Scorpion by Christian Cantrell

Around the world, twenty-two people have been murdered. The victims fit no profile, the circumstances vary wildly, but one thing links them all: in every case the victim is branded with a number. With police around the globe floundering and unable to identify any pattern, let alone find a killer, CIA Analyst Quinn Mitchell is called in to investigate. Before long, Quinn is on the trail of an ice-hearted assassin with seemingly limitless...

Rabbits by Terry Miles
Macmillan , Sci-Fi , Terry Miles / June 10, 2021

It’s an average work day. You’ve been wrapped up in a task, and you check the clock when you come up for air–4:44 pm. You go to check your email, and 44 unread messages have built up. With a shock, you realize it is April 4th–4/4. And when you get in your car to drive home, your odometer reads 44,444. Coincidence? Or have you just seen the edge of a rabbit hole? Rabbits is a mysterious alternate reality game so v...

Outbreak by Frank Gardner
Bantam Press , Frank Gardner , Thriller / June 4, 2021

Deep within the Arctic Circle, three scientists from the UK’s Arctic Research Station trudge through a blizzard in search of shelter. They see a cabin ahead. It appears abandoned. No lights. No snowmobile outside. But as they push open the door, the smell hits them. Rank and foetid: there’s something bad inside. Then movement. A man lies slumped, his face disfigured by livid pustules. Blood runs from his nostrils; his chest ...

Anna by Sammy H K Smith
Horror , Sammy H K Smith , Solaris / May 27, 2021

I’m going to preface this review with a warning. The themes explored in Anna are likely going to act as a trigger for some readers. There are elements to the narrative that cover the trauma of physical and mental abuse.  Beaten. Branded. Defiant. Anna is a possession. She is owned by the man named Will, shielded from the world of struggles by his care. He loves her, protects her, and then breaks her. Anna is obedient, dutiful, and co...

Priest of Gallows by Peter McLean

Please note, Priest of Gallows is the third novel in the War of the Rose Throne series. If you haven’t read Priest of Bones and Priest of Lies then what follows will likely contain some spoilery type stuff.  Gangster, soldier, priest. Queen’s Man. Governor. Tomas Piety has everything he ever wanted. In public he’s a wealthy, highly respected businessman, happily married to a beautiful woman and Governor of his home city o...

The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne
Fantasy , John Gwynne , Orbit / May 7, 2021

After the gods warred and drove themselves to extinction, the cataclysm of their fall shattered the land of Vigrið. Now a new world is rising, where power-hungry jarls feud and monsters stalk the woods and mountains. A world where the bones of the dead gods still hold great power for those brave – or desperate – enough to seek them out. Now, as whispers of war echo across the mountains and fjords, fate follows in the footst...

Eye of the Sh*t Storm by Jackson Ford
Jackson Ford , Orbit , Sci-Fi / April 29, 2021

Please note, Eye of the Sh*t Storm is the third book in The Frost Files series. If you haven’t read books one and two what follows may contain some minor spoilers. Consider yourselves duly warned. Don’t come running to me later saying I didn’t mention it!  Teagan Frost might be getting better at moving sh*t with her mind – but her job working as a telekinetic government operative only ever seems to get harder. Thatâ...

The Recollection by Gareth L Powell
Gareth Powell , Sci-Fi , Solaris / April 23, 2021

When his brother disappears into a bizarre gateway on a London Underground escalator, failed artist Ed Rico and his brother’s wife Alice have to put aside their feelings for each other to go and find him. Their quest through the ‘arches’ will send them hurtling through time, to new and terrifying alien worlds. Four hundred years in the future, Katherine Abdulov must travel to a remote planet in order to regain the trus...

Sliced and Diced 2 by Joan De La Haye
Horror , Joan De La Haye , Supernatural / April 16, 2021

A hunter hunted, the Devil gets married, a typewriter causes havoc for the new inhabitants of an old house, the Devil’s PR agent brings a killer to justice, and a glimpse at the true cost of real estate in Hell – 13 dark and twisted tales by author Joan De La Haye brought together in her second collection. Once again, all stories will provide thrills and chills – but are best read with the lights on. From time to time I li...

The Best Thing You Can Steal by Simon R Green
Crime , Fantasy , Severn House , Simon R Green / April 9, 2021

Welcome to London, but not as you know it. A place where magics and horror run free, wonders and miracles are everyday things, and the dark streets are full of very shadowy people . . . Gideon Sable is a thief and a con man. He specializes in stealing the kind of things that can’t normally be stolen. Like a ghost’s clothes, or a photo from a country that never existed. He even stole his current identity. Who was he originall...

The Fall of Koli by M R Carey
M R Carey , Orbit , Sci-Fi / April 2, 2021

The Fall of Koli is the final book of The Rampart Trilogy. If you have not read books one and two then what follows will contain some minor spoilers. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! The world that is lost will come back to haunt us . . . Koli has come a long way since being exiled from his small village of Mythen Rood. In his search for the fabled tech of the old times, he knew he’d be battling strange, terrible beasts and trees ...

The April Dead by Alan Parks
Alan Parks , Canongate Books , Crime / March 25, 2021

Please note, The April Dead is the fourth Harry McCoy novel. Though these novels can be viewed as standalone works I would suggest beginning with book one, Bloody January. With that in mind, the review that follows may contain a mild spoiler or two if you haven’t started there. Consider yourselves suitably warned. When an American sailor from the Holy Loch Base goes missing, Harry McCoy is determined to find him. But as he investigate...

The Unbroken by C L Clark
C L Clark , Fantasy , Orbit / March 18, 2021

EVERY EMPIRE DEMANDS REVOLUTION. Touraine is a soldier. Stolen as a child and raised to kill and die for the empire, her only loyalty is to her fellow conscripts. But now, her company has been sent back to her homeland to stop a rebellion, and the ties of blood may be stronger than she thought. Luca needs a turncoat. Someone desperate enough to tiptoe the bayonet’s edge between treason and orders. Someone who can sway the rebels t...