I waited until I had listened to all three of the 4MK Killer trilogy before writing a review. What started off in book one, The Four Monkey Killer, as a more-than-average serial killer story morphed into a surreal, fairly muddled storm of death and destruction in book two, The Fifth to Die, before settling intoContinue reading “The 4MK Trilogy: J D Barker”
Author Archives: Jacqui Jay
Fill your Kindle for summer!
To celebrate the onset of summer – and I’m convinced it’s going to be a fantastic one – I have reduced all my ebooks to 99 pence until the end of summer. As I have a grasshopper mind, there’s a selection of genres to choose from – or download them all and just go withContinue reading “Fill your Kindle for summer!”
The Children of Eve: John Connolly
Charlie Parker is a bystander in this tale of kidnapped, mummified children and the hunt by some sort of deity to recover the, There are lots o bad characters on a sort of hierarchy where the most evil are killing off the lesser evil in grotesquely violent ways. Connolly devotes a fair bit of timeContinue reading “The Children of Eve: John Connolly”
A very evocative photograph
This photograph, by the hugely talented David Baker, took me back to a day, many years ago, when I stood on the beach at Inch, near Dublin. The landscape was composed entirely of sand, sea and sky. The only things disturbing the serenity of the scene were me with my camera and some jackeen who’dContinue reading “A very evocative photograph”
Tom Lundy, the ‘Cut’ and toffee apples
A lot of the background material in Ashes in the Tongue comes from my childhood in Banbridge in County Down. One of my early memories, which didn’t make it into the book, is of being wrapped up warmly on a winter’s night to witness the burning of Tom Lundy (Robert Lundy, died 1717). In 1950s NorthernContinue reading “Tom Lundy, the ‘Cut’ and toffee apples”
A Pair of Kings
Holly by Stephen King. I had already read this book but was quite happy to listen to it again as (1) listening is quite a different experience to reading and (2) Holly Gibney is one of my favourite King characters. Jerome and Barbara are good back-ups for her but they’re just a little too perfect.Continue reading “A Pair of Kings”
Nobody’s Fool: Harlan Coben
Twenty two years ago, Sami Pierce woke up to find his girlfriend, Anna, dead in the bed beside him, her body awash with blood. After he reported this to the police and returned to the scene, the body had disappeared. On his father’s advice, Sami left the country, returned yo America and got on withContinue reading “Nobody’s Fool: Harlan Coben”
All the Colours of the Dark: Chris Whitaker
In All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker we have three central characters – Patch, a one-eyed boy who imagines himself as a pirate and who gets kidnapped in the early pages of the book; Saint, his only friend; Misty, the richest girl in town who is saved from abduction by Patch andContinue reading “All the Colours of the Dark: Chris Whitaker”
Does familiarity breed complacency?
Michael Connolly has been one of my favourite authors ever since I read his first Harry Bosch novel in 1992. His Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer series didn’t disappoint either, confirming Connelly as a first class crime writer. I followed the fortunes of both characters down the years, adding the Renée Ballard stories to theContinue reading “Does familiarity breed complacency?”
Forever Night
I got a nice surprise when I opened my emails this morning to find Forever Night: Circles of Confusion II featured on the KU Recommended List. Ten years ago, Jilly, Tina and Leon committed a terrible crime.They were never brought to justice.Now it’s payback time. Jilly Graham has buried the terrible events of the pastContinue reading “Forever Night”
Jacqui Jay 