Tag Archive | Harper Collins

Dead Mercy by Noelle Holten

Oct26

A Thrilling Read

Dead Mercy by Noelle Holten is a marvellous contemporary crime suspense. It is the fifth book in the DC Maggie Jamieson series but can be read as a stand-alone.

Wow! – this was a nail-biting, thrilling read that I just could not put down.

The action is told from the point of view of both the perpetrator and the police. The reader ‘hears’ the voice of the criminal so we know why the crimes are being committed. We now have to work out the ‘who’.

The whole novel was well planned and executed. It would make a fabulous Netflix series. The reader becomes completely embroiled in the plot. We witness the police trying to piece the crimes together as they look for motive. We also ‘see’ the perpetrator planning and executing crimes on a countdown. As the clock is ticking, our heart rates are rising.

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The Orphan Thief by Glynis Peters

Oct15

Rising From The Ashes

The Orphan Thief by Glynis Peters is a heart-wrenching historical tale that totally consumed me.

The novel is set in Coventry during the night of 14th November 1940 and onwards. The reader, along with the characters, watches helplessly on as the medieval city of Coventry is destroyed by German bombers. The smoldering wreck of the cathedral says it all.

Rising from the ashes are the remaining residents of Coventry. Though shocked, the bulldog spirit is alive. Survivors band together making new family units as they learn to live again.

The dead are not forgotten but remembered in hearts all over the city.

There is a wonderful community of love and care for the lost and the vulnerable. Most have good hearts but there are a few who take advantage and prey on the young.

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The Woman In The Woods by Lisa Hall

Oct14

Absolutely Gripping

The Woman In The Woods by Lisa Hall is a spine-chilling contemporary psychological suspense that completely consumed me.

The novel is set in the real-life location of the village of Pluckley in Kent, supposedly the most haunted village in England – but the story is entirely a work of fiction.

The plotline is well thought out and executed, drawing me in from the start and producing more than a few goose bumps!

All the characters are well drawn. We see the action in the first person from the point of view of the leading lady. As a result, our emotional response and reactions line up with hers. It is all very cleverly done to manipulate our responses.

There is the question of what is real and what is imagined. Suspicion lies in the most unlikely of places. I must confess I, wrongly, pointed the finger at some!

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We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride And Jo Piazza

Oct11

So Powerful

We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza is a powerful and heartbreaking contemporary story. If you only read one book this year – make sure it is We Are Not Like Them.

This is a book about friendship. This is a book about lives. This is a book about racial injustice. It is racial injustice that African Americans face every day of their lives. It is heartbreaking and it needs to change.

The book is about a friendship between two girls who grew up together – one black and one white. They were inseparable. “Sometimes you just need to be around someone who loved you before you were a fully formed person.” Their friendship is strong – until the day it is tested to the limits.

Being a young black man in America is dangerous. The novel explores the horrors that are faced daily.

The opening of the novel is shocking and heartbreaking. It sets the tone for what is to come.

It is awful to see people still being judged by the colour of their skin. “My good grades don’t matter… how faithful I was, how kind, none of it could ever erase the fact that people were going to hate me.” This is wrong. This has always been wrong. When will we learn to love people for who they are?

The authors reinforce the message that racial prejudice has never gone away as we hear of a terrible lynching fifty years earlier. “They just keep killing us” is a heartbreaking cry of a grandmother.

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