Dancing on the Grave

 

In one of the most beautiful corners of England,
Something very ugly is about to take place…

A sniper with a mission…
a young cop with nothing to lose…
a CSI with everything to prove…
a teenage girl with a terrifying obsession…

 

If you have read any of my blog posts in the past, you will be aware that I am a fan of Zoe Sharp and a stalker of Charlie Fox the protagonist in her series. If you haven’t made contact with Charlie, I strongly recommend you do so now.

And now I have been given an advance copy of Zoe’s latest novel, a standalone called Dancing on the Grave.

 “An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: ‘Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.'” So says master storyteller, Stephen King.

And the opening line in Dancing on the Grave by Zoe Sharp certainly does this. Her opening line? It is a bad day to die…a perfect one to kill.

There’s a sniper on the loose in this most peaceful part of England. A picturesque village where peace and friendship reign, well almost always.

There are the usual class factions and the associated disagreements and antagonisms. This is brought to the fore when a dog belonging to an army Major and close friend of Angela Inglis, the “Lady of the Manor”  is shot, after killing several lambs belonging to a local farmer.

While this is not in itself, a case for police involvement, Detective Constable Nick Weston, and CSI Grace McColl are called to the scene and quickly determine that the shooter has used a long-range rifle, and as it is long-range they also agree that there is a trained sniper on the loose.

Grace McColl, young, intelligent and smart. Newly qualified as a CSI, able to hold her own in a man’s world, is settled in her place in the Cumbria Constabulary arena, while Nick who is newly arrived from London after an undercover operation went wrong, is having a hard time settling in with his colleagues. He is also going through a hard time as his partner has moved out taking their child with her. And as the new face in the office, when sending him to the crime scene, his colleagues omit to mention that the victim has four legs and a tail – of course, he is expecting a murder scene.

These two meet and though it is not attraction, indeed they rub each other up the wrong way almost from the first meeting where she is cool and perhaps, detached while he is hung over and angry at the trick having been played upon him. However, they quickly form a close working relationship and come to recognise each other’s competence and particular abilities.

While these two are the main characters, the other characters are well written and totally believable. I’m sure we have all either known or have read of a man like Major Frederickson. So arrogant and sure of himself and his place in the world. Is he the sniper’s target?

Angela Inglis, the MEP’s wife, who feels she is most certainly a cut above the rest. She is particularly cruel to Edith who has been wrongly accused of theft and fired from her work in the house. Her husband is regularly in the news. So is she the target?

The Special Constable Jim Airey, to whom I took an instant dislike is a bull, a lout who throws his weight around and is dreadful to both his ineffectual wife and his daughter. No love from him for his family.

Edith, the daughter, really only wants to be loved, to be noticed and perhaps someday become famous.

The sniper is well drawn. Patrick Bardwell, an ex-army sniper with vengeance on his mind and somehow he and Edith form a pair, he as the shooter she as his spotter. She is convinced she has found love, at last. They create mayhem and fear as they continue the killings and murder of innocents.

And the minor characters, the young impressionable police constable, Danny Robertson; Nick’s ex-boss Matthew Mercer, now a member of Counter Terrorism Command and a friend of Angela Inglis,; Richard Sibson Grace’s boss. All are well described and thoroughly believable. Ian Hogg is immediately recognisable – a man who was ordained an army chaplain, injured in the Balkans and returned to take over the family farm after the death of his brother. It is on his farm that Bardwell has set up home.

Of course, there is much about the beautiful Lake District setting and we feel drawn to this lovely area. We are reminded of the killings in Dunblane, Hungerford, and Cumbria. Reminders that crime and violence can exist in the most peaceful of settings. The fear of a shooter in their midst is perhaps more paralysing in a peaceful rural area than in a busy metropolitan area/town. But who knows?

The tension mounts as we go through the book. Are the killers caught? Does Edith find real love and fame?  The only way for you to find out how it ends is to read it yourself.

I strongly recommend this book and hope that Zoe will listen to all the pleas for this to be only the first in a new series.

I should also like to thank Zoe Sharp for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy – I loved it.

Zoe Sharp

Thank you also to Ayo Onatade and Zoe Sharp for inviting me to join this blog tour. Twelve other bloggers have or will, review the book. Here are the tour dates. Note – If you are having problems reading the sites, here’s a link to Zoe’s site where the blog tour is listed.

And note, I get to be on the tour twice. How lucky am I!

 

By the way – have you read my interview with Zoe Sharp on my other blog –  I Choose How I Will Spend the Rest of My Life .?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Woman in the Window.

Anna Fox lives alone — a recluse in her New York City home, drinking too much wine, watching old movies and spying on her neighbours. She has agoraphobia and hasn’t left the house for eleven months.

One day a new family moves in and Anna can see right into their home, the living room, kitchen and the son, Ethan’s bedroom. They seem to be the perfect family. But one day Anna sees something she shouldn’t and she finds her world breaking down, crumbling as she tries to convince others that what she saw was real.

She tries to figure out what is real and what imagined. Who is in danger – is she? Read this book to the end and be surprised at the two twists that are eventually laid bare to the reader.

A great read and one I couldn’t put down. A J Finn is an author new to me but this book will not be the last I shall read from her. As Stephen King says about this book “One of those rare books that really is unputdownable.”

 

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The Third Rule

This book was hard to read, not because of the author’s writing, but because it shows how quickly power in the wrong hands, can become so badly used.

In this novel, we are introduced to a Britain, ruled by a government with omnipresent surveillance and a despot with great power in his hands. Who was it that said, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”?

We are introduced to Eddie Collins a CSI, his estranged wife Jilly, his journalist, drinking buddy, Mick Lyndon, Ros Banford a workmate and friend of Eddie, a Secretary of Justice, and his son.

Around this group the author weaves his story.

Eddie and his wife are grieving the loss of their son who is killed by a careless driver and Eddie is sliding rapidly into alcoholism. Mick is helping Eddie along this road.

And at this time, new government policy is introduced – The Third Rule. This sets out clearly that offenders will be given a chance to reform and rehabilitate.  If, after they complete their sentence and are released, they re-offend then they will be given a longer prison sentence, and in the event that they then re-offend, the Third Rule comes into play and they will be put to death. Murderers will be put to death immediately.

When a colleague is shot to death Eddie finds himself the main suspect and is now marked with Rule Three status. We follow Eddie and Mick as they try to unravel the secrets surrounding the deaths, the murders and the machinations of the Secretary of Justice, the man who seemingly holds all the power.

I said it is hard to read, but I recommend this book to all who enjoy a complicated story with an almost hero, and many twists and turns.

I was given an advance copy of the book to read by the author and I choose to make this review and recommendation.