Tag Archives: recommended

The Scandal by Mari Hannah | New Books

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The Scandal (Stone and Oliver Book 3)

When an young man is found stabbed to death in a side street in Newcastle city centre in the run up to Christmas, it looks like a botched robbery to DCI David Stone. But when DS Frankie Oliver arrives at the crime scene, she gets more than she bargained for.

She IDs the victim as Herald court reporter, thirty-two-year old Chris Adams she’s known since they were kids. With no eyewitnesses, the MIT are stumped. They discover that when Adams went out, never to return, he was working on a scoop that would make his name. But what was the story he was investigating? And who was trying to cover it up?

As detectives battle to solve the case, they uncover a link to a missing woman that turns the investigation on its head. The exposé has put more than Adams’ life in danger. And it’s not over yet.

Available here.

In the World’s Shadows By Christopher Hamilton | Recommended Books

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In the world's shadowsSYNOPSIS

In the World’s Shadows is a testimony to the redemptive power of love, creating hope in the bleakest of times.   It follows Christopher’s life, from a young child in colonial India, who moves with his glamorous mother to South Africa during World War II.  After she gets involved with a domineering, heavy drinking businessman, Christopher is packed off to England, to boarding school and a father he can’t even remember, a father whose lack of warmth stems from his own suffering in fighting against the Japanese in Burma and taking the surrender of the Japs at Kuala Lumpar in 1945.

While telling the story of a family, the book sets their individual tragedies (and comedies) in the context of momentous events of the 20th century. It is told through people who lived with the tribulations wrought by the abhorrent evils of World War II and of Apartheid. It is largely a story of South Africa, recognising Mandela’s tortuous path to freedom for his beliefs. It shows the suffering of the black peoples, but also the dedication of some whites, such as Christopher’s Aunt Babs, in working to support them in their quest for survival and freedom.

In England, Christopher hungers for his beloved South Africa, his family, the farm he knew.

Eventually he does return, bereft after the loss of his beloved wife, Anne, taken by a crippling illness. He must now attempt to find a new path through life, alone.  His desperate grief leads him to take many wrong turns, but family and friends – not least Aunt Babs, now a nun, offer Christopher a glimpse of a less troubled, more bearable, future. Finding inner strength, he is able to offer support to Sarah, a woman trapped in her own unhappy world, and they build a new life together – not a “happy ever after” ending but a loving relationship that makes life worth living.

The book is an unflinching record of human cruelty and frailty, but also of resilience, love and the ultimate victory of hope over despair.

Reviews:

The novel is an easy read, with writing that creates vivid pictures of various places and people depicted. It movingly describes quite a lot of suffering, directly through the experience of Christopher as he grows up, and indirectly through the background of war, apartheid and debilitating illness. However, it is not a depressing read, but is a book of hope and faith and humour.

Pauline Ashall’s review on Goodreads

When I read the Synopsis of “In the World’s Shadows” by Christopher Hamilton I immediately wanted to buy a copy. I was not disappointed. The novel is well written with an easy style. It is a very moving story and whilst if depicts the suffering and grief of a young boy growing up in different continents, it is a story full of hope, love and comedy with a “Happy Ever After” ending.                                                                                                       It was an amazing book which I couldn’t put down. When my grandfather read the book for a second time he said it was even better than the first.

Tori Burman’s review on Amazon

The Synopsis and Preface are a great beginning to a story that gripped me more as I kept turning the pages. I found tit compulsive and comfortable reading. Very soon I had a good knowledge of the real characters from saint to sinner, sending out a message of cruelty, despair, love and hope. The novel depicts the suffering and grief. It is also a story full of hope, passion, love and comedy, with a “Happy Ever After” ending. The author paints a picture as vivid as any film. My family and friends will be buying the book at the Launch Party on July 19th in Bath.

George Morgan’s review on Austin Macauley (publisher)

 

“In the World’s Shadows” author Christopher Hamilton (nom de plume for Chris Doveton-Gerty) is published by Austin Macauley and is out now.

The book will be available in Hardback (ISBN 9781787108226) Paperback (ISBN 9781787108219) E-Book (ISBN 9781787108233)

 

Crime Roundup – Books we Mean, we Haven’t Become Vigilantes

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It’s summer and Frost has had a great time reading some recent crime novels.

Angela Marsons, who lives with her partner, Labrador and swearing parrot has written a corker:

Silent Scream, a D.I. Kim Stone novel.

Crime Roundup – Books we Mean, we Haven’t Become VigilantesSILENTSCREAM

D.I. Kim Stone does not excel at people skills, it must be said, but her sidekick Bryant invariably saves the day at that level. However it is Kim who takes her team to the edge of what is allowed, and strays over in order to get to the truth of things. In doing so her past is revealed and explains her own demons. Though this novel has sold a million internationally as an ebook, this is Silent Scream’s first outing in print. Well worth reading, with a good twist at the end. I almost got ‘who dun it’ but not quite. Clever.

Brenda Novak has set Her Darkest Nightmare in Alaska, a place I’d love to visit, so on that level I enjoyed the novel.

Her Darkest Nightmare.

But I was also gripped by Novak’s writing and taut plotting. Not sure I could work with psychopaths as Dr Evelyn Talbot does, but she has learnt to live with fear, after being targeted and tortured by her boyfriend as a teenager.  Not one to read at bedtime perhaps unless you’ve locked all the doors and windows, and looked under the beds, all of them. But I am a bit of a wimp. It’s one that stays with you. This is the first in a new series from this New York Times bestselling author.

Christopher Farnsworth’s Kill File’s opening sentence made me laugh. I quote:

I know what you’re thinking. Most of the time, it’s not impressive. Trust me. 

Kill File

 Oh, I do, I do, if I go by what I  read a great deal on social media. Thoughts put down unfiltered…

This contemporary thriller has its foot down all the way, and believe me, it’s driven by an expert:  great writing, interesting and refreshingly original concept. John Smith, the main character, has a special gift/curse, he can access other people’s thoughts. It is something John Smith has put it to good use in the past, only to find that his latest investigation lands him in deep water. I really liked this, bit like being on a roller coaster. Well worth taking on holiday.

Anna Smith’s Kill me Twice is a well trodden path, that of secrets threatening to destroy lives from the sink estates of Glasgow to the corridors of Westminster in another case for Rosie Gilmour.

KILLMETWICE Those who are already fans won’t be disappointed and it should gather in new ones as Rosie ducks and weaves to expose the truth of a presumed suicide – which wasn’t, and there’s sexual abuse too, linking powerful figures across the nation.

The Last Thing I remember by Deborah Bee is intriguing. Frost has already reviewed this, but I thought I’d have another look, and it stays crisp, the tension sharp, and all this right up to the last page.

The last thing I remember.

This is a debut thriller from the Creative Director at Harrods with TV rights already optioned by Alan Moloney’s Parallel Films. I  concerns a mugging victim who can’t move, or speak.

I have a friend who has been in just such a state: struck down by a virus she has been aware, but trapped inside her body. Fortunately my friend is recovering, but this is the clever plotting behind The Last Thing I remember.

Sarah has been mugged, and can hear, but not move, or speak. She has to piece together her life by listening to the people around her. Kelly is in the waiting room. She’s just a kid, a schoolgirl, but why is she there? Questions, questions, but slowly the picture is put together.

I really liked this concept. It isn’t an easy one to manage, but Bee’s done it, easy peasy.

Silent Scream by Angela Marsons pub by Zaffre

Her Darkest Nightmare by Brenda Novak  pub by Headline

Kill File by Christopher Farnsworth pub by Zaffre

Kill me Twice by Anna Smith  pub by Quercus

The Last thing I Remember by Deborah Bee pub by twenty7