Theatre Review- Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story

Title: Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story

Writer: Stephen Dolginoff

Director: Guy Retallack

Performers: Ellis Dackombe, Harry Downes, and Kris Rawlinson

Seen at: C Too Edinburgh

Review: Nathan Leopold stands before a parole board for the fifth time, having been in prison for 33 years for murdering a fourteen year old boy. The parole board wants to know: why? Flashbacks detail the story of how Leopold and his lover Richard Loeb, progress from petty crime to murder, and where they went from there.

Book Review-The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks

Title:  The Bunker Diary

Author:  Kevin Brooks

Series:   N/A

Published:  7 March 2013 by Penguin

Length: 268 pages

Warnings:  many things. Highlight [start] suicide, murder, quite extreme cruelty [/end]

Source: library

Other info: The Bunker Diary won the Carnegie Medal in 2014.

Summary : Room meets Lord of the Flies, The Bunker Diary is award-winning, young adult writer Kevin Brooks's pulse-pounding exploration of what happens when your worst nightmare comes true - and how will you survive?
I can't believe I fell for it. It was still dark when I woke up this morning. As soon as my eyes opened I knew where I was. A low-ceilinged rectangular building made entirely of whitewashed concrete. There are six little rooms along the main corridor. There are no windows. No doors. The lift is the only way in or out. What's he going to do to me? What am I going to do? If I'm right, the lift will come down in five minutes.  It did. Only this time it wasn't empty . .

Review: Linus has been abducted and is now in a bunker. He doesn’t know why. More and more people come into the bunker. They have to try and survive.

It is a terrifying idea. Everyone’s scared of random abduction, of not knowing what’s going to happen to you. Also, another thing to be scared of is humanity (I’ve learnt my lesson from that Doctor Who episode-Midnight). What people will do to eachother. What people will really think of eachother.

I liked the narration. It is, as the title suggests, the diary that Linus keeps while he’s kept in the bunker.  But we don’t know everything that Linus does-it states he doesn’t write everything in case The Man Upstairs comes and finds it. I really liked that idea-knowing even less than the character we see the story through. I also liked seeing the different ways people reacted, even if I kenw it wouldn't be that good for some people.

It’s one of the books for me where the literary criticism and reader criticism collide. From a literary point of view, I understand that we don’t get much development of Bird and Anja-Linus spends less time with them, reader spends less time with them. From a reader point of view, I want to know what they’re all thinking. Even more of a clash is the ending. From a literary point of view, I understand why Brooks would have ended it there. Linus doesn’t know, so we don’t know. From a reader point of view, it’s very unsatisfying. There’s no closure. We don’t get ANY of our questions answered.

It does keep you hooked from the start- not knowing anything, only finding things out in bits, the new things that The Man Upstairs puts in their way. Also, the tension, as well as the sittuation of being trapped, is heightened by the fact that these people are going to be unpredictable, and there isn’t a sense of cohesion, and ugh human relationships.  The feelings of panic, of claustrophobia, of uncertainness are brilliantly conveyed.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a book that’s gripping throughout most of it, but is let down by the end.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | 

Book Review-Adaptation by Malinda Lo

Title: Adaptation

 Author: Malinda Lo

Series:   Adaptation #1

Published:  April 3 2014 by Hodder

Length: 432 pages

Source: publisher

Other info: Malinda Lo has also written Huntress, Ash (review here), and Inheritance.

Summary: Flocks of birds are hurling themselves at aeroplanes across America. Thousands of people die. Millions are stranded. Everyone knows the world will never be the same.
On Reese's long drive home, along a stretch of empty highway at night, a bird flies into their headlights. The car flips over. When they wake up in a military hospital, the doctor won't tell them what happened.
For Reese, though, this is just the start. She can't remember anything from the time between her accident and the day she woke up almost a month later. She only knows one thing: she's different now. Torn between longtime crush David and new girl Amber, the real question is: who can she trust?

Review: It all starts when  Reese Holloway is waiting for a plane back from debating and  birds fall out of the sky. Stranded, she and the debate team decide to head home in a rented car, and things change even more. With no idea of the events after a crash, nor the later happenings or procedures, Reese finds some anwers that will change her life, and humanity, forever.

Huntress, I didn't enjoy especially, but Ash was one of my favourite books due to the writing style and the new take on an old story. Adaptation leaves the fantasy route and goes down the scifi men-in-black route, and it does this really well.

I love the characters. Amber's probably my favourite, because she's adorable and funny and I fell in love with her. I also liked that you had to constantly question her and her loyalties. David- CHINESE MC HECK YEAH (I get excited by chinese main characters) was also really adorable and smart. Reese isn't one of my favourite characters, she seemed a bit ordinary compared to a cast full of scientists and government agents and conspiracy theory website runners and things which I want to say but that's kind of spoilery, but I did like the fact that she constantly questioned things. Oh, and love to Reese's mum. See the lawyering badass love for her daughter and reaction to her coming out as bisexual. 

Nowhere in this book is a good place to stop reading-most certainly not the end.. Every point in Adaptation was either too intriguing or too exciting or too adorable to let you even think about putting it down, and I've had the must-never-stop-reading-this-feeling for very few books before.

Overall:  Strength 5 tea to a book I recommend to everyone, especially mystery, scifi, thriller, romance fans.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |

Blog Tour Book Review- A Dark Inheritance by Chris D'Lacey

Title: A Dark Inheritance

 Author:  Chris D’Lacey

Series:   UNICORNE Files #1

Published:  7 August 2014 by Chicken House

Length:270 pages

Source: blog tour

Other info: Chris D’Lacey has also written the Last Dragon Chronicles.

Summary : When Michael Malone discovers his supernatural ability to alter reality, he is recruited by an organization dedicated to investigating strange and paranormal phenomena. He joins in hopes of finding his father, who mysteriously vanished three years earlier. Michael's first task is to solve the mystery of a dog he rescued from a precarious clifftop -- a mystery that leads him to a strange and sickly classmate and a young girl who was killed in a devastating accident. Stakes are high as Michael learns to harness his newfound ability and uncover the deadly truth about his father's disappearance.
A bold and thrilling tale of alternate realities, paranormal mystery, and extraordinary adventure.

Review:  Michael’s going to school via a non-normal route when he senses the thoughts of a suicidal dog, and somehow manages to stop her going over a cliff. This brings him to the attention of UNICORNE, who say they can tell him what happened to his father, who disappeared. They set him on the task of finding out what the dog was doing on the cliff, and this leads him to a mystery involving a classmate, a dead girl, and his newly discovered powers.

I’ve heard great things about Chris D’Lacey’s other work (which I have never read) so I was hoping this would be good. The blurbed concept isn’t particularly original, but I really liked the idea of cellular memory and the way it played out in the book.

There’s science-fiction elements, fantasy elements, and some thrillery elements too. It could have been a good mix, but in parts it goes so quickly that things don’t get explored as much as they could have been.

I like the characters, especially Josie, Michael’s ten year old sister, Chantelle, a UNICORNE agent, and Freya, Michael’s sick classmate.

The plot twists and turns, sometimes well, and sometimes in convenient places. I like the mix of more normal things that Michael has to deal with, in between the paranormal. I think the start of it was stronger than the way the setup played out though; it started with a strong hook, but then got a bit confusing. The main mystery did get played through well looking back on it, but with side elements being created due to Michael’s powers, it is harder to follow than it needed to be.

Overall:  Strength 3 tea to a genremixing thriller.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |

Blog tour!

26th August - Book Zone For Boys

27th August - Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

8th August - Death, Books, and Tea

29th August - Fiction Fascination

1st September - Booktrust

2nd September - Teen Librarian

3rd September - Book Angel Booktopia

Book Review- Bombmaker by Claire McFall

Title: Bombmaker

 Author:  Claire McFall

Published:  1 February 2014 by Templar

Length:  336 pages

Source: publisher

Other info:  Claire has also written Ferryman, which I reviewed here and won the Scottish Booktrust Award.

Summary : The English government have closed the borders with their Celtic neighbours. Any Celt found in England is branded with a tattoo, found twice they are executed. Scottish Lizzie is the 'property' of psychopathic London gang boss Alexander. Can Lizzie escape Alexander's deadly grip and at what price her betrayal?

Review: Following bad economic times, England closes the borders with Scotland and Wales  and brings in  a new policy: Celts found in England are branded. Branded Celts in England are killed. Lizzie is one such branded Celt, who is the "property" of Alexander, a gang boss in London, who keeps her around for her bombmaking skills. as time goes on, Lizzie realises she might like a life outside the gang. Which is something that Alexander does not like at all.

I read McFall's Ferryman last year and really enjoyed it. I was looking forwards to this, especially with everything going on about the Scottish Independence referendum. Extreme nationalist governments make good reading (not real life), and so do gangs. Add in promises of a clever awesome female character and I'm sold.

You very quickly get pulled into Lizzie's world, both the political climate and the gang life that she’s part of. It’s a world that is believable, if you imagine that a yes vote leads to extreme xenophobia on the  English peoples’ part (ie just a huge ramp up of how it is now).

I love the fact that all the characters are well fleshed out really well. You really get close to them, even if that closeness is not something that you really want to be. Alexander’s creepiness seems to know no bounds. Lizzie, I liked a lot; she’s resourceful, and you want things to go right for her, even though they tend not to. I loved reading about them and how they got where they are and where they want to go.

It’s very very different to Ferryman. McFall writes well in both softer afterlife stories and gritty thrillers. I’m looking forwards to see what she does next.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a fast paced relevant  dystopia.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review- Run by Gregg Olsen

Title: Run

 Author: Gregg Olsen

Series:  Vengeance #1

Published: May 2014

Length: 256 pages

Warnings: off-stage past rape and killings

Source: publishers

Summary : What if you discovered that everything you thought you knew about yourself was a lie?

Rylee is fifteen. She comes home from school one afternoon to find the most shocking thing possible - her father dead, with a knife through his heart, and a key clutched in his hand. Her mother's purse is on the counter, but she appears to be long gone. A message in blood is written on the floor... RUN.

With her brother in tow, Rylee begins a dark journey, one that will uncover horrific and chilling crimes and lead her to an unexpected and gruesome discovery about her real father and what - or who - is behind his insatiable desire to kill. By the journey's end Rylee's childhood is a long way behind her...

RUN is the first title in the new Vengeance series, following Rylee as she begins to piece together the story of her life and to avenge unpunished crimes - starting with her own. This is DEXTER with a feisty female protagonist unlike any other in contemporary young adult fiction.

Review: Rylee, having come home from school to find her father dead, her mother missing, and message that just says “RUN”, gets her brother and runs.

I was excited to read this because I’ve read bits of Olsen's Envy, and liked it, and the trailer that HKB made was quite good (music win).

It starts off very quickly, the set up from the summary happening in the first chapter, and the running happening in the second. This pace is kept up throughout, which was good, and I read this in one sitting.

The mystery as to what happened is quickly partially  revealed in favour of a thriller story, which I didn't mind. I liked the fact that we get to meet lots of characters as Rylee tries to discover how things happened to others that fits into her current situation (not very well worded in comparison to the book, but I can't explain it better without spoilers), who each brought clues to the table. The way it developed was good, but the twist at the end was predictable.

The  main reason I didn't enjoy this was Rylee. I don't know why I disliked her so much, but I just didn't care for her or her story or the way it turned out. Maybe it was her narration; there's some interjections and thoughts which are kind of obvious. Maybe it was her, she seems a little too conveniently prepared to know what to do, and I didn't think she developed. It was probably the romance; there's a short flashback and a facebook conversation with a guy in the middle of the book (and why are you even worrying about facebook when all this is happening?) and the ending just comes out of nowhere and the book could have easily done without it because it just seems like an afterthought that wasn’t properly explored.

Overall:  Strength 2 tea to a turny fast thriller, that I didn’t get into as much as I’d hoped.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |

Book Review -The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher

Title: The Killing Woods

 Author: Lucy Christopher

Series:  N/A

Published:  October 2013 by Chicken House

Length: 369 pages

Warnings:  sex, alchohol, drugs, pstd

Source: publisher

Other info: Lucy Christopher has also written Stolen.

Summary : Emily’s dad is accused of murdering a teenage girl. Emily is sure he is innocent, but what happened that night in the woods behind their house where she used to play as a child? Determined to find out, she seeks out Damon Hillary, the enigmatic boyfriend of the murdered girl. He also knows these woods. Maybe they could help each other. But he’s got secrets of his own about games that are played in the dark.

Review: Emily’s dad walks in one night with a dying girl. He is then accused of manslaughter. She’s sure he’s innocent, but how can she prove it? To try, she enlists the help of Ashlee’s (the dead girl) boyfriend, Damon, who may know something about how Ashlee died. Together, they unravel the mystery.

 I read this because 1)I got sent it for review and 2) so many people had been talking about how good it is and I had to know how good it was for myself.

The characters, I liked them to start with, but at times they were a bit dreary. I would have liked to know Emily a bit more other than the fact that her father is accused of manslaughter. I liked Damon, even though he is a bit crazy at times. I liked Emily’s father. I really like the fact that Lucy handles PSTD, drugs, and choices in what I think is a good way.  

I loved the Game. I wanted to know what that involved, and all the little hints as to what it was built up well for the reveal.

I started to guess vague details from around two thirds of the way through. I ended up guessing the reasons for Ashlee’s death, but not who had done it.

The pacing was good. I didn’t get bored with the way that the mystery was unravelled at all- I really wanted to know what happened and I read this in one day.

I liked the writing. It moved the story on along really well and really built up the setting of Darkwood really well.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a fast mystery that kept me gripped from the start.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | 

Red Dragon-Thomas Harris

Title: Red Dragon

 Author: Thomas Harris

Series: Hannibal Lecter #1

Published: 1981, my edition May 1990  

Length: 454 pages 

Warnings: Everything. Gore. Sex. Not for little ones. 

Source: bought

Other info: There's lots of films and spinoffs of this series. You probably know  The Silence of the Lambs. There's also Hannibal and Hannibal Rising. 

Summary :Will Graham stands in a silent, empty house communing with a killer. An FBI instructor with a gift for hunting madmen, Graham knows what his murderer looks like, how he thinks, and what he did to his victims after they died. Now Graham must try to catch him. But to do it, he must feel the heat of a killer's brain, draw on the macabre advice of a dangerous mental patient, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, and follow a trail of microscopic clues to the place where another family has already been chosen to die--and where an innocent woman has found the Dragon first.

Review: There's a killer on the loose  and Will Graham, FBI man who's good at profiling  mad people, as well as visualizing the murder, must find him. Wouldn't be so bad if last time he'd gone on a madman hunt, he'd almost been killed by Hannibal Lecter, and wanted to retire. But seeing as this guy is killing a lot of people, and

I read this because I  watched Hannibal and quite enjoyed it, and, as always with book to screen adaptations, I try and read the source material.

I like that this book is very plot focused, as opposed to the TV show (which I know is very very different because that's a prequel and Red Dragon hasn't happened yet and is a TV show and totally different) which is very character focused. I like the plot focus, especially by the end, when the plot really gets along quickly,  which is nice, especially when the start is slower.

you feel for the characters. Well, Will Graham and the killer. Guy had an awful back story.  Will Graham, you feel bad for because of the whole empathizing wholly with killers driving him insane,  and I liked him, though  I'm not sure how much Hugh Dancy looking like a kicked puppy influenced that. Hannibal Lecter, despite being the guy the series is named after, doesn't appear much in Red Dragon, but what we see of him is intriguing.

The psychology aspect is interesting to start with, but after a little while, you do want it to just speed up a bit.  Some parts of this were creepy, in both good ways and  bad ways.

 Overall:  Strength 3 tea to a good mystery thriller horror thing, that wasn't quite I was expecting.

Links: Amazon |  Goodreads |

Book Review-Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

Title: Darkly Dreaming Dexter

 Author: Jeff Lindsay

Series:   Dexter #1

Published:   July 2005 by Orion (first published July 2004)

Length: 275 pages

Warnings:  graphic gore

Source: bought

Other info: This has been adapted into a fairly successful TV show. There are 7 books in the series, with alliterative names (that makes me happy, for some reason)!

Summary : Dexter Morgan isn't exactly the kind of man you'd bring home to your mum. At heart, he's the perfect gentleman: he has a shy girlfriend, and seems to lead a quiet, normal life bordering on the mundane. Despite the fact that he can't stand the sight of blood, he works as a blood-spatter analyst for the Miami police.But Dexter also has a secret hobby: he is an accomplished serial killer. So far, he's killed 36 people and has never been caught because he knows exactly how to hide the evidence. And while that may lead some people to assume he's not such a nice guy, he tempers his insatiable hunger for brutality by only killing the bad guys. However, Dexter's well-organised life is suddenly disrupted when a second, much more visible serial killer appears in Miami. Intrigued that the other killer favours a style similar to his own, Dexter soon realises that the mysterious new arrival is not simply invading his turf but offering him a direct invitation to 'come out and play'...

Review: Dexter Morgan is a serial killer serial killer. He’s also a forensic scientist for the Miami Police Departent and has a normal life outside of that. So one day, there’s a nother serial killer going round Miami, and this one is different. Instead of being one that Dexter can just take out quietly, this one wants to play.

I watched a couple of episodes of Dexter before another show took over my life, but I enjoyed what I saw, and will go back to it, because it’s intriguing, and I like reading source material of films/books that have been adapted, so I read this.

The most complex character is Dexter, a sociopath carrying a Dark Passenger. In order to sate the Dark Passenger and also to keep to his morals, Dexter follows the advice of his adoptive father, Harry, and only kills those who deserve it. I’d like to see more of him. Serial killers really should not be this likable.

Deb was my second favourite character. I like the fact that she’s really driven, and fights against the men’s misogynistic views of her, even when being put on the group of undercover police posing as hookers.

The mystery goes in lots of different directions, which I enjoy. At the end, when the reveal happens, it’s just a big… wait? Where do you come from? However, this does give  us some good backstory, and also gives Dexter an extra side to explore later.

Overall:  Strength 3 to what I hope is the start of a bloody good series.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |

Book Review-Cruel Summer by James Dawson

Title: Cruel Summer

 Author:  James Dawson

Series:   N/A

Published:  1 August 2013 by Indigo

Length: 324 pages

Warnings: violence.

Source: bought and publisher

Other info: You can do a quiz to see which Cruel Summer character you are here. You can read my review of James’ other book, Hollow Pike, here.  

Summary : A year after Janey’s suicide, her friends reunite at a remote Spanish villa, desperate to put the past behind them. However, an unwelcome guest arrives claiming to have evidence that Jane was murdered. When she is found floating in the pool, it becomes clear one of them is a killer. Only one thing is for certain, surviving this holiday is going to be murder…

Review: Leavers’ dance night. Janey Bradshaw commits suicide. One year later. Her old group of friends Ryan, Katie, Alisha, Greg, and Ben, with the addition of Greg’s girlfriend Erin  meet for a holiday in Katie’s Spanish villa. Then Roxanne shows  up, with claims that Janey was murdered. Then someone else dies,  it comes out that someone at that villa is a killer, and soon they’re all caught up in mysteries and secrets of both the present day and the past.

Reason why I read this: I loved Hollow Pike and expected it to be just as good. It didn’t disappoint.

Ryan, I think there may be something wrong with him. He sees everything as part of a TV series that he is the star of. It’s good, a quirky character trait, to start with, but it gets weird when someone dies and he’s still stuck in that mindset. He’s a little annoying, but a really nice, funny guy too.  Most of the cast are likeable, and all are intriguing with secrets and exploration and development. I liked Alisha or Katie equally best.  They both develop the most, and they’re both strong girls who are awesome. I like the fact we got to know quite a bit about, and get kind of close to,  Janey too, considering she's dead.  

It plays out very much like a classic teen-slasher film. Everyone fits into classic stereotypes, and it’s self-aware, with genre savvy Ryan and booky girl Katie.

It is written as scenes, each following a certain character. Most of the time it’s Alisha and Ryan, but there’s some flashbacks to fill you in on backstory. Everything gets revealed after hints, and it’s unpredictable, and gripping.

Mostly there’s mystery, and  horror regarding the murders and something else that happens that I don’t think I should say, but there’s also bits of romance and coming of age/figuring out who you are.

The mystery is epic. Everyone is a suspect at some point, with motives and the writing turning on them.  The amount of twists and turns in this is amazing. I read Cruel Summer in about two hours cover to cover in one sitting, and I have never said “I was not expecting this!” so often.

There is one bit at the end, in which I think a Hamlet reference opportunity was sadly missed. The best bit about the ending is finding out why the killer does what they do and it’s so unexpected but then you think about how it was there all along  and it’s clever and you can’t stop thinking about it. And then there’s a big scene which was just. Well. Definitely unexpected, but a fitting ending that I really enjoyed.

Overall:  Strength 5 tea to a mystery that pulls you in from the start and doesn’t let you go. Perfect summer reading.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |

Book Review- Follow Me Down by Tanya Byrne

Title: Follow Me Down

 Author: Tanya Byrne

Series:  N/A

Published:  8 May 2013 by Headline

Length: 368 pages

Warnings: tw-rape, also drinking

Source: publisher

Other info: Tanya’s debut novel is called Heart-Shaped Bruise

Summary : When sixteen-year-old Adamma Okomma, a Nigerian diplomat's daughter, arrives at exclusive Crofton College in Wiltshire, she is immediately drawn to beautiful, tempestuous, unpredictable Scarlett Chiltern. Adamma and Scarlett become inseparable - until they fall for the same guy. Soon the battle lines are drawn and Adamma is shunned by Scarlett and her privileged peers. But then Scarlett goes missing and everything takes a darker turn. Adamma always knew that Scarlett had her secrets, but some secrets are too big to keep and this one will change all of their lives forever.

Review: Adamma Okomma is sent to Crofton Collage when her parents, one of which is a Nigerian diplomat, move to England. After New York, Adamma isn’t expecting much from this bording school. That all changes when she makes friends with Scarlett Chilton, who rules the school and shows her all the secrets. Some of which are very dark indeed.

I really enjoyed Heart Shaped Bruise (no review yet, might reread and review one day) and so I was really excited to read this. The blurb makes you think it’ll just be a messy love triangle and a simple disappearance. Tanya’s other book makes you think it’ll be a lot more than that. When you read it, you find that it definitely is.

From the start, you’re pulled into the mystery with the use of the “before” and “after” timelines, told in alternate chapters. Before and after what?   Also, these headings mean keeping track of time is so much easier-very useful.

All the characters are wonderfully different and unique. And so very very real. It’s the complex relationships between them with all the different, varying dynamics, that really make this book though.

It brings up a lot of things-how  friendships survive, rape culture, testing boundaries; things that teenagers have to deal with, and the varying ways that they do.

The mysterie takes a lot of twists and turns and wanders down lots of different paths. I had my suspicions about the culprit of the disappearance from about halfway, but when it was revealed, it was using a different name to the one we’d met them as, and I had to re-skim it all and make sure I’d read it right. The other mystery, who Adamma’s getting involved with, was a complete surprise.

The writing was amazing. The timeskipping was really effective, as was the fact that for all of Adamma’s romantic scenes, we just get told it’s “him”. Everything gets revealed weaves together at just the right time and it works.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to an amazingly written, intriguing thriller.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |

Book Review-Devil's Bargain by Rachel Caine

Title: Devil’s Bargain

 Author: Rachel Caine

Series:  Red Letter Days

Published:  5 October 2012 by Mira

Length:331 pages

Source: publisher

Other info: Rachel is best known for The Morganville Vampires, and has also written Weather Warden, Outcast Season and Revivalist series.                                                                         

Summary :  Jasmine "Jazz" Callender is on the downhill slide to ruin. Once a decorated homicide detective, she's lost it all: her former partner's been convicted of murder, she's been cashiered out, and she's drinking away what little self-respect she's got left.
But Jazz has a talent for trouble, and somebody knows it. When a mysterious, sexy stranger comes looking for her with a fateful red envelope in his hand, she's about to make the deal of her life...for good or bad.
The deal requires her to enter into a partnership with a stranger and investigate cases that arrive in special red envelopes...which is odd enough, but gets weirder as she and her new partner Lucia realize that they may be working for someone with supernatural abilities.
And maybe they're not on the side of the angels anymore.

Review: Jazz Callender isn’t doing well. Having lost her job as a homicide detective when her partner gets convicted of homicide, she has nowhere to go. So, one day, James turns up. He’s a lawyer and comes with an offer- to save her Ben, she’ll have to work for a strange society which may or may not have psychic powers.

It started kind of well. There’s a lot of mystery when James shows up and you get quite intrigued as to what will be required of Jazz. The mystery builds when Jazz and her assigned partner Lucia do things which they weren’t really expecting, such as observing ordinary going ons. The action doesn’t really kick in until just over halfway, when someone gets killed.

The psychic element, in my opinion, should have been more prevalent if you were going to market it as a psychic paranormal book. It just didn’t seem like much of a threat, even when we met XXX and understood how things were playing out and why. For a romance, there wasn’t that much of it either. It did work really well as a thriller, with intriguing trails, action of realistic physical fights, and the mysterious red envelopes.

The characters are good. Jazz and Lucia are both independent, strong and intelligent, and work really well together. Manny, the tech guy, was a little bit of comic relief, as well as providing useful things.  Borden isn’t that interesting in terms of character, but in terms of what he does plotwise, I liked it. Lucia was my favourite.

The world, the society, didn’t really captivate me that much. The writing, Jazz was a good narrator but there wasn’t anything particularly special about it. The pacing, I would have liked a few more big important things to come along a bit earlier, as you wait a long time for things to happen.

Overall: Strength 3 to a mystery thriller with good characters but not so much plot.  

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review- Dark Eyes by William Richter

Title: Dark Eyes

 Author: William Richter

Series:  Dark Eyes #1

Published:  15 March 2012 by Penguin

Length: 383 pages

Warnings: sex, not too detailed. Quite a bit of violence. Drugs TW sexual abuse, 

Source: Spinebreakers

Summary : Wally was adopted from a Russian orphanage as a child and grew up in a wealthy New York City family. At fifteen, her obsessive need to rebel led her to life on the streets.
Now the sixteen-year-old is beautiful and hardened, and she's just stumbled across the possibility of discovering who she really is. She'll stop at nothing to find her birth mother before Klesko - her darkeyed father - finds her. Because Klesko will stop at nothing to reclaim the fortune Wally's mother stole from him long ago. Even if that means murdering his own blood. But Wally's had her own killer training, and she's hungry for justice.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for teens, this debut thriller introduces our next big series heroine!

Review: Wally is a Russian, adopted into an American family. Age 15, she moves out, onto the streets of New York. This is the story of a year later. On a visit to  Brighton Beach postal-shop-copy-place-thing, where they cater to Russian customers,  she gets given a mysterious envelope with her Russian name on it. in it-a letter from her Russian mother. From there, she learns more about her family. For example, the fact that her father is a mafia boss. And he wants to find his ex-lover/wife/whatever (I’ve forgotten). And he’s not picky about he finds her.

Being adopted, I took a bit more interested in this. I’ve never tried to, or wanted to find my birth parents (something I don’t think would be easy with a pool of a billion people) but it must be interesting when you get details of your birth family just given to you without warning.

Wally takes this fairly well, and takes lots of things in her stride.  She’s a very strong girl, who is good at finding things out after learning things that capture her interest. She’s also a great friend to Ella and Tevin and Jake. There’s such a strong sense of bond between them. However, I didn’t connect with her, or any other character. She doesn’t have as much to worry about compared to the others, so I didn’t really care for her either.

There’s a lot of action, and a fair bit of violence. The first chapter involves a murder. The mafia are involved. People die. It’s definitely a big thriller. Lost of twists and turns, many predictable. Some things do happen a bit more easily  that I’d have liked or would have been interesting. The ending was...er, ok. Not saying that in the it was mediocre way. I’m saying it in the ......*long pause* *hesitant er* Ok way. can’t find a gif to sum this up. But yeah. The ending. I liked it. this would definitely play out well as a film, what with the really fast pacing and turnabouts.

I found it quite confusing. I’m not sure why, I just didn’t get into it. The writing is ok, but there were some annoying things about it. it’s a bit too street, and it doesn’t really fit.

I like the fact that things happen suddenly. Even if you are expecting them, the very bad, very major things happen so suddenly it is realistic, and everyone has to adjust in short periods of time.

For a book market at teens, it is gritty. It’s nice not to be talked down to. Nothing’s pulled back, we get all the sad and gory details. Having never read  The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, I can’t comment too well on the fitting of this as a teenage version. From the little I saw of the film, this is in a similar vein, and probably does live up to its tagline.

Overall:  Strength 3 tea to a fast thriller, that wasn’t as good as I’d expected.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review- Clean by Alex Hughes

Title: Clean

 Author: Alex Hughes

Series:  MindspaceInvestigations #1

Published:  4 September 2012 by Roc

Length: 352 pages

Warnings: drugs, violence, leadup to sex but nothing happens

Source: netgalley

Summary : I used to work for the Telepath’s Guild before they kicked me out for a drug habit that wasn’t entirely my fault. Now I work for the cops, helping Homicide Detective Isabella Cherabino put killers behind bars. My ability to get inside the twisted minds of suspects makes me the best interrogator in the department. But the normals keep me on a short leash. When the Tech Wars ripped the world apart, the Guild stepped up to save it. But they had to get scary to do it—real scary. Now the cops don’t trust the telepaths, the Guild doesn’t trust me, a serial killer is stalking the city—and I’m aching for a fix. But I need to solve this case. Fast. I’ve just had a vision of the future: I’m the next to die. 

Review:  The protagonist of this novel (hereafter known as Our Telepath) works for the police, after getting kicked out of the Telepath Guild, with his partner Isabella Cherabino. In a world where the Tech Wars have eliminated the people’s trust in electronics, being a telepath is useful, even if they’re not the most trusted either. Anyway. People start turning up dead, and Our Telepath is called out to help. But then he gets a vision, and it gets personal-because he could be next.

I’m calling our telepath Our Telepath because we only learn his name at the end, ie in the last two sentences Sometimes this technique annoys me, but because it’s such a well written first person book, it’s not really that noticeable. However, it didn’t come with a big plot twist, which makes me wonder why he was kept anonymous.

There’s a lot of depth to Our Telepath. He has a drugs problem, through no fault of his own, and struggles with it quite frequently through and it’s nice having an extra facet to him than just being crime fighting. It's related in a realistic way, and I liked reading about it.  He’s flawed in other ways, as is Cherabino to a lesser extent. More of her depth comes from other personal problems. Alex has done really well at getting into other people’s heads. I'd have liked to feel a bit more connected to all the characters other than Our Telepath.

The world building is good. It’s unconventional sci-fi in that computers are hardly used, but there’s other types of sci-fi devices that don't get explored fully. There's also a different take on telepaths, with different varieties and an organisation keeping them kind of organised.

Our Telepath is plain spoken and good at keeping us interested in the plot.  The murder mystery case takes lots of different directions, and that's what kept me most invested in Clean throughout.

The romantic tension between Our Telepath and Cherabino wasn't really necessary to the plot, but it did work in exposing more of their characters.

In tone, style, and pacing, it's rather similar to Storm Front by Harry Dresden (though I enjoyed this one a bit more).

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a murder mystery thriller with an excellently written main character. Looking forwards to more.

Links: Goodreads | Author website

Book Review- Crusher by Niall Leonard

Title: Crusher

 Author:  Niall Leonard

Published:  13 September 2012 by Random House

Warnings: sex and violence, 14 upwards.

Source: publisher

Other info: His wife wrote the infamous 50 Shades Trilogy. This is the first in a series.

Summary : To catch a killer,Finn Maguire may have to become one....Everything changed the day Finn found his father in a pool of blood, bludgeoned to death. His dull, dreary life is turned upside downas he become's the prime suspect. How can he clear his name and find out who hated his dad enough to kill him?
Facing danger at every turn, uncovering dark family secrets and braving the seedy London underworld,Finn is about to discover that only the people you trust can really hurt you....

Review: After another day at his dead-end job, Finn Maguire comes home to find his dad has been killed. With the lack of other DNA and other fingerprints, and because hte police have no one else ot go on, he is pinned as prime suspect. Now on his own, Finn has to try and clear his name. By doing so, he gets pulled into his family history, gang politics, rivalries, and various other sorts of danger.

I don’t normally read crimey things but I think I should, as I quite enjoy it when I do. There’s always interesting things happening and they’re often unpredictable.  Crusher is like this. I wouldn’t really call it fun, but I like it. There’s definitely a thrill.

It all gets going quite quickly, with the murder and  establishing Finn’s situation done within the first few chapters. The story then develops at the same fast pace throughout.

A thing stolen from my latin friend is the expression of interest levels on an updowny scale. The interest levels for this are high at the start, low middle at the middle,  middle a bit further, and high at the end. Thrill levels follow this pattern too. There’s some incredibly boring bits, and then there’s other bits which you just have to read on, including the scene from which (I assume) Crusher gets its name.

The women in  Crusher were the most interesting. Zoe seemed nice enough, but it didn’t work out well in the end (because it’s written by a guy? Most books written by men feature romances that don’t work out, women tend to write ambiguous or happy endings. A post for later?). Else, I  knew there was something off about her, but what happened at the end was totally unexpected and in any future novels, she should definitely have a major part in them. Finn’s mother is very secretive, and the ending finishes off Crusher well.

Finn, you do feel sorry for when you think about all he goes through. He is surprisingly clever despite his introduction as a dead end boy, and he thinks on his feet well. The whole danger from all sides is ok ish. It’s interesting, but also not in a way. It’s hard to describe. I do like the fact that the separate plots all come together after a lot of guessing.

Overall:  Strength 3 tea to a thriller with a lot of ups and downs.

Links: | Goodreads | 

Book Review- Psycho by Robert Bloch

Title: Psycho

 Author: Robert Bloch

Series:  Psycho #1

Published:  1959

Length: 208 pages

Source: Won from Midnyte Reader

Other info: Alfred Hitchcock made this a film.  Sequels are Psycho II and Psycho House. Bloch wrote other things.

Summary : Norman Bates loves his Mother. She has been dead for the past twenty years, or so people think. Norman knows better though. He has lived with Mother ever since leaving the hospital in the old house up on the hill above the Bates motel. One night Norman spies on a beautiful woman that checks into the hotel as she undresses. Norman can't help but spy on her. Mother is there though. She is there to protect Norman from his filthy thoughts. She is there to protect him with her butcher knife.

Review: First thoughts- This is really short for something that got turned into probably the biggest slasher film ever.  I've not seen the film, so I can't comment on similarities/improvements. But the book has its own merits.

Mary Crane is getting away from it all. Leaving her work and her old life, she's trying to get to her fiancé Sam with some stolen cash and traded cars. But it's raining horribly, so she stops at a motel off the motorway. Run by Norman Bates.

What happens next. I'm sure everyone knows the shower scene (my dad introduced me to the fact that a girl got stabbed in the shower while we were making cake. My age-seven.) After not hearing from Mary, her sister and her fiance, Lila

Like the name suggests, it's psychological based horror with tension and suspense. It's a lot less bloody than i expected it to be, but that doesn't make it any less gripping.

Mary, while being dead for the majority of the novel, is a really interesting character. She's quick thinking, covering her tracks and making up loads of different stories to keep herself hidden. there's lots of revelations about her, what she did, why she did it and so on. By default, Sam's quite interesting too-it's him (well, his inherited debts) that indirectly sets off this chain of events.

Norman is the most intriguing character, possibly with the exception of his mother. He is heavily dependant on his mother, who has drummed into him lots of things that suppress his development and makes him how he is. He may hate her for this, but being old and with no one else, he must look after her. His mother views the world in a different way. She sees the world as being full of sinful women, and has made her son think the same. Both together make for a study in psychology and what drives people. 

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a must read for horror fans.

 Links: Amazon | Goodreads | 

Book Review- The Glimpse by Claire Merle

Title: The Glimpse

 Author: Claire Merle

Series:  The Glimpse #1

Published:  7 June 2012 by Faber

Length: 432 pages

Warnings: violence, rape, abuse

Source: Publisher (Really sorry it’s ridiculously late)

Other info: This is Claire’s debut novel.

Summary : London, in the near future: society is divided according to  a DNA  test that determines a person's predisposition to mental illness.  When Ana finds out there was a mistake with her Pure test, her whole world crumbles. Now, Joining with Pure-boy Jasper is her only hope of salvation. Until Jasper disappears.  Ana sets off on his trail, determined to solve the mystery of his abduction. In doing so she journeys into the darkest corners of society, and uncovers some devastating truths that destroy everything she’s ever believed.

Review: In this world,  your fate is decided by  a DNA test which sees if you have or if you’re predisposed to developing mental illness. Pures are separated from Crazies, who live in the City, away from the safety of the Community. Ana’s test is wrong. She’s not pure. From there, she has to learn more about her past, her family and so on. as well as this, her betrothed Jasper goes missing. Ana ends up going across London finding Jasper, her family, and an unexpected love interest.

Mental illness isn’t talked about that much in society, so it’s nice to have it addressed in YA fiction. As the set up behind a dystopian state-hmm, maybe not. And to some, the fact that those with/dispositioned to mental illness are labelled as being “crazy” and then being feared/cast out by the rest of society might also upset you. However, if you’re not easily offended or immature about these things, you should be able to enjoy this story.  

Ana’s voluntary stay in the mental hospital is pretty horrifying. Thankfully, I’ve not had any experiences with the mental health system, but a family friend has and her treatment was nothing like this. I know this was probably exaggerated for effect, but the girls’ treatment brings to mind the conditions of Victorian lunatic asylums, full of experiments that probably make you crazier than you went in.

Aside from the UK’s treatment of those who may or may not be mentally ill, which is extreme in the way that dystopias are, there’s some other elements of this future Britain that kind of make sense. Petrol shortages, economic downturns, media control and so on are all kind of visible in today’s world-they get turned up nicely in this world.

London based! Yay! I love London-visiting it, the sights, the little back bits. Books set in London always make me happy even if the rest of them are terrible-and the fact that a bit of the beginning is set in Camden was just—yes.  Having been round Camden many many times, it’s nice being able to accurately imagine settings.

Ana was both nice and stupid. I understood where she was coming from but some of her decisions annoyed me. Her relationship to her father especially, but also to the rest of the cast in general, were believable and made me like her a bit more. The love triangle didn’t really overshadow the main plot, which was good. it took me a bit of time to like Nate, but everyone else was likable and understandable.

The plot was good and it got off to a quick start. Things moved at a pace that kept me really interested, but  some things I didn’t really get without re-reading, especially at the start. The ending was a bit open ended, and I’d definitely like to see what happens next.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a thought provoking book with a great dystopian premise, but not something for everyone.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review- Shattered Dreams by Ellie James

Title: Shattered Dreams

 Author: Ellie James

Series:  Midnight Dragonfly

Published: 5 July by Quercus  

Length: 300 pages

Source: Publishers

Other info: This is Ellie’s debut. The next will be called Broken Illusions then Fragile Darkness.

Summary : Trinity has never known who she really is. Strange dreams haunt her nights, and she has always been able to sense things that others can't. When Jessica, the most popular girl at school, disappears, Trinity realises she will have to draw on her secret abilities to help find her. Soon, Trinity is subject to visions that terrify her and make the police sceptical. As her dreams grow darker and the visions more frightening, Trinity realises she must risk her reputation and her sanity to save a girl who hates her.

Review: It was just a game in a haunted house. Teenagers daring each other to do things in the abandoned house soon takes a darker turn when Jessica goes missing and the investigation soon becomes a murder one. Trinity gets dreams. She doesn’t know why, but she can see things happening. Which then actually happen. while being pulled into the police investigation, Trinity also gets pulled into another-the one looking behind her family.

I didn’t know about this before I got hold of it, so I can’t say I had high(or any) hopes for it. The whole psychic-mystery thing isn’t that new, but I always like reading these kinds of things.

The first half is good.  it’s a quick start, and there’s a lot of intrigue. My favourite bits were the parts in the haunted house. The writing is exceptional in those bits and I felt both a little bit creeped out and really wanting to know more. The visions are also done well.

The missing-girl line is carried on. obviously, Trinity is the only one who can solve it, but she doesn’t know what her visions really properly mean. I really enjoyed the mystery, the guessing, and all that.

The other part is Trinity’s personal life. Romance with Chase, the hot guy developed nicely, but it wasn’t the main thing, so that was good. more emphasis was given to Trinity’s past, about her mother and her psychic powers. These were nice, but weren’t amazing. And then there was something else that I don’t really get...somehting about Pitre and Dylan and so on..I really wasn’t following any of that.

The characters were good. Trinity is very inquisitive, and takes everything in good stride. Chase is a little boring, but I didn’t really care about him when he might have been in danger. Some characters seem to appear randomly, just to clear something up, make something else more complicated and leave, for example that fortune teller girl. I hope she comes back.

The pacing isn’t great and the scenes are a bit random, in a bad way. Something happens and then something completely different happens and it’s hard to understand. The big final scene seems a bit rushed. The guy who took Jessica especially seems to have come out of nowhere and I didn’t really care.

The paranormal bit takes the back seat, which you may or may not like, depending on your preferences. The murder mystery is the main thing. I’d like a bit more of Trinity’s psychic-ness in the next book too.

Overall:  Strength 3 tea to a thriller that really pulls you in, but also messes with your head. I’ll read the sequel in the hope that it gets better.

Links: Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review- Torn by Cat Clarke

Title: Torn

 Author: Cat Clarke

Series:  N/A

Published:  22 December 2011 by Quercus

Length: 378 pages

Warnings: sex, murder, suicide 13+

Source: Bought

Other info: Cat’s other novel, Entangled, was reviewed here.

Summary : Four girls. One dead body. A whole lot of guilt. Alice King isn’t expecting the holiday of a lifetime when she sets off with her classmates on a trip to the Scottish wilderness, but she’s not exactly prepared for an experience beyond her darkest nightmares…  Alice and her best friend Cass are stuck in a cabin with Polly, the social outcast, and Rae, the moody emo-girl. Then there’s Tara – queen of mean. Powerful, beautiful and cruel, she likes nothing better than putting people down.  Cass decides it’s time to teach Tara a lesson she’ll never forget. And so begins a series of events that will change the lives of these girls forever...

Review: Alice, Cass, Polly and Rae are put in a cabin together on a school trip. The four of them together may be a bearable combination, but there’s another. Mean girl Tara has been placed in the same cabin and the teachers refuse to move her. She’s generally hated by the girls who aren’t in her social circle, so much so that Cass wants to teach her a lesson. But then that lesson goes wrong. And the four girls are left with a body.

Like Entangled, it places girls in situations that are improbable, but still intriguing to read about. From the start, I was hooked. From the  point of view of Alice, we are told about the public’s view of Tara’s death, what really happened, and the way she’s haunted by Tara. Actually, the haunting comes first, which is nice because it leaves you wondering exactly what happened.

The characters are the main feature of Torn. The four girls involved all have different reactions, different scales of guilt. It’s really interesting seeing how they deal with it, and it shows that Cat is excellent at writing well developed characters with depth and multiple dimensions.

About a third of Torn is the story of Tara, from the start of the trip to the sudden end. Although it’s technically set up for the rest of the novel, it’s still interesting and you feel like the girls are justified for getting Tara back. Maybe they shouldn’t have gone that far, but  from the way Tara treats them all really makes you want to kill her too.

The supporting cast are equally built up, with differing personalities. Everyone has something hidden about them, even Tara, who it’s revealed isn’t quite as bad as you thought from how she treated everyone. The two girls that were part of Tara’s entourage also don’t seem as bad when you get to know them, but they aren’t quite as well fleshed out as the rest of the cast.

The romance in this is done well, with the general awkwardness of Alice having a hand in her boyfriend’s sister’s death. Yet another part of Alice’s character is revealed in the fact that she knows she’s guilty and that she knows Jack won’t want her after he knows what she did, but she still tries to carry on a relationship anyway. This leads to an ending that’s both sad, but makes you think Alice gets what she  deserves.

The writing carries all sorts of feelings with it. Guilt, love, doubt. The fairly short chapters all end at points that either leave you wanting to read on because there’s a cliffhanger or leave you wanting to read on because there’s a beautiful little quote.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a gripping novel with a great premise and cast.

Links: Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads |   Author website | 

Book Review- Shift by Kim Curran

Title: Shift

 Author: Kim  Curran

Series:  N/A

Published:  4 September 2012 by Strange Chemistry

Length: 416 pages

Warnings: a lot of gore, 11+

Source: Publishers

Other info: Shift is Kim’s debut.

Summary : When your average, 16-year old loser, Scott Tyler, meets the beautiful and mysterious Aubrey Jones, he learns he's not so average after all. He's a 'Shifter'. And that means he has the power to undo any decision he's ever made. At first, he thinks the power to shift is pretty cool. But as his world starts to unravel around him he realises that each time he uses his power, it has consequences; terrible unforeseen consequences. Shifting is going to get him killed. In a world where everything can change with a thought, Scott has to decide where he stands.

Review: Scott Tyler is a Shifter. He's able to change any decision he's ever made and replace the time with a different set of event. He loves the idea, but soon realises that not all Shifters do so with the intention of winning a bet. A few Shifters have gone rogue and are trying to stop the deterioration of Shifting abilities after adolescene using really...unconventional methods.
The idea behind shifting is original and really really cool. It definitely gets you thinking, as does the prologue.
Things get going really quickly. Aubrey, ARES (the organisation that organises Shifters) and the concept of Shifting come in within the first 50 pages, and are easy to pick up.
The training/getting to grips with the powers takes up about half the book. It's definitely intriguing and nice to see him make friends with fellow Shifters and learn theory and whatnot, but there were times when I wanted the story to note on a little bit. And then it did. We get a short overview of the time, and then a the
mystery builds up with mysterious killings and Shifts to cover these up. Ooh. In terms of interest levels: high, then dip a little, then really up high until the end.
The characters are likable in various measures. Aubrey and Scott were good characters that kept you rooting for them. Benjo...I have no idea how to describe him. He's a little bit lovable, but really quite disgusting when you think about it. My favourite (collectively)has to be the group of Shifter kids. I would have liked to see a bit more
development from all of them though.
The writing was good, clearly conveying Scott's attitude to things. I love how Kim doesn't shy away from graphic descriptions. This book is not for the squeamish,especially round the halfway mark.
The ending was a bit sudden, but logical and really nice. It's sudden because everything's ramping up and you know there's only a couple of pages left but you can't see how it's going to end and then it does in a really awesome way.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a novel with a fun idea and a fast moving plot that
keeps you reading to the end.

Links: Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads | Author website |