When The Night Is Dark by Cameron Bell.

Thank you very much to Author Cameron Bell for my copy of When The Night Is Dark. I was intrigued at first by his book as it started off in a town very close to where I was brought up. ( Port Talbot in Wales).Then the blurb continues with a great sounding plot based in Ibiza.

Description:

Ibiza – The White Isle, a party capital of the world. On a big night out beautiful 19-year-old Hannah Morgan vanishes. It is unexpected, out of character and no one seems to know anything.

Her father, a former British Paratrooper Jason Morgan is flying over to find her, and seeks the help of his estranged friend Will Cutter.

After 25 years on the Force the tenacious, no-nonsense Sergeant has left, and is working for himself as a Private Investigator.
Cutter agrees to ride shotgun and watch out for his old friend, and anyone stupid enough to stand in his way.
Together they uncover the dark side of the party where someone’s pleasure is another’s pain. The clock is ticking. The longer Hannah is missing, the sooner she is dead, or gone.

The two race to an uncertain finishing line battling deceit, perversion and violence.
Are they too late?
Are they in over their heads?
Will Ibiza get over the bloodshed?When The Night Is Dark is a gritty, hard-boiled crime mystery which readers of Dennis Lehane, Walter Mosley and Robert B. Parker should enjoy.

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My Thoughts:

When The Night Is Dark is a dark, gritty crime thriller. I was intrigued to read this as it began in Port Talbot which is an area I know and continues in Ibiza. When Hannah goes missing, her Dad and his friend go out to look for her in Ibiza. You know when you get a former cop and a former military guy together on the hunt for bad guys you will get some grit and blood in a plot.  When the Night is Dark certainly delivered on that point. We meet lots of bad guys as the plot to find Hannah plays out. Jason ( Hannah’s father) and his friend Will take us along with them to The Highlander, the Scottish bar in Ibiza and various other places which if you have been to Ibiza you may well know. I liked that the places were real and you could picture where you were throughout the book.

There are some quite violent parts in the book, but I was expecting this when I read the blurb. Perhaps not a book for the faint hearted but I like a good crime thriller with a bit of violence! It is not all violence, the relationship between Jason and Will is a part of the book that enjoyed. Will is willing to give everything he has to find and protect his friends daughter. They have that manly man’s friendship and this was fun to read. I didn’t guess what had happened to Hannah until they found out, and when they did find out the plot picks up speed and the race is on. This is a fast paced, gritty thriller which I recommend to those who like a dark plot with great characters.

Links:
Goodreads

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

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Cold Heart by Sean-Paul Thomas

Crime thrillers are my book of choice at the moment. Even better if they are based in places I know. So when independent Author Sean-Paul Thomas contacted me with his new book ‘Cold Heart’, which is based in Glasgow, I was very happy to be given the opportunity to read it and offer my thoughts and recommendations on it to other readers.

Description:

From the author of ‘My Sister and I’ and ‘The Old Man and The Princess’ (Best selling kindle book and recently optioned to be a major motion picture) – comes a new action-packed Scottish crime thriller that will knock you off your feet.

‘Pure cold-hearted, action-packed, thrilling revenge’

A ruthless killer goes AWOL from her mysterious terrorist organization and returns undercover to her old neighborhood in Glasgow where she hasn’t been seen since she was a young delinquent teenager to investigate the mysterious death of her estranged little sister.

**WARNING** 18+ Readers Only. Graphic Violence and Coarse Language.

Publisher: Paul Thomas Publishing; 1st Edition (March 31, 2020)

My Thoughts:

Cold Heart starts off by diving full force into the Cold Heartedness of the main character Estellle. Estelle works for a secret organisation who ask her to do bad things. Another reviewer has mentioned similarities between Estelle and Villanelle ( Killing Eve). Both Villanelle and Estelle could be seen as killing machines. Although Estelle doesn’t have the same taste for high end clothes and belongings as Villanelle, she does have the same coldness when it comes to killing.

The plot follows Estelle as she tries to find out who killed her sister and why. This brings us to Glasgow where Estelle and her sister were brought up. I really enjoyed this part of the book as I was taken down streets I know and descriptions I could really relate to.

“It rained almost three hundred and sixty days of the year there in Europe’s wettest city”.

The plot included lots of violence, but as the title suggests Estelle is Cold of Heart and she does what she thinks is necessary without a thought.

At the beginning of the book, Estelle is a very unlikable character, but very cleverly the Author takes us back to her past and shows us parts of her that show a vulnerable side to her. Everyone has a weak spot and the job of the evil is to find that weak spot. Although I can’t excuse Estelle for what she does or even understand how she could do the things she does, the Author does make her become slightly likeable as the book goes on. To root for the bad guy takes some skill! As I think back, I know I shouldn’t have rooted for her, but I became so wrapped up in her plight that I did! Well done to Sean-Paul Thomas for this!

The book is so up to date, there is even a mention of corona virus and Brexit. It’s the little details in books that make all the difference. Not everything has to be so involved in the plot, the surroundings need to be key too. But not so much that it distracts from the plot and characters. The author did this perfectly.

“……looking even more like death warmed up than some poor sucker with a bad dose of the corona virus “

If you like fast paced Scottish thrillers, then this is the book for you. The detail was there for the location, the characters and the plot. Very very good! Highly recommended.

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Links:

Amazon.com

Goodreads

Facebook

Instagram

Amazon.co.uk

 

Ghosts, Murder and Doubt! Book Review: The Shape of Night by Tess Gerritsen.

Thank you to Hannah Miller and Author Tess Gerritsen for my copy of The Shape Of Night. I had not heard of this Author before, but as Hannah contacted me asking if I would like to read The Shape of Night, I did a little looking into Tess’ work and saw she is not only a best seller, but also has had her books made into films! I went into this book thinking would be a murder crime book with a hint of paranormal.

Description:
A woman trying to outrun her past is drawn to a quiet coastal town in Maine–and to a string of unsolved murders–in this haunting tale of romantic suspense from New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen.
Ava Collette is punishing herself for an unspeakable tragedy. So she flees Boston and rents an old home named Brodie’s Watch on a remote coastal peninsula of Maine, hoping to work on a cookbook inspired by New England cuisine that she’s been trying to finish for months. She immediately feels at peace in the isolated house–until she starts to hear strange noises.
Rumor has it that a sea captain named Brodie has haunted the house for decades. Then, one night, Ava is awakened to find herself face to face with an apparition who looks–and feels–all too real. Meanwhile, there’s been a series of accidental deaths nearby that don’t add up. And as Ava starts to check into the previous renter’s mysterious disappearance, she starts to realize that there’s a disturbing secret some in town are desperate to keep hidden.
Soon all of Ava’s waking hours are consumed by her investigation, and her nights are ignited by Captain Brodie’s ghostly visits. But even as she questions her own sanity, she knows she must uncover the truth before a killer strikes again.

Published October 1st 2019 by Ballantine Books

My Thoughts:
I went into The Shape of the Night not knowing exactly what to expect, but having read that the author is a best seller, I did have quite high expectations.
The main character Ava is a food writer. ( a big tick for my reading preference). She had suffered a tragedy which led her to escape her home town and rent a house in Maine. Here she would heal and write her new food book.
The recipes and food talk was very welcomed by me in this book. However the rest of the story was more than I was expecting.
The Shape of Night was a book that turned out to be a bit different to how I was expecting it to be. I adore crime thriller books, I don’t much like paranormal. I was expecting this to have a hint of paranormal, but in fact it was mostly ghostly occurrences.
Ava “ sees” and “feels” Captain Brody, a sea captain who lived in the house many years ago, but died at sea. If you like paranormal books then this would be an amazing book for you. It was very well written and the characters ( including the ghostly one) were fully descriptive and ‘came alive’ on the pages. ( pun intended😄). However I don’t like paranormal as I like my books to be believable. For some this would be believable, for me, it is not.
One of the big characters in the book was Ava’s pet cat Hannibal. He was well named as he is a big hunk of a cat. Hannibal made me smile and tense up with his antics.
The beginning and the end of this book were very good and I did read it fast. The beginning we learn about Ava, and then the death occurs. The middle is a lot of paranormal. But the end was excellent. Therefore I have mixed feelings about the read.
I will conclude by saying this book was very well written, the characters were fully developed with Ava especially evolving throughout the chapters. The descriptive words were fantastic making me hungry, and feel the chills of the sea wind and salty air. If you like paranormal and crime books, I highly recommend The Shape of Night.

Links:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

www.tessgerritsen.com

 

Book Review: The Teacher DS Imogen Grey #1, by Katerina Diamond.

This is the first book in the series of Detective Imogen Grey. I have had The Teacher on my shelf for quite a while. It was the title and the cover that drew my attention to the book.

Will I be continuing the series? Keep reading to find out!

Description:

You think you know who to trust? You think you know the difference between good and evil? You’re wrong…

The body of the head teacher of an exclusive Devon school is found hanging from the rafters in the assembly hall.
Hours earlier he’d received a package, and only he could understand the silent message it conveyed. It meant the end.
As Exeter suffers a rising count of gruesome deaths, troubled DS Imogen Grey and DS Adrian Miles must solve the case and make their city safe again.
But as they’re drawn into a network of corruption, lies and exploitation, every step brings them closer to grim secrets hidden at the heart of their community.
And once they learn what’s motivating this killer, will they truly want to stop him?
SMART. GRIPPING. GRUESOME.
This is a psychological crime thriller in a class of its own.
WARNING: Most definitely not for the faint-hearted!

Published March 10th 2016 by Avon

My Thoughts:

The Teacher follows new partners Detective Imogen Grey and Detective Adrian Miles. They find themselves paired together after both suffering from problems in their previous posts.

The two detectives are about to stumble upon some horrendous murders and are on a race against time as more murders, each as gruesome or even more gruesome than the last are committed.

The first few chapters of the book bring up many seemingly completely different and unrelated characters. It took concentration to remember who was who, as none of the characters seemed to be linked at first.

The descriptions in this book of the murders were the most gory and gruesome that I have ever read. I have read a lot of murder books!!! At times, it seemed I was only reading about killings and I wanted the plot to hurry up a bit, instead of so many people getting killed and me not knowing why or how they were linked. When I discovered the link and it all made sense who and why all the characters were linked it all seemed to click into place.

I like Detective Grey and it is for her that I will continue with this series. If book 2 is as filled with the gore, I may not continue to book 3. The murder scenes were so graphic that if this were a film, I would not watch it. This Author has a very dark imagination! Perfect for crime fiction!

The Teacher had a very high standard to follow after the recent crime books I had read. As a serial crime fiction reader, books need to be better and better to impress me. I liked The Teacher, but it won’t feature on my top ten of the year.

Have you read any Detective Grey books? Is book 2 just as gory? Let me know your thoughts.

Links:

Goodreads

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

 

Book Review: Scared to Death, by Rachel Amphlett. Detective Kay Hunter. Book 1!

I have heard so much about Detective Kay Hunter over the past while. Many of my fellow book bloggers have raved how good these books are and how brilliant Kay is. Sometimes when a book gets so much praise, you can either be really excited or dubious that it won’t hold up to your expectations.

A while ago Author Rachel Amphlett had the first 3 books in this series on sale on Amazon. I was alerted to this by my good friend Meggy from Chocolatenwaffles.com who is a big fan of these books. After reading much Kay love from Meggy’s blog, I took the opportunity of this bargainous buy and went in hoping that I would turn into a Kay fan too.

Description:

A serial killer murdering for kicks.

A detective seeking revenge.

When the body of a snatched schoolgirl is found in an abandoned biosciences building, the case is first treated as a kidnapping gone wrong.

But Detective Kay Hunter isn’t convinced, especially when a man is found dead with the ransom money still in his possession.

When a second schoolgirl is taken, Kay’s worst fears are realised.

With her career in jeopardy and desperate to conceal a disturbing secret, Kay’s hunt for the killer becomes a race against time before he claims another life.

For the killer, the game has only just begun…

Scared to Death is a gripping fast paced crime thriller from author Rachel Amphlett, in a new series introducing Kay Hunter – a detective with a hidden past and an uncertain future…

My Thoughts:

I am very happy to say that this book lived up to all the hype and fan girling that it has received. I am only just reading book 1 of the Kay Hunter series. There are another 9 books ( I think) for me to read and love now too.

I went into ‘Scared to Death’ without knowing too much about the plot. This worked our great for me. Within the first few chapters I was gripped. I quickly realised how ‘spot on’ the title is. When looking back at the cover, I also see how appropriate it is to the story. ( aswell as being striking). Rachel Amphlett is a brilliant author and I can only assume that the next 9 books will get even better as we delve deeper into the main character Detective Kay Hunter, her career, personal life and the cases she will be facing next.

Back to book 1. A girl is kidnapped, the police investigate, another girl goes missing. A serial killer….maybe? We hear from the killers point of view aswell as the police viewpoint. The author has so cleverly made both killer and detective, characters with depth, issues and basically majorly interesting characters.

The plot is clever. The characters are brilliant. The writing flows and I will most certainly be reading the rest of the series.

Detective Kay Hunter, you have another fan. I can’t wait to delve further into your character in book 2 and 3 and 4……. 😁

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* Due to having quite a timely break with this blog, I have quite a few books backlogged to review and publish. For this reason, my reviews may be shorter than usual for a while. Hopefully I will make my thoughts clear, just by using less words. ☺

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Links:

Goodreads

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

Twitter.

 

Dead Guest, Introduction to DS Mark Cage. Short story review & what to expect from the new detective by Author Scott Gidman.

There ia a new detective in town and his name is Detective Mark Cage. Written by Author Scott Gidman, we are in for a treat.

‘Dead Guest‘ is a very short story, but packed with good reading for us crime / detective lovers. We see an introduction to this detective when he comes home to find a dead body in his house. 

Description:

DS Mark Cage is muddling his way through life. Working the long hours which caused his divorce he is in desperate need of a break. Unfortunately for him, he has to first deal with an unidentified corpse waiting for him on his kitchen floor when he comes home. Can he convince the DI he didn’t kill anybody? Can he help solve who the man is and where he comes from or even catch the killer?

This is a short story, not a full novel and is the first taste of Detective Sergeant Mark Cage.

The next book in the series, Picture Perfect, is due for release December 2018

 

My Thoughts:

This is a fabulous short story that you can whizz through in a coffee break. I am always keen to find new detectives to love, and I am pretty sure that Mark Cage will be one of those.

After a very busy day, Cage comes home to find a dead man in his kitchen. With no idea who? how? or why? Cage’s detective head is straight on as he calls the police who rush to his home, when Cage realises the finger will be pointed at him!

Can he prove his innocence and find out what happened? You know I can’t tell you that, but what I can tell you is that I am looking forward to the full length novel ‘Picture Perfect’, which is due out in December.

Links:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Goodreads.

 

 

Book Review: Porcelain, Flesh of Innocents, by Lee Cockburn

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Lee Cockburn’s new release ‘Porcelain’. I took part in a Clink Street Publishers event last year called ‘Blogival’, and this is where I found the talented Author that is Lee Cockburn. I read and reviewed ‘Devils Demise’, which you can read HERE! So when Rachel from Authoright asked me if I wanted to read and take part in the blog tour for Lee’s new book, I was very happy. ‘Porcelain’ is out now, and you can read more about it here, and in all the other lovely blogs that are taking part. The tour banner looks rather creepy doesn’t it? Well, its a spine tingling kind of read.However, I do recommend it. Keep reading to see my thoughts on the latest book from Lee Cockburn. 

Description:

Detective Sergeant Taylor Nicks is back and in charge of tracking down a sadistic vigilante, with a penchant for torturing paedophiles, in this unsettling crime thriller by a real-life police sergeant.

High-powered businessmen are turning up tortured around the city of Edinburgh with one specific thing in common — a sinister double life involving pedophilia. Leaving his ‘victims’ in a disturbing state, the individual responsible calls the police and lays bare the evidence of their targets’ twisted misdemeanours to discover, along with a special memento of their own troubled past — a chilling calling card. Once again heading the investigation team is Detective Sergeant Taylor Nicks, along with her partner Detective Constable Marcus Black, who are tasked not only with tracking the perpetrator down but also dealing with the unusual scenario of having to arrest the victims for their own barbarous crimes. But with the wounded piling up the predator’s thirst for revenge intensifies and soon Nicks discovers that she is no longer chasing down a sinister attacker but a deadly serial killer.

Vivid, dark and deeply unsettling Porcelain: Flesh of Innocents is the perfect next read for serious crime and police thriller fans.

Clink Street Publishing (21 Feb. 2017)

 Advice: This book contains scenes of violence, sex and child abuse, it may cause upset to some readers.

My Thoughts:

When I looked at interviews that Author Lee Cockburn has given previously, she stated that her books are about good conquering evil. This book contains true evilness, the bad guys are really bad and the good guys good. Sergeant Taylor Nicks and Detective Constable Marcus Black are on the search for a vigilante who has been torturing paedophiles, and while the incentives for their mission is understandable, they are still a wanted criminal. This in turn leads the police to finding paedophiles, which of course is another job in itself.

As I was reading this, I got about half way through and I thought I could see the end in sight, I just couldn’t see how it was going to take another half a book to finish it. But the glorious-ness of an Author’s imagination gave us the twists that we needed to set the second half of the book up for an intense twisty read. The plot made me shiver and can totally be described as spine tingling.

I loved that the book was set in Edinburgh, the streets I know, and the language I know. Though I know Edinburgh, the book writes about a side I have never and I expect never will see. But it also speaks briefly about the wonders of Edinburgh, the extinct volcano and the wonderful Edinburgh Festival. I get the feeling that the Author is writing partly what she knows, in the city, the police work but would have had to delved deep into the dark minds of criminals she has perhaps come into contact with to make the true evilness of the criminals mentioned in the story. 

When Lee Cockburn said its good versus evil, she puts me in mind of the goodness still in people, where police will go without sleep, seeing family and put themselves in danger to find the evil ones that are in this world. So although part of this book is very disturbing, we can also take comfort that there are real ‘Goodies’ in the world too. This is the kind of book I could only read occasionally as it is so dark. However, the plot is twisty and well planned – totally worked. The characters are well developed, I remember Taylor, Marcus, Kay and Fran from the last book, while enjoying the addition of the newest member of the police force too. I will definitely read more from Lee Cockburn, as I have a feeling she will write more about Taylor and Marcus, but I will read some lighter hearted books in between. 

Will good defeat evil, and will they find the torturer of paedophiles, or will they continue their rein of revenge? And what will become of Taylor and her relationships? You will have to read to find out.

About the Author, Lee Cockburn:

Lee Cockburn has worked for Police Scotland for 16 years including as a Police Sergeant in Edinburgh for 7 years and also as a public order officer. Before joining the force, she played for Scotland’s Women Rugby team for 15 years, earning over 80 caps for the Scottish Ladies and British Lionesses teams. She also swam competitively for 12 years, successfully representing Edinburgh at the age of 15 in the youth Olympics in Denmark in 1984. Lee lives in Edinburgh with her civil partner Emily and their 2 young sons Jamie and Harry. Her first book Devils Demise was published in November 2014 by Clink Street Publishers.

Links:

Goodreads

Barnes and Noble.

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

Twitter/lee_leecockburn

 

Book Review: 99 Percent Kill by Doug Richardson.

 Thank you very much to Author Doug Richardson for my Advanced Reading Copy of this book.  99 Percent Kill is released today (August 15th 2015).

Description:

99 Percent Kill follows Lucky Dey, an on-again/off-again Los Angeles County Sheriff’s detective who is both willful and acerbic to a dangerous fault. While in a holding pattern for official reinstatement, Lucky accepts a one-time gig to track down the missing teenage daughter of a Midwestern software millionaire. The novel is the first in a series, but also lives as a stand-alone thriller, winding its way through an L.A. landscape where the lights are bright, but the edges can be dark, perilously frayed, and populated with mix of human predators, amusing losers, and ambitious fringe dwellers.

My Thoughts:

Well, I finished this book late last night and all I can say to start this review is WOW!!!! What an ending, what a book, what an exciting page turning thriller! This book is among my top 3 of this year. I loved it. 

We follow Lucky as he tries to track down a runaway 15 year old girl. I tell you if any teenagers reading this book are thinking life would be rosy to runaway to LA, they will be thinking again after reading this book. We see the very darkest side of humans, but also naivety, friendship and strength of what a person can go through to survive and keep their head above water!

Doug Richardson is a very talented writer, who has woven this story so perfectly that we are carried along in the journey of the tracker and the tracked, with no idea where the plot will head. He left me on the edge of my seat in the last few chapters, hoping things work out ok, but not really knowing what will happen to which characters.

This storyline is too thrilling and fast paced for me to want to tell you much about what happens, all I can say is that if I could give it 6 stars out of 5, then I would, because it is that good!! 

I haven’t read any of the Author’s other books, but he is certainly one I will be keeping an eye out for. Brilliant, simply brilliant! 

See the links below for details on where to get this amazing book.

Links:

Amazon UK

Amazon USA

GOODREADS

DougRichardson.com

If you have read this or previous books by Doug Richardson let me know in the comments. Or if this review has inspired you to go and read this book, let me know. Thanks and Happy Reading!!