Play Dead by Angela Marsons

Bookouture (14 May 2016)

The Blurb . . .

The dead don’t tell secrets… unless you listen.

The girl’s smashed-in face stared unseeing up to the blue sky, soil spilling out of her mouth. A hundred flies hovered above the bloodied mess.

Westerley research facility is not for the faint-hearted. A ‘body farm’ investigating human decomposition, its inhabitants are corpses in various states of decay. But when Detective Kim Stone and her team discover the fresh body of a young woman, it seems a killer has discovered the perfect cover to bury their crime.

Then a second girl is attacked and left for dead, her body drugged and mouth filled with soil. It’s clear to Stone and the team that a serial killer is at work – but just how many bodies will they uncover? And who is next?

As local reporter, Tracy Frost, disappears, the stakes are raised. The past seems to hold the key to the killer’s secrets – but can Kim uncover the truth before a twisted, damaged mind claims another victim …?

My thoughts . . .

Play Dead sees the return of D.I. Kim Stone in this superbly written, fourth instalment of the series, in which Stone and her team are sent to visit the local 'body farm' where they discover the body of a recently murdered young woman. As the investigation continues and the body count grows, Kim must uncover the past to determine the future and stop one of her personal nemesis' becoming a victim.

As always, told in the third person, the chapters are well thought out and detailed enough to make the book work as a stand alone novel, but not overly repetitive with details from previous books that serial readers are bored. In fact, Marsons manages to add something new to the back stories in all her books, building on the depth of the characters and making you fall in love with them a little more with each book you read.

I quite simply adore Marsons writing, she makes me laugh, cry, gasp out loud in surprise and leaves me breathless with her plot twists and turns.

Her books are phenomenal and Play Dead is no exception, it is an utterly awesome read with shockingly brilliant, stomach churning twists and heart-breaking revelations, you are in for an absolute treat with this one.

I could write pages and pages about Angela's books (just look at my other reviews!), I really could, but the fact is, they are brilliant, in every way, shape and form, so just go and buy them, read them and I promise you will not be sorry!

I would like to thank the publishers Bookouture and Net Galley for providing with a copy in exchange for my honest review.

About the author . . .

Angela Marsons is the author of Amazon #1 Bestseller SILENT SCREAM.

She lives in the Black Country with her partner, their bouncy Labrador and a swearing parrot.

She first discovered her love of writing at Junior School when actual lessons came second to watching other people and quietly making up her own stories about them. Her report card invariably read "Angela would do well if she minded her own business as well as she minds other people's".

After years of writing relationship based stories (My Name Is and The Middle Child) Angela turned to Crime, fictionally speaking of course, and developed a character that refused to go away.

She is signed to Bookouture.com for a total of 8 books. The second, third and fourth books in the Kim Stone series, EVIL GAMES, LOST GIRLS and PLAY DEAD are also now available.

The Devil's Work by Mark Edwards

Thomas & Mercer (13 Sept. 2016)

The Blurb . . .

It was the job she had dreamed of since childhood. But on her very first day, when an unnerving encounter drags up memories Sophie Greenwood would rather forget, she wonders if she has made a mistake. A fatal mistake.

What is her ambitious young assistant really up to? And what exactly happened to Sophie’s predecessor? When her husband and daughter are pulled into the nightmare, Sophie is forced to confront the darkest secrets she has carried for years.

As her life begins to fall apart at work and at home, Sophie must race to uncover the truth about her new job…before it kills her.

My thoughts . . .

When Sophie decides to go back to work 4 years after her daughter is born, she can't help but wonder if the work/life balancing act is worth it. Strange things are going on the office, her predecessor with no real explanation, her team are fractured almost immediately and her husband isn't all that keen on the extra hours she is having to put in, nor is her daughter.

I really enjoyed this book, having read some of Edwards' work in the past I was certain this would be a corker, and it didn't let me down. Written in really easy to follow now and then chapters, the pace of this book is fast from the start and doesn't let up until the very last page.

I loved how Edwards' described working in a publishing house! It gives the reader a bit of an insider view as to how this wonderful industry works, although I am certain from his note at the end that your typical publishing house doesn't harbour murderous psychopaths (I hope!).

I found that Sophie was really easy to relate to, especially as a working mother myself, her struggles are so real; the want and need to gain your independence back, to spend the day talking to adults and using your brain again is a situation I too found myself in. Sophie has a real vulnerability about her, she wants the job to work, she's so desperate to succeed and not allow "things" to happen, that at some points she almost comes across as weak and I found myself mentally screaming at her to man up!

But then thinking back to those days of feeling inadequate, of having to continually justify being at work in my head instead of at home I can see exactly why she is like she is - team that with her big secret and well, once that is revealed, you'll understand her a lot better.

The Devil's Work is one of those books I struggle to discuss without giving away the plot twists, but rest assured, Edwards' builds up an intense tale which is very slick and brilliantly written, a total edge of your seat of thriller which will keep you guessing until the very end.

I'd like to thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

About the author . . .

I write psychological thrillers. My influences include writers such as Stephen King, Ira Levin, Ruth Rendell, Ian McEwan, Val McDermid and Donna Tartt and movies like Rosemary's Baby, Single White Female, Fatal Attraction and anything in which scary things happen to ordinary people.

I love hearing from readers and always respond. I can be contacted in the following ways:

Email: markcity@me.com

Twitter @mredwards

Facebook: www.facebook.com/markedwardsbooks

You can download a free box set of 'Short Sharp Shockers' by visiting www.markedwardsauthor.com/free

THE MAGPIES (2013) and BECAUSE SHE LOVES ME (2014) topped the Kindle chart in the UK, as did FOLLOW YOU HOME (2015) which also was a top five bestseller in the US. My other solo novel is WHAT YOU WISH FOR (2014) and I have one short story, KISSING GAMES, available on Amazon. My next psychological thriller, THE DEVIL'S WORK will be published on 13/9/16.

I have co-written six novels with Louise Voss: CATCH YOUR DEATH (2012; a #1 bestseller), KILLING CUPID (2012), ALL FALL DOWN (2013) and FORWARD SLASH (2013). We are now writing a series featuring DI Patrick Lennon. The first two books are FROM THE CRADLE (2014) and THE BLISSFULLY DEAD (2015). In total, I have sold over 1.5 million copies of my books.

After a career that has taken in everything from answering complaint calls for a rail company to teaching English in Japan and being a marketing director, I now write full-time.

I live in the West Midlands, England, with my wife, our three children and a ginger cat.

Please note: there is another author called Mark Edwards. If a title is not listed on my author page, it's not by me.

Evil Games by Angela Marsons

Bookouture (29 May 2015)

The Blurb

The greater the Evil, the more deadly the game…

When a rapist is found mutilated in a brutal stabbing, Detective Kim Stone and her team are called in to bring a swift resolution. But as further disturbing events come to light, it soon becomes clear that there is someone even more sinister at work.

With the investigation gathering momentum, whilst also trying to expose the secrets of a sick paedophile ring, Kim finds herself in the sights of a lethal individual undertaking their own twisted experiment.

Pitted against a dangerous sociopath who seems to know her every weakness, for Detective Stone, each move she makes could be deadly. As the body count starts to mount, Kim will have to dig deeper than ever before to stop the killing.

And this time - it’s personal.. . .

My thoughts . . .

Well, what I can say?

After reading Silent Scream in one sitting and being blown away by Marsons' writing, I wasn't sure if this second instalment would live up to the same level of brilliance ... I'm so glad that it did!

In Evil Games, DI Kim Stone and her team are back and working on the case of the Dunn family, who have just been torn apart after an eagle eyed teacher realised that daddy was being more than just a good daddy. Now, the CPS have decided that they may not have enough evidence and may throw the case out, Stone and the team are frantically trying to tie up any potential loose ends to ensure a conviction. Then, following the discovery of a dead body, seemingly an unprovoked attack on an innocent man, we are introduced to Dr Alex Thorne and my gosh, what an absolute bi*ch she is!

The Dunn family are going through hell, their daughters are involved in a paedophile ring, the 2 little girls are taken into care and all this brings back memories for DI Stone, deep buried memories, once again forcing her to look at her past and all those feelings she has boxed away.

To be able to render a reader to feel such hatred towards a fictional character is an amazing skill and Marsons has it in buckets. She clearly researched every inch of the world of psychology and sociopaths and created a character beyond loathsome. Dr Thorne uses her skills as a psychologist to manipulate the vulnerable but how and, more importantly, why?

I found Dr Thorne absolutely fascinating, the insights into the workings of the human mind that Marsons brings to the table are brilliant.

DI Stone is cold and hard and harsh, she doesn't mince her words, she doesn't fake emotions, she doesn't suffer fools but she doesn't share either, and when her past starts to be brought into the present, we start to see more of that softer side, the surprisingly sympathetic elements which we saw glimpses of in Silent Scream. DI Stone is so eloquently written, the layers Marsons has created to build up this broken girl and create a woman with such a fierce determination to ensure that justice is brought to those who deserve it, are so deep and meaningful, she is a delight to read, and it really is a pleasure watching how she is starting to let those defences down, little by little.

Marsons could very easily have used each of these plots in their own books and delved into each story line a lot deeper and for a lot longer, and in all honesty, parts of me wished she had, however thinking about it, that's not real is it? Criminals don't gather together at the start of the month and decide who will commit their crimes and when, they don't create a schedule so that the police have the time to investigate and solve one before moving on to the next, the police force aren't that lucky! And, thinking about it some more now, I'm actually glad that this happened, it's not very often you get a story in which the different plots don't end up twisted together and that was really refreshing!

I want to talk and talk and talk about Dr Thorne for ages but it's too hard to discuss her without giving anything away, so I will leave her for now and let you discover for yourself, just look out for her and be warned ... You will love to hate her and Angela, if you read this, please please please don't let that be the last we see of her! She would be my vote for the Dead Good Readers Dr Lecter Award for Scariest Villain without a shadow of a doubt!

Evil Games made me laugh out loud (the famous larger advert reference), cry (too many parts to mention) and made me hate (Dr Thorne and ... read it and find out!), there are lots of things going on in this book, twists that had me gasping out loud on the bus, turns that made me want to scream and an ending that left me desperate for more.

You will not put this down, you will not sleep and you will love every second of it!

I would like to thank myself for buying this book (Emma you are great!), I was kindly sent Silent Scream (book 1) and Play Dead (book 4) by Net Galley and Bookouture and, as Evil Games is book 2 I didn't want to read them out of sequence. That is totally my preference though, each of these books works brilliantly as a stand alone novel.  

About the author . . .

Angela Marsons is the author of Amazon #1 Bestseller SILENT SCREAM.

She lives in the Black Country with her partner, their bouncy Labrador and a swearing parrot.

She first discovered her love of writing at Junior School when actual lessons came second to watching other people and quietly making up her own stories about them. Her report card invariably read "Angela would do well if she minded her own business as well as she minds other people's".

After years of writing relationship based stories (My Name Is and The Middle Child) Angela turned to Crime, fictionally speaking of course, and developed a character that refused to go away.

She is signed to Bookouture.com for a total of 8 books. The second, third and fourth books in the Kim Stone series, EVIL GAMES, LOST GIRLS and PLAY DEAD are also now available.