Judefire33 The Book Blog

My #BookReview of #Slaughterhousefarm by @TOrrMunro published by @HQstories on 25.5.2023 #CSIAllyDymond #2

A family secret worth killing for…

In the dead of night, 72-year-old Miriam Narracott is found wandering on Exmoor, holding a knife and covered in blood. Inside the family farmhouse lies the body of her adult son, Gabe.

CSI Ally Dymond is on compassionate leave, but when approached by the new DI, recently arrived from London and eager to have Ally’s keen eye and local knowledge on the case, she finds herself being drawn back in.

With their only suspect Miriam unwilling – or unable – to talk, the team must dig into the family’s history to uncover a motive. Instead they find evidence that Gabe was involved with a criminal network, suggesting a completely different chain of events. But if Miriam isn’t the killer – then who is?

The gripping second novel in the CSI Ally Dymond series.

Thank you to HQ Stories for very kindly sending me a proof copy of Slaughterhouse Farm.

After reading Breakneck point last year which I absolutely raved about and reviewed with a 5-star rating, I was super eager to get started on the follow up, Slaughterhouse Farm.

We meet our brilliant lead character again, CSI Ally Dymond, in her Devon village where she and her daughter Megan are still recovering from the attack that happened in Breakneck Point. (If you don’t know then you really need to buy and read book 1 in the series! )

Ally is on compassionate leave and is questioning herself as to whether she returns to role as a CSI for Devon & Cornwall Police Force. With her daughter nearly dying after a brutal attack, and still recovering, as a Mum she is putting her daughters welfare first, all be it with Megan getting stronger everyday, Megan is starting to get fed up with being wrapped in cotton wool.

I love the way Ms Munro has woven so much emotion into what is a crime fiction novel, its done with such prowess, and certainly shows another side to anyone working with the Police Force. The dynamic between mother and daughter is wonderful and I loved this part of Slaughterhouse Farm.

The plot is fast moving and easy to follow, but not so easy that I guessed the outcome! The cast of supporting character’s is really well written and they fit in perfectly with the storyline.

I’m not going to give anything away, but this is an explosive crime fiction novel that’s full of surprises, some good and some bad!

As a follow up and book 2 in the series, Slaughterhouse Farm is excellent and Ms Munro is a hugely talented author. At 406 pages long, I read Slaughterhouse Farm in 2 days, I could not put it down!.

A must for fans of crime fiction series that hit the police procedural mark plus the realistic emotions of people whose lives are affected by crimes.

My rating – 5 stars!

T. Orr Munro was born in Hampshire to an English mother and a Greek-Armenian father who later moved to Devon. After university she trained as a CSI, then became a secondary school teacher. She changed career at 33 to become a police and crime journalist. She has since returned with her family to live in North Devon, the setting for Breakneck Point. Her time as a CSI provided much of the inspiration for the novel, shining a light on what happens behind the crime scene tape.

You can Pre-Order Slaughterhouse Farm HERE

You can follow Tina Munro on TWITTER INSTRAGRAM

My #bookreview of #AllOfUsAreBroken by @FionaAnnCummins published by @panmacmillan on 20.7.2023

It’s been a long time since the Hardwicke family has been on holiday. But thirteen-year-old Galen has wanted to see the wild dolphins at Scotland’s Chanonry Point for as long as she can remember, and her mother Christine – a lone parent since her beloved husband left – is determined she gets her wish. But their serene trip is about to be interrupted.

When DC Saul Anguish is called to investigate the shooting of an ex-police officer in Midtown-on-Sea, Essex, he quickly discovers that this is the first in a string of killings by Missy and Fox, a damaged young couple hell-bent on infamy, their love story etched in blood. In pursuit, Saul follows their trail north.

The paths of the Hardwickes’ and the deadly couple are about to collide. When Saul and his forensic linguist partner, Blue, arrive on the scene, they witness the unthinkable: a mother forced to make an impossible choice.

Saul must uncover the truth about the couple. But can he find the strength to lay the ghosts of his past to rest before they break him

Thank you so much to Fiona Cummins for my signed copy of All Of Us Are Broken.

There are some authors and some books that as soon as you receive them you forget every other book and have to read them right away…All Of Us Are Broken, was one of mine.

This is a follow-up to the much-raved-about Into The Dark with DC Saul Anguish as our lead character, and as fans of the first book will know, he is a dark and unique detective who finds a kindred spirit in one of the CSI team.

All Of Us Are Broken gallops off the page from the opening prologue, this is an immense work of art, and in my opinion Fiona Cummins’s best novel to date.

I was totally obsessed and could not put this book down, the plot is brilliant, it’s hyper-tense, it’s twisty, it has surprises and it is violent and oh-so dark, but there’s also a smattering of heartbreaking sadness. these characters are all so well written and with each page we see their layers peeled off to meet the real them! This is a thriller that will have your skin crawling with anxiety and the way Fiona Cummins writes to keep the reader literally on the edge of their seat is amazing, a talent, not every author can do well, but Fiona is the MASTER at tension and keeping the reader gripped in the story!

I really loved All Of Us Are Broken, that title sums up the plot and storyline so well! I loved the well-written landscapes, the graphically gory murder scenes, they delve into the character’s psyche, and the way the story just grabbed me from page 1. This is an almost horrifically violent book, so if you don’t like gore and violence it may not be for you, but I just loved it! The creep of anxiety that spread down my spine as the story gains its pace was utterly marvellous!

This will be one of my books of the year, and deserves so much more than 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars! A definite binge-read for thriller fans!

Fiona Cummins is an award-winning former journalist and a graduate of the Faber Academy, where she now teaches her own Writing Crime course. She is the bestselling author of five crime thriller novels, all of which have received widespread critical acclaim from household names including Val McDermid, Lee Child, David Baldacci, Martina Cole and Ian Rankin. Three of her novels have been optioned for television.
Rattle, her debut, has been translated into several languages and Marcel Berlins wrote in The Times: ‘Amid the outpouring of crime novels, Rattle is up there with the best of them.’ Fiona was selected for McDermid’s prestigious New Blood panel at the 2017 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, where her novel was nominated for a Dead Good Reader Award for Most Exceptional Debut. A sequel, The Collector, was published in February 2018 and David Baldacci described it as ‘A crime novel of the very first order’.
Her third novel – standalone thriller The Neighbour – was published in April 2019. Ian Rankin called it ‘creepy as hell’. Her fourth novel When I Was Ten, an Irish Times bestseller, was published in April 2021. Into The Dark, Fiona’s fifth novel, was published in April 2022 and was described by Sarah Vaughan, author of Netflix smash-hit Anatomy of A Scandal, as ‘Complex. Inventive. Twisty. Unsettling.’ The Daily Mail said it was ‘breathtakingly good’. Her sixth novel, All Of Us Are Broken, will be published in July 2023.
When Fiona is not writing, she can be found on Twitter, eating biscuits or walking her dogs. She lives in Essex with her family.

You can Pre-Order All Of Us Are Broken HERE

You can follow Fiona Cummins on TWITTER INSTRAGRAM FACEBOOK

My #BookReview of #TheFields by @erinyoungauthor published by @HodderBooks

IT STARTS WITH A BODY-a young woman found dead in an Iowa cornfield, on one of the few family farms still managing to compete with the giants of Big Agriculture.

For Sergeant Riley Fisher, newly promoted to head of investigations at the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office, an already horrific crime takes on a personal edge when she discovers the victim is an old friend, from a dark past she thought she’d left behind.

Rumour travels fast in small towns, while sweltering heat and state-wide elections only add to the pressure-cooker atmosphere. When another body is found, Riley is in danger of being engulfed by the fear and the frenzy. Something deeply disturbing is out there – and it reaches far beyond Black Hawk County.

Beautifully written and masterfully crafted, The Fields is a stunning crime debut.

Well we all know that towering tbr pile? So The Fields has been on my shelf for ages, but as I had a book spring clean, I thought I would give it a go.

And holy moly what a book! Set in the cornfields of Iowa, the novel starts with the finding of a female in the middle of a corn field in the high heat and humidity of Summer. This book has such epic descriptions of the Iowa countryside and sprawling scenery, Erin Young has totally captured the landscape here, and having been freaked out by Children Of The Corn as a teenager, the sense of dread and tension really helped me to love The Fields.

The plot is fantastic involving Genetically Modified Crops, Politics, Murder, Cannabalism and betrayal. We meet Sargent Riley Fisher in the sweltering heat of the corn field with the first horrifically injured body, and we follow her throughout the novel. Riley is from the small Midwest town and has her own secrets from the past that she struggles to keep a lid on when we find out that the murder victim is a childhood friend.

I loved Riley’s character and in fact all the characters are extremely well written and they sit well into the novel. It had me thinking of novels like The Dry by Jane Harper, because of its attention to detail with the settings, the weather, the townsfolk and the small Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office. But that does not take away what a fabulous novel this is. It has a great pace that keeps the reader fully engaged and I was really invested in the plot and storyline. How Big Agricultural Companies are always looking at ways to produce more crops and get more money, the greed that comes with that and how that may take people down an illegal path.

Brilliant just brilliant is my take home from The Fields, very well written and so atmospheric and tense. I loved Riley Fisher and hope I don’t have to wait too long before I get to read about her and her family in the future.

Superbly written and gripping another 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read from me.

Erin Young’s debut thriller, THE FIELDS, was inspired by an article about the menacing power of Big Agriculture. A decision to set the novel in Iowa, corn-capital of the world, led her to make a fascinating journey across the state, from chance encounters with cops and farmers to an audience with a local mayor, shooting Glocks and getting caught in supercell storms, from the state capitol to the state fair. Having grown up in a fishing village in Devon, she is drawn to the claustrophobic dramas of rural small-towns and the secrets they hide.
Erin Young is the pseudonym of acclaimed historical novelist, Robyn Young, author of eight internationally bestselling novels. She has been published in 19 languages in 22 countries, selling two million books worldwide. THE FIELDS is her first contemporary thriller. She lives and writes in Brighton, England.

You can buy The Fields HERE

You can follow Erin Young on TWITTER FACEBOOK

Erin Young has her own website HERE

My #bookreview of #WhenWeFall by @aoifejclifford published by @ultimopress on 3.5.2023

In the wild, coastal town of Merritt, Alex Tillerson and her mother make a shocking find on the beach. The police claim it’s an accidental death but there are whispers of murder and that it is not the first.

‘It isn’t strangers you need to worry about here. Blood lines run deep and in unexpected places. Every victim, every accused, we’ll know. The past runs alongside us all the time. Some days it spills into the open.’

Bella Greggs was found dead at the bottom of a ravine but drowned in salt water. Maxine McFarlane was pulled from the ocean but with no water in her lungs. Black feathers were found with both bodies but what do they mean?

As Alex fights for answers to honour the dead, and to discover why her mother fled town as a teenager, good people keep looking the other way, memories become unreliable and secrets threaten to reveal the past.

Alex discovers the truth never dies but it can kill…

Aoife Clifford was born in London of Irish parents, studied Arts/Law at the Australian National University, and now lives in Melbourne. Aoife is the author of best selling literary crime novels, Second Sight, runners up in 2019 for Crime Book of the Year in the Davitt Awards, and All These Perfect Strangers, which was long listed for both the ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year and the Voss Literary Prize. She has been shortlisted for the UK Crime Association’s Debut Dagger among other prizes. Her award-winning short stories have been published in Australia, UK and US.

Hugest of thanks to James at Ultimo Press for sending me a copy of When We Fall.

I’m always on the lookout for new Australian crime fiction and authors, it amazes me how there are so many talented authors in one Country! And I love Outback Noir and Australian novels.

When We Fall is a griping novel that’s part crime fiction and also literary fiction. Set in a smalltown in Australia with all the prejudices and rumours that exist in these towns, we meet Alex Tillerson a Barrister who has had to come back to her home town from the city to look after Denny, her Mum who is suffering from Dementia. On the first morning they are taking a walk along the shoreline when Denny stumbles onto a find that completely changes the whole reason for Alex’s stay in Merritt.

This is a wonderfully descriptive story that covers the emotional side of dealing with ageing parents, and the effects of murder on a small town. Alexi s driven by her compassion and sense of righteousness to help in the search for a murderer, which leads her into danger.

I loved When We Fall, there’s a diverse set of characters and they are very well observed, I found this an easy read and the plot was excellent, keeping me guessing all the way until the end. If you like small town Australia and all the claustrophobia, atmosphere and prejudices that go with it and strong female lead characters then this will be the book for you.

A very solid 4 star read.

Released on 3.5.2023 in the UK you can buy When We Fall HERE

You can follow Aoife Clifford on TWITTER INSTAGRAM FACEBOOK

My #bookreview of #ParisRequiem by @chrislloydbcn published by @orionbooks

‘You have a choice which way you go in this war…’

Paris, September 1940.

After three months under Nazi Occupation, not much can shock Detective Eddie Giral. That is, until he finds a murder victim who was supposed to be in prison. Eddie knows, because he put him there. The dead man is not the first or the last criminal being let loose onto the streets. But who is pulling the strings, and why?

This question will take Eddie from jazz clubs to opera halls, from old flames to new friends, from the lights of Paris to the darkest countryside – pursued by a most troubling truth: sometimes to do the right thing, you have to join the wrong side…

Thank you to Orion Books for very kindly sending me a proof copy of Paris Requiem, and introducing me to Chris Lloyd and Eddie Giral.

Having read The Unwanted Dead first (book #1 in the series), and having been blown away by this, I was looking forward to going into wartime Paris with Police Detective Eddie Giral again.

We arrive in Paris in September 1940 to find Eddie Giral investigating a grizzly murder in a closed Jazz Club. The way that Chris Lloyd manages to transport the reader from today back into the seedy, brittle and dangerous world of Paris under Nazi occupation, is truly fantastic. The descriptions of the places Eddie Giral visits during his investigation are really so tangible.

Paris is deeply under the grip of the Germans, and they are trying to punish its citizens by starving them, there is food but because of rationing there is not enough to go around. So amongst many other issues Eddie is starving. I thought this was really well written as it is historical fact, and it made me hungry just hearing Eddies stomach growling!

As always Eddie Giral is pulled from trying to run a Police investigation to the Germans interfering in it… in Paris Requiem we really see his moral dilemmas take a hold of him and this has the reader on the edge of their set, waiting to find out how the plot will turn out.

I’m so glad that writers like Chris Lloyd, are able to research and produce such realistic works of fiction based on fact, and I really enjoy reading novels set during WW2, its my favourite time period. Reading Chris Lloyds Paris Requiem was like watching a thrilling film, there is tension, mistrust, deceit and murder. If you like novels set during the war then there is no better place to start than with Paris Requiem. We must write about these past events, even when they are horrifying, so that we can learn from them in the future.

Another gripping and thrilling read from Chris Lloyd, 5 stars for me especially for being so realistic and gripping.

Chris was born in an ambulance racing through a town he’s only returned to once, which probably explains a lot.
Straight after graduating in Spanish and French, he hopped on a bus from Cardiff to Catalonia where he stayed for the next twenty-odd years, first in the small and beautiful city of Girona, then in the big and beautiful city of Barcelona. He’s also lived in Bilbao, pre-empting the Guggenheim by a good few years, and in Madrid, where his love of Barcelona football club deepened. During this time, he worked as a teacher, in educational publishing, as a travel writer and as a translator. He still spends part of his day translating lofty and noble academic and arts texts.
Besides this, he also lived in Grenoble for six months, where he studied the French Resistance movement, a far deeper and more complex subject than history often teaches us and one that has fascinated him for years.
He now lives in his native Wales, where he writes crime novels and translates stuff.
The result of his lifelong interest in World War 2 and resistance and collaboration in Occupied France, *The Unwanted Dead* (Orion) is Chris’s first novel set in Paris, featuring Detective Eddie Giral. The series will see Eddie negotiate his way through the Occupation, trying to find a path between resistance and collaboration, all the time becoming whoever he must be to survive the ordeal descended on his home.
He also writes the Elisenda Domènech series (Canelo) set in Girona, featuring a police officer in the devolved Catalan police force. The head of an experimental Serious Crime Unit, she fights the worst of human excesses in the most beautiful of settings.
When he’s not writing or trying to keep up with his reading pile, Chris loves travelling, languages, red wine, Wales and Barça at football, Wales at rugby, cryptic crosswords, art, rock music and losing himself in European cities.
He’s especially proud to be a member of the Welsh crime writing collective Crime Cymru, the Crime Writers’ Association and the Society of Authors.

You can follow Chris Lloyd on TWITTER INSTAGRAM

Chris Lloyd has his own website HERE

You can buy Paris Requiem HERE

My #Review of #TheWhiteLady by #JaquelineWinspear Published by @AllisonandBusby on 21.3.2023

1947. Elinor White, known locally as ‘the White lady’, is living a solitary, quiet life in a grace-and-favour cottage in the Kent countryside. Unbeknownst to her neighbours, she is the veteran of two world wars, a trained killer and a former intelligence agent.

Yet Elinor’s private and seemingly tranquil existence conceals a past trauma that comes to the fore when she is drawn into the predicament of a local man entangled with one of the most dangerous crime families in London.

A treacherous path lies ahead, but it may be one that ultimately leads Elinor to a future unshackled by her own painful history.

Thank you so much to the wonderful Allison & Busby for gifting me a copy of The White Lady.

I’d never heard of Jaqueline Winspear before seeing this book, But I’m so glad I have now!

The White Lady is a riveting and gripping thriller set just after the second world war in the UK, in 1947. We meet Miss Elinor White, who lives a very quiet life in the countryside and keeps herself to herself- her nickname is “The White Lady”. However, she has a fabulous past – a veteran of WW1 and WW2, a trained killer and an ex-spy!

This novel starts with events in 1947 then through Elinor’s eyes we travel back in time to WW1 and her childhood when she was living in Belgium, we find out how Elinor and her family helped to fight the Germans during the first world war years before fleeing to England and then taking up arms again during WW2.

I loved The White Lady, it is written in such a way that it was an easy read. It is a bit like a girl’s own adventure with the events that Elinor White gets up to, but it is written with a nod to history and all those women who worked for or were killed working for the Special Operations Executive during the second world war. Jaqueline Winspear has managed to write a fabulous fast-paced thriller with authentic characters and the plots are brilliant, I could not put it down! The descriptions of the settings during both wars were fantastic and vividly written.

The ending is quite a climax and it’s left in such a way that I hope there will be a follow-up novel!.

A great read, thrilling and addictive – 5 stars from me.

Jacqueline Winspear is the creator of the New York Times and National Bestselling series featuring psychologist and investigator, Maisie Dobbs. Her first novel – Maisie Dobbs – received numerous awards nominations, including the Edgar Award for Best Novel and the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. It was a New York Times Notable Book and a Publisher’s Weekly Top Ten Pick.“ Jacqueline’s “standalone” novel set in WW1, The Care and Management of Lies, was a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in 2015. In 2019 The American Agent, her 16th novel, was published, along with a non-fiction book based upon the Maisie Dobbs’ series, What Would Maisie Do? Originally from the UK, Jacqueline now lives in northern California.

You can follow Jaqueline Winspear on her FACEBOOK page

Jaqueline Winspear has her own website HERE

You can Pre-order The White Lady HERE

My #Review of #TheUnwantedDead by #ChrisLloyd @chrislloydbcn published by @orionbooks

Paris, Friday 14th June 1940.

The day the Nazis march into Paris. It made headlines around the globe.

Paris police detective Eddie Giral – a survivor of the last World War – watches helplessly on as his world changes forever.

But there is something he still has control over. Finding whoever is responsible for the murder of four refugees. The unwanted dead, who no one wants to claim.

To do so, he must tread carefully between the Occupation and the Resistance, between truth and lies, between the man he is and the man he was.

All the while becoming whoever he must be to survive in this new and terrible order descending on his home.

My followers should know by now that I am a huge fan of WW2 historical crime fiction, I was kindly given a copy of Paris requiem by Orion Books, and before I read it, I wanted to read the first in the Eddie Giral novels by Chris Lloyd, The Unwanted Dead.

The Unwanted Dead is an absolute tour de force of a historical fiction novel. The opening chapter lets us meet our protagonist, Paris Police Detective Eddie Giral. It’s June 1940 and the Nazis have just waltzed into Paris and have taken over everything. For Eddie as a Detective in the French Police, this now means that he is working for the Nazis… however this does not sit well with him!

In The Unwanted Dead the reader is taken back in time into an immersive novel that is extraordinary in how it depicts life during the occupation of Paris. Eddie Giral is a fantastic character who I instantly grew to like – his use of sarcastic humour and comments to Nazi Officers had me laughing out loud! Chris Lloyd has managed to write with such realism that I really felt I was actually there by Eddies side during this complex but unputdownable thriller. The plot and storyline are exquisite and I can quite see why The Unwanted Dead won the HWA Gold Crown Award for Historical Fiction. To be able to transport the reader to another time is a real feat and to make it during the WW2 occupation in France is just brilliant.

I loved The Unwanted Dead and raced through it, it’s a great storyline and the plot is tense and vividly written! I especially liked how we got inside Eddie Girals mind and found out how he really felt trying to do his Detective job under increasing interference from his Nazi oppressors.

If you like WW2 fictional thrillers then I urge you to buy The Unwanted Dead, Im looking forward to reading the next in the series – Paris Requiem.

My rating is 4 stars.

Straight after graduating in Spanish and French, Chris Lloyd hopped on a bus from Cardiff to Catalonia and stayed there for over twenty years. He has also lived in Grenoble – researching the French Resistance movement – as well as in the Basque Country and Madrid, where he taught English and worked in educational publishing and as a travel writer. He now lives in South Wales and is a translator and novelist. Paris Requiem is his second novel set in Paris, featuring Detective Eddie Giral. The first, The Unwanted Dead, won the Historical Writers’ Association Gold Crown Award for best historical novel of the year and was shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Historical Dagger Award.

You can follow Chris Lloyd on TWITTER FACEBOOK

You can find Chris Lloyd’s website HERE

You can buy The Unwanted Dead HERE

My #Review of #TheManWithTheMiraculousHands by #JosephKessel published by @eandtbooks #ElliottandThompson

An extraordinary portrait of life at the heart of Heinrich Himmler’s court at the heart of the Nazi Regime.

In 1938, before the outbreak of the Second World War, Dr Felix Kersten an avuncular Finnish physician was introduced to Heinrich Himmler, the chief architect of the Holocaust. Seemingly the only person who could cure Himmler of his crippling stomach cramps, Kersten worked on Himmler’s vanity and gratitude Kersten to save the lives of thousands of people and was celebrated across Europe, culminating in Joseph Kessel’s 1961 bestseller, The Man with Miraculous Hands.

And yet, Kersten’s historical legacy is not flawless, and a new introduction by bestselling author Norman Ohler deals with the historical legacy of Kersten’s more exaggerated claims and asks directly why a man who had done so much good would risk damaging that reputation.

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Woody Harrelson, The Man with Miraculous Hands is an extraordinarily revealing portrayal of the deranged atmosphere in Himmler’s court where paranoia and vicious rivalries reigned. Shedding a new light on the darkest days of the twentieth century, the story of Kersten’s life gives us a new way of viewing the history of the Second World War, one that goes beyond the simple idea of heroes and villains.

Hugest thanks to Elliott & Thompson for sending me a copy to review, I’m extremely grateful.

This book utterly blew my mind! It is the absolutely astonishing true story of Dr Felix Kersten, a Finnish Physician, who was introduced to Heinrich Himmler and was able to treat Himmler’s chronic stomach disorder throughout the Second World War in Germany.

Dr Felix Kersten was a rotund, gentle man who learnt his kraft of Chinese Style massage from Dr Ko, who took him on as a student because he saw the potential in his hands. He studied under him and inherited his practice and became a very sought-after Dr, who could cure all ailments with his miraculous hands.

The book reads like a thriller and had me absolutely gripped, I just could not put it down – the fact that I had never heard this story and how this mild-mannered, polite and jovial Dr Kersten managed to treat Himmler and then, in Himmler’s most vulnerable moments when he was in so much pain, and the only person that could alleviate that pain was Kersten, Dr Kersten was able to manipulate Himmler by playing to his ego, and in doing so saved the lives of many thousands of Jews and other prisoners. he was able to document his meetings with the Reichsfuhrer, and keep them so that in the years after the war Joseph Kessel met him and questioned him about these interactions that happened right in the Devils lair, inside Nazi Germany, indeed inside SS headquarters. And as I’ve said the tale is absolutely extraordinary!

The Man With The Miraculous Hands is an exceptionally well-written book, and I loved the way it felt like a thriller, the tension I felt reading about the events with Himmler and Dr Kersten and the goings on inside Nazi Germany, the thinking of one of the most heinous men in history – Himmler and all the paranoia that was felt by him and Dr Kersten, reads so well – when you think it’s true it is almost mind-blowing!

I have to rate this book with 5 stars, I really like reading about both World Wars and find novels or factual accounts from the German side very interesting. I whizzed through this book in a couple of days! If you like to learn about historical facts and are interested in WW2 this will be a must-read for you.

You can buy The Man With The Miraculous Hands HERE

You can find more books at Elliott & Thompson’s website HERE

My #Review of #DarkMode by #AshleyKalagianBlunt published by @ultimopress on 13.04.2023

Once you’re online, there’s nowhere to hide

Is it paranoia – or is someone watching?

For years, Reagan Carsen has kept her life offline. No socials. No internet presence. No photos. Safe.

Until the day she stumbles on a shocking murder in a Sydney laneway. The victim looks just like her.

Coincidence?

As more murders shake the city and she’s increasingly drawn out from hiding, Reagan is forced to confront her greatest fear.

She’s been found.

A riveting psychological thriller drawn from true events, Dark Mode delves into the terrifying reality of the dark web, and the price we pay for surrendering our privacy one click at a time.

Firstly, huge thanks to James at Ultimo Press Uk for sending me a proof copy of Dark Mode.

I happened to see a post on Instagram from someone saying how brilliant Dark Mode was, so off i went to read the blurb…well as soon as i read it and saw that stunning cover i just knew this would be a bookbanger, and i was SO right!

The opening chapter sees us meet Reagan Carsen having a morning jog thru Sydney only to stumble across a dismembered body, left in full view in a lane…and strangely the body looks a lot like her!

And then Dark Mode just picks up a gear and runs! This is an absolutely exceptional novel, the writing is clear and flows like a silk scarf over your shoulders, it is sublime.

We travel thru the story with Reagan, who has kept her life offline for a pretty valid reason, up until now. She meets a nice chap called Bryce when she drives into the back of his car, and they start a freindship. With him, she becomes more trusting and gets a mobile phone, and in an effort to help kickstart her ailing Garden Centre, Voodo Lily Garden centre, Bryce helps her to post online photos of the plants and start an Instagram account, as she needs to start paying back the banks loan things start to pick up. BUT, and it is a big but, so do weird things, unsettling, chilling things start happening to Raegan and bodies start to appear and things get very very dark and heart-stoppingly bad for Raegan.

I am not going to give any more away about Dark Mode, but this will be one of THE books of 2023, it is a stunner! The attention to detail that Ms Bunt has written about the plants in the fictional Voodo Lilly Garden Centre is just marvelous (even for someone who is not Greenfingers like me!) … it had me googling to see what they actually looked like, although descriptions were precise and it was easy to visualise them. Add in the story of the Black Dahlia Murders from the 1930s and you have a near-perfect crime thriller. If like me you a lover of true crime as wellas the fictional type, then Dark Mode is going to tick all your boxes!

I cannot say enough about how brilliant a novel Dark Mode is, I was gripped, I was riveted, and I had my heart in my mouth! I bloody loved it! This is one of the best books I’ve read in a while! And I must also say that the cover art is absolutely spot on and gorgeous!

A 5-star read and if I could give more I would! Jude says its a BOOKBANGER!!

Ashley Kalagian Blunt is the author of *How to Be Australian* and *My Name Is Revenge*, which was shortlisted for the 2019 Woollahra Digital Literary Awards and was a finalist in the 2018 Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award. Her writing appears in the *Sydney Morning Herald, Overland, Griffith Review, Sydney Review of Books, Australian Book Review, Kill Your Darlings* and more. Ashley teaches creative writing and co-hosts James and Ashley Stay at Home, a podcast about writing, creativity and health. Originally from Canada, she has lived and worked in South Korea, Peru and Mexico.

You can pre-order Dark Mode HERE

You can follow Ashley Kalagian Blunt on TWITTER INSTAGRAM FACEBOOK

Ashley Kalgian Blunt has her own website HERE