SHOW-OFF AND TELL #41 - Angela Marsons - Play Dead

#41 in the Show-Off and Tell series is another one that I hold very dear to my heart. Play Dead by Angela Marsons.

If you have never heard of Angela Marsons or you have never read her books, I have two things to say to you. Shame on you, and go fix it right away!

I have been lucky enough to follow this woman’s career from the beginning of the journey, with her first book in her DI Kim Stone series, Silent Scream. When I first read Silent Scream, I knew Angela was in for a bright career, but I don’t think anyone was prepared for the explosion that happened.

If you need any more encouragement to go check her books out, then go read my reviews at the bottom of the page. If you don’t want to take my word for it then check out these facts.

REVIEW: Angela Marsons - Play Dead (D.I. Kim Stone #4)

Genre: Crime / Thriller

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Date: 20^th May 2016

Pages: 366

MY REVIEW:

I received an advance copy of Play Dead (D.I. Kim Stone #4) by Angela Marsons from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Bookouture.

Every April, you can be guaranteed that I will down tools and all books I am currently reading and pick up the new John Connolly instalment of Charlie Parker. I never thought a series of books would captivate me enough for that to happen again, but nowadays every time I get the nod that there is a new Angela Marsons book on the go, I just have to get it. Book four in the wonderful Kim Stone series is just out. I downed everything else and went straight for it. I couldn’t wait. This series is just fantastic.

Although it is book four, you can read them all as stand-alone books. Yes, you do get to know some of the characters as the series progresses but they are all individual stories so I urge you to pick them all up. You can read my previous reviews on the blog and links are provided at the bottom for you.

So, book four. Any good?

Kim Stone and her team are in between their many cases. They are sent to a top secret research facility called Westerley. It’s a body farm, using bodies in experiments to help with details on decomposition in varying conditions.

Whilst there, a body turns up that is not one of the customers. Kim and her team just happen to be on scene so there is no time like the present for them to add another to the list.

This case will bring up secrets from the past. Secrets that many people wish to keep to themselves. If they hadn’t, the case may have been a lot easier for Kim Stone.

CONFESSIONS OF A REVIEWER TOP FIVE 2015: THE OVERALL TOP FIVE!

Welcome back to the Confessions of a Reviewer’s top five lists!

This is it! The overall top five books of 2015!

Now, if you have been following the posts through the week, you will obviously know that more than five made it through to the top five. So, that left me with a dilemma. Do I now do a top seven, or stick with a top five and bin a couple?

I decided to do neither. I had to be totally honest about how I felt about these books. There were a couple of positions where I just could not split books. I decided therefore, to go with my heart and below is what I came up with.

This list is basically my favourite books of the year. I have had a wonderful year in terms of reading and I have been lucky enough to read some of these before anyone else had a chance to, and for that I am eternally grateful.

I urge you to buy any of these books if you have not already. You will be supporting some great authors and giving them encouragement to continue with their writing and keep us entertained for years to come.

This list is made up of books I have read this year so the books may not necessarily have been published this year.

So let’s get to it and don’t forget to buy buy buy!

CONFESSIONS OF A REVIEWER TOP FIVE 2015: THE THRILLERS!

Welcome back to the Confessions of a Reviewer’s top five lists!

Tonight we have the top five Thrillers! My definition of a thriller for this list is a novel written by a single author that would obviously not fall under a category like horror or romance. Some books that I would class as a thriller will have other elements in the story, such as crime, mystery or even the paranormal. To me thriller covers a very large range of writing as you will see in my list.

This list is made up of books I have read this year so the books may not necessarily have been published this year.

I have judged these books purely on the basis of how much they entertained me individually. The books will be listed first, with links to reviews and links you can use to buy them. At the bottom of the page you will find all the info you need on the individual authors.

So let’s get to it and don’t forget to buy buy buy!

GUEST POST: Confessions of my Past, Present and Future #19 - Angela Marsons

Confessions of my Past, Present and Future

by

Angela Marsons

The Past

The only book that ever caused me to call in sick to work was Disclosure by Michael Crichton.

As the mastermind behind Jurassic Park, a genre I don’t read, I was intrigued by the author’s premise of turning the idea of sexual harassment in the workplace on its head. My curiosity lasted for only a minute before I was picked up and swept away. The novel is expertly written and beautifully crafted so that questions that you desperately want answered, are only answered once more questions have been asked, that you then have to have answered before you can put the book down.

This theme continues throughout the book making it completely unputdownable. I read this in my twenties so although I was writing at the time I was not submitting. At a later date I re-read the book again, with my analytical brain, to better understand the techniques the author had used to grab and hold my attention so thoroughly that it was like he had put invisible superglue to the book cover. After reading it I knew that I wanted to be able to do that. I wanted to write books that posed and answered questions in the same way.

REVIEW: Angela Marsons - Lost Girls (D.I. Kim Stone #3)

Genre: Crime / Thriller

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Date: 6^th Nov 2015

Pages: 359

MY REVIEW:

I received an advance copy of Lost Girls (D.I. Kim Stone #3) by Angela Marsons from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Bookouture.

So number three in the Kim Stone series. It was a no brainer that I was going to try and pick this up for review after reading the first two. You can read my review of Silent Scream (D.I. Kim Stone #1) here and Evil Games (D.I. Kim Stone #2) here. This is a series that, I was hoping, would just keep getting better and better. Was I right?

D.I. Kim Stone and her team have been given a case that they normally wouldn’t have. They have got it against her superiors wishes and only because she was specifically requested. It is a case that will test the resolve of her and her team to the bitter end.

Two young girls have been abducted. Text messages are received from the abductors to advise they are well and to await further instructions. The two families know each other and are best of friends. How long they will stay friends is in doubt after the next text is received. It’s simple and to the point. The abductors want money, but they will only take the money from one family. The highest bidder gets their girl back. The girl from the lowest bidding family dies.

Kim and her team must battle against time and everything else that is thrown at them to try and make sure both girls come back alive.

This is one of those times where the review should read as follows

Bloody amazing. Just go buy the damn thing.

REVIEW: Angela Marsons - Evil Games ( D.I. Kim Stone #2 )

Genre: Crime / Thriller

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Date: 29^th May 2015

Pages: 352

MY REVIEW:

I received an advance copy of Evil Games (D.I. Kim Stone Book Two) from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Bookouture.

This is book two in a series. I strongly urge you to buy book one, Silent Scream, which I reviewed here before reading Evil Games. It’s not a necessity as both books stand up very well as individual stories but it certainly helps to build your relationship with the main characters.

Kim Stone and her team have a body. No witness’s, no clues. When it comes to light he is not long out of jail, things take a different turn.

Alex Thorne is a psychiatrist. She is also a sociopath. Her patient is responsible for the body, tricked into killing him by Alex herself. It’s part of an experiment. Alex has no remorse, in fact no feeling at all. She intends to keep going with her experiments. Will Stone and her team be able to stop her before the bodies mount up? Will Stone’s own traumatic past make her susceptible to Alex’s experiment?

Add to this the fact they are also trying to figure out who the “other” person was involved in a harrowing case for all, Stone’s job is made doubly difficult in dealing with double the evil.

REVIEW: Angela Marsons - Silent Scream ( D.I. Kim Stone #1 )

Genre: Mystery / Crime

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Date: 20^th Feb 2015

Pages: 307

MY REVIEW:

I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is published by Bookouture.

Five people have gathered in a field. Burying the body of a child in a shallow grave they all took turns to dig. They are burying secrets they pray will stay buried forever. Ten years later, a school headmistress is murdered. Strangled and drowned in her own bath. DI Kim Stone and her team have been given the case. Human remains are found in a field beside a former children’s home. Are these the same bones buried ten years earlier? What’s the connection with the headmistress? Stone has her own hidden past and her own demons and her own buried secrets. She is beginning a race against time to find who knows the secrets from ten years ago, before they are all dead.

Crime novels. All over the place these days. Hard to make them original. Hard to make them so your reader wants to come back for more. Angela Marsons seems to have uncovered the secret.