Knock Knock by Chris Merritt cover reveal @DrCJMerritt @bookouture

I’m delighted to be taking part in the cover reveal for Chris Merritt’s new crime novel, Knock Knock.

I’ve been a fan of Chris’s previous series, so I’m excited to find out what he’s got in store for us in his next book. But before I reveal the cover, let’s take a look at the blurb.

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Natasha Mayston wasn’t expecting anyone to knock on her door so late at night and she has no idea that the face staring back at her is the last one she’ll ever see…

As Detective Dan Lockhart is called to a wealthy London street to investigate Natasha’s death, he’s startled by the similarity to another case. Noticing the cable-tie restraints and the tiny scratches on Natasha’s wedding finger, Dan already knows what he will find if he looks in her throat – the small metal ball which choked her to death. He knows for sure that this isn’t the killer’s first victim and that he will strike again.

Months earlier, Kim Hardy was found in the same position in a hotel across the city – the same cable ties around her wrists, lacerations on her left hand and the same silver ball in her throat. But Kim’s murderer was caught and sent to prison – did they arrest the wrong man? Fearing that he’s dealing with a serial killer, Dan calls in psychologist Lexi Green to help with the case.

Then another body is discovered just days later, just as Lexi finds a clue online leading to the killer. Dan and his team aren’t convinced she’s found the right man, but Lexi reaches out to the suspect, putting herself in unthinkable danger. Dan thinks he knows who’s next on the killer’s list. But can he reach her before it’s too late?

 

So without any further ado let’s take a look at the cover!

 

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Knock Knock is publishing on the 17th March 2020 and it is available to pre-order now!

 

Firewatching by Russ Thomas #bookreview blog tour @thevoiceofruss @simonschusterUK @annecater

I’m delighted to be taking part in the blog tour for the brilliant debut by Russ Thomas, Firewatching. With thanks to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part.

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ONE WRONG MOVE
A body is found bricked into the walls of a house. From the state of the hands, it’s clear they were buried alive and had tried to claw their way out before they died. Soon, the victim is linked to a missing person’s case and DS Adam Tyler is called.
WILL IGNITE
As the sole representative of South Yorkshire’s Cold Case Review Unit, Tyler recognises his role for what it is – a means of keeping him out of the way following an ‘incident’. When this case falls in his lap, he grabs the opportunity to fix his stagnating career.
THE CITY
When he discovers he has a connection to the case that hopelessly compromises him, he makes the snap decision not to tell his superiors. With such a brutal and sadistic murder to unpick, Tyler must move carefully to find out the truth, without destroying the case or himself.

Meanwhile, someone in the city knows exactly what happened to the body. Someone who is watching Adam closely. Someone with an unhealthy affinity with fire . . .

MY THOUGHTS

I may have already found one of my books of the year, and we’re only in January! I’m often finding with police procedurals, that it is very hard to stand out, but Russ Thomas has definitely done this here. Firewatching is an incredibly good debut with an utterly gripping plot and a really likeable main character. This is definitely going to be a series I will be keeping an eye on.

Firewatching is the first book where we meet DS Adam Tyler. A cold case is about to be reopened when the body of a man, Gerald Cartwright, who went missing years ago, has been discovered, bricked up in a wall. The discovery takes place during renovations on a building called ‘The Old Vicarage,’ which his family are overseeing. The case brings back haunting memories for those involved. Adam and his team must unpick the layers within Gerald’s family to find out what happened to the man and who was responsible for his death. But Tyler is walking on eggshells. He has already become involved with one of the members of the man’s family. This may jeopardise the entire investigation and his career.

What I really liked about this book was the characters, and I think they will make sure I keep returning to this series. Russ Thomas made them feel so real in his writing, and I really liked the sharp wit and sense of humour in their dialogue, particularly with Adam and his work partner.

But the discovery of Gerald Cartwright body isn’t all that Adam and his team have to deal with. Around Sheffield someone is starting fires, which is causing serious concern to the fire department, they soon become involved in Adam’s current investigation. I was intrigued by this part of the mystery, and I wanted to know if this was in some way connected to Gerald’s murder.

The plotting throughout the novel is tight. I became totally invested in the mystery and in the lives of the characters. Russ Thomas has done an excellent job in creating a twisty plot with plenty of red herrings thrown into the mix.

I also liked the historical elements of the novel. In the minds of one of Russ’s characters, we are taken back to London during World War Two. I found these flashback scenes quite chilling, but they also added an extra element to the story which I really enjoyed.

This is a brilliant debut with an excellent cast of characters who I’m sure will keep readers coming back for more. Highly recommended!

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Print length: 432 pages

Publication date: 20th February 2020

If you would like to purchase Firewatching, you can do so by clicking on one of the following links below.

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Die For Me by Jesper Stein #bookreview blog tour @jesper_stein @TheMirrorBooks

I’m delighted to be sharing my thoughts on Die For Me by Jesper Stein as part of the blog tour. With thanks to Melaine Sambles at Mirror books for inviting me to take part.

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A brutal stalker is preying on women in Copenhagen.

DI Axel Steen begins an obsessive manhunt that sends him spiralling out of control.

The investigation is fraught with heart-stopping near-misses, dark mysteries,  and a final revelation with devastating consequences.

A raw psychological thriller from a master of crime storytelling.

MY THOUGHTS

Detective Inspector Axel Steen has never been able to forgive himself for failing to solve the murder of a young woman ten years earlier. When a woman is attacked in Copenhagen, Denmark, by a serial rapist in the present day, Axel believes he may, at last, have another shot at solving the murder. The case has haunted him for years, and this time he is determined to make sure that the culprit is put behind bars. And it is clear that Axel will go to any lengths possible to achieve his goal. He is a cop who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

Die For Me is a very dark novel, and certainly not for the faint-hearted. Jesper Stein has created a terrifying and disturbing criminal in his latest book, and it is a read that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

DI Axel Steen, for me, is who makes the series stand out. He is a cop who doesn’t always follow the rules, and he has a very tumultuous personal life. Some of the things he gets up to made me wonder how on earth he gets away with it. But he gives this series its own unique flare and, surprisingly, I really like him. Having read the first two books in this series now, I think I’ll definitely be reading more as he is fast becoming one of my favourite characters in crime fiction.

In this book, we get to see a lot more emotion in Axel than perhaps in the first. You can see that he is utterly determined to catch the person responsible for the crimes, and you can see how much the unsolved murder has affected him. He knows he can’t move on until he knows the truth. This was another part about him that I liked. He seems to be the only person in the police force who genuinely cares about the victims, and he is the only one who seems to want to see justice be properly served.

The crimes which take place in this book are very disturbing, and Jesper Stein paints a very vivid portrayal of what happened through the eyes of the victims. He is not over gratuitous, though. Although I found parts of what I read a bit unnerving, the witness accounts are essential to the plot.

The case quickly becomes complicated for Axel, and it is clear that it isn’t going to be easily solved. But Jesper Stein keeps the tension mounting as the police race closer and closer to the truth. I really engaged in the investigation, and I desperately wanted the police to catch the individual responsible. As I was reading, I got the feeling that this criminal wasn’t going to be someone who would simply go away quietly and that unless they were caught, they were going to continue their attacks.

If you enjoy crime novels with a fascinating and engaging protagonist, then I would definitely recommend Jesper Stein’s books. Die For Me is riveting from the first page to the last.

Publisher: Mirror Books

Publication date: 16th January 2020

Print length: 416 pages

If you would like to purchase Die For Me, you can do so by clicking on one of the following links below. 

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The Home by Sarah Stovell #bookreview blog tour @sarahlovescrime @OrendaBooks @annecater

I’m delighted to be joining the blog tour for the brilliant new novel by Sarah Stovell, The Home. With thanks to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part.

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One more little secret … one more little lie…

When the body of a pregnant fifteen-year-old is discovered in a churchyard on Christmas morning, the community is shocked, but unsurprised. For Hope lived in The Home, the residence of three young girls, whose violent and disturbing pasts have seen them cloistered away…

As a police investigation gets underway, the lives of Hope, Lara and Annie are examined, and the staff who work at the home are interviewed, leading to shocking and distressing revelations … and clear evidence that someone is seeking revenge.

A gritty, dark and devastating psychological thriller, The Home is also an emotive drama and a piercing look at the underbelly of society, where children learn what they live … if they are allowed to live at all.

MY THOUGHTS

I’ve long been awaiting the second novel by Sarah Stovell, ever since I read her debut, Exquisite. Her latest book, The Home, is utterly gripping and heart-breaking. Although parts of this book are hard to read I found Sarah’s writing to be so addictive; I devoured the first hundred pages in one gulp. The writing here is purely brilliant!

Sarah’s second book opens with the devastating discovery of the body of a young girl, Hope, on Christmas Eve in a churchyard. Hope’s fate is intricately tied with the lives of three girls, Hope, Annie and Lara, who have all come from troubled backgrounds. They all live in a children’s home in a residence called, The Home. But they are all harbouring secrets. What really happened the night Hope was killed? What was really going on in the days leading up to her death?

Sarah Stovell really drew me into the lives of her characters; their personal stories are what make this book quite painful to read at times and we learn some quite unsettling truths about their childhoods. As we get to learn more about Hope and her best friend, Annie, we begin to see that there is a lot of mystery here. As I kept reading, I kept asking myself what would prompt the killer to kill Hope, and I could never quite get to the truth myself until Sarah revealed the devastating details in the final chapters. A few weeks after I’ve read it and I’m still thinking about it. The ending really blew me away.

I found Hope and Annie to be very complex characters. Annie I could never quite make my mind up about, this is especially as she is faced with Hope’s death in the present. To me she came across as very cold, especially in the opening chapters, but as Sarah Stovell reveals more about her background, we can see that this isn’t quite the case.

As we discovered more details about Hope’s past I couldn’t help but feel a lot of anger. I felt that the situation she was in was so unfair and I couldn’t believe what she was having to go through. This is where Sarah Stovell’s talent shines through. I was utterly absorbed by the lives of her characters. You can really feel what they are going through.

I was instantly intrigued by Lara. Although we do hear about her, we don’t get to know more about her until much later on. Her continued silence made me even keener to find out more about her and what her individual story was. This is what I really liked about this book, the added mystery that made it clear that there were more secrets about the characters to be unearthed.

Sarah Stovell does a brilliant job of creating characters who you really care about and I’m sure that her book will stay with many readers for a long while.

The Home is a dark, addictive read that will pull you in from the very first line. It’s beautifully written with a haunting atmosphere. Highly recommended!

Publisher: Orenda Books

Publication date: 28th November 2019 (kindle) 23rd January 2020 (paperback)

Print length: 276 pages

If you would like to purchase The Home, you can do so by clicking on one of the following links below.

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Hold Your Tongue by Deborah Masson #bookreview @deborah_masson

Hold Your Tongue is a debut I was really looking forward to reading and I was glad I managed to find the time to do so over Christmas.

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In the run up to Christmas, a serial killer stalks the streets of Aberdeen . . .

On Detective Eve Hunter’s first Monday back at work following enforced leave, she is called to the scene of a gruesome crime. A young woman’s body has been discovered in a hotel room, her face mutilated and her tongue cut out. A newspaper headline about the victim’s burgeoning modeling career is pinned to the body.

Hunter and her team spend the week chasing leads, until the following Tuesday, another body is discovered in similar circumstances. Again, a newspaper headline about the victim is found on the scene.

When a breakthrough with the newspaper clippings leads them to a clue about the killer’s pattern, they realize the countdown is on until the next victim is found. Battling against a team who has lost respect for her and her own personal demons, Hunter must put herself inside the mind of a depraved killer if she is to prevent another terrible death . . .

Introducing DI Eve Hunter, HOLD YOUR TONGUE is your new obsession.

MY THOUGHTS

When I first read the blurb for Hold Your Tongue, I knew this was going to be a book for me. For me, it was the premise of this novel that drew me to it, and I found the idea really chilling.  It also introduces us to a new police team in Aberdeen, Scotland, and a lead detective who has an intriguing backstory that will hook you in from the first few pages.

Serial killers have been known to take items from their victims, a sort of trophy to remind themselves of the crime they have committed, their victims, and as well, perhaps, to taunt the police. Deborah Masson’s killer takes this up an even more disturbing notch. The killer in her book chooses to remove the tongues from their victims. Detective Inspector Eve Hunter has recently returned to work and is faced with the horrific case; she isn’t in the best stable mind herself. A few months ago she was considered by many on her team to be responsible for a serious attack on one of her colleagues which left her paralysed. Eve has never been able to forgive herself for her part in what happened.

It did feel as though Eve was very much on her own in this book. Many of her colleagues seemed to be against her return to the force. Eve feels incredible guilty herself about what happened. The investigation which Eve and the team are faced with is complex. Along the way, there are some hard-hitting truths which make it very disturbing for the team to investigate. I really connected with Eve, and I wanted things to get better for her, especially in her team. I wanted someone to tell her that what had happened wasn’t her fault.

For me, I felt that the pace did slow down quite a bit after the discovery of the first body, but it does pick up again. Deborah Masson maintains the tension well as the investigation picks up new leads. All the time though I kept wondering, who was carrying out these crimes? Who would be so sick to remove their victim’s tongues? What purpose did this serve to the killer? If this is the idea that Deborah Masson has brought us in her first book, it does make me wonder what she has in store for us next.

Hold Your Tongue is a very gritty debut by Deborah Masson which will chill you to the bone. Deborah Masson is a strong new talent who I will be keeping an eye out for. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this series, and I’m intrigued to know where Deborah will take Eve and the rest of her team next.

Publisher: Transworld

Publication date: 20th November 2019 (kindle) 26th December 2019 (paperback)

Print length: 414 pages

If you would like to purchase Hold Your Tongue, you can do so by clicking on one of the following links below.

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Her Last Breath by Alison Belsham #bookreview @AlisonBelsham

Today I’m sharing my thoughts on the second book in one of my favourite new crime series by Alison Belsham, Her Last Breath.

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The body count is rising…and the clock is ticking.

When a young woman is attacked and left fighting to survive in hospital, the police are pulled into a race against time to save her life. But just 24 hours later, she dies and a deadly tattoo is discovered on her body.

And when another young woman disappears, Detective Francis Sullivan and his team fear a serial killer walks the streets of Brighton.

His team identify a suspect, Alex Mullins, son of Francis’s lover, Marni. Can Francis forget their shared past and save the next victim before it is too late?

MY THOUGHTS

I really like the characters in this series. When I read Alison Belsham’s debut novel, The Tattoo Thief, I thought it was one of the most original crime novels I’d read in a long time. When I read her last book, it made me think that I would definitely never get a tattoo. It was such a chilling read, and she has done it again with her second book, Her Last Breath. I did wonder how Alison was going to carry this series on, and she has created an absolute belter.

There are some particularly gruesome scenes in this book, and once again Alison has created a terrifying serial killer who is terrorising the streets of Brighton. Tattoo artist Marni Mullins is once again at the centre of this new investigation. When her son’s girlfriend is attacked, he is put firmly in the spotlight of the police probe leaving Marni exasperated. She desperately seeks her friend’s help, Detective Francis Sullivan, who is in charge of the case. But suspicions raise when more people who Alex is acquainted with are attacked and especially when the attacks turn to murder.

This is a really tense read. I really felt Marni’s exasperation as she tried to clear her son’s name of any involvement in the attacks. It did make me feel angry as well when some of the detectives on the case seemed utterly convinced right from the start that he was responsible, even though there was little evidence to support their claims. It did make me wonder how Marni was going to get her son out of it.

You really do get the sense of a race against time as the police try to find the person responsible for the crimes before they strike again. Alison Belsham kept me turning the pages as the book reached its conclusion. I literally could not put it down.

Her Last Breath is a really gripping and an intense read. I can’t wait to read the next book.

Publisher: Trapeze

Publication date: 19th September 2019 (kindle) 6th February 2020 (paperback)

Print length: 416 pages

If you would like to purchase Her Last Breath, you can do so by clicking on one of the following links below. 

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Someone You Know by Olivia Isaac-Henry #bookreview

Someone You Know is another book I read over Christmas and it’s one I’ve been meaning to get to now for a while.

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You can trust your family, can’t you…?

Tess Piper was fourteen when her adored twin sister Edie disappeared.

She has spent the last twenty years building a life away from her fractured family, desperate to escape the shadow of the past.

Only now she needs to confront the huge hole her sister’s disappearance left in her life, because a body has been found. The police are shining a spotlight on the Piper family. And secrets are about to surface.

After all, it’s common knowledge that more often than not, these crimes are committed by someone close to the victim. Someone they trust. Someone they know…

What really happened to Edie Piper?

MY THOUGHTS

Tess’s twin sister, Edie disappeared twenty years ago without a trace. Tess and her family have searched for answers ever since. As time has moved on, though, the public and the media have forgotten about them. This is until a body is discovered weighted down at the bottom of a reservoir, not far from where Edie was last seen. Tess and her dad have to once again go through the painful process of going with the police to identify the body, hoping that it is someone else and that Edie could still be out there somewhere. But the police are confident that this time it is Edie who they have found and the discovery will change Tess and her family’s lives forever.

Olivia Isaac-Henry’s debut novel, Someone You Know is very twisty. Tess is a character who I really connected with. She is someone who has suffered a lot in her past. This is including the struggle to move on after the disappearance of her twin. Tess always felt as though she was in Edie’s shadow. Her sister was always more popular than her at school, whereas Tess struggled to fit in. Tess stuck close to her twin, but even Edie seemed to resent her as she found Tess an embarrassment in front of her friends. Olivia Isaac-Henry brings Tess’s frustrations to life really well, particularly in the flashback scenes when we revisit her childhood.

There are a lot of characters who come under suspicion in this book, members of Edie’s family and her friends. Olivia Isaac-Henry kept the suspense turning up a notch, and as new people fell under the spotlight, I could never be sure which direction the plot was going to go. Towards the end, I thought I could see where it was going, but Olivia managed to thwart my suspicions in the final chapters.

There is a lot of emotional depth to this book. Tess has to come to terms with a lot of secrets that have been kept buried. You can really sense what Tess is going through as the search for Edie’s killer progresses and she is keen to make sure that her sister isn’t forgotten this time.

I really liked this book. Olivia’s writing kept the pace flowing forward, and I was intrigued to find out what the final outcome was going to be. Someone You Know is a strong debut, and I’m looking forward to reading Olivia’s next book.

Publisher: One More Chapter

Publication date: 4th February 2019

Print length: 336 pages

If you would like to purchase Someone You Know, you can do so by clicking on one of the following links below. 

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The Mothers by Sarah J Naughton #bookreview blog tour @SarahJNaughton @TrapezeBooks @Tr4cyF3nt0n

I’m delighted to be kicking off the blog tour for The Mothers by Sarah J Naughton. With thanks to Tracy Fenton from Compulsive Readers for inviting me to take part.

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Five Women.

They meet at their NCT Group. The only thing they have in common is they’re all pregnant.

Five Secrets.

Three years later, they are all good friends. Aren’t they?

One Missing Husband.

Now the police have come knocking. Someone knows something.

And the trouble with secrets is that someone always tells.

MY THOUGHTS

The Mothers by Sarah Naughton is a really compelling read, and I raced through it in just a couple of sittings.

The story primarily focuses on Bella and her husband, Ewan. In the opening chapters, Bella reports Ewan missing to the police. At first, the police aren’t very interested in taking the case further, in fact the lead detective on the case is asked to push the case aside, but she stands her ground. She believes that something isn’t quite right about Ewan’s disappearance. When they discover that Ewan and Bella’s son’s nanny, Jen has also disappeared and it looks as though there is sign of foul play, then things start to heat up.

I don’t think I found any of the women the story focuses on particularly likeable, although there were times when I did feel sorry for Bella. The way some people treated Bella made me feel very angry. Initially I struggled to connect to Bella, but as her story was gradually revealed I felt I connected to her more.

I loved the dual timeline in this book, and I really liked how Sarah Naughton unpicked the layers as we got closer and closer to the truth. It is very well-plotted, and each character came through very strongly. I also really liked the pacing. It isn’t fast-paced, but I think it was the way I connected to the characters and their personal stories that made me turn those pages. I felt I really got to know them as though they were real people. Sarah Naughton’s writing is very immersive, and it pulls you into the story without any effort at all. In fact, I was actually quite sad to finish it as I was enjoying it so much.

I thought the revelations towards the end were very nicely done, and it fitted the story perfectly. It gave the ending a very satisfactory feeling, and it felt very believable. It does turn into a very dramatic conclusion. There were definitely parts of the story which I didn’t expect but the way it ended did make me feel very pleased.

Having read all three of Sarah Naughton’s books, I think this is her best novel to date. Her characters felt very real, and I found the plot highly intriguing. I wanted to know what had happened to Bella’s missing husband and I enjoyed trying to work out how everything was going to unfold.

Sarah Naughton is a writer who is going from strength to strength. I’m looking forward to reading what she writes next.

Publisher: Trapeze

Print length: 288 pages

Publication date: 9th January 2020

If you would like to purchase The Mothers, you can do so by clicking on one of the following links below.

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Deadland by William Shaw #bookreview

Over the Christmas break I finally found the time to catch up with one of my favourite police procedural series.

Deadland is the second book in William Shaw’s Alexander Cupidi series and it is really good.

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YOU CAN RUN

The two boys never fitted in. Seventeen, the worst age, nothing to do but smoke weed; at least they have each other. The day they speed off on a moped with a stolen mobile, they’re ready to celebrate their luck at last. Until their victim comes looking for what’s his – and ready to kill for it.

YOU CAN HIDE

On the other side of Kent’s wealth divide, DS Alexandra Cupidi faces the strangest murder investigation of her career. A severed limb, hidden inside a modern sculpture in Margate’s Turner Contemporary. No one takes it seriously – not even the artwork’s owners, celebrity dealers who act like they’re above the law.

YOU CAN DIE

But as Cupidi’s case becomes ever more sinister, as she wrangles with police politics and personal dilemmas, she can’t help worrying about those runaway boys. Seventeen, the same age as her own headstrong daughter. Alone, on the marshes, they’re pawns in someone else’s game. Two worlds are about to collide.

Kent and its social divisions are brilliantly captured in Deadland, a crime thriller that’s as ingeniously unguessable as it is moving and powerful.

MY THOUGHTS

DS Alexander Cupidi is back in William Shaw’s latest novel, Deadland. This is a series which keeps going from strength to strength, and I have been captivated since Alexander Cupidi made her first appearance in The Birdwatcher.

What I really liked about the latest book in this series is that we see the return of former police officer, William South. When we last saw him, Alexander Cupidi had handed him in to the police after discovering the truth about his dark past. When I read The Birdwatcher I thought he was one of the best characters in crime fiction which I’ve come across, so I was really pleased to see him return in this book, but he is slightly different in his latest appearance. He seems to be struggling to re-adapt to life outside of prison. He’s never going to be viewed in quite the same way, particularly by his old friends. Alexander is keen to keep an eye on him. This is not least because she thinks that by having William around it might stop her daughter, Zoe, from going down a slippery path.

While keeping an eye on William and her daughter, Alex is up to her eyeballs in a new investigation. A severed arm has been discovered at an art gallery, and it proves very difficult for Alexander and her team to get identified. But that’s not all that she is faced with. There is also the disappearance of two teenagers who Alex believes could be in grave danger. It soon becomes clear to Alex and her team that the cases could be connected.

What I think is really good about William Shaw’s writing is how he makes us care for the characters. In the opening chapters, he introduces us to two teenagers who are targeting people so that they can steal their phones and sell them on. This is something which is quite frequently spoken about on the news as well. It is quite frightening to think about how easy this can be done and how easily people can get away with this crime. It does make you think about how careful you have to be when you’re out in public. I think this was why I didn’t think much of them towards the beginning of the book, but as the novel progressed, I felt quite sorry for them. William Shaw makes you realise that there are deeper root causes which have lead them to do this. It’s only when they pick on the wrong person do the tables finally turn for them, and their luck runs out.

Once again William Shaw also brings the setting of the Kent coastline to life, creating an atmospheric landscape. If you haven’t yet read this series and if you’re a fan of police procedurals then you really need to move William Shaw’s books to the top of your list. Deadland is cleverly constructed, and it grips you from the first page. Excellent from start to finish.

Publisher: riverrun

Publication date: 2nd May 2019

Print length: 480 pages

If you would like to purchase Deadland, you can do so by clicking on one of the following links below. 

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Salt Lane

A Dark Matter by Doug Johnstone #bookreview blog tour @doug_johnstone @OrendaBooks @annecater

Happy New Year!

Welcome to my first post of 2020 and I’m delighted to be joining the blog tour for A Dark Matter by Doug Johnstone. With thanks to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part.

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Meet the Skelfs: well-known Edinburgh family, proprietors of a long-established funeral-home business, and private investigators…

When patriarch Jim dies, it’s left to his wife Dorothy, daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah to take charge of both businesses, kicking off an unexpected series of events.

Dorothy discovers mysterious payments to another woman, suggesting that Jim wasn’t the husband she thought he was. Hannah’s best friend Mel has vanished from university, and the simple adultery case that Jenny takes on leads to something stranger and far darker than any of them could have imagined.

As the women struggle to come to terms with their grief, and the demands of the business threaten to overwhelm them, secrets from the past emerge, which change everything…

A compelling, tense and shocking thriller and a darkly funny and warm portrait of a family in turmoil, A Dark Matter introduces a cast of unforgettable characters, marking the start of an addictive new series.

MY THOUGHTS

Doug Johnstone is fast becoming one of my favourite writers. His previous book, Breakers, was one of my top reads of 2019 and he has pulled it off again with A Dark Matter.

I think this book has one of the most original openings I’ve read in a long while. I did have to go over the first two sentences a couple of times as it dawned on me what was happening. Doug Johnstone pulls you into his story with a somewhat disturbing opening as a corpse is being fried. This opening scene grabbed my attention, and I wanted to know what the hell was going on here. But the opening scene isn’t quite as sinister as you might think; there are a lot more sinister scenes to come.

In Doug’s last book, I loved the raw, authentic voice he gave to his characters. In this book, we meet a family who own a funeral home, the Skelfs, which also operates as a private detective agency. I really liked this idea. It did give the book a Miss Marple and an Inspector Poirot kind of feeling.

Hannah, who is the granddaughter of Dorothy, who now solely owns the business after the death of her husband, Jim, is distraught when her friend Mel disappears. She begins investigating Mel’s disappearance on her own and takes matters into her own hands when it appears that the police show little interest. Hannah is tough and is absolutely determined to find out what has happened to her Mel. But meanwhile, another mystery is taking up her mother’s time.  Hannah’s mother, Jenny, has found out that the business is still paying money to the wife of a former employee who also strangely disappeared. She can’t understand why the business is still paying this money and begins to suspect that her father, Jim, may have had a hand in his disappearance. Did he reach an agreement with his former employee’s wife to keep her silent on the matter?

I did think that A Dark Matter didn’t have the same, quite high level of tension as Breakers did, but I did become utterly immersed in the story. It is quite a different book, and it does stand out, it’s hard to place it into just one genre. Doug really captures Hannah’s anger as she searches for answers behind Mel’s disappearance, and also in Jenny’s despair, as she tries to work out what has been going on behind her back within the business. Doug Johnstone has a real talent for giving his characters strong, emotional depth which really brings them to life and makes them feel like real people.

You will be rooting for the characters to reach the answers that they are desperately craving. A Dark Matter is a totally original novel that will have you begging for the next chapter in the series. Fantastic writing!

Publisher: Orenda Books

Publication date: 23rd November 2019 (kindle) 23rd January 2020 (paperback)

Print length: 300 pages

If you would like to purchase A Dark Matter, you can do so by clicking on one of the following links below.

Amazon UK  Kobo  Waterstones

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