Dead Girls by Graeme Cameron Blog Tour

Dead Girls by Graeme Cameron
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 3 days

Publisher - H Q Stories

Pages - 400

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

I may not remember everything, but I know he won’t hurt anyone else.

I won’t let him.

It’s been two months since a serial killer brutally attacked police detective Alisha Green and left her for dead. Two months since she could effortlessly recall simple things, since her mind felt remotely sound. The nameless killer thinks he knows her, thinks she’s just another dead girl among many. Ali Green plans to show him he’s dead wrong about that.

Ali has two enemies now: the dangerous man she’s hunting and her own failing memory. As explosive new evidence comes to light and conflicting accounts from a witness and a surviving victim threaten both her investigation and her credibility, she begins to question what is and isn’t real. And now Ali has no choice but to remember the past…before it buries her.

A hypnotically gripping thriller that proves internationally bestselling author Graeme Cameron is one of the most unique voices in contemporary fiction today.



My Review

Absolutely I recommend reading Normal by this author before reading this one, I read it a while back and feel like I want to re read it. DS Ali Green survived her encounter with "The man" the horrific serial killer from Normal and now we are following the police investigation and the after math of all that transpired from the first book. Normal was all about him, his activities, perspective, killings. This book is the police, primarily Ali, the pursuit and the ripples he has left from their encounter. Ali is determined he will harm no one else but how do you do your job, stay safe and keep the team going when you had a horrific injury and your memory is impaired?


It took me a wee bit to settle into this one, it kicks off with a bang and you are draw in quickly. However, there are a lot of characters and the scenes jump around a bit so it takes a wee bit to get your head round. Narration flips from first to third person, multiple characters and settlings and you have to be switched on to keep track. I think it adds to the weight of what Ali is going through, her memory is impaired, she has to keep notes and she is desperate to keep it hidden from her colleagues.

The devastation of this killer is clear from the beginning, he isn't featured much at all but his reach and actions have long lasting consequences. It is a unique story from that point of view, we see exactly how many lives a murderer can impact and the aftermath that follows. What I did really like was some of the subtle genius within Cameron's scenes. For example, what one character did when another finally left, nothing massive or huge but it encapsulates the reality of humanity. For some writers they can describe a place so well you can smell and see it, similar idea here but it is more some of the actions and responses a person does that just screams reality. It isn't a huge thing and some readers may pass over but I think small sparks like that are testament to creative genius. 3.5 out of 5 for me this time, I would like to see a prequel with more info on him and how he came to be, fingers crossed!

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Bookstagrammers

What exactly is a Bookstagrammer? Well, some people think it means different things however ultimately, I think we all agree it is people on Instagram who post all things books.



I have a wee Instagram account, primarily for my bookposts but I do post randoms too, if travelling, animals, outdoors, Potter related stuff, food/drink, Princess Trixie (although she has her own account, yes I am that person who made an account for their cat lol). I would say I am a book geek who just loves taking photos of most things but the hashtags help connect and find like minded folk. You can find my Instagram here!





I first heard the term bookstagram when someone asked me why I hadn't added it to my book post (picture of a book I popped on Instagram). So now, if I have a book photo I generally add the tag. However there are some pretty amazing bookstagrammer accounts out there that use it properly. They create amazing book posts, photos of books with amazing backgrounds, books with themes, books with animals, books with book related clothes/items. I can spend hours just scrolling through some of the amazing pictures posted.

Some bookstagrammers also review on Instagram. So a photo of the book, relevant hashtags and then they include their full review, this isn't something I do but I do like the different options and I love the photos.

So I got a book in that I am on the blog tour for "Dead Girls" by Graeme Cameron. As it is crime fiction I have some tape I bought for a party I was yet to use. So, I got it out to do as a wee background, of course Trixie needed to get into it and have a sniff.





We have a new birdfeeder so a lot of birds have recently been visiting and we found this feather this morning so I had to add that into the piccy. How great would it be if in the book there is something bird or feather related!






My turn for the blog tour is this week and I am working a few shifts before it so I have had to put my current read aside to get into this one, many thanks to Joe from HQStories for sending.






If you have an Instagram account or are a bookstagrammer please leave your link so I can check it out. Always looking to add more book related accounts to follow.

Normal by Graeme Cameron

Normal by Graeme Cameron
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 304

Publisher - MIRA

Blurb from Goodreads

He lives in your community, in a nice house with a well-tended garden. He shops in your grocery store, bumping shoulders with you as you pass him and apologizing with a smile. He drives beside you on the highway, politely waving to let you into the lane ahead of him.

What you don't know is that he has an elaborate cage built into a secret basement under his garage. And the food that he's carefully shopping for is to feed a young woman he's holding there against her will--one in a string of many, unaware of the fate that awaits her.

This is how it's been for a long time. It's normal...and it works. Perfectly.

Then he meets the checkout girl from the 24-hour grocery. And now the plan, the hunts, the room...the others. He doesn't need any of them anymore. He needs only her. One small problem--he still has someone trapped in his garage.

Discovering his humanity couldn't have come at a worse time.



My Review

Our main character is just your average chap, living within your community, in a nice house and looks after his garden. He is polite but not intrusive, you don't feel threatened by him at all he is so nondescript. However, you should be threatened, within that lovely normal house and well tended garden is a concealed cage, underneath the garage. Those who see it will never get to tell as our main character is a controlled mix somewhere between a psychopath and a sociopath. He is the perfect predator, he acts as he needs to, blends in to the normal, giving off an nonthreatening vibe and then he pounces! This is his normal, he hunts, he kills, he blends in and is aloof, his life is all about the hunt and kill. Until he comes across a girl in a supermarket checkout, something about her stops him in his tracks and suddenly he wants to be in her company & not to kill or eat her. As he starts to get to know Rachel and discover his humanity, he finds himself becoming "normal" however, his previous captive, Erica, is still alive in his basement and causing him to ask almost as many questions of himself as Rachel is.

This is a bizarre, freaky, chilling tale. We know virtually nothing about our main character except he is something between Hannibal Lecture and Dexter Morgan. I think this works well because he could be just about anyone, we have no actual name or description so the reader could picture him to be literally anyone. This works well in one way however it also leaves so many questions, if he has no job how does he afford everything, where is your usual nosy neighbour who spots this single chap with no job or set schedule. He kills for pleasure, his life evolves around the selection, hunt and murder. He is focused and never left any traces for the police, however, since kidnapping Erica, everything has changed. He doesn't bump her off immediately like so many before her, he goes home with a girl called Annie and strikes up a "friendship" with her, Rachel enthralls him and all this knocks him off his game. He comes under the notice of the police, he is questioning everything and his life is completely turned on its head. As a cold blooded killed, sometimes cannibal everything goes well, however once he starts to normalize thats when things start to go pear shaped for him.

I think the idea is fresh and it is interesting to get behind the mind of a killer, to see him transform from a single focused individual with only one objective, to becoming one who starts to see humans as more than sport. You need to suspend belief as some of it is a tad out there and I had a lot of questions left, however its a well written book that will draw you in. I most certainly would read this author again and maybe he will write more on the characters from this tale in their own right. 3/5 for me this time, thanks so much to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review and introducing me to a new author. You can get your hands on a copy of this from 31st of March, 2015 onwards from all good retailers.

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