The Cottingley Cuckoo by A J Elwood

 

 Charlotte Favell, one of the elderly residents at Sunnyside Care Home, has taken a strange interest in Rose, the new member of staff. With an interest in literature and fairy tales, Rose is lured by the old lady's talk of the infamous Cottingley fairies hoax, and the hints that she has letters which prove the existence of the fairies beyond all doubt. More experienced staff at the home warn Rose that Charlotte has played similar tricks before, causing trouble for her carers, but Rose's curiosity is insatiable, even though she feels she's being dragged into a dark web of, perhaps, supernatural events.

I accidentally came across The Cottingley Cuckoo on Twitter, and it probably isn't quite like my usual read but I really enjoyed it. There's a slightly slow start to the story but like Charlotte herself it gradually works its spell and hooks the reader.

 It's a difficult novel to pin down by genre - it has the suspense and twists of a psychological thriller, a tinge of supernatural horror, a subtle lack of clarity over whether Rose is being manipulated, or just an unreliable narrator. There's a clever interweaving of Rose's present day story as she falls under Charlotte's spell, and the old letters, purporting to be written by a Cottingley resident  who actually saw the fairies himself, and could attest to their disruptive and occasionally malevolent ways. At times it seems like everything is merely Rose's imagination, and that Charlotte is just the troublesome old lady the other carers she her as; at times it seems like fairies could be real, and Rose is caught up in something sinister. 

And, although there are hints and common sense alone should raise a warning flag in the reader, the ending still comes as a shock.

Call Me A Liar by Colette McBeth

Review by The Mole

I'm very late in picking this book up but fancied a change from what I'd been reading and the summary did sound worthwhile.

"You could say it started with vanity. We believed we were special. But the truth is we were simply vulnerable.

One of them is lying.
One of them is guilty.
No one is safe.
...
This is the chilling story of what happens when the idealism of youth turns toxic. Can it ever be justified to do bad things for the greater good?"

I worked in IT for many years and early on I had the reaction "NO!! It wouldn't be done like that!" but carried on and was thankful I had. The role of IT is merely a plot device to help with the scene setting, to establish the characters, and to set the ball in motion.

Each chapter is from one characters perspective and the voice is sometimes first person and sometimes third - sometimes going over how other people saw events, sometimes advancing the story line.

It builds to an ending that I certainly hadn't expected (and I cheated by skipping to the last page - I know, a capital crime!) and I was still taken by surprise by the ending. At times violent I found myself wanting to tell the characters "go on speak up!" but then realising that I saw what was happening to all of them while they were limited to their own experiences.

A great read that kept me page turning and one I'd certainly recommend to thriller and mystery readers.

Publisher: Headline
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Adult

White Bodies by Jane Robins

"Callie loves Tilda. She’s her sister, after all. And she’s beautiful and successful.

Tilda loves Felix. He’s her husband. Successful and charismatic, he is also controlling, suspicious and, possibly, dangerous. Still, Tilda loves Felix.

And Callie loves Tilda. Very, very much.

So she’s determined to save her. But the cost could destroy them all…

Sometimes we love too much."

Tilda and Callie are twins - but possibly as un-alike as could be. Tilda has always been attractive, outgoing, admired; at 27, she's a well-known actress, able to pick and choose her roles. Callie has remained in her shadow - quiet, reclusive, and dowdy, she works in a bookstore. Despite their differences the two have always been close, but now Tilda has a new boyfriend, Felix, of whom Callie doesn't approve. She feels Tilda is being dominated by him too much, letting him decide too many things for her. She even thinks he might be violent, and is determined to do everything possible to save her besotted sister. Tilda meanwhile is determined to marry him.

As the book opens Felix is found dead in a hotel bedroom. As with any unexpected death how? and why? are the obvious questions, and the story takes us back through the preceding months as Callie's mistrust of him builds, and then forward to the aftermath of Felix's death.

Like most psychological thrillers, it strings you along by only revealing the truth in installments. The story is told from Callie's point of view, so we see her quick distrust of Felix, and the bizarre actions she takes in her attempt to separate him and Tilda, but aren't privy to the thoughts of any other characters. It's definitely a page-turner - I wanted to speed through it non-stop to uncover the ending - but I'm not sure it's one for me.

Unlike most of my 'review' reads, this isn't a newly published book. It's been sitting on a TBR pile for a couple of years because I didn't feel in the mood for the tension and drama of a psychological thriller. If you're a lover of this genre, and somehow missed this on publication, go and check it out; for me, although I found it a hard book to put down, I'm still not in the right head-space for it.

The Night Visitor by Lucy Atkins

review by Maryom

Olivia Sweetman seems to have it all. She's a respected professor of history, now becoming known to the wider public through a popular TV series and guest appearances on other programmes, happily married with three children, and now she's about to break into the publishing world with her first book, Annabel, about a Victorian feminist, one of the first female surgeons, and perhaps a murderer, it's sure to be a best-seller.

Behind this public facade, though, things are not so rosy. Her husband's actions have disturbed their marital harmony, her eldest son is behaving like the stroppiest teenager ever, and Vivian Tester, the woman who helped with so much of the research for Annabel, is refusing to accept that their partnership is over, and she holds a secret that could break Olivia.

In brief outline, this doesn't seem an unfamiliar plot - well known, glamorous media personage is stalked by the 'little guy' they've trampled over to reach their position, but as the story unfolds, seeing events from first one woman's point of view then the other's, it becomes apparent that the relationship between the two women isn't that simple. Each has behaved badly and in some way wronged the other, they both have secrets to hide, and I found it difficult, with my sympathies swapping from one to the other, to decide who was the most injured party. Although some of the 'extras' are fairly sketchy, Olivia and Vivian are particularly well-drawn and fleshed out; not the common two-dimensional characters of many thrillers, but real people you can empathise with, which makes for a more compelling read. 

As you'd expect there are twists and turns, and a bombshell or two, as the story unfolds, and maybe the only downside to it is that it won't have the same impact on a second read.

Maryom's review - 4 stars 
Publisher - Quercus 
Genre - adult psychological thriller

Tattletale by Sarah J Naughton

Review by The Mole

Abe Mackenzie is lying with severe head injuries at the foot of the stairs. Jody, his fiancée, is with him and calling for the emergency services. It seems he has committed suicide although no-one saw it happen and the police record his death as such.

Mags, his sister who hasn't had contact with him since she ran away from home at the age of 15, is contacted at her office in the USA to come and take the role of next of kin. Mags is now a successful lawyer and sees suspicion and doubt in anything she doesn't immediately understand. And she doesn't understand why he jumped.

Mags clearly learnt her investigative skills at the Morse school of detection and blunders from one accusation to the next with the reader at least one step ahead all the time but this really works to keep the reader engaged. Each accusation leads to one more thread of lies in the story unpicked taking us ever closer to understanding what really happened that night - which should come as no surprise to most readers before the end. But will justice be served? Can justice be served?

At times thrilling, at times very emotional as damaged characters unload some of their burden on the reader and at other times a condemnation of the way the justice system can completely fail the damaged and vulnerable.

A truly excellent read that will keep you turning the pages until the very end - but the real very end you may have to fill in for yourself.

Publisher - Trapeze (Orion)
Genre - Adult Thriller

The Last Summer by Ricarda Huch

translated by Jamie Bulloch

review by Maryom


Due to student unrest at St Petersburg university, the governor, Yegor von Rasimkara, has decided to close it indefinitely and spend the summer in the countryside with his family. Even so, he can't escape the threats that have been made against him. His wife believes he doesn't take them seriously enough and has arranged for him to employ a secretary who will also act as a bodyguard. Lyu is well-educated, cultured, fits in almost like a house-guest, and soon all the younger family members are drawn to him; the son Velya sees him as a role model; the daughters Jessika and Katya fall in love with this handsome outsider. Unfortunately, Lyu is hiding a secret - not only is he himself a supporter of the students and their demands, but he even has a plot of his own to kill the governor...



If a story has to be pinned down to fit a label, then The Last Summer, with its sense of violence and outrage about to erupt at any moment, is a psychological thriller. The tension is there from the start, with Lyu's arrival at the governor's house under false pretences, and steadily mounts as the reader sees how trusting and duped the family are.

The story evolves through the means of a series of letters - from Lyu to his revolutionary friend, between cousins, niece and aunt, brother and sister - which proves to be an excellent way of seeing 'behind the scenes' and listening in on private thoughts. The 'children' are, as might be expected, more progressive, and even revolutionary, in their outlook, representing various points along the line between acceptance of the status quo and outright rebellion. They act and talk like many a teenager with attitude but, despite their mother's view of them as still children, they're actually adults in their early twenties! I found Lyu himself to be the most enigmatic of the characters - even though he talks big, he seems at times to be trying to put things off. Maybe having got to know the detested 'figurehead' as a real person, he no longer feels so inclined to go ahead with his plans? While he prevaricates, the family continue totally unaware of his scheming ... and the tension rises ...


Although written in the early 20th century, and set in pre-revolutionary Russia, this story feels like it could fit almost anywhere, anytime; there are moments reminiscent of Chekhov (the whole Russian summer-in-the-country setting), others of the dilemma facing another secretary-cum-assassin in Sartre's Les Mains Sales written nearly 50 years later, and even of today's problems - with students and academics around the world being imprisoned and even executed for opposing their country's regime.

Maryom's review - 5 stars 
Publisher - Peirene Press 
Genre - Adult Literary Translated Fiction

Painkiller by NJ Fountain

review by Maryom

Since an accident five years ago, Monica has been in almost constant, unbearable pain. Each day she wakes up not knowing what to expect - will this be a rare 'good' day when her pain is manageable enough for her to get up, go out, live a semblance of normal life, or one of the far more frequent days when, despite the cocktail of painkillers, she ends up lying flat on her back all day, her mind made hazy by the drugs, afraid that any movement will cause agony?   One night, kept awake by pain, and looking for something to distract her, Monica finds a letter hidden away - a suicide note she'd written years before when her pain was too bad to cope with. But something doesn't ring true about it; despite her unceasing pain, despite the tricks high doses of painkillers have played with her memory, despite the handwriting appearing to be hers, despite everything her husband Dominic says, Monica finds it impossible to believe she would ever really have contemplated taking her own life. Is someone trying to mess with her mind? or maybe her seemingly loving husband, Dominic, isn't quite as caring and patient as he appears, and has been planning to kill her?

You've probably guessed, from the ambiguous title alone, that Painkiller is a tense psychological thriller with a woman fearing that someone close to her is threatening her life. It starts well, told mainly from Monica's point of view, capturing her constant pain and her equally strong determination to fight it, however she can, and of course the reader is expecting the first step of a psychological thriller - the revelation that not everything is quite as Monica believes.  Perhaps because of that, I found the middle third moved a little slowly for a thriller - it explores Monica's condition more though, and makes both it and the affects of the drugs things the reader can begin to understand. The end speeds up again, with revelations and twists coming thick and fast as the story reaches its climax.

There are definitely echoes of SJ Watson's Before I Go To Sleep, with the plot depending on huge gaps in the narrator's memory, but it's in no way a copy-cat retelling. If Watson had written this as his second book, I'd have been disappointed; as it is, in a different author's hands there's no feeling of re-visiting the same material. It's gripping, well-plotted, and that ideal thriller - a book you won't want to put down.




Maryom's Review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Sphere 
Genre - adult psychological thriller

The Ice Lands by Steinar Bragi

review by Maryom

Four thirty-something friends have headed off into the wild interior of Iceland on a camping trip. The two guys, Egill and Hrafin, have been friends since childhood, and over the years have had their falling-outs and getting-back togethers but old resentments still linger; their partners, Anna and Vigdis, are comparative strangers who don't really get on. The trip is supposed to be a time to bond, as a group, and with nature, but Icelandic nature can be inhospitable, tempers are quick to flare, and an argument and the sudden dropping of heavy fog lead to their jeep crashing into a farmhouse. The four seek refuge inside, but the elderly couple who live there seem strange, insisting on barricading the only door at night for fear of something which lurks outside. As the group's attempts to get back to 'civilisation' fail time and again, the behaviour of the couple becomes even weirder, and the odd things found in the vicinity - dead animals, an abandoned village, piles of bones - lead them to wonder what exactly they've inadvertently discovered.

The Ice Lands is a mix of psycholgical thriller and horror tale following that well-tested plot in which city folk head off into the wilds and encounter more than they'd bargained for - think Blair Witch Project or House of Wax, depending on your preference in horror. So, I'd expected something straight forward along these lines (and if it's done well I do love a good horror) and there are a lot of very creepy moments as, splitting into various sub-groups, the friends explore the area, try to drive or walk to the nearest town, and end up circling back to the strange farmhouse that sits at the centre of this puzzle. Intermittently the story line is broken by flashbacks to the past histories of the four, and I somehow assumed these were irrelevant - just so much padding to lengthen what would have been a short story - but the ending made me realise I'd been wrong-footed; I changed my mind, decided they WERE an integral part of the overall plot, and wished I'd paid closer attention to them. For this is a story with a very odd ending - the sort that makes you reassess everything that's gone before and leave you wondering how much was 'real', and how much was taking place in someone's mind.

The other stand-out feature is the barren, sandy terrain of Iceland. The volcanic landscape is totally hostile to life; no trees or grass, just mile after mile of empty dessert where a breeze can easily whip up and impenetrable sand storm. Definitely not the place for your car to break down! 

Maryom's review - 3 stars 
Publisher -  Macmillan
Genre - Adult Translated Fiction, horror, psychological thriller

The Empress and the Cake by Linda Stift

translated by Jamie Bulloch

review by Maryom

Passing by a Viennese cake shop a young woman is enticed into sharing a Gugelhupf cake with an elderly lady dressed in a strange antiquated style, from head to toe in black. Normally this young woman is very conscious of what she eats, its calories and sugar levels, but somehow her usual objections fade when faced with the formidable Frau Hohenembs. The two new acquaintances head back to Frau Hohenembs' apartment, a space filled with strange curios and shared by parrots, an Irish wolfhound and a plump, equally black-clad, housekeeper, Ida.
There they share Frau Hohenembs' half of the cake, and the narrator finds herself being pulled into the life of this very strange and manipulative woman. They go for walks with the dog or visit museums - all very normal on the surface, but Frau Hohenembs is following a bizarre agenda, attacking and stealing items associated with the Empress Elisabeth, and the narrator feels compelled to go along with her plans.
Interleaved with this ongoing narrative, are reminiscences about the Empress Elisabeth by one of her loyal servants; a relationship which bears striking resemblances to that between Frau Hohenembs and Ida.

How would I describe The Empress and the Cake? Well, it's part subtle, tense psychological thriller but also an examination of addiction and loss of control. The Narrator (she's never named) has a history of eating disorders, of binge-eating and purging, which has been in abeyance for fifteen years, but which returns immediately after her first meeting with Frau Hohenembs. Throughout, she claims to be in charge of herself and the situation, believing she could walk away any time she chooses, but the reader can see that this is far from true; some part of her has come to rely on Frau Hohenembs, to need her dictating what to do and when.

The Empress and The Cake is part of Peirene's fairy tale series and Frau Hohenembs has at least a hint of the old crone, or even wicked witch, of folk tales about her; luring the innocent in with tempting food only to enslave them, or, as in the case of Hansel and Gretel, eat them!

Additional thoughts - when I read this I knew I was reminded of something else, a recent novel dealing with manipulation of one woman by another, but couldn't pinpoint it at the time. It's Alison Moore's Death and the Seaside which has threads of the power of naming, and suggestibility, rather than addiction but the two are interesting to read together




Maryom's review - 5 stars 
Publisher - Peirene Press 
Genre - Adult Literary Translated Fiction

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

review by Maryom

Eileen Dunlop lives a dull and dreary existence in a small town outside Boston. She dresses in her dead mother's clothes, has hardly any friends, works by day as a secretary at a boys' prison and, evenings and weekends, she looks after her alcoholic father, whose behaviour is becoming increasingly erratic and troublesome. She dreams of leaving and running away to the city but it doesn't seem likely that will happen.
Then, a new employee starts at the prison - Rebecca Saint John is glamorous and attractive, and everything dowdy Eileen would love to be. The two strike up an unlikely friendship but Rebecca's actions soon drag Eileen into more trouble than she could have imagined ...

Although this book is billed as a psychological thriller, I wouldn't personally describe it as such, as I didn't feel much tension or threat in the unfolding story line (but I've kept the tag). The story is told through the reminiscences of an elderly Eileen looking back on the events of the week leading up to Christmas 1964, so the reader knows early on that she has done something reprehensible which caused her to leave town in a hurry. There are plenty of hints about what it might be and the part that newcomer Rebecca plays in it but the actual act is kept secret till late, very late, in the novel, and nothing really remarkable happens before.

It's probably because of this lack of movement in the plot that I didn't like it, as the writing is good, and the atmosphere well conjured. I just didn't care about Eileen and her great secret. She certainly isn't a likeable character -  with her dreadful hygiene, morbid obsession with her deceased mother, and sexual hang-ups.

It's Booker shortlisted though, and I've seen good reviews on the web, so presumably someone liked it!

Maryom's review - 2.5 stars 
Publisher - Vintage
Genre - Adult fiction, psychological thriller

Other reviews - The Owl on the Bookshelf

The Creeper Man by Dawn Kurtagich

review by Maryom

Silla and Nori have run away from their London home, seeking refuge from their abusive father, and heading for the only place Silla can think of - their Aunt Cath's country manor house. At first it seems like a haven, but Aunt Cath is afraid of the surrounding woods and the Creeper Man who lives in them, and gradually her fears overcome her. She retreats to the attic, leaving the girls to fend for themselves, as the trees appear to move closer to the house and the shadows take on the form of a man creeping along...

Admittedly, I'd expected something scary from the cover but I was surprised just HOW tense and horrific this turned out to be. 
The atmosphere is spooky from the start - an isolated old house in the middle of a wood is just the ideal location for anything mysterious, and this one is painted the colour of blood outside, and dark and cobwebby inside, with strange noises in the night; the perfect setting for a horror movie!
After a brief lull, Kurtagich starts to raise the tension bit by bit, with Aunt Cath's descent into madness, and the arrival of a boy, Gowan, who claims to offer help, but whom Silla feels she daren't trust. Meanwhile, the trees creep ever nearer, claustrophobia builds, and the terrors outside work their way into the house. 
I don't normally consider myself a reader of horror stories but this really grabbed me. It's told mainly in the first person from Silla's point of view, with occasional flashbacks to when her mum and Aunt Cath were young and first summoned the Creeper Man, diary entries written in the 'Broken Book' and snippets of Nori's thoughts; they all add to the atmosphere, and keep the reader guessing whether events really are unfolding as SIlla imagines, or if the horrors are only in her head.
It's obviously not a book for the easily frightened or squeamish, but for lovers of the dark, twisted and creepy it's a must-read ... just maybe not alone, in the dark ...




Maryom's review - 5 stars 
Publisher - Orion Books
Genre - teen, horror thriller

The Loving Husband by Christobel Kent

review by Maryom

Fran Hall half-wakes one night as her husband, Nathan, comes home from the pub and climbs into bed beside her ... then, an hour or so later, she wakes fully to a scream. Finding the bed beside her empty, she goes downstairs and out into the dark farmhouse yard, where a shocking discovery awaits ... Nathan's dead body slumped in a ditch!

This psychological thriller starts on a high note, grabbing the reader's attention and curiosity, and pretty much stays that way.
As their secrets come tumbling out, Fran and Nathan soon prove to not be the ideal happy couple they seem, their move from London to the countryside something forced by Nathan rather than a joint decision and even the whole basis for their marriage suddenly seems to be in question. 
The story is told from Fran's point of view, so, while the police seem to only be investigating her as a possible suspect, we don't really know what information they have or what other lines of enquiry they might be following. She believes the police are just wasting time, not following up on all possible leads, and so decides to investigate things herself, to track down the shadowy figure she spotted across the fields on the night of the murder. .. but, to be honest, Fran seems so confused and uncertain about events of that night that it's possible to believe she could be hiding something crucial to the investigation from both police and reader, or suffering from amnesia.  
The atmosphere of flat, empty wintry fen-land is wonderfully captured, there are plenty of red herrings and dead ends, and a surprise ending, all of which add up to an excellent domestic noir style thriller.

Maryom's Review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Sphere 
Genre - adult psychological thriller

Follow Me by Victoria Gemmell

review by Maryom 


17 year old Kat Sullivan is trying to move on after her twin, Abby, committed suicide, but she just can't accept that Abby would have done such a thing. They weren't as close as they had been when younger, but surely a twin would have some inkling if her sister was distressed or depressed in any way? Yet Abby had seemed her normal happy self right till the end.
 She wasn't the only teenager to die this way in their small town, in fact she was the fifth in a year, and Kat can't help but believe there's more behind these events that people seem prepared to admit. When she's introduced to The Barn, a secret hangout where older school kids mix with students from the local uni, Kat's suspicions are aroused, for although it seems on the surface to be just a cool place to meet up, there seems to be dark undertone to the place, and an underlying obsession with celebrities who died young.

Follow Me is an excellent teen/YA thriller; the sort of book that quickly grabs the reader and keeps them reading. The story is told in the first person from Kat's perspective, so the reader shares her grief, her belief that there is more than meets the eye to this series of suicides, and her determination to pursue anyone who may have encouraged Abby. The characters are well-drawn and believable, from Kat's parents who have now turned understandably over-protective of their remaining daughter, her friends, who don't know how to talk to her since Abby's death, to Michael and Rob who run The Barn, and could be hiding who knows what in the way of secrets.
As a fairly short read, just over 200 pages, the plot moves along quickly - fortunately, as I was desperate to know what Kat would uncover - with Kat's suspicions veering one way then another but with less of the twists and turns of an adult thriller; even so it's an unputdownable read.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Strident 
Genre - teen/YA thriller

The Trap by Melanie Raabe

Review by Libby Mayfield

Over the past few years psychological thrillers have become more popular ever, Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl and S. J. Watson's Before I Go To Sleep being notable successes in the genre. Unlike the fads of paranormal romances or "sick lit", this is a style that can be difficult to pull off well, but I'm relieved to say that Melanie Raabe's The Trap did it.

The general premise is straightforward - a recluse author, Linda Conrads, sees her sister's murderer on television. She writes a book about the murder to lure the suspect into her home under the pretence of a rarely granted interview, and so the plot unfolds. It may seem simple, but, of course, it isn't.

I'm not usually one to be much affected by a novel, I have some trouble with horror movies but when it comes to literature I can usually shut the cover and put the plot out of my mind, no matter how deep under my skin it gets. Raabe's thriller proved to be an exception. Despite wanting to rush through the chapters, I paced myself over several days, and for the majority of the nights between I found the book creeping into my dreams, making them just as gripping and unsettling at the plot, where much like Linda, I found my reality questioned.

Every chapter is a mind game, from the two simultaneous stories to Raabe's ability to make you question just how much is real - as the plot proves how far the mind's perception of the world can be bent, it almost leaves you questioning just how much you know to be true. With convincing characters and a first person narrative so strong you find yourself thinking like Linda, the plot is almost totally absorbing. Add in impressive attention to detail and enough research to make every aspect believe, and it's safe to say you've got a novel that's consumed me like none has in months.

Raabe has an eerily beautiful talent for descending the novel into chaos and neatly piecing it back together again, resulting in a thriller that both leaves you wanting to rush to the end, and withhold yourself somewhat for fear of getting too sucked into the plot. But I might warn you; this is not a novel for the faint of heart. It might just creep into your dreams.

Libby's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Mantle (Panmacmillan)
Genre - adult crime fiction, psychological thriller,  

Exposure by Helen Dunmore

review by Maryom


Simon Callington is an minor bureaucrat at the Admiralty, working with sensitive 'official secrets' documents though not at the 'top secret' level. He plods along as anyone might at any old office job, but then an old friend is hospitalised and calls on Simon to do him a favour....  which will land him in far more trouble than he can imagine. For, unknown to Simon, that old friend Giles has been passing secrets to the Russians, and the favour involves returning a 'top secret' file that should never have left the Admiralty offices. Before long Simone finds himself arrested on a charge of spying, and his wife Lily is left with three children to look after, the press hounding them and in fear of what may happen next.

Set in London in 1960, Exposure is an unusual spy-thriller - almost, I'd say, one for readers who don't normally like the genre. It's not about cloak and dagger secrecy, dead-letter boxes and coded messages but the human cost particularly to people who innocently get caught up in events. Giles' unfortunate accident behaves like a pebble thrown into a pond, though not only sending ripples out across it but raking up all the mud from the bottom too. For all three have secrets they've kept well-hidden; obviously Giles' espionage activities, but also Simon's relationship with him, dating back to university days, which if exposed could cause at least as much trouble for both of them; and for Lily, it's her secret struggle as a Jewish refugee from Germany, trying to fit in and become as English as possible but still holding a fear of authority and a gut feeling that the only person you can rely on to protect you, is yourself. Of the three, Lily turns out to be the strong one.
Giles is essentially a risk-taker and gambler, both professionally and personally, maybe even thriving on danger - but he's become sloppy over time and his past is about to catch up with him.
Simon is the sort of man who drifts through life and has things happen TO him, rather than make them happen. He drifts into an illicit love affair with Giles, drifts again into marriage and fatherhood, and now he's drifted unthinkingly into the middle of a spying scandal.
Lily though, following her mother's example, believes in taking things into her own hands. She isn't prepared to just rely on Simon's upper-class family to come to her aid but puts measures in place herself - and (without spoiling the ending I hope), it's fair to say that it's Lily's actions which save her, Simon and their family.

As an unusual twist on a familiar scenario, I really enjoyed this, and would definitely recommend to readers who normally shun the 'spy' genre.





 Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Hutchinson
Genre - adult, spy thriller, psychological thriller,

Black Widow by Chris Brookmyre

 review by Maryom 


Diana and Peter didn't at first sight seem to be a couple made for each other - she was a skilled surgeon; he was the "IT Crowd" guy sent in to fix her pc - but somehow they hit it off and after a whirlwind romance married six months later. Another six months more and the dream is shattered when Peter dies in car accident.
Peter's sister Lucy isn't happy with the police's initial findings so she gets journalist Jack Parlabane to nose around and see what he can dig up, and meanwhile policewoman Ali, one of the first at the scene of the crash, begins to have her suspicions too. Suddenly things are starting to look black for Diana....

The story starts as Diana is on trial for murdering her husband, and is told through three threads, approaching from different angles - Diana's narration of her back story, the viewpoints of Jack and Ali. The public image of a fairytale romance is quickly eroded away as the reader discovers the reality behind it, but even so, are things as easily and simply explained away as it seems?

 I've long been a fan of Chris Brookmyre but oddly haven't read many of the Jack Parlabane series, so I don't know how typical this is, but to be honest I was a little disappointed. For starters, there was a lot less of the Fargo or Breaking Bad style black humour that I associate with Brookmyre, and then the plot's big reveals seemed visible from too early on (I don't want to give away spoilers but for anyone who's read it, then, yes, even that shocker at the end!) Despite that it was readable enough but more for the development of character, the insights into blogging and trolling on the internet, and the exposure of a web of lies and secrets, than for the whodunnit aspect.

 Maryom's review - 3.5 stars
Publisher - Little, Brown
Genre -adult, psychological thriller

The Widow by Fiona Barton

review by Maryom

Until three years ago, Jean and Glen Taylor were an average unremarkable couple. Then Glen was accused of the abduction and murder of a small girl, Bella Elliott. Since then, their life has revolved around his attempts to clear himself. Now Glen's dead, and to be honest Jean isn't really sad he's gone, but reporters are besieging her house and at last she's ready to tell her side of the story....

The Widow is the story, not of the accused, but of the loyal wife who stood quietly by his side through court appearances and as he faced the Press. She's seen often enough in newspaper photos or on TV, but no one asks what she knows or how she feels. Does she believe her husband guilty as charged, or does she truly, completely, believe him to be innocent? For Jean the initial allegations came as a shock; her Glen would never do such a thing! But gradually the police investigation reveals a side to Glen's character that she'd never guessed at - so what else might she have been mistaken about? While Glen is held by police awaiting his trial, Jean has to put a brave face on things and face the everyday world, coping with the suspicions of her neighbours, work-colleagues, and even family, and dealing with the barrage of reporters all after a story.

The story is told mainly from three points of view - that of Jean, of reporter Kate Waters, intent on grabbing an exclusive interview, and of detective Bob Sparkes, who never gave up on his belief that Glen Taylor was the man responsible for Bella's abduction. The three story-lines move between the present, just after Glen's death, and the events which were triggered three years ago with the disappearance of Bella, and weave round each other showing Jean's changing attitude towards her husband, the tricks that Kate uses to win her confidence and exploit a seemingly vulnerable woman, and the dogged pursuit embarked on by Bob Sparkes, even at the risk of his career.

 Before I started reading this, I was aware that the reviews appearing from bloggers were a bit mixed - some praising it highly, some unimpressed - but that's always the sort of reaction to get me reading a book and this time I'm glad I did. I think if, from the tag 'psychological thriller', you're expecting Gone Girl style over the top character and events, The Widow may leave you feeling a little flat. This is a much more subtle tale about people who could be anyone you know - your friends, your neighbours, even your own family - and, for me, this is why it works. Jean starts out a little meek and mild, almost adoring the ground Glen walks on, and certainly too gullible when it comes to accepting some of his stories about work, but as events unfold, the balance in their relationship changes till she becomes the stronger partner and her husband reliant on her.

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Bantam Press
Genre - adult, crime, psychological thriller

The Living and The Dead in Winsford by Hakan Nesser

review by Maryom

A few weeks ago Maria and Martin Holinek left Stockholm heading for Morocco, hoping to put a scandal behind them and allow Martin time to write his latest novel, one which threatens to reveal scandalous events that took place in a writers' commune several years ago.
 But now, Maria is arriving in the village of Winsford on Exmoor, alone apart from her dog Castor, intending to spend the next six months in a cottage just outside the village, but having no real plans beyond taking stock of her life and hopefully outliving her dog. Her life is mainly solitary, taking long walks on the moor accompanied by Castor, but gradually she finds herself pulled in to village life - dinner at the pub, visits to the community computer centre, even the beginnings of a romance. As winter starts to grip the moor though, strange things begin to happen and Maria becomes convinced that someone is stalking her - who could it be? and why?

The Living and The Dead in Winsford is a stand-alone psychological thriller from the author of the long-running Van Veeteren series. This time the setting is Exmoor, but a British winter of fogs and rain proves as 'noir' as any Scandinavian setting; the main character a Swedish woman, Maria, hiding under a false name, running from something dreadful and fearing pursuit.
 The story cleverly mixes three threads - why is Maria on her own, no longer with husband Martin? what dark events will Martin's novel reveal? and who is Maria's mysterious stalker? So the reader follows Maria thinking back over the events that have brought her to this cottage on the edge of the moor, discovering along with her, through notebooks and computer files, the secrets that Martin has kept about what happened at a writers' commune back in the 1970s, and fearfully watching for evidence of someone trying to track her down.
The length of the novel gives plenty of space for the author to explore the characters and their backstory in more detail than is often the case with quick-read thrillers, but I still felt a certain ambivalence towards them. Maria didn't ought to be a character for whom I'd feel any sympathy - she has after all committed a serious crime - but I did. On the other hand, as I discovered more about Martin, his secrets and indiscretions, I began to feel he maybe deserved his fate!
Exmoor itself makes an excellent backdrop - one day clear and bright with views out to the distant sea, the next hemmed in by darkness and fog. Come rain or shine, Maria is out on the moor walking her dog, maybe trying to walk away from her past, and the reader gets to experience it in all its moods. Some of the places I'm vaguely familiar with but I was definitely left wanting to visit the area again.
At more or less 470 pages long I'd expected this would prove to be a bit of a lengthy read, so had been rather putting it off, but then I picked it up last Thursday and was so hooked I barely put it down - finishing it the next day!

translated by Laurie Thompson
 
Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Mantle (Panmacmillan)
Genre - adult psychological thriller, translated fiction

Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton

review by Maryom

Catrin and Rachel had been friends for most of their lives till a moment of carelessness on Rachel's part led to the death of Catrin's two sons; since then, as best possible in a small island community, they've ignored each other. Three years on, Catrin feels she has nothing left to live for - apart from revenge. Her plans are disrupted though when a young boy goes missing. Although he's believed to have just wandered away from a family picnic, this isn't an isolated incident - two other boys have disappeared in the last couple of years leading some people to fear there's a killer at large on the island. The thought that one of their own number could be abducting children seems beyond belief, but what other explanation could there be?


Spanning a few days in November 1994 Little Black Lies is a gripping stand-alone psychological thriller from Sharon Bolton, author of the Lacey Flint series It's set on the remote Falkland Islands - a ready-made 'closed room' location of a tight-knit community where visitors are rare, mainly confined to the cruise ships that pass through in Summer. The story is told from three points of view, starting with Catrin, who while seemingly going about her day to day life is constantly thinking about death - that of her sons, her own, and the possibility of causing someone else's. Her version of events is followed by that of  her ex-lover Callum; one of the British paratroopers involved in the Falklands War, he's suffered post traumatic shock ever since, and has found that the only place he's at peace is oddly back on the Falkland islands, but he's still subject to periods of black-out during which he can be aggressive and violent. Lastly, we hear Rachel's point of view - for three years she has lived a life full of guilt and remorse, but maybe now there's a way she can make amends. As each version unfolds, we realise that what we first accepted as solid fact is open to interpretation, and that maybe events aren't as clear cut as we'd believed. I certainly found my sympathies shifting from one character to another as their back stories emerged. It's very cleverly done, and leads the reader first one way, then another, saving the final twist to the last page.
Definitely the sort of book that once started, you won't want to put down till it's finished!



Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Bantam Press
Genre - adult, crime, psychological thriller

Her by Harriet Lane

review by Maryom

One Friday afternoon, stepping out of her local off-licence, Nina is taken aback to see a well-remembered face from the past. The other woman, Emma, struggling with a baby buggy, doesn't notice or recognise her, and as the weeks pass, and summer moves on into autumn, Nina tries to forget the incident ...but finds she can't. Nina starts to contrive reasons for the two of them to meet, drawing Emma into her life, but her reasons are far from honest. Long ago, Emma's actions hurt Nina; Emma may not remember but Nina does - and she's not going to let Emma off the hook again.

Her is a curious book - for much of it not a lot really happens but even so the writing style pulled me in; I really wanted to discover what Emma had done in her past to so offend Nina, why Nina recognises Emma but not vice versa, what exactly Nina's intentions are - obviously not a cheery Hello, nice to meet after all this time! - and I just couldn't put the book down till I had all the answers.

The story is told in first person from the alternating perspectives of Nina and Emma; maybe there's a little too much of showing incidents from both points of view as sometimes the accounts are too similar but it gets the reader into the heads of these two women, contrasting Nina's machinations with Emma's innocence, and creating an atmosphere filled with menace.
From the lead-up, I'd expected more drama in the denouement - it actually creeps up quietly with both reader and character only gradually realising the enormity of what has happened. The ending itself is tricky and ambiguous  - but it worked for me. 
I'm not quite sure it lives up to the tag of psychological thriller but it's a great compelling read, filled with a growing sense of discomfort and dread.

 Maryom's review - 4.5 stars 
Publisher - Orion (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Genre - adult, psychological thriller,