Tag: thrillers

It’s a liar’s paradise

Wittering Lodge, Stann Creek, Belize

In the dead of night, lying in her father’s jungle lodge, Laelia watches her partner Aid sleeping – her mind racing with everything that’s brought her to this moment.

The heady Caribbean holiday when they first met.

The rum-fueled passion that, day by day, creeps into something darker.

The secrets she discovered in a hidden nook of the lodge, revealing a devastating past.

Above all, she thinks about the impossible decision she must make before dawn.

Does she stay silent and protect their newfound paradise? Or does she confront the lies which run as deep and dark as the lagoon – surfacing a dangerous truth from which there’s no return…

JO MOREY is a graduate of the Faber Academy and the Curtis Brown Breakthrough Mentoring Scheme. The Night Lagoon is her first novel, a literary suspense, for fans of The White Lotus and Where the Crawdads Sing. It was selected as The Sunday Times ‘Book of the Month’, is one of Good Housekeeping’s ’20 Hottest Books of the Summer’ and has been described by US Publishers Weekly as ‘Lush and immersive with a chillingly effective payoff.’

Like her protagonist, Jo wears hearing aids and suffers constant tinnitus. She lives in West Sussex at the foot of the South Downs with her husband, two boys and two Portuguese Water Dogs. Jo is currently working on her next novel, set on the North Island of New Zealand where she used to live.

My thoughts: Belize isn’t somewhere I know anything about, beyond the fact that it was once occupied by the British.

Laelia’s father is an academic specialising in orchids, of which Belize has many species. She and her sister Chloe are visiting him for his birthday, with their partners and children.

When he has a terrible accident and ends up in hospital, she decides to stay and look after his home, prepare it for his return. But as she and her partner Aid settle in with her children, Ella and Dylan and become part of the community, things start to go awry.

Aid has secrets, secrets Laelia needs to learn in order to stay safe. Her father knew some of them and if he ever wakes up, he’ll be able to tell her. But Aid isn’t behaving like his usual self and his past is beginning to intrude into their present.

Gripping and fascinating, with a great protagonist whose disability makes it harder for her to be sure what is true and what she’s heard.

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

Leo and Viv’s Friday night starts out like any other. A bottle of wine, a takeaway from their favourite Chinese restaurant, a movie, then an early night.

But when Leo wakes up, he finds he’s not in London anymore; he’s naked and alone in an unfamiliar bed, in an anonymous hotel, on the other side of the world. Viv wakes up to a ringing phone. It’s Leo – he claims that he’s in Australia, despite the impossibility of it. An emergency passport is arranged.

A return flight to London is booked, but before Leo can make it onto the plane, there’s a flicker in the corner of his vision, and he wakes up in another bed, in another hotel room, in another country.

Disoriented, Leo soon discovers he’s not alone. Someone with access to a groundbreaking technology and an axe to grind is beaming a group of individuals around the globe – and hunting them down, one by one, committing perfect, untraceable murders.

As Leo fights for his life, back in London, Viv is struggling to understand what’s happening. But as her investigation deepens she starts to unearth secrets from Leo’s past. Dark secrets. Secrets that might be enough to make someone want to kill him. And the more she learns about Leo, the less she seems to know and the less certain she is that her husband is a man worth saving.

Robin Brookes grew up in Sydney, Australia and now lives in Brighton, England. She has worked as a playwright, copywriter and bookseler. The idea for The Arrival came about after Robin heard, and misunderstood, the science behind the 2022 Nobel Prize for Physics. It is currently in development as a feature film.

My thoughts: This is a very clever story, you’re as at sea as Leo and Viv to begin with, as they try to make sense of how Leo has woken up on the other side of the world, 24 hours away by plane, just seconds it seems to them.

As the story unfolds, and Viv investigates how someone could be controlling where Leo finds himself, from Australia, to North Korea and beyond, you learn they face a dangerous and angry foe, intent on revenge for the sort of incidents that fester and become larger the longer you dwell on them. They’ve had access to an incredible new technology, and they’re using it to carry out their outsized revenge plan, despite it not officially being able to transmit people, just objects.

Viv is determined to get her husband back before she gives birth, and Leo must stay alive long enough to make it home, unsure who his enemy is, or what they’re capable of.

Tense, gripping and really enjoyable, this is a brilliant thriller with an ingenious 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

A kidnapped girl. An impenetrable fortress. Sounds like a job for Breed.

Keen to discover what she knows about a looming conspiracy, Breed and Stein plan to question German cabaret performer Käthe Ziegler in New York.

Their plan is derailed when Käthe is kidnapped by a team of professionals. They want her and a piece of jewelry she’s been hiding — an ancient gold seal she stole from the most dangerous man in Europe.

Karl Graf is Germany’s Vice-Chancellor, the head of a secret society of senior
politicians and industrialists, and a man with a plan to reshape the continent. He wants his seal back. He wants Käthe back. And he’s prepared to kill anyone who gets in his way.

Breed and Stein discover that Kathe has been taken to a castle high in the Bavarian
Alps. Against all odds, they climb to the fortress, which sits atop a lethal three-thousand-foot peak.

Inside, they find Käthe, Graf, and the truth about an eighty-year-old conspiracy that
began in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany and ends — in a bloody climax —
on Christmas Eve.

Blood Pact — Book Thirteen in the stunning Breed action thriller series. Perfect for fans of Jason Kasper, Jack Carr, and Lee Child.

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Cameron Curtis has spent thirty years on trade floors as a trader and risk manager. He was on the trade floor when Saddam’s tanks rolled into Kuwait, when the air wars opened over Baghdad and Belgrade, and when the financial crisis swallowed the world.

Having written fiction as a child, he is the author of the Breed action thriller series.

My thoughts: Breed and Stein are in Germany, which is supposed to be an ally, but as they attempt to keep Käthe from her captors, they discover a conspiracy that dates back to during WWII and the Nazi obsession with the supernatural.

As with all the Breed thrillers, the plot moves very quickly and I found the parts where Käthe is relating the history of her family and their relationship with the Grafs, quite slow in comparison.

There’s also a lot of gunfights and dead bodies – obviously they’re mostly henchmen so even their employer doesn’t really care, even when Breed is chucking them down the cliff the German castle they’re holed up in, stands on.

As Käthe fills in the back story, Stein and Breed are working out what the group of powerful politicians are up to in their castle stronghold at Christmas. Could they be preparing to bring down the world as it currently stands and go back to their grandparents’ time?

Thankfully Breed and Stein are there, as there seems to be a mole and worryingly their Director and President might be a bit more involved in this than either operative would like.

We still don’t learn anything about Breed, his past is a closed book, but he does get to be the hero of the hour, and even if he doesn’t believe in the supernatural element of this mission – he is very clear on the potential fall out should it succeed. 

After another success, he and Stein must head back to the US to confront their Director and try to locate the mole – the one who almost cost their lives this time. 

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

There’s something wrong with Haddon Hall…

In 1876, Eleanor Teague lives in a lonely house far from the glamorous London Society she once knew. Confined to Haddon Hall by agoraphobia, bedevilled by nightmares of the death of her daughter, and haunted by the guilt of a terrible crime she committed, Eleanor depends on the household servants and on her husband Ezra, who is kind, patient… and controlling.

But when an apparition appears at her bedside, and mysterious voices urge her to find the ‘Shadow House’,she’s convincedan uncanny presence dwells within the walls of Haddon Hall, and that the staffare lying to her – they, in turn, fear she’s descending into madness.

As Eleanor’s world starts to fracture, the very foundations of Haddon Hall seem to shake. Why is the attic room locked? What is the Shadow House? Who is the strange woman in the woods? The shocking truth will shatter everything Eleanor thought she knew about her life.

A haunting, high-concept thriller with a jaw-dropping twist,The Strange Lives of Eleanor Teaguewill enthral readers of John Marrs, Gillian McAllister and Stuart Turton

M.K. Hill was a journalist and an award-winning music radio producer before becoming a full-time writer. He’s written the Sasha Dawson series – The Bad Place, The Woman In The Wood – and the Ray Drake series – The Two O’ClockBoy and It Was Her – as well as acclaimed psychological thriller One Bad Thing, and the espionage thriller Zero Kill. He lives in London.

My thoughts: This was very clever and without giving anything away, the concept is really well done and sinister, especially given the rapid growth of technology in our century.

Eleanor (who shares a name with my sister) is riddled with guilt about the death of her daughter and the crime she committed. She’s completely dependent on her husband and their tiny household staff for everything, and feels trapped. But something isn’t right.

Her memories are confusing and muddled, things are strange in the house and when her sister and brother-in-law visit, they seem very worried about her.

She is the only person who can find a way through all the mysteries and confusion, her husband becomes increasingly controlling and distant. The staff don’t seem able to help her, referring to Ezra whenever she asks for anything. But she must leave the house, somehow.

Tense, claustrophobic and creepy, Eleanor’s life spirals out of her control and she needs to regain it if she hopes to survive with her mind intact.

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

Suddenly Joe was back in the job and doing what he did best… becoming someone else.

Mixing with the bad guys in order to bring them down.

Three years ago, after an undercover police operation went disastrously wrong, CID officer Joe Clayton lost his career and his family. Forced to adopt a new identity, he lives under the radar, taking whatever jobs he can find. Always looking over his shoulder, always hunted.

Now living on the tiny south coast island of Terror’s Reach, home to rival business tycoons Robert Felton and Valentin Nasenko, Joe works as a bodyguard to Nasenko’s wife, Cassie, and her two
children.

But when a burning summer’s day explodes into violence, and a murderous gang targets the ultra-exclusive community, only one man stands a chance of saving the residents from annihilation.

Joe must draw upon all his skills and determination to keep them alive.
But nothing is as it seems on Terror’s Reach, and a long night of betrayal and murder leaves Joe fighting for his own survival …

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Tom Bale was born in Brighton in 1966. He left school at eighteen and worked a number of jobs before starting a career in the insurance industry. He managed a claims office in Yorkshire for five years before returning to Sussex for a far more rewarding – and exhausting – stint as a
househusband.

After years of collecting rejections slips, his publishing breakthrough came in 2006 and he has now been a full – time writer for more than fifteen years. His books have sold more than half a million copies and been translated into various languages.

An avid reader of crime and thrillers, he lives on the Sussex coast where he loves to cycle, swim in the sea and spend time with his grandchildren.

Facebook: @tombalewriter
Twitter: @t0mbale
Instagram: @tombalewriter
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Bookbub profile: @TomBale

My thoughts: Joe Clayton is a man with secrets, but it isn’t his that might just get him killed. Working for a dodgy Ukrainian businessman Valentin Nasenko as a bodyguard, his duties mainly involve Cassie Nasenko and her children Jaden and Sofia.

After a botched kidnapping event, Joe races back to the island home where Valentin is conducting business. Joe finds the whole place under siege from a gang of thieves, they’ve taken the residents hostage and want to get into fellow business magnate Robert Felton’s infamous safe, supposedly full of gold. 

Things have gone a bit sideways however and the gang are beginning to get tense, this was supposed an easy job, and now it isn’t. When Felton’s own security team appear, things go from bad to worse. All Joe wants to do is stay alive and get back to keeping Cassie and her children safe. But that might not prove to be so easy.

There’s a lot happening here, little of it good, lots of it violent and bloody, Joe might be a man whose past is full of pain, but he wants a future, one where he might be able to fix things, and to do that, he has to survive. He’s quick thinking, clever and prepared to fight his way free if he has to. Which is handy when thrown into a fight to the death with a violent brute.

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

Brie wanted to start over. But not like this.
Drowning in debt and desperate to escape her controlling boyfriend, Brie MacKenzie jumps at a summer job at Pine Ridge Homestead.

The remote property offers a fresh start. And the owners, Grace and Bradley, seem like the perfect couple.

They’re not.

Locked doors. Veiled threats. And rumors of a young woman who vanished from the
property years ago—and was never seen again.

When Brie uncovers the couple’s dark secret, she understands they have brought her here to be a pawn in their twisted games.

As wildfires close in and cut off all escape, Brie realizes she has fled one trap to find herself caught up in something far more terrifying. Because in this deadly game, only one thing is certain—the pawn will be sacrificed.

All Her Lies – the chilling psychological thriller, perfect for fans of Freida McFadden, Nicola Sanders, John Marrs.

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Matt McGregor is a writer of psychological thrillers from New Zealand. Before
becoming a writer, Matt taught English (briefly), ran a nonprofit, worked with maps, and led a marketing team for a tech startup. Now, he mostly spends his time inventing surprising ways to murder his characters, which is totally fine and nothing for you to worry about. When he’s not writing in the third person, he likes to explore the local wilderness, swim in the sea, and play with his exhaustingly energetic young children.

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My thoughts: Nothing about this situation sounds like a good idea, but Brie is out of options. She’s desperate to get away from her controlling boyfriend Neil, and with little money and nowhere to go, her choices are very limited.

Taking a job from a listing that doesn’t give much in the way of details, on a farm in the middle of nowhere occupied by an English professor and his writer wife, there are a few red flags straight away, but Brie can’t be picky. She thinks it’ll be ok for now until she can get some money together and work out her next move.

Unfortunately she’s now caught up in the twisted relationship and strange games Grace and Bradley play. It seems as if Grace might just kill her, or gaslight her into a mental breakdown, but Bradley doesn’t act like his wife, and offers a way out. And that’s when things get really weird.

With few friends and no one able to help, Brie has to find a way to survive the mess she’s in and prove that none of it is her fault. If she doesn’t die in some horrible way first. 

When you’re mentally screaming “get out, run!” at a character because everyone around them is nuts, you know you’re hooked. I really liked Brie but she was really naive, Grace and Bradley were monsters and she just got caught in their web of disturbing weirdness. It’s hard to know who’s telling the truth, or which of them is worse. And then there’s creepy ex-boyfriend Neil. Brie – make better choices about the people in your life, you have a very rubbish crazy filter!

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