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Shadow Falls - Wendy Dranfield

19/1/2021

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​You thought your little girl was safe at summer camp. You were wrong…

She drags her eyes open, realizing she’s starting to fade. Did she imagine the voices, or were they real? She tries calling out--“Daddy?”--using all her remaining strength. But she’s too late and her little voice just isn’t loud enough…

When Detective Madison Harper arrives at a remote summer camp in Shadow Falls, northern California, her heart breaks for Jenny, the sweet little girl last seen splashing in the lake with her friends before she vanished. Peering into the silent cabins filled with rows of neatly made beds, Madison knows this idyllic place is hiding a terrible secret.

The girl’s parents are distraught, and the local police have no leads—they desperately need Madison’s help. She’ll do whatever it takes to crack this case, because it’s the only way back to the son she lost to the care system years ago when she was framed for a crime she didn’t commit.

But with the camp staff keeping tight-lipped and her new partner on the edge of a breakdown, Madison can’t find any truth to her instinct that there is more to Jenny’s perfect parents than meets the eye. Until she discovers a disturbing family portrait Jenny drew at the local library. Was this angelic girl more troubled than anybody knew? Was she in danger from those she trusted most?

One thing is certain, if Madison doesn't find the answers soon, the lives of more innocent children will be at risk…
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4/5

It's been a long time since I read a book set in the US, but the blurb of this book and the beautiful cover enticed me enough to give it a go. I'm now glad I did so as I really enjoyed this book.

Madison Harper is an ex-detective just released from prison. She had been framed by someone for a murder she didn't commit. Now that she's out with no place to live and no money she wants to find out who did this to her and she wants to clear her name. Someone stole six years of her life and has taken her son away from her. In order to do this she approaches a private investigator, Nate Monroe, to help her in her quest. Like Madison, Nate is a damaged soul, an ex-convict who has spent seventeen years on death-row for the murder of his fiancee. But Nate is innocent, he was framed too for this murder but was eventually released after new evidence proved his innocence. He knows who's behind this and is determined to find the person responsible for destroying his once-happy life. So both Madison and Nate are on a mission.

At first Nate is reluctant to help Madison. He doesn't like bent-cops. But then hearing and believing her story, he agrees to take her on as his employee. She will help him with his investigations and at the same time he would look into her case.

Their first case together is that of a missing nine-year-old girl who has disappeared while on Summer camp in a remote area of Northern California. There are a couple of suspicious individuals at the camp, but with no evidence and no body it will be very difficult for Nate and Madison to find any clues. The local police does not appreciate their interference and is reluctant to help. It's as though they too have something to hide. One thing is sure, something fishy is going on at the mysterious camp. What happened to Jenny? Is she lost? Did she drown in the lake? Or has she been kidnapped? Is she still alive or buried in the surrounding woods? Will Nate and Madison find the truth?

Well this book brought together two very interesting characters, each dragging a heavy baggage behind. Both Nate and Madison have suffered enormously at the hands of unscrupulous individuals who have ruined their lives. I loved these characters and their determination to seek the truth. In this book we don't have just one main character as we usually have in crime stories but two. Even though Madison is mentioned on the cover, Nate carries equal weight in the plot.

It felt as though this was not just one book, but three in one. We have the main missing person story, and then both Nate's and Madison's back stories. The author sometimes switches from the main plot to either Nate's past in prison or Madison's earlier life. We also have some chapters from the pov of a psychologist. I couldn't understand this character's significance, but then towards the end everything made sense.

The plot is well-written, entertaining, fast-paced and at times tense. We have a number of unexpected twists and turns and red herrings that keep the reader on their toes. I found myself desperately wanting to find out what happened to Jenny. The author leaves us clueless till the unexpected ending. The book ends with a massive cliffhanger, making the reader want to go straight to book 2 - Cry for Help, which is exactly what I've done.

I enjoyed reading this book and have no qualms in recommending it. With thanks to Bookouture for an ARC copy of 'Shadow Falls' through Netgalley.
About the Author
Wendy is a former coroner's assistant turned crime writer who lives in the UK with her husband and 3 cats.
The Detective Madison Harper crime series from Bookouture at Hachette UK includes:
Book 1 - FIND MY CHILD - and book 2 - CRY FOR HELP both available to pre-order now (released Jan & Feb 2021). Books 3 and 4 will follow shortly.
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The Evening and the Morning - Ken Follett

8/1/2021

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It is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages. England is facing attacks from the Welsh in the west and the Vikings in the east. Those in power bend justice according to their will, regardless of ordinary people and often in conflict with the king. Without a clear rule of law, chaos reigns.

In these turbulent times, three characters find their lives intertwined. A young boatbuilder's life is turned upside down when the only home he's ever known is raided by Vikings, forcing him and his family to move and start their lives anew in a small hamlet where he does not fit in. . . . A Norman noblewoman marries for love, following her husband across the sea to a new land, but the customs of her husband's homeland are shockingly different, and as she begins to realize that everyone around her is engaged in a constant, brutal battle for power, it becomes clear that a single misstep could be catastrophic. . . . A monk dreams of transforming his humble abbey into a center of learning that will be admired throughout Europe. And each in turn comes into dangerous conflict with a clever and ruthless bishop who will do anything to increase his wealth and power.
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5/5

I started my reading year with a BOOM!! The new masterpiece by Ken Follett, 'The Evening and the Morning'. Over 800 pages long and I have enjoyed every single word in it. This is the prequel to the famous Kingsbridge series which I've been wishing to read for many years but always held back due to the sheer length of the books, but now having read this beautiful book and it being the prequel to The Pillars of the Earth, I intend to read the whole series.

WOW what a fantastic master story-teller Follett is!! This was my first book penned by this famous author. Spanning a decade during the Dark Ages, the story follows three main characters: Edgar the builder, a strong, courageous, poor, kind-hearted man; Aldred, a clever monk who loves books and whose dream is to establish a scriptorium, a library and a teaching centre; and Ragna, a beautiful Norman nobelwoman who travels to England to marry the wealthy ealderman of Shiring. The lives of these key characters will cross each other and intertwine within the pages of the book. Another key character is the bishop of Shiring, Wynstan, but he's evil and his dark mind knows no limits. I hated him with all my heart. Using other evil individuals as pawns, he goes out of his way to make the lives of the other characters I mentioned as miserable as possible. The good and the evil lock horns in this book.

The book contains love, hatred, jealousy, betrayals, marriages, births, rapes and murders, making the reader experience all sorts of emotions. Once I started reading it I was immediately hooked and I couldn't stop. The author's brilliant descriptions take the reader a thousand years back in time to when England was regularly ravaged by the Vikings, depicting the hardship of those days in high definition. I could very clearly imagine what the author had in mind. I felt as if I was there in the midst of what was happening at Dreng's Ferry, or Shiring, or Combe or Outhenham or the other places mentioned in this book.

This is a great masterpiece which I will always keep close to my heart. Yes, I LOVED IT very much!! 10 out of 5 stars from me if that were possible. And of course I highly recommend it!
About the Author
​Ken Follett was only twenty-seven when he wrote the award-winning EYE OF THE NEEDLE, which became an international bestseller. His celebrated PILLARS OF THE EARTH was voted into the top 100 of Britain's best-loved books in the BBC's the Big Read and the sequel, WORLD WITHOUT END, was published to critical acclaim. He lives with his family in London and Hertfordshire.
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The Holiday - T. M. Logan

15/12/2020

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Seven days. Three families. One killer.

It was supposed to be the perfect holiday, dreamed up by Kate as the ideal way to turn 40: four best friends and their husbands and children in a luxurious villa under the blazing sunshine of Provence.

But there is trouble in paradise. Kate suspects that her husband is having an affair, and that the other woman is one of her best friends.

One of these women is willing to sacrifice years of friendship and destroy her family. But which one? As Kate closes in on the truth in the stifling Mediterranean heat, she realises too late that the stakes are far higher than she ever imagined.

Because someone in the villa is prepared to kill to keep their secret hidden.
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4/5

​After reading and utterly enjoying 'The Catch' by T.M. Logan, I decided to download 'The Holiday' as I'd read so many positive reviews about this book. Once again the author did not disappoint me.

Four women, who have been friends since their university days, book a relaxing holiday in a luxurious villa in the countryside of south France, together with their husbands and children. Kate is the main character and the majority of the book is written from her point of view. The book begins in Kate and her husband Sean's rental car as they're heading towards the villa to start the holiday with their two children.

"If I'd known what was coming, what we were driving towards, I would have made Sean stop the car and take us straight back to the airport."

This sentence opened my eyes wide open and filled my mind with a thousand questions. What was going to happen on this holiday? We soon understand that there is tension in this couple's marriage. Kate suspects that her husband is having an affair and she hopes this holiday, away from their lives back in England, will help them come closer together. However, once at the villa, Kate finds out that the person with whom her husband is having an affair is one of her three best friends on holiday with them. But which one is responsible for putting her marriage in jeopardy? How could she do this to Kate?

The holiday soon turns into a nightmare for Kate. She becomes paranoid and tension between her and Sean increases. Their friends sense that something is not right, but they all have problems and secrets of their own. Kate thought she knew her friends, but it turns out she didn't know them at all. She knows one thing though, that in one way or another, over the years, she has wronged them all. Was this some kind of revenge by one of them? 
Kate spends the entire stay there analysing her husband and her three friends, one by one, trying to find some clue as to which one of her friends was doing this. She had a week to find out the truth and she was determined to find it. But will she succeed in her quest? Will she uncover the identity of her husband's secret lover? 

Well, this book gripped me from the terrifying prologue and kept me hooked till the end. The suspense builds up throughout, keeping me on the edge of my seat. Like Kate, I wanted to find the truth, but I knew that something terrible was going to happen before the identity of the mysterious person is revealed. We have a good mix of characters, men, women and children, all life-like and realistic. I liked the general setting of the story, the author's vivid descriptions put the reader right there, in this huge, isolated villa with its own expansive grounds, including vineyards and woods. Four families who are supposedly friends brought together under the same roof for a whole week, instead of enjoying themselves, doing their best to hide secrets and suspecting each other. 

An intriguing, fast-paced plot, short chapters and a number of twists and turns kept me interested in the story. Towards the end, the plot took a surprising turn I wasn't really expecting, however, in my opinion, the author tried to hurriedly tie up all loose ends in one final chapter and that to me felt a bit far-fetched. 

However, having said that, this is a great book and I really enjoyed reading it. I like this author's writing style and I have already downloaded his other books. Recommended!
About the Author
T.M. Logan's thrillers have sold more than 900,000 copies in the UK and are published in 18 countries around the world. His novel The Holiday was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick and became a Sunday Times bestseller in paperback. Formerly a national newspaper journalist, he now writes full time and lives in Nottinghamshire with his wife and two children. Follow him on Twitter @TMLoganAuthor
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The Magpies - Mark Edwards

13/12/2020

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Meet the neighbours from hell, in the gripping thriller that reviewers and readers describe as "fast-paced," "chilling," and "impossible to put down.”
When Jamie and Kirsty move into their first home together, they are full of optimism. The future, in which they plan to get married and start a family, is bright. The other residents of their building seem friendly too, including the Newtons, a married couple who welcome them to the building with open arms.
But then strange things start to happen. Dead rats are left on their doorstep. They hear disturbing noises, and much worse, in the night. After Jamie's best friend is injured in a horrific accident, Jamie and Kirsty find themselves targeted by a campaign of terror.
As they are driven to the edge of despair, Jamie vows to fight back—but he has no idea what he is really up against . . .
The Magpies is a gripping psychological thriller in which the monsters are not vampires or demons but the people who live next door. It is a nightmare that could happen to anyone.
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4/5

​I had been meaning to read 'The Magpies' by Mark Edwards for many years. Now, looking through my kindle's library for something to read, I stumbled upon its cover and decided to take the plunge and finally discover why the title 'The Magpies' was chosen for a book about neighbours. I was really curious about this.

Jamie and Kirsty are in love and have finally found their dream home, a beautiful ground-floor flat in which they can build their nest and a family. The flat is just ideal for them. In the building there are only another three flats occupied by just five neighbours in all, two couples and a woman living on her own. Jamie and Kirsty organise a party on their first day at the flat and they invite all their friends, and to break the ice, their new neighbours, too. These all welcome the new happy couple with open arms. Then something strange happens bringing the party to an abrupt end and leaving Jamie and Kirsty baffled. Without revealing anything, I'll say that this won't be the only strange thing that occurs. It would be just the first. From then on, practically every day, Jamie and Kirsty are faced with something peculiar, something stranger than the one before, something else that makes them doubt whether they're losing touch with reality. Are these thing really happening to them? Or are they going insane, imagining everything? Who could be doing these things to them and why, for what reason? And the gravity of these occurrences gets worse and worse.

Well, this is an exciting, thrilling read and I really enjoyed it, even though I spent the whole time biting my nails with trepidation. Now, having read this book, and knowing that the author has written it based on his own sour experience, I feel really grateful for my immediate neighbours. I also live in an apartment complex with another three families with whom thankfully we get on very well. I couldn't imagine for one second having to endure all the bad things happening to Jamie and Kirsty in their own home at the hands of someone who clearly wants them out of there. But who is doing this to them? And why? Which of the neighbours is responsible? I had a feeling who it might be, but was I correct or not? Or was the author leading me on a wild-goose chase? Hmm but I couldn't be sure of any of the other neighbours either. Each and every one of them could have some hidden agenda and be the one responsible. The author left me wondering till the very unexpected ending. OMG I really wasn't expecting things to turn the way they did.

All in all, I think this is a very thrilling read that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout, and I finally understood why this book was titled 'The Magpies'. It actually makes a lot of sense. Well done to Mark Edwards and I'll surely be reading more of his books.
About the author
Mark writes psychological thrillers. He loves stories in which scary things happen to ordinary people and is inspired by writers such as Stephen King, Ira Levin, Ruth Rendell, Ian McEwan, Val McDermid, and Donna Tartt.Mark is now a full time writer. Before that, he once picked broad beans, answered complaint calls for a rail company, taught English in Japan, and worked as a marketing director.
Mark co-published a series of crime novels with Louise Voss. The Magpies, his first solo, topped the UK Kindle charts for three months when it first released. Since its success, the novel has been re-edited and published by Thomas & Mercer. Mark is now writing his next spine-tingling thriller to be published in late 2014.
He lives in England with his girlfriend, their three children, and a ginger cat.

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The Killer's Girl - Helen Phifer

24/11/2020

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‘Mama, wake up.’
The little girl reached for her mother’s face with one pudgy hand. But the eyes stayed closed, and the blood continued to trickle across the floor.

When the body of a young woman is found, tied to her bed and the victim of a brutal attack in her own home, Detective Morgan Brookes is sickened by what she finds as she searches the house. And unprepared for the nightmares it inspires about her childhood.

When the DNA collected gives a positive ID, Morgan can’t wait to put the attacker behind bars. But the person it matches to is already in prison. How could the DNA of someone who has been locked up for over twenty years have shown up in Morgan’s crime scene? And then they make another close match. To Morgan herself.

Faced with the impossible proof that she is somehow connected to this case, Morgan delves deep into the crimes of a killer who stalked the Lake District two decades ago. But distracted by the old case, she misses the signs that he has found a new victim. And when he strikes close to home, Morgan finally realises that she has been living on borrowed time. To find this killer, it’s clear she must confront the nightmares in her past…
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5/5

​WOW WOW WOW!! What a hair-raising roller-coaster of a read this is! WOW! I had really enjoyed reading 'One Left Alive', the first Morgan Brookes book by Helen Phifer, and if I thought that was fantastic, 'The Killer's Girl' is just sensational!! 

When I read the prologue, I was immediately hooked with the drama enfolding but at that point I couldn't fully appreciate the significance of that scene. Everything became clearer as I progressed through the chapters. A young woman is murdered in her own bedroom and the killer leaves the house in disarray as though they were searching for something. But what? Morgan and Ben are called to the gruesome scene to begin their investigation and it's immediately evident that the victim had been dead for a number of days. Who has done this? Why was this innocent young girl murdered, her body left there for her parents to find? 

Morgan is so saddened and angered by this case that she vows to hunt down whoever has done this and throw them in prison for the rest of their lives. But this evil killer soon shows how shrewd they are, that they love to play games. And unknowingly, Morgan finds herself the killer's pawn in their macabre game. Riddled by terrible recurring nightmares, Morgan needs to stay alert, because one thing is certain, the killer will strike again. What's not clear is who the next victim will be. Could it be Morgan herself? The discovery that the DNA recovered from the scene matches that of a man who has been imprisoned for many years just adds to the weirdness of the case. But how could this be??

Well, I was very much intrigued by this plot from the word go. A myriad of questions invaded my mind. I wanted to know not only the identity of the killer, but how the DNA of a prisoner ended up in the girl's bedroom. I felt afraid for Morgan's safety and reputation as it was evident the killer was playing a mortal game with her. When I thought I was succeeding in forming a picture of what might have happened and who the killer was, the author did not only enjoy herself disassembling my painstakingly formed puzzle, she upended the whole damn table!

The author made me experience all sorts of emotions with this book. I felt horrified, angry, worried, surprised, astounded, gobsmacked etc. My stomach felt as if it were tied in a knot throughout and at one point my jaw dropped onto my chest and it took me quite a few seconds to pull it back in place! OMG!! What the...?? 

The plot is pacy and suspenseful, the writing crisp, clean and eloquent. The short chapters made me fly through the book. All characters are realistic and the dialogue natural. What I liked most in this book is that we learn a lot more about Morgan's past. We get to know more Ben too. I really like the dynamics of Morgan and Ben's relationship, and I hope that we'll see them grow closer and closer with every book issued. I also like the chemistry within the close-knit investigation team, including Amy and Declan, the pathologist. How they all work as one to solve a murder case in the shortest and most efficient way. The ending couldn't be more breath-taking and surprising.

All in all, this is a terrific crime thriller and I highly recommend it. Now I can't wait for the next book. With huge thanks to Bookouture for approving my request to read and review this book.
About the Author
Helen Phifer is the #1 Bestselling crime and horror novelist of the Annie Graham, Lucy Harwin and Beth Adams series. Helen lives in a small town in Cumbria. Surrounded by miles of coastline and only a short drive from the beautiful Lake District. She has always loved writing and reading since the days she learnt how to in infant school. She loves reading books that make the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and make her afraid to go to the toilet, alone in the middle of the night. She is eternally grateful to Stephen King, Dean Koontz, James Herbert and Graham Masterton for scaring her senseless in her teenage years. Unable to find enough of the scary stories she loves to read, she decided to write her own.

Her debut novel The Ghost House was released October 2013 and introduced readers to police officer Annie Graham. It went on to be an Amazon #1 bestseller in Canada. It reached #1 on the Amazon Contemporary Horror Charts in both the UK and the US, pushing her idol Stephen King off his #1 spot many times. She was thrilled when the second book in the series The Secrets of the Shadows managed to push The Ghost House off its #1 spot even if it was a little surreal. This was followed by The Forgotten Cottage, The Lake House, The Girls in the Woods and The Face Behind the Mask.

The Good Sisters is a standalone old, fashioned horror story which Helen admits scared her so much when she was writing it that she couldn’t write once it got dark. Set in an abandoned convent it will definitely give you the chills.

March 2017 saw the publication of Dark House, a gripping psychological thriller which introduced readers to the dangerous world of Detective Inspector Lucy Harwin. This was followed by Dying Breath and Last Light.

The Haunting on West Tenth Street is a supernatural thriller set on the streets of New York and features Homicide Detective Maria Miller.

Her brand new series featuring Forensic Pathologist Beth Adams is published July 16th 2019
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Elizabeth is Missing - Emma Healey

23/11/2020

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How do you solve a mystery when you can't remember the clues?

Maud is forgetful. She makes a cup of tea and doesn't remember to drink it. She goes to the shops and forgets why she went. Sometimes her home is unrecognizable - or her daughter Helen seems a total stranger.

But there's one thing Maud is sure of: her friend Elizabeth is missing. The note in her pocket tells her so. And no matter who tells her to stop going on about it, to leave it alone, to shut up, Maud will get to the bottom of it.

Because somewhere in Maud's damaged mind lies the answer to an unsolved seventy-year-old mystery. One everyone has forgotten about.

Everyone, except Maud . . .
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5/5

Scrolling through my kindle's library to try and decide what to read next, I saw the cover of this book. It had been waiting to be read for far too long and I decided to finally give it a go.

Maud is an octogenarian struggling with dementia. She lives alone, but is regularly visited by her carers and her daughter, Helen. Due to her foggy memory she relies on the many notes she writes to herself and stuffs in her pockets. Many of these notes refer to her friend Elizabeth. Maud is sure that something bad has happened to Elizabeth, that she has somehow gone missing. Maud tells her daughter and carers about Elizabeth's disappearance many times. She even visits the police station on numerous occasions, but with much eye rolling no one takes her seriously. After all she's just a confused old lady who doesn't know what she's saying even at the best of times. So, Maud starts her own 'investigation' to try and find out what happened to her dear friend. But how far can she go alone with her poor muddled mind?

As Maud struggles to think about what could have happened to Elizabeth, her confused mind regularly drags her back in time to her youth, when she still lived with her parents. The memories of long ago seem to be much clearer and more vivid than the present. We learn that one day, long ago, Maud's older sister, Sukey, had suddenly disappeared without any trace. Does this mean that Maud's mind is confusing Elizabeth with Sukey? Or has Elizabeth really gone missing too? What happened to Sukey back then? Did she really go missing? Or is this another fabrication of Maud's mind?

From the get-go I fell in love with this old dear. My heart went out to her and every time she found herself struggling to form any sense of her thoughts or what she had just said, I felt miserable and sad for her. I wished I could take care of her myself and give her a tight hug every time. It's so frustrating being afflicted by this horrid condition and the author has done an impeccable job in portraying the suffering and confusion dementia brings about. I'm sure this book wasn't easy at all to write. Evidently, the author has done a lot of research and very brilliantly merged Maud's present with her past as Maud's frail mind confused the old times with the present day and tried to battle its way out of the fog enveloping it.

Without confusing the reader, the author takes us back and forth in time, following young Maud's attempts to locate her sister and old Maud's search for Elizabeth. I wanted to know what happened to Sukey and what happened to Elizabeth. And Maud kept me intrigued and attentive till the very end.

This is a great, brilliantly written book and I really enjoyed reading it. I'll miss Maud, that's for sure! Highly recommended!
About the Author
Emma Healey, a former bookseller, grew up in London where she went to art college and completed her first degree in bookbinding. She then worked for two libraries, two bookshops, two art galleries and two universities, and was busily pursuing a career in the art world before writing overtook everything. She moved to Norwich in 2010 to study for the MA in Creative Writing at UEA and never moved back again. Elizabeth is Missing, her first novel, was a Sunday Times Bestseller, won the Costa First Novel Award 2014 and was shortlisted for the National Book Awards Popular Fiction Book of the Year.
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Dead Perfect - Noelle Holten

29/10/2020

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A murdered woman…

When the body of a young woman is found in a local park, DC Maggie Jamieson knows she’s dealing with no ordinary killer.  The murder victim has been disfigured; her outfit changed to resemble someone else.  Someone Maggie knows all too well…her close friend Dr Kate Moloney.

A determined detective…

Maggie is determined to keep her friend safe, but with Kate already struggling with a threatening stalker, Maggie now fears Kate’s life is in real danger.  Who else would want to harm Kate and why else would the killer be turning his victims into exact replicas – his living dolls? 
​
Can Maggie find the depraved killer?  Or will Kate become his next living doll?
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5/5

​After the shocking cliff-hanger we were left with in 'Dead Wrong', the second book in the DCI Maggie Jamieson series, I was desperate to start the third one, 'Dead Perfect', immediately to find out what happens next.

When the body of a young woman bearing uncanny similarities to Maggie Jamieson's friend, Dr Kate Moloney, is discovered in a park, Maggie becomes agitated and afraid for her friend's safety. She fears that the stalker that has targeted Kate for some time may have upped his ante and turned into a killer. But is it really him? Yes, the victim looks a lot like Dr Moloney, but could it be just a coincidence? Who is this monster? Why did he kill this woman? Could Kate be his next victim? Maggie had to make sure her friend is kept safe at all times, but in her obsession to do so she may well drive a wedge in their friendship and at the station she is faced with some home-truths that make her reflect on her attitude. Will Maggie succeed in finding Kate's stalker? And will she be able to keep her friend from the killer's clutches?

As with the first two books, 'Dead Perfect' is a roller-coaster of a read. It can be read as a standalone, but I would definitely recommend reading the books in order. The plot is fast-paced and full of twists, turns and dead ends. It's evident the author has researched and poured much of her knowledge and experience in probation and police procedurals in this book.

Fasten your seat belts as Maggie takes us on a hair-raising ride, leaving no stone unturned in her determination to dig out this killer before he presents them with more victims. The killer is watching them closely and seems to always be one step ahead of them.

All characters and dialogues are realistic and I particularly liked the relationship between Maggie and Kate, the uncertainty of their actual feelings, but at times I thought Kate was cold, insensitive and ungrateful. Poor Maggie who deems Kate more than just a friend has only her friend's well-being in mind. She just doesn't want this killer to find them unguarded and grab his prize. She does everything in her power to keep Kate safe, but would all that be enough? Like Maggie, I was worried for Kate and desperate to keep her safe. This kept me intrigued from start to finish, at times biting my knuckles and frantically swiping at my kindle to find out what happens next.

I have to say this series just gets better and better with each new addition. The first two were brilliant, but this? Wow! It's superb! Now, I'm curious to see what intriguing plots the author has in store for us in the next books. Recommended!
About the Author
Noelle Holten is an award-winning blogger at www.crimebookjunkie.co.uk. She is the PR & Social Media Manager for Bookouture, a leading digital publisher in the UK, and a regular reviewer on the Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast. Noelle worked as a Senior Probation Officer for eighteen years, covering cases of domestic violence and abuse. She has three Hons BA’s – Philosophy, Sociology (Crime & Deviance) and Community Justice – and a Masters in Criminology. Dead Inside is her debut novel and the start of a new series featuring DC Maggie Jamieson.
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Dead Wrong - Noelle Holten

29/10/2020

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The serial killer is behind bars. But the murders are just beginning...

DC Maggie Jamieson's past comes back to haunt her in this dark and gripping serial killer thriller.
Three missing women running out of time…
 
They were abducted years ago. Notorious serial killer Bill Raven admitted to killing them and was sentenced to life.
The case was closed – at least DC Maggie Jamieson thought it was…
 
But now one of them has been found, dismembered and dumped in a bin bag in town.
Forensics reveal that she died just two days ago, when Raven was behind bars, so Maggie has a second killer to find.
 
Because even if the other missing women are still alive, one thing’s for certain: they don’t have long left to live…
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5/5

'Dead Wrong' is the second instalment in the fabulous DC Maggie Jamieson series by author Noelle Holten. A few months ago I read the first book, 'Dead Inside' and I had really enjoyed it. Now, as the author has just published the third book in the series, I was desperate to catch up with Maggie and see what the author had in store for her and us in this second book.

In 'Dead Wrong', Maggie is faced with a very baffling case which sends her spinning down a self-doubt spiral. The dismembered body parts of a woman thought to have been one of three murdered two years earlier by the notorious killer Bill Raven (now jailed) are found dumped in a wheelie-bin. At the time, the victims' bodies were not found, the killer had not given the police any clues as to their whereabouts. So, since the body parts have been found now, after two years, and they don't seem to have been frozen, this means that a) unbeknown to the police, the woman was still alive all this time, held captive somewhere, b) there's another monster on the loose in Staffordshire and c) Maggie had imprisoned the wrong man. But could she have been this wrong? Was Raven really innocent?

In order to start unraveling this chaos in her mind, Maggie has no other option but to confront once more Bill Raven in prison. Raven is a shrewd psychopath who enjoys playing with people's mind especially Maggie's and he has no intention of helping her. The discovery of the victim gives Raven the possibility of appealing his conviction, but Maggie is certain that he's involved somehow, she couldn't have got it all wrong two years previously. But how can she prove it? Raven is in prison, he couldn't have killed her himself.

When a second woman's fresh body parts are found and it emerges that she too had been named by Raven at the time of his arrest, Maggie and her team find themselves against the clock on a desperate cat-and-mouse hunt to catch the killer before another woman is murdered and before Raven is set free once more.

Well, this book kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. It's evident that the author did extensive research on crime-solving and investigations. I enjoyed the fact that she included both offender and geographical profiling in her police investigation. These are so fascinating and I learned so many new facts.

The tension never stops and the plot's momentum is pacy throughout. We have lots of twists and turns. Every time Maggie thinks she has found something, it always leads to a dead end, frustrating the hell out of her and intriguing the reader more and more. The characters are all life-like and the dialogues realistic. My only gripe with this book is that I couldn't punch the living daylights out of Raven myself! He's such a horrible monster.

The huge cliff-hanger the author reserves for the ending left me open-mouthed and shocked - oh no, Ms Holten, you can't do that, no!!

'Dead Wrong' is another fantastic addition to the series and I highly recommend it. Fast plot, great characterisation, a baffling mystery, all in all an entertaining read. What more could a reader wish for? Now off to start reading the third book 'Dead Perfect' right away as I want to know what happens next!
About the Author
Noelle Holten is an award-winning blogger at www.crimebookjunkie.co.uk. She is the PR & Social Media Manager for Bookouture, a leading digital publisher in the UK, and a regular reviewer on the Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast. Noelle worked as a Senior Probation Officer for eighteen years, covering cases of domestic violence and abuse. She has three Hons BA’s – Philosophy, Sociology (Crime & Deviance) and Community Justice – and a Masters in Criminology. Dead Inside is her debut novel and the start of a new series featuring DC Maggie Jamieson.
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The Company Daughters - Samantha Rajaram

4/10/2020

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Wanted: Company Daughters. Virtuous young ladies to become the brides of industrious settlers in a foreign land. The Company will pay the cost of the lady’s dowry and travel. Returns not permitted, orphans preferred.

Amsterdam, 1620. Jana Beil has learned that life rarely provides moments of joy. Having run away from a violent father, her days are spent searching for work in an effort to stay out of the city brothels, where desperate women trade their bodies for a mouthful of bread. But when Jana is hired as a servant for the wealthy and kind Master Reynst and his beautiful daughter Sontje, Jana’s future begins to look brighter.

But then Master Reynst loses his fortune on a bad investment, and everything changes. The house is sold to creditors, leaving Jana back on the street and Sontje without a future.

With no other choice, Jana and Sontje are forced to sign with the East India Company as Company Daughters: sailing to a colonial Dutch outpost to become the brides of male settlers they know nothing about. With fear in their hearts, the girls begin their journey – but what awaits them on the other side of the world is nothing like what they’ve been promised…
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4/5

Being a keen reader of historical novels, I jumped at the opportunity to read this new book by a debut author, and a few pages in I was already hooked. This is a book unlike anything else I read before.

This is the story of two young women living in 17th century Amsterdam. At the time, the Dutch Empire occupied vast Asian territories among others, including present-day Jakarta, at the time known as Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies.

The book starts with these two girls meeting for the very first time. Desperate for work and even more desperate to fill her belly with some food, Jana Beil, a poor girl escaping from her abusive father's clutches and a life of prostitution, knocks on Master Reynst's door. Mr Reynst is a kind, wealthy widower working as a shipwright for the Dutch East Indies Company. The door is opened by his daughter, Sontje, a beautiful rich girl, living the life of a princess and dreaming with her eyes open. The Reynsts accept Jana to start working with them as a servant. Jana works hard but she soon gets used to her new life with the Reynsts. As the weeks pass, she and Sontje grow close and become more like friends rather than the mistress of the house and her servant. Now, Jana has a small income, but more importantly, clean clothes, food and a warm attic room all to herself.

However, disaster soon strikes Reynst's venture at 'The Company', and he loses everything. Jana's world darkens once again. What will she do now? In a few weeks, she and Sontje find themselves 'Company Daughters', loaded onto a ship bound for Batavia, on the other side of the world, where they are expected to marry a settler and populate the settlement with Dutch children.

But before they even make it to Batavia, the defenceless girls' lives are put in mortal danger more than once. I won't say anything else not to spoil the plot. I'll just say that like the girls' future, the rest of the book was a complete mystery to me. I had no idea where the author would take me, what she had in store for the girls at the other end of the world and I felt excited to be going on this journey with them.

The book is divided into three main parts: part one - in Amsterdam. Part two - the treacherous journey to Batavia. Part three - life in Batavia.

On the whole for a debut novel, this book is very good. It is well written and clearly shows extensive research into colonial history. With a love story at its centre, 'The Company Daughters' is based on historical facts, and I have to say I learned a lot of new things thanks to this book. I had never read anything about The Netherlands' history and its colonies in the East and I have never heard of the young, poor women that were sent to Batavia in the 1600s to marry unknown Dutch settlers. Today, this would probably be deemed illegal and regarded as sex trafficking. These girls had no other option but to 'emigrate' in order to survive. I can't even imagine the apprehension and terror engulfing them, barely in their teens, finding themselves at the mercy of strangers, on a 10-month long dangerous voyage with scarce supplies at sea, and then finding their innocence snatched away from them and married to and at the mercy of a stranger for the sole purpose of procreation, in an alien land filled with strange people, exotic animals, trees and cultures and having to endure the unrelenting heat of the country. That must have been terribly hard for them, a nightmare (for those who survived, anyway). I think the author managed to illustrate the intolerable hardships suffered by these young women remarkably well.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I loved the main characters, especially Jana and her exceptional resilience, love and courage. The author's vivid descriptions enabled me to immerse myself in the story, imagining myself there, in 1600s Amsterdam, on that terrible sea voyage, and then in the colony with the characters. My only minor gripe with this book is the use of certain Dutch words in the first part that the author occasionally throws to remind us that we're in Amsterdam. I found this irritating as there was no translation anywhere in the book and I would have liked that. Sometimes not even the context of the sentence helped me. Such words include: zaal, roemer, Lakenvelders, jambless and meerkoets to name a few. I'd suggest the author to avoid doing that in future books or else to provide a translation. But apart from that, I think she did a great job for a debut author. And I find no problems in recommending this book to fellow historical novel lovers. Well done!

With thanks to Bookouture for approving my request to read an ARC of this book on Netgalley.
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She Lies in Wait - Gytha Lodge

26/9/2020

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Seven teenagers went down to the woods. Only six came back . . .

30 years later, a body is discovered.

DCI Sheens already knows what's waiting for him - Aurora Jackson, found at last.

What he doesn't already know is that it's murder.

All six witnesses insist on their innocence, but DCI Sheens is sure one of them is lying.
​
But who?
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2/5

I had read so many positive comments and reviews about this book that I couldn't wait to start reading it. However, unfortunately, by the end, I felt betrayed by a beautiful cover and a very intriguing blurb.

One evening in July 1983, fourteen-year-old Aurora Jackson went camping in some woods with her older sister Topaz and another five teenage friends. After a night of drinking, dancing and getting high on drugs, everyone went to sleep either alone or in couples. By morning, Aurora had vanished and was never seen again. What happened to her? Was she kidnapped or did someone do something terrible to her? Was it one of the kids, or someone who happened to be in the woods that night? Jonah Sheens had just joined the police at the time. He knew these kids well and had spent many months searching endlessly for Aurora in those woods. But it was all in vain. Aurora remained missing.

Thirty years later, a girl stumbles upon a decaying skeleton in those same woods and the police are called in to the scene to investigate. Jonah, now a DCI, feels sure that this is Aurora. She has finally been found, in the exact spot where the group of friends had spent the night thirty years previously. Aurora was there all this time, so how come they didn't find her having scoured the area with a fine tooth-comb for so many months? Starting the investigation in earnest, Jonah starts by informing the girl’s parents and going over the old case files. All the members of the group are called back in one by one to the station to give their version of events. Now, new evidence has been found, but would it be enough to identify the killer? All the group members seem to have something to hide from that night and Sheens is sure that lies are being told. Who’s telling the truth? And who is lying? Who killed Aurora? And why?

After a brilliant, intriguing prologue which throws the reader right into the mystery, the chapters alternate between Aurora's pov on that last night she was alive, and the present day with DCI Jonah Sheers re-investigating this 30-year-old mystery. At the beginning of the book, I was really enjoying it, however after a while this setting grew tiresome. Aurora’s chapters are generally very short, with the author giving us only little snippets at a time of what went on the night Aurora went missing. The present-day ones are long. This wasn’t a problem at all. What I found annoying was that almost all present-day chapters take place at the police station in a stifling interview room, as DCI Sheers and his team interrogate the group members.

We have a number of suspects, six in all, so it was a given that the author would dedicate a good chunk of the book on the interrogations, but hey, here we have a situation where basically ALL the book is dedicated to these interviews. We have endless police interrogations, going over old ground over and over again. Also, the author has failed to give any real depth to any of the characters. Even the main one, DCI Jonah Sheens. We are not given any physical descriptions of the characters either and that's something I search for in books because I find it helps me build up a mental picture. I couldn’t warm to any of the characters and I found none of them likeable.

All in all, I’m sorry to say that this was a very disappointing read with a slow-paced plot. I persisted but I couldn’t wait to get to the end of this book, which then felt a bit rushed and far-fetched. So, yes, sorry, I really, really wanted to like this book, but I can’t give a positive review this time. Sigh! :-(
About the Author

Gytha Lodge is a writer and multi-award-winning playwright who lives in Cambridge. After studying creative writing at UEA, she was shortlisted for the Yeovil Literary Prize and the Arts' Council England fiction awards, and developed a large online following for her young adult and children's writing, with over five million reads accrued on platform Wattpad. She Lies in Wait is her debut novel. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.
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