The Penance List

by Siobhan C Cunningham

Goodreads

 Amazon  US  /  UK / CA  / AU

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This one comes with a warning – a steamy suspense-ridden psychological thriller – think Silence of the Lambs meets 50 Shades and hold on tight! S C Cunningham writes with a skilled mix of fuelled tension, dark humour and pulsating sex scenes. Grab a glass of wine, close the bedroom door and read alone!

What happens when opposites attract – when a scorned childhood sweetheart grows into a gorgeous sexual tour de force – when a fun loving career girl, her racy girlfriends and insatiable lovers get caught in his revenge – when sex becomes a weapon, hearts become bait and straight tastes gay – when hi-flying careers, clandestine affairs and wannabe starlets are hunted by celebrity hungry press? Obsession, kidnap, murder… and he’s just getting started!

 

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

We’re a bit old for older men don’t ya think? Ours would come with a wheelchair and bus pass. It would be more useful to learn a few resuscitation techniques… a good bit of slap’n tickle and a cheeky bit of CPR, very sexy.

 

Tara had a sweet way of talking naughty whilst making it sound as if she were discussing pruning petunias.

 

She was hardly WAG material, being over thirty, more like GAG material, ‘grandmothers and girlfriends’.

 

… and to think she’d grown up wanting to be a nun – as a girl, she’d loved their outfits, particularly the long blue dresses with the white veils. She could do the ‘doing good’ bit easily enough; it was the ‘being good’ bit where she failed.

 

The hovering Enzo stared at her. Maybe he should consider becoming gay. You learned so much about women working in the restaurant business.

 

My Review:

 

It always worries me when I fall deeper and deeper into a creepy and sinister plot while vastly enjoying the experience. I fear there may be something wrong with me to become so enthralled and transfixed on such a twisted and disturbing story. But in my defense, this superbly penned stunner quickly mesmerized me and held me in thrall with razor-sharp and well-crafted writing. The storylines were ingenious and compelling, cleverly insightful, and often witty and amusing. I had a hard time putting my Kindle down any longer than necessary for those pesky chores such as sleeping and seeking sustenance. The characters were fascinating, original, complex, and enticing, yet deeply flawed – some more than others.

The taut narrative was skillfully written in the third person omniscient POV of practically everyone, including taxi drivers, waiters, and receptionists; with frequent dashes of clever humor, intense sensual scenes, and a mesmerizing and suspense-filled build-up to the gruesomely plotted climax.   But I also want to mention there were also haunting, dark, and grisly descriptions of abuse and violence. It was highly evocative and often elicited a powerful response whether empathic or severely creepy. But did you notice this was Book #1? While the cliffhanger wasn’t vile and heinous, the story is not complete, damn it, but it did reach a comfortable stopping point.

To end on a positive note, I also picked up some new vocabulary words, several of which would never pass the Amazon censors but I believe sloaney will make it, which is apparently a young party animal from a posh and wealthy family with more money than sense. Hmm, I would have aspired to being a sloaney young adult in my day.

 

Author Bio –

British Crime Investigator & Crime Writer, Siobhan C Cunningham creates steamy psychological thrillers and kick-ass paranormal romance with a skilled mix of fuelled tension, dark humour, and pulsating sex scenes. Having worked in the very industries she writes about, her novels offer a fresh level of sincerity and authority, rare in fiction.

An ex-model, British born of Irish roots, she married a rock musician and has worked in the exciting worlds of music, film, sports celebrity management and as a Crime Investigator for the British Police (Wanted & Absconder Unit, Major Crime Team, Intelligence Analyst, Investigations Hub).

Abducted as a child, she survived; and every night for months afterward, she prayed to God, asking for a deal. This personal journey sparked the fuse behind the intriguing and riveting fictional world she portrays in The Fallen Angel Series. Twenty years later she crossed paths with a violent serial attacker who haunted the streets of London, the seed for The David Trilogy was sown, book one is The Penance List, and has been adapted to film screenplay.

She is the proud mother to contemporary Artist Scarlett Raven and is owned by three dogs.

Social Media Links –

Website – http://www.sccunningham.com/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/SCCunningham8

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pg/sccunningham8/

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/siobhancunningham8/

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sccunningham/

Google+ – https://plus.google.com/+SCCunninghamAuthor

Amazon Author Page – https://www.amazon.co.uk/S-C-Cunningham/e/B002L3ZC2U/

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