Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton - very early review

Three Hours
By Rosamund Lupton
Published by Penguin Books UK (17 October 2019)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley

I don't usually read and review books this early, but I was told that I MUST read this one by another reviewer (Liz Barnsley of Liz Loves Books) - as it was well worth doing so. I also don't usually read books in one sitting like this, so I have to get my thoughts out of my system now! Apologies for such an early (but spoiler-free) review.

Publisher's description

In a rural English village in the middle of a snowstorm, the unthinkable happens: the school is under siege.

From the wounded headmaster barricaded in the library, to teenage Hannah in love for the first time, to the pregnant police psychologist who must identify the gunmen...

My verdict
Ironically it took me around three hours to read Three Hours. For most of that time, my heart was pounding with a strong sense of fear and dread, my throat tight, my jaw tense. I barely took a breath, occasionally coming up for air. This is a race against the clock – and in various places I wished that I could press a pause button to give the characters extra time.

The writing moves at a cracking pace, switching from person to person, then back again, with some expertly woven twists – so cleverly structured. Afterwards, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the little things that now made sense and slotted into place, that I’d blinked over when I’d read them the first time.

I felt as though as I was there alongside the characters, as if they were my own friends and family – all of it feeling so real and close to home. Yes, the plotting is incredible but it’s the writing that wowed me in particular and wormed its way under my skin.

While there’s a mystery at the heart of the book – who are these gunmen and why are they targeting this remote school in Somerset? – for me, the book was an emotional rollercoaster from beginning to end, fuelled by its human element and exploration of human nature. What drives us to perform immense acts of violence and also immense acts of love? 

Three Hours was a traumatic reading experience in many ways – it challenged me, thrilled me, stunned me and upset me - but I am so glad that I immersed myself within its pages. In several places, I had to pause and take a breath – scared to read on, yet scared not to. My youngest teen came into the room at one point while I was reading and I just wanted to pull him close and hug him, never let him go. This book made me worry about my teenagers, about sending them to school the next day, about the future of society. Yet it also gave me a sense of hope.

Three Hours is a thriller about ordinary people doing what’s right, going above and beyond their natural capabilities and comfort zone. It’s a message about society and vulnerability, love and the importance of community. This will be one of my top reads of 2019.

Freefall by Adam Hamdy

Freefall
By Adam Hamdy
Published by Headline (2 November 2017)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley

Publisher's description

JOHN WALLACE IS A TARGET
Hiding off-grid after exposing the shadowy Pendulum conspiracy, Wallace is horrified to discover he is still marked for death.
THERE ARE ONLY TWO PEOPLE HE CAN TRUST
DI Patrick Bailey is still reeling from the murder investigation that nearly cost him his life. 
FBI Agent Christine Ash is hunting a serial killer with a link to an unfinished case

HE MUST FIND THE TRUTH
The death of a London journalist triggers an investigation that brings them back together, hurling them into the path of an unknown enemy.

BEFORE THE KILLER FINDS HIM
Hunted across the world, they are plunged into a nightmare deadlier than they could have ever imagined.

My verdict
Freefall is the sequel to Pendulum, which I really enjoyed last year. Yet again, Adam Hamdy has written a gripping rollercoaster read. Some action thrillers can be read easily as standalones. But I would recommend that you read Pendulum first, if you haven't already done so, as parts of Freefall may not make sense otherwise.

The reader is launched straight into the action from the very first page. After uncovering a shocking conspiracy in Pendulum, John Wallace is now hiding in Afghanistan, right in the middle of a war zone. But it's hard to stay hidden for long, as he soon discovers. DI Patrick Bailey in London and FBI agent Christine Bailey in New York are the only ones he can trust. When a London journalist is discovered dead in her home in a possible suicide, the three of them are thrust together into yet another investigation that isn't what it seems.

Freefall is full of action and suspense and is highly entertaining. It's an emotional journey too, as all three characters have been left with physical and mental scars from their previous encounter. The chapters are fairly short, which helps to keep the pace moving quickly - there's so much energy within the book that I found it difficult to find time to take a breath. The plot may seem a little over the top in places - but that's the beauty of fiction, stretching the highly imaginative into pure escapism. The characters are believable and realistic, triggering plenty of shocks and surprises by the end.

I raced through Freefall and can't wait to read the next book in the series.

The Memory Chamber by Holly Cave

The Memory Chamber
By Holly Cave
Published by Quercus (22 February 2018)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher.

Publisher's description

True death is a thing of the past. Now you can spend the rest of eternity re-living your happiest memories: that first kiss, falling in love, the birth of your children, enjoyed on loop for ever and ever.

Isobel is a Heaven Architect, and she helps dying people create afterlives from these memories. So when she falls for Jarek, one of her terminal - and married - clients, she knows that while she cannot save him, she can create the most beautiful of heavens, just for him.

But when Jarek's wife is found dead, Isobel uncovers a darker side of the world she works within, and she can trust no one with what she finds...

My verdict
The Memory Chamber is an innovative combination of science, murder-mystery and thriller set in an alternative world that's not that different from our own.

It features an interesting and thought-provoking concept - the creation of an artificial afterlife. Following the extraction of certain cells after death, clients can exist within their selected memories forever, inside a heaven that's been tailor-made just for them. The controversial technology is mainly for those who can afford it and choose to have one, but it isn't just for the wealthy. There's a global war going on, and soldiers are able to plan their own heavens, and contemplate their own deaths, before they head to the frontline.

Heaven Architect Isobel combines her knowledge of science and creativity to create amazing heavens for her clients, discussing their needs in advance. She's dedicated to her job, but breaks her professional and ethical code when she falls for a terminally ill married client, Jarek, who becomes a prime suspect in a murder investigation after his death. If Jarek is guilty of murder, his cells will be destroyed, which means he won't live forever in the heaven Isobel created just for him. So she agrees to explore his memories inside his heaven for clues that will prove he wasn't the killer. But that science is still untested, and soon Isobel no longer knows who she can trust.

I raced through The Memory Chamber. It kept me on the edge of my seat, with twists and turns, suspense and thrills, and some tender moments too. With a background in science writing, Holly Cave has explained the scientific concepts well. It all seemed very believable, as she has also explored the ethical and legal issues involved.

The Memory Chamber is a book that will make you question and think - a perfect book club read. Would you want to exist in your own tailor-made afterlife or would you prefer oblivion? Would you want to be part of someone else's afterlife, even if you know little about them? And which of your own memories would you choose to remember for eternity?

Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy - Blog Tour Review

I am delighted to be today's stop on the blog tour for Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy. Do Not Become Alarmed was published by Viking (Penguin) on 6 July 2017. 

Do Not Become Alarmed
By Maile Meloy
Published by Viking (6 July 2017)

Publisher's description

When Liv and Nora decide to take their husbands and children on a holiday cruise, everyone is thrilled. The ship's comforts and possibilities seem infinite. But when they all go ashore in beautiful Central America, a series of minor mishaps lead the families further from the ship's safety. 

One minute the children are there, and the next they're gone.

What follows is a heart-racing story told from the perspectives of the adults and the children, as the distraught parents - now turning on one another and blaming themselves - try to recover their children and their shattered lives. 

My verdict
Do Not Become Alarmed is well written literary fiction, focusing on parents' reactions to the disappearance of their children on an excursion trip during a two week cruise. The book highlights corruption, drugs and murder within Central America, so has some dark underlying themes.

The events are told from the perspectives of the parents and the children. I enjoyed the children's version of the events far more than the parents', finding it difficult to sympathise with, and warm to, the adults. I didn't find the book particularly emotional. However, I was intrigued enough to keep reading to find out what happened to the children and families by the end.

The families involved are all wealthy and successful. One key message from the plot seemed to be that wealth can't buy you commonsense, happiness or breeding, judging from the parents' behaviour. I wasn't totally sure why one particular thread was there, other than to show the rich-poor divide.

This book is marketed as a 'heart-racing' story, but I didn't find this to be the case. Instead, I found it to be a slow burner, focusing on family dynamics and changing friendships when dealing with every parent's worst nightmare. It took me a few chapters to get into the story, possibly because I was expecting something else - but once I realised this wasn't going to be a fast-paced read with lots of twists and turns, I focused on the vivid descriptions and atmospheric setting.

I suspect that readers who love fast-paced thrillers may be disappointed. And I also suspect that this could be a marmite book for the summer season - people may either love it or hate it, depending on their expectations.

Follow the Blog Tour

Watch Me by Angela Clarke

Watch Me
By Angela Clarke
Published by Avon (12 January 2017)
ISBN: 978-0008174613

Publisher's description

YOU HAVE SIX SECONDS TO READ THIS MESSAGE…

The body of a 15-year-old is found hours after she sends a desperate message to her friends. It looks like suicide, until a second girl disappears.

This time, the message is sent directly to the Metropolitan Police – and an officer’s younger sister is missing.

DS Nasreen Cudmore and journalist Freddie Venton will stop at nothing to find her. But whoever’s behind the notes is playing a deadly game of hide and seek – and the clock is ticking.

YOU HAVE 24 HOURS TO SAVE THE GIRL’S LIFE.
MAKE THEM COUNT.

My verdict
I thought that Watch Me was a step up from Follow Me. It felt more serious and more refined, with weightier narrative, more developed characters and more realistic dialogue.

The story picks up soon after Follow Me with original characters - Nas and Freddie - alongside some new ones, now that police officer Nas has been transferred to a different department. While Watch Me could possibly be read as a standalone, I do think readers will find it easier if they read Follow Me first to understand the characters' backstories.

The plot is tense and gripping, with plenty of twists and turns, and kept me guessing all the way through. Nas and Freddie are on a race against the clock, with 24 hours to save a missing girl, which added to the tension and pace.

This crime thriller series is current and modern, using social media to showcase crimes. So far it has covered Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram, and I look forward to seeing what's next.

I received an Advance Reader Copy.

How I Write by Mark Leggatt

I would like to welcome Mark Leggatt to my blog today. Mark's latest book The London Cage was published by Fledgling Press on 29 June 2016.

How I Write

By Mark Leggatt

Many thanks to Victoria for asking me to contribute to her blog. I chose a topic that endlessly fascinates me; how I actually get from the ‘idea’ to the ‘book on the shelf’.  I say fascinates me, as in my day job as a Project Manager, I’m always looking for ways to make processes more efficient. Not stripping things down to the bare bone, but finding the best method, and one which is tailored to my personal foibles, to achieve the final objective; a book.

I’ve written on this topic before for my own blog, but that was over a year ago, and things have moved on. At first, in the years spent leading up to my first publishing deal, I filled endless notebooks with illegible handwriting; a general repository for anything that came into my head. I write every day, and as it started way before laptops were something you didn’t need a wheel barrow to lug around, and didn’t threaten to break your legs if you did sat them on your lap. Paper and pen was always seemed the natural way to write, and for one good reason; I can’t type and think of stories at the same time. My brain can type, or it can write. But not at the same time. Which is why I’m writing this blog by hand, with a fountain pen made in 1925, on Rhodia paper, and which I’ll dictate into my laptop. But more of that later…

At first, I used a desk diary, and wrote anything and everything during my working day. Day job note as well as ideas. I think I now have around fifty A4 and twenty A5 notebooks crammed with rubbish; sorry, I meant scintillating wisdom. So, when it came to actually writing a story, the keyboard on my computer was not my natural environment. Basically, I’m a terrible typist.

The day I got out of bed, on a sunny day in the south of France, where I was ‘resting’ between jobs, and told myself to ‘stop talking about writing a book and bloody well get on with it’, I drove up to the next village and bought a ton of paper and pens. Did I need them? No, I had shedloads at home, but this was a special day. Any bloody excuse to buy stationery, frankly. I came home, cleared the dining room table, and set to work. I had no idea where I was going, but that was fine, I’d find my way if I didn’t give up.

At first, I used A3 (and still do) to brain dump anything that came into my head, but as I went back to the day job, and lots of travel, that was impractical, so I change to A5 notebooks, that I can open on an airline seat table, and then transfer everything to A3 at the weekend. This became a really good habit, because in the rewriting, so many more things came and ideas blossomed. These days I don’t travel so much, but if I do, and where ever I go, I carry an A5 notebook, and a Field Notes notebook in my back pocket. I swear to you, the fabulous idea you just had will disappear out your head in seconds if you don’t write it down immediately.

At home, where most of my writing is done, I start in old notebooks, and still do the same brain dump. I let my mind wander, and just keep scribbling, the idea will come out, and the best way to make it happen is to write, and keep writing. It’s cathartic, productive and bloody good fun.

And this is an important thing to me; I love the act of writing with a pen or pencil. It’s a physical manifestation of my thoughts, and it endlessly entertains, me, in an unabashed childish way. I’m not that fussy about my pen and paper, really, but given a choice, I’d go for a good fountain pen and some good paper. The paper is important because it need to be able to take the ink without bleeding through on to the next page. I won’t bore you with my research on the topic, but Rhoda make damn fine paper.

Now, once all the ideas are out of my head, and I’ve organised them into some sort of synopsis, I’ll dictate it in the laptop, using Apple voice recognition or Dragon. Anything to save typing. And when the onscreen editing is done, and I have a finished synopsis, it’s time to get out the pencils.

Why pencils? Well, it’s down to speed. I write faster with pencils. I chose either A4 Cartridge paper, or a Rhodia a5 notepad, and just go for it. I sharpen 12 pencils, line them up, and I’m ready to go.

Endless reams of paper later, I dictate the whole lot on the laptop, and we have a draft book. That’s the easy bit over. Then the editing starts. And that’s a topic for another day…

About Mark Leggatt

Mark Leggatt is the author of Names Of The Dead, The London Cage, and The Silk Road, a series of international thrillers which weave fact and fiction across the globe.was born in Lochee, Dundee and currently lives in Edinburgh.

He is a member of the Crime Writers Association in the UK, The Society of Authors, Scottish PEN, and the International Thriller Writers in the USA. He is the Debut Author Programme Membership vice-chair for the International Thriller Writers.

Find Mark on his website and on Twitter - @Mark_Leggatt


About The London Cage

The London Cage
By Mark Leggett
Published by Fledgling Press (29 June 2016)
ISBN: 978-1905916122

Publisher's description

A man who doesn't exist discovers a weapon that doesn't exist. The CIA had hoped it would be buried for centuries, but the retreat of the glaciers has revealed a Cold War secret that could bring down the communications and defence systems of every country on the planet. Connor Montrose must find a way to take control of the destructive power and stop the global race towards Armegeddon. Every major country in the world is desperate for the secret. Including his own. He is faced with the choice of betrayal or survival, but either way, he'll lose.Cold War enemies from Washington and Moscow pursue him across London, and only one young hacker, Kirsty, will stand by his side. Then an old man tells him, "If I had the choice between betraying my friends and betraying my country, I should hope I have the guts to betray my country." His country needs him, but if he gives up the secret, his friends and those he loves will die. And the killing will never stop.

Buy The London Cage on Amazon UK here