One spring morning, a bus full of children and their teachers from a Cotswolds primary school head off on a much-anticipated day trip.
But as night falls and the well-heeled parents – one or two of them famous, as well as wealthy – wait at the school to collect their weary offspring, it soon becomes clear that something has gone very wrong.
The children and their teachers simply do not come back.
What’s happened doesn’t seem possible.
How can an entire class of children simply vanish?
Having read and enjoyed The Murder List by Jackie Kabler, I jumped at the chance to join the blog tour and review her new book.
Well this story is every parent’s nightmare. A group of young children go on a day trip from school with their teachers and don’t return. They appear to have vanished into thin air. Unfortunately their brand new minibus developed a fault the morning of the trip, and they had to rent an old minibus from the local taxi company which meant it could not be tracked. The teacher’s phones were all going straight to voicemail.
The concerned parents persuade the head teacher to involve the police.
The tension builds and builds as the police begin to investigate and begin to suspect parents, who in turn begin to reveal long hidden secrets to each other.
An engrossing read, and I’m so glad I no longer have children of school age going on trips! This one hooks you immediately, the pace is spot on, the atmosphere is electric, and that ending!
Thank you Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for my spot on the tour.
BLOG TOUR HOSTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jackie Kabler is an Amazon number one and USA Today bestselling author of
psychological thrillers, including The Perfect Couple, Am I Guilty?, The Happy Family and The Murder List. Her novels have sold nearly a million copies around the world and have been translated into eight languages. Previously she worked as a newspaper reporter and then in television news for twenty years, including nearly a decade on GMTV. She later appeared on BBC and ITV news, presented a property show for Sky, hosted sports shows on Setanta Sports News and worked as a media trainer for the Armed Forces. She now combines writing with working as a presenter on shopping channel QVC. Jackie lives in Gloucestershire with her husband.
Social Media Links –
Twitter @jackiekabler
Instagram @officialjackiekabler
GIVEAWAY
Giveaway to Win a Signed Copy of The Vanishing of Class 3B (Open to UK Only)
*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the link below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.
I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize
Colm Reid, a disillusioned Irish journalist, is invited by Norwegian conservationist Kennet Haven to cover a story in the remote Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Colm joins Kennet, Kennet’s sister Jane, Belgian journalist Fatou Ba, and the rangers of Garamba on an expedition into the park to look for the last surviving wild northern white rhinos on the planet.
Kennet neglected to mention one thing: the park is in the middle of a war zone.
MY REVIEW
Colm’s idea of being a journalist and getting into dangerous situations, then being able to shout ‘don’t shoot I’m a journalist!’ was not exactly being realised. He was interviewing a doctor about an old bone. A very interesting twelve and a half thousand year old bear bone, but none the less a bone.
But be careful what you wish for …
The article he writes about the bone from a bear, which was hunted to extinction in Ireland, leads him on to his next big story. Huge story. He is to travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to Garamba National Park where he will join one of the rangers, Kennet, to track down the last living white rhinos. They are believed to be extinct but Kennet is convinced there are still a few alive.
So with 5 hours notice he gets on a plane heading to Africa. He arrives and is picked up by rangers with guns, who take him and another journalist to the ranger station at Garamba. This area is home to poachers, rebels, murderers, kidnappers… he has no idea what is in store for him and how many times his life will be at risk.
The rangers who work to protect the wildlife from poachers need to be constantly on guard as they never know when their station will next be attacked. There are many dangerous groups in the jungle at war with each other, and they do not think twice about killing anyone to get their hands on such valuable commodities elephant tusks.
Colm finds himself bang in the centre of a war between The Soldiers of God and The Brotherhood of Souls.
I absolutely loved this book. What a page turner. The danger the rangers face every day, risking their lives to protect what they love, is astonishing. It really brings it home what a dangerous place The DRC is, and the risk innocent animals face from poachers and extinction. We read stories and watch films about poachers and wars, but this book takes us to the heart of the fight.
Colm is a great character, taking everything in his stride even though he has never experienced anything like it. However, the real stand out character for me is Jane, Kennet’s sister, a teacher from Norway.
I am looking forward to reading more about Jane in Hunted which is already out! I hope there will be many more in this series.
Thank you Rebecca at Hobeck for having me along on the blog tour.
BLOG TOUR HOSTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Antony is from Bradford in West Yorkshire in the UK. He has studied history, literature, and creative writing. He became interested in the fate of rhinoceros after reading Douglas Adams’ & Mark Carwardine’s “The Last Chance to See”, and seeing the 20 year anniversary follow-up with Stephen Fry.
Hunted, his first novel, was long-listed for the 2020 Grindstone Literary Prize, short-listed for the 2019 UEA Crime Writing Prize, and published by Hobeck Books in January 2021. The opening of the yet-to-be-published sequel, Endangered, was short-listed for the 2020 First Pages Prize of the American Library of Paris.
Antony is a member of the Crime Writers Association and the Crime Readers Association.
You can read more of Antony’s work, short stories, and blog, at http://www.antonydunford.com, or follow him on Twitter @antony_dunford.
What would you do if your husband framed you for murder?
Five years ago, Olivia Sutherland was convicted of plotting to murder her husband.
Now she’s finally free, Olivia has three goals. Repair her relationship with her daughter. Clear her name. And bring down her husband – the man who framed her.
Just how far is she willing to go to get what she wants? And how far will her husband go to stop her?
Because his lies run deeper than Olivia could ever have imagined – and this time it’s not her freedom that’s in jeopardy, but her life…
MY REVIEW
Olivia has just been released from 5 years in prison, wrongly convicted of planning to kill her husband, Dominic.
Whilst in prison she shares a cell and becomes friends with a thief who agrees to help her prove her innocence when they are released.
When Olivia gets out of prison her now teenage daughter doesn’t want anything to do with her. Staying with a friend, she struggles to find a decent job as an ex-con. She is determined to prove she was framed by her husband, taking risks to do so which could put her back inside.
Her scheming husband has one more plan up his sleeve and she must stop him whatever the cost.
Many twists and turns along the way, secrets and lies and wondering who to trust.
I felt so sorry for Olivia and the way the system had let her down and was rooting for her to win her daughter back and get revenge on her husband. She had become a stronger person in prison, but still struggled with some of the difficult decisions she had to make.
I always look forward to the next CL Taylor book. Another cleverly written, page turning, psychological thriller.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
C.L. Taylor is an award winning Sunday Times bestselling author of nine gripping psychological thrillers including THE GUILTY COUPLE, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick for summer 2023 and SLEEP, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick for autumn 2019.
Her books are not a series and can be read in any order:
2014 – THE ACCIDENT / Before I Wake (U.S. title)
2015 – THE LIE
2016 – THE MISSING
2017 – THE ESCAPE
2018 – THE FEAR
2019 – SLEEP
2020 – STRANGERS
2021 – HER LAST HOLIDAY
2022 – THE GUILTY COUPLE
She has also written two Young Adult thrillers: THE TREATMENT and THE ISLAND.
C.L. Taylor’s books have sold in excess of a million copies, been number one on Amazon Kindle, Audible, Kobo, iBooks and Google Play and have been translated into 25 languages and optioned for TV.
C.L. Taylor lives in Bristol in the UK with her partner and son.
Sign up to join the CL Taylor Readers’ Club for access to news, exclusive newsletter-only competitions and the books that CL Taylor thinks will be the next big thing. You will also receive THE LODGER for free when you join:
The captivating debut novel from journalist Jo Leevers is a beautifully rendered exploration of loss, morality and the power of storytelling. Haunted by the past, Henrietta throws herself into a new job transcribing other people’s life stories, vowing to stick to the facts and keep emotions at arm’s length. But when she meets the eccentric and terminally ill Annie, she finds herself inextricably drawn in. And when Annie reveals that her sister drowned in unexplained circumstances in 1974, Henrietta’s methodical mind can’t help following the story’s loose ends… Unlike Henrietta, Annie is brimming with confidence—but even she has limits when it comes to opening up. Ever since that terrible night when her sister left a pile of clothes beside the canal and vanished, Annie has been afraid to look too closely into the murky depths of her memories. When her attempts to glide over the past come up against Henrietta’s determination to fill in the gaps, both women find themselves confronting truths they’d thought were buried forever—especially when Henrietta’s digging unearths a surprising emotional connection between them. Could unlocking Annie’s story help Henrietta rewrite the most devastating passages in her own life? And, in return, can she offer Annie a final twist in the tale, before it’s too late?
MY REVIEW
Annie’s sister, Kath, disappears one night presumed dead when she is only 18 and Kath is just a year older. A pile of her clothes is found beside the Grand Union Canal. Now Annie has terminal cancer, she decided she wants to share her life story and rid herself of secrets she has kept.
Henrietta. Straight talking socially awkward 32 year old who is partial to jumpers with animals on them. After a few failed jobs she applies for a position transcribing life stories for a charity. One of the strict rules is not to get emotionally involved with the clients, but on meeting Annie they develop a bond of friendship. Henrietta has her own devastating secret locked away.
As well as leaving her life story behind, Annie helps Henrietta move forward with her life and do things she would never have considered before they met.
It appeared initially that this could be a tear jerker of a book but although there are sad parts, and I did have a few tears, the story is mostly positive and uplifting. I absolutely loved Henrietta and Annie and their quirky personalities, and although very different they become close friends very quickly.
It is an extremely well plotted and engrossing story and I enjoyed every page.
A special shout out to Dave the rescue dog who was the perfect pet for Henrietta!
Thank you FMcM Associates for my copy of the book and my place on the blog tour.
BLOG TOUR HOSTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
o Leevers grew up in London and has spent most of her career working on magazines, most recently writing features about homes and interiors for leading newspapers and magazines. This means she gets to visit people around the country and ask them about all the things in their homes. Some might call this a licence to be nosey… Tell Me How This Ends is her debut. Whether writing fiction or interviewing people for articles, she is fascinated by the life stories that we all carry with us. She has two grown-up children and lives with her husband and their wayward dog, Lottie, in Bristol.
In a windswept cottage overlooking the sea, Wilder Harlow begins the last book he will ever write. It is the story of his childhood companions and the shadowy figure of the Daggerman, who stalked the New England town where they spent their summers. Of a horror that has followed Wilder through the decades. And of Sky, Wilder’s one-time friend, who stole his unfinished memoir and turned it into a lurid bestselling novel, The Sound and the Dagger.
This book will be Wilder’s revenge on Sky, who betrayed his trust and died without ever telling him why. But as he writes, Wilder begins to find notes written in Sky’s signature green ink, and events in his manuscript start to chime eerily with the present. Is Sky haunting him? And who is the dark-haired woman drowning in the cove, whom no one else can see?
No longer able to trust his own eyes, Wilder feels his grip on reality slipping. And he begins to fear that this will not only be his last book, but the last thing he ever does.
MY REVIEW
Wow. What have I just read?! Absolutely brilliant storytelling. How do I even begin to write a review? This is a book unlike anything I have ever read. I haven’t read any other books by this author but I definitely need to!
Haunting, atmospheric, books within a book. This will mess with your mind as it starts like an ordinary coming of age story with three teens on holiday at Whistler Bay, getting into dangerous territory. There is the story of the dagger man, who breaks into houses and photographs sleeping children. There are the people who have gone missing, presumed drowned. There is the cave where a ‘god’ lives.
Then it moves on a few years to follow one of the children, Wilder, who is now at college. He is befriended by Sky, a wannabe author, who helps him through his nightmares and is a huge support. But Sky has an ulterior motive for befriending him and uses Wilder to gain information he is desperate for in order to write his book based on the events at Whistler Bay. A story which is not his to tell.To summarise just read it. And expect your mind to be frazzled by the end, but in a good way! I’m absolutely going to read this one again, and I never re-read books. Many thanks to Angie at Viper Books for my stunning hardback copy of the book and my spot on the blog tour.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CATRIONA WARD was born in Washington, DC and grew up in the United States, Kenya, Madagascar, Yemen, and Morocco. She read English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and is a graduate of the Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia.
‘The Last House on Needless Street’ (Viper Books, Tor Nightfire) was a Times Book of the Month, Observer Book of the Month, March Editor’s Pick on Open Book, a Between the Covers BBC2 book club selection, a Times bestseller, and is being developed for film by Andy Serkis’s production company, The Imaginarium.
‘Little Eve’ (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2018) won the 2019 Shirley Jackson Award and the August Derleth Prize for Best Horror Novel at the 2019 British Fantasy Awards, making her the only woman to have won the prize twice, and was a Guardian best book of 2018. Her debut Rawblood (W&N, 2015) won Best Horror Novel at the 2016 British Fantasy Awards, was shortlisted for the Author’s Club Best First Novel Award and a WHSmith Fresh Talent title. Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies. She lives in London and Devon.
A daughter discovers the dramatic history that shaped her mother’s secret life in an emotional and immersive novel by Zhang Ling, the bestselling author of A Single Swallow. There was rarely a time when Phoenix Yuan-Whyller’s mother, Rain, didn’t live with her. Even when Phoenix got married, Rain, who followed her from China to Toronto, came to share Phoenix’s life. Now at the age of eighty-three, Rain’s unexpected death ushers in a heartrending separation. Struggling with the loss, Phoenix comes across her mother’s suitcase—a memory box Rain had brought from home. Inside, Phoenix finds two old photographs and a decorative bottle holding a crystallized powder. Her auntie Mei tells her these missing pieces of her mother’s early life can only be explained when they meet, and so, clutching her mother’s ashes, Phoenix boards a plane for China. What at first seems like a daughter’s quest to uncover a mother’s secrets becomes a startling journey of self- discovery. Told across decades and continents, Zhang Ling’s exquisite novel is a tale of extraordinary courage and survival. It illuminates the resilience of humanity, the brutalities of life, the secrets we keep and those we share, and the driving forces it takes to survive.
MY REVIEW
When Phoenix (Yuan Feng) takes her mother to see George the audiologist, little does she know that four months later Phoenix and George would be married.
Rain moves in with them, but it gets more and more difficult to manage her as her Alzheimer’s progresses. They decide a care home is the only option where she sadly dies.
Now all Phoenix has left is an urn with her mothers ashes inside and her mother’s memories suitcase.
Phoenix begins to look through the suitcase, making many calls to her only living relative her aunt in China to fill the gaps, and she eventually visits her.
As Phoenix delves into her mother’s history, she begins to write the story of her life and we get to read the manuscripts within the story.
This is an emotional family saga, with vivid descriptions, encompassing the terrible hardships living through war and famine, and the love and the close relationship between mother and daughter spanning decades. My heart broke a little when reading what Phoenix’s mother had to do to earn money to support them both after her father died. She wouldn’t let Phoenix leave school to help earn money, being adamant Phoenix would get good qualifications.
If you enjoy a well written family saga, with all the hardship and struggles, and novels set in China, you are going to love this.
Many thanks to FMcM Associates for my copy of the book and my blog tour spot.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Zhang Ling is the award-winning author of nine novels and numerous collections of novellas and short stories, including A Single Swallow, translated by Shelly Bryant; Gold Mountain Blues; and Aftershock, which was adapted into China’s first IMAX movie with unprecedented box-office success. Born in China, she moved to Canada in 1986 and, in the mid-1990s, began to write and publish fiction in Chinese while working as a clinical audiologist. Since then, she has won the Chinese Media Literature Award for Author of the Year, the Grand Prize of Overseas Chinese Literary Award, and China Times’s Open Book Award. Where Waters Meet is her first novel written in English.
From bestselling author Teresa Driscoll comes a chilling thriller of past secrets and present terror. Deep in a rural hideaway, it’s only the owls watching them … right? After a betrayal that sent their marriage into freefall, Hannah and Sam are desperate for a fresh start with their eight-year-old daughter Lily—and where better than picture-perfect Owl Cottage in beautiful Cornwall. But something about the holiday home stirs dark memories for Hannah … When she finds dead creatures on the doorstep and hears mysterious knocks at the door, Hannah can’t help wondering whether someone is messing with her—or whether the past she’s been running from has finally claimed her sanity. As the disturbing events at Owl Cottage seep out into the local community and the police become involved, Hannah turns to Sam for help. But he dismisses her worries, and she begins to wonder if she was wrong to ever trust him. Are the memories making her paranoid, or is this something more sinister than she dares imagine?
MY REVIEW
I have been a fan on Teresa’s since reading her first psychological thriller, I Am Watching You.
In this book we meet Sam and Hannah who are having marital problems since his affair. To try to move forward they have booked a holiday at the remote Owl Cottage in Cornwall with their young daughter.
But this holiday is not what they had in mind. Strange things start happening. Dead owlets appear on the inside door mat overnight. Their daughter starts talking to an invisible friend. A treasured toy turns up which Hannah is certain she left at home.
Is Hannah losing her grip on reality? Is she having withdrawal symptoms from the antidepressants she suddenly stopped taking?
Hannah’s best friend Amy and her husband turn up at the cottage uninvited as Amy is worried about Hannah. But who can Hannah trust?
We are taken back to her childhood where Hannah’s father died in the middle of a forest, having taken Hannah for a picnic, leaving her hugging his body until they were found. This has understandably left her emotionally scarred, and needing to rely heavily on her mother for support. A mother who constantly worries about her daughter’s state of mind. They have a strong bond which was lovely to read.
Will Hannah and Sam find their way back to each other?
An addictive thriller which kept me turning the pages as the tension builds to reveal a shocking ending I did not see coming at all!
Thank you to FMcM Associates for my copy of the book and my spot on the blog tour.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Teresa Driscoll is a former BBC TV news presenter whose psychological thrillers have sold nearly two million copies across the world. Her first thriller I Am Watching You hit Kindle Number 1 in the UK, USA and Australia and has sold more than a million copies in English alone. Teresa writes women’s fiction as well as thrillers and her work has been optioned for film and sold for translation in more than 20 territories. For decades Teresa was a journalist working across newspapers, magazines and television. Covering crime for so long, she was deeply moved by the haunting impact on the relatives, the friends and the witnesses and it is those ripples she explores now in her darker fiction. Teresa lives in glorious Devon with her family and blogs regularly about her ‘writing life’ on her website, http://www.teresadriscoll.com.
You might be paranoid, but that doesn’t mean they’re not watching you.
Adam lives a picture-perfect life: happy marriage, two young children, and a flourishing career as a doctor. But Adam also lives with a secret. Hospital CCTV, strangers’ mobile phones, city traffic cameras – he is convinced that they are all watching him, recording his every move. All because of something terrible that happened at a drunken party when he was a medical student.
Only two other people knew what happened that night. Two people he’s long left behind. Until one of them, Clio – Adam’s great unrequited love – turns up on his doorstep, and reignites a sinister pact twenty-four years in the making…
No Place to Hide is a spellbinding tale of psychological suspense, weaving together the dark web, murder, and blackmail…
MY REVIEW
A very clever and complex plot, with interesting characters, which kept me guessing right to the end of this dark, suspenseful, psychological thriller. I had absolutely no idea where it was going and couldn’t even hazard a guess!
Written across two timelines of 1998 and the present. I love a dual timeline, and this went back and forth giving just a bit of the back story away each time. The level of suspense was just right. Had me absolutely glued to the book until I finished it. Plenty of twists and turns and revelations along the way.
Adam is a successful paediatrician. Married with two children, but cracks are beginning to show in his marriage as his wife struggles with being a stay at home mum and a new baby who doesn’t sleep.
24 years ago, when he was studying his medical degree at Cambridge university, Adam agreed to let a fellow student film him going about his life for an ‘a day in the life of’ short film. A lot of the filming was done from a distance when Adam was unaware. Following an incident at a party, he made a Faustian pact with this same student. Adam had played the part of Dr Faustus in a university play, which is where the idea came from. Of course, he didn’t imagine after 24 years they would remember the agreement. How wrong he was.
During a family visit to the local park in the present, his son disappears and is found by Clio, an almost girlfriend he hasn’t seen since university, who just happens to be visiting the area. This can’t be a coincidence. It is 24 years to the day since that party. The party where he can’t quite remember what happened. Adam becomes increasingly paranoid that he is being constantly watched through CCTV and street cameras which appear to turn to face him as he passes. And is that man in the playground filming him on his phone? His wife can’t cope with his paranoia and takes the children to stay with her parents. Adam must try to get to the bottom of the bad things which are happening to him as his reputation, and even his life, are on the line. Thank you Sophie at Ransom PR for my spot on the blog tour and for my stunning proof and finished hardback copy.
BLOG TOUR HOSTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jon Stock, writing under the name J.S.Monroe, is the author of five psychological thrillers, including the international bestseller, Find Me. Under his own name, he has written five spy novels, one of which, Dead Spy Running, was optioned by Warner Bros. He is currently the Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at Mansfield College, Oxford.
No Place to Hide, the new standalone J.S.Monroe thriller, will be published by Head of Zeus in April 2023. “Clever, convincing and wickedly twisty – highly recommended,” according to Mick Herron. A standalone, contemporary thriller set in London, Wiltshire and Cornwall, it’s a loose retelling of Dr Faustus. “Compelling, relentless and genuinely frightening,” says Simon Russell Beale.
The Man On Hackpen Hill, the third J.S.Monroe thriller to feature DI Silas Hart (head of Swindon CID) and DS Strover, was published in the UK by Head of Zeus in 2021. “Original and brilliantly plotted, with not so much a twist as a seismic shifting of the ground under your feet … Amazing.” – Rosamund Lupton. “Impeccably researched… An unusual mystery told with exceptional skill” – Daily Mail; “A kind of Wiltshire Da Vinci Code, with crop circles, mathematical equations and shadowy figures from Porton Down. A real page turner written with beguiling wit.” – Tom Bradby.
The Other you (2020), the second DI Hart thriller, was published to widespread critical acclaim. “I doubt many other psychological thrillers published this year will be as propulsive and fun” – Daily Telegraph; “A clever mash-up of psychological thriller and police procedural with a dash of sci-fi” – Daily Mail; “You won’t be able to turn the pages fast enough” – Heat Magazine; “Brilliantly original and intriguing … Kept me hooked, enthralled and guessing to the very end” – Peter James.
His second J.S.Monroe thriller, Forget My Name (2018), was the first to feature DI Hart. (It was published as The Last Thing She Remembers in the US.) “An absorbing novel full of unexpected twists, topped by a savage climax” – The Times; “A book that will send thrills down your spine, even on the hottest beach” – Sunday Express.
Find Me (2017), the first J.S.Monroe thriller, has sold more than 150,000 copies and been translated into 14 languages. “Intricately woven and heart-stoppingly believable, this has bestseller written all over it” – Clare Mackintosh; “The most ingenious thriller you will read his year. I couldn’t put it down” –M.J.Arlidge. “Cunning, captivating and creepy – a beautifully written thriller with well-drawn characters and a twisting, gripping plot that will keep you guessing until the very last page” – JP Delaney. Jonathan Stewart, who co-wrote the screenplay for Devotion (2022), is currently developing it for TV.
Dead Spy Running (HarperCollins, 2009), published in five languages, was followed by Games Traitors Play (2011) and Dirty Little Secret (2012). The movie rights to Dead Spy Running were acquired before publication by Warner Bros and the film was later in development with the director McG. Oscar-winner Stephen Gaghan (Syriana, Traffic) wrote the original script and Adam Wingard (Godzilla vs Kong) was at one point attached to direct.
Jon is the author of two other spy thrillers: The Riot Act (Serpent’s Tail, 1997), which was shortlisted for the Crime Writer’s Association debut crime novel award, and The Cardamom Club (Blackamber/Arcadia, 2003). Both titles were republished in the UK as ebooks by Head of Zeus (The Cardamom Club as The India Spy).
He has also written a spy novella, To Snare A Spy (2018), which was commissioned by the Nare Hotel in Cornwall and features a 15-year-old aspiring spy called Noah.
After more than 25 years in journalism, including two stints as Weekend editor of the Telegraph, and working as a foreign correspondent in New Delhi, Jon became full-time author in 2015.
He lives in Wiltshire with his wife, Hilary Stock, a fine art photographer, and is on the committee of Marlborough LitFest.
J.S.Monroe/Jon Stock is represented by Will Francis at Janklow & Nesbit (rbalcombe@janklow.co.uk). Film rights are repped by Emily Hayward-Whitlock at The Artists Partnership (contact Rhiannon@theartistspartnership.co.uk).
He travelled through time to capture her heart. The amulet was still in the palm of his hand. Was it some sort of conduit to the past? The image of the anguished woman in his vision was seared into his mind. Perhaps it could help him find her?
Ivar Thoresson is desperate for adventure. As an archaeologist specialising in Viking times, he wants nothing more than to travel back to the ninth century as his loved ones have done, to learn everything he can about the era which fascinates him. And whilst his adopted family have always made him feel loved, the chance to meet a true ancestor, the warrior Thorald, is a temptation he cannot resist.
But while Ivar is preparing to go, he uncovers an amulet which shows him a vision of an arresting woman with red-gold hair. Clearly in distress, she is pleading for help. Convinced of the power of the charm and its message, Ivar’s journey takes on a new purpose. He steps back in time determined to follow his destiny – and find the woman who has called to his heart.
What a fabulously compulsive, absorbing series this is! I eagerly await each book in the series. Before reading Christina’s books I hadn’t read any fiction involving vikings but after reading the first in the series I was hooked!
I was happily swept back and completely absorbed in Viking life again, this time following Ivar, the foster brother of Linnea and Maddy, both of whom had found magic objects and travelled back to the Viking age in earlier books. They were now living happily with their Viking husbands in the 9th century.
Ivar was desperate to experience the Viking age himself first hand, and had at last found a magic object of his own – a pair of Viking shears – to facilitate his time travel between the 9th century and the present, and very importantly to meet one of his ancestors. Ivar had done a great deal of planning to ready himself for the journey; studying Old Norse – the Viking language, making items out of silver and gold to use for trading, taking self defence lessons and much more. He had no idea what to expect when he arrived.
When handling another Viking object, he had a series of images pop into his mind where a woman was in trouble and asking for help. Was he supposed to find her and help?
Would he decide to make his home in the 9th century, as his sisters had? Would he find love as they had?
A gorgeous romance, set against the difficult lives of Vikings but also showing the bonds and kinship they had. Christina brings everything vividly to life and completely pulls me in, and I feel I could be there with them! Meticulously researched, so it reads as authentically as it can.
A wonderful time slip novel and I recommend this series very highly.
Thank you to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for my spot on the blog tour.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip and time travel stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK. Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings. Christina is a former chairman of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association and has won several awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014) and the RNA Fantasy Romantic Novel of the year 2021 with Echoes of the Runes. Promises of the Runes (time travel romance published by Headline Review 13th April 2023) is her latest novel.
Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).
Publisher: Three Daggers, an imprint of Heritage Books
SYNOPSIS
“It only takes a second to sin,” Father Thomas said. He believes in saving souls, but Charles Balcombe is beyond saving. His control over his killer instinct appears to be weakening. BlackJack has killed again and more questions are being asked of Detective Inspector Munro. He is under increasing pressure to solve the murders, especially when he picks up more cases from Kowloon rather than solving his own. As Balcombe battles with his demon, he investigates the death of a young woman. Was it an accident or did she kill herself? At first Balcombe thinks it’s straightforward but as he digs, other cases reveal an evil in Hong Kong. One that could consume them all.
Set in 1954, this is book 2 of the series. It can be read as a stand-alone but the author recommends book 1 (Once a Killer) first. Perfect for fans of Chris Carter, David Baldacci and Tom Wood.
MY REVIEW
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Blackjack is back and doing what he loves. Killing. Getting rid of the Hong Kong low life. He has dispatched murderers, child traffickers and anyone else who falls on his radar and deserves to die. He is considerate as he only kills those who are proven guilty. Usually slowly and painfully. And he is particularly good at it.
Charles Balcombe, as he is known, is also an alias, but he has used his deceased best friend’s name for so long it now feels like it is his.
Along with Detective Inspector Munro of the Hong Kong police, who knows about Balcombe / Blackjack but chooses to keep his secret, they begin investigating the disappearance of a young girl, last seen with her friend.
Balcombe is also investigating the suspicious death of a young woman which has been written off as suicide but there are questions which need asking. With his Special Investigations Branch background, Balcombe is perfect for the job. The more he finds out the more he realises more girls are in danger.
He just needs to keep his alter ego Blackjack, and his appetite for murder, under control.
It is no secret I am a huge fan of Murray Bailey’s books and I’m always eager to read the next one! This is book two in the Blackjack series but can be read as a stand alone if you wish. I would recommend reading book 1 first to get to know Blackjack.
Full of action and plenty of red herrings which kept me guessing. I have never been disappointed by any of Murray’s books. Love the characters. Love the style of writing. Love the pace of the stories.
Now I’m eagerly awaiting the next Blackjack instalment!
Many thanks, Murray, for inviting me along on the blog tour.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Murray Bailey Is the author of Amazon bestseller Map of the Dead, the first of the series based on his interest in Egyptology. His main series however is the Ash Carter thrillers, inspired by his father’s experience in the Royal Military Police in Singapore in the early 1950s.
Murray is well traveled, having worked in the US, South America and a number of European countries throughout his career as a management consultant. However he also managed to find the time to edit books, contribute to articles and act as a part-time magazine editor.
Murray lives on the south coast of England with his family and a dog called Teddy.
Two Heads Are Better Than One 