My Book Reviews for July 2024 (Part One)
My Book Reviews for July 2024 (Part One)
My Book Reviews for July 2024 (Part One) include a ‘locked room’ mystery set on a gridlocked motorway, a couple of hens-on-holiday thrillers, the latest Tim Weaver missing persons bestseller and several other NetGalley early reads.
Sergeant Belinda Kydd (‘Billy’, obvs.) fled to Australia when she faced a crisis in her police career. Now she has returned to England to work out her notice on light duties prior to taking early retirement. But she gets no further than driving her hire car from the airport before she finds herself running a crime scene and investigation. A series of terrorist attacks has brought the city to a standstill, gridlocking the motorway. As stranded travellers get out of their vehicles, they notice one driver is dead at the wheel. Did another driver commit murder and, given the traffic jam, are they still at the scene?
Not only has Jo Furniss come up with a wonderfully fresh blend of police procedural and locked room mystery, she has meticulously planned her plot and motorway logistics, and she has clearly researched the police regulations that Billy has to follow as best she can without the benefit of any standard police kit.
The way likable sleuth Billy has to work with and against the motley crew of suspects in the other cars reminded me of Trevor Wood’s You Can Run, another book I thoroughly enjoyed. Each of the suspects in Dead Mile has something to hide and the suspense builds as we discover more about them. There is also a sense of urgency as the drivers tune to radio news and discover that bombs are continuing to go off in and around the city. How close will the next one be to these sitting ducks?
Like the author, I was once in stationary traffic near Gatwick. In my case it was for three and a half hours between junctions 8 and 9 of the M25. Jo Furniss’s descriptions of the behaviour of other drivers evoked strong memories…
This is a super read that would make a good TV series. It will do very well.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
Jo Furniss was a recent guest on Front Page Fridays. Read more about Dead Mile here.
If you enjoyed One of the Girls by Lucy Clarke, you will probably – like me – enjoy this one too as both feature a small group of women on a hen weekend in the Mediterranean.
This one is set at a holiday villa in the hills above the Costa Del Sol and concerns the shocking death of the bride-to-be at a hen party three years prior to the start of the story.
Dani invites the three other hens back to the villa on the third anniversary of Aoife's death. She has total amnesia about what happened that night and hopes recreating the weekend with the surviving hens will trigger her memories.
The story is told in two timelines: then and now, and from the viewpoints of Dani - Aoife's university friend; Tiff and Beth - Aoife's school friends; and Celine - Aoife's work colleague. With all five women consuming industrial qualities of alcohol, it's a wonder they didn't all succumb to liver failure at the hen weekend. The author does a great job of describing the sleazy side of the Marbella club scene. (It makes me thankful I’m too old for hen parties.) However, she also depicts the beautiful countryside away from the coast and the delicious local food. Dani is a likeable lead character, and there’s a good sense of suspense.
This will be a great beach read for 2024.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
When We Were Silent by Fiona McPhillips
This literary suspense novel is a story of grooming and abuse within a school, and revenge that goes wrong. The effects are felt decades later. It’s also about the fragility of family life and friendships. The difficult themes are dealt with sensitively from the viewpoint of an engaging protagonist.
The Missing Family by Tim Weaver
I’ve read several of Tim Weaver’s David Raker series (for example, The Blackbird) and this latest outing holds up well. Raker is asked by a distraught wife to investigate the disappearance of her family from a dinghy on a secluded lake.
I was pleased to see Raker’s long-time associate Colm Healy back in the narrative sidecar with an investigation of his own. He’s on the trail of a murderous gambler who escaped from a locked cell at a casino.
I guessed the how of both mysteries, although I defy anyone – apart from the devilishly clever author – to come up with the whys.
Tim Weaver is a master at creating smooth, suspenseful prose. At the end of each short chapter, he dangles a cliffhanging carrot that urges you to keep reading. I read the entire book in one day. He also waves a tasty vegetable at the end of the book, hinting at the moral dilemma that will face our heroes in the next story.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
Ten-year-olds, Nathan and Billy, camp in Nathan's back garden. When Nathan wakes in the morning, there's a slash in the tent and Billyis missing.
Thirty years later, when Nathan's parents move away, Nathan returns to the family home for a brief stay. He senses the ghost of Billy in the back yard. Convinced one of them murdered Billy, Nathan works his way around the various neighbours, questioning them. But what is Billy's ghost trying to tell him? Does he want justice or revenge? Is the ghost a figment of Nathan's troubled and guilty imagination?
Slower in pace than in other Riley Sager novels I've read, this is one for fans of the slow burner.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
Overland by Yasmin Cordery Khan
It's 1970 and twentysomething Joyce answers an advert to join two privileged young men on an overland trip to Kathmandu in a beaten-up Land Rover. It read like engaging travelogue/memoir but there's a shocking turn of events late on. It's fluently written, although as a fan of conventional punctuation, I struggled with the lack of direct speech marks.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
Three women go on an exotic holiday to celebrate the divorce of one of the women, but disaster lies ahead. However, there’s a lot more than the usual hen party group dynamics at play in this psychological thriller. Be prepared for a bloodbath or two, suppressed trauma, domestic abuse, murders, a troubled twelve-year-old, a software breach, a custody battle and psychopathy. The action really hots up in the second half.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Wealthy teen, Barbara, disappears from her bunk at a summer camp in the same place her brother disappeared 15 years earlier. Told from various viewpoints and across different timelines, this is a coming-of-age story about child/parent relations as well as a mystery.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
Under a Lightning Sky by Pam Lecky
With much period detail given to this police procedural set during the Blitz, this is ideal for fans of historical fiction and hard-edged mysteries.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
A company away-week to a hotel in the Solent takes on several Agatha Christie type twists and turns. I guessed where this one was heading but it’s a breezy read. Ideal for fans of the And-Then-There-Were-None genre, told in straightforward, easy style.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.