Sidney Sheldon's Chasing Tomorrow by Tilly Bagshawe

"Sidney Sheldon's Chasing Tomorrow" is the sequel to "If Tomorrow Comes". Although it is not necessary to have read the first book before this one, as the bare bones of the back story are filled in along the way, it probably is best as then you have all the detail, and know the characters from before.

This book brings back characters from the original "If Tommorrow Comes", the main two being Jeff Stevens and Tracy Whitney, "the second-most-talented and the most-talented con artists in the world." They marry and go straight, leaving behind their past lives. But that leaves a void in their lives. Jeff fills his by getting a job as curator of antiquities at the British Museum. Tracy meanwhile has the sole obsession of "trying, and failing, to have a baby", but not having the void filled leads to cracks in the marriage and then to a split, helped by an enemy who secretly couldn't stand them being together. The split ends up with Tracy disappearing into thin air.

But by the end of the book their common enemy is revealed and Jeff and Tracy are able to come together once more.

There are plenty of clever cons along the way, expertly written as Bagshawe makes you believe they are doomed to failure before the heroes successfully complete them. The story is good. This is an enjoyable read.

Publication date: 9 Oct 2014

Available on Amazon UK: Sidney Sheldon's Chasing Tomorrow

The Secret Place by Tana French

"The Secret Place" is a murder mystery. It sees the murder of a 16-year-old boy, Chris Harper, who is found in the grounds of "St Kilda's, girl's school, secondary, private, leafy, suburb. Nuns." 

The murder has gone unsolved for a year. Enter Detective Stephen Moran. He works in Cold Cases, "a dingy dead end". He wants his chance at bigger things and gets it when a St Kilda's girl brings him something new to the case. Holly brings him a card similar to that on the book cover, one that says "I know who killed him" together with a new picture of Chris Harper on it. The card was found in the secret place, the name of a pin-board in the school where girls can privately share their secrets in a safe way to get them off of their chest, although the secret place could also be referring to an enclosed place where four of the girls, who are amongst the main suspects, hang out together in the school grounds, the very same site where the murder took place.

The card sparks Detective Moran into action. He teams up with the lead on the original case, Detective Antoinette Conway, a no-nonsense, tough-nosed murder detective without a partner and without a successful solve to her name. She needs this as much as him.

Thus the case is brought back to life again with the book telling the story through alternate chapters following the real-time events at St Kilda's as they happened in the lead up to the murder and beyond, and the current day investigation interspersed between.

The book is gripping and the case gets solved, albeit with a slight supernatural element being conveniently introduced to help it along. Thoroughly enjoyable read.

(I got this book through a Goodreads First Read competition. This review is my honest opinion of the book.)

Publication date: 28th August 2014

Amazon UK link: The Secret Place

Down and Out in Beverly Heels by Kathryn Leigh Scott

This story follows Meg Barnes, an actress who has lost everything. She is living in the back of a car "down and out in Beverly Hills". This is because her husband was a con-man and faked his own kidnapping, and is now presumed dead. Meanwhile Meg had to stamp up the ransom and the rest was taken from debts he built up in her name. When the FBI get involved she meets handsome agent Jack.

Meg's most famous character from her acting days is that of detective side-kick Jinx, and after running away for a year or so she decides to take a leaf out of Jinx's book and go on the hunt of her husband. But with people being killed around her and an FBI agent warning her off things get dangerous.

The book was well written and the actor sensibilities of Meg came through, probably because the author is an actress herself, whilst not writing books. The cover was a bit misleading as I imagined Meg as a 20-something woman into high heels but she is in her 40s/50s, and probably prefers flat shoes. But you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover as they say.

Thoroughly entertaining read with the beginning being better than the end in my opinion, with the coming together of all the parts being out of character for someone. But overall really good and definitely worth reading.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine UK. It is listed here.)

Tiger's Eye by Barbra Annino

You know this is going to be a quirky novel right from the off, what with the doggy quotes at the beginning of most chapters (example: "I spilled spot remover on my dog. He's gone now." Steven Wright).

Stacey Justice is a quirky character too, matching the image portrayed on the front cover. She's a reporter on the paper that her father helped set up. There are three mysteries that she solves through this novel: 1) Who was behind the death of her father many years ago, 2) The mystery of the sad collie dog named Keesha, and 3) Why did Lolly's fiancé disappear just before her wedding, also a long time ago?

And Stacey Justice isn't just a normal human, she belongs to a family of witches, so she has some magic up her sleeve too, and has given the tag the "Seeker of Justice" based on predictions written in the family's "Blessed Book of the Garaghty Clan" that has been passed down the generations.

This is the third book featuring Stacey Justice (the first two being Opal Fire and Bloodstone with a fourth on the way later in 2013 called Emerald Isle), but I got by without having read the first two perfectly fine, although I obviously missed out on the character bios so it did get a little confusing knowing who Lolly, Birdie, Cinnamon and others were in relation to Stacey early on.

The novel is upbeat throughout, Stacey is a busy woman zipping from place to place, and has lots of friends (coming from a small town means she knows everyone), making this book a fun read.

I got this book through Amazon Vine UK. It is listed HERE.

Easy Money by Jens Lapidus

I will definitely not be reading any more books from this Author. It was very difficult to follow the story line of the book. A lot of detail which would have made for coherent story telling seems to have been missing; perhaps lost in translation from Swedish to English. The pace of the book unlike many crime thrillers is very slow, boring and not gripping. I really struggled to finish the book.

There were a lot of graphic scenes of violence, double crossing, extortion, fraud, money laundering and prostitution which I found unappealing. The use of gangster-speak, vulgar and gutter language also means that the book will have a limited number of followers.

Lapidus seems to have missed a trick by not having a Police or Detective solving the crime and bringing to justice the "wrong doers" as in James Patterson’s character ‘Alex Cross’ or Michael Connelly’s Detective ‘Harry Bosch’.

The book is one long and laborious narration about the lives of crime of three very grim and unsavoury characters who are totally bereft of morals and capable of committing unspeakable crimes in a bid to make ‘easy money’. There is no likeable rogue in the story to empathise with – the Chilean (Jorge) the Swede (JW) and the Serbian Mrado are all despicable characters.

I found it impossible to believe that Jorge following his escape from prison continues his lifestyle of crime and drug dealing in Sweden undetected by law enforcement agents and he does this simply by wearing a silly disguise and growing a beard. That certainly does not speak well of the standard of policing in Sweden.

Lapidus background as a Criminal Defence Attorney comes into play in the book – his case notes rather than engendering a cohesive thread; jump at you. It is also difficult to see what value the various ‘Project Nova’ reports add to the story. The reports could have been seamlessly included in the book through a narration by a character in the book – it seemed to me at times as if I was reading a report and then a story; I found this a bit disjointed.

I however found it poignant and touching that Jorge forgave JW for double crossing him. Jorge’s gesture in depositing Three Hundred Thousand Kronor into JWs account in the Isle of Man surely illustrates that ‘there is honour even amongst thieves’. 

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. My friend Chuka reviewed it. It is listed on Amazon here.)

Strip Jack by Ian Rankin

This is another great Rebus novel and is better than the previous three. It is full of humour with loads of one-liners and puns. 

The title "Strip Jack" refers to the MP Gregor Jack who is caught at the beginning of the book in a police (polis) raid on an Edinburgh brothel. It seems he has been set up by someone who is trying to strip him of everything he has worked for. Rebus keeps an interested eye on Mr. Jack but becomes further involved when his wife goes missing and is later found dead. Follow Rebus' thought processes as he solves the case. 

And all this is set in Rebus's Edinburgh and the surrounding area including trips into the highlands. 

A great read.

(This book is available here)

Rebus: The Early Years by Ian Rankin

This is a collection of the first three Rebus novels as written by Ian Rankin. The series is now past 15 books in total. 

In truth these are maybe the worst Rebus novels but they serve as a useful introduction to John Rebus. They also go to show how a writer gets better over time. 

Book 1 "Knots and Crosses" follows Rebus as he tries to catch a serial killer. The storyline is very simple and the text is also simple compared to Rankin's later novels. Nevertheless it is a useful introduction to the character Rebus. 

Book 2 "Hide and Seek" is in the more accomplished style of the other Rebus novels. This time a drug death looks suspicious to Rebus and this leads him onto an investigation that leads to him uncovering illegal fighting. This novel is more in line with the other Rebus novels in the way that the thought processes of the characters are very detailed and the chapters are split simply by day. Also the fictitious places in Edinburgh as used in Novel 1 have disappeared to be replaced by real-life locations. 

Book 3 "Tooth and Nail" seems a strange Rebus novel simply because it is set in London and not Edinburgh. Rebus is invited down from Scotland to help with a serial murder case. He is termed as an expert because of his exploits in book 1 (Note: all the books stand-alone but there are some small mentions to the previous books). This is the most accomplished book of the three and explores more the thought processes of the characters and includes more jokes that are a big part of the Rebus novels. 

All together the books link together well. For example they all have a pattern in their titles (although Tooth and Nail was originally called "Wolfman" as the author writes in the useful introduction to each novel). And they serve a purpose in introducing the Rebus novels which I am sure you will all love.

(This book is available here)

Tooth & Nail by Ian Rankin

This is the third Rebus novel and is set in London. Because of this it seems a little strange if you are used to the Rebus of Edinburgh but it is still a great book. If it were in Edinburgh I'm sure it would have been more in line with the other Rebus books and felt even better. 

In the introduction that the author, Ian Rankin, has helpfully added it says that this is the only Rebus set in London and he did that because he was living in London at that time. It also talks about the Scottish words that are used in the book that put up a language barrier between Rebus and his London colleagues. However in the book they get their own back with the use of Cockney rhyming slang. 

The book follows Rebus as he is requested to investigate a serial murder case in London from his native Scotland. It follows the case through to completion with a thrilling car chase which ends in Trafalgar Square. And as usual there are a few laughs along the way and the various thought processes of the characters.

(This book is available here)

Hide & Seek by Ian Rankin

This is the second of the Rebus novels and is definitely more accomplished than the first. The writing is more in line with the later novels and the storyline isn't a simple. However I was not very satisfied with the way things came together in the end. It was all too bitty for me and not as streamlined as in the later books. Also the one-liners aren't as prevalent. But this only goes to show that over time Ian Rankin has been able to develop his writing skills and the Rebus character. 

Also this is the first of the Rebus novels to split the chapters by day which I think works really well in all the Rebus novels I have seen it in. 

Lastly in the recent reprints Rankin has written a little introduction just setting the scene of what influenced the book and so forth which is interesting as are his introductions in the other books I have read.

(This book is available on Amazon UK here)

Knots & Crosses by Ian Rankin

This is the first "Rebus" book and isn't as good as the others that I've read. It seems a little seedier than the later books and lacking in the clever, witty dialogue present in them. I suppose this is to do with Ian Rankin's development as a writer. The book starts slow bout then picks up the pace towards the end into a thrilling climax. The story is quite simple hasn't got as many storylines interlinking as in the later Rebus novels. However it's still a good book and it fills in the gaps of John Rebus's past life in the army etc. 

Further it comes with an introduction written by the author some years after the book was first published that is interesting. Originally Ian Rankin was going to kill off Rebus. Bet he and his fans are glad he didn't!

(Book is available here)