Bellevue Square – Michael Redhill

This has to be one of the most hypnotic reads, haunting and at times I was not quite sure where I was with this from one page to another. Michael Redhill really set about writing one of the most compelling reads of the year in Bellevue Square. Just imagine for one minute you are minding your own business running your bookshop and in walks a customer you know is a regular and then he tells you something that will literally make your heart jump. Now prepare for one hell of a ride.

This is a story about Jean, she loves running her bookshop in Toronto, Canada, it is her bookshop, then again is it? She has a regular customer who comes in and they play a game where she tries to guess his first name. So far she has failed to correctly guess his name. Then one-day same customer comes in and announces that Jean has a double, a life ‘doppelganger’ Jean thinks he is simply confused, but then he goes completely out of character. Scary stuff. Now the story really kicks off as Jean goes looking for her double. Who is she and does she really exist.

This is just the opening gambit of a story that is just compelling stuff, not a simple read is Bellevue Square, it will twist your mind and play with it. At one point I was going to throw the book across the room. I never ever think that. This is one rollercoaster of a ride, a book that just goes off in its own way. I am not sure how Michael Redhill came up with this novel but boy did it play with my own mind.

So what happens to Jean and her regular customer, no that would be too easy and I am not going to give this away. Just prepare for one hell of a ride that has just about everything. There are a who series of genres going on here. This was unsettling and bewildering yet this is how it is meant to be. By the time I had finished I was dizzy. But what a read. Once you are sucked in you won’t leave this one alone. Not easily forgotten. I want more.

288 Pages.

Thank you to Katherine Sutherland (No Exit Press) and Anne Cater (Random Things Tours) for the review copy of Bellevue Square by Michael Redhill.

Bellevue Square was published by and was published on 15^th August 2018 and is available through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop.

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Killing Eva by Alex Blackmore

Review Date: 14 December 2015

Author: Alex Blackmore

Release Date: 26 November 2015

Publishers: No Exit Press

ISBN –10: 184344657X

ISBN – 13: 978-1843446576

320pp

Available in Paperback and Kindle

The Last Word Review

An intense thriller that had me on the edge of my seat throughout the book

I must admit that I missed the first book in the Eva Scott series called Letha Profit but to be honest found it to read like a stand-alone novel.

We find Eva Scott as a witness to a dramatic murder at Waterloo station, as much as she tries to help the dying man it is all in vain, but it is his last words he says that haunt Eva and danger now stalks in the shadows that seem to follow. Sometimes the past that we try to bury awakens and comes back to stalk us and this is what now befalls Eva in Killing Eva the next chapter in the Eva Scott series.

Now facing extreme danger Eva must confront the past that is now haunting her every move and Eva must keep one step ahead of the ever present threat that follows her with the future entirely linked to the past that has been kept buried. When Eva lands in Berlin the action really starts and so does her paranoia

For me the plot developed at breakneck pace and I found the style of writing from Alex Blackmore really breath-taking. A thriller that keeps you on your toes to the very end of the story.

Even though I had not read the first in the series there can be sometimes what we call ‘Second book syndrome’ but based on Killing Eva, there is no suck worries here Alex Blackmore is a very competent writer. Here is a classic thriller that has everything.

The fact that Eva manages to escape out of situations that seem bleak is remarkable and I found that this thriller crossed over to a touch of sci-fi at times. If that was planned, it is unique trick to pull off in this sort of thriller especially as there is a genetic key as part of the main plot here.

The action scenes are a plenty and in great detail. Some conspiracy thrillers sometimes leave you a little cold but Killing Eva you will have no such complaints it is all here.

Here we have the ultimate cat and mouse conspiracy thriller were the stakes are not just high they are extremely high. So to the ending and how it ends. Now we have to wait with baited breath to see if there is a third in the series. If you love Hitchcock, you will love Killing Eva. Thank you to Alex Blackmore for a review copy of Killing Eva

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Meet the Author

Alex Blackmore

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Alex Blackmore was born in north London, raised in Somerset, and returned to her spiritual home in the north of the capital after a stint at Nottingham University and a year or so of wanderlust.

Writing has always been one of Alex’s passions and her love for a fast paced thriller is what drove her to start producing her own. Lethal Profit was published by No Exit in 2013 and Killing Eva is due for release as an Ebook in July 2015 and in print in November 2015. Her style draws on the influences of her literary heroes – such as Henning Mankell, who kindly provided input on Lethal Profit – as well as an interest in the issues that shape our contemporary world and the love of a good goose bumps moment.

In addition to writing thrillers, Alex runs a fashion retail site called The Glass Pineapple. The venture is currently at the startup stage and provides a platform for emerging fashion designers and independent brands. As well as supporting exciting design talent, the site will use innovative fashion tech to help overcome some very specific problems with buying online. The exciting project is already up and running and the full tech launch is scheduled for late 2015/early 2016 – watch this space.

Alex also has a second book due for completion this year that explores the mind of the modern woman, in particular in the context of ambition, sex and dating. The fictional account is dryly humorous, adventurous and frank, covering themes that many will easily identify with.

Finally, Alex also runs her own freelance copywriting business. She has written for a broad range of both big and boutique names in fashion, travel, food and technology, supplying everything from digital content through to old school marketing materials and PR campaign slogans.

If this sounds like a busy life then Alex is used to it, having trained and then practised as a finance lawyer in the City for five years. Specialising in acquisition finance, Alex worked in London and Paris during her time in the legal world and found it a fascinating and eye opening experience.