Maria Savva's Blog - Posts Tagged "sequel"

No Good Deed by Tim Baker

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


When I first started reading this book I didn't know that it was the sequel to Living the Dream, but when I realised that it was I was very pleased. I enjoyed the first book in the series and all the characters were so great that it was nice to revisit them in 'No Good Deed'.

In this story, the hapless Kurt seems to have finally made something of himself. He even has a love interest. However, his luck soon runs out when he inadvertently gets involved in a dangerous chain of events.

We meet some new characters in this book who are just as charismatic as the old favourites from 'Living The Dream'. Al is homeless but he has a plan to get back on his feet in style. Unfortunately, there are a couple of gangsters who have other ideas.

It's a fun, fast-paced read, with lots of edge-of-your-seat action scenes. The only slight criticism I have is that the dream scenes didn't really add much to the novel. In 'Living The Dream' they were great because they were part and parcel of the story. In this book, however, I found that I just wanted the dreams scenes to end so I could get back to the action. I'm still giving it 5 stars, though, because it's a brilliant story and deserves to be read.



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I'm currently working on a sequel to my novel The Spider. I've just passed 60K words in my manuscript, and am excited that I've almost finished the first draft! To celebrate, I'm giving away one signed copy of the first book in the series. If you'd like to be in with a chance to win the book, leave a comment below or share this post on Twitter tagging me @Maria_Savva.

I'll pick a winner at random on the 30th April.

Good luck!


Book description:

‘No one’s ever come out of that house alive...’

What lurks behind the door of 8 Goldfern Road?

Are you brave enough to step inside?

By entering the sinister house, George and Glen become entangled in a dangerous battle of wills.

“The Spider” is a story of obsession, infidelity, and broken dreams.

This darkly humorous mystery will appeal to fantasy and romance readers as well as those who love to hate spiders!




What People Are Saying:


"...this story is spooky, mysterious, intriguing and thought-provoking. The characters are well-developed, realistic and believable, despite the fantasy /paranormal story line." ~ Julie Elizabeth Powell. [Full review: https://www.amazon.com/review/R1I06BL...]

"The paranormal thriller and suspense elements are also very well handled, propelling the story forward and adding shades of darkness and horror to the everyday trial and tribulations of the women and men caught up, sometimes more or less literally, in a spider’s web of deceit, danger, lust, and greed." ~ Maria Haskins [Full review: https://mariahaskins.wordpress.com/20...]

"I will never look at spiders the same after this fantastic read! ~ Sheri A. Wilkinson [Full review: https://www.amazon.com/review/R5U3ZB1...]

After reading this I will definitely think twice before squishing any more spiders as I don't want what happens in the book to happen to me......EVER! ~ Laura Smith [Full review: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...]

"The Spider", latest novel by Maria Savva, has to be one of my favourites by this talented author. I have enjoyed all of her work - novels and short stories - but this one , with its blend of paranormal horror and normality is a real page turner. ~ A. E. Thomas [Full review: https://aethomas2005.wordpress.com/20...]

This story shifts between the intertwining lives of friends with their own agendas, and a psychopathic man happy to take advantage of those friends. In a sense, this is a cautionary tale of what could happen when greed and self-interest drive your actions. So read this one, and the next time you find yourself getting a little greedy, remember The Spider. ~ Darcia Helle [Full review: http://quietfurybooks.com/blog/bookre...]

As many of you know, I've been working on a sequel to my novel The Spider for the past few years.



The book is now finished and is titled "Evil Never Dies". It has been edited and I'm getting some reader feedback before I publish it.

Here's a draft blurb that I've come up with that will give you a bit of an idea of what the book is about:

After finding the poisonous spider for Rex, George believes his problems are over. But tragedy strikes and George finds himself back inside The Spider’s web; his life is at risk and his freedom is at stake.

“Evil Never Dies” follows George as he fights to reclaim his life and take back control.

This dark, tangled mystery explores the known and the unknown, the real and the illusory.

Touching on a wealth of relatable subjects including divorce, death, the afterlife, homelessness, crime, and addiction, “Evil Never Dies” takes the reader on an intense and emotional journey.

Catch up with the other characters from book 1, “The Spider”, including Roisin, Glen, Hugh, and Abigail, as they face more life-changing challenges.

You can get book 1 at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...

I have a great cover design for "Evil Never Dies", which was designed by Kat at Aeternum Designs (https://www.eveningskypublishingservi...)

Kat also designed the covers for The Spider, Lost and Found, and A Time to Tell). I will reveal the cover nearer to the release date.



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I'm also working on another collection of short stories. The book "Out of Time" is a collection of ten stories, eight of which were originally featured on the online literary magazine The Write Launch in 2017 (https://thewritelaunch.com/)

Two of the stories are brand new, written this year. I'm putting the finishing touches to "Out of Time" and hope to announce the release date soon.

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I've also started work on a new story, which might become my next novel. The idea came to me recently and so far I've been writing it in the traditional way, pen and paper. I'll reveal more about that in due course.

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Finally, I wanted to let you know about an interview I recently did for Helle Gade's website.

You can read it here: https://hellegade.com/2019/05/04/auth...

I started work on the sequel to my last novel "The Spider" a few years ago. I'd never written a sequel before, and when I wrote "The Spider" I'd never intended that to be part of a series, but as all authors know, books have a mind of their own sometimes... at least it seems that way.

When I finished "The Spider", I knew that Rex's story wasn't over. He became such a quirky character that I was intrigued by him and I suppose writing the sequel was a way to get to know him better, as well as the reasons behind his thirst for revenge on mankind. I'm sure other writers will understand that when we write characters, sometimes they take on a life of their own and it's almost as if they are telling the story, or dictating the way it progresses. Maybe not, maybe that's just me. Anyway, Rex's story had to be continued.

As many of you may know, I've been working on the sequel, on and off, around my day job for the past few years. I enjoyed writing it, even if the editing stage was a bit of a pain.

Sequels are very hard to write because you have to remember what you wrote in the original novel. Writing a sequel involves a lot of re-reading the original novel and cross-checking facts and content.

I'm pleased to have finished "Evil Never Dies". It took a bit longer than I expected, but I didn't want to release it before I made sure it was everything I wanted it to be.

The book is available for pre-order at the special discounted price of 99p. It is scheduled to be released on Kindle on 11th November 2020.



Book description:

In this sequel to “The Spider”, George finds himself back inside The Spider’s web, fighting to reclaim control of his life.

This dark, tangled mystery explores the known and the unknown, the real and the illusory.

Touching on a wealth of relatable subjects including divorce, death, the afterlife, homelessness, crime, and addiction, “Evil Never Dies” takes the reader on an intense and emotional journey.

Catch up with the other characters from book 1, “The Spider”, including Roisin, Glen, Hugh, and Abigail, as they face more life-changing challenges.

You can pre-order "Evil Never Dies" here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L71D9MC/*

*available on Amazon worldwide

I do also intend to make the book available as a paperback and hope to have more news about that soon.

The cover was designed by Kat of Evening Sky Publishing Services. She also designed the cover for "The Spider", as well as the covers for some of my other books, including "A Time To Tell (second edition)" and "Lost and Found": https://www.eveningskypublishingservi...

Ebook formatting for Kindle was done by Deena at E-bookbuilders: https://bookbuilders.design/index.html

My latest novel, "Evil Never Dies" is out on Kindle today! You can still get a copy at the special discount price of 99p/99c for a limited period.




Purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L71D9MC/

Add to your Goodreads shelf: Evil Never Dies

I hope you enjoy the story!

Book 1 - The Spider is also available at the 99p/99c price at the moment: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...

I'm currently working on a collection of short stories, titled "Out of Time", which I hope to release soon. I will post an update when I have more news.

I hope you're all coping well in these weird and uncertain times that we're living in. Stay safe.

To celebrate the release of the sequel, "Evil Never Dies", I am making "The Spider" available to download FREE on Kindle until Friday 20th November.




The Spider

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...

Evil Never Dies

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evil-Never-D...
Amazon: US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L71D9MC/

Add "The Spider" to your shelf: The Spider
Add "Evil Never Dies" to your shelf: Evil Never Dies