BLOG TOUR: Manhattan Down - Michael Cordy

A propulsive rollercoaster high concept international thriller which dares to take the world to the edge of oblivion.

THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS JUST SAID GOODNIGHT.

On the anniversary eve of the 9/11 terror attack, New York swelters under a heat dome of record temperatures. Even the global leaders assembled at the UN HQ are forced to admit that the climate crisis has reached boiling point and the world’s time is running out.

That same day, at precisely 5:25 p.m., everyone on Manhattan Island – every man, woman and child, including all the world leaders at the UN – falls unconscious. Everyone that is, except for Samantha Rossi, a single mother reeling from devastating personal news and Nick Lockwood, a wounded NYPD detective who wakes from a coma just as the City That Never Sleeps falls into one.

Rossi’s first concern is her daughter. Lockwood’s is his city. As night draws in, they must work together to unravel the mystery of what has happened and why. Each must decide how far they will go and what lines they will cross to save what matters most to them.

Manhattan Down is a pulse-pounding contemporary thriller which dares to imagine the unimaginable, a leaderless world being held to ransom by forces unknown for reasons unknown. The questions it asks are terrifying – and so are some of the answers.

 

What did I think?

That chilling strapline really made me sit up and take notice of Michael Cordy's new thriller, Manhattan Down, and it delivered chills and thrills on every page.  It's an incredibly original and highly imaginative thriller that takes the reader to the real, and scarily empty, streets of Manhattan in a breathtaking race against time.

When Manhattan falls asleep on 10th September, only a handful of people are left walking the streets: a group of eco-terrorists, a wounded detective and a single mother.  Nick Lockwood has sworn to protect and serve so he only has one thing on his mind: save the city.  Samantha Rossi is like a lion with its cub as she trawls the streets of Manhattan to find her daughter.  It's only a matter of time before the pair cross paths with both each other and the people responsible for bringing Manhattan to its knees.

I have got goosebumps just thinking about the book and my thoughts have been well and truly provoked.  It's like a cross between Die Hard and 24 and it would be an absolute travesty if this amazing book is not picked up for the big screen.  There are so many interesting subjects running alongside the razor-sharp plot to provoke debate, which makes this book a great choice for book groups.

Chilling, gripping, blisteringly fast-paced and scarily realistic, Manhattan Down is a breathtaking cli-fi thriller that had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish.  I couldn't put it down and would highly recommend this completely unmissable and unforgettable book.  An easy five stars!

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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UK.Bookshop.org

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BLOG TOUR: The Coming Storm (The Coming Darkness Book 2) - Greg Mosse

SOMETIMES THE CALM IS DEADLIER THAN THE STORM.

The hotly-anticipated sequel to Sunday Times Thriller of the Year The Coming Darkness sees the return of special agent Alexandre Lamarque.

He may have saved the world from darkness, but he knows his work is not done yet.

There’s still a terrorist threat out there, pulling together the strands of a new and even more destructive conspiracy to bring the world to its knees.

Battling with personal tragedy on one hand, and the intrusion of new-found celebrity on the other, Alex and his allies must re-emerge from self-imposed exile to face the fight of their lives.

From the streets of Paris, the lithium mines of Southern Mali, and the mighty Aswan Dam, they come up against forces whose intentions are as devious as they are malign. Time is against them, and there’s more at stake than ever. Can they survive the coming storm?

 

What did I think?

I thought Greg Mosse's debut, The Coming Darkness, was fantastic but the sequel, The Coming Storm is breathtaking.  Although you could read The Coming Storm as a standalone, I think you would appreciate it more if you had already read The Coming Darkness.

Everyone wants to meet The Man Who Saved the World, Alexandre Lamarque, but his fame also makes him a very visible target.  The pacing is blisteringly fast as the threats come from all angles and I felt like Robocop as my eyes scanned the pages as fast as I could.

There is so much going on with Alex, Mariam and Amaury after the events of the first book and I absolutely devoured each storyline.  I really enjoyed reading more about Mariam's personal life, although it did break my heart.  I was on the edge of my seat throughout and I certainly had my virtual running shoes on as I raced through the book.

Intelligent, captivating and heart-poundingly thrilling, The Coming Storm is a superb novel in its own right but when read as part of the series it is spectacular.  Although I don't want the series to end when it's barely begun, I will definitely be rereading these books when the series is complete.  Very highly recommended.

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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UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

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BLOG TOUR: The Coming Darkness - Greg Mosse

 

A thrilling debut that has been likened to John Le Carré and Raymond Chandler . . .

Paris, 2037. Alexandre Lamarque of the French external security service is hunting for eco-terrorists. Experience has taught him there is no one he can trust – not his secretive lover Mariam, not even his old mentor, Professor Fayard, the man at the centre of the web. He is ready to give up. But he can’t.

In search of the truth, Alex must follow the trail through an ominous spiral of events, from a string of brutal child murders to a chaotic coup in North Africa. He rapidly finds himself in a heart-thumping race against chaos and destruction. He could be the world’s only hope of preventing THE COMING DARKNESS . . .

What did I think?

With a dystopian setting and a hint of sci-fi, The Coming Darkness is a little out of my comfort zone but I rather enjoyed it.  It's a book of two halves for me; it took me quite a long time to get into the story and to work out who the characters were but once I got over that hump I absolutely flew through it.

Set in Paris in the near future of 2037, I loved the main character of Alexandre Lamarque and I hope this is the first of many thrillers starring Alex.  Greg Mosse has created a scarily realistic fictional future world and the book is filled with tension as you don't know who can be trusted or what they are willing to do for their cause.

The writing is outstanding and I think because of the almost sci-fi element to the novel, there's a lot of world building at the start which I'm not used to.  So I found the pacing at the start of the book to be slower than I expected but boy does it ramp up.  Once I became immersed in this new world, the thriller element completely gripped me and I couldn't read it fast enough.

An intelligent, thought-provoking and scarily realistic thriller, The Coming Darkness is a fantastic debut from Greg Mosse and one I would definitely recommend reading.  I think it deserves a reread and I wouldn't be surprised if it will be even better the second time round.

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 TOUR: Fatal Hate (DC Mel Cotton Crime Series Book 2) - Brian Price

DC Mel Cotton is back with a brand new case, the murder of Duncan Bennett. But who would want an unassuming warehouse worker dead?

The case soon becomes far more complex and dangerous, with terrorists, a paedophile network and a hitman in town. And against a background of rising hatred and violence, one woman pursues her deadly revenge.

Mel and her colleagues face their greatest challenge yet. Mel’s own courage will be tested to the limits. No-one is safe.

Fatal Hate is the thrilling sequel to the much-acclaimed Fatal Trade by the brilliant Brian Price

 

What did I think?

Fatal Hate is book 2 in the DC Mel Cotton series but you can totally read it as a standalone.  I have read book 1, Fatal Trade, so it was good to catch up with the characters again.

I don't think I have read a more detailed police procedural before and it really adds authenticity and depth to the story.  I actually felt as if I was part of the police team hunting down murderers and terrorists in the fictional town of Mexton.

The writing is word perfect and the plot is intricate and sharp; I was entertained from start to finish.  There's danger, shocks and surprises in store for the reader throughout this compelling novel; I did actually gasp out loud and almost dropped my book in shock at one point as I was so immersed in the story.

Hugely entertaining and filled with danger, Fatal Hate is an authentic, tense and gripping police procedural.

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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BLOG TOUR: The Rift - Rachel Lynch

To save one life, she risks many others.

Working for the Royal Military Police, Major Helen Scott is used to rapid change. On a posting to Paris she oversees security for a NATO summit in the city, yet has barely begun before her presence is demanded at Interpol headquarters in Lyon.

Helen’s orders are to locate a kidnapping victim – the eldest son of oil magnate Khalil Dalmani. The main suspect is Fawaz bin Nabil, whose fortune has been made from illegal trade familiar to the intelligence agencies.

Helen knows the pain of loss and won’t rest until Khalil’s child is found. Along the way, she crosses paths with old faces and forms new alliances. But who will betray her trust?

A stunning new thriller from the author of the acclaimed DI Kelly Porter novels and a rising star in British crime fiction.

 

What did I think?

Rachel Lynch has been on my radar for quite some time as I have gradually been collecting her DI Kelly Porter novels but unfortunately I haven't read any of them yet.  The author's outstanding reputation drew me to The Rift before I had even read the blurb and I have to say that this book is even better than I expected.

Incredibly well written, this is a book that grabbed me from the start and didn't let go.  I loved the character of Major Helen Scott; she's not only brilliant at her job, she has had to overcome sexism in the workplace and she has had to deal with her own grief after suffering a terrible tragedy.  Of all this makes Helen more human and relatable, enabling her character to virtually leap out from the page.  I have my fingers crossed that this isn't the last we'll hear of Major Helen Scott.

I don't want to say too much about the plot other than to say it is breathtakingly brilliant.  I don't know whether that sort of thing is possible but it's certainly very believable and incredibly scary.  I even jumped in shock towards the end and I found myself holding my breath as the vivid and dramatic scene played out in front of my eyes.

One thing to pay attention to is the exotic names of the characters.  I wish I'd taken a note of some of the names because it sometimes caused me a little bit of confusion as to which side they were on.  It's not a criticism of the book at all as I think this is mostly down to me reading kindle books in bed just before I go to sleep so my concentration levels aren't at their peak.

Blisteringly fast-paced and completely gripping, The Rift is a fantastic read; it's like a whole series of 24 squeezed into one book with a strong female lead who shows Jack Bauer how it should be done.  I'm really looking forward to reading more Rachel Lynch books so it's lucky for me that I already have her whole back catalogue sitting on my bookshelf.

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

My rating:

Buy it from:

Amazon UK

Book Depository

Waterstones

Foyles

Kobo

Google Books 

About the author:

Rachel Lynch grew up in Cumbria and the lakes and fells are never far away from her. London pulled her away to teach History and marry an Army Officer, whom she followed around the globe for thirteen years. A change of career after children led to personal training and sports therapy, but writing was always the overwhelming force driving the future. The human capacity for compassion as well as its descent into the brutal and murky world of crime are fundamental to her work.

Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/r_lynchcrime 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Rachel-Lynch-Author-104835661648876 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachellynchcrime/ 

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BLOG TOUR: No Signal (iMe #2) - Jem Tugwell

Can a game change the world? 

The Ten are chosen - they are reckless, driven and strong. They are tested. Ten become Four. In a country where everyone is tracked, how can the Four hide from the police? 

DI Clive Lussac hates the system that controls everything, but he's ill and it's helping him. He must decide: conform or fight. 

As Clive's world unravels, he and his partners DC Ava Miller and DS Zoe Jordan can't believe the entry price to the game. They strive to answer the real questions. Why does the ultimate Augmented Reality game have four different finishes? And how is a simple game wrapped up in politics, religion and the environment?

What did I think?

If I had to describe No Signal in two words they'd be: FLIPPING AWESOME!  I've always said that I don't read science fiction but if this is an example of the genre then consider me converted.  I haven't read Proximity, the first book in the iMe series, and I didn't feel at a disadvantage at all so you can definitely read No Signal as a standalone but I do really want to read Proximity now too.

In a future UK, everyone is fitted with an iMe - a device that not only tracks a person's location but, among many other things, monitors their health and wellbeing.  You have no secrets from the powers that be therefore crime is virtually non-existent.  You can't even eat a bar of chocolate without it being deducted from your allocated 'Freedom Units' and this is a big issue for the main character, Detective Inspector and chocaholic Clive Lussac.  I thought I liked chocolate but I think Clive would actually die for a bar of chocolate, especially one that he can eat off the radar.  It always amazes me that no matter how complex and secure you think a system is, there's always someone who finds a way to get around it.

Gamers from all over the world have been invited to compete for a place in the ultimate augmented reality game on the 'Forbidden Island', also known as UK.  Ten have been chosen but only four can compete.  I've never been into games but I really enjoyed reading about the very inventive and imaginative tasks that the players had to undertake.  The final four comprises players from France, South Africa, America and Italy, who fly to the UK and are fitted with a compulsory iTourist that tracks their every movement.  The first task in the game is to disable the tracking device and then for each of them to make their way unaided to a particular location.  The first person to reach their location wins the game but disabling the iTourist sends out an alert that sees Clive and his team reverting to good old-fashioned police work to track them down.

The intelligent plot of No Signal is absolutely fantastic; it had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish.  It's set in a dystopian future but it's so scarily realistic when you think about the current trend for fitness trackers that monitor our health; it's almost like fitness trackers are phase one and phase two will see a fitness tracker getting implanted in our necks.  I don't think people would even have a problem with that but it would certainly take Big Brother up to the next level.  Speaking of which, I couldn't help but compare No Signal to Orwell's 1984: both books depict a scarily realistic future and 70 years later we are seeing some of Orwell's predictions come true.  As with 1984, I can see No Signal becoming a classic and when the first tracker gets implanted, I'll say I read that in Jem Tugwell's book!

No Signal is an instant classic; it's an absolutely outstanding dystopian crime thriller with an inventive and intelligent plot.  It's fast-paced, gripping and scarily realistic; I really can't recommend it highly enough.  They'll be talking about this book in years to come, so make sure you grab a copy now!

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

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon




About the author:

Jem Tugwell is a crime fiction author with a Crime Writing MA from City University.

NO SIGNAL is the second book in the iMe series and follows his thrilling debut novel PROXIMITY.

Jem is inspired by the fascinating possibilities of technology, AI and the law of unintended consequences. In a past life, Jem had a successful career in investment management, and he now lives in Surrey with his wife. He has two great children and a dog. Outside of his family and writing, Jem's loves are snowboarding, old cars and bikes.

Please visit his website (www.jemtugwell.com) to read more.

Follow Jem on Twitter @JemTugwell

or Facebook JemTugwellAuthor

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BLOG TOUR: Shadow - James Swallow

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of NOMAD and EXILE, things are about to go viral for Marc Dane in his most dangerous adventure yet . . .

Marc Dane is Britain’s answer to Jason Bourne, and it is about to go viral in his most thrilling and dangerous adventure yet. . .

Marc and his partner - former US Delta Force sniper Lucy Keyes - are pitted against their most terrifying challenge yet, when a genius bio-researcher with the ability to create a deadly biological weapon is kidnapped by a ruthless terrorist. 

Their desperate search for the missing scientist takes them across the world, from the desolate wilderness of Iceland to the slums of the Near East and the dark underbelly of a fracturing Europe, where they will discover a shocking atrocity in the making. 

Backed by shadowy interests, a cadre of hardline ultra-right-wing extremists plan to unleash a lethal virus among the population of a major European city. 

Only Marc Dane can prevent this devastating attack from taking place - before a whole continent is plunged into terror...

What did I think?

I have wanted to read a James Swallow book for a while and as much as I don't like to jump into the middle of series, I decided to start with Shadow, which is book 4 of the Marc Dane series.  I can say with conviction that you can most definitely read Shadow as a standalone thriller but I'm even more eager to read the previous books now as there is such an amazing dynamic between the main characters, Marc and Lucy.

Marc Dane is a former MI6 data guy who has been thrust into the action, and there isn't half some action in Shadow as a worldwide hunt begins to stop a deadly bioweapon from releasing a killer virus.  I found the idea of a bioprinter that can create deadly viruses at the touch of a button very scary indeed and would like to think it's science fiction but a quick google tells me otherwise.  It's amazing to think that bioprinting could be used for transplants in the future but as with anything that is created to benefit people there is always the risk that someone will manipulate it for their own ends.  A theoretical Dr Evil could hold the whole world to ransom; thanks for the nightmares, James Swallow!

There is an awful lot going on in Shadow and I got myself a bit mixed up at times over who was who, but I couldn't stop reading as I needed to find out what was going to happen next.  I loved the character of Marc Dane, especially as he can quote the original Star Wars trilogy from memory, and I thought of him as a kind of geeky James Bond.  The geek in me also loved that Star Wars was mentioned on page 77 as Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was released in 1977.  I love little details, or coincidences, like this.

Shadow is a full-throttle, high-octane, action-packed thriller; I am now chomping at the bit to read more Marc Dane and Lucy Keyes books.

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

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon




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Unforgivable (DC Will MacReady #2) - Mike Thomas

Bombs detonate in a busy souk, causing massive devastation. 

An explosion rips apart a mosque, killing and injuring those inside. 

But this isn't the Middle East - this is Cardiff . . . 

In a city where tensions are already running high, DC Will MacReady and his colleagues begin the desperate hunt for the attacker. If they knew the 'why', then surely they can find the 'who'? But that isn't so easy, and time is fast running out . . . 

MacReady is still trying to prove himself after the horrific events of the previous year, which left his sergeant injured and his job in jeopardy, so he feels sidelined when he's asked to investigate a vicious knife attack on a young woman. 

But all is not as it seems with his new case, and soon MacReady must put everything on the line in order to do what is right.

What did I think?

With such an explosive start, the reader is launched straight into the action in Unforgivable, the second book in the DC Will MacReady series.  I do usually like to read books in order; sometimes you can get away with not reading the previous books and other times it really is a necessity.  For me, Unforgivable just scrapes through into the former; I would have liked to have read the first book but I didn't need to have read it in order to enjoy this one.

The first chapter is quite chilling as a bomb goes off in a busy market in Cardiff.  A short while later another bomb is detonated in a mosque and across town a young woman is stabbed.  As chaos descends on Cardiff, Will MacReady already has a lot going on in his personal life.  Will's brother, Stuart, is in court and Stuart's baby is at home with Will's wife, who is also the baby's mother.  What a complicated life Will has!  It is because of this complex personal story that I would have liked to have read the first book prior to reading this one, but it's certainly intriguing enough to make me want to look out for book one: Ash and Bones.

With the city on high alert, Will struggles to keep the press interested in the death of the young woman who got stabbed, Heidi Paxton. Heidi's death is no less senseless than the innocent people murdered at the market and mosque...but is Heidi one of the innocents?  As Will investigates, he finds that there is more to Heidi than he bargained for.  As he races to uncover the truth about Heidi, time is ticking and the next Cardiff attack is imminent.  Can Will stop it in time?

Unforgivable is perhaps not quite as fast paced as I expected, but it certainly kept me engrossed and eager to turn the pages.  I loved how the book was sectioned into days as it brought added realism to the story.  It is a highly detailed police procedural thriller and I loved the banter between the police officers; I sometimes felt like I was a fly on the wall inside a police station.  Some chapters are told from the point of view of the bombers and these chapters really are quite chilling as they go about their lives with their true feelings hidden from friends and family.

I'm sure Mike Thomas has a lot more up his sleeve for DC Will MacReady so I definitely want to pick up the first book in the series before book 3 comes out.  I have a feeling that this series is going to be a firm favourite among crime fiction fans, so keep your eye on this one!

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

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

BLOG TOUR: Unforgivable (DC Will MacReady #2) - Mike Thomas

I've heard nothing but good things about Unforgivable by Mike Thomas so I am thrilled to be taking part in the blog tour.  Today I have an extract for you but look out for my review over the next week or so, and don't forget to visit the other stops on the tour.

UNFORGIVABLE EXTRACT

This chapter takes place late at night, after the bombs have gone off in the market and mosque. MacReady has gone off duty, so we switch to another person’s point of view: the bomber, who is drunk and alone and mulling over what he has done…

He sits amongst the detritus, the remnants of fast food and discarded bottles of alcohol and the thick stench of his own flesh, the television remote control resting on his naked white stomach, the matted hair around his filthy navel curling up along the handset, his eyes unblinking and on the images flickering across the television screen.

Smoke and misery and the pulse of blue lights. A breathless reporter, face smudged, his puny hands twisting at a microphone as he struggles to put into words what he has witnessed. What his eyes have seen that can never be unseen. His fey, bland voice battling to explain the unexplainable as inoffensively as possible. Must not affront anyone. Must not fan the outrage. Be inclusive. Be diverse. Be bland with your tamed tongue.

He laughs as he watches because it is written all over the man’s twisted face: he wishes he was home with his loved ones. Wishes he was holding them tight. Wishes he could piss and moan and gnash his teeth live on the idiot box, railing against the horrors of this world, a world which he probably doesn’t understand anymore.

He’s with the newsman on that count. The world is fucking insane. People are so inured, so numb, so disgracefully self-absorbed with their pouting selfies and endless cat pictures and stupid status updates, you have to do something spectacular to make them sit up and take notice.

And it is spectacular. He’s been watching the fallout all day, clicking through the rolling twenty-four-hour news coverage, occasionally flicking back to the PlayStation to shoot up a few pedestrians or rip off a bank, turning back to the news again, revelling in a solid wall of unending chaos interrupted just the once when it all became too much for him and he had to masturbate into a half-empty beer bottle.

‘That’ll learn you,’ he says to the television. ‘That’ll learn you, you fucks.’

The alcohol has finally hit him hard and he finds the words wrestling with his tongue, finds himself unable to stop the drool which leaks from his bottom lip onto his left nipple and he thinks about wiping it away, studies the spittle and his pinched pink areola for a minute or so while he decides if it’s worth the effort, if he still has the energy after all that has taken place, and as the saliva soaks into his slippery skin he decides to leave it be. It is late, and he is exhausted now, the successes of the day finally catching up with him, the adrenaline finally – finally, more than fifteen hours later – spent, the TV screen suddenly shifting in his vision. He blinks the blurriness away, shakes his head a little. Glances around, at the mess he has created, the destruction he has wrought upon this room, a smaller version of the destruction meted out this morning.

‘One more go,’ he dribbles, and lifts up the remote control, carefully switches over to the game he’s loaded, drops the remote back to his distended abdomen and reaches for the controller. The shooter ready to go. His ammo maxed. The target building chock full of stuffed shirts and office drones and PowerfuckingPoint pointlessness. 

About the author:

Mike Thomas was born in Wales in 1971. For more than two decades he served in the police, working some of Cardiff’s busiest neighbourhoods in uniform, public order units, drugs teams and CID. He left the force in 2015 to write full time.

His debut novel, Pocket Notebook, was published by William Heinemann (Penguin Random House) and longlisted for the Wales Book of the Year. The author was also named as one of Waterstones' 'New Voices' for 2010. His second novel, Ugly Bus, is currently in development for a six part television series with the BBC.

The first in the MacReady series, Ash and Bones, was published in August 2016 by Bonnier Zaffre. The sequel, Unforgivable, is published in July 2017.

He lives in the wilds of Portugal with his wife, two children and an unstable, futon-eating dog.

More details can be found on the website www.mikethomasauthor.co.uk

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The Detriment (DI Jake Flannagan Book 2) - David Videcette

“The truth costs nothing, but a lie can cost you everything…”

June 2007: a barbaric nail bomb is planted outside a London nightclub, a spy is found dead in his garden, and a blazing Jeep is driven into Glasgow airport. Three events bound by an earth-shattering connection that should have remained buried forever.

From the author of ‘The Theseus Paradox’, the smash-hit 7/7 thriller based on true events, comes the sequel about a real-life mystery that threatens to destroy a nation. Detective Inspector Jake Flannagan must uncover how a series of astonishing events are inextricably linked, before the past closes in on him.

We all have secrets we say we’ll never tell…

What did I think?

With each passing day, and so many shocking news bulletins, there appear to be more and more incidents that David Videcette could write about.  I wasn't sure how I would feel about reading a book about terrorism in the current climate, but wild horses couldn't have kept me away from the next thrilling instalment of the DI Jake Flannagan series.  Perhaps one of the most anticipated follow-up novels EVER, David Videcette certainly had a lot to live up to after his debut, The Theseus Paradox, lit kindles on fire and caused so much excitement in the reading community.  I had absolutely no doubt that David Videcette would deliver a cracking follow up and boy, did he deliver!

The Detriment is set to be one of THE most talked about novels of the year; as it is based on true events it actually took me quite a while for the effect of the book to sink in.  It's amazing how certain decisions can have massive repercussions many years later and there's a detailed chronological series of real events in the back of the book to really get the point across that this, or something very like it, really happened.  Putting the actual events to one side, I really enjoyed delving deeper into Jake's psyche and finding out a little more about why he acts the way that he does as his emotional scars are laid bare.  We also find out some answers to questions left hanging in the last book; questions that were left hanging in The Theseus Paradox as much as my mouth was left hanging open in shock in The Detriment.  David Videcette managed to make my jaw drop yet again - he also managed to make me jump and I was reading my kindle, not listening to an audiobook!  

It is so fast-paced and gripping that many people will easily read The Detriment in one sitting - I was gutted that I had work the next day so had to put the book down!  After setting our kindles alight with The Theseus Paradox, David Videcette is keeping our kindles burning with another amazing unputdownable instalment in the DI Jake Flannagan series.  The Americans lose their monopoly of the term 'shock and awe' as the Brits show what it really means - I can't think of a better way to describe The Detriment.  Do not miss this!

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

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

BLOG TOUR: Blue Gold - David Barker

The near future. Climate change and geopolitical tension have given rise to a new international threat - a world war for water. This most vital of resources has become a precious commodity and some will stop at nothing to control its flow. 

When a satellite disappears over Iceland, Sim Atkins thinks he knows why. He is given the chance to join the hallowed Overseas Division and hunt for the terrorists responsible. But his new partner Freda Brightwell is aggrieved to be stuck with a rookie on such a deadly mission. Freda's misgivings are well founded when their first assignment ends in disaster - a bomb destroys a valuable airship and those responsible evade capture. 

Seeking redemption, the British agents follow the trail to a billionaires' tax haven in the middle of the Atlantic ocean and uncover a web of deceit that threatens global war. Whom can they trust? As the world edges ever closer to destruction Sim and Freda must put their lives on the line to prevent Armageddon - and protect the future of 'blue gold'. 

David Barker's gripping debut will thrill fans of Richard North Patterson, Scott Mariani and Steve Berry.

What did I think?

I'm not usually a fan of futuristic or science fiction novels, but I made an exception for Blue Gold as it is set in the not too distant future with a completely believable and frighteningly real storyline: a global water shortage.

Blue Gold really starts with a bang as we meet Sim and Freda, British OFWAT agents, as they are descending a snow covered mountain with a helicopter shooting at them.  To find out what they are doing on a mountain and why somebody wants rid of them, we must rewind a few years to get the full story.  The story takes Sim and Freda across the globe, even stopping off at the wonderfully imaginative exclusive sea state of Marinus, as they track terrorists and encounter double agents.

Hidden throughout the book like little easter eggs are quotes and references to so many movies that I lost count.  The author lists these movies in his notes at the end and I was surprised to see how many I had missed.  Of course, when you are engrossed in the story you don't always spot things like this until they are pointed out but I found it quite fun to spot them as I was reading.  I did laugh out loud when Sim said that he hadn't heard of Star Wars, which he refers to as an ancient two-dimensional film!  As unbelievable as that sounds, it did a very good job of reminding me that I was reading a book set in the future when Star Wars would be over half a century old.

As someone with a keen interest in Roman history, I was delighted with the SPQR reference.  Not used in reference to the state of Rome in this case but to remind OFWAT agents to Serve, Protect, Quench and Ration.  I thought this was a great way to bring a little piece of ancient history along for the ride into the future.

It's quite fast paced and flicks rapidly back and forth between characters, but I do have to admit to the odd moment of confusion and sometimes I couldn't have really told you what was going on but it didn't stop me reading, mainly due to the magnetic pull of the two main characters: Sim and Freda.  Although there are some exciting and gripping moments that maintain the high pace, I would have liked to have read more about the effects of the water shortage to perhaps really drive home the important message within the book. Blue Gold has taken a step in the right direction towards raising awareness of water shortages and kudos to David Barker for doing so; ultimately it is up to us to make a difference before the fiction we have just read becomes reality.

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

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