Close Your Eyes by Nicci Cloke

Close Your Eyes by Nicci Cloke
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Southfield High School is oh so normal, with its good teachers, its bad, and its cliques. But despite the cliques, there's a particular group of friends who have known each other forever and know that they can rely on each other for anything.

There's the twins: Vis, rebellious, kind, and just a tiny bit worried about what the hell she's going to do once this year is over, and Aisha, smart, quiet and observant. Then there's Remy, the loudmouth, and Gemma, who's more interested in college boys and getting into the crap club in town. And then there's Elise: the pretty one.

But at the start of Year 11, when the group befriend the new boy, Elijah, things start to change. The group find themselves not as close as they used to be.

Until one Tuesday, when the students are trapped inside the school building. And one of them has a gun.

Close Your Eyes is the story of a school shooting which, through interviews, messages and questionable actions, asks: Who is truly responsible?


'Close your eyes' really captured my attention, I have read a novel about a shooting in a school in the US so wanted to see how and if this would be similar. Thankfully in the U.K we don't have an issue with guns and don't have a 'gun culture' so I was interested to see how this would pan out set in the U.K. We have had a couple of shootings I believe in the past but there have been very few.

There are 6 main characters in this novel, which at time could be confusing if you don't read the heading of that chapter. We also jump from the past into the present to learn more about the characters and the situation.

This is a very quick read, although I didn't read it in one sitting, I could have easily of done. It is face paced and engrossing, you have to know what is going to happen. It is a very different book in the style it is written, the story has been told through transcripts, online messages, interviews etc. Initially I found this difficult to follow but I managed to get into it quite quickly.

We learn through journal entries and interviews what is going to unfold and how. Personally I thought the story was a little disjointed in places, the first part of the story felt separate to the second and I enjoyed the second part a lot better as it flowed better.

Overall I am glad I had the opportunity to read this book, it is not the best book I have read and it certainly isn't the worst. It is a quick read and this covers many topics including cyber and normal bullying. If you are interested in any of these topics this would be a book you probably enjoy.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Don’t Trust This Book

Don’t Trust These People

Don’t Trust Yourself

And whatever you do, DON’T give away that ending…

‘Sarah Pinborough is about to become your new obsession’ Harlan Coben

Louise

Since her husband walked out, Louise has made her son her world, supporting them both with her part-time job. But all that changes when she meets…

David

Young, successful and charming – Louise cannot believe a man like him would look at her twice let alone be attracted to her. But that all comes to a grinding halt when she meets his wife…

Adele

Beautiful, elegant and sweet – Louise's new friend seems perfect in every way. As she becomes obsessed by this flawless couple, entangled in the intricate web of their marriage, they each, in turn, reach out to her.

But only when she gets to know them both does she begin to see the cracks… Is David really is the man she thought she knew and is Adele as vulnerable as she appears?
Just what terrible secrets are they both hiding and how far will they go to keep them?

I have read Sarah Pinborough novels before and I have to admit I really like them. She manages to draw the reader in and keep them hooked until the ending and this is another of those books. I began it one Sunday afternoon and hardly put it down until I went to bed that night. I was so engrossed in the story line I had to know what was going to happen next.


David and Adele have moved to the area, they have the 'perfect' marriage, life and home. Louise works in a doctors office/physicist type place and has a son Adam. She split up with her husband Ian a while ago now, but they stay civil for Adam. Louise met David in a bar one night but currently has no idea who he is, that is until he walks through the office doors where she works and turns out to be the new doctor there.

This story is about the 3 of them, Adele, David and Louise and how their lives intertwine, I thought it was written very well and throughout the novel I kept changing my mind on different things, my feelings for the characters also changed throughout the book and I couldn't see which direction the story was going in.

This is a very difficult book to review, mainly because I don't want to spoil it for anyone but also because I want to discuss that ending, personally the second twist I feel was one too far and Pinborough should have stopped at just the first twist, had she have done that, this book would have got 5*. I feel that the second twist was unnecessary and actually didn't bring an awful lot extract to the story for me, it just made me cross and left me with a sour taste in my mouth as I thought it was silly.

Although the second twist in the book did spoil it for me, I feel that this was still a good read, one that does live up to the hype and if you enjoy thrillers you should pick this one up. I would also recommend you read other Pinborough novels as they are written well and keep you hooked from early on. I really did enjoy 98% of the book, if only the last 5 pages didn't exist. Hopefully after you have read this you will understand what I mean.

Overall though an enjoyable read that I would recommend and I will be passing my book on to a friend.

The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle

The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A chillingly unsettling psychological thriller, perfect for fans of Paula Hawkins, Liane Moriarty , Shari Lapena and Clare Macintosh. Are you ready to question if everything in your life is really as it seems…

She thought they had a perfect marriage….
When a plane crashes, Iris Griffiths watches the news unfold with horror…and then relief. Her beloved husband Will had just flown out from the same airport, but he was on a different flight.

So why is his name on the list of victims? 
Surely there’s some mistake – her husband would never lie to her. Would he? But wading deeper into the truth of her husband’s deception, Iris begins to think the unthinkable.

Maybe she’s glad that he’s dead…

I enjoyed this evenly spaced thriller; unusual start that someone takes a flight they are not meant to and the plane crashes killing everyone on board including Iris' husband Will. At first Iris refuses to believe Will is dead, after all he was meant to be flying to Florida not Seattle and she is convinced that the airline must have got it wrong. The main reason she believes it can't be true is that she would have to believe that he lied to her and she can't come to terms with this. She sets about finding out what really happened and comes to realise that the man she married and thought she knew is not the man she thinks he was.

As Kimberley Belle builds momentum she succeeds in keeping the reader in suspense and not knowing who to trust. The character of Iris is believable and she does what you'd expect her to do in trying to piece together this mystery and when she uncovers truths about her husband its possible to feel her frustration and pain. Good solid characters but for me the ending was not the best. Well executed piece of writing, good steady suspense building enabled this book to climb to its climax but as I said the climax left a little to be desired.

It was great for 3/4 of the book then fell a little bit flat, the ending was disappointing however at least it was not 100% predictable which is why I have given this a 4 star rating. Enjoyable novel but just lacked the killer punch to make it truly memorable.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.

Dead Simple by Harry Bingham

Dead Simple by Harry Bingham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A woman reports a crime to the police, with unexpected results
The grieving widow who finds that she's about to lose more than just her husband
When a man attempts the perfect murder, it's not quite as easy as he thinks
Two men in prison play a deadly game of Scrabble
A young woman tries to trick an old man and gets more than she bargained for
Sometimes crimes are solved in ways you can't explain
A murderer about to be hanged finds that's not the worst thing that can happen
You never know who's going to turn up at your door

Original stories from Mark Billingham, Clare Mackintosh, James Oswald, Jane Casey, Angela Marsons, Harry Bingham, Antonia Hodgson and CL Taylor - specially written for Quick Reads.


By now you know that I love short stories as I can finish something during week after a busy day. It really makes me feel like I have accomplished something.

This is a collection of eight short stories from best selling crime authors. This is where I have a confession, I have never actually actually read any of these authors, so I was excited to get started to see if I will discover a new favourite. I do have quite a few novels by these authors though on my shelf to read soon!

These stories range from a couple of pages to 20-30. I didn't enjoy all of the stories, however my favourite three were: The Funeral by Clare Mackintosh, Old Tricks by Jane Casey and The Perfect Murder by Harry Bingham. I really managed to get into these and I would have enjoyed fuller length novels featuring these I think.

Overall this is a good Quick Read, it allows you to try authors work perhaps you haven't before and You can finish a story in around 15 minutes. Some of the stories I felt did need to be longer as it didn't give the reader long enough to get into it, however I think this is a brilliant book to release fo the Quick Reads program this year and recommend you to pick this up. Like me, you may discover some brand new authors.

Lying About Last Summer by Sue Wallman

Lying About Last Summer by Sue Wallman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Skye is looking for an escape from the reality of last summer when her sister died in a tragic accident. Her parents think that a camp for troubled teenagers might help her process her grief. All of the kids at the summer camp have lost someone close, but is bringing them together such a good idea? And can everyone at camp be trusted? When Skye starts receiving text messages from someone pretending to be her dead sister, she knows it's time to confront the past. But what if the danger is right in front of her?

I have seen this book around for a while now and it is one that I have wanted to pick up. I had the perfect opportunity when I was at the airport waiting to go away. I almost finished this on the flight, it is a quick and easy read but unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations.

There are so many thrillers out there at the moment and it is a genre I enjoy a lot. I particularly like YA thrillers and I feel there are quite a few out there right now. Some are better than others and those that are written well are excellent.

Skye has been sent to a bereavement camp for teens, throughout the book we jump back into the past and find out why she is there and what happened. I really love books that return to the past or show 'flashbacks' I think you can get so much through character development. These chapters are really important in the story and help to understand what has happen with Skye. While at the camp we get to know some of the other teens staying there and some are more secretive than others with why they are there.

Skye begins to receive texts from her dead sister, which begins her to question who it could be, the story takes on a mystery 'who dun it' there are a few other twists in the story, however the main one I had guessed. For me this was an O.K debut not one to write home about, however if you are looking for a quick and easy read, give this a go.

Bone by Bone by Sanjida Kay

Bone by Bone by Sanjida Kay
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Laura loves her daughter more than anything in the world.

But nine-year-old Autumn is being bullied. Laura feels helpless.

When Autumn fails to return home from school one day, Laura goes looking for her. She finds a crowd of older children taunting her little girl.

In the heat of the moment, Laura makes a terrible choice. A choice that will have devastating consequences for her and her daughter...

Popular novel subject matter at the moment. Recently divorced Laura moves from London to Bristol with her 9 year old daughter Autumn to start a new life for themselves. They both have to adjust to their new lives, Laura to being a single mother, Autumn as a one parent child and a new place to live with no friends and nothing familiar. It's not surprising that initially everything feels strange and scary especially for a 9 year old girl starting a new school. Unfortunately for Autumn her newness makes her a prime target for a rather nasty bully called Levi an older child who targets her almost from the outset.
As the bullying escalates and when Laura finds she is also being targeted through cyber bullying things start to take on a sinister twist. The author does build momentum well and the pace is pitched just right as the story moves along. I didn't really like Laura much, she was selfish and weak in many ways and I felt she just wasn't as strong as she could have been for her daughter. It seemed incredible to me that she would part with passwords and codes to her computer to a complete stranger knowing that he would have remote access to her computer and all her financial information - it just didn't ring true for me especially in today's world of identity fraud etc. etc. and of course we later learn that the IT specialist is Levi the bully's father it all gets a bit predictable.

I found the writer frustrating at times when she was building tension to lapse into periods of reflection, here she is with a potential intruder in her house at night, her daughter in bed asleep and as she checks on her she has time to reflect on "the feel of her soft skin just after she'd been born, her baby hair, as downy as a fledgling's, the gentle dip of her fontanel where her cranium had not yet fused; how noisy she was like a hedgehog snuffling in its sleep" . She had time for all this reflection while she was scared witless that someone had broken in - really? When her daughter is being held around the throat Laura manages to remember when she was two years old seeing the sea for the first time........ silly unnecessary rhetoric just not needed and detracted from the tension she had worked so hard to build. Just not believable for me but very annoying and pointless to the story line.

I also found the ending and explanation of why Levi's father was doing what he was doing to be rather lame, it seemed that the writer had gone so far with this but hadn't thought it through in terms of motive, the bully was bullied so reacted the way he did was plausible but the reason the bully was bullied was weak and quite frankly just didn't fit.

Disappointing is how I would rate this novel, it promised so much but really didn't deliver in the end. Only worth 2 stars from me, there are better psychological thrillers out there although she did manage to convey the misery and vulnerability of the victim hence the 2 stars.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.

Tony and Susan by Austin Wright

Tony and Susan by Austin Wright
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



The novel that inspired the 2016 major motion picture Nocturnal Animals, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams, is a dazzling, eerie, riveting thriller of fear and regret, blood and revenge.

Many years after their divorce, Susan Morrow receives a strange gift from her ex-husband. A manuscript that tells the story of a terrible crime: an ambush on the highway, a secluded cabin in the woods; a thrilling chiller of death and corruption. How could such a harrowing story be told by the man she once loved? And why, after so long, has he sent her such a disturbing and personal message...?


This is a story within a story; after 15/20 years of no contact with her ex-husband out of the blue Susan receives a copy of his manuscript asking her to read and review it as she was always her ex-husbands best critic. She reads this over a 3 day period while her husband Arnold a doctor is away at a conference. As the story unfolds Susan becomes fascinated by the drama and this is interspersed with her reactions and flashbacks of her life with her ex-husband Edward and comparisons of her present marriage to Arnold.

Edward comes across as a weak and selfish man, he expected his wife to work while he 'found himself' as a writer but we get the impression that he doesn't have much talent and that Susan becomes bored with his self obsessed vanity as a writer while she has to work to keep their heads above water. While he was busy feeding his fantasy of being a great author she was lonely and took solace in the arms of a neighbour who's own marriage was falling apart due to his wife's illness. When she confesses to Edward he seems devoid of all emotion and they eventually divorce and go their separate ways.

Marrying Arnold seems to me something that Susan just did and as the novel progresses we find her questioning just why she did marry him. It seems that Arnold has been having an affair for some time and though she knows about it she appears to accept it. She seems distressed that after all this time Edward has got in touch and wonders why he sent her the manuscript especially since he said something is missing but he's sure she will know what.

Tony (in Edwards' novel) is an academic who cannot or will not come to terms with the death of his wife and daughter and his cowardice on the night of the incident when he was unable to fight for them both. It seems that Edward is telling Susan that he could not or would not fight for her until it was too late. For her part, Susan is beginning to wonder why she chose cheating Arnold and questioning whether she should have stayed with the weak and unemotional Edward.

The novel within a novel moves along at a fairly good pace in the beginning but then looses impetus and for me held few surprises and had a weak ending. The story of Susan, Edward, Arnold triangle though interesting didn't really go anywhere, the ending was a damp squib and I felt that I had invested time to read it and felt a bit cheated when there was no satisfactory conclusion in either 'story'.

The characters were a bit flat, of course we don't get to 'know' the wife and daughter as they are killed off early and I didn't warm to weak Tony, arrogant Arnold or really with indecisive Susan so the only thing really keeping me going was a curiosity as to whether the murderers were caught and what happened to them but again this was really not very satisfactory. It was also a little dated, this was first published in 1993 when mobile phones and such technology was not around and this really does show in modern day readers expectations, I found myself thinking 'why doesn't he just call the police on his mobile'.

It was different and to a point interesting but for me it lacked a killer punch and it was not really the thriller genre it was billed as. It's soon to be made into a motion picture and perhaps it will translate better as a movie, as a novel it just seems to be lacking and I can only give this a 3 star rating. The characters were so hollow that I really didn't care towards the end.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.

Pretty Is by Maggie Mitchell

Pretty Is by Maggie Mitchell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Lois and Carly-May were just twelve when they were abducted by a stranger and imprisoned in a cabin in the woods for two months.

That summer, under the watchful gaze of their kidnapper, they formed a bond that would never be broken.

Decades later, both women have new lives and identities. But the events of that summer are about to come back with a vengeance.

Lois and Carly-May must face the truth about their secret, shared past...

What really happened in the woods that summer?


Thanks to my mum for reading and reviewing this.

This for me is one of those novels that start out promising so much but really not delivering. On the face of it the subject matter was good, two 12 year old girls are kidnapped who apparently go with their abductor Zed quite willingly. The story follows Lois and Carly-May who are now adults as each of them reflect on the past. Lois is a teacher and Carly-May (now calling herself Chloe) is a struggling actress.


The book is split into 3 parts and the story related by Lois and Carly-May alternately in each of the 3 parts. Part 1 was for me the most interesting as it explored the psychological aspects of what happened to the girls as seen through the minds of 12 year old's but I really struggled with their going along with their kidnapper never asking questions and never trying to escape. Stockholm Syndrome would have kicked in at some point but surely initially they would have wanted to run? They are eventually released unharmed a couple of months later and the book is about the effects this experience has had on them in their adult lives.


Lois writes a book about their experiences which is due to be turned into a film, by coincidence one of the film parts has been offered to Carly-May (Chloe) who is sure that Lois must have written it. Eventually the two girls meet up again after decades of being apart.



Although getting off to a reasonably good start the book's paced slowed down so much that it was difficult to keep going. It could have been such a great psychological thriller but it lacked credibility and the ending was a great disappointment. It couldn't really work for me as there were too many unanswered questions that stopped the book giving it cohesion. Why did this stranger seek these two girls out? What was the motivation for the kidnapping? Nothing happened to these girls so why did the kidnapper take them? What was in the kidnappers mind? Without more information about the kidnapper or some kind of insight into motivation it couldn't really work.


It could have been a great novel instead of which it was really rather limp and I'm sorry to say that I felt flat, disappointed and a bit conned into going the distance with this one. It lacked credibility due to it's lack of depth and insight which stopped it from being a really amazing thriller - such a shame but I can only give this 2 stars.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.

A Tap on the Window - Linwood Barclay

A Tap on the Window by Linwood Barclay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


'It’s been two months since private investigator Cal Weaver’s teenage son Scott died in a tragic accident. Ever since, he and his wife have drifted apart, fracturing a once normal life. Cal is mired in grief, a grief he can’t move past. And maybe his grief has clouded his judgment. Because driving home one night, he makes his first big mistake.

A girl drenched in rain taps on his car window and asks for a ride as he sits at a stoplight. Even though he knows a fortysomething man picking up a teenage hitchhiker is a fool, he lets her in. She’s the same age as Scott, and maybe she can help Cal find the dealer who sold his son the drugs that killed him. After a brief stop at a roadside diner, Cal senses that something’s not right with the girl or the situation. But it’s too late. He’s already involved.

Now Cal is drawn into a nightmare of pain and suspicion. Something is horribly wrong in the small town of Griffon in upstate New York. There are too many secrets there, too many lies and cover-ups. And Cal has decided to expose those secrets one by one.

That’s his second big mistake'



This was sent this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This was the first Linwood Barclay novel I have read, it interested me as it was a thriller and I enjoy these types of books.

The story had me hooked from the start, and as it turned out, I found it very hard to put down at all. Although to novel is long and nearly 500 pages I found I whizzed through the book and wanted more!

So on one rainy night Cal Weaver a private investigator is driving home. He stops at some traffic lights, when he hears a tapping on his window. Cal has made up his mind, it not be a smart move to give a teenage girl a lift in the middle of the night. But when she asks if he is Scott’s dad, he feels he needs to help her and she may know something about his son. Cal’s son, Scott recently died, suspected suicide from taking drugs, Cal wants to find out who sold them to him.

As Cal gives the girl (Claire) a lift, she begins talking to him asks to stop at a fast food place to use the washroom. When she gets there she is a long time in the bathroom, so Cal decides to go and check on her, he doesn’t find her, when he returns to his car he notices the girl sitting in the passenger seat waiting for her ride. Cal suspects something is not right and it turns out the girl now next to him, is not the same girl as he picked up, she doesn’t have wet hair, wet clothes and the cut on her hand is now gone. He decides to confront the girl on this and she asks him to pull over as she wants to get out of the car.

This is a mystery that is puzzling Cal and he finds out the next day from the police that Claire has gone missing, Cal was the last person to have seen her, Cal feels responsible for giving her a lift and takes it upon himself to find her and opens an investigation, he is not working with the police, and they turn on him during the process.

Linwood Barclay has produced an excellent thriller full of suspense. This is a dark novel, where no one is trusted and it seems everyone is hiding something. There are many red herrings dropped throughout the novel, which keeps it fresh and entertaining. As I said previously at 500 pages this is a long novel, however when your reading it you don’t notice this and I still read it in two sittings. This was my first Linwood Barclay book but will certainly not be my last, due to the suspense of the book I have already purchased another of his books and hope I am going to get the same thrill as this.

This is going to be on the best sellers list soon, it has to be! Try it for yourself!

A Tap on the Window – Linwood Barclay is out in October, be sure to grab yourself a copy!