ALPHA : VULTURE by Marc Jaytin

Part one of a three part crime thriller.

I’ve read many books with unhinged, murderous characters in my time. Crime thrillers, police procedurals, horrors, true crime and suchlike have always pulled me in. I’m an absolute sucker for the macabre side of human nature.

I beta read ALPHA : VULTURE by Marc Jaytin last year when it was in its early stages. Marc was kind enough to send me a digital copy initially and then a finished physical copy shortly after.

It’s the story of a man on the edge, who tried to end his own pain, but failed. He came back for revenge on society with a toxic mindset that matched his opinions. He plans an organised but cryptic (to the reader) killing spree, travelling mostly by train to different parts of the UK with one thing on his mind. The urge to kill.

The writing is angry, the main character a frustrated, bitter man. He’s right in your face and his sole purpose is to chew you up and spit you out. And probably laugh at you afterwards, if he doesn’t decide to kill you, that is.

For such a good book, it’s got an incredibly bad attitude. It’s begging to be the subject of debate, the heated, argumentative sort.

This debut is difficult to pigeonhole into one genre. It’s a story with very dark overtones, a hint of comedy, a lot of outspoken and questionable statements. The rolling theme of mental illness is weaved throughout the story, Marc isn’t frightened for his character to piss the reader off, for me, it just added to the appeal. I have little doubt it will get some people’s backs up.

ALPHA : VULTURE is perfect for readers such as myself, I love a good verbal roasting in stories. I’m thoroughly entertained by a bit of blood and gore providing it fits the story. The shock factor here is multi- layered. It’s not just in the visuals as you read, but in the dialogue.

This book is a bit weird, I won’t lie. It’s graphic, sweary, gruesome and questionable. There’s bizarre lists, it goes off on strange tangents, but this is the workings of an unsettled mind, so it actually works. It’s destined to start someone tweeting or ranting or demanding it be ‘cancelled’ about something or other. But that’s the world we’re living in, and Marc isn’t frightened to allow his character to speak his mind, irrespective of possible repercussions. Perhaps he’s simply a chip off of the authors block.

Thank you Marc for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Nothing Important Happened Today by Will Carver

‘Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would have preferred to talk’.

First of all, I’d like to start off by saying a massive thank you to Penny who blogs over at www.whatdoireadnow.co.uk for hosting an arc book giveaway on Twitter. I entered and was so surprised that I won!!

Right, so, how on earth can I write a review for Nothing Important Happened Today that’s going to make any sense at all because it BLEW MY MIND! I guess I’ll just start typing and see how it goes…

When strangers take part in a series of group suicides, everything suggests that a cult is to blame. How do you stop a cult when nobody knows they are a member?

Nine suicides. One cult. No leader.

Click on the noose for Goodreads Synopsis

Carver by name. Carver by nature.

Crikey Will, your book has carved up my brain, your sharp words and stabby no nonsense writing style had my undivided attention instantly. INSTANTLY I TELL YOU.

Nothing Important Happened Today has the most aggressive narrative I’ve ever read. Each page was telling me something I needed to hear, in straight up, no nonsense language. Words were being thrown at me, paragraphs hitting me square between the eyes. Whole pages making me forget to bloody well blink for gods sake!! Carver ensures that you are one hundred percent listening to what he has to say.

There was an odd familiarity to each character, a strange, relatable feeling that often made me STOP and just THINK. I’d find myself staring out the window, trying to understand why I connected to a diverse bunch of characters that surely I had nothing in common with…

ALSO!!! Is it just me, or are there HIDDEN MESSAGES in this book?? Am I going crazy? Is Mr Carver trying to tell me something? Advise me? I just don’t know.

Anyway, back to the story. I love crime fiction. I also thoroughly enjoy True Crime, but I’ve never read anything that incorporates the two together. One of the BEST things about NIHT (apart from the GENIUS STORYLINE) was the real life serial killer references, a fascinating and brilliant insight into the real crimes that gave this story real guts.

This is the deepest of darkest stuff people.

‘Take social media. Take these Millenials’.

To best describe this book, (the style of the writing more than the plot itself) I’d say it was the English equivalent of Irvine Welshs’ Trainspotting. (Minus the jacking up and Scottish lingo that even my Scottish husband can’t understand!)

I don’t want to start ooh-ing and aah-ing about how much I want you to go buy this book, or borrow it from the library or download it to your Kindle. (Other e-readers are available of course!)

I certainly won’t go on about how sensitive the subject matter is. This book is full of triggers.

I often experience difficulties when reading books with more than, say, 4 or 5 characters. I didn’t have any trouble here though. Carvers’ short chapters with simple titles helped to keep me in the loop. This book was as EASY TO READ as it was HARD.

HANG ON A MINUTE! It’s just clicked. I related so much to Carvers’ characters because just like them, I’m a NOBODY!

I see it now. Crystal clear.

I don’t think I can write anymore about this book because it’ll be just mindless waffle. What I will say though is that I’m starting Good Samaritans by Carver in a minute because I simply need to read everything this authors written.

I’ll go and pop my review onto Goodreads, and give it the FIVE STARS IT DESERVES.

Thanks Will for writing this life-like freak show of a story. I loved everything about it.

The Puppet Show (Washington Poe #1) by M W Craven

Call me a psychic! A five star psychic! I predicted that The Puppet Show was going to be brilliant, and I was bloody right! I knew it! I just knew it!

It gave me those vibes, you know what I mean? You pick up or hear about a book, feeling all attracted to the cover. Come on, we ALL love a bit of sinister looking cover art don’t we? The synopsis gives you that ‘oooh, this could be juicy’ feeling. And it gets put right to the top of that enormous TBR, winking at you, beckoning you to pick it up. This one went straight to the top of mine and I couldn’t wait to get stuck in.

Much to my delight there’s murder and fire and stone circles and a copper who’s got the DRIEST sense of humour ever. And there’s a REALLY COOL CHICK too, who wears band tees and happens to be a mathematical genius. I’d also like to mention that there’s a Spaniel called Edgar.

That gives you a basic rambling idea of the two main characters, but I’m going to cast my mind back to my last read for a moment, Murder at the Mill (I’ll call it MATM for short) by M B Shaw. And for those of you who haven’t read my review yet, you may do so HERE if you so desire. Why am I mentioning my previous read I hear you cry?! Particularly in another book review as well! Shocking! Let me explain.

Similies. Descriptions. Creative writing in general. It has to be good. Clever. Funny. Emotional. Flowy. I could go on. I’m a tough reader to please. MATM is a perfect example of how NOT to do it. In contrast, The Puppet Show is a perfect example of how it SHOULD be done. It’s creative, witty, well planned and brilliantly researched. Craven’s similes are CLASS. After my last read I was so relieved that this author can write. He can write gooooood.

‘The chief constable walked like a man badly in need of a stool softener.’

‘He had a drinker’s nose and his upturned chin resembled a jester’s boot.’

If there’s one thing I enjoy when I’m reading, it has to be when characters’ personalities shine through and they become so real.

‘Poe pointed at the BPhil after Francis Sharples’s name and asked, ‘You know what that means, Tilly? ‘Bachelor of Philosophy, Poe.’ Poe shook his head. ‘It means he’s a cock.’

Dry, British humour always gets a thumbs up from me, particularly if there’s some cracking insults in the mix.

The Puppet Show is one hell of a ride, I read it in just under two weeks but I wanted to read it in one sitting. Life got right in the way, and I found myself drifting off thinking about it when I should of been concentrating on work. I really wanted to cancel a family occasion as well because I just wanted to read. I love how a great book can make me feel so unsociable and selfish.

I’ve always been a fan of crime fiction, especially when it’s about a serial killer, my first being Silence of the Lambs twenty-odd years ago. I have also recently discovered Robert Bryndza and J D Barker for new reading in this genre. M W Craven is now up there for me as a go-to author as I just love the Britishness he injects into his story.

I cannot fault The Puppet Show in any way, I highly recommend it. It is pretty graphic in places and there’s a bit of sweary dialogue, but it all fits a treat. For a debut novel, this is exciting and gripping from start to finish. And I’m pleased to say that the author has just finished #2 and is writing #3. YESSSSSS! GET IN THERE! I will undoubtedly read the next instalment of Poe and Bradshaw solving gruesome murders in their quirky and entertaining way.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Little, Brown Book Group UK and M.W. Craven for an advanced copy of this awesome book in exchange for an honest review. The pleasure was all mine.

 

Sweet Little Lies by Caz Frear

Sweet Little Lies by Caz Frear

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Here’s a slightly different than normal review. Because this is a very different from normal police procedural crime novel.
I won’t go through the synopsis because you can read it for yourselves, but I recommend this to ALL MY FOLLOWERS WHO LOVE BRITISH CRIME.

Thoughts
Wow! Was this really a debut?
How can a ‘first timer’ be this good?
How long did it take to establish such awesome characters for a first book? Very impressive.
Is Caz Frear writing another?
And if so, when?
This doesn’t read like a debut.
It must of took some long and deep thought processes to create all these incredible people in the story.
I loved everyone for so many different reasons.
The intricacies of the whole story were simply complex, if that makes sense.
I love Cat Kinsella.
I need more of this kind of stuff.

Ok, the above ramblings needed to be off-loaded, because I absolutely loved this book! I’d reached page 46, and was thinking, this could be an average crime-mystery police procedural read. But then there was this;

‘Prepping the incident board are man-mountain DS Pete Flowers and blade-thin DC Craig Cooke – aka the Feast and the Famine.’

That alone, made me grin so much! So inventive! Characters that are given a personal and humorous persona from other characters POV’s before we even know them properly. I like that. I like that A LOT.

Caz Frear is a brilliant writer. She really attached the characters and story to my nosyness. I felt as though these people were so real! It gripped me quickly. There was mystery a-plenty, and I was hooked from about page 50. That is good going for me, I can tell you.

I absolutely loved this all the way through. And heading towards the very satisfying conclusion this little beauty of the New Years Eve scenario just grabbed me and had me nodding in agreement;

‘I’ve never subscribed to the cult of New Years Eve. Never grasped the fascination. All that reflecting on the past and hoping for the future always strikes me as a profoundly bad idea when you’ve been poisoning your body for seven days straight, and your nervous system’s shot to pieces by marathon-style boozing and energy-sapping grub’.

Oh how bloody true. I couldn’t agree more. Cat Kinsella, will you be my friend?

A very deserving 4 stars out of 5.

I’d like to thank Readers First and the author, Caz Frear for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review
View all my reviews