BOOK REVIEW: Daughter by Jane Shemilt

The night of the disappearance
She used to tell me everything.
They have a picture. It'll help.
But it doesn't show the way her hair shines so brightly it looks like sheets of gold.
She smells very faintly of lemons.
She bites her nails.
She never cries.
She loves Autumn, I wanted to tell them. She collects leaves, like a child does. She is just a child.
FIND HER
One year later
Naomi is still missing. Jenny is a mother on the brink of obsession. The Malcolm family is in pieces.
Is finding the truth about Naomi the only way to put them back together?
Or is the truth the thing that will finally tear them apart?

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 390 

Daughter by Jane Shemilt is so good, I devoured it in one day, staying up until 2am to finish as I couldn't bear going to sleep without knowing what happened.
Jenny is a GP married to Ted, a neurosurgeon; together they have a daughter Naomi and twin boys Theo and Ed. Life requires a lot of juggling but Jenny feels as though she is just about managing, that is until Naomi goes out one night and doesn't come back. Naomi is just fifteen; as the police begin their investigation Jenny is made to question just how well she knows her daughter, when did she start keeping secrets and why?
A year later and Naomi is still missing. The family is devastated and each member has dealt with it in a different way. Jenny is not giving up though, she is desperate to know the truth about what happened to her beautiful little girl, however terrifying that may be.
The author, Jane Shemilt is a GP and is married to a professor of neurosurgery, Daughter is her debut novel and I was very impressed. The story and the characters very much resonated with me, I am married to a doctor and this is the first fictional book I have read that really 'got' what that is like and how it impacts on family life. Jenny and Ted are both in stressful jobs and have a huge amount of responsibility. However much they try, this cannot always be left in the doctors surgery or operating theatre; it infiltrates their marriage and family life. I think the author really highlights the role of the working mother, I felt like she was questioning the way in which women often bear the brunt of responsibility. Jenny and Ted both have demanding careers yet Jenny is still expected to do the majority of the parenting. Is th
at right? Is Jenny somehow responsible for what happened to Naomi? Would she still have gone missing if Jenny had been a stay-at-home mum?
I thought that Daughter was very realistic, as a mother of a young daughter it made me feel physically sick at times as the idea of being in Jenny's shoes terrified me.
Shemilt's writing is superb, she layers the tension and intrigue until you are on the very edge of your seat. The ending knocked me sideways, I re-read the last few pages several times as I couldn't believed what had happened.
Jane Shemilt is an author to keep an eye on, Daughter is a brilliant and accomplished debut, I hope she's already working on the next one.

Book Review: Body Double by Tess Gerritsen

Dr Maura Isles started at the corpse in the car, at the face illuminated by Rizzoli's flashlight beam. It's me. That woman is me. 

Maura Isles deals with death. As a pathologist in downtown Boston, she has seen more than her share of corpses. But never before has the body on the medical examiner's table been her own.

There can be no denying the evidence though. The dead woman is the mirror image right down to the most intimate physical details. Even more chilling is the discovery that they share the same birth date and blood type.

Then a DNA test confirms that Maura's mysterious double is indeed her twin sister, and suddenly an already bizarre murder investigation becomes a disturbing  excursion into a past full of dark and deadly secrets...

Tess Gerritsen just gets better and better! Body Double is so hard to put down,  I was completely carried away with the plot and the characters.
Dr Maura Isles returns from a trip to Paris to discover the police outside her house. Everyone is looking at her like a ghost and she soon understands why when they reveal why they are there. Slumped over the steering wheel, a gun shot victim is parked in Maura's driveway and looks exactly like her. A heavily pregnant Jane Rizzoli is leading the case and whilst she is relieved that her friend is alive and well, she is is no way prepared for where this case will take the two of them.
After a DNA test confirms that the victim is actually Dr Isle's sister, a whole can of worms is opened. In her quest to find the truth, Maura discovers that she may have quite a macabre heritage and that she may not be the only member of her family interested in the dead.
As usual, Tess Gerritsen has delivered a story with a terrific pace, each chapter makes you want to read on. I really liked how this book focused on Dr Maura Isles and I thought that it was a very clever way to explore the idea of nature vs nurture. Are we really just a product of our shared DNA or can we shape our own lives?
I'm already looking forward to reading the next book in the series and I will be very sad when I get to the last one.

Book Review: Cold Kill by Neil White

When Jane Roberts is found dead in a woodland area, Detective Sergeant Laura McGanity is first on the scene. The body bears a chilling similarity to a woman- Deborah Corley- murdered three weeks earlier. Both have been stripped, strangled and defiled. 

When reporter Jack Garrett starts digging for dirt on the notorious Whitcroft Estate, he finds himself face-to-face with Jane's father and gangland boss, Don who will stop at nothing until justice is done. It seems that the two murdered women were linked in more ways than one and a dirty secret is about to surface that some would prefer to stay buried. 

As the killer circles once more, Jack and Laura must get to him before he strikes again. But his sights are set on his next victim and he's watching Laura's every move...

Cold Kill is a fantastic, page-turning thriller. We have two victims, one the daughter of a gangland boss and the other the daughter of a police officer. Detective Sergeant Laura McGanity is working on the case and is struggling to find how, if at all, these two women are connected.
Laura's fiance is free-lance reporter Jack Garrett. He cannot use the inside information that Laura tells him so she has to find his own angle on the story. However, he was not expecting to be contacted by the killer who makes it clear that Laura could be his next victim. Laura and Jack have to work together as much as possible but both of their careers create barriers that sees them having to go it alone.
Neil White has created a very interesting story by having Laura and Jack as the main characters. They both have very different reasons for pursuing the killer but they know he must be caught before he claims another victim or Laura herself.
The tension is steadily built up throughout the book and there are many twists and turns towards the end which I didn't see coming.
I think that Cold Kill is a really interesting and clever thriller. I found the characters and situation to be entirely believable. Neil White has written four previous books which I am pleased about and I think he is a writer that I want to read more of.

Many thanks to Avon for sending me a copy of this book to review.

Book Review: The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen

Within the walls of a cloistered convent, a scene of unspeakable carnage is discovered. On the snow lie two nuns, one dead, one critically injured- victims of a seemingly motiveless, brutally savage attack. 

As medical examiner Maura Isles autopsy of the murder victim yields a shocking surprise, the case takes a sudden and disturbing twist. The body of another woman has been found. And someone has gone to a lot of trouble to remove her face, hands and feet. 

As long buried secrets are revealed so Dr Isles and homicide detective Jane Rizzoli find themselves part of an investigation that leads to an awful, dawning realisation of the killer's identity.

I only discovered Tess Gerritsen this year and I think that The Sinner is my favourite so far of the Rizzoli and Isles series. I read this on a 10 hour flight between Heathrow and Miami and it was the perfect book to keep me distracted.
I felt that The Sinner focused in more detail on Rizzoli and Isles and I learnt more about the two female characters in this book than I did in the previous two.
The murder at the convent is completely shocking, one nun is dead and another critically injured. The violence inflicted in to these two women of God shocks everybody. The fact that the attack took place in a cloistered convent is even more alarming, these two women should have felt completely safe but somebody got in and shattered that forever.
Jane Rizzoli is leading the case and feels the huge burden of catching this highly dangerous killer. She is sickened by the crime scene and cannot believe where her investigation takes her. Rizzoli's personal life infringes on the job too, Gabriel Dean makes an appearance in the last third of the book and Jane has to finally admit that he may be more than a passing interest.
Dr Maura Isles in many ways holds the key to the investigation. Her post-mortems reveal vital clues as to  what happened to the nuns. When the third body is found, Maura initially thinks that is bears no connection to the convent killing. When she investigates further, she could not begin to imagine the ways in which the victims are linked. Dr Isles also has her personal life to content with in the form of her ex-husband Victor turning up after three years apart. She has a real mix of emotions; she realises how much she has missed him but then begins to question why he has suddenly decided to make an appearance.
Tess Gerritsen once again impressed me with her powerful story-telling skills. I think that a lot of crime/thriller books can be quite predictable but Gerritsen keeps you guessing right to the very end. I have the next book in the series, Body Double to read soon and I can't wait to see what these two women get up to next.
As I have said before, I would highly recommend Tess Gerritsen's books, she is right up there as my Queen of Crime!

Book Review: Rosebush by Michele Jaffe + Win a copy of the book!

Jane doesn't remember being hit by a car and left for dead. But as she's convalescing she realises that her friends stories and her memories of what happened that night aren't adding up.
Very soon the only thing she does know is that one of her friends was trying to kill her. One of them still is...

Firstly I would like to say that the cover for this book is brilliant, one of my favourite so far this year. What's inside isn't too bad either. Jane wakes up in hospital after being run over. She was found in a rosebush, the driver did not stop to help. Jane's memory is fuzzy to say the least, she remembers being at a party with her friends but no idea how she ended up in intensive care, unable to move her legs.
Jane has a lot of friends, her best friends being Kate and Langley, or the three musketeers as they like to call themselves. Both friends were there as was her boyfriend David but they all seem unable to shed any light on the matter. Jane then starts receiving creepy gifts at the hospital and phone calls from someone saying they will be coming to finish her off properly this time. The doctors and even her own mother don't believe her, putting it down to hallucinations caused by all the medications she is on. But Jane knows she's not hallucinating, she can't believe it but she knows that one of her friends tried to kill her and will be coming back to finish off the job.
Michele Jaffe has written a very clever thriller. That fact that Jane is so helpless in her hospital bed just makes the whole situation even more desperate. The story takes place over 5 days so the pace is pretty fast, with short chapters leaving you wanting more. There were several twists that I didn't see coming and the last few chapters had me holding my breath.
Rosebush is going to appeal to many young adult readers. I agree with Atom that there are not enough young adult thriller writers, I think that Michele Jaffe will be a leading light.

Many thanks to Atom for sending me a copy of this book to review.

I have a copy of this brilliant book to give away to any UK readers! All you need to do is leave me a comment with your email address. This competition will remain open until Midnight on March 30th and I shall pick a winner. Any comments without email addresses will not be entered! Good luck! 

So Close the Hand of Death by J.T. Ellison

Across America, murders are being committed with all the twisted hallmarks of the Boston Strangler, the Zodiac Killer and Son of Sam. The medial frenzy explodes and Nashville homicide lieutenant, Taylor Jackson knows instantly that The Pretender is back...and he's got helpers.
As The Pretender's disciples perpetrate their sick tributes- stretching police and FBI dangerously thin- Taylor tries desperately to prepare for their inevitable showdown. And she must do it alone. To be close to her is to be in mortal danger, and she won't risk losing anyone she loves. But the isolation, the self-doubt and the rising body count are taking their toll: she's trip-wire tense and ready to snap.
The brilliant psychopath who both adores and despises her is drawing close. Close enough to touch...

So Close the Hand of Death is the 6th in the Taylor Jackson series by J.T. Ellison. I don't normally like reading books in a series unless I have started from the beginning but I don't think it caused too many problems this time.
Taylor Jackson is our protagonist, she is extremely feisty but she knows that she and those she holds dear are under threat. The Pretender is the threat, he has just tortured Taylor's colleague and father-figure Fitz and made it very clear that he is coming for Taylor next.

The Pretender is just that, he is a copy-cat killer, mimicking violent murderers from the past. He moves around the country, changing victims and modes of killing, making him near impossible to catch. In So Close the Hand of Death he has recruited three apprentices who kill on his instruction, he is merely the puppet master, holding all the strings.

As Taylor draws closer she understands that she has to catch him alone, if she involves anyone then she knows for sure that their lives will be in danger. The thing is, Taylor hasn't decided what she will do to The Pretender once she has him, does her deserve to live after the devastation he has caused?
So Close the Hand of Death is a gripping read. There is a lot going on in terms of different events and characters but I was very impressed with the way that J.T. Ellison brought it all together at the end. I think it is a clever book as the characters are extremely well developed, the author gives snippets here and there so we get a clear picture of the characters and the motives for their behavior.
J.T. Ellison builds the suspense from the very beginning and I was not disappointed by the last chapters. I would recommend So Close the Hand of Death , it is a series that I will be investigating further.

Many thanks to Mira for sending me a copy of this book to review.

Book Review: Birdman by Mo Hayder

Greenwich, south-east London. DI Jack Caffery- young, driven, unshockable- is called to one of the most gruesome crime scenes he has ever seen.
Five young women have bee ritualistically murdered and dumped on wasteland near the Dome. Subsequent post-mortems reveal a singular, horrific signature linking the victims.
Soon Caffery realises that he is on the trail of that most dangerous offender: a serial killer. Beset by animosity within the police force, haunted by the memory of a very personal death, long ago, Caffery employs every weapon forensic science can offer to hunt him down.
Because he knows that it is only a matter of time before this sadistic killer strikes again...

This book is the second that I have read for The Great Transworld Crime Caper. I have not read any of Mo Hayder's previous books but after reading Birdman, I am definitely a fan.
The book centres around DI Jack Caffery, he like many fictional detectives has some skeletons in his closet but he really is a good guy, I really warmed to him throughout the book and he is a character I would like to read more of in the future.
Jack's team uncover the bodies of five women who have been buried for different periods of time. they have all be ritualistically killed and it appears that a small, live bird was sewn into their chests. With a body count of five to begin with, Jack knows that they are looking for a sadistic serial killer and time is not on their side.
Mo Hayder scatters clues throughout the book and then ties all the strings together at the end. I was on the edge of my seat several times but I don't think I was ever able to guess what would happen next. There are some very gruesome descriptions in the book, highlighting the depravity of the killer.
The only negative thing I can say is that there is a lot of medical vocabulary used in the book. Luckily I am married to a doctor so I could ask a few questions; it does add to the feeling of authenticity but it may send a few readers searching on Google.
Birdman is a brilliant thriller which I would highly recommend. I really enjoyed reading it and I'm looking forward to trying others by the same author.

Many thanks to Transworld for sending me a copy of the book.

Book Review: You Are Next by Katia Lief

Detective Karin Schaeffer was a happily married mother until she got too close to catching a serial killer.
The press nickname him The Domino Killer because he systematically murders whole families leaving a trail of bloody dominoes as the only clues to his next victim. Having brutally slain Karin's husband and child, he had left her a chilling message written in her daughter's blood: You Are Next.
And now The Domino Killer has escaped prison and the police believe he's on his way to find her but Karin is waiting...

It has only taken me just over a day to read this book, it's not overly long but Katia Lief has the reader gripped.
Karin Schaeffer is almost an empty shell when we meet her; she has lost her husband and daughter, her family home and also the career that led to it all. The nightmare began when Karin uncovered the whereabouts of Martin Price when working as a detective Martin Price is The Domino Killer or JPP as the police describe him: Just Plain Psycho. He is a serial killer who wipes out whole families, leaving dominoes as the only clue to the fate of his next victim. He took his revenge on Karin by viciously murdering her husband and young daughter, vowing to come for her next. So when Karin learns that JPP has escaped from prison, she is waiting, does she want to finish him for good or is she hoping he will finish her so that she can be with her family again. JPP is always seemingly one step ahead, he is not just interested in Karin but her remaining family members. The game has changed and Karin knows that this time she cannot let him win.
I thought that Katia Lief created a great story. Martin Price is an extremely chilling character and I found the idea of the dominoes as calling cards to be very interesting and original. The book is gruesome in parts but we are dealing with a psychiatric serial killer so it is to be expected.
Katia Lief is very good at lulling the reader into a false sense of security. There were several points where I felt relied but then she ramped it up and the nightmare continued.
You Are Next is a great and highly recommended read, I will never look at a set of dominoes in the same way again.

Many thanks to Ebury Press for sending me a copy of the book to review.

Book Review: The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen

In Boston there's a killer on the loose. A killer who targets lone women, who breaks into their apartments and performs terrifying ritualistic acts of torture on his victims before finishing them off. His surgical skills lead police to suspect he is a physician- a physician who, instead of saving lives, takes them.
But as homicide detective Thomas Moore and his partner Jane Rizzoli begin their investigation, they make a startling discovery. Closely linked to these killings is Catherine Cordell, a beautiful medic with a mysterious past. Two years ago she was subjected to a horrifying rape and attempted murder but shot her attacker dead. Now she is being targeted by this new killer who appears to know all about her past, her work at the Pilgrim Medical Center and where she lives. The man she believes she killed seems to be stalking her once again, and this time he knows exactly where to find her...

The Surgeon is the first in the Rizzoli and Isles series and the first book by Tess Gerritsen that I have read, I thought it was brilliant.
I have been searching for a good thriller writer for ages, I wanted something similar to Sophie Hannah and I think I may have found it.
Thomas Moore and Jane Rizzoli are working on the case where the murderer tortures his victims while they are still awake  and then finishes them off with a single slit to the throat. They can see that the murderer is clean, tidy and methodical and almost certainly has some kind of medical knowledge.

Catherine Cordell becomes an integral part of their case. She escaped from a similar attack two years ago and killed her attacker so she is astounded to learn that someone else is torturing and killing women in the same way. It becomes personal as the killer communicates with her and it becomes clear that she is next on the list.
Tess Gerritsen has created very clear-cut , realistic characters. I really took to Thomas Moore, he is not the cliched detective that you find in many books of this genre which was extremely refreshing. The case takes on a whole new aspect when Thomas accepts that he has developed feelings for Catherine and she for him, I really enjoyed this part of the book.
We do not find out a massive amount about Jane Rizzoli in this book as the focus is more on Thomas but I do hope we learn more about her character as the series develops.
Tess Gerritsen writes some particularly chilling scenes in this book and the pace is just right, it only took me just over a day to read it as I was eager to find out what happened.
If you are after a good, page-turning thriller then I would very much recommend this book, it is a series I know I shall greatly enjoy.

Book Review: You Can't Hide by Karen Rose

Terror has changed the life of psychiatrist Tess Ciccotelli for ever. Someone is tormenting her patients, pushing them to commit suicide and setting her up to take the blame. But even police pressure won't make her break her oath to protect their secrets. Detective Aiden Reagan understands Tess's need to safeguard her clients but all the clues suggest that a nameless, faceless enemy is set on destroying her career, her family and finally, Tess herself.
As Reagan and Tess race to stop the killer, one thing becomes clear- the noose is tightening around Tess's neck and there is nowhere for her to go...

I have been looking for a good thriller for a while and You Can't Hide by Karen Rose was perfect. The plot grabs you from the very first page and just doesn't let up. Tess Ciccotelli faces so many dilemmas in this book, she needs to protect her patients but if she hands over any information on them then she is letting them down in the worst possible way.
You Can't Hide has a romantic element too as Tess and Aiden fight each other for so long until they finally have to give in to what they both want. This obviously adds an extra element to Aiden's role as a detective, does it make it harder to protect someone that you have fallen in love with?
There are a lot of characters in this book so you have to concentrate. The plot moves very quickly and Karen Rose throws in several twists and turns. The twist at the end came from nowhere but still made perfect sense when you thought back through everything. This is a difficult book to review as I don't want to give the plot away.
If you do like a good thriller though then I would definitely check out Karen Rose's other books, I will be!

Book Review: Little Face by Sophie Hannah

Little Face by Sophie Hannah is a pure psychological thriller. Alice Fancourt leaves Florence, her two week old daughter in the care of her husband David and goes out for the afternoon. On returning, Alice is distraught and insists that the baby in the nursery is not Florence and that someone must have swapped her child. Alice's situation becomes more desperate when the police are called as David is sure that the baby is Florence and that his wife is either lying or has literally gone mad.
Sophie Hannah has created brilliant characters in this book, she presents all of their flaws, making them particularly believable. My thoughts on Alice Fancourt twisted and turned as I read as did Simon Waterhouse's. He is the detective working on the case but Sophie Hannah shrouds him in mystery too so that the reader becomes highly suspicious of nearly all the characters.
The concept of the book is great and it is a far cry from your average whodunnit. I have the second Sophie Hannah book, The Other Half Lives which I am pleased about as I know that it has some of the same characters. The author ties up most of the loose ends but there are still a few tantalising questions left unanswered, leaving you thinking about the book long after you have finished it.