Tag: thrillers

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Blog Tour: Angel of Death – Rob Sinclair

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Ismail Karaman is one of the deadliest terrorists in recent history. So why is he free to float around the Persian Gulf on his luxury yacht?

Ex intelligence agent James Ryker thinks he knows why, and the answer lies at the corrupt heart of the SIS. Ryker isn’t one to let the bad guys get away with murder, even if it means taking matters into
his own hands. But Karaman has many enemies, and one in particular will make all their lives much more complicated…

They call her the Angel of Death – a former agent whose last encounter with Karaman cost her her family, and left her in a Lebanese prison cell. Now she’s free, and with nothing else to lose, she’s determined to get her revenge… whatever it takes.

Ryker and the Angel may have the same target, but that doesn’t mean they’re on the same side.

Who will reach Karaman first?

And who will still be standing when the bodies pile up?

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Rob Sinclair is the million copy bestseller of over twenty thrillers, including the James Ryker series.

Rob previously studied Biochemistry at Nottingham University. He also worked for a global accounting firm for 13 years, specialising in global fraud investigations.

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My thoughts: Ryker has never stopped investigating the Syndicate, despite no longer officially working for any intelligence service. He’s still in touch with Winter, though and still able to access various databases. He’s tracked his strongest link to Dubai, where he lives on his fancy yacht, not exactly hiding from anyone.

Ryker plans to get to Karaman, he has questions, he’s determined to follow the trail of the Syndicate to the top. But because he’s on the outside now, he doesn’t have the access he once did and it doesn’t go smoothly.

There’s also another person involved – a former agent known as the Angel of Death – who wants to get Karaman for her own reasons. Can Ryker get his man or will Angel or the intelligence community get there first?

Another action packed installment of Ryker’s story, which sees him pull off quite possibly his riskiest mission yet. He’s become perhaps too focused on proving the existence of the Syndicate and is putting himself at risk of winding up on the wrong side of the law, and even Winter won’t be able to help him.

*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: The Girl Who Killed Her Mom – McGarvey Black

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I’ve spent my entire life trying to make up for what happened that day. I was barely fifteen when I killed my mom.

Twenty years later.

I’ve turned my life around. I have a handsome, wealthy husband; two daughters who are everything to me; a stunning Connecticut beachfront home. I’m grateful for every minute that we have together.

Today I came home to find a silver-and-blue gift-wrapped box on the porch. The note inside says: Who killed Midge Lester? Midge Lester was my mom. Someone knows.

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An Amazon Charts/Best Selling Author, many of McGarvey Black’s novels are also available in audiobooks and have been translated into other languages.

“I love writing twisty thrillers that keep readers guessing and hanging at the end of each chapter. Nothing makes me happier than when one of my readers tells me I kept them up all night.” —McGarvey Black

Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, McGarvey Black is married with two children and lives and writes in Florida. She loves dogs of any kind and eating ice cream with demitasse spoons to make it last longer.

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My thoughts: Imagine spending years believing that only two people in the world know about the terrible thing you did, hearing that one of them was dead and knowing the other can’t tell anyone. And then finding out that that isn’t true.

Abigail doesn’t remember the death of her mother, only that she woke up holding the gun that killed her. Her boyfriend took the gun when he left town and she confessed to the local priest, which under the seal of the confessional he cannot share.

All these years later, her life is very different, but she carries her secret and her grief with her. Then a familiar face appears, one who shouldn’t be alive anymore and then another person she never thought she’d see again resurfaces in her life.

Suddenly the secret that she has kept for so long is at risk of being exposed and everything she’s built could fall apart.

Full of twists, with a likeable and sympathetic protagonist in Abigail, this was an enjoyable and intelligent thriller.

*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: Fool Me Once – Mark Gillespie

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Kate thought she knew her neighbors. But they’ve been keeping secrets…

Kate’s quiet evening at home is shattered when a car crashes into a neighbor’s fence. The police and emergency services are quickly on the scene.

Kate saw the crash. The neighbors saw it too. So why is everyone saying it never happened? And how is it possible that the neighbor’s fence doesn’t have a scratch?

Is Kate going crazy or is everyone lying?

Strange things start happening in Kate’s life. A man follows her home after work. An intruder tries to break into her house in the middle of the night.

Kate is convinced these events are connected to the crash. Someone wants to silence her. But why? Who was in that car on Saturday night?

And what is the deadly secret that everyone is trying to hide?

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Mark Gillespie writes psychological thriller and suspense novels. He’s a former professional musician (bass player) from Glasgow, Scotland who spent ten years touring the UK and Ireland, playing sessions and having the time of his life. Don’t ask though. What happened on the road stays on the road.

He now lives in Auckland, New Zealand with his wife and a small menagerie of rescue creatures. If he’s not writing, he’s jamming with other musicians, running on the beach, watching mixed martial arts and boxing. Or devouring horror and thriller movies.

This is his third psychological thriller with Inkubator Books.

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My thoughts: This is a book that will completely wrong foot you in a really good way. Reading the first section, Kate’s story makes you think one thing is happening and then that gets completely thrown up in the air and becomes a very, very different story and without spoiling it, a very interesting story.

I was totally hooked, at first I thought I knew what it was going to be about, but then, bam, it went off in another direction and it was so good, such an interesting, clever, almost a discussion about right and wrong, punishment and revenge. Absolutely cracking 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.

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Blog Tour: The Aftermath – Paul Gitsham

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The Fire. The Fallout. The Aftermath.

Seamus Monaghan is still haunted by the unexplained fire that killed his vibrant but troubled wife, Carole, three years ago. Why was she taken from him in such a horrific way?

Dominic has protected his brother, Seamus, since they were orphaned as young boys. But is that bond strong enough to survive the fallout from the fire?

Andrea loves her fiancé Seamus, but will the fire’s aftermath destroy their future together?

Time moves on, but can the embers of the past ever be truly extinguished?

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Paul Gitsham started his career as a biologist, working in such exotic locales as Manchester and Toronto. After stints as the world’s most over-qualified receptionist and a spell making sure that
international terrorists and other ne’er do wells hadn’t opened a Junior Savings Account at a major UK bank (a job even less exciting than being a receptionist) he retrained as a Science Teacher. He now
spends his time passing on his bad habits and sloppy lab-skills to the next generation of enquiring minds.

Paul has always wanted to be a writer and his final report on leaving primary school predicted he’d be the next Roald Dahl! For the sake of balance it should be pointed out that it also said “he’ll never get anywhere in life if his handwriting doesn’t improve”. Twenty five years later and his handwriting is worse than ever but millions of children around the world love him.*
*This is a lie, just ask any of the pupils he has taught.

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My thoughts: This was an intense, complex thriller, with twists left, right, and centre. Family is everything to Seamus and his brother Dominic – mostly as it’s just the two of them. Seamus met his wife Carole at college and her death in a fire at their home was a terrible tragedy.

Three years on Seamus and Andrea are expecting their first baby, but Andrea is worried that something’s not right. Did Seamus have something to do with Carole’s death? 

Paul Gitsham always crafts such clever and gripping reads, and this is no different. I was hooked from the off, and all the twists. The cops and I were looking in the wrong direction a lot of the 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.

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Blog Tour: Blowback – Cameron Curtis

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A city on the brink of apocalypse. Only one man can save it.

Antonovka-15 is a Russian nuclear weapons storage facility 15 miles from the Ukraine border. When an Alt-Right Ukrainian Special Forces unit – the Vampir Brigade – breaks in and steals an H-Bomb, Breed is tasked with finding it before it can be detonated.

Breed and the CIA’s Anya Stein follow the bomb on a journey through war-torn Ukraine and on to Brussels. Are the Vampirs planning to destroy NATO HQ and the European Commission?

Negative on that – their real plan is even more horrifying.

After surviving multiple attacks by the Vampirs, Breed and Stein find the bomb has been shipped to New York. The Vampirs threaten to incinerate the city if the United States does not commit ground troops to fight Russia.

With the help of Ellie, a young homeless girl, Breed and Stein fight the Vampirs through black 19th century tunnels 30 stories below the streets of modern Manhattan. Ellie leads Breed to the bomb – and a terrifying climax with the lives of eight million innocents hanging in the balance.

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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.

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My thoughts: This is an action packed, thrill ride which if it all goes wrong has huge implications on global political scale. Breed and Stein track a Russian made bomb from war torn Ukraine to Brussels and then to busy New York and with the help of one of America’s many forgotten human beings, race against time to prevent a catastrophe. 

A rogue group of Ukrainian backed soldiers have stolen an immensely dangerous weapon. At first it appears they plan to bomb a UN summit in the EU capital, one the Ukrainian president is intended to be at, proving they have no official support. Then when Breed prevents that incident, they somehow smuggle their weapon across the Atlantic, evading all potential stops and get it into the Statue of Liberty. 

Underneath New York is a huge system of tunnels, along with the subway, there are vast unknown and long forgotten routes, occupied by the many homeless and runaways, some known as moles, who prefer to be underground. The soldiers have been using some of these buried sites, and it is only with the mysterious Ellie that Breed is able to track them beneath the city. 

I want a whole series about Ellie, she’s so intriguing, I hope she features at the very least in another Breed book. I have recommended this series to my dad, who is very particular about his reading material, but I think this is right up his street.

It’s very cinematic like a Jason Bourne or Jack Reacher thriller. I wouldn’t be surprised if one day it hits a streaming service, it definitely has that action thriller vibe that seems to be a big hit with lots of viewers.

Breed himself is an intriguing character too, former special forces, works with the intelligence services but isn’t exactly one of them, Stein acts on his advice, even though she massively outranks him. There’s a  definite vibe between them too, but way too much going on to save the world for them to act on it.

The plot is highly relevant and current, the Ukrainian fight against Putin’s insane attempt to rebuild the Soviet Union has been somewhat pushed off the front pages by more recent terrible events, but it’s still ongoing, incredibly brave people continue to risk their lives for their freedom and peace.

Highly recommend this as a great action thriller with clever twists and a glimpse at worlds right beneath our feet that we completely forget exist.

*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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Blogathon: Little Sister – Isabel Ashdown

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After sixteen years apart sisters Jessica and Emily are reunited. With the past now behind them, the warmth they once shared quickly returns and before long Jess has moved into Emily’s comfortable island home. Life couldn’t be better. But when baby Daisy disappears while in Jess’s care, the perfect life Emily has so carefully built starts to fall apart.

Was Emily right to trust her sister after everything that happened before?

My thoughts: I’m a big sister and while my younger sister sometimes drives me nuts, I would do anything to keep her safe. I think it’s why I found Jess and Emily’s story and their relationship at times hard to believe, especially what happened between them as teenagers. 

Daisy being kidnapped is absolutely awful, but none of it was Jess’ fault, if anything Emily has a not insignificant role in what happens – as does her husband, who isn’t as wonderful and trustworthy as she thought.

But as the story unravels and the long separation between Jess and Emily – sixteen years – and the reasons why – or the reasons that Jess thinks and what Emily did turn out to be very different. That was what was shocking. As an older sister, yes sometimes I have wanted to get rid of sister – maybe not permanently, and resented her, of course. But I would never stoop as low as Emily did, never drive a wedge between parents and child.

I think I had such a strong reaction to this book not just because of my own sibling relationship, but because I am surrounded by sisters. My mum is an older sister, my dad has two older sisters, many of my friends are older (and younger) sisters. And even at their worst, I can’t imagine any of them doing what Emily did. She’s monstrous. But it’s all hidden so well behind a veneer of charm, success and happiness. The ending might be quite twisted, but a part of me can’t blame Jess for wanting to put Emily in her place, for taking a sort of revenge.

It’s also incredibly well written, moving back and forth between the sisters, creating empathy and antipathy as you learn more, the darkness of Emily’s cruel behaviour, Jess’ own plotting to finally get one over on her sister.

Cassie (Emily’s step-daughter), a big sister herself, is contrasted against the nasty relationship between Emily and Jess, is more empathetic. There’s a big age gap between her and Daisy (I have a friend with a similar one, it does complicate things sometimes) but Cassie doesn’t resent her sister, the way Emily does hers.

The book is excellent, the writing strong and the plot intense, something I’ve really come to enjoy in Isabel’s books. A real pleasure to read even as I sort of hated Emily!

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

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Blog Tour: Now You Are Mine – Amanda Brittany

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A remote lakeside house. Six strangers with something to hide.

Who’s out for revenge? Who will survive?

When Polly signs up to an art retreat in the Lake District, it’s an escape from the stress of recent months, when a stalker preyed on her and her friend.

It’s also an opportunity to find out more about her family history: Polly believes her biological mother once lived here, at Lakeside House.

But things quickly turn sinister. The previous owners supposedly took their own lives here, years before – and the glamorous new owners are now receiving disturbing threats. Someone is sabotaging Polly’s artwork. The five other guests on the retreat all seem to be hiding something.

Then one of them goes missing.

Is someone trying to scare Polly? Do the creepy goings-on have anything to do with the family she never knew? Or has the stalker followed her to Lakeside House, and is now hiding in plain sight?

Now You Are Mine is a pulse-pounding dark psychological thriller. If you like Lucy Foley or C.L. Taylor, you’ll love Amanda Brittany

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Amanda Brittany is a bestselling author of psychological thrillers including Her Last Lie.

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My thoughts: I understand Polly’s impulse to try to find out about her biological parents, despite having the loveliest adoptive family. But I would never go to a creepy house where the previous owners disappeared under suspicious circumstances.

The art retreat is, of course, peopled with a selection of oddballs and people full or secrets. Even the owners are strange and unhappy. Then weird things start happening. And after being stalked and spied on, Polly’s nerves are on a knife edge.

She’s still keen to learn about where she came from, to get some answers as to whether she’s connected to the house and its former occupants. But as the situation gets worse, will she get answers before it’s too late?

Creepy and tense, with twist after twist, as the secrets and lies all come tumbling out during a terrifying and harrowing final day at the house, Polly is wishing she’d just gone to stay with her parents in France.

*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: If I Had a Heart – Ariella Isabella

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If you like you romance on the dark side, then you are going to want to read If I had a Heart by Ariella Isabella! Read the content warnings carefully before diving in!

Visit our Instagram page for a chance to win a signed copy of the book!

If I Had a Heart (Hawthorne Duology #1)

Publication Date: August 13, 2024

Genre: Dark Romance

“For fans of Haunting Adeline, Silence of the Lambs and Dexter”

  • Age-Gap
  • Serial Unaliver
  • Stalker
  • Terminal Illness
  • City Life in Boston
  • Guaranteed HEA at End of Duology

“How long have you been running, little rabbit?”

Ever Knight had been racing towards death her entire life, her feet pounding against the floors of psychiatric institutes and hospitals across Boston. From a very young age, she was haunted by depression, and despite numerous attempts to escape its grip, it always pulled her back. When her doctor delivers the news that she has less than a year to live, the allure of death begins to fade. To make matters worse, her history of substance abuse and depression disqualifies her from the transplant list for a new heart. Poetic, in a darkly ironic way, but Ever preferred thrillers to tragedies. She never expected to be cornered by a dark-eyed doctor on a cold Boston night, offering her a chance at life, but at what cost?

Doctor Theron Hawthorne, a renowned surgeon by day and a black-market organ harvester by night, leads a double life. As a member of a lineage of hunters, he takes criminals off the streets and gives their organs to patients denied transplants, free of charge. Why? It satiates his bloodlust, for one. When Theron finds Ever outside the hospital, consumed by self-grief, he sees something he has been searching for his entire life—a voice to call back to him in the void.

If I Had a Heart is the first book in the Hawthorne Duology, a Harvester novel. Fans of Haunting Adeline, Silence of the Lambs and Dexter might also enjoy this dark stalker romance.

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

CWs:
  • Assault
  • Binding
  • Self-Harm
  • Attempted Suicide
  • Substance Abuse
  • Psychiatric Institutes / Institutionalization
  • Somnophilia (Nonconsensual)
  • Spreading of Bodily Fluids
  • Dubious Consent
  • Alluding to Past Sexual Assault while underaged
  • Description of Past Domestic Violence
  • Mentions of Past Child Abuse and Assault
  • Attempted Sexual Assault (Not between FMC & MMC)
  • Improper Use of Medical Equipment
  • Stalking
  • Chronic Illness
  • Terminal Illness
  • Abuse of a Cadaver
  • Forced Self-Cannibalization
  • Drugging
  • Prey Play
  • Kidnapping
  • Organ Harvesting
  • Knife Play
  • Blood Play
  • Tasting Blood
  • Breeding Kink
  • Masturbation
  • Consensual Marking with a Knife

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Blog Tour: A Midnight So Deadly – Wren Handman

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Fans of Kelley Armstrong’s Cainsville series and Leigh Bardugo’s Alex Stern books will love this cozy thriller about the unexplored realms within each of us.

A Midnight So Deadly (The Lumin Archives Book 1)

Publication Date: August 28, 2024

Genre: Thriller/Urban Fantasy

When dreams infect the waking world, what threats—and promises—do they bring?

Maeve and Peri are ‘dreamers,’ creators who record their dreams and publish them to the delight of their fans. When Maeve dreams of the murder of her friend’s abusive ex—and then he’s killed in the real world—her ‘dream’ job becomes terrifying. At the same time, Peri is losing their grip on reality as they search for a woman who keeps appearing in their dreams. Who is this enticing stranger? How does she keep finding Peri, night after night? And what will it cost to hunt her down?

To find the answers to their questions, Maeve and Peri will first have to find each other. As their dreams begin to bleed into the real world, and the borders between reality and illusion come unstuck, reality itself faces deadly collapse.

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Blog Tour: Death Notice – Simon Maltman

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2000

Michael Walker – former IRA volunteer, turned MI5 informer – had his quiet existence shattered when an IRA hit squad was dispatched on his trail to America.

One year on, Walker has been recovering from having his identity blown.

Now living in New York, he is visited by Amy Landish. The former FBI agent is looking for help to find her missing cousin, Lisa.

Walker and his other new ally, Brandon Johnson – a former thief who had robbed him – immediately agree to do anything that they can. The trio are reunited, once again set on a deadly course.

Their investigation leads to the small town of Six Mile, but the last thing they expect is to end up on the hunt for a serial killer.

Walker does not ingratiate himself with the locals or the police, while becoming the target of the killer himself. Just as Walker closes in on his quarry he receives news from home, in Belfast.

Walker moves from one danger zone to another as he finds himself back in IRA territory, where his old comrades want him dead.

Returning to Six Mile, the killer strikes again and closer to home. Walker made a promise to track him down and he doesn’t intend to break it.

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Simon Maltman is the author of novels, novellas and short stories, released with various publishers. An Amazon Bestseller from Northern Ireland he writes a range of crime fiction thrillers. A regular guest at festivals and events, he is the tour guide for Belfast Noir, and also a well known book reviewer for the likes of ITV and online journals. An established ‘Ulster Noir’ author, he also writes American-set high concept thrillers.

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My thoughts: I was a teenager in 2000 and flew to the US by myself to stay with family, but my American trip was very different to the one the characters in this book are having. They’re looking for a missing teenage girl, and possibly multiple missing girls as their hunt intensifies.

Asked by his friend Amy to look for her cousin, Michael Walker, former IRA man turned MI5 informant (the worst thing he could do according to his former colleagues) and his sidekick Brandon drive down from New York to have a look. The local police haven’t made much effort and Aunt Rose is getting very worried as this is out of character for her daughter.

The duo interview Lisa’s friends, crappy boyfriend, teachers, neighbours and finally get a lead. Then suddenly Michael is called back to Belfast – his dad’s dying and this might be his last chance to see him. But this puts him directly in the firing line, he’s still on the IRA’s most wanted, despite the peace process being in, well, process. Despite the risk and having to leave Amy to continue the hunt alone, he and Brandon pop back to the old country.

There’s a lot of action in the book, car chases (including in a small car in the Irish countryside), shootouts, vendettas being carried out, innocent bystanders getting caught up in it, fights with idiots in hockey masks, but Michael and Brandon, and indeed at one point Amy, acquit themselves well and mostly survive to see another day, and keep looking for Lisa.

I really enjoyed this book, I’ve been learning a fair bit about Ireland and it’s history (mysteriously absent from the English school curriculum – I wonder why?!) recently and so this was a nice slice of recent politics, and with lots of 90s/00s pop culture references too. It’s also a great thriller and the trio make excellent detectives – perhaps that’s in their future.

I loved Michael’s habit of quoting famous Irish writers and comparing himself and Brandon to famous crime fighting teams. He’s a great character and well supported in both plot terms and in action terms by Brandon and Amy. More please!

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