Source: Edelweiss

#BookReview Without Mercy by Jefferson Bass @Jefferson_Bass

#BookReview Without Mercy by Jefferson Bass @Jefferson_Bass Title: Without Mercy

Author: Jefferson Bass

Series: Body Farm #10

Published by: William Morrow on Oct. 4, 2016

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 342

Format: eBook, ARC

Source: William Morrow, Edelweiss

Book Rating: 9/10

In the most suspenseful installment of the New York Times bestselling Body Farm series to date, forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton investigates a bizarre murder—and confronts a deadly enemy he thought he’d put behind bars for good.

Forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton has spent twenty-five years solving brutal murders—but none so bizarre and merciless as his latest case: A ravaged set of skeletal remains is found chained to a tree on a remote mountainside. As Brockton and his assistant Miranda dig deeper, they uncover warning signs of a deadly eruption of hatred and violence.

But the shocking case is only the beginning of Brockton’s trials. Mid-case, the unthinkable happens: The deadliest criminal Brockton has ever foiled—the sadistic serial killer Nick Satterfield—escapes from prison, bent on vengeance.

But simply killing Brockton isn’t enough. Satterfield wants to make him suffer first, by destroying everything he holds dear: Brockton’s son, daughter-in-law, grandsons; even Miranda, his longtime graduate assistant, now on the verge of completing her Ph.D. and launching a forensic career of her own.

The dangers from all directions force Brockton to question two things on which he’s based his entire career—the justice system, and the quality of mercy—and to wonder: can the two co-exist?

If not, which will Brockton choose in his ultimate moment of truth?


Review:

Dark, disturbingly absorbing, and incredibly creepy!

This is an insightful thriller that reminds us that even though we’ve come so far, there’s still a lot of hatred out there.

It is gripping story about cruelty, captivity, violence, revenge, murder, and ultimately, evil.

The writing is crisp and clear. The usual ‘Body Farm’ characters are back, led by the intelligent, witty, persistent Dr. Brockton, as well as some new, sadistic, malicious ones. And the plot, along with several subplots, will have you intrigued, mystified, surprised, and gripping the edge of your seat from start to finish.

It’s hard to believe this is already the tenth novel in the ‘Body Farm’ series, but boy it’s a good one! If you haven’t read any of the previous ‘Body Farm’ novels I would definitely think about picking one of those up as well.

This novel is due to be published on October 4, 2016. 

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following links.

Amazon UKAmazon USAmazon CanadaChapters/Indigo

 

For more information on Jefferson Bass, visit their website at: jeffersonbass.com

or follow them on Twitter at: @Jefferson_Bass

 

 

Thank you to Edelweiss, especially William Morrow, for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

#BookReview The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter @SlaughterKarin

#BookReview The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter @SlaughterKarin Title: The Kept Woman

Author: Karin Slaughter

Series: Will Trent #8

Published by: William Morrow on Jun. 14, 2016

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Police Procedural

Pages: 461

Format: eBook, ARC

Source: William Morrow, Edelweiss

Book Rating: 9/10

Husbands and wives. Mothers and daughters. The past and the future.

Secrets bind them. And secrets can destroy them. 

The author of the acclaimed standalone Pretty Girls returns with this long-awaited new novel in her bestselling Will Trent series—an electrifying, emotionally complex thriller that plunges the Georgia detective into the darkest depths of a case that just might destroy him.

With the discovery of a murder at an abandoned construction site, Will Trent and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are brought in on a case that becomes much more dangerous when the dead man is identified as an ex-cop.

Studying the body, Sara Linton—the GBI’s newest medical examiner and Will’s lover—realizes that the extensive blood loss didn’t belong to the corpse. Sure enough, bloody footprints leading away from the scene indicate there is another victim—a woman—who has vanished . . . and who will die soon if she isn’t found. 

Will is already compromised, because the site belongs to the city’s most popular citizen: a wealthy, powerful, and politically connected athlete protected by the world’s most expensive lawyers—a man who’s already gotten away with rape, despite Will’s exhaustive efforts to put him away.

But the worst is yet to come. Evidence soon links Will’s troubled past to the case . . . and the consequences will tear through his life with the force of a tornado, wreaking havoc for Will and everyone around him, including his colleagues, family, friends—and even the suspects he pursues.

Relentlessly suspenseful and furiously paced, peopled with conflicted, fallible characters who leap from the page, The Kept Woman is a searing novel of love, loss, and redemption. A seamless blend of twisty police procedural and ingenious psychological thriller, it marks Karin Slaughter’s triumphant return to her most popular series, sure to please new and diehard fans alike.


Review:

Dark, gritty, and exceptionally suspenseful.

The first half of this story has the usual cast of characters, Will, Faith and Sara, doing what they do best, investigating a gruesome crime and relentlessly searching for clues and answers.

While the second half of the story is told from Will’s wife, Angie’s perspective. And even though we have been given glimpses of this manipulative and selfish character in the past, in this novel, we are finally given an in-depth look into her drives, desires, and motivations.

The writing is fluid, intriguing, and completely captivating. And the plot is jam-packed with murder, mystery, deception, secrets, lies, and manipulation. 

Once again, Karin Slaughter has proven why she is a bestseller in the mystery/suspense genre. And even though this is the eighth book in the Will Trent series, it can easily be read as a stand-alone novel.

This book is due to be published in the UK on July 14, 2016 and in the US/CAN on September 20, 2016.

Pick up a copy of this story from your favourite retailer or from the following Amazon links.

Amazon UKAmazon USAmazon Canada

 

 

Thank you to Edelweiss, especially William Morrow, for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Karin Slaughter

Karin Slaughter is one of the world’s most popular and acclaimed storytellers. Published in 120 countries with more than 35 million copies sold across the globe, her eighteen novels include the Grant County and Will Trent books, as well as the Edgar-nominated Cop Town and the instant New York Times bestselling novels Pretty Girls and The Good Daughter. Slaughter is the founder of the Save the Libraries project—a nonprofit organization established to support libraries and library programing. A native of Georgia, Karin Slaughter lives in Atlanta. Her Will Trent series, Grant County series, and standalone novel Cop Town are all in development for film and television.

#BookReview A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams @bcwilliamsbooks

#BookReview A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams @bcwilliamsbooks Title: A Certain Age

Author: Beatriz Williams

Published by: William Morrow on Jun. 28, 2016

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 327

Format: eBook, ARC

Source: William Morrow, Edelweiss

Book Rating: 8.5/10

The bestselling author of A Hundred Summers, brings the Roaring Twenties brilliantly to life in this enchanting and compulsively readable tale of intrigue, romance, and scandal in New York Society, brimming with lush atmosphere, striking characters, and irresistible charm.

As the freedom of the Jazz Age transforms New York City, the iridescent Mrs. Theresa Marshall of Fifth Avenue and Southampton, Long Island, has done the unthinkable: she’s fallen in love with her young paramour, Captain Octavian Rofrano, a handsome aviator and hero of the Great War. An intense and deeply honorable man, Octavian is devoted to the beautiful socialite of a certain age and wants to marry her. While times are changing and she does adore the Boy, divorce for a woman of Theresa’s wealth and social standing is out of the question, and there is no need; she has an understanding with Sylvo, her generous and well-respected philanderer husband. 

But their relationship subtly shifts when her bachelor brother, Ox, decides to tie the knot with the sweet younger daughter of a newly wealthy inventor. Engaging a longstanding family tradition, Theresa enlists the Boy to act as her brother’s cavalier, presenting the family’s diamond rose ring to Ox’s intended, Miss Sophie Fortescue—and to check into the background of the little-known Fortescue family. When Octavian meets Sophie, he falls under the spell of the pretty ingénue, even as he uncovers a shocking family secret. As the love triangle of Theresa, Octavian, and Sophie progresses, it transforms into a saga of divided loyalties, dangerous revelations, and surprising twists that will lead to a shocking transgression . . . and eventually force Theresa to make a bittersweet choice.

Full of the glamour, wit and delicious twists that are the hallmarks of Beatriz Williams’ fiction and alternating between Sophie’s spirited voice and Theresa’s vibrant timbre, A Certain Age is a beguiling reinterpretation of Richard Strauss’s comic opera Der Rosenkavalier, set against the sweeping decadence of Gatsby’s New York.


Review:

This is a riveting tale of passion, adultery, jealousy, love, loss, war, and murder.

The story is set in New York City, in the prosperous banking days of the early 1920s, complete with lustful indulgences, free-flowing gin, and copious amounts of cigarettes.

It is told from two differing perspectives. Theresa, a wealthy middle-aged woman, who enjoys her life as a married socialite, but at the same time is obsessed with her younger lover. And Sophie, a mother-less young woman, who yearns for more independence and freedom, and yet finds herself courted and betrothed to a gentleman almost 20-years her senior.

The writing is elegant and descriptive. The characters are glamorous, multi-faceted and flawed. And the plot is fast-paced, creative, and unique, with a past/present style, that gives depth, understanding, and suspense to the story line.

This is an extremely engaging story that will captivate you from the opening extract right through to the final page, and I highly recommend it for book club enthusiasts and historical fiction lovers everywhere.

 

This novel is due to be published on June 28, 2016. 

Pick up a copy of this story from your favourite retailer or from the following Amazon links.

Amazon UKAmazon USAmazon Canada

 

 

Thank you to Edelweiss, especially William Morrow, for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Beatriz Williams

Beatriz Williams is the New York Times bestselling author of A Hundred Summers, The Secret Life of Violet Grant, Along the Infinite Sea, A Certain Age, and several other works of historical fiction. A graduate of Stanford University with an MBA in Finance from Columbia University, Beatriz worked as a communications and corporate strategy consultant in New York and London before she turned her attention to writing novels that combine her passion for history with an obsessive devotion to voice and characterization. Beatriz’s books have won numerous awards, have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and appear regularly in bestseller lists around the world.

Born in Seattle, Washington, Beatriz now lives near the Connecticut shore with her husband and four children, where she divides her time between writing and laundry.