Book #26 Miracle Creek

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It has taken me two weeks to read Miracle Creek. So much hype, so many five star reviews. My interest level was piqued and yet I was mildly disappointed. As a debut novel Miracle Creek is very well written but I found it rather depressing. A Korean family - Pak, Young and daughter Mary - immigrants to Virginia, USA. Pak is a certified Hyperbaric Technician, starts a business with such a chamber used to help autistic patients and those with other diseases. It is a recognised therapy. An unusual plot line that results in catastrophic consequences:

"MY HUSBAND ASKED ME TO LIE. Not a big lie. He probably didn't even consider it a lie..."

An explosion, two patients dead and a family torn apart by conspiracy and deception. A lengthy courtroom drama ensues and this is the meat of the story. A gladiatorial contest between prosecution and defence. The mother of one of the dead on trial for murder. And that lie that ensnares so many, so much soul searching amongst mothers with children undergoing similar treatment.

It is not a happy read but it does have redemptive qualities. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I had read Miracle Creek quicker. Still worthy of four stars though.

My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for my ebook in exchange for an honest review.

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Book #25 Eighteen Below

Eighteen Below by Stefan Ahnhem
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Scandinavian noir at its best, dark, complex, compelling, full of twists and turns and a breathtaking final third as Astrid Tuvesson, Fabian Risk and a team of detectives hunt for a serial killer (or is it killers?) involved in an identity theft plot with frightening levels of violence. A second thread sees horrendous videos posted on YouTube by a group of "happy slappers" in which Fisk's own son Theodor is implicated. This is book #3 in the Fabian Risk series, something I was unaware of when accepting this ebook from the publishers, Head of Zeus. A pity as there are clearly events in Risk's past that impact on his present demeanour. Nevertheless, Eighteen Below can be read as a standalone. It's a lengthy read - but well worth the time.

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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 #21 Stone Cold Heart

Stone Cold Heart by Caz Frear
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, Bonnier Zaffre and Caz Frear for my ARC of ‘Stone Cold Heart’.

Never a good idea though to start at book Two in a series as this is the second featuring DC Cat Kinsella. There is a back story from book One that is left tantalisingly unanswered, although Stone Cold Heart can be read as a standalone. A pity that it has taken me so long to read; other priorities got in the way. So, I rather lost the thread of what is, in most respects, a fine police procedural.

The murder of Naomi Lockhart takes centre stage. Investigated by Kinsella and her sergeant Luigi Parnell with DCI Kate Steele very much in charge. The investigation is constantly thwarted by a silent family, protecting each other it seems from prosecution. And a secret from way back that connects them all. Difficult to know who to believe but Kinsella is a tenacious investigator. Will she finally reconstruct what actually happened? Will her judgement be clouded by past events in her life - a past where she had always suspected her dad knew something about the disappearance of Maryanne Doyle - a teenager from the west coast of Ireland? Will we ever know for sure?

Perhaps book Three will reveal more? I am sure there will be a book Three given the cliffhanger of an ending in Stone Cold Heart!

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Book #20 The Never Game

The Never Game by Jeffery Deaver
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My thanks to Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC. It has received several 5 Star reviews and I regret to differ. This galley was so peppered with typographical errors it spoiled any enjoyment. It needs saying because proof readers are going to have one hell of a job correcting the text.

Beyond that, the protagonist Colter Shaw, is an interesting character. Different. He generates an income by following up rewards offered by individuals to help find missing persons. He is good at it. An individual schooled in survival and tracking techniques by his father. When a student is kidnapped from a park in CA her disconsolate father offers a $10,000 reward for her safe return. The nub of the story that is composed around the lucrative video gaming industry. I have never played a video game and could not develop any interest in the plot. It's a pity. It just wasn't for me.

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