Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE IRISH CHILD by Daisy O’Shea on this Bookouture Books-On-Tour blog post.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
A salty breeze whips the tears from my eyes as I stare out at the emerald Irish Sea. Everything I’ve lost, the child my great grandmother Nellie lost, all feels so present here, in the land my family left years ago. How will I ever move on? Will I ever uncover the truth about the little girl who went missing all those years ago?
When Boston-born Erin arrives in wind-tossed Roone Bay, she’s heart-sore, tired and lonely. Her marriage is over: she’s come to build a new life for herself on Ireland’s rugged southern coast. And to unravel the story behind the mysterious note in her family’s ancient Bible that has haunted her since childhood. But hazel-eyed former lifeboat volunteer Finn, the only local historian around, quietly refuses her pleas to help.
So Erin settles in to the town, with its whitewashed cottages and ruddy-cheeked fishermen, and begins her quest alone. Who was her ancestor, Nellie, and why did she leave Ireland for America? What happened to her missing child, Annie, and did Nellie ever see her again?
Just as Erin despairs ever uncovering the truth, one rain-soaked night she is rescued by Finn, who finally agrees to help. And by firelight and candlelight each evening, just as it would have been in her great-grandmother’s time, Finn and Erin grow closer as they share their stories.
But just as Erin wonders if Roone Bay could be her forever home, she makes a devastating discovery. Will she be able to face the truth, which changes everything she thought she knew about herself, her past, and her family’s Irish legacy? Or will she run, just as Nellie did all those years ago, and lose the best chance at happiness she’s ever had…?
THE IRISH CHILD by Daisy O’Shea is a captivating dual timeline Irish family saga in this women’s fiction/romance/historical fiction mash-up. This book is the second in a series that is loosely tied together by the Roone Bay setting, but it is easily read as a standalone with some of the characters carried over from The Irish Key.
In the present-day timeline, Erin has physically survived a tragic accident and the loss of her husband, but mentally she cannot move forward. When she discovers a mystery in the family Bible surrounding an ancestor named Nellie, it inspires her to travel to Ireland to look for answers. It is also the perfect escape from her overbearing parents and a chance to find peace.
In Roone Bay, Erin begins to feel a connection to not only her ancestor but also the current inhabitants. She soon discovers she is stronger than she believes and can cope with the painful memories and return to her love of music without feeling guilty. With a job offer and a possible love interest, Erin begins to want to set down roots and stay.
In the past timeline, Nellie, her husband, and their small daughter are trying to survive the Great Hunger in Ireland. Her husband leaves for America and promises to send money for Nellie and Annie to follow. When Nellie eventually gets her husband’s ticket, she now has two children that she must get to America. At the crowded dock, after a terrible voyage, Nellie loses her daughter and discovers much worse. Her journey is a story of terrible loss, fighting to survive, and always moving forward.
I loved this emotional story even with the depiction of a horrific time in Irish history and all the difficulties of both the main female protagonists. The author’s writing pulled me into both timelines effortlessly and I found both intertwining stories gripping. There are no punches pulled in the descriptions of famine, loss, pain, and grief but the author tempers it with the strength, courage, and love of both Erin in the present and Nellie in the past.
I highly recommend this beautifully told story. This women’s fiction/romance/historical fiction mash-up is an emotional and engaging Irish family saga.
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Author Bio
Sue Lewando was a teacher for several years before migrating to the office environment, where she was PA to the Treasurer of Clarks Shoes, a multi-national company, then, briefly, PA to Susan George, the actress best known for Straw Dogs. Sue had many genre books published (M&B and Virgin), under pseudonyms, and self-publishes her crime thrillers. She was on the committee of the Romantic Novelists’ Association in England, for whom she assessed typescripts. She has been a fiction tutor for the London School of Journalism for twenty years. She has two grown-up children, a happy second marriage, and a bundle of cats and dogs. She moved to West Cork with her husband to undertake a farmhouse refurbishment project, foster their joint passion for playing Irish traditional music, and to invest time in their individual academic projects. She recently completed a Masters in Creative Writing at UCC, taking the opportunity to explore diverse writing genres. She works with the Jeremy Murphy Literary Consultancy in the capacity of typescript analyst, ghostwriter, editor, and online publishing advisor. She loves good commercial fiction, and is a devotee of the Oxford comma.
When Chase Stone’s estranged father dies, leaving his multibillion-dollar business to his children, no one is more surprised than Chase. Growing up outside of the high-stakes world filled with human vultures, Chase and his sister, Alex, are less than enthusiastic about stepping into their father’s shoes. That is until they learn of a half brother they didn’t know existed and must find to share their inheritance with.
Piper Maddox was the elder Mr. Stone’s übercapable assistant—abruptly fired two weeks before his death. She knows everything about Stone Enterprises and the man who built it. But Piper has no desire to work for another member of the Stone family. Even one as down-to-earth as Chase.
Desperately needing financial security, Piper agrees to return so long as kissing up to Chase and accepting unwanted advances are not part of her job description. A promise that becomes a serious hurdle for both of them. Piper and Chase scramble to find the third Stone sibling before the media does, sharing secrets along the way. Secrets that can bring them together or tear them irrevocably apart.
ALL OUR TOMORROWS (The Heirs Book #1) by Catherine Bybee is the start of a contemporary billionaire romance series. I normally do not read this subgenre, but I love Ms. Bybee’s style of writing, and these reluctant billionaires receive their financial windfall when their estranged father dies, so I gave it a try and I am very glad I did.
Chase and Alex Stone are shocked at the reading of their estranged father’s will. Both are successful, but the inheritance of their father’s business and money are at a completely different level. They also discover they have a half-brother out there somewhere that they never knew anything about and to complete the conditions of the will and share a third of their father’s wealth, they must find him.
Chase Stone has to learn all about his father’s business in a hurry to keep the vultures at bay. He learns his assistant has only been in the position for two weeks and his father’s previous assistant was fired abruptly. Chase digs into the situation and finds out the injustice of the firing and wants the straight shooting and intelligent Piper back to assist him.
Piper Maddox has no desire to work for another member of the Stone family, but when she meets Chase, she learns he is nothing like his father. She needs the financial security of the position, but she has a few rules. As they work together with Chase’s sister to stabilize the company and find the missing Stone heir before the press, they discover a chemistry that both fight, but neither can resist.
I really enjoyed this introduction to the Stone siblings and Chase and Piper’s romance. All the characters are fully developed and realistic. Chase is an endearing hero of strength and integrity, and Piper is an intelligent heroine who can smoothly handle the politics of a multi-billion-dollar company but has a very big secret in her personal life. The two together are perfect. All the secondary characters round out a varied cast of good and bad players with secrets that will be answered over the future books in the series. The search for the missing heir and the treachery in their father’s corporation and boardroom have the plot moving at a fast pace, while the romance is intertwined and moves along at a believable pace. The corporate intrigue and the discovery of the missing heir are slight cliffhangers at the end of the story.
I highly recommend this first book in this new billionaire contemporary romance series.
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About the Author
Catherine is a #1 Wall Street Journal, Amazon, and Indie Reader bestselling author. In addition, her books have also graced The New York Times and USA Today bestsellers lists. In total she has written thirty-six beloved books that have collectively sold more than 10 million copies and have been translated into more than twenty languages.
Raised in Washington State, Bybee moved to Southern California in the hope of becoming a movie star. After growing bored with waiting tables, she returned to school and became a registered nurse, spending most of her career in urban emergency rooms. She now writes full time and has penned the Not Quite series, The Weekday Brides series, the Most Likely To series, and the First Wives series. Learn more about Catherine and her books at www.catherinebybee.com
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE GARDEN GIRLS (FBI: Strange Crimes Unit Book #3) by Jessica R. Patch on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a Kingsumo giveaway. Good luck on the giveaway and enjoy!
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Book Description
On a remote Outer Banks island, a serial killer collects his prized specimens. And to stop him, an FBI agent must confront his own twisted past.
FBI agent Tiberius Granger has seen his share of darkness. But a new case sets him on edge. It’s not just the macabre way both victims—found posed in front of lighthouses—are tattooed with flowers that match their names. There’s also the unsettling connection to the woman Ty once loved and to the shadowy cult they both risked everything to escape.
Bexley Hemmingway’s sister has gone missing, and she’ll do anything to find her—including teaming up with Ty. That may prove a mistake, and not just because Ty doesn’t know he’s the father of her teenaged son. It seems the killer is taunting Ty, drawing everyone close to him into deeper danger.
As the slashing winds and rain of a deadly hurricane approach the coast of North Carolina, the search leads Ty and Bex to an island that hides a grisly secret. But in his quest for the truth, Ty has ignored the fact that this time, he’s not just the hunter. Every move has been orchestrated by a killer into a perfect storm of terror, and they will need all their skills to survive…
Genre: Christian Psychological Thriller Published by: Love Inspired Trade Publication Date: April 23, 2024 Number of Pages: 367 ISBN: 9781335463074 (ISBN10: 1335463070) Series: FBI: Strange Crimes Unit, Book 3 || Each is a Stand-Alone Novel
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My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
THE GARDEN GIRLS (FBI: Strange Crimes Unit Book #3) by Jessica R. Patch is a chilling and suspenseful romantic suspense/serial killer crime thriller. This is the third book in the FBI: Strange Crimes series, but it can easily be read as a standalone thriller. Each book focuses on a different member of the team, and I have read all of them.
FBI Agent Tiberius “Ty” Granger is the religious studies and cult expert on the southeastern area’s unit of the Strange Crimes. His past, in which he grew up in the darkness of a religious cult, is the reason he chases these monsters. He is a grown man who diverts people from truly understanding him with juvenile humor and song lyrics. The current case has Tiberius being personally lured to the Outer Banks by a serial killer collecting girls for his garden.
Bexley “Bex” Hemmingway’s sister has gone missing. Ty discovers the girl he loved, and her sister are alive, and it is her sister that is missing, but Bexley has an even bigger secret. Before they were separated by the cult, Bexley was pregnant. Now the serial killer is personally taunting Ty and placing everyone he cares about in danger.
With a hurricane on the way, Ty and Bex are about to discover a terrible secret on a private island. This serial killer has been plotting for a long time to get Ty into his world and destroy him.
I find Ms. Patch’s serial killer crime plots to be extremely well written and plotted. In this book, and the two previous ones in this series, I found it difficult to put them down. The killers are truly terrifying. The killers are dark and gritty, but interspersed with their depravity is the friendship, closeness and sometime humor of the Strange Crimes team as they work the clues. This is a Christian romantic suspense series and while I appreciated the author not cheating by solving every problem with just a prayer, I did feel at times the proselytizing was a bit too heavy for my taste, and that is present in all three books. Others who are more into the religious aspects of Christian fiction may not agree with me and that is their right. There is violence in these books, but they are serial killer crime thrillers and that is to be expected.
The characters of the Strange Crime Unit are all fully developed and engaging. With each book you discover more of what makes each individual click and why they do what they do. I enjoyed meeting all the members of the team and I find the crime plots make for a very edge-of-your-seat thrilling read.
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Excerpt
Prologue The Garden Girls
Sharp claws scrape along my neck.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
Buzzing fills the room, and I strain to open my eyes but they’re like molasses, thick and sticky and slow-moving. My stomach jumps and the room shifts as my blurred vision registers red walls and coffee-colored concrete. I inhale a hint of bleach and incense with a spicy note as I shift to survey the rest of the room, but my muscles ripple like languid water.
The air-conditioner kicks on, and the cold air raises chills across my naked body.
I’m…naked. A fist squeezes my lungs as panic rips through my system. My memories are disjointed.
Where am I? How did I arrive here?
What is happening to me? What has already happened? Shoe soles click on the floor and silence my questions.
I am not alone. Or…I wasn’t. The door closes with a quiet click.
Get up. Move. Run!
Gripping the sides of a massage table, I roll off, and my bare feet hit cool flooring. The walls close in and shift, and my stomach roils. Something is wrong. Off.
Floor-to-ceiling mirrors cover an entire wall, and my breath catches as reality comes into view.
Pink flower buds wend through a vine of black along my neck and upper back.
Confusion clouds my senses, and I stand cemented in place gawking at the angry red skin, sore and tender and smeared with glossy petroleum jelly.
A tight knot grows in my throat, and tears stab with heated force against the backs of my eyes.
I have to get out of here.
Behind me, I spot a twin bed with luxurious sheets and a thick white comforter as well as tattooing equipment. My hands tremble. Am I in a tattoo parlor? Why is a bed in here?
Lying on the floor next to the bed is an old iron cuff attached to a thick, heavy chain that is anchored to the wall.
Why is that in here and where are my clothes?
I snatch the downy comforter and drape it over my exposed body.
Run. Run. Run!
I open the door but have no clue which way to go or where he is or how long until he finds and cuffs me to that bed.
I’ve been trapped before at the hands of a vicious predator. Old memories surface and spur me across the carpeted flooring. The hall veers left. My eyes begin to adjust to the darkness as I flee to safety—no.
To a dead end.
Defeat leaches like muddy water into my soul, and my chest aches. The only choice is to turn around.
But he’s in that direction.
Sweat slicks down my temples and spine, springing up through my pores like an underground fountain as I return the way I came.
I see what might be a crack in the wall. Light seeps in from the other side. As I approach, I discover it’s a door made to look like part of the wall. I swallow hard and guide my fingers along the smooth wood until I feel a lever. I push it and the door releases, but it takes some grit to open it enough for me to slide through.
I expect some kind of lair or dungeon or God knows what—a wall with torture devices and cages—but it’s not.
It’s a living room with wall-to-wall windows overlooking dark water.
Where is he?
I suck in a breath as creaking registers on the stairs. There’s nowhere to hide, and the comforter is bulky and will easily give me away. I have no option but to ditch it in the corner. I can’t dwell on modesty.
Outside.
I dart toward the sliding glass door, silently slide it open and slip out into the warm night air before scrambling to the edge of the balcony. I crouch to make myself small, like when I was a child and needed to obscure myself.
Maybe he doesn’t realize I’m gone, but then it hits me.
I didn’t shut the secret door concealing the other rooms.
A sob bubbles to the surface as I shake uncontrollably like I’ve woken from anesthesia. The ground is far below me. I’d die or break my legs, maybe my spine. But I’d rather die than go back to that room.
To that chain.
To more tattoo needles.
To him.
I draw up my knees and wait, pray. Hope.
When the door doesn’t open, I scoot across the deck, the raw wood digging into tender flesh, but I need to see if the coast is clear.
What if he’s standing at the door, waiting? Watching?
I hear something and freeze.
One Mississippi. Two Mississippi…I count silently until I reach Twenty Mississippi and scoot again.
I can’t be sure if he’s nearby. If he is, deep in the marrow of my bones, I know the kinds of things that await me. I know what evil men can do. I’ve seen it. Experienced it.
Finally, I muster the courage to peep through the door. The room is empty and dimly lit from the one glowing lamp. I creep inside; my brain is fuzzy and spins.
No footsteps. Only bulging shadows in the corners.
I slither across the Berber carpet and inhale the newness. A set of stairs is on the other side of the open living concept. About ten feet of space isn’t occupied with furniture which means when I make a run for it, and he enters the room, I’ll have no cover.
If he doesn’t and I make it downstairs, he could still be waiting for me.
I try to form a defense plan, but my brain might as well be sludge. Making my move, more out of my flight response than logic, I army-crawl across the open space to the stairs.
Two sets of six. I practically roll down the first set and pause.
He’s not there at the small landing.
Six more to go.
This time I move slower, ignoring the adrenaline shouting sprint. I can’t. He could be waiting and I need to listen.
One…two…three…four…five…six. I pause again at the bottom of the stairs.
No light befriends me on the ground floor. Only darkness—and darkness is never a friend. Darkness is deceptive, offering false security. Nothing good transpires in darkness. It’s not a refuge to hide. But a place to be found. In the dark, I can’t see my predator, but I know he’s lurking.
The door is five feet away to freedom, and I sprint for it.
Hope blooms in my chest.
I mutter a prayer as I run. Three feet left.
Two.
Thank God, I’m here. I twist the knob.
It’s locked.
A cry cracks loose inside me, but I hold it down and fumble with the dead bolt.
Shuffling sounds across tile.
Closer. Closer.
I manage to turn the dead bolt and pull on the door, but it sticks.
He’s coming. The clicks are methodic, slow and measured as if he’s in no hurry. Like he knows I can’t escape. It’s a game.
Please. Please. Come on!
The door opens and I slip out, forcing myself to stay calm in case my mind is playing tricks on me and it’s not him. This time, I make sure to close the door behind me. The air is balmy and the wind rustles through the grass.
The briny sea air washes over my tongue and the marsh grass swishes as I dart down a private boardwalk that leads…I don’t know where. I only know to run and eat up the ground and create distance between me and the house of horror. Between me and him.
Thick walls of clouds block the moonlight.
A door slams. Then I hear something.
Thwupt. Thwupt. Thwupt.
He’s dragging something across the boardwalk. I dare not turn to look.
He’s coming.
Slow and methodical. Silent. Only the awful dragging noise.
Nothing comes into view but marshland and water surrounded by clusters of trees. Alligators lie in wait. I can’t remember how I know this. There are snakes and snapping turtles too.
But he’s behind me.
Plopping noises in the water draw my attention, and I freeze. What is it? Will it approach me or prey on me if I enter too?
I can’t risk staying on the boardwalk. I ease myself into the icy depths and it steals my breath. Slime oozes over my feet, and I sink into mire. Murky water reaches my waist, sending a shock along my abdomen, but I can’t gasp. Instead, I push through the grass and hope the stirring due to my movement won’t alert him of my location.
Sharp twigs and rocks gouge into the bottom of my feet, and I crunch my bottom lip to keep from crying. Marsh grass appears soft at a glance, but it’s strong and sharp like knitting needles and stabs into my flesh and tender places where I’ve been tattooed in flowers.
Ahead is a patch of dense trees that would conceal me even in daylight. A huge splash sends ripples only a few feet away, startling resting birds to flight. Now I know what’s been causing the dragging noise.
A canoe.
He’s cutting through the narrow channels and at an advantage.
I can’t stop now. I push through the mud, which tries to hold me captive, and toward the dense thicket of trees. I finagle my way inside, but it’s like camping in a thorn bush, and nettles rip my flesh. A quiet cry escapes my throat, and I cover my mouth.
Did he hear me? Does he know I’m here?
I shiver in the water, my teeth chattering as something lightweight drops onto the crown of my head and skitters into the thick layers before I can catch it.
I squeeze my eyes shut and clench my jaw to muffle a scream. What hideous legged creature is creeping through my hair?
What swims unseen below my waist?
Plop. Plop. Plop.
Fish, alligators, snakes…him?
“Daaaah, daaaah, dah daaaah,” his rich buttery tone sings. It echoes through the wetland and sweeps over my skin like icy talons. “I’ve got all night,” he continues singing. “I’ll take my time.” I cup my hands over my mouth to silence my chattering teeth. He’s close. So close. “I’ll find you. There’s nowhere to hide,” he belts out as if we’re in a Broadway show. His voice is magical and terrifying. “You belong to meeeee…You want only meee…”
I can’t stay here. He’ll find me. I work as silently as possible out of the thicket and away from the concentration of his voice. I hoist myself onto the wooden boardwalk because he believes I’m in the water. Rushing is out of the question. He’ll hear my footfalls. Slow and steady is about all I can muster anyway. My legs might as well be licorice sticks.
He’s still singing and slicing an oar through the water as I forge ahead, quickening my steps by a small measure until I finally reach the end of the boardwalk and am on dry ground. In the woods.
The woods mean I’ll find a road at the clearing. Help will drive by, and I’ll flag it down to freedom.
I wait a beat while my eyes adjust to greater darkness. The trees loom overhead, and the ground is mushy and mixed with sand. I stub my toe, tripping over roots jutting out, but press on. There’s a path and I follow it. Bike path maybe?
My feet are cut and bleeding and my head pounds. The path curves, then straightens out, and I halt.
Not a road.
Not freedom.
Before me is a long stretch of beach littered with driftwood and shells that cut into my feet. Beyond the beach is the endless sea. No homes. Only wetland to my back and the sea everywhere else.
I have no boat. No canoe. Nothing to propel me to freedom.
I’m on a private island, and I finally remember how I arrived.
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Author Bio
Publishers Weekly Bestselling Author, Jessica R. Patch is known for her dry wit and signature twists whether she’s penned a romantic suspense, a cold case thriller, or a small-town romance. When she’s not getting into fictional mischief with her characters, you can find her cozy on the couch in her mid-south home reading books by some of her favorite authors, watching movies with her family, and collecting recipes to amazing dishes she’ll probably never cook. Sign up for her newsletter “Patched In” at www.jessicarpatch.com and receive a FREE short thriller exclusive to subscribers. Jessica is represented by Rachel Kent of Books & Such Literary Management.
Viv’s career with the notorious mercenary company Rackam’s Ravens isn’t going as planned.
Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she’s packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk—so far from the action that she worries she’ll never be able to return to it.
What’s a thwarted soldier of fortune to do?
Spending her hours at a beleaguered bookshop in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing Viv would have predicted, but it may be both exactly what she needs and the seed of changes she couldn’t possibly imagine.
Still, adventure isn’t all that far away. A suspicious traveler in gray, a gnome with a chip on her shoulder, a summer fling, and an improbable number of skeletons prove Murk to be more eventful than Viv could have ever expected.
BOOKSHOPS & BONEDUST (Legends & Lattes Book #0) by Travis Baldree is an enchanting and delightful cozy fantasy prequel to Legends & Lattes. This story is a wonderful blend of Viv’s journey of personal self-discovery, humor, and fantasy action/adventure plot. This is not my usual type of read, but I found I could not put it down.
Viv is a mercenary orc on her first big hunt with Rackham’s Ravens to take down a powerful necromancer. When she is wounded in battle, she is left behind to recuperate in the small seaside town of Murk. Having always focused on her battle skills, Viv is at a loss on how to fill her recovery time.
She discovers a run-down bookshop with a foul-mouthed book-loving owner who introduces her to a love of reading and a journey of discovery between the covers of each new book. Even as she makes new friends, a darkness threatens that could endanger everyone she is coming to care for.
I love this group of strong female characters. While they are orcs, gnomes, and other fantasy characters, at times while I was engrossed in the story, I would forget they were not human. This is primarily Viv’s story. She is a mercenary orc on her first big hunt, but when she is injured, she is left to recuperate in a small seaside town. She discovers the joy of reading, her first romantic relationship, and her first real friendships all while a threat of evil threatens. Mr. Baldree’s writing brings Viv and the entire cast of characters to life beautifully. The suspense elements of the story are perfectly paced and kept me turning the pages. This book is a perfect mix of self-discovery, friendship, humor, suspense and action/adventure. FYI: This story does have a female orc and female gnome romantic relationship which is why it is classified as an LGBTQ read.
I highly recommend this wonderful cozy fantasy and I am looking forward to reading more stories by this author.
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About the Author
Travis is a #1 New York Times Bestselling author, a Locus, Nebula, and Hugo finalist, and a full-time audiobook narrator who has lent his voice to hundreds of stories. Before that, he spent decades designing and building video games like Torchlight, Rebel Galaxy, and Fate. He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his very patient family and their small, nervous dog.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for FIRE ON THE ISLAND (DI Liam O’Reilly Mysteries Book #13) by Stewart Giles on this Books ‘n’ All Promotions book tour.
Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
Book Blurb
In the evening of the 4th of July 2019 four dozen drones descend on Guernsey, and the peaceful island is ablaze in minutes. 48 individual bombs have caused destruction in all four corners of the island.
Detective Inspector Liam O’Reilly takes this extremely personally. He was enjoying his honeymoon in the far north of the island at the time.
As the fire on the island continues to burn, O’Reilly can’t sit back and wait for it to die down. He needs answers to why this happened on the island he now calls home.
But the truth is going to take him to hell and back.
The fire on the island is only the start: this is a case that O’Reilly may never recover from.
FIRE ON THE ISLAND (DC Liam O’Reilly Mysteries Book #13) by Stewart Giles is another engaging and exciting addition to the DC Liam O’Reilly Mysteries series. This series never fails to keep me glued to the page from start to finish. Each book can be read as a standalone because the crimes mysteries are all unique, but I love watching characters reveal traits and quirks, and grow in their relationships, so I prefer reading the books in order.
DI Liam O’Reilly is enjoying his honeymoon when they are interrupted by a call. Several dozen drones have encircled the island and dropped bombs along the entire coast. As the smoke and fires are being taken care of, Liam is told four people have lost their lives. The Guernsey Border Agency has received a call that this is an attack from an Albanian terrorist group that plans to destroy even more if a ransom is not paid, but Liam does not believe it is terrorists at all.
Liam and his team discover the drones have come from the neighboring island of Herm, while the GBA agents look the other way. Liam is determined to discover what the four murdered victims have in common and why they were killed, while also looking forward to once again proving the GBA wrong.
This police procedural/murder mystery surprised me with the conclusion, and I love when that happens. Mr. Giles effortlessly intertwines new-to-me information on subjects that I did not know would fascinate me, plot twists and surprises, and main character developments that pull me in and keep me turning the pages. I love Liam and it seems to me he is becoming a bit less irascible, at least with those he cares about. Every one of the main characters is like a friend now and I love to catch up with them in each book.
This is one of my favorite DC mystery series and I highly recommend this police procedural/crime mystery, the entire series, and this author.
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Author Bio
After reading English at 3 Universities and graduating from none of them, I set off travelling around the world with my wife, Ann, finally settling in South Africa, where we still live.
In 2014 Ann dropped a rather large speaker on my head and I came up with the idea for a detective series. DS Jason Smith was born. Smith, the first in the series was finished a few months later.
3 years and 8 DS Smith books later, Joffe Books wondered if I would be interested in working with them. As a self-published author, I agreed. However, we decided on a new series – the DC Harriet Taylor: Cornwall series.
The Beekeeper was published and soon hit the number one spot in Australia. The second in the series, The Perfect Murder did just as well.
I continued to self-publish the Smith series and Unworthy hit the shelves in 2018 with amazing results. I therefore made the decision to self-publish The Backpacker which is book 3 in the Detective Harriet Taylor series which was published in July 2018.
After The Backpacker I had an idea for a totally new start to a series – a collaboration between the Smith and Harriet thrillers and The Enigma was born. It brought together the broody, enigmatic Jason Smith and the more level-headed Harriet Taylor.
The Miranda trilogy is something totally different. A psychological thriller trilogy. It is a real departure from anything else I’ve written before.
The Detective Jason Smith series continues to grow. I also have another series featuring an Irish detective who relocated to Guernsey, the Detective Liam O’Reilly series. There are also 3 stand alone novels.
UNSUB (An UNSUB Novel Book #1) by Meg Gardiner is the gripping first book in this crime thriller series that I am late to the party reading, but better late than never. This story introduces readers to the series protagonist, Caitlin Hendrix as a detective, before she joins the FBI’s Behavioral Unit.
In the 1990’s, the San Francisco Bay area was terrorized by a serial killer known as the Prophet. Caitlin’s father was the lead investigator on the case, and it destroyed his mental health and marriage. Caitlin still has nightmares from that time but has grown to be an investigator like her father.
Now, twenty years later, the Prophet has returned and is determined to begin again where he left off and he is excited to pull Caitlin into the case, to destroy her as he did her father. This is Caitlin’s first major case, and she is determined to decipher the Prophet’s twisted poems and messages and stop the carnage. While her father and mother warn her away from this case, Caitlin believes she can stop the killer and avoid the mistakes her father made, but can she catch the Prophet before he destroys her?
This is an edge-of-your-seat, cat and mouse thriller that I could not put down, even when the descriptions of the Prophet’s kills were quite graphic. Caitlin is a complex protagonist with a background that is revealed with flashback personal information placed throughout the story. The Prophet is vicious and determined. Each encounter ramped up my anxiety and dread. Be aware, this is a serial killer thriller, so the violence is up front and in your face. All the secondary characters are believable, and you never know who will live to the end. The climax is savage and answered many questions but left a thread to follow into the next book as well as moving Caitlin to the FBI.
I highly recommend this serial killer crime thriller and cannot wait to dive into book two, Into the Black Nowhere.
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About the Author
Meg Gardiner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of seventeen thrillers. Her latest is Shadowheart, featuring FBI profiler Caitlin Hendrix. The Real Book Spy calls it “A mind-trip of a story.” Booklist says, “As always, the writing is exquisite and the story is perfectly crafted.” UNSUB, the first novel in the series, won the 2018 Barry Award for Best Thriller. The Dark Corners of the Night was bought by Amazon Studios for development as an hour-long television drama.
Her previous novel, Heat 2, is a prequel/sequel to the film Heat, co-authored with the film’s writer/director, Michael Mann. It debuted at #1 on the NYT best seller list.
Meg is the author of the Evan Delaney series, the Jo Beckett novels, and several stand alones. China Lake won the 2009 Edgar award for Best Paperback Original. The Nightmare Thief won the 2012 Audie Award for Thriller/Suspense audiobook of the year. Phantom Instinct was one of O, the Oprah magazine’s “Best Books of Summer.”
A graduate of Stanford Law School in California, Meg practiced law in Los Angeles and taught writing at the University of California Santa Barbara. She lives in Austin, Texas.
