Month: September 2022

Sometimes People Die by Simon Stephenson

Sometimes People Die by Simon Stephenson

Summary:

[A] thriller from [an] ex-doctor about a spate of mysterious deaths in a beleaguered hospital. Insightful on addiction and doctors’ lives, it reads almost like a comic medical memoir – with murder thrown in ’The Bookseller

The year is 1999. Returning to practice after a suspension for stealing opioids, a young Scottish doctor takes the only job he can find: a post as a senior house officer in the struggling east London hospital of St Luke’s.

Amid the maelstrom of sick patients, over-worked staff and underfunded wards a darker secret soon declares itself: too many patients are dying.

Which of the medical professionals our protagonist has encountered is behind the murders? And can our unnamed narrator’s version of the events be trusted?

My Review:

The is one mysterious aspect of this novel that you pick up very quickly, there is a narrator, but you do not know who the narrator is. This is what I really liked about Sometimes People Die (The Borough Press) by Simon Stephenson this just adds to the mystery. It is set in the year 1999 in a struggling London Hospital this young Scottish doctor takes on a role that soon becomes something more than just a doctor.

How did this young Scottish doctor end up working at this London hospital, for this you have to back further as while he was working previously in Scotland, he came very close to losing everything he worked so hard for including he medical licence which would have meant that his career would have been over, he was found to be stealing drugs due to his ongoing opioid addiction. Now he is working with overworked and underpaid staff at this London Hospital. But there is something going on at this hospital, people are dying, too many people are dying.

Throughout the story the narrator talks to us about life on the wards the long and exhausting days that never seem to end and days that merge into one, the crash calls and constant beeps, but something keeps occurring and that is among of people that seem to be dying on the wards, clearly something sinister is going on, could there really be a killer stalking the patients, someone who could be a nurse or a doctor clearly taking lives? Our narrator will soon become a suspect when his own past is called into question, but somewhere in the hospital there is a killer. He must find who is responsible and quick.

I have to say that I really enjoyed how Simon Stephenson set out his novel as Simon is a trained doctor and worked in both London and Scotland, so his medical background really helps set the scene of day-to-day life on the wards of St Luke’ Hospital. At times there is humour that he brings to the story, within the story our doctor who is out to find the killer will also recount some of the famous cases of medical related murders from the years past which really adds to the story. It is both compelling and at the same time an addictive read. But what about the ending, well that is something you will have to discover for yourself.

368 Pages.

My thanks to Sophia Saghir (Midas PR) and The Borough Press for the review Copy of by Sometimes People Die by Simon Stephenson. Published on 1st September 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 Last Girl to Die by Helen Fields

The Last Girl to Die by Helen Fields

Summary:

In search of a new life, seventeen-year-old Adriana Clark’s family moves to the ancient, ocean-battered Isle of Mull, far off the coast of Scotland. Then she goes missing. Faced with hostile locals and indifferent police, her desperate parents turn to private investigator Sadie Levesque.

Sadie is the best at what she does. But when she finds Adriana’s body in a cliffside cave, a seaweed crown carefully arranged on her head, she knows she’s dealing with something she’s never encountered before.

The deeper she digs into the island’s secrets, the closer danger creeps – and the more urgent her quest to find the killer grows. Because what if Adriana is not the last girl to die?

My Review:

What is it about a murder mystery set on a Scottish Island? Well, here is one that I literally could not put down. The Last Girl to Die (Avon Books) by Helen Fields. Is one of those books that sets the scene very quickly and it never lets up until you turn the last page. Helen Fields is a former criminal law barrister so who else could really write such a gripping crime novel.

Set on the Isle of Mull, an American family have made the island their new home. But something goes horribly wrong when their 16-year-old daughter goes missing, and the days pass and the police have no clues as to what has happened to Adriana. The days now pass, and they begin to think that the local police on the Isle of Mull do not seem to be taking the case very seriously. The parents of Adriana now call in a Canadian private investigator who has a track record in finding missing teenagers. Sadie Levesque arrives on Mull and starts to look for clues as to what has happened to Adriana. It is not long before Sadie comes face to face with hostility from some of the local police officers investigating the case.

Adriana has now been missing for around eleven days and Sadie now finds her body, but something very creepy and mysterious about how she is found. She is wearing a crown made of seaweed but that is not all, Sadie has not seen anything like this before, but she will soon come face to face with another crown made of seaweed. But who is responsible for the murder of Adriana and what really lies behind her killing. There are too many loose ends on Mull and that goes for the family as well. Are they hiding something about their daughter? And why are some of the police and locals against her digging too deeply into the case. Someone clearly means Sadie harm if she digs too deeply.

It is not long before another girl goes missing and her body is found in similar circumstances, is there a connection between the two teenage girls? Adriana has a twin brother and there is a sense of unease here from the start.

What we have in this compelling crime novel is the islands mysterious past and its legends, and it is not until Sadie herself sees one of these ‘gatherings’ that she begins to understand, but there is danger here.

I really enjoyed the setting and how Helen Fields created a whole cast of characters that made the story so gripping. A story of secrets and but also of the past. It will keep you guessing until the very end.

384 Pages.

My thanks to Olivia Collier (Midas PR) and Avon Books for the review Copy of The Last Girl to Die by Helen Fields. Published on 1st September 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 Bleeding by Johana Gustawsson – Translated by David Warriner.

The Bleeding by Johana Gustawsson

Translated by David Warriner

Summary:

1899, Belle Époque Paris. Lucienne’s two daughters are believed dead when her mansion burns to the ground, but she is certain that her girls are still alive and embarks on a journey into the depths of the spiritualist community to find them.

1949, Post-War Québec. Teenager Lina’s father has died in the French Resistance, and as she struggles to fit in at school, her mother introduces her to an elderly woman at the asylum where she works, changing Lina’s life in the darkest way imaginable.

2002, Quebec. A former schoolteacher is accused of brutally stabbing her husband – a famous university professor – to death. Detective Maxine Grant, who has recently lost her own husband and is parenting a teenager and a new baby single-handedly, takes on the investigation.

Under enormous personal pressure, Maxine makes a series of macabre discoveries that link directly to historical cases involving black magic and murder, secret societies and spiritism … and women at breaking point, who will stop at nothing to protect the ones they love…

My Review:

Firstly, I have really enjoyed all of Johana Gustawsson’s novels to-date and I am not at all sure how to begin with my review. Could this be Johana’s best yet? The Bleeding (Orenda Books) and superbly translated as ever by David Warriner is not out until 15 September so just a few more days to wait. The first thing that strikes you is the fabulous cover design. But the storyline is just a stunning complex novel that will fit into the horror come gothic thriller. Now I don’t do horror I stopped reading those back in the 1980’s but don’t be put off by this. This will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat all the way through.

Now here is a novel not just set-in two-time setting but three. It is following the story of three women one for each time setting. The time settings are 1899, 1949 and 2002, and the women are Lucienne, Lina, and Maxine. All the women’s stories are linked and none of their stories are good. Shocking in fact and here is the basis of crux of the storyline. Be prepared for a quite a reading journey that only Johan Gustawsson can take you on.

Maxine Grant is a detective and is grieving the loss of her husband who died suddenly and now she must pull all of her own resources together as she has two young children to care for, but she must now get back to work and there is a murder to solve. But what has Pauline the wife of victim got to do with the case? But what is to follow will take Maxine back in time to another tragedy and then to 1949. But how and what does this have to do with the current case that Maxine Grant is now trying to solve. There is something so incredibly spellbinding in the way the Johan has put together a who cast for The Bleeding and the setting is brilliant as is the way she pulls the whole storyline together.

Do not be put off by the multiple time settings as I found the story was a joy to follow at times there are hints of the dark, gothic, and creepy that find its way into the novel but that just adds to the suspense. I found the storyline to be chilling but outstanding and one of my books of 2022. Not to be missed.

300 Pages.

My thanks to Karen Sullivan for the review Copy of The Bleeding by Johana Gustawsson. Published on 15 September 2022 and is now available to pre-order 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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Salmacis: Becoming Not Quite a Woman by Elizabeth Train-Brown

Salmacis: Becoming Not Quite a Woman by Elizabeth Train-Brown

Summary:

As recounted by the Roman poet Ovid, a young nymph, Salmacis, one day spied Hermaphroditus bathing; consumed with passion, she entered the water and, begging the gods to allow them to stay together, the two became one – part man, part woman. An Eclectic Pagan, for Elizabeth Ovid’s fables are more than fiction, and form a framework for exploring identity. Drawing on the rich mythological history associated with the tale of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus, and re-examining the tale through the lens of metaphor, Salmacis: Becoming Not Quite a Woman is a stirringly relatable and powerful exploration of gender, love and identity. this is my lake salmacis, and i am the wild nymph with a hollow in her belly and nothing between her legs

My Review:

My love of poetry goes back to when I was very young, and I would in the library surrounded by poetry books. Where I got this from remains a mystery. From the classics to something more modern and just recently arrived is Salmacis: Becoming Not Quite a Woman (Renard Press). The debut poetry collection by Elizabeth Train-Brown. A dazzling new writer of poetry and this is her debut collection. The first thing that strikes you is the origami Swan on the cover, then you realise there are no capitals used on the cover. Step inside and this is exactly how it is through this small but outstanding collection.

It is pretty evident that Elizabeth Train-Brown has just let her imagination and pen run with words as she explores all things gender but your own identity. She holds nothing back in her poetry it is tantalising and unique. I just really enjoyed the way she plays with her words exploring her very being.

Ask me to choose one of the poems and I would have to say it would be ‘we all watch the same gods’ on page 45. I will let you read the poem for yourself and take in the words.

What I enjoy about poetry is that it can make you think about what you have read after you have finished reading and discuss the meanings of what the poetry is trying to tell us. Here in Salmacis, Elizabeth Train-Brown is doing just that, she wants us to think about just who we are. I am already looking forward to what comes next.

64 Pages.

My thanks to Renard Press  for the review Copy of Salmacis: Becoming Not Quite a Woman by Elizabeth Train-Brown Published on 31 August 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