Review - Rattle by Fiona Cummins

Rattle by Fiona Cummins

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Release date: 26 January 2017

Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: A serial killer to chill your bones A psychopath more frightening than Hannibal Lecter. He has planned well. He leads two lives. In one he's just like anyone else. But in the other he is the caretaker of his family's macabre museum. Now the time has come to add to his collection. He is ready to feed his obsession, and he is on the hunt. Jakey Frith and Clara Foyle have something in common. They have what he needs. What begins is a terrifying cat-and-mouse game between the sinister collector, Jakey's father and Etta Fitzroy, a troubled detective investigating a spate of abductions. Set in London's Blackheath, Rattle by Fiona Cummins explores the seam of darkness that runs through us all; the struggle between light and shadow, redemption and revenge. It is a glimpse into the mind of a sinister psychopath. And it's also a story about not giving up hope when it seems that all hope is already lost.

Rattle is the outstanding debut novel by Fiona Cummins. It's only the third book I've read so far due to be published in 2017, but I predict this novel is going to be huge!

Rattle focuses on the depraved life of the villain (literally) that they call the Bone Collector, desperately being hunted by Detective Etta Fitzroy. Depicted as a psychopath more frightening than Hannibal Lector, he is truly horrifying.

Clara Foyle and Jakey Frith have more than their young age and rare disorders in common. They are both being sought out by the Bone Collector as his next victims. Or as he would prefer, 'additions to his collection'.

For the Bone Collector's collection is quite something... but he will not rest until it is complete.

For Clara and Jakey, their already challenging life's are about to be turned upside down in away that no one could imagine. Fitzroy must use her already strong instincts about a previous case to lead her to the Bone Collector, and she will not rest until she sees him bought to justice.

I don't want to say too much more about Rattle, as it is a novel that you must discover for yourself!

Rattle has a dark and disturbing undertone throughout the novel, that leaves the reader constantly on edge. I can guarantee you won't want to put this one down. And, as much as I really don't want to meet the Bone Collector again, I am kind of hoping for a sequel...

Rattle is available from 26 January 2017.

You can pre-order it now via Amazon online.

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

Review: Rebound by Aga Lesiewicz

Rebound by Aga Lesiewicz

Publisher: Macmillan

Release date: 14 January 2016

Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: Anna Wright, a 30-something uber-successful media executive in London, loves her dog, Wispa, and she loves to run. Anna is recently single after ending her three-year relationship with doting James. A spontaneous tryst becomes the catalyst for a series of crimes on Anna’s running route. This illicit liaison becomes Anna’s obsession, ultimately plunging her into a subversive, oppressive reality.

Rebound is a gripping novel that explores a different side to the usual thriller novel - the guilt of the victim. 

I was lucky enough to read this novel some time ago, but wanted to wait until nearer publication to post my review as this is sure to be one of the crime/thriller books of 2016.

Anna Wright is not your usual crime thriller protagonist, she is in danger, but she has in all reality, put herself in to the dire situation she finds herself in. Anna loves to run, and whilst she is running one morning her attention is caught by a handsome stranger.

A man so good looking that he looks like the belongs in a Dior advert. Anna christens him 'Dior man' in her head, and can't wait to see him the next time she is running.

But Anna and 'Dior Man' are not the only users of the Heath that they run upon, and when bad things begin to happen to women on the heath, Anna begins to question both her own sanity and safety. When her beloved dog Wispa goes missing and is bought back by an overly friendly neighbour, Anna thinks little of it, but could the people closest to her, be the ones that are the most dangerous.

Soon her neighbour, her ex-boyfriend and Dior Man are all under suspicion as the attacks on the heath intensify, Anna knows she needs to get away, so when she work beckons, she is only to happy to leave town for a while, but the London she returns to, is a very different one to the one that she left...

Rebound is a gem of a novel that will literally have you gripped. 

Interestingly it leaves a few unanswered questions at the end, which I would usually hate, but in this case I felt it only added more to the novel. 

Rebound is available from 14 January 2016

You can pre-order it now from Amazon online.

Thank you to The Book Club on Facebook who allowed me to read a copy of this novel as part of their read it forward book exchange campaign.

Review: the Bones Of You by Debbie Howells

The Bones Of You by Debbie Howells
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Release date: 16 July 2015
Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: I have a gardener's inherent belief in the natural order of things. Soft-petalled flowers that go to seed. The resolute passage of the seasons. Swallows that fly thousands of miles to follow the eternal summer. Children who don't die before their parents. A community in shock. When eighteen-year-old Rosie Anderson disappears, the idyllic village where she lived will never be the same again. Local gardener Kate is struck with guilt. She'd come to know Rosie well, and thought she understood her - perhaps better even than Rosie's own mother. A family torn apart. Rosie was beautiful, kind and gentle. She came from a loving family and she had her whole life ahead of her. Who could possibly want to harm her? And why? A keeper of secrets. Kate is convinced the police are missing something. She's certain that someone in the village knows more than they're letting on. As the investigation deepens, so does Kate's obsession with solving the mystery of what happened to Rosie.

 

The Bones of You is Debbie Howells’ thrilling debut novel. An idyllic community is in turmoil when Eighteen year old Rosie Anderson goes missing. Rosie is a beautiful young girl, quiet and shy with a loving family, her disappearance is completely out of character.

Kate is Grace’s Mother, although they are the same age and attend the same school, Grace is barely friends with Rosie but unsurprisingly disturbed when she goes missing. Kate is close to Rosie, through her love of horses and she instinctively feels that something terrible has happened to her. She reaches out to her Mother Joanna, to see if she can help.

Joanna Anderson, Rosie’s mother is fraught with grief and lashes out at those close to her, with the exception of her other daughter Delphine, whom she largely ignores, and her husband Neal.

Neal Anderson is a highly respected journalist whom Joanna describes as ‘amazing’ man, but he has a different side to him that we see mainly through Rosie.

Rosie Anderson is perhaps the most important character in the novel, through her we get to see different sides to different people, particularly her Mother and Father.

Alex is Rosie's secret boyfriend, did he have something to do with her disappearance, or is everyone just suspicious because Rosie wasn't the sort of girl to have a 'secret boyfriend' and therefore logically he must be flawed?

There were so many times during the Bones of You where I thought I had it sussed, particularly as an avid reader of this sort of novel. But I was wrong, so wrong, the author does a remarkable job of drip feeding the reader just enough information to come to a conclusion, before introducing something that destroys that conclusion.

If you are looking for a dark psychological thriller that will make you really think then this is the novel for you. I am struggling to describe just how much I enjoyed it, but it certainly is one of my favourite debut novels this year.

the Bones of You is available TODAY from Pan Macmillan and all good book shops.        Thank you to the publishers who sent me an advanced proof copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Under Ground by S.L. Grey

Under Ground by S.L. Grey

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Release date: 16 July 2015

Rating: **** and a half

Back cover blurb: THEY'RE TRAPPED FIFTY FEET DOWN . . . AND SOMEONE WANTS THEM SIX FEET UNDER. The Sanctum is a luxurious, self-sustaining survival condominium situated underground in rural Maine. It's a plush bolt-hole for the rich and paranoid - a place where they can wait out the apocalypse in style. When a devastating super-flu virus hits the States, several families race to reach The Sanctum. All have their own motivations for entering. All are hiding secrets. But when the door locks and someone dies, they realize the greatest threat to their survival may not be above ground - it may already be inside . . .







Under Ground is the first of Sarah Lotz and Louis Greenberg's collaborative efforts that I have read, and it sure won't be the last.

The Sanctum is a luxurious self-sustaining survival condominium situated underground in rural Maine, set back away from main roads, it is designed to be hidden away from the world at large.

When a super-flu virus hits the United States those families that have bought in to the Sanctum quickly make their way to guaranteed safety. But the Sanctum is barely finished; the elevator doesn't work, there is no wi-fi connection, and the 'state of the art' medical centre has no employees, let alone any usable equipment.

Greg Fuller, owner of the Sanctum is extremely apologetic about the 'teething glitches' of the property, but he assures his patrons that they are now safe from the outside world and don't need to worry.

Unfortunately Greg is the one that needs to worry, when he is seemingly murdered in the middle of the night but one of the Sanctum's occupants, the families begin to point fingers at each other. Will, Greg's right hand man is thrust reluctantly in to the spotlight and left in charge of the Sanctum, but his job becomes increasingly difficult as the days go on.

Things begin to go wrong inside the Sanctum, and I'm not just talking about it's residents relationships with each other...

As the Virus outside begins to subside, the Sanctum seems like less of an attractive option for it's residents, but something or someone is preventing them from leaving alive...

Without giving too much away I really enjoyed my first S.L. Grey novel and I was all set to give Under Ground 5 stars but I was left slightly shocked and quite confused at the ending, so I knocked off half! But don't take my word for it, go and check it out for yourself. 

Under Ground is available from 16 July 2015.

You can pre-order it now from Pan Macmillan or Amazon online.

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

Review: Hunted by Carla Norton

Hunted by Carla Norton
Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Release date: 18 June 2015

Rating: ****

Back cover blurb: 'You live nearby? You need a ride?' She stopped and looked at him: a chubby guy with a beard, younger than her father, but older than a teenager. She could never guess the ages of adults. 'You need some help?' the man asked again. 'I can’t fix your bike, but I can give you a lift. It’s no trouble.' 'Uh, no thanks. I better not.' He looked nice enough, and in all her twelve years she’d never met anyone dangerous or crazy, but she’d been warned many times about strangers... Reeve LeClaire is not a victim. Not any more. It’s been seven years since she escaped from evil psychopath Daryl Wayne Flint. He held her for four of her precious teenage years, and now she’s finally getting her life back. But Flint, imprisoned in a top psychiatric hospital, has been watching and waiting … meticulously planning his getaway. Now his chance has finally come. His escape is Reeve’s worst nightmare, contd...

Hunted opens with Reggie LeClaire’s kidnap, the full events of which are presumably covered in Norton’s previous LeClaire novel; the edge of normal (which I now really want to read incidentally!)

Eleven years later Reeve LeClaire is a determined young woman embarking on a new life far away from her captor Daryl Wayne Flint.

Flint is safely imprisoned in Olshaker psychiatric hospital, Seven years after Reeve escaped his clutches in a road traffic accident. A twist of fate that has never been forgotten by either of them.

Daryl Wayne Flint is a particularly creepy predator, determined to escape the psychiatric unit and get back to doing what he does best – capturing and terrifying young women.

When Daryl Wayne Flint escapes from Olshaker, Reeve is instantly on high alert afraid that he will come looking for her. When the police don’t take her seriously, Reeve turns to the one person she know will understand, Former FBI agent Milo Bender. He knows Flint better than anyone, and knows exactly what Reeve went through previously.

When Reeve contacts him, despite being retired due to ill health he is more than happy to help. He suggests that she go and stay with him for a while in whilst they wait and see what Flint is up to.

Within 24 hours of his escape, Flint has murdered a face from the past, and both LeClaire and Bender fear that it isn't a lone killing. With or without the FBI's help they vow to work together to bring Flint to justice.

But will it be as simple as that, or is Flint harbouring a secret that even the two people who know him best hadn't considered?

Hunted 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.

Blog Tour: Death in the Rainy Season by Anna Jaquiery

Phnom Penh, Cambodia; the rainy season. When a French man, Hugo Quercy, is found brutally murdered, Commandant Serge Morel finds his holiday drawn to an abrupt halt. Quercy - dynamic, well-connected - was the magnetic head of a humanitarian organisation which looked after the area's neglected youth. Opening his investigation, the Parisian detective soon finds himself buried in one of his most challenging cases yet. Morel must navigate this complex and politically sensitive crime in a country with few forensic resources, and armed with little more than a series of perplexing questions: what was Quercy doing in a hotel room under a false name? What is the significance of his recent investigations into land grabs in the area? And who could have broken into his home the night of the murder? Becoming increasingly drawn into Quercy's circle of family and friends - his adoring widow, his devoted friends and bereft colleagues - Commandant Morel will soon discover that in this lush land of great beauty and immense darkness, nothing is quite as it seems . . . A deeply atmospheric crime novel that bristles with truth and deception, secrets and lies: 

Death in the Rainy Season is a compelling mystery that unravels an exquisitely wrought human tragedy.

I am delighted to Welcome Anna Jaquiery to my blog today to talk about the writing process. I am always fascinated to know how others write, so this is a superb piece for me to be hosting as part of the 'Death in the Rainy Season' blog tour.

The writing process. I always find it interesting as a writer to read about the writing habits of others. Recently, I read something in which the British historian William Dalrymple described a typical day working on his novel. It sounded blissfully structured. I envied him the order and serenity of his writing life, though I am sure in reality, life gets in the way of his writing too.

When you publish a novel, people tend to ask about the writing process. Mine tends to be more or less the same each time. Before I start writing a novel, I do my research. With my first novel The Lying-Down Room, I researched baptism, and the influence of foreign religions and sects in Russia following the fall of the Soviet Union. With my second book, Death in the Rainy Season, I read books and articles on Cambodia, spoke to people who know the country well, and took a trip there. It wasn’t my first visit, but this time I went solely for the purpose of research. My third crime novel is set in a suburb north of Paris and deals with immigration. I’ve been immersing myself in everything from French crime novels and music to documentaries and films on Paris’s outer suburbs.

As far as plot goes, I tend to start with a premise, and a vague outline, nothing more. I don’t plan ahead very much, which, for me, tends to make the writing more interesting. I don’t want to know everything that happens before I’ve started writing a book. Where would the fun be in that? But I have a clear picture of the setting and of the characters, right from the start.

The writing process is all about discipline and endurance. Once I start writing, I write every day, diligently. For me, it’s important not to step away from the story for too long. I want to stay ‘in’ it as much as I can. I make time each day, even if it means sitting up late with coffee when everyone’s asleep. There are days when I feel like I’m just adding words and sentences to a story, almost mechanically, and I know I’ll have to go back and bring those sections to life. There are other days where I feel completely immersed in the story and the writing flows.

Because I don’t plan much, there are discoveries along the way. I like that part of the process too. The best moment, though, is when I’ve finished the book. There is still the editing process, which is hugely important - but there is nothing better than that feeling you get, when you’ve reached the end.

  

I'm the last spot on the blog tour, but be sure to check out the rest!

 Death in the Rainy Season is available to buy now from Mantle and all good book shops.

    Thank you to Anna and Sam Eades for allowing me to participate in the blog tour.

Review: Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum

Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum Publisher: Mantle Release date: 26 March 2015 Rating: **** and a half Back cover blurb: Anna Benz lives in comfort and affluence with her husband and three young children in Dietlikon, a picture-perfect suburb of Zurich. Anna, an American expat, has chosen this life far from home; but, despite its tranquility and order, inside she is falling apart. Feeling adrift and unable to connect with her husband or his family; with the fellow expatriates who try to befriend her; or even, increasingly, her own thoughts and emotions, Anna attempts to assert her agency in the only way that makes sense to her: by engaging in short-lived but intense sexual affairs. But adultery, too, has its own morality, and when Anna finds herself crossing a line, she will set off a terrible chain of events that will end in unspeakable tragedy. As her life crashes down around her, Anna must then discover where one must go when there is no going back .

Anna was a good wife, mostly.   

From the very first sentence of Hausfrau I was hooked. It is rare for a novel that focuses on such a passive character as Anna to be able to keep the reader engaged the whole way through. But Anna is so intriging a character that you cannot help but be drawn to her.

Anna Benz lives in Dietlikon, a suburb of Zurich. An American ex-patriate married to a Swiss, Bruno, Anna often feels alone in Switzerland. She doesn't feel as if she fits in. Which is why she takes German classes every week day.

Bruno is oblivious, he believes his wife is happy with him and their three children. Who wouldn't be in such a beautiful setting?

But Anna not happy. Not even with Bruno.

She is a serial adulterer. Her latest in a long line of affairs is Archie, a Scot who happens to be in her German classes. But Archie is not the only man that Anna has in her life, aside from Bruno. Anna simply cannot (or perhaps doesn't want to) say No to anyone.

Inevitably perhaps Anna cannot carry on her shennanigans undectected, but it takes a major tragedy for her to see exactly what she has been doing wrong all this time. But is Anna already too late to save herself from the situation that she has created?

Alongside Anna's narrative, we also see her sessions with a therapist, a further insight in Anna's tangled web of lie, loneliness and deceipt.

Hausfrau handles it subject matter with a sensitivity that you might not expect, and the ending will leave you bereft. An excellent novel that will keep you captivated.

Hausfrau is available from March 2015. You can pre-order now from Amazon online and Pan Macmillan.       Thank you to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: No place to Die by Clare Donoghue

No place to Die by Clare Donoghue
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Release date: 12 March 2015
Rating: ****
Back cover blurb: DS Jane Bennett takes charge of South London's Lewisham murder squad following the temporary suspension of her boss, DI Mike Lockyer. His involvement with a female witness resulted in her murder. Mike returns to work but he's a shadow of the detective he was a few months before. Bennett gets a desperate call from an old friend to say that her husband, retired colleague Mark Leech, has gone missing. Blood spatters found in the home suggest that she doesn't have long to find him. When Jane is sent to a site in Elmstead Woods she stumbles upon a sinister murder scene. A tomb has been created, and the body she finds is not Mark's - as she dreaded and suspected - but that of missing university student, Maggie Hungerford. Her killer recorded her last moments, even providing an air supply which was only cut off when the game lost its thrill contd...

No place to die is a novel with disturbing crimes at its heart. I've read enough crime novels to not feel too shocked at the idea of the murder victims being buried alive in a tomb whilst being observed dying by their murderer. 

 

DS Jane Bennett is a character that I warmed too immediately. You can feel her nervous anticipation as she is led to the underground tombs with forensic officers in two, the fact that we get to know her family a little I think also warmed me to her. She wasn't the cold hard detective that you see in so many crime novels. 

 

Her superior, Mike Lockyer is quite obviously a troubled character and I feel like I needed to have read the previous novel with him in to understand him a little better, but for this particular novel, the fact that I didn't know him all that well, helped me to understand how DS Bennett was feeling towards him at the beginning of the novel. 

 

Without giving too much away, No place to die centers around the discovery of missing university student, Maggie Hungerford's body and the disappearance of retired police detective Mark Leech. 

 

At first there is little to link the two events and DS Bennett is certain that she has her man (or men-she is largely undecided if they are both involved) in the form of a Universty lecturer and a PHD student, Maggie's former lover, but as the investigation deepens, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems. 

 

Sadly I guessed the murderer within the first few chapters, but I don't think it is obvious at all, I think I have just read far too many (if there is such a thing...) novels of this genre. If I hadn't I think I would've been very surprised by the ending of the novel. 

 

No place to die is a well written story with a great twist, and if I wasn't such an avid crime reader I probably would've given it 5 stars.

 

No place to die will be released on 12 March and is available to pre-order now from Amazon online and Pan Macmillan.

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

Review: Some Luck by Jane Smiley

Some Luck by Jane Smiley
Publisher: Mantle (Pan Macmillan)
Release date: 06 November 2014
Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: America. 1920. After his return from the battlefields in France, Walter Langdon and his wife Rosanna begin their life together on a remote farm in Iowa. As time passes, their little family will grow: from Frank, the handsome, willful first-born, to Joe, whose love of animals and the land sustains him; from Lillian, beloved by her mother, to Henry who craves only the world of his books; and Claire, the surprise baby, who earns a special place in her father's heart. As Walter and Rosanna struggle to keep their family through good years and hard years - to years more desperate than they ever could have imagined, the world around their little farm will turn, and life for their children will be unrecognizable from what came before. Some will fall in love, some will have families of their own, some will go to war and some will not survive. All will mark history in their own way. Tender, compelling and moving from the 1920s to the 1950s, told in multiple voices as rich as the Iowan soil, Some Luck is an astonishing feat of storytelling by a prize-winning author writing at the height of her powers.

Some Luck is the first novel in Jane Smiley’s trilogy covering the lives of the Langdon family. (The second novel is already on my hot picks for 2015 having read ‘Some Luck’).

I’ve never read anything by Jane Smiley before, but having read this, she is now on my ‘list’ of favoured authors. 

 

Some Luck is beautifully written, keeping the reader engaged through some thirty years before leaving us in suspense with the ending.

Each chapter covers a different year in the Langdon family’s life allowing us to really get to know each member of the family as they grow with the family.

My favourite character thus far is Frank. I’m not sure if it’s because we are introduced to him so early on, or whether I could just identify with him personally. But I think he’s a little bit of everything all rolled in to one.

Those first chapters where we see the family and their surroundings through his eyes as a baby are unique and something that I’ve not encountered before. 

 

Starting in 1920, Some Luck covers some 33 years but it doesn't feel like a long novel, at least it didn't to me. It takes the reader on a wonderful journey where we see the Langdon children grow up and into their own families, through the struggles of war and the great depression, we are taken on a journey through American history without being preached to.

 

There is something in Some Luck for everyone, beautiful scenery and landscapes, brilliantly flawed characters and plenty of drama without being over the top.

 

Some Luck is a stunning novel and one I don't hesitate to recommend.

Some Luck 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: Autobiography Of Us by Aria Beth Sloss

Autobiography Of Us by Aria Beth Sloss
Publisher: Picador
Release date: 3 July 2014
Rating: ****
Back cover blurb: Coming of age in early 1960s suburban California, Rebecca Madden and her beautiful, reckless best friend Alex dream of lives beyond their mothers' narrow expectations. As teenagers they are inseparable. But then, one sweltering evening the summer before their college graduation, a single act of betrayal changes everything . . . Decades later, Rebecca's haunting confession reveals the truth about that night, the years that followed, and the friendship that defined her.

When I received Autobiography of Us in the post, I'll be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect. From the outset I'll admit, it did look to be more than just 'chick lit', but I wasn't necessarily convinced that it would be my kind of book. 

I do, however, try to never judge a book by its cover, so it went fairly near to the top of my 'to be read' pile (which is in release date order... sort of).

I finally got around to picking it up last Sunday. It was a glorious sunny afternoon here in Wales and I thought it would be the perfect accompaniment. I wasn't wrong.

We meet Rebecca Madden our protagonist in her freshman year homeroom. Alex Carrington is being introduced to the class. Beautiful, popular and rich, she is eveything that Rebecca thinks she isn't. They soon become fast friends, 'Blood Sisters' in fact.

Rebecca is often in awe of her beautiful friend, who's dream is to become an actress. Rebecca, wants to study medicine. But this is the fifties, and unfortunately quite often what women want, and what they actually get are two very different things.

Their friendship goes from strength to strength until the pair go to a wedding together with some of their other close friends. Rebecca is unused to drinking, and the heady mix of alcohol and male attention makes her behave in a way she would never normally dream of. Resulting in devastating consequences for her and those around her.

Can Alex and Rebecca's friendship survive? Well you will have to give the novel a read to find out. Lets just say I wasn't anticipating the outcome of the novel.

 Autobiography of Us is available to buy now from Amazon online and all good book shops.     Thank you to the publishers who sent me a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

Review: The Bone Seeker by M.J. McGrath

The Bone Seeker by M.J. McGrath

Publisher: Mantle

Release date: 5 June 2014

Rating: *** and a half

Back cover blurb: Summer in the High Arctic. When young Inuit Martha Salliaq goes missing from her settlement, her teacher, ex Polar Bear Hunter Edie Kiglatuk enlists her police friend Derek Palliser to help search for the girl. But once a body is discovered floating in a polluted lake on the site of a decommissioned Radar Station, Edie’s worst fears are realised. As the investigation into Martha’s murder begins, the Inuit community – and Martha’s devastated family – are convinced the culprits lie within the encampment of soldiers stationed nearby. Before long Sergeant Palliser finds evidence linking two of the men with the dead girl. But Edie and local lawyer Sonia Gutierrez remain unconvinced. Why are the military quite so willing to cooperate with the investigation? Contd..

The Bone Seeker is the first novel that I have read by M.J. McGrath, and whilst in parts it was gripping, it required an awful lot of concentration to understand what was going on.

That said, I usually don't mind novels that require concentration, as it usually means I'm using my brain, and the writing is excellent.

However in this case, whilst the writing was indeed of excellent quality, I'm just not sure this particular novel was for me.

From the back cover blurb I guess I was expecting something more than I actually got. Whilst I appreciate that statement is probably a little frustrating, I don't want to spoil the plot for those that actually wish to read the novel. I'm pretty sure there will be loads of readers who will love this, sadly it just wasn't for me.

The Bone Seeker is set in the Canadian artic and starts off simply enough, with an innocent exchange of words between Edie Kiglatuk a Summer school teacher and one her pupils, Martha Salliaq. It is only when Martha fails to turn up to subsequent lessons that Edie begins to question the exchange.

When Martha's body is found in a nearby lake, Edie enlists the help of Sergeant Derek Palliser to try and solve the crime. Several prime suspects are quickly identified with soldiers from a nearby camp among them. At first the suspects are co-operative, but as time goes on, you begin to think that maybe not everything it as it seems, you always feel that there is more to the story than Martha's death, but what exactly is not revealed quickly.

If you get through the gory descriptions and profuse swearing, then you will be rewarded with the truth. The Bone Seeker may not have been to my personal taste, but it has had favourable reviews elsewhere, so why not give it a try?

The Bone Seeker is available to buy now from Amazon online and all good book shops.

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