Book #32 The Cabin

The Cabin by Jørn Lier Horst
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My thanks to Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for the opportunity to read an advance copy of The Cabin by Jørn Lier Horst, the second book in The Cold Case Quartet. I had previously read The Katharina Code, the first in the series, so had some idea what to expect. A lengthy, slow burner of Norwegian noir in which Chief Inspector William Wisting once again is called upon to investigate a cold case that goes back to 2003. It's been fifteen years since Simon Meier walked out of his house, never to be seen again. And just one day since politician Bernard Clausen was found dead at his cabin on the Norwegian coast. Is there a possible link here? Could both events be linked to a heist of foreign currency worth some 80 million kroner at today's values?

The story unfolds layer by layer as Wisting and his team, including his daughter Line, seek to unravel the complexities of these old events.

This is another superbly plotted tale with perfect characterisation and highly believable day-to-day details of police procedures.

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Book #24 Come a Little Closer

Come a Little Closer by Karen Perry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A plot of few characters. Anton, Mark, Leah, Jake, Hilary and Greg. And not one of them to root for. I thoroughly enjoyed Karen Perry's Your Closest Friend. I cannot say the same for Come a Little Closer. It was far too slow for me.

Anton is released from prison where he has been incarcerated for nineteen years, for murdering his wife. He returns to the family home to find that his son Mark has found new tenants for the basement flat - Leah and Jake. Jake has a seven-year-old son, Matthew, who lives with his mother, Jenna. It's a tangled mess. Anton has always claimed that he did not murder Charlotte. Hilary and Greg are teachers who had occupied the apartment all those years ago, waiting for their house over the road to have renovations completed. Hilary it seems, was obsessed with Anton...

So, if Anton didn't - who did? With so few possible culprits I had it figured out all too soon, which made completing the book a chore; although the final fifteen minutes had some redeeming qualities of suspense. It just did not grip me...

My thanks to Penguin UK-Michael Joseph and NetGalley for my ARC.

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Book #23 Beneath the Surface

Beneath the Surface by Fiona Neill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My thanks to Penguin UK - Michael Joseph and NetGalley for my ARC of Beneath the Surface. Three stars for some laugh out loud moments (were they intentional I wonder) but otherwise I was not enthused with the Vermuydens - a dysfunctional family without many if any redeeming qualities. Apart perhaps from 10-year-old daughter Mia. (She puts me so much in mind of Karen from the TV series Outnumbered). Parents Patrick and Grace, whose marriage was boringly monotone, and elder daughter Lilly, a high achiever at school until the day she has a seizure in Mr. Galveston's class:

'"They say to try chest compressions" Freya shouts back. Mr Galveston breaks into the chorus of 'Staying Alive' by the Bee Gees...!' Visions of Vinnie Jones... There are several more very humorous moments in the book - just as well because there was little else to entertain me. Small things concerned me, like - Mia keeping an eel in a bucket, an eel that has no doubt made the journey from the Sargasso Sea only to be marooned in a muddy backwater in Cambridgeshire - where Mia finds it. This was not a rescue - it was unnecessary and cruel and bothered me the more I read about it.

I could drone on about un-achieving Patrick and paranoid Grace - but I won't. I am beginning to feel over-generous with three stars.....

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Book #22 And Then She Vanishes

And Then She Vanishes by Claire Douglas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A breathtaking opening chapter with an equally shocking ending! And Then She Vanishes is a terrific thriller. Has it all. A claustrophobic, page turning, slow burner - when two bodies, thought to be local businessman Clive Wilson, 58, and his mother, Deirdre Wilson, 76, are found in a cottage in the seaside Somerset town of Tilby. They had been shot. A third person, Heather Underwood, was found unconscious at a caravan park less than half a mile away, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest... Heather, whose sister Flora disappeared in 1994, never to be seen again. Everything points to Heather being the murderer. But why?! There is no apparent motive, yet....

Jessica Fox is a journalist in Bristol where she lives with her boyfriend, Rory. Could Heather be the friend she fell out with back in 1994? She works with Jack, the photographer for the Bristol and Somerset Herald, a twice weekly publication. Looking for any kind of exclusive the layers are slowly peeled back. Jessica has a dark past that saw her leave The Tribune in London, for reasons she has never fully explained to Rory. And all the time, the question that pervades this whydunnit is: What really happened the night Flora disappeared?

I will not say any more about this thrilling story - don't want to spoil it for future readers. I can say that you will love it!

My thanks to Penguin UK-Michael Joseph, NetGalley and Claire Douglas for my ARC. Wonderful!

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Book #11 The Island

The Island by Ragnar Jónasson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I started reading The Island, Hidden Iceland Series Book 2, I had no idea this is a trilogy written backwards. So, this precedes Book 1 in chronological order and had me confused when I soon encountered Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir. Hang on a minute, isn't she....? And then the penny dropped! Book 3 will no doubt go back even further. It's of no consequence as this reads well as a standalone. And what a cracking read it is as Hulda travels to the isolated island of Elliðaey to investigate the unexplained death of a young woman, one of four friends who had visited the island. There seem to be similarities to a notorious case from ten years ago, another woman found murdered in the equally desolate Westfjords. It doesn't help matters that this earlier case was investigated by her senior colleague, Lýdur. What part did detective Andrés have to play? There is something not quite right here.

Hulda has three suspects and it seems that no one is telling the truth about what really happened on Elliðaey. Do past events have a bearing on this case? Didn't someone confess to the earlier murder and later commit suicide?

Beautifully constructed this haunting tale had me gripped throughout as our tragic protagonist conducts her rôle with persistence to unravel this intriguing mystery. Another excellent piece of Icelandic noir from Ragnar Jónasson and highly recommended.

My thanks to Michael Joseph Penguin UK and NetGalley for this ARC of The Island.

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Book #46 Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb by Claire Douglas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My thanks to Penguin UK-Michael Joseph and NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Kirsty, husband Adrian and their two young daughters leave London to start a new life in the Brecon Beacons area of Wales. Purchased an old property with the financial help of Kirsty's mother Carol and carry out renovations to begin a guest-house business. So far so good. And then the first 'guest' arrives - Selena and her daughter Ruby, invited by Carol as Selena allegedly needs to escape an abusive husband. Kirsty hasn't seen Selena for seventeen years and she is the last person she wants to see. Too many bad memories.

The locals are unfriendly, it is rumoured that the house is haunted, scary events begin to happen as other guests arrive for short stays. There is an underlying menace to this story that builds a level of tension as events unfold and Selena's real reason for seeking refuge becomes apparent. A complex plot in which past events will come to the fore with one hell of a twist come the end.

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Book #41 Your Closest Friend

Your Closest Friend by Karen Perry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Whoa! Hold on a minute - let me catch my breath. Your Closest Friend sizzles with tension and menace. I thought I had already read my best book of 2018. Wrong. This is it!
Starts at breakneck pace as Cara finds herself caught up in a terrifying terrorist attack on the streets of London - her certain death prevented by Amy, who drags her into a doorway and up a flight of stairs to a storeroom above Pret. In the darkness and desperate to survive Cara divulges to Amy her darkest secrets about her marriage, her husband, her affair…

Days after the attack Cara is back home, back at work as a radio producer, when her life starts to spiral out of control. She starts to receive anonymous threats. And when Amy reappears as if by coincidence Cara turns to her for support - her closest friend? Or her worst nightmare… She invites Amy into her home to help with her family.

This is a psychological thriller that will shred your nerves with its relentless pace. Your Closest Friend is a real page turner. It never lets go. It grabs you from the get go - feel your pulse racing. The effect is hypnotic as you read on knowing that dreadful events are inevitable to a final twist that really had me holding my breath.

A stunning read, better than Gone Girl with a whiff of Single White Female. I doubt that I will read anything better this year.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin UK-Michael Joseph for the opportunity to read this e-book.

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Book #12 Exhibit Alexandra

Exhibit Alexandra by Natasha Bell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Unfathomable. Using performance art as the main theme much of this went completely over my head. Marc and Alexandra, on the face of it, are happily married with two lovely daughters. Then Alexandra disappears and the humdrum treadmill of time passed since her disappearance takes over, as the police try to establish what has happened. What has happened is almost undefineable. One line said it all for me: (Marc) shaking his head at such incomprehensible gobbledygook...

My thanks to Penguin UK-Michael Joseph and NetGalley for this ARC. It just wasn't for me.

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