enough it seems, and she has to go on the run, despite her innocence and ignorance. It’s only a mistake that puts her back into the sights of the people who want her dead. She has no choice but to trust Riley, and by extension his friend Amber, to help her, and they have their own agendas.

I enjoy Ava’s books, they’re fast paced and intelligent with interesting characters and compelling plots, and while this was very different from her Emma Makepeace books, it was very readable and I couldn’t put it down.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review but all opinions remain my own.

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Cover Reveal: Black Ledger – Hazel St. Lewis

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Black Ledger (Furyverse: Volume 1)
Expected Release Date: September 24, 2026
Genre: Dark Romance/ Mafia

*Childhood Friends to Lovers to Enemies to Lovers
*Second-Chance Romance
*Female Serial Killer
*Ruthless Mafia Boss
*Cat & Mouse
*He’s Hunting Her—She’s Hunting Him
*She kidnaps him
*Obsessive MMC

They destroyed me, and they will die. 

Ten years ago, members of a powerful cult carved their sins into my body and called it holy. They thought I would disappear.

Instead, I learned how to break them.

I study my targets until I know how they breathe, whom they love, and what keeps them awake at night. Then I begin—quietly dismantling their lives until paranoia replaces sleep and fear replaces air. By the time I strike, they’re grateful to die. Every name goes into my black ledger. One name is saved for last.

Severin Volkov.

My ex. The heir to the Russian mafia and the man who betrayed me. When his turn comes, I won’t be merciful.

For years, powerful men in the Russian underworld have been disappearing without a trace. It looks random—until I inherit my father’s empire and uncover a pattern.

Someone is hunting us.

Whoever is behind it knows our secrets—and how to destroy us from the inside. I will find her. And when I do, she will learn exactly what kind of man I am. I expect resistance. I don’t expect obsession.

As the truth unravels about my father, my empire… and her, one thing becomes clear:

This war won’t end in surrender. It will end with one of us on our knees.

BLACK LEDGER is a dark romance featuring a female serial killer hunting the men who destroyed her life. This is an episodic series with five shorter books that combine to tell one larger story. Perfect for readers who loved the psychological intensity of the Mindfck Series* and the dark mafia power dynamics of the Dark Verse series.

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Content Warnings/Triggers:

Explicit sex, BDSM/dom-sub dynamics, rough sex, choking, toys, light stalking (the fun kind), sexy obsessive MMC, sexy obsessive FMC, hunter/prey, serial killer protagonist.


Kidnapping/captivity, confinement, restraint (not the fun kind), deprivation, rape/sexual assault (mentions, flashbacks and mostly fade to black, not by MMC), Torture (physical and psychological), severe trauma and PTSD, murder, embroidery (not the pretty kind), physical abuse, most of the sexual violence is backstory/flashback, not the main present-day plot.

Revenge Driven Triggers: murder/attempted murder, dismemberment, mutilation, gore, amateur surgery, actual surgery, multiple dick dismemberments, and gun, knife, and weapon violence.

IG: @hazelstlewis @rrbooktours 

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Book Blitz: House of Thieves – Rachel Walkley

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At Terrington Hall, objects are treasured while people are forgotten.

Chief conservator Amy is restoring the Hurly family’s guilt-stained hoard when a theft forces her to hire Harrison, a security adviser on a personal quest to uncover his own history.

Unknown to anyone, an invisible presence woven into the fabric of the house watches their every move.

When Harrison uncovers a room sealed for decades, the investigation shifts from simple theft to the  resurrection of murderous secrets. In a house where the past is too heavy to escape, the dead don’t
need bodies to tell their stories — they just need someone to listen.

One house. Two mysteries. Two centuries apart.

Trailer

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Rachel Walkley is a former librarian and scientist who lives in the North West of England, where she  spends her spare time making music and writing. Her debut novel, The Women of Heachley Hall, was
a bestseller in the UK and Australia.

Known for weaving together family secrets, magical mysteries, old houses and inspirational women, Rachel also writes gripping female-led crime novels under the pen name Rae Shaw.

Rachel Walkley’s author website
Social Media

My thoughts: This was a really engaging and interesting read set in one of those grand old houses looked after by the National Trust or English Heritage.

During a major restoration and audit, it becomes apparent that someone has been quietly pilfering small but valuable objects from the house, Amy is horrified, as chief conservator it is her job to make sure nothing is missing. Hoping the items will turn up elsewhere in the house, as things have been all jumbled up and no proper list of the house’s contents exists, she keeps quiet, but hires Harrison to draw up a security protocol and keep an eye on things as the work continues. 

Harrison has a personal connection to the house and its former occupants, he’s keen to dig through the papers stored in the old school room to look for traces of his ancestors. But what he and Amy find in the house is a hidden history more wretched than they could imagine. It brings them closer together as they determine to bring the secrets into the light and expose them.

This story feels quite timely as more institutions wrestle with the dark parts of their history – from the relationship between the wealth that built these grand houses and slavery, which even the Royal Family is tainted by. A really fascinating and thought provoking 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.

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Blog Tour: Lie in the Bay – Holly Danvers

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A neighborly smile hides a multitude of sins . . .

The residents of Bayshore Lane excel at three things: throwing unforgettable waterfront parties, spreading the juiciest gossip, and taking their darkest secrets straight to the grave.

Take Jenna, Gabrielle, and Dublin. Each harbor something they’d rather die than confess—a forbidden desire, a dangerous scheme, a hidden agenda. In their postcard-perfect neighborhood, these are truths that can never see the light.

But when whispering over cocktails turns sinister, long-buried secrets begin clawing their way to the surface. Jenna’s perfect life starts to fracture, Dublin’s world is reduced to ashes, and Gabrielle risks losing everything she loves.

Someone on Bayshore Lane knows more than they’re saying. And one of them is determined to make this carefully curated circle pay for the sins they thought were long forgotten.

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Holly Danvers pens multiple mysteries series under several pseudonyms. A New England native, she now resides in the Midwest with her husband, where she’s already plotting her next novel.

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My thoughts: The residents  of Bayshore Lane are a close knit group, or are they? It certainly seems like they are, but everyone has secrets, some they’d kill to protect.

Dublin has moved into her late mother’s cottage, one Alec, a local estate agent, feels needs to be pulled down as it’s bringing down the neighbourhood, but is he behind the fire in her shed? The evidence suggests something else is going on, but you never know.

Gabrielle finds out a shocking secret about Jenna and Colton while snooping in their house, she should have just grabbed the painkillers in their bathroom and not been nosey. Now she’s wondering if they had anything to do with the tragic drownings a few years ago.

As tensions grow and multiply, while people’s lives start to crack under the pressure, all the secrets start to rise to the top and then there’s gunshots in the night. Can this small community take much more? 

Cleverly put together, with an intriguing meta-narrative linked to the author’s previous book, this was an enjoyable thriller about secrets, lies and neighbours.

*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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Cover Reveal: The FBI Agents Who Stole Me – Heather Nicks

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We’re thrilled to present the cover for The FBI Agents Who Stole Me by Heather Nicks – Available September 29th!



The FBI Agents Who Stole Me (The Stolen Series Book 3)

Expected Release Date: September 29, 2026

Genre: A Dark MFM Romantic Suspense

Cover Artist: Infix Graph Designs

Tropes:
MFM Romance
FBI Secrets & Conspiracies
Forced Proximity
Protective Heroes
Found Family
Morally Gray Choices
Guaranteed HEA
Micro Tropes:
Breeding Kink
Touch Her and Die
Lady-Napping
Forced Proximity
Morally Gray Heroes
I’D RATHER DIE WITH THE TRUTH THAN LIVE WITH THE LIE.

THE MEN WHO STOLE ME HAVE OTHER PLANS.

I’m the FBI agent who breaks every rule to chase the people responsible for my sister’s death.

I’ve lied, stolen, and burned bridges most people wouldn’t dare touch.

Now those same powerful people want me erased.

My investigation just detonated.

My partner betrayed me.

And two men stand between me and my revenge, both claiming they’re trying to save me.

Julian is the brilliant surgeon with a god complex and a terrifying willingness to break every oath he’s ever taken if it keeps me breathing.

Elliot is my golden-boy partner, the man I trusted with my life, who’s been investigating me from the start.

I should hate them both.

I should run.

Instead, I’m trapped between them, drowning in their obsession, their protection, their lies.

The deeper we dig, the more I realize I’ll have to choose between facing my enemies…

Or letting the two men who stole me pay the price for my choices.

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Content Warning:

This is a dark MFM romance. The main characters will end up with more than one love interest. Triggers to be mindful of: sexual content, rough sex, choking play, gagging, anal play, fisting, MFM/group scenes, voyeurism, weapon play, breeding/pregnancy/lactation kink, pregnancy sex, forced drugging/sedation, kidnapping/forced proximity, stalking, hidden surveillance, and birth control tampering. Additional content includes gun violence, blood, torture/graphic injury, murder, death of a sibling, grief, addiction/overdose, trafficking/sexual exploitation references (off page), forced marriage/breeding-rights threats (off-page).

IG: @heathernicksauthor @rrbooktours


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Blog Tour: The Woman Who Wasn’t There – Wlliam Hussey

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Bestselling crime author Marian Lane is surrounded by adoring readers when she learns that her husband Dane is dead.

Marian returns home in shock to discover a stranger on her doorstep. A woman who not only claims she’s Marian’s biggest fan but says that she comforted Dane in his final moments.

At first, this woman, Mary, is a source of comfort. Until she admits Dane confessed a secret. One she can’t quite remember; one Marian is desperate to learn.

But Mary is a storyteller too. And though Marian knows every twist in the genre, she won’t see this one coming . . .

My thoughts: This was very good, full of twists, funny, dark and a bit twisted. While she’s at a book festival, author Marian Lane’s husband Dane is found dead, apparently from an accidental overdose. There’s a few things that don’t quite add up, but the sane could be said of Marian.

When the slightly strange Mary comes into her life, claiming to have been present at the moment her husband died, Marian takes this odd duck as her new BFF. Much to the annoyance of her old one, about to be the wife of the new PM, acclaimed human rights lawyer Iris. But is Mary telling the truth? Is Marian? And what really happened all those years ago when Dane’s former girlfriend was murdered?

There are some honestly jaw dropping moments in this, and we see Marian’s hard scrabble childhood, her desire to fit in at uni and her fame and success as the author of a popular crime series. But one wrong move, trusting the wrong person, could bring it all tumbling down.

*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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Book Blitz: Body Language/Heartless – Brian Fitzgerald

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BODY LANGUAGE

Alan Wright never expected his ex-wife’s final request to change the course of his life. After Andrea’s death, he receives her ashes along with instructions to scatter them on a remote lake in the Congo. Determined to honor her last wish, Alan embarks on a journey that quickly becomes far more dangerous than he ever imagined. As he retraces Andrea’s final steps, he is drawn into a deadly struggle involving governments, scientists, and a discovery with the power to reshape humanity itself. The deeper Alan ventures into the mystery, the more he realizes Andrea knew exactly where this journey would lead—and that her final request was never simply about saying goodbye. It was about entrusting him to finish what she started.

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HEARTLESS

For ten years, Rick and Mary Morrow have lived with the painful reality that their son’s survival depends on a donor heart. When the long-awaited call finally comes, it feels like the miracle their family has been hoping for. But what should have marked the beginning of a new chapter instead raises unsettling questions that refuse to disappear. As hope gives way to uncertainty, the Morrows find themselves confronting difficult truths about family, trust, and the decisions that determine who receives a second chance at life. Heartless is an intelligent medical thriller that pairs emotional stakes with gripping suspense, inviting readers to wrestle with the impossible choices surrounding life, loss, and the people entrusted with making those decisions.

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Author Bio:

Brian Fitzgerald writes intelligent thrillers that explore the human consequences of advances in technology, medicine, and the systems we trust most.

Over a career spanning marketing, technology, and national broadcast media, Brian built his reputation as a storyteller and communicator. As head of communications for a billion-dollar information security firm, he found himself at the center of some of the most significant cybersecurity breaches and global privacy events of the modern era, working alongside, and at times at odds with, the media, academia, and America’s intelligence and law enforcement communities.

Those experiences continue to shape his fiction, where scientific innovation, medical breakthroughs, and emerging technologies collide with deeply human questions that have no easy answers.

Website

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Book Blitz: A Painkiller to Die For – Dr Martyn Pritchard

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It was difficult for Will Jeavons to imagine just how his life could possibly get any better. Having overcome a traumatic childhood, he had gone on to study molecular pharmacology and win tenure
as a lecturer at his beloved Cambridge University.

But his life was soon to become better still, the CEO of a biotech company. Will’s unique research led to the discovery of a non-addictive drug for chronic pain. A remarkable solution for the opioid epidemic which had claimed the life of his mother.

Will’s flourishing company was subsequently acquired, and this was when he first met Celeste Simmonds. The beguiling Celeste would steer Will away from his earlier hedonistic, womanising
lifestyle. However, the only way he could ensure the success of his drug was to bury key safety data which could have led to the clinical trials being terminated.

Clinical trials which resulted in the husband of Lydia Goldberg falling into a deep coma. It was Lydia’s scientific training which led her to discover Will’s fraudulent cover-up. She was determined to seek vengeance and concocted an elaborate honeytrap and a decision for Will to make. A career ending confession or being submitted to a life-threatening game of Russian roulette.

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Dr Martyn Pritchard is currently moving towards retirement following on from a 35-year long career in drug discovery research focusing on neuroscience as well as novel medicines to treat pain. He is
the author of over 50 scientific papers and book chapters along with one novel written under a nom de plume: A Practical Arrangement.

Instagram: martyn.pritchard1 (Instagram)
Facebook: (20+) Facebook

My thoughts: Drawing on the author’s years in the field, this is a clever and thought provoking thriller that feels very timely. The search for a non-addictive but highly effective painkiller is real, the opioid crisis, particularly in the US, has serious consequences.

Dr Will Jeavons watched his mother, crippled by pain, die of an overdose, he’s dedicated his life to finding an alternative and saving others from her fate. He’s also an arrogant, obnoxious man who sees nothing wrong in the kind of short term, transactional relationships that are hollow and mostly physical. Until he meets Celeste.

She works for the company keen to buy his work, his company, him, but not his employees. And soon Will is enjoying the chase. Celeste is embroiled in an ugly divorce from her serial cheater husband. And she lives in the States. But Will doesn’t see the issue. 

In order to sell his tiny start-up, he hides some important and potentially damaging information about his potential wonder drug. This will prove to have serious repercussions for Will later on, when his life intersects with a furious and vengeful Lydia. 

Will he ever do the right thing? 

Intelligent, with interesting and flawed characters, a fast paced and engaging plot, this is a highly enjoyable thriller for our turbulent times.

*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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Book Trailer: Loyal Liars – R.M. Carpus

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We’re thrilled to present the book trailer reveal for Loyal Liars by R.M. Carpus – Coming June 2027!


Loyal Liars

Expected Release Date: June 8, 2027

Genre: Dark Academia Villain Romance / Suspense Horror

Tropes & Themes: 

  • Villains 
  • Morally gray
  • Enemies to lovers 
  • Touch her and 💀 
  • Class divide/class differences 
  • Secret societies
  • Broken bad boy 
  • Strong FMC
  • Family secrets 
  • Rags to riches 
  • It was all a bet 
  • Dark elite underworld 
  • Wealth and power

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who’s the greatest liar of them all?

When the Reapers unleash a new wave of terror on Abingdon University’s elite, ivy-shrouded halls, Lukas Godfrey, the drop-out son of the school’s esteemed English Chair, is ordered by his father to retaliate against their leader. Confronting the Reapers is the last thing he wants to do, but their latest attack threatens the only home he’s ever known, and what Daddy wants, Daddy gets. As Master of Abingdon’s oldest and most powerful secret society, Liam Godfrey makes the rules, and only fools disobey.

Until Lukas meets the girl who makes him want to break free for good from his father’s tyrannical reign and start creating the blueprint for his own destiny. Lana Cameron is everything Lukas isn’t, and a raging storm he never saw coming. As he fights his desire to choose Lana over the privileged life Liam has mapped out for him, he discovers the one thing they have in common might be the key to saving them both.

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