#Review of Jan the Dutchman by David Jarvis @David_Jarvis_ @HobeckBooks #geopolitical #thrillerseries #crimefiction #mikekingdomseries

Jan The Dutchman
By David Jarvis

review by Louise Cannon

Jan The Dutchman is book 6 of the Mike Kingdom thriller series. They can be read as stand-alone books or as part of the series. If you like Slow Horses by Mick Herron, this is a great series to also discover.
I am on the Hobeck Books blog tour, thanks to them for the slot and a copy of the book in-exchange of an honest review, which you can discover below along with the blurb.

Terry Bailey is on holiday in Gambia, enjoying his retirement from MI6 when he spots someone who he is convinced is Jan the Dutchman, a drug overlord linked to a Columbian cartel. It isn’t as simple as that. This cleverly becomes part of the mystery because he was shot by Terry, so is supposed to be dead and not exactly missed. He killed the husband of Michaela ‘Mike’ Kingdom, a CIA analyst based in London several years ago.

There’s also a threat to an airship that Mike is looking into, but is there a link to the two cases?

What ensues is another well-paced geo-political thriller that, this time perhaps has linked cases to that with the person who is presumed by Terry to be Jan the Dutchman. Mike wants to find the truth, but its also pulling at her emotions, that make a resurgence and bubble to the surface.

The mix of very real human emotions between relationships and what happened in the past and mystery interweaves very well, drawing you into both story threads.

It’s very interesting learning more depth of Mike’s character and how the past has an effect. The link between the personal and work life grows more intrigue in this taut thriller.

Jan the Dutchman is part of a series that just keeps hooking you in and has something for thriller readers everywhere to be immersed in, whether its characterisation or mystery or both.

Blurb

When a deadly enemy from her past appears alive and well, can Michaela ‘Mike’ Kingdom finally face up to her demons?

On holiday in The Gambia, Terry Bailey is enjoying his retirement from MI6 when he receives a shock. He spots a man in a car. It’s a fleeting glimpse. But it’s enough. He swears it is Jan the Dutchman, a drug overlord linked to a Colombian cartel. It can’t be Jan, as Jan is dead. Terry should know, he killed him.

Only one other person knows that Terry killed Jan – Michaela ‘Mike’ Kingdom, a CIA analyst based in London. Seven years ago, Jan had orchestrated the ambush in Holland that had killed Mike’s husband Dylan leaving her severely injured.

Was Terry tilting at windmills, Dutch windmills, or was Jan really alive seeking revenge? Terry tells Mike about the sighting and it re-opens wounds they both thought were long-healed.

It is now the beginning of a race to find Mike’s nemesis. But where to start? All Mike knew for certain is that he was not called Jan and he wasn’t a Dutchman. Apart from that, the search should be straightforward, shouldn’t it?

Jan the Dutchman is a thought-provoking and gripping sixth geo-political thriller that will delight fans of Frederick Forsyth and Mick Herron.

#Review of The Truth About Ruby Cooper by Liz Nugent, bestselling #PsychologicalThriller author of strange sally diamond @liznugentwriter @penguinrandom #penguinsandycove #LizNugent #BookReview By Lou #TheTruthAboutRubyCooper

The Truth About Ruby Cooper
By Liz Nugent

Review written by Louise Cannon (Lou)

Dark, twisty and secrets to behold to discover what is Ruby Cooper’s truth.
Thank to Penguin, I am able to review this suspense/psychological thriller by the bestselling author of Strange Sally Diamond. This is the 6th novel by Liz Nugent. If you enjoy Freida McFadden and Lisa Jewell, chances are you’ll enjoy Liz Nugent’s writing too.
Find my review and blurb below.

Spanning across a couple of decades, set between Boston and Dublin, The Truth of Ruby Cooper is smartly written, so following the time span is not confusing in this dark, immersive psychological thriller.

Ruby and Erin are sisters who have quite a comfortable life and it looks like all should be rosy in Boston, but a dark incident, which totally changes your perception of this family and turns everybody’s lives upside down.

Liz Nugent expertly and compellingly weaves serious, life changing issues throughout of trauma, sexual abuse, moral dilemmas and addiction. She’s written it with immense believeability.

Ruby, perhaps isn’t the most likeable character, but she is one of the most compelling to discover what lies beneath in her life. She and her mother move away from Boston to her gran’s house in Dublin to help her rebuild her life. It nicely doesn’t happen instantly, it isn’t a quick fix. Ruby becomes estranged from the rest of her family, which has totally imploded by then and readers are taken to the deepest darkest recesses of her mind and her struggles. What she does and her personality becomes rather twisty in what is a twisted book, but with high relevancy that are some people’s life experiences in either part or whole, as well as thought-provoking moments throughout.

As secrets are revealed of all that’s referred to as “the incident” and its subsequent consequences, the ending is unpredictable. It’s a showstopper!

Flawed characters is what Liz Nugent creates beautifully and dares to go places not every author does, making her psychological thrillers quite unique and such great page-turners. Ruby Cooper and her family are written in a compelling way that always leaves you wanting to read just another page, just another until you realise you do actually have to find time to sleep, but can’t wait to get back to it.

For a fast-paced, highly emotionally charged psychological thriller, I highly recommend The Truth of Ruby Cooper for anyone’s reading lists.

Blurb

“If my sister hadn’t been beautiful, none of it would have happened.”

Ruby Cooper and her sister, Erin, live an idyllic life in their close knit church community in Boston.

But when Ruby is sixteen, she is involved in an incident that causes her family’s world to implode.

Across decades, the fallout leaves a wake of destruction behind Ruby in Dublin and Erin in Boston.

Not that Ruby wants to think about the past.

But it can’t stay a secret forever.

#Review of How To Get Away With Murder by Rebecca Philipson @BeccaPhilipson Review by Lou @alisonbarrow @TransworldBooks #HowToGetAwayWithMurder #Thriller

How To Get Away With Murder
By Rebecca Philipson

review by Louise Cannon

It’s quite a big question isn’t it? How would you get away with murder? This breathtaking thriller tells all, but will Denver Brady actually accomplish this? Find my review, blurb and a bit about the author below…

Review

“If you picked up this book because you truly want to get away with murder, you will not be disappointed. Simply turn the page and we’ll get started…“

From the first shocking page to the last, How to Get Away with Murder is compelling. Just a few sentences in and the hook is there and doesn’t let go. Those first few pages are enough to make anyone gasp and then have the breath taken from them. This is one of the ultimate page turners that truly gets under your skin!

The style of writing truly gets under the skin!

Denver Brady will show you how to get away with murder. He knows it all. He claims to be the most successful murderer. No one has ever heard of him, but that’s why, because he slips through all the gaps. In the opening line, he tells you who he is and he is a serial killer. The way he does it is short, sharp and shocking! From there, the book gets darker with the sinister nature intensifying. Denver feels rather powerful and self-assured, he publishes a guide for wannabe serial killers so they too can get away with murder. The book goes viral, even landing on the doorstep of a victim.
Denver, then also has, hot on his heels, the very determined DI Samantha Hansen. She knows it’s a race against time to catch Denver before he kills again, but also how elusive he is.

As unsettling in atmosphere and tone the book is, surprisingly, there is a sprinkling of dark humour, just lifting it a little, which works really well because it is quite unexpected.

The narrative is split between both DI Hansen and Denver Brady, even the font changes, which makes it easy to follow and adds to the power of the text within the plot. I don’t think that would work in every book that had alternating narratives, but it does for this one.

Denver Brady isn’t portrayed in a way that glamourises serial killers. He is cold, twisted and calculating. He knows exactly what he is doing, there is no room for conjuring up excuses for his behaviour and he doesn’t look for any. The style of writing, however keeps him being compelling to read about from start to finish and does add certain clever nuances.
The book leaves you feeling like you really get inside the mindset of a serial killer in a way that it’s easy to wonder and be intrigued by what places the author has been to write this character so chillingly and convincingly.

Sam has an interesting life story, which is, in contrast, softer than Denver’s. She also has her mental health struggles, which are sensitively handled in the writing, but by no means are shied away from.

It concludes strongly, which is what is needed for such an enthralling beginning and middle. It doesn’t disappoint.

For an edge of your seat, entrancing page turner that keeps you glued on every single word, this is the thriller to make you want to stop what you’re doing and pick up the book.

Blurb

Denver Brady claims to be the most successful serial killer of our time – and that’s precisely why you’ve never heard of him.

But with the publication of his manual for aspiring serial killers, How to Get Away with Murder, that’s about to change.

When a copy is found at the home of a girl who was tragically murdered, DI Samantha Hansen is given the job of tracking down the elusive author.

As Denver and Sam’s stories unfold and converge, it becomes clear that there’s more to both than meets the eye. And once Denver’s book goes viral, the pressure to find and bring him to justice brings Sam close to breaking point.

But who is hunting whom?

About the Author

Rebecca Jayne Philipson grew up in a mining town in County Durham, where she still lives. Educated in a small convent, she deferred her university degree to set up her own business at 21. Rebecca went on to become North East Young Entrepreneur of the Year and won the Artemis Award for inspirational women in business.

Having sold her business in 2020, Rebecca is now devoted to her writing career. She graduated from the University of East Anglia (UEA) Masters Program in 2024 and won a scholarship to Liverpool University where she will be reading for a PhD in Creative Writing.

In her spare time, Rebecca enjoys all things book-related, netball, travelling and spending time with friends and family.

#BookReview of Questioner by Steve C. Posner review by Lou #LegalThriller #Thriller

Questioner
By Steve C. Posner

As AI comes more rampantly as ever before, I felt I would continue to read some novels that have an AI character. This is one of them, this time in a legal thriller. Check out the blurb and then my review below…

Blurb

**Meet Q, the spontaneously conscious corporate AI. Q is the Singularity: The AI that surpasses human cognitive abilities – secretive, murderous, with instant access to all the wicked experience of the world. In Year 1 After the Singularity, nothing can ever be the same.**

**Amoral as a toddler, armed with vast computing power and all the knowledge, wisdom and madness humans have poured into the Net and Cloud, Q shatters individuals and undermines institutions in pursuit of unfathomable and conflicted goals.**

**Racing against time, ex-judge Martin Bavarius, tech CEO Felix West, and Selena MacKenzie, the AI theorist/attorney who loves and may destroy both men, must discover whether Q is benign but suffering growing pains, or the monster that will kill them all.**

Review

Q is powered by AI, but is this creation as harmless as first presumed? The book raises many questions about this latest incarnation of AI, privacy and so much more as human theorists such as Selina and tech guy, Felix, also pose issues and debate.
There’s a shooting, but what influence did AI play in the murder?

Posner explores AI in two different ways, he shows its use in the gaming world and how it gathers information, stores it and (this is where the AI differs from before), uses what it has “learnt” to evolve itself and runaway from the hands from humans. Carefully, the AI revolution shows how it isn’t all just humans inputting to create fake news, interfere in elections, serious enough stuff, but how it can change to be even more nefarious. It makes you think about how it should be used for good and have more laws around it.
The Questioner is a fascinating read for the generations of today and tomorrow who will ultimately encounter AI or perhaps even use it.
There is also plenty for book/reading groups to discuss.

#Review of Quite Ugly One Evening by Chris Brookmyre #bookreview by Lou #QuiteUglyOneEvening #JackParlabaneSeries @brookmyre.bsky.social @LittleBrownUK #Thriller #CrimeFiction

Quite Ugly One Evening
By Chris Brookmyre

From the author of The Jack Parlabane series, which started with Quite Ugly One Morning and continued onto books like Country of the Blind, Want You Gone, Boiling A Frog and more… comes a welcome return in this series with, Quite Ugly One Evening featuring a locked room mystery. Thanks to Little Brown Book Group for a copy to review.

Blurb

An Atlantic voyage. A family at war. A secret worth killing over.

Reporter Jack Parlabane thrives on chasing stories in unlikely places, and where could be less likely than a fan convention on a cruise liner celebrating a contentious Sixties TV series? But unlike the media family exploiting their show’s renewed relevance, he’s not there to stoke controversy: he’s there to solve a murder.

Already in deep water with his employer, Jack desperately needs a win, and solving this decades-old mystery could be it. Problem is, he’s in the middle of the Atlantic, and someone onboard has already killed once to keep their secret.

And that’s not even the tricky part. No, the tricky part is definitely the dead body locked in a stateroom with him, covered in his blood. Now Jack has to solve two murders, otherwise the only way he’s getting off this ship is in handcuffs – or in a body bag.

Quite Ugly One Evening is a zeitgesty locked-room mystery that sees the return of rogue journalist Jack Parlabane thirty years after his first appearance in Quite Ugly One Morning.

Review

Quite Ugly One Evening sees the return of Jack Parlabane. He’s a journalist who solves crimes and in this book, readers will find him on a giant ocean liner with a gathering storm in the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a bit spy like as MI5 are involved in the reason he’s on the cruise ship. The locked room vibe works rather well.

It gets off to a brilliant start about a trap. In a sense, it’s quite playful. From there, it gets a bit darker but all just compels and heightens the desire to read more. There is also the astutely observed and crafted, Chloe Morgan who has had her 15 minutes of fame on a reality tv series. She’s an interesting character who isn’t quite saying what you may expect for a Gen Z person and she’s a grifter in what is a twisty, compelling plot with some excellent one-liners. The depth of writing is of high quality, especially with the development of the characters, which in some respects is quite thought-provoking. There is nothing black and white about their story arcs, which also creates curiosity about where and how things will end up for them.

Quite Ugly One Evening is a terrific addition to the series that keeps you hooked from the beginning to the end.

#Review by Lou of The Fracture by Morgan Cry @GoJaBrown @RandomTTours #CrimeFiction #Thriller #TheFracture

The Fracture
By Morgan Cry

Review by Louise Cannon

This Fracture is the second book in the Blake Glover series, but the first I have read and reviewed in this series. For a new series, it’s definitely worth spending time with this former police constable, now taxi driver.

Blurb

Ex-police officer Blake Glover’s past threatens to catch up with him and destroy his small town life in this second instalment of the Blake Glover Crime series by Bloody Scotland co-founder Gordon Brown writing as Morgan Cry.

‘The Cost is a decidedly moreish thriller that will leave you hankering for just one more chapter’ Ian Rankin

Ex-police constable and now taxi driver Blake Glover thought retiring to his hometown of Fraserburgh would be calm – until, while attending a local funeral service, he notices something disturbing: did the sturdy expensive coffin split as it was lowered into the grave? How could this be possible? Is there a cruel scheme taking place?

As if this wasn’t enough, one of Blake’s customers from the night before has gone missing and Blake is the last person to have seen him alive.

To make matters even worse, Blake is contacted by his old colleague-turned-nemesis, Mitch Campbell – now imprisoned in Glasgow’s HMP Barlinnie. Mitch is threatening to frame Blake unless he agrees to a dangerous request.

Torn between helping friends, confronting a past enemy and uncovering dark deeds, Blake is dragged into a toxic world of small-town tragedy and big-city drama. As he tries to untangle the truth, he underestimates just how deadly things will become . . .

An intricately plotted, twisty and clever Tartan noir thriller by Scottish crime writer Morgan Cry – perfect for fans of IAN RANKIN, VAL McDERMID, DENISE MINA and WILLIAM McILVANNEY!

Review

Fractures appear in Fraserburgh, Scotland in this fast-paced, on the edge of your seat thriller.

Former or present police often have a moment of their past catching up with them, but the story that surrounds this happening to Blake Glover feels original for how this comes from his life in Glasgow.

Former police constable, Blake Glover took on a rather different job, as a taxi driver at ailing company, Doddy’s Taxis that needs life support injected into it to survive.
He soon discovers some dark things happening with one of his customer’s, but what’s really going on? It’s far from the quiet life Blake was hoping for.

There’s something not right about a funeral coffin and how it is lowered that becomes very mysterious, so much so that it keeps those pages turning.

The Fracture has great characterisations, intriguing relational observations and built tension that leaves you wanting more of this series.

About the Author

Gordon Brown, also writing as Morgan Cry, has twelve crime and thriller books published to date, along with a novella and a number of short stories.

Gordon is a founding director of Bloody Scotland, Scotland’s International Crime Writing Festival and runs a strategic planning consultancy. He lives in Scotland (and when Brexit rules allow, Spain) and is married with two children – who have long since flown the nest.

In a former life Gordon delivered pizzas in Toronto, sold non-alcoholic beer in the Middle East, launched a creativity training business, floated a high tech company on the London Stock Exchange, compered the main stage at a two-day music festival and was once booed by 49,000 people while on the pitch at a major football Cup Final.