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THE KEEPER by Tana French

4* Slow, slow, slow, and not quite what the blurb leads you to believe, nor as it turned out, my cup of tea...But I kept coming back to it time and time again. There was something indefinable that drew me in... I expected a murder-mystery with the lead being a retired Chicago cop. Instead, I got Ireland's version of small town Anywhere, USA, where politicians are bought; justice is done local style; the local bigwig rules with smiles, jobs, favours, seeming benevolence, or veiled and not-so-veiled threats...until things change. And people rise up... This was slow to the point that I wondered why I was still going with it, as it was more saga and very much not cop procedural. Characters were many, and there wasn't really enough of an intro to most. I got the impression that mental health was an issue for more than a few, but not admitted, and that people in Ardnakilty had their own way of dealing with things. The ending was a surprise. In my book, pun not intended, justice didn...
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STOLEN IN DEATH by J D Robb

3.5* Back to being predictable again - I suspected the right household member and someone we've seen before. I left this series for around 5 years until last year, when I played catch-up. The last book was the 50th, Golden ID, which sadly, wasn't great. There's a formula that used to work when the side characters were central to the tales, which they're not really anymore, but that's not stopped micro appearances from Mira, Mavis, Leonardo, McNab, Feeney, Louise and Charles, and more. They're not necessary to this tale, not even the cops, so it's a bummer that they've been included in organically. The tale isn't hard to fathom out. Mention of the people in the household pointed at one person. Tick. Mention of a femme fatale type with blonde hair, and a penchant for red and jewellery, made me think, "Aha, this rings bells and I think Eve's rung their bell before." She had. And does. Sigh. All that was missing was Eve offering herself up ...
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EDEN FALLS by Ajay Chowdhury

4* I think the author's Asian name, Aisha's too, plus the RAW mention (Hritikh fan here) made me get this - it's a good tale, scarily true to real life in some aspects. Sci-fi absolutely isn't my thing. I was scared as a kid by watching "V", so yeah. But, this isn't a scary sci-fi book, at least not from one side. It's people and their quest for more, for power, control, leverage and world domination that's the scary parts, and all too true to 2026, with a barely disguised Stephen Miller type, a No47 type, a Muskrat type, and hangers on.  The tale features an NRI, Aisha, who's married to Adam for sort-of-'Indian'-reasons that I can relate to - vaguely Asian person here. She's Muslim, he's Caucasian American and a Nobel prize-winner. He has an ego, she's on the rebound, and tbh, he probably is too. Tension is good in the tale, with a death on their honeymoon, Adam going missing, Adam's ego coming into play, Adam's ex ...
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THE BONES OF LOGAN ROCK by Sally Rigby

3* Not an exciting tale but it's better than the previous book I read by SR. This is book X in a series and you won't be lost if you've not read the previous ones. There are low-key murder-mysteries set in Cornwall with a DS who's not long widowed, and who has a little girl that he pretty much dumps on his parents to look after. I've never really had the sense that the tales are full of tension or anything exciting but the police team do their jobs, sometimes fall for the obvious that's not necessarily the right thing, big things up a little - Googling is a skill a colleague has mastered - yawn, and ultimately get there. Dialogue is occasionally stilted and teaches readers to such eggs, but it's a readable series. In this one, the prologue told us the killer was a guy, so the chercher la femme was a bit of a waste of time, especially when the cops knew there had been a mystery guy around the first deceased all those years ago... ARC courtesy of NetGalley and...
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THE WOLF AT THE DOOR by Kate Wylie

4.75* I stood Eve Dallas up for Margot Phalen, and have no regrets.  Book 2 in the new MP FBI series can't be read as a standalone. The discovery that MP made, that I thought was just a bit too convenient at the very end of book 1, helping to exonerate Wes, makes another appearance (or few) here, and we get to hear the unsub's voice throughout the tale. We also find out that they/another unsub? want what's theirs back - this is cleverly done, and there wasn't a doubt in my mind as to what said voice was referring to. But, I was big time wrong as to their identitiy/ies and to what was wanted back. This author does beautifully with setting her scene and unsub/s.  The wolf character of the tale and the title sounded weirdly believable, to the point it had me pondering mental health as an illness versus delusions/indoctrination/cult. I'm still no closer to understanding the guy by the end of the tale, but suspect that he's done for in this series. There is more than...
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THE SILENT BOY by Michelle Kidd

2.5* With this book, MK falls off my autobuy list. It's all styling, very little substance, with so-not-believable baddies. And editor, what editor?  Joffe Books, I'm finding can be quite inconsistent in quality and editing. MK is normally an author whose books I tend to watch out for, but even for 99p, it's not a great effort.  The storyline piques attention, as does traumatised little 6yo Joshua. Until suddenly, 2 chapters from the end, he too morphs into getting chapters from his 1st PPOV, in far too grown-up a voice and tone. It's just not believable. It mimicked the rest of the chapters when the baddie/s were anonymous in their 1PPOV storytelling - unburdening and freaking out - but it felt inorganic. As to the Maguire brothers? Too many all-mouth-no-trousers types, with all 3 living ones and the dead one having secrets. And the Maguire women? Made out to be certain types that then turned out not to be those types. Really not believable that one had hidden cojones ...
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DEATH IN WILTSHIRE by Derek Thompson

2* This poor author feels like a 'we've got to publish him, but don't really want to stand by him' author from Joffe Books. I used to get ARCs by Joffe Books but I suspect they don't like critique, as they've been rejecting all my recent requests. I've been harsh at times but also pretty fulsome where praise/feedback was warranted. This book was a free-to-read-now tale, and I can see why. There's really nothing to recommend here. There's alluded-to stuff with a DI who holds the lead character's  - so unmemorable that I've forgotten his name  - puppet strings, the reasons for which don't get revealed beyond brief allusions about events that made him have to leave The Met. Just silencing looks. I got tired reading about his unexplained exile from The Met and his not liking Wiltshire.  The thing with the lady vicar was pointless. The thinking by his young sidekick about whether single vicars are allowed to have sex was archaic. The plethora ...
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