Debbish

Book review: The Move by JP Delaney

March 20, 20262 min read

The Move by JP Delaney is another edge-of-your-seat ‘I can’t believe they did that’ type thriller. The Crowther family think they’ve hit the jackpot with their dream house (albeit one that needs some work) in the countryside and very welcoming neighbours and a friendly community, until things turn sour and their neighbours are far from welcoming and community far from friendly. In fact, the lengths that ‘they’ went to in order to get the Crowthers to leave are kinda shocking. (Unless I’m naïve. Which I reckon I’m not!)

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Book review: The Shark by Emma Styles

March 17, 20263 min read

I met Aussie-raised England-dwelling Emma Styles in person when I attended Theakston Crime Writing Festival a few years ago, but The Shark is the first novel I’ve read of hers. I had heard of her debut… No Country For Girls of course, which was well-received by readers and much lauded by critics.

I almost didn’t request this, assuming it was about a killer shark (as opposed to the warm-blooded fuzzy kind!!! 🙄 ) as I am traumatised as a result of reading a copy of Jaws when I was WAAAAY too young.* Happily it’s not. About a shark that is. Less happily for the victims of a serial killer dubbed ‘the shark’ of course… named thus as the injuries on victims is reminiscent of a shark attack.

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Book review: Antihero by Gregg Hurwitz

March 14, 20263 min read

Antihero by Gregg Hurwitz is the 11th in the series featuring Orphan X aka Nowhere Man aka Evan Smoak, and this is one of my favourite series. Here Hurwitz flexes all of his usual high-tech armoury bells and whistles but in the background Evan is continuing to morph from the cold assassin preferring his own company, to someone who can no longer hide that he’s come to care for those in his life. In this outing Evan is called-upon by a quite-mad and eccentric tech wiz (we first met in book #8 The Last Orphan) to locate a girl he’s never met but believes to have been kidnapped.

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Book review: When I Kill You by BA Paris

March 10, 20262 min read

When I Kill You by BA Paris is a twisty thriller featuring a woman who believes her past has come back to haunt her. For Nell has not always been Nell, and over a dozen years earlier 19-year old Elle witnessed a young woman being snatched off the street. She became obsessed with the person she believed to be guilty of the girl’s murder… and things ended badly. For everyone involved.

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Book review: What She Saw by Mary Burton

March 2, 20262 min read

What She Saw by Mary Burton is an enjoyable read that unfolds in two timelines. We’re taken back 30+years ago to the lead-up to a small-town music festival and the days (weeks) following, and in the present we’re with writer Sloane as she unpicks the past. We learn fairly quickly that she’s got a personal interest in the case–featuring a killer dubbed the Mountain Music Festival Killer–so perhaps more dogged in her pursuit than she might otherwise be trying to learn the truth.

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Book review: What the Bones Know by Kirstyn McDermott

February 25, 20263 min read

I must admit to almost putting What the Bones Know by Kirstyn McDermott aside. There’s a haunting / mystical element to it and I hate books that dip into the supernatural as logic tends to go out the window which was slightly the case here. However there was enough of the ‘tangible’ elements of mystery/suspense to keep me contented, allowing me to skim the more fantastic elements. It was also interesting to be jolted back to the days of COVID-19 with its masks and lockdowns which – though incredibly disruptive at the time – feel like a lifetime ago, and another world entirely.

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Book review: The Girls Before by Kate Alice Marshall

February 18, 20262 min read

The Girls Before by Kate Alice Marshall is a twisty and addictive read. It opens with a search and rescue team on the trail of a missing toddler… who’s thankfully found and there are #nospoilers there as that’s unrelated to the rest of the book 😉 . It is however while searching on private property (where she shouldn’t be) that school counsellor and search and rescue volunteer Audrey finds ‘witch beads’ (a talisman of sorts used by teens to ward off a local legend). Beads she believes could have been belonged to a local girl (Meghan) who recently disappeared, believed by police to have run away.

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Book review: Dead Heat by Sabine Durrant

February 11, 20262 min read

Dead Heat by Sabine Durrant is the first book I’ve read by the English author since 2018. I absolutely loved her very twisty Under Your Skin, which I read over a decade ago. Here 51-year old journalist Matt is staying in a guest cottage in Greece after losing his job and girlfriend when he becomes embroiled in a love triangle (or is that rectangle?) involving long-term friends, Adam and Celia, and a mega-rich newcomer to their usually peaceful seaside haven.

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ARC review: The Gambler by JP Pomare

February 4, 20262 min read

The Gambler by JP Pomare is the second of the Kiwi-born author’s books to feature PI Vince Reid. I was one of those who read The Wrong Woman in 2022 and commented that I liked him and would love to see him again and… voila, Pomare reinvigorates him 18 months after the events of the previous outing (albeit four years in human-years). Given the events I’m watching unfold unfold on Twitter half a world away, this is a timely read Vince is asked to look into the motive behind a shooting at a political rally and we venture into the world of American politics and those dwelling in the red or blue corner of the political jousting ring.

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