Category: psychological thriller

5*, book review, crime thriller, psychological thriller

#bookreview Deadly Fate by Angela Marsons. #KimStone #DetectiveKimStone #Book18 #DeadlyFate @bookouture @WriteAngie

if only I could read faster

Ok, so yes this blog has been sleeping for a very long time, but I am coming out of retirement to tell you how amazing the latest Detective Kim Stone book is. Hard to believe that there are eighteen books and that each one is brilliant.

Deadly Fate by Angela Marsons.

My Review:

Woah!! How Angela Marsons does it I just don’t know, but we are at book 18 of the fabulous Detective Kim Stone books and the series just keeps getting better and better. This book really made me think, I love how the story weaves around and takes us on a journey, as always we have the main story but also a few smaller side stories that normally add to the main storyline. And Angela Marsons has to be the Queen of sucking readers in and tossing us about and then finishing to book and in this case, OMG, I NEED to know what is going to happen. Marsons has broken readers’ hearts before in this series, and I don’t trust her not to do it again, so book 19 better not be too far away! If you haven’t read any of the Kim Stone series then you need to change that right now, and if you are thinking that you can’t possibly commit to a series with 18 (and counting) books, then fear not, they will fly by if you do start at book one (which you should), but if you want to start with this book or any other then you can do that too, but you will be missing out. The Kim Stone books are my favourite series ever and I cannot wait to find out what happens next.

Blurb:

The woman’s bright blonde hair floats in the breeze. She almost looks like she could be resting on the soft green grass. But her brown eyes stare unblinking up at the sky, and the final cut across her mouth is dark with blood. Her words silenced forever…

Late one evening, as the final church bell rings out, Sandra Deakin’s cold and lifeless body is found in the overgrown graveyard with multiple stab wounds. When Detective Kim Stone rushes to the scene, the violence of the attack convinces her that this murder was deeply personal. What could have caused such hate?

As the team dig into Sandra’s life, they discover she believed she could communicate with the dead. Was that why she was targeted? The last people to see her alive were a group of women who had a session with her the night before she was killed, and as Kim and her team pay them a visit, they soon learn each of the women is lying about why they wanted Sandra’s help…

Kim realises she must dig deep and open her mind to every avenue if she’s going to stand a chance at solving this case. And when she learns that Sandra was banned from the church grounds and had been receiving death threats too, she’s ever more certain that Sandra’s gifts are at the heart of everything.

But just when she thinks she’s found a lead, the broken body of a nineteen-year-old boy is found outside a call centre – a single slash across his mouth just like Sandra’s. Kim knows they are now racing against time to understand what triggered these attacks, and to stop a twisted killer.

But they might be too late. Just as Kim sits down at a local psychic show she discovers something that makes her blood run cold. Both Sandra and the call centre were named in an article about frauds. And this show stars the next name on the list. She looks around the audience with a feeling of utter dread, certain the killer is among them…

Totally addictive with a final twist that will leave you shouting out loud, you’ll want to inhale Deadly Fate in one sitting. Fans of Karin Slaughter, Val McDermid and Robert Dugoni will love the new crime thriller from the number one multi-million-copy bestselling author Angela Marsons.

Deadly Fate by Angela Marsons is out on 25th May 2023 and is available from Amazon UK and all good bookshops.

4*, blog tours, book review, psychological thriller

#BlogTour #BookReview The Captive by Deborah O’Connor. @deboc77 #TheCaptive

if only I could read faster

Today I am sharing my review of The Captive by Deborah O’Conner, author of My Husband’s Son and A Dangerous Kind. Thank you to Tracy from Compulsive Readers for having me on this tour. I received a copy of The Captive from the publisher but I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

My Review:

I am a fan of Deborah O’Connor so I was excited to read her third book and did so without reading the blurb.

The storyline is original and gripping, I finished the first chapter and knew that I had to find out what was going to happen and how it would all pan out. Knowing O’Connor’s writing I knew that I was starting what would be an emotional journey with ups and downs and, of course, plenty of twists.

While I didn’t particularly take to the main character, Hannah, that didn’t matter but I did enjoy reading the relationship with Jem and how it developed through the story.

I really don’t want to give too much away about what happens as I think that would ruin the reader’s experience, but if you enjoy psychological thrillers that keep you hooked and desperately wanting more then this is a book for you. I can’t wait for the authors forth book now!

Blurb:

The cage is installed in Hannah’s kitchen. Small, the size of a shopping centre parking space. A bed, a basin, a table and chair. A hatch and metal drawer through which to exchange food and other items.

Then there’s him. Always there on the edges of her vision, no matter how hard she tries to block him out. 

Every day, the same thoughts run through Hannah’s mind:

What if he speaks to me?

What if he hurts me?

What if he gets out?

In a near-future justice system Jem, the murderer of Hannah’s husband, arrives at her home to serve out his twenty-year sentence in a cell. There it’s hoped he will learn the true cost of his terrible crime. 

But Jem tells Hannah he’s innocent, and not only that, her husband had been lying to her. Soon Hannah begins to question everything she thought she knew. Was Jem wrongly convicted? Or is he simply a desperate man, willing to say and do anything that might grant his freedom? 

Only he can unlock the truth. Only she can set him free.

About The Author;

Deborah O’Connor

Deborah O’Connor is a writer and TV producer responsible for well-loved programmes such as ‘Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds’ and ‘A League of Their Own’.  She lives in North Yorkshire with her husband and daughter. Deborah’s first novel was the bestseller My Husband’s Son, followed by The Dangerous Kind. The Captive is her third novel. You can follow her on Twitter @deboc77 

The Captive by Deborah O’Connor is out now and is available from Amazon UK

5*, blog tours, book review, crime thriller, psychological thriller

#BookReview #BlogTour Deadly Cry by Angela Marsons. #DeadlyCry #DIKimStone @bookouture @WriteAngie

if only I could read faster

I cannot believe that Deadly Cry by Angela Marsons is the thirteenth book in this fabulous series. I’m delighted to be part of the blog tour for this fabulous book and thank you to Bookouture for a copy of Deadly Cry so that I could review it for the blog tour.

My Review:

Over the years there have been many series that I have enjoyed reading, Patricia Cornwell and Karen Rose spring to mind, they were books that I looked forward to and I loved reading as the characters grew and I could follow them on their journey. But over time the books became less exciting and a bit repetitive and I found myself not rushing to read the new books on release day and eventually not reading the books at all.

It is hard for an author to keep things fresh over a prolonged series, readers get bored and characters stop being interesting. But Angela Marsons’ has bucked that trend, I have loved every book in the Detective Kim Stone series and if anything they get better as the series goes on. Each book can be read as a standalone but if you do that you really will be missing out, not only on the characters back story, but also on some really rather great reads.

I loved Deadly Cry, the storyline is original and kept me guessing all the way through and even when I thought that I had worked out who the baddie was I still hadn’t worked most of it out. This is a thrilling read with a decent death count.

The characters are still brilliant, I love reading about Kim Stone and her team and I am looking forward to the next thirteen books in the series because Angela Marsons has managed to do something really rather amazing, she has created characters that readers love and want to read more of, and she comes up with some cracking storylines.

Blurb:

You have to stop me from hurting anyone else. I don’t want to do these horrible things. Help me before I’m forced to do it again. And I will do it again because I have no choice. I’ve never had a choice.

In a busy shopping centre, a little girl clutches a teddy bear, clinging to it in the absence of her mother, Katrina. Hours later, Katrina’s body is discovered in an abandoned building. For Detective Kim Stone, it looks like a quick, functional kill. But Kim’s instincts tell her there’s more to this senseless murder than meets the eye. What was the motive for killing a young mother out shopping with her child?

Days later, a second victim is found in a local park, her neck broken just like Katrina’s and her six-year-old son missing.

With her colleague, Detective Stacey Wood, working on another unsolved crime and a member of the team grieving the loss of a close relative, Kim is struggling to make inroads on what is fast becoming a complex case. And when a handwritten letter from the killer lands on Kim’s desk addressed to her, and pleading for help, she knows time is running out to bring the little boy home alive.

With the support of a handwriting analyst and profiler, Kim and the team begin to get inside the mind of the killer and make a shocking discovery.

Some of the victims have scratch marks on their wrists.

But these are no random scratches. The killer is using them to communicate with someone. The question is… with whom?

And if Kim doesn’t find them soon, another innocent soul will die.

The multi-million-copy bestselling Detective Kim Stone series is every bit as addictive, original and exciting as readers say and you’ll be hooked from the very first page. Nobody does it better than the Queen of Crime, Angela Marsons.

About The Author:

Angela Marsons

Angela Marsons is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of the DI Kim Stone series and her books have sold more than 3 million in 3 years.

She lives in the Black Country with her partner, their cheeky Golden Retriever and a swearing parrot.

She first discovered her love of writing at Junior School when actual lessons came second to watching other people and quietly making up her own stories about them. Her report card invariably read “Angela would do well if she minded her own business as well as she minds other people’s”.

After years of writing relationship based stories (The Forgotten Woman and Dear Mother) Angela turned to Crime, fictionally speaking of course, and developed a character that refused to go away.

She is signed to Bookouture.com for a total of 16 books in the Kim Stone series and her books have been translated into more than 27 languages.

Many of her books, including Blood Lines, Dead Souls, Broken Bones, Fatal Promise and Dead Memories reached the #1 spot on Amazon on pre-orders alone. 
http://angelamarsons-books.com/
https://www.facebook.com/AngelaMarsonsAuthor/  https://twitter.com/WriteAngie

Deadly Cry by Angela Marsons is out today and is available from

Amazon: https://buff.ly/3itLYDy

Apple: https://buff.ly/2XQtdlU

Kobo: https://buff.ly/3it5LTq

Google: https://buff.ly/3gRoEPC


Audible: UK: zpr.io/Hr5M8
Audible US: zpr.io/Hr5MD

To listen to a sample: SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/bookouture/deadly-cry-by-angela-marsons-narrated-by-jan-cramer

Deadly Cry by Angela Marsons.

5*, blog tours, book review, psychological thriller

#BlogTour #BookReview Flowers for the Dead by Barbara Copperthwaite. @bookouture #BooksOnTour @bcopperthwait

if only I could read faster

Today it is my stop on the blog tour for the fabulous Flowers For The Dead by Barbara Copperthwaite and published by Bookouture (who kindly provided me a copy of the book to review). It has been a while since I took part in a blog tour and I have to admit that I have lost my reading mojo, something that really upsets me. Thankfully this book was so good that I thoroughly enjoyed it, I really hope that it helps to kick start my reading mojo!

My Review:

I am a bit fan of Barbara Copperthwaite so I was delighted to hear that there there was a new book of hers that I had yet to read.

This book is really creepy and it really made me think about the people around me and who might be watching me. Friends of mine often tell me that I notice everything and I would really like to think that I would notice someone was following me.

The thought of someone watching me sleep is horrible, but I think that I would know if someone was in my home when I was out (little side story is that I once had a landlord who liked to come when I was out and let herself in to have a look around, every time she came I knew as soon as I opened the door and would check with my curtain twitching neighbours who would confirm that she had been.) Anyway, I digress.

Laura is a character that I couldn’t help but care about, her tragic back story and struggle to get herself together was heartbreaking and when bad boy Adam targeted her I was wishing he had found someone else.

But the story then took twists and turns that I hadn’t been expecting and I loved every one of them. Once again the author has written a fabulous tale with brilliant characters who feel so very real and who the reader can’t help but care about.

I’m not going to give anything away, but I really enjoyed this book and recommend all books by the author.

Blurb:

He sees her. The one. The sunglasses don’t fool anyone, she is clearly upset, her nose and lips swollen from crying. They are two lost souls and he knows his love can help her. After all, she is not the first girl he has followed home…

Adam is the perfect boyfriend. He pays attention, he buys flowers. He knows everything about Laura and looks after her every need. He cooks, he cleans – he even does the dishes without being asked.

But Laura has never met Adam. Still grieving after a devastating car crash that killed her family, she’s forgetful and struggling to pull her life together. She’d be horrified to know the depth of this unsettling fantasy in which she is the star. But there’s no denying the chill she feels every time she finds another elaborate bouquet on her doorstep, or wakes in the night sensing she is not alone.

Adam has been watching her every move, and now it’s time to act. Except, there’s one little detail he’s missed: Laura has been watching him too.

After everything she’s been through, Laura’s ready to fight back and stop being the victim in her own life story. But in Adam’s world, there are no happy endings…

An unputdownable thriller guaranteed to have you sleeping with the light on and questioning everything you think you know about serial-killer thrillers! Perfect for fans of You by Caroline Kepnes, My Lovely Wife by Samantha Dowling and The One by John Marrs.

About the Author:

Barbara Copperthwaite

Barbara is the Amazon and USA Today bestselling author of psychological thrillers INVISIBLE, FLOWERS FOR THE DEAD, THE DARKEST LIES, and HER LAST SECRET.

More importantly, she loves cakes, wildlife photography and, last but definitely not least, her two dogs, Scamp and Buddy (who force her to throw tennis balls for them for hours).

Having spent over twenty years as a national newspaper and magazine journalist, Barbara has interviewed the real victims of crime – and also those who have carried those crimes out. She is fascinated by creating realistic, complex characters, and taking them apart before the readers’ eyes in order to discover just how much it takes to push a person over a line.

When not writing feverishly, she is often found hiding behind a camera, taking wildlife photographs. 

Author Social Media Links:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorBarbaraCopperthwaite

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BCopperthwait

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

Website: www.barbaracopperthwaite.com

Where to Buy:

Amazon:  https://geni.us/B08D6R29XMSocial

Apple:  http://ow.ly/WFoZ50AIIhB

Kobo: http://ow.ly/BntR50AIIfd

Google: http://ow.ly/Qdye50AIIjD

Flowers For The Dead by Barbara Copperthwaite
4*, blog tours, book review, psychological thriller

#BlogTour #BookReview Strangers by C.L. Taylor. @callytaylor @AvonBooksUK #DontTalkToStrangers

if only I could read faster

Today it is my stop on the mammoth blog tour for Strangers by C.L. Taylor. This blog tour really is huge and that should tell you a lot, it means that bloggers love the authors books and want to be involved in shouting about this book. Thank you to Avon Books for having me on the tour. I received a copy of the book via Netgalley, I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

My Review:

I really wasn’t sure what this book was going to be about as I often read a book because of the author, I don’t read the blurb as I like going into it without expectations of what the story might be.

This normally works well and it certainly did with this book as I thoroughly enjoyed it from the start and loved seeing how the different characters came together. The story was full of twists and surprises and it was great trying to work out what was really going on and who was not who they said they were.

As always the author gives us varied characters who feel real, they have troubles and flaws and generally they act in very believable ways. I really don’t want to give the story away to you as I genuinely think that it would be better for the reader to know as little as possible about the story.

You can be sure that you will get a thrilling read that will keep you guessing when you read a book by C.L. Taylor and this book did not disappoint.

Blurb:

The Sunday Times bestseller and Richard & Judy Book Club author of Sleep returns with her most gripping book yet.

‘Fast-paced and satisfying’ DAILY MAIL
‘I was glued from start to finish!’ SHARI LAPENA

Ursula, Gareth and Alice have never met before.

Ursula thinks she killed the love of her life.
Gareth’s been receiving strange postcards.
And Alice is being stalked.

None of them are used to relying on others – but when the three strangers’ lives unexpectedly collide, there’s only one thing for it: they have to stick together. Otherwise, one of them will die.
 
Three strangers, two secrets, one terrifying evening.
 
The million-copy bestseller returns with a gripping new novel that will keep you guessing until the end.



Strangers by C.L. Taylor is out now and is available from Amazon UK.

5*, book review, psychological thriller

#BookReview The Family by Louise Jensen. @Fab_fiction @hqstories #TheFamily #psychologicalthriller #book

if only I could read faster
The Family by Louise Jensen.

I do love Louise Jensen, her books are always great to read with lots of twists and turns. I’ve reviewed some of her books, The Date, The Gift and The Surrogate, and I’ve enjoyed them all. The Family is her first book published with HQ Stories (previously Bookouture published her books) and I received a copy of the book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

My Review:

I’ve enjoyed Louise Jensen’s previous books so I was looking forward to reading The Family. This is her first book published by her new publisher, HQ, and I have to admit that I was a bit worried that the change in editor would make this book different from her other books. Thankfully I needn’t have worried.

Jensen is great at weaving stories that revolve around families, normal families that find themselves in situations that nobody would want to be in. I love how she gives the characters this sense of normalcy, it really could be you or me that she is writing about.

We know that Laura’s husband died suddenly, leaving her and her daughter Tilly unable to pay their rent and waiting desperately for the life insurance to payout. But will the money come in time?

Obviously it doesn’t but Laura is grateful when someone steps in and offers them a safe home for as long as they need. The home is a farm that has been turned into a commune, where the members grow their own food, wear white and do as their leader tells them.

But things start to go wrong, Laura begins to feel uneasy about the way things work on the farm but she doesn’t know what to do as Tilly is loving her new life on the farm. and does not want to leave with her mother. Should Laura leave without her daughter?

I really enjoyed this twisty tale, I was never quite sure who to trust and who it was that was behind the bad things that kept happening. The thrilling ending left me shocked and for days after I finished the book I was thinking about the characters and what might have happened to them after the book ended.

This book really shows why Louise Jensen has sold millions of books, if you haven’t read one of them then you are missing out and need to change that immediately!

Blurb:

The latest psychological thriller from master story-teller, Louise Jensen, will leave you breathless.

COULD ONE MOTHER’S MISTAKE COST HER DAUGHTER EVERYTHING?

Laura is devastated when her husband dies, leaving her and their almost grown-up daughter, Tilly, alone. When the insurance company refuses to pay out, Laura is in danger of losing the house and has no choice but to seek help from elsewhere.

Oak Leaf Farm, a community that lives just outside of town, seems to be everything that Laura and Tilly need, so when this self-made family offer Laura the lifeline she’s been looking for she gratefully accepts.

But all is not right on the farm and when both Laura and Tilly are drawn to the community’s handsome and charismatic leader, mother and daughter find themselves on opposite sides of the battle line.

About The Author:

Louise Jensen has sold over a million English language copies of her International No. 1 psychological thrillers The Sister, The Gift, The Surrogate and The Date. Her novels have also been translated into twenty-five languages, as well as featuring on the USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestseller’s List. Louise’s fifth thriller, The Family, will be published in Autumn 2019 by Harper Collins.

The Sister was nominated for the Goodreads Debut Author of 2016 Award. The Date was nominated for The Guardian’s ‘Not The Booker’ Prize 2018. The Surrogate has been nominated for the best Polish thriller of 2018. The Gift has been optioned for a TV film.

Louise lives with her husband, children, madcap dog and a rather naughty cat in Northamptonshire. She loves to hear from readers and writers.

The Family by Louise Jensen is out on 25th September 2019 and is available from Amazon UK.

5*, blog tours, book review, psychological thriller

#BlogTour #BookReview Rage by Netta Newbound. @nettanewbound @Juntionpublish @BOTBSPublicity #Rage #5*read

if only I could read faster

I’m delighted to be kicking off the blog tour for Rage by Netta Newbound. I’ve long been a fan of Netta Newbound’s books and her ability to suck the reader in and make her stories feel so real. So I was excited to read her latest book.

Thanks to Sarah Hardy for asking me to be part of the blog tour and to Netta Newbound and Junction Publishers for a copy of Rage. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

My Review:

Before I start reading a Netta Newbound book I take a deep breath and ready myself for what is to come. Normally that involves getting to know characters who feel so real, that you get to know and care about and who get put through horrible things. The death count in Newbound’s books are normally also high.

Rage starts with doctors telling a woman that a man needs to be kept highly sedated for the rest of his life as he is such a risk to women. We learn that this man, Charles, is a very famous ex-footballer whose condition needs to be kept secret.

Lizzie is hired to nurse Charles, she has strict instructions to keep him sedated at all times and believing that he is in so much pain due to a brain tumour, she agrees. But it doesn’t quite sit right with her and so when she’s left alone with Charles she starts to wonder whether it is really fair to keep him so medicated.

Poor Lizzie really has a lot going on in this book, there are bodies turning up, creepy neighbours, a lovely neighbour and a patient who is very dangerous. I often kept reading, desperate to see what was going to happen next. would Lizzie meet a grizzly end because of the neighbour? The patient? Or someone else?

Although there was a lot going on it was easy to keep track of it all and the story definitely kept me hooked. It was different to other books by the author that I have read, but I really enjoyed reading it and was disappointed when I had finished it. All in all the sign of a great book!

Blurb:

Nurse, Lizzi Yates, is assigned to provide end-of-life care to Charlie Maidley, one of Britain’s footballing legends, on the condition she keeps his identity a secret. 

Unbeknownst to Lizzi, Charlie’s doctors have agreed to allow his sister, Miriam, to take him home to die on the strict understanding he remains in an induced coma, due to his history of assaulting women—a side effect of his brain tumour. 

Miriam goes away on business, leaving Lizzi in charge, but a mishap with Charlie’s medication has Lizzi questioning why he is spending his final days comatose. Deciding he is being sedated without just cause, she makes the call to wake him up. However, a string of events and the discovery of a girl’s body at the bottom of the garden lead her to wonder if she’s made the right decision. 

Who is the killer? 

Could Lizzi be his next victim? 

Don’t miss RAGE by bestselling author Netta Newbound – A gripping psychological thriller that will keep you turning pages long into the night.

About The Author:

Netta Newbound, originally from Manchester, England, now lives in New Zealand with her husband Paul and their boxer dog Alfie. She has three grown-up children and three delicious grandchildren.

As a child, Netta was plagued by a wild imagination, often getting in trouble for making up weird and wonderful stories. Yet she didnt turn her attention to writing until after her children had grown and left home.

Most of her inspiration comes from the horror greatsStephen King, Dean Koontz and Richard Layman.

Although she mostly writes psychological thriller novels, all of which consistently rank highly in the best seller categories, she has also written several non-fiction books with a close friend and fellow author under the names of Sandra Rose & Jeanette Simone.

Rage by Netta Newbound is out today and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

4*, blog tours, book review, psychological thriller

#BlogTour #BookReview Stop At Nothing by Tammy Cohen. @MsTamarCohen #StopAtNothing @PenguinUKBooks @annecater #PsychThriller

if only I could read faster

As a big Tammy Cohen fan I was delighted to be asked to be part of the blog tour and jumped at the chance to read her new book, Stop At Nothing.

Thank you to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for asking me to be part of the blog tour. I received a copy of the book from the publishers, I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

My Review:

Tammy Cohen is an author I love, but not all of her books have been great. Tammy has written under other names, including Tamar Cohen and Rachel Rhys so it is quite possible you have read a book by the author without realising it.

I was excited to read Stop At Nothing, not only did the blurb sound good but I have read some crackingly good psychological thrillers from the author before.

As parents we want to protect our children, so I could totally empathise with Tess who struggled when her daughter was attacked on her way home late one night. A horrible situation and as Tess was already fragile thanks to her recent marriage breakdown and redundancy.

There was a lot to like about Stop At Nothing but I really disliked Tess, sure she had been through a tough time but she was full of self pity and self obsession that at times I wanted to shout at her. Not to mention how blinkered and obsessive she was.

I also thought that had it all figured out quite early on and wanted the book to hurry up and tell me whether I was right or not.

But, having said that, I enjoyed reading Stop At Nothing, it was well written, well researched and was an interesting story that was even more interesting after I read the acknowledgments at the end.

One more thing I will say about Tess is that she has very good taste in dog names, her dog is called Dotty which is the same as my dog. It was a bit strange reading about her Dotty, especially at certain points but you’ll get that when you read the book.

If you like psychological thrillers then Stop At Nothing by Tammy Cohen is a good book for you. I do think the author has written better books but don’t let that put you off.

Blurb:

A mother’s job is to keep her children safe.

Tess has always tried to be a good mother. Of course, there are things she wishes she’d done differently, but doesn’t everyone feel that way?

Then Emma, her youngest, is attacked on her way home from a party, plunging them into a living nightmare which only gets worse when the man responsible is set free

But what if she fails?

So when Tess sees the attacker in the street near their home, she is forced to take matters into her own hands. But blinded by her need to protect her daughter at any cost, might she end up putting her family in even greater danger?

There’s nothing she wouldn’t do to make it right . . .

About The Author:

Tammy Cohen (who previously wrote under her formal name Tamar Cohen) has a growing backlist of acclaimed novels of domestic noir including:The Mistress’s Revenge, The War of the Wives, and Someone Else’s Wedding. 

Her break-out psychological suspense thriller was The Broken, followed by Dying for Christmas, First One Missing and When She Was Bad. 

She lives in North London with her partner and three (nearly) grown children, plus one badly behaved dog. 

Chat with her on Twitter @MsTamarCohen

Stop At Nothing by Tammy Cohen is out on 18th July 2019 and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

4*, blog tours, book review, psychological thriller

#BlogTour #BookReview Sleep by C.L. Taylor. @callytaylor #Sleep @AvonBooksUK

if only I could read faster

Today it is my stop on the mammoth blog tour for Sleep by C.L. Taylor. The size of the blog tour is a good indication of how good the authors books are as so many book bloggers want to take part in it.

I received a copy of Sleep by C.L. Taylor from the publisher, Avon. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

My Review:

I have to admit that I would love to escape to a remote Scottish Island, well I think that I would but of course the reality of the escape could be very different to what I imagine it would be like. But I could totally understand why Anna decided to head to the Island of Rum when she becomes convinced that someone is stalking.

She finds a job as receptionist/general dogs body, in the only hotel on Rum, working alongside owner David who she gets on with from the start.

A group of guests arrive, each of them seeking their own escape from various things, and looking forward to hiking and exploring the island. But they all find out how remote they really are when a huge storm descends on Rum and the hotel becomes totally cut off from the outside world.

I love this premise, in many ways it could be a wonderful experience, but given that this is a book by C.L. Taylor we know that all is not going to end well for the residents of the hotel.

When Anna becomes convinced that her stalker is one of the guests in the hotel her paranoia grows and she, along with the readers, begin to question everyone. Are one of them really out to kill Anna?

I loved reading Sleep, it kept me guessing and wondering and thinking. Each of the guests had an interesting back story that added to the book and I could see why Anna was questioning who each of them really were.

I did however, feel that Anna was never really going to die and that meant that the tension wasn’t as strong as it could have been.

I didn’t guess the ending, I kind of had a fleeting guess at one point but dismissed it. It was a clever ending but I would have liked to have know a bit more about what happened after.

Overall, Sleep by C.L. Taylor is a great book. It’s fun to read and keeps you guessing and wondering and not sure who to trust which are all ingredients to make a great read. I am sure that this book would be enjoyed by many fans of psychological thrillers.

Blurb:

All Anna wants is to be able to sleep. But crushing insomnia, terrifying night terrors and memories of that terrible night are making it impossible. If only she didn’t feel so guilty…

To escape her past, Anna takes a job at a hotel on the remote Scottish island of Rum, but when seven guests join her, what started as a retreat from the world turns into a deadly nightmare.

Each of the guests have a secret but one of them is lying – about who they are and why they’re on the island. There’s a murderer staying in the Bay View hotel. And they’ve set their sights on Anna.

Seven strangers. Seven secrets. One deadly lie.

Someone’s going to sleep and never wake up…

About the Author:

C.L. Taylor lives in Bristol with her partner and young son. She is a four times Sunday Times bestseller and her books have hit the number one spots on Amazon, Kobo, iBooks and Google Play. Cally has a degree in Psychology, with particular interest in abnormal and criminal Psychology. She also loves knitting, Dr Who, Sherlock, Great British Bake Off and Margaret Atwood and blames Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected for her love of a dark tale.

Her dark psychological thriller THE ACCIDENT was published in the UK by Avon HarperCollins in April 2014 and as BEFORE I WAKE in the US in June 2014 by Sourcebooks.

Her second psychological thriller THE LIE was published in the UK in April 2015. It became a Sunday Times bestseller and hit the #1 slots on Amazon, Kobo, iBooks, Google Play and Sainsbury ebooks. THE LIE was published in the U.S. by Sourcebooks.

CL’s third psychological thriller THE MISSING was published in April 2016 and was another Sunday Times and ebook bestseller. THE MISSING was published in the U.S. by William Morrow in 2017.

THE ESCAPE, her fourth psychological thriller, went to number 2 in the Sunday Times paperback chart in 2017 and won the Dead Good Books Most Unreliable Narrator award.

Her fifth psychological thriller THE FEAR was published on 22nd March 2018 in the UK and was another Sunday Times bestseller. It was longlisted in the National Book Awards crime/thriller category, shortlisted in the Dead Good Book Awards for ‘Most Recommended Read’ and in the ‘Page turner’ category in the Hearst Big Book Awards. 

Her sixth psychological SLEEP will be published in ebook and hardback in the UK on 21st March 2019 and in paperback on 5th September 2019. 

THE TREATMENT, her Young Adult thriller, was the fastest selling UK YA debut of 2017. Cally is currently writing her second YA thriller which will be published in the UK in June 2020.

Her international bestselling romantic comedies (written as Cally Taylor), HEAVEN CAN WAIT and HOME FOR CHRISTMAS were both published by Orion in the UK. They have been translated into 14 different languages, and her debut was voted ‘Debut Novel of the Year’ by chicklitreviews.com and chicklitclub.com. 

In 2014 HOME FOR CHRISTMAS was made into a feature film by JumpStart Productions. 

To download a FREE copy of THE LODGER join the CL Taylor Book Club:

http://www.callytaylor.co.uk/cltaylor

www.twitter.com/callytaylor
www.instagram.com/CLTaylorAuthor
www.facebook.com/CallyTaylorAuthor

Sleep by C.L. Taylor is out now and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.


5*, blog tours, book review, psychological thriller

#BlogTour #BookReview A Fool’s Circle by Suzanne Seddon. @suzseddon @WallacePublish #AFoolsCircle

if only I could read faster

I’m delighted to be part of the blog tour for A Fool’s Circle by Suzanne Seddon. I received a copy of A Fool’s Circle from the publisher, I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

My Review:

I found A Fool’s Circle to be an easy read that quickly grabbed my attention and made me want to keep reading.

Kate is suffering thanks to her husband Alan who treats her awfully, there are a number of scenes where this abuse is described which some readers may find difficult.

Kate is in a difficult situation as she doesn’t know how to leave Alan and protect her eight year old daughter Sophie. Until she finds out that she has had a rather large inheritance and suddenly a whole new world opens up to her.

It was pretty clear from the start that Kate put her trust in people who didn’t deserve it and who definitely didn’t have her interest at heart. It was frustrating at times that Kate couldn’t see what was so very obvious.

Some of A Fool’s Circle didn’t really seem realistic, it was a little too far fetched at times and the police really were slow, but I really enjoyed reading it and I wanted to know what was going to happen. It is also good that the book might make people think about domestic violence and the impact of that on all the family.

A Fool’s Circle is an easy read that only took me a few days to read (that’s fast for me!) and I’m sure that fans of psychological thrillers will enjoy this book that keeps you guessing and wondering if everyone is who they say they are.

Blurb:

Kate Sanders has suffered many years of physical and mental abuse at the hands of her abusive husband Alan, and convinces herself that she is only holding the family together for the sake of her eight-year-old daughter. If it wasn’t for her best friend Jill Reynolds, she would have taken the suicide option a long time ago.

As she desperately seeks a way to escape, she is contacted by a solicitor. Kate’s old aunt has died and she has been left a small fortune.

For the first time, she sees the light at the end of the tunnel. She dreams of a fresh start, a new home, a new life. What Kate doesn’t know is that Jill and Alan have their own secrets, and are both desperate to get their hands on her money.

Kate soon finds herself falling for the charms of Jonathon Jacobs in what she believes to be fate finally intervening and offering her a second chance, unaware that each move he makes has been directed, orchestrated and well-rehearsed as he begs her to leave her husband Alan.

But is it all too late, as she finds herself in the frame for murder.A

About The Author:


Suzanne Seddon was born in 1968 in Islington, London. After leaving school she had many interesting jobs, from swimming teacher to air hostess, and was able to travel the globe. Now a single mum to her teenage daughter Poppy-willow, Suzanne spends her days writing and has written several articles for magazines and newspapers.

Growing up, Suzanne witnessed mental and physical abuse within her own family which strongly influenced her when she wrote her first play, A Fool’s Circle, when she attended the famous Anna Scher Theatre. Suzanne, however, was not content to leave it there and decided to go ahead and transform her play into a novel.

Not one to shy away from exciting challenges, she also wrote, acted, directed, cast and produced a trailer for the book around her hometown in Islington with the support of local businesses, who recognised the drive and importance of Suzanne and her work.

Suzanne is a passionate writer and she is determined to be heard so that the issue of domestic abuse is raised amongst the public’s consciousness, empowering others to speak out. She wants those who suffer at the hands of another to have their voices heard, loud and clear.

Twitter @suzseddon

A Fool’s Circle by Suzanne Seddon is out now and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.