The #Bookvent Calendar 2022 – Day Twenty

#Bookvent – Celebrating my top reads of 2022

My day twenty #bookvent selection is one that is, sort of, part of a series but it’s the first that I’ve actually read. It wasn’t to my disadvantage though as, although some of the characters may have been better understood had I read the first few books, the story works perfectly well as a stand alone. So well in fact I was completely suckered in from the high drama opening and remained rapt all the way to the final page. With a very interesting premise and a high sense of tension and threat, my twentieth pick is …

The Pain Tourist by Paul Cleave

A young man wakes from a coma to find himself targeted by the men who killed his parents, while someone is impersonating a notorious New Zealand serial killer … the latest chilling, nerve-shredding, twisty thriller from the author of The Quiet People…

How do you catch a killer…
When the only evidence is a dream?

James Garrett was critically injured when he was shot following his parents’ execution, and no one expected him to waken from a deep, traumatic coma. When he does, nine years later, Detective Inspector Rebecca Kent is tasked with closing the case that her now retired colleague, Theodore Tate, failed to solve all those years ago.

But between that, and hunting for Copy Joe – a murderer on a spree, who’s imitating Christchurch’s most notorious serial killer – she’s going to need Tate’s help. Especially when they learn that James has lived out another life in his nine-year coma, and there are things he couldn’t possibly know, including the fact that Copy Joe isn’t the only serial killer in town…

The Pain Tourist is the kind of book that causes sleep depravation. Not because it is unnecessarily gruesome or scary, but just because it is so damned addictive you will struggle to put the book down. And I didn’t, not until I was finished, but boy was it worth it. A home invasion gone wrong, a child in a coma, a whole load of memories waiting to be shared but are they real or just part of the patients consciousness as they lie in their hospital bed unresponsive? Well … that’s exactly what we as readers, and the detectives embroiled in this case try to figure out. Spooky coincidences aside, there may be more to James Garret’s dreams than meets the eye. It’s enough to get former Detective Theodore Tate involved, and enough to see the threat factor sky-rocket, adding an adrenalin charge to an already pulse-pounding read. This book is soooo good. there are links back to the previous books, but rather than deter me, they just made me want to go and seek out the books I’d missed. It’s one of those kinds of reads. Paul Cleave creates a raft of characters who elicit a whole range of emotions, from hatred to compassion, and builds such tension and atmosphere that I was left with a book that just ticked all of my boxes. It’s a multi-plot story, but one in which the three threads are so brilliantly woven that the results are almost too impactful. Just when you think you know what is happening, that it is safe to relax, the author throws in a grenade, blows things up and sends your BP right off the scales once again. Just the way I like it.

I left the book smiling, satisfied, but ultimately hungry for more. Tense, suspenseful, emotional and jam-packed with unforgettable characters. Sleep deprivation aside, a perfect read for me.

Yuu can read my full review here.

Happy #bookvent reading all

Jen