#thriller – Page 11 – Avonna Loves Genres

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Girl, Forgotten for by Karin Slaughter

Book Description

A small town hides a big secret…

Who killed Emily Vaughn?

Prom Night. Longbill Beach, 1982. Emily Vaughn dresses carefully for what’s supposed to be the highlight of any high school career. But Emily has a secret. And by the end of the night, because of that secret, she will be dead.

Nearly forty years later, Andrea Oliver, newly qualified as a US Marshal, receives her first assignment: to go to Longbill Beach to protect a judge receiving death threats. But Andrea’s real focus isn’t the judge – it’s Emily Vaughn. Ever since she first heard Emily’s name a year ago, she’s been haunted by her brutal death. Nobody was ever convicted – her friends closed ranks, her family shut themselves off in their grief, the town moved on – so the killer is still out there. But now Andrea has a chance to find out what really happened…

***

Elise’s Thoughts

Girl, Forgotten by Karin Slaughter is a follow-up to her 2018 thriller Pieces of Her. Earlier this year, Netflix produced a Pieces of Her mini-series. This book will take readers back to their high school days with a reminder of how cliquey a group of students can be. Par for the course, Slaughter has a riveting murder mystery and fascinating characters.

The plot starts out with Andrea Oliver graduating as a US Marshal. Her first assignment is to protect a judge receiving death threats, but she is also asked to secretly investigate the cold case murder of the judge’s daughter, Emily Vaughn, who died forty years ago. There are dual timelines of Emily’s past and Andrea’s present perspectives broken up by witness statements given in the original investigation. These captivating flashbacks follow Emily in the period leading up to her death as she engages in a Columbo-inspired investigation of her own.

What Slaughter does best is draw readers into the event as they sympathize with the victim. In this case, Emily had dreams and was going places after high school. But it all came to a drastic halt after she was ostracized because of what happened to her. She was also murdered because of that event and Andrea is determined to bring her justice especially since the small town moved on with Emily’s friends closing ranks, her family ignoring their grief, and no one was ever convicted.

This plot is a page-turner with many twists. As always, the pacing makes the intensity of the story ratchet up.

***

Author Interview

Elise Cooper: What did you think of the Netflix series, Pieces of Her, based on your book?

Karin Slaughter: It is clearly different than the book. I just thought that the book is the book, and the show is the show. It was really a lot of fun to watch. We will see if they make more episodes.

EC: Is this book a continuation of your first book?

KS: They will market it when the book comes out with a sticker on the book referring to Pieces of Her. This started with a question about Andrea. In the previous book she wonders about her mom and herself. In this book she is trying to figure out how to be unlike her father, to be a good person. It is really important that she has Leonard Bible, a senior US Marshal, mentoring her. He shows her how to do things the right way.

EC: Why a US Marshal?

KS: I found writing about the US Marshals and Andy interesting. I talked with a ton of Marshals. It was fascinating to see all the cool duties they have. I wanted her to have this profession as a way to rebel against her mother, Laura. She was in witness protection and feels Andrea joined the enemy. I find it fascinating how people have one kind of life and then must have a new life. Usually someone made a deal to testify. Many times, they still must go to prison, which is what happened to Laura. I wanted to show how Andy grows up and becomes her own person. If I decide to write it as a series, having Andy as a Marshal gives me an opportunity to write about a lot of different crimes. They hunt down and keep track of pedophiles, chase after fugitives, and are responsible for security.

EC: How would you describe the relationship between Laura and Andrea?

KS: In the beginning it is a little broken. But then I think Laura does what good parents do. She accepts that Andrea will make her own choices even if she does not agree. By the end of the book, she comes around to that way of thinking. Andrea learns she can disappoint her mother and that is OK. There has been a transition from the first book to this book between the mother-daughter relationship.

EC: Do you think Andrea grew up in this book?

KS: Andrea had a lot of growing up to do. I wanted her to go through that evolution to find her strength. She blew everything up to find herself just as her mother did. There is a line by Laura, “wherever you go, there you are.” Maybe the world is not the problem, but she is the problem. She ends up as someone who is independent and a survivor.

EC: What about Judge Esther?

KS: She would tell you she is a good person who did some bad things. She only supports a certain type of woman, who must be just like her. She only gives a hand to people she approves of. She had her and her daughter Emily’s life all planned out. But after the incident, Esther only wanted Emily to disappear.

EC: Is Wexler evil?

KS: Calling him evil lets him off the hook. He is an opportunist. He tries to make his life as easy as he can that is directed toward his pleasure. Clearly a cult leader. He seems more nuanced. Like Jim Jones, Manson, and Koresh, those men in charge of a cult do it just to have sex with young girls. He is a bad guy where a lot of his actions comes from a deep hatred of women. He is a psychopath and a narcissist.

EC: Did Emily get cancelled?

KS: Everyone talks about getting canceled as if it came after the Internet. But those in high school know of someone that got canceled. Yes, because of what happened to her it put her on the outside of a group. All people wanted to do was punish her and considered her a pariah.

EC: Why did you mention dementia-like actions in the book?

KS: Esther’s husband, Franklin, did have a massive stroke. Esther kept him alive because she was under his thumb for most of her adult life and a lot of it was her wanting vengeance. There is also the fact that once she was caught in this horrible relationship she does not know how to live outside of this relationship.

EC: Why did you choose the music in the book?

KS: I grew up as a teenager in the late 1980s. I really enjoyed putting these songs in the book. I really love the Go-Gos. I thought how amazing they were considering they were the first all-female group to get to number one, playing their own music. These are all songs I liked. I am a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll.

EC: Do you have any other books or characters that are going to be made into a movie or TV series?

KS: Yes. Will Trent is picked up by ABC and will be made into a TV series. It might come out in January, thirteen episodes. After watching the pilot, it captures the spirit of my books, gripping with lots of twists and turns. Will is played by Ramon Rodriguez. The earlier books did not have Sara, so they are figuring out when to introduce her.

EC: Next book?

KS: In the summer of next year will be a Will and Sara book.

THANK YOU!!

***

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Firestorm by Taylor Moore

Book Description

DEA Special Agent Garrett Kohl must rescue a CIA officer when she’s kidnapped in Texas by a nefarious band of criminals in this pulse-pounding thriller for fans of C. J. Box.

Special Agent Garrett Kohl has just taken down a dangerous and deadly cartel boss when he finds trouble brewing back on his family’s homestead. A powerful energy consortium, Talon Corporation, has started an aggressive mining operation that threatens to destroy Garrett’s land, his family’s way of life, and everything they hold dear. To achieve its goals, Talon is flouting the law, bribing public officials, and meeting anyone who challenges it with physical violence. When the Kohls themselves are attacked by Talon guards, Garrett goes on the offensive, embarking on an investigation that he hopes will rid the Texas High Plains of the intruders once and for all.

Garrett soon discovers that the company has origins in the dark hinterlands of countries across the globe. Using coercion and assassination levied by men from former Russian special operations forces, Talon is working on a highly secretive scheme to commandeer precious U.S. resources. The tit for tat exchange between Talon and the Kohls erupts into a full-scale war when Russian spy, Alexi Orlov, kidnaps Garrett’s friend and ally, CIA operative Kim Manning. While Talon may be accustomed to getting its way in many places around the world, they have yet to encounter this rare breed of warrior down in Texas–a man who will fight to the death to protect those that he loves.

***

Elise’s Thoughts

Firestorm by Taylor Moore is packed with action, suspense, and thrilling scenes. It has danger, teamwork, corruption, family matters, legal battles, and friendship. The setting is the Texas panhandle which allows for the feel of a modern-day cowboy story.

The Talon company is flouting the law by bribing public officials, trying to take over ranches, and meeting anyone who resists with physical violence. But cowboy Garrett Kole, DEA agent and CIA operative, is not about to allow them to destroy his ranch even if they do possess the mineral rights to his land. This book quote shows the cowboy way, “Among the many things to be learned since his arrival in Texas was the cowboy code. The rules weren’t written or spoken but rather lived out during everyday life.”

Even in the first scene of the book, Kole shows his cowboy skills during a gripping confrontation with a deadly cartel boss in which bullets fly and bodies fall. After achieving the goal of capturing the cartel boss he heads home only to be confronted by the Talon Corporation. This is where readers meet most of the memorable secondary characters including Butch, Garrett’s father, Lacey, his long-time love, Kim, his CIA peer, Smitty, a confidential informant, and Asadi, an Afghan child brought to the US by Kole who wants to adopt him.

With Kim’s help Kohl discovers that the Talon Corporation is really a front for the Russians who have hired former Russian special operations forces to coerce, torture, and attempt to assassinate anyone who gets in their way. In good-old-cowboy-fashion, Kohl is determined to protect those he loves, a Texas raised breed of warrior, someone with a tough-as leather exterior, who feels the need to be there for those he loves.

This second book in the series is riveting from page one and never lets up. It has exciting scenes and plays on some realistic events. Family, loyalty, and respect all come into play along with an intense plot and interesting characters.

***

Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did your profession help you write the stories?

Taylor Moore: I am former CIA from 2004 to 2008 and from 2008 to 2013 I did military intelligence. I can keep up with events because my best friend is still in. I remember in a meeting where an FBI agent did not understand that we operated in a grey world and not a black and white world. I show how the meetings and conversations would happen. I know what people talk about and what they struggle with including loneliness and the morality battles, realizing that the operator must live with the consequences. For the book stories, since I was in the CIA, I can forecast what will happen next. Then I thought of the ‘what if.’

EC: What influenced you to write these types of thrillers?

TM: Garrett Cole, the protagonist in my series, was a side character. My agent pointed out that I should make him the lead. Deep down I always knew he was stealing the show. In the first book he was DEA working overseas in narcotics. I tried to have Garrett as a law enforcement cowboy now placed in the grey world of CIA operations. This is how the series plays out and I can use my intelligence experience. The longer Garrett is in the world the more he becomes like the CIA. In the first book he was more black and white and had the law enforcement mentality.

EC: How would you describe Garrett?

TM: Calm, cunning, has trust issues, and likes the adrenaline rush. He is conflicted with his personal life. He is very similar to his military pal, Trip. Both are very loyal and know each other well. Trip is more settled down.

EC: How would you describe Kim, who works for the CIA?

TM: Extremely intelligent, a hard-worker, loyal, goal and career oriented. After meeting Garrett, she is realizing that there is more to life than the mission. She seems too always be on her own, lonely. I think she is attracted to Garrett, maybe because he is the opposite than what she is used to. Kim can be aloof and independent, someone who builds walls. People are either intimidated by her or jealous, which has isolated her.

EC: What about the relationship between Garrett and Lacey?

TM: Garrett’s girlfriend Lacey is jealous of Kim, and he is jealous of Lacey’s ex-husband. They act as each other’s wingman, best friend, and partner. They are solid and have each other’s backs. She understands him and is trying to be supportive.

EC: Do you play off the cowboy story?

TM: Yes. There is a frontier, a bad powerful company, and a corrupt sheriff in the hands of a powerful family.

EC: You play on realistic events in the story?

TM: The first is with Asadi, the child Garrett brought home from Afghanistan. This is the one-year anniversary of when so many Afghanis who helped us during the war were left behind. I also did think of Eilan Gonzalez, the Cuban boy sent back after he tried to stay in the US, during the Clinton Administration. In both cases we left the boys high and dry. I almost wrote Eilan into the story with Garrett referencing it. An interesting fact is that the book was already written, and I had to change a sub-plot because of what happened in Afghanistan. It was horrible watching people trying to get out of there because they were afraid they would be killed or would be forced to go back to a life they did not want, especially the poor girls who must wear a Burka and cannot go to school. And with Eilan after he was forced to go back to Cuba, they made him the poster boy for Communism. I hope people who read this book will realize what was done.

EC: What about the Russia angle?

TM: When I started writing this no one was talking about the Russian interest in our minerals. The Russians were buying up gas leases in Amarillo Texas. Those scenes are realistic. The bad guys in the story are part of the Wagner group. These are Russian mercenaries who were former Special Operations. They really are doing nefarious things around the world. Americans should also understand how China has 80% of the world’s minerals. Everything we have including our advanced weapon systems needs those minerals. If they can corner the market, we are in real trouble. I wrote about mining and processing the minerals. Just in the news, America is starting to do this close to the setting in the book.

EC: Your next book?

TM: The third in the series will be out this time next year. It will have the full cast of characters. It will deal with nuclear weapons. The series has been optioned for a movie or TV show.

THANK YOU!!

***

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Nobody’s Agent by Stuart Field

Hi, everyone!

Today is my turn to share my Feature Post and Book Review for NOBODY’S AGENT (Ronin Nash Thriller Book #1) by Stuart Field on Overview Media Nobody’s Agent Blog Tour.

Below you will find a book description, my book review and the author’s bio. Enjoy!

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Book Description

In the Small town of Finchley, upstate New York, three bodies are discovered in an old mine. Soon after, Sheriff Doug Harrison contacts the FBI for help.

Ronin Nash is an ex-FBI special agent who wanted nothing more than to finish restoring the old family lake house. Now, Nash’s old boss wants him back and on the Finchley case.

Nash takes the job and travels to Finchley expecting to solve the case quickly, but it turns out that things are not not as clear-cut as he thought. Someone in the small town has a secret, and they’re willing to go to any lengths to protect it.

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

NOBODY’S AGENT (Ronin Nash Thrillers Book #1) by Stuart Field is an exciting and captivating start to a new thriller series featuring an unconventional ex-FBI agent. The main character and crime plot grabbed me from page one.

After a case ends badly, FBI agent Ronin Nash resigns and heads off to his family’s cabin on a lake in the woods, but after a year his former boss comes to ask him to return for one special case for the new IIB (Interagency Investigation Bureau). Reluctant, but with a mind that is always intrigued with mysteries, Ronin accepts.

Finchley is a small town in upstate New York. After the sheriff discovers three bodies in an old, abandoned mine, he notifies the FBI for their assistance. This is the case Ronin is to investigate. Hopefully, it will be one day there and then he can either dismiss it back to local law enforcement or discover reasons for the FBI to take the case. A local reporter is missing, and an unidentified dead body is discovered in the old clothing factory. Ronin is learning this small town is full of secrets that could end up getting him killed.

I loved Ronin. He is the type of main character I love to find in thrillers with his intelligence, unique personality, and style. He puts all the evidence together while others underestimate his abilities. The secondary characters were believable, and I especially enjoyed Ronin’s dad, Mac. The dialogue between the two made for some lighter moments. The plot moves at a fast pace throughout the story with many surprising twists along the way. Mr. Field has a writing style that allowed me to fall right into this story and not want to stop reading until the resolution. I am very glad this is a series, and I will be anxiously waiting for the next Ronin Nash thriller.

I highly recommend this new thriller!

***

Author Bio

Stuart Field is a British Army veteran who now works in security after serving twenty-two years in the British Army. As well as working full time he writes in his spare time. Stuart was born and raised in the West Midlands in the UK. His love for travel has been an inspiration in some of his work with his John Steel and Ronin Nash thriller series. As well as future John Steel novels, Stuart is working on a new series and standalone novels.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Listen to Me by Tess Gerritsen

Tess Gerritsen, ¬© Leonardo Cendamo / Blackarchives

Book Description

Mothers know best . . . But who will listen?

Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles are plagued by what seems like a completely senseless murder. Sofia Suarez, a widow and nurse who was universally liked by all her neighbors, lies bludgeoned to death in her own home. But anything can happen behind closed doors, and Sofia seemed to have plenty of secrets in her last days, making covert phone calls to old contacts and traceless burner phones. When Jane finally makes a connection between Sofia and the victim of a hit-and-run months earlier, the case only grows more blurry. What exactly was Sofia involved in? One thing is clear: The killer will do anything it takes to keep their secret safe.

Meanwhile, Angela Rizzoli hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep in all the years since her daughter became a homicide detective. Maybe the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. Nothing in her neighborhood gets by Angela – not the gossip about a runaway teenager down the block and definitely not the strange neighbors who have just moved in across the street. Angela’s sure there’s no such thing as coincidence in her sleepy suburb. If only Jane would listen; instead she writes off Angela’s concerns as the result of an overactive imagination. But Angela’s convinced there’s a real wolf in her vicinity, and her cries might now fall on deaf ears.

With so much happening on the Sofia case, Jane and Maura already struggle to see the forest for the trees, but will they lose sight of something sinister happening much closer to home?

***

Elise’s Thoughts

Listen To Me by Tess Gerritsen brings back the beloved characters Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles in a new novel. A heads up for readers is that there are two storylines, both engrossing.

The plot has Rizzoli, her partner Barry Frost, and Maura investigating a series of puzzling events. The first has them wondering who killed Sofia Suarez, a nurse, brutally murdered. Then there is Amy Antrim a victim of a hit and run accident after she walked off the curb. What the investigators are wondering, is there a connection since Sophia was Amy’s nurse.

Then there is Jane’s mom Angela who is a typical caring mother. Now preoccupied because her lover, retired detective Vince Korsak, is in California caring for his sister, Angela has become the neighborhood’s busy body. But she too investigates some oddities in the neighborhood and becomes like daughter, like mother. There is a missing teenage runaway who the local police aren’t taking seriously, and a new couple that moved into the neighborhood. They are suspiciously keeping to themselves and there appears to be a lot of construction noises coming from the house. She is continually asking Jane to participate in the investigation to find out what is happening. Upset that Jane is not listening to her, Angela becomes the number one watcher of the neighborhood and starts her own investigation which leads to trouble for both her and Jane.

This story has humor, character personalities, and suspense. It is interesting how this intricate plot also details the lives of Jane, Maura, Angela, and Barry.

***

Author Interview

Elise Cooper: The last Rizzoli & Isles book was I know A Secret in 2017.

Tess Gerritsen: Yes, it has been a while. I did have two books in the interim, but several years have passed. After I finished number twelve, I didn’t feel I was going to write anymore and thought the series would be over with the book, I know A Secret. I had other stories I wanted to tell.

EC: How did you get the idea for this story?

TG: Jane’s mom, Angela Rizzoli started to talk to me. I heard her say very clearly in her Boston accent “if you see something, say something.” The signs are in Boston’s Logan Airport. I thought, what is Angela seeing? It turned out this book is about the suburbs where people used to know everyone who lives in the neighborhood. Angela suddenly feels something is wrong. It was “Rear Window” but in the suburbs with Angela Rizzoli playing Jimmy Stewart’s role.

EC: These days it does not seem that there are anymore “neighborhoods?”

TG: This is true. Now a days everybody works with the houses empty during the day. When I grew up in a little suburban area of San Diego that was how it was. I had an auntie who was very snoopy, in everybody’s business. I kind of modeled Angela after her. In the past there were many more housewives and people at home. People knew their neighbors and had block parties. It is sad those days may not be true anymore.

EC: Which season did you like the best?

TG: I enjoy winter. It is my most creative time. I think winter can be a character, although not so much in this book. I like the sense of isolation. As a writer I don’t mind being shut up in my house for four months and not seeing anyone for a while. It is almost as if when everything gets less colorful, turning grey, white, and black, the colors bloom in my head. In the wintertime there is less of a distraction.

EC: Angela has had a rough go, but came out, OK?

TG: She is clever, a survivor. She has been battered in the last couple of years. Angela started in 2001 as a contented housewife, raising her children. Around book five her husband has left her for another woman. She suddenly finds herself without a career, husband, and living in the same suburban house by herself. She learns there is life beyond the first marriage. She did find love with a retired homicide detective, but now he is California caring for his sister. So, she has a little too much time on her hands.

EC: Does she feel like she has an empty nest?

TG: She does have a granddaughter, Jane’s daughter Regina whom she babysat until she attended pre-school. The one joy she has is cooking for her family. In one of the scenes, she has a big dinner, a giant Italian feast. Her life is her grandchild and cooking for people she loves.

EC: How would you describe Angela?

TG: She is a neighborhood snoop, a busybody, and will always be motherly to her children. She is kind and has a good heart. When she does get involved, it is to make sure no one gets hurt.

EC: There are two quotes about motherhood in this book. Please explain.

TG: You are referring, “No one wants to listen to their mother,” and “The burden of motherhood is that your children’s problems are your problems.” I raised two sons, and their problems are my problems. Even now if something is going wrong in their life, I try to think how I can help fix things. If I offer some advice, it does not mean they will listen. Mothers at ninety are going to worry about their seventy something children. It just never goes away.

EC: How would you describe Jane?

TG: She is courageous and competent. She is determined and thorough. Yet, Jane is having problems with her mother. She is honest, direct, impatient, sarcastic, a tomboy, and relentless.

EC: How is the relationship between Jane and her mom Angela?

TG: I think of Angela like my mom. I was at my mom’s house, going to a book signing, and wearing a St. John suit. I was then forty something years old. She looks at me and tells me, “Your skirt is too short.” I thought how children can never be perfect. This is what Jane is dealing with now. But Jane is partly at fault because she is not listening to her mother even though Angela has some very valid issues. I wanted to focus on the complications of her life, which has nothing to do with police work.

EC: How would you describe Maura?

TG: Maura and Jane are like salt and pepper. The showrunner for the TV show describes Jane and Maura as Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. She is very patient, and what drives her is her intellect. She is a pianist in a doctor’s orchestra. I just use my life as shorthand for Maura.

EC: How are you and Maura similar?

TG: I did grow up playing the piano. I also had the kind of car she drives, enjoy the kind of wine she drinks, we play the same instrument, and went to the same medical school. She is all from my life. In so many ways I identify with her. We are both self-contained. She is happy around dead people, while I am happy in my office. We are not the kind of people who feel comfortable in crowds and showing how imperfect we are.

EC: Maura has a relationship with a Priest, Daniel Brophy. Why did you do it?

TG: The Priest showed up in book number three, The Sinner. It was a book about murder in a convent. When I lived in Paris it was right around the corner from a seminary with young Priests in training. I kept thinking it is too bad for the sake of motherhood they are out of reach. I was also a big fan of the “The Thorn Birds” where Richard Chamberlain played this yummy Priest. It is about forbidden fruit. When the Priest came into the story, I thought that Maura and he would just have fond looks. But in book number four, Body Double, he was suddenly back, becoming the Priest for the Boston PD. The repeated contact between him and Maura led them to give in to a relationship. It is a constant struggle for both.

EC: Did you get any backlash?

TG: Yes. I get more notes about that relationship than anything else in the stories. They ask is he going to leave the Church and marry Maura? Will they have a happily ever after? Why is Maura so stupid to fall for a Priest, an unattainable man? We all know brilliant women who have fallen in love with the wrong man. It happens. As time has gone by, they come to an understanding that will satisfy them both.

EC: Will there be a TV show reunion based on this book?

TG: I do not think there is anything in the works for this to happen. I did have people ask to bring them back for a reunion, but it has not happened.

EC: Next book?

TG: It is not another Rizzoli and Isles book. The book is based on a little town I live in Maine. My husband and I found out that our neighborhood had these people who worked for the government but would not talk about it. They were all retired CIA. On our street we had retired CIA on one side and retired OSS on the other. It occurred that these retired spies would be a fun setting for a book with a dead body showing up in one of their driveways. It also has generational conflict since the young local police investigator does not realize who these grey-haired people are, and she completely disrespects them. The working title is Spyville, and hopefully will be out this time next year.

THANK YOU!!

***

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: The Binding Room by Nadine Matheson

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE BINDING ROOM by Nadine Matheson on this HTP Summer 2022 Mystery & Thriller Bog Tour.

Below you will find a book summary, my book review, an excerpt from the book and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Summary

Detective Anjelica Henley confronts a series of ritualistic murders in this heart-pounding thriller about race, power and the corrupt institutions that threaten us for fans of S.A. Crosby and Tami Hoag

When Detective Anjelica Henley is called to investigate the murder of popular preacher in his own church, she discovers a second victim, tortured and tied to a bed in an upstairs room. He is alive, but barely, and his body show signs of a dark religious ritual.

With a revolving list of suspects and the media spotlight firmly on her, Henley is left with more questions than answers as she attempts to untangle both crimes. But when another body appears, the case takes on a new urgency. Unless she can apprehend the killer, the next victim may just be Henley herself.

Drawing on her experiences as a criminal attorney, Nadine Matheson’s new novel deftly explores issues of race, class and justice through an action-packed story that will hold you captive until the last terrifying page.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58767994-the-binding-room?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=rl5q9tlr0q&rank=1

THE BINDING ROOM

A Henley Thriller Book #2

Author: Nadine Matheson

ISBN: 9781335426925

Publication Date: July 12, 2022

Publisher: Hanover Square Press

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE BINDING ROOM (An Inspector Anjelica Henley Thriller Book #2) by Nadine Matheson is an intense and gritty British police procedural thriller. This is the second instalment in this series and can be read as a thriller standalone, but there are major character relationships that are better understood if you read The Jigsaw Man, Book #1 first.

Detective Anjelica Henley and her team are back and still dealing with the trauma of their last case as they are pulled into another difficult investigation. Henley is called to a scene of a brutal stabbing of a popular preacher in his own church and as they search the church discover another apparently tortured body barely alive, tied to a bed in a hidden room.

Henley and her team work both cases even as politics, secrets and lies make the team feel like they are getting nowhere fast. More bodies are discovered with the same terrible injuries and the female victim shows signs of having given birth. Both investigations have crossover suspects, but the clues lead to different motives. Henley must move quickly to stop more tortured murder victims.

I am happy to announce there was no sophomore slump with this addition to the series. Henley is still having problems emotionally from their last case and the loss of her mother. Her marriage is still in flux, and I still do not know how that will turn out in future books. Her entire team has become more fully fleshed and I care for them all with all their quirks and differences. This book does have several very dark and graphically disturbing scenes, but it is about sadistic torture murders and Ms. Matheson’s first book was the same, so I was expecting it. The investigative plot was well paced with several twists throughout that keeps you reading with a major twist right before the end.

I highly recommend this thriller and I am looking forward to many more in this series!

***

Excerpt

“We all lost,” said DS Paul Stanford as he held out a Quality Street tin in front of Henley.

“What on earth are you talking about?” Henley asked as she took off her coat and flung it onto a spare desk. “Are there any toffee pennies in there?”

“You might want to keep your coat on. The heating’s on the blink again. Either that or they’ve forgotten all about us and haven’t paid the bill. There’s a hundred and forty pounds in the pot and no toffee pennies.”

“Why is there a hundred and forty quid in there?”

Stanford rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. “Remember our bet?” he said. “On him. Our illustrious fully fledged Detective Constable Ramouter.”

“What have I done?” Ramouter asked from his position in the kitchen where he’d been eyeing the bottom of a mug with disgust.

“This is ridiculous,” Henley said. Her ears picked up the whirr coming from the electric fan heaters and the ice-fueled wind whistling outside and rattling the glass.

“You lasted, Ramouter; that’s what you did,” said Stanford. “We had a bet on how long you would last in the SCU.”

“And you didn’t think that I would last six months?” asked Ramouter as he picked up another mug.

“Mate, I didn’t think you would last six days. I’ll have a coffee if you’re making.”

“You shouldn’t be so mean to him,” said Henley as she took off her scarf and pushed it against the rotting frame of the window to block the icy draft that was sweeping across her desk.

“How am I being mean? I’m paying him a bloody compliment. After everything that happened, no one would have blamed him if he’d bolted for the door.”

“Well, he didn’t. He’s stuck with it. So, what are you going to do with the money?”

“I could give Ramouter the money. He could spend it on a train ticket to Bradford or something.”

“Now who’s getting soft?” Henley said. The phone on her desk started to ring.

“Or I could book a table at the curry house down the road. It will be teambuilding.”

“Or a normal Friday night out with you falling asleep in your chili chicken.”

“Rude,” Stanford replied as Henley picked up the phone and Ramouter appeared by his side with a mug of steaming coffee for him.

“Right. I see,” said Henley, reaching for the pad of blue Post-it notes on her desk and a ballpoint pen with a chewed cap. “I didn’t realize that we were still on duty. Can you send me the CAD details? No, I can’t get it myself because the system has crashed again. Thank you. Who found the body? Right.”

Henley pulled off the Post-it note and stuck it to the side of Ramouter’s mug. He peeled it off and looked at it quizzically. “Depending on traffic, we should be there in fifteen minutes.”

“You’re not going to have time to finish that,” said Henley, putting the phone down and grabbing her scarf.

“There’s a body in a church?” Ramouter said as he read the note. “Seriously?”

“That’s what it says.”

“Why are we dealing with this?”

“We’re dealing with it because the borough commander decided that the Serial Crime Unit should be helping out Homicide and Serious Crime with their caseload,” Henley replied wearily.

“Anyone would think that we were just sitting here watching Netflix all day,” Ramouter moaned. “Is it even a murder?”

“We won’t know until we get there, will we?”

“Can I say it?” asked Stanford, a grin spreading across his face.

“No, you can’t,” Henley replied. She picked up her bag and headed toward the door, with Ramouter in tow. She knew Stanford well enough to know exactly what he was going to say.

“I bet you a tenner that it was the Reverend Green with a candlestick in the library,” Stanford shouted out as Henley slammed the door shut behind her.

“I’m not telling you again. Step away from the tape.”

“What’s going on?”

“If I knew I was going to spend the afternoon standing out in the freezing cold I would have stayed in bed this morning.”

“I bet that they’ve found a body or something.”

“Look, those CSI lot have turned up.”

“I only popped out for a coffee and now the old bill are saying that I can’t go back into my own office.”

“F this. I’m going home.”

“I’m telling you that they’ve found a body.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“I don’t understand these kids. Too busy stabbing each other up. No value for life.”

“You can dress it up as much as you like. It’s Deptford innit.”

The murmurings of the curious and disgruntled crowd met Henley and Ramouter as they walked toward the scene of the crime.

“This is a church?” Ramouter asked as he looked up at the cream-colored facade of the brickwork. “I was expecting something a bit more… I don’t know, church-like. Maybe a steeple. This looks like a bank.”

“It used to be a NatWest when I was seventeen. The space was once cheap to rent. Not so sure now,” Henley replied.

“I did a quick Google search—”

“Of course you did.”

“And there’s another seven churches on the Broadway.”

“I’m not surprised,” said Henley. “Betting shops, churches and chicken shops on literally every London high street.”

Henley and Ramouter held up their warrant cards to the officer behind the police tape. Henley scoped the gathering crowd. Nothing about them raised any alarms, but she knew from experience that some murderers were voyeuristic by nature.

“Look likes Dr. Choi is here,” Ramouter said, pointing out the car of Henley’s friend and the Serial Crime Unit’s favorite pathologist, parked between a police motorbike and small white transit van that had ‘Forensic Services Crime Scene Investigation’ marked in black font on the side.

Henley stopped and looked around the small car park. There were no security cameras. She felt a sense of calm as she walked closer to the crime scene. It was a welcome emotion and a respite from the anxiety that was usually coursing through her veins, which she could keep at bay if she bothered to take her prescription to the chemist. She spotted the police officer that she was looking for leaning against the side of a police car, flipping through the pages of his notebook with a pen in his mouth.

“PC Tanaka? DI Henley from the SCU.”

PC Tanaka looked up and then stood to attention a little bit too quickly as Henley walked toward him.

“Ma’am,” said PC Tanaka.

“This is my colleague, DC Ramouter.”

“Shit,” said PC Tanaka when he dropped his notebook. “Sorry.” He brushed off slush from the cover. “It’s bloody freezing.”

“You were first on scene?” Henley asked.

Tanaka nodded. Henley could tell that he wanted to get it right. Giving a senior officer information about a murder scene was a lot different to dealing with burglaries, domestics and breaking up a fight between a couple of crackheads at the bottom of the high street.

“We, that’s the sarge, Sergeant Rivers, and I were driving back to the station. We’re based around the corner at Deptford station. We had just finished our shifts and was coming back from the McDonald’s up the road…”

PC Tanaka paused and took a breath.

Henley felt sorry for him as nerves or possibly shock overtook him. She saw a look of sympathy on Ramouter’s face as they both waited for PC Tanaka to continue.

“Sorry, guv, I mean ma’am,” said PC Tanaka straightening himself again and lowering the volume on his crackling police radio. “As I said, we were heading back to the station and one of the guys who works in the design agency practically threw himself onto the bonnet of the car. He was screaming about a body. We found the cleaner in hysterics in the staffroom of the agency. She refused to leave and take us to the church. I left her with the sarge and I went into the church and yeah, I won’t forget what I saw.”

***

Author Bio

Nadine Matheson is a criminal defense attorney and winner of the City University Crime Writing competition. She lives in London, UK.

Social Media Links

Author Website

Twitter: @NadineMatheson

Facebook: @NadineMathesonWriter

Instagram: @QueenNads

Purchase Links

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Open Your Eyes by Heather Fitt

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the blog tour for OPEN YOUR EYES by Heather Fitt. This is an intense debut thriller that I could not put down even with the sensitive subject matter.

Below you will find a book summary, my book review and the author’s bio. Enjoy!

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Book Summary

A Scottish journalist enters a dark online world in this unsettling novel of men, women, resentment, and rage…

Edinburgh reporter Frankie has finally been assigned a high-profile crime story about a series of sexual assaults, and relishes her big break. Her article focuses on the issue of women’s safety, which doesn’t seem to have improved much since the era of the Yorkshire Ripper.

When she faces a torrent of abuse online, it leads her to discover the phenomenon of incels— and puts her in the sights of those trying to stop her covering the story. But she refuses to back down. What she doesn’t realise is that in this murky online world, one man is being goaded into a spectacular and shocking attack with Frankie as his main target…

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61175847-open-your-eyes?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=lRPQKydnud&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

OPEN YOUR EYES by Heather Fitt is an intense debut thriller featuring a Scottish reporter who begins to cover a series of sexual assaults and finds herself becoming a target from a dark on-line group. This is a debut standalone novel that had me on an emotional roller coaster from beginning to end.

Frankie Currington is a junior reporter for an Edinburgh paper who is finally getting some recognition for her stories. She is anticipating her big break when she is given the chance to write a crime beat story after attending the press conference for a series of sexual assaults. What she does not expect is the torrent of on-line abuse.

Liam has been publicly humiliated by a girl he cares for in his high school. He turns from his few male school mates and finds a welcome understanding in an on-line group of young men known as “incels”. The group goads as well as indoctrinates its members into believing all girls and women should be in a subordinate position in society and deserve anything that happens to them if they are not.

While Frankie refuses to back down from intimidation and physical abuse, she does not realize that she has placed herself as a figurehead that Liam is being indoctrinated to hate. They are on a collision course which could lead to terrible consequences.

This is an emotional thriller from start to finish. The plot is fast-paced and well researched with believable dialogue. This story contains sexual assaults, on-line indoctrination, bullying, misogyny, and discussions of feminism. Frankie was a character that was naïve, selfish, and made some decidedly stupid decisions during the story. It was hard to empathize with her even when she was in danger. Liam was a sympathetic character even as he was being groomed to be a weapon. This story contains many thought-provoking situations and character discussions. I am impressed that this is a debut book from this author.

I recommend this intriguing thriller, but it does contain trigger issues for some readers.

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Author Bio

Heather was born in Scotland and after moving around Europe with her parents and sister, settled in Hampshire where she met her husband, Stuart.

After leaving the rat-race in 2018, Heather re-trained as an editor and proof-reader and entered the world of publishing. These days she works as a part-time freelancer and a part-time Commissioning Advisor for Bloodhound.

Heather was inspired to start writing her novel by the authors who have become her closest friends. Now the ideas are flowing she has plans to write several more over the coming years.

When she isn’t reading, Heather enjoys spending her time watching sport –¬ especially her beloved rugby – and exploring the British countryside with Stuart.

For regular bookish updates, you can follow Heather on Twitter: @LifeBookish