Manos: Talons of Fate book

A shocking new chiller from the Winner of the 2016 Scribe Award!



What starts as a much-needed vacation for Mike, Margaret, daughter Debbie, and their dog, Pepe, escalates into a nightmare of fear and madness. Trapped by the wicked Master, his demonic brides, and the half-human Torgo, the family must endure the horrors of the night-dark desert to escape the vile coven. Once the terror starts, it never lets up in this new, deadly serious novel based on the classic cult film.

Manos: Talons of Fate book by s tephen d.sullivan

“In this version of Manos, the characters are revealed to be complex, believable people with reasons (no matter how misguided) for their fateful choices. The dark and twisted methods of the Manos cult are described in gruesome detail. This is a novel that lovers of horror will truly enjoy.” —Jackey Neyman Jones (Debbie from Manos) from her Foreword.

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White is the Coldest Colour by John Nicholl

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This is quite a book. It focusses on a very unpleasant and highly distressing subject…or rather, crime…and I confess I was a little apprehensive about how the story was going to unfold and if I really wanted to know, even. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book in which I’ve loathed one of the main characters right from the get-go—as in, the very first page. I should add that this is the author’s intention; he (the character, that is!) is quite simply a loathsome, evil person. Strangely, this makes the story very compelling.

What we have here is a novel with paedophilia as its core. Please don’t rush off with a ‘Sorry, not a subject I want to read about’. This is a story in the very capable hands of an experienced police officer and child-protection social worker who has seen things he very probably wishes he hadn’t. In his own words, it’s ‘dedicated to survivors everywhere’.

White is the Coldest Colour by John Nicholl

Dr David Galbraith is a child psychiatrist, upheld as an expert and talented man in his field. But the exterior hides a sadistic, murderous predator, a vile and controlling human being. Seven-year-old Anthony isn’t handling his parents’ break-up too well, so he is referred to the best: Galbraith. A dangerous, potentially tragic move.

I really couldn’t tear myself away from this book. You’re committed to finding out how disgusting and heinous this man wants to be. All the characters were brilliantly conceived: from the villains to the victims. Galbraith’s wife is one who makes quite an impression.

The topic is harsh and hard-hitting, but the story was very well executed. It was powerful, and I can highly recommend it…but beware of the lack of editing. Apart from the ‘usual suspects’, there was a rather annoying overuse of the ellipsis (I did a search and discovered it was used 558 times. Good grief!). And then there was the characters’ irritating habit of calling each other by name in most of their dialogues. So if you simply can’t overlook under-editing, perhaps it might be worth waiting (and hoping) that a more polished version is eventually uploaded.

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Hot Pursuit by Susanne O'Leary

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The Green Room by Faith Mortimer

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The psychological thriller genre is probably my favourite. That, combined with one of my favourite authors and I’m in reading heaven. This was undoubtedly another winner in Faith’s ‘Dark Minds’ novels. 

In this third book of the series, a serial killer is sweeping Surrey, raping and strangling his victims. Ella, a competent nurse, has a policeman boyfriend, who, with inside knowledge of the case, instructs her to stay safe at all times. She believes she is perfectly safe; she lives in an apartment in a block owned and lived in by her parents and the tenant of one in particular is rather mysterious, but…very appealing...and as eager as her boyfriend to ensure her safety. The killer, however, cunningly manages to continue to evade the police, and with the information Ella’s boyfriend leaks to her confidentially, the finger seems to be pointing to one person. But she doesn’t find out until too late how far off the mark she is.

Had I been reading an actual book, I would have created a gale from the speed I was turning the pages. Every time, I thought I’d figured out who the killer was, I bumped into another red herring, resulting in another metaphoric breeze-making page-turning session. Not to mention when I finally—correctly, at last—realised who it was: it was a positive hurricane.

What I also liked about this novel was Faith’s commitment to the murder plot. Ella’s romantic…let’s call it ‘predicament’…takes a back seat to ensure this very definitely isn’t a romantic suspense story. The ending I thought…without giving too much away…was rather sophisticated. Who knows, we could well be seeing Ella again.

Another golden string to this author’s bow.

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The Last Deception by DV Berkom

I’ve read a number of good books since my last encounter with ex assassin Leine Basso, and with each (most of them by new-to-me authors), I had to hope they’d all be worth my time investment. I never have to 'hope' with a Basso adventure. You all know the sort of book: one that comes with an unwritten guarantee of excellence.

Berkom alternates books between two strong and bolshy female protagonists: Kate Jones and Leine Basso, whose turn it is in this, the sixth of her adventures. No less strong, no less bolshy, no less kick-arse, no less no-nonsense. Determined, sassy, independent and cunning. This time, she’s wading through the dark and murky waters of espionage and deception that casts a very heavy shadow over the relationship between two super-powers.

What do I say that I haven’t said before? I could dive into Mr Roget’s best seller to try and find some alternative words for 'captivating, page-turner, thrilling', but I’ll keep it simple: it’s another bloody good book by a bloody good author.

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The Last Book by Michael Collins

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Just as well this book was decent enough for me to overlook the under-editing; it's never good if one of the main characters has a momentary name-change...(to mention just one example).

Two books of a trilogy by a best-selling author have unwittingly caused public unrest of the worst kind. Mark Payne, the ruthless, greedy, power-mad head of a giant corporation, sees a way to increase profits (and his own wealth) with the third book. Not a good time for Payne for the author to get writer’s block. But that book must be written at all costs. He enlists the help of one of his rising stars, Ethan Cross, to find a ghostwriter to ensure the book is completed. It then becomes a race between Payne and the team put together to stop him. Payne is clever, determined, wealthy…the team has to work hard to get a step ahead.

The book is a bit busy at the start…every chapter features a new character with no obvious links to each other, punctuated with chapters for ‘The Boy’. It does all come together eventually…so perseverance is required…as well as the identity of The Boy (if you haven’t already guessed it), and everything falls into place quite neatly. However, there are a few loose ends at the end …they’re not game-changing loose ends, but I did fleetingly find myself wondering, 'oh, what happened to/what happened about...'

For all that, it’s a story that’s intriguing, keeps up a good pace and holds your interest to the end.

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The Woman in the Wood by Lesley Pearse

I really can’t understand the 4/5 stars reviews for this book. For starters, this author must have bunked the lecture on show and tell, because there was no showing at all. This made for a one-dimensional plot and flat cardboard characters. There was a good deal of head-hopping and some glaring grammatical errors. The writing came over as a tad immature and had the subject matter not been quite so disturbing, it could easily have been written for a pre-adult audience.

The story is set in the early 1960s, but you’d never have guessed. The attitudes and dialogue were more Victorian than mid-twentieth century.

Fifteen-year-old twins, Duncan and Maisy, are sent to their cold and unfeeling grandmother after their equally cold and unfeeling father commits their unwell mother to an asylum. With no help from Grandmother, they have to settle into their new surroundings and find new friends. One of these is Grace Deville, a woman who lives alone in the woods and about whom some unkind things are said.

One day, Duncan goes missing…the prospect of his return is diminished when boys of his age are found dead in the area. With the police not being exactly proactive, it falls on Maisy to stay strong and believe her brother will be found. 

I was extremely irritated by Pearse’s constant reference to Duncan and Maisy as ‘the twins’. ‘The twins’ are not an entity, they are two people…they are Duncan and Maisy. Pearse wouldn’t have referred to two different aged siblings as ‘brother and sister’ all the time. Twins aren’t a unit (I have twins and twin grandchildren), they are two separate people and like to be known as such. Pearse obviously has no experience of twins or she wouldn’t have made this dreadfully annoying faux pas. 

The plot concept is sound enough, but Pearse doesn’t handle it very well and it all became a bit silly. 

My first read by this author and I’m afraid to say, my last.

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Two Nights by Kathy Reichs

Sunday Night. No, not the day before Monday, the name of the main character in this book. Yes, really. Too cheesy for me, but I tried to overlook this. However, Sunday…or Sunnie (who is anything but) is totally unengaging. She’s a war veteran and ex-cop with some serious issues. A traumatic past has moulded her somewhat, but it never actually becomes clear exactly what that was…the flashbacks are woolly and unclear. Present-day Sunday is a rather dour, personality-less, fun-less, passionless loner and is now a PI, partnered with her twin brother, Gus. (Two Nights...hmm.)  Although the ‘twin’ part of it seemed to raise a few eyebrows. Gus is quite a bit more likeable, thank goodness...I would have liked to see more of him.

So, Sunday is enlisted to find out who was responsible for a bombing that resulted in the death of two members of a family and the disappearance of another…Stella, the sister of one of the deceased. It’s certainly a case that needles Sunnie, making her determined to find all the answers.

The story moves at a reasonable pace, and if I’m honest, it held me enough to want to get to the end. However, I wanted to like Sunday, but she was just too colourless. The author adopts a clipped style…which I don’t like. I prefer verbs to have a subject…that style of writing just smacks of laziness. My copy was a pre-release copy, so I do hope the many, very irritating, editorial oversights were picked up. Hopefully, the editors spotted that the past tense of ‘must’ is very definitely not ‘must’.

I’m reluctant to recommend this if this author is new to you. If you’ve read previous books by her, you may be familiar enough with her to enjoy this.

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Splinter by Michael Bussa

A pleasant hour’s reading. This is a short story…but packed with punch. In this mini psychological thriller, Adam has been wheelchair-bound for twenty-one years after a tragic incident and lives with Ada, his sister. His psychiatrist wants to help this young man who has remained troubled, seemingly traumatised by the event. Believing that finding out what actually happened will help this young man, he makes every effort to uncover the truth. But it’s not plain sailing.

Writing a short story requires technique. There isn’t much time to captivate the reader and every sentence has to count. There still has to be a start, a middle, an end, the plot has to have some meat on it, and the reader has to care about the characters. With the requirement of economy of words, they have to be carefully chosen.

Bussa has achieved all of the above in little under eight thousand words and managed even to throw in suspense. There are a couple of twists. I’ll be honest…I did actually guess them early on, but I must stress this wasn’t because they were obvious...more like an intelligent guess!

If you like short stories and psychological thrillers, you need look no further.

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The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

Although all the plot threads were satisfactorily tied up by the end, for me, the book threw up a number of unanswered questions.

Lane returns to the wealthy Roanoke family home after her mother, Camilla, dies. It's where she spends a summer and where she discovers that beneath the have-it-all façade there lies a seriously dysfunctional family…one she has no desire to be part of. But when her closest ally, her cousin Allegra, goes missing eleven years later, Lane is forced to return.

The book is disturbing and aims to shock…the topic (sexual abuse and incest) is extremely unpleasant…but I became more irritated than shocked by the fact that not one of abusees…and let’s face it, charismatic Grandad ‘has’ just about every female member of the family whatever their ages or generation…reports it or tells anyone else…because Grandad loves them all, they’re all so special. That just didn’t wash with me.

However, despite the chilling and uneasy subject, it is without doubt compelling, riveting and extremely well written. I’ve never read any books by Engel, but her writing is powerful and emotional, and I really enjoyed her style.

Dark, unsettling, a little haunting, sad, twisted, but despite my few niggles, an intense page turner.

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I Know Where She Is by S B Caves

The fact that the book I read before this one was centred around the same crime—paedophilia/sexual abuse/torture—(not intentional, incidentally…I had no idea before I started either book!)—may suggest that it’s a slightly overdone story line...perhaps.

However, that said, for a debut novel, this is quite an explosive burst onto the literary scene for this author. 

Ten years after Francine’s daughter's (Autumn) abduction, she receives a note saying quite simply: I know where she is. The note’s author, Lena, makes herself known to Francine shortly after and tells her she does indeed know where Autumn is. Clinging on to that last vestige of hope that her daughter is still alive, Francine, armed with vague snippets of information from Lena, does things she’d probably only ever seen in movies to try and find her daughter. But a mother will do anything, anything for her child.

It's all a bit ‘convenient’, there are no real intricacies in the plot, there are some plausibility issues, and the story lacks a bit of padding. It isn’t a long book, but I think its conciseness is at the expense of some finer details. The ending is a little hurried and abrupt. But, but, but...for all that, this was a very well-written, gripping—albeit dark, unsettling, disturbing—and compelling story and certainly had me glued to the pages from start to finish. 

An excellent start for this author, and I’ll certainly be looking out for his future novels.

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Read The Best of Our Spies by Alex Gerlis

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This is a gripping, WW2, espionage thriller that really captivates. It’s one that starts at a pretty brisk pace and doesn’t once slow down. It gathers momentum and climaxes at breakneck speed. 

It’s an intricate tale of intrigue, bluff and double bluff. It’s a tale of love, deception, courage, tragedy, horror and loss. 

Nathalie Mercier, a young nurse, is sent to France by British Intelligence to work with the French Resistance shortly before D-Day. She leaves behind a new husband, Owen, also working closely with the Royal Navy Intelligence, who wonders if they will ever see each other again. But the seemingly naïve, industrious and dedicated Owen has been underestimated by his superiors, and he discovers a web of deceit and lies from people he trusted and loved. He has to find his wife, at all costs. 

Gerlis is master storyteller. The characters are well defined and totally credible, and you care deeply about those you are intended to. The facts of the Second World War period have been meticulously researched, and the horrors of that dreadful time woven into the story with skill, to produce an atmospheric and riveting novel.

Whilst I would dearly love to accredit a five-star rating to this book, Gerlis' editing is as unremarkable as his skill as a storyteller is irrefutable. There are countless errors (words missing, spelling, punctuation and some bad grammatical errors), but it’s a testament to the quality of the story and writing (for the most part) that I can still attribute a healthy four stars. The book appears to be well accepted, so I fear future professional editing may well be bypassed. I’ll just hope.

This was an unexpected reading pleasure. Historical novels, though not excluded from my reading, are less favoured, but this certainly grabbed my attention, and I had no option but to neglect my daily chores and use matchsticks to prop my eyes open in the small hours of the morning. The end had to be reached as quickly as possible! Highly recommended.

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Complicit by Gillian E. Hamer Epub

This was a compelling story that kept my nose firmly between the pages…I did actually guess ‘whodunnit’ before the revelation, but it didn’t mar my enjoyment at all, although I felt ten chapters dedicated to a war some two millennia earlier were rather boring and unnecessary. The relevance of the war to the plot could have been woven into the story in other ways.

Descendants of the Druids involved in that war hold secrets that one person wants to know…badly. So badly, in fact, that serial killings become the urgent focus of three detectives. A killer is at large who will stop at nothing to unearth these very closely guarded secrets.

It was a surprise to me to discover that this book is actually the third in a series, so I was particularly impressed how well it stood alone. The characters and plot are well developed (perhaps just a tad muddled towards the end). I also had to suspend disbelief…Druids might have had ‘seers’ in their midst in 60 AD…but in the twenty-first century? I don’t think so.

For all that, it was a gripping book and deserves a five-star rating, but sadly, the editing wasn’t up to scratch. Grammatical errors, some odd phrases verging on Malapropisms and a bunch of punctuation faux pas (too much reliance on software editing) means I have to knock a star off.

Notwithstanding, I like this author and will certainly hunt out more of her books.

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The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond

A psychological suspense thriller this certainly is. The plot is ridiculously implausible, but okay, it’s fiction, slack must be cut, but I found myself wrestling with its increasing implausibility as it went on.

Jake and Alice are very much in love, and when they marry they're given the most unusual wedding present: membership to a club which ensures their marriage will be long and strong. Seems like a bit of fun, so why not? And they sign on the dotted line. Little do they know, however, that they're signing themselves into a living nightmare.

The club….’The Pact’…is based on a manual of encyclopaedic proportions listing the dos and donts of marriage. That right there started my cynical clock ticking…some ridiculous rules and regulations. Failure to adhere result in barbaric…and disturbing…punishment. So why don’t Jake and Alice leave, you may ask? One doesn’t. One does not leave The Pact.

It was very well written…in a style that ensured gripping suspense. There were definitely a few matchstick moments late at night as I eagerly turned the pages, and despite having to suspend disbelief, this isn't far off being a first-rate thriller, but the ending was a let-down. I was niggled by the present-tense narrative of the story; it just didn’t work, and that was endorsed by the inconclusive ending.

Can I recommend it? Despite my misgivings, yes, I think I can. It’s taut, it’s tense and I have to say it’s addictive. Try it and tell me what you think!

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Bad Spirits by DV Berkom

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I don’t think Berkom’s books are good for me. They’re way too heart-pounding and action-packed: there’s no sitting back and relaxing while you read her books. It’s edge-of-your-seat, heart-in-your-mouth writing.

Spunky, no-nonsense, alpha-female protagonists are definitely Berkom’s speciality. And Kate Jones certainly fits the description to a T. She’s on the run from not one, but two, ruthless and unscrupulous drug barons. She’s got their money; they want her…preferably dead. Every corner she turns, hoping she’s one step further away from them and one step nearer safety, provides another nail-biting situation from which she has to extricate herself.

Captivating and attention-grabbing from the start, this short story is a mouth-watering appetiser to the following books in this thriller series, which I’ll most certainly be reading. Once I’ve caught my breath, of course.

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Kiss of Night by K. S. Brooks

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Kathrin Night is a special agent. Or rather…she was. She is reluctantly…and a little resentfully…forced to relinquish her special-agent duties by an injury. But a gutsy, no-nonsense, rather complex character isn’t the type of person to settle easily into a more relaxed lifestyle. With no choice in the matter, she is landed with a Russian bodyguard. A rather handsome, hunky, chunky, hockey-playing one, at that. How is he going to help her adapt to her new life?

I devoured this book rather quickly. It’s short, yes, but it’s so, so easy to get sucked into Kathrin’s life. It was my first encounter with her, and I like her a lot. The book is a sort of prequel and scene-setter for Night Undone, which follows. We learn how she acquired her injury, how she became a special agent, why she had to give it up and all neatly done in just over a hundred and twenty pages. Brooks writes very engagingly with wit and humour, and it was with no difficulty at all that I rushed eagerly over to Night Undone. I wasn’t going to let her go easily.

An excellent and compelling read.

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Shadows of Morrow by A. C. Haury

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Shadows of Morrow by A. C. Haury

This is one of those books that kept making me say out loud, ‘What a shame’. It ticked so many boxes: good plot, check; compelling, check; fast-paced, check; gripping, check. But for every checked box, there was one to uncheck.

It’s an intriguing story: Catherine Morrow is found dead, in suspicious circumstances, hours after giving birth to her fifth child, Tristan. But this fact is kept from Tristan, who believes her mother left her family. When she discovers the truth, some fifteen years later, she argues with her father. Hours later, she too, goes missing. And so, family secrets are uncovered and revealed, and the family learns of the dangerous obsessions of one disturbed former school friend, one who has never let Catherine or her family out of his grasp.

This is a plot with plenty of meat and bones on it. And it does work. I really found myself not being able to put the book down.

But…sadly, it was seriously let down by lack of, or no, editing. I’m almost convinced this book started life in the present tense, but the author then changed her mind and decided to change to past tense. Unfortunately, the conversion wasn’t thorough enough and there’s a strange and incorrect mix mid-sentence. There’s no end of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, one or two minor consistencies, and the formatting is erratic with font-size inconsistencies. Nor am I so sure that one small odd chapter in first person pov of a dead person works. This just clouds the virtues of this book, which really saddens me. It could so easily find itself in the five-star-review hall. Everything that’s wrong with this book could be effortlessly fixed, and what I’d like to see in the author’s acknowledgements, alongside her grateful thanks to her family and friends, is a nod of appreciation in the direction of a good editor.

I can’t deny I enjoyed this book. I really did, and I so regret not being able to award it five stars. Would I recommend it? Yes, but wait until the author has fed it through a vigorous editing process.

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Branded For Murder by Dick C. Waters

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Branded For Murder by Dick C. Waters

I so, so wanted to love this book. It promised to satisfy my favourite genre requirements as a crime/thriller/suspense/mystery-type book.

 Set in the sixties, while Scott Tucker is studying at Harvard, his cousin, Jackie, falls victim to a serial killer known as The New England Strangler. Scott manages to get himself on the police team investigating the murders…his way of finding justice for his much-loved cousin. Between studies and crime-busting, he manages to fall in lust with Lisa Anderson, and both come to the conclusion that their future together is pretty much set in stone: they’re made for each other, it seems. A certain strangler, however, has other plans…

In essence, a great plot, intensified by red herrings and revenge. In essence, a good cast of characters—the roll-out is well balanced and most of the personae credible. 

Branded For Murder by Dick C. Waters

But sadly, that’s where the pros end: at the ‘essence’. There were a number of very annoying features: the characters’ incessant habit of referring to each other by name in dialogue exchanges (sometimes three times in a paragraph) was infuriating and unnecessary; the tenses were in a complete mess (was this meant to be in the present or in the past?); apart from the mention of Kennedy’s assassination, there were very few references to the sixties’ era; the dialogue was wooden, stilted and unnatural; I found it hard to believe an undergraduate could so easily be admitted onto a high-profile investigative team, totally unvetted (and manage to make them look utterly stupid); and…editing? Was there any? At least five instances of incorrect its/it’s and inconsistent spellings suggest not.

I really, really struggled to finish this book. Although the latter twenty-five percent suddenly picked up a pace, I almost gave up at ninety-five percent (unheard of for me). I realised I didn’t care one iota for the characters. That said, with Scott Tucker books two, three and four sitting on my Kindle, I might just have to find out what happens to Scott and Lisa, whether he graduates, and where his future in law enforcement lies.

Difficult to recommend this, unfortunately.

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Ebook Inside Job by John Morris

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Inside Job by John Morris

A promising story: Martin, a young, successful, city man, kicks off his weekend on a Friday night by inviting a young woman, Louise, back to his place after meeting her in a bar. It seems to have all gone horribly wrong when he is greeted by a bloody scene in his kitchen the next morning and a very dead Louise. Panic and fear drive him to pack a suitcase and leave for a destination as far away as possible—South Africa. The flight not only gives him distance from the tragedy, but another female interest in the form of Natasha. Things pan out for a short while for Martin until the law catches up with him. The law and someone else far more fearsome than any detective…

Inside Job by John Morris

Alas, the writing lets down the potential of the plot for a number of reasons: poor grammar, poor punctuation, all telling and no showing, inconsistencies, and flat, bland, undeveloped characters, who lacked any oomph or likeability. Such a shame, because this has thriller quality and plenty of good material for a captivating read. With some developmental editing, along with some good copy-editing and proofreading, this will be a good book. At the moment, it’s just a tad raw and needs a bit of TLC.

I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it because I anticipated a climactic end, and I wasn’t disappointed. Despite what lets it down, it was compelling, and I did turn the last page with a modicum of satisfaction.

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Devil's Brae by Faith Mortimer

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Devil's Brae by Faith Mortimer

Faith is a seasoned mystery writer and has penned the successful Diana Rivers’ mysteries.  Psychological thrillers are most certainly going to become another string to her bow. 

Devil’s Brae is set in the Highlands of Scotland.  A cold, mountain-dominated area of wild beauty.  Its remoteness provides the perfect solution for Cassandra Potter to recover from the sudden death of Sarah, the older sister she had just come to know.  What could be better than throwing herself into renovating the cottage she had inherited from Sarah, perhaps getting a dog, and giving herself time to think with plenty of fresh air and exercise?  But what seems to her like the perfect solution is thrown off kilter:  the reception from her village neighbours isn’t as warm as she would have liked.  An insularity which borders on contempt shatters her hopes for her own recovery.  She suddenly finds herself in a maze of secrets: not just those of her mysterious neighbours, but of Sarah and her own family.  Worse, why does she keep seeing a dark, brooding, sinister figure on the moors?  Why do strange things keep happening to her new home?  Does someone want her out of the house and out of the village?

Taut with suspense, this book, written in Faith’s usual clean and crisp style, will have you page-turning addictively, right to the very end.  The majesty of the unforgiving Scottish 'braes' is the ideal theatre for the tension, and I enjoyed the smidgen of romance—in the form of handsome Angus—that softens the jagged edges of menace in the story.   It’s with some delight I saw that the title included the words 'Dark Minds 1'.  That means No. 2 must be in the offing.  I can’t wait.

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Broken Promises by Joe Perrone Jr.

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I do love crime thrillers…in any form, whether they’re books, movies, or TV shows. I especially like crime thrillers with a recurring main character, e.g. the crime-busting detective/private eye. S/he may be a bad-tempered maverick (à la House), or s/he may be shabbily lovable (à la Colombo): either way, if s/he captivates me, I’ll be sure to read/watch subsequent adventures.

Matt Davies is one such character: he’s dedicated, gets the job done, but he’s compassionate and…well, just an all-round jolly good chap. If ever I was to have to be arrested, I think I’d want it to be by him!

In this novel, Matt has to get to the bottom of the tragic murder of a much-loved and well-respected elderly lady. A slightly confused elderly lady, who finds herself in the wrong place at the very wrong time. It’s a murder that shocks the Roscoe community. It’s senselessness motivates Matt even more to find out who her killer is, but he desperately short of clues and evidence.

Perrone once again pulls off not only combining first and third povs, but present and past tenses. It works brilliantly. The chapters are clearly titled, so you are never in any doubt where you are or who you are ‘with’. Matt’s private life is subtly intertwined with the task at hand (finding out who would murder such a harmless old lady and why) and is what enriches his character: he’s a thoroughly nice bloke.

There’s an interesting little diversion with Roscoe’s community matters: in this instance the opposition to wind farms. As with Twice Bitten by this author, all loose ends are neatly tied up. A thoroughly enjoyable book, and I'm a devoted Matt Davis fan.

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