Psycopaths Anonymous by Will Carver#RandomThingsTours Orenda Books

About the book:

When AA meetings make her want to drink more, alcoholic
murderess Maeve sets up a group for psychopaths.
Maeve has everything. A high-powered job, a beautiful home,
a string of uncomplicated one-night encounters. She’s also an
addict: a functioning alcoholic with a dependence on sex and an
insatiable appetite for killing men.
When she can’t find a support group to share her obsession, she
creates her own. And Psychopaths Anonymous is born. Friends of
Maeve.
Now in a serious relationship, Maeve wants to keep the group a
secret. But not everyone in the group adheres to the rules, and
when a reckless member raises suspicions with the police, Maeve’s
drinking spirals out of control. She needs to stop killing. She needs
to close the group. But Maeve can’t seem to quit the things that
are bad for her, including her new man…

Will Carver returns with the electrifying and original Psychopaths Anonymous, a scathing, violent and darkly funny thriller about love, connection, obsessions and sex – and the aspects of human nature we’d prefer to hide……

My thoughts:

This is only my second read by Will Carver. The other being The Beresford, which I found dark and bleakly comedic and thought couldn’t be beaten. But I was wrong; this book knocks it out of the ball park. What delicious, creepy and twisted. Let me say at the outset this book is not for the squeamish or faint hearted. But for those who like the dark and twisted I can only say Read on!

Meave is a functioning alcoholic, holding down a well paid job in advertising. She makes the decision to join AA. What are her reasons behind this decision. Easy, to stop drinking. Wrong she has no intention of quitting drink. She wants to meet people with the object of killing them. Oh I forgot to tell you one thing. Meave is a psychopath! When AA doesn’t give her what she wants she decides to set up a group of her own Psychopath Anonymous. Initially to meet like minded people but also to meet potential victims. There are two things Meave cannot give up……….dinking and killing people.

Nothing changes her mind, or so it seems until she meets Seth and falls in love with him and not the idea of killing him.

There are some people who think that Will must be a bit of psychopath himself, I don’t know about this but he seems to get into their minds and sets up the reader for a walk on the dark side of town. As I said previously not for the faint hearted but I found this book engrossing. After all we agree that we have functioning alcoholics so why shouldn’t the same rule apply to psychopaths.

A great read , very entertaining and highly recommended. A 5 star read for me. Give it a try if you dare.

Many thanks to Will Carver for the story.

Also thanks to Karen Sullivan @Orendabooks for the ARC

And thanks to Anne Cater for the tour invite.

The author:

Will Carver is the international bestselling author of the January David series. He
spent his early years in Germany, but returned to the UK at age eleven, when his
sporting career took off. He turned down a professional rugby contract to study
theatre and television at King Alfred’s, Winchester, where he set up a successful
theatre company. He currently runs his own fitness and nutrition company, and
lives in Reading with his two children. Will’s latest title published by Orenda Books,
The Beresford was published in July. His previous title Hinton Hollow Death Trip
was longlisted for the Not the Booker Prize, while Nothing Important Happened
Today was longlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year.
Good Samaritans was book of the year in Guardian, Telegraph and Daily Express,
and hit number one on the ebook charts

The Dublin Railway Murder by Thomas Morris#Blog Tour @RandomThingsTours Historical True Crime

The Book:

A thrilling and perplexing investigation of a
true Victorian crime at a Dublin railway
station.
Dublin, November 1856: George Little, the chief cashier of the
Broadstone railway terminus, is found dead, lying in a pool of
blood beneath his desk.
He has been savagely beaten, his head almost severed; there is
no sign of a murder weapon, and the office door is locked,
apparently from the inside. Thousands of pounds in gold and
silver are left untouched at the scene of the crime.
Augustus Guy, Ireland’s most experienced detective, teams up with Dublin’s leading lawyer
to investigate the murder. But the mystery defies all explanation, and two celebrated sleuths
sent by Scotland Yard soon return to London, baffled.
Five suspects are arrested then released, with every step of the salacious case followed by
the press, clamouring for answers. But then a local woman comes forward, claiming to know
the murderer….
The Dublin Railway Murder tells the story of the extraordinary 1856 murder mystery that
gripped a nation – and the sensational trial that followed. Thomas Morris discovered a
treasure trove of contemporary documents in the Irish national archives – including original
police interviews, surveillance reports and secret government memos, undisturbed for years –
that have allowed him to reconstruct the twists and turns of a complex nineteenth-century
murder inquiry in unprecedented detail. The Dublin Railway Murder is a fascinating in-depth
investigation that reads like a mystery novel

My Thoughts:

This was an engrossing book. A book that will appeal to many types of readers. The true crime lover and people who love crime and historical fiction. It seems to combine elements of all of these genres. It will also appeal to lovers of the locked room mysteries favoured by Agatha Christie and her contemporaries. And it is bloody great read.

It concerns the murder of George Little, chief cashier at Broadstone railway terminus. George was a man of routine and you could set your watch by him. He was as punctual as the trains that arrived and departed from the terminus. And when his routine is broken people naturally get suspicious and when they find the door to his office locked and receiving no answer decide to break in and on doing so make a grizzly discovery. George is dead and his throat has been cut. At first suicide is suspected, but if George did it where is the weapon?

Later on a postmortem discloses that George has been beaten about the head and a murder hunt is launched. As we read on the investigation throws up more questions than answers. Maybe we are looking through modern eyes, but people of all descriptions are wandering through and contaminating the crime scene. This narrative lays bare the prejudices of Victorian Dublin.

Many suspects are arrested and discounted and when a trial is finally held the prosecution witnesses cannot agree. The main suspect was placed on trial, because he did it or because he looked strange having only one eye.

A fascinating read that uncovers the ineptitude and prejudices of our not too distant history. A book I thoroughly recommend to anyone who likes a good a good mystery to sink their teeth into.

The Author:

Thomas Morris is a writer and historian. His first book The Matter of the
Heart (Bodley Head, 2017), a critically-acclaimed history of cardiac surgery,
won a Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award for non-fiction. He is also
the author of The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth (Bantam, 2018). He was
previously a BBC radio producer for 18 years, and his freelance journalism
has appeared in publications including The Times, The Lancet and the TLS.
@thomasngmorris / http://www.thomas-morris.uk

Thanks to the author and publishers for the ARC which I have reviewed honestly.

Also many thanks to Anne Cater for the tour invite.

Million Eyes 11: The Unraveller By C.R.Berry# Blog Tour Time Traveller#Conspiracy

About the book:

Following an impossible discovery in East London, archaeologist Dr Samantha Lester joins forces with software developer Adam Bryant to investigate the events that led to the disappearance of his best friend, Jennifer, and to bring down the people responsible – Million Eyes.

Before long, Lester and Adam are drawn into a tangled conspiratorial web involving dinosaurs, the Gunpowder Plot, Jesus, the Bermuda Triangle, and a mysterious history-hopping individual called the Unraveller, who is determined to wipe Million Eyes off the temporal map.

But as the secrets of Million Eyes’ past are revealed, picking a side in this fight might not be so easy.

Million Eyes II: The Unraveller is the second book in the Million Eyes Trilogy by C.R. Berry

My thoughts:

Well here we are at book two. I read book one and thought it couldn’t be topped but I was wrong. Such a great follow up and really whets the appetite for book three.

But more about book The Unraveller, it was a great follow up. Million Eyes are the bad guys. Out to control the world and change history to suit their own purposes.

The book starts off with the impossible, a dinosaur skeleton millions of years old. Nothing strange about that except in its stomach are the skeletons of two young boys. I could tell you who they are but it is better if you read the book. I don’t want to spoil the surprise and this book is full of surprises. Ranging from the days of the dinosaur to 2000+ years into the future.

The unraveller is out to stop Million Eyes. So the good guy right? I thought that but as we romp through time and things are not what they seem and the lines are blurred it’s not as easy to tell who is or bad. But one thing is certain you better be sure you are on the right side.

C.R. Berry has written a book full of surprises and imagination and will keep you turning the pages furiously and hope you are rooting for the right side. The storyline is fantastic and improbable and so good.

I highly recommend mash up of SciFi, thriller and conspiracy theory but it is so bloody good. Grab a copy as soon as you can.

The Author:

C.R. Berry writes conspiracy thrillers with lashings of sci-fi and fantasy. He is a former lawyer turned full-time writer and blogs regularly about conspiracy theories, time travel and otherworldly weirdness.

He was shortlisted in the 2018 Grindstone Literary International Novel Competition and has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Storgy, Dark Tales, Theme of Absence and Suspense Magazine. He was also shortlisted in the Aeon Award Contest, highly commended by Writers’ Forum, and won second prize in the inaugural To Hull and Back Humorous Short Story Competition.

Why conspiracy thrillers? Because Berry’s favourite characters are often the villains, and in a conspiracy thriller, the villains are numerous and everywhere. They tend to be part of the government, the church, a big corporation, or a secret society, which makes them much scarier — and harder to beat — than a singular bad guy. Part of the fun of a conspiracy thriller is unveiling those involved, discovering their plans, and exposing the ‘big bad’ who masterminded it all.

Berry grew up in Farnborough, Hampshire, a town he says has as much character as a broccoli. He’s since moved to the “much more interesting and charming” Haslemere in Surrey

The Reacher Guy by Heather Martin#Blog Tour#Biography Lee Child#Jack Reacher RandomThingsTours

About the Book:

The definitive, authorised biography of

Lee Child

“Riveting . . . archival diligence . . . [Martin] is a skilled and audacious interlocutor, too, but her subject is just as adept as interviewee . . . starkly affecting” – Irish Times

The Reacher Guy is a life of bestselling superstar Lee Child, a portrait of the artist as a young man, refracted through the life of his fictional avatar, Jack Reacher. It tells the story of how the boy from Birmingham reinvented himself to become the strongest brand in publishing, selling over one hundred million books in more than forty different languages across the globe.

Heather Martin interviews friends, teachers, colleagues and neighbours, including agents and editors. Based primarily on her conversations with the author over a period of years, together with readings of his books and research in his literary archive, this authorised biography reveals the man behind the myth, tracing his origins back through the generations to Northern Ireland and County Durham, and following the trajectory of his extraordinary career via New York and Hollywood until the climactic moment when, in 2020, having written a continuous series of twenty-four books, he finally floats free of his fictional creation.

Lee Child comments: “I met Heather Martin some years ago, and we started talking about why people love telling and hearing stories. To get more depth and detail we started talking about why I do. Eventually I said, ‘If you want to really get to the bottom of it, you’re going to have to write my biography.’ So she did. It was a fun and illuminating process. I had forgotten a lot, and it was fascinating to be reminded. Now it all makes sense.”

“Vivid and entertaining . . . a must-buy for any aspiring novelist, thanks in particular to its terrific insight into how Child’s first book was written, rewritten, edited, sold and published.” – The Telegraph

“You’ll emerge from the first 300-odd pages knowing more about [Child’s] formative years that you do about your own.” – The Times

My Thoughts:

This was a book of two halves. The story of James Dover Grant aka Lee Child. The story of his formative years. His relationship with his parents, siblings and his school and workmates.

I found the first 200+ pages a bit of a drag with the constant reference to the Reacher books and how Lee’s thinking was similar to Reacher’s and we were treated to passages from his books. As most people who will read this biography are familiar with the books and this part I found meandering and felt these passages could be left out. I found this first part a frustration but weirdly at times a joy.

Having said that I think the last part of the book was the best as it read more like a Reacher book. Straight forward and to the point.

This was when we got more information on the reason and process of Lee’s writing. His motivation to become one of the world’s bestselling authors. We witness how his creation Reacher goes from a fictional creation to a hero of legendry status. Everyone has their own picture of Reacher and most of the readers’ picture is certainly not Tom Cruise. The hue and cry when this actor was cast as Reacher was legendry.

All in all this book at times was a slog but let the reader into the mind of Lee Child/ James Dover Grant and it was overall a good read.

About the author:

Author biography:

Heather Martin was born in West Australia. She grew up in Aix-en-Provence, Paris, and Perth, where she would fall asleep to the sound of the Indian Ocean. She left Australia for England to become a classical guitarist but found herself singing with a Venezuelan folk group and learning to speak Spanish instead. She read Languages at Cambridge, where she also did a PhD in comparative literature, and has held teaching and research positions at Cambridge, Hull, King’s College London, and most recently, the Graduate Center, City University New York. Heather is a long-time Reacher fan. While waiting to get her hands on the next in the series, she once read a Lee Child book in Spanish and wound up writing to the author about the fate of his character in translation. The Reacher Guy is her first biography.

Blog Tour#REDEMPTION BY TROY DEENEY#Football Biography RandomThingsTours

About the Book:

Troy Deeney is best known for being Watford’s talismanic captain,
but behind the successful, outspoken and forthright football
persona is a remarkable story of resilience, hardship and ambition.
In his brutally honest and inspirational memoir, Troy shares what
it was like to grow up on Europe’s largest council estate, where his
mum worked three jobs and his father, a notorious drug dealer, was
frequently in and out of prison.
He shares countless amazing stories from his time growing up
in the midlands, when life was hard, yet instrumental in shaping
the man Troy would become. He describes his moments of self
sabotage and a complex and devoted relationship with his father.
Despite all the setbacks, bad luck and errors of judgement, Troy
went on to score more than 20 goals in three successive seasons
and become Club Captain, an FA Cup finalist, a promotion winner
(twice) and a Watford legend. Engaging, endearing
and insightful, this book is where Troy – one of
the most entertaining controversial footballers
of the modern age-comes to terms with his
turbulent past

MY THOUGHTS:

I must admit I don’t know much about Troy Deeney. Ok I have heard his name mentioned on football commentaries on Sky Sports. But as a man, his background, childhood etc I knew nothing but this book changed all that.

I picked this book up expecting the usual football biography: the last minute goal that won the match, the number of hat-tricks he has scored etc. But no I was pleasently surprised. This book told me more about the man, his family and basically his roots. Troy was very honest about his formative years and the influences on that’

He is mixed race, his Dad, not his biological father was a big influence in his life, though not often what you would think as a conventional father figure often being absent due to imprisonment. He was also was a violent man, beating Troy’s mother; yet Troy loved him.

This book also tells the reader about Troy’s involvement in the Black Lives Matter movement, but he also does not approach from a black perspective but also from an Asian, mixed race and also from a white viewpoint. In fact Troy has respect for his fellow human beings and expects the same in return.

To sum up in a few words.

A good book. Not your usual football biography. Speaks a lot about his childhood, his Dad who was a figure in his life except when he was in jail. Also speaks about racial prejudice and how we must all challenge it! An honest biography. Recommended

The author:

TROY DEENEY
Troy is a Watford legend who has made over
380 League appearances and scored more than
130 competitive goals in 11 years at the Club.
He played for Chelmsley Town in non-League,
before being signed by Walsall in 2006. In 2012
he was imprisoned for affray. Vowing to turn his
life around he went on to score 20+ goals in three
successive seasons. In August 2021 he will captain
Watford in their return to the Premier League.
In late 2020, Troy joined talkSPORT as a new
presenter and started fortnightly column with
The Sun, offering a fresh perspective on the game.
Troy has more than 160k followers on Twitter
(@T_Deeney) and has already featured on
Louis Theroux’s Grounded podcast. He was a
key organiser of the Premier League’s support
of Black Lives Matter.
Redemption will be supported by a major publicity
and marketing campaign across all forms of media