📖 Featured Book of the Month ~ The Woman on the Ledge by Ruth Mancini

 

Century Books UK
4th January 2024

My thanks to the publishers for my review copy of this book 

A woman falls to her death from a London bank’s twenty-fifth-floor roof terrace.

You’re arrested for her murder.

You tell the police that you had only met the victim the previous night at your office party. She was threatening to jump from the roof, but you had talked her down.

You’ve got nothing to do with this tragedy. You’re clearly being framed.

So why do the police keep picking holes in your story? Even your lawyer doesn’t seem to believe you.

It soon becomes obvious that you’re keeping secrets.

But who are you trying to protect? And why?

📖My Review..

There’s always a bit of a lull between Christmas and New Year when it’s the perfect time to sit with a good book and a cup of tea, and there’s no story more perfect for curling up with than this convoluted thriller which hits the ground running when our main protagonist is arrested for the murder of a woman she has only just met. 

With more holes in her story than facts the police and even her solicitor feel that there is more to this story than is at first anticipated. What then follows is a cleverly constructed murder mystery that veers off in so many different directions that you are never quite sure what exactly happened on that fateful night when a woman fell to her death from the twenty-fifth floor of an office block in central London.

There is so much to enjoy in this convoluted thriller that to tell you more would be to spoil it and believe me this is one clever story which you need to absorb with no idea of the direction in which the story is heading. Even when I was fully immersed in the story, which didn’t take long as it really is compelling reading, I couldn’t begin to see how the story would end. With twists and turns aplenty and with clever red herrings which, several times, took me off track, this is such an enjoyable and suspenseful read that I have no hesitation in making The Woman on the Ledge my Featured Book of the Month in January.

*The Woman in the Ledge will be published on the 4th January by Century Books UK

About the Author

Ruth Mancini was born in south-west London and started her career as a marketing executive for a publisher before undertaking a post-graduate diploma in law and retraining as a solicitor. Ruth has spent the past twenty-five years in and out of courts and police stations, representing those accused of crimes. She still practises as a lawyer for a large criminal law firm with offices in London, conducting advocacy in the courts and defending people arrested at the police station. She also reviews trial files across the firm and juggles her legal work with writing crime and psychological fiction. 

Ruth lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and two children.

Twitter/X@RuthMancini1 #TheWomanOnTheLedge

@centurybooksuk

@randomhouseUK

📖 Blog Tour ~ After Dark by Jayne Cowie

 

Century
12 May 2022

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book
and the invitation to be part of the blog tour

WELCOME TO A WORLD WHERE WOMEN HOLD THE POWER.

They dominate workplaces, public spaces and government.

They are no longer afraid to cross a dark car park, catch the last train, or walk home alone.

With the Curfew law in place, all men are electronically tagged and must stay at home after 7pm.

It changed things for the better. Until now.

A woman is murdered late at night and evidence suggests she knew her attacker. It couldn’t have been a man because a Curfew tag is a solid alibi … Isn’t it?

📖 My review... 

For the last sixteen years women have been the dominant force in this dystopian society and with all men electronically tagged and their movements constantly monitored, crime numbers, particularly violent crimes against women, have almost disappeared. So when the body of a young woman is found early one morning in a local park it is assumed that the perpetrator cannot possibly be a man as all males are under a strict curfew between the hours of 7 pm to 7am.

This dystopian future soon becomes eerily realistic as we get the developing story from four different viewpoints. Pamela is a soon to be retired detective who remembers the days pre-curfew when the country was less reliant on technology and more people focused. Sarah is a single mother who works at the tagging centre where men come to have their electronic tags logged and updated. Cass is Sarah's eighteen year-old daughter who has so much angst that she literally bounces off the page and then there is Helen, a dedicated high school teacher, in a difficult personal relationship.

The premise of After Dark is very clever and the author makes this futuristic story feel very believable. The characters, whilst not always likeable, are each compelling in their own way, and as the tension mounts so does the connection between these very different women. The story flows well and moves along at a cracking pace, the narration is good and whilst each character brings something different there is a distinct cohesion between them which makes for fascinating reading. 

After Dark brings this rather sinister dystopian society to life in a clever and intelligent way. Totally believable from start to finish, I loved it.

📖 Best read with ... Caramel Mocha, extra shot

About the Author

An avid reader and life-long writer, Jayne Cowie also enjoys digging in her garden and makes an excellent devil’s food cake. She lives near London with her family.

Instagram @CowieJayne

@centurybooksuk

📖 Blog Tour ~ The Shadow Child by Rachel Hancox

Century
14 April 2022

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book
and to Random Things Tours for the invitation to the tour

Eighteen-year-old Emma has loving parents and a promising future ahead of her. So why, one morning, does she leave home without a trace? Her parents, Cath and Jim, are devastated. They have no idea why Emma left, where she is - or even whether she is still alive. A year later, Cath and Jim are still tormented by the unanswered questions Emma left behind and clinging desperately to the hope of finding her. 

Meanwhile, tantalisingly close to home, Emma is also struggling with her new existence - and with the trauma that shattered her life. 

For all of them, reconciliation seems an impossible dream. Does the way forward lie in facing up to the secrets of the past - secrets that have been hidden for years? Secrets that have the power to heal them, or to destroy their family forever ... 

The Shadow Child is a book of hope and reconciliation, of coming to terms with trauma and learning to love again. Most of all, it’s about how you can never quite escape from the shadows of your past - especially when one of those shadows is a child.

📖 My Review ...

When eighteen year old Emma leaves her comfortable home, her parents, Cath and Jim, struggle to come to terms with her disappearance. A year on after her disappearance and with no clue as to whether Emma is still alive, both Cath and Jim are struggling to cope, retreating into themselves where the hurt lingers and festers in the shadows. When Nick and Lara take over as tenants of their rented property Cath is inexorably drawn toward Lara and starts to become her confidante much to the detriment of Lara's relationship with Nick.

This is an interesting look at the effects of devastating loss and the associated trauma of guilt issues which have been unresolved for far too long. We start to see cracks appearing in both these marriages but none more poignant than that between Cath and Jim who have had more than their fair share of anguish over the years. The story moves slowly, which I think is quite deliberate, as it allows the setting of the story to appear quite intimate and gives an insight into the minutiae of life with both couples. The added mystery of what has happened to Emma runs like a thread throughout the novel and I enjoyed wondering how all this would eventually play out.

The Shadow Child is a sensitive portray of love, loss and those sad secrets which have been hidden away in the shadows for far to long.

📖 Best read with ...a comforting cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit

About the Author

RACHEL HANCOX read Medicine and Social and Political Science at Cambridge, qualified as a doctor three months after getting married, and has juggled her family, her career and a passion for writing ever since. She worked in Paediatrics and Public Health for twenty years, writing short stories alongside NHS policy reports, and drafting novels during successive bouts of maternity leave. Rachel has five children, three dogs and a cat. She lives in Oxford with her husband and youngest children.

Twitter #RachelHancox #The ShadowChild

@centurybooksuk

@PenguinUKBooks

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