Written in the Scars by Mel Sherratt

Description from Goodreads:

“Welcome to The Estate - where even the darkest times have their lighter moments...

Scars.

Sometimes they’re visible. Sometimes they’re burdens that we carry around with us.

You can’t see Donna’s scars from a joke of a marriage.

You can’t see Lewis’s scars from his time in the army.

You can see Megan’s scars but she won’t let you.

And Mary can’t always remember how she got hers.

If the past could be erased to make a better future, we’d all want to do that, wouldn’t we? No matter how dangerous the consequences might be…

WRITTEN IN THE SCARS is the fourth book in The Estate Series but each one can be read as a standalone novel.”

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I really enjoy reading Mel’s books but this is the first one I have read from The Estate Series. Her other books from the DS Allie Shenton Series - Follow The Leader and Only The Brave are brilliant so I did not hesitate when Mel asked me to read and review her new book, Written in the Scars and I am so pleased I did because I really liked it even though it is slightly different to what I normally read.

Mel has a skill of drawing you into the lives of complete strangers, becoming attached to them and really caring about what happens to them even if some of them are far from perfect. The characters she creates are authentic and believable and Mel makes you feel that they could be you, a member of your family, a friend, neighbour or work colleague. The trials and tribulations she puts them through are more than plausible they are true-to-life and are probably happening in your street right now.

Donna is a 40-something, single parent working in a local shop; her son is walking a thin line to becoming a miscreant, her daughter working in a massage parlour and to top it all, her mum has dementia. Donna is the linchpin in the family but all she wants is a little fun herself and to get the spark back into her life. There is a saying that good things only happen to good people, well, this isn’t always true - I won’t elaborate further - no spoilers from me - you’ll just have to read the book.

Lewis is an ex-soldier who has brought back a lot of baggage from his tours in Afghanistan and as a result, has lost his family and is back living on The Estate with his mum who herself is mourning the death of her husband. All Lewis wants is to be back with his family however, he is on self-destruct and as a result, is pushing all those he holds dear and those who want to help further away. I found myself really feeling for Lewis and I desperately wanted to jump in the book and help him myself - that’s what Mel does, like I said, she makes you care.

There are many other characters of note including Megan - a young girl with a secret who is holding down two jobs as well as caring for her disabled mum; Josie - a housing officer with a heart and Owen - Donna’s love interest. There are some more minor characters as well and although I call them minor, they are pivotal to the realism of the book.

Mel’s writing style is easy to read and flows well. Her use of language during the dialogue, both internal and between characters, is natural and convincing.

Mel is a favourite author of mine and I would encourage anyone who enjoys a great character-driven story or, as Mel describes it herself, grit-lit (women’s fiction with a punch) to buy this book, you will not be disappointed and once you have, you will want to read everything else she has written.

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Author website: http://melsherratt.co.uk/ - where you can get a free book - Secrets on The Estates - the prequel to The Estates Series

Twitter: @writermels

Bite by Nick Louth

Description from Goodreads:

“Tomorrow should be the greatest day of Erica Stroud-Jones's life. In just 24 hours this brilliant young scientist will present her secret work to a conference in Amsterdam - research that promises to revolutionise the battle against a deadly tropical disease. Millions of lives could be saved; a Nobel Prize beckons.

Arriving to watch her are sceptics and rivals, admirers and enemies. Erica's own eyes will be on sculptor Max Carver, her American new love to whom she will dedicate her achievement.

Tomorrow never comes.

Erica vanishes during the night. Max, desperate, terrified, sets out to find her, descending into an underworld full of malice and cunning. But even he is shocked by the dark terror he finds in the heart of the woman he loves.

Discover the massive number one bestseller that thousands of readers have said is the most addictive, page-turning novel of the year. “

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I really quite enjoyed this book. I have never read anything by this author before so took a punt and requested a copy via the publisher, Sphere an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group, and NetGalley. Now it does purport to be “the most addictive, page-turning novel of the year” and "the most gripping thriller you'll ever read" and although I would disagree with this as I have read a few books which are better, I was entertained by this novel and gripped from start to finish. I admit that it is a little OTT at times but books aren’t always supposed to be believable and sometimes it’s nice to just go along with it and enjoy the ride!

The storyline has a few threads to it and once you get your head around them, everything slots into place. The main themes are malaria and the hunt for Erica and in amongst all that is a glimpse into Erica’s past. I did particularly like the entries from Erica’s diary when she was in Africa and feel this could have made a pretty good novel in itself albeit rather disturbing. The pace is pretty relentless from start to finish with some twists, turns and surprises along the way.

The characters are an interesting bunch of people some more likeable than others but all are well described and believable … well mostly … that is where the OTT comes in as Max seems to go from a normal bloke to a superhero and what he does goes slightly beyond the realms of possibility but don’t let that put you off reading this, like I said … just shake your head and go along for the ride.

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Author website - http://www.nicklouth.com/

Twitter - @NickLouthAuthor 

The Crooked House by Christobel Kent

Description from Goodreads:

“Alison is as close to anonymous as she can get: with no ties, no home, a backroom job, hers is a life lived under the radar. She's a nobody; she has no-one and that's how she wants it.

But once Alison was someone else: once she was Esme Grace, a teenager whose bedroom sat at the top of a remote and dilapidated house on the edge of a bleak estuary. A girl whose family, if not happy, exactly, was no unhappier than anyone else's—or so she thought.

Then one night a terrible thing happened in the crooked house, a nightmare of violence out of which Alison emerged the only witness and sole survivor and from which she has been running ever since. Only when she meets academic Paul Bartlett does Alison realize that if she's to have any chance of happiness, she has to return to her old life and confront the darkness that worked its way inside her family and has pursued her ever since.”

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This is a difficult one for me to explain how I feel about it. On the one hand, I really enjoyed it but on the other, I found it a little confusing.

So, what did I like about it? Well, it’s a dark, psychological thriller about the murder of family 13 years ago with the lone survivor returning to the scene of crime to attend a wedding which brings the whole horrendous experience back to the fore. The setting, within a closed-knit coastal community, is dark and foreboding which lends itself to the story extremely well. The cast of characters is quite large but all are interesting and well developed with many being as dark and foreboding as the story and setting! The main character, Alison, is interesting and believable but I’m not sure she is particularly likeable as I didn’t seem to warm to her that much and I wasn’t convinced about her relationship with Paul - it came across as uncomfortable and lacking in any feeling or proper intimacy. The story is full of atmosphere and palpable tension and is an exploration of Alison’s memories of the night of the murder of her entire family and her quest to uncover the truth albeit with fear and trepidation. The way this is done throughout the book is commendable - the author provides clues and snippets of the truth which are drip fed throughout never quite giving enough information to enable to reader to piece them all together and I loved that about this book.

What didn’t I like about it? I found it a little confusing and all over the place in its writing style that took some getting used to as it kept jumping between times with no obvious separation between them. For me, this meant that I struggled to differentiate whether I was reading about something that happened years ago or 5 minutes ago. There were times when I felt this jumping around was totally unnecessary, for example, Alison and Paul were asleep in the hotel room, there was a fire alarm which forced them outside and then the author went on to tell us what happened in the hotel room before they fell asleep … why not just tell us before, it didn’t add anything to the story for me it just annoyed me and resulted in a “head shaking” moment.

Overall though, I found there was more to like than not. Yes, it’s a little annoying and confusing with the shifts in timelines but the story outweighed the frustration I felt about this. Would I recommend this book to someone else, yes I think I probably would but with a caveat to be prepared to have to use your brain to keep track of what’s going on.

I must thank the publisher, Little, Brown Book Group UK via NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest review.

Man Made Murder: Book One of the Blood Road trilogy by Z Rider

Description from Goodreads:

“When guitarist Dean Thibodeaux tries to score weed the night before his band goes on tour, the deal ends in a brutal attack he wasn’t supposed to survive. Stiff, bloody, sore—but alive—he boards the bus with his band, determined to keep the one thing that’s important in his life on track.

Carl Delacroix failed his sister. And in the dead of night, with a gun in his waistband and nothing left to lose, he fails her again: his hesitation lets her killer get away. Short on sleep, short on cash, and determined not to make a trifecta out of his failure, he takes off after her attacker. And finds himself following a tour bus.

Dean Thibodeaux is sick. He’s changing. And the thing that caused it is coming after him, intent on fixing its mistake.

One man is hunting evil. The other is becoming it. Salvation lies in the crossing of their paths.

Man Made Murder, book 1 of the Blood Road trilogy, comes out October 13, 2015. Read an excerpt at www.manmademurder.com"

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This is the 3rd book I have read by this author; the 1st book I read is Suckers which is not only a pretty good horror novel but an excellently written story about friendship; the 2nd is Insylum which is much more than it first appears. All 3 I have enjoyed as once again, Z Rider writes a great story with interesting characters whose stories weave together with ease.

The 2 main characters, Dean and Carl, are so different they could be on the other side of the world to each other - Dean is a member of a semi-successful rock band and Carl is a young man struggling with mourning the loss of his sister - they both have very different stories which are well explored throughout but there is an inevitability that they will become entwined with each other sooner or later. In the beginning, I didn’t find Dean the most likeable character and Carl was a bit “whiny” but they grew on me as the story developed and I became more involved in the action. Z Rider has a skill in creating great characters that mess with your head!

The story is well written, moves on at a good pace, is told from the perspectives of Dean and Carl and although this is a vampire story and there is blood and gore, it’s not overdone just for the sake of it. The story is dark, gritty, full of suspense, surprises and plot twists and overall, is very entertaining.

I get the feeling that the main purpose of this book is to introduce the characters and their backstories which will be further developed in the subsequent books in this trilogy and I think Z Rider has done this very well with Man Made Murder and I for one can’t wait to see what happens. I will say that although this is the first book in a trilogy, I feel it can be read as a stand alone because it doesn’t end on a cliffhanger which forces you to read the next book, it does however leave you wanting to know what happens next and how the relationship between Dean and Carl progresses.

I am grateful to the publisher, Dark Ride Publishing, for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

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Author website - http://zriderwriter.com/

Twitter - @zriderhorror

Go to the publisher website here to sign up to receive digital review copies of Dark Ride Publishing books ahead of release.