Children of Pisces - R E Lewin

 

                           Synopsis

 It's 2070 and our post-apocalyptic world is different. Aliens secretly invaded with a lethal biological weapon. A terrifying virus annihilated almost every living creature in its path. People still believe it was a natural virus, oblivious to aliens and the truth. Humanity's survival is in the hands of the alliance, a team of humans and aliens who stand against the evil arch-enemy alien leader. Orphaned children are raised in army-style schools. But from this barren wasteland, a few shall rise...

 Tammy and Mikie are half-human and half-alien siblings, with immense metaphysical powers and a crystal weapon. Their powers are extraordinary alone, but together they are unstoppable. At twelve, these two are already too powerful to ignore. Can Mikie overcome his inner conflict? Will his compulsion to protect put those closest to him in even more danger? Can Tammy rise above her animal instincts and maintain her humanity? This adventure will take them across the world and maybe into the stars beyond. They must reunite their family and decide where their loyalties lie. The seekers are coming...

My Thoughts

So, here we have a future where the world (possibly ours, possibly our world one step sideways) where Earth has been ravaged by a virus (COVID? Possibly, you decide) and very few remain. This virus was part of an alien invasion and now it is time for humans to fight back with some super powered children. 

Ok, that may be over-simplified but you get the idea. What this book covers well, in my opinion, is change. Specifically how children change as they are growing up, the way they think and act (the age range for this book is 10-14yrs) and Lewin does this well. I liked the way different children had different abilities and how they could work together with these.

Most of all though I liked the fact that here is a very good story in a well realised future. I am certainly looking forward to more from T E Lewin.

Recommended 4/5*

Thanks to Anne Cater and Random Things Tours for inviting me onto this blogtour. Please have a look at the posts by the other bloggers on the tour (below)

How To Spot A Psychopath - M Q Webb

 

Synopsis

 When four-year-old Mia Edwards goes missing on a play date, everyone suspects Jessica Green knows what happened, especially Mia's mother, Holly...

But Jess won't tell anyone.

Psychiatrist, Dr. Oscar de la Nuit, is perceptive and determined to save Jess from the same regret and secrets he lives with.

Big Little Lies meets The Silent Patient in this psychological suspense, as a missing child case turns into a deep, psychological puzzle that explores whether you can ever know who someone really is.

Oscar thinks he has Jess figured out, but will she lead to Oscar's redemption, or will she be his downfall?

                               ~|~

 My Thoughts 

  I'll start by saying there are a lot, and I mean A LOT, of thrillers out there in a similar vein available so this needed to grab my attention and keep me hooked in - thankfully it did just that.

 After Mia goes missing while Jess is responsible for her (play date) Jess is the obvious suspect but she is not talking. She is sent to a remand centre where her story catches the eye of Dr Oscar de la Nuit who moves her to his own clinic and vows to get to the bottom of the mystery. 

 All the usual elements are there (did she do it, if not who did, what is she hiding, what is everybody else hiding, the doctor has his own secrets) so there is plenty to go at as you try to unravel the mystery for yourself. The story is told partly in flashback and this really worked for me. 

 As a debut novel Webb has done a good enough job to make me want the next book. I like a novelist who can keep me guessing and Webb certainly did that.

3.7/5* (rounded up to 4* for review sites)

 

 Thanks to Anne Cater and Random Things Tours for inviting me onto this blogtour and apologies for missing my original posting date. Please have a read of the reviews by the other bloggers on the tour (below) if you get chance.

May God Forgive - Alan Parks

 

Synopsis

 Glasgow is a city in mourning. An arson attack on a hairdresser's has left five dead. Tempers are frayed and sentiments running high.

When three youths are charged the city goes wild. A crowd gathers outside the courthouse but as the police drive the young men to prison, the van is rammed by a truck, and the men are grabbed and bundled into a car. The next day, the body of one of them is dumped in the city centre. A note has been sent to the newspaper: one down, two to go.

Detective Harry McCoy has twenty-four hours to find the kidnapped boys before they all turn up dead, and it is going to mean taking down some of Glasgow's most powerful people to do it . . .

My Thoughts

  And here we are again in Alan Parks gritty and grotty Glasgow of the 1970s - and what a joy it is to be back. 

 Harry McCoy is back doing what he does best - solving crimes and ruining his body into the bargain. He starts off in hospital with a bleeding ulcer and to be fair it's only downhill from there.

 As always McCoy walks a shady line in this 5th book in the series. On one side is his law enforcement job but on the other his friends and contacts in the criminal underworld. And to add extra problems one of these 'Dirty Ally', a dealer in pornographic magazines, commits suicide . . .or does he? McCoy seems to think there are other elements in play but he'll have to do it on his own time as the police don't want to know.

 So, an arson attack, kidnapping of the suspects (and they will be murdered if Harry doesn't find them first) and a suicide that may be more than that . . .and the clock is ticking.

 As always I got a great deal of enjoyment out of Alan Parks' latest novel. He really gets under the skin and into the seedy corners of 70s Glasgow and I'm looking forward to his next offering.

Tartan Noir at it's Noirest

 4.5/5*

 Thanks to Anne Cater and Random Things Tours for inviting me onto this blogtour and to Canongate Books for providing the copy for review (which did not influence my opinion in any way).

 Please have a look at the other posts by the bloggers on this tour (dates below)

The Harry McCoy series so far

The Girl and the Moon - Mark Lawrence

 Synopsis 

The green world overwhelms all of Yaz’s expectations. Everything seems different but some things remain the same: her old enemies are still bent on her destruction. 

The Corridor abounds with plenty and unsuspected danger. To stand a chance against the eyeless priest, Eular, and the god-like city-mind, Seus, Yaz will need to learn fast and make new friends.

The Convent of Sweet Mercy, like the Corridor itself, is packed with peril and opportunity. Yaz needs the nuns’ help – but first they want to execute her.

The fate of everyone squeezed between the Corridor’s vast walls, and ultimately the fate of those labouring to survive out on ice itself, hangs from the moon, and the battle to save the moon centres on the Ark of the Missing, buried beneath the emperor’s palace. Everyone wants Yaz to be the key that will open the Ark – the one the wise have sought for generations. But sometimes wanting isn’t enough.

                              ~|~

My Thoughts

WOW!! 

 Okay, I know one word doesn't really suffice as a review but 'WOW!!' really does say everything that needs to be said about The Girl and the Moon and also the whole Book of the Ice series. 

 The story picks straight up from the cliffhanger ending of the previous, so you really need to have read that first - but then again, who comes into a trilogy on book 3. 

 But then again, although The Book Of The Ice is a trilogy it is harks back to, and ties into practically everything ML has published so far in his career. I know I must have read chunks of this story thinking 'that seems familiar' before it all sank in - this is one mahoosive entity (think Sanderson's Cosmere), 15 books long (if my maths is correct) and with the potential for so much more.

 What really impressed me with TGatM was the difference between the Ice that covers most of Abeth (and has almost been a character itself in the series) and the lushness of The Green Belt. Two polar opposite locations and the sense of wonder when Yaz finally gets to her destination. Descriptive writing done well.

 Mark Lawrence has been one of my 'top table' authors since Prince of Thorns, each book eagerly anticipated on a yearly basis, almost like a second birthday. TGitM didn't let me down one little bit so now I've got to look for all the extra stars to award it.

 A truly excellent read 5/5* (or 7/5* if I'm being honest to myself)

 Thank you to Anne Cater and Random Things Tours for inviting me onto this blogtour. Please have a read of the posts by the other bloggers on the tour (dates below).

 

Fires of Hate - Heather Peck

 

 After a successful day in court, Greg Geldard is hoping to clear up some routine cases. Then a government laboratory receives a mysterious threat, a terrorist attack precipitates a multi-agency emergency response and his investigations are seriously compromised by interference from the security service.

The enquiries lead down dangerous paths, with both Greg and someone he cares for put at risk, before he runs the perpetrators to ground. Then he's posed an ethical conundrum in court. Can hate ever be wholly sane?

 As you can see from the front cover, this is the 3rd in Peck's Greg Geldard series but it can be read as a stand alone (although there are moments that hark back to things that occurred in the earlier books).

 As it starts Geldard is in a fairly good place but that doesn't last very long at all. Soon a government lab is threatened by animal rights activists and it gets very dark, very quickly. It brought back a lot of memories for me of when this seemed a more regular occurrence than it seems to be now. Animal cruelty is something that bothers me a lot and so, yeah, it did make me feel uneasy at times but the story was good enough to keep me reading. And I'll be going for the rest of the series soon.

 Geldard as a character appealed to me a lot, and looking at the synopses (synopsi?) of the previous novels this isn't the only really disturbing case he's had but surely they can't come tougher l in future? (oh, but they will won't they - and I'll be there for them too.

 So, in short, a good crime novel with ethical questions but also, possible triggers for some people. Not an easy read at times but also not easy to put down once you get going.

Thanks to Anne Cater and Random Things Tours for inviting me onto this tour (and apologies for posting a day late). Please have a look at the posts by the other bloggers on the tour (below)

Stringers - Chris Panatier

 

A genius is abducted by an alien bounty-hunter for the location of a powerful inter-dimensional object. Trouble is, he can't remember a thing.

Ben isn't exactly a genius, but he has an immense breadth of knowledge. Whether it's natural science (specifically the intricacies of bug sex), or vintage timepieces, he can spout facts and information with the best of experts. He just can't explain why he knows any of it. Another thing he knows is the location of the Chime. What it is or why it's important, he can't say.

But this knowledge is about to get him in a whole heap of trouble, as a trash-talking, flesh-construct bounty hunter is on his tail and looking to sell him to the highest bidder. And being able to describe the mating habits of Brazilian bark lice won't be enough to get him out of it.

I enjoyed this book a lot but, oh, did it make my head hurt at times - but in a good way.

Ben knows everything there is to know about bugs, the sex lives of bugs and vintage wristwatches. He hasn't studied them at all so has no idea why he has all this information and try as he might there are no answers forthcoming for him. As for regular stuff - he just knows the same as the average person. The information he carries in his head has no use for him whatsoever until he and his stoner friend Patton are abducted by an alien bounty hunter who plans to sell them to the highest bidder for the knowledge in his head.

Trust me, there's a lot going on here but Panatier makes the whole thing work. I was baffled, I laughed, I said "huh?" a lot and then I laughed a lot more. There were times I was so disgusted (in a good way - it didn't stop me enjoying the read) my face probably looked like I was sucking bitter lemons. I very much enjoyed this book but feel I will have to read it again in 6 months time or so when I think it will go from a great book to a stone cold classic.

And there are footnotes, oh so many footnotes and they are awesome (I do like a good footnote)

Thanks to Angry Robot for inviting me onto this blogtour and supplying me with a review copy (which didn't influence my opinions in any way).

Please, if you can, have a read of the reviews by the other bloggers on the tour (below).

The Coffin Club - Jacqueline Sutherland

 

Some people would kill for a second chance.

Kat is rebuilding her life. After losing her husband in a tragic accident, moving to the countryside is her chance to start again.

Encouraged by her new and only friend Ginny, Kat joins New Horizons, dubbed the Coffin Club by its members. And that’s how she meets Nico. Instantly drawn to each other, Nico seems like Kat’s perfect match. He is kind, caring, handsome and, most importantly, a father to five-year-old Magdalena. This could be Kat’s shot at the one thing she has always wanted: to be a mother.

BUT SOMETIMES BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR…

Well, this was a curious one. I'll be honest, although I was intrigued by the description and eager to read it I still wasn't sure what kind of tale was going to be told.

As you can see from the blurb above Kat is mourning the death of her husband which left her, as well as being a widow, with facial scarring that always reminds her of her loss.

A fresh start in the countryside doesn't seem to be fixing things for her and she decides to take her own life. Thankfully her attempt at death by driving fails and she instead hits a deer. Taking the injured deer to an animal rescue centre Kat meets Ginny and things start to look up. Kat and Ginny become friends and Ginny gets Kat to join the Coffin Club, a group for widows and widowers who are keen to try for a second chance at love and here she meets Nico. The pair are attracted from the off and it seems Nico is just what Kat needs and, with him having a five year old daughter she could still have a chance at the big thing missing in her life - being a mum.

 Things soon start to go awry though and secrets are there to be uncovered. Is anybody who they say they are? You'll find plenty of twists and turns before you get to find out (I thought I had it sussed bit I was very wrong). 

A very good psychological mystery 

4/5*

Thanks to Anne Cater and Random Things Tours for inviting me onto this blogtour, please try and have a look at the other blogger's posts (below).