I was delighted to be invited onto the blog tour for author Bev Thomas’s debut novel A Good Enough Mother.
A Good Enough Mother follows Ruth Hartland, the Director of a trauma therapy unit in London. She is well respected psychotherapist with a fantastic career, yet her personal life is in bits. Tom her seventeen year old son has been missing for two years and has had no contact with anyone, her marriage has crumbled, and she has a difficult relationship with her daughter Tom’s twin sister. When a disturbed patient is referred she is shocked by the fact that Dan looks exactly like her missing son, and things soon start to spiral out of control as her professional boundaries start to blur.
This is a story of families told from the perspective of a mother dealing with both grief and guilt about her own part in the breakdown of the family. It was a gripping tale that I found fascinating. The author was a trained clinical psychologist and that comes across in the writing. As well as learning about Dan we also find out about other patients, they are background characters but give us a great insight into how Ruth usually works to contrast with her relationship with Dan.
This isn’t necessarily an easy read as it is emotional and sad. The quality of the writing draws you in as it weaves through to its inevitable car crash which I found quite shocking. The character of Ruth is intriguing. For someone who is supposedly at the top of the tree in her career she certainly makes some annoying mistakes, yet that is partly a consequence of her emotional state.
A Good Enough Mother is part mystery and part emotional drama both of which are utterly compelling. I would highly recommend this debut novel.
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A Good Enough Mother by Bev Thomas – BLOG TOUR
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The Last Act by Brad Parks – an extract
Today I am excited to be able to share with you an extract from the thrilling new page-turner from the author of Say Nothing, Brad Parks.
The Last Act follows former Broadway star Tommy Jump. As his final run as Sancho Ponza draws to a close, Tommy is getting ready to give up the stage, find a steady paycheck, and settle down with his fiancée.
Cue Special Agent Danny Ruiz. An old school friend of Tommy’s, now with the FBI, Ruiz makes Tommy an offer that sounds too good to refuse. All Tommy has to do is spend six months in prison, acting as failed bank robber ’Pete Goodrich’.
Inside, he must find and befriend Mitchell Dupree, who has hidden a secret cache of documents incriminating enough to take down New Colima, one of Mexico’s largest drug cartels. If Tommy can get Dupree and reveal where the documents are hidden, the FBI will give him $300,000, more than enough to jumpstart a new life. But does he have what it takes to pull off this one final role?
Read on for an extract from this fantastic sounding novel.
Filed under Crime writing
The Infinite Blacktop by Sara Gran – a review BLOG TOUR
Whilst normally I wouldn’t post twice in one day, sometimes there are just books that it is impossible to say no to, and this was one of them. The Infinite Blacktop is the first I have read by Sara Gran, although it is actually the third novel featuring Private Investigator Claire De Witt.
The book starts with a bang, literally, as Claire comes round after a car accident and realises that someone is trying to kill her. This starts off a novel that is actually three stories in one. There is the mystery in the present day of who is trying to kill Claire. We then shoot back to 1986 where Claire and her friends are teenage detectives until one of them goes missing. Then in the middle we visit 1999 where Claire is trying to get enough hours under her belt to qualify for her PI license investigating a murder in the art world.
I must confess that this took a little while for me to get into. It read at first as a bit Agatha Raisin with each title being The Case of something. (Yes I know lots of other classic detective stories also use this idea that’s just the one that sprang to my mind!) However Agatha Raisin this certainly wasn’t. Claire is moody, violent, has a penchant for drug taking and is happy to use whatever methods necessary to protect herself and solve her cases. I think I would probably have warmed to her more if I had read the previous books whereas in this I didn’t really take to her much. However the stories themselves were interesting. I especially liked the younger version of Claire and it was clever how all the parts interwove throughout.
This was an good read, despite the three timelines it was easy to keep track of and the story went along at speed. Once you get into the swing of the writing I really enjoyed it. Despite my odd reservation about some of Claire’s actions it shows what people are capable of when they are pushed. It is also fascinating to find out about Claire’s previous life and these other time lines give a great insight into why Claire is like she is.
If you like strong female lead characters who take no prisoners then you can’t go far wrong with this gritty tale of a female PI. I will definitely be starting this series from the beginning.
Sara Gran is the author of five critically acclaimed novels, including Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, Come Closer and Dope. She also writes for film and TV, including ’Southland’ and ’Chance’, and has published in The New York Times, The New Orleans Times Picayune and USA Today.
Her latest novel is available here
Visit the other blog tour stops to find out more:
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Cold Desert Sky by Rod Reynolds – extract BLOG TOUR
Today I’m delighted to be on the Blog Tour for the new novel by Rod Reynolds, Cold Desert Sky and to be able to share an extract with you.
Cold Desert Sky is set in both Los Angeles and Las Vegas in 1946. Journalist Charlie Yates and his wife Lizzie are hiding out in motels on the run from gangster Benjamin Siegel. Rather than just move away Yates is determined to stay until he has found out what happened to two missing girls. Nancy and Julie were both aspiring actresses who have been missing for days and Yates has become obsessed with finding them.
Cold Desert Sky is a very atmospheric novel, evoking a real sense of 1940’s American noir. The book tells of cities that are dark and dangerous, filled with gangsters and seedy bars. The story itself is fascinating, with twists and turns that just keep coming throwing the story backwards and forwards across the two cities. This is the third novel from Rod that features the character of Charlie Yates. Although it is the first one I’ve read it won’t be the last. To find out more read on for an extract from chapter one which follows the extract you can find at Bibliophile Bookclub’s blog: https://bibliophilebookclub.com/
Cold Desert Sky by Rod Reynolds – extract
‘Charlie?’
‘Have a seat.’
He glanced around as if looking for his real guest, then slid down the backrest, realisation dawning. ‘You a gumshoe now, or am I a mark?’
‘How’ve you been, Whitey?’
‘Better than you, what I hear.’
I sat back, a glance over his shoulder, wrong-footed by the remark. ‘And what’s that?’
‘You don’t need me to tell you. It’s on your face.’
‘Make like I’m dumb.’
‘You must be. Being in town when he’s looking for you.’
I shrugged. ‘I’m not a hard man to find.’
‘You ought to reconsider that.’
I traced a line across the table. ‘I didn’t come here to talk about Bugsy Siegel.’
‘No?’ He showed real surprise. ‘Hard to believe you got bigger troubles.’
‘How’s your luck with the horses?’
He set his cup down on the Formica. ‘Some days are better than others.’
I took my money clip out – two tens and a twenty wrapped around a wad of ones to pad the roll. ‘I’m looking for information on a couple women. Hollywood-dreamer types.’
He made a point of not looking at the cash, a stool pigeon in a fraying suit clinging to the remnants of his pride. ‘I don’t know Hollywood from dirt.’
‘They were fresh off the bus. They were living in a boarding house in Leimert Park. Nancy Hill and Julie Desjardins.’
He half-smiled. ‘Julie Desjardins from Kansas – sure. Real names?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘These are the missing dames your woman called me about?’ I nodded. ‘They’ve been gone more than a week.’
‘Were they turning tricks?’
My arms tensed.
‘What?’ he said. ‘How else would I hear anything about a couple starlets?’
I closed my eyes and flattened my free hand on the table again. The question was a fair one. ‘The names mean anything to you or not?’
‘Not. But you must’ve figured that, so my guess is you want me to ask around.’
I peeled a ten off.
He shook his head, held up two fingers. I breathed out through my nose and peeled the other one off.
To read more don’t forget to visit the other stops of the blog tour. 
Cold Desert Sky is available on amazon.
Filed under crime fiction, Uncategorized
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