#BlogTour Risk of Harm by Lucie Whitehouse

 It's a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Risk of Harm by Lucie Whitehouse.

About the Author

Lucie Whitehouse was born in Gloucestershire in 1975, read Classics at Oxford University and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of The House at Midnight, the TV Book Club pick The Bed I Made and Before We Met, which was a Richard & Judy Summer Book Club pick and an ITV3 Crime Thriller selection. Follow @LWhitehouse5 on Twitter

About the book

Robin Lyons is back in her hometown of Birmingham and now a DCI with Force Homicide, working directly under Samir, the man who broke her heart almost twenty years ago.

When a woman is found stabbed to death in a derelict factory and no one comes forward to identify the body, Robin and her team must not only hunt for the murderer, but also solve the mystery of who their victim might be.

As Robin and Samir come under pressure from their superiors, from the media and from far-right nationalists with a dangerous agenda, tensions in Robin's own family threaten to reach breaking point. And when a cold case from decades ago begins to smoulder and another woman is found dead in similar circumstances, rumours of a serial killer begin to spread.

In order to get to the truth Robin will need to discover where loyalty ends, and duty begins. But before she can trust, she is going to have to forgive – and that means grappling with some painful home truths.

Review

Robin has to file away her own feelings of anxiety when the body of a young woman is discovered. It brings back unpleasant memories of what she nearly lost herself. When a second body is found soon after she realises they might be dealing with something more than a one-of.

Simultaneously Robin has to deal with the fractious relationships she has within her own family, especially as those problems seep into her day job and threaten to undermine her position.

It's a multi-faceted crime read. It has layers of a domestic thriller with a brutally honest Kodak snapshot of crime in certain areas of the UK. Then to add the cherry on top the political tension, due to the rising far right and racist sentiments, gives the read a sharp current angle.

Whitehouse delivers characters who seem comfortable and familiar to the readers  - a bit like old friends inviting us in for their dysfunctional family moments, the moral quandaries and murder most wicked. It's a riveting read.

Buy Risk of Harm at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Fourth Estate: pub date 8 July 2021 - £8.99. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour Bound by Vanda Symon

It was a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Bound by Vanda Symon. 'The latest in the bestselling Sam Shephard series, which has been shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh award and the CWA New Blood Dagger.'

About the Author

Vanda Symon is a crime writer, TV presenter and radio host from Dunedin, New Zealand, and the chair of the Otago Southland branch of the New Zealand Societyof Authors. The Sam Shephard series has climbed to number one on the New Zealand bestseller list, and has also been shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel and for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger. She currently lives in Dunedin, with her husband and two sons.

Follow @vandasymon @OrendaBooks on Twitter, on Amazon, on Goodreads, Visit vandasymon.com,

About the book

The passionate, young police officer Sam Shephard returns in a taut, atmospheric and compelling police procedural, which sees her take matters into her own hands when the official investigation into the murder of a local businessman fails to add up…

The New Zealand city of Dunedin is rocked when a wealthy and apparently respectable businessman is murdered in his luxurious home while his wife is bound and gagged, and forced to watch. But when Detective Sam Shephard and her team start investigating the case, they discover that the victim had links with some dubious characters.

The case seems cut and dried, but Sam has other ideas. Weighed down by her dad’s terminal cancer diagnosis, and by complications in her relationship with Paul, she needs a distraction, and launches her own investigation. And when another murder throws the official case into chaos, it ’s up to Sam to prove that the killer is someone no one could ever suspect.

Review

Sam is called to the scene of a vicious home invasion. Brutal, ruthless and unfortunately the young son of the victims has come home to find one parent dead and the other one close to death. It's the beginning of a sordid tale of crime and facades.

I'm sure I wasn't the only reader who wanted to shake Sam into some kind of reaction when it came to her boss treating her like a naughty schoolgirl in front of everyone. Then her mother, her family in general, treating her like an afterthought because she has the audacity to have a career in a male dominated field.

It's a cracking crime read - Symon captivates from start to finish. Shephard is a character who is pummeled by those who see the weaknesses in her and yet she shines when it comes to solving crimes. She has an instinct for the details - her gut tells her there is something wrong with the scenario being spun by those at the top.

I can't wait to see where the author takes this series and hope we see a more combative and fierce side to Sam. It's certainly an excellent read I wouldn't hesitate to recommend. The author knows exactly how to balance the tension of the crime with the more emotional side of the characters. It gives it a more authentic feel. And kudos to the author for the prologue.

Buy Bound at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Orenda Books: pub date 4 March 2021 | Paperback Original | £8.99. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour The Silent Wife by Karin Slaughter

I have been looking forward to taking part in the BlogTour The Silent Wife by Karin Slaughter. 20 books - 20 years. Once again Slaughter gives us a fantastic read.

About the Author
Karin Slaughter is one of the world’s most popular and acclaimed storytellers. Published in 120 countries with more than 35 million copies sold across the globe, her 19 novels include the Grant County and Will Trent books, as well as the Edgar-nominated Cop Town and the instant Sunday Times bestselling novels Pretty Girls, The Good Daughter, and Pieces of Her.

The Good Daughter and Cop Town are in development for film and television and Pieces of Her is soon to be an eight-part Netflix adaptation, directed by Lesli Linka Glatter (Mad Men), and produced by Charlotte Stoudt (Homeland) and Bruna Papandrea (Big Little Lies).

Karin is the founder of the Save the Libraries project- a non-profit organisation established to support libraries and library programming. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Follow @SlaughterKarin on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon, Visit karinslaughter.com, Buy The Silent Wife

About the book
Atlanta, Georgia. Present day. A young woman is brutally attacked and left for dead. The police investigate but the trail goes cold. Until a chance assignment takes GBI investigator Will Trent to the state penitentiary, and to a prisoner who says he recognises the MO. The attack looks identical to the one he was accused of eight years earlier. The prisoner’s always insisted that he was innocent, and now he’s sure he has proof. The killer is still out there.

As Will digs into both crimes it becomes clear that he must solve the original case in order to reach the truth. Yet nearly a decade has passed—time for memories to fade, witnesses to vanish, evidence to disappear. And now he needs medical examiner Sara Linton to help him hunt down a ruthless murderer. But when the past and present collide, everything Will values is at stake.

Review
Two crimes that seem to be single entities are connected, which is how Will Trent is drawn into the search for a killer who has allegedly been caught, and the machinations of a criminal with ulterior motives. Whilst peeling back the layers of an historic crime he realises that somewhere along the line people have screwed up and in a way that has cost lives and left scars that will never heal.

Simultaneously he has to navigate the complicated boundaries of his relationship with Sara, which is easier said than done. It's hard loving a woman who admits that she will never love Will the same way she loved her ex.

Together they have to retrace steps and revisit mistakes to find a ruthless killer, which also leads them right into the clutches of little old troublesome Lena Adams. Such a great character, because she really doesn't give two monkeys whether she breaks rules, commits crimes or crosses boundaries.

On a side-note I really disliked Sara. Not Sara as the professional, but most certainly in her personal life. Regardless of her past and all her ex-hubby baggage - she really enjoys the drama, perhaps more than she should. It's a peculiar imbalance, because as far as being the expert when it comes to death and crime scenes she gives Cornwell's Scarpetta a run for her money.

It's a police procedural with the vibe of a vicious and meticulously plotted psychological thriller.

I really enjoy the way Slaughter plots. She plays the long game. As a reader you should be looking under beds, remembering every detail and looking out for the solution woven shrewdly into the story. It's there - if you look close enough.

What this author does exceptionally well is deliver a read you really want to solve. The story keeps you captivated from beginning till the end, which is always a sign of a great read and a talented author.

Buy The Silent Wife at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: HarperCollins; pub date 25 Jun. 2020.| £20.00 | Hardback. Buy at Amazon com.

A Dark so Deadly by Stuart MacBride

This read is messy, but in a good way. It is at the very least dysfunctional and unpredictable. Fair warning, an extremely high amount of babies, of the jelly variety, lose their little lives during this murderous tale.

MacBride has his characters throwing around banter like an unruly crowd throwing food during an ancient Greek theatre performance. A lot of tit for tat and sometimes they are as vicious to each other, as a honey badger on a rampage.

Poor Callum, he really isn't having a very good time of it. His career is nearly over, his life is crumbling like a dunked biscuit and his new friend on speed dial is a 7 year old girl, who thinks she is more gangsta than Al Capone.

It takes the gang a while to figure out that they are dealing with a particularly vicious and unbalanced serial killer. A ruthless and very intelligent one.

I have to admit, the author managed to get one over on me. There was the occasional niggle, which I won't delve into because it would give away the game. Overall I was 'colour me surprised' at the end.

I think the author actually excels at having no normal or semi-normal characters, they are all misfits in their own right, and it works. In their own way the whole bunch of them bounce off each other and they care what happens, despite loud protestations to the contrary.

MacBride is definitely an author I will be revisiting. I enjoyed his dark humour and droll wit. I'm fairly certain the whole banter and witty repertoire was a way to distract me from the fact the author was hiding the killer right in front of me. Yeh, that's my theory and I'm sticking with it. (*grin*)

Buy A Dark so Deadly at Amazon UK or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.