Hall of Fame Review: Ride or Die by Khurrum Rahman

Title: Ride or Die
Author: Khurrum Rahman
Publisher: HQ
Publication Date: 9th July 2020
Pages: 400
Source: NetGalley
Rating: 5/5
Purchase: Amazon

JAY QASIM is finally out of the game and trying to lay low. But then he gets news that rocks his world and drags up everything that he thought he’d left behind. Jay must break his vow never to work with MI5 again and turn to the person who sold him out. But this time he’s determined to do it on his terms.

IMRAN SIDDIQUI once tried to kill Jay but now they have a common adversary. The one thing worse than death is watching the people closest to you die. And after the happiest day of Imran’s life becomes the most tragic, he will stop at nothing to take revenge on the people that have taken away his family.

But when everyone has their own agenda, who can you really trust?

Your most deadly enemy is about to become your closest ally.

Hall of Fame Review: Homegrown Hero by Khurrum Rahman

Title: Homegrown Hero
Author: Khurrum Rahman
Publisher: HQ
Publication Date: 25th July 2019
Pages: 384
Source: Purchased
Rating: 5/5
Purchase: Amazon

Reluctant spy. Trained assassin.
WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?

JAY QASIM is back home in West London and in pursuit of normality. He’s swapped dope-dealing for admin, and spends his free time at the local Muslim Community Centre or cruising around Hounslow in his beloved BMW. No-one would guess that he was the MI5 spy who foiled the most devastating terrorist attack in recent history.

But Jay’s part in sabotaging Ghurfat-Al-Mudarris’ hit on London didn’t pass unnoticed.

IMRAN SIDDIQUI was trained to kill in Afghanistan by the terrorist cell who saved his life after his home was destroyed by war. The time has finally come for him to repay them – throwing him headlong into the path of Jay Qasim.

Now, they must each decide whose side they’re really on.

Review: East of Hounslow by Khurrum Rahman

Title: East of Hounslow
Author: Khurrum Rahman
Publisher: HQ
Publication Date: 30th November 2017
Pages: 353
Source: Purchased
Rating: 5/5
Purchase: Amazon

Meet Jay.
Small-time dealer.
Accidental jihadist.
The one man who can save us all?

Javid – call him Jay – is a dope dealer living in West London. He goes to mosque on Friday, and he’s just bought his pride and joy – a BMW. He lives with his mum, and life seems sweet.

But his world is about to turn upside-down. Because MI5 have been watching him, and they think he’s just the man they need for a delicate mission.

One thing’s for sure: now he’s a long way East of Hounslow, Jay’s life will never be the same again.

With the edgy humour of Four Lions and the pulse-racing tension of Nomad, East of Hounslow is the first in a series of thrillers starring Jay Qasim.

Review: Deep Dark Night by Steph Broadribb

Title: Deep Dark Night
Author: Steph Broadribb
Publisher: Orenda Books
Publication Date: 5th March 2020
Pages: 320
Source: Purchased
Rating: 5/5
Purchase: Amazon

A city in darkness. A building in lockdown. A score that can only be settled in blood…

Working off the books for FBI Special Agent Alex Monroe, Florida bounty-hunter Lori Anderson and her partner, JT, head to Chicago. Their mission: to entrap the head of the Cabressa crime family. The bait: a priceless chess set that Cabressa is determined to add to his collection.

An exclusive high-stakes poker game is arranged in the penthouse suite of one of the city’s tallest buildings, with Lori holding the cards in an agreed arrangement to hand over the pieces, one by one. But, as night falls and the game plays out, stakes rise and tempers flare.

When a power failure plunges the city into darkness, the building goes into lockdown. But this isn’t an ordinary blackout, and the men around the poker table aren’t all who they say they are. Hostages are taken, old scores resurface and the players start to die.

And that’s just the beginning…

Review: Fearless Girl by Emma Tallon

Title: Fearless Girl
Author: Emma Tallon
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 14th April 2020
Pages: 305
Source: NetGalley
Rating: 5/5
Purchase: Amazon

It’s been three years since Freddie Tyler was sent to prison, now he’s back on the streets of London and about to find out that everything has changed.

As Freddie enters his West End club for the first time in years, he finds ex-girlfriend Anna Davis sitting behind his desk, confidently leading his team of men. Anna used to hate the world he lived in, but she has now become a big part of it. And she’s not about to give up running the family business easily.

Anna shows a toughness Freddie has never witnessed in her before when she tells him about her new enterprise, smuggling stolen diamonds through London’s Hatton Garden. And alarm bells start ringing when Freddie meets Anna’s new partner. Cold and ruthless, Roman Gains isn’t someone Freddie trusts around the club and particularly not around Anna.

Whilst tensions flare between Anna and Freddie, a new Russian firm enters their world, determined to bring the Tylers down. And when they take out one of his best men, Freddie has to take drastic action to wrestle control from Anna. But she has other ideas. And when Roman becomes Anna’s closest ally, Freddie finally reaches breaking point. Could this be the fall of the Tyler empire and the last time Freddie and Anna are on the same side?

Hall of Fame Review: Ashes to Ashes by Paul Finch

Title: Ashes to Ashes

Author: Paul Finch

Publisher: Avon Books

Publication Date: 6th April 2017

Pages: 480

Source: Review Copy

Rating: 5/5

Purchase: Amazon

John Sagan is a forgettable man. You could pass him in the street and not realise he’s there. But then, that’s why he’s so dangerous.

A torturer for hire, Sagan has terrorised – and mutilated – countless victims. And now he’s on the move. DS Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg must chase the trail, even when it leads him to his hometown of Bradburn – a place he never thought he’d set foot in again.

But Sagan isn’t the only problem. Bradburn is being terrorised by a lone killer who burns his victims to death. And with the victims chosen at random, no-one knows who will be next. Least of all Heck…

Review: The Girls Next Door by Mel Sherratt

Title: The Girls Next Door
Author: Mel Sherratt
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 27th October 2016
Pages: 296
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 3.5/5
Purchase: Amazon

One warm spring evening, five teenagers meet in a local park. Only four will come out alive.

Six months after the stabbing of sixteen-year-old Deanna Barker, someone is coming after the teenagers of Stockleigh, as a spate of vicious assaults rocks this small community. Revenge for Deanna? Or something more?

Detective Eden Berrisford is locked into a race against time to catch the twisted individual behind the attacks – but when her own niece, Jess Mountford, goes missing, the case gets personal.

With the kidnapper threatening Jess’s life, can Eden bring back her niece to safety? Or will the people of Stockleigh be forced to mourn another daughter…?

Review: The Killing Game by J.S. Carol

Title: The Killing Game
Author: J.S. Carol
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 13th October 2016
Pages: 359
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 4.5/5
Purchase: Amazon

Imagine you are having lunch at an exclusive restaurant, filled with Hollywood’s hottest stars.

And a masked gunman walks in and takes everyone hostage.

You must bargain for your life against a twisted individual who knows everything about you.

He also has a bomb set to detonate if his heart rate changes.

If he dies. You die.

You have four hours to stay alive.

What would you do?

Hall of Fame Review: Deep Down Dead by Steph Broadribb

Title: Deep Down Dead
Author: Steph Broadribb
Publisher: Orenda Books
Publication Date: 15th October 2016
Pages: 320
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 5/5
Purchase: Amazon

Lori Anderson is as tough as they come, managing to keep her career as a fearless Florida bounty hunter separate from her role as single mother to nine-year-old Dakota, who suffers from leukaemia. But when the hospital bills start to rack up, she has no choice but to take her daughter along on a job that will make her a fast buck. And that’s when things start to go wrong. The fugitive she’s assigned to haul back to court is none other than JT, Lori’s former mentor – the man who taught her everything she knows … the man who also knows the secrets of her murky past.

Not only is JT fighting a child exploitation racket operating out of one of Florida’s biggest theme parks, Winter Wonderland, a place where ‘bad things never happen’, but he’s also mixed up with the powerful Miami Mob. With two fearsome foes on their tails, just three days to get JT back to Florida, and her daughter to protect, Lori has her work cut out for her. When they’re ambushed at a gas station, the stakes go from high to stratospheric, and things become personal.

Review: Safe With Me by K.L. Slater

Title: Safe With Me
Author: K.L. Slater
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 3rd November 2016
Pages: 324
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 4.5/5
Purchase: Amazon

Thirteen years ago someone did something very bad to Anna. Now it’s her turn to get even …

Anna lives a solitary existence, taking solace in order and routine. Her only friend is the lonely old lady next door. She doesn’t like to let people to get too close – she knows how much damage they can do.

Then one ordinary day Anna witnesses a devastating road accident and recognises the driver as Carla, the woman who ruined her life all those years ago. Now it’s Anna’s chance to set things straight but her revenge needs to be executed carefully …

First she needs to get to know Liam, the man injured in the accident. She needs to follow the police investigation. She needs to watch Carla from the shadows…

But as Anna’s obsession with Carla escalates, her own secrets start to unravel. Is Carla really dangerous or does Anna need to worry about someone far closer to home?

Review: Burning Angels by Bear Grylls

Title: Burning Angels
Author: Bear Grylls
Publisher: Orion
Publication Date: 2nd June 2016
Pages: 416
Source: Library
Rating: 5/5
Purchase: Amazon

A prehistoric corpse entombed within an Arctic glacier, crying tears of blood.

A jungle island overrun by rabid primates - escapees from a research laboratory's Hot Zone.

A massive seaplane hidden beneath a mountain, packed with a Nazi cargo of mind-blowing evil.

A penniless orphan kidnapped from an African slum, holding the key to the world's survival.

Four terrifying journeys. One impossible path. Only one man to attempt it.

Will Jaeger. The Hunter.

Review: Broken Heart by Tim Weaver

Title: Broken Heart
Author: Tim Weaver
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: 28th July 2016
Pages: 528
Source: Purchased
Rating: 5/5
Purchase: Amazon

A woman drives to a secluded beauty spot on the Somerset coast.
CCTV watches her enter but doesn't see her leaving.
In fact, Lynda Korin is never seen again.

How can someone just disappear?

Her sister calls missing persons investigator David Raker.
For him, the mystery of where she went is only the start. The real question is why a woman with no reason to run would choose to leave her entire life behind?

Was it her decision? Or did someone make it for her?

Raker is an expert at following the echoes of decades-old lies. But only Lynda Korin knows the most shocking secret of all - and she's missing, presumed dead...

Review: The Rule of Fear by Luke Delaney

Title: The Rule of Fear
Author: Luke Delaney
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: 30th June 2016
Pages: 432
Source: Library
Rating: 5/5
Purchase: Amazon

Sergeant Jack King is back on active duty after months off following a violent encounter. On the Met’s promotional fast-track scheme, King is headed straight for the top, but policing the streets is where his heart truly lies.

Tasked with cleaning up the notorious Grove Wood estate, King is determined to rise to the challenge. But it’s not just drug dealers and petty thugs his team have to worry about. Someone on the estate is preying on children, and they need to find the culprit, fast.

Soon King finds himself over his head: the local residents won’t play ball, his superiors want results yesterday, and he’s refusing to admit that he’s suffering from PTSD. As the pressures combine, the line between right and wrong starts to blur and King finds himself in a downward spiral. Only he can save himself – but is it already too late?

Review: Blood Sister by Dreda Say Mitchell

Title: Blood Sister
Author: Dreda Say Mitchell
Publisher: Hodder
Publication Date: 11th August 2016
Pages: 480
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 5/5
Purchase: Amazon

There are two ways out of Essex Lane Estate, better known as The Devil. You make good, or you turn bad.

Jen Miller is determined not to make the same mistakes her mother did. She's waiting to find herself a good job and a decent man.

Her younger sister Tiff is running errands for a gangster and looking for any opportunity for fun and profit. But she might just be in over her head...

The choices you make and the plans you have don't always turn out like you expect. Especially if you live on The Devil's Estate. When their paths cross with the unstoppable Dee - a woman with her own agenda - Jen and Tiff will learn that lesson the hard way.

At least they can rely on each other.

Can't they?

Review: The Evolution of Fear by Paul E. Hardisty

Title: The Evolution of Fear
Author: Paul E. Hardisty
Publisher: Orenda Books
Publication Date: 28th February 2016
Pages: 350
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 5/5
Purchase: Amazon

Claymore Straker is a fugitive with a price on his head. Wanted by the CIA for acts of terrorism he did not commit, his best friend has just been murdered and Rania, the woman he loves, has disappeared. Betrayed by those closest to him, he must flee the sanctuary of his safe house in Cornwall and track her down. As his pursuers close in, Clay follows Rania to Istanbul and then to Cyprus, where he is drawn into a violent struggle between the Russian mafia, Greek Cypriot extremists, and Turkish developers cashing in on the tourism boom. As the island of love descends into chaos, and the horrific truth is unveiled, Clay must call on every ounce of skill and endurance to save Rania and put an end to the unimaginable destruction being wrought in the name of profit. Gripping, exhilarating and, above all, frighteningly realistic, The Evolution of Fear is a startling, eye-opening read that demands the question: How much is truth, and how much is fiction?

Review: See How They Run by Tom Bale

Title: See How They Run
Author: Tom Bale
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 6th May 2016
Pages: 411
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 4/5
Purchase: Amazon

In the dead of night, new parents Alice and Harry French are plunged into their worst nightmare when they wake to find masked men in their bedroom. Men ruthless enough to threaten their baby daughter, Evie.

This is no burglary gone wrong.
The intruders know who they’re looking for – a man called Edward Renshaw.
And they are prepared to kill to get to him.

When the men leave empty handed, little do Alice and Harry realise that their nightmare is just beginning. Is it a case of mistaken identity? Who is Renshaw? And what is he hiding?

One thing is clear – they already know too much.

As Alice and Harry are separated in the run for their lives, there is no time for breathe in their fight to be reunited. And with their attackers closing in, there is only a choice:

STAY ALIVE. OR DON’T.

Review: When She Was Bad by Tammy Cohen

Title: When She Was Bad
Author: Tammy Cohen
Publisher: Transworld
Publication Date: 21st April 2016
Pages: 386
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 4/5
Purchase: Amazon

YOU SEE THE PEOPLE YOU WORK WITH EVERY DAY.

BUT WHAT CAN'T YOU SEE?

Amira, Sarah, Paula, Ewan and Charlie have worked together for years - they know how each one likes their coffee, whose love life is a mess, whose children keep them up at night. But their comfortable routine life is suddenly shattered when an aggressive new boss walks in ....

Now, there's something chilling in the air.

Who secretly hates everyone?

Who is tortured by their past?

Who is capable of murder?

Guest Post: Is Conflict Necessary by CJ Carver

Today is my stop on the blog tour for CJ Carver's brilliant new novel Spare Me the Truth which I have reviewed here. CJ is sharing a guest post asking whether conflict is necessary in books and I hope you enjoy reading it! Spare Me the Truth is out now and it comes highly recommended by me and you can purchase it here.

Dan Forrester, piecing his life back together after the tragic death of his son, is approached in a supermarket by a woman who tells him everything he remembers about his life - and his son - is a lie.

Grace Reavey, stricken by grief, is accosted at her mother's funeral. The threat is simple: pay the staggering sum her mother allegedly owed, or lose everything.

Lucy Davies has been forced from the Met by her own maverick behaviour. Desperate to prove herself in her new rural post, she's on the hunt for a killer - but this is no small town criminal.

Plunged into a conspiracy that will test each of them to their limits, these three strangers are brought together in their hunt for the truth, whatever it costs. And as their respective investigations become further and further entwined, it becomes clear that at the centre of this tangled web is a threat more explosive than any of them could have imagined.

Review: Fire Damage by Kate Medina

Title: Fire Damage
Author: Kate Medina
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: 24th March 2016
Pages: 384
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 4/5
Purchase: Amazon

‘The girl knows,’ he whispered…

Four-year-old Sami is deeply traumatised, and it’s up to psychologist Dr Jessie Flynn to unlock his terrifying memories. She needs to find out who ‘the girl’ is – but nothing can prepare her for the truth about what haunts him.

Meanwhile, Jessie’s former patient, Captain Ben Callan, is investigating the suspicious death of an officer in Afghanistan – the problem is the only suspect refuses to talk.

When a dead body washes up on a Sussex beach, Jessie and Ben’s cases converge. Soon it’s clear that the mystery in Afghanistan began with a secret much closer to home. And a desperate killer will do anything to keep it buried…

Review: Between You and Me by Lisa Hall

Title: Between You and Me
Author: Lisa Hall
Publisher: Carina
Publication Date: 17th March 2016
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 5/5
Purchase: Amazon

They say every marriage has its secrets.

But no one sees what happens behind closed doors.

And sometimes those doors should never be opened …

Sal and Charlie are married. They love each other. But they aren’t happy. Sal cannot leave, no matter what Charlie does – no matter how much it hurts.