Bloq - Alan Jones

OH MY DAYS! Where am I supposed to start with this review? I started this book late one night and by lunchtime the next day I was finished!

Bloq opens up with a disturbing prologue involving an illegal burial, but we don't find out anymore about this until later on in the book.

We then meet Bill Ingram, a recent widower, who is waiting at Glasgow train station for his daughter Carol to arrive from London. It soon becomes clear that Carol isn't on the train and despite numerous calls to both her mobile and home phone Bill can't contact her so he decides to drive to London to see if he can find any clues to her whereabouts.

The police aren't interested when he tries to file a missing person's report so Bill sets off on his own and slowly builds up a picture of Carol's life in London and it's not long before he hears about Bloq, a nightclub run by a charming but unsavoury Albanian named Aleksander. Carol and her friends were frequent visitors to the club but things start to turn nasty when Bill is spotted hanging around asking customers if they've seen his daughter.

Bill's journey is fraught with danger but he's determined to find his daughter at whatever cost.

Every single character in this book feels so real and I found myself living every page with them. At times it was disturbing to read but this story could be and probably is an issue facing real life people today. There were many occasions where I found that I was holding my breath as I was reading and the tension was mounting but that only prompted me to turn the pages faster and faster. For me, Alan Jones has an incredilbe way of drawing you into his books right from the outset, he then throws you around for a bit and then spits you out at the end and I love every minute of it. If you've read either of his previous books (The Cabinetmaker or Blue Wicked) you might think like I did in that he surely can't write any better. . . . . .think again as Bloq is the proof!

This is a tense book that will have you literally chewing your fingernails and I highly recommend that you get your hands on a copy.

With kind thanks to author Alan Jones for the review copy.

Shtum - Jem Lester

Shtum is a story about Ben and Ella Jewell and their ten year old son Jonah who has a severe form of autism.
It's clear from the very beginning that both parents are finding it hard dealing with Jonah and his behavioural problems as they discuss the forthcoming legal battle with their local authority to get Jonah into a residential school that will be able to give him the help and support he so desperately needs.

When they find out that the chances of their local authority paying for Jonah are slim, Emma suggests that  they fake a separation to help his cause, as a single parent will be looked upon more favourably. Ben reluctantly goes along with this and moves in with his father Georg who he hasn't spoken to for months.

Ben starts to buckle under the pressure of taking care of Jonah, a failing business, looking at alternative schools for Jonah and his strained relationship with his father so he relies more and more on alcohol.

Jem Lester has written a truly wonderful, heartwarming but also heartbreaking book which will make you cry at times but will also have you laughing out loud. The main theme running through the book relates to communication, how do you communicate with someone who is unable to talk, how do you communicate with someone who isn't willing to talk  and how do you communicate with someone who isn't there?

I can't express just how much I enjoyed reading this book and I hope that it's a huge success.

With kind thanks to publishers Orion and NetGalley for the review copy.

The Exclusives: No One Can Hurt You More Than A Friend - Rebecca Thornton

The Exclusives is a dual time story about friendship, betrayal and the darker side of boarding school.

The year is 1996 and Josephine Grey is a high achieving student at Greenwood Hall who appears to have it all. She's just been chosen as head girl, has a perfect friendship with best friend Freya and is confident about securing a coveted place at Oxford but this isn't Malory Towers and the story soon takes a dark turn when something happens on a night out.

Fast forward to 2014 and Josephine is now working on an archaeological site in Jordan and hasn't thought about her school days until she receives an unexpected email from Freya asking to meet her to talk about "that night" but Josephine has no wish to revisit the past and open old wounds that caused a rift between them so goes to great lengths to avoid her old friend. As time passes and the memories start trickling back it soon becomes clear to Josephine that maybe meeting up with Freya is exactly what she needs.

This is a clever book as the author keeps back the secret of what happened on that night for a good three quarters of the book but without sacrificing anything of the plot or losing the readers interest. The characters are both engaging and believable and although it was easy to feel sympathy for both Josephine and Freya at times they were frustratingly annoying in their reluctance to face up to things and actually sit down and be honest with each other.

For a debut novel, Rebecca Thornton has written a very accomplished novel that had me eagerly turning the pages to find out exactly what happened on that fateful night and I'm looking forward to reading more from her.

With kind thanks to Bonnier Publishing for the review copy.

Help me celebrate!

Woo hoo, it's my birthday!! 

Yes it is actually my birthday today, not my blogoversary, but my real life birthday and I'd love you all to help me celebrate.

I've organised a little giveaway both here on my blog and over on my Facebook page which you can find here. Feel free to give me a like if you do pop across there. . . . .it is my birthday after all!

All I'm asking you to do is leave me a birthday message that incorporates my favourite things. . . books, hippo's and the colour purple. Yes that's all you have to do. Just be creative, funny, original and nice, picture or text and the best one will receive a gift from me to share the birthday love.

You can leave your comment here or on Facebook until 7pm on Sunday 10th April and the winner will be announced at 9pm on the same night. This is a UK only giveaway due to postal costs.

I'm looking forward to reading your comments and help yourself to a slice of cake!

Mini giveaway!

So I've decided to do something a little off the cuff and run a little giveaway to give one lucky reader a chance to win something from me!

I will post the details both here and on my Facebook page which you can find here so make sure that you check back over the next few days to find out what you can do to be in with a chance of winning.

A Barrow Boy's Cadenza - Pete Adams

A Barrow Boy's Cadenza is a crime novel with a difference and with one of the most eccentric protagonists I think I've ever met.

When we first meet DCI Jack "Jane" Austin he's hungover in bed and concerned about what his partner Mandy is doing with his tutu which was part of his previous night outs outfit. Fast approaching 60, with only one good eye and varicose veins amongst other issues, he's not your usual type of hero but he is one that will definitely intrigue you.

When Jack heads off to the harbour to investigate rumours of dead dogs being thrown into the water the last thing he expects is to get shot but it's when two murders occur, one, the head of Armed Forces and the other head of a City of London bank that the pace really starts to pick up.

This is the third novel in the Kind Hearts and Martinets Trilogy but this can be read as a standalone. I found this to be a wonderful mix of crime, whodunit, thriller with a healthy sprinkling of humour and romance which to me is a highly unusual combination. Pete Adams has written a novel which is like a breath of fresh air within the crime writing genre, with larger than life characters combining cleverly with humour and a plot that will keep you guessing. If you're looking for an original crime thriller then this could be just the book for you.

With kind thanks to author Pete Adams for the signed review copy.

On Track For Murder - Stephen Childs

On Track For Murder tells the story of Abigail Sergeant as she leaves London with her younger brother Bertrand to go and live with their father and step-mother in Australia at the end of the 19th century.

Their journey onboard the SS Elderslie is a treacherous one, the sea is rough and Abigail finds herself on the receiving end of some unwelcome attention from a sleazy crew member named Briggs.

When they finally disembark at their destination and make their way to their fathers house it's not long before their hopes of a wonderful life with their father are shattered and they're caught up in a murder investigation.

The police are convinced that they have the killer but Abigail doesn't agree and sets out to prove their innocence with the help of young police constable Ridley Dunning.

What follows is an epic train journey across Western Australia, with Abigail facing deception, kidnap, sabotage and arson, which forces her to draw on a determination she didn’t know she possessed.

On Track For Murder is a clever mix of murder mystery, history with a large dose of romance which makes for an enjoyable read. This wasn't a fast paced story but the twists and turns were frequent enough to keep my interest and want to find out who the real killer was.

With kind thanks to Authoright for the review copy.