Monday 12 June 2017

The Mayfly - James Hazel


It's happening again.

A mutilated body discovered in the woods.
A murderous plan conceived in the past.
A reckoning seventy years in the making . . .


Charlie Priest, ex-detective inspector turned London lawyer, is hired by influential entrepreneur Kenneth Ellinder to investigate the murder of his son. But Priest is no ordinary lawyer. Brilliant, yet flawed, this case will push him, and those closest to him, to the edge.

Priest traces the evidence back to the desperate last days of the Second World War. Buried in the ashes of the Holocaust is a secret so deadly its poison threatens to destroy the very heart of the establishment. 


With more victims going missing, Priest realises that not everyone should be trusted.
As he races to uncover the truth, can he prevent history from repeating itself?


Meet Charlie Priest, the new kid on the block. Formerly in the police force and now head of a successful solicitor's practise Charlie is dropped in at the deep end in a mystery that means absolutely nothing to him. Priest isn't your usual solicitor either, having a family background that's unorthodox, to say the least.

Surrounded by the best people he can employ, Georgie Someday, Vincent Okoro and a whizzkid accountant called Solly, Priest is going to need all the help he can get to make it out alive at the end. A man who viciously attacks him in his own apartment is later found brutally murdered, with Priest's business card in his pocket, and a former police colleague of Priest's wastes no time in accusing him of being involved. When the murdered man's family arrive and beg Priest to find out what happened to the man there's no escaping his involvement.

Shifting back and forth between the present and just after WWII has finished it becomes apparent that whatever is going on has far-reaching consequences and involves some pretty nasty ideas that you'd think by today would have lost their appeal.

The Mayfly rockets along at a cracking pace, from the first page to the last it's impossible to put it down and the fact that you become so involved with all the characters draws you in even further. For a debut novel, James Hazel has produced something pretty spectacular and one that will stay with me for some time. The author doesn't hold back and there are some vivid and gory details involved but the mystery at the heart of the book will keep you turning the pages because you will, quite simply, need to know the significance of The Mayfly.

A tip if you want to get a good night's sleep? I highly recommend you don't pick up The Mayfly to read in bed... I ended up having to put the book down on page 373 as I could not stay awake any longer even though I was sure there was something big coming! Priest and his cohorts kept my attention and I can't wait to get my hands on the next Charlie Priest adventure. I only hope that the interlude between The Mayfly and book two isn't too long.


The Mayfly - James Hazel
ISBN - 9781785762970
Publisher - Bonnier Zaffre
Release date - June 15th, 2017

Many thanks to Bonnier Zaffre for a review copy in exchange for an honest review! 

The Soundtrack To The Mayfly - James Hazel


Welcome to my stop on The Mayfly tour! Written by James Hazel, The Mayfly is a page-turning, attention-grabbing thriller which will keep you up until it's finished. Unless you have work the next day and need to be up in approximately 1.3 hours... Anyway, here is James to talk about the music that became the playlist for The Mayfly.

The Soundtrack to The Mayfly


Music is very important to me and my taste is varied, from the indie sounds of James Bay and James Morrison to American rock bands Counting Crows and Matchbox Twenty, to electro-rock eighties hits.
Consequentially, it wasn’t an easy task coming up with a playlist to accompany The Mayfly.
What I have done is tried to pick ten songs (the original list was much longer – I’ve spent a long time pruning it) that reflect the flavour of The Mayfly. Some are relevant musically, some have been chosen primarily for their lyrics, but they all mean something.
So here it is…

Scars – Jack Savoretti
Colorblind – Counting Crows
Collide – James Bay
Hallelujah – Jeff Buckley
Black and Blue - Paloma Faith
Castle on the Hill – Ed Sheeran
All We Do – Oh Wonder
Bloodline – The Slow Show
English Town – Matchbox Twenty
Don’t Just Stand There - Olli Ingall


About The Author

Before turning his hand to writing, James Hazel was a lawyer in private practice specialising in corporate and commercial litigation and employment law. He was an equity partner in a regional law firm and held a number of different department headships until he quit legal practice to pursue his dream of becoming an author.

He has a keen interest in criminology and a passion for crime thrillers, indie music and all things retro. James lives on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds with his wife and three children.


Twitter

Monday 5 June 2017

#ShelfLove 2017 - June Check-In


Welcome to June! Even though I'm actually writing this in July... I'm so far behind with everything that I'm just frantically trying to catch up in one way or another.

My #ShelfLove total has increased by 15 in May, taking me up to 66 books from the TBR pile so far this year. Not bad but not great either, I'm definitely going to struggle to reach my target of 180 by the end of the year. I expect June will be library/Kindle books as I'm away for most of the month and July will be a bit of a TBR reading black hole as I'll be reading my way through my YALC list before ComicCon at the end of the month.

Aims
  • Read at least 15 of my own books a month - they have to have been on my shelves up to and including December 2016
  • For every 15 books read I'm allowed to buy 3 brand new books
  • For every 20 books donated to either charity or the library, I can buy 2 new books
 Progress

Divine By Mistake - P. C. Cast
Divine By Choice - P. C. Cast
Reasons She Goes To The Woods - Deborah Kay Davies
The Red House - Emily Winslow
The Versions Of Us - Laura Barnett
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
(reread)
The Book of You - Claire Kendall
The Lascar's Dagger - Glenda Larke
On The Edge - Ilona Andrews
Defiance - C. J. Redwine
Poison Heart - S. B. Hayes
Shadow And Bone - Leigh Bardugo
(reread)
The Last Girl - Jane Casey
Utterly Charming - Kristine Grayson
Silent In The Grave - Deanna Raybourn

TBR May Highlight

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18684702-reasons-she-goes-to-the-woods

May
 
Read - 24

Own - 19
Kindle - 2
Library - 3
 
TBR Challenge - 15
Review  - 1
 
 #ShelfLove Target - 66/180

Wishlist - 2682
TBR (Still not accurate) - 1531 (No change...)

Goodreads Challenge Update







Thursday 1 June 2017

June New Release Giveaway!

Welcome to the June 2017 New Release Giveaway Hop, hosted by It Starts At Midnight! The hop now runs all month long so you can enter from now until midnight on June 30th. Up for grabs is any new release this month up to the value of $22 from the Book Depository as long as they deliver to your country - find the list of countries here

All you have to do is choose any new release published in June and fill out the rafflecopter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out the linky for lots of other chances to win, thanks for entering and good luck!

 
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