#BlogTour The Hunted by Kerry Barnes

Today it's my turn on the BlogTour The Hunted by Kerry Barnes. It's a modern crime with a gangster vibe. It's violent, brutal and very unforgiving at times.

About the Author
Kerry Barnes was born in 1964 and grew up on a council estate in South East London. Pushed by he parents to become a doctor, she entered the world of science and became a microbiologist. After studying law and pharmaceuticals, her career tuned to medicine.

Having dyslexia didn't deter her from her passion for writing. She began writing when he daughter was born thirty years ago. Once her children had grown up she moved to the Kent coast and now writes full time.

Follow @KerryBarnes1 on Twitter,
Visit authorkerrybarnes.co.uk
Buy The Hunted

About the book
Having spent her life watching her father run his East London firm, Zara Ezra has learnt a thing or two about being a gangster, and she's ready to take over when the time comes.

Mike Regan, a blast from Zara's past is the head of his own firm, but when his son is kidnapped in the middle of a gangland feud, Mike has no choice but to accept help from the Ezras to get his little boy back alive.

With a rival firm playing increasingly dirty , murder moves to the top of the agenda and Zara has some big choices to make. It seems that the only way to come out on top is to play them at their own game...

But will she become The Hunter or The Hunted?

Review
Don't expect slick, charming criminals in this new series by Barnes. It's brutal and ruthless filled with graphic language and some heavy scenes. It also plays on a few stereotypes and tropes when it comes to certain ethno-religious groups.

The main character is a strong woman who steps up to continue her family legacy. She finds it isn't as simple as stepping into a role created for the heir or heiress. She has to prove herself to her own 'firm' and most certainly to the rival firms nipping at their heels and trying to undermine their power and position.

Zara really feels as if she has no choice than to live up to the expectations of her father, and not everyone agrees with her being at the helm of the firm. Her determination puts her in danger, but it also helps to clear the muddied waters.

Simultaneously the story of Mike and Zara plays a pivotal role in this story, as he reaches out to the rival firm to help him with a serious personal problem. The kind of situation that can break a man. The two of them connect on a level that plays throughout the story.

Barnes likes to deliver a fast-paced crime read. In this case also showing that the criminals have certain aspects in their lives that can be considered more humane than others. That is often the contradiction in people who earn a living committing crimes and even heinous crimes. Family members can be put on a pedestal for instance, despite the fact the criminal may be destroying another family at the same time. It's the tragic irony of criminal behaviour.

It's a modern crime with a gangster vibe. It's violent, brutal and very unforgiving at times.

Buy The Hunted at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: HQ, HQ Digital. Buy at Amazon com. Follow @HQDigitalUk @HQStories on Twitter

Read my review of The Rules by Kerry Barnes, Read my review of Deceit by Kerry Barnes.

#BlogTour The Rules by Kerry Barnes

Today it's my turn on the BlogTour The Rules by Kerry Barnes.  It's a story with a criminal as the one in charge.

About the Author
Kerry Barnes - born in 1964, grew up on a council estate in South-East London. Pushed by her parents to become a doctor, she entered the world of science and became a microbiologist. After studying law and pharmaceuticals, her career turned to medicine. Having dyslexia didn’t deter her from her passion for writing. She began writing when her daughter was born thirty years ago. Once her children had grown up she moved to the Kent coast and now writes full time.

Follow @KerryBarnes1 @HQDigital on Twitter
Visit authorkerrybarnes.co.uk
Buy The Rules

About the book
Do you live by the rules, or die by them?

Holed up in prison, Mike Regan is offered a deal – his freedom in exchange for his firm taking down the gang that is supplying a new dangerous drug that has hit the streets. What starts as a game soon becomes a shocking revelation with devastating consequences.

Meanwhile, Mike’s fiancé, Zara Ezra, has her own firm to run. But when the so-called Governor is out to take her down, she has her own decision to make – either fight, run, or write her own rule book…

Review
Hmm imagine a world where the police force is so ill-equipped to deal with not only the rise in crime, but the types of crime being committed, that they try and rope in the older generation of criminals to help them.

There used to be an unwritten law, which was particularly evident on the streets and inside prison. Even criminals have rules about what they consider to breaching an unspoken rule of conduct, and breakers of said rules were treated accordingly. Even today criminals want a line to be drawn between themselves and deviants, especially any deviancy involving children. That's still a big no-no.

The problem is the world has moved beyond those romanticised versions of the Kray twins and other old-school criminal types. Just to be clear the Krays were ruthless monsters, the world just likes to paint them as something akin to Hollywood or mob royalty.

The police of today are dealing with unimaginably cruel and inhumane crimes. There are no boundaries to what some people will do to make money or to cause pain. How do you fight people who are monsters when you, the police in this instance, are given no respect from the majority of the public and no appropriate way to combat said monsters. Perhaps turning to the old guard doesn't sound like such a bad idea.

Barnes takes it up a notch in this book, which is violent, graphic and fast-paced. The reader needs to keep their eye on the ball in order to keep up with who the bad and the good guys are. To be fair I think those lines are well and truly skewed by the end of the book.

It's perhaps a wee bit too fast in some places, which gives the plot a disjointed feel at times, but also in equal measures a way to represent the chaos of modern crime on our streets at the moment. It's an eye for an eye kind of justice with no attempt to hide the brutality of that thought process. It's a story with a criminal as the one in charge.

Buy The Rules (The Hunted #2) at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

Read my review of Deceit by Kerry Barnes

#BlogTour Deceit by Kerry Barnes

Today it's the last stop on the BlogTour for Deceit by Kerry Barnes. Get ready for a lot of lying and manipulation.

About the Author
Follow @KerryBarnes1 @HQDigital on Twitter
Visit authorkerrybarnes.co.uk
Buy Deceit 

About the book
Someone’s watching you…
Living in a beautiful home on the edge of a council estate, Kara Bannon can’t imagine what it’s like to have nothing.

An eerie phone call plays on her mind and within three days she loses everything – her job, her home and Justin, the only person she thought she could trust.

Alone and terrified, she makes a decision that will change her life forever. Suddenly she has to enter a new world – Prison. Revenge is not always so sweet…

Review
This is a tale of betrayal, manipulation and deceit. Kara has the perfect job, house and boyfriend. Her life seems to be well planned and executed, at least from the outside. Inside is a different matter. In reality her life is slowly crumbling like a piece of old bread.

In the blink of an eye everything goes from rocky to complete destruction. Her boyfriend decides to leave her and that is the beginning of the end. The very next day Kara ends up behind bars. Perfect life waves bye bye, as it disappears into the distance.

Let me just say that although her lawyer mounts an interesting defence and yes it is a valid defence, I still think her actions show a level of worryingly destructive behaviour. Not just an accident or an afterthought. It is a planned annihilation.

Both Kara and Justin are unaware that their every move is being manipulated by someone who has an invested interest in keeping them apart. Someone who is capable of lying about everything.

I just have to have a little moan about the part in the story that infuriated me the most. (Without giving anything away) When Justin decides he can not only swoop in and take what is rightfully 'his', when he did it with the support of the newbie - I wanted to slap him round the head.

I can imagine estate dwellers feeling a wee bit stereotyped in this book. Not that there aren't people who talk like that and swear a lot, and perhaps make up a large percentage of the prison population and or criminal element in the UK. There are also plenty who have careers and don't aspire to be the next inmate in their local prison.

I absolutely understand that the author wanted to point out how strong the connections are between the people who live in environments that are often low socio-economic areas, and how strong bonds can be forged in prison.

Barnes places all her players on the table where the readers can see them and then proceeds to play a game of screwed-up chess. The reader can see what is coming, but isn't able to predict everything because the author brings out the occasional twist in the story. It's an emotional psychological thriller.

Buy Deceit at Amazon UK or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.
Publisher: HQ Digital
Pub. date: 1 August 2018