Yvonne
This debut novel by a new author, is definitely a stand out from the crowd murder / mystery. Nothing is rushed about it so far, from the beautifully descriptive real sense of time and place, to the slowly building storyline with all its twists and turns around every corner, and a cast of characters which are, to a person, flawed and getting through life day by day …
I have no idea just how this one is going to end and right now I don’t really care, because I don’t want that final page to be turned!!
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For all you ‘random page surfers’ out there –
TEASER LINES – PAGE 201 – ARC PAPERBACK EDITION
“LATE 80s
Jon took a step back, then another one, putting distance between himself and the body.
The vomit rose in his throat. Bitter.
He crouched down towards the floor, his knees failing him as he sank into a defeated ball. Sickened. A clear bile released from his small intestine and the muscles in his stomach tightened, inducing a wave of violent contractions. He hung his head to the side of his knees, retching repeatedly as the spasms gripped his body, reducing him to a shivering mass. His voice remained trapped in his chest.
Jon grasped his legs into his torso and rocked back and forth in a nervous tempo.
What had he done?
He held his hand up to his face. Blood.
The sticky liquid covered his fingertips, seeping into the creases of his skin and drying in blotches across his palm. He averted his gaze, forcing himself to take in the rest of the room. As he looked up his body heaved, reacting as his eyes adjusted and her body came into focus.
She was lying on her back with her arms and legs splayed at an unnatural angle. Her neck fell limply to one side, flaccid and unresponsive just as if she were sleeping. Jon’s eyes grew damp as reality encroached upon him, the memories building in his head one piece at a time. He stared at her face. She didn’t look peaceful or content, he thought. The muscles in her features seem to have failed, leaving her hollowed face drowning in skin and her eyes gasping for air.
A clear fluid leaked from her nose.
The blood had started to pool, staining the carpet beneath her left ear.
Jon started to cry…”
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THE PREMISE
After a decade of working in the darkened streets of London, Officer Fergus Toop is back in the Highlands of Scotland.
Standing in the dim light with the clouds threatening to break over the hills, hopes of a fresh start are fast becoming a distant memory.
Death is a part of him. He can’t escape it.
The scene before him is haunting, beautiful somehow. The remnants of the day just gone still linger in the sky, offering a final breath of light before the corpse turns to black shadow and the landscape claims the soul of a broken man.
A textbook suicide.
The evidence is there in front of him. But as Toop digs deeper he finds himself caught in a web of buried truths. Only one thing remains certain:
Not even the dead can keep their secrets.
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So you have taken a look, will you read the book?
Let me know what you think in the comments section below.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Ambrosia @ ‘The Purple Booker‘. Each week she shares her own teaser lines and invites other bloggers to do the same. So if you have a few moments, why not stop by and see what’s on offer this time!
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Wow, that was quite a powerful extract you quoted. It didn’t immediately make me think of the Highlands of Scotland I must admit. I’ll keep an eye out for your review as I’m rather intrigued.
Hi Cath,
This book is just so full of powerful extracts, I could open any page to quote from and know it would be something good!
Never fear, there are some very descriptive extracts about the place and setting for the story too, although author Zoe Beesley did wonder if she should become more literary focused and take her background detail to the next level.
As it stands at just over half way through the book, I think she has it just about spot on with the mix of character, plot and location segments, but I’ll let you know my final verdict when I am done reading.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you are having a good week, despite the sudden downturn in the weather 🙂
This does sound exciting! I know things really might not be as they seem from this excerpt, but if they are… Jon is in some major trouble!
I look forward to the full review. Isn’t it wonderful when a book is so good you don’t want it to end?!
Hi Kelly,
I won’t be giving too much away if I say that Jon is definitely in some major trouble!!!! … although I still think that there is more of a back story waiting to unfold, as this book is set in two timelines, the present day and the late 1980s, with chapters alternating back and forth between the two.
This has to rate as one of my most favourite reads for some time and there is still plenty more to come yet before I am done with it.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you are enjoying your own current read 🙂
This sounds intense, I am glad you are enjoying it. Nothing is ever as it seems….and I like the Highlands of Scotland setting.
Hi Naida,
I still have a little more of this book left to read and intense doesn’t even begin to describe the tension that is building.
I have managed to keep apace with ‘who is who’ and ‘what is what’, given that there are two timelines running in parallel throughout the story. However I still can’t guess at ‘whodunnit’, as each new clue keeps making me switch my mind about the suspect.
This one is real ‘Scottish Noir’ and I hope that Zoe has started on the plot for a second book, as I don’t know how long I can wait 🙂