Tag: blogtour

#BlogTour #BookReview Outcast by Chris Ryan @rararesources @ZaffreBooks

whatcathyreadnext

OutcastWelcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Outcast by Chris Ryan. My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Zaffre for my digital review copy via NetGalley.  Do check out the posts by my tour buddies for today, Nat at The Pursuit of Bookiness and Jo at Bookmadjo.

OutcastAbout the Book

After single-handedly intervening in a deadly terrorist attack in Mali, SAS Warrant Officer Jamie ‘Geordie’ Carter is denounced as a lone wolf by jealous superiors.

Now a Regiment outcast, Carter is given a second chance with a deniable mission: locate SAS hero-gone-rogue, David Vann.

Vann had been sent into Afghanistan to train local rebels to fight the Taliban. But he’s since gone silent and expected attacks on key targets have not happened.

Tracking Vann through Afghanistan and Tajikistan, Carter not only discovers the rogue soldier’s involvement in a conspiracy that stretches far beyond the Middle East – but an imminent attack that will have deadly consequences the world over . . .

Format: Hardback (304 pages)     Publisher: Zaffre
Publication date: 12th May 2022 Genre: Thriller

Find Outcast on Goodreads

Purchase links
Bookshop.org
Disclosure: If you buy a book via the above link, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops

Hive | Amazon UK
Links provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

Fasten your seat belts, we’re about to go on one helluva ride!

What do you want from a thriller? Plenty of action scenes? Good guys who just might be bad guys? Bad guys who are really bad? More action scenes? A race against time pursuit? A scenario where all the odds are against the hero making it out alive?  A protagonist who’s seemingly invincible? A main character with an interesting back story? Well, in that case, Outcast is the book for you!

The up-to-the minute plot set in the aftermath of the US’s sudden and disorganised withdrawal from Afghanistan makes it feel incredibly timely and relevant. It’s a situation where an official Western military presence has been replaced by embedded Special Forces agents whose actions are deniable if things go wrong. And they do. Enter Carter…

I loved that the author doesn’t make Carter a mere killing machine. He’s a man who never knew his father, grew up in a council flat with his mother and a stepfather who was a violent drunk. Carter could have gone off the rails – indeed he did for a time- but joining the army and, eventually, the SAS saved him. It gave him a purpose and instilled discipline in him. In a way, the SAS Regiment has become his pseudo family, although he’s still solitary by nature. Of course, Carter is a killer but not one who kills for the sake of it.  His SAS training means he’s in peak physical condition. In the words of a girlfriend (actually an ex-girlfriend, silly girl) he possesses ‘muscles that looked as if they had been sculpted from a block of marble’. (Is it me, or is it hot in here?) His physical fitness is certainly tested in the course of the book which includes perilous border crossings and mad dashes along mountain paths in pursuit of an enemy who becomes more deadly by the minute.

As I’m not a member of the SAS (although, if I was, obviously I couldn’t tell you or, if I did, I’d have to kill you), I can’t judge how accurate the descriptions of weaponry, military hardware and tactics are but they convinced me. Given the author’s military background, you’d expect nothing less.

Outcast is a kick-ass, action-packed thriller that positively oozes authenticity. It’s the epitome of a page-turner and, although it’s very different from my usual diet of historical fiction, I really enjoyed it. I very much hope there will be a future mission for Carter. In the meantime, can he please go and take out Putin?

In three words: Action-packed, exciting, authentic

Try something similar: Betrayal by David Gilman

Follow this blog via Bloglovin

Chris RyanAbout the Author

Chris Ryan was born in Newcastle. In 1984 he joined 22 SAS. After completing the year-long Alpine Guides Course, he was the troop guide for B Squadron Mountain Troop. He completed three tours with the anti-terrorist team, serving as an assaulter, sniper and finally Sniper Team Commander.

Chris was part of the SAS eight-man team chosen for the famous Bravo Two Zero mission during the 1991 Gulf War. He was the only member of the unit to escape from Iraq, where three of his colleagues were killed and four captured, for which he was awarded the Military Medal.

Chris wrote about his experiences in his book The One That Got Away, which became an immediate bestseller. Since then he has written over fifty books and presented a number of very successful TV programmes.

Connect with Chris
Twitter

Outcast Full Tour Banner

#BlogBlitz #PublicationDay A Taste for Killing by Sarah Hawkswood @AllisonandBusby

whatcathyreadnext

Today is publication day of A Taste for Killing, the latest book in Sarah Hawkswood’s Bradecote and Catchpoll historical crime series. To celebrate I’m joining other book bloggers in sharing my review of this the tenth book in the series. My thanks to Christina at Allison & Busby for inviting me to take part in today’s blitz and for my digital review copy via NetGalley.

A Taste for KillingAbout the Book

Godfrey Bowyer, the best but least likeable bow maker in Worcester, dies of poisoning, though his wife Blanche survives.

The number of people who could have administered the poison should mean a very short investigation for Bradecote and Catchpoll, but perhaps some was pulling the strings, and that widens the net considerably.

Could it be the cast-out younger brother or perhaps Orderic the Bailiff, whose wife has been pressured into a relationship with Godfrey?

Could it even be the wife herself? With Bradecote eager to return to his manor and worried about his wife’s impending confinement, and Walkelin trying to get his mother to accept his choice of bride, there are distractions aplenty, though Serjeant Catchpoll will not let them get in the way of solving this case.

Format: Hardback (320 pages)     Publisher: Allison & Busby
Publication date: 12th May 2022 Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime

Find A Taste for Killing on Goodreads

Purchase links
Bookshop.org
Disclosure: If you buy a book via the above link, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops

Hive | Amazon UK
Links provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

I first came across Bradcote and Catchpoll when I read River of Sins, the seventh book in the author’s historical crime series set in 12th century Worcester. That was back in December 2020 and since then I’ve devoured both the subsequent books in the series – Blood Runs Thicker and Wolf at the Door.

A Taste for Killing takes up directly from events at the end of the previous book with Undersheriff Hugh Bradecote and his wife anxiously awaiting the birth of their second child.  Mindful of Bradecote’s situation, Serjeant Catchpoll initially takes on the investigation into the murder of wealthy burgess, Godfrey Bowyer, with only the assistance of recently promoted Underserjeant Walkelin. Although it appears there are only a few individuals who would have had the opportunity to administer the poison, the murdered man had no shortage of enemies in the city.

The author gives us a real taste of what it must have been like to live in 12th century Worcester, conjuring up the sights, sounds and smells, as well as a sense of the local dialect (although Bradecote being a lord of the manor speaks Norman to his peers, or ‘Foreign’ as the locals call it).

Over the course of the series, the duo of Bradecote and Catchpoll has evolved into a trio with the addition of Walkelin who has grown from eager apprentice to becoming an integral part of the team, honing his ‘serjeanting senses’ along the way. He’s observant, has a good sense of intuition and can mingle with servants and traders. Even after all this time, Catchpoll still casts a proprietorial, sometimes approving, eye over Bradecote’s interrogation techniques whilst recognising that Bradecote’s rank can open doors that would otherwise be closed to him. Not so much good cop, bad cop as toff cop, common cop. What all three share is tenacity. As Walkelin observes, ‘Oft times we are called the lord Sheriff’s law hounds, and like a hound, we cannot leave a scent uninvestigated, a warm trail to go cold without us sniffin’ at it.’

The domestic side is not ignored either. Bradcote’s concern for his wife is endearing and Catchpoll has a caring wife always ready with a cup of warmed cider or advice to wrap up warm. Walkelin’s hopes of matrimony rest on his persuasive skills but it’s surprising what a way with preparing the ever-present pottage can do to change minds.

The unravelling of the mystery is nicely managed with a few red herrings along the way and a plethora of possible motives. As is often the case, Catchpoll’s local knowledge of family relationships and past grievances, as well as his ability to have his ear to the ground for gossip, are important in solving the mystery. His reputation as ‘a wily old bastard’ helps too. But young Walkelin plays his part as well, uncovering the nugget of information that proves someone is not what they profess to be.

If you’re looking for a enjoyable mystery with a well-constructed plot, colourful characters and interesting  historical detail then I can heartily recommend A Taste of Killing.  Or if you really want to indulge yourself, why not go back and read the whole series from the beginning (as I hope to do one day).

In three words: Engaging, intriguing, absorbing

Try something similar: The Monastery Murders by E. M. Powell

Follow this blog via Bloglovin

Sarah HawkswoodAbout the Author

Sarah Hawkswood describes herself as a ‘wordsmith’ who is only really happy when writing. She read Modern History at Oxford and first published a non-fiction book on the Royal Marines in the First World War before moving on to medieval mysteries set in Worcestershire.

Connect with Sarah
Website | Twitter | Goodreads