The Loving Husband by Christobel Kent

Blurb from Goodreads:


“A RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK AND SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER

'Wow. This one will keep your bedside light on until the small hours - it's unputdownable.'

Richard & Judy

For fans of Apple Tree Yard and The Silent Wife, The Loving Husband draws readers into a marriage where nothing is as it seems...

Fran Hall and her husband Nathan have moved with their two children to a farmhouse on the edge of the Fens - a chance to get away from London and have a fresh start.

But when Fran wakes one night to find Nathan gone, she makes a devastating discovery. As questions about her husband and her relationships start to mount, Fran's life begins to spiral out of control.

What is she hiding from the police about her marriage, and does she really know the man she shared her bed with?”

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I have previously read one of Christobel’s novels - The Crooked House - which although I enjoyed I found it a confusing read and I felt the same way about The Loving Husband although there was less enjoyment with this one.

The premise of the story is a familiar one - a seemingly happily married couple, one dies and so opens the floodgates of secrets and lies. The book starts off pretty well but, and herein lies the problem for me, it switches from past (years ago) to past (recent) to present and I found it difficult to keep track. I struggled to connect with any of the characters or muster up any sympathy for the main character, Fran who, for me, was a dull as dirty dish-water. The investigating Police Officers were, in my opinion, very unprofessional and lacking in any sympathy.

There was a positive however, I felt Christobel captured the isolation and desolation of the setting extremely well. Her description of the farmhouse and how she captures the cold was excellent but, unfortunately, this didn’t do much to make me enjoy the book any more and I just couldn’t get into it and it seemed to take an absolute age to finish it.

This book has been described as an “unputdownable” psychological thriller which is “utterly compulsive”, “eerily menacing” and “terrifyingly good” but for me it was too easy to put it down and not so easy to pick it back up.

My apologies to the author who has put blood, sweat and tears into this book but it just wasn’t for me but I would like to thank the publisher, Little Brown Book Group UK via NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest review.

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Spider Shepherd: SAS The Sandpit by Stephen Leather

Blurb:

“Who was Dan 'Spider' Shepherd before he signed up as an undercover cop and began working for MI5? The Sandpitrewinds with an action-packed rollercoaster to his days in the SAS...

Dan Shepherd and his SAS team are sent into the badlands of Afghanistan to train the rebels who are battling Taliban fanatics.

But what starts as a training mission in The Sandpit turns into a life or death struggle with Shepherd and his team very much in the firing line.

Soon they are caught up in an international intrigue that threatens the stability of the whole Middle East.

‘Let Spider draw you into his web, you won't regret it.’ Sun

‘The sheer impetus of his storytelling is damned hard to resist.’Daily Express

‘A master of the thriller genre.’ Irish Times“

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Dan “Spider” Shepherd is one of my all-time favourite characters created by Stephen Leather and I have read all of the full-size novels featuring this complex and interesting character so to get a chance to find out a little bit about how he became the “person” I feel I know … well, I couldn’t pass that up could I so was happy when the publisher, Lawsome Books via NetGalley, approved me to read a copy in return for providing an unbiased review.

The story takes place in Afghanistan when Spider is still a serving soldier in the SAS. It also contains squad members Geordie, Jimbo and Jock - characters that also appear in the full length novels. Stephen catches the camaraderie and the complete trust between these elite soldiers extremely well.

The story follows the SAS squad on a mission into the Panjshir Valley to train rebels who are fighting the Taliban however, this seemingly straightforward task turns into something a little bit more! Now, it does appear a bit far-fetched at first but after watching a series on TV where real SAS men were interviewed about real-life missions, it doesn’t seem to be beyond the realms of reality at all.

There is action a plenty and the pace of the writing is perfect. There is a flow to the book that is natural and makes it easy to read as are all of Stephen’s books and I have no qualms in recommending any of them to readers who love great books that are not just action but are exciting reads full of fantastic characters.

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Stephen Leather is one of the UK's most successful thriller writers. He was a journalist for more than ten years on newspapers such as The Times, the Daily Mail and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. Before that, he was employed as a biochemist for ICI, shovelled limestone in a quarry, worked as a baker, a petrol pump attendant, a barman, and worked for the Inland Revenue. He began writing full time in 1992. His bestsellers have been translated into more than ten languages. He has also written for television shows such as London's Burning, The Knock and the BBC's Murder in Mind series. Two of his books, The Stretch and The Bombmaker, were made into movies. You can find out more from his website - http://www.stephenleather.com/

Twitter - stephenleather

Publisher - Lawsome Books