Tag: 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, 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.

5*, blog tours, book review

#BlogTour #BookReview The Dangerous Kind by Deborah O’Connor @deboc77 @ZaffreBooks @Tr4cyF3nt0n #TheDangerousKind #1in100People

if only I could read faster

I was on the blog tour for Deborah O’Connor’s first book, My Husband’s Son quite early on in my blogging life and it was one of the best tours that I’ve done and it turned out that the author was absolutely lovely and very grateful for the blogger support. So when she had book number two out I really wanted to read it and jumped at the chance to be part of the blog tour. I received a copy of The Dangerous Kind by Deborah O’Connor from the publisher, I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

My Review:

Wow. Having read the author’s first book, My Husband’s Son, and thoroughly enjoying it I was very keen to read her second book. While I enjoyed book one it didn’t blow me away but it was good and I was excited to see what the author was going to do next.

I was right to be excited! The Dangerous Kind is a very impressive book and I was amazed by the jump from book one to book two, this book would not have been an easy book to write but it is solid in its writing, confident in its storytelling and brilliantly clever.

I loved the idea of the radio programme that the main character, Jessamine, works on where they look at a different crime each week. But when she agrees to look into a missing mother things start to go wrong for Jessamine.

There are a few threads to this story that slowly come together and some are really not easy to read. There is a fair amount about characters who are being sexually exploited as young teenagers, this is hard to think about and could be triggering to some.

It all comes together in the end and is very cleverly done but you can be fairly sure that the road will be bumpy and difficult and at times, heartbreaking.

The book does not make the BBC look good, highlighting their history of covering up for sexual predators who worked for them. It is hard reading and adds a sense of realism to the story.

Although hard to read at times I enjoyed reading The Dangerous Kind by Deborah O’Connor and I will definitely be reading her third book!

Blurb:

One in 100 of us is a ‘potentially dangerous person’ – someone likely to commit a violent crime. We all know them: these charmers, liars and manipulators. The ones who send prickles up the back of our neck. These people hide in plain sight, they can be teachers, doctors, holding positions of trust, of power.

Jessamine Gooch makes a living tracking the 1 in 100. Each week she broadcasts a radio show that examines brutal offences, asking if more could have been done to identify and prevent their perpetrators.

But when she agrees to investigate a missing person case involving a young mother, she is drawn into a web of danger that will ultimately lead to the upper echelons of power, and threaten the safety of her own family.

What if the people we trust are the ones we should fear?

About The Author:

Deborah O’Connor is a writer and TV producer. Born and bred in the North-East of England, in 2010 she completed the Faber Academy novel writing course. She lives in London with her husband and her daughter. She has not worked at the BBC.

The Dangerous Kind by Deborah O’Connor is out now and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

blog tours, book review

#BlogTour #BookReview Picture of Innocence @Sabah_K @tessjstimson #PictureOfInnocence @AvonBooksUK

if only I could read faster

Today it is my stop on the blog tour for Picture of Innocence by TJ Stimson and published by Avon Books. I do love a good twisty book that keeps you guessing!

I received a copy of Picture of Innocence by TJ Stimson from the publisher, I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

My Review:

I do love a good psychological thriller, especially when it involves families and children. Picture of Innocence by TJ Stimson isn’t always an easy read as the family the story focuses on suffer the loss of their little baby.

The question is, how did baby Noah die?

It really isn’t all that simple, Mother Maddie is distraught and sure she didn’t hurt her son, but is it possible that she did? The husband wasn’t home when it happened and it seems he is the only one in the family that escapes being questioned and blamed.

And then there is Lydia, a young girl who did something terrible, but how does she fit into the story? And who did Lydia grow up to be?

I didn’t really like Maddie as a character, although I felt sorry for her she just didn’t seem to be that nice. Although then sometimes she was. I don’t know, but perhaps that is the point, given that this book makes us questions everyone and everything as we try and work out what is really going on.

Lydia is an interesting character, the abuse she suffered is not easy to read, but was that why she did what she did? Is evil born or is it made?

Picture of Innocence was nearly a brilliant book, it just didn’t quite get there somehow, which is a real shame. But I enjoyed reading it and I wanted to know what happened and how things were going to work out. Did I guess the ending? Well, kinda. I got some of it right but not all, it was clever and gave me something to think about and I love a book that does that. What would I do in that situation?

This book is well written, has well formed characters who are surprising and unpredictable. And I love how it made me think, are we born evil or does something make us that way?

Blurb:

My name is Lydia. I’m 12 years old. I’m not an evil person, but I did something bad.

My name is Maddie. I’d never hurt my son. But can I be sure if I don’t remember?

With three children under ten, Maddie is struggling. On the outside, she’s a happy young mother, running a charity as well as a household. But inside, she’s exhausted. She knows she’s lucky to have to have a support network around her. Not just her loving husband, but her family and friends too.

But is Maddie putting her trust in the right people? Because when tragedy strikes, she is certain someone has hurt her child – and everyone is a suspect, including Maddie herself…

The women in this book are about to discover that looks can be deceiving… because anyone is capable of terrible things. Even the most innocent, even you.

This is the story of every mother’s worst fear. But it’s not a story you know… and nothing is what it seems.

About The Author:

T J Stimson is the pen-name of British author Tess Stimson, who has previously published ten novels, including top-ten bestseller The Adultery Club, and two non-fiction books, which between them have been translated into dozens of languages.

Her first “proper” job after graduating from St Hilda’s College, Oxford (where she read English) was as a news trainee with ITN (Independent Television News).

She reported and produced regional and world stories, travelling to hotspots and war-zones all over the globe.

In 2002, she was appointed Professor of Creative Writing at the University of South Florida and moved to the US. She now teaches Screenwriting and Journalism in Vermont, and lives with her husband, Erik, their three children, and (at the last count) two cats, three fish, one gerbil and a large number of bats in the attic.

Picture of Innocence by TJ Stimson is out now 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

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