Your Child Next by M.J. Arlidge and Andy Maslen

Description from Goodreads:

"THEY'VE FAKED YOUR CHILD'S DEATH. AND IF YOU DON'T GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT, THEY'LL MAKE IT A REALITY.

Things have been difficult for Annie since her husband left; her teenage daughter, Isla, has become a ghost of her former self. Annie's terrified that Isla might do something desperate, and she'll lose her, too. So when Annie receives a video of herself crying at Isla's funeral, her blood runs cold.

Confused and horrified, Annie races upstairs to check on Isla, who is alive and well. The video has been faked. But who sent it and what do they want?

One dark truth soon becomes clear: Annie is the latest in a string of parents being blackmailed, and Isla will be killed if Annie goes to the police or if she fails to give the sender what they want. Annie has a deadly choice: comply with the demands, or try to unmask the dangerous criminal."

📚📚📚📚📚📚

I admit to being a fan of Mr Arlidge's work both on his own and when co-writing books with other authors and this is another to add to the ever growing books that I have enjoyed.

With excellent characters and an intriguing story line, this is a gripping, fast-paced psychological thriller that pulled me in from the start and didn't let go until I had swiped the last page.  An excellent story with twists and turns that worked well. 

As well as being a cracking read, this book also makes you think how much information is shared online with not a thought from most but if this book doesn't make you go and check your settings or stop and think before you post, nothing will!

Highly recommended and thanks to the authors, Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of this thrilling book.

📚📚📚📚📚📚

Family Doctor by J.M. Dalgliesh

 

Description from Goodreads:

"I have three days to kill a patient. If I fail, my daughter will die…

As the only doctor on a stunning remote Scottish island, I finally feel safe and happy. Here, nobody knows about my troubled past except my teenage daughter Lauren. As a single mother, it’s just the two of us now, and Lauren is my world.

Caring for every person on the island from birth to death, I know all their fears and secrets. But they don’t know mine, and for the sake of my daughter, I must keep it that way…

Everything is going perfectly until I am sent a link to a live video stream of my beautiful daughter Lauren, her wide blue eyes terrified. And there’s a voice:

‘Three rules. Three days.

You must murder one of your patients.

You must not tell another soul.

You must not get caught.

If you fail, your daughter dies…’"

📚📚📚📚📚📚

I haven't read anything by this author before but if this is an example of his work, it won't be my last.  Family Doctor was a great psychological thriller that I enjoyed.

With great characters, an excellent story that I quickly became immersed in and with some great tension-filled scenes, this is a book that I found hard to put down.  It was written at a fast pace and the location of a remote Scottish Island really provided a sense of isolation and claustrophobia that fitted really well with the story.  

Written at a good pace and with some great twists, this book questions how far you would go to protect your flesh and blood and I would recommend it to those who enjoy a fast-paced thriller.

Many thanks to the author, Bookouture and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of this book.

📚📚📚📚📚📚

A Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage by Asia Mackay [Audiobook]

🎙🎙🎙 Narrated by Georgia Tennant and Kyle Soller 🎙🎙🎙 

Description from Goodreads:

"The couple that kills together stays together...

Hazel and Fox are an ordinary married couple with a baby. Except for one small thing, they're ex-serial killers.

They had it all. An enviable London lifestyle, five-star travels, and plenty of bad men to kill. Not many power couples know how to get away with murder.

Then Hazel fell pregnant and they gave it all up for life in the suburbs; dinner parties instead of body disposal.

But recently Hazel has started to feel that itch again. When she kills someone behind Fox's back and brings the police to their door, she must do anything she can to protect her family.

This could save their marriage - unless it kills them first."

🎧📚🎧📚🎧📚🎧

This was totally unexpected and not what I thought it was going to be but I totally loved it!  What a ride and one that I would very much like to get back on and have another go.  Would I have felt the same had I read the physical book rather than listened to the audio version? I don't know but I actually think the brilliance of the narrators made this book more enjoyable; they were excellent.

From the very first words, I was hooked; I loved the characters, I loved the story, I loved the pacing, I loved the sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek moments ... actually, I loved everything about it and made every excuse to listen to it.  It certainly made my Christmas Day preparations more enjoyable especially peeling the sprouts!!!

Absolutely recommended especially the audio-book and I look forward to reading/listening to more of this author in the future and so much thanks go to her, Headline Audio, Wildfire and NetGalley for enabling me to listen to and share my thoughts of this really enjoyable book.

🎧📚🎧📚🎧📚🎧

Murder for Busy People (Max Wolfe #7) by Tony Parsons

 

Description from Goodreads:

"Emma Moon is out.

She's served nine years hard time for an armed robbery that killed two men and enriched many more.

But Emma’s never talked; she's never revealed who was with her on the day of the robbery or who killed both men. And she's never given up the money.

And now she's free. But everything has her family; her share of the money and her faithless loser of a husband.

So now Emma Moon is in a hurry. Because it's payback time and, after nine years inside, she has friends and she has disciples - people who will do anything for her.

As the bodies of the innocent and the guilty pile up, one detective stands between a career criminal and her quest for revenge.

Max Wolfe, single parent of a teenage daughter, a fiercely independent detective who owes nothing to anyone and who has own very particular form of justice ..."

📚📚📚📚📚📚

I have read and enjoyed quite a number of books written by Tony Parsons both from this series and his standalone ones but I am really unhappy to say that this fell a bit flat for me unfortunately.

I love the character of Max Wolfe, his relationship with his daughter, dog and colleagues and I love the style of Tony's writing but this just didn't seem to have the thrill or tension that I was expecting nor did it have me gripped like his books usually do.

Whilst the main story was intriguing and had me guessing, there were times when I felt it was quite repetitive and, I'm sad to say, boring.  I did however finish it and it certainly won't put me off reading Tony Parson's work in the future or more in the Max Wolfe series as I am rarely disappointed.

I may be in the minority here if other reviews are to go by so don't take my word for it and give it a go and I must thank the author, Random House UK, Cornerstone and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of this, the latest outing for Max Wolfe.

📚📚📚📚📚📚

The Stolen Sisters (The World War Two Orphanage #2) by Ann Bennett [Audiobook]

🎙🎙🎙 Narrated by Daphne Kouma 🎙🎙🎙 

Description from Goodreads:

"Poland, 1944 When twelve-year-old Martha and her little sister Johanna are snatched while out shopping for food and pushed into an army truck with a swastika on the door, they are heartbroken. Terrified they will never see their mother again, the little girls cling to each other as the truck full of stolen children rumbles through the countryside.

But worse is yet to come. When they arrive at their strange new home, tears streaming down their cheeks, Martha is sent into a separate room. As she is measured, her blonde hair and blue eyes exclaimed over, she doesn’t realise she has seen her sister for the last time. Later, as she sobs alone in the chilly dormitory, her only crumb of comfort is the memory of a kind German nurse who took a photo of the two sisters, and promised Martha she will do what she can to find Johanna.

Berlin, 2005 In her cosy sitting room, seventy-year-old Martha freezes. The woman on her television talking about lost children is someone she could never forget. Margarete Weiss is the nurse who took the photo of her and Johanna, the photo with the secret message on the back…

Martha has never been able to find her younger sister and has buried herself in work so as not to be haunted by the ghosts of her past. But, seeing Margarete’s blue eyes again, a shoot of hope takes root in her heart. Margarete may not have been able to prevent the sisters being separated during the war. But might she be able to help Martha find out what happened to Johanna now?"

🎧📚🎧📚🎧📚🎧

I haven't read the first in this series but I definitely think this works as a standalone very successfully.

I have an interest in reading books from this period and whilst this isn't a true story, I have no doubt that a lot of what is covered is pretty accurate and from the very beginning, I was hooked.

This is an emotional story of two little Polish sisters taken from the street whilst on a shopping trip for their mum who is ill in bed and tested to ascertain if they are Aryan enough to be 'reprogrammed' and potentially adopted by a German family after the process of Germanisation.

The characters were really well developed and well written, the descriptions of their situations, the people they encountered and the places they went were exceptional and all brought to life by the excellent narration from Daphne Kouma.

I went through all manner of emotions whilst listening to this story; anger, hope, fear, sadness and I actually think I stopped breathing at one point with my hands over my mouth in horror such was the depth to which this story and the characters of Martha and Johanna got to me.

If you like reading to or listening to books from this period of history whether they be fiction or non-fiction, I would definitely recommend this and many thanks to the author, Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for enabling me to listen to and share my thoughts of this emotional book.

🎧📚🎧📚🎧📚🎧