Difference between revisions of "Newest Thrillers Reviews"
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| + | {{newreview | ||
| + | |author= Alec Birri | ||
| + | |title= Condition: Book Two - The Curing Begins... | ||
| + | |rating= 4 | ||
| + | |genre= Science Fiction | ||
| + | |summary= Discovering an infamous Nazi doctor conducted abortions in Argentina after the Second World War may not come as a surprise, but why was the twisted eugenicist not only allowed to continue his evil experiments but encouraged to do so? And what has that got to do with a respected neurologist in 2027? Surely the invention of a cure for nearly all the world's ailments can't possibly have its roots buried in the horrors of Auschwitz? The unacceptable is about to become the disturbingly bizarre. What has the treatment's 'correction' of paedophiles got to do with the President of the United States, the Pope and even the UK's Green Party? | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785898779</amazonuk> | ||
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|author= Mary G Thompson | |author= Mary G Thompson | ||
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|summary= The 21st Jack Reacher novel takes us back in time. Reacher is still an US Army MP. ''In the morning they gave Reacher a medal, and in the afternoon they sent him back to school.'' The medal was a Legion of Merit. Not his first, probably not his last, just another bauble to recognise what he'd done for his country and a plea for him not to talk about it. The 'it' in this case was some police work, in the Balkans, and a couple of shootings. ''Two weeks of his life. Four rounds expended. No big deal.'' | |summary= The 21st Jack Reacher novel takes us back in time. Reacher is still an US Army MP. ''In the morning they gave Reacher a medal, and in the afternoon they sent him back to school.'' The medal was a Legion of Merit. Not his first, probably not his last, just another bauble to recognise what he'd done for his country and a plea for him not to talk about it. The 'it' in this case was some police work, in the Balkans, and a couple of shootings. ''Two weeks of his life. Four rounds expended. No big deal.'' | ||
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0593073908</amazonuk> | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0593073908</amazonuk> | ||
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Revision as of 12:51, 21 February 2017
Condition: Book Two - The Curing Begins... by Alec Birri
Discovering an infamous Nazi doctor conducted abortions in Argentina after the Second World War may not come as a surprise, but why was the twisted eugenicist not only allowed to continue his evil experiments but encouraged to do so? And what has that got to do with a respected neurologist in 2027? Surely the invention of a cure for nearly all the world's ailments can't possibly have its roots buried in the horrors of Auschwitz? The unacceptable is about to become the disturbingly bizarre. What has the treatment's 'correction' of paedophiles got to do with the President of the United States, the Pope and even the UK's Green Party? Full review...
Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee by Mary G Thompson
Six years ago, cousins Amy and Dee were abducted. They were never recovered and no trace of them was ever found - that is until Amy suddenly returns home, alone and unable to tell anyone where Dee is or what happened to her. Amy's unexpected homecoming gives hope to her family, but she's a different person after spending most of her teen years in captivity, and she's not sure if she can ever fully go back to her old life. Amy is someone she left behind when she was 10 years old and in the years of her absence, she became Chelsea and Dee became Stacie. But why has she come back now? Who took them in the first place? And where is Dee Full review...
The Breakdown by B A Paris
Sometimes the way we think we will behave when something happens is not the way we do behave when that same thing happens. Cass never thought she would be the sort of person to leave someone stranded – not least a lone female in a dark wood, late at night – but when she passes a stranded car on her way home she doesn't stop, get out, and go to offer help. She hurries on home, forgets about it, and crawls into bed. Full review...
The Milan Briefcase by Graham Fulbright
It began with a briefcase, a rather elegant briefcase to be sure, but it had been left in the back of a taxi. When you're the next customer in the cab, what do you do in that situation? The driver isn't part of a group, so there's not going to be a lost-property office and you have a suspicion that if you pass the briefcase over it's not going to be passed on anywhere else. So the red briefcase was taken on a flight to Luritania where it was looked at by various members of the Lenfindi Club. And who were they? Well, they started as as a quartet - three men and a women - who gathered each Sunday morning at Lenfindi Airport to discuss matters of great (or lesser) import. Originally they were called The Sunday Club, but changed the name when they gathered a fifth member (it was easier to make decisions when there were five rather than four) and then a sixth... Full review...
Condition: Book One - A Medical Miracle? by Alec Birri
It's 1966, but RAF Pilot Dan Stewart isn't celebrating England's win in the World Cup – instead he's awakening from a coma following an aircraft accident. Waking in a world where nothing makes sense, he's unable to recall the crash – but struggles to remember the rest of his life…And what's stopping him from taking his medication? Is it brain damage causing paranoia about the red pill, or is he right to think there's something more sinister going on…And, having suffered almost 100% burns, how is he alive? Are his hallucinations trying to tell him something? Full review...
All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker
After a brutal attack, you might be forgiven for thinking losing her memory is the best outcome for Jenny. Without being able to recall the facts from the night in question, she can't dwell too much on her attack and her attacker. But what if she wants to? What if she needs to work through her emotions so she can move past things? What if she is still obsessing, day in and day out, about what did or didn't happen to her, imagining all sorts of scenarios and hating herself for not knowing the truth? Full review...
Dare to Remember by Susanna Beard
Lisa Fulbrook's best friend is dead – the victim of a brutal attack who fell to her death from her own apartment window. Lisa was there, she too was a victim of the attack that killed her best friend, and she is left with the physical and emotional scars to prove it. Traumatised by the events, Lisa flees to a country village to help settle her frightened mind. But what happened that night still torments her; she is plagued by vicious flashbacks and questions surrounding why she and her best friend Ali were targeted, because the one thing Lisa does know is that she can't remember what really happened that fateful night. How did their assailant know them? Was it planned? More importantly, why were they attacked? Full review...
The Napoleon Complex by E M Davey
Journalist Jake Wolsey's brush with the Book of Fate and that fatal Etruscan lightening isn't over. Historical quotes, intrigue and a call for help from former lover and MI6 operative Jenny start a whole new search for the source of power and destruction. This time it's linked to Napoleon Bonaparte and the odd inclusion of an Etruscan scroll in his portrait. If the scroll is what Jake and Jenny think it is, where has it gone? Our heroes aren't the only curious people and, while their search takes them across the world, it's as much about fatality avoidance as it is treasure hunting. Who will get the answer first and at what cost to themselves… and civilisation? Full review...
Kill the Next One by Federico Axat
After getting started with the opening chapters of Spanish writer, Federico Axat's Kill the Next One, you might be forgiven for thinking you are stuck with one of those machismo riddled tales where a middle-aged man with a mysterious past is forced to shoot or blunder his way through a by-the-numbers thriller. The spectre of Lee Child's successful Jack Reacher series creeping in around the edges of the page. The novel opens with Ted McKay and his Browning pointed to his temple. He has the perfect life, including a beautiful wife and two adoring children, but has discovered that he is also in possession of an untreatable tumour buried deep within his brain which is slowly killing him. However, right before he decides to take the shot and end his life, there is a knock on his door. Standing behind it is a man named Justin Lynch who tells Ted that he represents an all-knowing organisation that turns would-be suicides into opportunities to correct the imbalances of the law. Ted, instead of killing himself, could kill someone who really deserves it. Full review...
Evil Games (D I Kim Stone) by Angela Marsons
When Ruth saw the man who had raped her coming out of a local pub she was traumatised. He'd served his time (albeit it was rather short) and now he was free - and she was frightened. The rapist was murdered and DI Kim Stone and her team were called upon to solve the killing - and quickly. There was a little bit of a feeling that the man had got what was coming to him and didn't deserve a lot of sympathy, but professionalism won the day. Then more revenge killings came to light and it was obvious to Stone that there was something sinister behind what was happening. Full review...
The One by John Marrs
Everyone needs someone to love and to love them. But how great would it be if that someone was actually The One, tried, tested, scientifically guaranteed? Full review...
The Trophy Child by Paula Daly
We've all encountered pushy mothers - the ones who seem determined not to let their children have a moment's peace between all the extra-curricular activities which they have arranged for them. Karen Bloom is in a different class though. Her son, Ewan, was something of a disappointment, but she's not going to allow that to happen to her daughter, the talented Bronte. There's not a moment to spare between the music lessons, dance classes and extra school work - sometimes they have to eat on the hoof from one lesson to another. The rest of the family can see the cost to Bronte and to the family as a whole, but Karen will not listen, will not change her ways. Then one day Bronte disappears. Full review...
You Too Can Have A Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman
A woman known only as A lives in an unnamed American city with her roommate, B, and boyfriend, C, who wants her to join him on a reality dating show. A eats mostly popsicles and oranges, watches endless amounts of television, often just for the commercials — particularly the recurring cartoon escapades of Kandy Kat, the mascot for an entirely chemical dessert — and models herself on an impossible standard of beauty. She fixates on the fifteen minutes of fame a local celebrity named Michael has earned after buying up a Wally's Supermarket's entire, and increasingly ample, supply of veal. Meanwhile, B is attempting to make herself a twin of A, who in turn hungers for something to give meaning to her life, something aside from C's pornography addiction. Maybe something like what's gotten into her neighbors across the street, the family who's begun ghosting themselves beneath white sheets with holes cut for eyes… Full review...
Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent
It's Ireland, it's the 1980s, and a young woman is dead. Whether or not she deserved to die is up for debate, but Lydia, our first narrator, certainly thinks she had it coming. By the end of the book, Annie will not be the only person in whom life is extinguished, and for all the characters life will be irrevocably changed. Full review...
The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer
The Chemist is on the run. She's a former government employee who knows lots of classified information and this makes her a dangerous liability. But after 3 years on the run, a surprise offer lures the Chemist back home, could this be her salvation or put her in even more danger than before? Full review...
Under A Watchful Eye by Adam Nevill
Seb Logan is being watched. He just doesn't know who by. When a dark figure appears and shatters Seb's idyllic life, he soon realizes that the murky past he thought he'd left behind has far from forgotten him. What's more unsettling is the strange atmosphere that engulfs him at every sighting, plunging his mind into a terrifying paranoia. To be a victim without knowing the tormentor. To be despised without knowing the offence caused. To be seen by what nobody else can see. These are the thoughts that plague his every waking moment. And once his investigation leads him to stray across the line and into mortal danger, he risks becoming another fatality in a long line of victims. Full review...
Extreme Prey by John Sandford
Making a long running series evolve organically is a very tricky business; a character that has been around for 26 books, and nearly as many years, is not going to be the same person that started out. Age catches up with us all and many crime writer have come up against the problem of retirement; not their own, but that of their character. Why is a 70 year old still out chasing criminals and shooting things? Lucas Davenport is a character who has always been a maverick, doing what he wants, therefore quitting the police was never going to stop him. Full review...
The Ad Man by Timothy Dickinson
Tim Collinwood is single and so, working in Morocco as an advertising creative, he's free to enjoy all his host country has to offer: the expense accounts, the opulence and the women. Then it happens. He gets the contract of his life. He just needs to create a PR campaign that will reassure Morocco that French business has her best interests at heart. The truth may be otherwise but creating the façade is what advertising is about. Perhaps Tim should have noticed that there are clues from the beginning as to how shady this job is, including needing to work under an assumed identity. However, the secrecy becomes a side issue as something more important takes Tim's concentration: survival for him and those around him. Full review...
Everything You Told Me by Lucy Dawson
When Sally wakes up in a taxi in the middle of the night, miles from home, dazed, confused and dressed only in her nightie, she is terrified. And so are her friends and family. After the emergency services conclude she's not an immediate danger to herself (despite being found stumbling precariously close to a cliff edge) she's shipped off home where her husband, parents and mother in law rally round to help her care for herself and their two young children. Sally has a battle on her hands, though, as everyone is walking on eggshells, determined not to upset her and yet also unable or unwilling to believe her version of events that night. Full review...
Blood Lines (D I Kim Stone) by Angela Marsons
Initially it looked like a robbery gone wrong, or possibly a carjack, only the car was still there and so was the expensive watch and the jewellry. Her wallet hadn't been taken either, but she'd been killed by a single, precise stab to the heart. There was no sign of anger: in fact there seemed to be a complete lack emotion and there was nothing to suggest that the victim had attracted the violence - she was a caring mother and dedicated social worker. D I Kim Stone wasn't alone in thinking that something didn't add up. Then a local drug addict was found with an identical wound. There's nothing to link the two cases other than the wounds and Stone's instincts. Full review...
Lost Girls (D I Kim Stone) by Angela Marsons
Charlotte and Amy were best friends: they seemed to do everything together and the trip to the swimming pool was no different. It was all carefully planned - they were to stay in the building until one of the parents arrived to pick them up. Only, it didn't work out like that: the mother's car was disabled and before the pick up time both parents had received a text message to say that the girls had been abducted. It would get worse too - the next communication would tell them that they would have to bid for the life of their child. The parents who bid the most would get their child back. The other would not return. It sounds unbelievable, but it had happened before. One child was released, but not even the body of the other child had been found. Full review...
Achaladair: There Is More Than Gold, in Them Thar Hills by William S Young
It's 1962 and Frank Mulholland and Tom Sommerville are two MI6 agents posted to the Scottish Highlands. Fresh from a recent mission involving Russian agents and IRA gunrunners in which they thwarted an attempt on US president John F Kennedy's life, they are enjoying life at the Bridge of Orchy Hotel with friends - the rest of their MI6 team, members of the local constabulary, and the Irish girls who work at the hotel. But their downtime is shortlived... Full review...
Finisterre by Graham Hurley
The Second World War is almost lost but in a last, desperate roll of the dice the German High command launch Operation Finisterre. In America the apparent suicide of a scientist working on the atom bomb and off the coast of Spain the shipwreck of a German submarine, become catalysts as the plans spiral out of control, leading to a shattering climax. 'Finisterre' is a crime thriller packed with grit, suspense and style. Full review...
Tokyo Nights by Jim Douglas
Colin McCann, private detective, chronic smoker and dog lover, is charged with solving the mysterious death of the young and beautiful daughter of a wealthy businessman. The key facts of this case apparently hinge on the testimony of Charlie Davis, a ne'er do well dreamer with quick fists and a poet's heart. The only problem is that Charlie Davis has disappeared and appears to be unwilling to disclose his part in these tragic events. After some deliciously violent digging, McCann jets off to Tokyo and here is where the fun really begins… Full review...
Mr Churchill's Driver: A Murderer's Story by Colin Farrington
2014: 50 years since William Gilbey's father Herbert was hanged for murder. This anniversary is different from those in the past in that it's given William the impetus to go and find out more about two mystifying parts of his father's history. Firstly the oddity of the murder: why randomly kill two women in the street in daylight? Secondly, when William was a child, Herbert had told him a story about a meeting between Winston Churchill and then Irish Teasoch Eamon De Valera during World War II. There's nothing in the history books so did this actually happen? This is definitely a good time to investigate, especially as William has just been released from prison after serving a sentence for murder himself. Full review...
The Beautiful Dead by Belinda Bauer
Eve Singer is a journalist stuck on the ‘meat beat’; she and her camera man Joe chase down every recent murder to get a shot of the gory body, determined to get the best viewings and move into reporting better stories. Eve soon learns to become careful what she wishes for when she begins to get her exclusives from the killer himself, a self-gratifying exhibitionist who is wooing her with a succession of gruesome murders. But how long will it be until he gets what he finally wants; to murder Eve? Full review...
Pendulum by Adam Hamdy
There's no time wasted with a gentle introduction: we interrupt an attempted murder. John Wallace - ordinary John Wallace - is about to be hanged by a man in a black mask who has invaded his apartment. The fact that it's happening is bad enough, but why is it happening, and to Wallace? It's fate which intervenes and Wallace escapes. He's going to keep escaping and I'm not going to tell you a great deal more about the plot: you're better off reading what Adam Hamdy has written than my version of it. It's sufficient to say that the pace and the action never let up and you're not going to get the answers until the final pages. Full review...
Before I Let You In by Jenny Blackhurst
As a psychiatrist, Karen is never too sure who or what will walk through her door, but the variety keeps it interesting, and her years of training and experience keep her on track even when a statement from a patient seems to throw her off course. It's hard sometimes, because she can't really talk about work at home, but her friends and partner are supportive even when she's not able to share the details with them. Full review...
The Politician's Daughter by Marion Leigh
I had to feel sorry for Canadian Emily Mortlake, the titular politician's daughter. OK, so going off on a summer job on a mega yacht might have sounded glamorous, but even before she went there were indications that some quite personal services might be required. It didn't worry Emily, but when she went missing there weren't that many people who were worried about her. Her father didn't want anything made public as a scandal could damage his political career. The dean of her college didn't want the spotlight of publicity focused on the college: there'd been a lot of fuss about fees recently and he preferred to avoid the tabloid headlines. Even her friend Amy who reported Emily missing seemed most worried that she couldn't get on with her work. Petra Minx of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Marine Unit was in the UK on holiday and she was sent to investigate. Full review...
The Girl Before by J P Delaney
Jane is recovering from recent trauma and needs to change her life, starting with where she lives. After seeing the dives she can afford in central London on her salary, One Folgate Street seems like a dream come true. Ultra modern, smart technology living - a small haven in a big city... however, it comes with some very tight restrictions, rules that must be obeyed. Jane is ready for a big change in her life, so she accepts the conditions of the house and moves in. However, the longer Jane lives there, the more interested she becomes in the previous tenant, a woman named Emma who died there, Emma who’s life Jane’s is starting to mimic. Suddenly, this haven doesn’t feel so safe. Full review...
The Watcher by Ross Armstrong
Lily Gullick lives with her husband Aiden in a new-build flat opposite an estate which has been marked for demolition. A keen birdwatcher, she can't help spying on her neighbours. Then one day Lily sees something suspicious through her binoculars and soon her elderly neighbour Jean is found dead. Lily, intrigued by the social divide in her local area as it becomes increasingly gentrified, knows that she has to act. But her interference is not going unnoticed, and as she starts to get close to the truth, her own life comes under threat. But can Lily really trust everything she sees? Full review...
Night School by Lee Child
The 21st Jack Reacher novel takes us back in time. Reacher is still an US Army MP. In the morning they gave Reacher a medal, and in the afternoon they sent him back to school. The medal was a Legion of Merit. Not his first, probably not his last, just another bauble to recognise what he'd done for his country and a plea for him not to talk about it. The 'it' in this case was some police work, in the Balkans, and a couple of shootings. Two weeks of his life. Four rounds expended. No big deal. Full review...
