Tuesday 29 May 2018

Extract: Little Bones - Sam Blake


To celebrate the publication of the third book in Sam Blake's Cat Connolly series, No Turning Back, I'm thrilled to share an extract from the first book, Little Bones.



Cathy’s mind whirred. The women who had vanished in Wicklow and Kildare had haunted her as she’d recovered from her injuries after the bomb. Unable to get back to boxing straight away, she’d needed to get her fitness back, as well as find space in her head to deal with it all, so she had started running. Perhaps she’d been running away from everything that had happened, she wasn’t sure, but the mountains had been the perfect place. Empty and silent, with only sheep for company, long tracks criss-crossed the hills, took her around the edges of silent lakes, and as she’d pounded the peaty ground she’d half expected to stumble over a body, to see the white of bone shining against the heather.
‘All the women who have disappeared seemed to be fairly confident, easy to talk to. Maybe the same happened with Sarah Jane.’ Cathy paused, her face creased in a frown. It didn’t feel right, but they had to explore every single option. ‘We really need to know who Sarah Jane has come into contact within the last few weeks.’
‘Thirsty’s got her phone log now, so we can go through it.’ Cathy couldn’t read O’Rourke’s expression as he spoke – he was keeping his face deliberately blank.
Jesus, what had happened to her? She could be lying half dead somewhere in a bog up in the mountains right now . . .
Cathy took a slow breath, trying to still her heart. Sarah Jane needed them to be methodical now, to be professional. She needed them to find the strands, the threads that would lead back to her. Panicking wouldn’t help anyone.
‘This isn’t a random thing, though – someone went to the trouble of taking her computer. They had her address.’ Cathy could hear the certainty in her voice. It was the one thing they were absolutely sure of, and in her gut she was certain they needed to work from there outwards.
Cathy’s mum leaned forward to check the milk jug, ‘Perhaps it was someone she met online, on one of those dating sites, someone who was worried the computer would link him to her?’
Cathy sighed, thinking back to her last college essay. ‘Maybe. Maybe someone was stalking her online, had befriended her.’ She paused. It was a real possibility. ‘The type of offender who does that is going to be very careful, a planner. And that type of person is not necessarily going to be acting out of character immediately after the event, or beforehand for that matter. They will be a habitual liar, could easily be a psychopath who finds it easy to kill.’ Cathy stopped abruptly as she realised what she’d said.
Theresa Connolly reached across the table for Cathy’s arm, squeezing it hard. Cathy’s blurry eyes fixed on her mother’s engagement ring, a cabochon ruby set in a nest of diamonds. Her dad had sold his first car to buy it. ‘It could be nothing like that. You know what Sarah Jane’s like. She’s very highly strung, and she’s always getting lost. Maybe she just needed some time out.’
Cathy threw her mum a glance. Really?
‘Is there anyone you can think of that Sarah Jane’s mentioned recently? Someone new on her radar? A JDLR, someone who gave her the creeps?’ O’Rourke had asked her the same question at least a hundred times over the previous days. Cathy shook her head, running her hand across her eyes.
Cathy’s mum cut in, ‘JDLR?’
O’Rourke clarified, ‘Just doesn’t look right. Copper’s rule of thumb.’




Thursday 3 May 2018

The Wrong Man - Kate White


A moment of pleasure leads to a deadly game of cat and mouse in this slick and suspenseful thriller.
Kit Finn meets handsome sculptor Matt Healy on a business trip and the two share a night of passion. They arrange a second date, but when Kit arrives at Matt’s apartment she is greeted by a stranger claiming he is the real Matt and that his identity was stolen.
Realising she has been duped Kit decides to put the encounter behind her. Shortly after, the police ask her to identify a man killed in a hit and run, carrying only her business card, and she is shocked to find the dead man is the person she knows as the genuine Matt Healy.
Kit fears she has become unintentionally embroiled in a sinister web of deceit. With no real evidence to take to police, Kit resolves to unravel the mystery herself. But can she do so before more lives, including her own, are put in danger?
Having enjoyed the other books I've read by Kate White I was looking forward to reading The Wrong Man. The story of Kit Finn, an interior designer on a working break in Florida, who decides that it's about time she was more forward and has an exhilarating one night stand with a stranger. Thinking she'll never see the man again even though they both live in New York she is surprised to receive an invitation to dinner at his apartment. On arriving there Kit is greeted by a stranger who claims to have no knowledge of the man she knows as Matt Healy, but who is definitely not the Matt Healy standing in front of her.

Kit is launched into an adventure that she did not want or expect and is soon regretting her decision in Florida. Wanting nothing more than to have a normal life again, Kit is reduced to hiding out in the shadows, avoiding men who may or may not want to kill her and perplexed as to why she has become caught up in a game of cat and mouse. It soon transpired that the man she met is involved in something desperate stemming from a simple accident in not-Matt Healy's hotel room.

The Wrong Man is a story of identity swapping, big deals gone bad, and, at the end of the day, pure and simple greed. Kit gets herself involved in something because of deciding to live free for one night and soon tumbles down into both her personal and professional lives. Kate White has once again created a story full of twists and turns where you're never quite sure if the so-called good guy is really the villain of the piece or whether somebody that comes across as a very real threat to her life may actually be the one to save her life. Not knowing who to trust in this case leads to Kit making some very unwise decisions.

The Wrong Man is fast-paced and extremely readable with some great characters who aren't perfect, who make reckless choices that often put other people in danger with dangerous consequences, and is perfect for those who like their thriller/mystery novels with a dash of romance. I'm very much looking forward to Ms. White's next book as she is an author who can both entertain and keep you on the edge of your seat at the same time.

 
The Wrong Man - Kate White | Publisher - Canelo | Release date - October 9th, 2017
 

 


 
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