Category: Publisher Proof

Posted in Publisher Proof

The Keeper by Tana French

Posted on by thelotusreaders

On a cold night in a remote Irish village, a girl goes missing.

Sweet, loving Rachel Holohan was about to be engaged to the son of the local big shot. Instead, she’s dead in the river.

In a place like this, her death isn’t simple. It comes wrapped in generations-old grudges and power struggles, and it splits the townland in two. Retired Chicago detective Cal Hooper has friends here now and he owes them loyalty, but his fiancée Lena wants nothing to do with Ardnakelty’s tangles. As the feud becomes more vicious, their settled peace starts to crack apart. And when they uncover a scheme that casts a new light on Rachel’s death and threatens the whole village, they find themselves in the firing line.

This was a new series to me, but having read some of Tana French’s earlier novels such as In The Woods I knew it would be something I’d enjoy. I love her writing and here it is such a beautiful balancing act. This is a slow burn novel that’s beautifully atmospheric and manages to convey both moments of high humour and menacing evil. The small village of Ardnakelty is a quagmire. It’s described as gloomy, misty and wet most of the time. There’s something about the weather that’s oppressive and any walk outdoors is liable to leave you muddy and wet. It seems like a harmless place, but it’s full of pitfalls and weeds that can drag you under. The emotional quagmire is impossible to avoid if we look at it through Lena’s eyes. It is so remote, but anyone like Cal thinking they’ve come here for quiet and to avoid other people is in for a shock. He already has Trey, a teenage girl from a difficult family who is like an adopted daughter to him. How much more tied to this place might he become? Villages like this have one shop and one pub and everyone frequents them so eventually there’s a passing acquaintance with everyone. This is a place where neighbours are more like family. They’ve known each other forever, and their mothers knew your mother too. This could be seen as a bonus, but the author depicts it as spider’s web that once you’re stuck it’s impossible to escape. The only question is, who is the spider? 

“The cloud is high tonight, letting through a haze of moonlight here and there so that streaks of fields rise ghostly out of the darkness and the air has an icy bite that burrows to the bone.”

The plot reveals itself slowly and once Cal and Trey find the body of local teenager Rachel in the river, the tension starts to build in this small community, until it’s pushed to breaking point. It made me feel angry and utterly powerless in parts. Rachel had been going out with Eugene Moynihan for years and it was apparently Eugene she had been out to meet on that night. Was this a tragic accident or is something more insidious going on? Rachel’s family are devastated and Lena is shocked to find out she was the last person to see her that night. The village gossip is in overdrive with different theories, but the narrative that seems to be emerging is that Rachel might have committed suicide. Cal doesn’t think so, but most people daren’t think anything different. The Moynihans are a big deal in Ardnakelty, living in a huge house with all mod cons and Eugene’s dad Tommy has a finger in every lucrative pie. Cal is told no one is going up against the Moynihans, because Tommy has all the right friends in very high up places. There was part of me that could see this story as an allegory for what’s happening in the world – a money-hungry bully, who is always looking for the next chance and has such a hold over people he could get away with almost anything. 

Underneath this main mystery is the narrative of Cal and Lena’s relationship, in fact very early on we get a conversation about their wedding. Despite being engaged, Cal and Lena are still in two separate houses and have made no wedding plans. This suits them, but Lena’s sister Noreen who runs the shop is forever warning them. If they don’t book something round here they’ll lose the only venue. There’s Cal’s worries about Trey who is hoping to gain an apprenticeship as a joiner, has exams to get through and trouble at home where the landlord seems to want them out of their house. All of these things weave in and out of each other, seemingly unconnected but as with everything here patterns and connection exist under the surface. Tommy and Eugene pay Cal a visit, as an outsider maybe he’s the best person to investigate this? Cal refuses but is left with the feeling that will count against him. If he’s to ask any questions he’d rather do it alone, with no one controlling the narrative. What he doesn’t know is that Lena is already asking questions and because she’s from this place she knows who to ask. It’s clear sides are forming, even in the way people arrange themselves at the wake. Cal is with Trey but also his neighbour Mart, the only locals he feels any allegiance to. While Lena is drawn to a women’s table, containing everyone she went to school with and usually avoids. She doesn’t want to join sides, but with Cal increasingly pulled into Mart’s group she knows there’ll be pressure from the Moynihans. Maybe there’s a positive to being part of Ardnakelty, but she can’t see it as yet. 

I loved the build up of tension in this small village and the wonderful way the author balances that with humour. There’s a scene with Mart and a squirrel that’s comedy gold and made me laugh out loud then read it to my husband. Mostly it’s the juxtaposition of things; a gang of masked men is menacing, but has a more comical touch when some are Wolverine and other varied superheroes. As the situation escalated I felt angry and powerless to stop what was happening. It wasn’t so much the brawls, it was the quiet threats and controlling nature of what was happening, particularly to the women involved. Tommy Moynihan made my skin crawl but so did Noreen’s mother-in-law Mrs Duggan, the perfect example of someone who appears powerless but actually controls the household and watches the to and fro of the village from her armchair. This fight could knit Cal, Lena and Trey into this place’s history. They could commit to being lifelong Ardnakelty people but if they are, they must find out what’s behind Rachel’s death and end Tommy’s dominance over the place. I became so drawn into this world that I was genuinely upset by the loss and how far apart Lena and Cal become. I loved that he didn’t crowd her and gave her the space to be her own person. I also loved the way he parented Trey and responded to her new relationship. This is an intricate and carefully balanced thriller that’s perfectly grounded in its rural Irish setting. Cal learns that the villager’s allegiance to their land runs deep and they are willing to put absolutely everything on the line for it, even their lives;

“Their tie to their land is different, not in its intensity but in its nature: rooted thousands of years deep, through strata of dispossession, famine, bloody rebellion. This land has been reclaimed and that changes things.”

Out 2nd April from Penguin

Tana French is the author of In the Woods, The Likeness, Faithful Place, Broken Harbor, The Secret Place, and The Trespasser. Her books have won awards including the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, and Barry awards, the Los Angeles Times Award for Best Mystery/Thriller, and the Irish Book Award for Crime Fiction. She lives in Dublin with her family.

Posted in Publisher Proof

Warning Signs by Tracy Sierra

Posted on by thelotusreaders

I couldn’t stop talking about Tracy Sierra’s debut novel Night Watching. I inhaled it and I have been lending and buying it for everyone around me since. So I approached her second novel with trepidation, would it be as good as the first? Well I can set your mind at rest. This novel is incredible. The ‘stayed in bed almost all day to keep reading it’ type of incredible. The plot is simple enough. A young boy named Zach is taken by his father on a ‘boy’s trip’ to the wilderness with people he hopes will invest in his business. This is a part of the country he visited often with his mother who taught him everything he knows about skiing these mountains and survival. As they settle into their cabin and make it ready for guests it’s clear that Zach is an innocent boy, easily ordered around by his dad who’s angry that his secretary Ginny hasn’t been up to prepare the cabin as she promised. As they settle in for their first night, Zach is convinced something is lurking around especially when he has the visit the outside toilet alone and in the dark. The noises and shadows are like nothing he’s heard before. Could a monster be up here with them in the mountains? Possibly. But sometimes, monsters aren’t always what we expect. 

This author is fast becoming a master of complex and painful family dynamics with an edge of horror. This monster in the snow brought back memories of the first time I read The Shining and there are parallels in the isolated mountain setting, the pressure cooker of people forced together and the young, innocent boy at the centre of the tale. This wilderness is somewhere Zach knows very well, having come up here regularly with his mum and sister and this was one of my first questions. Where are the women in this story? We know Zach came up here with groups of women and their kids, but his mum, sister and even the expected Ginny are nowhere. In a small vignette at the beginning we see a previous trip and Zach’s mum explaining how to check the snow for the likelihood of an avalanche. She impresses upon him the importance of turning back, even if the risk is small it’s not worth taking. It’s clear very early on that Bram, his father, doesn’t have the same attitude to risk. He’s the sort of guy who thinks men take risks and would rather show bravado to his guests than follow the advice of his wife through Zach or the guide that comes with the cabin. 

Zach is a beautiful narrator and he’s written with such care, everything he thinks or tells us maintains that innocent, slightly anxious voice. I desperately wanted to protect him and get him out of this situation. As adults we wear masks – the one we wear for our job for example or the ‘telephone voice’ many of us use without really intending to. Children don’t and that creates a tension, especially in an environment where the whole purpose is to impress and sell yourself. Bram makes it clear that these men expect a winner and he has to act like one. Heartbreakingly, Zach has a soft toy he’s smuggled up there but knows it must remain hidden or risk it disappearing. Bram can’t have a weak son. This idea of wearing different masks is beautifully depicted as Zach takes us back to an evening at home where his mother has returned home late and a little drunk. He listens in silence to their argument and curses his mother because she knows the rules. Why does she set out to make him angry? Zach describes his father’s other side as his ‘underself.’

“For Christmas two years ago, someone had given his sister a stuffed octopus that could be flicked inside out. Flip one way, pink, fuzzy and smiling. Flip the other way, green, slick and glowering […] switching outerself to underself.”

He also has this horrible realisation, that we all have at some point in our childhood, that other people might dislike your parent or think they’re an idiot. As they set out and he watches his interactions with the other men he notes that they can see through Bram. The guide sees he knows nothing and Bram’s need to own the best of everything means his mountain gear is flashy, it looks too new. The only other kid on the trip is Russ and he makes it clear that he knows exactly what type of Bram is because his dad is exactly the same: 

“My dad, yours? They’re selfish. They nearly got us killed. And for what? Steve said you and me shouldn’t have skied it and they ignored him, because god forbid they don’t get to do exactly what they want.” 

How scary must it be as a child to learn that your parent is willing to take huge risks with your life for money? Even worse, Zach finds something that makes him wonder; if his dad has an underself, does everyone else? Coming at this from a psychological viewpoint I loved the way Zach describes his concerns about the men he’s with and his father in particular. The environment brings its own dangers with further snowfall and too many risks taken. Survival becomes a question between which is safest – taking the chance with the environment or staying indoors which is undoubtedly warmer and locks out whatever it is that Zach saw the night he ventured to the outside toilet. There’s always a tipping point and the pressure the author builds is almost unbearable. My heart was in my throat during those final chapters because I felt so protective of this incredible little boy. Tracy Sierra is able to evoke that heart thumping fear we feel as children, sometimes when we’re doing nothing more dangerous than lying in bed in the dark. With Zach she explores the difference between a manageable fear that’s no more than a calculated risk with the right understanding and techniques, the fear that simply comes from encountering something we’ve never seen before and the fear we don’t want to acknowledge because it makes us face a terrible truth. 

Out Now From Viking Books

Meet the Author


Tracy Sierra was born and raised in the Colorado mountains. She currently lives in New England in an antique colonial-era home complete with its own secret room. When not writing, she works as an attorney and spends time with her husband, two children, and flock of chickens

Posted in Squad Pod

My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney 

Posted on by thelotusreaders

Eden Fox, an artist on the brink of her big break, sets off for a run before her first exhibition. When she returns to the home she recently moved into – Spyglass, an enchanting old house in the pretty seaside village of Hope Falls – nothing is as it should be. Her key doesn’t fit. A woman, eerily similar to her, answers the door. And her husband insists that this stranger is his wife.

One house. One husband. Two women. Someone is lying.

Six months earlier, a reclusive Londoner named Birdy, reeling from a life-changing diagnosis, inherits Spyglass. This unexpected gift from a long-lost grandmother brings her to Hope Falls. But then Birdy stumbles upon a shadowy London clinic that claims to be able to predict a person’s date of death, including her own. Secrets start to unravel and, as the line between truth and lies blurs, Birdy feels compelled to right some old wrongs.

My Husband’s Wife weaves a tangled web of deception, obsession and mystery that will keep you guessing until the last page. Prepare yourself for the ultimate mind-bending marriage thriller and step inside Spyglass – if you dare – to experience a story where nothing is as it seems.

My goodness this thriller messed with my head! From the very first time Eden Fox returns from her run, puts her key in the door and finds it doesn’t fit, I was utterly hooked. I couldn’t imagine how this had happened and what the hell was going on. Even her own art exhibition has been hijacked by a woman who looks exactly like her and as the village’s police officer Sergeant Carter is brought into the mystery,  he’s also at a loss. He goes to meet Harrison Wolf at his home, a beautiful house called Spyglass set on the cliffs with a panoramic view of the sea. Harrison is Eden Fox’s husband and he insists that the woman at home with him is his wife. So who is the woman left at the police station? We’re then taken six months earlier and introduced to Birdy, a young woman living in an apartment above a bookshop in London. She receives a strange letter addressed to her recently deceased grandmother, it’s so strange Birdy is fascinated and wants to investigate further. It’s from a company called Thanatos who claim to be able to predict your death day. Birdy decides to become a client of the company, run by Harrison Wolf. Birdy is interested to see if they are as accurate as they suggest. She wants to know what the company told her grandmother, before she died. Her grandmother lived in a house looking out to sea, in a small village in Cornwall and Birdy has inherited it. How are all these people connected? I had so many questions I didn’t know where to begin, but the short chapters and their drip feed of information kept me reading. I just had to find out what was going on! 

I loved Birdy as a character and was surprised by the part she played in the investigation around Eden Fox. Her dynamic with Sergeant Carter is comical and brings light relief to the complications of the plot. She is so very sure of who she is and has a specific look from her plaited hair to her brogues. She also loves reading with always endears a character to me and enjoyed her dog companion too. She’s very ballsy and soon has the measure of Carter who really doesn’t stand a chance against this intelligent and forthright older woman. Carter is our representative of this sleepy village in Cornwall and through his family we see the difficulties facing villagers as more and more housing is being turned into holiday accommodation. They have lost their home and livelihood at the Smuggler’s Inn. Young people have very little chance of settling where they’ve grown up which affects the passing down of traditions and social history. Our book is set around the time of All Soul’s Day and the village tradition is like a Day of the Dead parade with everyone dressed up as skeletons, or dead pirates and mermaids. This touch of folklore lets us know we’re somewhere unique, with a long history and old loyalties. Could this be an explanation for what’s going on here? Something magical or something more sinister and human? 

I’m in awe of people who can write like this and keep track of all the threads. I imagine a room with one of those see through boards covered with pictures, lists and cross-referencing. Spyglass is a brilliant backdrop for all these odd goings on and reminded me a little of the home in the first Knives Out film that one detective refers to as a life size game of Cluedo. There’s something mesmeric about its view that inspires both Eden Fox and her stepdaughter Gabrielle who still paints nothing but the house and it’s surrounding despite living elsewhere, in a home for dependent young adults. Ever since an accident when she was a child Gabrielle hasn’t spoken and only communicates through her art, which sounds very eerie. Spyglass’s library sounds incredible and it’s no surprise to know that Birdy’s grandmother had a love of classic crime fiction. Like me, I’m sure other thriller readers will devour this addictive thriller that delivers great characters, a seemingly unsolvable mystery and twist after twist. 

Out now from Pan MacMillan

Meet the Author

Alice Feeney is the New York Times and Sunday Times multi-million-copy bestselling author of novels including HIS & HERS, SOMETIMES I LIE, ROCK PAPER SCISSORS, DAISY DARKER, BEAUTIFUL UGLY and MY HUSBAND’S WIFE. Her books have been translated into forty languages, and have been optioned for major screen adaptations. HIS & HERS was an instant Global #1 Netflix show in 2026, starring Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal.

Alice was a BBC journalist for fifteen years before becoming an author. MY HUSBAND’S WIFE is her eighth novel.

You can follow Alice on Instagram or Facebook. To be the first to know about her tours, TV shows, and books, visit her website: alicefeeney dot com.

Posted in Squad Pod

The Future Saints by Ashley Winstead 

Posted on by thelotusreaders

A band on the brink. A love worth playing for.

When record executive Theo meets the Future Saints, they’re bombing at a dive bar in their hometown. Since the tragic death of their manager, the band has been in a downward spiral and Theo has been dispatched to coax a new – and successful – album out of them, or else let them go.

Theo is struck right away by Hannah, the group’s impetuous lead singer, who has gone off script in debuting a new song-and, in fact, a whole new sound. Theo’s supposed to get the band back on track, but when their new music garners an even wider fan base than before, the plans begin to change-new tour, new record, new start.

But Hannah’s descent into grief has larger consequences for the group, and she’s not willing to let go yet. not for fame or love.

I wasn’t sure at first that I’d get into this novel about a rock band, but it soon grabbed hold of me and I was rooting for all of them and their new manager Theo. The book managed to be both sad and angry, but also romantic and full of hope. The Future Saints are reeling from the death of their manager Ginny who was the lead singer Hannah’s sister. The rest of the band are simply following Hannah’s lead at the moment and she’s gone off their usual track with a new sound that’s darker and more rock. Theo is known as ‘the fixer’ at Manifold Records, he is sent in when a band is struggling or going off the rails. He has one instruction from the CEO, bring in a Future Saints album, then let them go. However, fate intervenes at their first gig when Hannah debuts a deeply emotional new song and falls into the audience while being filmed. The clip goes viral and everyone is talking about the Future Saints new sound and their singer who appears to be having a meltdown. The telephone starts to ring with bookings for gigs and television, but are Hannah and the band in the best frame of mind for interviews and this kind of exposure? Theo has a difficult line to tread, between the instructions from Manifold and this whole new world opening up for a band he’s starting to care about. Perhaps he cares a little too much. 

It took me a while to connect with Hannah, she’s angry, defensive and you never quite know what she’s going to do next. Somehow the author conveys just how magnetic a presence she is on stage and the depths of emotion she has the ability to communicate. She constantly talks to Ginny, something I assumed was only happening internally but Hannah is very clear. Ginny is the only person she allows close to her, even more so since she became ‘the girl who haunts me, my own personal ghost.’ I could see she was so wrapped up in her grief, that she’s forgotten others are grieving too. Her bandmates and her parents have also lost Ginny, but Hannah can only cope with her own pain. Her bandmates are going along with the new sound and direction, especially as the album starts to take shape, and they’re committed to Hannah too but as she increasingly melts down she seems to have forgotten that her actions affect all three of them. They now affect Theo too, but where he might have come down hard on a musician in the past, when Hannah plays up he increasingly feels an urge to hug and protect her. She’s so unbelievably raw but even with therapy she struggles to articulate what she’s really feeling and why. She also hasn’t stopped to think whether her version of Ginny is accurate, or simply the Ginny she wants to see. Anyone who has lost someone will identify with Hannah’s loss and perhaps the catharsis of using her creativity to express those difficult emotions. After my husband’s death I wrote a book about my experience and it did help me process some of the trauma as well as the loss. Hannah wants to communicate what an incredible person Ginny was and everything she meant to her. This is understandable as sometimes I felt like screaming because of all the turmoil inside, especially in places where everyone else doesn’t know what happened and is just going about their everyday life. 

However, Hannah isn’t reserving this raw anger for the stage, her drinking is reaching worrying levels and she’s taking on stunts like shaving her own head at a party, egged on by Manifold Records’ CEO Roger. Through him we see the exploitative side of the music industry, because instead of looking after Hannah outside of working in the studio, he’s taking on bigger and bigger gigs and bookings from Jimmy Kimmell and SNL. He also makes sure she’s seen with the right people at parties – usually other Manifold signings he wants to promote – and encourages her destructive side. After all, a lead singer in meltdown is always going to be news, especially when they’re a woman. We learned this from Britney. Hannah isn’t strong enough to withstand this sort of pressure and Roger knows that. I didn’t trust him with the band or in his promise that he’ll make Theo director of management if the Saints deliver their album. We get a glimpse of the luxury that’s available when you’re a star in the ascendancy, but posh hotel rooms, infinity pools and champagne on private jets isn’t the way this band need looking after. Theo knows this and while I often find romantic prospects in novels rather boring, Theo is interesting and has his own conflicts that cause him to be a ‘rescuer’ of people. He longs to do well in his job, then perhaps when he meets his absent father he might be proud of him. There’s a conflict here though. He really starts to love the members of this band and desperately wants success for them, but he also wants them to be well and happy – something they’re a long way from when he finds them. If Roger comes good on his promise, could Theo walk away from the Saints and become the ‘Suit’ they tease him about? Also, realising the person you have feelings for needs help is hard, especially when you suspect the help they need will take them away from you. Can Theo prove his worth and wait?

We hear more from the rest of the band through articles and transcripts of interviews, but that doesn’t mean that Ripper and Kenny are one dimensional. Ripper is proudly one of the few South Asian guitarists on the scene and his move to lead guitar on some of their new tracks has really blown the audience away. He is interested in his Hindu roots and the philosophy around the religion, something that he also has to reconcile with coming out as bisexual. Kenny is the happy little heartbeat of the group, an incredibly skilled drummer who keeps the others on track. He is also surprising, he could have been a stereotypical flower child but he isn’t, having an interest in the philosophy of Heidegger and how it relates to music. I used Heidegger for my unfinished PHD on disability representation, because he was part of the phenomenological branch of thinking that values lived experience and being in the moment. It adds a dimension that I hadn’t expected when in one interview Kenny sums up exactly why human life is of such value and it’s because of time, our existence is finite and therefore becomes more precious. I was fascinated with the author’s depiction of therapy and the self insight Hannah has that allows her to engage with it fully and with commitment. The author pitched the novel well, flowing from the depths of grief to the terrible tension of Hannah’s eventual breakdown and Theo desperately trying to save her. What stops Hannah’s grief from being unbearable are the humorous moments of party antics, the band playing her old school and the stories of Ginny – one involving a tapir! I loved learning about Ginny through these people who loved her and had every hope that through their music the Saints would immortalise her. These moments lift the book and I did hope that the band would succeed, that Hannah would recover and laugh again, that Theo would find his path in life and perhaps that love might eventually find a way. As Kenny tells his interviewer, music is the perfect medium to express the experience of living because like life, a song is a finite thing. It’s why when the music builds and reaches a crescendo we feel euphoric and emotional, because we know it signals we’re nearing the end. 

“Her art is alive, searing, moving, brutal, honest. She represents us as we are in this moment; beleaguered by pain and exhaustion, unsure if we can save ourselves, but incapable of not trying, of not making art and meaning.” 

From a review of Hannah and the Future Saints’ performance that goes viral. 

Meet the Author

Ashley Winstead is an academic turned bestselling novelist with a Ph.D. in contemporary American literature. She lives in Houston with her husband, three cats, and beloved wine fridge.

Posted in Squad Pod

Room 706 by Ellie Levenson 

Posted on by thelotusreaders

Kate and Vic have been married for a few years after meeting when she was studying in Rome. After a normal morning rush at home she travels into London, on the pretext of doing an interview. However, she has a different destination in mind. This is an appointment she’s been keeping for several years like clockwork. Now she’s caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. She should be travelling home later this afternoon – picking up the kids from school and collecting the rabbit from the vets. Instead she’s trapped in room 706, in a luxury hotel that’s under siege by a terrorist group. How can she explain why she’s here? Even if her body is discovered in the aftermath, everyone will wonder what she is doing here? She has always been very careful, leaving no trace. Now she wonders whether her husband Vic will understand why? As she tries to summon the words that convey just how much Vic and her children mean to her, Kate reflects on all the choices that brought her here. 

I’d read so many great reports of this book and I couldn’t wait to read it, as soon as it arrived last year. It’s such a great premise and has a woman who doesn’t enjoy the constraints of marriage and motherhood. I can honestly say that even I’ve fantasied about holidaying alone for a fortnight, never mind an afternoon in a hotel. Although I couldn’t be bothered by a lover either. This is one of those books that makes the reader go back and forth on what they think of the characters and I can imagine book clubs having long conversations about Kate particularly. After all, society judges women far more harshly than men, especially those who express dislike or even ambivalence about motherhood. I didn’t just focus on Kate, because I felt if I was to understand I needed to look at the whole of her life and the people who’d had the most influence on her. The author takes us beyond those Instagram selfies with the new baby and the false idea it can give of other people’s perfect lives. Here we look at the reality of family life for Kate and how the way we parent is often based on the example of our parents or grandparents. Our ability to parent is also dependent on our work situation as well as the personality or parenting style of the other parent. The author cleverly tells Kate’s story in her own words and then shows through memories, alerts and messages on her phone, as well as mental conversation with people she’s lost, who Kate is and what happened to bring her here. 

We know she loves her husband Vic. While studying in Rome she lived in his Nonna’s apartment, while Nonna had her own place with her grandson Vic who has suffered a nervous breakdown. Despite being ten years older than Kate, Vic is treated as the vulnerable one who needs protection. His brother Tom pleads with her not to hurt his brother and I felt the weight of that placed upon her. Yet Kate has just lost her mother, will she ever get to be the vulnerable one? They are happy and Kate relives so many beautiful memories that show us how much she loves him and their children. Yet there isn’t anyone apart from Vic’s brother to be their support network. Kate and her mum were a duo, no dad around and no siblings either. I loved one moment where Kate asked her mother what it’s like being a single mum. Her mum replies honestly that it’s hard work, but she can choose how they live and the values they have. There’s no one else to negotiate with, no clashing parenting styles or being let down by someone not doing their bit. If you contrast this with the evidence of Kate’s own phone it’s telling. She has an app that divides her ‘to do’ list into things that need to be done now, in the next couple of months, or sometime in the future. She sets reminders to coordinate her life, so ‘to do’ reminders join the reminder to check her breasts, to do her kegel exercises, to do the weekly food order. Meanwhile she places family photos into folders, makes lists of bank passwords, Christmas gift lists and house maintenance jobs. If she dies here, Vic will need to know this stuff. By contrast her male lover simply sleeps. Because he can.

Kate reminisces about a family holiday they took to Italy and reassesses the hours spent on research, price comparing, insurance, bite and sunburn cream, swimwear for the kids and so on. Vic would have simply bought a couple of T-shirts and booked the second or third package deal they saw and it would still have been a good holiday. Vic’s laidback parenting style and his vulnerability mean she’s he person who carries that mental load. Of course some of this is on Kate, as she’s clearly risk averse and overthinks decisions but she also has no significant female support. Since she lost her mum and then best friend Eve, all her relationships outside the home are superficial. Do these things excuse adultery? It will still hurt the ones they love, never mind the psychological reasons for the decision. However, all of that juggling made me understand a little. She has a need for something – rather like an old-fashioned pressure cooker needs to blow off steam. In this time, in an anonymous hotel room what she needs is no strings, no judgement and no backstory. It’s just completely selfish pleasure. Her sex life at home is tender and loving, they consider each other and everything they’ve built together as a couple is part of their sex life. From that unexpected first time with her lover it’s been about taking her pleasure and asking for exactly what she wants. This afternoon, that happens once every few weeks, enables her to be the wife and mum the family need her to be. She’s trying to recapture that carefree young woman who went off to study in Italy, who has clearly been totally changed by everything that’s happened since. It seems ironic that someone who plans everything so carefully, finds herself in a situation that’s absolutely out of her control. 

This is an incredible debut! It’s absolutely pitch perfect. The author carefully lets the tension mount so slowly that while reminiscing we can almost forget where Kate is in the here and now. A prisoner in this room, she has to be silent so they can’t put the television on and they can’t flush a toilet. When the lights and electricity go they’re almost totally cut off from the outside world. It’s an eerie muffled silence, but a quiet that is sometimes broken by heavy footsteps or other hotel guests meeting their fate. You will hold your breath at times. The forced intimacy means she asks questions of her lover that she’s never asked before. She knows nothing about his life, only that he’s married and has been sleeping with her in this way for several years. We know the terrorists are stalking the corridors, one floor at a time, but we don’t know whether they have a master key or a bomb. I realised that despite her family unit, Kate is lonely. What she wants is for someone to see and appreciate her as Kate the woman, not the mum, wife or journalist. You will be compelled to read this as I did, long into the night. It has the pitch perfect pacing and tension of a thriller, but so many psychological layers. Women will identify with Kate, at least some part of her. She very simply wants to be seen, desired and receive pleasure. Surely though, at some point, Room 706 will be next. Kate has had an opportunity to assess and understand her life, to possibly make changes and live more. You’ll have to read to the end to find out whether she gets that chance. 

Out on Jan 15th 2026 from Headline

Meet the Author

Hi, I’m Ellie Levenson. I’m the author of the novel Room 706 which comes out in January 2026. It’s my debut novel, though you may see other books by me online as I was previously a freelance journalist and during this time wrote some non fiction books including one on feminism and one on how to get ideas for features. I have also written various books for children using the name Eleanor Levenson.

Room 706 tells the story of Kate, a happily married mother who meets her lover, James, in hotels every few months as a form of me-time. It might as well be a facial or a shoe-buying habit, she tells herself. Except this time, while cleaning up and getting dressed, she turns on the television and looks at her phone and realises the hotel has been seized by terrorists. How do you tell your spouse that you won’t be home to pick up the kids because you’re at the centre of the incident on the news?

It comes out in January 2026. In the meantime do give this page a follow if you’d like to be kept up to date with my work, and any special offers. And if you do feel able to pre-order, that is super helpful.

Posted in Publisher Proof

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy 

Posted on by thelotusreaders

One by one, she undid each event, each decision, each choice. 
If Davy had remembered to put on a coat.
If Seamie McGeown had not found himself alone on a dark street.
If Michael Agnew had not walked through the door of the pub on a quiet night in February in his white shirt.

I came late to this incredible story of love set in Ireland, a story that reaches across the barriers of age, religion and fidelity. I was first sent it in 2022 and read it once, then decided to read it again before watching the television series. On an ordinary day Michael Agnew walks into the pub belonging to Cushla’s family and a chain of events is set in motion that can’t be undone. Cushla teaches seven year olds who already know phrases like rubber bullet and petrol bomb, everything is upside down so why wouldn’t the married, Protestant barrister lock eyes on the Catholic schoolteacher half his age. As Cushla tries to help her pupils, particularly Davey McGeown, and deal with her alcoholic mother, she conducts a secret love affair, but there are forces moving beyond her control. As she desperately tries to keep all the disparate parts of her life under control and apart, they are on a collision course. I couldn’t stay away from this brilliant book, feeling so much for this young woman who simply falls in love in a place that’s far from simple. Her relationship with her mother is fascinating and as she moves in very different circles with Michael we feel her self-consciousness and doubt about herself. This is a place and time with very different rules to ours and their impact is utterly devastating.

We experience everything through Cushla, a young girl who works as a schoolteacher by day and struggles with boundaries. She goes above and beyond for Davey McGeown, with lifts home from school and loaning books to him and his teenage brother Tommy. When their father is severely beaten by paramilitaries she continues to help, at a potentially huge cost to her family’s safety. I loved her instincts to help but also understood her brother’s warning. Her home life can be a struggle, her mother Gina made me hugely angry with her drinking and self-pity. Sometimes she’s fit for nothing but bed, then on other occasions she can pull it together, especially if there’s a situation where she can be the centre of attention. It is this formative relationship that makes Cushla a ‘rescuer’ and leaves her open to being exploited. We see her relationship with Michael through her eyes only, the attraction is instant and mutual but only develops when he asks if she’ll teach him and his friends the Irish language. At first she feels a fool, taking her school books to people with advanced qualifications who are so much older than her. We never know Michael’s motivations, although he does seem to fall in love with Cushla we don’t know if the lessons are a manipulation. A means of spending time with her. I was watching to see if he was practised in adultery, is he a serial seducer of young women? No one mentions his wife in the small circle of friends she meets. There’s a huge power imbalance between them and Cushla never really thinks about his other life, until it’s right in front of her. 

Love of any sort seems gentle and tender when placed against the backdrop of the troubles. Beatings and bombs are a regular occurrence. Violence is never far away. Killing is mentioned with regret and reverence, but still more casually than you’d expect. However, it is devastating to those left behind. As Cushla’s love affair with Michael intensifies so do political tensions in the town. Cushla’s attention is drawn by dramatic events close to home, totally unaware of where the real danger lurks, with tragic results that left me heartbroken. I loved the naivety of Cushla and her wish to make other people’s lives better. She’s less good at looking after herself and the secrets she keeps mean that when tragedy does strike she cannot share it and is utterly alone. It is only with the backdrop of this tragedy that Cushla sees how fragile peace and love can be. Her life is like a hall of mirrors, with events looking different depending on which position they’re viewed from. If Michael hadn’t stopped by the bar that night. If she’d never helped Davey McGeown. A photograph she finds in the bar shows that night and to those people drinking in the bar this is as close as she and Michael are, only she knows different

“Michael standing at the counter […] Cushla’s hands were just in the frame, slipping a beer mat under his whiskey, his outstretched fingers almost touching her wrist.”

This is an incredible debut from Louise Kennedy that captures the naivety of youth while also exploring infidelity, betrayal and complicated raw grief. This may be a secret love but is no less powerful for that. 

Trespasses is available on C4 on demand.

Posted in Publisher Proof

The Scene of the Crime by Lynda La Plante 

Posted on by thelotusreaders

Jane Tennison was one of my tv heroines growing up. I was asked on my first ever counselling course to write down three characters who I admired and why – so I choose Linda from Press Gang (Julia Sawhala), Dana Sculley (Gillian Anderson) and Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren). They are characters and actresses I still admire today. I think it was their resolve, their competence and passion for their work and their intelligence. I wanted to have that belief in who I was and what I wanted to do. Jessica Russell is another strong character for the author, although outwardly she feels a little softer than La Plante’s other heroines. However, she has great confidence in her abilities and intellect as a forensic psychologist and head of the Met’s new MSCAN team. Jess, Diane and Taff have a lot of experience in working together and are hired to create this fast-track forensic team reserved for the most serious of the MET’s cases and they have to hit the ground running. A wine dealer has experienced a home invasion while he was sleeping upstairs. Johan de Clerk is a young South African man who has settled in London after marrying his wife Michelle and started a branch of his family’s wine company that supples their products direct to restaurants across the capital. The intruder disturbed him and when he came down to confront him there was a fight and the intruder fled, leaving Johan with serious stab wounds and a head injury. His sixty-thousand pound Rolex watch was taken along with money from a safe. While Johan fights for his life in hospital, Jess and her team make a start forensically examining the scene. This means working alongside DCI ?? Who seems almost personally affronted by the MSCAN team and is very brusque in his manner. Luckily they have his deputy DS Dave ?? Who seems very happy to work with the team and gels straight away. This is the case that will define whether the cost of their department is worth it’s while and whether Jess’s much talked about abilities are up to scratch. DCI Woods was on the interviewing panel for her job and didn’t want to appoint her, but was outvoted. This case is not going to be as straightforward as it seems because once you’ve thrown in a mystery late night visitor drinking in the cinema room, a furious and forensically aware spouse and Jess’s own personal link to the case there are a lot of variables. Oh, and the team have a leak too. Will Jess manage to bring this offender to justice?

I always look forward to a new Lynda La Plante character and Jess is going to be an interesting woman to get to know. She’s whip smart and confident when it comes to her job but rather more hesitant when it comes to her private life. She’s currently living with brother in their mother’s bungalow, an arrangement that works because although they’re quite different, they do understand one another. They have an interesting dynamic, having recently lost their mother they’re both grieving and Jess’s response to trauma is trying to control other parts of her life, such as her home environment. Chris has to intervene over the matter of hoovering first thing in the morning before work, when he’s trying to stay asleep. She’s wiping down surfaces as soon as something has touched them and insists on rinsing everything before it is stacked in the dishwasher, something Chris is more than happy to leave to the dishwasher. Although it’s possibly this need for correct procedure that makes her so good at her job and this one is creating more anxiety than most since it is the team’s first, but also because Jess is going to meet someone she hoped never to see again. Despite her rather fragile pre-raphaelite exterior (I see Kelly Reilly here) Jess has a core of steel and a willingness to place herself in very uncomfortable situations if it’s going to get the right result. This is especially important when she has an SIO who lacks experience, Woods was fast-tracked as a graduate and quickly promoted, but has no experience in uniform or with the minutiae of forensics, he relies very heavily on his deputy Dave who does most of the liaising with MSCAN. On Dave’s part that might have a lot more to do with Jess than his work ethic. Jess is loyal to her team, even to Guy who she doesn’t know well yet. She doesn’t hover over what they’re doing, she simply trusts them to do their jobs well and report in. Her mix of skills from the psychology of human behaviour to managing a crime scene are formidable. I think, if I’d been Dave I’d have been a little bit in awe of her. 

I found the case fascinating, solving only a small part of it before the end. I felt sure there was more to this married couple than met the eye. Nobody is known as ‘that bitch Belsham’ without a reason and I wondered if the victim’s wife’s reputation was built on more than her court appearances as a KC. She will certainly know criminal law as well as, if not better than, the police. She would be a formidable rival to them in court, although she can’t represent her husband, they would certainly talk about the best strategy together. This suspect can’t stop talking though, even overriding his solicitor’s advice. Even worse he’s known to a member of the team. Yet listening to his evidence they wonder whether this man could ever have been the dark shadow that invaded their nights and left them changed. Although he’s clearly been involved in criminal behaviour could he really have planned and executed that break in or overpowered a huge man like Johan de Clerk?                                                                                                                         

It was clever that the case kept moving in two different directions, drip feeding us a little about the investigation into their suspect and following the forensic evidence, but also investigating Johan de Clerk and even his family back in South Africa along with their wine business. The pacing is pitch perfect, just enough revelations to keep you reading but not so much that you’re running ahead of the team. Then there are the sections where there would be a CSI type montage of scientific testing and nerdy types delving into the devices like phones and tablets. It showed that every breakthrough in a case must be backed up by evidence – can they prove someone was where they claim to be? Can they prove a suspect’s alibi? Can they prove a connection between subjects? Everything has to be proved beyond reasonable doubt. I must admit there were places where I found the evidence overwhelming to keep track of and even though the characters are constantly in touch by phone I couldn’t imagine how they keep hold of all this information in their heads! Taff and Diane have bags and bags of things to test for DNA, Guy must have an inbox a mile deep because he is finding evidence to lock down the case against a suspect and also having the follow up theories and hunches the team might have. I had to let go sometimes and accept that I wasn’t going to understand or lock down every detail, just as long as it sounded plausible. I was reading a book, not running a forensic unit – a job I was more than happy to leave for Jessica. I was surprised by how much Jess actually did in terms of investigating and I could understand that she and DS Dave were coming a bit close to having the investigation blow up in their face. She questions people alongside Dave and offers profiling insights during interviews. I wasn’t sure whether the manager of a forensic team would be so involved with that side of a case, but I have the same criticism of Silent Witness and it’s still entertaining regardless and this is too. 

I think the author has achieved her goal of setting up a new series and a central character with a lot more to give. We’ve spent a lot of time with Jess, there was a fascinating case to get lost in and there are also clear hints where this might go next. There were whispers of a possible course with the FBI in Quantico for Jess, some hints of potential romance and I was sure there was a lot more to Guy who’s had a fascinating working life before MSCAN. There were also interesting aspects of her personal life I’d love to explore more such as Jess and her brother’s family background. Her brother is diagnosed with a life limiting disease that will affect them all in future books. We don’t learn much about Taff and Diane’s lives yet. All of which shows there is definitely room to grow here, which isn’t surprising given the author’s track record at plotting a series. I can see this being an addictive reading experience and I look forward to seeing where this series goes next. 

Meet the Author

Lynda La Plante was born in Liverpool. She trained for the stage at RADA and worked with the National Theatre and RDC before becoming a television actress. She then turned to writing – and made her breakthrough with the phenomenally successful TV series WIDOWS.

Her novels have all been international bestsellers. Her original script for the much-acclaimed PRIME SUSPECT won awards from BAFTA, Emmys, British Broadcasting and Royal Television Society as well as the 1993 Edgar Allan Poe Writer’s Award. 

Since 1993 Lynda has spearheaded La Plante Productions. In that time the company has produced a stunning slate of innovative dramas with proven success and enduring international appeal. 

Based on Lynda’s best selling series of Anna Travis novels, Above Suspicion, Silent Scream, Deadly Intent and Silent Scream have all adapted into TV scripts and received impressive viewing figures.

Lynda has been made honorary fellow of the British Film Institute and was awarded the BAFTA Dennis Potter Writer’s Award 2000.

On 14th June 2008 Lynda was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List (Writer and Producer for services to Literature, Drama and to Charity).

On 3rd October 2009, Lynda was honoured at the Cologne Conference International Film and Television Festival with the prestigious TV Spielfilm Award for her television adaptation of her novel, Above Suspicion.

Books penned by Lynda La Plante include: The Legacy, The Talisman, Bella Mafia, Entwined, Cold Shoulder, Cold Blood, Cold Heart, Sleeping Cruelty, Royal Flush, Above Suspicion, The Red Dahlia, Clean Cut, Deadly Intent and Silent Scream, Blind Fury (this entered the UK Sunday Times Bestsellers List at number 1 having sold 9,500 copies in its first two weeks), Blood Line, Backlash, Wrongful Death, and Twisted, which have all been international best-sellers. 

In Feb 2012 Lynda’s chilling tale of THE LITTLE ONE was published in conjunction with Quick Reads through Simon & Schuster UK.

Lynda’s latest book, Tennison, was published on 24th September 2015 and is the prequel the highly acclaimed Prime Suspect. The story charts Jane Tennison’s entry into the police force as a 22 year old Probationary Officer at Hackney Police Station in 1973.

Lynda La Plante is published in the UK by Simon & Schuster.

Lynda La Plante is published in the US by HarperCollins Publishers.

Please visit http://www.lyndalaplante.com for further information. You can also follow Lynda on Facebook and Twitter.

Posted in Publisher Proof

The Forest Hideaway by Sharon Gosling

Posted on by thelotusreaders

Hidden away in Cumbria’s Gair Forest is the most romantic setting, a ruined castle. It’s a haven for local history lovers and a once in a lifetime project for architect Saskia Tilbury Martin. She’s finding it difficult to get a builder to take the project on so Owen is her last hope and she’s already running late to meet him. She knows that she’s overdressed for the great outdoors and she’s had to borrow her friend’s BMW sports car because her trusty Land Rover is in the garage. In a way this is Owen’s last chance too. Previously in the forces, he has been a builder for a number of years but the business is struggling and he knows he’s not pulling his weight with wife Tasha and their gorgeous little girl. They have debts and if he doesn’t take this job he’s looking at failure, but when Saskia turns up with her sports car, three inch heels and double-barrelled name he’s isn’t impressed. Especially since she’s an hour late. He dismisses her as a rich girl throwing her money around. However, when she gets the plans out he can’t help but be intrigued. Saskia assures him that she wants to preserve what’s here, to leave the ruin looking as it does now but create a number of platforms inside to house her living spaces. She even intends to leave the slightly dilapidated oak tree growing in the centre of the castle, with a glass roof that can open in good weather. She doesn’t tell him that she’s the architect because other builders have been unsure about working with an unproven architect before. Owen takes the night to think about it, but when she offers him ten grand up front to get started he knows he can’t turn her down. Saskia reflects that they don’t have to like each other, they just have to be a good professional team for the project and save this beautiful building that holds so many memories for her. 

Owen soon finds he has assumed a lot about Saskia. When he sees the cabin she tows onto the site with her Land Rover back on the road, he thinks it’s an affectation to need a whole kitted out living space for when she’s here in the day. The builders have to make do with bare sectional buildings with no comforts. When he’s there early one morning, he’s surprised to see her appear from the cabin in her old denim shirt and her hair tied back, all set to walk her dog. She’s living in the cabin when he’s assumed she had a boutique hotel booked for the duration of the build. I wouldn’t have blamed her, having half my house out of bounds for building work at the moment I’d give anything for a couple of nights in a nice hotel! The truth is Saskia doesn’t have many people or places she could say feel like home. Her inheritance is from a grandparent and she has no relationship with her mother, instead she has best friend Vivian. Owen isn’t doing any better on the family front, Tasha has put up with a lot and has decided that their relationship just isn’t working anymore and he’s bunking down with friend and fellow builder Stuart. I found Saskia interesting and loved that she had a dream she was seeing through. She seems very sure of her ability and has confidence in her design which I found inspirational because I’m not confident and I’m rubbish at finishing projects. I admired that perseverance because she isn’t just hanging around waiting for life to happen. Owen’s life path felt more passive, despite seeing different parts of the world his life hasn’t been his own, it belonged to the army. He’s also drifted in his relationship. It clearly hasn’t been right for some time and Tasha tells him that his long absences on detachment meant they never really built a life together. As soon as he left the army and was home full time, they could both see their differences. Neither of them have tried to address the decline and now it’s too late. Maybe he needs to spend some time with Saskia because her self-reliance and determination could inspire him. 

The setting is absolutely stunning. I love the Lakes, a love that was awakened again on a recent visit. I loved the idea of taking such a romantic ruin and making it into a home without taking away any of the decay that makes it so picturesque, the beauty being tied up with its imperfection. The isolation is fascinating too. I used to live in a large house in the middle of nowhere and friends would be aghast that I didn’t shut my curtains or check that all five doors were properly locked every night. Saskia isn’t afraid of the isolation either and I liked that about her. The history of the site is important too, both Saskia’s link to it but also the local history buff’s attachment to the building. So far they haven’t even given Saskia a chance, stating they want Gair preserved as it is without realising that’s exactly what she’s trying to do. I loved the idea that there are:

‘Two types of history here […] the castle ruins, the ancient oak tree. They both have worlds within them”.

This is so true because they hold the history of many people over centuries, enduring every new generation and what they bring. When we think about it like that it’s clear that making it a home again is exactly the right thing to do, reintroducing humans to the building and the nature surrounding it. I thought the added intrigue of Roman ruins under castle was fascinating and I was again impressed that Saskia had thought of this and ordered drone scans of the castle and underneath to see what the layers of soil revealed. I was hoping the local history lovers would give her a chance if she tried to her plans to them. 

There is a ‘will they, won’t they’ to this couple’s relationship and while a touch of romance is always nice it isn’t the main focus here. Owen slowly comes round to Saskia once he’s realised how much of his assessment of her was based on assumptions. She isn’t a rich girl playing at property development. Owen doesn’t know himself as well as Saskia does and part of that is because of his years in the army. It takes time after coming out, to get to know the person inside and decide what you want the rest of your life to look like. I imagined that if Tasha hadn’t been brave enough to say something that morning, Owen would have drifted along for years in an unfulfilling marriage never knowing any different. His growing inner world was very well written as he learns to read other people better and how to be a responsible co-parent with Tasha for the future. Whereas Saskia has worked on herself and needs Gair to be her home, somewhere to feel grounded. When she needs support she checks in with Vivian and I loved this idea of ‘found family’, the people you choose to support and sustain you in life when the family you’re born with can’t. They aren’t an obvious match and this is not one of those books that ends with a big fairytale wedding. We just have the sense that they’re gradually moving towards each other as the build progresses and they learn how to be a team. The oak tree felt like a metaphor for both these people, but also for life in general. It’s not the most beautiful tree, in fact part of it has been hit by lightning and someone had an abandoned attempt at pruning it once, very badly. Despite these setbacks the oak has kept growing, not in the most beautiful shape but still reaching for the sky. This is the perfect, cozy, autumnal read.

Out now from Simon & Schuster Uk

Meet the Author

I’ve been writing since I was a teenager, which is now a distressingly long time ago! I started out as an entertainment journalist – actually, my earliest published work was as a reviewer of science fiction and fantasy books. I went on to become a staff writer and then an editor for print magazines, before beginning to write non-fiction making-of books tied in to film and television, such as The Art and Making of Penny Dreadful and Wonder Woman: The Art and Making of the Film. 

I now write both children’s and adult fiction – my first novel was called The Diamond Thief, a Victorian-set steampunk adventure book for the middle grade age group. That won the Redbridge Children’s prize in 2014, and I went on to write two more books in the series before moving on to other adventure books including The Golden Butterfly, which was nominated for the Carnegie Award in 2017, The House of Hidden Wonders, and a YA horror called FIR, which was shortlisted for the Lancashire Book of the Year Award in 2018. My last children’s book (to date) is called The Extraordinary Voyage of Katy Willacott, and was published by Little Tiger in 2023. 

My debut adult novel, The House Beneath the Cliffs, was published by Simon & Schuster in August 2021. Since then I’ve written three more: The Lighthouse Bookshop, The Forgotten Garden, and The Secret Orchard, which is out in September 2024. My adult fiction tends to centre on small communities – feel-good tales about how we find where we belong in life and what it means when we do. Although I have also published full-on adult horror stories, which are less about community and more about terror and mayhem…

I was born in Kent but now live in a very small house in an equally small village in northern Cumbria with my husband, who owns a bookshop in the nearby market town of Penrith.

From Sharon’s Amazon Author Page 28th August 2023

Posted in Netgalley, Publisher Proof

The Midnight Carousel by Fiza Saeed McLynn

Posted on by thelotusreaders

Maisie spent her early childhood in a ramshackle shed of a house belonging to her foster parents. It isn’t a home though, when the adults in charge are happy to collect the money but not provide the care. The children are cold, hungry and dressed in rags. Luckily she has best friend Tommy to dream about a better future with. One day they find a fairground flyer with a beautiful illustration of a carousel. Maisie keeps it with her and many years later, across the Atlantic Ocean, she meets the carousel again. Her wealthy guardian Sir Malcolm ships it over to America and sits it in the grounds of his mansion. When Maisie decides to hold a party for local children she is so happy to see the carousel being used. It’s finally full of happy smiling faces, but when the ride stops there is one less child on the ride. The little boy on the caramel horse is nowhere to be seen. Maisie finds this particular horse hypnotic, it’s different to the others with the blue diamond decoration on it’s forehead and surrounded by the letters OEHT. She has no idea what it means. Maisie is taken in for questioning, but she’s surprised when a French detective arrives. Someone has already disappeared from this very carousel and a man went to the guillotine, found guilty of murder. Could there be a US accomplice? Or is there something magical about this particular carousel after all? 

The novel is set in the early 20th Century and takes us from Paris to Chicago. Maisie certainly has a varied life after such humble beginnings, plucked from the shack by her Aunt Mabel who introduces her to Sir Malcolm and his daughter Catherine. Maisie only just starts to trust her new life when it is ripped away by Spanish influenza. As Maisie slowly recovers, she’s told that both her aunt and new friend Catherine didn’t survive. Maisie is sure she’ll be sent back to her foster home, so she’s surprised when Sir Malcolm asks if she’d like to accompany him to the USA. He’s bought a large house and land near Chicago. Once they’re settled in, Maisie feels like she has a home for the first time and like she has a father figure. I found Maisie smart and resourceful, very capable of helping out with business especially when time has passed since the terrible disappearance of the little boy and they start to discuss a business opportunity. They decide to build a theme park, with the carousel at the centre and call it Silver Kingdom. Maisie throws herself into work and while there’s still the residual trauma of losing her parents and then her aunt, she does start to find her feet. She jumps into the next choice far too quickly at times, but it’s an instinct born of trauma. The anxiety of feeling unsafe is too much so she is vulnerable to people who prey on that and makes bad choices. 

She also struggles with fitting in. She is often asked about her heritage because of her dark complexion, but having no memory of her parents she can’t answer. The milk lady, Mrs Papadopolous, says she’s Greek. The fairground runners think she might be one of them, or possibly Italian. She feels rootless, as if a wind might whisk her away at any moment. Continuation and motherhood are themes that run throughout and the women made an impression on me. Mrs Papadopolous is warm and loving towards Maisie, giving her a sense of belonging by saying that home isn’t a place, it’s knowing who you are. There’s also a fortune teller who is always keen to tell Maisie her future, but notices that she’s the only person on the fairground who’s never asked. She makes is clear that Maisie does need to be on her guard, especially where the fairground is concerned. Whereas Sir Malcolm’s sister-in-lane seems to pit herself against Maisie from the start. Perhaps always expecting to inherit his money, she is put out by this orphan who seems to have usurped them. Nancy struggles to conceive and doesn’t cope, descending into alcoholism and bitterness. When Maisie is pregnant the rivalry worsens although she does try to be gentle, knowing that she has everything Nancy wants. 

A love story weaves through the mystery very well, with all the traditional obstacles and absences you would expect. There were times I was screaming at Maisie to open her post! Especially when there were misunderstandings and having the whole picture was dependent on the next letter. Her love for Laurent is all encompassing, that once in a lifetime love that lasts forever. They do miscommunicate a lot, mainly due to not expressing their true feelings or not being free. The ‘will they – won’t they’ does last years and I so wanted them to find a way back to each other. There were some parts where I was so engrossed in the romance that I totally forgot there was a mystery to solve. There was also her husband’s bootlegging, the search for Maisie’s birth parents, the drama surrounding a character’s will and each of these strands did take my mind away from the central case a little. After the carousel claims another victim, Maisie decides to encase the caramel horse in glass, so no one else can ride it. I was so looking forward to a magical explanation or for the mystery never to be solved. I wanted to see Maisie’s original vision realised. When she first rode the horse she had a vision or hallucination with stars and what she thinks might be a glimpse of another time or dimension. It was this magical element that kept me reading, rather than an urge to solve the case. That said, the author found a way to do both leaving me with a sense of satisfaction but also a little touch of intrigue. 

Out now from Penguin Michael Joseph

Meet the Author

Fiza Saeed McLynn is a British novelist born in Karachi to an English mother and a Pakistani father. She moved to London as a child. After reading Modern History at Oxford University, she had a brief career in finance and then spent the next twelve years helping the bereaved as part of her work as a complementary therapist. Fiza now writes full time from her home in London, which she shares with her American husband, and two children.

Posted in Publisher Proof

The Burial Place by Stig Abell

Posted on by thelotusreaders

I was so lucky to be sent a copy of this new book in the Jake Jackson series, based on a conversation about my love of Martha – an abrupt but super intelligent analyst and crime writer. I love a no nonsense woman and Martha is one of the best bits of this series. After Jake and his ‘team’ tangled with an international criminal gang in the last book, this is more of a home grown mystery but just as dangerous. There has been an archaeological dig close to Little Sky and a recent hoard of treasure found close by. The ownership of this treasure is in dispute because it’s unclear who owns the land it was found in. Meanwhile, work carries on for the archaeologists, academics and local enthusiasts who have been working on the site, but when a body is found it must shut down. It’s hard for new DCI McAllister to understand the motive and being new to the area he enlists Jake’s help, both for his investigative skills and his local knowledge. The community are aware that several nuisance letters have been sent to the dig office and various people who’ve worked on the site. They’re a strange mix of threats, Bible verses and ancient prophecies signed off by Wulfnoth – an ancient Briton purportedly from the area. The writer promises a terrible end for the dig and whoever benefits from the treasure found. Can Jake find the killer before anyone else is hurt? 

Again it’s mainly the brilliant characters that attract me in this novel. Although it’s also interesting to see Jake working with his team, I noticed that Livia is fully committed this time and has definitely earned a chair at the table with Jake, Martha and Aletheia. They are definitely growing closer, since the finale of the last case ended with Livia driving through the wall of her own front room to save their lives. She and her daughter have relocated to Little Sky while the house is being repaired. I must admit I didn’t fully take on board all the dig characters, but the dig itself and the history behind it was really interesting. I’ve often wondered how digs are run and they’re every bit as complex as I thought, with a real mix of motivations and different pressures. Some people have their jobs and reputations on the line, while others seem to have more personal reasons for taking part. What’s difficult for Jake to understand is the gap between letters written when the first dig started and those that came when the second dig site and treasure were discovered. It’s as if Wulfnoth comes out of retirement for some reason, possibly the treasure or could it be more complex than that?

One of the other interesting aspects of the story is the importance of belonging and the sacredness of land. The fact that the burial place of the title holds both ancient and recent burials shows an interesting continuation of the land’s purpose. Jake hears one of the academics talking about different layers or strata of soil, but it all looks like mud to him. The same can be said of the ancient remains, having newly buried bodies on top, as if years of history is mimicking the layers of soil. We live upon years and years of history, something I think about regularly having never moved far away from the River Trent. I have ancestors who are Dutch and arrived in the area with engineer Vermuyden in the 14th Century, designing and creating a system of drainage that would create much of Lincolnshire’s farmland. The fact that my father has spent more than thirty years of his life working as a land drainage engineer, without knowing this history, feels like an echo but also a sense of belonging to that particular land. If I’m ever feeling a bit lost I go the river, take off my shoes and stand barefoot on the bank. Then I know I’m home and on the bank of the same river where I took my first steps. Jake talks about how human spirituality is linked to water, from sacred springs to floating lanterns and wishing wells. Humans have cast their prayers and wishes on water for generations. Livia brings up belonging in one of their case discussions. She doesn’t understand how anyone could feel so connected to ‘patches of ground’. Aletheia points out that Livia has a rare ability to belong, to fit exactly where she is. Her own family roots are in Ghana, but points out that she is now where she is because her ancestors were uprooted. People who are removed or separated from land that belonged to their ancestors for generations can struggle to belong. It’s Livia’s ability to belong, as another woman of colour that she’s really commenting on, because Aletheia does understand that if someone is cheated out of their birthright it can become an obsession. 

Across the book, new relationships are being built and I love that, in what could have been a very lonely place, Jake’s has a healthy support system around him. I did worry a little for Martha though, even though the author writes her with great affection I did feel her ‘aloneness’ in this novel, something I’m describing carefully because there’s a difference between alone and lonely. I feel he writes about her disability with great understanding. Martha lost both her legs in a shoot out when working as a detective and he describes her as suffering constant pain. I’ve suffered chronic pain for many years, particularly nerve pain so I know how strange and maddening it can be. I have had referred pain, very similar to phantom limb pain, where the site of pain bears no relation to the actual problem. Without my medication I have constant burning sensation outside my body – for those of you who are a certain age I often describe this as my ‘Ready Brek’ feeling. The author refers to Martha’ ability to function on drugs that are prescription and those that aren’t. Her skill is a sad one, known to most pain patients, where she copes with a certain level of pain and can still function but there are also days where functioning is impossible. There’s a real sense of sadness that while she can numb the pain it is ever present. I found this portrayal so authentic and possibly researched through lived experience. 

Jake is already an introspective man but he has a lot to think about in this book. He and Livia have decided to start a family together, much to Diana’s disgust. It almost seems like fate when his ex-wife Faye needs to see him. He’s just starting to have concerns about infertility, because he and Faye split up after a traumatic time trying to have a family. He’s worried that it’s taking a while for him and Livia. What if he’s the problem? It’s immediately obvious when they meet that Faye is pregnant and they have a lovely heart to heart in the park. It’s clear that Faye is in a good place and Jake is so happy for her, but nagging doubts are creeping in. If Faye can get pregnant without him, what does it mean for him and Livia’s chances? I still find many male detectives and investigators who don’t have this complex inner life and I love that Jake does. He might seem like a moody loner at times, someone who keeps his feelings hidden even from himself, but he’s just a deep thinker and so empathic. Even when he finds a body, his response is different. He is appalled by the body of one murdered woman who has been left exposed and was potentially murdered during sex. He feels for her dignity and has an urge to cover her up, even though he knows he can’t and must preserve the crime scene as is. It’s as if he takes on the shame this woman might have felt at being left exposed and perhaps taken for a fool by her lover. He has such a strongly developed feminine side and this helps enormously when dealing with Diana. She is clashing with Livia about potentially having a new baby around. Jake is the one who manages to calm her down and show her the positives. I’m so glad Jake has Little Sky and all it offers to balance out these tumultuous feelings. I think his Uncle Arthur knew him very well.