My #Review of #NoCountryForGirls by #EmmaStyles @emstylesauthor @BooksSphere

GOLD. THEFT. MURDER. A ROAD TRIP TO DIE FOR.

Charlie and Nao are strangers from different sides of the tracks. They should never have met, but one devastating incident binds them together forever. A man is dead and now they are unwilling accomplices in his murder there’s only one thing to do: hit the road in the victim’s twin cab ute, with a bag of stolen gold stashed under the passenger seat.

Suddenly, outlaws, Nao and Charlie must make their way across Australia’s remote outback using only their wits to survive. They’ll do whatever it takes to evade capture and escape with their lives . . . Thelma & Louise for a new generation, No Country for Girls is a gritty, twisty road-trip thriller that follows two young women on the run across the harsh, unforgiving landscape of Australia

As a fan of Australian crime fiction, I was excited to start reading No Country For Girls.

From the very first chapter, the reader is thrown into a tense and gripping story. We meet the wonderfully sharp-edged Charlie and the calmer Nao during the night, they’ve never met before but when they stumble across each other they become allies after a brutal murder. We then follow their journey through rural Australia as they try to outrun the law in a dead mans Ute with a bag full of stolen gold ingots!

I mean the premise for the story is bloody superb, and it does not let up! I found No Country For Girls an exceptional book, so well written from the point of view of 2 girls from different sides of Australia by descent, the way Emma Styles portrays their inner feelings and thoughts is so perfect! Both girls have “backgrounds” that have molded them into the people they are now, and it shapes the whole novel and the outcome.

I was literally full of anxiety reading No Country For Girls, the plot weaves at a fast pace just like the girls across Australia, and there are so many shocking moments that will have you going ” oh no” out loud! As always I’m not giving any of the plots away, but if you like your thrillers dark, edgy and realistic then No Country For Girls is going to be a book for you.

I read this novel in 2 days so that tells you how superb it is, I had both girls, Charlie and Nao firmly in my mind, in fact even after finishing No Country For Girls, they are still vivid and alive in my mind!

A triumphant debut novel from Emma Styles, about friendship, hope and survival. I hope Emma Styles will be up there with the other big names of Australian Thrillers very soon. I am so eager for the next novel!

A ripper of a 5-star read from me!

Emma Styles writes contemporary Australian noir about young women taking on the patriarchy. She grew up in Whadjuk Noongar Country in Perth, Western Australia, and now lives in London where she was born. Emma loves a road trips and once sat out a cyclone on the northwest coast of WA in a LandCruiser Troop Carrier. She spent her teens and twenties learning to ski, snowboard, ride horses and motorcycles, and fly small airplanes. She is less afraid of great white sharks than she should be and is hopeless at surfing.

Emma has an MA in crime fiction from the University of East Anglia. Her debut novel, No Country for Girls, won the Little, Brown UEA Crime Fiction Award in 2020 and was chosen by Val McDermid to feature in her New Blood panel for outstanding debut novelists at the 2022 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate.

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You can find out more about Emma Styles HERE on her website

You can buy No Country For Girls HERE

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My #Review of #Breathtaking #Thriller #WhereBloodRunsCold by @GilesKristian #Bantam press @DoubleDayUK @RandomTTours

Erik Amdahl and his spirited daughter, Sofia, have embarked on a long-promised cross-country ski trip deep into Norway’s arctic circle. For Erik, it’s the chance to bond properly with his remaining daughter following a tragic accident. For Sofia, it’s the proof she needs that her father does care.

Then, far from home in this snowbound wilderness, with night falling and the mercury plummeting, an accident sends them in search of help – and shelter. Nearby is the home of a couple – members of Norway’s indigenous Sami people – who they’ve met before, and who welcome them in. Erik is relieved. He believes the worst is over. He thinks that Sofia is now safe. He could not be more wrong. He and Sofia are not the old couple’s only visitors that night – and soon he and Sofia will be running for their lives . . .
…and beneath the swirling light show of the Northern Lights, a desperate fight ensues – of man against man, of man against nature – a fight for survival that plays out across the snow and ice.

A story of endurance and of the desperate, instinctive will to survive, of a father’s love for his child, of knowing when to let go – and of a daughter’s determination to prove herself worthy of that love, Where Blood Runs Cold is a pulse-racing thriller from a master storyteller.

I must just say my huge thanks to Giles Kristian for kindly sending me a copy of Where The Blood Runs Cold.

Now I didn’t know this at the time of seeing Where The Blood Runs Cold but Giles is a prolific and talented writer of Historical fiction, including the bestselling RAVEN Viking Eye trilogy, but this is his first thriller.

All I knew was this book had been very loosely based on a personal experience Giles had whilst in the Norwegian Alps.

From the first few pages, I just knew I was going to love this book, for several reasons. Firstly the setting – in Norway ( my favourite Country) Giles has managed to capture the essence of Norway in this book, the snowy scenery was fabulous and made me feel like I was actually there and I could even smell the Norweigian air, hard to describe unless you’ve been there!

Once the story start, it is relentless, an absolutely breathtaking thriller, that made my anxiety trigger, to the point I had to take a break from reading! But that’s a good thing, a book that makes you feel emotions, and Where The Blood Runs Cold is definitely one of those. I went through all the emotions during this fast-paced thriller, horror, suspense, tears of despair and joy, gagging at some parts, and gasping at some scenes! I cannot shout enough about how bloody good this book is!

The characterisation is amazing, the dynamic between the two main characters Erik and Sofie is really wonderfully written, and I was so fully invested in their journey!

As always I’m not giving any of the plot away, you will need to read the book yourselves. But if you like fast thrillers set in vast empty snowy landscapes, with a gruelling tale of survival and ties that keep a family surviving against all the odds then Where The Blood Runs Cold is for you!

If you liked the suspense in novels such as The Last thing to Burn by Will Dean, then you will binge-read Where The Blood Runs Cold!

It is of course a 5-star read, and in contention for my book of 2022!

Giles Kristian’s first historical novels were the acclaimed and bestselling RAVEN Viking trilogy – Blood Eye, Sons of Thunder and Odin’s Wolves. For his next series, he drew on a long-held fascination with the English Civil War to chart the fortunes of a family divided by this brutal conflict in The Bleeding Land and Brothers’ Fury. Giles also co-wrote Wilbur Smith’s No.1 bestseller, Golden Lion. In God of Vengeance (a TIMES Book of the Year), Winter’s Fire, and the Historical Writers’ Association Gold Crown shortlisted Wings of the Storm, he returned to the world of the Vikings to tell the story of Sigurd and his celebrated fictional fellowship. Lancelot, was published to great acclaim and hit The Times bestseller charts at No. 3. It was also a Sunday Times bestseller. His latest novel, Camelot, is out now, and his next novel, a thriller called Where Blood Runs Cold, will be published in February 2022.

You can buy Where The Blood Runs Cold HERE

Find out more about Giles Kristian HERE

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