November has been pretty busy and as I’ve jumped from one thing to the next I’ve found it difficult to focus on one thing in particular. The same thing happened with my reading. I started reading quite a few books this month, but only got around to finishing three of them. And they were all easy-reading thrillers. Read on to find out more about what I read in November.
The Caller by Chris Carter
I’ve heard so much about Chris Carter, particularly in some of the Facebook book groups I’m a part of, but I’d never actually read anything by him. I decided to give him a go when I got this book as part of a bundle of cheap books.
In this book a depraved killer is on the loose. He uses social media to find his victims and check out personal details about them. The twist is that he then calls someone close to the victim and has them watch the murder over video link. The person he calls is given a chance to save the victim’s life by answering a couple of questions they really should know the answers to. But of course they don’t.
The story was a bit more gruesome than I’m used to, but once I got over that it did get me gripped. Although I enjoyed the book I haven’t yet shot Chris Carter into my top ten. Maybe I need to read a few more books by him.
The Killer by Susan Wilkins
Susan Wilkins is also a new author to me. This book is actually the third in a trilogy, something I didn’t realise when I picked it up. However, that didn’t detract from my enjoyment and understanding of it.
Kaz Phelps has always been involved in London/Essex gangland crime through her family. This book begins at her brother’s funeral. A shootout makes her realise that although she’s tried to put crime behind her, her past is catching up.
She goes on the run and turns to the only person she thinks can help her, a former police officer turned security officer for the super-rich. The story winds its way through the ranks of London criminals from low-life ex-cons to Russian oligarchs, Turkish drug lords and Saudi princes.
East End gangland crime isn’t really my thing, but this book kept me turning the pages despite that. I’ll probably try to read the first two in the trilogy now.
The Stonecutter by Camilla Lackberg
I’ve read a few of Lackberg’s books previously and so, this month, she was the only author I was already familiar with. Her stories are set in the Swedish seaside town of Fjällbacka, which is where Lackberg herself is from.
The body of a child is found caught up in a fisherman’s nets and at first it is assumed the girl tragically drowned accidentally. The postmortem however, reveals that she drowned in bathwater before her body was dumped in the sea. The murder case is taken more personally than usual by detective Patrik Hedstrom because the mother of the girl is a close friend of his wife, and because he has recently become a father himself.
Two stories intertwine in this book. As well as the modern story there is also the story of a young stonecutter in the 1920s who falls in love with his boss’s daughter. To her, the romance is nothing more than a dalliance, a ‘bit of rough’, but she falls pregnant and her father forces her to marry the stonecutter before disowning her.
I spent a lot of time guessing how the two stories would meld at the end of the book and I wasn’t far wrong. I also spent a lot of time wanting to pick every one of the characters up at some point and give them a good shaking. Despite this, I still enjoyed the book.
What have you read recently? And what do you think of what I read in November? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Pin it for later
Share this:
