From the moment their eyes met across the room at a house party, Erin and Dom were meant to be.
If only it could be so simple. Over the years, the highs and lows of life conspire to keep them apart.
But a notebook can bring them together. On the blank pages of their love story, they write down everything they can’t always say – the secrets, the hopes and the love.
Falling in love is easy but staying in love is where the story begins…
The book Of Love is available now in ebook and paperback. You can purchase your copy of both using the link below.
My Review:
The book Of Love is a wonderfully romantic, absorbing and thought provoking book that I found hard to put down. It is definitely a book that will stay with me for a long time.
What stuck me most whilst reading this was how realistic the story seemed. Yes there are a few sugary sweet moments but they are interwoven with some of the normal highs and lows that any relationship faces. I found it quite emotional to experience everything alongside the couple and to see how love can change over the years.
The Book of love is a very interesting concept and I wonder if it’s one that is advised in marriage counseling or the like as it seemed to be quite effective. Communication can definitely be a problem in marriage and I think it would be a great idea to have somewhere both people could vent. I’m not sure I’d be able to write so succinctly when angry or upset though and would probably end up making the situation worse as a result, though maybe this is part of a learning curve towards better communication.
This book is very absorbing and I found it both fascinating and comforting to read a fly on the wall account of another couples relationship. There are lots of twists that were often surprising and ensured that I was glued to the page. However the charm of this novel is the way the author slowly develops the characters so that the reader gets to know them intimately. I felt truly invested in their relationship and their lives, feeling every high and low alongside them.
This is the first book I’ve read from this author and I’ll definitely be reading more from her in the future as I thought this book was superb! If you love absorbing, emotional reads then you’ll love this book.
Huge thanks to Harper Collins for my copy of this book via Netgalley.
About The Author:
I’m Fionnuala, pronounced FINOOLA, and am as Irish as the name hints at, though I live just outside London in Ascot. I write character driven novels where I love to poke about under the layers of relationships and see what’s really going on underneath… My debut novel, ‘You, Me and Other People’ was released in 2015 with my second ‘The Day I Lost You’ following in 2016. October 2018 sees the release of ‘The Book of Love’ my latest novel – a story ‘for everyone who has loved and lost.’
When the high school in the small Norwegian village of Fredheim becomes a murder scene, the finger is soon pointed at seventeen-year-old Even. As the investigation closes in, social media is ablaze with accusations, rumours and even threats, and Even finds himself the subject of an online trial as well as being in the dock … for murder? Even pores over his memories of the months leading up to the crime, and it becomes clear that more than one villager was acting suspiciously … and secrets are simmering beneath the calm surface of this close-knit community. As events from the past play tag with the present, he’s forced to question everything he thought he knew. Was the death of his father in a car crash a decade earlier really accidental? Has his relationship stirred up something that someone is prepared to kill to protect? It seems that there may be no one that Even can trust. But can we trust him? A taut, moving and chilling thriller, Inborn examines the very nature of evil, and asks the questions: How well do we really know our families? How well do we know ourselves?.
Inborn is available now in ebook and paperback. You can purchase a copy of both using the link below.
My Review:
This was another chilling, addictive read from a fantastic author!
The story intrigued me from the start with a rather brutal, senseless murder and continued to hold my attention with the gradual revelations that follow. The reader is slowly drip fed information about what happens and the different characters which makes the book almost impossible to put down at times as I found myself wondering what would happen next.
The story is told in two time lines titled simply Now and Then. The ‘Then’ timeline follows the investigation into the murders and what happened after. This is mainly from Evan and DCI Yngne Monk’s point of view which makes for very interesting reading. As the story develops and we find out more about the different characters it seems like everyone has something to hide. I think I suspect everyone at one point as I was unsure who to trust. This helps add to the tension in the book as you are never sure where the next twist will come from. It also means the book is highly addictive as you have to keep reading to discover the answer to all the questions whirling around your head.
The inclusion of social media helps give the book a modern, realistic feel to it which makes for a chilling read as it seems like this story could actually happen. Trial by social media has been a much debated subject and one that has caused a few problems. The author includes tweets and status’s from a variety of social media to help give an impression of what people think of the murders. As the murder investigation continues the sense of unease strengthens which gives the story a sense of unpredictability, as you wonder how everyone is going to react.
I’ve read, and loved, all of this author’s books and in my opinion he keeps getting better and better. I was a bit nervous to read a book that wasn’t part of the fabulous Henning Juuls series but I needn’t have worried as this was a brilliant, slick crime thriller that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Karen from Orenda books for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Thomas Enger is a former journalist. He made his debut with the crime novel Burned in 2010, which became an international sensation before publication, and marked the first in the bestselling Henning Juul series. Rights to the series have been sold to 28 countries to date. In 2013 Enger published his first book for young adults, a dark fantasy thriller called The Evil Legacy, for which he won the U-prize (best book Young Adult). Killer Instinct, upon which Inborn is based, and another Young Adult suspense novel, was published in Norway in 2017 and won the same prestigious prize. Most recently, Thomas has cowritten a thriller with Jørn Lier Horst. Enger also composes music, and he lives in Oslo
Good morning everyone I am pleased to finally share my review of Me, You And Mr Blue Sky today.
Huge apologies to Tracy Fenton for the delay in posting this.
Me You And Mr Blue Sky is available now in ebook and paperback. You can purchase a copy of both using the link below.
Book Synopsis:
Is love a choice, or is it fate?
Jo-Jo Middlebury is done with love. Linus Travers wants one more shot at it. Mr. Blue Sky, their 1970s-loving guardian angel, offers perspective on both when he’s not busy diving into reruns of “Happy Days” and “Barney Miller.”
Linus can save Jo-Jo’s business, but Jo-Jo makes it clear that she needs no one to rescue her, least of all him. Add to that an ex-fiancé with a change of heart, a single mom who wants a good time, and a married couple who’ve blurred the boundaries of their respective friendships with Linus and Jo-Jo.
All the while, Mr. Blue Sky observes, explains, and ever-so-gently interacts.
Written by wife-husband novelists Elisa Lorello and Craig Lancaster, You, Me & Mr. Blue Sky is a warm-hearted, humorous dive into the depths of love and the mysteries of how two people find their way to each other.
My Review:
This was a light hearted but insightful read that was hugely enjoyable.
The author draws the reader in with some wonderful descriptions of Montana so the reader feels that they are actually there watching all the action unfold. It sounds like a beautiful town and one that I think I’d like to visit in the future.
The two main characters are well developed and I liked reading about their complicated relationship. The will they or won’t they theme was well developed and I found myself feeling quite invested in their relationship, hoping that they will get together. My favourite character was Linus though as I thought he was a very sweet and caring guy, the type that everyone needs in their life. I wanted to give Jo Jo a shake at times to make her see what a great guy he was.
The story develops very well managing to be a very lovely love story but not too sickly sweet to seem unrealistic. It was quite quirky in places which I really enjoyed and made me smile whilst reading. I felt it was this that made the book stand out from other similar books.
This is the author’s first book together and I’d definitely be interested in reading more from them in the future. I hope this isn’t the last collaboration between the two of them.
Huge thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book which I received in exchange for an honest review.
About The Author:
Sunday, September 17, 2017.
Between them, Craig Lancaster and Elisa Lorello have written more than 20 books. Craig is the author of the popular series of EdwardStanton novels, while Elisa is the bestselling author of the Faking It series. They’re married and live in Maine. You, Me & Mr. Blue Sky is their first novel together.
Follow The Blog Tour:
The blog tour has now finished but do check out these bloggers reviews!
Stephanie doesn’t believe in fate, true love or living happily ever after. She’s content enough being engaged to Matt. But then she meets Jamie, who understands her more than anyone else ever has.
Jamie is happily married to his childhood sweetheart Helen and believes in everything Stephanie doesn’t. So why does he have such a strong connection with Stephanie?
When Stephanie and Jamie meet one fateful weekend in 2006 it will change everything…
Ten years. Two people. One epic love story.
The Day We Met is an immensely moving and heart-warming epic love story perfect for fans of Josie Silver’s One Day in December and Zoë Folbigg’s The Note.
The Day We Met is available now in ebook and in paperback on the 7th March 2019. You can purchase or pre-order your copy using the link below.
My Review:
I have to admit to being a little dubious when I see a book described as an epic love story but I have to admit that the love story featured in this book is a wonderful one.
The story is told from both Stephanie and Jamie’s point of view which made for fascinating reading. The connection between the two main characters was amazing and I loved to read about them. They are truly the dream relationship and the chemistry between them is palpable, making it feel very real. I found myself caring about them and wanting to read more about them.
This was a beautifully written, compelling book that you can’t help falling in love with. I so enjoyed reading about the development of their relationship and there were some surprising twists that ensured I kept reading. I don’t want to say too much for fear of giving too much away but I guarantee this is one book that will just draw you into the story and keep you thoroughly gripped until the end.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Tess from Ebury Publishers for my copy debug this book. If you like epic love stories then you’ll love this book!
About The Author:
Roxie was born and raised in Middlesbrough.
After studying Classics at Newcastle University, she realised she needed a break from studying Latin, Ancient Greek and all that serious stuff, so naturally, she became a dancer in a nightclub (à la Coyote Ugly) for a few years before going to live in Australia. Upon returning to the UK she became a criminal barrister for 7 years.
It was after constantly being told “Oh! You don’t look like a barrister!” that the idea for her debut novel was born.
Roxie lives in Yarm, a pretty little market town in the North-East. She’s a bit (lot) obsessed with Prince and spends far too much time watching him on YouTube. Her hobbies include watching musicals, making her hair as big as possible, and wishing she was Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
You can follow her on Twitter/Instagram @toodletinkbaby She’s also on Facebook as Roxie Cooper.
Baked, mashed, boiled or fried, Mr Doubler knows his potatoes. But the same can’t be said for people. Since he lost his wife, he’s been on his own at Mirth Farm – and that suits Doubler just fine. Crowds are for other people; the only company he needs are his potato plants and his housekeeper, Mrs Millwood, who visits every day.
So when Mrs Millwood is taken ill, it ruins everything – and Mr Doubler begins to worry that he might have lost his way. But could the kindness of strangers be enough to bring him down from the hill?
Mr Doubler Begins Again is a nostalgic celebration of food, friendship, kindness, and second chances, perfect for fans of Rachel Joyce and Joanna Cannon.
Mr Doubler Begins Again is available now in ebook and hardback. You can purchase your copy of both using the link below.
My Review:
Mr Doubler Begins Again is a heartwarming, quirky read that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Mr Doubler is a character that I initially found quite annoying as I felt he was quite set in his ways and quite condescending whilst talking to people. However as the novel progressed I started to learn more about him, I warmed to him and found his little quirks quite endearing. He’s obviously quite a lonely character which might explain many of his flaws and these become slightly ironed out as he decides to get out to make more friends. His attempts to do this and the friendships he makes were very heartwarming to read about and I found myself really enjoying watching him come out of his shell a little bit.
As the reader finds out within the first few pages, potatoes feature quite heavily in the book with the many different types of potatoes and uses for them being described in detail. While this might sound a little bit weird or boring it is actually far from it and I found it quite fascinating to lead more about potato farming. Mr Doubler, and the author, clearly know their stuff and it’s one of the quirks that makes Mr Doubler quite such a unique character.
The reader goes on a wonderful journey with Mr Doubler as we follow him from a lonely, potato obsessed man to his attempts to get out to socialise and the new friends he makes. It was lovely to go on this journey with him and I found myself quite sad to leave him when the book finishes. I hope that this isn’t the last we see of him as he’s a brilliantly character!
This is the first novel I have read by this author and I’ll look forward to reading more from her in the future. It has been compared to The Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry which I think is accurate as the style of the book was similar, and Mr Doubler is a character that the reader can really get behind like Harold Fry.
Huge thanks to Izzy Smith for inviting me onto the blog tour and to HQ stories for my copy of this book via Netgalley.
About The Author:
Seni Glaister worked as a bookseller for much of her career and was the CEO of a book retailer, before founding her own company WeFiFo in 2016.Her first novel The Museum of Things Left Behind was published in 2015.Mr Doubler Begins Again is her second novel.Seni lives on a working farm in West Sussex with her partner and has five children.Twitter @SeniGlaister
A serial killer is burning people alive in the Lake District’s prehistoric stone circles. He leaves no clues and the police are helpless. When his name is found carved into the charred remains of the third victim, disgraced detective Washington Poe is brought back from suspension and into an investigation he wants no part of . . .
Reluctantly partnered with the brilliant, but socially awkward, civilian analyst, Tilly Bradshaw, the mismatched pair uncover a trail that only he is meant to see. The elusive killer has a plan and for some reason Poe is part of it.
As the body count rises, Poe discovers he has far more invested in the case than he could have possibly imagined. And in a shocking finale that will shatter everything he’s ever believed about himself, Poe will learn that there are things far worse than being burned alive …
My Review:
The Puppet show is a fantastically dark, clever and utterly gripping read. From the first few chilling pages I was hooked and found that I couldn’t put the book down. It was a great book to read when up all night with a teething baby.
The three main characters Washington Poe, Flynn and Bradshaw are fantastically evoked and help carry the story forward at an incredibly fast pace. I think the thing that makes it work so well is how different all the characters are but how nicely they compliment each other. All of them have strengths that they bring to the investigation and the combination of the three made for an interesting read.
The reader is given a fly on the wall glimpse into the investigation and it was fascinating to learn more about police procedures. It was especially interesting to read about some of the investigative techniques the police use, some of which I hadn’t heard about before. The investigation seemed quite realistic and their were no huge leaps whilst working out who the murderer which increased my enjoyment.
This was quite a dark read with lots of twists that kept me firmly gripped. The ending completely surprised me and had me sitting upright on the edge of my seat. So much so my husband actually asked me what I was doing. There are a few quite gruesome murders scenes that are quite graphically described which might not be to everyone’s taste but it is easy to skip over these parts if necessary.
This is the author’s debut novel and the first in what promises to be an exciting new series. I can’t wait to read his next book when it comes out in June!
Huge thanks to Beth from Little Brown for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book. I think I’m going to have a huge book hangover now!
About The Author:
M. W. Craven was born in Carlisle but grew up in Newcastle, running away to join the army at the tender age of sixteen. He spent the next ten years travelling the world having fun, leaving in 1995 to complete a degree in social work with specialisms in criminology and substance misuse. Thirty-one years after leaving Cumbria, he returned to take up a probation officer position in Whitehaven, eventually working his way up to chief officer grade. Sixteen years later he took the plunge, accepted redundancy and became a full-time author. He now has entirely different motivations for trying to get inside the minds of criminals . . .
The Puppet Show, the first in a two-book deal he signed with the Little, Brown imprint, Constable in 2017, was released to critical acclaim in hardback in 2018. It has been sold in numerous foreign territories and the production company Studio Lambert, creators of the award-winning Three Girls, have optioned it for TV. The sequel, Black Summer, follows in June 2019.
M. W. Craven is married and lives in Carlisle with his wife, Joanne. When he isn’t out with his springer spaniel, or talking nonsense in the pub, he can be found at punk gigs and writing festivals up and down the country.
A page-turning thriller about secrets and revenge, told from the perspectives of a husband and wife who are the most perfect, and the most dangerous, match for each other.
******
Rebecca didn’t know love was possible until she met Paul, a man with a past as dark as her own. Their demons drew them together, but twenty years later, the damage and secrets that ignited their love begin to consume their marriage.
When Paul catches the attention of the police after two women go missing, Rebecca discovers his elaborate plot to build a new life without her. And though Rebecca is quickly spiralling out of control, it doesn’t stop her from coming up with her own devastating plan for revenge… they made a promise to each other, afterall.
Til death do us part.
The Woman Inside is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase a copy of both using the link below.
My Review:
I thought this was a brilliantly twisty and thrilling read which I really enjoyed!
The story centres around a married couple called Rebecca and Paul who tell their stories or point of view in alternate chapters. Both of these characters have traits that are dislikeable with each having a lot of secrets they are trying to keep from the other and which the reader finds out about gradually over the course of the book. My opinion about each of them and whose side I was on kept changing throughout the book which made for a very interesting read.
This was a very fast, thrilling read for me which was full of twists that helped keep me gripped to the book. From the intriguing prologue where the author hints something bad has happened to the gradual revelations of the couples secrets I was firmly hooked and found it very difficult to put the book down. The short, action filled chapters helped add to the tension and pace of the story as there was always something happening to keep the reader very interested. The massive twist took me completely by surprise and had me turning the pages faster.
This is the author’s debut novel and I’m very excited to read more from them in the future. If you like fast paced, thrilling reads then you’ll love this book.
Huge thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Trapeze books for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
E. G. Scott is a pseudonym for two writers, who have been friends for over twenty-years, and have been writing plays, screenplays, and short stories separately since they were kids. They’ve collaborated on multiple projects from the beginning of their friendship, but this is their first published work together. This book came out of their shared love of thrillers and noir and wanting to collaborate on a novel for a long time. They are currently working on their next thriller.
Louis and Louise are the same person born in two different lives. They are separated only by the sex announced by the doctor and a final ‘e’.
They have the same best friends, the same red hair, the same dream of being a writer, the same excellent whistle. They both suffer one catastrophic night, with life-changing consequences.
Thirteen years later, they are both coming home.
Louis and Louise is available in all formats now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.
My Review:
Louis and Louise is an original and thought provoking read that explores the subject of gender. The author does this skillfully through the lives of her two main characters who live the same life apart from one difference – their gender. Without ever pushing the reader towards one particular point of view, the author explores the different attitudes and opportunities given to the characters depending on their gender. I’d love to think that in this day and age things like this don’t happen but unfortunately you do still read about cases. It was very interesting to explore all the different attitudes people have and how they can affect the decisions people make.
The story is told from both Louis and Louise’s point of view with clear headings at the start of each chapter to show whose story we are following. Some chapters are simply headed ‘Lou’ and this shows that the same events have happened to both of the characters. This sounds confusing but it’s isn’t and helps provide a really fascinating read. Both characters are very well drawn and I found myself feeling sympathy with both of them.
The story really takes off when a traumatic event happens to both characters but the outcome or consequences of it are different depending on their gender. This made for very emotional and compelling reading as the reader discovers how big an impact this will have on the characters lives.
Overall I found this a compelling, easy read that manages to handle some serious subjects in a sensitive manner. It has definitely had an impact on my attitudes and has made me wonder if I treat my daughter differently to my son’s, something that I will work on in the future.
I’ve read quite a few of this author’s books and she always manages to write compelling, emotional reads. I will definitely be looking forward to reading more from her in the future.
Huge thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Orion for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Julie Cohen grew up in the western mountains of Maine. Her house was just up the hill from the library and she spent many hours walking back and forth, her nose in a book. She studied English Literature at Brown University and Cambridge University and is a popular speaker and teacher of creative writing, including classes for The Guardian and Literature Wales. Her books have been translated into fifteen languages and have sold nearly a million copies; DEAR THING was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. Julie lives in Berkshire with her husband, son and a terrier of dubious origin.
Good morning everyone I’m on the blog tour for Midlands by James Flint today and I have a great extract to share with you.
Midlands is available is available now in ebook and paperback. You can purchase your copy of both using the link below.
Before I share my extract with you here is a little bit about the book.
Book Synopsis:
On his way back from a meeting one day, investment banker Alex Wold finds himself standing up to his waist in the Thames, trying to guide a lost bottlenose whale back out to the sea. Later, as he’s drying out his suit and shoes, the news comes through that Tony Nolan – his mother’s ex-husband – has died of a sudden heart attack. Alex wonders if the universe is urging him to resolve a long-running feud with his environmentalist brother Matthew, and with the Wolds and the Nolans all heading back to Warwickshire for Tony’s funeral he now has an opportunity to do just that. But he finds Matthew as angry as ever, unable to relinquish his obsession with Caitlin, Tony’s troubled daughter, whose actions force both families to take an uncomfortable journey into the past. In Midland, the acclaimed novelist James Flint carries out a devastating exploration of what binds families together, and what tears them apart.
Extract:
The next day the little family altered its Saturday routine and went back to the Embankment to see how the rescue attempt was pro- gressing. Alex wanted Rufus to see the creature, and he was also keen to show his son where he had stood, up to his waist in water, the previous afternoon. The tide was in now and the muddy beach submerged, but the whale hadn’t got much further back towards the sea. From what Alex could gather from members of the crowd – and there were a lot of people here now, many more than yesterday, enough cer- tainly to make Mia feel claustrophobic and exasperated – all attempts to guide it there had failed. It had been swimming in increasingly chaotic circles in more or less the same part of the river for the last twenty-four long hours, and the specialists on the boats brought in to rescue it felt that it was going to stress itself to death if it carried on much longer. So a barge was being brought, equipped with crane and an inflatable pontoon so that they could lift the whale and support its body while they returned it to the sea. Ignoring Mia’s sighs, Alex hustled the three of them to the relevant side of the recently completed Hungerford footbridge, from which vantage point they watched the barge arrive. ‘Why do they need the big yellow boxes?’ asked Rufus, as the pontoon was being prepared. ‘So the whale doesn’t suffocate. It’s so big and heavy that if you take it out of the water it can’t support its body enough to get air into its lungs.’ ‘But how’s it breathe?’ ‘It breathes air, like us. It’s not a fish, it’s a mammal. See that hole there on its head? That’s like its nose. It breathes through that.’ ‘What’s a mammal?’
‘Well . . .’ Alex thought about this for a second, seeing if he could dredge something up from long-forgotten school Biology lessons. ‘It’s an animal like you and me. Fish breathe underwater and lay eggs for babies. Mammals breathe air and have babies in their tummies. Like Mummy.’
He winked at his wife, who forced a smile. She wasn’t over- joyed at being compared to the helpless lump of blubber now being hoisted out of the water, though it was fair to say it pretty much described the way she’d felt through the latter months of her last pregnancy. But then the stricken animal was lowered onto the deck, the crowd hurrahed and Mia – who had been on the stage herself before she’d become a mother – experienced a surge of fellow feeling for this unfortunate northern bottlenose. Poor thing, to get separated from its pod and wander deep into the heart of a city, ending up surrounded by this bizarre circus of kindness. It must feel so alone, so lost.
‘Will it find its friends, when they take it back?’ Rufus asked. ‘I’m sure it will, chéri,’ Mia sniffed. ‘I’m sure it will.’ But she
wasn’t sure at all, and she had to bow her three middle fingers and use the soft pads they presented to brush a tear from her cheek before the boy had a chance to see.
Alex saw, though. He stepped back, put his arm around her, and pulled her to him. She coughed out a little laugh.
‘I’m so silly,’ she whispered, as she extracted a ball of tissue from her sleeve and put it to her nose.
‘No you’re not. It’s very moving. That’s what I was trying to tell you yesterday.’
‘The boat is moving, Dad, the boat is moving,’ Rufus said. He was standing in front of them, peering down at the unfolding drama through the gaps between the railings.
‘Yes, yes it is,’ Alex agreed. And the three of them watched as the barge carried the whale and its rescuers, now busily occupied in hosing down their charge with torrents of water, directly under- neath their feet. ‘There he goes,’ said Alex. ‘There he goes, look Rufus, there he goes,’ said Mia. ‘There he goes,’ Rufus echoed airily. ‘Bye bye, Mr Whale. He’ll be all right now, won’t he, Dad?’ ‘He’ll be fine,’ Alex assured him. ‘Don’t worry.’ They didn’t. Satisfied that the whale would soon be returned safely to his element, the Wolds left the bridge and got on with their day: coffee, cakes and newspapers in a favourite café off Sloane Square, a foray into Peter Jones to buy two tennis rackets and new trainers for Rufus, who had outgrown his favourite pair (which had battery-powered lights in the soles), and a trip to Waitrose to stock up on supplies. It wasn’t till they were home preparing dinner that Alex switched on the dayroom television and heard the whale had died. He was stunned. He couldn’t take it in. That had not been sup- posed to happen. Not after he’d spent an afternoon up to his waist in water, trying to save its life. Not after the sacrifice of a fifteen- hundred-pound suit and a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound pair of shoes. Not after an afternoon AWOL from work and the problems that was going to cause. And especially not after he had spent an evening and an afternoon of quality time investing his son with the important life lessons concerning mankind’s responsibility for the natural world. For a minute or two he couldn’t even speak. ‘Look Daddy, the whale,’ said Rufus, pointing at the TV, which was showing footage shot earlier in the day. Mia, less affected than her husband by the news, put down the plastic bag of chlorine-washed salad that had only the day before been harvestedfrom a polytunnel somewhere on the coast of southern Spain, grabbed the remote control, muted the sound and tugged her son away. ‘The whale, I want to watch the whale,’ Rufus wailed. ‘The whale’s gone home, baby, he’s gone to join his friends.’ ‘I want to see him!’ ‘I know, sweetness, but he’s gone. And you saw him earlier.’ Alex, it seemed, had regained the power of speech. ‘I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it,’ he was saying over and over, under his breath. In the corner of the room, nestled inside a hand-tooled leather briefcase that, like the salad, had come from Spain, was his laptop. He unclipped the catch on the bag, retrieved the machine and bashed the words ‘whale’ and ‘industry’ into the search field of a browser. Immediately an orange diode on the router upstairs in his office began blinking furiously as the thousands of writhing giblets of data that had been squirted into the networks by a gigantic bank of flash RAMs in Docklands started to arrive. ‘How come we can slaughter thousands of whales every year but not save just one?’ he muttered. ‘What’s wrong with us?’ Mia said something about there being quotas, but she was more concerned with getting Rufus to turn away from the truth of the world and focus on his colouring set. Alex wasn’t listening anyway. He was thinking about his brother. He’d probably be watching this. Knowing Matthew, he’d been on the pontoon with the whale, hosing the damn thing down. Was that why he’d got in the water in the first place? Some weird subconscious urge to connect with his brother? Because for sure they did not connect, and had not done so for too many years. It preyed on Alex’s mind, this, all the more since Rufus had been born. Before then, Matthew’s antipathy towards him had
been dismissible: sibling rivalry, an annoying phase. But now that he wanted Matthew to be a proper uncle and them all to be a proper family, his brother’s attitude was getting in the way. They’d been close as boys, fortunate to have a big house and garden to play in and the Warwickshire countryside to explore. Camping out in the woods, sledging down Round Hill, making dens in the cow parsley, sneaking cigarettes in the shed – it had been good. Happy. Idyllic even. And then that had all changed. Matthew disapproved of what Alex did for a living, of course. Environmental considerations simply did not impinge on share prices, on whether you bought or sold. Sure, if a business traded on that sort of image, fashionable now in certain sectors, it might have an impact. Or if you were involved in one of those ‘ethically’ weighted funds (which Alex was not). But otherwise? Not really. Other things did. But not that. To people who had never experienced them, Alex liked to describe the markets as a vast, multi-courted and massively net- worked game of pelota. Most people, of course, had no more experience of pelota than they did of the markets. But pelota was easier and more fun to describe. Alex had only been to one pelota game, during his friend Carlos’s stag trip to San Sebastián, that mini-Monaco on the northwest coast of Spain in whose harbour Napoleon and Wellington once faced off. A gastronome’s paradise served by three times as many Michelin-starred restaurants as London, the six of them had gone there for the dining, the surfing and the casino. On the third day they’d taken a trip over the mountains, across the dusty Riojan plain, and into a valley town split by a shallow, rocky river where they’d pulled into the car park of a frontón. Inside, two teams of two men used curved baskets fitted onto their hands like preposterous fingernails to hurl a hard little latex
and leather ball down a long thin court along one side of which hundreds of men sat in steeply raked seating drinking cognac, smoking cigars and cheering.
Pelota, Carlos had explained, was not like other sports. In other sports there were clear favourites, competitors setting out to be as superior to the opposition as possible, with the bookies setting their odds accordingly. But with pelota it was the oppos- ite. The odds always started at evens, the teams deliberately engineered by a supposedly impartial committee – advanced players paired with novices, strong players with weak – until all concerned were happy that the contest was evenly matched.
Once the game got under way, however, and the red or the blue team (always these colours) started to pull ahead, the odds changed
– and that was the point. Now the betting began, live betting and hedging, on the unfolding game. The bookies stood at the front, their backs to the court, offering new odds on rojo or azul and scribbling bets onto little pink slips which they stuffed into split tennis balls and lobbed into the ranks of yelling spectators.
Unlike their counterparts at dog or horse tracks, the book- makers didn’t underwrite the bets themselves. Instead they acted as middlemen, matching bets between competing spectators. They’d only offer blue if someone else had placed at least as much with them for red. For someone to win, someone else must lose – the zero-sum aspect of the affair that most reminded Alex of the markets. That, and the raging crescendo of the betting as the game progressed, the intensity whipped up by the sound of the pelota cracking off the front wall like a pistol shot and the party-game frivolity of all the tennis balls flying to and fro. It was hysterical, laughable, and deadly serious all at once.
On the markets, of course, that frothiness was all largely hidden behind the endless banks of computer screens that had
replaced the old-style trading floors, which these days looked much like any other offices. The Nymex in New York, where Alex had done a stint early in his career – and where he’d met Carlos – was one of the last to have that race-day atmosphere. After that he’d spent eighteen months as an energy trader for BP, where his job had been to ‘trade the curve’, which meant, essentially, placing bets on when a commodity – in this case oil, gas, coal, uranium – would be delivered, and at what price.
The curve stretched from tomorrow to about four years ahead. The closer the trade the steeper it was. Close trades – short trades – had higher liquidity, tended to be smaller in value, and came with less risk attached. Long trades were as a rule much larger. They took place in a much slower market, but the risk was proportionately larger since, over a four-year time span, the chances of the curve shifting shape were that much higher.
Even in the short term, volatility was a problem. Every morn- ing Alex had to monitor the European weather reports: a cold snap in Germany meant more people would burn oil and the price would rise; rainfall over the Pyrenees translated into a boost in hydroelectric power and a fall-off in demand for fossil fuels. The hotter weather brought by global warming had people falling over themselves to install air-conditioning, changing the nature of summer energy demands, which could be expected to equal winter peaks for the first time. And it brought other, more unexpected changes too: rising river and coastal temperatures were taking local waters beyond the level that could be used to cool nuclear cores. This was a big issue in France, where the scorching summers meant less nuclear power available and more need for coal.
But weather was rock-solid reliable compared with the wild
cards played by politics. A strike in one country might mean a sudden race to buy energy from a neighbour, causing prices to
bounce around like a rubber ball. A shock election result might send the markets reeling one way while an asymmetrical event – an explosion in a refinery, a reactor leak, a terrorist attack – might send them reeling the other. Any trader worth his or her salt was alert to all these things and many more besides. Steering a fund through these kinds of rapids and maximising your bonus by coming out on top year on year was no easy task. Matthew was absolutely right that if you were trying to do this, environmental considerations were absolutely not part of your remit.
But Alex had stopped trading like that some time before. After he’d been hired by Sovereign Brothers in the late Nineties he’d moved across to structured credit: creating and tailoring huge bundles of loans, mainly mortgages, and selling them on as collateralised debt obligations – CDOs – to big pension funds and other institutional investors. It was a new game and he was in early, so by 2004 he had been made a managing director and put in charge of his own team. Perhaps because his father was in prop- erty and he was comfortable with the sector, his desk began to specialise in European commercial property bonds. An investor would call up and want to invest say £500 million in a triple-A- rated note yielding 2 per cent above LIBOR, and Alex’s guys would go off and put the deal together, buying up a bunch of debts collateralised by specific mortgages – an office block in Cologne, a port development in Marseille, a business park outside Birming- ham – often paying well over the going rate for the underlying square footage in the process. But that didn’t bother them, even though the overblown prices they were paying might artificially inflate the local market: the yield was all that mattered. They’d group the bonds accordingly, sell the senior tranche to the enquir- ing client, and push the mezzanine and equity tranches out to other punters.
It was straightforward enough in principle, but things got more complicated when trying to project the risk profile of the various tranches over the lifespan of the CDO. Calculating the probabilities of the various tranches defaulting, and in what order, depended upon a complex set of mathematical concepts known as ‘correlation’. And here Alex had an edge. Almost nobody on either the buy or sell sides really knew how correlation worked, but included in Alex’s undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Math- ematics had been modules in statistics and probability theory, for which he’d had a particular affinity. As a result, the cascading values of credit-default sequences were a relatively open book to him, and this gave him the confidence required to structure his products and sell the CDOs to clients, few of whom understood quite what they were buying, and fewer still of whom wanted to admit it.
He was doing well, but he still thought of himself as small fry.
In Alex’s London more than thirty thousand people were earning over half-a-million pounds a year, and much to his chagrin he wasn’t quite yet one of them, was not yet a member of the exclu- sive club formed by the top 0.1 per cent of British earners, average income £1.1 million, combined income £33 billion – more than the individual GDPs of two-thirds of the world’s countries. At the investment banks the likes of Michael Spencer, Guy Hands and Richard Gnodde were pulling in annual packages worth upwards of £10 million. Star traders like Chris Rokos, who to Alex’s supreme annoyance was actually a year younger than he was, were making even more than that, as were Ian Wace and Paul Marshall, whose hedge fund, based just off the Strand, had earned them £50 million in pay and dividends over the previous two years.
Incredible though this was, by global standards it was not par-
ticularly remarkable. George Soros, Steve Cohen, Edward Lampert
and Kenneth Griffin were earning around a billion dollars a year apiece. Ahead of them all was James Simons, a former mathemat- ician and cryptologist whose Renaissance Technologies fund was rumoured to be earning him another half a billion on top of that.
Even to someone as financially literate as Alex, this was stag- gering. He was living in the London of the £65 million townhouse, the £15 million restaurant refit, the £2 million studio flat. It was a city that bore almost no relation to the one his father had briefly worked in as a young man. The post-war dream of a relatively equable, stable middle-class society was dreamt now by a dwin- dling rump of Guardian readers and almost no one else. The period that ran roughly between 1918 and 1978 was beginning to look, not like the brave new future it thought it was, but like an anomaly in history, a brief outbreak of social equality in a riven and polarised world that was now reverting to type.
And good riddance, was Alex’s considered response. The dream had been a lie in any case, a bubble floating on the last of the blood that had been sucked out of the colonies before their husks had been cut adrift and Britain had retreated into itself like a gorged and aged spider. The great idealistic systems of the twentieth century had brought miseries and oppressions orders of magnitude more appalling than the worst horrors dreamt up by the market. To his eyes these were now being replaced by a kind of new Elizabethanism, a golden age of global trade whose over- ture rang out every second of every day from the vast electronic symphony of the market networks. And for this music Alex felt that we should all be profoundly grateful. Yes, there were losers, there was poverty, there was damage, there was exploitation. But look at what we’d gained! Look at London, how it had been transformed from a rubbish-strewn nightmare of stained, convoluted
little streets wrapping themselves around islands of rotting, toxic concrete into its current glorious spectacle. Just to jog along the Thames, as Alex often did when he eventually escaped his desk at night, was to witness a panoply of joys: the Eye, the new bridge at Embankment with its rigging of blue light, the revamped South Bank, the Tate Modern, the Swiss Re Tower, the jukebox of Charing Cross, the helmet-like City Hall and the majestic office blocks that zagged beside it, the glade of towers that mapped the nexus of financial ley lines and confirmed Docklands as a global power centre, and even, further down, the Dome, Blair’s mammary reply to Thatcher’s pyramid-tipped phallus at One Canada Square, which everyone was supposed to hate but with which Alex had never had a problem.
But Matthew saw none of this. Alex had tried on many occa-
sions to communicate his excitement about it all to him, but his brother just didn’t want to hear it. Matthew’s world had a moral shape, with his goddess Gaia at the top and everything else arranged around her in cowed subordination, and anyone that didn’t like this schema he found impossible to tolerate.
The phone rang and Alex checked himself. His knees were locked, his elbows tense, his breathing shallow. His gaze, though directed at the television, hadn’t registered anything that had been appearing on the screen for several minutes, and the news had long since left the whale behind. Even with the sound off he recognised the stories: a female PC shot in Manchester, an investigation into a toxic food dye. Big things, important things. Yet here he was, obsessing over one dead animal. Bedway, the whale . . . maybe he too was dangerously stressed?
Mia handed him the handset. ‘It’s your mother,’ she said. Then, in a lower voice: ‘She sounds upset.’
Still looking at the TV, Alex put the plastic speaker to his ear.
‘Hi Mum.’ ‘Hello dear.’
‘Everything okay?’
‘Yes, yes, everything’s fine. Well, that’s not quite true. I’m afraid I’ve got some rather sad news.’
‘Oh really? What’s that?’ ‘Tony Nolan has passed away.’
Alex stood, reached for the remote, and switched off the television. ‘Oh, Mum. That’s awful.’
Mia looked up from helping Rufus with his picture. ‘What is it?’ she asked.
—————
Matthew Wold had just boarded the Reading train at Gatwick when his mobile rang. He wasn’t in the mood for talking but he dug it out of the pocket of his jeans and peered at the name on the little display. It was his sister. This was unusual, to say the least. ‘Em?’ ‘Can you hear me?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘It’s not a great connection.’ ‘I’m on the train. Just flew in from Spain.’ ‘Oh, that’s better. I can hear you now.’ ‘We’re pulling out of the station. What’s up?’ ‘Tony Nolan’s had a heart attack,’ said Emily. Matthew’s immediate response was irritation. ‘Well there’s a surprise,’ he said. ‘Well,’ said Emily, ‘it’s pretty serious. He’s dead.’
About The Author:
Born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1968, James Flint is the internationally acclaimed author of three novels: Habitus (1998), 52 Ways to Magic America (2000) and The Book of Ash (2008). In 2002, his short story `The Nuclear Train’ was adapted for Channel 4, while his journalism has appeared in The Times, the Guardian and Dazed & Confused among many others. From 2009 to 2012 he was Editor-in-Chief of the Telegraph’s weekly world edition, and he is currently CEO of the health communications start-up Hospify.
Good morning I’m excited to finally be sharing my review of Deep Dirty Truth today. Huge apologies to Anne Cater and Orenda for posting this late we had a rather hectic Sunday at out of hours with a poorly baby and I completely forgot to post.
Book Synopsis:
Single-mother bounty hunter Lori Anderson returns in another nail-biting, high-voltage read. She’s as tough as they come, but when her family is threatened, she takes on a job that could change everything …
Single-mother bounty-hunter Lori Anderson finally has her family back together, but her new-found happiness is shattered when she’s snatched by the Miami Mob – and they want her dead. Rather than a bullet, they offer her a job: find the Mob’s ‘numbers man’ who’s in protective custody after being forced to turn federal witness against them. If Lori succeeds, they’ll wipe the slate clean and the price on her head – and those of her family – will be removed. If she fails, they die.
With North due in court in 48 hours, Lori sets off across Florida, racing against the clock to find him and save her family. Only in this race the prize is more deadly – and the secret she shares with JT more dangerous – than she ever could have imagined.
In this race only the winner gets out alive…
Deep Dirty Truth is available now in ebook and paperback. You can purchase a copy of both using the link below.
My Review:
This is another fantastic addition to the Lori Anderson series that keeps getting better and better!
The characters in this book are brilliantly portrayed and I found myself warming to them instantly. I’m a big fan of Lori from the previous book, being very impressed with her strength, determination and ability to fight off anyone. This book was no exception as Lori is once again challenged to find someone and has to use all her skills to get the job done We get to know more about her daughter in this book and she is such a mini version of her mother! She’s a clever and brave little girl, though a bit more vulnerable then her mother due to her age. I hope that she appears in future books as I enjoyed reading about her.
The story is told from the point of view of both Lori And her family which helps to add to the tension as you see how each side is dealing with things. The chapters are quite short which helps add to the fast pace of the novel and leaves the reader desperate to read more. I found I didn’t favour either timeline as each were hugely exciting and enjoyable. When I was reading one I was wanting to get back to the other to find out what would happen next which meant I absolutely flew through the pages!
This book is incredibly fast paced and grips you straight from the start. There are lots of twists and reveals that keeps you on your toes as they take you completely by surprise. The author cleverly uses the setting of the book to add further tension and atmosphere as the wide, deserted spaces gives the reader the impression that anything could happen. Add in some amazing car chases and lots of intense action and this is truly a fantastic, unforgettable book that I will be recommending to everyone.
This is the third book in the series and whilst it might be better to read the books in order as you’d have more understanding of the characters, it could also be read as a standalone as anything you need to know is explained. I’m very excited to read more and hope that book four comes very soon.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Orenda books for my copy of this book. If you like exciting, addictive crime novels then you’ll love this book!
About The Author:
Steph Broadribb was born in Birmingham and grew up in Buckinghamshire. Most of her working life has been spent between the UK and USA. As her alter ego – Crime Thriller Girl – she indulges her love of all things crime fiction by blogging at crimethrillergirl.com, where she interviews authors and reviews the latest releases. Steph is an alumni of the MA in Creative Writing (Crime Fiction) at City University London, and she trained as a bounty hunter in California. She lives in Buckinghamshire surrounded by horses, cows and chickens. Her debut thriller, Deep Down Dead, was shortlisted for the Dead Good Reader Awards in two categories, and hit number one on the UK and AU kindle charts. My Little Eye, her first novel under her pseudonym Stephanie Marland was published by Trapeze Books in April 2018. Follow Steph on Twitter @CrimeThrillGirl and on Facebook facebook.com/CrimeThrillerGirl or visit her website: crimerthrillergirl.com
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