Beneath The Ashes by Jane Isaac

Description from Goodreads:

“The floor felt hard beneath her face. Nancy opened her eyes. Blinked several times. A pain seared through her head. She could feel fluid. No. She was lying in fluid.

When a body is discovered in a burnt-out barn in the Warwickshire countryside, DI Will Jackman is called to investigate.

Nancy Faraday wakes up on the kitchen floor. The house has been broken into and her boyfriend is missing. As the case unravels, DI Jackman realises that nothing is quite as it appears and everyone, it seems, has a secret.

Can he discover the truth behind the body in the fire, and track down the killer before Nancy becomes the next victim?”

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After I read “Before It’s Too Late” by Jane Isaac, I said that I would certainly read more as I had enjoyed it so much so imagine my delight when I was offered to read "Beneath The Ashes" in return for an honest review by The Legend 100 Club. I wasn’t going to say no was I?

We are quickly immersed in a riveting crime story being investigated by DI Will Jackman. I have said it before and I will say it again, I really like Will as a character. He is a really interesting, complex and likeable Police Officer who, despite carrying a lot of baggage around in his head, is methodical and driven to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding Nancy and her missing boyfriend.

The story moves at a good pace and flows really well so is easy to read. The story is told from the perspectives of DI Will Jackman and Nancy in alternating chapters which, I think, works really well. There are twists, turns, secrets, lies and red herrings before the reveal at the end which I didn’t see coming.

This is a great book and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a great mystery with very likeable characters and if you haven’t read any of Jane Isaac’s work before, I would suggest you give her a go - she certainly doesn’t disappoint and I for one can't wait to read the third book in the series - The Lies Within - which is due out in May 2017.

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Author Website - Jane Isaac, Crime Fiction Author

Author Twitter - JaneIsaacAuthor

Publisher website - Legend Press

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Book One

Click here for my review

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Book Three due May 2017

Picture taken from The Legend Press website

Click here to read the blurb

Medea's Curse by Anne Buist

Description from Goodreads:

"Forensic psychiatrist Natalie King works with victims and perpetrators of violent crime. Women with a history of abuse, mainly. She rides a Ducati a size too big and wears a tank top a size too small. Likes men but doesn’t want to keep one. And really needs to stay on her medication.

Now she’s being stalked. Anonymous notes, threats, strangers loitering outside her house.

A hostile former patient? Or someone connected with a current case? Georgia Latimer — charged with killing her three children. Travis Hardy — deadbeat father of another murdered child, with a second daughter now missing. Maybe the harrassment has something to do with Crown Prosecutor Liam O’Shea — drop-dead sexy, married and trouble in all kinds of ways.

Natalie doesn’t know. Question is, will she find out before it’s too late?

Anne Buist, herself a leading perinatal psychiatrist, has created an edge-of-the-seat mystery with a hot new heroine — backed up by a lifetime of experience with troubled minds."

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I was really drawn to this book from the blurb and was grateful to Legend Press via the Legend 100 Club for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

I found this a really difficult book to review because on the one hand, the story was captivating and interesting despite it being about some pretty despicable crimes (infanticide, child and domestic abuse, stalking and violence) but on the other, the writing style made it really, really hard to read which spoiled it for me in a big way. There are a lot of characters and the story jumps around a bit; I normally don’t mind this if there’s a thread which connects them all but in this novel, there were different threads that crossed but weren’t necessarily linked so this made it difficult for me to keep track. I also have an issue with the main character, Natalie King. Again, she’s difficult to critique. On the one hand she’s a very strong, independent woman but on the other, I found her to be extremely unlikeable and I wasn’t able to warm to her at all.

Having said all that, it’s very clear that the author knows her stuff and despite the difficulties I had in reading this particular book, I would be tempted to read another written by her.

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Publisher website:  Legend Press

Author Website:  Anne Buist

The Art Teacher by Paul Read

“A gritty, thrilling debut”

Description from the book:

“Patrick Owen managed seven years at Highfields Secondary School without punching a pupil in the face.

Unknowingly drawn into a war against his own pupils, Patrick's patience finally snaps as he finds himself the number one target with the boy the school just can't seem to expel.

When one of his art students needs his help, she unwittingly pulls Patrick further into the line of fire, altering their lives forever.

With the media circling and rumors of his involvement reaching new highs, Patrick must escape the world he lives in, or face the consequences.”

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With an opening line of “Patrick Owen managed seven years at Highfields Secondary School without punching a pupil in the face” you just know this is going to be an “interesting” read and it doesn’t disappoint.

Paul Read captures magnificently Patrick’s disillusionment with teaching, the daily grime of teaching disinterested students in a tough part of the city, the difficulty he has in coming to terms with his failed marriage and separation from his young son and the struggle he has with just getting up in the morning but when he gets involved with someone he probably shouldn’t, things become a whole lot worse.

The story captured me from the very first line and didn’t let up until the very end. The style of writing is natural and easy flowing. The characters are interesting, well developed and believable, scarily so in some cases, with the setting of the school and its surroundings feeling authentic. The story is quite a dark and sombre one but the author pops in humour which made me laugh out loud several times and provided a little light relief from what is a gritty thriller.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will definitely seek out further work by Paul Read in the future if this debut is anything to go by and I must thank the publisher, Legend Times Group via the Legend 100 Club, for my copy in return for an honest and unbiased review.

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Author twitter - @paulreadauthor

Publisher website - Legend Times Group

Legend 100 Club

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Armadillos by P K Lynch

"A good début"

Synopsis:

“Aggie is fifteen, a ‘sub’ from a ‘sub’ family, one of Texas’ downtrodden. Her father and brother enact that ‘sub’-ness on her, week in, week out. She has only the vaguest notion that there is something wrong with the abuse she endures and instead dreams of the outside world.

And then one day, Aggie walks out, and like the armadillos that flourish in Texas’ barren landscape, she is a survivor…

In her escape, she gravitates to those who are just as maltreated as her. They offer Aggie the sense of family, albeit a thoroughly dysfunctional one, that she’s been searching for. But when she gets embroiled in a crisis involving stolen money, Aggie soon realises there are some problems you can’t run away from.”

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Once again, I want to thank the Publisher, Legend Press, for sending me a copy of this book in order to provide an impartial review as part of the Legend 100 Club. It’s not a book I would normally pick up to read and therefore I had no expectations at all but overall, I was pleasantly surprised although it is not a “happy” story rather one that is quite dark and intense.

This is a “coming of age” story about 15 year old Aggie - a strong, young, female character who is brave and wise for her years. The book is told from her perspective both the present and flashbacks.

Aggie is a survivor born into a dysfunctional family which she suddenly decides to escape from one day to undertake a dangerous journey to find a better life. She starts off in the Texan desert going from one truck stop to another using her experiences to survive before arriving in the city where she befriends “Freak” and moves into a squat full of colourful characters. It is during this journey that you realise Aggie is one tough cookie and very intelligent despite her upbringing. Despite her best efforts though, Aggie is not able to leave her past behind and there is an inevitability that she will return home and confront what deep down she already knows but has yet to accept.

I thought the book was extremely well written and flows really well resulting in it being easy to read. The author has an excellent ability to tell a story and to describe locations, situations and characters - she makes them believable and come to life off the page.

On the negative side, the story was interesting enough to keep my attention but I was left feeling something was missing. It’s hard to explain but I was reading with anticipation that something “big” was going to happen, it never really did and I felt even the ending was a bit of a let down and anti-climax. However, as I've said, I didn’t know what I was expecting as it’s not my usual genre - I am used to twists and turns and things being thrown at you in surprise - this isn’t that type of book but what it is, is an exploration of a young woman’s need to live a normal life and her attempts to get there - Aggie is a memorable character and I for one will remember her.

Overall, this is a good début and an author I will look out for in the future.

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Publisher website: Legend Press

Author website: https://lynchpinpauline.wordpress.com/

Author twitter: @lynchpinpauline

When We Were Alive by C.J. Fisher

In the minority ... once again!

Blurb from Goodreads:

"When we first meet Bobby, he is a shy, twelve-year-old magician who falls in love with his best friend.

William is consumed with self-hate and drinks to escape the memories of his father’s sadness and his mother’s death.

Myles is writing letters to a mother he has never met.

Three different people from three different times each explore the dark side of relationships, search for beauty in sadness and try to bear the burden of guilt from living in a world we are powerless to fix."

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First off, I want to thank Legend Press for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review. Secondly, I want to apologise to Legend Press and the author for not actually finishing the book because, sadly, it just didn’t grab me in the way I think books should.

Now having said that I didn’t finish it, I will say that what I did read was well-written and the author definitely has a gift for description but, for me, it was a little too descriptive and long-winded and I found myself losing the thread part-way through a paragraph and having to go back and start again or skipping it totally. On reflection, I think this was part of the problem - doing this resulted in me losing interest and I had to force myself to read on and there were times when I would do anything other than pick it up. It was at this point, that I decided not to continue reading it - I hate doing that but life is too short and my “to-be-read” pile is massive!

I definitely think the fault is with me rather than the book - I just love getting lost in a book that excites me and gets my heart racing and my brain buzzing but, unfortunately, this book didn’t do that for me, then again, it isn’t being sold as such so this isn’t surprising.

After reading other reviews, it looks like I am in the minority (once again) so I would suggest that people who enjoy literary fiction and are tempted by the excellent cover and blurb, give it a go.

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Publisher website: http://www.legendtimesgroup.co.uk/legend-press

Author website: http://oldhotradio.com/

Fractured by Clár Nί Chonghaile

"A great debut"

Blurb from the book:

"Journalist Peter Maguire has been kidnapped in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. He does not know where he is or what is going to happen to him. He is filled with fear and, as the days go by, this dread of the unknown is shot through with remorse for the mistakes of his past.

Peter's mother, Nina comes to Somalia to wait for her son’s release. His plight forces her to relive another trauma—the fatal shooting in Liberia of Shaun Ridge, a young photographer she once loved, and Peter’s real father.

Abdi, a Somali teenager working with Peter’s captors strikes a tenuous friendship with the prisoner based on a shared feeling of captivity. He decides to help Peter escape. Together they set off into the barren vastness of a land filled with danger.

These three people must journey into one of the world's most dangerous places, the human mind, to answer the question: are we ever truly free?"

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This is a debut novel by this particular author and, to be honest, not one that I would have chosen to read myself but was lucky enough to have been sent an advance copy from the publisher, Legend Times Group, in return for an honest review and I am really pleased they did as I really enjoyed it.

The setting of the story is mainly Somalia and the author brilliantly captures and describes this war-torn country. In parts, it’s as bleak as the main characters’ lives but, in others, the author manages to bring out the beauty that the country so obviously has.

The story is told from 3 perspectives - Peter, Nina and Abdi. Peter is a journalist held hostage; Nina is his mother who has flown out to try and help secure his release and Abdi is a Somali teenager who is a participant in the “care” of the kidnapped Peter. I didn’t particularly warm to Peter despite his plight; he came across as an arrogant, selfish young man however, once his background is revealed. his actions become more understanding but he remains, to me, not a particularly likeable person. Nina is the voice of a mother who feels blame and responsibility for what has happened due to the choices she has made in her life which, like all the characters, is well explored throughout the book.

Abdi is a young man whose life has been filled with tragedy and I warmed to him almost immediately despite him being mixed up in the kidnapping of Peter. Abdi is as much a prisoner as Peter and he sees the similarities between them both - resigned to the fact they have no future. Abdi provides an insight into life in a war-torn country of being afraid to step outside because of a real fear of death at any moment - no wonder thousands risk their lives escaping similar situations - who would want to live like that?

The pace of the book is steady and well written but I do have one criticism; some of the language is a bit stilted, for example the author writes “I did not know” when “I didn’t know” would have been more natural and helped the flow a little better. I understand this happening in some of the conversations where English is the second language but not when Nina or Peter are reflecting to themselves or having an internal dialogue.

Overall though, I have few complaints and applaud the author on a great debut. The subject matter is topical given what is happening in various countries around the world and although it is a work of fiction, it is the strength of the author’s writing and her ability to make you think the characters are real people in real situations which makes this book very plausible and realistic - I actually think this would make a pretty good film.

I would be very interested to read Clár's next novel and hope it doesn't take 11 years to write that one.

Fractured is available to purchase on 1st February 2016.

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Author website - http://www.legendtimesgroup.co.uk/legend-press/authors/1054-clar-ni-chonghaile

Twitter - clarnic