Blog Tour ~ Block 46 by Johana Gustawsson

Book description

Description Evil remembers… Falkenberg, Sweden. The mutilated body of talented young jewellery designer, Linnea Blix, is found in a snow-swept marina. Hampstead Heath, London. The body of a young boy is discovered with similar wounds to Linnea’s. Buchenwald Concentration Camp, 1944. In the midst of the hell of the Holocaust, Erich Hebner will do anything to see himself as a human again. Are the two murders the work of a serial killer, and how are they connected to shocking events at Buchenwald? Emily Roy, a profiler on loan to Scotland Yard from the Canadian Royal Mounted Police, joins up with Linnea’s friend, French truecrime writer Alexis Castells, to investigate the puzzling case. They travel between Sweden and London, and then deep into the past, as a startling and terrifying connection comes to light.

 

Review

Firstly I would like to thank Johana Gustawsson, Orenda books and blog tour organiser Anne Carter for the chance to take part.

One of the greatest compliments a reader can pay the writer of a book, is telling them that when they were reading, time just passed without them being aware.  Block 46 is one of those books.  The world disappears for those precious hours spent reading.  Your disconnected from reality and emerged completely in a tale about the evil that can lurk in the souls of men.

It’s certainly a book that will haunt me for quite some time!  Because of the power of the story and the skill of the writing.

Johana Gustawsson has burrowed into the mind of a deeply disturbed killer, while the scenes set in the concentration camp knock the breadth out of you, as your forced to confront the horror that took place within the fenced compounds.  It’s not there to shock you, it’s an integral part of the story. A reminder for us all of what happens when evil is allowed to run unchecked, under the guise of protecting national and cultural identity.

With immense skill the writer weaves a story full of characters you want to know more about and others that will chill you to the core of your being.  Cleverly she wrong footed me on more than one occasion throughout Block 46.  I was convinced I new where the story would end, only to be proved wrong.  It’s edge of the seat reading. Exciting, riveting and a story that will linger with you. Tension seeps off the page and into your soul.  You will find yourself thinking about it long after you’ve read the last page.

If Johana Gustawsson keeps this up in her next novels, she is going to be a force to be reckoned with in crime fiction in years to come.

Special mention must also go to maxim Jakobowski for the superb translation of this 5* read.

Author Bio

Born in 1978 in Marseille and with a degree in political science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French press and television. She married a Swede and now lives in London. She was the co-author of a bestseller, On se retrouvera, published by Fayard Noir in France, whose television adaptation drew over 7 million viewers in June 2015. She is working on the next book in the Roy & Castells series.

Johana can be followed on Twitter and her website.

Fabulous Bombshell Books are back ~ New Novels ~ New authors.

 

 

Bombshell Books are back!

After launching with the hilarious The Queen of Blogging, Bombshell Books are back with two new authors and three fabulous novels.

Therese Loreskar returns with her sequel to The Queen of Blogging – The Queen of New Beginnings

Therese Loreskar started her career in 2010 self-publishing her first novel, which quickly became a critically acclaimed best-seller.

In 2014 she was signed by a Swedish publishing house before being signed by Bombshell in the summer of 2016. Her novel, The Queen of Blogging, received overwhelming feedback and the book was referred to as a modern Bridget Jones.

Therese has since had four bestselling children’s books.
Her never-ending energy for writing and entertaining people is her biggest trait.

Therese lives in the countryside on the west coast of Sweden. She has a big and busy household with her husband, two children, deaf cat, five hamsters and a grandmother.

When she is not busy writing stories she enjoys nature, people, history, redecorating the house without permission and all other kinds of creativity.

The Queen of New Beginnings will be published on August 10th this year.

Guardian book prize shortlisted author, Suzie Tullett, signs with Bombshell Books

Suzie Tullett is an author of contemporary humorous fiction and romantic comedy. She has a Masters Degree in Television & Radio Scriptwriting and worked as a scriptwriter before becoming a full-time novelist. Her motto is to ‘live, laugh, love’ and when she’s not busy creating her own literary masterpieces, she usually has her head in someone else’s.

Suzie lives in a tiny hamlet in the middle of the French countryside, along with her husband and two Greek rescue dogs. You can find Suzie on Twitter: @SuzieTullett or you can visit her website: suzietullett.com

Her heart-warming romantic comedy, The Trouble with Words, will be published on July 29th this year.

Debut author, Callie Langridge, joins Bombshell Books

Caroline was born and brought up in Berkshire. After a brief teenage spell in the depths of Lancashire, she moved back to London.

Having left school at 16, she studied drama before embarking on a career in marketing. This saw her work in music marketing in the heady days of Britpop in the late ‘90s. She unleashed her creativity in the design of window displays and marketing campaigns for the leading music retailer. More recently she has followed her passion for social history and currently works in marketing for a national historical institution, promoting projects and running events.

On hitting her thirtieth birthday, she decided finally to take her A levels and gained A’s in English Literature and Language, and Film Studies – not bad when working full time – and this spurred her on to take the first of many creative writing course. A few years later and she has had a number of short stories published and plays performed at theatres and venues across London.

Caroline lives in London with her long-term partner and an ever-growing collection of antique curiosities.

Her beautifully written and heart-wrenching debut novel, A Time to Change, will be published on September 24th this year.

Bombshell Books is an imprint of Bloodhound Books. Bombshell publishes brilliant women’s fiction and is on the look out for new authors. We want stories that will make you laugh, cry and fall in love. For more information visit our website –www.bombshellbooks.com

 

Blog tour ~ Review ~ Brick by Conrad Jones.

Book Description:

When a teenager is the victim of an unprovoked attack while walking his dog, a murder investigation begins. A cruel twist of fate makes his innocent family the targets of a vicious campaign of terror. As the detectives of Liverpool’s Major Investigation Team try to contain the violence, several key members of an organised crime family begin to topple, causing shockwaves across the world.

Why was the teenager attacked?

And will the villains be brought to justice?

Review 

I would like to thank Bloodhound books, Conrad Jones and blog tour organiser Sarah Hardy for the ARC copy of this book,  in return for an honest review.

Brick is a gritty, often violent depiction of a life turned upside down by a moment of madness.  Set amongst the council estates of Liverpool and the violent gangs that control the streets young Bryn Evans has grown up on.

Conrad Jones delivers a tense, nerve wracking tale of gang warfare and the terror they bring into one family caught up in their world.  He reels you into the nightmare Bryn and his family are sucked into.

There is no attempt to shield the reader from the horrors of drug related violence, giving this novel its addictive edge.  You are compelled to read on to see if Bryn and those that surround him survive the maelstrom they’re drawn into.  Page by nerve wracking page you read on, sucking in the revulsion you feel towards the sickening violence, the drug gangs inflict on their victims.

Cleverly though Conrad Jones tempers this with a family many of us will have sympathy with.  Bryn’s family live on a council estate, mostly unaware of the violence and drug dealing going on around them. His parents hit by illness and bad luck, sit around absorbed in daytime TV, using alcohol to dull the pain.  He makes us care that they can rise above the hostile forces determined to wreck vengeance against them. One son makes a dreadful mistake and each of them face the consequences.

The author shows us that this could happen to us.  Wrong place, wrong time and we could be thrown headlong into a hopeless situation, forced to run for our lives.  He makes you care about their lives, wanting them to survive.

If you like your drama gritty and realistic, then the appropriately named Brick is the book for you. Its certainly one I will be recommending to my book reading friends.

Brick and Conrad Jones other books can be bought via Amazon

Author bio:

I am Conrad Jones a 50-year-old Author, originally from a sleepy green-belt called Tarbock Green, which is situated on the outskirts of Liverpool. I spent a number of years living in Holyhead, Anglesey, which I class as my home, before starting a career as a trainee manger with McDonalds Restaurants in 1989. I worked in management at McDonalds Restaurants Ltd from 1989-2002, working my way up to Business Consultant (area manager) working in the corporate and franchised departments.

In March 1993 I was managing the Restaurant in Warrington`s Bridge St when two Irish Republican Army bombs exploded directly outside the store, resulting in the death of two young boys and many casualties. Along with hundreds of other people there that day I was deeply affected by the attack, which led to a long-term interest in the motivation and mind set of criminal gangs. I began to read anything crime related that I could get my hands on.

I link this experience with the desire to write books on the subject, which came much later on due to an unusual set of circumstances. Because of that experience my early novels follow the adventures of an elite counter terrorist unit, The Terrorist Task Force, and their leader, John Tankersley, or `Tank`and they are the Soft Target Series, which have been described by a reviewer as ‘Reacher on steroids’.

I had no intentions of writing until 2007, when I set off on an 11-week tour of the USA. The Day before I boarded the plane, Madeleine Mcann disappeared and all through the holiday I followed the American news reports which had little or no information about her. I didn’t realise it at the time, but the terrible kidnap would inspire my book, The Child Taker years later. During that trip, I received news that my house had been burgled and my work van and equipment were stolen. That summer was the year when York and Tewksbury were flooded by a deluge and insurance companies were swamped with claims. They informed me that they couldn’t do anything for weeks and that returning home would be a wasted journey. Rendered unemployed on a beach in Clearwater, Florida, I decided to begin my first book, Soft Target. I have never stopped writing since. I have recently completed my 17th novel, SHADOWS, something that never would have happened but for that burglary and my experiences in Warrington.

As far as my favourite series ever, it has to be James Herbert’s, The Rats trilogy. The first book did for me what school books couldn’t. It fascinated me, triggered my imagination and gave me the hunger to want to read more. I waited years for the second book, The Lair, and Domain, the third book to come out and they were amazing. Domain

I had no intentions of writing until 2007, when I set off on an 11-week tour of the USA. The Day before I boarded the plane, Madeleine Mcann disappeared and all through the holiday I followed the American news reports which had little or no information about her. I didn’t realise it at the time, but the terrible kidnap would inspire my book, The Child Taker years later. During that trip, I received news that my house had been burgled and my work van and equipment were stolen. That summer was the year when York and Tewksbury were flooded by a deluge and insurance companies were swamped with claims. They informed me that they couldn’t do anything for weeks and that returning home would be a wasted journey. Rendered unemployed on a beach in Clearwater, Florida, I decided to begin my first book, Soft Target. I have never stopped writing since. I have recently completed my 17th novel, SHADOWS, something that never would have happened but for that burglary and my experiences in Warrington.

As far as my favourite series ever, it has to be James Herbert’s, The Rats trilogy. The first book did for me what school books couldn’t. It fascinated me, triggered my imagination and gave me the hunger to want to read more. I waited years for the second book, The Lair, and Domain, the third book to come out and they were amazing. Domain is one of the best books I have ever read. In later years, Lee Child, especially the early books, has kept me hypnotised on my sunbed on holiday as has Michael Connelley and his Harry Bosch Series.

You can follow Conrad Jones on Facebook and Twitter

 

Blog Tour ~Review~ The Elephant of Frimley by Nicholas Rawls

Book description

The Elephant of Frimley
Two sisters and an elephant embark on an exciting adventure in this charming illustrated
children’s book.

After the discovery of an elephant in their back garden, sisters Hannah and Emily make it their adventurous mission to return it back home.

Originally written as a bedtime story for his two daughters, and beautifully illustrated by Louise Jewell, The Elephant of Frimley is a delightful and fun read that parents, primary school teachers and extended families will enjoy sharing with young children.

Review 

I would liketo thank Clink Street Publishing, Nicholas Rawls and blog tour organiser Rachel at Authoright, for the ARC copy of The Elephant of Frimley in return for an honest review.

This is my first time reviewing a book for young children and it has been a very enjoyable.

The Elephant of Frimley is a charming and sweet tale, which I am sure will appeal to any young child and their parents.

Told in poetic verse it’s the tale of a lost elephant and the young girls that find him in their garden.  It’s beautifully illustrated and with text large enough for young readers to read themselves or follow as their parents read to them.  Having read to my god children, it’s important that a book aimed at very young children has text that is big enough for them to see without having to struggle or they become distracted and The Elephant of Frimley I’m glad to say takes this into account.  The writer has also taken care that when read out loud, the story flows beautifully off the page and reads like a dream, with simple words that won’t confuse young readers.

I loved the simplicity of the tale, perfect for little ones who need a story that quickly captures the imagination.  It’s charming and reminds me of some of my favourite childhood reads. I feel sure this will become a firm favourite of any child lucky enough to have this read to them and a classic childhood memory as they grow and learn to read themselves.

It made me smile and laugh and I can imagine it doing the same for my precious godchildren and their children in the future.  I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend The Elephant of Frimley to anyone looking to buy a book for their young child. Sweet and endearing, a classic tale of to fire the imagination of any young reader.

The Elephant of Frimley can be purchased from Amazon 😀

Author bio

About the author: Retired and happily living in Farnborough, Surrey, Nicholas Rawls enjoys spending time chatting on-line with his grandson and five adult children who are scattered across the world. When he’s not writing poetry and children’s verse he can be found pursuing his other interests —from antique fountain pen restoration to stamp collection, amateur astronomy and learning to play the banjo.

Blog Tour ~ Giveaway ~ Bad Sons by Oliver Tidy

I am very lucky today,  to be able to offer a giveaway of an eBook of Bad Sons by Oliver Hardy as part of the blog tour. 

All you have to do is leave a comment on today’s post with either you twitter handle or email address and the names will be placed in a hat. The lucky winner will have a copy emailed to you! 

Take a look at the description of this exciting new thriller and good luck. 

Book Description:

David Booker returns to Romney Marsh on the south coast of England for a holiday. He is expecting to spend time helping his aunt and uncle pack up the stock of their second-hand bookshop in preparation for a happy retirement.
He arrives in Dymchurch on a miserable April night to find his relatives missing without word or clue regarding their whereabouts.
As events unravel, the outlook of the local police pushes Booker to search for his own answers to the questions surrounding his family’s disappearance. To unravel the mystery he will have to put himself in danger.
Will Booker find the answers he needs and make it out alive?

Author Bio

Oliver Tidy was born and bred on Romney Marsh, Kent. After a fairly aimless foray into adulthood and a number of unfulfilling jobs he went back to education and qualified as a primary school teacher.

 

A few years of having the life sucked out of him in the classroom encouraged Oliver abroad to teach English as a foreign language. The lifestyle provided him the time and opportunity to try his hand at writing.

 

Oliver’s success as a self-published author has led to his Booker & Cash series of books, which are set mainly on Romney Marsh, being signed by Bloodhound Books.

 

Oliver is now back living on Romney Marsh and writing full time. 

You can follow Oliver on Twitter,  Facebook and his Website.

Guest post ~ Reconciliation For The Dead by Paul Hardisty

 

Book summary

Fresh from events in Yemen and Cyprus, vigilante justice-seeker Claymore Straker returns to South Africa, seeking absolution for the sins of his past. Over four days, he testifies to Desmond Tutu’s newly established Truth and Reconciliation Commission, recounting the shattering events that led to his dishonourable discharge and exile, fifteen years earlier. It was 1980. The height of the Cold War. Clay is a young paratrooper in the South African Army, fighting in Angola against the Communist insurgency that threatens to topple the White Apartheid regime. On a patrol deep inside Angola, Clay, and his best friend, Eben Barstow, find themselves enmeshed in a tangled conspiracy that threatens everything they have been taught to believe about war, and the sacrifices that they, and their brothers in arms, are expected to make. Witness and unwitting accomplice to an act of shocking brutality, Clay changes allegiance and finds himself labelled a deserter and accused of high treason, setting him on a journey into the dark, twisted heart of institutionalised hatred, from which no one will emerge unscathed. Exploring true events from one of the most hateful chapters in South African history, Reconciliation for the Dead is a shocking, explosive and gripping thriller from one finest writers in contemporary crime fiction.

Why Apartheid Matters

By Paul E. Hardisty

At the Newcastle Noir crime writing festival recently, someone in the audience asked me if I wrote to entertain, or to challenge the reader. My answer was: both. Fiction should entertain, and I try to give my thrillers a fast, hard, surface that drives the action along at bullet train speed, with plenty of sharp curves, switchbacks and sheer drops. Hopefully, by the time you’ve finished, you feel like you’ve gone ten rounds with a UFC fighter and survived. But the reason I write, the thing that gets me to the computer every morning I am able, is to challenge the reader to consider the social injustices that surround us every day, but that are too difficult, and in many cases too distant, to confront in their pure, factual form, and do it in a way that is unobtrusive enough to be, at first, invisible.
In my latest novel, Reconciliation for the Dead, third in the Claymore Straker series, Clay returns to South Africa to testify to Desmond Tutu’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Through his testimony, Clay takes us back to his days as a young solider in the South African army, fighting the communist insurgency in Angola, and defending his country’s apartheid regime. During a patrol deep inside Angola, he and his friend, Eben Barstow, come face to face with an act of such shocking brutality that they begin to question all that they have been told about the war. Caught up in a descending spiral of events, unable to stand by and watch, Clay and Eben decide to act. As they strip away the layers of falsehood, they come to see the sinister depths of apartheid, and just how far the ruling elite is prepared to go to hold on to power. It will change their lives forever.
The core plot elements of the book are based on little known, true events during this dark chapter of South African history. Apartheid was conceived as a way to guarantee the white minority’s long term hold on power. It was first introduced in 1948, and continued as official government policy until 1991. However, by the early 1980’s, the leading architects of the system and members of the ruling National Party began to realise that demographics were against them. High black population growth rates would eventually mean that the white minority would simply be too small to rule. The end was in sight. But no animal fights harder than when it is most threatened. This is the battle Clay is caught up in.
Apartheid is important not only as a reminder of the horrors of institutionalised racism, but as an example of what can be done when people and nations stand up against injustice. As the realities of apartheid became known more widely around the world, South Africa was increasingly isolated and subject to international condemnation. Years of economic and political sanctions followed. Inside South Africa, many joined the struggle for freedom, black and white, and many paid for dissent with their lives. By the early 1990’s, the end was near. In 1994, after years of imprisonment, Nelson Mandela became the first elected black President of South Africa. Today, perhaps more than ever, we need to remind ourselves of what can be achieved when people stand up for what is right. Reconciliation for the Dead is about a group of people who do exactly that, blowing the reinforced concrete roof off the most heinous of apartheid’s twisted secrets.

You can buy the book from Waterstones or Amazon and other good suppliers.

Author

Canadian by birth, Paul Hardisty has spent 25 years working all over the world as an engineer, hydrologist and environmental scientist. He has roughnecked on oil rigs in Texas, explored for gold in the Arctic, mapped geology in Eastern Turkey (where he was befriended by PKK rebels), and rehabilitated water wells in the wilds of Africa. He was in Ethiopia in 1991 as the Mengistu regime fell, and was bumped from one of the last flights out of Addis Ababa by bureaucrats and their families fleeing the rebels. In 1993 he survived a bomb blast in a café in Sana’a, and was one of the last Westerners out of Yemen before the outbreak of the 1994 civil war. Paul is a university professor and Director of Australia’s national land, water, ecosystems and climate adaptation research programmes. He is a sailor, a private pilot, keen outdoorsman, conservation volunteer, and lives in Western Australia with his family.

 You can follow Paul on Facebook and Twitter

The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin.

They say that reading is solitary hobby and to an extent that is true, when you read a book you do so alone. The relationship is between you and the characters.  Yet to say that, is to ignore the power reading has to form friendships, discover connections and start conversations with friends and complete strangers. Not all readers are introverts, some are, others are extroverts, many are a bit of both. They like to talk about books they’ve read, share their love of a character and writer.  Its through these networks of friendships that we discover new books and it was how I came to read the incredible, The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin. A lovely nurse that works tirelessy to help others and has great taste in books recommended this book to me.  Thank you Delyth, I adored it and I hope many others will to.

Death is a subject we all have to face up to, but what if its not the end of our journey? What if or memories live on in other lives, even when our bodies die?

Sharon Guskin has written a tender, beautiful and deeply touching story about rebirth and memory.  It’s a memorizing tale of young four year old Noah, who from the time he can talk, asks his mother to take him home.  Despite constant reassurance that that he is home, Noah is haunted by memories of a previous life and has talents no one can explain.  To find resolution, Noah, his mother and doctor, must all go on a cathartic journey of discovery.  It takes them to a family whose young son Thomas disappeared years before.  Is Noah, Thomas?  Does Noah have within him elements of Thomas’s memories and life?  Can he provide them with answers to Thomas’s disappearance?  Importantly, can they provide Noah with the ability to forget the memories that haunt him?

It is a profound story about the meaning of life and the power memory has in shaping who we are.  It asks us all the question, what if what we did in our lives mattered, because it shaped who be became in this life and the one after that.

In a society where death is feared, The Forgetting Time is a book that has a lot to teach us about life and death.  It’s a book that calls out to you, asks you to read it and fills you not only with questions, but also a sense of wonder and peace.  Resolution to all the fears that haunt us.  Young Noah connects one life with those that went before.  He is a channel for a soul made up of memory and experience.

Life may not end with the death of our bodies.  Join Noah and all those who love him on an emotional and powerful journey to The Forgetting Time. 

 

The Forgetting Time can be bought from Amazon  and Waterstones

 

 

 

The Girl On The Bus by N M Brown

Book Description:

 

A retired detective and a young woman are about to face their worst fears.

Vicki Reiner is emotionally isolated and craves the fleeting happiness she experienced in the years prior to her college graduation. In an attempt to recapture this, she invites her former friend and room-mate, Laurie,  for a break at her deserted beachside home. However, despite booking an online bus ticket, her friend never shows up and seems to have vanished.

Unable to accept the bizarre circumstances of the disappearance, Vicki approaches the police who dismiss her concerns before enlisting the reluctant help of Leighton Jones – a newly retired detective who is haunted by the death of his teenage daughter. Despite trying to remain detached from the case, Leighton is drawn to Vicki and her search for justice.

The unlikely pair face numerous obstacles but using a combination of methods he and Vicki track the killers who are working across the dusty freeways of North America.

Soon Vicki and Leighton find themselves nervously waiting at a remote bus stop expecting the arrival of the bus.

Will they ever discover what happened to Laurie?

And can they both escape with their lives?

Review 

Firstly,  I would like to once again thank Bloodhound Books, N M Brown and Sarah Hardy, for the ARC copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I should start by confessing that this book made me glad I don’t have to travel by bus in America and determined never to travel on a coach on my own!

Now I admit I’m easily scared.  So the fact this book scared me, freaked me out a little and has made my phobia of coach travel worse, won’t surprise my friends.

The Girl On The Bus did more than enough to scare me, but wasn’t full of gratuitous violence for which I was very grateful.  I think dedicated, hardcore thriller readers might wish this book had more shock factor, but for me it delivered the perfect balance.

The characterisation was interesting, with a young female protagonist and an older male lead to balance the partnership out.  Vicki is a depressed, insecure IT expert looking for her missing friend and Leighton a recently retired detective, seeking relief from memories that haunt him.  They make an unusual and original partnership and I loved that at the point they meet, both are in need of friendship and its this that binds them into the novels two main characters.  We don’t get to learn much about the supporting cast, but that worked, because they were there to provide the drama and by not fleshing them out, the writer avoided the story being overly cluttered.

Its an easy read and I think it will appeal to those thriller readers who find darker novels not to their liking.  It doesn’t seek to freak the reader out with glory details, leaving much to the readers imagination.

Its what I most liked about the book, the ease of reading, the likeable characters and the plausible storyline.  There are so many different types of thrillers, some are gritty and dark and that’s not to everyone’s taste. The Girl On The Bus will appeal to those who like a thriller that entertains and doesn’t seek to horrify them with detailed descriptions of the victims untimely deaths.

I would certainly read more by this author. But no trains please, I’m running out of transport options!

The book can be bought from Amazon and Waterstones.

Author Bio:

Norman M. Brown is an author living and working in Scotland. He attended secondary school in Stirling where he spent more time in the library or in the nearby park with a paperback, than he did in classes. Ironically, having graduated from Stirling University with a degree in English, he soon ended up back on the classroom again – where he has shared his love of fiction for two decades.

Having experimented with poetry, scripts and short stories over the years, he finally decided to write sit down and write the type of fiction he would like to read. The result was his crime thriller -The Girl on the Bus. As result, Norman was delighted to be signed to Bloodhound Books at the start of this year. The Girl in the Bus, is his first published novel. He is currently writing a second novel based on its protagonist – detective Leighton Jones.

You can follow N M Brown on his blog and on Twitter