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

The Slaughter Man by Tony Parsons

Description from Goodreads:

"A murdered family. A dying serial killer. A missing child. DC Max Wolfe hunts a pitiless killer through the streets of London. By the Sunday Times number one bestselling author of The Murder Bag.

On New Year’s Day, a wealthy family is found slaughtered inside their exclusive gated community in north London, their youngest child stolen away.

The murder weapon – a gun for stunning cattle before they are butchered – leads Detective Max Wolfe to a dusty corner of Scotland Yard’s Black Museum devoted to a killer who thirty years ago was known as the Slaughter Man.

But the Slaughter Man has done his time, and is now old and dying. Can he really be back in the game?

And was the murder of a happy family a mindless killing spree, a grotesque homage by a copycat killer – or a contract hit designed to frame a dying man?

All Max knows is that he needs to find the missing child and stop the killer before he destroys another innocent family – or finds his way to his own front door …

Even the happiest of families have black, twisted secrets that someone is ready to kill for…"

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This book is what I call a good old-fashioned crime caper with loads of action, thrills and violence which is fast paced and well written and I thank the publisher, Random House UK Cornerstone, for providing me with a copy via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This is the second book in the Max Wolfe Series and although I have got the first one (The Murder Bag), I am ashamed to say that I forgot about it so haven’t read it but after reading The Slaughter Man, I won’t do that again as I would quite like to get to know the main characters a little more.

The book starts with a bang and doesn’t let up. The fast pace and continuous action together with an easy writing style makes this hard to stop reading. The story was gripping, compulsive and plausible and the characters were complex, interesting and believable. DC Max Wolfe was likeable but his daughter, Scout, even more so - the sections devoted to their relationship were a welcome relief from the sometimes harrowing details of the crimes and investigation. These details were however very interesting. I particularly enjoyed the sections about The Black Museum and the description of the process of death, although grim, was just excellent.

There were a few things that I found a little odd - like how Max acted and was treated like he was a much higher rank than his Detective Constable (he needs a promotion) and how he and his colleagues put themselves in danger so easily when entering the house of paedophiles and when visiting the travellers site - I just don’t think this would happen in real life but then, this isn’t a nonfiction book so I just went with it and it did make for exciting reading.

Overall, I enjoyed this and would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good crime thriller with twists and turns aplenty which will keep you on your toes and enthusiastically turning the pages.

Yet another great British author to keep my eye out for in the future.

Time of Death by Mark Billingham

Description from Goodreads:

“The astonishing thirteenth Tom Thorne novel is a story of kidnapping, the tabloid press, and a frightening case of mistaken identity.

Tom Thorne is on holiday with his girlfriend DS Helen Weeks, when two girls are abducted in Helen’s home town. When a body is discovered and a man is arrested, Helen recognizes the suspect’s wife as an old school-friend and returns home for the first time in twenty-five years to lend her support. As his partner faces up to a past she has tried desperately to forget and a media storm engulfs the town, Thorne becomes convinced that, despite overwhelming evidence of his guilt, the police have got the wrong man. There is still an extremely clever and killer on the loose and a missing girl who Thorne believes might still be alive.”

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I am a massive fan of Mark Billingham and I absolutely love his character - Tom Thorne - neither have ever disappointed me and, after reading this, they still haven’t. This book is ace as are all previous 12 novels. I am usually one of the first to the bookshop when a new one comes out but this time I was lucky enough to have been sent an eBook copy via NetGalley and I want to thank the publisher, Grove Atlantic, for this in return for an unbiased review.

I won’t go into any details about the storyline as the description above says it all but I will say that it is captivating, thrilling, absorbing, exciting and all the other superlatives that you normally use to describe a brilliant read.

This book deals with some pretty despicable crimes but does so in a way that is not sensationalised or gratuitous but rather in a thought-provoking and sensitive manner. Now don’t get me wrong, this book isn't all about the heinous crimes, there are some laugh-out-loud moments to lighten the mood particularly when the unorthodox pathologist Phil Hendricks appears from London to lend a hand. He is like a breath of fresh air and his relationship with Thorne is just fantastic and so natural as is Thorne’s budding relationship with Helen.

The story moves at great pace with an easy to read style of writing which makes this book difficult to put down. There are twists and turns aplenty and just when you go “aha, I know who did it”, Mr Billingham goes and throws a spanner in the works again … you know it’s coming but are still surprised when it does.

This may be the 13th instalment in the Tom Thorne series and you might think that Mr Billingham couldn't think of new and innovative scrapes, crisis, crimes and miscreants for Tom Thorne to get involved with and in but he seems to be able to manage it with ease and still he makes it feel fresh and new. You can get away with reading this as a standalone but I would highly recommend reading the others as Thorne will quickly become an old friend who you love to get reacquainted with with each new book.

Would I recommend this to anyone else? Hell yes - go and buy it now :)