Never Coming Back

Having left London after a near-fatal stabbing, private investigator David Raker is recuperating at his dad’s old cottage, located in a costal town in Devon, when he is asked by a former girlfriend to investigate the disappearance of her sister Carrie, Carrie’s husband Paul and their two daughters.  The whole family vanished without a trace, leaving their house as if they were about to return at any moment.  With the police being no help, having given up their own investigation after the case kept leading to a dead ends, and busy with a body that has washed up on beach, it’s up to Raker to find out just what happened to this family.    

Never Coming Back, the fourth David Raker novel from Tim Weaver, has a slow start, and I did feel at  disadvantage for not having read the previous three novels featuring this character.  This feeling soon lessened once Raker begins to unfurl the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the Ling's. This is when  Never Coming Back became a real page turner, and I was devouring pages to discover where the story would head next.  There were plenty of moments of uncertainty, Weaver making you think that you know what's about to happen and then completely taking the plot in another direction.  I thought that the pacing was brilliant, and a good balance between explanation and action.  Also the two completely different settings of Las Vegas and Devon made for an interesting dichotomy and varied reading.  While there are some clichés (and I am never a fan of seeing the book title in the body of the novel itself) I thought that Never Coming Back was a solid crime story, something that would be a great holiday read, and I am excited to read more of Tim Weaver's work. 


Never Coming Back is out on the 29th of August.  Thank you Real Readers for my advance copy.

Brother Kemal

Set in Frankfurt, the fifth Kemal Kayankaya novel, Brother Kemal, sees the private investigator hired for two separate cases.  First Kayankaya is employed by Valerie de Chavannes, a woman who comes from money, to find her missing 16-year-old daughter.  The second job is to provide protection to author Malik Rashid whilst at a local book fair from potential fanatics who disapprove of the content of his latest novel.  Although Kayankaya initially believes both cases to be uncomplicated, he is soon proved wrong with his presumptions potentially causing disastrous consequences.

I hadn't read any of the previous books in the Kemal Kayankaya series from Jakob Arjouni, and this posed no problem when reading Brother Kemal.  The only instance where I felt unprepared was at the point where I realised that Kayankaya is not one to abide by the rules of the law, which occurs early on in the novel.  Perhaps if I had read some of the previous novels I would have already expected this, but at the time Kayankaya's actions did come as a bit of a shock.
 
Instantly I was struck by the detail laden prose and analytical narrative style, with Ajourni leaving no room for assumptions (even if his characters make plenty of  them throughout the course of the book).  Although in no way does this impact on the pacing of the plot, which is continually engaging,  punctured with moments of violence that come quickly, almost out of the blue, but never read as obscene or gratuitous, and the touches of humour sprinkled throughout the novel.  These wry moments further emphasise just how self-confident Kemal is and adding to the overall structure of a complex and fascinating character.

After enjoying reading Brother Kemal, I find it a shame that this is the last novel from Jakob Arjourni, as he sadly died earlier this year.  However, I am going to seek out Jakob Arjouni's back catalogue, as I was really impressed by this last novel.

The Gift of Darkness

In Seattle, a few weeks before Christmas, a family of four are horribly murdered in their own home.  All evidence points to one man.  A man already wanted by the police, but who had also been through a traumatic event years earlier with one of the victims and was supposed to be one of his closet friends.  It's up to Detective Alice Madison, who has only been with the Homicide unit for little over a month, to untangle the secrets and impossibilities of this strange case.

V. M. Giambanco's debut novel gets off to a slow start.  There's a lot of information to process regarding not only the crime scene and the resulting investigation, but core character back stories, too.  However, don't let this put you off, as halfway through the majority of the explaining stops and all of those details begin to make sense.  This is when The Gift of Darkness becomes a proper page-turner.

Giambanco has created fantastic characters, all with their own set of moral ambiguities, and placed them within a clever plot.  I was kept guessing why the Sinclair family was murdered for the majority of the book.  When Giambanco finally revealed this information, I found the reason behind the murders slightly anticlimactic; although I did wonder if this made the killers actions even worse?  In the end it is not so much the reveal of the killer's motive, but as to how the final show-down unfolds provides an exciting, and somewhat horrifying, conclusion.

After reading I am still left with questions about certain aspects, but I always welcome a book that makes me think long after I have finished reading.  I would love to read more from V. M. Giambanco in the future, especially if she carries on with Alice Madison as her lead character.

The Dead

Set in Newcastle, Howard Linskey's The Dead follows mob boss David Blake as his control over his criminal empire is tested to the limit.  A dead police officer's daughter, a dodgy accountant, a group of Serbians and a crazy Russian Oligarch are all causing problems for Blake.  Not to mention that his wife Sarah has started asking questions as to what really happened to her father, the former head of the firm, just as Blake starts looking for answers about his own missing dad.

The Dead is not a book that I would typically buy or check out from the library, and I haven't read Linskey's previous two novels that feature the character of David Blake.  Yet I couldn't stop reading and found myself swept away by Linskey's narrative.  There's a lot going on plot wise, but each strand is handled well and the momentum just keeps pushing you forward into finding out just how Blake will handle all of his problems.

From the blurb I thought that Linskey would have filled his novel with tons of gratuitous violence. However,  even though there are moments that made me flinch, there's no examples of violence just for violence's sake.  This coupled with Blake not being your typical mob boss made for a much more interesting read.

David Blake's third outing is a perfect holiday read, and there is no need to have read the first two books to be able to enjoy Howard Linskey's latest tale.  Although be warned; you may need to pack another book in your suitcase as you are likely to finish The Dead within a day.

Stop Dead

I had not read any of the Geraldine Steel series prior to Stop Dead, this is the fifth instalment, and nor at any point during reading did I feel that I was at a disadvantage for not having done so.

Having recently transferred to London, Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel is investigating the murder of a wealthy businessman, Patrick Henshaw.  His body was found in a car, brutally mutilated.  At first it is thought to have been a crime of passion conducted by either his wife or her lover.  It is not until Henshaw's business partner is found dead, murdered in the same horrible way, that Steel realises that there's possibly more to these murders than what it originally seemed.
 
In the beginning, I was reminded of Tess Gerritsen's Rizzoli and Isles series, as Russell was mixing her murder case with details about her detective's home life.  However, unlike one of Gerritsen's impeccably paced novels, the narrative of Stop Dead was bogged down by multiple (and sometimes needless) P.O.Vs and the details of Steel's life outside of work.  At no point did I feel that rush to find out who was committing these grizzly murders. 

In fact, all those red herring's that are so heavily promoted in the blurb were needless; halfway through the book it becomes rather obvious as to who the real culprit is. 

Another flaw of Stop Dead is that I felt characterization was completely off.  Many of the suspects are typical two dimensional stereotypical characters you'd find in any generic crime novel.  Then there's Steel's Sergeant, Sam, who reads like a stroppy teenager who only cares about her stomach and chips.  How on earth, in real life, would this girl be able to work in a homicide investigations department?  

One redeeming feature, for me, were the scenes where the bodies were discovered, often in odd places.  However, while Leigh Russell's latest offering would probably be a good disposable beach read, Stop Dead doesn't inspire me to read any of Russell's other books.


This was an ARC review for Real Readers, Stop Dead is published by No Exit Press on the 30th May.

Gone Girl

Just how well can you ever know the person you love?  This is the question that Nick Dunne must ask himself on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, when his wife Amy suddenly disappears.  The police immediately suspect Nick.  Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him.  He swears it isn't true.  A police examination of his computer shows strange searches.  He says they aren't his.  And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone.  So what really did happen to Nick's beautiful wife?


Gillian Flynn has one dark mind as Gone Girl is a boat load of crazy.  The narration is split into two, alternating between Nick's thoughts while searching for his wife and Amy's diary entries that reveal more about their marriage than Nick will share.  Right from the start each section of prose has this jittery quality which promptly informed me that this was not going to be a bog standard thriller.  Sure enough, the further I followed Flynn down the rabbit hole that is Amy Dunne's disappearance, the more intense my feelings for the book became.
  I don't want to go into any detail so as to spoil Gone Girl, but it has so many twists, some obvious, some not, and by the end it is hard to know who to empathise with.  A great well paced story, that has some truly horrific moments, I was up until 2 am two nights in a row reading this noir-esque thriller desperate to know what happened next. 

Heart Shaped Bruise

I've seen this on a couple of blogs, yet I didn't set out to read it, but it was another a case of it catching my eye in the library and me thinking why not?

They say I'm evil. The police. The newspapers. The girls from school who shake their heads on the six o’clock news and say they always knew there was something not quite right about me. And everyone believes it. Including you. But you don't know. You don't know who I used to be.

Who I could have been.

Awaiting trial at Archway Young Offenders Institution, Emily Koll is going to tell her side of the story for the first time.

Heart-Shaped Bruise is a compulsive and moving novel about infamy, identity and how far a person might go to seek revenge.

Heart-Shaped Bruise is a YA Crime/Thriller, probably a good introduction for budding crime novel devourers.  The only problem I had, and this may be a tad spoilery, was that I found myself waiting for a twist that never came.  There were too many coincidences for me and I was expecting something a little more complex from the ending.  Still I read it in one sitting.  Tanya Byrne's writing style is definitely compelling, and in Emily she has created a brittle and fascinating character, that perhaps deserved a better story to inhabit.  So, while Heart-Shaped Bruise is not a bad read, and I would recommend it, it is just not what I expected.

Whispers Underground

I was really impressed with Ben Aaronovitch's first book, Rivers of London, but not so much by the second offering, Moon Over Soho.  However, I was prepared to forgive a 'sophmore slump' and hoped that Whispers Under Ground would be a return to form.

It's December, and Peter Gant is investigating the death of a young American artist who was found at Baker Street tube station.  With Inspector Nightingale busy, the case leads Peter to into the hidden depths of the London Underground, with an FBI agent hot on his heels.  

As always, Aaronovitch's knowledge of London is impressive, as is the way he weaves said knowledge into the story seamlessly.  However, I didn't feel that much happened or engaged with Peter's investigation until the last hundred pages.  In some instances it felt that Aaronovitch was shunning the magic aspect of the series for a more conventional set up.  I had been told by another reader that more was revealed about the faceless man, but this was not the case.  Or at least not in a substantial way that would make me eager for the next instalment.  Perhaps when Aaronovitch has a plan for the series and knows where it will end the stories will improve and he will exploit their full potential.  Nonetheless, Whispers Under Ground is a very well written, witty and informative piece of fiction and well worth a read. 

Trust Your Eyes

Thomas Kilbride has been obsessed with maps since he was a child.  Now an adult, he studies an Internet map site called whirl360 in an attempt to memorise every street in the world.  One evening, while studying a street in Manhattan, he notices something unusual in an apartment window: a woman with a plastic bag over her head, being suffocated.  He tells his brother, Ray, what he has seen but the only problem is that Thomas is a diagnosed schizophrenic who rarely leaves his room, let alone the house. Is he telling the truth? Or is this a delusion that can be easily explained?

Linwood Barclay's Trust Your Eyes is best described as a 'Pandora's Box'.  Not content with the central mystery Barclay quickly establishes plenty of grey areas concerning, an incident in Thomas' childhood and the sudden death of Kilbride boys' father, plus the mysterious phone calls that only Thomas is privy to. 

There are plot twists galore: some expected, some not.  At certain points I found this disorientating, as I did the non linear elements, but I was compelled by a story that bordered on the ridiculous, and could fall apart at any moment, to keep reading.  The success of Trust Your Eyes hinges on the use of smoke and mirrors.  Barclay adeptly keeps you wondering how much of Thomas' world is real by misdirecting the reader with plenty of time changes and narrator switches.  These offered insight into different aspects of the plot, but my only criticism is that these portions of the book revealed uninspired and cliched character histories and present actions.  The only two exceptions were Thomas, who felt less of a caricature, and had complexity, as did his brother Ray.  Barclay wonderfully portrayed Ray's struggle of trying to look after and communicate with his brother, while dealing with his own issues.

A great, thrilling, holiday read, but if you're a quick reader I think Trust Your Eyes would probably be a satisfying companion on a long-haul flight. 

Angelmaker

Nick Harkaway's Angelmaker is an astounding piece of literature, that includes but is not limited to:
lesbian spies, mechanical bees, undertakers, a villain that wouldn't look out of place in a Bond movie, rivalries and J. Joe Spork.
  Joe is a humble clock maker, who intends to live his life on the straight and narrow, unlike his criminal father.  This plan goes to pot after he is sent to a strange town to inspect a strange device, and he becomes entangled with a rivalry and plot to destroy human kind that has lasted decades.  With plenty of meanderings throughout what seems like a complex ,and yet once deconstructed totally simple, plot Angelmaker is hilarious, sombre, sad, and baffling all at the same time.  The size of the hardback may be intimidating, and the first few chapters are perhaps not the page turners that the rest of the book turns out to be, but trust me, Angelmaker is bonkers, and that's why it is brilliant.

The Sinner

The third installment in the Rizzoli and Isles series, finally, focuses primarily on medical examiner Maura Isles.  With the arrival of her ex-husband more is revealed about Maura's life before she moved to Boston.  Case-wise, Jane and Maura investigate a brutal attack inside a convent, which leaves one nun dead and another battling for her life.  Also found is a woman with no face, no hand or feet - could the two cases be connected?

The characterization is spot on, and there are plenty of twist and turns within the plot that kept me reading.  Nothing is ever simple, and the real culprit is always hidden away until the last few chapters.  A fantastic read. 

The Apprentice

Detective Jane Rizzoli, having survived her encounter with The Surgeon, is brought into an investigation of a married couple who have been brutally murdered.  The case takes a turn for the worst when Rizzoli can't help but notice similarities between the crime scene and the work of The Surgeon's in the first book.  Maura Isles is finally introduced as the new Boston Medical Examiner.  However, The Apprentice is about Rizzoli's struggles with the emotional scars left from her showdown with Warren Hoyt, as well as the arrival of the mysterious FBI agent Thomas Dean who keeps usurping her authority.

The best thing about Gerritsen novels, aside from a great plot, are that her characters always come across as fully fledged people, warts and all.  They manage to have lives outside of their work and Gerritsen weaves these elements effortlessly within the main case.  The Apprentice is equally as good, if not better than it's counterpart and I look forward to reading The Sinner.

The Surgeon

Tess Gerritsen's The Surgeon is set in Boston: Detectives Jane Rizzoli and Thomas Moore are investigating a series of murders that have been attributed to 'The Surgeon', labelled so for horrific but precise skills used to maim victims. 

The branding of  as a 'Rizzoli and Isles Thriller' is slightly miss-leading: Isles is not present and Rizzoli, while having her primary character traits and family history established, almost takes a back seat to Moore's story arc with Dr. Catherine Cordell.  Their arc in particular reminded me of Girl Missing, a stand alone Gerritsen story, especially with the lemon Mercedes.  Other than that The Surgeon was a great start to the series; it has a steady plot that gave no early hints or clues as to who the eventual culprit is, which ensures that Gerritsen will keep you hooked until the last page.

Rivers Of London & Moon Over Soho

I reserved Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London after a recommendation from a good friend.  While we have different tastes, we're both fans of Harry Potter and so it's not surprising that she read ROL as it is described as if 'Harry grew up and joined the fuzz'.  It isn't as literal as that but it is definitely a good line to use for those who have trepidation into delving into the paranormal/fantasy genre.  Or for those who have grown up with the Potter books and are now looking for a more adult read without all the sexy time that vampire novels seem to be so concerned with.


Peter Gant has just finished his probationary period with the MET, and is afraid that he's going to be stuck on desk duty, rather than being a 'proper' copper.  After a strange meeting while guarding a crime scene, Peter is informed the next day that he is to join the Economic and Specialist Crime Unit.  The only other member of the unit is DCI Nightingale, and Peter is required to move to 'The Folly' where he is inducted into the world of the supernatural.
What follows is a good crime story, with plenty of twists so at times I had no idea what to expect next.   There's a few parts that are obvious, but I'm willing to overlook them because I love that Aaronovitch can appropriately distribute his vast knowledge of London and it's history throughout the book.

The second book in the series, Moon Over Soho, picks up a few months after the events of ROL, this time Peter's efforts are focused on the Jazz scene in, yes you guessed it, Soho.  There's two cases on the go: a woman who has been dismembering males, and a man found dead at a jazz club.  I don't think I enjoyed this tale as much.  I wasn't in a rush to finish it which is normally a bad sign.  I felt that there was an element of trying too hard to set up an ongoing series, and that this book was merely a bridge between the first novel and what is to come.  However, I'm still putting Whispers Under Ground (Book 3) on my wishlist, and would definitely recommend to anyone who's fan of paranormal crime fiction.