#review, Crime/Mystery, Joffe Books, Lisa Hall, Novels, Psychological Thriller

The Day She Disappeared by Lisa Hall

October 16, 2023 Melanie 4 Comments

I’m thrilled to share The Day She Disappeared by Lisa Hall with you today.

Lisa Hall

Blurb

A remote island. A missing girl. A woman with a troubled past.

Becky is back on the tiny island where she was born, the island she swore she’d never return to.

Apart from her former best friend Megan, everyone makes it clear she isn’t wanted. The islanders have long memories. They haven’t forgotten the scandal. What Becky did.

Becky decides to leave as soon as she can. But first she must discover what happened to Violet.

Violet disappeared exactly a year ago, the day of the summer festival. Everyone assumes she ran off to the mainland with her boyfriend. Only her sister believes something more sinister happened to her.

Becky starts to ask questions — and becomes convinced that Violet never left the island. Someone in this remote, suspicious community knows exactly what happened to her. Someone who’s determined to keep the truth hidden — whatever it takes.

As Becky pieces the clues together, she is forced to confront the dark secrets of her own past. But has she got it tragically wrong . . . yet again?

And then another teenage girl goes missing . . .

My Review

I loved the premise of this book, so I jumped at the chance to read it. It started at a slow burn but built as the book progressed. The main character, Rebecca (Becky) Gannon, is a former resident of Kirton Island who left after a major scandal when she was eighteen, swearing never to return. Things change when she receives a message from her friend Megan telling her that her mother is dying.Becky returns to her former home to clear up the estate and to put her investigative powers to the test as she searches for a girl who went missing from the island. She hopes to find the girl and use her story as a chapter in her next true crime novel.There were some things that niggled at me. Why did Becky not want the police involved when her house was vandalized? If it were my home, I’d want the police involved. I had the perpetrator 99% figured out at about the halfway mark. Not that it ruined the story. I thought there was a lot of ‘fluff’ in the book’s second half that could have been left out without detriment to the storyline.Still, it was an enjoyable read and I’ll be watching for more books written by this talented author.

Book Links

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/196927395-the-day-she-disappeared

Buy Links – https://mybook.to/disappeared-zbt

About Lisa Hall

Lisa Hall

Lisa Hall is the bestselling author of six psychological thrillers and the Hotel Hollywood time-slip murder mystery series. Her debut novel Between You and Me was a Kindle UK number one bestseller, sitting in the top spot for over four weeks. Lisa has a First Class Honours degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. She lives in Kent with her husband and their three children.

You can follow Lisa at these links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisahallauthor/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisahallauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lisahallauthor

Website: https://www.lisahallauthor.co.uk/

#review, book review, Chris Blackwater, Crime/Mystery, Crime/Thriller, Novels

Emergency Drill by Chris Blackwater #review

October 15, 2023 Melanie 2 Comments

I’m pleased to be taking part in the blog tour for Chris Blackwater’s novel, Emergency Drill.

Blurb for Emergency Drill

Shortlisted for the 2020 Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger award

Newly qualified offshore medic, Danny Verity, arrives on the Cuillin Alpha oil platform shortly before a storm damages the satellite system, severing the crew’s only mode of communication to the mainland.

Storm or sabotage?

Danny is forced to perform emergency surgery on an injured crewmate, whose accident he suspects was the result of sabotage. The man dies, a member of the crew disappears, and yet another is attacked.

Enter the Pied Piper, whose sinister announcements carry his threats through the entire platform.

While the North Sea rages around them, emotions and suspicions run high.

Danny knows he’s the only one who can stop the saboteur. But will the crew trust him?

With no way of calling in help and unable to risk escaping on the lifeboats, everyone aboard the oil platform is trapped. So is the killer… and Danny is determined to smoke him out.

emergency drill

My Review

I can’t imagine being on a North Sea oil rig at the best of times, let alone when the weather is foul, and you’ve lost contact with the mainland. Add in a murderer out there with you who is not only killing but sabotaging the systems, stir, and you’ve got Chris Blackwater’s novel Emergency Drill.

He brought together all the components of an unthinkable disaster and crafted a gripping read. The characters were well-rounded and likable. Danny Verity, the new medic onboard, tasks himself with saving the rig and his co-workers from disaster. Danny has his own baggage and is a great character, and I hope to see him in future books.

All in all, this was an enjoyable read.

Book Links

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/197112799-emergency-drill

Buy Links – https://mybook.to/emergencydrill-zbt

About the Author

emergency drill

Chris Blackwater is a writer and chartered engineer from Leeds, England. His first novel Emergency Drill, book 1 in the Danny Verity, PI series, set on a North Sea oil platform, was shortlisted for the 2020 CWA Debut Dagger Award. His short stories have appeared in a variety of magazines and anthologies including contributions to the much-missed Mad Scientist Journal.

Book two in the series, Dead Crude, is set in Orkney. Apart from Danny Verity, it features other characters who survived Emergency Drill. He is working on a third book in the series, called Head Hunting.

Chris began writing to entertain himself whilst working on offshore oil platforms and remote power stations. His career has taken him all over the world to unusual locations and introduced him to some remarkable characters. In recent years Chris has gradually drifted down to the south coast of England where he spends his spare time learning to sail and play the flute, though not at the same time.

Follow Chris at these links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackwaterauthor/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chrisblackwaterauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlackwaterChris

Website: http://chrisblackwater.co.uk/

emergency drill

#cover, #SCOTLAND, Book covers, Book Promo, Book Tour, crime writer, Crime/Mystery, Crime/Thriller, Edinburgh, Novels, Val Penny

SpellBound Books Ltd. presents Hunter’s Secret by Val Penny ~ #HUNTERSSECRET

October 9, 2023 Melanie 3 Comments

I’m thrilled to be a part of the blog tour for Hunter’s Secret, written by Val Penny and published by SpellBound Books Ltd.

SpellBound

Blurb

Detective Inspector Hunter Wilson is called to the scene of a murder. DCs Tim Myerscough and Bear Zewedu found a corpse, but when Hunter arrives it has disappeared, and all is not as it seems.Hunter recalls the disappearance of a dead body thirty years earlier. The Major Incident Team is called in but sees no connection – it is too long ago. Hunter is determined to investigate the past and the present with the benefit of modern DNA testing.Tim has other problems in his life. His father, Sir Peter Myerscough, is released from jail. He, too, remembers the earlier murder. There is no love lost between Hunter and Sir Peter. Will Hunter accept help from his nemesis to catch a killer?

Hunter’s own secret is exciting and crucial to his future. Will it change his life? And can he keep Edinburgh safe?

Buy Link

amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CHN22Y3M

My Review

This is the best of the Hunter’s series books so far. Val Penny has outdone herself with this one. I’ve been to Edinburgh many times, and the scenes the author paints take me back there. I love her style!Plot twists and secrets, both past and present, are neatly tied up at the end, making Hunter’s Secret a most satisfying read.

About the Author

SpellBound

Val Penny has an Llb degree from the University of Edinburgh and her MSc from Napier University. She has had many jobs, including hairdresser, waitress, banker, azalea farmer and lecturer but has not yet achieved either of her childhood dreams of being a ballerina or owning a candy store.

Until those dreams come true, she has turned her hand to writing poetry, short stories, nonfiction books, and novels. Her novels are published by SpellBound Books Ltd.

Val is an American author living in SW Scotland. She has two adult daughters, of whom she is justly proud, and lives with her husband and their cat.