Shadow Conflict by Will Jordan

(Ryan Drake book 7). 14 August 2017. Canelo Digital Publishing. 300pp. Ebook. ISBN: 9781910859728.

This latest book by the talented Will Jordan is his best yet. It is edge of the seat stuff right from the beginning and it is impossible to predict what is going to happen from one moment to the next. Plus, being an ebook, you can whizz the pages along quicker than with a paper book, so the action scenes can get really fast and stressful! Jordan’s books are always fantastic and I am very excited when I am asked to review one. As is the norm with Will Jordan, his knowledge of guns and other weaponry is very obvious and he gives just the right amount of information to provide authenticity. We are not overloaded with too much stuff or distracted from the fast pace of the plot.

In this instalment, Drake and Anya have been separated from each other but are still caught up in their fight to reunite with their friends, as well as free themselves of rogue deputy CIA director, Marcus Cain. The seriousness of their situations intensify and at times you cannot imagine how they will make it. On the run, injured, exhausted and unable to trust anyone, the pair are stretched to their limits just trying to survive. Help comes for Anya in the form of Alex Yates, the computer whizz kid who she has turned to in the past, while Drake finds a companion in the beautiful Lenka, who appears right when he needs her most. This time Anya’s plan to catch Cain involves kidnapping someone very dear to him but the details of the handover are breathtakingly risky and someone might just lose their life before the day is done.

If you enjoy fast-paced thrillers then you are going to love this book. In order to enjoy SHADOW CONFLICT to its full, it is best to read the others in this fabulous series first. The characters are first rate and the books are a fast read because they are simply too good to put down.

Next please!
Extremely Highly Recommended

Care to Die by Tana Collins

Care to Die by Tana Collins. 2017. Bloodhound Books. Paperback. £8.99. 277pp. ISBN 978-1-912175-28-4.

The second book by Tana Collins, CARE TO DIE, is certainly one that you shouldn't miss. This second in the series for recently demoted DI Jim Carruthers and his very capable DS Andrea Fletcher, is even more engrossing than the first. The book is so well written that it is impossible to guess who the murderer is and, when you do find out their identity, it comes as a big shock. Collins says it took her five years to write CARE TO DIE. Her attention to detail and the quality of the end result do justice to the amount of effort that she has put in to producing this fantastic novel.

In brief, the body of an elderly man is discovered in a nature reserve on the outskirts of Castletown, in Fife - where the series is set. The man isn't particularly well known and digging up information on why he might have been stabbed as viciously as he has proves to be difficult for Carruthers and Fletcher. To make matters worse, both of them are struggling with serious issues in their private lives - Carruthers’ brother has had a heart attack and Fletcher is having to deal with her ex after a rather unpleasant break up. It is hard for them to stay focused but then another body is discovered in the same area and it seems as if the deaths could be linked to both men having worked in a children's home that used to be on the site. Theories and potential suspects abound but when Fletcher is assaulted, and a possible link is made to old, unproven, accusations of child abuse, the pair have no choice but to put their problems aside and solve the case before any more lives are lost.

If you enjoyed ROBBING THE DEAD, the previous book in this series, then you are going to love this one! It has your mind working in over drive, trying to solve the clues and identify the murderer, but is full of clever twists and turns that mean solving the case is just as difficult for the reader as it is for Carruthers and Fletcher. A first rate novel, and one that keeps you hooked from the first page to the last, CARE TO DIE is one of those books where the story has hold of you long after you have finished reading it. So far I am greatly enjoying reading Tana Collins’ work and am eagerly awaiting her third in this excellent series.

Highly recommended.