A Cold Cold Heart
By John Nicholl 4 stars. Well Written Crime Triller Nicholl has written a Welsh Crime triller that engages from the first word. While the plot is fairly predictable. DI Gravel and his daughter Emily are oblivious to the terrible danger she is in when she accepts a job working for the solicitor Charles Turner. Gravel is on the hunt for a serial killer, who becomes obsessed with Emily. Cold, Cold Heart is an easy read, that keeps the reader engaged from the first to the last page. Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy in return for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. #AColdColdHeart #NetGalley Reviewed by Heath Henwood www.books-reviewed.weebly.com
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The Burglar
by Thomas Perry 3 stars The book starts well, engaging the reading in moving action. It does however get bogged down to a slow read through the middle. While this is trying to build tension – it is just slow. It does however improve the pace building to a climax. Elle Stowell is a young woman with an unconventional profession: burglary. But Elle is no petty thief - with just the right combination of smarts, looks, and skills, she can easily stroll through ritzy Bel Air neighborhoods and pick out the perfect home for plucking the most valuable items. This is how Elle has always gotten by - she is good at it, and she thrives on the thrill. But after stumbling upon a grisly triple homicide while stealing from the home of a wealthy art dealer, Elle discovers that she is no longer the only one sneaking around. Somebody is searching for her. As Elle realizes that her knowledge of the high-profile murder has made her a target, she races to solve the case before becoming the next casualty, using her breaking-and-entering skills to uncover the truth about exactly who the victims were and why someone might have wanted them dead. Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy in return for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. #TheBurglar #NetGalley Reviewed by Heath Henwood www.books-reviewed.weebly.com Real Tigers
By Mick Herron 3 stars. Gripping Crime Triller. Real Tigers is the third in Herron’ Jackson Lamb spy novels, and he doesn’t let the reader down. Intelligence Officer Catherine Standish has been taken hostage, and believes the reason to be her ties to Jackson Lamb, the only man who can save her. While I found the plot slow to start, the mystery deepened and thickened as the story unravelled. Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy in return for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. #RealTigers #NetGalley Reviewed by Heath Henwood www.books-reviewed.weebly.com Such Dark Things
By Courtney Evan Tate 3 stars. An engaging start, with a plot that starts well, and fades towards the end. Dr Corinne Cabot is living the American dream. She's a successful ER physician in Chicago who's married to a handsome husband. Together they live in a charming house in the suburbs. But appearances can be deceiving – and what no one can see is Corinne's dark past. Troubling gaps in her memory mean she recalls little about a haunting event in her life years ago that changed everything. She only remembers being in the house the night two people were found murdered. Her father was there, too. Now her father is in prison; she hasn't been in contact in years. Repressing that terrifying memory has caused Corinne moments of paranoia and panic. Sometimes she thinks she sees things that aren't there, hears words that haven't been spoken. Or have they? She fears she may be losing her mind, unable to determine what's real and what's not. So when she senses her husband's growing distance, she thinks she's imagining things. She writes her suspicions off to fatigue, overwork, anything to explain what she can't accept – that her life really isn't what it seems. Good summer reading, but in the end, a book that will be read, and forgotten a week later. Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy in return for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. #SuchDarkThings #NetGalley Reviewed by Heath Henwood www.books-reviewed.weebly.com First the Thunder
By Randall Silvis 4 stars. An engaging murder mystery that’s hard to put down. From the first page, Silvis sucks the reader in to a mystery that is hard to put down. Both characters and the plot are believable, and a reflection to real life. The questionable decisions the brothers make, that put them into these difficult situations, flow from realism. Products of their run-down Pennsylvania mining town, three brothers grapple with their lives in decline. Harvey drives a delivery truck; Stevie works odd jobs; and Will is a struggling bar owner whose wife, Laci, is edging toward desperation when her boss offers her more money…for a price. Then, in this tight circle where prosperity is rare—and hope, even rarer—comes a breaking point in a simple but indefensible slight… When Harvey gets shafted by his brother-in-law in a deal over a vintage Indian motorcycle, he enlists the help of Stevie and Will to set things right. But the revenge plan goes awry, and the three men stumble upon a shocking secret that, if revealed, would upend their lives. As they’re crushed under the weight of a nightmarish truth and the damning evidence in their possession, it’s up to Laci to save her family from the coming storm the brothers have wrought. And no one is prepared for the fallout. A well written and thought out mystery, that will have readers coming back for more. Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy in return for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. #FirstTheThunder #NetGalley Reviewed by Heath Henwood www.books-reviewed.weebly.com Summoned to Thirteenth Grave
By Darynda Jones 3 stars. This is the final episode of Darynda Jones fiction series combining action, supernatural and romance. Featuring Charley Davidson: part-time private investigator and full-time Grim Reaper. Charley sees dead people, and it's her job to convince them to "go into the light." But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e., murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Charley Davidson, Grim Reaper extraordinaire, is pissed. She’s been kicked off the earthly plane for eternity—which is exactly the amount of time it takes to make a person stark raving mad. But someone’s looking out for her, and she’s allowed to return after a mere hundred years in exile. Is it too much to hope for that not much has changed? Apparently it is. Bummer. She’s missed her daughter. She’s missed Reyes. She’s missed Cookie and Garrett and Uncle Bob. Now that she’s back on earth, it’s time to put to rest burning questions that need answers. What happened to her mother? How did she really die? Who killed her? And are cupcakes or coffee the best medicine for a broken heart? It all comes to a head in an epic showdown between good and evil in this final smart and hilarious novel. While not my usual genre, I found the books engaging and face paced to keep me picking up title after title. The series has become somewhat repetitive and tired. Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy in return for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. #NetGalley #SummonedToThirteenthGrave Reviewed by Heath Henwood www.books-reviewed.weebly.com The Trouble with Twelfth Grave
By Darynda Jones 3 stars. Darynda Jones fiction series combining action, supernatural and romance. Featuring Charley Davidson: part-time private investigator and full-time Grim Reaper. Charley sees dead people, and it's her job to convince them to "go into the light." But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e., murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Ever since Reyes Farrow escaped from a hell dimension in which Charley Davidson accidentally trapped him, the son of Satan has been brimstone-bent on destroying the world his heavenly Brother created. His volatile tendencies have put Charley in a bit of a pickle. But that’s not the only briny vegetable on her plate. While trying to domesticate the feral being that used to be her husband, she also has to deal with her everyday life of annoying all manner of beings—some corporeal, some not so much—as she struggles to right the wrongs of society. Only this time she’s not uncovering a murder. This time she’s covering one up. Add to that her new occupation of keeping a startup PI venture—the indomitable mystery-solving team of Amber Kowalski and Quentin Rutherford—out of trouble and dealing with the Vatican’s inquiries into her beloved daughter, and Charley is on the brink of throwing in the towel and becoming a professional shopper. Or possibly a live mannequin. But when someone starts attacking humans who are sensitive to the supernatural world, Charley knows it’s time to let loose her razor sharp claws. Then again, her number one suspect is the dark entity she’s loved for centuries. So the question becomes: Can she tame the unruly beast before it destroys everything she’s worked so hard to protect? While not my usual genre, I found the books engaging and face paced to keep me picking up title after title. The series has become somewhat repetitive and tired. Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy in return for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. #NetGalley Reviewed by Heath Henwood www.books-reviewed.weebly.com Eleventh Grave in Moonlight
By Darynda Jones 4 stars. Darynda Jones fiction series combining action, supernatural and romance. Featuring Charley Davidson: part-time private investigator and full-time Grim Reaper. Charley sees dead people, and it's her job to convince them to "go into the light." But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e., murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Now, Charley is learning to make peace with the fact that she is a goddess with all kinds of power and that her own daughter has been born to save the world from total destruction. But the forces of hell are determined to see Charley banished forever to the darkest corners of another dimension. With the son of Satan himself as her husband and world-rocking lover, will Charley be able to defeat the ultimate evil and find a way to have her happily ever after, after all? While not my usual genre, I found the books engaging and face paced to keep me picking up title after title. Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy in return for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. #NetGalley Reviewed by Heath Henwood www.books-reviewed.weebly.com The Curse of Tenth Grave
By Darynda Jones 4 stars. Darynda Jones fiction series combining action, supernatural and romance. Featuring Charley Davidson: part-time private investigator and full-time Grim Reaper. Charley sees dead people, and it's her job to convince them to "go into the light." But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e., murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. There’s just one problem. One of the three stole her heart a very long time ago. Can the Razer, a god of absolute death and destruction, change his omniscient spots, or will his allegiances lie with his brothers? Those are just a few of the questions Charley must answer, and quick. Add to that a homeless girl running for her life, an innocent man who’s been charged with murdering the daughter of a degenerate gambler, and a pendant made from god glass that has the entire supernatural world in an uproar, and Charley has her hands full. If she can manage to take care of the whole world-destroying-gods thing, we’re saved. If not, well… While not my usual genre, I found the books engaging and face paced to keep me picking up title after title. Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy in return for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. #NetGalley Reviewed by Heath Henwood www.books-reviewed.weebly.com The Dirt on Ninth Grave
By Darynda Jones 4 stars. Darynda Jones fiction series combining action, supernatural and romance. Featuring Charley Davidson: part-time private investigator and full-time Grim Reaper. Charley sees dead people, and it's her job to convince them to "go into the light." But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e., murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. In a small village in New York lives Jane Doe, a girl with no memory of who she is or where she came from. So when she is working at a diner and slowly begins to realize she can see dead people, she's more than a little taken aback. Stranger still are the people entering her life. They seem to know things about her. Things they hide with lies and half-truths. Soon, she senses something far darker. A force that wants to cause her harm, she is sure of it. Her saving grace comes in the form of a new friend she feels she can confide in and the fry cook, a devastatingly handsome man whose smile is breathtaking and touch is scalding. He stays close, and she almost feels safe with him around. But no one can outrun their past, and the more lies that swirl around her-even from her new and trusted friends-the more disoriented she becomes, until she is confronted by a man who claims to have been sent to kill her. Sent by the darkest force in the universe. A force that absolutely will not stop until she is dead. Thankfully, she has a Rottweiler. But that doesn't help in her quest to find her identity and recover what she's lost. That will take all her courage and a touch of the power she feels flowing like electricity through her veins. She almost feels sorry for him. The devil in blue jeans. The disarming fry cook who lies with every breath he takes. She will get to the bottom of what he knows if it kills her. Or him. Either way. While not my usual genre, I found the books engaging and face paced to keep me picking up title after title. Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy in return for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. #NetGalley Reviewed by Heath Henwood www.books-reviewed.weebly.com Eighth Grave After Dark
By Darynda Jones 4 stars. Darynda Jones fiction series combining action, supernatural and romance. Featuring Charley Davidson: part-time private investigator and full-time Grim Reaper. Charley sees dead people, and it's her job to convince them to "go into the light." But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e., murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Charley Davidson has enough going on without having to worry about twelve hellhounds hot on her trail. She is, after all, incredibly pregnant and feeling like she could pop at any moment. But, just her luck, twelve deadly beasts from hell have chosen this time to escape onto our plane, and they've made Charley their target. And so she takes refuge at the only place she thinks they can't get to her: the grounds of an abandoned convent. Of course, if hellhounds aren't enough, Charley also has a new case to hold her attention: the decades-old murder of a newly-vowed nun she keeps seeing in the shadows of the convent. Add to that the still unsolved murder of her father, the strange behavior of her husband, and Charley's tendency to attract the, shall we say, undead, and she has her hands full…but also tied. While the angry hellhounds can't traverse the consecrated soil, they can lurk just beyond its borders like evil sentries, so Charley has been forbidden from leaving the sacred grounds. Luckily, she has her loyal team with her, and they're a scrappy bunch who won't let a few thirsty hellhounds deter them. While the team scours the prophesies, searching for clues on the Twelve, for a way to kill them or at least send them back to hell, Charley just wants answers and is powerless to get them. But the mass of friends they've accrued helps. They convince her even more that everyone in her recent life has somehow been drawn to her, as though they were a part of a bigger picture all along. Their presence is comforting. But the good feelings don't last for long because Charley is about to get the surprise of her crazy, mixed-up, supernatural life…While not my usual genre, I found the books engaging and face paced to keep me picking up title after title. Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy in return for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. #NetGalley Reviewed by Heath Henwood www.books-reviewed.weebly.com Seventh Grave and No Body
By Darynda Jones 4 stars. Darynda Jones new fiction series combining action, supernatural and romance. Featuring Charley Davidson: part-time private investigator and full-time Grim Reaper. Charley sees dead people, and it's her job to convince them to "go into the light." But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e., murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Twelve of the deadliest beasts ever forged in the fires of hell have escaped onto our plane, and they want nothing more than to rip out Charley Davidson’s jugular and serve her body to Satan for dinner. So there’s that. But Charley has more on her plate than a mob of testy hellhounds. For one thing, her father has disappeared, and as she retraces his last steps she learns he was conducting an investigation of his own, one that has Charley questioning everything she’s ever known about him. Add to that an ex-BFF who is haunting her night and day, a rash of suicides that has authorities baffled, and a drop-dead sexy fiancé who has attracted the attentions of a local celebrity, and Charley is not having the best week of her life. But all of that barely scratches the surface of her problems. Recent developments have forced her to become a responsible adult. To conquer such a monumental task, she’s decided to start small. Really small. She gets a pet. But how can she save the world against the forces of evil when she can’t even keep a goldfish alive? A tad north of hell, a hop, skip, and a jump past the realm of eternity, is a little place called Earth, and Charley Davidson, grim reaper extraordinaire, is determined to do everything in her power to protect it. While not my usual genre, I found the books engaging and face paced to keep me picking up title after title. Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy in return for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. #NetGalley Reviewed by Heath Henwood www.books-reviewed.weebly.com Sixth Grave on the Edge
By Darynda Jones 4 stars. Darynda Jones new fiction series combining action, supernatural and romance. Featuring Charley Davidson: part-time private investigator and full-time Grim Reaper. Charley sees dead people, and it's her job to convince them to "go into the light." But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e., murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Most girls might think twice before getting engaged to someone like Reyes Farrow—but Charley Davidson is not most girls. She's a paranormal private eye and grim reaper-in-training who's known to be a bit of a hell-raiser, especially after a few shots of caffeine. Her beloved Reyes may be the only begotten son of evil, but he's dark and sultry and deeply sexy and everything Charley could hope for. Really. But when the FBI file on Reyes' childhood happens to land into her lap, she can't help herself: She opens it...and then the real fun begins. First, Charley finds a naked corpse riding shotgun in her car. Then, a man loses his soul in a card game. Throw in a Deaf boy who sees dead people, a woman running from mobsters, and a very suspicious Reyes, and things can't get any worse for Charley. Unless, of course, the Twelve Beasts of Hell are unleashed… While not my usual genre, I found the books engaging and face paced to keep me picking up title after title. Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy in return for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. #NetGalley Reviewed by Heath Henwood www.books-reviewed.weebly.com |
AuthorHeath writes reviews regularly for newspapers and magazines. Archives
January 2020
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