Hall of Fame Review: Deadly Obsession by Nigel May

Wednesday 17 February 2016
Title: Deadly Obsession
Author: Nigel May
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 19th February 2016
Pages: 380
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 5/5
Purchase: Amazon
Sex, money and obsessive love – welcome to the marriage of millionaires Amy and Riley

Amy Barrowman grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. So when she marries millionaire Riley Hart, she can’t believe her luck. Not only does she have wealth and security for life, she has found true love. Or so she thinks…

Riley Hart is a Millionaire Man about Town. Men want to be him and women want to bed him. But to achieve Riley’s status, you have to tread on a lot of toes and make a lot of enemies.

When Riley is gunned down at the nightclub they own, Amy is determined to avenge his death. She receives a mysterious letter detailing a list of suspects including Riley’s sworn enemy, actor Grant Wilson. But with an obsessive passion brewing between her and Grant and a dangerous assassin trailing her every move it would seem Amy has opened a deadly and tempting Pandora’s Box. As Amy gives into temptation, the scene is set for a stunning climax.

Lose yourself where you don’t belong in the world of DEADLY OBSESSION.

I'm not sure whether I hate it or love it when a book is so good that you don't even know where to start with reviewing it. Nigel May immediately shot to the top of my must read author list in 2015 when I picked up Addicted and, well, literally became addicted to his words, his characters and his masterful way of weaving a story that I never want to end. When I pressed my Kindle screen and read the final page of Deadly Obsession, I immediately started sulking because I wasn't ready for the story to be over.

A sign of just how much I love a book is when I have to download a copy of it to the Kindle app on my iPhone, just so I can read it at every available opportunity, including those where I probably shouldn't be reading it! I read it at bus stops, on the bus, in supermarkets, walking down the street, basically anywhere I could take my phone out and escape into the world Nigel had created and I hated every single interruption that prevented me from reading it. So, hopefully by now you've got an idea that I might just have fell in love with Deadly Obsession...

Nigel May's books are marketed as bonkbusters and whilst Deadly Obsession has all of those steamy scenes that Nigel seemingly writes so effortlessly, the story within is also a multi-layered mystery full of crime and juicy twists and turns. It's also very much a thriller. It's essentially a whole mix of different genres, and for me was everything I wanted from a book and more, all mixed up into an extremely delicious, entertaining and satisfying concoction. I said in my review of Scandalous Lies that Nigel could turn his hand to writing crime fiction and this isn't actually far off.

In most bonkbusters by various other authors (Queen Jackie aside), I often find that the world in which they inhabit is just too decadent for me that I could never even imagine being a part of it myself. Sometimes, that's all part of the fun but occasionally you want to read a story featuring real people who take you within that world, people that you can imagine existing because you know people like that. Amy Barrowman is one such character who was basically nothing, a nobody until she met Riley Hart, a man who introduced her to a world she had only ever dreamt about in the past. Amy and Riley had everything until one night he and her best friend were murdered at her club, the hottest club in Manchester. Amy assumes that everything would have been left to her in Riley's will, but she's in for a terrible shock when she finds out that she has been left with nothing but a mortgage she hasn't a chance of ever repaying. Everything meanwhile has been left to Riley's business partner and his wife, and these two vile characters can't wait to rub it in Amy's face. As if that wasn't enough she receives a mysterious letter from someone from her past, someone who she would never have imagined writing to her.

Nigel tells the story in the present day but keeps on taking us back to various points in the past introducing us to new characters, revealing to us who hates who and who might have had motive for wanting Riley dead. We find out how all the characters met and became friends, enemies and lovers. Just when I became completely engrossed in one world, Nigel swept me right into the action in another world and this was a brilliant way to tell the story and it resulted in one hell of a rollercoaster ride of a read that I never wanted to end. The glamour and excitement in Deadly Obsession comes from these flashbacks as we witness how Amy and Riley built their life together.

There's so many characters in Deadly Obsession and I wouldn't list them all for fear of ruining the story. Nigel has created some truly hateful characters here but all that did for me was endear me to the other characters even more. I'm never one of those love them all equally types, if you ask me my favourite character I'll always shout it from the rooftops and my favourite character in Deadly Obsession was Amy. She was just such a real character and money aside, I know people like her, I grew up with people like her and she was a character that I was really able to relate to. In my head she became a real person, and because Nigel describes everything so richly and vividly, I felt as if I was right alongside her through every step of her journey, cheering her on and wanting her to succeed.

The mystery element of Deadly Obsession is incredible. It is brilliantly done. Written in a way where you cleverly think you know that something is going to happen, and then it just doesn't and you are left feeling stupid. When the book first opens and we learn some major details about Riley Hart, I was left in a state of confusion. Wondering just what was going to happen and how this story would ultimately unfold. Don't even try to assume where Nigel is going to take the story, just sit back, enjoy the ride and prepare to be shocked! The ending was just amazing, heartstopping, thrilling, just a truly perfect way to end this story and by the end of it I needed to lie down in a dark room to recover. I have to say that Nigel May is absolutely at the top of his game at the minute and is on fire with his storytelling. His last few books have been some of my favourites of the last few years and, dare I say it, he might even now be in my top five authors list which I have to say is a very select list and I don't know just who will have to leave it to make space for the King of Bonkbusters. My only wish is that he would write faster and ahem, like I said in my last review, make me a character! That last bit might be extremely cheeky but well, if you don't ask and all that... Deadly Obsession is a must read book and I can assure you that you will not be disappointed if you pick it up. If you don't enjoy it then I'm sorry but we might just have a falling out.

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