Defender by GX Todd Book Review

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Defender by G X Todd is an imaginative thriller that draws on influences from Stephen King, Clive Barker and Neil Gaiman to create a new world - where the biggest threat mankind faces is from the voices inside your own head. If you loved The Stand, you'll love Defender, the first in a four part series.

'Compelling, suspenseful, and altogether extraordinary' Lee Child

'So accomplished that it's difficult to believe it's a first novel, Defender is already worthy to take its place alongside The Stand in the canon. An absolute gem of a book' John Connolly

'On the cusp of sleep, have we not all heard a voice call out our name?'

In a world where long drinks are in short supply, a stranger listens to the voice in his head telling him to buy a lemonade from the girl sitting on a dusty road.

The moment locks them together.

Here and now it's dangerous to listen to your inner voice. Those who do, keep it quiet.

These voices have purpose.

And when Pilgrim meets Lacey, there is a reason. He just doesn't know it yet.

Defender pulls you on a wild ride to a place where the voices in your head will save or slaughter you.

MY THOUGHTS

Wow, what can I say about Defender? What a brilliant debut novel by GX Todd, and one I am sure will hit the bestseller charts next year!

Defender is not the sort of book I would usually read, but I was intrigued by the story after hearing a lot about it on Twitter and the cover definitely made up my mind. I dived in and I am so glad that I did. The author is a master at storytelling! I was sucked into the story from page one and I was kept hooked right up until the very last page. Defender is a story that I’m sure will stay with me for a long time.

Defender is a dystopian novel set in a post apocalyptic version of the United States. In the opening pages we are introduced to Pilgrim, who hears a voice and when he comes across a girl, Lacey, who is selling lemonade, he has no idea how much his life is going to change just by one chance meeting. I loved Pilgrim’s voice who was often very witty and lightened up the book.

Lacey is desperate to reach her sister, Karey and the rest of the family after the death of her Nan. I loved Lacey’s character, and I really liked the relationship that she built with Pilgrim afterwards, even though Pilgrim was reluctant to help her out in the first place. He is not especially welcoming to people, other than to the voice inside his head. I didn’t like Pilgrim at first but I grew to like him as the novel progressed, he would be a great friend to have around.

GX Todd keeps you gripping the edge of your seat as Pilgrim and Lacey try to reach her sister. Lacey is desperately hoping that her sister has survived, against all the odds as her sister is the only future she can see for herself.

You really get a sense of the world that you are in within these pages and GX Todd has done a fantastic job of crafting the landscape. I really liked the fact that the author kept some elements of the world we live in, in this book and she made it feel as though the story was set in the not too distant future.

Defender really surprised me, I can’t wait for the next book in the series, there are a lot of ideas here that I am desperate to know more about! Defender took me on a journey that I will not be forgetting quickly and I really became attached the characters who I can’t wait to hear more from. I highly recommend this book. Thank you to Netgalley and Headline for the early review copy!

Publisher: Headline

Print length: 464 pages

Publication date: 12th January 2017

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The Girl in the Red Coat Book Review

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Eight-year-old Carmel has always been different - sensitive, distracted, with an heartstopping tendency to go missing. Her mother Beth, newly single, worries about her daughter's strangeness, especially as she is trying to rebuild a life for the two of them on her own.

When she takes Carmel for an outing to a local festival, her worst fear is realised: Carmel disappears into the crowd. Unable to accept the possibility that her daughter might be gone for good, Beth embarks on a mission to find her. Meanwhile, Carmel begins an extraordinary and terrifying journey of her own. But do the real clues to Carmel's disappearance lie in the otherworldly qualities her mother had only begun to guess at?

MY THOUGHTS

In Kate Hamer’s debut novel, The Girl in the Red Coat, we are drawn into a gripping tale as a mother searches desperately for her missing child, and a young girl who has to adapt to her new life and learn to face some very hard truths that will bring her world crashing down. Can she accept what she has been told and move on as her old life begins to become a distant memory? Can she really let go of the past? 

When Beth takes her daughter, Carmel to a fair, her life becomes every parent’s worst nightmare. She loses her eight-year-old daughter in the crowd and as everyone begins to disperse and go home, Carmel remains missing and now the police are on the scene. Beth tries to convince herself that Carmel has wandered off of her own accord, as she has done in the past, but deep down she knows that this time something is different.

I found Beth’s character, the mother of the missing child, totally convincing and I thought it was great how Kate managed to tap into her emotions as the search for her daughter continued, with many ups and downs along the way. What surprised me in the novel was Beth’s new found relationship with her ex husband Paul, Carmel’s Dad and his new partner, Lucy. Of course, parents of a missing child will want to come together in the hope that their child may come home, and to bolster the search, but Kate takes their relationship to a whole new level and it seems that they get on better now than they did before Carmel went missing.

Kate manages to suck you into Beth and Carmel’s new world and I raced through the final pages, desperate to get the end and learn Carmel’s fate. There were definitely places, where I didn’t have a clue as to where this story was going to go, and one particular character, Monroe, had me gripping the edge of my seat as I tried to work out what he was planning to do. I won’t reveal anything here as I don’t want to give the story away.

I was a little worried that I was going to be left hanging at the end of the story, like in the first series of The Missing, when there is still that uncertainty if the missing boy was dead or alive, but Kate delivers a very satisfying and neat conclusion and although Carmel and Beth’s story is at its end I would very much like to know what happens next. I’m sure these characters will stay with me for a long while.

The Girl in the Red Coat is a gripping read and one that I highly recommend. I can’t wait for Kate’s next book to see what she does next!  

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Sirens by Joseph Knox Book Review

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It starts with the girl. How it ends is up to DC Aidan Waits.

Isabelle Rossiter has run away again.

When Aidan Waits, a troubled junior detective, is summoned to her father’s penthouse home – he finds a manipulative man, with powerful friends.

But retracing Isabelle’s steps through a dark, nocturnal world, Waits finds something else. An intelligent seventeen-year-old girl who’s scared to death of something. As he investigates her story, and the unsolved disappearance of a young woman just like her, he realizes Isabelle was right to run away.

Soon Waits is cut loose by his superiors, stalked by an unseen killer and dangerously attracted to the wrong woman. He’s out of his depth and out of time.

How can he save the girl, when he can't even save himself?


MY THOUGHTS

I was thrilled to receive an early review copy of Sirens courtesy of Allison Barrow at Transworld Publishing and I am so pleased that I asked. After hearing a lot about this book on Twitter and across the Internet, I knew it was definitely one for me. Sirens is Joseph Knox’s debut and what a great read it is. Sirens stands out amongst the best in crime fiction and I hope that it is the start of a thrilling new detective series. A superb debut and a strong new voice!  

Disgraced Detective Aiden Waits has been caught stealing drugs from the evidence room. His boss offers him perhaps his only opportunity of getting rid of the charges that he now faces which will automatically end his career before it has even really begun. Can Aiden really afford to lose this opportunity? Does he have much choice?

Aiden’s boss, Superintendent Parrs, is keen on using Aiden as his way in to a drug lord den, working in the heart of the city of Manchester to expose detectives working on the force who maybe covering up for them. But Aiden has also been asked by MP David Rossiter to keep an eye out for his daughter, Isabel who is known to have been sucked into the den. From this point on, things really do begin to get messy for Aiden. Although Aiden has his own problems with drugs, as well as other problems in his life, I found myself routing for him all the way and I really wanted to see a bit of luck come his way.

Joseph brought Manchester to life, I have never been before but I really felt as though I was there and I could picture the scenery around me well, particularly the transitions between the more affluent parts of the city and the darker world where the drug lords reigned. The writing grabs you by the throat and drawers you in without effort. I really liked the atmosphere that Joseph Knox created, I thought this was particularly well done in the bars and clubs.

Sirens is one of those books that stands out amongst the crowded crime genre market. I could never quite tell which direction we were heading in this book. Really excellent. 

This is one of the best debuts I have read and I’m sure that it’ll be a hit next year. You definitely don’t want to miss this book. Joseph Knox is a talent to watch. Five stars from me! Thank you to Allison Barrow at Transworld for sending me a copy to review. 

Publisher: Doubleday 

Print length: 384 pages

Publication date: 12th January 2017

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Rattle by Fiona Cummins Book Review

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A serial killer to chill your bones

A psychopath more frightening than Hannibal Lecter.

He has planned well. He leads two lives. In one he's just like anyone else. But in the other he is the caretaker of his family's macabre museum.

Now the time has come to add to his collection. He is ready to feed his obsession, and he is on the hunt.

Jakey Frith and Clara Foyle have something in common. They have what he needs.

What begins is a terrifying cat-and-mouse game between the sinister collector, Jakey's father and Etta Fitzroy, a troubled detective investigating a spate of abductions.

Set in London's Blackheath, Rattle by Fiona Cummins explores the seam of darkness that runs through us all; the struggle between light and shadow, redemption and revenge.

It is a glimpse into the mind of a sinister psychopath. And it's also a story about not giving up hope when it seems that all hope is already lost.

MY THOUGHTS 

Wow, what a debut book. I had seen this book on social media a lot and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. When I finally got hold of a copy, thanks to the publisher and Netgalley, I devoured it in one or two sittings. Fiona Cummins is a talented writer and Rattle is a book I won't be forgetting about anytime soon. 

In Rattle we are introduced to Detective Sergeant Etta Fitzroy. Etta is investigating the disappearance of five-year-old Clara Foyle, who suffers from an unusual medical condition. Fitzroy is still haunted by the disappearance of Grace Rodriguez who vanished a year ago and her fate remains a mystery. She is determined to bring the families closure. But the person behind the abductions is getting braver and more desperate and he has in his sights a young boy, Jakey Frith, who suffers from a disease known as Stone Man Syndrome, otherwise called Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva. The name that Jakey gives this man is ‘Ol’ Boney Bones’ which really gave me shivers. Is there something there to connect these disappearances? 

I really liked DS Fitzroy. There were times when I did feel sorry for her, particularly when she has to juggle family life and work commitments, life can be tough when you work for the police. I'm hoping that we are going to get to learn more about her in the future. The ending of this book really did give me chills, this book is a must read for those who like their crime fiction dark. 

Not since reading Sleepyhead and Ragdoll later this year, have I been so impressed by a police procedural. I literally couldn’t stop reading until I had finished. If you enjoy a novel filled with suspense, this is a book for you. Rattle by Fiona Cummins is available for pre-order now.  

Publisher: Macmillan

Pint length: 352 pages

Publication date: 26th January 2017

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Deep Down Dead by Steph Broadribb Book Review

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Lori Anderson is as tough as they come, managing to keep her career as a fearless Florida bounty hunter separate from her role as single mother to nine-year-old Dakota, who suffers from leukaemia. But when the hospital bills start to rack up, she has no choice but to take her daughter along on a job that will make her a fast buck. And that's when things start to go wrong. 

The fugitive she's assigned to haul back to court is none other than JT, Lori's former mentor - the man who taught her everything she knows … the man who also knows the secrets of her murky past. Not only is JT fighting a child exploitation racket operating out of one of Florida's biggest theme parks, Winter Wonderland, a place where 'bad things never happen', but he's also mixed up with the powerful Miami Mob. With two fearsome foes on their tails, just three days to get JT back to Florida, and her daughter to protect, Lori has her work cut out for her. When they're ambushed at a gas station, the stakes go from high to stratospheric, and things become personal. 

Breathtakingly fast-paced, both hard-boiled and heart-breaking, Deep Down Dead is a simply stunning debut.

MY THOUGHTS

I am fairly new to the world of blogging, having only set up my own blog back in June, but I was already familiar with Crime Thriller Girl (Steph Broadribb’s blog) and when I first discovered that Orenda Books were publishing her debut thriller earlier this year, every book blogger on Twitter seemed to explode with excitement. I knew that from the moment I started reading Deep Down Dead that I was in for a rip-roaring adventure and I never found a dull moment in this book. Steph’s writing is first class and there is no question about it, this novel is certainly going to be a hit; from blogging, reviewing and reading crime for years it seems that she certainly knows her stuff. I hated having to put down the novel, only because of other commitments or a desperate need for sleep, and I couldn’t wait to dive straight back into it again.

Well, what can I say about Lori Anderson that hasn’t already been said? Lori is a bounty hunter from Florida with a troubled past that continues to haunt her, the star protagonist of Steph Broadribb’s debut novel, Deep Down Dead, a heart pounding action thriller set in America that could very well rival with Jack Reacher.

Lori has had a tough few years. Her only child, nine-year-old Dakota, has been fighting cancer and Lori has huge medical bills to pay off. When a job comes in with the offer of a huge sum of money she knows she can’t turn it down. But there’s a problem; the man who her boss wants her to bring in is her former instructor and friend, and a man who knows her biggest secret, a man known to Lori as JT.

When no one is on hand to help, Lori makes the decision to take her daughter with her to bring JT in, unbeknown to her is the amount of danger she has now put them in. It has been years since she has seen JT, and from the outset he has changed in a dramatic way from when she last knew him. Can she really trust her feelings for him? Does she really know who is anymore? Following on from her acceptance of the mission, Lori’s whole world is turned upside down. In what seems at the beginning as a simple case of bringing a man in who has broken is parole, sets in motion a long trail of explosive events that keep you turning the pages, desperate to know what happens next.

I don’t want to say anything more about what happens as I don’t want to spoil the story for you, in case you haven’t read it. But I just have to say, my God, the tension in the final pages had me gripping the end of my seat until the novel came to a very neat and satisfying conclusion. Steph has created a great cast of characters and I can’t wait to see more of Lori and JT in her next book!

Publisher: Orenda Books

Print length: 320 pages

Publication date: Kindle (15th October 2016) Paperback (5th January 2017)

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Blood Lines by Angela Marsons Book Review

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A victim killed with a single, precise stab to the heart appears at first glance to be a robbery gone wrong. A caring mother and social worker lost to a senseless act of violence. But for Detective Kim Stone, something doesn’t add up.

When a local drug addict is found murdered with an identical wound, Kim knows instinctively that she is dealing with the same killer. But with nothing to link the two victims except the cold, calculated nature of their death, this could be her most difficult case yet.

Desperate to catch the twisted individual, Kim’s focus on the case is threatened when she receives a chilling letter from Dr Alex Thorne, the sociopath who Kim put behind bars. And this time, Alex is determined to hit where it hurts most, bringing Kim face-to-face with the woman responsible for the death of Kim’s little brother – her own mother.

As the body count increases, Kim and her team unravel a web of dark secrets, bringing them closer to the killer. But one of their own could be in mortal danger. Only this time, Kim might not be strong enough to save them…

A totally gripping thriller that will have you hooked from the very first page to the final, dramatic twist.


MY THOUGHTS

I couldn’t have been more excited when I could finally read the fifth book in the Kim Stone series by Angela Marsons. I was excited to learn that we would be meeting, yet again the psychopath, Alexandra Throne who we were first introduced to in Evil Games. Angela really has sent Kim on an emotional rollercoaster of a ride in this novel, and whilst Alexandra attempts to use her as a puppet in her game she has to try and find a serial killer who has hidden themselves well within the shadows.

Blood Lines grabs you from the set off, when we find Kim seemingly on her own at night and being followed by a serial rapist. Thankfully, the operation is swiftly concluded and the criminal arrested. But without a moment to pause and think, Kim and her team are called to a scene where a dead body has been discovered, a young woman, a social care worker, has been found with a single stab wound.

As the body count begins to ride, Kim must try and find a link between the victims and it is during this time that from within prison walls, Alexandra Throne begins to bring her plans to fruition. Kim is faced with the unthinkable possibility for her, that her mother, who was sectioned in a psychiatric unit after killing Kim’s twin, Mikey, after she convinced herself that her son was the devil, could be set free. The final showdown Angela has written between the pair is brilliant and one of my favourite scenes from the novel.

The novel is taut with tension throughout and I even felt scared for some of the inmates Alexandra was imprisoned with. Alex Thorne is an ingenious creation and I do wonder if this is the last we’ll hear from her, I would like to see how she gets on after the events that have occurred in Blood Lines.

The Kim Stone novels keep getting better and better, roll on the next one Angela, I can’t wait to read it! Thank you to Bookouture  and Netgalley for the early review copy. 

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication date: 4th November 2016

Print length: 380 pages

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Ragdoll by Daniel Cole Book Review

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The nation is gripped by the infamous 'Ragdoll Killer'
Your friends, your family and your neighbours are all talking about it.
'...utterly addictive with brilliant characters and a killer twist you will never see coming - the best debut I've ever read.' Rachel Abbott, No. 1 bestselling author
'A star is born. Killer plot. Killer pace. Twisted killer and a killer twist. Kill to get a copy.' Simon Toyne, Sunday Times bestselling author 
'A brilliant, breathless thriller. If you liked Se7en, you'll love this!' M.J. Arlidge,Sunday Times bestselling author

Believe the hype. Sold in over 32 countries and counting, RAGDOLL is the standout thriller of the year.

A body is discovered with the dismembered parts of six victims stitched together like a puppet, nicknamed by the press as the 'ragdoll'.

Assigned to the shocking case are Detective William 'Wolf' Fawkes, recently reinstated to the London Met, and his former partner Detective Emily Baxter.

The 'Ragdoll Killer' taunts the police by releasing a list of names to the media, and the dates on which he intends to murder them.

With six people to save, can Fawkes and Baxter catch a killer when the world is watching their every move?

MY THOUGHTS 

Ragdoll has been on my wish list since I first heard about its acquisition by Trapeze books way back in April. I was desperate to get my hands on a copy, and when my copy finally came in the post I couldn’t wait to get stuck in and I can tell you, Ragdoll has certainly lived up to the hype. Ragdoll electrified me from page one and I found myself on the edge of my seat, waiting with baited breath to find out what happened next, throughout my reading journey, until I had turned the final page.

Ragdoll has been sold in thirty four countries around the world and has been snapped up by ITV’s ‘The Durrells,’ Sid Gentle.

In Daniel Cole’s debut, we meet Detective William Oliver Layton-Fawkes, aka Wolf, to his team and members of the press. Four years ago, Wolf headed up the enquiry into a series of murders known as ‘The Cremation killings.’ After losing control on the final day of the trial, which almost ended his career, Wolf was subjected to months of psychological assessment before finally returning to the police force.

When Wolf arrives on the scene in the present day, he is faced with a career defining cadaver, which his colleague Baxter excitedly describes as ‘the one, a once-in-a-career case.’ One body, six victims sewn together to make a corpse; the cadaver is soon dubbed by the press as the Ragdoll which has everyone in the media world talking and speculating.  Whilst the team are trying to identify the different body parts, the investigation into the killings steps up a pace when the killer releases a list of six names to the press of intended victims and the dates on which they intend to murder them. The final name on the list is Wolf’s.

Daniel Cole has created a stunning cast of characters in his first novel. It is amazing to think that this started off as a screen play and was turned down repeatedly before Daniel finally made the decision to turn his idea into a book, because he was desperate to know the end, which in my opinion was the right choice. I would have to say that my favourite character was Baxter, I admired her way of dealing with pressing issues, particularly when it was announced that Wolf’s name is on the killer’s hit list. I also loved her wit and sense of humour throughout the novel which made me laugh out loud in places. I found myself feeling sorry for Edmunds, who is trying to impress his team and crack the case before anyone else, but struggles to juggle his work and home life together, especially as his girlfriend, Tia, is pregnant. Tia doesn’t seem to quite understand how demanding a detective’s work is. 

There are some clever and original ideas in this book which Daniel uses when he kills off his characters, you can see the influence from his days working as a paramedic. If you love crime, I challenge you not to love this book. Many thanks to Ben Willis and Sam Eades at Trapeze for the advance review copy. Ragdoll publishes on the 23^rd February 2017, you’d be mad to miss out! 

Publisher: Trapeze 

Publication date: 23rd February 2017

Print length: 359 pages 

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