Review: The Teacher by Katerina Diamond

The Teacher by Katerina Diamond

Publisher: Avon Books UK

Release date: 10 March 2016

Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: You think you know who to trust? You think you know the difference between good and evil? You’re wrong... A LESSON YOU WILL NEVER FORGET. The body of the head teacher of an exclusive Devon school is found hanging from the rafters in the assembly hall. Hours earlier he’d received a package, and only he could understand the silent message it conveyed. It meant the end. As Exeter suffers a rising count of gruesome deaths, troubled DS Imogen Grey and DS Adrian Miles must solve the case and make their city safe again. But as they’re drawn into a network of corruption, lies and exploitation, every step brings them closer to grim secrets hidden at the heart of their community. And once they learn what’s motivating this killer, will they truly want to stop him? SMART. GRIPPING. GRUESOME. This is a psychological crime thriller in a class of its own. Warning: Most definitely *not* for the faint-hearted!

The Teacher is the first novel I've read in a while that comes with a warning; that it's not for the faint-hearted.

Of course, being a prolific reader it's very rare that I actually pay attention to these warnings, but if you are not a fan of graphic descriptions of murder scenes and/or torture then it may pay to you take note.

When the body of a head teacher is found hanging from the rafters in the assembly hall of his exclusive school for Boys, it appears to be nothing more than suicide. Only the deceased at that moment in time is aware of the package that he received hours before his death prompting him to fear for his life. 

With good reason.

What follows are a series of gruesome murders that at first seem to have absolutely no connection at all, other than their brutality. But a closer look reveals they are connected, but not by the person that DS Adrian Miles' boss is convinced they are.

Investigating officers, DS Adrian Miles and his new partner DS Imogen Grey are thrown together by circumstance, but they work well together, and I would really love to read another novel that features them - I have no idea if this novel is a one off, but it is a partnership that I would definitely read more of.

As more men are murdered and the killings become more high profile and more violent, the urgency on the Police to find the perpetrator intensifies, but then the motive for the killings is discovered and everything changes...

There is so much more that I could say about this novel, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who is yet to have the pleasure of reading it.

The Teacher is available now from Amazon online and all good book shops.

 

Thank you to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

My 2016 top picks..

The Butcher's Hook - Janet Ellis / Rebound - Aga Lesiewicz / the Darkest Secret - Alex Marwood / the Girl You Lost - Kathryn Croft / Little Boy Blue - M.J. Arlidge

the Shadow Hour - Kate Riordan / Dead Secret - Ava McCarthy / the Secrets of Gaslight Lane - M.R.C. Kasabian / Behind Closed Doors - B.A. Paris / the One in a Million boy - Monica Wood
Beside Myself - Ann Morgan / Passenger 19 - Ward Larsen / Lost Kin - Steve Anderson / the Widow - Fiona Barton / Find Her - Lisa Gardner
A fever of the blood - Oscar de Muriel / the astonishing return of Norah Wells - Virginia Macgregor / the Poison Artist - Jonathan Moore / Shtum - Jem Lester / the Trap - Melanie Raabe
I See You - Clare Mackintosh / Untitled - Adele Parks / Baby Doll - Hollie Overton / the Crow Girl -Erik Axl Sund / the day I lost you - Fionnuala Kearney / Dear Amy - Helen Callaghan 
Once again this is by no means a definitive list and I'm sure there'll be many more to add!

Review: the Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson

The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson Publisher: Faber and Faber Release date: 3 September 2015 Rating: ***** Back cover blurb: ‘Hello there.’ I looked at the pale, freckled hand on the back of the empty bar seat next to me in the business class lounge of Heathrow airport, then up into the stranger’s face. ‘Do I know you?’ 


                      The Kind Worth Killing has been shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Dagger Ward, you don't have to read very far into this beauty of a novel to understand why.

It's a novel that has been sitting on my ‘to be read’ list for a while, and as soon as I started it I could've literally kicked myself for not reading it sooner... Also any author who has had their work endorsed by the genius that is Nelson DeMille is surely worth a read.

The Kind Worth Killing opens with Ted Severson meeting Lily Kintner at London Heathrow airport both are waiting for a flight to Boston. From the outset Lily is charming, beautiful and manipulative; enticing details from Ted that you wouldn't normally impart to a stranger, yet revealing very little about herself. Once their flight is delayed, Ted finds himself opening up to Lily even more, and she is sympathetic to his plight.

Ted is a wealthy man whose wife is cheating on him with Brad Daggett the man who is helping them construct their dream home. Ted is angry, but unsure what he should do and jokingly hints as killing her. 
Lily thinks that Miranda is after his money, and is the ‘kind worth killing’, she is blasé about the subject of murder; "Truthfully, I don't think murder is necessarily as bad as people make it out to be. Everyone dies. What difference does it make if a few bad apples get pushed along a little sooner than God intended? And your wife, for example, seems like the kind worth killing."

What follows is a series of flashbacks, For those who love a twist, there is a brilliant one about mid-way through this novel which I didn't see coming at all, and it really added to my enjoyment of the novel.

The characters in this novel at sociopaths at best, psychopaths at worst, I should hate them all - but there is something very intriguing about both Ted and Lily and I would love to see another novel with Lily Kintner as a character.

 
The Kind Worth Killing is a must read for crime/thriller fans, and comes highly recommended from me! I'm off now to scout out Peter Swanson's first novel, whilst kicking myself for missing it...

The Kind Worth Killing is available to buy now from Amazon online and all good book shops. 
 
A huge thank you to Dead Good books for allowing me to receive a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. 

Review: After the Crash by Michel Bussi

After the Crash by Michel Bussi

Publisher: W&N

Release date: 12 March 2015

Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: On the night of 22 December 1980, a plane crashes on the Franco-Swiss border and is engulfed in flames. 168 out of 169 passengers are killed instantly. The miraculous sole survivor is a three-month-old baby girl. Two families, one rich, the other poor, step forward to claim her, sparking an investigation that will last for almost two decades. Is she Lyse-Rose or Emilie? Eighteen years later, having failed to discover the truth, private detective Credule Grand-Duc plans to take his own life, but not before placing an account of his investigation in the girl's hands. But, as he sits at his desk about to pull the trigger, he uncovers a secret that changes everything - then is killed before he can breathe a word of it to anyone...

I'm still not entirely sure what made me pick up this novel the day I got on a flight to Italy, particularly as it was sadly just days after the GermanWings tragedy. But I have a strange fascination with all things plane crash related as regular readers of my blog will know.

For those of a slightly nervous disposition, then please be assured that the plane crash literally just the beginning of this brilliant novel.

After the Crash as its title suggests, is about just that. The aftermath of a horrific plane crash into the side of a mountain, where there is one miraculous sole survior. A three month old baby girl.

With the girl's parents killed in the plane crash, no one seems to know who the infant belongs to. Until two families from very different backgrounds come forward, each of them proclaiming that the child is their granddaughter and they can prove it.

A local private detective is bought in to assist with the situation, and from the beginning he is convinced he knows the child's true identity, allowing that particular family to obtain custody and bring her up in their care. Neither family is prepared for the 18 year battle that will follow...

Whilst it may seem unbelievable that a baby would survive such a tragic event where others perished. The truth is that sole survivors from real life plane crashes do exist, although it is rare. 

Having said that, there was something about this novel from the start that made me think that there was something a little off. Something didn't ring true, and I began to wonder perhaps if I had watched too many episodes of Air Crash Investigation!

The feuding families, the dodgy private detective and the vast sums of money being exchanged in the quest for the truth make for an excellently structured crime novel that will leave you wondering until its final pages.

I can't wait to see what this author comes up with next!

After the Crash is available to buy now from Amazon online and all good book shops.

    Thank you to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Someone Else's Skin by Sarah Hilary

Someone Else's Skin by Sarah Hilary

Publisher: Headline

Release Date: 27 February 2014
Rating:****

Back Cover Blurb: Some secrets keep you safe, others will destroy you... Detective Inspector Marnie Rome. Dependable; fierce; brilliant at her job; a rising star in the ranks. Everyone knows how Marnie fought to come back from the murder of her parents, but very few know what is going on below the surface. Because Marnie has secrets she won't share with anyone. But then so does everyone. Certainly those in the women's shelter Marnie and Detective Sergeant Noah Jake visit on that fateful day. The day when they arrive to interview a resident, only to find one of the women's husbands, who shouldn't have been there, lying stabbed on the floor. As Marnie and Noah investigate the crime further, events begin to spiral and the violence escalates. Everyone is keeping secrets, some for survival and some, they suspect, to disguise who they really are under their skin. Now, if Marnie is going to find the truth she will have to face her own demons head on.    

                                                                       Because the time has come for secrets to be revealed...

 

Described as 'the Crime debut of the year', Someone Else's Skin is the debut novel from Sarah Hilary. It's the second crime debut novel I've read so far this year, which as a Crime fiction fan makes me very happy. Its so wonderful to read the new talent that is about!

Someone Else's Skin opens with the main protagonist Detective Inspector (DI) Marnie Rome arriving home one day to the untimely death of her parents who have been brutally murdered. Fast forward Five years and she is investigating an attempted murder at a Women's shelter with her colleague Detective Sergeant (DS) Noah Jake.

Rome and Jake had been sent to question a young girl to try and persuade her to give evidence against those who had made a horrific attack on her. They know she is unlikely to give them what they want as she is scared and vulnerable, yet very loyal to the family members that inflicted harm on her.

Their original task is soon forgotten when they find Leo Procter fighting for his life at the hands of his wife Hope. Leo is taken to Hospital separately from his wife, who is to be examined by Doctors to determine the extent of abuse she has suffered at her husband's hands. It seems to be a clear cut case of self defence.

But why would Leo bring a knife to a women's shelter? How did he get in? What exactly did he want?

These are questions that you will be asking yourself, which are largely answered by the author. Or so you think.

There is a brilliant twist at the end of Part One of Someone Else's Skin. I don't want to give anything away, but I certainly didn't see it coming, and I read a lot of crime!

Someone Else's Skin will leave you desperately wanting more, and I can't wait to see the return of Rome and Jake ...

 

Someone Else's Skin is available from 27 February 2014.

You can pre-order it now  from Amazon and Headline.

    Thank you to the Publishers who approved my request on Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.