The Other Guest by Heidi Perks

 

Laila and James Burrows are holidaying at a luxury hotel on the unspoilt Greek island of Ixos. The holiday is a chance for the couple to reconnect after 10 years of failed IVF has put a strain on their marriage. Laila begins to question if she really knows her husband when a body is found in the hotel pool.

This will be an ideal beach read, particularly if you're one of those people who love to people watch. Laila Burrows is such a person, she becomes slightly obsessed with a family group who are also staying at the resort. You can understand the obsession with what appears to be a perfect family unit; mother, father and two sons. The family are obviously well off and the mother and eldest son have a great relationship. After years of failed IVF Laila is struggling to accept that she will never have children of her own.

The identity of the body found in the pool is slowly teased out. As the author takes us back to the beginning of the holiday you are reading between the lines, examining the relationships and attempting to put pieces together to try and figure out who is dead.

This is a story more about strained relationships and hidden secrets than it is about a possible murder. As the story nears the big reveal we realise how easy it is to jump to conclusions, to make assumptions about people and to avoid asking questions because we don't want to know the answers.

The Other Guest by Heidi Perks will be published on 19th January 2023 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for a review copy.

The Dead Of Winter by Stuart MacBride

 

DI Victoria Elizabeth Montgomery-Porter and DC Edward Reekie are responsible for transporting a terminally ill criminal from prison to Glenfarach, a village which acts as an open prison for those criminals who have served their sentence but are unsuitable to rejoin normal society. Glenfarach is a completely self-contained village in the middle of nowhere. When one of the residents is brutally murdered Reekie and his boss have to investigate as the approaching storm has cut the village off from the rest of civilisation.

I loved this. The opening chapter grabs you and just doesn't let go until the end. The first chapter is gritty and violent, setting the scene and immediately making you wonder what is happening. The end of the first chapter really does pull you up short, leaving you open mouthed and questioning what has happened. 

The description of Glenfarach that I thought really summed the place up well was Stepford Wives crossed with Village of the Damned. Everything looks great on the surface but there is an undertone of menace. The village is populated by organised criminals, sex offenders and pedophiles. All criminals who have completed their sentences but cannot be returned to society as their lives would be at risk. On the surface everything works well; there is a constant police presence, on site social workers, a curfew and everyone is tagged. When the murder takes place everything is thrown into question.

The relationship between Reekie and his boss "Bigtoria" is at the heart of this story. Thrown together at the last moment they are an unlikely pair. Reekie is young, naive and deferential, whereas his boss is aggressive, demanding and bullish. They rub each other up the wrong way and come across as the classic "good cop, bad cop". The vast majority of the dark humour of the novel comes from the interactions of the pair. 

The complication of a blizzard cutting off the village adds another layer to the story. This isn't one of those storms that simply makes the roads impassible and stops communication. It's a constant, in your face blizzard that makes driving impractical; even walking is impossible as the snow drifts are thigh high. The unrelenting snow also means that tracks are hidden.

With a village populated by criminals the main question is who, everyone of them is a suspect. Since they're all tagged the next question is how? As the storm rages more and more questions are raised. Each turn of the page constantly leaving you wondering how it's all connected to the opening chapter.

The Dead Of Winter by Stuart MacBride will be published on 16th February 2023 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Transworld Books for a review copy.

The Second Stranger by Martin Griffin (Audiobook)

 

Remi York, night manager at a hotel in the Scottish Highlands, is on her last shift before she leaves for a new life in Chile. There's a storm heading towards the hotel but that shouldn't be a problem as it's the end of the season, all the other staff have left and there are only two remaining guests. Problems begin when an injured stranger knocks at the door of the hotel. He's a police officer, Don Gaines, part of a group who were transporting a dangerous prisoner when their vehicle crashed and the prisoner escaped. Remi tends his wounds and helps him to check out the security in the hotel in case the prisoner heads their way. Things become complicated when a few hours later another stranger turns up claiming to be Don Gaines.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this audiobook. The pace was a little bit slow to begin with as the scene was set; an isolated hotel at the end of the season and an approaching storm. The hotel and grounds are vast, giving lots of places for people to hide. The approaching storm makes communication with the outside world impossible and travel difficult. Once the first stranger turns up the pace does not let up for the remainder of the story and you are on edge wondering if Remi will be able to figure out who is genuine.

A very small cast of characters meant it was easy to keep track of who was who. Both strangers are entirely plausible as the police officer so you fully sympathise with Remi's predicament. The only support she has is one of the remaining guests, Jai. As the story progressed you even begin to doubt Jai as he admits to having a secret.

Every so often we hear about Remi's background and how she ended up working at the hotel. Her wayward younger brother got mixed up with criminals and ended up in the nearby prison where he was murdered. To add another complication to the mix, the escaped prisoner was responsible for the murder. 

As the tension increases and time starts running out you wonder how, or even if, Remi will survive. 

The Second Stranger by Martin Griffin will be published in hardback, ebook and audio format on 19th January 2023. My thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for a review copy.

All The Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham

 

A year on from the abduction of her young son Isabelle Drake refuses to give up hope that he's still alive. Isabelle is convinced that someone in her community knows something. The police seem to have given up so Isabelle continues the investigation on her own, including attending True Crime conferences as a keynote speaker. Isabelle is convinced that someone connected to the abduction will be unable to resist the lure of seeing her. Through one of these conferences she meets a podcaster who offers new opportunities in the investigation.

Right from the beginning you are gripped by the story. The thought of a toddler being abducted from his bed in the middle of the night is horrific. Added to this is the thought that a year on, with no clues, we immediately assume the worst.

The mother, Isabelle Drake, is a sympathetic character. Her mission in life is to discover what happened to her son, Mason. Driven to unearth the truth has resulted in Isabelle suffering from insomnia. This insomnia, combined with her obsession, means that you slowly begin to doubt her reliability as a narrator.

As the story progresses memories from her childhood begin to surface. We learn that Isabelle had a younger sister but something happened to her, an event Isabelle cannot remember because she suffered from bouts of sleep-walking as a child. All of this really does throw into question Isabelle's innocence in her son's disappearance. Any sympathy from the opening of the novel slowly leaches away as more of the past is revealed.

The pace of the story is gradual, a somnolent pace to match the sleep-deprived haze of Isabelle. This slow pace adds real atmosphere to the story, slowly building the sense of dread as we learn more about the past and the present. I was filled with a growing sense of unease as the climax of both elements of the story approached.

All The Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham will be published on 2nd February 2023 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for a review copy.

The Pain Tourist by Paul Cleave

Following a home invasion gone wrong Frank and Avah Garrett are dead and their son James is in a coma. When James wakes from the coma nine years later he struggles to comprehend exactly what has happened as he has lived a normal life in his "Coma World" as far as he is concerned. As he slowly begins to build up his strength the police become concerned that the men responsible may target James once they know he has woken from his coma.

When I read The Quiet People last year I was gripped by the pace of the story and frightened by the way in which social media was used to manipulate people. Therefore I was keen to read Paul Cleave's next book, The Pain Tourist. This is a very different type of thriller. Not as pacey, more pervasive with a constant air of menace.

As well as the initial crime and the possibility that the criminals may return there is also a copycat serial killer on the lose. Ex-detective Theodore Tate and DI Rebecca Kent end up working together to protect James Garrett, and uncover more crimes on the way. The way in which all of the crimes become interlinked really adds to the thrill of the story-line and you constantly fear for the safety of everyone involved.

The most interesting part of the novel is "Coma World", the life that James Garrett has lived for nine years. Elements of Coma World are as a result of things that are said in real life, things that James has obviously overheard while in his coma. This really does make you wonder about how the brain works, after all we've all seen TV programs where doctors tell people to talk to coma patients.

I love a thriller where it's impossible to guess who is responsible, in The Pain Tourist author Paul Cleave managed to do it not once but twice. I was even questioning if the good guys were actually the bad guys as I didn't have a clue.

 

November 2022 Reads

 

My November reads looks pitiful. That's because my reading mojo has completely deserted me. I just can't seem to settle for any length of time to make headway with whatever I'm reading. I can't blame the books, two out of the three I've managed this month have been great. November was a busy month for me so that is probably part of the reason, I'm still trying to catch up after a fantastic trip to London at the beginning of the month. I just hope that December improves.

On with the books. November started with Murder At The Castle by Chris McGeorge. This took a look at a royal family from an alternate timeline, looking at who would be monarch if Edward VIII hadn't abdicated. The family are isolated at Balmoral when the King dies, possibly poisoned by another member of the family. More a locked castle than locked room mystery, I was left a little underwhelmed by the whole story. I couldn't get to grips with the writing style and I felt that there were far too many red herrings.

Louise Candlish is superb at writing middle-class suburban thrillers. You look at some of the characters and think that could easily be me, or my neighbour. In The Only Suspect we have Alex who is worrying about a piece of wasteland being transformed into a nature trail. Immediately you are wondering what he is afraid of being uncovered. The story then jumps back to 1995 and we meet Rick who gets involved with a married woman. Alternating between the two characters you are on the edge of your seat wondering how Alex and Rick are connected and what lies buried.

My favourite book of the month was The Ugly Truth by L. C. North. When a business woman/influencer goes missing her friends are adamant she's being held captive by her father. Her father is insistent she is at a private retreat struggling with her mental health. Through transcripts for a documentary, interviews for a book, video clips and twitter comments we learn all about Melanie Lange, how she rose to fame and how constant press and public intrusion effected her mental health. I found the book quite shocking, as I was reading I could identify real life examples that were similar to those in the book. 

I only managed one audiobook during the month. Sing Me A Secret by Julie Houston is an enjoyable listen about a family hiding secrets. Juno Sutherland is a married GP who lusts after a new work colleague while her husband is working away. Juno begins to question if her marriage is a happy one. Younger sister Lexia left home at sixteen and never returned. Thanks to a reality TV singing competition she became a star. Now her footballer husband has been transferred to her home town team so she has to return home and face secrets she's kept hidden for years.

Dates to watch out for are:-

Sing Me A Secret by Julie Houston will released on audio format on 8th December 2022. The paperback and ebook are already available.

The Only Suspect by Louise Candlish will be published on 2nd March 2023 in hardback, ebook and audio format.

The Ugly Truth by L. C. North will be published on 16th March 2023 in hardback and audio format. The ebook will be available from 2nd March 2023.