#Blogtour After Death by Dean Koontz

It's my turn on the Blogtour After Death by Dean Koontz.

About the Author

Dean Koontz is the author of many #1 bestsellers. His books have sold over five hundred million copies in thirty-eight languages, and The Times has called him a ‘literary juggler’. He lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, and their golden retriever, Elsa. Follow @deankoontz on Twitter

About the book

Michael Mace, head of security at a top-secret research facility, is amazed to open his eyes in a makeshift morgue twenty-four hours after an event in which everyone perished – including him and his best friend, Shelby Shrewsberry.

Having awakened with an extraordinary ability unlike anything he – or anyone else – has ever imagined, Michael now finds that he is capable of being as elusive as a ghost. He sets out to honour his late friend by using his new-found gifts to help Nina Dozier and her son, John, whom Shelby greatly admired.

Although what Michael does for Nina is life changing, his actions also evoke the wrath of John’s father, a member of one of the most violent street gangs in Los Angeles. But an even greater threat is descending: the Internal Security Agency’s most vicious assassin, Durand Calaphas. Calaphas will stop at nothing to get his man. And if Michael dies twice, he will not live a third time.

From the tarnished glamour of Beverly Hills to the streets of South Central to a walled estate in Rancho Santa Fe, only Michael can protect Nina and John – and ensure that light survives in a rapidly darkening world.

Review

There is a lot going on in this story, but it's Koontz, ergo you kind of expect the creative drive and often wild exploration of a variety of ideas. Science meets speculation, injustice meets a strong sense of justice, and dodging death means death is forever on your heels.

Behind or hovering in the background is the sub-premise upon which the author is driving a lot of the stories - the futuristic collaboration of gene therapy and nanobot technology - The Singularity. In this story it's melded with the concepts that wander into speculative fiction, perhaps even bordering a deeper understanding of life and after-life.

I think the main character had a little bit of an Equalizer meets Robin Hood, as Michael steps accidentally into the role of an settling scores and making things a little more equal for those on dangerous positions.

It's gritty, sometimes crude depending on the character, which is a reflection of the gang and prison culture featured in the story. It also has the potential for further books or explorations - speculative is the gift that keeps on giving.

Buy After Death at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Thomas and Mercer, 18th July 2023 - Hardcover | Kindle Ebook | Audiobook. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour Tell Me Lies by Teresa Driscoll

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Tell Me lies by Teresa Driscoll. From the two-million copy bestselling author of Her Perfect Family and I Will Make You Pay.

About the Author

Teresa Driscoll is a former BBC TV news presenter whose psychological thrillers have sold nearly two million copies across the world. Her first thriller I Am Watching You hit Kindle Number 1 in the UK, USA and Australia and has sold more than a million copies in English alone. 

Teresa writes women’s fiction as well as thrillers and her work has been optioned for film and sold for translation in more than 20 territories. For decades Teresa was a journalist working across newspapers, magazines and television. Covering crime for so long, she was deeply moved by the haunting impact on the relatives, the friends and the witnesses and it is those ripples she explores now in her darker fiction. Teresa lives in glorious Devon with her family and blogs regularly about her ‘writing life’ on her website, www.teresadriscoll.com. Follow @TeresaDriscoll on Twitter

About the book

From bestselling author Teresa Driscoll comes a chilling thriller of past secrets and present terror. Deep in a rural hideaway, it’s only the owls watching them … right?

After a betrayal that sent their marriage into freefall, Hannah and Sam are desperate for a fresh start with their eight-year-old daughter Lily—and where better than picture-perfect Owl Cottage in beautiful Cornwall. But something about the holiday home stirs dark memories for Hannah …

When she finds dead creatures on the doorstep and hears mysterious knocks at the door, Hannah can’t help wondering whether someone is messing with her—or whether the past she’s been running from has finally claimed her sanity.

As the disturbing events at Owl Cottage seep out into the local community and the police become involved, Hannah turns to Sam for help. But he dismisses her worries, and she begins to wonder if she was wrong to ever trust him. Are the memories making her paranoid, or is this something more sinister than she dares imagine?

Review

I think Hannah is a curious character in the sense that she can appear to tick boxes and perhaps even irritate readers to the point of manoeuvring herself into the position of prime suspect or guilty party.  At the very least she then emerges as the hypersensitive cuckolded wife leaning towards sightly unhinged.

It's easy to believe she is merely manifesting fear in a certain way, because there has been massive betrayal and upheaval in her recent life. Playing into that is the unresolved trauma she is unaware of or rather of the magnitude of her unresolved subconscious issues.

I thought the author did a great job of not only highlighting the skewing of boundaries when it comes to lived trauma, generational trauma being projected on to the next person in line and perhaps not being able to comprehend where one stops and the reality of a situation happening now ends. How women are gaslit on a daily basis when it comes to mental health, medical issues and just life in general.

It's a dark domestic psychological thriller that keeps the reader guessing for quite a while. It has that creepy isolated atmosphere fuelled by what appears to be paranoia and a healthy dose of mistrust. You know what they say though - it isn't paranoia when they are really out to get you, right?

Buy Tell Me Lies at Amazon uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎Thomas & Mercer pub date 18 April 2023. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour #Audiobook No Place to Run by Mark Edwards

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour for the Audiobook version of No Place to Run by Mark Edwards.

About the Author

Mark Edwards writes psychological thrillers in which scary things happen to ordinary people. Mark has sold over 3.5 million books since his first solo novel, The Magpies, was published in 2013 and has topped the bestseller lists numerous times. His other novels include Follow You Home, Here To Stay and The House Guest. 

He has also published six books co-authored with Louise Voss. His last book, The Hollows, was published in July 2021. Mark lives in the West Midlands, England, with his wife, their three children and two cats. He Tweets at @mredwards

About the book

Two years ago, on a trip to Seattle to visit her brother Aidan, fifteen-year-old Scarlett vanished into thin air.

After years of false leads and dead ends, Aidan has almost given up hope. But then a woman sees a girl running for her life across a forest clearing in Northern California. She is convinced the girl is the missing Scarlett. But could it really be her?

Heading south, Aidan finds a fire-ravaged town covered in missing-teenager posters. The locals seem afraid, the police won’t answer any questions and it looks like another dead end―until a chance meeting with returned local Lana gives Aidan his first clue. But as they piece together what happened, Lana and Aidan make deadly enemies. Enemies willing to do anything to silence them. Only one thing matters now: finding Scarlett ― even if it kills him. 

Review

This review is based on the audiobook version - I personally often find listening and reading experiences of the same book or material to be completely different, despite the subject matter. Possibly because the narrator replaces a lot of the imaginary character constructs, and situational reactions and tensions, one automatically creates whilst reading. That's a pretty long-winded way of saying that I am also going to be reading the hardcopy or digital version of this story.

When Aidan decides to solve the mystery of his teenage sister, who disappeared into thin air a few years prior, he doesn't realise he will end up having to wade through a quagmire of deception, greed, and ruthless corruption. He finds a companion in Lana, who like himself is looking for a missing loved one - in a town covered in missing posters. Sounds creepy, right? Yeh, it goes to places you just won't expect it to.

Having read prior work by this author I think it's fair to say that although this also carries the trademark slow-building and burning when it comes to storytelling, it is also the most boundary pushing and extensive in terms of scope. There was definitely an aspect of opening new doors and seeing where that leads us, especially in regard to combining genres. It's more speculative, and tugs quite a few ripcords when it comes to controversial topics and indeed 21st century problems.

It's a captivating, has the potential to a more than one-of, mystery come thriller. A slight deviation from the usual books by this author, but I am absolutely here for it. I love it when an author goes beyond the realms they might be boxed into for a variety of reasons - the results are often a great reading or listening experience.

Buy No Place to Run by Mark Edwards at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publication: Thomas & Mercer, pub date 21st June 2022 | Paperback -£8.99. Buy at Amazon com.

Listening Length - 10 hours and 11 minutes, Author - Mark Edwards, Narrator - Will M. Watt. Whispersync for Voice - Ready, Audible.co.uk Release Date - 21 June 2022, Publisher - Brilliance Audio, Program Type - Audiobook, Version - Unabridged, Language - English.

#BlogTour The Bone Jar by S.W. Kane

Today it's my turn on the BlogTour The Bone Jar by S.W. Kane.

About the Author
SW Kane studied History of Design and worked at the RIBA before taking on a series of totally unrelated jobs in radio and the music industry, where she still works as a freelance music PR. She has an MA in Creative (Crime) Writing from City University. She began reading crime fiction from an early age and developed an obsession with crime set in cold places. A chance encounter with a derelict fort in rural Pembrokeshire led to a fascination with urban exploration, which in turn became the inspiration for her crime novels. She lives in London.

Follow @kinkstah on Twitter, on Amazon, on Goodreads, Buy The Bone Jar

About the book
Two murders. An abandoned asylum. Will a mysterious former patient help untangle the dark truth?

The body of an elderly woman is been found in the grounds of a derelict asylum on the banks of the Thames. As Detective Lew Kirby and his partner begin their investigation, another body is discovered in the river nearby. Gradually, the secrets of Blackwater Asylum begin to reveal themselves; there are rumours of secret rooms, unspeakable psychological experimentation and a dark force that haunts the ruins.

Urban explorer Connie Darke has her own interest in the asylum; it’s where her sister died in a freak accident and she’s determined to help Kirby expose its grisly past. Meanwhile Kirby discovers a devastating family secret that threatens to turn his life upside down. As his world crumbles around him, Kirby must put the pieces of the puzzle together to keep the killer from striking again. Only an eccentric former patient knows the truth—but will he reveal it to Kirby or Connie before it’s too late?

Review
When the body of an elderly woman is found on the grounds of an old mental asylum it not only evokes a sense of creepy and something nefarious lurking in the shadows, it also suggests someone wants it to feel exactly that way.

Detectives Kirby and urban explorer Darke are drawn into a scene that has its roots in the past. In a building that comes with its own nightmare echo of the patients and experiences they had there. How did the victim get there and who would want to harm a little old lady?

Kane creates this interesting combination of an atmosphere of the unexplained, the reality of medical experiments and how the resulting trauma can determine the way someone lives their life. The whole sleep experimentation sub-plot was intriguing, especially because it is an area the medical world is still not quite clear on. The irony of course is the way the subconscious drives specific parts of this read and the parallel of experiments on a similar area.

Although it seems at times as if Kane goes off in too many directions she does spend time bringing everything back together and tying up all the threads. It's easy to start multiple storylines the hard part is making sure you don't drop the ball along the way.

It has a strong urban crime feel to it and simultaneously this aura of something the reader can't quite grasp as yet. Hopefully as this series evolves whatever that certain element is will become more tangible.

Buy The Bone Jar at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Thomas and Mercer; pub date 1 July 2020 available in Paperback, Kindle and Audiobook. Buy at Amazon com.