Review: The Bones of Others

The Bones of Others by Vickie McKeehan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Over the time frame of a few years I got a mail from Bookbub each time a book from this series was available for free, so I managed to pick up the 4 books for free.
More like 3.5 rounded to 4 for being the first in a series.
Very good integration of the fantasy/paranormal in the crime story.
With its theme of sexual abuse and abduction it is certainly not for everyone, but the author handles that sensible and in a realistic way, going deep in the feelings and background of Skye, as far as I can tell.

It is a near page-turner, but the conclusion and the vigilante MC's do not sit well with me, at some point the police should have been involved and the criminals should have been imprisoned, not killed (sorry, if that counts as a spoiler).
A little romance blossoms, but it remains open if and how it will develop in the next books.
Recommended with the above caveats. If that does not matter to you, pick it up.
For some reason I am reluctant to read the next book although I already own it.

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Review: A Shroud for Delilah

A Shroud for Delilah by Anthea Fraser
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 27%, I will FF the rest of the book to get the main story.
Read the blurb and stay away from this book, I fell for it, as I skimmed reviews, but obviously the wrong ones. Even the blurb is misleading, in no way this is a fast-paced book, I have watched my dryer tumble clothes way more suspenseful than this.

No romance, no sex (so far, I am at 27%) only some VERY old-fashioned relationship (wife has to have marriage and a husbund, yadayadayada), the author is obviously living in a different reality.
If you want HEA or romance pick up something different, if you want crime, mystery and suspense you should also pick up something different.
This was a freebie via Bookbub, and the cover and the mentioned blurb lead me to get it, at least I did not pay for this bore. Will never read another book by this writer.

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Review: Splinter the Silence

Splinter the Silence by Val McDermid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Big changes, leaked information to the press and a self-set task turns into a real murder investigation. Brutal, very up-to-date with the theme of cyber-bullying, misogynists against feminists, hacking and murders.
Disturbing though, that the disregard for (privacy) laws is used to track down people and the higher-ups know but tend to turn a blind eye. For once I would like to read a book there the main group of investigators sticks to the rules and the law.
Not really full 5 stars, more like 4.5 rounded up for that behaviour.
Highly recommended page-turner, a few lose ends for reading the next book.

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Review: Cross and Burn

Cross and Burn by Val McDermid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! So many books, but these still stand out.
Setting is in the UK, and this book part of the Carol Jordan-Tony Hill-series, should not be read as a standalone.
Too much happened in the books before and the last one before this The Retribution is a must read with it devastating conclusion and fall-out of the MC's.
Brutal and no easy solutions.
Not for the faint of heart, rape, torture and mutilation - but then that is a given for this series, where sometimes even the MC suffer during the story.
Extrem highly recommended, and unlike some others in the series, no dragging plot in the middle.
One of the best of the series. For Fans of Simon Becketts David Hunter-series and Mo Hayders Jack Caffery-series (with a second series in between "The Walking Man"). Currently reading the next in the series, could not wait (and had both this, and the next pre-ordered and on my TBR for quite some time).

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Review: Imago

Imago by Celina Grace
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After I read the first and second in the series, as I got them for free, I wanted to read the third, and found I already bought it - together with the first and second as a bundle/omnibus just 2 months earlier.
So I can read this now, and it was as good as the others. Not 5 stars, and could have done with a few twists during the book (most where at the ending).
Shorter, I think, but that is ok for me. Not entirely page-turner, a bit too much thinking and romance. POV alternating between MC Kate and the Killer, with a nice twist when the killer is revealed and a few just before that.

Still, highly recommended. As with the books before, not really feeling it that the setting is in the UK, others have done this better. More romance, and a little sex, but not described or explicit. Like the stile, but something is missing for me. There next 3 are also available as a cheaper bundle, so I will probably buy these when I feel like it and read them. But if nothing changes, I think the series might sink to 3.5 stars - rounded down to 3.

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