Beautiful People by Amanda Jennings #BeautifulPeople @MandaJJennings @HQstories #BookReview

 

When Victoria escapes her broken home for university in London, she is determined to reinvent herself and make a fresh start. She falls in love with Nick, who welcomes her into his privileged circle of friends, opening her eyes to a world she only ever dreamt of.

Then life takes a darker turn.

Twenty-five years later, the circle is reunited alongside a host of glittering guests to celebrate the wedding of Hollywood darling Ingrid Olsson to ruthlessly well-connected Julian Draper. Victoria has spent years trying to forget Nick and put the horror of what happened behind her. Now she has to face the past she tried so hard to bury.

As the champagne flows and painful memories resurface, Victoria can’t shake the feeling that some people seem to get away with everything.

But maybe not this time.

Maybe this time, someone will pay the ultimate price.

Beautiful People by Amanda Jennings is published in hardback by HQ on 7 November 2024. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review. 

I have been a fan of Amanda Jennings for well over ten years. She writes dark, emotionally challenging novels filled with beautiful prose and expertly created characters. 

I think Beautiful People is my favourite of her books so far, her best novel to date. It totally captured me, thrusting me into a world of glamour and wealth, but at the same time, exposing the dirt and the grubbiness that the beautiful people so often hide from people outside of their circle. 

The reader knows from the prologue that someone dies. We do not know how, or who it is, or who the person standing close to the body is, but this short scene sets the pace for the rest of the novel. 

One of my favourite narrative structures is a dual time line, and in Beautiful People, Amanda Jennings does this to absolute perfection. As we meet Victoria in June 2024, and then go back and acquaint ourselves with her when she was known as Vix, at University in 1999, the stories are wonderfully woven together. 

Present day Victoria lives in France, alone. She's an artist and has been commissioned to create a portrait for the wedding of a very famous, wealthy couple. However, Victoria really doesn't want to attend the wedding, but the bride insists that she attend for the unveiling. It becomes clear to the reader that Victoria and the groom, and many of the invited guests have history, a painful history and one that Victoria doesn't want to re-visit. 

We learn about young Vix. Fleeing a dysfunctional family to find refuge at University. Making friends with the grand and the elite. Slightly changing her accent to fit, examining the clothes that the other girls wear, making sure that she can fit in, and also falling in love. This is not an ordinary, romantic love though, it becomes something of an obsession for Vix and leads to her making many many decisions that are not the best for her. 

Let's talk about the 'beautiful people' themselves. A bunch of wealthy, entitled, gorgeous people who want for nothing. Who go through life expecting to receive everything that they wish for, who rarely consider the feelings of others, yet who attract so many hangers-on. People want to be seen with them, they think their beauty will rub off on them. 

This is a complex, captivating and extremely dark story, one that lures the reader in and doesn't let go until the crescendo of a finish. The toxicity of this group of friends is palpable, and the vulnerability of Vix and her desperation to be accepted is both heart breaking, and recognisable. There are characters who do go some way to redeem themselves, there are others who just become worse and more evil as the story progresses. It is a finely tuned tale of privilege and power and the absolute destruction that this can cause. 

Powerful, emotive and utterly brilliant. Highly recommended by me. 

Amanda Jennings has written seven novels, and numerous short stories for anthologies
and magazines, and is published both in the UK and abroad. 

She is a contributor to BBC Radio Berkshire and a long-standing judge for the Henley Youth Festival literary competition, has taught writing workshops, and enjoys appearing at literary festivals. 

Before becoming an author, Amanda worked at the BBC as a researcher, and studied History of Art at Cambridge University. 

She lives in a cottage in the middle of the woods in Oxfordshire with her family and a varied assortment of animals.

www.amandajennings.co.uk

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The Married Man by K L Slater #TheMarriedMan @KLSlaterAuthor @bookouture #BookReview

 

Everyone thinks my husband is dead. Just like we planned…

Eleven years ago, my husband disappeared. Eleven long hard years I waited, my heart breaking for our son, who didn’t know his father was coming back.

Today, my hands shake as I try to understand what I’ve just learned: my husband has a new wife. This wasn’t part of our plan.

Eleven years ago, my husband made a terrible mistake. I sacrificed everything to help him fix it. But now he’s put our son and me in danger again.

We had a plan. He broke the rules. But who will pay the price?

The Married Man by K L Slater was published by Bookouture on 29 October 2024. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review. 

I have just looked on Fantastic Fiction and see that K L Slater has published over twenty novels prior to this one. This is the first of her books that I've read. I'm not really sure how I missed her prior to this but have really enjoyed my first read by her. 

The blurb of the book makes it clear that there's a huge secret hiding within these pages, yet this is not a spoiler and only adds to the mystery and tension that the author cleverly builds up throughout the novel. 

I do love to read a book that is in a familiar setting. This story is set in and around Nottingham. I grew up in a small rural Nottinghamshire village, so recognised many of the locations. 

The story begins in October 2012. Liv and her husband Rich are living in a lovely house, they have a three year old son called Maddox and all appears well. It was Maddox's birthday recently and Rich has taken him to local beauty spot Frog Hill to fly his new kite. It's clear from the conversations had before they set out that today is no ordinary day for this family. Rich and Maddox do not return home, Liv goes out to search for them, and then calls the police. Eventually Maddox is found, sheltering in a dug-out, but there is no sign of Rich. He doesn't return. 

Eleven years later, we meet newly-wed Kait and Daniel. Kait is pregnant and having issues with the pregnancy. Daniel seems distracted, he's not his usual self and Kait's first thoughts are that he's having an affair. When he drops a piece of paper, with a strange looking number scribbled on it, she asks her sister to help. This note leads to Maddox, the now teenage son of Liv and Rich, but how is Daniel involved with that family and how does Kait approach this? 

Liv has struggled over the past eleven years. Working two jobs to bring up Maddox on her own. Rich was finally pronounced dead a few years ago, and Liv keeps telling Maddox that things are going to get better. They are going to have lots of money very soon. 

Meanwhile, Maddox has fallen in with a bad crowd. Liv suspects that he may be dealing drugs, but it's actually much darker than that, and he gets himself into some situations that just bring more danger to the family. 

This is a tightly woven, complex thriller. With something of a slow start, in order to build the characters it very quickly increases the pace, culminating in a pacy, swift and tension filled ending. There are twists and turns that I didn't see coming, and the author cleverly holds back with some information, drip feeding hints to the reader. 

Gripping, twisty and a little bit addictive. I will certainly read more from this author. 

Kim is the number one bestselling author of over twenty psychological crime thrillers. 

She has sold over three million copies of her books worldwide. 

She has also written four Carnegie-nominated Young Adult novels as Kim Slater for Macmillan Children’s Books. 

Kim has an MA in Creative Writing and lives with her husband in a small Nottinghamshire village.

www.klslaterauthor.com

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The Troubled Deep by Rob Parker #TheTroubledDeep @robparkerauthor @BloomsburyRaven #BookReview

 

Nobody ever knew what happened to the Brindleys. One summer they were there - flashy, loud and beautiful - and then they were gone. A mother, father and two children, vanished into the East Anglian night.

Some said the family never made it home from the party; their speeding car thrown off the tracks and the four of them silently buried in the marshes. Others said they had simply moved on. For thirty years, the case remained as cold as the freezing waterways of the Norfolk broads.

Until Cam Killick found the car.

An ex-marine and ex-SBS officer, Cam Killick's PTSD has made the return to civilian life a living nightmare. The only place he can find peace is underwater, where the world is muffled to white noise. As a cold case diver it is his job to scour the waterways of the country for the lost, the submerged, the drowned, laying their stories to rest alongside them.

Except when Cam throws open the doors to the Brindley car, all four bodies are missing. And Cam will soon learn that some secrets, once submerged, are better off staying that way

The Troubled Deep by Rob Parker is published by Bloomsbury Raven on 16 January 2025 and is the first in the Cam Killick Norfolk Mystery series. My thanks to the author and the publisher who sent my copy for review. 

There's nothing better than starting a brand new crime series, especially one by such a talented author as Rob Parker. The anticipation for the new character, and the setting is high, and I was certainly not let down by this one. In fact, I'd say that the novel far exceeded anything that I expected. 

Set on the rural Norfolk Broads and featuring ex-SBS diver Cam Killick, accompanied by his faithful dog Nala, this is a unusual premise, but one that I found quite fascinating. Cam is such a flawed character, he struggles with severe PTSD after his time in the military, and apart fron Nala, the only relief that he can get is when he is under water. So much so, that he will often sleep in the bath. His job as a diver who investigates cold cases is perfect for him, allowing him the time to spend on his own, and to immerse himself under water. Often that water is dangerous, cold and full of hidden obstacles, but for Cam, this job is a lifeline. 

Many years ago, the Brindleys, a well-known Norfolk family disappeared. They were the sort of family that made headlines; wealthy, important, powerful. Mother, father, son and daughter left a party one night and were never seen again. There have been many theories as to what happened, but they've never been found. 

Until now. Cam has studied the local roads and the waterways and is convinced that their car went off the road, into the water. After much searching, he discovers the car, just where he thought it would be. However, when he manages to open the car doors, it is empty. There are no bodies. The whole Brindley family have disappeared. 

And so begins an exciting and complex case that Cam works hard on. He is determined to discover just what happened to the family, and this will bring danger to his life. There are so many twists and turns in this plot that you may get a little dizzy at times, but you will be absolutely transfixed as the story progresses.  There are characters who are determined to keep the long-hidden secrets under wraps, and would do almost anything to protect themselves. It's a gripping and exciting ride for sure. 

Cam Killick is beautifully created, his flaws add so much to his character, allowing the reader to see past the determined case cracker and discover the person below. His relationship with Nala the dog is joyful, and just warms the heart so much.

Parker incorporates the isolation of the Norfolk Broads so well, there's a real sense of atmosphere and place that adds so much depth to the novel. 

Bring on book two!  Highly recommended by me. 

Rob Parker is the author of Far From The Tree, the #1 bestselling thriller for Audible
Original and the first instalment in the Thirty Miles trilogy, as well as eight novels for independent publishers. 

He is the host of both Crime Central Manchester, a monthly showcase of emerging crime writing talent and blockbuster bestsellers, and the Blood Brothers podcast. 

Rob lives in Warrington with his wife, three children and their dogs, and was inspired to write The Troubled Deep by years of holidays in the Norfolk Broads - during which he has never, he is pleased to say, found a dead body.

www.robparkerauthor.com

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The Peacock and the Sparrow by I S Berry BLOG TOUR #ThePeacockandtheSparrow @isberryauthor @noexitpress @RandomTTours #BookExtract

 

The thrilling debut from author and former CIA officer I.S. Berry, following an American spy’s last dangerous mission.

Shane Collins, a world-weary CIA spy, is ready to come in from the cold. Stationed in Bahrain for his final tour, he’s anxious to dispense with his mission ― uncovering Iranian support for the insurgency. But then he meets Almaisa, an enigmatic artist, and his eyes are opened to a side of Bahrain most expats never experience, to questions he never thought to ask.

When his trusted informant becomes embroiled in a murder, Collins finds himself drawn deep into the conflict, his romance and loyalties upended. In an instant, he’s caught in the crosswinds of a revolution. He sets out to learn the truth behind the Arab Spring, win Almaisa’s love, and uncover the murky border where Bahrain’s secrets end and America’s begin.

Now optioned for film by Scott Delman of Shadowfox productions (Producer of HBO Max hit series Station Eleven).

The Peacock and the Sparrow by I S Berry was published on 24 October 2024 by No Exit Press. As part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour I am delighted to share an extract from the book with you today. 

Extract from The Peacock and the Sparrow by I S Berry 

I hated the smell of Rashid’s cigarettes. He always lit up in my car, a beat- up Mitsubishi Lancer with just enough space to breathe. I hated the smell of his cigarettes, but I always took one when he offered. It was the ability to please that you learned as a spy: smoking a cigarette, offering compliments you didn’t mean, falling down drunk from having accepted too many vodkas. 

His cigarettes were Canary Kingdom, a cheap Middle East brand that claimed to import its tobacco from Virginia. Virginia: That’s where CIA Headquarters is, I would inform Rashid casually. Link his source of plea- sure to his source of risk, another trick of the manipulation trade. I’d offered to get him real American cigarettes with my ration cards on the naval base, but he’d refused, said he liked his native carcinogens. Anyway, he in- sisted on green apple, a flavor I’d never find in any of Uncle Sam’s packs. It was my misfortune that cigarettes were Rashid’s only vice; he was too pious to drink and I was never able to expense alcohol during our meetings. 

Green apple had begun to mix with the odor from a nearby dumpster and our stationary car smelled like a rotting orchard. “We will not negotiate until they release Junaid,” Rashid was saying, shaking his head and looking out the window. The slums stared back at us, brown and uneven and stunted, as though they’d grown tired over the years, further from notions of a legitimate city. Late afternoon sun turned the car windows, caked with dust, to tarnished copper. I’d convinced myself that the car didn’t need a washing, that the dirt helped hide my informants. 

Rashid’s eyes narrowed, his black pupils reflecting the dying rays of sun like rusty steel blades. He was getting self-righteous and indignant as he always did when talking about Junaid, the dissident poet who’d been rot- ting in a Bahrain jail since the early days of the uprising. 

“Someday the king will answer to Allah for what he has done!” Spittle flew through Rashid’s crooked brown teeth. His youngish skin was dark and pockmarked, his curly hair greasy, undoubtedly styled with the cheap gel sold at every corner cold store. He looked leaner than usual—maybe the lingering effects of fasting for Ramadan—the concavity of his chest visible beneath his thin shirt. I never allowed him to wear his preferred white thobe when he met me—too conspicuous. 

“If not to Allah, at least Al-Hakim will answer to the international com- munity.” I smiled. 

Rashid’s face turned conciliatory. “I forget you Americans do not believe in Allah. Yes, even the international community has condemned the meritless detention of Junaid.” His English was perfect, the product of four years at Oxford—or was it Cambridge? I could never remember. 

“And Junaid is not the only unjust detention,” he continued. “Four doc- tors imprisoned last week for treating protesters. Simply providing medical care. Following Hippocrates—” 

“Yeah, I heard about it.”

“Your country’s arms embargo is the only thing that keeps us alive.” 

“Glad to hear it.”

Rashid took a drag, blew a cloud of smoke into my face. “Anyway . . . 

you understand our position.”

I opened the window a crack, threw out my cigarette, returned the pen 

flashlight to my mouth. “So what about Fourteen February? What’s your plan? Continue the war?” 

“Yes.” Rashid tapped my notebook with his knobby finger. “Write that down. Inshallah, we will continue the struggle.” 

I. S. Berry spent six years as an operations officer for the CIA and has lived and worked
in Europe and the Middle East, including two years in Bahrain during the Arab Spring. 

She has a degree in Law from the University of Virginia, and is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, International Association of Crime Writers, and the Association of Former Intelligence Workers. 

The Peacock and The Sparrow was her debut novel, published in 2023. 

Berry currently lives in Virginia with her husband and son.

www.isberry.net

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Our London Lives by Christine Dwyer Hickey #OurLondonLives #ChristineDwyerHickey @AtlanticBooks #BookReview

 

1979. In the vast and often unforgiving city of London, two Irish outsiders seeking refuge find one another: Milly, a teenage runaway, and Pip, a young boxer full of anger and potential who is beginning to drink it all away.

Over the decades their lives follow different paths, interweaving from time to time, often in one another's sight, always on one another's mind, yet rarely together.

Forty years on, Milly is clinging onto the only home she's ever really known while Pip, haunted by T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, traipses the streets of London and wrestles with the life of the recovering alcoholic. And between them, perhaps uncrossable, lies the unspoken span of their lives.

Dark and brave, this epic novel offers a rich and moving portrait of an ever-changing city, and a profound inquiry into character, loneliness and the nature of love.

Our London Lives by Christine Dwyer Hickey was published in hardback on 5 September 2024 by Atlantic Books. The paperback will be published in June 2025. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review. 

This is a large book at over 500 pages in the hardback edition, I flew through it. I began reading whilst on a flight to Portugal and finished it the day that I arrived.  There's something very special about the writing, it creeps up and drags the reader in. It is enticing and colourful and the characters are brilliantly created. 

This is a love story that spans decades, but it is not a romance. It can be beautiful, and brutal. Heartfelt and heartbreaking. This is about real love, about real people, there are no hearts and flowers, it's passionate and intimate. 

Our lead characters are Milly and Pip, both young, both Irish and both living in London. Milly has recently fled her home in Ireland and has taken a job as a barmaid in a back street pub. The landlady, Mrs Oak is a good, kind woman and whilst Milly has traumas and troubles to deal with, she feels safe in the pub. Pip has lived in London since his family moved over from Ireland when he was a boy. His older brother is a an up and coming musician and Pip himself is a promising young boxer. He is also a drinker, often a solitary drinker. He is a beautiful man, and as Milly serves him and watches him, she becomes more attracted to him. 

It is inevitable that these two young people will eventually get together, but it's not a relationship that will last as they hoped. It is a fleeting experience, but is also the beginning of a friendship that will last for forty years, with many hurdles along the way.  Both Milly and Pip will meet and marry other people, but both of them will hold in their hearts, those early days in the pub. 

The author touches on just what it was like to be Irish in the 70s and 80s in London. How difficult it could be to be trusted, to get a job, to prove that you were not about to throw a bomb through a window. 

Dwyer Hickey has created a story that is filled with hope, yet that hope is so often dashed. As Pip veers off into alcoholism and danger, Milly continues her life with his shadow always behind her. 

The city of London itself is as much a character as the humans. Events including terror attacks, the death of famous gangsters and the devastation that is the Grenfell Tower fire are incorporated into the story, making it feel so real. As London changes and develops over the years, with the demolishing of old building, and the regeneration of areas, the reader travels the streets alongside Pip and Milly. Watching them change, just like the city. 

This is a truly beautiful novel, written with compassion, featuring two very flawed people who each have to find their own way in life, as difficult as that can be for both of them. It can be dark, but it is always perfectly pitched. A wonderful read, highly recommended. 

Christine Dwyer Hickey is one of Ireland’s best-known writers. Often regarded as a ‘Dublin writer,’ her work is set in various locations including London, Italy, New York, Cape Cod and India.

She has published several novels, a short story collection and a full-length play. The Cold Eye of Heaven won the Irish Novel of the Year 2012 and was nominated for the International IMPAC award. Tatty was nominated for The Orange Prize and was listed as one of the 50 Irish Novels of the Decade. Last Train from Liguria was nominated for the Prix L’Européen de Littérature. Her short stories have been published in anthologies and magazines world­wide and have won several awards, most recently the Irish Short Story Award at the Irish Book Awards 2017. Her first play Snow Angels premiered at the Project Arts Centre to wide critical acclaim. Her work has been translated into many European languages and is also available in Arabic.

Her latest novel The Narrow Road set in 1950 Cape Cod and deals with the marriage of Edward and Jo Hopper was published in March 2019 by Atlantic Books (UK)

www.christinedwyerhickey.com

The Woman Who Went Over Niagra Falls in a Barrel by Caroline Cauchi @Caroline_S @0neMoreChapter_ #BookReview

 

School teacher. Widow. Legend.

It’s 1901 and the mists of change are swirling. Queen Victoria’s reign is about to come to an end, and an obscure widow in Buffalo, New York, is about to attempt the impossible.

Meet the courageous Mrs Annie Edson Taylor. The bravest woman you’ve never heard of and the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel ―over a decade before any man dared to do the same.

Enter a world of lost fortunes and friendship, as Annie, grieving the past and determined to change the lives of the women around her, attempts to alter the course of history.

With a single jump, that is.

The Woman Who Went Over Niagra Falls in a Barrel by Caroline Cauchi was published on 10 October 2024 by One More Chapter. My thanks to the author who sent my copy for review. 

I have read everything that this author has written, in her various writing names; Caroline Smailes, Caroline Wallace and most recently as Caroline Cauchi. Her ability to weave a story is incredible, and no matter which name she is using, her books always delight me. 

The Woman Who Went Over Niagra Falls in a Barrel is inspired by the true story of sixty-three year old Annie Edson Taylor, who in 1901, really did climb into a home-made barrel and go over the top of Niagra Falls. Annie was the first person to survive this feat. Many people had attempted it in the past, but Annie was the first to succeed. In this extraordinary story, Cauchi has taken a real life character and fictionalised some of her story. The actual event is true, but the accompanying tale of Annie and her relationships has been created beautifully by the author. 

Annie is a complex character. She has been grieving for most of her adult life, her son died before he reached his first birthday, and her husband died a couple of years later. Annie was just twenty years old at the time. She's spent her life doing various different jobs, living in assorted places and the reader discovers her living in a boarding house in Buffalo, New York. This is a house for women who are in desperate need, they may be escaping bad relationships,  most of them have no money, but the door is always open and Annie and the boarding house owner, Mrs Lapointe will take these women in and give them a home for as long as they need. Money is tight, food is often scarce, but this is a place of refuge and every woman who enters the house helps out with the running of the place. 

Cauchi creates such wonderful themes of female friendship in this novel. She also looks closely at how woman of a certain age become almost invisible as they grow older. Annie is sixty-three, and determined to carry out her plan to go over the Falls, however, she knows that her age, along with her gender will go against her, so takes twenty years off, and presents herself as a widow in her forties.

The amount of research that has gone into this book is amazing, the reader is introduced to a host of colourful characters who will help Annie to achieve her goal. From the dubious manager, to the fabulous barrel builders, we are treated to such an array of people. Some we will love, and trust, whilst there are other who we should be suspicious of. 

At its heart, this is a story of strong women defeating the odds to become even stronger. Annie's motives for carrying out the barrel ride are complex and mixed. Not only does she want to prove that an older woman can do exactly what she wants to, she also wants to heal herself, to get rid of the overwhelming sadness and sorrow that have taken over her life, to do something exciting and new. To discover the real Annie. 

The friendships formed within the story are heartwarming and so poignant. Annie's influence on the women make a huge difference to their entire lives, giving them hope and allowing them to see that they are worth far more than they ever realised. 

This is historical fiction at its very best. Annie is a fascinating character and has sadly been overlooked in history. Caroline Cauchi brings her to life and what a wonderful job she has done. Highly recommended. 

Dr Caroline Cauchi worked as a university lecturer for several years before turning her
hand to fiction. 

With a PhD in Creative Writing, Caroline’s current academic fields of interest are Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, the silencing of women involved in creative pursuits, and the consideration of a novelist’s ethical and moral responsibilities when fictionalising a real life. 

With a Maltese mother and a British father, she is also known as bestselling author Caroline Smailes (THE DROWNING OF ARTHUR BRAXON).

www.carolinecauchi.co.uk

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Ice Town by Will Dean #IceTown @willrdean @HodderBooks @HodderFiction #TuvaMoodyson #BookReview

 

'Deaf teenager goes missing in Esseberg. Mountain rescue are launching a search party but conditions hinder their efforts. The tunnel is being kept open all night as an exception.'

When journalist Tuva Moodyson reads this news alert she knows she must join the search. If this teenager is found, she will be able to communicate with him in a way no one else can.

Esseberg lies on the other side of a mountain tunnel: there is only one way in and one way out. When the tunnel closes at night, the residents are left to fend for themselves. And as more people go missing, it becomes clear that there is a killer among them ...

ICE TOWN is an unputdownable new standalone Tuva novel, which will delight existing fans of the series and bring many new readers to it.

Ice Town by Will Dean is published on 7 November 2024 by Hodder. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review. 

Ice Town features much-loved character Tuva Moodyson, but is a standalone story and not marketed as part of the series featuring this character.  Whilst it would be great if you'd read the previous Tuva books, to get a feel of her character, it's really not essential for Ice Town. The author gives enough of Tuva's back story, without going into unnecessary detail, and new-to-Tuva readers can enjoy it just as much as those who've followed her from day one. 

Tuva is a journalist; a proper, old-fashioned reporter who writes long-form articles which are published in a newspaper and read by many. She's well aware that digital journalism is becoming more and more popular, but she's something of a stubborn woman, and will continue to write for as long as is possible. Tuva is deaf, she wears expensive, high functioning hearing aids. She doesn't hide behind her disability, it's just part of her. There's nothing that will stop her from getting to the bottom of a great story. 

Esseberg, otherwise known as Ice Town, is a small isolated community many hours away from Tuva's home in Gavrik, Sweden. When Tuva reads that a deaf teenager is missing in Esseberg, she is immediately pulled towards the story. She knows that she has to travel to help to search for Peter, she will be able to talk to him, to discover what has really happened. 

It's a long long journey, it's cold and the roads are not great. Esseberg town is accessed via a tunnel, this tunnel is closed for hours each day. Once in the town, and the tunnel is closed, there is no getting out. 

Esseberg is a strange little place. Dominated by the tunnel and a large administrative building, there's little else. A church, a school, a bar, a couple of tattoo places. There's a high-end hotel high up on the mountain, accessed by a failing ski lift. Tuva manages to bag one of only two rooms in the only B&B in town .... but there's no breakfast. Thank goodness for the Willy's supermarket, where she can stock up on sweet treats to keep her going. 

In Tuva's usual style, she doesn't hesitate to start to ask questions about missing Peter. She speaks with everyone that she can. Some of the locals are wary of her, some of them are pretty open. There are times when it could be thought that Tuva's methods are a little manipulative of people who are scared and worried about what's happening in their small town. 

With something of a slow start, Ice Town soon turns into a story that is pacy and incredibly tense in places. Dean's ability to draw the town, both the surrounding environment and the eclectic mix of residents is top class. There are characters that the reader will immediately suspect, there are also some that seem to fly under the radar, but who will become so pivotal in the story. It's astonishing. 

There are plenty of deaths, plenty of suspicion. There's snow and blizzards, there's unexpected, dangerous journeys that Tuva must survive. Whilst Tuva is a strong, independent woman, she also has vulnerabilities. Events in her life have formed her character and there have been some very important relationships that Tuva often reflects on. There's sometimes a real sadness about her, it makes her so realistic and the reader cannot help but really love her and hope that her future is going to be brighter. 

Chilling, compelling, full of unexpected events that really shook me at times. This is fine crime writing with characters who fill up the pages in a setting that is beautifully portrayed. Highly recommended. 

Will Dean grew up in the East Midlands, living in nine different villages before the age of eighteen. 

After studying law at the LSE, and working many varied jobs in London, he settled in rural Sweden with his wife. 

He built a wooden house in a boggy forest clearing and it's from this base that he compulsively reads and writes.

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