Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford

review by Maryom

William Eng is the only Chinese boy at Seattle's Sacred Heart Orphanage. For the last five years he's lived there, not particularly happily but accepting that there are worse places he could be, believing all the while that his mother, Liu Song, is dead. Then on a rare trip into the city, he sees a Chinese singer, Weepin' Willow Frost, on a movie newsreel and is convinced she is actually his mother. When he learns that Willow Frost will be appearing live in Seattle, he determines to meet her at all costs. Could this beautiful singer really be his mother? If so, why has he been told she was dead?

Songs of Willow Frost is a story of the unbreakable bond between mother and son, and of the desperate course of action she is forced to take to protect her child. Set in the Chinatown area of Seattle against the harsh economic backdrop of 1920s and 30s America, it was a grimmer story than I'd been expecting. It alternates between William's unfolding story in the 1930s and that of Liu Song in the previous decade - both filled with tragedy which is only offset by William's determined optimism. Although I imagine that many readers will find this a real tear-jerker, I felt at times that the writing style distanced me from the full emotional impact of events.

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Allison & Busby
Genre - adult, historical fiction

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The Devil's Ribbon by DE Meredith

Victorian Silent Witness
review by Maryom

London in July 1858 is on the verge of a cholera epidemic but the latest corpse brought to the morgue run by forensic scientist Adolphus Hatton didn't die of natural causes. The victim is the first of a series of seemingly unconnected murders - the only link being the leaving of a bright green ribbon on or about the corpse. Inspector grey of Scotland Yard believes this points indisputably to one of Irish Fenian groups, intent on self-rule, who have adopted this as a symbol. Grey anticipates violence, possibly bombings, from them as their campaign for independence heats up. Hatton and his assistant Roumande believe the motive must be something less obvious and more personal. Can their pioneering forensic work lead them to the murderer in time to avoid more victims?

The Devil's Ribbon is an interesting, original concept - a sort of Victorian version of Silent Witness. Hatton and Roumande are portrayed as scientists at the cutting edge of forensics, searching corpses and murder scenes for clues, but also as real people with real lives and weaknesses - in Hatton's case, one for beautiful women! I didn't find the Scotland Yard detective, Grey, and side-kick Tescalini to be as well 'fleshed out' and their relationship certainly puzzled me at times, but this wasn't really detrimental to the story as a whole.
If you're looking for something a little different in crime fiction, The Devil's Ribbon is certainly a book to try. Even if, as I did, you can guess "whodunnit" before the end, it's still a readable, enjoyable story full of historical detail and horror.

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Allison & Busby
Genre - adult, crime/thriller, historical fiction

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Stop Me by Richard Jay Parker

Do you forward email?
Review by Gerry(TheMole)

I found this book really enjoyable, readable and unputdownable despite the synopsis. The synopsis for this book leads you to believe this book is about email circulating from a killer. As an ex-IT manager I had contradictory feelings about this book. The first was 'how was the author going tackle a book which was hinged around such a technical subject?' and the other was 'how much is email going to actually figure in this story?'.

The synopsis tells us about eleven deaths and emails circulating in advance announcing the victim and inviting recipients to forward this email to ten friends in the hope that someone will accidentally return the email to the killer and so prevent the death. The book, however is about celebrity - the celebrity that serial killers want and that they attract. It's about the celebrity that people seek in some of the darker web sites. It's about ego and perceived power.

Leo was at a restaurant with his wife, Laura, when she slips out to the toilet and disappears from his life. He is questioned about her disappearance by the police as an email from the killer circulates describing her as the next victim. He is released from custody and police enquiries into him stop after a year but he realises he is still being watched and he sets about trying to find out anything he can. He has lost all confidence in the police and anything he finds, or that happens, he will keep to himself.

The story is fast paced as Leo rushes, almost blindly stumbling, along a path trying to find what has happened to Laura - hopefully leading to justice?

This book is not a whodunnit although we don't know who did do it. We find out during the course of the book and when we do, we get a surprise. Or should that be surprises?

Did I enjoy this book? Yes, I most certainly did and while technology is used as a tool the author makes only one claim in IT that I would challenge. He refers to an 'untraceable email address'. It is amazing how little the average person can do on the web that cannot be traced if the tracer has the authority of international law. But is this a REAL factor in the story? No because in this case it would still not be traceable to a single person and if the word 'untraceable' was omitted this error would not have occurred.

Is this the best crafted novel I have read? Well I have to say, honestly, it is not badly crafted although not the best - but it is also Richard's first novel and as a first novel it is very good. He writes about dark web sites and internet celebrity and the celebrity that serial killers seek with confidence that reflects something of an understanding of people and I felt I learnt from this.

I would definitely recommend this book to thriller readers and maybe even whodunnit readers.

TheMole's review - 4 stars

Publisher Allison and Busby

Genre - Crime, Mystery & Thriller