#Review By Lou of The Wrong Child By MJ Arlidge and Julia Crouch @orionbooks #CrimeFiction #DomesticThriller #Thriller CompulsiveReaders #BlogTour

The Wrong Child
By MJ Arlidge and Julia Crouch

Readers are all different, some like books written by a single person and others don’t mind those written in collaboration with someone else. This pairing works really rather well, I think, so worth a go, whether you like either author or both or coming at them brand new. Today, I am on a Compulsive Readers blog tour with the blurb and my review of thriller, ‘The Wrong Child’.

Blurb

When 3-month-old Max is abducted, his parents are plunged into their worst nightmare. Devastated mum Sarah only took her eyes off him for a second, but that doesn’t stop her guilt. Even husband Jake can’t hide his anger that their little boy went missing on her watch.

By contrast there are smiles and celebration at a caravan park in Lincolnshire, as baby Blaze is introduced to the Star family. Jenna and Gary are delighted with the new addition to their family. He is their fourth child and a real object of delight to their eldest – fifteen-year-old Willow – who once again will raise the child.

But trouble is brewing for the Star family. Willow is concerned by the desperate online appeals from Sarah and Jake, baby Max has neonatal diabetes and without regular treatment will die. As baby “Blaze” becomes seriously ill, Willow makes a shocking discovery. What is the truth about her family? And how far will they go to hide their deadly secret?

Review

It’s the worst nightmare for every parent, to have their child abducted. This is the territory of some people’s lives that Arlidge and Crouch take readers into. The emotions that race through the reader and those that are conveyed in the writing are powerful and expertly written.

Readers are introduced to Blaze, who joins the Star family. They seem, mostly like a family just getting on with life and putting their own slant to it. They’ve decided to follow a less conventional life and chosen a path of freedom from everything, including living in a caravan, no school for the kids and actively cut themselves off from technology. There are interesting observations of travelling people.

In contrast, Sarah and Jake have chosen a more conventional route to live their lives and have some “social-standing” in the community they live in, being in a high up position in education.

All, appears to have some type of normality, until the turmoil of an abducted child and secrets start to emerge…

The Wrong Child is a complex and intriguing exploration of families, emotions, the differing ways people react to certain situations and desperation, which all unfold in a page-turning thriller.

#Review By Lou of Taste of Blood By Lynda La Plante @LaPlanteLynda #teamtennsion @ZaffreBooks @bonnierbooks_uk @Tr4cyF3nt0n

Taste of Blood
By Lynda La Plante

I can now reveal Taste of Blood is the penultimate book in the Tennison series. I have the pleasure of writing a review for as part of Team Tennison for the Compulsive Readers/Bonnier Books/Zaffre Books blog tour.

Blurb

YOUR NEIGHBOUR IS A KILLER . . . BUT WHICH ONE?

Detective Inspector Jane Tennison was beginning to feel she’d made a big mistake.

Having requested a transfer to a station nearer her home, she’s now wondering if any serious crimes are ever committed in Bromley. Especially since the first case she’s assigned to involves nothing more dramatic than an altercation between neighbours over a disputed property boundary.

Jane’s new boss wants her to wrap up the enquiry as quickly as possible, but something in the apparently trivial case doesn’t add up.

Why was Martin Boon so adamant that David Caplan shouldn’t install a new set of gates when they wouldn’t encroach on his own property?

Against her boss’s orders, Jane decides to dig deeper, and soon uncovers a trove of dark secrets in sleepy Clarendon Court involving a tragic death and a forbidden love affair. As Tennison hunts for the missing piece of evidence that will identify a vicious killer, she knows that this case will either make her career – or break it.

Review

Jane Tennison has changed stations to Bromley, but was this transfer decision a mistake? She reckons so as she doesn’t feel it is progress for her and allowing her to use all her skills. That is, until there’s a domestic violence case that has more to it than meets the eye. There’s warring neighbours, someone is dead and her boyfriend appears to have vanished into thin air, making it a meatier case when dug under the surface. It’s a gripping and intriguing case.

Throughout the series, readers see how Jane Tennison began in her career and what she’s come against as well as seeing her grow, personally and in her ambitions. Now, with all the experience she has gained, she has grown a lot in confidence and career-wise, is still doing pretty well.

I’ve enjoyed all of the Tennison series to date, but this one brings her life closer to what people know best in Prime Suspect.

#Review By Lou of The Toffee Factory By Glenda Young @flaming_nora @headlinepg #HistoricalFiction #TheToffeeFactory #WartimeTrilogy

The Toffee Factory
By Glenda Young

The Toffee Factory sees the start of a new trilogy by Glenda Young. I am delighted to bring a blurb and review, thanks to Headline.

Blurb

Discover the engaging new trilogy from the author of THE SIXPENNY ORPHAN, about three women working in a WWI toffee factory in the North-East!

In 1915 three women start work at a toffee factory in the market town of Chester-le-Street, Durham.

Anne works for the enigmatic owner Mr Jack. She is highly efficient and whips Mr Jack’s disorganised office – and Mr Jack himself – into shape. However, behind her business-like façade, Anne hides a heart-breaking secret.

Elsie is feisty, fun and enjoys a good time. However, her gadabout ways get her into trouble when she falls for the wrong man in the sugar-boiling room.

And there’s dependable Hetty, who’s set to marry her boyfriend when he returns from the war. But when Hetty is sent on an errand by the toffee factory boss, her life changes in ways she could never imagine and a whole new world opens up.

The toffee factory girls begin as strangers before forging a close bond of friendship and trust. And, as the war rages on, they help each other cope through the difficult times ahead.

Review

Chester Le Street in Durham is where to find Elsie and Hettie, hard at work in Jack’s toffee factory, wrapping these rich, sweet, chewy confections. There’s also Anne, who is Jack’s secretary. The three women come together and get to know each other, as does the reader.

The sugar boiling room seems to bring about some romance, but unfortunately for Elsie, she usually falls in love with the wrong sort of man.

Dependable Hetty is forever waiting for her husband to return from war, living a predictable life, until she’s sent on an errand and everything changes…

Anne has had a hard life, hidden by her efficient business persona.

The book tells of hardship, friendship and secrets as world war happens all around them. The Toffee Girls, like many books set in this or the second world war eras is a great reminder of how the cogs of industry and creativity used to work in the UK, the employment created within the sweet factories, creating treats for the masses and the lives people had and the resilience they had to grow.

The Toffee Factory Girls brings heart-warming scenes to read as the women all support each other through the hard times of the uncertainties that war brings.

#Review By Lou of Homecoming Of The Chocolate Girls By Annie Murray @AnnieMurray085 @chlodavies97 @panmacmillan #HomecomingForTheChocolateGirls #FamilySaga

Homecoming for the Chocolate Girls
By Annie Murray

Annie Murray has written over 30 books and several series to date. I am delighted to write a review of the last in the Chocolate Girls Trilogy, set in the and around the Quaker Cadbury factory.
Thanks to Pan Macmillan for sending me a copy of the book.

Blurb

1946: The war might be over, but for the Gilby family there are still battles to be fought at home . . .

For Birmingham and the Gilby family the war years have been a time of great change. With husband Len having left her for another woman, Ann Gilby is finally free to follow her heart. While the neighbours may be scandalized by having a divorcee in their midst, Ann is determined to rise above the local gossip and make a happy home with her former sweetheart, the father of Ann’s youngest child.

Daughters Joy and Sheila are lucky enough to have their menfolk back home, but Joy’s husband has returned a broken man from his experiences in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. And Sheila’s husband is finding his wartime adventures and travels have made Birmingham feel small by comparison.

Then there’s Ann’s youngest child, Martin, who is still coming to terms with learning who his real father is, as well as having secrets of his own . . .

Homecoming for the Chocolate Girls is the heartfelt and dramatic conclusion to this gritty family saga about love, war and chocolate . . .

Review

Homecoming for the Chocolate Girls concludes the twisty family saga. 1946 sees the Gilby family have to deal with the aftermath of world war 2 and it isn’t plain-sailing as life is changing again. Husbands have returned from the war to try to settle into civilian, family life now the battle is won, but there are internal battles that now need to be fought. Mentally, the men are badly wounded and are breaking. Life isn’t as it was for them or the families involved.
This makes it a compelling, realistic story that feels well researched and thought about. You can see, in a changing landscape of peace, social attitudes are changing and how damaged those at war truly are after they return, when peace in their minds doesn’t mirror that of the physical world around them.

There’s also Martin, who’s story is fascinating. He has secrets that unfold and his own adventure of discovery as comes to terms with who his father is.
There are scandals afoot!

All in all, it’s a highly engaging story that unfolds the changing world in the immediate aftermath of the second world war.

#Review By Lou of The Estate By Denzil Meyrick @lochlomonden @TransworldBooks @RandomTTours #TheEstate

The Estate
By Denzil Meyrick

The Estate pic

Enter the rambling land of a castle in the Scottish Highlands, a villa in Tuscany and a Caribbean island. It’s luxurious, scenic and serene gone dark as you enter a family’s estate. Check out the blurb and review below.

The Estate Cover

Blurb

Every family has a secret.

The mega-rich Pallanders are used to luxury – a castle in the Scottish Highlands, a villa in Tuscany, a billion-dollar fortune and an island in the Caribbean – but their perfect life is about to be shattered.

Every father has a favourite.

Sebastian Pallander dies, leaving a pitiful amount of money to his wife and children. His family fight over the scraps as old rivalries and bitter jealousies come to the surface. And when Pallander’s son is killed in mysterious circumstances, everyone suspects foul play.

Every killer has a motive.

After a desperate race for survival, the relatives gather at their estate to weather the storm. They all begin to wonder: who will be next? Where has all their money gone? And will any of them get what they truly deserve?

Review

What could go wrong when the Pallanders life is rich and full of the height of luxury. They are living the dream with a Scottish castle, a Tuscan villa, a Caribbean island and a whole lot of money make up their estate.
When Sebastian Pallander dies, the truth of this family comes out. It doesn’t matter how much money you have or what social class you come from, life can still get messy, even as far as it meaning foul play leading to a suspicious death.
Pallander, although dead isn’t as innocent when he was alive, his life turns out not to be as salubrious as what it may appear, with various nefarious activities.

DI Cara Salt is an interesting character with “ghosts” from the past haunting her, including the fact she just didn’t seem good enough for her dad who always wanted more. As if that isn’t enough to deal with, she is stuck and bored in the Succession, Inheritance and Executory department.

DS Abernathy Blackstock is privileged and is very different from DI Cara Salt in both personality and background.

Both DI Cara Salt and DS Abernathy Blackstock have to work together to solve the case of what happened to Sebastian Pallander, which is rather interesting to read because they’re so different from each other.
As they get deeper into the case, there is deception and a trail of questions and an uneasiness in atmosphere is built up as the reader, nor the police know who to truly trust.

The Estate is a skilfully written book with great pacing and an absorbing, skilfully written plot.

The Estate BT Poster

#GuestPost By Bayard & Holmes @PiperBayard @Bookgal #Thrillers

Guest Post By Bayard Holmes

Welcome Bayard & Holmes to my blog, Bookmarks and Stages as you write your guest post about yourselves and your adventurous espionage books.

As Bayard & Holmes, we are known for accuracy in our espionage tradecraft. This is due to Jay Holmes’s fifty years of military and intelligence experience fighting against the Soviets and the terrorist groups they sponsored during the Cold War, straight through to the current Global War on Terror. As a result of our experience and authenticity, people like to ask us questions about the shadow world.

One of the common questions we receive is, “What are some of the most common mistakes writers make about the CIA?” The answer to that would be vocabulary.

Our espionage professionals at the CIA do not refer to themselves as spies. The word “spy” is considered a bit derogatory. As Holmes says, “Spying is seamy. It’s what the Russians do.” Technically, spies are foreigners who are spying on us, or they are foreigners who are spying on other countries for us.

Also, and this is a big one for the folks at the CIA, the intelligence personnel at the Agency are not “CIA agents.” In the world of the CIA, agents are people, most often foreigners, who are spying for our behalf on their own or other foreign governments.

The exceptions to that rule are the actual guards at the physical facilities. For example, if you were to go to headquarters, the personnel in security who would greet you at the gate are “CIA agents.” An easy rule of thumb is that if the position someone holds regards law enforcement, physical protection, or facilities security, they are agents.

In other words, Jack Ryan is not a CIA agent, but the guard he talks to at the front gate of headquarters is an agent, and the foreign spy who gives him information is an agent.

Instead of being spies or agents, our intelligence personnel are referred to as “officers” and “operatives.” Intelligence personnel at the CIA are technically called officers, which is a label particular to the CIA. CIA officers are actual employees of the CIA rather than contractors, and they get pretty touchy when you call them agents.

The term operative can apply to CIA officers and contractors, as well as to personnel from other civilian and military intelligence organizations. The term is rather vague and has no official definition, but it generally refers to men and women who work in field operations.

So to sum things up, Jack Ryan is not a spy or an agent, he is a CIA officer who must guard against foreign spies, collect intelligence from foreign agents, and sometimes goes into the field with operatives.

This is just one example of the accuracy that is the hallmark of our Bayard & Holmes fiction. To supplement, we have a Truth & Fiction section at the end of The Leopard of Cairo and all our novels, and we are happy to take your questions about the shadow world at the Contact page at our website, BaynardandHolmes.