Kill a stranger by Simon Kernick

Matt Walters and his fiancée Kate are in London after discovering that Kate is pregnant, and they both know that the maternity care is better in England than in their adopted home of Sri Lanka.  They have settled into their rented cottage and life seems to be going well as they connect with old friends, but then Matt comes home one night to find Kate missing.  Her place in their bed is not empty though, a dead woman holding a cellphone has taken her place, and when the phone rings Matt discovers that his nightmare is just getting started.  Matt's fiancée Kate has been kidnapped and if he wants to see her again he must follow the instructions of the man on the other end of the phone - a man who wants him to kill a man and take something from him.  Matt was an actor once and even played a police officer, but he's not prepared to kill anyone - but when your loved ones are in danger you never know what you are truly capable of.

When Kate wakes to find herself in the trunk of a car she is confused and then concerned for the life of her unborn child.  When she is pulled from the car by two men she knows she is in trouble, she has no hope of escaping from two captors - especially when they seem to be professionals.  When her life is threatened it seems like she is in real danger, and when you have lived the life Kate has you learn to stand up for yourself and fight.  Her captors have no idea who they have kidnapped, and Kate is not going to just sit by and wait to be rescued - she is going to make plans and fight for her life.  Who has taken her and what do they want?  

Everyone has secrets - but those secrets don't always get you killed.  As Matt does everything he can to save his fiancées life he has no idea what secrets he will uncover.  He has tried for a year to get Kate to open up and share her life with him, but she has always been so guarded and controlled.  How much does he actually know about her and her past?  Determined to save her, Matt does things he never thought he could, and it might all be in vain.  Who has taken Kate and what do they really want?

Kill a stranger is a tense psychological thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish as you try and untangle what you know from what you think you know.  Told from the point of view of the different characters the story moves at a breath taking pace and feeds you portions of the story as you race to figure out what is happening before the end.  They say everyone has secrets, but those secrets don't usually get you kidnapped or extorted.  This is one of the best thrillers I have read in a long while, and it really challenged me to figure out who was telling the truth (or at least how much of the truth they were telling) before the end.  Highly recommended and hopefully there are more books by Simon Kernick of the same caliber for me to try next!

If you like this book then try:

• Sticks and stones by Katherine Firkin
• The vanishing season by Joanna Schaffhausen
• The nowhere child by Christian White
• Good me bad me by Ali Land
• The runner by Stephen Leather
• Crimson Lake by Candice Fox
• Vodka doesn't freeze by Leah Giarratano
• The coast to coast murders by James Patterson and J.D.Barker
• Eeny meeny by M.J. Arlidge
• The tattoo thief by Alison Belsham
• Spare me the truth by C.J. Carver

Reviewed by Brilla

Hidden lies by Rachel Ryan

Like a lot of women these days Georgina and is busy, not only is she mother to young Cody and wife to Bren, she is also working and studying.  It's no surprise she is under a certain amount of stress, especially with her husbands recent cheating coming to light.  Their relationship is under strain, but they are trying to work through it - although Georgina can't help but feel betrayed and pressured to get over what Bren swears was just a kiss.  When Cody and his friends disappear briefly at the local park Georgina isn't too worried, but then Cody reappears with a a lolly that he didn't have before - a lolly he says comes from a woman who says she is his granny.  With the death of her mother still a raw wound, Georgina takes Cody's announcement of this new granny hard, but Bren thinks it is a just a phase Cody is going through - that Georgina is over reacting and needs to let it be.  

It seems harmless to Bren, Cody's way of grieving for the loss of his grandmother, but Georgina is not convinced.  She thinks there is more to the story, especially when she finds lolly wrappers for a brand they don't buy, and when Cody appears to be having conversations on the phone.  The whole situation has Georgina on edge, and when Bren brings up the past she tips closer to the edge.  When Cody suddenly changes his story and says that his new granny is imaginary it should ease Georgina's worries, but they ramp up instead.  Something is very wrong - but is it only in Georgina's mind, or is Cody really talking to someone?

Hidden lies is a well paced and well written story that is scary because it could so easily be real.  This is one of those books that pushes the boundaries of what you believe, and as you learn more about Georgina and Bren what you believe is challenged at each turn.  Is Georgina loses her mind?  Does Cody really have an imaginary friend, or is something more serious going on?  As Georgina's stress levels rise you start to see the world through her eyes, and with each passing day of Cody refusing to cooperate and tell her what is going on her stress levels continue to rise and she starts seeing secrets and conspiracies everywhere.  This story keeps you guessing right to the end and was one of the best books of its type I have read.  Highly recommended psychological thriller.

If you like this book then try:

• Sticks and stones by Katherine Firkin
• The liar's daughter by Claire Allan
• When I was ten by Fiona Cummins
• Before she was Helen by Caroline B. Cooney
• The perfect mother by Caroline Mitchell
• The better sister by Alafair Burke
• Behind closed doors by B.A. Paris
• Spare me the truth by C.J. Carver
• Either side of midnight by Benjamin Stevenson
• Good me bad me by Ali Land
• Crimson Lake by Candice Fox

Reviewed by Brilla

Dark blue rising by Teri Terry

As long as she can remember it has just been Tabby and Cate - the two of them living a nomadic life and staying off the grid.  It has never bothered Tabby that they don't have roots, as long as it is the two of them everything is balanced and correct - especially when they are living near the sea.  That changes when Tabby meets a boy named Jago, a boy who wants to be friends, something she has never experienced before.  When she is badly injured in an accident and taken to hospital it seems as though everything Cate warned her about is coming true - the intrusive questions, the tests, and then as they quietly escape from the hospital the presence of the Police.  Sore and confused, Tabby trusts that Cate will take care of them both as she always have - but then suddenly Cate is gone and Tabby is left with the shocking truth that everything she thought she knew was a lie.

 Tabby is not Tabitha like she thought, she is really Holly and she has parents who looked for her after she was kidnapped by her nanny as a small child.  A shocking discovery on its own, but then she learns that Cate, the woman who raised her was the very nanny who stole her away.  Everything is suddenly strange and confusing - she loves Cate, and wants nothing to do with her birth parents, but her mother obviously loves her and missed her and it is hard to resist.  Everything is slightly surreal, and when she learns that she was an IVF baby, she learns about the Penrose Clinic.  The Penrose Clinic helped couples like her parents conceive a baby when other IVF treatments failed, and the Clinic keeps careful track of its success stories in a longitudinal study that Tabby is suddenly part of again.  It is strange and unnerving, and the Penrose Clinic seems unconcerned about the strange test results the other hospitals had found.  

As Tabby slowly develops a better understanding of her mother and her past, she is approached to attend an advanced swim school for the summer.  Tabby has always enjoyed swimming, and this seems like the perfect opportunity to spend more time in the water - but she has no idea what she is letting herself in for.  There is something strange about the swim school, some of the teens attending have been in training before, but others were approached just before the school started.  It seems as though the staff are a little too interested in the students, and some of the exercises they are getting the students ot do seem to have no relevance to swimming.  Can Tabby unravel the mystery of what is happening before it is too late?

Dark blue rising is the first book in a new trilogy by Teri Terry - the author of several well received science fiction series for teenagers.  What starts as a slow and steady introduction to Tabby and her world quickly escalates into a tense thriller where you never know quite where the story is going until the next surprise is sprung.  Tabby is an interesting character, and you can't help but like her as she never gives up and keeps going despite the many different obstacles she encounters.  It is easy to be sympathetic with her and her circumstances, and the people around her can just as easily be friend or foe depending on what happens (no spoilers I promise).  Terry has taken the theme of climate change and created a unique character and set of circumstances that I have yet to come across in science fiction or speculative fiction around climate change so it was a nice fresh read without too many cliché moments (a nice change from some of the series that are out there).  I can't wait to read the next book, Red sky burning, which is due in July 2021.

If you like this book then try:

• Slated by Teri Terrry
• Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell
• The Jewel by Amy Ewing
• The Ones by Daniel Sweren-Becker
• Wither by Lauren DeStefano
• Honor among thieves by Rachel Caine & Ann Aguirre
• Red queen by Victoria Aveyard
• The girl of fire and thorns by Rae Carson
• The scorpion rules by Erin Bow
• The glass arrow by Kristen Simmons
• The 100 by Kass Morgan
• Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
• The testing by Joelle Charbonneau
• Proxy by Alex London
• ACID by Emma Pass
• Reboot by Amy Tintera
• XVI by Julia Karr
• In the after by Demitria Lunetta

Reviewed by Brilla