The End of Her by Shari Lapena

The End of Her by Shari Lapena
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - < 1 day

Pages - 352

Publisher - Bantam Press

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

It starts with a shocking accusation...

Stephanie and Patrick are recently married, with new-born twins. While Stephanie struggles with the disorienting effects of sleep deprivation, there’s one thing she knows for certain – she has everything she ever wanted.

Then a woman from his past arrives and makes a shocking accusation about his first wife. He always claimed her death was an accident – but she says it was murder.

He insists he’s innocent, that this is nothing but a blackmail attempt. But is Patrick telling the truth? Or has Stephanie made a terrible mistake?

How will it end?


My Review

Stephanie is exhausted, new born twins and her husband Patrick is working hard, the weans have colic and sleep is rare. They have always been a team and whilst things are trying they are managing until someone from Patrick's past comes back. She is beautiful, her accusations are horrific and Stephanie can't help but start to wonder if she knows Patrick as well as she thinks she does.

It is pretty well known, if you follow my reviews, I really really enjoy Lapena's books. I think she pulls you in and engages you quickly and has a knack for creating characters you either want to punch in the face, distrust, hate or sympathise with. The End of Her is no different, she creates a world of characters you fall into quickly, I felt for Stephanie, I hated Erica and the book spins the darker and selfish side of some people and look at folks morals or lack thereof.

There are a lot of subjects in the book that are hard hitting especially when the siren that is Erica shows up, she has zero morals and everything is there to be used to her advantage. Stephanie goes though a pretty tough time, two beautiful wee twin babies, sleepless nights, stress, self doubt as a mum and then the bombshell thrown at her wee family by Erica, ooft. My attention was grabbed very early on, if you have enjoyed Lapena's previous books you will this one too, 4/5 for me this time. Very much looking forward to her next and hoping it won't be too long a wait til we get our paws on it!

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Wee October giveaway

Happy October guys, I LOVE October. It is the month of horror, scare & all things spooky.

I am the same come December but then it is Criimbo stuff. My o/h isn't into horror at all but indulges my love of tat and horror because it makes me happy. My Halloween decorations from last year are still MIA but I managed to get some stuff for the bathroom, so it begins.

October is one of my themed reads months so my current read is Bram Stoker's Dracula, I could have sworn I had read it but it turns out I have not, hoping to finish it today.

I know not everyone loves October/horror/spooky so I thought I would do a wee giveaway not horror related. For my spooky lovers there is still time to enter the competition for x1 horror character bookmark (winner chooses from those available which one they want), over on our INSTAGRAM page, as pictured below.

For this wee October giveaway I have the newest offering from author Katerina Diamond, a standalone, crime fiction, x1 paperback "The Heatwave" and one metal cat shaped bookmark, both as pictured below. To enter, just use the Rafflecopter below. As always, the more entries you complete the more times you name is entered. Please only complete entries you have actually done, all winning entries are checked. Good luck and happy October xxx

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Drop Shot by Harlan Coben

Drop Shot by Harlan Coben
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 357

Publisher - Orion

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

In the second Myron Bolitar novel from Edgar Award–winner Harlan Coben, a young woman’s tragic death spirals into a shattering drama of menace, secrets, and rage. Suddenly Myron is in over his head—and playing the most dangerous game of all.

Once, Valerie Simpson’s tennis career skyrocketed; now, the headlines belong to a player from the wrong side of the tracks. But when Valerie is shot dead in cold blood and dropped outside the stadium at the U.S. Open, sports agent Myron Bolitar investigates the killing and uncovers a connection between the two players and a six-year-old murder at an exclusive mainline club. As Myron is drawn into the case—along with a dirty U.S. senator, a jealous mother, and the mob—he finds himself caught between a killer and the truth.


My Review

LOVE Bolitar and Win books although I am the first to admit, crime of readers here, to not reading them in order :O shock horror. This was on a cheap Amazon deal but they had me at Bolitar/Win. If you haven't read the series before you totally can read this as a standalone - you get enough snippets to know the chat. Bolitar was an athlete but an injury cut his career dead, he then studied as a lawyer and now has a small rep business for athletes. He is invested in his clients, does what is best for them and doesn't use them as cash cows. His associates is a beautiful ex wrestler, she has attitude, smarts and looks. And his very rich bestie Win, he has money, brains and despite his smaller size he is pretty lethal. Him and Bolitar get involved in crimes/investigating so there is always threats and trouble galore.

This book is no different, a tennis super star who burned out before she hit the top is about to make a come back. The day she has desperately tried to get Bolitar she is gunned down. Police seem to be looking at all the wrong angles, Bolitar and his sense of ?honour has to get to the truth. However there are so many secrets/scandals and big names/money in her past some people aren't happy and Bolitar finds himself (and co) in trouble.

Action, guessing along the way and different themes I did enjoy the book, I do like Cobens writing. However I worked out a good bit of it early on, I never manage that and it kind of spoiled the book a wee bit for me. Always enjoyable reading about this wee team, mostly doing the righteous thing and looking out for the wee people - Win has different chains of thought but as he is on the good guys side you can forgive his very big flaws. 3/5 for me this time, can't wait to read the others - not sure how many there are and how many I haven't read - need to check FantasticFiction and my Goodreads account.

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The One That Got Away by L A Detwiler

The One Who Got Away by L.A. Detwiler
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 3 days

Pages - 400

Publisher - Avon books

Source - Netgalley

Blurb from Goodreads

The next chilling thriller from the bestselling author of THE WIDOW NEXT DOOR…

“Get out while you can. You’ll die here…”

Adeline Evans has recently moved into a home for the elderly. A safe space, where she can be cared for.

When she begins to receive cryptic and threatening notes, she is certain that someone is out to get her.

But the residents are warned against listening to a woman who is losing her memory. It would seem Adeline is tormented by the secrets in her past, and that the menace is all in her mind.

Until danger comes down the corridor and starts knocking in the night…

A compelling serial killer thriller from the bestselling author of THE WIDOW NEXT DOOR, perfect for fans of A.J Finn, K.L. Slater and Teresa Driscoll.


My Review

Adeline Evans is our main character, a new diagnosis of early dementia and losing her husband relatively recently, her and her daughter agree it is time for a nursing home. Adeline still has her wits, for the most part and the biggest issue is being back in her hometown. Her daughter Claire wanted them both back there after her father brought the town to her attention. Adeline is furious, after everything they ran away from, why why would he do this. Adjusting to a nursing and her condition is task enough but some of the residents and staff are downright hostile. When she makes a friend she is warned that not everything is as it seems and she needs to keep her head down if she wants to stay safe!


Eeek so the book splits into a few parts, present day and back to when Adeline was a teen and the drawn out what she ended up running from. We soon come to know there is a serial killer operating in Adeline's home town. She also has issues from her past she is struggling to stay ahead of, she just wants to be with her new love & free of her nagging parents. We also hear from the killer and snippets of news reports covering the killings.

I did much prefer the past parts of the book, it worked better for me and I felt compelled to read because I wanted to know the who, why and what of it all. Present day - the nursing home, there was so much, even suspending reality I found myself getting a bit annoyed and ratty with the present chapters. Some of the characters are truly horrific, horrible, abusive and nasty and some of the best books have these "baddies" such as they are but I found myself thinking really? several times. I wanted retribution, comeuppance and a bit more of the why.

I also thinks the fact it was in first person narrative helps create the real feel of someone with dementia, the confusion and fear with their thoughts however I found it confusing at times. It certainly lends an authentic feel/voice to the character and how they are struggling and experiencing everything that is happening to them. I feel like I am being quite harsh and I didn't hate the book but I got really frustrated, I would have liked to have reached in and shouted "What are you doing, DO THIS, DO THAT". Even with present day Adeline you can forgive some of the reactions but young Adeline, some points I was like WHY WOULD YOU NOT DO X,Y,Z. Some people absolutely loved this book so don't take my grumpy moaning take because I did say I didn't hate it, I did enjoy parts of it and think she gave Adeline (modern day) an authentic voice I just didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. 2.5/5 for me, this was my first time reading this author, I would absolutely read her other books - this one just sadly wasn't the best fit for me.

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The Holdout by Graham Moore

The Holdout by Graham Moore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - < 1 day

Pages - 325

Publisher - Orion

Source - Netgalley

Blurb from Goodreads

In this twisty tale from Moore (The Sherlockian), the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game, young juror Maya Seale is convinced that African American high school teacher Bobby Nock is innocent of killing the wealthy white female student with whom he appears to have been involved and persuades her fellow jurors likewise. Ten years later, a true-crime docuseries reassembles the jurors, and Maya, now a defense attorney, must prove her own innocence when one of them is found dead in Maya's room.



My Review

Everyone has moved on from being jurors on one of the most high profile/controversial cases or have they? Maya Seale certainly has or wants to leave it in the past, it has been ten years enough already. However a true crime pod cast type show is coming and Maya is encouraged to take part, from a juror to now a lawyer her bosses heavily encourage it. It doesn't seem so bad, drinks, catch ups and things seemingly going much better than she could have hoped, until someone is murdered - in her hotel room and now Maya is in another role, the accused!

Oooh this is good, split between now and then - mostly present day but we get throw backs to the past and the all important case. Race, pedophilia, murder the case covered everything it should have been a slam dunk but one juror put a spanner in the works. Present day, Maya being accused of murder and having to be represented herself.

It is smart, engaging, pacey and has not one but two mysterious for the readers to guess at and ponder over, can I just say I got neither correct! Legal dramas, a who done it, shady secrets, pasts that would rather be forgotten by many. The case from years ago cannot be put to bed because Maya has to work out who killed the person and even more important how to prove she didn't do it.

A bit of a murder she wrote, some red herrings - I went off on a few chains of thought and was wrong wrong wrong. A book that keeps you on your toes, guessing. A wee spoiler or two dropped in relation to Agatha Christie's books which hopefully by the time I get to them I will have forgotten the references. This is my first time reading this author, I would absolutely read his other stuff, kept me guessing, 4/5 for me.

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Fear the Dark by Chris Mooney

Fear the Dark by Chris Mooney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 485

Publisher - Penguin

Source - Bought online

Blurb from Goodreads

Fear grips a town in Colorado as a murderer targets entire families in their own homes. As police and the FBI struggle to contain the situation, they bring in forensic investigator and serial killer expert Darby McCormick.

What she finds is a brutal and elusive predator who stays one step ahead of their investigation.

As Darby navigates the blood-ties and broken promises that divide the locals, she knows that all the while the killer is watching, waiting and circling his next target: her.

She must not only meet evil—and somehow survive—but also be prepared to face this small town's dark heart ...


My Review

This is book five in the Darby McCormick series, you could pick this up and read as a standalone but honestly, do yourself a favour and go back and read the others, they are fab. Darby is pulled in by the small town cops to help with catching a serial killer targeting families. Darby is an expert in serials, she has dealt with and survived (just) a few up close and personal, she is also a forensic investigator and bloody good at what she does. The wee town cops want this sorted before they are squeezed out by the bigger cops just waiting to pounce and take over.

The killer is methodical, leaves no traces, is super smart and determined. Throughout the book we actually hear from the killer, their urges and their focus on the cops as they close in. A game of cat and mouse begins and of course Darby is in the thick of it, working in a team where some of course don't want a woman. Darby is more than fit for them!

I love Darby's character, she is strong, maybe even more so from what she has survived, even when rattled she puts a face on it and shy's away from nothing. She is great at her job and sometimes her temper and sense of what is right can get her into trouble - I think that is why she is so popular with readers!

Great pace, short chapters which I love anyway but being ill recently it allowed for me to actually get a fair bit of reading done when I was really struggling. The characters are great, Mooney keeps you on your toes and firing through the pages to figure out where the story is going and how it is all going to end. Darby is like a cat with nine lives but you worry for her along the way because this killer seems to be more dangerous than those she has encountered and you fear her luck is going to run out. Hence not being able to put the book down for long, I HAD to know where it was going, the who, why and how - and will she make it to see another book! 4.5/5 for me this time, I have the next in the series waiting to be read and need to buy the other(s) - not sure how many is actually in total!

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The Living Dead by George A Romero and Daniel Kraus

The Living Dead by George A. Romero
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - as able over 3 days

Pages - 656

Publisher - Bantam Press

Source - 656

Blurb from Goodreads

Set in the present day, The Living Dead is an entirely new tale, the story of the zombie plague as George A. Romero wanted to tell it.

It begins with one body.

A pair of medical examiners find themselves battling a dead man who won’t stay dead.

It spreads quickly.

In a Midwestern trailer park, a Black teenage girl and a Muslim immigrant battle newly-risen friends and family. On a US aircraft carrier, living sailors hide from dead ones while a fanatic makes a new religion out of death. At a cable news station, a surviving anchor keeps broadcasting while his undead colleagues try to devour him. In DC, an autistic federal employee charts the outbreak, preserving data for a future that may never come.

Everywhere, people are targeted by both the living and the dead.

We think we know how this story ends.

We. Are. Wrong.


My Review

If you follow my Goodreads or any of my accounts or just know me you KNOW I LOVE Zombies, movies, books - can't get enough. Romero movies I grew up with and when I heard this was a book he had a hand in, TAKE MY MONEY!!!

I was planning on keeping this until October for my themed reads but I couldn't wait and had to dive in. I always said if I wrote a zombie book I would want it starting or cataloged at a hospital, this is close enough, a morgue.

It spreads quickly and we visit a handful of characters as the outbreak hits and how they react and try to survive the undead. A teenager in a trailer park - crime, poverty racism and now battling to stay alive. A government employee, a pilot trying to prove her worth among the sailors and finding comfort with the carriers priest despite being an unbeliever, hoping the infection won't reach their vessel. A news station, staying online as long as possible, reporting on the stories as they get them. And in Washington, an employee logging all the information of the outbreak as she gets it, staying to the very end to ensure everything is catalogued, as long as people reach out - she has a job to do.

A very mixed bag of characters, I have read and watched a fair amount of zombie stories. This one has the usual themes we see in them all but also a few wee new surprises that I hadn't seen or read before. Romero has given so much so to have this is just the icing on the cake - I would love to have a story, written, delving into the "Day of the Dead" characters, Doctor "Frankenstein" the soldiers, BUB (although I felt in this book we had a wee glimpse or nod to Bub and how he was different to his other fellow zombies). Maybe Kraus will try his hand at something like that, who wouldn't love to hear Bub's story and after reading this I think he well could be the man for the job. 4.5/5 for me, fingers and toes crossed this is something he would consider, I am now aware he has other books out there so will have a nosey at his works and see what he writes. If you are a zombie fan you really need to sink your teeth into this (see what I did there :P sorry, not sorry!).

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