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The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

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Thank you to Viper Books for an advance copy of this book. All views my own.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

What if the person you love disappears one day, leaving you behind with only a note? A note in which he doesn’t even justify his actions, but instead leaves you with only two words.

Protect her.

From the very first page, The Last Thing He Told Me jumps out of the page. The voice that Laura Dave has channeled and managed to imprint in the pages of this book is clear and strong although filled with sorrow, frustration and an adventure guided by the need to understand who the person that you thought you knew, was.

Told from the point of view of the protagonist of this story, Hannah, the story begins as harmless as the title is. We learn fairly on in the story that Hannah has been raised by her Grandfather and has left New York for the comfort of Sausalito, California where she lives with her husband, Owen and her step daughter, Bailey.

With a voice that gets tattooed into your mind, The Last Thing He Told Me is the most un-put-down-able book you will read this Spring.

Hannah embarks on a journey of discovery that takes her to Austin Texas after her husband Owen is caught in a scandal of fraud at his workplace called The Shop. Nevermind getting through such news, but having to learn the news from a strange girl that shows up at her door leaving Hannah with a note from her husband, is such a heart wrenching moment that I couldn’t even imagine what she goes through.

The message from her husband doesn’t offer Hannah any explication. Just a simple instruction. Protect her. So Hannah embarks on this unknown journey as best as she can. In a whirlwind of events, Hannah finds herself being visited by Grady, a US Marshal from Austin, Texas that tells her that the best thing she can do is lay low and get a lawyer. Shortly after the US Marshal pays her the visit, FBI visit her at her office.

Feeling unable to answer the questions that Hannah feels everyone wants her to answer (Where is your husband?) and left with only her memories with Owen to pick at to find clues, Hannah takes Bailey and make a trip to Austin, Texas in the hopes that the city will give them some answers. Once there, Hannah learns something about her husband that she never thought she was going to have to deal with: her husband, Owen Michaels, doesn’t exist and has never existed since the moment he arrived in Sausalitos.

Why would he lie to her? Why did Owen disappear without a trace and no explanation? And who is Owen actually?

Filled with an intricate plot line and a strong voice, The Last Thing He Told Me is one of my favorite reads in a while. Refreshingly unique but also filled with moments that made me second guess what I was reading, this book is excellent for anyone who is looking for a book that will not allow you to rest until you finished it.

The Last Thing He Told Me is out now everywhere where good books are sold. I think that Viper has done a brilliant job this year to bring to the forefront interesting and unique stories having had published in the span of a few months two of my new instant favourite books (I’m talking of course about The Last House On Needless Street being the other one).

The Whole Truth by Cara Hunter

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Thank you to Penguin Viking Publicity Team for an advance copy of this book. All views are my own.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

There is a new case on the horizon, and this one is crazy twisted. I’ve started reading The Whole Truth by the fantastic Cara Hunter on a Tuesday. It was sunny here in Glasgow, and the sun helped me, motivated me even, to read this book in two days. Yes, two days. But it was just the sun that kept my attention engaged. It was the story as well.

When a student comes forward reporting a case of sexual abuse, the detectives of Thames Valley think they know how the story goes. Honestly, I even thought I knew where the story would go. But as the book’s hook says, I should think again. Morgan, a male student, is reporting his tutor, Marina, a very prominent figure in the University of raping him. Now, this wouldn’t necessarily have struck me as out of the ordinary. But as I turned the pages, the more twisted the story became. 

As the sexual assault and rape case is getting traction on social media, a new case is reported. A body is found by some engineers working on the rail during the night. And someone in the police force knows the victim. They are closer to him than he thinks, in fact. 

The Whole Truth stands out from the first page. Brilliant and perfectly paced, Hunter checks all the boxes for the next big detective series.

DI Adam Fawley doesn’t have the time to process that the close friend Emma Smith of his wife was the victim found on the rail. And the evidence is pointing at him as being the murderer. Everything blows up in DI Fawley’s face, and all of a sudden, he faces a lengthy prison sentence. But he swears he isn’t the murderer, even though when presented with the opportunity, he doesn’t provide us with the opportunity to see that, the readers, for ourselves.

The Whole Truth is brilliantly written, with short and snappy chapters turning the tension to the max. The subplots are interlaced with images that I found really engaging as a reader to scrutinise. Instead of the information being dumped on the paper as exposition, we get files and handwritten notes, extracts from a podcast and even screenshots of a WhatsApp group.

I’m surprised (and mad) that I didn’t know earlier of the DI Fawley series. Because I believe there were a couple of easter eggs in this novel that I could’ve appreciated more if I had read the first four books in the series before starting this. However, I’m looking forward to diving into the other four books in the series (they are ordered and are on the way) and then reenjoy this 5th instalment in the series. But disregarding the easter eggs, Hunter makes sure that anyone can read this without reading the previous books (at least I believe it was intentional rather than unintentional).

The Whole Truth is published on the 29th of May by Penguin Viking. I hope you will join me and celebrating this fantastic book, especially if you are a fan of the show Line of Duty. If you are, you have to get your hands on this series. It’s just so, so good. And twisted. Also, rights for a TV show have been sold already, and we might soon get to see Adam Fawley and the crew on screen is just brilliant. I can’t wait. 

PS. Do yourself a favour and start with Close to Home.

The Liar’s Daughter by Rona Halsall

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Thank you to Bookouture Publicity Team for the advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review. All views are my own.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

When Eva learns that her parents had been keeping away secrets from her, she embarks on a journey of finding the truth and at least understand why her parents would keep the truth from her.

That is how The Liar’s Daughter by Rona Halsall starts. Written in three parts, the story develops before the reader’s eyes from mainly two points of view. Eva and Nancy. Eva, who has been brought up by her father and her stepmother, and Nancy, Eva’s sister, who was presumed to have committed suicide after their biological mother’s death.

The decision taken by Halsall to award a part to each character was smart looking back at the story. Initially, as I was reading the story, I was a bit reticent because I was afraid that this might take away from the experience of discovering the story. But it wasn’t anything like that. It made perfect sense why Halsall chose to relay the story this way. If she had written it in any other way, I don’t think that the story would have been as enjoyable as it was.

The Liar’s Daughter is a thrilling read with many twists and turns that punch you in the gut, exploring how much one can rely on what you are being told versus what you are seeing is happening.

The story starts with Eva, who founds out from her stepmother that her sister had been admitted into the hospital and would require someone to take care of her. Eva agrees to go and help her out for a few days. On the road there, Eva struggles to understand why her stepmother had lied about her having a sister when she knew she was still alive. When she gets to the hospital, she meets her sister and takes her home to a remote, old farmhouse.

Strange things happen there. Food starts to go missing, windows are open, and the house seems alive with creeks and noises. Eva has a strong feeling that she is being watched, and as she explores the house and the surroundings, she has a strange feeling that something is not adding up. And when Eva discovers a body buried in the garden, she is convinced that she needs to go as far away as she can from this place. But before she can do it, she is caught by her sister and locked in a room. 

Then we get Nancy’s story, and we understand that after she ran away from home, she didn’t actually commit suicide but was actually taken in by a nice and welcoming woman. But appearances aren’t always what they seem, and the woman suddenly starts to manipulate her into believing that if she leaves, she would be arrested for the murder of her mother. Things spiral out, and in an attempt to escape the farmhouse, she knocks the woman out and leaves her behind.

Having read the first part as a reader, we know that the woman who says is Nancy isn’t actually Eva’s sister. But the woman who kept Eva’s sister hostage. I won’t spoil the ending, so if you want to find out how it ends, definitely check out the book.

The Liar’s Daughter is out today (26/04/2021) in e-book and paperback from bookouture. I would highly recommend this to fans of psychological thrillers and anyone who wants to dive into a story filled with twists and turns. 

The Vatican Secret by Peter Hogenkamp

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Thank you to bookouture Publicity team for offering me a copy of this novel in advance of its publication. All view are my own.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Dubbed as James Bond but with priests, I was pleasantly surprised by The Vatican Secret. Although it is the second novel in the series and the story picking up right after where the first one ended, I asked myself if I would be able to pick up the pieces and understand what was going on. In true BooksTechnica fashion, reading a series out of order seems to be the staple, but I’m happy once again to report that this book can be enjoyed out of order but probably not as much as reading it in order.

Having now finished The Vatican Secret, I have a new appreciation for the action-thriller genre. And here’s the thing: I don’t usually reach for books with a conspiracy at its core. I don’t know if it is necessarily because I feel like they would disappoint me or why I shy away from reading these types of thrillers, but I do realise now that there is a whole new unexplored area for me to dive in to. Because if The Vatican Secret has left me with something, it was with an appetite for action thrillers. And I’m eager to pick up the first novel in the series to see where the characters started.

With deliciously flawed characters and paced from cover to cover with heart-racing scenes, The Vatican Secret is an excellent introduction to the action-thriller genre.

Going into the book, I was instantly swept into the story. It feels to me that there is no break, that as a reader (regardless if you have read the first book or not), you are carried away by the story. Written from multiple points of view, following both the antagonists and the protagonists, it feels to me that Hogenkamp chose an easily accessible topic that everyone would find appealing. I mean, who wouldn’t want to know the politics and what goes on behind closed doors in the Vatican?

The characters are perfectly flawed. I loved how Hogenkamp ensured that we spend enough time with each side to the point that I started (at least a part of me) rooting for the bad guys. I wanted to see what would happen if things didn’t go to plan for both the protagonists and antagonists, and I’m glad to say that things don’t go as planned multiple times throughout the story.

There was one thing that did disappoint me, and that is mainly the ending. I think this is also because we got to spend time with both sides–the ones trying to protect the Vatican from nuclear destruction and the ones trying to ensure that the Vatican will go down–that I found myself at the end conflicted. I would have wanted to see a dramatic ending because this book is packed with action from cover to cover. Instead of the somewhat happy and peaceful ending, I wanted to get the gritty and gory. This is, in the end, just a personal preference from someone who hasn’t read much in the genre but definitely is open to get more insight into it.

Overall I think The Vatican Secret was a perfect introduction for me to the action-thriller genre. I’m excited to see what Hogenkamp has next in store for his readers, and I will keep my eyes peeled on his writing journey. The Vatican Secret is out now from bookouture and is available to be ordered in either paperback or e-book everywhere you shop for your books.

The Sister-in-Law by Pamela Crane

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Thanks to Avon Books UK for an advance copy of this book. All views are my own.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Note: Initially I had given this book a 4 star rating but as I wrote my thoughts on digital paper I realized that I was wrong to give it a 4 star rating and have upgraded it to a 4.5 star.

Nothing beats a book that start guns-blazing. Throwing its reader in the middle of what other books aim to have as the climax. But the question I kept asking myself as I started reading this book was: Where does this book go from here?

The Sister-in-Law by Pamela Crane is a domestic thriller novel that brings to the forefront the dynamics of families and especially the dynamics between siblings. But what happens when the person you thought you knew best does something out of the ordinary? What do you do to maintain your relationship? Do you try to make the person see that they are going in a direction you don’t want them to go? Or do you allow them to go on their path as you stand on the sidelines and watch?

Pamela Crane crafts tension out of the triviality of every day life, positioning her characters at opposites sides of the spectrum.

Captivated by the premise of this book, I stepped into the world that Crane created for her readers. I was skeptical after reading the heart pounding first chapter of this book because I didn’t know if the set up was going to work. I’m happy to say that I was both wrong and right at the same time.

The biggest issues I had with the story wasn’t actually with the story itself. I know, it sounds confusing, but please bear with me. I think that every single scene that Crane has penned needed to be in the book. However there was such a strong pacing split between the chapters that were character driven and the ones that were plot driven that at times the scenes that I wanted to focus on the character, to make me understand why the characters were doing things the way they did, came up short, making me feel that some decisions or reactions were uncharacteristic to the persona I was reading about.

Nonetheless, The Sister-in-Law still managed to grip my attention, simply through the tension created between Harper and Candace. Cane manages to create stellar intrigue between her characters by positioning them on the opposite sides of the spectrum. On one hand you have Harper who wants to protect her brother and ensure she maintains her relationship dynamic as it was whilst Candace wants to make a life for herself and ensure that she retains the comfort of home life at all costs.

In the end Harper and Candace have the same goal. They both want to retain what they have with Lane. And there’s nothing that builds tension better than two characters having the same goal that sit on opposite side of the spectrum. Crane strategically starts the novel with a bang to ensure that it builds conflict in the readers at least on a moral level, having them rooting for someone who looks and acts despicably. And it worked with me.

The Sister-in-Law is a great read that suits fans of domestic thrillers but also is a great light read for people who are looking to make a start in the domestic thriller genre. Avon Books has been and will be a perfect place for readers looking for chilling crime novels and heart racing thrillers and Pamela Crane‘s The Sister-in-Law fits their portfolio like a glove.

The Others by Sarah Blau

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Thank you to Pushkin Vertigo for an advance readers copy in exchange to an honest review. All views are my own.

https://pushkinpress.com/books/the-others/

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Others, translated by Daniella Zamir, is a compelling read that establishes itself from the beginning as a strong contender as one of the best books I’ve read in the month of March. Although I’m writing this review a week after I’ve read this book, Sheila’s character has not left me. She’s still in my heart as one of the most relatable and robust female characters I’ve read in a while. 

From the very first page, I got a very the strong sense of place. Although having never been to Tel Aviv, the city where this story takes place, I found that I knew the place. I don’t know if it’s because I am originally from eastern Europe, and this book is set in the east, that I related so much with the trivialities of the daily life in Tel Aviv. I could imagine myself through out the novel walking the streets, feeling the heat breathing down my neck, seeing my skin developing a tan the more pages I turned.

When I first picked up this book on Netgalley, I was sceptical due to the themes sitting at the heart of the story. Motherhood is a sensitive subject for many but what Blau manages to do in The Others is bring to life the societal pressure that many people who have, or are still living, in the East have to deal with.

Sarah Blau brings what are considered by many taboo subjects to the forefront of a crime novel that reads like an instant bestseller.

The book is mainly told Sheila’s point of view, a former member of The Others, a group created by herself whilst still in college. The Others are, for a better term, a rebellious group of four girls who want to oppose the pressures instilled by society on young girls to become mothers.

The way Blau has structurally developed the story is terrifying. Short and quick chapters snap past you as you try to assemble the puzzle while at the same time feeling the dread of the main character bleeding through the pages. This helps instil in the readers the urgency of the story and the urgency through which Sheila goes through, second-guessing her life decisions and realizing that the motherhood clock ticks inside her. And when Sheila finds herself at the heart of the investigation of the murder of a former member of The Others, she is forced to hold up a mirror to herself only to realise that a serial killer targets the members of her college group. But for what reason? And more importantly who is next?

Brilliantly paced, The Others is a one-in-a-lifetime kind of novel. For someone who hasn’t visited Israel before, never mind Tel Aviv, after reading this book, I felt that Israel should be on my bucket list of places to visit. The Others by Sarah Blau is published on the 13th of April by Pushkin Vertigo. I hope that Blau becomes a regular author translated and published by Pushkin Press as The Others reads like an instant bestseller, and I am very excited to read what she has published or will be publishing in the future.

The Seven Doors by Agnes Ravatn

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Thank you to Karen Sullivan from Orenda Books for sending me a copy of this novel. All views are my own

Rating: 5 out of 5.
https://orendabooks.co.uk/product/the-seven-doors

When I opened the cover to this book, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know that I will be wrapped in a story, so beautifully written and translated. I didn’t know that it would become one of my favourite books I read this year. I simply didn’t know…

The Seven Doors by Agnes Ravatn starts from a very simple premise: the need to discover and understand the truth. The story unravels in front of the readers eyes from the perspective of Nina, who together with her daughter Ingeborg, go to inspect the house in which Ingeborg together with her daughter and her husband will move into. However what Nina doesn’t expect is that shortly after they give notice to Mari, the current tenant living in their house, she would disappear without a trace.

The need to understand what happened together with the feeling that something more hides behind this disappearance, especially when Mari left behind her son with her parents, steers Nina deeper and deeper into the story. Is Nina prepared to face the truth? Or is she just going along because she wants to alleviate the guilt that has nestled inside herself ever since she’s visited the house?

Agnes Ravatn has written probably one of the best psychological thrillers set in Norway; the ending leaving its readers wondering why they haven’t read the book sooner.

Structurally, Ravatn captures the attention of her readers by writing short snappy sentences, within short chapters. From the get-go, the urgency of the story and the sinister, dance together before the readers eyes, enticing them to read more and more.

The cast of characters are just fabulous; Nina is my favourite out of them. She’s a 40-year-old, highly educated woman who isn’t afraid to be herself. I could read an entire crime saga with Nina at the front and center of the series, because she comes off as a natural character, feeling almost life-like. Through out the novel, all decisions she takes make sense, and doesn’t strike the reader as out-of-character.

The Seven Doors is out now and can be ordered from Orenda Books. I highly recommend this read to everyone who is a fan of Nordic Noir. But I also see this book being enjoyed by people who haven’t read Nordic Noir before, because this book is a marvelous introduction to what a good, Noir novel can do.

Last Place You Look by Louisa Scarr

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Thank you to Canelo Publicity Team for allowing me to read a E-ARC of this novel. All views are my own.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Place-You-Look-procedural-ebook/dp/B08Q3MCCJ6/

Rating: 5 out of 5.

While reading this book, I made a tweet, alleging that Canelo isn’t playing this year with their thrillers and crime books. It might have been a bit too cryptic but let me tell you why.

Last Place You Look starts as a police procedural crime novel and in itself, stripping aside the characters and focusing only on the narrative and the procedural crime novel aspects of this book, its already a very entertaining book. Yet when you start looking at the characters, at the structure, at how Louise Scarr is holding your hand as a reader and tells you that you should trust her cause she knows what she’s doing, that’s where this book starts to differentiate itself from other novels.

Last Place You Look by Louisa Scarr takes a very loved genre and turns it on its head, using the expectations readers have against them.

Last Place You Look is the first book in a new series and what a start it is. At the core of this novel sits a death which at first is being treated as a suicide. But nothing is as it seems in this novel. DS Robin Butler and DC Freya West are assigned on the case and here is where things get complicated. Because one of the detectives knew the dead. Well. And we’re just on page 10 of the book. Crazy right? The way Scarr writes these characters is truly mind-blowing. You don’t feel that you are reading a book about two characters. You feel like she’s telling you a story about her friends.

We learn fairly early on that both Detectives that are at the center of this investigation aren’t as righteous as they should be. DS Butler and DC West are rotten to the core and it just made me want to root for them even more. I found this to be refreshing as usually we get the protagonist and antagonist at the other sides of the spectrum. What Scarr manages to do with Last Place You Look is make the protagonist an equal antagonist, blurring the lines between good and bad.

When it comes to the death at the core of the novel, I enjoyed the way Scarr leads its reader with this confident hand through the story, telling you as the reader that you should trust her, that what she shows you is important. The end was the most surprising thing in this novel as it brought to the forefront a murder of passion. I thought that maybe it would be a boring read when I realized that there will be no other victim. Louisa Scarr however compensates with amplifying the tension to the max between her characters rather than writing action scenes that to me wouldn’t have fitted in the ending of this novel.

I can’t wait to see in which direction Louisa Scarr takes this series and can’t wait to read more about DS Butler and DC West. Last Place You Look comes out in eBook on 8th of April and in paperback on the 6th of May from Canelo and will be definitely appreciated by the lovers of the crime procedural genre but also will be enjoyed by lovers of the psychological thriller genre.

Why I read.

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It’s not a question. It’s a statement. A statement that I have to remind myself of on bad days. It’s a goal. A mindset that I’m still re-configuring my brain to accept. Sure, reading brings me joy. Of course, I love to be immersed in a story about characters that don’t feel like characters but actual people. But… reading means so much more to me than just reading.

Reading to me is a journey on which I decided this year to take serious. Reviewing the books I read is my own way to hold myself accountable. The journey I decided to embark on isn’t an easy one. Especially for someone to whom English isn’t the first language. It’s a winding road, filled with ups and downs. I find myself more often wanting to stop, to not pursue the path I set myself on. But then every time I open the cover of a book or power up my kindle or kobo, I wonder.

What if…?

What if I can actually write a story that people will want to read? What if the story that lives inside my head would be the story that will get me published? What if all I’m missing is doing this, and keep doing this?

Reading to me is learning. Learning and understanding how authors that have gotten published manage to get their ideas to paper. Many would think that reading is just about keeping up with what the current market is requesting. But that’s not the case. It is so much more than that. It’s about reading between the lines. It’s about finding the small text, that secret code that every author leaves behind written in invisible ink, to make it their own. That secret code, that buried treasure that tells aspiring authors “here’s how I thought of doing this.”.

That is why I’m reading. I’m reading because regardless what the road ahead has for me, I want to try. I want to keep on doing what brings me joy regardless of the outcome. I like finding the encoded message and cracking it. Because if I don’t do it then I need to live with the question that echoes in my mind every morning I wake up, every night I go to sleep and during the day whether I am at my day job or lazily watching a TV show on the couch.

What if…?

But until that day comes when I can say that my words will go into the world in the form of a digital or even printed book, I will continue on down the road, kicking pebbles and enjoying the ride. I’m excited for everyone I will meet down the road. I’m excited for the stories that I have yet to discover. And I’m excited to see my own growth in the stories which for now I keep for myself.

Mihai from BooksTechnica

The Girls Are All So Nice Here by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

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Thank you to HQ Publicity Team for the ARC. All views are my own.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Girls-Are-All-Nice-Here/dp/0008388857

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

The Girls Are All So Nice Here tells the story of Ambrosia Wellington, who is now a very different person than to who she was at University. Or is she? Her time at University wasn’t a pleasant one to say the least. Sure, she had good memories, but, overall? Not really the experience one wants to have in more ways than you can imagine.

This fast paced, gripping story about what drives our ambition, what fuels our resentment pool and what we consider a friendship by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn is a kind reminder to everyone that we should be treating people with more kindness. The setting also fuels my sentiment of needing to do random acts of kindness. University settings are really difficult to do successfully mainly because different people have different experiences. However I think that Flynn has very tactfully handled this. Although I used to be bullied in school and Uni, I didn’t feel triggered by this book however fair warning to everyone wanting to pick this up.

Ambrosia, who wants to be called Amb is the protagonist and the POV character for the entire book. Amb came across as a very insecure person who has been running from her past for far too long. And when an invitation to her ten year reunion arrives, Amb initially doesn’t want to go. Flynn manages from the get go to create a sense of ‘omg-what-will-happen-next’ by spoon feeding the reader with glances in the past but also retaining a lot of the major points until the very end.

The Girls Are All So Nice Here became an instant guilty pleasure! Perfect for the fans of the movies Mean Girls and Heathers.

There were so many events and turns in the story that I didn’t want it to end. But when it comes to the end it was definitely not what I expected which only adds to the overall genius of Flynn, managing to create and exert some sort of justice. Do I agree with the ending? Not really but that only goes to show how much I enjoyed Amb’s story.

After finishing the book, I had to take a moment to really consider the whirlwind I went through, reading this book in less than two days. One thing that did pop up in my mind was that I didn’t feel a difference between the Then Amb and Now Amb once she arrives at the reunion. The whole story is centred around this traumatic event that happens in the past, that fuels Amb with guilt however this doesn’t seem to change her, or at least very little. The character growth there would have had potential however I don’t know how this would have been able to fit in the overall story ARC.

The Girls Are All So Nice Here is now out and available to be ordered from your local indie bookshop (Support them, please! 😊) . This book is perfect for the fans of the movie Mean Girls or even the Heathers as it goes to show how cliques can be a very toxic and difficult environment to navigate playing on codependency of people on other people. This became an instant guilty pleasure for me and I can’t wait to hear what others think of it.

#TheGirlsAreAllSoNiceHere 💅