Little Deaths by Emma Flint

Ruth Malone is a beautiful young mother to two angelic children, Frankie and Cindy. Ruth is separated from her husband Frank with whom she is in the middle of a bitter custody battle over their children. Waking up one morning to find both her children missing Ruth frantically rings Frank who contacts the police, and a search begins.

Pete Wonicke is a young tabloid reporter who becomes fascinated with the story of the missing children, and even more fascinated by Ruth herself. He is hypnotized by her beauty, her sexiness, and determines to uncover the truth. Soon he finds the story he uncovers is more complicated than even he imagined, and as his infatuation with Ruth grows, and the neighborhood, the press and the police all turn against her, he finds himself doing things he never would have believed himself capable of.

This book really sucked me in and kept me riveted. There is a real crime noir feel about it. Set in Queens, New York in the summer of 1965 (the year I was born), I really felt like I was there, sweltering in the heat and soaking up the atmosphere the author has drawn so well for us. The character of Ruth is complicated but believable, and you can understand why she immediately comes under suspicion, as society judges her morals and lifestyle choices, her clothes, her drinking and her sleeping around.

This is a book that will keep you guessing right up to the end. A very impressive debut literary crime novel, and a book you will keep thinking about long after you have finished it. Hopefully it will get picked up by the movie industry because it is just crying out to be made into a film.

I'm really excited that crime fiction has found a new and great talent to enrich it in Emma Flint. This is definitely an author to watch out for in the future and I can't wait to read her next book.

Thank you to Nudge/NB Mag and the publishers Pan Macmillan for my free copy of this book in return for a review.

Red Bones by Ann Cleeves

Detective Jimmy Perez is called in to investigate after an elderly woman is shot dead in the island community of Whalsay. Then a young archeologist working an ancient site discovers human remains causing much speculation locally. When a suspicious death occurs the Procurator Fiscal is prepared to call it suicide but Jimmy is wary and continues to investigate. Two deaths in a small rural community is extremely suspect. Could there be a murderer on the lose in Whalsay? Who will be next? Jimmy is convinced someone in this small secretive community knows more than they are telling.

I really love this series, there's just something about it, it's like going home, or putting on a comfy pair of slippers. I just love Ann Cleeves writing, I mean this woman can write. The setting, Shetland, is so interesting and mysterious, and the characters in these Shetland books - they give me the creeps! Everyone has secrets they want to keep hidden. Everyone has a past.

This is my third book i've read now in Ann Cleeves Shetland Series, featuring policeman Jimmy Perez. I got this e-book from the library and the minute I finished it I downloaded the next in the series Blue Lightening.

There is nothing like Jimmy Perez and Shetland on a winters evening beside the fire. Ann Cleeves is my comfort food!

Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land

This was an amazing book. I know people say it all the time, but I could not put it down, I was riveted.

Milly has moved in with Mike, Saskia and their daughter Pheobe. She is their new foster child. Milly was taken into care because her mother is a serial killer. A killer of children. Nine to be precise. Milly went to the police and told them what her mother does to children. What her mother did to her.

Milly really wants to fit in with her new family, she wants Saskia to be her new mother, and Mike her new father. She never had a sister. She would like Pheobe to be her sister, but Pheobe has other ideas.

With the impending trial coming up, and Pheobe's bullying, Milly is under a lot of stress. Will Milly be able to take to the stand and tell the truth about her mother?

This is a debut novel from author Ali Land, and she can really write. The words just seem to flow, and we really get under the skin of Milly and try to imagine what she has been through. There are lots of twists and turns, but I really did not see the ending coming! A really gripping psychological thriller that will leave your head spinning.

Thanks to lovereading.co.uk and the publisher Penguin for my copy of this book.

Book to be published on 12th January 2017.

Hello! A very happy New Year to all of you, although a bit belated I know. Life got in the way and i'm afraid I haven't been very active on the blog or FB page lately. I will however make a really big effort to get on top of things this year!

I hope 2017 finds you all well, and looking forward to all this new year has to offer. I know there will be a lot of great books published this year and I plan to review many of them on this blog throughout the year, I really hope you can join me here and on the FB page xx

Audio Book Review: White is the Coldest Colour by John Nicholl (narrated by Jake Urry)

Dr David Galbraith is employed as a consultant child psychiatrist. He lives in a beautiful Georgian house in South Wales and is married with two young daughters. He is a well respected member of the community and held in high esteem among his colleagues. The doctor leads a double life. Dr David Galbraith is a sadistic predatory paedophile. There is a cellar in his beautiful Georgian house, where he secretly abused and tortured a little boy before murdering him, a little boy he had abducted.

Anthony Mailer is another little boy, a new patient of Dr David Galbraith's. He has been referred to Dr David Galbraith because he is upset over his parents separation. His parents think he is in good hands. They do not know that Dr Galbraith has plans for Anthony, horrible vile plans.

I listened to this book on audio. It made extremely difficult listening, especially the first chapter. I had to abandon it, and come at it again a couple of days later, so upsetting are those first scenes. I thought I may have to abandon this book altogether, but I hung in there and i'm glad I did. It is important to understand how paedophiles work. How they trick the community's they belong to, and how they groom their victims.

While I was walking my dog in the park I would listen to White is the Coldest Colour by John Nichol. So intense is this book, and I got so involved in it, that I found myself shouting out at the characters in the book as I urged them to act (luckily the park was deserted). I really got emotionally involved in this fictional story.

The author John Nichol has worked as a police officer and a child protection social worker and has dedicated this book to survivors everywhere.

Now I can't leave this review without mentioning the narrator Jake Urry. He has the most fantastic voice, and i'm sure women everywhere will agree with me! I would pay this man to read out my shopping list to me every week. Seriously, he has the most perfect voice for audio books and has narrated quite a number of thriller and horror books. Check him out.

"I was provided this audio book at no charge by the author in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBoom dot com".

The Second Girl by David Swinson

Frank Marr used to be a great cop, but his drug habit got in the way and made him dirty. Now he is one of the best Private Investigators in Washington DC. Liked by most of the cops he used to work with - they don't know about his secret drug habit, they only know he was a great cop and friend who retired early from the force - and feared by criminals.

While breaking into a drug house to steal drugs, Frank rescues a captive teenage girl and becomes an instant hero. His police friends are clapping him on the back, and now Frank has been hired to find a second missing teenage girl by her distraught family.

I really liked Frank, although I felt I shouldn't like him at all. His drug habit, his violence towards those of the criminal fraternity who cross his path, all make me feel that I shouldn't like him, but despite all that Frank Marr is a decent guy, scarred by an unhappy childhood, and with a weakness he doesn't seem to want to do anything about fixing, deep down he is a gentle, caring guy.

The Second Girl is a fantastic crime thriller. Different, and with a deeply flawed protagonist, I loved this book and could not put it down. At times the drug use can be distracting and the mind boggles as to how Frank can function as he does. I found myself fearing for his future, and hoping that author David Swinson gives us more of Frank Marr in a second, and even though i know i'm being greedy, a third book! Because I don't want to leave Frank here, I want his story to go on, I need to know that he will be ok, but I can't see how his destructive way of life will not catch up with him soon, as really it should.

If you like your detectives flawed, and your crime gritty, this is the book for you. I can't wait to read more by David Swinson. I hope he will give us more Frank Marr, but whatever his next book is about, I will be at the top of the queue come publication day!

My thanks to Mulholland books for providing me with a free pb copy of this wonderful book via bookbridgr.com

Audio Book Review: Lady Justice Takes A. C.R.A.P. by Robert Thornhill

 Walter Williams is a 65 year old retired real estate agent, who may be tired of real estate, but he's not ready to sit in his rocking chair just yet. Unbelievably Walt decides to start a second career as a police officer and against all the odds he succeeds.

As a police officer Walt has loads of adventures, he goes under cover in a strip club, catches a murderer etc. There is lots of humor in this 'cozy' tale, the humor being of the 'men's locker room' type, with lots of references to male and female body parts, love making in old age, you get the picture. Much of it is witty, but a whole lot of it I just found crude. Maybe it's because I was listening to this book on audio, I don't know. There were lots of enjoyable moments, smiley moments and laugh out loud moments too, but much of it was also not to my taste and those moments over shadowed what otherwise would have been an enjoyable witty tale. Aside from my particular taste in humor, I thought the writing was excellent, the characters interesting.

As I said, I listened to this book on audio, and the narrator George Kuch, was a treat. He really captured the character of Walt for me and made him come alive in my mind. He was fabulous.

"I was provided this audio book at no charge by the author in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBoom dot com".