Viral by Helen Fitzgerald

Viral by Helen Fitzgerald
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Publisher - Faber & Faber

Pages - 272

Blurb from Goodreads

So far, twenty-three thousand and ninety six people have seen me online. They include my mother, my father, my little sister, my grandmother, my other grandmother, my grandfather, my boss, my sixth year Biology teacher and my boyfriend James.


When Leah Oliphant-Brotheridge and her adopted sister Su go on holiday together to Magaluf to celebrate their A-levels, only Leah returns home. Her successful, swotty sister remains abroad, humiliated and afraid: there is an online video of her, drunkenly performing a sex act in a nightclub. And everyone has seen it.

Ruth Oliphant-Brotheridge, mother of the girls, successful court judge, is furious. How could this have happened? How can she bring justice to these men who took advantage of her dutiful, virginal daughter? What role has Leah played in all this? And can Ruth find Su and bring her back home when Su doesn't want to be found?


My Review

The opening line of this book packs a punch and leaves the reader in no doubt about what the book is about. Su just wants her sister Leah to like her like she did when they were kids, so going away to Magaluf with her friends seems the way to go. But when Su is filmed perfoming a sex act and the video goes viral, all of their lives change. Su is MIA, their parents are besides themselves and just want her home safe and the perpetrators punished, Leah is keeping quiet and everyone but everyone knows what has happened.

Aw poor Su, swotty, geeky and a top student, her whole life is laid out for her until that fateful holiday with her sister, then with the press of a button it is all gone. Ruth, their mother, is a judge and she is out for blood, someone will pay and she will get Su back.

This story sees the devastating effects one drunken decision can have on a family, how quickly life can unravel and how helpless anyone can be when something like this happens. The ferociousness of one mothers love and strength to right a wrong and how powerless people really are when someone is let loose online. It is about self growth and identity, love, relationships, loss & just how vulnerable anyone can be to the internet! A bit graphic in some of the scene descriptions that some readers may find uncomfortable, remember this is about a sex act going viral. Thanks so much to Netgalley for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review, 4/5 for me.

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ARC - The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain

The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Publisher - St. Martin's Press

Pages - 352

Source - NetGalley

Blurb From Goodreads

In The Silent Sister, Riley MacPherson has spent her entire life believing that her older sister Lisa committed suicide as a teenager. Now, over twenty years later, her father has passed away and she's in New Bern, North Carolina cleaning out his house when she finds evidence to the contrary. Lisa is alive. Alive and living under a new identity. But why exactly was she on the run all those years ago, and what secrets are being kept now? As Riley works to uncover the truth, her discoveries will put into question everything she thought she knew about her family. Riley must decide what the past means for her present, and what she will do with her newfound reality, in this engrossing mystery from international bestselling author Diane Chamberlain.


My Review

Riley MacPherson is our main character, her father has passed away and she is going to get his affairs in order. Riley soon discovers her family have secrets, especially her dad. Always believing Lisa, her sister, had committed suicide she is shocked to discover this isn't the case and not only did her father know, others did too. Riley is intent on uncovering the truth, she needs her family, at any cost!

I have always loved reading Diane Chamberlain books and recommend her often to people looking for a new, for them, author. I couldn't with all honestly start them here. The start of the book has the Chamberlain pull and I found it hard to put down. However as the tale deepens and mysteries unravel, I found myself often with more questions than those answered. I found it hard to believe some of the characters actions, choices and behavior. It is still an engaging story, I did want to know what happened to the characters and reading the flip between Lisa and Riley, past and present was quite good to give you a good grasp of what happened.

I felt the ending came suddenly, it was over just too quickly for me. Like a good author does I was left wanting more, yet this never sits well with me. I wanted closure on the other characters although some people do enjoy coming to their own conclusions. It just didn't feel like a Chamberlain book for me, it still was a good read but being left with so many questions and having to suspend reality for one or two things it did bring the overall enjoyment down for me. Thanks so much to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This title is out to buy from October 2014, some people loved it so check it out for yourself.

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(NetGalley) Review - Prime Deception by Carys Jones

Prime Deception by Carys Jones
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Publisher - Carina UK

Pages - 304

Source - NetGalley

Blurb from Goodreads

When Lorna Thomas is found dead in her car everyone believes she killed herself. But the day after her death Lorna was set to sell a scandalous story to one of Britain’s biggest tabloid papers. For six months she had been the Deputy Prime Minister’s mistress.

Will Lorna’s secret die with her? While her family try to move on and come to terms with her death one person refuses to believe that Lorna killed herself. Her twin sister, Laurie is convinced that Lorna was murdered and she’ll stop at nothing to prove it, even if that means teaming up the very man her sister had been having an affair with…


My Review

When I read the blurb, I assumed this was going to be a crime/thriller/suspense - whilst there is a small element of two within the book, I have to say this is more of a romantic/feelings/loss type of story. The Deputy Prime Minister has been having an affair for 6 months with an intern, the story was about to become public knowledge but Lorna, the mistress, commits suicide before it happens. Her twin sister, Laurie, comes to town to investigate and ask questions as she doesn't believe her sister would do that. Laurie and Charles, the Deputy Prime Minister, team up to see if there is something more than meets the eye about Lorna's death or was is just a sad suicide neither of them saw coming?

Well I have to be honest, this book started really slowly for me. Apart from the young girls death and the Prime Minister actually finding out, not a lot happens! There is so much focus on how the death impacts upon Charles, his feelings, wondering what might have been and reliving the memories in Downing Street when he should be doing important Prime Minister duties. I was a bit worried there would be a lot of political chat in the book but there wasn't, for so long it is just how he feels, reacts, copes or rather fails to cope. Enter Laurie, feisty, grieving, angry and hurt, determined her sister didn't commit suicide and desperate for someone to help her look into it.

Then we have a lot of focus on Laurie, her feelings, her relationship with her parents and partner and how that all fares since Lorna's death. To be honest not much happens , I felt, until close to then end, then it kicks up a notch and we have excitement, danger, risk, revelations and not to mention a few red herrings within. I think the author has a good writing style however the decision of whether the book will be crime or feelings should be chosen and stuck to as putting the two together like that, I felt just didn't work. Despite a 2/5 rating, I would read this author again. Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and introducing me to a new author.

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DRC - Where The Bodies Are Buried by Chris Brookmyre

Where the Bodies Are Buried. Chris Brookmyre by Christopher Brookmyre

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Time taken to read - 2.5 days

Blurb From Goodreads

Detective Catherine McLeod was always taught that in Glasgow, they don't do whodunit. They do score-settling. They do vendettas. They do petty revenge. They do can't-miss-whodunit. It's a lesson that has served her well, but Glasgow is also a dangerous place to make assumptions. Either way she looks at it, she recognises that the discovery of a dead drug-dealer in a back alley is merely a portent of further deaths to come. Elsewhere in the city, aspiring actress Jasmine Sharp is reluctantly - and incompetently - earning a crust working for her uncle Jim's private investigation business. When Jim goes missing, Jasmine has to take on the investigator mantle for real, and her only lead points to Glen Fallan, a gangland enforcer and professional assassin whose reputation is rendered only slightly less terrifying by having been dead for twenty years. Cautiously tracing an accomplished killer's footsteps, Jasmine stumbles into a web of corruption and decades-hidden secrets that could tear apart an entire police force - if she can stay alive long enough to tell the tale.

My Review

To be honest I have struggled between a 2 or a 3 star rating, I decided on a 3 for two reasons. One it is ok for a crime novel and not the worst I have read by any stretch of the imagination and secondly I have loved all his previous books so that has got to count for something, right?

The story is split really in two, with the police investigating (mainly Detective Catherine McLeod and associates) and Jasmin. Jasmine is a want to be actress working for her uncle at his private detective agency since her mum died and in between her few and none call backs. When a local known criminal is found assassinated Detective Catherine is called in, meanwhile Jasmines uncle is investigating something from way back and goes missing. The story goes chapter to chapter switching from each one.

Most notably from the opening of the book it is now Chris Brookmyre not Christopher, a show of out with the old and in with the new. Gone is the hilarious, outrageous, bizarre and captivating characters and story lines. In it's place we have a crime story with very little of the signature Brookmyre we know, now I like crime stories anyway and as far as that goes it was ok. I did find myself slogging through it and bored at times although the last quarter did pick up and save it from a definite two star review. I can't say I liked any of the characters much, Jasmine was very weak and out of place - detective Catherine had a few moments of potential for liking but really none of them had a patch on Jack Parlabane who you couldn't help but love (or hate) - I didn't feel any draw towards these characters. However that said it is the first in the series and it did give a good introduction to the characters that will no doubt be in the next installment which I will be getting. I just hope we see Brookmyre in it and not this new echoing of Rankin as I always loved his unique style and not sure I would be as loyal to this new style. A respectable 3/5 for me and hopeful for the next one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove/Atlantic Inc for providing me with a copy of this to review.

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Review Spin by Catherine McKenzie

Spin by Catherine McKenzie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Blurb from NetGalley



Kate Sandford has just gotten an interview at her favorite music magazine, The Line. It's the chance of a lifetime. So what does she do? Goes out to celebrate-and shows up still drunk at the interview at 9am. No surprise, she doesn't get the job, but the folks at the media company think she might be perfect for another assignment for their gossip rag. Kate is to follow a young female celebrity into rehab and get the inside story. If she can get the rehab scoop (and complete the 30-day program without getting kicked out), they'll reconsider her for the job at The Line.



Kate takes the job. But things get complicated when real friendships develop, a cute celebrity handler named Henry gets involved, and Kate begins to realize she may be in rehab for a reason.



My Review



Kate is almost at 30 when she gets her break break into the job she always wanted, an interview for her fav music Magazine. However Kate has always been a girl who like to celebrate and whats one glass the day before her birthday and big interview. One glass turns into many and Kate wakes up half cut, hungover and running close to late for her interview. Here is the start of a new stage in her life. In order to try and save the job she has to go into rehab and get the low down on the young and popular celebrity Amber.



What follows is a story about how far one girl will go to get what she wants and the path of self discovery she unexpectedly falls upon trying to get there. I really enjoyed this book, it is very easy to follow and so well written you could be reading about people you know as the characters are so well written. The relationships formed and unexpected struggles she faces really pull you in, I read this book in one sitting and would recommend it to anyone who fancys a read that doesn't make you think too hard but keeps you engrossed page after page.



This is my first time reading this author but would certainly read more, I like her style of writing so it's a 4/5 for me.



Thank you to HarperCollins for sending me this book to review and introducing me to a new author. Publication date for this book is 02/01/2012.



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