#Review of Bad Influence by Will Carver @will_carver @OrendaBooks @RandomTTours #thriller

Bad Influence
By Will Carver

Will Carver is known for Nothing Important Happened Today, Hinton Hollow Death Trip, The Beresford Hotel and more books that will have you seeing society in a different light and make you think in ways you may never have before. His unique societal focussed thrillers are darkly twisty and once you pick them up, they’re hard to put down. In Bad Influence, it looks at social media, influencers and poses the question, do you know who’s in your house when you’re not at home? I am on the blog tour for Bad Influence with a review. Check it out below, along with the blurb. Thanks to Random T.Tours and Orenda Books for an e-book and slot.

Do you know who’s in your house when you’re not at home? It may be more than just your dog or cat. *Phrogging is the latest wave of social media crazes, created by top influencers in America, followed and tried out by others. In this case it can lead to dangerous consequences.
*Phrogging – an act of living in someone else’s home without their knowledge or permission.

The world of influencers is what Will Carver is focusing on in this latest societal thriller. It takes you into the world of Paige, a qualified nutritionist and mentor who doesn’t like fake news and promotes fitness, Ellie, Max, Shona, Barnaby, Alyssa who is friends with Alessandro, now wanting to be called Less, all in their 20’s and hoping to “make it”. The main story-lines come from Alyssa and Less in a rather fast-paced unique manner that is fitting with social media, narratives and in a relational sense too.
The observations are acute and spot-on about how people want to be noticed. In Less and Alyssa, their parents bankroll them financially and they do a bit of entrepreneurship themselves, especially Less, so in that way, they are secure, even with Alyssa being not quite so wealthy, but within themselves they are insecure. There are issues within their families and Alyssa is a full time carer to her grandmother, gets herself out the door, does the meals. She, in that respect is relatable as anyone who’s a carer from a younger than average age will understand and see this part reflected to a certain degree. Paige plays a big part too and is brought further to the fore later on in the book.

What happens next is the start of a darker side creeping in after a jaw-dropping party, a crime fuelled by inhibitions. Not a thought about the consequences. Things get even darker when a new type of influence is coming on-trend, Phrogging. As readers we join the speed and thrills of the ride of this life, but things take an unexpected dangerous turn.

Intelligently the emotions and mental health are played out in the characters, most pertinently in Paige. It is, again, a well observed study of not just the ‘human condition’ but also the effects of being so absorbed to high influencer levels in social media.

The relevancy and importance of reading this book is high.
The pace is fast, explosive compelling plot won’t just wash over you, it will stay with you beyond the last page!

Blurb

Two bored teenagers.One stupid game.The wrong place to play…Alyssa wants to be seen. Less wants to be someone. She takes two buses to class, posts pictures of her lunch, and pretends it’s all effortless. He hides his privilege beneath thrifted clothes and a sketchbook full of impossible designs. Together, they are inseparable – two outsiders constructing a version of themselves the world might finally applaud.Then Alyssa stumbles upon the hidden world of phrogging – living unnoticed inside other people’s homes. She and Less slip through Los Angeles’ glossy veneer: influencers, producers, pop stars, all so busy performing their perfect lives they don’t notice the shadows in their attics, the scratching in their walls.An act of rebellion. A harmless thrill. A social experiment.Until they choose the wrong house.Until the influencer they idolise catches them in the act.Until the cameras, already rolling, capture everything.What begins as a reckless adventure becomes a nightmare of lies, power … and murder…

#review of Diagnosis or Death by Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick #bookreview by Lou @jakelynch #annabellemcgoldrick @randomTTours #diagnosisordeath #psychologicalthriller

Diagnosis or Death
By Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick

Mind Over Murder author, Jake Lynch and Annabel Goldrick have their new book Diagnosis or Death are groundbreaking in who their protagonist is. The protagonist is a psychotherapist who specialises in EMDR – Eye Movement Desentisisation and Reprocessing. Both authors have worked in journalism and now, Annabel is also accredited in EMDR. They bring their real life experiences and fictionalised them to create a compelling new series that brings a uniqueness to the crime/thriller/psychological thriller genre. I am on the blog tour with a review and book. I haven’t read any other books by these authors, but from this one, readers looking for something new are in for a treat of a read. Check out the cover, my review and blurb below…

Review

It’s intriguing when there’s a new protagonist on the horizon in crime fiction and this piqued my interest.
Janna is a former news reporter, now a psychotherapist practicing EMDR, is knee deep in work. Then there’s the shock of the death of a colleague and surely it isn’t suicide as first thought by the police.

Janna works from home nowadays and ends up getting highly involved in trying to discover what really happened. She then ends up digging around the murkier side of AI and the deep-fakes that are created. It’s chilling to the core!

What is fascinating to see unfold is how the skills of a psychotherapist can be deployed into a crime scene and also learning a bit more about this branch of psychology. Both professions in some ways marry up well as demonstrated in the book as both have an interest in people. This comes across in an intriguing manner, as does the crossover into a deep, dark crime scene. What evolves is a modern day crime that feels realistic and is compelling to read.

Blurb

Janna Rose is back! The Oxford journalist-turned-therapist is shocked by a colleague’s sudden death, which police dismiss as suicide – but she’s not convinced.

Pursuing her passion for justice, Janna investigates further only to be drawn into a shadowy world of Artificial Intelligence, where identity is fluid and nothing quite as it seems.

But who are the men behind the scheme, and what are their real motives? With dark forces threatening to drag her down and peril around every corner, Janna must deploy all her insights into human motivation to reveal the truth.

#Review of The Yacht by Kayte Nunn #KayteNunn @RandomTTours #BlogTour #Thriller #HolidayRead #TheYacht #SummerRead

The Yacht
By Kayte Nunn

Summer is here, even if the weather doesn’t always show that it is. Sun, sea and holidays are all over The Yacht, but with something more sinister. Luxury doesn’t always bring something good as this thriller suggests…
Kayte Nunn is a best-selling author known for The Botanist’s Daughter, winnter of the 2020 Winston Graham Historical Fiction Prize and was selected as the National English Honour Society Common Reader for 2023/4. , The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant, The Silk House, The Last Reunion and many other books.
I am on the Random T. Tours with the cover, blurb and review. Hop aboard a luxury yacht and join the immersive, bumpy ride…

Blurb

A man on the edge.

A woman hell-bent on revenge.

A cheating husband.

A desperate wife.

A property empire on the brink of collapse.

A family at loggerheads.

A predator hiding in plain sight.

Who will sink and who will swim?

Three generations of a billionaire family are taking their new superyacht on its maiden voyage. But when the yacht sinks, each of them has a different part to play, in this addictive, twist-filled thriller.

Review

Luxury yachts heading to sea carries aspirations for those on the harbour side and a showy lifestyle for those on-board. Sailing around the Med sounds idyllic, a piece of pure escapism from the rest of the world and away from all your troubles. Or so you would think!

Told in multiple perspectives by those on-board you discover its inhabitants, especially the wealthy Thyssen family who own the super yacht. What happens inside isn’t all plain-sailing as a disaster happens with this colossal vessel. That’s the moment where everything truly changes and the full extent of people’s dysfunctions emerge. All the secrets and desires for revenge that people have been harboring secrets and strong desires for revenge come to the surface. The super-rich lives aren’t all they seem when you dig deep into them. They are far from the perfect surface look they project into the world. It’s quite the lens into the world that they make people want, but, really the people’s lives on the yacht are falling apart in many directions. There is also a lot of danger ahead.

The Yacht is more twisty and has more turbulence than your average cruise. It’s a rocky ride that is gripping from the first page with a fast-pace, also driven by the short chapters that make you want to read more than you perhaps planned in a night.

For a summer read, The Yacht is gripping and compelling for the beach, on your cruise as you sip your cooling holiday drinks.

You can check out more here:

Author Website | Insta | Facebook | Amazon UK

#Review of The Boy in the Photo by Hilly Barmby #HillyBarmby @HobeckBooks #psychologicalthriller

The Boy in the Photo
By Hilly Barmby

The Boy in the Photo is an incredible psychological thriller. If you like Gillian Flynn and/or Freida McFadden this is one I highly recommend you pick up.

When is a car accident perhaps not so clear cut? When events happen that bring about other suspicions.

Kaz Emmerson, her brother Mark and sister Livy are devastated when their parents both die in a car crash. You can’t help but feel the emotion and the hardship of trying to re-discover and rebuild life after the funeral. Livy is married and has a child, so that’s where her energies go, as well as escaping for a holiday with her best friend to Spain, where it’s all sun and sangria. It can be a small world at times as they discover when they meet Ryan, who happens to live close-by in the UK. Both start to build a connection and find him handsome.
Mark buries himself in work, but also re-emerging at certain points to try and rebuild and maintain his social life. So far, so normal.

When the 3 siblings meet in a lawyers office, everything changes. The pace and suspense increases and the twists start to appear as things don’t all add up. A mysterious photo emerges and someone is oddly taking photos around the property. What feels normal to begin with becomes darker as the unexpected of events occur.
The intrigue runs deep as does a sense of uneasiness when it becomes apparent that you don’t know who can be trusted and who cannot. That feeling can be deeply felt within the various big emotions that weave themselves into this story as everything that was once hidden away or glued together unravels and there could be someone out to cause destruction.

The Boy in the Photo is revealing about how precarious some aspects of life can be. What it can be to have everything feel certain and then discover strange things later on.

Hilly Barmby has written a page-turner of a psychological thriller that hooks and grabs in an immersive sense throughout.

Blurb

This unbelievably twisty read will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves Freida McFadden and Gillian Flynn won’t be able to put down The Boy in the Photo!

Kaz Emmerson, brother Mark and sister Livy are devastated after the death of their parents in a car crash. Surely it was just a terrible accident, wasn’t it?

After the funeral, the three try to rebuild their lives as best they can. Livy turns her focus on her husband and young son. Mark immerses himself in work and rebuilding his social life. Kaz escapes the pain with bestie Elise, taking off to Spain for a couple of weeks for sun, sand and sangria.

While on holiday, Kaz and Elise chance upon the mysterious and handsome Ryan. They both like him. As it turns out, he lives rather close to home and when they return to the UK they meet up. But who will he pick?

The three siblings gather with their family lawyer who leaves them with a deep sense of unease. What is he not telling them? Curious, Kaz ploughs into the family paperwork stored in the attic of their parents’ grand country home. After a shocking discovery, she is embroiled in a family mystery that threatens to unravel everything. Who exactly is the boy in the photo with their father? Why is there a man sneaking around their garden taking photos? When more horrifying things happen, who can they trust? Is there someone who will stop at nothing to destroy them?

#Review of Octagon by C.J. Merritt – A Gripping Espionage Thriller Published Today! #Octagon #ChrisMerritt @MichaelJBooks #Thriller #SpyThriller #politicalthriller #crimethriller

Octagon
By C.J. Merritt

review written by Louise Cannon

Octagon is rather different for C.J. Merritt in that it isn’t psychological, it’s a fast-paced politcal/espionage thriller that’s also very much worth picking up and reading. The quality of writing and story-telling is just as high as any other book he has written previously. Today, I have a review and blurb on publication day for Octagon, thanks to Michael J. Books.

There are secrets, confessions and murders galore. A Russian Scientist, practically on his deathbed has a deep, dark confession to make. There is also a murdered spy, a ritual killing and a former MI6 Agent Runner and former SAS Operator to get to know. There are a mix of backdrops of calm, including English countryside and Swedish forest to be lured into, but hang on tight, there is a lot of action in this tightly written plot. Readers are taken on a big high octane, big stakes journey as Octagon, the name of a plot against the West, which if pulled off in its entirety, will have devastating consequences.

Stella McCrae left MI6 on not exactly the best of terms and set up an investigation company, which unfortunately struggles. Fortunately she finds herself deep in a rather dark mystery to solve and that’s where Tommy Kane, internally, a complex man, comes in with just the expertise and experience she needs to really get going on the case. There is also Hoss who Stella set up the company with. Each of them have differing, but complimentary skill sets. It’s interesting to watch how they relate to each other within their professional capacity and work.
They are up against time to stop plot Octagon from becoming a horrific reality and someone instrumental to it is already on a key train.

Octagon is so fast-paced with unexpected twists and turns and depth that it’s easy to find yourself racing along to discover where it takes you next and which direction it ends in.

For a thriller that takes you on an unexpected journey of high danger, intriguing characters and a compelling plot, I highly recommend Octagon.

Blurb

A DYING RUSSIAN SCIENTIST
confesses to his children what he did as a young man.

A MURDERED SPY
shares vital intelligence before he’s ruthlessly assassinated in the English countryside.

A RITUAL KILLING
hidden in a forest clearing in Sweden hints at something much worse.

FORMER MI6 AGENT RUNNER
Stella McRae is the only person who can be trusted to investigate now her former employer has been compromised.

EX-SAS OPERATOR
Tommy Kane has always had Stella’s back, but as the threats against them escalate, will his formidable skills be enough this time?

OCTAGON
A devastating plot against the West is already in train. Only Stella and Tommy stand in its way. And time is running out…

#Review of The Night Lagoon by Jo Morey @JoMoreyWriter @HarperCollinsUK @RandomTTours #Thriller #bookreview by Lou

The Night Lagoon
By Jo Morey

Wittering Lodge, Stann Creek is a place that’s a piece of paradise, but isn’t all it seems with its current occupancy of Laelia and her partner, Aid. There is quite a rum-filled passion that gets darker in atmosphere and actions as many secrets become uncovered in a nook in the lodge.

Tension builds in such a gripping, creative way that makes it quite the cinematic page-turner as it becomes rather immersive with interesting, lush descriptive writing of the jungle playing off the characterisations of the people you meet.

There’s quite a uniqueness in the characterisation of Laelia as she has tinnitus and wears hearing aids. Something I know a bit about via a parent dealing with this. The way she is written is authentic and she doesn’t catch every word.

The psychological element of this thriller is palpable in the dynamics between people in the way they behave and manipulate. The web of lies plays with you, keeping its hold until unraveled in both character and reader.

Jo Morey is a new to me author and she is one to watch!

The Night Lagoon is a different summer read that grips from beginning to end as everything comes out and presents itself bit by bit.

Blurb

It’s a liar’s paradise
Wittering Lodge, Stann Creek, Belize

In the dead of night, lying in her father’s jungle lodge, Laelia watches her partner Aid sleeping – her mind racing with everything that’s brought her to this moment.

The heady Caribbean holiday when they first met.

The rum-fueled passion that, day by day, creeps into something darker.

The secrets she discovered in a hidden nook of the lodge, revealing a devastating past.

Above all, she thinks about the impossible decision she must make before dawn.

Does she stay silent and protect their newfound paradise? Or does she confront the lies which run as deep and dark as the lagoon – surfacing a dangerous truth from which there’s no return…

A transporting book club novel with the pulse of a thriller, The Night Lagoon is about the secrets and lies that simmer just beneath the surface of paradise.