The Wych Elm by Tana French.

Toby goes out with his friends for a drunken night, later he gets a nasty bump to his head. Recovering from his injuries he goes to stay with his uncle Hugo, when things turn for the worse.

The Wych Elm is a standalone novel set in Dublin and is told from Toby’s point of view. It is a mystery that is very slowly revealed, why Toby got that nasty bump to his head and the secrets held within The Wych Elm, a tree in his uncle Hugo’s garden.

I found The Wych Elm to be an awful read and dreadfully slow. It drags on and on with very little happening indeed. I developed no empathy for Toby at all. There was no bite to this story and the whole text just padded out the tale giving the impression you were stuck in a huge balloon of cotton wool. There was nothing entertaining about The Wych Elm and I took nothing away from this book.

Toby’s cousin Susanna did brighten up this story a little but even her contribution was painfully slow and was like trying to get blood out of a stone. The writing quality of this book was POOR, nothing was fresh or engaging, it was the same as when you hear a knock on your front door and encounter a God Botherer who you let speak for 60 seconds before you tell them to go away. The only part I thought Tana handled well was the death in hospital of a family member and their funeral. That part was spot on and brought back memories of my own mother’s death.

I have read ALL six of Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series, giving each book the top score of 5 stars, except The Secret Place #5 which I was very disappointed with and gave 2 stars. If I had not enjoyed Tana’s other books, I would have given up The Wych Elm after 30 minutes of reading, snapped off a quick review stating Did Not Finish and explaining why. I have never started a book without finishing it before but The Wych Elm would have been my very first Did Not Finish - however, I thought I should take one for the team.

Sadly I found The Wych Elm such a BAD read, I can only give this book the bare minimum score of 1 star. This for me is clearly a book to AVOID which is a shame as I really enjoyed five of her other books.

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

Liar, Liar by Nancy Boyarsky.

Liar, Liar is the 3rd mystery in the Nicole Graves series but it can be read as a standalone. This time Nicole has a new job as a Private Investigator and has been given the task of  babysitting a witness, the victim of an alleged rape.

Liar, Liar is told in the same style as The Swap and The Bequest with Nicole being the focus. Nicole meets a diverse range of characters as the story unfolds. The story is set in and around Los Angeles and Nancy describes her scenes very well indeed. Her novel does not dwell on the glamour and glitter of Hollywood but covers the whole region including the poor, low income parts and ethnic minorities. I loved the diversity within Liar, Liar.

I found this novel to have a very strong social message. It is all about how easy it is for everybody to simply not tell the whole truth. We are not talking about out and out criminal bare faced lies but those statements we can make were the whole truth is not spoken. Leaving out those little bits, lying by omission, is an easy mistake to make and is key to this novel.

So rather than have a regular plot were Nicole solves a mystery, Liar Liar is more like a catalogue of omissions that lead to the outcomes of this tale. I found Liar, Liar to be a GOOD read and I love the brand Nancy has developed with her character Nicole. However, I did not enjoy Liar, Liar as much as I enjoyed The Swap and The Bequest solely because the plot is not as intricate. I loved how we got the whole life of Nicole rather than just her workplace self. It was good to read how her day job affected her relationship with her boyfriend Josh. Again there was no gritty or steamy sex to read through and I found Liar, Liar to be an entertaining read that gets 4 stars from me.

The Bequest by Nancy Boyarsky.

The Bequest is the 2nd mystery in the Nicole Graves series but it can be read as a standalone. This time Nicole goes to find a workmate who is missing and finds him murdered in his home. Later she finds out there was a bequest in his will leaving everything to her. Nicole was not a close friend to this workmate and does not know why he was murdered or why he left all his wealth to her.

I enjoyed reading The Bequest because of the writing style Nancy employs. The Bequest has one very strong focus, it is Nicole. Everything is about Nicole and how she interacts with the world around her. This whole tale is told solely from Nicole’s point of view. Although Nicole is a young female, Nancy writes her tale with such skill that the reader takes on the personality of Nicole and walks in her shoes. It was simply a pleasure to enjoy this novel as though I was actually Nicole searching around Los Angeles looking for answers in this mystery.

I enjoyed the plot of The Bequest and all along I was wondering if Nicole should trust this or that character who may not be telling the whole truth. The story really played along with the issues of trust, that can so easily be taken for granted. Just as in the first novel, there was some romance along the way. Yes, Nicole did make love with this character but there is no gritty, steamy sex scenes to read through. There was no sexual tension in this novel but there was plenty of warm, romantic emotional feelings along the way.

So piece by piece Nicole got to the bottom of this mystery. Nicole travels around Los Angeles in her search for the truth and Nancy, as a local, put all those lovely details into her story. I have NEVER been to America but I loved how Nancy described Los Angeles and the surrounding area. This gave so much added value to her novel. Of course, a novel set in America written by an American, can miss the spot with some readers in other English speaking countries. I had no difficulty at all reading this book with its American cultures etc - I simply enjoyed being in Nicole’s shoes as she solved the mystery. There was just the one word though - “busboy” - what is that? I am familiar with “bus spotter”, those guys in the UK who take photographs of buses and coaches but have never come across a “busboy”. A quick check on the internet brought up this North American term.

I enjoyed The Bequest and liked how it played around with the dynamics of the workplace. Even when workmates are simply polite and tolerate each other, sometimes things are not said but one worker may be blissfully obsessed with another and their affections are taken silently to their grave.

So I find that Nancy has done it again and has written another OUTSTANDING read that gets the top score of 5 stars from me.

Execution of Faith (Danny Pearson Book 1) by Stephen Taylor.

Ex-SAS soldier Danny Pearson now works as a security guard. He does not take the easy, sit in a hut jobs but the dangerous close protection etc assignments. Stephen sets the scene when Danny stops a knife attack before moving onto his deployment in helping to prevent a terrorist attack from Islamic fundamentalists.

Execution of Faith is an action packed thriller involving the terrorism threat to our country. It is full of drama as the reader follows Danny in his race to stop the terrorist plot.

I was disappointed reading Execution of Faith. It was all comic strip action with our hero Danny being super butch and fighting his way around. There was lots of violence and many deaths in this very average plot. Character development was shallow and I did not develop an empathy for Danny. Missing was an exploration of the ideas behind Islamic fundamentalism, it was as though the bad guys were not religious fanatics but anti-social hooligans having a firework party.

This story lacked realism as Danny, our security guard hero, got access to all areas, supplied with guns etc, joined our intelligence services simply because someone put in a good word and went on international adventures on the trail of the bad guys.

Danny’s collection of contacts were always happy to do things at the drop of a hat, it became so frustrating to read. Calling in the odd favour can be permissible in fiction but to have people constantly at your beck and call is silly.

I found Execution of Faith to be a POOR read that only gets 2 stars from me. It was Stephen’s debut novel and I shall NOT be bothering with his next. This was not an intelligent OR entertaining read and is more like a comic without the pictures.

Execution of Faith was written in 2018 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.

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.