The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths.

This is the ninth Dr. Ruth Galloway story and like all of Elly’s novels, can be read as a standalone. In The Chalk Pit the reader explores some underground tunnels in Norfolk, a couple of murders, some missing people and the plight of the homeless.

Ruth Galloway works closely with the Police in their investigations and also mixes with them socially. This is not a crime thriller in the usual sense, it is not a gritty novel with a heavy plot. What we have is a gorgeous character driven novel. Elly builds her characters up with style and you can identify with each and every one of them as though they were your workmates, friends and family. Through your reading sessions, you feel as though you are living your life alongside them. You get so strongly drawn into their lives and relationships that you wish them all well. Elly has this magic to draw her readers into the story. The fact there is a crime and criminal elements involved, just adds depth to her story. My wife loves watching a lot of television but I am not bothered. One of her favourite programmes is the popular hospital drama on BBC1 television called Holby City. But whenever it is on and I am reading my Kindle or using my Chromebook, the strong characterisation written into the script of Holby City just draws me in and I end up watching part of it! The Chalk Pit is told in a similar style to Holby City were the day job of the characters is not the main pull but the relationships between them are the focal points.

I really enjoyed reading The Chalk Pit and it gave me a lot of pleasure with a nice cosy feeling. It is a lovely soft read that does not have a WOW! factor or shocking bits but is very engaging and I liked how you got the whole picture with it’s comments on social trends. I look forward to the next Ruth Galloway story and vote The Chalk Pit 4 stars for being such a good read. Oh and I loved the use of urban legends that make you wonder where those homeless people you see in doorways etc sneak away to at night.

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

The Intrusions by Stav Sherez.

Follow Detectives Carrigan and Miller in this British crime thriller. Although this is the third book in the series, it can be read as a standalone. I have not read any book written by Stav Sherez before but this was recommended by a friend on Goodreads.

I found this novel to get off to a poor start and I did not engage with Detectives Carrigan and Miller. The story appeared to be quite dull although it involved a missing young woman in alarming circumstances. But I urge readers to bear with it as this story vastly improves once a profiler becomes involved. Then I engaged fully with this novel and found the profiler's input to the case very interesting indeed. My interest increased further when the title of this novel came into play. The Intrusions are those enabled by modern technology and social media using Remote Administration Tools. For good measure, throw in a cocktail of drugs including DMT - (N,N-Dimethyltryptamine) and you have a very entertaining and thought provoking novel.

I think The Intrusions is a good contemporary tale. Some people use social media so heavily, they forget about the dark forces behind the scenes which could come into play. I particularly liked the exploration of Remote Administration Tools as their use can be quite creepy. People can forget that although they see a lot of cameras, there is often one camera that they fail to spot. We now live in a world where these intrusions happen 24 hours a day. Many coach drivers on the National Express network here in the UK have been sacked due to those 12 second video clips downloaded using Remote Administration Tools on the Dashboard cameras, one facing forward the other spying on the driver.

I enjoyed reading The Intrusions. Characterisation was not marvellous and I did not develop an empathy for any of the characters. It does not qualify as a character led novel as their roles were weak. But where it scores heavily is in the social commentary on social media and Remote Administration Tools. Years ago the worry was of Big Brother watching your every move, now in 2017 the worry of The Intrusions is of those dodgy individuals covertly watching you from afar. I think this novel is a good read, there are novels with better characterisations and plots but The Intrusions is very thought provoking about the way our society has progressed, so it is 4 stars from me.

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

Watch Me by Angela Clarke.

Follow DS Nasreen Cudmore and her old pal from school, Freddie Venton in this British crime thriller that involves revenge porn and social media. Watch Me is the second book in this series but can be read as a standalone.

I have NOT read the first book in Angela’s Social Media Murders series called Follow Me. But this is not a problem as Watch Me can be read as a standalone AND bit by bit through Watch Me, you are given the gist of Follow Me and the #hashtag murderer. It irritated me how this novel kept going back to the first novel. It seemed as though you were only getting half a new novel and I suspect readers who had read Follow Me would feel short changed.

This novel does explore what can go wrong with social media and how images can be used for a wider audience. The plot is a little far fetched but together Nasreen and Freddie have the skills to catch the bad guys. However, this buy one, get one free style of policing is a little hard to believe. Nasreen gets her police salary but her old school pal Freddie can work unpaid alongside the police team to get the result. Freddie is even given a lanyard to wear, calling her a consultant, so she can stroll around the police station at will. Pull the other one, Angela.

The characterisation of Nasreen and Freddie develops at a fair pace. They have a long standing and cosy relationship that is easy for the reader to play along with. But for all the seriousness of this novel, including suicide or perhaps murder, our crime solving duo come across just like those charming television presenters Mel and Sue.

As I read through Watch Me, I could not get the image of Mel and Sue out of my mind. Even the way the evidence was presented seemed so much like an episode of The Great British Bake Off. Regular police work involves a lot of disciplines and tools but good old Freddie needs just the one tool to solve the case, her blasted smartphone. I read so much about Freddie using her wonderful smartphone, I just hoped she would trip on the stairs and her internet enabled mobile would crash up her backside.

I found Watch Me to be an okay read, it has it’s faults but passed the time. It has a happy ending and can serve as a warning to new users of social media. But for reading pleasure, Watch Me gets the middle score of 3 stars from me. Having read this, I will not bother to read the first book as I get the general idea. I would not be surprised that as more social media platforms are launched, Nasreen and Freddie will embark on another half crime solving adventure that repeats Follow Me and Watch Me in book 3. When authors write a series, each book should have new content and not rely on previous work.

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

Witness by Caroline Mitchell.

Rebecca is a witness and sends her fiance Solomon to prison for the murder of Jake. Ten years later, Solomon is released from prison on license and he wants revenge.

I found Witness a very powerful story. It is a psychological thriller and Caroline’s writing is top quality. She tells a very, very creepy tale and the tension she creates is incredible. Right from the start of her story, my alarm bells were ringing. She mentions things casually in passing and I thought “hang on?” or “you stupid cow!”.

Caroline has the art of great storytelling and the characters of Rebecca and Solomon are fully developed. By the end of this novel, you feel as though Rebecca and Solomon are real people who you have worked alongside for maybe a decade.

I liked how Caroline chose to write some chapters from Rebecca’s point of view but others from Solomon’s side. You get both sides of this story and it does include some domestic abuse.

The story does not build with a linear timeline but wanders back and forth from before Solomon was sent to prison and the current day. Normally this back and forth would drive me bonkers but Caroline used this time shifting purely for you to understand the characters as the psychology is quite deep. Bear with it because Caroline tells a great story and a linear timeline would not have worked.

I loved the way details were thrown into this story, which forced you to join up the dots. As you read through the chapters, you constantly think “I wonder if?” and this added so much enjoyment to this book because you felt like a fly on the wall. Because the author is a woman and Rebecca was a victim of domestic abuse, readers may feel this book is aimed only at women. But men should give this book a read too because it is very, very good. Hen pecked husbands could even fantasise about having some control over their wives!

Witness is a great story driven by fear and I can find nothing wrong with this novel. Okay, I did wonder who the second man was in the video but that does not really matter! Also the cyclist who spat on a character was later referred to as a jogger but that would be nit picking! Yes, some readers may find the subject of domestic abuse to be uncomfortable but bear with it. Sex is mentioned but there is no graphic sex. Sean who is Rebecca’s husband after Solomon goes to prison, is a vet and animals are included in the story but no harm comes to an animal. What you have is an excellent psychological thriller that gets the top score of 5 stars from me.

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

Ragdoll by Daniel Cole.

Ragdoll is a British crime thriller that was a rejected television screenplay as Daniel informs the reader at the start of his debut novel. Do NOT let this put you off, as television is incredibly hard to break into, so sit back in your favourite seat and enjoy this book for what it is, a shocking crime thriller.

Ragdoll gets it’s name from the crime scene where parts of six different bodies have been stitched together to form an artwork. Then the media gets a list of six more people to be killed along with their execution dates. Ragdoll is a gruesome tale but Daniel ticks all the boxes to write a thrilling 5 star read.

Characterisation is good and the back story is proportional to the excellent plot. The pace of this novel is good and it gets you guessing as slowly more victims meet their deaths in colourful and imaginative ways. This novel is content rich and the reasons behind the murders are very clever. Hint… by coincidence it was the same motives and MO as the episode of Silent Witness that was broadcast by the BBC on Tuesday 24th January 2017. Was it an urban myth because many people do keep a pay-as-you-go mobile phones active, just in case!

Despite all the gory action and killing there is still plenty of dark, workplace humour sprinkled throughout this novel. For example…

He was growing increasingly frustrated, stubbornly refusing to admit that he had no idea how to play the CCTV footage, trapped inside the stupid little USB stick, through the television. ‘There’s a hole on the side of the telly,’ said Finlay, over fifteen years his senior, as he entered the room. ‘No, on the, down -oh, let me do it.’ Finlay removed the USB drive from an air vent on the back of the television and plugged it in.

Baxter picked up the half-empty bottle of red wine. ‘Wine?’ she offered pleasantly. ‘Depends, what kind is it?’  ‘Red.’ ‘I can see that, I meant: where is it from?’  ‘Morrisons.’  ‘No, I mean… I’ll pass’  Baxter shrugged and returned to her box.

...So I really enjoyed reading Ragdoll, it has a great balance of things that make for an entertaining read. It has that lovely mix of police procedure, crime scene, intricate plot and subtle humour that make you look forward to your next reading session. It is the same joy you get from following that excellent crime drama on Channel 4 television called No Offence starring the sexy chubby actress Joanna Scanlan.

Ragdoll clearly shows that Daniel has a great talent as an author. I am very impressed by his debut novel and feel he has the ability to write a great series of novels that should make him a household name. Well done mate, 5 stars from me! Oh and I loved that bit about computer facial recognition not always getting the right face but a list of clearly NOT the right people!

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

An Ishmael of Syria by Asaad Almohammad.

Adam was born in Syria and as the current troubles increase he leaves to live in Malaysia. This novel looks at his life and family in Syria and how he copes living away from them in Malaysia.

Asaad covers an awful lot of ground in his novel. His writing style is similar to Jeremy Clarkson and you can imagine Adam deploying a Yorkshire accent as he rants about Syria, politics, religion and women in a very blokey Top Gear way. I liked Adam’s character as he appeared very knowledgeable, educated and street-wise. I very quickly developed an empathy for Adam. This was achieved in a simple stand-point as Adam calls himself a global-citizen and not a Syrian or an Arab. This is very easy for the reader to identify with as Adam then comes across as another bloke rather than a member of a country or race. I feel the same way myself, I am just an ordinary bloke rather than a white skinned Englishman living in Wales. Adam does have a good rant at how race plays an integral part in his life in Malaysia and how this ignorance is both frustrating and wrong. Asaad has a very extensive vocabulary which makes his novel very descriptive.

The structure of this novel is soft. There are opinion related bits where Adam puts the world to rights, parts relating to his life in Syria and parts following his life in Malaysia. Then there are parts just reflecting on the differences between cultures before moving onto the shock and awe of war torn Syria. So this novel does float about quite a lot but the general direction is a bloke in the pub ranting about what is wrong with the world, to a depressing end of what a hell of earth Syria has become.

I found this to be a good book to read. It was interesting and refreshing to get a personal opinion about ordinary life far away from home. It did not provide a regular novel reading experience though. There was not a big range of developed characters building an extensive plot. This book is more an exploration of life, how it is now. It is not a story that builds hope in the reader as it grows to a happy end. It is not an entertaining read although there is some sarcasm to bring the odd smile. To call this book a novel is misleading as it lacks the storyline and structure of your average book/novel/tale/thriller. It does however highlight the plight of people living a very different life to people in the Western world. It does provide an escapism for readers in their peaceful and stable homes. When you get to the end of a good regular novel you sit back and marvel at how much you enjoyed the characters and the plot. When you get to the end of An Ishmael of Syria you feel very sad and angry at the total mess the country Syria has become. You feel depressed about man’s inhumanity to man, the senseless violence sweeping the Middle East and the total waste and cheapness of life in Syria.

I am pleased a friend on Goodreads put me onto this book. I think it is a good book that I will vote 4 stars. It does not work as a novel in the storytelling sense but scores highly in the eyeopener stakes. Readers can enjoy fiction because they are shielded from reality but An Ishmael of Syria is based on the actual misery of ordinary people in Syria. So if you want a heart warming, cosy and loving read this is not a book for you. But if you live in the real world and can accept the brutality of war, this book is worth you time although it left me feeling very sad and thankful for the location of my accident of birth.

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

The Chibok Girls by Helon Habila.

In 2014 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped in Nigeria by the terrorist group Boko Haram. In his short 128 page book, Nigerian born Helon Habila writes about the kidnappings plus Islamist militancy, politics, religion and the culture of life in northern Nigeria.

I found this book quite a shock and it has the same awakening effect on me as an episode of Unreported World, a current affairs documentary series on Channel 4 television at home in the UK.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world

Helon Habila takes the reader on a journey that is far removed from normal life in the Western world. It is quite a shock to read about the daily struggles of ordinary people in northern Nigeria. Helon explains the background to the region with it’s many violent conflicts, corruption, political squabbles and religious differences. Although the title refers to the kidnapped schoolgirls, this short book is basically about the political and religious scene in northern Nigeria.

I found this book very easy to follow and the issues involved very familiar. Although it is very sad what has happened over the years to the people of northern Nigeria, their experiences are not unique. Their political and religious struggles are mirrored across the whole of the Middle East and many parts of Asia.

Helon’s writing style is very similar to that of Robert Fisk and this book reminded me of Pity the Nation - Robert Fisk’s classic recounting of the clashes in Lebanon. Helon lays the history squarely on the table, explains the culture and the political and religious problems within the society but leaves the reader to make their own mind up regarding the causes and who the bad guys truly are.

I liked The Chibok Girls because it is a real story that was not widely covered by the Western media. It brought it home to me just how lucky people in the West are and how the same problems involving Muslims appear to repeat themselves, time and time again throughout Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

I was pleased that Helon fully explained all the politics and religious issues involved. I found it informative and although the title is misleading, I got a lot from reading this short book. It was good to be able to learn about a foreign country from the comfort and safety of my sofa. There are many problems in this world and Helon enables us to understand it from the sidelines. I am pleased that Helon did an awful lot of research to give the reader the full picture and put the record into the public domain. He has made a great record and analysis of this period in Nigerian history and for this I think he deserves the top score of 5 stars. Well done mate for giving me a first class read with lots of politics and religion but no sex.

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