Portraits Of The Dead by John Nicholl.

19 year old Emma Jones is reported missing by her mother. Emma is a student at Cardiff University and is living in a shared house nearby. Detective Inspector Gareth Gravel of West Wales Police is on the case to find Emma, in case she is in danger.

Portraits Of The Dead is told from 4 points of view. Detective Inspector Gareth Gravel, Detective Sergeant Rankin, Emma Jones - the victim and the bad guy. I liked how the story was told from multiple points of view.

I thought Portraits Of The Dead got off to a very good and creepy start. The tension was there and I feared that Emma may not get out of this story alive. However, as this story progressed, my enjoyment slowly and steadily dwindled.

Frustrations began to rise as I progressed through this novel. The police find that Emma has left her flash new phone behind in her shared student house. This gives the story a contemporary feel but then the dates are woven into the plot. May 1998 - but why? These modern fancy, flash smartphones were not around in 1998, which is a problem and I think that new books should be set in the current day. Who would want to buy a new book that is set 20 years ago? Okay, making his story 20 years old allows John Nicholl to ignore smartphones and social media but he could so easily have claimed that Emma chose to be off the grid.

Another problem I had was the use of the fictitious town of Caerystwyth where the police station is that DI Gareth Gravel worked from. The rest of the book included the real locations of Cardiff and real places in Carmarthenshire like Ferryside, Llanelli and Llansteffan. However, Caerystwyth Wood, Trinity Fields, Jobe’s Well Road and Castle Lane, Llansteffan are all fictitious and do not exist. This was very frustrating for me as I have lived in Cardiff since 1991 and for our holidays we rent a Sea View Chalet at the Carmarthen Bay Holiday Resort, near Kidwelly. I love walking my dog along the Gwendraeth and pottering all around Carmarthenshire. I could imagine the scene of Caerystwyth Wood actually taking place at Penybedd Wood, which is a lovely short stroll for Charlie the Pug. Why of why did John Nicholl not use real locations to add value to his novel? It is so blindingly obvious that Caerystwyth should be Carmarthen. It is as obvious as reading Heddlu and straightaway knowing the Welsh organisation involved - and I was born in England.

I thought the characterisation within Portraits Of The Dead was fair. I thought the plot was okay. I did like the explanation of the bad guy’s motives from his point of view. However, I feel this novel does drag on a little and there is nothing special about it.

At the end I felt a little cheated, crime thrillers are generally solved by the police but not this one. The ending did make me smile though!

I thought Portraits Of The Dead was an okay, 3 star read. It passes the time but I could not recommend it to anyone. This is the first of a proposed series but I shall not be bothering if John Nicholl writes another book.

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

Toxic by Jacqui Rose.

And welcome to Essex, all human life is here. In Toxic we have a range of characters who are NOT the most law abiding in the county. We have a gypsy lifestyle with their mobile home site, some criminals involved in drugs and theft, plus an ex-prostitute and ex-wifes thrown into the mix. What we have is one violent but very exciting thriller about people who live on the wrong side of the law.

I found Toxic to be a refreshing change from your average British crime thriller. In Toxic you only read about the bad guys. There are no good guys in this story AND the police do not get involved as these people look after their own.

Toxic is a violent novel and Jacqui has chosen her title well. She sets the scene straight off and the torture will make your eyes water. There is no please or thank you in these conversations, they are vulgar as the characters believe actions are stronger than words.

The dialogue used in Toxic is local which adds to it’s realism. How Jacqui managed to write paragraph after paragraph of conversation between characters with the same poor grammar, is a wonder. Each character says “me” instead of “my” when they speak! I also loved the Cockney slang sprinkled throughout this novel, my favourite being…

“Ten per cent is just a sniff of a cockerel’s arse.”

...I also loved the attitude of this book, my favourite comment from one of the characters was…

He didn’t impress anyone. Women wanted real men. Flash cars and a bit of bling not a gutless muppet and a pub lunch with a ten-year-old Ford Focus parked outside.

...Although Toxic is written by a woman, Jacqui tells a great misogynistic tale from a man’s point of view. Henpecked husbands are going to love Toxic, where the male characters are strong and put their women firmly in their place. I liked the humour of the man’s world and could engage with the resentment many of the men felt towards women.

Toxic was a refreshing and thrilling read. There were many shocks as the nitty gritty of gypsy life was revealed. Toxic created a big impression with me as the characters lived a life far away from the mainstream. Toxic was violent but in your own private pleasure, simply a joy to read. I thought this book was a great escape into another world and it gets the top score of 5 stars from me. I have NOT read a Jacqui Rose novel before but after reading Toxic, count me in!

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

The Tattoo Thief by Alison Belsham.

Buzz!!! Buzz!!! and the tattoo machine inks another person having given their consent to the tattooist to make their mark. However, there is a thief about who steals tattoos off people, leaving them for dead.

This crime thriller is set around Brighton and in her debut novel, Alison Belsham gives the case to newly promoted DI Francis Sullivan. What is nice about this police procedural, is that there are separate chapters from the point of view of the 4 main characters. DI Francis Sullivan and DS Rory Mackay give their view as the case progresses plus you also get chapters from tattooist Marni Mullins and the bad guy who is stealing the tattoos from the victims.

I enjoyed reading The Tattoo Thief and liked all the bits that Marni told the reader about her job as a tattooist. Most crime thrillers dwell on the job of the police officers and it was very nice to have detail about a very different day job. This gave The Tattoo Thief added value. Characterization of Francis, Rory and Marni was good and I liked the chemistry that built between the 3 of them.

I thought the plot of The Tattoo Thief was okay but found the ending with all it’s racing action disappointing. Getting the location of where the bad guy may be living, chasing there page after page followed by more charging around was rather tiresome and lacked a WOW! factor compared to finding the first victim in the beginning. The final chase for the bad guy did not grab me at all, although the thought of Marni naked did brighten my mood.

I liked The Tattoo Thief and thought the beginning, the structure and the character development and chemistry to be good. For a debut novel Alison Belsham has done very well and I think her book is a GOOD read that gets 4 stars from me.

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