Book Review: ‘The Paris Apartment’ by Lucy Foley

Having read and enjoyed Lucy Foley’s previous books, ‘The Hunting Party’ and ‘The Guest List’, I was pleased to pick up ‘The Paris Apartment’ – another standalone mystery/thriller. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read the book in exchange for an honest review.

The story centres on Jess, a young woman visiting Paris to stay with her half brother, Ben (as well as running away from her life in England). He lives in a luxurious apartment block but – when she arrives – Ben is missing. The other residents of the block are not helpful – and some are downright hostile to Jess and about Ben. As Jess struggles to piece together the events surrounding Ben’s disappearance, she also begins to uncover some shady secrets about the residents of 12 Rue des Amants…

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Book Review: ‘Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six’ by Lisa Unger

Thanks to NetGalley for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Three couples rent an isolated luxury cabin for the weekend. It seems like the perfect opportunity to relax and escape the everyday stresses of high-powered jobs, parenthood and modern life. However, they didn’t bank on quite how remote the cabin is…especially with a violent storm on the way. Sinister elements from the past of the cabin – and its current residents – soon begin to surface. And there is no escape.

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Book Review: ‘The Close’ by Jane Casey

Long-standing fans of the DS Maeve Kerrigan series can rejoice – the latest instalment (the tenth) is here and it is a good one!

In this book, DS Kerrigan goes undercover with DI Josh Derwent – they move into Jellicoe Close posing as a couple to investigate some shady goings-on around the death of a vulnerable adult. As they get to know their new neighbours, they start to realise that danger lurks in this most perfect-seeming suburban street. Nothing is as it seems, and peril gets increasingly close to Maeve and Josh’s new domestic set-up.

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Book Review: ‘Breathless’ by Amy McCulloch

I have absolutely no intention of ever climbing a huge mountain – entering the ‘death zone’, needing oxygen, fighting altitude sickness, etc. Not for me at all – which is why reading this book was such an adventure!

Cecily Wong is a journalist with a pretty dodgy track record of mountain climbing – which is why she faces the ultimate challenge when asked to join legendary alpinist Charles McVeigh and his team as they tackle one of Nepal’s highest mountains. However, the attempt seems doomed from the start and Cecily is soon fighting for her life against the elements and an altogether more sinister – and more human – enemy.

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Book Review: ‘The It Girl’ by Ruth Ware

I’ve got a bit of a confession here. I know I like Ruth Ware’s books but I’d kind of…put this one off. The title made me think it was going to be about wealthy people living Instagrammable lives – not that I have a problem with that at all, but I kind of need to be in the right mood.

I was wrong and should have read the blurb.

This book is actually about a murder at a fictitious Oxford University college. It centres on Hannah and the ‘before’ and ‘after’ of her discovery of the body of her roommate, April, in their shared rooms. April is the ‘It Girl’ of the novel’s title, bringing champagne, designer clothes and luxury furniture to their digs, but this is much more the story of a friendship group and a university experience gone tragically wrong.

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Book Review: ‘A Stranger on Board’ by Cameron Ward

I was looking for something immersive, tense and action-packed to keep me turning the pages. I definitely found it in ‘A Stranger on Board’, and was just sorry that I didn’t pick this up before now.

The plot follows Sarah, an ex-Royal Marine suffering from PTSD and trying to carve out a career for herself as a security expert after leaving the Navy. She is persuaded to join the crew of ‘The Escape’, a luxury superyacht being moved from Spain to the Caribbean at the request of the mysterious owner. However, once they leave the relative safety and calm seas of the Mediterranean, Sarah soon learns that this voyage will not be the cushy job she thought. As the conditions on the open Atlantic worsen, the crew suffer a series of setbacks which suggest that this journey will have a tragic end for them all – one orchestrated by someone in their midst.

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Book Review: ‘The Night Watch’ by Neil Lancaster

This was my first book by Neil Lancaster – and I don’t think it will be my last!

The reviews for this series are amazing, so I was pleased to be granted a copy by NetGalley so that I could make up my own mind.

The book opens with the deaths of a high-profile lawyer and one of his past clients, one of Scotland’s most notorious criminals who has just been released from prison. As the bodies begin to stack up, DS Max Craigie starts to suspect that they have a murderer taking revenge on those who have done bad things – a vigilante killer who seems to have insider knowledge of the police’s methods and processes. The investigation team is forced to face the fact that the culprit may be one of them – but how are they going to uncover someone who knows their every move?

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Book Review: ‘The Sanctuary’ by Emma Haughton

I absolutely loved Emma Haughton’s first fiction book for adults, ‘The Dark’, set in a research centre in Antarctica. This was the perfect claustrophobic locked-room mystery with the inhospitable surroundings meaning escape was impossible.

I gulped that book down in one – so I was thrilled that NetGalley granted me access to Haughton’s next book, ‘The Sanctuary’.

In this book, Zoey wakes in an unfamiliar environment – she doesn’t remember much about the night before, a night out in New York, aside from a few troubling flashbacks. Now she’s in the desert in The Sanctuary, a high-end establishment helping people to kick their various addictions and face their problems. Zoey doesn’t want to be there…but how can she escape when the centre is miles from anywhere and surrounded by the threats of the endless, empty desert? Instead, she begins to get to know the other residents and participate in some often-unorthodox treatments. But is the desert really more of a threat than the perils lurking within The Sanctuary’s walls?

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Book Review: ‘Murder on the Christmas Express’ by Alexandra Benedict

I’d not read anything by Alexandra Benedict before but this book ticked a lot of boxes for me – a sleeper train, a whole load of shady characters thrown together and murder! Add in Christmas and I hoped for a lovely festive crime novel with shades of Agatha Christie.

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Blog Tour: ‘The Politician’ by Tim Sullivan

From the Publisher:

A ransacked room. A dead politician. A burglary gone wrong–or a staged murder?

THE DETECTIVE

DS George Cross loves puzzles–he’s good at them–and he immediately spots one when he begins investigating the death of former mayor Peggy Frampton. It looks like a burglary that went horribly wrong to most but George can see what others can’t–that this was murder.

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