Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 5 days

Pages - 402

Publisher - Hodder & Stoughton

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

Number One bestselling author Jodi Picoult returns with her compulsive new novel - about the lengths we go to for those who have left us behind; about the staying power of love; and about how three broken souls might have just the right pieces to mend each other.
Jenna Metcalf was with her mother the night she disappeared in tragic and mysterious circumstances, but she remembers nothing.

Over ten years have passed, and still Jenna reads and rereads her mother's journals, hoping to find some clue hidden there, in the meticulous recording of her scientific research with elephants.

Desperate for answers, Jenna uses all her savings to recruit the aid of a private detective - and a psychic.

Jenna knows her mother loved her. She knows she would not leave her. And she will not rest until she finds out what happened that night. In her most gripping mystery since House Rules, Jodi Picoult brings us a powerful story of a young girl's determination to uncover the truth, however shocking and life-changing it might be.


My Review

Another Jodi Picoult with an animal theme/focus, remember like with the wolves? But this time it is elephants and I know not everyone likes that but I do. So the book goes between present day, Jenna wants help to finally find out what happened to her mum Alice. Alice disappeared when Jenna was just a baby, now a teen she hires a psychic, Serenity and an ex cop now PI. Serenity was once famous before scandal reduced her to being the one thing she hated "a swamp with" charging to read peoples fortune by cold reading. The unlikely trio work together to try and find out what happened to Alice all those years ago.

The book flips between characters and when we hear from Alice, Jenna's mum that is where we meet the elephants. She studied them in the wild before meeting Jenna's dad and joining him at his elephant sanctuary.

I love anything with ghosts so the whole psychic thing I was absolutely YES and as the book goes on we find out what happened and why she is so disgraced. Same with the Cop turned PI. The elephants, oh the elephants. There is talk of death/harm and the things these beautiful beings go through and their behaviours, health and care. This won't be for everyone but I love learning about stuff and I love animals so it was a win win for me. At the end of the book she also adds links to check out, you can help out and learn more. There is even a live camera from a sanctuary, three free webcams you can watch elephants, support these fantastic causes and learn about the harm/Ivory trade and what you can do to help.

A few themes that some may find triggering and I can't cover them all without spoilers which we don't do. Elephants well fare and harm, loss, murder, mental health, love, lies, secrets, ghosts/medium, 4/5 for me. I do enjoy Picoults books so this is no surprise that I enjoyed this one but I think it could be a marmite for some.

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Bad Blood by Angela Marsons

Bad Blood by Angela Marsons
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 4 days

Pages - 368

Publisher - Bookouture

Source - Bought (ebook and treebook)

Blurb from Goodreads

The victim is lying under the trees, arms lifted above his head, unnaturally still. His muscles are slack. His eyes are empty. There are no signs of life. But he is not quite dead…

When Detective Kim Stone races to the crime scene, there is no body waiting for the paramedics are desperately trying to save the victim’s life. But there is something very strange about the way the man was found, his arms raised above his head, his legs spread apart. When he dies on the way to the hospital, Kim is certain she’s on the hunt for a killer… but all evidence at the scene has been destroyed.

The dead man, Eric Gould , seems ordinary, until the team dig into his past. As a teenager, he was locked away for attacking his girlfriend, and Kim suspects he was hurting his fiancé now. Was someone trying to stop history repeating?

Then another man is found on the verge of death, his bones broken to force him into an unnatural shape. The team realise the killer is sending a message – the victims’ bodies are spelling out their sins. As boys, they were both part of a group of six who bragged about their terrible crimes. But they were children then, and when she sees the grief on the faces of their loved ones now, Kim swears to find answers.

Is someone finally getting revenge… or do they think these men are still dangerous? The killer is threatening to strike again, and the only way Kim can crack the case is by tracking down the rest of the six first.

But then a revelation about what one of her team is suffering makes Kim understand why people take the law into their own hands. Do these victims deserve what’s coming to them? Or is there even more to fear from their brutal killer?

Unputdownable from start to finish, Bad Blood is a brilliantly gripping crime thriller with a reveal you’ll never see coming. Fans of Karin Slaughter, Robert Dugoni and Val McDermid will love the latest compulsive read from multi-million-copy bestseller Angela Marsons.

Can be read as a standalone.


My Review

Guys this is book nineteen in the series and normally I would say you can read as a standalone or start here BUT I would absolutely advise reading the others. One because it is a great series but if you don't want to go back that far at least read book eighteen first as there is a central storyline in this one that I feel hits more with the context/background of the previous book. A victim has been found under a tree, no signs of life, Stone is called down. A shock turn of events has no body waiting for Stone and the start of some nasty bodies popping up. From the previous book we see Stacey struggling with her stalker, trying to deal with it alone as she hasn't told anyone what is happening. With a team as small and tight as Stone's nothing remains a secret for too long and Stacey's secret has huge impact on all of the team.

I do love the Stone series, the team is such a great bunch and I love how Bryant is the Ying to Stones Yang. The investigation into the almost dead victims, why would someone do this and what are they trying to say with each body/victim. We see Stone go tonto when she discovers what has been happening to Stacey and the impact it now has not only on Stacey but the team and an investigation.

Kim is like the maw of the group and Bryant the dad I would say we see this more in this book. The usual police investigation parts with relationships, danger and shady individuals. Despite this being book nineteen Stone manages to keep the writing and plots fresh and pulling you in from the opening chapter, 4/5.

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