The Last House by R.G. Adams - Blog Blast

Today is my turn on the blog blast, for my turn I have my review, enjoy.

The Last House by R.G. Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 320

Publisher - Riverrun

Source - ARC

Blurb from Goodreads

Social worker Kit Goddard is convinced that Sandbeach Child Services have let an injured seventeen-year-old boy down, just like they'd done to her brother ten years earlier. Since the referral came in, it had been passed between departments, her own manager Georgia and colleague Tim brushing it off as a low risk, low priority case. But Kit can't shake the feeling that something isn't quite right.

Scanning the referral, she notices that the house seventeen-year-old Dylan Meredith lives in with his 'weird' mother had been described as decrepit. The anonymous caller said he was injured, frightened and afraid to tell the truth.

As Kit begins to look deeper into the history of the family, she learns that Dylan's grandmother had been an inpatient at Penlan psychiatric hospital and had died there in 2012. But as her colleague Tim had stressed, this was not a case for psychiatric services.

In a bid to trace the anonymous caller for more information, Kit sets of to the small coastal town of Rock. Only to be confronted with the sense of strangeness that surrounds the Meredith family and the rumours that have troubled this small community for years.


My Review

So if you haven't read the first book in this series I would say it isn't necessary to be honest as Kit is still relatively new to the job and finding her feet. Her recent case is referenced and there are still teething problems to her settling and finding her rythmn. A seventeen year old comes across her radar, a fair few red flags and it seems people in the office are quite eager to close the case. Kit being a kid from a care background feels something isn't right and takes a vested interested getting herself into some hot water, bit of a theme with her.

I think this book is very different pace and feel from the first book, this one has a more slower pace as Kit tries to bond and get a handle on Dylan, his mother and their situation. We also see a lot of Kit's own personal life, issues with her biological parents, her relationships with her siblings and a bit of a curve ball from life causing them all to assess their relationships and actions going forth.

I think the book may prove a tad emotive for some depending on your own personal history and mental health does feature a bit within this book. We also have a look at the issues faced by social workers, red tape. office politics and abuse of power and manipulation especially as Kit is a newbie and does get herself involved more than some of the other workers seem to. Really interesting to read despite not being huge parts of the story I thought it was interesting none the less and how shady and not very nice some of these characters are. It is a bit of a slower start than book one but the last quarter really kicks up a notch and you find yourself not wanting to put it down to see where it goes 4/5.

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Allegation by R G Adams - Blog Blast

Today is my post for the blog blast, for book, "Allegation" by author R. G. Adams, check out my non spoiler (as always) review for my stop.

Allegation: the page-turning, unputdownable thriller from an exciting new voice in crime fiction by R.G. Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - < 1 day

Pages - 320

Publisher - Riverrun

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

An evil monster exposed?

Or an innocent father condemned?

A scandal will shake a small community to its very foundations.

Sandbeach, South Wales.

Two women have come forward to make historical sexual allegations against a pillar of the local community, Matthew Cooper.

The case lands on the desk of inexperienced Social Worker, Kit Goddard, who must remove Cooper from his home and family while the investigation is carried out. Although intrepid and intuitive, she is ill-prepared for such a high-profile case.

Kit finds herself navigating a local minefield of connections and class, reputations and rumour. Unsure whether her interference is a heroic intervention or a hurtful intrusion, she knows one thing: it will have an impact. The question is whether this impact will be to expose a lie, or destroy an innocent life...



My Review

Kit Goddard is a social worker who finds herself landed with her first big/challenging case, still relatively new, it is a big ask. Throw into the mix it is historic allegations against one of the pillars of the community, money, charm, well connected, father of three - married Matt Cooper has everything. It is Kit's job to talk to the family, the children, wife and assess if there is a risk, is it a genuine accusation or is someone after money and is Kit about to ruin lives over malicious claims?

What a fantastic debut, Kit isn't just an inexperienced new social worker thrown in at the deep end, she comes with her own emotional baggage having been a kid known to the services herself. We follow her through many challenges just to do her job, I actually was howling at one interaction with one of her colleagues, we all know someone like her. The team is a very mixed bunch and I enjoyed the dynamics of the team. I found the whole process on the investigation really interesting, how she interacted with the kids and the authentic feel with the obstructiveness of the family.

Threats, anger, sex abuse claims against minors, small town reaction to such a shocking allegation against "one of their own" - even how some of the internal issues/obstacles when she is just trying to do her job. As well as that we get to see the very human side of Kit as more of her own past and vulnerability is exposed. I liked her, she has spunk and as I said one interaction with a colleague was absolute gold *air punch* - I hope this is a long series, I very much look forward to the next one. An engaging read, pulled in quickly and as the nature of the book is allegations of a sexual nature - it does feature/investigate although nothing graphic or gratuitous, 4.5/5 for me this time.

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Rust by Eliese Colette Goldbach Blog Blast

Quercus is having a wee blog blast for "Rust" by Eliese Colette Goldbach. It ended tomorrow, if you haven't see or heard about this one please check it out, ebook available now on Amazon.




Rust: A Memoir of Steel and Grit by Eliese Colette Goldbach
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1.5 days

Pages - 308

Publisher - Quercus

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads


One woman's story of working in the backbreaking steel industry to rebuild her life—but what she uncovers in the mill is much more than molten metal and grueling working conditions. Under the mill's orange flame she finds hope for the unity of America.

Steel is the only thing that shines in the belly of the mill...

To ArcelorMittal Steel Eliese is known as #6691: Utility Worker, but this was never her dream. Fresh out of college, eager to leave behind her conservative hometown and come to terms with her Christian roots, Eliese found herself applying for a job at the local steel mill. The mill is everything she was trying to escape, but it's also her only shot at financial security in an economically devastated and forgotten part of America.

In Rust, Eliese brings the reader inside the belly of the mill and the middle American upbringing that brought her there in the first place. She takes a long and intimate look at her Rust Belt childhood and struggles to reconcile her desire to leave without turning her back on the people she's come to love. The people she sees as the unsung backbone of our nation.

Faced with the financial promise of a steelworker’s paycheck, and the very real danger of working in an environment where a steel coil could crush you at any moment or a vat of molten iron could explode because of a single drop of water, Eliese finds unexpected warmth and camaraderie among the gruff men she labors beside each day.

Appealing to readers of Hillbilly Elegy and Educated, Rust is a story of the humanity Eliese discovers in the most unlikely and hellish of places, and the hope that therefore begins to grow.




My Review


i don't know why but I thought this was going to be quite heavy on emotional/angst side, it wasn't that at all. Eliese had set ideas on the steel mills growing up as well as religion and politics. As Eliese becomes an adult and things happen in her life she finds herself not only questions but 360 on quite a lot of the ideas she had growing up.

Rust takes us into the steel mills, what it is like to work in a perilous environment, where one mistake can literally be death to you or a co worker. The hazards, the problems being a woman in this environment, the difference between being a new start and becoming an established part of the team with union cover and job protection. The stories of folk who have died in the company, the very real hazards, even in the departments most sought after. Eliese takes us on the journey of her life, through this very male dominated work force, money at the top and how current politics affects the job.

Aside from this, we have to remember this is a true story memoir and we get the rest of Eliese's lie experiences. A very honest and brutal look at mental health, how it affected her day to day life, relationships, good days and bad and a sexual attack and the impact that had on her and her views.

I am not a fan of politics but it was interesting to see how Goldbach examined hers and challenged her family, over dinner as you imagine with the current political issues this is happening across the globe, in many variations.

The book does jump around a wee bit, in time, from the job and heading back to growing up, ideas formed, back to current day/work back to college and what happened there. Her mental health is discussed sporadically throughout the book. When it comes up it does go into very vivid details cataloguing some of the episodes she survived or getting through that particular day. Then we go back to the steel mill and what was happening in that recounting. I really enjoyed the steel mill stuff as it isn't something I have ever thought about or read so I found it fascinating, the jumps may be a bit distracting to some readers but once she got into her stride, be it the mental health encounters or the mill I found it pretty fascinating and didn't want to stop reading. 4/5 for me this time, I think I would like to read more on the mills and prior to this book I doubt that is a sentence I would have thought let alone said. A raw and brave look into a woman's life who has battled so much and came out fighting at the other end.

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