All Of Us Are Broken by Fiona Cummins

All Of Us Are Broken by Fiona Cummins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out as able over 3 days

Pages - 320

Publisher - Macmillan

Source - ARC

Blurb from Goodreads

It’s been a long time since the Hardwicke family has been on holiday. But thirteen-year-old Galen has wanted to see the wild dolphins at Scotland’s Chanonry Point for as long as she can remember, and her mother Christine – a lone parent since her beloved husband left – is determined she gets her wish. But their serene trip is about to be interrupted.

When DC Saul Anguish is called to investigate the shooting of an ex-police officer in Midtown-on-Sea, Essex, he quickly discovers that this is the first in a string of killings by Missy and Fox, a damaged young couple hell-bent on infamy, their love story etched in blood. In pursuit, Saul follows their trail north.

The paths of the Hardwickes' and the deadly couple are about to collide. When Saul and his forensic linguist partner, Blue, arrive on the scene, they witness the unthinkable: a mother forced to make an impossible choice.

Saul must uncover the truth about the couple. But can he find the strength to lay the ghosts of his past to rest before they break him?



My Review

Christine Hardwicke is doing her best, for her and her two kids Galen (teen girl) and Tom younger boy, since her husband left. In a bid to fix her broken family they head for a holiday to a the Scottish Highlands. Fox and Missy are a modern day Bonnie and Clyde, they know how things will play out but all they care about is each other and noone and nothing is getting in their way!

Ooft explosive, breath holding at points, shocking, edge of your seat moments peppered throughout the book. We jump between chapters and characters to lead up to the opening chapter, an unimaginable standoff and not everyone is likely to come out alive dun dun duuuuuuuuun.

We also have DC Saul and side kick/partner forensic linguistic partner. We met them before in another book (if you haven't read it fear not you can pick up here but absolutely get the other cos its fantastic and you are missing out) - they are very different law official people and have a unique but strong bonded relationship, prepare some gasps if you don't already know their story. All of the above end up on the same path, Saul investigating, Fox and Missy causing murder/mayhem and chaos and the poor Hardwickes just are wrong place wrong time.

Cummins has a talent for sure, drops you right into an action or shocking scene then taking us back to get to know the players. It is brutal, fast faced, no one is safe and you will struggle to put it down when real life duties come a calling, 4.5/5 for me.

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Vanish by Tess Gerritsen

Vanish by Tess Gerritsen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 462

Publisher - Bantam

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

A nameless, beautiful woman appears to be just another corpse in the morgue. An apparent suicide, she lies on a gurney, awaiting the dissecting scalpel of medical examiner Maura Isles. But when Maura unzips the body bag and looks down at the body, she gets the fright of her life. The corpse opens its eyes.
Very much alive, the woman is rushed to the hospital, where with shockingly cool precision, she murders a security guard and seizes hostages . . . one of them a pregnant patient, Jane Rizzoli.
Who is this violent, desperate soul, and what does she want? As the tense hours tick by, Maura joins forces with Jane s husband, FBI agent Gabriel Dean, to track down the mysterious killer s identity. When federal agents suddenly appear on the scene, Maura and Gabriel realize that they are dealing with a case that goes far deeper than just an ordinary hostage crisis.
Only Jane, trapped with the armed madwoman, holds the key to the mystery. And only she can solve it if she survives the night. ."



My Review

This is book 5 in the Rizzoli & Isle's series, I have to confess to reading them out of order and this one must have slipped my attention. These books are gritty and fast paced, short chapters which I love and perfect if you are struggling reading and having your attention kept just now.

Human trafficking and the sex trade features in parts of the book and of course all the brutality that comes with that so be prepared. A body makes its way to Isle's mortuary only for her to discover it isn't actually a dead body. Chaos ensues a hostage situation/standoff and Rizzoli who is heavily pregnant is caught in the middle. Things aren't always what they seem and as the tension the situation becomes more deadly it gets some of the "players" wondering if there isn't more to all this than meets the eye.

The book splits between the situation with Isles/Rizzoli/the undead woman and that of a girl promised a better future only to be caught up in enforced prostitution. We follow the girls, what they have to endure and just trying to survive to the hostage situation and back and forth.

Tense, brutal and we see a bit more of a tender side to feisty Rizzoli despite being heavily pregnant. A fantastic series and I forgot how much I enjoy Gerritsen books, I will need to look and see if there are any others I have missed, 4/5 for me this time.

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A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult

A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - over 2 days

Pages - 352

Publisher - Ballantine Books

Source - Watersones (I think)

Blurb from Goodreads

The warm fall day starts like any other at the Center—a women’s reproductive health services clinic—its staff offering care to anyone who passes through its doors. Then, in late morning, a desperate and distraught gunman bursts in and opens fire, taking all inside hostage.

After rushing to the scene, Hugh McElroy, a police hostage negotiator, sets up a perimeter and begins making a plan to communicate with the gunman. As his phone vibrates with incoming text messages he glances at it and, to his horror, finds out that his fifteen-year-old daughter, Wren, is inside the clinic.

But Wren is not alone. She will share the next and tensest few hours of her young life with a cast of unforgettable characters: A nurse who calms her own panic in order save the life of a wounded woman. A doctor who does his work not in spite of his faith but because of it, and who will find that faith tested as never before. A pro-life protester disguised as a patient, who now stands in the cross hairs of the same rage she herself has felt. A young woman who has come to terminate her pregnancy. And the disturbed individual himself, vowing to be heard.

Told in a daring and enthralling narrative structure that counts backward through the hours of the standoff, this is a story that traces its way back to what brought each of these very different individuals to the same place on this fateful day.


My Review

We open at five pm, in The Center, a place for women's reproductive health (among other things) and very much known for the place where abortions take place. It has seen many things, every day it encounters the protesters, today is different, today we have a gun man, a hostage situation and it is late in the day. Wren is fifteen and contemplating death/dying, something before today had not been in her priorities or mind. We meet George Goddard - the gun man, Hugh McElroy - the negotiator, Janine, Izzy, Bex, Louie Ward, Olive, Joy, Harriet & Vonita - all characters who have been in The Center or are when the gun man changes everyone's lives.

The story has no chapters, we have time stamps as we go back and forth on the day but also prior to the day as we get some back story on the characters. It took me a wee bit to settle to this format, Picoult is a great writer and she does make it work but it did take a bit of getting used to and distracting at some parts. The story captures the reader very quickly as we know from the offset the situation and as we delve in we get a bit more info of the characters and what has transpired prior to five pm.

You know from the blurb abortion features in the book, it is the centre of the attack. I don't think I was prepared for the detail of the abortion parts, I just didn't think it would be as graphic. It isn't a huge part of the book but the parts it does feature it is explicit and I had to put the book down for a wee bit and go back to it so just an FYI for anyone picking it up.

There are so many themes to this one, Picoult always does a great job highlighting prejudices, judging people and showing different sides of the coin. It is a book that gives food for thought and will push on some of the emotive feels for most if not all readers. This is not a book for the faint hearted, anything featuring abortion and extremism, double standards, murder will always evoke strong emotions. It also looks at families, relationships, what leads people to abortion, actions and consequences, life, death, love - it has a lot going on! I always enjoy Picoult books, she has a way of getting under the readers skin and making them question their own opinions/judgements. I felt the ending came to quick and I was left a big hanging and whilst it isn't on any major things I just like to know everything, 3.5/5 for me this time. I have read Picoult before and have a few of hers on my tbrm, I think this will be a marmite book and certainly controversial

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Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp

Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 245

Publisher - Graymalkin Media

Blurb from Goodreads

High atop a Los Angeles skyscraper, an office Christmas party turns into a deadly cage-match between a lone New York City cop and a gang of international terrorists. Every action fan knows it could only be the explosive big-screen blockbuster Die Hard. But before Bruce Willis blew away audiences as unstoppable hero John McClane, author Roderick Thorp knocked out thriller readers with the bestseller that started it all.

A dozen heavily armed terrorists have taken hostages, issued demands, and promised bloodshed all according to plan. But they haven't counted on a death-defying, one-man cavalry with no shoes, no backup, and no intention of going down easily. As hot-headed cops swarm outside, and cold-blooded killers wield machine guns and rocket launchers inside, the stage is set for the ultimate showdown between anti-hero and uber-villains. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good fight to the death. Ho ho ho!


My Review

A Christmas party in a LA skyscraper, terrorists armed & dangerous with a mission to be completed and no qualms about killing their hostages. One man, an ex cop now anti terrorist consultant, visiting one of his family at the party ends up taking on the killers by himself with no shoes and his quick wit and at times banter to get him through.

Sound familiar? Instead of John McClane in Die Hard we have Joe Leland, instead of visiting his wife he is visiting his grown daughter. Otherwise the story paved the way and became Die Hard, Leland is less gun-hoe than McClane we see a much softer side and some of his quips mirror one of our all time favourite characters Bruce Willis brought to life on the screen.

The book brings a more human side and lets us get inside the head of Joe, what he is thinking and how the killings of the terrorists affects him, something that is missing in the movie. The pace and tension is very much evident and draws the reader in quickly. Joe, whilst a force to be reckoned with is also very human, flawed and I think that may make the character real because he suffers so much but powers through. The movie took the heart of this book and enhanced and blew it up to a well loved film. It isn't very often I prefer the movie to the book and for its time this story packs a punch and keeps the reader engaged but if you have seen the movie I think the book does pale in comparison. If you haven't seen Die Hard read this book first as you will absolutely love it, then check out the movie. This is the second book in a series, I haven't read the first and don't feel I have missed anything out by reading this but I think I may go back and pick up the first. Murder, mayhem, survival, terrorism, family, love, a smart mouth and fast action is the best way to highlight the main topics of this story.

This has been my longest waiting review book, actually years on my tbr purely because it was my first approval Netgalley book. Back then I had no idea how it worked and by the time I got it the book had been archived and I couldn't access or download it. I bought it as I really wanted to read this, I ploughed through it in one day and had to watch the movie immediately after. I would put this as 3/5 stars, I liked it and I think for its time it has been fabulously done. However seeing the movie prior to reading it and actually loving the changes for the film I debated between a 3.5 and a 4 star rating. If you like action and a story with violence, survival whilst looking at the human aspect of it then you can't go far wrong with this. This was my first time reading this author, I will certainly be checking out his other work. Thanks to Netgalley for highlighting this author and initially providing me with a review copy, I wanted to read it so much I ended up buying it and can finally remove it from my NG shelve.

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