Book Tour: Burned and Broken by Mark Hardie

Book Tour: Burned and Broken by Mark Hardie

Monday, 23 January 2017

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And I’m back again with yet another crime fiction blog tour! This time, I have the pleasure of hosting Burned and Broken by Mark Hardie, recently released on eBook and set for a May paperback release from Little, Brown books. I was lucky enough to be gifted an early paperback copy of the book, so thanks very much to Clara Diaz and Little, Brown for my advance copy of the book.

I set myself the task of reading this over the course of the last week, whilst I was on a late at work and it was the perfect book to really indulge in on a slow and seemingly never-ending shift. I did find the book a little confusing to get into at first: we initially learn of the apparent murder of a Police officer, DI Carragher, in Essex. We then skip backwards four days and begin to unravel the goings on that have led to the crime taking place. The book is told from the alternating perspectives of two other police officers, Pearson and Russell, and a young woman, Donna, who is committed to finding the answers to another, seemingly connected crime; the murder of her best friend Alicia. She is sure that Alicia’s death has more to it than meets the eye and will under no uncertain terms stop until she has the answers that she is looking for. It comes to light that DI Carragher’s own actions might not be as innocent as one would expect from a Policeman. As an audience we start to unravel a web of corruption, deceit and plain old trickery. The two tales intertwine with one another and come together in ways which don’t sit well with the police.

I found Pearson and Russell to be very likeable characters and I’m looking forward to reading future books following them; they’re a good pair and I enjoyed reading each of their chapters throughout. They were incredibly believable characters which definitely makes all the difference. Pearson’s backstory intrigued me particularly: a recently separated man undergoing tests to discover whether he has cancer. Contrast this with Russell’s determination to protect Carragher, her former partner, at all costs and we have a very intriguing concept upon us.

You find yourself, as is the case with most crime, trying to guess throughout. I am actually pleased that I figured out a lot of what was going on this time: by no means is the book predictable, I’m just a crime fiend that will stop at nothing to discover the truth! I found it interesting to discover that Mark Hardie started writing fiction upon losing his eyesight; the amount of descriptive text in the story is arguably reflective of this. I love strongly worded, descriptive texts and this one left absolutely nothing to the imagination – in a very good way. Appreciating that this is a debut novel, I think it’s fair to say that while some aspects fell short of the perfect crime novel, the book is a very good contribution to an enormous genre and definitely stands its own in amongst the best. A very promising debut.

3.75/5

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Book Review: My Sweet Revenge by Jane Fallon

Book Review: My Sweet Revenge by Jane Fallon

Sunday, 15 January 2017

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I’ve finally got a free evening to myself, so I thought I’d use it to catch up with some of the reviews for books I’ve read over the last few weeks and months. One of the books I read in the month of December was My Sweet Revenge by Jane Fallon, a contemporary published by Penguin Michael Joseph. Thanks to them for my copy of the book!

I’ll start off by saying that this book intrigued me from the offset: our protagonist Paula has just discovered, through glancing over at her husband’s abandoned mobile phone as it lit up with a message alert, that he is having an affair with one of his colleagues. Instead of confronting him about his adultery, she comes up with the perfect plan to enact her revenge: to make him fall back in love with her so she can snatch it all away, break his cheating heart and leave him with absolutely nothing but egg on his face. She hitches a very cunning plan to lose the extra pounds she’s accumulated over the years, all the while sneakily increasing her husband’s daily calorie intake exponentially. She starts running, she signs up to the gym and hires a personal trainer: you name it, she’s considered it. The entire novel was full of twists and turns and remarkably bad acting; which was a shame, considering that 3 of the 4 main characters were actors. All jokes aside, the book read incredibly well and is definitely one of my highlights of the end of 2016.

I personally wouldn’t be able to pull it off. I would fume monumentally if I ever believed that my husband was having an affair; even more so if the proof was right in front of my eyes. In spite of this, the book was an incredibly enjoyable and clever contribution to the contemporary fiction genre.  I loved Paula’s character and thought her plan, albeit longwinded and incredibly risqué – befriending the woman her husband was having an affair with was definitely something that I would never do in my wildest dreams- was one which was incredibly clever and sneaky. It was incredibly easy to read and easy to stick at as well, which is always a bonus as far as I am concerned. It was well written and humorous and just what I needed to pick me out of a horrendous reading slump. I’ve never read anything by Paula before but I’ll be sure to add her name to the (extremely long) list of authors to watch out for!

3.5/5

Book Review: The Dry by Jane Harper

Book Review: The Dry by Jane Harper

Friday, 13 January 2017

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Sometimes you have the pleasure of reading a book that just absolutely knocks you sideways and I am pleased to reveal that The Dry by Jane Harper is definitely one of those books. We’re all well aware of my preference towards crime fiction so I’m not all that surprised that I loved this one, really. I was a little unsure about the book to begin with: the cover wasn’t one that I found particularly appealing, although it is rather pretty: I just didn’t associate it with being the amazing piece of crime fiction that it actually turned out to be. Just goes to show really: you definitely should NOT judge a book by it’s cover.

The book’s premise is pretty simple. A family is found murdered in their home, the father apparently guilty of killing them and then turning the gun on himself. I say apparently, because as is always the case in crime fiction, there really is more than meets the eye to the tale. We meet Aaron Falk, a federal agent based in Melbourne but native to the small farming town of Kiewarra as he returns for his former best friend’s funeral. The town is all up in arms about the crime, even more so upon his return: he and his father having been run out of town years previously for their supposed involvement in the death of a young girl (and Aaron’s best friend) Ellie. Tensions are high and then doubled with the risk of drought. He is asked by the Aaron’s parents to have a look into the finances of the family and see if there is anything else that could explain why a happy, family orientated man would suddenly turn and throw all of that away in the blink of an eye. There is significant doubt whether Luke would be capable of doing such a thing and it is up to Falk to ensure that justice is served. Falk is an incredibly interesting and captivating protagonist: I instantly found myself warming to him and egging him on in his search to find the out truth.

I absolutely love guessing my way through crime fiction and coming up with my own theories as to what happened, and how the perpetrator committed and got away with the crime. Try as I might, I just could not have guessed how this one ended. Harper has a fantastic way with words: the book was beautifully written, flittering between scenes from the past and present and incorporated together in a flawless, easy to read manner. Her work is exquisite and reads like an established piece as opposed to the debut that it is. I was absolutely hooked by the narrative and found myself devouring the book over the course of an incredibly short period of time. The ending was tidy and thought-provoking and left you feeling content: although slightly unresolved. I have questions, Harper!!!! I can’t wait to see what Jane brings to the table next, although I have no doubts that it’ll be as fantastic as this contribution.

Thanks to Grace Vincent at Little, Brown for sending me a review copy of the book. It was published on 11^th January and you can buy it now in all the usual places. I most definitely recommend that you do: everyone’s talking about it for a reason.