Book Review: Final Girls by Riley Sager

Thanks to the publisher, Ebury, and Netgalley for the ARC. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

The Blurb

FIRST THERE WERE THREE

The media calls them the Final Girls – Quincy, Sam, Lisa – the infamous group that no one wants to be part of. The sole survivors of three separate killing sprees, they are linked by their shared trauma.

THEN THERE WERE TWO

But when Lisa dies in mysterious circumstances and Sam shows up unannounced on her doorstep, Quincy must admit that she doesn’t really know anything about the other Final Girls. Can she trust them? Or...

CAN THERE ONLY EVER BE ONE?

All Quincy knows is one thing: she is next.

My Review

Quincy is a member of a gang called Final Girls, but she is not interested in having any contact with the other members. She wants to forget about her ordeal - not that she can remember much of it anyway. She buries herself in baking instead, and forges a new life for herself away from the eyes of the media.

Quincy lives in a flat with her boyfriend, Jeff, and has the occasional visit with Coop, the cop who rescued her when her five friends were slaughtered at a cabin in the woods. He is now her 'protector', and he's always there to make her feel safe. There are cleverly written flashbacks, so the reader is driven mad with wanting to know what happened, whilst wanting to hide behind a cushion.

One of the other girls, Lisa, is reported as having committed suicide, and the other one, Sam, turns up on Quincy's doorstep, instilling chaos and fear into Quincy's carefully constructed life. 

Fast-paced, chilling and atmospheric, this book had me gripped, reading late into the night. The twists and turns kept me guessing, right until the end.

A breathless thriller.

You can buy Final Girls here.

Follow the author on Twitter @riley_sager

Book Review: Trust Me by Angela Clarke

The Blurb

YOU SAW IT HAPPEN. DIDN’T YOU?

What do you do if you witness a crime…but no-one believes you?

When Kate sees a horrific attack streamed live on her laptop, she calls the police in a state of shock. But when they arrive, the video has disappeared – and she can’t prove anything. Desperate to be believed, Kate tries to find out who the girl in the video could be – and who attacked her.

Freddie and Nas are working on a missing persons case, but the trail has gone cold. When Kate contacts them, they are the only ones to listen and they start to wonder – are the two cases connected?

Dark, gripping, and flawlessly paced, Trust Me is the brilliant third novel in the hugely popular social media murderer series.

My Review

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, Avon and author Angela Clarke for the ARC. Trust Me was published on 15th June, so I apologise for only posting my review now. Life gets in the way.

Trust Me is the third novel in Angela's Social Media Murders series, the first two being Follow Me and Watch Me.

Angela is proving to be a great crime writer. This book, along with her others, keeps you guessing all the way through, and it is wonderful to see how her writing has developed along with the recurring characters. She definitely knows how to scare me to death!

Crime-fighting friends Freddie and Nas are back, and still struggling to be accepted by their male colleagues. There's a hint of romance in the story too for both women, adding an extra layer of drama to an already adrenalin-filled read.

This time live-streamed video is used to scare us to death. Those who see it aren't quite sure if it's real, but Kate, a teacher with a sad past, believes she has seen a girl brutally murdered and refuses to be ignored.

We're dragged along at full-speed in another race against time with Freddie and Nas, fraught with peril and danger that had me holding my breath and gripping onto my Kindle for dear life.

Gritty and hard-hitting, sometimes it's a little bit too real for comfort, but then no one expects a crime novel to be warm and fluffy.

I cannot wait for the day I watch this series on TV from behind my cushion!

Be warned, after reading this you might find yourself thinking back wistfully to the days before social media ruled our lives...

Buy Trust Me here!

About the Author

Angela is an author, playwright, columnist and professional speaker. 

Her debut crime thriller Follow Me (Avon, HarperCollins) was named Amazon’s Rising Star Debut of the Month January 2016, long listed for the Crime Writer’s Association Dagger in the Library 2016, and short listed for the Good Reader Page Turner Award 2016. Follow Me has now been optioned by a TV production company. 

The second instalment in the Social Media Murder Series Watch Me (Avon, HarperCollins) was published January 2017. And the third Trust Me (Avon, HarperCollins) is out June 2017. 

Angela’s humorous memoir Confessions of a Fashionista (Ebury, Penguin Random House) is an Amazon Fashion Chart bestseller. 

Her play, The Legacy, enjoyed its first run at The Hope Theatre in June 2015. 

An experienced and entertaining speaker, Angela has given talks, hosted events, and masterclasses for many, including Noirwich Crime Writing Festival, Camp Bestival, Panic! (in partnership with Create, the Barbican, Goldsmiths University and The Guardian), Meet a Mentor (in partnership with the Royal Society of Arts), Northwich Lit Fest, St Albans Lit Fest, BeaconLit, and the London College of Fashion. She also hosted the current affairs radio show Outspoken on Radio Verulam in 2015, and has appeared regularly as a panel guest on BBC 3 Counties, BBC Radio 4, and the BBC World Service, among others.

In 2015 Angela was awarded the Young Stationers' Prize for achievement and promise in writing and publishing. She also works for The Literary Consultancy critiquing manuscripts and mentoring. Angela, a sufferer of the debilitating chronic condition Ehlers Danlos III, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, volunteers with Womentoring, Meet a Mentor and at HM Prisons. She is passionate about bringing marginalised voices into the industry. You can find out more about her at www.AngelaClarke.co.uk.

Twitter: Angela Clarke

Book Review: The Deadline by Jackie Kabler

This weekend I was lucky enough to be invited to the launch of The Deadline, the second novel by TV presenter and author Jackie Kabler, and I also received an advanced copy to review. 

The Blurb

Cora Baxter is back - and this time, she's facing the most important deadline of her career...

When TV reporter Cora Baxter attends the scene of a murder in a London park, she's horrified to discover the victim is someone she knows and devastated when one of her best friends is charged with the crime. Suddenly the fun-filled life of Cora and her eccentric camera crew takes a darker turn.

Cora is convinced that her friend is innocent, but with seemingly solid evidence, the police investigation team reluctantly led by Cora's boyfriend DCI Adam Bradberry believe the case is closed.

With a trail of clues that leads all the way to New York, can Cora find out the truth before the trial begins or is it already too late?

The Deadline is the second in the hugely popular Cora Baxter Mysteries series by acclaimed broadcaster Jackie Kabler.

My Review

My review is a little late, the book being published on 20th October, so I missed my deadline (see what I did there?). But I have finished it now, and I can honestly say it is brilliant!

I haven't read the first in this crime series, but this second book reads well as a stand-alone story, with the author filling in necessary points from Cora's first adventure without giving it away. Hence I will be reading The Dead Dog Day shortly.

I remember Jackie's humour from her days as roving reporter on GMTV, and I was pleased to see it shining through this did-she-or-didn't-she-and-if-not-then-who-did tale. There are some genuine laugh-out-loud moments, which, I am told, are based on true events which have happened either to Jackie herself or her colleagues. These funny moments keep the pace up, balancing out the more serious aspects of the story.

It's a crime thriller, but the overriding theme for me was that of friendship. Cora has strong friendships here; between her and her studio team, Sam, Alice & Wendy; her friends from back home, Rosie and Nicole; and the brilliant camardarie within her reporting team, Nathan, Rodney and Scott. I particularly love the way Sam's work colleagues all join forces to help Cora in her quest to prove Sam's innocence.

It's well-plotted and the dialogue flows naturally between the well-rounded characters. The climax of the story is jaw-dropping, and perhaps a little stretch of the imagination, but what the hell, this is fiction! It is fun, set in the world of live TV where anything can happen (and frequently does) and is a tightly written, fast pace story. I look forward to reading more of intrepid reporter/investigator Cora's adventures.

The Deadline is published by Accent Press and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and other retailers.

The Author

Jackie Kabler spent 20 years as a journalist, starting in newspapers and then moving into TV as a reporter and newsreader. She is most famous for her time on GMTV, where she covered major stories such as the Soham murders and the 2004 tsunami, and also worked for ITV news and BBC Midlands. Jackie now works for QVC and lives between London and Gloucestershire.