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: Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson

Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson (translated by Quentin Bates)
Publisher: Orenda
Release date: 20 April 2015
Rating: ****

Back cover blurb: Siglufjörður: an idyllically quiet fishing village in Northern Iceland, where no one locks their doors -accessible only via a small mountain tunnel. Ari Thór Arason: a rookie policeman on his first posting, far from his girlfriend in Reykjavik with a past that he’s unable to leave behind. When a young woman is found lying half-naked in the snow, bleeding and unconscious, and a highly esteemed, elderly writer falls to his death in the local theatre, Ari is dragged straight into the heart of a community where he can trust no one, and secrets and lies are a way of life. An avalanche and unremitting snowstorms close the mountain pass, and the 24-hour darkness threatens to push Ari over the edge, as curtains begin to twitch, and his investigation becomes increasingly complex, chilling and personal. Past plays tag with the present and the claustrophobic contd...

Snowblind is the first in a series of novels, labelled as 'Dark Iceland'. Read the first page and you will immediately understand why - it is dark, it is gripping and it is fascinating. 

Snowblind is a novel about what happens in a small community where everyone knows everyone and nothing ever happens. 

Nothing ever happens - those three words are supposed to make our main protagonist Ari Thor feel welcome when he arrives alone in Siglufjorour and Tomas his senior colleague in the local Police force tells him he doesn't need to lock his door. 

Ari Thor does anyway. Feeling completely alone in this isolated, claustrophobic and judgemental community, Ari feels anything but safe.

When an elderly novelist, a local celebrity is found dead in suspicious circumstances, Ari is quick to voice his suspicions, eager to investigate and make a good impression on his new boss. Unfortunately his opinions are unwelcome and Tomas is quick to shoot him down insisting that the death was an accident. 

Ari stays quiet but continues to investigate without his superiors knowledge convinced that the old man was murdered. Circumstances change rapidly when a woman is found in the snow, blood all around her. Siglufjorour is not so dull after all!

Ari suspects the two 'incidents' could be connected - he just doesn't know who or what connects them. As he continues his investigations, this time with Tomas' help, he begins to uncover a deep web of secrets and lies, and it seems that no one in Siglufjour is exactly who they claim to be.

An excellent novel that will keep you guessing throughout, Snowblind deserves all the advance praise it has had and more...

  Snowblind is available to buy now from Amazon online.       A huge thank you to the Book Club on Facebook and Orenda books for my copy of the novel.