The Embalmer by Alison Belsham

 

Well, this was a dark read (which is good as I like my thrillers on the dark side)

 It starts with a freshly mummified body found at the Booth Natural History Museum in Brighton along with canopic jars that hold the removed organs - the murderer follows the ancient Egyptian embalming rituals to the letter. Francis Sullivan is soon on the case and more canopic jars turn up.

 As a second string story Sullivan's friend, the tattooist Marni Mullins arrives home to find her husband fighting with his brother. The husband is killed and Marni soon ends up in jail accused of his murder. Sullivan has a busy, busy time ahead . . .

 As I said this is a dark thriller but also a gripping read. There's the usual office politics with the police and a storyline there that seems to be coming to a close and that's where the only downside I felt with reading this book (and this one is on me alone, no fault of the author). You see, The Embalmer is the third in a series and it would really benefit from being read that way. There was a lot here that related back to the earlier books and some parts that treat the reader as though they had read them. I fully intended to read all three but time was against me (although with the way I tore through The Embalmer I could have probably managed all three in a week) I will be going back to them eventually.

 So, a cracking thriller, highly recommended but I advise reading in order (The Tattoo Thief, Her Last Breath, The Embalmer)

 4.5/5*

The Takers and Keepers by Ivan Pope

 

Well, this was a dark one! 

Journalist Allen Kimbo is following a lead in Eastern Europe that is connected with people trafficking - both the traffickers themselves and their victims, 'the disappeared'. As he investigates deeper will things hit a little closer to home - we'll, I'm not going to tell you that am I. 

People trafficking is a terrible thing and this book will open your eyes even more to just how bad - honestly, at times it was hard to remember that this is a work of fiction. The author really knows his stuff and I applaud him for that as doing the research must have been an awful time. 

So, a dark read but, at just under 200 pages, one that is worth your time if you have the stomach for it. 

3.9/5*

 

Thank you as always to Anne Cater for inviting me onto this blog tour and please have a look at the posts by the other bloggers (below) 

Dead Moon by Keith Crawford

 

Welcome to the end of the world. This Sci-fi novel is set in a future where aliens have done what they always do in these situations (invade Earth) and now their craft, the Dead Moon of the title, is falling apart and will crash to Earth wiping out humanity as it does so. 

 Humanity is to be kept in the dark though as two of the heroes of the war, Jude and Hamid are sent of on a massive media tour to convince people that all is well, "as you were, carry on regardless" etc. 

 Watching the characters develop as the world crumbles around them made them feel more alive. Plenty of action and a sense of impending doom made for a fast paced final two thirds of the book after a slow but steady start. 

 I'll certainly be looking out for more from this author. 

Trigger warning for PTSD and Alcoholism. 

For the duration of this tour the ebook version of Dead Moon is 99p

Thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto this tour and please have a look at the posts by the other bloggers on the tour (below) 

The Searching Dead by Ramsey Campbell

 

"Dominic Sheldrake has never forgotten his childhood in fifties Liverpool or the talk an old boy of his grammar school gave about the First World War. When his history teacher took the class on a field trip to France it promised to be an adventure, not the first of a series of glimpses of what lay in wait for the world. Soon Dominic would learn that a neighbour was involved in practices far older and darker than spiritualism, and stumble on a secret journal that hinted at the occult nature of the universe. How could he and his friends Roberta and Jim stop what was growing under a church in the midst of the results of the blitz? Dominic used to write tales of their exploits, but what they face now could reduce any adult to less than a child..."

 I'll be honest, I've always thought of  Ramsey Campbell as one of the best writers of this kind of horror fiction and this didn't disappoint at all. Although the start was a little slow the knowing that RC was going to be ramping up the scares in his own good time kept me turning the pages. 

 As for the characters, Dominic and his friends were enjoyable enough but the real interesting one was Mr Noble. It's the knowing something is off with him and trying to guess where the author is going with him. Very reminiscent of Stephen King when he was at his best where the horrors start small but quickly head towards being potentially cataclysmic. 

Set in 1950s Liverpool Campbell really catches the era with this, his latest horror novel (1st of a trilogy). The shadow of WW2 still hangs over the city with it's bomb sites and the feeling of the wartime community spirit still strong. 

 This review is from the Netgalley version of the book, the physical version only arrived this morning 

 

Thanks to Flame Tree Press for providing the copy, Anne Cater for inviting me onto the tour and please have a look at the posts by the other bloggers on the tour

Smoke Screen by Horst and Enger

 

 It is New Year's Eve in Oslo and both Alexander Blixx (police) and Emma Ramm (online journalist) are, separately, attending the annual firework display. It doesn't take long before things go awry and an explosion, thought to be terrorism related, rips through the night causing death and injury amongst the revellers. One of the injured happens to be the mother of a two year old who hasn't been seen for ten years, a cold case that still haunts Blixx to this day. Is it a terrorist attack as all are led to believe or is it something more personal? 

 I must say I really enjoyed this mystery. With two different authors, one (I believe) ex police and one ex journalist it seems each take one of the lead characters and transfer their skills to them making two distinct individuals but still making a story that flows well and feels more of a whole than two separate parts bashed together. 

 The mystery kept me gripped and guessing all the way and I enjoyed seeing the dynamic between Blixx and Ramm playing out. 

 Very Good 4/5*

 Thanks, as always to Anne Cater for inviting me onto this tour and please check out the posts by the other Bloggers on the tour (below) 

The Mind's Eye by Miles M Hudson

 

Today sees the launch of the Blogtour for Miles M Hudson's sequel to 2089, The Mind's Eye 

 In Hudson's climate changed future everything you see, say, do, think is recorded and available for all to see but what if the tech that gave us this was hacked? What if you were seen to be doing things, committing crimes against the state say, but there was no way it could be you? Who can you trust in this distopian future? 

 Those are the questions facing Vicky as she sees her old friend Jack committing crimes she would not have thought him capable of. At the end of the previous book Jack was exiled to an island in the Bristol Channel so Vicky sets out to bring him back and together they are once again on the run, trying to prove Jack's innocence and find out who or what is really behind it all. 

 What really interested me with this book and 2089 before it was the author's vision of how climate change has altered our landscape. This is not a Britain that you instantly recognise from how it is today but still leaves you 'aware' of where you are. When you overlay this with the way tech has evolved it makes for a scary but believable future (especially when you consider that, in the scheme of things, 2089 isn't that far away). 

 Due to the tension and the chase this was a book I got through fairly quickly but thoroughly enjoyed. Reading 2089 before this isn't essential but is recommended (if only because that too is a cracking read). The ending left me hoping for more in the story of Vicky and Jack so fingers crossed 

Highly Recommended 4.3/5*

 Thanks, as always, to Anne Cater for inviting me onto this tour and please check out the posts by the other bloggers (below) 

Yearn To Fear by Chas Murrell

 

Welcome to the final day of the Blogtour for Chas Murrell's thriller Yearn To Fear.

 

 In the story two science geek types are working on something called The Lammar Chip which is all to do with 5g, download speeds, that kind of thing. When they decide to mess around with it they find other 'uses' for it and then it all gets a bit dangerous. There are others that want the chip, there are shady characters and motives. There are questions of who is on what side. . . you get my drift, it's basically everything you would want or expect from a thriller. 

 The only real downside for me was the tech stuff. I'm not even going to try and pretend I understood half of it but that doesn't detract from the fact that this is a fast paced tale. And it's only part one of a trilogy so plenty more story to come. 

 

 What particularly worked for me was the Australian setting - it's just nice for a story to be somewhere different for a change. 

Thanks as always to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the tour and please check out the reviews by the bloggers that went before me (below)