Review: WHISTLE, Linwood Barclay

• 
  This edition read as an e-book through my local library on BorrowBox
  
• eBook, Imprint: HQ
• ISBN: 9780008735005
• Pages: 432
• Publication Date: 5th June 2025 

Synopsis (author) 

Linwood Barclay enters new territory with a supernatural chiller in which a woman and her young son move to a small town looking for a fresh start, only to be haunted by disturbing events and strange visions when they find a mysterious train set in a storage shed.

Annie Blunt has had an unimaginably terrible year. First, her husband was killed in a tragic hit-and-run accident, then one of the children’s books she’s built her writing and illustrating career on ignited a major scandal. Desperate for a fresh start, she moves with her son Charlie to a charming small town in upstate New York where they can begin to heal.

But Annie’s year is about to get worse.

Bored and lonely in their isolated new surroundings, Charlie is thrilled when he finds a forgotten train set in a locked shed on their property. Annie is glad to see Charlie happy, but there’s something unsettling about his new toy. Strange sounds wake Annie in the night—she could swear she hears a train, but there isn’t an active track for miles—and bizarre things begin happening in the neighborhood. Worse, Annie can’t seem to stop drawing a disturbing new character that has no place in a children’s book.

Grief can do strange things to the mind, but Annie is beginning to think she’s walked out of one nightmare straight into another, only this one is far more terrifying…

My Take

A thoroughly creepy read which I wasn't expecting (I didn't read the blurb before picking it up.) Don't let my description put you off - the story is well crafted and gets you thinking, plenty of little mysteries to solve.  I hope the blurb doesn't reveal too much - blame the author - it is from his site. He calls it a "chiller".

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

NO TIME FOR GOODBYE

TOO CLOSE TO HOME

4.5, FEAR THE WORST

4.6, NEVER LOOK AWAY

5.0, TRUST YOUR EYES

4.7, NEVER SAW IT COMING

4.4, BROKEN PROMISE

4.4, A NOISE DOWNSTAIRS

4.7. LOOK BOTH WAYS

Review: LOOK BOTH WAYS, Linwood Barclay

• 
  This edition an e-book on Kindle from Amazon
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09Y1MD35K
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HQ (August 3, 2022)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 420 pages

Synopsis (Amazon) 

Inspired by his decades-long love of cars, internationally bestselling author Linwood Barclay envisions a world in which automotive technology outpaces our wildest dreams—and our darkest nightmares—in a gripping new novel of action and suspense

These headlights are watching you…

The media have descended on Garrett Island, a small, isolated community that is the setting of a visionary experiment. All the residents’ cars were sent to the mainland and for the past month the islanders have been “driving” the Arrival, a revolutionary autonomous vehicle. With a simple voice command, an Arrival will take you wherever you want to go and, because the fleet is networked and aware of one another, car travel is now 100% safe. The future, it seems, has arrived.

As the excitement reaches a fever pitch, Sandra Montrose—islander, single mom, and public relations executive—prepares for Arrival Inc.’s flashy press event. Sandra is more than ready for this new world. Her husband died after falling asleep at the wheel and she’s relieved that her two teens, Archie and Katie, will never need driver’s licenses.

But as the celebratory day gets underway, disaster strikes. A visiting journalist has vanished, possibly murdered. Before long, the Arrivals run amok, no longer taking orders from their passengers. They’re starting to organize. They’re beginning to hunt. And they seem hell-bent on killing any human they encounter.

Is this all just a tragic accident, a technological malfunction with deadly consequences? Or were the vehicles programmed to act this way in a cruel act of corporate sabotage? Or could it be that the Arrivals have a mind of their own?

Fasten your seatbelts—it’s going to be a bumpy ride

My Take

Very topical. Experiments with driverless vehicles are worldwide. I have been in one in Abu Dhabi many years ago but they ran on a track, so things have changed a lot since then.

The residents in Garrett Island in Massachusetts have agreed to take part in a trial where the only cars on the island will driverless cars called Arrivals. Their own cars have been taken to the ferry car park on the mainland. Sandra Montrose is coordinating a media event promoting what has been happening on the island for the last month as the residents' only transport are the Arrivals.

But then, at the media event, things begin to go wrong.

A fascinating tale, well worth the read. Linwood Barclay is an author to follow.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read

NO TIME FOR GOODBYE
TOO CLOSE TO HOME
4.5, FEAR THE WORST
4.6, NEVER LOOK AWAY
5.0, TRUST YOUR EYES
4.7, NEVER SAW IT COMING
4.4, BROKEN PROMISE
4.4, A NOISE DOWNSTAIRS

Review: ASSASSIN EIGHTEEEN, John Brownlow

• 
  This edition an e-book read on my Kindle from Amazon
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C1SYK85Q
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hanover Square Press (April 23, 2024)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 468 pages
• #2 in the series 

Synopsis ( Amazon)

I am waiting for someone to kill me. Tonight would be a good night for it.

Agent Seventeen, the most infamous hit man in the world, has quit. But whoever wants to become Assassin Eighteen must track him down and kill him first. So when a bullet hits the glass inches from his face, he knows who fired it—doesn't he?

It turns out that the sniper isn't the hardened killer he was expecting. It's Mireille—a mysterious silent child abandoned in the woods with instructions to pull the trigger. Reuniting with his spiky lover, Kat, Seventeen has to protect Mireille and discover who sent her to kill him and why. But the road he must travel is littered with bodies. And the answer, when it comes, will blow apart everything Seventeen thought he knew.

My Take

Seventeen is now living in Sixteen's house and has decided to retire. His handler thinks he has lost what it takes to be an assassin. Every night he shows himself to the world, inviting them to take him out. And then one night someone tries. 

But that is when Seventeen discovers he has a daughter who has been set up to shoot him. And he discovers he is maybe human after all. Not as tough as he thought he was.

In answer to your question: this is the sequel to SEVENTEEN and, yes, you should read them in order.   

A spy thriller, rather than a mystery,

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

4.5, SEVENTEEN: Last Man Standing - #1

Review: SEVENTEEN: Last Man Standing, John Brownlow

• 
  This edition an e-book read on my Kindle from Amazon
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09FZJ4B1X
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hanover Square Press (November 1, 2022)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 425 pages
• *Winner of the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for Best Thriller*
• *A Financial Times Best Thriller Book of 2022*

Synopsis (Amazon) 

You'll never know my name.

But you won't forget my number.

Behind the events you know are the killers you don’t. When diplomacy fails, we're the ones who gear up. Officially we don’t exist, but every government in the world uses our services. We’ve been saving the world, and your ass, for one hundred years.

 Sixteen people have done this job before me. I am Seventeen. The most feared assassin in the world. But to be the best, you must beat the best. My next target is Sixteen, just as one day Eighteen will hunt me down. It’s a dog-eat-dog world and it gets lonely at the top. Nobody gets to stay for long. But while we're here, all that matters is that we win.

Visceral, cinematic and wildly addictive, Seventeen will keep you on the edge of your seat and live long in the memory. Until Eighteen comes along…

My Take

Seventeen is part of a line of assassins, which began with Reilly, the Ace of Spies, and included 007 and others. They seem to be mostly, but not all, British. They simplify government, performing the dirtiest of tasks, quietly and efficiently. The resolution of major events in recent world history can be traced back to them.  Most recently there was Sixteen, but he is still to be properly eliminated by his successor. And that is Seventeen's task - locate and remove Sixteen.  

Mr Jones, as Seventeen is generally known, has located Sixteen but is having trouble eliminating him. He seems to those watching out for him, and, in retirement, is leading a rather odd life, almost offering himself up to his successor.

A spy thriller rather than a mystery

My rating: 4.5

About the author

John Brownlow is a filmmaker, screenwriter and novelist. Born in Lincoln, UK, after studying maths and English at Oxford he produced and directed more than a dozen documentaries for British TV. In the early 2000s he turned to screenwriting, and wrote the film SYLVIA about Sylvia Plath, starring Gwynneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig. He also wrote the TV series FLEMING, about Ian Fleming's work in wartime intelligence, and the TV adaptation of Jessie Burton's best-selling novel THE MINIATURIST. His debut novel, SEVENTEEN, was published in 2022, and the sequel is due to be published in 2023.

John holds British and Canadian citizenship and lives in Ontario, Canada.

Review: THE MADNESS OF CROWDS, Louise Penny

• 
  this book made available by my local library
  
• this edition published 2021 by Hodder Stoughton
• ISBN 978-1-529-37939-6
• 436 pages
• #17 book in Gamache series
• author website  
  

Synopsis (author)

You’re a coward.

Time and again, as the New Year approaches, that charge is leveled against Armand Gamache.

It starts innocently enough.

While the residents of the Québec village of Three Pines take advantage of the deep snow to ski and toboggan, to drink hot chocolate in the bistro and share meals together, the Chief Inspector finds his holiday with his family interrupted by a simple request.

He’s asked to provide security for what promises to be a non-event. A visiting Professor of Statistics will be giving a lecture at the nearby university.

While he is perplexed as to why the head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec would be assigned this task, it sounds easy enough. That is until Gamache starts looking into Professor Abigail Robinson and discovers an agenda so repulsive he begs the university to cancel the lecture.

They refuse, citing academic freedom, and accuse Gamache of censorship and intellectual cowardice. Before long, Professor Robinson’s views start seeping into conversations. Spreading and infecting. So that truth and fact, reality and delusion are so confused it’s near impossible to tell them apart.

Discussions become debates, debates become arguments, which turn into fights. As sides are declared, a madness takes hold.

Abigail Robinson promises that, if they follow her, ça va bien aller. All will be well. But not, Gamache and his team know, for everyone.

When a murder is committed it falls to Armand Gamache, his second-in-command Jean-Guy Beauvoir, and their team to investigate the crime as well as this extraordinary popular delusion.

My Take

Louise Penny began  writing this book at the end of March 2020 as she sat at home in quarantine. I remember that time as we too just made it home (to Australia) before our airports shut their doors. Was it only just over 4 years ago?

Penny decided to make the book post-pandemic, as the world returned to "normal". In the long run it was published well before the pandemic was over.

Gamache is asked to provide security for what he expects to be a poorly attended event, that is, until he works out what Abigail Robinson has on her agenda.

And then that agenda becomes personal for Gamache as it has implications for his newly born grand-daughter. 

A murder occurs on New Year's Eve in Three Pines, and then the possibility of a much older murder rears its head.

Another fascinating plot with issues relevant for all of us.

My rating: 5.0

I've also read

• 4.8, THE CRUELLEST MONTH
• 4.9, A RULE AGAINST MURDER
• 4.9, THE BRUTAL TELLING
• 5.0, BURY YOUR DEAD
• 5.0,  A TRICK OF THE LIGHT
• 4.5, THE HANGMAN - a novella
• 4.9, THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY
• 5.0, HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN
• 4.9, THE LONG WAY HOME
• 4.9, THE NATURE OF THE BEAST
• 5.0, A GREAT RECKONING
• 4.9, GLASS HOUSES
• 5.0, KINGDOM OF THE BLIND  - #14
• 4.9, A BETTER MAN - #15
• 5.0, ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE - #16

Review: ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE, Louise Penny

• 
  this edition made available by my local library
  
• large print edition from Thorndike Press, published 2020
• ISBN- 13: 978-1-4328-8115-3
• 665 pages
• 16th novel in the Gamache series
• author website  
  

Synopsis (publisher)

On their first night in Paris, the Gamaches gather as a family for a bistro dinner with Armand's godfather, the billionaire Stephen Horowitz. Walking home together after the meal, they watch in horror as Stephen is knocked down and critically injured in what Gamache knows is no accident, but a deliberate attempt on the elderly man's life.

When a strange key is found in Stephen's possession it sends Armand, his wife Reine-Marie, and his former second-in-command at the Sûreté, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, from the top of the Tour Eiffel, to the bowels of the Paris Archives, from luxury hotels to odd, coded, works of art.

It sends them deep into the secrets Armand's godfather has kept for decades.

A gruesome discovery in Stephen's Paris apartment makes it clear the secrets are more rancid, the danger far greater and more imminent, than they realized.

Soon the whole family is caught up in a web of lies and deceit. In order to find the truth, Gamache will have to decide whether he can trust his friends, his colleagues, his instincts, his own past. His own family.

For even the City of Light casts long shadows. And in that darkness devils hide.

My Take

It is four years since I've caught up with reading Louise Penny and I'm chiding myself with being so tardy. You know how good it is to catch up with old friends, and I feel like that about the Gamache novels. Louise Penny's writing slips down like silk. 

There is a lot going on in this novel. Armande's daughter Annie is about to have a baby, and we also catch up with his son Daniel.

The central plot point is the hit and run incident when Armande's godfather Stephen is run down by a passing van as they are crossing the road after a night out. This sparks an investigation into Stephen's life, looking for what someone may have against him.

The story just flows. There are challenges to the idea that Stephen is an honourable man, about how Armande's son in law Jean_Guy, Annie's husband, actually got his job, and why Daniel is so hostile to his father. Once the story gets you hooked you read as quickly as you can to solve the mysteries you are being set.

Delicious!

My rating: 5.0

I've also read

4.8, THE CRUELLEST MONTH
4.9, A RULE AGAINST MURDER
4.9, THE BRUTAL TELLING
5.0, BURY YOUR DEAD
5.0,  A TRICK OF THE LIGHT
4.5, THE HANGMAN - a novella
4.9, THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY
5.0, HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN
4.9, THE LONG WAY HOME
4.9, THE NATURE OF THE BEAST
5.0, A GREAT RECKONING
4.9, GLASS HOUSES
5.0, KINGDOM OF THE BLIND  - #14
4.9, A BETTER MAN - #15