Keep your friends close by Paula Daly

Reviewed by Desere

Natty and Sean have a rock solid marriage with two daughters, they run a successful business and live in a beautiful house, life is bliss even with the odd up and down it 's still as perfect as can be.

When their daughter falls ill on a overseas school trip Natty rushes to be by her side. Lucky for her her best from college is close by and agrees to stay with Sean to lend a helping hand whilst Natty is gone. But when Natty returns Eve has settled in a little too well and Sean has fallen in love with her. So no choice but to step away from a once perfect marriage and let Sean be happy Natty walks away and tries her best to start fresh.

Then one day Natty receives a mysterious note that says Eve has done this type of take over the family thing before, more than once to be exact and even worse the consequences were fatal! Natty sets out to reveal Eve as a vindictive serial mistress but in order to prove it she has to uncover the secrets , the lies and the deception but who says she'll make it out alive. Will Eve once again walk away smiling and planning the next take over?

This was without a doubt one of the very best psychological thrillers I have ever read!  From start to finish the drama is so gripping it just sucks you in and entrances you in the very different worlds Natty and Eve live in.

Page after page had action, drama and so many secrets and lies it was like being in a court room for a murder trial and with each secret being revealed I just wanted to shout out" Hang the woman already !"

The author envoked many various emotions for me as reader, I was angry with Sean and wanted to beat the heck out of him for being so easily fooled by Eve, I wanted to cry my heart out for Natty and simply hold her to tell her it will someone all work out, and as for Eve as I said if it was a few 1000 years ago and I was the judge I would have hung the vindictive witch myself!

Once heck of  a gripping read that is for darn sure not to be missed ! Read it , trust me you'll thank me over and over again!

5/5 star review

" Keep your friends close and your enemies closer or is that the other way around? " 


*** Now available at Random House Struik South Africa 

The Corners of the Globe by Robert Goddard

Reviewed by Desere

Spring, 1919, James 'Max' Maxted, is a former Great War flying ace, he returns to the trail of murder, treachery and half - buried secrets he set out on in the first book of this series The Ways of the World. He has left Paris after avenging the murder of his father, Sir Henry Maxted, a senior member of the British delegation to the post-war peace conference. But he is convinced there is more , so much more to it all and in order for it to be discovered he has to fight harder than ever before.

As he suspected all along , the elusive German spymaster Fritz Lemmer knew the truth of it all, and now enlisted under false colors in Lemmer's service but with his loyalty pledged to the British Secret Service, Max sets out on his first and quite possibly last mission for Lemmer.

It 's a mission that will take him to the far corners of the world and one were the discovery of a single document that holds a message so powerful but also forces our hero to break cover and embark on an entire different mission, one could destroy Lemmer all together, that is if Max makes it to London alive.

Corners of the Globe is a very complicated novel, yes there are some glimpse into the first novel which is where the this second book picks right up from, but if you have not read the first book you will just as myself feel a little out of the loop and like you are not able to really pick up on what is happening. Fortunately the deeper one gets into the book the more it does start to make sense., and believe me once you're there , there is no turning back.

The author created such a brilliant world of spies, lies, thrills and mystery it is guaranteed to get any type of reader interested, well with the exception of a hard core romance all the way reader.

The backdrop settings were simply superb! It was all so brilliantly brought to life, it was truly as if I was right there in Paris, London, Scotland you name it I could envisage it all with stunning clarity from the authors descriptions.

To sum up this book is a fully blown action paced thriller, with enough thrills and spills to keep you on the edge of your seat till the very end. Knowing that this is a trilogy I knew the ending would most likely be one that would leave me feeling frustrated simply because it is not brought to a full conclusion, and believe it did, I will be pulling out my hair till the next one hits the shelves. But what did feel very out of place was the particular type of cliffhanger ending, it felt so out of place for this author and this type of read and I was expecting an entirely different ending.

However I believe it is in this very type of ending that the author's r brilliance lies, for no one likes a too predictable ending and believe you me the author has certainly set the scene for a out of this world next part!

5 star review
" This world or the next, he will find the hidden truth" 

** Complimentary copy provided by Random House Struik South Africa 

The Butcher by Jennifer Hillier

Reviewed by Desere

This was by far one of the best thrillers I've ever read. It was so bone-chilling I could actually feel the killer slicing into his victims, and you can bet I looked around more than once thinking I heard something!

The book's focus is mainly on the killings but also of the people directly related to the killer, of course they have no idea they are related to him, but this of course just added to the thrill of it all.

I will say that I felt slightly disappointed that the author revealed the killers identity to me within the very first chapter, but truly only momentary disappointment, because this little twist, made it so much more on edge. 

Here I was as reader in full control of the knowledge yet I could not do anything about it.

I had to sit back and watch it all unfold, okay so I lie I did not sit and relax at all I was jumping out of my seat every-time the killer zero's in on a victim or gets within slicing distance. 

You can bet me yelling out loud " Oh heck she's a goner" and " Oh bloody heck get out man, get out now!" made those around me sit up, take notice and then they ran !

The author's descriptions of scenes were so intense it totally blew me away, and I am talking about more than once. I could actually vividly picture the blood, the gore, the guns blazing and I felt the victims fear and anger. 

The characters were all extremely realistic, none of that glossy fake perfect killer and victim types, nope the characters were so real  they might as well have been based on true people. They are flawed just like you and I, they get confused, angered and scared out of their wits just like us real folks and this made the read even more astounding!. 

Word to the wise, if gruesome, graphic and truly deep, dark and very, very disturbing is not you idea of a good read, this book is not for you. If however you also get stuck on those reality killer shows, where you cannot stop yourself from watching to find out the what and who and how, this read is right up your alley. 

You won't turn into a killer but you will most definitely be transported into the mind of a truly phenomenal psychologically screwed killer that acts and looks just as normal as you and me. 

The language is crass at most times, but you need to remember that you are inside the mind of a killer and since when has a killer ever worried about watching his language!

This was the first time I read anything by this author but you can bet it won't be the last. The author has a brilliant way of writing , it but me front and center for all the action and one helluva pure adrenalin rush of a ride. 

A truly bone chilling, fascinating ,slice and dice, keep reading you know you want to exceptional read! 

5/5 star review 

" To catch the butcher you need to think like him, or is that be him?"