Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘Dead Ground’, the fourth novel in the Poe and Bradshaw series of crime novels by M.W. Craven.
Thanks to Beth Wright at Little Brown UK for inviting me onto the tour and for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Continue reading Blog Tour: ‘Dead Ground’ by M. W. CravenI’m halfway to my Goodreads 2021 target of 100 books!
With 50 (mostly) great books under my belt, I thought it was time to take stock and pick my favourites so far.
These five in particular have helped light up my 2021…
I've included affiliate links in this post - thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.Continue reading Woah-oh, I’m halfway there!
Happy publication day to this brilliant crime fiction book! This is the eighth book in the series featuring DI Gina Harte.
I have read a lot of this series now and they do just seem to keep getting better! The earlier ones in the series focused a lot on Detective Gina Harte’s own personal story but – now this storyline has played out to a greater extent – I love the new focus on the ingenious plotting, creepy scenarios and casts of suspicious characters!
This book opens with the death of a student, Amber, whose body is found in Cleevesford Park – she went out on a date and never returned to her worried housemate. Harte and her team begin their investigations and begin uncovering some weird characters and lots of secrets surrounding the dead woman. The leads begin to mount up and Harte and her team struggle to prioritise their work – but a second disappearance has them scrambling to find connections before there is another murder.
I’m already bought into this series and like the character of DI Gina Harte – she is a likeable character and I also like the fact that she is a strong older women (she has a grown-up daughter) who is in control. Her relationship with her team is positive and (mostly) problem-free, which is great as the focus is on the investigation rather than the police team. The team themselves are often not particularly distinctive, so it was brilliant that one of them got a more important role in the plot this time around.
The plotting itself is cleverly done – there’s always lots happening and plenty of red herrings to fall for. In fact, this series seems to be getting more tense – the sections narrated by Meredith were really quite creepy and kept me on the edge of my seat! I read this book really quickly as I couldn’t wait to find out the next twist.
I’d wholeheartedly recommend this for readers who love police procedurals, especially if a female lead is a draw for you (as it is for me). I’d suggest you start at the beginning of the series really, to fully appreciate the strength of DI Harte, but this would be fine as a stand alone.
Header photo by Bill Oxford on Unsplash.
If you’d like a copy of this fabulous police procedural, please use my affiliate link below. Thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘Dark Memories’ by Liz Mistry. This tour has been organised by Rachel’s Random Resources – thanks to Rachel, the publisher and author for my copy of the novel for review – opinions are entirely my own.
Blurb:
Three letters. Three murders. The clock is ticking…
When the body of a homeless woman is found under Bradford’s railway arches, DS Nikki Parekh and her trusty partner DC Sajid Malik are on the case.
With little evidence, it’s impossible to make a breakthrough, and when Nikki receives a newspaper clipping taunting her about her lack of progress in catching the killer, she wonders if she has a personal link to the case.
When another seemingly unrelated body is discovered, Nikki receives another note. Someone is clearly trying to send her clues… but who?
And then a third body is found.
This time on Nikki’s old street, opposite the house she used to live in as a child. And there’s another message… underneath the victim’s body.
With nothing but the notes to connect the murders, Nikki must revisit the traumatic events of her childhood to work out her connection to the investigation.
But some memories are best left forgotten, and it’s going to take all Nikki’s inner strength to catch the killer…
Before they strike again.
Purchase Links
UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Memories-addictive-nail-biting-Detective-ebook/dp/B08NZ4LV2R
US – https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Memories-addictive-nail-biting-Detective-ebook/dp/B08NZ4LV2R
My Review:
Having absolutely loved the previous book in this series, ‘Broken Silence’, I was very pleased to be able to read ‘Dark Memories’ before its publication date. Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is the third book in the (so far) excellent crime series featuring DS Nikki Parekh and DC Sajid Malik who work in Bradford. The last book was dark, gritty and so compelling so this one had a lot to live up to!
And it absolutely delivers. This story is closer to home for Nikki who begins to suspect that a number of murders are connected when she starts receiving newspaper clippings in the post from an anonymous sender. When the third murder is on the street she grew up on, she makes connections that link her past to the current horrors unfolding in Bradford.
Without wanting to give any spoilers, it is worth noting that Nikki’s childhood was not a happy one and this book touches on lots of hard-hitting issues. Regular readers will expect this of Mistry (whose last book tackled the grim world of people-smuggling), but I thought was worth mentioning for new readers.
One of the strengths of the novel is the relationship between Nikki and Sajid. Both are happily in relationships elsewhere (so it isn’t that kind of will-they-won’t-they scenario for so many reasons!), but their friendship is warm and genuine. There is lots of good-natured teasing between them that readers will recognise as being part of an intense working relationship. However, Saj is also really supportive when the truth about Nikki’s past comes out and this proves to be a positive in a book that otherwise would be extremely dark. Similarly, Nikki’s partner and children are also lovely – while the revelations about her past are sad and awful, she has the support network around her.
Another strength for me was the detail in the way the investigation was carried out. I love police procedurals, although I can’t claim to be an expert, and this felt realistic and methodical. There was a sense of the police being clueless at times and having to undertake lots of boring work in order to make any progress which felt real. That’s absolutely not to say it was boring to read though! Mistry manages the pace of the novel well – there are moments of high tension as well as more measured investigations.
As already mentioned, the themes are gritty and Bradford’s streets are populated with some awful people! As excellent as the plotting and characterisation is, I did find the grimness a bit of a challenge at times, especially the investigation involving children.
Overall, this is a tightly-plotted and tense police procedural. The fact that Nikki is surrounded by love and support helped to temper the dark themes a little and I’ll admit I raced through this to find out what happened!
About the Author:
Born in Scotland, Made in Bradford sums up Liz Mistry’s life. Over thirty years ago she moved from a small village in West Lothian to Yorkshire to get her teaching degree. Once here, Liz fell in love with three things; curries, the rich cultural diversity of the city … and her Indian husband (not necessarily in this order). Now thirty years, three children, two cats (Winky and Scumpy) and a huge extended family later, Liz uses her experiences of living and working in the inner city to flavour her writing. Her gritty crime fiction police procedural novels set in Bradford embrace the city she describes as ‘Warm, Rich and Fearless’ whilst exploring the darkness that lurks beneath.
Struggling with severe clinical depression and anxiety for a large number of years, Liz often includes mental health themes in her writing. She credits the MA in Creative Writing she took at Leeds Trinity University with helping her find a way of using her writing to navigate her ongoing mental health struggles. Being a debut novelist in her fifties was something Liz had only dreamed of and she counts herself lucky, whilst pinching herself regularly to make sure it’s all real. One of the nicest things about being a published author is chatting with and responding to readers’ feedback and Liz regularly does events at local libraries, universities, literature festivals and open mics. She also teaches creative writing too. Now, having nearly completed a PhD in Creative Writing focussing on ‘the absence of the teen voice in adult crime fiction’ and ‘why expansive narratives matter’, Liz is chock full of ideas to continue writing.
In her spare time, Liz loves pub quizzes (although she admits to being rubbish at them), dancing (she does a mean jig to Proud Mary – her opinion, not ratified by her family), visiting the varied Yorkshire landscape, with Robin Hoods Bay being one of her favourite coastal destinations, listening to music, reading and blogging about all things crime fiction on her blog, The Crime Warp.
Social Media Links –
FB https://www.facebook.com/LizMistrybooks/
Twitter @LizMistryAuthor
Website: https://www.lizmistry.com/
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘Out for Blood’ by Deborah Masson. This book will be released in paperback by Corgi on 10th December, 2020, but the e-book is available now.
This blog tour was organised by the fabulous Random Things Tours.
From the Publisher
THE RETURN OF DI EVE HUNTER: DI Eve Hunter is back in the edge-of-your-seat new detective thriller from Deborah Masson, winning author of the Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year 2020.
A young man, the son of an influential businessman, is discovered dead in his central Aberdeen apartment.
Hours later, a teenaged girl with no identification is found hanged in a suspected suicide.
As DI Eve Hunter and her team investigate the two cases, they find themselves in a tug-of-war between privilege and poverty; between the elite and those on the fringes of society.
Then an unexpected breakthrough leads them to the shocking conclusion: that those in power have been at the top for too long – and now, someone is going to desperate lengths to bring them down…
Can they stop someone who is dead set on revenge, no matter the cost
READERS ARE OBSESSED WITH THE DI EVE HUNTER SERIES
‘Out For Blood has everything you need in a crime thriller and more’ – Rebecca Bradley
‘DI Eve Hunter is truly a force to be reckoned with’ – David Jackson
‘This is first-class crime fiction’ – Marion Todd
‘Not to be missed, edge-of-the-seat stuff from a genuine rising star’ – Denzil Meyrick
‘One of the best books I’ve ever read!’
‘I loved DI Eve Hunter and her team’
‘Without a doubt the best police procedural I have read in a long time’
‘I cannot wait to see what else is to come in the DI Eve Hunter series’
‘You won’t want to stop reading this addictive crime novel’
‘Fantastic characters that you’ll fall in love with – I really couldn’t put this book down!’
‘Can’t wait for the next one . . . and the next one . . . and the next one!
My Review
This is the second book in the series featuring DI Eve Hunter. I absolutely loved the first in the series – ‘Hold Your Tongue’ – and this is a worthy sequel.
The story opens with the death of a young man in a flat in an exclusive area of Aberdeen. At the same time, a young woman is found dead at a golf course in the city – it would appear to be a suicide, but there are some questions over the circumstances. DI Eve Hunter and her team are called in to investigate both deaths and start to make connections with some very powerful men and a previous police investigation.
I really liked the idea behind this novel – the fact that power at the highest level of society isn’t without corruption. This made for a compelling read as I was keen to find out what happened to the men in power and why.
DI Eve Hunter is an appealing and feisty protagonist – she has temper problems and doesn’t always have the best judgement which is refreshing and real. She has strength, but also she can be vulnerable, and her personal life doesn’t crowd out the crime story (as sometimes happens in police procedural series).
Another strength is DI Hunter’s team. They are also appealing and have identities in their own rights which is refreshing – too often, in books like this, the police team surrounding the main investigator tend to blend together, but this doesn’t happen here. They are individually interesting and likeable.
The story is well plotted and pacey – I was keen to race through to the end to find out what happened and was not disappointed at any point. It isn’t as gruesome as the first book in the series or quite as tense, but this didn’t detract from my enjoyment!
Overall, this is highly recommended to readers who enjoy a solid police procedural with a strong female lead. It’s perhaps not quite as edge-of-your-seat tense as the first one in the series, but it is engaging and compelling. I really look forward to the next one in the series.
About the Author:
Deborah Masson was born and bred in Aberdeen, Scotland. Always restless and fighting against being a responsible adult, she worked in several jobs including secretarial, marketing, reporting for the city’s freebie newspaper and a stint as a postie – to name but a few.
Through it all, she always read crime fiction and, when motherhood finally settled her into being an adult (maybe even a responsible one) she turned her hand to writing what she loved. Deborah started with short stories and flash fiction whilst her daughter napped and, when she later welcomed her son into the world, she decided to challenge her writing further through online courses with Professional Writing Academy and Faber Academy. Her debut novel, Hold Your Tongue, is the result of those courses.
Hold Your Tongue has been widely well reviewed by readers and authors alike, with many comparing her favourably to Stuart MacBride. It won the Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of the Year 2020 and was longlisted for CWA New Blood Dagger 2020.
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘The Phoenix Project’ by Michelle Kidd. This book was published on 5th October, 2018. The tour has been organised by Damp Pebbles Blog Tours.
This is the first book in the series featuring Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh – there are two further books in the series: ‘Seven Days’ (Book 2) and ‘The Fifteen’ (Book 3).
The Blurb
How long can the past remain buried?
A simple message in a local newspaper. A set of highly sensitive documents left in the back of a London black cab. Both events collide to cause Isabel Faraday’s life to be turned upside down. Growing up believing her parents died in a car crash when she was five, Isabel learns the shocking truth; a truth that places her own life in danger by simply being a Faraday. Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh of the Metropolitan Police races against time to save her, and at the same time unravels long forgotten secrets involving MI5, MI6, the KGB and NASA. Secrets that have lain dormant for twenty years. Secrets worth killing for. With kidnap, murder and suicides stretching across four continents, just what is the Phoenix Project?
The Phoenix Project is the first Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh novel.
If you like a gripping page turner, with plenty of surprising twists, buy The Phoenix Project today to discover its secrets.
My Review
I’ll admit that this book was slightly outside my usual genres – although I love a police procedural, this one looked a lot more like a thriller and on an international scale so I wasn’t sure what to expect.
However, from the first page, it became evident that I was in safe hands as the story was revealed – multiple characters, many locations and different time periods were dealt with confidently by the author and I sat back to enjoy the ride!
I don’t think it can be emphasised enough that the scale of this book is HUGE. As well as involving MI5, MI6, NASA, the KGB and the Metropolitan Police, the story shifts between countries. The plot is also complex and on a massive scale with even an element about space travel. Although the premise initially seems a little far-fetched, it is absolutely compelling as the plot is developed around it. Although this was not within my usual genres, I found myself being pulled along by the story.
One of the ways that this book stays pacey and fresh across nearly 500 pages is the twists. Wow, the twists! There were so many that I felt like I was being pulled in so many directions and absolutely raced through the book in order to work out what was truth among the various plot strands featuring spies, double crosses, liars, corruption and secrecy!
In the middle of all this is DI Jack MacIntosh – we mainly follow his investigation and so discover things alongside him. He is an interesting character with a bit of back-story and I’d be interested to see how he develops in the rest of the series.
Also thrown into the middle of the mix is Isabel Faraday, a young woman working in an art supplies store who believes that her parents were killed in a car crash when she was a child. She receives a message to meet her ex-boyfriend, Miles, one evening and becomes central to the plot as she – along with the reader – tries to make sense of the bewildering events. I really liked Isabel as a character because she was surprisingly tough in the face of adversity and some very odd circumstances.
This is a hugely ambitious novel and one that I enjoyed very much, although I did sometimes feel that the plot was the driving force of the novel – I would have liked a little more character development in places as sometimes motives were not so clear. However, this is a minor quibble only as the plot is so fast-paced and twisty that there is never a dull moment.
I’d recommend this to those who like thrillers with a political dimension – although there is a central police figure, this is far from being a police procedural in the traditional sense. Instead, the reader is thrown into a whirl of people, places, plot twists and embarks on a race through the pages in order to discover the truth.
About the Author
Michelle Kidd is a self-published author known for the Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh series of novels.
Michelle qualified as a lawyer in the early 1990s and spent the best part of ten years practising civil and criminal litigation.
But the dream to write books was never far from her mind and in 2008 she began writing the manuscript that would become the first DI Jack MacIntosh novel – The Phoenix Project. The book took eighteen months to write, but spent the next eight years gathering dust underneath the bed.
In 2018 Michelle self-published The Phoenix Project and had not looked back since. There are currently three DI Jack MacIntosh novels, with a fourth in progress.
Michelle works full time for the NHS and lives in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. She enjoys reading, wine and cats – not necessarily in that order.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorKidd
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michellekiddauthor
Website: https://www.michellekiddauthor.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michellekiddauthor/
Purchase Links
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3nLLqMQ
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2IkU6Jz
How is it that time again?! The end of another month and another step nearer Christmas (yay!) and the end of 2020 (*huge sigh of relief*).
This month I have read 11 books and hit my GoodReads Challenge target of 100 books for the year!
It’s been a funny month with some real reading slumps as well as some absolutely BRILLIANT books. So, without further ado, here’s what I read this month…
(Links to books already published are affiliate links – thank you for supporting my blog with any purchases).
October Wrap-Up
I started the month with the brilliant ‘More Than a Woman’ by Caitlin Moran – an often funny, fresh and brutally honest take on what it means to be a middle-aged woman. This was my first five-star read of the month – you can see my review here.
After this, I read ‘Jeeves and the Leap of Faith’ by Ben Schott, a new Jeeves and Wooster novel written with the blessing of the PG Wodehouse estate. Nothing quite hits the highs of Wodehouse’s original novels, but Schott has done a great job of the language and comic elements. You can read my review here.
Next up was a blog tour for ‘The Creak on the Stairs’ by Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir, a chilling and dark piece of Nordic Noir crime fiction. Set in Iceland, this follows Chief Investigating Officer Elma as she tries to solve a murder that is stirring up the unsavoury past of some people in the small town of Akranes. You can read my blog tour post here.
Then came ‘The Servant’ by Maggie Richell-Davies, a dark historical tale of a girl who has fallen on difficult times in Georgian London. This book won the Historical Writers’ Association award for a (then) unpublished novel and is definitely worth a read – my review is here.
One of my audiobooks (listened to in the car with my kids) this month was Roald Dahl’s ‘Boy’, read by Dan Stevens. We all enjoyed this one – a lively performance of a book that I’ve loved since childhood. It has been a joy to relive the experiences of Dahl at school at Repton, on holiday in Norway, with his eccentric family and upsetting teachers and sweet-shop owners alike.
Next up was ‘The Phoenix Project’ by Michelle Kidd for another blog tour in November. This was a fast-paced thriller with a wide scope – London, Paris, Africa, Russian spies and the British Government – and all very tense! Watch this space for my blog tour review.
Then I enjoyed Walburga Appleseed’s ‘The Princess and the Prick’, a short book with some very concise feminist retellings of fairy tales, myths and nursery rhymes. Beautifully illustrated, this managed to pack plenty of food for thought into a small space.
Another short but powerful book was ‘Essex Girls’ by Sarah Perry, a feminist celebration of the qualities of the Essex Girl stereotype. In Perry’s book, Essex becomes a state of mind rather than a geographical location and we are introduced to a host of fabulous women from history. My review is here.
Another of my five-star books this month was ‘Practically Perfect: Life Lessons from Mary Poppins’ by Katy Brand. Anyone with any love for the 1964 film should read this as it is fascinating but delightfully comforting. My review can be found here.
Then I listened to another audiobook, ‘The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid’, a charming and funny book about Bill Bryson’s experiences of growing up in the 1950s in Des Moines in Iowa. This one is read by Bryson himself and his dry wit really comes through in the recording.
Finally, I finished the month with ‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ by Stuart Turton, a historical crime novel that I absolutely loved. You can read my review here.
November TBR
I am absolutely awful at predicting what I will read in the future – I read according to my mood and who knows where that may take me!?
However, I do have a lot of NetGalley ARCs that I should read. Here is just a selection:
This is ignoring the huge stacks of books in my house and my jam-packed Kindle so we shall wait and see what I actually manage to read!
Header photo with thanks to Alex Geerts for sharing their work on Unsplash.
I knew that this book would be so entirely my thing that I pre-ordered myself a gorgeous hardback copy because I couldn’t wait to see whether the NetGalley elves would be kind enough to grant me an ARC!
I loved Turton’s previous book, ‘The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle’, and was awaiting this one eagerly.
And I was right. It is so entirely my thing!
The story is set in 1634 on board a ship sailing from Batavia (in the Dutch East Indies) to Amsterdam. On board the Saardam, one of a fleet of seven ships sailing together, are an odd group of shipmates, including the governor general and his family, his mistress, a famed detective and his bodyguard, There’s also a whole host of unpredictable and bloodthirsty crew members, some musketeers and a mysterious cargo consigned to be watched over at all hours.
A horrific incident at the docks before boarding has rattled them all and introduced the idea of Old Tom, a demon under whose malign influence the Saardam is predicted to fall. When things on board the ship start to go wrong – often in disturbing and horrific ways – the ship seems doomed and all lives in danger.
With the celebrated detective locked in a holding cell for a crime he may have committed, it falls to two unlikely passengers on the ship to unravel the dark events that threaten the voyage.
I loved this book from the beginning when we are first introduced to Arent Hayes (bodyguard) and his master, Sammy Phipps – the celebrated detective who has more than a shadow of Sherlock Holmes about him. Powers of deduction? Tick. Widespread renown due to his sidekick’s reporting of his exploits? Tick. Slightly hedonistic tendencies when bored? Tick. It is fair to say, I was bought into this from the start!
When Sammy is confined to the cell, Arent becomes the main focus for the story and he is an interesting character in himself. Out of the shadow of his famous master, we see a man struggling to have the courage of his own convictions. He is someone who is more known for brawn than brain, although this seems unfair as the novel progresses and Arent is forced to use his intelligence as well as his strength. He is a realistic character with a shady past and I found myself really wanting him to prove himself.
Aside from Arent, what I loved about this book were the strong female characters. Sara Wessel, wife of the governor general of Batavia, is the main one who comes to the fore and she is a formidable woman, albeit one with contradictions. On the one hand, she is a clever, spirited woman with a talent for healing, but she is also subject to a domineering and violent husband and living in what essentially is a gilded cage. She makes a brilliant heroine because she is both so good and yet so plagued with her own problems too.
The setting of this book was also part of its considerable appeal for me. Although I can’t claim to know much about the East India Company and the technical details of the Indiaman ships, it felt authentic – the historical research was lightly worn and never felt laboured at all. Indeed, Turton claims (in a note at the end of the book) that ‘this is historical fiction where the history is the fiction’, but it all felt right to me and I was happy to be carried along in the wake of the compelling plot while admiring the history along the way! In fact, it has made me want to read more about the East India Company and this time period, so I’ve since bought ‘The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company’ by William Dalrymple which I hope will enlighten me further.
I think it needs to be said that ‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ is a very dark book – the clue is in the title! It probably isn’t for the faint at heart as there are murders, fights, gruesome injuries, tales of abuse and lashings administered on the ship. When a story opens with a dying leper, you know there’s more horrific things to come! Still, none of the violence ever felt gratuitous and it added to the authenticity of the danger of the high seas.
It’s really hard to say more about the plot without giving spoilers, which I absolutely don’t want to do. Let’s just say that the twists and turns are there, everything is cleverly plotted and the final resolution is satisfying. Given that I didn’t know if I was reading a historical crime novel or a supernatural mystery, it’s safe to say I had no clue where everything would end up. However, there is lots to keep any reader occupied and I raced through the pages looking for clues.
I’d recommend this highly to anyone who enjoys locked room mysteries, historical fiction, strong female leads, supernatural creepiness, claustrophobic thrillers, a nautical slant to proceedings… there really is something for everyone and an awful lot of ground covered.
As a seasoned reader of mysteries, I thought there was little left that could genuinely surprise me, but Stuart Turton has proved me wrong. Bravo!
As well as my lovely hardback copy of this book from ‘Forbidden Planet’ (there’s even a map of the ship – I was sold on that alone, to be honest!), I received a free e-copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
If you’d like your own copy of this excellent, dark mystery, please use my affiliate link below – I earn a small commission on any purchases at no additional cost to you.
And in case you’re interested in the East India Company further (like I was), here’s a link to ‘The Anarchy’ as mentioned in my review. This one was shortlisted for the non-fiction award by the rather marvellous Historical Writers’ Association and they know their history!
Welcome to my stop on the Random Things Tours blog tour for ‘The Creak on the Stairs’ by Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir.
This is the first in a new ‘Forbidden Iceland’ series and was published on 1st October, 2020 by Orenda Books. It is translated into English by Victoria Cribb.
From the Publisher
‘An exciting and harrowing tale from one of Iceland’s rising stars’ Ragnar Jónasson
The first in the electrifying new Forbidden Iceland series, ‘The Creak on the Stairs’ is an exquisitely written, claustrophobic and chillingly atmospheric debut thriller byone of Iceland’s most exciting new talents
When the body of a woman is discovered at a lighthouse in the Icelandic town of Akranes, it soon becomes clear that she’s no stranger to the area.
Chief Investigating Officer Elma, who has returned to Akranes following a failed relationship, and her colleagues Sævar and Hörður, commence an uneasy investigation, which uncovers a shocking secret in the dead woman’s past that continues to reverberate in the present day…
But as Elma and her team make a series of discoveries, they bring to light a host of long-hidden crimes that shake the entire community. Sifting through the rubble of the townspeople’s shattered memories, they have to dodge increasingly serious threats, and find justice … before it’s too late.
My Review
I love crime fiction and have made a few forays into Nordic Noir, although this was the first book I’ve read set in Iceland. It certainly won’t be my last trip to the Land of Fire and Ice.
I’ll admit to being intrigued by the premise of this book – a murder at a remote lighthouse that starts to uncover the secrets of the town. I also love a book with a female detective, so this ticked boxes for me too.
The story moves between the investigation into the 2017 murder of a woman in the small Icelandic town of Akranes with a voice from the the late 1980s/early 1990s narrating a tragic family story. At first it isn’t evident how the strands fit together but, as it becomes clear, the reader is pulled into the backstory that has led to the murder at the lighthouse.
One of the real strengths of the story is the main character, Chief Investigating Officer Elma. She has returned to Akranes, where she grew up, following the break-up of a relationship (something I sense will become more of a feature of future books – I know the second book in the series is already being translated by Orenda Books, so we shall see Elma again).
We get to view Elma more clearly than anyone else in the book, including her dysfunctional relationship with her sister, her hangovers and potential love interests. She is a charming and realistic character and her interactions with her work team, family and various people associated with the case seem authentic.
Another real strength is the plotting. The narrative device of alternating between the past and modern-day voices is interesting, but it also means that a lot of information is given that suddenly falls into place later in the novel. The early parts of the novel do seem a little slow, but they work brilliantly to set up a pervasive sense of foreboding that the reader never really escapes until the pace picks up towards the denouement. All very understated, but it really adds to the sense of claustrophobia in the small town where everyone knows everyone else’s business.
I really loved the setting of the book – Elma has left Reykjavik CID and is back in the town that she grew up in, so we experience the oppression of small-town life just as she does. We hear the gossip of a small community, see the close (but not always easy) relationships of people who have always known each other and experience the uncovering of secrets bubbling just under the surface. Akranes itself seems like a remote setting – a port town with a small population – that is perfect for this kind of story.
I think it is worth saying that the story is very dark – obviously expected in the genre, but it does sometimes make for uncomfortable reading – especially in the 1980s/1990s narrative which is a child’s perspective. Having a child relate some horrific elements makes the story very chilling at times.
Overall, I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime fiction with a dark heart. The sense of tension that builds gradually makes for compulsive reading – before you know it, you will be racing through to see where the story goes! It isn’t an easy read because of the dark themes, but it is cleverly plotted, engagingly told and has a heroine that you will want to see again in book two.
About the Author
Born in Akranes in 1988, Eva moved to Trondheim, Norway to study her MSc in Globalisation when she was 25. After moving back home having completed her MSc, she knew it was time to start working on her novel. Eva has wanted to write books since she was 15 years old, having won a short story contest in Iceland.
Eva worked as a stewardess to make ends meet while she wrote her first novel. The book went on to win the Blackbird Award and became an Icelandic bestseller.
Eva now lives with her husband and three children in Reykjavík, staying at home with her youngest until she begins Kindergarten.
Happy publication day to this excellent police procedural!
This is the seventh book in the DI Gina Harte series and it is one of the best. I picked up the series at Book 3 and am never disappointed with any of the novels, but this book is excellent – just the right mix of tension and terror!
This one really isn’t ideal for the claustrophobic – a killer is on the loose in Cleevesford who is burying people alive in coffins. The victims are left with three matches and a string attached to a bell with no clapper so the victim will never be heard while thinking they have a lifeline – fiendish! It’s a terrifying idea and one that DI Gina Harte is personally horrified by as it reminds her of being incarcerated during her abusive marriage to Terry, mentioned in previous books. When a second body is found, Harte and her team have to race against time to identify the links between the victims; this will, ultimately, lead to more potential victims that need protecting, as well as the killer themselves.
What makes this book stand out for me is the way that Cleevesford is starting to feel like a familiar and developed community – Harte’s team, the various locations and the geography of the town are all coming together in my head and becoming much more real. This is especially true in this book as the settings are perhaps more varied than previously – we whisk between the police station, the graveyard, woods and plenty of other places (no spoilers!) with real pace and purpose.
The other strength to this novel is the tension that Kovach creates as we experience the terror of the serial killer’s victims (and Harte herself). This isn’t new to the series, but seems ramped up here as victims have time to realise their fate before their death. This is truly sinister and creepy and the stuff of nightmares – perfect for a novel written about Halloween and during our shared confinement of lockdown.
I think this book could easily be read as a standalone, although I’d really recommend that you start at the beginning to fully understand Harte’s situation with her abusive husband and tentative relationship with her colleague Briggs. However, this is one book in the series where the personal lives of the police team are more in the background than some of the previous books so it’s not essential.
Overall, this is a strong police procedural with real menace. I’d recommend this to fans of crime writers such as Cara Hunter, Rachel Lynch and MJ Arlidge. It will keep you turning the pages and isn’t one you will forget for quite a while!
I received a free copy of the novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Header photo with thanks to David Menidrey for sharing their work on Unsplash.
