The Assistant by S. K. Tremayne

The story is one of a solo woman in a flat with smart devices that control the systems in the property. The woman (Jo Ferguson) believes that the smart devices are speaking to her, threatening her. Those she trusts enough to tell, don't believe her. Then things start to get weirder and Jo gets very scared. Is she imagining it all, or is she going mad?

I felt that I was reading a book that I had read before, but different. This is not the first book to have a single woman on a property and have her experience 'things' that make her think she is losing her mind. Yes in this instance the catalyst is the smart devices and in others it was probably something else.

However, the notion of a shady event in the woman's past, several suspects who 'could' be the ugly party, but that you just know they can't be, or maybe they could. And then more back history and links comes out about the people that the woman interacts with during the story.

There obviously differences, some seriously sad happenings, cruel beyond words, make Jo Ferguson's experience so twisted and crushing.

I think that I would really have liked this book a whole lot more if it had been the first of its kind that I had read. It was very well written and it did pull me in some of the time. There was just too much deja vu to keep totally enthralled. Nonetheless, I think that it will be extremely well received by many people fresh to this type of story.

"‘I know your secret. I know what you did to that boy. How his eyes rolled white. I know everything.’ And then all is quiet."

I received an e-ARC of this novel through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. NetGalley does not allow for paid reviews. 

 
3/5 Stars (What this means...five-stars-applied-carefully) 

 
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She’s in your house. She controls your life. Now she’s going to destroy it. 

A terrifying and timely new psychological thriller, from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The Ice Twins. 

She watches you constantly. Newly divorced Jo is delighted to move into her best friend’s spare room almost rent-free. The high-tech luxury Camden flat is managed by a meticulous Home Assistant, called Electra, that takes care of the heating, the lights – and sometimes Jo even turns to her for company.
She knows all your secrets. Until, late one night, Electra says one sentence that rips Jo’s fragile world in two: ‘I know what you did.’ And Jo is horrified. Because in her past she did do something terrible. Something unforgivable. 

 
Now she wants to destroy you. Only two other people in the whole world know Jo’s secret. And they would never tell anyone. Would they? As a fierce winter brings London to a standstill, Jo begins to understand that the Assistant on the shelf doesn’t just want to control Jo; it wants to destroy her.  

 

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The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi

Magnificent story telling! Twisting and turning throughout. 

May Owens is sentenced to be a Sin Eater for stealing a loaf of bread. Now she is Unseen and Unheard, except when she is either taking a Recitation or Eating Sins

She manages to find the other Sin Eater in town and begins to learn her new 'trade'. Without speaking, without touching. 

A cruel and grim fate for a young girl who was hungry. Slowly she begins to learn to 'eat', and listens and watches as she does. Class is no barrier for the Sin Eater, she attends the destitute and also the highest in the land. The danger is greatest when in the Royal Court, with all its plotting.

Megan Campisi keeps you on your edge as she draws you through the trials of May's life, her scrapes with death and the excitement of her escapades. I found myself looking forward to my next free block of time to read, so that I could find out what was happening next. This book gets a big FOUR stars from me. It is great.

"The sin eater walks among us. Unseen. Unheard,’ she says. ‘But I can see her—’ I hiss. ‘Unseen. Unheard,’ she silences."

I received an e-ARC of this novel through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. NetGalley does not allow for paid reviews. 

4/5 Stars (What this means...five-stars-applied-carefully) 

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An old adage says there are really only two stories: a man goes on a voyage, and a stranger arrives in town. 

This is the third: a woman breaks the rules . . . 

Can you uncover the truth when you’re forbidden from speaking it? A Sin Eater’s duty is a necessary evil: she hears the final private confessions of the dying, eats their sins as a funeral rite, and guarantees their souls access to heaven. It is always women who eat sins – a punishment, for it was Eve who first ate the Forbidden Fruit. Stained by the sins they are obliged to consume, the Sin Eater is shunned and silenced, doomed to live in exile at the edge of town. 

Recently orphaned May Owens is just fourteen when she’s arrested for stealing a loaf of bread and sentenced to become a Sin Eater. It’s a devastating sentence, but May’s new invisibility opens new doors. And when first one, then two, of the Queen’s courtiers suddenly grow ill, May hears their deathbed confessions – and begins to investigate a terrible rumour that is only whispered of amid palace corridors. 

Set in a thinly disguised sixteenth-century England, The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi is a gripping story of treason and treachery; of secrets and silence; of women, of power – and, ultimately, of the strange freedom that comes from being an outcast . . . 

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The Book of Koli by M. R. Carey [The Rampart Trilogy, Book 1]

 

The Book of Koli is the first book in The Rampart Trilogy and features Koli, who goes by many names during the book as his status changes. It is set way in the future after an everlasting war which devastated humanity and left them in pockets across the world. Koli is born into Mythen Rood in the valley of the Calder River, Ingland.

He worked as a Woodsmith ensuring a safe supply of wood for the village, but like many he dreamed of being a Rampart. A Rampart was important as they could use the artefacts left from the people before the war. Koli can't let things be, when things start to change around him and soon finds himself in a little bit of bother, resulting in him having to face difficult circumstances.

Koli is telling the story of his life, his language is different to ours but he describes things so that you can understand what has happened. He is doing it to make sure that what happened is remembered and so too are the people in the tale. I soon worked out that the places he was describing exist in Yorkshire and can be found on a map if you look carefully enough.

I really liked the way Koli was the narrator for himself, as if he were sat telling a tale to a group of people of how it was. It was easy to assume that you knew what was going to happen, even though you didn't really! What I didn't like was the fact that I reached the end of this first book far too soon and don't know when the next book will be released, so that I can continue reading it.

"So that was our life, and it seemed like nothing would ever happen to change it. But it’s when you think such thoughts that change is most like to come. You let your guard down, almost, and life comes running at you on your blind side. Because life is nothing but change, even when it seems to stand still. Standing still is a human thing, like a defiance we throw, but we can never do it for long.."

I received an e-ARC of this novel through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. NetGalley does not allow for paid reviews.

  
4/5 Stars (What this means...five-stars-applied-carefully) 

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The start of a new post-apocalyptic trilogy from the author of the million-copy bestselling The Girl With All the Gifts... When the world broke down, all the plants were dying. We tried to make them stronger, but we went too far. Koli has lived in the small village of Mythen Rood his entire life. Beyond its walls lies an unrecognisable landscape. A place where overgrown forests are filled with choker trees and deadly seeds will kill you where you stand. And if they don't get you, the Shunned Men will. Koli believes the first rule of survival is to never venture beyond the walls. He's wrong. 

From the author of the million-copy bestselling The Girl With All the Gifts comes The Book of Koli - the start of a breathtakingly original new trilogy set in a mesmerising and deadly future world. 

M. R. Carey has been making up stories for most of his life. His novel The Girl With All the Gifts has sold over a million copies and became a major motion picture, based on his own BAFTA Award-nominated screenplay. Under the name Mike Carey he has written for both DC and Marvel, including critically acclaimed runs on Lucifer, Hellblazer and X-Men. His creator-owned books regularly appear in the New York Times bestseller list. He also has several previous novels including the Felix Castor series (written as Mike Carey), two radio plays and a number of TV and movie screenplays to his credit. 

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Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth

Sloane Andrews doesn't like being in the public gaze, and some publicists like to rat her out and bitch about her, so it is no wonder really.

Ten years ago, Sloane was a Chosen One, and now she really could do with a private life where she could actually live quietly. Unfortunately she lives a life of being on public display, attending public events and generally being a public possession.

Then Sloane and three of the other Chosen Ones find themselves pulled through to another reality, where they must fight their battles again, to save all worlds, not just their own.

Sloane is a flawed and snarky character, she can't help being off with people. I like that about her, she is content to be herself and doesn't like having to fake being nice.

I was able to guess some of the plot, but wasn't 100% right in any of my guessing. The ending was unexpected and different.

"Sloane was up and panting. Quiet, she told herself. Her toes curled under; the ground was cold here, in the Dark One’s house, and he had taken her boots."

I received an e-ARC of this novel through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. NetGalley does not allow for paid reviews. 

I also discovered spanakopita, which I intend to try out sometime soonest. 

4/5 Stars (What this means...five-stars-applied-carefully)

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The mesmerising adult debut from Veronica Roth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Divergent.

They were the Chosen Ones. Saving the world made them heroes. Saving it again might destroy them.

When Sloane Andrews and her friends defeated the Dark One, and saved the world, it nearly cost them everything. Ten years later, they are still struggling to put the battle behind them and reclaim their lives. After all, the rest of the world has moved on . . . so why can't they?

Of the five, Sloane has had the hardest time adjusting. Everyone else blames the PTSD ­­- and her huge attitude problem - but really, she's hiding secrets from them . . . secrets that keep her tied to the past and alienate her from the only four people in the world who understand her.

On the tenth anniversary of the Dark One's defeat, something unthinkable happens: one of the Chosen Ones dies. When the others gather for the funeral, they discover the Dark One's ultimate goal was much bigger than they, the government, or even prophecy could have foretold - bigger than the world itself.

Last time, it took everything she had. This time, it might not be enough.

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The Cabin by Jørn Lier Horst

This is the second of the 'Chief Inspector Wisting' books that I've read, and I enjoyed this one as much as the previous one.

Bernhard Clausen, a former Member of Parliament for the Labour Party has died, and Wisting has been given a secret case to investigate, forming his own team around him. Wisting's daughter (Line) is again involved, this time on Wisting's terms.

But, there is danger lurking, where from is not obvious. Another case overlaps Wisting's and the investigation starts to get very involved.

Line follows up on a previous journalists investigations and obliquely involves the woman in the case. This helps Line move her work for her father forward much more quickly. Meanwhile a Kripos cold case investigator wants to learn what Line knows about it too!

Jorn Lier Horst still tells an exciting story that keeps you along for the trip to the end. Definitely a book that I would recommend to someone that I know, they are a keen Wallender 'follower'. I'm sure that they would like it.

"‘We’re working on a case where it would be best for the police not to be the ones asking the questions,’ he told her."

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4/5 Stars (What this means...five-stars-applied-carefully)

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It's been fifteen years since Simon Meier walked out of his house, never to be seen again.

And just one day since politician Bernard Clausen was found dead at his cabin on the Norwegian coast.

When Chief Inspector William Wisting is asked to investigate, he soon discovers he may have found the key to solving Meier's disappearance.

But doing so means he must work with an old adversary to piece together what really happened all those years ago.

It's a puzzle that leads them into a dark underworld on the trail of Clausen's interests and vices. A shady place from which they may never emerge - especially when he finds it leads closer to home than he ever could have imagined.

Fans of Jo Nesbo and Stieg Larsson will be captivated by The Cabin, a thrilling and atmospheric read from award-winning Nordic crime writer Jørn Lier Horst.

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