22 Seconds

By James Patterson & Maxine Paetro https://www.jamespatterson.com/

Published by Century (an imprint of Penguin Random House) https://www.penguin.co.uk/

359 pages ISBN 9781529125320

Publication date 28 April 2022

22 Seconds is the twenty-second novel in the Women’s Murder Club series.

I was sent a paperback uncorrected proof in exchange for a fair review. I would like to thank Sarah at Harwood PR for arranging that, and of course the authors and publisher.

From the blurb

22 seconds… until Lindsay Boxer loses her badge – or her life.

Synopsis

The ‘Women’s Murder Club’ comprises Lindsay Boxer a homicide detective at San Francisco PD, Clare Washburn the Chief Medical Examiner for San Francisco, Cindy Thomas a journalist and Yuki Castellano a lawyer.

New gun laws are aimed at removing the most dangerous weapons from the streets. Elements of the gun owning public are rebelling and a backlash is expected. While the SFPD are trying to execute a gun amnesty with shopping vouchers in exchange for illegal weapons some are refusing to give up their guns and are actively seeking more.

There are rumours of a big arms and drugs shipment coming up from Mexico and Lindsay gets a tip from one of her confidential informants. It would be a significant bust if his information is correct, but can he be trusted? He is demanding a budget busting fee for the information.

Former cops are turning up dead, some with their lips stapled together and the message “You talk, you die” attached. They are being murdered for talking but who is silencing them and what is it that they are trying to keep quiet?

Lindsay is certain that the guns and drugs smuggling run is real, and the murders must be in some way connected to it. She persuades her superiors to act on the informants’ tip which places her families lives in danger.

My thoughts

I was aware of this series of novels, as most crime and thriller readers are likely to, but I never realised it was up to the twenty-second instalment of which I have read the total of zero. Of course, I’ve read other novels by Mr Patterson (some of the Alex Cross ones) but his output, along with his collaborators is truly astonishing. I generally would start reading a series towards the beginning, it’s not ideal starting so late but quality can vary on some long running series which can become a bit stale, so a fresh view is sometimes a good barometer.

As one might expect the writing is polished and well honed. This is quality thriller writing the result of years of experience.

The plot is well worked out and certainly credible. The mass shootings in USA mean there will always be a push for stricter gun controls and there will always be a push back from the NRA. Any smuggling of these bulky weapons is going to be a major operation and so adding narcotics to it would be likely. Tunnels under the border have been used before though now they are probably used for smuggling people.

The pacing is excellent with a nice blend of background and description to balance the action scenes and keep the reader engaged throughout. The chapters are short which helps to keep the story moving along but they didn’t always result in a change of character perspective. There seemed to be chapter breaks in odd places which gave it a staccato rhythm which broke up the natural flow.

The characters are engaging, the plot centred around Lindsay, but the rest of the ‘Club’ were included even if some parts were somewhat tangential to the thrust of the plot. We see Lindsay’s home life with ex FBI husband Joe, daughter Julie, neighbour Mrs Rose and even her sister. These interactions were nicely judged adding depth and background but without becoming ‘soap opera’.

So, this novel has all the constituent parts to make it great, but for me there was a little something lacking, the sum of the parts producing less that the whole. Certainly, I enjoyed reading it sat in the spring sunshine of my garden (would have been better poolside in the Canaries) but I didn’t get a complete buy in. It is hard to put my finger on what was missing for me, a bit of soul or heart perhaps? It had all the quality ingredients but felt a bit like painting-by-numbers at times. This could be down to starting so late in the series, it is one I will revisit but I think I will go back towards the start and see if it grows on me.

Fans of the series are no doubt going to enjoy this novel and for them it is going to be exactly what they expect. It will be a major best seller, which is no doubt, and you don’t get to be a top tier worldwide best seller without understanding your reader and giving them what they want.

22 Seconds can be purchased direct from the publisher here

Fatal Hate

By Brian Price

Published by Hobeck Books https://www.hobeck.net/?msclkid=153f0efbbc9711ecb2a3265c587ae7e9

382 pages ISBN 9781913793623

Publication date 12 April 2022

Fatal Hate is the second novel in the Mel Cotton series.

I was sent an electronic copy to enable me to take part in this Blog Tour. I would like to thank Rebecca at Hobeck Books and the author for the invitation to participate.

From the blurb

DC Mel Cotton is back with a brand-new case, the murder of Duncan Bennett. But who would want an unassuming warehouse worker dead?

Synopsis

Duncan Bennett an employee of a confectionary distributor is discovered dead in a side street near his work. He has been hit over the head with a lump of concrete so its murder. When his flat is searched the police uncover right wing and Nazi memorabilia. Further digging into his background and IT establish links to very dangerous and unpleasant people. However, appearances can be deceptive…

Duncan appeared to be onto some anomaly at work just before his murder. The police place an undercover officer into the business and what she discovers blows open a conspiracy of drugs, terrorism, and paedophilia.

The local MP is an obnoxious man, the brother of the Home Secretary, who has right wing leanings and seems to be stoking the hatred rather than quelling it. This leaves Mel and her colleagues exposed, battling against a rising tide of racism and violence to protect the public and keep themselves safe.

My thoughts

Fans of police procedurals will know that there is the difficult compromise between realism and entertainment. List too many forms and outline too many internal procedures and it becomes boring. Here Mr Price has judged it well giving an authentic feel that due process is being followed without ever getting bogged down. Another criticism is too few characters, where a DCI a side kick and a couple of plods solve a massive case. This is not true in Fatal Hate, any more officers and I would have been drawing myself an organisation chart! Mel is our eponymous heroine but doesn’t but certainly doesn’t hog the story line. Some of the key moments are saved for Mel but the whole team play a role and it feels much better for it.

The writing style is breezy, and the plot moves along at a quick pace which is just as well because its full of incident and action packed. The chapters are short and encourage the reader to read just one more. If you read it in one sitting, you may well end up exhausted and a little dizzy. The action set pieces are nicely judged, these are ordinary police officers not superheroes or martial arts experts. This is a book you can quickly get engrossed in.

As the plot is incident driven and there are so many characters, there isn’t a great deal of space for detailed characterisation, but none are obviously two dimensional and Mel is particularly well drawn. We can see that she is a doughty and determined woman in a tough environment, but she is also impulsive and fortunate. Jack tells Mel she is using up her nine lives, which she is, though I can see her entertaining us with her scrapes for a few more novels yet. As the series progresses and develops no doubt Mel and Tom will too.

The pick of the other characters was Robbie the ‘Paedo Hunter’ and Jeannie McLeod who’s sister was the catalyst for the story. The reader feels he understands Jeannie’s motives throughout the novel but there is a lovely twist in the ending which explains her determination.

The central themes are dark, paedophilia, terrorism, racial hate, and class A drugs, a real explosive mixture. These are confidently handled. There are a couple of sensitive scenes which are delicately covered, leaving more to the imagination than is included on the page. The idea of the ‘false flag’ terrorist attacks was a good one, so good one wonders if it has been tried but thwarted by the security services. There are some light, funny moments, and bits of banter within the dialogue though. Indeed, I had a good chuckle when the most inappropriate vehicle for a ‘getaway car’ but I won’t spoil the fun by detailing it here. These stopped the novel from getting too dark and kept it entertaining.

Another device used was inserting ‘Easter Eggs’ into the text. The author has included within the novel over thirty quotes and cultural references and these comprise an Easter Competition which is set out at the beginning of the book. If you are the competitive type, then read with a notebook nearby and don’t hang about as entries have to be in before midnight on 30 June 2022. The prize is some special chocolates and a signed copy of Brian’s next book.

Fatal Hate is a fast paced, action-packed police procedural with an authentic feel about it. Great entertainment for a Bank Holiday weekend.

The author

Brian Price is a writer living in the South West of England. A scientist by training, he worked for the Environment Agency for twelve years and has also worked as an environmental consultant, a pharmacy technician and, for 26 years, as an Open University tutor.

As well as the Mel Cotton series he is the author of Crime Writing: How to write the science, a guide for authors on the scientific aspects of crime. He has a website on this topic (www.crimewriterscience.co.uk) and advises crime writers on how to avoid scientific mistakes in their books.

Brian reads a wide range of crime fiction himself and also enjoys Terry Pratchett, Genevieve Cogman and Philip Pullman. He may sometimes be found listening to rock, folk and 1960s psychedelic music. He is married and has four grown-up children.

Fatal Hate can be purchased direct from the publisher here

Quicksand of Memory

By Michael J Malone

Published by Orenda Books https://orendabooks.co.uk/

300 pages ISBN 9781913193966

Publication date 21 December 2021

I was sent an electronic copy to enable me to take part in this Blog Tour. I would like to thank Anne at Random Things Tours for the invitation to participate and of course the Author and Karen at the publishers.

From the blurb

The darker the memory

The deadlier the obsession…

Synopsis

Luke is trying to start afresh as a therapist working as an alternative health practitioner. His partner has died young through breast cancer and although he hasn’t adopted her son Nathan, he is his number one priority in life. Luke has a chequered past though. He has been to prison for dangerous driving after an accident which killed his best friend.

Jenna was besotted with her boyfriend, but he was controlling and lived a shady existence. When she fell pregnant a termination seems to be her only option to escape his clutches.

Jamie and Amanda are brother and sister. Their world falls apart on the death of their much older brother. Danny was their lifeline as their parents were incapable of looking after them, once he was gone, they drifted into the care system.

When Jamie and Jenna become patients of Luke dark pasts are revealed and their futures collide.

My thoughts

This is an intense and at times dark and disturbing novel. There are only a few characters, and this allows intensity and paranoia to build up in a tight and complex plot.

The chapters are short, and the perspective moves quickly from character to character. I found this a little choppy at the start but once the novel gets into its stride it proves to be a great device for rationing out the plot. There are no cliff-hangers but rather layers upon layers within the story and as each is peeled back it hints that there is still more to come, like the reader is opening a Russian matryoshka doll. Only each successive reveal is darker than the last and the final one isn’t a tiny almost insignificant doll but the lie upon which all the misery is based, a lie that destroys lives.

It is the characters who drive the story, none more so than Danny and he is dead throughout. He is a thoroughly unpleasant individual and as each layer is stripped back his legend increases. To be generous this could be because of his upbringing and environment, but it is his mastery of coercive control than can still be effective beyond the grave that is key to all the suffering. We are used to this control being exercised by abusive men over women, but in an interesting twist Danny is even able to use it to control men, especially his best friend Luke. Except for Danny though the remaining cast are each shown to be an amalgam of good and bad, with shades of light and dark, though none of them is particularly endearing. It is a fine author who can capture a readers attention with normal flawed people.   

Luke is desperate to put his past behind him and create a future for himself and Nathan. He loves Nathan even though he is not his son and clearly more than the promise he made to his mother. His reluctance to publicly confront is past is what is still allowing someone to have a hold over him.

Amanda is driven by revenge, hurt by the loss of her childhood dreams of dancing and her marriage to a much older man to secure her future. In the end though she discovers that all she is really looking for is the truth.

Poor Jamie is controlled throughout when he seems to just want to get on with his life. Amanda’s poison and pulling of his strings eventually take their toll on his psyche to disastrous effect even though he just wants to be liked.

Aspects of the novel remind me of some of the more serious works of Graham Greene with sin and redemption at its core. Whilst Greene’s sinners battle with personal demons it’s their loss of faith that requires the willingness of others to forgive their sins. In the Quicksand of Memory, the characters seek their personal redemption through the doing good works and trying to be a better person. Can these actions be enough counterbalance sin of the past and allow for a better future? When you are being punished by the sins of others forgiveness is not easy and can come at great personal cost. Luke finds his salvation comes with great pain and only after complete disclosure of the past. Even then it is only a partial redemption, it’s not an entirely happy ending.

One man’s attempt at controlling others ripples out to adversely affect everyone he meets, but they are just collateral damage to him. Luke and Jenna desperately want to escape their past but in doing so unintended consequences lead to misery for others. Does Jamie and Amanda’s bad start to life determine how it will be lived in the future or is it within their grasp to change it to their will?

All of these layers of deceit and murder are skilfully and thoughtfully blended into a dark compelling story.

The author

Michael Malone is a prize-winning poet and author who was born and brought up in the heart of Burns’ country. He has published over 200 poems in literary magazines throughout the UK, including New Writing Scotland, Poetry Scotland and Markings. Blood Tears, his bestselling debut novel won the Pitlochry Prize from the Scottish Association of Writers. His psychological thriller, A Suitable Lie, was a number-one bestseller, and the critically acclaimed House of Spines, After He Died, In the Absence of Miracles and A Song of Isolation soon followed suit. A former Regional Sales Manager (Faber & Faber) he has also worked as an IFA and a bookseller. Michael lives in Ayr.

Quicksand of Memory can be purchased direct from the publisher here

No Less The Devil

By Stuart MacBride https://www.stuartmacbride.com/

Published by Bantam Press (an imprint of Penguin Random House) https://www.penguin.co.uk/

480 pages ISBN 9781787634909

Publication date 28 April 2022

I was allowed access to a pdf review copy on Net Galley.  Thanks to the author and publisher for organising this.

From the blurb

‘We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.’

Synopsis

Operation Maypole has stalled. It is seventeen months since the serial killer ‘The Bloodsmith’ first struck and the police are getting nowhere. The press is brewing up a media storm and the ‘High Heidyins’ at police HQ desperately want a result. It’s the sort of case that can make a career, but more likely it seems, sink one without trace. The case is passed to DCI Ross to handle, and he foists it on to DI Tudor.

Tudor is relying on his team to get the required result and DS Lucy McVeigh and DC Duncan (Dunk) Fraser keep getting the short straw.

Lucy has problems of her own and when the recently released killer Benedict Strachan appears begging for her help they multiply rapidly. When Benedict was eleven, he and an accomplice stabbed to death a homeless man in a dark side street one night. Benedict was caught and convicted but never revealed the identity of the other child with him and now released from prison is convinced ‘they’ are out to get him. Is he just paranoid or are there really two monstrous killers out there?

Lucy and Dunk’s search takes the from the dangerous streets of Kingsmeath to a version of Hogwarts for the children of the rich and influential.

My thoughts

Back to fictional Oldcastle but this time not an Ash Henderson novel. Here we have new characters in the form of DS Lucy McVeigh and DC Duncan (Dunk) Fraser to keep us entertained and they certainly do that!

It treads familiar ground for regular MacBride novels in that the main character is a troubled cop (think Logan Macrae) who is saddled with a slightly barnpot side kick (think Tufty or Alice). Lucy’s problems stem from a girl’s night out and an apparent White Knight being nothing of the sort. The ordeal of Lucy and her friend are particularly harrowing, with no punches being pulled by the author. Strong stuff indeed but not gratuitous. This seems to explain Lucy’s erratic behaviour and motivations but of course there is always a little something extra added to the mix. The ‘Dunk’ provides plenty of light relief him being unfit and a short arse with a propensity to dress like a 1960s beat poet. The butt of some jokes but no fool, more the Ying to Lucy’s Yang.

As with most of his work it is the author’s ability in mixing dark and light is what impresses. He can convincingly describe the grotty side of life in Scotland’s housing schemes and some the lowlife that add to this misery. The murders are gory and gruesome and sometimes quite inventive. These are always unflinchingly described making the novels not for the highly sensitive.

Then just when everything seems to be bleak and desolate, he resorts to humour which unerringly hits the spot. As usual there is plenty of dark, gallows type humour but also moments of the daft, strange, or surreal. Fancy including a barman known as ‘Hedgehog Dundee’ but not elaborating on it or having Lucy resorting to using her late father’s pink Bedford Rascal van complete with dancing sausages logo which everyone describes as copulating. I’m a fan and find it inspired stuff though not for everyone’s taste, I guess.

The dialogue is the usual mixture of snappy one-liners mixed with his trademark stream of consciousness ramblings in the background. At the flat of the third victim the new renter is unaware of the murder that happened in his bathroom, so whilst Lucy and Dunk are investigating, he is on the phone in the background ranting to his wife about the estate agent. Also, there are the interruptions of the cheesy local radio every time they are in the car. I can’t work out if this is out of love or hate for that form of the media, but it adds extra layer to the overall feel.

There are several damaged characters in the novel who are sympathetically handled, though one is considerably darker than the rest.  

As you are reading its progresses as you might expect a typical Stuart MacBride book to, perhaps a little formulaic for some but packed with just what his readers have come to expect. Then at 75% through it starts to get a little bit strange. At 80% in the author borrows Spinal Tap’s guitarist Nigel Tufnel’s amp and turns it up to eleven (“It’s one louder, isn’t it?”) and it gets totally insane. It would be difficult to explain without a spoiler but certainly everything is suddenly turned on its head. I expect this will divide opinion, but I loved it. It’s not often you can read a book by an established novelist whose work you are familiar with and think I never saw that coming.

A crime novel packed with light and dark, brutality and laugh out loud humour, peaking with a totally unexpected twist. Fingers crossed for a follow up!

The author

Stuart MacBride is the Sunday Times No.1 bestselling author of the Logan McRae and Ash Henderson novels. He’s also published standalones, novellas, and short stories, as well as a slightly twisted children’s picture book for slightly twisted children. Stuart lives in the northeast of Scotland with his wife Fiona, cats Gherkin, Onion and Beetroot, some hens, some horses, and an impressive collection of assorted weeds. 

No Less The Devil can be purchased direct from the author here