#Review By Lou of The Last Train Home by Sherry Hostler A Psychological Thriller of a Train Ride You Would Want To Book. @SherryHostler @adropofshery @RandomTTours #Christmas #Trains #PsychologicalThriller #TheLastTrainHome

The Last Train Home
By Sherry Hostler

review by Louise Cannon

Trains are great to travel on, but what happens on this last train home is not anywhere near what you’d expect or normally experience in this high octane, breath-taking psychological Christmas thriller. It’s a train you wouldn’t want to miss, but goes to places you wouldn’t expect. This is no ordinary train…
Check out my full review for the Random T. Tours blog tour below, after the blurb.

Blurb

Where am I?

How did I get here?

These are the questions that Molly asks when she wakes up in unfamiliar clothes on a dark, empty train docked in the middle of nowhere. She has no memory of how she got there, no means of escape, and worst of all, she isn’t sure if she’s alone.

Molly must confront the ghosts of her past, and find her voice, to make sure she has a future.

Christmas. A time for peace and goodwill. Well, that depends if you’ve been naughty or nice.

Review

The Last Train that should get you home is a clever premise. This isn’t like Murder on The Orient Express or any other train based stories I’ve come across. The protagonist, Molly doesn’t know how she got onto the train when she wakes up, so the panic and tension gives an immediate hit to the psyche. Instantly, there are more questions than answers, until you delve deeper in and fully join the ride.
The train also comes to life, or rather someone does as a message comes across the tannoy…
The train isn’t just the physical vehicle, but also cleverly represents the train of life. There is the present predicament she is in. playing with her mind a bit, but also her past that, a bit like Scrooge, she has to confront, although they are rather different from that Dickens’ character.
There are some rather deep, dark themes within the book that are thought-provoking as well as making this a terrific psychological thriller that twists and turns, with some side stories interweaving throughout. It’s very much about joining the dots, uncovering clues and piecing together the carriages of her life train to find out more about her present and if she has a future. The characters met along the way are fascinating. Some are good, others are definitely not. All are written in a way that you want to know every one of them and how they link to Molly.
The ending is breathtakingly unpredictable!

For not your average last train home after a Christmas party, this psychological thriller is for you.

#Review of The Lines by Matt Brolly @MattBrollyUK #TheLines #CrimeFiction #Thriller #BlogTour

The Lines
By Matt Brolly

A little later than I had planned to publish this review due to a big family health situation, here is my review on the Zooloo blog tour of Matt Brolly’s latest thriller book, The Lines. It’s deep and atmospheric with fascinating character situations. Find out more below…

DS Liam Kilshaw was a former marine who almost died on a mission gone wrong. It’s an interesting and somewhat scary look into when missions do go wrong and the aftermath and how some, like DS Liam Kilshaw try to cope with PTSD. He sits at juxtapositions in personality. He has inner strength and enough within him to keep moving forwards as much as work and trying to solve crimes is concerned, yet there is also a fragility and vulnerability about him. The way he’s portrayed makes him an interesting character to delve into. He’s quite timely when men’s mental health is making waves in conversations.

The more than just highlighting of county lines is powerful and reminds, even though little to nothing is said in the news anymore about what is a very real concern that such activities still go on.

DS Kilshaw has a lot of work on his hands around the brooding Cornish coast. There’s the body of a young man floating in the water, but isn’t merely a tragic drowning, but is murder and the body of a young woman is also found. He reckons there could be a link between them both with county lines drugs gangs.
It soon becomes apparent he doesn’t know who he can trust, not even the water as crime solving and his memories collide.

The book is rather atmospheric, raw in parts and truly hooks you in. It’s a crime fiction book you wouldn’t want to miss out on.

#Review by Lou of The Token by Sharon Bolton @AuthorSJBolton #CompulsiveReaders #BlogTour #PsychologicalThriller

The Token
By Sharon Bolton

Review by Louise Cannon

Today I am on the blog tour for Compulsive Readers about the newest book by Sharon Bolton called The Token. Here is the blurb and then go onto my review.

Seven beneficiaries. Seven people who stood to gain a huge amount of money, for a reason none of them yet understood.

Seven strangers receive a mysterious note informing them of their impending inheritance of billionaire Logan Quick’s fortune. They each receive a token and soon embark on a doomed cruise where they will have to conquer their own demons, and each other, for a chance at the money.

But someone on this boat has something to hide.

Can the survivors work out the truth… or are they destined to drown?

Review

The prologue instantly has a dramatic pull and sets the scene. The Token starts off with a yacht, a storm and a beautiful backdrop of the Scilly Isles. It’s a fascinating look into human nature as readers learn more about the people and their attitudes to money and what their occupations are and their different backgrounds.

There are 7 letters with a token that get sent to people and a murder, which brings a page-turning psychological thriller as dangers and what people do collide.

It’s a fast-paced thriller that is fascinatingly observed how people relate to each other, what their motives are and how they cope or otherwise when up against it in the circumstances they find themselves in.

#Review by Lou of In Conversation: Belinda Bauer and Elly Griffiths #BelindaBauer @ellygriffiths @BloodyScotland #TheImpossibleThing #TheFrozenPeople #CrimeFiction

In Conversation: Belinda Bauer and Elly Griffiths
A Bloody Scotland Event

Review and pics by Louise Cannon

This concludes my reviews of Bloody Scotland event reviews for 2025, since returning from Stirling, I’ve had many family things to handle, so, the reviews have taken a little longer than normal to all be written out. So, last but not least, here is my review of Belinda Bauer and Elly Griffiths talking about their latest books and more… The Crime In The Spotlight author was Allison Meldrum with Keep Me Safe.

Listening to Elly Griffiths and Belinda Bauer talk about books, films and more, was very insightful, especially when it came to book adaptations and their latest books. If you ever have the opportunity to see them together, they entertain in their expertly, flowing chat.

Belinda Bauer has previously won the CWA Gold Dagger with her debut, Blacklands and the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year for Rubbernecker. She now has a new novel called, The Impossible Thing.
For this latest thriller, Belinda Bauer was inspired by a guillemot’s egg and bird egg crimes being committed. She weaves, what was a real mystery about what happened to this valuable egg, into her thriller.
Her thrillers are stand-alone in a sense, but she does sometimes, overlap some characters as she builds her worlds.

Belinda Bauer has worked on major films and has some interesting anecdotes about Jaws. It was insightful about how she turns books into films, since so many are adapted.

Elly Griffiths (you will also find books under Domenica de Rosa, Elly isn’t her real name), is best known for The Ruth Galloway books. Fear not, readers of this series, she will return someday to them, for now, she has a brand new exciting sounding series to get your teeth into. It all starts with The Frozen People. Central to this series is Ali Dawson, a detective working on cold cases. She has travelled back in time, but the book also has a grounding in the present day. It sounds intriguing. I bought the book and will some time get chance to read an review it. Currently other family members have snatched it away to read…

They talked about writers and publishers can never quite guess the market. From an author’s point of view, they write what they’d like to read themselves.
They spoke about constantly having to play off the book and the reader in the process, making the relationship between reader and writer an active one.
Their drive to write never disappears, they divulged, even after all these years.

There was much laughter in the room, and I’d heard this at another panel too, that someone, in their case a different book festival, mistaken the words plotter and pantser for Otter and Panther. I’ll leave it up to you readers to guess which author is which.

Belinda Bauer talked about watching films and reading The Famous Five before turning to writing novels.

Elly Griffiths also read Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie, Nancy Spain, Wilkie Collins, Kate Atkinson, William Shaw and more…

#Review by Lou of Dark Islands featuring Morag Pringle, Ronnie Turner, Chris Barkley @BloodyScotland #BloodyScotland #CrimeFiction #psychologicalthriller @ronnie__turner @TufferBarkley #MoragPringle @PolygonBooks @OrendaBooks #ReadingCommunity

Bloody Scotland Panel – Dark Islands
Featuring Morag Pringle, Ronnie Turner, Chris Barkley

review written by Louise Cannon

Morag Pringle’s book is The Final Truth. She used to write medical romances for Mills & Boon, which appears of higher quality writing than perhaps some readers give credit to. She mentioned about the high standards and high quality that has to be adhered to and met, which in-turn honed her skills.

Ronnie Turner’s book is Small Fires she is interested in folk lore, fairytales, nature vs nurture, identity, beauty, psychology. Now, this sounds an intriguing, yet winning combination to explore.

Chris Barkley talked of Man at the End of the Stair being a metaphysical, locked room mystery.

I read and reviewed this book and it is thought-provoking with strong themes and exceedingly atmospheric. It pulls you in with its ability to intrigue and its intensity.

They drew you into their talk of their islands, creating a sense of dark, moody atmosphere as they talked of losing phone signals, creating a claustrophobic feeling. Folklore and myth being woven together like a tapestry. Ronnie was especially interested in this and in-turn made you enter that world.

Chris Barkley brings up many thought-provoking points, such as an island being a psychological symbol.
They all mentioned how trauma and guilt is a journey. You could tell, they really examined these traits of the human condition and the what happened to a person to cause trauma.

Their books aren’t all heavy, they explained how there is a sweet innocence thread through them to lighten the themes and reading experience up a bit.

The talk was really fascinating, especially at the beginning and the middle. Some of the talk of writing experiences was interesting too, but it did feel like it lingered there a little too long, when the interest was that feeling of being or actually being on an island.

#Review of The Good Father by Liam McIlvanney @LiamMcIlvanney – @@BloodyScotland Longlisted for #McIlvanneyPrize @RandomTTours #BlogTour #ScottishNoir #PsychologicalThriller #TheGoodFather

The Good Father
By Liam McIlvanney

The Good Father, at time of writing this review has been longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize (William McIlvanney that is) at Bloody Scotland. Having just read it, I can see, with such strong writing, why it’s on such a prestigious list. Readers of crime/psychological thrillers are in for a treat. Check out the blurb below and then my review to discover more…

Blurb

‘Heart-stopping and heart-rending, this is Liam McIlvanney’s best novel yet’ VAL MCDERMID

WHEN A CHILD DISAPPEARS, NO SECRET IS SAFE . . .

Gordon and Sarah Rutherford are normal, happy people with rich, fulfilling lives. They have a son they adore, a house on the beach and a safe, friendly community in a picture-postcard town.

Until, one day, Bonnie the Labrador comes in from the beach alone. Their son, Rory, has gone – the only trace left behind is a single black sandal.

Their lives don’t fall apart immediately. While there’s still hope, they dig deep and try to carry on.

But as desperation mounts, arms around shoulders become fingers pointed – at friends, family, strangers, each other. Without any answers, only questions remain. Who can they trust? How far will they go to find out what happened to Rory?

And the deadliest question of all: what could be worse than your child disappearing?

When the truth begins to emerge, they find themselves in a world they could barely have imagined.

‘Beautifully written, this is easily one of the finest crime novels I’ve read in a very long time’C.M. EWAN

Review

The writing stops you in your tracks right from the start. It grabs your attention in a way that makes you want to drop everything else that you’re perhaps supposed to do and read on.

Readers meet Robert Rutherford and before his name is even mentioned, there’s a sinister feel just before the blow of full-on directness in behaviour. His and Sarah’s son has gone missing. There’s the usual finger-pointing at the parents and the seaside town wanting to move on. There is also, however some strikingly beautifully, yet heart-wrenching passages of overwhelming sadness and despair and how that can feel. You go on a very emotionally charged journey with them, following them every step of the way to try and find out what happened to Rory. As you do so, you also see other people’s perspectives too, which is interesting as is the time-lapses. You also see the lengths people will go to in such a situation and feel the tensions mount. Who is trustworthy and who is not?

There are some shocking twists, clearly not written just for the shock factor, but really work in-line with the storyline and yet also keep you hooked in. There are a few hard-hitting themes that bring current topics to the forefront and are addressed very well.

The Good Father is a strongly written emotional psychological thriller for summer that entrances and captivates into a seaside town with sinister activity.