Category: Advance Book Reviews

Advance #BookReview Here and Gone by Haylen Beck #thriller

March 24, 2017March 24, 2017 ajoobacatsLeave a comment

On a journey to get away from her husband, Audra is on her way to Arizona with her two children, Sean and Louise. She is stopped by a policeman and arrested, but once in the police holding cells she’s told she never had any children with her. Suspicion now runs to Audra being responsible for the disappearance of her own children, but will the more sinister truth come to light.

A taut suspense thriller of corrupt authorities and a shadowy underworld, Audra is the underdog in this thriller, vulnerable with a questionable past which makes her an easy target for the unscrupulous.

A tense read. This book will be published on 13th July 2017.

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Advance #BookReview He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly #thriller #Weekendblogshare #Netgalley

January 29, 2017January 28, 2017 ajoobacatsLeave a comment

Laura witnesses a brutal attack during an eclipse but when the incident is reported and the case goes to trial it results in Laura and her boyfriend, Kit end up changing their identity in order to hide. In a well of secrets just which ones lead to the destruction of their lives as they knew it.

A remarkable thriller told from the point of view of Laura and Kit in the present and fifteen years in the past to link up a series of events that led to their current covert living arrangements. With suspicion falling on the victim of the sexual assault as much as the alleged perpetrators and electrifying courtroom drama, this is probably one of my favourite thrillers of 2017.

A thriller that keeps you guessing right until the very end. This title is available for pre-order and will be published on 20th April 2017.

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#BookReview Code Breaker: An Alex Hastings Novella by AJ Trevors

January 15, 2017January 15, 2017 ajoobacatsLeave a comment

Alex Hastings has been gifted in the art or hacking and other technical stuff since his formative years, however, when he got caught it altered his destiny as he was adopted and taught to respect the law. His adopted parent and mentor Tobias changed the course of his life but Alex has never forgotten or forgiven his first mentor and when an opportunity arises to face him again he takes the challenge, but isn’t prepared for the shock of his life which has him on the run in an ultimate battle.

Easy and quick to read, this novella easily captured my imagination and fuelled my curiosity as I rooted for Alex to win the fight against all odds. An interesting series to watch for.

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6. Behind Closed Doors by BA Paris

Top Ten Books of 2016 As Per Readers of My Blog

January 10, 2017January 11, 2017 ajoobacats10 Comments

One of the statistics I personally always look at in January is the top book reviews readers tuned into my blog to read. Often this list is very different to my own top ten reads of the year.

I’m not sure when I write my reviews, which ones will be more popular and which books have the most PR momentum behind them.

I hope you find the most read reviews of 2016 interesting.

1. The Good Neighbour by Beth Miller

2. The Quiet Ones by Betsy Reavley

3. Me Before You by Jojo Moyles

4. The Teacher by Katerina Diamond

5. Between You and Me by Lisa Hall

7.The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza

8. A Gangster’s Grip by Heather Burnside

9. Three Daughters by Consuelo Saah Baehr

10. The Playground by CS Boyack

Did you read any of these reviews or books? Please share your thoughts in Comments.

Advance #BookReview The Watcher by Ross Armstrong #Thriller

December 23, 2016January 25, 2017 ajoobacatsLeave a comment

An avid bird watcher, Lily lives in a new build of flats on the site of a slowly dismantling council estate. Lily is not just watching birds but seems to be an intuitive people watcher. As is usual in London she doesn’t know her neighbours by name but she has assigned them personalities and names based on her observation. When Lily catches a glimpse of something that looks like an assault, she cannot let it go, but wanders unwittingly into the crosshairs of a killer.

The narrative in this thriller is fishy to say the least from the beginning and I felt a sense of deception or delusion straightaway from Lily. However, as I read on it became harder to distinguish what was perceived and what was real in Lily’s world. I found Lily, nonetheless a compelling and edgy character and it was partially my attachment to her and finding the culprit in the whodunit that kept me turning pages to the end.

My biggest bugbear of this read was the pace which I found slow in places and together with an unreliable narrator made puzzling reading from time to time. However, my overall admiration for the book prevails as a tale intriguingly told.

This book will be available for purchase from 29th December 2016.
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Advance #BookReview Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult #literary fiction

November 17, 2016November 17, 2016 ajoobacats14 Comments

A powerful story about Ruth, an experienced midwife (or Labor and Delivery Room Nurse as they are called in the U.S), who has been directed to have no involvement in the care of a baby boy because of her race, but when she is left to observe the infant momentarily as the department is shorthanded, he arrests and her care of the baby is questioned leading to her being charged with murder of the infant.

This is another well-crafted and compelling read from master storyteller, Jodi Picoult, who shows tremendous depth of understanding once again as she delves into the question of racism and equity. The story unfolds from numerous points of view including Ruth, her lawyer and the father of the baby. I found each of these voices very convincing as the characters are well written.

This book undoubtedly deals with some very unsettling and uncomfortable themes, but I felt enlightened and full of self-reflection once I had finished the book. Although I was consumed about what was going to happen to Ruth, part of me did feel a little sceptical about the escalation of the matter to a criminal court case, but suspending my doubts on the plausibility of the story proceeding in the direction it did, the strength of this read was in the depth of the characters and the issue of race and racism, both active and passive.

An electrifying legal drama to boot, there’s a lot going on in this novel and I cannot recommend it enough. This book will be available for purchase from the 22nd November 2016.

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