When Cicadas Cry by Caroline Cleveland

EXCERPT: 2017 – I never meant to kill the first one. She was an accident – her own fault, for the most part. And that second one? She was a casualty of necessity. Wrong place, wrong time. But this one . . . this one was different.

ABOUT ‘WHEN CICADAS CRY’: Zach Stander, a lawyer with a past, and Addie Stone, his indomitable detective and lover, find themselves entangled in secrets, lies, and murder in a small Southern town.

A high-profile murder case— A white woman has been bludgeoned to death with an altar cross in a rural church on Cicada Road in Walterboro, South Carolina. Sam Jenkins, a Black man, is found covered in blood, kneeling over the body. In a state already roiling with racial tenson, this is not only a murder case, but a powder keg.

A haunting cold case— Two young women are murdered on quiet Edisto Beach, an hour southeast of Walterboro, and the killer disappears without a trace. Thirty-four years later the mystery remains unsolved. Could there be a connection to Stander’s case?

A killer who’s watching— Stander takes on Jenkins’s defense, but he’s up against a formidable solicitor with powerful allies. Worse, his client is hiding a bombshell secret. When Addie Stone reopens the cold case, she discovers more long-buried secrets in this small town. Would someone kill again to keep them?

MY THOUGHTS: When Cicadas Cry is an absolutely stunning debut novel. Atmosphere oozes from every page. The tension in the final chapters left me with half-moons dug into my palms. I feared for Addie’s life.

Caroline Cleveland is one of those rare authors who can hit the ball right out of the park in all three elements of the successful novel – characters, setting and atmosphere. It is impossible to read this without coming to care greatly for the characters: Zach, who really needs to figure out just what he wants; Eli, the accused Sam’s grandfather; Colleton Burns, Eli’s great friend and a respected retired lawyer; Sam who is overly economical with the truth to his own detriment; and Addie with the big heart, quick mind and an ambition Zach isn’t currently sharing. Honestly, there were times I wanted to give Zach a quick slap upside his head – he can be extremely obtuse!

Cleveland captures the racial tensions around the BLM movement and uses it to great advantage in when Cicadas Cry. We have the two opposing factions, each wanting their very own brand of justice, never mind whatever the truth happens to be.

Pressures arising from the case cause tension between Zach and Addie, causing Addie to volunteer to investigate a cold case from some thirty odd years earlier, never dreaming to do so might put her life in danger. Now, I thought I had this all figured out, but was I ever wrong! Yes, I’m eating Humble Pie (with lashings of ice cream 😉)

The story is told from multiple points of view, including that of the killer, as in the excerpt above. This added another layer of mystery and even more tension to the storyline.

When Cicadas Cry is a beautifully written novel that held me entranced from beginning to end. The author’s notes at the end are particularly interesting so don’t be tempted to skip them.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

#WhenCicadasCry #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: Caroline Cleveland is the founding partner of the law firm Cleveland & Conley, LLC, where she represents private and public employers, including law enforcement. A native South Carolinian, she inevitably writes from a Southern perspective. She gravitates — both as a writer and a reader — toward mystery and suspense, and she cannot resist a character with a dark secret.

She lives in Charleston, South Carolina with her husband, David.

DISCLOSURE: I was privileged to receive both a digital and audio ARC for review. My thanks go to both Union Square & Co., a subsidiary of Sterling Publishing and Dreamscape Media respectively. The audiobook is ablely narrated by Adam Barr.

All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Red River Road written by Anna Downes and narrated by Maddy Withington

EXCERPT: ‘Hi everyone! I’m Phoebe and I’m a travel addict and van-lifer. I’m about to take me, myself and I off on the adventure of a lifetime – the big lap of Australia. Only two more sleeps to go. And before you ask, no I’m not scared. The first thing people say when I tell them I’m travelling alone is “Be careful”. Don’t even get me started on my parents’ response. But the world is full of magic, and solo travel offers way more rewards than risks. It’s just that the bad stories get told way more often than the good. . . .’

ABOUT ‘RED RIVER ROAD’: Katy Sweeney is determined to find her sister. A year earlier, just three weeks into a solo vanlife trip, free-spirited Phoebe vanished without a trace on Western Australia’s remote and achingly beautiful Coral Coast. With no witnesses, no leads, and no DNA evidence, the case has gone cold. But Katy refuses to give up.

Using Phoebe’s social media accounts as a map, Katy starts to retrace her steps, searching for the clues that the police have missed. Was Phoebe being followed? Who had she met along the way, and what danger did they pose? Was she as happy as her sun-bleached, lens-flared photos seem to suggest?

Then Katy’s path collides with that of Beth, a young woman on the run from her own dark past—and very recent present. And as Katy realizes that Beth might be her best and only chance of finding the truth, the two women form an uneasy alliance to venture forth into increasingly wild territory to find out what really happened to Phoebe in this breathtaking but maybe deadly place, and how her fate connects them all.

MY THOUGHTS: Red River Road, brilliantly written by Anna Downes and superbly narrated by Maddy Withington, blew me away. Tense, twisty, atmospheric and addictive are just a few of the superlatives I could use to describe this. I held my breath so often during the narrative, it’s a wonder I didn’t black out!

When I started, my first thoughts were ‘FFS! Not another alcoholic, unreliable narrator!’ But I’m pleased to report that’s not how it panned out.

The narrative is related from three POV: Katy, Beth and a 15-year-old boy, Wyatt, whose mother is also missing. All three of these main characters come across as slightly flaky and unreliable at times. Not constantly, just at times. The tension starts pretty much straight away and never completely disappears. If Anna Downes aim is to stop women travelling on their own, she has definitely succeeded with me.

There are a lot of threads to this plot which are slowly woven together to present the full picture, which turned out to be something I had never envisaged. Not even remotely imagined. There is some pretty heavy subject matter, but very little of it graphically described, including sexual assault, mental health issues, and stalking – both physically and on social media. There are some excellent and diverting red herrings, and lots of lies and secrets.

There is a general air of creepiness – who to trust? Anyone? No one? That man with the soulful eyes, reading a book? Those two women? The person I’m travelling with? Damn, I felt unsafe just reading this and I am no shrinking violet. Much is made of local legends, myths and reports of missing women. Just how can someone and their van just disappear off the face of the earth? Well, it turns out it’s quite easy . . .

What sealed the five-star rating for me was that final line in the book. Superbly chilling!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#RedRiverRoad #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: ANNA DOWNES was born and raised in Sheffield, UK, but now lives just north of Sydney, Australia with her husband and two children. She worked as an actress before turning her attention to writing.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to W.F. Howes via NetGalley for providing an audio ARC of Red River Road written by Anna Downes and narrated by Maddy Withington for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Die Last (Max Wolfe #4) by Tony Parsons

Another back title from my 2018 NetGalley shelf . . .

EXCERPT: Prologue
The Girl from Belgrade

The first thing they took was her passport.
The man jumped down from the cab of the lorry and snapped his fingers at her.
Click-click.
She already had her passport in her hands, ready for her first encounter with authority, and as she held it out to the man she saw, in the weak glow of the Belgrade streetlights, that he had a small stack of passports. They were not all burgundy red like her Serbian passport. These passports were green and blue and bright red – passports from everywhere. The man slipped her passport under the rubber band that held the passports together and he slipped them into the pocket of his thick winter coat. She had expected to keep her passport.
She looked at him and caught a breath. Old scars ran down one side of his face making the torn flesh look as though it had once melted. Then the man clicked his fingers a second time.
Click-click.
She stared at her kid brother with confusion. The boy indicated her suitcase. The man wanted the suitcase. Then the man with the melted face spoke in English, although it was not the first language of either of them.
‘No room,’ he said, gesturing towards the lorry.
But she gripped her suitcase stubbornly and she saw the sudden flare of pure anger in the man’s eyes.
Click-click, went his fingers. She let go.
The suitcase was the second thing he took. It was bewildering. In less than a minute she had surrendered her passport and abandoned her possessions. She could smell sweat and cigarettes on the man and she wondered, for the first time, if she was making a terrible mistake.
She looked at her brother.
The boy was shivering. Belgrade is bitterly cold in January with an average temperature of just above freezing.
She hugged him. The boy, a gangly sixteen-year-old in glasses that were held together with tape on one side, bit his lower lip, struggling to control his emotions. He hugged her back and he would not let her go and when she gently pulled away he still held her, a shy smile on his face as he held his phone up at head height. They smiled at the tiny red light shining in the dark as he took their picture.
Then the man with the melted face took her arm just above the elbow and pulled her towards the lorry. He was not gentle.
‘No time,’ he said.
In the back of the lorry there were two lines of women facing each other. They all turned their heads to look at her. Black faces. Asian faces. Three young women, who might have been sisters, in hijab headscarves. They all looked at her but she was staring at her brother standing on the empty Belgrade street, her suitcase in his hand. She raised her hand in farewell and the boy opened his mouth to say something but the back doors suddenly slammed shut and her brother was gone. She struggled to stay on her feet as the lorry lurched away, heading north for the border.
By the solitary light in the roof of the lorry, she saw there were boxes in the back of the vehicle. Many boxes, all the same.
Birnen – Arnen – Nashi – Peren, it said on the boxes. Grushi – Pere – Peras – Poires.
‘Kruske,’ she thought, and then in English, as if in preparation for her new life. ‘Pears.’
The women were still staring at her. One of them, nearest to the doors, shuffled along to find her space. She was some kind of African girl, not yet out of her teens, her skin so dark it seemed to shine.
The African gave her a wide, white smile of encouragement, and graciously held her hand by her side, inviting the girl from Belgrade to sit down.
She nodded her thanks, taking her seat, and thinking of the African as the kind girl.
The kind girl would be the first to die.

ABOUT ‘DIE LAST’: 12 DEAD GIRLS

As dawn breaks on a snowy February morning, a refrigerated lorry is found parked in the heart of London’s Chinatown. Inside, twelve women, apparently illegal immigrants, are dead from hypothermia.

13 PASSPORTS

But in the cab of the abandoned death truck, DC Max Wolfe of West End Central finds thirteen passports.

WHERE IS SHE?

The hunt for the missing woman will take Max Wolfe into the dark heart of the world of human smuggling, mass migration and 21st-century slave markets, as he is forced to ask the question that haunts our time.

What would you do for a home?

MY THOUGHTS: I have enjoyed this series but somehow missed reading Die Last (Max Wolfe #4) when it was published. I was excited when I found it on my shelf. Unfortunately, Die Last never really gripped me like Tony Parsons’ books usually do. It may have been the content – human trafficking. I had this ‘been there, done that’ feeling.

Initially the whole human trafficking subject was treated with a great deal of empathy and compassion. I can only imagine how desperate you would have to be to agree to being smuggled into a foreign country; how frightened. But somewhere along the way the tone changed. It may have had something to do with Max’s boss who didn’t seem to have a very high regard for human life at all; not for that of her staff and certainly not for the refugees.

There’s a bit of everything in Die Last – human traffickers, old style gangster families, Chinese tongs and corrupt businessmen.

The resolution to this left me stunned – in more ways than one. I didn’t see it coming re who was behind the human trafficking. I liked that he did, in the end, get his just desserts, BUT I was with my favorite character, Edie Wrenn when she cried, ‘Max, no! No, Max, no!’ I couldn’t see the justification of what he was doing – the wrong people were being punished and I just couldn’t see the point to it.

While this isn’t my favorite book of the series, it certainly is a thought-provoking one.

Die Last by Tony Parsons was published 22 February 2018. I listened to the audiobook of Die Last, superbly narrated by Colin Mace.

⭐⭐⭐.3

#DieLast #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: Tony Parsons is a British award-winning journalist, broadcaster and bestselling author of contemporary books.

Born in Romford, Essex, Parsons dropped out of school aged sixteen in order to work on the night shift of Gordon’s Gin Distillery in Islington, London, before being offered a journalism job on New Musical Express.

He for the next couple of years travelled with and wrote about legendary musicians such as The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, The Clash, The Sex Pistols and others, before eventually leaving his job to pursue writing.

Tony, whose books have been translated into over 40 languages, currently lives in London with his wife, daughter and their dog.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House, UK, Cornerstone, Arrow via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Die Last by Tony Parsons for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

The Baby by A.J. McDine

EXCERPT: I flick the kettle on and gaze out of the window while I wait for it to boil. Even though I can see Percy stretched out in the sun by the greenhouse, I could swear I’m not alone. I get that feeling every so often. It’s almost as if Grandad’s spirit is sandwiched between the plasterboard and the brickwork, like insulation. Sometimes I feel his presence so keenly it’s as if her is standing beside me, just out of sight.
But today it’s more than that. I can hear something. A rustling noise, coming from the living room. Not rustling. More like snuffling. I stiffen, my hand gripping the worktop, my head cocked to one side. Hoping to God Percy hasn’t brought in a rabbit – I can’t deal with that, not today – I make my way along the hallway to the front of the house.
At the door to the living room I stop in my tracks. The bottom drawer of Grandad’s old oak bureau, the one with the barley twit legs, has been tipped onto the floor. Diaries and birthday cards, envelopes and notebooks, old seed packets and pens, sticky tape and gardening twine have all been upended on the carpet in a jumble.
But this is incidental. Because it’s what’s lying in the upturned drawer that’s holding my attention.
Tiny fists waving in the air. Chubby legs encased in a white sleepsuit. A fuzz of dark hair.
A baby.
And this makes no sense at all. Because I, Lucy Quinn, might have a husband called Miles and a cat called Percy and a cottage that once belonged to my grandad.
But the one thing I don’t have, the one thing I have never had, is a baby.

ABOUT ‘THE BABY’: There’s a baby in your house. It isn’t yours…

The day I was told I’d never be able to have a child, my world came crashing down. My husband says he still loves me but I lie awake at night, wishing we could have a family.

One morning, my husband’s side of the bed is cold and empty. I hear a noise and head downstairs.

In the middle of the rug in my living room is a wooden drawer. Swaddled inside, with perfect rosy cheeks and beautiful round blue eyes, a baby gazes up at me.

I shiver. It’s all I’ve ever wanted, but this baby is not mine…

MY THOUGHTS: I liked The Baby, but didn’t love it. Lucy is a character who is hard to like or to empathise with. She is emotionally immature and mercurial. She is an alcoholic, although she would vehemently deny this. Her husband Miles is a manipulative abuser, also thoroughly unlikeable. He more than enables, he actually encourages her drinking then punishes her for it.

There’s a lot of repetition as Lucy endlessly agonises over things and questions herself. Some of it is just downright dumb. Like “maybe this baby is mine and I’ve just forgotten I have it”. The baby is sleeping in a drawer. Other than a bag of baby clothes and some formula in the same bag, there are none of the usual accoutrements that seem to come with babies. There are no nappies, no formula, no bottles, no clothes, no crib, no buggy, no toys . . . . Authors – please credit your readers with some brains.

On the plus side – the story of where the baby actually comes from is quite inventive and plausible. I have to admit to enjoying the second half of the story much more than the first, especially the ending, although I do have problems with some of the forensic details.

Narrator Tamsin Kennard was a pleasure to listen to.

⭐⭐.5

#TheBaby #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: A. J. McDine lives in Kent in the UK with her husband and fellow thriller writer A. J. Wills, their two sons and two VERY demanding cats.

She worked as a journalist and police press officer before becoming a full-time author in 2019.

Endlessly fascinated by people and their fears and foibles, she loves to discover what makes them tick.

She writes dark, domestic thrillers about ordinary people in extraordinary situations.

When she’s not writing, playing tennis or attempting to run a 5k, she can usually be found people-watching in her favourite café.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Bookouture Audio via NetGalley for providing an audio ARC of The Baby written by A.J. McDine and narrated by Tamsin Kennard. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

The Intruders by Louise Jensen

EXCERPT: I’ve identified sounds, taste, touch and smells but now there’s something else.
A feeling.
A slow crawl of trepidation from the tips of my toes to the top of my scalp.
I stop abruptly. ‘James,’ my tone is urgent now, ‘I don’t like this anymore . . .’
‘Relax Cass. We’re here.’
He fumbles to untie the blindfold and then I’m blinking in the unaccustomed brightness. Curved around me is a horseshoe shaped manor house. With its wings stretching either side of me I feel like the house is holding me.
Gripping me.
Despite the low temperature a flush of heat rushes through me. I push up the sleeves of my jumper. Stepping back, my eyes scan the black and white Tudor timberwork above the entrance. The iron ‘Newington House’ sign blistered with rust.
Ivy clings to the stone building. There’s a sense of someone watching me through the small leaded windows.
This is not a tourist attraction. That much is clear from the unkempt courtyard. The tangle of weeds and nettles.
A crow lands in the tree to my left; he screeches, and it sounds like a warning.

ABOUT ‘THE INTRUDERS’: They were told to leave. They should have listened.

It should be the perfect opportunity: a manor house available rent free in exchange for a bit of housesitting. But when Cass and James dig deeper, they find the place has been abandoned since a robbery left almost all the inhabitants dead almost thirty years ago. But they’ve got to save for a deposit somehow, so they move in, and things quickly take a strange turn. Objects disappear and turn up in odd places, the clock always stops at the same time, and the house is oppressive yet strangely familiar. Could it just be bad memories, or are the house’s secrets a little closer to home?

MY THOUGHTS: There’s no such thing as a free lunch – or, in this case, a free house.

The Intruders by Louise Jensen will put your spidey senses on high alert. There’s an insidious creepiness to the storyline. Nothing major, or over the top, just little unexplained things. Things that eat into Cass’s mind, but that James seems able to explain away. Logically. Calmly. The sounds of children playing. Singing. The smell of freshly cut lemons. The hairbrush that won’t stay in the drawer. A window that opens itself. The clock that stops every day at 8.30 p.m. . . . .

I don’t blame Cass for feeling spooked. Especially when James has to go away on business. And Cass has had problems in the past – a little mental disturbance, or two.

The story is told over two timelines – now and thirty years ago when the Madley family lived, and was murdered, in Newington House. Louise Jensen cleverly manipulates the storyline – I had no idea where she was taking me but was quite happy to go along for the ride – and throws in a few stunning twists. She creates a chilling atmosphere with a palpable air of mystery surrounding all the characters.

And the ending? – Twisted. You’ll need to suspend your belief. It is disturbing but strangely fitting.

I listened to the audiobook of The Intruders which was superbly narrated by Helen Keeley.

And don’t skip the author’s note at the end where she relates how this book came about.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.3

#TheIntruders #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: When I was little I was obsessed by Enid Blyton. Her characters were so real to me they became my friends. I often huddled under my covers, stifling my yawns and straining my eyes, as I read ‘just one more page’ by torchlight.

Mr Townsend, my primary school English teacher always encouraged my love of literature, and it wasn’t long before I’d read everything my school had to offer. The first book I created was six pages long, had stick-man illustrations and was sellotaped together. I was immensely proud of it. Writing was a huge part of my life, until one day it wasn’t.

I can’t remember ever making a conscious decision to stop writing but it became easier to act on the advice I was given – ‘grow up and get a proper job’ – and my dreams were tightly packed away, gathering dust for the next twenty years.

My thirties were a car crash. Literally. I sustained injuries which when coupled with a pre-existing condition forced me to radically change my lifestyle. I felt utterly lost and utterly alone. Always an avid reader I began to devour books at an alarming rate. ‘You’ll have read every book in here soon,’ my local librarian said. ‘You’ll have to write your own.’

And there was a flicker, a shift, a rising of hope. I grasped that nugget of possibility and I wrote. I wrote when I was happy. I wrote when I was sad. I wrote when I was scared and in-between writing, I read, read and read some more. Words have the power to lift, to heal. They have illuminated my world, which for a time became very dark.

As Anne Frank said ‘I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.’

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Harper Collins UK Audio, HQ via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of The Intruders written by Louise Jensen and narrated by Helen Keeley. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

What’s new on my bedside table . . .

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

Yay!!!! Only three new ARCs arrived in my inbox this week! Excuse me while I do a little dance . . .

My first new title is a publisher’s widget – The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley. I see this isn’t getting great reviews, but I have enjoyed everything else I have read by her, so we’ll see . . . It certainly sounds enticing!

Midsummer, the Dorset coast

In the shadows of an ancient wood, guests gather for the opening weekend of The Manor: a beautiful new countryside retreat.

But under the burning midsummer sun, darkness stirs. Old friends and enemies circulate among the guests. And the candles have barely been lit for a solstice supper when the body is found.

It all began with a secret, fifteen years ago. Now the past has crashed the party. And it’ll end in murder at…

THE MIDNIGHT FEAST

I have read so many amazing reviews about Goyhood by new-to-me author Rueven Fenton that I just couldn’t resist requesting it.

When Mayer (née Marty) Belkin fled small town Georgia for Brooklyn nearly thirty years ago, he thought he’d left his wasted youth behind. Now he’s a Talmud scholar married into one of the greatest rabbinical families in the world – a dirt poor country boy reinvented in the image of God.

But his mother’s untimely death brings a shocking revelation: Mayer and his ne’er-do-well twin brother David aren’t, in fact, Jewish. Traumatized and spiritually bereft, Mayer’s only recourse is to convert to Judaism. But the earliest date he can get is a week from now. What are two estranged brothers to do in the interim?

So begins the Belkins’ Rumspringa through America’s Deep South with Mom’s ashes in tow, plus two tagalongs: an insightful Instagram influencer named Charlayne Valentine and Popeye, a one-eyed dog. As the crew gets tangled up in a series of increasingly surreal adventures, Mayer grapples with a God who betrayed him and an emotionally withdrawn wife in Brooklyn who has yet to learn her husband is a counterfeit Jew.

And to round out this weeks books is the latest in the Josie ‘nosey’ Parker cosy mystery series by Fiona Leitch – The Cornish Campsite Murder.

Jodie ‘Nosey’ Parker is back in 2024 with a brand new Cornish mystery to unravel…

Just along the coast from Penstowan, the local festival has filled the area with revellers young and old. Former Met police officer Jodie ‘Nosey’ Parker has agreed to step in and help run the Pie Hard food truck, along with her rather reluctant fiancé, DCI Nathan Withers.

As they prepare for a weekend of camping and being elbow deep in shortcrust pastry, Jodie hadn’t bargained on witnessing a fight between members of the lead band.

But when the body of one of the band members is found dead not far from the campsite, Jodie finds it hard to believe it was an accident. Especially when the other members had so much to gain…

I still have 22 pending requests, 2 past publication date but which are not archived until some time later in May.

I have 515 books on my NetGalley shelf, one less than last week. Hey, I’ll take it. It’s a gain, or a loss, however you want to look at it! At least it makes my 72% feedback ratio a little more secure . . .

Goodreads group, All About Books is having another readathon starting at 12.01 am Friday 26 April and finishing at 11.59 p.m. Sunday 28 April for which I have signed up.

I have completed 8/9 books and all four books by Australian authors for my Aussie Readers April challenge. I will read the 9th and remaining book after I have finished my current read. I will easily complete this challenge before the end of the month.

I have just signed up for the May Aussie Reader’s challenge. The featured author is Sophie Green.

I have read 7/14 books for the Autumn Aussie Readers challenge, so I am right on target!

I have completed my first task of 24 for the World Book Day Challenge which I need to complete before 23 April 2025.

When I was at the library recently, our librarian introduced me to Beanstack an online reading library-based reading challenge but I didn’t get around to signing up for it until yesterday. There is a timer where you can log your reading minutes, Book bingo on which I have this morning completed my first square, and a place to publish your reviews. There are several other features that I haven’t yet had time to explore but will do as soon as possible.

My annual goals I am just going to update at the end of each month, and as it is the last Wednesday of the month, here goes –

I have read 87 of my goal of 225 books for my 2024 Goodreads Reading challenge- 18 books ahead of schedule; and 64 of my goal of 150 NetGalley titles. I can always increase my goals later in the year.

I have read 13 of my goal of 20 Backlist titles for 2024. These titles must have been on my shelf for longer than 12 months to qualify.

I have read 22 of my 24 book goal for my 2024 library love challenge, so I may need to reset that goal too.

I selected the My Precious (I had my earbuds surgically implanted) level of 30+ audiobooks for 2024. I have so far listened to 19/30.

Another few days and we’ll be 1/3 of the way through the year!

Dustin and Luke fly back from Perth Thursday night – that week has gone by fast! Luke loved the reptile park so much that they made a return visit yesterday and Luke got to feed a snake! He was so excited. He keeps messaging me telling me what he’s doing. He’ll be spending time with his Australian grandad for the last two days of his visit which will be nice for both of them.

I have a busy morning ahead. I need to tidy up my office desk as I have mislaid two vital bits of paper. My friend Annette is staying tonight after we get back from seeing Dragon in concert so I need to make up a bed for her. Pete’s dinner is simmering away in the crockpot, but I need to get some food in for the weekend, do laundry, and sort out what I am wearing tonight. The day is going to be beautiful, but not that warm. It will be hot inside the event centre but cold outside. What to wear???? Boots, definitely. I hate to have cold feet!

Have a wonderful week, and read on!

What Happened to Us? by Faith Hogan

What Happened to Us? by Faith Hogan is another title from my 2018 backlist.

EXCERPT: DUBLIN
The first night of winter and it was wet, very wet, and she knew the rain was pouring in drops down her face, could feel them drip, drip, dripping off the end of her nose. She could feel the tears too, hot and stingy in her eyes. Someone had given her a cigarette, miraculously she’s managed to smoke halfway down, but it was soggy and extinguished now, which was no bad thing. She’d never smoked, why add to her list of failures at this late stage?
At the far end of the lane, something or someone caught her eye, but she must be mistaken for who, in their right mind, would be out on an evening like this? Probably a stray cat, attracted by the heat and aromas that emanated from the fans blowing into the frigid night air.
Her thoughts darted back to the kitchen behind her, Kevin, bloody Kevin. Well, she hadn’t seen that coming had she. She was still reeling, angry, upset and, yes, she could admit it to herself, broken-hearted. And Valentina? Kevin was in love with Valentina, he’d told her so himself, so it must be true.

ABOUT ‘WHAT HAPPENED TO US?’ Sometimes the end is only the beginning… After ten years together, Dubliner Carrie Nolan is devastated when she’s dumped by Kevin Mulvey without even a backwards glance. But on reflection, she had been sacrificing her own long-term happiness by pandering to his excessive ego – well, not anymore! While Kevin is ‘living the dream’ with his beautiful new Brazilian girlfriend, Carrie seeks solace from a circle of mismatched strangers who need her as much as she needs them. Then suddenly a catastrophic sequence of events leaves Carrie unsure if there’s anyone she can trust. How far do you need to fall before you realise it’s never too late to start again?

MY THOUGHTS: What Happened to Us? is a lovely read – uncomplicated, with just the right amount of angst and drama, a broken heart and a romance along with just a touch of a crime thriller all delivered in a nice easy to read format.

Carrie is a lovely character – one of life’s fixers, but this is something even she can’t fix. There are things she can do though – like help Jane, the elderly publican across the road, and Luke, who seems every bit as lost as the stray dog he was watching out for. Carrie is the sort of person I would like for a friend. She is warm, caring and totally selfless, which Kevin has been taking advantage of for years!

Kevin and Valentina are very easy to dislike. Kevin for being the lazy, selfish, disloyal git that he is, and Valentina for being grasping, greedy, conniving and whiny. Don’t even let me get started on Valentina’s two bullying ‘cousins’!

With an engaging storyline and equally engaging characters, this certainly didn’t feel like 444 pages . I romped through it, rooting for Carrie, Luke, Jane and Teddy (the dog) every step of the way. An enjoyable, entertaining and uplifting read.

I listened to the audiobook of What Happened to Us?, narrated by Clare McKenna. While I loved her Irish accent, and she also did a brilliant job of the Columbian accents, she did speak very fast.

⭐⭐⭐.7

#WhatHappenedToUs #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: Faith Hogan writes grown up women’s fiction which is unashamedly uplifting, feel good and inspiring.

She gained an Honours Degree in English Literature and Psychology from Dublin City University and a Postgraduate Degree from University College, Galway.

She also writes crime fiction as Geraldine Hogan.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Aria via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of What Happened to Us by Faith Hogan for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

The Suffering of Strangers by Caro Ramsay

This is a title from my 2018 backlist.

EXCERPT: Roberta was aware she was screaming. ‘Where did that car go? she was shouting in the woman’s face, flecking her skin with saliva. She plunged her hands into her pockets, grabbing only the silky lining and fresh air, frantically searching for her phone. It was on the dashboard of the car. James had called. She’d put it back in the cradle on the dashboard. After she had moaned about Sholto, how horrible he was, how noisy.
Well, her world was quiet now.
‘Where did it go?’ She heard the screeching of a banshee. She knew it was her, but she couldn’t stop herself.
Now Barry was stopping people, the woman at the auto bank, the teenager walking the pug, another customer. Roberta scanned them, her finger held horizontally, pointing at each one, thinking that one of them could have taken the baby; one of them must have seen something they were not telling her. It was a conspiracy. They were all in it together. Cars do not disappear, not in that short period of time. How long had it been?
She heard the word “Duster”.
‘What? What?’ She wiped the snot from her face.
The teenager with the pug pointed. ‘Look, there’s a blue Duster parked around there.’ Just as the man who worked the front till for Barry shouted something from the end of the road and waved up the side street.
Roberta ran to the corner, to the narrow road that led to the small car park behind the shops. Not somewhere to leave a car on a rainy, darkening night. Not somewhere she would have parked. She thought she had been careful.
The Duster was there. She stopped dead, registering the number plate. Then began moving quickly again, almost laughing. Somebody had played a little joke and she had fallen for it. She could see the front seat, the outline of Sholto’s car seat, still in its place. She ripped open the door. Wrapped up warm in his yellow blanket, the baby was there. He was fine.
He was quiet, he was gurgling and content.
She pulled down his fluffy blue coverlet trimmed with creamy fluffy lambs.
And then she started screaming.

ABOUT ‘THE SUFFERING OF STRANGERS’: When a six-week-old baby is stolen from outside a village shop, Detective Inspector Costello quickly surmises there’s more to this case than meets the eye. As she questions those involved, she uncovers evidence that this was no impulsive act as the police initially assumed, but something cold, logical, meticulously planned. Who has taken Baby Sholto ? and why?

Colin Anderson meanwhile is on the Cold Case Unit, reviewing the unsolved rape of a young mother back in 1996. Convinced this wasn’t the first ? or last – time the attacker struck, Anderson looks for a pattern. But when he does find a connection, it reaches back into his own past . . .

MY THOUGHTS: The Suffering of Strangers is #9 in the Anderson and Costello series, a wonderfully realistic and gritty series set in Glasgow. Now, just a wee word of warning: this is a series that does need to be read in order because sometimes the cases overlap from one book to the next – as is the case in this book.

There is a lot of grim reading in this book – child abduction, domestic abuse, rape, missing persons and human trafficking. The Anderson and Costello team have been split up with Anderson having been sent to re-examine cold cases and Costello to the domestic violence unit.

There are multiple storylines within The Suffering of Strangers. Ramsay juggles these with ease, resulting in a tense and absorbing read. The plot is complex and riveting. One of the team members becomes personally involved, a historic act coming home to roost. It was most surprising and, well, almost comforting.

The characters are every bit as important as the plot. Past events weigh heavily on our characters and somewhat influence their decisions in the present – not always wisely.

Ramsay doesn’t pull her punches. Some of this is quite harrowing to read, but all is relevant and timely. She highlights the inadequacies of the social services, but also their lack of support for burnt out and overworked staff, and the consequences of the system not working as it should.

A gritty and rewarding read.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.1

#SufferingOfStrangersthe #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: Caro Ramsay was born and educated in Glasgow. She has been writing stories since she was five years old, developing a keen interest in crime fiction.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Severn House for providing a digital ARC of The Suffering of Strangers by Caro Ramsay for review. I apologise sincerely for taking so long to read this. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Happy Publicaton Day – The Father She Went to Find by Carter Wilson

EXCERPT: July 13, 1987
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Monday

I remember everything.
This isn’t an exaggeration. As the few who know me would confirm, I’m not prone to hyperbole. And when I say I remember everything, I’m not talking about the events of this morning. Or yesterday. Or the whole of last week.
I remember everything since October 7, 1973.

ABOUT ‘THE FATHER SHE WENT TO FIND’: A road trip to find closure… or a reckless chase that could turn deadly?

Penny has never met anyone smarter than her. That’s par for the course when you’re a savant–one of less than one hundred in the world. But despite her photographic memory and super-powered intellect, there’s one mystery Penny’s never been able to solve: why did her father leave when she was in a coma at age seven, and where is he now?

On Penny’s twenty-first birthday, she receives a card in the mail from him, just as she has every year since he left. But this birthday card is different. For the first time ever, there’s a return address. And a goodbye.

Penny doesn’t know the world beyond her mother’s house and the special school she’s attended since her unusual abilities revealed themselves, but the mystery of her father’s disappearance becomes her new obsession. For the first time ever, she decides to leave home, to break free of everything that has kept her safe and use her gifts to answer the questions that have always eluded her. What Penny doesn’t realize is she might not be able to outsmart a world far more complicated and dangerous than she’d ever imagined…

MY THOUGHTS: If there is one thing The Father She Went to Find by Carter Wilson reinforces, it’s that intelligence doesn’t always equal common sense.

The entire narrative is from Penny’s point of view. A savant, she is determined to find her father who disappeared while she was aged seven and in a coma. The only clues she has to go on are the birthday cards she has received each year from different locations and a treasure map relating to a road trip the two of them took when she was aged six.

Penny hasn’t really lived in the ‘real world’ since she woke from her coma with her new abilities. She has been isolated and protected in ‘The Institute’ (a nod to Stephen King?) only returning home to check on her alcoholic mother. She has no friends and the only person she feels close to is a doctor at the Institute – that is, until she meets Travis.

I have to admit to having been quite fascinated by this story. I didn’t always like it, but it did fascinate me. It’s a real mix of a tender coming-of-age story with a crime thriller with bad guys, car chases, guns and bodies. Surprisingly, it mostly works.

The ending isn’t going to please everyone. Personally, I liked it.

I recommend you go into this read with no expectations. I went in expecting it to be a certain type of read, and it was nothing like I expected. This may have slightly affected my rating, and this is something I can think on and adjust.

I was lucky enough to receive both a digital and an audio ARC of The Father She Went to Find by Carter Wilson, and I honestly preferred the written to the audio. This is no reflection on the skills of narrator Gina Rogers who did a perfectly adequate job of the narration. It is just a personal preference with this book.

⭐⭐⭐.5

#TheFatherSheWenttoFind #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: Born in New Mexico in 1970, Carter grew up primarily in Los Angeles before attending Cornell University in New York. He lived in Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Miami before moving to Boulder, Colorado in 1996. Throughout his life, Carter has journeyed the globe for both work and pleasure, and his travels have been a constant source of inspiration in his fiction.
Carter’s writing career began on a spring day in 2003, when an exercise to ward off boredom during a continuing-education class evolved into a 400-page manuscript. Since that day, Carter has been constantly writing.
Carter lives in Erie, Colorado in a Victorian house that is spooky but isn’t haunted…yet.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and Dreamscape Media via NetGalley for providing both a digital and audio ARC of The Father She Went to Find written by Carter Wilson and narrated by Gina Rogers for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

The Father she Went to Find by Carter Wilson is due for publication 2nd April 2024.

The Final Hours of Muriel Hinchcliffe by Claire Parkin and narrated by Jenny Funnell

EXCERPT: Monday 24th June 2019 – Evening – A death is announced

Now that I think about it, it wasn’t so much Muriel telling me she was going to die, it was more that she gave her death an actual date and time that unnerved me so much. I am well acquainted with Muriel’s prophecies; unfailingly vague and melodramatic, invariably relating to her health or safety.
A whispered, ‘Ruth! You mustn’t leave me alone tonight. I felt the angel of death’s icy palm caress my cheek during Eastenders.’ That sort of thing. Yes, I am very familiar with Muriel’s predictions which, by now, I am able to predict myself because they occur, without exception, when I have plans to go out for the evening. But that was the other curious thing, I had no such plans for tonight. I was a free agent anticipating the familiar, comforting ups and downs of a night in with Muriel, a cup or two of chamomile tea, a game of scrabble, a furious row.

ABOUT ‘THE FINAL HOURS OF MURIEL HINCHCLIFFE M.B.E.’: Muriel, a former bestselling romantic novelist, and Ruth, a journalist, are best friends. Inseparable since they were little, they’ve shared everything; unable to be without each other, even after the most vicious of fights.

Now fate has left them living together in a North London home, with Ruth caring for Muriel in her deteriorating health, playing Scrabble, arguing and making up, passing the days in monotony, ignoring the scars of their relationship. Then one afternoon, Muriel makes a shocking and sinister announcement, sending Ruth’s world into chaos. Only one thing is certain. Life, as she knows it, will never be the same again. . .

MY THOUGHTS: I loved this! So entertaining! It’s a blend of indifference in a relationship that has lasted decades, resentment, dementia and obligation. Yes, sometimes I knew what was going to happen, but that didn’t detract from my pleasure at all. I cackled out loud (yes – cackled with glee!) in parts and in others felt inordinately sad.

Muriel’s (Moo) and Ruth’s (Ru) relationship is one of inequality and toxicity buried under an outer surface of respectability. Both have had dysfunctional childhoods. Each wanted what the other had including, at one stage, a husband. Yes, the same husband.

I loved these two characters – stroppy, selfish, sly . . . and, in Moo’s case, entitled. Ru, on the other hand, feels obliged and put upon but is quite, quite sure that she is getting one over on Moo and that she has the upper hand. They argue and sulk and put each other down.

The story is told entirely from Ruth’s perspective. It is her memories we are privy to, her recollections, her machinations, her disappointments. But Muriel has had an equally unhappy life, which just goes to prove that getting what you want is not necessarily best for you, and this is slowly revealed through conversations.

Some of the revelations are deliciously shocking. I loved it! I finished this audiobook with a big smile on my face and now, several hours later, I am still smiling. I am sure I will smile every time I think of this book, and I will be recommending it to everyone I know who likes a little dark humor.

An excellent debut novel, and an author to watch!

The audiobook is beautifully narrated by Jenny Funnell, a new to me narrator whom I will be watching for in the future.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#TheFinalHoursofMurielHinchcliffeMBE #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: Claire was born and brought up in a village just outside Cardiff. She worked as a journalist on women’s general-interest magazines for many years, where she was known for being able to turn her hand to pretty much anything – from interviewing boxing champs and war correspondents, to learning how to pole dance and the correct way to iron a shirt. Other career highlights include taste-testing eight varieties of mince pie during an August heatwave, begging Victoria Beckham to donate a dress to a charity raffle, and visiting six second-hand car dealerships in one afternoon, in a bid to expose sexism in the motoring industry.

She turned to fiction after the birth of her twin son and daughter. Claire lives in London with her husband and children. When she’s not writing, she’s a passionate Park runner, container-gardener and baker of calorific goods. After a break of several years, she’s finally enjoying mince pies again.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Macmillan UK Audio via NetGalley for providing an audio ARC of The Final Hours of Muriel Hinchcliffe M.B.E. written by Claire Parkin and narrated by Jenny Funnell for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.