Well … we’ve made it to April. No idea how. Was March really that sort a month? Can’t have been too short as somehow I managed to read 20 books over the month – 18 full length novels and 2 short stories. Not done that in a very long time. Helps that they were all excellent so held my attention, regardless of how tired I was. Well, that and uneventful snow week. But it’s all good as I loved every minute of reading them all. Here they are:
What an amazing sight, huh? And it means that I am well into reading May releases now too, as well as catching up on some of my long held TBR titles. Seven new to me authors in the mix too, which is fabulous. The books in the image are:
The Lazarus Solution – Kjell Ola Dahl (27 April)
Blood Runs Cold – Neil Lancaster (13 April)
Looking Glass Sound – Catriona Ward (20 April)
My Darkest Prayer – SA Cosby
Killing Jericho – William Hussey (27 April)
The Guilty Couple – CL Taylor (Paperback 27 April)
The Fall – Louise Jensen (27 April)
A Summer Surprise at the Little Blue Boathouse – Christie Barlow (30 April)
Tell Me Lies – Teresa Driscoll (18 April)
The Last Dance – Mark Billingham (25 May)
Skin Deep – Antonia Lassa (30 April)
Dust Child – Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai (20 April)
The Vanishing of Class 3B – Jackie Kabler (11 May)
Execution Day – Jeffery Deaver
The Last Passenger – Will Dean (11 May)
The End Of The Game – Holly Watt (25 May)
Look Both Ways – Linwood Barclay
Strange Sally Diamond – Liz Nugent
Sixty-One Seconds – Jeffery Deaver
Welcome to Cooper – Tariq Ashkanani
Very happy with that lot. Happy with this weeks book post and book buys too. One new book book which arrived from Bert’s Books this week – my preorder of the 70th Anniversary Edition of The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie. I also received an advance copy of A Game of Lies by Clare Mackintosh, book two in the DC Ffion Morgan series which is out 20th July. Also I took advantage of a few kindle bargains in the week – Weyward by Emelia Hart; A Pen Dipped in Poison by JM Hall; Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Sutanto; and Here Lie the Dead by JD Kirk. I also preordered A Soul for a Soul by Carol Wyer which is out next year, (Feb 20th), the next in the Kate Young series.
Bottom L-R: A Pen Dipped In Poison; Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers; Here Lie The Dead
One new Netgalley title because I couldn’t help myself (and have auto-approval) – The Ungrateful Dead by Adam Simcox (20th July). I think July is going to be an excellent month for new books!
Books I have read
Look Both Ways by Linwood Barclay
They think as one. They act as one. They kill as one.
‘Look Both Ways is devilishly good – exciting, thrilling – Barclay at his best!’ SHARI LAPENA, No. 1 internationally bestselling author
The residents of Garrett Island are part of a ground-breaking experiment. For a month, their cars will be replaced by self-driving vehicles – voice-controlled, comfortable and safe.
Single mum Sandra is prepping for the huge media event, and she’s ready for a driverless future. Widowed after her husband fell asleep at the wheel, she’s relieved that her kids may never need to drive themselves.
But as the day gets underway, disaster strikes. A journalist vanishes, possibly murdered. And before long, it’s clear something is very wrong. The cars are no longer taking orders from their passengers. They’re starting to organise. They’re starting to hunt. And they’ve got the residents of Garret Island in their sights.
From the Sunday Times Number One bestseller Linwood Barclay comes a breakneck new thriller, Look Both Ways.
Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent
Sally Diamond cannot understand why what she did was so strange. She was only doing what her father told her to do, to put him out with the rubbish when he died.
Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and police detectives, but also a sinister voice from a past she cannot remember. As she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood, Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends and big decisions, and learning that people don’t always mean what they say.
But who is the man observing Sally from the other side of the world? And why does her neighbour seem to be obsessed with her? Sally’s trust issues are about to be severely challenged . . .
Welcome To Cooper by Tariq Ashkanani
Winner of the The Bloody Scotland Debut Prize 2022
In this explosive thriller of bad choices and dark crimes, Detective Levine knew his transfer was a punishment—but he had no idea just how bad it would get.
Cooper, Nebraska, is forgettable and forgotten, a town you’d only stumble into if you’d taken a seriously wrong turn. Like Detective Thomas Levine’s career has. But when a young woman is found lying in the snow, choked to death, her eyes gouged out, the disgraced detective is Cooper’s only hope for restoring peace and justice.
For Levine, still grieving and guilt-ridden over the death of his girlfriend, his so-called “transfer” from the big city to this grubby backwater has always felt like a punishment. And when his irascible new partner shoots their prime suspect using Levine’s gun, all hope of redemption is shattered. With the case in chaos, and both blackmail and a violent drug cartel to contend with, he finds himself in a world of trouble.
It gets worse. The real killer is still out there, and he’s got plans for Detective Levine. And Cooper may just be the perfect place to get away with murder.
The One That Got Away by JD Kirk
What if your worst enemy was your only hope?
When a fifteen-year-old girl fails to make it home after school, DI Heather Filson believes she’s dealing with just another teenage runaway.
The girl’s grandfather, a notorious Glasgow gangster, disagrees. Convinced one of his underworld enemies has grabbed her, he’s prepared to bathe the city in blood in order to bring his princess home.
But, as the days pass and the evidence mounts, Heather starts to fear that they’re both wrong, and that a brutal killer from the past has returned.
A killer who once stalked the streets of her hometown, preying on vulnerable young victims.
A killer that DI Heather Filson is uniquely familiar with…
Uncover the secrets of The One That Got Away in the first book in a brand new Scottish crime fiction series by JD Kirk, author of the multi-million selling DCI Jack Logan novels.
ARE YOU READY TO SAVE A LIFE?
WHY HER?
Becca Palmer has just lost her job as assistant to Simon Jones MP – the highly-regarded Policing Minister, tipped as a future Prime Minister. But Becca claims that Simon was more than her boss, that she is in love with him.
WHY HERE?
When a heartbroken Becca leaves the Home Office, she heads to Westminster Bridge, intending to take her own life. Which is where hostage negotiator Alex Lewis meets her for the first time. It is his job to try to talk her back from the edge.
WHY NOW?
In the negotiation that follows, Becca suggests that she may know something about the Policing Minister that she shouldn’t. Something that could prompt a serious fall from grace were it to come out.
But can Alex save Becca – and get to the bottom of an alleged conspiracy that goes deep inside the highest levels of government – before it’s too late?
Pretty good week, all things being considered. Busy at work but the books were just too good to put down so I ate them up, Another busy enough week on the blog – recap below:
#Review – Pure Evil – Lynda La Plante
#Review – The half Burnt House – Alex North
#Review – The Skeleton Key – Erin Kelly
#Press Release – Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival 20th Anniversary Programme Announced.
#Review – Eleven Liars – Robert Gold
#Review – Two Storm Wood – Philip Gray
Just the one blog tour this week, plus a variety of reviews. I’ll be sharing my thoughts on A Truth for a Truth by Carol Wyer, the brand new Kate Young thriller, on Wednesday, so do stop by.
And that’s my lot. Plenty of bookish loveliness for you to drool over though, so, you’re welcome.
Hope you have a lovely week. I am looking forward to another long weekend this coming weekend, largely because of the fact that it means Maundy Thursday is almost upon us and I can start downing caffeine again. Hallelujah!
Happy reading
Jen
Jen Med's Book Reviews 