The Rebel by Jaime Raven

The Rebel by Jaime Raven
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1.5 days

Pages - 448

Publisher - Avon

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

Sometimes you have to take the law into your own hands…
DI Laura Jefferson will do whatever it takes to bring down London’s most notorious crime boss. When her team receives a deadly threat – stop their investigation or the police and their families will be targeted – but they aren’t willing to back down…

Then the killings begin.

A new body turns up every day, and with no leads, Laura knows she has to take action. Her family is innocent and she’ll stop at nothing to protect them.

When someone close to her is hurt, she’ll break every rule in the book to get vengeance.




My Review

London's cops are coming down hard on the criminal underworld, one bad guy/organisation at a time. As the police turn up the heat, the bad guys decide to fight back, by any means necessary. Told from the point of view of three of our main characters, Laura (detective inspector), Rosa (skilled and ruthless assassin) and Slack (notorious crime boss) we get a diverse look at what is going down through their points of view. No one is safe, anyone could be next and the police are facing their biggest threat ever.

I have read Raven once or twice before, I like gritty crime so have enjoyed their work, this book though, page turner. When you see the point of view from the good guy, the bad guy and the hired gun it gives you food for thought for all the points of view from one situation but from different angels. A hired assassin is always chilling because they do what they do for the pay off, this time, as well as the motive, we get to see the human side of this monster. Laura has her own personal issues which are mostly background as the main focus of the book is the investigation and murders, however there is enough to give you a feel for who she is as a character. The crime boss, his motives are clear from the get go but a good author gives you some surprises along the way, Raven does this with The Rebel.

Drawn in pretty much from the opening chapter the pace is consistent throughout and had life not gotten in the way I could have read this is just about one sitting. As with most crime fiction we have murder, mayhem, family, relationships, violence and there is a wee bit of sexual content so just an fyi. I will be checking out Raven's back catalogue and wonder if we will see more with DI Laura Jefferson, 4/5 for me this time!



View all my reviews

May's Pre loved giveaway is now live

Sorry I am a wee bit late, if you are a regular visitor to the blog you know, sometimes, I can be the second week of the month before I get the giveaway up.


My review for this book will be going live soon, first time reading this author and this book is the first in the series, 4/5 for me and I will be reading the rest!


The book is pre-loved but in great condition, as pictured/modelled by Trixie, The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza. If you haven't read this author, it is a crime fiction book.





Open worldwide, as always use the Rafflecopter to enter, the more entries you complete the more times your name goes in. Good luck and thanks for taking part xxx


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Salt Lane by William Shaw Blog tour

Today is my stop on the blog tour for Salt Lane by William Shaw. William very kindly took time out to do a Q&A with me, enjoy.


What was the inspiration for Salt Lane?

God. You see, I’m supposed to be selling the book here, but now I’m going to give a very serious answer which will put everyone off reading it. It was those first stories that came through after the Brexit vote about fruit rotting on the trees because farmers couldn’t get enough labour. If I was a farmer I would hate to see that happen. The temptation to start bending employment law would be massive, wouldn’t it? Whatever people’s thoughts on immigration, the fact is that some people will come to the UK legally or illegally to get work wherever they can find it. If you make them illegal then there are consequences. As we found out during the Prohibition in the 1920s, a prohibition creates crime. In the same way, immigration law creates crime; it’s unavoidable. So I wanted to write about what might happen…


Relationships seem to be a big focus in the story, mother and daughter (x2), work relationships/dynamics, was this important for you and why?

I think with crime series, you get into them because of a murder, but you stay with them because of the unfolding relationships. It’s what I like in series. The days when Mrs Marple is the same in each book, and returns to an eternal world in which nothing changes are gone.


There seems to be a lot going on with Cupidi’s daughter and I have unanswered questions, was this deliberate and will we have answers?

Honestly I don’t know!! To me – from personal experience – that’s what it feels like. When my daughter was a teenager my life seemed to be FULL of unanswered questions. Like, when are you coming home tonight and have you done your homework? So yes, she has problems, but I like her a lot.


Which may answer this question, Will there be more in the series?

Oh yes! I’m just finishing the follow up which features two loveable delinquent boys, a severed arm and a massive money laundering scheme.


Migrants/asylum seekers and their working conditions is important in the story (and in real life) how much research did you have to do and did you find it hard to write?

I did a lot of talking to people, including immigration lawyers, a journalist Hsaio-Hung Pai who’d gone undercover as amongst illegal migrant workers and she put me onto a charity that works with East European migrant workers. They all had great insights. There are also a lot of shocking first-hand accounts of illegal migrants trying to survive in the UK. I did find it hard to write though… just because there are people who are really going through a lot of very hard times in those communities.


Do people need to read The BirdWatcher before this one as FF list is as book two but a few fans say this is the first book? I loved The BirdWatcher btw.

I think of Salt Lane as the first book in a series. The Birdwatcher kind of created the world for Cupidi to move into, I hope, but I think you should be able to read this one without having to go back to it. That’s said, I’d be thrilled if you do.


You have a few series, do you have one you preferred writing over the other and if so why?

I also write the Breen and Tozer series set in 1968-69. I love doing the research for that one. It usually involves watching groovy movies and listening to old records. I haven’t yet developed a preference for one of the other but right now I’m loving making up Alexandra Cupidi.


What are you working on now?

The second book in the Cupidi series. The one with the severed arm, the delinquent teenagers and the massive money laundering scheme. I want the third book to be about wildlife crime – I think. I want to do something involving a Chris Packham-type figure getting into deep deep trouble.


Where can fans find you?

I’m on williamshaw.com, facebook.com/williamshawwriter and I’m william1shaw on Twitter and Instagram.


Anything else you would like to add that I haven’t asked?

I’ve been doing a podcast called The Book Group, in which I travel round meeting people who are in reading clubs and find out what they’ve been liking. It’s been on hold while I’m finishing Cupidi book #2 but if you’re in a book group and interested in taking part, drop me a line via the contact form on my website. And thanks for having me,


Below is my review for Salt Lane.


Salt Lane by William Shaw
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 400

Publisher - Quercus books

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

A murdered migrant is the first big case for the embattled DS Alexandra Cupidi in a new series by the acclaimed author of The Birdwatcher

No-one knew their names, the bodies found in the water. There are people here, in plain sight, that no-one ever notices at all.

DS Alexandra Cupidi has done it again. She should have learnt to keep her big mouth shut, after the scandal that sent her packing - resentful teenager in tow - from the London Met to the lonely Kent coastline. Even murder looks different in this landscape of fens, ditches and stark beaches, shadowed by the towers of Dungeness power station. Murder looks a lot less pretty.

The man drowned in the slurry pit had been herded there like an animal. He was North African, like many of the fruit pickers that work the fields. The more Cupidi discovers, the more she wants to ask - but these people are suspicious of questions.

It will take an understanding of this strange place - its old ways and new crimes - to uncover the dark conspiracy behind the murder. Cupidi is not afraid to travel that road. But she should be. She should, by now, have learnt.

Salt Lane is the first in the new DS Alexandra Cupidi series. With his trademark characterisation and flair for social commentary, William Shaw has crafted a crime novel for our time that grips you, mind and heart.



My Review

This is book two featuring DS Alexandra Cupidi although you can read this as a standalone, however I really enjoyed The Birdwatcher and you get insight into the characters. Whilst you can get away with starting here I would suggest reading The Birdwatcher, it is a great book and gives you more info on some of the characters. A migrant worker is found murdered, a son's mother appears from nowhere and almost as quickly disappears again. This is Cupidi's chance to prove herself, after having left in scandal her last post and bringing her daughter with her she has a lot to prove. To her team, her daughter and herself but as with life when you are dealing with one aspect of your life others creep in. Her affair haunts her, her strained relationship with her mother, something isn't right with her daughter and now bodies are turning up brutally murdered, she has a lot on her plate.

I do enjoy how Shaw writes, you slide into the characters lives quickly and Cupidi has more going on than a soap opera. I really want more insight into her relationship issues with her mother, I need to know what is the chat with her daughter. I would love to hear again from a character who was in The Birdwatcher and whilst he doesn't appear in this book her colleagues are still reeling from what happened and it impacts on her relationships with them. I love that we have strong females characters that are human, have flaws but still manage to hold their own and aren't swooning at a man's feet which we see in abundance in many books these days.

This is a great start to a new series (or book two depending on what way you look at it), I think the foundations are strong and look forward to the next. I need answers to my questions, I want to see how Cupidi and her daughter get on and where Cupidi's career takes her next. She is a bit of an impulsive character but she also has a heart which I think makes for a great character, someone readers can warm to. There is a lot of focus on the investigation so you don't get bored with the relationship side of the story if that isn't your thing. I think the book offers something for everyone, police procedure, family angst, murder and intrigue. 3.5 out of 5 for me this time, not only am I looking forward to the next (I hope there is another in the series) I am going to check out his other series!

View all my reviews

The Craftsman by Sharon Bolton

The Craftsman by Sharon J. Bolton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time Taken to Read - 1 day

Pages - 352

Publisher - Trapeze

Source - TBConFB

Blurb from Goodreads

August, 1999
On the hottest day of the year, Assistant Commissioner Florence Lovelady attends the funeral of Larry Glassbrook, the convicted murderer she arrested thirty years earlier. A master carpenter and funeral director, Larry imprisoned his victims, alive, in the caskets he made himself. Clay effigies found entombed with their bodies suggested a motive beyond the worst human depravity.
June, 1969
13-year- old Patsy Wood has been missing for two days, the third teenager to disappear in as many months. New to the Lancashire police force and struggling to fit in, WPC Lovelady is sent to investigate an unlikely report from school children claiming to have heard a voice calling for help. A voice from deep within a recent grave.
August, 1999
As she tries to lay her ghosts to rest, Florence is drawn back to the Glassbrooks' old house, in the shadow of Pendle Hill, where she once lodged with the family. She is chilled by the discovery of another effigy - one bearing a remarkable resemblance to herself. Is the killer still at large? Is Florence once again in terrible danger? Or, this time, could the fate in store be worse than even her darkest imaginings?

My Review

Florence Lovelady is a police officer, we open with her at a funeral, the funeral of a killer, 1999. We head back to 1969 when Florence was new to the area and just a WPC, not only having the difficulty of working a case with missing kids but trying to carve her place in the team, being a woman! As another child goes missing, this one closer to home, more pressure mounts on the team and Florence is more and more a likely target for the fall guy. All eyes are on Florence, the cops, the townsfolk and even the killer!

There is a lot going on in this book, child murder, kidnap, small town, sexism, inequality, bitchiness, police investigation, relationships, due timeline and witchcraft! I would have LOVED to have seen a lot more dedicated to the craft, in the throwback time period we do have some. When we flip to the present again we have some but for me, for one character there is a huge chunk missing from A to B. I know that is a bit vague but I don’t do spoilers, I just felt there was a fantastic opportunity to give us more on the how people came to get into the craft. I did love the history parts and they say an author is doing their job when they leave you wanting more. I do find witchcraft and anything of that ilk, when done right, can make a great thread in a story, what I did get here I thought was great.

There are atmospheric scenes, the killer buries them alive - can you think of anything worse! Bolton does fantastic scenes with realism to have the reader holding their breath, heart pausing and the hairs on the back of your neck standing!

Emotions were high, the treatment of the young Florence at the hands of the other officers, sexism, bullying, complete disregard for valid points purely because she was a woman. The level of hatred and nastiness really ripped my knittin. I suppose for the time period it would probably be commonplace but I was absolutely infuriated.

The book has a good pace, grabs you pretty much from the beginning. The timelines are easy enough to follow as it starts in the 90s, heads back to the 60s and highlights when you are back to the 90s. Whilst we know early on who the bad guy is there is plenty of intrigue and mystery to keep you going with sidelines supplying surprises as you get into it. Sure I have read Bolton before, I know I have some of hers on my shelves, I will need to dig them out for sure, ⅘ for me this time.

View all my reviews

Sole Survivor by Dean Koontz

Sole Survivor by Dean Koontz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 3 days

Pages - 403

Publisher - Bantam Books

Source - The Works

Blurb from Goodreads

A catastrophic, unexplainable plane crash leaves three hundred and thirty dead--no survivors. Among the victims are the wife and two daughters of Joe Carpenter, a Los Angeles Post crime reporter.
A year after the crash, still gripped by an almost paralyzing grief, Joe encounters a woman named Rose, who claims to have survived the crash. She holds out the possibility of a secret that will bring Joe peace of mind. But before he can ask any questions, she slips away.
Driven now by rage (have the authorities withheld information?) and a hope almost as unbearable as his grief (if there is one survivor, are there others?), Joe sets out to find the mysterious woman. His search immediately leads him into the path of a powerful and shadowy organization hell-bent on stopping Rose before she can reveal what she knows about the crash.
Sole Survivor unfolds at a heart-stopping pace, as a desperate chase and a shattering emotional odyssey lead Joe to a truth that will force him to reassess everything he thought he knew about life and death--a truth that, given the chance, will rock the world and redefine the destiny of humanity.



My Review

The one year anniversary since his wife and children's plane crashed and Joe is no closer to getting over his grief. When he happens upon the mysterious Rose, taking photographs of his loved ones grave then witnessing her being attacked, curiosity is piqued. Joe embarks on a journey to find out who she is, what she knows about his family and who then men are that have been following him.

I would say this book, for me, split into two stories. The first is all about Joe, grief, the relatives of those on board the aircraft and of course the mysterious Rose. Joe finds she has visited other families who lost someone on the crash and what befell them after her contact. The second part of the story we find out all about Rose, some mysterious happenings and the need to suspend belief a wee bit. There are so many parts I could talk about, humanity, what is right and wrong, ethics however to do so would go into spoilers, something I refuse to do. Would love to gab ideas though with folk who have read it, in a private forum or gabbing so as not to spoil it for anyone else. Certainly interesting ideas and sure conspiracy fans would love it and suggest stuff like that already happens somewhere in the world.

Interesting, different and certainly I wanted to find out what was coming next. Read Koontz before and will read him again, I like this I just didn't love it. I also preferred the first half of the book I think, 3 out of 5 for me this time.

View all my reviews

Serial Killers by Brian Innes

Serial Killers by Brian Innes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - Over 8 days (but I left it in work and dipped in and out)

Pages - 272

Publisher - Quercus Editions Ltd

Source - Can't remember, bought from The Works or Amazon I think

Blurb from Goodreads

The terrifying story of the most monstrous serial killers through history.

Serial Killers are the most notorious and disturbing of all criminals, representing the very darkest side of humanity. Yet they endlessy fascinate and continue to capture the public's attention with their strange charisma and deadly deeds. From Jack the Ripper to Ted Bundy and the Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, these killers transfix us with their ability to commit utterly savage acts of cruelty and depravity.

Only with modern police detection methods and psychological profiling, have these figures that have existed throughout human history finally been identified in the deadliest category: serial killers. These methods, the killers' characters and their crimes are described here in fascinating and terrifyingly gripping detail.

The whole history of serial killers is brought to life in 50 chapters, including:

Herman Webster Mudget, Devil in the White City
John Christie, 10 Rillington Place murders
Zodiac Killer
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, The Moors Murderers
Ted Bundy
Fred and Rosemary West
Jeffrey Dahmer
Aileen Wuornos
Harold Shipman, Dr Death




My Review

A collection of true crime on some of the worst atrocities to have happened to life. I knew some of the more famous case and some I hadn't heard of. Each case/killer gets a few pages with a very brief overview of their crimes and some of their upbringing and what happened to them in the end. There is minimal information on profiling, there is some detail of the crimes which is absolutely not for the faint hearted.


I think if you want to learn more about crime history then it is a good starting point, there is no in depth analysis of behavioural patterns, it is this is who they were and what they did. I don't think I could read this one one sitting, yes it is a relatively small read and the chapters are only a few pages long however it is so dark and depressing the things humans have done to one another.

A morbid history of some of the worst acts committed, short chapters so you can dip in and out as required. Well written, engaging and gives disturbing details without going into the very nitty gritty as some of the books of this type. This is my first time reading this author, I would look out for anything else he has written, 4/5 for me this time.

View all my reviews

Mixed Doubles by Jill Mansell

Mixed Doubles by Jill Mansell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 416

Publisher - Headline Review

Source - pound shop

Blurb from Goodreads

Love is always just around the corner in a Jill Mansell novel - with a few surprises and a lot of humour on the way to happiness

New Year is looming and best friends Liza, Dulcie and Pru are making their resolutions. Liza wants to get married - she's never had any trouble hooking a man. The trouble is, she can never stay interested once she's got him. Dulcie thinks marriage sucks. Her husband, Patrick, may be gorgeous and charming, but the impulsive Dulcie needs more excitement in her life. She wants a divorce. Pru loves her roving husband, and she secretly enjoys the periods when he's making up for his outrageous behaviour. All she wants is to stay married. Liza, Dulcie and Pru have no idea what the New Year has in store - but Fate has some sneaky plans up her sleeve...


My Review

In their thirties, new year is coming and with it New Year resolutions for friends Liza, Dulcie, and Pru. Liza would like to get married but gets bored after five minutes, Dulcie wants a divorce as her hubster is more into his work than her and Pru, sweet loyal Pru just wants to stay married to love of her life Phil. Life has a way of throwing curveballs and sometimes that what we wish for doesn't always turn out to be what we wanted.

Pru is so sweet but essentially a doormat, her husband ugh I hated him, philandering, gambling, self obsessed and rude! Liza, a food critic and always looking for love but gets bored or like Chandler from friends, always finds something daft that breaks the relationship up. And Dulcie, she was on par with Pru's husband. Rich, spoiled, self involved and no thought to her actions and their consequences, she really got my goat! However, even the annoying characters brought something essential to the story and as you read page after page, irritation building it helps to really get into what then follows for each of these characters.

Family and friendship dramas, personal growth, some really cringe situations. Dulcie, whilst being a spoilt diva she also gave me a twitchy eye going through her "second stage" I was mortified for her. I think because sadly I have seen people jump through the same hoops and make such horrendous decisions such as hers, knowing where it will all end. I think when you carve characters like that, much as we can hate them, it stays true to life so you can immerse completely in the story. Some things really annoyed me, some made me smile and chuckle, overall a good read, 3.5 out of 5 for me this time. I can't remember if I have read Mansell before but I will absolutely read her again.

View all my reviews