Witness by Caroline Mitchell.

Rebecca is a witness and sends her fiance Solomon to prison for the murder of Jake. Ten years later, Solomon is released from prison on license and he wants revenge.

I found Witness a very powerful story. It is a psychological thriller and Caroline’s writing is top quality. She tells a very, very creepy tale and the tension she creates is incredible. Right from the start of her story, my alarm bells were ringing. She mentions things casually in passing and I thought “hang on?” or “you stupid cow!”.

Caroline has the art of great storytelling and the characters of Rebecca and Solomon are fully developed. By the end of this novel, you feel as though Rebecca and Solomon are real people who you have worked alongside for maybe a decade.

I liked how Caroline chose to write some chapters from Rebecca’s point of view but others from Solomon’s side. You get both sides of this story and it does include some domestic abuse.

The story does not build with a linear timeline but wanders back and forth from before Solomon was sent to prison and the current day. Normally this back and forth would drive me bonkers but Caroline used this time shifting purely for you to understand the characters as the psychology is quite deep. Bear with it because Caroline tells a great story and a linear timeline would not have worked.

I loved the way details were thrown into this story, which forced you to join up the dots. As you read through the chapters, you constantly think “I wonder if?” and this added so much enjoyment to this book because you felt like a fly on the wall. Because the author is a woman and Rebecca was a victim of domestic abuse, readers may feel this book is aimed only at women. But men should give this book a read too because it is very, very good. Hen pecked husbands could even fantasise about having some control over their wives!

Witness is a great story driven by fear and I can find nothing wrong with this novel. Okay, I did wonder who the second man was in the video but that does not really matter! Also the cyclist who spat on a character was later referred to as a jogger but that would be nit picking! Yes, some readers may find the subject of domestic abuse to be uncomfortable but bear with it. Sex is mentioned but there is no graphic sex. Sean who is Rebecca’s husband after Solomon goes to prison, is a vet and animals are included in the story but no harm comes to an animal. What you have is an excellent psychological thriller that gets the top score of 5 stars from me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Thomas & Mercer for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.

Ragdoll by Daniel Cole.

Ragdoll is a British crime thriller that was a rejected television screenplay as Daniel informs the reader at the start of his debut novel. Do NOT let this put you off, as television is incredibly hard to break into, so sit back in your favourite seat and enjoy this book for what it is, a shocking crime thriller.

Ragdoll gets it’s name from the crime scene where parts of six different bodies have been stitched together to form an artwork. Then the media gets a list of six more people to be killed along with their execution dates. Ragdoll is a gruesome tale but Daniel ticks all the boxes to write a thrilling 5 star read.

Characterisation is good and the back story is proportional to the excellent plot. The pace of this novel is good and it gets you guessing as slowly more victims meet their deaths in colourful and imaginative ways. This novel is content rich and the reasons behind the murders are very clever. Hint… by coincidence it was the same motives and MO as the episode of Silent Witness that was broadcast by the BBC on Tuesday 24th January 2017. Was it an urban myth because many people do keep a pay-as-you-go mobile phones active, just in case!

Despite all the gory action and killing there is still plenty of dark, workplace humour sprinkled throughout this novel. For example…

He was growing increasingly frustrated, stubbornly refusing to admit that he had no idea how to play the CCTV footage, trapped inside the stupid little USB stick, through the television. ‘There’s a hole on the side of the telly,’ said Finlay, over fifteen years his senior, as he entered the room. ‘No, on the, down -oh, let me do it.’ Finlay removed the USB drive from an air vent on the back of the television and plugged it in.

Baxter picked up the half-empty bottle of red wine. ‘Wine?’ she offered pleasantly. ‘Depends, what kind is it?’  ‘Red.’ ‘I can see that, I meant: where is it from?’  ‘Morrisons.’  ‘No, I mean… I’ll pass’  Baxter shrugged and returned to her box.

...So I really enjoyed reading Ragdoll, it has a great balance of things that make for an entertaining read. It has that lovely mix of police procedure, crime scene, intricate plot and subtle humour that make you look forward to your next reading session. It is the same joy you get from following that excellent crime drama on Channel 4 television called No Offence starring the sexy chubby actress Joanna Scanlan.

Ragdoll clearly shows that Daniel has a great talent as an author. I am very impressed by his debut novel and feel he has the ability to write a great series of novels that should make him a household name. Well done mate, 5 stars from me! Oh and I loved that bit about computer facial recognition not always getting the right face but a list of clearly NOT the right people!

Thanks to NetGalley and the Orion Publishing Group for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.