Thursday 25 April 2019

Frost and Ashes (Daniel Trokics Series Book 2) by Inger Wolf.

Follow Police Lieutenant Inspector Daniel Trokic and his team in Denmark for this crime thriller which starts off when an 8 year-old boy is found dead in a stream running through the village of MÃ¥rslet. He has been strangled with a fish line and has severe burn marks on his hands.


Although this novel is set in Denmark, the locations made no difference whatsoever to my enjoyment of this book. The culture did not even feel Danish and this novel could have been set in any country within the Western world.


Frost and Ashes is the second book in the series but can be read as a stand-alone. I am pleased that Detective Lisa Kornelius has her part to play again in this story.


I enjoyed reading this book and thought the plot was very good. The pace of this story was spot on and what came across most was just how very difficult it is for the police to solve a crime. The usual lines of enquiry were drawing blanks and the usual suspicions were not holding up. The mystery element Inger has woven into her story is very good.


I liked the Afterword that Inger included at the end of her story that explained her research and the inspiration for Frost and Ashes. It was then as I walked Charlie the Pug and reflected upon the book, that I thought how creepy yet excellently told the story was. My lasting impressions of Frost and Ashes were very strong and it made me wonder just how common the backgrounds explored in the story are in the Western World. Inger took a risk with the content of one paragraph on page 204 of her novel. Once you have read it, the scene will haunt you. I feel that Inger was right to include that paragraph as real life police officers have to deal with scenes of that type and deal with the emotional effect it will have on them.

I think Frost and Ashes is a GOOD read and am pleased that it is very different to the first novel, Dark September. Both books get 4 stars from me.

Frost and Ashes was written in 2018 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.

Friday 19 April 2019

The Girl on Camera by Morgan Dun-Campbell.

Follow Rory Stevens who is 26 and wants to appear as a contestant on a television reality show. This first person narrative is set in contemporary Britain. What could possibly go wrong?


I found that The Girl on Camera worked well being told in the first person. As the lead character Rory had a decent back story and as she chatted to other people, their characters were subtly revealed. As the story unfolded, character development was very good. Good and bad parts of their personalities were shown as the tension in the filming location increased. I thought Morgan drafted in a good range of personalities unlike the usual wannabe contestants for this genre of television programme.


I liked how Morgan made this a full story, from Rory making her application to the aftermath after the programme finished. I liked how the psychology of strangers living together was explored together with the dynamics that occur within groups when they witness an incident. The ugly topic of bullying was explored but for all the youth and physical attraction of the characters, there was NO sex within this novel.


I loved the Afterword by Morgan at the end of this story when the motivations about writing this book were revealed.


I thought the plot of The Girl on Camera was reasonable. The problem is that television programmes within this genre can be very inane. They broadcast like a televised version of Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with a flood of short, sharp sound bites. If you are a fan of these reality television programmes then you could enjoy this book. But as an ordinary book reader, I found The Girl on Camera to be as dull as the television programmes in this genre. For me this book is a bread and butter read that is okay, so I vote it the middle score of 3 stars.

The Girl on Camera was written in 2018 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.

Sunday 7 April 2019

Either Side of Midnight (The Midnight Series) by Tori de Clare.

19 year old Naomi Hamilton falls in love with Nathan Stone and they get married. But on their wedding day, things go terribly wrong for Naomi. Follow Naomi as she struggles through this psychological thriller.


I really enjoyed this British psychological thriller set around Manchester and the Lake District. Right from the start you know things are not right and although Naomi blindly falls in love, the reader spots all the warning flags from the beginning. Naomi trusts a lot of people but this story is so well told well that you have big suspicions about ALL the characters.


I loved how this story developed, character development was very good and the plot was brilliant. I liked how Naomi was not a shallow lead character as her upbringing was explained together with her education and her piano playing. There were some lovely details about music, practice and performance with different piano’s.


I loved the quality dialogue between the characters and one witty line still makes me chuckle…


‘And I have a cat called Tess. Once I’d named her, my sister named her cat Tickles. She still finds it hilarious when my mum shouts the cats one after the other.’

… There is a lot of drama in this story and the ending is brilliant, leaving a tear in my eye. I found Either Side of Midnight a pleasure to read and it ticked all the boxes for me. I can find nothing wrong with this novel and it gets the top score of 5 stars from me.