The Lost Girl by Tania Carver

The Lost Girl by Tania Carver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 3 days

Publisher - Little Brown Book Group

Pages - 416

Blurb from Goodreads

The terrifying new thriller in the Brennan and Esposito series - are you brave enough to read it?

When three men are found hanged in locations around Colchester, Detective Inspector Phil Brennan gets the shock of his life. Not only are the victims dressed to look like him, but each carries a defaced tarot card in the pocket of their identical leather jackets, scrawled across with one name: Phil Brennan.

The bodies aren't found in random locations - they're all in places where DI Brennan has caught a murderer. Someone is sending him a message. And he thinks he knows who it is...

Shocking and thrilling, in this dramatic new Tania Carver thriller DI Phil Brennan and his wife, psychologist Marina Esposito, have their lives turned upside down as the past comes back to haunt their present with terrifying consequences.


My Review

Firsty, if you haven't read the previous books in the series I think you can get away with picking this one up. There are mentions to things that have happened in previous books and this series I have read out of order and just as I find them. DI Phil Brennan and his wife Marina Esposito (psychologist) have been through so much already, they are cautious and do keep on top of personal safety. When three male victims are found, all in places Brennan has connections to it is clear someone is trying to tell him something. A high profile kidnap puts everyone on edge and questioning everything they know and their team. The killer is fearless, clever and has one mission on her mind, no one and nothing will get in the way and Phil and Marina find themselves facing their greatest threat yet.

We open in italics, with a little girl and an event that will change her life forever, anytime we visit her the italics highlights the switch so we can follow the story with ease. There are many themes in this book, murder, psychological torture, rape, abuse, pedophilia, prostitution, police teamwork, grief and loss, to name but a few. Certainly not for the faint hearted or easily offended, some of the scenes are really tough to read even for the hardest fans of dark gritty crime.

The chapters are short making it easy for dipping in and out, the subject matter is horrific in parts and the pace finds the reader struggling to put it down. I have read Carver before and will read him again, I just may need a few fluffy reads inbetween to draw some balance again. Carver creates some really deprived criminals that disgusts you but keeps you hooked to discover just what creates such monsters. 4/5 for me this time, as I said I have read him before and I would read him again but warn readers to pick this one up with caution.

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Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 4 days on and off

Pages - 336

Publisher - Corsair

Blurb from Goodreads

Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."

"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.



My Review

We all know who Abraham Lincoln is but what we didn't know was he was also a vampire hunter! When Abraham's mother dies and he finds out the real reason, he sets on a path of murder and retribution, Abraham Lincoln will kill all the vampires!

If you don't mind books like Pride, Prejudice and Zombies then you should get on just fine with this. Abraham has a diary where he catalogs his interactions with people and his hunts for vampires, the book also follows regular transcript of telling of the story in third person narration. I think some people may have issue with some of Lincolns achievements and reasoning for abolishing slavery in the book as well as the drive for his political career.

Otherwise, if you just read it as is, a cheesy, silly, not to be taken seriously story with an important historical figure mixed in with some vampires you will find it ok. The writing is a bit boxy and in parts I was a little bored however it has made me want to go read more about the real Abraham Lincoln and his life. The author acknowledges Wikipedia as one of his sources for research which in itself says something! It is certainly different and counted as one of my Halloween reads, would I read this author again? Sure however I wouldn't be rushing out to buy their work, 3/5 for me.

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Review - The Darkening Hour by Penny Hancock

The Darkening Hour by Penny Hancock
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 6 days

Publisher - Simon & Schuster

pages - 402

Blurb from Goodreads

Meet Theodora
And Mona
Two women, from completely different walks of life, forced by circumstances to live together under one roof.
Both women are at their wits' end, scared of losing the one thing that's most precious to them. So when tensions boil over, who will go to the most extreme lengths to survive?
Will it be Theodora, finally breaking under the pressure?
Or Mona, desperate to find a way out?
In a tale of modern day slavery and paranoia, two women tell their sides of the story.
Who do you trust?


My Review

When I read the blurb, I thought it was about two workers living together, perhaps forced into some kind of labour. However the story is quite different. Theodora is caring for her father who has dementia with little help from the family. She is trying to keep her full time career with her own local show, look after her son who has just came back to live with her after some issues and a brush with the law. Her husband gets her Mona, a live in carer to help look after her father with all of his care and the story centers around this and the relationship between the two.

Mona has left behind her sick mother and little girl, in her own country and with a secret agenda, she is looking for her husband although portrays herself as a widow. She has to juggle the increasing demands of her employer as well as trying to find her husband, in this strange country, with limited means to do so.

Mona is trapped and at the mercy of Theodora's increasing demands. It is a story of slavery and abuse, care, devotion and also a bit of a psychological thriller as you see the increasingly bizarre behavior and decline of one of the characters. The chapters alternate between Theodora and Mona so you can see the different view points on the same situations which works really well.

I think this story could have been fantastic and some of it is very well done, however, it took a while to build up. Some of the behavior I felt was too incredulous, there is a lot of questions left unanswered which I absolutely hate. My opinions of the two women changed quite a bit in the first few chapters and I didn't like either of them, as it went on I found myself feeling for Mona and total disgust for Theodora. It will be interesting to see how they were received by other readers. For the most part this book has had high praise and great ratings so I would definitely recommend it to people, for me though there was more I disliked that I actually liked. 2/5 for me this time, first time reading this author and despite not loving this book, I would read her again.

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A.R.R - The Jazz Cage by Ray Chen Smith

The Jazz Cage by Ray Chen Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time Taken To Read - 2 days

Blurb From Goodreads

Prohibition-era mobsters collide with Underground Railroad abolitionists in The Jazz Cage.

It is 1924—sixty years after the South’s victory in the Civil War.

Frank McCluey, bounty hunter for the mob, is sent to help out a wealthy Virginian bootlegger. Frank’s job: track down two female slaves who’ve run away from the millionaire.

But the mob has made a bad choice. Instead of capturing the women, Frank decides to help them escape to Canada, his mission now aided by the pint-sized but steel-willed runaway Della and the outlawed Underground Railroad.

Soon Della and Frank become the target of slave catchers, cops, gangsters, and most chilling of all, a Confederate agent nicknamed the Hound for his ability to always sniff out and kill his prey.

My Review

This is a great story, the Civil War where the South won and slavery and racism is rife. Frank McCluey is a bounty hunter for the mob and hired to bring back two female slaves who have escaped from a millionaire that will stop at nothing get them back. However Frank is going though a crisis and instead of taking the women back he decides to help them, putting himself in the firing line for the mob, police and FSA agents. A fast paced story that will have you keep you hooked until the end.

I really liked this story, the two slaves and Frank are the main characters (along with the FSA Agent, known as The Hound). The story alternates between these 4 characters and we follow their escape and the characters who dip in and out of the story. There is a lot going on but not so much that you get lost or confused amongst the plot. The chapters are a few pages long (which I love) so you can fire through the book even if your working or have other things on as you can dip in and out.

Why only 3 stars for a book I really enjoyed? Well my knowledge on history isn't great so I found myself having to stop mid story and Google a few things which is no reflection on the story or writer (more my lack education) but it did then interrupt my reading (which most of you won't have an issue with). Also when the bad guy got paid, the amount was told by who was on the money rather than the amount, again I had to search as I am rubbish at knowing who is on what note (and would have the same issue on our countries notes). However I now know a wee bit more than I did before reading this book and may pick up a book on the Civil War and educate myself further.

The characters are very well written, Frank I just couldn't help but like considering what he is putting on the line to help these woman. The strength of these two ladies shows throughout the book (Della more so but Cece shines through as the story goes on). There is racism, a lot of bad words and the horrors the women suffer are told but doesn't go into horrific detail but enough fr you to understand why they are so desperate to get away (and so untrusting towards white folk). The Hound is a horrible despicable man who uses his status to get away with appalling crimes and punishes people for things that happened to him as a youngster. I don't think I have disliked a character so much since Percy in The Green Mile. The author has a wonderful talent for bringing the characters to life and I am still thinking of them despite finishing the book. 3/5 for me this time and thank you so much to the author for giving me the chance to read and review his work. I would definitely read this author again.

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