Month: April 2022

The Shot by Sarah Sultoon

The Shot by Sarah Sultoon

Summary:

An aspiring TV journalist faces a shattering moral dilemma and the prospect of losing her career and her life when she joins an impetuous photographer in the Middle East.

An act of mercy
Or the ultimate betrayal…
Who decides?

Samira is an up-and-coming TV journalist, working the nightshift at a major news channel and yearning for greater things. So when she’s offered a trip to the Middle East, with Kris, the station’s brilliant but impetuous star photographer, she leaps at the chance.

In the field together, Sami and Kris feel invincible, shining a light into the darkest of corners … except the newsroom, and the rest of the world, doesn’t seem to care as much as they do. Until Kris takes the photograph.

With a single image of young Sudanese mother, injured in a raid on her camp, Sami and the genocide in Darfur are catapulted into the limelight. But everything is not as it seems, and the shots taken by Kris reveal something deeper and much darker … something that puts not only their careers but their lives in mortal danger.

Sarah Sultoon brings all her experience as a CNN news executive to bear on this shocking, searingly authentic thriller, which asks immense questions about the world we live in. You’ll never look at a news report in the same way again…  

My Review:

We have all seen the outstanding professionalism from journalists covering conflicts. Author, Sarah Sultoon now brings her experience of being an CNN news executive with her new novel The Shot (Orenda Books) which is released tomorrow 28th April. This is an extremely powerful story of an up-and-coming TV journalist and is based in the Middle East. This packs a punch and asks many questions.

I have to say what an outstanding writer Sarah Sultoon really is. Using all her experience to take the reader to the heart of the storyline. I have always had unswerving admiration for journalists that put their lives in danger to bring the stories that matter.

Samira is a journalist based in a very busy newsroom with a major news channel she is keen to learn but she harbours ambitions to get out there herself and be at the forefront of the story rather than back at the headquarters of the news channel. She can speak Arabic, so Samira is just biding her time. Kris on the other hand is an experienced cameraman and is often in danger zones filming. Now back in the newsroom the is major breaking news and some of their own team have been involved in an incident with some of the team injured including Kris but when he gets home he is desperate to get back in the field. It is not long before Samira gets her first chance, and she heads off with Kris overseas. From one assignment to another but this time it is to Darfur in Sudan and then suddenly the story really takes a turn that even knocked me off my feet that involves some shots taken by Kris that reveal much more about what is really going on. Sometimes you get so involved in a storyline that you forget almost everything else that you must do. This was the case with The Shot.

The story is gripping and heartbreaking. But superbly written and I read it in two sittings. Here is a story that will live in your memory for some time to come. It will pose so many questions for you the reader. Not wanting to give much away here but do not miss reading The Shot.

If ever a book needs to be turned into a TV drama, then Sarah Sultoon’s brilliant story deserves this. It would make gripping watching. Simply outstanding.

#TheShot

@SultoonSarah

@OrendaBooks

276 Pages.

My thanks to Karen Sullivan (Orenda Books) and Anne Cater (Random Things Tours) for the review Copy of The Shot by Sarah Sultoon which is Published on 28th April 2022 and can be pre-ordered through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop or through Bookshop.org that supports your local independent bookshop. UK Bookshop.org

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The Fall by Rachael Blok

The Fall by Rachael Blok

Summary:

The sins of the past echo in the present in the new literary thriller from crime-critic favourite, Rachael Blok.

The bigger the sin, the further the fall…

With Easter approaching, the verger of St Albans Cathedral was supposed to be readying the church. Instead he discovers a man lying dead, fallen from the famous 150-foot-high tower. Did he jump, or was he pushed?

For DCI Maarten Jansen, it’s a simple case of suspected suicide. Until a stranger, Willow, who witnessed the jump, prompts a deeper investigation into a long-buried past, involving a psychiatric hospital, a pregnant woman, and fifty years of silence. As Willow’s own family history entwines with the case, Jansen starts to wonder how everything is connected.

The Fall is a haunting literary thriller about loss, trauma, silence, and how our past shapes who we are.

My Review:

The question for DCI Maarten Jansen is was it suicide or something more sinister? The Fall (Aries Fiction, Head of Zeus) was released on the 14th April just ahead of Easter and ironically Easter is the setting for this gripping thriller set in St. Albans.

It is the small hours of the morning, and all seems quiet, and Willow has arrived at the St. Albans Cathedral to prepare for an event but from the darkness she hears a noise. On the roof of the Cathedral a man is struggling, and he is trying not to fall. High up there the wind is strong, and it is cold. The man cries out for help. Far below Willow thinks she hears a shout but believes she is hearing things. It is dark and sometimes you can hear things that are not there. Then there is a crash.

It is down to DCI Maarten Jansen who is originally from Rotterdam to investigate what happened to the 80-year-od man. Why would he be up there on the roof of the Cathedral in the early hours of Good Friday. Jansen believes it was suicide until Willow arrives and tells the DCI Jansen what she witnessed, and this now requires a deeper investigation, and this now has the past coming to life and there are some characters in the novel that would be keen to see this and would rather the past be buried and stay buried. This is going to be a complex case and not as straightforward for DCI Jansen.

What I really enjoyed is how Rachael Blok has created such an interesting back story that involved several characters many have stories to tell and the inclusion of the Cathedral that is centre of the novel as well as a psychiatric hospital all play a part in the novel and there are secrets from the past that are bubbling to the surface.

The Fall is slow to get going but it is worth continuing as the story really gathers pace the further you get into it. I really enjoyed Rachael’s writing and the research she has done for the background the novel. The Fall is one book I am happy to recommend.

400 Pages.

My thanks to Sophie Ransom (Ransom PR) and Aries Fiction (Head of Zeus) for the review Copy of The Fall by Rachael Blok Published on 14 April 2022 and is now available through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop or through Bookshop.org that supports your local independent bookshop. UK Bookshop.org

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The Dark Flood by Deon Meyer

The Dark Flood by Deon Meyer

Translated by K.L. Seegers

Summary:

One last chance. Almost fired for insubordination, detectives Benny Griessel and Vaughn Cupido find themselves demoted, exiled from the elite Hawks unit and dispatched to the leafy streets of Stellenbosch. Working a missing persons report on student Callie de Bruin is not the level of work they are used to, but it’s all they get. And soon, it takes a dangerous, deeply disturbing turn.

One last chance. Stellenbosch is beautiful, but its economy has been ruined by one man. Jasper Boonstra and his gigantic corporate fraud have crashed the local property market, just when estate agent Sandra Steenberg desperately needs a big sale. Bringing up twins and supporting her academic husband, she is facing disaster. Then she gets a call. From Jasper Boonstra, fraudster, sexual predator and owner of a superb property worth millions, even now.

For Sandra, the stakes are high and about to get way higher.

For Benny Griessel, clinging to sobriety and the relationship that saved his life, the truth about Callie can only lead to more trouble.

Taut with intrigue, murder and suspense, exploding with action and excitement, The Dark Flood is a masterpiece from the author of Trackers and The Last Hunt.

My Review:

Firstly, this is my first novel that I have read by Deon Meyer, and I really do not know how this has happened. The Dark Flood (Hodder & Stoughton) was released on 14th April, and I have to say right now, just how much I really enjoyed reading. Thank you, Sophie Ransom and Hodder & Stoughton, for giving me the chance to read in advance.

I do enjoy a thriller that get off with an explosive start and it really does here. The setting for Deon Meyer’s is South Africa and here in The Dark Flood it is Stellenbosch where detectives Benny Griessel and Vaughn Cupido are now exiled from the elite Hawks Unit and demoted to patrolling the streets, I guess that is what you get for disobeying a direct order.

Both Griessel and Cupido have been given a missing persons report, a student by the name of Callie du Bruin has disappeared. This is out of character for Callie who has never been in any trouble so what is going on here? For Griessel and Cupido something does not seem quite right. Why would a young man who is close to his mum and studying hard just vanish? As both detectives investigate the case the more, they become concerned that he has not gone voluntarily. As you can imagine his mother is beside herself and is concerned something has happened to Callie.

There is a lot going on in this outstanding crime thriller, this is a complex and complicated case for both the detectives. There is also Sandra Steenberg who is an estate agent, and she has a real problem. She is married and has young children but for some time now she has hidden a secret from her husband, and this is about explode and could wreck all their lives, that is until local fraudster Jasper Boonstra who is a real predator and is seeking to sell one of his major properties. This is a major risk for Sandra, but the commission could ease her problems and save her marriage. But there is much more to this, and the stakes are high. Sandra is desperate but I really liked her story. An intriguing and compelling thriller that has everything that will keep you guessing what twist is coming next and how the two exiled detectives go about solving a difficult and fast paced novel. When people’s lives are at risk you will do whatever, it takes to crack the case and the ending is just an exciting as the beginning of the story. Gripping.

416 Pages.

My thanks to Sophie Ransom (Ransom PR) and Hodder & Stoughton for the review Copy of The Dark Flood by Deon Meyer Published on 14 April 2022 and is now available through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop or through Bookshop.org that supports your local independent bookshop. UK Bookshop.org

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Elektra by Jennifer Saint

Elektra by Jennifer Saint

Summary:

The House of Atreus is cursed. A bloodline tainted by a generational cycle of violence and vengeance. This is the story of three women, their fates inextricably tied to this curse, and the fickle nature of men and gods.

Clytemnestra
The sister of Helen, wife of Agamemnon – her hopes of averting the curse are dashed when her sister is taken to Troy by the feckless Paris. Her husband raises a great army against them and determines to win, whatever the cost.

Cassandra
Princess of Troy, and cursed by Apollo to see the future but never to be believed when she speaks of it. She is powerless in her knowledge that the city will fall.

Elektra
The youngest daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, Elektra is horrified by the bloodletting of her kin. But can she escape the curse, or is her own destiny also bound by violence?

My Review:

I loved Ariadne and it was my fiction book of the year for 2021 and Jennifer Saint now returns with Elektra (Wildfire Books) which is released on 28 April, so not too long to wait and if like me you really enjoyed Jennifer’s writing then you are going to love Elektra it is well worth the wait.

What Jennifer Saint has given us in Elektra is the story from three women of the Trojan Wars. Clytemnestra who is the sister of Helen and is the wife of Agamemnon, Cassandra who is the Princess of Troy and is cursed by Apollo and then there is Elektra who is the youngest of the daughters of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon and she conspired with her brother to eliminate her mother.

This is a fabulous sweeping mythological story that now gives voice to the three women. Their lives are now brought to life and each of the characters are complex, and each has their own destiny and their ambitions. Admittedly I found the story to focus more on Clytemnestra but that does not in anyway detract from the voices of Cassandra and Elektra. Each of the chapters is by one of the three women in their own voice and their stories of revenge. There are a number of themes that are written into this story, but Jennifer writes with great sensitivity.

I have to say that I have come to really love the way Jennifer Saint writes and how she weaves the stories in both books, all the characters really come to life, with all their own induvial tragedies and I found as in Ariadne easy to follow and I just really enjoyed the interactions. The is complex at times as you would expect with Greek mythology, but it is a joy to read and beautifully written.

I am not going to give any spoilers here; you are just going to have to wait for publication day and you can enjoy. Elektra is already my favourite book of the year so far. It will take some beating. It is compelling as it is rich. I have no idea how Jennifer Saint is going to follow this, but I for one and intrigued and look forward to book three. Elektra is one book not to miss.

352 Pages.

My thanks to Caitlin Raynor (PR Director for Headline Books, Tinder Press and Wildfire Books for the review Copy of Elektra by Jennifer Saint.  Published on 28 April 2022 and can be pre-ordered through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop or through Bookshop.org that supports your local independent bookshop. UK Bookshop.org