I like Anthony Horowitz books and this one was pretty different to the others I've read.
Well described characters are this author's strong point and this book does not disappoint. This is a slow-burn mystery. It seems to be based on a true story, though it was difficult to understand whether the elements (letters, historical articles etc.) which were added in, were actually 'real' or part of the fictional book (I found this lack of clarity annoying, though perhaps it was my lack of understanding??). The story follows a writer as he tracks the work of Detective Hawthorne. Hawthorne is aloof and a bit odd. The murder mystery was interesting enough and clear enough, and there are plenty of potential suspects. The other interesting point is the fictional writer in the book seems to be styled on Horowitz himself, for instance - his name, where he lives, his experience of living in London and working as a famous writer etc. This definitely added interest for me and might even have been a bit more interesting than the actual mystery. If you liked reading this book review, please pop over and 'like' to my Facebook Page. Thank you :) Ann Girdharry Facebook Author Page
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The early reviews are starting to come in on Goodreads for my new release - The Beauty Killers.
So far, it's one hundred percent five stars. Wow - I'm stunned! Thank you :) (Early Bird pricing is still available on this title) A clever killer plots to hunt down successful women.
DI Luc Callanach, new to the Edinburgh team, takes the case. He has French and Scottish blood and has come back to Scotland after he was accused of a crime at Interpol. The case is violent and brutal and several scenes pull no punches, including one at the end of the book that had me reeling. We get to know the killer up close and see how he operates and how he thinks. We see how the police team are several steps behind him, despite all their efforts to understand the evidence and the forensics. I liked Luc and his colleague, Ava. Not everyone welcomes high-flying Luc and his team have to learn to work with him and him with them. Great characters and a great story. No cheap tricks. This one is definitely recommended. If you liked reading this review, please pop over and 'like' to my Facebook Page. Thank you :) Ann Girdharry Facebook Author Page Women will go missing. And none will return.
A collector who lures women And then keeps them A string of beautiful women go missing. And when an undercover police woman disappears, Kal and Marty take the case. They track a killer who lures women, captures them and keeps them. But it soon becomes clear the case is even more sinister than they imagined. A high-level detective is linked to a cover-up and Kal and Marty are caught in a complex, evil conspiracy. The clock is ticking to find the missing women and it seems the perpetrator has more than one accomplice… The latest book in the Kal Medi series. 🎈🎈 Early Bird Pricing now available! 🎈🎈 Link to The Beauty Killers on Amazon The death of a doctor, then the death of his son. Then the death of an elderly woman and her daughter. How are these cases connected and what is motivating the killer? DI Kim Stone is struggling to hold it together, and it seems the killer has the upper hand... Why are the team struggling? It's not only the case, it's the loss of their colleague DS Dawson (killed in the previous book). Meanwhile, DC Stacey has taken on an investigation of her own. She's been dumped with their new team member, someone who can never replace Dawson and she's looking into the case of a missing school girl. The team dynamics in this one are great. There are plenty of poignant moments as the team struggle to carry on without Dawson. Some of them welcome the new team member and others turn against him. The crimes are as gruesome and twisted as usual in this series and it will keep you guessing until the end. Another great book from Angela Marsons. If you liked reading this book review, please pop over and 'like' to my Facebook Page. Thank you :) Ann Girdharry Facebook Author Page THE BEAUTY KILLERS will be published 1st November.
Women will go missing. And none will return. A collector who lures women And then keeps them A string of beautiful women go missing. And when an undercover police woman disappears, Kal and Marty take the case. They track a killer who lures women, captures them and keeps them. But it soon becomes clear the case is even more sinister than they imagined. A high-level detective is linked to a cover-up and Kal and Marty are caught in a complex, evil conspiracy. The clock is ticking to find the missing women and it seems the perpetrator has more than one accomplice… The latest book in the Kal Medi series. 🎈🎈 Early Bird Pricing now available! 🎈🎈 Link to The Beauty Killers on Amazon Jessica is struggling to make sense of her four-year-old daughter’s (Olivia) strange behaviour at school. Jessica’s sister, Isabel, was killed a few years previously. From small beginnings, Jessica’s life starts to be overtaken by the idea that Olivia might be communing with her dead aunt Isabel, and that Isabel’s death was not an accident.
This is complicated by the fact that the family was visited by a poltergeist during the teenage years of Jessica and Isabel. Jessica’s mother is still a firm believer in communication with the dead. A few spooky incidents with Olivia are enough to send Jessica’s mother back into her beliefs. Jessica becomes more and more convinced her sister was murdered. She suspects everyone in turn in her small, inner circle as Olivia says more and more outrageous ‘secrets’ supposedly passed on to her by her aunt. There is plenty of depth to the story. The characters are well written and believable. The reader goes back in time to the final months of Isabel’s life and we see what actually happened to her. This works very well because, at the same time, we are reading about Jessica’s current turmoil and her discoveries about the people around her. Jessica also makes discoveries about herself. Jessica was always the less popular sister and Isabel was the one everyone liked. Jessica overcomes plenty of hurdles that have threatened her self-confidence. She is relentless in pursuing the truth, however unlikely it all seems to be. In fact, she turns out to be a first-class detective. The writing style is conversational and easy-going and this makes the pages fly past. The ghostly element feeds into a mounting murder-mystery. The ending is clever and unexpected and only a few ghostly questions remain… In short, it was a great read. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you to NetGalley and the author for a free copy of this book. This is my honest review. If you liked reading this book review, please pop over and give a quick 'like' to my Facebook Page. Thank you :) Facebook Author Page A young woman is found dead at the roadside with a gruesome cut-out of a doll shape taken from her skin. Soon, the doll itself appears at the sight where a second victim has been taken.
And so starts a chain of killings and torture. Can Luc and Ava find the perpetrator against all the odds? How many young women will be lost before they catch up with the killers? This is the fourth book in the series starring DC Luc Cavanagh and DCI Ava Turner and their police colleagues. For me, there were two strengths to the story-telling. The first is we get to know the victims. Yes, this is pretty gruesome but it’s also very human. The girls that are taken will tell us their own story. Warning - some of this is dark because we are with them when they are captured and killed. But for me, it was one of the strengths of the book because the victims are real. You’ll see this in the very first chapter which is brilliant yet horrible. The second thing I liked were the strong main characters and supporting cast. Of the supporting characters, Chief Superintendent Daisy Overbeck was my favourite. She’s nasty and authoritarian and she and Ava will almost come to blows. I liked the way this shows DCI Ava’s spirit. As Overbeck says, it also shows Ava’s naivety when it comes to dealing with the higher echelons of the police hierarchy. DI Luc was less of a strong character but he was still likeable. I’ve not read others in this series so I don’t know his backstory. Maybe this made me less sympathetic to him. Still, Luc and Ava have a real feel to them and they each have their own failings and strengths. (The only part of this that started to annoy me a tad was Ava’s plight as a single woman which is heavy emphasised in contrast to Luc’s new relationship with the glamorous Sabrina.) There's a thread left dangling at the end, which I suppose will lead to a follow-up book. It was a shame it wasn't all tied up. that said, it’s still a great story and it merits 5 stars. One of the best (and possibly THE best) police procedural I’ve read this year. My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book. This is my honest review. To keep up to date with my book reviews follow my Facebook Author Page Facebook Author Page or follow me on Goodreads Goodreads I took a tour of the Faculty of Medicine in Montpellier. Here's a shot taken outside and one from inside.
The Faculty of Medicine is currently a renowned place to study. It's one of the oldest medical teaching establishments in Europe and dates from medieval times. Apparently, in Montpellier (inside a hotel!) is one of the earliest, stone 'medical theatres' where they used to carry out dissections in front of an audience in order to understand anatomy. I don't know if it's open to the public, but I'm going to find out. If I can, I'd like to visit it one day. I'm a Karin Slaughter fan, my favourite being the Will Trent series. So I should start by saying this stand-alone is something very different.
We follow Andrea and her mother, Laura. Their separate stories are told in the present (Andrea) and in the past (Laura). The beginning of the book is brilliant. There's a terrible incident in a diner and Laura shows a side of herself that seems impossible to believe when she stands up to a violent young man. We then delve into the mystery of Laura when, straight after the diner incident, she turns against her own daughter and tells her to leave home. Laura may face criminal charges for the incident in the diner, but Andrea has no explanation for her mother's bewildering behaviour. Andrea is a young woman who is lost in life. She drives across America in search of answers about Laura. The reader is told the backstory of Laura's life. I can't say much without spoilers. What I will say is that Laura's story was believable but it did not stir sympathy in me. In her long and intricate past, she was at times lost and weak, at times manipulated and a victim, and she came from an extremely wealthy background. Andrea is thirty-one. She lived at home because her job in New York hadn't worked out as she wanted. Her drive in search of answers makes her grow up. It makes her face problems. However, she also puts people in danger and nice people are killed because of her blundering. I found this difficult to forgive. In summary, I have to say that I didn't really like Andrea or Laura. Laura has done things that I found believable, and yet they didn't sit comfortably in the story. Maybe because I wasn't expecting terrorism and such like to be included in the book? Or maybe because the plot seems an impossible mix between crime thriller and psychological thriller? Or because the parts about Laura became a bit tedious and drawn out and the tension wasn't really there? I'm not sure. I think Karin Slaughter is especially good at characters. Anyway, by the end of it all, I have to say my favourite characters were minor ones - Clara and Edwin, and Laura's current estranged husband who is always kept out of the picture but is deeply moral and tries to do the right thing. Gore and blood is what thrillers are about and this one has it's fair share of brains being splattered. However, there are also huge doses of cruelty and that I found more difficult. Especially when the main characters showed such a lack of morality. But I can't rate the story low because there was something about it that was very good. After all, I'm a Karin Slaughter fan and her writing in this book was as great as it usually is. The idea was ambitious. Did she pull it off? Almost. So it's a four stars from me. And with a bit more tension in Laura's backstory and a bit less whining from Andrea and a bit more insight from her, and it might have been a five. Don't miss out on my book reviews follow my Facebook Author Page Facebook Author Page or follow me on Goodreads Goodreads |
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