Source: Minotaur Books

#BookReview The Split by Sharon Bolton @AuthorSJBolton @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #TheSplit

#BookReview The Split by Sharon Bolton @AuthorSJBolton @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #TheSplit Title: The Split

Author: Sharon Bolton

Published by: Minotaur Books on Apr. 28, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 400

Format: eBook, ARC

Source: Minotaur Books, NetGalley

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Tense, gripping and with a twist you won’t see coming, Sharon Bolton is back in an explosive new standalone thriller about a woman on the run in The Split.

No matter how far you run, some secrets will always catch up with you…

The remote Antarctic island of South Georgia is about to send off its last boat of the summer – which signifies safety to resident glaciologist Felicity Lloyd.

Felicity lives in fear – fear that her ex-husband Freddie will find her, even out here. She took a job on this isolated island to hide from him, but now that he’s out of prison, having served a term for murder, she knows he won’t give up until he finds her.

But a doctor delving into the background of Felicity and Freddie’s relationship, back in Cambridge, learns that Felicity has been on the edge for a long time. Heading to South Georgia himself to try and get to her first is the only way he can think of to help her.


Review:

Complex, vivid, and twisty!

The Split is a sharp, chilling thriller set in both Cambridge, England and the isolated, glacial wilderness of the South Georgia Island that takes you into the life of Felicity Lloyd, a young woman tormented by a relentless stalker, a resourceful night visitor, and a mind riddled with distorted memories and inexplainable gaps in time.

The prose is taut and intense. The characters are complex, unstable, and secretive. And the plot using flashbacks and told from multiple perspectives unravels briskly into a story filled with suspicious personalities, unreliable characters, unexpected twists, mayhem, fixation, instability, violence, and murder.

Overall, The Split is an unpredictable, tortuous, mindblowing tale by Bolton that keeps you guessing from the very first page and leaves you unsettled, mystified, and highly entertained.

 

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Sharon Bolton

Sharon (formerly SJ) Bolton grew up in a cotton-mill town in Lancashire and had an eclectic early career which she is now rather embarrassed about. She gave it all up to become a mother and a writer.

Her first novel, Sacrifice, was voted Best New Read by Amazon.uk, whilst her second, Awakening, won the 2010 Mary Higgins Clark award. In 2014, Lost, (UK title, Like This, For Ever) was named RT Magazine’s Best Contemporary Thriller in the US, and in France, Now You See Me won the Plume de Bronze. That same year, Sharon was awarded the CWA Dagger in the Library, for her entire body of work.

Photograph by Mark Bassett.

#BookReview Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier @JenniferHillier @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers

#BookReview Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier @JenniferHillier @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers Title: Little Secrets

Author: Jennifer Hillier

Published by: Minotaur Books on Apr. 21, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 10/10

From the author of Jar of Hearts, a mother driven to the edge by the disappearance of her son learns her husband is having an affair with the woman who might have kidnapped him.
Four hundred and eighty seconds. That’s how long it took for someone to steal Marin Machado’s four-year-old son.

Marin had the perfect life. Married to her college sweetheart, she owns a chain of upscale hair salons, and Derek runs his own company. They’re admired in their community and are a loving family. Up until the day Sebastian is taken.

A year later, Marin is a shadow of herself. The FBI search has gone cold. The publicity has faded. She and her husband rarely speak. The only thing keeping her going is the unlikely chance that one day Sebastian reappears. She hires a P.I. to pick up where the police left off, but instead of finding him, she discovers that Derek is having an affair with a younger woman.

Kenzie Li is an artist and grad student—Instagram famous—and up to her eyeballs in debt. She knows Derek is married. She also knows he’s rich, and dating him comes with perks: help with bills, trips away, expensive gifts. He isn’t her first rich boyfriend, but she finds herself hoping he’ll be the last. She’s falling for him—and that was never part of the plan.

Discovery of the affair sparks Marin back to life. She’s lost her son; she’s not about to lose her husband, too. Kenzie is an enemy with a face, which means this is a problem Marin can fix. But as she sets a plan in motion, another revelation surfaces. Derek’s lover might know what happened to their son. And so might Derek.


Review:

Intricate, chilling, and brilliantly plotted!

Little Secrets is a highly suspenseful, domestic thriller that delves into the psychological and emotional devastation caused by the disappearance of a child and highlights the resulting finger-pointing, fragility and dynamics between friends, family members, and spouses it ultimately triggers.

The writing is edgy and tight. The characters are troubled, complex, and secretive. And the plot alternating between timelines, before-and-after the incident, builds quickly as it twists, turns, shocks, surprises, and unravels all the behaviours, motivations, personalities, and relationships within it.

Little Secrets at its core is a novel about family, friendship, secrets, manipulation, coercion, greed, obsession, kidnapping, lust, and infidelity. It’s a highly suspenseful, absorbing tale that highlights everything is not always as it seems and is without a doubt one of the most gripping page-turners you won’t want to miss.

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Jennifer Hillier

JENNIFER HILLIER was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, lived in the Seattle area for years, and has just moved back to Toronto with her husband and son. Jennifer is the author of Wonderland, Creep, and Jar of Hearts.

Photograph by Darren Blohowiak.

#BlogTour #BookReview Death of an American Beauty by Mariah Fredericks @MariahFrederick @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #DeathofanAmericanBeauty

#BlogTour #BookReview Death of an American Beauty by Mariah Fredericks @MariahFrederick @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #DeathofanAmericanBeauty Title: Death of an American Beauty

Author: Mariah Fredericks

Series: Jane Prescott #3

Published by: Minotaur Books on Apr. 14, 2020

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 272

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Death of an American Beauty is the third in Mariah Fredericks’s compelling series, set in Gilded Age New York, featuring Jane Prescott.

Jane Prescott is taking a break from her duties as lady’s maid for a week, and plans to begin it with attending the hottest and most scandalous show in town: the opening of an art exhibition, showcasing the cubists, that is shocking New York City.

1913 is also the fiftieth anniversary of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation speech, and the city’s great and good are determined to celebrate in style. Dolly Rutherford, heiress to the glamorous Rutherford’s department store empire, has gathered her coterie of society ladies to put on a play—with Jane’s employer Louise Tyler in the starring role as Lincoln himself. Jane is torn between helping the ladies with their costumes and enjoying her holiday. But fate decides she will do neither, when a woman is found murdered outside Jane’s childhood home—a refuge for women run by her uncle.

Deeply troubled as her uncle falls under suspicion and haunted by memories of a woman she once knew, Jane—with the help of old friends and new acquaintances, reporter Michael Behan and music hall pianist Leo Hirschfeld—is determined to discover who is making death into their own twisted art form.


Review:

Authentic, atmospheric, and mysterious!

In this latest novel by Fredericks, Death of an American Beauty, we head back to Manhattan during the early twentieth century and into the life of lady’s maid, Jane Prescott whose highly-anticipated vacation is suddenly turned upside down when a resident of her uncle’s refuge for reformed prostitutes is found viciously murdered, and the American Beauty Pagent is in urgent need of a last-minute seamstress.

The prose is meticulous and rich. The characters are independent, intelligent, and resourceful. And the plot is a well-paced whodunit full of amateur sleuthing, red herrings, suspects, deduction, familial dynamics, duty, friendship, secrets, racial inequality, sexism, romance, violence, and murder.

Death of an American Beauty is the third book in the Jane Prescott series, and if you love historical mysteries, this novel won’t disappoint. It is a menacing, entertaining, vivid tale that is certainly well worth a read.

 

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Mariah Fredericks

Mariah Fredericks was born and raised in New York City, where she still lives with her family. She is the author of several YA novels. Death of an American Beauty is her third novel to feature ladies' maid Jane Prescott.

 

#BookReview The Woman in the Mirror by Rebecca James @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress

#BookReview The Woman in the Mirror by Rebecca James @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress Title: The Woman in the Mirror

Author: Rebecca James

Published by: Minotaur Books on Mar. 17, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 368

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8/10

Rebecca James unveils a chilling modern gothic novel of a family consumed by the shadows and secrets of its past in The Woman in the Mirror.

For more than two centuries, Winterbourne Hall has stood atop a bluff overseeing the English countryside of Cornwall and the sea beyond.

In 1947, Londoner Alice Miller accepts a post as governess at Winterbourne, looking after Captain Jonathan de Grey’s twin children. Falling under the de Greys’ spell, Alice believes the family will heal her own past sorrows. But then the twins’ adoration becomes deceitful and taunting. Their father, ever distant, turns spiteful and cruel. The manor itself seems to lash out. Alice finds her surroundings subtly altered, her air slightly chilled. Something malicious resents her presence, something clouding her senses and threatening her very sanity.

In present day New York, art gallery curator Rachel Wright has learned she is a descendant of the de Greys and heir to Winterbourne. Adopted as an infant, she never knew her birth parents or her lineage. At long last, Rachel will find answers to questions about her identity that have haunted her entire life. But what she finds in Cornwall is a devastating tragic legacy that has afflicted generations of de Greys. A legacy borne from greed and deceit, twisted by madness, and suffused with unrequited love and unequivocal rage.


Review:

Intense, sinister, and mystical!

In this debut novel by James, The Woman in the Mirror, she transports us to the rugged cliffside of Cornwall, England during 1947, as well as present-day, and into a family manor where powerful emotions swirl, tragic memories reside, and long-buried skeletons and secrets are in abundance.

The prose is ominous and dark. The characters are complex, lonely, and troubled, with the setting, Winterborne Hall, being a character itself with its dereliction and isolation. And the plot told from alternating timelines is a gripping, suspenseful tale full of familial drama, heartache, tension, obsession, death, revenge, cruelty, desperation, and violence, all interwoven with a sliver of the supernatural.

Overall, The Woman in the Mirror is a gothic, atmospheric, eerie tale that captivates from the very first page and ultimately leaves you chilled, mystified, and entertained.

 

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Rebecca James

Rebecca James worked in publishing for several years before leaving to write full-time, and is now the author of several novels written under a pseudonym, as well as The Woman in the Mirror under her own name. Her favorite things are autumn walks, Argentinean red wine and curling up in the winter with a good old-fashioned ghost story. She lives in Bristol with her husband and two daughters.

Photograph by Marte Lundby Rekaa

#BookReview All the Best Lies (Ellery Hathaway #3) by Joanna Schaffhausen @slipperywhisper @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress

#BookReview All the Best Lies (Ellery Hathaway #3) by Joanna Schaffhausen @slipperywhisper @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress Title: All the Best Lies

Author: Joanna Schaffhausen

Series: Ellery hathaway #3

Published by: Minotaur Books on Feb. 11, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 10/10

The highly anticipated third novel in the award-winning Ellery Hathaway mystery series.

FBI agent Reed Markham is haunted by one painful unsolved mystery: who murdered his mother? Camilla was brutally stabbed to death more than forty years ago while baby Reed lay in his crib mere steps away. The trail went so cold that the Las Vegas Police Department has given up hope of solving the case. But then a shattering family secret changes everything Reed knows about his origins, his murdered mother, and his powerful adoptive father, state senator Angus Markham. Now Reed has to wonder if his mother’s killer is uncomfortably close to home.

Unable to trust his family with the details of his personal investigation, Reed enlists his friend, suspended cop Ellery Hathaway, to join his quest in Vegas. Ellery has experience with both troubled families and diabolical murderers, having narrowly escaped from each of them. She’s eager to skip town, too, because her own father, who abandoned her years ago, is suddenly desperate to get back in contact. He also has a secret that could change her life forever, if Ellery will let him close enough to hear it.

Far from home and relying only on each other, Reed and Ellery discover young Camilla had snared the attention of dangerous men, any of whom might have wanted to shut her up for good. They start tracing his twisted family history, knowing the path leads back to a vicious killer—one who has been hiding in plain sight for forty years and isn’t about to give up now.


Review:

Raw, complex, and unputdownable!

In this latest novel in the Ellery Hathaway series, All the Best Lies, Hathaway and Markham head to Las Vegas, Nevada to delve into the emotional, heinous cold case of FBI agent Reed’s slaughtered mother from 1975 in the hope of finally capturing her murderer and unravelling all the lies, secrets and deception surrounding his birth and true parentage.

The writing is tight and crisp. The characters are vulnerable, flawed, and resilient. And the plot keeps you on the edge of your seat as it submerges you in an ominous tale full of twists, turns, mayhem, corruption, coercion, jealousy, deduction, attraction, violence, and murder.

Overall, All the Best Lies is a sharp, engrossing, gritty tale by Schaffhausen that has exceptional character development and palpable chemistry that bleeds off the page, and is definitely, in my opinion, one book/series you don’t want to miss.

This book is available now.

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

            

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Joanna Schaffhausen

JOANNA SCHAFFHAUSEN wields a mean scalpel, skills developed in her years studying neuroscience. She has a doctorate in psychology, which reflects her long-standing interest in the brain—how it develops and the many ways it can go wrong. Previously, she worked for ABC News, writing for programs such as World News Tonight, Good Morning America, and 20/20. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and daughter. She is also the author of The Vanishing Season and No Mercy.

#BookReview Alone in the Wild (Rockton #5) by Kelley Armstrong @KelleyArmstrong @MinotaurBooks

#BookReview Alone in the Wild (Rockton #5) by Kelley Armstrong @KelleyArmstrong @MinotaurBooks Title: Alone in the Wild

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Series: Rockton #5

Published by: Minotaur Books on Feb. 4, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 368

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 7.5/10

In #1 New York Times bestseller Kelley Armstrong’s latest thriller, the hidden town of Rockton is about to face a challenge none of them saw coming: a baby.

Every season in Rockton seems to bring a new challenge. At least that’s what Detective Casey Duncan has felt since she decided to call this place home. Between all the secretive residents, the sometimes-hostile settlers outside, and the surrounding wilderness, there’s always something to worry about.

While on a much needed camping vacation with her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, Casey hears a baby crying in the woods. The sound leads them to a tragic scene: a woman buried under the snow, murdered, a baby still alive in her arms.

A town that doesn’t let anyone in under the age of eighteen, Rockton must take care of its youngest resident yet while solving another murder and finding out where the baby came from – and whether she’s better off where she is.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong again delivers an engaging, tense thriller set in perhaps the most interesting town in all of contemporary crime fiction.


Review:

Unique, mysterious, and incredibly atmospheric!

In this latest novel by Armstrong, Alone in the Wild, she transports us back to Rockton, Yukon, a small community of fugitives and victims who suddenly find themselves discombobulated by the sudden presence of a newborn baby discovered outside their village in the arms of a murdered stranger.

The writing is descriptive and tight. The plot is tense, action-packed and full of exploration, community, surprises, suspects, hostility, savagery, deduction, desperation, parenthood, and a little romance. And the characters are damaged, multi-layered, and quirky, with the setting being a character itself with its barren remoteness and isolation. 

Overall, Alone in the Wild is the creative, intriguing, suspenseful fifth novel in the Rockton series and even though it can be enjoyed as a standalone story, I highly recommend reading the first four novels in the series to truly appreciate the ingenuity of the storyline.

 

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

Thank you to Minotaur Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Kelley Armstrong

Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay. All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She's the author of the NYT-bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series and "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.

Photograph by Kathryn Hollinrake.

#BlogTour #BookReview Too Far Gone by Allison Brennan @Allison_Brennan @StMartinsPress @MinotaurBooks

#BlogTour #BookReview Too Far Gone by Allison Brennan @Allison_Brennan @StMartinsPress @MinotaurBooks Title: Too Far Gone

Author: Allison Brennan

Series: Lucy Kincaid #14

Published by: Minotaur Books on Oct. 30, 2018

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 496

Format: Paperback

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8/10

The next intense installment in Allison Brennan’s New York Times bestselling Lucy Kincaid series.

When a man who appears mentally unstable holds a group of people hostage and dies in a shootout with the FBI, Special Agent Lucy Kincaid is assigned to investigate what happened. Up until two months ago, McMahon was a respected scientist—then his wife left him, he lost his job, and was arrested for assaulting a former colleague. The one person who might have answers — his research assistant — has disappeared. 

While Lucy is investigating this bizarre case, her husband Sean is on top of the world: his son Jesse is visiting for the summer. They are having a blast until someone follows them. Sean is positive that the surveillance is connected to Jesse’s step-father—a man who had once laundered money for a violent drug cartel. But when Lucy and Jesse are run off the road, they begin to wonder if the attack is connected to Jesse … or Lucy’s current case. 

Nothing is what it seemsnot the McMahon investigation or the car accident. As Sean and Lucy dig deep into the lives of everyone involved, one thing becomes clear: If they don’t find the truth fast, everyone they care about is in danger.


Review:

Ominous, engrossing, and suspenseful!

In this compelling fourteenth installment in the Lucy Kincaid series, Too Far Gone, Brennan has written an intricate, action-packed, police procedural that has FBI Agent Lucy Kincaid and her fellow law enforcement colleagues delving into a case that on the surface seems to be a simple hostage situation but which quickly unfolds into a complex case involving a suspicious death, a missing assistant, and a pharmaceutical company with something to hide.

The writing is taut and precise. The characters are rugged, intelligent, and relentless. And the two main plots intertwine and unravel into a seamless, entertaining tale full of deception, secrets, corruption, scandal, cover-ups, manipulation, family drama, jealousy, violence, and murder.

Overall, Too Far Gone is a multi-layered, captivating mystery that highlights that money and greed are often the root of all evil. And even though it’s another wonderful addition to the series that fans are sure to appreciate it can also be read and enjoyed as a standalone novel.

 

This book is available now.

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

                                         

 

 

Thank you to Minotaur Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Allison Brennan

Allison Brennan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty novels and many short stories. A former consultant in the California State Legislature, she lives in Northern California with her husband Dan and their five children.

 

#BlogTour #BookReview Go To My Grave by Catriona McPherson @CatrionaMcP @MinotaurBooks

#BlogTour #BookReview Go To My Grave by Catriona McPherson @CatrionaMcP @MinotaurBooks Title: Go To My Grave

Author: Catriona McPherson

Published by: Minotaur Books on Oct. 23, 2018

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 304

Format: eBook, ARC

Source: Minotaur Books, NetGalley

Book Rating: 7/10

Donna Weaver has put everything she has into restoring The Breakers, an old bed and breakfast on a remote stretch of beach in Galloway. Now it sits waiting—freshly painted, richly furnished, filled with flowers—for the first guests to arrive.

But Donna’s guests, a contentious group of estranged cousins, soon realize that they’ve been here before, years ago. Decades have passed, but that night still haunts them: a sixteenth birthday party that started with peach schnapps and ended with a girl walking into the sea.

Each of them had made a vow of silence: “lock it in a box, stitch my lips, and go to my grave.”

But now someone has broken the pact. Amid the home-baked scones and lavish rooms, someone is playing games, locking boxes, stitching lips. And before the weekend is over, at least one of them will go to their grave.


Review:

Atmospheric, menacing, and twisty!

Go To My Grave is an ominous, character-driven thriller that delves into the complex dynamics between friends and family and highlights just how parasitic some of those relationships can truly be.

The prose is gritty and taut. The characters are deceptive, plagued, and self-involved. And the plot using a back-and-forth, past/present style does a nice job of building tension as it unfolds a tortuous tale of friendship, lies, secrets, manipulation, jealousy, obsession, revenge, violence, and murder.

There is no doubt that McPherson can weave a suspicious tale that’s dark, gloomy, and tragic and highlights the scheming, selfish, dark side of human nature. And even though I thought the storyline itself was quite clever, unfortunately for me the lack of characters with any sort of moral or ethical conscience in Go To My Grave made it a little hard to like, connect, or even want to root for any of them.

 

This book is available now.

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

                                            

 

 

Excerpt:

Prologue

This is the story of three days last September when eight old friends gathered in a beautiful house by the sea. There was food, wine and laughter, and then the friends went their separate ways. That’s the truth and nothing but the truth. The story is over. We have locked the box, swallowed the key and stitched our lips shut. Will that be enough? I don’t know. It took twenty-five years, after last time, for the stitches to unravel, the key to burn through our guts, the box to rust and weaken. But this time’s different. There’s so much more to lose. I can’t speak for the others but I’ll keep this secret and go to my grave.

 

Thank you to NetGalley, especially Minotaur Books, for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Catriona McPherson

Catriona McPherson was born in South Queensferry. After finishing school, she worked in a bank for a short time, before going to university. She studied for an MA in English Language and Linguistics at Edinburgh University, and then gained a job in the local studies department at Edinburgh City Libraries. She left this post after a couple of years, and went back to university to study for a PhD in semantics. During her final year she applied for an academic job, but left to begin a writing career.

These days, McPherson lives with her husband on a farm in the Galloway countryside, where she spends her time writing, gardening, swimming and running.

 

#BookReview The Middleman by Olen Steinhauer @olensteinhauer @MinotaurBooks

#BookReview The Middleman by Olen Steinhauer @olensteinhauer @MinotaurBooks Title: The Middleman

Author: Olen Steinhauer

Published by: Minotaur Books on Aug. 7, 2018

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 416

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Minotaur Books, Goodreads Giveaways

Book Rating: 8/10

With The Middleman, the perfect thriller for our tumultuous, uneasy time, Olen Steinhauer, the New York Times bestselling author of ten novels, including The Tourist and The Cairo Affair, delivers a compelling portrait of a nation on the edge of revolution, and the deepest motives of the men and women on the opposite sides of the divide.

One day in the early summer of 2017, about four hundred people disappear from their lives. They leave behind cell phones, credit cards, jobs, houses, families–everything–all on the same day. Where have they gone? Why? The only answer, for weeks, is silence.

Kevin Moore is one of them. Former military, disaffected, restless, Kevin leaves behind his retail job in San Francisco, sends a good-bye text to his mother, dumps his phone and wallet into a trash can, and disappears.

The movement calls itself the Massive Brigade, and they believe change isn’t coming fast enough to America. But are they a protest organization, a political movement, or a terrorist group? What do they want? The FBI isn’t taking any chances. Special Agent Rachel Proulx has been following the growth of left-wing political groups in the U.S. since the fall of 2016, and is very familiar with Martin Bishop, the charismatic leader of the Massive Brigade. But she needs her colleagues to take her seriously in order to find these people before they put their plan–whatever it is–into action.

What Rachel uncovers will shock the entire nation, and the aftermath of her investigation will reverberate through the FBI to the highest levels of government.


Review:

Intricate, fast-paced, and astute!

The Middleman, the latest novel by Steinhauer, is an intriguing political thriller that takes you into the heart of American politics and immerses you in a story of left-wing ideology and the struggle to maintain morality and induce change without force in a world motivated by violence.

The prose is descriptive and well paced. The characters are passionate, resourceful, and determined. And the plot is an engaging tale about greed, power, deception, abuse, violence, manipulation, murder, and corruption.

Overall, The Middleman is a dark, timely, pensive tale that explores the fine line between good and evil, and highlights just how easily that line can become blurry.

 

This novel is available now.

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

                                        

 

 

Thank you to Minotaur Books and Goodreads Giveaways for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Olen Steinhauer

OLEN STEINHAUER, the New York Times bestselling author of ten previous novels, including The Tourist and All the Old Knives, is a two-time Edgar Award finalist. He is also the creator of TV’s Berlin Station. Raised in Virginia, he lives with his family in New York and Budapest, Hungary.

Photograph by Rana Faure.

#BookReview In Prior’s Wood by G.M. Malliet @GMMalliet @MinotaurBooks #MaxTudor

#BookReview In Prior’s Wood by G.M. Malliet @GMMalliet @MinotaurBooks #MaxTudor Title: In Prior's Wood

Author: G.M. Malliet

Series: Max Tudor #7

Published by: Minotaur Books on Apr. 17, 2018

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 281

Format: Hardcover

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8/10

Agatha Award-winning author G. M. Malliet has charmed mystery lovers and cozy fans with her critically acclaimed mysteries, and this newest one featuring handsome spy-turned-cleric Max Tudor won’t disappoint.

Newly returned from investigating a murder in Monkslip-super-Mare, handsome Max Tudor wants nothing more than to settle back into his predictable routine as vicar of St. Edwold’s Church in the village of Nether Monkslip. But the flow of his sermon on Bathsheba is interrupted when the lady of the local manor house is found in a suicide pact with her young lover.

Lady Duxter’s husband rallies quickly from the double tragedy―too quickly, it is murmured in the village. Lord Duxter already has offered his manor house to a motley crew of writers, including Max’s wife Awena, for his writers’ retreat, and he insists the show must go on.

When a young girl goes missing and a crime writer becomes a target, DCI Cotton asks Max to lend his MI5 expertise to the investigation.

Many suspects emerge as the scope of the investigation widens beyond the writers to villagers who had crossed swords with the insufferably smug crime author. But Max begins to wonder: was the attack on the writer only part of a broader conspiracy of silence?


Review:

Mysterious, intriguing, and atmospheric!

In this latest novel by Malliet, In Prior’s Wood, we head back to the quaint English village of Nether Monkslip where Max Tudor, the former spy turned clergyman, finds himself once again immersed in a case with DCI Cotton that quickly unravels from a double suicide into an elaborate scheme of deception, lies, infidelity, jealousy, obsession, and murder.

The writing style is descriptive and light. The setting and mood are authentic and vivid. The characters, including the sharp, handsome hero, are well-developed, quirky, and multilayered. And the plot is a well-paced, witty whodunit that has a nice mix of misdirection, clues, suspects, red herrings, solid deduction, and drama.

In Prior’s Wood is the seventh book in the Max Tudor series, and if you love British cozy mysteries, this novel will not disappoint. It is a fun, twisty, easy read that is refreshing and highly entertaining.

 

This novel is available now.

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

                                        

 

 

 

Thank you to Minotaur Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About G.M. Malliet

G.M. Malliet is the Agatha Award-winning author of the St. Just and Max Tudor mysteries and the standalone suspense novel WEYCOMBE. She lives on the East Coast of the US but all of her books are set in the UK, her home away from home.

She received an M.Phil. degree from the University of Cambridge and did further graduate work at Oxford University. Upon her return to the US, determined to realize her lifelong dream of being a published author, she worked on her short stories and novels for three hours each day, from 4 a.m. until the start of her day job. After the unexpected success of her first book, she left a career writing for corporations like USA Today and PBS to focus full time on her own writing. With five Agatha and three Anthony nominations, she’s also been shortlisted for the Macavity, Left Coast Crime, IPPY, Daphne, David, and Dilys awards. The audio version of her second novel, read by Davina Porter, was a 2014 Anthony nominee.

Her short stories have appeared in several anthologies, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, and The Strand. She regards the short story as the most difficult yet satisfying form of writing.

Her series from Macmillan featuring Max Tudor, a former MI5 agent turned vicar of a small English village, debuted in the autumn of 2011. Of the fourth book in the series, Cleveland.com raved: "[Malliet] may be the best mystery author writing in English at the moment (along with Tana French). She's certainly the most entertaining."

Her dark standalone mystery WEYCOMBE appeared in October 2017. The author is donating part of the proceeds from that book to the American Red Cross to aid the victims of Hurricane Harvey and other natural disasters.

She is represented by the Vicky Bijur Literary Agency.

Photograph by Joe Henson.