Caroline

Konrad is contacted by a woman named Valborg, who hoped that he would help her find the child she had given up for fostering some time in the early 1970's. Konrad declined, as there was very little information for him to work from, and he didn't feel that he could help. Some weeks later, Valborg is found dead in her apartment. She had been murdered. Feeling bad about how he left things with her, Konrad vows to do all he can to find Valborg's child.

The Quiet Mother, book 3 in the Konrad series, is a bit of a slow burn, but it is worth sticking with it. As is often the case, the story of Valborg's child has links to that of Konrad's friend Eygló, and her psychic gifts.

Konrad's investigation into his father's murder continues, though he is no closer to an answer. Eygló too, continues to seek answers, and does not always like what she inevitably learns about her father.

Although quite dark, this was an engaging and enjoyable read.

It doesn't seem all that long ago, I picked up the first Joona Linna book. Now, here I am, having just finished book 10. And let me tell you folks, this series just gets more twisted and disturbing with each installment. 🪓

Take the baddie in this one, for instance. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Widow, an axe wielding serial killer, who targets men who cheat. 🪓

But this is a Joona Linna investigation, so we know that it's not going to be straightforward. Oh, hell no. Twist follows twist, as the body count rises, and just when you (and Joona) think you've figured it out, bam! Think again! 🪓

I loved it, boys and girls. I loved the thrills. I loved the scares. I loved the fact that it gave me goosebumps. I loved that it kept me guessing. I loved that I figured it out at the same time as Joona. I'm just sorry that it came to an end, and now I have to wait for the next instalment. 🪓

Yikes! That was dark. And a little disturbing. 😱 But I think we all know by now that I like dark and disturbing in my fiction.

Obviously, How To Read a Killers Mind won't be to everyone's taste, given that it's protagonist, Emy Rose, is tasked with finding out where the bodies are buried. Literally. To do this, psychologist Emy conducts a series of interviews with three very unsavoury characters: Frank Elkins, Joe Okorie, and Tim Shenton. Fair warning, some may find their interviews, and the details of their crimes distressing.

The story is mostly told from Emy's POV, with an occasional chapter told from Joe Okorie's POV.

The pace is slow and steady, but don't be fooled peeps. This is a rollercoaster ride from start to finish, so buckle up, and enjoy.

Seven strangers receive an invitation to a dinner party. They have nothing in common, apart from the invitation. They have no idea who invited them, or why. Waiters keep them supplied with good food and fine wine, but their host remains elusive. And then each guest discovers a black envelope next to their wineglass. Inside is a message, telling them at what age they will die. 🍷

Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests is a unique spin on the Agatha Christie classic, And Then There Were None. The story is told from the POVs of the seven dinner guests: Vivienne, Tristan, Matthew, Stella, Gordon, Janet and Melvin. All of them have secrets, and someone wants all of them dead. 🍷

I have to admit I worked out the who early on in the narrative, though I did doubt myself, because it took me a little longer to figure out the why. The ending surprised me though. 🍷

Pacy, with twists and well placed red herrings, Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests is a wonderful homage to Agatha Christie. 🍷

Thanks to Harper North and Netgalley for the digital ARC.

Having read William, (also by Mason Coile), last year, and been suitably creeped out by it (robot doll on a tricycle, anyone?), I was hoping for more of the same with Exiles. Reader, I was not disappointed. 🤖

The year is 2030. Mission Commander Blake and his crew of two, engineer Kang and medic Gold, are en route to Mars. This is not an exploration, these three will be the first settlers on the colony.

Three bots have been sent ahead of them, to ready the base for human inhabitation. 🤖

You can take it as a given that all is not well on the red planet. There's a sinister threat at the base, but what exactly is the threat? Is it alien 👾, or is it a rogue bot? 🤖 Well, you're just going to have to read the book for yourself to find out, aren't you?

Well paced and twisty, Exiles is akin to a sci-fi locked room mystery. A very claustrophobic room, on Mars.

Thanks to John Murray Press and Netgalley for the digital ARC.

I started off liking this, I really did, but that gradually started to wear off, especially when it became apparent that this was leaning more towards mystery than horror. Don't get me wrong, I love a good mystery, but I was in the mood for horror, ghosts and ghouls as opposed to horrific murder. 👻 Save for a sense of eeriness in chapter 1, that was it for horror of the supernatural kind.

As for the rest of the book, I found it quite repetitive, particularly in chapter 3. Why did we have to keep going over old ground multiple times? Given the shortness of the book, it's not as though I was going to forget what was going on. 🤔

The characters were unremarkable, and I found that, with the possible exception of Iwata, I didn't care for them or what happened to them. For some reason, it was Iwata's fate, and his alone, that moved me. 😔

This had the makings of a great book, but it just seemed to lose momentum right around chapter 3. It's a decent enough read, but it doesn't live up to its hype.

I really have to circle back and read the earlier books in this series, because if they are as good as this one, then I have been missing out big time.

Eddie "The Fly" Flynn is back, and this time he's tasked with defending a social media influencer accused of double murder. 💉

A deadly game of cat and mouse follows, and the safety of Eddie's family is threatened. 💉

Once again the story is told from several POVs, with Eddie's being the only one told in the first person. The twists are many, but it's the one at the end that blindsided me. 👀

The pace is swift, and though it may be a little light on the courtroom drama, there's plenty of action to make up for it. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable read. 💉

Thanks to Headline Publishing and Netgalley for the digital ARC.

Johana Gustawsson and Thomas Enger are sterling authors in their own right, so when I saw that they had teamed up to write Son, I knew that I was in for a treat. I wasn't wrong.

Son is the first book in a new series featuring Kari Voss. Kari is a psychologist, and is nicknamed the Human Lie Detector because she can read people's body language and call out their lies. She is rarely wrong.

Without giving too much of the plot away, all I will say is that Kari inevitably becomes involved in the investigation into the murder of two teenagers. Another teenager is arrested on suspicion of the murder, and subsequently confesses, but Kari is not convinced. 🗡

While a lot of the story is told from Kari's POV, we see events unfold through the eyes of other characters. 🗡

As for the other characters, all is not as it seems with those connected to the victims. Secrets and lies abound. 🗡

Son is a gripping, sinister read which I thoroughly enjoyed. And that ending! What a cliffhanger! 🗡

Thanks to Trafalgar Square Publishing and Netgalley for the digital ARC.

If you like cosy mysteries, then this is definitely NOT the book for you. It is about as far from cosy as you can possibly get. I struggle to describe it, best I can tell you is it's meta detective fiction. 🔎

"Well what's it about?" I hear you cry. That folks, is a bit of a head scratcher. The blurb will tell you that this is an immersive book, putting you, the reader, in the hot seat as the Great Detective, giving you the chance to solve what is basically a cold case. Sounds good, doesn't it? Yeah, until the author moves the goal posts. All is not as it seems in this book, believe me. 🔎

It's a long-ish book, it's a tad repetitive, and there's a lot going on, some of which nearly reduced me to tears of sheer frustration. But my parents did not raise a quitter, no siree. I persevered, and I actually....drumroll please 🥁....I solved the mystery before the dude in the book did. Now I think about it, I was supposed to be the dude in the book. 🔎

Those of a certain age will notice parallels with a real life mystery from the 1970's. Fans of crime fiction will also notice that some of the characters bear the names of crime fiction authors. 🔎

To sum up The Game is Murder is different. It's quirky, it's interesting, it's borderline bonkers and, for me anyway, it was fun. 🔎

Thanks to Michael Joseph Books and Netgalley for the digital ARC.

Oh how I loved this book. Eerie, creepy, disturbing, but wonderfully enjoyable. This is gothic folk horror at its best. 🔥

Meet Della and Lily Pedley. They are pariahs in their home, near Penzance in Cornwall, so they travel to Scotland. There, against the advice of others, they move to an unnamed island where the Devil is alleged to have fallen from the sky. This is the home of the Folk, who live in fear of the Warden. 🔥

Vaguely reminiscent of The Wickerman, Small Fires thrums with tension and unease. And then comes that superb ending. Brilliant. If any book deserves to be a best seller, this one does. 🔥

Many thanks to Trafalgar Square Publishing and Netgalley for the digital ARC.

Well now, that was a little bit different. I started reading Kill Your Darlings expecting a good old fashioned murder mystery. I got the murder, but it was far from old fashioned, and there was no mystery about whodunnit. 🔎

Allow me to introduce Thom and Wendy Graves, high school sweethearts who broke up when Wendy's family moved to a different state, but meet up again a few years later and eventually marry, until one of them decides to murder the other. 💔

The story begins in 2023, with events leading up to, and including, the murder. From there the timeline moves backwards, slowly revealing various the secrets held by the couple. We are taken all the way back to their first meeting, on a school trip when they were in 8th grade. 🔎

Thom and Wendy are not particularly likeable people, and it's hard to feel any empathy, or indeed sympathy, for either of them. 😈

This is a very slow burn, but it's worth it for that reveal at the very end. 🔎

Thanks to Faber and Faber, and Netgalley for the digital ARC.

The Compound has been likened to a cross between Love Island and Lord of the Flies. Now, I (happily) haven't watched a single episode of Love Island, so I can't possibly comment, but I did read Lord of the Flies not so long ago, and I'm failing to find a common denominator. If The Compound can be compared with anything, it would be Big Brother, with sinister undertones.

The premise is simple; twenty people (10 guys, 10 girls) share a house in a compound in the desert. They must complete tasks, some communal, some personal, to earn rewards and avoid banishment. They must couple up each night to avoid banishment. They must abide by certain rules to avoid banishment. All the while their action and interactions are filmed for the viewing pleasure of those back home. 🏡

As I already mentioned, there is a sinister undertone to the book. A lot of the tasks are engineered to either humiliate the contestants, or cause dissent. There's violence, and minor torture. 🏡

The Compound moves at a (very) slow pace, yet despite this, and the dark, disturbing events that unfold, it's hard to put down. 🏡

Thanks to HarperCollins UK and Netgalley for the digital ARC.

Sometimes, along comes a book that leaves you scratching your head, and asking yourself "what the hell did I just read?" This is one such book. For this is no ordinary haunted house book peeps, oh no, this is bizarre on a grand scale. 🏚

Allow me to set the scene. Eve and Charlie have bought a house, with the intention of doing it up/rebuilding, and selling. Eve is home alone one evening, when there's a knock at the door. On answering it she finds a family of five: 2 adults and 3 children. The man introduces himself as Thomas. He explains that he grew up in that house, and asks Eve if he might come in and show his family around. It is from this point that things take a turn for the sinister. 🏚

If you're not a fan of horror, I would give this book a swerve. Seriously. This is a deeply unsettling book, where nothing is as it seems, and the sense of unease lingers beyond the last page. For all its creepiness though, it is a gripping read. I would however, advise reading with the light on. 🏚

Sometimes, along comes a book that leaves you scratching your head, and asking yourself "what the hell did I just read?" This is one such book. For this is no ordinary haunted house book peeps, oh no, this is bizarre on a grand scale. 🏚

Allow me to set the scene. Eve and Charlie have bought a house, with the intention of doing it up/rebuilding, and selling. Eve is home alone one evening, when there's a knock at the door. On answering it she finds a family of five: 2 adults and 3 children. The man introduces himself as Thomas. He explains that he grew up in that house, and asks Eve if he might come in and show his family around. It is from this point that things take a turn for the sinister. 🏚

If you're not a fan of horror, I would give this book a swerve. Seriously. This is a deeply unsettling book, where nothing is as it seems, and the sense of unease lingers beyond the last page. For all its creepiness though, it is a gripping read. I would however, advise reading with the light on. 🏚