The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #5) by Tana French.

Follow Detective Stephen Moran of Cold Cases as he helps solve the murder of a teenage boy found on school grounds.

Oh dear, dear. Gone is the usual format I have come to enjoy from Tana and her Dublin Murder Squad series of novels. The Secret Place is a mish mash of a tiresome story. Gone is the strong first person narrative of the lead detective told in real time, to be replaced by two time frames. This story is told through alternating chapters. Part A is a group of 4 teenage boarding school girls and Part B is told from Detective Stephen Moran's point of view, only he is NOT the Senior Investigating Officer. The murder happened over a year ago and this constant swapping every chapter between time frames and points of view drove me potty! It was easy to relate to Detective Stephen Moran as it is a workplace drama but teenage girls is another world!  These stories are not aimed at the YA market so I felt it was wrong to donate half of this book to these teenagers and their childish rantings.

There is no specialist police work in this novel and this case is solved purely by talking to 8 school girls. The plot is average and when I got to the end, I felt disappointed. I ran through the what-if's and thought that adults would not have been fooled into being caught. The case was easy for the police to solve and they made an arrest in just one long day at the boarding school.

I did not find The Secret Place a thrilling read, more of a mystery and a drag at that! The murderer is confirmed around three quarters of the way through this book, leading to the frustration that you know more than the police! The last quarter is spent filling in the gaps, more questioning of the 8 school girls, obtaining a confession and alternating between time frames on every new chapter. Even when the girl is in custody the book falls back in time to reveal a motive as to why this case moved from cold to active!

I found The Secret Place to be a POOR read and it only gets 2 stars from me. This was a big disappointment for me as I have given the previous 4 books in this series the top score of 5 stars each. I hope that the 6th novel sees Tana back to form, otherwise it is 2 strikes and you are out lass.

The Secret Place was written in 2014 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.

Broken Harbour (Dublin Murder Squad, #4) by Tana French.

Follow Detective Mike "Scorcher" Kennedy as he investigates a crime scene where 2 children have been killed, their father fatally stabbed and their mother sent to hospital with extensive stab wounds.

This is the fourth Dublin Murder Squad novel from Tana and it follows her usual style. Each novel has a new lead character, is written in the first person, has a good balance of work and private life, is realistic, has plenty of background and can be read as a stand-alone.

I really enjoyed reading Broken Harbour. I liked how Tana described the feel and character of new housing estates. I liked how Scorcher was able to build his case given the police had very little to go on. It was entertaining how Scorcher and his rookie partner Richie Curran explored all the possibilities. It was good how their working relationship developed.

As the story rolled on I kept trying to work out how and why the murders had happened. It was quite creepy in places and I really engaged with the story. The plot was good and had plenty of things to make you wonder.

What I liked most about Broken Harbour was the effect it had on me when I got to the end. I felt such a buzz thinking if only he or she had done or said this or that, then Scorcher would never have been able to catch the killer, no matter how many resources the police ploughed into the case.

The fact that this novel is set in Ireland is coincidental as this scenario could so easily have happened at any new-build housing estate in the world. I am a fan of new-build houses and after reading Broken Harbour will always wonder about squirrels as I stroll around with my dog.

So Tana has done it again and Broken Harbour is another book from her that gets the top score of 5 stars from me.

Broken Harbour was written in 2012 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.

Faithful Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #3) by Tana French.

In the last Dublin Murder Squad book, Detective Cassie Maddox is working for Detective Frank Mackey of the Undercover Squad. This third book in the series is Frank’s tale. Although Frank is NOT on the Dublin Murder Squad, he does know 2 of the victims and becomes involved in the case.

I loved Faithful Place just as much as I loved the first 2 novels in the series. Yet again it is written in the first person and Tana develops her brand. Although each book is written from the point of view of a different detective each time, you still get the same strong feeling that you are part of the scene and are in the loop.

Yet again this book can be read as a stand-alone. The accent this time is on family life. Although the 2 murders are solved, it is not by regular police work but by Frank working friends and family. I particularly liked the dialogue running through this novel. It is written with a strong Dublin accent and Frank’s mother is the big surprise. Simply put, every time I read her spoken words, all I could think of was Brendan O’Carroll acting the role of Agnes Brown in the extremely popular BBC sitcom Mrs. Brown’s Boys.

Faithful Place moves away from regular murder and police thrillers. This is centered around the dynamics of family life and the meaning of home. There was plenty of back story and Frank’s character was fully developed. Although the tale runs back and forth with Frank’s teenage years 22 years ago, it was told skillfully and this time shifting did not annoy me, it simply added depth to this novel. I really enjoyed reading this book and it gets the top score of 5 stars from me.

Faithful Place was written in 2010 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.

In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1) by Tana French.

I was put onto this author by some friends on Goodreads. I liked the reviews they had written, so I slowly invested in the Dublin Murder Squad series to read at a later date. When I got to the end of The Deepest Grave by Harry Bingham, his author’s note explained the differences between crime thrillers and their writing styles. Tana French was one of the authors Harry highlighted for producing novels in the format and style I enjoy the most. And oh boy, Harry was right about Tana in his author’s note.

Okay, so I am rather late to the party as In the Woods was written in 2007. But do not let that put you off! This debut novel by Tana gained 4 literary awards and she deserved each and every one of them.

I found In the Woods a great book to live with. It is written in the first person following Detective Rob Ryan of the Dublin Murder Squad. It is told as though Rob is your friend and he is telling you a very long tale over a few beers. In the Woods is a very long novel, knocking just short of 600 pages but it is a great journey for the reader to travel.

I loved the mix and balance of this story. It has police procedure, strong characterization of Detective Rob Ryan, a great back story, mystery, a good plot, a good cast of supporting police officers, a good range of suspects for the murder and a good plot. I developed an empathy very quickly for Rob and it is nice how he talks the reader through the mistakes.

Tana sets her scenes very well indeed. I found her novel very easy to read and follow. Her vocabulary is very extensive and this novel is not cheap, throwaway writing. There is no need to second guess the person who committed the murder, you should just enjoy this novel for what it is. I liked all the psychology woven into the story, how the police profile suspects and how they question them. This all made for an intelligent and adult read.

I was very impressed with In the Woods and it gave me that great feeling of getting to know someone, warts and all. It was a joy to run with this book, day in, day out - I really engaged with it. Between reading sessions my mind was wondering who the murderer was and as the novel progressed I changed my chief suspect time and time again. There were many twists in the plot and I thought that yet another twist would lead to a suspect who I had earmarked earlier as the murderer but I was wrong!

I thought In the Woods was a great read and it gets the top score of 5 stars from me. It gave me everything I wanted from a novel and I am so glad that I invested in the other 5 books in the series as when I got to the end, I just wanted to spend more days working alongside the Dublin Murder Squad.

In the Woods was written in 2007 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.

Girl on a Train by A.J. Waines

Okay, first things first, this novel is NOT to be confused with the mega selling The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, which was made into a film starring Emily Blunt.

This book however was reduced at the Amazon Kindle Store to just 99p and having read the blurb, I thought this mystery was worth a go for the money.

Anna Rothman, a journalist, is travelling by train from Portsmouth to London. A woman sat next to her catches her attention but leaves the train at Micheldever station, only Anna believes something is wrong. A tragedy then happens to this woman and Anna takes it upon herself to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding her departure from the train.

I found Girl on a Train to be a POOR read, a mystery that was padded out with lots of unnecessary descriptive text setting out every scene. The extreme detailing of the scenes became tiresome for me to read. I thought the plot was weak with there being only 3 key items to finding out what the Girl on a Train had been involved in. Although these 3 key items involved codes, this does not have the quality of a Dan Brown novel, where there is a lot of deciphering of codes and symbols.

There was however a good range of characters to give plenty of scope to who the bad guy was. But it was stretching motivation to the limits as to why Anna was actually bothered in getting to the bottom of this shallow mystery considering it was unpaid work. Then we had the unlikely coincidences with Anna’s past woven into this tiresome tale. The story trudged on with Anna’s perspective when suddenly I turned the page and whallop! I was now confronted with part two and this was going back in time before the train journey and told the sorry tale from the Girl on the Train’s perspective. This time shift and sudden change of focus annoyed me, big time. To add further annoyance to my reading pleasure, a lot further on and I turned the page and “oh dear”, I had reached part three and I was back to Anna’s perspective. This was really frustrating as not only had it shifted back to the present time but I knew more about what had happened than Anna.

So, all in all, I found Girl on a Train to be a frustrating and annoying read. It was a very easy book to put down but I read it to the end. It was NOT a joy to read but gave me the strong feeling of “I’ve started, so I will finish”. Girl on a Train only gets 2 stars from me but like trains, thankfully there will be another novel shortly to pull into my grasp.

Girl on a Train is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook and was written in 2013.

Better At Friendships by Joseph Reilly.

Cristyn is a 23 year old woman who lives with her divorced father in America. She has many relationships with young men which do not work out. This is her story of unsuccessful relationships and her ups and downs in coping with life's challenges.

I found Better At Friendships to be a tortured tale, a woman unable to find her way in life. It was quite philosophical with the comments provided by the young men she met.Cristyn had many ups and down along the way but this story had an upbeat ending.

I did not like how the time frame of this novel wandered back and forth. Time and time again the focus shifted backwards to previous failed relationships with young men. Then we had imagined content from a young man who had died but was told as though he was still alive!

I thought Better At Friendships was an okay read, it kept me interested. There was a small amount of sex and Cristyn liked it rough but it would not offend my 65 year old wife! It was a middle of the road read, nothing special but standard fayre, so 3 stars from me.

Better At Friendships is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook and was written in 2016.

Cock & Pussy Frisking at Pop Concert by Kirstie Taylor.

Andy and Todd are in the queue for a pop concert, only they have to walk through security. The security guards are doing their job very keenly as they frisk everyone in turn. Then Andy spots just how intimate the frisking becomes and the fun begins.

This short story is a HOOT! It is a fun read that will bring joy, a smile and swelling to everyone. Kirstie writes a first class erotic tale that is clear, focused and imaginative. Her command of English is spot on and this sexy tale has none of the dumbed down and repetitive language used in other adult tales.

I really enjoyed reading this fantasy, it was pitched with such skill. It was a thrilling read that explored spontaneous sex with a stranger and exhibitionism. I liked how an everyday queue became a kinky adventure. It had that lovely feel of playing on the private thoughts that men have whilst going about their daily business. This erotic tale had a lovely ending and left me with NEVER being able to look at a security guard the same way again!

Erotic stories vary tremendously in quality but Kirstie is at the top of her game. I found this short story to be wonderful, so it gets the top score of 5 stars from me.

Cock & Pussy Frisking at Pop Concert is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook and was written in 2013.