Tag: gripping

5*, book review

#BookReview Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton. @Rosamundlupton #ThreeHoursNovel @VikingBooksUK

if only I could read faster
Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton.

I have to confess that I really wanted to read Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton and not like it, which is not how I normally feel when starting a book. The reason is that the first book that I wrote (but as yet haven’t done much with) was about a school shooting in the UK and I was not impressed that there was another book about a school shooting by a successful author. I found that this book is totally different to mine, but also that it is an absolutely amazing book.

I received a copy of the book from the publishers via Netgalley, I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

My Review:

I read Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton in, well I’d like to say three hours but that would be impossible for me, but definitely, three days which is fast for me. From the very first page, this book sucked me in and took me on a rollercoaster of a ride which lasted until the very last page.

I was totally hooked and desperately wanted to get to the end but at the same time, I really didn’t want the book to be over. I loved the diverse characters, how the situation brought out the good in many and how the school itself and the weather became characters of their own.

Three Hours is a book that I thought about a lot since finishing it, it has stayed with me and I have actually considered reading it again which I never, ever do as there are just too many books that I want to read to spend time reading one twice, but I think that I will be reading it again soon.

This book really was amazing, It may just be February but I am confident that this book will be in my top 2020 books.

Blurb:

Three hours is 180 minutes or 10,800 seconds.

It is a morning’s lessons, a dress rehearsal of Macbeth, a snowy trek through the woods.

It is an eternity waiting for news. Or a countdown to something terrible.

It is 180 minutes to discover who you will die for and what men will kill for.

In rural Somerset in the middle of a blizzard, the unthinkable happens: a school is under siege. Told from the point of view of the people at the heart of it, from the wounded headmaster in the library, unable to help his trapped pupils and staff, to teenage Hannah in love for the first time, to the parents gathering desperate for news, to the 16 year old Syrian refugee trying to rescue his little brother, to the police psychologist who must identify the gunmen, to the students taking refuge in the school theatre, all experience the most intense hours of their lives, where evil and terror are met by courage, love and redemption.

About The Author:

Rosamund Lupton’s new book, ‘Three Hours’ is published on 9th January 2020.

Her debut novel, ‘Sister’ was a BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime, a Sunday Times and New York Times best seller and the fastest selling debut in WHSmiths’history. Her next two books ‘Afterwards’ and ‘The Quality of Silence’ were also Sunday Times best sellers. Her novels have been translated into over thirty languages.

Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton is out now and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

5*, blog tours, book review

#BlogTour #BookReview In Safe Hands by J.P. Carter @JaimeCarter1 @AvonBooksUK

if only I could read faster

Today it is my stop on the blog tour for In Safe Hands by J.P. Carter. I was attracted to this book when I read the blurb and it certainly didn’t disappoint!

My Review:

I started In Safe Hands by J.P. Carter a little unsure about what I was going to get. I hadn’t read anything by the author before and I had long forgotten the blurb that I had read a few months previous.

So I was totally unprepared for the ride that was to come. I was immediately sucked into the story, I suspect that few could resist finding themselves drawn into a story that involves nine young children being kidnapped from their nursery.

DCI Anna Tate is put in charge of the investigation and we quickly learn something about Anna’s past that makes her the best person for the job, but could also mean that the impact of it on her could tip her over the edge.

I loved pretty much everything about this book, I just wanted to keep reading it, desperate to find out whether the children would return home safely and who exactly was behind this awful crime.

I changed my mind quite regularly when trying to work out who was behind it, and I love a book that keeps me on my toes. It was very cleverly done and kept the pace fast, I quickly found myself racing towards the end, desperate to find out what was going to happen but also not wanting the book to end.

There are many, many books out there with a female detective these days, but this book proves that there is still room for more. I really liked Anna Tate and I’m delighted that this is book one in the series and so there will be more. I can’t wait to see what book two will bring!

Thank you to Avon Books for a copy of In Safe Hands by J.P. Carter. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

Blurb:

How far would you go to save the ones you love? 

The first book in a gripping new crime series featuring DCI Anna Tate.

When nine children are snatched from a nursery school in South London, their distressed parents have no idea if they will ever see them again. The community in the surrounding area in shock. How could this happen right under their noses? No one in the quiet suburban street saw anything – or at least that’s what they’re saying.

But DCI Anna Tate knows that nothing is impossible, and she also knows that time is quickly running out. It’s unclear if the kidnappers are desperate for money or set on revenge, but the ransom is going up by £1million daily. And they know that one little boy in particular is fighting for his life.

It’s one of the most disturbing cases DCI Anna Tate has ever worked on – not only because nine children are being held hostage, but because she’s pretty sure that someone close to them is lying…

About the Author:

J P Carter is the pseudonym of a bestselling author who has also written sixteen books under the names Jaime and James Raven. Before becoming a full time writer he spent a career in journalism as a newspaper reporter and television producer. He was for a number of years director of a major UK news division and until recently co-owned a TV production company.  For a while he was also a part-time professional magician. He’s married and divides his time now between homes in Hampshire and Spain.

In Safe Hands by J.P. Carter is out now and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

4*, blog tours, book review

Review: Each Little Lie by @T0mBale @Bookouture #blogtour

if only I could read faster

Each little Lie Blog Tour

My Review:

Regular readers of my blog will know that I like Tom Bale’s books. He has an incredible skill at sucking the reader into the story, making it difficult to put his books down. His book, See How They Run, probably has the best first chapter of any book that I have read, with All Fall Down not far behind. Each Little Lie is a little bit different, although the reader’s interest is piqued, it didn’t have me holding my breath and desperate to read on. But if I didn’t compare it to the previous books then it is still a cracking first chapter.

When Jen decides to do a good dead for her neighbour after she finds his house keys dropped outside his home, she makes a decision that considering she is a character in a Tom Bale book is clearly going to be a mistake. It feels a bit like one of those horror movies where you want to shout ‘don’t run up the stairs’, but Jen doesn’t listen to the reader, and so the scene is set, and Jen’s life will never be the same again.

The story kept me guessing, not only about what was going to happen to poor Jen next but also who was behind making her life so awful and why. She did continue to make some questionable choices and I didn’t find her particularly likeable, but she went through hell and kept fighting, and so I was able to forgive her rather stupid mistake at the beginning of the book.

The characters in the book were great, many weren’t likeable, some were downright creepy and we were never quite sure who to trust. Poor Jen seemed to have particularly bad luck when it comes to attracting dodgy characters, but Bale made a smart decision when he makes her a single parent, and when her son Charlie is at risk, Jen will stop at nothing to fight and protect.

All in all, Each Little Lie is another tension-filled, action-packed book by Tom Bale, he really does have a great skill and I will be reading his books for a long time to come.

Blurb:

Each-Little-Lie-Kindle
UK 🇬🇧 http://amzn.to/2qUMvVj 
US 🇺🇸 http://amzn.to/2qU9ORi

One split second can destroy your life forever.

Single mother Jen Cornish is just trying to hold things together for the sake of her seven-year-old son Charlie. Until the day when she does an impulsive good deed to help a neighbour, setting off a terrifying chain of events that quickly spirals out of control…

When she is arrested for a crime she didn’t commit, Jen quickly starts to wonder if someone is playing a cruel game with her – or is she losing her mind?

Desperate to clear her name with the police, she must first untangle a chilling web of lies. But someone is watching her every move – and it isn’t just Jen who is in danger.

They’re watching her child as well.

An unputdownable psychological thriller with plenty of twists that will keep you hooked until the very last page…

About the Author:

Tom Bale
Tom Bale has had a variety of jobs including retail assistant, claims negotiator and project manager, but none was as exhausting as the several years he spent as a househusband with two pre-school children. Tom has been writing since the age of seven, and completed his first novel at fifteen. After twenty years and hundreds of rejection slips, his first novel SINS OF THE FATHER was published under his real name, David Harrison. With his next book, SKIN AND BONES, he acquired an agent, a pseudonym and a book deal that enabled him to write full-time. His latest novel is the thriller SEE HOW THEY RUN, published by Bookouture in May 2016.
5*, book review

The Marsh King’s Daughter (AKA Home) by Karen Dionne @KarenDionne @LittleBrownUK #MarshKing

if only I could read faster

 

themarshkingsdaughter
The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne.

 

I’m editing this review to say that the book has had a name change, it is now called Home in the UK. It’s also being made into a movie which is really very exciting!

My Review:

I’d heard quite a lot about The Marsh King’s Daughter before reading it, all of it good. There’s always a risk when that happens that the book will let you down, so with slight trepidation, and without knowing anything about the story, I started to read.

And boy, what a read it was! I thought that the Marsh King’s Daughter was an incredibly written book, the amount of research that the author must have put into the story is mindblowing.

I really liked that the story was told from Helena’s point of view, going from when she was really young all the way up to an adult and a parent herself. The journey took Helena from a young child, totally unaware of the circumstances of her existence and the world beyond the marsh that she lives in with her mother and father, who she totally idolises as he teaches her how to survive in the wild, to track and hunt animals, and, perhaps most importantly, to disrespect her mother.

But as Helena grows up she can’t help but see flaws in her father, and she begins to see that maybe her mother is stronger than she ever imagined.

The Marsh King’s Daughter is sometimes upsetting and hard to read, the brutality that her father displayed is extreme. What made it even harder to read was how real it felt, I often got so caught up in the story that I was sure that Helena was real and that I was, in fact, reading a true crime book.

Karen Dionne is not an author that I had heard of before The Marsh King’s Daughter but she is certainly an author that I will be looking out for and very keen to read more of. I am completely in awe of how she crafted this book, it is definitely one to add to your reading pile.

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of The Marsh King’s Daughter through Netgalley.

Blurb:

The suspense thriller of the year – The Marsh King’s Daughter will captivate you from the start and chill you to the bone.

‘I was born two years into my mother’s captivity. She was three weeks shy of seventeen. If I had known then what I do now, things would have been a lot different. I wouldn’t have adored my father.’

When notorious child abductor – known as the Marsh King – escapes from a maximum security prison, Helena immediately suspects that she and her two young daughters are in danger.

No one, not even her husband, knows the truth about Helena’s past: they don’t know that she was born into captivity, that she had no contact with the outside world before the age of twelve – or that her father raised her to be a killer.

And they don’t know that the Marsh King can survive and hunt in the wilderness better than anyone… except, perhaps his own daughter.

Packed with gripping suspense and powerful storytelling, The Marsh King’s Daughter is a one-more-page, read-in-one-sitting thriller that you’ll remember for ever.

About the Author:

karendionne

Karen Dionne is the author of dark psychological suspense THE MARSH KING’S DAUGHTER, coming June 13, 2017 from G.P. Putnam’s Sons, and three other novels.

Karen is cofounder of the online writers community Backspace, and organizes the Salt Cay Writers Retreat held every other year on a private island in the Bahamas. She is a member of the International Thriller Writers, where she served on the board of directors as Vice President, Technology.

The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne is out on 13th June, 2017 and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

5*, book review

Review: The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

if only I could read faster

the couple next door
The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

Just in case my review of The Couple Next Door doesn’t make it obvious, I loved this book. It totally gripped me and I just didn’t want to stop reading it. Books like this don’t come along too often!

‘Wow. I absolutely loved this book. It grabbed me right from the start and I just didn’t want to stop reading. The pace never let up, which is pretty impressive.

The book starts with parents Anne and Marco spending the evening with their neighbours, using a baby monitor to listen out for their six month old Cora who is sleeping at home. When they return home at 1.30am the front door is open and Cora is missing.

I just love this book and how it takes the reader on a journey, at first you’re not really sure exactly what happened and who was involved. Then you think that you know what happened, but suddenly things change and you hadn’t worked it out at all. Talk about twists and turns.

This is a damn good read, I look forward to reading more from the author. I am sure that this book will be high up in my top ten reads of 2016, if I could I’d give it more than 5 stars!

Thank you to the publishers for an ARC of The Couple Next Door via Netgalley in return for an honest review.’

The Couple Next Door will be released on 14th July 2016 and is available to pre-order on Amazon UK and Amazon US now.