Twist of Fate

by D.M. Mark

A dark, intricate thriller with supernatural overtones, perfect for fans of S J Bolton, Andrew Miller and Michelle Paver.

A man goes on the rampage in central London, killing several people in a seemingly random attack. One of the victims is researcher Jethro Durdage, whose sister Claudine witnesses the whole thing from the window of her office block.

Riven by grief, Claudine retreats to the house in the Fens where she and Jethro grew up. As she starts to process what happened, Claudine begins to wonder what was affecting Jethro on the day of his death. He had been agitated, scared; had had something important to tell her, something secret... but what?

Worse yet, the police believe that Jethro was not the victim but the orchestrator of the attack. Why would a gentle, kindly man want to cause such bloodshed – and why would he include himself in the list of victims?

Claudine soons finds herself down a rabbit hole of mystery. Jethro's research into a medieval religious cult leads Claudine to a mysterious hidden chapel, and the more she investigates, the more she is troubled by the same unease and terror that had begun to plague her brother.

The answers may lie in an obscure Biblical translation... but can Claudine solve the riddle in time before the darkness gets to her too?

Genres: Audiobook

400 pages, Paperback

First published March 2, 2023

About the author

Pseudonym of David Mark

Reviews

[Ceecee · Rating 5 out of 5]

4-5 stars

Thirty years ago, late at night, at a Cambridgeshire village, church, a couple meet illicitly and get caught up in …what exactly??? In the present day at Mount Carmel House on the Thames embankment, Claudine Cadjou receives a surprise visit from her eccentric, clever but troubled brother, Jethro. Why is he at her place of work? Before he can explain his presence, a dramatic incident occurs when a blood covered man, knife in hand, enters the building. he looks at Claudine, utters words no one recognises, raises the knife and Jethro steps in to save her with shocking consequences.

Meanwhile, D S. Billy Dean of the Metropolitan Police MIT is having a difficult conversation with his wife, Fran, aka Detective Superintendent Steadman. The emotional meeting is interrupted by calls about the tragic incident which transpires to be a violent spree.

Wow. Right from the creepy, tense start you can cut the atmosphere with a knife (poor choice of word in the circumstances) and the short, clipped sentences, add tremendous tension and intensity. The book starts with not one bang but several and yes, Mr Mark, you most certainly have my attention which wavers not the whole way through.

I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything quite like it! It’s hauntingly full of atmosphere throughout as much of the action takes place in the Fens where Jethro lives and you get a Grimm fairytale nightmarish vibe swirling about, fog like, adding a bleak but mysterious tone to the proceedings. The weather, the low-lying wet landscape, the isolation and loneliness further enhances the creepy atmosphere.

A fascinating picture of Jethro emerges via Claudine and from this we have several issues concerning mental health, there is a strong religious element (mania? Fanaticism?) which also encompasses Myths and Legends and we stray on more than one occasion into the supernatural with more than a smidgen of horror. This blend sure works for me as it’s a never a dull moment read. The plot is clever, complex and absorbing, the pace is fast though we do get an occasional breather!

The characters are unusual which I especially like. Some are tortured souls whose actions are hard to fathom, and sometimes accept as they can act irrationally or harshly but they carry weights such as grief or pain and they are all intense though in different ways, this is especially true of DS Dean. Jethro is particularly mesmerising as a character as he is central to all that has happened.

Overall, this is a very different novel and takes the reader on quite a journey, which I’m more than on board for.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Aria and Aries for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

[Carolyn Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a dark, riveting, and twisty thriller. D. L. Mark has an ongoing detective series, and some of his engaging stand-alones rank among my favourite books. Each one is different in mood, themes, and storyline, and I have admired how he keeps his novels so different from the others.

Twist of Fate was grim, creepy, and intense, with a wonderful descriptive atmosphere. There was a touch of the supernatural and spiritualism. Some passages were disturbing and made me cringe. I admit to being confused sometimes, but we were dealing with emotionally/mentally confused characters.
I wished the timelines were more clearly marked. The author accomplished his goal of keeping the readers riveted and feeling off-kilter.

Within the story are religious zealots, people with a tenuous hold on reality, cult-like behaviour, and a search for medieval artifacts in a burial site. A sister, Claudine, working at a prestigious job in London, is trying to understand why her gentle, harmless brother, Jethro, has been killed in her presence. He lived as a hermit in the Fens, in a shack surrounded by swamps. She is driven by grief and guilt that she has not done more to keep Jethro safe.

He perished from knife wounds in London in a violent attack that killed several others while Claudine watched in horror. He exhibited no resistance to the stabbing. Jethro had come unexpectedly to her London office the previous day, anxious to talk to her, but she was too busy with her work to pay him much attention. She is now a witness in the police investigation. Her main contact is an angry and unstable police officer. She returned to Jethro's derelict shack in the Fens to go through his belongings and understand what happened and why. She is comforted and given support in her grief by the motherly figure she hired to keep watch over Jethro. The woman insists Jethro was incapable of harming humans or animals. Now the police are blaming Jethro for planning the vicious knife attack.
Thanks to NetGalley and Aries {Head of Zeus) for this gripping, hair-raising thriller that is unlike the author's other engaging novels.

[Natalie all_books_great_and_small · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a gifted copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review as part of the book tour hosted by Random Things Tours.

Twist of Fate is a creepy and intense supernatural crime thriller that keeps you on your toes. Claudine is working in London when her brother Jethro is killed along with several other people, violently in front of her. Claudine is eaten with survivors guilt that she didn't do more to keep Jethro safe from harm. Why Jethro when he wouldn't hurt a fly? But Jethro came to her office the day before the attack in desperate need to talk to her, but she brushed him off as she was too busy to spare the time for him. Could it be connected to why he was murdered?Claudine is now a witness in the polices investigation, but the officer in charge is pinning the plot of the violent knife attack on Jethro. Claudine returns to where her brother lived in his isolated shack surrounded by swampland and seeks to find out why what happened happened and how/if her brother is involved. This book is gripping from the start and although the characters are all a little disturbing, it really adds to the creepiness of the book!

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Prolific author David Mark has released his eighth standalone novel, Twist of Fate under the author’s name of D L Mark. Opening with a clandestine meeting of two married people in a cemetery, their tryst ends in their bloodied deaths. Then we meet another couple trying to finalise their divorce when both get called back to work, as there has been a terrorist attack in London. Finally, we meet Claudine, whose brother was a victim killed in the murderous rampage and yet the police suspect he may have been involved. With its flowing narrative and interesting characters, this promised to be an engaging police procedural, with its London terror attack basis. However, it strangely morphed into a gothic vibe with a supernatural element, fixated on religion that seemed somewhat malapropos. Having not encountered the author’s works previously, it is hard to know how representative this thriller is, but it was an okay two and a half stars read rating. With thanks to Aria & Aries and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having a big brother to look up to should be something to be proud of but Claudine’s brother isn’t quite befitting her world of political lobbying. Watching your brother being stabbed to death is something no sibling should have to go through…. But Claudine did in traumatic circumstances and she goes on one hell of a journey as the police investigation progresses.

Lead police investigator Billy Dean has a horrific crime to solve and he’s doing it with some hefty personal baggage. Recovering alcoholic, acrimonious split from his wife who is also his superior officer… Billy’s got a lot to deal with. I was rooting for Billy. He’s a decent cop from what I could see and I wanted him to succeed.

Mark has written a tense thriller that jumps perspectives by chapter. He combines together a waft of murder, folklore, history and personal problems to form a complex story with twists and turns to confuse even the best armchair detective (that’s not me). This is my first taster to Mark’s writing and I really enjoyed the torrid case before me.

[Bill Kupersmith · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the thirties of the last century, vicars were commonplace and sympathetic (think The Nine Tailors), but contemporary British detective fiction seldom features Christian characters, and where they appear, they are likely delusional maniacs. Such is the case in Twist of Fate, though I'll not reveal if one of them turns out to be the ultimate villain. We have a brother and sister who are half-French, he a brilliant but mad scholar who lives in the woods haunting a shrine of St Guthlac and she a high-powered communications specialist in London. We also encounter a Detective Sergeant with a marriage to a Detective Superintendent who wants a divorce (no surprise, that) and a modern theologian who studies unorthodox sects. I wonder that I'd not encountered David Mark before. He has a lot of titles to his credit and is clearly thoroughly professional, which fact surprises me as the plot becomes increasingly bizarre, not helped by the DS becoming frequently befuddled by drink and behaving abominably - including physically abusing women. It's been two generations since most people in the UK have actually attended church, which may explain why authors represent Christians as such delusional fanatics or hypocritical frauds. When we suffer spiritual starvation ourselves, we like to imagine others who are worse off.

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a very strange story ,it started with muliple killings in London and ended on a supernatural note .It was atmospheric but I really didn't like the policeman Billy Dean he was awful and I am sure his behavior would have got him suspended in real life! A weird storywith creepiness twists and turns quite hard to follow .Thank you to Net Galley for my ARC

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

When an armed man massacres several people in central London, Claudine witnesses the whole thing. To her horror, one of the victims is her brother, Jethro. The police think Jethro orchestrated the attack. Now Claudine is on a quest to prove them wrong in Twist of Fate by D.L. Mark.

This definitely reminded me of a Ruth Ware story. It was sometimes hard to get into and understand what was going on. But the more I read, the more I got involved in the twists. I really had to think and pay attention to what was happening. It was a weird book, though, but it came together at the end.

I would recommend this book and would rate it a 3.75 out of 5 stars (rounded to 4) because sometimes it was hard to follow.

#TwistofFate #NetGalley @Aria_Fiction @AriesFiction

[Jacob Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twist of Fate is the first book by David Mark that I’ve read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It begins with a suspected terrorist attack in London, on Embankment Bridge, when several people are killed. The suspect throws himself off the bridge and into the Thames before he can be apprehended, or killed by the police. A man, Jethro, who stepped in to intervene, who sadly dies, is labelled as a hero, but as the police investigation into the attack continues, they find there is more here than what first meets the eye.

As the book gets going, we meet Claudine, Jethro’s sister, who is distraught after witnessing her brother’s death on Embankment Bridge from her office window. They haven’t had the easiest of relationships, particularly as Claudine has had to take charge of everything to do with family matters, and this makes her feel guilty, especially when she thinks that she could’ve done something to save her brother.

I really liked Claudine. I could feel the anguish that she was going through, which made me connect to her character. I absolutely loathed DS Billy Dean, who belittles Claudine when he is speaking to her, even though she is going through unimaginable trauma. He believes Claudine knows more about the alleged attack, and that she may somehow be involved, especially when the police begin to think that Jethro might be behind the attacks on the bridge. Billy is a very interesting character though, and I wanted to find out more about him, to understand why he was being like this.

I was fascinated by the supernatural element to this book, which darkens the plot, as the police look further into Jethro’s life and the people who he was involved with. David Mark does paint Jethro as a very caring individual, in ways how he is described, but there is also a more mysterious and darker side to him that adds to the tension. This part of the plot makes the book so intense, especially as Claudine starts looking for answers herself. I could sense that she was getting closer and closer to danger, and I had no idea how things would pan out. It was really intriguing when the plot delves into the historical elements of the novel.

I finished Twist of Fate in just a couple of sittings. It’s a really gripping read and I’ll definitely be reading more of David Mark’s novels in the future.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book starts with an illicit affair in the cemeteries maintenance shack that ends in Horror. Then we go to London proper to meet Claudine Cajail and her brother Jethro at her workplace somewhere her mentally ill genius brother never goes. This will also end in horror but who did it? This is what the angry police detective is trying to find out his name is Billy Dean and he is going through a divorce and doesn’t want to, not that he needs reasons to get angry it’s something he does quite quickly and throughout the book you see quite frequently. We also get to know another character named Enoch but what does he have to do with the story you have to read the book and find out. This was a great book and although I found her pros unlike any I’ve read before they were a great breath of fresh new things to read as opposed to the Samo Samo . This book isn’t tricking on its own with her new descriptive prose made it that much better to read. It flows quickly and if you like me you’ll really feel sorry for the poor Claudine I love that in the book when she goes back home although she grew up there she is out of her element but quickly adapts this is just an all-around great book a total five star read. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

[Josephine Jarman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The description of this book lures you in a state of its a who done it. A sister watches her troubled brother who she has not seen in years brutually murdered by a serial killer. After a while the police start to think he's not quite so innocent.
The story is full of supernatural. And Religious elements. These are interweaven alongside the story of a sister searching for the truth and a troubled copper trying to sort it all out.
The back story of the copper didn't add much to the story for me as it was never resolved .
I liked all the elements of the story but felt it tried to do so much in a short time it lost itself in places. You were overwhelmed with the info and tge finsl twist although very good felt rushed. It was a challenging read in places but tgete was good direction from the author to keep you reading and invested in the story. Some elements were to out of this wotld to believe which did take a bit a way from the story.
Thanks for rhe arc it was a good read i would recommend it as a solid read but state you need to be ok with the religious element as yoy vould easily get lost. It was just a shame it finished too quickly

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Possible spoilers

I very much enjoyed this one.
The complicated relationships involved. Not just the main character, but the policeman, and his obvious hostility.
I could have read a whole lot more about Jethro and Claudine.
The shocking killings at the beginnings lead to a slow build of low level creepiness, until everything slots together in quite the ending.

Very well done.

[David Prestidge · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story begins with a violent prelude in an English country churchyard. It is dark, cold and damp, Thomas Gray’s “rugged elms” are almost certainly present, and his “rude forefathers of the hamlet” still sleep beneath their headstones, but there is little else elegiac about the scene. A couple, married – although not to each other – are using the sexton’s shed for sex. Then something awful happens. How this links to the main narrative of the book is not made clear until much later.

In another place – a prestigious building in central London – we meet a brother and sister. They couldn’t be more different, Claudine Cadjou is a well-known political lobbyist, used to schmoozing the media and well-versed in the dark arts of the professional publicist. She is suave and chic. Her brother Jethro looks like a madman. His clothes are one step up from rags. He is dirty and unkempt. His home, if such it can be called, is a semi derelict farmhouse in the Lincolnshire fens. He is basically ‘in care’ with Claudine paying his neighbours to make sure he doesn’t starve. Once, he had a brilliant mind, but it has all but been destroyed by psychotic episodes linked to substance abuse. While talking, Claudine is fighting a battle between embarrassment at her brother showing up on her turf, and her love for this wreck of a man. Then her discomfort turns to terror when an unknown man storms into the atrium of the building and stabs Jethro to death.
The man who killed Jethro has just committed several other atrocities nearby. More people are dead, and several not expected to survive. At this point we meet a London copper, DS Benny Dean. Another soul – another torment – but of a different kind. His wife of many years is also a copper, but she has risen through the ranks and now she is a Chief Superintendent. And she wants a divorce. Like Claudine, she is sophisticated, cultured and ambitious. Even her name has changed from homely ‘Fran’ to the media chic ‘Cesca’ Benny has tried his best, put his career on hold while hers prospered, but now she wants out. And the cruelest irony of all? As police are mobilised to investigate the murders, Benny’s wife is put in charge of the investigation, and he has to remember to use the word ‘ma’am’ when phoning in reports.

Benny and his partner DC Helen Savage, and, separately, Claudine, travel to Lincolnshire to investigate Jethro’s’s recent history. At this point it is worth reminding readers about the fens, their geography, their place in literature, and the social history of the area. First, a geological distinction; low lying areas which were once under fresh water are known as fens, while areas reclaimed from the sea are, more properly, marshland. One of the great crime novels in history, The Nine Tailors, was set in the fens (well known to DL Sayers from her days as a rural rector’s daughter) while Jim Kelly’s Philip Dryden series takes place in and around Ely. Graham Swift’s Waterland deals entirely with the darker aspects of fenland history, while John Betjeman wrote a deeply scary poem called A Lincolnshire Tale, wherein a traveler encounters a spectral vicar who still rings the bells in his abandoned church.

“The remoteness was awful, the stillness intense,
Of invisible fenland, around and immense;
And out on the dark, with a roar and a swell,
Swung, hollowly thundering, Speckleby bell.”

I live in the fens and, to this day, there is an insularity about the remote villages and a lingering sense of suspicion about outsiders which I have never encountered anywhere else in England.

What follows, as Benny Dean, convinced that Jethro was not just and innocent victim, and Claudine Cadjou - in their different ways - explore what lay behind the carnage in London is an astonishing journey into a dystopia which includes grave robbing, religious mania, the use of mind-altering drugs and straightforward murder. The author recreates - as his backdrop - a fenland which hasn't actually existed for decades. These days the land is - all but a tiny fraction - cropped, trimmed, drained and demystified, but David Mark's version makes for a terrifying setting in which demons, heretics and tortured souls seem all too real.

Looking back on my previous reviews of David mark’s novels, I see that I have – more than once – likened his work to that of Derek Raymond, I won’t labour the point, but Benny Dean is a 21st century version of Raymond’s valiant but tormented nameless sergeant. Death stalks this book like some hideously deformed entity in an MR James ghost story; it is superbly written, but not for the faint hearted. Twist of Fate is published by Head of Zeus and is available now.

[Mary Picken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Regular readers of this blog will know I am a fan of David Mark and Twist of Fate has done nothing to alter that. Mark is a consummate storyteller and he always takes a different direction to the mundane and predictable.

I do love a dark mind and in Twist of Fate we begin with a horribly creepy prologue that occurs in the past. A night-time tryst in a deserted churchyard is interrupted by sinister figures in the shadows. Straight away that atmosphere of darkness, creepy characters and religion are introduced.

Switch to contemporary times and the polished PR professional, Claudine Cadjou, has a surprise visit from her brother, Jethro. Jethro is a gentle but troubled man; his mental health is not good and he lives alone in a dilapidated cottage on the Fens. Jethro has never before just turned up to visit Claudine. Claudine can see immediately that he is in crisis and her mind is twisting in two directions. How can she remove Jethro from the gaze of her colleagues for fear that he might be damaging her cool image and also what is it that Jethro is trying to say to her?

To her eternal shame she remembers this first thought for long after her brother is brutally stabbed to death as she watches.

D.S. Billy Dean is not at all content. His high achieving wife – the only woman he has ever loved- wants a divorce and he doesn’t want to dissolve the marriage. All he ever wanted was to solve crimes and come home to the wife. What the wife wanted, however, was to rise through the ranks, have others defer to her and to enjoy the trappings that being in charge can offer.

This makes Billy a grumpy, unforgiving and caustic interrogator and he is not in the least gentle when he turns up to interview Claudine. Forget that she has been involved in a terrible and traumatic horror involving her closest relative. DS Dean believes there is more to this case than meets the eye. Two homeless people have also been murdered and Billy Dean is beginning to think that Jethro is implicated. He wants to know more from Claudine.

Claudine meanwhile is distraught with grief and guilt. She needs answers and so she flees to Jethro’s home in the Fens in search of answers. Jethro had a neighbour whom she paid to help out and deliver meals and it is Peg who helps her to find some of the material that Jethro was researching.

David Mark takes the reader on a journey into darkness. The darkness of Claudine’s own loss. The darkness of Jethro’s death and the darkness that is the religious zealotry that Jethro was researching. He marries the dense and atmospheric setting of the Fen marshlands with some nice gloomy churchyards to add more than a touch of ghoulish dimensions.

Claudine and Billy’s narratives are both first person present tense which allows you to experience just what they are thinking and feeling. There is such a welter of swirling emotions contained in Mark’s characters and it’s not always easy to like them. I veered from feeling sorry for Dean until I really, really, didn’t and Claudine is managing just fine living her privileged life until Jethro turns up to prick her conscience.

David Mark’s Twist of Fate is a return to themes that Mark clearly finds fascinating. Those who use religion to further their own ends or causes; the religious idolatory invoked in cults and the worship of the individual. This is the Aleister Crowley version of worship – ‘do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law’.

Mark pulls together a murder mystery which interweaves religion, murder, mental illness and obsession and some nicely questionable supernatural elements, to make a surprising, twisty and altogether highly dramatic storyline which kept me gripped all the way through.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Claudine is at work when her brother Jethro shows up unexpectedly one day. Her brother lives as a virtual hermit in the Fens, dresses like a hobo, is eccentric, intelligent, disturbed, and impossible, and fanatic, amongst other things. He never leaves the Fens, and absolutely never comes to London. But here he is. Claudine is embarrassed by him showing up like this in her place of work, and is not listening to him and what he is rambling on about, making no sense trying to tell her, she is just focussed on getting him to leave and asking him to meet her elsewhere later. Then the killer strikes, a madman with a knife, massacres several people in London, and Jethro is one of them. He is killed right in front of Claudine, who is left grief stricken at her loss. But when she goes to clear out her brothers remote and ramshackle house in the marshy Fens she finds herself caught up in something she never would have imagined. Her brother was researching some very odd religious material, and Claudine is suddenly wrapped up in a series of events that could lead to more deaths if she can’t figure it out.

This was a very unusual read, bouncing from a police crime drama. We had DS Dean being a stereotypical brash, washed up cynical cop, browbeaten, but passionate about the job and keen to solve the reason for the murders. We then had Claudine, a powerful woman of influence, who falls to pieces when she sees her brother killed, and starts spiralling into depression, despair, and losing track of reality.

Is it a crime drama, supernatural, or horror? The scenes set throughout the book lead you down every path, often at the same time. Jethro is portrayed as an ever evolving personality, kind, caring, naive, manipulative, manic, scheming, fanatic. We are brought along on a journey of discovery along with Claudine, as she tries to learn who her brother really was, and why he and others died that day. She soon realises that she may not be ready for the answers. It is a dark and twisting read, often keeping the reader as confused as the lead characters. Not a light read, but one that will leave you thinking long after you have put it down.

*I received this book from NetGalley for review, but all opinions are my own.

[Elaine Tomasso · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would like to thank Netgalley and Aria & Aries for an advance copy of Twist of Fate, a stand-alone thriller set in London and Lincolnshire.

Claudine Cadjou is horrified when her brother is stabbed to death in front of her, one of five victims of a crazed knife man. Then the Police say he orchestrated the attack, but she finds it hard to believe as Jethro was a gentle, kind man. Then she digs deeper and finds strange religious beliefs are a part of Jethro’s life.

Twist of Fate is an unusual read, not so much in the theme, religious cults are a mainstay of crime fiction, but in the way I reacted to it. On the one hand I was intrigued by what was going on and so desperate to get answers that I wanted to read on, on the other I kept putting it down after a few pages as it didn’t hold my attention.

The novel is mostly told from the points of view of Claudine and DS Billy Dean in the present tense. This gives the novel a stream of consciousness feel at times and I found it disconcerting at first, but soon found the immediacy of the emotions a strength. It also allows a closeness between reader and protagonists that isn’t always possible in a third person narrative and offers greater character development than usual in a relatively short novel.

The story in the novel is told piecemeal, in between religious explanations and character exploration. I wasn’t overly impressed by this as I like a straightforward story that goes from A to B and I think that is what led to my disengagement, although, having said that, I liked what the author imagined. I lost my critical thinking facility years ago so the “theology” left me cold, well, to be honest, I couldn’t be bothered to think about it, although the author makes some interesting comments about the nature of faith towards the end.

Speaking of the ending. I liked the neat twist in the final sentences, but wasn’t too sure about what went before. It could be supernatural forces at work or it could be the imaginings of a mind that has had too much to cope with. I prefer the latter solution as it better fits the final twist, but, then, I’m of the touching is believing school of suspicious old gits.

Twist of Fate is an interesting read that is worth a look.

[Donna Hines (The Secret Book Sleuth) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A scorcher if ever there was one....involving demons, monsters, egomaniacs, and those wholier than thou who swear they're the saints when sinners are running scared!
Twist of Fate is exactly as the name implies because when toxic individuals gaslight the ending is a ball full of fury.
Gosh, I could write the book on narcissism especially in reglious settings as my own ex-spouse from an eleven year marriage became a Deacon upon tossing me & our threee kids to the curb homeless and destiture w/o income while he wined and dined the next victims.
Speaking of victims is that truly what we have here?
As it turns out there's victims, killers, and an armed man in a murderous rampage scenario fit for a King going back to the ruling of time when evil could cast spells upon the damned.
Claudine and her brother Jethro were two of the unfortunate ones caught up in this type of 'cult-like' setting.
Reverend Talbot and his sidekick Peg are quite the duo as we find them dressed in white robes preaching it .
Some of the most hideous are cloaked in such attire and often have a loyal following that go to the end's of Earth...sometimes never to return.
One can only aspire to not use individuals for such private gain to gain wealth, power, and status but we often find that's precisely why they're in such positions of authority.
While hallucinogenic drugs swirl, visions haunt, and the dead rise we learn that there's innocence among us..a child...Esmerelda.
The Leader of Scripture may have just met his match with a child grinning on the other side to welcome the person Claudine had lost.
A great new thriller by an author I've not read prior so I'll be interested in seeing this progress.
Thank you to DL Mark, Aria/Aries, Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for this honest review.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

This eerie and suspenseful book pulls the reader in from the beginning and doesn't let up. When it appears that a man went on a rampage and killed people randomly, a woman is left putting the pieces back together when one of them is her brother. When she goes back to their family home which she finds drastically run down, she's embarrassed by the squalor that he'd been living in and how out of touch she'd allowed herself to become with him.

There are several events within this story that all weave together. It's figuring out how that's the tricky part. The author did a nice job of making you wonder at times if things were imagined, really there or if the characters were truly having a psychotic moment.

The setting was done well. As the reader, I was well and truly creeped out by the places that Claudine was. In addition to her character, you also follow the police sergeant who is in the process of divorcing his high profile wife. He struggles with alcoholism and is fighting the urge to turn back to the bottle through almost the entire book. Due to his own personal issues, he isn't exactly impartial when he's dealing with other people.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and it's creative storyline.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5* for my enjoyment

This is my first time reading David Mark now writing as D.L. Mark. I understand he's well liked. I just think his writing style is not for me.

The story starts out quite strong. Two people are having an adulterous tryst on the grounds of an old church but end up dead. Then the story jumps to a lady named Claudine who is a political lobbyist. Her brother, Jethro unexpectedly comes to visit her at work. He's always been a recluse and has had some sort of mental problems. While she wants to get rid of him before more people in her office realize he's there a man with a knife storms into the lobby area and stabs him to death. Then the story jumps once again to two police officers trying to finalize a divorce when they get the call that there has been a terror attack in London.

The story is very jumpy and complex. It was a little hard to follow at times. It turns quite dark and I'd consider this more of a gothic/horror type of novel. It's extremely atmospheric. It just went into a totally different direction then expected. I think this one was just not for me. Many others enjoyed it. If you like themes with the supernatural, and religious cults I think this one may be for you.

I'd like to kindly thank NetGalley and Aria & Aries for granting me access to this Advance Reader Copy.

Available March 2, 2023

[KathVBtn · Rating 4 out of 5]

well I love a mystery set around a mediaeval cult, so I was ready to get stuck into this, and Im very glad I did.

From the opening prologues of an illicit encounter in a churchyard (urgh, so seedy...) where the amorous couple are interrupted by some dark clothed beings, 'Twist of Fate' grabbed my attention and took me on a fantastic & unique crime thriller of a journey.

Sister and brother Claudine and Jethro couldnt be more different but when he turns up at her place of work asking for help, she is there. Tragically Jethro is fatally attacked in the office lobby before he can tell Claudine what has happened. Her investigations into his murder take her far and wide, both literally and metaphorically.
DS Billy Dean is tasked with investigating the killing- he's desperate to impress his boss, who is also his soon-to-be ex wife - she's about to leave him for lack of ambition, is this what he needs to prove he's still the one for her?

With supernatural elements in the story, as well as a fascinating historical & religious storyline, there's lots in the story for readers to get stuck into. Unlike anything Ive read before, and with a story that will stay with me for a while, I can highly recommend this book.

[Helyn Carey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Claudine witnesses her brother brutally murder at the hands of an armed man who has just slain a number of people in public near Londons Embankment. Her troubled brother Jethro soon becomes one of the suspects in the hunt by the police.

What begins as a traditional mystery soon becomes a dark gothic, twisty story punctuated with religious zealots and centuries of history. Truth is rewritten as hidden secrets come back to haunt the living. Although the pace was fast and I liked the unusual prose I found I didn’t actually like any of the main characters and was surprised with the almost supernatural ending. The authors use of the fens as a backdrop to the story was inspired. I almost felt like I was there chewing the thick acrid air. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the advanced copy.

[A.A. Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to be given a copy of this book when I attended Crimefest. The fact that it was free has not, however, influenced my review in any way.

With rich descriptions of people, emotions and places, this is a novel which packs quite a punch. The main character, Claudine, is already mourning a stillborn child when her brother, Jethro, dies. In many ways, Jethro was dead to her already. Having tried to kill himself as a student, he'd ended up brain-damaged and in the grip of religious mania. When she ventures to the Fenland hovel where he lived, she begins to realise that Jethro knew secrets - fatal ones.

This thriller touches on mental illness, hallucinations and phantoms. It is to the writer's credit that, despite a cracking ending, Claudine's reliability as a narrator remains scarily uncertain.

[Renko Dekker · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book will be out tomorrow - it's Twist of Fate by D. L. Mark and I received it from Aria & Aries (Head of Zeus) via Netgalley.

The line on the cover says a lot about the book: she says he's a victim. They say he's a killer. That's basically what the entire book is about - this quest for the truth.

I just couldn't get through the book. The writing did not appeal to me at all - the descriptions, the sentence structure, the vocabulary used. I couldn't get used to it and couldn't quite get into the story. The story itself was not that well worked out - lots of repetition and the fact that the focus of the investigation was somehow immediately turned to this one person is extremely unbelievable. I was so glad I finished it...and not in a positive way.

1,5/5⭐

[Ilona · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a different book for me to read. I liked the outline, story and characters.
Claudine, a very well respected PR person, gets an unexpected visit at work from her brother Jethro. Jethro has been battling some sort of personality disorder, and Claudine is listening just with a half and ear, as she has been doing for years. While she is thinking of how to get him to move along a person burst into the lobby and kills Jethro. This gets us down the path of the internal struggles that Claudine has been dealing with, the history of Jethro’s health and his obsession.
I didn’t like D.S. Billy Dean who is doing the investigation.
The story seemed very dark, and at times I got lost, but once finished I was noticing that I kept thinking back to certain scenes and comments made.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t read any of this author’s work before so I have no idea if this book is representative or not. I thought it was going to be a standalone psychological thriller, & it is ‘sort of’ - in to the mix needs to be thrown a bit of police procedural & a pinch of supernatural gothic too.

Claudine witnesses a violent knife attack in London. One of the victims is her brother Jethro who appears to have offered no resistance. He was a hermit living in the Fens & unexpectedly visited his sister the previous day. The police now think he was instrumental in the attack. Why? And what has the mysterious chapel near his home got to do with it?

Confusing & disturbing in equal measure, this was a good read but definitely a bit out of my comfort zone. I wonder what other readers will think?

[Vicki (chaptersofvicki) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book starts off with what seems to be a terrorist attack in London. But as the police delve deeper into the case this appears to be far from what was first thought.

I really liked Claudine, I felt for her trying to come to terms with the death of her brother. She was trying to hold it all together. DS Dean was really unpleasant and I didn’t like his whole attitude.

There is quite a lot of a religious element to the book. I did have to google a couple of times to have a better understanding of some of it but it didn’t take away any enjoyment of the book.

This was the first book I’ve read by this author and I look forward to reading more in the future.

Thank you to Random Things Tours and the publisher for having me on the tour and for my gifted copy of the book.

[Steve Cripwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

When an armed man massacres people in London, Claudine witnesses it. Horrified, she finds that one of the victims is her brother.

When contacted by the police she is told that the whole incident was orchestrated by her brother. If Claudine can't get to the truth of what happened then more people will die.

I enjoyed this book even though I didn't expect to. There is a lot of religious terminologies employed but underneath it is still a good detective story. It has the usual, recovering alcoholic detective who slips from time to time. He’s a great detective but as well as solving crimes he is fighting demons all the time. It’s well-written and paced with a twist at the end.

My thanks to #NetGalley for this free ARC in return for an honest review.

[Eve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had the benefit of meeting this author in real life and can confirm he's an absolute delight who, unless you knew he was a crime/thriller author, you'd never guess was capable of committing such dastardly deeds. But onto the book....

I enjoyed this very much. Crime/thriller is my bag anyway and this is a great example of a book delivering exactly what the reader expects. That's not to say that it's predictable (it isn't) or that it relies on stereotypes/tropes (it doesn't). Instead, it's a perfectly paced, twisty tale that appeals both broadly and to the hyper-vigilant reader that enjoys trying to spot all the clues and red herrings as the story progresses. Genuinely great book with lovely sub-plots and beautiful prose.

[Sidney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writing: 4/5
Character Development: 4/5
Plot: 3/5

Warnings: Language

Themes: Mystery, Horror, Thriller

Twist of Fate was different from anything I read. It was well writen and the characters were well developed but the story was not what I was expecting. It is a good book if you like a story that has a lot of moving pieces and jumps around. I can see how others could really enjoy the story and the different relationships between the characters, it just wasn’t for me. I will be interested to read other books by this author it just so happens this one didn’t click.

I received a free copy of this book and am leaving an honest review.

[Angi Plant · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very in-depth, tough read. I had to read another book alongside it, so I felt I could breathe. I started it on it’s own and it was starting to feel almost claustrophobic, in a good way, the tension was so intense and high that I needed to step away.

That said, it’s a fantastic read and I’d recommend reading it, it was just so jarring that I needed to step back from it. It’s a deep dark read and a dive into so many things that are fascinating. I really enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend it.

With thanks to Anne Cater, the publisher and the author for the advanced reading copy of this book.