Tag: thriller

#BlogTour #BookReview Sister of Mine by Laurie Petrou @VERVE_Books

whatcathyreadnext3 Comments

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Sister of Mine by Laurie Petrou. My thanks to Hollie at Verve Books for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my digital review copy. Hop over to Instragram and check out the post by my tour buddy for today, Johanna at memydogandbooks.

Sister of MineAbout the Book

Two sisters. One fire. A secret that won’t burn out.

The Grayson sisters are trouble. Everyone in their small town knows it. But no-one can know of the secret that binds them together.

Hattie is the light. Penny is the darkness. Together, they have balance.

But one night the balance is toppled. A match is struck. A fire is started. A cruel husband is killed. The potential for a new life flickers in the fire’s embers, but resentment, guilt, and jealousy suffocate like smoke.

Their lives have been engulfed in flames – will they ever be able to put them out?

Format: eARC (256 pages)               Publisher: Verve Books
Publication date: 29th May 2023 Genre: Mystery

Find Sister of Mine 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

Sister of Mine has a simmering air of menace and a feeling of impending disaster that slowly builds in a really satisfying and suspenseful way. Throughout the book you get a sense there’s a reckoning coming. And it does.

The story is narrated entirely from Penny’s point of view so the reader never knows how accurate is her representation of her sister Hattie’s character. At one point Hattie says to Penny, ‘Do you think you know what it’s like? You think you know how it feels to be me?’ In fact, Penny’s attitude to her sister is fluid and often contradictory. ‘I love her, I loved her, I hate her, I hated her.’ They have a sisterly bond but one infused with shared secrets, recriminations, feelings of guilt and jealousy.  Being ‘adult orphans’, Penny as the elder sister regards Hattie as her responsibility but also as her ‘burden’. Penny presents Hattie as wayward, mercurial, rebellious but also someone who is attractive to others in a way Penny feels she is not. Indeed, Penny feels ‘tainted’ by the family’s past history and her response is often to seek a means of escape.

The blurb says ‘Hattie is the light. Penny is the darkness’ but it’s way more complex than that. They’ve both done things for which they blame themselves – and each other. As Penny observes, ‘We were bound now, twisted together in a braid of badness, neither side so different from the other anymore.’ But they have also each done things for the other, some of which are life-changing. The true nature of the bond between them is only revealed at the end of the book at which point much that went before becomes easier to comprehend and you may find your view of each sister – perhaps both sisters – changes.

Sister of Mine is a slow burn of a book (if you’ll pardon the pun) which has an element of mystery and some skilful misdirections. At its core, though, is a deft, perceptive and completely compelling exploration of sibling relationships.

In three words: Intense, brooding, insightful

Try something similar: Birthright by Charles Lambert

Laurie PetrouAbout the Author

Laurie Petrou is an award-winning, internationally published author. She is also an Associate Professor at the RTA School of Media at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson). She has a PhD and Master’s in Communication and Culture (York and Toronto Met), a diploma in New Media Design (Sheridan), and a Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in painting (Queen’s). She lives in Niagara. (Photo: Author website)

Connect with Laurie
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

#BookReview #Ad The Scarlet Papers by Matthew Richardson @MichaelJBooks

whatcathyreadnext

The Scarlet PapersAbout the Book

VIENNA, 1946: A brilliant German scientist snatched from the ruins of Nazi Europe.

MOSCOW, 1964: A US diplomat caught in a clandestine love affair as the Cold War rages.

RIGA, 1992: A Russian archivist selling secrets that will change the twentieth century forever.

LONDON, THE PRESENT DAY: A British academic on the run with the chance to solve one of history’s greatest mysteries.

Their stories, their lives, and the fate of the world are bound by a single manuscript. A document feared and whispered about in capitals across the globe. In its pages, history will be rewritten. It is only ever known as . . . THE SCARLET PAPERS

The devastating secrets contained within teased by a brief invitation: Tomorrow 11AM. Take a cab and pay in cash. Tell no one.

Format: eARC (592 pages)              Publisher: Michael Joseph
Publication date: 25th May 2023 Genre: Thriller

Find The Scarlet Papers 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

If you’re a fan of the novels of John le Carré such as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy you will absolutely love this brilliantly compelling espionage thriller that combines ‘old world’ tradecraft – dry-cleaning, safe houses, book codes, secret writing, brush passes, dead letterboxes – with modern technology. Think surveillance and tracking devices capable of being installed just about anywhere.

Moving from the end of the Second World War, through the Cold War to the present day, it conjures up the murky world of secret agents, double agents, sleepers and moles. References to real life individuals such as Kim Philby, James Jesus Angleton and Maurice Oldfield (reputed to be one of the models for John le Carré’s George Smiley), along with figures in the world of espionage from more modern times, give it an air of authenticity. (As can be seen from the bibliography, the author’s research has been extensive.) And although the story is fictional, many of the elements seem completely plausible. Worryingly so, if you believe in the reality of a secret state. And it wasn’t so long ago that the existence of someone very like one of the main characters in the story was revealed, after many years in the shadows.

The book is full of characters with messy relationships and exposes the moral dilemmas which spies confront, the isolation inherent in their role and the burden of keeping secrets, even from those you love.  As one character observes, ‘We were good spies and terrible human beings.’ Many of the characters are almost certainly not who they purport to be or are adept at adopting different personas. ‘Spying was a performance and the costume, the voice, the initial entrance were as vital as the lines themselves.’

It’s impossible to describe the twists and turns of the plot without giving anything away. I could sympathise with one character as they complain, ‘Spies always seemed to make things so damn complicated’ although that delicious complexity is what makes The Scarlet Papers a ‘just one more chapter’ read. Despite being quite a chunky book, the story moves along like a whirlwind with surprises galore awaiting you. I loved it. If you’re a fan of espionage thrillers, put this one on your wishlist.

I received an advance review copy courtesy ot Michael Joseph via NetGalley.

In three words: Gripping, ingenious, fast-paced

Try something similar: The Spy Across the Water by James Naughtie

Matthew RichardsonAbout the Author

Matthew Richardson studied English at Durham University and Merton College, Oxford. After a brief spell as a freelance journalist, he began working as a researcher and speechwriter in Westminster, and has also written speeches for senior figures in the private sector.

He is the author of My Name is Nobody and The Insider. (Photo: Amazon author page)