NK3
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With The Player and The Return of the Player, Michael Tolkin established himself as the master...
Science fiction fiction
A Shadowed Livery (Inspector James Given Investigations #1)
7.0
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The first book in a page-turning historical mystery series! Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie,...
Historical Fiction Pre-World War 2
Hazel (2934 KP) rated The Coffinmaker's Garden (Ash Henderson #3) in Books
Jan 17, 2021
What we have here are 2 investigations that are equally disturbing and upsetting - a serial killer who has gone undetected for decades and a child killer who is refining his modus operandi with each innocent life he takes. Ash, in his role as consultant, is involved in both.
The characters are great - Ash, Alice, Mother, Shifty, DS Franklin and even Henry - all of them in fact, some may be a tad OTT or stereotypical but all had their place and their own little quirks which made them believable. The various settings were really well written with the scenes being so well written that they invoked sounds and smells that put me right there.
The book is written mainly from Ash's point of view. He can be a cynical and grumpy so-and-so and definitely doesn't do things by the books and does have questionable decision-making skills at times, but he definitely grew on me; I think it was his dark sense of humour that did it but also his aversion to authority who have been so far removed from the job that they haven't got a clue helped a bit ... oh and the fact that he certainly gets put through the wringer by Mr MacBride during his investigation and from what has obviously gone on in the previous books in the series, which might have had something to do with it too!
With the story lines being as dark as they are, you might think this is a dark and depressing read but fear not, this is not the case at all. Yes, as you can imagine, it's not a laugh a minute and there is quite a lot of violence throughout but there are plenty of lighter moments that will have you laughing out loud. You do have to suspend reality for some parts of the book as there are bits that are a little unbelievable but if you can't do this in a work of fiction, when can you? and it certainly didn't spoil my reading experience.
All in all, a really great book and one I would highly recommend to those of you who love their crime thrillers dark both in the plot and the humour.
Thanks to HarperCollins / HarperFiction and NetGalley for my copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.
The Right Side
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“Brilliant. Deeply felt, but totally under control. I loved it.” – Stephen King “A great...
Thriller
ClareR (5726 KP) rated The Stars Now Unclaimed (The Universe After #1) in Books
May 26, 2018
This has been compared to Firefly, Star Wars and some other science fiction stories and worlds, but I think it's a good story in its own right.
I really liked the main character - a female lead (who we don't learn the name of until near the end) who travels the universe after 'The Pulse" puts most planets back to the dark ages, to find children who have developed gifts because of this phenomenon. The Pax seem to be following her every move (I'm hoping the reason for this will be explained in the next instalment), and they're not good news (think mindless fascist zealots. If you're not with them, you're dead). The unnamed pilot/ soldier/ pilot has some great friends, who along with the telekinetic teen she saves at the beginning, must all work together to save their homeward. It's exciting stuff, believe me!
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this fantastic book to read!
Sarah (7798 KP) rated The Outsider in Books
Jul 13, 2018
This is yet another brilliantly written King novel, filled with intrigue, suspense and a lot of fairly gruesome horror. The characters are, as always, well written and the story centres mainly around the lovable detective Ralph Anderson (although chapters centred around other characters offer some nice variety). The central supernatural plot is one that I've seen/read before in other works of fiction, but it definitely doesn't get boring seeing it from King's point of view. There are some unexpected links to some other of King's stories - one obvious and direct, but another link for me was more of a similarity to a previous character - neither of which is a bad thing.
My only criticisms of this book are fairly minor. The first is that the ending seems fairly rushed in comparison with the slow build of the rest of the book. And the second is that although it is a very good and enthralling read, it doesn't quite have the impact of some of his older epic novels (The Dark Tower series, The Stand, Needful Things etc).
The Dream Runner
5.0
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What if you could order a custom dream? Any kind. Dark and twisted, sweet, sensual, or redemptive....
Science fiction fantasy
The Scarlet Letter
6.8
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Delve into The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne's meditation on human alienation and its effect...
Classics Historical Fiction