Nigel Bird's Blog, page 7

HELEN BONAPARTE by SARAH D'STAIR

 

Here's one you can read for free if you have an account with Net Galley. 

It's also available over here at Amazon. 

This is what you're in for if you get on board for the ride:

"Blending literary suspense, travelogue, and a spirit of uneasy eroticism, HELEN BONAPARTE plumbs the heart and needs of a bored academic ... This is a full-bodied, sumptuously written, always perceptive study of yearning for something more, as Helen works through a moment of existential crisis, eager for connection ... [D'Stair] brings poetic vigor to Helen's imaginings and occasional pushing of boundaries, deftly mingling desire, tension, and the feeling that things could go very wrong ... the prose startles, dazzles, informs, and pleases." PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Middle-aged, middling academic Helen Bonaparte has left her husband and children at home for a week-long Italian group tour with strangers. Happy with her home life, but needing self-renewal, she intends to sulk in the corners of buses and museums for a week, indulging in great art but scowling the rest of the world away.

Until, that is, she meets Marieke, the tour guide, who becomes the object of erotic fantasies Helen didn't even know she had.

As each day passes, Helen's home life recedes, only to be replaced with increasingly bizarre, invasive, and always secretive ways to get closer to Marieke. As she meanders around tourist gems of Renaissance Italy, Helen must come to terms with her new obsession, existing just on the border of dream and disillusionment, the imaginative and the mundane, the sacred and the profane.

A Dead Guy Who Won't Stay Dead - Free For Easter

 

Drawn In is one of my favourtes in terms of work I've written. I love the concept and it feels pretty original. 

As part of the plot, there's a dead guy who just won't stay dead, so what better time to give it away than Easter. 

There's more to it than that, of course. In fact, said dead guy is merely an obstacle.

Anyway, it's free this weekend and I hope you enjoy it. 

US

UK

HAPPY RELEASE DAY: PAUL HEATLEY's FULL THROTTLE

 

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Passing through Detroit, Tom meets brother and sister Ruth and Calvin Styles whose parents were murdered two years ago.

Ruth and Calvin have been trying to discover who was behind the killings and their investigation has stirred up a hornet’s nest such that they themselves now have targets on their backs.

Determined to protect them, Tom takes on the siblings’ powerful enemies – a corrupt unit within the police force who will do whatever it takes to stop the truth getting out. Even worse, the bad cops are in bed with street gangs they can unleash on anyone who poses a threat.

Tom soon finds himself caught in the middle of a raging gang war while being relentlessly pursued by dirty police who want to terminate him – with extreme prejudice.

Outnumbered and outgunned, Tom will have to dig deep and use every one of his deadly skills if he is to keep brother and sister alive and get justice for their family.

Full Throttle - Book 12 in the superb Tom Rollins action thriller series. Perfect for fans of Lee Child, Jason Kasper & David Archer.

When Eric Met Duane

Just look at this for a cracking event. It's way too far for me, but I reckon if you're within a hundred miles or so, this should be on the to do list. If you can't make it along, you can buy the books to offer support by following the links. 
 You do make it, let me know how it went. I promise I won't be too jealous. 
 The Last Few Miles Of Road by Eric Beetner: AMAZON UK AMAZON US 
 California Bear by Duane Swierczynski: AMAZON UK AMAZON US

DANCING WITH MYSELF: MARTTA KAUKONEN interviews MARRA KAUKONEN

 Tell us something about yourself!

My name is Martta Kaukonen and I'm a Finnish thriller writer. My debut novel psychological thriller Follow the Butterfly has been sold to 13 countries. It made the Spiegel bestseller list in Germany and is being adapted for a TV series by American-German production company Legendary Tobis TV. The English translation will be published by Pushkin Press 7.3.2024. Before I became a full-time author, I was a film critic for Finland’s biggest newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. I’ve interviewed the likes of Robert Downey Jr. and Justin Bieber. Alongside writing, I love psychological thrillers, film noir, flea markets, abandoned houses and travelling. Fun fact: I met my future husband at his second hand bookshop and fell in love.

Can you tell us something about your thriller Follow the Butterfly?

My novel has two main characters, Clarissa and Ida. Clarissa is a renowned therapist who isn’t afraid to explore the darkest side of humanity. Haunted by the death of a young patient, she will do whatever it takes to save the most vulnerable. But when Ida – angry, damaged and seemingly suicidal – walks into her office, Clarissa may have met her match. For Ida has secrets. Murderous secrets, which mark her like a bloodstain. Somehow, Clarissa must find the key to unlock Ida’s past. So she makes a bargain with her – six months to stop Ida taking her own life. But what if she has entered a game more deadly, and more evil, than she could ever imagine.

What inspired you to write this book and to explore these characters/themes?

I never thought that I would write fiction because I’ve worked as a journalist for so long and I knew it would not be fun and games but hard work. I also thought that I would never invent an interesting story. But one evening I was laying in my bed and waiting to fall asleep when I heard the first five lines of my book in my head. I took my iPhone and dictated the lines to the dictaphone. In the morning I started to write Follow the Butterfly. I knew the beginning of the book and pretty soon I knew the ending but I didn’t know what happened in between. Luckily my main character Ida took me by the hand and led me from the beginning to the end.

How did you come to write this book, how did the idea of the book originate?

To this day I don’t know where the story came to me! It was totally subconscious. But I guess it was because I had been reading so many psychological thrillers since I fell in love with Gillian Flynn’s novel Dark Places (it is still my favourite Flynn novel). Something had to come out of the excessive exposure to all those terrifying stories.

Do you have any idols?

Oh, so many! Gillian Flynn is a genius. I’ve read all her novels several times. I love Elizabeth Little’s Dear Daugter. Joyce Maynard’s thriller To Die For made a huge impact on me. Jessica Knoll’s new thriller Bright Young Woman blew my mind. Paula Hawkins, Erin Kelly, Mary Kubica, Amanda Coe, Lucia Whitehouse… the list goes on!

  Otto Virtanen / WSOY

What is your favourite hobby?

My favourite hobby is to read ”old” women’s magazines from the 1990s or from the beginning of 2000s. As you read them you soon realize that so many things that are now considered important, trendy or talked about are only a couple of decades later (mostly just a couple of years later) indifferent, ridiculous or boring. It gives you a perspective and makes you realize that the trendy things aren’t very important after all, and so you shouldn’t take yourself or most other things too seriously.

CLAIRMONT by LESLEY McDOWELL

 

CLAIRMONT Out today!

**The spellbinding, bold new retelling of the story of Lord Byron and the Shelleys, from the perspective of Claire Clairmont, the incredible woman that history tried to forget.**

'Beautifully written, Clairmont tells the sensuous hidden story of an influential historic woman.' Sara Sheridan, author of The Fair Botanists Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year

'An absorbing, intoxicating page-turner about a woman who deserves to be remembered.' Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne and Atalanta

'Riveting - a clever portrait of a fascinating, flawed heroine.' The Times

'An intimate and enlightening tale of one of Romanticism's forsaken muses - an artfully told story that lingers in the mind far beyond the last page' Susan Stokes-Chapman, author of Pandora

1816. A massive volcanic eruption has caused the worst storms that Europe has seen in decades, yet Percy and Mary Shelley have chosen to visit the infamous Lord Byron at his villa on Lake Geneva. It wasn't their idea: Mary's eighteen year old step-sister, Claire Clairmont, insisted.

But the reason for Claire's visit is more pressing than a summer escape with the most famous writers in the world. She's pregnant with Byron's child - a child Byron doesn't want, and scarcely believes is his own.

Claire has the world in her grasp. This trip should have given her everything she ever dreamed of. But within days, her life will be in ruins.

History has all but forgotten her story - but she will not be silenced.

One Man's Opinion: INTIMACIES by KATIE KITAMURA

I adored The Longshot and I really enjoyed Gone To The Forest, though not quite as much. Intimacies, for me, comes in third place in terms of the position of reading the books and the enjoyment gained.

There's a quote on the cover of my edition: 'Glitteringly intelligent.' I think it probably is. It feels clever. Almost cold, which puts the title at odds with the story. Perhaps what can be said is that this is a cool series of observations relating to intimicies. There's the unusual relationship with her lover, much of which is at a distance. There's a relationship with a president accused of war crimes, phsically close while also at an intellectual distance. We have the relationship with the law and the legal system, logical and stuck in its ways and hypocracies. New friends whose warmth quickly chills. Perhaps it's telling something of the relationship of a stranger to a strange land (be that literal or not), I'm not entirely sure. 

In the end, I feel it was me who was kept at a distance. When I did get close, it seemed to push me away. That's certainly unusual in a read for me, though I'm not sure how to interpret that reaction. 

Mostly smooth and efficient, there are some examples of information/research dumps that I could have done without. 

It's also listed as one of Barack Obama's favourite reads of 2021 (he sure does get around with is recommendations). Perhaps it was his love of the law that allowed him to fully access Intimacies. 

I'm glad I read it, I'll not be reading it again. 

A MOTH TO FLAME

 

New from Joe Clifford, A Moth To Flame

Spanning twenty-five years, A MOTH TO FLAME tells the story of two sisters, Lydia-and Jessica Barrett, who is found, dead, at the bottom of a ravine in 1991 after attending a protest in a support of a recently fired, popular teacher.

Twenty-five years later, Lydia, who suffers from nyctophobia (a fear of the night), is a coroner's investigator on the graveyard shift in Los Angeles. A promotion awaits. Her mentor Maureen Gearon is grooming Lydia to take over as county medical examiner. If Lydia can conquer her fear of the dark.

Early one morning Lydia encounters a woman, whose neck has been broken like her sister's. Checking a missed voicemail, Lydia hears a message from the dead woman who claims to have information about Jess.

While researching her sister's accident, Lydia stumbles upon a true-crime YouTube channel, Night Shade, hosted by a former classmate, Shane Ellet, who maintains Jess' death wasn't an accident; it was murder. Caught in a web of lies and deception are Cam Rawls, Jess' ex-boyfriend and current hometown sheriff; Brad Pearce, the handsome, young English teacher who was sexually involved with students; and a recovering addict, Mark Burns, employed by Richard Fontaine, Mom Gloria's new boyfriend and general contractor. As Lydia grows closer to the truth, the Sand Wildfire breaks out, encroaching, and threatening to burn everything to the ground. Will Lydia learn the truth in time?

In the modern vein of authors such as Thomas Harris, Jeffrey Deaver, Paula Hawkins, and Tana French, A MOTH TO FLAME tells the story of a woman in a man's world, set against the illusion of perfect suburban lives that are anything but, populated with the scariest monsters of all: the ones right in front of our faces that we cannot see through the dark.

FEVER

 

Rosa Santiago, a healer who relies on the natural resourcesof her island, is helping yet another army deserter to escape, only this timethings are different. She cares for the soldier, for a start, and he has newsof a mysterious plague that is devastating the barracks from which has escaped.

General Corales, leader of the occupying forces, wouldrather spend time in his garden than in conflict. Now he has a terrifyingcrisis to deal with and a second in command who seems intent of underminingevery decision that is made.  

Sensing that this may be their time, the revolutionaryforces rally for one more attempt to overthrow their oppressors. It won’t beeasy for them to bring the different voices together, but the window ofopportunity won’t be open for long.

As the situation develops, Rosa’s world is turned upsidedown. Her desire to heal and her support for the cause soon clash and finding acompromise is not going to be easy.

Fever is available from:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Amazon Canada

Amazon Australia 

Amazon France

Amazon Germany

Amazon Netherlands 

Amazon India

Amazon Spain

Amazon Mexico

One Man's Opinion: THE UNPICKING by DONNA MOORE

The Unpicking tells the story of three generations of women,each the victim of cruel injustices that reflect the institutionalisedprejudices of society and the harsh impact of economic structures.  

In the opening section, set in 1877, we meet Lilias. She’s avulnerable teenager whose parents have just died and who has found a haven ofsorts in the form of her aunt, Evelina. When she falls in love with a gentlemanwho is keen to make her acquaintance, all should be well. Lilias has hermother’s inheritance and her new husband has several financial plans that arebound to come to fruition in the not-too-distant future. A growing sense thatall is not well begins to build, then creeps along as the story unfolds.Husband, Arthur, may not be the fine man Lilias felt she met. His businessacumen may not be all that it seemed. He might need to access Lilias’sinheritance more quickly than he first anticipated, though Aunt Evelina mayhave other ideas. Unfortunately, Arthur has all the cards simply because he isa male of wealth in a twisted society. Clouds of foreboding grow until theyfinally break and the storm pours misery everywhere. We soon find out that thelunatics don’t need to take over the asylum- they built the thing in the firstplace and are already in charge.

Skip a generation and we land in The Lock. It’s Glasgow in1894. Clemmie lives in a home for young girls. As well as providing shelter forthe girls, it also provides the setting for appalling sexual abuse. Clemmie isone of the older residents and feels it’s her duty to protect the newcomersfrom their inevitable fate. Enter Jeannie, naïve and sad and a perfect targetfor preying paedophiles. The weight of tension in this section becomesunbearable as Clemmie needs to escape before her pregnancy shows, while alsoneeding to keep Jeannie safe. Clemmie uses an old connection to find a new homein the slums of Glasgow. The injustices of poverty weigh heavily on her as shestruggles to make ends meet while lodging in the room already occupied by a largefamily dominated by wee bairns. Still, she manages to maintain her loyalty toher friend up until the last.    

The Turnkey takes us to Glasgow in 1919. Clemmie’s daughter Mabel has landed on her feet. She’s living in luxury and is keen to make a differencein the world. It’s a time of strikes and suffragettes and yet more inequity.She’s determined to right the wrongs of history and battles to join the policeforce where she is hidden away in an old broom cupboard to do meaningless work.It doesn’t matter too much to Mabel as this gives her access to information thatmay help her find out what happened to her mother. As she digs up informationabout the past, she realises the case isn’t quite as cold as some would want itto be. Mabel cleverly sidesteps prejudice to carry out her work and, like hermother before her, opens herself up to dangers that she could never haveimagined.

Each section of The Unpicking tells a compelling tale.They’re peppered with the perfect amount of historical detail to bring flavoursto the pot, while the nightmares of the situations darken as if walls areslowly drawing in, until the space is so small that things become disturbinglyclaustrophobic. It’s a satisfying mix that has a reader coasting along enjoyingtime and place one moment and nervous about turning the page the next.

As a counterbalance to the atmosphere and action, there areripples of humour and each of our lead characters, in spite of their courage,strength and determination, has a gentleness at her core that’s impossiblenot to admire.

The Unpicking will open the doors to many a heart. Why notgive it a try? It might be yours that opens.