Watching You by Michael Robotham ★★★★

NOTHING BEATS A ROBOTHAM THRILLER

Last year, Michael Robotham’s book, “Say You’re Sorry” was the must-read book

among my friends. Many of them stopped their lives for a few days while they read it, and some reading it in one sitting. It was so good that Stephen King named it in his top three reads for 2012. I wholeheartedly concur with the master of suspense. This is all to say that Michael Robotham comes highly recommended and writes a great story.

He writes dark killer thrillers and “Watching You” is classic Robotham. He really puts his protagonists through the wringer, and again we meet another poor character who is dealing with great adversity. Robotham brings back our favorite psychologist, Joe O’Loughlin, who is also dealing with his own personal physical and emotional adversity, .

Marnie Logan has good reason to be depressed and in need of O’Loughlin’s services. Her husband disappeared over a year ago, without a word, leaving her a poverty-stricken single mother. She has been forced into prostitution in order to pay off her husband’s debts to a money-lender. And she, also, has this strange feeling she is being watched.

When a book of Marnie’s life is discovered which includes pictures, interviews with friends and old teachers, and other people from her past, she believes her husband was creating a birthday surprise. But something is not right. In order to help Marnie, O’Loughlin interviews some of the people from her past, and discovers their stories of Marnie seem to be of a darker and entirely different person.

Robotham writes suspense with the best, and he weaves the story of Marnie’s misaligned past beautifully with the added tension of an unknown stalker. Who is the stalker and, in fact, who really is Marnie?

“Watching You” is another thrilling book in the O’Loughlin series, and while “Say You’re Sorry” is still my favorite. You cannot beat a Robotham thriller.

My review copy of “Watching You” supplied by the very nice people at Hachette Australia

Read my 2013 interview with Michael Robotham on "Say You're Sorry"

Read my review of "Say You're Sorry"

INTERESTING INFORMATION

RELEASED: 

Australia & New Zealand: August 2013

USA: Hardcover March 11 2014

For more information about this book: Click HERE 

Read a sample: First Chapter

Visit Michael Robotham’s Website: Click HERE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in Australia in November 1960, Michael Robotham grew up in small country towns

that had more dogs than people and more flies than dogs. He escaped in 1979 and became a cadet journalist on an afternoon newspaper in Sydney.

For the next fourteen years he wrote for newspapers and magazines in Australia, Britain and America.

In 1993 he quit journalism to become a ghostwriter, collaborating with politicians, pop stars, psychologists, adventurers and show business personalities to write their autobiographies. Twelve of these non-fiction titles were bestsellers with combined sales of more than 2 million copies.

His first novel 'The Suspect', a psychological thriller, was chosen by the world’s largest consortium of book clubs as only the fifth “International Book of the Month”, making it the top recommendation to 28 million book club members in fifteen countries. It has been translated into twenty-two languages.

His second novel 'Lost' won the Ned Kelly Award for the Crime Book of the Year in 2005, given by the Australian Crime Writers Association. It was also shortlisted for the 2006 Barry Award for the BEST BRITISH NOVEL published in the US in 2005.

Michael's subsequent novels 'The Night Ferry' and 'Shatter' were both shortlisted for UK Crime Writers Association Steel Dagger in 2007 and 2008. 'Shatter' was also shortlisted in the inaugural ITV3 Thriller Awards in the UK and for South Africa's Boeke Prize. In August 2008 'Shatter' won the Ned Kelly award for Australia's best crime novel. More recently, 'Bleed for Me' – Michael's sixth novel – was shortlisted for the 2010 Ned Kelly Award. His latest novel 'The Wreckage' has won universal praise and was described by Nelson De Mille as 'one of the best novels to come out of the chaos of Iraq.'

NIGHT TERRORS ANTHOLOGY edited by Karen Henderson

Since the rise and rise of eBooks, short stories and novellas have become increasingly popular.  I think of short stories as a sorbet between longer books; something to refresh your palette before moving on to that six hundred page tome or if you are a Stephen King fan one thousand plus page doorstop.

The “Night Terrors Anthology” edited by Karen Henderson of Kayelle Press is a creepy little anthology of all things nasty with an abundance of demons, vampires, ghosts and the undead.  Inside are seventeen top-notch horror stories from international authors; many of whom are award winners.

The quality of the stories ranges from very good to exceptional.  The first of the anthology, “A World Not Our Own” by J.C. Hemphill proves you can’t trust vampires and is as far from “Twilight” as a good vampire story should be. 

Now the publishing and film and television world have fallen in love with zombies, zombies have become the new black.  Move over Edward. Read “Share the Love” by Chris Donahue to get your quality zombie fix.  

“White Lines, White Crosses” by Andrew J. McKiernan could have been written by Stephen King.  It is a cool little ghost story about a teenager’s desire to fit in and the price he pays when the peer pressure comes from the other side of the grave. It is seriously dark and beautifully paced.

There is also a few classics thrown in for good measure. They are just as fresh today and fit right in with their modern counterparts;  Edgar Allan Poe’s “A Tell-Tale Heart, “The Dead Girl” by Guy de Maupassant and “A Ghost Story” by Mark Twain.

The “Night Terrors Anthology” is a solid collection with some truly enjoyable, clever tales that will stay with you whether you want them to or not.   The “Creepy” Badge of Honor is awarded to Editor Karen Henderson for having a great feel for a good story.

Thank you to Kayelle Press for our e-review copy of Night Terrors Anthology.

 This book is available in paperback and e-book format

Visit http://www.kayellepress.com/shop/night-terrors-anthology/ for more details and to purchase.

ABOUT KAYELLE PRESS

Based in Australia, Kayelle Press is a new independent publisher of speculative fiction, which includes fantasy, science fiction and horror. We will publish books for young readers, young adults and adults that will tempt your imagination and allow you to escape into unknown worlds.

Most of our books will be available in paperback and various digital formats. They can be purchased through this website or from your favourite online book store. Alternatively, you can request an order form through email and send the order through the post with a bank cheque, money order or international draft. Refer to our How to Order page for more information.

PRIME CUT by Alan Carter ★ ★ ★★

An Outback Thriller

Reviewed by Tracy Harris

The West Australian outback was never on the career path for Detective Senior Constable Philip “Cato” Kwong. The poster boy for political correctness, Cato’s career had been on the fast-track, until everything goes wrong and Cato finds himself an unwilling member of the Stock Squad, investigating the deaths of rotting road-kill.

Mining town Hopetoun is not part of Cato’s patch, a booming anomaly in a world in economic meltdown. However when a human torso washes ashore on Hopetoun’s scenic coastline, Cato is despatched to investigate and a glimmer of light appears on his career radar. Ignoring the fact that his rescue from highway hell is only for a few days until staff from other departments can be relocated, Cato grabs the opportunity to redeem himself to his old boss, DI Mick Hutchens and takes on the case like he has no tomorrow.

It’s a plan that works well until he realises that the senior officer in the two-cop town is one of his exes, Tess Maguire.  Tess has demons of her own to lay to rest, and the last person she needs to see on her turf is Cato.  After all, where Cato goes, trouble follows, and so he does, making enemies faster than friends as he lifts the lid on migrant exploitation and upsets the power brokers of Hopetoun.

However, as their investigation proceeds and another death comes to light, the whole team becomes a potential target for an even more disturbed criminal mind whose crimes not only cross the decades, but half the world as well.

With a succinct and direct style, Alan Carter has written a novel that grips from the first page to the last. An immigrant to Australia from the UK, Carter has captured the dry Australian spirit accurately. His characters are well drawn and thought out and reflect their locales perfectly.  Carter’s familiarity with the Great Southern region adds to the tale and his personal experiences of Hopetoun and a mining boom give a depth of understanding many authors would do well to emulate.

Thank you to Fremantle Press for our review copy of Prime Cut .

Publication Year  2011

Publisher             Fremantle Press

Awards         Shortlisted, Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award, 2010
Available        in Prime Cut ebook 2011 and Paperback Prime Cut 2011

Sample Chapter   PRIME CUT extract.pdf

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alan Carter was born in Sunderland, UK, in 1959. He holds a degree in Communications Studies from Sunderland Polytechnic and immigrated to Australia in 1991. Alan lives in Fremantle with his wife Kath and son Liam. He works as a television documentary director. In his spare time he follows a black line up and down the Fremantle pool. Prime Cut is Alan Carter’s first novel. He wrote it while he was living in Hopetoun as a kept man.
Awards - Winner, Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction, 2011Short listed, UK Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award, 2010