The Caller by M.A Comley and Tara Lyons **Blog Tour**

Today I am incredibly excited to be featuring on the blog tour for The Caller written by not one but TWO of my favourite authors. Now I’m a huge fan of  “two for the price of one” but there is also that saying “double trouble”! So here goes!

About this book…

The first gripping book in The Organised Crime Team series by NY Times bestselling author of the Justice series, M A Comley and co-author Tara Lyons, author of In The Shadows.

When The Caller rings… what would you do?

The Organised Crime Team is a newly-formed unit with one of the toughest tasks in London. Led by DI Angie North, their first investigation is a cold case that has foxed several officers in the Met for months.
After Angie holds a TV appeal regarding the case, a number of similar aggressive attacks are brought to her attention. The team call on their contacts on the street for help. Their interest is sparked when several local names surface.
To bring the criminals to justice a member of the Organised Crime Team is asked to risk their life in a dangerous covert operation.

My review…

When I heard that Mel Comley, author of one of my favourite series “The Justice Series”, was teaming up with Tara Lyons author of In the Shadows for a new series I was certainly intrigued! It sounded like a match made in heaven so I’m happy to report back that it works like a dream.

The first in a series is always difficult as you have to maintain a balance between having that gripping storyline but also introducing a new cast of characters. The Caller manages to do both of these equally well. The plot involves a cold case for the newly formed Organised Crime Team who are put to work after links are discovered between some very violent burglaries that have taken place. These crimes actually made my skin crawl with the way they took place. This is a gang with no moral backbone and their devious way of getting into people’s homes made me trot off to double check all my doors and windows were locked! We, are as a nation, are still very trusting and like to believe the best in people but this book will make you doubt anyone you ever speak to on the phone again! The team are lead by DI Angie North and I warmed to her as soon as she appeared. Her interactions with her family show her to be a normal working wife and mother who just happens to be in charge of one of the toughest jobs policing in the capital. At work she takes charge of her team with a mixture of authority and responsibility whilst maintaining good working relationships with all the members of her team. I especially liked the way she let them introduce themselves but then let them get on with the task in hand. I have a feeling there will be a lot more to come out about members of the Organised Crime Team in future books (hopefully?!)

This was a great opener to this new series and it was the perfect length. I was surprised to pick it up, start reading and the next thing I knew I was 70% through it! That’s because the book just glides so well with such an incredibly powerful crime flowing through it that you can’t tear your eyes away from the page. And let’s just say that I won’t be inviting the lady who delivers my parcels in for a coffee any time soon!!

Thanks to Mel and Tara for my review copy of The Caller in return for my unbiased review
The Caller (The Organised Crime Team series Book 1) is out now and available to buy at Amazon UK

Why not follow the rest of the blog tour to find out more about #WhoAreTheOCT

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Willow Walk by SJI Holliday **Blog Tour**

It is my great pleasure to appear as this stop on the blog tour for Willow Walk by SJI Holliday because it’s also publication day for the paperback edition today as well! I read Black Wood, which is the first part of the Banktoun trilogy whilst on holiday last year, so I was very excited to be involved in the launch of book 2.

About this book…

When the past catches up, do you run and hide or stand and fight?

When a woman is brutally attacked on a lonely country road by an escaped inmate from a nearby psychiatric hospital, Sergeant Davie Gray must track him down before he strikes again. But Gray is already facing a series of deaths connected to legal highs and a local fairground, as well as dealing with his girlfriend Marie’s bizarre behaviour. As Gray investigates the crimes, he suspects a horrifying link between Marie and the man on the run – but how can he confront her when she’s pushing him away?

As a terrified Marie is pulled back into a violent past she thought she’d escaped, she makes an irrevocable decision. And when events come to a head at a house party on Willow Walk, can Gray piece together the puzzle in time to stop the sleepy town of Banktoun being rocked by tragedy once more?

My review…

I enjoyed Black Wood and was keen to get back to Banktoun for Willow Walk. I will just say that this can be read as a standalone novel although there are little references to what happened previously, it isn’t something you feel in the dark about. Although if you haven’t read Black Wood….why not??!! These books aren’t just police procedural, they are suspenseful domestic noirs that feel like they are happening right in our own doorsteps.

The start of this book throws us right in at the deep end with someone waking up after a house party and walking through the silence of bodies crashed out on the floors and sofas to go home. But they don’t seem to realise that maybe these partygoers are a little bit too still and that the smell of vomit and booze may be masking another more sinister smell.

We’re back in Scotland again with Sergeant Davie Gray. He really isn’t having much luck with the ladies at the moment as his girlfriend Marie seems to be acting rather strangely and is unusually distant. But this may be more to do with a case he is investigating rather than his charms, well he hopes so anyway! Or does he? In the small town of  Banktoun, once again things are happening a little too close to home. But this is what I really love about these books, they come with normal characters that could very well be your brother or your friend or your Aunties cousin twice removed! Davie is the perfect example of this, he knows everyone in the small town of Banktoun and everyone knows him. He is there for advice if needed and runs the small police station whilst dealing with the constant worry about closure.

I particularly liked  the way that letters were used throughout the book to show us the frame of mind of Graeme. I started to dread reading each letter when it appeared as it gradually formed a picture of what had happened in Marie’s past. It was a great way of building up an insight into one of the creepiest characters I have read about in a while. He literally made my skin crawl!

SJI Holliday has created a town full of dark secrets and lies that could be any town in the UK today highlighting problems with drugs, drinking and bored teenagers. I love that the small town attitude is used to a great effect here and is a very realistic portrayal of a small Scottish community (I should know…I grew up in one!) where relationships, both work and personal, constantly collide. This is a dark, creepy story of murder and obsession that grabbed me from the very first page and has left me wanting more! This really has to be optioned for a tv series, Scotland needs a new police hero on the small screen and I think Davie Gray fits the bill perfectly!

Many thanks  Black and White Publishing for my review copy which was provided in return for an unbiased review.

Publication date for paperback copy is 10th June 2016
Willow Walk: A creepy and compelling psychological thriller (Banktoun Trilogy) is available to buy at Amazon UK

 

Death Do Us Part by Steven Dunne

About this book…

Even death cannot part these couples . . .

DI Damen Brook is on a rare period of leave and determined to make the most of it by re-connecting with his daughter Terri. But with her heavy drinking proving a challenge, Brook takes the opportunity to visit a local murder scene when his help is requested.

An elderly couple have each been executed with a single shot to the heart and the method echoes that of a middle-aged gay couple killed the previous month.

With the same killer suspected and the officer currently in charge nearing retirement, Brook knows that he has little choice but to cut short his leave when forced by his superiors to take the lead on the case.
Brook believes that he can catch this ruthless killer, but already distracted by Terri’s problems, is he about to make a fatal mistake and lead the killer right to his own door?

My review…

Well this book was LITERALLY too hot to handle for me! As I was sitting reading it in the garden, I got to 94% and my kindle switched itself off as it was overheating! Thankfully a nice cool down indoors did the trick and an hour later I was able to finish, what is in my opinion, the best in the DI Damon Brook series so far!

Well, as if Brook doesn’t have enough to worry about trying to establish a reconnection with his daughter Terri, he is called upon to solve the murder of an elderly couple in their own home. They have been shot, each with a single shot and they had been drinking champagne shortly before their deaths. Brook sees a possible connection with the murder of a gay couple recently and so sets about in his usual methodical way to investigate further. But is the truth a little closer to home than he is expecting?

I definitely think this is my favourite so far, I do love Brook! I think what makes me connect to him is that he just seems so…..normal!! I like his down to earth approach to his job and the way he admits that he can’t delegate, it just makes him seem more realistic. And I like the way the plot follows the conversations he has with his colleagues so you can actually see his thought process throughout the case. I like dialogue! As usual we get to follow Brooks personal life as well and I found the relationship he had with Terri to be rather touching, the text messages that he sends her are just so typical of a father trying to do his best with his adult daughter, a relationship that can be a difficult at times. There are a few other usual players here as well and it felt like I had never been away from Brook and his colleagues-it was like settling back in with friends that you hadn’t seen for a long time but as soon as you’re together again, it’s like nothing has changed!

The plot here is a cracker and I thought I had it all figured out but no. It’s a really twisty tale that makes you think “oh I get it” then realise that you actually don’t! Incredibly well thought out and brilliantly brought together. And that ending!!!!! I don’t think I dared breathe for that last 6%!! This is easily one of my favourite detective series so now I feel quite low that it’s all over for another book and I have to wait for the next. Patience really isn’t my strong point!

I received a copy of this book via netgalley in return for an unbiased review.

Publication date 5th May 2016

Available to buy at Amazon