Liar Thief by May Rinaldi BLOG TOUR #LiarThief @mayrinaldi56 @BlackSpringC @RandomTTours #BookReview #CrimeFiction

 

Two childhood friends;  one ‘killer’, one cop.

Ginnie says she is a serial killer who kills people who have wronged her. No one believes her.

Author Fiona Taylor is writing Ginnie’s memoir, The Killer Inside, trying to understand why Ginnie should still insist that she’s a killer. She recruits ex-DI, Tom O’Brien, to examine the evidence. As Ginnie’s oldest friend, Tom has his own insights into her story.

As her memoir unfolds will the decisions taken by Fiona and Tom put them and their families at risk?

Is it safe to release a self-confessed serial killer back out into society, even if there is no evidence against her?

Liar Thief by May Rinaldi was published on 2 December 2025 by Black Spring Crime. My thanks to the author who sent my copy for review as part of this #RandomThingsTours blog tour. 

I heard the author read from this novel at Moffat Crime Fest in October and was instantly intrigued by the premise of the story, and was so eager to read it. 

There is something deliciously unsettling about a book that plants a seed of doubt in your mind and then quietly nurtures it until you’re questioning everything. Liar Thief by May Rinaldi is exactly that kind of read, it is clever, chilling and utterly compelling from the very first page.

At the heart of the story is Ginnie: a woman who calmly insists she is a serial killer. She claims that every victim deserved their fate. One huge problem though;  there are no bodies, no evidence, and she's never been charged. There is no proof that any crime was ever committed. And yet she refuses to retract her confession.

What follows is a brilliantly constructed psychological thriller told through three perspectives. Ginnie’s voice is measured and controlled as she recounts her past for true crime author Fiona Taylor, who is writing her memoir, The Killer Inside. Fiona’s chapters offer a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the world of true crime publishing, there's the the fine line between truth and storytelling, between justice and profit. As Fiona digs deeper, what begins as a professional project slowly edges into something far more personal and potentially dangerous.

Then there is Tom O’Brien, ex-DI and Ginnie’s childhood friend. Through his reflections and old diaries, we see a man torn between loyalty and logic. He wants to believe in the girl he once knew, but instinct and experience tell him to look harder. His internal conflict adds a layer of emotional depth that elevates this beyond a straightforward thriller.

What I loved most about Liar Thief is the ambiguity. Ginnie is not painted as a caricature villain. She is intelligent, composed and strangely persuasive. The tension doesn't come from graphic detail or dramatic scenes, but from uncertainty. Memory clashes with memory. Motive is murky. Loyalty blurs judgement. You are left constantly reassessing what you think you know.

The author handles the themes of truth, perception and the marketing of crime with confidence. The pacing is sharp, the structure cleverly created, and the sense of unease lingers long after you’ve turned the final page.

A gripping, intelligent psychological thriller that keeps you guessing, and doubting right to the end. Highly recommended.

May Rinaldi is a crime writer from the South-West of Scotland where she lives with her Norwegian husband, and two decrepit cats. 

She recently retired from her consultancy job in Health and Safety and, in the past, has worked as a taxidermist, mycologist and lab technician, all useful in crime writing – not only can her protagonist poison her victims, she can turn them into an interesting, mounted specimen afterwards.

She is the co-founder of Moffat Crime Fest, bringing top crime authors to the Dumfries and Galloway town of Moffat. She also runs writing retreats in her secluded home where visiting authors are only disturbed by sheep, cows and the dinner gong.

She spends her spare time travelling between Scotland, Norway and Gozo, and uses her travels as settings for her books. She is currently working on a Gozo trilogy; the Mediterranean island is as much one of the characters as the people who inhabit it.

X @mayrindali56

Instagram @mayrinaldi56

Facebook - May Rinaldi

The Cut Up by Louise Welsh BLOG TOUR #TheCutUp @louisewelsh00 @canongatebooks @RandomTTours #BookExtract #Rilke

 

It's hard to be good when living is expensive. And times are tough on the streets these days. Luckily for Rilke at Bowery Auctions the demand for no-questions-asked cash is at an all-time high, and business is booming.

When Rilke hears his old acquaintance Les is fresh out of prison, his inclination is to stay well out of his way. Letting sleeping dogs lie is one thing - but when one of Bowery's customers winds up dead on their tarmac, Rilke needs a bit of help from his friends to tidy things up. If only his friends didn't have such a habit of making things

The Cut Up by Louise Welsh was published on 29 January 2026 by Canongate Books. As part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour I am delighted to share an extract from the book with you. 

Extract from The Cut Up by Louise Welsh

The eye sees what the eye expects to see. What my eye saw

was a pile of rags fluttering against the north wall of Bowery

Auctions, in the blind spot where Rose’s CCTV spy lens

does not reach. It was four-thirty in the afternoon, October

dark. The working day was done, and I had locked the sale-

room doors. I almost walked away, but our district is on the

up, and gentrified neighbours had been complaining about

fly-tipping and removal vans blocking access. I cursed under

my breath.

I knew before I knew. It was just fabric, mussed and damp

from the intermittent showers that had punctuated the day.

But there was a familiar shape to it, an ancient outline.

‘Ah Christ,’ I swore again.

Now was the moment to turn my back and head for the

pint that had been hovering on the edge of my mind all

afternoon. The bundle was motionless, the man – for some

reason I knew it was a man and not a woman – sound asleep.

Glasgow has more than its share of rough sleepers. People

need somewhere to kip, so why not our place? But Glasgow

is not known as Tinderbox City for nothing, and old auction

houses like ours are prone to burning down, even in the

dank end of the year. The sleeper might wake and decide to

light a fire to warm themselves.

I paused on the edge of the shadow cast by the wall. ‘You

okay, mate?’

The bundle shivered but did not move. I drew closer, and

saw that it was his hair that trembled in response to the

breeze. The man was not huddled in a sleeping bag. There

was no cardboard cushioning the tarmac, no small dog to

raise the alarm. He was wrapped in a raincoat that, now I

looked closely, I thought I recognised. I squatted level with

him and saw that one hand was outstretched, the gold signet

ring set with diamonds still on its middle finger.

‘Are you okay Manders?’ A faint whiff of whisky scented

the air between us. ‘You can’t sleep it off here, Mandy. Sorry,

pal, time to head home.’ I reached out and touched his

shoulder. He did not move. The rain started, and I was

tempted to retreat, but it was cold and Mandy Manderson

was not a young man. ‘Fuck’s sake, Mandy. It’s been a long,

bloody week.’ I gave him a gentle shake. His face turned

towards me, and I saw the reason why Mandy Manderson,

jewellery dealer, man-about-town and thorn in many sides

was lying on the ground in the rain.

If I had been asked to take a bet on how Manderson would

snuff it, I would have put a heart attack top of the list, a

stumble down a pub staircase close second, followed by

a hit and run, some fast and joyless ride. He was obnoxious

when sober, unpleasant when drunk, but I would not have

thought him important enough for murder.

Louise Welsh is an award-winning author of ten novels. 

The Cutting Room, her debut novel, won the Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger Award and the Saltire First Book of The Year Award. 

In 2018, she was named the Most Inspiring Saltire First Book Award winner by public vote. 

She is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow. 

In 2022 she published The Second Cut, which was shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland McIlvanney Prize for Crime Book of the Year and named by The Times as their Crime Book of the Year.

@louisewelsh00

The Nowhere Girls by Carmel Harrington BLOG TOUR #TheNowhereGirls. @HappyMrsH @headlinepg @RandomTTours #BookReview

 

On a cold afternoon in December 1995, two young girls are found abandoned on a platform at Pearse Station in Dublin.

Thirty years later, investigative journalist Vega is determined to find out what happened to the so-called 'Nowhere Girls'. Where did their mother go? Why did no one come forward to claim them? And where are they now?

Searching for answers takes her on a journey with twists she never could have imagined. And one that could put everything else she knows at risk; including her new relationship, her career, and her life as she knows it.

The Nowhere Girls by Carmel Harrington was published on 29 January 2026 by Headline Review. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour 

There is something quietly compelling about The Nowhere Girls that pulled me in from the very first chapter and kept me turning the pages at speed. Carmel Harrington blends emotional depth with a gently twisty investigative thread, creating a story that lingers long after you’ve closed the book.

The novel opens with an unsettling premise: two very young girls left alone on a freezing December afternoon at Pearse Station in 1995, waiting for a mother who never comes back. Fast forward thirty years and the mystery remains unresolved, the girls long since labelled “the Nowhere Girls”. Enter Vega, an investigative journalist whose professional curiosity and personal determination won’t let the case lie.

Vega is a strong, believable protagonist and very easy to root for. Her determination to uncover what happened to the girls takes her across Ireland and over to the US, following a trail that grows more complicated the deeper she digs. The author balances the procedural elements of the investigation with Vega’s personal life beautifully, showing how the case begins to seep into every corner of her world;  her relationships, her career, and how she looks at herself. 

The plot unfolds at a good pace, there's plenty of intrigue to keep the reader hooked. This is very much a character-driven story, and the author really excellently explores themes of motherhood, identity, abandonment, and deeply buried secrets. While there are twists along the way, the real strength of the story, for me, is in its emotional depth. 

I raced through this one, eager to understand the truth behind the girls’ disappearance, but I also really enjoyed how Vega thinks about herself, and changes as a result of her search. The ending felt satisfying and thoughtful. 

Overall, The Nowhere Girls is a poignant, engaging and highly readable mystery that will appeal to fans of emotional thrillers with heart. A compelling journey into the past, and a reminder that some stories refuse to stay buried.

Carmel Harrington is the internationally bestselling author of thirteen novels.

Her last novel, The Lighthouse Secret, was an instant Irish Times bestseller.

Carmel's debut novel was a winner of multiple awards, and several of her books have been shortlisted for an Irish Book Award.
She is a regular on Irish TV screens and radio and has been a guest speaker at literary events in Ireland, UK and USA.
She was also the Chair of Wexford Literary Festival for three years.

Carmel is from Co. Wexford, where she lives with her husband, children and rescue dog, George Bailey.

X: @HappyMrsH / IG: @happymrsh

A Daughter's Love by Nancy Revell BLOG TOUR #Giveaway #ADaughtersLove #NancyRevell @PenguinUKBooks @RandomTTours #Prize #Win #Competition

 

From the Sunday Times bestselling author, Nancy Revell comes the third novel in the compelling Cuthford Manor series.

When Lucy’s estranged mother dies unexpectedly, her grief is overwhelming. Lucy was disowned when she married penniless horse-trainer Danny for love, leaving her blue-blooded family’s fortune in tatters. But Lucy always dreamed that one day, they’d reconcile.

So when her widowed father Edward begs her and Danny’s forgiveness for his part in their argument, she’s overjoyed. Newly pregnant, she’s determined to give her baby the family she longed for.

Danny, however, isn’t convinced: Edward’s mended ways feel too good to be true. But Lucy’s pregnancy is difficult, and she can’t hear his worries. Until the worst happens, and their fragile family is tested to its very limit…

Will love be enough to get them through?

A Daughter's Love by Nancy Revell was published on 29 January 2026 by Penguin. As part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour I am delighted to offer one copy as a prize. Entry is simple, just fill out the competition widget in the blog post.  UK entries only please. 

GOOD LUCK! 

One copy of A Daughter's Love by Nancy Revell

Nancy Revell is the author of twelve titles in the bestselling Shipyard Girls series - which
tells the story of a group of women who work together in a Sunderland ship yard during the Second World War. Her latest books, The Widow's Choice, A Secret in the Family and A Daughter's Love feature some of the characters from the world of the Shipyard Girls series in a new County Durham setting. Nancy's books have sold more than half a million copies across all editions.

Before becoming an author, Nancy was a journalist who worked for all the national newspapers, providing them with hard-hitting news stories and in-depth features. She also wrote amazing and inspirational true life stories for just about every woman's magazine in the country.

Wayward Women by Rhonda Carrier & Tracey Davies BLOG TOUR #WaywardWomen @bedsqpublishers @RandomTTours #BookExtract

 

Eat Pray Love meets Want.

Wayward Women is a unique, searingly honest, devastatingly raw two-person memoir about the friendship, travels and sex lives of two fiftysomething women finding their way again after divorce.

It’s an entertaining, emotional and geographical journey that bounces around the world from Florida to India, Lapland to Hong Kong, as the authors -both leading travel writers - relay their experiences as midlife women – love, loss, parenthood, divorce, menopause – along with the tales of the inspirational women they meet along the way, and the growth of their friendship.

Wayward Women by Rhonda Carrier and Tracey Davies was published on 29 January 2026 by Bedford Square Publisher. As part of this #RandomThingsTours blog tour I am delighted to share an extract from the book with you today. 

Extract from Wayward Women by Rhonda Carrier & Tracey Davies 

MERMAIDS

Tracey

‘I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.’

– T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

A child of the Splash! era, I longed to be Daryl Hannah: half- hottie, half-mackerel – and boning Tom Hanks. Mermaids are often depicted in film and literature as sexy sirens or bloodthirsty nymphs, voluptuous sea creatures with perky tits and pretty, scaly tails surfacing from the sea to manipulate men and help them shuffle off their mortal coil. And as someone going through an acrimonious divorce and often feeling like I’m treading water or sinking in mud, I feel the mermaids are doing God’s work.

But mermaids also represent the ultimate in sisterhood: femininity, rebellion and transformation. It’s these aspects of the mermaid lifestyle that I’m most drawn to, especially as I reach midlife. So when my friend Rhonda and I get the opportunity to train with the real mermaids of Florida, we totally flip out.

Apart from the tan, the two best things about being travel writers are the adventures we have and the people we meet. At Tampa International Airport, Rhonda fires up Bumble within minutes of landing to see if she has a message from Daniel, a man from a nearby town called Holiday, a name he described to her as ‘wildly inappropriate for the presence of the humans who reside within’. So far, so Florida.

I’m contractually obligated to state that Rhonda Carrier is not an international cougar and does not fuck her way around the world. Although a self-confessed horn dog, she uses Bumble’s travel mode to chat with and sometimes meet interesting people around the world. And that’s how she found Young Daniel.

I say young, but there have been younger. That’s another story, though. Young Daniel is thirty-nine, Rhonda is fifty- four. I know she really wants to meet him but I’m not sure how she’s going to swing it given our packed schedule.

Driving along the highway in our rented Ford Mustang – roof down and filthy ear-blistering German techno on the stereo – I glance over at her, the warm Floridian wind whipping her hair vertical, and I feel my heavy heart lighten.

Okay, indulge me a little. I’ve had a rough ride these past few years. A delicious life cocktail of marital woe, surprise debt, grief and perimenopause, all shaken up with the unrelenting pressure and responsibility that comes with being a parent. It’s no wonder depression has been as regular a visitor as a randy milkman. And each time it’s made me feel like I’ve fallen down a well. This trip has very much come at the right time. There’s only so much heavy lifting my dear Prozac can do.

After more than two decades of marriage and parenthood, and now going through a divorce, I crave the freedom of travel more than I crave two Greggs sausage rolls and a Diet Coke after a heavy night. I crave it more than love, I crave it more than sex. I crave freedom even more than acceptance. And now, as I speed towards the wet wilds of Florida sat next to Rhonda in my favourite car, freedom – albeit just for a week – finally feels within reach.

Rhonda has written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, Metro, iPaper, Red magazine,
Condé Nast Traveller, National Geographic Traveller, The South China Morning Post, and many others. She's appeared on radio shows and travel panels and as a speaker at travel events, and she writes and translates award- winning fiction. She has also written and edited a handful of major travel books.

Tracey is a veteran travel writer whose byline regularly appears in Metro, The Daily and Sunday Telegraph, The Times/Sunday Times, The Guardian, iPaper, Country Life, Red Online, Good Housekeeping, Platinum, Breathe, Teen Breathe, and Travel Weekly. She was co-host of the Carry On travel podcast and is a regular panellist on radio and travel shows. She is also a stand-up comedian

Greek Gods On TikTok by Rupert Stanbury #BookExtract #GreekGodsonTikTok @rupertstanbury @RandomTTours @randomthingstours #VirtualBookTour

 

THE WORDS OF 120 VIDEOS ABOUT THE GREEK GODS AND RELATED STORIES

Mythological Stories from the Classical World

Rupert Stanbury, the author of the Gods Galore fantasy / comedy books about the Greek Gods in the 21st Century, also produces TikTok videos on Greek Mythology.

Greek Gods on TikTok records the words from these videos, appropriately edited, in a written book.

It covers the major Olympian Gods - Zeus, Poseidon and Hades - as well as the Goddesses Athene, Aphrodite and Artemis and many others.

The famous Greek heroes are also introduced – Perseus taking on the Gorgon Medusa, Theseus fighting the Minotaur, and Jason claiming the Golden Fleece. We also meet many of the participants in the Trojan Wars – Helen, Achilles and Odysseus – and finally Hercules, perhaps the most famous hero of all!

Greek Gods On TikTok by Rupert Stanbury was published on 1 December 2025.  I am delighted to share an extract from the book with you today as part of this #RandomThingsTours Virtual Book Tour. 

Extract from Greek Gods on TikTok by Rupert Stanbury

93) Oedipus

Oedipus’s story starts in Thebes, a city which seemed destined to bring its rulers Bad Luck. We saw this with Cadmus and his family, and a similar outcome applied to Oedipus.

The tale of Oedipus is best recorded in a play by Sophocles called Oedipus Rex and this is what I’m going to summarise today. Sophocles was an Athenian playwright in the 5th Century BC.  

Let’s begin:

King Laius of Thebes had a young wife called Jocasta. When their son was born, Laius consulted the Oracle of Delphi about the future and was told that he would be killed by his son at some point in time. Laius, fearing this prophecy, told his wife to kill the child. 

Jocasta was unable to do this, so she handed the baby to a servant and told him to leave it exposed to the elements on a mountain. The servant himself took pity on the child, and in the countryside, he handed the baby to a shepherd who named him Oedipus, meaning swollen foot, because he had a swollen foot.

The shepherd took young Oedipus to Corinth where he gave him to the ruler, King Polybus and his wife Queen Merope. Now Polybus and Merope hadn’t been able to have any children, so they decided to bring Oedipus up as their own son.

So far so good, but when Oedipus was a young adult, he heard a rumour that he was adopted. Despite firm denials by his parents, who had clearly decided long ago not to tell Oedipus about his origins, he went off to Delphi to consult the Oracle on this matter. He didn’t get an answer to his question but was instead told that he was destined to kill his father and to marry his mother.

This was a terrible prophecy, so in order to avoid this fate, Oedipus left Corinth and set off for Thebes.

On route he came across an older man driving a chariot accompanied by at least one servant. The two had an argument about who had the right of way on the road. This led to a fight with Oedipus killing the man, probably by accident. Unbeknown to Oedipus, this old man was King Laius, his real father.

Anyway, Oedipus proceeded on his way, but before he reached Thebes, he encountered a Sphinx. Now sphinxes were nasty creatures, having the head of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle. This one would only let you proceed if you could correctly answer her riddle. If you got it wrong, the sphinx would eat you.

The riddle was: “What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon and three at night?” Oedipus answered Man which was correct since man, as a baby, crawls on all fours, then walks on two legs when grown up, but needs a walking stick – a third foot or leg - as he gets old.

Apparently, the sphinx was so amazed that someone could answer the riddle that she jumped off a cliff and died.

Thebes had decided long ago that whoever got rid of their sphinx would become its king - so when Oedipus arrived, he became the city’s monarch. He also married Jocasta – not knowing she was his mother, so fulfilling the prophecy.  

Oedipus and Jocasta had four children and matters went well for a number of years. Then, a terrible plague struck the city which just wouldn’t go, so Oedipus sent Creon, a powerful man who was Jocasta’s brother, to Delphi to ask what had to be done to stop the plague. The answer that Creon brought back was that King Laius’s killer had to be found and punished.

Oedipus set about this task with gusto. A complicated sequence of events took place, but let’s briefly summarise the evidence which came to light, as responsibility eventually settled on Oedipus himself:

Firstly, the prophet Tiresias was consulted. He knew Oedipus was responsible and was reluctant to speak out but eventually did so.

Then Laius’s servant, who was with him when he was killed, was identified and he confirmed where the fight took place. This got Oedipus thinking about the time he’d had a similar fight at the same location.

Next, Jocasta admitted she’d had a baby boy whom she had sent to his death in the mountains. The servant just mentioned above was the one who took the baby, and he now admitted to having handed him over to a shepherd.

A short while later, this same shepherd arrived from Corinth with news of King Polybus’s death. He and the servant recognized each other, and the shepherd confirmed he’d handed the baby to the king and queen who had brought it up as their son. This was Oedipus.

By now it was clear that the Oracle was correct. Oedipus had killed his father, Laius, and had married his mother, Jocasta.

The ending was, of course, tragic. Jocasta hanged herself; Oedipus gauged out his own eyes - and then went into exile, accompanied by Antigone, his eldest daughter.  

Rupert Stanbury is a Cambridge graduate. 

He was born in Manchester but has lived most of his adult life in Central London. 

He has always been an avid reader and a few years ago decided to take up writing himself. 

His previous books are Gods Galore (published in November 2021), The Four Horsemen (April 2023), and Pimlico People (October 2024). 

Instagram @RupertStanbury

Tiktok @rupertstanbury

The Hope by Paul Hardisty #BookReview @Hardisty_Paul @OrendaBooks #ClimateEmergency #ForcingTrilogy

 

The year is 2082. Climate collapse, famine and war have left the world in ruins. In the shadow of the Alpha-Omega regime – descendants of the super-rich architects of disaster – sixteen-year-old Boo Ashworth and her uncle risk everything to save what’s left of human knowledge, hiding the last surviving books in a secret library beneath the streets of Hobart.

But Boo has a secret of her own: an astonishing ability to memorise entire texts with perfect recall. When the library is discovered and destroyed, she’s forced to flee – armed with nothing but the stories she carries in her mind, and a growing understanding of her family’s true past. 

Hunted and alone, and with the help of some unlikely allies, she must fight to save her loved ones – and bring hope to a broken world.

Spanning three generations before, during and after the fall, The Hope is the shattering conclusion to Paul E. Hardisty’s critically acclaimed climate-emergency trilogy – a devastating, visionary thriller that dares to imagine the possibility of redemption in the face of near-total collapse. In a dying world, it asks the most urgent question of all: what if there’s still time?

The Hope by Paul E Hardisty is published today; 29 January 2026 by Orenda Books and is volume three in The Forcing Trilogy. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this Blog Tour

The two previous books in this trilogy; The Forcing and The Descent are two of my favourite books, and I've been really excited and looking forward to reading the conclusion.

There are books that entertain, books that unsettle, and then there are books that quietly take hold of you and refuse to let go. The Hope by Paul E. Hardisty is firmly in that last category. This is not just the conclusion of The Forcing trilogy; it is a powerful, unsettling and compassionate piece of storytelling that lingers long after the final page is turned.

Set in 2082, The Hope introduces a world that has paid the ultimate price for decades of greed, denial and wilful inaction. Climate collapse has reshaped everything: politics, power, morality and survival itself. The author does not gently ease his readers into this future. Instead, he places us directly inside it, where the remnants of humanity exist under the control of the Alpha-Omega regime; descendants of the very people who profited while the planet burned. It is grim, but it is also painfully believable, and that is what makes this novel so great.

At the heart of the story is Boo Ashworth, a teenager whose courage and resilience are remarkable without ever feeling implausible. Boo possesses an extraordinary gift, she ca memorise entire books with perfect recall. The author never treats this as a gimmick. Instead, it becomes a deeply symbolic act of resistance. In a world where knowledge is dangerous, outlawed and erased, Boo becomes a living archive, a keeper of stories, ideas and memory itself. The author understands the power of the written word so well. 

This is a novel that spans generations, moving perfectly between past and present.  The author invites the reader to consider not just what has been lost, but how it was lost, and, importantly, who benefited along the way. His background as an environmental scientist is evident, but never heavy-handed. The science is embedded seamlessly into the narrative, giving the story authority and weight without ever overwhelming the human drama at its core.

This book packs such an emotional punch. There is anger, and sorrow, and moments of genuine fear, but there is also tenderness and an unexpected sense of hope. The author's prose is often lyrical, almost poetic, even when describing the harshest realities. He has an uncanny ability to balance beauty and brutality, ensuring that the novel never slips into despair for despair’s sake.

Tension runs through every page. The sense of threat is constant, and yet the novel never becomes exhausting. Instead, you are compelled onwards, by the need to see whether resistance, memory and compassion can still matter in a world that seems determined to crush them. This is dystopian fiction at its most effective: not spectacle, but warning.

While The Hope does work as a standalone novel, it gains enormous power when read as the culmination of the trilogy. Threads laid down in earlier books come together with precision and purpose. However, the author is careful not to alienate new readers; enough context is provided to make this story accessible to all readers.

Ultimately, The Hope asks a question that feels uncomfortably urgent: what if there is still time? It does not offer easy answers, but it does suggest that resistance can take many forms; knowledge, memory, kindness, and the refusal to forget. This is a sobering, thought-provoking and deeply affecting novel, and a fitting, unforgettable conclusion to a remarkable trilogy.

Highly recommended, and not easily forgotten.

Canadian Paul Hardisty has spent twenty-five years working all over the world as an
environmental scientist and freelance journalist. 

He has roughnecked on oil rigs in Texas, explored for gold in the Arctic, mapped geology in Eastern Turkey (where he was befriended by PKK rebels), and rehabilitated water wells in the wilds of Africa. 

He was in Ethiopia in 1991 as the Mengistu regime fell, survived a bomb blast in a café in Sana’a in 1993, and was one of the last Westerners out of Yemen at the outbreak of the 1994 civil war. 

In 2022 he criss-crossed Ukraine reporting on the Russian invasion. 

His debut thriller The Abrupt Physics of Dying was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and was a Telegraph Thriller of the Year, and The Forcing (2023) and The Descent (2024) were a SciFi Now Book of the Month and shortlisted for the Crime Fiction Lover Awards. 

Paul is a keen outdoorsman, a conservation volunteer, and lives in Western Australia.

X @Hardisty_paul

Instagram @paulhardisty

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