Well here we are. 2021. Not a lot to report from the last week and the passing of one year into the next was marked by consumption of a hot chocolate and a few dodgy movies. Or maybe not. Definitely hot chocolate but it has been a couple of days since the end of last year now and I genuinely have no clue what I was doing, MIght even have been watching Netflix. Who knows? That pretty much sums up my past week and I have little of interest to report other than it is definitely now next year, and I did a grocery shop. Like most sane people I have been avoiding the modern day plague by staying indoors and out of trouble. And reading. Been doing a smidge of that. Not as much as I’d have liked given there was nothing else going on, but enough.
How was your New Year? Good? I hope so. My past week has been spent playing blog catch up, ordering a few books, receiving a little bit of book post and generally eating all the rubbish in my house. Well, not all the rubbish or I’d be the same size as my house, but I gave it a good try 😉. The most exciting thing to happen in my week, aside from my books, was the fact that after a year of ignoring me, the cats started lying on my legs again whilst I was on the sofa. At least it is exciting up to the point where I want to move, then it’s just a pain. Does anyone else feel guilty about moving their pets in order to use the bathroom or is it just me.
Books wise I’ve had an amazing week really – I’m very lucky. My signed copy of The Last Thing To Burn by Will Dean arrived a week early from Waterstones – nice way to start the week. And I ended it with some amazing #bookpost courtesy of LJ Ross – Signed copies of The Infirmary; The Moor; Penshaw; Borderlands; Ryan’s Christmas and Cuthbert’s Way. it now means that my LJ Ross collection takes over an entire shelf on my bookcase and I’m going to need to have a mass sort out soon to make room for more!
Orders wise I bought the following: Twelve Days of Winter by Stuart Macbride; Away With The Penguins by Hazel Prior; Assassins Rogue by Rachel Amphlett (preorder); An Eye For An Eye by Carol Wyer; The Shadow Box by Luanne Rice; The Quickening by Rhiannon Ward.
And that was my week of book arrivals – but it was pretty fab don’t you think?
Books I have read
The Dirty South by John Connolly
It is 1997, and someone is slaughtering young black women in Burdon County, Arkansas.
But no one wants to admit it, not in the Dirty South.
In an Arkansas jail cell sits a former NYPD detective, stricken by grief. He is mourning the death of his wife and child, and searching in vain for their killer. He cares only for his own lost family.
But that is about to change . . .
Witness the becoming of Charlie Parker.
The Last Fix by Kjell Ola Dahl
Katrine Bratterud is on the verge of finishing a spell in drug rehab. One evening celebrating her success at the shore of a lake she senses that she is not alone. In the dim early morning light she sees a naked man approaching from out of the woods… The discovery of Katrine’s corpse the following day brings police officers Gunnarstranda and Frolich onto the case and into a world of secrets and lies that stretches back generations.
Katrine’s past as a prostitute makes her easy prey to a series of men, who immediately become suspects – and victims. In a world of secrets can the Oslo Detectives find out the truth about these grisly murders in time before the killer strikes again…?
Lethal Investments by Kjell Ola Dahl
An apartment building. A woman clearing up the mess her three-year-old son has made on the stairway. A child staring into an open doorway. The naked leg of a woman sticking out of that doorway. Blood. A woman’s scream.
Reidun Rosendal’s murder presents Oslo detectives Gunnarstranda and Frolich with their most intriguing case yet. And the mystery deepens when the chief suspect, Reidun’s lover, is also found murdered.
As the investigation proceeds the focus shifts to Reidun’s place of work, Software Partners, where the business and the private lives of the characters intermesh in ways that become lethal.
K. O. Dahl’s stories are propelled by compelling narratives where the final twist is always satisfying.
The Shadow Man by Helen Fields
He collects his victims. But he doesn’t keep them safe.
Elspeth, Meggy and Xavier are locked in a flat. They don’t know where they are, and they don’t know why they’re there. They only know that the shadow man has taken them, and he won’t let them go.
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Desperate to escape, the three of them must find a way out of their living hell, even if it means uncovering a very dark truth.
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Because the shadow man isn’t a nightmare. He’s all too real.
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And he’s watching.
The Killing Choice by Will Shindler
‘Leave your daughter with me, or I will kill you both’
It felt like a normal Friday evening before Karl and his daughter Leah were ambushed by a figure in a blank mask. At knife point, Karl is forced to make an impossible choice. Stay and die, or walk away from Leah and take this thug’s word that they both will live.
Should Karl trust a villain and leave his daughter with a knife at her throat? Could he ever live with himself if he did?
It’s not long before more seemingly unconnected and innocent people across London are offered a deal in exchange for their life. More blood is spilled, more families shattered, and more people are left to suffer with the consequences of their decisions.
DI Alex Finn and DC Mattie Paulsen must hunt for a killer that appears to have no face, no motive and no conscience before more victims are forced to make their choice.
So that was it – five books. I’d maybe have been happier with six, but I’m still very distracted, so the fact I got past one is very impressive. No real movement on the blog as I took some time out but I did share my reading achievements for 2020. Recap below:
My Year In Books – Quarter One
My Year In Books – Quarter Two
My Year In Books – Quarter Three
My Year In Books – Quarter Four
Well, that is my week in a nutshell. Back to work today (booooo) and then I’ll be trying to find a rhythm for reading, blogging, working and generally getting by with the day to day. On the plus side I am not working another full week until after Easter so that’s nice. Doubt I’ll be achieving five books read this week but never say never. I’m nearly on top of my reviews, just the two books I read over the weekend to write up, so who knows what is possible.
Hope you all have a fab week, whatever you are up to. We have a variety of reviews and blog tours planned throughout the month, and our Orendafest continues as Mandie tries to catch up on the last of the books she hasn’t read.
See you in a week.
Jen x
Jen Med's Book Reviews 