Veronika Jordan's Blog, page 97

Madame Burova by Ruth Hogan

Madame Burova – Tarot Reader, Palmist and Clairvoyant is retiring and leaving her booth on the Brighton seafront after fifty years.

Imelda Burova has spent a lifetime keeping other people’s secrets and her silence has come at a price. She has seen the lovers and the liars, the angels and the devils, the dreamers and the fools. Her cards had unmasked them all and her cards never lied. But Madame Burova is weary of other people’s lives and other people’s secrets, she needs rest and a little piece of life for herself. Before that, however, she has to fulfill a promise made a long time ago. She holds two brown envelopes in her hand, and she has to deliver them.

In London, it is time for another woman to make a fresh start. Billie has lost her university job, her marriage, and her place in the world when she discovers something that leaves her very identity in question. Determined to find answers, she must follow a trail which might just lead right to Madame Burova’s door.

In a story spanning over fifty years, Ruth Hogan conjures a magical world of 1970s holiday camps and seaside entertainers, eccentrics, heroes and villains, the lost and the found. Young people, with their lives before them, make choices which echo down the years. And a wall of death rider is part of a love story which will last through time.

My Review

Ruth Hogan has done it again! Her fourth novel is brilliant – I read the whole thing in one sitting.

But first let me tell you how I discovered the writer whose books have become amongst my favourites over the last few years.

#MadameBurova @ruthmariehogan @TwoRoadsBooks

I first read The Keeper of Lost Things and instantly fell in love with Eunice and Bomber and the lovely cup of tea. In fact I have read it twice (you miss things the first time – who hasn’t watched The Sixth Sense over and over to look for the clues they missed) which is something I almost never do. Except for The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes, which I have also read twice. I have only read Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel once so far, but only because I haven’t had the chance yet for a second go.

I think it is something to do with the richly-drawn characters that make them seem like old friends. And the dogs of course. There have to be dogs. But it’s also the detail, which is why I have to go back, because in desperation to discover what happens next, it’s easy to miss something important or beautiful. It may only be something little, but it’s still worth a second look.

Like with Keeper, Madame Burova is set in two time periods – now and the early 1970s when I was just 20 years old like Imelda. I only visited a holiday camp once; it was the mid-sixties. We went for the day to Butlins in Minehead – my dad wanted to see the wrestling. I thought it was amazing…the camp not the wrestling.

Nowadays we often go to Brighton – my older son’s family live just down the road. The place has its own special buzz, there is nowhere else like it. “The book’s protagonist was inspired in part by the life of Eva Petulengro, a famous clairvoyant and Tarot reader who lived and worked for many years in Brighton, and whose booth can still be seen on the promenade…..Hogan studied for many months with an expert Tarot teacher until she was able to read to a professional standard.”* I’ve walked past the booth many times. I’d never dare go in.

Ruth has said that: “….The cast of characters became my friends and companions, and in all the strange days of lockdown I never once felt alone.” They became my friends and companions, albeit for only 24 hours but I shall miss them as I still miss Eunice, Bomber and Sally Red Shoes amongst others.

Many thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Madame Burova is published by Two Roads in April 2021.

*Quote from The Bookseller website

About the Author

From Ruth herself: ‘I was born in the house where my parents still live in Bedford: my sister was so pleased to have a sibling that she threw a thrupenny bit at me. As a child I read everything I could lay my hands on: The Moomintrolls, A Hundred Million Francs, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the back of cereal packets and gravestones. I was mad about dogs and horses, but didn’t like daddy-long-legs or sugar in my tea.

‘I studied English and Drama at Goldsmiths College which was brilliant, but then I came home and got a ‘proper’ job. I worked for ten years in a senior local government position (I was definitely a square peg in a round hole, but it paid the bills and mortgage) before a car accident left me unable to work full-time and convinced me to start writing seriously. It was going well, but then in 2012 I got cancer, which was bloody inconvenient but precipitated an exciting hair journey from bald to a peroxide blonde Annie Lennox crop. When chemo kept me up all night I passed the time writing and the eventual result was The Keeper of Lost Things.

‘I live in a chaotic Victorian house with an assortment of rescue dogs and my long-suffering partner (who has very recently become my husband – so I can’t be that bad!) I am a magpie, always collecting treasures, and a huge John Betjeman fan. My favourite word is ‘antimacassar’ and I still like reading gravestones.’

Saving Missy by Beth Morrey

Prickly. Stubborn. Terribly lonely.
But everyone deserves a second chance…

Missy Carmichael’s life has become small.

Grieving for a family she has lost or lost touch with, she’s haunted by the echoes of her footsteps in her empty home; the sound of the radio in the dark; the tick-tick-tick of the watching clock.

#SavingMissy #MeetMissy @BethMorrey @fictionpubteam @HarperCollinsUK #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours

Spiky and defensive, Missy knows that her loneliness is all her own fault. She deserves no more than this; not after what she’s done. But a chance encounter in the park with two very different women opens the door to something new.

Another life beckons for Missy, if only she can be brave enough to grasp the opportunity. But seventy-nine is too late for a second chance. Isn’t it? 

My Review

I do love this book. Poor Missy. A domineering husband. A daughter she has fallen out with. A son and grandson who have emigrated to Australia. And a large empty house full of memories and loneliness.

Missy worshipped her husband Leo. A famous academic author, handsome and respected. Maybe not always faithful we suspect. Missy herself obtained a first class degree in Classics from Cambridge, but she gave it all up to be a mother, a housewife and to take care of Leo. But that’s what women did in the 1950s and 60s.

Often told in flashbacks or letters, we learn a lot about Missy’s early life, her mum and dad, Aunt Sibby who kept chickens, gave them names, but still rung their necks and cooked them. And granddad Fa-Fa who told stories and grandmother Jette who sewed things that she never loved.

Then one day Missy meets Sylvie and her friend Angela, and her life is changed forever. Angela has a son Otis, who reminds Missy of her grandson Arthur, who she misses dreadfully, even though they are nothing like each other apart from being the same age. But what really changes her life is when Angela asks her to look after a dog. The dog is called Bob even though she is a girl. It’s from Blackadder she tells her. Missy has never seen Blackadder. The dog will only be there till her owner finds a new home away from her abusive husband. Bob soon becomes Bobby (less explaining) and Missy becomes part of a community of dog owners, who take her under their wing.

It’s hard to put into words how emotional this book is at times. Especially at a time when we are all already emotional. I laughed and I cried and then I cried some more. At one point my tears were falling onto my scampi and chips, while I sipped a small sherry in honour of Missy’s tipple of choice. This is not a book about twists, but there are even a few surprises in store. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours.

Also many thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review and to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read. 

About the Author

About Beth Morrey: Beth Morrey is currently the Creative Director at RDF Television where she has been involved in numerous productions – she helped create The Secret Life of Four Year Olds series on Channel 4 and devised 100 Year Old Drivers for ITV.

She was shortlisted for the Grazia-Orange First Chapter competition back in 2011, had her work published in the Cambridge and Oxford May Anthologies, and was Vice-President of the Cambridge Footlights. Bethlives in London with her husband, two sons and dog.

Old Bones by Helen Kitson

Diana and her sister Antonia are house-sharing spinsters who have never got over their respective first loves. Diana owns a gift shop, but rarely works there. Antonia is unemployed, having lost her teaching job at an all girls’ school following a shocking outburst in the classroom after enduring years of torment. Diana is a regular at the local library, Antonia enjoys her “nice” magazines, and they treat themselves to coffee and cake once a week in the village café.

#OldBones @Jemima_Mae_7 @LouiseWalters12 @damppebbles #damppebblesblogtours Facebook @damppebblesblogtours 

Naomi lives alone, haunted by the failure of her two marriages. She works in the library, doesn’t get on with her younger colleagues, and rarely cooks herself a proper meal. Secretly she longs for a Boden frock.

When a body is discovered in the local quarry, all three women’s lives are turned upside down. And when Diana’s old flame Gill turns up unexpectedly, tensions finally spill over and threaten to destroy the outwardly peaceful lives all three women have carefully constructed around themselves.

Helen takes us back to the fictional Shropshire village of Morevale in this, her brilliant second novel which exposes the fragilities and strengths of three remarkably unremarkable elderly women.

My Review

First of all let’s get one thing straight. Sixty is not elderly. Sixty is the new forty. Once in your sixties you can wear what you like, dye your hair pink, go to yoga in leg warmers and be comfortably eccentric. And stop caring what people think of you. Unfortunately none of these ladies got the memo.

They need to loosen up a bit and stop dwelling in the past. Their lives are limited by the experiences they had when they were young.

Diana lives in her mother’s house and also owns a gift shop but she doesn’t work there anymore. Her manager runs it. Diana is not needed. She also rents out the flat above so we can see she is not short of a bob or two. But she never goes anywhere. Her life is stuck in a time warp when she was 21 and fell in love with 18 year old Gillian. That was over 40 years ago. They send the odd postcard but have never spoken since. Until now.

Diana’s younger sister Antonia is a bit strange. She was in love with Phillip when they were teenagers but he went away and she never got over it. She really wanted to be married and have children but instead she went into teaching home economics and was so badly bullied by the students that she left under some sort of cloud. She has never recovered from the experience or from being deserted by Phillip. Antonia and Diana live together but only barely tolerate one another’s company.

Naomi is more interesting. She went to university, is well-educated and married a wonderful, cultured man called Nigel. Unfortunately he left her for Melanie but she still holds a candle. Inexplicably she got married again to the dreadful Brian, the total opposite of Nigel. I’d love to say he was a rough diamond, but in reality he was just rough. No proper job, always in the pub and apparently having affairs left, right and centre. One wonders why she married him. Even more so, why he married her. She’s not exactly one of his glam floosies. She thinks maybe he just wanted her money.

But Brian disappeared 20 years ago and then a body turns up. Why can’t the past just stay buried thinks Naomi.

This is a tale of secrets and people who don’t really know each other. A story of three sixty plus women whose lives have been boxed in by their own fears, prejudices and I hate to say narrow-mindedness. They automatically dislike each other but never really try to give the other some credit. They are all lonely but push each other away. Like three residents in a retirement home who never leave their rooms even though there is a communal lounge and dining room.

This is a brilliant book. As a sixty something myself (lucky to be married with two sons, three granddaughters and a dog) I believe you have to make your own choices in life if you can and leave the past in the past. Many people are not so lucky and are desperately lonely, but these three have decided to turn their noses up at the opportunity to form any kind of bond or friendship. I loved it.

Many thanks to @damppebbles for inviting me to be part of #damppebblesblogtours

About the Author

Helen lives in Worcester with her husband, two teenaged children and two rescue cats. Her first poetry collection was nominated for the Forward Best First Collection Prize. She has published three other poetry collections and her short fiction has appeared in magazines including Ambit, Feminist Review and Stand. She holds a BA (Hons) in Humanities.

​Helen’s debut novel The Last Words of Madeleine Anderson was published in March 2019. Her second “Morevale” novel, Old Bones, will be published on 16 January 2021.

Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jemima_Mae_7

Purchase Links :

Louise Walters Books: http://bit.ly/37dpwKM

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2LPuDKI

Foyles: https://bit.ly/3pdjamn

Waterstones: http://bit.ly/3660WMc

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/365gdwN

Publishing Information:

Published by Louise Walters Books.

The Castaways by Lucy Clarke

A SECRET BEACH. A HOLIDAY OF A LIFETIME.
WISH YOU WERE HERE?
THINK AGAIN…

It should be like any other holiday.

Beautiful beaches.
Golden sunsets.
Nothing for miles.

You’ll never want to leave.
Until you can’t…

My Review

What an exciting book, so full of tension. I just wanted keep on reading till I found out what happened.

Erin and Lori are sisters. They have always been close, even more so after losing both parents. Then Lori’s husband Pete tells her he is leaving to be with someone else and that someone is expecting his baby. Lori wants nothing more that to be a mother, but after several rounds of IVF she realises it wasn’t meant to be. A double blow that Pete is leaving her to have a baby with someone else.

Erin works for a magazine. She has no-one in her life apart from Lori. Lori says her sister still lives like a student and needs to take her life in hand. They decide they both need a fresh start so they book a holiday to Fiji, staying on a beautiful, luxury, island resort. But the night before, they row and when Lori boards the plane, Erin fails to show up.

Then the small plane crashes on a remote, isolated island and the real nightmare begins.

The Castaways is told from two points of view – then and now. It works brilliantly. Two years after the crash, the pilot, Mike Brass, turns up having lived and worked on another small island, but he is sick and dying. It is on all the news. Erin persuades the magazine to fund a trip to Fiji so she can interview the pilot about what really happened, but in actual fact she only cares about what happened to Lori. Erin is the ‘now’.

We hear Lori’s story from the ‘then’ point of view. She tells us exactly what happened while they were on the island. Who died and who survived, if anyone. The idea of being a castaway with limited supplies, food and other necessities is terrifying. Will anyone ever find them? As well the terror of being abandoned, this book examines the relationship between a group of strangers under pressure.

It’s a brilliant book. I had to keep holding my breath while reading. I loved Lori, though not so much Erin at times. I thought she was rather selfish, but I’ll leave you to decide when you read it.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read. 

About the Author

Lucy Clarke is the bestselling author of six psychological thrillers – THE SEA SISTERS, A SINGLE BREATH, THE BLUE/NO ESCAPE, LAST SEEN, YOU LET ME IN and THE CASTAWAYS. Her debut novel was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick, and her books have been sold in over 20 territories.

Lucy is a passionate traveller, beach hut dweller, and fresh air enthusiast. She’s married to a professional windsurfer and, together with their two young children, they spend their winters travelling and their summers at home on the south coast of England. Lucy writes from a beach hut, using the inspiration from the wild south coast to craft her stories.

Social media links:
Instagram @lucyclarke_author
Facebook: lucyclarkeauthor

The Fractured Globe by Angela Fish

Nature? Nurture? Or just plain luck? Single mums, Tia and Kay, meet when their sons are born on the same day.

Tia is a product of the welfare system but wants a better life for her son. Her entrapment by her manipulative and controlling boyfriend in the world of drink, drugs, crime and enforced prostitution suggests otherwise. Is she a ‘born devil’ or can she change and break free?

#TheFracturedGlobe @angelaEfish @darkstrokedark @damppebbles #damppebblesblogtours Facebook @damppebblesblogtours 

Kay comes from a stable home but sacrifices it all, initially, to live her own kind of life.

Overshadowed by betrayals, mistakes, regrets, and the mystery of an abandoned child, their paths – and those of their families – run parallel or criss-cross over twenty-five years.

Can determination and the power of the snow globe offer a chance of happiness?

My Review

Two girls, both single mothers, but their lives could not be more different. Kay ran away from a loving, stable home and hasn’t contacted her parents since. She is wracked with guilt, having stolen her father’s savings pot in order to survive. She cannot go home.

Tia sees herself as one of life’s victims. Brought up in care, her life has been hard, one of drink and drugs and now an abusive boyfriend called Jake. She’s a thief and a hustler and survives on her wits. Things happen to her. She has no choice. Then she finds herself pregnant and meets Kay in the hospital, when they are both giving birth. Kay just happens to be available and has a flat. Soon they form a bond and a friendship of sorts. Kay risks being thrown out for having a ‘lodger’ but Tia doesn’t care. She steals money and things for the baby and lies to Kay about how she obtained them.

We don’t know at the time who the father of Kay’s baby Adam is. But Kay knows. Tia thinks Luke’s dad might be Jake but in reality it could be anyone. She’s been raped and prostituted more times than she cares to remember. The drink didn’t help either.

Tia’s life is horrendous. The only person ever to show her any kindness is the lady from the charity shop who helped her when she collapsed, Janet, who just happens to be the sister of Kay’s mum Ruth. The ‘coincidences’ will drive the story forward over the next 25 years, as we follow the lives of Kay and Tia and the children and pray for some kind of reconciliation.

Much of this book was bleak and harrowing, so be warned. But everything has consequences and some may be good, rather than bad, so stick with it. There was just one part I couldn’t get my head around. Kay is too ashamed to go home and apologise for stealing the money. But is this still guilt on Kay’s part? I would call it pride. For this reason I probably preferred Tia to Kay. I had some sympathy for Tia. For Kay I struggled to find any. As a grandmother I found her behaviour deeply upsetting and selfish.

On the other hand, Ruth never tries to find Kay – she will wait for Kay to contact her and dad Paul. It’s a long wait. And if I were Ruth I’d have been looking for her from day one.

Many thanks to @damppebbles for inviting me to be part of #damppebblesblogtours

About The Author

Angela worked in medical research, electronic and electrical engineering, and administration. In her mid-thirties, she decided to change direction and returned to university to study Humanities, specialising in Literature and Creative Writing. She then completed an MPhil (Literature) focussing on how women writers in Wales, between 1850 and 1950, portrayed their female characters. Following this, Angela joined the staff the University of Glamorgan where, in 2000, she set up and directed The Wales Centre for Intergenerational Practice. As well as providing training and advice, she worked with local schools and communities, over a period of ten years, to improve communication between the generations. She has been in demand, nationally and internationally, as a conference presenter and an invited speaker in her field.  

Her publications include non-fiction, short stories, poetry, and fiction for children. The Fractured Globe is her first full-length novel and explores the nature/nurture question through the lives of two single mums, their sons, and families, over twenty-five years. This debate, together with an interest in mythology and magic, has significantly influenced her writing.

Angela is a member of The Society of Authors [SoA], and the SoA Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group.

She lives in south Wales.

Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/angelaEfish 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AngelaFishAuthor

Website: www.angela-fish.com

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Angela-Fish/e/B01MPXRE8F?ref_=dbs_p_ebk_r00_abau_000000 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14428605.Angela_Fish?from_search=true&from_srp=true

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/uthors/angela-fish

Purchase Links:

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/3iLhPRl 

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/39Y9JAP 

In a Deep Dark Wood by Tina Pritchard

What she saw in the wood would change her life forever.

Walking in the wood one day, Fran witnesses the horrifying murder of local teen, Tyler. She tells the police exactly what she saw, but their investigation doesn’t seem to make much headway.

#InaDeepDarkWood #TinaPritchard @inkubatorbooks @damppebbles #damppebblesblogtours Facebook @damppebblesblogtours 

Fran tries to settle back into a normal life, but is tormented by guilt – was there something she could have done to save the boy? Fran can’t let it go and finds herself drawn to Tyler’s grieving mother, Mel, both finding some strange connection through this shared trauma.

Then someone launches a terrifying campaign of intimidation against Fran and her husband, Laurie. Could it be the killers? Are they letting her know she had better be careful what she says? Who she sees? And why is Mel acting so strangely? Does she know more about her son’s death than she is saying?

Fran can’t help herself – she needs to know the truth. But when she begins to dig, she uncovers the terrible secret of the deep, dark wood – a secret that will change her life forever.

My Review

Where to start! While walking her dog Buddy, Fran witnesses a teenage boy being hanged in the woodland behind her house. She watches in horror as the killers kick away the box he is standing on, a noose around his neck. It’s a peaceful suburb where she lives with husband Laurie, not the kind of place where you expect to see a murder being committed.

The police don’t seem to be doing much and for some bizarre reason, Fran befriends Mel, the mother of the murdered boy. Fran is a natural helper, but unfortunately she is no Miss Marple and she puts herself in a dangerous situation, one which she does not understand until it’s too late. What’s worse is that she doesn’t tell her husband as she knows he will be horrified at her intervention.

In a way though, I can see why she has done it. If I had witnessed something so awful, I would want to know why. But I would have told my husband or at least taken someone I could trust into my confidence.

This is a very well written book with some great characters. I really love Fran, in spite of her being very naive and suburban (notice that I didn’t say middle-class because so am I). Her husband Laurie is OK, in spite of certain things or should I say thing he has done and I love the relationship with her children Flynn and Alice, probably because I can relate.

Tash, her hairdresser and friend is eccentric and larger than life and Mel is appropriately cold and hard. Next door neighbour Jenny is lovely. I wish she lived next door to me, helping with the dog and bringing me never-ending rounds of banana bread (no doubt much better than the ones I made almost daily during the first lockdown).

But of course my favourite character is Buddy, the terrier. The dog is usually my favourite character in books, but even so, Buddy is extra special.

Many thanks to @damppebbles for inviting me to be part of #damppebblesblogtours

About the Author

After a life dedicated to bringing up a family, taking a social science degree, working as a lecturer, a trainer and more recently an independent celebrant, Tina addressed her burning need to write a novel. In a Deep Dark Wood reflects her belief that scratching below the surface of ordinary lives can reveal a rich seam of material. She wrote the book after her interest was piqued by police investigations in the UK Midlands into County Lines Drugs operations. After researching she discovered just how prevalent the problem is in rural communities.

Like many women of her age, the main character Fran has lost a sense of who she is beyond being a wife and mother. She is an unlikely protagonist. In need of a purpose after a terrible year that has left her reeling, she finds it, albeit in a way that ultimately endangers her life.

Tina loves to write and has won competitions for some of her short stories and poetry. She lives in a beautiful part of the world and gains much of her inspiration from walking her badly behaved terrier Horace, in the Derbyshire countryside.

Bystanders by Cat on a Piano Productions / Theatrephonic

Martin is forced to face up to his past, as much as he’d like to forget it.

Katrina keeps hounding Martin and his wife Ailsa thinks he must be having an affair. But it’s nothing like that.

Many years earlier Martin had a fling with a young author called Caitlin whose book was the bible for angst-ridden teenagers everywhere. ‘The Catcher in the Rye for women,’ Ailsa calls it. She loved the book in her teens. But Caitlin committed suicide when she was just 20 and became something of a folk hero.

Then Ailsa discovers that Martin was the inspiration for the love interest in the story.

Katrina is a journalist (a serious researcher she calls herself) and wants his side of the story on the ‘anniversary’ of Caitlin’s death. But Ailsa also wants Martin’s side of the story. And this opens up a huge can of worms.

Beautifully written, Bystanders is a very sensitive discussion about suicide, guilt and betrayal.

Please note: This episode contains discussion of suicide, including some graphic content. Listener discretion is advised.

If you are affected by any of the content and feel like you need help, please reach out. UK listeners can use these numbers:
Samaritans.org: 116 123
Thecalmzone.net: 0800 58 58 58 – 5pm to midnight every day
sossilenceofsuicide.org/what-where-why: Call 0300 1020 505 – 8am to midnight every day
papyrus-uk.org/hopelineuk: for people under 35 – Call 0800 068 41 41 – 9am to midnight every day or Text 07860 039967

Bystanders
Written by Tracey Sinclair
Directed by Emmeline Braefield

Starring
Henry Douthwaite as Martin
Emma Wilkes as Ailsa
and
Zoe Cunningham as Katrina

Music:
Allegro – Emmit Fenn
The Beacon – Zachariah Hickman
No.8 Requiem – Esther Abrama
I’ll Remember You – Jeremy Blake
Boat Floating – Puddle of Infinity
The Quiet Aftermath – Sir Cubworth
Til Death Parts Us – Aakash Gandhi

Produced by Cat on a Piano Productions

Cat on a Piano Productions produce and edit feature films, sketches and radio plays.

Their latest project is called @Theatrephonic, a podcast of standalone radio plays and short stories performed by professional actors. You can catch Theatrephonic on Spotify and other platforms.

And if you really enjoyed Bystanders, listen to Theatrephonic’s other plays and short stories and consider becoming a patron by clicking here…

The Whisper Man by Alex North

In this dark, suspenseful thriller, Alex North weaves a multi-generational tale of a father and son caught in the crosshairs of an investigation to catch a serial killer preying on a small town.

After the sudden death of his wife, Tom Kennedy believes a fresh start will help him and his young son Jake heal. A new beginning, a new house, a new town: Featherbank.

But Featherbank has a dark past. Twenty years ago, a serial killer abducted and murdered five children. Until Frank Carter was finally caught, he was nicknamed ‘The Whisper Man’ for he would lure his victims out by whispering at their windows at night.

Just as Tom and Jake settle into their new home, a young boy vanishes. His disappearance bears an unnerving resemblance to Frank Carter’s crimes, reigniting old rumours that he preyed with an accomplice. Now, detectives Amanda Beck and Pete Willis must find the boy before it is too late, even if that means Pete has to revisit his great foe in prison: The Whisper Man. And then Jake begins acting strangely. He hears a whispering at his window.

My Review

This was recommended to me by a work colleague. She said it was spooky and creepy. Boy was she right, particularly the first half. Tom is trying to find rational explanations for the things that seven-year-old son Jake says he sees and hears. The little girl in the blue dress, the grazes on her knee never healing and her dark hair swept to one side. The boy in the floor. The strange rhyme ‘If you leave the door wide open, soon you’ll hear the whispers spoken’ and the whispers themselves. But I found it much scarier to think he was like the boy in The Sixth Sense, ‘I see dead people, walking around like regular people’.

Tom’s wife Rebecca died and Tom is struggling to cope. Jake found her at the bottom of the stairs. It’s a terrible time for both of them, so they decide that a move would be a good idea. New house with no memories, new town and new school. Jake is drawn to an old cottage, known locally as the ‘scary house’. He won’t look at any other house.

But that’s when their problems begin to escalate. Creaking noises upstairs. A run down garage with a padlock on the door. A strange man saying he used to live here and wants to see inside. And Jake’s voices and imaginary friends.

At the same time DI Pete Willis, a recovering alcoholic, and ambitious DS Amanda Beck are looking for a missing boy, six-year-old Neil Spencer. Frank Carter, known by the media as The Whisper Man, is safely locked away in prison for the abduction and murder of five young boys, but there are similarities and why is it that he knows so much about it? And where is the body of Tony Smith, disappeared 20 years ago, Carter’s fifth victim, his body never found? Everything about it is so chilling.

I only have a couple of reservations. Why didn’t Tom get some kind of bereavement counselling, if not for himself then at least for Jake? The boy needs expert help, but no-one seems to suggest it. And then there’s the school. They have this dreadful traffic light system for good behaviour. Green for good, amber for a bit naughty and red for ‘needs to see the head teacher’. They are six and seven for goodness sake! Jake is new, knows no-one and was bullied on his first day (that’s Neil’s seat says a horrid kid so you’ll be the next one to die). Jake has recently lost his mother yet by the end of day one he’s on amber. By day two he’s on red for hitting said kid. It made me furious! Poor Jake. What a stupid school.

This is one of the best crime novels I have read this year – and probably last year as well, if not ever. There are quite a few surprises which I never guessed, but then I wasn’t looking for them. I can’t even hint, but they were not the kind of twists I expected. Brilliant.

About the Author

Alex North was born in Leeds, where he now lives with his wife and son. The Whisper Man was inspired by North’s own little boy, who mentioned one day that he was playing with ‘the boy in the floor’. Alex North is a British crime writer who has previously published under another name.

Seven Days (DI Jack MacIntosh, #2) by Michelle Kidd

One killer. One city. One week.

July 2012 and a serial killer is terrorising the streets of London. With the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympic Games in just seven days time, Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh and his team at the Metropolitan Police have one week to find him. With the killer’s motives unknown, and a mysterious clue being left at each scene, the case takes on a menacing and personal twist. Distracted by his own demons, will DI Jack MacIntosh solve the case before it is too late?

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The clock is ticking. Tick. Tock...

My Review

Jack is back! I really enjoyed this book. Once again we have more adventures with DI Jack MacIntosh and his team, plus his brother Stuart (Mac) and the new DS Carmichael, who’s not exactly making himself very popular. A lot less complicated than the first book in the series – The Phoenix Project – there is a cross-over and while it helps to have read the first book, it isn’t totally necessary.

Isabel Faraday was the subject of the first novel, but we see her now, some four years later, owning a coffee shop in the Kings Road (the rent and rates must be ridiculously expensive – she’ll need to sell a lot of cappuccinos) with an art studio at the back which she rents out. Now as a bit of a budding artist I’m up for renting an easel in her studio. She even provides the paint (oil and cold wax for me please) and brushes. I could just paint while she keeps me in coffee and pain au raisins. Luxury!

The new book opens with a grisly murder – a body found in the park – and then another one. Both strangled with a ligature. One victim is in her forties, the other just twenty-one. The first victim is wearing only one shoe, but another shoe – a totally different one – lies close by. It’s a clue. If the second victim is wearing the matching shoe and another mismatched shoe lies close by, then there will be a third victim and we have a serial killer on the loose. And only seven days before the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.

The clock is ticking and there appears to be no connection between the victims. Jack and the team are on to it, but can they catch the killer in time? And how many more will die before they do?

There are other characters involved as well, each with their own story, and look out for Dominic, a young man who helps out in the coffee shop. He is ‘on the spectrum’ and keeps a diarised record of everything that happens in detail, every day. Excessive? OCD? But so useful!

I love that this book is part of a series and I am look forward to reading the next in the series. Book three is called The Fifteen and I shall no doubt be reviewing it later in the year.

Many thanks to @damppebbles for inviting me to be part of #damppebblesblogtours

About the Author

Michelle Kidd is a self-published author known for the Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh series of novels.

Michelle qualified as a lawyer in the early 1990s and spent the best part of ten years practising civil and criminal litigation.

But the dream to write books was never far from her mind and in 2008 she began writing the manuscript that would become the first DI Jack MacIntosh novel – The Phoenix Project. The book took eighteen months to write, but spent the next eight years gathering dust underneath the bed.

In 2018 Michelle self-published The Phoenix Project and has not looked back since. There are currently three DI Jack MacIntosh novels, with a fourth in progress.

Michelle works full time for the NHS and lives in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. She enjoys reading, wine and cats – not necessarily in that order.

Bibliography:

The Phoenix Project (DI Jack MacIntosh book 1)

Seven Days (DI Jack MacIntosh book 2)

The Fifteen (DI Jack MacIntosh book 3)

Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorKidd

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michellekiddauthor

Website: https://www.michellekiddauthor.com/

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

Purchase Links:

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3nLLqMQ

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2IkU6Jz

If She Dies by Erik Therme

Nine months ago, Tess’s five-year-old daughter was killed in a car accident. The driver, Brady Becker, was sentenced to two years in prison. It didn’t make Tess’s pain go away.

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Brady also has a daughter: A twelve-year-old named Eve who walks to Chandler Elementary School every day. Tess knows this because she’s been watching Eve for the last three weeks. It isn’t fair that Brady’s daughter gets to live, while Tess’s daughter does not.

When Eve goes missing, all eyes turn to Tess, who doesn’t have an alibi. But Tess isn’t guilty.

Or so she believes.

My Review

I literally sat down and read this straight through over two days. And even though I was so frustrated at time by Tess’s choices, I just couldn’t stop reading. The writing is amazing.

Tess’s grief is insurmountable. I cannot imagine how I would feel in her place – I am sure I would be exactly the same. I would want to sit and die. It’s nine months since Lily was killed by a drunk driver – Brady Becker. A very short time to try and get her life back to normal. Her husband Josh has gone back to work and wants Tess to get counselling, look for a job. But she has other ideas. Every day she sits in the JoKat cafe opposite the apartment where Brady’s wife Meg and daughter Eve live and watches Eve walk to school.

But this is not a story just about Tess’s grief or about the problems in her marriage. It is not unusual for couples to separate after a tragic event such as this and you can see why. Tess and Josh appear to have no common ground when it comes to dealing with their loss. Josh decided they should sell their beloved home in Newton with all its memories and move just down the road to Harlow (where he was born), but Tess hates the mouldy, ramshackle house. He just doesn’t get it. He wants the Old Tess back, but it’s not going to happen if he doesn’t understand.

When Lily died they received a massive insurance payout. To Tess it’s dirty money. Josh even bought a new Jeep which she refuses to ride in. Being in the UK I don’t even understand why they took out insurance on their child’s life but I guess it’s all part of private health insurance, which very few people have here.

But in spite of my total sympathy for Tess, I struggled with her constant lies to her husband about everything she does. He doesn’t even know that she visits the cemetery almost every day. I understand that she cannot open up because her grief is too raw, but she makes some very strange choices right through the book.

Then her brother Colin turns up out of the blue. He hasn’t been in contact since before Lily’s death and Josh is furious. Colin had his reasons, but in this case I’m with Josh. I can’t really say any more.

But as I said before, this is not just about grief and marital problems. A huge twist turns everything on its head when Eve goes missing and Tess is the obvious suspect. If She Dies is now a thriller and a race against time. Where is Eve and who has her? You’ll have to read the book to find out and I challenge you to guess. I certainly didn’t.

Beautifully written and full of emotion.

Many thanks to @damppebbles for inviting me to be part of #damppebblesblogtours

About the Author

Erik Therme has thrashed in garage bands, inadvertently harboured runaways, and met Darth Vader. When he’s not at his computer, he can be found cheering on his youngest daughter’s volleyball team, or watching horror movies with his oldest. He currently resides in Iowa City, Iowa—one of only twenty-eight places in the world that UNESCO has certified as a City of Literature. Join Erik’s mailing list to be notified of new releases and author giveaways: http://eepurl.com/cD1F8L

Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ErikTherme

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ErikTherme.writer

Website: https://eriktherme.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/7831573.Erik_Therme

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Erik-Therme/e/B00IAS90UA/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Purchase Links:

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/398eaKk

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/3sQ9dO4