Bookouture – Page 13 – nigeladamsbookworm

The Baby Sitter Sheryl Browne

8 years ago young Grace watches as her house burns down. Her Mom, her sister, and her Moms latest husband are trapped inside. Grace doesn’t care.

When a Police officer finds her hiding in a bush he takes her to the detective in charge of the investigation, DI Mark Caine.

Today, Mark and his family are living happily in a small town. The house next door suffers a fire and the new neighbour, a single young woman, Jade, is left homeless.

Mark and his wife Mel hardy know the woman but when they find out she is a qualified child minder they agree to take her in to look after their children so that Mel can start to concentrate on her art.

What could possibly go wrong

Anybody who has watched a film which includes a “bunny-boiler” will know what comes next, but strangely this book hooked me. Even though I thought I knew what was coming next, most of the time, it was written in such a way that I wanted to carry on reading, and at times its scary reading.

When Jade moves in things start to go bad. At first its little things that could be put down to other people mislaying things, but she is evil and her activity starts to intensify.

Nothing is sacred, pets, kids, wife, husband. What is she after? Why is she doing what she is doing, or more to the point, how will she be stopped and will everybody survive to tell the tale.

There is a lot to like about this book, the plot, the characters, the way it’s written.

There were times when it made me cringe, in a good way. At the beginning I nearly put it down, ten pages later I was glad I didn’t.

I finished it. I enjoyed it.

Pages: 384

Publisher: Bookouture

Publishing date: 8^th March 2018

Cold Heart Stephen Edger

This is the 3^rd book in the Di Kate Matthews series, a series that just keeps getting better.

The story starts in the middle of an investigation. 15 year old Daisy has been missing for 7 days and Matthews is interviewing the Head Teacher of her school. During the interview a member of staff announces that he thinks he has found a body in the derelict school sports hall.

What he’s actually found is a resuscitation doll; but what Kate finds when she’s looking around the building is what appears to be a kill room, with lots of blood and a foot.

And so begins a complex investigation, which has the team going off in many directions.

Like any real Police Investigation the officers are led by the evidence and their own instinct. At times the plot is like a domino rally. Once one domino has been set tumbling it sets of others, at times the domino’s split and two trails set of in opposite directions but eventually all coming back to the same point.

The accidental discovery of the kill room seems to signal bad news for Daisy’s family but are the team investigating Daisy’s murder or has she become involved in something which has led to disappearance.

With corruption, prostitution, and many other serious crimes on the table maybe Daisy going missing is the best thing that could have happened.

This book is really good and had me turning page after page. In fact I read this in as close to one sitting as any book I’ve ever read. Roll on book 4 .

Pages: 350

Publishers: Bookouture

Publishing date: 12^th March 2018.

The Reunion Samantha Hayes

How would I describe this book.

It’s like an episode of Midsummer Murders that’s been directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

I was figuratively peeping between my fingers when I read parts of it.

The story starts with a bunch of teenagers having a day on the beach. One of the girls, Claire, is looking after her younger sister Eleanor. When Eleanor goes for an ice cream she never comes back.

The main part of the book starts 21 years later. Claire is now married to Callum and has two children of her own. She still lives in the same seaside town where her sister went missing. Her Mom and Dad live in the same farm they have always lived in.

Claire’s dad is suffering from dementia and she decides to get her childhood friends back together to spend a week helping her Dad reminisce on the happier days when they all used to hang out together.

They have all moved away but keep in touch. All of them have issues, but don’t we all. There’s Jason, Claire’s brother a struggling actor who’s wife is pregnant with twins.

Then there’s Maggie, who is what can only be called a Nomadic Cougar, and her temptress 15 year old daughter Rane.

Claire’s former love interest Nick. The restaurateur, who is newly single under tragic circumstances, and who still holds a flame for Claire.

Even before they arrive at the farm for the reunion strange things start to happen. Claire is beginning to get abusive phone calls. She’s an estate agent and she starts to get false alarms to viewings.

The subject of Eleanor is never far below the surface. Everybody still remembers the day she went missing, but the only person bold enough to ask questions about it is Rane.

There are simmering undercurrents throughout this book. There is no blood and guts, but there is suspense in abundance.

As the story unfolds there are flash backs form a girl who is being held captive. Is it Eleanor or is it somebody else who has gone missing.

This story kept me turning the pages late into the night and early in the morning. It’s been a long time since a book, which on the surface is quiet and genteel, has had the me feeling so much suspense.

Pages: 410

Publishers: Bookouture

Published on: 9^th February 2018

Available to pre-order on Amazon

Keep Her Safe Richard Parker

Never have I read such a complex, and compelling, story based on so few characters.

This book has two protagonists, Maggie and Holly. The fate of both of these women is controlled by the mysterious Babysitter.

The Babysitter kidnaps women’s young children, and will only return them when they have completed his tasks.

So, when Holly is sent to kill Maggie, it is to save the life of her young daughter Abigale.

The story is that of these two women as they fight for their own survival, and takes place over an 8-hour time frame, Maggie must be dead before sunrise

Maggie is not the innocent woman that Holly though she was, and it soon becomes apparent that she has more in common with Holly than you would expect.

Holly is dead set on killing Maggie; and the struggle between the two women, in Maggie’s house, is one of the most engrossing bits of writing I’ve ever read.

The story sways to and fro, one chapter narrated from Maggie’s point of view the next Holly’s. It’s a struggle between right and wrong, good and bad, but it’s perspective is never black and white.

All the while the struggle is taking place text messages, from the Babysitter, make it obvious he can see what is happening, so there is no escaping the fact Holly needs to kill Maggie or die trying.

At first different readers will want Holly to succeed, others Maggie; but I can guarantee whichever one you start with you will change your mind more than once.

After all what would you do to save your child, alternatively how far would you go to save your life if somebody broke into your house and tried to kill you.

More compelling than most books which have many more characters, and take place over days, weeks, or months, this book had me turning each page with as much nervous trepidation as anticipation. I had not got a clue how the story was going to end, and I was fully engaged with both Maggie and Holly.

I may have made this tale sound simplistic. Two main characters and a short time period, but if you love psychological thrillers you will go an awful long way to find a better book.

Pages: 329

Publishing date UK: 11^th January 2018.

Publishers: Bookouture

Available to pre-order on Amazon.

The Vanishing Girls Lisa Regan

Straight from the start I’m going to say I loved this book. The Plot, the main protagonist, the setting, everything.

The story is based in the small fictional town of Denton Pennsylvania. When a young woman goes missing it attracts the attention of all of the local police department, but the one woman that really wants to get involved in the search is on suspension for hitting another woman.

Detective Josie Quinn is a troubled character, she has recently left her husband when she found out he was having an affair with the local stripper. Her husband, her childhood best friend turned-lover-turned-husband, was not only a cop, he was her best friend.

The towns chief refuses to let Josie back from suspension so she starts to look into the disappearance of the girl herself; and she starts to uncover some terrible secrets.

Everybody she thinks to turn to for help might be put in danger, or may put her in danger. In turmoil and not knowing who to trust Josie uncovers historical crimes that she links to the disappearance of the girl. Her one-woman investigation goes from looking for a missing girl to looking for a serial killer.

This book is brilliant. The story had me hooked from the start and kept me engrossed throughout.

The culmination of the investigation is not at the end of the story. Thankfully Lisa Regan has continued, past the end game of the crimes, to include the inquest that goes on after the perpetrator has been found. But did he work alone, and has Josie identified everybody involved.

Thankfully there are more Josie Quinn books on the way and I, for one, can’t wait for the next.

Whilst I was reading this the style of writing, and the story, reminded me of another of my favourite authors. So, I have no hesitation in recommending this book to anybody who likes books by Greg Isles

Pages: 345

Publisher: Bookouture

Publishing date UK: 17^th January 2018

Murder Game. Caroline Mitchell Christmas book recommendation 3

Earlier today I saw a tweet by Caroline Mitchell stating it was 4 years today that she held the first paperback copies of her first published book. Coincidently I was just about to write this blog recommending her books as great Christmas Presents for anybody who likes no holds barred, realistic crime thrillers

A few months ago I reviewed, and took part in the blog tour, for her novel Murder Game. It is one of the best books I’ve read this year. The link below leads to my post on the tour. I think you’ll see why I have recommended it as a Christmas Present

https://nigeladamhttps://nigeladamsbookworm.wordpress.com/2017/11/03/murder-game-blog-tour/sbookworm.wordpress.com/2017/11/03/murder-game-blog-tour/

Last Cry Anna-Lou Weatherley

I struggled with writing this blog. There is so much good to say about this book; the story, the characters, the writing, but there is a couple of things that very nearly put me off it.

I’m glad they didn’t, I’m glad I stuck with it to the end. It’s a great book with a great story so what could I have possibly found wrong with it. I’ll tell you at the end of the blog.

The book starts with a murder in a hotel. I think it’s safe to say that the victim, a successful banker, is killed by a very attractive Escort, or a woman posing as one. The killer is aware of how to stage a scene using Counter Forensics. She makes the death look like a suicide at first inspection, but she knows that a good cop will spot it for what it is straight away. Is that what she wants?

That’s exactly what she gets. DI Dan Riley is sent to the scene and immediately see’s it for what it is. Riley is a complex character who is still in mourning for the loss of his partner, and their unborn child, in a motorcycle accident 2 years ago. As much as he is mourning he is also trying to get his life back on track, and has started to dabble in the dating scene. The scenes where he is conflicted about his basic feelings, of wanting to be with somebody else whilst feeling guilt at charting on his dead partner, are brilliantly written.

The book has two protagonists, the killer, and Dan Riley. Chapters are devoted to each, and every chapter had me hooked. The killer is horrible and everybody will be fully aware of what she is doing, and wonder how stupid the other victims are for not seeing her for what she is. But that’s the thing about killers, they don’t have a sign tattooed on them to give us a warning.

Riley is just the type of man you’d like to share a drink with, or just sit down with and have a chat. He is what most Police Officers are, normal.

The killer is working to a plan and the bodies are starting to pile up, but will Riley managed to identify her, and stop her before she commits her worse crime. I can guarantee that the last 30 pages of this book will have readers gripped, and what an ending. By the time you get to the end you will think you have it all sorted in your mind; but then there’s that last few pages.

So, what were the things that were wrong with this book. I read it on a Kindle and I thought there was a reason that I didn’t know the name of the main protagonist, even though he’s there almost from the start. Then I began to wonder if the author had just forgot that she hadn’t given him a name; but no, we find out his name 14% into the book. I knew everything about him before I knew his name, it just felt strange

Secondly, and this would usually really wind me up, you can drive a bus through the inaccuracies in the Policing in this book. There are problems with procedures and ranks. There are things that happen during the investigation that had me shacking my head, after all if you have CCTV of somebody entering a room, how can you not have footage when they leave the same room.

But if you can get past these, this book is really worth reading. A great story, with a great ending.

Pages: 307

Publishers: Bookouture

Publishing Date: 31^st January 2007.

Available to pre-order on Amazon

Now You See Me Blog Blitz

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Today I’m taking part in the Blog Blitz for Now You See Me by Kierney Scott.

I like finding new authors with the promise of producing good books in the future. With Kierney writing this book she has hopefully opened up the door to a great new series featuring Detective Jess Bishop.

I hope she has, and if she has I’m glad I was along for the ride from the very beginning

There’s a description of the book below, along with my original review, a bit of a bio, and some useful links.

My Review

Introducing Special Agent Jessica Bishop, a name I think we are going to get to see a lot more of.

Five foot two, red-haired, big breasted, and intelligent. She has studied for her PhD in Psychology and is brilliant at analysing every move a person makes and every word they say.

Too good to be true? Yes, she’s flawed, very flawed.

During the book her history becomes known and gives credence to the way she behaves in her social life. She has a very blasé attitude to close personal relationships, she uses men in a way that would have most of us running for the hills.

In total contrast she is fiercely protective to her work partnerships.

When a torso is recovered from a bayou in Louisiana Jess and her Partner are sent to investigate. This is the third body to be found with the same wounds in three months. Working with her new partner Nash she starts to look for connections between the victims.

All is going well until her ex-partner, Jamison Briggs, returns from a two-year undercover operation.

Jess can handle the return but Briggs and Nash don’t get on. The conflict starts to affect the investigation and things start to take a turn for the worse when a forth body is found and Jess begins to see connections to her past. Will keeping the connections to herself, to keep her secret, harm the investigation and put people in danger.

From the muggy, oppressive, murder scenes in the bayou; to the seedy pub washroom stress-relief scenes in Washington, the story thunders to an end which made me hold my breath for way to long.

This book is utterly compelling. The story takes second place to the introduction of the characters for the first half of the book, but comes into its own in the second half.

Those of you that read my blogs know I enjoy the characters and the way they develop through series. I think that Jess and her team are going to be fantastic, if somewhat complex, people to get to know.

Pages:318

Book Description

As she saw his face for the first time, she knew he was going to kill her. She just didn’t know when.

When the dismembered body of Lydia Steiner is found washed up in the waters of a blisteringly hot Louisiana swamp, Detective Jess Bishop knows for certain this isn’t the murderer’s first kill.

Three other dismembered bodies have been found, all bearing the same marks. Marks that strike fear into Jess’s heart. They are identical to those from a case she’s spent her entire career trying to forget.

As Jess and her team try to link the victims, another body is discovered and they fear the serial killer is taunting them. They know it’s only a matter of time before he kills again.

As the body count rises, and the hunt goes cold, Jess knows she has to confront her past in order to catch the killer, even if that means making herself the bait…

Now You See Me is a gripping and heart-stopping thriller full of twists and perfect for fans of Robert Dugoni, Karin Slaughter, Robert Bryndza and Lisa Gardner.

Author Bio:

Originally from California, Kierney Scott lives in Edinburgh, Scotland with her husband and their daughter.

In her spare time she likes to read and invent new recipes. Her stuffed peppers are particularly popular with her family, as are her grain-free chocolate chip cookies. In an effort to convert her family to the joys of pumpkin, she created the Great Pumpkin Challenge. For the ten weeks before Thanksgiving, they tried a new pumpkin recipe every week. Pumpkin arancini and pumpkin queso were a big hit. She has promised her daughter to never again roast pumpkin and call them chips.

She loves hearing from readers. If you would like to get in touch, you can email her at KierneyScott@gmail.com or follow her on twitter @Kierney_S
Amazon Links: 🇬🇧 UK http://amzn.to/2gAyqYF

🇺🇸 US http://amzn.to/2wAxw7C

Author Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kierney.scott

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kierneyscott/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kierney_S

A Christmas Present Recommendation 1

I’ve had a few people asking me to recommend books to buy for Christmas presents. So, on the run up to Christmas I’m going to make a few recommendations based on books that I have reviewed this year.

The first I’m going to recommend is not a single book but a series of 3 great novels that have all been released in the last 12 months.

Patricia Gibney is an author based in Ireland and started writing as a form of therapy following the death of her husband. The stories she writes are complex, and cover some very nasty, but unfortunately common, crimes.

Her main protagonist is a troubled Detective Inspector, Lottie Parker.

Lottie is a strong character; a single mom, struggling at various times with drink and prescription drugs, but she has strong morals.

The stories in the three books are self-contained, but the characters run through each book. As much as I loved the books for their gritty, multi-layered, storylines, I loved them even more for their rich characters. Lottie’s Police team, and her family, cause her pride and consternation in equal measures.

If you are looking to buy a set of books for somebody, or just want to treat yourself, this would be my top recommendation for a new series which has started this year.

I have a family friend, Coupons, (as her son calls her Coupons in his blogs its good enough for me) who’s in her 70’s. She’s an avid reader and loves everything from a romance to a bit of crime.

My daughter is 26 and works in the West Midlands Police, she likes realistic hard-hitting crime books.

I have recommended these books to both of them. I know I’m on safe ground when I can tell both of them they will love the Lottie Parker series. They are realistic crime thrillers with tremendous characters.

So my first recommendation for a Christmas Present, from this year’s publications, is a complete, but ongoing series;

The Missing Ones

The Stolen Girls

The Lost Child

Written by Patricia Gibney and published by Bookouture.

The links below are to my original reviews of the books.

They are all available on Amazon

https://nigeladamsbookworm.wordpress.com/2017/01/22/the-missing-ones-patricia-gibney/

https://nigeladamsbookworm.wordpress.com/2017/05/28/the-stolen-girls/

https://nigeladamsbookworm.wordpress.com/2017/09/23/the-lost-child-patricia-gibney/

GONE MISSING BLOG BLITZ

Gone Missing - Blog Tour

Today is the Blog Blitz day for the publication ofT.J Brearton’s fabulous new book Gone Missing.

I posted my original blog a few weeks ago and have been reading other bloggers reviews, there is not a single dissenting word written.

T.J Brearton has spent weeks at the top of the Amazon book charts for other publications and I can see no reason why this book shouldn’t have its time at the top.

My review of Gone Missing

A good stand-alone novel, from a well-established author. What could go wrong? Absolutely nothing. This book has a hook that got me straight from the start.

Katie is the daughter of a wealthy family that owns a chain of restaurants and hotels. Her and David, her husband live a happy life on the outskirts of New York.

When Katie goes out for a jog she chooses 1 of 3 routes, all of which start and end the same way, on a pathway into a park.

Finishing her run one morning Katie hears a baby crying in a van. Texting her husband what she has found, and jokingly saying if she goes missing call the police, she opens the van and leans in to comfort the baby. Then it all goes horribly wrong for her as she realises, too late, that the baby is a doll, and that its bait to trap her.

The book then takes two main strands. The story of Katie and her kidnappers, and her attempts to regain her freedom; and the story of the investigation into her disappearance.

Investigator Justin Cross is a complex character, and when he is tasked with finding Katie, or identifying the people responsible for her kidnap, he throws himself at the investigation with no regard to his own wellbeing.

The story alternates chapters between Katie’s existence and the investigation into her disappearance. I must say, as much as I enjoyed the whole book, I really enjoyed the chapters covering Katie’s story

Her Husband helps with the investigation but all the time he is growing frustrated with the lack of progress, and at the same time becoming more and more worried that he will never see his wife again.

Fans of C.J. Box will love this book. Katie fights for survival in the woods of New York County. She has to make decisions that nobody should ever have to make. All the time her own ethics make her second guess each decision. Decisions she knows she will have to live with for the rest of her life.

The story never lets up in its breath-taking pace, from start to finish something happen on every page.

Pages:395

Publisher UK: Bookouture

Publishing date: 16^th November 2017.