Bring Me Back by B.A. Paris.

12 years ago Finn and Layla stop in a picnic area in France. Finn goes to the toilet block but when he returns to their car, Layla has disappeared. Bring Me Back is a psychological thriller.

I found this book very engaging. It had my head buzzing from the very start. B.A. Paris tells a great story that gets the reader really involved. You don’t just sit back and enjoy the tale because she puts these little lines of text into her script that make you wonder and question what is going on. There are many lies told within this story and you are forced to consider the many omissions made by Finn.

I liked the format of this book. Most of the chapters were from Finn’s point of view but the odd chapter was from Layla’s side. Each chapter was clearly labelled, some from Finn 12 years ago, some from Finn in current time and a few from Layla to rack the tension further up the torture scale.

The current day tension that Finn is exposed to is extreme. You can feel the psychological pressure he is under. Although he tells a number of lies and uses a lot of omissions to cover his tracks, I did feel a strong empathy for Finn. He was suffering from the stress brought into his relationship with Ellen and I had my head buzzing trying to work out the truth about Layla and her disappearance. I liked how this story forced me to think about why Layla disappeared, was she still alive, could it be this or that.

Although Finn is not married, he is sharing a home and in an adult relationship with Ellen. I liked how B,A. Paris explored the dynamics of adults living together - as though they were married - how they relate to each other and use personal space. I liked how love was explored in the context of comparing past partners to a current partner. I liked how the embarrassing question of “do you fancy my sister, if yes then more or less than me?” was handled. I liked how the issue of partner suitability from a man’s point of view was explored. This is not a romantic thought but how men actually think.

I liked the plot of Bring Me Back and the thinking behind it. I liked how the characters all had their part to play in this story. I liked how each of the characters could be the bad guy behind the Russian Dolls, the emails and the psychological warfare. I got a lot from this book and think it would make a great television series.

I found the writing of this book to be very high quality and it gave me just what I wanted from my reading experience. Bring Me Back is a psychological thriller that is at the top of it’s league and it gets the top score of 5 stars from me. Just for the record, I do NOT fancy my wife’s sister!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher St. Martin’s Press for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.

The Broken by Casey Kelleher.

Nancy Byrne is just 20 years old when her father Jimmy Byrne is murdered. He was a leading light in the London criminal underworld and now Nancy steps up to the plate to continue the family business involving drugs and sex.

The Broken is a gritty tale of criminal life with a large portion of violence woven into the story. This story is told from many points of view but each character has a dodgy moral code.

I did not like any of the characters in this book. They all had a dodgy side to them, were happy to be involved with illegal activity and also to take the law into their own hands.

I did not like how very early on in this novel you were told who murdered Jimmy Byrne. So the story revolved about how Nancy dealt with the family business after her father’s death.

The violence was extreme and the treatment of Reece was very graphic indeed. I can very easily imagine the pain he went through and the poor quality of life the assault put him into.

I did not think the plot was great but more of a “bad day at the office” scenario. I found the whole story quite miserable and there seemed no hope for any of the characters as they continued to be nasty to each other.

I was really looking forward to reading The Broken because I have read Casey’s earlier novel The Promise, which I thought was brilliant and got the top score of 5 stars from me. However I was disappointed with The Broken and did not think it was a thrilling or thought provoking read. I took nothing away from this novel and had it been a television series, I would have given up within the first episode, like I have with The Split, starring Nicola Walker. I thought The Broken was a POOR 2 star read and if Casey continues with Nancy Byrne into another novel, count me out.

There was a very small bit of gay sex which was okay but Casey really fails with her tiny bit of hetrosexual sex. It was so short and brief that it will not even raise your pulse, never mind those muscles further down. I can’t see why Casey bothered to write the scene as it was such a throwaway paragraph…

It all happened so quickly, so passionately. Seconds later, they were merely two bodies writhing as one. Entwined together. Jack could feel Nancy’s nails digging into his back, tearing down his skin as she moved beneath him. An arch of her back, and then a long, trembling shudder. Jack came then too, before collapsing on top of her.

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

Cold Heart (Detective Kate Matthews Book 3) by Stephen Edger.

Follow Detective Kate Matthews around Southampton as she investigates the disappearance of 15 year old Daisy.

Although this is the 3rd novel in the series, it can be read as a standalone and I was not put at a disadvantage. Cold Heart is a regular British police procedural crime thriller. The investigation into the disappearance of Daisy and some body parts that are found, all follow standard procedures. The team of police officers have regular meetings in the incident room, which bring no surprises. You can easily guess what will happen next. The whole story revolves around regular police work and becomes a little bit of a drag. I started to get a little monday morning feeling as another meeting was starting in the incident room. One officer would be told to get a search warrant, enter a house and bring back every computer, mobile and tablet. Another officer would be told to walk somewhere, spot any CCTV cameras, find the owner and demand the footage. Other routine tasks would be given to other officers, leaving the reader with an unexciting read.

The characterization of Detective Kate Matthews and her fellow police officers was average. The private lives of the police were included but those parts were of standard soap opera quality. The was no special chemistry binding the police team together.

The plot developed slowly with no dramatic twists and turns. When I got to the end of Cold Heart I felt rather robbed, purely because the bad guy’s actions appeared to be unrealistic. I feel the plot lacked realism and the investigation broke no new ground in activity or specialist police skills. I found Detective Kate Matthews bringing her daughter onto the side lines of this story a frustrating nuisance in the same way as when adults are talking and a child interrupts or screams.

I consider Cold Heart to be a run-of-the-mill police procedural. It was an okay, 3 star read that gave my daily reading fix but there was nothing special about it. If there becomes a 4th Detective Kate Matthews novel, I shall not be bothering because there are so many other authors who give the reader a lot more content, pleasure and unique scenarios.

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