Book Reviews

Paradise Palms: Red Menace Mob by Paul Haddad

Paradise Palms: Red Menace Mob by Paul Haddad—an ingenious hard-boiled noir crime fiction novel that is both confronting and fascinating.

Paradise Palms: Red Menace Mob

by Paul Haddad

Published by Black Rose Writing

on July 8, 2021

Genre(s): Hard-boiled noir crime fiction, Organized crime

ISBN: ‎ 978-1-684-33720-0

Pages: 295

Print and electronic versions

“It is October 1957. A time of Eisenhower conformity, police and mob strongholds, and Red Scare paranoia. A relic of Hollywood’s Golden Age, the aging Paradise Palms Hotel is on the brink of change. David Shapiro—eldest son of recently widowed Max Shapiro—has assumed a leadership role. But the more he digs into the hotel’s business, the more he questions who his father is. It’s not just the tenuous ties to gangster Mickey Cohen, who is trying to commandeer “the Palms,” but also the sudden appearance of a mysterious African American guest named Rae Lynn, who improbably rises in stature. As long-buried secrets come to light, David’s battle to keep the family intact takes a tragic turn. His actions mirror an America lurching from the surface simplicity of the ’50s to the turmoil of the 1960s in this riveting neo-noir family saga.”

The book, set in 1957 Los Angeles, is the story of a Jewish family that owns and operates a motel in Hollywood called Paradise Palms.

Like Hollywood itself, the motel has seen its better days and is in steady decline. When Marta Shapiro, the matriarch of the family, dies, it seems clear that her elderly husband Max, because of old age and the distractions of his 29-year-old bimboish, gold digging girlfriend, cannot keep Paradise Palms afloat financially on his own. So, David, Leo, Aaron, and Rudy, the four Shapiro brothers, pitch in to help run the place, intent on saving their inheritance.

The story unfolds from multiple points of view, though mostly from David’s, the eldest Shapiro brother. He is the closest to being the book’s protagonist, although all the siblings play important roles for different reasons.

Besides the Shapiros, Paradise Palms: Red Menace Mob has a host of other interesting, fully developed, realistic characters—from key motel staff members to a self-styled “facilitator,” Vance “Red” Gordo. Gordo, it turns out, is a small-time hood with connections to Los Angeles organized crime. One of the book’s early mysteries the Shapiro brothers face is why their father Max has some deep, unexplained connection to Gordo and insists on doing business with him despite Gordo being an obvious crook. The Shapiro brothers and the reader come to understand the connection as the story plays out.

David Shapiro is my favorite character in the book. As the eldest, he feels a heavy responsibility to save the family business from bankruptcy and looking out for his siblings. We learn David was something of a father figure to his brothers during their growing up years because Max Shapiro was an emotionally distant parent, often absent because of his involvement in extra-marital affairs. David always had ambition, but his entire life was dogged by ill fortune, and he never quite succeeded at anything, causing him to feel he is cursed.  But, David eventually becomes a prototypical reluctant hero when circumstances leave him no choice.

The promo material for the book bills Paradise Palms: Red Menace Mob as hard-boiled noir crime fiction. While I don’t argue the correctness of that genre classification, don’t approach the book expecting to find a Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade-like character. There is neither a cynical gumshoe nor a world-weary police detective character in this book, which is what comes to mind when I think of hard-boiled noir crime fiction. Still, the book earns its hard-boiled noir crime fiction spurs in the sense that to its core, Paradise Palms is dark, grim, urban gothic, gritty, and unsentimental.

Frankly, little action takes place in the first several chapters or so, usually a deal-breaker for me as a reader. Instead, the author deftly captures and keeps the reader’s attention with building the setting, fleshing out the characters, and providing backstory that proves important to understand what comes later. And, the action one expects from a novel in this genre does appear near the midpoint.

The way Haddad tells his story is striking, and the beauty of this book is in his writing. It’s haunting and gritty and quite often feels hopeless. It feels as if the words weigh more than they should. They both burdened me and transported me—not just to 1957 Los Angeles and the Shapiro’s world, but to a place requiring something of me.

Haddad does a masterful job accurately portraying 1957 Los Angeles and Hollywood, touching on nearly every defining cultural aspect of the times—Los Angeles mobsters, LAPD corruption, racism, bigotry, the space race, and the early days of the Cold War with its fears of nuclear annihilation. In addition, the book features prominent locations in and around Los Angeles that will be familiar to any reader knowledgeable of the city. From those perspectives, Paradise Palms is one of the best books set in Los Angeles I’ve read in a long while.

This novel could feel depressing, but I see it as reflective. It asks something of the reader that is both confronting and fascinating. While a work of fiction, I feel Paradise Palms is quite an instructive read in these overly politicized times where pseudo-intellectual, self-serving activist shills repeat their nonsensical mantras about how America was founded on racism and remains irredeemably mired in racism and bigotry. Haddad exposes much of the ugliness present in Los Angeles and the country in the 1950s. But, even a cursory comparison between the cultural realities of 1957 as accurately depicted in this novel and today’s circumstances amply demonstrate just how far our society has progressed in the right direction over the past six decades.

When it comes to hard-boiled noir crime fiction, don’t expect you will be reading Chandler or Hammett if you pick up a copy of Paradise Palms: Red Menace Mob. But don’t be surprised if you find similarities here to the works of another giant in the genre, Elmore Leonard. Approach the book with patience and without preconceptions, and it will reward you. It’s a fine novel that captures and holds your interest to the end.

Paradise Palms: Red Menace Mob by Los Angeles Times bestselling author Paul Haddad, and published by Black Rose Writing, is now available.

I received a copy of this book from the publicist for this review, representing my honest and unbiased opinions.

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Book Reviews

You Love Me by Caroline Kepnes

You Love Me by Caroline Kepnes—A stalker romance thriller that's more than a bit jarring, but in a good way.

You Love Me

by Caroline Kepnes

Published by Random House

on April 6, 2021

Genre(s): Psychological Thrillers

ISBN: 978-0-593-13378-1

Pages: 400

“Joe Goldberg is done with the cities. He’s done with the muck and the posers, done with Love. Now he’s saying hello to nature, to simple pleasures on a cozy island in the Pacific Northwest. For the first time in a long time, he can just breathe.

He gets a job at the local library—he does know a thing or two about books—and that’s where he meets her: Mary Kay DiMarco. Librarian. Joe won’t meddle, he will not obsess. He’ll win her the old-fashioned way . . . by providing a shoulder to cry on, a helping hand. Over time, they’ll both heal their wounds and begin their happily ever after in this sleepy town.

The trouble is . . . Mary Kay already has a life. She’s a mother. She’s a friend. She’s . . . busy.

True love can only triumph if both people are willing to make room for the real thing. Joe cleared his decks. He’s ready. And hopefully, with his encouragement and undying support, Mary Kay will do the right thing and make room for him.”

When his ex-girlfriend Love Quinn permanently bars Joe Goldberg from any involvement in their young son’s life, Quinn moves to Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, licking his wounds. Joe begins volunteering at the local library, where he quickly becomes obsessed with librarian Mary Kay DiMarco, mother of Nomi, a defiant teenager whose favorite book is Columbine.

Since this is the first Caroline Kepnes book I’ve read, I didn’t realize at the outset that You Love Me is the third novel in a series featuring Joe Goldberg or that there is a Netflix series based on the books. So, I was completely unaware of the character’s troubling backstory. On one level, that was great for me because, in the beginning, I assumed Joe was a “normal” lonely guy for whom I felt a good bit of sympathy given his forced estrangement from his son. But little by little, as the author teases out the fragments of Joe’s troubling past and personality disorder, it becomes clear that Goldberg is not only quite delusional but perhaps more than a little dangerous. This becomes more and more evident as his obsession with Mary Kay grows, and he begins stalking and manipulating her to fulfill his own delusional fantasies. Not to mention his frequent thoughts of committing murder.

Usually a fast reader, it took me several sittings to read this book. That wasn’t because I found it insufficiently engaging, but because this author’s rather unique writing style, at least as used with this book, demands substantial focus. You Love Me isn’t a light, engaging beach read you can skim through because you will miss too many of the more subtle nuances. I attribute that to the author’s method of putting the reader into Joe’s delusional mind by writing the novel in a second-person point of view. Thus, we become privy to virtually Joe’s every thought along with his habit of moderating many of his thoughts when responding to the other characters.

You Love Me is a twisty, creepy, suspenseful, and entertaining read that should satisfy the most demanding psychological thriller fan. Free from the bias that inevitably comes from reading the previous books in the series or acquaintance with the Netflix series, I feel the book holds its own as a standalone novel. For those reasons, I probably rate it a bit higher than others who have reviewed it. On some levels, I think the book is quite brilliant.

You Love Me by Caroline Kepnes was published by Random House and is now available. I received an advance copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley used for this review, which represents my honest opinions.

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Blog Tours, Book Reviews

Blog Tour & Book Review: Little Rebel by Jérôme Leroy

Crime Fiction Critic is pleased to be on tour with Corylus Books for Little Rebel by Jérôme Leroy.

Little Rebel

Author: Jérôme Leroy

Translated by: Graham H. Roberts

Publication Date: 01 July 2021

Genre(s): Suspense & Thrillers

ISBN: 978-1-91637-975-6

Publisher: Corylus Books Ltd.

Divided along so many social fault lines, a city in the west of France is a tinderbox of anger and passion. As the tension grows, things go badly wrong as a cop is killed and a terror cell is scattered across the city. A school on the deprived side of the city is caught up in turmoil as students, their teacher and a visiting children’s author are locked down.

Making his first appearance in an English translation, Jérôme Leroy gives us a subtle and sardonic perspective on the shifts taking place in politics and society in this disturbing novella.

Little Rebel by Jérôme Leroy—A chilling tapestry of fact and fiction, and a deeply disturbing — albeit informed — look at the consequences of the caustic moral decline of Western society against the backdrop of the fallout from the war on terror.

Little Rebel by Jérôme Leroy is a tough book to describe. I assumed it to be a crime thriller, but as I started reading I became worried that it was going to be a more work illustrative of political and social didacticism, and that’s not writing I enjoy.

Thankfully, the story surrounding the death of a cop and a scattered Jihadist terror cell on the loose in a city in the west of France is very much grounded in human actions and interactions and moralistic pontificating doesn’t swallow the reader up. Yet the plot, actually, simply serves as a peg on which the author hangs the supposedly dirty laundry of his cast of primary characters—a French Directorate for Internal Security police inspector, an incompetent Municipal Police sergeant, a local schoolteacher, a visiting children’s author, and the “Little Rebel” character we eventually meet towards the end of the book.

Little Rebel is full of young drug addicts, radicalized psychopaths, benefit junkies, crooked and incompetent cops, pervs, and putzo politicians. That’s saying a lot since the book, a novella, weighs in at only 82 pages. There is plenty of alliteration, the flavor of contemporary French culture shaped by historical events, and by foreign and internal forces and groups, drugs, conspiracies, and death to keep the reader engaged. Leroy brings it all to the page with a unique voice and mashes it into a sardonic, hyper-violent, sleazy narrative about radicalized Muslims, overzealous cops and security forces, drugs, sex, and social turmoil.

There are many superb elements here, but Leroy’s voice is what makes Little Rebel engrossing and memorable. It’s gritty and snappy with a level of alliteration that romps between the brilliant and the excoriating.

Propelled by a mean, dark, and depressing world view with dank, sordid language, Little Rebel is most definitely not nice, though if you’re not offended by language salty enough to float on without ever hitting the sea, it is a gritty, absorbing novella you won’t easily put down. Just don’t let the person next to you on the bus or train glimpse what you’re reading, since it is undeniably not safe for work.

The book is a combination of urban realism and wry humor, but an unsympathetic depiction of the West and France in particular in the war on terror era, written in hard-nosed noir-style prose. Beyond the profanity and blatant descriptions of sexual acts, Little Rebel is replete with racist, sexist, and homophobic — albeit historically accurate — remarks that some might find offensive.

This was my first exposure to Jérôme Leroy’s work, understandable since Little Rebel is his first work translated into English and my French is pas très bien. He impressed, though I don’t know how representative this novella is of his usual voice and style. But at least regarding this work, the stunning explosion of language Leroy plastered on the page reminds me quite a lot of the style of American crime writer James Ellroy with its profane, scornfully mocking, and relentlessly pessimistic expression. I’m also sure I detected a little Dashiell Hammett influence in his Leroy’s style.

Little Rebel is a powerful novella, a chilling tapestry of fact and fiction, and a deeply disturbing — albeit informed — look at the consequences of the caustic moral decline of Western society against the backdrop of the fallout from the war on terror. It’s definitely worth a read.

I received an advance review copy of the book from the publisher used for this review, which represents my own unbiased opinion. Many thanks to Corylus Books for inviting me to join the tour.

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AMAZON US | AMAZON UK | BROWNS BOOKS UK

Meet the Author

A prolific author of novels for both adults and young adults, essays and poetry, Jérôme Leroy is from Rouen. His work has appeared in a number of languages, but Little Rebel is his first work to be translated into English.

Meet the Translator

Originally from Liverpool, Graham H. Roberts has been living in the northern French city of Lille since 2003. When he’s not translating French crime fiction, Roberts teaches at a number of HE institutions in the Lille area and in Paris. In his spare time he enjoys writing and his first novel – also a work of crime fiction – is due for completion some time in 2021.

Book Reviews

The Hypno-Ripper Edited by Donald K Hartman

The Hypno-Ripper Edited by Donald K. Hartman—Two fictional stories capitalizing on the possibility that hypnotism played a role in the Ripper murders.

Two stories written in the late 1800s about Jack the Ripper, arguably the most infamous and mysterious serial killer of all time.

The Hypno-Ripper

Edited by Donald K. Hartman

Published by Themes & Settings in Fiction Press

on May 3, 2021

ISBN 978-0-96008-230-8

Genre(s): Serial Killer Thrillers, Psychological Fiction, Murder Thrillers

198 pages

This is the second volume in the “Hypnotism in Victorian and Edwardian Era Fiction” series, published by Themes & Settings in Fiction Press.

The two stories collected here were published during the time of the Jack the Ripper killings, and they are among the earliest fictional accounts dealing with the Whitechapel murders. Both of these stories have Jack the Ripper being an American, who traveled from New York City to London to commit the murders, and the Ripper commits his crimes while under the influence of hypnotism. The first story, “The Whitechapel Mystery; A Psychological Problem (“Jack the Ripper”),” is a novel authored by N. T. Oliver, and originally published in 1889 by the Eagle Publishing Company. The second story, “The Whitechapel Horrors,” is a short tale, published anonymously in two American newspapers, shortly after the murder of Mary Jane Kelly in November 1888.

Also included is a lengthy biographical profile on Edward Oliver Tilburn. “N. T. Oliver” was a pseudonym for the highly interesting Edward Oliver Tilburn. Besides being an author, Tilburn was a minister, actor, lecturer, secretary for several cities’ Chambers of Commerce, snake-oil salesman, Christian psychologist, as well as an accused embezzler, shady real estate broker, and a self-proclaimed medical doctor.

Review

Jack the Ripper is likely the most notorious of all serial killers, given that there have been more books written and movies made about him than any other infamous murderer. He terrorized London in 1888, killing at least five women and unusually mutilating their bodies, indicating that he had a substantial knowledge of human anatomy. Unfortunately, Jack the Ripper was never captured—or even identified. In The Hypno-Ripper, a collection of two fictional stories written in the 1800s during the time of the Ripper murders, editor Donald K. Hartman introduces us to the fascinating possibility that hypnotism played a role in the Ripper murders.  

This is a book within a book. We’re first introduced to The Whitechapel Mystery; A Psychological Problem (“Jack the Ripper”) by Dr. N. Y. Oliver (pseudonym), a novella, followed by a short story, “The Whitechapel Horrors” by an anonymous author. The book opens with a foreword explaining the Ripper by Rebecca Frost and concludes with an interesting theoretical note by the editor, where Hartman speculates on the possible identity of the anonymous author of the short story with biographical information.

This review was a tad challenging to write as I moved through multiple impressions while reading the book.

I quite enjoyed the opening novella. The author gives us a very complicated character in John Philip Dewey, an up-and-coming and dedicated nineteenth-century New York City police detective. Dewey’s supervisor assigns him to investigate a daring bank robbery where it seems almost impossible to imagine how the thief pulled it off given the complete lack of physical evidence at the scene. But in time, Dewey ferrets out the thief’s identity and determines the culprit, a noted doctor and mesmerist (or hypnotist), used hypnotism to facilitate the robbery. But before Dewey can locate the perpetrator and affect an arrest, the man boards a ship for England. At the last minute, Dewey manages to board the ship, where he first encounters the mesmerist and then falls under the man’s powerful spell. Determined to arrest the doctor once the ship arrives in London, Dewey strangely finds himself incapable of doing so. Then falling ever more deeply under the mesmerist’s control, Dewey becomes actively involved in the Ripper murders.

While an interesting read, I struggled with the story’s lack of realism. For example, medical science says hypnotized people are not mindless automatons subject to the hypnotist’s bidding. It is extremely difficult to get a hypnotized person to do anything against their moral principles. Given how dedicated and professional a detective Dewey is characterized to be, it requires total suspension of belief if we’re to accept the mesmerist has the power to take control of Dewey’s mind completely and mentally coerce him into doing things we can’t imagine such a man doing.

While a well-written and gripping piece of fiction, I confess I felt the novel seemed a tad predictable and too unrealistic. However, there’s a final twist that made me feel everything is not as it seems. Or it actually is. Or something. Regardless, the story is intriguing, macabre, creepy, and sometimes just plain weird.

“The Whitechapel Horrors” short story also incorporates hypnotism into the Ripper legend mix, but with a different twist. Rather than a man being hypnotized against his will by a powerful mesmerist, an American named Charles Kowlder falls under unintended self-hypnosis due to his rabid fascination with the Whitechapel murders and curiosity of the killer’s identity. Kowlder happens to be in London on business at the time of the murders and becomes enthralled with them while already suffering from mental distress. Here again, hypnosis takes a role in the murders.

All in all, I found The Hypno-Ripper entertaining and well worth the time I spent reading the book. Anyone who enjoys a good serial killer story that doesn’t find archaic Victorian-era style English off-putting, especially those for whom Jack the Ripper tales hold fascination, should enjoy reading the book.

The Hypno-Ripper, edited by Donald K. Hartman and published by Themes & Settings in Fiction Press, is available in paperback and Kindle electronic versions.

The publisher was kind enough to offer me a print copy of the book for review, but since it was available as a Kindle Unlimited selection, I chose to read the electronic version for this review.

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Book Reviews

Review: Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner

Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner—A deliciously suspenseful psychological thriller perfect for poolside reading or anywhere else.

Greenwich Park

by Katherine Faulkner

Published by Simon & Schuster (Gallery Books)

on sale January 4, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-98215-031-0

Genre(s): Mystery & Thrillers

384 pages

Helen’s idyllic life—handsome architect husband, gorgeous Victorian house, and cherished baby on the way (after years of trying)—begins to change the day she attends her first prenatal class and meets Rachel, an unpredictable single mother-to-be. Rachel doesn’t seem very maternal: she smokes, drinks, and professes little interest in parenthood. Still, Helen is drawn to her. Maybe Rachel just needs a friend. And to be honest, Helen’s a bit lonely herself. At least Rachel is fun to be with. She makes Helen laugh, invites her confidences, and distracts her from her fears.

But her increasingly erratic behavior is unsettling. And Helen’s not the only one who’s noticed. Her friends and family begin to suspect that her strange new friend may be linked to their shared history in unexpected ways. When Rachel threatens to expose a past crime that could destroy all of their lives, it becomes clear that there are more than a few secrets laying beneath the broad-leaved trees and warm lamplight of Greenwich Park.

Review

London-based author Katherine Faulkner, an award-winning journalist and former joint Head of News at The Times (London), debuts with an absorbing psychological thriller about unreliable friendships, the high cost of keeping secrets, and vengeance.

The novel unfolds with an enigmatic desperate letter penned by someone incarcerated in prison, written to Helen, who we meet in the opening chapter. Helen, pregnant again after four previous miscarriages, attends her first prenatal class. When her husband, Daniel, brother Rory, and wife Serena fail to show as promised, Helen must go alone, feeling abandoned and uncomfortable. Then she meets Rachel, another mother-to-be, who smokes and drinks. Although Rachel appears the least maternal inclined woman in the class, the two forge an improbable friendship. Yet as the friendship grows and the two women spend more and more time together, Rachel’s intense personality and often unseemly behavior make Helen feel increasingly uneasy. Even Helen’s friends and family find the woman unnerving. Then disturbing secrets come to light.

While the bulk of the story develops from Helen’s first-person point of view, the author frequently uses first-person perspectives from other primary characters. The author also deftly dips into the past—via memories and cryptic testimonies of unidentified narrators. Almost from the moment Faulkner introduces Rachel, a shady character, the suspense and a sense of dread start to build as the reader senses there is something horrific in the offing even though we can’t predict what it might be.

Frankly, I found I was not fond of Helen all that much, though clearly, she is the main character in the novel. She sure fits the bill as a flawed protagonist seeming weak, indecisive, and suffering from an acute martyr complex. She spends a great deal of time feeling put upon by friends and family and her pregnancy. The more she allows Rachel to manipulate her, the less sympathy I feel for her. I was quickly tired of how much time Helen spent feeling sorry for herself. It’s almost as though she can’t work out whether a potential successful pregnancy after years of trying is something to celebrate or only an awful burden she carries alone. Curiously, not liking Helen doesn’t take anything away from the story since she certainly provokes an emotional response, just not a sympathetic one.

Rachel is my favorite character, mostly because she is so clearly dodgy from the beginning that it makes her hugely interesting. You can’t wait to see what she does next. The remaining characters were all well developed, and the reader has no difficulty seeing them as real people. Some are likable. Others aren’t for various reasons, which adds to the realism.

On balance, I found Greenwich Park a hugely entertaining and gripping read. Faulkner does a consummate job crafting a believable, tight plot and breathing life into her characters. The story grips quickly, and the suspense builds and builds. Admittedly, I worked out the whodunit a few chapters before reaching the end, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the novel. I’m interested in seeing where Faulkner’s writing takes her next as her debut novel will certainly raise the expectations of critics and readers alike. Greenwich Park compares quite favorably with other first-class thrillers like The Girl on the Train. I rate it a must-read for any psychological thriller fan who craves a story with many unexpected twists. It’s a deliciously suspenseful psychological thriller perfect for poolside reading or anywhere else.

Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner, due for publication by Simon & Schuster (Gallery Books) on January 4, 2022, is available now for pre-orders.
 
I received an advance review copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley used for this review, representing my own unbiased opinion.

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Book Reviews

Review: Every Hidden Thing by Ted Flanagan

Every Hidden Thing by Ted Flanagan—A dark, gritty thriller filled with suspense, double-crosses, and buried secrets.

Every Hidden Thing

by Ted Flanagan

Published by Crooked Lane Books

on sale October 12, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-64385-764-0

Genre(s): Mystery & Suspense, Thrillers

336 pages

Print and electronic versions

Big city politics, nasty secrets, a dirty cop, and a deranged sociopath set the stage for a riveting journey deep into the urban jungle.

The last scion of a once-powerful political family, Worcester mayor John O’Toole has his sights set on vastly higher aspirations. When night shift paramedic Thomas Archer uncovers a secret that could upend the mayor’s career, O’Toole is set on silencing him, and sends Eamon Conroy, a brutal former cop, to ensure the truth remains under wraps.

But O’Toole doesn’t stop there. With bribes, buried secrets, and personal attacks, he wreaks havoc on Archer’s life in an attempt to save himself. Archer’s troubles continue to mount when domestic terrorist and militia member Gerald Knak, who blames Archer for his wife’s recent death, sets in motion a deadly plan for revenge.

With two forces of evil aligned against him, Archer doesn’t stand a chance. But things aren’t always what they seem–and he may just have a few tricks up his sleeve in a last gambit to get out alive.

Review

When Worcester (Massachusetts) EMT Thomas Archer and his partner respond to a childbirth emergency call, they find the child already delivered and in severe respiratory distress. Archer is then shocked to learn the person who delivered the baby, still at the scene and is none other than Eamon Conroy, a sociopathic former crooked cop Archer once helped send to prison. Things go downhill fast from there for Archer, who already has more than enough problems in his life, including a young son suffering from life-threatening brain cancer. He’s also a recovering alcoholic in a marriage that has grown shaky due to his son’s serious medical problems. But when Archer learns the child’s mother is a low-level city employee and the father a crooked and powerful local city politician who hired Conroy to keep the affair and baby out of the press, he is determined to do the right thing. He reports Conroy’s unethical conduct. In response, Conroy goes about doing everything in his power to destroy Archer’s credibility and silence him by blaming him for the botched delivery that left the child brain-damaged.

A lot is going on in this book. Every major character, of which there are many, has backstories and character flaws that bear on the primary plot. Besides the former bent cop, plenty of buried secrets get unearthed, and lots of dirty big city politics are involved. It’s a deep dive into the gritty underbelly of the urban jungle. There are multiple points of view and several subplots that the author weaves into this dark, gritty tale.

With multiple forces of evil arrayed against him, it doesn’t seem as if Archer stands a chance of surviving the salvos of personal attacks even if he manages to escape with his life.

I really liked this book because Flanagan touches so realistically on the very sort of political sleaze and media dishonesty that is so much in evidence today at almost every level in the country. Some of it reads almost as if it were ripped from recent headlines and serves as a sad reminder of how modern society and culture today seems to be coming apart at the seams because of shady, power-grabbing politicians and a corrupt media that readily distort the truth to make a fast buck and to promote its own social agenda.

Despite the multiple story lines and numerous major characters, Flanagan’s plotting chops keep the reader on track and free of confusion. I found it an intriguing read with plenty of suspense and surprising twists that kept me turning the pages until the very end. I recommend Every Hidden Thing to those who enjoy suspenseful thrillers, especially when such novels offer something more than the usual thriller story lines and plots.

I received an advance review copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley used for this review, representing my own unbiased opinion.

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Book Reviews

Review: The Sedleigh Hall Murder by Roy Lewis

The Sedleigh Hall Murder by Roy Lewis—a gripping traditional murder mystery set in 1970s England.

The Sedleigh Hall Murder

by Roy Lewis

Published by Joffe Books

on May 21, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-789-31126-6

Genre(s): Mystery & Detective

170 pages

Available in paperback and electronic editions.

A SUSPICIOUS DEATH AND A LARGE INHERITANCE WITHOUT ANYONE TO RECEIVE IT.

Eric Ward thinks there is something odd about Arthur Egan’s life and death. But Ward is a former police inspector, and trained to be suspicious. 

Egan left a large sum. But Ward makes no progress tracing the dead man’s offspring. A photograph of an unknown tombstone is his only clue.

He discovers Egan served a term for manslaughter, and that the evidence against him may have been planted. Why had he accepted his fate so meekly?

Despite warnings that he is wasting the firm’s time, Ward persists in his investigations.

AND HIS PERSISTENCE LEADS TO MURDER. 

And by the time he realizes why, he finds his life and career are both at risk.

AND WHAT IS THE CONNECTION TO LORD MORCOMB AT SEDLEIGH HALL? 

This fast-paced mystery will have you enthralled from the start. Set in England in the late 1970s, this is the first book to feature Eric Ward. More coming soon.

Review

I really like Eric Ward, the main character in The Sedleigh Hall Murder by Roy Lewis. He is a former police detective working to become a lawyer when the story unfolds. Yet what makes Ward so unique as a character is the reason he left the police. It’s his flaw as a character that all good authors use to make a character seem less than perfect. Through imperfections, authors breathe life into fictional characters, making them seem real since as we all know, perfect characters are boring characters. Eric was forced out of police work because he suffers from angle-closure glaucoma, a rare and debilitating form of the disease with symptoms that include extreme eye pain with nausea and sudden visual disturbance. I found this fascinating having previously never heard of this form of glaucoma. And it’s also a very rare and impactful character flaw or trait that quickly draws the reader’s sympathy for the character and serves to make Eric Ward seem like a real person.

At the heart of the story is Ward’s work on a simple small estate administration matter for a deceased man named Arthur Egan. Yet once Eric starts to work on it, trying to trace the dead man’s heirs, his instincts as a former policeman convince him that there is something odd about Egan’s life and the case in general. He discovers Egan had served a prison term for manslaughter, but the deeper he delves into that aspect the more convinced Ward becomes that Egan had been framed. Adding to the suspense is the fact that Eric Ward soon discovers that another more important case his firm is handling for a wealthy and important client named Lord Morcomb seems somehow related to the Egan matter. Soon murder comes into play.

Roy Lewis’ novel is cleverly plotted, featuring droll dialogue and intelligent prose. I found the writing quite addictive and sailed through the book in one sitting.

The Sedleigh Hall Murder isn’t a lengthy novel coming in at only 170 pages in print. So, it’s a quick read and a very enjoyable one. My only complaint about the book is it is comprised of only six chapters which means they are all rather lengthy. For readers like me who prefer to take reading breaks at the end of a chapter before beginning the next, I must admit it sometimes felt like a bit of a slog getting to the end of some of the longer chapters. That is no reflection on the quality of the writing which I very much enjoyed, only that very lengthy chapters are something I often find tedious.

I didn’t manage to guess the whodunit before the reveal, though in hindsight, I believe Lewis fairly presented all the important clues. The mystery is intriguing but in some ways I felt more drawn to the characters, the clever writing and dialogue as well as Lewis’ attention to historical detail – in everything from the character’s clothes to the settings in 1970s rural England.

The Sedleigh Hall Murder is the first novel in the Eric Ward Mystery series. I’ll definitely be adding the other two books in the series to my to be read list.

I heartily recommend this book to all detective and mystery fans who enjoy traditional mysteries set in a time before mobile phones and DNA testing.

I purchased the copy of the book used for this review.

All Books in the Eric Ward Mystery Series:

  1. The Sedleigh Hall Murder
  2. The Farming Murder
  3. The Quayside Murder

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The Sedleigh Hall Murder (as well as the other books in the series) is available exclusively on Amazon, both print and Kindle editions.

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Book Reviews

Review: Small Bones by Kerry Buchanan

Small Bones by Kerry Buchanan—For die-hard fans of nail-biting crime thrillers, Kerry Buchanan is the real deal.

Crime thriller by one of Northern Ireland’s newest talents

Small Bones

by Kerry Buchanan

Published by Joffe Books

On sale June 3, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-789-31842-5

Genre(s): Thrillers & Suspense

278 pages

Available in paperback and electronic editions.

If you can’t trust your father and you can’t trust the police, who can you trust?

Sue Hearn is planting a herb garden on the site of her grandfather’s old greenhouse. She’s spent the morning digging up all sorts of odds and ends already. But she doesn’t expect this grisly find.

Could it be the remains of her mother, Monica, who went missing thirty years ago?

Sue’s father, in hospital with dementia, insinuates that a police officer was involved in her mother’s disappearance. But can he be trusted?

So now Detectives Asha Harvey and Aaron Birch might be looking for a bent copper.

As they dig deeper into the past, Sue and Asha find secrets so dangerous it will put all their lives in danger.

Review

“Human finger bones can easily be mistaken for bits of clay pipe when you dig them out of the soil. It couldn’t be human she told herself.”

I apologize in advance for the superlatives but it seems the only way to convey adequately how much I enjoyed this book. I requested it as soon as I learned the digital advance review copy was available on NetGalley. This second book in the Detectives Harvey & Birch series sounded appealing, and I was already aware of the brilliance of Kerry Buchanan’s writing having previously read Knife Edge, the first novel in the series. I devoured this one the moment I downloaded it.

After the set up prologue, the book begins from the point of view Sue Hearn, a woman in her forties who has given up working to become the full-time caregiver for her father, a dementia sufferer. While tilling up the back garden Hearn uncovers skeletal remains which brings in the central characters Acting Detective Inspector Asha Harvey and DC Aaron Birch. They take up the investigation once they exhumed the full remains of a child from Hearn’s backyard and the evidence points to homicide.

Buchanan masterfully moves the story back and forward from 1992 when the crimes detailed in the book happened, and the present day as the detectives sift the evidence and clues hoping to identify the child victim and the killer. The novel continues to unfold from a few other points of view, notably that of Alistair King, a retired former high-ranking corrupt police office, and dips into the past – via memories, interviews, and testimonies at the time.

I really loved the growth of the Asha Harvey and Aaron Birch characters since the first novel in the series, Knife Edge, in which they were introduced. Here we get to know them even better. Alistair King, who turns out the chief villain in the book, is also a magnificently villainous character who we quickly develop an intense dislike for, yet respect as a worthy adversary for Harvey and Birch.

There are some truly mind-bending twists and turns that make Buchanan’s latest offering a deliciously nail-biting read. She also does a fabulous job in keeping us guessing throughout. Without apology, I proclaim Kerry Buchanan my favorite contemporary crime thriller novelist and can’t wait for the next book. I highly recommend Small Bones by Kerry Buchanan for die-hard fans of nail-biting crime thrillers. Kerry Buchanan is the real deal.

I received an advance review copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley used for this review but purchased a copy for my personal library.

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Book Reviews

Review: These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant

These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant—brilliantly plotted thriller with pulse-pounding suspense.

These Silent Woods

by Kimi Cunningham Grant

Published by St. Martin’s Publishing Group Minotaur Books

on sale October 26, 2021

ISBN 9781250793393

288 pages

A father and daughter living in the remote Appalachian mountains must reckon with the ghosts of their past in Kimi Cunningham Grant’s These Silent Woods, a mesmerizing novel of suspense.

No electricity, no family, no connection to the outside world.

For eight years, Cooper and his young daughter, Finch, have lived in isolation in a remote cabin in the northern Appalachian woods. And that’s exactly the way Cooper wants it, because he’s got a lot to hide. Finch has been raised on the books filling the cabin’s shelves and the beautiful but brutal code of life in the wilderness. But she’s starting to push back against the sheltered life Cooper has created for her—and he’s still haunted by the painful truth of what it took to get them there.

The only people who know they exist are Scotland, an overly friendly hermit with murky intentions, and Cooper’s old friend, Jake, who visits each winter to bring them food and supplies. But this year, Jake doesn’t show up, setting off an irreversible chain of events that reveals just how precarious their situation really is. Suddenly, the boundaries of their safe haven have blurred—and when a stranger wanders into their woods, Finch’s growing obsession with her could put them all in danger. When a shocking disappearance threatens to upend the only life Finch has ever known, Cooper is forced to decide whether to keep hiding—or finally face the sins of his past.

Vividly atmospheric and masterfully tense, These Silent Woods is a poignant story of survival, sacrifice, and how far a father will go when faced with losing it all.

Review

These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant is an extraordinarily compelling story, tightly plotted, and brilliantly told. It will suck readers in from the first pages. I couldn’t put it down until reaching the unexpected, emotion-packed conclusion. The plot entices readers to rush through the book to find out all the who’s, what’s, and why’s. These Silent Woods is magnificently done in a way that won’t soon be forgotten. It’s a taut, suspenseful thriller that drags readers head first into the story.

Inside this must read thriller, readers meet the main character, “Cooper,” an Army veteran suffering from PTSD who has raised his eight-year-old daughter “Finch” in a cabin in a rugged, remote wooded area since the death of her mother, Cindy. When Cindy died, her parents attempted to take custody of Finch, forcing Cooper to “kidnap” his daughter from them and flee to the off-the-grid mountain cabin owned by Jake, an old Army buddy. There they live a simple life together in hiding under assumed names with little contact with the outside world. As the story unfolds, readers quickly develop sympathy for Cooper. It seems he has never caught a single break. He suffers panic attacks because of PTSD not to mention guilt over something that happened during his time in Afghanistan. He is an honorable but wanted man only because he tried to do what he thought was best for his daughter. From the moment readers enter the lives of Copper and Finch there is an undercurrent of dread that they will soon be discovered, that Cooper will go to jail, and will lose Finch forever. There are plenty of unexpected twists and turns that keep readers on the edge of their seats. Kimi Cunningham Grant is a talented writer who brings her interesting characters vividly to life.

These Silent Woods is one of the most exciting, heart-pounding, and suspenseful novels I have read this year. I highly recommend this book to all fans of suspense thrillers.

I received an advance copy of the book for the purposes of this review from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: The Return of the Pharaoh by Nicholas Meyer

The Return of the Pharaoh by Nicholas Meyer—nothing elementary about this new Sherlock Holmes adaptation.

The Return of the Pharaoh

by Nicholas Meyer

Published by St. Martin’s Press Minotaur Books

on November 9, 2021

ISBN: 9781250788207

Genre(s): Mystery & Detective

Page length: 272

Available in hardcover, paperback, electronic, and audiobook versions.

In Nicholas Meyer’s The Return of the Pharaoh, Sherlock Holmes returns in an adventure that takes him to Egypt in search of a missing nobleman, a previously undiscovered pharaoh’s tomb, and a conspiracy that threatens his very life.

With his international bestseller, The Seven Per Cent Solution, Nicholas Meyer brought to light a previously unpublished case of Sherlock Holmes that reinvigorated the world’s interest in the first consulting detective. Now, many years later, Meyer is given exclusive access to Dr. Watson’s unpublished journal, wherein he details a previously unknown case.

In 1910, Dr. John Watson travels to Egypt with his wife Juliet. Her tuberculosis has returned and her doctor recommends a stay at a sanitarium in a dry climate. But while his wife undergoes treatment, Dr. Watson bumps into an old friend–Sherlock Holmes, in disguise and on a case. An English Duke with a penchant for egyptology has disappeared, leading to enquiries from his wife and the Home Office.

Holmes has discovered that the missing duke has indeed vanished from his lavish rooms in Cairo and that he was on the trail of a previous undiscovered and unopened tomb. And that he’s only the latest Egyptologist to die or disappear under odd circumstances. With the help of Howard Carter, Holmes and Watson are on the trail of something much bigger, more important, and more sinister than an errant lord.

Review

Sherlock Holmes’ lasting popularity is a rarity among fictional characters. Most fall out of favor within years, not decades. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died in 1930, but his stories about the English detective Sherlock Holmes have lived on. Sherlock Holmes and all his companions, as penned by Doyle, are now in the public domain and as a longtime fan of Holmes and Dr. John Watson, I’ve been looking forward to reading the inevitable adaptations. That’s why I was so keen to read The Return of the Pharaoh by Nicholas Meyer when I discovered it. If, like me, you’re a Sherlock Holmes fan, this novel won’t disappoint.

Just like the original Doyle novels and the brief adventures published in monthly issues of The Strand Magazine from 1891 to 1892, a Sherlock you are sure to recognize fascinates the reader with his keen observations, quick deductions, and encyclopedic recall of the history of crime. In The Return of the Pharaoh, set in 1910 Egypt, an English duke with an interest in Egyptology disappears and his wife engages the intrepid Holmes to find him. Dr. John Watson travels to Egypt with his wife Juliet after her doctor recommends a stay at a sanitarium in a dry climate to treat Juliet’s tuberculosis. By chance, Watson bumps into his old friend Sherlock in Cairo, who is in disguise, traveling under an assumed name. Curiosity pulls Watson into the case when Holmes reveals the duke has vanished from a luxury hotel in Cairo while on the trail of an undiscovered and unopened Pharaoh’s tomb rumored to be filled with gold. Once again Holmes and Watson join forces to investigate a case, soon to discover that there is something going on far more sinister than a missing duke.

The mystery is straightforward, simple, and easy to enjoy. The story follows a similar formula that has worked for millions of readers these past 120-odd years, Holmes arriving at a solution by spotting a clue no one else notices, asking the right questions, or using his encyclopedic knowledge of human nature and similar cases from the past.

This book is very good and if you’re a Sherlock Holmes fan or someone who enjoys classic mysteries, I recommend adding The Return of the Pharaoh by Nicholas Meyer to your reading list. There is nothing elementary about this new Sherlock Holmes adaptation.

I received an advance copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley.

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