Abel's Revenge

This is one of those stories that I suspect will stay with me!

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Book description

This is a story about a city. As with all others, it’s a place of violence. There are murderers, and they live among us.

This is also a tale about a couple — sometimes friends, occasionally lovers, but always partners. Dan and Olivia are fighting modern battles; the ones parents have over a lack of money, time or peace.

An escalating serial killer terrifies the streets and homes. The body count rises as their relationship crumbles. Society reveals its dark side, and no one is safe. Dan and Olivia experience this first-hand as danger closes in.

Will Abel’s reign of terror ever end?

Who will live, and who will die?

My review -

I’ve said before that Ross Greenwood writes an unusual story. I’ll say it again! Ross Greenwood has written something here that stands alone. He takes the ten-year relationship of Dan and Olivia, now going stale under the pressure of their jobs and childcare for their two small children. Dan suffers a breakdown and Olivia gets the chance to work in California, taking their children. The author sets it against a city in meltdown, suffering the attacks of a serial killer. I loved the fact that Dan was obsessed with their weird postman and milkman, even his neighbour. The kind of thing we can all do. Olivia, who liked to go running, feared the attacker. There’s a sense of danger throughout this book and the ending is a corker.

About the author

I was born in 1973 in Peterborough and lived there until I was 20, attending The King's School in the city. I then began a rather nomadic existence, living and working all over the country and various parts of the world.

I found myself returning to Peterborough many times over the years, usually when things had gone wrong. It was on one of these occasions that I met my partner about 100 metres from my back door whilst walking a dog. Two children swiftly followed. I'm still a little stunned by the pace of it now.

Fifty Years of Fear book was started a long time ago but parenthood and then after working in sales management all my life, i randomly spent four years as a prison officer. Ironically it was the four a.m. feed which gave me the opportunity to finish the book as unable to get back to sleep I completed it in the early morning hours.

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Just a thought -

I love the way that each book—any book—is its own journey. You open it, and off you go….
― Sharon Creech

Fatal Promise

Another absolute belter from Angie Marsons.

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Book description

When the body of a doctor is discovered brutally murdered in local woodland, Detective Kim Stone is shocked to discover the victim is Gordon Cordell – a man linked to a previous case she worked on involving the death of a young school girl. Gordon has a chequered past, but who would want him dead?

As the investigation gets underway, Gordon’s son is involved in a horrific car crash which leaves him fighting for his life. Kim's sure this was no accident. 

Then the body of a woman is found dead in suspicious circumstances and Kim makes a disturbing link between the victims and Russells Hall Hospital. The same hospital where Gordon worked.

With Kim and her team still grieving the loss of one of their own, they’re at their weakest and facing one of the most dangerous serial killers they’ve ever encountered. Everything is on the line. Can Kim keep her squad together and find the killer before he claims his next victim?

The killer is picking off his victims at a terrifying pace, and he’s not finished yet. 

My review - 

This book leans upon the previous story and the changes it meant for Kim and her team. A doctor is brutally murdered – and he was part of the story of Dying Truth. More bodies follow and the team, still trying to get to grips with a past they can’t recover, work punishing hours, even though Kim is still suffering from an injury. The story is entwined with one of a missing girl and they run in parallel, as cases must in real life. There are plenty of heart-stopping moments. Angela Marson’s stories never get stale. This is a belter.

About the author -

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".

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Just a thought 

Which of us has not felt that the character we are reading in the printed page is more real than the person standing beside us? ― Cornelia Funke

Jim Webster

Two reviews of recently read Port Naain stories. I feel totally at home there!

First, Swimming for Profit and Pleasure

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Book description

Benor learns a new trade, joins the second hand book trade, attempts to rescue a friend and awakens a terror from the deep. Meddling in the affairs of mages is unwise, even if they have been assumed to be dead for centuries.


My review - 

Benor Dorfinngil learns new skills in this story. He sets out to help a friend and he definitely gets into deep water. I always enjoy these little tales which sometimes take a surprising turn. If you’ve not read any before I think you could just dive straight in. So to speak.

And now - The Plight of the Lady Gingerlily

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Book description 

No good deed goes unpunished. To help make ends meet, Benor takes on a few small jobs, to find a lost husband, to vet potential suitors for two young ladies, and to find a tenant for an empty house. He began to feel that things were getting out of hand when somebody attempted to drown him.

My review -

Benor tackles various mysteries in this collection of stories. From a lady who wants to search for her missing husband (who doesn’t want to be found!) to vetting suitors for young ladies, he is ever helpful to the fairer sex. He also takes on sleeping in a haunted house. And, as they say, much more. Those of us who loves these tales of life in Port Naain feel we are putting on comfy slippers and a cardy to relax in the presence of favourite people. I loved it!

About the author

Jim Webster is probably fifty something, his tastes in music are eclectic, and his dress sense is rarely discussed in polite society. In spite of this he has a wife and three daughters.
He has managed to make a living from a mixture of agriculture, consultancy, and freelance writing. Previously he has restricted himself to writing about agricultural and rural issues but including enough Ancient Military history to maintain his own sanity. But seemingly he has felt it necessary to branch out into writing SF and fantasy novels. 

He lives in South Cumbria.

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Just a thought - A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading ― William Styron

Dying Truth

I'm working my way up the numbers in Angie Marsons' brilliant Kim Stone series. This
is number 8.

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Book description How far would you go to protect your darkest secrets?

When teenager Sadie Winter jumps from the roof of her school, her death is ruled as suicide – a final devastating act from a troubled girl. But then the broken body of a young boy is discovered at the same school and it’s clear to Detective Kim Stone that these deaths are not tragic accidents.

As Kim and her team begin to unravel a dark web of secrets, one of the teachers could hold the key to the truth. Yet just as she is about to break her silence, she is found dead. 

With more children’s lives at risk, Kim has to consider the unthinkable - whether a fellow pupil could be responsible for the murders. Investigating the psychology of children that kill brings the detective into contact with her former adversary, Dr Alex Thorne – the sociopath who has made it her life’s work to destroy Kim. 

Desperate to catch the killer, Kim finds a link between the recent murders and an initiation prank that happened at the school decades earlier. But saving these innocent lives comes at a cost – and one of Kim’s own might pay the ultimate price.

My review - 

A child at an exclusive public school dies in tragic circumstances. Kim’s team start turning some stones and find nasty things under them. The case begins to tie up old and new deaths at the school but everyone there is in denial. I found the book exciting and scary with its almost conspiracy-theory story about those with wealth and power. Kim’s team have come from very different backgrounds to those at the school but there’s no end to what they will do for the people who need their help. Emotional, exciting, another cracking book in the Kim Stone series.

About the author

Angela 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.

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Just a thought - I love the way that each book—any book—is its own journey. You open it, and off you go….  ― Sharon Creech

Curious Men

Short stories on a theme! These are most unusual, some sad, some funny - and one or two comments from women sneak in.

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About the book 

The curious men now have their say...or at least they try to, between invasive female comments. 
A collection of unusual short stories, sober, bizarre or cunningly funny, featuring men of different ages and stages and eras. Each story reveals a differently curious man. Who doesn't have curious habits, weaknesses, features, beliefs—even feelings? Men tend to keep these to themselves, or not to be aware of them. These stories delve into their secrets. One or two are bleak. More are blissfully weird.
The first man is passionate about the inanimate. The next takes his curiosity to the farthest geographic extremes. Brian can't choke out essential news everyone is hanging on for. Sidney wends his desolate way towards a secret retribution.
If Hugh had kept his parts secret he might appeal more to women. The therapist has a serial secret-keeper on his hands. 
These are some of the stories you'll read in Curious Men but then the stories are invaded by the mature women! Men know how this feels.

My review -

This book of short stories follows on from Me-Time Tales, stories told from the point of view of women. I haven’t read Me-Time but you can read Curious Men as a stand-alone collection. This one, as the title suggests, deals with men – their foibles, their points of view. It’s full of fantastically quirky tales, from the sad one of the damaged soldier returning from war, to funny ones, like the man obsessed with mowers. They’re all different, all great reads. I heartily recommend this book.

About the author

Rosalind trained as a dancer, but grew to love acting more. She gained a place at RADA, but took parental advice and let academic life take over. She gained a B.A. Cert. Ed and Ph.D then became a psychologist working with both children and adults. If she hadn’t, she would have spent her life interpreting characters that dramatists and scriptwriters had created instead of working with real people. Now, later, she very happily creates them herself especially their quirks. In her career, she met and worked with a wealth of characters whose characteristics she can draw upon. However, she does not write biographically, much preferring to work from imagination. 

Not surprisingly, it is the inner life of her characters that determines their fate in her stories, whether humorous, historical or criminal. Whatever the genre, Rosalind's stories always have a keen touch of humour and a dark edge. This is evident in her first short story collection "Me-time Tales: tea breaks for mature women and curious men", quirky and satirical. 

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Just a thought - When I discovered libraries, it was like having Christmas every day.

― Jean Fritz

The Shape of Lies

I'll buy a Rachel Abbott book without reading the blurb! There are just a few authors in whom I have so much confidence.

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Book description

Scott was Anna’s boyfriend. She loved him, but he ruined her life. When he died, she should have been free, but today Scott is on the radio, threatening to spill her secrets.

Anna is a mother, a wife, and head teacher of a primary school.
And she’s a good liar.

She made one mistake, and now she is having to pay for it. Scott is the only person who knows the truth about her past, but how can he be alive?

Soon, DCI Tom Douglas is going to knock on her door looking for answers. But Anna is already running scared: from the man she loved; the man she watched die; the man who has come back to life.

She has one week to find him. One week to stop him. 

My review - 

Another ‘nose to the book’ novel by Rachel Abbott. It deals with the snowballing of one lie that Anna told to help someone she loved. Her current, happy and successful life is all built on this lie. There are present day scenes in which people are murdered and Anna feels under severe threat. There are past scenes in which we see her student days unfolding. The finale is terrific – exciting and shocking, but credible, in the circumstances. Rachel Abbott is one of the few authors whose books I will buy without reading the blurb. I know I’m in for a great read.

About the author

In 2015 Amazon celebrated the first five years of the Kindle in the UK, and announced that Rachel was the #1 bestselling independent author over the five-year period. She was also placed #14 in the chart of all authors. Stranger Child was the most borrowed novel for the Kindle in the first half of 2015.

Rachel splits her time between Alderney - a beautiful island off the coast of France - and the Le Marche region of Italy, where she is able to devote all her time to writing fiction. For more information, see Rachel's website, or follow her on Twitter.

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Just a thought - 

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.― Anna Quindlen

The Secret Mother

Shalini Boland always writes a good psychological thriller and this is no exception.

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Book description -

'Are you my mummy?’

Tessa Markham returns home to find a child in her kitchen. He thinks she’s his mother. But Tessa doesn’t have any children. 

Not anymore.

She doesn’t know who the little boy is or how he got there. 

After contacting the police, Tessa is suspected of taking the mystery child. Her whole life is turned upside down. And then her husband reveals a secret of his own…

Tessa isn’t sure what to believe or who to trust. Because someone is lying. To find out who, she must confront her painful past. But is the truth more dangerous than Tessa realises? 

My review - 

Shalini Boland gets deep into the mind of Tessa, a woman who seems to have lost everything. Both her children, her husband and her self-belief. She finds a child in her kitchen when she arrives home. He says she is his mummy and an angel brought him there. She’s accused of child abduction and is hounded by the press. This story is in parts poignant, exciting and frustrating. I wanted to shake a couple of the characters! It’s a really good psychological thriller from a writer who excels in the genre. Thoroughly recommended. About the author - Shalini lives in Dorset, England with her husband, two children and their cheeky terrier cross. Before kids, she was signed to Universal Music Publishing as a singer/songwriter, but now she spends her days writing psychological thrillers (in between school runs and hanging out endless baskets of laundry). ~~~ Just a thought - If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads. Ralph Waldo Emerson