Showing posts with label suspense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suspense. Show all posts

Sunday, May 3, 2026

My Review for Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

May 03, 2026  , , , ,  No comments



“There’s no need to be afraid of the dead. 👻 It’s the living you have to watch out for. 😬”

I first listened to Daisy Darker back in 2022 when I was on holiday in Cyprus. 🌞 We had moved out of one house and our new one wasn’t ready, so we were nomads for about a month! 🧳 Because I had so much going on, I never got around to writing a review, so when #thatbonkersbookclub decided to read it in April, it was the ideal opportunity to pick the book up again and finally write my thoughts. ✍️

Now, considering I don’t remember what I had for dinner last night, it came as no surprise that I didn’t remember much of what happened. 😅 No spoilers for those of you who haven’t read it, but I did remember all there was to know about Daisy!

It was just as thrilling a read as last time around — characters I wanted to smack, others I felt like throwing in the sea 🌊, and one or two who definitely needed a huge hug. 🤗

I do enjoy a locked-room murder mystery; it often makes me think I’ll be able to work it out… I never do! 🙃 For as idyllic as it sounds, I’m not sure I’d want to live on an island you can only access by boat or foot at low tide. I mean, what do you do if you need a delivery?! 🚤

This is my first Alice Feeney, and I already have a couple more on my shelf that I’m looking forward to. 📚

About the Book

After years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in Nana’s crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. Finally back together one last time, when the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.

The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. Then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows…

Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide comes in and all is revealed.

About Alice

Alice Feeney is the New York Times and Sunday Times multi-million-copy bestselling author of eight novels. Including Sometimes I Lie, His & Hers, Rock Paper Scissors, Daisy Darker and Beautiful Ugly. Her books have been translated into forty languages, and have been optioned for major screen adaptations, with His & Hers coming to Netflix in January 2026 starring Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal, and produced by Jessica Chastain's Freckle Films. 

Alice was a BBC journalist for fifteen years before becoming an author. 

My Husband’s Wife is her eighth novel, and will be published around the world in 2026.



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Monday, April 27, 2026

My Review for The Woman in the Cabin by Becca Day

April 27, 2026  , , ,  No comments


“Have dinner ready… be happy to see your husband and greet him with a warm smile.”

The Woman in the Cabin was my April read for the @hook.me.a.book challenge – the #NeglectedFaithfulsReadingChallenge – and a book that’s been sitting on my shelf for way too long 📚✨ It was dark, full of all sorts of wrongness… and I loved it so much 😈 I had to keep reading. I needed to know if Mary was going to be okay 😰, whether the control-freak husband was going to hurt her 😡, and just what other madness he had up his sleeve 👀

I think this book will send readers one of two ways: you’ll either be completely intrigued (like I was) and desperate to keep turning the pages 📖🔥, or you’ll be hugely frustrated by our female main character — like, kill the b*****d already! 😤 And if you’re big on women’s rights, this might make you properly angry at how any man could treat a woman like this 💔

However you feel, if you enjoy a captive thriller, you’re going to love this one 🖤

If you’re thinking of picking it up, definitely check the trigger warnings first ⚠️ — there are quite a few. But if you’re good with those… dive in! 🏊‍♀️📚

This is my first Becca Day read, and it definitely won’t be my last 🙌

A (very belated) thank you to Bonnier Hive for the gifted copy of The Woman in the Cabin by Becca Day 💌📖

About the Book

Deep in the woods, you can hide more than secrets...

Every day, in a remote cabin hidden deep in the woods in the Scottish Highlands, Mary wakes up before dawn to make breakfast from scratch. She tends the garden and feeds the animals. Every night, Mary makes sure she has dinner on the table for when her husband Cal gets home from work.

She puts on his favorite lipstick and greets him with a smile. 'I've missed you.' It's not true and he knows it. But he likes to hear it all the same.

Mary is the perfect wife and like any good wife she knows her job is to keep her husband happy.

But lately as she notices her first wrinkles appear, she can sense Cal change. A scowl at dinner not being ready on time, a too tight grip as he leads her to the bedroom tells her he's noticed too. And old memories are coming back too, of her life before the cabin...

Then she finds a stack of letters hidden under the floorboards detailing a life eerily similar to her own. They're addressed to her: 'To the next woman.'

If she's not the first to play the role of Cal's perfect wife, what happened to the woman in the cabin before her? And how long does she have until she is next?


About Becca - by Becca

Hello friends! I’ve been a storyteller since I can remember. I even wrote a short story (which I distinctly remember being rather cringe-worthy) that ended up being ‘published’ in the school’s library. I was basically a celebrity! Growing up, I was a constant day-dreamer, and “get your head out of the clouds” was a common phrase I heard from my parents and teachers. But the truth is my mind just liked to wander (still does), and I spent my teenage years and early adulthood attempting (and failing) to get my wandering thoughts down onto paper.

I became a full-time writer working for a parenting website – as well as venturing into graphic and website design as another creative outlet – but my heart has always been drawn back to fiction. I wrote a few pieces of short fiction (one of which came runner up in a competition) and my first full length novel in 2019, which will sit in a drawer for the rest of eternity. I began querying my second novel in March 2021 and in May 2021 I signed with my wonderful agent Emily Glenister at DHH Literary Agency. I also helped to run Reading Parties with fellow author William Shaw – he’s far more successful and talented than me, but don’t tell him I said that! Reading Parties has given me the opportunity to work with some amazing writers such as Phoebe Morgan, Will Dean, C.L Taylor and TM Logan, as well as countless industry professionals.

Nowadays, when I’m not working on my novels, I’m Head of Membership & Marketing at leading literary consultancy Jericho Writers, which means I get to help others to write novels for a living! What a life! And, amidst writing and working, I’m looking after my two daughters and cocker spaniel in my little home in Surrey.



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Thursday, April 23, 2026

My Review for The Doctor by Annie Payne

April 23, 2026  , , ,  No comments



"The feeling of being watched was just a symptom of her anxiety..." 👀

Full disclosure, I read this one over two years ago, but for some reason I didn't write a review, so when @megbatsbooks wanted someone to buddy read it with her, I thought it would be fun to read it again and see if I remembered much of it. 📚

I remembered bits correctly, particularly who one of the dodgy characters was, but I was wrong about other parts. I had killed someone off, but in fact he was alive and kicking at the end! 😅

Having worked for the NHS for many years, I understand and appreciate the lack of funding, lack of staff, lack of beds, etc. But this story goes way past the normal everyday frustrations and shows a deeper, darker (thankfully incredibly rare) and fictional insight into what happens when one or two unstable people take control. 🏥

Talk about gaslighting at work - poor Dr Wilson must have thought she was going round the twist when all the unexplainable things were happening to her. 😵‍💫 I was once again intrigued - who was trying to get rid of her, and why? 🤔 I admired her determination that no matter what, she was going to get to the bottom of what was happening in the hospital, and there is more than one disturbing thing going on in this book! 😬

Thank you to the lovely @megbatsbooks for reading this with me - what's next? 💕

A very belated thank you to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review The Doctor by Annie Payne.

About the Book

Running away from a past she’d rather forget, Doctor Alison Wilson has moved to a new town to take up the role of Medical Officer at failing hospital Saint Margaret’s.

Tasked with shaking things up, she quickly learns that things are worse than they initially seem: patient records are in disarray, staff morale is low, and there’s something afoot that she can’t quite put her finger on…

As Alison starts to dig into the hospital’s past, she gradually discovers a trail of lies that runs deeper and darker than she could have ever imagined.

There’s a cold-blooded killer in the hospital. And they’re hiding in plain sight…


About Annie/Candy

After publication of her novel, Deadly Treatment, Candy branched out into short story writing for radio and then started her television career on THE BILL. During her time there, the show was nominated for two Writer's Guild Awards. After brief sojourns on LONDON BRIDGE and CROSSROADS, Candy was part of the team that helped DOCTORS through development and into production with the BBC and she stayed with them through the first three series,. She has worked on three series of HEARTBEAT for ITV. 

Candy is now working on a series of novels for The Book Folks, the first six, starting with Dead Pretty are already published along with an anthology of the first three: A Police Doctor Investigates. More books are planned in this series.

​Candy also writes standalone thrillers for Avon under the name Annie Payne.















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Sunday, March 15, 2026

My Review for The Other Passenger by Louise Candlish

March 15, 2026  , , , ,  No comments



"2020 has a sci-fi ring to it, I feel, like it might be the year of alien landings 👽 or the one when the gamma rays get us."

The Other Passenger is my March read for @hook.me.a.book challenge – the #NeglectedFaithfulsReadingChallenge 📚. It reminded me of why I enjoy a thriller, and after reading this I have decided to try and read some more this year. Let's see how that works out! 🤞

The story switches between the beginning of 2019 and the end, as we roll over into 2020, with Jamie as the most unreliable narrator I've ever heard — honestly — by the middle of the book, I wasn't trusting a word he said! 😅

I was kept guessing throughout The Other Passenger. Just when I raised my eyebrows and thought to myself, "really, that's a poor twist, I don't like that if it's the ending", Louise threw a complete curveball ⚾, turned the story on its head and went streaking off in a completely different direction, which had me hooked all over again! Even up until the very end, there were so many twists and turns 🔄, I was meeting myself coming backwards!

If I had to live my life again, one of the things that I think would be quite a cool thing to do is commute to work by riverboat 🚤, just as Jamie did. You can even have a drink at the bar 🍸 on your way home, as you wend your way down the river! I'm pleased I finally got around to this book. Now let me look at Louise's backlist 📖.

About the Book

You’re feeling pretty smug about your commute to work by riverboat. No more traffic gridlock or getting stuck on the tube in tunnels (you’re claustrophobic); now you’ve got an iconic Thames view, fresh air ?— a whole lifestyle upgrade. You’ve made new friends onboard — led by your hedonistic young neighbour, Kit ?— and just had your first ‘water rats’ Christmas drinks.

But the first day back after Christmas, Kit isn’t on the morning boat. The river landmarks are all the same, but something’s off. You disembark to find the police waiting. Kit’s wife, Melia, has reported him missing and another passenger witnessed the two of you arguing on the last boat home after your drinks. Police say you had a reason to lash out at him. To kill him.

You protest. You and Kit are friends ?— ask Melia, she’ll vouch for you. And who exactly is this other passenger pointing the finger? What do they know about your private lives? No, whatever coincidences might have occurred that night, you are innocent, totally innocent.

Aren’t you?

About Louise

Louise Candlish is the Sunday Times and internationally bestselling author of 18 novels. Her latest release A Neighbour's Guide to Murder is a slow-burn psychological thriller about an age-gap friendship between neighbours that escalates to scandal and murder. It is an instant Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller and a WHSmith Travel Book Club pick. It publishes in the US July 7.

Our Holiday, set among second-home owners on the English south coast, was a Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller, a Richard & Judy Book Club pick and a Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year 2025 nominee.

Louise recently celebrated her 20th anniversary as a published author with the news of two prestigious prizes for her book The Only Suspect: the Capital Crime Fingerprint Award for Thriller of the Year and the Ned Kelly Award for International Crime Fiction. The book is currently in development for TV and filming begins soon in London.
​
She is best known for Our House, winner of the British Book Awards Book of the Year – Crime & Thriller and now a major four-part ITV drama starring Martin Compston and Tuppence Middleton. A Waterstones Thriller of the Month, the book received a Nielsen Bestseller Silver Award for 250,000 copies sold.

Louise lives in a South London neighbourhood not unlike the ones featured in her books, with her husband, daughter, and a fox-red Labrador called Bertie, who is the apple of her eye. Authors who inspire her include Tom Wolfe, Patricia Highsmith, Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine and Agatha Christie.



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Monday, February 2, 2026

My Review for Truth Be Told by Kia Abdullah

February 02, 2026  , , , , ,  No comments


“We’ve got to treat men like humans, even if some do inhuman things.”

My third of @hook.me.a.book challenges is the #NeglectedFaithfulsReadingChallenge, which I’m using to read physical books that have been sitting on my actual shelf for far too long! 📚✨ First up is Truth Be Told by Kia Abdullah, the second book in the Zara Kaleel series. I’ve just checked and I read the first one at the end of 2022, so yes — I’m a bit behind! 😅

In my experience, male assault isn’t something that’s covered often in books, and it’s a difficult subject to write about. However, Kia handles it with sensitivity and a great deal of research, which I really appreciated. 💛

Zara has her own issues to deal with alongside her work as an assault counsellor, and then she takes on Kamran’s case — not an easy one to manage. I went through a whole range of emotions while reading this: angry, empathetic, and sad, often towards the same characters. 😡💔 The immaturity of youth is portrayed in the boys who attended Hampton School, and honestly, at times they needed their heads banging together for the way they reacted to events. 🙄

I especially enjoyed the courtroom drama and the way both the defence and prosecution challenge witnesses. ⚖️ I used to read a lot of this type of book, and I really need to pick more up because I’d forgotten just how invested I get! 😍

If legal thrillers are your jam and you’ve never read Kia’s books before, I’d thoroughly recommend them — just be sure to check the trigger warnings first. ⚠️📖

About the Book

Kamran Hadid feels invincible. He attends Hampton school, an elite all-boys boarding school in London, he comes from a wealthy family, and he has a place at Oxford next year. The world is at his feet. And then a night of revelry leads to a drunken encounter and he must ask himself a horrific question. With the help of assault counsellor, Zara Kaleel, Kamran reports the incident in the hopes that will be the end of it. But it’s only the beginning…


About Kia

Kia Abdullah is an author and journalist from London. Her novels include Take It Back (a Guardian and Telegraph thriller of the year), Truth Be Told (shortlisted for a Diverse Book Award), Next of Kin (longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award) and Those People Next Door (a Times Bestseller and Waterstones Thriller of the Month). Her new novel, What Happens in the Dark, is out now.

Kia has won a Diverse Book Award (2022) and a JB Priestley Award for Writers of Promise (2020). She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Times and the BBC among others.

Kia was born in Tower Hamlets in East London and was raised in a family of eight children. As the most stubborn of six daughters, she constantly found herself in trouble for making choices that clashed with her parents’, a habit they came to accept when she became their first and only child to graduate from university – with a first in Computer Science.

In 2007, Kia left her job in tech to pursue the one thing she had always wanted: a career as a writer, taking a 50% pay cut in the process. She worked as sub-editor and later features editor at Asian Woman Magazine where she interviewed British-Asian luminaries including Riz Ahmed, Meera Syal, Nitin Sawnhey and Anoushka Shankar. 

Kia went on to join global publisher Penguin Random House where she helped grow digital readership at Rough Guides to over a million users per month. In 2014, she quit her day job to found Atlas & Boots, an outdoor travel blog now read by 150,000 people a month.

Today, she spends her time writing, boxing, mentoring adults in Newham and visiting far-flung destinations for Atlas & Boots.










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Friday, January 30, 2026

My Review for The Storm by Rachel Hawkins, read by Alex Knox, Cathi Colas, Dan Bittner, Jane Oppenheimer, Patti Murin, Petrea Burchard and Stephanie Nemeth-Parker

January 30, 2026  , , , ,  No comments



"Hurricanes aren’t just weather; they are monsters that never truly die.”

The Storm was my second January listen for another of @hook.me.a.book’s challenges, the #LetsEarItAudiobookChallenge 🎧📚. I’d been seeing this one everywhere on Instagram over the past few weeks, so I finally got around to listening.

It took me a while to get into it. The build-up was slow, and I found it took a minute to get to grips with all the different characters — particularly in audio format, where each character had a different narrator 🎙️. However, once I’d heard from them all, I was hooked and the pace picked up more and more. Alongside the multiple points of view, the story also uses a dual timeline — just to confuse me and intrigue me a little further ⏳🤔.

After all the twists and turns, I still couldn’t fully work out what had happened in the past or how it was going to play out in the present, especially as the latest hurricane headed towards St Medard’s Bay 🌪️. As the story peaked, I found myself listening for longer than I usually would, just so I could reach the end and uncover the tangled web of the finale 😮‍💨✨.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to and review The Storm by Rachel Hawkins 💙📖.


About the Book

St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama is famous for three things: the deadly hurricanes that regularly sweep into town, the Rosalie Inn, a century-old hotel that’s survived every one of those storms, and Lo Bailey, the local girl infamously accused of the murder of her lover, political scion Landon Fitzroy, during Hurricane Marie in 1984.

When Geneva Corliss, the current owner of the Rosalie Inn, hears a writer is coming to town to research the crime that put St. Medard’s Bay on the map, she’s less interested in solving a whodunnit than in how a successful true crime book might help the struggling inn’s bottom line. But to her surprise, August Fletcher doesn’t come to St. Medard’s Bay alone. With him is none other than Lo Bailey herself. Lo says she’s returned to her hometown to clear her name once and for all, but the closer Geneva gets to both Lo and August, the more she wonders if Lo is actually back to settle old scores.

As the summer heats up and another monster storm begins twisting its way towards St. Medard’s Bay, Geneva learns that some people can be just as destructive—and as deadly—as any hurricane, and that the truth of what happened to Landon Fitzroy may not be the only secret Lo is keeping…


About Rachel

Born in Virginia and raised in Alabama, Rachel Hawkins has been writing since Kindergarten when her first book, a tense thriller involving a unicorn, a witch, and a princess, was called, “very imaginative!” by her teacher and “a searing work of genius” by her mother.

Since then, Rachel has written over a dozen books for children and adults (sadly all unicorn-free thus far), and been published in more than twenty countries. As Rachel Hawkins, she wrote the New York Times bestselling THE WIFE UPSTAIRS, a Southern Gothic twist on JANE EYRE that the Southern Review of Books called, “a thrill ride,” and Entertainment Weekly dubbed, “a gothic thriller laced with arsenic.” Her latest thriller, RECKLESS GIRLS, also debuted on the New York Times list with Kirkus calling it, “a soapy, claustrophobic page-turner.”

When not writing modern Gothic thrillers as Rachel Hawkins, she also pens paranormal romantic comedies under the name Erin Sterling. Her debut romance, THE EX HEX, was a Book of the Month pick as well as a New York Times and USA Today Bestseller.

Rachel currently lives in Auburn, Alabama with her husband, son, and five cats. (Yes, five. She knows.). In her free time, she enjoys reading, cooking, and picking up an assortment of creative hobbies she will give up on after a week or two. 




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Thursday, January 29, 2026

My Review for No One Saw It Coming by Susan Lewis, read by Helen Stern

January 29, 2026  , , , ,  No comments


"How could he have betrayed his beautiful wife like that?"

This was one of my January listens for another one of @hook.me.a.book challenges. This time it's the #LetsEarItAudiobookChallenge.

I'm pretty sure this is my first Susan Lewis book, and I really enjoyed it. 😊 Of course, I spent most of the story trying to second-guess what was actually happening, but apart from a few inklings, I didn’t see the twist coming at all until it was fully explained. 😲

No One Saw It Coming is told from multiple points of view, but I never felt confused. It was easy to move between perspectives, and I very quickly became invested in each character and desperate to know what would happen next. 📖💭

A great deal of research has clearly gone into the mental health aspects of this novel, and they’re portrayed both sensitively and realistically. It’s quite frightening, really, how sometimes we just can’t understand how someone else’s brain is wired. 🧠

Now that I’ve read one, I’ll definitely be picking up more Susan Lewis novels in the future. 🙌

Thank you to HarperCollins and Libro.fm for the opportunity to listen to and review No One Saw It Coming. 🎧✨

About the Book

Secrets lie at the heart of every family…

When the unthinkable happens…

Hanna’s world is crumbling.

An unimaginable crime has been committed, and everyone’s looking for someone to blame. Her loved ones are under suspicion.

Now Hanna must work out who is threatening her family – before it’s too late.

No one could have seen this coming…


About Susan

Susan Lewis is the bestselling author of over forty books across the genres of family drama, thriller, suspense and crime. She is also the author of Just One More Day and One Day at a Time, the moving memoirs of her childhood in Bristol during the 1960s. Following periods of living in Los Angeles and the South of France, she currently lives in Gloucestershire with her husband James, stepsons Michael and Luke, and mischievous dogs Coco and Lulu.







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Friday, October 3, 2025

My Review for Britannia Rises by Russell Dumper

October 03, 2025  , , , ,  No comments


'The illusion of some level of democracy over there keeps the people satisfied.'

I have had this book on my shelf for a couple of years (sorry Russell), 🙈 but as the second book in the series is out next week, I decided I would read them back to back. Of course I hadn't looked at the synopsis for ages and so I had no idea what I was getting into, and admittedly it did take me a while to get to grips with the characters, the story and the slight weirdness of it all. However, once I'd got all that sorted in my head, I flew through it. 

Britannia Rises starts off a bit slow, but once it gets going the pace really picks up. Before I knew it, I was racing through the pages trying to keep up with the action.. The book is a dystopian take on an alternative view on the monarchy and Britain as we know it. Gone are the days of our adorable Queen, and in steps her son, and more importantly, her grandson who is set to change our country as we know it. All this is in the book, don't worry, I don't think our Royal Family is set to turn rogue just yet!

Full of assassins, spies, terrorists and many dubious characters, this dystopian, sci fi novel will have you wondering whether actually, do we really know what's going on outside of our doors. 

Thank you to Russell Dumper and The Conrad Press for the gifted copy of Britannia Rises.

About the Book

‘Britannia Rises’ tells the story of how, in the near future, the British Empire faces a pivotal crossroads. When the queen dies, her peaceful, prosperous reign comes to an end after more than seven decades. The new monarch must tackle challenges from within his own family and decide how to keep The Empire competitive with their most powerful rivals. The other world powers are looking for any weakness they can find to subjugate Britain and take their place as the most powerful nation on Earth. At the same time, King Alfred must preserve the peace and focus on Outpost, the cooperative programme that will ensure the survival of the human species. Jamie Bayston is a young teacher, embarking on a wonderful life, who has the misfortune to witness a murder that will plunge him into the dark world that exists between The Empire and its struggle to maintain order. He must run and fight to keep himself and his family safe while facing up to the truth that the world he knows is just a small part of what’s really out there.


About Russell (taken from The Spalding & South Holland Voice)

Russell Dumper has followed his childhood dream of becoming an author. “I’ve always loved writing and it has brought be so much joy since I was a small boy. It’s a fire that burns inside of me, a passion that I’ve always had. I have so many more books to write, and I can’t wait to write them,” he said.

His book, Britannia Rises, is set in an alternate near future ruled by the British Empire.
“There are all kinds of characters, twists, links into modern events, action, suspense and surprises galore. “When asked, I describe it as a kind of modern Game of Thrones meeting a James Bond origin story. There are many plots overlapping each other and the main characters are deep and complex,” he added.

The father of two small children, who lives in Spalding, said he had the idea for the story aged 14 or 15.

“It’s developed a lot over the years, as you can imagine, with several rewrites to get to where it is now. It will appeal to anyone who loves thrillers and suspense books, from young adults upwards.

“It’s a story that will make you love and hate the same character. I suspect the full series will be seven or eight books,” said Russell.










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Wednesday, October 1, 2025

My Review for Dark Horse by Felix Francis

October 01, 2025  , , ,  No comments



"'You have no idea how much we've saved,' Marina said. I was more worried about how much they'd spent."

Quick off the start and a fast pace all the way to the finish line! Dark Horse is another surefire winner from Felix Francis. I devoured Dick Francis books as a teenager, and Felix has expertly picked up the reins to continue his father’s legacy. Sorry — was that a bit corny?! 😂

Imogen is our protagonist, and although she can come across as a bit over-dramatic, she does have good reason. She ditches her controlling and abusive boyfriend and moves to another country for a fresh start. From there, with the occasional high point, it’s pretty much a downhill ride — and not in a good way!

There are also little touches of humour scattered throughout — the quote I used at the beginning  made me laugh, and there are lots of little snippets like this throughout. 

Dark Horse is a quick read, with lots going on and an ending I definitely didn’t see coming. If you’re not familiar with racing lingo, don’t worry — Felix weaves everything you need to know neatly into the story so you won’t get lost.

Thank you to Zaffre Books for the gifted copy of Dark Horse, for letting me read and review it, and for including me on the blog tour.




About the Book

Imogen Duffy is a young Irish jockey, whose fledgling career is given a huge boost when she wins a prestigious horse race at the Cheltenham Steeplechasing Festival. But all is not well in her life. She has a violent and controlling boyfriend, also a jockey, and he becomes increasingly jealous of her success. As a result, she tries to break off their relationship, but he won't take 'no' for an answer. He attacks her, and claims that he'd rather kill her than allow her to leave him.

Imogen flees her home in Ireland, coming to England to get away from him, and to continue her riding career at a racing stable in Lambourn, where she finds increasing success. But the abusive boyfriend follows her across the Irish Sea, stalks her, steals from her, attacks her again, and then tries to ruin both her career and her reputation.


About Felix

Felix Francis is Dick Francis’s younger son. Born in 1953, Felix studied Physics and Electronics at London University and then embarked upon a 17-year career teaching Advanced Level physics at three schools, the last seven as head of the science department at Bloxham School in Oxfordshire. After leaving teaching, Felix then became a businessman, spending 13 years as deputy chairman of World Challenge Expeditions Ltd, before starting his third career as an author.

As a child, Felix remembers that conversations around the Francis breakfast table were somewhat unconventional. “The production of a Dick Francis novel has always been a mixture of inspiration, perspiration and teamwork. The first one was published when I was nine, and I grew up in a house where talk would be about the damage a bullet might do to a man’s guts rather than the more mundane topics of everyday life”.

Over the next 40 years, Felix assisted Dick with both the research and the writing of many of his novels. They shared a love of racing and often worked together on plot and character details at Dick’s home in the Cayman Islands. This partnership allowed Dick to draw upon Felix’s knowledge and experience as a physics teacher and marksman in Twice Shy, and as an outdoorsman in Longshot.

With the publication of Under Orders in 2006, Felix took over the writing of the ‘Dick Francis’ novels from his father. This was followed by Dead Heat in 2007, Silks in 2008, and Even Money in 2009. Crossfire was the book Felix was working on when Dick died in February 2010, marking the end of one chapter and the beginning of another in the Dick Francis brand. 



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Wednesday, September 24, 2025

My Review for The Bystander by John David

September 24, 2025  , , ,  No comments


'She's turned her lemons into the equivalent of a lemonade conglomerate.'

If an author asks me to read their book, I’ll skim the synopsis, say yes or no, and then forget all about it — so I usually go in blind. It could be fantasy, romance, or thriller and I’d have no clue until I start reading! That’s exactly what happened here. When I picked up The Bystander on Sunday, I was a little cautious (as I often am with debut novels), but I needn’t have worried. I was hooked from the very beginning — mystery, suspense, thrills, and even a few cringe-worthy moments!

The story felt unique — I’ve never read anything quite like it. The description mentions a shooting, but things quickly take an unexpected turn I didn’t see coming. It also shines a light on issues that are more common than many of us might realize, which made it all the more impactful.

Corruption, deceit, violence, and even a dash of romance — if you love a thriller with all that wrapped in, definitely grab a copy of The Bystander!

Thank you to John David and Tule Publishing for the opportunity to read and review The Bystander.

About the Book

TV reporter Pete Lemaster anticipates nothing more riveting than filming a short lifestyle segment for an upcoming college football rivalry when he arrives at the Jacksonville Waterfront pregame tailgate party. Then chaos erupts as a bystander stops an active shooter with an act of stunning bravery. And Pete suddenly holds a golden career opportunity in his hands—an exclusive video that goes viral.

With the citizen hero’s star rising among the Second Amendment folk, Pete, too, enjoys the perks of fame. But something about that now-famous moment feels off, so he uses his journalism skills to poke around. Suddenly, he’s not sure what he captured is the truth.

And now opportunistic political and media figures are threatening Pete’s life if he doesn’t back off. Can he blow the whistle on a coverup, out the real villain, and stay alive?


About John

John David is a long-time public relations and crisis communications consultant, author of a non-fiction business book, and a corporate ghostwriter. 

His debut novel, The Bystander (The Lemaster Files Book 1), was longlisted for the BPA First Novel Award, was awarded as a finalist for the 2025 Storytrade Book Award for traditional mysteries, and was named a finalist for the 2025 Page Turner Award for mysteries and cozy mysteries. It will be released by Tule Publishing in September of 2025. 

Though not a big joiner, he is a member of the International Thriller Writers Debut Author program. When not working or writing, he enjoys fishing, talking about politics, and following the Florida Gators. He and his beautiful wife Pamela live in Pinecrest, Florida.


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Wednesday, September 3, 2025

My Review for IT by Stephen King, read by Steven Weber

September 03, 2025  , , , , , , ,  No comments


“What can be done when you’re eleven can often never be done again.”

I enjoyed IT a whole lot more than Carrie. Even though it was a stonker of a listen at 45 hours, I was invested in the story, the kids, as they navigated their way through their traumatic teenage years in Derry. Twenty-eight years later, when they returned to their hometown to fight whatever the monster is, all over again. 

Occasionally I got lost in the narration as the story skipped from the past to the present and occasionally somewhere in-between, but aside from that, I did actually like it. I definitely wouldn't like the movie version, but I treated the monster as some sort of paranormal fantasy creature that I've encountered in numerous other books, and it was all good.

I'm sure I'm not the first person who's thought this, but whether intentional or not, I think some of J.K. Rowling's ideas came from this book. The monster is eerily reminiscent of Aragog, and, she moves around in the pipes, just as the monster does in Chamber of Secrets. Anyone else??

Thank you to #thatindiebookclub for the decision to try a Stephen King club for people who were maybe a little sceptical!

About the Book

Stephen King's terrifying, classic #1 New York Times bestseller, "a landmark in American literature" (Chicago Sun-Times)—about seven adults who return to their hometown to confront a nightmare they had first stumbled on as teenagers…an evil without a name: It.

Welcome to Derry, Maine. It's a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real.

They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But the promise they made twenty-eight years ago calls them reunite in the same place where, as teenagers, they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city's children. Now, children are being murdered again and their repressed memories of that terrifying summer return as they prepare to once again battle the monster lurking in Derry's sewers.

About Stephen

Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. He made his first professional short story sale in 1967 to Startling Mystery Stories. In the fall of 1971, he began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels. In the spring of 1973, Doubleday & Co., accepted the novel Carrie for publication, providing him the means to leave teaching and write full-time. He has since published over 50 books and has become one of the world's most successful writers. King is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to the American Letters and the 2014 National Medal of Arts.

Stephen lives in Maine and Florida with his wife, novelist Tabitha King. They are regular contributors to a number of charities including many libraries and have been honored locally for their philanthropic activities.



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