Books Read: Smoke Screen by Jørn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger

Oslo, New Year’s Eve. The annual firework celebration is rocked by an explosion, and the city is put on terrorist alert. 

Police officer Alexander Blix and blogger Emma Ramm are on the scene, and when a severely injured survivor is pulled from the icy harbour, she is identified as the mother of two-year-old Patricia Smeplass, who was kidnapped on her way home from kindergarten ten years earlier … and never found.

Blix and Ramm join forces to investigate the unsolved case, as public interest heightens, the terror threat is raised, and it becomes clear that Patricia’s disappearance is not all that it seems…

Book Links: Kindle or Paperback 

Books Read: Inborn by Thomas Enger

When the high school in the small Norwegian village of Fredheim becomes a murder scene, the finger is soon pointed at seventeen-year-old Even. As the investigation closes in, social media is ablaze with accusations, rumours and even threats, and Even finds himself the subject of an online trial as well as being in the dock ... for murder?

Even pores over his memories of the months leading up to the crime, and it becomes clear that more than one villager was acting suspiciously ... and secrets are simmering beneath the calm surface of this close-knit community. As events from the past play tag with the present, he’s forced to question everything he thought he knew. Was the death of his father in a car crash a decade earlier really accidental? Has his relationship stirred up something that someone is prepared to kill to protect?

It seems that there may be no one that Even can trust.

But can we trust him?

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Books Read: Killed by Thomas Enger

Crime reporter Henning Juul thought his life was over when his young son was murdered. But that was only the beginning…

Determined to find his son’s killer, Henning doggedly follows an increasingly dangerous trail, where dark hands from the past emerge to threaten everything. His ex-wife Nora is pregnant with another man’s child, his sister Trine is implicated in the fire that killed his son and, with everyone he thought he could trust seemingly hiding something, Henning has nothing to lose … except his own life.

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Birthday Giveaway: Win a Tote Bag, BookBandz & Book

Even though today is my birthday I wanted to do a little giveaway to share the love and thank you lovely followers for all your support over the last 6 years.  The last few years have been a bit rough for me personally but the book community is a wonderful thing to be a part of and there's always someone on hand with a listening ear or a few words of support to provide the pick-up needed.

I recently did a poll on Twitter to see what people wanted for a giveaway choice, the options were tote bag, BookBandz, book or voucher and the winning choice was a book.  But I've decided to be generous and offer a prize package of this 'My Weekend is all Booked' tote bag, gorgeous Chocolate BookBandz handmade by the lovely Karen (check her out on FB) and a book of your choice from the selection of books below 😍

Crime Fiction Month Review: Cursed by Thomas Enger

Reviewed by Louise Wykes 

When Hedda Hellberg fails to return from a retreat in Italy, her husband discovers that his wife's life is tangled in mystery. .Hedda never left Oslo, the retreat has no record of her and, what's more, she appears to be connected to the murder of an old man, gunned down on the first day of the hunting season in the depths of the Swedish forests...

Henning Juul becomes involved in the case when his ex-wife joins in the search for the missing woman, and the estranged pair find themselves enmeshed both in the murky secrets of one of Norway's wealthiest families, and in the painful truths surrounding the death of their own son. When their lives are threatened, Juul is prepared to risk everything to uncover a sinister maze of secrets that ultimately leads to the dark heart of European history.

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

My Crimefest 2017 experience plus giveaway

This morning I am officially wrecked after an amazing weekend in Bristol for Crimefest 2017 😴 Last year I went to Crimefest for the first time just for the Saturday which was amazing but also very full on as felt like I needed to attend every single session.  But it also whetted my appetite for me wanting to experience the whole convention so as soon as the tickets went on sale I booked to return again this year but for the whole weekend, Thursday to Sunday.  And what a weekend it was 😉

Thursday

Day 1 lulled us into a false sense of security as didn't start until after lunch giving us delegates time to arrive and prepare for the weekend ahead.  I had already decided which panels I wanted to go to in advance and wasn't disappointed as each of the ones I chose was informative and entertaining.

• Debut Authors: An infusion of fresh blood with Steph Broadribb, David Coubrough, Mary Torjussen & Lucy V. Hay - moderated by Karen Robinson

• SHHHHHHH! Keeping Secrets and Telling Lies with Andrea Carter, Julia Crouch, Lucy Dawson, Rod Reynolds - moderated by Valentina 'VM' Giambanco

• What are you hiding? The Dark Side of Human Nature with Johana Gustawsson, Jørn Lier Horst, Doug Johnstone, Luke McCallin - moderated by Michael Stanley

Friday

After a reasonably early night and the memory of last year's experience I knew that it was virtually impossible to attend every panel of the day as physically, and mentally, you need a break if you're going to survive the day!

• Partners in Crime: Male/Female Police Duos with Sarah Hilary, Anne Randall, Stav Sherez, Luca Veste - moderated by Sarah Ward

• Behind Closed Doors: When Domestic becomes Noir with Jane Corry, Lisa Hall, Michael J. Malone, Mary Torjussen - moderated by Julia Crouch

As it was a gorgeous sunny day I decided to pop out for lunch and enjoyed a sandwich outside before coming back for the afternoon sessions 😊

The Write Stuff with... Thomas Enger

Today is the final day of the Cursed blog tour and it's my pleasure to be hosting an interesting piece from Thomas Enger talking about social comment in Scandicrime. 

Photo by: Ingrid Basso

Scandinavian crime fiction - or Scandicrime for those of you who are well versed with the common crime fiction tongue - has been around for over 50 years, going back to the days of Sjöwall and Wahlöö in Sweden. It became a worldwide phenomenon with writers like Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson, certainly a few authors from Norway come to mind as well, and it has become synonymous with a certain way of writing, a particular attention to social issues, mainly because the Swedish couple that started this whole wave, for lack of a better word, had strong opinions about what was wrong in the world, and they wanted to address that.

Since this became the recipe, so to speak, to making it big on the literary scene, a lot of authors from my part of the world picked up on this style or method, and a lot of novels have been pouring out from Scandinavia over the last 15-20 years that have all been branded Scandicrime, because they have had this "social comment" thing in it, almost to the point of compulsiveness.

There's nothing wrong with writing a novel that weighs heavily on social comment. In fact, I would claim that a lot of the really good ones have had that aspect to them.

But is it an absolute necessity?