Down Among The Dead Men by Kerry Wilkinson

Down Among The Dead Men
By Kerry Wilkinson
Published by Pan (22 October 2015)
ISBN: 978-1509804610

Publisher's description

'I'm going to do you a favour: I'm going to tell you my name and then I'm going to give you thirty seconds to turn and run. If any of you are still here after those thirty seconds, then we're going to have a problem'.

Jason Green's life is changed for good after he is saved from a mugging by crime boss, Harry Irwell. He is then drawn into Manchester's notorious underworld, where smash and grab is as normal as making a cup of tea.

But Jason isn't a casual thug. He has a life plan that doesn't involve blowing his money on the usual trappings. That is until a woman walks into his life offering the one thing that money can't buy - salvation.

My verdict
I have enjoyed Kerry Wilkinson books in the past, so was looking forward to reading another one of his books, expecting yet another brilliant read. And Down Among The Dead Men certainly hit the target for me, although it's very different from his Jessica Daniels series.

You first meet Jason as a young boy. He's escaping from a group of thugs and is rescued by crime boss Harry Irwell. The book then switches between past and present, as you learn more about Jason's background and his current situation. I wondered how his life would have been different if Harry hadn't rescued him that day.

Jason lives with his alcoholic mother and a deadbeat brother. He earns his money in Manchester's underworld, doing jobs for Harry that no one else wants. Robberies and crime are second nature to him. But he also dreams of a better life. So when a mysterious woman offers him a way out, he knows he would be a fool to turn it down.

Down Among The Dead Men was really easy to get into and intrigued me from the start. It's written at a steady place and has some believable and interesting characters, with some great twists and turns. I read it in a couple of hours.

I was fortunate to receive an Advance Reader Copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

24 Hours by Claire Seeber - BLOG TOUR

I am delighted to be today's stop on the BLOG TOUR for Claire Seeber's 24 Hours, which was published on 9 October 2015 by Bookouture.

24 Hours
By Claire Seeber
Published by Bookouture (9 October 2015)
ISBN: 978-1910751565

Publisher's description

Here today. Dead tomorrow?

My best friend, Emily, is dead – killed last night in a hotel fire.

But it was meant to be me.

Now I have 24 hours to find my daughter.

Before he finds out I’m still alive.

My verdict
24 Hours is a fast-paced twisty thriller that keeps you guessing until the very end.

Laurie thinks someone tried to kill her in a hotel fire, but killed her best friend instead. And now the same person is going after her young daughter. So the race is on for Laurie to find her daughter before it's too late.

I love books with an unreliable narrator - and with 24 hours, you get a whole host of other dodgy characters too.  The plot follows Laurie's current situation hour by hour, interspersed with events from her past, such as her marriage and its breakdown. You're never quite sure whether Laurie is telling the truth. And you have no idea whether she and her daughter are really in danger - or, in fact, whether someone is after her at all.

24 Hours is an exhausting roller coaster read that will leave you gasping for breath. It's a great page turner that can easily be read in one sitting.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Broken Promise by Linwood Barclay

Broken Promise
By Linwood Barclay
Published by Orion (10 September 2015)
ISBN: 978-1409145943

Publisher's description
The morning it all started, newspaper reporter David Harwood had plenty to worry about. A single parent with no job, forced to return with his young son to the small town of Promise Falls to live with his parents, the future wasn't looking too rosy. So when his mother asked him to look in on his cousin Marla, who was still not quite right after losing her baby, it was almost a relief to put the disaster his own life had become to one side.
The relief wouldn't last long.
When he gets to Marla's house he's disturbed to find a smear of blood on the front door. He's even more disturbed to find Marla nursing a baby, a baby she claims was delivered to her 'by an angel.' And when, soon after, a woman's body is discovered across town, stabbed to death, with her own baby missing, it looks as if Marla has done something truly terrible.
But while the evidence seems overwhelming, David just can't believe that his cousin is a murderer. In which case, who did kill Rosemary Gaynor? And why did they then take her baby and give it to Marla? With the police convinced they have an open and shut case, it's up to David to find out what really happened, but he soon discovers that the truth could be even more disturbing...

My verdict
I'm a big fan of Linwood Barclay books and thought that Broken Promise was yet another great read.

News reporter David Harwood has returned to his childhood town Broken Promise and moved back in with his parents. He's struggling to find a job but needs one urgently to give his young son a stable home. When his cousin Marla is accused of murder and kidnapping a baby, David isn't convinced that everything is what it seems. So he decides to investigate further, which ends up putting him and his family in danger.

There are lots of characters, viewpoints and sub-plots, and it took me a while to get used to this. But by the end of the book, I felt I knew the characters well. The plot kept me intrigued, with murder, corruption, kidnapping and deception at the heart of it. As expected with Linwood Barclay books, there were lots of twists and turns. Admittedly I did guess a couple of these, but this didn't spoil my enjoyment as I raced to the end.

All of the threads of the main plot are tied up by the final page, yet there's still an abrupt ending that does leave the reader hanging. Yes it is a little frustrating, but it does make me look forward to reading the next book in this series.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publish in exchange for an honest review.

Read my interview with Linwood Barclay here.

The Dish by Stella Newman

The Dish
By Stella Newman
Published by Headline (21 May 2015)
ISBN: 978-1472220073

Publisher's description
Love is on the menu. With a side order of lies.
When Laura Parker first crosses forks with Adam Bayley, she's only after one thing: his custard doughnut. But when she takes a closer look she sees a talented, handsome man who outshines the string of jokers she's been dating.
There's just one problem. Adam's job means Laura has to keep her job as restaurant critic for The Dish, a secret. Tricky for someone who prides herself on honesty.
Can the truth be put on ice long enough for love to flourish?
And how can you expect your boyfriend to be honest if you're not quite telling the truth yourself?

My verdict
The Dish is a sweet 4* read, ideal for food lovers. Not to be read if you're trying to lose weight! Or at least, not when you're hungry!

Laura Parker works as a food critic, but keeps her identity secret so that she can give an honest opinion about the restaurants she visits. But when she meets Adam Bayley, honesty doesn't seem to be the best policy for either of them. Not a good start to a new relationship...

The Dish is an easy read with a well-structured plot. It contains observant narrative, well-developed warm characters and great descriptions of food. The story is a bit predictable and maybe a little longer than it needed to be. In certain places, there are email exchanges that could have been cut out to move the story along a bit more quickly.

But overall, I enjoyed The Dish and it provided perfect escapism for an afternoon. It's a far 'meatier' read than other books labelled as 'chick lit'. And it's prompted me to investigate Stella Newman's other novels.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher through Bookbridgr in exchange for an honest review.

Asking For It by Louise O'Neill

Asking For It
By Louise O'Neill
Published by Quercus (3 September 2015)
ISBN: 978-1784295868

Publisher's description

It's the beginning of the summer in a small town in Ireland. Emma O'Donovan is eighteen years old, beautiful, happy, confident.

One night, there's a party. Everyone is there. All eyes are on Emma.

The next morning, she wakes on the front porch of her house. She can't remember what happened, she doesn't know how she got there.

She doesn't know why she's in pain.

But everyone else does. Photographs taken at the party show, in explicit detail, what happened to Emma that night.

But sometimes people don't want to believe what is right in front of them, especially when the truth concerns the town's heroes . . .

My verdict
I was told by a friend (Liz of Liz Loves Books) that Asking For It was a book that I HAD to read. Not just me, but everyone. So I bought it. And yes, I agree. Asking For It IS a book that has to be read.

I read this in one sitting. It's thought provoking, sensitive and emotional. It's a Young Adult book, but shouldn't be viewed in that way as it tackles some serious issues about 'consent' and whether a girl or woman can be 'asking for it '. Can a girl deserve everything she gets because she's not always the nicest of people? Because she wore the wrong clothes?  Because she drank too much? Or just because…? And what if the perpetrators of this crime are the town's heroes, the golden kids who can do no wrong?

Louise O'Neill has deliberately created Emma, her main character, to pose these questions. And she isn't afraid to cover a controversial topic, bringing it into the public domain.

Asking For It has a simple enough plot. It's graphic in places, but no more than it needs to be. To shock. To have impact. The actions of the teenagers in the book may shock the reader. But they also have an impact on their whole community, not just them and their families.

This is a book that pulls at your heartstrings and leaves you with tear-sodden tissues and a thumping heart. The ending is ambiguous, yet I feel it's meant to be - it leaves you thinking, to make up your mind about the future. But will it be the one you expect?

Look out for the #NotAskingForIt on Twitter.

The Killing of Bobbi Lomax by Cal Moriarty

The Killing of Bobbi Lomax

By Cal Moriarty

Published by Faber & Faber (7 May 2015)

ISBN: 978-0571305384

Publisher's description

CANYON COUNTY, HALLOWEEN 1983

Bobbi Lomax was the first to die, the bomb killed the prom queen on her own front lawn.

Just moments later one of the nails from the city's second bomb forced its way into the brain of property investor Peter Gudsen, killing him almost instantly.

The third bomb didn't quite kill Clark Houseman. Hovering on the brink, the rare books dealer turns out to be Detectives Sinclair and Alvarez's best hope of finding out what linked these unlikely victims, and who wanted them dead and why. But can they find the bomber before he kills again?

Set deep in the religious heartlands of America, The Killing of Bobbi Lomax follows this troubled investigation as a narrative of deceit, corruption and forgery emerges, with an unlikely hero at its heart - a rare coins, books and manuscript dealer - who could either be a genius or the devil.

My verdict

The Killing of Bobbi Lomax is a retro crime novel with a tight complex plot.

In 1983, a series of bombings kill two people and injure a third. The surviving victim seems to be the detectives' best hope to find out why. The race is on to stop more bombings and uncover the perpetrator.

The plot focuses on religious cults and counterfeiting. Its multiple layers are gradually peeled back to reveal the underlying reasons for the bombings. Thanks to the 1980s setting, the detectives have to use old-fashioned techniques of interviewing all suspects, assessing crime scenes on site and putting all the clues together to solve the crime.

I enjoyed the authentic 1980s feel and the book was well written and well plotted. But having read some other reviews, I expected the book to have more of a wow factor. I don't think I connected with any of the characters, although Clark was a real scoundrel at heart and some of his actions made me laugh. Yet I still give the book four stars for its originality. It's a great debut.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Making Friends with Anxiety: A Calming Colouring Book by Sarsh Rayner with Jules Miller

Making Friends with Anxiety: A Calming Colouring Book
By Sarah Rayner with Jules Miller
Published by CreateSpace (24 July 2015)
ISBN: 978-1514190098

My verdict
The Making Friends with Anxiety: A Calming Colouring Book is different to the other colouring books I have reviewed so far. This one aims to provide some background information on anxiety and stress relief, rather than just pictures to colour. So it's a good choice for people who are looking for some health advice too.

On the left hand pages, there's health information and useful tips on anxiety and stress and ways to cope (such as colouring, arts and crafts, gardening, pet therapy and cups of tea!). Then on the right hand pages, there are the illustrations to colour - these pictures fit in well with the text (e.g. pet pictures for the pet section, gardening pictures for the gardening section etc). The layout of the book means that the colouring pages are one sided, so it doesn't matter too much if the colouring seeps through the page.

The pictures are well-drawn with some intricate detail. For the picture below, I used a mixture of Staedtler triplus colour pens, Staedtler Fineliners and Crayola washable pens. The pens didn't go through the page at all. I haven't quite finished colouring the picture, but this gives you a good idea of the content.

For the following picture, I used WHSmith colour pencils (which are brilliant if you're on a budget) and Derwent Academy Colour Pencils (which are a bit more expensive).

Here's another picture, which I have yet to colour. It's not a great photo, but you can see the detail of the background and wallpaper, as well as the dogs in the foreground.

Overall, this is a great colouring book containing fun detailed pictures. It's a good size as it's not very bulky and, if you suffer from anxiety or stress, you may benefit from the useful lifestyle tips too. Sarah Rayner has also written a book called Making Friends with Anxiety, containing tips, exercises and anecdotes.

I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.