The Last Murder At The End Of The World by Stuart Turton

 

In a post-apocalyptic world, the remnants of humanity survive on an island, 122 villagers and 3 scientists. The terrifying fog which has decimated mankind is held at bay by a barrier. When one of the scientists is murdered the barrier is lowered and the fog begins to encroach. They have 107 hours to solve the murder before the island is completely covered.

Although I have seen quite a buzz on Twitter regarding The Last Murder At The End Of The World by Stuart Turton I went in completely blind, having pretty much avoided any in-depth reviews. I think "dystopian" is the only thing I'd really picked up on and that is guaranteed to pique my interest. I struggled with the first half of the novel as I couldn't get my head around what was happening. I was also struggling to understand what genre I was reading - thriller, sci-fi, fantasy. Things only started to fall into place around the mid-way point, and by the end, I've decided that the novel fits into all of those genres. 

Set a couple of hundred years in the future, mankind is clinging to life on a small island. There are 122 villagers and 3 scientists, alongside a shared "consciousness" that everyone can hear and speak to - an internal Siri or Alexa. The villagers are content, they work by day to ensure everyone's needs are met, and they don't question authority. At night everyone falls asleep at the same time and stays asleep until morning. There are never more than 122 villagers as this is the maximum number that the island can maintain, at the age of sixty they die and are replaced by an eight-year-old child.

I was filled with questions, wondering why the villagers and the scientists were so different, how everyone fell asleep at the same time, and where the children came from. Stuart Turton has crafted a society that feels as if it's on the brink of perfection, a utopia, but there is that little nagging doubt, like a loose thread that you can't help but pull at. Pulling that thread is Emory, a villager who hasn't quite found her place in society, she's too inquisitive. This quest for answers is exactly what is needed when one of the scientists is murdered. With limited time left she needs to solve the murder before the fog encompasses everything.

At the heart of the story is human behaviour. Instead of working together to overcome societies, and the worlds, problems, power and wealth are the things people crave. Given the chance to start over would we be any different?

Author Details

Stuart Turton’s debut novel, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, won the Costa First Novel Award and the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Best Novel, and was shortlisted for the Specsavers National Book Awards and the British Book Awards Debut of the Year. A Sunday Times bestseller, it has been translated into over thirty languages, and has sold over one million copies in the UK and US combined. The Devil and the Dark Water, his follow up, won the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Fiction and was selected for the BBC Two Book Club, Between the Covers, and the Radio 2 Jo Whiley Book Club. Stuart lives near London with his wife and daughters.

A Violent Heart by David Fennell

 

The skeletal remains of a young woman are discovered in an empty house shortly after a sex worker is brutally murdered. Both women appear to have been killed in the same way, with a bolt gun. Is there a link between the murders which took place thirty years apart?

A Violent Heart by David Fennell is book 4 in the DI Grace Archer series. The first three books in the series, especially the first one, are terrifying. Book 4 sees a re-set as Grace's nemesis no longer features. A Violent Heart is much more of a police procedural and while the terrifying element doesn't feature, the method of killing used throughout the story is a chilling one.

Grace is still coming to terms with the changes in her life, thankfully she still has the stability of work to help her get through. Unfortunately being forced to work with another team, alongside some changes in management means that Grace has to deal with outdated and misogynistic officers. You can feel her gritting her teeth as office politics rear their head. Initially, it is a case of who you know, rather than what you know and we discover that not everyone is as dedicated to the job as Grace, Harry and the rest of the team.

The murder that kick-starts the investigation is very personal to Grace as the victim is a sex worker who helped the police previously. The discovery of thirty-year-old skeletal remains hints at a link between the murders, and even points quickly to a suspect. A third, and then a fourth, unsolved murder all point towards a serial killer who has been at work for years and never noticed. I could feel the growing anger from Grace, the outrage that the victims weren't considered important because they were addicts or sex workers. She also begins to wonder how many more victims there may be, especially as the ones she knows about are spread across the country.

A new case in Berwick forces Grace to leave London and confront the office politics that have been hampering the investigation. The lives of people close to the investigation are in peril as there is a frantic race to uncover the killer.

I'll admit I do miss the creepy, terrifying and atmospheric tone of the first three books in the series, but I also enjoyed the more mature side of Grace, a woman who is beginning to accept that she has a right to happiness. Grace is still haunted by events in her past, things that make her empathetic towards the victims she seeks justice for. I am sure that when the time is right David Fennell will use Grace's trauma to dial up the macabre, until then I'm more than happy with the direction the series is taking.

A Violent Heart by David Fennall will be published on 29th August 2024. My thanks to NetGalley and Zaffre for a review copy.

Author Details

David Fennell was born and raised in Belfast. He left for London at the tender age of eighteen and jobbed as a chef, waiter and bartender for several years before starting a career as a writer in the software industry. He is the author of six books including the multi-award nominated SLEEPER series. His third novel, the bestselling THE ART OF DEATH, marked the beginning of a popular new crime series. David is also a screenwriter and has adapted one of his books for television. He is also the founder and director of the Beyond the Book Festival. David is married and lives in Brighton.

Virginia Lane Is Not A Hero by Rosalind Stopps

 

Grieving the loss of her husband, Virginia Lane has decided that life holds nothing for her, she's counting down the days until she can carry out her plan to join him. When she spots the change in behaviour of the neighbour's smiley baby she decides to investigate and this gives Virginia a new focus on life.

The title, Virginia Lane Is Not A Hero is so very true, she's not, but what she does do is one of those things that many of us wish we had the courage to carry out. Rosalind Stopps has created a protagonist who, having nothing left to live for, stands up to a bully and is willing to risk everything for the safety and well-being of a young child.

Virginia lives a lonely life in London. Her only child lives in Australia and until recently her life revolved around her husband, Jed. His recent death has left Virginia feeling that there's nothing left for her. Virginia is a pragmatist, she's aware that grief is overwhelming her emotions, so sets a date seven weeks in the future on which she'll take the hoard of pills she's collected if things don't change (and she's no reason to believe they will). At the moment, the only thing that brightens her day is a wave from the baby that lives on the same street.

Virginia notices a change in the behaviour of the baby and its mother. As she digs deeper she becomes concerned that they are victims of domestic abuse. You can feel the turmoil Virginia is in regarding what to do. Jed would have been her sounding board, now she has no one to turn to for advice. When the mother secretly asks Virginia to keep the baby safe she sees her only option is to flee to her bolthole in Margate.

In Margate, Virginia is fortunate enough to get help from another family who are dealing with their own issues. Initially, I felt that the author may have tried to encompass too many issues, but there's a deftness of touch in the writing so that none of the topics overwhelm others. The fact that the characters all have their own problems reminds us not to judge people "until we've walked in their shoes" and to always try and show kindness.

You cannot help but cheer on the characters, they have so many redeemable qualities (although I found Noah a bit too pretentious). There are times when the story will have you railing against some of the obstacles they face. Compassion, conscience and friendship all play a huge part in the decisions they make. The ending is bittersweet, rather than a fairy-tale one, and I'm so pleased Rosalind Stopps opted for something realistic. It would be wonderful to believe there was a little bit of "hero" in all of us.

Virginia Lane Is Not A Hero by Rosalind Stopps will be published on 29th August 2024 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and HQ for a review copy.

Author Details

Rosalind Stopps lives in Margate and south east London with various humans and dogs. Her short stories have been published in five anthologies and read at live literature events in London, Leeds, Hong Kong and New York.

 

The No-Show by Beth O'Leary (Audiobook)

 

It's Valentine's Day and Siobhan, Miranda and Jane all have dates. Unfortunately, they're all stood up. By the same man. Fortunately, he's got a good excuse. 

In my effort to get back into listening to audiobooks I turned to Beth O'Leary as I knew from previous books that her stories are filled with engaging characters and plots that seem predictable but have twists that keep you guessing. The No-Show filled each of these criteria.

At the beginning, we meet three very different women. Siobhan is a life coach, completely focused on her career and has complete control of her relationship. Miranda is a tree surgeon, trying to cement her place in a male-dominated profession. Jane works in a charity shop, an introvert, she keeps to herself and is reluctant to discuss her past.

On Valentine's Day, each woman has a date, with the same man, Joseph Carter. To make matters worse, they are each stood up. At this point, I was so angry for each of the women. Putting their feelings on display, on such a monumental day, only to be stood up, with no contact from Joseph, had me spitting fire on their behalf. And then gradually, we get to meet Joseph Carter and he's just so likeable. He's dealing with a lot, working full-time and caring for his mother who has dementia. I found my loathing and hatred of Joseph quickly disappearing and being replaced by sympathy. I still couldn't get my head around the fact that he was stringing along three women though.

Siobhan is happy enough with seeing Joseph once a month, she has her career to focus on and is still licking her wounds after the end of a previous relationship. While Miranda is waiting around for Joseph she's blind to the possibility of romance closer to home. Jane is the real enigma among the three women. She's obviously hiding a secret and seems to be punishing herself for something that happened in her past. She's determined not to get close to anyone but her colleagues gradually worm their way into her life.

My emotions swung from loathing to sympathy, and back to dislike as the story progressed. I'll even admit to feeling a little bored as the plot seemed to be going nowhere. And then the twist I certainly wasn't expecting, a twist that left me shocked and close to tears. Everything in the story finally fell into place and I immediately wanted to go back to the beginning and listen again.

While it was nice to have different narrators I don't feel that a different one for each female character was really necessary and didn't add anything to the audiobook. I do wonder if this works better in print as I feel it would be easier to keep track of each character, however, I thoroughly enjoyed listening along.

Author Details

Beth O’Leary is a Sunday Times bestselling author whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages. Her debut, The Flatshare, sold over a million copies and is now a major TV series. Her subsequent novels, The Switch, The Road Trip, The No-Show and The Wake-Up Call, were all instant bestsellers. Beth writes her books in the Hampshire countryside with a very badly behaved Golden Retriever for company. If she’s not at her desk, you’ll usually find her curled up somewhere with a book, a cup of tea and several woolly jumpers (whatever the weather).

Spook Street by Mick Herron

 

The reject spooks of Slough House are called to action when an assassination attempt is made on a long-retired spook, the grandfather of one of their own.

Having decided to read the Slough House/Slow Horses series of books by Mick Herron after watching the TV series I was determined to read the fourth book in the series, Spook Street, before season four is televised. This has been my favourite of the series so far, probably because I went into the story completely blind.

The opening scene is horrific and has obvious implications for the security service, however, the involvement of the staff at Slough House isn't called for. Slough House is where the rejects, those who've done something wrong or are unreliable, are sent to carry out boring tasks until they become so worn down that they resign. It's a second shocking event, shortly after the first, that drags the slow horses into the story.

All the usual characters feature and added to the mix are a couple of new ones. Moira Tregorian is an organiser trying to make sense of the mountains of discarded paperwork. She really doesn't approve of Slough House and its staff. JK Coe was part of Psych Evaluation but has now been sidelined; he's a very strange character and the other slow horses are struggling to figure him out as he won't interact with anyone.

Jackson Lamb doesn't feature quite as much in this story which has links to the end of the Cold War and possible nefarious acts that River Cartwright's grandfather may have been involved in, acts which have now put his life in danger.

The action doesn't stop as the slow horses have to protect their own, along with uncovering who, and why, people are in danger. The revelations that are disclosed are astonishing and could have long-term implications for the team. The grand finale, though, has left me devastated.

Author Details

Mick Herron is the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Slough House thrillers, which have won the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award, two CWA Daggers, been published in twenty-five languages, and are the basis of a major TV series starring Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb. He is also the author of the Zoë Boehm series, and the standalone novels Nobody Walks and The Secret Hours. Mick was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, and now lives in Oxford.

Guilty By Definition by Susie Dent

 

Martha Thornhill has returned to her family home in Oxford after working in Berlin for ten years. Martha and her family have never come to terms with the disappearance of her sister, Charlie, over a decade ago. When cryptic letters begin to arrive, Martha and her colleagues believe they are clues to Charlie's disappearance.

Initially, I was drawn to Guilty By Definition by Susie Dent thinking it would fit easily into the genre of cozy crime. Having finished the book I've decided there's nothing "cozy" about it, this is an absorbing and expertly plotted mystery. I was a little unsure as I started the book that I might be out of my depth, there are lots of literary references and cryptic clues. Cryptic crosswords baffle me, thankfully the solutions to the clues are clearly explained throughout the story. I wasn't far into the book before I realised I was completely gripped.

Martha has returned to her home city of Oxford to work as senior editor at the Clarendon English Dictionary (CED), working alongside three other editors, Simon, Alex and Zoe. Both Simon and Alex are aware of what happened to Martha's sister back in 2010 as she had a part-time job at the CED working alongside them.  When a mysterious letter arrives addressed to "The Editors" the team quickly realise it's about Martha's sister and sets about solving the clues.

The team work well together, they all have different specialties that complement each other. At times, the team needs to consult other people, either because they are directed by the letters, or because they knew Charlie. The widening of the pool of people involved keeps the reader guessing, particularly as no one knows what happened to Charlie, she simply disappeared and hasn't been heard from since. It also means that a wide variety of locations around Oxford are visited. Oxford is described beautifully, seeming to be from a different universe, and enticing anyone who reads the depiction of the city to want to visit immediately.

As a child Martha adored her older sister, Charlie was beautiful and highly intelligent, everyone loved her. Over time we realise that as Martha got older she began to resent her sister, fed up with always being in the wings. Working alongside Simon and Alex she learns that not everyone was completely smitten by Charlie as she looked down on people she considered to be intellectually below her. As the quest for answers continues Martha also discovers that her sister could be devious.

When all of the clues are solved and the whereabouts of Charlie are uncovered, the author still has a few final twists in store for the reader.

Guilty By Definition by Susie Dent will be published on 15th August 2024 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Bonnier Books for a review copy.

The Liars by Katherine Fleet

 

Twenty-five years ago a teenage girl went missing on the Greek island of Eos. When her friends return to the island memories are rekindled and dark secrets uncovered.

The Liars by Katherine Fleet is a psychological thriller that draws you in, drip-feeding you information, slowly building the tension and having you completely hooked so that you keep turning the page, desperate to know exactly what happened on the island of Eos twenty-five years ago.

We first meet our narrator, Zoe, as she is returning to the island of Eos, for her step-father's funeral. It is twenty-five years since she has visited the villa her step-father, Richard, loved. The place they retired to a decade ago. The story then alternates between now and Zoe's first visit, when she meets her soon-to-be step-sister, Lex.

Zoe and Lex are roughly the same age but light-years apart in every other respect. Zoe has been brought up by a single mother, living a normal life in inner city London and attends a state school. She's bright, works hard at school and appreciates the sacrifices her mother has made for her. Although Lex is a child of divorced parents she has led a life of privilege, something she takes for granted, she tends to look upon everyone with disdain.

Although the girls know of each other's existence, the holiday is the first time they have met. Unassuming Zoe is immediately wary of Lex but also in awe of her rebelliousness, something Lex is quick to flaunt. The pair quickly form a bond. The arrival of a family with long-time connections to Richard and Lex throws another teenage girl, Abigail, into the mix and this brings out Zoe's jealous side.

When the story returns to now and Richard's funeral, lots of old faces from twenty-five years ago return to the island. Gradually, memories are stirred, particularly as it's the twenty-fifth anniversary of the disappearance. Zoe's feelings of guilt slowly build and build, becoming oppressive, just like the summer heat before a storm. The reader is given tantalising hints about historic events as secrets are slowly revealed and we learn that no one has a complete picture of exactly what happened on the fateful night.

The Liars by Katherine Fleet will be published on 15th August 2024 in paperback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK for a review copy.

Author Details

Katherine Fleet is a writer and author tutor for The Novelry. As a journalist, she wrote for The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Red, Stella and Grazia.
She lives in a Cotswolds valley with her two rescue dogs, where she writes full-time. A trip to the small Greek island of Paxos was her inspiration for The Liars.

Eddie Winston Is Looking For Love by Marianne Cronin

 

Eddie is a sprightly ninety years old and volunteers in a charity shop. Following an unusual donation, he befriends a grieving Bella. Admitting to Bella he's never been kissed, she sets out to find Eddie someone to love.

Eddie Winston Is Looking For Love is the second novel by author Marianne Cronin. This author is new to me but I was immediately drawn to this book by the quirky title and cover. Add in the fact that it is described as "funny, feelgood, heart-lifting" and I was sold. Having finished the book I now want to hunt down the author so I can lock her away and force her to do nothing but write so that she has a huge catalogue of books to devour.

Eddie, a retired academic, volunteers at a small charity shop to pass the time. Along with the manager, Marjie, Eddie spends a lot of his time examining the items that are donated. Every so often Eddie comes across an item that can't be sold, items that are too personal such as photographs and letters. Not wanting to consign them to the rubbish, Eddie takes them home, becoming the caretaker for people's memories.

It is one such donation that sparks an unlikely friendship. Twenty-four-year-old Bella is grieving the loss of her boyfriend when she donates some of his goods to the charity shop. Eddie knows that the notebook and photographs are too personal to sell and the well-worn Converse trainers are special, so he decides to look after them in the hope that Bella will eventually want them back.

An unlikely friendship is formed between Eddie and Bella and they regularly share lunch in Pigeon Park. Gradually, we discover that Bella is struggling to move on with her life and that Eddie has never been kissed. Having fallen in love with a married woman as a student he was too honorable to do anything about it and still thinks about her. This is just the knowledge that Bella needs to give her life some impetus, she sets out on a mission to find love for Eddie. 

Eddie is such a wonderful character, one of life's optimists, a genuinely nice person. Unrequited love hasn't left him bitter, it's left him sentimental. Ever hopeful, Eddie relishes the opportunities online dating brings. Refusing to conform, and why should he at the age of ninety, Eddie is always on the lookout for new ideas (and I'm on the lookout for an emerald-green silk shirt, printed with cheetahs, prowling, paws outstretched up and down the sleeves and the chest - cheetahs, not leopards, because cheetahs are slinkier). Despite knock-backs, Eddie doesn't give up and some new and exciting friendships are formed. 

I laughed and I cried, I really didn't expect to have my heart broken (more than once) in this wonderful tale of optimism, generosity of spirit and second chances.

Eddie Winston Is Looking For Love by Marianne Cronin will be published on 15th August 2024 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for a review copy.

Author Details

Marianne Cronin was born in 1990 and grew up in Warwickshire. After gaining her PhD in applied linguistics, she worked in academia until becoming a writer. Her first novel, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot, published by Doubleday in 2021, was voted 'most uplifting book of 2021' by The Independent and shortlisted for a Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction. She lives in the Midlands with her family and her cat.