Bad Actors - Mark Pepper

Actor and fun, middle-aged psychopath Matt Spiller has finally made it to Hollywood. With a big movie under his belt, his life as a provincial English taxi driver is firmly in the past. As are the drug dealers he was forced to kill.

He’s landed the lead role in a TV series called Veteran Avenue, and he’s got a new girlfriend.

Life is improbably peachy.

Then people start arriving in LA.

His ex-wife is the least of his worries; she just wants to send him on a guilt trip.

His ex-agent, on the other hand, wants a chunk of his new-found wealth, and will use blackmail to get it, while a dogged detective wants to jail him for a spate of unsolved murders.

And when Spiller stumbles upon a secret that could destroy Hollywood, a hell of a lot of people want him dead.

 

What did I think?

I've thoroughly enjoyed all of Mark Pepper's novels and it feels like they were all leading up to the pinnacle of Bad Actors.  You can of course read Bad Actors as a standalone but you won't pick up the references to all of Mark Pepper's previous books and I absolutely loved how they were all woven into the fantastic plot.

It's the second book featuring Matt Spiller who we met in Man Down and the former British taxi driver is living it up in LA after starring in a major movie and then securing the lead role in a TV series.  Everything is going great but this is Matt Spiller we're talking about and when it goes wrong, it goes spectacularly wrong.

I really don't want to give away any of the plot so I'm saying no more about it but believe me when I say that this is a book you don't want to miss.  The whole book is outstanding from the amazing cover to the explosive plot and the characters that are so razor-sharp you need to wear gloves when reading about them.

Blisteringly fast-paced and incredibly gripping, if Bad Actors was any grittier it would be a tonne of grit.  Without doubt, it's all of the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Bad Actors so it's an easy five stars from me.  One of the streaming services or a film producer seriously needs to pick up this book right now!  I don't often shout but I'm shouting now: DON'T MISS THIS BOOK!!!

Many thanks to Mark Pepper for sending me a digital ARC to read and review; this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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Veteran Avenue - Mark Pepper

1978. On vacation from England, eight-year-old John Frears is befriended by a stranger in the Oregon wilderness and stolen away from his parents. After a bizarre hour spent in a log cabin, he is sent back with a picture of a young girl. 

2013. Since leaving the military, John Frears has been drifting, unable to settle. Then he gets word that a funeral is taking place in LA. Donnie Chester, fellow veteran of the first Gulf War, has been shot dead. He decides to head to the States to pay his respects then go sightseeing. It is a simple plan, in keeping with his life to date. 

But his life is about to become more complicated than he could ever imagine. The mysterious event from his past crashes into the present, and could mean the difference between life and death.

What did I think?

I've found it really difficult to write a review of Veteran Avenue: how do I write a review to show how brilliant it is without giving anything away?  I've deliberated over it far too long so I'm biting the bullet and attempting a no-spoiler review.

What is so clever about Veteran Avenue is how you take the main character of John to your heart straight away.  As an eight year-old he already feels unloved and invisible so when a stranger tempts him away from his parents, John is only too eager to follow.  This strange meeting will stay with John for the rest of his life and puts him on a path he doesn't even know he is following.  With fate pulling all the strings, John's destiny awaits.

Veteran Avenue is SO SO good.  I really wanted to do a review that would do it justice without releasing any spoilers, so I went for a minimalist approach.  This is a book that defies genre and will burst out of any box you try to put it in.  Whatever your usual genre, you will love Veteran Avenue as it has a bit of everything from the military to romance with a sprinkling of the unexpected.

I firmly believe that life is a journey and we are travelling down a path that is already mapped out for us.  John's life is certainly like that, nothing is left to chance and everything is meant to be.  Veteran Avenue is Thought-provoking with a capital 'T' and I am encouraging friends and family to read it so I can talk to them about it, as I am positively fit to burst being the only person in my circle to have read it.  Mark Pepper has written such an amazing book that it deserves to be sitting at the top of the charts for a long time to come.

If you're looking for something different to read: look no further!  I wholeheartedly recommend Veteran Avenue to readers of any genre.  It's a book that you will remember long after turning the final page; I know I will never forget it and it deserves every single one of the five stars I have awarded it.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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Poor Little Bitch Girl (Santangelo #7) - Jackie Collins

There's Denver Jones, the hotshot attorney working in L.A. and Carolyn Henderson - personal assistant to a powerful and very married Senator in Washington with whom she is having an affair. And then there's Annabelle Maestro - daughter of two movie stars - who has carved out a career for herself in New York as the madame of choice for discerning famous men. The three twenty-something women used to go to high school together in Beverly Hills and Denver and Carolyn have always kept in touch, but Annabelle is out on her own with her cocaine addicted boyfriend Frankie. 

Bobby is Frankie's best friend - Bobby Santangelo Stanislopolous, that is, Kennedy-esque son of Lucky Santangelo and deceased Greek shipping billionaire Dimitri Stanislopolous. Now he owns Mood, the hottest club in New York, but back in the day he went to high school with Denver, Carolyn and Annabelle, and hung out with all three of them. Which means that Bobby knows everyone's secrets - and he has some of his own, too.

What did I think?

I had never read a Jackie Collins book before and I don't really like jumping into an already established series, but I was loaned this book so thought I'd give it a shot (no pun intended with a shooting in the book).

The story centres around 4 main characters; Bobby, Denver, Annabelle and Carolyn.  They all went to same school as youths but weren't all friends.  Denver is a lawyer who was briefly friendly with Annabelle, daughter of two famous movie stars, but is now friends with Carolyn, assistant to a senator.  Bobby is the son of Lucky Santangelo and is in Annabelle's social circle as he is friends with her boyfriend, Frankie.

Unsurprisingly, Annabelle is a spoilt bitch and is the subject of the book's title.  She lands herself in hot water but as it is in LA, if you have enough money you can make anything go away.  I quite liked Denver at first, as she seemed the more normal of the 3 girls until she jumped into bed with anyone who looked at her for longer than 10 seconds.  Carolyn got the short straw; having an affair with a married senator who makes an arrangement with a local gang leader to abduct Carolyn when she gets too attached.  That was quite a gripping part of the story.  Bobby didn't really leave a lasting impression on me.  He seemed a bit weak, most unlike the playboy I expected him to be.  

I really liked the way that Jackie Collins summed it all up in the last chapter by giving a brief 'what happened next' to each character.  I do think that there were too many characters in the book with none of them standing head and shoulders above the rest as a main character.  The murder storyline was predictable and the bitch wasn't even that bitchy so it all felt a bit flat for me.  Perhaps if I had read the first 6 books in the series, I would have enjoyed it more.

My rating:

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Dark Hours - Ryan David Jahn

Private Investigator Damien Lamb: a man hardened by life and seeking justice against those who have wronged society. When the vulnerable Abigail walks into his office asking Lamb to retrieve her daughter from the confines of infamous cult, the Children of God, Lamb can't help but fall for her story. And so begins a breath-taking and dangerous journey as Lamb attempts to rescue Abigail's daughter, Lily, and bring down the charming yet heinous leader of the cult, Rhett Mosley. But Abigail's motivations might not be as clear as they first seem and Lamb finds himself in more danger than he could ever have imagined . . .

What did I think?

I really enjoyed this book, although there were some parts that were a bit gruesome.  At times I was reading whilst my eyes were trying to squeeze shut so they didn't have to experience the events on the page!

It took me a little while to get into it as there are no speech marks around conversations, so I wasn't sure if my anal-brain would be able to cope with it.  I'm so glad that I persevered as I hardly noticed they were missing in the end.

Damien seemed a bit of a typical seedy PI at first, but I very soon realised that he cares enough about his client to do whatever it takes. I just never imagined to what extent he would have to go to get Lily back.  The scenes in the feed-shed will stay with me for quite some time and if this book is ever made into a film, I will have to hide behind the sofa during that part.

The female characters of Abigail and Lily were given an interesting history.  Due to her history, it wasn't surprisingly that Abigail found herself in the cult.  She was lucky to break free but I did wonder about her motivations for trying to get Lily back - was she more interested in the money or her daughter?  I felt really sorry for Lily, as all she had ever known was the cult but it was interesting that a part of her realised that the things Rhett Mosley did weren't right.

Mosley was a great character - a supposed man of God with the characteristics of a devil.  He was ultimately motivated by greed and I wondered what he planned to do with his piles of cash in the end.  Perhaps slip all of his "children" a suicide pill, then head off to Vegas for a weekend of debauchery before setting up a new cult.  To find out what does actually happen to him, you'll just have to read the book!

This a really fast-paced thriller that gets under your skin and is written so vividly that there were many grimaces and gasps of horror.

I received this book from the publisher, Pan Macmillan, in exchange for an honest review.

My rating:

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