Kensington Publishing Corporation Archives

Book review: Guess Again by Charlie Donlea

July 23, 20252 min read

Guess Again by Charlie Donlea is the eighth book I’ve read by the American author. I’m conscious that Donlea’s not a household name but certainly a go-to author for me – offering up consistently good thrillers. Here we’ve got a likeable lead in Ethan Hall – a cop-turned emergency room doctor convinced to return to try to solve one last case and maintain his (former) 100% solve-rate. It helps however that he’s being given clues by a prisoner – who killed Ethan’s police officer father 32 years earlier.

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Book review: Echoes of Memory by Sara Driscoll

July 26, 20242 min read

Echoes of Memory by Sara Driscoll was more suspenseful than I was expecting. It wasn’t that I was overly invested in the fate of our protagonist – though I was [invested] – rather Driscoll cushions her in a supportive environment and the cynical (reads-too-much-crime-fiction) me expected that one of her confidantes or friends would end up being a baddie. As a result I held my breath for much of this, wondering which one of the handful of helpful support cast members would have a hidden agenda or ultimately let us her down… obviously ~~breaking my heart~~ disappointing me in the process!

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Book review: Long Time Gone by Charlie Donlea

May 4, 20242 min read

Long Time Gone by Charlie Donlea is the seventh book I’ve read by the American author, almost all of which have been consistently good four-star reads. His latest is no different and touches on a whole stack of contemporary and popular themes, including the solving of cold cases using DNA harvested from genealogy sites as well as the burgeoning popularity of true crime podcasts and the like. Of course we see the pros and cons of both here as Donlea wraps them up in a fascinating long-buried mystery.

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Book review: Twenty Years Later by Charlie Donlea

August 7, 20213 min read

I’m a fan of US author Charlie Donlea. I’ve very much enjoyed some of his recent books including The Suicide House and The Woman in Darkness. They all feature past crimes and long-kept secrets and have leveraged popular culture, including podcasts, true crime documentaries (or similar); uncovering missed clues and injustice. Donlea maintains the intrigue and twistiness in his latest, Twenty Years Later.

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Book review: The Stepdaughter by Debbie Howells

December 4, 20202 min read

The Stepdaughter is the fourth book I’ve read by Debbie Howells and it sat on my iPad for months and months as I’d believed its publication was deferred until next year. (And I only just discovered it wasn’t / isn’t.)

I very much enjoyed Howells’ first psychological thriller, The Bones of You, in particular.

Her latest is another complex story of relationships and of secrets and lies. I should also mention that it features domestic violence and references to child pornography (though no details etc).

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Book review: Part of the Silence by Debbie Howells

June 25, 20172 min read

This is the third of Debbie Howells’ books I’ve read and I was particularly blown away by her first, The Bones of You. I also enjoyed The Beauty of the End, and now the author, based in West Sussex, does it again with her third novel, Part of the Silence.

There’s something very engaging about her characters; and her plots generally offer up something a little different. I must confess to being a little disappointed in the ending of this book… though I know that won’t surprise regular readers of my reviews who know I’m kinda hard to please.

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Book review: Duplicity by Jane Haseldine

March 26, 20172 min read

Of course I hadn’t realised this was the second in a series when I requested it, but thankfully it didn’t really matter as author Jane Haseldine updates readers quickly on the backstory… though it probably means I don’t need to go back and read the first in the series (The Last Time She Saw Him) given I kinda know what happened. Or at least, what didn’t.

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