THE PASSENGER BY F.R. TALLIS

I wrote this review a couple of years ago. The book is still one of my favourites.

The Passenger by F.R.Tallis. 2016. Picador. Hardback £12.99. 371pp. ISBN 978-0-230-77055-3.

F.R.Tallis is an accomplished, award winning author and a clinical psychologist. In this latest book he tells a sombre tale of SS officer Siegfried Lorenz and the happenings on his U-boat, U-330, while WWII rages around him. It is a thought-provoking read: the hero of the story and his crew are all too human and vulnerable as they struggle with the horrible conditions onboard and attempt to do their duty during the war.

All starts out ordinarily enough, despite the fact that you, the reader, empathise with a member of the "Other Side". Lorenz and his men have a mission to destroy as many enemy boats as possible but are then sent north to collect two mysterious prisoners that they are to take with them. Given no information on what they are really doing, the crew are uneasy about the prisoners but they follow Lorenz's orders and everyone soon settles down again. Lorenz is particularly disturbed by the book of ancient runes that one of his prisoners has on his person but this becomes the smallest thing for the crew to worry about because disaster strikes and the mission takes a sinister turn. Not long afterwards, the crew begin to sense something strange on their boat. People have accidents and insist they were pushed, while Lorenz himself sees people on his boat that shouldn't be there. With suspected hauntings and everyone unhappy, their home furlough is much appreciated - but when they return to the boat, Lorenzo realises their troubles are only just beginning.

I read this book while it was really cold recently. The frosty conditions outside made the icy chill of the ocean in this moving story even more unwelcoming and I could easily imagine myself to be on the U-boat with Lorenz and his crew, enduring the stench and the mound as they battled to survive. An excellent read that left me with a cold, empty feeling after it was over, as well as a new appreciation of the bravery of these vulnerable men. The book is a little different to the usual for Eurocrime, so I am grateful to both Karen and Picador for giving me the opportunity to read and review it.

Extremely Highly Recommended

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.

A Suitable Lie by Michael J. Malone

A Suitable Lie by Michael J. Malone. 2016. Orenda Books. Paperback £8.99. 371pp. ISBN 978-1-910633-49-6

There would appear to be no end to the talents of Michael J. Malone. In a short space of time he has shown himself capable of a range of fabulous different novels – from a first rate series featuring a haunted, but highly skilled DI, to a gangster novel, then an extremely sensitive and moving biography and now this. A SUITABLE LIE is a domestic noir thriller that will have your emotions churning and your thoughts all over the place. Such was my emotional involvement in the story that I stayed up late and read the whole book in a single day.

The story is a shocking role reversal and Malone writes it so effectively it makes you wonder how much of himself is in the main character. In brief, Andy Boyd is a young widower and single parent. Persuaded to go out with his brother for a change, he meets a wonderful young woman and can’t quite believe his luck. After a whirlwind romance, they marry but straight away things start to go wrong. Andy ends up in A&E on his wedding night but dismisses his black eye as an accident. This proves to be a big mistake, however, as his lovely Anna is far more than a beautiful face. The violence escalates and Andy struggles to maintain the impression that he has an idyllic home-life. Unwilling to reveal himself as a victim, Andy tries to battle on behind a façade that is starting to let the cracks show, but Anna has other plans for her new husband and he may not be strong enough to ride out the storm.

This is a very emotional and disturbing novel, particularly because of the role reversal it contains. Domestic violence is usually the husband beating the wife and the men that are victims of it are often laughed at and deemed to be weak. For this very reason, Andy fears he will be unable to tell anyone as he cannot face the ridicule, even if Anna ends up landing one punch too many. The characters in the story are all very real and Andy is a very likeable chap – handsome, rugby playing and doting on his young son. You hope against hope for him to have his happy ending but at the same time cannot see a resolution to his problems.

A sensitively, well-written look at the life of a young man who is telling lie after lie to keep his darkest secret hidden. If you like books about taboos, that speak to you and make you think, then you are going to love this one!

Extremely Highly Recommended.

Cross Purpose by Claire MacLeary

The wonderful people at Contraband have sent me a copy of this book. Here is my review....

Cross Purpose by Claire MacLeary. February 2017. Contraband. 360pp Paperback £8.99. ISBN 978-19101-9264-1

Another fantastic new voice in the Scottish noir scene. Maggie and Wilma, the two main characters in this book, are driven to survive against the odds and in so doing carve themselves a niche in the murky world of private detecting - an arena dominated by men.

The story is set in Aberdeen and begins with death. A natural, albeit untimely, death that leaves a woman without her husband and children without a father. The man who died is an honest man who left the police force in dishonourable circumstances, which leaves his family without financial support. Desperately in need of an income that is greater than her current part-time support teacher's salary, Maggie reluctantly decides to take over her husbands business. Her neighbour Wilma, a loud, uncultured, overweight woman, who contrasts Maggie in every way, becomes an unexpected ally and together they drag the detective business back onto its feet. Clients slowly take them on and the money starts to come in. It looks as if they will do very well. Behind everything, though, is Maggie's desire to clear her husband's name with the police. She digs around and finds out things that land her in hot water but keeps on, determined to reach her goal.

At the same time there is another death. This one is not so clear cut and results in the body of a young woman being found, partially clothed and violated, in a graveyard. Despite being warned off, Maggie accidentally ends up on the trail of the murderer, as it ties in with her own surveillance of the area. You, the reader, are taken on a rough ride, over the waste ground in that part of Aberdeen, as you get sucked into the case and want Maggie to get the closure she deserves before the police catch up with her.

An excellent novel of strength and survival in the face of adversity. It would have been so easy for Maggie to give up but she doesn't. It is also the story of unlikely friendship. Two women who are the polar opposites of each other overcome their prejudices and discover they are not so different after all. Contraband, now not such an unknown Scottish publisher, goes from strength to strength and the books it publishes are always first rate!

Many thanks to Contraband for sending me the review copy of this book. Highly recommended.

March 2017.

A Plague of Crows

Blasted Heath, that fantastic ebook publishing company, very kindly sent me a review copy of Douglas Lindsay's latest masterpiece.


Here is my review....

A Plague of Crows by Douglas Lindsay. 2013. Kindle Edition. Blasted Heath. EPub. 488kb, 280 Pages

Another resounding success by Douglas Lindsay, this darkly disturbing novel will have you looking at crows in a completely different light. Number 2 in Lindsay’s series to feature DI Hutton; a man who is tortured by his behaviour in Bosnia in times gone by and seems hell bent on punishing himself forever because of it, this book is very different to his series on the hilarious demon barber, Barney Thomson, but is equally excellent.

The start of the story sees DI Hutton returning to work after having been suspended for inappropriate behaviour - attacking a colleague after he was attacked by him for sleeping with his wife. Hutton is initially relaxed and reasonably together, as he has just spent four months living in a tent in the Highlands, but it isn’t long before the pressure of his new case starts to push him towards his old ways. A PLAGUE OF CROWS focuses mostly on Hutton, his private torture and his endless pursuit of women to sleep with, and very little is said about the murderer at all, apart from his modus operandi and the aftermath of when he strikes. The method of murder is particularly brutal and is very likely to disturb you if you think about it too much. I wont spoil it for you here, but crows do play an important part in the operation.

Lindsay has again shown the world what an excellent craftsman he is. This book starts off well and gets better and better with every turn of the page. It is blacker than black and keeps you guessing right until the very end. The book also has that clever way of invading your thoughts during the day when you are not reading it; making you unable to let go and desperate to be able to continue. By half way I was so sucked in that I upset several friends with graphic descriptions of what was happening.

If you like very dark and disturbing fiction, that is superbly written and beautifully addictive, then this one is definitely for you. You don’t have to have read the first DI Hutton book in order to enjoy this one – except you should read it because it is so damn brilliant!

Extremely Highly recommended.

The Chessmen

This year has seen the publication of the final section of two fantastic trilogies that I have been enthusiastically following. The first, SANCTUS by Simon Toyne, is reviewed on Eurocrime, with the final book, THE TOWER, being reviewed this week. The second, THE BLACKHOUSE trilogy by Peter May, is also mostly reviewed on Eurocrime. The final instalment, THE CHESSMEN, is reviewed below.....



The Chessmen by Peter May. 2013. Quercus. Hardback £14.99. 383pp. ISBN 978-0-85738-223-8.

Finally. The long-awaited conclusion of The Blackhouse trilogy by this awesome author. Someone else has reviewed it for Eurocrime, so I am adding my thoughts to my own blog instead. Once again, the book is set on the Isle of Lewis and has former policeman Finn MacLeod as its main character. I love this trilogy. My Dad, whose father came from Lewis, and who has been there several times, says he loves the books too and that they portray even the tiniest details of Island life accurately. Praise indeed and well deserved, I think.

In this final installment, Finn is now living with Marsaili, his childhood love, and has a job as head of security for the local laird, who has a bit of a problem with poachers. One of these turns out to be Whistler, one of Finn's old school friends, who takes the odd fish for his own needs and doesn't see why he can't. Finn and Whistler exchange angry words and then end up out on the moor at night together, in a storm. Despite their anger with each other, Whistler saves Finn, who is not properly equipped for the conditions, and they take shelter in a small bothy, near a loch. In the morning, to their horror, the loch has disappeared and the vanishing water has exposed an old airplane. Closer inspection shows it to belong to Roddy, another old school pal, who died some 18 years before when his plane disappeared. And now here it is, complete with a body that must be Roddy. Fin is shocked. The resulting investigations shock him still more and he is pushed to the limit, both in terms of loyalty to friends, past and present, as well as having to face the truths that are finally exposed.

One of the interesting points about the book, as well as the gripping storyline, is the way it is written. Alternate chapters follow a time-shift pattern, between the present and aspects of Finn's past, as he thinks about how things used to be during his time as a roadie for Amran, an extremely popular band that had its beginnings as a group of high school students playing gigs at the weekends on the island. The parts of the story written in the present don't flow in a chronological order either, so you have to keep your wits about you in order to keep up! However, you won't be disappointed.

THE CHESSMEN is a fantastic end to an amazing trilogy. I have been totally enchanted by these books and am keen to read more by Peter May, starting with copying my Dad and reading his China series on my Kindle!

Extremely Highly Recommended.