No Way Out (DI Adam Fawley #3) by Cara Hunter.

Okay, this is the third book in the DI Adam Fawley series but it can be read as a standalone. You do not need to know what happened in the other books. This is a good move by Cara Hunter. Yes, the old characters from the other novels who work in or for Thames Valley Police are carried forward and this continuation simply added further pleasure to my enjoyment of this book.

No Way Out is a police procedural set mostly in Oxford. There is a fire at a house in Oxford and it looks like arson. Sadly people were inside and the Fire Service begin the search for survivors or fatalities. Who would start a fire on this family home? DI Adam Fawley and his team at Thames Valley Police are on the case to solve this mystery.

I enjoyed reading No Way Out. You get this story from two sides, the Thames Valley Police and the family who live at Southey Road. It felt odd that I knew more about what was happening with the family than the police did but that is the way Cara chose to tell her story. And boy, can Cara tell a story, YES she can!

What I liked most about No Way Out was all the finger pointing that Cara does. Lots of people have strong motives to set fire to this family home, time and time again they have the finger pointed at them. There is a good range of characters in No Way Out and anyone of them could have started the fire. The tone of this novel is very different to most crime thrillers. Generally the reader develops a sympathy for the victim but with No Way Out, the police view the whole family as suspects. As a reader your sympathy lies with the police, who have an extremely difficult investigation, simply because the dead don’t talk.

The plot within No Way Out was very, very good indeed. It was of the same high standard we get from Linwood Barclay and Harlan Coben - yes, the premier league of crime fiction. At the end, all those little bits of detail added up and the arson of the family home made sense. Of course, if I spot a person sat on their own in Pizza Hut, my suspicions will be on alert! Some details just stick with you!

I got a lot of pleasure from reading No Way Out and I feel that Cara has done it yet again. I found No Way Out to be an OUTSTANDING read and it gets the top score of 5 stars from me.

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

Trick of the Dark by Val McDermid.

Follow psychiatrist Charlie Flint as she solves the mystery surrounding the death of a groom on his wedding day plus other deaths that maybe linked.

Although this novel involves Val McDermid’s trademark storytelling about profiling offenders, Trick of the Dark is a standalone.

I found Trick of the Dark to be a good mix of offender profiling, psychology, mystery, authoring skills, characterisation, attraction between people, love and lesbianism.

I loved how Val explored the psychology of offenders and the challenges they pose to profilers. So many things can go wrong and although Charlie Flint acted in good faith, she got the blame from the media. I quickly developed an empathy for Charlie as she does her level best, believes strongly in justice and is willing to get to the bottom of this mystery.

I liked how Val told her story. One of the central characters is called Jay and to tell her backstory, is writing her memoir. This is a nice move for 2 reasons - it threads background into the mystery AND explores the authoring skills used to produce a memoir that may have some tweaking of the truth to make it a better read.

I loved the range of characters in Trick of the Dark. Don’t get hung up on gender as there is only one man in this story, a friend of Charlie’s. So apart from Nick, Trick of the Dark is ALL about women. But don’t let that put male readers off, women are not from a different planet, they just like shops. All the women’s characters are fully developed and there are more lesbians than you can shake a stick at. Val fully explores how lesbians get psychically attracted to each other, how their love grows and the many problems that can occur within lesbian relationships. Lesbianism plays a big part in Trick of the Dark and I liked its openness to a lifestyle that can be misunderstood by the ignorant.

As a hetrosexual male, I was not discouraged by all the lesbianism in Trick of the Dark because I understand how two people are attracted to each other and can fall in love. There was nothing uncomfortable or vulgar about the lesbian scenes within this story. The Prusik loop was NOT used in the bedroom but whilst climbing on the Isle of Skye. There are no cheap sexy thrills in Trick of the Dark but a mature understanding of what makes people tick.

There are some nice snips of humour along the way, for example…

She gestured with her knife towards a large padded envelope by the bowl where Charlie’s two Weetabix sat. ‘Postman’s been. Still don’t know why you gave up cornflakes for those,’ she added, pointing at the cereal bars with her knife. ‘They look like panty shields for masochists.’

...Sorry folks but once you have read that, you can’t get the image out of your mind!

The plot of Trick of the Dark is a good one and I enjoyed it far, far more than The Last Temptation. I found Trick of the Dark to be a GOOD read and it gets 4 stars from me.

Trick of the Dark was written in 2010 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.

The Last Temptation (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan #3) by Val McDermid.

It has been 9 years since I have read a Tony Hill & Carol Jordan book by Val McDermid. I read and reviewed Beneath the Bleeding, the 5th book in the series and my friend John commented “I can recommend "The Last Temptation" by V McDermid. I read this book back in 2003 whilst on a government paid excursion in the sun and was enthralled plus a little shocked by the graphic detail of the sexual mutilation of the bodies. “

So here I am in 2018 reading and reviewing a book written in 2002. What did it have to offer me?

The Last Temptation explores the relationship and workplace dynamics between Tony and Carol. This time it is an international quest and they both travel to Germany. It is a steady mix of people, psychiatry and police work. Tony is his usual self and is profiling a serial killer. Carol has gone undercover to catch a criminal mastermind involved in human trafficking. It does not matter if you have not read the previous 2 Tony and Carol books, as this can be read as a standalone.

I found The Last Temptation an okay read. The serial killer’s method of murder was unusual and their signature was very obscure. There was lots going on in this novel with lots of characters to follow. The characterization of all the characters was good, including the serial killer. There were plenty of bits to spice up this novel, for example having lesbian police officers and the need to debrief Carol as she was working undercover, by holding their meetings naked in a sauna.

I followed these 2 lines of enquiry by the police with the help of Tony and Carol. But as the novel went on, my enthusiasm waned. All the details were laid out and the story then became a regular joining up the dots. The entertainment value of this novel then began to drop. My empathy for the characters dwindled and the only shock I got was when Carol got caught up in a tight spot. My normal reaction would have been of abhorrence at the situation Carol was thrown into but because of my dwindling interest in the story, coupled with my reducing empathy for her, made me feel glad she had this rough experience. For me to feel happy about Carol’s experience made me feel rather uncomfortable, yes this is only fiction but I can’t condone the actions of another character towards Carol. I felt Carol got what she deserved working undercover but feel ashamed because I do.

Overall I found The Last Temptation to be an okay, 3 star read. I would not recommend it to anyone but it is a bread and butter read. This is NOT one of Val McDermid’s better books, I enjoyed both Beneath the Bleeding and The Distant Echo far, far more.

The Last Temptation was written in 2002 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.

The Swap by Nancy Boyarsky.

Nicole Graves engages in a summer long house swap of her Los Angeles condo with a strangers’ house in London. What could possibly go wrong?

The Swap is told from Nicole’s point of view, an American staying in Britain. In her own style she forms opinions of the British way of life and her spelling is American English. So it was quite funny for me being British, living and working in Britain, reading a book set in Britain BUT written by an American, centred around an American character using American English spelling! Still, I would NOT allow the cultural and spelling differences to spoil my enjoyment of this book. So I started this book with an open mind. And WOW! Right from the start, this book is a cracker!

The Swap is a psychological thriller, not only is Nicole having doubts about everyone around her but these doubts niggle the reader big time as warning flags fly up on every page. Who can be trusted and can Nicole muddle through her summer in London?

I really engaged with this story and it got my mind buzzing. Everybody Nicole came into contact with, including her husband Brad, had my suspicions raised. Was everybody in this tale dodgy?

I found the pace of this novel good and the plot was very involved indeed. I liked all the little hints here and there, this doesn’t seem right and that doesn’t seem right. The story made me alert to all those little details as Nicole muddled around.

I found it nice that Nancy has done her homework on London and has used real locations for her story. It is one of my pet hates when authors use real place names but invent the local scenes.

Many things within the story made me chuckle for example…

She took the tube to Harrods. By the time she got there is was almost 3:30 p.m., and she remembered she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. She sought out the escalator and headed up to the enormous dining room. The sign read “Afternoon Tea; £29.” Why not?

...Gosh! Woman, £29 for an afternoon tea! Why not live like a local and pop into Greggs or Wetherspoons?

...And also this brought back memories…

The she remembered what Muriel had explained in one of her messages. The car had a choke she was supposed to pull out as she started the engine. Or was she supposed to push it in? She stared at it a moment, then jumped at the sound of someone tapping on the car window.

...Oh that brings back memories, old petrol engined cars with a manual choke. I doubt if there are any petrol cars in London nowadays so old that they have a manual choke fitted to a carburettor, as most petrol cars are now petrol injected. Things have come on a long way in the last 30 or 40 years. I remember the old days when you used to push the cold start button in on the right hand side of the injector pump to start a Ford R114 coach - these turbo powered diesel engines produced 140bhp - don’t laugh, they were always better to drive than a Bedford YMT.

...Then I found an American expression that we do not have but would be more word efficient for us to use…

On the other side, the card offered a twofer coupon for an Indian restaurant.

...Ah? A “twofer” - oh, yes, I get it now, a two for one coupon!

The Swap is a contemporary novel set in present day London, however…

In the kitchen, she sat down at the table and dumped out the contents of the purse-her wallet, makeup case, a few loose coins, a pack of Kleenex. Next, she emptied the wallet, pulling out her dwindling supply of pound notes, receipts, credit cards. No slip of paper.

...Sorry Nancy, but pound notes were withdrawn from circulation in 1988. But that would be nitpicking and takes nothing away from my enjoyment of The Swap.

I loved reading The Swap and found it a pleasure to read. I can find nothing wrong with this book, so it gets the top score of 5 stars from me.

The Swap is Nancy’s debut novel and she ticks all the boxes for me. I look forward to reading another novel from her as she clearly has the talent to write an engaging and well plotted novel.

The Swap was written in 2017 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.