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The Intruders by Louise Jensen

Wow! Just Wow!

The Intruders by Louise Jensen is a simply marvellous psychological suspense that I just could not put down. This is a book that will make your heart race and the hairs on the back of your neck rise. It is definitely more than a little creepy.

Louise Jensen has constructed an intricate plotline that grabbed me from the start – we know that a family was murdered thirty years ago as the book opens but we do not know why or what was being sought.

The action weaves this way and that as we alternate between present day and thirty years in the past. We hear different voices in both the third and first person. Just as I thought I was piecing it all together – wham! The action veered off piste again! I clung on for dear life – after several twists and turns we sped towards the conclusion and all I can say is … Wow! Just wow! How Louise Jensen comes up with these fabulous stories time and time again is amazing.

I loved the literary device that the author used where the words at the end of one chapter were uttered at the beginning of the next but in a different context. This linked the past and present seamlessly.

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The Christmas Book Club by Sarah Morgan

Deliciously Wonderful

The Christmas Book Club by Sarah Morgan is an absolutely charming, contemporary feel-good novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. Although there is the word ‘Christmas’ in the title, this is a book that can be enjoyed all year round. The action is set in early December but the focus of the book is on friends and family.

We drop in on three lifelong friends who are taking a vacation in a quaint inn in Vermont for a week discussing books. We hear of the background of the three – the workaholic, the broken-hearted and the soon-to-be empty nester. All three are facing challenges but are united by their love and support.

We also meet the innkeeper who is struggling with sudden loss and is a young widow with a five year old daughter. “Grief never leaves you.” Grief paralyses, there is no end as she tries to fulfill her husband’s dreams for the inn. “She was the caretaker of his dreams.” But his dreams and his way are not the only way. The young widow needs to find her way.

Our upbringings shape us. A character has never known her father. This has made her ultra independent and afraid to show her emotions. No one has penetrated her hard outer shell until… an encounter with a delightful five year old.

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The War Orphan by Anna Stuart

Every Drop Of Love

The War Orphan by Anna Stuart is a powerful historical novel that I just couldn’t put down. It is grounded in fact and the third book in the Women Of War series but can be read as a stand-alone.

The action is set from January 1945 in Auschwitz. The war is in its dying embers but still the Nazis were incredibly cruel as they separated mothers from their children for the death marches. The mother/daughter bond was strong. “Wherever you are, I’ll find you.” After the war ended, both searched relentlessly for the other.

There was so much loss. The war tore families apart – some members managing to flee Nazi Germany, others were not so lucky. Until told differently, everyone kept hope alive.

We follow the war orphans from Poland to Windermere and to Surrey. Here, new family units formed as they only had each other. We see that dreams of employment bloomed as there was the chance for new beginnings.

We must never forget where we come from. “It was also vital that they kept hold of a sense of their heritage.” We need to know our roots. We want to pass on our family history and learn to “live for those left behind.”

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Interview With Dean Koontz

The Bad Weather Friend – Latest Novel by Dean Koontz

See the third interview with Dean Koontz by Michael Wilson of This Is Horror. Here, Dean Koontz talks about his latest book, The Bad Weather Friend which is fabulous. I read and reviewed it in February. It is amusing with the author’s asides (think Eric Morecambe or Miranda Hart) to the reader. It is a modern re-telling of Job.

Please have a watch

Dean Koontz Interview: The Bad Weather Friend and Craggles (This Is Horror Podcast 555) (youtube.com)

This Is Horror https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/

JULIA WILSON