Inside Job: The Life of a Prison Psychologist by Dr Rebecca Myers

Inside Job: Treating Murderers and Sex Offenders. The Life of a Prison Psychologist. by Dr Rebecca Myers
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages -

Publisher -

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

And here I am. Totally alone in a cell with a convicted sex offender who is free to do what he wants. There is no officer. No handcuffs. No radio. Only the man across the desk and me. He looks more petrified than I do.

HMP Graymoor. One of the UK’s most notorious prisons. Home to nearly 800 murderers, rapists and child molesters.

Reporting for her first shift inside is Rebecca: twenty-two, newly graduated – and about to sit down with some of the country’s most dangerous criminals.

In this gripping, hard-hitting memoir, forensic psychologist Dr Rebecca Myers revisits her time in the ‘Hot Seat’ with Graymoor’s infamous inmates – who might not be as different to us as we think.

This is as close as we can get to knowing what really goes on inside the damaged minds behinds bars.


My Review

Guys this is absolutely not for those who struggle with triggers and the author is documenting her life experiences working within one of the most infamous prisons. Inmates are chosen to partake in a program to treat, face and the goal is helping them to not reoffend. They have committed horrendous crimes, SA, SV and murder, the treatment program is very graphic and leads them through exactly what they did to their victims. Facing their crimes, going through it from the victims point of view. I have never read anything like that before and you are hearing from the offenders. Some are remorseful and some are vile and have no remorse be go into it with open eyes and be prepared.

Dr Rebecca is pretty much going in blind, this is her first shift and we follow her through her time in the prison, relationships *side eye* and gaining her confidence. It isn't just her time in the facility and interactions with staff and prisoners. We see some of her personal life and some questionable decisions whilst she is trying to establish herself and make an important change to these individuals. If successful stopping further acts of harm towards others and getting the inmates to acknowledge, process and rehab so they won't commit offences in the future.

It would be interesting to see how much research and stats there are (it is touched on briefly) over the years and how many offenders of this nature are followed up. It seems in this day and age there is even more and more crimes of sexual violence, deviancy and murders or maybe we just hear more because of how much coverage there is now we don't just rely on papers and news outlets. It is a had read due to the content but really eye opening and I am sure would spark much debates, 3/5.

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Any way you want me by Lucy Diamond

Any Way You Want Me by Lucy Diamond
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 384

Publisher - Pan

Source - Secondhand

Blurb from Amazon

On paper, Sadie's got it all - the partner, the children, the house. But in real life, that doesn't feel quite enough. Sadie can't help harking back to the time when she was a career woman by day and a party animal by night. And what happened to feeling like a sex kitten, anyway? The only sleepless nights she's getting now are due to the baby. Maybe a little reinvention is the answer . . .

Sadie can't resist creating a fictitious online identity for herself as a hot TV producer. It's only a bit of harmless fun . . . until truth and fantasy become dangerously tangled. It isn't long before she's wondering if the exciting alter ego she has dreamed up really is the kind of person she wants to be after all . . .

Wry, funny and with a wonderful twist in the tale, Lucy Diamond's debut novel Any Way You Want Me is an enchanting story of infidelity, motherhood and friends reunited.


My Review

So this was pegged and wry, funny wonderful twist in the tale *insert eyes emoji* - I actually found it to be quite heavy to be honest. Not all of it but certainly some spice and shade. Sadie is our main character, she has two young kids, the youngest she is still getting her body back from the youngest and her days is filled with domesticity. She is bored, missing work and being the sexy mchottie she was pre birth. She applies to jobs that are from her old work life, she lies on the old school updates website after checking out her ex AND then she really plays with fire. Her other half gets her to go to a business meet where her bosses husband catches her eye. Before long they have a chance encounter, sparks fly and Sadie cannot help herself. An affair, lies galore and soon trouble comes a knocking at Sadie's door!

Yeah Sadie, I found it hard to feel anything other than mad at her. Mark is her moth to a flame, I mean your partners bosses wife my God girl talk about playing with fire. Sadie's partner seems to be a decent guy. Sadie is restless and I get it, she has leaky boobs, running about after the weans, she wants to feel desired. It does well to show you just how easy things can run a mock, little lies, little flirting and you can lose yourself down a hole quickly. Graphic, grubby passionate affair, some real life consequences - I felt like I needed a shower after reading this one. It does have some topics and situations that may make some readers uncomfortable, affairs, betrayal and others I can't name without spoilers and we don't do that here. I would read others by this author but I defo didn't love this one, 3/5 for me!

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A Secret In The Family by Nancy Revell

A Secret in the Family by Nancy Revell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 440

Publisher - Penguin

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

1945, Sunderland. Ida Boulter makes the heart-wrenching decision to leave her five children behind as she escapes her husband and moves to London to start afresh with the love of her life.
1953, County Durham. Ida’s children have since built a new life in the beautiful home of Cuthford Manor – looked after by their eldest sibling Angie and her husband.
But their world is about to be rocked once again when their mother turns up out of the blue for the first time in eight years.
She has come back bearing a secret she can no longer keep from her family.
Will telling the truth cause more harm than good?
Only their love for one another will carry them through the turbulent times ahead.
Readers love Nancy


My Review

Oooft 1945 Ida is running off with her lover and leaving behind her five kids, she knows her eldest will look after them, she always has. A woman leaving her husband and her kids, back in the 40s was almost unheard of, doing it the day before your eldest daughters wedding is pretty brutal. Now eight years later Ida is back and about to shatter her kids lives all over again.

I LOVE when authors create a world and characters you can envelope yourself in and this is exactly what we get here. I mean what a pull, a time when women stayed in marriages regardless of how bad things where and rarely did they leave let alone leave their kids behind. So you have the pull and intrigue right from the off and now eight years have passed and she is back WE NEED TO KNOW!

The kids are at different ages, the younger two are quite delighted and intrigued, the next two are loathe to acknowledge her let alone listen to anything she has to say and the eldest, Angie, she has always been a good and fair person so she gives Ida a chance to talk. I mean the decision kinda is forced on her but regardless some folk would have told her to sling her hook!

Very much actions, consequences, secrets, lies and some pearl clutching, gasp/shock moments, there are some scenes that hint to or actually have threat of violence/SA so prepare yourself. Even the 1940s had some bad folk around and there are always people looking to take advantage. I really liked how many themes ran in the book and at the heart of it all, family and love. There is some classism and snobbery, manipulation/expectation - again the time period it is absolutely expected, 4.5/5 from us this time.

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What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges

What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 3 days

Pages - 319

Publisher - Simon & Schuster

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

Just about everything in Endora, Iowa (pop. 1,091 and dwindling) is eating Gilbert Grape, a twenty-four-year-old grocery clerk who dreams only of leaving. His enormous mother, once the town sweetheart, has been eating nonstop ever since her husband's suicide, and the floor beneath her TV chair is threatening to cave in. Gilbert's long-suffering older sister, Amy, still mourns the death of Elvis, and his knockout younger sister has become hooked on makeup, boys, and Jesus--in that order, but the biggest event on the horizon for all the Grapes is the eighteenth birthday of Gilbert's younger brother, Arnie, who is a living miracle just for having survived so long. As the Grapes gather in Endora, a mysterious beauty glides through town on a bicycle and rides circles around Gilbert, until he begins to see a new vision of his family and himself.


My Review

So I know this is a movie with Johnny Depp and a very young Leonardo DiCaprio, I don't think I have seen it but little bits, I recognised the bath scene. The main character is Gilbert Grape, 24 years old, living in a small town and quite angry and over the hand life has given him. Going through the motions until a young lassie appears on her bike and captures Gilbert's attention and seeing his life through new eyes.

I can't say Gilbert is a nice character, he is a bit of a tool, not a great pal nor brother although he does have his moments with Arnie, his miracle brother the doctors had told would never make his 18th birthday. As Arnie's birthday gets closer the family make big plans for the monumental achievement. Amidst this we meet Gilbert's mother, once the town sweetheart and now hugely overweight and stays indoors 24/7 to keep from ridicule and gossip. Two older siblings who managed to escape, his older sister who lives at home and his younger sister who is a bit high maintenance, Elvis loving and newly finding the attraction to/of boys.

The book covers a whole host of dynamics, relationships, issues, some of the language is not used nowadays (Arnie is referred to as the derogatory R word multiple times). I know some people love this book, I wasn't one of them, I don't hate it but maybe I just didn't get what the author was shooting for? There was a scene I did gasp at and I felt for the wean but a lot of the time I was really annoyed at the characters behaviours and choices. Maybe that is indeed what Hedges was going for, imperfect characters, imperfect life, unlikable but with some redeeming qualities or moments, 3/5.

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The Younger Woman by Mandy Byatt

The Younger Woman by Mandy Byatt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 400

Publisher - Avon

Source - Netgalley (& bought treebook version)

Blurb from Goodreads

She knows him better than anyone.
She doesn’t know him at all…

Lottie and Nick once had a dream marriage, but a series of failed IVF attempts has left Lottie feeling insecure, and her paranoia is further stoked by the arrival of a new starter at Nick’s firm. Nuala is the spitting image of a younger, more attractive Lottie, and Nick is paying her a lot of attention…

But then Lottie discovers she’s pregnant. A surprise getaway to their country cottage to celebrate Nick’s birthday will provide the perfect backdrop to give him the news and start to heal the rifts in their relationship.

Then, on the eve of Nick’s birthday, Lottie goes into the cellar, and what she finds makes her question everything.
Because there, in the corner of the cellar, is the body of a young woman.
A young woman who looks just like Lottie…



My Review

Lottie and Nick are celebrating, it has been rough going, failed attempts at getting pregnant, infidelity, stress. Now they are heading to Nick's family cottage, secluded, it is almost Nick's birthday and Lottie has a surprise for him. When Nick nips out to get supplies Lottie finds the key to the cellar and discovers a body, a female who not only looks like Lottie but she recognises. Can you ever really know your other half and is Lottie safe, alone with Nick and a dead body!

The book jumps in time, from present day to Lottie/Nick and the shocking discovery to going back in the past (then) and between characters. Mainly we follow Lottie, Nick, the beautiful PA who wants Nick and will stop at nothing to get him and Ruth, family and worker of Nick. Oh what a twisted web we weave. Nick's PA is shocking, like her chapters she is very honest with us and herself about her intent, she sees Nick, she is love struck, she knows he is married and she will move heaven and earth to get him because she knows he wants he. So for people who hate infidelity, cheating, marital stuff this book is weaved with it, brace yourself. However karma they say is always around the corner so dun dun duuuuuuuh.

I did feel a wee bit out of sorts as there are so many view points and it took me a bit into each chapter to figure out who was who and what was going on. I would say when you have characters like that putting names headers on the top can be helpful however with so much twisty paced stuff I get why that would' exactly work with this one.

I was so annoyed with how shady one character was and how they played with peoples feelings, I was rooting for her comeuppance. I wasn't sure where it was going to go and play out on and I think books that keep you on your toes. Chapters are relatively short which always gets a thumbs up from us. A delvy dive into relationships, infidelity, ivf, marriages, the stress and strains of trying to get pregnant and struggling, work environment, family, blatant plays for married men, secrets, lies and more, it has a dark theme and shows some unsavoury aspects of humanity. It also has the reader questioning almost everyone and who they can trust, 4/5.

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Hidden Depths by J H Mann

Today is my stop on the blog tour for "Hidden Depths" by author J H Mann. This is a Rachels Random resources blog tour, for my stop I have my review. The book is available to buy now, ebook and treebook, on Amazon UK.


About the author:

Jason Mann is an award-winning journalist and writer living in the South West of England with Nicola, his wife, and their lively whippet, Patch. He is also a shore-based volunteer for the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution). Jason says: ‘Many of my stories are set in the wonderful county of Cornwall where truth can sometimes be stranger than fiction. I have swum and surfed there much of my life. It has been a special place for me with its legends, soaring cliffs, rugged moors and wild seas. The landscape has a raw, mystical magic. My father and mother’s recollections of rescues and tragedies on the North coast are often the inspiration for my stories. My father became one of the county’s early lifeguards after his predecessor was killed by a strike of lightning while standing in waist-deep water during a rescue.’

Social Media Links

Jason's Twitter

His Facebook

His website

and lastly Instagram

Hidden Depths by J.H. Mann
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 318

Publisher - Dark Spider Books

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

On a wild Cornish headland, Catherine Carlyon takes a decision that will change her life forever. She is facing the bleak prospect of years in prison after being sucked into a fraud by a man she thought loved her. Catherine has found a possible way out – to disappear. But disappearing comes at a price. She must abandon her family and everything she holds dear. The greatest challenge of her life is looming, an epic adventure in the North Atlantic which will take her to her limits and beyond…Praise for Hidden 'A conventional middle-aged woman has a passionate affair, becomes embroiled in fraud and makes the desperate decision to risk all in the hope of disappearing. J.H.Mann has lovingly evoked the Cornish landscape, from the wild Atlantic coast to the bleak and threatening moors, as the setting for a gripping thriller. I loved it’ – Debi Alper, author of the Nirvana series of thrillers. ‘The real essence of the challenge of open water swimming has been woven into a finely crafted suspense novel’ – Mark Richards, long distance swimmer, one of the few people to have successfully completed the 28-mile swim between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Perfect for fans of Ann Cleeves's Shetland and Vera Stanhope mysteries and novels by Lucy Foley and Alice Feeney. Dive into Hidden Depths today!



My Review

Meet Catherine, she is having a bad time of it, her husband has been laid off and is struggling to find another job. Sinking further into booze responsibility falls to Catherine to cover the bills, keep them afloat as he sinks deeper into a funk/booze. Her son is a typical teen and Catherine is going through the motions, until she makes a decision that brings some fun into her life, passion, challenges her morals/values and finds her sinking deeper and deeper to a dark place where danger looms on every corner.

A passionate affair, challenges to her moral code, decisions that change/challenger her as a person and falling deeper and deeper into a web of lies, deceit, criminality and even threats to her life. The book does a great job of taking a normal housewife, upstanding, good strong morals and then one choice, one affair just upends EVERYTHING and takes you on a wild rollercoaster showing how easily one could fall.

Making the main character someone you can relate to is always a good shout because it makes everything more believable therefore more shocking when it all gets so dark. The tension keeps throughout the book, knowing all she has to loose and every decision takes her another step into chaos and risks.


The mundanity of the good housewife/trusted employee just adds to how shocking it is when she does the things she does and the choices she makes. Read almost in one sitting as I just wanted to see what was coming next. Everyone has different takes on how they enjoy their books being wrapped up and it will be interesting to see how everyone take this.

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The Happiest Ever After by Milly Johnson

The Happiest Ever After by Milly Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 400

Publisher - Simon & Schuster

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads


Polly Potter is surviving, not thriving. She used to love her job – until her mentor died and her new boss decided to make her life hell. She used to love her partner Chris – until he cheated on her, and now she can’t forget. The only place where her life is working is on the pages of the novel she is writing – there she can create a feistier, bolder, more successful version of herself – as the ­fictional Sabrina Anderson.

But what if it was possible to start over again? To leave everything behind, forget all that went before, and live the life you’d always dreamed of?

After a set of unforeseen circumstances, Polly ends up believing she really IS Sabrina, living at the heart of a noisy Italian family restaurant by the sea. Run by Teddy, the son of her new landlady Marielle, it’s a much-loved place, facing threat of closure as a rival restaurant moves in next door. Sabrina can’t remember her life as Polly, but she knows she is living a different life from the one she used to have.

But what if this new life could belong to her after all?



My Review

Aw Polly! Working in an environment where the men dominate, take all her ideas and pat themselves on the back for a good job. Home life isn't much better, her husband remains self involved, lack of attention to the little things despite saying he would try more after betraying her last year. When one finally act of selfishness on his part and his sister Polly gets the push to be like the character in her book and take off, Polly is ready for putting herself first for a chance. Life likes to mess with you and poor Polly ends up in a new town trying to piece everything together whilst her husband is feeling hard done by and continues to be a selfish pie!

The thing with Johnson books is she makes characters you love and characters you hate. Rooting for some and bursting for others to get their comeuppance. We all know a selfish partner, a busybody, a nasty selfish horror. The book draws you in and keeps you hooked despite it being very normal people in very normal settings.

Secrets, amnesia, love, lies, good hearted people, things going wrong, people rooting for each other and maybe just maybe a wee bit of karma for a few of those we desperately want it to. Warm hearted, emotive in parts, characters you genuinely care about and want to know what happens, even the bams, 4.5/5 for me.

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Last Place You Look by Louisa Scarr

Last Place You Look by Louisa Scarr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1.5 days

Pages - 352

Publisher - Canelo Crime

Source - Amazon

Blurb from Goodreads

The man you love has been murdered. You’d do anything to find out the truth. Wouldn’t you?

A man lies dead in a hotel room, and the police attend his home address to inform the widow. Nothing unusual, until DC Freya West realises – too late – that the victim is the man she has been having an affair with. The future she imagined has been snatched away.

Meanwhile, her new boss, DS Robin Butler, is preoccupied with his own problems. Mistakes he thought buried deep in his past now threaten to be exposed. Before long, both Butler and West are keeping secrets that could end their careers – and worse.

When the detectives have a chance to tell the truth, they choose to keep quiet. But once that line is crossed, is there any going back? After all, breaking the law is easy when you know how to uphold it.



My Review

I hadn't heard of this author before and the book was on offer on Amazon and I am a sucker for crime and bargains! DC West is put to work with DS Butler her new boss. West is about to have her world turned upside down, she thought it was because the married man she has been having an affair with is leaving his wife. Actually he turns up dead and she is on the case with the new boss.

Ooooh there is a lot going on in this book and some mentions of sex (even a brief visit to a swingers pad) and West's love is found naked, dead in a hotel room! Accidental death on the surface but everything West knows about him she knows no way this can be true. How does she focus the investigation when she isn't meant to know him, she is grieving and her future is gone!

It is intense as we know one of the officers is hiding a secret but Butler also has things in his past he would rather be left there. As the investigation picks up we learn more about the central characters and things get dark and dodgy quickly.

I can't believe this is a debut, you would believe this author has been writing for years. Suspense, shock, characters with depth and unravelling their layers as you go. I got this because it was on offer, I ordered book two because I am very much looking forward to where the next stage of the story is going, 4.5/5 for me this time!

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Stay Alive by Simon Kernick

Stay Alive by Simon Kernick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 week

Pages - 420

Publisher - Arrow Books

Blurb from Goodread

ONE WITNESS

You’re on a trip with your family, miles from anywhere. A shot rings out – and your whole life changes in an instant.

ONE SECRET

A woman is racing towards you, chased by three gunmen. Although you don’t know it, she harbours a deadly secret. She’s in terrible danger. And now you are too.

NO ESCAPE

You’re running, terrified, desperate to find safety.

You know that the men hunting you have killed before.

And if they catch you, you’ll be next …


My Review

The tale opens "21 days ago" we are introduced to Amanda Rowan, she stumbles upon her husbands murder and the killer is still in the house. What ensues is a game of cat and mouse, Amanda is running for her life, her killer will stop at nothing and innocent people will die!

Amanda is one of our main characters, the whole story is focused around her and the maniac who is after her. Along the road she meets other people who will be dragged into the chase and fight to survive.

The tale skips between the 21 days ago, flipping to present day and then back and fourth between the two time lines. It is easy enough to follow the time line and the characters involved. The crime and chase starts from the very first chapter and your drawn into a scary and dark world through Amanda and the people she meets as she tries to stay alive. I found it really hard to put down at first, however, as the story goes on a few things didn't sit right with me. By the end of the story you understand everything however I just felt a few aspects were a bit out there and hard to believe. It is still a really good story though and I will read this author again, 3/5 for me this time.

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