BLOG TOUR: The Puppet Maker (Detective Alana Mack Book 1) - Jenny O'Brien

The scrap of paper looked as if it had been torn from a diary. The words written in faint pencil. The letters rounded, almost childlike: Please look after her. Her life and mine depend on you not trying to find me. 

 

When Detective Alana Mack arrives at Clonabee police station, in a small Irish seaside town on the outskirts of Dublin, she doesn't expect to find a distressed two-year-old girl sobbing on the floor. Abandoned in a local supermarket, the child tells them her name is Casey. All Alana and her team have to go on is a crumpled note begging for someone to look after her little girl. This mother doesn't want to be found. 

 

Still recovering from a terrible accident that has left Alana navigating a new life as a wheelchair user, Alana finds herself suddenly responsible for Casey while trying to track down the missing mother and solve another missing person's case… a retired newsagent who has seemingly vanished from his home.

 

Forced to ask her ex-husband and child psychiatrist Colm for help, through Forensic Art Therapy, Alana discovers that whatever darkness lies behind the black windows in Casey's crayon drawing, the little girl was terrified of the house she lived in. 

 

Then a bag of human remains is found in a bin, and a chilling link is made – the DNA matches Casey's. 

 

Alana and her team must find the body and make the connection with the missing newsagent fast if she is to prevent another life from being taken. But with someone in her department leaking confidential details of the investigation to the media, can Alana set aside her emotional involvement in this case and find Casey’s mother and the killer before it's too late? 

 

Heart-pounding and totally addictive, The Puppet Maker is the first in the Detective Alana Mack series that will have fans of Ann Cleeves, Angela Marsons and LJ Ross racing through the pages late into the night. 

 

What did I think?

Oh this book chilled me to the bone and I absolutely loved it.  The Puppet Maker is the first book in an exciting new police procedural series starring Detective Alana Mack and I can't wait to read more so I hope Jenny O'Brien is a fast writer.

Alana knows all about prejudice in the workplace as her boss is a blatant misogynist and not only is Alana female, she's also disabled.  Alana may have steel wheels but she also has a rod of steel for a backbone and she is a strong and inspirational team leader.  So you don't want to be in the shoes of the mole in Alana's team when she finds out who is leaking information to the press.

There's a lot going on in the story to keep the reader hooked and the police busy.  There's the heartbreaking story of a little girl abandoned in a supermarket, a gruesome discovery in a bin and a missing person.  All seemingly unrelated...or are they?

Just thinking about the 'puppet maker' makes my skin crawl but I also felt really sad as it just shows how things that happen in your childhood can leave very deep scars.  I liked the way that Jenny O'Brien showed different sides of the perpetrator, almost humanising them without excusing their heinous crimes.

The Puppet Maker is a chilling, heartbreaking and very gripping police procedural novel with characters that I can't wait to meet again.  This may be my first Jenny O'Brien book but it certainly won't be my last.   Very highly recommended.

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

Amazon US

About the author:

Born in Dublin, Jenny O'Brien moved to Wales and then Guernsey, where she tries to find time to write in between working as a nurse and ferrying around 3 teenagers. 

In her spare time she can be found frowning at her wonky cakes and even wonkier breads. You'll be pleased to note she won't be entering Bake-Off. She's also an all-year-round sea swimmer.

Jenny is represented by Nicola Barr of The Bent Agency and published by Storm Publishing and HQ Digital (Harper Collins).

Social Media Links:

Twitter: @ScribblerJB

Instagram: @scribblerjb 

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BLOG TOUR: Fatal Blow (DC Mel Cotton Crime Series 4) - Brian Price

A shattering revenge attack

Mexton’s Major Crimes team is targeted by an Albanian crime gang as an explosion rips through the unit’s base.

For DC Mel Cotton – the attack is all too personal

DC Tom Ferris is seriously injured in the blast. His fiancée, Mel, maybe physically unharmed but she’s dealing with wounds you can’t see. She’s determined to return to work, but is she ready?

Death on her doorstep

Mel’s latest case is close to home – investigating a body found in her and Tom’s garden, the body of someone last heard of in Australia. Can she catch the murderer? And can anyone stop the Albanian crime gang on their ruthless campaign of revenge?

 

What did I think?

I didn't think Brian Price could get better after reading Fatal Dose, the fantastic third book in the DC Mel Cotton Crime series, but he's only gone and outdone himself again!  Fatal Blow is the fourth book in this outstanding series and it can be read as a standalone as it has its own contained storyline, but it's even better when read as part of the series.

It has such an explosive start that it did actually take my breath away and I physically gasped out loud.  These wonderful characters feel like my friends and I really care what happens to them.  The danger level is ramped up to maximum with an Albanian gang targeting the police, especially when some members of the force have targets on their back.

DC Mel Cotton wants to finally rid Mexton of this dangerous gang but she has a case that is a little closer to home when a body is found in her own garden.  I absolutely loved this part of the storyline as the Fearon siblings are all interviewed and they clearly have something to hide but they are sticking together like glue.

Brian Price brings the police investigation to life with his meticulous attention to detail and I felt as if I was part of the various police investigations.  The character development over the series is wonderful to behold and they're so realistic and true to life that I almost have to remind myself that I'm reading fiction.

Fatal Blow is another outstanding instalment in this fantastic series.  It's a gripping, fast-paced and tense police procedural that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend.

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

My rating:

Buy it from:

Hobeck Books

Amazon

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BLOG TOUR: Can I Trust You? - Rob Gittins

Twenty years ago, his daughter vanished.

He was the last person to see her.

Twenty years to the day, a second girl vanishes.

He’s the last person to see her too.

Axel Petersen’s life implodes as his teenage daughter disappears. For twenty years, there’s no clue as to where she is, or what’s happened to her.

Exactly twenty years later, Axel meets a girl of around the same age his daughter was on the day she disappeared on a train. On jointly alighting at the final stop on the small rural line, he offers her a lift to her holiday cottage. Then that girl disappears too.

Axel plunges into the search for this second missing girl. Along the way he becomes increasingly convinced there’s a strong connection between the present-day disappearance and the twenty-year-old mystery – and he’s right, although in ways he can hardly begin to imagine.

 

What did I think?

Oh this book is SO good; there are so many tangled threads to untangle that you simply can't trust anyone.  With two missing girls, 20 years apart, the pacing is electric as they're clearly linked but I had no idea how.

It's 20 years since Axel's daughter Cara went missing and not a day goes by where he doesn't think about her, so imagine his surprise when he sees Cara on his train.  Only it's not Cara, but a young girl around the age Cara was when she disappeared.  The girl is stranded at the station and Axel offers her a lift to ensure that she gets to her destination safely, but after he drops her off, she disappears...leaving Axel as the prime suspect.

The two-fold mystery had me on the edge of my seat and my eyes were zipping down the page as fast as lightning.  It's so tense, dramatic and completely riveting and I had no idea what had happened to either girl but I pretty much suspected everyone in the book at one point or another.  I loved how it all came together at the end when everything is revealed.

Axel owns a bookshop so there are some lovely passages about books, particularly one where Axel explains to Cara about books having a soul, but not just one soul as it has the soul of the author as well as the souls every person who has read it.  This is a stunningly beautiful thought and one I completely agree with.

With more WTF moments than Gordon Ramsay's kitchen, Can I Trust You? is a superb psychological thriller that really got under my skin and inside my mind.  I absolutely devoured it and loved every second of it.  A highly recommended read.

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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Hobeck Books

Amazon

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BLOG TOUR: Artificial Wisdom - Thomas R. Weaver

SALVATION HAS A PRICE.

An enthralling murder mystery with a vividly realised future world, forcing readers to grapple hard hitting questions about the climate crisis, our relationship with Artificial Intelligence and the price we would be willing to pay, as a species, to be saved. Perfect for fans of Blake Crouch, Neal Stephenson, Philip K Dick, Kim Stanley Robinson and RR Haywood.

It's 2050, a decade after a heatwave that killed four hundred million across the Persian Gulf, including journalist Marcus Tully's wife. Now he must uncover the truth: was the disaster natural? Or is the weather now a weapon of genocide?

A whistleblower pulls Tully into a murder investigation at the centre of an election battle for a global dictator, with a mandate to prevent a climate apocalypse. A former US President campaigns against the first AI politician of the position, but someone is trying to sway the outcome.

Tully must convince the world to face the truth and make hard choices about the future of the species. But will humanity ultimately choose salvation over freedom, whatever the cost?

 

What did I think?

Mind-officially-blown!  Wow, just wow, what an outstanding and completely mind-blowing debut from Thomas R. Weaver!  I didn't think I would ever find a book that could hold a candle to Orwell's 1984 but Artificial Wisdom is 1984 for a new generation and it's an instant classic.

Journalist Marcus Tully is in mourning for his wife and unborn child who were killed in the tabkhir, a devastating climate event in the Middle East that raised humidity to such a level that no one could survive.  With an upcoming election to appoint a dictator, a whistleblower sends Tully information about the tabkhir and how it may not have been the accident that everyone thinks.

The thing that takes Artificial Wisdom up to the next level is that one of the candidates in the election isn't human, Solomon is AI.  When Tully uncovers disturbing information about the human candidate's decision making, Solomon may be the only one who can save humankind.  I just have to share a quote from Solomon that really resonated with me and made me sit up and take notice:

"But if there's one thing I have learned about humankind, it's how bad you are at living in the now.  People seem to live in both the past and in the future, two big overlapping circles, but rarely focus on the intersection and enjoy the moments given to them right now."

Vote Solomon!  

It was interesting that while I was reading Artificial Wisdom, I heard about an AI version of Tom Hanks being used in an advert without the actor's permission.  I was initially thinking that Artificial Wisdom was futuristic but AI is here now and it gives me goose bumps now that I have read this fantastic book.

Intelligent, imaginative and scarily realistic, Artificial Wisdom had me so hooked that when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it and I was so completely immersed in the story that I even dreamt about it.  Completely unmissable and 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:

Buy it from:

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

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BLOG TOUR: Love Lindisfarne - Kimberley Adams

LOVE LINDISFARNE…Take a Christmas trip to magical Northumberland and find love amongst the stars in this feel-good novel, which will transport you to iconic Holy Island where dreams really can come true!

Dumped at the office Christmas party, Ellie is about to vent her spleen on social media when a photo of a cute little dog advertising a charity catches her eye. Her world suddenly changes dramatically when she is offered a month’s stay in Northumberland to help look after rescue animals.

Ellie isn’t too sure where Northumberland is, but accepts, eager to start a new life away from London. Her destination is Lindisfarne, and her arrival on the small island in the North Sea is terrifying, fearing for her life on the causeway as the tide comes crashing in.

Ellie finds herself living in a hilltop castle, and far from the cats and dogs she expected she would be looking after, she is faced with all kinds of furry and feathery animals - and she doesn’t have a clue about any of them!

Welcomed to island life by the warm-hearted residents, she quickly embraces living in this special place, and from the moment she spots the mesmerising Zen with the gorgeous coffee bean eyes, her plans to stay single and mingle begin to fade fast.

Thanks to a severe storm, Lindisfarne is cut off from the mainland, and the islanders work together to salvage the planned Christmas events. Ellie is kept so busy that she hasn’t much time to think about her future when her time on the island ends.

Will the universe give Ellie its blessing? Will she find her happy ever after on the enchanting island of Lindisfarne? If it’s in the stars, then it’s in the stars…

 

What did I think?

Love Lindisfarne is an absolute joy to read; it's like a romcom coupled with a visitors' guide to Holy Island and I loved every second of my virtual visit to Northumberland.  Although Northumberland is actually on my doorstep so I could just as easily go there in real life too and Holy Island certainly beckons after reading this fabulous book.

Ellie is very brave to up sticks from her life (and her amazing friends) in London and venture north to Lindisfarne to help look after a collection of hilariously named animals.  The names of the animals still have me giggling but I'm not going to share them as they're best discovered for yourself.  I'm surprised my kindle wasn't feeling hot with the amount of welcoming warmth and community spirit that's woven into the story.

Of course Ellie didn't plan to fall in love but Zen is her knight in a campervan who rescues her from the incoming tide on the causeway.  Silly Ellie didn't realise Lindisfarne was an island that's cut off twice a day at high tide.  Both Ellie and Zen have been hurt in the past so it was lovely to see their relationship develop from a firm foundation of friendship.

Funny, festive and romantic, Love Lindisfarne is as warm as it is witty and I feel rather bereft now that I have left the characters behind on the island.  There's only one thing for it...I'll just have to read the book again soon.  It's a hugely entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable read that I really can't recommend highly enough.  I loved it so much that I've already bought a paperback to place on my favourites shelf.

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

My rating:

Purchase links:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

About the author:

Kim might be new on the writing block, but she was first published as a teenager writing happy ever after stories for other teens! She progressed to women's magazines before life and work got in the way. Kim began writing again seriously a few years ago and during that relatively short time has won and been placed in several well-known writing competitions. Love Lindisfarne started off life being shortlisted by Penguin Michael Joseph which gave Kim the impetus to finish it, and Kim turned down the opportunity of traditional publishing because she wanted to keep the cover and content she had dreamed of since the book's concept!  

Like buses that take forever then two come along at once, Kim will also be traditionally published this year too, with just one month between the books. Kim was a finalist in this year's Comedy Women in Print competition, and her prize was to see her work (this time based in Newcastle) in the Book of Witty Women to be published by Farrago in September.

Social Media links:

Twitter:  @kim_adamsWriter 

Instagram: @love_lindisfarne 

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Only You - Eva Jordan

Can true love survive betrayal?

Once upon a time, Ben and Leora fell in love and dreamt of a bright future together. But after he committed an unforgivable act, she was left heartbroken. Decades later he still had no memory of that fateful night . . .

Now, their worlds are about to collide in a way they never imagined. Drawn together again by an unforeseen tragedy, in a world that has drastically changed since they first met, Ben and Leora are about to discover whether true love really can endure. But will the couple’s reunion be more of a nightmare than a fairytale?

Only You is a powerful novel about passion, friendship and betrayal.

 

What did I think?

Oh my goodness, what a stunningly breathtaking book.  I am a huge fan of Eva Jordan's books and although I couldn't possibly pick a favourite from among them as they're all brilliant, Only You would definitely be a strong contender if I had to pin my colours to the mast.

This is what I would call a Humpty Dumpty book, as I was very much like Humpty sitting on my chair being immersed in some cracking nostalgia from the 80s, then SMASH! my heart broke for Leora.  Then, just when I thought I couldn't be more heartbroken, the heartbreak kept on coming and tears welled in my eyes causing the worst horror imaginable: I had to put my kindle down!

Eva Jordan provides the emotional superglue to piece together my fractured heart bit by bit but I think I left a little bit behind in the book as Leora and Ben have been on my mind since finishing this wonderful story.  Leora and Ben were meant to be together from the start but misunderstandings, a femme fatale and a bit of meddling crushed all of their hopes and dreams.

As well as Leora and Ben's love story, there's also the horror of events from the prologue hovering over the reader like a storm cloud and when it rains, it pours!  It's well worth reading the acknowledgements at the end to discover the inspiration for Leora's character and that particular lady is one heck of an inspiration.

Filled with nostalgia, heartbreak, emotion and inspiration, Only You is a beautifully written novel that completely captured my heart and hasn't let it go.  It's an unmissable story and one I really can't recommend highly enough.  All the stars for this one!

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

My rating:

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UK.Bookshop.org

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Liar's Beach - Katie Cotugno

WE WERE LIARS meets GOSSIP GIRL - this YA thriller with a splash of dark academia is full of secrets, lies, privileged teens and beach parties. The perfect summer read.

A body in the pool. A friend who might be an enemy. A vacation they'll never forget . . .

Linden has always felt like an outsider and spending the summer at his best friend's vacation house, surrounded by money and privilege is doing nothing to lessen his imposter syndrome. But he soon has bigger concerns than fitting in - there's a body in the pool and everyone's a suspect - including him.

 

What did I think?

Liar’s Beach is an enjoyable YA thriller set in Martha’s Vineyard with a colourful cast of privileged characters.

Their wealth and entitlement doesn’t make the characters very lovable so when a body is found in the pool, it really could have been any one of them.  The concept of a body in the pool isn’t as gripping as you would imagine, but I don’t want to say anything more about it as it could spoil the story for others. 

The main character Linden is perhaps the most likeable character as he’s not rich and he’s like a fish out of water being played with by the elite sharks.  It was nice for Linden to see a familiar face in the form of Holiday, the daughter of his mother’s employer.  I loved the dynamic between Linden and Holiday and how they joined forces to crack the mystery of the body in the pool.

Well written and entertaining, Liar’s Beach would be a good poolside read for teens this summer.

My rating:

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