Month: November 2020

The Failsafe Query – Michael Jenkins

~ Eden Haslam ~ 1 Comment

‘Some secrets were meant to be buried forever. Until now.’

Sean Richardson, a disgraced former intelligence agent, is tasked to lead a team to search for a British intelligence officer on the cusp of exposing thousands of secrets to the media. It includes a long lost list of Russian moles embedded since the Cold War, one of whom remains a public favourite in the British parliamentary system.

The action moves with absorbing pace and intrigue across Central Asia and Europe as the puzzle begins to unfold through a deep hidden legacy. As Sean gets closer to the truth, senior figures are left to nurse their anxiety knowing that if the secret is revealed, it will destroy their lives.

On the verge of success, his eye is taken off the ball, and the Russians step forward ready to pounce.  

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Review: I initially struggled to get stuck into this book as you get thrown into the deep end with so much action that it becomes a little confusing. However, I am so glad I stuck with it. Once the main plot is reached where Sean is tasked to find UK intelligence agent Alfie before he can leak top-secret government information this book becomes impossible to put down.

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Flight Path – E.J. Pepper

~ Eden Haslam ~ Leave a comment

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Synopsis: Miles and Sophie’s married life gets turned upside down we he is accused of sexually assaulting a pupil at the school where he has been a teacher for many years. Faced with uncertainty, Miles and Sophie must leave their home on the school grounds, and with it, the comfortable life that they have grown accustomed to.

The allegation Miles faces begins to take its toll on his marriage as Sophie starts to question whether he is capable of such actions. As Miles’ trial gets closer, the suspicion surrounding his innocent grows and Sophie has to ask herself whether he is the person that she thought he was.

Review: It is rare that I get so hooked in to reading a novel with such subtlety. However, it is the nuance with which Pepper details the effects of Miles’ sexual assault allegation that is one of the things that makes this story so compelling. The subject matter is handled with great sensitivity, resulting in a story that feels highly realistic.

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Here to Stay – Mark Edwards

~ Eden Haslam ~ Leave a comment

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Synopsis: A story about the ultimate in-laws from hell, this book shows what can happen when your life spirals out of your control. Scientist Elliot gets caught up in a whirlwind romance with Gemma. It is not long before they are married and comfortably settled in his house. However, this comfortable life is wrenched from his grasp when Gemma asks if her family can come to stay.

Gemma’s parents and reclusive sister soon become increasingly comfortable in Elliot’s house. As two-weeks become more and more, it grows clear that they have no intention of leaving. If Elliot wants to take back his life, he has to better understand Gemma’s relationship with her parents, and why it is that they are so secretive about their past. However, uncovering these secrets come with a cost, and as the mysterious incidents grow more frequent and severe, he must decide how far he is willing to go to regain control of his life.

Review: This story was an exciting read, the writing style is highly effective and, boy, does it get under your skin. The actions of the in-laws were driving me mad with frustration and I could really sympathise with Elliot at times.

However, whilst the book was gripping and easy to read, there was too much time spent in the middle of the story building up tension but with nothing much actually happening. You knew it was building to something, but it felt like it took too long to get there. Having Elliot’s plans to regain control of his life get repeatedly thwarted started off as engaging but went on for so long with nothing else being learned that it eventually lost some of the impact.

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I Am Watching You – Teresa Driscoll

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Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Synopsis: I Am Watching You starts with a woman (Ella) watching two teenage girls on a train as they start chatting to two guys just out of jail. The next day one of the girls has gone missing and Ella is wracked with guilt at not calling one of the girls’ mothers and intervening.

The rest of the story follows the points of view of 4 people – the witness (Ella), the father (Henry), the investigator (Matthew), and the friend (Sarah). After a few chapters it moves forwards one year, the teenager Anna Ballard has still not been found and Ella has started to get threatening letters. As the story moves on it becomes clear that there is more to the story, everyone has secrets of their own and some are lying about what happened the night Anna disappeared.

Review: Every review I write for a mystery/suspense/thriller style book always includes me going on about how much I love this genre, and this love is so important because it leads to high expectations which unfortunately were not met in this case.

This story has good potential. Yes, everyone had secrets, not all of them relevant to Anna’s disappearance, which I enjoy as it keeps you guessing. And it was interesting to hear how Anna’s disappearance affected the different people in her life. However, there was not enough information given to the reader throughout the book to keep them invested. Multiple chapters ended with a vague statement with the intention of generating suspense – something along the lines of ‘she couldn’t tell anyone what she knew’ – but there was very little resolution to these statements which quickly lost their impact.

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