Sign up
Search
Advanced search settings

Search only in certain items:

Search results
All (5000)
Content
People
Apps
Books
Orbs
Movies
Music
Podcasts
Shows
Tabletop Games
Tech
TV
Video Games
YouTube Channels
Videos
40x40

Hazel (2934 KP) rated Cry Baby in Books

Aug 9, 2020  
Cry Baby
Cry Baby
Mark Billingham | 2020 | Crime, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I am a huge fan of Mark Billingham and of his character, Tom Thorne, and have avidly followed the series and so I was absolutely thrilled to see a prequel was available which went back to the beginning in 1996 when "portable" phones are a novelty, smoking in pubs was the norm and England weren't doing too badly in the Euro's!

Tom is a young Detective Sergeant going through a bit of a rough patch after separating from his wife and experiencing recurring nightmares of an old case when along comes every persons worst nightmare ... the abduction of a little boy from a local park. The book follows the investigation into the abduction where everyone is a suspect and the mystery deepens when the body of one of those suspects turns up, quickly followed by the body of the boy's father.

This is a tense read written mainly from the perspectives of Tom, Cat (mother of the abducted child) and Kieron (the abducted child); the pace built up as the investigation progressed and I loved it. I particularly enjoyed meeting the characters that I have grown to love at the beginnings of their relationship with a particular highlight being the first meeting between Tom and Phil Hendricks which made me literally laugh out loud.

I would most definitely recommend this book and you don't have to have read any of the others in the series as this makes a really good starting point for those of you who haven't discovered the delight that is Tom Thorne and who have clearly been living under a rock!!

I was extremely lucky to have won a copy of this book via a Facebook competition but thanks also to Little, Brown Book Group via NetGalley for an e-copy in return for an unbiased and honest review.
  
40x40

Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated It’s A Wonderful Midlife Crisis ( Good to the Last Death 1) in Books

Jun 4, 2024  
IA
It’s A Wonderful Midlife Crisis ( Good to the Last Death 1)
Robyn Peterman | 2024
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
111 of 220
Kindle
It’s A Wonderful Midlife Crisis ( Good to the last death 1)
By Robyn Peterman
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Whoever said life begins at forty must have been heavily medicated, drunk, or delusional.

Thirty-nine was a fantastic year. I was married to the man I loved. I had a body that worked without creaking. My grandma, who raised me, was still healthy, and life was pretty damned good.

But as they say, all good things come to an end. I’d honestly love to know who ’they’ are and rip them a new one. One year later, I’m a widow. My joints are starting to ache. Gram is in the nursing home, and dead people think my home is some kind of supernatural bed and breakfast. Gluing body parts onto semi-transparent people has become a side job—deceased people I’m not even sure are actually there. I think they need my help, but since I don’t speak dead, we’re having a few issues.

To add to the heap of trouble, there’s a new dangerously smokin’ hot lawyer at the firm who won't stop giving me the eye. My BFF is thrilled with her new frozen face, thanks to her plastic surgeon, her alimony check, and the miracle of Botox. And then there’s the little conundrum that I’m becoming way too attached to my ghostly squatters… Like Cher, I'd like to turn back time. Now.

No can do.

Whatever. I have wine, good friends, and an industrial sized box of superglue. What could possibly go wrong?

Everything, apparently.

This was really good. It was witty, funny, heartwarming and sad all at once. A lighthearted read quick read. Definitely can’t wait to read the next one.
  
40x40

Hazel (2934 KP) rated Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers [Audiobook] in Books

Apr 16, 2023  
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers [Audiobook]
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers [Audiobook]
Jesse Sutanto | 2023 | Crime, Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
After initially thinking "oh dear, I'm not going to like this", the more I listened the more I grew to love Vera Wong.

Vera lives on her own after the death of her husband, her son being successful and not in her life quite as much as she would like. Once a thriving tea shop, Vera Wang's World Famous Tea House is now on it's last legs having only one regular customer so when she discovers a dead body in the middle of her shop one morning, she decides it has to be murder and begins to investigate and find out who killed Marshall.

Using her own logic, Vera decides that those who turn up at her shop to ask questions about the body immediately become suspects and she begins to ingratiate herself into their lives using her forthright nature, a little bit of manipulation, fantastic cooking and, if course, tea.

As the story develops, we get to know each of the characters and suspects more so by the end, you don't want any of them to be guilty of murder but one of them must be surely?

This is definitely within the 'cosy mystery' genre and whilst there is little action, I was caught up in the story hook, line and sinker and desperate to know what the ultimate outcome was going to be and I definitely wasn't disappointed.

The narrator was excellent and she totally drew me into the story and into Vera's life. This, for me, was definitely a book to listen to rather than to read myself and I am hopeful that Vera will do more investigating in the future.

Many thanks to HarperCollins UK Audio and NetGalley for enabling me to listen to and share my thoughts of Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers.