BLOG TOUR: The Whole Truth (DI Adam Fawley #5) - Cara Hunter

 

An attractive student. An older professor.

Think you know the story? Think again.

THE NEW UP-ALL-NIGHT THRILLER FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER CARA HUNTER, PERFECT FOR FANS OF LINE OF DUTY

She has everything at stake; he has everything to lose. But one of them is lying, all the same.

When an Oxford student accuses one of the university's professors of sexual assault, DI Adam Fawley's team think they've heard it all before. But they couldn't be more wrong.

Because this time, the predator is a woman and the shining star of the department, and the student a six-foot male rugby player.

Soon DI Fawley and his team are up against the clock to figure out the truth. What they don't realise is that someone is watching.

And they have a plan to put Fawley out of action for good...

What did I think?

I discovered the DI Adam Fawley series when it was already into its fourth instalment, All The Rage, so don't worry if you're discovering Cara Hunter for the first time as these books work brilliantly as standalones (there's even a fabulous list of characters and their key personality traits at the beginning and I loved this).  The Whole Truth is written so brilliantly that new readers don't feel as if they're missing out on anything and series fans get pertinent facts inserted skilfully into the prose as gentle reminders.

There are a number of threads woven through this story to keep the reader (and DI Adam Fawley) on their toes: a sexual assault, a murder inquiry and a podcast claiming a miscarriage of justice in Fawley's biggest case.  All three grabbed my attention and kept me riveted, with my fingers getting a good workout in making the pages turn faster than ever.  With so much going on it's surprisingly never confusing and it had my mind whizzing nineteen to the dozen but I loved every second of it.

I also love the added extras you get in a Cara Hunter book as the prose is peppered with other media: text messages, podcast transcripts, police interviews, social media posts, news articles and police reports to name but a few.  The only tiny niggle I have is that some of the writing is quite small so I sometimes had to get my nose right into the book; of course it could just be my eyesight deteriorating with age (and too much reading).  

It's true, this really is an up-all-night kind of book, purely because there are no formal chapters of which to promise yourself that you'll read just one more.  Usually a lack of chapters would annoy me but I was actually really glad there aren't any as they would have just slowed my reading down.  So make sure you're sitting comfortably when you pick up The Whole Truth as you really won't be able to put it down.

Filled with twists, shocks and surprises, Cara Hunter has such sleight of hand I wouldn't have been surprised to see a rabbit pulled out of a hat.  The Whole Truth is absolutely fantastic; it's gripping, supersonically fast-paced and completely addictive - this is crime fiction at its finest.

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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BLOG BLAST: Allegation - R. G. Adams

An evil monster exposed?

Or an innocent father condemned?

A scandal will shake a small community to its very foundations.

Sandbeach, South Wales. Two women have come forward to make historical sexual allegations against a pillar of the local community, Matthew Cooper. And child-safeguarding protocol demands that Social Services remove the accused from his home and his family, while a formal assessment is carried out.

The Cooper case lands on the desk of inexperienced Social Worker, Kit Goddard. Although intrepid and intuitive, she is ill-prepared for such a high-profile case.

Kit finds herself navigating a local minefield of connections and class, reputations and rumour. Unsure whether her interference is a heroic intervention or a hurtful intrusion, she knows one thing: it will have an impact. The question is whether this impact will be to expose an iniquitous lie, or destroy an innocent life...

What did I think?

With allegations of child sexual abuse, I was expecting Allegation to be an uncomfortable read but there are so many strands to this amazing story that once I got into it I was completely gripped and couldn't put it down.

The main storyline is the allegation of historical abuse and it's one that really got under my skin.  The women haven't come forward before because they feared that nobody would believe them; they are from a rough part of town and Matthew Cooper, the man they are accusing, is well connected so it could appear that they are just after a big pay-off.  The "did he/didn't he" question constantly hovered in the back of my mind while Social Worker, Kit Goddard assessed the safety of the Cooper children.

Kit is a fantastic character; although inexperienced, she's very good at her job and will do whatever it takes to make sure the children are safe.  I didn't envy her at all, locking horns with the Coopers and constantly being threatened that they were going to make a complaint.  The way that Kit kept a clear head and put the children first is really admirable, especially when Kit has so much going on in her personal life.  The gradual revealing of Kit's backstory makes her such a well-developed character and this thread added another dimension to the story.

It took me a couple of chapters to get hooked but once I did, I absolutely raced through the book.  The chapters are quite long, there are only 16 chapters in the whole 313 page book, but the plot is so gripping that I couldn't tear my eyes away from the page.  The author has first-hand knowledge of social services and I loved getting a glimpse into the life of a social worker.  There are so many minefields to dodge and hoops to jump through that it sounds like a total nightmare and it must be awful to be so unwelcome in a home where they are carrying out an assessment.

Thought-provoking, intriguing and completely compelling, Allegation is a very impressive debut.  I'm delighted to find that it's the first book in the Kit Goddard series; I'll certainly be looking out for more.

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog blast; this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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About the author:

R. G. Adams is a former social worker with thirty years of experience across all areas of social services. She lives in Wales with her family, and Allegation is her first novel.

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BLOG TOUR: Deity (Six Stories) - Matt Wesolowski

A shamed pop star

A devastating fire

Six witnesses

Six stories

Which one is true?

When pop megastar Zach Crystal dies in a fire at his remote mansion, his mysterious demise rips open the bitter divide between those who adored his music and his endless charity work, and those who viewed him as a despicable predator, who manipulated and abused young and vulnerable girls.

Online journalist, Scott King, whose ‘Six Stories’ podcasts have become an internet sensation, investigates the accusations of sexual abuse and murder that were levelled at Crystal before he died. But as Scott begins to ask questions and rakes over old graves, some startling inconsistencies emerge. Was the fire at Crystal’s remote home really an accident? Why was he never officially charged? Are reports of a haunting really true?

Dark, chillingly topical and deeply thought-provoking, Deity is both an explosive, spine-chilling thriller and a startling look at how heroes can fall from grace and why we are willing to turn a blind eye to even the most heinous of crimes…

What did I think?

I am completely addicted to Matt Wesolowski's Six Stories books as I absolutely love the podcast format they are written in.  The conversational writing style really feels like the book is speaking to you and it's amazing how clear each individual voice comes across.

With accusations of sexual abuse against a dead popstar, the subject matter is quite dark although it's never too difficult to read as podcaster Scott King doesn't interview anyone who has first-hand details of the abuse.  As Scott interviews six people linked to Zach Crystal it's quite eye-opening to see how one person can be seen in so many different lights.  I guess all famous people have a public and private persona so it must be almost like having a split personality; no wonder their brains get fried sometimes, although I'm not excusing anyone's unsavoury actions.

Following Operation Yewtree, we saw allegations about and convictions of many famous figures from our childhood.  You can't help but think about this when reading Deity as fame really does place rose tinted glasses on fans.  As the news came out I remember being both surprised and unsurprised by some of the accused, purely because of how I perceived them from the face they chose to show the public.  Matt Wesolowski also touches on the guilt we feel for still liking a particular song when the singer is not who we thought they were.  I found this really interesting to consider and could totally relate to it simply because of a particular classic Christmas song that I find myself singing along to then stop midway wondering whether I'm still allowed to like it now that the singer is a convicted sex offender.

I love Scott King's interviews and I sometimes forget that he's fictional; I would definitely subscribe to his Six Stories podcast if it was real.  As facts and opinions are laid out before us, I felt like I was part of the race to uncover the truth and I found myself making various judgements about Zach's guilt along the way.  I flipped so often between guilty and not guilty so I was definitely right at one point or another.

So very relatable and current, Deity is a dark, addictive and shocking thriller that really makes you think about the person behind the idol.  Highly recommended.

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour; this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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Amazon

About the author:

Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor for young people in care. Matt started his writing career in horror, and his short horror fiction has been published in numerous UK- and US-based anthologies, such as Midnight Movie Creature, Selfies from the End of the World, Cold Iron and many more. His novella, The Black Land, a horror set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. His debut thriller, Six Stories, was an Amazon bestseller in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, and a WHSmith Fresh Talent pick, and film rights were sold to a major Hollywood studio. A prequel, Hydra, was published in 2018 and became an international bestseller. Changeling, the third book in the series, was published in 2019 and was longlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. His fourth book, Beast, won the Amazon Publishing Readers’ Independent Voice Book of the Year award in 2020.

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BLOG TOUR: A Song of Isolation - Michael J Malone

Film star Amelie Hart is the darling of the silver screen, appearing on the front pages of every newspaper. But at the peak of her fame she throws it all away for a regular guy with an ordinary job. The gossip columns are aghast: what happened to the woman who turned heads wherever she went?

Any hope the furore will die down are crushed when Amelie’s boyfriend Dave is arrested on charges of child sexual abuse. Dave strongly asserts his innocence, and when Amelie refuses to denounce him, the press furore quickly turns into physical violence, and she has to flee the country.

While Dave is locked up with the most depraved men in the country and Amelie is hiding on the continent, Damaris, the victim at the centre of the story, is also isolated – a child trying to make sense of an adult world…

Breathtakingly brutal, dark and immensely moving, A Song of Isolation looks beneath the magpie glimmer of celebrity to uncover a sinister world dominated by greed and lies, and the unfathomable destruction of innocent lives… in an instant.

What did I think?

Any story involving child abuse is difficult to read, but Michael J Malone turns the subject on its head in A Song of Isolation by focussing on a different side of the story: that of the person accused of these terrible acts.  Michael J Malone leaves no stone unturned as the catastrophic effects of such a damaging accusation are portrayed.  It's a book I couldn't put down and I felt simultaneously completely devastated and absolutely furious by events in the story.

Amelie and Dave are reevaluating their relationship when Dave is arrested for child abuse.  Amelie is a film star, but her career was cut short after a stalking incident which made Amelie decide to leave the bright lights behind and move to Scotland, where she met Dave.  It is devastating for Amelie to hear the accusations levelled against Dave but she decides to stand by her man during the court case, despite the vitriol that is aimed against her by the public and the press.

Dave's guilt or innocence aside, there is another victim in this story: Damaris, the 11 year old neighbour of Amelie and Dave.  Whether Damaris was telling the truth or not became irrelevant for me: either something terrible had actually happened to her or she was made to believe something had.  Either way, her life was changed irrevocably and she has to live with it for the rest of her life.  Although it's such a difficult storyline, Michael J Malone handles it sensitively whilst not shying away from the subject matter.

Heartbreakingly devastating and completely compelling, A Song of Isolation is another outstanding novel from Michael J Malone.  Very highly recommended.

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

My rating:

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About the author:

Michael Malone is a prize-winning poet and author who was born and brought up in the heart of Burns’ country. He has published over 200 poems in literary magazines throughout the UK, including New Writing Scotland, Poetry Scotland and Markings. Blood Tears, his bestselling debut novel won the Pitlochry Prize from the Scottish Association of Writers. His psychological thriller, A Suitable Lie, was a number-one bestseller, and the critically acclaimed House of Spines, After He Died and In the Absence of Miracles soon followed suit. A former Regional Sales Manager (Faber & Faber) he has also worked as an IFA and a bookseller. Michael lives in Ayr. 

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BLOG TOUR: House of Straw - Marc Scott

‘Beautifully brutal, dark and twisted’  

Traumatised by the tragic death of her twin brother, Brianna falls into a state of deep depression, isolating herself from the world and all those that care about her. When a twist of fate reveals that she has a half-sister she finds a new purpose in her life and sets out to find her sibling, desperately hoping she can fill the void left in her world.

Poppy has not enjoyed the same privileged lifestyle as her sister while growing up. Abandoned into the care system at the age of eight, she has encountered both physical and sexual abuse for most of her life. Passing through the hands of more care homes and foster families than she can remember, the damaged product of a broken upbringing, Poppy has never found a place to feel truly safe. Kicking back at society, she turns to drug abuse and acts of extreme violence to escape from reality.

When the two siblings are finally united, they discover that they have much more in common than their DNA. Their paths are shrouded with sinister secrets of betrayal and regret and both girls share a deep-rooted hatred for one of their parents. As the dark truths of their lives are unveiled they realise that nothing can ever be the same again...  

What did I think?

House of Straw turned out to be a lot darker than I expected from reading the synopsis and it's always good when a book surprises you.  It's very hard-hitting from the start as we read about the death of Brianna's twin brother, Jamie, but there's much more to this story than meets the eye.

Brianna, who prefers to be known as Bree, spirals into a pit of despair after Jamie's death and she only has one friend for support.  Bree's relationship with her mother is almost non-existent and it only gets worse when she finds out that she has a half-sister, Poppy.  If I thought Bree was a damaged character, Poppy is smashed beyond repair.  

Poppy's life is a stark contrast to Bree's and it was heartbreaking to read about her past and present.  Poppy's story is so devastating that it was often hard to read the graphic details and I felt myself recoiling in horror as her abuse was described.  As much as the violence had me wincing as each blow was dealt, some of the words used in the sex scenes had me cringing.  I'm not a prude by any means but I think it's better to leave some things to the imagination.&nbsp

Although the storyline is gripping and intriguing, it took me a little while to get used to the writing style as the speech is quite stilted.  It feels a bit odd for characters who are a little rough around the edges to be speaking the Queen's English, for example using 'I am' instead of 'I'm'.  I did get used to it though, it just meant that speech didn't flow as well as it could have done.

I found it really interesting that both Poppy and Bree try to pin the blame for absolutely everything and anything on anybody but themselves; it's almost as if it's in their genes.  It's really quite startling that some people don't accept responsibility for their own actions and waste so much time blaming others that they get stuck in a rut of negativity.  I loved the thread of blame running throughout the novel; it's woven into the story brilliantly.

Shocking and hard-hitting, House of Straw is a very good first novel from Marc Scott and I'll be keeping an eye out for his new novel coming later this year.

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

My rating:

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About the author:

Marc Scott was born and bred in the heart of East London. His dark and gritty writing style has earned him much praise with readers.

He worked in the film and video industry for more than twenty years, the highlight of which was spending twelve months based in Hollywood, organising marketing campaigns for a UK film distributor.

More recently he spent several years working with young offenders as part of his role associated with the court service. It was during this time he became deeply moved by the tragic story of one young girl who was struggling to come to terms with the neglect and abuse she had suffered throughout her life. Her tragic case inspired him to write his first novel HOUSE OF STRAW.

The book has already received excellent reviews from bloggers and buyers and his second book is planned for release at the end of 2020.

His favourite book is Birdy by William Wharton, which he confesses to have read at least half a dozen times. He also enjoys the works of Kazuo Ishiguro. ‘I love authors that can find something that is extraordinary in ordinary people’ he says. ‘A reader wants to feel like a bystander all through the journey and that only happens if they can feel an emotional attachment to the main characters’.

Marc lives in Buckinghamshire and has three grown-up children George, Marissa and Amie. He says his daughters have been the main motivation behind his love of writing. ‘I always run everything past them. Their honest appraisals definitely keep me on the right track’ he says.

He is a keen sports fan and has an undying passion for Leyton Orient Football Club.

Twitter: @MARCO1918253109

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