Lucy: Loving mother. Devoted wife. And falling to pieces. Aidan: Dedicated father. Faithful husband. And in too deep. Connor:Hardworking son. Loyal friend. But can never tell the truth.
Everyone in this family is hiding something, but one secret will turn out to be the deadliest of all . . .
Can this family ever recover when the truth finally comes out?
My thoughts: I did not expect this story to go where it did, the boys who go missing lead to a shocking conclusion. The illness Keiron, the youngest son has, is horrific and tragic, the reactions his parents have are understandable but what happens next is really not.
Connor’s secret is the saddest, and confronting the things he’s been hiding from is the hardest thing he’s ever done but understandable in some ways.
A really clever, complex and compelling read.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
She’s hunting arms smugglers. But who is hunting her?
One dead body, two badly injured operatives and five crates of hijacked rifles.
In Rome, former French special forces intelligence analyst Mélisende des Pittones is frustrated by obnoxious local cops and ruthless thugs. Despite the backing of the powerful European Investigation and Regulation Service, her case is going nowhere. Then an unknown woman tries to blow her head off.
As Mel and fellow investigator Jeff McCracken attempt to get a grip on the criminal network as well as on their own unpredictable relationship, all roads point to the place she dreads – the arid and remote African Sahel – where she was once betrayed and nearly died. Can Mel conquer her fear as she races to smash the network and save her colleague’s life?
Alison Morton writes award-winning thrillers featuring tough but compassionate heroines. Her nine-book Roma Nova series is set in an imaginary European country where a remnant of the ancient Roman Empire has survived into the 21st century and is ruled by women who face conspiracy, revolution and heartache but with a sharp line in dialogue.
She blends her deep love of France with six years’ military service and a life of reading crime, historical and thriller fiction. On the way, she collected a BA in modern languages and an MA in history.
Alison now lives in Poitou in France, the home of Mélisende, the heroine of her latest two contemporary thrillers, Double Identity and Double Pursuit. Oh, and she’s writing the next Roma Nova story.
Other works
The Carina strand INCEPTIO where New Yorker Karen Brown is thrown into a new life in mysterious Roma Nova and fights to stay alive with a killer hunting her CARINA, a novella, Carina’s first mission abroad. What could go wrong? PERFIDITAS, six years on, where betrayal and rebellion are in the air, threatening to topple Roma Nova and ruin Carina’s life. SUCCESSIO, where a mistake from the past threatens to destroy the next generation.
The Aurelia strand AURELIA, in late 1960s Roma Nova, Aurelia Mitela battles her life-long nemesis, silver smuggling and is forced to choose between her love, her child and her country NEXUS Mid 1970s, London, where a simple favour for a friend becomes a chilling pursuit across Europe INSURRECTIO, where Aurelia Mitela struggles against a manipulative tyrant grabbing power. But it may already be too late to save Roma Nova… RETALIO, a classic tale of resistance and retribution – the endgame between Aurelia and Caius
Extras ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories from AD 370 to the present
Contributions ‘A Roman Intervenes‘ in 1066 Turned Upside Down How Galla Mitela, Roma Novan imperial councillor, attempts to stop the Norman invasion of England. One of a series of possible alternative outcomes of 1066.
‘The Mystery of Victory’ in Rubicon (HWA/Sharpe Books) What did happen to the Altar of Victory in the dusk of the Roman Empire?
‘The Idealist’ in Betrayal (Historical Fictioneers, 2020)
Non Fiction Military or civilians? The curious anomaly of the German Women’s Auxiliary Services during the Second World War.
The 500 Word Writing Buddy: 35 Inner Secrets for the New Writer
My thoughts: having read the first Melisende book, I was pleased to get an early look at the sequel, and enjoyed it a lot. I like Mel, I like her no compromise, take no prisoners attitude and how she combines her military training with intelligence and teamwork to solve the case. I also like her colleagues, especially Joanna and Andreas. Even her boss, Stevenson, with all his secrets, is interesting.
In this adventure, Mel and Jeff are on the trail of missing weapons, ones meant for the French military but somehow in the hands of terrorists. Mel has some suspicions around her ex-fiance’s overly meddlesome sister, especially when she catches someone following them.
This case will take her out of Europe and into Africa, but not before she goes to Rome, the UK and all over France and Belgium. They put in a lot of travel time tracking leads and interviewing suspects, with the sometimes begrudging help of local law enforcement.
Mel’s feelings for Jeff complicate things after he’s injured and puts himself in danger – his hard headedness is no match for serious concussion. But Mel always gets her man – even if it is someone from her past.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
FOUR FRIENDS. THREE ENEMIES. TWO TRAGEDIES. ONE TERRIBLE TRUTH.
A small English town is rocked by the disappearance of a local woman, Tina. As the search continues, someone is targeting her former best friends for revenge. Lauren, Jess, Claire. They all hide secrets. Who knows what they did? Who’s watching them? The truth is stranger and far more sinister than they can ever imagine.
A dark, twisty thriller which will grip you until the very last page.
N S Ford is a book fanatic, blogger and cat lover who lives in the UK with her family. She has a First Class degree in English. When not reading or blogging, she juggles her writing time with parenting, working in heritage and playing the piano.
My thoughts: this was an interesting thriller about secrets and friendship. Lauren and her friends know something about the missing Tina – something they’ve held over her since they were teenagers. Are they responsible for her disappearance?
As Lauren digs into where her former friend has gone, someone from her past resurfaces and she’s pretty sure she’s being followed. Then Jess is in a car accident, Lauren’s flat is broken into and Claire is fired – are these connected?
There’s a very odd twist at the end, one that jarred somewhat with the rest of the book, and definitely needs more explanation. However it also fills in a few gaps in the preceding narrative too, as the reader pieces together all the differing perspectives that form the story.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
The gruesome execution of a notorious thief and an assassination attempt on a high-finance executive turned whistle-blower throw former QC Nancy Wu and Inspector Jonathan Pole into a race to defuse the threat of a new terror group. The stakes are considerable and they need help…
Can Henry Crowne, disgraced financier and past IRA operative find redemption in lending his expertise to the case or will he have to give much more…his life perhaps?
NO TURNING BACK is a political and espionage thriller, the third book in the ‘Henry Crowne: Paying the Price’ series. If you liked Dance with the Enemy by Rob Sinclair , Deep State by L.T. Ryan or the TV series Informer, and McMafia you will enjoy the twists and turns of Freddie P. Peters’ latest fast-paced thriller. Discover it now…
The most wanted INTERPOL fugitive,
The most destructive Terror Group in the world,
The most impossible British Intelligence Services’ mission…
Henry Crowne, disgraced financier and former IRA operative has escaped London’s top high-security prison with the unexpected help of MI6.
His mission…infiltrate an emerging terror group that has already claimed many lives in the West and threatens to destabilise the Middle East further. Henry’s perilous journey leads him to the group’s centre of power in Syria and Iraq. His aim, to meet the elusive man who runs a merciless war against those who oppose him.
But Henry decides to help Mattie Colmore, a war reporter hostage. Can he still hide in plain sight, bring back the information the West desperately need to defeat Islamic State and save Mattie at the same time?
SHY SHADOWS is an political and espionage thriller, the fourth in the “Henry Crowne, Paying The Price” series. If you liked Rob Sinclair’s SLEEPER 13, L.T Ryan’s NOBLE BEGINNINGS or the TV series MacMafia or Spooks, you will enjoy the twists and turns of Freddie P Peters’ latest fierce-paced thriller.
Read my review of the first two books in this series here.
My thoughts: Henry Crowne is an interesting character, a former IRA operative, a high flying financier and now a prisoner in Britain’s most secure prison. But the his expertise is needed again. This time to bring down a terrorist organisation using the banking system to fund itself. MI6 are very keen to get Henry involved, much to the concern of his friend and lawyer Nancy Wu.
Assisting in a case for the Serious Fraud Office and the Met, he’s suddenly freed from prison and on his way to the Middle East, leaving Nancy completely lost and worried about her friend.
Then in book 4, Spy Shadows, we jump forward several months, and now Henry and his handler Wasim are in Syria, working undercover with ISIL, offering Henry’s know how to help the organisation funnel its money and trade enough to be self sustaining, right under the noses of various international agencies. But it’s highly dangerous and full of risks.
Can Henry convince these murderous men that he’s one of them, a true believer and willing to aid in their crimes or will they continue to see him as a kafir – a foreigner? And when he decides to rescue a hostage, journalist Mattie, he puts his life, and the mission on the line.
Spy Shadows is very differently in tone from the previous books, not only do we lose Nancy and Inspector Pole, but it’s a lot more action packed and less focused on financial crimes, for obvious reasons. Spending time with terrorists currently trying to gain more land and waging jihad, is going to be a lot riskier than working out where people are hiding their money. Henry has had to step up and get his hands dirty, something he avoided doing while with the IRA.
There’s also a lot of behind the scenes intrigue and negotiating at MI6, not least because Mattie’s estranged father is an MP and starts throwing his weight around.
It’s an interesting new direction for the series and will certainly open it up in terms of what Henry can do and where he can go now he’s an MI6 asset. I just hope he lets his friends back in London know he’s OK.
My second stop on the 12 Days of Clink Street celebration tour. Check out my first post here and see the tour poster below for more reviews from other bloggers.
The discovery of the Achilles gene by Ahmad Sharif at the Middle East Centre for Cancer and AIDS Research (MECCAR), recently opened in Jordan’s remote Wadi Rum desert, had stunned Western scientists. Each gene having the potential to destroy its own cell should it ever become cancerous, the discovery had promised a universal cure for the disease. But there was a hitch. Although every one of our cells has the gene, only those of a unique Bedouin tribe have the extra piece of DNA needed to turn it on. Dr Stephen Salomon of the US National Cancer Institute claims to have invented such a switch, for which he will soon receive the Nobel Prize. But maverick Oxford don Giles Butterfield suspects his American friend’s invention might be fraudulent. After a sleepless night in his office in Magdalen College, he sets off for Heathrow in search of the truth. When his young assistant Fiona Cameron unexpectedly joins him in Washington, it is the start of a globetrotting adventure the outcome of which exceeds their wildest expectations, presenting Giles with a dilemma of epic proportions.
My thoughts: overall this was an interesting book, I was really intrigued by the Bedouin tribe with the interesting DNA strand, and the whole Achilles gene, secretive lab in the desert stuff as well, proper conspiracy thriller territory but I wasn’t too bothered about the dodgy American scientist scamming the Nobel committee – they’ve been mired in controversy for some time now.
I found Giles a bit pompous and annoying, his obsession with Liverpool, but a Liverpool that doesn’t exist anymore as it’s a modern city, not the fantasy one he romanticises endlessly, Dark & Stormy cocktails (rum, ginger beer, lime – not that amazing tbh), and old fashioned traditional English stodge cooking were all a bit of an affectation too far at times and verged on parody. Especially once his brother has been introduced and it’s so obviously put on. I wanted more of Fiona, whose main problem was being in love with Giles, who walks all over her.
She figures out the thing with the file dates, and he sends her off to teach his students while he goes off to be lauded as a hero by the Nobel people for preventing a fraud winning their top prize.
What started off as quite a tense scientific thriller confused me at first with the non-linear timeline and then lost me a bit with the endless section on the name of a file on a computer that went on a bit too long, but pulled it together in the final act. I got that the fact that the scientist had lied and his computer proved it but it was a bit fiddly and I wanted more on the dead man drowned in a swimming pool, there was definitely something fishy about his death, although that looks like it might be a case for book two.
I hope Fiona gets her own back in the next book and that Giles gets his arrogance brought down to earth, especially if he’s going up against governments this time, one’s who might have murdered an inconvenient scientist who said too much.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
When a girl disappears, long-buried secrets resurface…
Coco is missing. Her room’s a mess, and her phone is left behind in her dorm at Lainsbury Hall School
Ella, Coco’s childhood best friend, is desperate for her to return, although she knows that if she ever sees Coco again, there’ll be a lot of explaining to do.
Bea knows that her new group of friends attracts drama, and she thinks she has the last shred of common sense between them all. Only, if that was true, she would leave Genevieve, her toxic ex, well alone.
Conrad is confident that Coco will return safe and well. Only, the way his secrets are unravelling, he’s worried he won’t be when this is all over.
Harrison and Coco are the perfect couple. Everyone knows that. But looks can be misleading. Even the smartest boy in school can make a terrible mistake.
In order to navigate the web of secrets and lies that Coco leaves behind, her circle of friends needs to unravel a few of their own.
VB Furlong is a trainee lawyer and writer of young adult novels living in Berkshire, UK. She wrote her first “novel” at ten years old and has not stopped writing since then. As a teenager, VB Furlong wrote for her local paper and an online magazine whilst devouring any book she could find, and in writing for an older teen demographic hopes to instil the same love of books as she had, and still has to this day.
Through her writing she aims to explore many of the issues she faced herself growing up, in the hopes that others facing the same issues feel some solidarity. Her friendships are a huge part of her life and consequently is a major theme in her writing, exploring the way in which we interact with each other, especially in difficult times.
Originally from Mumbles, Swansea, VB Furlong enjoys the sun and the sea, and walking her three dogs across the cliffs. These walks have offered her inspiration for many pieces of writing, including What Happened to Coco.
My thoughts: this was a good YA thriller, revolving around a small group of friends who, when one of their own goes missing, start to ask questions about their relationships with her and what might have happened.
Coco isn’t there in the morning, at the exclusive boarding school she attends, she’s left her mobile behind and the necklace she never takes off, her best friend Ella can’t understand where she’s gone, and her boyfriend Harrison is convinced something sinister has happened.
Turns out Coco has secrets, they all do, and now they’re coming to light. As they start to think back over the last few year, and notice that things have changed, the group fractures and the blame game begins.
Clever and enjoyable, despite being missing from the first page, Coco feels very present, she’s there in everyone’s memories and conversations. None of her inner circle can reconcile the person they thought they knew with what’s happened. The final pages are shocking as the truth comes out about what happened to Coco.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
A decades-old mystery of a missing six-year-old haunts a family for generations
In 1935, six-year-old Emily Evans vanishes from her family’s vacation home on a remote Minnesota lake. Her disappearance destroys the family – her father takes his own life, and her mother and two older sisters spend the rest of their lives at the lake house, keeping a decades-long vigil for the lost child. Sixty years later, Lucy, the quiet and watchful middle sister, lives in the lake house alone. Before her death, she writes the story of that devastating summer in a notebook that she leaves, along with the house, to the only person who might care: her grandniece, Justine. For Justine, the lake house offers freedom and stability – a way to escape her manipulative boyfriend and give her daughters the home she never had. But the long Minnesota winter is just beginning. e house is cold and dilapidated. e dark, silent lake is isolated and eerie. Her only neighbor is a strange old man who seems to know more about the summer of 1935 than he’s telling.
Soon Justine’s troubled oldest daughter becomes obsessed with Emily’s disappearance, her mother arrives to steal her inheritance, and the man she left launches a dangerous plan to get her back. In a house haunted by the sorrows of the women who came before her, Justine must overcome their tragic legacy if she hopes to save herself and her children.
HEATHER YOUNG is the author of two novels. Her debut, The Lost Girls, won the Strand Award for Best First Novel and was nominated for an Edgar Award. Her second novel, The Distant Dead has also been nominated for the 2021 Edgar Award for Best Novel. A former antitrust and intellectual property litigator, she traded the legal world for the literary one and earned her MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars in 2011. She lives in Mill Valley, California, where she writes, bikes, hikes, and reads books by other people that she wishes she’d written.
Oh, good question! I’m grateful to everyone who picks up my book and keeps turning the pages. I think the people most likely to do that are people who like slow-building, tense stories that dive deep into their characters and explore the reasons why they behave the way they do. In other words, people who like the psychological aspect of psychological thrillers.
2. What books and authors inspired you?
Mystery writers who create vivid, well-rounded characters, like Kate Atkinson and Tana French, and literary writers like Marilynne Robinson and Kazuo Ishiguro who render complex emotions with understated language. I will never write as well as any of these folks, of course, but I think reading them does help me write a little better.
3. What is your favorite place to read?
Twenty years ago, my husband and I bought an old Victorian house that needed a lot of work. At the end of the renovation, I asked my father, a lawyer by day and carpenter by night, to build me a library so I would finally have a place to put all the books I’d been lugging around in boxes since I was twenty. He built me a masterpiece, a true Edgar Allen Poe Victorian book lair. It’s my favorite place to read and write.
Heather’s library, photo from the author. I am so envious, it looks amazing.
4. How has the pandemic affected your reading (and writing) habits?
I found it very difficult to focus on reading — the stress and uncertainty that hung over everything murdered my attention span. I typically read 40-50 books a year, and in 2020 I think I read five. 2021 has been much better, thank goodness. The same went for writing, although there the problem was that my husband and college-student son were suddenly working and studying in the rooms where I liked to write. But my son eventually went back to college and my husband I have worked out our respective workspaces, so that’s been better, too.
5. As a writer what drew you to the genre your book is in?
I’ve always been a mystery reader, but I have to say I didn’t really see The Lost Girls as a mystery until my publisher started promoting it that way. To me it was a book about family, and how secrets and misguided loyalties can poison the lives of generations. I do think, though, that crafting a story around a murder is a great way to expose who your characters really are behind their polite facades. What makes an otherwise ordinary person commit the most heinous of crimes? What makes someone else keep the truth about that crime a secret? Loyalties, debts, regrets, pride, selfishness – all of these play a part, and they’re all heightened when there’s a murder involved.
6. When planning your next book do you do lots of research in advance or do you do that as needed?
For the most part I research as I go. That’s what’s great about the internet; I can pause in the middle of a sentence and look up what bathing suits were like in the 1930s. Also, if I’m feeling blocked, I can put my novel on hold while I read a book about the Great Depression or comb through the Bible for verses my Puritanical character can obsess over, and still feel like I’m making progress.
7. And finally, are you currently working on a new book and if so, can you say anything about it?
Yes! My next novel is set in a small town in Iowa during the second world war. Like The Lost Girls, it’s something of a coming of age story, as a young girl confronts prejudice and the dark side of patriotism as a member of an “outsider” family. Throw in the murders of several young Mexican orphans and her brother’s secret life and I hope I end up with something that offers a slightly different perspective on World War II than those of the many excellent novels I’ve read that examine this era.
Thank you so much to Heather for answering my questions and giving us all a glimpse into her life and work.
I don’t know what is more enticing, this beautiful cover or the plot? Check out Behind the Veil by E.J. Dawson!
Behind the Veil
Publication Date: October 1st, 2021
Genre: Gothic Noir/ Paranormal Suspense
Can she keep the secrets of her past to rescue a girl tormented by a ghost?
In 1920s Los Angeles, Letitia Hawking reads the veil between life and death. A scrying bowl allows her to experience the final moments of the deceased. She brings closure to grief-stricken war widows and mourning families. For Letitia, it is a penance. She knows no such peace.
For Alasdair Driscoll, it may be the only way to save his niece, Finola, from her growing night terrors. But when Letitia sees a shadowy figure attached to the household, it rouses old fears of her unspeakable past in England.
When a man comes to her about his missing daughter, the third girl to go missing in as many months, Letitia can’t help him when she can’t see who’s taken them.
As a darkness haunts Letitia’s vision, she may not be given a choice in helping the determined Mr Driscoll, or stop herself falling in love with him. But to do so risks a part of herself she locked away, and to release it may cost Letitia her sanity and her heart.
A four-poster bed draped in gauze shrouded the figure within. A pale pink duvet covered the slight frame, illuminated by a rose glass lampshade held aloft by a fairy cast in bronze.
Pretty as it was, Letitia focused on the girl in the bed.
Finola’s breathing was labored, her eyes twitching beneath her lids and forehead clammy, with threads of auburn hair sticking to her skin.
Letitia studied her for several moments.
There was no darkness attached to the girl, though the room’s low light gave too many shadows for Letitia’s liking. Ever wary of self-protection, she took hesitant footsteps closer.
When she stood at the foot of the bed, and was sure there were no dark specters here, she took Finola’s measure.
Finola was drugged, but from the girl’s eyes flickering in uneasy sleep it wasn’t working. Even with the morphine, Letitia could tell what the others could not—Finola would still have the nightmares.
A nurse sat beside the bed, and Letitia looked to her, letting a sliver of the nurse’s personality in.
A warm autumn breeze regarded her, refreshing though it was weak. The nurse stared at Letitia but made no comment at Letitia’s scrutiny.
“What’s your name?” Letitia asked, coming around the bed to offer her hand.
“Nurse Hopkins.” Hopkins had curling brown hair and hard dark eyes. A firm hand gripped Letitia’s gloved one, and she maintained eye contact. There was a hardness within the nurse, and Letitia guessed she’d served in the war. Not on the front lines, but she was toughened by her experience.
“What can you tell me about Finola’s condition?” Letitia asked. Mr. Driscoll came up beside her, and Letitia held up a hand to silence him. He glared but nodded permission for Hopkins to speak when the nurse hesitated.
“She has terrible night episodes,” the nurse said, “like those of the soldiers coming back. When she’s awake she cries a lot, she…bathes often but won’t eat much.” The nurse’s glance dipped between Finola and Mrs. Quinn as though she would say more, but she pressed her lips together.
“What else?” Letitia’s gentle tone, and the retreat of Mr. Driscoll’s looming form, let loose the nurse’s tongue.
“I walk with her in the gardens,” she said. “She…doesn’t like people to touch her. Appears distracted and nervous, takes to fright, doesn’t like strange men—the gardeners and delivery men and such.”
It was succinct but what Letitia needed to hear. “Thank you, could you give me a moment?”
The nurse needed another nod from Mr. Driscoll before she took her leave.
“Well?” Mrs. Quinn asked, standing on the far side of the bed, touching her daughter’s forehead. The girl flinched, and Mrs. Quinn drew back her hand with a disappointed frown.
“Please don’t,” Letitia asked, and Mrs. Quinn’s glower turned to acute displeasure.
“She’s my daughter and she’s sick.” Mrs. Quinn’s voice held a razor’s edge that hadn’t been there before.
“She also can’t distinguish who is touching her when she’s dreaming,” Letitia said, and Mrs. Quinn covered her widening mouth, gaze darting between Letitia and Finola. She must come do this often, and what should have been the comforting gesture of a mother made the nightmares worse.
Beginning a writing journey with an epic 21 book series, Ejay started her author career in 2014 and has taken on the ups and downs of self-publishing with her fantasy series The Last Prophecy since 2016. At the start of 2019, she put the series on the backburner to write Behind the Veil in 25 days, and signed a publishing contract for the gothic noir novel to independent publisher Literary Wanderlust. Behind the Veil is set for release on the October 1st 2021. She resumed self-publishing a scifi series, Queen of Spades released across 2020 and 2021, as well as signing another contract with Literary Wanderlust for NA fantasy, Echo of the Evercry. Believing in more than one path to a career in publishing, Ejay pursues self-publishing alongside querying traditional publishers with multiple manuscripts.
Ejay writes scifi, fantasy, and horror, with a dash of the paranormal. Behind the Veil is her first book with Literary Wanderlust, a romantic suspense with a touch of darkness. She also has a fantasy NA with Literary, Echo of the Evercry, and two self published series.
He is one of the most successful City banker in London …
Now he is accused of murder.
Henry Crowne’s case seems decided from the very beginning. His Irish background, financial terrorist connections and City reputation inexorably tilt the scales against until Nancy Wu, former eminent Queen’s Counsel accepts to mount Henry’s defence. Will she manage to unpick the devious manipulations of a most twisted case before the shadows of her own past swallow her down?
Collapse is a political and espionage thriller, the first book in the Henry Crowne: Paying the Price series. If you like The Big Short by Michael Lewis, The Fear Index by Robert Harris and A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks you will enjoy the twists and turns of Freddie P Peters’ latest fast-paced thriller.
Discover Collapse now…
One financial terrorist in prison,
Two City bankers dead,
And … a $350 trillion banking scandal called LIBOR.
The suspicious suicide of two high-profile City bankers brings former QC Nancy Wu and Inspector Jonathan Pole together again in an investigation that implicates the UK government, the Bank of England, and London’s top banking executives.
As the true motive of the deaths continues to elude them, Nancy persuades a reluctant Inspector Pole to involve Henry Crowne. Once a brilliant financier, Henry is now serving a 30-year sentence in the obscure High Security Unit of HMP Belmarsh for financial terrorism.
A $350 trillion scandal is about to explode, rocking the fragile beginnings of the global recovery. Can the unlikely team unravel this complex puzzle before a dark plan destroys it all?
‘Breaking Point’ is a political and espionage thriller, the second book in the ‘Henry Crowne: Paying the Price series. If you liked The Big Short, The Fear Index or the TV series The Body Guard, you will enjoy the twists and turns of Freddie P Peters’ latest fast-paced thriller.
My thoughts: the author got in touch a while ago and very kindly sent me these books for an honest review.
I know virtually nothing about the finance world – I graduated into the mess of the 2008 crisis when all the jobs dried up, and I still don’t fully understand what happened. But these clever thrillers do a good job of explaining the financial skullduggery behind a series of murders and supposed accidents.
I really like Nancy Wu, former barrister, art collector and now advisor to Scotland Yard. She’s smart, connected and a bit scary, I think if you came up against her in court you’d think twice. I also really liked Inspector Pole, he was a fascinating figure and I want more about his back story.
Henry is a bit of an anti-hero, he’s done some terrible things, but is trying to pay for them by helping Pole investigate some highly suspicious deaths in the City. Even though Pole is the one who arrested him. They respect each other’s expertise and insights, even if they’re not exactly friends.
There are lots of twists and turns in Henry’s eventual downfall, some of which he causes himself (don’t walk into your boss’ office and point a gun at him as armed police are storming the building!) But somehow Henry escapes unscathed enough to accept his punishment.
Join me in December for books 3 and 4, and check out the author’s website for exclusive short stories related to the series and more.
A foreign embassy official warns the UK government of a bomb attack on London. Zoe Tampsin’s Lambeth Group team is launched into a race against time to find the terrorists.
As Zoe unpicks the details, she suspects the informant didn’t tell her the whole story. With time running out, her team chase a promising lead only to have it wrenched from their grasp. Either the bombers were incredibly lucky, or they received a tip-off.
One of her team infiltrates the bombers. She discovers the attack has started, and her colleague Gavin Shawlens is missing, presumed killed by the terrorists.
While searching for Gavin, a massive disaster unfolds. Can Zoe stop colossal loss of life in a small community and prevent the collapse of a key pillar of society.
I was born and brought up in Glasgow, Scotland. I studied biochemistry, and I’ve worked in several Scottish universities where I did research on enzymes, and taught biochemistry. After thirty years of teaching and research I retired my academic pen, and took up a mightier fiction pen.
I live in central Scotland with my wife and we enjoy reading, writing, and walking in the hills.
The Lambeth Group books follow the secret government investigations of undercover agent Zoe Tampsin. A strong female protagonist with courage, determination, and guile. She works with specialist consultant, Gavin Shawlens.
My thoughts: I’ve really enjoyed the previous Lambeth Group books I’ve read, they’re really fast paced with lots of action and conspiracies. Extreme Prejudice is no different. Zoe and her team are after a group of suicide bombers, or so they think. There’s also a dodgy fake doctor peddling “cures” that seems connected and needs looking into, so she sends Gavin in undercover with Holly to see what they can find.
Of course something goes wrong and the team have to launch into action to stop the terrorists from carrying out their evil ploy, and rescue a missing journalist. Everything moves quickly and plans have to change on the spot.
These books are very readable, Gordon doesn’t make you suffer through pages of exposition and instead delivers a cracking plot that whizzes along. He’s also a massive supporter of book bloggers, so I’m very grateful for that. If you want a fun, fast paced, topical thriller with lots of action and adventure (and gadgets) then read this series.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 