Book Synopsis:
Chastity Riley and her new sidekick Ivo investigate the case of newspaper executives who have been caged and tortured outside their offices … on a trail that leads them to the hothouse world of boarding schools and some harrowing secrets…
You loved Dark … now meet Chastity Riley
On a warm September morning, an unconscious man is found in a cage at the entrance to the offices of one of Germany’s biggest magazines. He’s soon identified as a manager of the company, and he’s been tortured. Three days later, another manager appears in a similar way.
Chastity Riley and her new colleague Ivo Stepanovic are tasked with uncovering the truth behind the attacks, an investigation that goes far beyond the revenge they first suspect … to the dubious past shared by both victims. Travelling to the south of Germany, they step into the hothouse world of boarding schools, where secrets are currency, and monsters are bred … monsters who will stop at nothing to protect themselves.
A smart, dark, probing thriller, full of all the hard-boiled poetry and acerbic wit of the very best noir, Beton Rouge is both a classic whodunit and a scintillating expose of society, by one of the most exciting names in crime fiction.
Beton Rouge is available in ebook and paperback now. You can purchase your copy of both using the link below.
My Review:
I was a huge fan of Blue Night, the author’s first novel so couldn’t wait to read more from this series. Beton Rouge doesn’t disappoint as it is a fast paced, gripping novel with a fantastic female lead!
The reader is drawn in straight away with the mention of two intriguing, if in one case, slightly bizarre cases involving the tourture and humiliation of two men. The story follows Chastity as she and her team try to discover what the men had done to deserve such treatment. As she investigates we find out more about the victims including how unliked they were and the reasons behind them which made me very unsympathetic towards their plight.
The thing that made this book for me is the brilliant Chastity who is a very likeable character. On one hand she’s a hard, very capable detective who is able to handle herself in some difficult situations. However she has a very caring side, especially towards her friends and wears her heart on her sleeve which was lovely to see. She’s a very real character and it was this, alongside her liking to smoke and drink that made me warm to her. I thought she seemed a very cool character!
This is a fairly short book but the author manages to pack a lot of action into the pages. The chapters are also fairly short which makes for a fast, gripping read and the action never really let’s up which makes the book very gripping. The ending seemed to come much too soon and I’m looking forward to the next book in the series, especially as I’d love to read more about Chastity.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Orenda Books for my copy of this book which I received in exchange for an honest review.
About The Author:
Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. At university, she studied Philosophy and Literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious Henri-Nannen-School in Hamburg. In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award as well as the second Place of the German Crime Fiction Prize for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. She lives in Sankt Pauli, in the heart of Hamburg, with her husband and son.
Follow Simone on Twitter @ohneKlippo and visit her website: simonebuchholz.com
Over The Rainbow Blog 
Thanks so much for the Blog Tour support Jo x
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