The Keeper by Luke Delaney Review

Hi Guys,

Sorry for my absence – I have been working more on my beauty blog more which can be found hanging out here. Right, so today I will be reviewing The Keeper by Luke Delaney. This is the second book in the DI Sean Corrigan Series, of which there are currently three. I have already read Cold Killing, which was fantastic.

The blurb reads:

‘The second novel in the DI Sean Corrigan series – authentic and terrifying crime fiction with a psychological edge, by an ex-Met detective. Perfect for fans of Mark Billingham, Peter James and Stuart MacBride. Thomas Keller knows exactly who he’s looking for…They tried to keep them apart, but when he finds her, he’s going to keep her. Just like he knows she wants him to. DI Sean Corrigan is not like other detectives. His dark past has given him the ability to step into a crime scene and see it through the offender’s eyes. He understands what drives a person to commit terrible acts – but sometimes his gift feels more like a curse. When women start disappearing from their homes in broad daylight, Corrigan’s Murder Investigation Team is reluctant to take on a missing persons case. But then the first body turns up, and Corrigan knows he must quickly get into the mind of the murderer. Because this killer knows exactly who he wants. And he won’t stop until he finds her.’

My Opinion

If you know anything about me (or have ever read this blog) you will know how much I love a good crime novel. This book is fantastic, I love the way that Corrigan gets into the mind of his criminals. He almost ‘becomes’ them, using his past experience of abuse to help him. Sally Jones is also getting over what happened to her in the first book, so I would advise reading them in order or you will be thoroughly confused. This book also sees the introduction of Anna, who claims to be an innocent academic profiling the killer, but there is an undercurrent and much more to her.

I love the way Delaney gives the reader tid bits. I like how we learn almost at the same rate as the detectives and I really like how he can be gritty and honest without being overly crude. This book shows itself in layers and it is really special. What I will be doing next is reading the Toy Taker the third in the series. His writing styles if perfect for keeping the reader engaged, focusing on small details and then suddenly switching to a 100 miles an hours. The twists and turns keep the reader going throughout.

If you like James Patterson with a few drops of Martina Cole this is for you!

My Goodreads Score: 5/5

Pages: 458

Format E-Book

The 23-point behaviour policy

The Modern Miss

It’s important for a school to have a behaviour policy, it’s important for both the children and the staff as well as the coherent running of the school.

It’s also important that it works.

I spent today in a primary school, with two classes of 28 (Year 6) and 23 (Year 4). It felt more like being pitted against the combined armies of Genghis Khan and Stalin.

At the start of the day I was told that the school was lucky, it had some troublesome pupils in the past, but that now there were no behavioural issues at all. Previously, there were three or four exclusions a month, both internal and fixed-term external ones. Now though, there were no exclusions at all, that the behaviour never escalated to that level and the school was hoping to lose the ‘Requires Improvement‘ label. The key to this, I was told…

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The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

 

 

Hi Guys,

Recently I have been loving the classics, and after seeing people talk about this all over Youtube I decided to grab this in a recent visit to Waterstone’s. I love my kindle but I just feel a tree book is much more appropriate for a classic.

 

This book is written in a number of different perspectives and is quite typical of a sensation novel of that era. It starts with Walter Hartwright a painting teacher taking a job in Cumberland. There he meets Laura who he falls in love with and her sister, a woman with a lot of sense. He soon finds out Laura is to be married and leaves before his contract is due up. What I haven’t mentioned is the fact that the night before he goes he meets a mysterious woman in white who is looking to get to London he later hears she has escape a mental asylum and it appears she knew Laura and Marian’s mother.

 

This book is fantastic, it is a strong 770 pages long but it is written so well you really couldn’t tell. The book is written beautifully and every ties together so nicely. There are lots of ‘ohhhhh’ moments nearing the end of the book and I could not put it down. I have since bought The Moonstone looking to read more written by this marvellous man.

 

Rating on Goodreads: 5/5

Eeny Meeny Review by MJ Arlidge

 

Hi Guys,

 

Long Time, No See! I noticed this book at the local Tesco and I knew I just had to have it. I came home and instantly downloaded this onto my Kindle. This title just intrigued me. The second I mentioned the rough plotline to my partner the first thing he said was how much it sounded like the film Saw. I have never seen the film but after seeing several reviews of the book on Amazon, I believe this really is the case.

 

A woman in the Southampton area starts picking up couples and  makes them choose between themselves, which one lives and which one days. My crime/horror loving side adored the concept. This starts with a girl called Amy and her boyfriend Sam sat in a diving pool with no way out. They have to decided, which one will die and which one will run free.

 

The police officer leading the investigation is a Helen Grace and this is a woman with issues, she is great to read and I loved finding out more and more about her as time went on.

As always I will not include spoliers but this book is truly great and deserves anybody’s attention. I can not wait to read the next one!

Waterstones Current Promotion

Hi Guys,

Just a quick note to tell you of the current offer Waterstones is running. They are running a loyalty scheme at the moment for both members and none members for every £10 spent in store you will receive 1 stamp. Once you have 10 stamps you get a a free £10 voucher to spend in store.

Not only that you will still accumulate points on your loyalty card as normal (3 for pound) – soon you will have books growing out of your ears!

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

I am a big Film Noir fan everyone in my life knows this. The Big Sleep is one of the few top rating Noirs that I have yet to see, but I was very interested in the book. This is the first in the Philip Marlowe mysteries and and begins with him being called onto a job. If you don’t know he is a private eye living in California in the 1940s.

He is called upon by General Sternwood an elderly man with two wild daughters to deal with a blackmailing problem and at the time he expresses how he missed his Son – in law he left a couple of months previously. There is something off about this family and Marlowe knows it. A number of blackmailers, pornographers and muders later he finally discovers what is really going on.

My Thoughts

I honestly went into this expecting very little. I wanted to try it and see how it felt. I have historically had real problems with ‘classic’ novels and find them very difficult reads, however this was different. I was hooked from the very first page and read the entire book in a day (a work day I may also add). His writing style is gritty in a beautiful and the events and characters sound just like a film noir. This is hard-boiled at it’s best. I have also just finished number two Farewell my lovely, which I will write about soon.

Notes

This book was written in the 1940s meaning certain words and phrases are used as they were the social norms at the time. Some comments in the book may sound racist, feminist and homophobic in this book. Do not read if easily offended or upset by such words or comments.

Mad About Manga!

Up until recently I had not read a single page of Manga, but at Christmas this all changed. My boyfriend bought me the first Sailor Moon book. I know, I know this is a little but girly and maybe not what real Manga is about but I have really enjoyed it. I am a number of books into the serious now and decided to purchase the next one today at Waterstones in Liverpool. It was not available, instead I bought a volume of Sailor Moon short stories and the first book of the Absolute Boyfriend Series (reviews will be up soon).

Here are some of the series I really want to get into:

1. Fruits Basket : I cannot find these books on sale anywhere in the UK! This just looks like the sweetest story and there are a number of volumes. I have read a few reviews and this seems to be very promising.
2. Are you Alice? : A young boy finds him self in a dream world and it looks like there has just been a tea party. That’s right this is a Manga series based on Alice in Wonderland and there are a number of spin off series too.
3. Girls of the Wild’s: This just looks like a super fun romance series when a girls only school is suddenly taking in boys. All the chaos that ensues really sparks my interest.

I know I like my Manga sugary sweet (in stark contrast from the type of fiction I normally like) but what do you think will you be giving this genre a try anytime soon?

Hx

 

 

Hard Case Crime Wishlist…

Hi Everyone,

After reading The Colorado Kid and noticing that the publisher was ‘Hard Case Crime’ I decided to have a look and their website and see what was available. I couldn’t believe how many books I found! They all feature beautiful retro artwork and have such cool names. As with most books I would buy them on the kindle but at a starting price of around £5.50 , there is no way that I could get the haul that I truly wanted. Here are a few that I have vowed to treat myself once I have cleared some of my to read pile.

1. False Negative by Joseph Koenig –  This author has won award for his fiction before and this particular one is about a journalist running an article on a beauty queen. In true noir style we can call imagine how that turns out..
   
2. Murder is my Business by Brett Halliday – This is part of the Mike Shayne mysteries. Shayne is a private eye and this time he has been hired by a millionaire  – it is ten years later and he runs into the millionaire’s daughter. No good can come of this… Mike Shayne had starred in more than seventy novels and numerous TV shows and movies. 
3. House Dick by E Howard Hunt – this looks amazing. As you can probably tell by the title this is about a hotel detective working in a Washington Hotel. This particular author went to prison for his involvement in the Watergate scandal. And Richard Nixon is quoted as saying ‘This fellow Hunt… he know too damn much.’

There are so many I am interested but I would be writing all day. Have you read any of the Hard Case Crime books if so what did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Flashback Friday – The Princess Diaries

Hi Everyone,

I have decided to do something a little bit different for the blog. I am going to be going back to my childhood book loves and reading them again – or trying new material from these authors. I will still continue to love my crime and horror but I want to see if the tone is appropriate for the age group etc

The first book I started with was the Princess Diaries and I just read the first one – there is a whole series.

These were some of my favourites. Mia Thermopolis is 14 years old and lives with her scatty mum in a Manhattan loft. She has a normal live until she finds out she is a Princess.

Read this book reminded me very much of my teenage self Mia is extremely self absorb and emotional. She is scared to assert herself and is totally in love with Josh Richter the best looking boy in the school. Her best friend is Lilly and she has a TV show on public access TV. This book is fun and fluffy and although there are some hints of sex and innuendo in there it is not inappropriate. Some of the scenes are actually genuinely really funny.

This book allows girls to fantasize about being a Princess in a normal setting.

Due to the references this is probably not appropriate for children below 12.

Format: I own this on the Kindle

Pages: 234

Goodreads Score: 3.7 (I scored it a 4)

Book Review: The Colorado Kid by Stephen King

Hi Everyone,

I am sorry to follow up with another Stephen King book review so quickly but I have a huge backlog of books I need to review and this is one of them.

Colorado Kid is one of Stephen King’s crime books and also happens to be a novella. I like both the his books with a crime strain and also his shorter books. I was so excited to read this one as it had been sitting on my kindle for ages.

This story follows Stephanie who is currently interning at a small paper and she is talking to the two owners/editors. They begin to tell her a story about how a man was found washed up on the beach and noone had any idea where he had come from or how he got there. Some deduction at the time meant that they discovered the man’s name but how he got there was still a total mystery.

I liked this. It had a noiresque feel to it, which I can really connect to. It does not finish all wrapped up like a number of crime books and that made me like it even more. This includes some of the slight glimpses into the future that Stephen King does so well and again (like in The Cycle of the Werewolf) he manages to scale his descriptive work back. This has encouraged me to discover more of these titles and I think the next stop for me is Joyland!

Format: As always for me Kindle

Approx Pages: 184

Goodreads Rating : 3.18 ( I gave this a 4)