#BlogTour Game Show by Allie Cresswell

It's my pleasure to host the BlogTour for Game Show by Allie Cresswell today. This story is a sign of the times and it takes a frank look at human nature. It is brutal and unforgiving.

About the Author
I have been writing stories since I could hold a pencil and by the time I was in Junior School I was writing copiously and sometimes almost legibly.

I did, however, manage a BA in English and Drama from Birmingham University and an MA in English from Queen Mary College, London. Marriage and motherhood put my writing career on hold for some years until 1992 when I began work on Game Show.

In the meantime I worked as a production manager for an educational publishing company, an educational resources copywriter, a bookkeeper for a small printing firm, and was the landlady of a country pub in Yorkshire, a small guest house in Cheshire and the proprietor of a group of boutique holiday cottages in Cumbria. Most recently I taught English Literature to Lifelong learners.

Nowadays I write as full time as three grandchildren, a husband, two Cockapoos and a large garden will permit.

Connect with Allie Cresswell on Facebook: alliescribbler/
Visit allie-cresswell.com
Buy Game Show

About the book
It is 1992, and in a Bosnian town a small family cowers in their basement. The Serbian militia is coming - an assorted rabble of malcontents given authority by a uniform and inflamed by the idea that they’re owed something, big-time, and the Bosnians are going to pay. When they get to the town they will ransack the houses, round up the men and rape the women. Who’s to stop them? Who’s to accuse them? Who will be left, to tell the tale?
Meanwhile, in a nondescript northern UK town a group of contestants make their way to the TV studios to take part in a radical new Game Show. There’s money to be won, and fun to be had. They’ll be able to throw off their inhibitions and do what they want because they’ll all be in disguise and no-one will ever know.
In a disturbing denouement, war and game meld into each other as action and consequence are divided, the words ‘blame’ and ‘fault’ have no meaning and impunity reigns .
Game Show asks whether the situation which fostered the Bosnian war, the genocide in Rwanda, the rise of so-called Islamic State in Syria and the ethnic cleansing in Myanmar could ever happen in the West. The answer will shock you.

Review
I adore the kind of premise that explores human nature. The contestants for this game show are a mixed bunch of individuals, so the choices they make and the reactions they have are bound to differ. A privileged wealthy housewife seeks the thrill, as opposed to the love deprived exhausted multiple mother on a tight budget, who may be willing to be more cut-throat to win the show.

At the beginning of the book the show is set to the topic of Native Americans. The scenes are bloodthirsty, wild and barbaric, so aside from the obvious cultural appropriation going on, there is also the aspect of depicting the stereotype and misconceptions of their culture. Very much a privileged white man's idea of amusement, and another indicator of the 'do anything for high ratings' mentality of our era.

The West has already experienced the Holocaust, so the answer to the question in the blurb is yes it can happen in the West. In Western European countries the far right is sitting in governments once more, swastikas and hate crimes are in abundance. In the US the alt-right marches with Tiki torches.Today, at this moment in time, Western society is being forced into a similar scenario, a division between Muslims and non-Muslims, caused by the terrorism of fundamentalists and radicals.

Cresswell mentions the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment, as one of her inspirations to explore the psychology of human nature, and indeed confirm what the majority of us already know through history or perhaps even personal experience.

Given the right set of circumstances and motivation the majority of people will show the base animal instinct of human nature. Survival of the fittest, and above all power and control over others. A certain number of us will lose all inhibition and show ourselves capable of extreme violence and of inflicting pain upon those we perceive to be weaker and deserving of it.

The background of the story is set in the 1990's to the background of the Bosnian conflict. At this point I have to say that despite constant reminders that we all never forget the atrocities of the Nazi regime, we are probably all guilty of ignoring the genocides that have taken place since then, the Bosnian War being a perfect example of that.

There is an interesting rant by Piers (producer) given in the first half of the book, when he more or less denies responsibility for any actions or events that place during the show, because in his eyes any person unable to recognise right from wrong has no moral fibre anyway. Thereby placing the blame solely in the hands of the single perpetrators. Now, don't get me wrong they are to blame, but the person inciting them is just as culpable, actually more so.

Our television screens are awash with game shows and reality tv shows nowadays. Japanese game shows are a prime example of the balancing act between fun and bizarrely extreme heaviour. Participants are asked to act this way, they are primed and rewarded for it, and viewers lap it up. There is a market for it, and the boundaries are becoming less visible as the years go on.

There are two storylines in Game Show, both of which could survive as a standalone plot. Combined the juxtaposition of these two storylines makes the reader aware of the parallels in human behaviour in either situation. Simultaneously it also highlights the ludicrous and frankly abhorrent fact that while the rest of the world is engaged in mundane daily chores, somewhere else men, women and children are being slaughtered.

Cresswell doesn't intend for this to be an easy read. Unfortunately it reminds us of the chaos and violence of human nature. How easily the masses are led, and how fragile our masks of civility are. Given the right set of circumstances the most docile human being can turn into a sadistic killer, and the most brash could possibly crumble at the first sign of adversity.

Game Show is about life within the confines of societal boundaries, and also when it is void of any boundaries at all. Is there really any difference between the two?

Buy Game Show at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

#BlogTour Carnivore by Jonathan Lyon

Let's kick off the BlogTour for Carnivore by Jonathan Lyon. It's a riveting combination of literary fiction meets noir, which brutally kicks the characters aside on occasion to allow for some brash contemporary reality. It is the kind of read that ends up on the tip of wagging tongues and achieving cult status.

About  the Author
Jonathan Lyon was born in 1991 in London. He studied at Oxford University, graduating in 2013 with the Gibbs Prize. He moved to Berlin in the same year. He has had a chronic illness for over a decade. He is a self-made demon. His debut novel, Carnivore, was published by HQ (HarperCollins) in August 2017.

Follow @jonathan_lyon @HQStories on Twitter & jonathan_lyon on Instagram
Buy Carnivore

About the book
Meet Leander: lover, fighter, liar.

He learnt a long time ago that nothing is as intoxicating as blood. But whether it’s his or someone else’s doesn't matter any more. There’s a mysterious pain in every muscle of his body – and it’s got so bad that he’ll do anything to escape it.

Up to now, it’s been his secret. But it’s hard to remain invisible when you leave a trail of destruction everywhere you go. So, when he comes to the attention of one of London’s most infamous criminals, Leander decides to put his appetite for violence to the ultimate test.

Let the villain win.

Extract
‘What’s your fantasy?’
All sex and storytelling starts with this, of course. Sometimes the question’s self-directed, sometimes it’s only implied. But here, obviously, I was supposed to reply ‘being dominated,’ so that’s what I said.
I was actually fantasising about eating a satsuma, slowly, slice by slice, on the edge of a rooftop, or perhaps on a hilltop, watching a building below me burn in a fire I’d started. But this would be too long to say aloud, and probably wouldn’t arouse a man in the prime of his mid-life crisis as easily as a boy begging for a beating.
So now that my victim thought that I was his victim, he could breathe more heavily, and began struggling to unbutton his shirt.‘No, no you should be doing this,’ he said, fluttering his fingers. ‘I mean, undress me, boy!’
Unsuited to the dominant role, he recoiled at his own orders. Clearly, he was a submissive – if I’d had the energy, I could’ve had him on all fours in a few minutes. But energy is not one of my vices. ‘Of course, sir,’ I said instead, my mouth twitching into a smile I had to hide by lowering my head.
Beneath his shirt was a paunch of greying hairs. As I removed the rest of his clothes, he hovered awkwardly between sitting and standing, his hands just above my back, not yet confident enough to touch me.
‘Now, now… you!’ I took off my tracksuit – the uniform he’d requested – delivered my finest doe eyed simper, and knelt down. But he rejected this arrangement and instead dragged me upwards onto the bed. ‘No time for that… boy. Let’s get to the point.’ He forced my face into the pillow and I began to moan in a way that would make him hard. Perhaps he hoped I’d feel a kind of shame in this, but ‘this’ meant nothing.
‘This’ was merely boring.

Review

Leander is like a ticking time bomb with a propensity for violence and a tendency to bury any emotional response, which may appear to the mere human eye to be a humane reaction or at least one deemed suitable by society. He hides behind the games. Fighting pain with more pain, regardless of whether it is inflicted upon others or done unto him.

To be completely frank I think Lyon has carved out a large piece of his soul and woven it straight into this story.

Leander may describe himself as a psychopath, but perhaps his coping mechanisms are just a little more extreme than those of other people. His physical pain has become the demon wailing inside him and battling to take over. To combat the demon he must distract it by any means necessary. Which means hurting those who purport to love him, destroy and play mind games with the shallow ones merely craving his physical appearance.

It's a riveting combination of literary fiction meets noir, which brutally kicks the characters aside on occasion to allow for some brash contemporary reality. It is marmite toast served with a chilled glass of champagne. It is the kind of read that ends up on the tips of wagging tongues and achieving cult status.

Jonathan Lyon devours himself, his desires, his fears and his pain whole, in this ode to the black hole and Shakespearean play of millennialism. Carnivore is perfused with the wealth of an intellectual mind in constant battle with itself, and refusing to be taken prisoner by the borders and boundaries of society or literature.

Are you a carnivore, am I? Are we all destined to be devoured by the hidden insanity and self-destructive tendencies of others or ourselves, whilst sailing along in the interim in our self-inflicted
state of stasis, coping and yet barely living.

Yes, it is that kind of read.

Buy Carnivore at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.
Out in Paperback 5th April 2018

#BlogTour Half a World Away by Sue Haasler

Today I am thrilled to host the BlogTour for Half A World Away by Sue Haasler featuring a fantastic guest post by Sue Haasler, Titles for Books, and my review.

About the Author
Sue Haasler was born and brought up in Co. Durham and studied English Literature and Linguistics at Liverpool University. After graduating she moved to London and worked for three years as a residential social worker. Since then, she has lived as an administrator for a disability charity, which recruits volunteer carers for disabled adults. Many of the volunteers are from abroad and this is how she met her husband, who is from the former East Berlin.

Sue has written four books, True Colours, Time after Time, Two’s Company (all Orion paperbacks) and Better Than the Real Thing. Two’s Company was optioned for film by Warner Bros. She has been commissioned by the BBC to write an authorized tie-in to Holby City.

She is married with an adult daughter and lives in London.
Follow @pauseliveaction @DomePress
Visit pauseliveaction.wordpress.com
Buy Half A World Away

About the Book
Charming and talented Alex dreams of becoming a professional saxophonist while working long hours in the family bakery. Detlef, lonely, repressed, and a small-time Stasi informer, develops an obsessive love for him. But Alex only has eyes for Nicky, an English woman visiting East Berlin as an au pair.

With no natural outlet for his feelings, Detlef’s passion becomes destructive, his need for approval enmeshed with the latent homophobia of the regime. As Alex’s band becomes more successful, he moves closer to influences considered subversive by a state that has eyes and ears everywhere, and Detlef’s passions threaten to endanger all of them.

Guest Post by Sue Haasler

Titles for books

I never find it easy to come up with titles for my books, so I’ve almost always used song titles that resonate with what the story is about. Previously I’ve used two Cyndi Lauper songs (‘Time After Time’ and ‘True Colours’), and my next book will be ‘Another Girl’ - a song by The Beatles, as it’s set in the swinging sixties.

‘Half A World Away’ is a song by REM from their album Out Of Time, which came out a few years after the events of the book. It’s a song I strongly associate with the period when I would often visit my boyfriend (now my husband) in Berlin, where he was a student. He was born and brought up in East Berlin, so even though it was after German reunification it was mainly the eastern part of the city that I got to know. Whenever I hear that REM song it reminds me of Berlin.

East Germany in 1987, the time that the book is mainly set, was half a world away from life in Britain or even West Germany - the same, but distinctly different. Young people were interested in the same things as young people anywhere - music, clothes, sex - but their choices and attitudes were shaped by a state that tried to impose order on its citizens through censorship, regulation and by encouraging them to report any transgressions. There are definitely shades of Orwell’s ‘1984’ in the way that the characters in the book find themselves in trouble with the authorities for behaviour that would be completely innocent anywhere else. The main character, Alex, goes on a journey in his attitude to the country he’s known all his life:

“From the airport over there [in West Berlin], you were allowed to go anywhere in the world: New York, New Orleans, Paris, London. No one got sent to prison for saying their government was corrupt or wrong; you could say what you wanted, even write books full of controversial ideas without anyone saying you were a traitor to the state. You could listen to music without being arrested. You could love anyone you wanted to.”

Review
Haasler couldn't be more right about the now ex-East Germany being half a world away. If you weren't there to experience it, it is extremely hard to fathom how an entire country, and of course Berlin for example, could be split in half as if there were a river of molten lava flowing between the two sides.

Half a World Away takes place in 1987, a mere two years or so before the fall of The Wall. The years after World War II are actually much more fascinating and troubling, as the plan to divide Germany between the Allies slowly took on an appearance, and the country was split into two separate ones. Even after many decades of becoming one country again there will be an occasional reference made to the division and the difference between the people from the East or the West. One of the favourite terms for the GDR (DDR as it was known in Germany) used by West Germans was, and often still is, Dunkel Deutschland (Dark Germany). Even after so many years the rift still emerges now and again, more so because the GDR was ruled by such an oppressive and strict regime.

The love story between Alex and Nicky is one that would have been frowned upon, and although Haasler describes the minutiae reporting of Detlef very well, in the confines of this story it sometimes appears to be part of his own obsession. However the people in the GDR were encouraged to spy and report on their fellow countrymen and women in this way. A Big Brother society where no deviation from the state rules or plans were allowed. Letters from and to the West were considered inflammatory. Family, lovers, friends and colleagues spied on each other to keep themselves free of suspicion.

The Stasi files can be accessed in Berlin, and quite a few people have requested permission to see who reported whom or why their loved ones or they themselves ended up in prisons or being punished. The State Security Service (Staatssicherheitsdienst, SSD) had many things in common with the previous German regime, a mixture of Gestapo meets KGB.

The author describes the isolation and the lack of development or opportunities for the younger generations really well. Dreams and expectations are weighed up against loyalty and a sense of duty, as opposed to the free thinking minds and paths in life on the other side of Germany. Detlef has trouble adjusting his natural desires to the expectations of the dictatorship he lives in. His choices are rationalised by the rules he is governed by.

Haasler does a fantastic job of balancing the two sides of the coin, and why that broken coin needed to be glued back together. The separation is a distant memory, and yet the consequences are still felt within the country and its people to this day. The author draws an interesting parallel between the political and romantic fallout of this historical separation of mind, matter and state. Simultaneously she keeps the story light-hearted, authentic and free of any political opinions. A riveting read, and a bold combination of love and history.

Buy Half a World Away at Amazon Uk  (Kindle) or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.
Pre-order Buy Half A World Away (Paperback) Pub. Date 12th April 2018 by Dome Press.

#BlogTour The Silent Woman by Terry Lynn Thomas

Today is my turn on the BlogTour for The Silent Woman by Terry Lynn Thomas. It is more than just a story about an innocent woman, who accidentally becomes caught up in the pre second World War games of deception, it is about all women and the daily fights they have to endure to survive.

About the Author
Terry Lynn Thomas grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, which explains her love of foggy beaches, windy dunes, and Gothic mysteries. When her husband promised to buy Terry a horse and the time to write if she moved to Mississippi with him, she jumped at the chance. Although she had written several novels and screenplays prior to 2006, after she relocated to the South she set out to write in earnest and has never looked back.

Now Terry Lynn writes the Sarah Bennett Mysteries, set on the California coast during the 1940s, which feature a misunderstood medium in love with a spy. Neptune’s Daughter is a recipient of the IndieBRAG Medallion.

She also writes the Cat Carlisle Mysteries, set in Britain during World War II. The first book in this series, The Silent Woman, was released in April 2018. When she’s not writing, you can find Terry Lynn riding her horse, walking in the woods with her dogs, or visiting old cemeteries in search of story ideas.

Follow @TLThomasBooks @HQDigitalUK
Or follow Terry Lynn Thomas on Facebook
Visit terrylynnthomas.com
Buy The Silent Woman

About the book
Would you sell your secrets?

Catherine Carlisle is trapped in a loveless marriage and the threat of World War Two is looming. She sees no way out… that is until a trusted friend asks her to switch her husband’s papers in a desperate bid to confuse the Germans.

Soon Catherine finds herself caught up in a deadly mixture of espionage and murder. Someone is selling secrets to the other side, and the evidence seems to point right at her.

Can she clear her name before it’s too late?

Review
You could say that Catherine is naive and perhaps not completely aware of the implications of her actions. She is most definitely being used by the secret government groups, who decide the outcomes and often the narrative of history. Her simple tasks as a secret courier aren't doing any harm, it's just a bit of fun and a way to make money.

Not that she should technically have to make money, because her husband is a rich and powerful man, but he keeps her on a tight financial leash. There you have it, the status quo of the majority of women both then and now, controlled by the sexism in society. Then the fact Catherine is deemed useless by her husband because she can't fulfil her 'role' as a woman.

The story was also about the empowerment of women. I'm not sure it was intentional, but kudos to the author if it was. The message could get lost within the crime element of The Silent Woman. The moments when the women protect each other, save each other and make a stand against the sexual harassment, and sexists in general.

The Silent Woman is a combination of spy thriller, crime, women's empowerment and emancipation. It is also about the greatest opposition women encounter, aside from men and gender inequality. When women try to undermine other women, keep them submissive and fail to protect them, it is far worse than being oppressed by the opposite gender. In a way Thomas shows us how the silent woman starts to find her own voice, and stand up for herself and others.

If you are looking for a spy infused crime set in the late 1930s, you might get more than you bargained for. You don't just get a body and a murder mystery, you get a miniature protest and a discovery of self. Thomas delivers more than just a Foyle's War scenario, or in this case Catherine's War. The author delivers a dose of reality with a touch of rebellion.

Buy The Silent Woman at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

#CoverReveal The Picture by Roger Bray

I am thrilled to share the Cover Reveal for The Picture by Roger Bray and am looking forward to the Blogtour for The Picture, which kicks off on the 22nd of April.

About The Picture
A warehouse in Japan used as an emergency shelter in the aftermath of the 2011 Tsunami. A distraught, young Japanese woman in dishevelled clothes sits on a box, holding her infant daughter. Ben, a US rescue volunteer, kneels in front of her offering comfort. They hug, the baby between them. The moment turns into an hour as the woman sobs into his shoulder; mourning the loss of her husband, her home, the life she knew. A picture is taken, capturing the moment. It becomes a symbol; of help freely given and of the hope of the survivors. The faces in the picture cannot be recognised, and that is how Ben likes it. No celebrity, thanks not required.
But others believe that being identified as the person in the picture is their path to fame and fortune. Ben stands, unknowingly, in their way, but nothing a contract killing cannot fix.

About the Author
I have always loved writing; putting words onto a page and bringing characters to life. I can almost feel myself becoming immersed into their lives, living with their fears and triumphs. Thus, my writing process becomes an endless series of questions. What would she or he do, how would they react, is this in keeping with their character? Strange as it sounds, I don’t like leaving characters in cliffhanging situations without giving them an ending, whichever way it develops.
My life to date is what compels me to seek a just outcome, the good will overcome and the bad will be punished. More though, I tend to see my characters as everyday people in extraordinary circumstances, but in which we may all find our selves if the planets align wrongly or for whatever reason you might consider.

Of course, most novels are autobiographical in some way. You must draw on your own experiences of life and from events you have experienced to get the inspiration. My life has been an endless adventure. Serving in the Navy, fighting in wars, serving as a Police officer and the experiences each one of those have brought have all drawn me to this point, but it was a downside to my police service that was the catalyst for my writing.

Medically retired after being seriously injured while protecting a woman in a domestic violence situation I then experienced the other side of life. Depression and rejection. Giving truth to the oft said saying that when one door closes another opens I pulled myself up and enrolled in college gaining bachelor and master degrees, for my own development rather than any professional need. The process of learning, of getting words down onto the page again relit my passion for writing in a way that I hadn’t felt since high school.

So here we are, two books published and another on track.

Where it will take me I have no idea but I am going to enjoy getting there and if my writing can bring some small pleasure into people’s lives along the way, then I consider that I will have succeeded in life.

Connect with Roger Bray:
Follow @rogerbray22 on Twitter or RogerBray/Author on Facebook
Visit rogerbraybooks.com
To Buy The Picture go to Amazon com (The Picture will appear on the buy pages closer to the pub date. I will update the post as soon as the buy links appear)
Buy The Picture on Smashwords
The Picture on Goodreads
Read Psychosis by Roger Bray

Come back for my turn on the Blogtour for The Picture by Roger Bray on the 24th of April! There will be a fantastic Q&A with Roger Bray and my review. Follow the tour starting on the 22nd of April and read what my fellow bloggers have to say about #ThePicture.

Read The Picture by Roger Bray

The Story Keeper by Anna Mazzola

Folklore is a way of passing on the stories of a people and their culture. It is also a way of passing on mythology and fairy-tales to the next generations. Folklore fuels fear, paranoia and mistrust, but it can also be conducive to bonding, feeling safe and a sense of community, especially on an isolated island.

Audrey has taken a job on the remote island of Skye in order to connect with her past and escape from the present. She has been employed to collect the stories of the islanders, the tales of the fae folk. The stories that can compel people to set fire to young girls or bury babies alive, in order to keep the fae happy.

They aren't the cute tiny magical beings of fairy tales changed to be more kid friendly, they are the creatures of nightmares and shadows of daymares. This is what the islanders believe, and also the reason every single possible crime and odd event is automatically blamed on the fae.

When young girls start going missing and one of them turns up dead the rumours are clear, the fae have reason to be displeased and are taking the girls. Audrey thinks there is a more human element to the situation, but is distracted and blocked at every turn of her attempt to gain clarity. It isn't long before the fae start to show her the error of her ways.

I really enjoyed the way the author hid a crime story in the middle of this tale of folklore, magic and paranoia. Mazzola hits the nail on the head when it comes to the seclusion of the population and the almost hermit-like behaviour of the majority of the population. She doesn't neglect the reasons for the hunger, despair and cruelty, which drives many of them into an early grave or on to supposedly greener pastures.

Mazzola gives the reader a combination of an old school classic vibe with a contemporary feel to it. A sort of Jane Eyre meets Christie, and a wee gothic atmosphere mixed in to boot.

Buy The Story Keeper at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.
Kindle Pub. Date 31st May 2018, Hardcover 26 July 2018 (Tinder Press)
Follow @Anna_Mazz @TinderPress
Visit Annamazzola.com

#BlogTour Psychosis by Roger Bray

Today it is my pleasure to host the Blogtour for Psychosis by Roger Bray. It is a story of injustice and a heinous crime. Unfortunately to save one person the actual victim slips into obscurity, thereby leaving the actual fate of the victim unresolved.

About the Author
I have always loved writing; putting words onto a page and bringing characters to life. I can almost feel myself becoming immersed into their lives, living with their fears and triumphs. Thus, my writing process becomes an endless series of questions. What would she or he do, how would they react, is this in keeping with their character? Strange as it sounds, I don’t like leaving characters in cliffhanging situations without giving them an ending, whichever way it develops.
My life to date is what compels me to seek a just outcome, the good will overcome and the bad will be punished. More though, I tend to see my characters as everyday people in extraordinary circumstances, but in which we may all find our selves if the planets align wrongly or for whatever reason you might consider.

Of course, most novels are autobiographical in some way. You must draw on your own experiences of life and from events you have experienced to get the inspiration. My life has been an endless adventure. Serving in the Navy, fighting in wars, serving as a Police officer and the experiences each one of those have brought have all drawn me to this point, but it was a downside to my police service that was the catalyst for my writing.

Medically retired after being seriously injured while protecting a woman in a domestic violence situation I then experienced the other side of life. Depression and rejection. Giving truth to the oft said saying that when one door closes another opens I pulled myself up and enrolled in college gaining bachelor and master degrees, for my own development rather than any professional need. The process of learning, of getting words down onto the page again relit my passion for writing in a way that I hadn’t felt since high school.

So here we are, two books published and another on track.

Where it will take me I have no idea but I am going to enjoy getting there and if my writing can bring some small pleasure into people’s lives along the way, then I consider that I will have succeeded in life.

Follow @rogerbray22 Look out for #Psychosis and #RandomThingsTours on Twitter
Visit Roger Bray Books on Facebook
Visit rogerbraybooks.com
Buy Psychosis

About the book
When Hazel disappears, the police are convinced that her husband, Alex, has killed her.
Three years after his conviction for murder, Alex and his sister, Alice, are devastated when their last appeal is rejected by the courts. With nowhere left to turn, Alice must start to put her life back together.
Living in limbo herself, Alice has a chance encounter with Steve, an ex-solider turned PI who offers to look at the case files. Steve is convinced that the prosecution’s case is shaky at best, but can he find out the truth before it’s too late for Alex?

Review
Psychosis is an example of forensics, police and the justice system fitting the evidence into the presented scenario, as opposed to the evidence leading them to the correct scenario, victim and perpetrator.

Alice is obsessed with getting her brother out of prison. She is convinced that he has been convicted of a crime he didn't commit. She isn't really concerned with what really happened to poor Hazel, and I think that is an important theme of the book. Often the media, the authorities and the general public are so invested in finding the culprit, that the victim becomes almost irrelevant. Instead of focusing on discovering the real where, what and why, everyone concentrates on the who they think did the deed. Lifelong sentences are handed out based on circumstantial and unsubstantiated evidence. A worrying theme in the justice system.

Alex often lacks any kind of emotional response to his predicament, and especially to the fact his wife has disappeared into thin air. No trace and no body seems to imply something more sinister than just an unhappy woman leaving for a new life and beginnings. I understand that a few years have gone by, but I would expect Alex to be a little more invested in discovering what has happened to her. Instead the driving force is his sister Alice, and later Steve, who just appears to like a mystery. A disappeared from the face of the earth kind of mystery.

The title may imply actions or crimes committed whilst someone has lost contact with their external reality, and is suffering from a severe mental disorder, but this is in fact the meticulous planning of a criminal who isn't at their first gig. Is this a crime of opportunity, something more nefarious or merely a misunderstanding?

Bray does an excellent job of keeping the the identity of the perpetrator hidden behind red herrings and false trails of clues. It is a well-plotted crime with plenty of suspects along the way.  It is a story of injustice and a heinous crime. Unfortunately to save one person the actual victim slips into obscurity, thereby leaving the actual fate of the victim unresolved.

Bray keeps the reader invested in the outcome, despite the fact the characters often appear to forget the real victim is Hazel in this scenario. Luckily the outsider Steve can look beyond the hurt feelings and the fact Alex has already resigned himself to being a widow. I wonder if you will be able to guess the who and the why.

Buy Psychosis at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

Come back on the 15th of April for the Cover Reveal and 24th of April for the #BlogTour for The Picture by Roger Bray!

Read The Picture by Roger Bray
Read Blood Ribbon by Roger Bray