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

You Never Said Goodbye #LucaVeste #YouNeverSaidGoodbye

By Luca Veste https://lucaveste.wordpress.com/

Published by Hodder & Stoughton https://www.hodder.co.uk/

368 pages ISBN 9781529357332

Publication date 17 February 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

A devoted mother
Sam Cooper has a happy life: a good job, a blossoming relationship. Yet, there’s something he can never forget – the image seared into his mind of his mother, Laurie, dying when he was a child. His father allowed his grief to tear them apart and Sam hasn’t seen him in years.

A Loving Wife
Until an unexpected call from Firwood hospital, asking Sam to come home, puts in motion a chain of devastating events. On his deathbed, Sam’s father makes a shocking confession.

A liar?
Who was Laurie Cooper? It’s clear that everything Sam thought he knew about his mother was wrong. And now he’s determined to find out exactly what she did and why – whatever the cost.

What happens if you discover you’ve been lied to by your own family for twenty-five years?
Sam Cooper is about to find out.

Synopsis

On finding out from his dying father that there was a chance that his mother may still be alive, Sam’s life if thrown into turmoil.  When confronted by the two men who badly beat his father he must run for his life and then is determined to find out whether his father was right.

His only hope is his mother’s friend Tom but that means going back 25 years and to the place where she died, along with his younger brother, and relive the trauma that has blighted his life. He flies out to Connecticut to find Tom and the answers he is looking for, but it becomes clear that he is not the only one interested in the outcome. Mysterious figures seem to follow his every step but who is friend and who is foe?

My thoughts

I know the author has the DI Murphy and DS Rossi series (there is at least one on my Kindle waiting to be read, I really must get around to it) but this is a standalone novel. Having previously read The Bone Keeper, another standalone, which is a mixture of psychological thriller bordering on horror (think The Candyman) and police procedural I was expecting something a little bit different, and You Never Said Goodbye certainly is. This is a psychological mystery which becomes an action thriller at times.

Initially the plot appears to be thin, centring on whether Sam’s mother Laurie is alive and his search to uncover the truth. Complexity is added by the uncertainty built around the past and the introduction of several mysterious characters. It is these factors that sustain the reader’s interest rather than the usual cliff hangers and action set pieces found in many thrillers.  I must confess that what was meant to be a minor red herring of the type often played out on screen, a simple phone call, left me awfully confused for a few pages, but you will spend much of the book trying to decide who Jackson and Quinn really are and whose side they are on.

There are two strands to the narrative. In one the reader follows Sam’s current pursuit of the truth, the other is set in the mid-1990s and follows the life of his mother, then these are brought together near the end. Sam’s part is written in first person, and we see the progress of the search through his perspective as it unfolds, and this allows the reader to be kept in the dark over the roles Jackson and Quinn play out. The overall writing style is unfussy and this allows for a good pace throughout and the intensity never lets up.

The themes and motivations throughout are strong. Laurie’s desire to escape the clutches of controlling men, Tom’s desire for what he can’t have, David’s despair at his loss and Sam’s regret at his inability to save his younger brother. All these result in psychological damage in one way or another. Former lover Anthony’s obsession with Laurie causes all the pain and misery because he is both ruthless and resourceful, though we eventually discover that there is more to his desire to find Laurie than just to possess her. It’s a story of the power that corrupts and seeking to control the lives of others.

The main character Sam is agreeable and suitably out of his depth both in terms of experience and being in a foreign country. The villains, ruthless Carson and Hunter are from thugs central casting but their boss Anthony is entertainingly demented throughout. In Tom the Afghanistan War veteran we have a credible all action hero who seems to be everywhere and carrying emotional baggage of his own. The most interesting character though is Laurie who must be selfish in her bid to be free from controlling men. She is unable to live her life on her terms but still at times has you thinking ‘how could you?’ even though she is very much sinned against rather than being sinner. In the end though it is difficult not to feel empathy for her and there are many others who suffer her plight in the real world.

As one would expect there is death and brutality throughout, though none of it is particularly graphic. There is, however, a surprising lack of law enforcement. Being one step ahead of the police is a staple of the genre but perhaps stretching it a little too much here for me.

The subject matter could have made for a very dark novel but instead Mr Veste has turned it into an enjoyable thought-provoking thriller. Later I will have to visit Murphy and Rossi and give my thoughts on that series.

Murder at the Savoy

By Jim Eldridge www.jimeldridge.com

Published by ‎ Allison & Busby www.allisonandbusby.com

319 pages ISBN 9780749027063

Publication date 21 October 2021

This is the second novel in the World War II Hotel Mysteries series.

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

From the blurb

As the bombs fall, where can you shelter from a murderer?

Synopsis

It’s the height of the Blitz and bombs are falling all over London. The Savoy hotel is confident that its underground air raid shelter with dormitory facilities will appeal to its well-heeled guests so much that it is advertised in the newspapers.  This encourages of Eastenders from Stepney to congregate one night, and they are eventually admitted preventing the trouble from escalating. During the night the Earl of Lancaster is murdered, stabbed in the back as he sleeps.

Detective Chief Inspector Coburg is called in by the owners but when he arrives he finds the local police have been called and Inspector Lomax is in charge and believes he has solved the case already, he says that the Earl’s son is the murderer.

Lady Lancaster believes her son is innocent and asks Coburg to intervene. He says it’s not is case and so is powerless. After establishment pressure the Commissioner steps in and hands the case to Coburg, much to Lomax’s chagrin. Lomax thinks Coburg has worked behind his back, using his class and status to get the case, and seeks evidence of wrongdoing to bring him down.

During questioning Lady Winship takes a shine to DCI Coburg and when she discovers he has recently married Rosa a famous jazz singer, she pressures the Savoy to give Rosa a showcase spot and then invites her to one of her soirees. Is this merely an innocent invitation to a talented singer or is there an ulterior motive behind it?

The investigation takes DCI Coburg and DS Lampson from the luxury of the Savoy to the bombed-out streets of London’s East End and gentile Ascot in search of the truth. In doing so they encounter the rich, famous, and powerful and the doughty poor, members of the establishment, communists, fascist appeasers, and foreign detainees.

My thoughts

The Savoy is an excellent setting for a murder mystery.  It and the adjoining theatre was memorably used in Christopher Fowler’s Seventy-Seven Clocks Bryant and May novel. In this he includes detailed descriptions and the connections with the D’Oyly Carte family. In this novel Jim Eldridge counterpoints the opulence of the suites and public rooms with those behind scenes populated by the maids and waitresses as well as introducing us to the air raid shelter which is key to the story.

Placing the novel in 1940 is perfect for what essentially is a period piece of writing. This is a murder mystery very much in the style of the ‘Golden Age’ of crime substituting the hotel for the country house or manor so favoured by contemporary writers then. The structure and descriptions are in keeping with the time and whilst I noted a couple of modernisms these are easily overlooked and will be unnoticed by many. It manages to capture the gentile feel of the 1930s for those who were comfortably off but with war just starting to be felt after the period known as the phoney war. The devastation of the Blitz is covered and is central to the plot without taking over.

Overall, the feel was that of good television writing, entertaining and inoffensive without being over demanding. The murders were not dark or overly gruesome, the poor are downtrodden but there are no descriptions of grinding poverty, and the inclusion of the internment camp was a novel addition, but the treatment of the internees were not covered in detail. This is very much a work of entertainment and doesn’t set itself out to reflect the social realities of the time or comment of futility or waste of war.

It is very much a novel of class and manners; Coburg is upper class but trying to make his way through the ranks of the police force whereas his brother Magnus very much enjoys the trappings of privilege, but both are treated with equal sympathy. The working class are portrayed as stoically battling on through their privations and the hotel workers are diligent and mindful of their position. Coburg is ‘bombed out’ of his flat and so can, like the Queen after Buckingham Palace was bombed, feel empathy with average Eastender and ‘look them in the eye.’ The reader also gets a good feeling for the protocols operating within a mid-twentieth century grand hotel where guests expect the best and everything must be done just so.

There is mention of real-life people from the period including significant war time figures as well as people from popular entertainment. There is a minor cameo role for Agatha Christie, which is a nod towards the heritage of the work, but the author has resisted incorporating the real-life figures within the action, something which seems to be increasing in popularity with writers. This allows for the plot to remain straightforward and to flow without unnecessary distractions. There is plenty of intrigue to keep the reader guessing and the action is in keeping with the style of the work.

This is an excellent recreation of a period novel which I found entertaining, and I am sure that lovers of those works and indeed people who enjoy programmes like ‘Foyle’s War’ are going to love it.

A Dark Matter

By Doug Johnstone https://dougjohnstone.com/

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

336 pages ISBN 9781912374991

Publication date 23 November 2019

I purchased an electronic copy from Kobo Books.

From the blurb

Meet the Skelfs: well-known Edinburgh family, proprietors of a long-established funeral-home business, and private investigators…

Synopsis

When patriarch Jim dies it is up to the women of the Skelf family to step up and run the two family businesses.  They have some experience of work in the funeral directors but none as working as private investigators.  They are, however, three generations of strong and resourceful women: Grandmother Dorothy, Mother Jenny and her Daughter Hannah.

When Dorothy examines the finances of the funeral directors, she uncovers a mysterious monthly payment which has been going on for years.  Her investigation makes her question what she really knew about her husband and ultimately uncovers a dark, uncomfortable secret. 

Hannah’s university friend Mel disappears but with her being an adult the police are not interested in investigating without evidence of foul play.  Keen to be an investigator Hannah decides that she must follow up the scant leads and in doing so discovers that she never really knew Mel that well.

Jenny is approached at a funeral service by one of the mourners to look into the life of her husband who ‘works late’ which she believes is a cover for adulterous behaviour.  Jenny soon discovers all may not be how things first appear, but that human spirit can prevail.

Not forgetting Archie, the Skelf’s loyal employee who has a condition where he feels he is dead and can relate better to dead people.  Now on medication he works away diligently and keeps the funeral directors running like clockwork, but can he continue to do it now that Jim has gone, and changes are being made?

The women must deal with their grief whilst confronting things they would rather not.

My thoughts

I’ve had this book for a while now and somehow not got around to it, perhaps because I haven’t got around to getting a Kobo reader yet and so would have to read it on my phone.  Seeing so many good things about it and the fact that book 3 is imminent I resolved to get stuck in and I had barely got started when Val McDermid was praising it.  Would I like it though?

It has a quirky opening with Jim’s funeral which immediately put me in mind of The Crow Road by Iain Banks, the opening paragraph of which for me is the best in modern literature.  Perhaps it was a homage to the much-missed author; it certainly sets out that the book is going to be a little bit different.

The narrative is in the third person but each chapter from the perspective of one of the three women.  Some may think it a little jerky but with the multistrand plot and each of them concentrating on different mysteries I think it works well.  It takes a little while to set up the different strands and to include the set up for the series but once the jigsaw pieces start to come together they somehow fit into a cleverly constructed plot.

Looking at the cover I was expecting the style to follow one of two tones, either lots of irreverent dark humour that you come to expect where people fulfil unpleasant tasks or very dark and serious.  How wrong I was!  There was some dark humour but its subtle and thoughtfully introduced, certainly nothing outrageous or offensive even when a night-time visit to a cemetery is involved. ^#  The subject matter is dark, but the author manages to keep the tone bright and upbeat but all the time respectful.  I loved the introduction of a tiny spade motif as the occasional break within chapters.

The inclusion of three strong women who are three generations of the same family, the youngest of whom is a lesbian whose girlfriend works for them is inspired.  It provides a broad canvas to explore their relationships within the family dynamic and their intergenerational differences, which Doug Johnstone makes full use of.  Not only do they have to deal with their grief over the loss of Jim but also their own individual problems which must be faced up to if they are to be resolved.  Dorothy questions Jim’s past and whether he had some second secret life as well as part of her yearning for her youth back in America.  Jenny must face up to losing her job meaning the failure of her writing career as well as her marriage and moving back into the family home.  Hannah is trying to balance her relationships with her divorced parents and her father having a new wife and child.  All the time though, the women’s personal flaws are evident.

Most of all this is a novel about the resilience of human spirit over adversity.  It doesn’t shy away from difficult topics including grief, loneliness, homelessness, and jealousy but instead deals them in an uplifting way that is not preachy. Above all else there is a warmth to the storytelling which should win over the reader. 

No, I wasn’t disappointed, I should have read it long ago and certainly I won’t be waiting as long to read books 2 and 3.

#  If you are looking for outrageous hilarity in a cemetery after dark then I recommend ‘Vinyl Detective: The Run Out Groove’ by Andrew Cartmel, the second book in another great series.

The Heights #LouiseCandlish #TheHeights

By Louise Candlish http://www.louisecandlish.com/

Published by Simon & Schuster https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/

429 pages ISBN  9781471183492

Publication date 5 August 2021

I received a proof copy to review thanks to an online competition.  Thanks to Louise and Jess at Simon & Schuster for arranging this.

From the blurb

He thinks he’s safe up there.  Can he ever be safe from you?

The Heights is a tall, slender apartment building among the warehouses of Tower Bridge, its roof terrace so discreet you wouldn’t know it existed if you weren’t standing at the window of the flat directly opposite.  But you are.  And that’s when you see a man up there – a man you’d recognise anywhere.  He’s older now and his appearance has subtly changed, but it’s definitely him.

Which makes no sense at all since you know he has been dead for over two years.

You know this for a fact.

Because you’re the one who killed him.

Synopsis

Things are going well for Ellen Saint; she is a happily married self-employed lighting consultant with two teenagers and an ex-husband she is still in speaking terms with.  Then one day everything is shattered when at a client’s apartment she sees Kieran Watts standing on the roof of the building opposite.  This can’t be the case, he died two years ago…

Just as he is starting sixth form Lucas, Ellen’s son, is buddied up Kieran a new pupil.  Kieran has been fostered and the school feel that Lucas will help him find his feet and some stability in the early days.  Initially things are great the two of them get on like a house on fire and Kieran is accepted into the circle of friends that include Jade, Lucas’ girlfriend, and Tom, often hanging out and gaming at Lucas’ home or his father Vic’s.  Then the two of them start to dabble with alcohol and recreational drugs and their behaviour suffers as they get into scrapes.  There’s an unauthorised jolly to France and Lucas manages to get himself suspended whereas Kieran always seems to cover his own back.  Ellen starts to despise Kieran and while she can keep him from visiting, she is powerless at keeping them apart.  She intervenes with Prisca, Kieran’s foster mother, but she thinks he’s faultless.

Lucas goes to university and things start to improve as the distance separates them.  When he comes home for Christmas, they meet up again and on the fateful night they crash into a reservoir.  Kieran who is driving manages to save himself through the passenger window, but Lucas doesn’t make it.  Kieran is prosecuted and given a short sentence as a young offenders’ unit.

Ellen believes the sentence is too lenient and starts a campaign to have it increased which eventually becomes vitriolic.  Justice has been served but it doesn’t feel like enough for her, especially when she sees Kieran back in the area after only two years.  Together with Vic they execute a plan to eliminate the memory of the night once and for all.

So, when Ellen sees Kieran a couple of years later it doesn’t make sense.  This man is Sam Harding a rising star of IT who is living in a penthouse apartment and is backed by a business angel James Ratcliffe and in the coming days Ellen’s life unravels.

My thoughts

This is a cleverly constructed book.  It starts with an extract from an article published in the Sunday Times Magazine covering a creative writing course being taught at a library.  It then moves to an autobiographical novel ‘Saint or Sinner’ by Ellen Saint who is one of the attendees at the writing course.  This novel is runs on two-time frames, one set as the current in October 2019 and another set initially a few years earlier but which catches up the current narrative.  In between this is inserted further extracts from the Sunday Times piece, plus some thoughts from Ellen’s ex-husband Vic.  I must confess it took me a few chapters to figure this out, but it works, its well-crafted rather than being gimmicky.

Ellen we are told has problems with heights, but its not vertigo so there disappears analogies to the Hitchcock movie so titled.  Ellen suffers from ‘high place phenomenon’ a condition where the sufferer on a ledge or high place gets an urge to jump off.  Strange but obviously problematic for someone whose business is lighting design.  This is not a major part of the story but does play a part towards the end when we arrive at the confrontation.

The narrative itself starts relatively sedately and ratchets up in intensity until the meeting on the titular Heights.  There the truth is exposed; everything is effectively flipped on its head and the whole dynamic changes.  It is a story of human character and feelings rather than incident packed adventure.  Ellen initially seeks the truth and when that is not forthcoming, she settles for revenge at any cost to her, her family, and relationships.

The characterisation is excellent; its easy for the reader to feel empathy for Ellen and Vic as they seek the truth and sympathy for Justin as he tries to support Ellen and hold their family together.  Then as Ellen becomes obsessed, seeking revenge and in the end just the death of Kieran, she becomes embittered, and another side is seen.  Perhaps she should try to accept that justice was seen to be done and move on and find some kind of peace or closure.  Sympathy for Vic also dries up when it becomes clear the deception he has pulled although he has feared exposure since the event.

The nub is what would a parent do to protect their child?  Once Kieran is in touch with her daughter Freya Ellen is motivated to prevent her being corrupted, but what of Justin her husband and Freya’s biological father who compared to Ellen seems almost ambivalent about it.  Readers who have children may be able to solve this conundrum. 

The Height’s is Louise’s fifteenth novel and I must confess to not having read any of them, one thing I intend to rectify shortly as I have just purchased the audiobook version of The Other Passenger to accompany me on my long dog walks.

This is a powerful novel, cleverly told, covering the emotional effects of the loss of a teenager and the corrupting effects of the desire for revenge when those closest feel that justice hasn’t been served.

Good Samaritans

By Will Carver

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

Published on 15 September 2018

318 pages ISBN 9781912374373

I bought my Kindle copy from Amazon.

From the blurb

One crossed wire, three dead bodies and six bottles of bleach…

Seth Beauman can’t sleep. He stays up late, calling strangers from his phonebook, hoping to make a connection, while his wife, Maeve, sleeps upstairs. A crossed wire finds a suicidal Hadley Serf on the phone to Seth, thinking she is talking to the Samaritans.

But a seemingly harmless, late-night hobby turns into something more for Seth and for Hadley, and soon their late-night talks are turning into daytime meet-ups. And then this dysfunctional love story turns into something altogether darker, when Seth brings Hadley home…

And someone is watching…

Synopsis

Seth is a very troubled man.  He’s not particularly keen on his job or the people he works with and despises his younger boss who he would love to punch (or worse).  His big problem though is insomnia which rules his life.  When his wife is asleep, he gets out his home-made phone book and starts calling people to try and find someone, anyone, to talk to.  Occasionally, amongst the fuck off or weirdo responses he finds someone who is willing to indulge him; one night he speaks to Hadley and a real connection is made.

Hadley herself is also very troubled, feeling suicidal and believes she is speaking to a branch of the Samaritans when fate and crossed phone lines have linked her to Seth.  Speaking to Seth calms her down and she stops thinking of ending it all.  The next evening, she calls the Samaritans and asks to speak to Seth but instead speaks to Ant, at with she is unhappy and rings off.  This worries Ant, who still feels that he let down his best friend.  He crosses the line professionally and uses the details from her call to the Samaritans to trace her and then he starts to watch her, to ultimately stalk her.  He sees her get picked up at a night club for casual sex, follows them to her place and when the man leaves after ‘hit and run’ sex in her hallway he attacks him.

Seth and Hadley meet up and a relationship of sorts begins to develop, with Ant watching from a distance.  Maeve, Seth’s wife, realises that he is ‘up to his tricks’ again but will she stand by him?

All the time Maeve is becoming obsessed with the dark brooding DS Pace who is investigating a series of linked murders but making little progress.  Will she ever meet him in real life and how will he compare to Seth?

Another killing takes place and all the main characters are in some way embroiled in what follows. A trap is set but will the killer be caught?

My thoughts

Bloody hell.  What have I just read?

Where do I begin?  No this isn’t Love Story, far from it, though there is some love in a dysfunctional marriage, quite a lot of intimacy and some detailed descriptions of sexual activity.  So far so good.

The style is innovative in that it is told partly in first person and then halfway through the narrative switches to another first-person viewpoint.  The book is split into days and then the story is told in short sub chapters centring on one of the main characters in turn.  This may sound a little fiddly, but it works rather well and keeps up the unrelenting intensity for the reader.

Its dark, very dark and portrays the life and activity of a serial killer very matter-of-factly.  The violence is short and brutal without being too graphic; the lack of respect for the victim’s remains as they have indignities inflicted on them as forensic evidence is removed is chilling though.  There’s bleach, lots of it, I guess from now on I’ll take note of other people’s trollies during the weekly shop.

To pinch the old footballing cliché this was certainly a book of two halves. 

The first half trots along and we find out about the main characters of the story.  There’s Seth the computer hardware salesman who suffers from chronic insomnia and has the dubious hobby of phoning random strangers at night just for someone to talk to.  Maeve his long-suffering wife spends her evenings sprawled out in front of the telly consuming copious amounts of wine until drunken oblivion is achieved.  Then there’s fragile Hadley whose self-esteem and self-respect are rock bottom, so she resorts to self-harming and thoughts of suicide.  There’s also Ant who volunteers evenings at the Samaritans and harbours thoughts of guilt after his friend kills himself by hanging from a door during a sex act. 

Seth wants to be with Hadley; Ant wants to save her from herself.  Maeve longs for the troubled DS Pace, who is floundering with his serial killer, who she sees every night on her television and Pace just wants to get his man.

Then halfway through like a switch has been flicked the plot goes berserk and slips into overdrive. The identity of the serial killer is revealed to the reader after hints and red herrings earlier.  A main character is murdered, and the reaction of the others is somewhat surprising as actions escalate from there.  Each new plot twist will make you think WTF as it turns in another unsuspecting direction.

Another unusual aspect is that the policeman DS Pace’s role is somewhat a bit part.  This is no police procedural with forms filled and protocols followed.

Then as we come to the denouement there’s one final slap across the chops for the reader.

Stunning stuff in more ways than one, but I couldn’t read 3 or 4 like this consecutively I’m too delicate!  I have the next novel ready to read but I think I’ll leave it for while for now, but I’ll definitely be back.

Shiver #AllieReynolds #Shiver

By Allie Reynolds https://allie-reynolds.com/

Published by Headline Publishing Group https://www.headline.co.uk/

432 pages ISBN 9781472270245

My copy is an uncorrected proof copy.

The TV rights to Shiver have been taken up and a drama series is expected to be based on it.

From the blurb

Who is guilty and who is innocent?

Synopsis

Five friends are reunited at the resort in the French Alps where they were snowboarding ten years ago.  Saskia has not been seen in those ten years, and even though her credit card was used after the day she went missing, has been declared dead.  Is she dead or alive, and what happened to her partner Odette after her life changing accident?

The friends become cut off at the deserted lodge high up on the mountain and the secrets of the past are determined to be revealed.

My thoughts

Sport is hard to portray convincingly in the Arts.  In film boxing and baseball seem to fare best of all, probably because the staged action can look good, whereas football comes out dreadful.  Escape to Victory is remembered fondly but the football scenes were shocking.  In novels sport fares little better, Philip Kerr had a reasonable stab at football and Dick Francis was probably the most commercially successful, but his better works tended to be the ones where horse racing was incidental rather than central to the plot.  For me David Storey’s This Sporting Life remains the gold standard of sport in literature, but even then, it could be argued its not the central theme.

They always say start by writing about what you know (being an accountant this explains why I have yet to pen a novel!)  The author, Allie Reynolds, is a former freestyle snowboarder and so this a central theme to her debut novel.  Five friends are training for the UK Snowboarding championship ten years ago is the catalyst for a thriller taking place ten years later.  I imagine this world to be an obsessive one just like surfing or skydiving where it takes over the lives of competitors, so a difficult subject to bring entertainingly to the page.

The plot is a variation of the Country House Mystery, the twist being it is set in a deserted lodge high up in snow covered mountains with the characters being cut off from the outside world.  In a classic telling some of these would be ‘bumped off’ by accident or murder to keep the reader guessing.  With only five main characters this was not really an option and so the writer was relying on the interactions between them to keep the suspense running.

After three chapters to get the plot moving, the development is through alternate chapters set in the present and ten years ago as told by Milla in the first person.  Throughout, it is clear that Milla has a secret, which is revealed at the end, which means there is some uncertainty as to what happened throughout the story.  Is there actually a killer and if there is which one of the five is it, could it even be Milla?

I’ve never tried winter sports, so the description of the snowboarding action was outside my experience and for me there was a little too much of it.  Some of it was clearly vital to the plot but at times the novel felt overlong and in need of a bit of pruning.  There is much interaction between the characters who I found to be unsympathetic and hard to relate to, though this could just be an accurate portrayal of very driven competitive snowboarders.  The finale was well worked out and the final 70-80 pages built up a sense of urgency after a period when not a great deal happened.

An enjoyable competently produced debut novel if a little over long.  I will certainly look for Allie’s future works which hopefully have less snow in them for me to be interested.

If you are going for a winter holiday on the snow this could be the book to put in your case.