Psychological Thriller – Page 2

The Silent Watcher. Victor Methos

The crimes, two horrendously bloody murder scenes several years apart, the latest in Las Vegas close to the city.

The detective, Lazarus Holloway. He was part of the first investigation and he never got over the scene, or the fact that he couldn’t catch the killer.

The survivor. Sophie Grace, 15 escaped the latest murder scene, but why was she allowed to survive.

Piper Danes, the Gaurdian, a legal representative who looks after the interest of Sophie during the investigation and any court proceedings. Young and inexperienced but with a moralistic compass that makes her a fearsome advocate and protector.

The investigation into the crimes is a gritty story, but to my surprise an arrest is made just over halfway into the story.

Enter a defence attorney that is one of the most aggravating characters I have come across in a book, but I loved her. Russo Blanchi only cares for one thing, winning. She doesn’t care who she defends, who the victims are, or weather her client is guilty or innocent, she just wants to win.

The first half of the book was really good, but the second half goes up another gear.

Victor Methos is another new author to me, and I’m not sure how widely known he is here in the U.K.

I found this book as an Amazon recommendation after I read a US Courtroom thriller, otherwise I think I’d still be in the dark about Methos’ work.

His writing style is fast paced and easy to read, but to keep me as enthralled, as this book did, it has to have a great story.

What I liked was the realism and the fact that at no time could I predict what was coming next. That meant that none of the characters were, in my mind, safe. This added a real suspense to the story.

For me, this is one of my finds of the year.

Pages: 306. Publisher: Thomas & Mercer.

My Daughter’s Revenge

Natali Simmonds

Two women, well one woman and a youth.

One mother and her daughter, at opposite ends of sexual activity scale.

The mother, Jules, in her forties, she wants to be sexually active but her husband has shown no interest in sex for a while.

The daughter, Leah, sixteen, desperate to experience sex.

Leah lies to her parents and hooks up with a young man at a music festival.

Jules resorts to an anonymous app which allows her to talk to men nearby.

At first Jules is getting cheap thrills from the site. Having uploaded a boudoir type photo of her from behind she soon starts to attract the attention.

The thrill soon changes to loathing as the majority of the responders to her post are just perverts or downright rude.

But there is one person that doesn’t seem that bad. Could she……should she???

Meanwhile Leah is on her own track to a calamity. She lied about her age when she hooked up with the cannabis smoking festival goer, and that soon comes back to bite her.

With mother and daughter both on a collision course to emotional disasters is there any way to redeem themselves.

This is a twisting plot which at times seems to telegraph what is about to happen.

But just like real life, when bad decisions are made, things become anything but predictable.

I enjoyed the plot.

I enjoyed the characters.

At times I’ve criticised books for being too graphic, or using gratuitous sex or violence, this is definitely not the case in this book.

The scenes are well written, and where the sixteen year old is concerned it’s very empathetic.

This book treads a sensitive line but never oversteps the mark.

A good read.

Pages: 368. Publisher: Bookouture. Publishing date: 14th August 2024

Father’s Day. Richard Madeley

As good as this book is, and it is really good, I fell I have to start this review with a warning, there are triggers in this story that may affect people who have been affected by eating disorders, self harming, and bullying.

That is part of the reason this book is so good. It’s a story of modern day society that needs telling.

For the young girl, Lucy, suffering from PTSD having witness her mother die in horrific and tragic circumstances, life is a lie.

Lucy was living the perfect life in a small village in Cornwall. On a visit to a harbour that life changes when she and her dad witness a horrific accident that leaves her mother dead.

In an attempt to get away from constant reminders they move to the quiet Cotswold town of Willersey.

Becoming more reclusive, spending lots of time in her room, wearing baggy clothing, long sleeves in the height of the summer, all indications that her father eventually picks up on to identify what she is going through.

But there’s an outside influence that her Dad, Nick, has no idea about, until it’s too late.

When a man is murderer and left displayed in the Cirencester Amphitheater, a close to retiring Detective Chief Superintendent is in charge of the investigation.

It doesn’t take much to connect the dots. The storyline is pretty much established in the first few chapters. There is no who done it, more how he did it.

And more importantly what will the outcome be.

I haven’t read any other books by Richard Madeley, I don’t know why, he just hasn’t come onto my radar as far as authors go.

It was my wife who saw Richard talking about his book on the television, and it was her who recommended it to me.

If she hadn’t I’d have never picked it up. I’m so glad she saw that TV show. My next stop is downloading his back catalogue.

Pages: 373. Publisher. Simon & Schuster. Audiobook: 8 hours 25 minutes. Narrators Jamie Parker and Juliette Burton

The Confession Room. Lia Middleton

When a civilian sticks their nose into an ongoing Police Investigation it is a hinderance.

When that civilian starts to interfere in the investigation, and have an ongoing negative effect on it they become an annoyance.

When they start to withhold information they become a criminal

When that person is a recently retired Police Officer it’s inexcusable.

Or is it.

Emilia Haines is the ex cop. She’s a struggling Private Investigator. She’s also a victim.

Her sister was killed by a stalker. On the night she died she had repeatedly called Emilia who was to busy being a Police Detective to answer her calls. She knows she could have saved her.

The PTSD this brought on has seen her leave the job she loved.

The Confession Room is a website where people can anonymously make life confessions.

But when the site becomes the vehicle through which a killer targets people, before streaming their final confession and murder, things obviously take a serious turn.

Emilia has posted on the site, confessing the fact she thinks she could have saved her sister. But she’s also obsessing that some day, somebody will confess to her murder.

So when people are murdered in the Confession Room she starts nosing around the investigation.

Yes, she is the hinderance who graduates through to become criminally involved by withholding evidence. But that’s only the start.

Things get worse, much worse.

This story is a bit of a stretch. Lia Middleton lets Haines get away with too much. Not only in the fact that she wouldn’t have been able to get away with it in the real world, but also to the point of the reader losing any empathy they may have had with her.

But this isn’t a bad thing. There was no time in this book that I felt I knew what was coming.

And the ending certain wasn’t what I was expecting

That made for a really enjoyable read, full of twists and turns, and fast paced, every chapter captivated me.

Publisher: Penguin. Pages: 352. Audio Book: 9 hours 25 minutes. Narrator Rachael Stirling

Crow Moon. Suzy Ashley

If Hitchcock had directed a film starting Miss Marple this would have been the plot.

Set in a remote Scottish village, around the time of the crow moon, the plot is set in the current day but has at its base ancient folklore.

Martha Strangeways is a reporter who is on extended leave following the death of her young twins in a house fire. She has a teenage son from a previous relationship, and unknown to her he had a dabble in the occult with two friends, one of which is found dead in the woods with a verse from an poem written in his back.

The police carry out a major investigation but Martha, who is carrying out her own unofficial investigation, isn’t sure they are doing enough.

The Police Senior Investigator recognises the benefits of having a renowned journalist, who lives locally, on his side, and agrees to share information with her as long as she is not working as a journalist.

She isn’t, she’s investigating because she’s made the connection that the police don’t want to take seriously, and she’s worried for other teenagers, including her son.

When a girl, another of the three teenagers who dabbled in the occult goes missing Martha starts to make spurious links, and disagrees with the police when they think they know who is to blame.

The setting for this book, and the premise of the story, are dark and could have been written by James Herbert. As I’ve already said the main character of Martha could have come from the pen of Agatha Christie.

That simple formula has produced a cracking story.

As far a debut books go this is one of, if not the best, I’ve read.

Publisher: Orenda Books. Pages: 402.

Audio Book length. 10 hours 18 mins. Narrator Sarah Barron

Every Move You Make C.L Taylor

Five people in a self help group, all of them the victim of a stalker.

At the very start of the book the group loses a member when their stalker murders them on their doorstep.

At the funeral the group are delivered a chilling message. In just over a week one of them will die.

The story is told from the remaining four members of the groups point of view.

They hatch a plan to find out who’s stalker delivered the message, who is the target, but can they trust each other.

With the book being written from the point of view of the four potential victims the concerns, and insecurities soon start to manifest themselves in one of them.

As those concerns appeared on the page it led me to change my hypothesis on who was the intended target, and even start to develop thoughts on if one of them was in fact the puppet master using the others fears to manipulate them.

But why would that be. If all of them are victims of stalking why would one of them go from victim to predator.

This is a cracking story.

The pace of the book is perfectly set. It had me hooked from the beginning and kept me enthralled all the way through.

I can’t remember how many times I changed my hypothesis, up until the point it became obvious, and even then I wasn’t completely convinced there wasn’t going to be a twist.

Publisher Avon. Pages 422. Audio book 10 hours 8 minutes

The Mind Of A Murderer. Michael Wood

Billed as the first Dr Olivia Winter book, I’m really hoping this turns into a long series.

Dr Olivia Winter carries the scars of a failed attempt on her life when she was 9 years old.

The attacker killed her mother and sister, and was the last attacks of a notorious serial killer. He was also her father, who is now serving a life sentence.

Olivia has become a world renowned expert on serial killers, travelling the world to interview them, publishing books on them, and doing lecture talks to students and academics.

But, she won’t work live cases. She has been asked numerous times but she won’t get involved.

When her best friend, a Detective in the Met, visits with a file on four recent murders she still refuses to get involved, until the unthinkable happens, then she has no choice.

Somebody is just walking into peoples houses and killing women. There’s no sign of a forced entry, no attempt at sexual assault, but there is signs of a chase. All of the scenes indicate that the killer likes to instil fear into his victims before making the final stab or slash.

Nobody has seen them come, or go, from the buildings.

The Police are at a dead end.

So what can Olivia add to the investigation.

As it turns out her insight and thoughts are brilliant, but there’s one person that could help identify the killers thought process even better, her father.

The story is great and I enjoyed every page. Michael Wood has created at least one character, in Olivia, that I’m really looking forward to reading more of.

My only problem is all the time I was reading this book I was thinking I’ve know this story, or at least the plot.

As much as the story felt familiar I know haven’t read a version this good.

The one thing I hope is that the series doesn’t turn into the daughter, brilliant minded, police consultant; and father, incarcerated mass murderer, forming an alliance that is unwanted by Olivia, but manufacturing by her father’s manipulations.

That really would be too similar to other things

Pages: 454. Publisher One More Chapter. Publishing date: 28th March 2024

A Soul For A Soul. Carol Wyer

Carol Wyer has done it again.

This is the fifth book in this series and everyone of them has had me gripped from the very start, and this is no different.

Although this book is part of a series Carol does a great job of filling in the skeleton of the running theme in the first two chapters. So, anybody reading this as a standalone novel will not be left totally in the dark.

What’s on the back of the book, or in this case on the Amazon page

DCI Kate Young never meant to shoot Superintendent John Dickson at the reservoir that night—even if, as a scheming corrupt cop and head of the shady syndicate, he probably had it coming. But now Kate has photographic evidence that someone else knows her terrible secret…

Tormented by guilt and the voices of the dead, Kate is desperate to unmask the rest of the corrupt officers before her own sins catch up with her. When DI Harriet Khatri, awaiting trial for the murder of Kate’s mentor, claims she was framed by Dickson’s syndicate, Kate reluctantly agrees to help in the hope of finding answers.

Meanwhile, DI Emma Donaldson finds herself on the hunt for a double murderer—a man who incapacitates his victims with a powerful narcotic called Devil’s Breath. Desperate to measure up to her role-model boss, Emma finds herself hurled into the deep end in more ways than one…

While Kate’s grip on reality wavers and the syndicate closes in, and with the mystery killer taking a special interest in Emma, could this be the case that defeats both detectives?

What I think

Kate Young lost her husband to a murderer. He was an investigative journalist and he was on to a ring of sex offenders.

At least one of which was a high ranking police officer.

Every investigation since his murder has almost been a “side hustle” as Kates main focus has been catching his killer and busting the sex ring.

I have questioned her mental health from the start, she hears voices, mainly that of her husband but latterly the dead Superintendent Dickinson.

It’s like having an Angel on one shoulder, and a devil on the other.

What I began to realise, or for my own opinion on, was that actually she was just hypothesis building, the voices she was hearing was just a manifestation of her own thinking.

Police shouldn’t investigate with a bias, and Kates way of building her case was to have the two voices neutralising each other to make sure she was getting things right.

Haven’t we all had that little voice saying “one more drink” and another saying “no you’re going to regret it in the morning”

This book brings that story to a head and draws a line underneath it.

But will it silence the voices?

Is this the end of the DCI Kate Young series?

I sincerely hope not, but Carol Wyer has left us with an ending that might mean it is.

It’s not a cliffhanger, it’s the end of a running story, the logical place to conclude and for Kate to walk away. But the last few lines give me hope that we may see her again.

What a series, what a book, what an ending.

Print length 381 pages. Publisher Thomas and Mercer.

The Detectives Daughter. Erica Spindler

I’ve been through a bit of a reading lull recently and was finding it hard to get into books, unusual for me as I’ll tend to read at least 2 a week.

I googled authors similar to Greg Iles, my favourite US crime author, and Erica Spindler came up at the top of several reviewers suggestions.
I wasn’t disappointed.

The Detectives Daughter is my first of her books, and it held me from page one.

A fast paced story which never wonders into the fanciful, or impossible.
The story of two murders linked by two families and two detectives.
The first led to the older detective’s untimely resignation and death. The crime he never solved.

His daughter, now also a detective has always wanted to look at the crime again, but when a murder brings some of the same people into the spotlight she has her chance.

Will it finish her career of also.

Based in New Orleans Detective Quinn Conners is a no nonsense murder detective. Following in her father’s footsteps she deals with crime in Americas Deep South.

Called to a shooting at a party it first appears to be an open-an-shut case, but soon things start to look a bit more complicated.

One of the families involved was also involved in the case that haunted her father to his grave.

Although years apart the cases seem to be connected.

The problem is there’s some New Orleans Old Family money involved.

I have to say that I thought the ending to the plot was a bit telegraphed, until my hypothesis proved only partially right. But this didn’t spoil the story. In fact it added to it because all of a sudden the plot took another turn, and the story that gripped me from the start held on to me tightly until the end.

Publisher: Double Shot Press. Pages: 458

The Alter Girls. Patricia Gibney

I can’t believe we’re already at book 13 in this series.

Don’t worry if you haven’t read the others because this can be read as a standalone and is still a fantastic read.

The ongoing stories involving Detective Lottie Park, her team, and her family add to the series massively, but the main story in each book is the real star.

In this book two young girls go missing on a snowy day. The only problem is nobody really notices they’re missing for a good few hours.

Both girls are connected to the church through the choir and serve as alter girls, both are very young, still in primary school.

When the first girl turns up dead in the Cathedral grounds people naturally start suspect the involvement of somebody in the clergy. A bias that has riddled the church for years.

When the second girl is found in similar circumstances the Catholic Fathers come under even more suspicion.

Lottie can’t afford any type of bias as her team start the investigation.

The families of both girls also have their secrets, but the main person Lottie would suspect, one of the girls fathers, is in prison

Nobody writes crime fiction better than Patricia Gibney.

She relates the frustrations of the investigation team with unerring realism.

When instinct is telling you there is something wrong, but there is no evidence. When old biases rear their head, but you daren’t act on them because people will think you’re going for the obvious, easy hit.

Gibney never shies away from putting her characters through the mill. She never avoids a difficult subject. In the Alter Girls she addresses some of the concerns people have around the clergy. She looks at the secrets kept behind closed doors in, what should be the sanctuary, of the family home.

And all the way through she shows the minefield that is building hypothesis during an investigation. It is absolutely compelling.

The book is just over 500 pages long but every word is used well and is relevant to the current story, or the ongoing stories of the main characters.

As close as it could be this was a “pick it up and read from start to finish” for me. In fact if I hadn’t have to go to work, it would have been.

Pages 504. Publisher: Bookouture. Audiobook 13 h 35m. Narrator Michele Moran