Want You Gone - Chris Brookmyre

Kindle Edition Publisher: Little, Brown Published: 20/04/17 Pages: 432 Amazon Uk Link: Here GoodReads Link: Here Given for an honest review via Netgalley

The Blurb

What if all your secrets were put online?

Sam Morpeth is growing up way too fast, left to fend for a younger sister with learning difficulties when their mother goes to prison and watching her dreams of university evaporate. But Sam learns what it is to be truly powerless when a stranger begins to blackmail her online, drawing her into a trap she may not escape alive.

Who would you turn to?

Meanwhile, reporter Jack Parlabane has finally got his career back on track, but his success has left him indebted to a volatile source on the wrong side of the law. Now that debt is being called in, and it could cost him everything.

What would you be capable of?

Thrown together by a mutual enemy, Sam and Jack are about to discover they have more in common than they realise - and might be each other's only hope.

My Thoughts

In 1999 I used to play a Computer game called Championship Manager 99/00. It was totally addictive and I spent many a long night telling myself that I would have just one more game and then end up spending most of the night playing it to take Aston Villa to the UEFA cup final. This book was my 2017 equivalent of Championship Manager. Like Christopher Brookmyres last book Black Widow, this is a totally addictive page turner of a story.

This book is a tension filled, fast paced story set in the world of hacking and is told through both Jack and Sam. It makes you think about your online habits and just what kind of breadcrumb trail you leave on the Internet every time you update your status or even mark a book as read. I didnt have a clue how it was going to end or what route the story was going to go down. Unlike my review its a fantastic piece of writing that I didnt want to end.

Highly recommended.

The Escape - C.L Taylor

Kindle Edition Publisher: Avon Published: 23/03/17 Pages: 433 Amazon Uk Link: Here GoodReads Link: Here Given for an honest review via Netgalley

The Blurb

"Look after your daughter's things. And your daughter…"

When a stranger asks Jo Blackmore for a lift she says yes, then swiftly wishes she hadn't.

The stranger knows Jo's name, she knows her husband Max and she's got a glove belonging to Jo's two year old daughter Elise.

What begins with a subtle threat swiftly turns into a nightmare as the police, social services and even Jo's own husband turn against her.

No one believes that Elise is in danger. But Jo knows there's only one way to keep her child safe – RUN

My Thoughts

I have enjoyed all of C. L Taylors books. She is without doubt a must read author for me. I love the way she can transport me into a story, the time just flys by and before you know it your on the last page with that feeling of disapointment that you have finshed it and The Escape is no exception.

To a lesser degree I suffer from the same as the main character Jo. Wherever I go I have to have an escape route planned in my head and I really, really dont like going to new places, a panic with envelope me and the need to run is unbearable. Using positive thinking and not wanting my kids to see me like and think its normal I have been able to overcome the worst but Its always there and lets me know from time to time.

The story is one of failed relationships, secrets, confusion and down right deception. I felt Jos need to run the need to protect her relationship with her daughter. When she decides to run she has no idea of how secrets from her families past will catch up with her and introduce more trouble into her life.

A fantastically crafted book that I highly recommend.

Never Out Of Sight - Louise Stone

Kindle Edition Publisher: HQ Digital Published: 20/01/17 Pages: 207 Amazon Uk Link: Here GoodReads Link: Here Given for an honest review via Netgalley

The Blurb

A daughter’s secret. A mother’s betrayal.

Every mother knows never to let their child out of their sight. But Freya has been distracted recently, and now her teenage daughter, Zoe, is missing.

Freya knows that the only way to bring Zoe back is to tell the truth, but when your whole life is built on secrets and lies, the truth could destroy everything.

Surely there’s no harm in telling just one more little white lie?

My Thoughts

Normally I write my reviews as soon as I have finished the book. Mostly so my views are fresh and I dont forget that I have to do it. For various reasons this month I have not been able to do any of the reviews of the books I have read. I suppose I could of written them by hand but thats just hard work isnt it?

I have read S for Stranger by the same author and from memory recalled that I liked it, However looking back at the review It seems that I wasn't as enamoured as I thought. So I re-read it and have to admit that I was being extremely unfair in my review and maybe if I had time to think about it before jumping in and writing the first thing on my mind my reviews wouldn't be so shotgun.

Ignoring my earlier review and after re-reading S for Stranger I can safely say that I am a fan of Louise Stone. She has a great knack for writing characters that are emotionally flawed and not really likeable and at times utterly frustrating in the decisions they make or the conclusions they dont come to when they really should.

Freya really had me conflicted. She got everything wrong and assumed so much it ruined her life. As much as I tried I just couldn't dislike her mainly because the image of her I had in my head was of Masterchef winner Jane Devonshire and she is so lovely isnt she?. The story was an exciting one that could of gone many ways, I was pulled in a few directions before the climax of the book made it clear what was going on. The ending was exciting and well thought out, which for me is a bonus, as I have a big problem with poor endings.

Overall a good book that I highly recommend.

Book Of The Month - March

I only managed to read three books this month and all three were 5 star reads. So separating them was hard but this month my Book Of The Month is Perfect Remains by Helen Field.

Read my review Here

The Ninth Grave - Stefan Ahnhem

Kindle Edition Publisher: Head of Zeus Published: 01/12/16 Pages: 592 Amazon Uk Link: Here GoodReads Link: Here Book given in exchange for an honest review via Netgalley.

The Blurb

TWO COUNTRIES IN THE GRIP OF WINTER.

On the coldest day of the year, Sweden's Minister for Justice steps out of Parliament House and into a blizzard – and disappears. That same night, across the Baltic Sea, a Danish celebrity finds a stranger lurking in her snow-bound home.

TWO KILLERS STALK THE STREETS.

One is a surgeon who carefully dissects his victims. The other is a brutal predator who targets women. Police in Stockholm and Copenhagen are closing in on their suspects. But as winter darkens and more people die, their investigations begin to unravel.

SOMETIMES MURDER IS JUST THE BEGINNING...

My Thoughts

The Ninth Grave is a long, gruesome and at times an overly complicated story.
Set before the previous book in the series it tells us how Fabian got back to his hometown.
Its obviously well written with a well thought out plot but for me it dragged and wasn't as enjoyable as I would of liked. The backstories were too long and bloated which detracted from the actual crimes that had taken place.
The ending of the book came as a surprise (and a relief).
Unfortunately not a book I enjoyed but fans of Nordic Noir will lap it up.