Sunderworld’s Spotlight

When Blue from Kaleidoscopic emailed about the upcoming new Ransom Riggs, I was intrigued as it wasn’t linked to Miss Peregrine in any way but has a very 90s/Stranger Things, maybe even have a touch of Gravity Falls to it. Yes, I am going geeky/pop culture here as it has that 90-ness vibe to it, and as someone who grew up in the 90s, I am all on board with that. 

For those of you who didn’t grow up in the 90s (while I am out of my zimmer frame as, yes, I am that old), the 90s had the epic battle of Oasis vs Blur, women wanting The Rachel haircut, trying to figure out if you were a Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte or Samantha, GIRL POWER, the wave of New Labour and the Y2K panic, Harry Potter mania… I could go on and on about the 1990s here in the UK. 

For me, this is going to be a weird 90s vibe book (and I sense that I am going to be very wrong about that going into this, but it’s going to be a weird/fun ride!). 

But I am quite excited to find time to read this soon. Hopefully, I can intrigued you guys too and I will leave the book’s blurb below!

eProof Review - Rough Justice

The last few months of reading for me has been all over the place. I know I have blogged my reading earlier this month of Evil Under The Sun and Bedknobs and Broomsticks earlier this month, then me DNFing The Glutton by A.K. Blakemore & The Doctor’s Mistress by Daniel Hurst and then reading the platter-cleanse reading Tristan and Lancelot: A Tale of Two Knights by James Persichetti & L.S. Biehler. Maybe I am being more brutal with reading things that make me happy and if it’s not, bye bye or maybe I’m struggling and I need a better balance (maybe I need to do a book cult). 

That’s tomorrow’s challenge, me thinks. After Apple Fitness+ yoga… 

But let’s change the subject. Completely. With something a little different. 

Title and Author: Rough Justice by Her Honour Wendy Joseph KC

Publisher: Transworld

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted by UK publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction

Buy From (affiliate): https://uk.bookshop.org/

Old Bailey judge Her Honour Wendy Joseph KC talks the reader through four very different cases, each looking at the women in the dock and wonders how easy it is for any one of us to be in a court, whether that be a member of the jury, a witness or the person on trial. And, as she looks into these four cases, she discovers horrifying similarities between now and possible miscarriages of justice from years ago and wonders if the law has changed and how the law affects the marginalised and the easily exploited?

Book Review - The Fury

Like I said in my previous post this week (The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen), I bought this after a job interview as a treat to self. I thought I did really well in the interview (I get really nervous in interviews) and went into Foyles and got a signed copy. Now, I wouldn’t have picked this up if it wasn’t for an interview did on a podcast I listen to call All About Agatha, and I was so intrigued by one or two of the details, I knew I would have to buy it. 

I, sadly, didn’t the job, in case you were wondering. 

Title and Author: The Fury by Alex Michaelides

Publisher: Michael Joseph

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought

Buy From (Affiliate): uk.bookshop.org

Seven guests go to a private Greek island. One of them being the former movie star, Lana Ferrar. Here, she hopes that she and her guests can unwind and enjoy themselves. 

But when the island gets suddenly cut off by violent winds, something awful happens. One of them is murdered and one of them is the killer… 

Audiobook Review - The Spy Coast

Normally, I usually like a post up on here once a week. Otherwise, the blogger anxiety kicks in and I feel like I have failed as a book blogger (even though, compared to other cooler blogosphere [on booksagram, booktube or booktok and other places], my little corner of the Internet is tiny!) and I know I shouldn’t worry so much, but I do. I should practice what I preach over doing this your way and no one else. 

Anyway, no blog posts last week and two this week. One audiobook that I preordered and one physical that I treated self to after I did a job interview that I thought I did really well (I didn’t get the job so can’t of gone that well). Now, getting sidetracked so let me get the details of this preordered audiobook up and then we can have a chat. 

Title and Author: The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen

Publisher: Penguin

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought

Buy From (Affiliate): uk.bookshop.org

The first in the Martini Club series, The Spy Coast follows Maggie Bird in Purity, Maine. She’s a nice neighbour, loves her chickens and is a good shot with a gun. She, also, doesn’t talk about her past. 

So, when an unidentified body is dumped on her drive while she was at “book club”, Maggie realises that the past is coming for her. 

She and her fellow book club members (former spies for US government) must find out what is going on and why quickly is Maggie wants to keep her new, peaceful life. But the past is a tricky thing and Maggie’s past might get her killed…

Blog Tour Review - If Tomorrow Doesn't Come

I have a blog tour review for you! Brace yourselves, as I don't normally write reviews for blog tours if I can help it. Mainly because I'm always worry about what would happen if I said yes, then I read the book and go "Oh no, I don't like this. Now what?"

But with this, I knew I had to make an exception as when the Write Reads emailed and I read the synopsis for this, I got very excited. A book that tackles queerness, mental health and it's going to be beautiful and yet, utterly heartbreaking. SIGN ME UP!

Title and Author: If Tomorrow Doesn't Come by Jen St. Jude

Publisher: Penguin Random House Children

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted by UK publisher and PR Blog Tour Company, The Write Reads, in exchange for an honest review/reaction for blog tour. 

Buy From (Affiliate): Bookshop.org

On the morning that Avery Byrne plans to kill herself, the world discovers that an asteroid is heading to Earth and there is only nine days left to live. 

With time running out, Avery rushes to get home to be with her family and the girl she's been in love with her whole life. But can Avery try and save her family, the girl she loves and, maybe, even herself...

Audiobook Review - Unlawful Killings

I am not much of a true crime fan. Funny that I'm writing that as I do listen to true crime podcasts (not many and I am very fussy over what episodes/crimes I listen to), but when I first discovered this book on an episode of a crime fiction podcast, Shedunnit, I was instantly fascinated about it. An Old Bailey's judge talking about her time being a High Court judge and talking about the law, the role of a judge and several of her cases. Took me a while to get my hands on a copy (I wanted physical or ebook, but went for audiobook in the end). 

Title and Author: Unlawful Killings by Her Honour Wendy Joseph KQ

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought

Her Honour Wendy Joseph KC (This has been changed from QC to KC due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II's death) has been a judge at the Old Bailey for over ten years. She's one of a handful of judges at the Old Bailey licensed to try murder cases at the Old Bailey and, in this, she tries to talk about the role of law, how the court works and talks about six murder and manslaughter cases, each with compassionate, humour and tries to show that, while the law is flawed and society is becoming more and more fractured, how each of us should have a cashed interest in what happens in the court room, especially when it comes to the death of a fellow human being.

Blog Tour Review - With Fire In Their Blood

I think am out of my reading slump! Good grief, I hope so! And with a book to read for a blog tour that I dived into because I loved the cover! It looks weird and gothic and with that title, how could I not say yes to being involved in this blog tour when I was asked by the lovely folks at Write Reads on behalf of Penguin (thank you Write Reads for allowing me to be involved in this tour)!

The hidden, crumbling Italian city of Castello was at war with itself. Two families were involved ed in a brutal clan war, spanning generations, till a mysterious leader survived a church fire, killing all but him, determined unity against a common, hidden enemy. 

When Lilly moves to town from the US due to her father's new job, she finds herself drawn to the rebellious Liza, the brooding Nico and sensitive Christian. But with her emotions pulling her in different directions with this strange love square, she finds that Castello is a city that will lead everyone to ruin because no one can be trusted. Not even herself. 

Because sins of the past are close to destroying and consuming the present and future. Because Lilly, unknowingly, has broken Castello's most sacred rule: when your blood is tested, you better be damn sure you not anything more than human...

Audiobook Review - The Maid

This is one of THOSE books. You know the one. The one with all the hype and buzz for months before it’s publication. I remember the news breaking that this book had its movie rights snapped up (Universal) and Florence Pugh has announced that she would star and produce the movie.

So, like most book that has this level of buzz, you can either be very excited for it or very wary. I think we’ve all been stung by the hype train once or twice the past few months. I know I have (I mean, have you not seen my DNFs or my 1 or 2 stars reviews of late?). But there was something about The Maid that made me very intrigued about it. 

So yes, I managed to get my hands on an eProof (via NetGalley. Thank you UK publisher), but I was so intrigued, I actually bought the audiobook as well. It’s very rare I do this, FYI. So, let me get the details and a brief synopsis up and we can talk. 

Title and Author: The Maid by Nina Prose
Publisher: HarperCollins
Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: eProof gifted by UK publisher via NetGalley in exchange for honest review, and bought audiobook. 

Molly is a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel In New York. She’s invisible to the world. I mean, who pays attention to a maid? 

But when Molly finds the body of Mr Black, an infamous guest at the hotel, very dead in his bed, Molly finds her quiet life thrown under a spotlight and she sees that life isn’t as easy mess to clean as she begins to look for the truth. Who would look twice at a maid, after all?

Shocktember - The Man Who Died Twice

Ok, this was meant to be my last Shocktember audiobook. This was meant to be last month so you can't have a go at me for this being late! I finished this on the 1st October! I was ONE DAY OUT! But, oh, I had fun with this. 

Ok, getting away with self. Before I go any further, just want to quickly say that I think I said multiply times in my write-up of The Thursday Murder Club, this isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea as this series is very much a cosy crime/murder mystery, and I know many of you like your crime with a bit of darker edge. And yet, here we are. The second Thursday Murder Club book and yes, I preordered this!

Title And Author: The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman

Publisher: Penguin

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: eProof gifted by UK publisher in exchange for honest review/reaction while Audiobook’s bought via Audible. 

Days after the events of the first book, Elizabeth receives a letter. A letter from a man she knows is officially dead. But when she meets the man, she is surprised to see it's not the dead man, but someone from her past. A man she wants no involvement in, but finds herself helping out after he tells her his story. A story containing stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, his life in real danger and MI5.

Of course, this is a case for the Thursday Murder Club - aka four seventy year olds known as herself, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim - and friends of the club (Bogdan, Donna and Chris). But when one of their members is violently assaulted and the attacker looks like they're going to get away with it, the club go to lengths to make sure that doesn't happen...

Mini-NetGalley Reviews - May 2021 Part Two

I should be writing my proper full blog post reviews/write-ups on Pewter Wolf reads. But I don't think I can with these two titles that I read earlier this month. So, I decided to do another mini-review post. Plus, these are both books I was gifted via the publisher via NetGalley (in exchange for an honest review/reaction, of course) and as both have LGBTQ+ themes to them, I thought it would be nice to put them together. Plus, I did rate these quite highly on my Goodreads (goodreads.com/pewterwolf) so I think putting them together makes sense.

NetGalley Blog Tour - The Cousins

BLOG TOUR TIME! And yes, it’s a review-type post. I know, I normally stay away from these kinda tours in case I read the book and hate its guts, but when this title popped up, I couldn’t resist trying this author. I mean, you guys LOVE Karen M. McManus thrillers, especially One of Us Is Lying and Two Can Keep A Secret. So, of course, I was curious and suffering a little FOMO. But The Cousins catch my eye and demanded my attention. And who am I to refuse a book’s siren call?

Title And Author: The Cousins by Karen M. McManus
Publisher: Penguin
Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook
Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/write-up for blog tour (hosted by The Write Reads)
Length: 336 Pages

The Story family are the envy of their neighbours: owners of the largest property on the East Coast island, rich, beautiful, closely knit. Till one day, the four children all suddenly get disowned by their mother with a letter containing five words: You know what you did.

Years pass and when cousins Aubrey, Milly and Jonah Story receive mysterious innovations to spend the summer at the their grandmother, they feel like they have no choice but to go, in the vain hope of healing the diverted family. But when they get to the island, they get the strong impression that their grandmother didn’t invite them… 

The teens are determined to figure out what happened to rip their family apart and the truth behind those five words. But every Story has a secret…

Audiobook Review - The Thursday Murder Club

You thought that this month, I was only going to be reading and talking spooky things? Oh please, October is when the nights are drawing in so, of course, crime and thrillers are going to be high on my TBR radar throughout October and possible November. 

So, let’s start with this, shall we? 

• Title And Author: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
• Publisher: Penguin
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook and eBook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: eProof given by UK publisher via NetGalley in exchange for honest review and Audiobook bought on Audible
• Length: 400 Pages or 12 Hours 25 Minutes

In a small retirement village in Kent, four unlikely residents becomes friends and meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders. But when a local property developer dies - bludgeon to death - Elizabeth, Ibrahim, Ron and Joyce find themselves in the middle of their first real case. 

All four might be in the late seventies, early eighties, but they have a few tricks up their sleeves and have seen life. Can they solve the crime and catch the killer before someone else ends up dead? And, if another person did turn up dead, are the Thursday Murder Club looking for one killer or two?

Audiobook Review - Eight Detectives

• Title And Author: Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi
• Publisher: Michael Joseph/Penguin
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook and Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: eProof Gifted by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and Audiobook borrowed from local library via BorrowBox
• Length: 352 Pages or 11 Hours 16 Minutes

I am going to admit, right here and now, that I am not the biggest crime/mystery reader.Not that I don’t like the genre - I do, hugely, just as much as I like reading fantasy - but I am not as well read in the genre compared to other readers, so when I first heard of Eight Detectives, I admit I was a little curious, but made an active decision to not know much about it. I requested it from the UK publishers on NetGalley and, after several months of “Oooh”ing and “Ahh”ing, I decide to give this a whirl, though I was still in the dark over what exactly this book was about. 

Grant McAllister is a professor of mathematics. One day, thirty years ago, he wrote a paper about the mathematical rules of murder mysteries. He wrote a collection of seven short stories inspired by his paper, self-published the collection - The White Murders - then vanished from public life, living in seclusion in a small village on a quiet Mediterranean island. 

That is, until Julia comes along. Julia is an editor for a small, crime publishing house and its owner wants to republish the collection. Together, the two go over each of the seven stories to amend for a modern audience. 

But Julia notices that, in each story, there’s are errors. Inconsistencies that reference a real life murder that has been unsolved for thirty year. The murder of actress Elizabeth White, which the media dubbed at the time, The White Murder…

Burn The Kingdoms Down

SURPRISE! This is a last minute decision as, on a whim, I emailed Phoebe at Penguin, wondering if Sally Green, author of the Half Bad trilogy and the Smoke Thieves series, fancied writing a small guest post for me to celebrate to release the third and final book in the Smoke Thieves, The Burning Kingdom. Phoebe asked Sally and both were thrilled to. As am I as I got quite obsessed with Half Bad, Sally's debut trilogy!

I'm not going to do a write up about The Burning Kingdoms as third and final in series (I'm not going to spoil! I'm not a monster!), so let me do a tiny write-up of Smoke Thieves. Smoke Thieves follows several leads, each from four different kingdom.

In Brigant, Princess Catherine prepares for a loveless political marriage arranged by her brutal and ambitious father. In Calidor, downtrodden servant March seeks revenge on the prince who betrayed his people. In Pitoria, feckless Edyon steals cheap baubles for cheaper thrills as he drifts from town to town. And in the barren northern territories, thirteen-year-old Tash is running for her life as she plays bait for the gruff demon hunter Gravell.

As alliances shift and things take several sharp turns, throwing everything off course, our four heroes find their past lives transformed and their futures inextricably linked by the unpredictable tides of magic and war...

I am thrilled that Sally found the time to write this guest post, so thank you Sally. I, also, want to thank Phoebe for saying yes and chatting to Sally about this post.

Now, before I hand over to Sally, if you want to say hi to her, you can say hi to her via her Twitter (@Sa11eGreen). Plus, if you are curious on The Burning Kingdom or any other of Sally's novels, you can always check her Penguin's website!

With this all out of the way, OVER TO YOU, SALLY!

Audiobook Review - Daisy Jones And The Six

• Title And Author: Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Publisher: Cornerstone
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from local library via BorrowBox
• Length: 335 Pages or 9 Hours 3 Minutes

Ok, before I go further, want to state that I listened to this last month while doing Believathon so, I decided to put this up now so I don’t get muddled. So, December is going to be a bit of a mixed-bag of books/audiobooks from when I read/listen to them. Plus, with Christmas and New Year round the corner, am going to squeeze them in as much as possible, so sorry in advance for the blog post overload. 

Now, we have housekeeping out of the way, Daisy Jones. As you know, I audiobooked The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and thoroughly enjoyed myself with it. I'm thinking of relistening to this in the New Year. And I audiobooked Evidence of the Affair and I liked that a lot. So, going into this, I was excited that it would make a good, if not great, read. Plus, everyone I know who had read this has loved it, so high hopes. 

In the 1970s, Daisy Jones and the Six were rising stars in the rock n roll scene! Their album, Aurora, is rising high in the charts and their tour is selling out. Then, on 12th July, 1979, the seven break up, halfway through their tour. But no one knows why… 

Who knows the truth of what happened that day and the events leading up to it? Daisy Jones, the brilliant songwriter but high functioning drug addict? The egotistical Dunne brothers who control everything the band does? The angry guitarist? The binge-drinking dummer? The Bassist looking to the future? The keyboardist who won’t fit into her gender role? Or the frontman’s wife, who knows that one wrong step from her husband can result in him falling off the wagon or that the connection between him and Daisy is electric? 

There’s never one side to the truth.

Believathon 2019 - Le Belle Sauvage

• Title And Author: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
• Publisher: Penguin/David Fickling Books
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
• Length: 546 Pages and 13 Hours 14 Minutes

It’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it? With me finally, FINALLY, getting my rear in gear and reading/audiobooking La Belle Sauvage, seeing how much I love the His Dark Materials trilogy and bought this as soon as I could. 

But I held off reading this. For the same reason I’m holding off watching the BBC/HBO adaption of the series - The Fear! I mean, we have been waiting for these FOR YEARS! What if, after all this waiting, they don’t live up to our exceptions?!

So, how/why did I decide to do it now? Well, the audiobook is the main reason. Plus, The Secret Commonwealth for another. OK, let me explain. The Secret Commonwealth has just come out in hardback and I would like to read that as Lyra is an adult in this and I want to return and see what’s happened to her and her daemon, Pan. Now, the audiobook. I returned an audiobook after an hour’s listening on Audible and they, very kindly, gave me a credit as a refund. So, I decided to grab this (as well as activate a Black Friday deal of getting an Audible Subscription with 4 months being only £3.99 [The offer is still going. I think it ends on Thursday 12th December aka UK General Election Day or Friday 13th, so go go! Just remember to cancel it before the price goes up to £7.99])

Anyway, La Belle Sauavge, the first volume in the Book of Dust series is a little different from what everyone was expecting. We thought this was going to follow after His Dark Materials. Nope. This takes place years BEFORE, when Lyra is only six months. 

Malcolm Polstead and his daemon, Asta, lives in the pub in Oxford by the river Thames. His life is fairly ordinary, even uneventful. But this winter, the rain won’t stop. Rumours of a flood are everywhere, and Malcolm finds himself near the centre of a battle between religion, science and politics, when he goes to the priory across the river and discover they are looking after a small six month baby called Lyra, daughter of Lord Asriel...

Murder Month 2019 - The First Lady

• Title And Author: The First Lady by James Patterson and Brendan DuBois
• Publisher: Century
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed via Local Library & BorrowBox
• Length: 368 Pages or & Hours 15 Minutes

Do you have one of those authors? You know the authors I mean. The ones where you know you shouldn’t read as you and they don’t get on, but every now and then, your resolve weakens and you go “One last time. I will try that author one more time”?

This is my relationship with James Patterson. I find his audiobooks fun, fast and great beach reads, but I find them quite predictable. I know the beats of each of the novels I listen to or read and, though I do have fun listening to the audiobook (I went through a small blitz when I was in my teens with his novels and I find, because of that, I can’t really physical read them any more) and I have a soft spot for the Women’s Murder Club, I always feel a little let down by the stories. 

So, when I first started to think about doing Murder Month, I thought I would give one or two authors a second chance. The first was Patrica Cornwall’s Kay Scarpetta and I found, after nearly two or so hours of audiobooking All That Remains, I frankly didn’t care and I DNFed it. But the second was James Patterson. Now, originally, I decided to do The President Is Missing as that had a lot of hype and noise when it was coming out. But I changed my mind. I’m not sure why, but I decided to try The First Lady instead. 

It’s four weeks before the next Presidential Elections and the President is riding high in the polls. So when he is ambushed walking out of an Atlanta hotel with his mistress, President Tucker is desperate to get the scandal under control, and the first step is the get the First Lady by his side…

Expect, she’s not in the White House. She walked out of the East Wing after the scandal broke to ride her horse outside the capital and, within moments, she loses her security detail lose her. 

The First Lady is missing. Did she run away? Is she dead? Either way, she must be found and, all the while, things are happening behind the scenes… things that will protect the President at all costs.

Murder Month 2019 - Nothing Stays Buried

• Title And Author: Nothing Stays Buried by P.J. Tracy
• Publisher: Penguin
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook 
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from local library via BorrowBow
• Length: 320 Pages or 7 Hours 22 minutes

I wanted to include The Guilty Dead by P.J. Tracy in my Murder Month, but decided against it for reasons I explained back in July. But I had such a fun time audiobooking it, I decided I wanted another P.J. Tracy audiobook so when back in June/July (yes, I decided to prep for this month and get my stuff together and organise) via my local library audiobook app, I jumped at it. I do like a good audiobook and podcast, as you know! 

This is the 8th book in the Monkeewrench or Twin Cities series (depending on which you prefer - plus, The Guilty Dead was the ninth so am backtracking) and it starts with a body of a woman beginning discovered in a dog park. When detectives Gino and Magozzi get to the scene, they soon realise that this is the work of a serial killer. And he’s stuck before as he left a playing card, like with his last victim over a year ago. Expect that card was the ace of spades and this victim’s card is the four of spades…

As Gino and Magozzi desperately try and stop the killer from completing the whole deck,  they cal on the computer skills of Grace MacBride and the Monkeewrench team for help. But they, too, are investigating a case: a disappearance of a young woman in farm country…

But are the two cases linked to each other?

Murder Month 2019 - Small Wars

• Title And Author: Small Wars by Lee Child
• Publisher: Penguin
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from BorrowBox & Local Library
• Length: 1 Hours 17 Minutes

Maybe this wasn’t the best place to start with Lee Child and his well loved creation, Jack Reacher. This is, to my knowledge, 19.5 within the series. But when have I ever started in the right place...? 

Set in 1989, a young lieutenant colonel in a stylish handmade uniform and a swish car, drives through the woods down a lone road meets a very tall soldier with a broken-down car. 

But what connects a cold-blooded off-post shooting, an officer in the military police called Jack Reacher, his mysterious brother Joe and a secretive unit of pointy-heads from the Pentagon…? 

So… what are my thoughts of this short audiobook that I wanted to listen to due to Murder Month?

Audiobook Review - The Witchfinder's Sister

• Title And Author: The Witchfinder’s Sister by Beth Underdown
• Publisher: Penguin
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from Essex Libraries via BorrowBox
• Length: 368 Pages or 10 Hours 54 Minutes

Now, this is a bit of a curveball as historical fiction isn’t my jam. But I requested this from NetGalley AGES ago (yes, it’s an eProof and I am surprise behind on them!) and I’ve been going “I will read this one day… one day…”. Then I saw this on my Library Audiobook app and went “Why Not? I can pop this as one of my Murder Month reads” as, for a reason I’m not 100% certain on why, this book is classed as crime and thriller. So, I’m not sure to pop this in my Murder Month or not… So, it’s going up now! 

Before the famous Salem Witch Hunts happened in the US, the UK had the Essex Witch Trials, spearheaded by the Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins. When his sister, Alice, is forced to return to the small Essex home in Manningtree after the tragic death of his husband, she hopes for safety, love and support. But home is no longer a place of safety. Matthew has changed from their last meeting and whispers follow him now. Whispers of witchcraft and whispers of a book he owns, a book where he is gathering women names… As Matthew’s obsession grows, so does the creeping dread Alice feels… How far is Matthew’s obsession going to go? And what choice will Alice make to save herself?