If I Die Tonight

by Alison Gaylin

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Paperback: 384 pages

 Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (March 6, 2018)

Reminiscent of the bestsellers of Laura Lippman and Harlan Coben—with a dose of Big Little Lies or Stranger Things—an absorbing, addictive tale of psychological suspense from the author of the highly acclaimed and Edgar Award-nominated What Remains of Me and the USA Today bestselling and Shamus Award-winning Brenna Spector series, in which a seemingly open-and-shut police case with a clear-cut hero and villain turns out to be anything but simple.

Late one night in the quiet Hudson Valley town of Havenkill, a distraught woman stumbles into the police station—and lives are changed forever.

Aimee En, once a darling of the ’80s pop music scene, claims that a teenage boy stole her car, then ran over another young man who’d rushed to help.

As Liam Miller’s life hangs in the balance, the events of that fateful night begin to come into focus. But is everything as it seems?

The case quickly consumes social media, transforming Liam, a local high school football star, into a folk hero, and the suspect, a high school outcast named Wade Reed, into a depraved would-be killer. But is Wade really guilty? And if he isn’t, why won’t he talk?

Told from a kaleidoscope of viewpoints—Wade’s mother Jackie, his younger brother Connor, Aimee En and Pearl Maze, a young police officer with a tragic past, If I Die Tonight is a story of family ties and dark secrets—and the lengths we’ll go to protect ourselves.

 My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Nobody’s perfect… What gets us in trouble is when we try and pretend we are.

The bartender at Club Halifax was wearing flannel Snoopy pajama pants and a skintight tank top with a cannabis-leaf pattern. Yet still she was overdressed for this dismal place, which smelled of mold and decades-old cigarette smoke – an asthma attack waiting to happen.

I dated a guy once who wanted to know how far drive it was from Miami to Florida… He also thought Rosetta Stone was a civil rights leader. Thank God he was cute.

Mason Marx was short and squat, with mean little pig eyes and the personality of bad cheese.

… Jackie could not stand that mustache. Her eyes were drawn to it whenever Wacksman spoke, so thick and luxuriant she couldn’t help but imagine him grooming it, using a tiny tortoiseshell comb and a rack of imported oils as though it were a pet.

I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me… Such a strange expression – as though the heart were a messy closet you dug around in, forgiveness stashed in some long forgotten shoe box.

My Review:

If I Die Tonight initially appeared to be a slowly developing tale of family drama with a divorced single mother raising two teenage boys, one of which appeared deeply troubled and even more so when a tragic fatality struck the small town and it seemed a foregone conclusion that the troubled youth was involved. The characters were not immediately likable or admirable so it wasn’t a tale I was instantly sucked into, yet it held my attention and continued to draw me in. Notice I said initially, it wasn’t until the plot exploded with a confluence of twist after twist that I appreciated the subtlety and care the author had taken in crafting and planting the various elements of several mysteries that compounded and converged. The buildup was incremental and deftly devised, like a spider weaving a web. It was ingenious. I was so wrong in my hypothesis and would never have suspected the end result, and I was more than thrilled with the satisfying conclusion and reading experience. The stealthy and clever wordsmith Alison Gaylin has a new fangirl.

About Alison Gaylin

Alison Gaylin is the award-winning author of Hide Your Eyes and its sequel, You Kill Me; the standalones Trashed and Heartless; and the Brenna Spector series: And She Was, Into the Dark, and Stay with Me. A graduate of Northwestern University and of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, she lives with her husband and daughter in Woodstock, New York.

Find out more about Alison at her website, friend her on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter.

The Haunting of Hattie Hastings

(Part One)

by Audrey Davis 

Goodreads

Amazon US / UK

The Haunting of Hattie Hastings 

The Haunting of Hattie Hastings Part Two

The story continues … Hattie is used to her deceased husband Gary dropping in and out of her life. His timing might not always be great, but at least he’s still around. Although – when Hattie tentatively tries a spot of dating – his interference isn’t entirely welcome.
Best friend Cat is lapping up her new relationship with teacher Jamie, but ex-husband Stewart isn’t prepared to fade into the background.
Hattie’s mother Rachel faces a daunting battle, one she doesn’t want to burden family and friends with. But there’s someone waiting in the wings who might be more than a shoulder to cry on.
Gary still doesn’t know what his mission on earth is, and spirit guide Clarence isn’t offering any clues? Will an encounter with another provide him with answers, or put Hattie in an impossible situation?
Prepare for more laughs and tears in the second installment of a trilogy which takes a darkly comic look at life … and the afterlife.

Warning: Cliffhanger ending

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Part 1 

Hattie kept one eye firmly closed, and squinted through the other. Why she thought this would change anything she had no idea, but she wasn’t ready for the reality of full-on vision.

 A few days after the funeral, they’d returned in a taxi, his mum insisting on carrying his urn in her capacious handbag. Unfortunately, the driver took a speed bump a little too fast and the contents of the urn upturned and mixed with the contents of the aforementioned bag. Thus, Gary’s remains were scooped back into the receptacle along with ancient biscuit crumbs, loose change and a couple of mangled Werther’s Originals.

You just farted! Silent but deadly. Christ, Hats, I might be on the other side but that could fell North Korea. Or serve as their nuclear deterrent.

Jeez, bro. You took your time getting that off your chest! I had you down as a bottom bandit for – ooh! – at least three years.

The last she’d heard – they hadn’t seen each other for more than five years – he’d moved to Switzerland where he was something big in private banking… Cat allowed herself a small grin as she recalled Hattie insisting that a ‘w’ was more appropriate than a ‘b’.

 Part 2

Gary did the finger thing, which looked more like an ‘up yours’ than the three-fingered salute synonymous with the organisation. Cat doubted he’d ever been a Boy Scout. More like a street gang member, all swagger and lager.  

It’s been a very long time… but they say it’s like riding a bike. Although we might have to go through a few gears to hit our stride.

Stewart looked uncomfortable at her question. Seeing him squirm in his seat was akin to watching a politician being grilled about dodgy expense claims.

Lost her husband? How she hated that phrase. As if she’d misplaced him, like a house key or a phone.

There was nothing wrong with Roger; he was just a million miles from right. Maybe his perfect match was in French Polynesia, patiently weaving a hair garland and dreaming of a man with cartoon character undies.

How he could display remarkable dexterity when shooting down villains on Play Station yet miss the toilet bowl by inches when peeing was another of life’s mysteries.

My Review:

The Haunting of Hattie Hastings was a delightful and witty treat. Part 1 was a quick and fun read that had me primed and eager for the rest of the series.  Part 2 added several new wrinkles and concerns, some of which squeezed my heart. Death has always been a difficult and uncomfortable process for me to work through, it was how I knew the medical field was not for me and brought about a swift change in career planning.  I don’t know how I would handle Hattie’s conundrum of a deceased husband who has not… departed, yet isn’t an angel or a zombie.   I smirked and giggled-snorted over the witty twist used for a child’s orange-faced troll doll named Grump, who was named for the man he resembles in the media.   Snort. 

I enjoyed the unique storylines, endearing and quirky characters, and Ms. Davis’s amusing and clever humor. I started this series knowing it was a serial of three parts, so I was prepared and braced for the cliffhanger endings. I was warned to ward off a possible… okay, probable tantrum. And, score!   I have a new addition to my Brit vocabulary list with doolally, which means Mr. Google told me was “temporarily deranged or feebleminded.”   Which is how cliffhangers generally make me feel 😉  I  am extremely eager for Part 3 to magically appear on my Kindle. Hurry Ms. Davis, please!

About Audrey Davis

Audrey Davis survived secondary school on the West coast of Scotland. Rubbish at science but not too bad at English, she originally wanted to be an actress but was persuaded that journalism was a safer option. Probably wise. She studied at Napier College in Edinburgh, the only place in Scotland at that time to offer a journalism course.

Her first foray into the hard-nosed newspaper world was as a junior reporter in Dumfriesshire. Duties included interviewing farmers about the prize-winning heifers to reporting on family tragedies. She persuaded her editor to let her launch an entertainment column which meant meeting the odd celebrity – or just the downright odd. From there, she moved to the loftier rank of senior reporter back in her home patch. Slightly more money, less farm animals but a higher crime rate. As Taggart would say: ‘There’s been a murrrrder!’

After a stint in London on a video magazine – yes, she is that old – Audrey moved to Singapore with her fiancé. She tried valiantly to embrace the stinking heat, humidity and lack of jobs, although she did work briefly on a magazine which was banned by the government for ‘artistic’ use of naked men’s bottoms.

Next on her adventures was a land Down Under where her main focus was raising Cost Centre One (aka firstborn) and coming to terms with the imminent arrival of Number Two. Still, she loved the Aussie way of life – BBQs, beaches and bring your own booze to restaurants – so it came as a blow when OH announced a move back to the UK. Not a job between them, the climate a possible deal breaker and an Exorcist-style vomiting infant on the flight home didn’t bode well …

Always a survivor, Audrey sought out similar-minded friends (i.e. slightly bonkers), got the children into a good school and thought about taking up writing again. Sadly, thinking about it was as far as she got, unless you count shopping lists. Then, hubby drops another bombshell. Switzerland. As in – it’s packing time again. Off to the land of cheese, chocolate, scarily efficient trains and a couple of teeny, tiny issues. Like driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road and speaking a foreign language (French). The former was conquered fairly quickly (we’ll skip over the wall demolition in week two), the latter remains an ongoing battle of the hopeful against the hopeless. At least she provides amusement for the local workforce.

It wasn’t until 2016 that Audrey rediscovered her writing mojo with an online Writing Fiction course. From there, her first novel – A Clean Sweep – was born, although it took a bit longer than nine months from conception. A short, darker prequel – A Clean Break – followed, and in November 2017 she published the first in a novella trilogy, The Haunting of Hattie Hastings Part One. Part Two is published on 21 March 2018, with the conclusion following in May/June. After which she might have a wee lie down …

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/audreydavisbooks

Twitter- https://twitter.com/audbyname

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The Major Crimes Team – A DI Harry Evans novella

by Graham Smith

Goodreads

When a single mother, Julie Simon, is found in her kitchen with a stab wound to her stomach, Cumbria’s Major Crimes Team are handed the case. Under the supervision of DI Campbell and with advice from his former DI, Harry Evans, DC Amir Bhaki fights to discover who assaulted an innocent woman and left her with life-threatening injuries.

Nothing is as it first appears and when the team looks into Julie’s life they uncover a hidden sex-life that may just hold the key to the identity of her attacker.

Purchase from Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Comment-Major-Crimes-novella-ebook/dp/B07B6FMX9K/

Purchase from Amazon. Com – https://www.amazon.com/No-Comment-Major-Crimes-novella-ebook/dp/B07B6FMX9K/

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

He knew better than to assume that a good family meant he was a good citizen. Some of the most evil people he’d encountered were from decent families. They would present one face to the world and another to their victims. Their status in life a shield they would hide behind until it was time to swing a sword in private.

That one sentence about female cops explained to Campbell just why such an outwardly attractive man needed to use Tinder to get laid.

The public couldn’t, and probably shouldn’t, know how much investigating certain crimes took from coppers. How there were sleepless nights and nightmares when sleep did come. How relationships failed and how solace was sought at the bottom of a bottle. Sometimes coppers chose drink, and sometimes drink chose them.

My Review:

This was my first experience with Mr. Graham Smith and his unusual yet compelling assortment of coppers who were working under new leadership.  The premise was unique and relevant and the storylines were active and cunningly crafted while giving the reader a chance to learn the quirks and personalities of the squad while they were tasked with a puzzling crime.  Each member was required to employ their unique skills and personal hidden talents that maybe shouldn’t be looked at too closely, but all their tricks were needed to dig deep and unearth a more devastating and disturbing problem than they had initially anticipated.   And I proudly add a new word to my Brit vocabulary list with woodentops – an informal and not so polite term for a British uniformed officer.

About Graham Smith

Graham Smith is a time served joiner who has built bridges, houses, dug drains and slated roofs to make ends meet. Since Christmas 2000, he has been the manager of a busy hotel and wedding venue near Gretna Green, Scotland.

He is an internationally best-selling Kindle author and has four books featuring DI Harry Evans and the Cumbrian Major Crimes Team, and three novels, featuring Utah doorman, Jake Boulder.

An avid fan of crime fiction since being given one of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books at the age of eight, he has also been a regular reviewer and interviewer for the well-respected website Crimesquad.com since 2009

Graham is the founder of Crime and Publishment, a weekend of crime-writing classes which includes the chance for attendees to pitch their novels to agents and publishers. Since the first weekend in 2013, eight attendees have gone on to sign publishing contracts.

Graham can be found at

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www.grahamsmithauthor.com