The Last Crossing by Brian McGilloway Blog Tour

Today is my stop on the blog tour, please check out the other stops as we all offer different content.





About the author:




Brian McGilloway is the New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Inspector Benedict Devlin and DS Lucy Black series.

He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1974. After studying English at Queen’s University, Belfast, he took up a teaching position in St Columb’s College in Derry, where he was Head of English until 2013. He currently teaches in Holy Cross College, Strabane.

Brian’s work has been nominated for, and won, many awards, including Borderlands (shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger), Gallows Lane (shortlisted for both the 2009 Irish Book Awards / Ireland AM Crime Novel of the Year and Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2010), and Little Girl Lost (winner of the University of Ulster’s McCrea Literary Award 2011).

In 2014, Brian won BBC NI’s Tony Doyle Award for his screenplay, Little Emperors, an award which saw him become Writer In Residence with BBC NI.

Brian lives near the Irish borderlands with his wife, daughter and three sons.

Social Media & Links

Facebook: @bmcgilloway

Twitter: @brianmcgilloway

Website: www.brianmcgilloway.com

About the book




“Moving and powerful, this is an important book which everyone should read.” Ann Cleeves

“The Last Crossing is a brilliant excavation of the recent past.” Adrian McKinty

Tony, Hugh and Karen thought they’d seen the last of each other thirty years ago. Half a lifetime has passed and memories have been buried. But when they are asked to reunite - to lay ghosts to rest for the good of the future - they all have their own reasons to agree. As they take the ferry from Northern Ireland to Scotland the past is brought in to terrible focus - some things are impossible to leave behind.

In The Last Crossing memory is unreliable, truth shifts and slips and the lingering legacy of the Troubles threatens the present once again. Out to buy NOW from Amazon.

For my stop I have my review, enjoy.

The Last Crossing by Brian McGilloway
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 4 days

Pages - 380

Publisher - The Dome Press

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

“The Last Crossing is a brilliant excavation of the recent past.” Adrian McKinty

Tony, Hugh and Karen thought they’d seen the last of each other thirty years ago. Half a lifetime has passed and memories have been buried. But when they are asked to reunite - to lay ghosts to rest for the good of the future - they all have their own reasons to agree. As they take the ferry from Northern Ireland to Scotland the past is brought in to terrible focus - some things are impossible to leave behind.

In The Last Crossing memory is unreliable, truth shifts and slips and the lingering legacy of the Troubles threatens the present once again.


My Review

This is my first dance with this author, we open to the scene of an execution. Tony is headed back to Scotland to face their past and the actions that cost a young man his life and impacted on theirs. Tony, Hugh and Karen haven't seen each other for years, their fate cast by an act they committed and the choices they each made.

The book splits in two, pre assassination (the past) and post assassination (present time) flipping between the two with alternating chapters. It took me a wee bit to notice, just coming off shifts, that each chapter ends and begins with a linking word or sentence, pretty nifty and well done!

The book looks mostly at Tony, main character, and how things centered around him, his feelings, job, attitude and what drew him into such a dark group, activists who met out "justice" as they see fit. His brothers death, him wanting someone to pay, a group who see him ripe for joining, all of this is set in Ireland. Then Tony flees to Scotland and the book is across the two locations although primarily Ireland I would say.

It is a dark read, how easy it is for people to get involved in a movement, killing and how small choices and actions can have huge consequences, impact and far reach even many years later. This was my first book by this author, it won't be my last 4/5 for me this time.

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Target Alex Cross by James Patterson

Target: Alex Cross by James Patterson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - on and off over 3 days

Pages - 414

Publisher - Century

Source - Review Copy

Blurb from Goodreads

TARGET: HEAD OF STATE

A leader has fallen, and the procession route from Capitol Hill to the White House is lined with hundreds of thousands of mourners. None feel the loss of a President more keenly than Alex Cross, who has devoted his life to the public good.

TARGET: UNITED STATES CABINET

A sniper’s bullet strikes a target in the heart of DC. Alex Cross’s wife, Bree Stone, newly elevated chief of DC detectives, faces an ultimatum: solve the case, or lose the position for which she’s worked her entire career. The Secret Service and the FBI deploy as well in the race to find the shooter. Alex is tasked by the new President to take a personal role with the FBI, leading an investigation unprecedented in scale and scope.

TARGET: ALEX CROSS

Alex has a horrible premonition: is the sniper’s strike only the beginning of a larger attack on the nation? It isn’t long before his fears explode into life, and the nation plunges into a full-blown Constitutional crisis. His ingenuity, his training, and his capacity for battle are tested beyond limits in the most far-reaching and urgently consequential case of his life. As the rule of law is shattered by chaos, and Alex fights to isolate a suspect, Alex’s loyalty may be the biggest danger of all.


My Review

Lets open with just saying I LOVE Alex Cross, I love reading about his family and adventures so I am always delighted to pick up one of this series. Alex has left force but still gets called in to help out and this case needs all the help it can get. There is a killer in town and the target is high profile, who would dare and how can they get away with such an outrageous attack. As the story unfolds we may have more than one target and Alex Cross has to get involved in the thick of it to try and work out who is next, who is pulling the strings and why before the clock runs out.

We open with a funeral and skip to five days later, there are many important decisions to be made after the death of a prominent figure in the government. We then open to an assassin, going through the motions as he prepares to take out his target. This kicks off a chain of events, ruthless killers, high profile targets and some of the most shocking and daring murders we have seen in a Patterson book and lets face it, that is no mean feat.

The book keeps up a fast pace and at times I was left aghast at how accessible some of these prominent targets could be. Yes it is fiction but still it is so well written and lets face it we have in our history prominent figures and leaders targeted so it isn't outwith the realms of possibility.

I like the family aspect of these books, we always have a murder case and some cat and mouse but there is always a bit of Alex's family life. We get wee snippets in this book but not as much as before, I suppose with so many bad guys and plots afoot unless the book is longer something needs limited.

Action packed, some very smart criminals and daring plots that will keep you on your toes. As I said I love the Cross books so may be a wee bit biased as I haven't read one I disliked yet. Short chapters which means even on busy days you can still sneak a wee chapter or five in. I haven't read all the books in order, I generally grab them as I find them so you could read this as a standalone however I would suggest starting at the beginning because they are pretty great books. 4/5 for me this time, good crime fiction with a bit of everything in it plus I was just jaw dropped at some of the antics and daring of the bad guys!

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