Tag: thrillers

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner comes a harrowing new thriller: Frankie Elkin is an expert at finding the missing persons that the rest of the world has forgotten, but even she couldn’t have anticipated this latest request—to locate the long-lost sister of a female serial killer facing execution in three weeks’ time.

Frankie Elkin is an expert at finding the missing persons that the rest of the world has forgotten, but even she couldn’t have anticipated this latest request—to locate the long-lost sister of a female serial killer facing execution in three weeks’ time. 

She has called herself “death,” but people called her the devil. 

The case was sensational. Kaylee Pierson had confessed from the very beginning, waived all appeals. Despite the media’s chronicling of her tragic circumstances—the childhood spent with a violent father—no one could find sympathy for “the Beautiful Butcher” who had led eighteen men home from bars before viciously slitting their throats. 
Now, with only twenty-one days left to live, Pierson has finally received a lead on the whereabouts of the sister who was kidnapped over a decade ago, and she needs Frankie’s help to find her. The Beautiful Butcher’s offer:

When was the last time your search ended with finding the living? 

Unable to resist the chance for a rescue, Frankie takes on Pierson’s request. Twelve years ago, five-year-old Leilani went missing in Hawaii. The main suspect? Pierson’s tech mogul ex-boyfriend, Sanders MacManus. Now, on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific—the site of MacManus’s latest vanity project—fresh evidence has appeared. In order to learn the truth and possibly save a young woman’s life, Frankie must go undercover at the isolated base camp. Her challenge: A dozen strangers. Countless dangerous secrets. Zero means of calling for help. And then the storm rolls in…

Lisa Gardner, a #1 New York Times bestselling thriller novelist, began her career in food service, but after catching her hair on fire numerous times, she took the hint and focused on writing instead. A self-described research junkie, she has transformed her interest in police procedure and criminal minds into a streak of internationally acclaimed novels, published across 30 countries. Her novel, The Neighbor, won Best Hardcover Novel from the International Thriller Writers.  She has also been honored for her work with animal rescue and at-risk children.  An avid hiker, gardener and cribbage player, Lisa lives with her family in New England.

My thoughts: there are some authors who are auto-buys for me (Karin Slaughter, Karen Rose, Louise Candlish) and Lisa Gardner is one of them. I especially love this series because I love Frankie.

Although I do worry about her, Frankie has narrowly avoided death in both previous books and this time she’s working for a serial killer. Oh, Frankie, why?

Pulled into the tragedy of Kaylee Pierson’s life, she’s on her way to a tropical paradise that might just be anything but.

Remote, isolated, no real way to contact the outside world, basically a terrible idea. Although the people staffing the not exactly built retreat are nice, but one of them might be a murderer or a paedophile or in league with the serial killer. But Frankie goes in undercover and soon discovers that Kaylee is not just a killer but a liar, and there is something else going on here.

I really like Frankie, she’s a wonderful character, despite how she sees herself, as a bit of a failure at life. She’s survived plenty of hard knocks and uses her street smarts, ability to read people and quick mouth to get in and out of trouble. This might just be her hardest case yet, the cavalry are too far away, she doesn’t know who to trust and psychopaths can’t be reasoned with.

A corking addition to this series, with all the twists and turns and terrifying moments Lisa Gardner’s known for, I could not put it down and devoured it in one (intense) sitting.

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

Julia Castleton is a former Times journalist turned activist blogger. She carries the weight of past trauma and struggles to balance the demands of single motherhood with the challenges of her work.

When a man who has approached Julia with a story is found dead, she is drawn into a political and military conspiracy that reaches high into the corridors of power. Facing the battle of her life, unsure who to trust, Julia must fight like never before to protect her son, save herself and expose the conspiracy ranged against her.

Julia Castleton is the creation of an internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed writing duo. Blurring the lines between fact and fiction, she takes us into a world that could have been torn from the headlines.

My thoughts: I know nothing about the world of international espionage, politics etc apart from what I’ve read and I’m quite happy with it that way. The protagonist – called Julia Castleton – finds herself embroiled in that world after a doctor and army reservist contacts her with an explosive story, but he’s killed before he can pass anything onto her. At his funeral, a supposed friend hands her a dossier, which she publishes without fact checking it first and then all hell breaks loose.

She’s chased and kidnapped, forced to flee for her life, the police raid her home in the middle of the night, her son is made the subject of a social services investigation. But while the dossier seems to have been dodgy, there’s definitely a story there, and despite knowing how badly it could all go, Julia and her PI friend Joe decide to follow the scant leads.

What they find is much, much bigger than they imagined and they have to go right to the top to get help breaking it, even then it could still be a risk.

Julia is also dealing with the demons of her past, a psychotic break some years before, time on the streets, lost memories and disturbing fragments that invade her dreams. But she wants answers about what happened to her.

I think this could be a really interesting series, though at times it skirts the line of incredulity, and Julia can be a bit frustrating as she prevaricates and abandons her five year old son to her sister’s care for days on end. I think she needs the concept of a work/life balance explained to her.

I really liked Joe, he’s a true friend and always comes through for Julia, as does family lawyer Stone, despite her reluctance to engage with her father. She’s lucky to have people around her, as well as her sister, who really have her back. 

*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 lawyer gets uncomfortably close to a former client, crossing a dangerous line, in this edgy debut thriller.

Daniel, a criminal barrister, is working all hours on a sensational trial at the Old Bailey, defending a client he believes is wrongfully accused of a grisly murder. Determined to keep Rod out of prison, he begins to neglect his wife—and soon afterwards suspects she’s having an affair.

After Daniel triumphs in court, the bond he’s formed with his newly acquitted client grows even stronger. Then Rod offers Daniel a favour that he really shouldn’t accept . . .

When things take a catastrophic turn, Daniel realises his conduct has veered from unprofessional to indefensible—and that he’s trapped in a nightmare of his own making . . .

My thoughts: this was a really interesting, clever and gripping legal thriller. Daniel is a bit too uptight and tense, you don’t ever imagine him being someone who might bend or break the rules, even the unwritten ones.

He finally lands a big case, defending a suspected killer, at the Old Bailey, he’s also recently got engaged to Micaela, a journalist. Riding high on his successes, he makes a few mistakes, that will in time, prove to be very costly.

Becoming friends with a client, even an ex-client is a big no no, but Daniel does it anyway, Rod is very good at winning people over. While on a weekend in Barcelona, Rod makes Daniel an offer he swears he refused – Micaela is having an affair, has in fact left him, and Rod offers to sort things out.

When Daniel sobers up, and repeatedly after, insists he didn’t agree to Rod’s offer, he never would. But this now threatens to destroy everything, his career, his relationships. So he comes clean and starts trying to put a stop to Rod’s threats and the fear Daniel now feels. How did he end up here?

There’s twists and turns and a few genuinely nasty moments, a lot of the characters seem to operate in a morally grey area – even Daniel for all his seemingly black and white morality. It’s quite hard to trust any of them as protagonists, between all the betrayal and lies. You’d think someone who understood the law so well would be able to predict circumstances but no, Daniel really doesn’t seem to be able to read people or events very well.

The ending is a shock, and I wonder whether any of them can ever come back from this, credibility completely gone, and be able to rebuild their lives.

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

Funny how one lie can spiral…

One thing about me: I HATE flying. It’s my worst nightmare.
That’s why I book seat 2A every time I fly. Since my big win, I’ve been booking seats 2B and 2C as well. They’re my comfort seats, they cushion the claustrophobia, and at last I can afford them.
I am now determined to live the life of luxury. I deserve it, after all.
How to Live Like a Millionaire is the book I’m reading on this flight. When it lands on the floor, a handsome guy hands it back to me. I know he clocks the title, because he’s totally charming and talks to me as if I’m one of the Marbella Millionaire set.
When I land in sunny Spain, I’ll be acting like a millionairess, that’s for sure – even if it’s stretching the truth, just a bit. We all know that money talks, and I intend to talk my way into a better life.
Who knows… maybe this guy, the one who had the cheek to sit down in seat 2C, might be someone special. He has an air of danger, but who cares?

Purchase

Diana Wilkinson writes bestselling psychological thrillers, including her debut novel 4 Riverside Close published by Bloodhound. Formerly an international professional tennis player, she hails from
Belfast, but now lives in Hertfordshire.

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My thoughts: Jade has had some good fortune, just not as much as she’s letting people think on her live like a millionaire holiday in Marbella. When she meets Isaac on the plane, she decides a holiday fling with a real millionaire could be fun. Only Isaac is more terrifying and dangerous then she could imagine.

She’s also scared of his sullen and moody housekeeper, but maybe she shouldn’t be. She’s not sure who to trust, far from home, among strangers. But as things get worse, you start to wonder who is playing who.

Told from several perspectives and moving back and forth on the timeline, the truth about casa de Astrid is revealed and all becomes clear. A clever and gripping thriller set in the Spanish sunshine. Holidays have never been so dangerous.

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